Sounding Thunder

The Stories of Francis Pegahmagabow

Brian D. McInnes

• Publisher: University of Manitoba Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780887558245
• eBook ISBN: 9780887555220
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Francis Pegahmagabow (1889–1952), a member of the Ojibwe nation, was born in Shawanaga, Ontario. Enlisting at the onset of the First World War, he became the most decorated Canadian Indigenous soldier for bravery and the most accomplished sniper in North American military history. After the war, Pegahmagabow settled in Wasauksing, Ontario. He served his community as both chief and councillor and belonged to the Brotherhood of Canadian Indians, an early national Indigenous political organization. Francis proudly served a term as Supreme Chief of the National Indian Government, retiring from office in 1950.

Francis Pegahmagabow's stories describe many parts of his life and are characterized by classic Ojibwe narrative. They reveal aspects of Francis's Anishinaabe life and worldview. Interceding chapters by Brian McInnes provide valuable cultural, spiritual, linguistic, and historic insights that give a greater context and application for Francis's words and world. Presented in their original Ojibwe as well as in English translation, the stories also reveal a rich and evocative relationship to the lands and waters of Georgian Bay.

In Sounding Thunder, Brian McInnes provides new perspective on Pegahmagabow and his experience through a unique synthesis of Ojibwe oral history, historical record, and Pegahmagabow family stories.

Table of contents

• List Of Illustrations
• List of Tables
• Foreword by Waubgeshig Rice
• A Note on the Text
• Introduction
• Ngii-zaagidimin—We So Loved Each Other
• Chapter 1: Stories as a Means of Understanding Life
• Thirty Thousand Islands
• Chapter 2: Indigenous Life and Community in Georgian Bay
• Nimkiik—The Thunders
• Chapter 3: Wind, Rock, and Water: Maps and Names at Wasauksing and Shawanaga
• Nishnaabemwin— Language of the People and the Land
• Chapter 4: Language, Culture, and Story
• Gchi-Ngig—The Giant Otter
• Chapter 5: Learning from Stories
• Enawendiying—We Are All Related
• Chapter 6: Family
• Tkwaans—The Dead Branch
• Chapter 7: An Indian at War
• Enendaagwak Bmaadziwin— What Is Expected of Life
• Chapter 8: Community Life
• Ndedem Gaa-Giiwed—When My Father Went Home
• Chapter 9: The Fourth Day
• Gchi-Mishoomisaatig—Grandfather Tree
• Epilogue
• Mnidoo—The Spirit
• Acknowledgements
• Notes
• References