Chief Sleepy Eye

Ish Tak Ha Ba (Sleepy Eye) Chief Sleepy Eye (also known by many approximations of his native name- Ish Tak Ha Ba, Ishtaba, Ish ta hba, Ishtahumba, Eshtahenba, Esh ta hum leah, Isk irk ha ba) was described as a large, good-looking, muscular man who stood over 6 feet tall, had a narrow forehead and drooping eyelids. His great-great grandson, Lazarus Adams, says that his left eye drooped, while other sources claim that both lids were drooping. Regardless, it is because of this facial feature that Chief Ish Tak Ha Ba became known as "Sleepy Eye" . He was remembered as a friendly and compassionate individual by those who met him.

Chief Sleepy Eye was born at Swan Lake in Nicollet County and lived in the area from southern Minnesota to South Dakota during his lifetime. He had one son (one of French cartographer Joseph Nicollet's guides when he explored MN River in 1838) and seven daughters. Sleepy Eye's people initially lived in the Swan Lake area, but later made their home beside the lake which now bears his name. His people moved around southern MN and South Dakota on a seasonal basis.

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/mncultures/sleepyeye.html

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Quotes

I will not, I do not need your help. We are free now; we can go where we please. Our fathers were born here. Here they lived, here they died, here are their graves. We will never leave them. -

Old Joseph, Nez Perce