# Luke Lea *United States commissioner who, with Alexander Ramsey, signed the Treaty of Mendota (1851) with Mdewakanton and Wahpekute leaders.* Luke Lea was a United States commissioner who, with [[Alexander Ramsey]], signed the [[Treaty of Mendota]] on August 5, 1851, at [[Pilot Knob]] in [[Mendota]].[^1] The [[Minnesota Historical Society]] lists [[Little Crow]] (Ta-oya-te-duta), [[Wabasha]] and roughly eighty other [[Mdewakanton]] and [[Wahpekute]] leaders as the treaty's Dakota signers.[^1] MNopedia gives the same August 5, 1851 date.[^2] Thirteen days earlier, on July 23, 1851, Lea was one of three U.S. commissioners, with Henry Sibley and Ramsey, on the [[Treaty of Traverse des Sioux]].[^3] MNopedia records that treaty's cession as about 24 million acres at about 7½ cents an acre.[^3] The Mendota treaty text records the bands ceding "all their right, title and claim to any lands whatever."[^1] ## Who Lea appears in the record in one capacity: U.S. commissioner on two 1851 Dakota treaties. At Traverse des Sioux he served with Henry Sibley and Alexander Ramsey.[^3] At Mendota he and Ramsey were the two commissioners.[^1] ## What The Treaty of Mendota is a cession. Its text, as quoted by the Minnesota Historical Society, records the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute bands ceding "all their right, title and claim to any lands whatever."[^1] The project's at-issue entry quotes the cession more fully: "all their lands and all their right, title and claim to any lands whatever, in the Territory of Minnesota, or in the State of Iowa."[^1] At Traverse des Sioux, according to MNopedia, a separate document known as the [[traders' paper]] was signed by all but two [[Dakota]] leaders and was "never read aloud or translated."[^3] The same entry records a reservation ten miles wide on each side of the [[Minnesota River]].[^3] ## When The Treaty of Traverse des Sioux was signed on July 23, 1851.[^3] The Treaty of Mendota followed on August 5, 1851.[^1][^2] ## Where The Treaty of Mendota was signed at Pilot Knob in Mendota.[^1] The project's at-issue record places the site inside the boundaries of present-day Dakota County.[^1] ## How much The Traverse des Sioux cession on which Lea served as commissioner covered about 24 million acres, at about 7½ cents an acre, according to MNopedia.[^3] ## How many The Mendota treaty carries the signatures of the two U.S. commissioners and of Little Crow, Wabasha and roughly eighty other Mdewakanton and Wahpekute leaders.[^1] At Traverse des Sioux, the traders' paper was signed by all but two Dakota leaders.[^3] MNopedia records more than 100,000 settlers in the region within the decade after the 1851 treaties.[^3] ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue entry AI-Dakota-089, in its section *VII. The Founding Instruments — Still on the Books*, places the Treaty of Mendota at the root of Dakota County's property record: it states that every land title in the county descends from a document signed within the county.[^1] That entry rests on the Minnesota Historical Society's account of the signing and the cession text.[^1] The sources cited here document the signing, the signatories and the cession language. They do not document how the treaty's terms were carried out after August 5, 1851. ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Treaty of Mendota* (undated) — signing on August 5, 1851 at Pilot Knob; commissioners Luke Lea and Alexander Ramsey; Little Crow (Ta-oya-te-duta), Wabasha and roughly eighty other Mdewakanton and Wahpekute signers; cession text "all their right, title and claim to any lands whatever." https://www.mnhs.org/usdakotawar/stories/history/treaty-mendota [^2]: MNopedia (Minnesota Historical Society), *Treaty of Mendota, 1851* (undated) — dates the Treaty of Mendota to August 5, 1851. https://www.mnopedia.org/event/treaty-mendota-1851 [^3]: MNopedia (Minnesota Historical Society), *Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, 1851* (undated) — signed July 23, 1851; commissioners Luke Lea, Henry Sibley and Alexander Ramsey; about 24 million acres at about 7½ cents an acre; reservation ten miles wide on each side of the Minnesota River; traders' paper signed by all but two Dakota leaders and "never read aloud or translated"; more than 100,000 settlers within the decade. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/event/treaty-traverse-des-sioux-1851