Do you know your clan?

My 7th great grandfather was Ke-che-Waub-Ish-Ash, of the Martin Clan, a war chief under Bi-aus-wah, who was the “Peace Chief” … The following is an interesting account of how he was killed in a battle with the Dakota … From an oral account taken from The HISTORY OF THE OJIBWAY PEOPLE, William W. Warren, Written in 1852 — Ke-che-wau-ish-ash (The Big Marten) Ke-che-wau-ish-ash was an most celebrated Ojibway warrior in the Modern Times. His story as reported to William Warren appears below. It is the story of the last significant Ojibway battles with the Dakota and his death. From Lee Salzman, History of the First Nations “The Ojibwe were the largest and most powerful Great Lakes tribe; perhaps the most powerful east of the Mississippi; and quite possibly the most powerful in North America. The Lakota (Sioux) and Apache have gotten better press, but it was the Ojibwe who defeated the Iroquois and forced the Sioux to leave Minnesota. Very few Americans realize that the Ojibwe were a major power. Their location was well north of the main flow of settlement, and their victories over native enemies have never received proper credit. A variety of names (Ojibwe, Chippewa, Bungee, Mississauga, and Saulteaux) and division of their population between Canada and United States has masked their true size. In addition, the Ojibwe never fought with Americans after 1815. Even before this, their participation in wars between Britain and France or fighting Americans in the Ohio Valley was fairly limited. Considering the prowess of Ojibwe warriors, this was probably just as well for the Americans. However, this does not mean they have been ignored by government. As the Chippewa, they signed more treaties with the United States than any other tribe ­ fifty-one! North of the border, the Ojibwe have “touched the pen” more than thirty times with the French, British, and Canadians.” HISTORY OF THE OJIBWAY PEOPLE, William W. Warren, Written in 1852 1885 CHAPTER XIX. Progress of the Ojibways on the Upper Mississippi. In order to retaliate on the Dakotas the invasion which they had made on the Upper Mississippi, which resulted in the battle of Crow Wing, and the capturing of their women at Sandy take, the Ojibways, early the following spring, collected a war party nearly two hundred strong who, embarking in their birch canoes, raddled down the current of the Mississippi into the country of their enemies. They discovered no signs of the Dakotas in the course of their journey as far down as the mouth of Crow River, within thirty miles of St. Anthony Falls. Here they left their canoes, anti proceeding across the country to the Minnesota River, they discovered a village of their enemies situated a short distance from its confluence with the Mississippi. The attack on this village, though severely contested by the Dakotas, was perfectly successful, and the war party returned borne with a large number of scalps. The inciddents of this fight were told to me by Waub-o-jeeg (White Fisher), a present living sub-chief of the Mississippi Ojibways, whose grandfather No-ka acted as one of the leaders of this party but as his accounts are somewhat obscure and much mixed with the unnatural, I refrain from giving the details. This incursion to the Dakota country is, however, notable from the fact, that it is the first visit of the kind which the Ojibways of this section tell of their ancestors having made to the Minnesota River. When the warriors left their homes in the north, it was early spring, and the leaves had not yet budded. On arriving at the Minnesota River, however, they were surprised to find spring far advanced, and the leaves on the trees which shaded its waters, in full bloom. From this circumstance they gave it the name of Osh-ke-bug-e-sebe, denoting “New’ Leaf River,” which name it has retained among the Ojibways to tbe present day.

A few years after the incursion of No-ka to the Minnesota River, the Ojibways again collected a war party of one hundred and twenty men, and under the leadership of Ke-che-wau-ishe-ashe (Great Marten) a noted warrior, who acted as the war chief of Bi-aus-wah, they embarked in their canoes, and floated down the Mississippi, which they had now learned to make their chief and favorite war course. On their way down die river, the leader every morning deputed a canoe of scouts to proceed some distance in advance of the main body, to search for signs of the enemy, and runners were sent ahead by land, to follow down each bank of the river, to prevent a surprise of the party from an ambuscade of the enemy. Guarded in this manner from any sudden surprise, the Ojibway warriors quietly floated down with the current of the great river On this occasion they had reached a point a short distance above the mouth of Elk River, when the scouts in the foremost canoe, as they were silently paddling down, hugging the eastern bank of the Mississippi, immediately below an extensive bottom of forest trees,