Chief Topinabee
Using Tribal Memories to Better Understand American (Indian) History-Nwi Yathmomen-We Will Tell Our Story
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2735906 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Low (0009-0006-8177-9766, The Ohio State University), J N Low (0000-0003-4743-7448, The Ohio State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 70 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 421-445 |
| Publication date | 2023-10-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ethnohistory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0014-1801 • E-ISSN: 1527-5477 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/00141801-10673282 |
| OpenAlex | W4391300403 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 9 |
Chief Topinabee was born around 1758 in his father's village on the Saint Joseph River, in what is now southwest Michigan. He probably died on 29 July 1826 near present-day Niles, Michigan. A complicated leader of his village, he may have fought at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, certainly was a signatory to the Treaty of Greenville the next year, appears to have become an ally of Tecumseh and his intertribal confederacy at Prophetstown, may have been a participant in the Battle of Fort Dearborn in 1812, and served as a leader of strategic resistance to settler domination. The usual narrative is that Topinabee was a great warrior and leader of his people who in the last years of his life degenerated into a hapless drunkard and accommodationist. But is that a fair depiction of him? This essay is a celebration of ethnohistory and the paths it has cleared for the use of nontraditional sources of information. The article is based largely on access to a family archive that provides a counternarrative to the usual biography of Topinabee and allows for a fuller understanding of him as a leader and a person
Ancient history · Genealogy · American Environmental and Regional History · Archaeology and Natural History · History
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |