George Washington's World - Leave Our Land

"Englishmen! Although you have conquered the French, you have not yet conquered us!  These rivers and woods and meadows are ours and we will part with none of them!"  Such were the words of an Ottawa chief at the end of the war.  Pontiac, now a great strong chief of the Ottawa tribe, looked out to the forts near his home and no longer saw the white and lily flag of the friendly French, but the hated red, white and blue flag of the English.  He believed the French would come and help him sometime soon and drive the English across back across the mountains.

Drive the English back across the mountains!  That was what Pontiac believed the Indians should do.  He went from tribe to tribe, calling on them to assist him.  It went well, and soon 11 English forts fell to the Indians.  Only Fort Pitt and Fort Detroit were not taken.  Pontiac has planned to take Fort Detroit by surprise.  He planned to go in on a 'peaceful mission' and once inside, signal for his warriors to draw their weapons and to surprise the unsuspecting English.  But the commander of Fort Detroit had heard tale of this news, and once entering, Pontiac saw that something was wrong and withdrew without giving the signal.  The Indians had to settle with laying siege to the fort.  This was not successful.

Fort Detroit, circa 1750

One of the commanders of the English was very angry.  He wrote to the commander of Fort Pitt to find a way to get rid of the Indians by spreading small pox among them.  So the commander gave blankets infected with smallpox to the Delaware and Shawnee tribes.  The disease quickly spread, killing whole villages at once.