|
|
MICHIGAN AS A PROVINCE 1 - 5
There were four or five English merchants and a considerable number of French and half-breed residents. There were Indian villages just outside the stockade, numbering some four or five hundred savages of the Chippewa and Sac tribes. The day referred to was a public holiday, being the king's birthday. The Indians advertised a game of lacrosse as a diversion and the garrison and dwellers within, the fort were invited to witness the game. All were off their guard and entirely unaware of the conspiracy organized by the savages. At a given signal the ball was thrown over the pickets and the savages rushed pell mell into the fort as if to rescue it. Once inside, they threw off the mask of deceit and proceeded to murder and scalp the English. The scene is described at length by Alexander Henry, an English trader who happened to be present and who narrowly escaped the fate of the others. He tells of the horrible and sickening spectacle of barbarous slaughter. Of all the English in the fort but twenty were left alive. The others, including Henry, were taken prisoners. Of these, seven were afterward killed and served up at a cannibal feast. Henry was purchased by an Indian to whom he had once done a favor, and so escaped with his life. The fort was not destroyed by the savages and was soon again re-garrisoned. The Indians were not punished for their treacherous onslaught, but they gained nothing of permanent advantage to themselves.
When Patrick Sinclair was sent to command the post he took up the question of removal of the fort to the
island for greater security against the savages, and as being a situation more desirable in many ways. Such representations in regard to it were made by him to Gen. Haldimand, the governor, that he approved the removal which was accomplished in 1780. A treaty was made with the Chippewas by which they ceded for the sum of five thousand pounds sterling the whole of the island to the British crown.
MICHIGAN
Page 58
|
|
|
|
|
|