Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish (also spelled with various transliterations as Mashipinashiwish, Me-chee-pee-nai-she-insh, Mash-i-pi-wish , Mitch-e-pe-nain-she-wish, or Mat-che-pee-na-che-wish) was a hereditary chief of a

Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...

Indian group in what is now Michigan. The Potawatomi are one of the peoples of the Council of Three Fires; the others are the

Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ), said to mean "traders", are an Indigenous American ethnic group who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, commonly known as the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. They ha ...

and the Ojibwe, all Algonquian-language speakers.

Life

Post-American Revolution activities

Listed by the United States by English name of Bad Bird and as a Chippewa (Ojibwe), the chief made his sign on the Treaty of Greenville, in 1795, which ended the

Northwest Indian War The Northwest Indian War (1786–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native American nations known today as the Northwestern ...

after the defeat of the Western Confederacy. (The Chippewa were closely allied with the Potawatomi and

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

in the Council of Three Fires). This treaty was signed by chiefs of those three tribes and others that had been part of the Western Confederacy. The bands ceded considerable territory in present-day Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, allowing settlement by European Americans in what the U.S. called the

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Established in 1 ...

, an area north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi. The

1821 Treaty of Chicago The Treaty of Chicago may refer to either of two treaties made and signed in the settlement that became Chicago, Illinois between the United States and the Odaawaa (anglicized Ottawa), Ojibwe (anglicized Chippewa), and Bodéwadmi (anglicized P ...

, which Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish signed on August 29, 1821, there listed as an Ottawa, reserved a three mile-square tract for an Indian village at the head of the Kalamazoo River (spelled then as ''Kekalamazoo''). The present-day city of Kalamazoo developed at this site. Bad Bird was identified as signing the US Treaty with the Potawatomi, of September 19, 1827, by which he ceded the Kalamazoo tract reserved for the Indian village to the U.S. He did not sign the 1828 Treaty with the Potawatomi, which ceded additional land in southwest Michigan to the U.S. He did sign the 1832 U.S. Treaty with the Potawatomi, which also ceded additional land in the area. The '' Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'' estimates that Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish (Bad Bird) was born about 1735 and died about 1805. It does not attest to his signing the treaties from 1821 to 1832 with the United States. The dates suggest that perhaps a younger man of the same name signed these treaties. The

federally recognized tribe This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

in the United States known as the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi (formerly known as the Gun Lake Band) is based in Dorr, Michigan in Allegan County, Michigan, Allegan County. They renamed their tribe after this chief, as its members trace their descent from him and his wife.

References

Native American leaders Native Americans of the Northwest Indian War Potawatomi people People from Michigan 1730s births 1800s deaths Indigenous people of Pontiac's War {{NorthAm-native-bio-stub