The Miami language belongs to the Central Algonquian group of the large Algonquian language family. It is most closely related to Illinois, Shawnee, Sauk, Fox, Kickapoo, Menominee, Potawatomi, Ojibwa, Cree, Montegnais, and Naskapi.
The Miami war chief Little Turtle (1742-1812) was born along the Eel River northeast of Fort Wayne, Indiana. His father was Acquenacke, a Miami chief, and his mother was Mahican.
There is little specific information about Little Turtle’s early years, and he emerges in the English language histories as one of the figures in the Revolutionary War. While Little Turtle was often an advocate for peace with the invading Europeans, during the Revolutionary War he fought on the side of the British. In his book Encyclopedia of American Indian Wars, 1492-1890, Jerry Keenan writes:
“Like many Indian leaders, Little Turtle believed there was more to be feared from the American colonists than the British and, accordingly threw his support behind the latter during the Revolution.”
In his biographical sketch of Little Turtle in the Encyclopedia of North American Indians, Stewart Rafert writes:
“Regarded as perhaps the greatest Algonquian war leader of his time, Little Turtle grew to adulthood during the American Revolution and led Native American armed resistance to the American invasion of the Old Northwest in the late eighteenth century.”
In his book Who Was Who in Native American History: Indians and Non-Indians From Early Contacts Through 1900, Carl Waldman writes:
“Little Turtle was one of the great military geniuses of all time.”
He developed many methods of guerilla warfare, most notable the use of decoys. Carl Waldman writes:
“Little Turtle instructed his warriors from the allied tribes to pick off the invading army wherever possible. The warriors hid and used swift, small strikes to confuse the enemy.”
From 1790 to…
