Biauswah

Biauswah ("Bayaaswaa" in Ojibwe, meaning "The Dry-one") was the name of two different Ojibwa chiefs. The name "Bayaaswaa" refers to jerkied meat, dried either by smoke or by sun. [cite book |last=Hodge |first=Frederick Webb |title=Handbook of American Indians |edition=Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology |series=Bulliten 30 |year=1907 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington]

Biauswah (I)

"Bayaaswaa" was a Ojibwa Chief of a village on the south shore of Lake Superior, located about 40 miles west of La Pointe, Wisconsin, in the late 1600s. According to William Whipple Warren, based on oral history regarding "Bayaaswaa", he was known for his prowess and wise counsel. Warren continues that when "Bayaaswaa" returned from a day's hunting, he found his villagers massacred by the Fox. Upon tracking the Fox, he found they had two captives: an old man that was tortured to death and a boy that was just about ready to be tortured. Warren then states:

Biauswah (II)

"Bayaaswaa" (recorded variously in English as Biauswah, Bajasswa, Byianswa or Biaswah) was the principle Chief of the Sandy Lake Ojibwa, whose village was located at either terminous of the Savanna Portage (Sandy Lake & opposite the mouth of the East Savanna River) in Minnesota.

According to William Whipple Warren, based on oral history regarding "Bayaaswaa", as a child "Bayaaswaa" was captured by the Fox and whose father "Bayaaswaa" (I) traded his life for his son's. "Bayaaswaa" and few other survivors went to Fond du Lac, and the Fond du Lac Band drove the Fox out of northern Wisconsin.

The oral history, Warren continues, recalled a major battle with the Dakota at the mouth of the Crow Wing River. Sixty Ojibwa led by "Bayaaswaa" engaged three hundred Dakota who they said had destroyed their village at Sandy Lake. Supposedly, the battle lasted for three days. The Ojibwa established their village at Sandy Lake, establishing the Sandy Lake Band, and then ventured to Red Lake and Pembina. Other oral history accounts, however, suggest the Cree aided the Ojibwa against the Dakota. According to Richard Alan Nelson, "Bayaaswaa" was a "jiisakiiwinini" (Shaking-tent Seer) and lived to the age of 109. [cite web | url = http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=rnelson&id=I34546|title = Parent & Related Families in Britain, Québec, Europe and USA (Godden, Edwin, Hedges, Lavoie, Miersch, Valyer, etc.)|accessdate = 2007-09-08 |last = Nelson | first = Richard Alan | publisher = RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project]

"Bayaaswaa"'s son "Gaa-dawaabide" ("Broken Tooth") later becomes Chief of the Sandy Lake Band.

Biauswah Lake in Itasca County, Minnesota, is named after him, as is the Biauswah Bridge, a bridge for the Minnesota State Highway 23 over the St. Louis River out of the Fond du Lac neighbourhood of Duluth, Minnesota.

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