And he gave the chief a pledge of wampum. Pontiac returned another belt. "I shall stand in the path you are walking, till morning," was all that he would say; and closed the matter for the night. During the storm of the next few days he smoked the pipe of peace with the major, and promised safe passage for him, to Detroit. Thus Major Rogers was the first of the English Americans to be face to face with one of the master minds of the Indian Americans. This Pontiac was head chief not alone of the Ottawas, but of the Chippewas and Potawatomis. Rumor has declared that he was born a dark Catawba of that fierce fighting nation in South Carolina, who frequently journeyed north to fall upon the northern tribes. But his father probably was an Ottawa, his mother an Ojibwa. By reason of his strong mind, and his generalship in peace and in war, he was accepted as a leader throughout all the Great Lakes country. The name and fame of Pontiac had extended far into the south and into the east. It is said that he commanded the whole Indian force at the bloody Braddock's Field south of Pittsburg, when on July 9, 1755, the British regulars of General Sir William Braddock, aided by the colonial militia of Major George Washington, were crushed and scattered by the French and Indians. Before that he had saved the French garrison of Detroit from an attack by hostile Foxes. Having talked with Major Rogers, Pontiac sent runners to notify the villages that the English had his permission to march through the country. He himself went on with the party. He astonished the major by his shrewd questions--as to how the English waged war, how their clothing was made, how they got iron from the ground, for their weapons. He even stated that he was willing to form an alliance with the king of England and to call him uncle; but that he must be allowed to reign as he pleased in his own country, or "he would shut up the way and keep the English out." Puzzled and stung by the news that their fathers, the French, had been beaten in war, a great number of Ottawas, Potawatomis, Chippewas, Sacs and Wyandots gathered at old Detroit, to witness the surrender. They could not understand why the French should march out and lay down their arms to such a small company of English. Evidently these English were gifted with powers that made their enemies weak. For a brief space all went well, while the Indians of Pontiac's country watched, to see what kind of men these English should prove to be. But the name of the English already was bad. These Northern tribes well knew what had occurred in Virginia and in New England. The Powatans, the Pokanokets, the Narragansetts and other peoples had been wiped out, their lands seized. The English were bent upon being masters, not allies. There was found to be a great difference in the methods of the French, and these English.