August Chouteau
William Clark
Native Americans, American
Settlers and the 1815 Treaties of
Portage Des Sioux
Lessons for Elementary Students
The activities in this packet are designed to encourage students to think about the t
reaties signed between the U.S. and American Indians in the Midwest which ended the
hostilities resulting from the War of 1812. Students are asked to use critical thinking
skills to evaluate events and their impact upon both Americans and American Indians.
The units were developed as part of the 2015 Commemoration of the signing of the
treaties in a pecan grove in the small Missouri town of Portage des Sioux. The 2015
commemoration will include a series of events in the St. Louis and Portage des Sioux
areas and culminate in a commemoration involving both locals and Native American
tribes. The events are sponsored by The Land Between the Rivers Historical and Ge-
nealogical Society, the Missouri Humanities Council and the Missouri Council for His-
tory Education. Information about the Commemoration may be obtained on the web-
site: peace-friencship.com
The lesson plans are free of charge and may be reproduced and distributed without
prior permission as long as their source is acknowledged. Lesson plans are available
for free download at: www.mohistoryeducation.org
Land ceded to the U.S. by various tribes in the Treaty of St. Louis ( 1804 )
Lessons in this unit were developed by Dr. Gary McKiddy,
President of the Missouri Council for History Education and Mr.
Ben Vossenkemper, Portage des Sioux Historical and Genealogi-
cal
Background
In 1812, the U.S. found itself at war with Great Britain. The British encouraged Ameri-
can Indian tribes in the Mid-West to rebel against the Americans in hopes of keeping
American troops occupied on the frontier and eventually joining the Upper Louisiana
territory to Canada. They provided weapons and supplies to the Indians and promised
them an independent territory under British protection when the war ended. The war
lasted three long years and eventually ended in a tie. British Canada was not able to
annex the Louisiana Territory, nor was America able to annex Canada. The issues be-
tween the U.S. and the British were resolved by the Treaty of Ghent, leaving the U.S.
to negotiate separate treaties with the Native American who continued to fight the en-
croaching American settlers. Realizing that without British support, their cause was
lost, a number of tribes agreed to meet with commissioners appointed by the U.S.
government in the settlement of Portage des Sioux, Missouri. Over a three month pe-
riod, 5,000 American Indians traveled to Portage to negotiate treaties. The Indians
would receive a promise of perpetual peace and friendship if they agreed to leave the
land along the Mississippi River and move to the edge of the Great Plains in western
Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma. A mass migration began, but not without
resistance from several tribal leaders who would continue fighting for another twenty
years. The 1815 Treaties led to a flood of new settlers entering Missouri and Illinois
and to a change of lifestyle among the tribes who had to go west. For settlers from the
east, the Treaties of 1815 beneficial; for American Indians, they were a disaster lead-
ing to another move by American Indians away from their traditional homelands.
Activities
1. Native Americans, Settlers and a Sense of Place. This
lesson examines how the American Indians lived and
how their life was changed each time they were forced
to move west. Students will use maps and write a para-
graph.
2. Using Primary Sources. Students will be asked to
complete Venn diagrams showing what each side
( A mericans and American Indians ) promised to do in
the treaties signed at Portage des Sioux and what each
side expected to gain. Then, considering what they
learned in Activity One, students will be asked to ex-
plain which side got the better agreement.
3. Indian Names. The Indians who signed the treaty were
listed by their Indian name followed by a phrase which
would describe them so they could not be confused
with other Indians of the same name and tribe. Stu-
dents will asked to pick a phrase for themselves and
then either write a paragraph or draw a picture explain-
ing why this name is appropriate.
Clark, Edwards and Choteau
meeting with the Indians.
A “peace medal” was given to each chief who signed
a treaty with the United States.
Fort Zumwalt
Activity One
Before the United States bought the territory west of the Mississippi
River from France in 1804, it was the home of many Indian tribes. For
many years, Europeans had traded with the Indians for fur. The Euro-
peans had settled only a few towns where the Indians could come to
trade for goods made in Europe.
Most of the Indians in what is now Missouri and Illinois lived in small
villages along the rivers and streams. Their houses were made of reed
mats lashed together. Osage lodges were called wickiups. These were
the same types of houses used by the Mississippian settlement at Caho-
kia, Illinois. Around 1100 C.E., over 20,000 Indians lived here and they
traded with other tribes as far away as Canada and the Gulf Coast. By
1250 c.e., Cahokia was larger than London England.
Indian men hunted for game and caught fish. The women raised the
children and grew vegetables, especially corn and squash. The women
also wove baskets and made clothing. Children usually helped their
parents and took care of small animals like chickens and rabbits. Boys
would help their fathers make arrow and spear heads and scrapers used
to prepare animal skins to be made into clothing or to be sold to the
Europeans. Even today, farmers often find Indian arrowheads when
they do their spring plowing.
The state of Missouri is named after the Missouria Indians who lived
where the Missouri River joins the Mississippi. Another large tribe in
Missouri were the Osage. They originally came from the eastern part of
the U.S., but had been pushed west by other tribes. The Osage had
settlements along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and occupied a
large area of land stretching from central Missouri to Kansas, Oklahoma
and Arkansas. Other tribes, such as the Fox, Sac, Dakota, Iowa and Illi-
nois also lived in Missouri and Illinois.
When the Americans started to enter the Louisiana Territory ( the
area bought from France which includes all land between the Mississippi
River and the Rocky Mountains ) ; they cleared land and planted large
fields. With the forests turned into fields, there was no where for the In-
dians to hunt and the settlers would not let Indians gather berries and
nuts as they had always done. As Americans entered the territory, the
Indians were pushed westward. Some tribes often attacked settlers
feeling that they had stolen their land and that France had no right to sell
land which should belong to the tribes.
The government of the U.S. made treaties with tribes promising
them the right to own land if they would only move west and away from
the land where American farmers were. Each time, the treaty only
lasted for a few years. As more settlers came, the government offered
land to the west if only the Indians would again move. The government
also moved other Indians from as far away as Georgia into the territory
promised to the tribes in the Midwest after President Andrew Jackson
decided to move all Indians out of the Eastern U.S. Groups such as the
Cherokee, who lived in the southern U.S., were now pushed on to land
promised to tribes in the Midwest. Many Cherokee died during the
Trail of Tears when Indians were forced to walk from Georgia to Okla-
homa . The trip took many months and many died of exhaustion and be-
cause of the cold winter.
In 1812, the U.S. and Britain went to war. In the Midwest, British
troops from Canada encouraged Indians to attack the Americans. They
promised to return land to the Indians if they won the war. Many Ameri-
cans hoped to add Canada to the U.S. Some tribes sided with the British,
some with the Americans and some tried to stay neutral. The last battle
between Americans and Indians in the War of 1812 was the Battle of the
Sinkhole, fought in eastern Missouri between the towns of Moscow Mills
and Troy, Missouri. One of the Indians who fought here was Black Hawk,
who twenty years later would lead a major Indian uprising which included
battles in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Missouri.
The War of 1812 ended in 1814 with a treaty between the U.S. and
Great Britain. The British did not get the Louisiana Territory and the U.S.
did not get Canada. The British stopped supplying their Indian allies and
left them to sign separate treaties with the U.S.
In the spring of 1815, the U.S. invited Indian tribes from the Midwest
to the small town of Portage des Sioux to sign peace treaties. Again, they
promised to protect Indian rights and give them land; if only the Indians
would move further west. The U.S. sent $20,000 worth of goods to be
give to the Indians. Because they had remained neutral, the Osage where
the only tribe to be give extra goods and money.
After the treaties, the Indians had to move to the western part of Mis-
souri. They were on the edge of the Great Plains where there were not as
many forests as in the eastern part of the state. Many tribes were
pushed into the same areas. Eventually, the tribe were pushed across the
border into southern Kansas and then into Oklahoma. Because these ar-
eas were not considered good for farming, the Americans moved the Indi-
ans there.
Tribes such as the Osage could not hunt in the forests as they once
had, nor plant the large gardens like they had along the Missouri and Mis-
sissippi Rivers. Rather than deer, the Indians now relied on buffalo as a
main source of meat. The buffalo grazed over large areas of land, so In-
dian hunting parties often had to travel to find them. The land in Okla-
homa was hilly and rocky and there was little rain. By the 1870s, all tribes
had been moved onto reservations. Indian children were required to at-
tend government schools where they were to speak English only.
Eventually, as Indians moved away to places where they could get
better jobs; reservation land was sold to non-Indians. Many tribes lost
their reservations completely and scattered across the U.S. For example,
only 7,000 of the 29,000 Osage in the U.S. ( 13,000 are “ e nrolled mem-
bers ” and another 16,000 claim to be Osage on the U.S. census ) still
live in Osage County, Oklahoma.
To learn more about Indians in the Midwest and the War of 1812 in Missouri and
Illnois, check the following sources.
“ C ahokia Mounds Historic Site ” cahokiamounds.org
Dickey, Michael. People at the River ’ s Mouth: In Search of the Missouria Indians. Columbia, MO:
U. of MO Press, 2011.
“ F irst People. ” www.firstpeople.us
Keating, Ann. Rising Up from Indian Country. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 2012.
Murdock, David. Eyewitness Books: North American Indian. N.Y.: DK Publishing, 2005.
“ N ative American Tribes of Missouri, ” http://www.native-languages.org/missouri.htm
Riehecky, Janet. The Osage. Minnesota: Bridgestone Books, 2003.
Activity One
Working with Maps
The maps with this assignment show the land belonging to the Osage be-
fore treaties were signed with the U.S. Find the Osage land on each map
and color it red; then pretend you are an Osage who was born in Missouri
in 1800 and in 1880 lived on the reservation in Oklahoma. Write a letter to
a friend telling how your has life changed since your childhood.
Map of the Osage hunting ground in the late 18th
Century; Wikipedia.com
Osage County Oklahoma; Wikipedia
Area along the Missouri River where the Osage
lived before moving to Oklahoma; Wikipedia.
The red dot represents Fort Sibley, later called Fort
Osage, which was built so the U.S. government
could trade with the Osage after several chiefs vis-
ited President Jefferson in Washington, D.C. in
1804. In the treaty of 1808, signed in St. Louis, the
Osage agreed to give all their land east of the fort
to the U.S. Some Osage village remained along
the Missouri, Mississippi and Osage Rivers until
after the treaty of 1815. They claimed that the
chiefs who visited Jefferson had no right to sign
away the rights of their tribe.
Draw a line from the Iowa to the Arkansas border
through the red dot. Color the land which still be-
longed to the Osage in red.
Find the area which is now the Osage reservation and color it red.
This map which accompanies the Wikipedia article on the Osage Nation shows where the Osage have lived
since the 1830s. ( "Okterritory". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Okterritory.png#/media/File:Okterritory.png )
Activity Two
Primary Sources: The Treaties of Portage des Sioux
Read the treaty which follows. All the tribal treaties followed the same for-
mat. After reading the treaty, make two Venn Diagrams, one which ex-
plains what each side promised to do following the treaty and one explain-
ing what each side expected to get from the treaty. Then, thinking about
The following tribes signed the Treaties of 1815 at
Portage des Sioux in the fall. Over 2,000
Indians arrived during the first few weeks of the first great
Indian Council held West of the Mississippi.
Potawatomi Piankeshaw
Lakota
Mdewakantonwan Dakota
Sioux
Sioux of the Lakes
Omaha
Kickapoo
Osage Nation
Sac
Fox
Iowa
Other tribes were to sign similar treaties in St. Louis later in the fall and winter.
The 1815 Treaty of Portage des Sioux
In the diagram below, list what each side promised
to do to fulfill the treaty.
U.S. Government Osage Nation
Both Sides
Monument to the 1815 Treaties in Portage des Sioux,
Missouri
The 1815 Treaty of Portage des Sioux
In the diagram below, list what each side expected to get
from signing the treaty.
U.S. Government Both Sides
Osage Nation
Arrow Heads collected in Missouri.
Activity Three
Indian Names
Look at the names of the Osage chiefs who signed the Treaty of Portage
des Sioux. After each Indian name, there is a phrase to describe this chief
so he could not be confused with other Osage Indians who might have the
same name. Sometimes the phrase tells of their physical appearance,
such as “ without ears, ” other phrases tell what a person can do, “ he
who sees far, ” other phrases compare the person to an animal or to
something in nature, “ big bear. ” If you were an Indian chief, what
phrase would describe you? Write a paragraph or draw a picture explain-
ing why your family selected this phrase to describe you.
My Name Is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The phrase to describe me would be _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Put your paragraph or drawing in the box below.