Tagwagane

Who was Tagwagane?

Chief Tagwagané was an Anishinaabe sub-chief of the La Pointe Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, located in the Chequamegon area in the first half of the 19th century. He was of the Ajijaak-doodem. His village was often located along Bay City Creek within the city limits of what now is Ashland, Wisconsin.

During the signing of the 1842 Treaty of La Pointe, Father Chrysostom Verwyst, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society, was informed by Chief Tagwagané of a copper plate his family used for time reckoning. Based on the description Verwyst gave, William Whipple Warren concluded that Chief Tagwagané's ancestors first arrived in the Chequamegon Bay area sometime around 1490.