16 FRONTIER FOETS AND SETTLEMENTS. [1763, June. 



schooner on the lake, approaching from the west- 

 ward. She had sent a boat to shore with the tid- 

 ings that Detroit had been beleaguered, for more 

 than six weeks, by many hundred Indians, and that 

 a detachment of ninety-six men had been attacked 

 near that place, of whom only about thirty had 

 escaped, the rest being either killed on the spot 

 or put to death by slow torture. The panic-stricken 

 soldier, in his flight from Presqu' Isle, had passed 

 the spots where lately had stood the little forts of 

 Le Boeuf and Venango. Both were burnt to the 

 ground, and he surmised that the whole of their 

 wretched garrisons had fallen victims.^ The dis- 

 aster proved less fatal than his fears led him to 

 suspect ; for, on the same day on which he arrived, 

 Ensign Price, the officer commanding at Le Bceuf, 

 was seen approaching along the bank of the Alle- 

 ghany, followed by seven haggard and half-fam- 

 ished soldiers.^ He and his men told the following 

 story : — 



1 MS. Letter — Ecuyer to Bouquet, June 26. 



2 Extract from a Letter — Forf Pitt, June 26 [Pern. Gaz. No. 1802). 



" This Morning, Ensign Price, of the Royal Americans, with Part of 

 his Garrison, arrived here, being separated from the rest in the night. — 

 The Enemy attacked his Post, and set it on Fire, and while they watched 

 the Door of the House, he got out on the other side, and the Indians 

 continued firing a long Time afterwards, imagining that the Garrison 

 was in it, and that they were consumed with the House. — He touched at 

 Venango, found the Fort burnt to the Ground, and saw one of our Ex- 

 presses lying killed on the Road. 



" Four o'clock in the Afternoon. Just now came in one of the Soldiers 

 from Presque Isle, who says, Mr. Christie fought two Days ; that the 

 Enemy Fifty times set Fire to the Blockhouse, but that they as often 

 put it out : That they then undermined the House, and was ready to 

 blow it up, when they offered Mr. Christie Terms, who accepted them, 

 viz., That he, and his Garrison, was to be conducted to this Place. — The 



