Wawasee

Wawasee or Wawaausee often contracted into Wawbee and known as ("Full Moon") was a Miami chief who lived in what is now Kosciusko County, Indiana, in the United States. He was brother to Miami chief Papakeecha.

Wawasee was a signatory to the Treaty of Mississinwas and in the mid-1830s, Wawasee was alloted a small village where the town of Syracuse currently is — situated near the southeast corner of Lake Wabee, approximately two and one-half miles southeast of Milford including the eastern shores of Lake Wabee.

Chief Wawasee, like his brother, was big and strong. He was a minor leader in the Miami tribe but was somewhat significant as brother of Papakeecha. Wawasee dressed up for special occasions by wearing a large silver ring that hung from the cartilage of his nose. He sometimes substituted a fish bone for the ring. Turkey Lake became Lake Wawasee in his honor.

Sources

• Benack, Flat Belly Once Walked These Lands
• Lilly, Eli. Early Wawasee Days. Indianapolis: Studio Press Inc., 1960.
• Armstong, James W. The History of Leesburg and Plain Township Indiana.