he Muskingum, forty
miles distant to the south-west, and to bring in all
their prisoners. By the beginning of November the troops
were at the appointed place, where they encamped. Bouquet
then sent messengers to all the tribes telling them to
bring thither all the captives without delay. Every white
man, woman, and child in their hands, French or British,
must be delivered up. After some hesitation the Indians
made haste to obey. About two hundred captives were
brought, and chiefs were left as hostages for the safe
delivery of others still in the hands of distant tribes.
So far Bouquet had been stern and unbending; he had
reminded the Indians of their murder of settlers and of
their black treachery regarding the garrisons, and hinted
that except for the kindness of their British father they
would be utterly destroyed. He now unbent and offered
them a generous treaty, which was to be drawn up and
arranged later by Sir William Johnson. Bouquet then
retraced his steps to Fort Pitt, and arrived there on
November 28 with his long train of released captives. He
had won a victory over the Indians greater than his
triumph at Edge Hill, and all the greater in that it was
achieved without striking a blow.

There was still, however, important work to be done before
any guarantee of permanent peace in the hinterland was
possible. On the eastern bank of the Mississippi, within
the country ceded to England by the Treaty of Paris, was
an important settlement over which the French flag still
flew, and to which no British troops or traders had
penetrated. It was a hotbed of conspiracy. Even while
Bouquet was making peace with the tribes between the Ohio
and Lake Erie, Pontiac and his agents were trying to make
trouble for the British among the Indians of the
Mississippi.

French settlement on the Mississippi began at the village
of Kaskaskia, eighty-four miles north of the mouth of
the Ohio. Six miles still farther north was Fort Chartres,
a strongly built stone fort capable of accommodating
three hundred men. From here, at some distance from the
river, ran a road to Cahokia, a village situated nearly
opposite the site of the present city of St Louis. The
intervening country was settled by prosperous traders
and planters who, including their four hundred negro
slaves, numbered not less than two thousand. But when it
was learned that all the territory east of the great
river had been ceded to Britain, the settlers began to
mig