For boldness of attempt and depth of design the Pontiac War was perhaps unsurpassed in the annals of border warfare.
Soon as the English had been able to push past the French line of forts, which reached from Presqu’ Isle to the Monongahela, and had gained such a strong foothold in Canada, the Indians planned to destroy them at one stroke.
The renowned chiefs, Kiyasuta, of the Seneca, and Pontiac, of the Ottawa, conceived the gigantic plan of uniting all the northwestern tribes in a simultaneous attack upon the whole frontier. Utter extermination was their object.
The forts were to be taken by stratagem by separate parties, all on the same day. The border settlements were to be attacked during harvest and men, women, children, crops, cattle and cabins, were to be destroyed.
The English traders among the Indians were the first victims; out of a total of 120, only a few escaped. The frontier settlements among or near the mountains were overrun with scalping parties, marking their pathway with blood and fire.
The forts in Pennsylvania at Presqu’ Isle, Le Boeuf and Venango were taken with great slaughter. Those at Fort Pitt, Bedford and Ligonier were preserved with great difficulty. Carlisle and Fort Augusta were threatened.
General Amherst promptly dispatched Colonel Henry Bouquet to the relief of Fort Pitt, and he defeated the Indians and saved the garrison.
It was during this distressing period that the Indians planned to attack the interior settlements of Pennsylvania as far as Tulpehocken, and their great object was the capture of Fort Augusta, which had been built at the suggestion of the Indians themselves.
Alarming intelligence was everywhere received of the contemplated attacks; friendly Indians gave timely warning of each approaching danger. Especially was the situation critical in the vicinity of Paxtang where the treachery of the so-called friendly Indians was several times discovered.