PONTIAC, chief of the Ottawas, born
on Ottawa river about 1720; died in Cahokia, Ill., in 1769. He was the son of an
Ojibway woman, and, as the Ottawas were in alliance with the Ojibways and
Pottawattamies, he became the principal chief of the three tribes.
In 1746, with his warriors, he defended the French at Detroit against an
attack by some of the northern tribes, and in 1755 he is believed to have led
the Ottawas at Braddock's defeat. After the surrender of Quebec, Major Robert
Rogers, of New Hampshire, was sent to take possession of the western forts,
under the treaty of Paris, but in November, 1760, while encamped at the place
where the city of Cleveland now stands, he was visited by Pontiac, who objected
to his further invasion of the territory. Finding, however, that the French had
been driven from Canada, he acquiesced in the surrender of Detroit, and
persuaded 400 Detroit Indians, who were lying in ambush, to relinquish their
design of cutting off the English. While this action was doubtless in good
faith, still he hated the English and soon began to plan their extermination.
In 1762 he sent messengers with a red stained tomahawk and a wampum war
belt, who visited every tribe between the Ottawa and the lower Mississippi, all
of whom joined in the conspiracy The end of May was determined upon as the time
when each tribe was to dispose of the garrison of the nearest fort, and then all
were to attack the settlements. A great council was held near Detroit on 27
April, 1763, when Pontiac delivered an oration, in which the wrongs and
indignities that the Indians had suffered at the hands of the English were
recounted, and their own extermination was prophesied. He also told them of a
tradition, which he could hardly have invented, that a Delaware Indian had been
admitted into the presence of the Great Spirit, who told him his race must
return to the customs and weapons of their ancestors, throw away the implements
they had acquired from the white man, abstain from whiskey, and take up the
hatchet against the English, "these dogs dressed in red, who have come
to rob you of your hunting grounds and drive away the game."
The taking of Detroit was to be his special task, and the 7th of May was
appointed for the attack ; but the plot was disclosed to the commander of the
post by an Indian girl, and in consequence Pontiac found the garrison prepared.
Foiled in his original intention, on 12 May he surrounded Detroit with his
Indians; but he was unable to keep a close siege, and the garrison received food
from the Canadian settlers. The latter likewise supplied the Indians, in return
for which they received promissory notes drawn on birch bark and signed with the
figure of an otter,
all of which it is said were subsequently redeemed. Supplies and reinforcements
were sent to Detroit by way of Lake Erie, in schooners ; but these were captured
by the Indians, who compelled the prisoners to row them to Detroit in hope of
taking the garrison by stratagem, but the Indians, concealed in the bottom of
the boat, were discovered before a landing could be effected. Subsequently
another schooner, filled with supplies and ammunition, succeeded in reaching the
fort, and this vessel the Indians repeatedly tried to destroy by means of fire
rafts.
The English now believed themselves sufficiently strong to make an attack
upon the In
dian camp, and 250 men, on the night of 31 July, set out for that purpose; but
Pontiac had been advised of this intention by the Canadians, and, waiting until
the English had advanced sufficiently, opened fire on them from all sides. In
this fight, which is known as that of Bloody Bridge, 59 of the English were
killed or wounded. A desultory warfare continued until 12 Oct., when the siege
was raised and Pontiac retired into the country that borders Maumee river, where
he vainly endeavored to organize another movement. Although Pontiac failed in
the most important action of the conspiracy, still Fort Sandusky, Fort St.
Joseph, Fort Miami, Fort Ouatanon, Mackinaw, Presque Isle, Fort Le Bceuf, and
Fort Venango were taken and their garrisons were massacred, while unsuccessful
attacks were made elsewhere.
The English soon sent troops against the Indians, and succeeded in
pacifying most of the tribes, so that, during the summer of 1766, a meeting of
Indian chiefs, including Pontiac, was held in Oswego, where a treaty was
concluded with Sir William Johnson. Although Pontiac's conspiracy failed in its
grand object, still it had resulted in the capture and destruction of eight out
of the twelve fortified posts that were attacked, generally by the massacre of
their garrisons, it had destroyed several costly English expeditions, and had
carried terror and desolation into some of the most fertile valleys on the
frontiers of civilization. In 1769 a Kaskaskia Indian, being bribed with a
barrel of liquor and promise of additional reward, followed Pontiac into the
forest and there murdered him. See Francis Parkman's "History of the
Conspiracy of Pontiac and the War of the North American Tribes against the
English Colonies after the Conquest of Canada" (Boston, 1851), also
Franklin B. Hough's "Diary of the Siege of Detroit in the War with
Pontiac" (Albany, 1860). -- Edited
Appleton's Cyclopedia American Biography Copyright©
2001 by VirtualologyTM
