Council Bluffs Indian Agency (Nebraska)

The Council Bluffs was located on the west bank of the Missouri River at Bellevue.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Oto, Missouri, Omaha, and Pawnee who lived west of the Missouri River in what is now Nebraska.

History
The Council Bluffs Agency was established in 1837 and was responsible for some of the Indians previously assigned to the Upper Missouri Agency. The Council Bluffs Agency was reduced to a subagency between 1849 and 1851 and was discontinued in 1856. The Oto, Missouri, and Pawnee Indians were placed under the new Otoe Agency and the Omaha Indians were placed under the new Omaha Agency as the successors to the Council Bluffs Agency.

Agents and Appointment Dates
John Dougherty April 13, 1837, Joseph V. Hamilton June 27, 1839, Daniel Miller October 22, 1841, Jonathan Bean July 25, 1845, John Miller July 22, 1846, John E. Barrow (subagent) April 13, 1849, John E. Barrow (agent) June 30, 1851, James M. Gatewood April 18, 1853, and George Hepner May 19, 1854

Council Bluffs Subagency

Records
Agencies and subagencies were created as administrative offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its predecessors. Their purpose was (and is) to manage Indian affairs with the tribes, to enforce policies, and to assist in maintaining the peace. The names and location of these agencies may have changed, but their purpose remained basically the same. Many of the records of genealogical value (for the tribe and tribal members) were created by these offices.

The following list of agencies that have operated or now exist in Nebraska (Iowa) has been compiled from Hill's Office of Indian Affairs...[8], Hill's Guide to Records in the National Archives Relating to American Indians[9], and others.

Letters received from the Council Bluffs Agency, 1836-1857, are included among Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, filmed by the National Archives as their Microcopy M248, Rolls 215-218. This set of records is also available at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ).