Almighty Voice, c. 1875-1897

Persoon

Almighty Voice, c. 1875-1897

• Kah-kee-say-mane-too-wayo
• Voice of the Great Spirit
• Jean-Baptiste
• Kitchi-manito-waya
• Kisse-Manitou-Wayo
• Shu-Kwe-weetam
• Kakee-manitou-waya
• Kamanatowiwew

1870-1897

Almighty Voice (also known as Jean-Baptiste) was born around 1874 near Duck Lake or Batoche, Saskatchewan as the son of Plains Saulteaux Indian Sinookeeesick (Sounding Sky) and Natchookoneck (Spotted Calf; Calf of Many Colours). He grew up on the One Arrow Indian Reserve in Saskatchewan where he developed into a prolific sharpshooter and hunter. On October 22, 1895, the Northwest Mounted Police (NWMP) arrested Almighty Voice for killing a government steer that he contended belonged to his father. While being taken to prison, he escaped his guards and travelled to his mother's house on the reserve. Thereafter he managed to elude the police for a few days, but on October 29, police tracked him to near Kinistino, Saskatchewan, yet when police closed in to arrest him, Almighty Voice shot and killed a sergeant before slipping away. He remained at large for the next nineteen months during which the police attempted to exert pressure on him to surrender by bringing his father into custody and offering $500 reward for information leading his apprehension and conviction, but these initiatives were unsuccessful. In late May 1897, Almighty Voice (or one of the persons travelling with him), shot and wounded a Metis scout near Duck Lake; this incident led the Northwest Mounted Police to establish a patrol of a dozen men who set out from Duck Lake to track Almighty Voice. In the Minichinas Hills located near Batoche, the patrol caught up to Almighty Voice and his companions. Following a firefight in which a NWMP inspector and sergeant were seriously wounded, additional civilians from the area were enlisted special constables to reinforce their efforts. However, the Duck Lake postmaster and a constable were killed, additional police and civilian reinforcements, including volunteers from Prince Albert, to take him into custody. In addition, more men from Regina who brought with them a nine-pound field gun and an artillery team supplemented the police, with which they surrounded Almighty Voice. On the morning of May 30, 1897, the police forces bombarded his position and after no fire was returned from the location, the police attacked the position and found the bodies of Almighty Voice, his brother-in-law Topean, and a cousin Little Saulteaux.

During his life, Almighty Voice is believed to have had four wives and one child.

Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan

Finale

Minimaal

• Engels

• Latijn

Hanson, S. D. “KITCHI-MANITO-WAYA,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 12, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, Revised: 1990, Retrieved from: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/kitchi_manito_waya_12E.html (Accessed: 2020-04-27).

This authority description of Almighty Voice contains information from VIAF (Virtual International Authority File) [http://viaf.org/viaf/106652815] which is made available under the ODC Attribution License [http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/].