Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas, a remarkable Indian in many ways, had a
power rare among members of his race, the power of organization. He was
the leader of the Indian rising known as “Pontiac’s Conspiracy,” which
took place in 1763-1764. He was cruel and treacherous, but a brave
fighter. Pontiac was probably born sometime between 1712 and 1720. He
became chief of the Ottawas about 1755. As an ally of France he took
part in the defeat of General Braddock on July 9, 1755.
In 1762 Indian prophets began preaching a union of tribes to expel the
English. The French took advantage of this religious fervor to stir up
trouble. On April 27, 1763, representatives of the Algonquin tribes met
near Detroit. It was at this meeting that Pontiac outlined the plans
for his conspiracy.
With sixty warriors he attacked Detroit on May 7; but this attempt
failed. Major Henry Gladwin, with one hundred and sixty men, was in
command of this fort. When Pontiac’s attack failed he and his braves
calmly sat down outside the stockade and besieged the fort until the
end of October. Reinforcements managed to get into the fort during
this time, and there were many bloody fights between the besiegers and
the besieged; but the fort held out, and on October 30, after Pontiac
learned that the French were not going to help him, the Indians quietly
stole away.
In the meanwhile other English forts all along the frontier were
being attacked. On June 22, 1763, Fort Pitt, with a garrison of three
hundred and thirty men, stoutly repelled an assault. At Michilimackinac
(Mackinac), Michigan, on June 4, the Indians gained admission to the
fort by a trick, killed nearly twenty of the garrison, and captured
the rest, seven of whom were killed in cold blood by a chief of the
Ojibwas. Fort Sandusky at Sandusky, Ohio, Fort Miami at Fort Wayne,
Indiana, Fort St. Joseph at Niles, Michigan, and many other British
outposts were captured and their brave little garrisons massacred.
In June, 1764, Colonel John Bradstreet led twelve hundred men from
Albany to Fort Niagara, where, at a great gathering of Indians, several
treaties were made. But these treaties were of little value. Colonel
Bouquet led an expedition of fifteen hundred men from Carlisle,
Pennsylvania, to the present site of Tuscarawas, Ohio, in August, 1764.
Here he put an end to the conspiracy, forced the Indians to release
their prisoners, and made them stop their warfare.
Pontiac himself surrendered to Sir William Johnson on July 25, 1766,
at Oswego, New York. Three years later he was murdered, when drunk, by
another Indian. It was an ignominious ending for one of the greatest
Indians that ever lived.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 35, SERIAL No. 35
COPYRIGHT, 1913. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.