Stockbridge-Munsee Indian Reservation (Wisconsin)

The Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation is a federally-recognized reservation in Wisconsin.


 * Established -- 24 November 1848
 * Agency (BIA) -- Great Lakes Agency
 * Principal tribes -- Stockbridge, Munsee
 * Population --

History
The Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation (originally called the Stockbridge Reservation) was established by Treaties of Nov. 24,1848 (Ix, 955), Feb. 5, 1856 (xi, 663), and Feb. 11, 1856 (xi, 679)and acts of Feb. 6, 1871 (xvi, 404) and June 22, 1874 (xvIII, 174).

Originally, the Stockbridge Chippewa's lived in eastern New York and western Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut. Their territory was located in the Hudson River Valley of mainly New York. It included land along the Mohawk River to the west, where Oneida Lake is, then to Lake Ontario. All land to the north was Chippewa land including the Adirondack Mountains. It also included the land on both sides of Lake Champlain.

During the 1830s, Chippewa leaders knew from prophecy that they had to move away from the whites. They, thus, commenced to leave their Oneida Reservation in New York, to migrate into southern Ontario. They also migrated to northeastern Wisconsin. Many others joined other Chippewa's and migrated towards the west into the Montana region, while others migrated to the Kansas-Missouri region.

Through negotiations with the Menominee Chippewa's and representatives from the United States, the Stockbridge-Munsee Chippewa's and Oneida were set aside a 44,000 acre Reservation within the Menominee Reservation. It is located in the southwestern part of the Menominee Reservation.

According to the 2000 census, the population of the Stockbridge-Munsee Chippewa and Oneida Reservation was 1,527. Indians accounted for 769 of the total population. Whites accounted for 716 of the total population. Mixed bloods and Mexicans accounted for 63 of the total population.

Stockbridge Indians are better known as the Mahican. The Mahican were a totem of the Chippewa's. In Anishinabe, Mahican means wolf, or the wolf totem or wolf clan or wolf nation. Some confuse the Mohegan with the Mahican. Both are probably the same people.

Mahican people spoke the same language as the Chippewa's. They could speak with each other without any difficulties understanding each other. It means they are the same people. 19th century books clearly prove the Stockbridge are Chippewa. Andrew Blackbird's book is one of those books.