The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-05-24

II q
important ut that time was Detroit;
situated upon the narrow strait which
/ connects Lake Erie with the great
lakes of the north, Huron and Superb
| or. The settlement contained twenty
fve hundred inhabitants. In the cen
tire of it was a considerable tract hi.
jiclosed by palisade, which was called
The Fort. This inclosure contained
ahent hundred houses for the resi-.
Il deHce Of the garrison which consisted
of one hundred and twenty British
troops. The settlers had their honses
and gardens scattered along the haaks
of the strait, for the space or eight
miles. Pontiac claimed the right to
lead in person the attack upon this
important post. y ~ -
I One afternoon, an Indian girl, who
had been, they say, the, warm friend
Of Major Gladwyn, the Commander Of
the garrison, came into the fort, eyi
IDENTIFY in great distress of mind. AZ.
ter much persuasion, Major lGladwyn
induced her. to reveal her secret. -
I tPdntiac,' said she, will come, to-
morrow to the fort with sixty of his
chiefs. Each will be armed with a ,
gun cut short, and hidden under d
blanket. Pontiac will demand to hold
a council and after he has delivered
his speech, he will offer a peace belt
of wampun, holding it upside down:
This wilt be the signal for attack. -
The chiefs will spring up and fire MP.
on the officers, and The indians in the
street will fall upon the garrison Ev;
cry Englishman will be killed, but
not the scalp of a Frenchuan will bo
touched" a-. leoi
All that night, from dark to DAWN
Glad wyn and his men were on tl1s
alert; and when the morning carfie
they still went about armed. At ten,
Pontiac and sixty of his men, hideoiiS.
with paint and plume, marched into
the fort. with the sullen gravity Of InI=
dians. Pontiac saw that he had beeai
betrayed for the garrison were under
arms, the storehenses we're shut, and
the officers had their pistols in their
belts. .ar- s'~-5s J
why" asked Pontiac, when he
had entered the council-house, sdo' I
see 80 many Of my fathers young nakD
standing in the street with their gunsf"
Major Gladwyn replied that it, WRa
only 20 exercise the men,, Pontiac
dared not give the signal agreed upon.
He said he had only come to smoke
the pipe of peace and brighten the
chain Of friendship; to which Glad.
wyn replied, that he would be good
friends with the Indians fas long as
they deserved 1t, but would take am:
Pile vengeance for any aggression.
A few days after, Major Gladwyn
saw himself besieged by great forcs
of Indians who fred atevery man who
exposed himself, and strove by all the
means in their power to SET the in
closed town on fire. Week after
week passed, during which no man
slept except in his clothes, with his
weapons by his side. The Indians
showed wonderful persistence and dar-
ing. They attacked with great gall
lantry the sloops sent with supplies I'd
the garrison. They drove back with
horrid slaughter large party of Eng
lish who went out before the dawn Of
day to attack their camp From May
till late in October. Pontiac cofitinded
to invest the fort, and only abandoned
it when powerful reinforcement had
doubled the garrison, and the approach
of winter compelled his followers to
scatter in order to subsist.
1t was the steady resistance of Major
qladwyu and his men that frustrated
Pontiac's schemes, and saved the west
era country from utter desolation. ls,
Soon after, Pontiac made pe2oe
with the English, and he appears I'd
have passed the rest of his life in roam.
ing about the country. On the banks
of the Mississippi, opposite St. Louis
six years after the siege of Detroit;
Pontiac Aas invited by the Illinois to
a whisky carouse. After the FEAST
while the great chief kas reeling ine
the forest, chanting one Of his old war
songs. a hireling assassin of the same
tribe, for the price cf q barrel Of liquor
stole behind him, and sunk d toms;
hawk in his brain. The murderer had
been set on to do this deed by an
English trader, who feared that Pom.
tiac might renew the mischief of 1868.
Pontiac fell, it is said, bedizened with
q complete Major Generals uniform,
which had been given him BY the
Marquis of Montealm, the last French
Governor of Canada. With fierce
vaIor he had fought for the inheritance
of his people, and died of a towards
blow after a drunken debauch.-N Y
Ledger.
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