the shore to the lower point of Hog Island, now Belle Isle park, where they crossed the river and were immediately put to death with all the horrible accompaniments of savage cruelty.

On the third of June the important information of a peace between France and England and of the cession of the country to the latter reached the fort. It was immediately communicated to the French inhabitants, who found their position essentially changed by this measure. Until now they were prisoners upon capitulation; a neutral party between the belligerents. They had conducted themselves with the most exemplary fidelity, and during the whole siege, very few Canadians were known to have connected themselves with the Indians, and these were held in abhorrence by their countrymen and were compelled by their indignation eventually to flee and seek shelter in Illinois. The operations of the war had pressed heavily upon them. At first their cattle were killed and provisions taken whenever a hungry or drunken party chose to distress them. Pontiac soon became satisfied that this indiscriminate plunder would leave the French people, as well as his own, without the means of support, and contributions were afterwards regularly levied and supplies furnished through a commissariat instituted by him. Finding, however, that these means were inadequate to the reduction of the fort, he assembled the principal French inhabitants in council, and in the presence of all his warriors presented them with a war-belt, and told them if they were French they would accept it; if they were English he would make war upon them. One of the principal inhabitants was appointed by the others to speak for them and he exhibited the articles of peace between the French and British governments, and said to Pontiac: "My brother, you see that our arms are tied by your great father, the king; untie this knot and we will join you. Till that is done we shall sit quietly upon our mats." After much discussion the assembly dispersed without any satisfactory arrangement. And the French inhabitants resisted all the efforts of the Indians to induce them to unite with them. At this time the vessel which had been despatched to Niagara arrived at the mouth of the river with about sixty troops on board, and a supply of provisions and ammunition. The wind was light and baffling and the Indians made every effort to capture her. The warriors quit the siege and repaired to Fighting Island, determined to board the vessel as she ascended the river. I find no authority for the account usually given nor records of any kind giving the circumstances attending the attack on this vessel or of the order given by her captain to blow her up when the Indians were about to ascend her deck. She left the mouth of the river, where the Indians had annoyed her in their canoes, with a favorable breeze, which, however, failed as she reached the point of Fighting Island, where she was compelled to anchor. The captain had concealed his men in the hold, so that the Indians were not aware of the strength of the crew. Soon after dark they embarked in their canoes and proceeded to board the vessel. The men were silently ordered up and took their stations at the guns. The Indians were suffered to approach close to the vessel, when the captain, by the stroke of a hammer upon the mast, a signal which had been previously concerted, gave the signal for action. An immediate discharge took place and the Indians precipitately fled, with many killed and wounded. The next morning the vessel dropped down to the mouth of the river, where she remained six days, waiting for a favorable wind. On the thirtieth she succeeded in ascending the river and reached the fort in safety.

Pontiac felt the necessity of destroying these vessels and he therefore constructed rafts for that purpose. The barns of some of the inhabitants

were demolished and the materials employed in this work. Pitch and other combustibles were added, and the whole so formed as to burn with rapidity and intensity. They were of considerable length and were towed to a proper position above the vessels, when fire was applied and they were left to the stream in the expectation that they would be carried into contact with the vessels and immediately set fire to them. Twice the attempt was made and unsuccessfully. The British were aware of the design and took their measures accordingly. Boats were constructed and anchored with chains above the vessels, and every precaution was used to ward off the blow. The blazing rafts passed harmlessly by and other incidents soon occurred to engage the attention of the Indians. On the 29th of July a fleet of boats was sighted ascending the river. Anxious to ascertain whether they had escaped the attack of the Indians, a gun was fired from the fort, which was immediately answered by the boats, each of which carried four swivels and two mortars, and on board the whole was a detachment of three hundred regular troops under the command of Capt. Dalyell, an aide-de-camp of Sir Jeffrey Amherst, the British commander-in-chief.

MASSACRE AT "BLOODY RUN "

That evening arrangements were made for an attack upon the Indian camp. Unfortunately these were not so secretly conducted but that information was carried to the Indians. Their women and their children were immediately removed and their plan of operation formed. A party of warriors was stationed behind the pickets upon the Dequindre farm and another party upon the farm at Bloody Bridge, protected by pickets and piles of cord-wood, and concealed in the high grass. A detachment of three hundred men left the fort about an hour before day and marched rapidly up the bank, expecting to surprise the Indians. They were suffered to reach the bridge over "Bloody Run," and to proceed about half way across it before a gun was fired, or the slightest movement indicated that the enemy was aware of their approach. Suddenly a volley was poured upon the troops, who were thrown into instant confusion. They fought with desperate bravery, but the darkness of the night, the nature of an Indian attack and the unfavorable position they occupied rendered their fate critical and perilous. Capt. Dalyell fell at the first discharge when the command devolved upon Capt. Grant. The detachment was attacked upon the left flank and upon the front and rear. Thus nearly surrounded, it was instantly perceived that nothing but the most vigorous efforts could rescue them. It was necessary to drive the enemy from their position before a retreat could be undertaken. A charge was ordered and it was promptly and vigorously effected. The Indians fell back before the bayonet and were repulsed in every direction. The detachment extricated themselves from their perilous situation and at length reached the fort. They lost in this disastrous affair seventy men killed and forty wounded.

PONTIAC RAISES THE SIEGE

From this period nothing important occurred in the prosecution of the siege. Pontiac, whether satisfied with the success he had gained or discouraged by the defence of the place, relaxed in his efforts, and the Indians soon began to depart for their wintering grounds. All was quiet during the winter, and in the spring the various bands as they arrived professed their desire for peace. In the course of the season Gen. Bradstreet reached Detroit with a well appointed army of three thousand men.

Tradition says that in passing the rock-bound coast west of Cleveland he encountered a violent storm, in which he lost a number of boats and many men. Certainly the imagination cannot conceive a more awful situation than that of an army enclosed by a raging sea on one side and an eternal rampart of rocks on the other.

General Bradstreet landed at Sandusky, and at the Maumee, and dispersed the Indians, whom he found there burning their villages and destroying their cornfields. He reached Detroit without opposition. All the tribes in this region immediately visited him, and peace was firmly established. Pontiac, either distrusting the professions of the British or too much exasperated to live cordially with them, declined any intercourse with their troops and took no part in the pending negotiations. He abandoned the country and repaired to the Illinois. Here, for some cause, which has not been explained, he was assassinated by a Peoria Indian. Such was the respect inspired by his talents and services that the Ottawas, Potawatamies and Chippewas considered his death as a public misfortune and its atonement a sacred duty. They commenced a war upon the Peorias, in which that tribe was almost exterminated and from which they never recovered.

A few years of tranquility succeeded these stormy events. They were employed by the British authorities in extending and consolidating their power and by their citizens in a vigorous and profitable prosecution of the fur trade. No effort was made by the British government to promote the settlement of the country. A system of conciliation towards the Indians was adopted and persevered in; and in a few years that bitter animosity which was the fruit of a century of hostilities gradually gave way and they became firmly attached to the British interests.

But that great event was now approaching, which has produced such important changes in the moral and political stage of the world. The contest between the mother country and her colonies soon absorbed all questions of minor interest upon the continent and the active employment of the Indian force became a favorite object in the British policy. Detroit from its position and from the associations of the Indians was the controlling point of influence, where parties were organized and equipped, and whence they were dispatched to lay waste our frontier and to do the other nameless deeds of horror. It was a warfare to distress, not to subdue. War parties were going and returning during the whole progress of the revolution. They went with presents and promises, and they returned with scalps and booty.

BYRD AND CLARK EXPEDITIONS

Two expeditions, however, were undertaken, more important in their character and results than the ordinary marauding enterprises to which we have alluded. One of these was led by Capt. Byrd, whose force was composed of a detachment of regular troops, some militia and a numerous body of Indian warriors. They left Detroit in boats, well provided with provisions and munitions of war. They ascended the Maumee and descended the Miami river to the Ohio. The first object of the expedition was an attack upon Louisville, but the unusually wet season and consequent high stage of the water induced him to ascend the Licking and strike at the posts in the interior of Kentucky. With this view he appeared suddenly before Ruddle's station, and as he was supplied with cannon and led a well appointed force, all hope of resistance was abandoned and the garrison surrendered upon promise of safety and protection from the Indians. It is needless to add that the promise was utterly disregarded. Byrd proceeded a few miles further and captured another

small stockade, called Martin's station. His progress spread consternation through the country and efforts were made to collect a force to oppose him. Before this could be organized he suddenly abandoned his enterprise and precipitately withdrew. His motives for this procedure are unknown. Whatever they may have been, Kentucky was relieved from the most imminent danger to which she had ever been exposed.

George Rogers Clark was one of those men who seemed born to conduct our country through the troubles and dangerous scenes of the revolution. He possessed that quick perception, that instant decision, that fruitful resource, that power over others and that confidence in himself which constitute the great military leader. Whether the theatre of operations be great or small, an empire or an Indian frontier, the genius of such a man must lead him to command as surely as it will lead him to

success.

General Clark had been despatched by the Virginia government to defend the Kentucky frontier, then feeble and exposed. He soon became satisfied that the most effectual means of attaining this object was by capturing the British posts in the Illinois country. He accordingly descended the Ohio and reduced Kaskaskia, Cahokia and the small establishments in that quarter. When information of his success reached Detroit, Governor Hamilton resolved to dislodge him and for this purpose collected all the regular troops, militia and Indians who could be spared from the defence of this frontier. He proceeded to Vincennes and there halted, determined to attack his enemy as soon as the season for field operations should commence. His plan was to regain the lost posts and to destroy Clark's detachment; then to cross the Ohio and sweep the infant settlements of Kentucky before him, giving up, to murder and devastation, the inhabitants and their property. But his design was anticipated and frustrated by one of those bold and decisive movements which marks the character of a general and determines the fate of nations. Clark received information from a Spanish merchant that his enemy was careless and in fancied security, and had detached a part of his force to watch the Ohio river and to harrass the frontiers. He immediately prepared a small boat and put on board the supplies for his troops. He ordered her to proceed to the Wabash and, taking post a few miles below Vincennes, to permit nothing to ascend or descend the river. He then, in the depth of winter, set out for that place with his whole disposable force, amounting to only one hundred and thirty men. He was sixteen days crossing the country and during five of these he was employed in wading through the inundated prairies of the Wabash. For five miles his detachment marched with the water to their breasts. After surmounting these obstacles he suddenly appeared before Vincennes, and by the stratagem of presenting a tree, shaped like a cannon, he persuaded Hamilton that he had brought artillery with him. His decisive movement and the surprise and consternation of the enemy led to the surrender of the fort upon the first summons. Hamilton himself and a few of those counsellors who had been most active in promoting his system of savage barbarities. were sent to Virginia in irons. The militia from this quarter were permitted to return.

POSTS PASS INTO AMERICAN HANDS

The revolution terminated with the recognition of our independence. The subsequent events in the history of the territory are familiar to all. Difficulties soon arose respecting the surrender of the posts. An Indian war was the consequence and the campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne were successively prosecuted before peace was established. The

part taken by the British authorities here to encourage the Indians in hostilities and to aid their operations are matters of history; and General Wayne, in the official report of his victory at the Maumee, states that a company of militia from Detroit was associated with the Indians and fought in their ranks. It is well known to the old inhabitants that the clerk of the court, one Smith, was at the head of this company and was killed in the action.

There is neither pleasure nor profit to be derived from a contemplation of the revolting scenes which stain the pages of our early history; but history is not the panegyric of human actions; as it is its province to preserve the names of heroes, it must also perpetuate the memory of the instigators of the atrocious deeds done in the name of war.

In the beginning of June, 1796, Capt. Porter, with a detachment of American troops, entered Fort Detroit, which had been previously evacuated by the British. The American flag was displayed and the dominion of the country peaceably transferred.