Pontiac

Pontiac fl. 1760-66, Ottawa chief. He may have been the chief met by Robert Rogers in 1760 when Rogers was on his way to take possession of the Western forts for the English. Although the Native American uprising against the English colonists just after the French and Indian Wars is known as Pontiac's Rebellion or Pontiac's Conspiracy, Pontiac's role is uncertain. He definitely was present at the siege of Detroit, and encouraged other tribes to fight the British, but most of the actual fighting and strategy was probably planned independently by other Native American leaders. After the rebellion had failed and a treaty had been concluded (1766), Pontiac is supposed to have gone west and to have been murdered by Illinois at Cahokia. This story is, however, accepted by few authorities.

Bibliography: See bibliography under Pontiac's Rebellion.

Pontiac (d. 1769), Ottawa ogema (respected man), leader of what became known as Pontiac's Rebellion or Pontiac's Conspiracy, an unsuccessful campaign of resistance to Anglo‐American expansion.In May 1763, at the close of the Seven Years' War, Pontiac led an assault on the British at Fort Detroit. His call for war represented a fusion of the teachings of Neolin, a Delaware spiritual leader, and an effort to win French support. The attack on Detroit inspired warriors from at least eight other Indian peoples to attack British garrisons, communications networks, and traders in the Great Lakes region above Niagara and in Ohio, eliminating nine outposts. Indians also struck garrisons and farmsteads in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Some 450 British soldiers perished; Indian and Anglo‐American civilian casualties are unknown.

Pontiac's seige of Detroit lasted until October 1763, when he withdrew to the Maumee River in Ohio. Having corresponded with French officers in Illinois, Pontiac visited them in April 1764. He won over the region's Indians, who obstructed British efforts to occupy the territory. The French supplied ammunition but refused to fight alongside Pontiac, and he left Illinois in July.

The British successfully defended their forts at Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Niagara, and Pontiac's allies found themselves negotiating with, rather than fighting, the British. Back in Illinois by spring 1765, Pontiac made formal peace with the British at Detroit in 1766. When he killed an Illinois, his authority deteriorated. In April 1769 he was killed by a Peoria in Cahokia, Illinois. Apart from the events of 1763–1766, and a visit to the French Fort Dusquesne (Pittsburgh) in 1757, uncertainty surrounds most details of Pontiac's life.
See also French Settlements in North America; Indian History and Culture: From 1500 to 1800; Indian Wars; Proclamation of 1763.

Bibliography

Francis Parkman , History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac, 1851.
Howard H. Peckham , Pontiac and the Indian Uprising, 1947.

Gregory Evans Dowd