George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 5, 13th edition.

[119] except by canoes or boats round the promontory of Mi-

chap. VII.} 1763 May.

chigan. On the morning of the twenty-fifth of May, a party of Pottawatamies from Detroit appeared near the fort. ‘We are come,’ said they, ‘to see our relatives and wish the garrison a good morning.’ A cry was suddenly heard in the barracks; ‘in about two minutes,’ Schlosser, the commanding officer, was seized, and all the garrison, excepting three men,¹ were massacred.²

Fort Pitt was the most important station west of the Alleghanies. Twenty boats³ had already been launched upon the Ohio, to bear the English in triumph to the country of the Illinois. For three or four weeks bands of Mingoes and Delawares had been seen hovering round the place. On the twenty-seventh of May, these bitterest enemies of the English exchanged with English traders three hundred pounds worth of skins for powder and lead, and then suddenly went away, as if to intercept any attempt to descend the river. On the same day, an hour before midnight, the chiefs of the Delawares having received intelligence from the west, sent their message to Fort Pitt, recounting the attacks on the English posts. ‘We are sure,’ they added, giving their first summons, ‘a party is coming to cut you and your people off; make the best of your way to some place of safety, as we would not desire to see you killed in our town. What goods and other effects you have, we assure you we will take care of, and keep them safe.’⁴