Memeskia

Who was Memeskia?

Memeskia, known as "Old Briton" by the British and as "La Demoiselle" by the French, was an eighteenth-century Piankashaw chieftain who fought against the French in 1747. In November 1750, he signed a friendship treaty with the British Indian agent, George Croghan, which was cemented during a visit by Indian scout Christopher Gist in February 1751.

A prominent member of the Piankashaw tribe, Memeskia was one of the earliest opponents of the expanding French presence in North America regarding their dominance, monopoly and lower barter prices in the fur trade of the western Great Lakes region, as they sought to expand New France. In 1747, Old Briton, led a rebellion with a confederation of local tribes, against local French settlements successfully attacking Fort Miami at Kekionga. In the late 1740s, he led a band of the Piankashaw tribe, known as the Tewightewee, from the Indiana wilderness east along the St. Marys River to Loramie Creek, and settled near the confluence of Loramie Creek and the Great Miami River, a day's journey from the Loramie Summit.