1763] FORT SANDUSKY. 21 CHAPTER II. The attack of Detroit on the 9th of May was the first act in the plot for the destruction of the western posts. The news of the event, with the strongest prognostications of success, was immediately sent broadcast to the tribes who were asked to take part in it. Seven days later the post of Sandusky was attacked. It was a block-house, within a picket enclosure, under the command of ensign Paulli, with a few men. On the morning of the 16th of May, he was notified that seven Indians desired to confer with him. Some of them being known to him, four were Hurons and three Ottawas, they were admitted without hesitation. Two of them placed themselves one on each side of Paulli. The pipes were lighted, when suddenly an Indian appeared at the door and raised his hand. It was the signal agreed upon; Paulli was seized and disarmed He was forced across the parade ground; the corpse of the sentry lay at the gateway; and here and there, were the bodies of the small garrison. The sergeant was killed while planting in his garden. At night Paulli was placed in a canoe and carried to the Indian camp at Detroit, where he was subjected to be beaten by squaws and children and made to dance and sing for their amusement. His doom would probably have been to be burned. Fortunately for himself, he attracted the attention of a squaw, by no means young, who claimed him to supply the place of a dead husband. Paulli accepted the alternative and became an Ottawa warrior. He contrived to inform Gladwin of his position, and finally escaped to the fort. Fort Saint Joseph was the next to fall; it stood on the western shore of the present state of Michigan, at the mouth of the river Saint Joseph. It was held by ensign Schlosser and fourOn the morning of the 25th he heard of the arrival teen men. of some Pottawatamies, with the ostensible object of visiting their relations. They sent him word that they would make him a visit to wish him good morning. Shortly afterwards, he was informed by a French trader that the Indians were present with no good intent. Ordering the sergeant to put the men under arms, for the Indians were hanging about the barracks, he went among the French, and was appealing to them for aid when he heard a cry. Some Indians had rushed upon the sentry, and tomahawked him; in less than five minutes eleven men were killed and the fort plundered. Schlosser and the three men remaining were seized as prisoners and taken by the Foxes to Detroit. Schlosser, after some negotiation, had the good fortune to be exchanged for some chiefs who had been seized. Two days later, on the 27th of June, fort Miami, on the Maumee, experienced a similar fate. This river discharges into a bay at the extreme west angle of lake Erie, no great distance from Sandusky. The fort was situated at the commencement of the portage, to reach the Wabash. Holmes, the officer in charge, had had reason to distrust the Indians. Towards the end of May, a French trader in the neighbourhood had informed him, that when at the mouth of the Detroit river he had heard the firing of cannon, and he believed that the fort had been attacked. Holmes gave orders for his men to remain within the enclosure and to be upon their guard. He had formed some relations with a young squaw, and it was resolved to enlist this Indian Delilah to obtain his death, for Holmes was known for his determination of character, and was feared. His treacherous mistress appealed to him to aid a sick woman; he was asked to bleed her. Holmes listened to the appeal and left the barracks, having faith in the girl, and no doubt trusting to the mission of mercy on which he was proceeding. As they approached the spot she pointed out the wigwam where the supposed sufferer lay, and on some pretext left him. Not suspecting treason Holmes was advanc ing to the place indicated, when two guns were discharged, and Holmes fell dead. Three men, who were outside the fort, 1763] ATTACK ON CUYLER'S FORCE. 23 were seized, so that nine only remained within the enclosure. With the Indians who gathered round the picketing, were one Welsh, who had been taken prisoner some days previously, and two Frenchmen named Godfroy and Minishen. Without a leader, threatened with death if an Indian was injured, and called upon by the renegades to surrender, the nine soldiers saw no alternative but to throw open the fort gates, upon which they were seized as prisoners and the fort plundered. On the day following the attack upon fort Miami, an event took place on lake Erie, which establishes the deliberation with which the designs of the Indians had been matured, and clearly shews that, owing to the careful concealment of them, the outbreak which followed was entirely unlooked for. On the 13th of May, lieutenant Cuyler, of the Queen's Rangers, left fort Schlosser, above the falls, with a detachment of ninety-six men, in ten bateaux, having in charge for delivery at the western forts, one hundred and thirty-nine barrels of provisions and ammunition. Coasting along the north shore of lake Erie, he reached point Pelée, which, stretching far out into the lake, had become a recognized stopping place in the passage of the lake. Without any special precaution a landing was made, and a boy and a man were sent out to gather wood for the fires. When so engaged an Indian rushed forward and tomahawked the boy; the man escaped. Cuyler sent out a sergeant and thirteen men to reconnoitre, and placed thirteen on his right flank, twenty-five on the left, twenty-five remaining in the centre. The men on the right flank commenced firing, the Indians returned the fire; but no enemy could be seen. On a sudden a rush was made upon the centre. A large body of Indians had for days been concealed, with the design of intercepting and destroying any crews of boats which might arrive at the stopping place. An attack, at such a place and at this time, was regarded as impossible, for it was a period of peace, and the Indian wars were looked upon as having been closed five years previously. The detachment was entirely taken by surprise, and Cuyler does not appear to have been an officer to rise superior to the trying situation. The men were seized with panic, and abandoned their position, many throwing away their arms. A rush was made for the boats; five were manned and pushed from the shore. Cuyler describes himself as left with six men on the beach, and failing in his endeavour to get a boat afloat, he rushed into the water up to his neck after those taking flight and was dragged on board. The Indians quickly took possession of two boats, and followed those endeavouring to escape. There was yet time, if the men had held their arms, to have made a determined resistance. Cuyler, in his report, states that the Indians brought back three boats, as if the crew passively allowed themselves to be taken prisoners. During the time, a vigourous fire was kept up from the shore, but Cuyler's boat with another escaped by hoisting sail, the wind being fair. On Sunday, the 29th of May, at nine o'clock, he reached the island opposite point Pelée. Of the ninety-six men of his detachment forty only were present with one round of ammunition. He started at midnight for Sandusky, and arrived there at five o'clock in the morning to find the fort destroyed. He rowed along the south shore to Presqu'île, where, at the request of Christie, the officer in command, he left six of his men and four and a half barrels of provisions. In this distressed condition he returned to Niagara. He had started with ten bateaux, and a hundred and thirty-nine barrels of stores; he returned with two bateaux, and, including those left at Presqu'île, with thirteen and a half barrels, Amherst expressed himself greatly dissatisfied with the behaviour of the detachment.* The unhappy fate of the prisoners, some fifty in number, has been placed on record. † On the morning of Monday, the 30th, the sentry at fort Detroit observed the approach of several barges. As the arrival of a convoy with provisions and reinforcements was expected, the spectacle of the coming vessels was generally Can. Arch., A. & W. I., 98.1, p. 130. + Michigan Pioneer Collections, VIII., p. 305. Pontiak MS. 1763] TORTURE OF PRISONERS. 25 welcomed. The feeling, however, soon passed away, for the death cries which resounded from the banks told the story of the capture of the detachment. As the bateaux advanced four soldiers who were in the leading boat, when passing the fort, made an attempt to escape by steering for the wharf. The boats anchored at the wharf fired upon the advancing bateau; three Indians on the deck plunged into the river, one of them carrying a soldier overboard with him; both swam to shore. With the aid of assistance from the garrison the men on the bateau brought it to land, obtaining their own freedom, and adding some flour and bacon to the stores. The Indians on the bateaux following, witnessing this escape, took steps to prevent its repetition by landing the prisoners on the opposite shore, first securely binding them, and marching them to Pontiac's camp. Some few were saved to be kept as slaves; the remainder, stripped naked, were forced to run the gauntlet in the Indian fashion, and afterwards tortured; being shot at by arrows; their hands and feet cut off; their bodies mutilated; women taking a leading part in their destruction. Finally, they were burned, children aiding in bringing and placing the fuel; some were eaten. This narrative, and there is no reason to doubt its general truth, even if marked by exaggeration, is a proof that the high character claimed for Pontiac cannot be established. He was in all respects a savage in his instincts, led by his passions, his jealousies, and his passing feeling; he can be looked upon in no higher light than the instrument of the French officials. and traders. No step could have been more impolitic than this barbarous and useless destruction of the prisoners: cruelty identical with the days of Champlain and the first Jesuit missions. It attained no result beyond gratifying the thirst for blood, and satiating the spirit of revenge. Its teaching to the defenders only emphasized their desperation; for it told them plainly they had nothing to hope for from such enemies; and that it was better, like men, to die with arms in their hands, than, after hours of torture, be consumed at a slow fire by squaws and children. It awoke in the troops the stern |