Assiniboin People

Alternate Names: Assiniboin, Assiniboine Ancestral Homelands: Great Lakes area Linguistic group: Siouan Current locations: Montana, Alberta, and Saskatchewan



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.

Intertribal 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 1837. Emigrants were traveling west across the country. In 1851 the tribe signed a treaty agreeing to not 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 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). 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. 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.

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 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

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