ck on Detroit, and began his march to the
Maumee River, followed by his faithful braves.

XII. ALL ALONG THE FRONTIER

The plan of Pontiac had been to take the forts all along the frontier by
strategy and then destroy the defenceless English settlements.

We have seen that while there were many French farmers living outside of
the walls of Detroit there were very few English. And, in truth, in
1763, there were not many English settlers east of the Alleghany
Mountains. Most of the forts that had been taken from the French, except
those on the Mississippi River, were garrisoned with English. Within
reach of the protection of these forts, lived some British traders and
trappers, and a few venturesome settlers. But the Mohawk Valley in New
York, and the Susquehanna, in Pennsylvania, really formed the western
limit of extensive English settlement.

Pontiac's war belts had stirred up the Indians all along the border. In
the summer of 1763, while he and the Ottawas and Ojibwas were besieging
Detroit, the Delawares and Shawnees were laying waste the Pennsylvania
frontier.

Backwoodsmen, trappers or travelers, venturing into the wilderness were
shot down without warning. Men, women, and children were miserably
slain. Isolated farmhouses were attacked, their inmates scalped, the
cabins burned. Churches and schools added to the blaze that swept the
wilderness from the Great Lakes to the Ohio. One after another the
smaller forts were taken by the Indians.

Panic seized the settlers. Women left the kettle on the hearth, men the
plow in the furrow, and fled. Some crowded for refuge into the nearest
fort. Others feared to stop until they had reached Lancaster or even
Philadelphia.

The terrible butcheries committed by the Indians so maddened the
frontiersmen that they forgot their civilization and resorted to methods
as inhuman as did the Indians. Peaceable, friendly Indians were
massacred by bands of ruffian borderers, organized for vengeance as well
as protection. Even men in high places forgot their usual humanity. The
commander-in-chief of the army, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, and Colonel Henry
Bouquet planned to send smallpox among the Indians by giving them
infected blankets. They even talked of fighting them with bloodhounds
instead of soldiers. The Governor of Pennsylvania issued a proclamation
offering a reward for Indian prisoners and Indian scalps.

Fort Pitt, one of the most important posts on the frontier, held