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responded to the call of their French Father to assist him in his war with the English. Yet now when Pontiac undertook to unite them under his banner and drive the English from the country they not only declined to respond but on the contrary made themselves the ardent champions of the English cause. It is difficult to believe that the English, who had signally failed elsewhere to conciliate the savages, had completely won their hearts in Wisconsin. Probably one powerful reason for their support of the newcomers lay in their reading of the commercial situation. The action of the Chippewa at Mackinac threatened to "close the road" of the English traders, who had already begun flocking into the country west of Lake Michigan. As such it was not to be tolerated, since only by keeping the road open could the tribes of Wisconsin and the upper Mississippi expect to continue to enjoy the privilege of procuring the white men's goods.

The Wisconsin Indians, by their prompt response to the appeal of Lieutenant Gorrell, had not only rescued the survivors of the massacre at Mackinac from captivity, but they had insured the neutrality of the Ottawa of L'Arbre Croche and the Chippewa of Wisconsin and the upper Michigan Peninsula. Whether the absence of help from these quarters was a material factor in the failure of Pontiac at Detroit must be left to conjecture. With the opening of the season of 1764 Pontiac endeavored to continue the war, but an army led by General Bradstreet penetrated to Detroit by way of Lake Erie, while another under Colonel Bouquet marched into Ohio by way of Fort Pitt. The incompetence of Bradstreet prevented the English from reaping the full results that from this overwhelming display of power they were entitled to expect, yet the savages recognized the futility of further opposition, and with the close of the season of 1764 the war was virtually over. The following year peace was formally made, and the English were at last in supreme control of all the western country. With the reoccupation of Mackinac was begun, under the instigation of its commandant, a period of exploration which was to supply an interesting chapter in the history of Wisconsin and the Northwest.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

The classic account of the entire period under review in this chapter is Francis Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac. In certain respects, however, the progress of historical research in the last three-quarters of a century has rendered Parkman's narrative inadequate, and this is particularly true with respect to the attitude of the Wisconsin tribes. Major Rogers' own narrative of his expedition of 1760 and of the siege of Detroit is in his Journals of Major Robert Rogers: containing an account of the several excursions he made under

the generals who commanded upon the continent of North America during the late war. (London, 1765). Sir William Johnson's journal of his expedition to Detroit is printed in William L. Stone's Life and Times of Sir William Johnson (Albany, 1865), Vol. II, App. IV. For the several editions of Alexander Henry's Travels and Adventures, see the bibliographical note to chapter XIII.

CHAPTER XII

THE SCHEMES OF TWO NEW ENGLAND YANKEES

War and conquest are destructive processes involving as their necessary consequence a work of reorganization and reconstruction. The western country had been conquered by England, and the task now remained of determining its form of government and organizing its administration. With this problem successive ministries vainly wrestled until, as an incident to its attempted solution, the home government became embroiled with her American colonies and the war of the Revolution and birth of the American nation was the consequence. But before the development of this major historical drama, in the earlier years of English occupancy of the West was wrought out a minor drama whose story constitutes an interesting chapter in the history of Wisconsin and the Northwest.

The leading actors in the drama we are to follow were two New Englanders, Maj. Robert Rogers and Capt. Jonathan Carver. With the work of Rogers as a daring leader of rangers in the war and in connection with the surrender and later siege of Detroit, we have already had occasion to become acquainted. Although a man of preeminent ability as a leader of rangers, Rogers was a man of weak judgment and he was, moreover, sadly lacking in character. He indulged in extensive dissipation, he mistreated and abused his wife, and he engaged in extravagant and ruinous commercial speculations. The close of the war left him without an occupation, unless he could win an appointment in the military or Indian service. The all-powerful figure in the administration of Indian affairs was Sir William Johnson of New York, who owes his place in history to his knowledge of Indian character in general, and his influence over the Iroquois Confederacy in particular. He had borne a conspicuous part in the French and Indian War, attaining the rank of major-general, and as superintendent of the Indian Department, the close of that contest, with the extension of English authority over the territory conquered from France, had greatly increased the scope of his responsibilities and activities. The problem of pressing importance was that of the administration of Indian affairs, and this turned largely on the matter of the conduct of the Indian trade. As a responsible official of con

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structive ability, Johnson had a program of his own for the organization of this important department, and his estimate of the character and capacity of Rogers was such as to preclude the latter from any hope of appointment at his hands. For a year or so after his withdrawal from the Indian war Rogers engaged in a private employment in New England, which only resulted in involving him deeply in debt. In this situation, feeling convinced that his military services had been such as to entitle him to consideration and preferment at the hands of the government, and realizing that he had nothing to hope from the authorities of the Crown in America, Rogers determined to lay his claims before the home government in person, and in the spring of 1765 he sailed to England intent on this mission.

In London he speedily became a social lion, for his exploits in the late war had been widely advertised in England and the personality of Rogers well-fitted him to maintain the reputation which had preceded him. Social activities aside, Rogers prosecuted, during the months of his London sojourn, the twofold task of bringing out certain literary productions and seeking a governmental appointment. Three works, produced in rapid succession, measure the literary output of the Ranger, while a commission as commander of the post of Mackinac, one of the most important in the western country, reflects the skill with which his quest of official preferment was pursued.

By Sir William Johnson the news of this appointment was received with mingled feelings of apprehension and dismay. Peace had but recently been concluded with the tribes and Johnson, busy with plans for the development of a system of administration of Indian affairs in the western country, wished only officers sent thither in whose fidelity and capacity he could confide. The French inhabitants, who had formerly controlled the trade of the region, were not disposed quietly to permit it to pass into English hands, and their machinations with the natives constituted an active source of intrigue and plotting. To circumvent this opposition and to supply the no less essential oversight of the conduct of the English traders, Johnson proposed to establish alongside the commandant at each military post a commissary of Indian Affairs, who, subject to his own directions and supervision, should be responsible for the conduct of the trade and the maintenance of peaceful relations with the natives. At the present moment Johnson was endeavoring to procure the appointment of such local commissaries at Detroit, Mackinac, and Fort Chartres, the three posts of greatest strategic importance in the western country. Necessarily, for the successful prosecution of their work, the local superintendents must have the harmonious support of the military commandants at their respective stations; and Johnson, who entertained only distrust for the fidelity and capacity

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