months was left in command of the fort, it appears that the life of
the place lost none of its gayety by the change of masters. Sunday card
parties at the quarters of the commandant were festive affairs; and at a
ball held in celebration of the King's birthday the ladies presented an
appearance so splendid as to call forth from the impressionable officer
the most extravagant praises. A visit in the summer of 1761 from Sir
William Johnson, general supervisor of Indian affairs on the frontier,
became the greatest social event in the history of the settlement, if
not of the entire West. Colonel Campbell gave a ball at which the guests
danced nine hours. Sir William reciprocated with one at which they
danced eleven hours. A round of dinners and calls gave opportunity for
much display of frontier magnificence, as well as for the consumption of
astonishing quantities of wines and cordials. Hundreds of Indians were
interested spectators, and the gifts with which they were generously
showered were received with evidences of deep satisfaction.

No amount of fiddling and dancing, however, could quite drown
apprehension concerning the safety of the post and the security of the
English hold upon the great region over which this fort and its distant
neighbors stood sentinel. Thousands of square miles of territory were
committed to the keeping of not more than six hundred soldiers. From the
French there was little danger. But from the Indians anything might be
expected. Apart from the Iroquois, the red men had been bound to the
French by many ties of friendship and common interest, and in the late
war they had scalped and slaughtered and burned unhesitatingly at
the French command. Hardly, indeed, had the transfer of territorial
sovereignty been made before murmurs of discontent began to be heard.

Notwithstanding outward expressions of assent to the new order of
things, a deep-rooted dislike on the part of the Indians for the English
grew after 1760 with great rapidity. They sorely missed the gifts and
supplies lavishly provided by the French, and they warmly resented the
rapacity and arrogance of the British traders. The open contempt of the
soldiery at the posts galled the Indians, and the confiscation of their
lands drove them to desperation. In their hearts hope never died that
the French would regain their lost dominion; and again and again rumors
were set afloat that this was about to happen. The belief in such
a reconquest w