The line in ambush would then open fire, and in the surprise and confusion of the savages the remaining troops would charge upon them. The stratagem was a complete success. As the advanced line retreated, the Indians rushed out of the woods, supposing they were victors. When the line in ambush had delivered its fire and stopped the progress of the Indians, the retreating line had changed direction and were ready to make a charge upon the flank. The ambuscading line then rose and fell upon the enemy in front, who fled, leaving sixty of their number on the field, and among them several prominent chiefs. The pursuit was continued, and the victory was complete.[1444] The next day the expedition, carrying their wounded on litters, moved on towards Fort Pitt, twenty-five miles distant, and arriving four days after the fight, to the great joy of the beleaguered garrison.
The battle of Bushy Run, both for its military conduct and its political results, deserves a place among the memorable battles in America. The Indians fought with a courage and desperation rarely seen in Indian warfare, and the English troops with a steadiness and valor which was due to their training as regulars and the direction of so able a commander. The tidings of this victory broke the spirit of the Indian conspiracy, and the reports were received with rejoicing in all the English colonies.[1445]
The ultimate purpose of Colonel Bouquet's expedition, after relieving Fort Pitt, was to invade the Ohio country, punish the Shawanese, Delawares, and other tribes, extort from them treaties of peace, and recover the English captives in their possession. On account of his losses of men, horses, and supplies at Bushy Run, he was unable to carry out this design until he was reinforced, and it was now too late in the season to expect that his wants could be supplied from the East. His Ohio expedition was therefore postponed until the next year.
On the 29th of July Detroit was reinforced by two hundred and eighty men under Captain Dalzell, who in June had left Fort Niagara in twenty-two barges, with several cannon and a supply of provisions and ammunition. The day after his arrival, Captain Dalzell proposed, with two hundred and fifty men, to make a night attack on Pontiac's camp and capture him. Major Gladwin discouraged the attempt, but finally, against his judgment, consented. Some Canadians obtained the secret and carried it to Pontiac, who waylaid the party in an ambuscade. Twenty of the English were killed and thirty-nine wounded. Among the killed was Captain Dalzell himself.[1446] Pontiac could make no use of this success, as the fort was strongly garrisoned and well supplied with provisions and ammunition. Elsewhere there was nothing to encourage him. The battle of Bushy Run and the arrival of Colonel Bouquet at Fort Pitt alarmed the Western tribes and ruptured the Pontiac confederation. In October some of the chiefs who beleaguered the fort at Detroit sued for peace, and in November the siege was raised. All hope of capturing Fort Pitt had vanished, and the warriors returned to their hunting-grounds. There was quietness on the frontiers during the winter of 1763-64.
In the spring of 1764 scattered war parties were again ravaging the borders. Colonel Bouquet was recruiting in Pennsylvania, and preparing an outfit for his march into the valley of the Ohio. In June, Colonel Bradstreet, with a force of twelve hundred men, was sent up the great lakes. On arriving at Fort Niagara he found assembled a large body of Indians whom Sir William Johnson had summoned into council, using threats when they did not readily respond to his summons. It was apparent that the haughty spirit of the tribes was broken. Treaties of peace were concluded, and a strip of land between the lakes Erie and Ontario, four miles wide on each side of the river Niagara, was ceded to the British government.[1447]
Bradstreet proceeded up Lake Erie, and near Presqu' Isle made, on his own authority, an absurd treaty of peace with some alleged deputies of the Ohio Indians who had made the Western settlements so much trouble; and he added to his folly by writing to his superior officer, Colonel Bouquet, that the Colonel need not march into the Ohio country, as the business of pacifying the Western Indians had been attended to. Bradstreet went on to Sandusky; and instead of punishing the Wyandots, Ottawas, and Miamis, as he was instructed to do, accepted their promise to follow him to Detroit and there make treaties. He arrived in Detroit on the 26th of August. Pontiac had departed, and sent messages of defiance from the banks of the Maumee.[1448]
Colonel Bouquet met with every obstacle in raising troops and collecting supplies for his Ohio expedition, from the stubborn Quakers in the Assembly of Pennsylvania. It was not until September 17th that his convoy arrived at Fort Pitt. Early in October he marched with fifteen hundred men and a long train of pack-horses into the valley of the Muskingum. Wherever he appeared with his strong force the Indian tribes were ready, after much talk, to make treaties of peace and deliver up their white captives, two hundred of whom, and some with reluctance, were taken back to the settlements.[1449] Colonel Bouquet marched to the forks of the Muskingum,[1450] meeting with no opposition, and, having accomplished his purposes, retraced his march, and arrived at Fort Pitt on the 28th of November. The success of the expedition and the return of the captives to their homes were the occasion of joy through the whole country. The assemblies of Pennsylvania and Virginia passed votes of thanks to Colonel Bouquet, and the king conferred on him the rank of brigadier-general. Early in the summer of 1765 he was put in command of the Southern district, and died of fever at Pensacola, September 2, ten days after his arrival.[1451] Had he lived he would have made a brilliant record in the war of the Revolution.[1452]
VICINITY OF FORT CHARTRES.