Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay

Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay (or Aish-Ke-Vo-Go-Zhe, from Eshkibagikoonzhe, "[bird] having a leaf-green bill" in Anishinaabe language; also known as "Flat Mouth" (Gueule Platte), a nickname given by French fur traders) was a powerful Ojibwa chief who traveled to Washington, D.C. in 1855, along with Beshekee and other Ojibwa leaders, to negotiate the cession of ten million acres (40,000 km²) including the headwaters of the Mississippi in northern Minnesota.[1]

“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 Ojibwa speaking of Territorial Governor Alexander Ramsey.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ "Biography of Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay." United States Senate. (retrieved 17 May 2011)
  2. ^ Schenck 96

References