Pontiac and the Great Spirit Rally the Indians

Now that the British and her colonies were in control. The trans-Appalachian country Indians saw the future as one of being overrun by settlers.  General Jeffrey Amherst, British commander of the New World, actually recommended smallpox be spread among the Indians to destroy them!

The Indians' only hope was to attack the lightly defended forts of the west.  Enter one "Abnaki Prophet" who claimed to be the Great Spirit and who was charged with rousing the Indians against the British.

The chief of the Ottawas, Pontiac, believed him and roused his tribe in 1763 to strike the British
outpost at Detroit.  News traveled fast, within a month most of the tribes of the region followed Pontiac's example, surrounding Fort Pitts and leaving a trail of death while sending the British fur traders and farmers who were heading west, running for cover.  British reaction was swift and the rebellion was quelled within a few months, but not without opening the British eyes to the power of the Indian in the west.  (Remember the "west" at this time was the Ohio Valley)  Pontiac was later killed by an Indian, probably bribed by a white man.

On October 7, 1763, the British issued a proclamation limiting white settlement to the region east of the Appalachian crest.  The settlers, however, defied it, coming into Kentucky by the Ohio River, through the Cumberland Gap by wagon, or by the Wilderness Road.

Many easterners, such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were land speculators who stood to lose fortunes if the proclamation stayed in effect. The British had no way to enforce the edict.  Pioneers moved into Kentucky, Tennessee, through the Alleghenies and established settlements around Pittsburgh.  The line became regarded as a temporary imposition, as the British kept moving the line westward to accommodate land speculators.

Next time...a familiar friend from the west
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Today in Pioneer Pieces History:  Early in the morning on September 17, 1868,  a large band of Cheyenne and Sioux stage a surprise attack on Major George A. Forsyth and a volunteer force of 50 frontiersmen in Colorado.