a trader of long experience and of good
standing among the western tribes, George Croghan. Notwithstanding many
mishaps, the plan was carried out. With two boats and a considerable
party of soldiers and friendly Delawares, Croghan left Fort Pitt in May,
1765. As he descended the Ohio he carefully plotted the river's
windings and wrote out an interesting description of the fauna and flora
observed. All went well until he reached the mouth of the Wabash. There
the party was set upon by a band of Kickapoos, who killed half a dozen
of his men. Fluent apologies were at once offered. They had made the
attack, they explained, only because the French had reported that the
Indians with Croghan's band were Cherokees, the Kickapoos' most deadly
enemies. Now that their mistake was apparent, the artful emissaries
declared, their regret was indeed deep.

All of this was sheer pretense, and Croghan and his surviving followers
were kept under close guard and were carried along with the Kickapoo
band up the Wabash to Vincennes, where the trader encountered old Indian
friends who soundly rebuked the captors for their inhospitality. Croghan
knew the Indian nature too well to attempt to thwart the plans of his
"hosts." Accordingly he went out with the band to the upper Wabash
post Ouiatanon, where he received deputation after deputation from the
neighboring tribes, smoked pipes of peace, made speeches, and shook
hands with greasy warriors by the score. Here came a messenger from
Saint-Ange asking him to proceed to Fort Chartres. Here, also, Pontiac
met him, and, after being assured that the English had no intention of
enslaving the natives, declared that he would no longer stand in the
conquerors' path. Though in unexpected manner, Croghan's mission was
accomplished, and, with many evidences of favor from the natives, he
went on to Detroit and thence to Niagara, where he reported to Johnson
that the situation in the West was ripe for the establishment of English
sovereignty.

There was no reason for further delay, and Captain Thomas Sterling
was dispatched with a hundred Highland veterans to take ever the
settlements. Descending the Ohio from Fort Pitt, the expedition reached
Fort Chartres just as the frosty air began to presage the coming of
winter. On October 10, 1765,--more than two and a half years after
the signing of the Treaty of Paris,--Saint-Ange made the long-desired
transfer of authority. General Gage's high-sounding proclamati