On July 23 there began at Oswego the grand council at
which Sir William Johnson and Pontiac were the most
conspicuous figures. For three days the ceremonies and
speeches continued; and on the third day Pontiac rose in
the assembly and made a promise that he was faithfully
to keep: 'I take the Great Spirit to witness,' he said,
'that what I am going to say I am determined steadfastly
to perform... While I had the French king by the hand,
I kept a fast hold of it; and now having you, father, by
the hand, I shall do the same in conjunction with all
the western nations in my district.'

Before the council ended Johnson presented to each of
the chiefs a silver medal engraved with the words: 'A
pledge of peace and friendship with Great Britain,
confirmed in 1766.' He also loaded Pontiac and his brother
chiefs with presents; then, on the last day of July, the
Indians scattered to their homes.

For three years Pontiac, like a restless spirit, moved
from camp to camp and from hunting-ground to hunting-ground.
There were outbreaks of hostilities in the Indian country,
but in none of these did he take part. His name never
appears in the records of those three years. His days of
conspiracy were at an end. By many of the French and
Indians he was distrusted as a pensioner of the British,
and by the British traders and settlers he was hated for
his past deeds. In 1769 he visited the Mississippi, and
while at Cahokia he attended a drunken frolic held by