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HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS CONNECTED WITH WYANDOTTE AND
VICINITY BY DR. E. P. CHRISTIAN
tribes to a great council on the banks of the river Ecorse, a short distance from Detroit. The villages of Pontiac's tribe, the Ottawas, and the wigwams of the Hurons, Pottawattomies, his more immediate allies, were near the place of meeting. Hither came deputations from the Iroquois, Delawares and Senecas of the east and from the Illinois and all the other numerous tribes of The northwest. The council fire was lighted and the pipe of peace was passed around the dusky circle. Then Pontiac, the tall and stately chieftain, arose and addressed the assemblage in strains of impassioned eloquence. He spoke of their former happiness under the mild sway of the French and detailed the wrongs inflicted on them by the English. He repeated the fabrication of the traders that Onontio, their great French father, was hastening on his soldiers lo help them subdue the English. He described the numbers and the prowess of the tribes represented in council and spoke of the ease with which 1heir united efforts could crush the English and restore the Indian tribes the undisturbed possession of the hunting grounds of their fathers. The destruction of Michilimackinac was allotted to the Ojibways, and of Fort St. Joseph to the Illinois, the forts east and south of Lake Erie to the different tribes of the Six Nations, while Detroit, the most important of them all, was reserved by Pontiac for himself and his allied tribes. The assembled chiefs expressed their approbation; other preliminaries were settled and with dance and carousal the vast assembly dispersed. "
We have given the account of this council as described by the historian, at length, for the purpose of calling particular attention to it, especially as regards the great number of savages who were probably in attendance, and for the opportunity it offers of locating its scene with more definite ness and accuracy than by the statement that it was held on the banks of the Ecorse.
Michigan
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