Vincennes, Jean Baptiste Bissot, sieur de

Vincennes, Jean Baptiste Bissot, sieur de (vĭnsĕnz`; Fr. zhäN bätēst` bēsō` syör də văNsĕn`), 1668–1719, Canadian explorer and leader of the Miami, b. Quebec. He was sent to the Miami country by Frontenac (c.1696); he established a fort and trading post there and quickly won the esteem and confidence of the natives. In 1712 he helped to defeat the Fox tribe. He died in a Miami village near the site of Fort Wayne. His son,

François Marie Bissot, sieur de Vincennes (fräNswä` märē`), 1700–1736, b. Montreal, was called François Margane after his godfather and uncle. He served as a cadet under his father from 1718 until his father's death, and, like him, won the high respect of the Miami. After 1730 he established a fort on the Wabash (where the French and later the Spanish had previously had a post), and the settlement that developed there was named after him.