Little Turtle was a Sagamore (chief) of the Miami people, who became one of the most famous Native American military leaders. There is little documentary evidence for most of Little Turtle's life. The exact year and place of his birth are uncertain. Little Turtle earned this designation during the American Revolutionary War in action against a French force allied with the American patriots, led by French military adventurer Augustin de La Balme. On November 5, 1780, Little Turtle attacked La Balme, killing La Balme and forty of his men and taking the rest prisoner. The battle was a complete rout, and Little Turtle's army suffered almost no casualties. through the 1780s, Little Turtle continued to lead raids against colonial American settlements in Kentucky, fighting on the side of the British. The United States defeated the British and their Native American allies at the Battle of the Thames in 1813, destroying the power of the Native American Confederacy. As a result, many Native Americans moved farther west. Little Turtle died on July 14, 1812, at the home of his son-in-law William Wells, not far from Kekionga. Little Turtle had been suffering from gout and rheumatism for some time.