NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 63 



movements. While he was pressing the siege of the garrison, he 

 enjoined neutrality upon the French inhabitants, who were never- 

 theless called on to furnish cattle and corn for the subsistence of 

 his warriors. It is remarked on good authority that, for these 

 supplies, he issued evidences of debt. When General Bradstreet 

 marched to the relief of the fort, with an army of three thousand 

 men, the spirit and laconic temper of the warrior -were at the 

 same time evinced. He sent a deputation of chiefs to meet the 

 herald of the British general, at Maumee, with the laconic and 

 symbolic message : " I stand in the path." 



The execution of the plan of attack on Old Fort Mackinac ap- 

 pears to have been intrusted to Minnawanna, a Chippewa chief, who, 

 in addition to his own people, was aided by the Sacs. The Ottowas 

 afterwards expressed displeasure in not having been admitted to a 

 participation in the attack. The plan was ingeniously laid. The 

 king's birthday, the 4th of June (1763), having arrived, the Chip- 

 pewas and Sacs turned out to play, for a high wager, at ball. 

 Many of the garrison, and the commanding officer himself, came 

 out to witness the sport ; and there was such a feeling of secu- 

 rity that the gates of the fort were left open. To put the troops 

 more off their guard, the ball had been thrown over the picket, 

 and when once there, it was natural that it should be followed by 

 the opposite parties, heated with the contest and eager for victory. 

 But this artifice was the accomplishment of the plan. The war- 

 whoop was immediately sounded, and an indiscriminate slaughter 

 commenced. A few moments of intense anxiety ensued. They were 

 passed by the officers eagerly listening for the roll of the drum. But 

 they were passed in disappointment. There was no call of this 

 kind to concentrate resistance. Panic and slaughter raged in 

 their most fearful forms. None were spared who were deemed 

 friendly to the English interest but such as were effectually 

 secreted. Some of the soldiers who escaped the first onset, were 

 incarcerated in a room, where they were sacrificed to glut the 

 vengeance of a chief, who did not arrive till the princij)al work 

 of slaughter had been accomplished. 



This event sealed the fate of the old fort and the town on the 

 peninsula. The British afterwards took possession of the island, 

 which had served to give name to the peninsular fort. The town 

 was gradually removed, by pulling down the buildings, and 

 transporting the timber to the island, till there was not a build- 



