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Treaty

Chippewa (Mississippi, Pillager and Lake Winibigoshish) at Washington, DC (1864)

An 1864 treaty had the Mississippi, Pillager and Winnibigoshish Chippewa cede six Minnesota reservations for a new reservation and payments.

Signed
May 7, 1864
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 252,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On May 7, 1864, at Washington, Commissioner William P. Dole and superintendent Clark W. Thompson signed a treaty with the Chippewa chief Hole-in-the-day and Mis-qua-dace, acting for the Chippewas of the Mississippi and the Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish bands. The Gull Lake, Mille Lac, Sandy Lake, Rabbit Lake, Pokagomin Lake and Rice Lake reservations, set in the 1855 treaty, were ceded to the United States. A few sections went in fee simple to named chiefs and a missionary.

In return the United States agreed to set apart a new reservation for the Chippewas of the Mississippi, described by boundaries around the Leech Lake area. The United States agreed to pay $7,500 for clearing and breaking land on it. It also promised $20,000 toward settling claims for "depredations committed by said Indians in 1862," $10,000 to the chiefs, and $5,000 to Hole-in-the-day for his burned house and furniture.

The treaty names the 1862 events only as "depredations." The OSU treaty database lists ratification on February 9, 1865, and proclamation on March 20, 1865.

Summarized with AI assistance from 2 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. are hereby ceded to the United States, excepting one half section of land, including the mission buildings at Gull LakeTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Chippewa, Mississippi, and Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish Bands, 1864
  2. the claims for depredations committed by said Indians in 1862, the sum of twenty thousand dollarsTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Chippewa, Mississippi, and Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish Bands, 1864

Research notes. The treaty text does not explain why the United States sought it, and it names the 1862 events only as \"depredations\"; this account does not interpret them.

What the treaty did to the land

About 252,000 acres given up. 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.

  1. 1855

    Land kept

    About 252,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Chippewa (Winnibigoshish) and Chippewa of the Mississippi

    By Chippewa (Mississippi, Pillager, and Lake Winibigoshish Bands) at Washington, DC (1855)

    area 453 area 457 area 456 area 454 area 455

  2. 1864

    This treaty

    About 252,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Chippewa (Winnibigoshish) and Chippewa of the Mississippi

    An 1864 treaty had the Mississippi, Pillager and Winnibigoshish Chippewa cede six Minnesota reservations for a new reservation and payments.

  3. 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.)”

    area 454

  4. 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-mississippi-and-pillager-and-lake-wreference work
    Treaty with the Chippewa, Mississippi, and Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish Bands, 1864 May 7, 1864. | 13 Stat., 693.

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