The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe (), also known as the Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians, is a federally recognized American Indian tribe in east-central Minnesota. The Band has 4,302 members as of 2012. Its homeland is the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation, consisting of District I (near Onamia), District II (near McGregor), District IIa (near Isle), and District III (near Hinckley).
The Mille Lacs Band is one of six members of the federally recognized Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, which they organized in 1934. The other members are the White Earth Band, Leech Lake Band, Grand Portage Band, Bois Forte Band, and Fond du Lac Band. "Chippewa" is commonly used in the United States to refer to Ojibwe people; the Mille Lacs Band prefers the term "Ojibwe."
Clans There are eight major doodem (or clan) types found among the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. They are Bizhiw (Lynx), Makwa (Bear), Waabizheshi (Marten) Awaazisii (Bullhead), Ma'iingan (Wolf), Migizi (Bald Eagle), Name (Sturgeon) and Moozens (Little Moose).
The historic Mille Lacs Band of Mdewakanton Dakota was part of the historic Mille Lacs Indians. The Snake River Band of Isanti Dakota became part of the historic St. Croix Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, which is today known as the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Minnesota. Due to some of these Dakota ancestry, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe have a high degree of Ma'iingan-doodem members. Mazina'igan: Clans and Mille Lacs Band Clans , Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, Fall 1999
History
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 speculationChief Hole-in-the Day and the 1862 Chippewa Disturbance a Reappraisal, Mark Diedrich, Minnesota History Magazine, Spring 1987, p.194-5 Minnesota Historical Society, 345 Kellogg Blvd, St Paul, MN 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 and Mille Lacs made flag, to Fort Ripley to volunteer to fight the Sioux and support the garrison along with the Sandy Lake, Snake River, and Chippewa River bands."Tell the Mille Lacs what Danger they are in", Chapter 5, Reminiscences of Life among the Chippewa (Part III),"A Social History of the Mille Lacs Ojibwe 1640–1993", Anthony Godfrey, U.S. West Research, POB 2172, La Cross, WS, Minnesota Historical Society Contract #92-C-2763, 1973, p. 100-115 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. Dole told the Mille Lacs chiefs that they could remain on their reservation for 1000 years for their actions. 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's obituary, the people of Little Falls asked for protection. The town was 15 miles downriver from Fort Ripley. He sent 150 warriors.About Mou-zoo-mau-nee, Little Falls Herald, 4 Sept 1914, p.2, Newspapers.com, 2023 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.Mille Lacs Indians, The Weekly Pioneer and Democrat 12 Sept 1862, p. 1, Newspapers.com, 2023 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.Chippewas on the War Path, Goodhue Republican Vol. 6 No. 3, Sept 12, 1863, Minnesota Historical Society, 345 Kellogg Blvd, St Paul, MN 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.Lake Superior Chippeways, Mankato Semi-weekly Record. Vol. 4, No. 22, p. 2 Also that week, the Red Lake band offered to fight, too.News from Abercrombie, The St. Paul Daily, Sept. 9, 1862, Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub, 2023, MNHS, 345 Kellogg Blvd, St Paul, MN 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.Article 12, 1863 & 1864: Land Cession Treaties with the Ojibwe (Mississippi, Pillager, Lake Winnibigoshish Bands), Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, 161 Saint Anthony Ave, St. Paul, MN
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.The Saint Paul Press May 6, 1864 Vol. IV, No. 20, Minnesota Media hub, Minnesota Historical Society, 345 Kellogg Blvd, St Paul, MN, One of those scouts, Chief Kegg, became a historical figure in the Mille Lacs BandKegg, Mille Lacs scout for Sibley, Kegg's Message Helped Preserve Reservation, June 1, 2017, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, 2023
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"Tell the Mille Lacs what Danger they are in, Minnesota Historical Society Contract #92-C-2763, 1973, p. 100-118, Chapter 5, "Reminiscences of Life among the Chippewa (Part III)", Anthony Godfrey, U.S. West Research, POB 2172, La Cross, WS, nd.com/media/pages/home/acbd991ef8-1664466816/a20social20history20of20the20band_compressed.pdf
The news of Shaw-Bosh-Kung's passing in 1890 made the newspapers across the state.Shaw-bosh-king,(obit), The Great West(St Paul, Minn.) 14 Feb 1890, p.3, Newspapers.com, 2023 Shaw-bosh-king,(obit) New Ulm Review, 12 Feb 1890, p.3, Newspapers.com, 2023 A few months later papers across the country and overseas remembered his wit, wisdom, and leadership.Shaw-bosh-king, Indian Keeness, Manchester Weekly Times and Examiner(England), 14 Jun 1890, p.14, Newspapers.com, 2023 Shaw-bosh-king, Not to be Gulled, The Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald(Kent England), 15 Nov 1890, p.6, Newspapers.com, 2023
When Chief Mou-Zoo-Mau-Nee passed in 1897, the state legislature attempted to give his widow a pension, but it failed.Mou-Zoo-Mau-Nee's widow Legislation to provide a $120/year pension, The Princeton Union April 8, 1897, Minnesota Media hub, 2023, Minnesota Historical Society, 345 Kellogg Blvd, St Paul, MN,
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.Chief Mou-Zoo-Mau-Nee State Monument, The Historical Marker Database, John Smith, May 4, 2005
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 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.
Executive branch The current Chief Executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is Virgil Wind.
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.
Department of Justice, headed by the Solicitor General Office of the Solicitor General Office of Public Safety Canine Registration Child Passenger Safety Seat Program Emergency Management Project Jumpstart Motor Vehicle Licensing Tribal Police Department Tribal Conservation Enforcement Band-member Legal Aid Administration Department, headed by the Commissioner of Administration Aanji-Bimaadizing Career Development and Training Adult and Youth Support Services Gotaamigozi Flex Labor Tribal Employment Rights Office (TERO) Veterans and Veteran families Services WiiDu Youth Activities Youth Career and Work Exploration Child Support Enforcement Program Facilities Neyaashiing Community Center [new] Community Center Chi-minising Community Center Minisinaakwaang Community Center Aazhoomog Community Center Meshakwad Community Center at Gaa-zhiigwanaabikokaag Urban Office Grants Management Human Resources Information Services Notary Services Self-Governance Department of Community Development, headed by the Commissioner of Community Development Facilities Maintenance Housing Department Housing Loans Housing Maintenance Resident Services Project Management Public Works Department Planning and Zoning Roads Sanitation Water and Sewer