178 BRADSTREET'S ARMY ON THE LAKES. [1764, Aug. 



the overtures was to retard the action of the army 

 until the season should be too far advanced to 

 prosecute the campaign. At this very moment, 

 the Delaware and Shawanoe war-parties were 

 murdering and scalping along the frontiers ; and 

 the work of havoc continued for weeks, until it 

 was checked at length by the operations of Colonel 

 Bouquet. 



Bradstreet was not satisfied with the promise he 

 had made to abandon his owu hostile designs. He 

 consummated his folly and presumption by des- 

 patching a messenger to his superior officer, Colonel 

 Bouquet, informing him that the Delawares and 

 Shawanoes had been reduced to submission without 

 his aid, and that he might withdraw his troops, as 

 there was no need of his advancing farther. Bou- 

 quet, astonished and indignant, paid no attention 

 to this communication, but pursued his march as 

 before.^ 



The course pursued by Bradstreet in this affair — 

 a course which can only be ascribed to the vain 

 ambition of finishing the war without the aid of 

 others — drew upon him the severe censures of the 

 commander-in-chief, who, on hearing of the treaty, 

 at once annulled it.^ Bradstreet has been accused 



1 MS. Letter — Bouquet to Gage, Sept. 3. 



2 Extract from a MS. Letter — Gage to Bradstreet, Sept. 2 : — 



" I again repeat that I annul and disavow the peace you have made." 



The following extracts will express the opinions of Gage with respect 

 to this affair. 



MS. Letter— Gage to Bradstreet, Oct. 15 : — 



" Tliey have negotiated with you on Lake Erie, and cut our throats 

 upon the frontiers. With your letters of peace I received others, giving 

 accounts of murders, and these acts continue to this time. Had you only 



