Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay

Who is Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay?

Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay 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 including the headwaters of the Mississippi in northern Minnesota.

“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.