Lake Superior Chippewa - Treaties and Reservations

Treaties and Reservations

In a series of treaties with the US Government in the mid-nineteenth century, the Lake Superior Chippewa were formally grouped as a unit, which included the

• Mississippi,
• Pillager,
• Bois Forte,
• Muskrat Portage,
• Red Lake and
• Pembina bands. The various villages had been politically independent and did not have a centralized tribal authority.

In the winter of 1851, President Zachary Taylor ordered the removal of the Lake Superior Chippewa west of the Mississippi River, as had already been forced on most other tribes in the east. During the course of it, the US Army attacked the people in what has become known as the Sandy Lake Tragedy, during which several hundred Chippewa died, including women and children. The La Pointe chief Kechewaishke (Buffalo) went to Washington, DC to appeal to the government for relief. National outrage had been aroused by the many deaths o the Ojibwe, and the US ended attempts at Ojibwe removal.

The final treaty in 1854 established permanent reservations in Michigan at L'Anse, Lac Vieux Desert, and Ontonagan, which are the component parts of today's Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and Lac Vieux Desert Indian Reservation.

In Wisconsin, reservations were established at Red Cliff, Bad River, Lac Courte Oreilles, and Lac du Flambeau. The St. Croix and Sokaogon bands, left out of the 1854 treaty, did not obtain tribal lands or federal recognition until the 1930s after the Indian Reorganization Act.

In Minnesota, reservations were set up at Fond du Lac and Grand Portage. Other bands, such as the Bois Forte Band, continued independent negotiations with the US government and ended political affiliation with the Lake Superior Chippewa.