USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume One > Part 25
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the French possession in America, save the subsequent brief ownership of Louisiana by Napoleon Bonaparte.
This many sided war in Europe was over and hos- tilities in that part of the world were at an end. Not so in America. The dark-eyed Latin and the blue-eyed Anglo-Saxon had fought out their differences and divided up the new continent, but the red-skinned, raven-haired, native savage, who claimed and occupied the territories that had been the prize of the world's war, was not represented nor recognized in the "family compact" of Fontainbleau nor the final division of the spoils at Paris. The Indian, especially of the Ohio Valley, was yet to be reckoned with and for half a century he bravely and unyieldingly resisted the right of the civilized free-booting invaders to despoil him of land and home. To him the Seven Years' War had merely exchanged one "pale-face" conqueror for another. Indeed the last successful invader was less welcome and more dreaded than the first. The pos- session of Canada and the establishment of the French posts along the southern shores of the Great Lakes and the inland rivers, brought the French into close touch with the free forest life of the native savage. The Frenchmen, moreover, were passing discoverers or tradesmen going and coming as adventure or com- merce dictated and with the Gallic suavity of manner and pliability of temperament they easily made friends with the tribesmen, giving them gaudy presents, flattering them with honied words and amusing them with their gay attire and vivacious disposition. The venturesome Canadians drank and danced with the warriors, made love to their maidens and married
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their squaws, while the spectacular religion of the priests and missionaries appealed to the superstitious nature of the "children of the forest." Not so with the Briton successor. The Anglo-Saxon displayed "no such phenomena of mingling races." Cold-blood- ed, unsympathetic, indomitable, the Englishman came for a serious purpose and came to stay;
"With master policy refined, To rule the world of human kind;
In closest league with royal state, Wide conquest to accelerate; With grasp of universal plan, Embracing every race of man;
Such was the order shrewdly sent, To seize the western continent."
The Briton seized the land and settled thereon, cut down the forest and built his log cabin. His traders bullied and cheated the red-men while the red-coated officers and soldiers often treated them with rudeness and contempt. The numerous tribes of the Ohio country and the more remote northwest had been the active allies of the French. As we have seen, as a result of the French and Indian war, the French posts, east and northeast of the Ohio had passed into English possession. So had most of the French posts in the Ohio country; but the extreme western settlements of Vincennes, Chartres and Cahokia still remained under French control.
Mainly by the aid of the colonists was the French and Indian War won by England, and the vast domain of the Province of Quebec, including the Northwest Territory, was added to the British possessions. The colonists therefore expected to reap large results from this victory. The inhabitants of the Atlantic colonies,
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whose charters gave them theoretical territory "from sea to sea," looked forward to taking possession of the rich lands beyond the Ohio. Especially did the Virginians, Pennsylvanians and New Yorkers antic- ipate new homes in the valleys north and west of the Ohio. But in all this they were sorely disappointed. Once England had the right of possession, her greed and short-sightedness dictated a prohibition unlooked for by the American colonists. This prohibition took the form of the Quebec Act of 1763, the terms of which exert a very important influence in the subsequent events of our history.
This famous act was a proclamation concerning America, issued October 7, 1763, by the king "with the advice of our said privy council." After con- gratulating his subjects upon the great advantages that must accrue to their commerce, manufactures and navigation from the acquisition of territory, His Ma- jesty proceeds to constitute four new governments, three of them on the American continent and one in the West Indies. This latter of course does not interest us. His new American territories on the gulf, he divides into East Florida and West Florida, setting their boundaries. The government of Quebec was established by being bounded in the words of the proc- lamation "on the Labrador coast by the River St. John (Saguenay), and from thence to a line drawn from the head of that river, through the Lake St. John, to the south end of the Lake Nipissim; from whence the said line crossing the River St. Lawrence and the Lake Champlain, in forty-five degrees of north latitude, passes along the highlands which divide the
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rivers that empty themselves into the said River St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the sea; and also along the north coasts of the Baie des Chaleurs, and the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Cape Rosieres, and from thence crossing the mouth of the St. Lawrence by the west end of the island of Anticosti, terminates at the aforesaid River St. John."
The king then gives directions for constituting pro- vincial governments for Quebec, West Florida and East Florida respectively on the principle of repre- sentation. He also instructs the royal governors of these provinces to grant lands to the officers and men who have served in the army and navy in the war, according to a prescribed schedule. He further sets forth the terms upon which inhabitants may resort to and settle in these provinces. This proclamation of course has nothing to say concerning the established thirteen colonies. But it nevertheless vitally touched their interests. In the establishment of the provinces named and bounded, it is seen that the country west of the Alleghany mountains, the Ohio country and the great northwest was not embraced in the new governments. As to that territory the proclamation read :
"We do, therefore, with the advice of our privy council, declare it to be our royal will and pleasure, that no governor or commander-in-chief, in any of our Colonies of Quebec, East Florida, or West Florida, do presume, upon any pretense whatever, to grant warrants of survey, or pass any patents for lands beyond the bounds of their respective governments, as described in their commissions; as also that no
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governor or commander-in-chief of our other colonies or plantations in America, do presume, for the present, and until our further pleasure be known, to grant warrants of survey or pass patents for any lands beyond the heads or sources of any of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean from the west or northwest; or upon any lands whatever, which have not been ceded or purchased by us. * * and we do, by the advice of our privy council, declare and enjoin, that the trade with the said Indians shall be free and open to all our subjects whatever, provided that every person who may incline to trade with the said Indians, to take out a license for carrying on such trade, from the governor or commander-in-chief of any of our colonies respectively, where such person shall reside, and also give security to observe such regulations as we shall at any time think fit, by ourselves or com- missaries, to be appointed for this purpose, to direct and appoint for the benefit of the said trade."
All of which meant that His Royal Majesty George III, by advice of his stupid privy council, proposed to keep the great northwest territory as an Indian reservation, from which the colonists were excluded. The motive of this policy has been much discussed and perhaps the remarks of Prof. Hinsdale in his volume in "The Old Northwest" are the most worthy of quota- tion on this subject: "Solicitude for the Indians, and anxiety for the peace and safety of the colonies, are the reasons alleged in the proclamation itself. The 'whereas' introducing the proclamation says it is essential to the royal interest and the security of the colonies that the tribes of Indians living under the
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king's protection shall not be molested or disturbed in the possession of such parts of his dominions and territories as, not having been ceded to or purchased by him, are reserved to them as their hunting grounds; and a declaration follows the prohibition that it is his royal will and pleasure, for the present, to reserve under his sovereign protection and domination, for the use of the said Indians, all the lands within the new governments, within the limits of the Hudson Bay Company and beyond the sources of the rivers falling into the sea from the west and northwest. The king strictly forbids his loving subjects making any pur- chases or settlements whatever, or taking possession of any of the lands described, without his special leave and license; and he further enjoins all persons who have seated themselves upon any of the lands so re- served to the Indians, forthwith to abandon them. If at any time the Indians are inclined to dispose of their lands, they shall be purchased only in the king's name, by the governor or commander-in-chief of the colony within which the lands lie. The proclamation winds up with some wholesome regulations respecting the Indian trade. "
Probably the English Tory statesmen thought by this exclusion act to accomplish a two-fold result. First, restriction of the growing power and territory of the colonists, who by their bravery and prowess in the French and Indian War had given evidence of their ability to cope with an enemy. Second, to pla- cate the Redmen and retain their friendly alliance in case warfare should make their cooperation desirable, Also, it was desirable to hold their wild, game pro-
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ducing domain, an undisturbed field for continued fur trade. But the American Indian who had had no more part or say in all these proceedings, the Treaty of Paris and the Quebec Act, than the trees of the forest, amidst which he roamed, did not appreciate, if he understood, the specious but selfish policy pre- sented in England's pretended position. The wily Indian in his unerring instinct, however, feared the Greeks giving gifts.
CHAPTER XVI. CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC
T HE sentiment of resistance to the new English domination particularly pervaded the Indians of the west and northwest. The tribes of Canada, New York and New England, what- ever their feelings, were hopeless as to any efforts to thwart the encroachments of the white race. The situation at the close of the French and Indian War is clearly revealed in a letter from Sir William Johnson to the Lords of Trade:
"The Indians of the Ottawa Confederacy (and who began the present war) and also the Six Nations, how- ever their sentiments may have been misrepresented, all along considered the northern parts of North Amer- ica, as their sole property from the beginning; and although the conveniency of trade (with fair speeches and promises) induced them to afford both us and the French settlements in their country, yet they have never understood such settlement as a Dominion, especially as neither we nor the French ever made a conquest of them; they have even repeatedly said at several conferences in my presence that they were amused by both parties with stories of their upright intentions, and that they made war for the protection of the Indians' rights, but that they plainly found, it was carried on, to see who would become masters of what was the property of neither the one or the other."
The attitude of the Indians found its leader and spokesman in Pontiac, one of the towering figures of his race. He became at once the man of the hour. Clouds of vagueness overhang the origin of Pontiac. The place and date of his birth are both matters of dispute. There seems to be no doubt that he was
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the son of an Ottawa chief; his mother is variously stated to have been an Ojibway, a Miami and a Sac. This is a reversal of the usual difficulty in establishing the parentage of a distinguished Indian. As one author says, speaking of the law of heritage with the savages, "maternity is a matter of observation, while paternity is a matter of inference." Authorities also vary as to the date of his nativity from 1712 to 1720, while historical writers usually content themselves with the vague statement that he was born "on the Ottawa River," without designating which Ottawa River, for many in his day were so called; indeed the Ottawas gave to several streams upon which they sojourned for any length of time the name "Ottawa," after their own tribe. Other tribes followed this custom, of giving their tribal name to the river of their temporary habi- tation. Jean Baptiste Richardville, whose Indian name was Peshewah-"the Lynx"-was a half breed Miami, his mother belonging to that tribe and his father being French. Richardville was born on the banks of the St. Mary's River, near the present site of Fort Wayne, about the year 1761. He lived and grew up in the locality of Pontiac's boyhood and was intimate with many who had been personally associated with Pontiac. Richardville, who succeeded Little Turtle as chief of the Miamis and who in the latter portion of his life became "the wealthiest Indian in North America," is on record as often asserting that Pontiac was born by the Maumee at the mouth of the Auglaize, then called the Ottawa by the members of that tribe. This would locate Pontiac's place of birth at, or near, the present site of Defiance. So that the great Ottawa
PONTIAC.
The chief of the Ottawas. Born about 1715 on the Maumee River at the mouth of the Auglaize. He was one of the most distinguished of his race and formed a confed- eracy of some twenty tribes of the Northwest with the purpose of exterminating the whites from the country west of the Alleghany Mountains.
This is a photograph of a painting made from descriptions of his appearance, by some of his white contemporaries.
PONTIAC
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РАТКОЯ
The son of an Oftaw his mother is variu
statesnowych esistqu'A dit to dtsom sit th Ist
says, speaking of the
is aid to is a matter Authorities also valy to the date of bir city from 1712 to 1720, whi historical writers usually content themselves with - Vague statement that he was born "on the Otras River," without designaving which Ottawa River, many in his day were so called; indeed the Otta gave to several streams upon which they sojourned any length of time the name "Ottawa, " after il own tribe. Other tribes followed this custom, of gi their tribal name to the river of their temporary hil tation. Jean Baptiste Richardville, whose Indian n was Peshewah-"the Lynx"-was a half breed Mian his mother belonging to that tribe and his father bol French. Richardville was born on the banks of St. Mary's River, near the present site of Fort Wayne about the year 1761. He lived and grew up in - locality of Pontiac's boyhood and was intimate will many who had been personally associated with Ponbir Richardville, who succeeded Little Turtle as chiel the Miamis and who in the latter portion of his became "the wealthiest Indian in North America is on record as often asserting that Pontiac was bon by the Maumee at the mouth of the Auglaize, she called the Ottawa by the members of that tribe. Tlf would locate Pontiac's place of birth at, or near, The present site of Debance. So that the great Ottawa
مهام ال الوجود .
ـفي إلى قرار ١٥ خر. أجل الأولى مكر الحروب الب سادة
ـك وسايد
ـبضربة ودار
١٤٢١
٠٠ ٠٫٠
١٠١ -
٠٠ ٠٠٠
٩٠٠١ / ٥ ٢٠٠ نس كب
٠ ٠٠ واق ابجميل
PONTIAC.
٠
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chief, like many another great leader of the red race, was a native of Ohio. Chief Richardville often as- serted that Pontiac was born of an Ottawa father and a Miami mother. Dodge, in "Redmen of the Ohio Valley" states it was claimed Pontiac was captured from a Catawba tribe and adopted by the Ottawas. But there is no authority for that claim.
One of the best characterizations of Pontiac is that by Daniel S. Drake, in his masterly work on "The Indian Tribes of the United States," wherein he says the Ottawa chief possessed "more than ordinary in- telligence, ambition, eloquence, decision of character, power of combination and great energy. In subtlety and craft he was unsurpassed. He was of middle height with a figure of remarkable symmetry. His complexion was unusually dark and his features, though void of regularity, were expressive of boldness and vigor, which united with an habitually imperious and peremptory manner, were indicative of unusual strength of will."
We have already quoted the impression the Ottawa chief made on Major Rogers in their forest meeting on the shore of Lake Erie. Pontiac, when we consider that he was limited by "the profound ignorance and barbarism of his people; by his own destitution of all education and information; and by the jealous, fierce and intractable spirit of his compeers," was certainly not only one of the greatest of his race but one of the regnant figures of Indian history. He too was a patriot, for he wrought for his nation nor was he less a prophet for in his intuitive soul he realized
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the threatened destiny of his people. Like the red chieftain in Hiawatha, he saw into the future "of distant days that shall be" and
"Beheld the westward marches Of the unknown, crowded nations. All the land was full of people, Restless, struggling, toiling, striving, Speaking many tongues, yet feeling
But one heart beat in their bosoms.
In the woodlands rang their axes,
Smoked their towers in all the valleys,
Over all the lakes and rivers
Rushed their great canoes of thunder."
Before the French relinquishment of their posts to the English, Pontiac was a commanding personage among the western tribes and his fame was known to all the Indian nations of America. He appears to have always been the adherent of the French and led his tribesmen, so many authorities assert, in support of De Beaujeu at the defeat of Braddock. That he was more than a mere savage warrior his career amply testifies. He had in no small degree the natural qual- ities of a successful man of affairs, if not indeed the abilities of a statesman. The New York Colonial Documents contain a letter from General Gage to the earl of Halifax, written at the close of the conspiracy, in which the general alluding to the Ottawa chief says, "there is reason to judge of Pontiac, not only as a savage, possessed of the most refined cunning and treachery natural to the Indians, but as a person of extra ability." He then continues that M. D'Abbadie, French governor of Louisiana, states that "Pontiac keeps two secretaries, one to write for him, the other to read the letters he received and he manages them
76
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so as to keep each of them ignorant of what is trans- acted by the other."
Already the Ottawas, Ojibways, or Chippewas, and Pottawattomies had formed a sort of alliance of which he was the acknowledged head, and months previous to the time when the diplomats, amid the gilded splen- dors of Paris, were bartering away the American country of the savages, the latter, amid their forest homes, were secretly plotting the destruction of their European enemy. "From the Potomac to Lake Super- ior, and from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, in every wigwam and hamlet of the forest, a deep-rooted hatred of the English increased with rapid growth."
The hostility of the Indian against the British was of course, assiduously promoted by the French who saw in it trouble for the British, possibly a regaining of their lost ground. The warlike and revengeful spirit of the Indian began to give itself vent. The smouldering fires were bound to burst forth. During the years 1761 and 1762, plots were hatched in various tribes, to stealthily approach and, by attack or treach- erous entrance, destroy the posts of Detroit, Fort Pitt and others. These plots were severally discovered in time to forestall their accomplishment.
But Indian indignation reached its height when in 1763 it was announced to the tribes that the king of France had ceded all their (Indian) country to the king of England, without consulting them in the matter. At once an uprising was set on foot, "such as was never before or since conceived or executed by North American Indians." It was determined and planned to make an assault upon all the British posts on the
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same day; "then, having destroyed the garrisons to turn upon the defenseless frontier and ravage and lay waste the white settlements." It was fondly believed by thousands of braves that then the British might be exterminated or at least driven to the sea board and confined to their coast settlements. It was the great Chief Pontiac, who if he did not originally in- stigate, certainly fostered, directed and personally commanded this secretly arranged universal movement:
"Hang the peace pipe on the wall- Rouse the nations one and all! Tell them quickly to prepare For the bloody rites of War. Now begin the fatal dance, Raise the club and shake the lance,
Now prepare the bow and dart- 'Tis our fathers' ancient art; Let each heart be strong and bold As our fathers were of old. Warriors, up !- prepare-attack- 'Tis the voice of Pontiack."
Pontiac's master mind comprehended the importance and necessity of combined and harmonious effort. He proposed to unite all the tribes into one confederacy for offensive operations. At the close of 1762 he dis- patched embassadors to the different nations; to the tribes of the north on the lakes; to the northwest, the head waters of the Mississippi and south to its mouth; to the east and the southeast. The Indians thus en- listed and banded together against the British com- prised, "with few unimportant exceptions the whole Algonquin stock." Especially were the Ohio tribes solicited and secured; the Shawnees, the Miamis, the Wyandots and the Delawares. The Senecas were the only members of the Iroquois confederacy that joined
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the league. The onslaught was to be made in the month of May, 1763. The tribes were to rise simul- taneously at the various points and each tribe destroy the British garrison in its neighborhood. The destruc- tion of Michilimackinac was allotted to the Ojibways and Sacs; Fort St. Joseph to the Illinois, the forts east and south to their adjacent tribes. It was a vast scheme, worthy the brain and courage of the greatest general and shrewdest statesman.
The chief center of Indian complicity and the main point of attack was the Post of Detroit, then the western headquarters of the British government, the defensive stockade of which was known as Fort Pontchartrain. Pontiac was personally to strike the first blow. The rendezvous of his painted and armed warriors was to be the banks of the little river Ecorces which emptied into the Detroit River a few miles below the Fort, located on the present site of Detroit. It was the 27th of April when the assembled warriors listened to the final war speech of the great chief. Pontiac was an orator of a high order, fierce and impassioned in style. He presented at length the injustice of the British as compared with that of the French; he set forth the danger to his race from the threatened supre- macy of the British power; he predicted the awakening of "their great father the King of France," during whose sleep the English had robbed the Indian of his American possessions. In passionate appeals he aroused the vengeance and superstition of his people and warned them that the white man's civilization was poisoning and annihilating the red race. In his dramatic way he related to the superstitious Indians
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a dream wherein the Great Spirit sent his message that they were to cast aside the weapons, the utensils of civilization and the "deadly rum" of the white men, and, with aid from the Great Spirit, drive the "dogs in red" from every post in their (Indian) country. He revealed his plans of destruction of the whites and the details of the plot to secure Detroit. He and a few of his chosen chiefs were to visit the fort, under pretense of a peaceful visit, gain admittance, seek audience with Major Henry Gladwyn, the commandant and his officers, and then at an agreed signal the chiefs were to draw their weapons, previously concealed be- neath their blankets, raise the war whoop, rush upon the officers and strike them down. The Indian forces waiting meanwhile at the gate were then to assail the surprised and half-armed soldiers. Thus through this perfidious murder Detroit would fall an easy prey to the savages and Pontiac's conspiracy have a successful inauguration. His plan was approved. Just below Fort Detroit, on the same side of the river, was a Pottawattomie village; across the river some three miles up the current was an Ottawa village; on the same eastern side about a mile below Detroit was the Wyan- dot village. Along each side of the river for two or three miles were houses of the French settlers. "The King and lord of all this country," as Major Rogers called Pontiac, had located one of his homes, where he spent the early summer, on a little island (Isle a Péche) at the opening of Lake St. Clair. Here he had a small oven-shaped cabin of bark and rushes. Here he dwelt with his squaws and children, and here doubt-
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