Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill into law Tuesday to name a stretch of highway along M-22 in Leelanau County's Peshawbestown after Company K, a group of Native American sharpshooters who fought during the Civil War.
Company K was made up of 139 Native American men who volunteered to fight in the war, despite being declined U.S. citizenship and not being ineligible for the draft.
Michelle Cassidy is an Indigenous History and Civil War professor at Central Michigan University. In late 2023, she published a book about Company K through Michigan State University Press.
In a Nov. 2023 interview with WCMU, Cassidy said there was a possibility some of them were motivated to enlist in order to end slavery.
"There's some kind of hints that there would have been some individuals in Company K who were very aware of anti-slavery sentiments, and they would have been part of discussions that were against slavery," Cassidy told WCMU in 2023. "They enlist in 1863, and at that point the war is shifting to being more explicitly about the ending of slavery."
State Representative John Roth, R-Interlochen, was one of the bill's sponsors.
In a statement, he said the soldiers gave their lives for the country, and are deserving of this honor.
“I’m honored to partner with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, work collaboratively with both Republican and Democrat legislators, and finally secure the creation of the ‘Company K Indian Veterans 1st Michigan Sharpshooters Civil War Memorial Highway'," Roth said.
The Grand Traverse Band Ottawa and Chippewa Indians are planning a dedication ceremony next spring.
