Pontiac
(ca. 1720–April 20, 1769)
Ottawa War Chief
PONTIAC
P
ontiac, an excel-
lent military strate-
gist, instigated and
led the greatest Native
American uprising ever
faced by the British in
colonial North America.
For a year, he closely be-
sieged Fort Detroit, then
the sole surviving English
garrison in the west, but
abandoned the war when
French aid never arrived.
However, his call for a
pantribal alliance nearly
succeeded in stopping
white encroachment on
Indian lands and served
as a model for later at-
tempts by Little Turtle,
Tecumseh, and Black
Hawk.
Pontiac was born pro-
bably along the Maumee
River in northern Ohio, the son of an Ottawa
father and a Chippewa mother. He matured
into a fine warrior and allied himself with the
French throughout King George’s War
(1744–1748). Having distinguished himself in
various battles against the English, Pontiac
became head chief of the Ottawa in 1754,
around the time that the French and Indian
War began. This was the final showdown be-
tween England and France for dominance in
North America. As before, Pontiac enjoyed
several successes against his enemies and
was probably present at the defeat of Gen.
Edward Braddock at Fort Duquesne. How-
ever, by 1760 France had been decisively de-
feated in Canada and the English inherited
vast French territorial possessions along the
Great Lakes region. For the Ottawa and other
Native Americans inhabiting this area, the
change was not a wel-
come one.
Since the seventeenth
century, tribes of the
Great Lakes had enjoyed
a prosperous and mutu-
ally beneficial relation-
ship with the French.
Compared to the English,
they built few fortifica-
tions and were primarily
concerned with fur, not
land. They traded exten-
sively and fairly with the
Native Americans, show-
ering them with gifts,
supplying them with
firearms, and granting
them regular allotments
of gunpowder for hunt-
ing. Furthermore, during
the long winter months,
French agents extended
credit to the Indians so
they could purchase food and clothing to fa-
cilitate their survival. In turn, the Indians
would barter their debts with valuable furs
the following spring. More important, the
French treated the Indians like brothers, en-
tertained them, intermarried with them, and
welcomed them into their forts as distin-
guished guests. By 1763, this treatment
changed dramatically. English policy toward
the Indians, if not overtly racist, proved con-
descending. English traders refused to grant
the Indians credit or sell them gunpowder,
making an already difficult existence in win-
ter much harder. Moreover, commanding Gen.
Sir Jeffrey Amherst considered the policy of
gift-giving extravagant and suspended the
practice. Native Americans were to be re-
garded as potential enemies and unwelcome
in or around frontier posts. The rudest shock,Pontiac
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