CHAPTER XXX. 



1765. 

 KUIN OF THE INDIAN CAUSE. 



The repulse of Loftus, and rumors of the fierce 

 temper of the Indians who guarded the Mississippi, 

 convinced the commander-in-chief that to reach the 

 ininois by the southern route was an enterprise of 

 no easy accomplishment. Yet, at the same time, 

 he felt the strong necessity of a speedy military 

 occupation of the country ; since, while the fleur 

 de lis floated over a single garrison in the ceded 

 territory, it would be impossible to disabuse the 

 Indians of the phantom hope of French assistance, 

 to which they clung with infatuated tenacity. The 

 embers of the Indian war would never be quenched 

 until England had enforced all her claims over her 

 defeated rival. Gage determined to despatch a 

 force from the eastward, by way of Fort Pitt and 

 the Ohio ; a route now laid open by the late suc- 

 cess of Bouquet, and the submission of the Dela- 

 wares and Shawanoes. 



To prepare a way for the passage of the troops, 

 Sir William Johnson's deputy, George Croghan, 

 was ordered to proceed in advance, to reason with 



