Treaty with The Northern Cheyenne and Northern Arapaho
May 10, 1868
Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Fort Laramie,
Dakota Territory, on the tenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, by and
between the undersigned commissioners on the part of the United
States, and the undersigned chiefs and head-men of and representing
the Northern Cheyenne and Northern Arapahoe Indians, they
being duly authorized to act in the premises.
From this day forward peace between the parties to this treaty
shall forever continue. The Government of the United States
desires peace, and its honor is hereby pledged to keep it.
The Indians desire peace, and they hereby pledge their honor
to maintain it. If bad men among the whites, or among other
people subject to the authority of the United States, shall
commit any wrong upon the person or property of the Indians,
the United States will, upon proof made to the agent and forwarded
to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington City,
proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished
according to the laws of the United States, and also reimburse
the injured person for the loss sustained.
If bad men among the Indians shall commit a wrong or depredation
upon the person or property of any one, white, black, or Indian,
subject to the authority of the United States and at peace
therewith, the Indians herein named solemnly agree that they
will, on proof made to their agent and notice by him, deliver
up the wrong-doer to the United States, to be tried and punished
according to its laws; and in case they wilfully refuse so
to do, the person injured shall be reimbursed for his loss
from the annuities or other moneys due or to become due to
them under this or other treaties made with the United States.
And the President, on advising with the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, shall prescribe such rules and regulations for ascertaining
damages under the provisions of this article as in his judgment
may be proper. But no such damages shall be adjusted and paid
until thoroughly examined and passed upon by the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs, and no one sustaining loss while violating
or because of his violating the provisions of this treaty
or the laws of the United States shall be reimbursed therefor.
The Indians, parties to this treaty, hereby agree to accept
for their permanent home some portion of the tract of country
set apart and designated as a permanent reservation for the
Southern Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians by a treaty entered
into by and between them and the United States, at Medicine
Lodge Creek, on the - day of October, eighteen hundred and
sixty-seven, or some portion of the country and reservation
set apart and designated as a permanent home for the Brulé
and other bands of Sioux Indians, by a treaty entered into
by and between said Indians and the United States, at Fort
Laramie, D. T., on the twenty-ninth day of April, eighteen
hundred and sixty-eight. And the Northern Cheyenne and Arapahoe
Indians do hereby relinquish, release, and surrender to the
United States, all right, claim, and interest in and to all
territory outside the two reservations above mentioned, except
the right to roam and hunt while game shall be found in sufficient
quantities to justify the chase. And they do solemnly agree
that they will not build any permanent homes outside of said
reservations, and that within one year from this date they
will attach themselves permanently either to the agency provided
for near the mouth of Medicine Lodge Creek, or to the agency
about to be established on the Missouri River, near Fort Randall,
or to the Crow agency near Otter Creek, on the Yellowstone
River, provided for by treaty of the seventh day of May, eighteen
hundred and sixty-eight, entered into by and between the United
States and said Crow Indians, at Fort Laramie, D. T.; and
it is hereby expressly understood that one portion of said
Indians may attach themselves to one of the afore-mentioned
reservations, and another portion to another of said reservations,
as each part or portion of said Indians may elect.
If any individual belonging to said tribes of Indians, or
legally incorporated with them, being the head of a family,
shall desire to commence farming, he shall have the privilege
to select, in the presence and with the assistance of the
agent then in charge, a tract of land within said reservations
not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres in extent, which
tract, when so selected, certified, and recorded in the "Land
Book" as herein directed, shall cease to be held in common,
but the same may be occupied and held in the exclusive possession
of the person selecting it, and of his family, so long as
he or they may continue to cultivate it.
Any person over eighteen years of age, not being the head
of a family, may in like manner select and cause to be certified
to him or her, for purposes of cultivation, a quantity of
land not exceeding eighty acres in extent, and thereupon be
entitled to the exclusive possession of the same as above
For each tract of land so selected a certificate containing
a description thereof and the name of the person selecting
it, with a certificate endorsed thereon that the same has
been recorded, shall be delivered to the party entitled to
it by the agent after the same shall have been recorded by
him in a book to be kept in his office, subject to inspection,
which said book shall be known as the "Northern Cheyenne
and Arapahoe Land Book."
The President may, at any time, order a survey of the reservation;
and when so surveyed, Congress shall provide for protecting
the rights of settlers in their improvements, and may fix
the character of the title held by each.
The United States may pass such laws on the subject of alienation
and descent of property as between Indians and on all subjects
connected with the government of the Indians on said reservations,
and the internal police thereof, as may be thought proper.
In order to insure the civilization of the tribe entering
into this treaty, the necessity of education is admitted,
especially by such of them as are or may be settled on said
agricultural reservation, and they therefore pledge themselves
to compel their children, male and female, between the ages
of six and sixteen years, to attend school; and it is hereby
made the duty of the agent for said Indians to see that this
stipulation is strictly complied with; and the United States
agrees that for every thirty children, between said ages,
who can be induced or compelled to attend school, a house
shall be provided, and a teacher, competent to teach the elementary
branches of an English education, shall be furnished, who
will reside among said Indians, and faithfully discharge his
or her duties as a teacher. The provisions of this article
to continue for twenty years.
When the head of a family or lodge shall have selected lands,
and received his certificate as above directed, and the agent
shall be satisfied that he intends in good faith to commence
cultivating the soil for a living, he shall be entitled to
receive seeds and agricultural implements for the first year
in value one hundred dollars, and for each succeeding year
he shall continue to farm for a period of three years more
he shall be entitled to receive seeds and implements as aforesaid
in value twenty-five dollars per annum.
And it is further stipulated that such persons as commence
farming shall receive instructions from the farmer herein
provided for, and whenever more than one hundred persons shall
enter upon the cultivation of the soil a second blacksmith
shall be provided, with such iron, steel, and other material
as may be needed.
In lieu of all sums of money or other annuities provided
to be paid to the Indians herein named, under any and all
treaties heretofore made with them, the United States agrees
to deliver at the agency-house, on the reservations herein
provided for, on the first day of September of each year,
for thirty years, the following articles, to wit:
For each male person over fourteen years of age, a suit of
good substantial woolen clothing, consisting of coat, hat,
pantaloons, flannel shirt, and a pair of woolen socks.
For each female over twelve years of age, a flannel skirt,
or the goods necessary to make it, a pair of woolen hose,
twelve yards of calico, and twelve yards of cotton domestics.
For the boys and girls under the ages named, such flannel
and cotton goods as may be needed to make each a suit, as
aforesaid, together with a pair of woolen hose for each.
And in order that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs may
be able to estimate properly for the articles herein named,
it shall be the duty of the agent each year to forward to
him a full and exact census of the Indians, on which the estimates
from year to year can be based.
And, in addition to the clothing herein named, the sum of
ten dollars shall be annually appropriated for each Indian
roaming, and twenty dollars for each Indian engaged in agriculture,
for a period of ten years, to be used by the Secretary of
the Interior in the purchase of such articles as from time
to time the condition and necessities of the Indians may indicate
to be proper. And if, at any time within the ten years, it
shall appear that the amount of money needed for clothing
under this article can be appropriated to better uses for
the tribes herein named, Congress may by law change the appropriation
to other purposes; but in no event shall the amount of this
appropriation be withdrawn or discontinued for the period
named. And the President shall annually detail an officer
of the Army to be present and attest the delivery of all the
goods, herein named, to the Indians, and he shall inspect
and report on the quantity and quality of the goods and the
manner of their delivery; and it is expressly stipulated that
each Indian over the age of four years, who shall have removed
to and settled permanently upon said reservation and complied
with the stipulations of this treaty, shall be entitled to
receive from the United States, for the period of four years
after he shall have settled upon said reservation, one pound
of meat and one pound of flour per day, provided that the
Indians cannot furnish their own subsistence at an earlier
date; and it is further stipulated that the United States
will furnish and deliver to each lodge of Indians, or family
of persons legally incorporated with them, who shall remove
to the reservation herein described and commence farming,
one good American cow and one well-broken pair of American
oxen, within sixty days after such lodge or family shall have
so settled upon said reservation.
The United States hereby agrees to furnish annually to the
Indians who settle upon the reservation a physician, teachers,
carpenter, miller, engineer, farmer, and blacksmiths, as herein
contemplated, and that such appropriations shall be made from
time to time on the estimates of the Secretary of the Interior
as will be sufficient to employ such persons.
No treaty for the cession of any portion of the reservations
herein described, which may be held in common, shall be of
any force or validity as against the said Indians unless executed
and signed by at least a majority of all the adult male Indians,
occupying or interested in the same; and no cession by the
tribe shall be understood or construed in such manner as to
deprive, without his consent, any individual member of the
tribe of his right to any tract of land selected by him, as
It is agreed that the sum of five hundred dollars annually
for three years, from the date when they commenced to cultivate
a farm, shall be expended in presents to the ten persons of
said tribe who, in the judgment of the agent, may grow the
most valuable crops for the respective year.
- W. T. Sherman, Lieutenant-General.
- Wm. S. Harney, Brevet Major-General, U. S. Army.
- Alfred H. Terry, Brevet Major-General.
- C. C. Augur, Brevet Major-General.
- John B. Sanborn,
- S. F. Tappan,
- Ashton S. H. White, Secretary.
- Wah-tah-nah, Black Bear, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Bah-ta-che, Medicine Man, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Oh-cum-ga-che, Little Wolf, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Ichs-tah-en, Short Hair, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Non-ne-se-be, Sorrel Horse, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Ka-te-u-nan, The Under Man, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Ah-che-e-wah, The Man in the Sky, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- We-ah-se-vose, The Big Wolf, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Ches-ne-on-e-ah, The Beau, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Mat-ah-ne-we-tah, The Man that falls from his horse, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Oh-e-na-ku, White Crow, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- A-che-kan-koo-eni, Little Shield, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Tah-me-la-pahs-me, or Dull Knife, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- George B. Willis, Phonographer.
- John D. Howland.
- Alex. Gardner.
- David Knox.
- Chas. Freeman.
- Jas. C. O'Connor.
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