History of Saginaw county, Michigan; together with ... portraits ... and biographies ... History of Michigan ...

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

47

surrendered the fort, and the whole garrison, consisting of the two
already named (!), marched out and received the customary marks
of respect for their brave defense. Hamilton was soon afterward
made to surrender this place to Gen. George Rogers Clark, the
ablest American defender in the West. The British soldiers were
allowed to return to Detroit; but their commander, who was known
to have been active in instigating Indian barbarities, was put in
irons and sent to Virginia as a prisoner of war.
The English at Detroit suspected that a certain settlement of
pious Moravian missionaries on the Muskingum river were aiding
the American cause, and they called a conference at Niagara and
urged the Iroquois to break up the Indian congregation which had
collected under these missionaries: but the Iroquois declined to
concern themselves so deeply in white men's quarrels, and sent
a message to the Chippewas and Ottawas, requesting them to " make
soup " of the Indian congregation on the Muskingum.
These Moravian missionaries came to Detroit in 1781, before De
Peyster, the commandant. A war council was held, and the councilhouse completely filled with Indians. Capt. Pike, an Indian chief,
addressed the assembly and told the commandant that the English
might fight the Americans if they chose; it was their cause, not his;
that they had raised a quarrel among themselves, and it was their
business to fight it out. They had set him on the Americans as the
hunter sets his dog upon the game. By the side of the British
commander stood another war chief, with a stick in his hand four
feet in length, strung with American scalps. This warrior followed Capt. Pike, saying: " Now, father, here is what has been done
with the hatchet you gave me. I have made the use of it you
ordered me to do, and found it sharp."
The events just related are specimens of what occurred at and in
connection with Detroit from the close of Pontiac's war until a
number of years after the establishment of American independence.
When the treaty of peace was signed at Versailles in 1783, the British
on the frontier reduced their aggressive policy somewhat, but They
continued to occupy the lake posts until 1796, on the claim that
the lake region was not designed to be included in the treaty by the
commissioners, probably on account of their ignorance of the geography of the region. Meanwhile the Indians extensively organized
for depredation upon the Americans, and continued to harass them
at every point.
During this period Alex. McKenzie, an agent of the British government, visited Detroit, painted like an Indian, and said that he
was just from the upper lakes, and that the tribes in that region
were all in arms against any further immigration of Americans,
and were ready to attack the infant settlements in Ohio. His statements had the desired effect; and, encouraged also by an agent from
the Spanish settlements on the Mississippi, the Indians organized a
great confederacy against the United States. To put this down,
Gen. Harmar was first sent out by the Government, with 1,400 men;