94 NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



memorable events, evincing a spirit of cunning and daring 

 highly characteristic of the genius of the red man. 



" In the winter of 1764-65, Pontiac, whilst engaged in his 

 acts of depredation, learned that an armed British force was 

 about to start from New Orleans, to take possession ol the 

 left bank of the Missisippi. He immediately proceeded to 

 the neighborhood of Fort Chartres, accompanied by four 

 hundred warriors, to oppose this occupation of the country ; 

 and, finding there some Illinois Indians who had placed 

 themselves under the protection of the French garrison, he 

 proposed to them to join him. But these people, disheartened 

 by recent calamities, and, as it were, foredoomed to a fijial 

 extinction, w^ere unwilling to assume a hostile attitude 

 towards their new rulers, from whom interest, if not gene- 

 rosity, would lead them to expect the same protection which 

 they w^ere then receiving. To this refusal, Pontiac replied 

 with characteristic energy : ' Hesitate not, or I will destroy 

 you with the same rapidity that fire destroys the grass of the 

 prairie. Listen, and recollect that these are Pontiac's words.' 

 Having then despatched scouts upon the Missisippi and the 

 Ohio, he hastened w^th some of his warriors to Fort Char- 

 tres." — Mc, p. 80. 



He here had an interview with the French commander, 

 professed his friendship for the French, and offered his ser- 

 vices in resisting the English in attempting to take possession 

 of the country. His offers were rejected, of course ; and, 

 after a short time, he returned to the north, made peace with 

 the British, and received a pension from them. — Ih., p. 81. 



Pontiac afterward resided at St. Louis ; and, on a visit 

 to the Kaskaskia Indians, was make drunk, and, while in that 

 state, was murdered by a Kaskaskia Indian, hired, it is said, 

 by an Englishman, named Williamson. This murder roused 

 the vengeance of his friends, and brought on wars whicli 



