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 Ojibwe 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 Band of Ojibwe speaking of Territorial Governor Alexander Ramsey.^[2]

Notes

References

• Schenck, Theresa M. William W. Warren: The Life, Letters, and Times of an Ojibwe Leader. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8032-4327-9.