USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Discovery and conquests of the Northwest, with the history of Chicago, Vol. I > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
"The governor in his turn made a speech; but, in- stead of thanking the great warrior for the professions of friendship he had just uttered, he accused him of being a traitor. He told him that the English, who knew everything, were convinced of his treachery and villainous designs ; and, as a proof that they were well acquainted with his most secret thoughts and in- tentions, he stepped toward the Indian chief that sat nearest to him, and drawing aside his blanket discov- ered the shortened firelock. This entirely disconcerted the Indians, and frustrated their design.
"He then continued to tell them that, as he had given his word at the time they desired an audience,
authorities with iconoclastic assurance denounce the whole story as a passionate romance; but true or false, it represents naïve con- ditions of civil and savage life blended together in those early days.
164
Pontiac Repulsed.
that their persons should be safe, he would hold his promise inviolable, though they so little deserved it. However, he advised them to make the best of their way out of the fort, lest his young men, on being acquainted with their treacherous purposes, should cut every one of them to pieces. Pontiac endeavored to contradict the accusation, and to make excuses for his suspicious con- duct ; but the governor, satisfied of the falsity of his protestations, would not listen to him."
Thus baffled in their attempt, Pontiac and his band left, and with a full appreciation of the courage of Glad- win, as well as a conviction that treachery could play no part in taking the fort. The next day, the first attack was made with great fury, but was repulsed by the well directed fire of the garrison. The post was soon completely environed, and while the besieged are economizing their stinted resources to hold it against the audacious foe, the fate of the other English forts in the western wilderness will be told.
The style of warfare practiced by the Indians, though sanguinary, was defective, inasmuch as they were ignorant of any method by which to abridge private rights, even for the public good. Every one was his own master, amenable to no tribunal except public opinion. Against the French they cherished no resentments, and at first, with considerate charity, allowed them to take a neutral position; nor did they object to visiting the English forts, for the rights of neutrals, about which England and America have lately drawn hair splitting theories, were a sealed book to their barbarous subtleties. This slipshod military practice gave the French who were favorably disposed toward the English an opportunity to do much to assist them.
After the siege of Detroit had progressed a month, there came to the place a reverend Father from Michili- mackinac, named Jonois, who presided over a mission among the Ottawas at that place. On his arrival, he first paid his respects to Pontiac, and the next day rapped at the gate of the fort. He was admitted ; but he bore unwelcome news. Major Etherington, the
165
Massacre at Michilimackinac.
commander of Michilimackinac, had intrusted him with a letter to Gladwin, which he delivered. From it, as well as from the worthy Father himself, who had been an eye witness, Gladwin learned of the sad fate of Michilimackinac.
The Indians had taken the post by stratagem, a game of ball being the instrumental means. First they obtained permission for a number of their squaws to enter the fort. These had weapons concealed under their blankets. The ball was then batted over the palisades of the fort, as if by chance, and permission being granted to go inside after it, a pack of savages rushed in at the opening of the gate. The squaws quickly acted their part in the bloody work, by passing their concealed weapons over to the warriors, and the butchery inside the fort began. At the same moment, the attack on the soldiers outside was made, where about half the garrison were watching the treacherous game.
The whole number of the garrison was ninety-three, all told. About seventy were killed, and, vengeance being sated, the remainder became subjects of savage mercy. Major Etherington, the commander, some months before had been admonished of danger by a French resident of the place, named Laurent Ducharm, but, instead of heeding the timely warning, he snubbed the informant tartly, and threatened to send the next officious bearer of such a message to Detroit as prisoner. * The self-reliant major was among the few spared, but his soldiers paid dearly for his impervious resolution.
Alexander Henry, the trader already mentioned, then a resident of the place, had been warned the year before of the uprising, by Wawatam, a Chippewa chief, who had conceived a strong friendship for him as the result of some favor. This "spiritual seer " had received a message from the happy land, urging him to protect Henry and adopt him as a brother. He in- formed him of the revelation, and made him a generous present. Henry accepted the fraternal tie, gave him a present in return, and the chief departed for his winter hunt.
* Smith's Wis., vol. I, p. 134.
166
Alexander Henry and Wawatam.
On the 2d of June, two days before the massacre, he returned and urged Henry to go with him and his family to the Sault. Henry graciously declined the invitation, when Wawatam left, with his family, a few tears drop- ping from his eyes as he took his leave .* On the 4th of June, two days afterward, Henry beheld from the window of his trading station, his comrades shrieking under the strokes of the scalping knife, at the revelry of blood of which Wawatam had warned him, when he fled from the place and took refuge in the house of a Frenchman named Langlade. An inoffensive Pawnee slave, unbeknown to the owner, secreted him in a garret.
The infuriated Indians soon entered the very room he was in, but in their delirious excitement failed to dis- cover him, packed away as he was among a pile of bark vessels; but the mistress of the household, on learning of his presence, feared the consequences of concealing him, and when she thought of her children she no longer hesitated, but led the savages to the place of Henry's concealment. The wretched man was dragged out by a painted demon, who raised his weapon to kill him, but hesitated, and finally sent him away with a portion of the other captives.
The ultimate fate of all of them was yet subject to many capricious conditions, all of which are related in Henry's Travels. + Through the influence of Wawatam, Henry was saved with the rest, partly through the in- strumentality of Indian eloquence and partly by means of presents; but grave counsels were held as to the fate of the whole, and at last it was determined to send them to the French at Montreal, where they arrived in the suc- ceeding August, together with seventeen captives from Green Bay, with Lieut. Gorrell, their commander. } Ere this, St. Joseph, Ouatanon, Miami and San- dusky had all been taken by the Indians, but, to the
* Smith's Wis.
+ This interesting pamphlet has been reprinted in several of the early histories of the country.
# Owing to the good offices of the Indians around the place, the whole garrison had been spared, they merely evacuating the post and joining Etherington in his captivity. The fort at Ste. Marie had been evacuated previous to the massacre at Michilimackinac, whither the fugitives had taken refuge, and perished at the massacre.
167
Treacherous Peace Proposals.
credit of the captors be it said, with less atrocity than had been practiced at Michilimackinac. From San- dusky, the commander, Ensign Pauly, was taken to Detroit, where his manly form attracted the attention of a squaw whose husband had been slain in battle. In him the bereaved widow beheld her consolation, and saved his life by marrying him-but he proved a faith- less lover. Through the medium of a Frenchman, he soon sent a letter to Gladwin, and a few weeks later found means to desert his bride and take refuge in the fort.
After the fall of Michilimackinac and Sandusky, Pontiac received reinforcements, and the situation of the garrison at Detroit became daily more critical, and the place must have fallen into the hands of the infuri- ated bands of Pontiac if some of the French inhabitants had not secretly, under cover of night, sent supplies to the fort to prevent starvation, which was now more to be feared than the attacks of the enemy. The fort was only a wooden stockade, made of piles driven into the ground, and lest it might be set fire to by the besiegers, Gladwin had, by means of hot shot, burned every hut near it which might conceal an Indian. Pontiac, desti- tute of anything but small arms with which to breach its walls, again had recourse to treachery to gain it.
When Rogers left Detroit in 1760, Major Campbell assumed the command, and retained it most of the time till Gladwin had been appointed to the chief com- mand, while he held the second. During Campbell's administration, he had won the esteem of both the French and the Indians, and Pontiac sent him a mes- sage requesting him to come to his camp, and termi- nate the war by a friendly council. The message was brought by two estimable French citizens, who, deceived by the fair exterior of Pontiac, advised the granting of the interview. Gladwin's consent was reluctantly obtained by the too confiding Campbell, who was willing to go ; and, not without misgiving on the part of Gladwin, he went, accompanied by Lieut. McDougall. He was received with courtesy by Pontiac, but, contrary to his pledges, was not allowed to return except on
168
Death of Major Campbell.
condition that the fort should be given up. * McDougall made his escape, but the unfortunate Major Campbell, more closely guarded, was reserved for a cruel test of warring emotions, against which the world has put the seal of abhorrence.
The time was now near at hand when the annual supplies for the western forts were due from Ft. Niagara, and Gladwin, in order to hurry them along, on the 2 1st of May sent the smallest of the two vessels which lay in the river beside the fort to meet them. Ere she had reached the mouth of the river, while lying becalmed, a fleet of canoes, filled with Indians, rapidly approached the vessel, intending to board her and kill the crew. Lashed to the bow of the foremost was the unhappy captive, Major Campbell, who had been put there under an impression that the English would not fire on them, for fear of killing their own countryman. "Do your duty!" commanded the brave old officer, + whose whitened locks lent pathos to the last order he ever gave to his soldiers.
At that moment, a breeze filled the sails of the vessel, and she sped away, lifting a heavy burden from the hearts of the gunners, but reserving the noble captive for a crueler fate. Balked of their prey, the savages returned with their prisoner; but he was soon afterward tomahawked by an Ottawa savage, in revenge for the death of an uncle killed at Michilimackinac. Pontiac was enraged at this base act, and the miscreant who did it fled to Saginaw to escape his vengeance.
Unremitting watchfulness on the ramparts, on the part of the inmates of the fort, and eccentric spasms of vengefulness on the part of the Indians, continued till the 30th of May, when a sentinel shouted forth tidings that the expected supplies were in sight coming up the river. All eyes were turned in that direction, where the batteaux were visible in the distance, and a burst of exultation rent the air. As the batteau fleet drew nearer, the forms of the men became more visible. The
* Lanman's Mich., p. 110.
t Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac, vol. I, p. 261.
# Lanman, p. 111.
169
Capture of the Supply Fleet.
rowers toiled along in silence, till a closer view revealed the painful situation. Lordly Indians stood erect in the boats while the English soldiers were rowing.
In the foremost were three savages, armed with toma- hawks, and four captives. Nearing the vessels beside the fort, they called out to the sailors for aid, and the three Indians who guarded them leaped into the water, one of them dragging a soldier with him, both of whom were drowned in their grapples with each other, The three remaining soldiers in the batteau escaped to the shore under a hot fire from the Indians, both from the Canada shore and the batteaux, wounding one of them. * All the while, the vessel discharged her cannon at the savages in the batteau fleet, and drove them back; but they landed on the east side of the river, and took their captives, over sixty in number, to their camp above. The escaped captives, now within the walls of the fort, told the tale of disaster which had befallen them.
Early in May, Lieut. Cuyler, with a detachment of Green's Rangers, numbering 97 men, with twenty batteaux, embarked from Ft. Schlosser+ with the annual supplies for Detroit. Taking his course along the northern shore of Lake Erie, they arrived at Point Pelee, just east of the mouth of the Detroit river. Unconscious of danger, they landed to gather fuel, when a band of Wyandots in the service of Pontiac attacked them so suddenly that all but thirty, who escaped in their boats, were taken prisoners.
To the inmates of the fort at Detroit the fate of the thirty soldiers' was uncertain, but a well grounded hope consoled them that they would reach Niagara, the place from whence they had started, and give informa- tion of the catastrophe by which their attempt to bring relief had miscarried. Fortunately this was the case.
They arrived safely at Ft. Schlosser, the place where the vessel lay at anchor which had been sent to meet
* Of the various versions of this encounter, the one bearing the strong- est marks of consistency has been chosen. Cass is the authority for it. See Lanman's Mich., p. 111.
+ Ft. Schlosser was only a sub-post of Ft. Niagara-a kind of starting place above the Falls, for supplies taken from Ft. Niagara by a porterage around the Falls.
170
Torture of the Captives.
them, but, passing them unobserved, had kept on her course. All haste was now made by Major Wilkins, the commander of Ft. Niagara, to send succor to the beleaguered garrison. Thirty soldiers were added to the thirty fugitives, and the whole embarked under command of Cuyler, who was one of those who had escaped. While they are pressing sail for Detroit, let us take a view of the situation there.
The appalling spectacle of over sixty English soldiers being dragged by the fort, by the hands of the savages, was the darkest hour of the siege. Yells of delight burst from their throats as they gathered them into their camp, determined to make the most of them in the way of revenge. First, they were stripped naked, and set up for target practice with their arrows, in which the warriors indulged to their hearts' content. But the women and children must have a chance at them before the vital spark became extinct, and their flesh was punctured with the ends of burning sticks by these ingenious tormentors. The tomahawk and scalping knife finished up the unhallowed work. Their blood was drank as it ran in warm streams from their lacerated veins. Parts of their flesh were made into soup and eaten, and their bodies thrown into the river.
The summer twilight had died away and the sentinels were pacing their nightly vigils, when two French inhabitants came to the fort and brought tidings of this massacre. The silence of death pervaded the place, at its recital, till it was broken by speculations as to the time when relief could come. The next day the bodies of their tortured fellow-soldiers came floating down the river, revealing the awful fate of the victims.
Eighteen days of suspense now hung over the garri- son, when a rumor came that a sail had been descried. This was June 19th. On the 23d the news was con- firmed by M. Baby, a French inhabitant of Detroit, whose discreet friendship had already rendered essen- tial service to the garrison, without compromising his influence with Pontiac. The vessel did not arrive till the 30th, so great was the caution of Cuyler, the com- mander, to avoid the toils and ambuscades of the
171
Pontiac's Speech.
Indians along the channel of the river, as it curled among the cluster of islands just above its mouth. Notwithstanding his caution, however, an attempt was made by them to board his vessel as she lay at anchor in the night, but an unexpected discharge of cannon and musketry made them pay dearly for their temerity, and he safely arrived at the beleaguered place.
The fort now recruited with an ample store of pro- visions and sixty men, they could breathe freer.
On the 23d of the previous month, Pontiac summoned a convention for the purpose of enlisting the French in his cause. According to the usual custom, mats were spread on the green for the accommodation of the notables, who had been invited to take places of honor at the grave sitting. Said Pontiac, in his speech :
" Until now, I have avoided urging you this subject, in the hope that, if you could not aid, you would not injure us. I did not wish to ask you to fight with us against the English, and I did not believe you would take part with them. You will say you are not with them. I know it; but your conduct amounts to the same thing. You will tell them all we do and say. You carry our counsels and plans to them. Now take your choice. You must be entirely French like our- selves, or entirely English. If you are French, take this belt for yourselves and your young men, and join us. If you are English we declare war against you."
To this argument the French replied that their king had tied their hands against injuring the English, when he made peace with them, and, as a proof, produced a copy of the capitulation. "Untie this knot and we will join you." The perplexed orator was silent, but his unconquerable will won a few private recruits from the savage transcendentalism that always exists in border life, and constitutes a class defiant and aggressive, as it is regardless of consequences. These neophytes in savage warfare were received with appropriate honors by Pontiac, who patronizingly extended his hand to them, and presented the pipe with gravity, and the council was dismissed.
172
Arrival of Dalzell.
Pontiac next conceived the design of burning the two English vessels that lay beside the fort, by means of fire rafts, and to this end tore down some stables belonging to the French, for materials out of which to make them. The rafts were freighted with a plentiful supply of tar and pitch, fired, and started afloat above the vessels, under cover of a dark night. When the blazing crafts came toward the vessels they turned aside and passed harmlessly down the river, thanks to the preparations Gladwin had made for their not un- expected visit.
On the 29th of July, a fresh arrival came to the fort. It consisted of twenty-two barges and 280 men, com- manded by Capt. Dalzell, an able officer who had been a companion of Israel Putnam. * Major Rogers was also one of the officers of the reinforcement, who com- manded a few veteran Rangers, for which service he had attained a high reputation. Capt. Dalzell was for immediately taking the offensive, and an expedition was planned to march against Pontiac's camp and strike a decisive and unexpected blow.
The following account of the unlucky sortie is copied from Lanman's Michigan :
"On the morning of the 31st of July, about two o'clock, Capt. Dalzell, with a force of 247 men, marched up the Detroit river, toward Pontiac's camp; while two gun-boats in the river were pushed against the stream to cover the retreat and take off the wounded and dead. Information of this contemplated attack had been in some mode communicated to the Indians, and they re- moved their women and children, and prepared for the reception of the British troops.
"A party of warriors was stationed behind the pickets upon a neighboring farm, t and another at Bloody Run, which is about a mile and a half from Detroit on the main road. Here they were concealed in the high grass behind pickets and heaps of cord wood. The British party had reached the bridge, when a sudden and
* Parkman's conspiracy of Pontiac, vol. I, p. 308.
That of Mr. Dequindre.
# Consult Cass, Drake and Thatcher.
173
Defeat at Bloody Run.
destructive fire was poured upon them from the cord- wood and the grass. This threw them into the utmost confusion. At the first fire Dalzell fell. The British fought with desperation, but were attacked on all sides, and a vigorous charge was made by the bayonet upon the positions of the Indians; but a scattering fire was kept up by the savages from every place that could furnish them a cover. At length, finding that their situation was perilous, the British were ordered to retire, which was effected without serious loss, under the direction of Capt. Grant, aided by Major Rogers .* This retreat was covered on the shore of the Detroit river by the armed gun-boats, and the whole party ar- rived at the fort about 8 o'clock. It was effected by driving the Indians from house to house and field to field, until a line of defense could be made toward the fort. In this action, according to the official returns, there were nineteen killed and forty-two wounded. The place of its occurrence is called Bloody Run."
Pontiac lost no time in sending the news of this vic- tory to his allies far and near, to rekindle the war spirit afresh, and new recruits soon came in, sufficient to sup- ply the places of such as had deserted. Gladwin was therefore still forced to maintain a heroic defense, with- out the least relaxation of discipline. They were ever on the watch, for but a brief cessation of their vigils might bring destruction to the entire garrison.
As autumn drew near, Gladwin sent one of his vessels to Niagara for supplies for the winter; and on her return, while lying one night in the river, only nine miles below the fort, a large body of Indians approached her in their canoes, and so dark was the night that they were close by before they were seen, although a vigilant watch was kept up. The order to fire was immediately given, which was obeyed; but the next moment the Indians were in the act of boarding the vessel. The crew, only ten in number, assailed them with hatchets and spears,
* A bottle of brandy was at one time sent to Pontiac by Col. Rogers, and his warriors cautioned him not to taste it, lest it might be poisoned, Pontiac, however, rejected their advice. "He cannot take my life," said the Ottawa chief; "I have saved his."
I74
Peace Proposals.
killing them as fast as their heads appeared above the railing. Still the Indians, with desperate resolution, pressed against the deck of the little schooner with in- creased force, apparently determined to capture her at any sacrifice.
Some of them had now clambered over the railing, and already gained the deck, when the captain, wisely choos- ing death from explosion, to Indian torture, called out : "Blow up the vessel !" Startled at this desperate re- sort, the Indians leaped into the river, diving under the water as a screen from the expected flying missiles of the exploded vessel, while those in the canoes by her side pulled away in hot haste. The Indians, not caring to be blown to pieces, made no farther attempts to capture the vessel, and she reached the fort the next morning. The captain and one of the crew were killed and four others wounded. The six uninjured survivors, among whom was Jacobs, the mate, as they appeared before Gladwin to relate the circumstances of the encounter. bore the marks of its fierceness on their garments, sprinkled as they were with the blood of their foes, while their spears and hatchets were stained like butch- ers' tools. *
The season was now so far advanced that no farther supplies or reinforcements could be expected till the next summer, and the garrison must make the most of the provisions just brought them by the heroic crew. though barely sufficient to sustain them through the winter. Meantime the Indians began to run short of provisions, as well as ammunition, and of the new recruits who had recently swelled the ranks of Pontiac none remained through the winter, while most of those who had borne the brunt in besieging the place from the first, were compelled by necessity to take to the distant forests for subsistence. Some of these sent in treacherous peace proposals to Gladwin, who accepted them for what they were worth, but placed no confidence in their stability. Even Pontiac broke through the line of his incarnate hatred to the English, sent a peace message to Gladwin, and retired to the Maumee rapids
* Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac, vol. I, pp. 320, 321.
175
to spend the winter. Comparative quiet thus restored, the garrison rested while they watched through the succeeding winter.
DETROIT AS IT WAS WHEN EVACUATED BY THE ENGLISH IN 1796.
It shows the location of Fort Pontchartrain, built by Cadillac in 1701, on the site of which, or near it, was Gladwin's stockade, spoken of in future pages.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.