Small archive of documents related to the L'Anse, Vieux de Sert, and White Earth Bands of Chippewa Indians, highlighted by a TLS from Chippewa headmen Charles Cardinal and George Rice and addressed to President Woodrow Wilson, petitioning the president to approve the action of their special council held at L'Anse, Michigan, 12 April, 1919, in electing the chiefs and headmen shown an accompanying list [not present]. The letter further attests that those chiefs and headmen elected at the council were "bona fide descendants of the chiefs signing the treaty of 1854, said newly elected chiefs inheriting their rights to the chieftainship from their grandfathers, as next of kin." 

Additional documents include: two contracts, both dated 1920, securing the services of attorney Daniel B. Henderson for the L'Anse and Vieux de Sert Bands of Chippewa; a group of 3 letters to Henderson from representatives of the Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, related to various Chippewa affairs for which Henderson was advocating; a letter signed by US Representative Gilbert A. Currie stating his willingness to assist Henderson with a matter related to the Chippewa Indians; and a letter from the Secretary to President Wilson indicating receipt of a letter which he will bring to the attention of the President. 

[With:] Typed document, a copy of the "Supplemental deposition of Moses One feather" relating to "Mute or Iyesni of Rosebud." Cheyenne Agency, South Dakota. 13 March 1916. 4pp, 8 x 10 1/2 in.  -- A group of 2 manuscript letters addressed to Henderson from members of the Yankton Sioux tribe at Wagner, SD, Yankton Sioux Reservation. 

Daniel Brosius Henderson, Sr. (1862-1940) spent the bulk of his career litigating on behalf of America's Native peoples. He was born in Hancock, Maryland, attended the University of Virginia, and by the late 1800s had established a law practice in Kansas City, Missouri. After more than a decade in Missouri, Henderson and his growing family returned to Virginia in 1901. It was in Washington, DC, where the young lawyer would distinguish himself as a prominent attorney with a specialization in Indian claims litigation. Over the course of a decades-long career, he represented the claims of multiple tribes in disputes against the US government, winning a major case for the Klamath tribe in 1937.