Topinabee (Chief Topinabee; He Who Sits Quietly; born 1758, died 1826) was 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 ...

tribe leader and a signer of very important treaties. He was born in his father’s village on the St. Joseph River in 1758. Next to his father, Old Chief Nanaquiba, he was also noted as one of the greatest Potawatomi chiefs of all time. He was documented as a great warrior and known for his great tactical decisions in many battles like his father. Before he died in 1826, he was known as a leader of the Potawatomi tribe of the Midwestern United States. He signed the

Treaty of Greenville The Treaty of Greenville, formally titled Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., was a 1795 treaty between the United States and indigenous nations of the Northwest Territory (now Midwestern United States), including the Wyandot and Delaware peoples, ...

in 1795, that ceded much of what is now Ohio to the United States. He also signed 11 later treaties during his leasership. He was succeeded as a leader of the Potawatomi by

Leopold Pokagon Leopold Pokagon (c. 1775 – 1841) was a Potawatomi ''Wkema'' (leader). Taking over from Topinbee, who became the head of the Potawatomi of the Saint Joseph River Valley in Michigan, a band that later took his name. Early life and education Po ...

. Chief Topinabee is son to hereditary sachem chief of all Potawatomis, Anaquiba, and brother to Chief Chebaas, biological grandfather of Chief Abram B. Burnett (Nan-Wesh-Mah). He was a great warrior and highly respected, intelligent chief involved in battles and noted as a war chief to

Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy and ...

during

Tecumseh's War Tecumseh's War or Tecumseh's Rebellion was a conflict between the United States and Tecumseh's Confederacy, led by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh in the Indiana Territory. Although the war is often considered to have climaxed with William Henry Har ...

Sources

*''Atlas of Berrien County'', p. 4. * http://www.wiskigeamatyuk.com/Chief_Topinabe.htm * Potawatomi people Native American leaders 1826 deaths Year of birth missing 18th-century Native Americans 19th-century Native Americans {{NorthAm-native-bio-stub