# History of the Ojibway Nation

HISTORY OF THE OJIBWAY NATION.
WILLIAM W. WARREN.
COLLECTIONS
of the
MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
VOLUME V.
SAINT PAUL: MINN. PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY. 1885.
Philadelphia: COLLINS, PRINTER, 705 JAYNE STREET.
PREFATORY NOTE.
The presentation, in a permanent form, of the history of the Ojibways is appropriate for the Minnesota Historical Society. Two hundred years ago the warriors of this people, by way of the river, in the State of Wisconsin, which still bears their name, sought their foes in the valley of the Mississippi. A century later, they had pushed out the Dakotas or Sioux from their old hunting-grounds in the Mille Lacs region of Minnesota, and at the time of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States of America were trapping, fishing, and making maple sugar on the shores of Red, Leech, and Sandy Lakes. While the Sioux and Winnebago Tribes have been removed to the Valley of the Missouri River, the Ojibways remain on or near certain reservations in Northern Minnesota.
The Society has been fortunate in receiving as a gift, from a former United States Senator, Henry M. Rice, the manuscript history of the Ojibways, based upon traditional and oral statements written by the late William W. Warren, some of whose ancestors had been distinguished chieftains of the tribe, and by its publication hopes to give some aid to the increasing number of students of the aboriginal races of America. Traditions gathered in the wigwams ​of those who, until recently, had no mode of preserving knowledge, for coming generations, necessarily lack precision of statement; and the old story-tellers of a tribe unconsciously repeat as ideas of their race, those which have been obtained by intercourse with white men. Sir William Johnson, Bt., British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, more than a hundred years ago, in a letter to the distinguished Virginian, Arthur Lee, M.D., F.R.S., wrote: "Relying solely on oral traditions for the support of their ancient usages they have blended some, with customs amongst ourselves, so as to render it exceedingly difficult, if not almost impossible, to trace their customs to their origin."
Prefixed to Mr. Warren's work has been placed a sketch of his life, and as a supplement has been added another article on the Ojibways, based upon official and other records. The intelligent reader will not be surprised by the discrepancies which he will notice between the traditional and documentary history.
Hoping that the Society, at no distant day, may issue a similar history of the Dakota people, this volume is submitted by the
Committee of Publication.
CONTENTS.
Preface
* General account of the present local position and numbers of the Ojibways, and their connection with other tribes.
* Totemic Division of the O-jib-ways.
* Origin of the Ojibways.
* Emigration of the Ojibways from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, to their occupation of the area of Lake Superior.
* The Ojibway Town at La Pointe.
* Dispersion of the Ojibways from the Island of La Pointe.
* Era of the Discovery.
* The Immediate Consequence of Their First Intercourse with the White Race.
* Account of the First French Trading Posts Built on Lake Superior.
* Wars of the Ojibways with the Iroquois and O-dug-am-ees, or Foxes.
* Taking of Mille Lacs by the Ojibways.
* Occupation of the St. Croix River Country by the Ojibways.
* The Country about the Source of the Mississippi.
* Progress of the Ojibways on the Upper Mississippi.
* Occupation of the Wisconsin and Chippewa River Valleys by the Ojibways.
* Ending of the French Supremacy.
* Commencement of British Supremacy.
* Grand Expedition of the Dakotas to the Sources of the Mississippi, Against the Ojibways.
* Progress of the Ojibways on the Upper Mississippi.
* Closing of the War Between the Ojibways and the Odugamies.
* Origin of the Distinctive Name of Pillagers Applied to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibways; and Era of the Smallpox.
* Continued Progress of the Ojibways on the Upper Mississippi During the End of the Eighteenth Century.
* Attack of a War Party of Dakotas on a French Trading House, on the Upper Mississippi, in the Year 1783.
* The Sources of the Mississippi Become Open to the Enterprise of the Fur Trade, 1792.
* Jean Baptiste Cadotte.
* Progress of the Ojibways on the Wisconsin and Chippeway Rivers.
* Ojibways of the Wisconsin and Chippeway Rivers.
* Affairs of the Ojibways on the St. Croix.
* The Pillagers.
* Ojibways of the Upper Mississippi.
* Ojibways of the Upper Mississippi.
* Ojibways of the Upper Mississippi.
* Endeavors of the British to Entice the Ojibways of Lake Superior and Mississippi to Join Their Arms in the War of 1812.
* A Brief Sketch of the Fur Trade and Fur Traders among the Ojibways from the Formation of the Northwest Company in 1787 to 1834.
* Events from 1818 to 1826.
II. Ojibways Under British Rule III. Ojibways Under United States Government
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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