Chippewa (Mississippi, Pillager, and Lake Winibigoshish Bands) at Washington, DC (1855)
The 1855 treaty with Mississippi, Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish Chippewa ceded much of north-central Minnesota and created reservations.
- Signed
- February 22, 1855
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land given up
- about 10 million acres
- Land set aside for the nations
- about 418,000 acres
What happened
What happened
On February 22, 1855, in Washington, Commissioner George W. Manypenny and chiefs of the Mississippi, Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish bands of Chippewa signed a treaty. The bands ceded "all their right, title, and interest in, and to, the lands now owned and claimed by them" in Minnesota Territory within a described boundary. Article 2 reserved separate tracts for permanent homes, including townships around Mille Lacs and tracts on the Mississippi. The United States agreed to pay the Mississippi bands $10,000 in goods and $50,000 to settle their present engagements, plus annuities.
Treaties Matter says that with the collapse of the fur trade, the Ojibwe depended more on annuities, and that the U.S. intended them to become farmers on individually owned plots, promising to plow 675 acres for the whole population.
In Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band (1999) the Supreme Court held that the Chippewa retained the hunting and fishing rights from the 1837 treaty because the 1855 treaty was "devoid of any language expressly mentioning usufructuary rights." Treaties Matter adds that the 1855 reservation tracts were later enlarged, ceded and restored by treaties and acts of Congress.
Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error
What the sources say, and how this was checked
Well supported by the sources below.
cede, sell, and convey to the United States all their right, title, and interest in, and to, the lands now owned and claimed by them
Treaty with the Chippewa, 1855 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)the 1855 treaty marked a sea change in the economics of the Ojibwe
1855 Land Cession Treaty with the Ojibwe, Treaties Matterthe entire 1855 Treaty is devoid of any language expressly mentioning usufructuary rights
Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians, 526 U.S. 172 (1999)
Research notes. The treaty was signed February 22, 1855, ratified March 3, 1855, and proclaimed April 7, 1855. The cited sources do not give the acreage ceded.
What the treaty did to the land
About 10 million acres given up. about 418,000 acres recognized, kept or set aside for the nations. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.
ceded to the United Statesabout 10 million acres
Land of the Chippewa of the Mississippi in Minnesota, ceded 1855 (area 357)
Ceded by the Chippewa of the Mississippi in 1855, land in Minnesota.
set aside as a reservationabout 106,000 acres
Land of the Chippewa (Winnibigoshish) and Chippewa of the Mississippi in Minnesota, ceded 1864 (area 453)
Set aside for the Chippewa of the Mississippi as the Gull Lake reserve by the 1855 treaty, then ceded in the 1864 treaty.
set aside as a reservationabout 83,000 acres
Reservation of the Chippewa of the Mississippi in Minnesota (area 358)
Set apart at Leech Lake for the Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish bands by the 1855 treaty, and later enlarged by executive orders; not a cession.
set aside as a reservationabout 62,000 acres
Reservation of the Chippewa of the Mississippi in Minnesota (area 359)
Set apart at Lake Winnibigoshish for the Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish bands by the 1855 treaty; a reservation, not a cession.
set aside as a reservationabout 62,000 acres
Land of the Chippewa (Winnibigoshish) and Chippewa of the Mississippi in Minnesota, ceded 1864 (area 457)
Set aside for the Chippewa of the Mississippi as the Pokagomin Lake reserve by the 1855 treaty, then ceded in the 1864 treaty.
set aside as a reservationabout 42,000 acres
Land of the Chippewa (Winnibigoshish) and Chippewa of the Mississippi in Minnesota, ceded 1864 (area 456)
Set aside for the Chippewa of the Mississippi as the Rabbit Lake reserve by the 1855 treaty, then ceded in the 1864 treaty.
set aside as a reservationabout 21,000 acres
Reservation of the Chippewa of the Mississippi in Minnesota (area 360)
Set apart at Cass Lake for the Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish bands by the 1855 treaty; a reservation, not a cession.
set aside as a reservationabout 21,000 acres
Land of the Chippewa (Winnibigoshish) and Chippewa of the Mississippi in Minnesota, ceded 1889 (area 454)
Set aside for the Chippewa of the Mississippi as the Mille Lac reserve in 1855, ceded with conditions in 1864, and their right to live there given up in an 1889 agreement.
set aside as a reservationabout 21,000 acres
Land of the Chippewa (Winnibigoshish) and Chippewa of the Mississippi in Minnesota, ceded 1864 (area 455)
Set aside for the Chippewa of the Mississippi as the Sandy Lake reserve by the 1855 treaty, then ceded in the 1864 treaty.
What happened next
Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.
- 1855
This treaty
About 10 million acres ceded to the United States by the Chippewa of the Mississippi. About 418,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Chippewa (Winnibigoshish) and Chippewa of the Mississippi
The 1855 treaty with Mississippi, Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish Chippewa ceded much of north-central Minnesota and created reservations.
- 1864
- 1889
Land lost
About 21,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Chippewa (Winnibigoshish) and Chippewa of the Mississippi
The 1899 record: “Cede all their title to lands described in the preceding article (4); and also relinquish to the U. S. the right of occupancy on the Mille Lac reservation. (Signed Oct. 5, 1889.)”
- 2025
In court
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe v. Madore (Mille Lacs County)
In 2025 the Eighth Circuit dismissed the Mille Lacs law-enforcement appeals as moot and vacated the district court's orders, leaving the reservation question open.
The law behind it
The legal ideas behind the decisions, and related records without a date. Court cases and laws with a date are in what happened next, above.
Legal doctrine
criminal jurisdiction
Who may prosecute a crime in Indian country depends on who the offender and victim are and where it happened.
Legal doctrine
diminishment
Only Congress can shrink a reservation, and courts require a clear statement; Solem, Hagen and Parker show how that test works.
Legal doctrine
disestablishment
Disestablishment means Congress ended a reservation entirely; courts require clear intent from Congress, and McGirt (2020) held the Creek Reservation was never disestablished.
Legal doctrine
indian country
Federal law defines 'Indian country' as reservations, dependent Indian communities and Indian allotments; the definition decides which government's laws apply.
Who is doing the work today
The nations connected to this treaty come first, then groups returning land and defending treaty rights. Support goes directly to them.
Who is doing the work
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
- Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin
- Bay Mills Indian Community
- Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's Reservation, Montana
- Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan
- Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin
- Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
- Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan
- Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana
Working with these nations
- Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) Nation government Ojibwe treaty rights in ceded territories, natural resource stewardship, manoomin, and a Land Conservancy program… Give on their site Website
- Honor the Earth Native-led Pipeline resistance, sovereignty, energy justice Give on their site Website
- White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP) Native-led Recover the original White Earth reservation land base Give on their site Website
- Native Land Conservancy (Massachusetts) Native-led Native-led land conservation Give on their site Website
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Sources
Sources
- treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-chippewa-1855-0685reference work
Treaty with the Chippewa, 1855 Feb. 22, 1855. | 10 Stat., 1165.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.