Treaty of October 20, 1865 – Yankton Sioux

Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Fort Sully, in the Territory of Dakota, by and between Newton Edmunds, governor and ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs of Dakota Territory, Edward B. Taylor, superintendent of Indian affairs for the northern superintendency, Major-General S. R. Curtis, Brigadier-General H. H. Sibley, Henry W. Reed, and Orrin Guernsey, commissioners on the part of the United States, duly appointed by the President, and the undersigned chiefs and head-men of the Yanktonai band of Dakota or Sioux Indians.

Article 2.The Yanktonai band of Dakota or Sioux Indians, represented in council, hereby acknowledge themselves to be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction and authority of the United States, and hereby obligate and bind themselves, individually and collectively, not only to cease all hostilities against the persons and property of its citizens, but to use their influence, and, if requisite, physical force, to prevent other bands of Dakota Indians, or other adjacent tribes, from making hostile demonstrations against the Government or people of the United States.

Article 2.Inasmuch as the Government of the United States is desirous to arrest the effusion of blood between the Indian tribes within its jurisdiction hitherto at war with each other, the Yanktonai band of Dakota or Sioux Indians represented in council, anxious to respect the wishes of the Government, hereby agree to discontinue, for the future all attacks upon the persons or property of other tribes, unless first attacked by them, and to use their influence to promote peace everywhere in the region occupied or frequented by them.

Article 3.All controversies or differences arising between the Yanktonai band of Dakota or Sioux Indians, represented in council, and other tribes of Indians, involving the question of peace or war, shall be submitted for the arbitrament of the President, or such person or persons as may be designated by him, and the decision or award shall be faithfully observed by the said band represented in council.

Article 4.The said band, represented in council shall withdraw from the routes overland already established, or hereafter to be established, through their country; and in consideration thereof, the Government of the United States agree to pay the said band the sum of thirty dollars for each lodge or family, annually, for twenty years, in such articles as the Secretary of the Interior may direct: Provided, That said band, so represented in council, shall faithfully conform to the requirements of this treaty.

Article 5.Should any individual or individuals, or portion of the band of the Yanktonai band of Dakota or Sioux Indians represented in council, desire hereafter to locate permanently upon any land claimed by said band for the purposes of agricultural or other similar pursuits, it is hereby agreed by the parties to this treaty that such individuals shall be protected in such location against any annoyance or molestation on the part of whites or Indians; and whenever twenty lodges or families of the Yanktonai band shall have located on lands for agricultural purposes, and signified the same to their agents or superintendent, they, as well as other families so locating, shall receive the sum of twenty-five dollars annually, for five years, for each family, in agricultural implements and improvements; and when one hundred lodges or families shall have so engaged in agricultural pursuits, they shall be entitled to a farmer and blacksmith, at the expense of the Government, as also teachers, at the option of the Secretary of the Interior, whenever deemed necessary.

Article 6.Any amendment or modification of this treaty by the Senate of the United States shall be considered final and binding upon the said band, represented in council, as a part of this treaty, in the same manner as if it had been subsequently presented and agreed to by the chiefs and head-men of said band.

In testimony whereof, the Commissioners on the part of the United States, and the chiefs and headmen of the said Onkpahpah band of Dakota or Sioux Indians, have hereunto set their hands this twentieth day of October, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, after the contents had previously been read, interpreted, and explained to the chiefs and headmen.
Newton Edmunds
Edward B. Taylor
S. R. Curtis, Major-General
H. H. Sibley, Brigadier-General
Henry W. Reed
Orrin Guernsey

Chiefs

Ah-ke-tche-tah-hon-skah, The Tall Soldier, his x mark
Mah-to-che-kah, The Little Bear, his x mark
Muzzah-e-nom-pah, The Iron that Comes Out, his x mark
Wak-ke-an-skah, The White Thunder, his x mark

Chief Soldiers

Mah-to-nom-pah, The Two Bears, his x mark
Cha-tan-me-ne-o-me-nee, The Whirling Heart, his x mark

Chiefs

Ma-to-chewicksa, Bear’s Rib, his x mark
Running Antelope, Ta-to-kee-un, his x mark
The Man that Has a Heart for All, O-en-e-chan-ta-u-can, his x mark

Soldiers

Thunder Hawk, Cha-ton-wa-ke-on, his x mark
Iron Horn, Ha-ma-za, his x mark
Plenty Crows, Con-ge-o-ta, his x mark
The Man that Fears the Eagle, Wam-bel-le-co-ke-pa, his x mark
Spotted Buffalo Bull, Ta-tanka-ge-lis-ka, his x mark

Signed by the Commissioners on the part of the United States, and by the chiefs and headmen, after the treaty had been fully read, interpreted, and explained in our presence
Hez. L. Hosmer, Chief Justice of Montana Territory
S. S. Curtis, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel U. S. Volunteers
E. F. Ruth, Secretary of Commission
W. S. Woods, Surgeon U. S. Volunteers
C. S. Morrison
O. E. Guernsey
Charles Degre, his x mark, Interpreter


Collection:
AccessGenealogy.com Indian Treaties Acts and Agreements. Web. © 2016.

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