178 ANGER OF THE INDIANS. [1760-1763. 



hem them in with settlements on the one hand, and 

 a chain of forts on the other. Among other atro- 

 cious plans for their destruction, they had instigated 

 the Cherokees to attack and destroy the tribes of 

 the Ohio valley.-^ These groundless calumnies 

 found ready belief. The French declared, in addi- 

 tion, that the King of France had of late years 

 fallen asleep ; that, during his slumbers, the Eng- 

 lish had seized upon Canada ; but that he was now 

 awake again, and that his armies were advancing 

 up the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, to drive 

 out the intruders from the country of his red chil- 

 dren. To these fabrications was added the more 

 substantial encouragement of arms, ammunition, 

 clothing, and provisions, which the French trading 

 companies, if not the officers of the crown, distrib- 

 uted with a liberal hand.^ 



The fierce passions of the Indians, excited by 

 their wrongs, real or imagined, and exasperated by 



1 Croghan, Journal. See Hildreth, Pioneer History, 68. Also Butler, 

 Hist. Kentucky, Appendix. 



2 Examination of Gershom Hicks, a spy. See Pennsylvania Gazette, 

 No. 1846. 



Many passages from contemporary fetters and docmnents might be 

 cited in support of the above. The following extract from a letter of 

 Lieut. Edward Jenkins, commanding at Fort Ouatanon on the Wabash, to 

 Major Gladwin commanding at Detroit, is a good example. The date is 

 28 March, 1763. " The Canadians here are eternally telling Hes to the 

 Indians. . . One La Pointe told the Indians a few days ago that we should 

 all be prisoners in a short time (showing when the corn was about a foot 

 high), that there was a great army to come from the Mississippi, and that 

 they were to have a great number of Indians with them ; therefore advised 

 them not to help us. That they would soon take Detroit and these small 

 posts, and then they would take Quebec, Montreal, &c., and go into our 

 country. This, I am informed, they tell them from one end of tlie year 

 to the other." He adds that the Indians will rather give six beaver-skins 

 for a blanket to a Frenchman than three to an Englishman. 



