1760-1763.
ANGER OF THE INDIANS.--THE CONSPIRACY.
The country was scarcely transferred to the English, when smothered
murmurs of discontent began to be audible among the Indian tribes. From
the head of the Potomac to Lake Superior, and from the Alleghanies to the
Mississippi, in every wigwam and hamlet of the forest, a deep-rooted
hatred of the English increased with rapid growth. Nor is this to be
wondered at. We have seen with what sagacious policy the French had
labored to ingratiate themselves with the Indians; and the slaughter of
the Monongahela, with the horrible devastation of the western frontier,
the outrages perpetrated at Oswego, and the massacre at Fort William
Henry, bore witness to the success of their efforts. Even the Delawares
and Shawanoes, the faithful allies of William Penn, had at length been
seduced by their blandishments; and the Iroquois, the ancient enemies of
Canada, had half forgotten their former hostility, and well-nigh taken
part against the British colonists. The remote nations of the west had
also joined in the war, descending in their canoes for hundreds of miles,
to fight against the enemies of France. All these tribes entertained
towards the English that rancorous enmity which an Indian always feels
against those to whom he has been opposed in war.
Under these circumstances, it behooved the English to use the utmost care
in their conduct towards the tribes. But even when the conflict with
France was impending, and the alliance with the Indians was of the last
importance, they had treated them with indifference and neglect. They were
not likely to adopt a different course now that their friendship seemed a
matter of no consequence. In truth, the intentions of the English were
soon apparent. In the zeal for retrenchment, which prevailed after the
close of hostilities, the presents which it had always been customary to
give the Indians, at stated intervals, were either withheld altogether, or
doled out with a niggardly and reluctant hand; while, to make the matter
worse, the agents and officers of government often appropriated the
presents to themselves, and afterwards sold them at an exorbitant price to
the Indians.[152] When the French had possession of the remote forts, they
were accustomed, with a wise liberality, to supply the surrounding Indians
with guns, ammunition, and clothing, until the latter had forgotten the
weapons and garments of their forefathers, and depended on the white men
for support. The sudden withholding of these supplies was, therefore, a
grievous calamity. Want, suffering, and death, were the consequences; and
this cause alone would have been enough to produce general discontent.
But, unhappily, other grievances were superadded.[153]
The English fur-trade had never been well regulated, and it was now in a
worse condition than ever. Many of the traders, and those in their employ,
were ruffians of the coarsest stamp, who vied with each other in rapacity,
violence, and profligacy. They cheated, cursed, and plundered the Indians,
and outraged their families; offering, when compared with the French
traders, who were under better regulation, a most unfavorable example of
the character of their nation.
The officers and soldiers of the garrisons did their full part in exciting
the general resentment. Formerly, when the warriors came to the forts,
they had been welcomed by the French with attention and respect. The
inconvenience which their presence occasioned had been disregarded, and
their peculiarities overlooked. But now they were received with cold looks
and harsh words from the officers, and with oaths, menaces, and sometimes
blows, from the reckless and brutal soldiers. When, after their
troublesome and intrusive fashion, they were lounging everywhere about the
fort, or lazily reclining in the shadow of the walls, they were met with
muttered ejaculations of impatience, or abrupt orders to be gone,
enforced, perhaps, by a touch from the butt of a sentinel's musket. These
marks of contempt were unspeakably galling to their haughty spirit.[154]
But what most contributed to the growing discontent of the tribes was the
intrusion of settlers upon their lands, at all times a fruitful source of
Indian hostility. Its effects, it is true, could only be felt by those
whose country bordered upon the English settlements; but among these were
the most powerful and influential of the tribes. The Delawares and
Shawanoes, in particular, had by this time been roused to the highest
pitch of exasperation. Their best lands had been invaded, and all
remonstrance had been fruitless. They viewed with wrath and fear the
steady progress of the white man, whose settlements had passed the
Susquehanna, and were fast extending to the Alleghanies, eating away the
forest like a spreading canker. The anger of the Delawares was abundantly
shared by their ancient conquerors, the Six Nations. The threatened
occupation of Wyoming by settlers from Connecticut gave great umbrage to
the confederacy.[155] The Senecas were more especially incensed at English
intrusion, since, from their position, they were farthest removed from the
soothing influence of Sir William Johnson, and most exposed to the
seductions of the French; while the Mohawks, another member of the
confederacy, were justly alarmed at seeing the better part of their lands
patented out without their consent. Some Christian Indians of the Oneida
tribe, in the simplicity of their hearts, sent an earnest petition to Sir
William Johnson, that the English forts within the limits of the Six
Nations might be removed, or, as the petition expresses it, _kicked out of
the way_.[156]
The discontent of the Indians gave great satisfaction to the French, who
saw in it an assurance of safe and bloody vengeance on their conquerors.
Canada, it is true, was gone beyond hope of recovery; but they still might
hope to revenge its loss. Interest, moreover, as well as passion, prompted
them to inflame the resentment of the Indians; for most of the
inhabitants of the French settlements upon the lakes and the Mississippi
were engaged in the fur-trade, and, fearing the English as formidable
rivals, they would gladly have seen them driven out of the country.
Traders, _habitans_, _coureurs de bois_, and all classes of this singular
population, accordingly dispersed themselves among the villages of the
Indians, or held councils with them in the secret places of the woods,
urging them to take up arms against the English. They exhibited the
conduct of the latter in its worst light, and spared neither
misrepresentation nor falsehood. They told their excited hearers that the
English had formed a deliberate scheme to root out the whole Indian race,
and, with that design, had already begun to hem them in with settlements
on the one hand, and a chain of forts on the other. Among other atrocious
plans for their destruction, they had instigated the Cherokees to attack
and destroy the tribes of the Ohio valley.[157] These groundless calumnies
found ready belief. The French declared, in addition, that the King of
France had of late years fallen asleep; that, during his slumbers, the
English had seized upon Canada; but that he was now awake again, and that
his armies were advancing up the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, to
drive out the intruders from the country of his red children. To these
fabrications was added the more substantial encouragement of arms,
ammunition, clothing, and provisions, which the French trading companies,
if not the officers of the crown, distributed with a liberal hand.[158]
The fierce passions of the Indians, excited by their wrongs, real or
imagined, and exasperated by the representations of the French, were yet
farther wrought upon by influences of another kind. A prophet rose among
the Delawares. This man may serve as a counterpart to the famous Shawanoe
prophet, who figured so conspicuously in the Indian outbreak, under
Tecumseh, immediately before the war with England in 1812. Many other
parallel instances might be shown, as the great susceptibility of the
Indians to superstitious impressions renders the advent of a prophet among
them no very rare occurrence. In the present instance, the inspired
Delaware seems to have been rather an enthusiast than an impostor; or
perhaps he combined both characters. The objects of his mission were not
wholly political. By means of certain external observances, most of them
sufficiently frivolous and absurd, his disciples were to strengthen and
purify their natures, and make themselves acceptable to the Great Spirit,
whose messenger he proclaimed himself to be. He also enjoined them to lay
aside the weapons and clothing which they received from the white men, and
return to the primitive life of their ancestors. By so doing, and by
strictly observing his other precepts, the tribes would soon be restored
to their ancient greatness and power, and be enabled to drive out the
white men who infested their territory. The prophet had many followers.
Indians came from far and near, and gathered together in large encampments
to listen to his exhortations. His fame spread even to the nations of the
northern lakes; but though his disciples followed most of his injunctions,
flinging away flint and steel, and making copious use of emetics, with
other observances equally troublesome, yet the requisition to abandon the
use of fire-arms was too inconvenient to be complied with.[159]
With so many causes to irritate their restless and warlike spirit, it
could not be supposed that the Indians would long remain quiet.
Accordingly, in the summer of the year 1761, Captain Campbell, then
commanding at Detroit, received information that a deputation of Senecas
had come to the neighboring village of the Wyandots for the purpose of
instigating the latter to destroy him and his garrison.[160] On farther
inquiry, the plot proved to be general; and Niagara, Fort Pitt, and other
posts, were to share the fate of Detroit. Campbell instantly despatched
messengers to Sir Jeffrey Amherst, and the commanding officers of the
different forts; and, by this timely discovery, the conspiracy was nipped
in the bud. During the following summer, 1762, another similar design was
detected and suppressed. They proved to be the precursors of a tempest.
When, early in 1763, it was announced to the tribes that the King of
France had ceded all their country to the King of England, without even
asking their leave, a ferment of indignation at once became apparent
among them;[161] and, within a few weeks, a plot was matured, such as was
never, before or since, conceived or executed by a North American Indian.
It was determined to attack all the English forts upon the same day; then,
having destroyed their garrisons, to turn upon the defenceless frontier,
and ravage and lay waste the settlements, until, as many of the Indians
fondly believed, the English should all be driven into the sea, and the
country restored to its primitive owners.
It is difficult to determine which tribe was first to raise the cry of
war. There were many who might have done so, for all the savages in the
backwoods were ripe for an outbreak, and the movement seemed almost
simultaneous. The Delawares and Senecas were the most incensed, and
Kiashuta, a chief of the latter, was perhaps foremost to apply the torch;
but, if this was the case, he touched fire to materials already on the
point of igniting. It belonged to a greater chief than he to give method
and order to what would else have been a wild burst of fury, and convert
desultory attacks into a formidable and protracted war. But for Pontiac,
the whole might have ended in a few troublesome inroads upon the frontier,
and a little whooping and yelling under the walls of Fort Pitt.
Pontiac, as already mentioned, was principal chief of the Ottawas. The
Ottawas, Ojibwas, and Pottawattamies, had long been united in a loose kind
of confederacy, of which he was the virtual head. Over those around him
his authority was almost despotic, and his power extended far beyond the
limits of the three united tribes. His influence was great among all the
nations of the Illinois country; while, from the sources of the Ohio to
those of the Mississippi, and, indeed, to the farthest boundaries of the
wide-spread Algonquin race, his name was known and respected.
The fact that Pontiac was born the son of a chief would in no degree
account for the extent of his power; for, among Indians, many a chief's
son sinks back into insignificance, while the offspring of a common
warrior may succeed to his place. Among all the wild tribes of the
continent, personal merit is indispensable to gaining or preserving
dignity. Courage, resolution, address, and eloquence are sure passports to
distinction. With all these Pontiac was pre-eminently endowed, and it was
chiefly to them, urged to their highest activity by a vehement ambition,
that he owed his greatness. He possessed a commanding energy and force of
mind, and in subtlety and craft could match the best of his wily race.
But, though capable of acts of magnanimity, he was a thorough savage, with
a wider range of intellect than those around him, but sharing all their
passions and prejudices, their fierceness and treachery. His faults were
the faults of his race; and they cannot eclipse his nobler qualities. His
memory is still cherished among the remnants of many Algonquin tribes, and
the celebrated Tecumseh adopted him for his model, proving himself no
unworthy imitator.[162]
Pontiac was now about fifty years old. Until Major Rogers came into the
country, he had been, from motives probably both of interest and
inclination, a firm friend of the French. Not long before the French war
broke out, he had saved the garrison of Detroit from the imminent peril of
an attack from some of the discontented tribes of the north. During the
war, he had fought on the side of France. It is said that he commanded the
Ottawas at the memorable defeat of Braddock; and it is certain that he
was treated with much honor by the French officers, and received especial
marks of esteem from the Marquis of Montcalm.[163]
We have seen how, when the tide of affairs changed, the subtle and
ambitious chief trimmed his bark to the current, and gave the hand of
friendship to the English. That he was disappointed in their treatment of
him, and in all the hopes that he had formed from their alliance, is
sufficiently evident from one of his speeches. A new light soon began to
dawn upon his untaught but powerful mind, and he saw the altered posture
of affairs under its true aspect.
It was a momentous and gloomy crisis for the Indian race, for never before
had they been exposed to such imminent and pressing danger. With the
downfall of Canada, the tribes had sunk at once from their position of
importance. Hitherto the two rival European nations had kept each other in
check upon the American continent, and the Indians had, in some measure,
held the balance of power between them. To conciliate their good will and
gain their alliance, to avoid offending them by injustice and
encroachment, was the policy both of the French and English. But now the
face of affairs was changed. The English had gained an undisputed
ascendency, and the Indians, no longer important as allies, were treated
as mere barbarians, who might be trampled upon with impunity. Abandoned to
their own feeble resources and divided strength, they must fast recede,
and dwindle away before the steady progress of the colonial power. Already
their best hunting-grounds were invaded, and from the eastern ridges of
the Alleghanies they might see, from far and near, the smoke of the
settlers' clearings, rising in tall columns from the dark-green bosom of
the forest. The doom of the race was sealed, and no human power could
avert it; but they, in their ignorance, believed otherwise, and vainly
thought that, by a desperate effort, they might yet uproot and overthrow
the growing strength of their destroyers.
It would be idle to suppose that the great mass of the Indians
understood, in its full extent, the danger which threatened their race.
With them, the war was a mere outbreak of fury, and they turned against
their enemies with as little reason or forecast as a panther when he leaps
at the throat of the hunter. Goaded by wrongs and indignities, they struck
for revenge, and for relief from the evil of the moment. But the mind of
Pontiac could embrace a wider and deeper view. The peril of the times was
unfolded in its full extent before him, and he resolved to unite the
tribes in one grand effort to avert it. He did not, like many of his
people, entertain the absurd idea that the Indians, by their unaided
strength, could drive the English into the sea. He adopted the only plan
consistent with reason, that of restoring the French ascendency in the
west, and once more opposing a check to British encroachment. With views
like these, he lent a greedy ear to the plausible falsehoods of the
Canadians, who assured him that the armies of King Louis were already
advancing to recover Canada, and that the French and their red brethren,
fighting side by side, would drive the English dogs back within their own
narrow limits.
Revolving these thoughts, and remembering that his own ambitious views
might be advanced by the hostilities he meditated, Pontiac no longer
hesitated. Revenge, ambition, and patriotism wrought upon him alike, and
he resolved on war. At the close of the year 1762, he sent ambassadors to
the different nations. They visited the country of the Ohio and its
tributaries, passed northward to the region of the upper lakes, and the
borders of the river Ottawa; and far southward towards the mouth of the
Mississippi.[164] Bearing with them the war-belt of wampum,[165] broad and
long, as the importance of the message demanded, and the tomahawk stained
red, in token of war, they went from camp to camp, and village to village.
Wherever they appeared, the sachems and old men assembled, to hear the
words of the great Pontiac. Then the chief of the embassy flung down the
tomahawk on the ground before them, and holding the war-belt in his hand,
delivered, with vehement gesture, word for word, the speech with which he
was charged. It was heard everywhere with approval; the belt was accepted,
the hatchet snatched up, and the assembled chiefs stood pledged to take
part in the war. The blow was to be struck at a certain time in the month
of May following, to be indicated by the changes of the moon. The tribes
were to rise together, each destroying the English garrison in its
neighborhood, and then, with a general rush, the whole were to turn
against the settlements of the frontier.
The tribes, thus banded together against the English, comprised, with a
few unimportant exceptions, the whole Algonquin stock, to whom were united
the Wyandots, the Senecas, and several tribes of the lower Mississippi.
The Senecas were the only members of the Iroquois confederacy who joined
in the league, the rest being kept quiet by the influence of Sir William
Johnson, whose utmost exertions, however, were barely sufficient to allay
their irritation.[166]
While thus on the very eve of an outbreak, the Indians concealed their
designs with the dissimulation of their race. The warriors still lounged
about the forts, with calm, impenetrable faces, begging, as usual, for
tobacco, gunpowder, and whiskey. Now and then, some slight intimation of
danger would startle the garrisons from their security. An English trader,
coming in from the Indian villages, would report that, from their manner
and behavior, he suspected them of brooding mischief; or some scoundrel
half-breed would be heard boasting in his cups that before next summer he
would have English hair to fringe his hunting-frock. On one occasion, the
plot was nearly discovered. Early in March, 1763, Ensign Holmes,
commanding at Fort Miami, was told by a friendly Indian that the warriors
in the neighboring village had lately received a war-belt, with a message
urging them to destroy him and his garrison, and that this they were
preparing to do. Holmes called the Indians together, and boldly charged
them with their design. They did as Indians on such occasions have often
done, confessed their fault with much apparent contrition, laid the blame
on a neighboring tribe, and professed eternal friendship to their
brethren, the English. Holmes writes to report his discovery to Major
Gladwyn, who, in his turn, sends the information to Sir Jeffrey Amherst,
expressing his opinion that there has been a general irritation among the
Indians, but that the affair will soon blow over, and that, in the
neighborhood of his own post, the savages were perfectly tranquil.[167]
Within cannon shot of the deluded officer's palisades, was the village of
Pontiac himself, the arch enemy of the English, and prime mover in the
plot.
With the approach of spring, the Indians, coming in from their wintering
grounds, began to appear in small parties about the various forts; but now
they seldom entered them, encamping at a little distance in the woods.
They were fast pushing their preparations for the meditated blow, and
waiting with stifled eagerness for the appointed hour.