CHIEF BRANDT AND HIS INDIANS MASSACRE THE SETTLERS.
Cherry Valley, New York, was the scene of a sudden attack by the Indians
in 1778, when women and children were murdered in presence of their
husbands and fathers.
Holmes sent the war belt to Major Gladwyn, commandant at Detroit, with a letter telling all that he had learned, and asking him to send the news to General Amherst. Mischief was in the air, and precautions could not be taken too soon. Gladwyn, as requested, sent a runner to Amherst, bearing a letter which told what Ensign Holmes thought he had found out.
OLD WAY OF BROILING FISH
From the Original Drawing in the British
Museum, made by John White in 1585.
The major took pains to add that he did not credit the story and was sure there was no danger! It was the same old blunder that has been made times without number, and doubtless will continue to be made to the end of all things.
Our interest for the present is with Pontiac. Ten days before the date fixed for the general uprising and attack, he called his warriors together some miles from the fort, and made them a fiery address which aroused them to hurricane ardor. He had chosen as the special object of their attention, Detroit itself. He was allowed to come and go unquestioned, and had used the chance to study every point connected with the fort,—every weak and strong spot. This town was laid out in the form of a square, enclosed on every side by a high palisade, with a wooden bastion at every corner. Upon these bastions several small pieces of artillery were mounted, and there were blockhouses over the gateway. The dwellings, about a hundred in number, were of wood, that would burn furiously if the torch were once applied. The garrison numbered a hundred and twenty men, and a third more could bear arms if necessary.
The watchful Pontiac had seen that Major Gladwyn was unsuspicious of his danger, and therefore had taken no precautions. It would seem that the capture and destruction of Detroit would prove as easy as "rolling off a log."
The chieftain explained his plan, which had the merit of simplicity, if of nothing else. He would call upon Major Gladwyn with a number of his chiefs and picked warriors, and make the usual Indian address, professing eternal friendship to the white man. At a certain point in his speech, he would present the officer with a wampum belt, but, in doing so, would hold it in a reversed position.
This was to be the signal. The moment it was given, each Indian was to whip out from under his blanket, his gun, whose barrel had been shortened, and make an assault. The Ottawas on the outside would also attack upon hearing the firing, and it looked as if nothing could save the garrison.