SURRENDER OF FORT DETROIT
"A good shot!" cried Dave, as all of the party moved forward to inspect the
dead elk.
"Couldn't have been better nohow," came from Sam Barringford. He looked the
game over carefully. "About as large as I've seen in these parts," he
added.
"He has got just the kind of horns I've been wanting to get," said Henry,
with pardonable pride. "But I reckon either of you could have hit him in
the eye, too," he added candidly.
"It is going to be no easy job getting him home," said Dave. "Shall we put
him on a drag?"
"Yes, lad, an' I've a rope we can slip over those horns, an' all can take
hold," said Barringford. "We can go as far as possible by the river; for
that will be easier."
Barringford carried a sharp hatchet in his belt and with this he cut down a
suitable tree branch and fashioned it into such a drag as was desired. Then
the elk was lifted upon it and bound fast, and the rope was fastened to the
horns.
Getting through the forest to the river was no mean task, but once on the
ice progress was rapid, and long before nightfall they were within easy
walking distance of home.
"Game here is not near as plentiful as it was three or four years ago,"
remarked Dave as they pushed on. "Don't you remember how we used to go out,
Henry, and bring down all sorts of small animals?"
"Some day there won't be anything left," put in Barringford. "Time was when
buffalo were plentiful, but now you've got to go a long distance to spot
'em. How this elk got here is a mystery to me. I thought they stayed up
near the lakes."
"The heavy winter made him go a long distance for food, I reckon," answered
Henry; and this was probably the correct explanation.
Little Nell was at the window, arranging a row of pegs Rodney had made for
her in the form of a company of soldiers. The largest peg went for the
captain, and this she called Washington, while another, which would not
stand, but insisted upon falling over, she called General Braddock, for she
had heard the older folks talk over Braddock's fearful defeat at Fort
Duquesne and of what Washington had done to save what was left of the
English troops from annihilation.
"Here they come!" shouted the little miss. "And, oh, such a big deer as
they have!"
"An elk, as sure as fate!" ejaculated Rodney, looking over her shoulder.
"Henry will have the horns he wanted now."
"And we need the meat," said James Morris, as he flung open the door and
hurried outside. "Elk is pretty strong, I know, but it is better than no
fresh meat at all. And I am tired of rabbit."
The party of hunters soon came up, and all of the others, including Mrs.
Morris, surveyed the game with interest, while they listened to how the elk
had been tracked and brought low.
"Certainly worth going many miles for," said James Morris. "The pelt is a
fine one."
The elk was hung up out of the reach of any wild beasts that might be
prowling around, and the next day Henry and Sam Barringford skinned the
animal and cut up the meat as Mrs. Morris desired it. The tongue was
smoked, a small part of the forequarter pickled, and the remainder kept
fresh by being hung up where it was cold. That day they dined on elk steaks
and all pronounced the fresh meat very acceptable.
Late in the afternoon Paul Thompson came to the cabin on horseback,
bringing his wife with him.
"We were coming sooner," said the husband, "but my wife got a sore throat
and I thought I had better wait until she was well again."
"I hope it is all right now," replied Mrs. Morris, as she escorted her
visitors into the cabin.
"Quite well, but she mustn't expose herself too much. When I go to
Dennett's I am going to get her a mixture from the doctor."
The Thompsons were astonished to see the babies and wanted at once to hear
all about them.
"It certainly is a queer mix-up," said the man, later on. "I'll see if I
can learn anything about them when I am away. Somebody ought to be able to
place them,--although, to be sure, a great number of children have become
hopelessly lost during the late war."
"We know that," answered Mrs. Morris with a shudder. "Wasn't little Nell
stolen from us by the Indians and then held by that bad French trader, Jean
Bevoir?"
"Didn't you say Bevoir was dead?" asked Paul Thompson.
"He is," answered James Morris, "and I must confess I am rather glad of it.
He caused me a great deal of trouble, in one way and another."
"I have news that Fort Detroit has surrendered to us," went on Paul
Thompson. "The surrender took place on November the twenty-ninth."
"Is that so," cried Dave, with deep interest. "Was there any fighting?"
"I don't believe there was, but the French commander was very bitter over
the surrender, and so was Pontiac, the chief of the Ottawas."
"Pontiac?" repeated Henry. "I don't know that I ever heard of him."
"I have," put in Dave. "Somebody told me he was with the Indians that
attacked General Braddock, at the opening of the war."
"Yes, he was thar," came from Barringford. "An' I heard tell at thet
hospital I was in up to Canada thet he was with Montcalm when the French
fit General Wolfe. Montcalm give him a suit of French officer's clothes and
the Injun was tickled to death over 'em."
The news that Fort Detroit had surrendered to the English was true.
Immediately after the fall of Montreal, as already described in detail in
this series, General Amherst ordered Major Robert Rogers, of Rogers'
Rangers fame, to ascend the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, and take
possession of Detroit, Michillimackinac--now called Mackinaw--and other
French strongholds which had not yet been turned over to the British.
The start was made on the twelfth of September, 1760, and the force under
Rogers consisted of two hundred men, a mere handful as troops as reckoned
to-day, but one which was considered amply large enough to accomplish its
purpose. The journey was made in a dozen or more whaleboats, and Fort
Niagara was reached on the first of October,--about the time Dave, Henry,
and Barringford received their release from the army and prepared to start
for the Morris home hundreds of miles away.
Moving up the Niagara River as far as the rapids, Rogers' force carried
their boats with their loads around the Falls, and then embarked for the
journey up Lake Erie, stopping at the fort at Presqu' Isle, and at several
other points.
Winter was now on in all its fury, and a heavy rain made Rogers go into
camp in the forest bordering the water. Hardly had this been done when a
number of Indians put in an appearance and demanded to know where the
English soldiers were going.
"This is French and Indian territory," said they. "You can advance no
further."
Rogers tried to explain that the war was now over and that all the land
belonged to England. But the Indians would not listen, and said he must
wait until they had consulted the great chief Pontiac.
When Pontiac finally came, dressed as became a great warrior, he listened
gravely to what Rogers had to say. He was much chagrined to learn that the
French had capitulated and said that he must have the night in which to
think it over. When he went away Rogers and his soldiers feared treachery,
but it did not come.
The next day Pontiac came once more. He now said he was willing to let the
English advance, provided they would do what was right by his followers and
treat him as his rank deserved. Rogers said he would do the best he could;
and both smoked the pipe of peace.
When the mouth of the Detroit River was gained word came in that a large
body of Indians was hiding in the forest bordering the stream, waiting to
slaughter the whites. At once the rangers were on the alert, but the
threatened attack did not come, for Pontiac told the Indians that it would
be useless to fight the English at present, that they might rather become
friends with them and await the settlement of the war between England and
France.
Captain Beletre was in command at Fort Detroit. When the news was first
brought to him that the French at Montreal had surrendered he refused to
believe it.
"I will fight!" he cried, and did his best to arouse the Indians to aid him
in defeating the object of Rogers' mission. But when the Colonial commander
sent him a copy of the terms of the capitulation Beletre was forced to
submit, and did so with the best grace possible. Soon the _fleur de lis_ of
France was lowered and the cross of St. George of England floated proudly
from the flagstaff.
This surrender without bloodshed caused great wonder among the red men, and
their wonder increased when they saw the French made prisoners with no
attempt on the part of the rangers to massacre them. They thought that the
English must indeed be powerful, and were glad that they had taken
Pontiac's advice and remained, for the time being, friendly.
Detroit taken,--it was at that time but a straggling village with a rude
palisade,--a detachment was sent to the south, to occupy Fort Miami and
Fort Ouatanon, places of lesser importance. Then Rogers himself set out up
Lake Huron to take Michillimackinac. But winter was now on in all its
severity, and his boats were driven back by the snow and floating ice, so
that he had to abandon this portion of his task. But it may be mentioned
here that during the following spring, now so close at hand, a body of
Royal Americans journeyed to Michillimackinac and took possession. Thus was
the surrender of the French in America made complete so far as it embraced
the territory which had been in dispute for so many years. The English
imagined that times of peace and plenty were to follow. But they had not
reckoned with Pontiac or with the thousands of Indians who stood ready to
dig up the war hatchet at the call of this daring and learned chief.