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peared once more with a pipe of peace, proposing to
come the next day, with the whole
Ottawa nation to renew his friendship.
But on the afternoon of the ninth, he struck his tent, began hostilities, and strictly beleaguered the garrison, which had not on hand provisions enough for three weeks. ‘The first man that shall bring them provisions, or any thing else, shall suffer death.’
Such was
Pontiac's proclamation of the blockade of
Detroit.
On the tenth there was a parley, and the garrison was summoned to capitulate to the
Red Men as the
French had done to the
English.
Not till after
Gladwin had obtained the needed supplies did he break off the treaty, and bid the enemy defiance,
1 yet leaving in their hands the unhappy officer who had conducted the parley.
The garrison was in high spirits, though consisting of no more than one hundred and twenty men,
2 against six or seven hundred besiegers.
3
And now ensued an unheard of phenomenon.
The rovers of the wilderness, though unused to enterprises requiring time and assiduity, blockaded the place closely.
The French inhabitants were divided in their sympathies.
Pontiac made one of them his secretary,4 and supplied his wants by requisitions upon them all. Emissaries were sent even to Illinois to ask for an officer who should assume the conduct of the siege.5 The savages of the west took part in the general hatred of the English, and would not be reconciled to their dominion.
‘Be of good cheer, my fathers;’
