In 1763 the garrison, being then under British colors, sustained a notable siege from the confederate Indians under Pontiac. It remained under English rule till the close of the American Revolution, and was not finally surrendered to the United States until 1790, the year following Wayne's treaty at Greenville. Surrendered by Hull in 1812, it was reoccupied by General Harrison in October, 1813. It received a city charter 24th October, 1815. Indeed, the prominent civil and military events of which Detroit has been the theatre, confer on it a just celebrity, and it is gratifying to behold that to these events it adds the charm of a beautiful local site and fertile surrounding country. A cursory view of the map of the United States, will indicate its importance as a central military and commercial position. Situated on the great chain of lakes, connecting with the waters of the Ohio, Mississippi, St. Lawrence, Hudson, and Red River of the North, and communicating with the Atlantic at so many points, and with a harbor free of entrance at all times, its business capacities and means of expansion are very great. And when the natural channels of communication of the great lake chain shall be improved, it will afford a choice of markets between the most distant points of the Atlantic seaboard. It is thus destined to be to the regions of the northwest, what St. Louis is rapidly becoming to the southwest, the seat of its commerce, the repository of its wealth, and the grand focus of its moral, political, and physical energies.[11] [11] MICHIGAN. This Territory contained, at this period, a population of 8,896 inhabitants, principally Frenchmen, who were the descendants of the original settlers of the time of Louis XIV. In 1835, the population had so increased, chiefly by emigration from the older States, that the inhabitants applied for admission into the Union. The act of Congress admitting it was passed in 1836. In 1846, it had 212,267 souls. By the seventh national census, in 1850, it is shown to have a population of 397,654, entitling it to four representatives in Congress, with a large fraction. Its resources, its healthful climate, fertile soil, and very advantageous position on the great chain of navigable waters of the Upper Lakes, must insure a rapid development of its means and resources, and place the State, in a few years, in a high rank among the circle of American States. CHAPTER II. Preparations for the expedition--Constitution of the party--Mode of travel in canoes--Embarkation, and incidents of the journey across the Lake, and up the River St. Clair--Head winds encountered on Lake Huron--Point aux barques--Cross Saganaw Bay--Delays in ascending the Huron coast--Its geology and natural history--Reach Michilimackinac.