Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish (also spelled with various transliterations as Mashipinashiwish, Me-chee-pee-nai-she-insh, Mash-i-pi-wish , Mitch-e-pe-nain-she-wish, or Mat-che-pee-na-che-wish) was a hereditary chief of a

Potawatomi The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

group in what is now Michigan. The Potawatomi are one of the peoples of the

Council of Three Fires The Council of Three Fires (in , also known as the People of the Three Fires; the Three Fires Confederacy; or the United Nations of Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi Indians) is a long-standing Anishinaabe alliance of the Ojibwe (or Chippewa), O ...

; the others are the

Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ) are an Indigenous North American people who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, now in jurisdictions of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. Their territory long prec ...

and the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

, all Algonquian-language speakers.

Life

Post-American Revolution activities

Listed by the United States by English name of Bad Bird and as an

, the chief made his sign on the

Treaty of Greenville The Treaty of Greenville, also known to Americans as the Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., but formally titled ''A treaty of peace between the United States of America, and the tribes of Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanees, Ottawas ...

, in 1795, which ended the

Northwest Indian War The Northwest Indian War (1785–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native Americans in the United States, Native American na ...

after the defeat of the

Western Confederacy The Northwestern Confederacy, or Northwestern Indian Confederacy, was a loose confederacy of Native Americans in the Great Lakes region of the United States created after the American Revolutionary War. Formally, the confederacy referred to it ...

. (The Ojibwe were closely allied with the Potawatomi and

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

in the

). This treaty was signed by chiefs of those three tribes and others that had been part of the

. The bands ceded considerable territory in present-day Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, allowing settlement by European Americans in what the U.S. called the

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from part of the unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution. Established ...

, an area north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi. The

1821 Treaty of Chicago The Treaty of Chicago may refer to either of two treaties made and signed in the settlement that became Chicago, Illinois between the United States and the Odawa (anglicized Ottawa), Ojibwe (anglicized Chippewa), and Bodéwadmi (anglicized Pot ...

, which Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish signed on August 29, 1821, there listed as an Ottawa, reserved a three mile-square tract for an Indian village at the head of the

Kalamazoo River The Kalamazoo River is a river in the U.S. state of Michigan. The river is long from the junction of its North and South branches to its mouth at Lake Michigan, with a total length extending to when one includes the South Branch.U.S. Geologic ...

(spelled then as ''Kekalamazoo''). The present-day city of

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

developed at this site. Bad Bird was identified as signing the US Treaty with the Potawatomi, of September 19, 1827, by which he ceded the Kalamazoo tract reserved for the Indian village to the U.S. He did not sign the 1828 Treaty with the Potawatomi, which ceded additional land in southwest Michigan to the U.S. He did sign the 1832 U.S. Treaty with the Potawatomi, which also ceded additional land in the area. The ''

Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online The ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'' (''DCB''; ) is a dictionary of biographical entries for individuals who have contributed to the history of Canada. The ''DCB'', which was initiated in 1959, is a collaboration between the University of Toro ...

'' estimates that Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish (Bad Bird) was born about 1735 and died about 1805. It does not attest to his signing the treaties from 1821 to 1832 with the United States. The dates suggest that perhaps a younger man of the same name signed these treaties. The

federally recognized tribe A federally recognized tribe is a Native American tribe recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as holding a government-to-government relationship with the US federal government. In the United States, the Native American tribe ...

in the United States known as the

Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band The Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan is a federally recognized tribe of Potawatomi people in Michigan named for a 19th-century Ojibwe chief. They were formerly known as the Gun Lake Band of Grand River Ottawa Indian ...

of Pottawatomi (formerly known as the

Gun Lake Band The Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan is a federally recognized tribe of Potawatomi people in Michigan named for a 19th-century Ojibwe chief. They were formerly known as the Gun Lake Band of Grand River Ottawa Indian ...

) is based in Dorr, Michigan in

Allegan County Allegan County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 120,502. The county seat is Allegan. The name was coined by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft to sound like a Native American word. All ...

. They renamed their tribe after this chief, as its members trace their descent from him and his wife.

References

Native American leaders Native Americans of the Northwest Indian War Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band Pottawatomi people People from Michigan 1730s births 1800s deaths Indigenous people of Pontiac's War {{NorthAm-native-bio-stub