1763, JuNE.J REPORT OF GRAY. 15 



warriors, who were advancing from the westward 

 to attack the fort. On the afternoon of the twen- 

 ty-sixth, a soldier named Gray, belonging to the 

 garrison of Presqu' Isle, came in with the report 

 that, more than a week before, that little post had 

 been furiously attacked by upwards of two hundred 

 Indians from Detroit, that they had assailed it for 

 three days, repeatedly setting it on fire, and had 

 at length undermined it so completely, that the 

 garrison was forced to capitulate, on condition of 

 being allowed to retire in safety to Fort Pitt. No 

 sooner, however, had they left their shelter, than 

 the Indians fell upon them, and, as Gray declared, 

 butchered them all, except himself and one other 

 man, who darted into the woods, and escaped amid 

 the confusion, hearing behind them, as they fled, 

 the screams of their murdered comrades. This 

 account proved erroneous, as the garrison were 

 carried by their captors in safety to Detroit. Some 

 time after this event. Captain Dalzell's detachment, 

 on their way to Detroit, stopped at the place, and 

 found, close to the ruined fort, the hair of several 

 of the men, which had been shorn off, as a prelim- 

 inary step in the process of painting and bedecking 

 them like Indian warriors. From this it appears 

 that some of the unfortunate soldiers were adopted 

 on the spot into the tribes of their conquerors. In 

 a previous chapter, a detailed account has been 

 given of the defence of Presqu Isle, and its cap- 

 ture. 



Gray informed Captain Ecuyer that, a few days 

 before the attack on the garrison, they had seen a 



