38 THE WAR ON THE BORDERS. [1763, Junk. 



Three days later the express-rider delivered the 

 truculent letter, from which the above is taken, to 

 Amherst at New York. He replied : " Last night I 

 received your letter of the twenty-fifth, the contents 

 of which please me very much, — your sentiments 

 agreeing exactly with my own regarding the treat- 

 ment the savages deserve from us. . . I need only 

 add that I wish to hear of no prisoners^ should any 

 of the villains be met with in arms ; and whoever 

 of those who were concerned in the murder of Sir 

 Robert Davers, Lieutenant Robertson, etc., or were 

 at the attack of the detachment going to the De- 

 troit,^ and that may be hereafter taken, shall 

 certainly be put to death.'' ^ 



Bouquet was now busy on the frontier in prep- 

 arations for pushing forward to Fort Pitt with 

 the troops sent him. After reaching the fort, 

 with his wagon-trains of ammunition and sup- 

 plies, he was to proceed to Venango and Le Boeuf, 

 reinforce and provision them ; and thence advance 

 to Presqu' Isle to wait Amherst's orders for the des- 

 patch of his troops westward to Detroit, Michilli- 

 mackinac, and the other distant garrisons, the fate 

 of which was still unknown. He was encamped 

 near Carlisle when, on the third of July, he heard 

 what he styles the " fatal account of the loss of our 



1 i. e., Cuyler's detachment. 



2 Amherst wrote again on the 16th of July : " My former orders 

 for putting such of the Indians as are or have been in arms against us, 

 and that fall in our power, to death, remain in full force ; as the barbarities 

 they have committed on the late commanding officer at Venango" (Gor- 

 don, whom they roasted alive during several nights) "and his unfortunate 

 garrison fully prove that no punishment we can inflict is adequate to the 

 crimes of those inhuman villains." 



