David Lottes

Pickawillany David Lottes

In 1743 the remote French settlements along the Ouabache were prospering in relative peace. Four thousand miles away in Austria a king lay dying, his successor uncertain. England and France were determined to place an ally on his throne. Their North American colonies were dragged into the ensuing conflict along with their native allies. A British blockade cut the French settlements off from the goods they so desperately needed to maintain their relationship with the natives on whom their survival depended. The British used this opportunity to expand their influence west beyond the Alleghenies. Establishing a fortified trading post near the headwaters of the Great Miami River. By 1752 their war over Austrian succession was long over, but their final struggle for control of North America was about to begin in a place called Pickawillany.