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| | canoe | |
| | Artifact Number | III-M-10 a-n | | | Current Cultural Affiliations | Ottawa
| | | All Affiliations | Ottawa (culture)
Odawa (culture)
Northeastern Woodlands (culture)
| | | Category | 07: distribution and transportation artifacts
| | | Sub-category | G280: water transportation equipment
| | | Place of Origin | Country - United States of America
| | | Measurements | Height 19.0 cm, Length 94.0 cm, Width 21.0 cm | | | Artist / Maker / Manufacturer | Assiginack, Jean-Baptiste
| | | Person / Institution | Subject, Mookomaanish (aka Little Knife)
Subject, Blackbird
Subject, Cub-Bear
Subject, Bird of Day
Subject, Clap of Thunder at Night
Subject, Craw-Fish
| | | Earliest Possible Date | 1815/01/01 | | | Latest Possible Date | 1827/12/31 | | | Caption | Jean-Baptiste Assiginack, model canoe, circa 1820
The Assiginack Canoe
| | Additional Information | Painted war canoes were once a familiar sight on the Great Lakes. This metre-long model was made in about 1820 by Jean-Baptiste Assiginack, a chief of the Ottawa (Odawa) Nation, as a souvenir for Europeans. The six carved and painted wooden figures (originally seven) have distinct facial features and represent real people known to Assiginack, among them a distinguished orator, a chief and a warrior. Assiginack provided the paddlers with leggings, breechcloths, garters, sashes and feather head-dresses; one even has a tiny pair of moccasins. The canoe itself is much older than any of the Museum's full-sized bark craft. Its painted decorations on both bark cover and wooden framework are of an unusual type that is very rare in ethnographic collections. Jean-Baptiste Assiginack, who adopted his French forename when he became a Christian, assisted the British cause in the War of 1812 and later acted as interpreter for the British Indian Department at Drummond Island in Lake Huron. Born in an Ottawa village in Michigan in 1768, Assiginack died on Manitoulin Island in Georgian Bay in 1866 at the age of ninety-eight.
Jean-Baptiste Assiginack, an Odawa veteran of 1812, made this model canoe around 1821 for a British friend. The six (originally seven) figures in the canoe each represent an individual chief or warrior who served in the War of 1812. A document associated with the canoe and originally written on birchbark provides a brief description of each of the paddlers. A. MOOKOMANISH. The interpretation of which is "Little Knife" - an eminent war chief who distinguished himself in the late American War. On the River Haliash with nine of his young men he fell upon a party of Americans, killed nine, took one prisoner and received a severe wound in his knee... B. Blackbird - This Indian is a very distinguished orator; he complains bitterly of the state of slavery to which his tribe are reduced since the war, their lands having been given up to the Americans, who are less lenient in their government and sometimes plunder them of everything they possess. C. Cub-Bear D. Bird of Day - These two are of no particular importance. E. Clap of Thunder at Night. - is a great war chief; he is renowned for his brave exploits and for his accuracy in foretelling events by his dreams... F. Craw-Fish - A trusty Indian employed every winter for many years to carry public dispatches from the Post to the seat of Government in Upper Canada, a distance of about 300 miles, through an uninhabited country. He performs the journey on snow shoes, carries his provisions on his back, and generally returns within six weeks. [no letter] Esh-guoi-can-nai-Be Standing behind us in reserve. This is the cook and is one of the most honourable occupations amongst the Indians...
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