The Ojibways aid the French in the war against the British--Mamong-e-sada leads a party of their warriors from La Pointe, who fight under Montcalm at the taking of Quebec--Origin of the Ojibway name for the English--They view with regret the evacuation of their country by the French--Those who remain amongst them through the ties of marriage, wield an important influence over their conduct--They stand neutral during the strenuous efforts made by the Algic tribes in opposition to the English--Nature of the hostility evinced by the Ojibways against the British--Speech of Meh-neh-wehna to Alexander Henry--Eastern section of the tribe join "Pontiac's war"-Capture of the fort at Michilimackinac intrusted into their hands Shrewdness and foresight of the Ojibway chieftain--British commandant refuses to listen to hints of danger--Game of Baugudoway--Manner in which the fort was taken--Testimony of Alexander Henry--His capture and ransom-Troops massacred.

We have now brought forward the history of the different sections of the Ojibway tribe, to the time when the French nation were forced to strike their colors and cede their possessions in America (comprising the great chain of lakes), into the hands of the British Empire.

The time during which these two powerful nations battled for the supremacy on the American continent, is an important era in the history of the Algic tribes who occupied a great portion of Canada, and the areas of the great western lakes.

Induced by their predilection to the French people, the causes of which we have given in a previous chapter, the eastern section of the Ojibway tribe residing at Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinaw, and the shores of Lake Huron, joined their warriors with the army of the French, and freely rallied to their support at Detroit, Fort Du Quesne, Niagara, Montreal, and Quebec. The Ojibways figured in almost every battle which was fought during these bloody wars, on the side of the French, against the English. A party of the tribe from their central village of La Pointe on Lake Superior, even proceeded nigh two thousand miles to Quebec, under their celebrated war chief Ma-mong-ese-da, and fought in the ranks of Montcalm on the plains of Abraham, when this ill-fated general and the heroic Wolfe received their death wounds. According to the late noted British interpreter John Baptiste Cadotte, the name by which the Ojibways now know the British, Shaug-unaush, was derived from the circumstance of their sudden and almost unaccountable appearance, on that memorable morning on the heights of Abraham. It is a little changed from the original word Saug-aush-e which signifies "to appear from the clouds."

With the deepest regret and sorrow, the Ojibways in common with other Algic tribes, at last viewed the final delivery of the Northwestern French forts into the hands of the conquering British. With aching hearts they bade a last farewell to the kind hearted French local commanders, whom they had learned to term "Father," and the jovial hearted "Coureur du Bois" and open-handed "Marchand voyageur," many of whom took their final departure from the Indian country on 'its cession to Great Britain. The bonds, however, which had been so long riveting between the French and Ojibways, were not so easily to be broken.

The main body of the French traders and common voyageurs who had so long remained amongst them, had many of them become united to the Indian race by the ties of marriage; they possessed large families of half-blood children whom the Indians cherished as their own, and in many instances actually opposed their being taken from their midst. These Frenchmen, as a body, possessed an unbounded influence over the tribes amongst whom they resided, and though they did not openly aid and advise them in the strenuous efforts which they continued to make even after the French as a nation had retired from the field, to prevent the occupation of their country by the British, yet their silence and apparent acquiescence conduced greatly to their noble and protracted efforts headed by the great Algic leader Pontiac.

The fact of their love and adherence to the French people cannot be gainsaid, and to more fully illustrate this feeling, as it actuated their conduct even after the great French nation had delivered them over to the dominion of the British, I will refer to the respected authority of Alexander Henry, the first British trader whom the Ojibways tell of having resided with them after the termination of the disastrous war which we are about to notice.

In 1760, the French forts on the northern lakes were given up to the British, and for the time being the northern tribes of Indians apparently acquiesced in the peace which their Great Father, the French King, had made with Great Britain. In the spring of the following year, Mr. Henry, the well-known author of" Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories, between the years 1760 and 1766," tells of making a trading voyage from Montreal to Michilimackinac. He came across a large village of Ojibway Indians on the small island of La Cloche in Lake Huron who treated him in the kindest and most friendly manner, till, "discovering that he was an Englishman," they told his men that the Michilimackinac Indians would certainly kill him, and that they might as well anticipate their share of the pillage. They accordingly demanded a, part of his goods, which he prudently gave them. He observed afterwards that from the repeated warnings which he daily received, his mind became "oppressed and much troubled," and learning that the "hostility of the Indians was exclusively against the English," this circumstance suggested to him a prospect of security in securing a Canadian disguise, which eventually enabled him to complete his journey.

He arrived at Michilimackinac, where he found his difficulties to increase, and where he fully learned the nature of the feelings which actuated the minds of the Ojibways against the occupation of their country by the English, nor were his apprehensions allayed, till he received a formal visit from the war chief of the eastern section of the tribe, who resided at Michilimackinac. Mr. Henry describes this man as a person of remarkable appearance, of commanding stature, and with a singularly fine countenance.

He entered the room where the traveler was anxiously awaiting the result of his visit, followed by sixty warriors dressed and decorated in the most formal and imposing fashion of war. Not a word was spoken as they came in one by one, seated themselves on the floor at a signal from the chief, and began composedly to fill and smoke their pipes. The Ojibway chieftain meanwhile looking steadfastly at the trader, made various inquiries of his head boatman, a Canadian. He then coolly observed that "the English were brave men and not afraid of death, since they dared to come thus fearlessly among their enemies."

When the Indians had finished smoking their pipes, the chief took a few wampum strings in his hand and commenced the following harangue: --

"Englishman! It is to you that I speak, and I demand your attention!

"Englishman! You know that the French king is our father. he promised to be such; and we, in return, promised to be his children. This promise we have kept.

"Englishman! It is you that have made war with this our father. You are his enemy; and how then could you have the boldness to venture among us, his children? You know that his enemies are ours.

"Englishman! We are informed that our father, the king of France, is old and infirm; and that being fatigued with making war upon your nation, he is fallen asleep.

"During his sleep, you have taken advantage of him and possessed yourselves of Canada. But his nap is almost at an end. I think I hear him already stirring and inquiring for his children, the Indians: --and when he does awake, what must become of you? He will destroy you utterly.

"Englishman! Although you have conquered the French you have not yet conquered us! We are not your slaves. These lakes and these woods and mountains were left to us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance, and we will part with them to none. Your nation supposes that we, like the white people, cannot live without bread and pork and beef. But you ought to know that he--the Great Spirit and master of life--has provided food for us in these broad lakes and upon these mountains.

"Englishman! Our father, the king of France, employed our young men to make war on your nation.

In this warfare, many of them have been killed, and it is our custom to retaliate, until such time as the spirits of the slain are satisfied. Now the spirits of the slain are to be satisfied in either of two ways. The first is by spilling the blood of the nation by whom they fell; the other, by covering the bodies of the dead, and thus allaying the resentment of their relatives; his is done by making presents.

"Englishman! Your king has never sent us any presents, nor entered into any treaty with us, wherefore he and we are still at war; and until he does these things, we must consider that we have no other father or friend among the white men than the king of France. But for you, we have taken into consideration that you have ventured your life among us, in expectation that we should not molest you; you do not come armed with an intention to make war. You come in peace, to trade with us and supply us with necessaries of which we are much in want. We shall regard you therefore as a brother, and you may sleep tranquilly without fear of the Chippeways. As a token of our friendship, we present you with this pipe to smoke."

Mih-neh-weh-na, the name of the chieftain who delivered this noble speech, now gave his hand to the Englishman. His sixty warriors followed his example. The pipe, emblem of peace, went round in due order, and after being politely entertained by the anxious trader, from whose heart they had taken a heavy load, they all quietly took their leave.

So many more able writers than myself have given accurate accounts of the memorable events which occurred during this important era in American history, that I desist from entering into details of any occurrence, except in which the Ojibways were actually concerned.

For upwards of four years after the French had ceded the country to the British, the allied Algic tribes, after a short lull of quiet and comparative peace, under the masterly guidance of Pontiac, maintained the war against what they considered as the usurpation, by the British, of the hunting grounds which the Great Spirit had given their ancestors.

Such was the force and accuracy of the organization which this celebrated leader had effected among the northern tribes of his fellow red men, that, on the same day, which was the 4th of June, 1768, and the anniversary of the king's birth (which the Indians knew was a day set apart by the English as one of amusement and celebration), they attacked and besieged twelve of the wide-spread western stockaded forts, and succeeded in taking possession of nine. In this alliance, the Ojibways of Lake Huron and Michigan were most active parties, and into their hands was entrusted by their common leader, the capture of the British fort at Mackinaw. "That fort," according to the description of an eminent writer, "standing on the south side of the strait between lakes Huron and Michigan, was one of the most important positions on the frontiers. It was the place of deposit, and point of departure between the upper and lower countries; the traders always assembled there, on their voyages to and from Montreal Connected with it, was an area of two acres, enclosed with cedar wood pickets, and extending on one side so near to the water's edge, that a western wind always drew the waves against the foot of the stockade. There were about thirty houses within the limits, inhabited by about the same number of families. The only ordinance on the bastions were two small brass pieces. The garrison numbered between ninety and one hundred."

The important enterprise of the capture of this important and indispensable post, was entrusted into the hands of Mih-neh-weh-na, the great war chieftain of the Ojibways of Mackinaw, whom we have already mentioned, and by the manner in which he superintended and managed the affair, to a complete and successful issue, he approved himself a worthy lieutenant of the great head and leader of the war, the Ottawa chieftain Pontiac.
The Ottawas of Lake Michigan being more friendly disposed to the British, were not called on by the politic Ojibway chieftain for help in this enterprise, and a knowledge of the secret plan of attack was carefully kept from them, for fear that they would inform their English friends, and place them on their guard. In fact, every person of his own tribe whom he suspected of secret good-will towards any of the new British traders, Min-neh-weh-na sent away from the scene of the intended attack, with the admonition that death would be their sure fate, should the Saugunash be informed of the plan which had been formed to take possession of the fort.

In this manner did he guard with equal foresight and greater success than Pontiac himself, against a premature development of their plans. Had not the loving Indian girl informed the young officer at Fort Detroit of Pontiac's secret plan, that important post, and its inmates, would have shared the same fate as befell the fort at Mackinaw.

Of all the northern tribes who occupied the great lakes, the Ojibways allowed only the Osaugees to participate with them in their secret councils, in which was developed the plan of taking the fort, and these two tribes only were actively engaged in this enterprise.

The fighting men of the Ojibways and Osaugees gradually collected in the vicinity of the fort as the day appointed for the attack approached. They numbered between four and six hundred. An active trade was in the mean time carried on with the British traders, and every means resorted to for the purpose of totally blinding the suspicions which the more humane class of the French population found means to impart to the officers of the fort, respecting the secret animosity of the Indians. These hints were entirely disregarded by Major Etherington, the commandant of the fort, and he even threatened to confine any person who would have the future audacity-to whisper these tales of danger into his ears. Everything, therefore, favored the scheme, which the Ojibway chieftain had laid to ensnare his confident enemies. On the eve of the great English king's birthday, he informed the British commandant that as the morrow was to be a day of rejoicing, his young men would play the game of hall,or Baug-ah-ud-o-way, for the amusement of the whites, in front of the gate of the fort. In this game the young men of the Osaugee tribe would play against the Ojibways for a large stake. The commandant expressed his pleasure and willingness to the crafty chieftain's proposal, little dreaming that this was to lead to a game of blood, in which those under his charge were to be the victims.

During the whole night the Ojibways were silently busy in making preparations for the morrow's work. They sharpened their knives and tomahawks, and filed short off their guns. In the morning these weapons were entrusted to the care of their women, who, hiding them under the folds of their blankets, were ordered to stand as near as possible to the gate of the fort, as if to witness the game which the men were about to play. Over a hundred on each side of the Ojibways and Osaugees, all chosen men, now sallied forth from their wigwams, painted and ornamented for the occasion, and proceeding to the open green which lay in front of the fort, they made up the stakes for which they were apparently about to play, and planted the posts towards which each party was to strive to take the ball.

conclude chapter 16