Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay (or Aish-Ke-Vo-Go-Zhe, from ''Eshkibagikoonzhe'', " irdhaving a leaf-green bill" in

Anishinaabe language Ojibwe , also known as Ojibwa , Ojibway, Otchipwe,R. R. Bishop Baraga, 1878''A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language''/ref> Ojibwemowin, or Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of North America of the Algonquian lan ...

; also known as "Flat Mouth" (''Gueule Platte''), a nickname given by French

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

rs) was a powerful

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

chief who traveled to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1855, along with

Beshekee Beshekee, also Pezeke and other variant spellings of Ojibwa language, Ojibwe ''Bizhiki'' (English: Buffalo), was a noted war chief from the Bear ''doodem'' of the Pillager Chippewa Band during the 19th century in North America. As a young man, he ...

and other Ojibwa leaders, to negotiate the cession of ten million acres (40,000 km²) including the headwaters of the

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

in northern

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Quotes

"We are endlessly told to bury the war hatchet, and if we dig it up we are threatened with rods and ropes, or with being placed under the ground, we the Missinabes, the Eagles, the Bears otems free in our own forests... Thus the Americans plan to treat us as they treat their black people...I am not an animal. I am not like those in the East whom they call their children and whom they treat like three or six-year-olds, rod in their hand. They purchased their lands, and now they hold them prisoner and treat them as slaves." — Eshkebugecoshe, head chief of the

Pillager Band of Chippewa Indians Pillager Band of Chippewa Indians (or simply the Pillagers; in the Ojibwe language) are a historical band of Chippewa (Ojibwe) who settled at the headwaters of the Mississippi River in present-day Minnesota. Their name "Pillagers" is a translatio ...

, to French geographer

Joseph Nicollet Joseph Nicolas Nicollet (July 24, 1786 – September 11, 1843), also known as Jean-Nicolas Nicollet, was a French geographer, astronomer, and mathematician known for mapping the Upper Mississippi River basin during the 1830s. Nicollet led three ...

in the 1830s, speaking of his people's feelings that they were losing control of their lives "Tell him I blame him for the children we have lost, for the sickness we have suffered, and for the hunger we have endured. The fault rests on his shoulders." —Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay,

Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, also known as the Leech Lake Band of Chippewa Indians or the Leech Lake Band of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (Ojibwe: ''Gaa-zagaskwaajimekaag Ojibweg'') is an Ojibwe band located in Minnesota and one of six making up the ...

speaking of Territorial Governor

Alexander Ramsey Alexander Ramsey (September 8, 1815 April 22, 1903) was an American politician. He served as a Whig and Republican over a variety of offices between the 1840s and the 1880s. He was the first Minnesota Territorial Governor. Early years and fam ...

Schenck 96

Notes

References

*Schenck, Theresa M
''William W. Warren: The Life, Letters, and Times of an Ojibwe Leader.''
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007. . Ojibwe people Native American leaders Native American history of Minnesota People of pre-statehood Minnesota 19th-century Native Americans Year of birth unknown Year of death missing {{NativeAmerican-politician-stub