Old Briton.

Memeskia was a leader of the Piankashaw band of the Miamis, a tribe living in present-day northern Indiana and Ohio. As a youth he traveled extensively on the Ohio River and lived on the lower Wabash River. Later he lived in a village in northeastern Indiana, near present-day Fort Wayne. Known as Old Briton because of his affinity for the British and their superior trade goods, Memeskia believed that his people would be better off severing ties with their former allies, the French. Both the French and British settlements were thinly spread over the Ohio territory, and the Miamis had a degree of independence regardless of their alliance. Memeskia may have been motivated by the hope of manipulating the two European powers to his advantage.

British Ally.

In early 1747, when a British-sponsored uprising against the French failed, Memeskia led the Miamis...