- Details
- By Levi Rickert
A group of Native Americans who fought on behalf of the Union Army in the Civil War will be recognized and honored with road signs along a portion of M-22 in upper Michigan after legislation was passed by the Michigan Legislature last week.
During the Civil War, 139 Native Americans — mostly Odawa and Ojibwe from Michigan — formed Company K, a sharpshooter unit in the Union Army.
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The group tried to muster at the war’s outset but was turned away. Federal officials viewed Native Americans as “barbaric” and “bloodthirsty” and believed they could not be controlled in combat, according to historical accounts by the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in Harbor Springs, Michigan.
Company K later became the largest all-Native American unit to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War.
The effort, backed by lawmakers over the years, has consistently been championed by Scott Schwander, a citizen of the Grand Traverse Band of Chippewa Indians.
“I had a great-great-grandfather and his brother who both enlisted in the First Michigan Sharpshooters, Company K. They had to volunteer because they weren’t considered United States citizens until 1924,” Schwander said to a local Michigan television station.
Schwander spent years educating lawmakers and pressing for the state road dedication, but after repeated delays, he and tribal leaders decided to take action themselves.
While it took state legislation to obtain the honor for Company K, the signs will be paid for by the Grand Traverse Ottawa and Chippewa Tribe, located in northern Michigan.
“They decided to have the sign manufactured by soliciting local bids from vendors in the Traverse City area, and they’re going to put the sign up themselves. This is treaty land. It’s the property of the tribe,” Schwander said.
The bill needs to the signature of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is expected to sign it into law.
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