Intent on protecting the bustling creole commerce of the Louisiana Territory from Osage incursions, Spanish officials exploited the traditional Osage/Potawatomi blood feud and enlisted feared Muskodan warriors Main Poc, Nuscotomek and Segnak, among others, to purge all militant Osage from New Spain.
Peashwah was a warrior among the Wabash Potawatomi and husband to Mary Ann Benache, daughter of headman Benache or Segnak.
Pokagon was a headman among the St. Joseph Potawatomi and veteran of the Northwest Indian War. He ascended to leadership after marrying Elizabeth Topinabee, daughter of prominent tribal leader Topinabee and granddaughter of Nanaquiba. After the death of Topinabee, Pokagon took control of the St. Joseph villages. The St. Joseph Potawatomi had a long association with French Catholic missionaries. Pokagon …
Understanding that the French and Indian War was more than provincial disputes between European nations, but a cultural battle between Native people and eventual Anglo assimilation, a Great Lakes Native confederacy led by Odawa leader and warrior Pontiac assembled and continued to fight to preserve their way of life. After the Treaty of Paris, the war continued between Great Lakes …
Segnak was a warrior from Illinois and son of a powerful headman among the Milwaukee villages. In 1808, Segnak was personally invited to meet President Thomas Jefferson to discuss peace among Natives and settlers. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, known for his victories at Fort Dearborn and Frenchtown. After the war, Segnak was interested in making …
The Siege of Fort Detroit, led by famed Odawa leader Bondiyak [Pontiac], was a five-month long siege in the summer and fall of 1763 of the former French settlement Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Detroit. After the fort’s transition to British control at the end of the French and Indian War (1754-1763), Pontiac, like many Native peoples in the …
The Siege of Fort Pitt was an extension of the conflict known as “Pontiac’s War” and began amid the Siege of Fort Detroit earlier in May, 1763. Lasting roughly two months, the rising tensions between Native communities and the British gripping the region erupted in a short-lived siege of Fort Pitt in what is present day Pittsburgh. As Native communities …
The siege of Fort William Henry was led by French General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm. The fort was located on the southern end of Lake George, between the British Province of New York and the French Province of Canada. The fort was stationed by 2,800 poorly supported British troops and provincial militiamen led by Lieutenant Colonel George Monro. On July 30th …
Humiliated by the defeat of Josiah Harmar, the U.S. commissioned another major expedition against the Northwest tribes under the command of General Arthur St. Clair. Near present Fort Recovery, Ohio, Mshikenikwe, Shawnee leader Weyapiersenwah and a force of over one thousand inflicted greater losses than the previous year. Due to the military disaster, the United States ordered the first internal …
Tecumseh was a Chief of the Shawnee tribe who formed a Native American Confederacy to resist white settlement in the early 1800’s. Tecumseh was known for his leadership, compassion, and bravery which gained the respect of Native Americans and Colonists alike. His legacy transformed into a mythological folk hero. Early Life: Tecumseh was born in South-Central Ohio, and grew up …