1763, June.] LETTER FROM CAPT. ETHERINGTON. 275 



Three days after these tidings reached Detroit, 

 Father Jonois, a Jesuit priest of the Ottawa mis- 

 sion near Michillimackinac, came to Pontiac's camp, 

 together with the son of Minavavana, great chief 

 of the Ojibwas, and several other Indians. On the 

 following morning, he appeared at the gate of the 

 fort, bringing a letter from Captain Etherington, 

 commandant at Michillimackinac. The commence- 

 ment of the letter was as follows : — 



" Michillimackinac, 12 June, 1763. 



" Sir : 



" Notwithstanding what I wrote you in my last, 

 that all the savages were arrived, and that every 

 thing seemed in perfect tranquillity, yet on the 

 second instant the Chippeways, w^ho live in a plain 

 near this fort, assembled to play ball, as they had 

 done almost every day since their arrival. They 

 played from morning till noon ; then, throwing 

 their ball close to the gate, and observing Lieu- 

 tenant Lesley and me a few paces out of it, they 

 came behind us, seized and carried us into the 

 woods. 



" In the mean time, the rest rushed into the fort, 

 where they found their squaws, whom they had 

 previously planted there, with their hatchets hid 

 under their blankets, which they took, and in an 

 instant killed Lieutenant Jamet, and fifteen rank 

 and file, and a trader named Tracy. They wounded 

 two, and took the rest of the garrison prisoners, 

 five of whom they have since killed. 



" They made prisoners all the English traders, 

 and robbed them of every thing they had ; but they 



