British Colonial Relations 

Pontiac’s War 1763 

The French and Indian War dragged on after the British loss at Fort William Henry. On the Plains of Abraham on September 13, 1759, British Major General James Wolfe won a decisive victory over the Marquis de Montcalm, commander of the French forces in North America. On September 8, 1760, Montreal surrendered, and in 1763, at the Treaty of Paris, New France was ceded to the British.

However, the loss at Montreal effectively ended French rule in North America. Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst was Commander-in-chief of the British Army in North America and commanded them at Montreal. For his victory, he was appointed Governor-General of British North America in September 1760. In 1761 he was appointed Knight of the Order of Bath.

 

Excerpt from David D Plain, The Plains of Aamjiwnaang, Trafford Publishing: Victoria, B.C. 2007 pp 31-37

No Longer Essential: 1760-1776

 

The colonial mentality of Europe allowed for the claiming of new territory by “right of discovery”, a principle never understood by First Nations. However, under this principle France had “claimed” a large part of the continent across the middle from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River and south to the Gulf of Mexico. They called this French “possession” New France. New France, of course, included Aamjiwnaang. The British had gained the Atlantic seaboard partly by this outlandish principle and partly from the Dutch. After the French and Indian War the British succeeded as the dominant European power in North America claiming New England and New France as their own.

Not only did we have to contend with this colonial mentality we no longer had two European governments to play against each other. We were no longer, at least for now, needed as military allies. We were subjected to the policies of the new

32 David D Plain

Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in America, Sir Jeffery Amherst. His colonial policy regarding First Nations was much different than that of the French.

We had allowed the French to build trading posts on our territory as a convenience to us in our trading activities and we did not understand why the British had to reinforce them with heavier armament after 1760. Who were they arming against? Amherst’s feelings toward the First Nations were well documented in his own writings. Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs George Croghan wrote to Amherst in April 1763, “By Letters from Major Gladwin & Capt Campbell at Detroit, which I have received, I understand the Indians in them parts, seem uneasy in their Minds, since they heard so much of North America is Ceded to Great Britain; and the Indian Nations this way seem somewhat Dissatisfied since they heard it, and Says, the French had no Right to give away their Country; as, they Say, they were never Conquered by any Nation; And I am of Opinion the Accounts of the Peace, & hearing so much of this Country being given up to Great Britain, has thrown them into Confusion & prevented their bringing in all our Prisoners this Spring, as they Promised.”²⁶

Amherst answered, “I am Sorry the Indians should Entertain such Idle Notions regarding the Cessions that have been made by the French Crown; But I Trust they will, on due Consideration, Deliver up all the Prisoners, agreeable to their first Promise, and not Drive us to the Necessity of Using Harsh Methods, when it is in their Power to Secure our Friendship by

 

²⁶ Crogan George in: B.M., Add. MSS. 21634 f. 235 C. and in Stevens et al., The Papers of Col. Henry Bouquet, Series 21634, 1940, 159 in OVGLEA: MC available from http://www.gbl.indiana.edu/archives/miamis14/miamitoc16.html last accessed March 25 2006.

The Plains of Aamjiwnaang 33 

Voluntarily Complying with our Request.”²⁷ He wrote to Colonel Bouquet, “The Post of Fort Pitt, or any of the Others Commanded by Officers, can certainly never be in Danger from such a Wretched Enemy as the Indians are, at this time, if the Garrisons Do their Duty; I am only Sorry, that when such Outrages are Committed, the Guilty should Escape; for I am fully convinced the only true Method those Savages, is to keep them in proper Subjection, & punish, without Exception, the Transgressors.”²⁸ And again, “I Wish there was not an Indian Settlement within a Thousand Miles of our Country; for they are only fit to Live with the Inhabitants of the Woods, being more nearly Allied to the Brute than the Human Creation.”²⁹ Amherst saw us not as sovereign nations but as subjects of Great Britain at best or not even human at worst.

The French had a policy of present giving, which they used to purchase First Nation alliances. We saw it as a sort of rent for the land occupied by their posts and as a toll allowing safe passage through our territories. Amherst looked upon present giving as a policy of bribery. “Service must be rewarded; it has

 

²⁷ Amherst, Sir Jeffery in: B.M., Add. MSS. 21634 f. 247, L.S. and in Stevens et el. The Papers of Col. Henry Bouquet, Series 21634, 1940, 165 in OVGLEA: MC available from http://www.gbl.indiana.edu/archives/miamis14/miamitoc16.html last accessed March 25 2006.

²⁸ Amherst, Sir Jeffery in: B. M., Add. MSS. 21634, f. 271, L. S., and in Series 21634, 182 in OVGLEA: MC available from http://www.gbl.indiana.edu/archives/miamis14/miamitoc16.html last accessed March 25 2006.

²⁹ Amherst, Sir Jeffery in: B. M., Add. MSS. 21634, f. 343, L. S. and in Series 21634, 232 in OVGLEA: MC available from http://www.gbl.indiana.edu/archives/miamis14/miamitoc16.html last accessed March 25 2006.

34 David D Plain 

ever been a maxim with me. But as to purchasing the good behaviour either of Indians or any others, [that] is what I do not understand.”³⁰

British traders were also harder to deal with than the French had been. The practice of giving credit for goods until after the fall hunt was no longer honoured. This put us in danger of starvation. Amherst responded to our complaints by cutting off the present giving including arms and ammunition, which he said we had in abundance. This claim was untrue and lack of ammunition meant starvation. Amherst’s “Indian” policy made the situation all the more fertile for hostilities leading to what we called the Beaver War. The British called it Pontiac’s Rebellion or Pontiac’s Conspiracy.

The Great War Chief Pontiac summed up the degraded state of our relations with the British in a speech calling the Otahwah, Huron and Potawatomi to war.

It is important for us, my brothers that we exterminate from our land this nation which only seeks to kill us. You see, as well as I do, that we cannot longer get our supplies as we had them from our brothers, the French. The English sell us the merchandise twice dearer than the French sold them to us, and their wares [are worth] nothing. Hardly have we bought a blanket, or something else to cover us, than we must think of having another of the kind. When we want to start for our winter quarters they will give us no credit, as our brothers, the French, did. When I go to the English chief to tell him that some of our comrades are dead, instead of weeping for the dead, as our brothers, the French, used to do, he makes fun of me

 

³⁰ Schmalz. Ojibwa, 64.

The Plains of Aamjiwnaang 35 

and of you. When I ask him for something for our sick, he refuses, and tells me that he has no need of us. You can well see by that that he seeks our ruin.³¹

Pontiac later sent war belts to many of the western nations as a call to arms. Most of these nations responded and all the western British forts fell but two. These were Fort Pitt and Detroit, which were put under siege. War Chiefs Wasson and Sekahos were called to help with the siege of Detroit. Wasson responded by arriving with two hundred and fifty Ahnishenahbek warriors from Saginaw. Sekahos came with one hundred and twenty warriors from the Thames and Kettle Creek. Later another fifty Mississauga Ahnishenahbek from the Grand River joined him. Interestingly the Ahnishenahbek from St. Clair were not sent a war belt and seemingly did not participate. Schmalz mentions that besides the influential Mississauga chief Wabbicommicot from Toronto “Only one other unnamed Ojibwa chief from Southern Ontario maintained a neutral stand.”³² Could this have been Little Thunder?

In June of 1763 Amherst responded to the upheaval by suggesting to Colonel Bouquet at Fort Pitt “that blankets should be infested with small pox and be given to the Indians as presents”. Apparently it was not Bouquet that carried throughwith the insidious plan but a Captain Simeon Ecuyer who gave the Delaware chiefs two blankets and a handkerchief from the small pox hospital. This was the first attempt at biological

 

³¹ “Journal or History of a Conspiracy by the Indians Against the English, and of the Siege of Fort Detroit, by Four Different Nations, Beginning on May 7 1763”, Michigan Pioneer Historical Society Collections, Vol. 8, 273-274available at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgibin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2000.03.0114 last accessed 25 March 2006.

³² Schmalz, Ojibwa, 72.

36 David D Plain

warfare and it seemed to have had a measure of success. Small pox spread through the First Nation communities in the Ohio valley shortly after the summer of 1763.

This was not the only attempt to gain a distinct advantage over their First Nation allies by unconventional means. Before the Beaver War British traders were prohibited from carrying, selling or giving strong liquor to us. After the Beaver War when peace agreements were in place the British enacted an unofficial policy of unrestricted liquor trade designed to bring the First Nations to their knees. Major Gladwin said “The free sale of rum will destroy them more effectually than fire and sword” and alcohol flowed freely to the First Nations.³³

The Beaver War lasted in earnest from May through October 1763 and then the confederacy began to fall apart. Hostile French troops from Illinois were expected to help but never arrived. The hostilities did, however, accomplish great things. The British Government recalled General Amherst and softened its “Indian Policy” by adopting a present giving policy similar to the one employed by the French. In order to transform First Nation loyalties from the French to the English they replaced the large French medals the chiefs had in their possession with British ones. More importantly the King issued “The Royal Proclamation of 1763”, which legally recognized First Nation land ownership. It is still in force in Canada today and is often used in land claim settlements.

Unfortunately the Proclamation was very hard to enforce. Settlers were anxious to cross the Allegheny Mountains into the Ohio Valley in search of land to homestead. Their intrusions only served to make the Shawanee and Delaware Nations of the Ohio belligerent. The British were now recruiting

 

³³ Ibid., 82.

The Plains of Aamjiwnaang 37 

Ahnishenahbek warriors to help them quell the unrest in Ohio country.

The first implication in the historical record of Little Thunder occurred in the Diary of the Siege of Detroit by Major Robert Rogers. In an entry dated October 8, 1764 he writes, “This morning Mr. Minechesne arrived from Coll. Bradstreet with some Indians, who brought Orders for Mr. Cheppaton to spare no Expense in the Getting some Indians of each Nation to take up the Hatchet against the Shawanys & Delawares & for Minechesne to bring the little Chief of the Chippewas in particular.”³⁴ Also on two other occasions Rogers mentions “the little Chief” bringing information to the post’s interpreter, Mr. Labute. Although “the little Chief” remains unnamed Little Thunder was a chief at this time and his physical stature was small. Judge Z.W. Bunce, the first judge to arrive in St. Clair County, described him in 1817 as being “one hundred and five years old, five and one half feet high”.³⁵ Many Ahnishenahbi averaged six feet in height.

Although the next decade was relatively quiet relations between the First Nations and the British were strained. The British colonials hated the Proclamation of 1763 because it attempted to prohibit expansion westward. They all but ignored it and settlers poured over the Allegheny Mountains into “Indian Territory”. This caused much turmoil and at first, when things got out of hand, the British colonial government tended to leave “Indian Custom” to settle matters instead of British law. Then they shifted their policy to using British Law but they

 

³⁴ Rogers, Major Robert. Diary of the Siege of Detroit, unfinished, 111 available from http://www.canadiana.org/ECO/ItemRecord/64039?id=c2c3384897058bda last viewed March 25 2006.

³⁵ History of St. Clair County, A.T. Andreas, 608.

 

Viewing Assignment 1 

 

Viewing Assignment 2 

 

Listening Assignment 1 

https://www.c-span.org/video/?315239-1/proclamation-1763

 

Viewing Assignment 3

In this video, Justice Sinclair also talks about events that we will discuss in the lessons following.

Sir William Johnson’s Wampum

Excerpt from David D Plain, From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga, Trafford Publishing 2013 pp 88-104.

 

The British Eye the Ohio Valley

By the mid-18th century the Ohio valley was a hotbed of
activity. The population was made up of many First Nation
villages and towns. They included many Delaware, Shawnee,
Miami and Wyandotte communities with a few roaming Ottawa
and Iroquois bands. The English called the Iroquois in the area
Mingo. British traders had set up trading houses at the larger First
Nations’ towns. But the English had more in mind than just trade
with the First Nations. They wanted their land for settlement.

They had signed the Treaty of Albany with the Iroquois
in 1722 that marked out a line dividing their territory with the
colony of Virginia. That line basically followed the Blue Ridge
Mountains. However, Virginian settlers soon began crossing the
Blue Ridge and squatting on First Nations’ territory. Many paid
with their lives and by the 1740’s the Iroquois were so frustrated
with their allies, the British, that they were ready to declare all-out

From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 89

war on Virginia. In 1743 the British paid the Iroquois 100 pounds
Sterling for any territory claimed by them in the Shenandoah
Valley. The following year under the treaty of Lancaster the
Iroquois sold the British all of the Shenandoah Valley for 200
pounds of gold. At the Treaty of Logstown in 1752 the Iroquois
recognized English trading rights in all of their territory southeast
of the Ohio River.

The French saw the Ohio River Valley as French territory by
way of discovery by La Salle and by way of French presence in the
territory for a hundred years previous. They saw all this British
activity as a violation of the treaty of Utrecht, which at best gave
the British only the right to trade with First Nations in their own
territory. The British crown complained to the French court in
Paris, but this was a long process.

Lieutenant-Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia believed the
Ohio Territory belonged to the Colonies under Virginia’s original
charter. The boundaries in the charter were more than vague
so he extended the northern border to at least include the Ohio
River and its tributaries. On top of all the activity around trade
the English wanted this territory for settlement. In order to
facilitate this settlement the Ohio Company was formed. It was
an association given a grant of 500,000 acres in the Ohio Valley
by the British crown providing they could establish 100 families,
build a fort and maintain a garrison there within seven years.

The French were not about to sit idly by and let the British
take over the territory. Officially the British Crown complained to
the French Court at Paris. Unofficially the French were about to
take action to reassert their ownership of the territory that gave
them unfettered access from Quebec to Louisiana. Duquesne,
governor of New France, ordered a French presence in the territory
backed by a series of French forts.

The French landed an expedition at P’resqu Isle, today’s Erie,
Pennsylvania, on the south shore of Lake Erie. It had a fine natural
harbor so they build a fort here then cleared a roadway of only
a few leagues to Riviere Aux Boeufs today called French Creek.
They built another fort here calling it Fort Le Boeuf.

90 David D Plain

The First Nations of the territory saw an opportunity to play
one European nation against the other. Although they had a
trading alliance with the British they had always been more fully
allied with the French. They all went out of their way to help
the French move the large amount of heavy supplies to garrison
two forts. The only ally the British had in the area that was fully
committed to them was the Mingo. Shortly after Fort Le Boeuf
was built a Mingo chief named the Half King arrived and ordered
the French to leave the territory. But the French were arrogant and
haughty laughing the Half King out of the fort. He was mortified
and full of rage against the French. They had made an enemy that
they were sure to hear from again.

In the fall of 1753 Legardeur de St. Pierre arrived to command
Fort Le Boeuf. He had just settled in expecting a long and
monotonous winter when a stranger arrived on horseback along
with the fall rains mixed with wet snow. He was tall, young and
brash a mere youth of twenty-one. He was accompanied by a
much older man, several others with the pack horses backed by the
Half King and several warriors. He carried a letter from Dinwiddie
introducing him and containing orders for the French to leave
British territory immediately. His name was George Washington.

St. Pierre afforded the young Virginian Major every courtesy
and after studying the document he had presented he replied by
letter to Dinwiddie that he would forward his correspondence
to Duquesne for consideration. In the meantime he could only
remain at his post and follow the orders of his general.

Washington struggled through extreme winter conditions to
return to Virginia. He finally arrived at Williamsburg by mid-
January and gave his report to Dinwiddie. It not only included St.
Pierre’s letter of response but the information given him by some
French soldiers at a French outpost at the mouth of French Creek
that the French had every intention of taking the country by force
and nothing would deter them.

From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 91

Great Meadows and Fort Necessity

The First Nations were just as concerned as the French
about a British presence in their territory. They could see that
the French were mainly interested in trade building only trading
posts and a few forts scattered throughout their territories. There
was only minimal clearing done around the posts for purposes
of sustainability. The hunting grounds were left intact so First
Nations were able to benefit from trade while maintaining their
culture.

On the other hand the British were interested in expansion by
homesteading thereby clearing First Nations’ hunting grounds so
there was no way left to support their communities. This made
British expansion a dangerous proposition for all First Nation
communities. So, in the spring of 1754 the council of the St. Clair
Saulteaux decided to send a party of ten warriors to the Ohio to
survey the situation. They would no doubt have been led by their
war chief Little Thunder.

Meanwhile the French were on the move as well. Duquesne
replaced St. Pierre as commandant of Fort Le Boeuf with his
lieutenant, Sieur de Contrecoeur. He arrived at Fort Le Boeuf with
500 soldiers, a mix of Canadians and regulars. This bolstered the
French presence in the area to 1,400 men.

At the same time Dinwiddie formed the Virginia Regiment
of 300 men under the aristocrat Joshua Fry with Washington
second in command. Fry kept half the regiment, all raw recruits,
in Virginia shaping them up to march.

Meanwhile, Washington took the other half and made his
way to the Ohio Company’s storehouse at Wills creek where he set
up a base camp. From there they sent a small expedition of forty
backwoodsmen led by a Captain Trent over the Alleghenies to
build a fort at a spot Washington had observed the previous fall.
It was at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers

92 David D Plain

where they form the Ohio. It was indeed a strategic site as a fort
there would command the Ohio country.

When they arrived they immediately started work on a small
fort which the British had planned to garrison with the newly
formed Virginia Regiment. But Contrecoeur moved against them
with a force of 500 soldiers ousting the small band of Virginians
and destroying their half completed fort. He then proceeded to
build a much larger, stronger one which he named Fort Duquesne
after his Governor. This fort would later become Fort Pitt and is
today’s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Ensign Jumonville de Villiers was sent out of the newly
constructed fort as a courier carrying a letter to give to any
Englishmen he might encounter ordering them to vacate French
territory. He had a contingent of twenty soldiers with him and
orders to evict the English by force if they did not comply with the
orders of the letter.

At the same time Washington was on the Youghiogany, a
branch of the Monongahela, with forty men. The Half King
joined him with twelve Mingo warriors. The Mingo led him
to Jumonville’s camp where they took the French by surprise.
There was gunfire and the French were bested. The Virginian
contingent killed ten Frenchmen including the young ensign.
They took the rest as prisoners. The Half King boasted that it was
he that dispatched Jumonville by splitting his head open with his
tomahawk.

The incident sparked an international crisis. The French were
outraged. They claimed that Washington opened fire on French
soldiers who were only on a courier mission. They said that
Jumonville was under a white flag shouting he only had a letter to
deliver when they were cut down. Of course the British denied this.

Coulon de Villiers, the brother of Jumonville, rushed from
Montreal to Fort Duquesne to find 500 Frenchmen and eleven
First Nation warriors there awaiting their marching orders. The
eleven warriors were different from the 400 he had brought
with him from Canada. He described them as people from the
falls of the lake or Lake Indians. They were the Saulteaux from

From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 93

Aamjiwnaang or the St. Clair region. Coulon was given the
opportunity of avenging his brother’s death by leading the 500
French regulars, the Saulteaux from Aamjiwnaang along with a
few of the Ohio warriors as well as Mohawk, Wyandotte, Abenaki
and Algonquin from Quebec, Nipissing from Superior country
and Ottawa from Detroit on a mission to oust the British from
Ohio country.

Washington had fallen back to a huge open prairie called
Great Meadows where he hastily constructed a rather flimsy
entrenchment he named Fort Necessity. He was expecting a
French attack and chose this spot to make his stand because its
openness made it not so susceptible to the forest style warfare First
Nations were so famous for. He also called for reinforcements from
Fry who he thought was still in Virginia but he had died leaving
Washington first in command. Three companies did finally arrive
on July 1st. A company of British Regulars also arrived from South
Carolina bolstering the garrison to 400 plus the Half King’s forty
warriors.

Coulon de Villiers arrived on the 4th of July in a driving rain
and took up position on a ridge in front of Fort Necessity and
began firing down on Washington’s entrenchment. This made
Fort Necessity’s position less than desirable because their three
canons could not be fired uphill.

Coulon’s warrior allies kept to the edge of the Forest as open
warfare was not their first choice of battle. They took pot shots on
the fort all day long. After nine hours of pouring rain the French
soldiers were soaked to the bone. The Virginians were hunkered
down in a sea of mud.

Coulon called for a parlay to discuss terms of surrender.
Washington had no choice but to agree because what little powder
he had left was wet and his guns were useless. The French wrote
out the terms of surrender but Washington could read no French.

Washington relied on a Captain in his militia named
Vanbraam who was a Dutchman to act as his interpreter. One
clause of the surrender document read “l’assassinat du Sieur de
Jumonville”, which Vanbraam translated as the death of Sieur de

94 David D Plain

Jumonville. Washington signed the document and was allowed to
return with his men unarmed to Virginia. He later disputed that
he was an assassin blaming Vanbraam for the mistranslation.

The whole mission was an assorted affair. The Half King left
Great Meadows in disgust saying that the French had acted as
cowards and the English as fools. The other First Nation warriors
fell back to Fort Duquesne where more of their own joined them
in ever-increasing numbers. The young upstart Washington
had killed a French ensign on a courier mission along with ten
other soldiers and signed a document he could not read thereby
unwittingly starting the French and Indian War!

The French and Indian War

Braddock Arrives

Washington led his demoralized militia back to Virginia
and the French returned to Fort Duquesne. They burned Gist’s
settlement and the storehouse at Redstone Creek along the way.
This left no British flag flying west of the Alleghenies. The First
Nations returned to their respective territories to prepare for their
fall hunt.

The following spring the British came to the aid of the
embattled Virginian Militia. They sent two companies of 500
crack regulars each along with General Edward Braddock as
their commander. Braddock was a seasoned general fresh from
the battlefields of Europe. He had the reputation of being a stern
disciplinarian and master tactician. An enlistment of four hundred
more men bolstered his army to 1,400 soldiers.

France wasn’t about to sit on their laurels. When the heard
of the British movement they began making plans to counter the
move. Eighteen war ships were being fitted to sail to America.
They would carry six battalions of French regulars, 3,000 men in
all, along with Baron Ludwig Dieskau and Marquis de Vaudreuil.
Dieskau was a German born General in the French army with
a reputation equal to Braddock. Vaudreuil was the son of the
former governor of New France by the same name and was to

96 David D Plain

replace the ailing Duquesne. The clouds of war loomed menacing
on the horizon.

In the meantime Duquesne received a direct order from the
King to bestow upon Sieur Charles Langlade a commission of
ensign unattached to serve the troops maintained in Canada.
This was the same Langlade that had such spectacular success at
Pickawillany. Duquesne then asked Langlade to raise a war party
of First Nations to aid in the defence of Fort Duquesne.

Ensign Langlade left Michilimackinac in the spring of 1755
with a party of Saulteaux Ojibwa warriors. He picked up more
Ojibwa fighters at Saginaw and headed toward Detroit. Even more
Saulteaux Ojibwa joined him from the St. Clair region. Leading
war chiefs at the time were Wasson or Catfish from Saginaw,
Animikeence or Little Thunder from Aamjiwnaang (Lower Lake
Huron) and Sekahos or Hunter from the Thames.

The newly commissioned ensign finally arrived at his old
friend Pontiac’s village which was on the Detroit River opposite
Fort Ponchartrain. A war council was called with the Wyandotte’s
leading chief Sastaresty, Pontiac and the other Ojibwa war chiefs
in attendance. The conclusion was unanimous; they must come to
their French ‘father’s’ aid.

Langlade left Detroit with a war party of 637 Ojibwa,
Ottawa and Wyandotte warriors including war chiefs. However
the vast majority were Ojibwa. The impressive war party made
their way to the southern shore of Lake Erie by way of the Bass
Islands. They turned east and skirted the shore until they arrived
at Presque Isle where the short portage led to the head of French
Creek and Fort Le Boeuf.

French Creek was a small waterway that emptied into the
Allegheny River at the Indian Town of Venago. There was an old
Indian trail that skirted along the east side of the creek but at this
time of the year it was quite navigable in their light bark canoes.
Once they reached Venago they headed down the Allegheny to the
confluence of the Monongahela and Fort Duquesne. Langlade had
been travelling for about a month but was still fresh and ready for

From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 97

battle. They set up their camps on the west side of the Allegheny
directly across from the Fort and awaited instructions.

The Arrogance of Braddock

A council was held in the fort with the French commander
Sieur de Contrecoeur. He had three captains under him, Beaujeu,
Dumas and Ligneris. The commandant came up with a plan.
Beaujeu would have command of the force that was to repel the
British with Dumas second in command. They would meet them
on the road ambushing them at the ford where the road crossed
the Monongahela. Langlade and the war chiefs objected. The
spot was not to their liking. The terrain was too wide and open to
conduct the type of warfare they were best at. They were ignored,
the plan was set and the council concluded. Returning to their
camps across the Alleghany the Ojibwa and their native allies
prepared for war in their usual way.

War dances were danced and war songs were sung. These
were interspersed with long harangues by war chiefs and seasoned
warriors containing previous great deeds done in battle. These
speeches always ended with a tremendous strike at the war post
with a war club or tomahawk and loud shouts of war whoops.
This spectacle never ceased to send a chill through their European
allies. On this occasion it was the French who watched from Fort
Duquesne’s ramparts along with a young English colonial who had
been captured three days before.

The young Pennsylvanian James Smith had been captured
by three warriors, two Delaware and one Mohawk from
Caughnawaga. His companion was killed and scalped but he was
brought back to the fort a prisoner. He was only 18 years of age.

98 David D Plain

When they neared the fort they gave the victory cry, a long halloo
for each scalp or prisoner taken. Hundreds of warriors responded
by pouring out of their wigwams shouting and screeching
and firing their guns in the air. The French responded to the
celebration likewise by firing off their guns including cannon from
inside the fort. Smith was awed by the din and thought they must
number in the thousands. What was about to come surprised him
even more.

A great number of warriors began to form two columns.
They were all whooping and yelling and carrying sticks. All were
prepared for war with faces and bodies painted in various pigments
of red, black, yellow and blue wearing nothing but breechcloths. It
was a fearsome sight for the young man to behold.

One of the Delaware warriors who captured him spoke a little
English and told him he must run between the two columns from
one end to the other. He said to run fast, the faster the better as
they were going to beat him. A shove from his advisor started
him racing receiving blows all the way. As he neared the end one
blow knocked him down. He tried to get up but someone threw
sand in his eyes so he could not see where he was going. Beaten
down again he took the warriors blows until he was rendered
unconscious. Young James regained consciousness inside the fort
being attended to by the post physician.

Smith was interrogated by the war chiefs after receiving
medical attention. Then the Delaware warrior who spoke English
came to see him. He asked his captor why the warriors treated
him so badly thinking he had offended them in some way. But he
was told that he did not offend but it was just an old custom they
had . . . like saying, how do you do? Smith then asked if he would
be permitted to stay with the French and was told he would not
but after he recovered he must live with his captors and become
one of them. When he could get out of bed he made his way
around with the aid of a crutch.

Meanwhile, General Braddock and his army had left
Williamsburg following the road cut by the Virginians the year
before. They were an impressive sight to behold. A long column

From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 99

of British regulars, 1,750 in all, dressed in bright red tunics, white
helmets and sashes with steel bayonets flashing in the sun. They
were followed by 450 Virginia Militia dressed in blue. The column
included cannon and howitzers, 600 pack horses and 175 wagons
carrying supplies and tools all to supply the newly conquered fort
and more.

The colonies were hemmed in by mountain ranges which
made expansion impossible. But the British had ambitions
to do just that and they had a plan. Braddock was to take Fort
Duquesne and quickly move on to Fort Niagara. Sir William
Johnson was to take Crown Point. William Shirley Sr., Governor
of Massachusetts, was made a Major General and was to take
Fort Beausejour all on the pretense that the French had invaded
British territory. It seemed impossible that the plan should fail.
The colonies had yet to see an army the size of Braddock’s and
the English had population figures on their side. The total white
population of New France, from Quebec to Louisiana, was just
under 80,000. The British on the other hand had a population of
1.6 million including 200,000 slaves.

So Braddock headed for Fort Duquesne with his superior army
and his arrogance intact. He had little respect for the colonial
militia and even less for First Nation warriors. Benjamin Franklin,
who was the postmaster of Pennsylvania at the time, came to
see him at Williamsburg. He spent five days with Braddock and
warned him of the forest warfare practiced by the First Nations
suggesting that he should consider new battle tactics. Braddock
replied “These savages may, indeed, be a formidable enemy to your
raw American militia, but upon the King’s regular and disciplined
troops, sir, it is impossible that they should make an impression.”
Braddock was about to get the shock of his life!

100 David D Plain

The Rout of Braddock!

Braddock’s army began the long and arduous journey
from Fort Cumberland to Fort Duquesne. Three hundred axe
men toiled in front of the column widening the narrow trail
Washington’s men had cut the year before. It was hard slogging
through the deep forests and over the main Alleghany mountain
range. Two more mountains had to be crossed making the progress
of the expedition not more than three miles a day. The vast
amount of supplies being carried by 175 wagons plus pack horses,
not to mention dragging heavy cannon and light artillery, made
the column cumbersome and ponderous. At times it stretched out
a distance of four miles.

Dysentery set in. There were also many desertions along the
way so that two months after leaving Fort Cumberland the British
expeditionary force had been reduced to 1,260 regulars and 200
militiamen.

The whole force was under Braddock’s command. The young
colonial officer, George Washington temporarily resigned his
commission of Lieutenant Colonel and was assigned to Braddock’s
staff as aide-de-camp. The 44th and 48th regiments were under
Colonel Halket and the militia under Colonel Burton. Colonel
Dunbar remained at the rear with the sick, weakened horses and
much of the baggage to make their way as best as they could.
Braddock didn’t know it but his ponderous train was being
shadowed. Langlade had his scouts observe their progress from the
denseness of the Pennsylvanian forest and report their intelligence
back to Fort Duquesne.

Meanwhile, young James Smith was visited by the Delaware
warrior who spoke a little English. He reassured him that although
he must live with his captors he would be treated well by them.
Smith then asked if there was any news of Braddock. He was
hoping for a British victory and rescue. The warrior told him that

From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 101

Braddock was advancing very close and that Langlade’s warriors
would surround him, take to the trees and, he said in his broken
English, “shoot um down all one pigeon”.

A few days later he heard quite a commotion coming from
inside the Fort. He hobbled out onto the wall of the fort with the
aid of his walking staff. There he observed the warriors all buzzing
around the ammunition magazine helping themselves to powder,
shot and flint. He then saw the war chiefs lead their warriors off
in a file along with a few French regulars and some Canadians.
He estimated them to be about 400 men and wondered why they
would go out to meet Braddock with such a small force. In reality
there were 637 warriors, 72 regulars and 146 Canadians.

Braddock’s force was eight miles from Fort Duquesne and
about to cross the Monongahela the second time. This was the
place the French had planned their ambush but they were late
getting there. Four miles from the fort the war chiefs led their
warriors into the woods leaving the French on the road. They
moved through the dense underbrush with deft stealth stretching
themselves out behind trees, bushes and in gullies for 2,000 yards
along both sides of the road. They had chosen a place for ambush
more to their liking. On the north side of the road there was a
large hill overlooking the trail. It soon became populated with
as many First Nation warriors as there were trees or so it seemed.
They settled in and waited for their prey to enter the trap.

The expedition reached the ford of the river about one o’clock
in the afternoon. Lieutenant Colonel Gage had gone ahead of the
main party with an advance patrol, found no sign of the enemy
so he secured the far side. The main body followed each section
splashing their way across the shallows.

The crossing was a spectacle to behold. Pipers, drummers and
banners led announcing the advance with military music. They
were followed by mounted officers, then light cavalry, the naval
attachment with cannon and howitzers, the British regulars or red
coats followed by the Colonial Militia dress in blue. Down the
narrow road they marched followed by the supply wagons, more
heavy armament, a train of pack horses and the droves of cattle.

102 David D Plain

When they were all across the river they halted to rest. Braddock
wondered why the French had not protected the ford, a perfect
place for ambush to his way of thinking.

After resting and refreshments the column began to move
again along the restricted trail confined by dense woods, small
hills and bush covered gullies. They moved further into the trap
not realizing they were passing hundreds of muskets all trained
on the procession. When they passed alongside the large hill on
the north side they had become completely surrounded. Suddenly
they observed a man ahead waving his arms. He was dress in
native garb but had a French officer’s gorget on his neck. It was
Langlade. The gorget was a sign of his rank of Ensign and his arm
waving was the signal to open fire!

The warriors gave the war-whoop and opened with the first
volley. Gage turned the advance guard back toward the main
body. The first regiment of red coats charged forward cheering
and shouting, “God save the king!” More volleys followed in rapid
succession. The warriors along the side of the large hill were firing
down on their red and white targets from behind a multitude of trees.

Beaujeu arrived on the road leading his 72 marines followed
by 146 Canadians. The Canadians were mere boys about the age
of 15. They were cadets in the king’s military and most had never
tasted battle. The British regulars in the advance opened fire on
the French. Many fell from the British volley and most of the
Canadians panicked and fled. The rest took to the trees for cover.

For two hours the bullets rained down on Braddock. He
charged back and forth on his horse, waving his sword and
shouting words of encouragement. Washington did the same, but
the defeat was turning into a disaster.

The advance party fell back into the lead regiment and the
rear guard pressed forward crashing into it. Bodies were beginning
to stack up. There was no order only chaos. The red coats formed
circles and returned fire blindly into the forest. Their enemy was
invisible showing only flashes of gunfire and puffs of smoke. Even
the grape of the cannon fire only damaged the trees.

From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 103

The militia was savvier. They had experience at this forest
warfare. They broke and disappeared into the woods to take on
the warriors in guerrilla style fighting. But the regulars mistook
the militia’s powder flashes as the enemy and opened fire on the
colonials killing many. The remainder was forced to return to the
main body.

Hysteria became the order of the day. Braddock was shot.
Most of his officers were killed or lay wounded on the road. His
men carried him to a wagon where he lay giving the order to
retreat. The retreat was as disorderly as the battle. Panic stricken
regulars abandoned everything, many even throwing their rifles
aside racing pell-mell down the road. This sight frightened the
wagon and pack-horse drivers so that many abandoned their
charges and joined the soldiers in full flight. One young teamster
quickly unhitched his horses, mounted one and fled as fast as his
stead could carry him to the safety of his father’s farm. This young
man would later gain fame as the marksman and “Indian fighter”
from Kentucky Daniel Boone.

The British, what was left of them, regrouped on the other
side of the Monongahela. Braddock was too seriously wounded
to lead. Most of his officers were dead or captured. Dunbar fled
to Philadelphia leaving Washington in charge of the retreat. This
would be the second time in as many years he led a defeated force
on the long journey home. Braddock was heard to say from his
wagon, “who would have thought it?” He drifted in and out of
consciousness. During one lucid moment he muttered, “Next time
we shall know better how to deal with them another time”. But for
General Edward Braddock there would not be “another time”. He
died during the retreat and was buried in the middle of the road
in an unmarked grave near present day Chalk Hill, Pennsylvania.
The doleful procession trampled over his final resting place
obliterating any sign of it in order to prevent him being dug up
and having atrocities performed on the body.

Never was there such a lop-sided victory. The French regulars
took the heaviest toll on their side. Their marines had seven

104 David D Plain

officers and all but four of their regulars killed or wounded. Of
637 warriors only 23 were killed or wounded.

On the other hand the British losses were staggering. Of the
1,460 officers and men only 483 were left fit for duty and many
of them were wounded but not seriously. Braddock had 89 officers
and 63 of them were either killed or seriously wounded. The
Colonial Militia had only 30 men left alive.

They lost all they had to Langlade and his war chiefs. Wagons
and supplies, horses and cattle, muskets and heavy armament,
ammunition and even the coin money that was to be used to pay
the king’s regulars. All this booty now served as the warrior’s pay.

The victorious warriors did not pursue the retreating British.
There was too much loot to collect. News of the disaster reached
the colonies and panicked the general populace. Dunbar’s
escape to Philadelphia left the colonies’ only protection, Fort
Cumberland, empty. The army was devastated. There was no
protection and Braddock’s widened road could only serve to lead
a French army, or even worse, their First Nation allies into the
colonies unchallenged.

The American Revolution 1776-83 

Excerpt from David D Plain, The Plains of Aamjiwnaang, Trafford Publishing: Victoria, B.C. 2007 pp 50-52

50 David D Plain 

On the frontier, west of Detroit in Illinois country, George Rogers Clark set out from Kaskaskia to retake Fort Sackville at Vincennes. He had taken it the previous year only to lose it to Colonel Hamilton who had marched immediately to Vincennes from Detroit. Clark embarked on a most arduous military march leaving the 5th February 1779 with some 170 rebels and Frenchmen. His militiamen marched over 150 miles through flooded plains waist deep in freezing water taking Vincennes on the 23rd February. The march was described as “one of the most daring and fatiguing marches in America’s military history”. He is said to have “scared off Hamilton’s Indians by using the old dodge of marching and countermarching his men…in a patch of prairie visible to the fort, to suggest that he had a larger force”.⁴⁷ But the Ahnishenahbek had proven time and again that they knew how to equalize a superior force with forest warfare. Besides, a show of force was never known to “scare us off”.

The actual reason the alliance pulled back and left Fort Sackville to be taken can be found in a letter from Captain Alexander McKee to Captain R.B. Lernoult. In the correspondence he is quite concerned over news he had

 

⁴⁷ Dillon, North American Indian Wars, 54.

 

The Plains of Aamjiwnaang 51 

received from the Three Fires Confederacy:

I send you the enclosed string of Wampum, it was delivered here by the Otawas in the name of An’qu’shey’ray & it is to inform them that the Ottawas Chippewas and those of their confederacy had entered into a new league of friendship with their ancient Father the French and their Brethren the Virginians therefore that they were determined to interfere no longer, in the quarrel between the white people, it was true they say some of their warriors had been foolish enough to take hold of the hatchet, handed about to the Indians at Detroit, but that their eyes were more opened, and from recovering their senses find they have been deceived both by their fathers the English and the six nations, who have acted with them in the same manner, by putting a hatchet into their hands which if they used any longer must be directed against their old Fathers the French, who they saw were coming Hand in hand with the Virginians. That they were now determined to set still and advised the Shawanese to be wise to do the same as their Brethran. The Wabash Indians have all come into this resolution.⁴⁸

The French, not unlike the First Nations, were fighting on both sides of the Revolution. This was bad news indeed and even though it left the Delaware, Miami and Shawanee as active allies it was still very detrimental to Britain’s efforts in quelling the rebellion. Old loyalties die hard. The decision by the Three Fires Confederacy effectively took them out of the war, which

 

⁴⁸ Haldimand Papers: Capt. Alexander McKee to Captain R.B. Lernoult in

MPHSC, Vol. 19, 423.

 

52 David D Plain

was quickly followed by the complete route of the Iroquois that summer. It would be another three years before the Ahnishenahbek of Aamjiwnaang would participate in the “white man’s quarrel.”

 

Upper Canada Land Surrenders  

Excerpt from David D Plain, The Plains of Aamjiwnaang, Trafford Publishing: Victoria, B.C. 2007 pp 101-107

10 

Now the British Want Our Lands: 1818-1827

 

After the war we settled back into our traditional lifestyle only using the two reservations in the spring and summer as fishing camps. Despite the ceding of our lands in Michigan Territory we still roamed throughout our territory wintering in our hunting camps and visiting our sugar bushes. But this wasn’t to last for long. With more and more settlers arriving our hunting grounds in Michigan were being ruined and the continual ill feelings between us made it impossible to continue with our traditional way of life. Many crossed over to live on the east side of the St. Clair including Little Thunder. However, Red Sky stayed on the west side of the river.

A council was held at Amherstburg October 16, 1818⁸⁹ to inform the chiefs of “Chenaille Ecarte, River St. Clair, Sable &

 

⁸⁹ Robertson to Bowels, Indian Council MPHSC, Vol. 16, 643-644.

 

102 David D Plain 

Thames & Bear Creek, vizt.” that the Province of Upper Canada wanted “…to purchase all the Lands belonging to them the Chippewas lying north of the River Thames, including the River au Sable…” to which our chiefs replied that they were willing to sell their lands but asked “to make the following reserves: Four miles square at some distance below the rapids of the River St. Clair, one mile in front by four deep bordering on said river & adjoining to the Shawanese Reserve, Two miles at Kettle Point Lake Huron, two miles square at the River au Sable and two miles square at Bear’s Creek also a Reserve for Tomago and his band up the Thames which he will point out when he arrives.”

We also asked that the government augment these reserves if “our Great Father’s representatives see that they are insufficient for the whole of our Nation now living on this side of the water, to plant corn and hunt, so that we may not be poor and miserable like our Brethren on the American side, who have sold all their Lands & have not made sufficient Reserves for their men, women and children to plant corn.” Also to be furnished near each reserve was a blacksmith and husbandman to look after our needs. Both Little Thunder and Red Sky⁹⁰ attended this council.

In this original council the government stated that it wanted to buy all the lands north of the Thames River including the River Au Sauble and produced a sketch, which showed the northern boundary of the proposed purchase to be a few miles north of the Au Sable. It was believed to contain 712,000 acres. There was a second council in the late winter of 1819 in which we were told that the government wanted to purchase the lands in two separate treaties. One became known as the Longwoods Tract, which was located on the north shore of the Thames and

 

⁹⁰ Written as Mestuckmaybig. See Mesquahwegezhigk/Red Sky in

Curnoe, Deeds/Nations, 67.

 

The Plains of Aamjiwnaang 103 

the other became known as the Huron Tract, which was the balance of the land stipulated at the 1818 council.

On March 30, 1819 a provisional agreement was signed for the Huron Tract but the area to be ceded had increased dramatically from the original 712,000 acres to 2.8 million acres. A perpetual annuity of £1375 was to be paid. However, a provisional treaty was signed July 8, 1825 but the annuity was dropped to £1100. The four reserves comprised a total of 23.054 acres. The confirmatory treaty was signed July 10, 1827 for a surrender of 2.2 million acres with a perpetual annuity of £1100. The aggregate acreage for the four reserves was only 17,951 acres.

We were never paid for the additional land ceded. It was an injustice that “made our hearts and feelings so troubled” for decades. In a quest for justice our council appealed to Queen Adelaide, the wife of William VI, by way of an address signed January 6, 1841 and delivered to her in England by Chief David Wawanosh.91 In it we laid out our claim that we “were prevailed upon a long time ago to sell…a very large…tract of country commencing on the south side of the river Au Sable” and that “when Colonel Givins came again, he said…our Great Father wants a piece of land to make the line straight, so as to run northwest of all the banks of the Au Sable…For this additional piece of land Colonel Givins fixed no price, but said he could not tell how much our Great Father would give us for the same, being ten miles beyond Goderich, and forty miles more north than Colonel Givens ever bought… and has never since paid us.” Depending on the “maguanimity, justice and honor of our Great Father to remunerate us for this additional land” we signed Provisional Treaty 27½ and Confirmatory Treaty 29

 

⁹¹ Address of Port Sarnia Indiands, MPHSC, Vol. 12, 455-457.

104 David D Plain 

ceding the supplementary tract. Our supplication for justicefrom the British Crown fell on deaf ears and to this day the issue remains unresolved.

In May of 1820 a provisional treaty was signed for the Longwoods Tract and a sketch was included showing two reserves, one for Tomago and his band on the Thames and one for Kitchemughqua and his band at the headwaters of Big Bear Creek. The confirmatory treaty, signed July 8, 1822, contained provision for a reserve “situate on the northerly side of the River Thames…containing fifteen thousand three hundred and sixty acres. Also reserving two miles square…near the source of Big Bear Creek” ⁹² The Big Bear Creek reserve never materialized.

The treaty making process covered nine years and multiple agreements. The subtle changes in these various agreements produced profound consequences. The northern point on Lake Huron had changed from a few miles north of the Au Sable River to a few miles north of the Maitland River (see Appendix 1) adding hundreds of thousands of acres to the surrender. The Huron Tract lost 25% of the promised reserved lands and the Longwoods Tract lost a reserve altogether. The annuity for the Huron Tract was reduced by £275. No provision for expansion of reserved lands if needed was confirmed and no blacksmiths or agricultural instructors were provided. At the beginning of the process we left the valuation entirely up to “our Great Father’s representative” expecting fair and just treatment. It appears that we didn’t get it.

Little Thunder was still active and well able to travel at his advanced age. He travelled by canoe to Amherstburg in April of 1825 to sign Provisional Treaty No. 27½ for the surrender of

 

⁹² Indian Treaties, Treaty No. 280½ Vol. 2, 281.

The Plains of Aamjiwnaang 105 

parts of the Western and London Districts of Upper Canada. He made the journey again in July 1827 to sign Confirmatory Treaty No. 29. It can also be seen by the council minutes of 1818 our chiefs considered Sombra Township (the Shawanese Reserve) to be a reserve for our use named after our Shawanee brothers from Ohio.

During the first two decades of the life of the Upper St.Clair Reserve there had been complaints against Wawanosh for his overbearing and dictatorial methods of leadership. On August 12, 1838 several Chiefs and Principal Men presented a petition to the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada asking that Wawanosh be removed as Head Chief. It stated “he had been usurping the rights and privileges of Head Chief over us acting a most dishonest part by robbing us of our goods and money.”⁹³ On September 26, 1838 five chiefs, in a letter of complaint to Wm. Jones, Resident Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Sarnia area, referred to Wawanosh as “that great rogue and liar”.94 In 1841 Wawanosh was under fire from the Band at Walpole Island who had drawn up a petition of complaint against him.

In 1839, Malcolm Cameron, a wealthy land speculator and politician, approached the Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Samuel Peter Jarvis, with a plan to purchase a tract of land one mile wide by four miles long from off the back end of the Upper St. Clair Reserve. He claimed to have negotiated with three chiefs. Cameron followed this up by writing to Jarvis on November 9, 1839 informing him that he had conferred with Head Chief Wawanosh and had struck a bargain with us to

 

⁹³ Court File No. 95-CU-92484, 1995. Ontario Court (General Division) between The Chippewas of Sarnia Band and Attorney General of Canada, et al., 22.

⁹⁴ Ibid.

106 David D Plain 

purchase four square miles of our reserve. In less than a week Jarvis advised that a formal surrender to the Crown was required as per the Proclamation of 1763 and other laws in effect at the time.

The terms of the deal was never given us by any Crown representative nor was there ever any public meeting held to explain the transaction. There was never any vote taken by the general membership of the Band nor did any of our chiefs or principal men of our community fix their marks on any documents witnessed by any Crown officials.

Notwithstanding any of these requirements in 1840 the Executive Council of the Province of Upper Canada issued an Order-in-Council approving the proposed sale to Cameron. On August 13, 1853, the Province of Canada issued Letters Patent to Cameron for 2,540 acres of our land. Both Jones and Jarvis had fiduciary duties invested in them by the Crown and were responsible for our protection. They both failed in their duties.

In 1842 the Governor General of the Province of Canada, Sir Charles Bagot, appoint a commission to look into irregularities and improprieties being committed in the Indian Department. It was found that neither the Commissioner of Crown Lands nor the Chief Superintendent kept proper accounts of Indian land sales including the one to Cameron. No record keeping of any monies received was kept either by Jarvis or Jones. The down payment made by Cameron was deposited into Jarvis’ personal bank account and the money trail ends there.

Both Jarvis and Jones were removed from office as a result of the Bagot Commission. Wawanosh underwent a formal inquiry into his conduct and was dismissed as Head Chief by the Governor General. However, our lands were never returned.

With practice we would get better at negotiating, however it

The Plains of Aamjiwnaang 107 

would cost us in terms of land ownership. Over the next century our reserve was reduced in size to approximately 3,100 acres. In the 1970s we negotiated with the Province for a cessation of land to be used for a highway extension. On the south side of the reserve the Province expropriated the land it required from white farmers at $300 an acre. They were forced to pay up to ten times that amount for reserve land because expropriation was not an option. This caused Chief Aylmer Plain to comment “Gradually our Indian people have learned to be vocal and determined to retain the few rights they still have, taking a lesson from every land transaction…until, to-day, the Chippewas of Sarnia will dare to match wits with the sharpest of negotiators”.⁹⁵

 

⁹⁵ Aylmer N. Plain, History of the Sarnia Indian Reserve (Brights Grove, ON: Smith, 1975), 16 quoted in Schmalz, Ojibwa, 212.

Reading Assignment 1 (Upper Canada Land Surrenders) 

https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1360941656761/1544619778887