Memeskia (in Miami-Illinois: Meemeehšihkia - ′
Dragonfly
A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...
′, c. 1695 – June 21, 1752), known as "Old Briton" by the British and as "La Demoiselle" by the French, was an eighteenth-century
Piankashaw
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 ...
chieftain who fought against the French in 1747. In November 1750, he signed a friendship treaty with the British Indian agent,
George Croghan
George Croghan (c. 1718 – August 31, 1782) was an Irish-born fur trader in the Ohio Country of North America (current United States) who became a key early figure in the region. In 1746 he was appointed to the Onondaga Council, the governin ...
, which was cemented during a visit by Indian scout
Christopher Gist
Christopher Gist (1706–1759) was an explorer, surveyor, and frontiersman active in Colonial America. He was one of the first white explorers of the Ohio Country (the present-day states of Ohio, eastern Indiana, western Pennsylvania, and nort ...
in February 1751.
[Park Spotlight – Lake Loramie](_blank)
/ref> He had acquired the nickname "La Demoiselle" from the French, which translates to "young lady", but was supposedly a grandiloquent rendering of the meaning of ''meemeehšihkia'', Miami-Illinois
Miami-Illinois (endonym: , ) also known as Irenwa, or Irenwe is an indigenous Algonquian language spoken in the United States, primarily in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, western Ohio and adjacent areas along the Mississippi River by the Miami a ...
for 'dragonfly,' signifying "fickle or capricious." The English referred to Memeskia as "Old Briton" due to his steadfast attachment to the English and their trade goods.Kern, Kevin F., Wilson, Gregory S. ''Ohio: A History of the Buckeye State''. Germany: Wiley, 2013.
/ref>
A prominent member of the Piankashaw tribe, Memeskia was one of the earliest opponents of the expanding French presence in North America regarding their dominance, monopoly and lower barter prices in the fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...
of the western Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
region, as they sought to expand New France
New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by 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 Great Britain and Spai ...
. In 1747, Old Briton (as he was then known), led a rebellion with a confederation of local tribes, against local French settlements successfully attacking Fort Miami 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 was l ...
. In the late 1740s, he led a band of the Piankashaw tribe, known as the Tewightewee, from the Indiana wilderness east along the St. Marys River to Loramie Creek, and settled near the confluence of Loramie Creek and the Great Miami River, a day's journey
A day's journey in pre-modern literature, including the Bible, ancient geographers and ethnographers such as Herodotus, is a measurement of distance.
In the Bible, it is not as precisely defined as other Biblical measurements of distance; the dis ...
from the Loramie Summit. Old Briton established his village of Pickawillany
"ash people"
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in the Ohio Country, and in 1750 allowed a trading post and nearby stockade for early British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
traders and settlers from Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, in defiance of French claims to the region. The village quickly gained notoriety as a frontier outpost, but only for a short time; the location would later develop as Piqua, Ohio
Piqua ( ) is a city in Miami County, southwest Ohio, United States, 27 miles north of Dayton. The population was 20,522 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area.
It was founded as the village of Washington in ...
.
Rival tribes, loyal to France and under métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
chieftain Charles Langlade
Charles Michel Mouet de Langlade (9 May 1729 – after 26 July 1801)''Dictionnaire Généalogique Tanguay'' was a Great Lakes fur trader and war chief who was important in protecting French territory in North America. His mother was Ottawa and hi ...
, attacked Pickawillany in June 1752, with a force consisting of around 240 Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
and Ojibwa
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
. They eventually captured three of the British traders and killed several tribesmen. Memeskia, to symbolize the victors' extreme distaste for his friendship with the English, was boiled and ritually cannibalized. Langlade's raid on Pickawillany
"ash people"
, settlement_type = Historic Native American village
, image_skyline =
, imagesize =
, image_alt =
, image_map1 = OHMap-doton-Piqua.png
, mapsize1 = 22 ...
, which drove British traders out of the Ohio Country, was one of the events leading up to the French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
. The Tewightewee fled the region, paving the way for settlement by the neighboring Shawnee
The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
. Memeskia was a Miami Indian.
References
*Schweikart,
{{DEFAULTSORT:Memeskia
1690s births
1752 deaths
Native American leaders
Indigenous people of the French and Indian War
Piankeshaw people