which no army had ever before sought to
penetrate." It was a novel sight, this regiment of regulars, picking
its way through the woods and over the streams to the centre of the Ohio
country. Striking the Tuscarawas River he followed down its banks,
halting at short intervals to confer with delegations of Indians until
October 25th, when he encamped on the Muskingum, near the forks of that
river formed by the confluence of the Tuscarawas and Walhonding rivers.
Here with much display of the pomp and circumstance of war on the part
of Bouquet, to impress and over-awe the savages, he held conferences
with the chiefs of the various tribes. They agreed to lay down their
arms and live for the future in friendship with the white invaders. All
prisoners heretofore taken and then held by the Indians were to be
surrendered to Bouquet. Over two hundred of these, captives, including
women and children, were delivered up, and with these Bouquet, with his
successful soldiery, retraced his course to Fort Pitt, arriving there on
November 28th. It was one of the most memorable expeditions in the
pre-State history of Ohio.

The sudden and surprising victories of Pontiac were being rapidly
undone. The great Ottawa chief saw his partially accomplished scheme
withering into ignominious failure. Sullen, disappointed, consumed with
humiliation and revenge, he withdrew from active prominence to his
forest wigwam. He sought the banks of the Maumee, the scene of his birth
and the location of the villages of many tribes who were his sympathetic
adherents. He did not participate in any of the councils held by
Bradstreet and the chiefs. "His vengeance was unslaked and his purpose
unshaken." But his glory was growing dim and his power was withering
into dust. From the scenes of his promising but short-lived triumphs, he
retired into the country of the Illinois and the Mississippi. He tried
to arouse the aid of the French. He gathered a band of four hundred
warriors on the Maumee, and with these faithful followers revisited the
Western tribes, in hopes of creating another confederation.[54] Not even
would the southern tribes, however, respond to his appeals. All was
lost. His allies were falling off; his followers, discouraged, were
deserting him. Again and again he went back to his chosen haunts and
former faithful followers on the Maumee. But his day had passed.

In the spring of 1766 Pontiac met Sir William Johnson[55] at Oswego. In
his peace spee