The French and Americans adopted their autonym for their military activities as the advance guard of the Ojibwe in the invasion of the Dakota country.
Their name has been variously recorded as: By the mid-nineteenth century, records showed that scholars and Indian agents were generally using the band's Ojibwe name, although they struggled to render the spelling in the best way to convey pronunciation: The Pillagers at the time had several sub-bands, identified by location.
These included the following: Through the treaty process with the United States, the Pillager Band were settled on reservations in north-central Minnesota.
The successors apparent of the Pillagers are: In turn, that year the Leech Lake and White Earth bands participated in writing a constitution for a new tribal government.
They were two of six bands that formed the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe for their overall government and services within the area of the state.