Chief Little Turtle Memorial - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

Little Turtle was a war chief of the Miami Indians. He was born circa 1752 twenty miles northwest of modern-day Fort Wayne, Indiana. His Native American name was Meshikinquah, (also spelled Michikinqua). Little is known of his life prior to the 1790s, although he did help the British against their colonists during the American Revolution.

With the Treaty of Paris (1783), England ceded all claims to the Ohio Country. White Americans streamed across the Appalachian Mountains to settle in the Northwest Territory. Little Turtle played a leading role in Indian resistance against the white settlers. In 1790 Josiah Harmar led 1,400 soldiers into land claimed by the Miami Indians and the Shawnee Indians. In October, Little Turtle and his followers, including future Shawnee chief Tecumseh, succeeded in driving out Harmar's men. This battle became known as Harmar's Defeat. In 1791, Arthur St. Clair led two thousand American soldiers against the natives in western Ohio. Once again, Little Turtle led the Indians to victory at a battle known as St. Clair's Defeat. This was one of the worst defeats for the American military against Native Americans. During 1794, Little Turtle led attacks against supply trains belonging to the United States army. These trains were trying to supply numerous forts that Anthony Wayne had ordered built to serve as staging areas for future attacks against Indians living in western Ohio. Little Turtle also tried to seize Fort Recovery in 1794, but his men failed to do so. Following this defeat, Little Turtle realized that the English, who used to aid the natives against the Americans, had no desire to help the Indians against Wayne's army. Little Turtle encouraged his followers to negotiate with the Americans. He realized that the Americans far outnumbered the Indians and had too many more advanced weapons for the natives to have success on the battlefield. Other chiefs refused to listen, and they stripped Little Turtle of his leadership position.

Shortly after rejecting Little Turtle's call for peace, the chiefs and their followers lost the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Defeated, the chiefs sought peace with the Americans. In 1795, tribes living in western Ohio sent representatives to Fort Greene Ville where they signed the Treaty of Greenville. The natives, including Little Turtle, agreed to cede all but the northwestern corner of modern-day Ohio to the Americans, although Little Turtle did refuse to sign the actual treaty. Little Turtle refused to ever take up arms against the United States again. He became somewhat of a celebrity among the American people. He visited many cities along the East Coast and even met George Washington in 1797. He urged his fellow natives to keep the peace and also encouraged them to forsake alcohol. During the early 1800s, he played a key role in preventing the Miami Indians from joining Tecumseh's Indian confederation. He died on July 14, 1812, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.