ilitary aid to keep back the American settlers.
They wished a monopoly of the fur trade; and they endeavored to prevent
the Americans from coming into their settlements. [Footnote: _Do._ John
Hay to Haldimand, Aug. 13, 1784; James McNeil, Aug 1 1785.] English
officers and agents attended the Indian councils, endeavored to attach
the tribes to the British interests, and encouraged them to stand firm
against the Americans and to insist upon the Ohio as the boundary
between the white man and the red. [Footnote: _Do._ Letter of A. McKee,
Dec. 24, 1786; McKee to Sir John Johnson, Feb. 25, 1786; Major Ancrum,
May 8, 1786.] The Indians received counsel and advice from the British,
and drew from them both arms and munitions of war, and while the higher
British officers were usually careful to avoid committing any overt
breach of neutrality, the reckless partisan leaders sought to inflame
the Indians against the Americans, and even at times accompanied their
war parties.

Life at a Frontier Post.

The life led at a frontier post like Detroit was marked by sharp
contrasts. The forest round about was cleared away, though blackened
stumps still dotted the pastures, orchards, and tilled fields. The town
itself was composed mainly of the dwellings of the French _habitans_;
some of them were mere hovels, others pretty log cottages, all swarming
with black-eyed children; while the stoutly-made, swarthy men, at once
lazy and excitable, strolled about the streets in their picturesque and
bright-colored blanket suits. There were also a few houses of loyalist
refugees; implacable Tories, stalwart men, revengeful, and goaded by the
memory of many wrongs done and many suffered, who proved the worst
enemies of their American kinsfolk. The few big roomy buildings, which
served as storehouses and residences for the merchants, were built not
only for the storage of goods and peltries, but also as strongholds in
case of attack. The heads of the mercantile houses were generally
Englishmen; but the hardy men who traversed the woods for months and for
seasons, to procure furs from the Indians, were for the most part
French. The sailors, both English and French, who manned the vessels on
the lakes formed another class. The rough earthworks and stockades of
the fort were guarded by a few light guns. Within, the red-coated
regulars held sway, their bright uniforms varied here and there by the
dingy hunting-shirt, leggings, and fur cap of some Tory