Land Cessions in Illinois:

Name: Treaty with the Kaskaskia Tribe

Date: August 13, 1803

Location and Extent:

Beginning at the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi, thence up the Ohio to the mouth of the Saline creek, about twelve miles below the mouth of the Wabash, thence along the dividing ridge between the said creek and the Wabash until it comes to the general dividing ridge between the waters which fall into the Wabash, and those which fall into the Kaskaskia river; and thence along the said ridge until it reaches the waters which fall into the Illinois river, thence in a direct course to the mouth of the Illinois river, and thence down the Mississippi to the beginning.

Modern Counties Affected:

Alexander, Pulaski, Massac, Hardin, Pope, Johnson, Union, Jackson, Williamson, Saline, Gallatin, White, Hamilton, Franklin, Perry, Randolph, Monroe St. Clair, Washington, Clinton, Marion, Fayette, Effingham, Bond, Madison, Jersey, Greene, Macoupin, Montgomery, Shelby, Moultrie, Coles, Douglas, Champaign, Ford, Iroquois, Kankakee, Will, Grundy, La Salle, Putnam, Bureau, Marshall, Woodford, Livingston, McLean, Dewitt, Piatt, Macon, Christian, Sangamon, Morgan, Scott, Greene, Jersey, Cass, Mason, Tazewell

Compensation:

• An annuity increase of $1000 (to be paid in "money, merchandise, provisions or domestic animals")
• A house suitable for the accommodation of the chief of the said tribe (with a fenced field of not more than 100 acres)
• $100 per year for seven years to support a Catholic priest
• $300 towards the construction of a Catholic church
• $580 to pay off debts already incurred by members of the nation to traders

Participants:

"A treaty between the United States of America and the Kaskaskia Tribe of Indians."

Commentary:

Note that by the time they signed this treaty, the Kaskaskias had been displaced from virtually all of the ceded area by rival Native groups. They had little reason to NOT sign the document, having already lost the land they signed over to the U.S. and reserving for their own use 350 acres of land near Kaskaskia for their own use.