Francis Pegahmagabow MM & two bars (; March 9, 1891 – August 5, 1952) was a Canadian

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

soldier, politician and activist. He was the most highly decorated

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

soldier in

Canadian military history The military history of Canada comprises hundreds of years of armed actions in the territory encompassing modern Canada, and interventions by the Canadian Forces, Canadian military in conflicts and peacekeeping worldwide. For thousands of years, t ...

and the most effective

sniper A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...

of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Three times awarded the Military Medal and seriously wounded, he was an expert

marksman A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting using projectile weapons (in modern days most commonly an accurized scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle or a sniper rifle) to shoot at high-value targets at longer-than-u ...

and

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

, credited with killing 378 Germans and capturing 300 more. Later in life, he served as chief and a

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

for the

Wasauksing First Nation Wasauksing First Nation (formerly named as Parry Island First Nation, oj, Waaseyakosing, ''meaning: "Place that shines brightly in the reflection of the sacred light"'') is an Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi First Nation band government whose res ...

, and as an activist and leader in several

organizations. He corresponded with and met other noted aboriginal figures including

Fred Loft Frederick Ogilvie Loft (February 3, 1861 – 1934, Mohawk name Onondeyoh, also known as F. O. Loft or Fred O. Loft) was a Mohawk nation activist who founded the League of Indians of Canada. He has been counted among "the great Indian activists of ...

, Jules Sioui,

Andrew Paull Andy Paull, (Andrew Paull, Xwechtáal, Xwupúkinem, Quitchtaal) (February 6, 1892 – July 28, 1959) was a Squamish leader, activist, coach, and lawyer. Early life and family Born to Dan Paull and Theresa Paull (née Lacket-Joe) of a prominent fa ...

and

John Tootoosis John Baptiste Tootoosis (July 18, 1899 Poundmaker Reserve, Saskatchewan – February 1, 1989) was a prominent Cree First Nations leader in Canada. He is the grandson of Yellow Mud Blanket, the brother of legendary Cree leader Pitikwahanapiwiyin ...

Early life

Francis Pegahmagabow was born on March 9, 1891, on what is now the

Shawanaga First Nation Shawanaga First Nation is an Anishinaabe First Nations in Canada, First Nation band government in central Ontario near Nobel, Ontario, Nobel. Its reserves include: * Naiscoutaing 17A * Shawanaga 17 * Shawanaga 17B Shawanaga First Nation is locate ...

reserve in

Nobel, Ontario Nobel is a village on the shores of Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada. It is in the McDougall, Ontario, Municipality of McDougall in the Parry Sound District, Ontario, District of Parry Sound. The community is named after Alfred Nobel, the inventor ...

. In

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 ...

his name was Binaaswi ("the wind that blows off"). When Francis was three years old, his father died and his mother subsequently left him to return to her home in the

Henvey Inlet First Nation Henvey Inlet First Nation is an Ojibwe First Nations band government in Parry Sound District Parry Sound District is a Census divisions of Canada, census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its boundaries are District Municipality of M ...

. He was raised by elder Noah Nebimanyquod and grew up in Shawanaga, where he learned traditional skills such as hunting, fishing, and traditional medicine. Pegahmagabow practiced a mix of Catholicism and

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, ...

spirituality. In January 1912 Pegahmagabow received financial aid for room and board to complete his public school education with the help of the Parry Sound Crown attorney Walter Lockwood Haight. He had left school at the age of 12 and worked at

lumber camp A logging camp (or lumber camp) is a transitory work site used in the logging industry. Before the second half of the 20th century, these camps were the primary place where lumberjacks would live and work to fell trees in a particular area. Many ...

s and fishing camps; he eventually became a marine firefighter.

Military career

Following the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Pegahmagabow volunteered for service with the

Canadian Expeditionary Force The Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was the expeditionary field force of Canada during the First World War. It was formed following Britain’s declaration of war on Germany on 15 August 1914, with an initial strength of one infantry division ...

in August 1914, despite Canadian government discrimination that initially excluded minorities. He was posted to the 23rd Canadian Regiment (Northern Pioneers). After joining the Canadian force he was based at

CFB Valcartier Canadian Forces Base Valcartier (CFB Valcartier), now re-designated 2 Canadian Division Support Base Valcartier (2 CDSB Valcartier), is a Canadian Forces base located in the municipality of Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, north northwest of Quebe ...

. While there he decorated his army tent with traditional symbols including a Caribou, the symbol of his clan. In early October 1914 he was deployed overseas with the 1st Canadian Infantry Battalion of the

1st Canadian Division The 1st Canadian Division (French: ''1re Division du Canada'' ) is a joint operational command and control formation based at CFB Kingston, and falls under Canadian Joint Operations Command. It is a high-readiness unit, able to move on very short ...

—the first contingent of Canadian troops sent to fight in Europe. His companions there nicknamed him "Peggy". In April 1915, Pegahmagabow fought in the

Second Battle of Ypres During the First World War, the Second Battle of Ypres was fought from for control of the tactically important high ground to the east and south of the Flemish town of Ypres in western Belgium. The First Battle of Ypres had been fought the pre ...

, where the Germans used

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate betwee ...

gas for the first time on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

; it was during this battle that he began to establish a reputation as a sniper and scout. Following the battle he was promoted to

lance corporal Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal, and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer (NCO), usually equi ...

. His battalion took part in the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

in 1916, during which he was wounded in the left leg. He recovered in time to return to the 1st Battalion as they moved to Belgium. He received the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...

for carrying messages along the lines during these two battles. Initially, his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Albert Creighton, had nominated him for the

Distinguished Conduct Medal The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by Queen Victoria for gallantry in the field by other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military decoration, ranki ...

, citing his disregard for danger and "faithfulness to duty", but it was downgraded. On November 6/7, 1917, Pegahmagabow earned a

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

to his Military Medal for his actions in the

Second Battle of Passchendaele The Second Battle of Passchendaele was the culminating attack during the Third Battle of Ypres of the First World War. The battle took place in the Ypres Salient area of the Western Front, in and around the Belgian village of Passchendaele, be ...

. During the fighting, Pegahmagabow's battalion was given the task of launching an attack at Passchendaele. By this time, he had been promoted to the rank of

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...

and during the battle he was recorded playing an important role as a link between the units on the 1st Battalion's flank. When the battalion's reinforcements became lost, Pegahmagabow was instrumental in guiding them and ensuring that they reached their allocated spot in the line. On August 30, 1918, during the Battle of the Scarpe, Pegahmagabow was involved in fighting off a German attack at Orix Trench near Upton Wood. His company was almost out of ammunition and in danger of being surrounded. Pegahmagabow braved heavy machine gun and rifle fire by going into

no man's land No man's land is waste or unowned land or an uninhabited or desolate area that may be under dispute between parties who leave it unoccupied out of fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dump ...

and brought back enough ammunition to enable his post to carry on and assist in repulsing heavy enemy counter-attacks. For these efforts he received a second Bar to his Military Medal, becoming one of only 39 Canadians to receive this honour. The war ended in November 1918 and in 1919 Pegahmagabow was invalided back to Canada. He had served for almost the whole war, and had built a reputation as a skilled marksman. Using the much-maligned Ross rifle, he was credited with killing 378 Germans and capturing 300 more. By the time of his discharge, he had served in the appointment of

sergeant-major Sergeant major is a senior non-commissioned rank or appointment in many militaries around the world. History In 16th century Spain, the ("sergeant major") was a general officer. He commanded an army's infantry, and ranked about third in the ...

and had been awarded the

1914–15 Star The 1914–15 Star is a campaign medal of the British Empire which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces who served in any theatre of the First World War against the Central European Powers during 1914 and 1915. The me ...

, the

British War Medal The British War Medal is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces for service in the First World War. Two versions of the medal were produced. About 6.5 million were struck in si ...

, and the Victory Medal.

Political life

Upon his return to Canada he continued to serve in the Militia as a member of the Northern Pioneers (known today as the

Algonquin Regiment The Algonquin Regiment (Northern Pioneers) is a primary reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army comprising two companies. A Company is located in North Bay, Ontario, and B Company is located in Timmins, Ontario. The regiment fall ...

) as a non-permanent active member. Following in his father's and grandfather's footsteps, he was elected chief of the Parry Island Band from February 1921. Once in office he caused a schism in the band after he wrote a letter calling for certain individuals and those of mixed race to be expelled from the reserve. He was re-elected in 1924 and served until he was deposed via an internal power struggle in April 1925. Before the motion could go through, Pegahmagabow resigned. A decade later, he was appointed councillor from 1933 to 1936. In 1933 the Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) changed its policies and forbade First Nation chiefs from corresponding with the DIA. They directed that all correspondence, as of the spring of 1933, go through the

Indian agent In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the government. Background The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the United States first included development of t ...

. This gave huge power to the agent, something that grated on Pegahmagabow as he did not get along with his own agent, John Daly. First Nation members who served in the army during World War I were particularly active as political activists. They had travelled the world, earned the respect of the comrades in the trenches, and refused to be sidelined by the newly empowered Indian agent. Historian Paul Williams termed these advocates "returned soldier chiefs", and singled out a few, including Pegahmagabow, as being especially active. This caused intense disagreements with Daly and eventually led to Pegahmagabow being deposed as chief. Daly and other agents who came in contact with Pegahmagabow were incredibly frustrated by his attempts, in his words, to free his people from "white slavery". The Indian agents labelled him a "mental case" and strove to sideline him and his supporters. In addition to the power struggle between the Indian council and the DIA with which Pegahmagabow took issue, he was a constant agitator over the islands in

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...

of the

Huron Huron may refer to: People * Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America * Wyandot language, spoken by them * Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec * Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...

. The Regional First Nation governments claimed the islands as their own and Pegahmagabow and other chiefs tried in vain to get recognition of their status. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Pegahmagabow worked as a guard at a munitions plant near

, and was a Sergeant-major in the local militia. In 1943, he became the Supreme Chief of the Native Independent Government, an early First Nations organization.

Family

A married father of six children, Pegahmagabow died on the Parry Island reserve in 1952 at the age of 61. He is a member of the Indian Hall of Fame at the Woodland Centre in

Brantford, Ontario Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independ ...

, and his memory is also commemorated on a plaque honoring him and his regiment on the Rotary and Algonquin Regiment Fitness Trail in Parry Sound. He was honored by the Canadian Forces by naming the 3rd Canadian Ranger Patrol Group HQ Building at CFB Borden after him.

Legacy

Canadian journalist Adrian Hayes wrote a biography of Pegahmagabow titled ''Pegahmagabow: Legendary Warrior, Forgotten Hero'', published in 2003, and another titled ''Pegahmagabow: Life-Long Warrior'', published in 2009. Canadian novelist

Joseph Boyden Joseph Boyden (born October 31, 1966) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Irish and Scottish descent. He also claims Indigenous descent, but this is widely disputed. Joseph Boyden is best known for writing about First Nations culture ...

's 2005 novel ''

Three Day Road ''Three Day Road'' is the first novel from Canadian writer Joseph Boyden. Joseph’s maternal grandfather, as well as an uncle on his father’s side, served as soldiers during the First World War, and Boyden draws upon a wealth of family narrati ...

'' was inspired in part by Pegahmagabow. The novel's protagonist is a fictional character who, like Pegahmagabow, serves as a military sniper during World War I, although Pegahmagabow also appears as a minor character. A life-sized bronze statue of Pegahmagabow was erected in his honour on

National Aboriginal Day National Aboriginal Day (informally National Indigenous Peoples Day) is a day recognizing and celebrating the cultures and contributions of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Indigenous peoples of Canada. The day was first celebrated in 1996, ...

, June 21, 2016, in Parry Sound, near Georgian Bay. The figure has an eagle on one arm, a Ross rifle slung from its shoulder, and a

caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

at its feet, representing the Caribou Clan that Pegahmagabow belonged to. The Eagle was his spirit animal. The artist Tyler Fauvelle spent eight months sculpting the statue, which spent a further year in casting. Fauvelle chose to erect it in Parry Sound rather than Wasauksing to reach a larger public and educate them on the contributions of First Nations people to Canada. In 2019, the history-themed power metal band

Sabaton A sabaton or solleret is part of a knight's body armor that covers the foot. History Fourteenth and fifteenth century sabatons typically end in a tapered point well past the actual toes of the wearer's foot, following fashionable shoe shapes o ...

released a song dedicated to Pegahmagabow, titled ''A Ghost in the Trenches", on their album ''The Great War''. Binaaswi is one of eight 2020 finalist for the $5 polymer bills in Canada.

Awards

* He was first awarded the Military Medal while fighting at the second battle of Ypres, Festubert and Givenchy, for courage above fire in getting important messages through to the rear. * Earned his first bar to the Military Medal at the Battle of Passchendaele. * His second bar to the Military Medal came at the battle of The Scarpe, in 1918. Only 38 other Canadian men received the honour of two bars. * The

* The

* The Victory Medal In 2003 the Pegahmagabow family donated his medals and chief head dress to the Canadian War Museum where they can be seen as of 2010 as part of the World War I display. While researching his 2005 novel ''

'', Boyden was asked about why he thought that Pegahmagabow had not received a higher award like the

or the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

. Boyden speculated it was due to Pegahmagabow being a

soldier, and that there may have been jealousy on the part of some officers who he felt might have been suspicious of the number of Germans Pegahmagabow claimed to have shot because he did not use an observer while sniping.

Footnotes

Bibliography

Notes References * * - Total pages: 204 * * * * * - Total pages: 253 *- Total pages: 95 * * * * - Total pages: 352 * * - Total pages: 334 * - Total pages: 327

External links

Francis Pegahmagabow's war records
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pegahmagabow, Francis 1891 births 1952 deaths Canadian military personnel from Ontario Canadian Indigenous military personnel Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers Ojibwe people Political office-holders of Indigenous governments in Canada Canadian recipients of the Military Medal Algonquin Regiment (Northern Pioneers)