In 1854, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs arranged a
treaty council in an attempt to get the Chippewa Indians to give up their
titles to certain pieces of land on Lake Superior. Several Ojibwe chiefs
responded to the call, and they convened in the town of La Pointe on
Madeline Island, one of the 22 Apostle Islands in the Chequamegon Bay of
Northern Wisconsin. Cheifs from all over traveled to this council, including
Chief Buffalo.
Chief Buffalo was the "founder" of the Red Cliff reservation. So many
supporters traveled with him to the treaty council, that in 1856 an
executive order created a Reservation for his followers who had come for the
council and decided to stay.