CHAPTER III.

THE INDIAN PROTEST.

HE moment that

the colonials of the border received news of the capture of Duquesne, or of what remained of that ramshackle

fortification, white

traders returned

again to the valley.

When peace had been established between France and England, and the Mississippi marked the outer boundary of the British domain the barrier to western movement seemed to have been removed. Traders were followed by surveyors, who here and there beyond the border, and even on the Ohio itself, began to mark out the sites of towns. Dinwiddie's soldiers were looking for the land promised them. The border farms from which during the war period, the Cherokees in the south and the Delawares in the north had been most active in

driving the whites, began again to show signs of life. The wood-cutter whistled at his task. The ploughman, though perhaps working in sight of a sentinel, and in constant danger, faced the grim risks and stolidly bent his strong arm to the labor of the field.

It did not seem to be doubted that the Indians would by some means soon be won over, especially after delegations from several tribes had waited upon the commander of Fort Pitt and assured him of their fealty to the English. The exultation of the colonists prevented them from perceiving that the Indians had little heart for the friendships which the whites sought to make, and that they watched the proceedings of the English with uneasiness and distrust.

We have seen that the struggle of the French and the English placed the Ohio Indians in an awkward position. The close of the war found them in a situation still more awkward. In the conquerors they recognized a people who had shown them but scant courtesy; who had been the first to intrigue with the Iroquois, their oppressors, and who were at all times ready to acquire Indian land by any available trick. In the defeated French, on the other hand, they recognized their friends, now reduced by defeat, and unable to continue the munificent practices which

the Indians had not failed to ascribe to genuine affection.

The change was thus doubly unfortunate to the Indians, since they could not blame the French for abandoning them, and had little reason to expect a deepened sense of consideration on the part of the English. Sulkily they watched the English take possession of the conquered posts. They showed their discontent so plainly when settlers began to enter their hunting grounds, that Colonel Bouquet, at Fort Pitt, issued an order warning the colonists against violation of treaty. But this order had little if any effect; and the pride of the Indian found new reasons for resentment.

To foster every symptom of distrust was the particular care of the French. The English were pictured as a grasping and despicable race, whose war against the French was the result of French. sympathy for the Indian. We are told that French ingenuity even went the length of describing the Saviour of the world as a Frenchman who had been

crucified by the English. "You are to be driven. from the land of your fathers," cried the crafty French emissary or the Canadian trader. "These cruel English will not rest until every brave who is the friend of France is pushed out of the Great Valley. They will sell your wives and children.

as slaves, and then they will give your lodges and your hunting grounds to your enemies the Cherokees."

Such talk readily inflamed the Indians. Ugly murmurs arose. Angry speeches were made at the council fires. The chiefs fumed and the young men grew restless. The very nations whose representatives crossed the valley to give the wampum to the British were in a state of irritation not suspected by those who received their professions. The whole northwest was gloomy. Only one thing was needed to make active the resentment of the Indians, who had common cause and common feeling. That one thing was a leader; and a leader came forward in the person of Pontiac.

This Ottawa chieftain, possibly the greatest of Indian politicians, and a really noble type, had accosted Major Rogers when the latter was sent by the British to take charge of Detroit. Rogers' personal influence upon the chief was favorable, and Pontiac, though furious at the British occupation, gave Rogers his protection at Detroit until the time of the Major's journey across Ohio to Fort Pitt. "You have conquered the French," said Pontiac to a trader, "but you have not conquered us!" And to the men of his race the dusky statesman exclaimed, "Why, says the Great Spirit, do you suffer these dogs in red cloth

ing to enter your country and take the land I have given you? Drive them from it! Drive them!"

The cry was echoed from village to village in the speeches of Pontiac's stealthy emissaries. And it found an answer. The whole valley united in a

terrible conspiracy.

The treaty of peace between France and England was signed in February, 1763. England afterwards set aside the Ohio Valley as an Indian reservation, and orders were issued prohibiting any settlement in this region. But at the very time that this measure was being considered the Indians were girding themselves for a pitiless attack. In every Indian village the war-post was struck, as chieftain and brave volunteered for this last concerted struggle for possession, the shrill war songs were chanted and thousands of painted warriors swarmed to the frontiers.

The attack was planned to occur in many places simultaneously, and at a certain change in the moon. When the unexpected blow fell, the whole country staggered. Terror took possession of the border. Day after day the bloody tragedy continued, thousands flying from their homes when warning gave them opportunity. The rough cabins of the settlers fell in ashes; the stacked wheat blazed in the fields, and the mutilated bodies of men, women and