Hi all!
As an ex-pat Pittsburgher, the 'burgh's history is a subject which is very near & dear to my heart and I have always been interested in it. One of the favorite books on my shelf is Walter O'Meara's Guns at the Forks http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_1/103-9388714-8962225?v=glance&s=books, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, about the French, British & US forts at the site of what is now Pittsburgh. With my brother living in the Detroit 'burbs, it is only natural that I take an alternate look at Pontiac's rebellion.
Pontiac, on Ottawa war chief, presaged Tecumseh's efforts/plans of 45 years later, and sought to push the British & Colonial Americans out of the area between the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes in the immediate aftermath of the French and Indian War. Antagonized beyond endurance by the arrogance and abrasive hamhandedness of General Sir Jeffrey Amherst's Indian policy (which could not have been more different than the conciliatory French policy; Amherst was the British commander in North America), Pontiac sought to unite many tribes that had previously been hostile to each other in, what he felt, was a last effort to prevent the English-speaking whites from moving into, and settling, the area west of the Allegheny Mountains & north of the Ohio River.
O'Meara writes:
In less than 6 weeks, Pontiac's forces had struck at, and destroyed, the British forts at Sandusky, St. Joseph, Miami, Green Bay, Ouiatanon, Michilmackinac, Presque Isle, Venango and LeBoeuf (this map http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h598.html is the best online map I could find). Except for Green Bay, Presque Isle and Le Boeuf, the British garrisons were massacred. Several of these posts, including the major fort & trading post at Michilmackinac, were taken by stratagem, Trojan Horse-style, without a shot being fired. (At Michilmackinac, the Indians set up for a lacrosse game outside the fort, when the ball sailed into the fort, the British commander opened the gate...)
Fort Pitt, the easternmost & largest of the British posts, was under attack by June 22. What upset Pontiac's applecart was that his plan to take Fort Detroit by strategem failed & he had to settle in for a regular siege, which was alien to the Indians' style and experience of fighting. The British CO, Maj. Henry Gladwin, somehow got wind of Pontiac's plans. Exactly how is unknown; one rather romantic theory says that an Indian woman who was in love with him, tipped him off. Since Pontiac had to divert men to the siege of Detroit, he could send that many fewer to attack undermanned Fort Pitt. In turn, the relief expedition that Amherst dispatched to relieve Fort Pitt was met (at the Battle of Bushy Run http://www.bushyrunbattlefield.com/History.html, not far east of Pittsburgh, on August 5-6) by that many fewer men. Col. Henry Bouqet's victory at Bushy Run was the turning point in Pontiac's War. The morale of Pontiac's allies dwindled & by mid-November he lifted the siege of Detroit. Pontiac's prestige and reputation were crippled. In August 1765, he made peace with the British. He was murdered by another Indian in April 1769.
Let's go back to where his plans first went awry & suppose that Maj. Henry Gladwin doesn't get wind of Pontiac's plans. Detroit goes the bloody way of Michilmackinac. Far more Indians advance to attack Fort Pitt. Its very capable CO, Capt. Simon Ecuyer, a Swiss mercenary who knew his business, manages to hold Pontiac's forces off for the time being, even though he is totally cut off from the outside world. Bouqet (who got absolutely zero help from the Pennsylvania colonial assembly) arrives at Bedford, Pa. on July 25 to be met with yet more panic-stricken refugees and the news that the little British post at Ligonier, further west on the road to Fort Pitt, has been wiped out (in reality, it wasn't & Bouqet used it as his final jumping-off point on his march to relieve Fort Pitt). Bouqet strikes off along the road to Fort Pitt that he & long dead General John Forbes hacked out of the raw wilderness 5 years before, in their French and Indian War campaign against the French Fort Duquesne (Fort Pitt's predecessor). Somewhere not far from Bushy Run, west of the smoking ruin of Ligonier, his force of about 400 Highlanders & Royal Americans are met and wiped out in a fierce & very bloody fight on August 4.
On August 7, the natives, who previously left Fort Pitt in order to intercept Bouqet, return in force. Just after dawn, they call for a parley & Capt. Ecuyer is startled by the sight of Bouqet's head & that of the commander of Ligonier, mounted on pikes. Citing the precedent of Presque Isle (where the British garrison surrendered & was spared), the natives offer Ecuyer the chance to surrender with safe passage guaranteed as far as Bedford. If the offer is refused, the safety of he, his garrison, and the many women and children who have taken shelter in Fort Pitt, will not be guaranteed. (The commander of Venango, up the Allegheny River from Fort Pitt, was roasted to death over a slow fire for 3 days.) The natives give Ecuyer until sunset to think it over. Ecuyer knows that he cannot hold out until Amherst organizes another relief expedition and agonizes. Distrusting the natives, distrusting the chiefs' ability to control their braves, he opts to fight, figuring that the garrison is dead in any case. The natives sustain heavy losses but carry Fort Pitt on August 20. A general massacre ensues.
By autumn, the natives' campaign of fire and destruction against settlements & farms west of the mountains is at a frenzied peak.
With Detroit gone, Pontiac begins raiding into what is now Ontario. With Pitt gone, Pontiac begins to do what Tecumseh was in the process of doing when his plans went awry, i.e. contact the great warlike tribes in the south, i.e. the Cherokee, Chocktaw & Catawba.
In short, Amherst's bloomers are in a royal twist. What happens? What does he do? Stopping Pontiac will now require a far larger effort than the few hundred men who accompanied Bouqet.
Your collective thoughts on possible future courses of events?
ssv
As an ex-pat Pittsburgher, the 'burgh's history is a subject which is very near & dear to my heart and I have always been interested in it. One of the favorite books on my shelf is Walter O'Meara's Guns at the Forks http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_1/103-9388714-8962225?v=glance&s=books, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, about the French, British & US forts at the site of what is now Pittsburgh. With my brother living in the Detroit 'burbs, it is only natural that I take an alternate look at Pontiac's rebellion.
Pontiac, on Ottawa war chief, presaged Tecumseh's efforts/plans of 45 years later, and sought to push the British & Colonial Americans out of the area between the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes in the immediate aftermath of the French and Indian War. Antagonized beyond endurance by the arrogance and abrasive hamhandedness of General Sir Jeffrey Amherst's Indian policy (which could not have been more different than the conciliatory French policy; Amherst was the British commander in North America), Pontiac sought to unite many tribes that had previously been hostile to each other in, what he felt, was a last effort to prevent the English-speaking whites from moving into, and settling, the area west of the Allegheny Mountains & north of the Ohio River.
O'Meara writes:
In less than 6 weeks, Pontiac's forces had struck at, and destroyed, the British forts at Sandusky, St. Joseph, Miami, Green Bay, Ouiatanon, Michilmackinac, Presque Isle, Venango and LeBoeuf (this map http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h598.html is the best online map I could find). Except for Green Bay, Presque Isle and Le Boeuf, the British garrisons were massacred. Several of these posts, including the major fort & trading post at Michilmackinac, were taken by stratagem, Trojan Horse-style, without a shot being fired. (At Michilmackinac, the Indians set up for a lacrosse game outside the fort, when the ball sailed into the fort, the British commander opened the gate...)
Fort Pitt, the easternmost & largest of the British posts, was under attack by June 22. What upset Pontiac's applecart was that his plan to take Fort Detroit by strategem failed & he had to settle in for a regular siege, which was alien to the Indians' style and experience of fighting. The British CO, Maj. Henry Gladwin, somehow got wind of Pontiac's plans. Exactly how is unknown; one rather romantic theory says that an Indian woman who was in love with him, tipped him off. Since Pontiac had to divert men to the siege of Detroit, he could send that many fewer to attack undermanned Fort Pitt. In turn, the relief expedition that Amherst dispatched to relieve Fort Pitt was met (at the Battle of Bushy Run http://www.bushyrunbattlefield.com/History.html, not far east of Pittsburgh, on August 5-6) by that many fewer men. Col. Henry Bouqet's victory at Bushy Run was the turning point in Pontiac's War. The morale of Pontiac's allies dwindled & by mid-November he lifted the siege of Detroit. Pontiac's prestige and reputation were crippled. In August 1765, he made peace with the British. He was murdered by another Indian in April 1769.
Let's go back to where his plans first went awry & suppose that Maj. Henry Gladwin doesn't get wind of Pontiac's plans. Detroit goes the bloody way of Michilmackinac. Far more Indians advance to attack Fort Pitt. Its very capable CO, Capt. Simon Ecuyer, a Swiss mercenary who knew his business, manages to hold Pontiac's forces off for the time being, even though he is totally cut off from the outside world. Bouqet (who got absolutely zero help from the Pennsylvania colonial assembly) arrives at Bedford, Pa. on July 25 to be met with yet more panic-stricken refugees and the news that the little British post at Ligonier, further west on the road to Fort Pitt, has been wiped out (in reality, it wasn't & Bouqet used it as his final jumping-off point on his march to relieve Fort Pitt). Bouqet strikes off along the road to Fort Pitt that he & long dead General John Forbes hacked out of the raw wilderness 5 years before, in their French and Indian War campaign against the French Fort Duquesne (Fort Pitt's predecessor). Somewhere not far from Bushy Run, west of the smoking ruin of Ligonier, his force of about 400 Highlanders & Royal Americans are met and wiped out in a fierce & very bloody fight on August 4.
On August 7, the natives, who previously left Fort Pitt in order to intercept Bouqet, return in force. Just after dawn, they call for a parley & Capt. Ecuyer is startled by the sight of Bouqet's head & that of the commander of Ligonier, mounted on pikes. Citing the precedent of Presque Isle (where the British garrison surrendered & was spared), the natives offer Ecuyer the chance to surrender with safe passage guaranteed as far as Bedford. If the offer is refused, the safety of he, his garrison, and the many women and children who have taken shelter in Fort Pitt, will not be guaranteed. (The commander of Venango, up the Allegheny River from Fort Pitt, was roasted to death over a slow fire for 3 days.) The natives give Ecuyer until sunset to think it over. Ecuyer knows that he cannot hold out until Amherst organizes another relief expedition and agonizes. Distrusting the natives, distrusting the chiefs' ability to control their braves, he opts to fight, figuring that the garrison is dead in any case. The natives sustain heavy losses but carry Fort Pitt on August 20. A general massacre ensues.
By autumn, the natives' campaign of fire and destruction against settlements & farms west of the mountains is at a frenzied peak.
With Detroit gone, Pontiac begins raiding into what is now Ontario. With Pitt gone, Pontiac begins to do what Tecumseh was in the process of doing when his plans went awry, i.e. contact the great warlike tribes in the south, i.e. the Cherokee, Chocktaw & Catawba.
In short, Amherst's bloomers are in a royal twist. What happens? What does he do? Stopping Pontiac will now require a far larger effort than the few hundred men who accompanied Bouqet.
Your collective thoughts on possible future courses of events?
ssv
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