CHAPTER III.

CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC.

WITH the change of jurisdiction narrated in the previous chapter, a new scene opens before us; a scene in which the red men are the principal actors. The victory on the Heights of Abraham, at Quebec, gave to England the possession of a wide extent of territory, but that territory was one massive forest, interrupted only by prairies or lakes, or an occasional Indian cleared field, of small dimensions, for maize. The emblems of power in these illimitable wastes were the occasional log forts, with picketed enclosures, which, from time to time, had been constructed by the French, but more as trading posts than as military strongholds.

What the English had gained by force of arms they took possession of as conquerors, and, in their eagerness to supplant the French, they were blind to danger. Some of these posts were garrisoned by less than a score of men, and often left dependent upon the Indians for supplies, though they were so widely remote from each other that, "lost in the boundless woods, they could no more be discovered than a little fleet of canoes scattered over the whole Atlantic, too minute to be perceptible, and safe only in fair weather." But, weak as were the English, their presence alarmed the red man, for it implied a design to occupy the country which, for ages, had been his own, and the transfer of the territory around the Great Lakes from the French, who were the friends of the Indians, to the English, upon whom they had been taught to look with distrust, could not, therefore, be regarded with favor by these tawny sons of the woods. The untutored mind of the savage

could not comprehend by what right the British flag was unfurled in the West. They could not understand how the English could derive any claim to the red man's forest from victories over the French. Hence, from the very first, the English were regarded with suspicion by the Indian.

It would have been well had the conduct of the English been such as to allay these suspicions, but, unfortunately, it was not. The Indians and French had lived on terms of the greatest intimacy. They were often like brothers in the same lodge. "They called us children, and we found them fathers," said a Chippewa chief, and these feelings pervaded the bosoms of all the lake tribes. But the English were cold and repulsive toward the Indians. The French had made them liberal presents of guns, ammunition and clothing, but the English either withheld these presents altogether, or dealt them out so sparingly that many of them, deprived of their usual supplies, were reduced to want, and thus a spirit of discontent was fostered among them. But there were other grievances. The English fur traders were, as a class, ruffians of the coarsest stamp, who vied with each other in violence and rapacity, and who cheated and plundered the Indians and outraged their families. The soldiers and officers of the garrisons had no word of welcome for them when they came to the forts, but only cold looks and harsh words, with oaths, menaces, and not unfrequently blows from the more reckless and brutal of their number. Another fruitful source of anxiety and discontent on the part of the Indians, was the intrusion of settlers upon their lands. Their homes were in danger. In spite of every remonstrance, their best lands had already been invaded; their hunting grounds would soon be taken from them, and the graves of their ancesters be desecrated by unhallowed feet. Some of the tribes were wrought up to the highest pitch of excitement and revenge by this constant invasion of their rights.

Meanwhile, it must not be supposed that the French were mere idle spectators of passing events. Canada was gone,

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yond the hope of recovery, but they still sought to revenge its loss by inflaming the resentment of the Indians, and in this they spared neither misrepresentation nor falsehood. They told them that the English had formed the deliberate design of rooting out their race, and for that purpose were already penning them in with settlements on the one hand and a chain of forts on the other; 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, and his armies were even then advancing up the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, to drive the intruders from the country of his red children. These, and similar fabrications, made a deep impression upon the minds of the savages, and nerved them for the approaching contest. Yet another cause contributed much toward increasing the general excitement and dissatisfaction, and bringing the matter to an issue. A prophet came among the Delawares, and the susceptibility of the Indians to religious and superstitious impressions gave him a mighty influence over them. They were taught to lay aside everything which they had received from the white man, and so strengthen and purify their natures as to make themselves acceptable to the Great Spirit, and by so doing they would soon be restored to their ancient greatness and power, and be enabled to drive the enemy from their country. The prophet had many followers. From far and near large numbers came to listen to his exhortations, and his words, pregnant with mischief to the unsuspecting Englishman, were borne even to the nations around the northern lakes.

This excitement among the savage tribes soon led them to overt action. In the spring of 1761, Capt. Campbell, then commanding at Detroit, learned 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. Upon examination, the plot was found to be general, and other posts were to share the fate of his own; but his promptness in sending information to the other commanders nipped

the conspiracy in the bud. During the following year a similar design was detected and suppressed. But these were only the precursors of a tempest. In the spring of 1763 a scheme was matured, "greater in extent, deeper and more comprehensive in design-such a one as was never, before or since, conceived or executed by a North American Indian." It contemplated,— first, a sudden and contemporaneous assault upon all the English forts around the lakes; and second, the garrisons having been destroyed, the turning of a savage avalanche of destruction upon the defenseless frontier settlements until, as many fondly believed, the English should be driven into the sea and the Indians reinstated in their primitive possessions.

But before we further describe this conspiracy, let us turn our attention towards Michilimackinac, and note the events that were transpiring at that point. It is unnecessary to say that the Indians of this neighborhood as generally and as sincerely lamented the change which had taken place in public affairs as their more southern neighbors. While they were strongly attached to the old residents with whom they had so long lived and traded on the most amicable terms, they were very generally prejudiced against the new comers; and this prejudice was wholly due to the French, for, at the time of which we speak, the English had not taken possession of the post. We cannot better describe the feelings which actuated these Indians than by relating the adventures of Alexander Henry, the first English fur trader who ventured to come among them. It was with difficulty that Henry obtained permission to trade at Michilimackinac, at the time, for, no treaty of peace having been made with the Indians, the authorities were justly appre hensive that neither the property nor lives of His Majesty's subjects would be very secure among them. But, eager to make the attempt which he himself afterward called premature, he at length obtained the coveted license, and, on the 3d day of August, 1761, began his journey. Nothing worthy of note occurred until he reached the Island of La Cloche, in Lake Huron. Here the trader found a large village of Indians,

whose behavior was, at first, full of civility and kindness, but when they discovered that he was an Englishman there was at once a marked change in the treatment which he received at their hands. They told him that the Indians at Michilimackinac would not fail to kill him, and that they had a right, therefore, to a share of the pillage. Upon this principle they demanded a keg of rum, adding that if it was not given to them they would proceed to take it. Henry judged it prudent to comply, but on condition that he should experience no further molestation from them. From this point he received repeated warnings of sure destruction at Michilimackinac. Oppressed with a sense of danger, he knew not what to do. It was well nigh impossible to return, as he was advised to do, for his provisions were nearly exhausted. At length, observing that the hostility of the Indians was exclusively towards the English, while between them and his Canadian attendants there appeared the most cordial good will, he resolved to change his English dress for a suit such as was usually worn by Canadian traders. This done, he besmeared his face and hands with dirt and grease, and, taking the place of one of his men whenever Indians approached, used the paddle, with as much skill as possible. In this manner he was enabled to prosecute his journey without attracting the smallest notice. Early in September he arrived at the Island of Mackinac, and here we propose to introduce the hardy adventurer to the reader, and allow him, in his voyageur's dress, to speak for himself:

"The land in the centre of this island," he says, " is high, and its form somewhat resembles that of a turtle's back. Mackinac, or Mickinac, signifies a turtle, and michi, or missi, signifies great, as it does also several, or many. The common interpretation of the word Michilimackinac is, the Great Turtle. It is from this island that the fort, commonly known by the name of Michilimackinac, has obtained its appellation.

"On the island, as I had previously been taught to expect, there was a village of Chippewas, said to contain a hundred