Fort Leavenworth Indian Agency (Kansas)

Guide to  ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Delaware, Shawnee, Kansa, Kickapoo, Munsee, Stockbridge, Potawatomi

History
The Fort Leavenworth Agency was established in 1837 to replace the Northern Agency. The tribes under its jurisdiction were the Delaware, Shawnee, Kansa, and Kickapoo. Other tribes had been a part of the Northern Agency, but they were assigned to the new Osage River Agency. The agent operated from the old Northern Agency headquarters near Westport, Missouri (now part of Kansas City), but the Indians resided in what became Kansas. The agency offices were never located at Fort Leavenworth. Although the Upper Missouri Agency and the Council Bluffs Agency did operate from Fort Leavenworth at times, they never had jurisdiction over the Indians assigned to the Fort Leavenworth Agency.

In 1839, some of the Munsee and Stockbridge Indians moved onto land assigned the Delaware Indians and were assigned to this agency. The Kansa Tribe were transferred to the Osage River Agency in 1847. The Potawatomi Indians, which had been under the jurisdiction of the Potawatomie Subagency, were assigned to Fort Leavenworth when that subagency was discontinued.

In 1851, a general reorganization of the Office of Indian Affairs took place. At that time, the Fort Leavenworth Agency was discontinued. The Potawatomi Agency became responsible for the Potawatomi and Kansas Indians. The Delaware, Shawnee, Wyandot, Munsee, and Stockbridge Indians were assigned to the Kansas Agency. And the Kickapoo were attached to the Great Nemaha Agency.

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 and maintained by the agencies.

Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Fort Leavenworth Agency, 1824-1851, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234, Rolls 300-303. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the Family History Library and its family history centers on their.