The Treaty of Brownstown was between the United States and the Council of Three Fires (Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi), Wyandott, and Shawanoese Indian Nations. It was concluded November 25, 1808 at Brownstown in Michigan Territory, and provided cession of a strip of Indian land for a road to connect two disconnected areas of land previously ceded by Indians to the United States.
With the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 the Indian Nations ceded southern and eastern Ohio to white settlement. The Treaty of Fort Industry in 1805 moved the boundary westward to a line 120 miles (190 km) west of Pennsylvania, which coincided with the western boundary of the Firelands of the Connecticut Western Reserve. In 1807, the Treaty of Detroit called for the cession of lands northwest of the Maumee River, mostly in the Territory of Michigan. The area between the Maumee River and the 1805 boundary remained Indian Lands, and thus, the United States could not legally build a road connecting settlements in Ohio and the Territory of Michigan. This area was also swampy, and would require much engineering effort and funds to cross with a road.
The parties agree a road would be beneficial to all parties, and to promote it, agree to the following articles.
The Indian Nations agree to “give, grant, and cede, unto the said United States, a tract of land for a road, of one hundred twenty feet in weadth, from the foot of the rapids of the river Miami of the Lake Erie, to the western line of the Connecticut reserve, and all the land within one mile of the said road, on each side thereof, for the purpose of establishing settlements along the same; also a tract of land, for a road only, of one hundred twenty feet in weadth, to run southwardly from what is called Lower Sandusky, to the boundary line established by the Treaty of Greenville, with the privilege of taking at all times, such timber and other materials, from the adjacent lands as may be necessary for making and keeping in repair the said road, with the bridges that may be required along the same.”