François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes (17 June 170025 March 1736) was a Canadian explorer and soldier who established several forts in what is now the U.S. state of

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, including Fort Vincennes. François-Marie Bissot was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

to Jean-Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes and Marguerite Forestier on 17 June 1700. He was named François Margane after his godfather and uncle. In 1717, he joined his father at

Kekionga Kekionga (, meaning "blackberry bush"), also known as KiskakonCharles R. Poinsatte, ''Fort Wayne During the Canal Era 1828-1855,'' Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau, 1969, p. 1 or Pacan's Village, was the capital of the Miami tribe. It wa ...

, a village of the

Miami People The Miami ( Miami–Illinois: ''Myaamiaki'') are a Native American nation originally speaking the Miami–Illinois language, one of the Algonquian languages. Among the peoples known as the Great Lakes tribes, they occupied territory that is no ...

near present-day

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 census ...

in northeastern Indiana. His father was in charge of promoting loyalty to the French among the Miami. By 1718 Vincennes was working among the Ouiatenon Miamis on the upper Ouabache River. When his father died in 1719, François seemed to be the natural replacement. In May 1722, Vincennes was commissioned an ensign and took control of Fort Ouiatenon near present-day

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( ) is a city in and is the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Lafayette ...

. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1730 and made commandant in what is now southern Indiana. The area became increasingly important to

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

in keeping their connection to Louisiana open and keeping British traders out. Vincennes was central to this endeavor and also became increasingly attached to the Louisiana contingent. He was commissioned to build a trading post on the

Wabash River The Wabash River () is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 river that drains most of the state of Indiana, and a significant part of Illinois, in the United ...

and established Fort Vincennes where the modern city of Vincennes, Indiana, is located. Despite pleas by the governor of Louisiana to increase funding for Vincennes's project, the directors of the Company of the Indies, which controlled the territory at the time, were not responsive. Still, Vincennes convinced local

Piankeshaw The Piankeshaw, Piankashaw or Pianguichia were members of the Miami tribe who lived apart from the rest of the Miami nation, therefore they were known as Peeyankihšiaki ("splitting off" from the others, Sing.: ''Peeyankihšia'' - "Piankeshaw Pers ...

to establish a village at the post. In 1732, after the company returned Louisiana to the direct control of the king, funding and support for Vincennes's outpost increased. In 1733, he married the daughter of Philippe Longpré of Kaskaskia. They had two daughters, Marie Therese and Catherine, the first children of his new village. On 25 March 1736, Vincennes was burnt by the

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

Indians, along with other captive French at the village of Ogoula Tchetoka, near the present site of Fulton, Mississippi, although the historical marker in Vincennes (pictured in this article) gives the location as Fulton, Tennessee. They were captured as the result of ill-advised raids in coordination with Pierre D'Artaguiette. The raids are now known as the Chickasaw Campaign of 1736 of the Chickasaw Wars.

References

Notes Citations * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bissot, Francois Marie Bissot Bissot Bissot Canadian explorers