Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana

Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana, also known as the Little Shell Band of Landless Chippewa Indians of Montana, is an Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) tribe recognized by the State of Montana. The tribe is also seeking federal recognition from the US Bureau of Indian Affairs. The tribe is named after its nineteenth-century leader, Esens, known as "Little Shell".

Due to conflicts with federal authorities in the 19th century, the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe does not have a reservation or land base. Members live in various parts of Montana and elect a government of a chairman and Tribal Council according to their constitution. There are population concentrations in Great Falls, Havre, Lewistown, Helena, Butte, Chinook, Hays, Wolf Point, Hamilton, and Billings, as well as numerous other small communities in the state. Because the tribe has been without a land base for more than 100 years, many members and their descendants live outside of Montana.

From probably both northern Ontario and northern Minnesota, during the early part of the 18th century, the ancestors of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana migrated from the Great Lakes area into the Plains of Canada and the United States. They allied with the Assiniboine and Cree in a confederacy, driving out the Dakota and probably other tribes native to the areas now known as Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario in Canada, and Minnesota and Montana in the United States.

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