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 dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...

′, 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 Kingdom of Ireland, 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 Cou ...

, 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
/ref> He had acquired the nickname "La Demoiselle" from the French, which translates to "young lady" or "

damselfly Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies (which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Epiprocta) but are usually smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the win ...

", but was supposedly a grandiloquent rendering of the meaning of ''meemeehšihkia'', Miami-Illinois 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. 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 ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

of the western

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

region, as they sought to expand

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 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 wa ...

. 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 and 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 ...

from the Loramie Summit. Old Briton established his village of Pickawillany in the

Ohio Country The Ohio Country (Ohio Territory, Ohio Valley) was a name used for a loosely defined region of colonial North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and south of Lake Erie. Control of the territory and the region's fur trade was disputed i ...

, 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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

traders and settlers from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, 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, Ohio, United States, along the Great Miami River. The population was 20,354 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located north of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton, it is part of the Greater Dayton, Dayton metro ...

. Rival tribes, loyal to France and under

métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

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 Odawa people, ...

, attacked Pickawillany in June 1752, with a force consisting of around 240

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

and

Ojibwa The Ojibwe (; syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and thro ...

. 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 Pickawillany (also spelled Pickawillamy, Pickawillani, or Picqualinni) was an 18th-century Miami Indian village located on the Great Miami River in North America's Ohio Valley near the modern city of Piqua, Ohio.French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

. The Tewightewee fled the region, paving the way for settlement by the neighboring

Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

. 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