Pierre Bottineau

[1] Known as the "Kit Carson of the Northwest," he was an integral part of the history and development of Minnesota and North Dakota.

His father Charles Bottineau was a French-Canadian, and his mother Marguerite Macheyquayzaince Ahdicksongab (Clear Sky Woman) was half Dakota and half Ojibwe of the Lake of the Woods band, and sister of the Pembina Ojibwe chief Misko-Makwa or Red Bear.

Though Bottineau was nominally born in United States territory, control of the Upper Mississippi Valley had fallen to the British during the War of 1812.

Even after the 1815 Treaty of Ghent returned the land to the United States, British and Canadian traders and the Native American tribes held all real control in the area.

Most mixed race, or Métis, lived as outcasts[dubious – discuss] to both White and Native societies, but Bottineau's invaluable services and exploits would make him a legend in his own time.