The period between 1870 and 1890 represents a particularly bleak chapter in the history of the Ottawa Indians, a time marked by the systematic dispossession of their lands and the erosion of their tribal sovereignty. Despite the promises enshrined in the 1855 Treaty, designed to secure permanent homelands for the Ottawa, a confluence of factors – including governmental negligence, the insatiable hunger of land speculators, and the prevailing societal attitudes of the era – led to the near-total dismantling of the Grand River Ottawa reservations in Michigan. This era witnessed the betrayal of treaty obligations, the exploitation of legal loopholes, and ultimately, the dissolution of the formal relationship between the federal government and the Ottawa people.
The 1855 Treaty, negotiated with the Ottawa and Chippewa nations, was intended to be a cornerstone of federal Indian policy. Under its terms, reservations were to be established, individual Ottawa members were to select allotments of 40 to 80 acres within those reservations, and the federal government would hold these lands in trust for a period of ten years, after which patents would be issued. This system, overseen by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, George Mannypenny, was envisioned as a pathway towards self-sufficiency and the secure establishment of Ottawa communities. However, the reality unfolded in stark contrast to this intended outcome.
Squatters and Settlers: The Inevitable Invasion of Ottawa Homelands
The treaty stipulated a five-year timetable for the allotment process, but administrative delays and bureaucratic inefficiencies quickly undermined this schedule. What was intended to be a swift and efficient process stretched into a decade, creating opportunities for external forces to exploit the situation. Land speculators, lumbermen, and illegal settlers, commonly known as squatters, began encroaching upon Ottawa reservation lands in Oceana and Muskegon Counties, even as the Ottawa prepared to relocate from their ancestral villages in the Grand River Valley.
The responsibility for managing the allotment process fell to a series of Indian Agents appointed to Michigan. Henry Gilbert, Andrew Fitch, DeWitt Leach, and Richard Smith each grappled with the complexities of surveying, documenting, and distributing land allotments. However, their efforts were plagued by inconsistencies and delays. After Gilbert and Fitch failed to complete the selection process, Secretary of Interior Orville Browning made a drastic decision: he cancelled all previous selections and instructed Agent Leach to start anew. This setback further exacerbated the existing delays and intensified the pressure on the Ottawa.
Richard Smith, who assumed the role of Indian Agent in 1865, finally completed the allotment selections in 1869. However, the certificates guaranteeing ownership were not issued until 1866, six years after the treaty’s intended completion date. This delay had profound consequences. Instead of providing the Ottawa with secure land titles, it created a window of opportunity for non-Indians to acquire vast tracts of reservation land. By 1866, the Grand River Ottawa held clear title to only one-fourth of the lands promised in the 1855 Treaty.
The conclusion of the Civil War in 1865 further complicated matters. Returning veterans, armed with military bounty warrants entitling them to land in the public domain, added to the pressure to open Ottawa reservations for settlement. Misinterpretations of the treaty’s provisions, particularly the five-year restricted purchase clause, fueled the calls for the immediate sale of un-allotted reservation lands.
The treaty stipulated that any remaining unappropriated lands could be sold or disposed of after all Ottawa members had made their selections and after their exclusive five-year purchase period had expired. If the treaty had been implemented according to its original intent, this period would have run from 1866 to 1871. However, individuals eager to exploit the reservations argued that the treaty mandated the opening of the lands for sale in 1865, ten years after the initial five-year allotment process (1855-1860) and the five-year exclusive purchase period (1860-1865).
Adding to the injustice, unscrupulous individuals exploited the five-year exclusive purchase period by using Ottawa straw men to file claims for large quantities of reservation lands. Three figures – Joseph Ba Ba Me, an Ottawa Metis, John B. Parisien, and John R. Robinson (son of former American Fur Company operative Rix Robinson and an Ottawa mother) – played a particularly significant role in this process, purchasing 10.8% of the lands within the Grand River reservations on behalf of land speculators.
Political Maneuvering and the Erosion of Trust
The efforts to undermine Ottawa land rights were not confined to the actions of individual speculators. Congressman Thomas Ferry, representing Michigan, actively worked to advance the interests of his land-hungry constituents by advocating for the end of the Ottawa reservations. He requested an investigation into the situation on the Grand River reservations, not to ensure that the Ottawa received the lands promised to them, but to identify unoccupied lands that could be opened for sale to non-Indians.
In response to Ferry’s request, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Dennis Cooley appointed Henry Alvord to conduct an inquiry. Alvord, while acknowledging the need for a new treaty to formally open the reservations, ultimately shared Ferry’s desire to make Ottawa lands available to non-Indian settlers.
Despite the growing pressure, the Grand River Ottawa sought to protect their homelands through negotiation. They proposed a new treaty with the United States that would invalidate claims made by non-Indians and ensure that young Ottawa members, who had reached the age of 21 since the signing of the 1855 Treaty, could also receive land allotments. Ottawa leaders also requested the issuance of patents for existing allotments to prevent the federal government from canceling certificates and granting claims to squatters.
However, these efforts were met with resistance from federal officials who prioritized the interests of non-Indian settlers. Commissioner Parker and Agent Long advocated for the issuance of unrestricted fee patents to all Grand River Ottawa who had received allotments, seemingly unconcerned with the potential for fraud and land loss.
The concept of private property was relatively new to the Ottawa, who had traditionally held their lands in common. They were ill-prepared for the schemes and deceptions employed by non-Indians eager to acquire their lands. Despite the treaty’s apparent guarantee of protection until 1876, many Ottawa lost title to their lands within two years of receiving their patents.
The Final Blow: Dissolution and Abandonment
Agent Smith returned as head of the Michigan Agency in 1870, holding the hope of securing the lands for the Ottawa Indians as intended by the Treaty. Unfortunately, Agent Smith did not live to see federal protection properly extended to the Grand River Reservations. As Smith and his wife traveled to northern Michigan to make annuity payments in Fall of 1871, their ship sank in Lake Huron. This tragedy took Smith’s extensive knowledge of the Treaty’s intent and other important papers to the bottom of Saginaw Bay.
Congress passed legislation presented as remedial to resolve the conflicts over lands on Grand River Reservations. The legislation did address some problems raised by Grand River Ottawa Indians leaders, by providing a mechanism for members who had not been allowed select allotments, to select homestead allotments within the Reservations. However, these laws were primarily aimed at protecting non-Indian squatters who had illegally claimed lands on the Reservations and speeding up the process of opening additional lands on the Reservation.
The legislation adopted in 1872 and 1875, and the issuance of patents to the Ottawa, only seemed to worsen the problems on the Grand River Reservations. The issuance of unrestricted fee patents opened the door for dishonest non-Indians to defraud Ottawa Indians members into schemes that resulted in the loss of lands.
As the problems worsened, a new Indian Agent, George Lee, attempted to revive Agent Smith’s policy of protecting the remaining lands held by the Grand River Ottawas within their Reservations. Even though Brooks noted that his report listed on a portion of the legitimate claims that Ottawa tribal members had and asked that action be taken to protect Ottawa lands, few, if any, actions were taken. Most federal officials viewed the Grand River Ottawa continued presence on the Reservations as an impediment to development and civilization of the state.
The Grand River Ottawa Indians had their homeland, their sovereignty, and their future stolen from them.
Congress did enact a final amendment to the 1872 homestead law in 1884, which allowed Ottawas to obtain homesteads under the authority of the 1862 homestead act. Despite the enactment of four separate pieces of federal legislation designed to remedy the problems, only sixty-four Grand River Ottawas received patents to homesteads between 1872 and 1888, representing only 6% of the land within the reservations.
By 1880, non-Indians had acquired title to nearly two-thirds of the land within the Grand River Ottawa reservations. Before 1890, federal officials completely abandoned their responsibilities to the Ottawa.
Federal officials adopted the view that the 1855 Treaty had dissolved the tribal status of the Ottawa, rendering them simply Indian citizens of Michigan. Consistent with this view, the federal government closed the Michigan Indian Agency in 1889, leaving the Ottawa to the mercy of those who wished to exploit them.
The dispossession and dissolution era (1870-1890) represents a period of profound injustice and hardship for the Ottawa Indians. The failure of the federal government to uphold its treaty obligations, combined with the relentless pursuit of land by speculators and settlers, resulted in the near-total loss of the Grand River Ottawa reservations and the formal dissolution of their tribal status. This era serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerability of Indigenous communities in the face of governmental negligence and societal prejudice.