Chief Wahbememe Burial Site

Potawatomi Chief Wahbememe, also known as White Pigeon, signed the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, which placed Michigan Great Lakes forts in U.S. hands. He was known as a friend to white settlers in Michigan. According to legend, while attending a gathering of chiefs in Detroit, he learned of a plot to attack the settlement that became known as White Pigeon and immediately set out on foot, running nearly 150 miles across the state without stopping for food or rest to warn the village. After giving warning of the impending danger, he collapsed from exhaustion and soon died. His remains are buried here. In 1909, members of the Alba Columba Club, a White Pigeon women's group, raised funds and community support to create a monument to him. John Weaver, owner of the burial site, with help from his sons and neighbors, loaded a granite boulder onto a wagon at the Edison M. Rockwell farm in Porter Township, Cass County, and four horses pulled it ten miles to the burial site. On August 10, 1909, a day-long celebration marked the dedication of Wahbememe's memorial, attended by four thousand people, including Lieutenant Governor Patrick H. Kelley, as Wahbememe's great-great-grandson, six-year-old Willie White Pigeon, unveiled the finished monument.

Michigan · United States