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

[116] armed vessels lay in the river;¹ of artillery, there

chap. VII.} 1763. May.

were but two six-pounders, one three-pounder, and three mortars, so badly mounted as to be of no use, except to inspire terror.²

The nation of the Pottawatamies dwelt at about a mile below the fort; the Wyandots a little lower down, on the eastern side of the strait; and five miles higher up, but on the same eastern side, the Ottawas. On the first day of May, Pontiac entered the fort with about fifty³ of his warriors, announcing his purpose in a few days to pay a more formal visit. He appeared on the seventh, with about three hundred warriors, armed with knives, tomahawks and guns, cut short and hid under their blankets.⁴ He was to sit down in council, and when he should rise, was to speak with a belt white on one side and green on the other;⁵ and turning the belt was to be the signal for beginning a general massacre. But luckily Gladwin had the night before been informed of his coming,⁶ and took such precautions that the interview passed off without results. Pontiac was allowed, perhaps unwisely, to escape. On the morning of the same day, an English party who were sounding the entrance of Lake Huron were seized and murdered.⁷ On the eighth, Pontiac ap-⁸