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OCR Page 1 of 41GREAT LAKES INDIAN FISH & WILDLIFE COMMISSION
P. O. Box 9
Odanah, WI 54861
715/682-6619
FAX 715/682-9294
MEMBER TRIBES
MICHIGAN
WISCONSIN
MINNESOTA
Bay Mills Community
Bad River Band
Red Cliff Band
Fond du Lac Band
Keweenaw Bay Community
Lac Courte Oreilles Band
St. Croix Chippewa
Mille Lacs Band
Lac Vieux Desert Band
Lac du Flambeau Band
Sokaogon Chippewa
September 15, 2000
Honorable William J. Clinton
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500
Re: The Sandy Lake Tragedy of 1850-51
Dear President Clinton,
In 1850, 400 Chippewa Indians died and thousands more suffered from hunger, disease and
exposure to the harsh winter weather of northern Minnesota in what historians have labeled the
Wisconsin Death March. Lured by Federal Indian agents to Sandy Lake, Minnesota, the Chippewa
began to die from measles and dysentery when their annuity payments were delayed. In one of the
most horrific events of the Indian removal era, hundreds more died on the difficult mid-winter journey
home. The entire episode was the result of a cynical ploy to remove Chippewa families from northern
Michigan and Wisconsin to northern Minnesota, where local politicians and traders hoped to profit
from their presence.
We are the leaders of nine modern-day Chippewa Tribes located in Minnesota, Wisconsin,
and Michigan,* whose ancestors suffered and died at Sandy Lake. This year marks the 150th
anniversary of this tragedy, and our tribal elders and spiritual leaders have counseled that it is time
for us to seek closure and reconciliation. Our people are joining together with our non-Indian
neighbors, the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, and state and federal agencies to
permanently memorialize our ancestors who were lost during this terrible event in our shared history.
We ask you to join us. We invite you to participate in our ceremonies commemorating the
Sandy Lake Tragedy, and we ask that the United States acknowledge the role of those federal
officials whose actions brought it about.
Those who suffered and died 150 years ago, as well as their present and future descendants,
should know that this great Nation regrets the actions of its officials who precipitated this tragedy
and joins with us in remembering and mourning it.
Mille Lacs in Minnesota; Bad River, Lac Courte Oreilles, Lac du Flambeau, Red Cliff,
Sokaogon and St. Croix in Wisconsin; and Keweenaw Bay and Lac Vieux Desert in Michigan.
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