REMEMBERING THE SANDY LAKE TRAGEDY

Niib Aubid (seated) listens as Robert Buffalo shares his words while speaking with the staff during the Mikwendaagoziwag Memorial Ceremony at Big Sandy Lake on Wedneday, July 26, 2023. Buffalo is a direct descendant of Chief Buffalo and a hereditary chief for Red Cliff Band.

By CHARLIE RASMUSSEN GREAT LAKES INDIAN FISH & WILDLIFE COMMISSION DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

Honoring the sacrifice of Ojibwe ancestors in the 1850s, people gathered by the hundreds for the annual Mikwendaagoziwag Memorial Ceremony at Big Sandy Lake near McGregor, Minnesota on July 26. The event included a commemorative paddle across Sandy Lake to the Mikwendaagoziwag Memorial site located at the Army Corps of Engineers Recreation Area.

An illegal government plot hatched in 1850 sought to remove Ojibwe tribes from their eastern homelands to territory west of the Mississippi River by moving the annual annuity payment site from Madeline Island to Sandy Lake. The annuity payment was delayed into the winter of 1850-51 in an attempt to trap the Ojibwe over the winter and coerce them to take up residence. Disease and hunger spread through the confined camps of 5,000 Ojibwe who traveled to Sandy Lake and the people ultimately left for home in the midst of harsh winter conditions. At the lake and the difficult walk home — as the riverways were frozen over — 400 Ojibwe men, women and children died.

Ojibwe tribal members from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan declared that sacrifice in 1850-51 would always be remembered. Following the Sandy Lake Tragedy, the 1854 and 1855 Treaties established homeland Ojibwe reservations ending the removal effort led by Alexander Ramsey.

Read more about the history of the Sandy Lake tragedy at https://glifwc.org/publications/pdf/SandyLake_Brochure.pdf