An agreement "For the purpose of better fulfilling our duty to the Government of the United States and with a desire to live on terms of amity and good will with each other..." signed and agreed by "we the chiefs and head men of the bands of Sisseton Sioux located near Fort Totten, D.T. and we the chiefs and head men of the Arickarees, Grosventre, and Mandan of the Fort Berthold Agency, D. T..."  Approx. 8 x 12.5 in., 3pp on three adjoining sheets, "Fort Berthold, D.T.," July 11, 1870. The Sisseton Sioux bands were represented by Chief Tepe Wasta and Sisseton Soldier Ompe Okaga. Representing the Arikara were Chief White Shield, 2nd Chief Son of the Star, and Soldier Medicine Lance; the Gros Ventres were represented by Chief Crows Breast and 2nd Chief Lean Wolf; and the Mandan were represented by Chief Red Roan Cow and 2nd Chief He Who Pursues the Eagle. Signed at Fort Berthold Agency, the treaty explicitly proclaimed the desire of all parties to end warfare, to discourage hostile acts, to work with other tribes to ensure the just punishment for any offenses, and to ensure that proper restitution was rendered in case of offense. The treaty bears the "x" mark of the nine American Indian signatories as well as what appears to be the original signatures of the four witnesses: Captain and Indian Agent W. Clifford, G.A. McLeod, D.W. Marsh, and Pierre Garreau.This manuscript was originally housed with documents from the William Courtenay/Fort Berthold Archive (see Lot 378).__________________________________________Though the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes existed independently for centuries, by the nineteenth century the three tribes had formed a strong alliance. This alliance aided in their efforts to withstand the strains put upon them by increasing white settlement in their territory, as well as the threat posed by hostile Sioux. This agreement represents the text agreed to by bands of the Sisseton Sioux and the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara at a council held on July 11, 1870, as the tribes sought to end nearly a century of conflict and appease the US government with a commitment to peaceful relations.