Peshawbestown, Michigan, is named for an Ottawa chief.
On this date in 1797, he came to the Red River fur trade with his relative Net-no-kwa and her adoptive son, John Tanner. Net-no-kwa had rescued Tanner from the Shawnee, who abducted him in Kentucky at age nine.
Pe-shau-ba was a revered mentor and teacher to the young Tanner, who reached adulthood and began to consider finding his white family. While at Winnipeg, Tanner learned that the War of 1812 made travel to the United States impossible. Pe-shau-ba arrived with nine lodges and invited Tanner to join him. They lived in great comfort, peace, and plenty.
Pe-shau-ba was deeply affected by the death of an old friend and was conscious that his own end was near. One day, he told Tanner:
“I remember, before I came to live in this world, I saw many good and desirable things, and among them, a beautiful woman. As I looked, day after day, at the woman, he said to me, ‘Pe-shau-ba, do you love the woman you are so often looking at?’
Then he said, ‘Go down and spend a few winters on earth. You cannot stay long, and you must always remember to be kind and good to my children whom you see below.’
So I came down, but I have never forgotten what was said to me. I have always stood in the smoke between the two bands when my people have fought their enemies. I have not struck my friends at their lodges. I have disregarded the foolishness of young men who would have offended me, but have always been ready and willing to lead our brave men against the Sioux.
I have gone into battle painted black, as I now am, and I now hear the same voice that spoke to me before I came into this world. It tells me I can remain here no longer.
To you, my brother, I have been a protector, and you will be sorry when I leave you. But be brave. You will soon follow in my path.”
He then put on new clothes provided by Tanner and “walked out of the lodge, looked at the sun, the sky, the lake, and the distant hills; then came back in, laid down composedly in his place in the lodge, and in a few minutes ceased to breathe.”
Dakota Datebook written by Lise Erdrich
Sources:
- Minneapolis: Ross and Haines, 1952. Edwin James, Editor. A Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner, (U.S. interpreter at the Saut de Ste. Marie) ) During Thirty Years Residence among the Indians in the Interior of North America.Pages 166-167.
- Indiana University: Genesis of a Fur Trade Band: Journal of Charles Jean Baptiste Chaboillez, 1797-1798.Harold Hickerson, Editor. Date unknown.
- New York: Francis P. Harper, 1897. New Light on the Early History of the Greater Northwest: The Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry and of David Thompson, 1799-1814. Elliott Coues, Editor. Volume 1, The Red River of the North. Reprinted by Cambridge University Press, 2015.
- Wikipedia. John Tanner (captive). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tanner_(captive)
- Woodcock, George (1988). "Tanner, John". Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7. University of Toronto. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/tanner_john_7E.html.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshawbestown,_Michigan
