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we proceeded, by order of Colonel Grant, to burn down the Indian cabins. Some of our men seemed to enjoy this cruel work, laughing very heartily at the curling flames as they mounted, loud crackling, over the tops of the huts. But to me it appeared a shocking sight. "Poor creatures!" thought I, "we surely need not grudge you such miserable habitations." But when we came, according to orders, to cut down the fields of corn, I could scarcely refrain from tears. For who could see the stalks that stood so stately, with broad green leaves, and gaily tasseled shocks, filled with sweet milky fluid and flour, the staff of life—who, I say, without grief, could see these sacred plants sinking under our sword, with all their precious load, to wither and rot untasted in the morning fields!

I saw everywhere around the footsteps of little Indian children, where they had lately played under the shelter of the rustling corn. No doubt they had often looked up with joy to the swelling shocks, and gladdened when they thought of their abundant cakes for the coming winter. When we are gone, thought I, they will return, and peeping through the weeds with tearful eyes, will mark the ghastly ruin poured over their homes, and the happy fields where they had so often played.

The result of these measures was decisive. No sooner had the army reached Fort George, than a deputation of chiefs visited the camp to sue for peace. Among them was Attakulla, who thus addressed Colonel Grant:

You live at the water side, and are in light. We are in darkness; but hope all will be clear. I have been constantly going about doing good; and though I am tired, yet I am come to see what can be done for my people, who are in great distress. As to what has happened, I believe it has been ordered by our Father above. We are of a different color from the white people. They are superior to us. But one God is Father of us all, and we hope what is past will be forgotten. God Almighty made all people. There is not a day but that some are coming into and others going out of the world. The Great King told me the path should never be crooked, but open for every one to pass and repass. As we all live in one land, I hope that we shall all live as one people.

Peace was formally ratified, and both expressed the hope that it might last as long as the sun would shine and the rivers run.

THE PONTIAC WAR.

In the year 1760, the French yielded to the English power in Canada and on the western waters. Three days after the fall of Montreal, Major Rogers was dispatched with forces to take possession of the French posts along the southern shore of Lake Erie, and at Detroit.

At this period, there sprung upon the stage the most remarkable Indian in the annals of history. It was Pontiac, the chief of the Ottawa tribe, and principal sachem of the Algonquin Confederacy He was distinguished for his noble form, commanding address, and proud demeanor. To these qualities, he united a lofty courage, and a pointed and vigorous eloquence, that won the confidence of all the lake Indians, and made him a marked example of that grandeur and sublimity of character sometimes found among the savages of the American forests. He had jealously watched the progress of the English arms, and their rapid encroachments upon the lands of his people.

When Pontiac first heard of the approach of Rogers with a detachment of English troops, he roused like a lion from his den, and dispatched a messenger, who met Rogers on the 7th of November at the mouth of Chogage River, with a request to halt until Pontiac, the king of the country, should come up. At the first salutation Pontiac demanded of Rogers the business on which he came, and asked him how he dared to enter his country without his permission. He was informed by Rogers, that he had no design against the Indians; his only object being to remove the French out of the country, who had been an obstacle in the way of mutual peace and commerce between the Indians and English. The next morning, Pontiac and the English commander, by turns, smoked the calumet, and Pontiac informed Rogers that he should protect his party against the attacks of the Indians who were collected to oppose his progress at the mouth of Detroit River.

Rogers having obtained peaceable possession of Detroit, made peace with the neighboring tribes, and leaving Captain Campbell in charge of the fort, departed on the 21st of December for Pittsburgh.

The Indians in this region at first regarded the English as intruders, and the smile which played upon the countenance of Pontiac when he first met the detachment of Rogers on the shore of Lake Erie, only tended to conceal a settled hatred-as the setting sunbeam bedazzles the distant thundercloud. He had made professions of friendship to the English as a matter of policy, until he could have time to plot their destruction.

The plan of operations adopted by Pontiac for effecting the extinction of the English power, evinced extraordinary genius, courage, and energy of the highest order. It was a sudden and cotemporaneous attack upon all the British posts upon the Lake-at St. Joseph, Ouiatenon, Green Bay, Michilimackinac, Detroit, the Maumee, and the Sandusky-and also upon the forts at Niagara, Presque Isle, Le Boeuf, Venango, and Pittsburgh; the last four of which were in Western Pennsylvania. If the surprise could be simultaneous, so that every English banner which waved upon a line of thousands of miles, should be prostrated at the same moment, the garrisons would be unable to exchange assistance; while on the other hand, the failure of one Indian detachment would have

no effect to discourage the other. Probably the war might begin and terminate with the same single blow; and then Pontiac would again be the lord and king of the broad land of his ancestors.

He first called together the Ottawas, and the plan was disclosed and enforced with all the cunning and eloquence he could master. He appealed to their fears, their hopes, their ambition, their patriotism, their hatred of the English, and their love for the French. Having warmly engaged them to the cause, he assembled a grand council of the neighboring tribes at the River Aux Ecorces. With a profound knowledge of the Indian character, aware of the great powers of superstition over their minds, he related, among other things, a dream, in which he said the Great Spirit had secretly disclosed to a Delaware Indian, the conduct he expected his red children to pursue. This dream was strikingly coincident with the plans and projects of the chieftain himself. "And why," concluded the orator, "why, said the Great Spirit indignantly to the Delaware, do you suffer those dogs in red clothing to enter your country, and take the land I have given you? Drive them from it! Drive them! When you are in distress, I will help you."

The effect of this speech was indescribable. The name of Pontiac alone was a host; but the Great Spirit was for them-it was impossible to fail. A plan of campaign was concerted on the spot, and for a thousand miles on the lake frontiers, and even down to the borders of North Carolina, the tribes joined in the grand conspiracy.

Meanwhile peace reigned on the frontiers. The unsuspecting traders journeyed from village to village; the soldiers in the forts shrunk from the sun of early summer, and dozed away the day; the frontier settler singing in fancied security, sowed his crop, or watching the sun set through the girdled trees, mused upon one more peaceful harvest, and told his children of the horrors of the long war, now-thank God!-over. From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, the trees had leaved, and all was calm life and joy. But even then, through the gloomy forests journeyed bands of sullen red men-like the gathering of dark clouds for a horrid tempest.

Surprise of the English Forts.-The Maumee post, Presque Isle, Niagara, Pitt, Ligonier, and every English fort, was hemmed in by mingled tribes. At last the day came. The traders everywhere were seized with their goods, and more than one hundred put to death. Nine British forts yielded instantly, and the savages drank, "scooped up in the hollow of joined hands," the blood of many a Briton. More than twenty thousand people were driven from their homes, and horrible, unparalleled devastations committed on the frontiers of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York. Most, if not all of the forts which fell, were taken by stratagem-preconcerted by the master mind of Pontiac. Generally the commanders were secured by parties admitted into the forts under the pretense of business or friendship. At Maumee the officer was betrayed by

a squaw, who, by piteous entreaties, persuaded him to go some two hundred yards with her to the succor, as she stated, of a wounded man who was dying; the Indians waylaid and shot him.

In some few of the forts individuals escaped; but too generally all were massacred. At Presque Isle three Indians appeared in holiday dress, and persuaded the commander and clerk to accompany them to the canoes of their hunting party, as they said, about a mile distant, to examine and purchase a lot of peltries. In their absence about one hundred and fifty Indians advanced toward the fort, each with a bundle of furs on his back, which they stated the commandant had bought and ordered them to bring in. The stratagem succeeded. When they were all within the fort, the work of an instant threw off the packs and the short cloaks which covered. their tomahawks, scalping knives, and rifles, the last having been sawed off short for concealment. Resistance was useless, and the work of death and torture rapidly proceeded, until all, except two of the inmates of the garrison, had passed to the eternal world.

The forts of Bedford, Ligonier, Pitt, and Detroit, were saved with great difficulty. The Indians invested Fort Pitt with a strong force; information of which having been conveyed to Lord Amherst, he dispatched Colonel Boquet to its relief with two regiments of regulars. He was fiercely attacked at Bushy Run by the Indians, and lost over one hundred men in killed and wounded; but he defeated the savages, though with great difficulty, and succeeded in saving the fort. Fort Ligonier was bravely defended by Lieutenant Blane and his little garrison.

Massacre at Michilimackinac.-The particulars of the taking of Michilimackinac are more fully known. That fort, standing on the south side of the strait connecting Lakes Huron and Michigan, was one of the most important posts on the frontier. It was the great place of deposit and departure between the upper and lower countries, the great assembling point of the Indian traders on their Voyages to and from Montreal. There were about thirty houses and families within the inclosure of the stockade, and the garrison, under the command of Major Etherington, numbered between ninety and one hundred men.

The capture of this important station was intrusted to the Chippewas, assisted by the Sacs. The King's birth-day, the 3d of June, having arrived, a game of baggatiway was proposed by the Indians. This is played with a bat and ball; the former being about four feet long, curved, and terminating in a sort of racket. Two posts are placed in the ground, half a mile or a mile apart. Each party has its post, and the game consists in throwing up to the adversary's post, the ball which at the beginning is placed in the middle of the course.

The policy of this expedient for surprising the garrison will appear clearly, when it is understood that the game is necessarily attended with much violence and noise, and in the ardor and heat of the contest would be diverted in any direction that the successful

party should choose. The design of the Indians in this case was to throw the ball over the pickets, and in the excitement of the game, it was but natural that all the Indians should rush after it. The Indians had persuaded as many as possible of the garrison and settlers to come voluntarily without the pickets for the purpose of witnessing the game which was said to be played for a high wager. Among these was Major Etherington, the commandant, who laid a wager on the side of the Chippewas. Not fewer than four hundred Indians were engaged on both sides, and consequently, when possession of the fort was once gained, the situation of the English must be desperate indeed. The match commenced without the fort with great animation. Henry, an Indian trader, who gives the account, had been occupied within the fort about half an hour writing, when he suddenly heard a loud Indian warcry, and a noise of general confusion. Going instantly to his window, he saw a crowd of Indians within the fort, furiously cutting down and scalping every Englishman they found; and he could plainly witness the last struggles of some of his particular acquaintances.

He had in the room a fowling-piece loaded with swan shot. This he immediately seized and held it for a few minutes, expecting to hear the fort drum beat to arms. In this dreadful interval, he saw several of his countrymen fall; and more than one struggling between the knees of the savages, who, holding them in this manner, scalped them while yet alive. At length, disappointed in the hope of seeing any resistance made on the part of the garrison, and sensible that no effort of his single arm could avail against four hundred Indians, he turned his attention to his own safety. Seeing several of the Canadian villagers looking out composedly upon the scene of blood-neither opposing the Indians, nor molested by them-he conceived the hope of finding security in one of their houses. He immediately climbed over a low fence, separating his door yard and that of his next neighbor, Monsieur Langlade. Entering his house precipitately, he found the whole family gazing upon the horrible spectacle before them. He begged M. Langlade to put him in some place of safety until the heat of the affair should be over, an act of charity which might preserve him from the general massacre. Langlade looked at him for a moment while he spoke, and then turned again to the window, shrugging his shoulders, and intimating that he could do nothing for him.

Henry was now ready to despair; but at this moment, a Pani woman, a slave of M. Langlade beckoned him to follow her. She guided him to a door which she opened, desiring him to enter, and telling him that it led to the garret, where he must go and conceal himself. Scarcely yet lodged in this shelter, such as it was, Henry felt an eager desire to know what was passing without. His desire was more than satisfied by his finding an aperture in the loose board walls of the house, which afforded him a full view of the

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