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The Mille Lacs Band and the Treaty of 1855 Helen Tanner THIS REPORT CONCERNS THE MILLE LACS BAND OF OJIBWE WHOSE RESERVATION headquarters is located at Onamia, Mille Lacs County; Minnesota. The Mille Lacs band was represented at negotiations with the federal government for the following treaties: (1) Treaty of Prairie du Chien, August 19, 1825;1 (2) Treaty of St. Peters, July 29, 1837;2 (3) Treaty of La Pointe, October 4,1842;3 (4) Treaty of Fond du Lac, August 2, 184T4 (5) Treaty of Washington, February 22, 1855;5 and (6) a second Treaty of Washington, March 11, 1863.6 The particular focus of the report is the 1855 treaty; the final land cession treaty signed by Mille Lacs leaders, with discussion of the background of the treaty; the chief participants , and the Mille Lacs Indians' understanding of the treaty. The ultimate question for consideration is whether the Mille Lacs Indians understood or believed that the 1855 Treaty had any effect on their rights to hunt, fish, and gather under Article 5 of the 1837 Treaty. Research for this report commenced with a study of the pertinent treaties, and a general survey of Minnesota and regional history during the nineteenth century. To understand the circumstances surrounding a treaty; it is necessary to read the pertinent correspondence of the Office of IndianAffairs, available on microfilm, as well as the treaty proceedings and the manuscript version of the treaty. An adjunct to this basic research is the collection of biographical information about people involved in the treatymaking ; this accompanies the study of contemporary travel accounts, local history; and anthropological sources. In pursuing any research topic, team work is valuable, so conferences with colleagues have been a part of the total research endeavor. Nevertheless, the analysis and conclusions are entirely my own. Preparation of this report has been carried out under a research contract with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians entered into July 1, 1993, with compensation at the rate of fifty dollars per hour. SUPPORTING TESTIMONY I. THE MILLE LACS BAND: A SEPARATE COMPONENT OF "THE MISSISSIPPI BANDS" Although the federal government designated "The Mississippi Bands" as a single unit in the title of the Treaty of February 22, 1855/ the term encompasses Ojibwe communities with significant differences that had become evident by the time of the 1855 treaty. In the first place, the six Mississippi bands, for whom reserves were provided in the treaty, represented two different paths of advance into the Minnesota country. The term"Mississippi Bands" is appropriate for the Ojibwes who came into Minnesota from La Pointe, Wisconsin , by way of the western end of Lake Superior, then ascended the St. Louis River to the Savannah portage leading to Sandy Lake on the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The establishment of the trading post base at Sandy Lake in the mid-eighteenth century marks the take-over of an area formerly held by the Sioux [Dakota]. From Sandy Lake, Ojibwe people spread upstream to Leech Lake, and south along the upper Mississippi Valley to the Crow Wing River flowing into the Mississippi from the west. A second and actually earlier pathway of Ojibwe expansion came from the direction of the headwaters of the St. Croix River in northwestern Wisconsin. The Ojibwes from Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior (near present Ashland) advanced southward from the shores of Lake Superior to displace the Fox [Mesquakie] Indians on the headwaters of the St. Croix River before making notable gains in the Sioux country lying west of Lake Superior. The St. Croix valley provided easy access to the Mille Lacs district by overland travel or by way of the Snake River. One of the great events of Ojibwe traditional history is the "Battle of Kathio" in the eighteenth century; recalled as the occasion when the Ojibwes destroyed the Dakota community on Mille Lacs that had been the headquarters for the Eastern division of the Dakotas . Surviving Dakota fled down the Rum River valley to the Mississippi and lower Minnesota River valleys.8 Although French documents indicate that the Dakota settlements at Mille Lacs diminished in importance after 1700, nevertheless this landmark battle enabled Ojibwe people to spread further south into the rice-growing lakes of the St. Croix valley; ultimately occupying country as far west as Mille Lacs. The Ojibwe communities at Mille Lacs and the Snake River were situated between the two main water routes linking the Mississippi River and Lake Superior: (1) the Mississippi-St...

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