Winnemucca

Winnemucca ( – 1882) (also called Wobitsawahkah, Bad Face, Winnemucca the Younger, Mubetawaka, and Poito ) was a Northern Paiute war chief. He was born in Shoshone around 1820 in what would later become the Oregon Territory.

Trying to define his role in Northern Paiute politics has been an area of controversy for historians. He is primarily known through the writings of his daughter, Sarah Winnemucca. She downplayed his Shoshone roots and connections to distinguish her father and her people as peaceful and to protect them from the prejudice many settlers held against the more warlike Shoshone, also called "Snake Indians". Later, Bad Face led several Paiute units in warfare, and they were mistakenly identified as Snake warriors. He took refuge at the base of Steens Mountain, near the Reuben and Dolly Kiger Ranch in what is now Harney County, Oregon. While the agency was led by the US Indian agent Samuel Parrish, in 1875, Bad Face went to and from the Malheur Reservation with considerable freedom. One source states that he was poisoned. are named after Winnemucca. His eldest son Natchez and nephew Numaga were known to whites as Little Winnemucca and Young Winnemucca, respectively.

As of 1970, one source claimed that descendants of Chief Winnemucca could be found among the residents of the Pyramid Lake Reservation.