ed with renewed fury.

Meanwhile Sir Jeffrey Amherst, the commander-in-chief of the British
forces, awakening to the gravity of the situation, ordered Colonel
Bouquet, a brave and able officer in his majesty's service, to take
command of certain specified forces and proceed as rapidly as possible
to the relief of Fort Pitt, and then make aggressive warfare on the
Western tribes. Bouquet, leaving his head-quarters at Philadelphia,
reached Carlisle late in June, where he heard for the first time of the
calamities at Presqu'ile, Le Boeuf, and Venango. He left Carlisle with
a force of five hundred men, some of them the pick of the British
regulars, but many of them aged veterans enfeebled by disease and long,
severe exposure. Bouquet had seen considerable service in Indian
warfare. He was not likely to be caught napping. He marched slowly along
the Cumberland Valley and crept cautiously over the mountains, passing
Forts Loudon and Bedford, the latter surrounded with Indians, to Fort
Ligonier, which, as noted above, had been blockaded for weeks by the
savages who, as at Bedford, fled at Bouquet's approach.

On August 5th the little army, footsore and tired and half-famished,
reached a small stream within twenty-five miles of Fort Pitt, known as
Bushy Run. Here in the afternoon they were suddenly and fiercely fired
upon by a superior number of Indians. A terrific contest ensued, only
ended by the darkness of night. The encounter was resumed next day; the
odds were against the British, who were surrounded and were being cut
down in great numbers by the Indians who skulked behind trees and logs
and in the grass and declivities. Bouquet resorted to a ruse which was
signally successful. He formed his men in a wide semicircle, and from
the centre advanced a company toward the enemy; the advancing company
then made a feint of retreat, the deceived Indians followed close after
and fell into the ambuscade. The outwitted savages were completely
routed and fled in hopeless confusion. Bouquet had won one of the
greatest victories in Western Indian warfare. His loss was about one
hundred fifty men, nearly a third of his army. The loss of the Indians
was not so great.

As rapidly as possible Bouquet pushed on to Fort Pitt, which he entered
without molestation on August 25th. The extent and the end of Pontiac's
conspiracy had at last been reached. The Pennsylvania Assembly, and King
George, even, formally thanked Bouquet.

Forts Detroi