Pickawillany

The English term Pickawillany derives from , the Shawnee word for the Miami people – literally, "foreigner". The Miami name for the village () is a direct translation of the Shawnee or "ash people." ==Establishment and early history==

In the two decades preceding the French and Indian War, France struggled to maintain military and economic control of the Ohio Country, which was strategically crucial to lines of supply and communication between Canada and Louisiana. French dominance largely depended on the continued favorable relations between the government of New France and the Native American tribes living in the region, primarily the Miamis (Twightwees), the Wyandots (Hurons), and the Shawnees. English traders from Pennsylvania were able to supply cheaper goods in larger quantities than the French traders could, attracting a greater share of the fur trade and influencing many Ohio tribes to shift their alliance to the English. The French forced the Wyandots to abandon Junundat in that year, but they were then faced with the growing influence of the newly-founded Miami community of Pickawillany, under the leadership of Memeskia, In late 1747 Memeskia led a group of Miami Indians about to the southeast from their community at Kekionga on the Maumee River, to settle Pickawillany on the west bank of the Great Miami River, opposite the mouth of what was later named Loramie Creek. The village was at the convergence of several trading trails in western Ohio, giving it unusual influence over trade in the region. In addition, it was the southern terminus of three key portages (overland carrying places between rivers) that provided access between the Ohio/Great Miami River systems and Lake Erie and other points to the north and west. Traveling by water from the east and the headwaters of the Ohio River toward the western Great Lakes, it would have been almost a necessity to pass through Pickawillany to get from one region to the other. Pickawillany was near enough to the Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Illinois, and other tribes for trade, and accessible to the English traders of Pennsylvania and Virginia. Its location was a threat to the French, as it was easily accessible by many tribes allied to the French, and brought English traders far into territory the French considered theirs. . The treaty was signed by George Croghan, Andrew Montour, Richard Peters, Conrad Weiser, and three Miami chiefs.|220pxIn July 1748, fifty-five representatives of the Six Nations, Delawares, Shawnees, Nanticokes, and Twightwees met at the courthouse in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and signed a peace treaty with the Pennsylvania Provincial Council. The Indian leaders promised to try to persuade other Ohio communities to leave the French and join a pro-English alliance. ==Visit by Céloron de Blainville, 1749==

along the Ohio River in 1749, drawn by Joseph Pierre de Bonnecamps. "La Demoiselle" (Pickawillany) appears on the left hand side.|220px In response to these new English alliances, the Governor of New France, Charles de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois decided to send a military force down the Ohio River to persuade and intimidate the main Native American communities to remain loyal to France. In mid-1749 Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville, leading a force of eight officers, six cadets, an armorer, 20 soldiers, 180 Canadians, 30 Iroquois and 25 Abenakis, moved down the Ohio River on a flotilla of 23 large boats and birch-bark canoes, on his "lead plate expedition," burying lead plates at six locations where major tributaries entered the Ohio. The plates were inscribed to claim the area for France. Céloron also sought out English traders and warned them to leave this territory which belonged to France. After visiting Kittanning, Logstown and Lower Shawneetown and receiving a cool response, Céloron's party traveled up the Great Miami River (which Bonnecamps referred to as the "rocky river", Rivière a la Roche) to Pickawillany, arriving there on 13 September. Céloron immediately found two "English soldiers" living in Pickawillany and sent them away. Of the Miami living in Pickawillany, Father Bonnecamps remarks, "This band is not numerous; it consists at most of 40 or 50 men." Céloron does not mention a confrontation that took place when he and his party approached the village. According to William Trent, warriors opened fire on the Frenchmen, killing three soldiers. A Twightwee leader called the Mad Captain by the British then invited the Frenchmen to attack, but when they refused, the Mad Captain "pulled off his breechclout & slapped Monsieur Céloron across the face and told him he was an old woman." Céloron's party spent a week camped outside the town. He wanted to persuade Memeskia to lead his people back to Kekionga, and some of the Miamis said they "had not much objection". At one point he proposed that the Miamis accompany his party north to Detroit, emphasizing that the English could not be trusted. Céloron dispensed the last of his trade goods to the Miamis, with promises of much more if the Miamis would declare loyalty to the French and return to Kekionga. Memeskia promised to return the following spring, "for the season is too far advanced." After this, Memeskia refused to meet with him again, and instead Céloron met with other Miami leaders who then sent messages to Memeskia. On 20 September, Céloron gave up, burned his canoes and set off with his party overland to Detroit. On the way, he stopped at Kekionga and met with Chief Cold Foot, telling him that Memeskia had made a vague promise to return to the French. Cold Foot told Céloron that "La Demoiselle is a liar. It is the source of all my grief to be the only one who loves you, and to see all the nations of the south let loose against the French." Céloron later remarked, speaking in general about his journey, that "the nations of these localities are very badly disposed towards the French, and are entirely devoted to the English." ==Fort and trading post, 1749-1750==

and stockade similar in appearance to the fort at Pickawillany.|220pxIn November 1749, George Croghan, an Irish trader and Pennsylvania Indian agent, established a trading post alongside the village. According to a letter from Governor Robert Dinwiddie, when the French learned that Croghan had established a trading post at Pickawillany, they offered a price for Croghan's capture or for his scalp: Two Prisoners who had been taken by the French, and had made their Escape from the French Officer at Lake Erie ... brought News that the French offered a large sum of Money to any person who would bring them the said Croghan and Andrew Montour the Interpreter alive, or if dead their scalps. In late 1750, the Pennsylvania Provincial Council sent gifts to the people of Pickawillany and requested permission to build a "strong house", a fortified enclosure designed to withstand attack, but technically not a fortress, as the pacifist Philadelphia Quakers felt that they could not ethically finance any military structures. Nonetheless, this building was referred to by everyone else as "Fort Pickawillany." William Trent describes the fort's construction in 1750: Having obtained permission from the Indians, the English, in the fall of 1750, began the erection of a stockade, as a place of protection, in case of sudden attack, both for their persons and property. When the main building was completed, it was surrounded with a high wall of split logs, having three gateways. Within the inclosure the traders dug a well, which furnished an abundant supply of fresh water during the fall, winter, and spring, but failed in summer. At this time Pickawillany contained four hundred Indian families, and was the residence of the principal chief of the Miami Confederacy. drawn by John Patten, showing Pickawillany ("Miami T.") on the left side of the page, on the "Rocky R[iver]" at the confluence of Loramie Creek. Kekionga can be seen to the north, near Fort Miami.|220px With the security of a stockade fort, traders began building storehouses to contain their trade goods and to store the skins and furs they received in trade from the Indians. Trent describes these storehouses as ordinary log cabins, the trading being carried on below, while an "upper storey" or "loft" was used as a place to store away skins and combustible material ... The articles of traffic on the part of the whites were firearms, gunpowder, lead, ball, knives, rings, rum, medals, hatchets, flints, blades, cooking utensils, shirts and other articles of wearing apparel, tobacco pipes, paint, etc .... Some of the traders would run regular "caravans" of fifteen or twenty horses, making several trips during the year. The presence of a fort and a trading post attracted many English traders to the village seeking a new source of skins and furs. Hunters from many nearby communities began visiting Pickawillany regularly to trade, and the accumulation of European trade goods gave Memeskia increased influence over neighboring tribes, as he could strengthen alliances through gift-giving, a standard Native American practice. The French became increasingly concerned that the Miamis were considering "a general revolt against the French in pursuance of their plan of making themselves masters of all the upcountry." ==Visit by John Patten, 1750==

File:A Map of the western parts of the province of Pennsylvania, Virginia, etc. LOC gm71002323.jpg|thumb|right|1753 map of Ohio, by John Patten, showing "Miami of the Inglish" (Pickawillany) on the "Rocky R[iver]" just below the center of the page.In November 1750 John Patten, a Pennsylvania fur trader, stopped at Pickawillany on his way to trade with Native communities on the St. Marys River. While trading with the Indians, Patten was invited to Fort St. Philippe, where he was arrested and his goods confiscated. He was later taken to Quebec and examined by Governor La Jonquiere and his Council at Château Vaudreuil in Montreal on 19 June 1751. Patten stated that at Pickawillany he "found upwards of fifty Traders, including servants, lodging in cabins belonging to the Miamis Indians; that the name of their chief was La Demoiselle; that those cabins were in a fort." Patten was then sent to France, and in 1752 was released through the help of friends, whereupon he returned to Pennsylvania. In his deposition to the Pennsylvania Assembly on 17 October 1752, Patten referred to Pickawillany as "the Twightwee Town, which lies near the head of that Western branch of the Ohio called by the English, Miamis River." He reported that "this Miami Town was computed to have about 200 fighting men, all of the Twightwee Nation, settled therein, and are some of those who left the French seven or eight years ago [from 1752], in order to trade with the English." ==Visit by Christopher Gist, 1751==

(1706-1759) produced one of the most detailed descriptions of life in the Ohio Country.|220pxChristopher Gist visited the town in February 1751, and reported: This Town is situate on the NW Side of the Big Miamee River and about 100 M from the mouth thereof; it consists of about 400 Families and daily increasing it is one of the strongest Towns upon this part of the Continent ... The Land on the Great Miamee River is very rich level and well timbered, some of the finest Meadows that can be .... The Grass here grows to a great Height in the clear fields, of which there are a great number, & the Bottoms are full of white Clover, wild Rye and Blue Grass. While he was there, four Ottawa Indians sent as emissaries by the French arrived, and a council was held with Memeskia. The Ottawas presented gifts and requested that Memeskia reconsider his alliance with the English. Croghan and Gist were present at the council, at which both the French and English flags were displayed. After hearing the French message, the speaker of the Miamis replied, Brothers of the Ottaways, You are always differing with the French Yourselves, and yet you listen to what They say, but we will let you know by these four Strings of Wampum that We will not hear anything they Say to Us, nor do anything they Bid Us .... As You threaten Us with War in the Spring We tell You that if You are angry we are ready to receive You, and resolve to die here before We will go to You. Burney had previously established a forge at the Wyandot community of Muskingum, where Gist had met him in December 1750. ==French plans to attack Pickawillany==

showing "Pickawillany, 150 M[iles] from Ohio R.", to the left of map's center. To the left is printed, "English Ft. established in 1748, the extent of the English settlements."|220px Céloron de Blainville's failed attempt to persuade Memeskia to return to French loyalty led to the French decision to attack the village, as a punishment and a warning to other Native communities defecting to the English. Soon after Céloron's return, reports of French military movements began to alarm English colonial authorities. In July 1751, reports reached New York governor George Clinton that a French force of "twelve Hundred French & Two Hundred of Orondacks passed by Oswego about a fortnight ago with a design to cut off (as I understand) some of the Nations of Indians to the Westward, who are Strongly attached to the British Interest, also to Stop the Philadelphians building at, or near Ohio." Benjamin Stoddert reported to Sir William Johnson that "two hundred Orondack Indians under the command of Monsieur Belletre and Chevalier Longville ... design against a village of the Twightwees where the English are building a trading-house." In fact, French troops and Ottawa warriors under the command of Céloron de Blainville assembled at Detroit, but the Indians complained that the force did not have sufficient strength to attack Pickawillany and refused to proceed. In late 1751, François-Marie Picoté de Belestre led a raiding party of seventeen warriors to Pickawillany, They captured two English traders and killed a Miami man and a woman. On 23 May 1752, Lieutenant John Mills wrote to Pennsylvania Governor James Hamilton to inform him "By some foreign Indians, just arrived, I am told that ... [Monsieur St. Orr, a French officer] is gone back to Canada to conduct an Army back, to be employed against them [the Twightwees]." Hamilton was skeptical, but in any case did not have the power to send assistance to the Miami Indians at Pickawillany without the approval of the Pennsylvania Provincial Council, and no action was taken. ==Raid on Pickawillany, 1752==

showing "The Eng[lish] Tawixtwi T. taken in 1752" to the lower left of map's center. Slightly to the right is "Pique T.", the relocated village, where Piqua, Ohio is located today.|220px In the winter of 1751–1752, Charles Michel de Langlade, a 23-year-old Métis coureur de bois seeking to advance his military career, began assembling a war party of French-allied Ottawa, Potawatomi, and Ojibwe warriors, traveling as far as Saginaw Bay to enlist the support of Ottawa there. Langlade knew that the Governor of New France had been trying to implement a plan to attack and destroy the village, but that he had been unable to recruit Indian warriors. Langlade was well-connected to the Ottawa (his maternal grandfather was Nissowaquet, an Ottawa war chief), and spoke the Odawa dialect fluently. He was able to persuade Ottawa warriors to attack Pickawillany by characterizing the raid as a gesture of friendship towards Onontio, the French governor. On 7 June, Langlade and a force of 272 Ottawa reached Detroit, where about 30 of the Indians deserted, having heard that there was a smallpox epidemic among the Miamis. The Miamis later alleged that thirty French soldiers accompanied the Indians but did not take part in the raid. and made their way to Lower Shawneetown. in front of his Miami men.). The trader William Ives passed by the town the next night and reported later to William Trent that "the white men's houses were all on fire, and that he heard no noise in the Fort," although there was one gunshot and someone calling out. as are letters from Governor Dinwiddie and other Pennsylvania leaders. A brief statement made by five English traders who were captured (some accounts list only four) was made in a deposition on 2 February 1753. English accounts William Trent, in his journal, makes no mention of Langlade, but instead states that the attack was led by a "Monsieur St. Orr, afterward distinguished in the French and Indian war." St. Orr had been selected to lead the raid but was unable to persuade the Ottawa and Ojibwe Indians to accompany him. Thomas Burney, one of the two English survivors, reported on the raid to Captain Robert Callender in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on 29 August, who in turn wrote to Governor Dinwiddie with the following statement: Last night, Thomas Burney, who lately resided at the Twightwees' town in Allegheny, came here and gives the following account of the unhappy affair that was lately transacted there: On the twenty-first day of June last, early in the morning, two Frenchmen and about two hundred and forty Indians came to the Twightwees' town, and in a hostile manner attacked the people there residing. In the skirmish there was one white man and fourteen Indians killed, and five white men taken prisoners. French accounts File:A map of the British American plantations, extending from Boston in New England to Georgia - including all the back settlements in the respective provinces as far as the Mississipi LOC 2017585923.jpg|right|thumb|1754 map of British plantations in North America, showing "Pikkavalinna, an English Fort" on the G[reat] Miyamis R[iver] directly south of Lake Michigan.|220pxA letter from The Baron de Longueuil on 18 August 1752, reports: A party of about 210 savages of Missilimakinac attacked the Fort of La Demoiselle, who is dead; and they destroyed about 26; and the others asked for pardon ... I will add, My Lord, that among the number of savages who are reported to be killed there, were six English Traders, whose magazines were destroyed by our savages. On 2 September 1752, Commandant Jean-Jacques de Macarty-Mactigue wrote to Pierre de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnial, describing the raid: After the Ottawa attacked the Great Miami Village, the ... Ottawa, having captured four Miami women, proposed to give them up in exchange for the English. This the Miami did, giving up seven English, one of whom was wounded. These the Ottawa killed and pillaged. The Miami promised not to return and attack the Chippewa, saying, "I do not know how our father will act. We have lost many people and he is the cause. We do not say that we will not return. François-Marie Le Marchand de Lignery wrote about the raid to Vaudreuil on 3 October 1752: Toward the end of May, the Chippewa and Ottawa of Mackinac, to the number of two hundred men, attacked the Miami of Great Miami River. This blow was not of great account as they killed only five or six men. But what was better was their killing of three English and taking six prisoners after seizing their merchandise. Of the six, the Miami gave up four to them after the action, to get back four of their women who had been taken. One of these English was eaten by the Chippewa who had lost men ... But I would not venture to certify this last news, which I heard only from the Indians. ==Aftermath==

Memeskia's wife and son were released by Langlade, and went to Lower Shawneetown, where Trent saw them on 29 July. The Pennsylvania Council later sent them gifts in condolence of the death of Memeskia. The five English traders who were captured, later stated that Langlade took them "to Quebec, and from thence sent them to La Rochelle, in Old France, where they were released by the English ambassador, and by him sent to London, from whence they got a passage to this place." A second source says he was captured at Christopher Gist's settlement near Winchester, Virginia in 1754. and was employed briefly as a messenger. He served under Captain Andrew Lewis at the Battle of Fort Necessity in July 1754 and in November he applied for an officer's commission, which was denied. Burney was killed at the Battle of the Monongahela on 9 July 1755. ==Later history==

The remains of Pickawillany may have been the site of a 1763 battle during the French and Indian War, described by Black Hoof to Colonel John Johnston: In the French War ... a bloody battle was fought on the present farm of Colonel Johnston at Upper Piqua ... The Miamis, Wyandots, Ottawas and other northern tribes adhered to the French, made a stand here and fortified, the Canadian traders and French assisting. The Delawares, Shawanese, Munseys, part of the Senecas residing in Pennsylvania, Cherokees, Catawbas, etc., adhering to the English interest with the English traders, attacked the French and Indians. The siege continued for more than a week; the fort stood out and could not be taken. Many were slain, the assailants suffering most severely. The besieged lost a number, and all their exposed property was burnt and destroyed. The Shawnese chief, Black Hoof, one of the besiegers, informed Colonel Johnston that the ground around was strewn with bullets, so that basketfuls could have been gathered. Soon after this contest the Miamis and their allies left this part of the country ... and never returned. A few years later, the French commander of the fort at Vincennes, Indiana, sent traders to establish a trading post on the site of Pickawillany. At the same time, the French made efforts to establish an alliance with the Miami Indians living in nearby Piqua, "lavishing upon them a very large amount of money and a great variety of costly presents." ==Archeological investigations==

Between 2002 and 2011, extensive work was done on a tract purchased by the State of Ohio in 1999, to be included in the Piqua Historical Area State Memorial and overseen by the Ohio Historical Society. The site has been actively farmed since the mid-19th century and no visible traces of Pickawillany remain. Using remote sensing, magnetometer, electrical resistance and ground penetrating radar surveys, over 1500 artifacts have been recovered, including musket balls, lead scrap, small brass ornamental items called tinkler cones, brass arrow points, gunflints, and iron tools. Remote sensing data has located several sub-surface anomalies that may represent parts of building foundations, buried cellars and a well. The ongoing project is intended to identify the locations of important structures and activity areas. Artifacts recovered in 2009 included a brass finger ring set with a faceted green glass stone, French style gunflints, brass arrow points (including a very rare stemmed type), a brass and iron hook about long, a stone tobacco pipe, a number of glass and ceramic beads, and two butt plates from French muskets dated to between 1699 and 1745. Of particular interest was the discovery of a blacksmith's hammer in 2011. Thomas Burney, one of the two English survivors of the raid, was a gunsmith, and the English trader whose heart was eaten by Ojibwe Indians was a blacksmith. Other ironmongery found at the site may have come from a trash pit near the blacksmith's shop. ==See also==