CHAP. no had trusted his word.

XXIII.

In this effort a white man was

He marched into the country of the Cherokees, forced a treaty from a feeble old chief, 1759. who had no authority to make one, and then returned in fancied triumph. Oconostata and a few others were liberated. The remainder Lyttleton ordered to be kept prisoners at Fort Prince George till twenty-four warriors should be given up to him. Oconostata made an attempt to liberate his friends. killed; then, in revenge, the garrison murdered the prisoners. Now the rage of the Cherokees knew no bounds. They exclaimed: "The spirits of our murdered brothers are flying around us screaming for vengeance." The legislature strongly condemned the perfidious conduct of Lyttleton, and asserted their "birth-rights as British subjects," and affirmed that he had "violated their undoubted privileges." Yet this very man received the highest commendations from the "Board of Trade.” The Cherokees, driven to desperation by such treatment, called to their aid the Muscogees, and sent to Louisiana for military supplies.

The Carolinians applied

to General Amherst, who sent them twelve hundred 1760. men, principally Highlanders, under General Montgomery. They, with the Carolinians, pressed forward, by forced marches, into the land of the Cherokees. Why give the details of desolated settlements? Village after village was destroyed, and fertile valleys laid waste. On the upper Savannah was the beautiful vale of Keowee, "the delight of the Cherokees." They had become so far civilized as to build comfortable houses, and to surround them with cultivated fields. Suddenly appeared the invaders. The great majority of the Indians, after an attempt at defence, fled, and from the distant mountain-tops saw the enemy burning their houses and destroying their crops. "I cannot help pitying them a little," writes Colonel Grant; "their villages are agreeably situated, their houses

July,

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neatly built. There were everywhere astonishing maga- CHAP zines of corn, which were all consumed."

After this dash at the Cherokees, Montgomery imme- 1760. diately returned to the north, as ordered by Amherst. The Indians were not subdued, but enraged; they continued to ravage the back settlements of the Carolinas.

Immediately after the surrender of Canada, all the 1763. French stations on the lakes were occupied by the conquerors, and the little stockade posts throughout all that region, and in the valley of the Ohio, were garrisoned by a few men, in many instances not exceeding twenty. The French, either as traders or as religious teachers, had won the confidence and the affection of the Indians, by a friendly intercourse extending through more than half a century. Was it strange that the contrast appeared great to them, between these friends and companions and the domineering English soldiers, who insulted their priests and vilified their religion? The French had prohibited the trade in rum, but the English introduced the traffic, and the demoralization of the Indians commenced. The capture of Fort Du Quesne was the signal for a torrent of emigration, which poured over the mountains into the valleys of the Monongahela and Alleghany. The Indians feared the pale-faces would drive them from their homes.

Adopted into the tribe of the Ottawas, was a Catawba, who had been brought from the South as a prisoner, but who had, by his genius and bravery, risen to be a chief. He had the most unbounded influence over his own and other tribes, and was styled "the king and lord of all the country of the north-west." "How dare you come to visit my country without my leave?" demanded he of the first Eng'lish officer who came to take possession of the French forts. Such was Pontiac, the Philip of the north-west, who, in the war which bears his name, made the last great struggle for the independence of the Red Man. This master spirit planned, and partially executed, one of the most

XXIII.

CHAP comprehensive schemes ever conceived by Indian sagacity to expel the invaders, and maintain his own authority as 1763. "king and lord" of all that region. He induced the Delawares, the Shawnees, the Senecas, the Miamis, and many lesser tribes, who roamed over the vast region in the basin of the upper lakes, in the valley of the Ohio, and a portion of that of the Mississippi, to join in the conspiracy. He sent a prophet through the land to proclaim that the Great Spirit had revealed to him, "that if the English were permitted to dwell in their midst, then the white. man's diseases and poisons would utterly destroy them." This conspiracy was more than a year in forming, yet it was kept a profound secret.

1

DETROIT had the largest garrison, was the great centre for the trade of the upper lakes, and most important in its influence. Here the French were numerous; they tilled their farms, as well as engaged in the traffic of furs. Pontiac desired to obtain possession of the fort. He intimated that he was coming with his warriors to have a "talk" with his English brothers. Meantime, Gladwin, the commander, had learned of the conspiracy. Finding that the plot was discovered, Pontiac threw off the mask, and boldly attacked the fort, but without success. This was the commencement of a series of surprises; the Indians, in the short space of three weeks, captured every station west of Niagara, except Detroit and Pittsburg. The soldiers of the garrisons were nearly all put to death, more than one hundred traders were murdered and scalped in the wilderness, and more than five hundred families, after losing hundreds of their members, were driven from their homes on the frontiers. A large force from several tribes concentrated around Pittsburg, the most important post in the valley of the Ohio; yet the brave garrison could not be caught by their wiles, nor conquered by their Their ravages, in the mean while, extended to all

arms.

INDIANS DEFEATED-PITTSBURG RELIEVED.

271

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the settlements and posts on the head-waters of the Ohio, CHAP and on the lakes to the region between the Mississippi and the Ohio.

General Bouquet was sent from Eastern Pennsylvania to relieve Fort Ligonier, just at the western foot of the mountains, and Pittsburg. His army consisted of not more than five hundred effective men, principally Scotch Highlanders. They had with them a train of wagons, drawn by oxen, and pack-horses laden with military stores and necessary provisions, and a drove of beef cattle. Passing through a region desolated by the savages, they saw the remains of burnt cabins, and the harvests standing uncut in the fields.

When he arrived at Ligonier, Bouquet could learn nothing from the west, as all intercourse had been cut off. Leaving there his wagons and cattle, he pushed forward to ascertain the fate of Pittsburg. The Indians besieging that place, heard of his approach, and they resolved to place themselves in ambush, and defeat his army. As soon as the battle began, the Highlanders dashed at them with the bayonet, and the Indians fled; but when the pursuit slackened they rallied, and were again repulsed. At length, the number of the savages increased so much that they completely surrounded the Highlanders, who, during the night, encamped on the ridge of a hill. In the morning they could not advance, for their wounded men and baggage would fall into the hands of the enemy. Placing two companies in ambush, Bouquet began to retreat, and immediately, with exulting yells, the Indians rushed on n pursuit, but when they came to the right point, those in ambush charged them on both sides, and those retreating wheeled and charged also. Panic-stricken by the suddenness of the attack, the savages broke and fled. The division then moved on to Pittsburg. From that day the valley of the Ohio was free from Indian vio

1763.

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CHAP. lence. The stream of emigration began again to pour over the mountains. The tribes, disheartened, began to 1764. make treaties and promise peace. Pontiac would make no treaty, nor acknowledge himself a friend of the English. He left his home and tribe and went to the country of the Illinois, where he perished by the hand of an assassin, who was hired for the purpose.

1769.