Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville
Pierre-Joseph Céloron de Blainville (29 December 1693, Montreal—14 April 1759, Montreal) — also known as Celeron de Bienville (or Céleron, or Céloron, etc.) — was a French Canadian Officer of Marine. In 1739 and '40 he led a detachment to Louisiana to fight the Chickasaw in the abortive Chickasaw Campaign of 1739. In 1749 he led the 'Lead Plate Expedition' to advance France's territorial claim on the Ohio Valley. Biography Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville was born at Montreal on 29 December 1693. He was the son of Jean-Baptiste Céloron de Blainville and Hélène Picoté de Belestre. Céloron entered military service in 1713. At this time the French collaborated with the Indians in pressuring the New England colonies, but his first firm record is an appointment as lieutenant commandant to the post at Michilimackinac in 1734 (Burton, 328). He seems to have been appointed to a second term in 1737, but before the expiration of that term he was called to Louisiana. The British-allied Chickasaw nation, in present-day northern Mississippi, blocked communication between Upper and Lower Louisiana. Bienville, Governor of Louisiana, assembled a second grand campaign against them in 1739. In response to a call to the Canadian government for assistance, Céloron was dispatched to Fort de l'Assumption near present-day Memphis, Tennessee, with a 'considerable number of Northern Indians' and a company of cadets. The assembled forces remained in place through the winter without striking the fortified villages of the Chickasaw, 120 miles to the east. But finally in March, 1740, Céloron with his corps of cadets, one hundred regulars, and four or five hundred Indians set forth. After some skirmishing the Chickasaw were found quite willing to make peace (Atkinson, 70). After his return to Michilimackinac, Céloron was appointed to command of Detroit, at which time he was referred to as a Chevalier of the Military Order of Saint Louis and a Captain in the Department of Marine. In 1744, he was appointed to command at Fort Niagara, and in 1746, Fort St. Frédéric on Lake Champlain (Burton, 327). The 'Lead Plate' Expedition From 1743 to 1748, Britain and France fought King George's War. During this war, England blockaded New France, breaking down the French fur trade. The British became the major trading partners with Native Americans in the Ohio valley. France claimed the Ohio Valley (and indeed the entire Mississippi basin) on the basis of the explorations made by La Salle in 1669 and 1682. Great Britain claimed the Ohio Valley on the basis of purchases from Native Americans in 1744. In fact, both the colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania had claims on the Ohio valley, although in the 1740s and 1750s, Virginia was more active in pressing her claim. According to R. E. Banta, author of The Ohio [Rivers of America series], in March of 1749, the Ohio Company of Virginia received a grant from King George, which included 200,000 acres on the south bank of the Ohio between the Monongahela and the Great Kanawha Rivers. One