Pontiac

Chief Pontiac (1714 Ð'- 1769)

By Sam Minde

I would like to provide you with a general overview of a famous Chief who fought for better conditions for Native people. It will be a three part profile that discusses his role in North American history.

Chief Pontiac's father was from the Otter Clan of the Ottawa Indians and his mother was of the Chippewa tribe. Raised as an Ottawa, he lived in the Ohio country in present day Michigan. Little is known of his early years but sources state he may have traded with French forts along the Great Lakes and with forts west of the Appalachian Mountains. He is most remembered for uniting a Native American front to resist westward English settlement. Pontiac's resistance started due to several factors that occurred in his time.

Trade was favored to the French because they respected Indian customs and did not impose a threat to settle the land and primarily lived in peace with the Natives. The French were known as trusted businessmen and sometimes took Native women as wives to establish a solidified kinship. The French practiced offerings presented to the Natives before trade negotiations in the form of tobacco, rum, ammunition, guns, and trinkets. The opposite was true for the English who were ignorant to Indian traders and thought that "it is no crime to cheat and gull an Indian." Alcohol was sometimes used to take advantage of the business deal which left the Indian trader with nothing.

The early colonial wars between France and Britain were fought mainly in Europe, the battle in North America called the French and Indian war played a minor part in the world war. England won. Pontiac's traditional ally had lost the war and the French had to hand over established trading forts to the English located around the Great Lakes and west of the Appalachian Mountains. The French had disbanded their armies and only a few British soldiers remained to man forts for Great Britain. The events were stipulated in the Treaty of Paris between France and Great Britain. The English now had the power of the major trade routes and to the power to restrict the supply of trade goods that Indians had come to rely on for hunting, trading, and warfare. Trade offerings of guns, ammunition, tobacco, and rum were discarded because the English felt it too expensive. The Natives were now faced with widespread fraudulent business practices and were left out of negotiations for westward settlement expansion.

Historians agree this event is the reason for Pontiac's response. Pontiac was displeased with the new trade regulations and sought to regain control in the affected area. In the year 1763 Pontiac sent out war belts to all the tribes along the affected area. The Ottawa, Ojibwa, Potawatomi, Huron, along the Great Lakes; The Miami, Wea, Kickapoo, Mascouten, and Piankashaw of eastern Illinois; and the Delaware, Shawnee, Wyandot, and Mingo, of the Ohio country all answered the call and came to meet Pontiac in the Great Lakes region. But, only one tribe from the Six Nation Confederacy, the Seneca's took part in the uprising. The Six Nation Confederacy had a neutral treaty with the British and they were supplied with all the goods needed for their allegiance. This was the first ever multi-tribal resistance to European colonization

Stay tuned for the next edition where we will discuss Pontiac's intentions and British response. Hai Hai

Chief Pontiac (1714 Ð'- 1769)

By Sam Minde

We begin by reminding readers where we are in this historic event. Chief Pontiac called a war meeting with neighboring tribes to discuss the English problem.

In this meeting, Pontiac pointed out trends of the English advancement. During the French and Indian war, the English had driven the French out of the region west of the Alleghenies only to remain and colonize it themselves. The English had promised to deliver the said land to the Indians after the French were defeated. However, this was not to be, the English now seemed to control much needed goods and took and traded land without consent. Pontiac concocted a bold plan to eliminate the English presence along the frontier by stealthily organizing a hostile takeover of the major trading forts. Each representative took back a number of sticks back to their respective homeland and began to break one for each day passed. The assault was to take place after the last stick was broken.

English frontiersmen mostly had no idea that there was to be a massive assault on their colonization. On an early spring morning in 1763, Pontiac led 800 warriors to Fort Detroit to execute his part of the plan. However, a soldier's Indian mistress alerted her lover to the imminent danger and the garrison had time to prepare for the advancement before the stealth assault could be executed. Pontiac then laid siege to the fort while other forts across the continent were assaulted and destroyed by the multi-tribal alliance. Over several months the rare display of inter-tribal unity captured nine British forts. Humanitarian crimes were committed but will not be discussed intensively this article.

The plan was mostly successful however; Fort Detroit and Fort Pitt were not successfully captured. Fort Pitt survived because of an arrogant captain who would not allow the Indians into the fort, thus, their stealth plan was unable to be executed. The two forts had withstood the assault and discouraged some followers; some began to abandon the siege. Also, the French were unable to come to their Indian allies aid mostly because they were too weak in numbers and supplies, they had no ammunition or soldiers coming in from France due to the loss to England in Europe. English forces began to rally and started to march towards the seized forts.

During a negotiation, English representatives gave Indians blankets infected with smallpox to weaken their numbers and strength. Conversely, some American Indians attempted to poison water wells using animal