The year 1762 provided evidence of the worldwide nature of the conflict in which the French and Indian War was a major issue. The British now turned their attention to the Caribbean Sea.

On February 13, 1762, the island of Martinique capitulated to the British naval and marine force. Pigeon Island surrendered the same day, and two weeks later the island of Sainte Lucia followed suit. Early in the year, England declared war against Spain and immediately set it’s sights on Havana with it’s formidable fortress. After a forty-four day assault on the fortress, Havana capitulated, on August 12th.

France, seeking to recoup some of her losses, planned to recapture Newfoundland. The British troops landed without opposition and marched to take possession of a pass at Kitty Vitty. There the French army was engaged and forced to retreat. Artillery batteries were established outside the Saint Johns garrison and bombardment began. The next day, the French surrendered, leaving Newfoundland in British hands and ending the war between English and French in North America.

The Proclamation Act of 1763 is announced by the English government to keep colonial settlers from moving into Indian territory west of the Appalachian Mountains.

The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the war between France and England, giving England title to virtually all territory east of the Mississippi River.

The Ottawa Chief Pontiac, unites and leads the Indian nations of the Northwest Territory (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio) against the English.
April 3, Treaty with Senecas.
August 6, 1763, British forces destroy Delaware and Shawnee forces at Bushy Run.
August 12, Delawares, Hurons and Five Nations sue for peace.
September, Forts Pitt, Detroit and Niagara are strengthened against Indian Attack.
September 7, Treaty with Ottawas and Chippawas.
November 28, Hostage repartition between Indians and British completed.

The treaty of Paris was signed at Versailles on February 10, 1763. By it, France surrendered virtually all her territory east of the Mississippi River, with the exception of New Orleans, to Great Britain. France then deeded New Orleans and a large expanse of land west of the Mississippi River to Spain. This compensated Spain for surrendering Florida to England; the British in turn, allowed Spain to retain control of Havana. France retained the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence as bases for fishermen and regained the Caribbean islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Saint Lucia.

On April 3rd. At Johnson Hall in the Mohawk Valley of New York, Sir William Johnson signed a peace treaty with the Seneca nation. General Thomas Gage, who had succeeded General Jeffery Amherst as commander in chief, sent Colonel John Bradstreet with over one thousand men to the south shore of Lake Erie as a show of strength to demoralize the Indians in that region. On August 6, 1763, British forces, under Colonel Henry Bouquet destroyed Delaware and Shawnee forces at Bushy Run in present-day western Pennsylvania, paving the way for colonial settlement. However, England's King George III's Proclamation of 1763 prohibited settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains in an attempt to avoid contact with Native Americans. On August 12th the Delawares, Hurons and Five Nations of the Scioto Plains sued for peace. On September 7th at Detroit, Bradstreet formalized a peace treaty with the Ottawas and Chippawas.

Colonel Henry Bouquet marched his army from Carlisle, Pennsylvania to relieve Fort Pitt, 200 miles away. They followed the same road he had earlier hacked over the mountains and through the wilderness.

Even if Pitt was still in English control, the chances were he would attacked before he reached it. Bouquet could only march on, and hope to avoid being ambushed.

He was now about a two-day's march from Fort Pitt, and the danger of attack would increase by the hour. To make matters worse, Ligonier, which he had built, was in such a state of disrepair, it would be almost useless to fall back there in the case of a disaster! There could be no thought of retreat, only victory. Ahead lay the rough, dangerous tangle of defiles, perfect for ambush. Here, he decided that instead of avoiding them as Braddock had, he would march his men to a small stream called Bushy Run, rest his troops for there until night, then make a forced march across Turtle Creek under cover of darkness. It was a bold, desperate move--the kind Bouquet was accustomed to make.

But the Indians did not wait until darkness to fall. At one o'clock in the afternoon, just as the tired troops came in sight of the proposed Bushy Run camp site, they attacked. Here the country had leveled out somewhat, to become a series of small hills, and valleys covered with hardwood forest. The forest floor was clear of undergrowth. When the Indians attacked, the army was on high ground with a clear but limited field of fire on all sides.

The troops grounded their arms and waited for the scouts to clear the road ahead. But instead of slacking off, the firing increased, and the forest began to ring with the war cries of the Indians. At this point, Bouquet sent two companies to support the advance guard. Now the excited cries of the Indians began to curve back, toward the convoy in the familiar pattern of encirclement.

Bouquet deployed two light infantry companies of the 42nd , and ordered a bayonet charge. The Indians, who had no taste for cold steel, scattered and vanished. Even if not a victory, it gave Bouquet time to size up the situation. Firing broke out on both flanks, then in the rear. The terrified horses began to rear and balk. For a moment, panic hung over the column. This was not unlike the situation Braddock had blundered into. As soon as the first shock of uncertainty had passed, they quietly awaited orders. When received, they obeyed them without hesitation.

They were complicated orders, calling for the formation of a modified hollow squire, a circle actually, protected by a barricade of pack-saddles, fallen trees, anything that would afford shelter. Once the troops were deployed behind cover, Bouquet allowed his men to fight in their own fashion.

And so, at midday, Colonel Bouquet found himself and his 400 men, on a hilltop about half a mile long, and 200 to 300 feet wide, surrounded by perhaps an equal number of Indians. He had no place to go, and there was not much he could do but fight off recurring waves of attack, and hope for a break.

The Indians, firing as they attacked, never waited for the counter attack. They simply faded into the forest, as was their style, suffering a few casualties themselves, but always leaving dead or wounded English behind them.

The whole of the army was without water, and even if the Indians were driven off, there were too many wounded to carry, but they could not be left behind. Pickets outposts were placed, to guard against a night attack. So it was, the army spent the night in a camp without fires, in fear of what tomorrow would bring. Col. Bouquet dictated a letter to General Amherst, stating his situation and his fears for the morning. The morning began with the terrifying yells of the Indians, and steady fire of musketry at extreme range.

Bouquet could tell by the Indians pattern of attack, that they were fighting a careful battle, under leaders who were taking every advantage. His position was becoming more desperate by the hour. His men, staggering from fatigue, harassed by incessant fire, maddened by thirst, wept with the frustration of fighting men denied the right to fight back. His losses were mounting. The ring around the convoy and huddle of wounded was still unbroken, but filled with despair.

There was no freedom to maneuver, no possibility of withdrawal, and no hope of rescue. There was but one grim note of hope, The Highlanders and Royal Americans were making the steady, methodical fight of brave and disciplined troops. Neither the agonies of thirst, the blood-chilling yells of the savages, nor the unremitting fire from a phantom foe had yet broken their spirit. Without hope, they did not lose courage, the circle thinned but remained unbroken.

Now, the intensity of the battle stepped up, the Indians, eager for the kill, grew more audacious, and Bouquet began to see a glimmer of hope. The stratagem was nothing more than a feigned retreat, followed by an attack on the Indians flanks and rear. The problem would be in performing this maneuver on a heavily wooded ground, in a din of confusion under heavy fire.

At command, two companies of Highlanders began to fall back, as if unable to maintain their front. To fill the gap thus created in the defenses, troops on the left and right opened files and moved into the open space. As the circle began to diminish in size, the Indians took it as a sign than the front was collapsing. They hurtled themselves against the thin line of Highlanders in a reckless frenzy. It was the proper way to break the line, and turn a retreat into a rout. At first, it appeared as if it would work.

The Highlanders charged with blood-curdling yells and poured a devastating volley of musketry into the closely packed attackers. Surprise was complete, the effect of the Highlanders' massed fire was overwhelming, but to the credit of the bewildered Indians, they turned and fought back. When the Highlanders fell on them with bayonets, they broke and fled--straight into the second trap Bouquet had laid for them. Two other companies had also been withdrawn, from a less vulnerable segment of the circle, with orders to support the counterattack at the proper moment. That crashing discharge of musketry all but ended the battle of Bushy Run. The Highlanders gave the savages no time to reload or take cover. They were on top of them with bayonet and backsword, scattering them in all directions, until the woods were suddenly empty.

The winded Highlanders plodded back from their pursuit and butchery. Slowly, Bouquets' little army pulled itself together and resumed its march. Camp was made that night at Bushy Run. The following day they set out for Fort Pitt. Other than a few light skirmishes, there was no other action. A valiant and successful defense of the fortress at the forks been made. Not by its garrison, but by a small but determined army of resolute men engaging the enemy in the field.

By 1762, only the western Indians alone remained hostile. The Shawnees, Delawares, and other tribes harassed frontiersmen and their families during the harvest, scalping and killing many. Western parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia were under a constant threat.

The English would continue to have control. With the French eliminated, the Native Americans were left alone in their fight against colonial aggression. Most of the tribes now felt they must break the English grip before it could become permanent. Pontiac was capable, and ready to assume the role of leader. His call to arms was almost unanimously excepted. The Nations most strike as one, and crush the whites before they destroyed the Indians.

Pontiac seems to have appeared out of nowhere, according to French and English records. He is was not mentioned prier to 1763. The first mention of Pontiac, comes from Major Henry Gladwin, commander of Detroit, in a report of his post being attacked by Indians under the leadership of Pontiac, an Ottawa chief. Under the Ottawa chief Pontiac, Native American warriors captured most of the trans-Allegheny forts, with the exception of Fort Pitt.

The events leading up to Pontiac's rise were many. In the past, Indians had been able to keep the whites off balance, by playing one nation against the other. But now the French had been defeated in North America, and the English were in control of all the inland posts. Once there, they had begun to treat the Indians, not as friends, but as conquered people. To add to this, the French along the Mississippi, had been proclaiming that the lands would return to French control after peace agreements were written. After all that had been the way of the last war.

Pontiac himself would take the most important objective: Detroit, a strong fortification, garrisoned by two companies of Royal Americans and one company of Queens Rangers. Cannon were mounted in the corner blockhouses and two schooners were anchored at the water gate. Pontiac, knowing the Indian temperament would not tolerate a long siege, attempted to take the fort by subterfuge. He sent word to Major Gladwin, that the Indians wished to stage a calumet dance at his headquarters. To pledge English-Indian friendship. Once inside the walls of the fort, Pontiac and his men, would kill Gladwin and his men. The Indians would carry sawed off muskets under their blankets in order to accomplish this. Although Gladwin allowed the dance, he had his men armed and alert. Pontiac’s plan could only fail, so the dance was completed, and the Indians withdrew. Now Pontiac would have to put the fort under siege. Warriors rushed from the surrounding woods, and began firing on the fort.

Almost simultaneously, the Indians attacked and took possession of forts Le Boeuf, Venango, Presque Isle, Sandusky, La Baie, and outposts on the Saint Joseph River, Miami River, the Ouibache (Wabash) River and at Michilimackinac. All the garrisons at these forts were weak and were dependent on the Indians for supplies. Fort Niagara was not attacked, but Forts Pitt and the Detroit were blockaded and exposed to Indian attack.

Fort Sandusky, under the command of Ensign Christopher Paully, was the first to fall. The garrison was murdered, the fort burned, and Paully was taken captive to Detroit. Here he was burned to death, in sight of the fort.

Fort St. Joseph’s, was the next to fall, on May 25. Recently built and staffed by a garrison of fourteen men, under Ensign Francis Schlosser, it was easily taken. Eleven of the garrison were killed. Schlosser and three surviving soldiers were taken to Detroit and exchanged for some Potawatomi prisoners Gladwin had been holding.

This was followed by the capture of Fort Miami ( Ft. Wayne, In. ), commanded by Ensign Robert Holmes. Holmes was tempted to follow his Indian mistress to her mother’s wigwam. When he was clear of the fort, he was shot down. His sergeant, hearing the shot, ran out to give aid. He was also killed. Holmes’ head was thrown over the wall of the fort. A French trader, soon called out to the garrison that they would be spared if they surrendered. Leaderless and terrified, they opened the gates only to be massacred. Only six were spared to later be burned at the stake.

Fort Quiatanon, the most distant and isolated English post, was next to fall. Lieutenant Edward Jenkins, commander, knew there could be no hope of any reinforcements. This time, some French traders intervened to help. With their help, a surrender was negotiated, and although the fort was burned, the lives of every member of the command were spared. Fort Michilimackinac. Surrounded by Indians who had always hated the English, Major George Etherington still felt secure in the strength of his garrison. So it was that on June 4th, teams of Chippawa and Sauk began a game of lacrosse near the fort. Etherington and some off duty soldiers left the fort to watch the game. As the game progressed, a prearranged signal was given and the ball was kicked into the open gates of the fort. Then the players rushed towards the gates, where Indian women handed them weapons they had concealed under blankets. Once armed, the ballplayers continued through the gates, killing every soldier and English trader they could. Only Major Etherington, Lieutenant William Leslie, and some twenty men survived the initial attack. They were stripped and tied to trees, while the Indians decided what should be done with them.

Shortly there after, a group of Ottawa appeared. Finding the fort taken, and no spoils left for them, they demanded they be given the captives. After much debate, the Ottawa were given Etherington, Leslie, and eleven of the soldiers. So it went for many fearful days, until they were released. A council that included a delegation of Sioux had been held to decided their fate, and the Sioux had persuaded the Ottawa to spare the English. "Not because we love the English, but because we hate the Chippawa!) The English were allowed to return to Montreal.

Fort Presque Isle was lost on June 18th. This was a wooden stockade with a blockhouse on one corner, commanded by Ensign John Christie with a garrison of twenty one men, plus six of Lieutenant Cuyler’s men, making a total of twenty eight men. On June 15th, Indians appeared, and immediately began a very un-Indian-like siege. The tribesmen built a log screens, and hiding behind them, advanced the fort. Using this cover the Indians began a heavy fire on the fort. Christie was forced to pull back to the blockhouse.

The Indians, sensing the troops were massed in the blockhouse, gained entrance to the stockade. This gave the Indians control of the fort’s water supply, the well. The English were forced to dig a tunnel to reach the well. The Indians in turn dug a tunnel to site near the officer’s quarters, in order to safely set fire to the blockhouse. Though the blockhouse is scorched badly, the English manage to extinguish the flames. He is told through an interpreter that he has until morning to decide: surrender or die. He decided to surrender. The entire garrison was taken prisoner to Detroit, to be displayed to the garrison there. Christie was later exchanged, and lived to face a Court Martial for his quick surrender. He was testified against by some of his own men that survived.

June 19th, Fort Le Boeuf, garrisoned by thirteen men under command of Ensign George Price, is approached by Indians attempting to enter under the guise of needing a kettle to cook meat. The Indians are turned away, only to gain control of a nearby stone cellar. From this cover, they proceed to shoot fire-arrows at the fort. By nightfall, the roof of the fort is ablaze. Fearing they would be trapped under the collapsing roof beams, the English cut a hole in the wall opposite the Indians. While the Indians thought them near death, Price and the eleven surviving men escaped into the forest. Eventually they made their way to Fort Pitt.

The story of the fall of Venango is short and sad. It was a new, strong fort under the command of Lieutenant Francis Gordon. On June 18th, a party of Seneca approached the fort. Seeing the Indians and thinking them friendly, since they were Iroquois, he ordered the gate to be opened. Not a man lived to tell the tale. It was later told by the Seneca, all were massacred save Price. Him they managed by slow torture, to keep alive until late the next day.

Sir Jeffery Amherst, the British commander-in-chief, dispatched troops led by Captain James Dalyell, his aid-de-camp, to reinforce Niagara and Detroit. The British were confronted by a superior force of Indians causing them to retreat, but not before Captain Dalyell and nineteen soldiers were killed.

Colonel Henry Bouquet was dispatched with troops to relieve Fort Pitt. Fort Ligonier, which contained provisions for the relief of Fort Pitt, was also in danger. Two companies of light infantry sent to reinforce Fort Ligonier were joined by troops from Fort Bedford, thus negating any plan of Indian attack.

When the Indians learned of his presence, they raised their siege of Fort Pitt and concentrated their forces for an attack on the British troops. Bouquet moved his troops to Fort Ligonier on July 10th. After leaving stores there, he proceeded toward Fort Pitt. They stopped at Bushy Run, a creek to the east of Fort Pitt, to refresh the men and horses and on the night of August 4th set out for their destination. The following day the advance guard was attacked by Indians from one side of the road. More troops were sent to the area of attack and drove the Indians back. The Indians continued to attack, however, at several points through the day and eventually surrounded the whole British force. The Indians, sensing an advantage, proceeded to attack, at which point the British troops closed in from the flanks. The remaining troops turned and met the Indians head-on, causing them to flee. The British returned to their encampment at Bushy Run, where the Indians attacked and were again dispersed. With the defeat of the Indians at Bushy Run the British continued to Fort Pitt unimpeded and replenished that post.

On September 3rd a schooner carrying provisions from Niagara entered the Detroit River. That evening it was attacked by some 350 Indians in canoes. While the fighting was fierce, the Indians were soon repelled and the provisions delivered to the starving garrison

Major Henry Gladwin, at Detroit continued to trade blows with the Indians. The schooner Huron, which was bringing supplies to the fort, anchored at the mouth of the river. Indians attacked the vessel, but failed to capture it and suffered heavy casualties. The Indians led by Pontiac lost their enthusiasm for battle because of the lack of significant victories and the deaths of several chiefs. Pontiac was forced to capitulate on October 31, 1763.

These were the final battles of the Seven Years' War in America.