Nicolas Orontondi
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Nicolas Orontondi (Orontony, Rondoenie or Wanduny) (fl. 1739 - 1750) was a Wyandot leader, reportedly a member of a sect of the Turtle clan.
In the mid-seventeenth century, the Wyandots settled near Detroit but soon fell into conflict with the neighbouring Ottawas. In 1739, the Wyandot fearing for their lives, Orontondi and two other leaders requested resettlement nearer the centre of New France and in 1740, Orontondi pressed the request to Governor of New France Charles de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois in person. The authorities hesitated to act and some Wyandot made a unilateral relocation to "Little Lake" (now Rondeau Harbour) near Sandusky. There, they came under the influence of British traders and of an established mixed ethnic population, including Iroquois, settled on the Cuyahoga River, near present Cleveland, Ohio.
Increasing economic exploitation was bringing pressure and conflict to the region and the French sought to protect their assets against non-French traders, especially those from Pennsylvania. The tensions were exacerbated by Orontondi's mistrust of the French. The outbreak of King George's War in 1744 sparked open conflict and, in the spring of 1747 five French traders returning to Detroit were killed near Cuyahoga. Orontondi’s band were implicated, and the commander at Detroit, Paul-Joseph le Moyne de Longueuil, Chevalier de Longueuil, reacted in fear of an escallating situation.
The British intervened to encourage Orontondi's band, George Croghan calling upon Pennsylvania for support. In November ten Iroquois warriors from the Ohio, responded and the government of Pennsylvania voted them a present of GBP 150 and one of GBP 50 for the band at Cuyahoga. The Iroquois' declaration had fallen short of open war on the French but the garrison at Detroit was fearful. Orontondi drew sympathy from Mikinak, and the Potawatomis and Ojibwas and relationships with the French became increasingly strained and disrupted. The British traders continued to court Orontondi at Sundusky and he incited the Miamis to destroy a French trading post. Orontondi then conducted a mission to Detroit exhorting peace. However, while there, a party of Indians killed three Frenchmen near the fort and then took refuge on Bois Blanc Island.
Detroit was strengthened by a convoy of reinforcements in September 1747 but to no avail. Orontondi destroyed the fort and resettled his band at Coshocton, Ohio. The remainder went farther east to build a new town at Kuskusky, near modern New Castle, Pennsylvania. Orontondi and his peers were further courted, among others by Pensylvanian agent Conrad Weiser in 1748. However, the agents failed to realise when Anglo-French hostilites ceased or when Orontondi himself died, probably around 1750 as the victim of an epidemic.
