Chippewa / Ojibwe History

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Chippewa / Ojibwe History

Chippewa / Ojibwe HistoryChippewa / Ojibwe HistoryChippewa / Ojibwe History
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© Parks Canada Agency / Agence Parcs Canada

The Provincal Park is situated in the southeastern corner of Ontario's Peterborough Crown Game Preserve. Image of the inital entrance sign with the base still being completed.  The Curve Lake First  Nation Reserve is 47km away.  Peterborough is 57km, where the Canadian Canoe Museum. is located.

 

Peterborough Petroglyphs, Ontario

A Great Horned snake

The Peterbourgh Petroglyphs lie on historically Anishinaabe land There are many images for which there are no known indigenious comparables in North America.  The main figure in the center image has rays coming from the head.  CanadaDZ / CC BY 2.0 

It's speculated the glyphs were made ca. 900 - 1400 C.E.

The person in the image provides scale for the size of the glyphs.  A shelter was erected to protect the site from the elements and vandalism that has since gotten criticism for aesthetics and cultural appropriateness.   The site is a pilgrimage for the Ojibwa people today. © Parks Canada Agency / Agence Parcs Canada

They were "found" in 1954.

The exposed material at the site is white marble that is incised with hundreds of humans, turtles, snakes, birds, deer, wolves, and mythological creatures.   In addition there are numerous abstractions of unknown meaning. The total number of glyphs is over 1,200.   CanadaDZ / CC BY 2.0) 

The mythological

d

Some of the imagery is elaborate and took a great deal of time to execute.  Even the simple ones took time with a depth of 2-3 inches. wikicommons 

Grandmother Turtle

This turtle image and others link to the Anishinaabe.  There are boats with oars, masts, and bow and stern posts with figureheads that do not and that connection.

The Curve Lake First Nation is the spiritual custodian of the site , administer the visitor center, and enforce the no photoraphy rules of the petroglyphs.  In 1998 the elders requested no photography of the glyphs, so that the "spirits of the rock were not captured".

© Parks Canada Agency / Agence Parcs Canada, B. Morin

Abstractions with figures

The figure on the left has a tail.  The figure on the right appears related to the thunderbird used by the 501st Airborne. © Parks Canada Agency / Agence Parcs Canada, B. Morin

Pictographs

 Ojibwa pictograph, panel X, Agawa Rock, 

Ontario. Anishinaabe Pictographs[267]


  • Sanilac Petroglyphs Historic State Park "Ezhibiigadek asin" Ojibwe for "written on stone", Michigan.
  • Pimachiowin Aki is a UNESCO World Heritage site on Lake Winnipeg, with over 30 individual sites, it is Canada's largest grouping of pictographs.
  • Hegman Lake Pictographs in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
  • Lake Superior Provincial Park contains the Agawa Rock Pictographs. "Aagawaa" means "sheltered place" in the Ojibwa.
  • Wabakimi Provincial Park has multiple pictographs near Cliff Lake.
  • Mazinaw Pictographs National Historic Site of Canada. "Mazinaw" is Ojibwa for "picture" or "writing"
  • Chippewa Pictograph Sites of the Border States; Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin[268]       wikicommons

Underwater Panther at the Agawa Rock,

 Ojibwa pictograph of Underwater Panther at the Agawa Rock pictographs, Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario.  wikicommons 

Nanabozho (the trickster) pictograph, Upper Mazinaw Lake, Ontario

Nanabozho

 Nanabozho (the trickster) pictograph, Upper Mazinaw Lake, Ontario     Nanabozhoo is said to have shown the Ojibwa how to make the bow and arrow, canoes, and snowshoes.  wikicommons

Turtle Petroform at Bannock Point, Manitoba

The turtle, or Grandmother Earth, represents wisdom, healing, health and protection

 The turtle, or Grandmother Earth, represents wisdom, healing, health and protection.  

The rattlesnake or Grandfather Earth has petroforms nearby.  wikicommons

Petroform at Whiteshell Park, Manitoba

 Whiteshell Provincial Park's petroforms serve as reminders of the instructions given to the Anishinaabe by the Creator Gitche Manitou. The Anishinaabe Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society, considers the area containing the petroforms to be "Manito Ahbee", where the Gitche Manitou sits. It is the site where the Gitche Manitou lowered the original Anishinaabe from the sky to the ground according to oral history.              

                                 wikicommons                                                                    

Chippewa: Steatite(soapstone) Pipes


Just north of Rainy Lake, in Canada, the Chippewa had found a jet black stone, steatite/soapstone, that they used to make pipes.[252][253][254] It is slightly harder than the Red Pipestone from southern Minnesota and is less well known in comparison.[255] The Chippewa also quarried steatite near Devils Lake, Sauk County, Wisconsin and other sites in Ontario.[256] [257] [258] [259] [260] Another source has a quarry at Pillager, Minnesota and a quarry north of Duluth that produced a jet black material that took a high polish.[261]


Longfellow's poem places the Red Pipestone quarry in Ojibwa lore stating Gitche Manitou called the tribes together there.[262]


Chief Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay (Flat-Mouth), Leech-Lake steatite pipe, collected 1866, Smithsonian[263]


Bois-Forte steatite pipe with lead and catlinite inlaid, ca. 1900, Harvard University Peabody Museum[264]


Cass Lake pipe with lead and catlinite inlaid.[265]


Lake Winnibigoshish/Leech-Lake steatite pipe, Smithsonian[266]

Chippewa Steatitie pipe inlaid with lead and catlinite

Chippewa Steatitie pipe inlaid with lead and catlinite.  © Heartland Artifact Auctions

Medicine Men:

Ojibwa Medicine Man with drum emblazoned for the Turtle (Mikinaak/Mshiikenh) clan ca.1900.

Minnesota Historical Society, wikicommons

Grand Portage Chief Medicine Man Axel Pasey with His Family 1936. Most references state that the Ojibwa have 3 classes of Medicine men. The Chippeway Hearld, Vol. 1, No.2 February 1902 published by Theo and Gus Beaulieu, at White Earth Reservation. They identify three of types: Meda (medicine man), Gee-sah-ke-we-nine (jugglar), and the A-nun-ann-du-we-e-way-we-nin (blower). The Webeno (dreamer) was not listed. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=9f9cced7-0e56-4398-87d3-1f1ab339d023%2Fmnhi0031%2FXETFTD5A%2F02020101

wikicommons

1919, H.R.H. Edward, the Prince of Wales spent 3 days fishing with Ojibwa guides on the Nipigon River in Ontario. His cousin Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn had recommended the trip having done it himself the year prior with the Ojibwa. In total, Edward's entourage had 20 guides, one was Chief of the Nipigon Ojibway Band. Another guide caught Edward's attention, as he was certain they had met before. They had, at a field inspection the Prince held in France prior to the Battle of Cambrai (1917).[188] Edward also met with the League of Canadian Indians at Sault Ste Marie and inaugurated Canada's "Warriors' Day" at the Canadian National Exhibition during his 1919 trip.

wikicommons

Figures from history:

Marie Louise Baldwin Bottineau ca. 1910-15 American University law school graduate.

wikicommons

Chief Nah-gun-e-gah-bow, Rabbit- Lake band. Offered to fight the Sioux in 1862.

wikicommons

1870-80s, Stephen & Georg Bonga were African American Ojibwe fur traders and translators.[16] Both passed away at Leach Lake.

wikicommons


Lewis & Clark and the Chippewa and historians question how?

ca. 1933 picture of 1803 Lewis & Clark Presentation Flag owned by the Oji-Cree in Montana. Held by 2 Oji-Cree, Loud Thunder or Jim Gopher and the Frenchman with Frank Linderman. Lewis & Clark had several different versions of the flag with them. This one has the Great Seal with 13 stars in the canton. The shield with 3 stars symbolizes the branches of government. Linderman was greatly involved in Rocky Boy's band getting a reservation in 1916.

  ©Distinctly Montana

Peace Medal, 1st size, for head chief's. It was collected in 1900 at Mille-Lacs. Jefferson medals were the first to have a President's profile on them. This medal belonged to Chief Katawabeda of the Sandy Lake band and "Emperor" of all Mississippi band Chippewa. Mille-Lacs band oral history has that he received it from Lewis & Clark in 1804. It was donated to Jefferson Nat. Expansion Mem. in St. Louis, Missiouri, in 1964. The Fond-du-Lac band also received a medal from Lewis & Clark and is in their oral history. They are identified as the "foriegn nation" that received a 3rd size medal from Lewis & Clark p.17 reference: Indian Peace Medals in American History, Francis Paul Prucha (index p.179, "Fond du Lac") Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Digital Library Collections, 2025, https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/public/digitallibrary/smof/publicliaison/blackwell/box-032/40_047_7007434_032_019_2017.pdf

 ©National Park Service

Turtle-Mountain Chief Little Shell III:

Chief Little Shell III of the Turtle-Mountain band of Chippewa. He received a Lincoln Indian Peace Medal at the 1863 signing of the Treaty of Old Crossing.

wikicommons

http://www.chippewaheritage.com/heritage-blog2/little-shell-and-the-state-of-massachusetts

In 1900 the Massachusetts State Seal was redesigned by Edmund H. Garrett. He used Chief Little Shell III of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa as his model. There is now an effort in Massachusetts to remove the Chief from the State seal claiming using his image is racist. Massachsetts is the only state to acknowledge a First Nation's leader on it's State Seal and State flag. In heraldry, a figure centered on a design, typically within the shield (or escutcheon), is called a "charge". In Heraldry an arm holding a sword above a figure generally symbolizes authority, military prowess, or the protection of justice. The sword itself is a common symbol of honor, bravery, and military might.

http://www.chippewaheritage.com/heritage-blog2/little-shell-and-the-state-of-massachusetts

wikicommons

Saulteaux Chief Peguis:

Chief Perguis 12' monumen by Marguerite Judd Taylor. Erected 1923 in Kildonan Park, Winnipeg, Canada. Chief Peguis led his band from Sault Ste. Marie to Rupert's Land ca.1790. In 1817 Chief Perguis signed the Perguis Selkirk Treaty that recognized indigenious rights. It included lands that would become Minnesota and North Dakota. The Peguis First Nation is the largest in Manitoba today.

  ©Trevor Brine/CBC 

 ©City of Winnipeg

Government tug "Pegius II" at the Marine Museum of Manitoba. Was named for Chief Peguis. She assisted dredging operations on Lake Winnipeg waterways.

 ©Robert B. Farrow


Gallery #2: College & Profesional Sports

1892 Class photo with Benjamin Caswell, Cass Lake Chippewa, first quarterback of the Carlisle football  team.(front row 2nd from right)  He was timed running 100yds under 10 seconds.  He is wearing two period jeweler made awards.  


While the Haskell Indian School football program lasted years longer than Carisle's, Carisle's program revolutionized football to the game that is played today by the Na

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1908 Carlisle defeated Naval Academy  by the score of 27-6
George Earth,  Wah-we-yea-comig,

The Carlisle football program is football  legend.  It received more requests to play than could be scheduled between 1893-1918.  Records show 70 Chippewa students played for Carlisle. ©Theparrishchannel 

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=24281227221503501&set=pcb.348978884449080


1912 Carlisle track team. Charles Coons, Lac Courte Orielles, was captain.  He was one of the 8 students who could run 




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LETTER TO SEC OF INTERIOUR
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1407836262686085/posts/3512160985586925/

Carlisle Indians vs. Army West Point 1912, quarterbacked by Gus Welch (Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa),  coached by Pop Wagner, and captained by Jim Thorpe.   They "changed football before the eyes of America, "like the sweep of a Prairie fire:  coach Wagner" was quoted.   Final score: Indians 27, Army 6.  https://read.nxtbook.com/leisuremedia360/brc_plus/heart_of_the_mountains

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https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/default/files/docs-documents/NARA_RG75_CCF_b007_f03_10144

Student body "Cup of Appreciation" given to Gus Welch at Randolf Macon College.

 © The Roanoker


In 1912, as Class president Welch initiated a petition to the Sec. of the Interiour about conditions at Carlisle that marked the beginning of the end for the school, 275 classmates co-signed.   In 1914 he signed a petition to the Secretary requesting the removal of Pop Wagner as the head of athletics at C

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Frank Gus Welch from Spooner Wisconsin, quarterback at Carisle.  He was Jim Thorpe's roommate and best man.  Inducted to NCAA and American Indian Football Halls of Fame.  Graduated from Dickenson Law School.    ©AIA Hall of Fame


During the time the Carlisle football program existed the team had 5 Chippewa captains.  That was the 

most by any tribe.


1933-4  Welch was the coach of the Haskell football 


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Charles A. Bender. White Earth Nation. Chicago Daily News, October 1910.  Played football too.






“The reason I went into baseball as a profession was that when I left school, baseball offered me the best opportunity for both money and achievement. I adopted it because I played baseball better than I could do anything else, because the life & the game appealed to me & because there was so little of racial prejudice in the game. There has scarcely been a trace of sentiment against me on account


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Abby Roque, Wahnapitae First Nation

Silver medal. U.S. Women's National Team forward at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing

                                        ©Sports  Center ESPN








NORTH AMERICAN INDIGENIOUS ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME

https://www.naiahf.org/team

Ojibwa acknowledgement by U.S. & Canadian Post:

8 cent CAnadian stamp

Canada's Post Office's: "Ojibwa thunderbird" & "Naskapi pattern" Se-tenant pair was issued on April 4, 1975. The thunderbird was created by Norval Morrisseau of the Ojibwa Sandpoint First Nation.

©Canada Post

George Morrison, Grand Portage band of Lake Superior Chippewa. (September 30, 1919 – April 17, 2000) Was an abstract painter and sculptor that the U.S. Post office acknowledged with a souvenir sheet of stamps of him and five of his works in 2022.


 Used with the permission of the United States Postal Service® 

George Catlin and some of his Ojibbeway:

Pelican, Catlin 1845

 Ud-je-jock, a boy

 painted for the King of France,

Smithsonian copy wikicommons  The paintings Catlin did for the King are now in the  Musée du Quai Branly—Jacques Chirac. 

King Louis Phillippe I 1845 Medal


The King gave personalized medals engraved with the names of the Walpole Island Ojibbeway he met with George Catlin in 1845.  Pelican and Tempst bird both received one.

 © Gilcrease Museum


Tempest Bird, Catlin 1845

Au-nim-muck-kwa-um,

 painted for the King of France,

Smithsonian copy, wikicommons

 The paintings Catlin did for the King are now in the  Musée du Quai Branly—Jacques Chirac.

Boy Chief, Catlin 1835

Painted at Fort Snelling, Wisconsin Territory.

Smithsonian wikicommons

Hail-storm, war chief Catlin 1845

Say-say-gon was painted in Paris.

Smithsonian wikicommons

Kei-a-gis-gis, Catlin 1832

 Painted at Fort Union, Missiouri Territory, Smithsonian. wikicommons 


©Joe Valequez: Ojibwa images @ Ansada Group

"The Chippewa"

"Turtle Spirt Shield"

Joe Valequez Ojibwa image copyright licensing or purchase contact  https://ansadagroup.com

"Healing Light"

"Healing Light"

"Healing Light"

"Autumm Light"

Ojibwa Night

"Ojibwa Night" 

"The Growling Rapids"  

Ojibwe gallery courtesy zs@liangst

"Searching for the Rogue Bear"

"Small deer hunter"

Contact  zs@liangstudio.com for copyright permmission or purchase

"Solitary Hunter"

"Waiting for the Right Moment"

v

 "Water Lily"  

"Solitary Hunter 2006"

Gallery #3: Images from the Chippewa/Ojibwa legacy



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