Shelby county

Historical Collections of Ohio: Pages 597-600 | Shelby County Ohio | Historical Collections of Ohio index page | ~ pg. 597 ~ DE BIENVILLE'S VISIT TO PICKAWILLANY IN 1749

        In the year 1749 when CELORON DE BIENVILLE was sent by the Governor General of Canada with a force of about 235 soldiers and Indians (see Scioto county) down the Ohio and took possession of the country in the name of the King of France, he visited Pickawillany on his return home. Their farthest point west on the Ohio was the mouth of the Great Miami, as later called by the English, but then known to the French as "Riviere a la Roche" (Rock River). This was on the last day of August, 1749. There, as at other mouths of great rivers, they buried inscribed leaden plates as evidence of possession, and then bade farewell to the Ohio. On their return route they crossed the country for Canada. This plate was the last buried at what is now in the exact southwestern angle of Ohio. One other only had been planted in Ohio and at the out of the Muskingum.
        For thirteen days after leaving the mouth of the Miami Celoron and his party toiled against the current of that stream until they reached Pickawillany, which villages had been lately built by a Miami chief called by the English "Old Britain" and by the French "Demoiselle." This chief and his band had only a short time before come into the country from the French possessions in Canada. This Celoron knew of and he was instructed before starting on his expedition to try and induce him to return as they feared his coming under English influence. The concluding history of the matter is thus told by Consul Willshire Butterfield in the Magazine of Western History for May, 1887, article "Ohio History."

     "The burden of Celoron's speeches at this last village was that the Demoiselle and his band should at once leave the Miami river and return to their old home. The crafty chief promised to do so in the coming spring. "They kept always saying, " said Celoron, in his journal, "and assuring me that they would return thither next spring." It is needless to say that the Indians did not move.

{pg 598} They afterward sent the following to all the governors of English provinces over the mountains:

"Last July (September, 1749), about 200 French and thirty-five French Indians came to the Miami village in order to persuade them to return back to the French settlements (Forts) whence they came, or if fair means would not prevail, they were to take them away by force, but the French finding that they were resolved to adhere to the English, and perceiving their numbers to be great, were discouraged from using any hostile measures, and began to be afraid lest they should themselves be cut off. The French brought them a present consisting of

four half-barrels of powder, four bags of bullets, and four bags of paint, with a few needles and a little thread which they refused to accept of; whereupon the French and their Indians made the best of their way off for fear of the worst, leaving their goods scattered about. But, at the time of their conference, the French upbraided the Indians for joining the english, and wore so for continuing in their interest, who had never sent them any presents nor even any token of their regards for them."

Celoron's account of the reception of his presents differs from the Indians. "I showed them magnificent presents on part of Monsieur the general to induce them to return to their villages, and I explained to them his invitations," says the French commander, and adds that they carried away the presents, "where they assembled to deliberate on their answer." This was probably the truth.
The French commander found at the Demoisell's town two hired men belonging to the English traders, and these he obliged to leave the place before he would speak to the savages.

Celoron, after remaining at this Miami village a week to recruit and prepare for the portage to the waters of the Maumee, broke up his camp, and, having burned his battered canoes and obtained some ponies, he set out on his overland journey to the junction of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph rivers, the site of the present city of Fort Wayne, Indiana. The distance was estimated by him at fifty leagues, or 120 miles, and five and a half days were allowed for the journey. had the water in the rivers been high, Celoron could have paddled up Loramie creek sixteen miles, then a short portage would have taken them to the waters of the St. Mary's, down which he could have floated to the head of the Maumee; but in August or September this was impracticable. He reached the French post a that point on the 25th of September, where he found "M. de Raimond" in command. The latter and his men were shivering with ague-a disease, it may be said, still clinging to the region of the Maumee.
On the 26th day, the day after his arrival at the French post, Celoron had a conference with Cold Foot, chief of the Miamis, who resided near the fort, and some other savages of note, when he rehearsed to them in the presence of the French officers of his detach-

ment and of M. de Raimond, what he had said at the village of the Demoiselle and the answer he had received. Thereupon Cold Foot said: "I hope I am deceived, but I am sufficiently attached to the interests of the French to say that the Demoiselle is a liar!" And he added significantly: "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." From the French fort Celoron made his way by water to Montreal, which he reached on the 10th of November.
Celoron's conclusions as to the state of affairs upon the Ohio are too important not to be mentioned in this connection. "All i can say is," he declared, "that the nations of these localities are very badly disposed towards the French, and are entirely devoted to the English. I do not know in what way they could be brought back.: "If our traders," he added, "were sent there for traffic, they could not sell their merchandise at the same price that the English sell theirs, on account of the many expenses they would be obliged to insure." Trade then-traffic with the indians-was the secret spring stimulating activity on part of the French officials.

CHRISTOPHER GIST'S VISIT TO PICKAWILLANY IN 1751.         Knapp in his history of the Maumee gives some items in regard to Pickawillany that describes the place the year after the visit of Celoron. He says, "Having obtained permission from the Indians, the English [traders] 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 {pg 599} the enclosure the traders dug a well which supplied abundance of fresh water during the entire years, except in summer. At the time Pickawillany contained 400 Indian families and was the residence of the principal chief of the Miami Confederacy.
        Christopher Gist was there in February, 1751, and in his published journal says the place was daily increasing and accounted 'one of the strongest towns on the continent.' Gist was the agent of the 'Ohio Company,' and association of English merchants and Virginia planters. He had been given a royal grant to examine the western country " as far as the falls of the Ohio," to mark the passes in the mountains, trace the course of rivers and observe the strength and numbers of the Indian nations.
        Gist was a hardy frontiersman, experienced and sagacious. On the 31st of October, 1750, he left Old Town, on the Potomac, in Maryland, and crossing the Alleghenies, on the 14th December, arrived at an indian village at the forks of the Muskingum, where now stands the town of Coshocton. Here he met George Croghan, an English trader, who had there his head quarters. He remained until January 15th, 1751, and then being joined by Croghan and Andrew Montour, a half-breed of the Senecas, pursued his journey west, visiting Indian villages and holding conferences, first going down the Scioto to the mouth, and finally reaching Pickawillany in February. This was his principal objective point. He remained some time holding conference with the great chief of the Miamis, the "Old Britian" as aforesaid.
        While there four Ottowa of French Indians came in and were kindly received by the town Indians. They tried to bring the Miamis to the French interest, having been sent as ambassadors for that purpose. After listening in the council house to their speeches Old Britian replied in a set speech, signifying his attachment to the English, and that "they would die here before they would go to the French." The four messengers therefore departed and the French flag was taken down from the council house. After a full deliberation an alliance was formed with the Miamis and the Weas and Piankeshaws, living on the Wabash, who sent messengers for that purpose. Old Britain himself, the head chief of the Miamis, was a Piankeshaw.

DESTRUCTION OF PICKAWILLANY BY THE FRENCH AND INDIANS IN 1752         Pickawillany, after the visit of Gist, soon became a place of great importance. The savages by immigration from tribes farther west had continued to swell the population and all were in open hostility to the French. Here congregated English traders, sometimes to the number of fifty or more. In 1752 an expedition, consisting of 250 Chippewas and Ottowas was started from Michilimackinac by Charles Langdale, a resident there, to destroy the place. The proceeded in their canoes down the lake to Detroit, paused there a little while and thence made their way up the Maumee to its head waters, and at about nine o'clock, June 21st, the reached the town, taking it completely by surprise. Butterfield writes:

"The first to observe the enemy were the squaws who were working in the cornfields outside the town. they rushed into the village giving the alarm. At this time the fort was occupied by the English traders as a warehouse. There were at the time but eight traders in the place. Most of the Indians were gone on their summer hunt, so that, in reality, Pickawillany was almost deserted; only Old Britian, the Piankeshaw king, and a small band of his faithful tribesmen remained. So sudden was the attack that but five of the traders (they were all in their huts outside the fort) could reach the

stockade, and only after the utmost difficulty. The other three shut themselves up in one of their houses. At this time there were but twenty men and boys in the fort, including the white men and boys in the fort, including the white men. The three traders in their houses were soon captured. Although strongly urged by those in the fort to fire upon their assailants, they refused. The enemy learned from them the number of white men there were in the fort, and, having taken possession of the nearest houses, they kept up a smart fire on the stockade until the afternoon.
The assailants now let the Miamis know

{pg 600}

that if they would deliver up the traders that were in the fort they would break up the siege and go home. Upon consultation it was agreed by the besieged that, as there were so few men and no water inside the stockade, it would be better to surrender the white men with a pledge that they were not to be hurt, than for the fort to be taken and all to be at the mercer of the besiegers. The traders, except Thomas Burney and Andrew McBryer, whom the indians hid, were accordingly given into the hands of the enemy. One who had been wounded was stabbed to death and then scalped. Before getting into the fort fourteen Indians were shot, including Old Britian, one Minge, and one of the Shawanese nation.

The savages boiled and ate the Demoiselle (Old Britian) as he, of all others, because of his warm attachment to the English, was most obnoxious to them.. The also ate the heart of a dead white man. They released all the women they had captured, and set off with their plunder, which was in value about L3,000.
"The captured traders, plundered to the skin, were carried by Langdale to Duquesne, the new governor of Canada, who highly praised the bold leader of the enterprise, and recommended him for such reward as befitted on of his station. 'As he is not in the king's service, and has married a squaw, I will ask for him only a pension of 200 francs, which will flatter him infinitely.'"

The sacking of Pickawillany and the killing of fourteen Indians and one Englishman by the allies of the French who had been marshaled for the express purpose of attacking the town, must be considered the real beginning of the war, popularly know as Braddock's war, which only ended by the cession of Canada and New France to Great Britian by the treaty of Paris in 1763.
Thus after nearly four years of existence Pickawillany was completely wiped out and never again re-occupied. The traders, Thomas Burney and Andrew McBryer, whom the Indians had hidden went east and carried the tidings to the friendly Indians at the mouth of the Scioto. Burney went direct from there to Carlisle with a message to the Governor of pennsylvania from the Miamis and also to Governor Dinwiddie in Virginia. He laid before Dinwiddie a belt of wampum, a scalp of one of the Indians that adhered to the French, a calumet pipe and two letters "of an odd style," wrote Dinwiddie. Thus wrote the Miamis to him:

    ELDER BROTHER! This string of wampum assures you that the French King's servants have spilled our blood and eaten the flesh of three of our men. Look upon us and pity us for we are in great distress. Our chiefs have taken up the hatchet of war. We have killed and eaten ten of the French and two of their negroes. We are your BROTHERS.
     The message to the Governor of Pennsylvania was more in detail, as given by Butterfield:
     "We, your brothers, the Miamis, have sent you by our brother, Thomas Burney, a scalp and five strings of wampum in token of our late unhappy affair at Pickawillany; and, whereas, our brother [the governor] has always been kind to us, we hope he will now

put to us a method to act against the French, being more discouraged for the loss of our brothers, the Englishmen who were killed, and the five who were taken prisoners than for the loss of ourselves; and notwithstanding, the two belts of wampum which were sent from the Governor of Canada as a commission to destroy us, we shalls till hold our integrity with our brothers and are willing to die for them.......
We saw our great PLANKESHAW KING [who was commonly called OLD BRITIAN by us] taken, killed and eaten within a hundred yards of the fort, before our faces. We now look upon ourselves as a lost people, fearing our brothers will leave us; but before we will be subject to the French, or call them our fathers, we will perish here.