Little Turtle

Chief Little Turtle (Miami-Illinois: Michikinikwa) (c.1747 — July 14, 1812) was a Sagamore (chief) of the Miami people, who became one of the most famous Native American military leaders.

Lithograph of Little Turtle, reputedly based upon a lost portrait by Gilbert Stuart, destroyed when the British burned Washington, D.C.|Burning of Washington|burned Washington, D.C. in 1814.

Quotes

• I have been the last to sign this treaty; I will be the last to break it.
  • upon signing the Treaty of Greenville, August 3, 1795

• My forefather kindled the first fire at Detroit; from thence, he extended his lines to the head waters of Scioto; from thence, to its mouth; from thence, down the Ohio, to the mouth of the Wabash, and from thence to Chicago, on lake Michigan.
  • Claiming tribal lands at the Treaty of Greenville (American State Papers, Indian Affairs, vol. 1, pp. 570-571; Dft. Ex. 96).

President Washington's Indian War: The Struggle for the Old Northwest, 1790–1795 (1985)

Sword, Wiley (1985). President Washington's Indian War: The Struggle for the Old Northwest, 1790–1795. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 335. ISBN 0-8061-2488-1. 

• More of us have died since the Treaty of Greeneville than we lost by the years of war before, and it is all owing to the introduction of liquor among us.

• This liquor that they introduce into our country is more to be feared than the gun and tomahawk.

• Here I am deaf and dumb. When I walk through the streets I see every person in his shop employed about something. Once makes shoes, another hats, a third sells cloth, and everyone lives by his labor. I say to myself, which of all these things can you do? not one. I can make a bow or an arrow, catch fish, kill game, and go to war, but none of these is of any use here.
  • During a visit to Philadelphia

Quotes about Michikinikwa

• This site honors the great Chief of the Miamis, Meshekinoqua, "The Little Turtle," son of the great Chief Acquenacque. He is held in the hearts of his people, allies, and foes with the greatest of honor and respect for his courageous valor and peacemaking.
  • marker at gravesite in Fort Wayne