The Battle of Pickawillany

Adam Berger

Historians often represent the French and Indian War as lasting from 1754-1763. However, events that took place before 1754 reflect important underlying tensions that fueled the conflict and illustrate the degree to which indigenous political interests shaped this period of North American history. The Battle of Pickawillany in 1752 revealed the depth of hostility among Native groups over the choice between allying with French or British traders. It also demonstrated the role of Anishinaabe military power in protecting French control of the Great Lakes fur trade.

The Miami people, speakers of an Algonquian language, originated on the Atlantic coast. By the beginning of the 1700s, the Miami had been pushed west into Ohio, Indiana, and southern Michigan, in part by pressure from Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) military incursions. Like most other Native people in the Great Lakes region, the Miami integrated into the vast trade network regulated by the government of New France.

Pickawillany, located at present-day Piqua, Ohio, grew into an important village in the late 1740s, settled by Miami people seeking an alternative to rule by New France. The local leader was a Piankashaw Miami man named Memeskia ‘Dragonfly’ (circa 1695-1752). The French called Memeskia La Demoiselle ‘The Young Lady,’ seemingly a jocular reference to what they perceived as his fickle nature, born from the fact that he had grown defiant of French control of the fur trade in recent years.

The village’s residents were openly receptive to traders from the British colony of Pennsylvania pressing west into Miami territory. British traders tended to offer better quality merchandise at more generous prices than their French counterparts. Memeskia worked to build new diplomatic relations with the British-allied Haudenosaunee and encouraged other Algonquian-speaking nations to embrace this traditional enemy. Memeskia came to be known as ‘Old Briton’ among English traders, underscoring the extent to which he positioned his people to benefit from the ascendency of British influence in North America.

Pickawillany represented a threat to the status quo of the French fur trade. The economic success of the village was a dangerous example to other Native peoples, showing that it was possible to form more lucrative commercial relationships with British merchants. The government of New France sought to punish the village and thereby discourage other Native groups from following Memeskia’s lead in defying French hegemony over the Great Lakes fur trade.

Many Native groups also held vested interests in the continuance of the French fur trade. In particular, the Anishinaabe, mainly comprised of Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi people, thrived under the French system. They were not keen to see the political edge they had gained over rivals dull. The growth of Anishinaabe power in recent generations allowed them to resist Haudenosaunee encroachment into the western Great Lakes, so a new economic landscape that favored their traditional enemy could be a serious threat.

In 1751, four Odawa diplomats went to Pickawillany, offering gifts and encouraging the Miami people to stop trading with English merchants and return to the French fur trade. Memeskia insulted these diplomats, boasted of his new connections with the British and Haudenosaunee, and “openly dared the Odawa and their French friends to attack him.” This direct challenge to Anishinaabe power, and not merely his defiance of the French, sealed Memeskia’s fate.

On the morning of June 21, 1752, Charles-Michel Mouet de Langlade (1729-1801), an Odawa and French soldier, launched an assault on Pickawillany. Langlade led a force of approximately 210 Ojibwe and Odawa warriors recruited from the northern Great Lakes and 30 French soldiers from Fort Detroit. Some sources say Pontiac (circa 1714-1769) was among the Odawa who joined the attack.

The raiders caught the residents of Pickawillany by surprise. Most of the men were away hunting. The women of the village were outside the village walls tending their gardens. They were quickly made prisoners. After six hours of fighting, the small group of defenders realized they could not hold out and surrendered Pickawillany to Langlade. The mission was not just to take a village. It was also to send a strong message about the risk to English traders and the Native people that chose to do business with them. Langlade’s warriors killed a wounded English trader, tore out his heart, and consumed it. They then boiled and ate Memeskia.  

The raid and its brutal conclusion had the desired effect. Pennsylvania traders fled the Ohio territory, fearing for their safety after this attack. Native “nations began returning to the French fold despite the trade advantages the British offered” after this demonstration of violence. In seizing the village and killing Memeskia, the French-allied raiders halted Pickawillany’s ability to function as a trading emporium.

Anishinaabe warriors from the northern Great Lakes were critical to the overall French strategy in the upcoming French and Indian War. Under Langlade’s command, they helped defeat Edward Braddock (1695-1755) near Fort Duquesne in 1755, ambushed and nearly killed the famous Robert Rogers (1731-1795) near Fort Carillon in 1757, engaged in a successful siege of Fort William Henry in 1757, fought valiantly at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham at Quebec in 1759, and took part in resisting the British at Montreal in 1760. Langlade proved their effectiveness at Pickawillany, the first recorded evidence of his ability to lead Anishinaabe forces to victory for the French cause.