1764, Aug.] BRADSTREET AT DETROIT. 181 



been beset for more than fifteen months by their 

 wily enemy ; and though there were times when not 

 an Indian could be seen, yet woe to the soldier 

 who should wander into the forest in search of 

 game, or stroll too far beyond range of the cannon. 

 Throughout the preceding winter, they had been 

 left in comparative quiet ; but with the opening 

 spring the Indians had resumed their pertinacious 

 hostilities ; not, however, with the same activity 

 and vigor as during the preceding summer. The 

 messages of Sir William Johnson, and the tidings 

 of Bradstreet's intended expedition, had had great 

 effect upon their minds, and some of them had 

 begged abjectly for peace ; but still the garrison 

 were harassed by frequent alarms, and days and 

 nights of watchfulness were their unvarying lot. 

 Cut off for months together from all communica- 

 tion with their race ; pent up in an irksome impris- 

 onment ; ill supplied with provisions, and with 

 clothing worn threadbare, they hailed with delight 

 the prospect of a return to the world from which 

 they had been banished so long. The army had 

 no sooner landed than the garrison was relieved, 

 and fresh troops substituted in their place. Brad- 

 street's next care was to inquire into the conduct 

 of the Canadian inhabitants of Detroit, and punish 

 such of them as had given aid to the Indians. A 

 few only were found guilty, the more culpable hav- 

 ing fled to the Illinois on the approach of the 

 army. 



Pontiac too was gone. The great war-chief, his 

 vengeance unslaked, and his purpose unshaken, 



