CHAPTER XXL 



1763. 

 THE IROQUOIS. — AMBUSCADE OF THE DEVIL'S HOLE. 



While Bouquet was fighting the battle of Bushy 

 E-un, and Dalzell making his fatal sortie against 

 the camp of Pontiac, Sir William Johnson was 

 engaged in the more pacific yet more important 

 task of securing the friendship and alliance of the 

 Six Nations. After several preliminary confer- 

 ences, he sent runners throughout the whole con- 

 federacy to invite deputies of the several tribes to 

 meet him in council at Johnson Hall. The request 

 was not declined. From the banks of the Mohawk ; 

 from the Oneida, Cayuga, and Tuscarora villages ; 

 from the valley of Onondaga, where, from imme- 

 morial time, had burned the great council-fire of 

 the confederacy, — came chiefs and warriors, gath- 

 ering to the place of meeting. The Senecas alone, 

 the warlike tenants of the Genesee valley, refused 

 to attend ; for they were already in arms against the 

 English. Besides the Iroquois, deputies came from 

 the tribes dwelling along the St. Lawrence, and 

 within the settled parts of Canada. 



The council opened on the seventh of Septem- 

 ber. Despite their fair words, their attachment 

 was doubtful ; but Sir William Johnson, by a dex- 

 terous mingling of reasoning, threats, and promises, 



