Assiniboin People

Indians of Montana &gt; Assiniboin Indians

Alternate Names: Assiniboin, Assiniboine, Nakoda

History
Originally part of the Yanktonai Dakota (Nakota) Indians, they separated in the early 1700's and settled in the area between the Saskatchewan and Missouri Rivers. In 1780 their population was estimated at 10,000.

Inter-tribal warfare forced the Assiniboin to migrate from Great Lakes to Minnesota, where the tribe came in contact with non-Indians in the 1800s. They migrated during the 1830s to "Montana," where Fort Union was built by the American Fur Company.

A smallpox epidemic de-populated the tribe by 4,000 in 1836.

The mid 1840-1850's emigrants were traveling west across the country in pursuit of silver, gold and land. In 1851 the tribe signed a treaty agreeing not to attack those traveling on the Oregon Trail, and tribe was assigned land in western Montana.

In 1870s the tribe settled on reservations in the United States - Fort Belknap Reservation (with Grosventre Tribe) and Fort Peck Reservation (with Sioux Tribes) - and in Canada - tracts of land in Saskatchewan and Alberta (with Sioux, Cree and Chippewa). Reservation living was difficult at best.

The logistics of providing food for the tribes was not efficient. When supplies failed to arrive, disappointed and hungry leaders sometimes confronted the government and military officials, which sometimes developed into warfare.

Fredric W. Hodge states that in 1904 living in Montana there were 644 Assiniboin Indians living at Fort Belknap Agency and 535 at Fort Peck Agency.

In 1990, there were 5,274 Assiniboin in the United States and others in Canada.

Brief Timeline

 * Early: forced from Great Lakes area to Minnesota area by tribal warfare
 * 1658: living near Lake Superior they encountered non-Indians and began trading with them
 * 1800-1837: several Assiniboin bands moved into "Montana" and the American Fur company built Fort Union
 * 1836: Smallpox epidemic killed about 4,000
 * 1851: Treaty at Fort Laramie -- they promise not attack settlers traveling the Oregon Trail and are assigned land in western Montana.
 * 1855: Tribe referred to in treaty with the Blackfeet
 * 1866: The tribe agreed to move to Fort Buford, in "North Dakota"
 * 1870's: settled on reservations in the United States - Fort Belknap Reservation (with Gros Ventre Tribe) and Fort Peck Reservation (with Sioux Tribes) - and in Canada - tracts of land in Saskatchewan and Alberta (with Sioux, Cree and Chippewa)
 * 1873: A massacre of Assiniboin band lead by Little Soldier, at Cypress Hill, inititated the establishment of Northwest Mounted Police by Canada.
 * 1874: Fort Belknap was established for the Gros Ventre and Upper Assiniboin.
 * 1877: Treaty Seven is signed by the Blackfoot Confederacy and by the Stoney (Canadian) Assiniboin
 * 1877: Fort Peck (Montana) became the agency for the Lower Asasiniboin and the Yanktonai Nakota and Sisseton-Wahpeton (Dakota) Sioux
 * 1883-1884: In the winter living at Fort Peck, the rations failed to arrive and hundreds of Assiniboin perished due to starvation.
 * 1887-1934: General Allotment Act (1887) began land allotment; land allotment of Assiniboin territory discontinued in 1934.

Additional References to the History of the Tribe

 * Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Assiniboin tribe, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods.
 * Additional details are given in John Swanton's The Indian Tribes of North America
 * David Bushnell's Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi.
 * Fort Belknap Indian Community website has a page of Assiniboine history
 * For additional history of the tribe, read more....
 * A history of the Assiniboin living on or near the Fort Peck Reservation is available on the Poplar, Montana website.

Tribal Headquarters
Fort Belknap Indian Community RR1, Box 66 101 Tribal Way Harlem, MT 59526 Phone: (406) 353-2205 Fax: (406) 353-4541 Official Website: www.ftbelknap-nsn.gov

Fort Peck Assiniboine Sioux Tribes PO Box 1027 501 Medicine Bear Road Poplar, MT 59255 Phone: (406) 768-5155 Fax: (406) 768-5478 Official Website: www.fortpecktribes.org

Agency Records
The following agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs had jurisdiction over the Assiniboin for the time periods indicated. BIA agencies were responsible to keep such records as census rolls, allotment (land) records, annuity rolls, school records, correspondence, and other records of individual Indians under their jurisdiction. For details, see the page for the respective agency.

The agencies which had jurisdiction over a major portion of the Assiniboin in the United States were:


 * Upper Missouri Agency, 1819-1864
 * Fort Berthold Agency, 1864-1869
 * Fort Belknap Agency, 1873-present
 * Fort Peck Agency, 1874-present

Census
The Bureau of Indian Affairs compiled annual Indian Census Rolls on many of the reservations from 1885 to 1940. They list the names of individuals, their age, and other details about each person enumerated. For more information about these records, click here.

The following table lists the census rolls for the Assiniboin Indians:

Correspondence
There are several sets of correspondence between the supervising offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the local offices -- agencies, subagencies, etc. The correspondence is often historical in nature, including reports of the conditions among local groups of Indians, hostilities, plans for building facilities, activities of traders or missionaries, etc. Occasionally, there will be names of individuals but little detail about them. For more information about American Indian correspondence, click here.

The following table lists some of the correspondence records relating to the Assiniboin Indians:

Treaties
During the latter part of the 18th Century and most of the 19th Century, treaties were negotiated between the federal government and individual Indian tribes. The treaties provide helpful information about the history of the tribe, but usually only include the names of those persons who signed the treaty. For more information about treaties, click here.

Treaties to which the Assiniboin Indians were a part were:


 * 1851 September 17, at Fort Laramie, with Sioux. The treaty establishes the territory of the Assiniboin Nation.
 * October 17, 1855, referred to in Blackfeet treaty

Tribal Office Records
The Tribal Office is responsible for enrollment records, vital records, tribal police records, tribal court records, employment records and many others. They are an entirely different set of records from those kept by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Most of them remain in the Tribal Office. For details, contact that office at the address for the Tribal Headquarters listed above.

Vital Records
Prior to the Indian Reorganization Act, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, through their agencies, may have recorded some vital events. Some were recorded on health forms, such as the "Sanitary Record of Sick, Injured, Births, Deaths, etc." Others were recorded as supplements to the "Indian Census Rolls." Some were included in the unindexed reports and other correspondence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Some vital records for the Assiniboin Indians include:


 * Fort Peck Agency, M595, Births and Deaths 1925-1932, FHL Film: 576847

Important Web Sites

 * Reservation website for the Fort Belknap Indian Community, including both the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Indians
 * State Office of Indian Affairs article on the Fort Belknap Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Tribes
 * State Office of Indian Affairs article on the Fort Peck Tribes
 * Wikipedia article on the Assiniboine Indians

General

 * Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives; Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
 * Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1906 Available online.
 * Klein, Barry T., ed. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. Nyack, New York: Todd Publications, 2009. 10th ed. WorldCat 317923332; FHL book 970.1 R259e.
 * Malinowski, Sharon and Sheets, Anna, eds. The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1998. 4 volumes. Includes: Lists of Federally Recognized Tribes for U.S., Alaska, and Canada – pp. 513-529 Alphabetical Listing of Tribes, with reference to volume and page in this series Map of “Historic Locations of U.S. Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Canadian Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Mexican, Hawaiian and Caribbean Native Groups” Maps of “State and Federally Recognized U.S. Indian Reservations. WorldCat 37475188; FHL book 970.1 G131g.


 * Vol. 1 -- Northeast, Southeast, Caribbean
 * Vol. 2 -- Great Basin, Southwest, Middle America
 * Vol. 3 -- Arctic, Subarctic, Great Plains, Plateau
 * Vol. 4 -- California, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Islands


 * Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. 20 vols., some not yet published. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978–.


 * Volume 1 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 2 -- Indians in Contemporary Society (pub. 2008) -- WorldCat 234303751
 * Volume 3 -- Environment, Origins, and Population (pub. 2006) -- WorldCat 255572371
 * Volume 4 -- History of Indian-White Relations (pub. 1988) -- WorldCat 19331914; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.4.
 * Volume 5 -- Arctic (pub. 1984) -- WorldCat 299653808; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.5.
 * Volume 6 -- Subarctic (pub. 1981) -- WorldCat 247493742; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.6.
 * Volume 7 -- Northwest Coast (pub. 1990) -- WorldCat 247493311
 * Volume 8 -- California (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 13240086; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.8.
 * Volume 9 -- Southwest (pub. 1979) -- WorldCat 26140053; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.9.
 * Volume 10 -- Southwest (pub. 1983) -- WorldCat 301504096; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.10.
 * Volume 11 -- Great Basin (pub. 1986) -- WorldCat 256516416; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.11.
 * Volume 12 -- Plateau (pub. 1998) -- WorldCat 39401371; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.12.
 * Volume 13 -- Plains, 2 vols. (pub. 2001) -- WorldCat 48209643
 * Volume 14 -- Southeast (pub. 2004) -- WorldCat 254277176
 * Volume 15 -- Northwest (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 356517503; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.15.
 * Volume 16 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 17 -- Languages (pub. 1996) -- WorldCat 43957746
 * Volume 18 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 19 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 20 -- Not yet published


 * Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 Available online.
 * Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, New York: Facts on File, 2006. 3rd ed. WorldCat 14718193; FHL book 970.1 W146e 2006.