OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - HISTORY: Chapter 7 (Abbott, John S. C., 1875)
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			Chapter VII
		      Siege of Detroit	

   Pontiac, having been frustrated in his plan of taking Detroit by surprise,
dispatcher his runners, in all directions, to summon the warriors, of var-
ious tribes, to surround the fort, assail it with constant vigilance, and 
thus starve the garrison into capitulation. During the ninth, the warriors
were rapidly assembling and taking their positions. On Tuesday morning, the
tenth of May, a general assault was undertaken, to try the strength of the
fort.
   All the day long a hot fire was kept up on both sides. No bullets were
thrown away. Every shot followed deliberate aim. On each side several were
killed, and many more wounded. The savages were very careful to post them-
selves behind fences, trees, stumps, and particularly in, and behind several
barns and other buildings, which were within musket shot of the palisades.
The garrison heated some spikes red hot, and shooting them from their can-
non, set fire to these buildings, and thus drove the savages from their
shelter. The soldiers fired with such accuracy of aim, that soon the savages
did not venture to approach within reach of their bullets.
   There was a low ridge, at a short distance, from whose summit the pickets
could be overlooked. The savages crept up this hill, and, lying flat upon 
the ground, endeavored to continue their fire. But if they raised their head
in the slightest degree to take aim, they were very sure to be struck by the
bullet of some sharpshooter. Finding that they accomplished very little in 
this way they gave up the plan.
   It was estimated that there were over a thousand savages surrounding the
extensive area of the fort. Should they make a simultaneous attack, from
different points, the situation of the garrison would be hopeless. Neither
were the inmates of the fort prepared for a protracted siege. They had but
three weeks' provision, even when put upon the allowance of but one pound of
bread and two ounces of port for each man a day.
   Through the intervention of the French, whom the Indians manifested not 
the slightest disposition of harm, a truce and conference were proposed. 
Pontiac sent a delegation of five warriors into the fort, with the request
that the commandant should send two of his officers to confer with Pontiac
himself at his camp. He also, for some unknown reason, suggested that Major
Campbell, whom he well knew, might be one of the commisioners. Lieutenant
McDougall was appointed as the other. Several of the French accompanied the
commissioners.
   Pontiac proposed the following fair, and, considering the desparate con-
dition of the garrison, very liberal terms of capitulation: "Let the English
troops lay down their arms as our fathers, the French, have been obliged to
do. They must leave the cannon, the magazines, the merchant goods, and the
two armed vessels. We will then escort the garrison in safety to their 
friends at Niagara."
   To this proposition Major Campbell promptly replied: "My commanding 
officer did not send me here to deliver up the fort to the Indians or to any
one else. He will defend it so long as a single man is left to stand by his
side."
   Hostilities were immediately recommenced. The savages pressed the siege
with so much vigor that, for several weeks, "the whole garrison, officers, 
soldiers, merchants, and servants were on the ramparts every night. Not one 
of them slept in a house, excepting the sick and wounded in the hospital."
   The most vigorous efforts were made to replenish the stores of the star-
ving garrison, but with only partial successs. Three weeks after the commen-
cement of the siege, on the 30th of May, the sentinal on duty, from his 
look-out, announced that a large fleet of boats was seen approaching from
far down the river. It was not doubted that the boats contained a supply of
provisions and reinforcements from Niagara. All hurried to the bastions to
gaze upon the welcome spectacle.
   But Pontiac was a vigilant foe. His scouts had been stationed along the
northern shores of Lake Erie to report immediately upon the appearance of
any boats in the distant horizon. These sharp watchers discerned the distant
squadron, and, by the swiftest runners, transmitted the intelligence to 
their chief. 
   About sixty miles east from the mouth of the Detroit River, on the north-
ern or Canada shore of Lake Erie, there is a remarkable cape called Point
Pelee'. Pontiac sagaciously surmised that the fleet of barges would draw up
under the shelter of that cape for the night. Here he stationed a large
party for the boatmen to sleep in them, or in them to cook their food. As
Pontiac had imagined, the little fleet entered a sheltered cove on the cape, 
and the voyagers prepared for their night's encampment. The boats were care-
fully moored, and the weary boatmen, having built their fires, cooked and 
eaten their supper, and stationed their guard, fell asleep. No one appre-
hended danger at such a distance from Detroit.
   Just before the dawn of day these warriors crept from the ambush, and, 
more noiseless than the panther, in their moccasined tread, approached the 
spot where the English were soundly sleeping. A tremendous discharge of 
musketry was heard; a storm of lead fell upon the sleepers, and apparently
an innumerable company of savages came rushing from the darkness, making
night hideous with their yells and their war whoops. Brandishing their
tomahawks they fell upon the surprised boatmen with awful slaughter.
   One officer and about thirty men effected their escape. Being very near
the beach they sprang into a boat and crossed the lake to the southern or
Ohio shore. The others were all either killed or taken captive. The exhul-
tant savages formed all the barges in a line, and compelling their prisoners
to navigate the boats, entered the mouth of the river and were ascending 
with their valuable booty of provisions and ammuntions to Detroit.
   Four English boatmen were placed in each boat under a strong guard of In-
dians. The boats were kept close to the shore, along which marched a large
detachment of warriors, rifle in hand, ready instantly to shoot down any one
who should make the slightest attempt at escape.
   The poor creatures who were killed were scalped, and their bloody tro-
phies of barbarian victory were borne along on poles as banners. It was this
captured fleet of batteaux which the sentinel had descried ascending the ri-
ver. Terrible was the disappointed of the starving garrison when they heard, 
from the boats in the distance, and from the escort on the shore, the ex-
ultant yells and the defiant war whoop, which told them that the boats, 
with all their precious cargoes, had fallen into the hands of their foes.
   When the line of boats was directly opposite the town, four soldiers, in
one of the boats, choosing rather to die by the rifle than by torture, which
they knew to be the fate for which they were reserved, resolved upon an 
utterly desparate attempt to escape. Suddenly they changed the course of the 
boat towards the western shore, where the armed vessels were at anchor. The
river was here about three-quarters of a mile in width. With frantic shouts
they called upon the crew to come to their help. The movement was so sudden,
and so rapidly was the boat driven out into the stream, by the energies of 
despair, that the Indian guard leaped overboard and swam ashore. One of them
dragged one of the soldiers with him, and both were drowned. The Indians in 
the other boats fired upon the fugitives, but did not dare to pursue them,
in consequence of the cannonade with which they were assailed from the armed
schooner. These heroic men soon reached the vessel. One only of the three 
was wounded.
   The Indians, alarmed by this escape, immediately landed all the boats, 
and transferred their cargoes to the shore. Then these human demons scalped
and roasted their victims. The shrieks of the sufferers, under the dreadful
torture, was borne across the water to the garrison, causing every bosom, to
burn with the desire for vengence.
   A few days after these appalling events, an armed vessel was sent from
Niagara with supplies, and with a reinforcement of about fifty troops on
board. Early in the month of June the vessel entered the mouth of the river.
A large detachement of Indians was sent down the river, from the siege of 
Detroit, to intercept the vessel. In the darkness of the night they embarked
in a fleet of canoes, and silently they descended the swift current of the
stream.
   The wind having died away, the vessel dropped anchor near the head of a 
small island called Fighting Island. The captain of the vessel ordered his
men to lie concealed, with guns loaded and primed. The small cannon, also, 
which he had on board, was charged almost to the muzzle with grape shot. The
Indians were suffered to approach close to the vessel, when the signal was 
given by the stroke of a hammer upon the mast, and the little vessel itself
quivered with the explosion which ensued. It seemed suddenly to be converted
into a volcano in violent eruption. The nearest canoes were almost blown out
of the water. The men all took sure, though deadly aim, and scarcely a bul-
let failed of accomplishing its deadly mission. The slaughter of the Indians,
crowded together in their frail canoes, must have been terrible. How great 
their loss was never known. The panic-stricken warriors paddled away with
the utmost speed.
   The next morning the vessel dropped a little farther down the river, 
where she was detained six days for want of wind. On the thirteenth of June
a fair breeze came in from the south, and on the thirteenth of the month the 
blessed relief reached the half-famished garrison in safety. There were now
three armed vessels lying at anchor before the fort, in the broad and rapid
river. Pontiac was anxious to destroy them. He was fully conscious that he 
could not capture them.
   With the skill of a European engineer he commenced building far up the
river several immense fire rafts which, laden with combustibles, would be 
almost like solid island on fires floating down against the vessels. Several
such attempts were made, but they were thwarted by English energy and skill.
The following extract from a letter dated Detroit, July 6, 1763, gives one a
vivid idea of the condition of the English settlement and garrison during 
the siege.
   "We have been besieged here two months by six hundred Indians. We have 
been upon the watch night and day, from the commanding officer to the lowest
soldier, since the 8th of May. We have not had our clothes off, nor slept a
night since the siege began. We shall continue so till we have a reinforce-
ment. Then we hope to give a good account of the savages. Their camp lies 
about a mile and a half from the fort. That is the nearest they choose to 
come now.
   "For the first two or three days we were attacked by three or four hun-
dred of them. But we gave them so warm a reception that they do not care for
coming to see us, though they now and then get behind a barn or a house and
fire at us at three or four hundred yards distance. Day before yesterday we
killed a chief and three others, and wounded some more. Yesterday we went up
and our sloop and battered their cabins in such a matter that they are glad
to keep farther off."
   The next day, the 9th of July, another letter was written, from which we
make the following extracts. It is composed in a peculiar style of forced
mirth and irony:
   "You have, long ago, heard of our pleasant situation! But the storm is
blown over. Was it not very agreeable to hear, every day, of their cutting
and carving, boiling and eating our companions? To see every day dead bodies,
floating down the river, mangled and disfigured? But Britons, you know, 
never shrink. We always appeared gay to spite the rascals. They boiled and 
ate Sir Robert Devers. And we are informed by Mr. Panly, who escaped the 
other day from one of the stations, which was surprised at the breaking out
of the war, and which he commanded, that he had seen an Indian have the skin
of Captain Robertson's arm for a tobacco pouch.
   "Three days ago a party of us went to demolis a breast-work which the In-
dians had made. We finished our work and were returning home. But the fort, 
espying a party of Indians following us as if they intended to attack us, we
were ordered back, and making our dispositions, we advanced briskly. Our 
front was fired upon warmly, and we returned the fire about twenty men, 
filed off the the left; and about twenty French volunteers filed off to the
right, and got between the Indians and their camp fires.
   The savages immediately fled, and we returned, as was prudent; for a 
sentry, whom I had placed, informed me that he saw a body of the Indians
coming down the woods. Our party, being but about eighty, was not able to 
cope with their united bands. In short, we beat them handsomely, and yet
did not much hurt to them, for they ran extremely well. We only killed their
leader and wounded three others. One of them fired at me at the distance of
fifteen or twenty paces. But I suppose my terrible visage made him tremble.
I think I shot him."
   The leader who was killed was one of the prominent chiefs of the Ottawas.
It is said that both of the English commissioners, Major Campbell and Major
McDougall, were, it would seem perfidiously, detained by Pontiac. There may
have been some explanation of this which has not been transmitted to us. A
direct act of treachery of that kind was not in character with Pontiac.
   One of the Ottawa tribe, in revenge for the death of his chief, fell upon
Major Campbell and murdered him. "The brutal assasin," writes Mr. B. B. 
Thatcher, "fled to Saginaw, apprehensive of the vengeance of Pontiac. And it
is but justice to the memory of that chieftain to say, that he was indignant
at the atrocious act, and that he used every possible exertion to apprehend 
the murderer."
   On the 26th of June a detachment, of three hundred regular troops, ar-
rived from Niagara. They came in strong, well-armed vessels, which the sava-
ges could not venture to attack from their frail birch canoes.
   Apprehensive that Pontiac, in view of such an accession of strength to 
the garrison, might immediately raise the siege, and escape with his war-
riors unpunished, arrangements were made to attack him that very night. But
Pontiac proved himself decidedly a more able captain than the English leader.
   He immediately sent all the women and children away, apparently broke up
his camp, and stationed his whole force of warriors in ambush upon the route
which he knew that garrison much take to attack his camp. It is astonishing
that the English, after all their past experience, could again be caught in
such a trap. With singular infatuation they presssed heedlessly along in the
darkness till they came to a bridge, which crossed quite a wide brook, which,
since that time, has been not inappropriately called Bloody Run. Very high
grass and dense thickets were on both sides of the sluggish stream. Here the
warriors were concealed, every one with his rifle in hand, ready to take
deadly aim at any who might be crossing the bridge.
   The thoughless troups, two hundred in number, were crossing the bridge, 
hastening forward to catch the savages before they could have time to escape.
Suddenly a volley of musketry was poured in upon the troops. Nearly every 
bullet struck a man. Many were killed. Many more were wounded. The command-
ant was one of the first who fell. All were thrown into consternation. As
the English turned, in disorderly retreat, the bullets of the foe pursued
them. The unerring aim of the Indians may be inferred from the fact, that
while seventy were killed outright, but forty were merely wounded. This was
an extraordinary case. Generally in battle many are wounded to one who is
killed.
   This engagement took place at night about a mile and a half above the 
fort. This humiliating defeat aroused the English to more energetic action.
An army of three thousand men was promptly raised, and sent to the relief of
the ports on the lakes. Pontiac saw at once that he could not successfully
compete with such a force. Too proud himself to negotiate for peace, he
retired, far away, to Illinois. The chiefs of several of the coalesced 
tribes settled the terms with the English officers.
   The movements of Pontiac were still watched with much anxiety. It was 
greatly feared that his busy mind was active in organizing a new coalition
among the remoter tribes. In a letter from Detroit, dated December 3, we 
find the following expressions of alarm:
   "We have been lately very busy in providing abundance of wheat, flour, 
Indian corn and peas, from the country. In this we have so far succeeded as
not to be in danger of being starved out. 'Tis said that Pontiac and his 
tribe have gone to the Mississippi, but we do not believe it. The Wyandotts,
of Sandusky, are much animated against us. They have been reinforced lately
by many villans from all the nations concerned in the war."
   Shortly after this was written: "About twelve days ago several scalping
parties of the Pottawatamies came to the settlement. We now sleep in our
clothes, expecting alarm every night."
   Early in the Summer of 1764, General Bradstreet succeeded in convening and
immense council of Indians at Niagara. Nearly two thousand Indians attended.
They represented twenty-two tribes. This fact shows very clearly how vast 
the operations which the mind of Pontiac had been controlling. The haughty
chieftain, while he gave his consent that the tribes, in the vicinity of
Detroit, should make peace with the English, by whom they were now over-
powered, would assume no personal responsibility in the act.
   "When I make peace," he said, "it shall be such a one as will be useful
to me, and to the King of Great Britain. But he has not as yet proposed his
terms."
   It was very evident that, for many months, the movements of Pontiac 
caused great solicitude throughout all the extreme western frontier posts.
   "Mr. B. B. Thatcher, in his Life of Pontiac, writes: "It would appear
that Pontiac was instigated by some of the French. It is believed that only
individuals among them was guilty of the practice alleged. Those at Detroit
conducted themselves amicably even during the war; and some of them, as we 
have seen, volunteeredto fight against the Indians. Still where Pontiac now 
was, there would be the best possible opportunity of exerting a sinister in-
fluence over him, there being many Frenchmen among the Illinois, and they 
not of the most exemplary character in all cases.
   "On the who it seems to us probably, that while the last mentioned combin-
ation was really an undertaking of his own, it might have been checked at 
any moment, and, perhaps, never would have been commenced, had not Pontiac
been renewedly and repeatedly prejudiced, against the English interest, by
the artifice of some of the French and, perhaps, some of the Indians.
   "However his principles in regard to that subject might remain unchanged,
no abstract inducement, we think, would have urged him to his present mea-
sures, under the circumstances to which he is now reduced. But, be that as
it may, the principles themselves need not be doubted. Nor can we forbear
admiring the energy of the man in pursuing the exemplification and vindica-
tion of them in practice. His exertions grew only the more daring as his
prospects became the more desperate."
   It is now difficult for us now to conceive of the terror which the coali-
tion of Pontiac inspired. His allies were found as far north as Nova Scotia,
as far south as Virginia, and on the west nearly to the banks of the Missi-
ssippi. The following brief extracts from letters, written from the several
posts during the year 1763, show how extensive and deep was the alarm which 
was excited. From Fort Pitt, on the 31st of May, 1763, it as written:
   "There is most melancholy news here. The Indians have broken out in 
divers places, and murdered Colonel C--- and his family. An Indian has 
brought a war belt to Tusquerora, who says that Detroit was invested and St.
Dusky cut off. All Levy's goods were stopped at Tusquerora by the Indians. 
Last night eight or ten men were killed at Beaver Creek. We hear of scalping
every hour. Messrs. Gray and Allison's horses, twenty-five, loaded with 
skins are all taken."
   A fortnight after this we read in a letter from the same post:
   "We have destroyed the upper and lower towns. By to-morrow night we shall
be in a good posture of defense. Every morning, an hour before day, the 
whole garrison are at their alarm posts. Ten days ago the Indians killed
Patrick Dunn, and a mare of Major Smallman's; also two other men. Mr. Craw-
ford is made prisoner, and his people are all murdered. Our small posts I am
afraid are all gone."
   We have previously described the destruction at Point Pelee' of the party
sent from Niagara with reinforcements and supplies for the garrison at De-
troit. In the following letter from Albany, dated June 16, there is refer-
ence to this calamitous event:   
   "You must have heard of the many murders committed on the English by 
different tribes of Indians, at different places. This makes many fear that
the rupture is, or will become, general among the southern tribes. Lieuten-
ant Cuyler, with a party of Green's Rangers, consisting of ninety-seven men,
set out from Niagara with provisions for Detroit. Cuyler sent out his ser-
vant to gather greens. The lad being gone so long, a party was sent for him, 
who found him scalped. He put his men in the best position for a sudden
attack. The Indians fell upon them, and killed and took all but the Lieu-
tenant and thirty of his men, who retreated back to Niagara, leaving near 
two hundred barrels of provisions with the enemy."
   In a letter from Winchester, Virginia, June 22, we find the following
statement: "Last night I reached this place. I have been at Fort Cumberland
several days, but the Indians having killed nine people there, made me think
it prudent to remove from those parts, from which I suppose near five hun-
dred families have run away this week. It was a most melancholy sight to see
such consternation and hurry that they had scarcely anything with them but
their children."
   The next day we find the following, in a letter from Philadelphia: "By an
express just now from Fort Pitt, we learn that the Indians are continually
about that place. Out of one hundred and twenty traders, but two or three 
escaped. It is now out of doubt that there is a general insurrection among
all the Indians."
   A gentleman writes again from Philadelphia on the 27th of July: "I re-
turned home last night. There has been a good deal said in the papers, but 
not more than is strictly true. Shippersburg and Carlisle are now become our
frontiers. None are living at their plantations but such as have their
houses stockaded. Upwards of two hundred women and children are now living 
in Fort Loudoun, a spot not more than one hundred feet square. Great Briar
and Jackson's River are depopulated. Upwards of three hundred persons have
been killed or taken prisoners. Over a territory one hundred miles in 
breadth and three hundred in length not one family is to be found. By these
means there are near twenty thousand people left destitute of their habita-
tions."
   Nothing can show more conclusively than the foregoing extracts the wide-
spread terror which pervaded the frontier community, and the genius of the
man who could organize and control so vast a coalition of untutored savages.
Every well authenticated anecdote of Pontiac exhibits him as a man of re-
markable nobility of character, considering his origin and the influences by
which he was surrounded.
   It will be remembered that the first detachment of British troops sent to
take formal possession of the posts on the lakes conquered from the French 
were led by Major Rogers. Pontiac met the detachment and escorted it safely
to Detroit. Major Rogers confesses that, but for his protection, he and his
men would inevitably have been massacred.
   As a compliment for this protection, Major Rogers sent Pontiac a bottle 
of brandy. His counselors advised him not to taste it. "It must be poison-
ed," said they; "and it is sent with a design to kill you." Pontiac laughed
at their suspicions, saying, "He cannot take my life, for I have saved his."
   Though the French had surrendered all their posts upon the lakes, there
was still a station, under their control, among the powerful tribe of the 
Illinois Indians. To this station Pontiac, with quite an imposing retinue of
his warriors had retired. The English, then at peace with France, sent 
Lieutenant Frazer, with a company of soldiers, to that station, - undoubt-
edly as a spy upon the movements of the chieftain.
   Pontiac understoond it in that light, and considered it an act of ag-
gression. He, therefore, called upon the French Commandant to deliver his
visitor into his hands. The officer attempted to pacify him. Pontiac replied:
   "You, the French, were the cause of my striking the English. This is 
your tomahawk which I hold in my hand."
   The Indians had by this time assembled in such large numbers as to be
quite capable of taking the law into their own hands. Pontiac ordered all
the English to be arrested at once. This was promptly done. The whole com-
pany was seized, with the exception of Frazer, who effected his escape to
the protection of the French garrison. The exasperated savages threatened
the death of all the prisoners unless their leader should be given up. The
gallant Englishman, to save the lives of his comrades, came forward and
surrendered himself.
   The Indians were eager to put them all to death. Even with civilized 
nations this is the penalty of spies in time of war. Pontiac protected them
all, and held back the tomahawks of his warriors. But considering the state
of excitement among the Indians, and the improbability of his restraining
individual vengeance, he advised Lieutenant Frazer to leave the country. He 
could not, in safety, traverse the wilderness, which was filled with roving
Indian bands. A batteaux was therefore provided for him, and he floated down
the river safely to New Orleans. "Pontiac," said Lieutenant Frazer, "is a 
clever fellow. Had it not been for him, I should never have got away alive."
   We have but very scanty memorials of the eloquence of this extraordinary
man. It is perhaps probable that he excelled in deeds rather than in words.
We have, however, one of his speeched recorded, which he delivered in a con-
ference with the French, at Detroit, on the 23d of May, 1763. He was endeav-
oring to persuade the French to unite their forces with his, in the coal-
ition against the English. It will be perceived that his speech indicates
a very strong and a very logical mind. He spoke as follows:
   "My brothers, I have no doubt but that this war is very troublesome to 
you. My warriors, who are continually passing through your settlements, 
frequently kill your cattle and injure you propery. I am sorry. I hope that
you do not think that I am pleased with this conduct of our young men.
   "As a proof of my friendship, recollect the war you had seventeen years
ago, and the part I took in it. The northern nations combined to destroy 
you. Who defended you? Was it not myself and my young men? The chief, 
Mackinac, said, in council, that he would carry to his native village the 
head of your chief warrior, and that he would eat his heart and drink his
blood.
   "Did I not then join you? Did I not go to his camp, and say to him, "If
you wish to kill the French, you must pass over my body and the bodies of
my young men?' Did I not take hold of the tomahawk with you, and aid you in 
fighting your battles with Mackinac, and in driving him home to his coun-
try? Why do you think I would turn my arms against you? Am I not the same 
French Pontiac who assisted you seventeen years ago? I am a Frenchman, and I
wish to die a Frenchman.
   "My brothers, I begin to see that, instead of assisting us in our war 
with the English, you are actually assisting them. I have already told you, 
and I now tell you again, that when I undertook this war it was only your
interest I sought, and that I knew what I was about. I yet know what I am
about. This year they must all perish. The Master of Life so orders it. His
will is known to us, and we must do as He says. And you, my brothers, who
know Him better than we do, wish to oppose His will.
   "Until now, I have avoied urging you upon this subject, in the hope that, 
if you could not aid, you would not injure us. I did not wish to ask you to
fight with us against the English. But I did not believe that you would take
part with them. You will say that you are not with them. I know it; but your
conduct amounts to the same thing. You will tell them all we do and say. You
carry our counsels and plans to them. Now, take your choice. You must be 
entirely French, like ourselves, or entirely English. If you are French, 
take this belt, for yourselves and your young men, and join us. If you are
English, we declare war against you."
   In the year 1767 there was a large council of Indians held in Illinois to
deliberate upon the posture of affairs. It is probable that the question was
whether the war against the English should be renewed. An Indian of the 
Peoria tribe was present as a spy, to report the proceedings to the English.
This Indian, at the close of a speech by Pontiac, plunged a knife into his
heart, and the great chieftain fell dead upon the spot. Carver says that he
committed the foul deed, "either commissioned by one of the English govern-
ors, or instigated by the love he bore the English nation."
   The savage assassin fled. But the love of the Indians for their great
chieftain was such that they avenged his death with the utmost severity of
barbarian punishment. Four tribes - the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatamies, 
Sacs, and Foxes - made common cause with the friends of Pontiac to annil-
hilate the tribe to which the murderer belonged. The Peoria tribe, and two 
others who joined them, were, it is said, utterly exterminated, - men, women
and children. Mr. Thatcher, writing of this event, says:
   "There is little doubt that Pontiac continued firm in his original prin-
ciples and purposes - that he endeavored to influence, and did influence, a
large number of his countrymen - and that the Peoria savage, whether a per-
sonal enemy or spy, or, what is more probable, both, did assassinate him
with the expectation, to say the least, of doing an acceptable service to 
some foreign party, and a lucrative one for himself.
   "We need not assert that he was commissioned by an English governor. Pon-
tiac was an indefatigable and a powerful man, and a dangerous foe to the 
English. He was in a situation to make enemies among his countrymaen, and 
the English were generally in a situation and disposition to avail them-
selves of that circumstance."
   The death of Pontiac terminated, for several years, all hostile ties be-
tween the English and the Indians. For eight years there was comparative
peace on the frontiers; and this peace would doubtless have been continued
but for the atrocities inflicted upon the Indians by vagabond white men.
   English traders, crossing the Alleghenies, spread rapidly through all the
extensive Valley of the Ohio, both north and south of that river, exchanging
their commodities for the peltries of the red men. Quite a mania for emi-
gration rose on the east side of the mountains. The Valley of the Ohio was
described as a paradise in its genial clime, its fertility, and its wonder-
ful beauty of hills and vales and crystal streams. It was said, and perhaps
with truth, that there was no other river on the globe which surpassed the
Ohio in all the elements of attractiveness for happy homes.
   The La Belle Riviere of the French, from its rise at the confluence of 
the Allegheny and Monongahela at Pittsburgh, flows gently, in a southwest-
erly direction, through beautifully undulating hills and wide-spread lovely
valleys, a distance of nine hundred miles to the Mississippi River. It is
six hundred and forty miles, in an air-line from Pittsburgh to its mouth.
There is certainly not a more luxuriant realm of a more genial clime upon 
the globe. 
   At the present time this magnificent valley is divided into ten states, 
all of which are drained by the Ohio and its many tributaries. These states
are Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee
and Alabama.
   "The southern streams have freshets in them, one after another, so as 
scarcely ever to be all up at any one time. When the freshets in the south-
ern branches have done pouring their increased waters into the Ohio, the
northern ones begin to pour theirs into it, though, inasmuch as the streams
in the State of Ohio all rise in about the same latitude, and on the same
elevation, they often rise about the same time. The Allegheny and Monogahela
branches rise in the Allegheny Mountains, among the snows and ices of that 
Alpine regoin, and these are the last to swell the Ohio. Those who dwell
along the banks of this fine river, know, from the driftwood and other indi-
cations, what particular stream has produced the freshet. The Big Sandy 
sometimes brings down, from its sources in North Carolina, the reed-cane. 
The hemlock floats from the head-waters of the Allegheny. When this last 
river is up - and it is the last to rise - the rafts of pine-boards descend
the Ohio covered with families removing into the Western States. These bring
along with them their all - their wives, children, horses, cattle, dogs, 
fowls, wagons, and household furniture of all sorts." (History of Ohio by 
Caleb Atwater)
   In the early history of the country, this broad, gentle, beautiful stream
of crystal water, about eight hundred yards in average breadth, presented a
most animating and joyous spectacle. Large and commodious flat-bottomed 
boats would float down the current in a bright June morning. Each boat would
contain a single family, men, women and children, with all their animals and
household furniture. A little cabin at one end of the boat furnished pro-
tection from the weather. It was the parlor, the bed-room, and variety 
sported upon the glassy surface of the stream. A great abundance of game was
seen upon the shores, including the buffalo and elk.
   Sometimes a single raft of pine-boards, half an acre in extent, would 
contain a neat log hut, and present a very peculiar aspect of rural beauty,
as horsess, sheep, dogs and poultry, were blended with the family of the 
emigrant. There was no toil in this journey. Two oars, appropriately placed,
very easily kept the raft in the center of the stream. With corn-meal, milk
from the cow, and the abundance of game, with which the rifle supplied them,
the larder of the emigrant was luxuriously stored. Not infrequently, several
of these rafts would join together; the aspect then would be beautiful, as
the little floating village of six or seven families, with all the variety
of live-stock, was gently borne down the windings of the stream. Reaching
their destination, the rafts were broken up and the voyagers established
themselves on the shore.
   These emigrants were generally a joyous, musical race. Not unfrequently, 
bugle blasts were heard reverberating among the green eminences which bor-
dered the stream. Again the violin would give forth its merry notes, and 
groups would be gathered on the level planks in the dance. The settler from
his log-cabin on shore, would wave his hat, and shout a "God-speed" to the 
passers by. And even the Indian warriors, from their picturesque lodges,
in the sheltered coves, would gaze silently, yet with friendly feelings, 
upon the novel scene. The emigrant brought almost to their doors, knives, 
and hatchets, and rifles, and many of the conveniences of civilized life,
which the Indians could obtain in exchange for their peltries, their game, 
and their garments of softly dressed deer-skins. The Indians ever welcomed
the French into their borders, for even the most humble among the French
were gentle and fraternal, and were disposed to incorporate themselves with
the tribes. The English might thus have found happy homes with their bro-
ther, the red man, but for the atrocious conduct of desparate and bloody
minded individuals, who, in the wilderness, were restrained by no law, and 
who remorselessly trampled all the rights of the Indians beneath their feet.