The Tribe’s constitution was adopted in 2000 and continues to guide the tribal government. Federal recognition of Chief Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish’s Band of Pottawatomi Indians became effective on August 23, 1999. In the early 1990s, the Tribe filed for federal acknowledgement by the Department of the Interior’s Branch of Acknowledgement and Research. Before doing so, however, the Bureau of Indian Affairs decided to withhold recognition of Lower Peninsula Michigan tribes.ĭuring the 1980s, the Band prepared for federal recognition under the new federal acknowledgement procedures of 1978. Under the leadership of Selkirk Sprague, the “Bradley Indians” attempted to organize under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act.

Charles Foster was elected Chief in 1911.

Moses Foster), and then Moses’ brother, known by his Anglicized name David K. First, Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish followed by his son Penassee, followed by his first son Shu-be-quo-ung (a.k.a. The political leadership of the Band since European contact is well documented. Later known as the Bradley Indian Mission, Chief Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish’s Band remained an Indian community and persevered as a tribal government to present times. The Bradley Settlement was first known as the Griswold Mission an effort of the Episcopal Church under the direction of Reverend James Selkirk to Christianize the Indians. The Band briefly settled in Cooper, Plainwell and Martin before finding a permanent settlement in Bradley, circa 1838, near Gun Lake. Neither payment nor land was ever provided to the Chief’s Band, and instead, this began a period of constant movement north in an effort to avoid forced removal out west. Under its terms, the Chief ceded rights to the Kalamazoo reserve granted under the 1821 treaty. and the Pottawatomi tribes signed the Treaty of St. Under the terms of the 1821 Treaty, the Tribe retained a three-square-mile reservation located at present-day downtown Kalamazoo. government that directly affected his Band. The Band’s primary village was located at the head of the Kalamazoo River.Ĭhief Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish signed the Treaty of Chicago in 1821, which was the first land cession to the U.S. At the turn of the 19th century, the Chief’s Band inhabited the Kalamazoo River valley. The Three Fires Confederacy, under the command of Chief Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish, signed the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 with the United States government. Tribal Nations in the Great Lakes region are also known as the Neshnibek, or original people. The Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians (Gun Lake Tribe) is part of the historic Three Fires Confederacy, an alliance of the Pottawatomi (Bodewadmi), Ottawa (Odawa) and Chippewa (Ojibwe).

Gun lake casino logo