Ogimaag: Anishinaabeg Leadership, 1760-1845

2. Ogimaag: Hereditary Leaders

65 2 Ogimaag hereditary leaders I want to do all I can for my children so that they can say when I am gone, “My father worked in my interest and guarded my interest, and for that reason his life was sacrificed.” —Mezhucegiizhig Before I left my country every Indian gave me counsel, and told me what to say to you and to our Great Father, and when I return they will look to me for a reply. . . . These wampums were present before many chiefs, and the words that I now speak are the words they wished me to say.—Crossing Sky Anishinaabe leadership arose from two sources: charismatic and hereditary. Charismatic individuals who led through demonstrated ability might lead war parties, emerge from the ranks of the Midewiwin, or direct the actions of hunting groups. These leaders are addressed in chapters 3 and 4. Before looking at such roles, we must examine the types of leadership embedded within Ojibwe social organization. This chapter, then, explores the position and role of the hereditary ogimaag as well as the appointed officers who assisted them. The right of hereditary ogimaag to lead, to negotiate with outside groups, and to manage land and resources within the community through redistribution and allocation descended to them through patrilineal lineages; however, the extent of their actual influence and authority , particularly outside their own communities, was based on reputation and ability. Although discussion of hereditary 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 66 Ogimaag ogimaag may at first seem a purely secular project, the Anishinaabeg understood the authority of these chiefs to flow from the networks of mutual obligation that these individuals had established with manidoog as well as human communities. Although some contemporary Anishinaabeg doubt the historic presence of hereditary leadership, records from the period frequently include the transition of the position of village chief from father to son. It is spoken of by explorers Jonathan Carver and Giacomo Beltrami, American Indian agents Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and Thomas L. McKenney, and fur traders William Warren and Peter Grant as well as missionaries Frederick Baraga and George Copway, who along with Warren was of Ojibwe descent.1 En’dusogi’jig, a hereditary chief at Mille Lac, told ethnomusicologist Frances Densmore in the first decade of the twentieth century that “a chief was respected for his personal characteristics, and that anyone who wished to join his [village] was at liberty to do so. . . . The duties of a chief included the presiding at councils of his [village], the making of decisions that affected their general welfare, and the settlement of small disputes. He represented the [village] at the signing of treaties, the payment of annuities, and any large gathering of the tribe.”2 However, the ogimaa never made decisions alone, as there were significant constituencies within the village with whom he had to consult. Eastern Woodland Indian societies in the eighteenth century had three political classes: women, warriors (sometimes referred to as young men), and chiefs.3 At any large gathering, leaders were always careful to assert whether they had the consent and support of these constituencies.4 In an oral society it was always vitally important to clarify whom you spoke for in any given situation. Despite the fact that both oral tradition and written sources document that men predominantly held the position of hereditary leader, this did not mean that women were excluded from the political process. Little in the historical record refers to wom- Ogimaag 67 en in leadership positions or the existence of women’s councils among Ojibwe women, but there are clues indicating that women played influential roles. While women had more visible authority in matrilineal societies, the Ojibwe still recognized and honored women for their generative power as mothers of the nation and their ability to grow crops.5 Work within the female domain of planting and gathering work was done communally, and the absence of men while they engaged in this work implies the supervision of these tasks by senior women. William Johnston described such a situation when he wrote to his sister Jane Johnston Schoolcraft while serving as an interpreter for Leech Lake on September 24, 1833. “On visiting the lodges,” Johnston noted, “I found only women as occupants, busey [sic] in putting up the corn...