Corfe Castle was slighted during the English Civil War so that its defences couldn't be reused.

A slighting is the deliberate destruction, partial or complete, of a fortification without opposition. Sometimes, such as during the Wars of Scottish Independence and the English Civil War, the intention was to render the structure unusable as a fortress.^[1][2][3]

Middle Ages[link]

In England during the Middle Ages adulterine (unauthorised) castles if captured by the King would usually be slighted.^[4] During the Wars of Scottish Independence King Robert the Bruce adopted a strategy of slighting Scottish castles to prevent them being occupied by the English.^[3][5]

A strategy of slighting castles in Palestine was also adopted by the Mamelukes in their wars with the Crusaders.

Treaty of Edinburgh 1560[link]

Under the terms of The concessions of Francis and Mary to the nobility and the people of Scotland and the Treaty of Edinburgh in July 1560, various fortified places were designated for demolition to prevent their use by French and English forces.^[6] These included the recent fortifications at Dunbar Castle, Leith and Eyemouth.^[7][8][9] On the island of Inchkeith a token garrison of 60 French soldiers were allowed to remain for a time. Inchkeith and Dunbar were finally slighted in 1567.^[10]

English Civil War[link]

During the English Civil War many castles and fortified houses were slighted by the Parliamentarians to stop them being used by the Royalists.^[1] Most of the destruction was in Wales, the Midlands, and Yorkshire. The coastal fortifications were spared by the Commonwealth as they might have been useful for hindering a Royalist or foreign invasion.^[2]

Burg Rheinfels[link]

Situated on the left bank of the Rhine, Burg Rheinfels was started in 1245 by Count Diether V of Katzenelnbogen, by the late 17th century it was a fortress complex. It was the only Rhineland fortress to hold out against the French in the War of the Palatine Succession (1688–1697). During the French Revolutionary Wars, the left bank of the Rhine was annexed by the French Republic and incorporated into France as the department of Rhin-et-Moselle. under the orders of the French Revolutionary government, Burg Rheinfels was slighted in 1797.^[11]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Castle, Alan (1999). Walking the River Rhine trail, Germany. Mountain Walking Series (illustrated ed.). Cicerone Press Limited. pp. 100, 101. ISBN 978-1-85284-276-5. 
• Perry, David R.; Blackburn, Mark A. S. (2000). Castle Park, Dunbar: two thousand years on a fortified headland, Part 4. Monograph series - Society of Antiquaries of Scot land. 16 (illustrated ed.). Society Antiquaries Scotland. p. 321. ISBN 978-0-903903-16-5. 
• Lowry, Bernard (2006). Discovering Fortifications: from the Tudors to the Cold War. Discovering Series; 296. Princes Risborough: Shire. p. 29. ISBN 0-7478-0651-9. 
• Flintham, David (5 July 2011). Fortified "Fortified Places: Edinburgh". In Goode, Dominic. Fortified Places. http://www.fortified-places.com/edinburgh/ Fortified. 
  • Cullen, Douglas W. (1988). The Walls of Edinburgh: A short guide. Edinburgh: Cockburn Association. p. 1. 
• Guthrie, William (1768). A general history of Scotland from the earliest accounts to the present time. 6. A. Hamilton. pp. 124, ff.. 
• Manganiello, Stephen C. (2004). The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1639-1660. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press. p. 498. ISBN 0-8108-5100-8. 
• Muir, Richard (1997). The Yorkshire Countryside: a landscape history. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 173. ISBN 1-85331-198-7. 
• Pollard, Tony; Banks, Iain (2009). "Bastions and barbed wire". Journal of Conflict Archaeology (BRILL): 112. ISBN 90-04-17360-9. 

Further reading[link]

• Johnson, Matthew (2002). Behind the Castle Gate: from medieval to Renaissance. London: Routledge. pp. 173–175. ISBN 0-415-25887-1. 

This lithograph of Little Turtle is reputedly based upon a lost portrait by Gilbert Stuart, destroyed when the British burned Washington, D.C. in 1814.^[1]

Little Turtle, or Mishikinakwa (in Miami-Illinois) (c. 1747 – July 14, 1812), was a chief of the Miami people, and one of the most famous Native American military leaders of his time. He led his followers in several major victories against United States forces in the 1790s during the Northwest Indian Wars, also called Little Turtle's War. In 1791, they defeated General St. Clair, who lost 600 men, the most decisive loss by the US against Native American forces ever.

In historic records, his name was spelled in a variety of ways, including Michikinikwa, Meshekunnoghquoh, Michikinakoua, Michikiniqua, Me-She-Kin-No, Meshecunnaquan and Mischecanocquah.

Name[link]

The name 'Little Turtle' is an English translation of his name in the Miami-Illinois language, mihšihkinaahkwa. In his language, the word names a species of terrapin, probably the Midland Painted Turtle. There is no diminutive on this name in the original Miami-Illinois.^[2]

Early life[link]

There is little documentary evidence for most of Little Turtle's life, and the exact year and place of his birth are uncertain. He was born just before or just after the period that his parents lived in the Miami village of Pickawillany, known to be from 1747 to 1752. Some historians give 1752 as his probable date of birth; others prefer 1747.^[3] He was born in what is now Whitley County, Indiana, at either a small Miami village by Devil's Lake, or at a larger nearby village known as Turtletown.^[4]

Career[link]

Little Turtle was selected as the war chief of the Atchatchakangouen division of the Miami tribe through his demonstration of military prowess in battle. Little Turtle earned it during the American Revolutionary War in action against a French force allied with the Continentals. Although he became the war chief of the leading division of the tribe, Little Turtle was never the head chief of the Miami, which was a hereditary position.^[5]

Little Turtle emerged as a war chief by defeating the French military adventurer Augustin de La Balme. In October 1780, La Balme plundered the principal Miami village of Kekionga (present-day Fort Wayne), as part of his campaign to attack the British in Detroit. On 5 November 1780, Little Turtle led an attack on La Balme's camp along the Eel River, killing La Balme and 30 of his men and bringing an end to the campaign. The victory established Little Turtle's reputation as a war leader, and through the 1780s, he led raids against colonial American settlements in Kentucky, fighting on the side of the British. The Miami were not unified in support of the British, however: the Piankashaw Miami supported the rebel Americans, while the Wea Miami vacillated.^[6]

Little Turtle's War[link]

Statue of Little Turtle at Headwaters Park in Fort Wayne, by local sculptor Hector Garcia.

In the Treaty of Paris (1783) which ended the American Revolutionary War, the British abandoned their native allies and ceded the land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River to the United States. The Americans considered the region to be theirs by right of conquest. Through the creation of the Northwest Territory in 1787, they began to divide the land north of the Ohio River for settlement. Native Americans living in the territory resisted and violence escalated; Native Americans formed the Western Confederacy with the goal of keeping the Ohio River as a boundary between Indian lands and the United States. Little Turtle emerged as one of the leaders of this confederacy, which included the Shawnee under Blue Jacket and the Delaware under Buckongahelas. The war which followed has become known by historians as the Northwest Indian War, but it was once known as "Little Turtle's War".

In 1790, the United States sent an expedition under the command of General Josiah Harmar to end the border war. Because the United States had mostly disbanded its military after the Revolution, it had few professional soldiers to send into battle, a weakness which Little Turtle and other native leaders fully exploited. In October 1790, Little Turtle and Blue Jacket won two victories against Harmar's men. These successes encouraged previously reluctant leaders among the Ottawa and Wyandotto join the confederacy.

In 1791, Little Turtle and Blue Jacket defeated another American expedition, this time led by General Arthur St. Clair. It was the worst defeat the Americans would ever suffer at the hands of American Indians, with some 600 American soldiers killed in action. While Little Turtle and Blue Jacket fielded more than 1,000 warriors, they lost only 40.^[7] According to the most popular version of the story, Little Turtle was in overall command of the army that defeated St. Clair, although other accounts suggest that Blue Jacket was the preeminent native leader.^[8]

General Anthony Wayne commanded a third expedition in the Northwest; his U.S. troops were of superior numbers and had just completed rigorous training. After an exploratory attack on Fort Recovery in June 1794, Little Turtle counseled negotiation rather than battle, remarking that Wayne "never sleeps." According to a widely circulated story, he ceded command to Blue Jacket, although retaining leadership of the Miami tribesmen. Little Turtle's son-in-law, William Wells, switched sides and served as a scout for the Legion of the United States. The confederacy, numbering around 1,000 men, was defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. This battle forced the confederacy to sign the Treaty of Greenville.

Later life[link]

Chief Little Turtle's burial marker, near his grave in Fort Wayne.

Little Turtle continuously advised cooperation with the U.S., refusing an alliance with the Shawnee chief Tecumseh. In 1797, he met cordially with George Washington,^[9] who presented him with a ceremonial sword. On this trip he also met Comte de Volney.^[9] He also met presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. He and Jefferson discussed the need to introduce American agriculture to Miami society,^[10] although it was the Quaker society of Baltimore who finally sent Philip Dennis to demonstrate East Coast farming methods.

One story says that on his way to Philadelphia to meet Washington, Little Turtle met General Tadeusz Kościuszko, who presented him with a matching pair of pistols^[9] along with instructions to use them on "the first man who ever comes to subjugate you."^[11]

In 1809, Little Turtle suffered a break with other Miami leaders when Governor William Henry Harrison came to Fort Wayne to renegotiate treaty terms. Little Turtle admitted Potawatomi representatives to the treaty and cooperated with Harrison, but other chiefs, including his brother Pacanne and his nephew Jean Baptiste Richardville, Owl, and Metocina refused to sell any more land. Harrison was forced to recognize the Mississinewa chiefs as the true representatives of the Miami, and to declare that Little Turtle was not a Miami.^[12]

Little Turtle retired to a spot near present-day Columbia City, Indiana. After the Siege of Fort Wayne in the War of 1812, General William Henry Harrison ordered the destruction of all Miami villages within a two-day march of Fort Wayne. This may have been in retaliation for the negotiations in 1809, but his forces also destroyed the village of Little Turtle.^[13]

Little Turtle died in 1812, at the home of his son-in-law William Wells (soldier), not far from Kekionga. He had been suffering from gout and rheumatism for some time.

Legacy and honors[link]

• Little Turtle was honored with a military-style funeral at Fort Wayne. He was buried in his ancestral burial ground near Spy Run.^[14]

In 1912 his grave was accidentally disturbed during a construction excavation. The sword and other artifacts buried with him were placed with the Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society, and his remains were reinterred.^[14] The site had been accidentally discovered by a homebuilder on Lawton Place in Fort Wayne, and the plans for the house were altered.

• A small memorial stone was placed there, which reads:

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.

• In 1959, the site was purchased by the Smeltzly sisters of Fort Wayne, to hold up Little Turtle's peacemaking efforts "as an example to future generations." They donated the land to the city as a public park "dedicated to the children of America." In 1994, the memorial was improved with additional markers and a trust established for its maintenance.

Legacy[link]

Several institutions in northeast Indiana have been named for Little Turtle including Camp Chief Little Turtle (a Boy Scout reservation near Angola), the Little Turtle Branch of the Allen County Public Library, and Turtle Island in Lake Erie.

There is a neighborhood, including a private golf course, named after Little Turtle in Columbus.

There is a street named "Little Turtle Court" in Hamilton, OH.

Turtle Creek in Turtlecreek Township, Warren County, Ohio is named for Chief Little Turtle ^[15][16][17]

Lake Erie's Turtle Island, which sits astride the Michigan and Ohio border, is named for him.

Notes[link]

1. ^ Carter, Life and Times, 62–3.
2. ^ Costa, David J. 1992. "Miami Illinois Animal Names", Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics 17/3: 19 44.
3. ^ Eid, "Little Turtle", gives 1752 as the date of birth, while Carter, Life and Times, 45, argues that 1747 "is fairly definite".
4. ^ Carter, Life and Times, 45–7.
5. ^ Carter, Life and Times, 48.
6. ^ Carter, Life and Times, 72–5.
7. ^ Early America's Bloodiest Battle, Early America
8. ^ Eid, "Little Turtle", 754; Sugden, Blue Jacket, 118–20. Sugden argues that the notion that Little Turtle commanded the confederacy was a myth perpetuated by Turtle and his son-in-law William Wells and uncritically repeated by historians; Sugden, Blue Jacket, 4–6.
9. ^ ^{a b c}  "Little Turtle". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1892. 
10. ^ See Thomas Jefferson's letter to Chief Little Turtle 21 December 1808. In The Thomas Jefferson Papers Series 1. General Correspondence. 1651-1827. Available at the Library of Congress. page 1 page 2 page 3
11. ^ Carter, Life and Times, 5.
12. ^ Rafert, Miami Indians of Indiana, 71-72
13. ^ Rafert, "Miami Indians of Indiana", 74
14. ^ ^{a b} Arville Funk, Sketchbook of Indiana History, pp. 15-16
15. ^ Turtlecreek Township, Warren County, Ohio
16. ^ [1]
17. ^ [2]

References[link]

• Carter, Harvey Lewis. The Life and Times of Little Turtle: First Sagamore of the Wabash. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987. ISBN 0-252-01318-2.
• Cayton, Andrew R. L. Frontier Indiana. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-253-33048-3.
• Eid, Leroy V. "Little Turtle". American National Biography. 13:753–4. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-19-512792-7.
• Goltz, Herbert C. W. "Michikinakoua". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Retrieved on 7 January 2007.
• Magnin, Frédéric. Mottin de la Balme, cavalier des deux mondes et de la liberté. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2005. ISBN 2-7475-9080-1.
• Michikinikwa: Also known as Little Turtle Ohio History Central.
• Rafert, Stewart. "Little Turtle (Mishikinakwa)". Encyclopedia of North American Indians, 342–44. Ed. Frederick E. Hoxie. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. ISBN 0-395-66921-9.
• Rafert, Stewart The Miami Indians of Indiana: A Persistent People. 1654-1994. ©1996, Indiana Historical Society. ISBN 0-87195-111-8
• Sugden, John. Blue Jacket: Warrior of the Shawnees. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000. ISBN 0-8032-4288-3.

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Little Turtle

• Maumee Valley Heritage Corridor
• Congressional Record — House document H12069,^{[dead link]} 16 November 1999. (Website accessed 31 December 2008.)
• Chief Little Turtle at Findagrave