Flat Mouth or Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zha
Above as a younger man and below, a bust by Francis Vincenti. The bust is a variant on the bust currently on display in the United States Senate (inv. no. 21.00001.000). A powerful chief of the Ojibwa people in the Leech Lake area (present-day Minnesota), his name translates as 'bird with the green bill'. His nickname, Flat Mouth, derives from an English translation of the French Gueule Platte, as he was called by French traders.
Flat Mouth visited Washington DC in 1855 to negotiate land treaties. He was a member of an Indian delegation from the Midwest that also included Be sheekee, or Buffalo, another Ojibwa leader. Both chiefs sat for portraits by Francis Vincenti (Be sheekee's bust is also in the collection of the Senate).
