When Missouri became a state in 1821, European Americans spread westward rapidly, onto the territory of Native Americans. In 1825, the federal government negotiated the Treaty of St. Louis, which removed 1,400 Missouri-based Shawnee to lands in Kansas (some Shawnee continued into Oklahoma and eventually into Mexican Texas, and became known as the “Absentee Shawnee”). The Shawnee reservation in Kansas stretched from the Missouri State boundary nearly to modern-day Junction City, and from the Kansas River to about the southern line of Johnson County.
Eastman’s Map, showing reservations in Kansas, c. 1854. Courtesy Kansas Historical Society.
The Shawnee were a people whittled away by American encroachment and Indian Removal policies. They had a history of partial assimilation into European American culture and traded heavily with Americans. Portions of the Shawnee nation agreed with the tactic of assimilation and even with removal, hoping that the U.S. government might finally leave them alone. Other Shawnee disagreed and wanted to retain traditional culture and remain on their ancestral lands. The Kansas reservation brought nearly 2,000 members of these divergent factions of the Shawnee nation together.
With the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, the U.S. government’s new goal was to open Kansas for settlers from the United States. The government mandated the placement of the Native Americans who remained in the new Kansas Territory on individual allotments of land, rather than on large reservations. The government exchanged 1.6 million acres of Shawnee reservation land in Kansas for individual grants of 200 acres for each Shawnee man, woman, and child. Shawnee land holdings were reduced to roughly 200,000 acres, located within 30 miles of the Missouri border. The government permitted the Shawnee to stay on their lands in Kansas only if they accepted individual allotments. Those who did—perhaps 700 or more—were called the “severalty” Shawnee because of their individual land ownership.
Charles Bluejacket, an assimilationist Shawnee leader, owned an extensive property, including an orchard. From the 1874 Atlas Map of Johnson County, Johnson County Museum.
The “Black Bob Band” of the Shawnee, under the leadership of a chief named Black Bob, vehemently refused to accept individual allotments in 1854. The Black Bob, less than 200 in total, were traditionalists who rejected assimilation, protested the federal government’s policy of Indian Removal, believed in communal land ownership, and were vocal critics of the Shawnee national council. The council was made up of assimilationists who allied themselves with the federal government, rather than traditional leaders and hereditary chiefs. For Black Bob and his followers, accepting the government’s offer of individual land grants signified the forfeiture of their rights as tribal members. The government set aside a tract of land for the Black Bob Band totaling 33,000 acres in southern Johnson County. While the U.S. government recognized the acreage as individual allotments accumulated in one place, the Black Bob Shawnee chose to view it as a single allotment to be used for communal living.
Map showing the 33,000 acres belonging to the Black Bob Band, with a modern street overlay. Map from the 1874 Atlas Map of Johnson County, Johnson County Museum.
During the Border War and Civil War, the Black Bob’s land was directly in the path of warring vigilante groups. As a historical sketch in the 1874 Atlas Map of Johnson County relates, the Black Bob “soon began to suffer robbery and losses at the hands of bushwackers [pro-slavery forces], or Kansas thieves, and becoming uneasy—exposed as they were on both sides—left the county in a body and took up their residence in the Indian Territory.” Pro-slavery vigilantes under William Quantrill raided the Black Bob reservation in September 1862. The Black Bob fled to the west and south for protection. When they returned, white squatters had taken possession of portion of the land. Chief Black Bob died during this time, either in 1862 or 1864, but his followers maintained their independence from the rest of the Shawnee nation and the national council.
James Burnett Abbott, one-time Indian Agent to the Shawnee and schemer against the Black Bob Band. Courtesy Kansas Historical Society.
To make matters worse, James B. Abbott, an ex-Indian Agent to the Shawnees, and H.L. Taylor, his successor, contrived a scheme to swindle land from the Black Bob. They began illegally selling land to squatters. In 1866, they applied for the partition of the Black Bob’s common property and requested individual allotments for 69 members of the band. The Black Bob, who had no knowledge of such an application in their name, cried foul, asserting that no one could speak for their Band. Their anger was pointed at untrustworthy federal officials and the national council of the Shawnee. The legal issue of land title became so complicated and so expensive to fight, in the end it was too much for the Black Bob to overcome. In the 1870s, after many years of struggling to have their Kansas land titles recognized, the Black Bob Band was finally subjected to government removal (although they did not accept U.S. citizenship). They joined other Shawnee in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) on a joint Shawnee-Cherokee reservation.
Google Street View of Black Bob Park, in southern Johnson County.
Today, the only reminders of this contentious history in Johnson County are places named for Chief Black Bob and his followers: Black Bob Road, Black Bob Park, and Black Bob Elementary School in Olathe. So often, people talk about “the Shawnee” as a single unit; in reality, the Shawnee were a people intensely divided by the complex issues of assimilation, removal, intra-tribal politics, and maintaining traditional practices and beliefs. The history of Chief Black Bob and his followers reminds us that when talking about the past, just as today, generalizations always leave someone out. In the case of the Black Bob Band of the Shawnee, by generalizing we risk losing voices of dissent and resistance against the destruction of a culture.
JoCoHistory Blog 
What Native peoples lived in Johnson County before the Shawnee were moved there?
Great question! Johnson County was part of the ancestral territory of the Kansa (Kansas) people. Although their settlements were north of the Kansas River, Johnson County would have been a part of their hunting territory. The Osage also may have hunted here. These cultures were removed to reservations in Kansas by the Federal government prior to removing the Shawnee from their ancestral lands in the Ohio River Valley and placing them on reservations in Kansas.
Thanks! There is a movement to learn what specific Native people’s land our houses are occupying so this information is helpful.
I am a Black Bob Band descendant. My great grandfather was one who went into Texas. For a short time the Black Bob Band were Texas Rangers. It lasted a week.
Black Bob Band became the Absentee Shawnee tribe. My family had settled on Birdcreek in Oklahoma.
I currently live in Salina.
My wife’s grandfather descended from William Meyer Chouteau. Who is said to be the first white child born in Kansas. His mother was Nancy Logan a Shawnee. In his Dawes Roll paperwork there are many statements of the family traveling/living between Kansas and Oklahoma. There is a 1909 letter in the file that he, his parents and siblings are transferred to the Cherokee tribe. It appears they stayed in Kansas to tend to their trading business instead of moving to OK and being adopted in the original move. How do I find out if his mother was part of the Black Bob Band?
BmacD, thanks for your question. We only have records that are available online or that we have found from other institutions while researching in the past. The 1856-57 Census of Shawnee lists a William M. Chouteau, 23, but I did not see a Nancy Logan (only one Nancy F. Chouteau listed, 24). That is not necessarily unusual, and I do not know her death date. The only listing I have come across of Black Bob Band members is from an online resource called “Memorial of Members of Black Bob’s Band of Shawnee Indians,” and it was essentially a memo to the government that the Black Bob were upset their land was being taken from under them by a scheme involving their Indian Agent. It is dated 1870, and does not include Nancy Logan or William M. Chouteau (there is a Nancy Blackhoof listed). You might reach out to the Kansas State Historical Society or the National Archives here in KC to see if they have more complete records of the Black Bob Band–and I’d love it if you would follow back up with me if you find a census of that group!
I had read a little on this including Chief Black Bob being asked to move his people, first, near the Missouri boot hill which might have been on the Illinois side. Then, my memory recalls, Chief Black Bob being asked to leave again after having to resettle in Kansas. He rightfully and justly refused each time and kept his tribe home as long as possible. I do not remember my sources. What well researched material do you all have on this? Shouldn’t this story be fully taught in all of the school districts in the Kansas City area and the three state region at a minimum?
Tim, thanks for your comment. Yes, the history of Indian Removal, as the federal policy was called, was horrific, and Chief Black Bob’s experience is both upsetting and inspiring (he remained staunchly against assimilation).
There is not much information solely on Black Bob’s Band, but there are a few sources out there– Stephen Warren’s books “The Shawnees and Their Neighbors” (2005) and “Worlds the Shawnees Made” (2014); several articles by Kevin Abing, including “Before Bleeding Kansas: Christian Missionaries, Slavery, and the Shawnee Indians in Pre-Territorial Kansas” in the Kansas History Quarterly vol. 24 (Spring 2001); and a recent work I have not yet read but is highly regarded written by Jeffrey Ostler, “Surviving Genocide” (2019). If you are interested in the Kansa, William Unrau’s book “The Kansa Indians” (1971) is good although much older, and JCCC professor Tai Edwards’ book “Osage Women and Empire” (2018) is great, as well.
A very complicated topic! As an amateur historian living on the Black Bob reservation (in Chapel Hill subdivision), I’ve collected quite a bit of detail about the Black Bob.
There were 167 members of the Black Bob Shawnee band identified by name in the 1857 census … land settlements for the 33,000 acres lasting into the 1880s had to reconcile all 200 acre land claims back to one of the original Black Bob members (or their heirs). Very fascinating.
Are there any portraits of Chief Black Bob?
Hi Karen, sorry for the delay in answering your question! We are not aware of any portraits of Chief Black Bob. Thanks for reading!
I do have a copy of the 1857 census of the Black Bob band of Shawnee that elected to hold their land in common. There are 167 individuals listed and hence the 33,200 acres of land set aside as the Black Bob Reserve. (167 * 200 acres each = 33,200). To settle the land title disputes in the 1870-1890s the land held in common had to be claimed in 200 acre parcels by one of the original 167 Black Bob members on the census or their heirs.