Vincennes, Jean Baptiste Bissot, sieur de, U.S. History, Biographies

Related Category: U.S. History, Biographies

Vincennes, Jean Baptiste Bissot, sieur de[vinsenz´; Fr. zhAN bAtEst´ bEsO´ syOr du vaNsen´] Pronunciation Key, 1668–1719, Canadian explorer and leader of the Miami, b. Quebec. He was sent to the Miami country by Frontenac (c.1696); he established a fort and trading post there and quickly won the esteem and confidence of the natives. In 1712 he helped to defeat the Fox tribe. He died in a Miami village near the site of Fort Wayne. His son, FranCois Marie Bissot, sieur de Vincennes[frANswA´ mArE´] Pronunciation Key, 1700–1736, b. Montreal, was called FranCois Margane after his godfather and uncle. He served as a cadet under his father from 1718 until his father's death, and, like him, won the high respect of the Miami. After 1730 he established a fort on the Wabash (where the French and later the Spanish had previously had a post), and the settlement that developed there was named after him.

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