Soon after the fall of Montreal, French traders from New Orleans and the
French settlements on the Mississippi commenced to foment disaffection
among the western Indians, who had strong sympathy with France, and were
quite ready to believe the story that she would ere long regain Canada.
The consequence was the rising of all the western tribes under the
leadership of Pontiac, the principal chief of the Ottawas, whose
warriors surrounded and besieged Detroit when he failed to capture it by
a trick. Niagara was never attacked, and Detroit itself was successfully
defended by Major Gladwin, a fearless soldier; but all the other forts
and posts very soon fell into the hands of the Indians, who massacred
the garrisons in several places. They also ravaged the border
settlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and carried off a number of
women and children to their wigwams. Fort Pitt at the confluence of the
Alleghany and the Monongahela rivers--the site of the present city of
Pittsburg--was in serious peril for a time, until Colonel Bouquet, a
brave and skilful officer, won a signal victory over the Indians, who
fled in dismay to their forest fastnesses. Pontiac failed to capture
Detroit, and Bouquet followed up his first success by a direct march
into the country of the Shawnees, Mingoes and Delawares, and forced them
to agree to stern conditions of peace on the banks of the Muskingum. The
power of the western Indians was broken for the time, and the British in
1765 took possession of the French forts of Chartres and Vincennes, when
the _fleur-de-lys_ disappeared for ever from the valley of the
Mississippi. The French settlers on the Illinois and the Mississippi
preferred to remain under British rule rather than cross the great river
and become subjects of Spain, to whom Western Louisiana had been ceded
by France. From this time forward France ceased to be an influential
factor in the affairs of Canada or New France, and the Indian tribes
recognized the fact that they could no longer expect any favour or aid