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MICHIGAN CHAPTER 11 Pontiac Plans to Wipe Out the English Invaders
This was his characteristic method of warfare. In conflicts with his own race he gathered his forces secretly and descended upon the camp of his antagonist when the latter had no suspicion of his whereabouts. Though there were white men constantly moving about among the tribes, though the traders went among them buying furs and selling merchandise, no word was whispered to any one of them by friend or foe of the conspiracy which was on foot. The intention of the savages was to have a general uprising in 1762, when all the English posts at Niagara, Fort Pitt, Detroit and elsewhere should be simultaneously attacked, their garrisons massacred and the white men; generally put to the scalping knife or driven out of the country. A drunken half-breed boasted that he would soon decorate his hunting frock with English hair. Evidences of unusual commotion in the villages aroused the suspicion of the whites. The commanding officers of all the forts were cautioned to exercise the greatest watchfulness. These timely precautions had the effect to postpone the outbreak. The
wily savages protested that it was all a mistake, that only some miserable, good-for-nothing tribe was trying to make trouble, while the tribes generally had only the most ardent affection for the English and wished to live with them in peace and harmony.
By such tactics the suspicions of the English were quieted, while the plot was not frustrated but only postponed. It is proof of the wonderful skill and force of character of Pontiac that he was able to> unite so many diverse and jealous interests in a scheme of such magnitude and involving so tremendous consequences. There had never before in the history of the red race in America, except in the single case of the Iroquois, been any confederation which was more than a rope of sand.
MICHIGAN
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