The Great American-Indian War: A Pontiac's Rebellion Timeline

[GuildedAgeNostalgia]

The Great American-Indian War: A Pontiac's Rebellion Timeline
By @GuildedAgeNostalgia

​

Introduction/Author's Note

The history of Native American resistance to European expansion and civilization although unique for each tribe, is a tragic, repetitive, and predictable story that almost always ended the same. First would come the traders, then the forts, then the farmers, and then the war. And although many tribes gave a respectable resistance, some even winning multiple battles, in the end they faced disease, lack of supplies, and eventual defeat.

A perfect example of this would be the largest war that took place between European settlers and Native American tribes North of the Rio Grande. Known in otl as Pontiac's Rebellion, we saw a Native American alliance of over a dozen tribes rise up in the face of British-American expansion. The conflict lasted 3 years, spanned over a thousand miles, and involved thousands of warriors and soldiers on both sides. And although the Native Americans won several significant battles, burned dozens of colonial forts and settlements, and scared the bejesus out of the British government, in the end they were still forced to make peace. There resistance was in vain.

But what many don't realize is that defeat in this war didn't have to be the case. When you truly dig into the details of Pontiac's Rebellion, you realize that so many things didn't go the way of the Native American alliance. For example, Pontiac and his Allies lost several battles due to bad luck. Another example was that several significant tribes that stayed neutral were close to joining the war. Not only that but the British government was facing extreme anti war sentiment in London and many American colonists at the time were on the brink of open rebellion and civil war.

The point of this timeline is to explore these possibilities. This will be a alternate history scenario where as much as realistically possible goes wrong for the British government and the American colonies. And in this scenario although the white man won't be driven back into the sea, the Native Americans of the Eastern Woodland Tribes will see victory. My fellow alternate history fans without further adieu, I give you The Great American-Indian War: A Pontiac's Rebellion Timeline.

 

[GuildedAgeNostalgia]

Chapter One: British-Cherokee Relations

Map of Cherokee Settlements West of the American Colonies
​

Although the Cherokee people's relations with English settlers began in the late 1600s, formal relations would begin in 1730 when Cherokee leaders went to London to sign a treaty of friendship with the British government. From that point to the end of the French and Indian War, the Cherokee people would be loyal allies to the English.

And formidable allies the Cherokee were. Although their population had dwindled to less than 15,000 by 1750, they could still field over 2,500 warriors total. And even though their permanent settlements only spanned Northern Georgia and the Western Carolinas, they had temporary settlements and influence along with hunting grounds stretching as far north as Virginia and as far west as the Mississippi River.

Cherokee civilization acted as a important frontier friend to the British government. During the French and Indian War, many Cherokee warriors would act as scouts for the British armies and American militias, most notably during Forbes campaign in 1758 against Fort Duquesne on the Ohio River. Had the Cherokee been a enemy of the British, their four southernmost colonies would be at risk of Cherokee raids, which would have forced the British to divert much needed troops in the Middle Colonies southwards, potentially costing them the war against the French.

However by the end of the war against the French, relations between the Cherokee and British government began to sour. American settlers were building farms on Cherokee hunting grounds, French Agents were making diplomatic inroads with Cherokee chiefs, and Cherokee warriors that scouted for the British felt that they weren't receiving the promised amount of loot they were expecting.

These feelings would culminate into minor violence in 1758 when after a misunderstanding, Cherokee warriors who took horses as payment were killed by Virginia militia. In retaliation, Cherokee launched several raids on Carolina frontier villages in 1759. In response, the governor of South Carolina ordered a gunpowder embargo on the Cherokee, who desperately needed said gunpowder for their annual winter hunts. War looked imminent but at the last moment a delegation of 38 moderate chiefs went to Fort Prince George on the frontier to negotiate a settlement.

It was at this fort that disaster almost struck. Governor William Henry Lyttleton of South Carolina wanted to take the tribal chiefs hostage and threaten their execution to maintain peace. Had this happened it would have almost surely ended in retaliation and war with the Cherokee. Luckily a couple frontier traders working for Lyttleton persuaded the governor to take a less confrontational route. The governor would agree to partially limit the gunpowder embargo so that the Cherokee would "have enough to hunt, but not enough to engage in war." Under the condition that attacks against Carolina frontier villages ended.

The moderate Cherokee chiefs would agree to these terms. However, when they returned to their villages, the Cherokee people would be outraged and bitter by what they say as betrayal and neglect from their former ally. The pro French faction would gain more credibility, and although war between the two groups would be avoided for now, when 1763 came around, violence like no Carolinian has ever seen would be brought down upon them by the Cherokee.

 

[Ana Luciana II]

This looks absolutely fascinating.

 

[Miranda Brawner]

Great idea for a timeline!

 

[GuildedAgeNostalgia]

Chapter Two: The Fall of Fort Detroit

Ottawa Chief Pontiac holding a council advocating for war
​

The French and Indian War (known as the Seven Years War in Europe) would end with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in February of 1763. As a result, all French territory in Canada, the Ohio River Valley, and the territory east of the Mississippi River (along with all the Native American tribes that lived in this land) would be under British dominion. Under French rule, the Native Americans had good relations with the French government and settlers. The tribes that inhabited the pays d'en hault ("the upper country") had been allies to the French since the Beaver Wars of the 1600s, where the French protected the Algonquin tribes of the region from the Iroquois' aggressive campaign of acquiring more hunting grounds. Since that time the French treated their native allies well, giving them annual gifts/subsidies, keeping settlement to a minimum, and supplying the tribes with ample gunpowder and weapons.

All of that changed however when the British acquired the French colonies in the New World. Although there were some British politicians that advocated for the Native Americans (such as Indian agent Sir William Johnson) most politicians, soldiers, and civilians of the British empire were disdainful of the "savages" lying west of Appalachians. No one represented the personification of this disdain more than British general and commander in chief of North America Jeffery Amherst.

Amherst did not see the Native American tribes of the pays d'en hault as a real threat, and as such treated them with contempt. Gift giving was ignored since Amherst saw it as needless bribery. British soldiers occupied French forts near Native American villages and behaved in a disrespectful manner. Settlers and traders from the British colonies began showing up at the forts and the frontier now that the war had ended. A significant wave of small pox began to appear in the region. And to make matters worse Amherst limited the amount of gunpowder that was allowed to be traded with the natives, causing socioeconomic strife on a population that relied on hunting for food and the fur trade.

The tensions arising from these problems spread across the tribes of the region from the Seneca in New York to the Kickapoos in Illinois country. As early as 1761, war belts were shown at tribal councils as chiefs decided how to deal with these new Europeans that treated them as subjects instead of allies. The first to act would be a Ottawa Chief known as Pontiac. Now in his early 40s, Pontiac had been a ally of the French during the French and Indian War and was unwilling to endure British occupation. On April 27th, 1763 Pontiac held a large council where he advocated and eventually persuaded many of his fellow Ottawa tribesmen along with some Huron and Pottawatomie to go to war. There first target would be Fort Detroit, a significant frontier post in between Lake Erie and Lake Huron.

Fort Detroit was under the command of Major Henry Galdwin and 120 men. The Fort was a large, square wooden palisade with roofed wooden towers in the corners. On May 1st, Pontiac and 50 of his men gained access to the fort under the guise of holding a ceremonial dance for the garrison and negotiating with Major Galdwin over lack of gunpowder. While this was underway several of his men reconnoitered the defenses. On May 7th, Pontiac entered the fort again with 300 tribesmen, holding a peace belt and asking to discuss trade and relations at a formal council with the major. Unbeknownst to the British garrison, this was a ruse, and Pontiac's retinue had hid weapons in their clothes and under their blankets.

As the meeting was underway, Pontiac gave the signal and the massacre began. As Pontiac's men cut down the surprised British garrison, Huron and Pottawatomie warriors attacked the surrounding homes, shops, and traders. Within minutes the entire garrison and most of the British settlers had been slaughtered, the French traders in the area along with their families were left alone. Although only being the first battle in the war, the capture and subsequent destruction of Fort Detroit would be one of the most significant for two reasons. First, had the surprise attack failed, Pontiac would have been forced to besiege the forts, which would tie down hundreds of warriors for months. Secondly their were many tribesmen in the area that were on the fence about joining Pontiac in his fight, believing that he would fail. In the end the destruction of Fort Detroit swayed even more tribesmen of the pays d'en hault to join the fight, swelling Pontiac's personal army to over a thousand men, where after winning their first fight, they decided to head east to win more.

 

[Nuraghe]

Chapter Two: The Fall of Fort Detroit

View attachment 846957
Ottawa Chief Pontiac holding a council advocating for war
​

The French and Indian War (known as the Seven Years War in Europe) would end with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in February of 1763. As a result, all French territory in Canada, the Ohio River Valley, and the territory east of the Mississippi River (along with all the Native American tribes that lived in this land) would be under British dominion. Under French rule, the Native Americans had good relations with the French government and settlers. The tribes that inhabited the pays d'en hault ("the upper country") had been allies to the French since the Beaver Wars of the 1600s, where the French protected the Algonquin tribes of the region from the Iroquois' aggressive campaign of acquiring more hunting grounds. Since that time the French treated their native allies well, giving them annual gifts/subsidies, keeping settlement to a minimum, and supplying the tribes with ample gunpowder and weapons.

All of that changed however when the British acquired the French colonies in the New World. Although there were some British politicians that advocated for the Native Americans (such as Indian agent Sir William Johnson) most politicians, soldiers, and civilians of the British empire were disdainful of the "savages" lying west of Appalachians. No one represented the personification of this disdain more than British general and commander in chief of North America Jeffery Amherst.

Amherst did not see the Native American tribes of the pays d'en hault as a real threat, and as such treated them with contempt. Gift giving was ignored since Amherst saw it as needless bribery. British soldiers occupied French forts near Native American villages and behaved in a disrespectful manner. Settlers and traders from the British colonies began showing up at the forts and the frontier now that the war had ended. A significant wave of small pox began to appear in the region. And to make matters worse Amherst limited the amount of gunpowder that was allowed to be traded with the natives, causing socioeconomic strife on a population that relied on hunting for food and the fur trade.

The tensions arising from these problems spread across the tribes of the region from the Seneca in New York to the Kickapoos in Illinois country. As early as 1761, war belts were shown at tribal councils as chiefs decided how to deal with these new Europeans that treated them as subjects instead of allies. The first to act would be a Ottawa Chief known as Pontiac. Now in his early 40s, Pontiac had been a ally of the French during the French and Indian War and was unwilling to endure British occupation. On April 27th, 1763 Pontiac held a large council where he advocated and eventually persuaded many of his fellow Ottawa tribesmen along with some Huron and Pottawatomie to go to war. There first target would be Fort Detroit, a significant frontier post in between Lake Erie and Lake Huron.

Fort Detroit was under the command of Major Henry Galdwin and 120 men. The Fort was a large, square wooden palisade with roofed wooden towers in the corners. On May 1st, Pontiac and 50 of his men gained access to the fort under the guise of holding a ceremonial dance for the garrison and negotiating with Major Galdwin over lack of gunpowder. While this was underway several of his men reconnoitered the defenses. On May 7th, Pontiac entered the fort again with 300 tribesmen, holding a peace belt and asking to discuss trade and relations at a formal council with the major. Unbeknownst to the British garrison, this was a ruse, and Pontiac's retinue had hid weapons in their clothes and under their blankets.

As the meeting was underway, Pontiac gave the signal and the massacre began. As Pontiac's men cut down the surprised British garrison, Huron and Pottawatomie warriors attacked the surrounding homes, shops, and traders. Within minutes the entire garrison and most of the British settlers had been slaughtered, the French traders in the area along with their families were left alone. Although only being the first battle in the war, the capture and subsequent destruction of Fort Detroit would be one of the most significant for two reasons. First, had the surprise attack failed, Pontiac would have been forced to besiege the forts, which would tie down hundreds of warriors for months. Secondly their were many tribesmen in the area that were on the fence about joining Pontiac in his fight, believing that he would fail. In the end the destruction of Fort Detroit swayed even more tribesmen of the pays d'en hault to join the fight, swelling Pontiac's personal army to over a thousand men, where after winning their first fight, they decided to head east to win more.

beautiful Pod, this rebellion is very intriguing, I'm curious to see what the other native populations and the French colonists will do to the development of Pontiac's actions ( could it be the beginning of a possible independent native nation ?, which perhaps brings together many peoples in it, a species of Tecumseh well in advance, considering that the Cherokee themselves gave birth to people like Sequoyah ( who create their first alphabet ) and by all they were called among the five civilized tribes, you have my full interest, congratulations )

 

[GuildedAgeNostalgia]

Chapter Three: The War Spreads

A depiction of a Native American lacrosse game
​

When historians first began looking at the causes of the Great American-Indian War, many false assumptions were made. The main two false assumptions were about the role of Pontiac and the role of the French in what would become a continent spanning war. Many historians wrongly thought that Pontiac was the supreme leader all Native American forces during the war. Pontiac wasn't even the leader of all the Ottawa peoples, let alone all the Native Americans fighting. Native American alliances were based on consensus and equality. During the war most chiefs and their warriors operated independently or worked together instead of being under command of a single leader. As for French involvement many historians (and British officials at the time) wrongly assumed that the dozen plus tribes of Eastern North America were incapable of organizing a simultaneous and cohesive revolt against the British military without French Agents organizing the whole thing. But although French traders did supply the native tribes with supplies, there was no secret plan among the French government or the remaining French population in North America.

Which leads to the question, how did the actions of Pontiac at Fort Detroit lead to a war where fighting would take place over hundreds of miles away? The best way to understand what would become known as the Great American-Indian War would be to look at it as a snowball rolling down a hill. Although the original snowball has no control over the rest of the snow on the hill, the original snowball can use it's momentum to collect the other snow and move all of it on the same path. Pontiac had no control over Shawnee, Seneca, Miami, Cherokee, or any other tribe that joined the fight. But the actions he committed to led to a momentum of fighting spirit that swept the Eastern Woodland Tribes of North America and engulfed the continent into a series of cohesive, yet independent Native American revolts. And those revolts would sweep far.

After the destruction of Fort Detroit, the next fort to fall would be Fort Sandusky on May 16th, with the local Wyandots using the same deception as Pontiac to take the fort. On May 25th Fort St. Joseph would fall to the Pottawatomies. More forts would fall in the following order:

- Fort Miami on May 27th
- Fort Ouiatenton on June 1st
- Fort Michilimackinac on June 4th
- Fort Venango on June 16th
- Fort Le Bouf on June 18th
- Fort Presque Isle on June 19th

Within a month and a half, nine British forts had fallen and the British had lost complete control of the entirety of its empire west of Fort Pitt and Fort Niagra. In most of these cases, the Native Americans used tricks and treachery to gain access to the fort. At Fort Miami for example, the commander's Native American mistress shot him. At Fort Michilimackinac, the Native Americans pretended to play a game of lacrosse, "accidentally throwing their ball over the fort wall.". The British garrison opened the gates to give them their ball back and the Sauk tribe stormed the fortress.

It should be noted however, that outside of Fort Detroit, none of these fortresses had a garrison over two dozen soldiers. The British were completely unprepared for a large scale war with the Native Americans. Having just finished fighting the French, the British government was in massive debt and had made major financial cuts to the military force in North America. The British army had been shrunk down to less than 10,000 men on the entire continent, and due to logistical constraints less than 1,000 men were actually being garrisoned on the frontier. General Jeffery Amherst had been given multiple warnings of rising tension on the frontier over the past two years, however due to arrogance and racism the man thought little of the Native Americans' fighting ability. And due to the speed and success of the Natives, the British along with the American colonists were completely unprepared.

By the end of the summer Fort Pitt and Fort Niagra were under siege, and the frontier settlements of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia would be at the mercy of Native American raids. Towns as far east as Carlisle, Pennsylvania would be attacked, and all of Virginia's Greenbrier River settlements would be destroyed. Refugees numbering in the thousands would flee eastward to the cities as what little frontiersmen left would struggle to mount a defense. And that would be before the Cherokee and Muscogee tribes joined the war as well as before more fortresses began to fall......

 

[Nuraghe]

Chapter Three: The War Spreads

View attachment 847068
A depiction of a Native American lacrosse game
​

When historians first began looking at the causes of the Great American-Indian War, many false assumptions were made. The main two false assumptions were about the role of Pontiac and the role of the French in what would become a continent spanning war. Many historians wrongly thought that Pontiac was the supreme leader all Native American forces during the war. Pontiac wasn't even the leader of all the Ottawa peoples, let alone all the Native Americans fighting. Native American alliances were based on consensus and equality. During the war most chiefs and their warriors operated independently or worked together instead of being under command of a single leader. As for French involvement many historians (and British officials at the time) wrongly assumed that the dozen plus tribes of Eastern North America were incapable of organizing a simultaneous and cohesive revolt against the British military without French Agents organizing the whole thing. But although French traders did supply the native tribes with supplies, there was no secret plan among the French government or the remaining French population in North America.

Which leads to the question, how did the actions of Pontiac at Fort Detroit lead to a war where fighting would take place over hundreds of miles away? The best way to understand what would become known as the Great American-Indian War would be to look at it as a snowball rolling down a hill. Although the original snowball has no control over the rest of the snow on the hill, the original snowball can use it's momentum to collect the other snow and move all of it on the same path. Pontiac had no control over Shawnee, Seneca, Miami, Cherokee, or any other tribe that joined the fight. But the actions he committed to led to a momentum of fighting spirit that swept the Eastern Woodland Tribes of North America and engulfed the continent into a series of cohesive, yet independent Native American revolts. And those revolts would sweep far.

After the destruction of Fort Detroit, the next fort to fall would be Fort Sandusky on May 16th, with the local Wyandots using the same deception as Pontiac to take the fort. On May 25th Fort St. Joseph would fall to the Pottawatomies. More forts would fall in the following order:

- Fort Miami on May 27th
- Fort Ouiatenton on June 1st
- Fort Michilimackinac on June 4th
- Fort Venango on June 16th
- Fort Le Bouf on June 18th
- Fort Presque Isle on June 19th

Within a month and a half, nine British forts had fallen and the British had lost complete control of the entirety of its empire west of Fort Pitt and Fort Niagra. In most of these cases, the Native Americans used tricks and treachery to gain access to the fort. At Fort Miami for example, the commander's Native American mistress shot him. At Fort Michilimackinac, the Native Americans pretended to play a game of lacrosse, "accidentally throwing their ball over the fort wall.". The British garrison opened the gates to give them their ball back and the Sauk tribe stormed the fortress.

It should be noted however, that outside of Fort Detroit, none of these fortresses had a garrison over two dozen soldiers. The British were completely unprepared for a large scale war with the Native Americans. Having just finished fighting the French, the British government was in massive debt and had made major financial cuts to the military force in North America. The British army had been shrunk down to less than 10,000 men on the entire continent, and due to logistical constraints less than 1,000 men were actually being garrisoned on the frontier. General Jeffery Amherst had been given multiple warnings of rising tension on the frontier over the past two years, however due to arrogance and racism the man thought little of the Native Americans' fighting ability. And due to the speed and success of the Natives, the British along with the American colonists were completely unprepared.

By the end of the summer Fort Pitt and Fort Niagra were under siege, and the frontier settlements of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia would be at the mercy of Native American raids. Towns as far east as Carlisle, Pennsylvania would be attacked, and all of Virginia's Greenbrier River settlements would be destroyed. Refugees numbering in the thousands would flee eastward to the cities as what little frontiersmen left would struggle to mount a defense. And that would be before the Cherokee and Muscogee tribes joined the war as well as before more fortresses began to fall......

Ooh interesting, Pontiac's audacity is also being emulated by other populations, the British rightly do not conceive that these populations can rise up against the British government at the same time and not be coordinated with each other ( in fact the British think of the French hand, but I think for now they will be off to watch, for two reasons : the first is that the settlers don't want to end up like the Acadians, the second is that the mother country is too far away and broke to be able to intervene at this moment )

 

[GuildedAgeNostalgia]

Ooh interesting, Pontiac's audacity is also being emulated by other populations, the British rightly do not conceive that these populations can rise up against the British government at the same time and not be coordinated with each other ( in fact the British think of the French hand, but I think for now they will be off to watch, for two reasons : the first is that the settlers don't want to end up like the Acadians, the second is that the mother country is too far away and broke to be able to intervene at this moment )

Actually almost everything that was mentioned in the Chapter 3 happened in otl.

 

[GuildedAgeNostalgia]

The 2 pods we've seen so far is the postponement of the Anglo-Cherokee War and the Fall of Fort Detroit. The last pod I'm putting in will be next chapter. We haven't really seen any major butterflies as of yet and most of what has been written so far has been a summary of otl's Pontiac's Rebellion in its early stages.

 

[Talus I of Dixie]

Woah woah woah, sign me in! That was what i've been looking for since years ago.

 

[CastIron]

Most Native American TLs focus on the pre-Columbian era, it's very interesting to see one that post-debate European colonization.
Hoping to see some independent Native states!

 

[PrinceofApathy]

Following!

 

[GuildedAgeNostalgia]

Chapter Four: The Siege of Fort Pitt

Depiction of Fort Pitt in the year 1763
​

Lying at the confluence of the Monongohela and Allegheny Rivers and the beginning of the Ohio River, Fort Pitt laid on the land considered so vitally important in colonial North America that it became the main cause of the French and Indian War. The Ohio River was considered at the time the gateway to the west, a place of opportunity for those who wished to live or trade on the frontier. Nine years earlier the French had built a fort on this spot, known as Fort Duquesne. The French had abandoned the Fort in 1759, allowing the British to build a larger fort in its place. It was named Fort Pitt, after the former British Prime Minister. The fort had a star shape design, with a mixture of earth, log, and stone walls. It was arguably the strongest fort on the Western Frontier, even rivaling the mighty Fort Niagra on Lake Ontario.

Although large, the fort was undermanned and unprepared for what was about to hit them. Led by the 22 year old Swiss mercenary Captain Simeon Ecuyer, only 120 soldiers and 16 cannon. Unlike other forts in the area however, Fort Pitt was not taken by surprise. Reports had come in of local Delaware Indians abandoning their villages and selling their furs for gunpowder. Settlers began fleeing to the fort, allowing Ecuyer to create a militia and boost his garrison to 230 able body men. However his force would be small in comparison to the coalition of Delaware, Shawnee, Mingo, and Seneca warriors that would approach the fort, numbering around 600-700 strong.

The siege would begin on June 22nd when the Native American coalition attacked the Fort of three sides, however this ended in failure. As a result, the Native Americans surrounded the fort, hoping to either starve it our or negotiate with the British into evacuating. During the siege, both sides would meet multiple times to negotiate. Ecuyer only negotiated to buy his garrison time however in hopes of his force being relieved. During the siege a outbreak of smallpox had broke out among the settlers. Captain Ecuyer tried to use this to his advantage by giving a few blankets from the smallpox victims to the Native Americans as a "gift" during negotiations. This would be the first recorded case of biological warfare in North America, although the effects of it are relatively unknown due to the Native Americans already suffering from a smallpox outbreak of their own at the time.

Unbeknownst of the British garrison however, help was on the way. Commander in Chief Jeffery Amherst had finally become aware of the Native American revolt in late June and ordered Colonel Henry Bouquet along with a force of 500 Scottish Highlanders in Philadelphia to march west and put an end to the Native Uprising as well as relieve Fort Pitt. In early August, the Native coalition discovered the Bouquet's relief force and would temporarily lift the siege to engage the colonel and his highlanders. On August 5th, both forces equally matched in size would meet on a creek known as Bushy Run. The Native American force ambushed the British column, shooting them from the trees and encircling them. The battle had began in the afternoon however and even though fighting was fierce the British held into the evening, falling back onto a nearby hill and creating a makeshift redoubt out of the bags of flour they brought with them on the march.

The next morning, the Native Americans attacked the hill. It was at this point when the battle was decided. One survivor who witnessed the events unfold that while attempting to coordinate a counterattack, Colonel Bouquet was shot in the head and killed. The counterattack failed, and slowly one by one, the surrounded Highlanders were cut down. A group of 50 Highlanders attempted to cut through the Native American line and make a break eastward to Fort Ligonier. 5 made it to the fort a few days later. The rest were killed. On August 8th, the Native coalition reappeared at Fort Pitt, parading outside the walls showing the scalps of the Highlanders. Wounded from a arrow to the leg several days earlier, Captain Ecuyer defiantly refused to surrender. This decision would be shortlived however, for he would become a victim of smallpox and die three days later.

Facing a smallpox outbreak, low on supplies, and no help on the way, the British garrison at Fort Pitt surrendered. Up to this point, the Native Americans had killed all the British who had surrendered at this point. However, for reasons unknown (some assume that the Delaware Natives who helped im the siege had better relations with the British than other tribes while other historians assumed the Native Americans didn't want another hard fight) the British settlers and surviving soldiers were allowed to head east back to Pennsylvania. Although the Pennsylvania countryside was already under attack from raids, the fall of Fort Pitt would free up Native American forces and make the raiding of the Mid-Atlantic frontier even worse than before. This in time would exacerbate colonial politics, to the point where in two different colonies it would lead to a civil war....

 

[PolishMagnet]

Very cool timeline so far, and about Canadian-Indian-American history no less!

pays d'en hault ("the upper country")

Should be "pays d'en haut"

Many historians wrongly thought that Pontiac was the supreme leader all Native American forces during the war.

supreme leader of all Native American forces

the original snowball can use it's momentum

can use its momentum

Fort Le Bouf on June 18th

Fort LeBoeuf

lost complete control of the entirety of its empire west of Fort Pitt and Fort Niagra

Fort Niagara

over the fort wall.".

Double period (use the one inside the quotes)

warnings of rising tension on

rising tensions

 

[BELFAST]

Nice to see a TL where the Indians are not on the losing side to the European settlers.

 

[BELFAST]

Why did the Indians become so dependant on gunpowder for hunting, when they had their own hunting weapons before contact with Europeans.?

 

[GuildedAgeNostalgia]

Why did the Indians become so dependant on gunpowder for hunting, when they had their own hunting weapons before contact with Europeans.?

Because a long rifle gives you an accurate shot up to 200 yards, making it far better for hunting than a traditional Native American bow and arrow.

The fur trade with the Europeans was extremely profitable for Native Americans and having the best equipment is nessecary so that you can out hunt other tribes.

Not only that but the Dutch showing up in New York led to the Iroquois Confederacy trying to genocide it's neighbors in the 1600s to monopolize the fur trade, which in turn led to the neighboring Algonquins to turn to the French for protection (and as a fur trading partner) who then gave them guns to protect them from the Iroquois (who then turned to the Dutch and British for guns), creating a 100 Year long Native American arms race that is now known as the Beaver Wars.

Edit: This is a generalization.

Edit: #2 The Cherokee actually used bows against the British in the otl Anglo-Cherokee War due to the gunpowder embargo. They won one battle in the beginning but got pretty decimated afterwards.

 

[GuildedAgeNostalgia]

Most Native American TLs focus on the pre-Columbian era, it's very interesting to see one that post-debate European colonization.
Hoping to see some independent Native states!

The post war situation will definitely be better for Native Americans, but don't expect it to be too great. There is only so much Native American tribes can do with pods as late as 1763.

Pontiac's Rebellion in my opinion is the last chance for the Eastern Woodland Tribes to find a way to survive as legitimate political entities. People like Tecumseh post American Revolution came along too little, to late.

What makes Pontiac's Rebellion so interesting to me isn't just the war itself (although I've always been a fan of colonial frontier conflicts, they're more interesting than conventional wars) but the domestic politics of the American colonies in 1763 are often overlooked. Most historians look at taxation as the biggest issues and catalyst for the American Revolution and either overlook or barely go over British policy with Native Americans and the amount of domestic violence and calls for Revolution it led to on the colonial frontier.

 

[BELFAST]

Because a long rifle gives you an accurate shot up to 200 yards, making it far better for hunting than a traditional Native American bow and arrow.

The fur trade with the Europeans was extremely profitable for Native Americans and having the best equipment is nessecary so that you can out hunt other tribes.

Not only that but the Dutch showing up in New York led to the Iroquois Confederacy trying to genocide it's neighbors in the 1600s to monopolize the fur trade, which in turn led to the neighboring Algonquins to turn to the French for protection (and as a fur trading partner) who then gave them guns to protect them from the Iroquois (who then turned to the Dutch and British for guns), creating a 100 Year long Native American arms race that is now known as the Beaver Wars.

Edit: This is a generalization.

Edit: #2 The Cherokee actually used bows against the British in the otl Anglo-Cherokee War due to the gunpowder embargo. They won one battle in the beginning but got pretty decimated afterwards.

Depending on the settlers for gunpowder seems to be a major problem for the tribes.
Like Germany and Japan were dependent on oil imports that were cut off when war came. No easy way around that problem.