t and Pitt, as has been seen, proved impregnable; neither
the evil cunning nor the persistent bravery of the savage could dislodge
the occupants of those important posts. The siege of Detroit had been
abandoned by the combined forces of Pontiac, but the country round
about continued to be infested with the hostile Indians, who kept up a
sort of petty bushwhacking campaign that compelled the soldiers and
traders of the fort, for safety, to remain "in doors" during the winter
of 1763-1764. Bouquet, on gaining Fort Pitt, desired to pursue the
marauding and murderous savages to their forest retreats and drive them
hence, but he was unable to accomplish anything until the following
year.

In the spring of 1764 Sir Jeffrey Amherst resigned his office, and
General Thomas Gage succeeded him as commander-in-chief of the British
forces in America, with head-quarters in Boston. Shortly after assuming
office, General Gage determined to send two armies from different points
into the heart of the Indian country. The first, under Bouquet, was to
advance from Fort Pitt into the midst of the Delaware and Shawano
settlements of the Ohio Valley; and the other, under Bradstreet, was to
pass from Fort Niagara up the Lakes and force the tribes of Detroit and
the region round about to unconditional submission.

Colonel John Bradstreet left Fort Niagara in July, 1764, with the
formidable force of over a thousand soldiers. In canoes and _bateaux_
this imposing army of British regulars coasted along the shore of Lake
Erie, stopping at various points to meet and treat with the Indians,
who, realizing their inability to cope with so powerful an antagonist,
made terms of peace or went through the pretence of so doing. At
Sandusky (Fort), particularly, Bradstreet accepted the false promises of
the Wyandots, Ottawas, Miamis, Delawares, and Shawanoes. On August 26th
he arrived at Detroit, to the great joy and relief of the garrison,
which now, for more than a year, had been "cut off from all
communication with their race" and had been virtually prisoners confined
within the walls of their stockade. Bradstreet forwarded small
detachments to restore or retake, as the case might be, the farther
western British posts, which had fallen into the hands of Pontiac's wily
and exultant warriors.

In October (1764) Bouquet, with an army of fifteen hundred troops,
defiled out of Fort Pitt, and, taking the Indian trail westward, boldly
entered the wilderness, "