Charles Michel de Langlade

Who was Charles Michel de Langlade?

Charles Michel de Langlade was a Great Lakes fur trader and warrior of French Canadian and Ottawa heritage.

He led forces in warfare in the region for the French, British and Americans. Leading French and Indian forces, in 1752 he destroyed Pickawillany, a Miami village and British trading post in present-day Ohio. He helped defend Fort Duquesne against the British in the Seven Years' War, when he was named second in command at Fort Michilimackinac and a captain in the Indian Department.

After the defeat of the French in North America, Langlade became allied with the British and led Great Lakes Indians for them during the American Revolutionary War. At the end of the war, he retired to his home in present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin. Due to his trading post at Green Bay since 1745, he is called the "Father of Wisconsin."