In the spring of 1868,people from Ojibwe villages located along the upper Mississippi River were relocated to a new reservation at White Earth, more than 100 miles to the west. In many public declarations that accompanied their forced migration, these people appeared to embrace the move, as well as their conversion to Christianity and the new agrarian lifestyle imposed on them.

Beneath the surface piety and apparent acceptance of change, however, lay deep and bitter political divisions that were to define fundamental struggles that shaped Ojibwe society for several generations. In this volume, the Ojibwe "speak for themselves", as their words were recorded by governmental officials, Christian missionaries, fur traders, soldiers, lumberman, homesteaders, and journalists.