Cold Foot was a

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

chief in the 18th century; his brother or brother-in-law was The Turtle (Aquenackqua), father of Cold Foot's nephew, P'koum-kwa and of P'koum-kwa's sister,

Tacumwah Tacumwah (c. 1720 – c. 1790), alternate spelling "Taucumwah", aka Marie-Louise Pacanne Richerville (Richardville), was a businesswoman and prominent chieftess of the Miami tribe. She was the sister of Pacanne, a leading Miami chief, and the moth ...

, who became the wife of a French fur trader (Joseph Drouet de Richerville) and the mother of Chief Peshewa. Their family owned and controlled the Long Portage, an 8-mile strip of land between the

Maumee Maumee may refer to: Places: * Maumee Township, Allen County, Indiana * Maumee, Indiana, an unincorporated community in Salt Creek Township * Maumee, Ohio, a city in Lucas County * Maumee River, a river in northwestern Ohio and northeastern India ...

and Wabash Rivers used by traders travelling between

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

. An inhabitant of

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 ...

, Cold Foot lived during a time when the Miami were torn between their traditional trading partners of

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area 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 King ...

and new, more lucrative traders from the British colonies. There is a record of Cold Foot receiving a large reward for putting down some hostilities during this time. When many of the Miami favored the British and abandoned Kekionga for

Pickawillany "ash people" , settlement_type = Historic Native American village , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_alt = , image_map1 = OHMap-doton-Piqua.png , mapsize1 = 22 ...

, Cold Foot remained loyal to his French allies and remained at Kekionga. The French rebuilt the nearby fort on higher ground in 1750, and Cold Foot moved to the old fort, which became known as Cold Foot Village. During the Winter of 1751/1752, however, the village was hit with

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) ce ...

, and many of the inhabitants died, including Cold Foot and his son. Future chief

Pacanne Pacanne (c. 1737–1816) was a leading Miami chief during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Son of The Turtle (Aquenackqua), he was the brother of Tacumwah, who was the mother of Chief Jean Baptiste Richardville. Their family owned and co ...

may have been his nephew.Carter, 65-67

References

* * Miami people Native Americans in Indiana 1750s deaths Year of birth unknown Native American leaders {{NorthAm-native-bio-stub