belonged to smallpox victims. The disease-infected
blankets spread smallpox through the Lenni Lenape
(Delaware) and Shawnee villages, killing much of
their population. This early example of biological
warfare is masterminded by Sir Jeffrey Amherst,
the commander in chief of the British colonies.
He suggested the idea in a letter to an officer at
the fort, adding “We must on this occasion use
every stratagem in our power to reduce [the Indian
population].”
August 4–5
Indian rebels are defeated at the Battle of
Bushy Run.
About 500 British troops meet a force of Lenni Le-
nape (Delaware), Shawnee, Wyandot, and Iroquois
near Fort Pitt, a British stronghold that has been
taken over by warriors under Pontiac’s command
(see entry for MAY 9, 1763). The Indians surround
the small British army, but the soldiers, by incit-
ing overexcited warriors to attack them, manage to
inflict heavy casualties, which included two Lenni
Lenape chiefs. To the surprise of Pontiac’s men,
the conflict, later known as the Battle of Bushy
Run, ends with an English victory. Already weary
of war and now convinced that the English cannot
be defeated, warriors from the Lenni Lenape and
Shawnee tribes start to abandon Pontiac’s cause in
large numbers.
September 14
Pontiac’s warriors ambush an English
wagon train.
A wagon train equipped with supplies for the Brit-
ish Fort Niagara is attacked by hundreds of Indian
followers of Pontiac (see entry for MAY 9, 1763)
in a heavily wooded area just below Niagara Falls
known as Devil’s Hole. Most of the English accom-
panying the supply train are killed in the attack.
The Indians inflict more casualties in an ensuing
battle with a British regiment that rushes to rescue
the beleaguered train crew. The conflict, which will
become known as the Battle of Devil’s Hole Road,
is the greatest Indian victory of Pontiac’s War. The
triumph, however, will not prevent increasing num-
bers of warriors from giving up on the rebellion as
unwinnable.October 7The Proclamation Line of 1763 is
established.
King George III of England issues the Royal Proc-
lamation of 1763, which creates the Proclamation
Line. This boundary, roughly following the crest of
the Appalachian Mountains, separates the lands to
the east, where the king sanctions white settlement,
from those to the west, which are to be occupied
only by Indians. The Proclamation Line is meant
to placate the tribes involved in Pontiac’s War (see
entry for MAY 9, 1763), by promising that their
lands will no longer be encroached upon by Eng-
lish settlers. The colonists, however, will be angered
by the proclamation and will ignore the king’s de-
mands that they keep off Indian territory in the
Midwest.DecemberThe Paxton Boys murder Conestoga
Indians.
A mob of 57 armed frontiersmen from Paxton,
Pennsylvania, attack a nearby village of peaceful
Conestoga Indians. Known as the Paxton Boys,
the vigilantes murder three men, two women, and
one child. Colonial officials place the 14 Indians
who manage to escape in protective custody in the
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, jail. Two weeks later, the
Paxton Boys storm the jail and slaughter the Con-
estoga held there.
John Penn, the governor of Pennsylvania, issues
a proclamation calling for the arrest of the killers.
Although their identities are known by many colo-
nists in the region, no one comes forward, and no
arrests are made.
The Paxton Boys’ vigilante violence had been
inspired by increased fears of Indian attack following
Pontiac’s successful raids on British forts (see entry