Chapter VII

PONTIAC AND THE LAST HOPE OF INDIAN SUPREMACY.

“For a mausoleum a city has arisen above the forest hero; and
the race whom he hated with such burning rancour trample with
unceasing footsteps over his forgotten grave.”

—PARKMAN.

PONTIAC AND THE LAST HOPE OF INDIAN SUPREMACY.

We sometimes speak of the victory of Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham and the subsequent surrender of Quebec as having involved the transfer of Canada or New France from the French to the English. It really was the first and most important in the series of events which led to this transfer.

The situation at Quebec presented many difficulties. England had but a small force, and had barely defeated the French. It was the Fall of the year with the cold winter approaching which proved a terrible time for the English, unaccustomed to so severe a climate, and in a city much of which was in ruins. Unity of purpose and decisive action on the part of the French might have cut off the English, but in the dread of being separated from their base of supplies the French retreated to Montreal.

Early in the spring Chevalier de Levis, second in command to Montcalm, gathered an army in Montreal of 7,000 men and reached Quebec in April. Murray, the English commander, marched out to the attack, but was badly defeated and retreated into the city.

And now the fate of New France was in the balance. Quebec was not in condition to stand a siege. The English forces had met with a decided reverse. The French were heartened by the victory, but were not strong enough to follow it up vigorously. Word was received that ships were coming up the river. Were they French or English? It was an anxious moment, and when at last the English flag was seen floating at the masthead the French fell back upon Montreal and the fate of New France was practically settled.

Against Montreal Murray led the forces from Quebec expecting there to make connections with Amherst, who was on his way from New York by way of Oswego and the St. Lawrence. The junction of forces was so well managed that Vaudreuil surrendered, and was able to make excellent terms with his generous conquerors.

And so from Louisbourg to Quebec, to Montreal, to Frontenac (taken by Bradstreet) to Niagara (taken by Sir William Johnson) New France was in the possession of the English.

But New France extended far beyond Niagara, and the forts at Pitt (where Pittsburg now stands), Detroit, Michillimackinac, Sault Ste. Marie, and the strongly fortified Fort Chartres near the present city of St. Louis, had heard nothing of the happenings in the Far East; and in this connection it must be remembered that all the Indians except the Iroquois were allies of the French or friendly disposed towards them, and none but an Englishman of that day could have imagined, as Amherst did, that the Indians were hardly worth considering and that the fighting was now over.

These outposts of the French were to be formally taken over and Major Robert Rogers, of Rogers’ Rangers, was despatched to Detroit. He sent a messenger ahead to acquaint the commander with what had taken place at Montreal, so to give him time to consider the question of surrendering the fort.

When nearing Detroit Major Rogers was stopped by Pontiac, an Indian chief of the Ottawa nation, who demanded of him by what right he was entering upon the territory of the Ottawas and allied tribes. He was given a friendly answer; they smoked the pipe of peace and seemingly parted good friends; but the English made no further efforts to conciliate him by presents or friendly overtures. In other words, they were not diplomatic in their dealings, and the Indians resented the lack of tact and consideration shown them, the original inhabitants of the country.

There is nothing which so hurts a sensitive man or a sensitive nation as contempt, and Pontiac, gathering about him a great council of the Indians of that region, spoke in an impassioned and eloquent manner of this opportunity, perhaps the last, to drive out the white man.

Pontiac was the Napoleon of the Indian tribes of New France. He was not only courageous in battle but he was a genius in the art of war and was eloquent in council, with a power of winning others to his cause. It is said that he was in command of the Indians on the occasion of Braddock’s famous defeat at Fort Duquesne, made especially noteworthy because of the presence of George Washington on Braddock’s staff. At any rate it is known that Pontiac had been the guest of Montcalm at Quebec, certainly a tribute to his greatness, and that he proudly wore a uniform presented to him by that general.

This is the midwinter purification rite, when evil spirits are driven from all the houses of the Iroquois village. Grotesquely clad and masked medicine men burst into the cabins throwing open the doors and windows and commence to scatter the ashes of the hearth and to kindle a new fire. Then they sprinkle white ashes on the heads of the people, blowing through their hands. This is supposed to cure any disease. The medicine man’s reward is a pipe bowl of tobacco, which one dancer is begging from the frightened boy.

The Indian cabin is genuine and typical of the period (1687-1850) when New York Indians had traders’ cloth and tools. The figures are life casts of Cayuga Indians.

The purpose of this group is to show the changes wrought by the acquisition of European metallic tools, cloth and other articles. Material culture was greatly changed by the giving up of native tools and materials. The methods of labor to a degree also changed, but the religious, social and civil organization yet remained and was more slowly disintegrated. The false face ceremony is one of the more spectacular rites common among all the Iroquois.]

This, then, was the man who in 1763 assembled a council near Detroit, at which were present Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, Miamis, Sacs, Foxes, Menominees, Wyandots, Mississagas, Shawnees and Delawares, representing nearly 2,000 warriors, and told them that he had received a wampum belt from their father, the King of France, who commanded his red children to fight the English.

When Major Rogers reached Detroit the city at once surrendered and Rogers planned to go to Mackinac, but it was too late in the year and he had to return to New York.

In the spring Pontiac laid out his great plan of campaign by which Detroit was to be the first fort to be assailed. Having obtained permission to hold a peace dance at Detroit, his braves had carefully spied out the fort, and after consultation with him fifty warriors were selected who were to saw off their gun barrels, so that the weapons might be hidden under the blankets, and in this fashion were to ask for a parley with the English commander. Fortunately for the garrison, the commander was informed of these plans by a spy, and when Pontiac and his fifty followers entered the fort they were surprised to see the warlike preparations. With a bland innocence which often had served him well, Pontiac asked why so many of the young men were in the streets with guns. “Just for exercise and discipline,” said the equally bland commander, and asked Pontiac to state his case. Just as the Indian was about to present the wampum belt in the reverse way—which was to be the signal for the massacre—the commander made a sign, the war drums of the garrison crashed out a charge and Pontiac saw that he was detected. He then presented it in the usual way and the English commander told him that as long as they behaved they would be taken care of and peace would be maintained. He then approached Pontiac, pulled open his blanket and disclosed the short rifle concealed beneath. There was nothing for Pontiac to do but retire, which he did with his fifty braves.

This was really the beginning of the contest and Detroit was in a state of siege. The fort was in the midst of what was a military colony extending from twelve to sixteen miles along the west bank of the river. It had been founded in 1701 by Cadillac, who was virtually a feudal lord, owning the fort, the church, the gristmill, the brewery, warehouses, barn and the very fruit trees themselves, which had been brought from France. Cadillac was a remarkable organizer, and against great difficulties and severe opposition from forts already established, he had been able to persuade the French Government to support him in the development of this colony.

Indeed, this is one of the earliest instances in Canada of assisted immigration and subsidies to settlers, such as we are accustomed to think of as belonging to modern times. In 1748 the French Government offered any settler who would go to Detroit one spade, one axe, one plough, one large and one small wagon, a cow, and a pig. Seed would be given to be returned after the third harvest. The women and children were supported for one year after coming to the colony. In this way Detroit had come to be a place of about 2,500 people.

The plan now was to starve out the garrison by killing all the settlers outside the fort who were in any way sympathetic with the English cause. At the same time they waylaid all relief expeditions sent from the East, and at first were very fortunate, as the English officers did not understand the Indian method of warfare and were easily led into ambuscades. For five months this little garrison had been surrounded by a thousand or more savages, but notwithstanding various successes the Indians were becoming tired.

Siege warfare long continued was not congenial to them, and little by little they began to desert until by October there were only the Ottawas, his own tribe, left. When, therefore, at the end of that month the French governor at Fort Chartres sent a message to Pontiac that the Great Father in France had given up all his possessions over here to the English, the great chief raised the siege in disgust and left for the south. There he hoped to rally the Indians for a final stand, but when he found it could not be done he reluctantly made terms of peace with the representative of Sir William Johnson at Detroit in August of 1764. On that occasion he spoke in the Peace Council as follows:

“Father, we have all smoked out of this pipe of peace. It is
your children’s pipe; and as the war is over and the Great
Spirit and Giver of Light who has made all the earth and
everything therein has brought us all together this day for
our mutual good, I declare to all nations that I have settled
my peace with you before I came here, and now deliver my pipe
to be sent to Sir William Johnson that he may know I have
made peace and taken the King of England for my father in the
presence of all the nations now assembled; and whenever any of
these nations go to visit him they may smoke out of it with him
in peace. Fathers, we are obliged to you for lighting up our
old council fire for us and desiring us to return to it, but we
are now settled on the Miami river not far from hence. Whenever
you want us you will find us there.”

In 1766 Pontiac visited Sir William Johnson at his castle on the Mohawk and smoked the pipe of peace with that great warrior. Thence he went south to Fort Chartres, the last place in New France where floated the lilies of France, that flag which for over two centuries had been the symbol of sovereignty from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. There he became embroiled in a quarrel and was killed by one of the Illinois in a cowardly manner, an act for which that tribe had to pay dearly in the vengeance exacted by the friends of the great old chief.

But this story would hardly be complete if we did not point out that Pontiac’s plot for the surprise of Detroit was not a merely local attack, but was part of a comprehensive plan for the surprise of all the forts held by the English against which, as far as possible, a simultaneous attack was to be made so that it would be difficult for the English to help the garrisons and impossible for the forts to help one another.

The most striking of these attacks was that on Fort Michillimackinac. On June 4th the English garrison planned to celebrate the anniversary of the birthday of George III. Games were to be held on the plain outside the fort and the Chippewas and Sacs asked that they be allowed to take part and give the garrison the pleasure of seeing the great Indian national game of lacrosse played by experts. This was granted and a great crowd gathered.

The game was well played and so warmly contested that the excitement was intense. Player pursued player, tripping and slashing in true Indian fashion. When the game was at its height a player threw the ball at a point near the gate of the fort. There was a wild rush for the ball, and when they reached the gate lacrosse sticks were thrown aside and the closely blanketed squaws who were there in large numbers opened their blankets and threw out tomahawks and knives to the braves. Madly they rushed in, took possession of the fort, fell upon the garrison and the traders, butchered some and carried off the others as prisoners.

Smaller trading posts were taken in like fashion by cunning or by direct attack when cunning failed, and for a short time it looked as if the English would have a difficult task to capture and hold the Mississippi Valley. But the rebellion ceased with the fall of the genius who had conceived it, the last great Indian chief of New France.