Learn the First Nation History as well as the legacy
compiled by Brian Matter
site tech John Verdon
Red Lake Chippewa
Learn the First Nation History as well as the legacy
compiled by Brian Matter
site tech John Verdon
Red Lake Chippewa
This site is dedicated in memory of:
Dan Sargent, White Earth Chippewa.
Welcome to the heritage of the Chippewa Ojibwe people. This site is dedicated to maintaining the legacy of oral tradition in the written format.
You are invited to learn the history and acknowledge the traditions, achievements, and legacy of the Chippewa Ojibwe Nation. We have made an effort to accurately cite every source and maintain a neutral point of view. Hopefully, we can honor the past and the elders together, while inspiring the youth for tomorrow.
In recognition that some use the word Ojibwe while others prefer Chippewa this site uses both terms contrary to standardized English form.
1845 A-wun-ne-wa-be, Bird of Thunder, Chippewa warrior, by Catlin, painted at the request of Louis Phillippe I, King of France.
Smithsonian. wikicommons
Page links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7 can be clicked at both the top and very bottom of each page
IF ANY FOOTNOTES DO NOT WORK GO TO : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mcb133aco/sandbox2
Be-sheekee / Buffalo by Francis Vincenti in U.S. Senate wing. The U.S. House has a bronze copy. He was a Leech-Lake Pillager war Chief that offered Gov. Ramsey to fight the Sioux Sept. 15, 1862.[1]
wikicommons
The Ojibwa people are the only tribe to have their leaders acknowledged in the U.S.Capitol with busts. There are three, one by the U.S.Senate and two by the U.S. House of Representitives.
The turtle, or Grandmother Earth - Nookomis-aki, represents wisdom, healing, health and protection.
©Royal Ontario Museum
The extent of the Potawatomi and Salteaux lands is not depicted. The Salteaux borders may not be known well enough to approximate. wikicommons
Oral history has the tribe originating near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. It also has that the ancient Chippewa capitol was to the west, in Lake Superior, on Chequamegon bay and was home to Mudjekeewis the Chief of all Spirit Keepers.[19]: ch.X Some believe that the Otchipwe: Chippewa/Ojibwa are the descendants of the Old Copper Culture that inhabited the Great Lakes region ca. 4,000–1,500 BC as part of the Laurel complex.[20] [21][22][23][24][25] They utilized surface deposits of raw copper in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ontario. The Chippewa/Ojibwa, Ottawa/Odawa, and Potawatomi are the Anishinaabe tribes that make up the Council of Three Fires. The Otchipwe were the first to build a fire. They are the "Keepers of Tradition" in medicine and faith and are entrusted with the sacred scrolls as well as the teachings of the ancient Midewewin Lodge. They are known as the "Older brother" of the council. The Ottawa are the "Keepers of the Trade"and are known as the "Middle brother" of the council. The Potawatomi are the "Keepers of the Fire" and are known as the "Younger brother".[26] Of the three, they would suffer the greatest dislocation from their homelands being sent to Kansas and Indian Territory in Oklahoma. The Anishinaabe have 7 traditional clans: Crane, Loon, Bear, Fish, Marten, Deer and Bird.
According the "Indian Advocate"citing, from the Bureau of American Ethnology, p.306, a band of the tribe is first mentioned as the "Banouichitigouin" in the 1640 Jesuit Relation. The source speculates that the Otchipwe version would be "Bawa-tigo-wininwug" meaning "people of the Sault". https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/45043535/1907-10-01/ed-1/seq-2/ The next page of text asserts that the tribe has been on the north side of Lake Superior "since time immemorial". The iconography of the pictographs, petroglyphs, and petroforms found there shows a continuous link to the nation on multible levels.
Recorded in the Library of Congress are Schoolcraft's two variations of what the tribe called itself in his experience in the region of Michigan: Achipoué or Ojibway. "Chippewa" is the anglicized version of Otchipwé or variations of that word: Achipoué or Ochipwé.[27] Multiple sources state that "Ojibwa or Ojibwe" is the francized version of the same Anishinaabe word. They also state that both variations are correct indicating that there are two accepted pronunciations of Otchipwe. See the List of Ojibwa ethnonyms. William Warren wrote that while the word "Ojibwa" meaning "to pucker" may relate to moccasins it also could relate to the roasting of prisoners.
"Chpt. 1, History of the Ojibways, Warren" https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/gdc/lhbum/0866b/0866b_0025_0398.pdf
( see image #2 in the gallery)
Typically not mentioned with the "Ojibwe" name are the other divisons of the family: the Chippewa, Mississauga,Saulteaux, and Nipissing.
As to the Otchipwé language, it has three distinct branches with dialects of each. There is the Ottawa spoken in southern Ontario and Michigan, the Sereren in northern Ontario and Manitoba, and the Algonquin version in southern Quebec. Early accounts recorded many variations to what was spoken by the bands encountered. That resulted in multiple spellings of many Otchipwé words.
Historically museums have labled Otchipwé artifacts by zones: Upper Canada Ojibway, Lower Canada Ojibway, Southwest Chippewa, and Saulteaux.
https://www.translationdirectory.com/articles/article2236.php
The spoken language of the Otchipwe: Ojibwa or Chippewa, had nearly been lost. Professor Treuer states in his book "Loss of Language and Culture" he believes there are fewer than 1,000 speakers fluent in the U.S. almost all are on the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota.
Ojibwe dialects: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ojibwe_dialects
The Algonquin's have a word that appears visually simular. but with a different Etymology, Origin & Meaning, variously spelled Kipawa , Kippawa. Kippewa. It has several meanings: "closed water" "getting off", "disembarkation", or "the location where one can pick up supplies or trade". Kipawa Lake and village are 550 km due east of Sault Ste. Marie.
The Iroquois called the Ojibwe or Chippewa the Estiaghicks or Ostiagahoroones. The Hurons referred to them as the Pauotigoueieuhak, meaning the dwellers at the falls, or the Pahouitingouachirini meaning men of the shallow cataract. It is unknown if those names would have applied to the Saulteaux west of Lake Superior or the Nipissing or Mississauga. What other neighboring tribes like the Shawnee, Maimi, Menominee, Cree, Cheyenne or Gros Ventre called the Ojibwe Chippewa is not well documented. The same goes for what the Mohawks or Iroquois called the Mississauga.
"Hahatonouadeba' was the French transliteration of the Dacotah word 'Hahatunwan' meaning Chippewa. The Dacotah used it in reference to the "Hahatunwan Watpa" or Chippewa River according to Jonathan Carver.[28]
The French said the Otchipwe called the Dacotah the "Nadowessi" which they pluralized with the French suffix "oux". In common speech "Nadoweissioux" which was shortened to "Sioux". That simplifed version was adopted into English. The Proto-Algonquian word "na·towe·wa" references the massasauga rattlesnake. Another source states that the Ojibwa called the Iroquois the “Nadowaysws,” or “The True Adders” and the Sioux were the “Nadowaysuaig / Nadowaysuis,” or "Snakes-In-The-Grass or the Lesser Adders". https://thefirstscout.blogspot.com/2011/03/conflict-makes-tribes-enemies-or-allies.html
Geographically the Ojibwe language provides many names used today. The Mississippi River gets it name from the Chippewa word for "Great-River", Misiziibi. The origins of the name Wisconsin is not agreed upon, but may come from the Chippewa word Meskousing which refers to the red cliffs of the Wisconsin Dells. Michigan's name comes from the Ojibwa as well, Michigamme or Mishigamaa meaning "Great-water". Both the Canadian province and Lake Manitoba get their name from the Ojibwa "manitou-wapow", or "strait of the Manitou". The Ojibwa word "Ontonagon" was used to name a river, town, county, township and boulder in Michigan as well as a prehistoric lake. However, the tribe's name itself was used multiple times to name areas or Waterways. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Ontario all have rivers named for the Chippewa people. Ohio, Michigan and Montana all have two creeks named Chippewa while Iowa, New York, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Ontario have one. Ohio has a Chippewa Creek Falls, and Chippewa Creek gorge. Both Wisconsin and Ontario have a Chippewa falls. Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota all have lakes named for the Chippewa people with Minnesota having three. All three states have Chippewa Counties. Michigan has three counties with townships with the name while Ohio and Pennsylvania each have one. Wisconsin has towns named Chippewa Falls and Chippewa. Ontario has a Chippewa Island as well as a town named Chippewa. Ontario also has Ojibway Provincial Park, Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve, and Ojibway Park Prairie Complex. In addition, geologists named the prehistoric Proglacial lake, that pre-dates the Great Lakes region, as Lake Chippewa. Further north they named another pre-historic lake Lake Ojibway. Additionally, both Ontario and Minnesota have "Ojibway Lakes". Wisconsin has an unincorporated town named Ojibwa in Sawyer County. Iowa named the Gitchie Manitou State Preserve on the Minnesota border for the Ojibwa Great Spirit. In 1802 New York named Chippewa Bay on the St. Lawerence River. Manitoba, Wisconsin, and Minnesota all have a Lake Windigo while Michigan has a Lake Windaga. Minnesota has the Chippewa National Forest. "Keweenaw" is Ojibwa for "portage", has multiple uses including the Keweenaw National Historical Park. Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan is also linked to the Ojibwa. Ontario, Canada has a Municipality named for Ojibwa Chief Muskoka. Savannah, Georgia has a Chippewa Square while Buffalo, New York had a Chippewa Market (now destroyed). In 1857 Minnesota Territory had a town named Ojibwa that no longer exists. Wisconsin has a small town name Ojibwa in Sawyer county.
In 1829, Henry Schoolcraft proposed to the Michigan territorial legislature that Michigan's place names come “from aboriginal names, so far as they are suitable, or can be anglicized.”
Using the compass, the Anishinaabe primary direction is "east" with the rising sun.[31] Additionally, the Ojibwa believe knowledge comes from the east.[32] Frances Densmore wrote in her 1929 book that the Chippewa buried their dead with the feet pointing to the east as that was the direction they would travel in the afterlife.[33]
Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, Obahbahmwawagezhegoqua, Grand daughter of Chief Waubojeeg I. wikicommons
Smithsonian wikicommons
Wisconsin Historical Society wikicommons
Milwaukee Public Museum wikicommons
Mikwendaagozi = IT IS REMEMBERED
Pre history according to the Anishinaabe has that the Gitchi Manito sent a great flood to cleanse the earth and Nanaboozhoo had a muskrat dive to retrieve soil from the water, which was placed on grandmother turtle's back to form the new land, known as Turtle Island.
Pre history according to the archelogical record, in a portion of the great lakes region, has the Old Copper Culture, the Laural Complex with the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung mound builders followed by the Black Duck tradition. Some believe the Chippewa Ojibwa have direct ties to the Black Duck tradition. Some also believe there are links between the Black Duck tradition and the Laural Complex. In addition it is known that the Chippewa Ojibwa carried copper nuggets in their medicine bags.
1600 Origins of the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatamies.[28]
1615 is the year that the Chippewa Ojibwa had first contact with a European when Samuel de Champlain arrived at a village they had on Lake Heron.
1622 -23 Étienne Brulé made contact with the tribe at Sault Ste. Marie and made a more extensive record of the contact.
1629 The inter-tribal Beaver Wars start lasting 75 years between the
ca.1634-39 The Battle of Skull Island and the Battles of Flint River, the Chippewa removed the Sauk from Michigan.[29][30]
1640 The Ojibwe are first mentioned in print in the French annual The Jesuit Relations as the "Banouichitigouin" or the "People of the Sault" which the French translated as the "Saulteaux".
1660 The Ojibwe, Chippewa, Mississauga and Sault tribes get firearms.
1662 Battle of Point Iroquois. The Chippewa annihilated a large Iroquois war party at Point Iroquois killing all but two to return with a warning, do not come again. The survivors ears and noses were cut off and the heads of the dead were were put on planted pikes as warnings.[31]
1671 Francois Daumont, Sieur de St. Lusson held the "The Pagent of the Sault", claiming the lands in North America for the King of France. Leaders of 15 different tribes were present. That included all three nations of the three council fires.
1674 A group of Nadouessioux arrived at Sault Ste. Marie to make a treaty with the tribes there and ended up all dead.
1678 The village of Chippeway, now Chippewa, Canada, is first seen in the historical record.[32]
1679 Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, representing the French Crown brokered a peace agreement between the Sioux and Chippewa at Mille Lacs, Minnesota.[33]
1681 French minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert created the congé system, which granted licenses to fur traders to travel inland and establish fur trading posts. Serviceing these posts created the voyageurs in the heartland of the Ojibwa. They adopted Ojibwa built canoes in multiple sizes as their primary mode of transport into the 1750s. Then a shop was set up to meet an increasing demand for canoes. The Maître/Montreal was 32-36' long, 6'wide, 600 lbs in weight, capacity: 3,500 lbs. Next came the "Bastard", 24' or 30' in length and the Canot du Nord 24'-27' that weighed 300 lbs. The smallest canoes were the 15-16' "Ojibwa"/"Express".[43] It could travel over a 100 miles a day with an experienced crew. The canoes were a credit to Ojibwa innovation, engineering and utilization of natural resources.[44] Many of the Frenchmen had Ojibwa wifes creating strong bonds to the Ojibwa community. Many of the furs the voyageurs transported had been collected by Ojibwa or Cree hunters.
1692 The French established a trading post at Shaugawaumikong with the Chippewa, which is La Pointe, Wisconsin today.
1693 Pierre-Charles Le Sueur, negotiated a Chippewa/Sioux peace treaty that lasted until 1736.[42][45] This period is much cited in Dacotah oral history.
1695 Chief Chingcabee went to Quebec to ask Count Frontenac's assistance in dealing with the Sauk and Fox tribes. It was an act of international diplomacy. "Shagobay/Zhaagobe" could be other spellings of the Chief's name.
ca.1700 Chief O-ge-mah-be-nak-ke or Bald Eagle led 1500 warriors of the Mississauga Nation south to the lands vacated by the Neutrals and the Huron. The Iroquois had been responsible and tried to evict the Mississauga. They were hugely unsuccessful.
1701 Dish With One Spoon Treaty between the Chippewa and Iroquois or the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee. The agreement is also known as the Great Peace of Montreal. It was signed by 39 First Nations ending the Beaver Wars.
1703 Chippewa and Misisagué bands built a joint village, 12 leagues from Detroit, at the head of Lake St. Clair. An anonymous 1718 French report states that 60-80 men were at a site on an island in the river and it was being farmed. Harsen's Island fits this description for the U.S while Walpole Island fits for Canada. https://detroiturbanism.blogspot.com/2016/03/indian-villages-reservations-and-removal.html
1712-33 Beginning of the Fox Wars. The Fox (Meskwaki) went to war against he French and her allies over the fur trade. The allies were the Chippewa. While the Fox did not lose, their numbers were so reduced that they joined the Sac to become the Sac-Fox. tribe. Carver's map has a Road to War marked in Wisconsin for the Chippewea and the Fox & Dacotah.
1714-20 The Ottawa war Chief Pontiaic or Obwandiyag is believe to have been born in this time frame. His mother was Chippewa.
1718 The frenchman Monsieur de Sabrevois recorded the"Misisaguez" (Missassaugas) at Walpole Island in his "Mémoire sur les Sauvages du Canada".
ca. 1725 Battle of Point Prescott Wisconsin was a Chippewa victory with hundreds of Sioux dead.[46]
1736 The Chippewa formed an alliance with the Cree and Assiniboine swearing vengence for the Fort St. Charles beheadings by the Sioux.[42]
The Jean Baptiste de La Vérendrye party of 19 voyageurs were found decapitated.
1740s The Ojibwa-Iroquois War began, lasting until 1801. No intertribal war is comparable for numbers involved. The Chippewa would leave their mark on Iroquois expansionism in 1662 with a huge victory. The Ojibwa Chippewa - Dacotah Sioux hostilities has no camparables for duration. The Jesuits believed it was going on when they first arrived at Sault Ste. Marie in the 1640s. Daniel Greysolon Sieur du Lhut brokered a Chippewa Sioux peace agreement in 1679. Hostilities were recorded again in the 1730's lasting intermittently until 1871.
1740s Northwestern Confederacy had it's beginnings and included southern bands of the Chippewa or Ojibwe.
1740 Robert Navarre, worked at Fort Pontchartrain, Pays d'en Haut (Detroit, Michigan), New France, as the intendant of civil affairs Détroit, (the royal notary), Province of Québec. He reported a large Chippewa village at "Mingo Town" in the mid-1740s numbering 2,000. The word "Mingo" was typically used to refer to the Iroquois. Today that would be near Brecksville Ohio in the Cuyahoga Valley. Ohio has maintained this history at the local level. A villiage was named Chippewa on the Lake. Chippewa Lake was named for the tribe. The Ohio Salt Company at Wadsworth, 25 miles from Brecksville, named a brand of salt for the Chippewa.
"A Survey of Prehistoric People in the Cuyahoga Lands," https://sites.google.com/site/deepcovercleveland/home/prehistoric-indian-earthworks-in-the-city-of-cleveland-and-environs
1742 Battle of the Brule was a decisive Chippewa victory over the Sioux.
1743 Auguste Chouteau wrote that the Potawatomi from near Detroit with Ottawa and Chippewa moved to Chicago and along the Illinois River.
1745 Battle of Strawberry Island. The Chippewa evicted the Sioux from Lac du Flambeau. The island became hallowed ground in remembrance of the warriors lost there.
1745 A permanent village at Lac Courte Oreilles at the headwaters of the Chippewa River was established according to the Milwaukee Public Museum.
1747 Mississauga Chief Macqua Medah, or Bear's Oil had his village on Conneaut creek near Lake Erie in Ohio. Another Mississauga village is believed to have been to the west on Ohio's Grand River.
ca.1748 Battle of Smokey Hill Island in Wisconsin, 300 Chippewa & 10 French vs. 300 Winnebago (Ho-chunk) was a Chippewa victory. There were superstitions that the White deer and the Hairy man/monster haunted the island so people only went there during daylight.
1750s The Huron people became allies of the Three Fires Council.[47]
1750 Battle of Kathio the Milles-Lacs band evicted the Dacotah from what they call their "homeland".
1750 Last battle between the Ojibwa and Iroquoios.
In Chippewa oral history the Gros Ventre are "the men of the olden time" or "men of the old days" and are associated the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Oral history has it being their ancestral lands.
1751 The Potawatomi and Chippewa attacked the Illini in northern Illinios.
1752 Battle of Pickawillany The French with 250 Ottawa and Ojibwa led by Chief Pontiac and Charles de Langlade captured the fort and attacked the Maimi Pickawillamy village begining the French Indian Wars. Sources state they celebrated with ritualic cannabilism.[48] The Maimi Chief had said he would never trade with the French and died for it.
1755 According to Alfred C Ferrell, in 1904. the Ojibwa were with a Sieur de La Come at the Battle of Lake George, which was indecisive. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85053117/1904-07-28/ed-1/?sp=3&q=chippewa+fight+the+sioux&r=0.263,0.107,0.601,0.29,0
1755 The Indian Department was established to oversee relations between the British Empire and the First Nations of North America.
1755 Battle of the Monongahela Was a victory for the French and their native allies including the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi with Seur de La Comeagain and led by Charles de Langlade. At the time future President George Washington was a civilian aide-de-camp to British General Braddock.
1756 Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that saw the Council of Three Fires side with the French. In the end the French lost removing them from North America. The Ojibwa lamented the French loss as they saw the French as more respectfully than the British. Before that happened they supported the French against the British.
* Capt. Charles Michel de Langlade had a Ottawa mother, but he recruited and led Chippewa with his Ottawa into battle at:
1757 Siege of Fort William Henry The French were joined by 166 Saulteaux warriors plus 157 Mississauga Ojibwa against the fort.[49]
1758 Battle of Carillon was a major British defeat to the French and their Indian allies including the Ojibwa.
1759 Chief Ma-mon-ga-ze-da or Big Foot, with his Grand Portage warriors joined the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham defending Quebec.[49] The French noted his efforts with a medal and a flag. The French had two medals he could have received. The King Louis XV Peace Medal may have been the choice for his support of France. He had a son that follwed in his footsteps as a War Chief, Wau-bo-jeeg.
1759 Battle of Fort Niagara. In 1828 Schoolcraft recorded that Wau-bo-jeeg received a broad wampum belt and gorget from Sir William Johnson for this battle. p.371 https://turtletalk.blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/chieftianship-among-michigan-indians.pdf
1761 Chief Minweweh (the One with the Silver Tongue) at Fort Michilimackinac made his noted declaration of loyality to the French King to Alexander Henry the elder.[50] The French called him Le Grand Sauteux. Images show Minavavana as being heavily tattooed. Chief Wawatam, adopted the fur trader Alexander Henry as a brother. The importance of the Great Serpent to the Ojibwa was recorded when Henry attempted to kill a rattlesnake and the Ojibwa stopped him and gave reverence to the snake calling it "Grandfather". A thundersorm soon followed indicating the offense taken by the snake. The Ojibwa nearly killed Henry to placate the the serpent's displeasure.[51]
1763 The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was created to protect lands of Native Americans west of the of the Appalachian Mountains. It established strict rules for the purchase and surrender of native lands with the Crown.
ca. 1763 Le Grand Saulteur or Minweweh established a village in the area of what is now Chicago.
1763 Lt. Gorrels, of the 60th Regiment of Foot, observed that the Nadowessioux were always at war with the Ojibwas.
Because his mother was Chippewa Pontiac had Chippewa support. Chief Seckas of the Chippewas of the Thames River led 170 warriors to join his siege force at Fort Detroit. They were also present at the Battle of Bloody Run where the British were successfully repulsed. Chief Madjeckewiss or Bad Bird was there too.
1764 Battle of Fort Michilimackinac. Chiefs Madjeckewiss and Minweweh, of the Mackinac Island and Sault tribes, captured the British fort killing the garrison. Victory ritualistic cannablism was reported afterwards.[52][37]: p.158, 176.
1764 Treaty of Niagara was not about land cessations, it was a nation to nation treaty concerning recognition between the British Crown and various First Nations including the:
ca.1765 Chippewa and Potawatomi who moved south from St. Joseph to the Sangamon and Illinois rivers.
1767 Two groups of Chippewa joined the Potawatomi in raids on the Ohio River.
1767 Sir William Johnson, British Supt. Indian afffairs on the northern district, wrote General Gage "that there was little to be gained attempting peace between the Sioux and the Chippeweighs".
ca.1768 Chief Biauswah (II) led a war party from Fond-du-Lac that removed the Sioux from Sandy Lake, Cass Lake, Winnepeg Lake, and Leech Lake.[53] The Battle of Crow Wing was another Chippewa victory, that William Warren reported as a fierce battle.
1768 Chief Big Foot traveled to meet Sir WIilliam Johnson to request a trader be sent to La Pointe, as there was none. Johnson presented him a broad wampum belt of peace that was warmly received and a trading post was established.
1769 Sir William Johnson wrote to Loard Hillsbourgh, a minister to the King, "that Sioux Chippeweigh relations were more violent." p.69 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/590be125ff7c502a07752a5b/t/5b148fe6758d46f985102638/1528074224864/Neill%2C+Edward+Duffield%2C+Minnesota+Explorers+and+Pioneers+from+A.D.+1659+to+A.D.+1858.pdf
1769 The Chippewa, Ottawa,and Potawatomi visited the Spanish in St. Louis who they informed that they were from the St. Joseph and Illinois rivers to the north.
ca 1770-90 The Chippewa destroyed a Cheyenne village on the Sheyenne River near what is now Lisbon, North Dakota. It referred to as the Biesterfeldt Site. A Chippewa Chief's oral history to David Thompson in 1879 reported this battle. In 1863 General Sibley's expedition passed the historic site when Sibley camped on the river. Northern Cheyenne Reservation Timeline, Northern Cheyenne Tribe 2017. https://mhs.mt.gov/education/IEFA/NorthernCheyenneTimeline.pdf
1770 Chief Minweweh’s band was attacked by the Fox near Michilimackinac and the chief was killed.
1774 The British extended the boundary of Quebec Province to the Mississippi and Ohio rivers as well as a large portion of the HBC's Rupert's land in tthe Red River valley of the north.
1775 The British schooner Chippewa was lost at Long Point, Ontario. The Council of Three Fires came to see the British as more respectful then the land hungry Americans and would side with them in the conflicts to come.
1776-8 Jonathan Carver with Captain James Tute explored the upper Mississippi basin in hopes of finding the Northwest Passage. Carver's account of the St Croix River from the Namekagon confluence to the St. Croix's headwaters he named the "Coppermine Branch,"for the number of copper nuggets on it's banks. He noted the Chippewa accurately called the St. Croix headwaters "the Moschettoe (mosquito) country". On his map Carver labeled the Chippewa and Red Cedar Rivers "The Roads to War" (for the Chippewa and Nadowassie tribes). He labeled another Nadowassie Road to War by the Red Lake Nation. He had more Moschettoe up there too.
1778-79 According to his journal, Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton, was joined by 60 Ottawa and Ojibwe warriors to retake the fur trading post of Fort Sackville / Fort Vincennes, Indiana, from the Americans, in December 1778. They were joined by 200 Miami, Potawatomi, and Shawnee warriors. That post was established by Sieur Charles Juchereau with 34 Canadiens. October, 1702. He was the first Lieutenant-General of the Royal Jurisdiction of the Provostship of Montreal.
1780 Battle of St. Louis in Upper Spanish Louisiana. Chief Matchekewis of the Gun-Lake band lead the entire indigenous force.[54] He is depicted in the Missiouri State Capitol.
1782 Colonel Crawford's Defeat. The forty four "Lake Indians" who joined Captain William Caldwell at the Battle of the Sandusky were Chippewa warriors of Sarnia, Lake Huron.
1783 "There wasn't a Sioux village above St. Anthony Falls or east of the Mississippi." History_of_the_Ojibway_Nation/Neill/Chapter_2
1783 Battle of St. Croix Falls, was a Chief Waubojeeg victory over the Sauk-Fox and Sioux. That year Mohawk Chief Thayendanegea formed the Northwestern Confederacy which included the Three Fires Nations.
Treaty of Paris (1783) officially ended the War of Independence in the British colonies.
1784-1804 There was a canoe yard a Grand Portage producing 70 canoes per year.
1785 Treaty of Fort McIntosh was signed by numerous tribes including the Chippewa at what is today Beaver, Pennslvania. It was the first treaty the Chippewa signed with the United States Government.
1785-95 Northwest Indian War Thayendanegea aka Joseph Brant said that "Native lands were held in common by all tribes, and so no land could be ceded without the consent of the Confederacy".[55]
1786 Mississauga Chief Nawachjekezhegwabe “the sloping sky” aka Joseph or John Sawyer, b. 1786 in Genesee country of western New York State.
1787 Delaware became the first state in the Union.
1787 "In July of 1787 the British government arranged a treaty of peace signed by the Sioux, Chippewa and Winnebago. Among the Chippewa bands signing the treaty wsre those from Sandy Lake, Lake "Vinnibigoshish" and Leech Lake."
Indian Claims Commission, Docket 18-B p.788 file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/p17279coll10_510%20(1).pdf
1787 Northwest Ordinance: “the utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and property shall never be taken from them without their consent.”
1788 The lower Chippewa Valley was a no-man's land for the Lac-Courte-Oreilles.[56]
1789 The Chippewa signed the Treaty of Fort Harmar but, it failed to address the main grievance of the unauthorized settlement of Indian lands.[57] Today the treaty site is in Marietta, Ohio.
1790s The Pembina band developed the Red River cart.[58]
1790 Indian Trade and Intercourse Act stipulated that "no purchase, grant, lease, or other conveyance of Indian lands would be valid unless made by treaty or convention entered into under the authority of the United States".
1791 Fort Chippewa was built on Chippewa Creek near the south Niagara portage.
1791 The Battle of the Wabash. The U.S. forces faced the Northwestern Confederacy that included the Ojibwa during the Northwest Indian War. It was "the most decisive defeat and largest victory by Native Americans.[59]
1793 "The Three Fires" held a council with the Six Nations and renewed friendship with them.
1794 The Battle of Fort Recovery Ohio. The Western Confederacy of Shawnee, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Lenape, and Chippewa battled the garrison.
1794 The Battle of Fallen Timbers was an American victory that ended the war near what today is Toledo, Ohio.
1794 The Jay Treaty allowed American Indians, specifically those born in Canada, to freely cross the border between the United States and Canada for trade and other purposes. This included the right to travel, reside, work, study, and even retire in the other country. To exercise these rights, individuals generally needed to prove at least 50% American Indian blood quantum.
1795 The Greenville Treaty concluded the Northwest Indian War, but American encroachment quickly voided the agreement.[57] The Chippewa signed this treaty in what is today Greenville, Ohio. Chippewa Chief Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish, otherwise Bad Bird, signed the Treaty.
*The Chiefs that signed were given a medal. Pictogram signitures on the treaty https://digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/299800/
ca. 1795 William W. Warren recounts in Chapter 29 “The Pillagers” a Pillager battle with the Dacotah at Battle Lake, Minnesota. The Pillagers named it "Ish-quon-e-de-win-ing" (Where But Few Survived) It was a Dacotah victory.
1795 SHAH-WUN-DAIS (“sultry heat”, John Sunday), Mississauge Chief, was born near the Black River in central New York.
1796 Deputy Superintendent-General Alexander McKee of the British
Indian Department was reported to have told the people of Walpole Island:
" Remain my children, do not desert the abode to which I brought you. I never shall let anyone molest you. Should any persons corne to ask from you a part of these lands, tum from them with distrust and deny them their request. Never for a moment heed their voice and at your dying day instruct your sons to get theirs, teach them as generation succeeds generation to reserve intact their inheritance and poverty shall be unknown to them."
As recounted by Chief Beyigishigneshkam. Walpole Island First Nation remains unceded land today. Collectionscanada.gc.ca https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp03/MQ40477.pdf
1796 The Chippewa take Red Lake and drive the Sioux out.
1798 With the determination that the Grand Portage trading site was "American" land the Northwest Co. decided to move it's Grand Portage operations north to "British" soil. They picked Kaminstikwa off Thunder Bay 60 miles north. "To get approval to use the site they went to the Chipeway Chiefs and elders of the "Kichecaminngue" (Gitchee gamme or Lake Superior) Indians at Grand Portage for permission. That indicates the Ojibwe at both locations are historically of the same band" and that the nation was split by the international border. Today Kaminstikwa is part of the Fort William First Nation, seperate from the Grand Portage band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
p.86-7 https://npshistory.com/publications/grpo/white-2005.pdf On the larger scale it links the Fort William First Nation with all the Lake Superior bands in Wisconsin plus the Fond du Lac in Minnesota and the Lac Vieux Desert Band in Michigan.
1798 David Thompson hired by the Northwest Co. arrived at the village of Chief She-she-she-pus-kut at Red Lake.
1799 At Sandy Lake D. Thompson learned the Chippewa had lost 40 to the Sioux, Sauks, and Menomonees a half a days journey to the west. wiki/History_of_the_Ojibway_Nation/Neill/Chapter_2
One of the first images made of the Otchipwé.
©Haughton Library, Harvard University
One of the first images made of the Nipissing.
©Haughton Library, Harvard University
The Pembina band is unique in the Anishinaabe nation for having signed treaties with both the United States and Canadian governments. The band has four reserves in Ontario as the Roseau River First Nation and one in the U.S. the Turtle Mountain Chippewa reservation in North Dakota.
Ferdinand Hirt's Geographische Bildertafeln
: eine Ergänzung zu den Lehrbüchern der Geographie in sonderheit zu denen von Ernst von Seydlitz, 1884
CC BY 4.0
Illustrated London NewsSept. 15, 1849,
©The New York Public Library Digital Collections
Chippewa Chief Shin-ga-ba W'Ossin, Sault Ste. Marie band, by Henry Inman, ca. painted 1831-4.
He was at the 1770 Battle of St. Croix Falls under the leadership of La Pointe Chief Waubojeeg. He became a friend of Tecumseh's [3] who he joined at York, now Toronto, and fought along side him. He signed the 1825 Prairie-du-Chien and 1826 Fond-du-Lac Treaties. He is known to have gone on war parties against the Sioux and was at the Battle of St. Croix Falls.
High Museum Atlanta wikicommmons
(Note: In the gallery is an image of the Chief's grave post by George Catlin)
Ojibwa Chief Oshawana 1858, was Tecumseh's chief warrior of the Walpole Island band. At the battle of the River Thames he led 500 warriors from the Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Shawnee, Delaware, Wyandot, Sac, Fox, Kickapoo, Winnebago, and Creek Tribes. This is a famous image of the Chief that has been reversed. He is wearing a King George III medal that has the King facing left while it should face to the right. The image needs to be flipped to appear correct. Oral history has that Chief Oshawana had his men remove Tecunseh's body form the battlefield and buried on Walpole Island following the Battle of the Thames.
Library & Archives Canada wikicommons
Chief Ogimaan (Okemos) of the Saginaw band. In 1811, he fought in the Battle of Tippencanoe, Indiana. He joined the British, who gave him a colonel’s commission, to fight in the War of 1812. In 1813, he was a leader at the Battle of Sandusky. Later in 1813 he participated in the Siege of Fort Meigs in Northeastern Ohio. October 5, 1813, the Battle of the Thames was his last battle. Taken POW and released by Gov. Cass. Historical Society of Michigan
wikicommons
"Mikwendaagozi" is Ojibwe for "comes to mind, is recalled"
1800 The Chippewas were about to go to war with the U.S. over the "Line Question" in the Red River valley. Sir Alex MacKenzie of the Northwest Co. asked J.B. Cadot Jr., running the Grand Forks trading post, to deal with their concerns. Cadot's mother was Nipissing and he was successful.
1801-2 A Mississauga-French dictionary was created by Laurent Quetton de St. George. The original manuscript is held by the Toronto Public Library.
1802 Pegius "Robe Noir" "Grand Orielle" refused a request by agents of the of the Northwest Company to attack the Hudson Bay Colony.
1804 Lewis and Clark are in the oral history of both the Mille Lacs and Fond-du-Lac bands for giving them Chiefs medals. How exactly that happened is not recorded. However, the Fond-du-Lac medal is in the Lewis and Clark journals: for a 3rd chief of a "foreign nation".
1806 Battle of Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa victory that removed the Sioux from the contested rice beds in North Central Wisconsin with hundreds of casualties.
1808 Battle at Pembina. Chief Ase-anse (Little-Shell 1) defeated a superior force of Sioux. That same day the Sioux attacked the Chippewa at Long Prairie and ownership of the Red River Valley to them. In 1811 Lake Windigoostigon was given it's name.[60]
1811 Chief Okemos was at the Battle of Tippencanoe, Indiana.
1812 The Battle of Chippewa. Despite the name, no Chippewa fought at the battle during the War of 1812. They were sympathetic with the British due the American encroachment on their lands.[61]
1812 During the War of 1812 the British native force, lead by Tescumsah, numbered 8,410 according to one Ojibwa historian. They estimate the 7,410 of that number were Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potowatomi. Adding the Mississaugas and Nipissings to that make the Anishinaabe the main British allies. https://earlycanadianhistory.ca/2017/01/23/anishnaabeg-in-the-war-of-1812-more-than-tecumseh-and-his-indians/ According to AI the Caldwell First Nation or Chippewas of Point Pelee were supporters of the British as were the Chippewas of the River Thames, the Chippewas of the Nawash, the Chippewas of Stoney and Kettle Point, and the Chippewas of Lakes Simcoe and Huron.
1812 During the War men of Ojibwe or Chippewa descent could be found in many Canadian militias: Corps of Canadian Voyageurs, Caldwell's Western Rangers, Mississippi Volunteers, and the Michigan Fencibles. The French Ojibwa Cadotte family was important to the British Indian Dept. and it's role of fostering indigenious support.
War Chief Niibaakhom or "Thunder at night" of the Manitoulin Island M'Chigeeng First Nation war exploits are maintained in oral history for the War of 1812.[62]
1812 During the War the Chippewa in what would becom Wisconain did not take an active role. According to a to a 1918 issue of White Earth Tomahawk that was likely due to Chief Keeshkemun of the Lac du Flambeau band. John Askin Jr. of the North West Co. requested his support. His reply was to put on a George Washington (sword) he had been given by an American officer. The British demanded his George Washington medal saying they would replace it with one of the King. Chief Keeshkemun responded: "ENGLISHMAN, THE HEART OF THE LONG KNIFE (GEORGE WASHINGTON) HAS ENTERED MY BOSUM. YOU CAN NOT TAKE IT WITHOUT TAKING MY LIFE." The British realized that they would not prevail so they lavished the Chief with goods requesting that he remain neutral. He accepted the goods and is believed to have used his influence to keep the Wisconsin Lake Superior and Mississiippi bands out of the war.
Image 1 of The Tomahawk (White Earth), July 4, 1918, p.1 Library of Congress
The Grand Portage band of Chiippewa, in what would become Minnesota sent warriors to support the British. As far as the British were concerned all of these mid-west tribes were living in the Province of Quebec not the United States.
1812 June 18: War Declared!
1812 July 17: Fort Micihilimackinac, on Mackinac Island, was captured by the British and 393 Chippewa recruited by Askin Jr., acting British Indian Supt. at St. Joseph .
1812 August 5: Battle of Brownstown. Tecunseh's multli-nation force, including the Chippewa were outnumbered 8/1. They inflected significant casualities while taking almost none.
1812 August 16: The Battle of Fort Detroit was won by Chief Shingwaukonse leading seven hundred warriors. For that, he and Chief Okemos received the King George Peace Medal, as well as the Military General Service Medal. Shingwaukonse later received the Queen Victoria Peace Medal. The Saginaw Chippewa led by Chief Shin-ga-bo-wassin were also there, as was Chief Sekahos, with the River Thames Chippewa and Chief Oshawana with his Walpole warriors. Pat-an-a-quot-a-wee-be (Driving Cloud) a war-chief is identifed for being there was with George Catlin in London later. The total Chippewa involved is put at 600. There were two incidents of cannibalism reported.[63]
1812 October 13 Battle of Queenston Heights
1812 According to AI the elder Chief Hole-in-the-Day (Bugonaygeshig) supported the Americans during the war of 1812 in what was then Illinois territory.
1813 January 22: The Battle of Frenchtown, also known as the Battle of the River Raisin and the River Raisin Massacre were two battles, two days apart in Michigan. Oshawana and his warriors were part of the British force. The first battle resulted in a British retreat. The second was a historic loss for the Americans, 397 killed, 547 taken captive. Wounded that could not walk or keep up were killed.
1813 April 28-May 9: Siege of Fort Meigs. Chief Oshawana with his Walpole warriors was part of the British force as was Chief Okemos.
1813 May 3 At the Siege of Fort Meigs "Dudley's Massacre" or "Dudley's Defeat" Col. Dudley was part of a the American force sent to releive Fort Meigs. Of the 866 men he had only 150 escaped the battlefield with the Native Americans. The prisoners taken were escorted by the Native Americans to Fort Maimi. Enroute they made some of the captives "run the gauntlet". At Fort Maimi there were Chippewa and Potowatomi that had not been at the battle that attacked the prisoners. Tecumseh happened to be close and stopped the slaughter.
1813 April 27 The Battle of York saw the Mississaugas along side the British against the Americans. They were the first to engage when the Americans landed.
1813 May 25-7: Chief Wabechechake leader of the Batchewana First Nation was killed at the Battle of Fort George in Upper Canada. It was and American victory.
1813 August 3-4: Chief Okemos was at the Battle of Fort Stephenson,aka Battle of Lower Sandusky. He suffered a saber slash across his forehead that was a badge of battle honour the rest of his life.
1813 The Provincial Commissariat Voyageurs took over for the Corps of Canadian Voyageurs providing supplies to the western posts. They had 400 men many of mixed native heiritage.
1813 September 10: The U.S. captured the British HMS Chippeway (1812).and made her the first USS Chippewa. She was built in 1810 as the schooner Chippewa.
1813 October 5: At the Battle of the River Thames Chippewa Chief Oshawana was Tecumseh’s head warrior.[65] With Tecumseh's death he became the head indigenous warrior of southwestern Upper Canada stoutly supporting the British. One oral story has that he moved Tecumseh's remains to the Walpole Island Reserve.(some dispute) A variation of that story has that he ordered his warriors to move Tecumseh's remains. Chief Oshawana was at the Battle of Frenchtown, Battle of Fort Detroit, and Siege of Fort Meigs. Sub chief Sassaba, brother of Chief Shin-ga-bo-wassin, was with Tecunseh's force at the Battle of the River Thames also.
1814 March 4: The Battle of Longwoods
1814 July 17 Battle of Prairie du Chien. The British commander at Fort Mackinac learned that the Americans were constructing a fort at Prairie du Chien. He immediately organized a force to put an end to it comprised of 150 British troops and 4-500 Native Americans. While the only native Americans at Macninac would have been Ojibwe or Chippewa they generally do not get credit. Besides the voyageurs, the Menominee, Winnebago (Ho-Chunk), and Sioux get listed with the British. After a seige the fort was taken.
1814 July 26-Aug. 4 The Americans were repulsed at Fort Mackinac by a mixed force that included the Chippewa.
* 1814 July 25 Battle of Lundy's Lane
1814 The U.S. Navy ordered the second USS Chippewa, but it was not completed. The third USS Chippewa ran aground and sank in the Bahamas.[64]
1814 Chief Orkopokeda of the Ojibways of Lake Superior at Nipigon led 40 warriors to the Sault to fight for the British.
1814 September 3 & 6: Oral history has that about 200 Odawa and Ojibwa warriors, in 19 canoes, were involved in the surprise capture of the American gunboats USS Tigress and USS Scorpion on Lake Huron blocading British Fort Mackinac. Offfical accounts only acknowledge their presence giving the credit to 60 British in 4 boats.The outcome gave the British control of the Great Lakes
1814 Pemmican Proclamation: The Governor of Assiniboia, Miles MacDonell, issued to the peoples of the Red River area a proclamation which became known as the Pemmican Proclamation. It was issued to stop exportation of pemmican from the Red River district. Nearly ever source states this was directed at the Métis people with no mention of the Saultaeaux or Ojibwa whose land it was.
1814 Treaty of Ghent Article IX:
"The United States of America undertakes to terminate, immediately after the ratification of this Treaty, hostilities against all Indian tribes or nations with whom they might have been at war at the time of such ratification and to surrender - to such tribes or nations, respectively, all the possessions, rights and privileges which they might have enjoyed or to which they would have been entitled in 1811, before the hostilities. It being understood, always, that said tribes and nations will agree to renounce all hostilities against the United States of America, their citizens and their subjects, as soon as the ratification of the present treaty has been notified to said tribes and nations, which will cease hostilities Consequently.
( terms proposed by the British and accepted by the U.S. )
1793-1814 In 1847 the British awarded 96 Military General Service Medals to Indigenous warriors for their military service between 1793 and 1814. It was not an automatic award, the man had to request one for one of three specific battles. Immediately following the war, the British Army awarded flags and the Indian Department issued "King George III medals" dated 1814, as symbolic acts of gratitude and recognition to the Crown's native allies. To celebrate the bicentenial of the War of 1812, Canada minted new Queen Elzabeth II medals for the respective First Nations. New flags were issued as well.
1814-16 Fort Mississauga was built on the shore of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of the Niagara River. It was named for the Mississauga people.
ca. 1816 Missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions or ABCFM were invited to teach at the trading posts of the American Fur Company in the Great Lakes region. The invite was accepted and the ABCFM quickly decided the Ojibwe should be taught in their own language. That necessitated a dictionary and alphabet for the Ojibwe language. It took several years for the people involved to reach a consensus on what they were going to use to standardize a non--standardized language, that had many local variations. Several missionaries took on the task so that they could preach or share their christian religion. Their efforts produced a language based upon encounted in the southwest Chippewa zone. It is what they they used to preach to the Ojibwe everywhere. Edmund F. Ely was one of those missionaries and wrote his experience in what are now called: "The Ojibwe Journals of Edmund F. Ely, 1833–1849". https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1128&context=unpresssamples
1815 The British constructed two armed schooners to maintain their interests on the Great Lakes. One was named the HMS Tescumseth the other for an Ojibway Chief, the HMS Newash.
1817 The Richmond Enquirer (Richmond, Va.), Oct. 21, 1817, p.3 is the oldest newspaper online to mention a Chippewa Treaty at the Library of Congress.
1818 The Longwoods Treaty (1818–1822) is unique. It was solely between the Crown and the Chippewa of the Thames. The treaty stipulates a cash annuity of $2,400, payable "FOREVER".
1819 "The only treaty (that we’re aware of) named after an Indigenous person is Treaty 19, or “the Ajetance Purchase”, signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit in 1818, and named for Chief James Ajetance (or Ajetans)." https://activehistory.ca/blog/2018/11/05/a-short-history-of-treaty-nomenclature-in-ontario/#:~:text=The%20only%20treaty%20(that%20we're,(or%20Ajetans).%20A%20rather%20unusual
1819 Lewis Cass, Governor of Michigan Territory inspected the legendary "Misko-biiwaabik".[66]
1819 Treaty with the Chippewa aka The Treaty of Saginaw. Large quantites of alcohol were provided to overcome the oppositon to the terms of this treaty. https://treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-chippewa-1820-0187
ARTICLE 4: In consideration of the cession aforesaid, the United States agree to pay to the Chippewa nation of Indians, annually, "FOR EVER", the sum of one thousand dollars in silver...
1820 The Lewis Cass expedition had ten native guides: 5 Chippewa, 3 Ottawa, 1 Potawatomi, and 1 Shawnee.[67] With the expedition was the artist James Otto Lewis. He published his indigenous portraits in 1835-6 in The Aboriginal Port Folio the included many Ojibwa images. None of his original work survives. Some of the Ojibwa were: Wyangding (source of the winds), Oshashebaquato (many openings in the clouds), Wyamgboyeausha (scattered by the wind), Waubonequet (pale cloud), Omezekekezchie (the rays of light striking the earth). At Sandy Lake more Chippewa joined making the total with Cass at least 16.
Also that year the government decided the U.S. needed a presence at Sault Ste. Marie. However, the Treaty of 1815 had returned the land to the Chippewa so Lewis Cass was sent to make arrangements. His "arrangements" were to tell the Chippewa he was going to build a fort on their land. Many were unhappy with this "arrangement" Sassaba, brother of Chief Shin-ga-bo-wassin was so unhappy he went and got his British flag which Cass threw on the ground. The only thing that stopped blood from being shed was Jane Schoolcraft went and got Chief Shin-ga-bo-wassin.
1820 Henry Schoolcraft was guided to the legendary "Misko-biiwaabik" by four Chippewa while doing a survey of Michigan.
1821 The Chippewa had a village at the confluence of the Little Calumet and Grand Calumet rivers near Chicago.
1822 On 27 July Schoolcraft learned that the Chippewa embraced the ancient concept of a person being a seer or prophetess when he met a grand daughter of Chief Wabojeeg called a "Jossakeed".[20]: ch. XI
1822 On 31 July Schoolcraft wrote that Chippewa Mythology displayed advanced thinking in it's use of "mythological or allegorical tales to teach truths or illustrate some maxim".[20]: ch. XI
1822 On 25 September Schoolcraft noted that the Chippewa counted decimally to 1000 but probably did not do math computation.[20]: ch. XII
1822 On December 5 Schoolcraft recorded that it had been witnessed that Jossakeed could endure fire clothless unharmed.[20]: ch. XIV
1824 The United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was created on March 11, 1824. Secretary of War John C. Calhoun administratively established the bureau within the War Department. It was later transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1849 when that Department was created.
1826 Medals were given at the Fond-du-Lac Treaty according to Henry Rowe Schoolcraft.[68]
1826 A 100 ton steam boat named Chippewa was recorded on Lake Erie. Commerce on Lake Erie, Daily National Intelligencer (Washington City D.C.), Sept. 27, 1826, p.3, Library of Congress
1827 The reserves at Kettle Point and Stoney Point were settled ca.1827 as independant communities.
1827 Schoolcraft was the first to really take note of the ancient garden beds that could be seen in Michigan. They were large, geometric and systematically constructed.They indicated a clear knowlege of agriculture prior to the arrival of Europeans. Their size indicated a communal effort and planning.
Ancient Garden Beds of Michigan, Amorin Mello, May 4, 2017. https://chequamegonhistory.com/category/1600s/
1828 The Mississauga of Hiawatha First Nation established their "Rice Lake Reserve.
1829 Rev. Jones tried to get good Chief Beyigishiqueshkam “one who steps over the sky,” of Walpole Island to convert to Christianity. The good Chief refused saying: “The white man makes the fire-water, he drinks, and sells it to the Indians, he lies and cheats the poor Indian. I have seen him go to his praying-house in (Fort) Malden, and as soon as he comes out I have seen him go straight to the tavern, get drunk, quarrel, and fight. Now the white man’s religion is no better than mine. I will hold fast to the religion of my forefathers.” Chief Beyigishiqueshkam was an Ohio Chippewa, born on the Maumee River who moved north possibly due to all the "whites" inundating the frontier. He is known to have been a strong supporter of the British. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/bauzhi_geezhig_waeshikum_7E.html
1829 A steam boat named Chippewa was reported on Chippewa Creek above Niagara Falls. The Massachusetts Spy, and Worcester County Advertiser (Worcester, Mass.), Sept. 19, 1827, p.3, Library of Congress
1830 Rama First Nation reserve was established ca 1830 but was moved in 1836 to the east shore of Lake Couchiching.
1830 The Coldwater-Narrows reserve was formed. It was established by the British for the Chippewas of Lakes Simcoe and Huron. In 1836 it was sold from under the tribe and they were moved to Rama Township.
1830 The hostillities between the Sioux and Chippewa reached such a level that a military expedition was ordered to intervene according to Schoolcraft.[20]: ch. XXXV
1830 President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, authorizing the government to remove Indian tribes east of the Mississippi River to the west side offering land in exchange.
1830 Chief Clear Sky was buried at Chippewa Hills, Kansas. According to his obituary: Frances McCoonse (1800-1868) Western Home Journal, Ottawa, Kansas, Jan. 30, 1868, p. 3, he was in a group of Canadian Chippewa that went to the the courts of England and France in 1830 and he addressed Paraliment. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43833412/frances-mccoonse#view-photo=173037975 The closest event that is simular to this narritive is the 1825 trip of the Canadian Huron to England. His headstone is in the gallery.
ca.1831 Chief Neenába's map of the Chippewa/Sioux demarcation line on the St. Croix River.[69]
1831 At Rice lake Henry Schoolcraft recorded sighting two medals of Chief Peesh-a-Peevely's of the Ottawa Lake band. Ogeima Geezhick (Chief-Day) had one, a Jefferson Peace medal while a warrior had the other, a British King George II.[20]
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1831 is an important year in Ojibwe Chippewa history. Father Baraga arrived in Cincinnati and met William Makatebinessi, a fellow theological student and 100% Ottawa who introduced him to the Ottawa dialect of the Ochipwé language. Father Baraga wrote the standard dictionary in use today and he named it neither "Ojibwe" nor "Chippewa". It is the "Otchipwe" Dictionary.
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1831-2 Frederick Ayer (missionary) opened a school for Chippewa and "half breed" children at the American Fur Company's trading post at La Point, Michigan Territory moving later to the Company's main trading post at Sandy Lake, Michigan Territory.[70] In 1843 he moved again to Fort Ripley.
1832 Henry Schoolcraft employed a Chippewa head-man, Ozawindib, as his guide into the Northwest Territory. Part of his mission was to achieve peace between the Sioux and the Chippewa. In July Schoolcraft recorded Chief Flat mouth stated: “it was decreed by the Great Spirit that hatred and war should ever exist between the Sioux and themselves; that this decree could never be changed; and the Chippewas must ever act accordingly." [43]
Ozawindib guided Schoolcraft to the headwaters of the Mississippi. It flowed from a lake known to the Ojibwa and traders as Omashkoozo-zaagaigan or Lac la Biche meaning Elk Lake. Schoolcraft renamed it Lake Itasca.
Schoolcraft's wife, O-bah-bahm-wawa-ge-zhe-go-qua aka Jane, was the grand daughter of Civil and War Chief Waubojeeg or "White-Fisher". O-bah-bahm-wawa-ge-zhe-go-qua is noted for translating Ojibwa oral tales, oral history, and song lyrics to English. Also, for being the first Native American literary writer and poet.[71][72]
1832-3 Father Bellecourt began his mission to the Chippewas on the Assiniboine River, By 1839 he and the Chippewa had created the mission village and school, Baie-Saint-Paul. The first students were Saulteaux.
1833 Reverend Frederick Ayer established a mission school at Yellow Lake, Michigan Territory, for the Yellow Lake, St. Croix band. His presence created acrimony within the tribe, with one group telling him he had to go. Two years later he moved to the mission at Pokegama Lake, west of the St. Croix river with the Snake River band.
1833 Father Baraga opened his first school at Indian Lake Michigan. He opened other schools at: Arbre Croche (1833-1835), Grand River (1833-1835), LaPointe (1835-1843), and L'Anse (1843-1853). They all taught Ojibwe. He published the following books for the students: "A Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language " (1853, 1878 Part I, English-Otchipwé) and 1880 (Part II, Otchipwé-English), "A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language"(1850, 1878), and a prayer book, "Katolik Gagike-Masinaigan"(1846, 1858)
1833 Treaty of Chicago ceded the lands of the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatamie tribes and awarded the Chiefs the Andrew Jackson Peace Medal.[73] In the treaty $5,000 was allocated for those tribe's children to attend the Choctaw Academy, the first boarding school in the U.S.[74] $5,000.00 equates to $187,895.24 in 2024.
In addition, the treaty granted the Pottawatomie, Chippewa, and Ottawa five million acres on the Missouri River immediately north of the State of Missouri in Article 2. Together they were referred ot as the United Bands. Between 1836 to 38 most on the bands had been moved to a reservation at Council Bluffs or south to the Osage River south of the State of Missouri. A report filed in 1844 states that the Chippewa had filed multiple complaints that the Sioux had murdered and stolen from the Chippewa. (see 1844) Today the decendents of the United Bands live on the Prairie Band of Potawatomis reservation in Kansas. https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4150.ct002299/?r=-0.282,0.003,1.783,0.902,0
1833 A new steam boat named Chippewa was running between Cincinnati and St. Louis. The National Republican and Cincinnati Daily Mercantile Advertiser, Feb. 25, 1833, p.3, Library of Congress
1834 Chief Kahkewaquonaby or "Sacred Feathers" aka Peter Jones of the Mississauga River Credit band, received a personalized Chief's Medal from King William IV at Buckingham Palace. Also that year the "Sketch of Grammar of the Chippeway Language" by John Summerfield was published.
1834 The Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1834 prohibited "white settlement west of the Mississippi making it "Indian Territory"
1834 The Beausoleil First Nation located to the Coldwater Narrows Reserve in 1834-42. In 1842 they were displaced to Beausoleil Island, and 1856 were displaced to Christian Island where they reside today.
Winter 1835-36 Father Baraga wrote a prayer book: Otchipwe Anamie-Masinaigan.
1836 Joseph Nicollet engaged Snake-River Chippewa Chief Chagobay to guide his mapping of the upper Mississippi basin.[75][76] Henry Schoolcraft used Nicollet's notes on the Chippewa in the his six-volume set on the Indian Tribes of the United States (1851-1857) commissioned by Congress. They are now in the Schoolcraft papers at the Library of Congress.[77]
1836 It was recorded that the Rocky Mountain Saulteaux from Alberta made the trek east to the Red River to meet Father Belcourt at Baie St. Paul. https://www.metismuseum.ca/media/document.php/13795.Manitoba%20Metis%20Communities.pdf
1836 The Chippewas of the River Thames Garden Reserve was created in 1836 as part of the Canada Company land agreement.
1836 The Bond Head Treaty set aside Manitoulin Island for the Wiikwemkoong First Nation.
1836 Walpole Island Indian Reserve was established.
ca. 1836-41 There was a large battle between the Chippewa and Sioux in Wisconsin Territory. Over 300 Chippewa were killed including the Rabbit Lake chief which elevated a 16 year old to chieftanship, May-zhuck-ke-shig. He was with Chief Hole-in-the-day I when they encountered an equal size Sioux warparty near St. Paul, Minnesota Territory. The battle was a total Chippewa victory. He was also at the Battle of Shakopee in 1858 that some historians state was the last major encounter of the Sioux and Chippewa, that is known. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/263625801/chief_may-zhuc-ke-ge-shig-lowering_sky He signed the treaty of 15 Sept 1862 at Crow Wing and offered to fight the Sioux.
1837 Alderville Reserve was created when the Wesleyan Methodist Mission, on Grape Island 1826 was transferred to a larger 3,500-acre area in Alnwick Township on Rice Lake, Ontario. It has been home to the Mississauga Anishinabeg people since they relocated from their traditional lands around the Bay of Quinte
1837 That year about 300 Black River and Swan Creek Chippewa and Ottawa moved to Kansas becoming the Chippewa and Munsee Tribe of Kansas. Chief Francis McCoonse or Esh-ton-o-quot (Clear Sky) of the Swan Creek band later signed a treaty with a small band of Christian Munsee Indians, in 1859, to form the Chippewa Hills reservation, seven mile long by two and a half mile wide tract west of Ottawa, Kansas. (Treaty with the Chippewa, ect., 1859) That reservation was dissolved in 1864. They were later forced to move to Oklahoma Indian Terrtory were they were assimulated. That band received it's last payment from the government in 1900. "An Historical Analysis of the Saginaw, Black River and Swan Creek Chippewa Treaties of 1855 and 1864", p.19-34, Anthony G. Gulig, Dept.of History University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
https://turtletalk.blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/gulig-report.pdf
Clear Sky is buried at Chippewa Hills, KS. According to his 1830 obituary he was in a group of Canadian Chippewa that went to the the courts of England and France where he addressed Paraliment. February 9, 1856 the Opelousas Patriot lists 44 Swan Creek Chippewa in Kansas. The United Bands from the 1833 Chicago Treaty became the Prairie Band of Potawatomis.
1838 Reverend Peter Dougherty established a mission and school on Old Mission Peninsula near Traverse City, Michigan where he taught in the Ojibwe Chippewa language. In 1844 he published "A Chippewa Primer" in Chippewa. In 1847 he published "Short Reading Lessons in the Ojibwa Language" and "Easy Lessons in Scripture History in the Ojibwa Language".
1838 Chief Kahkewaquonaby or Peter Jones was granted and audience with Queen Victoria. In native clothes he presented a formal petition from the Mississauga chiefs, which included their pictographic signatures, requesting deeds to their lands.
1838 "A Brush Between the Sioiux - Chippewa" was reported on the Chippewa River. The dead were 1 Sioux and 5 Chippewa. The Sioux were reported for cannibalism. The Native American, Washington, D.C. Aug. 25, 1838, p.3, Library of Congress (copy from Detroit Advertiser)
1839 Several Sioux-Chippewa skirmishes were reported by Fort Snelling with 100's dead. Morning star (Limerick, Me.), Aug.21, 1839, p.69, Library of Congress
1839 Round Lake Massacre where the Dacotah killed 91 Chippewa.[78]
1839 Speech of Chief Beyigishiqueshkam to Colonel Jarvis on Walpole Island September 1839. https://digitalarchiveontario.ca/objects/288062/speech-of-the-indian-chief-beyigishiqueshkam-to-colonel-jarv?ctx=46faa3bb66d0bb4a3b25a50dfe74e46171ff97d4&idx=5
1839 Four Chippewa Sioux battles reported: St. Croix River, Lake Pepin on the Lower St. Croix, Rum River and one above St. Anthony Falls. At Rum River the Chippewa lost 134 Men, women, and children. The battle at St. Anthony falls was described as large.
Image 2 of Daily national Intelligencer (Washington City [D.C.]), Aug. 26, 1839, Image 2 of Morning herald (New York [N.Y.]), August 8, 1839
1839 Father Bellecourt wrote a Salteaux grammar, "Principes de la langue des sauvages appelés Sauteux" published in Quebec. He followed that with his "Dictionnaire sauteux" printed in 1874. He is also credited with translateing a catechism for the diocese of Quebec into Chippewa.
ca. 1840s St. Croix Chippewa victory against the Sioux at Yellow Lake according to Chief Ye-on-Gesic.
"A Famous Chippewa Chief who fought against the Sioux" Stillwater daily gazette. Pub. Date December 26, 1903, p.2
"Indian against Indian" The Slayton Gazette and Murray County pioneer, July 7, 1904, p.6
ca. 1840s Rev. James Evans developed an Ojibwe syllabic writing system that was inspired by Pitman Shorthand.
1840 Chippewa Copper Mining Company, Ontonagon County Michigan began operations.
1840s Newspapers in Iowa Territory mention arrivals of a riverboat named the "Chippewa" from St. Louis and St. Peters (Fort Snelling).
1840-45 Chief Maungwudaus with his Walpole island Ojibbeway toured Europe. in 1845 they joined George Catlin in London. Catlin then received a summons to Paris from King Louis Philippe I where the Ojibbeway and Ioway joined him.[6] In Paris the Ojibbeway's also met the King and Queen of Belgium.[79] The group suffered an outbreak of smallpox that killed seven of them. In 1848 Chief Maungwudaus published a book about the Ojibbeway travels and joining George Catlin in: "An Account of the Chippewa Indians Who Have been Travelling Among the Whites in the United States, England, Ireland, Scotland, and France." In 2002 a painting of Maungwudaus by Paul Kane sold for $2.2 million.[82]
1842 "Indian Battle" was reported. Sioux lost 13 with 18 wounded while he Chippewa lost 5. The Ohio Democrat, Jul. 28, 1842, p.2, Library of Congress.
1842 The Battle of Battle Creek in St. Paul, Wisconsin Territory. The Chippewa attacked the Sioux at the original Koposia village site east of the Mississippi. The Sioux forced the Chippewa to retreat despite suffering heavier losses. The Chippewa lost 10 men. The battle ground is now a public park that has been extensively disturbed by Ramsey County Parks including the destruction of the Medicine man's cave.[80][81]
1843 The Mississuagas of Scugog Island First Nation returned to their lands, that they had been displaced from, and that they purchased to create the reserve that exists today.
1843 The artist George Catlin set up an exhibition of his artwork and native Americn Artifacts in the Egyptian Hall in London. Initially, he had a group of 9 Chippewas of Sarnia on the St. Clair River, Ontario join him. They were in London under the guidence of an Arthur Rankin to see the Queen about land issues, as well as preform as a traveling show. After about 7 months Rankin had a dispute with Catlin and the Ojibbeway departed with him. That first group consisted of :
* Ah-quee-we-zaints (The Boy age 75) painted by Catlin
* Pat-an-a-quot-a-wee-be (Driving Cloud, age 35, a war-chief, who fought in the War of 1812)
* Wee-nish-ka-wee-be (Flying Gull, medicine man) Catlin exhibition catalog entry no. 59C: Cartoon No. 59.
* Sah-mah (Tobacco), and Gish-ee-gosh-e–gee (Moonlight Night)
* two young men with their wives, Not-een-a-akm (Strong Wind, interpreter, the son of M. Cadotte), two women called Wos-see-ah-e-neuh-qua and Ne-bet-neuh-qua plus a girl, Nib-nab-ee-qua.
https://showsoflondon.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/kate-flint-pdf2.pdf
A group of 14 Ioway joined Catlin, as did Chief Maungwudaus' troupe of 11 Ojibbeway from Walpole Island in 1845:
* Maun-gua-daus (Great Hero, Chief, age 41)
* Say-say-gon (Hail-Storm, age 31)
* Ke-che-us-sin (Strong Rock, age 27)
* Mush-she-mong (King of the Loons, age 25)
* Au-nim-muck-kwak-um (Tempest Bird, age 20)
* A-wun-ne-wa-be (Bird of Thunder, age 19)
* Wau-bud-dick (Elk, age 18)
* U-je-jock (Pelican, age 10)
* Noo-din-no-kay (Furious Storm, age 4)
* Min-nis-sin-noo (Brave Warrior, age 3)
* Uh-wus-sig-gee-zigh-gook-kway, Woman of the Upper World, wife of Chief Maun-gua-daus, age 38)
https://indigenousdance.ca/en/renewal/non-native-entertainment/
Smallpox killed most of this group.
1844 Strong Wind, the interpreter with Maungwudaus' troupe, was married in St. Martin's Church on Trafalgar Square in London.
1844 H.R. Rep. No. 519, 28th Cong., 1st Sess. (1844) Removal of the Chippewa, Ottowa, and Potta Watomie Indians, University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons American Indian and Alaskan Native Documents in the Congressional Serial Set: 1817-1899 https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1564&context=indianserialset Council Bluffs 5/5/1846 and Potawatomi Creek Osage River 5/17/1846
1844 The Ojibwa-Jesuit debate at Walpole Island, 1844
CHIEF OSHAWANA quote: "You come here brother thinking that you will teach us Wisdom, but do not imagine that the native people are fools. They possess whatever knowledge they need... You, man with the hat, you have received from your elders a way of seeking the Light that the Great Spirit has given you. You have lost your way, you have rejected it. And I, a native man, I have received from my elders a totally different way of seeking the light."
1845 Catlin received a summons from the King of France, Louis Phillippe I. Both the Ioway preformers and Maungwudaus' troupe traveled to Paris with Catlin. The King was so taken with both the Ioway and Ojibbeway he gave them medals, gold for the Chiefs, silver to the others. The King then asked they return the medals so he could have them personalized with their names engraved. The King wanted 15 of Catlin"s paintings and picked 3 of the Ojibbeway he wanted painted: A-wun-ne-wa-be, Ud-je-jock and Wau-bud-dick. All three paintings are now in the Smithsonian. Catlin also wrote a book about the 1845 experience:
"Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians in England, France. and Belgium", Geo. Catlin, Vol. II, p.213, GUTENBERG EBOOK 44777, 2025, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/44777/44777-h/44777-h.htm#Page_27
* The Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma has the medal King Louis Phillippe gave to A-wun-ne-wa-he and lists it as "unidentified" even though his name is engraved on the reverse. They have now removed the "unidenified" from the description and added the medal's designer's name. https://collections.gilcrease.org/object/6558
* The noted French Romantic painter Eugene Delacroix did five pen and ink drawings of the visiting Ojibbeway that are now in the collections of the Louvre in Paris. https://canada-culture.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Artist-Statement-v2.pdf
1846 Ratified Indian Treaty 247: Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi - Agency on the Missouri River near Council Bluffs and at Potawatomi Creek near the Osage River, June 5 and 17, 1846. In this treaty the Unified tribes of the Chippewa, Ottowa, and Potta Watomie Indians gave up the entire 5 million acres from the 1833 Chicago Treaty. A new 30 square mile reservation was created in Kansas named for the Potta-Watomie.
Reference to the "United Band of Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi ceases west of the Mississippi with this treaty. Afterwards "the Potawatomi" is used instead and the Chippewa and Ottawa "disappear" and cease to be identified in Iowa or Kansas.
https://digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/175516208/
1847 The Mississaugas of the Credit were moved to their current reserve lands.
1847 George Copway, a Chippewa Methodist minister, published his autobiography, The Life, History, and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh which became a best seller. About his mother he wrote: “She was as good a hunter as any of the Indians. She could shoot the deer and the ducks flying as well as they "
1848 The Port of New Orleans post the arrival of a ship named Chippewa out of New York. The New York Herald, May 27, 1848, p.4
1848 The Métis and Chippawa led by Chief Old Red Bear fought the Sioux at the Battle at Olga (O'Brien's Coulee) and the Bataille des la Rivière Outarde (Battle of Goose River). In both battles the Metis and Chippewa held off a superior Dacotah force. At Olga there were 800 Metis and 200 Chippewa.
https://www.metismuseum.ca/resource.php/11908
1848 Chief Buffalo of the La Pointe band of Lake Superior Chippewa led a delegation to Washington to President Polk. They got to meet him in February of 1849 and were well received. However, Polk was a lameduck President at that point. Nothing came of the meeting.
1849 President Zachary Taylor gave Chief Maungwudaus an Indian
Peace Medal.
1849 The Mica Bay Uprising, Mica Bay Incident or the Michipicoten War. The uprising was over indigenious land rights and treaty violations on Lake Superior at Mica Bay. The group included : Chief Shingawukonse (Garden River), Chief Nebenaigoching (Batchewana), Chief Oshawana (Walpole Island) as well as an American Chief with some of his band and the metis Eustace Lesage and Charles Boyer. However, the incident impacted the Robinson Treaties the nest year.
Nov. 10, 1849 The American schooner Chippewa evacuated the women and children from the mine.
https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2017/bcp-pco/Z1-1991-1-41-160-eng.pdf
p.79 https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2017/bcp-pco/Z1-1991-1-41-160-eng.pdf
1849 Minnesota Territory was created with 9 counties. The largest was named Pembina using the Chippewa name for the high cranberry bush. When the state was created Pembina county disappeared east of the Red River in Minnesota. It remained west of the Red River in Dakota Territory and was retained by the state of North Dakota.
1849 Chief Buffalo of the La Pointe band of Lake Superior Chippewa again led a delegation to present a birch bark scroll to President Zachary Taylor in Washington. The President refused to meet them. He believed in white cultural superiority, however, he gave Native American warriors credit and even admired their guerrilla tactics. He was known to have complained that the Native Americans he encountered displayed superior discipline to that of his forces.
1849 In the summer of 1849 Louis Agassiz traversed Lake Superior from Sault Ste. Marie to Michipicoten to Manitoulin Island and finally ending at Penetanguishine, Ontario. J. Elliott Cabot recorded the trek noteing many encounters with Ojibwas “speaking various dialects”
1849 A battle between the Red Lake and Pillager Chippewas and the Sioux was reported by Winnebago Agent J. E. Fletcher in the area of Cass, Leech and Winnibigoshish.
ca. 1850s Chippewa Sioux battle on Minnesota Point at Duluth, Minnesota.
In 1895 the Chippewa held a victory commemoration at the site in Duluth.
USS Chippewa sail plan. She was a 108' brig which was a variant of the brigantine class ships due to the rigging. It made her a faster ship due to the increased sail area.
14 × 32 pounders
2 × 12 pounders
NARA wikicommons
Smithsonian, wikicommons
ca.1730 naval Combat between the Ojbbeway and Sauk-Fox on Lake Superior. Engraving by Seth Eastman. During the Fox Wars the Fox abducted Ojibbeway females who were rescued during this battle near the mouth of the Montreal River in New France, now Wisconsin. wikicommons
wikicommons
Getty Museum wikicommons
wikicommons
The British issued 182 of these medals to their native allies in three sizes: 60mm, 75mm, 105mm dated 1814. One is displayed at Fort Malden, possibly from the Chippewas of Pelee, Caldwell's First Nation today.
1820 Indian agent Major Lawrence Taliaferro, in his first two years at Fort Snelling, was able to get native Americans to turn 36 King George III medals over to him to be replaced by U.S Presidential medals, to extend U.S. sovereignty on the frontier. He also swapped the American Flag for British Union Jacks when he could. It was highly unusual for one to go unexchanged. The BIA was slow in getting Taliaferro the replacements, often taking long periods of time.
Grand Portage Chief Maymushkowaush the first or the second received a King Geo. III medal. In 1979 decendants of Chief Maymushkowaush III donated two King George medals to the Minnesota Historical Society as well as the two Union Jacks the British had given with the medals.
This Medal has the bar for Fort Detroit
The size is 36mm or 1.5 inches
wikicommons
Chief John Sunday (“Shawundais”) of the Mississaugas of Alnwick received a medal with a bar for the battle at Chrysler’s Farm.
Size is 76mm or 3 inches
wikicommons
1850 31st Congress, Doc. No. 51, Pembina Settlement:
Nov. 1849 From: S. Woods, Bevet Major, Commanding Expedition to the Red River, Fort Snelling Minnesota Territory.
pages 2-36 Major Woods
pages 36-43 Father G.A. Belcourt Missionary
* p.22, "The general term "Pillager Chippewas" is applied to the bands occupying the country near Otter-Tail Lake, Red Lake, Pembina. They yeild no obedience to, or acknowledgaement, of a head chief. They have participated in none of the treaties held with the Chippewas and have received no annuities from the United States."
* p.24 Because the Chippewa had no leader Major Wood recommended three men for the people to consider. After some discussion they agreed to his suggestions:
: Sakikwanel-Green Feather, head chief
: Majekkwadjiwau-End of Current, 1st chief
: Kakakanawakkagan-Long Legs, 2nd chief
* p. 25 A large battle between the Red Lake Chippewa & half-breeds and the Sioux happened south of Devils Lake 1848, with both sides taking scalps.
* p. 26-30 Half-breeds
* p. 36-40 Chippewas
* p.39 Western Chippewas and Mandan peace treaty 1843, hieroglyphics,
ritural canibalism.
* p.43 Father Belcourt built two schools with one teaching in the Ojibwe language.
* Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation was formerly known as Whitefish Lake First Nation and surveyed in 1851.
* Batchewana First Nation Reserve was established but, in 1859 the Pennefather Treaty took all of it except Whitefish Island.
* Dokis First Nation reserve was not surveyed until the 1890s.
* Garden River Reserve was created near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and surveyed in 1852.
* Gull Bay First Nation was promised a reserve but is was not surveyed until the 1880's. Then an error was made that took 160 odd years to correct. it was surveyed as 16 square leagues instead of 16 square miles.
* Henvey Inlet First Nation
* M’Chigeeg First Nation reserve was surveyed in 1850.
* Magnetawan First Nation reserve was surveyed in 1853.
* Mississauga First Nation
* Nipissing First Nation
* Ojibways of Garden River reserve was surveyed in 1852.
* Pays Plat First Nation Reserve was surveyed 1885 even though the band did not sign the 1850 treaty
* Sagamok Anishnawbek reserve lands were established as the Spanish River Indian Reserve No. 5.
* Serpent River First Nation was surveyed in 1853.
* Shawanaga First Nation, signed the treaty but Shawanaga Indian Reserve No. 17 was not surveyed until 1982
* Sheguiandah First Nation reserve was surveyed in 1851.
* Sheshegwaning First Nation was not surveyed until 1896.
* Thessalon First Nation was surveyed that year.
* Wahnapitae First Nation reserve was established as Indian Reserve No. 11, as a two-mile square miles near Lake Nipissing.
* Wasauking First Nation lands were first established but not surveyed until 1967 or recorded until 2002.
* Whitefish River First Nation on Lake Huron was surveyed in 1850.
* Wilkwemkoong Unceded Territory
* Zhiibaahaasing First Nation was formerly known as Cockburn Island First Nation did not have the reserve surveyed until 1938.
The Robinson Huron treaty, was a first in that it ensured Indigenous people could hunt and fish on the “ceded territory.”
FIRST: Chief Joseph Pean-de-chat and his Tribe, the reserve to commence about two miles from Fort William (inland), on the right bank of the River Kiminitiquia thence westerly six miles, parallel to the shores of the lake; thence northerly five miles; thence easterly to the right bank of the said river, so as not to interfere with any acquired rights of the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company.
SECOND: Chief Totominai and Tribe, Four miles square at Gros Cap, being a valley near the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company's post of Michipicoton.
THIRD: Chief Mishimuckqua and Tribe, Four miles square on Gull River, near Lake Nipigon, on both sides of said river.
Signed, sealed and delivered at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100028978/1581293296351
First: Pamequonaishcung and his Band, a tract of land to commence seven miles, from the mouth of the River Maganetawang, and extending six miles east and west by three miles north.
Second: Wagemake and his Band, a tract of land to commence at a place called Nekickshegeshing, six miles from east to west, by three miles in depth.
Third: Kitcheposkissegan (by Papasainse), from Point Grondine westward, six miles inland, by two miles in front, so as to include the small Lake Nessinassung a tract for themselves and their Bands.
Fourth: Wabakekik, three miles front, near Shebawenaning, by five miles inland, for himself and Band.
Fifth: Namassin and Naoquagabo and their Bands, a tract of land commencing near Qacloche, at the Hudson Bay Company's boundary; thence westerly to the mouth of Spanish River; then four miles up the south bank of said river, and across to the place of beginning.
Sixth: Shawenakishick and his Band, a tract of land now occupied by them, and contained between two rivers, called Whitefish River, and Wanabitaseke, seven miles inland.
Seventh: Windawtegawinini and his Band, the Peninsula east of Serpent River, and formed by it, now occupied by them.
Eighth: Ponekeosh and his Band, the land contained between the River Mississaga and the River Penebewabecong, up to the first rapids.
Ninth: Dokis and his Band, three miles square at Wanabeyakokaun, near Lake Nipissing and the island near the Fall of Okickandawt.
Tenth: Shabokishick and his Band, from their present planting grounds on Lake Nipissing to the Hudson Bay Company's post, six miles in depth.
Eleventh: Tagawinini and his Band, two miles square at Wanabitibing, a place about forty miles inland, near Lake Nipissing.
Twelfh: Keokouse and his Band, four miles front from Thessalon River eastward, by four miles inland.
Thirteenth: Mishequanga and his Band, two miles on the lake shore east and west of Ogawaminang, by one mile inland.
Fourteenth: For Shinguacouse and his Band, a tract of land extending from Maskinongé Bay, inclusive, to Partridge Point, above Garden River on the front, and inland ten miles, throughout the whole distance; and also Squirrel Island.
Fifteenth: For Nebenaigoching and his Band, a tract of land extending from Wanabekineyunnung west of Gros Cap to the boundary of the lands ceded by the Chiefs of Lake Superior, and inland ten miles throughout the whole distance, including Batchewanaung Bay; and also the small island at Sault Ste. Marie used by them as a fishing station.
Sixteenth: For Chief Mekis and his Band, residing at Wasaquesing (Sandy Island), a tract of land at a place on the main shore opposite the Island; being the place now occupied by them for residence and cultivation, four miles square.
Seventeenth: For Chief Muckatamishaquet and his Band, a tract of land on the east side of the River Naishconteong, near Pointe aux Barils, three miles square; and also a small tract in Washauwenega Bay -- now occupied by a part of the Band -- three miles square.
Signed, sealed and delivered at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100028984/1581293724401
1850 President Zachary Taylor revoked the Wisconsin Chippewa treaties giving them reservations. To induce them to leave, their annuity payments were moved to Sandy Lake west of the St. Croix river. That resulted in the Sandy Lake Tragedy Also that year the Minnesota Pioneer reported that Little-Crow had challenged Hole-in-the-day to a knife duel.[83] Two years later President Filmore recinded Taylors removal orders and moved payments back to Madeline Island.
1850 Chippewa Sioux treaty at Fort Snelling, initiated by Governor Ramsey.
The Minnesota Pioneer, Jun. 13, 1850, MNHS, 2023. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=10331369-e653-4695-8ed2-42e0dd98fa6c%2Fmnhi0031%2F1DFIOP55%2F50061301
1850 "The Ojibway Conquest", novel published by Chief Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh, George Copway, Mississaugas Ojibwa. The enemy in the book are the Sioux.
1850 “Act for the protection of the Indians in Upper Canada from Imposition, and the property occupied or enjoyed by them from trespass and injury.”
1851 Chippewa Sioux hostilities were reported starting with the death of a single Chippewa and 180 "Warpeton" heading for Mille Lacs and more towards the St. Croix in Minnesota Territory.
Image 2 of American Telegraph (Washington D.C.), May 29, 1851, Library of Congress.
1851 Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Act that created the reservation system. Four reservations were reestablished in Wisconsin three years later. Two tribes were not included, St. Croix and Mole Lake bands.
1852 William Whipple Warren recorded Ojibwa oral History which was not published until 1880 titled: "History of the Ojibway People, Based upon Traditions and Oral Statements" that is considered a landmark book in Ojibwa studies. His father was "white" and the Ojibwe have a patrilineal system. Children are considered to be born into their father's clan and lines of descent.[8] Those born to a non-Ojibwe father have no clan or formal place within the tribe, unless specifically adopted by a man of the tribe. His father was a decendent of Richard Warren one of the Mayflower Pilgrims.[84] His mother was the granddaughter of Chief White Crane of the Chequamegon Chippewa" band.
1852 Chief Buffalo of the La Pointe band of Lake Superior Chippewa met with U.S. President Millard Fillmore.
1852 Round Lake Chippewa village massacre by the Sioux near Coon Rapids, Minnesota.
1852 A big Ojibway Sioux battle was recorded close to Turtle Mountain. The son of Chief Little Shell was killed. The Chief found the man responsible and beheaded him. "French and the Indians in North Dakota" Rosebud County news (Forsyth, Mont.), July 28, 1904, Image 3, Library of Congress
1853 Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language by Catholic missionary Frederic Baraga.[85]
1853 Magnetawan First Nation had it's rreserve surveyed
1853 The Fort William Chippewa First Nation reserve was created.
1853 The Dokis First Nation reserve was surveyed and registered in 1853.
1853 Pierre Bottineau and other Chippewa Sauteaux Metis were hired as guides for the eastern portion of Isaac Stevens'1853 primary railway survey from St. Paul to the west coast.
1854 L'Anse Reservation was created in Michigan. The 1934 Indian Reorganization Act changed the the name to the The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. It is the oldest and largest reservation in Michigan.
1854 Treaty of La Pointe established the modern-day reservations of Bad River, Red Cliff, Lac du Flambeau, and Lac Courte Oreilles in Wisconsin without specifically naming ones for the St. Croix or Sokaogon bands. The treaty states in general terms that the Lac du Flambeau and Lac Courte Orielles reservations were for "Wisconsin Chippewa". The end result was: two bands were without a specific reservation of their own until 1937. The Fond du Lac reservation in Minnesota was also created at La Pointe.
1854 A reservation was created for the Bois Forte band with land around Lake Vermilion, and added to in 1866 at Nett Lake and Deer Creek, Minnesota. In 1881 the boundaries were finally set.
1854 Treaty No.72 got the Chippewas of Nawash now Neyaashiinigmiing First Nation: Chief’s point, Saugeen Reserve (Owen Sound), Colpoys Bay Reserve (Big Bay). Cape Croker Indian Reserve No. 27. the Fishing Islands in Lake Huron, Cape Hurd Islands and three islands at the entrance to Colpoys Bay.
1855 Ontonagon band of Chippewas had a reservation created. In 1934 they would join The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.
1855 the Mille Lacs band reservation was created.
1855 In Michigan the Isabella Reservation was created for the Saginaw and Swan Creek Chippewa.
1855 Chief Buffalo got it in writing that the Wisconsin reservations were permanent unless they "misbehaved".
1855 Battle of Rice Lake was a Sioux Chippewa battle that the Sioux won. Chief Na-Non-Gabe was killed. That resulted in his daughter taking revenge and becoming the "The Chippewa Warrior Princess", or Hanging Cloud.
1855 The Chippewa joined the Yankton Sioux and Missouri Metis in a large battle versus the Mdewakanton near the Lower Sioux Agency.[86] The "half breeds" were Red River Ojibwa Metis.[87]
1855 Hole-in-the-Day was made a citizen of the State of Minnesota by special act.[88] In Anishinaabe culture leadership is divided between civil administration and military operations with leaders specific to one or the other though some leaders were both.
In 1855 Chiefs Be-sheekee and Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay visited Washington. The sculptor Vincenti was working at the Capitol and recognized an opportunity. He offered the Chiefs $5.00 each to pose so he could model them in clay. He later carved his studies in marble. It wasn't known until 2019 he had made two versions of Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay until one went to Sotheby's where it sold for 150,000 £.[86][87]
1857 Red Lake and Pillagers attacked the Sioux at Lac Travers and took 30-40 scalps. The American, Washington [D.C.], Aug. 26, 1857, p.2, Library of Congress
In 1858 the Leaman Rifle Works delivered rifles to the Chippewas of the Mississippi, Pillagers, and Lake Winnibigoshish as part of their annuity payments.[88] [89]
1858 Battle of Big Stone Lake, Chippewa lost 11 Sioux 26;
Image 4 of The Tipton Advertiser (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa), Aug. 14, 1858, Library of Comgress.
1858 Two weeks after Minnesota became a state The Battle of Shakopee at Murphy's Landing on the St. Peters River took place, now the Minnesota River. The Chippewa lost 4 while the Dacotah lost 3.
1859 Pennefather Treaty took reserve lands from the Batchewana First Nation, Garden River First Nation, and Thessalon First Nation to allow for increased "white" settlement.
ca.1860 A large battle of hundreds took place at Spooner, Wisconsin. Chief Blackbird, La Pointe Chippewa tribe, Superior Telegram, Feb. 17, 1915.
1860 The Prince of Wales attended an indigenious conference at Sarnia, Ontario, led by the Chief of the Ojibways of Garden River. He gave 75 indigenious leaders the 1860 Queen Victoria Peace medal with the Prince of Wales logo engraved on the front.[91] The medals were silver and 75mm in diameter.[92]
1860 Nahnebahwequay (Catherine Sutton) of the Mississauga band gained an audience with Queen Victoria for Ojibwa land rights.
1860 The Sucker Creek First Nation Reserves 115 & 116 were established in Ontario.
1860 The United States Senate authorized the federal district court in Michigan to decide a Sault Ste. Marie land claim made by decendants of Chevalier de Repentigny and Captain Louis de Bonne. That court ruled in their favor in 1861, but the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision in 1867. It impacted the Sault tribe. (see 1866)
CHIPPEWA TERRITORY:
In 1860 the descussions of new territories included slavery and would it be allowed. The Library of Congress has 20 newspapers from May 1860 that mention the proposed Chippewa Territory.
1860 The Nevada Journal suggested that there were 10 terrtories waiting to join the UnitedStates one being named "Chippewa" and another "Ontonagon". (New States, p.2)
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026884/1860-06-01/ed-1/seq-2/
☆ "Chippewa" Another Hyperborean Territory, The Winona Republican, June 13, 1860, p.1 https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=b45efc04-e749-41f3-80cd-6353bcbb863b%2Fmnhi0031%2F1DFIQ256%2F60061301
☆ "New Territories", The Chatfield Republican, May 15, 1860, p.2, Minnesota Digital Newspaper hub.
☆ "New Territories", Chatfield Democrat, May 26, 1860, Minnesota Digital Newspaper hub.
☆ "Das Comite fur Territorien", Neu-Ulm Pionier, May 12, 1860, p.5 Minnesota Digital Newspaper hub.
☆ "New Territories" Saint Peter Tribune, May 9, 1860, Minnesota Digital Newspaper hub.
☆ "Tabled" (due to slavery provision) Red Wing Sentinel, May 23, 1860, p.2, Minnesota Digital Newspaper hub.
☆ The Glencoe Register, May 12, 1860, p.4, Minnesota Digital Newspaper hub.
☆ Rochester City News, May 9, 1860, p.2, Minnesota Digital Newspaper hub.
☆ "The Committiee on Territories, The Mantorville Express, May 19, 1860, p.1, Minnesota Digital Newspaper hub.
☆ "Washington May 11, tabled" Minnesota State News, May 19, 1860, p.3, Minnesota Digital Newspaper hub.
☆ New Territories,The Shasta Courier, May 26, 1860, p.1, Library of Congress.
☆ 5 New Territories, Daily National Democrat, Marysvill, CA, May 18, 1860, p.3, Lilbrary of Congress.
☆ "Ontonagon" had been suggested as a name for Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The New York Herald also mentions a State named Chippewa on p.6, Sept. 20, 1862. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030313/1860-09-20/ed-1/seq-6/
Previous, in 1858, the Ontonagon Advocate called for a convention to create a state from the Upper Michigan Peninsula, Northerm Wisconsin and Lake County Minnesota. ( The Weekly Pioneer and Democrat July 22, 1858, p.8. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016751/1858-0722/ed-1/seq-8/#date1=1756&index )
☆ In 1863 Idaho Territory was created taking hald of what would have been Chippewa Territory.
☆ 1867 The Senator from the Red River area took the Chippewa Territory proposal to the Dakota Territory legislature according to the Sioux City Register, Nov. 16, 1863, p. 3.
☆ 1871 The Territory fo Chippewa was again proposed according to the
Democratic Enquirer, Feb. 22, 1871,p.1.
☆ M'Arthur County, Ohio. Library of Congress
☆ 1871 The Elko Independent, Elko, NV, Apr. 22, 1872 Library of Congress.
* 1861 7 May, Chief Hole-in-Day offered the U.S. Army 100 Chippewa warriors according to the Hokah Chief newspaper.
* Less than a month after the attack on Fort Sumpter a Chippewa and Sioux delegation traveled to Washington to tender 300 warriors to the Government. California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences, Vol 15, No. 11, May 10, 1861, California Digital Newspaper Collection, UC Riverside, CA, 2024 [1]
* 1861 The Michigan Legislature rejected an offer by George Copway or Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh, to raise a regiment of Indians. Copway said that they would be: "inured to hardships, fleet as deer, shrewd and cautious" in combat.
1861 10 August, a significant engagement was reported between the Chippewa and Sioux on the Pembina River. Nevada Democrat, Vol 8, No. 510, Sept. 12, 1861, California Digital Newspaper Collection, UC Riverside, CA, 2024. [2]
1861 USS Pembina, Unadilla-class gunboat, was launched Aug. 28, 1861 andcommissioned Oct. 16, 1861. She was named for the Pembina Chippewa Nation. The USS Ottawa was only launched the week before.
1861 USS Chippewa, Unadilla-class gunboat, was launched Sept. 14, 1861 and commissioned Dec. 12, 1861. She was named for the Chippewa Nation as the Navy named all the Unadila-class ships for Native American peoples.
1861 The American Fur Co. riverboat Chippewa was 150 miles above the Yellowstone and caught fire with 237 kegs on gunpowder onboard and no means to put the fire out.
1862 M'Chigeeng First Nation reserve was created on Manitoulin Island. At that time they became identified as the West Bay band.
1862 Nine Chiefs of the Lake Superiour Band of Chippewa were the first to receive Indian Peace Medals from President Lincoln in April 1862.
Hole-in-the-day threatened to go to war in August 1862 because Indian Agent Walker was cheating his people egregiously. The timing was coincidental to the Sioux events. Many attempted to link the events when there was little to do so beyond speculation at the time. The "whites" did not understand why the Chippewa were unhappy, because they were unaware of the transgressions [93] the same as they were unaware of the Dacotah Agents actions. When Agent Walker was called out for his swindles he committed suicide. That made national news. To make the situation more concerning the Pillagers had taken six families captive at Leech lake.[94] They injured no one, however it made Chief Big-Dog so unhappy that he went to Fort Ripley.[95] He reportedly was given a U.S. Army tunic to wear, which he did. Gull Lake Chief Bad-Boy also did not like what he was hearing and went to Fort Ripley taking three of his men. The fort used their skills as advanced sentries. It happened that Lt. Beaulieu, a biracial Chippewa from G Company 9th Minnesota, was at the fort.[94] Ripley's Commander tasked him as a messenger to Hole-in-the-Day. The Chief had the prisoners released in exchange for an investigation of Agent Walker.[94] The next day Lt. Beaulieu was sent with a message to Gov. Ramsey requesting the other G Company Chippewa be sent.[94] The St. Cloud newspaper absolutely could not believe that any hostilities would happen between the Chippewa and the settlers. However, Hole-in-the Day's posturing fueled the anti-Indian hysteria in other papers and would not be forgotten by his own people. The Red-Lakers in particular called him out at council. His posturing would overshadow his actual actions in the historic narrative. The principle complaint of the Chippewa was their Indian Agent, they wanted him removed. Walker attempted to have Hole-in-the-Day arrested and even shot at the Chief. He committed suicide out of fear the Chippewa were coming for him.
A.S.H. White of the Indian Bureau arrived in Minnesota for the treaty on August 6. He had been the Secretary for the 1851 Traverse des Sioux treaty and had been sent again.
1853 "A Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language", Rev. Frederick Baraga[9]
wikicommons
A 1st Chief"s silver medal size is 104mm.
wikicommons
© Andrew Calicura
Minnesota Historical Society, wikicommons
Minnesota Historical Society wikicommons
Image was taken Mid-August 1862 with Commissioner Dole seated and John G. Nicolay standing enroute to the Red River valley. Nicolay was sent as Lincoln's personal representative to the Chippewa. The Mdewakanton Uprising caused the treaty commission and treaty good to be diverted to Fort Abercombie and the treat signing canceled. Minnesota Historical Society, wikicommons
On August 13, 1862 a train of 30 wagons with treaty goods intended for the Red Lake and Pembina bands of Chippewa, departed St. Cloud, Minnesota for the Red River Valley.[112] The two bands were to sign a treaty on the 25th of August 1862 with the U.S. Government.[112]
On 17 August Lt. Sheehan, with his men of C Co. 5th Minn., departed the upper Sioux Agency for Fort Ripley to escort the Chippewa treaty commission to the Red River valley.[113] Instead, they were called to the defense of Fort Ridgely leaving Ripley incapable of providing an escort. The treaty commission arrived at St. Cloud on 18 August and organized a militia escort.
When the Mdewkanton uprising broke Gov. Ramsey sent ex-Territorial Supreme Court Judge David Cooper, Hole-in-the-Day's legal adviser, to ascertain what the Chippewa were thinking. The Judge reported to Ramsey the Chippewa were dancing around Sioux scalps when he arrived. Newspapers reported the Sioux had forced the Chippewa to leave their village at Otter Tail with no details on how the Ojibwa acquired the scalps. The newspapers also reported that the Chief had "sent requests to Ojibwa bands in Wisconsin to send all their warriors" because the Sioux had killed a Ojibwa woman.
Just prior to the uprising Little Crow sent Hole-in-the-Day a letter informing that he had tried to stop a war party from departing the lower agency looking for Chippewa to fight.
The Sisseton warrior Other-Day said a large war-party had just departed the upper agency, looking for Chippewa, when lower reservation uprising started. Highly Interesting Narrative, Other-Day, St. Cloud Democrat, Sept. 4, 1862, Library of Congress, 2023. [8]
☆ 25 August 1862 The Red-Lake and Pembina band's Treaty was cancelled by the Mdewakanton uprising.
☆ The Pillagers Otter tail Village attacked by the Sioux
On 28 August 30-40 Sioux departed Otter Tail City for the Chippewa Otter Tail village 20 miles away at Pine Lake.The Difficulty With the Chippewas News from Chippewa Country, Sioux attack at Otter Tail, Settlements at Ottertail cleaned out, Dancing around Sioux Scalps, The Weekly Pioneer and Democrat, Sept. 5, 1862, p.2, Newspapers.com, 2023. [9]
On 28 August a paper reported the war party numbered 100 and intended to fight the Red-Lakers. The Origin and Extent of Our Indian Difficulties, St Paul Daily Press, 28 Aug. 1862, Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub, 2023, MNHS. [10]
100 Sioux to attack Red-Lake, Hokah Chief, 9 Sept. 1862, p.2, Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub, 2023, MNHS. [11]
100 Sioux to attack Red-Lake, The origin and extent of our Indian difficulties, Chicago Daily Tribune, Sept. 1, 1862, p.2, Library of Congress, 2023. [12]
News from Chippewa Country, 100 Sioux attack at Otter Tail, Settlements at Ottertail cleaned out, Dancing around Sioux Scalps, Winona Weekly Republican, Sept. 10, 1862, Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub, 2023, MNHS. [13]
News from Chippewa Country, 100 Sioux attack Chippewa Otter Tail, Dancing around Sioux Scalps, Detroit Free Press, 6 Sept. 1862, p.1, Newspapers.com, 2023. [14]
100 Sioux attacked the Chippewa at Otter Tail Lakes forcing them to evacuate, but the Chippewa were dancing around Sioux scalps when Judge Cooper arrived. Indian Difficulties, Detroit Free Press, Sept. 6, 1862 p.1, Newspapers.com 2025. [15]
The Receiver at the Otter Tail Land Office reported Sioux camped on Chippewa land when he arrived at St. Cloud, Indian War, St. Cloud Democrat, Aug. 28, 1862, p.2, Library of Congress, 2023.[16],
![Chippewa Chief Big-Dog of the Round-Prairie band offered to fight the Sioux Whitney's Gallery.[108]](http://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/51af781d-55d8-4651-bcd9-7668931ec27c/blob-2df09f0.png/:/cr=t:17.58%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:82.42%25/rs=w:600,h:800,cg:true)
Minnesota Historical Society, wikicommons
1855 daguerreotype of Chief at Gull Lake who offered to fight the Sioux 15 September 1862 at the Crow Wing "Embassy" with Gov. Ramsey. He was considered politically shrewd. Something the Red Lake band disapproved of. He was assassinated for it in 1868 by another band. He's wearing 3 Indian Peace medals. Multiple papers published, that early St. Paul, Minnesota without Chief Hole in the Day, would have been like the play "Hamlet" with no Hamlet.[104]
Minnesota Historical Society wikicommons
Chief at Gull Lake that offered to fight the Sioux 15 September 1862 at the Crow Wing "Embassy" with Cov. Ramsey. He was highly respected by the State of Minnesota. When he died the State provided his headstone as a State Monument and flags were flown at half staff. Also, the United States Navy named a ship for him, the first Native American to be recognized in that manner.
wikicommons
On September 2, 1862 two Chiefs of the Fond-du-Lac band sent a letter for Gov. Ramsey to forward to President Lincoln. They offered to fight the Sioux so Minnesota's troops could be sent to fight the south. That letter made national news. It is not known if Lincoln got the letter as it is not in his Presidential Archives. If he didn't the entire country did. The FDL letter was published or referenced in dozens of newspapers across the nation. What is known is he did not act upon it. In less than a week Mille-Lacs band Chiefs leading 750 warriors showed up at Fort Ripley with the same offer. In addition, they voluntarily provided security to the fort and the nearby town of Little Falls without compensation, in the event it was attacked by anyone. At that time it was rumored that Hole-in-the-day was considering to do that. Another Mille-Lacs Chief took his warriors to St. Cloud with another offer to fight the Sioux. Fort Ripley's commander, Captain Hall, sent a biracial Chippewa officer to Chief Hole-in-the-Day with an offer the Chief accepted.
Within a week Gov. Ramsey and a legislature commission went north to have council with the Chief. It was comprised of U.S. Senator H. Rice and Judge Cooper both respected by the Chippewa. E.A.C. Hatch with whom the Chippewa had long traded as well as Rev. F. Ayer a missionary teacher amongst them for 20 years. The group arrived at Crow Wing to find 10 Chiefs and 10 headmen waiting. They all offered to fight the Sioux. The Governor and commission were taken with the proposal. A treaty was made addressing the Chippewa concerns and the Govenor and commission returned to St. Paul. Minnesota's other U.S. Senator was informed of all the offers and favored accepting. them too. Ramsey was so taken with all the offers that he invited the Chiefs of 22 bands to St. Paul. They all came thinking that their offers to fight the Sioux had been accepted. However, President Lincoln, Major General Pope, and Col. Sibley were opposed.
Why Lincoln did not act upon the offers is unknown. However, Pope's statement for turning down Chippewa service "as not being good for the public interest" sounds like a politician not a general. He may have been repeating what Lincoln wrote him, but that is unknown. What is known, is that had Lincoln accepted the Fond-du-Lac offer he would have had no control over how the other Chippewa bands responded. How fast word would have spread that the FDL band had an OK can only be guessed at, but word would have spread. The two northern Santee tribes had headed for the plains. That would have left the Mdewakanton force against nearly the entire Minnesota-Wisconsin Chippewa based upon the 21 bands that came for Gov. Ramsey. Against those odds it is unknown if the Dacotah would have surrendered to the Chippewa or if the Chippewa would have accepted. Without a surrender the trials would not have happened and there would have been no sentences for execution. The outcome for the over 5-1 outnumbered Mdewakaton force is unknown. It is possible it would have been different from the 38 executed in the historic narrative. The Fond-du-Lac specifically requested the use of native rules on war, making woman, children, and elderly acceptable targets. They also suggested that they receive the Santee Sioux annuities as compensation for their assistance. The Chippewa would have had the advantage of surprise that the Sioux had had with the settlers. The Sioux would have had their families to get out of harms way and the Chippewa would have been on a mission to remove the "evil spirit" from Minnesota for Lincoln as they had corresponded. In 1918 the White Earth Tomahawk published that the number of Chippewa warriors would have been 5,000. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn89064695/1918-07-04/ed-1/?
Newspapers that published Fond-du-Lac letter to Lincoln (complete text) offering to fight the Sioux:
(Fond du Lac reservation archives)
Newpapers.com, 2023. [16]
Library of Congress, 2024.
Library of Congress, 2023.
Library of Congress, 2023.
Newspapers that published the Fond-du-Lac Lincoln letter as stub articles:
"The best thing that could be done, in my judgement, would be to say to Hole-in-the-Day: Get your young men and warriors together, and go on the war path against the Sioux: drive them back and rid the country of them, and your forces shall receive the pay of U.S. soldiers during the time you are engaged in the expedition." From Northern Minnesota. The Weekly Pioneer and Democrat Vol XIV, No.12, Sept. 5, 1862, p.6, Library of Congress, 2023. [17]
Gus. H. Beaulieu, editor of the White Earth Tomahawk published: "...fully 5,000 warriors, which were the reputed fighting strength of the Chippewas at the time, were detained..." https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn89064695/1918-07-04/ed-1/?
Instructs respond to: Joseph Gurrol/Gurnoe Red Cliff band Bayfield WS,
Mille-Lacs Band Archives