Pontiac's War

The French and Indian War, also known as the 7 Years War, ended in 1763, but many Native Americans were dissatisfied with the outcome. Having previously allied themselves with the now defeated French, the Native Americans of the Ohio River Valley now had to contend with encroaching British troops and colonists in their territories. Under Odawa Chief Pontiac's leadership, the Native Americans united against their oppressors in Pontiac's War, continuing the long tradition of indigenous resistance to colonial intrusion. Fascinatingly, Pontiac's War would not conclude the conflict between Native Americans and British colonists but rather stoke tensions leading to the American Revolutionary War.

Definition of Pontiac's War

Pontiac's War, also known as Pontiac's rebellion, refers to the series of battles and sieges conducted upon British forts by Native Americans under the leadership of Pontiac from 1763 to 1766. The most intense battles of the war occurred in 1763 and 1764, particularly in Pontiac's initial raids of Fort Detroit, Fort Sandusky, and Fort Miami. The map below details the first year of Pontiac's War.

Fig. 1- Map of Pontiac's War in 1763.

Pontiac's War Timeline

Pontiac's War lasted from 1763 to 1766, but most of the fighting took place in the first two years. The following outline breaks down some of the important events of the war:

• February 10th, 1763: The Treaty of Paris, ending the French and Indian War, cedes control of the Ohio River Valley and Great Lakes regions to the British.

• May 1763: Pontiac attacks Fort Detroit, and his allies attack other western fortresses.

• August 1763: Battle of Bushy Run.

• October 1763: The British Parliament passes the Proclamation Act of 1763.

• August 1764: A bolstered British military expeditionary force under Colonel Bradstreet is deployed.

• October 1764: A bolstered British military expeditionary force under Colonel Bouquet is deployed.

• July 1766: Pontiac signs a treaty with the British.

Cause of Pontiac's War

After the British Empire acquired territories in the Ohio River Valley and the Great Lakes through the Treaty of Paris (the treaty that ended the French and Indian War), North American colonists and settlers were eager to move into new western lands. Already discontent with the defeat of the French, the Native Americans stood in their way.

Fig. 2- Pontiac unites fellow Native Americans to his war effort.

Visions of Pontiac's War

A prophet of the Delaware tribe named Neolin supposedly saw a vision that warned him of continued cooperation with the British. He convinced Native American leaders that they must resist further colonial intrusion and cast away their reliance on trade with the British. Among the leaders was Pontiac, Chief of the Odawa (or Ottawa) tribe. Alliances were formed, and plans were set; under Pontiac, the Native Americans of Odawa, Ojibwas, Huron, Delaware, Shawnee, and Seneca tribes (among others) would go to war.

Pontiac's War Summary

War officially began with the attempted siege of Fort Detroit in May 1763. Chief Pontiac and a handful of Odawa men visited the British fort, concealing weapons and their future intent of invasion. Major Gladwin of Fort Detroit was already aware of this plot, foiling Pontiac's attempt to capture the fort quickly. Fort Detroit would not be taken, but many other forts in the western frontier of the colonies quickly fell to attacking Native Americans.

Fig. 3- Pontiac meeting with British Major Henry Gladwin at Fort Detroit.

Native American Successes in Pontiac's War

Just after the siege of Fort Detroit began, Forts Sandusky, Miami, Saint Joseph, and Michilimackinac fell to the initial offensive. In September 1763, a supply train near Fort Niagara was brutally attacked by Native Americans. Two British companies retaliated against the attackers and were also defeated, leading to the death of dozens of British soldiers. This engagement became known as the "Devil's Hole Massacre."

The garrisons of British forts in the western frontier were relatively weak and susceptible to attack; the British did not believe that the Native Americans would pose such a formidable threat. Because of this, the initial fighting strength of both sides in the war was relatively equal. Comparatively, the British lost more soldiers and civilians during the conflict, and thousands of British settlers were forced to relocate.

British Colonial Successes in Pontiac's War

Early victories came in the successful defenses of Fort Detroit and the Battle of Bushy Run in August 1763. British forces under Colonel Bouquet defeated a large force of Native American attackers in Western Pennsylvania, relieving the defenders at Fort Pitt from the siege.

Fig. 4- Art depicting the Battle of Bushy Run.

In 1764, two expeditionary forces, each with over 1,000 British soldiers, were dispatched to pursue the Native American aggressors. Led by Colonel Bradstreet and Colonel Bouquet, the forces bolstered the fortresses in the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley regions, discouraging the comparatively smaller number of Native Americans from conducting future raids. Just two months after the Battle of Bushy Run, British Parliament passed the Proclamation Act of 1763, setting strict lines for the safe settlement of colonists in North America.

Pontiac's War Results

Pontiac's War ended in 1766 after Native American support for the war slowly dwindled. Troops and civilians on both sides of the war became tired of the fighting. Pontiac traveled to Fort Ontario in July 1766, signing a treaty with the British military that officially ended the war. Both sides gained little from the war. For the loss of thousands of lives, neither the Native Americans nor the British secured new territories or peace of mind from the treaty.

Pontiac's War Facts

• Regarding army strengths, historians estimate roughly 3,000 fighting men per side. The British incurred an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 casualties during the conflict (including civilians and injuries, not just deaths), while Pontiac's forces lost at least 200 fighting men.
• The war's major engagements were the Siege of Fort Detroit, the Siege of Fort Pitt, the Devil's Hole Massacre, and the Battle of Bushy Run. Individual battles had relatively clear victors but the war was generally a stalemate.
• Through the 1764 Treaty of Fort Niagara, British Officer William Johnson was able to recruit the aid of Iroquois Native Americans against Pontiac's forces. British Colonel Bouquet secured a peace treaty with the Ohio Native Americans in October 1764, exemplifying a lack of Native American cohesion and mutual exhaustion over Pontiac's War.

Fig. 5- Portrait painting depicting Pontiac.

Pontiac's War represented another conflict in a continued generational resistance against British colonial intrusion. The battle damaged the Native American population and the British colonial conception of the Natives.

As for the colonists, the struggle also represented the ongoing colonial defiance of British decrees and the desire for westward expansion. The Proclamation Line of 1763 had been defied by encroaching colonists, in many ways instigating Pontiac's rebellion and dragging the British into a seemingly unnecessary and costly conflict. Further tensions between British colonists and the British military would soon culminate in the American Revolutionary War.