| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 4,302 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 United States ( Minnesota) | |
| Languages | |
| English,Ojibwe | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| White Earth Band,Leech Lake Band,Grand Portage Band,Bois Forte Band,Fond du Lac Band |
TheMille Lacs Band of Ojibwe (Ojibwe:Misi-zaaga'igani Anishinaabeg), also known as theMille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians, is afederally recognizedAmerican Indian tribe in east-centralMinnesota. The Band has 4,302 members as of 2012. Its homeland is theMille Lacs Indian Reservation, consisting of District I (nearOnamia), District II (nearMcGregor), District IIa (nearIsle), and District III (nearHinckley).
The Mille Lacs Band is one of six members of the federally recognizedMinnesota Chippewa Tribe, which they organized in 1934. The other members are theWhite Earth Band,Leech Lake Band,Grand Portage Band,Bois Forte Band, andFond du Lac Band. "Chippewa" is commonly used in the United States to refer toOjibwe people; the Mille Lacs Band prefers the term "Ojibwe."
There are eight majordoodem (or clan) types found among the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. They areBizhiw (Lynx),Makwa (Bear),Waabizheshi (Marten)Awaazisii (Bullhead),Ma'iingan (Wolf),Migizi (Bald Eagle),Name (Sturgeon) andMoozens (Little Moose).
The historic Mille Lacs Band ofMdewakanton Dakota was part of the historicMille Lacs Indians.[citation needed] The Snake River Band ofIsanti Dakota became part of the historic St. Croix Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, which is today known as theSt. Croix Chippewa Indians of Minnesota.[citation needed] Due to some of these Dakota ancestry, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe have a high degree ofMa'iingan-doodem members.[1]
According tooral history, the Ojibwe, anAlgonquian language-speaking people, coalesced on theAtlantic coast of North America. About 500 years ago, the ancestors of the Mille Lacs Band beganmigrating west. This history has been confirmed by linguistic and archeological evidence.[citation needed]
After forcing theeastern Dakota from the area in the mid-1700s, the Ojibwe occupied the region aroundMille Lacs Lake in what is today East CentralMinnesota.[3] They had a varieddiet based on the resources of the areahuntingdeer, bear,moose,waterfowl, andsmall game; fishing the area'slakes andstreams; gatheringwild rice,maple syrup,nuts, andberries; andcultivating someherbs and plants.
The first Europeans who arrived among the Ojibwe wereFrench,British, and Americanfur 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 theBritish crown and the United States.
Like allIndigenous peoples, they suffered from exposure toinfectious diseases the Anglo-Europeans brought, likemeasles,mumps, andsmallpox. 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 EuropeanAmerican culture, theBureau of Indian Affairs prohibited the Ojibwe from practicing theirreligion.[citation needed] Many had converted toCatholicism while combining it with traditional prayer andrituals.Indian agents tried to have the native children sent toboarding schools and forced to learn and speak English, and virtually denied their right to govern themselves.[citation needed] Their traditional way of life was nearly impossible to follow.
When theMdewakanton uprising broke out in 1862, ChiefHole in the Day made threats to take the North to war, too. On September 6, 1862, the speculation[4] of his joiningLittle Crow prompted Zhaaboshkang(Shaw-bosh-kung), head chief of the Mille Lacs Band to lead 700–750 warriors waving aUS flag[5]: p.114 and Mille Lacs made flag, toFort Ripley to volunteer to fight the Sioux and support thegarrison along with the Sandy Lake, Snake River, and Chippewa River bands.[5]William P. Dole, theIndian Commissioner who happened to be atFort Ripley, asked that they return to their reservation. He told them they would be informed if they were needed.[5] Dole told the Mille Lacs chiefs that they could remain on their reservation for 1000 years for their actions.[5] However, war chief Mou-Zoo-Mau-Nee, with 200 Mille Lacs warriors, remained at the fort, as did 100 from the Sandy Lake band.
According to Chief Mou-zoo-mau-nee'sobituary, the people ofLittle Falls asked for protection. The town was 15 miles downriver from Fort Ripley. He sent 150 warriors.[6] 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 atWatab, Minnesota, just north ofSt Cloud.[7] 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.[8] That same week, the Fond du Lac band sent a letter to Gov. Ramsey to forward to PresidentAbraham Lincoln, offering to fight the Sioux.[9] Also that week, the Red Lake band offered to fight, too.[10] 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.12 Stat. 1249[11]
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.[12] One of those scouts, Chief Kegg, became a historical figure in the Mille Lacs Band[13]
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"[14]
The news of Shaw-Bosh-Kung's passing in 1890 made the newspapers across the state.[15][16] A few months later papers across the country and overseas remembered his wit,wisdom, andleadership.[17][18]
When Chief Mou-Zoo-Mau-Nee passed in 1897, thestate legislature attempted to give his widow a pension, but it failed.[19]
The State erected agranite monument to Chief Mou-Zoo-Mau-Nee and the Mille Lacs band atFort Ridgely cemetery in 1914 for their service to the State at Fort Ripley and their offer to fight the Sioux.[20][2]
Over the next century, Ojibwe/Chippewa bands in the Mille Lacs region struggled with poverty and despair. With the passage of the 1934Indian Reorganization Act, the bands of the Mille Lacs region joined five others in forming theMinnesota Chippewa Tribe, organized 1934–1936. The four historic bands of the Mille Lacs region:Mille Lacs band,Sandy Lake Band, Rice Lake Band of Mississippi Chippewa, and Snake and Kettle River Bands ofSt. 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 andGrand Casino Hinckley. Since then, casinorevenues have allowed the Mille Lacs Band to strengthen itscultural identity, return to economicself-sufficiency, rebuild its reservation, and increase theprosperity of the entire region.
The Mille Lacs Band has a separation-of-powers form of government, making it one of the few Native American governments with three branches of government, similar to the government structure of the United States.[21]
The current Chief Executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe isMelanie Benjamin.
The Chief Executive, who is elected by Band members every four years, is the head of the executive branch and appoints commissioners who are ratified by the Band Assembly to oversee the various departments in the executive branch.
The legislative branch of the Band's government, known as the Band Assembly, consists of one Representative from each of the reservation's three districts and a Secretary/Treasurer who presides over the Band Assembly as its Speaker. Each Representative is elected by the people of his or her district to serve a four-year term in the Band Assembly. Band members who live off the reservation select a home district and vote only for a Representative from that district. The Secretary/Treasurer is elected by all Band members.
The current Secretary/Treasurer of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is Sheldon Boyd, Speaker of the Band Assembly elected in April 2018.
The Chief Justice of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe isRhonda Sam. The judicial branch includes the Chief Justice and the Court of Central Jurisdiction, which consists of three appellate justices and one district judge.
