Trying to Convince the Government to Honor the 1854 Treaty Destroys Leonard Wheeler’s Health

Everyone celebrates the signing of the 1854 treaty, thinking that the Ojibwe and their supporters can now enjoy peace. But multiple actors continue trying to wrest land from the Ojibwe, while Leonard Wheeler attempts to obstruct them. The most dramatic example occurs when Wheeler learns that the government has prepared to sell off pieces of the Lac Court Oreilles Reservation that the 1854 treaty had assigned to the Ojibwe. He sets off on snowshoes to catch a train to Washington where he stops this sale. The trip leaves him deathly ill. Wheeler battles with government agents, traders, and his declining health until the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions stops supporting the Wheelers in 1866 for not converting enough Ojibwe.