Living Law,
Living LandSupport land rights
All treaties and agreements

Treaty

Chippewa (Mississippi, Pillager, and Lake Winibigoshish) at Washington, DC (1863)

In March 1863 the Mississippi, Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish Chippewa ceded six Minnesota reservations for a new reservation and extended annuities.

Signed
March 11, 1863
Senate
Ratified

What happened

This treaty was made in Washington on March 11, 1863. Commissioner of Indian Affairs William P. Dole and Clark W. Thompson signed for the United States. Henry M. Rice and a long list of chiefs and headmen signed for the Chippewa of the Mississippi and the Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish bands.

Article 1 ceded to the United States the reservations "known as Gull Lake, Mille Lac, Sandy Lake, Rabbit Lake, Pokagomin Lake, and Rice Lake," set out in the 1855 treaty. One exception was a half-section including the mission buildings at Gull Lake, granted in fee simple to the Reverend John Johnson.

In return, Article 2 set aside a new reservation for the Chippewas of the Mississippi, with boundaries beginning one mile south of the southern end of Leech Lake. Article 3 extended existing annuities ten years, and provided $20,000 toward settling claims for depredations committed in 1862.

Article 4 promised to clear and break acres for each band and build a house for each chief. Article 12 said the Indians need not move until the United States had met Articles 4 and 6, and that the Mille Lac Indians would not be compelled to remove, owing to their "good conduct," while they did not molest whites. Ratified March 13, 1863; proclaimed March 19, 1863.

Good to know. "Depredations" is the treaty's own word for the 1862 events.

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. known as Gull Lake, Mille Lac, Sandy Lake, Rabbit Lake, Pokagomin Lake, and Rice LakeTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Chippewa (Mississippi, Pillager, and Lake Winibigoshish) at Washington, DC (1863)
  2. To extend the present annuities of the Indians, parties to this treaty, for ten years beyond the periods respectively named in existing treatiesTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Chippewa (Mississippi, Pillager, and Lake Winibigoshish) at Washington, DC (1863)
  3. owing to the heretofore good conduct of the Mille Lac Indians, they shall not be compelled to removeTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Chippewa (Mississippi, Pillager, and Lake Winibigoshish) at Washington, DC (1863)

Research notes. This account covers the signed terms of the treaty only; the treaty text does not say what happened afterward. \"Depredations\" is the treaty's own word for the 1862 events, which the treaty does not describe.

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.

  1. 1863

    This treaty

    Signed

    In March 1863 the Mississippi, Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish Chippewa ceded six Minnesota reservations for a new reservation and extended annuities.

  2. 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.

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Working with these nations

Native legal and land defense, nationally

Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.

Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-chippewa-of-the-mississippi-and-the-pillagerreference work
    the Chippewa of the Mississippi and the Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish Bands, 1863 Mar. 11, 1863. | 12 Stats., 1249.

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