The Ponca signed their first treaty with the United States in 1817, ceding two million acres of their lands. In 1858, their reservation had been reduced to 100,000 acres. Poncas were removed to Indian Territory; however, 25% of the tribe died from disease and starvation in a single year. Chief Standing Bear led a group on a 500-mile walking trek back to their homelands in Nebraska to bury their dead. The subsequent trial, "Standing Bear v. Crook" established the writ of habeas corpus for the first time for Native Americans, also allowed the Poncas to have lands restored to them in Nebraska.