Charles Michel Mouet de Langlade | |
|---|---|
 Plaque in Green Bay, Wisconsin honoring Charles Michel de Langlade and his father.In 1745, Augustin Langlade and his 16-year-old son Charles established a trading post at present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin.[1] | |
| Born | 9 May 1729 Fort Michilimackinac, Pays d'en Haut, New France |
| Died | Winter 1800–1801 La Baye, Northwest Territory, United States |
| Allegiance | Ojibwa Indian Tribe  Kingdom of France 1729–1761 Great Britain 1761-1800/1801 |
| Service | French Marines British Indian Department |
| Years of service | 1750–1761 1763–1800 |
| Rank | Lieutenant (Marines) 1760 Captain (Indian Department) 1775 |
| Commands | Commandant of Fort Michilimackinac, 1760–1761 |
| Battles / wars | Raid on Pickawillany Seven Years' War American Revolutionary War |
| Other work | [2] |
Charles Michel Mouet de Langlade (9 May 1729 – after 26 July 1801)[3] was a Great Lakes fur trader and war chief who was important in protecting French territory in North America. His mother was Ottawa and his father a French Canadian fur trader.[4]
Fluent in Ottawa and French, Langlade later led First Nations forces in warfare in the region. Given the shifting political realities of the time, he and his followers were at various times allied with the French, British and, lastly, Americans. Leading French and Indian forces, in 1752 he destroyed Pickawillany, a Miami village and British trading post in present-day Ohio, where the British and French were competing for control of the lucrative fur trade. During the subsequent Seven Years' War, he helped defend Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh) against the British. The French appointed Langlade as second in command at Fort Michilimackinac and a captain in the Indian Department of French Canada.
After the defeat of the French in North America, Langlade became allied with the British, who took control of former French possessions and took the lead in the fur trade in the upper West. During the American Revolutionary War, Langlade led Great Lakes Indians for the British against rebel colonists and their Indian allies. The Native Americans hoped to push the American colonizers out of the region. At the end of the war, Langlade retired to his home in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Since he had operated a trading post at Green Bay since 1745 and settled there with his family,[1] he is called the "Father of Wisconsin."
- ^ a b Neville, Ella Hoes & al. (1893) Historic Green Bay. 1634–1840. Green Bay, p. 92.
- ^ Trap, Paul (1979). "Mouet de Langlade, Charles Michel." Dictionary of Canadian Biography. University of Toronto Press, vol. 4, pp. 563–564.
- ^ Dictionnaire Généalogique Tanguay
- ^ Michillimakinac was in the Canadian Pays d'en haut. Langlade was born at Fort Michilimackinac, New France, which was in the Canadian Pays d'en haut. His mother was Ottawa and his father a French-Canadian fur trader. He grew up with his mother's people and identified as Ottawa.