Osage Nation
Nation / Tribe

Osage Nation

The Osage Nation (Wazhazhe) is a Dhegihan Siouan-speaking people whose traditional homeland encompassed present-day Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. They were one of the most powerful nations in the central Plains and maintained extensive trade relationships with French and later American traders, including the Chouteau family. The Osage signed several significant treaties with the United States beginning with the Treaty of Fort Clark in 1808, which ceded much of their territory in present-day Missouri and Arkansas. These treaties fundamentally altered Osage territorial boundaries and laid the groundwork for their eventual removal to Indian Territory (Oklahoma), where the Osage Nation is headquartered today in Pawhuska.

Portrait: George Catlin, "Cler-mónt, First Chief of the Tribe," 1834. Smithsonian American Art Museum.

8 treaties 39 total items 34 mapped locations

Most Mentioned in Osage Nation-tagged Entries

Wildlife

  1. Deer (13)
  2. Elk (5)
  3. Buffalow (3)
  4. brown bear (2)
  5. beaver (2)
  6. bald Eagle (2)
  7. flounder (2)
  8. Bear (2)
  9. Mule Deer (2)
  10. Antelope (2)

Territory & Encounter Locations

Pin color = Planning (1801–1804) Westward (1804–1805) Fort Clatsop (1805–1806) Return (1806) Post (1806–1812)
Master expedition route Approximate territory

Note: the longest gap between tagged appearances is about 11 months (Jul 12, 1804 → Jun 10, 1805). No journal entries during that window were explicitly tagged with this nation.

Treaties (8)

Treaty with the Great and Little Osage et al., 1808
Treaty with the Great and Little Osage, 1808
Treaty with the Great and Little Osage, 1825
Treaty with the Osage, 1815
09/12
Treaty with the Osage, 1818
1818
Treaty with the Osage, 1825
06/02
Treaty with the Sauk and Fox of the Mississippi, 1842
Treaty with the The Osage Nation, 1835

Tent of Many Voices (2)

Osage Nation Tree Planting and Lewis & Clark Commemoration 60:26
Osage Nation Tree Planting and Lewis & Clark Commemoration
Osage
Chief Cliff Snyder on Chinook and Clatsop Relations with Lewis and Clark 47:26
Chief Cliff Snyder on Chinook and Clatsop Relations with Lewis and Clark
Chief Cliff Snyder Chinook

Journal Entries (29)

Pressing Past Grand River Without Hunting
Sep 18, 1806
Passing the Osage River and Tavern Cove Landmark
May 23, 1804
Passing Wood River to St. Johns French Settlement
May 25, 1804
Measuring the Osage and Missouri Rivers at Confluence
Jun 1, 1804
Settlers Astonished to Find the Party Still Alive
Sep 21, 1806
Passing Mine River; Ripe Pawpaws in the Bottomlands
Sep 19, 1806
Measuring the Missouri and Osage Confluence
Jun 2, 1804
Mast Snapped; Nightingale Creek Named for Bird
Jun 4, 1804
Arrival at the Mouth of the Osage River
Jun 1, 1804
Hailstorm Travel to Grind Stone Creek
May 30, 1804
Camp on South Bank of the Missouri
May 24, 1804
Arrival at the Mouth of the Grand Osage
Jun 1, 1804
Two Worn Canoes Set Adrift on Missouri
Sep 20, 1806
Captain McClellan Encountered at Little Osage Village
Sep 17, 1806
Racing Toward Illinois Settlements on Pawpaws
Sep 19, 1806
Calumet Eagle Described; Missing Pirogue Not Recovered
Mar 12, 1806
Pryor Returns with Fish; Dogs Chewed Canoe Loose
Mar 11, 1806
Shields Repairs Air Gun During Drying of Stores
Jun 10, 1805
Resting in Camp; Clark Surveys Nemaha Mounds
Jul 12, 1804
Sawyer Strike and Shifting Sands Exhaust the Crew
Jun 15, 1804
Rope Walk Camp: Oars and Towline Crafted
Jun 17, 1804
Chariton Rivers Reached After Rain-Soaked Morning
Jun 10, 1804
Scouting the Mine River and Rich Southern Lands
Jun 8, 1804
Swift Current and Crumbling Banks Near Bear Creek
Jun 1, 1804
Lewis Measures the Missouri and Osage Confluence
Jun 2, 1804
French Trappers Met Near the Painted Rock
Jun 5, 1804
Fur-Laden Canoes Met from the Pawnee Nation
May 27, 1804
Settlement Crowds the Bank at Osage Woman's River
May 23, 1804
Court Martial for Collins and Two Others at St. Charles
May 17, 1804

Other Key Figures

William Clark 1304 Meriwether Lewis 1032 Robert Heacock 788 George Drouillard 405 Patrick Gass 326 Mandan 277 John Ordway 214 Shoshone 188 George Shannon 179 John Collins 167 Clatsop 142 Nathaniel Pryor 141
Back to Treaties

Cross-Narrator Analyses

AI-assisted scholarly analyses that cite or discuss Osage Nation — showing 3 of the most recent matches.

Figure: Osage Nation

The Osage Nation in the Lewis & Clark Journals: A Synthesis

Though no journal entries in our tagged corpus directly reference the Osage Nation, their shadow falls across the early expedition record through…
May 17, 1804

Court-Martial at St. Charles: Discipline on the Eve of Departure

While three enlisted men reduce the day to weather and waiting, Clark's journal and Ordway's orderly book document a court-martial that tested…
June 1, 1804

Arrival at the Osage: Five Pens at the Confluence

On June 1, 1804, the Corps reached the mouth of the Osage River. Five narrators record the same arrival, but each preserves…

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