Pontiac and the Conspiracy that Shook an Empire

The French and Indian War, known also in Europe as the Seven-Years-war, was actually the fourth in a series of long and bloody clashes beginning in 1688 between European powers and their native American allies for control of a continent. The period from 1758-1763 we now call the French and Indian War followed King William’s War, Queen Anne’s War, and King George’s War. Collectively, they were known as the French and Indian wars.

In 1756 the most notable of these French and Indian Wars erupted. After six years of vicious fighting, the French abruptly abandoned many of their posts in the interior of the continent along the Ohio Valley and western Great Lakes. The swell of victory lay within England's grasp—except they did not realize that defeating the French did not mean the natives of that country would give up. Many tribes were not willing to hand over yet more of their ancestral lands to the Europeans for settlement and colonization.

Michilimackinac

Then emerged an Odawa leader who had fought alongside the French. His name was Pontiac, called Obwandiyag by the Odawa. He was born on a night of snow and rain, wind and thunder. It is said the elders of his tribe remarked that a great leader was being born. Little is known of his early life, but Pontiac grew to become an important war chief among the Odawa. He was furious when his French allies signed a treaty in 1763 handing over all their lands to the British. Pontiac believed that now the English would flood the country, building towns and pushing the Indians further off their ancestral lands. Pontiac believed the only way to stop this was for all the Indian nations to put aside their past disputes and join together to stop the English. He also hoped that the French would once again join in and help, for they had never shown the intense interest in colonization that the British did.

Indeed, he must have been a great leader and diplomat, for he brought together tribes that had been his peoples’ enemies for countless decades—the Huron, Shawnee, Munsee, Wyandotte, Seneca-Cayuga, Ojibwe, and Lenape—and convinced them that they must stand together against the English. The league of nations he gathered together became known as Pontiac’s Confederacy. In May of 1763, Pontiac’s Rebellion erupted with the siege of Fort Detroit and developed further as he began plucking off the British forts one by one, shaking the foundations of Britain's strength.

Pontiac's Rebellion (also called Pontiac's Conspiracy or Pontiac's War), however, was doomed to failure. In the autumn of 1764, the British military took the offensive, invading the Ohio Valley. Pontiac began to lose some of his followers. The British eventually resorted to negotiating with Pontiac to end hostilities, but the result was the exact opposite of what Pontiac hoped for, because it brought about a greater British military presence in the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes region. Pontiac was eventually assassinated by a Peoria warrior a few years later in the French town of Cahokia. Rumors have long circulated about his death.

I've long been interested in the history surrounding Pontiac's War. This coming November, 2019, will see the release of a new, 4-author, historical romance novella collection in which my story A TENDER SIEGE is set during Pontiac's War. The story follows one particular battle which I'll write about next time. Stay tuned here, and sign up for my newsletter for updates on that release.

You'll also want to stay in touch for a reminder about a FREE book download coming May 23-27 of my novel The Softest Breath, Echoes of the Heart, Book Two. (Book One is only $3.99) It's not a colonial era novel, but I hope you enjoy it. Mark your calendar!

Blessings for your May basket~ 

Naomi Musch
https://naomimusch.com/

Upper and Lower Canada. Which One's Up?

At the close of the Seven Years War, France agreed to turn over it's lands in northern North America to the British. This was the event known in the United States as the French and Indian War (1763).

At the time, most of the residents north of the Saint Lawrence River were of French ancestry, (typically Catholic) while farther south  were the British colonies (typically Protestant). Much of what had been France's colony was populated by the First People. For the most part, the French settlers were trappers and traders and coexisted. British settlers were generally not so amiable. I'm not looking to cause trouble but the British were not good neighbors. Yes, they felt they had good reason. Did France take advantage of it? Of course.

I've posted before, here and on my other group blog, Inkwell Inspirations, about the relationships between Native tribes and how 'siding' with one colonial power or another only made more problems in the long run.  (See New York's Native People) Along comes the Revolutionary War, and now, without France in the picture, it is Britain against her colonies and both sides are looking for help from the tribes they've done little to ingratiate.

War rages. Thousands of Tories leave the new United States and head for British Canada.  Families split and come back together. An influx of new residents adds to the already strained relationship in the British Colony of Quebec.  Britain's solution is to take the populated areas along the St. Lawrence River and divide it into two large colonies: Lower Canada and Upper Canada.

Keeping the Catholic "French" happy was important when it was hard to tell who was your enemy or friend in the colonies.

Now here's the confusing part if you look at a map.  Lower Canada is farther north. It was the eastern portion of the original Quebec colony and for the most part was populated by Catholics of French ancestry. The capital was Quebec City.



Upper Canada was west and farther south. It became a colony of British subjects and loyalists (Tories) who'd fled the new U. S.

The upper and lower designations come from the fact travel was much easier by water and much of the area was settled via the St. Lawrence River. If you settled in the east, you were in  "Lower Canada". If you went far UP river (to the west, um, actually south) you were in Upper Canada.  Simple, right?

I was confused until I asked a Canadian Reenactor a few years ago.

Although Montreal is now the capital of the province of Quebec, it was once the capital of Upper Canada and administered by the British.

Things had barely settled with the new colonies when war broke out between the United States and Britain in 1812 over naval press gangs, the arming of First Peoples by the British, and continued trade-without-permit along the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes. Upper Canada became central in the American War of 1812.

Forts that had changed hands between British forces and French forces throughout the last fifty years, now were won and lost by British and American forces.

I love the history of this area and I hope this has cleared up confusion or stirred up interest in these areas!