Towards the end of August Bradstreet reached Detroit. He held a council of Indians, at which the Sandusky Wyandots were present, and, having proclaimed in some sort British supremacy, thought he had put an end to the war. The substantive effect of his expedition was that he released Gladwin and his men, placing a new garrison in the fort, and sent a detachment to re-occupy the posts at Michillimackinac, Green Bay, and Sault St. Marie. He then retraced his steps to Sandusky. Here the Delawares, with whom he had made a provisional treaty at Presque Isle, were to meet him and complete their submission; and here he realized that Indian diplomacy had been cleverer than his own. Only a few emissaries came to the meeting-place with excuses for further delay, and meanwhile he received a message from General Gage strongly disapproving his action and ordering an immediate advance against the tribes, whom he had represented as brought to submission. He made no advance, loitered a while where he was, and finally came back to Niagara at the beginning of November after a disastrous storm on Lake Erie, a discredited commander, with a disappointed following.
If Bradstreet had any excuse for failure, it was that he did not know the temper of the Western Indians, and had not before his eyes perpetual evidence of their ferocity and their guile. Bouquet knew them well, and great was his indignation at the other commander’s ignorance or folly. After the relief of Fort Pitt in the preceding Bouquet’s operations. autumn he had gone back to Philadelphia, and throughout the spring and summer of 1764 was busy with preparations for a new campaign. On the 18th of September he was back at Fort Pitt, ready for a westward advance, with a strong force suitable for the work which lay before him. He had with him 500 regulars, mostly the seasoned men who had fought at Edgehill. Pennsylvania, roused at last to the necessity of vigorous action, had sent 1,000 men to join the expedition; and, though of these last a considerable number deserted on the route to Fort Pitt, 700 remained and were supplemented by over 200 Virginians. In the first days of October the advance from Fort Pitt began, the troops crossed the Ohio, followed its banks in a north-westerly direction to the Beaver Creek, crossed that river, and, marching westward through the forests, reached in the middle of the month the valley of the Muskingum river, near a deserted Indian village known as Tuscarawa or Tuscaroras. Bouquet was now within striking distance of the Delawares and the other Indian tribes who had so long terrorized the borderlands of the southern colonies. Near Tuscarawa Indian deputies met him, and were ordered—as a preliminary to peace—to deliver up within twelve days all the prisoners in their hands.
Submission of the Western Indians.
The spot fixed for the purpose was the junction of the two main branches of the Muskingum, forty miles distant to the south-west, forty miles nearer the centre of the Indians’ homes. To that place the troops marched on, strong in their own efficiency and in the personality of their leader, although news had come that Bradstreet, who was to threaten the Indians from Sandusky, was retreating homewards to Niagara. At the Forks of the Muskingum an encampment was made, and there at length, at the beginning of November, the red men brought back their captives. The work was fully done: north to Sandusky, and to the Shawano villages far to the west, Bouquet’s messengers were sent; the Indians saw the white men in their midst ready to strike hard, and they accepted the inevitable. The tribes which could not at the time make full restoration gave hostages of their chiefs, and hostages too were taken for the future consummation of peace, the exact terms of which were left to be decided and were shortly after arranged by Sir William Johnson. With these pledges of obedience, and with the restored captives, Bouquet retraced his steps, and reached Fort Pitt again on the 28th of November.
Bouquet’s success.
He had achieved a great victory, bloodless but complete; and at length the colonies realized what he had done. A vote of thanks to him was passed by the Pennsylvanian Assembly in no grudging terms. The Virginians, too, thanked him, but with rare meanness tried to burden him with the pay of the Virginian volunteers, who had served in the late expedition. This charge Pennsylvania took upon itself, more liberal than the sister colony; and the Imperial Government showed itself not unmindful of services rendered, for, foreigner as he was, Bouquet was promoted to be a brigadier-general in the British army. He was appointed to command the troops in Florida, and His death. died at Pensacola in September, 1765, leaving behind him the memory of a most competent soldier, and a loyal, honourable man.
The Illinois country and the Mississippi.
Beyond the scene of Bouquet’s operations—further still to the west—lay the Illinois country and the settlements on the eastern bank of the Mississippi. Ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of 1763, they were still without visible sign of British sovereignty; and, when the year 1764 closed, Pontiac’s name and influence was all powerful among the Indians of these regions, while the French flag still flew at Fort Chartres. By the treaty, the navigation of the Mississippi was left open to both French and English; and in the spring of 1764 an English officer from Florida had been dispatched to ascend the river from New Orleans, and take over the ceded forts. The officer in question—Major Loftus—started towards the end of February, and, after making his way for some distance up-stream, was attacked by Indians and forced to retrace his steps. Whether or not the attack was instigated by the French, it is certain that Loftus received little help or encouragement from the French commander at New Orleans, and it is equally certain that trading jealousy threw every obstacle in the way of the English advance into the Mississippi valley. It was not until the British occupation of Fort Chartres. autumn of 1765 that 100 Highlanders of the 42nd Regiment made their way safely down the Ohio, and finally took Fort Chartres into British keeping.
Croghan’s mission.