He negotiated the 1836 Treaty of Washington with the federal government on behalf of the Grand River Ottawa, leading to the admission of the State of Michigan to the Union.
[3][4] The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 significantly lowered the cost of travel by ship from the east coast of the United States to the Great Lakes.
[7] In March 1836, Wabiwindego led two dozen young Ottawa men to Washington, D.C. to try and stop a potential treaty between the L'Arbre Croche and the United States, taking the place of the tribe's foremost leader, Noahquageshik, in order for them to appear more aloof to the possibility of sale.
[8] At negotiations in Washington, however, Wabiwindego and the Ottawa agreed to sell the Grand River lands and the eastern coast of Lake Michigan to the United States.
They did so because of the offer of permanent reservations in west and northwest Michigan, as well as regular annuities, hunting rights, and access to a blacksmith, Western farming implements, and various other benefits to help smooth any integration efforts.
[20] In the winter of 1837, Wabiwindego died during a smallpox outbreak so deadly that “almost without exception, every house [on the Grand River] has been literally a hospital, both among the natives and white inhabitants.”[1][21] After his death, his son Shagwabeno assumed leadership of the band.
[2][3] In 1855, Shagwabeno and another of Wabiwindego's sons, Aishkibegosh, negotiated a new treaty with the United States in Detroit which created permanent reservations for the Grand River Ottawa in Michigan.