Chief Little Turtle

Chief Little Turtle (Michikinikwa / Mihshihkinaahkwa to his Miami people) was born c. 1752 near a small village along the Eel River just northeast of present-day Columbia City. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, he became one of the most successful woodland military commanders of his time, leading the Miami and other Indians in several victories against American forces in the Northwest Indian Wars. In 1780, Little Turtle defeated U.S. troops under Colonel La Balme after they had attacked the Miami town of Kekionga (present day Fort Wayne). The attacks on Kekionga continued. Little Turtle, in 1790-91, inflicted more casualties on the U.S. Army than any other Indian war chief before or since. Two notable battles were: “Harmar’s Defeat” near Kekionga in Oct., 1790, and “St. Clair’s Defeat,” near the present-day location of Fort Recovery,Ohio on November 4, 1791. By the Battle of Fallen Timbers in Ohio in 1794, Little Turtle knew the strength of the U.S. under General Anthony Wayne and did not lead the Indians in this battle. Little Turtle’s main source of information was through Wayne’s Chief of Spies (and Little Turtle’s son-in-law), William Wells. Afterward, Chief Little Turtle advocated peace, and in 1795, at the Treaty of Greenville, he was a principal negotiator for the Indians who ceded to the United States most of the future state of Ohio and significant portions of what would become the states of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. He made several trips to Washington D.C., meeting with Presidents Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. Little Turtle died peacefully on July 14, 1812, at the home of his son-in-law in Fort Wayne. A hundred years later, his unmarked grave was unearthed containing his dress sword, presented to him by President Washington.

The Lawton Place Burial Site is just off Spy Run between Riverside and Lawton Place in Ft. Wayne. Some Little Turtle related items can be found at The History Center (home of the Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society), 302 East Berry Street, Fort Wayne.