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

Reader mode
mr morbius

mr morbius

Very interesting timeline! I'll check here in some time to see how it would develop.

Speaking of Development : the Revolt succeeding might go 2 ways - either they eventualy get outpopulated by Americans anyway, or the Natives form a state / states formitable enough to resist European / American expansion.

Either that or British North America just collapses and the warlords are too weak to beat the natives back.
 
Xenophonte

Xenophonte

Very Interesting TL.
Looking forward to see how this would alter the Thirteenth Colonies history and the Canadian one. Also, would be possible that this so perceived 'French necessary complicity' with the Native Americans war against the British would lead to reprisals against the French-American traders/settlers in Canada...
 

GuildedAgeNostalgia

Xenophonte said:
Very Interesting TL.
Looking forward to see how this would alter the Thirteenth Colonies history and the Canadian one. Also, would be possible that this so perceived 'French necessary complicity' with the Native Americans war against the British would lead to reprisals against the French-American traders/settlers in Canada...
Click to expand...
It didn't in otl, due to:

A) The rebellion never reached Quebec or Eastern Ontario. Closest it got in otl was Fort Niagara.

B) Amherst (who was willing to go fire and brimstone on the perceived enemies of the empire) was replaced by Thomas Gage, who listened to Sir William Johnson and pursued a path of diplomacy and leniency in 1764 and 1765.

Whether that is what happens in this atl scenario, we'll see.
 
Chapter Five: Frontier In Flames
  • Index

    • GuildedAgeNostalgia

    Chapter Five: Frontier In Flames
    1691039413924.png

    Drawing of a Native American raid on a colonial frontier homestead
    ​
    After the fall of Fort Pitt, the hundreds of frontier communities in the Mid-Atlantic colonies laid wide open to vicious raids from the tribes of the old northwest and upper Canada. These communities under threat stretched from the foot of the Catskills in upper New York to the tributaries of the James River in western Virginia. Mostly spread out farms, tiny villages, and the occasional trading post, the Appalachian communities had little in the way of any real protection. Although community blockhouses and wooden stockade forts had been built before and during the French and Indian War, without the British army there to protect them and the colonial governments still in the process of organizing militias, the tens of thousands of settlers in the region would bear the brunt of the Native American onslaught. And even though the Native American raids would subside by November so the tribes could return home for their annual winter hunts, thousands of colonists would die and thousands more would flee in the meantime.

    Virginia

    The southernmost colony to face Native American raids in the autumn of 1763 would be Virginia. The two main areas in the colony that would face the brunt of Native American raids would be the Greenbrier River Valley in the Alleghany Highlands and the Shenandoah Valley just west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. During the French and Indian War, the Virginia frontier had been successfully defended by a Virginia militia force numbering around a thousand men. Under the leadership of a George Washington, this militia although poorly supplied managed to patrol its borders through the construction of dozens of blockhouses and stockades. The militia had been deactivated at the end of the war however and George Washington had gone to Williamsburg to pursue a career in politics. By the end of winter, every stockade and blockhouse on the frontier had been burned or abandoned. Shawnee Chief by the name of Cornstalk wiped out the Greenbrier River settlements while another Shawnee group after the capture of Fort Pitt moved South into the northern portion of the Shenandoah Valley.

    It would be here that Virginia would see it's biggest disaster of the war, known as the Winchester Massacre. The town of Winchester around this time numbered several hundred people. It was protected by a militia of about 75 men led by a Virginia ranger known as Daniel Morgan. On the night of October 15th, a raiding party of 100 Shawnee warriors attacked the town. With many asleep and Daniel Morgan leading a patrol with 15 men, the town's militia was unprepared for the attack. Men were cut down in the streets, with many women and children being killed as well, although some would be taken to be forcibly adopted into the Shawnee tribe. Winchester would burn and afterwards the remaining settlers in the Valley would flee east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. By the end of autumn in 1763, over four hundred Virginian settlers would be killed.

    Maryland

    Maryland's geography would shield it from much of the violence on the frontier due to its borders narrowing the further west they went. That being said it still faced some attacks from the Delaware and Shawnee tribes. The same Shawnee warband that attacked the town of Winchester Virginia would raid the lands north of the Upper Potomac River in September of 1763. Maryland militia decided to not put up a fight after news of the fall of Fort Pitt and abandoned Fort Cumberland, taking most of the settlers in the area with them eastward. By the beginning of winter no white settler lived west of Hagerstown. About fifty settlers in Maryland would be killed due to raids.

    Pennsylvania

    The colony most devastated by Native American raids would be Pennsylvania. The colony of Pennsylvania had a frontier that was almost 200 miles long. During the French and Indian War the colony suffered substantially from raids. Like the other colonies it attempted to mitigate disaster by building a series of frontier forts and blockhouses which would offer places of refuge for frontier settlers. However also like the other colonies, since the end of the war it was inadequately prepared for another conflict with Native Americans.

    After the demise of Fort Pitt, hundreds of Native Americans split up into war parties and decimated the frontier settlements of Central Pennsylvania, based around the many tributaries of the mighty Susquehanna River. The two main areas that faced the brunt of Native American raids was the Cumberland Valley and the Juniata River Valley. Groups of Shawnee, Delaware, Mingo, and Seneca Warriors attacked hundreds of farms and a couple dozen villages in this region. Notably however they avoided most of the remaining forts in central Pennsylvania. Unlike Virginia and Maryland, the frontier of Pennsylvania was much more heavily populated. This led to more targets for the natives, but at the same time it made the frontier forts and blockhouses better defended. Not only that but Pennsylvania frontiersmen were much more prepared and had several militias already prepared, leading to numerous skirmishes along the creeks, fields, and mountains of the colony.

    But Northern Pennsylvania also saw raids as well. Although the Iroquois Confederacy (outside of the Seneca) proclaimed to be allies of the British, small amounts of the Confederacy's newest member the Tuscarora were emboldened by the success of their Seneca brethren and launched attacks against the small and new settlements forming on the western branch of the Susquehanna River. By the end of autumn, Pennsylvania suffered five hundred settlers killed.

    New York

    New York had the luck of having the loyal Iroquois tribes in between their frontier settlements which were mostly located along the Hudson River. There were however some trading posts and forts along the Niagara River in between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The tribe native to this area was the Seneca, who chose to join the war against the British due to losing their portage rights around Niagara Falls, which had been a stable source of income for the tribe. The Seneca , numbering 300 warriors, ambushed a wagon train, and then two British companies on September 14th at a deep ravine known as Devil's Hole. Outside of that however the Seneca were unable to deal too much damage in Western New York, due to not having the strength to assault or besiege Fort Niagara and Fort Schlosser.

    That was until the arrival of Chief Pontiac and 1,000 Algonquin warriors who came from the pays d'en hault. Numbering 1,300 strong, the Native American force launched a night assault against Fort Schlosser on October 1st, taking it and slaughtering the garrison. And a week later they put Fort Niagara temporary siege. However with winter coming, Pontiac's army decided to go home for their winter hunts, agreeing to return back to New York in the coming spring. New York lost 200 settlers. In total, the British and Americans lost 1,200 soldiers and militia and about 1,200 settlers in 6 months of fighting. But the Great American-Indian War had only just begun.
     
    Last edited:
  • Index

    • GuildedAgeNostalgia

    Next few chapters will be taking a break from the war and focusing on British American politics and domestic unrest. Felt like I rushed chapter five but at the same time I was afraid I was spewing word vomit and I don't want my chapters to be too long.
     
    Last edited:
    BELFAST

    BELFAST

    I assume the Indians must have captured powder, shot and other supplies in the forts etc be able to continue the war.
     

    GuildedAgeNostalgia

    BELFAST said:
    I assume the Indians must have captured powder, shot and other supplies in the forts etc be able to continue the war.
    Click to expand...
    They certainly did. They also still have access to French traders on the Mississippi River as well.

    That being said relying on those two things only won't be enough for them in the long term.
     

    Nuraghe

    GuildedAgeNostalgia said:
    They certainly did. They also still have access to French traders on the Mississippi River as well.

    That being said relying on those two things only won't be enough for them in the long term.
    Click to expand...

    very well written chapter, interesting views of what happened to the main colonies affected by the raids and is there any possibility that the natives come into contact through foreign aid ( Bourbon powers ) with the Comanche war techniques on horseback, to create a faster and more devastating raids because they are too difficult to stem ?, as well as of course the supplies of armaments
     
    Last edited:
    Sarufiyyun

    Sarufiyyun

    I'm not saying this just because I tend to be biased in favor of Native American-centric timelines. I really do like what you have so far!
     

    generalurist

    Damn things are heating up! A good TL, easy to follow the events. While the Thirteen Colonies are now far too populous to be conquered, I am quite curious how far they'll be pushed back and what the largest settlements to fall will be. With Winchester, Virginia already fallen the rebels have a foothold on the eastern side of the Appalachians which is a big threat. This might see the colonies have to form their own large militias independent of London's command and I'm curious what impact that will have on their society going forward.

    Since the natives remember their good relations with the French, I wonder if after the war some french settlers will end up living under native american rule?

    Pontiac and friends sure are relying a lot on deception and ambushes, which I bet does a number on British morale. But sooner or later they'll have to deal with a straight fight... Later in the war they'll be hampered because they're a bunch of separate nations that share a beef with Britain but have no unified high command, which will inhibit coordination against the Redcoats.
     
    King of the Uzbeks

    King of the Uzbeks

    This is a fascinating timeline. I’ve toyed with having a far more successful Northwest Indian resistance, but that was in the context of the Early Republic collapsing. This has them doing so on their own terms, while also being much earlier. Pontiac IOTL was a just the first of a series of very impressive resistance leaders in the region. I’m very much looking forward to see where this goes.
     
    Reader mode
    You must log in or register to reply here.
    Top
    Top