Wawatam

Wawatam (fl. 1762 – 1764) was an Ojibwa chief at Michilimackinac. He is known through his rescue of British trader Alexander Henry the elder from the Ojibwas' capture of Fort Michilimackinac in June 1763 during the Pontiac War. Wawatam, the leader and patriarch of an extended family of Ojibwa or Anishinaabe Native Americans, initially claimed Henry as his share of the spoils resulting from the capture of the fort. He then advised Henry to take refuge in a shelter on nearby Mackinac Island, Skull Cave, and still later enlisted Henry as a member of his clan group's extended family. In this role Henry wintered with the Wawatam family in 1763-1764 in a hunting ground located near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Henry's observations of the hunting and living practices of his friendly captors became a significant contribution to Algonquian anthropology.