Beshekee

Who is Beshekee?

Beshekee also Pezeke and other variant spellings of Ojibwe: Bizhiki was a noted war chief from the Bear doodem of the Pillager Chippewa Band during the 19th century in North America.

As a young man, he signed the 1837 Treaty of St. Peters as Pe-zhe-kins, a Warrior. The Pillager Band was famous for producing skilled fighters in the wars against the Dakota, and in his time, Beshekee was among the most respected of these.

In 1855, he travelled with Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay, another prominent Pillager leader to Washington D.C. to address the grievances of the Mississippi Chippewa and to negotiate a cession of Ojibwe lands at the headwaters of the Mississippi River to the U.S. Government.

Beshekee would later sign the 1863 Treaty that partially addressed these grievances by establishing permanent reservations in Minnesota, including one at Leech Lake.