Cobmoosa

A 1772 engraving of a man of the Odawa (Ottawa) tribe.

Cobmoosa (c. 1768 - 1866),[a] or Weebmossa meaning "Great Walker",[3][b] was an Odawa leader[6][7] who lived in a Native American village at the mouth of the Flat River at the present-day city of Lowell, Michigan until 1858.

From the mid-1830s, there was a wave of Eur-American people wanting to settle in Michigan. At that time, much of the land was the ancestral homeland of several Native American tribes. The federal government negotiated with the state's tribal leaders beginning in 1836, but were unable to secure a viable treaty to relocate them. Cobmoosa was one of 54 Odawa and Chippewa leaders involved in the successful negotiations of the 1855 Treaty of Detroit, where Odawa and Chippewa people stayed in Michigan, rather than relocating to Kansas as the government had negotiated with some, but not all, of the leaders in 1836. As a result of the 1855 treaty, Cobmoosa's tribe relocated from its ancestral lands to Elbridge Township in Oceana County, Michigan. There was compensation for the tribal chiefs and headmen, but most of the approximately $540,000 in cash and goods went to white "friends" involved in the negotiation process.

Cobmoosa lived 98 years and spent his last years in a log cabin that had been built by the government along Cobmoosa Lake. He was known for his eloquence and majestic walk and manner. The poem Cobmoosa's Lament was written in his memory, the town of Cobmoosa was named for him, and a stone monument was erected in his honor in Hart, Michigan.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Everett p. 180 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Monument was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Elam E. Branch; Earl W. De La Vergne (1916). History of Ionia County, Michigan: Her People, Industries and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens, and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families. B.F. Bowen & Company. p. 457.
  4. ^ Elam E. Branch; Earl W. De La Vergne (1916). History of Ionia County, Michigan: Her People, Industries and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens, and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families. B.F. Bowen & Company. p. 458.
  5. ^ Virgil J. Vogel (1986). Indian Names in Michigan. University of Michigan Press. p. 41. ISBN 0-472-06365-0.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Romig was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference McClurken2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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