Upper Missouri Indian Agency

History
The Upper Missouri Agency was established in 1819 and was assigned responsibility for all the Indians living in a very large area of the Northern Plains of the United States, along the Missouri River. The exact boundaries of its jurisdiction were not defined.

In 1824, two subagencies were organized -- the Sioux Subagency near the Big Bend of the Missouri River and encompassing a large part of central South Dakota; and the Mandan Subagency on the Missouri River near the present site of Bismarck, North Dakota. The Mandan Subagency existed only to 1838, when its duties were absorbed by the Upper Missouri Agency.

The Upper Missouri Agency had several homes from its beginning to 1835:


 * 1819-1827 -- Council Bluffs, Iowa
 * 1827-1832 -- Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
 * 1832-1835 -- Bellevue, Nebraska, about 20 miles below Council Bluffs on the opposite side of the Missouri River from Council Bluffs.

In 1835, the Upper Missouri Agency received was again moved to Fort Leavenworth and was given the responsibility for the Prairie du Chien-Sauk and Fox Agency.

In 1837, the old Upper Missouri Agency became the Council Bluffs Agency. The old Sioux Subagency, which had become a full agency under the St. Louis Superintendency, became the new Upper Missouri Agency.

From 1839 to 1842, there was no agent for the Upper Missouri Agency. When it was reactivated in 1842, the Agency had no central location. The agent was simply expected to visit the Indians along the Missouri River.

From 1849 to 1851, Upper Missouri was reduced to subagency status, but was again made a full agency in 1851. It operated as such under the Central Superintendency from 1851 to 1861 and under the Dakota Superintendency from 1861 to 1870.

In 1866, the Upper Missouri Agency was permanently located at Crow Creek, just below the Great Bend of the Missouri and from that point was commonly called the Crow Creek Agency. The name was officially changed to Crow Creek Agency in 1874 and the use of the name Upper Missouri Agency was discontinued.

The Upper Missouri Agency was the forerunner to a number of agencies, all of which reduced the size of its area of jurisdiction. The following agencies were created from the area formerly administered by the Upper Missouri Agency:


 * 1846 -- Upper Platte Agency
 * 1855 -- Blackfeet Agency
 * 1859 -- Yankton Agency
 * 1859 -- Ponca Agency
 * 1864 -- Fort Berthold Agency
 * 1869 -- Grand River Agency, Whetstone Agency, and Cheyenne River Agency
 * 1871 -- Red Cloud Agency

Agents and Appointment Dates
Benjamin O'Fallon 1819, John Dougherty 1827, Joshua Pilcher 1837, Andrew Dripps 1842, Thomas P. Moore 1846, Gedeon C. Matlock 1847, Samuel A. Hatten 1849, James H. Norwood 1851, Robert B. Lambdin 1852, Alfred J. Vaughn 1853, Alexander H. Redfield 1857, Bernard S. Schoonover 1859, Samuel N. Latta 1861, Mahlon Wilkinson 1864, Joseph R. Hanson 1866, Capt. W. H. French 1869, Henry F. Liningston

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 these offices.

Letters received from the Upper Missouri Agency, 1824-1874, are included among Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, filmed by the National Archives as their Microcopy M248, Rolls 883-888. This set of records is also available at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ).

Reports of Inspection of the Field Jurisdictions of the Office of Indian Affairs, 1873-1900 have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of Microcopy Number M1070. The reports for Upper Missouri Agency, 1874, are on roll 55 of that Microcopy set. Copies are available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ).