from the country. Using every calumny and falsehood that malice could suggest, to excite opposition to the objects of their jealousy, they now told the Indians that the English were endeavoring to stir up civil feuds among them, whereby they might fight and destroy each other. They still insisted that the long delayed armies of France would soon be in the country, and to keep alive this oft repeated falsehood the traders appeared frequently in French uniforms, representing themselves as embassadors of the King, and sent forged letters bearing the royal signature to Pontiac, urging him to persist in his efforts against the common enemy.

As intimated, Pontiac, with 400 warriors, in the Autumn of 1764 crossed the Wabash to visit these tribes and give direction to their efforts. Unshaken amidst the ruin which threatened his race, with tireless energy he entered the villages of the Miamis, Kickapoos, and Piankishas, and breathed into them his own unconquerable spirit. Receiving from them promises of co-operation, he next directed his course through trackless expanses of prairie verdure, to the homes of the Illinois. These Indians, repeatedly subdued by surrounding nations, had lost their warlike spirit, and were reprimanded by Pontiac for their want of zeal. Hastily collecting an assemblage, he told the cowering multitude that "he would consume them as the fire consumes the dry grass on the prairies if they hesitated in offering assistance." This summary method of dealing with the tardy savages drew from them unanimous assent to his views, and promises of assistance which the most warlike tribes would have been unable to perform. Leaving the Illinois, he hastened to Fort Chartres, and entered the council hall with a retinue of 400 warriors. Assuming the gravity and dignity characteristic of his race on public occasions, he addressed the commandant, as follows:

"Father, we have long desired to see you, and enjoy the pleasure of taking you by the hand. While we refresh ourselves with the soothing incense of the friendly calumet, we will recall the battles_fought by our warriors against the enemy which still seeks our overthrow. But while we speak of their valor and victories, let us not forget our fallen heroes, and with renewed resolves and more constant endeavors strive to avenge their death by the downfall of our enemies. Father, I love the French, and have led hither my braves to maintain your authority and vindicate the insulted honor of France. But you must not longer remain inactive and suffer your red brothers to contend alone against the foe, who seek our common destruction. We demand of you arms and warriors to assist us, and when the English dogs are driven into the sea, we will again in peace and happiness enjoy with you these fruitful forests and prairies, the noble heritage presented by the Great Spirit to our ancestors.”

St. Ange', being unable to furnish him with men and munitions, offered in their stead compliments and good will. But Pontiac, regarding his mission too important to be thus rejected, complained bitterly that he should receive such poor encouragement from those whose wrongs he was endeavoring to redress. His warriors pitched their lodges about the fort, and such were the manifestations of displeasure that the commandant apprehened an attack. Pontiac had previously caused his wives to prepare a belt of wampun more than six feet in length, interwoven with the totems of the different tribes and villages still associated with him in the prosecution of the war. While at the fort this was assigned to a chosen band of warriors who were instructed to descend the

Mississippi, and exhibiting it to the numerous nations living on its banks, exhort them to repel all attempts which the English might make to ascend the river. They were further required to call on the governor of New Orleans and obtain the assistance which St. Ange had refused. Pontiac, aware that the Mississippi on the south, and the Ohio on the east were the channels by which Illinois was most accessible to the English, wisely determined to interpose barriers to their approach by these great highways. Not long after the departure of his warriors, tidings were received at the fort which verified the sagacity and correctness of his anticipations.

The previous spring Major Loftus, with a force of 400 men, sailed from Pensacola to New Orleans, for the purpose of ascending the Mississippi and taking possession of Fort Chartres. Being embarked in unwieldy boats, his progress was slow, and when only a short distance above the town he was unexpectedly assailed by the warriors of Pontiac. They were fired upon from both sides of the river, which, swollen by a freshet, had inundated its banks and formed swampy labyrinths, from which it was impossible to dislodge the foe. Several soldiers were killed at the first discharge, and the terrified officers immediately deciding a farther advance impossible, fell back to New Orleans. Here they found the merriment of the French greatly excited at their discomfiture, which, it was alleged, had been caused by not more than 30 warriors. Loftus, smarting under the ridicule, boldly accused the governor of having been the author of his defeat, though there was not the slightest ground for such suspicion. As the result of fear, from which he had not yet recovered, he likewise conceived the idea that the Indians intended to attack him on his return on the river below, and petitioned the governor, whom he had just accused of collusion with the savages, to interpose and prevent it. The French officer, with a look of contempt, agreed to furnish him with an escort of French solders, but Loftus, rejecting this humiliating offer, declared he only wanted an interpreter to confer with the Indians whom he should meet on the way. One was granted, and he sailed for Pensacola, leaving the forts of Illinois still in the hands of the French, but virtually controlled and protected by the warriors of Pontiac. After this abortive effort to reach Fort Chartres, Captain Pitman sailed from Mobile to make a second attempt. Hearing in New Orleans the commotion excited among the savages by the messengers of Pontiac, he was deterred from proceeding openly without an escort. It however occurred to him that he might reach his destination in the guise of a Frenchman, by going with a company of creole traders, but owing to the great danger of detection, this also was abandoned.

In the meantime the ambassadors of Pontiac, true to the trust reposed in them, had traversed the immense forest solitudes, watered by the tortuous windings of the Mississippi, reeking with the deadly exhalations of poisonous marshes. Visiting the tribes scattered over this vast wilderness, even to the southern extreme of Louisiana, whither the fame of Pontiac had preceded them, they infused into them a spirit of resistance to British encroachments. Next repairing to New Orleans to demand military aid, they found the inhabitants excited over the transfer of their territory to the dominion of Spain. By a special provision New

Orleans had not been included in the cession made to England east of the Mississippi, and now they had just learned that their parent country had transferred all her remaining possessions to the crown of Spain. The inhabitants cordially hated the Spaniards, and their patriotic governor, mortified at the disgrace, became the victim of a disease that shortly afterward caused his death. Bowed with disease and shame, he received the messengers of Pontiac in the council hall of the town. Besides the French officials, a number of English officers were present at the interview. The orator of the Indian deputation was a Shawnee warrior, who, displaying the great belt of wampum and pointing to the English, said:

"These red* dogs have crowded upon us more and more, and when we ask why they do it, we are told that you, our French fathers, have given them our land. But we know they have lied. These lands are neither yours nor theirs, and no man shall give or sell them without our consent. Fathers, we have always been your faithful children, and we have come to obtain from you arms to aid us in this war."

After an ineffectual attempt by the governor to allay the animosity expressed in the speech, and a promise to furnish them with supplies for their immediate wants, the council adjourned till the next day, When, however, it again assembled, the dying governor had breathed out his life. M. Aubrey, his successor, presided in his place. After one of the Indian orators, according to the solemn custom of his people, had expressed his regret for the sudden death of the governor, a Miami chief arose and said:

"Since we last sat on these seats we have heard strange words. We have learned that you, whom we have loved and served so well, have given these lands on which we dwell to our common foe. We have also ascertained that the English have forbidden you to send traders to our villages, and that you, whom we thought so great and brave, have obeyed their commands like women, leaving us to die and starve in misery. We now tell you again that these lands are ours, and moreover that we can live without your aid and hunt and fish and fight as did our ancestors before us. All we ask is the guns, the knives, and the hatchets we have worn out in fighting your battles."

To these home-thrusts of Indian invective, M. Aubrey could make but a feeble reply. Presents were distributed among them, but produced no effect on the indignant warriors, and on the morrow they commenced their ascent of the great river.

The great influence of Pontiac in Illinois convinced General Gage, the successor of General Amherst, that as long as the posts of Illinois remained in the hands of French officers and the flag of France was recognized in any part of the ceded territory, it would be impossible to eradicate from the minds of the Indians the phantom of French assistance. He therefore determined to send a force westward of sufficient magnitude to overcome all opposition, and at once terminate the war, by removing the cause. After the repulse of Loftus the southern route to Illinois was regarded as impracticable, and it was decided to send the troops by way of the Ohio. George Croghan and Lieutenant Frazer, accompanied by a small escort, were sent in advance to prepare the Indians for the advent of the contemplated expedition. Croghan had for years been a trader among the western tribes, and by the aid of his manly character had won the respect of the savages, and was well fitted for the discharge of this important trust. The party set out

Alluding to the red coats of the British soldiers

for Fort Pitt in February, 1765, and after having penetrated snowbound forests and mountain defiles during the rigors of a severe winter, they arrived safely at the fort. Here Croghan was detained several weeks, for the purpose of having a consultation with the Shawnees and Delawares, along whose southern border the expedition was to pass. In the meantime, fearing that the delay attending his negotiations might have a prejudicial effect upon the tribes of Illinois, he sent Frazer immediately forward to enter upon the important duties with which they had been entrusted. The icy blockade which during the winter had obstructed the navigation of the Ohio, now disappeared, and the party embarking in a canoe, descended with the current of the river near 1,000 miles without encountering opposition. But when a landing was effected the followers of Pontiac were on hand, and he met with a reception similar to that accorded to Morris the previous autumn. Buffeted and threatened with death, he abandoned the object of his visit, and fled in disguise down the river to seek a refuge among the French. The universal overthrow which had attended the efforts of the Indians in all the surrounding regions, caused them to look upon Illinois as sacred ground, and hence their determined efforts to prevent its desecration by the intrusion of their hated foe.

The English, having thus far failed to effect an entrance into the country by force and negotiations, now determined to try their hand at conciliation. They had heard of the wonderful influence exerted over the savages in this way by the French, and concluded that their own efforts might be attended with similar results. For this purpose they secured the services of a Frenchman, and sent him up the river with a boat load of goods, which he was instructed to distribute among the Indians as presents from the English. Intelligence of this movement traveled far more rapidly than the supplies, and Pontiac determined that they should subserve his own interest and not that of his enemies. He, therefore, watched the arrival of the boat, and no sooner had a landing been effected than his men leaped aboard, and having flogged the Frenchman and his crew, distributed the goods among themselves. As was customary, these supplies were soon squandered with reckless prodigality, and the savages when pressed with want turned to the French for assistance. But the latter were now expecting the arrival of a British force to take possession of the country, and fearing that punishment might overtake them for past offences, concluded it best to withhold their assistance. St. Ange and other officers, also believing that their successors would soon arrive, informed them that henceforth they must look for supplies to the English, whose good will it was now their interest to cultivate.

Hunger itself is more powerful than an "army with banners, " and when the savages saw other disasters equally appalling and imminent, the most resolute warriors began to hesitate in regard to the further prolongation of the struggle. Even Pontiac, whose masculine fibre and enduring fortitude the ordinary vicissitudes of war failed to affect, began to waver when he learned that the highest French dignitaries refused to grant him aid. The expectations which had so long nerved his arm were fast vanishing, and with a sorrowful heart he beheld the vast civil and military combinations he had formed, in a state of hopeless disintegration.

Deserted by allies on every hand, there was no place of refuge whither he might fly for safety. In the south and west were fierce tribes, the hereditary enemies of his people; from the east came an overwhelming foe to engulf him, while the north, the home of his children and the scenes of his youthful activities and aspirations, was under the guns of an impregnable fortress. present, unable to extricate himself from the labyrinth of impending dangers, he was compelled to submit and wait a future day of vengeance.

At

Croghan, having completed his conference with the Indians at Fort Pitt, with his own men and a number of Delaware and Shawnee warriors, on the 15th of May, 1765, started down the Ohio. With little détention, he landed on the Illinois shore, a short distance below the mouth of the Wabash.* Soon after disembarking, he was unexpectedly greeted by a shower of bullets proceeding from tangled thickets on the banks of the river, whereby 5 of his men were killed and most of the remainder wounded. Immediately following the explosion of musketry, 80 yelping Kickapoos rushed from their coverts, and disarming the English, took possession of all their personal effects. When thus rendered powerless, the assailants began to apologize for the dastardly attack. They declared to Croghan that the French had told them that his escort consisted of Cherokees, their mortal enemies, and that under this false impression, they had made the assault. This pretext was, however, another instance of the deception for which that tribe was distinguished, Though endeavoring to excuse their conduct on the plea of ignorance, it was afterward ascertained that they had dogged Croghan for several days, and knew well the character of his escort. With less government over themselves than children, and filled with the instinct of devils, their real object was to wreak vengeance on the English and gratify a rabid desire for blood.

Carefully guarded as a prisoner, Croghan was conducted up the Wabash to Vincennes, where, fortunately, he met with a number of his former friends, who not only effected his release but sharply reprimanded his captors for their unjustifiable conduct. From Vincennes he was escorted farther up the river to Fort Watanon and entertained with much apparent cordiality by Indians with whom he had been previously acquainted. Here he spent several days in receiving and shaking hands with deputations of chiefs and warriors from the surrounding region, all of whom were apparently anxious to be on friendly terms with the English, and expressed a desire for the return of peace. In contrast with these evidences of good will, a Frenchman arrived with a message from a chief living in Illinois, urging the Indians in the vicinity of the fort to put the English ambassador to death. Despite this murderous request, he was assured by his savage friends that they would not only protect his person, but assist in taking possession of the country where the hostile chief resided. Unexpectedly a

**On the 6th of June they arrived at the mouth of the Wabash. Here the found a breast work, supposed to have been erected by Indians. Six miles further, they encamped at a place called the 'old Shawnee village,' upon or near the present site of Shawneetown, which perpetuates its name. At this place they remained 6 days for the purpose of opening a friendly intercouse and trade with the Wabash tribes; and while here, Col. Croghan sent messengers with dispatches for Lord (Lieut. ?) Frazer who had gone from Fort Pitt as commandant at Fort Chartres, and also to M. St. Ange, the former French commandant."-MONNETTE, 1,346.