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