Little Turtle (redirected from Mihsihkinaahkwa)

Little Turtle, c.1752–1812, chief of the Miami, born in a Miami village near present-day Fort Wayne, Ind. He was noted for his oratorical powers, military skill, and intelligence. He was a principal commander of the Native Americans in the defeat of Gen. Josiah Harmar on the Miami River in 1790 and of Gen. Arthur St. Clair on the Wabash River in 1791. After several attacks on the forces of Gen. Anthony Wayne, he counseled peace but was overruled. Consequently he was not in command at Fallen Timbers. He reluctantly signed the Treaty of Greenville (Ohio) in 1795, ceding a great part of Ohio to the whites, and he also signed several subsequent treaties. Later he refused to join Tecumseh's confederacy against the whites. He persuaded many of the Miami to turn to agriculture and appealed to the government to halt the liquor trade among his people.

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Little Turtle

(born c. 1752, near Fort Wayne, Ind.—died July 14, 1812, Fort Wayne, Ind., U.S.) American Indian leader. Chief of the Miami tribe, he led raids on settlements in the Northwest Territory in the early 1790s. Defeated by Gen. Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794), he was obliged to sign the Treaty of Greenville (1795), which ceded to the U.S. much of Ohio and parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. He then advocated peace and prevented the Miami from joining the Shawnee confederacy of Tecumseh.