Examples Of Miskousath Of The Mesquakie

1301 Words6 Pages

In 1701, Miskousath of the Mesquakie tribe pledged their loyalty to New France alongside other Western Great Lakes Tribes. Miskousath also encouraged the French to increase their presence in the area to discourage warfare. In that same year the Fox asked the French to stop trading arms and ammunition with the Sioux, to which the French gave no definite answer, promising to ask for consul from Louis XIV. The Mesquakie soon realized that the French had no intention of ending trade with the Sioux causing the Mesquakie to grow more hostile towards the French as they began intercepting French merchants. The Mesquakie seized the goods from the traders or forced them to pay such high tributes that merchants did not want to cross their land to get …show more content…

Sending out pleas for rescue, Dubuisson invited his Indian allies to fight alongside him at Detroit. Having angered the neighboring Huron and Ottawa tribes, as well as the French, the Mesquakie soon found themselves surrounded. Determined to destroy the Mesquakie, the Huron, Ottawas, and allied French surrounded the village, beginning their siege on May 13th, 1712. After failed attempts at surrender and trade, the Mesquakie and Mascoutens were slaughtered, captured, and tortured. While few left the scene alive, the ones that did eventually returned to Wisconsin to relay the events having occurred. Hostility grew as the Mesquakie began attacking any passing Frenchmen causing the fur trade to crumble. Starvation ran rampant through the tribes near Fort Detroit who were too scared to leave their villages. To the surprise of both the French and their Indian allies, the Mesquakie did not begin a war campaign, but rather one of …show more content…

However, the French feared that the Mesquakie plot would cause their demise and took action against them at the urging of the allied tribes. Gathering up the available traders, the French forgave illegal trading practices in return for an expedition under Louis de La Porte de Louvigny to offer the Mesquakie a renewed place in the French alliance, with the instructions that if they do not accept to kill them. However, the campaign never occured due to lack of food and illness. At the same time, the Mesquakie made plans of their