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

History

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

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 & 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

Tribe	Agency	Location of Original Records	Pre-1880 Correspondence M234 RG 75 Rolls 962  Roll Number	FHL Film Number	Post-1885 Census M595 RG 75  Rolls 693  Roll Number	FHL Film Number
Assiniboin	Upper Missouri Agency           1824-66	Washington D.C.	Roll 883-88	-	-	-
Assinboin	Fort Berthold Agency, 1867-70	Washington D.C.	Roll 292-99	-	-	-
Assinboin	Fort Belknap Agency, 1877-1952	Seattle	-	-	Rolls 126-31	576481-576486
Assinboin	Fort Peck Agency, 1877-1952	Seattle	-	-	Rolls 151-60	576840-849

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

References

Bibliography

• Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives; Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
• Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1906 Available online.
• Klein, Barry T., ed. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. Nyack, New York: Todd Publications, 2009. 10th ed. WorldCat 317923332; FHL book 970.1 R259e.
• Malinowski, Sharon and Sheets, Anna, eds. The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1998. 4 volumes. Includes: Lists of Federally Recognized Tribes for U.S., Alaska, and Canada – pp. 513-529 Alphabetical Listing of Tribes, with reference to volume and page in this series Map of “Historic Locations of U.S. Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Canadian Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Mexican, Hawaiian and Caribbean Native Groups” Maps of “State and Federally Recognized U.S. Indian Reservations. WorldCat 37475188; FHL book 970.1 G131g.

Vol. 1 -- Northeast, Southeast, Caribbean

Vol. 2 -- Great Basin, Southwest, Middle America

Vol. 3 -- Arctic, Subarctic, Great Plains, Plateau

Vol. 4 -- California, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Islands

• Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. 20 vols., some not yet published. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978– .
  

Volume 1 -- Not yet published

Volume 2 -- Indians in Contemporary Society (pub. 2008) -- WorldCat 234303751

Volume 3 -- Environment, Origins, and Population (pub. 2006) -- WorldCat 255572371

Volume 4 -- History of Indian-White Relations (pub. 1988) -- WorldCat 19331914; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.4.

Volume 5 -- Arctic (pub. 1984) -- WorldCat 299653808; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.5.

Volume 6 -- Subarctic (pub. 1981) -- WorldCat 247493742; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.6.

Volume 7 -- Northwest Coast (pub. 1990) -- WorldCat 247493311

Volume 8 -- California (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 13240086; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.8.

Volume 9 -- Southwest (pub. 1979) -- WorldCat 26140053; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.9.

Volume 10 -- Southwest (pub. 1983) -- WorldCat 301504096; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.10.

Volume 11 -- Great Basin (pub. 1986) -- WorldCat 256516416; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.11.

Volume 12 -- Plateau (pub. 1998) -- WorldCat 39401371; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.12.

Volume 13 -- Plains, 2 vols. (pub. 2001) -- WorldCat 48209643

Volume 14 -- Southeast (pub. 2004) -- WorldCat 254277176

Volume 15 -- Northwest (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 356517503; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.15.

Volume 16 -- Not yet published

Volume 17 -- Languages (pub. 1996) -- WorldCat 43957746

Volume 18 -- Not yet published

Volume 19 -- Not yet published

Volume 20 -- Not yet published

• Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 Available online.
• Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, New York: Facts on File, 2006. 3rd ed. WorldCat 14718193; FHL book 970.1 W146e 2006.

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