Trade Item

This image shows two separate pieces found during excavations at Fort Pickawillany between 2002 and 2004. They are both personal ornamental items, possibly jewelry. The top item is brass with glass beads and the bottom is also brass with a blue glass bead. These items are indicative of those that would have been traded with the Miami. Fort Pickawillany is the earliest known site of European and American Indian contact in Ohio.  In 1747, a detached band of Miami Indians from Indiana set up camp near the confluence of Loramie Creek and the Great Miami River north of Piqua in Miami.  Their village, named Pinkwaawilenionki, came to be known as an English trading center after its leaders signed an agreement to sever ties with the French and trade exclusively with the English. The French were very unhappy with the English entering into their territory and their trade with the Miami. The English, realizing they needed to reinforce their presence in the area, got permission in 1750 from the Miami tribe to construct a fort at Pickawillany for protection. The French, after five years of confrontation, sent a force of Ottawa and Ojibwa warriors, led by French commander Charles Langlade with orders to destroy it. The surprise attack came on June 21, 1752. Ohio Historical Society Image TAH0874.

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