that died at Fort Ridgely According to
oral history, the Ojibwe, an
Algonquian language-speaking people, coalesced on the
Atlantic coast of North America. About 500 years ago, the ancestors of the Mille Lacs Band began
migrating west. This history has been confirmed by linguistic and archeological evidence. After forcing the
eastern Dakota from the area in the mid-1700s, the Ojibwe occupied the region around
Mille Lacs Lake in what is today East Central
Minnesota. They had a varied
diet based on the resources of the area
hunting
deer, bear,
moose,
waterfowl, and
small game; fishing the area's
lakes and
streams; gathering
wild rice,
maple syrup,
nuts, and
berries; and
cultivating some
herbs and plants. The first Europeans who arrived among the Ojibwe were
French,
British, and American
fur traders. Some stayed and later competed with the Band for resources and to encroach on their land. Many settlers chose to ignore and violate the treaties the Mille Lacs Band made with the
British crown and the United States. Like all
Indigenous peoples, they suffered from exposure to
infectious diseases the Anglo-Europeans brought, like
measles,
mumps, and
smallpox. Many died as a result. By the end of the 19th century, only a few hundred Ojibwe remained on the Mille Lacs Reservation. At that time, pressing for their assimilation into European
American culture, the
Bureau of Indian Affairs prohibited the Ojibwe from practicing their
religion. Many had converted to
Catholicism while combining it with traditional prayer and
rituals.
Indian agents tried to have the native children sent to
boarding schools and forced to learn and speak English, and virtually denied their right to govern themselves. Their traditional way of life was nearly impossible to follow. When the
Mdewakanton uprising broke out in 1862, Chief
Hole in the Day made threats to take the North to war, too. On September 6, 1862, the speculation of his joining
Little Crow prompted Zhaaboshkang(Shaw-bosh-kung), head chief of the Mille Lacs Band to lead 700–750 warriors waving a
US flag William P. Dole, the
Indian Commissioner who happened to be at
Fort Ripley, asked that they return to their reservation. He told them they would be informed if they were needed. The town's woman prepared a welcome meal and the men smoked the peace pipe with the warriors. On September 8, 1862, another Mille Lacs band chief with 100 warriors was met and stopped at
Watab, Minnesota, just north of
St Cloud. They wanted to join the government forces fighting the Sioux. Fort Ripley was informed, and Capt. Hall, the fort's commander, invited the Chippewa to come to the fort as guests of the State to await a decision on their offer. That same week, the Fond du Lac band sent a letter to Gov. Ramsey to forward to President
Abraham Lincoln, offering to fight the Sioux. Also that week, the Red Lake band offered to fight, too. In both 1863 and 1864, Article 12 in two Chippewa treaties acknowledged the Mille Lacs band and Sandy Lake band for voluntarily providing security to a U.S. military installation and the civilian town without compensation during an ongoing war. For that service, Lincoln repeated what Commissioner Dole had said, the Mille Lacs band could remain on their reservation for 1,000 years. In 1864, 20 Mille Lacs warriors offered to scout for General Sibley's Dakota expedition. Sibley told them he already had some Ojibwe warriors and didn't need all 20, but he did accept a few. One of those scouts, Chief Kegg, became a historical figure in the Mille Lacs Band In 1875, Chief Shaw-Bosh-Kung described his 1863 meeting with Lincoln when interviewed at the Chippewa Indian Agency:
"The President took our hands and promised us faithfully and encouraged us and he said we could live on our reservation for 10 years and if faithful to whites and behave ourselves [and are] friendly to whites you shall increase the number to 100 and you may increase it to 1,000 years if you are good Indians, and through your good behavior at the time of war (we were good and never raised our hands against the whites). The Secretary of the Interior and the President said that we should be considered good Indians and remain at Mille Lacs so long as we want. Shaw-Bosh-Kung" The news of Shaw-Bosh-Kung's passing in 1890 made the newspapers across the state. A few months later papers across the country and overseas remembered his wit,
wisdom, and
leadership. When Chief Mou-Zoo-Mau-Nee passed in 1897, the
state legislature attempted to give his widow a pension, but it failed. The State erected a
granite monument to Chief Mou-Zoo-Mau-Nee and the Mille Lacs band at
Fort Ridgely cemetery in 1914 for their service to the State at Fort Ripley and their offer to fight the Sioux. Over the next century, Ojibwe/Chippewa bands in the Mille Lacs region struggled with poverty and despair. With the passage of the 1934
Indian Reorganization Act, the bands of the Mille Lacs region joined five others in forming the
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, organized 1934–1936. The four historic bands of the Mille Lacs region:
Mille Lacs Indians,
Sandy Lake Band, Rice Lake Band of Mississippi Chippewa, and Snake and Kettle River Bands of
St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Minnesota were reorganized/combined as the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. In the early 1990s, the Band opened Grand Casino Mille Lacs and
Grand Casino Hinckley. Since then, casino
revenues have allowed the Mille Lacs Band to strengthen its
cultural identity, return to economic
self-sufficiency, rebuild its reservation, and increase the
prosperity of the entire region. ==Tribal government==