298 BLOCKADE OF DETROIT. [1763, June. 



of anger and grief among all the English in 

 Detroit. It appeared that the Indian killed and 

 scalped, in the skirmish of that morning, was 

 nephew to Wasson, chief of the Ojibwas. On 

 hearing of his death, the enraged uncle had im- 

 mediately blackened his face in sign of revenge, 

 called together a party of his followers, and repair- 

 ing to the house of Meloche, where Captain Camp- 

 bell was kept prisoner, had seized upon him, and 

 bound him fast to a neighboring fence, where they 

 shot him to death w^itli arrows. Others say that 

 they tomahawked him on the spot ; but all agree 

 that his bodv was mutilated in a barbarous manner. 

 His heart is said to have been eaten by his mur- 

 derers, to make them courageous ; a practice not 

 uncommon among Indians, after killing an enemy 

 of acknowledged bravery. The corpse was thrown 

 into the river, and afterwards brought to shore and 

 buried by the Canadians. According to one author- 

 ity, Pontiac was privy to this act ; but a second, 

 equally credible, represents him as ignorant of it, 

 and declares that Wasson fled to Saginaw to escape 

 his fury ; while a third affirms that the Ojibwas 

 carried off Campbell by force from before the eyes 

 of the great chief.^ The other captive, M'Dougal, 

 had previously escaped. 



1 Goain's Account, MS. St. Atibin's Account, MS. Diary of the Siege. 



James MacDonald writes from Deti'oit on the 12th of July. " Half an 

 hour afterward the savages carried (the body of) the man they had lost 

 before Capt. Campbell, stripped him naked, and directly murthered him 

 in a cruel manner, which indeed gives me pain beyond expression, and 1 

 am sure cannot miss but to affect sensibly all his acquaintances. Although 

 he is now out of the question, I must own I never had, nor never shall 



