The Indian signatures obtained were those of 16 Chippewa half-breeds and
16 Chippewa full bloods. They were people who had no leadership role or authority to speak or act on behalf of the Little Shell Band. (App. p. 145.) They were simply rounded up and brought to Pembina from the surrounding area. They came without provision for food or shelter. As the negotiations dragged on they become half-starved. The impasse remained. Chief Little Shell saw what was happening and approached a local Catholic priest, Father J.F. Malo, and asked him to intercede to avoid a calamity. With his intervention provisions were finally made for the 32 imposters.

Once the 32 were taken into the negotiating room it was full. Others were unable to participate or even observe. The 32 signed. The Treaty that was eventually signed by the government came to be known as the infamous "10 cent Treaty". It was obtained without the consent of the Pembina leadership. Seventy years later in the Indian Claims Commission it was proved the false treaty was unconscionable (App. p. 330-355.)

It took another 13 years for the U.S. Senate to ratify the false treaty over the strong and bitter protest of the Little Shell Band. It never became a treaty with the Little Shell. Little Shell and his Band never received a dime of the one million dollars.

Within days of the signing, on October 24, 1892, Little Shell’s Grand Council of Pembina met to renounce the treaty. They protested that it was not the product of persons having authority to give away the Pembina’s aboriginal lands. Their lawyer, John Bottineau, continued to register frequent and loud protests. In a written report filed with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, he wrote:

"Because said agreement, or 10 cent treaty, so called, was unlawfully concluded and executed with the younger or unauthorized members without the consent or approval of the chief and the council of the tribe said Chief Little Shell and his council which is composed of his braves, the leading and representative men of the tribe, did not only refuse to sign said proposed agreement, but also did then and there oppose its execution, and ever since have protested against its ratification by Congress for the good and valid reasons and objections set forth." (Proceedings of the Grand Council, filed with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, File No 1993, Special Case No. 110, January 1893.) (App. p.143-150.)

In its own report to the President, the McCumber Commission conceded things had not gone as they should have:

"While the agreement is not in exact accordance with the act of Congress providing for the commission and defining its duties it is forwarded for the favorable action of Congress as the best available". (App. p.101.)

Chief Little Shell died in 1901. His son-in-law, Rising Sun, became Chief. The Band continued to protest ratification of the treaty even after Congress ratified it in 1905. For decades they protested the great injustice that had been done to them. In return they received only government retribution.

The people who did accepted the McCumber Treaty became enrolled members of the federally recognized Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. As the 20th Century proceeded and homesteaders tied up all the land, the followers of the Chief Little Shell Band settled in the Belcourt and Turtle Mountain areas of North Dakota.

Members of the Little Shell Band attempted to preserve the Little Shell Grand Council as an ongoing governing entity. But if they "assembled", or spoke out on behalf of "Little Shells", they were threatened, thrown in jail, denied contracts, employment, health service, and governmental commodities (App. p.295.) "If they attempted to hold "Little Shell"' meetings to discuss the pursuit of "Little Shell" rights they were arrested and fined." They held secret meetings. "Pow Wows" were conducted in private homes so they would not be observed. Bingo and other activities were conducted to raise money so that Little Shell representatives could secretly go to Washington D.C. to meet with government officials to seek redress for their grievances.

At one point, just as had been done to the Cherokee in the 1830’s, the government "relocated" a group of Little Shell by loading them onto railroad boxcars and hauling them to a point along the northern border of Montana where they were dumped off. Descendants of those banished members still live there today. They became the Little Shell of Montana.

In the 1930’s Thomas Little Shell, the "Great Chief’s" grandson, lobbied for the creation of a commission where the wrongs that had been committed against his people might be vindicated. Congress finally created an Indian Claims Commission under the Court of Claims in 1946 to hear "claims in law or equity arising under the Constitution, laws, treaties of the United States, and Executive Orders of the President." Pub. L 79-726, 60 Stat. 1049. 25 U.S.C.70

The directions given to this Commission by the Congress included a mandate that the violations of Indian rights associated with the "ten cent treaty" be investigated and adjudicated. The mandate expressly included a charge that the Commission investigate the treatment that had been given to the Little Shell Band.

Instructions to the Court of Claims by Congress included the following:

"Whether the Agreement of 1892 was consented to and ratified by the Band or Chief or Thomas Little Shell and the amount of any loss to said land resulting from actions taken under said agreement without the consent of said band?

"Whether the lands to which Chief Little Shell’s Band had title by occupancy were taken from it without the consent of that band and what the value thereof would be?

"Whether under the Agreement of 1892 lands were taken by the United States of America without payment of adequate consideration therefore or without paying any consideration at all?" (Emphasis added) Id.