Assiniboin People

Alternate Names: Assiniboin, Assiniboine Ancestral Homelands: Great Lakes area Linguistic group: Siouan

Part of the Yanktonai Nakota

Population: 1780 estimated at 10,000 1990: 5,274 in U.S. others in Canada

Current locations: Montana, Alberta, and Saskatchewan

Brief Timeline
Early: forced from Great Lakes aarea 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 attact setters travelin the Oregon Trail; and are assigned land in western Montana.

1855: Treaty refered 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 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 agn 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; in 1934 Land allotment of Assiniboin territory discontinued in 1934.

Brief History
Originally part of the Yanktonai tribe of Dakota Indians, separated in early 1700's and settled in area between the Saskatchewan and Missouri Rivers

Reservations
The major residence of the Assiniboin(e) Tribe is on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana.

Some Assiniboin also reside at Fort Belknap Reservation.

Members of the tribe also reside in Southern Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada.

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 page of Assiniboine history


 * For additional history of the tribe, read more....

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 &amp; 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

Records
Agency Records

Agencies which had responsibilities for the Assiniboin Indians included:


 * Fort Belknap Agency
 * Fort Berthold Agency
 * Fort Peck Agency
 * Upper Missouri Agency

Correspondence and Census

Treaties


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

Vital Records


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

Important Web Sites

 * Fort Belknap Indian Community Website for both Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Indians
 * Assiniboine Indians Wikipedia article