Abstract: In the summer of 1824, a party of Ojibwe warriors near Lake Superior murdered four traders on the shore of Lake Pepin. The aftermath of the murders reveals how Ojibwe ogimaag (leaders), borderlands residents, and impotent federal officials obstructed the implementation of settler colonial justice in the western Great Lakes. Ogimaag around Lake Superior leveraged their doodem (clan) relationships to protect the accused from vindictive federal officials. Precariously balancing competing interests, ogimaag nominally cooperated with federal agents while manipulating kinship connections to mitigate federal demands. Local bureaucrats and settlers upheld well-established transcultural practices to mediate federal policy and maintain their livelihoods. Although federal officials depended on Indigenous cooperation, they sabotaged themselves by undervaluing Ojibwe understandings of kinship. Contesting narratives of dependence and assimilation, the aftermath of the Lake Pepin murders demonstrates how power remained in Anishinaabewaki.
Madeline Halbach (Thu,) studied this question.