Langlade, Charles Michel de
Langlade, Charles Michel de
LANGLADE, CHARLES MICHEL DE. (1729–1801?). Indian leader. Canada. Born in 1729 near what became Mackinaw City, Michigan, Langlade was the son of a French trader nobleman and an Ottawa woman and was educated by Jesuits. As a boy of ten years old, he joined an Ottawa war party led by his uncle, Nissowaquet, against the Chickasaw. By 1750 he was a cadet in the French colonial troops, and by 1760 he had risen to the grade of lieutenant. Leading his first expedition in June 1752, he drove the Miami Indians and five British traders from Pickawillany (near modern Piqua, Ohio). During the Seven Years' War he was an active leader of Indian auxiliaries. He claimed credit for setting up the ambush in which Braddock was killed in 1755. Two years later he defeated Rogers's Rangers and a large force of Pennsylvania and New Jersey militia led by Colonel John Parker. Taking part in the attack on Fort William Henry, Langlade failed to restrain his Indian forces from slaughtering the British prisoners. Escaping from the fall of Quebec in 1759, he went to Montreal, which he again left before its capture by the British, and returned to Michilimackinac. As second in command of this post, he surrendered it when the commandant deserted the garrison, and Langlade transferred his allegiance to the British.
After supporting the British effectively in Pontiac's War, Langlade established a new home at Green Bay, where he and his father had long had a trading post. Promoted to captain at the beginning of the Revolution, he supported British operations led by Carleton and Burgoyne. After most of Burgoyne's Indian allies left following the capture of Ticonderoga, Langlade persuaded his one hundred Ottawa to stick it out through the Battle of Bennington, when they too returned home. Back in the west, he and his followers opposed the American and Spanish advances into the Old Northwest.
After the war Langlade was granted lands in Canada for his services. He continued his trading activities at Green Bay, where he died, perhaps in 1801.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
McDonnell, Michael A. "Charles-Michael Mouet de Langlade: Warrior, Soldier, and Intercultural 'Window' on the Sixty Years' War for the Great Lakes." In The Sixty Years' War for the Great Lakes, 1754–1814. Edited by David C. Skaggs and Larry L. Nelson. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2001.
revised by Michael Bellesiles