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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.
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Sign up for freeWhat was the name of the treaty that gave territories in the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley to the British following the end of the French and Indian War?
What did Pontiac's War mean for Britain as an Empire?
What was the general British colonist reaction to the acquiring of new western land in the Treaty of Paris?
Why was Pontiac's War called "Pontiac's War"?
What best describes the first year of Pontiac's War?
How did British Major Gladwin react to Pontiac's visit of Fort Detroit?
Which battle ended in victory for the Native American forces during Pontiac's War?
What best describes the 1764 British military reaction to early Native American success?
What was the name of the treaty that gave territories in the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley to the British following the end of the French and Indian War?
What did Pontiac's War mean for Britain as an Empire?
What was the general British colonist reaction to the acquiring of new western land in the Treaty of Paris?
Why was Pontiac's War called "Pontiac's War"?
What best describes the first year of Pontiac's War?
How did British Major Gladwin react to Pontiac's visit of Fort Detroit?
Which battle ended in victory for the Native American forces during Pontiac's War?
What best describes the 1764 British military reaction to early Native American success?
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Team Pontiac's War Teachers
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 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.
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.
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.
General Jeffrey Amherst, Commander-in-Chief of British North America:
General Amherst, leader of British forces in North America, had little love for the Indians. He considered them to be vile and uncivilized creatures. Along with inheriting the land of the Ohio River Valley and Great Lakes following the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the British also inherited the former French relations with the Native Americans. One such relation was the concept of gift-giving to the Native Americans (food, fur, guns, etc), which was culturally significant to the Native American tribes. General Amherst considered gift-giving to be unnecessary bribery. Amherst introduced policies that significantly reduced gift-giving and consequently angered the Native Americans.
...as regards those who have come to trouble your country, drive them out, make war on them. I love them not, they know me not, they are my enemies and the enemies of your brothers. Send them back to the country which I made for them. There let them remain.2
-Native American Prophet Neolin
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.
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 Paxton Boys:
Discontent with the British efforts in fending off the threat of Pontiac's forces, a group of colonials from the Western Pennsylvanian town of Paxton banded together to take matters into their own hands. Traveling into the countryside and then to Philadelphia, the Paxton Boys murdered peaceful Native Americans in Pennsylvania and propagated hate for indigenous people. Although the Paxton Boys were disbanded in Philadelphia, thanks to the negotiation skills of Benjamin Franklin, the short-lived movement represented a growing hateful sentiment towards Native Americans among British colonials.
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.
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.
Proclamation Act of 1763:
An Act of the British Parliament defined the Appalachian Mountains' borders between colonial and Native American territories.
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.
The following list details some crucial facts regarding 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.
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What was Pontiac's War?
Pontiac's War was an effort by Native American tribes under Odowa Chief Pontiac in resisting British colonial expansionism into the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley territories.
What happened during Pontiac's War?
Native American tribes under Odowa Chief Pontiac conducted raids upon British military forts in the western colonial frontier. Early indigenous success was overshadowed by British military reinforcements.
What was the outcome of Pontiac's War?
Pontiac signed a treaty with the British in 1766, ending Pontiac's War. Neither side gained from the treaty; it simply ended the conflict. Thousands of casualties on both sides marked both the British and Native Americans as losers during the war.
How long did the Pontiac's War last
Pontiac's War officially began in 1763 and ended in 1766, but the bulk of the fighting occurred in the first two years of the war (1763 and 1764).
What caused Pontiac's War?
Native American dissatisfaction with British colonial expansionism led tribes to unite under the leadership of Odawa Chief Pontiac in open resistance to British forts on the western colonial frontier.
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