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Treaty

Chippewa of Sault Ste. Marie at Detroit, Michigan (1855)

In August 1855 the Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa surrendered fishing and camping rights at the St. Marys falls for compensation.

Signed
August 2, 1855
Senate
Ratified
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On August 2, 1855, at Detroit, commissioners George W. Manypenny and Henry C. Gilbert signed an agreement with the Chippewa Indians of Sault Ste. Marie. Article 1: "The said Chippewa Indians surrender to the United States the right of fishing at the falls of St. Mary's and of encampment, convenient to the fishing-ground, secured to them by the treaty of June 16, 1820." The agreement dealt with a single fishery and campsite rather than a land cession by named tract.

Article 2 provided that a commissioner would value the Indians' interest in the fishery and that the award would be paid like annuities, "in full satisfaction for the right hereby surrendered," with one-third going to relatives of mixed ancestry if the Indians wished. Article 3 gave the chief Oshawwawno an island in the St. Mary's River in fee simple.

The treaty text does not say why the United States wanted the site. The Sault Tribe's history does not discuss this fishing agreement. It says that after settlers violated the 1836 treaty, the chiefs signed the 1855 Treaty with the Ottawa and Chippewa, and that its people came to understand the treaties did not end their sovereignty or their ancestral right to hunt and fish on the ceded lands and waters.

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.

  1. The said Chippewa Indians surrender to the United States the right of fishing at the falls of St. MaryTreaty with the Chippewa of Sault Ste. Marie, 1855 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. in full satisfaction for the right hereby surrenderedTreaty with the Chippewa of Sault Ste. Marie, 1855 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. the documents did not end their sovereigntyStory of Our People, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians

Research notes. The treaty does not state why the right was surrendered, and the cited sources do not tie it to the St. Marys canal and locks built in 1853-55. The Sault Tribe page refers to the 1855 Ottawa and Chippewa treaty, not this agreement. The treaty was ratified April 15, 1856, and proclaimed April 24, 1856.

What the treaty did to the land

Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.

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.

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.

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-chippewa-of-sault-ste-marie-1855-0732reference work
    Treaty with the Chippewa of Sault Ste. Marie, 1855 Aug. 2, 1855. | 11 Stat. 631.

Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.