Jessica Crabtree

May 7, 1763: Pontiac’s War begins with the siege of Fort Detroit by a coalition of Native American forces

The war is named for Pontiac, an Ottawa chief who led a coalition army in an all-out war to eradicate British influence from the Northwest frontier.

Background

The major result of the French and Indian War (1754-1763) was the changeover of colonial power in North America from French to British hands. The commander in chief of British forces in America was General Jeffrey Amherst, who like many of his peers viewed the Native Americans contemptuously, and this was reflected in the new British policies. Amherst put an end to ceremonial gift giving traditionally used between Indians and their allies, placed strict limits on the sale of weapons to Indians, and severely regulated trade between colonists and Indians.

The French, in contrast to the English, had been less interested in mass-colonization, and thought of Native Americans more as business colleagues. French trappers and fur traders often lived among the Indian nations who were their trade partners, marrying into or being adopted by Indian families; French settlements existed side by side with Native villages. Many of the nations of the “Old Northwest Territory,” comprising the highly desirable land around the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley, were formerly French allies and found the changes of this new regime alarming.

In addition, peoples of the Old Northwest such as the Ottawa, Miami, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ojibway, and Wyandot suffered greatly from the pressures of colonial encroachment. The effects of European diseases, the introduction of liquor through trade, and intertribal conflicts over resources all contributed to a breakdown of family groups and traditional culture. In this setting religious leaders such as Neolin, of the Lenape nation, actively promoted a campaign to shun European customs and embrace traditional values. As with other nativist movements, including those of Tenskwatawa and Wovoka, the religious message became a platform for political unity and eventually a resistance movement – often spearheaded by a charismatic military leader.

Click image for larger view. Image source: University of Omaha website

Legacy

The war ultimately lasted three years and was possibly the most violent and destructive conflict to take place between Native Americans and English colonists since King Philip’s War nearly a century earlier.

It resulted in the fall of several important forts, including Detroit and Michilimackinac, and the death, displacement, or capture of thousands of settlers throughout the Upper Midwest.

The most infamous event during this war was the British use of biological warfare against the Indians, by distributing smallpox-infected blankets among them. Exactly who was responsible for this policy is still controversial, although it is now believed that Amherst alone was not solely responsible.

Although the uprising failed to remove British power from the region, the British were unable to defeat the Native alliance, which led to the revision of many overbearing policies. The ratification of the Proclamation of 1763 barred English expansion into the Old Northwest and recognized the sovereignty of its Native American nations – a decision which outraged American colonists and became a contributing cause of the Revolution. When Americans began expansion into the Northwest Territory after the Revolution – disregarding the Proclamation Line – the British by and large kept the agreements made with Indian nations during Pontiac’s War. They later fought together as allies against the American expansion during the War of 1812. Pontiac’s War set the stage for later pan-Indian movements, such as those led by Tecumseh.

Right: Lord Jeffrey Amherst, 1765 (Wikipedia)

Links

Ohio History Central – related articles

We Shall Remain: Tecumseh’s Vision – (you can watch the American Experience docudrama online here)

The War That Made America – PBS mini-series on the French and Indian War

Michigan State University: History of the Northwest Territory

Wikipedia: Pontiac’s Rebellion

About.com European History: “Pontiac’s War”

“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.

Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.”

- Speech attributed to Tecumseh (d. 1813)

Click the ‘Tecumseh’ tag below for more on this outstanding Native American leader.

(Although no original portraits of Tecumseh have survived, several works dating to the late 1800s lay claim to authenticity. This drawing is believed to be the most likely representation. It is a copy of a portrait sketch made by Pierre Le Dru in 1808, during Tecumseh’s lifetime. Many years later it was widely circulated in a colorized version.)

March 27, 1814: The Battle of Horseshoe Bend

By the time of the War of 1812, the new American republic was only beginning to expand into the Midwest and much of the deep South. Because Britain had lost its claim to American territory, it turned its support instead to the many Indian nations and confederacies – such as Tecumseh’s alliance – resisting American expansion. This forced nations like the Cherokee, Creek, and Choctaw – Britain’s former allies – to weigh the pros and cons of a strategic alliance with the Americans. The significant degree of cultural assimilation among these so-called “civilized tribes” led to deep rifts that divided their societies. The Creek nation of modern-day Georgia and Alabama effectively split into half over the issue of American support.

A splinter group of the Creeks known as the Red Sticks used hit-and-run tactics on the frontier as a violent expression of the resistance movement. After several successful military encounters throughout the mid-south, the Red Sticks faced a buildup of US militia led by up-and-coming Andrew Jackson. Jackson’s soldiers, and Indian allies under his command, met the Red Stick force at a bend of the Tallapoosa River in central Alabama in 1814. The result was a devastating loss to the Creek resistance, leaving most Red Sticks killed and the survivors fleeing to the Everglades with other Creek refugees.

Diorama at Horseshoe Bend Park Museum (Public domain)

Although the Red Sticks were only a faction of the Creek nation, the US government interpreted their actions as representing all Creeks. Their defeat in this battle meant that the entire Creek nation was forced to relinquish claim to their homelands and would eventually become subject to the mass removals of the 1830s. It also helped to launch the career of Andrew Jackson into one of the most powerful and ruthless opponents of Indians’ rights.

Chief Junaluska, a US-allied Cherokee who had saved Jackson’s life during the battle of Horseshoe Bend, later said, “If I had known that Jackson would drive us from our homes, I would have killed him at Horseshoe.”

See also:

Wikipedia: The Battle of Horseshoe Bend
Horseshoe Bend at Explore Southern History
Muskogee (Creek) Nation
We Shall Remain: Tecumseh’s Vision

FOOTNOTE: History Channel’s documentary on the life and career of Andrew Jackson airs this Friday, April 2 – check your local schedule. It gives an in-depth look at his early involvement in the Creek War and the War of 1812 (including the events at Horseshoe Bend) and his later role in the Indian Removals. Definitely worth seeing.

November 7, 1811: Battle of Tippecanoe

The Battle of Tippecanoe was one of the most pivotal events in the history of North America. An alliance of Native American forces led by Shawnee medicine man Tenskwatawa (“The Prophet”) confronted American militia under Gen. William Henry Harrison near modern-day Lafayette, Indiana in an ad hoc preemptive strike that determined the fate of Native American resistance east of the Mississippi.

The confederacy, representing nations as far away as the Lakota, had formed at the instigation of Tecumseh in reaction to the massive losses of Native American land obtained in the fraudulent Treaty of Fort Wayne. The devastated societies of the Shawnee and other nations of the Old Northwest faced an existential threat from the expansion of American settlement , spurring a movement to reclaim their shrinking homelands and boost national sovereignty. After numerous failed attempts to appeal the outrageous treaty, Tecumseh spent the year of 1811 traveling the length of the continent, from the Creek nation of Georgia to the Ojibway of Michigan, urging solidarity among the tribes. He left his allies stationed at the command nexus at Prophetstown, Indiana under the supervision of his brother Tenskwatawa. But the American forces under Harrison took advantage of his absence to provoke the tense allies into an attack.

With the Native defeat at Tippecanoe, the confederacy suffered a blow from which it never recovered. The defeat of allied British and Indian forces in the War of 1812 further ensured American hold on the continent, and Tecumseh’s death in 1813 deprived Indian nations throughout the Midwest of their most proficient leader. It remained for Tecumseh’s southern allies – among them the Cherokee and Choctaw – to realize the accuracy of his warnings; the defeat at Tippecanoe was followed by the Trail of Tears no less than 20 years later. As for his Western allies, their initial encounters with the American military in the Midwest set the stage for the Indian Wars of the Great Plains that lasted the duration of the century.

PBS American Experience: We Shall Remain – “Tecumseh’s Vision”

For anyone who is more interested in the subject I highly recommend the second episode of American Experience’s We Shall Remain docudrama series. “Tecumseh’s Vision” is probably the best show on Native history I’ve seen to date. It’s very compelling both with its accuracy (and brilliant portrayals) its handling of a significant chapter in history that is given far too little regard.

The companion site has a load of information and media about the background and making of the film as well as resources for researchers.

Below: Tecumseh as played by Michael Greyeyes