History of Hillsdale county. Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers.

20

HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

But Gen. Forbes was too cautious to be surprised, and
his force was too strong to be withstood, and when he approached the fortress, previously so fiercely defended, the
French and their Indian allies reluctantly retreated to their
fastnesses still deeper in the forest.
The next year, 1759, came the great and practically the
final struggle between the French and English in North
America. Charles de Langlade, the partisan commander
before mentioned, was with Montcalm at Quebec, with a
body of Indians from the lake region, among whom were
doubtless a band of Pottawattamnie warriors, as that tribe
was represented at almost every point where there was any
fighting going on. The red men took an active part in
some of the preliminary struggles around Quebec, but
when the audacity and good fortune of Wolfe had placed
the English on the open field of the Plains of Abraham
there was no chance for Indian tactics, and even the French
and Canadian levies were driven back in utter rout before
the lead and steel of the British grenadiers.
A few weeks before the fall of Quebec a well-appointed
Anglo-American force, accompanied by a large body of Iroquois warriors, appeared before Fort Niagara, one of the
strongest of the French fortresses, and considered the key
of the whole Western country. Its commander called on
his brethren for relief, and they responded promptly to his
appeal. D'Aubry, the senior officer in the West, was at
Venango, now in the State of Pennsylvania. With desperate energy he called together every man he could muster fiom Le Boeuf, Presque Isle, Detroit, and other French
posts on and near Lake Erie. The Western Indians had
been in the habit of making these posts their headquarters,
but since the fall of Fort Duquesne they had been less enthusiastic in their devotion to French interests.
Nevertheless, by using all his efforts, D'Aubry succeeded
in gathering some six hundred of the Shawnees, MJiamis,
Pottawattamies, etc., who had so often danced the wardance and brandished the tomahawk in behalf of France.
With these were joined near a thousand French and Canadian soldiers, hastily gathered for a final struggle in defense
of French supremacy in the West.
It was in the latter part of July that this motley band,
in Indian canoes and French bateaux, coasted along the
southern shore of Lake Erie, passed on down the Niagara,
landed above the great cataract, and marched down to
relieve the fort. But Sir William Johnson, who had become the commander of the besieging force, was not at all
inclined to suffer the fate of Braddock. Well-apprised of
the approach of his foe, he left a sufficient number to guard
the trenches and marched forth to meet him. Soon the
two armies were engaged in deadly conflict.
Seldom has a battle been fought with more picturesque
surroundings, orunder more romantic circumstances. Beside
the field of combat, but a hundred feet below, the mighty
Niagara rolled through its darksome gorge, while scarcely
out of hearing, to the southward, thundered the avalanche
of waters which has made Niagara renowned throughout
the world. There was everything to nerve the combatants

on both sides to the most desperate struggle. The fhte of
Canada was still hanging in the balance, but few could doubt
that if this stronghold should fall into English hands they

would be able to control the upper lake country, whatever
might become of the valley of the St. Lawrence.
On either side were regular soldiers of the two greatest
nations of the world, colonial levies of rude appearance, but
skilled in all the mysteries of forest warfare, and naked
Indians ready to split open each other's heads for the benefit
of the European intruders. Here, while Englishmen were
crossing bayonets with Frenchmen, and Canadians and New
Yorkers were aiming their fatal weapons at each other's
breasts, Shavlnees and Mohawks were also to be seen engaged in deadly conflict, the Onondaga fought hand to hand
with the Ottawa, and the tomahawk of the brawny Pottawattam'ie fiomn the banks of the St. Joseph beat down tile
knife of the scowling Carygac from the shores of the pellucid lake which still perpetuates his memory.
The contest was brief and decisive. The French and
their red allies were utterly defeated, and chased for several
miles through the woods; their commander was wounded
and taken prisoner, and a large portion of the whole force
was either slain or captured. The fall of Fort Niagara
speedily followed. The Indians who escaped returned in
sorrow to their wigwams in the wilds of Ohio and Michigan,
and gloomily awaited the result.
The next year the final blows were struck. Three armies
were concentrated on Montreal, and the Marquis de Vaudreuil, the governor-general of Canada, surrendered that
province and all its dependencies to the English, including
all the posts on the upper lakes and in the surrounding
country. This was the formal act which made Michigan
British territory, though the cause of' the transfer is to be
sought where Wolfe snatched victory ifron the grasp of
death, on the Plains of' Abraham.
Maj. Robert Rogers, a celebrated New Hampshire partisan, was selected by the British general to lead a body of
his rangers to take possession of Detroit, the same autumnn. Arrived at that post, he found a band of Pottawattamies just below the fort on the western side of the
river, while the villages of the Wlyandots were to be seen
opposite, and those of the Ottawas farther up, on what is
now the American side. The fort was surrendered on
presentation of a letter from the governor-general announcing the capitulation. All the warriors hailed the descent
of the French flag with yells which might have been inspired by anger, but were quite likely to have indicated
only excitement over the change.
The next year (1761), the posts at Michillimacinac, Saut
Sainte Marie, Green Bay, and St. Joseph (where the St.
Joseph River enters Lake Michigan) were also surrendered
to the English. This practically consummated the transfer
of Michigan to British rule.
But the Indians of that territory were from the first extremely restive at the presence of the red-coats, and even
the lroqluois began to think, when too late, that it would
have been better to aid the French, and thus balance the
greater power of the English. In July, 1761, a council
was held near Detroit, at which the chiefs of the Ottawas,
Chippewas, Wyandots, and Pottawattamies met with dele

gates from the Six Nations, or at least a part of them, and
at which it was half agreed to endeavor to surprise Detroit,
Fort Pitt, and all the other posts. The plot was discovered,