THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and
considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or
standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather,
indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was
published.
Pontiac's Conspiracy
(1762-1763)
Randall, E. O. in: Pontiac's
Conspiracy,
Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Society Publications, vol. 12,
1903, pp. 410-437.
(page 419) for offensive operations. At the close of 1762 he dispatched embassadors to the different nations; to the tribes of the north on the lakes; to the northwest, the headwaters of the Mississippi and south to its mouth; to the east and the southeast. The Indians thus enlisted and banded together against the British comprised, "with few unimportant exceptions, the whole Algonquin stock." Especially were the Ohio tribes solicited and secured; the Shawanees, the Miamis, the Wyandots and the Delawares. The Senecas were the only members of the Iroquois confederacy that joined the league. The onslaught was to be made in the month of May, 1763. The tribes to rise simultaneously at the various points and each tribe destroy the British garrison in its neighborhood. It was a vast scheme, worthy the brain and courage of the greatest general and shrewdest statesman. The plan was divulged by individual Indians to officers at two or three of the posts, but was either disbelieved or its importance ignored. While this gigantic and almost chimerical plot was being developed by Pontiac and his associate chiefs, the Treaty of Peace between France
Indian forces waiting meanwhile at the gate were then to assail the surprised and half-armed soldiers. Thus through this perfidious murder Detroit would fall an easy prey to the savages and Pontiac's conspiracy have a successful inauguration. His plan was approved. Just below Detroit, on the same side of the river, was a Pottawattamie village; across the river some three miles up the current was an Ottawa village; on the same eastern side about a mile below Detroit was the Wyandot village. Along each side of the river for two or three miles were houses of the French settlers. "The King and lord of all this country," as Major Rogers called Pontiac, had located one of his homes, where he spent the early summer, on a little island (Isle a Peche) at the opening of Lake St. Clair. Here he had a small oven-shaped cabin of bark and rushes. Here he dwelt with his squaws and children, and here doubtless he might often have been seen, lounging, Indian style, half naked, on a rush mat or bearskin.
The number of warriors under the command of Pontiac is variously estimated from six hundred to two thousand. The garrison consisted of one hundred and twenty soldiers, eight officers, and about forty others capable of bearing arms. Two armed schooners, "The Beaver" and "The Gladwyn," were anchored in the river near the Fort. Pontiac's plot was revealed to Gladwyn the night before its proposed execution by an Ojibwa girl from the Pottawattamie village.1 Gladwyn thus warned was forearmed. Pontiac and his six chiefs were admitted to the council chamber. Pontiac began the harangue of peace and friendly palaver and was about to give the preconcerted signal when Gladwyn raised his hand and the sound of clashing arms and drum beating was heard without. Pontiac feared he was foiled and announcing he would "call again," next time with his squaws and children, he and his party withdrew. The next morning Pontiac, in hopes of regaining Gladwyn's confidence, repaired
expedients they removed all exterior buildings, fences, trees and other obstacles that lay within the range of their guns or that might afford protection to sneaking and stealthy Indians who would crawl snake-like close to the palisade and fire at the sentinels and loopholes, or shoot their arrow tipped with burning tow upon the roofs of the structures within the Fort. Fortunately the supply of water was inexhaustible; the provisions were wisely husbanded; friendly Canadians across the river under cover of night brought supplies. These Canadian farmers were also subject to tribute to the Indians, who seized their supplies by theft or open violence. They appealed to Pontiac and about the only creditable act recorded of that perfidious chief was his agreement to make restitution to the robbed settlers. Pontiac gave them in payment for their purloined property
inmates of the Fort was almost unbearable. Gladwyn's schooner, however, reached Ft. Niagara and returned about July 1, laden with food, ammunition and reinforcements and the most welcome news of the Treaty of Paris. Pontiac, undismayed, continued his efforts. His forces now numbered, it is recorded, about eight hundred and twenty warriors; two hundred and fifty Ottawas, his own tribe and under his immediate command; one hundred and fifty Pottawattamies, under Ninivay; fifty Wyandots under Takee; two hundred Ojibwas under Wasson, and one hundred and seventy of the same tribe under Sekahos.2
The two schooners were a serious menace to the movements of the Indians, and many desperate attempts were made to burn them by midnight attacks, and the floating of fire rafts down upon them; but all to no avail. Pontiac had the stubborn persistency of a later American general who said he would fight it out on that line if it took all summer. He exerted himself with fresh zeal to gain possession of the fort. He demanded the surrender of Gladwyn, saying a still greater force of Indians was on the march to swell the army of besiegers. Gladwyn was equally tenacious and unyielding, he proposed to "hold the fort" till the enemy were worn out or re-enforcements arrived. Pontiac sought to arouse the active aid of the neighboring Canadians, but the treaty of Paris had made them British subjects, and they dared not war on their conquerors. History scarcely furnishes a like instance of so large an Indian force struggling so long in an attack on a fortified place.
The Wyandots and Pottawattamies, however, never as enthusiastic in this war as the other tribes, late in July decided to withdraw from the besieging confederacy and make peace with the British. They did so and exchanged prisoners with Gladwyn. The Ottawas and Ojibwas, however, still held on, watching the fort and keeping up a desultory fusilade. The end was drawing nigh. On July 29 Captain James Dalzell arrived from Niagara with artillery supplies and two hundred and eighty men in twenty-two barges. Their approach to the fort was bravely contested
was doomed. The great chief who had so valiantly and unremittently fought for six months sullenly raised the siege and retired into the country of the Maumee where he vainly endeavored to arouse the Miamis and neighboring tribes to another war upon the invading British.
Though the memorable siege of Detroit, personally conducted by Pontiac, ended in failure to the great chief, his conspiracy elsewhere met with unparalleled success. The British posts, planned to be simultaneously attacked and destroyed by the savages were some dozen in number, including besides Detroit, St. Joseph, Michillimackmac, Ouiatenon, Sandusky, Miami, Presque Isle, Niagara, Le Boeuf, Venango, Fort Pitt and one or two others of lesser importance. Of all the posts from Niagara and Pitt westward, Detroit alone was able to survive the conspiracy. For the rest "there was but one unvaried tale of calamity and ruin." It was a continued series of disasters to the white men. The victories of the savages marked a course of blood from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi. We have already made note of the destruction of Fort Sandusky. On May 16 (1763) the Wyandots surrounded the fort and under pretense of a friendly visit, several of them well known to Ensign Paully, the commander, were admitted. While smoking the pipe of peace the treacherous and trusted Indians suddenly arose, seized Paully and held him prisoner while their tribesmen killed the sentry, entered the Fort, and in cold blood murdered and scalped the little band of soldiers. The traders in the Post were likewise killed and their stores plundered. The stockade was fired and burned to the ground. Paully was taken to Detroit where he was "adopted" as the husband of an old widowed squaw, from whose affectionate toils he finally escaped to his friends in the Detroit Fort.
St. Joseph was located at the mouth of the river St. Joseph, near the southern end of Lake Michigan.3 Ensign Schlosser was in command with a mere handful of soldiers, (page 428) fourteen in number. On the morning of May 25, the commander was informed that a large "party" of Pottawattamies had arrived from Detroit "to visit their relations" and the chief (Washashe) and three or four of his followers wished to hold a "friendly talk" with the commander. Disarmed of suspicion, the commander Ensign admitted the callers; the result is the oft repeated history. The entering Indians rushed to the gate, tomahawked the sentinel, let in their associates who instantly pounced upon the garrison, killed eleven of the soldiers, plundered the fort and later carried Schlosser and his three surviving companions, captives to Detroit.
Fort Michillimackinac was the most important point on the upper lakes, commanding as it did the straits of Mackinac, the passage from Lake Huron into Lake Michigan. Great numbers of the Chippewas, in the last of May, began to assemble in the vicinity of the Fort, but with every indication of friendliness. June 4, was the King's (George) birthday. It must be celebrated with pastimes. the discipline of the garrison, some thirty-five in number, was relaxed. Many squaws were admitted as visitors into the fort, while their "braves" engaged in their favorite game of ball just outside the garrison entrance. It was a spirited contest between the Ojibwas and Sacs. Captain George Etherington, commander of the Fort and his Lieutenant, Leslie, stood without the palisades to watch the sport. Suddenly the ball was thrown near the open gate and behind the two officers. The Indians pretending to rush for the ball instantly encircled and seized Etherington and Leslie, and crowded their way into the Fort where the squaws supplied them with tomahawks and hatchets, which they had carried in, hidden under their blankets. Quick as a flash, the instruments of death were gleaming in the sunlight and Lieutenant Jamet and fifteen soldiers and a trader were struck down never to rise. The rest of the garrison were made prisoners and five of them afterwards tomahawked. All of the peaceful traders were plundered and carried off. The prisoners were conveyed to Montreal. The French population of the Post was undisturbed. Captain Etherington succeeded in sending timely warning to the little garrison at La Bay (Green Bay); Lieutenant Gorrell the commandant (page 429) and his men were brought as prisoners to the Michillimackinac fort and thence sent with Etherington and Leslie to the Canadian capital. The little post of Ste. Marie (Sault) had been partially destroyed and abandoned. The garrison inmates had withdrawn to Michillimackinac and shared its fate.
The garrison at Ouiatenon4 suituated on the Wabash- (Indian Ouabache)- near the present location of Lafayette (Indiana) then in the very heart of the western forest, as planned, was to have been massacred on June 1. Through the information given by the French at the post, the soldiers were apprised of their intended fate and through the intervention of the same French friends, the Indians were dissuaded from executing their sanguinary purpose. Lieutenant Jenkins and several of his men were made prisoners by stratagem, the remainder of the garrison readily surrendered.
On the present site of Fort Wayne (Indiana) was Fort Miami5 at the confluence of the rivers St. Joseph and St. Mary, which unite to form the Maumee. The Fort at this time was in charge of Ensign Holmes. On May 27, the commander was decoyed from the fort by the story of an Indian girl, that a squaw lay dangerously ill in a wigwam near the stockade, and needed medical assistance. The humane Holmes forgetting his caution on an errand of mercy, walked without the gate and was instantly shot dead. The soldiers in the palisade, seeing the corpse of their leader and hearing the yells and whoopings of the exultant Indians, offered no resistance, admitted the redmen and gladly surrendered on promise of having their lives spared.
Fort Presqu'Isle stood on the southern shore of Lake Erie at the site of the present town of Erie. The block house, an unusually strong and commodious one, was in command of Ensign Christie with a courageous and skillful garrison of twenty-seven men. Christie learning of the attack on the other posts "braced up" for his "visit from the hell hounds" as he appropriately called the enemy. He had not long to wait. On June 15, (page 430) about two hundred of them put in an appearance from Detroit. They sprang into the ditch around the fort and with reckless audacity approached to the very walls and threw fire-balls of pitch upon the roof and sides of the fortress. Again and again the wooden retreat was on fire, but amid showers of bullets and arrows the flames were extinguished by the fearless soldiers. The savages rolled logs before the fort and erected strong breast works from behind which they could discharge their shots and throw their fire balls. For nearly three days a terrific contest ensued. The savages finally undermined the palisades to the house of Christie, which was at once set on fire nearly stifling the garrison with the smoke and heat for Christie's quarters were close to the block house. Longer resistance was vain, "the soldiers pale and haggard, like men who had passed through a fiery furnace, now issued from their scorched and bullet pierced stronghold." The surrendering soldiers were taken to Pontiac's quarters on the Detroit river.
Three days after the attack on Presqu'Isle, Fort Le Boeuf, twelve miles south on Le Boeuf creek, one of the head sources of the Alleghany river, was surrounded and burned. Ensign Price and a garrison of thirteen men miraculously escaped the flames and the encircling savages and endeavored to reach Fort Pitt. About half of them succeeded, the remainder died of hunger and privation by the way.6
Fort Venango, still farther south, on the Alleghany river, was captured by a band of Senecas, who gained entrance by resorting to the oft employed treachery of pretending friendliness. The entire garrison was butchered, Lieutenant Gordon the commander slowly tortured to death and the fort burned to the ground. Not a soul escaped to tell the horrible tale.
Fort Ligonier, another small post commanded by Lieutenant Archibald Blane, forty miles southeast of Fort Pitt was attacked but successfully held out till relieved by Bouquet's Expedition.
Thus within a period of about a month from the time the first blow was struck at Detroit, Pontiac was in full possession of nine out of the twelve posts so recently belonging to and, it was thought, securely occupied by the British. The fearful threat of (page 431) the great Ottawa conspirator that he would exterminate the whites west of the Alleghanies, was well nigh fulfilled. Over two hundred traders with their servants fell victims to his remorseless march of slaughter and rapine and goods estimated at over half a million dollars became the spoils of the confederated tribes.7
The result of Pontiac's widespread and successful uprising struck untold terror to the settlers along the western frontier of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. The savages roused to the highest pitch of fury and weltering in the blood of their victims were burning the cabins and crops of the defenseless whites and massacring the men, women and children. Many hundred of the forest dwellers with their families flocked to the stockades and protected posts. Particularly in the Pennsylvania country did dread and consternation prevail. The frontiersmen west of the Alleghanies fled east over the mountains to Carlisle, Lancaster and numbers even continued their flight to Philadelphia. Pontiac was making good his threat that he would drive the pale face back to the sea.
But Forts Niagara and Pitt were still in the possession of the "red coats" as the British soldiers were often called by the forest "redskins." Following the total destruction of Le Boeuf and Venango, the Senecas made an attack on Fort Niagara, an extensive work on the east side of Niagara River near its mouth as it empties into Lake Ontario. This fort guarded the access to the whole interior country by way of Canada and the St. Lawrence. The fort was strongly built and fortified and was far from the center of the country of the warpath Indians, for with the exception of the Senecas, the Iroquois tribes inhabiting eastern Canada and New York did not participate in Pontiac's conspiracy. The attack on Fort Niagara therefore was half hearted and after a feeble effort the beseigers despaired of success or assistance and abandoned the blockade, which only lasted a few days.
Fort Pitt was the British military headquarters of the western frontier. It was the Gibraltar of defense, protecting the eastern colonies from invasion by the western Indians. The consummation of Pontiac's gigantic scheme depended upon (page 432) the capture of Fort Pitt. It was a strong fortification at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers. Its northern ramparts were faced with brick on the side looking down the Ohio. Fort Pitt stood "far aloof in the forest and one might journey eastward full two hundred miles before the English settlements began to thicken." The garrison consisted of three hundred and thirty soldiers, traders and backwoodsmen, besides about one hundred women and a greater number of children. Captain Simeon Ecuyer, a brave Swiss officer, was in command. Every preparation was made for the expected attack. All houses and cabins outside the palisade were levelled to the ground. A rude fire engine was constructed to extinguish any flames that might be kindled by the burning arrows of the Indians. In the latter part of May the hostile savages began to approach the vicinity of the Fort. On June 22, they opened fire "upon every side at once." The garrison replied by a discharge of howitzers, the shells of which bursting in the midst of In the Indians, greatly amazed and disconcerted them. The Indians then boldly demanded a surrender of the fort, saying vast numbers of braves were on the way to destroy it. Ecuyer displayed equal bravado and replied that several thousand British soldiers were on the way to punish the tribes for their uprising. The Fort was now in a state of siege. For about a month, "nothing occurred except a series of petty and futile attacks," in which the Indians, mostly Ottawas, Ojibwas and Delwares, did small damage. On July 26, under a flag of truce, the besiegers again demanded surrender. It was refused and Ecuyer told the savages that if they again showed themselves near the Fort he would throw "bombshells" amongst them and "blow them to atoms." The assault was continued with renewed fury.
Meanwhile Sir Jeffrey Amherst, the commander-in-chief of the British forces,
awakening to the gravity of the situation, ordered Colonel Bouquet, a brave and
able officer in his Majesty's service, to take command of certain specified
forces and proceed as rapidly as possible to the relief of Fort Pitt, and then
make aggressive warfare on the western tribes. Bouquet leaving his headquarters
at Philadelphia, reached Carlisle late in June, where he heard for the first time
of the calamities at Presqu'Isle, Le Boeuf and Venango. He left Carlisle with a
force of five hundred men, some of them the pick of the British regulars, but
many of them aged veterans enfeebled by disease and long severe exposure.
Bouquet had seen considerable service in Indian warfare. He was not likely to
be caught napping. He marched slowly along the Cumberland Valley and crept
cautiously over the mountains, passing Forts Loudon and Bedford, the latter
surrounded with Indians, to Fort Ligonier which as noted above, had been
blockaded for weeks by the savages who, as at Bedford, fled at Bouquet's
approach. On August 5th, the little army, foot sore and tired and half
famished, reached a small stream within twenty-five miles of Fort Pitt, known
as Bushy Run. Here in the afternoon they were suddenly and fiercely fired upon
by a superior number of Indians. A terrific contest ensued, only ended by the
darkness of night. The encounter was resumed next day; the odds were against
the British who were surrounded and were being cut down in great numbers by the
Indians who skulked behind trees and logs and in the grass and declivities.
Bouquet resorted to a ruse which was signally successful. He formed his men in
a wide semi-circle, and from the center advanced a company toward the enemy,
the advancing company then made a feint of retreat, the deceived Indians
followed close after and fell into the ambuscade. The outwitted savages were
completely routed and fled in hopeless confusion. Bouquet had won one of the greatest
victories in western Indian warfare. His loss was about one hundred and fifty
men, nearly a third of his army. The loss of the Indians was not so great. As
rapidly as possible Bouquet pushed on to Fort Pitt which he entered without
molestation on August 25. The extent and the end of Pontiac's con-
___________________
1 (*, p. 421) There are many versions of the divulging of the plot; one that it was by an old squaw; another that a young squaw of doubtful character told it to one of the subordinate officers; still another that it was by an Ottawa warrior. Parkman seems to favor the Ojibwa girl, called Catherine and said to be the mistress of Gladwyn. It is certain, however, that Gladwyn was warned.
2 (*, p. 425) Parkman observes that as the warriors brought their squaws and children with them, the whole number of Indians congregated about Detroit, at this time, must have been more than three thousand.
3 (*, p. 427) This post of St. Joseph was the site of a Roman Catholic Mission founded about the year 1700. Here was one of the most prominent French military posts.
4 (*, p. 429) Also spelled Ouachtanon and Ouatanon.
5 (†, p. 429) There were several forts called Miami in those early days. This one was built in 1749-50 by the French commandant Raimond.- See page 181 supra.
6 (*, p. 430) Bryant's (Scribner's) History of the United States.
7 (*, p. 431) De Hass - Indian Wars.
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