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WAPASHA I
(About 1720 - 5 Jan 1806)
a.k.a. Wapahasha, Ouabachas, Ape'duta, Red Leaf
Wapasha I was the son of a Dakota chief and a Chippewa princess. Born in approximately 1720, he was the eldest of two sons. Despite his Chippewa blood, Wapasha I led the Sioux in several battles with his mother’s tribe. One such incident marks the first recorded reference of his name by the white men.

After a band of Sioux warriors slew several Chippewa, a tribe which had been promised protection by the French, Wapasha and those with him on the raid offered to submit to French justice in order to keep peace with the incoming military forces of the Europeans. On March 9, 1740, the action was recorded by the commander of the French garrison at Mackinac, Michigan. No retribution was taken against the Sioux.

After military defeats at the hands of the British in the middle 1700s, the French began to withdraw from lands they had formerly held in the Mississippi River valley. The French had enjoyed the loyalty of the Indians, who aided them in their defeat with the British. After the French defeat, the English were both suspicious and fearful of the Indians. As a result, there were no English trappers and traders bargaining with the Sioux. The Sioux had developed a dependency on such trade. They had become more accustomed to hunting with rifles than bows and arrows. Fur traded with French trappers brought provisions and ammunition and the Dakota found it difficult to survive without this commerce.

Perhaps also fearing a war with the British, Wapasha I convened a council in 1763 to find a way to bring the British back to this area. Several incidents that took place during the French and Indian War made English trappers apprehensive about returning to the Mississippi River valley. One such incident took place in 1761. A Dakota named Ixkatapay had shot an English trader called Pagonta (Mallard Duck) by the Indians. The two had quarreled earlier, and Pagonta was reportedly killed while sitting in his cabin smoking. To appease the British, it was decided Ixkatapay would be turned over to them for the killing. Wapasha I led the party, composed of 100 men, to the English headquarters in Quebec.

Wapasha’s enthusiasm for peace with the English was shared by the tribe, but evidently this did not extend to submitting one of their own to the justice of the British. By the time Wapasha had reached Green Bay, Wisconsin, there were only six of the original 100 left, Wapasha and five braves. The others had drifted off in small groups. One of these deserting bands had taken Ixkatapay with them and returned to their homelands.

Wapasha I and the remaining five continued to Quebec and offered themselves as surrogates for Ixkatapay in the English court. He explained the plight of his people and their desire for peace, and asked the British to return to the area. Taken with his courage, the British awarded the Dakota chief seven military medals, hanging one around his neck in a ceremony at the fort. Trappers and traders soon returned to the area.

During the American Revolution, the Sioux fought on the side of the British. Wapasha led his warriors against the Sauk and Fox forces which had sided with the rebelling colonists. In British military communiqués, he is referred to as General Wapasha. His aid in the British cause during the revolution was not forgotten. When he traveled to Montreal on one of his many visits to the British army commanders there, he was always greeted with the salute of a cannon.

Wapasha I died of neck cancer January 5, 1806, at a camp on the Root River in Houston County, Minnesota. He was probably somewhere in his 80s when he died, ending a public career that spanned 66 years.

Source: Steve Kerns article, Explorers found hills, valleys alive with Indians, Winona Sunday News, November 14, 1976

DOCUMENTED CHILDREN OF WAPASHA I
Winona (b. ????, d. 2 Mar 1848) - Eldest daughter who married Jean Pennishon
La Bleu (b. 1756-61, d. after 1787) - married Joseph Rocque
Mahpiyahotawin (b. abt. 1765, d. abt. 1844) - a.k.a. Grey Cloud Woman, married James Aird
La Feuille (b. abt 1768, d. June 1836) - becomes Wapasha II
Anpetuwakee (b. abt. 1777, d. ????) - a.k.a. Ompaytoo Wakee, Daylight
Etonkasahwee (b. abt. 1779, d. ????)- married Pierre LaPointe
Pelagie (b. 1782-87, d. ????) - married Augustin Ange
Angelique (b. abt. 1783, d. bef. 1815) - married Michel Labatte/Labathe/Labat (b. ????, d. bef. 1815)
Cun'ksi (b. ????, d. ????) - fictitious personal name, married 1st Gauthier, 2nd Dubois, 3rd Hurtubise
Ica'ktetoka (b. ????, d. ????) - Supposedly killed by the Wahpekute

- FROM THE TRADE GOODS WEBSITE -
Wabasha I was the son of Pa-ha'tanka Wa-bom-du [Snow-Mountain], born in the Cass Lake area. His children were: Wabasha II (b.abt.1773/76), Pelagia (b. abt.1779/81, m. Augustin Ange dit St.Onge-Lefeure), Daughter (b. abt.1776, m. Pierre Lapointe), Marpiyarotowin or "Grey Cloud" (d. 1844, m.James Aird, abt.1783), Daughter (b.abt.1775, m. Joseph Larocque) & Margaret (m.1st Antoine Dubois, m.2nd Joseph Rolette). Wabasha I was a Mdewakanton Civil-Chief until about 1776.

Timeline:

1736 - Wabasha III was accused of killing a Frenchman in Illinois Country.
1737 - French traders are forced out of Sioux lands.
1740 - Wabasha I met Paul Marin on the Rock River with Sintez. Marin takes them to Montreal council with Gov.Beauharnois.
1741 - In January Marin hold council with Dakota at the mouth of the Wisconsin River
1741 - In the spring the Ojibwe & Ottawa attack Dakota killing 7 at one location & 11 at another.
1741 - In September about 200 Cree & Assiniboine attack "Prairie Sioux." At least 70 Sioux warriors noted by Laverndrye.
1741 - Also in September the Cree/Assiniboine & the Ojibwe/Ottawa alliances were threatening the Sioux borders on the north & east.
1741 - In October "Sioux of the Lakes" Chief "Sacred-Born" visits Paul Marin to arrange a peace conference.
1741 - Sieur de LaRonde holds a Ojibwe/Dakota peace council at LaPointe.
1742 - In July Marin is in Montreal at council.
1742 - Sacred-Born" & "Leaf-Shooter" represented the Mdewakanton Sioux.
1742 - They speak of raids on the "Prairie Sioux" which had killed 160 warriors.
1742 - A peace was establish which seems to have lasted a while.
1743 - 1746. When word of the new French war (King George's War) reached Michilimackinac, a group of voyageurs deserted the French for the far west, some living among the Sioux.
1746 - Paul-Louis Dazenard, Sieur Lusignan (command of the French post at Green Bay) is with the Sioux, attempting to bring the deserting voyageur back east. He is unsuccessful but does return with 4 Dakota Chief whom he takes to Montreal for a Council.

1750 - 54 Paul Marin & his son Joseph re-establish trade with the Dakota. He help the Dakota & Ojibwe negotiate winter hunting grounds giving the Ojibwe the right to use the Crow Wing Valley for a season of 1750-51 and allow the Lapointe Ojibwe to hunt to the west of their village to Sandy Lake until about 1754. During this period the Sioux controlled the St.Croix & Chippewa Rivers (eastern tributaries of the Mississippi) being the eastern Sioux borders and the headwaters of the Mississippi roughly defining their northern borders. Joseph Marin in the fall of 1753 lost control of his father's (Paul was recalled back to the east) formerly held northern trading region to Joseph Leverendrye (French commander at Lapointe) who claimed todays northern Minnesota for his own benefit. It appears that Leverendrye encouraged the Sioux northern & eastern neighboring tribes to tresspass on Sioux lands to obtain furs and he seems to have hampered Marin attempts to gain a peaceful alliance between the Sioux and their neighbors. By the spring of 1754 Marin was lead to believe the Sioux claimed the lands from the mouth of the Wisconsin River, north to Leech Lake and most of the Mississippi tributaries between. He also learned that the Sioux intended to put a stop to the Ojibwe use of their lands and it appears as if peace had come to an end.

1754 - 1755 Sioux are in Montreal for a council. At the outbreak of the French & Indian War in 1754 French traders in Sioux lands are recalled to the east.

1756 - Wabasha was in Montreal, offering himself for the murder of an English trader killed by another Dakota.
1766 - In the spring Alexander Henry is with the Ojibwe on Lake Superior and learns of a battle between 400 Ojibwe & 600 Sioux (the Ojibwe lost 35 warriors). Jonathan Carver also leaves Michilimackinac for Sioux Country.

1770 - The Ojibwe center of trade is moved from Lapointe to Sandy Lake.
1774 - In the spring Peter Pond is trading with the Dakota on the Minnesota River and documents an increase in Ojibwe-Dakota fighting.
1775 - The two tribes meet in council at the mouth of that river and reach an agreement that each would stay on their side of the Mississippi.
1775 - de Peyster holds a council with the Sioux, sending Wabasha & other Sioux representitives to Montreal.
1778 - Charles Gautier de Verville visited the Mdewakanton on the Upper St.Croix River & notes the Wahpetons moving closer to the mouth of the Minnesota River.
1778 - Wabasha visits Montreal & receives a British General's commission.
1779 - In July Wabasha was at Michilimackinac.
1779 - 1781 Smallpox strikes Sioux villages.
1780 - In the summer Wabasha leads his warriors on a attack on St. Louis for the British.
1781 - In July Spanish trader Pierre Dorion returns to St. Louis with 6 Sioux Chiefs for a council with Lt. Gov. Cruzat.
1783 - George McBeath is sent by Mackinac commander Capt. Dan'l Robertson to hold a council at Prairie du Chien when British announced an end to the war.
1783 - In May George McBeath meets with the Sioux at Prairie du Chien.
1783 - 1805 Wabashaw moved his village to near the mouth of the Upper Iowa River.
1784 - Joseph Calve is sent to hold council at Prairie du Chien by Robertson.
1786 - In July Joseph Ainse (representing the British Indian Department) holds a council at Prairie du Chien where the Sioux are represented.
1787 - In July Wabasha's son leads Mdewakanton warriors against Ojibwe, as others are negotiating a peace between the tribes.
1788 - Jean Baptiste Perrault is trading on a tributary of the Wisconsin River, bartering rum for fur with members of Wabasha's village.

Note: By structuring Nelson's notes into a timeline, I had hoped to make his notes easier to understand. I don't know if I succeeded. Although the TRADE GOODS website has not been updated since 3/10/02, you may want to try it if this timeline method is confusing.

Source: The TRADE GOODS wabasha-zip link at (users.usinternet.com/dfnels)

OJIBWE LORE
As early as 1679, efforts at inter-tribal Sioux-Ojibwe peace were periodically attempted by calling together great conclaves of the two nations under conditions of unrestrained celebration and brotherly love.

Apparently at one of these conclaves, about the year 1717, a noteable Sioux Chief of the Mdewakanton band on Mille Lacs Lake took an Ojibwe bride And, as was the Ojibwe custom, he then came to live with her people at LaPointe. Two sons were born to them, the first in 1718 of who became the highly renowned Wabasha of the 18th Century. About 1719 a second child was born, another son. Then shortly after that, and not far from the year 1720, all Hell broke loose! The two great nations were at it once again in all-out intertribal warefare; whereupon the glorious romance was soon to end.

Because of the typically fierce nature of these conflicts, it was no longer safe for the father to remain among Ojibwe people. Furthermore, his high standing as a Chief required him to return to his own people at Mille Lacs. Nor would it even be safe for his two sons to remain among the Ojibwee because of the Sioux blood in their veins. So these two splendidly matched and previously very happy people, under conditions of mutual agreement which guaranteed the safety of the two boys, were forced to break up their marriage, with the father taking the lads back to Sioux country.

The grieved Ojibwe wife pined away over the course of a year or more and was eventually wooed by a young warrior of the Addick or Reindeer totem. They soon married and about the year 1722 a son was born to them whom they named Ma-mongo-zida which means Big Foot or Big Feet. In the following year a second son was born and he was named Waubojeeb.

A few years later a Sioux war party came upon and began firing at an Ojibwe hunting party headed by Waubojeeb. Waubojeeb knowing they were Sioux, sallied out from his young men and pronouncing his name aloud in Sioux language, demanded whether Wabasha or his brother were among the assailants. Immediately the firing ceased; a considerable pause ensued.

Then a tall figure in full war dress, with a profusion of feathers upon his head, stepped forward and presented his hand. It was Wabasha! The remainder of the Sioux War party came forward behind him with arms lowered and hands extended in peaceful gestures.

There is more to the story but it ended peaceful, each party retreating. The inter-tribal warfare continued and the two half-brothers never met again.

Source: Essay 25: Waubojeeg the White Fisher, INDIAN DAYS IN MINNESOTA'S LAKE REGION - The Great Sioux-Ojibwe Revolution,
Carl A. Zapffe, Historic Heartland Association, Inc., 1990 ]