Baw Beese
| Baw Beese | |
|---|---|
| Potawatomi leader | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1790 |
| Died | c. 1850 Either Georgian Bay, Ontario or Miami County, Kansas |
| Children | Winona |
Baw Beese (c. 1790–c. 1850) was a Potawatomi Indian chief in the area of Hillsdale, Michigan until November 1840. At this time he and his band were forcibly removed to a reservation in Miami County, Kansas by the U.S. Government under authority of the Indian Removal Act signed into law by Andrew Jackson in 1830. The Indian Removal Act made the voluntary Indian emigrations outlined in the Treaty of Fort Meigs of 1817 and the Treaty of Chicago of 1821 mandatory and militarily enforced.
At the time of the Treaty of Chicago, Baw Beese led a band of Indians estimated at over 150 members. The Baw Beese band of natives had their maize fields, hunting, fishing, and meeting grounds within Hillsdale County, Michigan. Other chiefs of the Baw Beese family lived in surrounding counties in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
As a chief, Baw Beese was reported as holding to a strict code of justice. The execution of his daughter Winona, for having murdered her husband Negnaska, was not prevented despite his status. Winona's husband had pledged his rifle to Mr Aaron B. Goodwin of Fremont, Indiana for the use of a keg. The Indians had the keg filled at Nichols' store in Jamestown, but Mr Nichols ended up taking everything they had. The brave sold his squaw's pony, to raise money to retrieve the rifle. Winona owned the pony outright, either as a gift from her father or having bought it with her own money. She killed Negnaska in anger for selling what was hers. Winona was held by the tribe for a few hours, until her husband's nearest relative arrived to execute her in the like manner she had killed— with a stab to the heart.
Mr John D. Barnard and Mr Sheldon Havens encountered the Indians after the execution, and helped move the body of Winona and her husband to a nearby resting place. The bodies were not buried until after the white men were out of sight. This precaution was in vain, however, because the bodies were taken from the graves by Dr. B.F. Sheldon for dissecting only a few days later.
The story of Baw Beese and Winona has developed into local legend. In some versions, the chief himself must execute his child. Often it is mentioned that a girl's skeleton was found on the banks of the Baw Beese Lake with a cross bearing her name, or other identification.
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