Assassination of Hole in the Day

Chapter 2

35 2 Becoming Chief The Rise of Bagone-­ giizhig the Elder [Bagone-­ giizhig’s people] would quietly sit and listen with an occasional murmur of approval of the truth of what he was saying; but when it suited his purpose to appeal to their passions, he would rouse himself up to all the fire and impetuosity of his nature, and while his eye flashed and his features changed with the changing emotions which glowed within his own breast, those passions and emotions ran like an electric shock through his auditors, until unable to restrain themselves, they would literally leap from their seats, and in a frenzy of excitement, fill the air with their savage yells. —Julius T. Clark1 B agone-­ giizhig (Hole in the Day) the Elder’s rise to power and prominence among the Mississippi Ojibwe could not have been predicted. No Ojibwe leader before him had achieved comparable influence with so little claim to traditional sources of power. His surprising ascension to chieftainship demonstrates the deep flux in Ojibwe society and the complicated Ojibwe political arena dominated by relations with the Dakota and the American government. He was both an obvious agent of change and a product of his times. Common Man, Uncommon Character Bagone-­ giizhig the Elder was born sometime around 1800 near La Pointe, Wisconsin, on Madeline Island in Lake Superior.2 The era was one of complicated political and military relationships among the Ojibwe, the Dakota, and the American and British governments. Ojibwe territory, technology, and politics were undergoing fundamental and rapid change. For hundreds of years, the Ojibwe people had been slowly migrating westward. Even before the arrival of Euroamericans, spiritual 36  Assassination of Hole in the Day and economic incentives had propelled the Ojibwe and their close allies the Odaawaa (Ottawa) and Boodawaadamii (Potawatomi) to push westward through the Great Lakes into present-­ day Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ontario, where wild rice grew abundantly. My recent oral history interviews report that spiritual concerns were in part responsible for this migration to what the Ojibwe called “the land where food grows on water.”3 In 1679 the Ojibwe made a historic agreement with the Dakota in a large council held near present-­ day Duluth. The Ojibwe, who were already in close contact with Europeans, agreed to act as middlemen in the trade between the French and the Dakota. In return, the­ Dakota allowed the Ojibwe to settle in northern Wisconsin, including the important villages of Lac du Flambeau and Lac Courte Oreilles.4 The Ojibwe-­ Dakota entente lasted almost sixty years. Eventually, however, the Dakota found other ways to acquire European trade goods, causing Dakota alliances with the Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi to weaken. The construction of French trading posts in Dakota lands eliminated the need for the Ojibwe as middlemen. When Pierre Gautier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye, set up a base of operations for exploration and trade in Cree and Assiniboine territory , the Ojibwe were pressured by the Cree, Assiniboine, Ottawa, and Potawatomi to side with those tribes in their conflicts with the Dakota. The Dakota-­Ojibwe entente erupted into war in 1736.5 Eventually, the Ojibwe, in concert with the Ottawa, Potawatomi, Cree, and As­ sini­ boine, began to push the Dakota westward. Ojibwe territory expanded into the heart of what would eventually become Minnesota and beyond. New Ojibwe villages were established at Sandy Lake, Mille Lacs, and Leech Lake—formerly prominent Dakota communities. In 1800 the Ojibwe and Dakota were still engaged in hostilities (especially along the Red River), but their territories in Wisconsin and central Minnesota were fairly well accepted. There were casualties every year, but not on the scale seen in the mid-­ eighteenth century, when entire villages were wiped out on both sides. Warfare and diplomatic missions with the Dakota were important endeavors for Ojibwe leaders at this time, and even Ojibwe diplomacy with the Americans and the British focused primarily on relations with the Dakota. Bagone-­ giizhig the Elder’s father was a common Ojibwe man named Bakwene (Smoke). His Ojibwe mother’s name has been lost. Becoming Chief   37 Bakwene’s maternal grandfather may have been a chief at Madeline Island, but this probably would shed minimal light on his rise to power. Bagone-­ giizhig was born a common man.6 Around 1820, he moved to Metaawangaagamaag (Sandy Lake, Minnesota) with his new wife and his older brother Zoongakamig (Strong Ground). Bagone...