USA > Ohio > The history of the state of Ohio; from the discovery of the great valley, to the present time > Part 10
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The fort was full of Indians, all well armed, having drawn their concealed weapons, and they were cutting down and scalping every Englishman within their reach. They seemed in a state of perfect frenzy, all uttering the shrill war whoop, or other hideous yells. The ground was already covered with many struggling in the agonies of death. He had in his chamber a fowling piece, loaded with swan-shot. Almost instinctively seizing this, he returned to the window, but it instantly occurred to him that the report of his gun would only secure his own more immediate and certain destruction. He stood at the window in great terror, expecting every instant to hear the fort-drum beat to arms. While thus standing several of his countrymen were cut down. He saw more than one struggling between the knees of the savages, who thus held them, and scalped them while yet alive and shrieking.
It is very remarkable that while this awful scene was transpir- ing there were several Frenchmen, Canadian villagers, looking
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composedly upon the slaughter. The vengeance of the Indians was directed to the English alone. They had no desire to expel the French. They prized their society and their commerce ; and it was their openly avowed wish to restore their father, the King of the French, to his supremacy in their dominions. Not a Frenchman was molested. And though the French took no part with the Indians, it can scarcely be doubted that their sympathies were with them.
Mr. Henry, seeing that the fort was taken beyond all possibil- ity of recapture, and that there was no apparent escape for his countrymen from the general massacre, conceived the hope that he might possibly find refuge in the house of some one of the Frenchmen. Monsieur Langlade lived in the next house to the one which he occupied. There was a low fence which separated the two back yards. Running out at the door, he climbed the fence, and rushing into the house he found the whole family look- ing out at the window upon the horrible spectacle before them,
Mr. Henry, pallid with terror, entreated Monsieur Langlade to conceal him in his house till the massacre should be over. The Frenchman looked at him for a moment, and then, turning again to the window, shrugged his shoulders and said : " I can do noth- ing for you."
There was in the room an Indian woman, one of the Pawnee tribe, who was a servant to Madame Langlade. She beckoned the Englishman to follow her, and led him to the garret, where she told him that he must conceal himself the best way he could. She left him, and locking the door, with much presence of mind took away the key. The garret of the cabin was dark, without any window. But there were large cracks between the boards of the wall, through which cracks Mr. Henry could obtain a full view of all that was taking place in the area of the fort.
Here he beheld, with horror, the truly infernal deeds of the savages. There can be no fiend worse than man in his fury. The dead were scalped, and their bodies mutilated in every fero- cious way which barbaric ingenuity could invent. Many were writhing and shrieking as the keen knife circled their heads, and their bloody scalps were torn off. "From the bodies of some, ripped open, their butchers were drinking the blood, scooped up in the hollow of joined hands, and quaffed amid shouts of rage and victory."
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We have heard of " Godlike human nature." And the Psalmist says, " Thou didst create him but little lower than the angel." But surely man has fallen into terrible depths. And he must indeed be regenerated before he can be fit again to be restored to the soci- ety of his angel brothers.
But a few moments passed before the massacre was completed. Not a living Englishman could be seen. The savages now com- menced a search for those who might be concealed. Mr. Henry, from his hiding place, saw a gang of the savages entering M. Langlade's house. The floor of the garret consisted merely of a layer of loose boards. He could, therefore, see all that trans- pired, and hear all that was said in the room below.
" Are there any Englishmen here!" one of the savages inquired.
" I cannot say, "Monsieur Langlade replied. "I do not know of any. You must search for yourselves and then you will be sat- isfied."
This was true. Monsieur Langlade did not know but that Mr. Henry had left his house. The savages then came to the garret door. Sometime was lost in getting the key. Mr. Henry im- proved the fortunate moments in hiding in the midst of a heap of litter which chanced to be in one corner of the garret. He had but just completed his concealment, when four savages came clambering up the rickety stairs, their tomahawks literally drip- ping with blood.
Mr. Henry felt that his last hour had certainly come. He was stifled for want of breath. It seemed to him that his heart beat loud enough to betray him. The Indians searched the dark gar- ret in all directions. One of them came so near that Mr. Henry could have touched him with his hand. The Indians were all the time entertaining Mr. Langlade with a glowing and hilarious account of their great achievement. At last the savages returned down the stairs. Soon after this Madame Langlade, who did not know of his concealment, went into the garret for some purpose, and was surprised in finding him there. Her womanly nature was touched. She told him that all the English who could be found were killed, but that she hoped that he might escape. He was left in his concealment for the night.
Upon descending the stairs she reflected that there was no . possibility of the escape of Mr. Henry from Michilimackinac
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unseen by the numerous bands of savages who now held the post; and that if he should be found secreted in her house, she, her husband and her children would certainly fall victims to their vengeance.
In the morning she informed Wenniway, a ferocious savage chief, that an Englishman was concealed in her garret. He was a man of gigantic stature and of brutal instincts. Immediately he came to the house, followed by half a dozen savages, all naked to the waist and intoxicated. With compressed lips the chief entered the garret, seized Mr. Henry by the wrist, and brandish- ing a large knife, was just upon the point of plunging it into his heart, when a new impulse came over him.
He had lost a brother in the war with the English. The idea struck him that, in accordance with the Indian custom, he would adopt Mr. Henry in his stead. After a moment's pause, the knife gleaming in the air, he sheathed it, saying : " I will not kill you. I will adopt you." Thus Mr. Henry's life was saved, and he was subsequently ransomed.
Seventy of the English, at the station, were slain. This included nearly all of English birth who were to be found at that remote post. Of these it is said that several were cooked and eaten in savage triumph. A very few, under varied circumstances, were saved as captives. These were eventually redeemed. Thus fell Michilimackinac, through Indian treachery and prowess.
At Detroit there were some suspicions that Pontiac was endeav- oring to form a combination of the Indian tribes against the English at these posts. It was also intimated that the French were encouraging him in this enterprise, hoping thus to regain their lost power. This is by no means improbable. Both parties did what they could to enlist the Indians under their banners. The following passage is found in a letter written from Detroit on the 19th of May, 1765 :
" Pontiac is now raising the St. Joseph Indians, the Miamies, the Mascentins, the Ouittenons, the Pians and the Illinois, to come to this place the beginning of next month to make what effort they can against us. They are to be joined by some of the Northern Indians, as is reported. This, they say, is to be an undertaking of the Indians alone, as they are to have no assistance from the French. I make no doubt of their intention to perform what we have heard of. But I do not think that it will come to any head.
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" I am well convinced that if Pontiac could be made to believe that he would be kindly received at this place, he would desist from any hostile measures against us. But it will be impossible to convince him of that while there are such a number of trait- orous villians around him. You cannot imagine what most infa- mous lies they tell."
In this last statement there is doubtless reference to the efforts which the French were supposed to be making to exasperate the Indians against the English. In Thatcher's Indian Biography we find the following account of the condition of Detroit at that. time :
" The town is supposed to have been enclosed by a single row of pickets, forming nearly four sides of a square. There were block-houses at the corners and over the gates. An open space intervened between the houses and the pickets. This formed a place of arms and encircled the village. The fortifications did not extend to the river ; but a gate opened in the direction of the stream, and not far from it, where, at the date in question, two armed vessels, fortunately for the inhabitants, happened to lie at: anchor.
" The ordnance of the fort consisted of two six pounders, one three pounder, and three mortars. All of these were of an indif- ferent quality. The garrison numbered one hundred and thirty, including officers. There were also, in the village, something like forty individuals who were habitually engaged in the fur- trade. The inadequate proportion of the force even to the size of the place may be inferred from the fact that the stockade, which formed its periphery, was more than one thousand feet long."
Detroit, next to Quebec and Montreal, was at that time the most important of all the stations which the British had captured from the French along the line of the great lakes. Not only an immense amount of goods were stored there for the widely ex- tended fur trade, but it is said that, at times, there were more than two millions of dollars in coin at the station.
Pontiac himself undertook to preside over the operations here. The 8th of May was the day appointed for the attack. In the meantime the most friendly intercourse was to be cultivated, and. every effort was to be made to disarm suspicion. Pontiac, the imperial chief, was to present himself at the gate, with a retinue,
A.F.
V TO do TANT
OLD FORT DETROIT.
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suitable to his rank, of three hundred warriors, and was to request a council with the commandant, Major Gladwin, in which they were to smoke the calumet of peace and treat of friendly matters. The commandant would, of course, attend in state, with all his prominent officers. The Indian warriors had sawed off their rifles, making them short, so that they could conceal them under their blankets.
At a given signal, which was to be the presentation to the com- mandant of a wampum belt, in a peculiar way, the warriors were instantly to draw out their rifles, every one having his marked man, and shoot down the commandant and all his officers. Then, grasping their tomahawks, they were to fall upon the garrison in indiscriminate massacre. Some were to rush to the gates, throw them open, and admit a large number of the Indians waiting on the outside to take part in the slaughter.
The plan was sagaciously formed. There can be no doubt but that it would have been successfully carried out but for a. betrayal of the plot. Mr. Thatcher writes :
" Carver states, and his account is substantially confirmed by tradition, as well as by other authorities, that an Indian woman betrayed the secret." She had been employed by the command- ant to make him a pair of moccasins out of elk skin. She brought them to the fort on evening of the 7th of May. Pontiac had but. a few hours before appeared at the fort, with his escort, and had solicited a council, to be held in the fort the next morning, the 8th. This request had been promptly granted.
The Indian woman had been kindly treated by the command- ant, and was very friendly in her feelings. Major Gladwin paid her generously for her work. He requested her to make him .. another pair, and furnished her with the skins. The woman took them, but seemed strangely embarrassed. She went to the door, hesitated, turned around to go back, as if her errand was not. completed, then hesitated again, and at length slowly and thought- fully went out. Still she loitered around the door, and appeared. so strangely that a servant asked her what the trouble was, and what she wanted. To these inquiries she made no reply what- ever.
The Major was informed of her conduct, and ordered her to be called in. Kindly he questioned her. After much hesitation she said that she did not like to take away the elk skin because she could
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UNVEILING OF THE CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. From a photograph of painting by Stanley, in possession of W. W. Backus.
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never bring it back. This led to more serious and earnest inquiries. and gradually the woman divulged the whole plot.
Pontiac had so deceived the community that the commandant was not at all disposed to credit the revelation. Still he deemed it prudant to be prepared for the defense. He called his officers before him, informed them of the alleged conspiracy, and requested that the garrison should be secretly placed in perfect order to repel the attack should one be made. All the traders and their dependents, within the fort, were to be put upon their guard, with strict injunctions that nothing should be done to intimate to the Indians that treachery on their part was suspected. Through the night the ramparts were very carefully watched.
A strong body guard was ordered to be present at the council, with their muskets loaded and primed ready for instant action. They were placed in a position where, the signal being given, they could cut down the Indian warriors with a storm of deadly bul- lets. In the fort the night passed away tranquilly. But in the Indian camp, on the outside, there was great revelry, with danc- ing and shouting.
In the morning the Indian warriors had a great carouse. They sang their war songs and danced their war dance with much enthu- siasm. They then repaired to the fort, and were admitted with- out any hesitation. But the quick eye of Pontiac discerned that the garrison was under arms, that the guards were doubled, and that all the officers were armed with swords and pistols. As they passed along the little village, to the appointed place of council, he perceived unusual activity on the streets, and indications of a special movement among the troops.
He inquired of the British commander what was the cause of this unusual movement. He was answered that it was necessary to keep the young men busy, in the performance of duty, lest they should lose their discipline, and become idle and ignorant.
The council was soon convened. But Pontiac was evidently very uneasy. He had not at all expected to meet such prepara- tions for defense ; and undoubtedly feared that the plot had been either fully or partially divulged. Still he assumed a bold impe- rial air. He made a genuine Indian speech, with impassioned words, and ever increasing vehemence of gesticulation.
Just as he was on the point of presenting the belt to Major Gladwin, at a signal from the commandant, the drums at the door
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suddenly beat the charge. Instantly the soldiers leveled their muskets at the very breasts of the Indians, while all the officers drew their swords from their scabbards, presenting a very form- idable array of glittering steel.
The bravery of Pontiac no one has ever doubted. But this. decisive proof that his treachery was discovered, and that his own life, and that of so many subordinate chiefs might, in an instant, be sacrificed, entirely disconcerted him. He trembled, and hes- itated in delivering the belt. Major Gladwin, sword in hand, approached the chief, and drawing aside his blanket pointed to the shortened rifle, and reproaching him for his treachery, instead of instantly ordering all to be shot, with perhaps misjudged humanity, simply commanded them to leave the fort. Major Gladwin was honorable in the highest degree. He had promised the savages safety in coming and going. He was true to his pledge. Many would have thought that the clearly developed treachery of the savages deprived them of all right to this pro- tection.
Humiliated and sullen they retired. But the moment they were outside of the gates they gave a yell of rage and defiance, and impotently discharged a volley of bullets against the garrison. The Indians probably outnumbered the garrison ten to one, and were almost equally well armed. They could also speedily sum- mon a very large addition to their force. The situation of the little garrison was consequently still very precarious. Just out- side of the fort there was an aged English woman, Mrs. Turnbell, residing with her two sons. The Indians murdered and scalped them all. At a little greater distance there was an English fam- ily, that of James Fisher, tilling a few acres around their lonely cabin. The savages murdered him, his wife, and four soldiers who, perhaps, had been stationed there for their protection. The children and servant maid were carried off into captivity.
CHAPTER VII.
SIEGE OF DETROIT.
ASSAULT OF THE FORT - THE CONFERENCE - PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE - DISASTER TO THE BARGES - BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT - ESCAPE OF A BOAT - THE RE-ENFORCEMENT - DEFEAT OF THE CANOES-INDIAN FIRE RAFTS-TERROR AT THE FRON- TIERS - ASSASSINATION OF MAJOR CAMPBELL - ARRIVAL OF RE-ENFORCEMENTS- SHREWDNESS OF PONTIAC - THE AMBUSH - PEACE - MOVEMENTS OF PONTIAC - EXTRACTS FROM LET- TERS - ANECDOTES OF PONTIAC - ELOQUENT SPEECH - ASSAS- SINATION OF PONTIAC - GRANDEUR OF THE GREAT VALLEY - THE BEAUTIFUL RIVER.
PONTIAC, HAVING been frustrated in his plan of taking Detroit by surprise, dispatched his runners, in all directions, to summon the warriors, of various tribes, to surround the fort, assail it with con- stant vigilance, and thus starve the garrison into capitulation. During the ninth, the warriors were rapidly assembling and taking their positions. On Tuesday morning, the tenth of May, a gen- eral assault was undertaken, to try the strength of the fort.
All the day long a hot fire was kept up on both sides. No bullets were thrown away. Every shot followed deliberate aim. On each side several were killed, and many more wounded. The savages were very careful to post themselves behind fences, trees, stumps, and particularly in, and behind several barns and other buildings, which were within musket shot of the palisades. The garrison heated some spikes red hot, and shooting them from their cannon, set fire to these buildings, and thus drove the savages from their shelter. The soldiers fired with such accuracy of aim, that soon the savages did not venture to approach within reach of their bullets.
There was a low ridge, at a short distance, from whose summit the pickets could be overlooked. The savages crept up this hill,
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and, lying flat upon the ground, endeavored to continue their fire. But if they raised their head in the slightest degree to take aim, they were very sure to be struck by the bullet of some sharp- shooter. Finding that they accomplished very little in this way they gave up the plan.
It was estimated that there were over a thousand savages sur- rounding the extensive area of the fort. Should they make a simultaneous attack, from different points, the situation of the garrison would be hopeless. Neither were the inmates of the fort prepared for a protracted siege. They had but three weeks' pro- vision, even when put upon the allowance of but one pound of bread and two ounces of pork for each man a day.
Through the intervention of the French, whom the Indians manifested not the slightest disposition to harm, a truce and con- ference were proposed. Pontiac sent a delegation of five warriors into the fort, with the request that the commandant should send two of his officers to confer with Pontiac himself at his camp. He also, for some unknown reason, suggested that Major Camp- bell, whom he well knew, might be one of the commissioners. Lieutenant McDougall was appointed as the other. Several of the French accompanied the commissioners.
Pontiac proposed the following fair, and, considering the des- perate condition of the garrison, very liberal terms of capitula- tion : " Let the English troops lay down their arms as our fathers, the French, have been obliged to do. They must leave the can- non, the magazines, the merchant goods, and the two armed ves- sels. We will then escort the garrison in safety to their friends at Niagara."
To this proposition Major Campbell promptly replied : "My commanding officer did not send me here to deliver up the fort to the Indians or to any one else. He will defend it so long as a single man is left to stand by his side."
Hostilities were immediately recommenced. The savages pressed the siege with so much vigor that, for several weeks, " the whole garrison, officers, soldiers, merchants and servants were on the ramparts every night Not one of them slept in a house, excepting the sick and wounded in the hospital."
The most vigorous efforts were made to replenish the stores of the starving garrison, but with only partial success. Three weeks after the commencement of the siege, on the 30th of May, the
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sentinel on duty, from his look-out, announced that a large fleet of boats was seen approaching from far down the river. It was not doubted that the boats contained a supply of provisions and reinforcements from Niagara. All hurried to the bastions to gaze upon the welcome spectacle.
But Pontiac was a vigilant foe. His scouts had been stationed along the northern shores of Lake Erie to report immediately upon the appearance of any boats in the distant horizon. These sharp watchers discerned the distant squadron, and, by the swift- est runners, transmitted the intelligence to their chief.
About sixty miles east from the mouth of the Detroit River, on the northern or Canada shore of Lake Erie, there is a remarkable cape called Point Pelee. Pontiac sagaciously surmised that the fleet of barges would draw up under the shelter of that cape for the night. Here he stationed a large party of warriors in ambush. These boats were not sufficiently large for the boatmen to sleep in them, or in them to cook their food. As Pontiac had imagined, the little fleet entered a sheltered cove on the cape, and the voy- agers prepared for their night's encampment. The boats were carefully moored, and the weary boatmen, having built their fires, cooked and eaten their supper, and stationed their guard, fell asleep. No one apprehended danger at such a distance from Detroit.
Just before the dawn of day these warriors crept from the ambush, and, more noiseless than the panther, in their mocca- sined tread, approached the spot where the English were soundly sleeping. A tremendous discharge of musketry was heard; a storm of lead fell upon the sleepers, and apparently an innumer- able company of savages came rushing from the darkness, making night hideous with their yells and their war whoops. Brandish- ing their tomahawks they fell upon the surprised boatmen with awful slaughter.
One officer and about thirty men effected their escape. Being very near the beach they sprang into a boat and crossed the lake to the southern or Ohio shore. The others were all either killed or taken captive. The exultant savages formed all the barges in a line, and compelling their prisoners to navigate the boats, entered the mouth of the river and were ascending with their valuable booty of provisions and ammunitions to Detroit.
Four English boatmen were placed in each boat under a strong
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guard of Indians. The boats were kept close to the shore, along which marched a large detachment of warriors, rifle in hand, ready instantly to shoot down any one who should make the slightest attempt at escape.
The poor creatures who were killed were scalped, and their bloody trophies of barbarian victory were borne along on poles as banners. It was this captured fleet of batteaux which the sentinel had descried ascending the river. Terrible was the dis- appointment of the starving garrison when they heard, from the boats in the distance, and from the escort on the shore, the exultant yells and the defiant war whoop, which told them that the boats, with all their precious cargoes, had fallen into the hands of their foes.
When the line of boats was directly opposite the town, four soldiers, in one of the boats, choosing rather to die by the rifle than by torture, which they knew to be the fate for which they were reserved, resolved upon an utterly desperate attempt to escape. Suddenly they changed the course of the boat towards the western shore, where the armed vessels were at anchor. The river was here about three-quarters of a mile in width. With frantic shouts they called upon the crew to come to their help. The movement was so sudden, and so rapidly was the boat driven out into the stream, by the energies of despair, that the Indian guard leaped overboard and swam ashore. One of them dragged one of the soldiers with him, and both were drowned. The Indi- ans in the other boats fired upon the fugitives, but did not dare to pursue them, in consequence of the cannonade with which they were assailed from the armed schooner. These heroic men soon reached the vessel. One only of the three was wounded.
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