Mitchigamea

The Mitchigamea were one of the peoples associated with the Illinois, living at different times along the Mississippi and its tributaries. In 1673 Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet encountered a Mitchigamea community in the country north of the Quapaw. They later lived among the Kaskaskia before establishing a village near the French Fort de Chartres in the Mississippi bottomlands.

In June 1752 a war party led by the Sauk attacked the village near the fort, killing many inhabitants and destroying their homes. The village had given shelter to Cahokia people, who were also enemies of the attackers. The survivors established another village nearby. The Mitchigamea later became closely associated with the Kaskaskia, and by 1803 the United States recognized them as part of that people.