Chronology of American Indian History

P

by Pontiac (see entry for MAY 9, 1763) and Tecum-
seh (see entry for 1808).

1763

Lenni Lenape (Delaware) chief Teedyuscung
dies in a fire.
Teedyuscung, an influential leader of the Lenni Le-
nape (Delaware), dies when unidentified arsons set
fire to his cabin in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsyl-
vania. A champion of Indian rights, Teedyuscung
had been a highly vocal opponent of Pennsylvania
colonial officials, whom he accused of committing
fraud in their land deals with the Lenni Lenape (see
entry for SEPTEMBER 19, 1737).

February 10

The Treaty of Paris is signed.
The Treaty of Paris marks the conclusion of the
nine-year French and Indian War (see entry for
JULY 4, 1754), which ends with a British victory. In
the agreement, France cedes New France to Eng-
land and Louisiana (except for New Orleans) to
Spain. All lands from Canada to Florida and from
the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River fall
under British control.
The war’s outcome is a blow to the Indians
in the Northeast and Midwest. Most of those who
took sides allied themselves to the French, whose
policies were generally much more benevolent to
Indians than those of the British.

May 9

Pontiac’s War begins.
With their lands now under British control, the
tribes of the Ohio River valley and Great Lakes
region—including the Lenni Lenape (Delaware),
Ottawa, Wyandot, Potawatomi, Ojibway, and Sen-
eca—unite and rise up against the English colonists
invading their territory. Their confederacy is led by
an Ottawa warrior named Pontiac. He is inspired
by the Lenni Lenape prophet Neolin (see entry for

1762), who preaches that Indians should resist the

corrupting influence of the English and their efforts

to move onto Indian land.

Pontiac’s war begins with an attack on Fort

Detroit, to which he will lay siege for more than

six months. During May and June, his forces will

battle and capture most of the British forts to the

west of the Appalachian Mountains. In one of the

most notorious events of the war, Ojibway Indians

stage a surprise attack on Fort Michilimackinac,

in present-day Michigan, while playing lacrosse

with Sac Indian visitors. During the game, a player

tosses the ball into the fort. Several Ojibway rush

into the stockade, ostensibly to retrieve the ball, but

they pull guns on the British once they are inside.

The warriors kill the commander and take several

soldiers hostage. (See also entries for AUGUST 4–5,

1763; SEPTEMBER 14, 1763; AUGUST 17, 1765;

and JULY 23, 1766.)

June

The British initiate an Indian

smallpox epidemic.

British soldiers at Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh) give

Indians seeking asylum gifts of blankets that had

“You will do well to try to in-

oculate the Indians by means of

blankets, as well as to try every

other method that can serve to

extirpate this execrable race. I

should be very glad your scheme

for hunting them down by dogs

could take effect, but England is

at too great a distance to think

of that at present.”

—Sir Jeffrey Amherst, recom-

mending that Indians be given

smallpox-infested blankets