Words of Elder Bob Shimek of the White Earth Reservation:
There were three different types of treaties that were negotiated here in the U.S. There were peace treaties …there were a land cession treaties…and there were treaties that created reservations… it says in the Constitution of the United States that treaties are “the supreme law of the land”…Without these land cession treaties, much of what is now in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, as well as many other areas throughout the country, could not legally exist…
These treaties are living documents… If you’re a citizen of the United States today, you are party to these treaties and …Treaties are the supreme law of the land…We all have some responsibilities to each other, whether we like them or not, to uphold our responsibilities to each other that are dictated under the terms of these treaties. Congress did not just pass them and forget about them. Tribes did not just sign them and forget about them. They are very much living documents that essentially codified a way of life for both the Anishinaabe, the Indian people, as well as giving the settlers, the colonists access to some land they wanted. – Bob Shimek
Bob Shimek is a long time treaty rights expert and advocate. He spoke about the legality of treaties, the different kinds of treaties and the Old Crossing Treaty of 1863.
It’s probably one of the greatest land heists in all of the history of North America in terms of the way it ended up… So in the fall of 1863, September and October, Indian Commissioner Alexander Ramsey and his assistants and two companies of dragoons met chiefs, headmen, and band members from Red Lake and Pembina bands at the Old Crossing on the Red Lake River…that spot is today commemorated and memorialized by a park itself west of Red Lake Falls…
So terms, conditions were negotiated at over a number of weeks during those two months and an agreement, a consensus was arrived at by both sides…one of the tricky parts of this whole treaty is when it talks about the land cession…it says, all rights, title and interest to the land described below, and then we give this great big land description, which constitutes about 11 million acres from northwestern Minnesota… would be transferred to the United States…
During those treaty negotiations, six different times, Alexander Ramsey made reference to and assured the Indians present at the negotiations that they would all be able to hunt fish and gather in their usual and various spots throughout the 11 million acres… we see this in the 1855 treaty, we see this in the 1854, the 1837 – these are all treaties that involve Minnesota Chippewa. Hunting, fishing, gathering was retained because had the United States denied them the right and the opportunity to feed themselves, there would have been tens of thousands of starving Indians…
When they touched pen to paper, both sides – the Ojibwe from Red Lake and Pembina Bands and the representatives from the United States of America – they affirmed certain things…what’s most important is what was not written in the treaty. When you get into court with these kinds of issues, because these treaties are negotiated in the context of International Law… one of the court tests has been and continues to be, if something isn’t specifically enumerated as being sold, transferred, abolished, extinguished or otherwise encumbered, it is retained. So, we retain the rights to hunt, fish and gather. We retain the rights to live out there. We retain the rights to travel out there. None of that was written down in the treaty as being transferred to the United States. We did not transfer those rights to the United States. These are rights reserved for us, by us…these were things our ancestors knew we were going to need into the future. – Bob Shimek
Understanding the 1863 Treaty
Full Negotiations and Notes (these are equal under US Law as the final treaty itself)
The Treaty of Old Crossing was signed October 2, 1863, at the “Old Crossing” of the Red Lake River near present day Huot, Minnesota. It was negotiated between the United States government and the Pembina and Red Lake Bands of Ojibwe. The treaty was negotiated with Pembina Chippewa Tribal leaders and territorial governor Alexander Ramsey who at the same time issued a corpse payment plan for whites to murder at $200 a body the very persons being negotiated with.
The original treaty ceded approximately 11,000,000 acres of land in northwestern Minnesota and northeastern Dakota Territory to the United States in exchange for $20,000 paid annually for twenty years, $100,000 paid out to traders for debts and depredation claims, and smaller amounts of money were to be set aside for various other services and implements. Additionally, according to the wording of the treaty, one-hundred sixty acres of land was to be provided “each male adult half-breed or mixed-blood . . . who has adopted the habits and customs of civilized life.”
Additionally, Chief Red Bear, the Head Chief of the Great Chippewa Nation was promised under Article 9 a personal estate in exchange, along with acting Red Lake Pembina Chippewa Tribe chief Moosedung. While Moosedung received his estate, Chief Red Bear did not and subsequent treaties at McCumber in 1892 added article 8 promising its fulfillment. To this date it is unfulfilled.
The treaty that was signed October 2, was not the first attempt to obtain the Red Lake and Pembina Ojibwe lands, nor was it the final agreement. Twelve years earlier, immediately following the treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota, a treaty was negotiated at Pembina for the cession of five million acres of land surrounding the Red River Valley. That treaty was negotiated by Alexander Ramsey, who was then Minnesota’s Territorial Governor, and signed on September 20, 1851. However, the treaty was never ratified by Congress as a concession for those southern Congressmen who sought to prevent or delay the addition of a free state to the Union.
Urged on by traders, railroad interests, and steamboat proprietors, another attempt at negotiating the Red River land cession was planned and organized for August of 1862. In mid August of that year, a huge supply train that was headed for Pembina and preceded U.S. negotiators reached Fort Abercrombie. Meanwhile, on August 25, a large number of Pembina and Red Lake Ojibwe gathered at the mouth of the Red Lake River as instructed. But, after the outbreak of the U.S. – Dakota War, U.S. negotiators, fearing travel was unsafe, canceled negotiations. The Ojibwe waited many weeks, consuming their rations and trade goods, before returning to their homes. The consumption of goods and rations were counted against them in later negotiations.
Because of the failed treaty in 1862, Ramsey was anxious to reopen treaty negotiations the following year. With the help of Episcopal Bishop Henry Whipple, negotiations were set for September of 1863 at the “Old Crossing.” The much anticipated occasion was preceded by a supply train of two hundred and ninety men, three hundred and forty mules, one hundred and eighty horses, fifty-five oxen, and ninety vehicles that reached the crossing on September 21, 1863. A week later, after Ramsey and co-commissioner Ashley C. Morrill arrived, it is reported that there were present 579 Indians and 24 half-breeds of Red Lake, and 352 Indians and 663 half-breeds of Pembina.
The initial proposal was rejected by the Ojibwe bands and treaty negotiations were tense. It has been noted that Ramsey set up a Gatling Gun aimed at the assembled bands and that, according to historian Ella Hawkinson, “the white men made threatening speeches, in an irritated tone, calculated to break down the Chippewa’s tenacity.” On October 1, Ramsey recorded in his diary that, “To day it looked as if all hope of success was gone . . .” But, after negotiations renewed the next day, a deal was made and the treaty was signed October 2, 1863. However, sources argue that U.S. negotiators intentionally misrepresented the purpose of the treaty as merely seeking “right of passage” rather than land cessions. Bishop Whipple wrote that the treaty was “from beginning to end a fraud.”
Regardless, the treaty underwent numerous amendments in Congress because they believed it was too generous to the chiefs. Several of the original signatories refused to sign the amended treaty. However, after further negotiations led by Bishop Whipple and a delegation of Ojibwe which were held in Washington D.C., a revised treaty was agreed upon and signed on April 12, 1864. The supplemental treaty reduced the annual payment from $20,000 to $15,000, but allocated funds specifically between the Red Lake and Pembina bands, and included more provisions such as those for a sawmill, and to furnish a blacksmith, physician, miller and farmer.
Ultimately, the Treaty of Old Crossing was just one of many land cession treaties of the time period that supported the colonial, capitalistic advancement of the white American population while further suppressing Native culture and land rights. It was advocated by politicians and businessmen, who, in collaboration with one another, used their positions of power and influence to obtain and expand their political and economic advantages. Today, we have come to acknowledge this legacy of unethical colonial domination while struggling with how to reinterpret and reconcile this inheritance.
