Children's Stories in American History

by Henrietta Christian Wright

The chief saw at once that his plan had failed, and, as the English did not intend to fight unless the Indians began the battle, Pontiac and his men were allowed to leave the fort again in peace. And so Detroit was saved by a tender-hearted girl, and once again, as happened many times during the terrible struggles between the Indians and whites, the English had to thank an Indian maiden for help and warning in time of need.

But this failure only made Pontiac and the other chiefs more furious than ever. As soon as possible the other forts were attacked. The Wyandots burned Fort Sandusky, and butchered the soldiers; the Chippeways murdered nearly all the inmates of Fort Mackinaw; and by a clever trick Michilimackinac was also taken. The capture of Michilimackinac was on a holiday; the Indians had approached the fort and were playing ball outside; they had invited the soldiers out to see the game, and as they stood looking on, an Indian suddenly threw the ball near the gate of the fort. This was the sign agreed upon. The Indians all made a rush for the ball, and as they passed the squaws, who had been looking on, each man snatched his hatchet, which had been hidden under the women's blankets, and ran into the fort. The soldiers were not prepared, and in the surprise and confusion most of them were killed.

And so the Indians went on, taking fort after fort, until there remained only three in the hands of the English. One of these was Detroit, which Pontiac had surrounded for months with his own and other tribes; but the English had a large store of provisions, and Pontiac, seeing no hope of success just then, went away with his men to attack places less strong.

But he was still fiercely determined to drive the English from his western home, and for two years he gave them no peace—surprising them here and there, now at dead of night, and then in broad noonday, until the terrible war-cry of the Ottawas became a fear and dread to all the English in the west; but finally, worn out and discouraged with the useless struggle, one by one his warriors left him, and he fled to the Illinois, and lived with that tribe until his death.

His was the most dreaded name in the west, and for years after, when France and England were no longer at war, and the Indians were for the most part peaceful, the English settlers in the lake region and on the banks of the Mississippi still remembered, with shuddering horror, the name of Pontiac, the last of the great Indian chiefs.

[CHAPTER XXV.]

THE REVOLUTION.

Although America had been settled by different nations—one place by the English, another by the Dutch, another by the French, another by the Swedes, and so on—it came to pass at last, as you have seen, that after a great deal of trouble and much fighting, England owned the greater part of it, and that the English language was spoken and English law obeyed from Maine to Florida. In fact, America was no longer looked upon as a country by itself, but as a province of England. And the people called themselves English, and were very proud to do so too; for then, as now, England was one of the greatest countries in the world.

This friendly feeling might have lasted for many years, if it had not been for the foolish and wrong acts of the English king and his advisers.

The great war which England had been carrying on, a part of which was the fighting against the French and Indians in America, had cost a great deal of money, and had left England very much in debt, and the king, George III., ordered the American colonies to be taxed in order to help pay the debt off.