LA DEMOISELLE
Name: Memeskia
Born: 1695
Died: 21 June 1752
Memeskia (c. 1695 - June 21, 1752), known by the British as "Old Briton" and by
the French as "La Demoiselle", was an eighteenth century Piankashaw chieftain
who fought against the French in 1747.
A prominent member of the Piankashaw tribe, Memeskia was one of the earliest
opponents of the increasing French presence in North America regarding their
dominance and monopoly over the fur trade in the western Great Lakes region. In
1747, Old Briton (as he was now known), led a rebellion with a confederation of
local tribes, against local French settlements successfully attacking Fort Miami
at Long Portage/Kekionga. With British settlers from Pennsylvania, Old Briton
later opened a trading post at his village of Pickawillany in the Ohio Country (later
Piqua, Ohio) in 1750, trading with the British in defiance of French claims to
the region.
However rival tribes, under Metis chieftain Charles Langlade, attacked
Pickawillany in June 1752 and, with a force consisting of around 240 Ottawa and
Ojibwa, eventually captured Memeskia and ritually cannibalized him. Langlade's
raid on Pickawillany, which drove British traders out of the Ohio Country, was
one of the events leading up to the French and Indian War.
Name: Memeskia
Born: 1695
Died: 21 June 1752
Memeskia (c. 1695 - June 21, 1752), known by the British as "Old Briton" and by
the French as "La Demoiselle", was an eighteenth century Piankashaw chieftain
who fought against the French in 1747.
A prominent member of the Piankashaw tribe, Memeskia was one of the earliest
opponents of the increasing French presence in North America regarding their
dominance and monopoly over the fur trade in the western Great Lakes region. In
1747, Old Briton (as he was now known), led a rebellion with a confederation of
local tribes, against local French settlements successfully attacking Fort Miami
at Long Portage/Kekionga. With British settlers from Pennsylvania, Old Briton
later opened a trading post at his village of Pickawillany in the Ohio Country (later
Piqua, Ohio) in 1750, trading with the British in defiance of French claims to
the region.
However rival tribes, under Metis chieftain Charles Langlade, attacked
Pickawillany in June 1752 and, with a force consisting of around 240 Ottawa and
Ojibwa, eventually captured Memeskia and ritually cannibalized him. Langlade's
raid on Pickawillany, which drove British traders out of the Ohio Country, was
one of the events leading up to the French and Indian War.