[Illustration: OLD FORT NIAGARA.]
PONTIAC'S WAR.—Between this chain of forts and the Mississippi River, in the region given up by France, lived many tribes of Indians, old friends of the French and bitter enemies of the British. The old enmity was kept aflame by the French Canadians, who still carried on the fur trade with the Indians. [13]
When, therefore, Pontiac, a chief of the Ottawas, in 1762 sent out among the Indian nations ambassadors with the war belt of wampum, and tomahawks stained red in token of war, the tribes everywhere responded to the call. [14] From the Ohio and its tributaries to the upper lakes, and southward to the mouth of the Mississippi, they banded against the British, and early in 1763, led by Pontiac, swept down on the frontier forts. Detroit was attacked, Presque Isle was captured, Le Boeuf and Venango were burned to the ground, Fort Pitt was besieged, and the frontier of Pennsylvania laid waste. Of fourteen posts from Mackinaw to Oswego, all but four were taken by the Indians. It seemed that not a settler would be left west of the Susquehanna; but a little army under Colonel Bouquet beat the Indians, cleared the Pennsylvania frontier, and relieved Fort Pitt in 1763; another army in 1764 passed along the lake shore to Detroit and quieted the Indians in that region, while Bouquet (1764) invaded the Ohio country, forced the tribes to submit, and released two hundred white prisoners.
SUMMARY
1. The war which followed the defeat of Washington is known as the French and Indian War.
2. Fearing that the French Acadians in Nova Scotia would become troublesome, the British dispersed them among the colonies.
3. The strongholds of the French were Louisburg, Quebec, Crown Point, Niagara, and Fort Duquesne.
4. The first expedition against Fort Duquesne ended in Braddock's defeat; expeditions against other strongholds came to naught, and during the early years of the war the French carried everything before them.
5. But when Pitt rose to power in England, the tide turned: Louisburg and Fort Duquesne were captured (in 1758); Niagara, Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Quebec were taken (in 1759); and Montreal fell in 1760.
6. Spain now joined in the war, whereupon Great Britain seized Cuba and the Philippines.