Produced by Suzanne Shell, Henry Gardiner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net * * * * * Transcriber’s Note: The original publication has been replicated faithfully except as shown in the TRANSCRIBER’S AMENDMENTS at the end of the text. This etext presumes a mono-spaced font on the user’s device, such as Courier New. Words in italics are indicated like _this_. But the publisher also wanted to emphasize names in sentences already italicized, so he printed them in the regular font which is indicated here with: _The pirates then went to +Hispaniola+._ Obscured letters in the original publication are indicated with {?}. Superscripts are indicated like this: S^ta Maria. The FOOTNOTES: section is located near the end of the text. There are two volumes in this etext: VOL. I and VOL. II. Author: Francis Parkman (1823-1893). * * * * * THE CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC AND THE INDIAN WAR AFTER THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. VOL. I. TO JARED SPARKS, LL.D., PRESIDENT OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY, THESE VOLUMES ARE DEDICATED AS A TESTIMONIAL OF HIGH PERSONAL REGARD, AND A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT FOR HIS DISTINGUISHED SERVICES TO AMERICAN HISTORY. Preface TO THE SIXTH EDITION. I chose the subject of this book as affording better opportunities than any other portion of American history for portraying forest life and the Indian character; and I have never seen reason to change this opinion. In the nineteen years that have passed since the first edition was published, a considerable amount of additional material has come to light. This has been carefully collected, and is incorporated in the present edition. The most interesting portion of this new material has been supplied by the Bouquet and Haldimand Papers, added some years ago to the manuscript collections of the British Museum. Among them are several hundred letters from officers engaged in the Pontiac war, some official, others personal and familiar, affording very curious illustrations of the events of the day and of the characters of those engaged in them. Among the facts which they bring to light, some are sufficiently startling; as, for example, the proposal of the Commander-in-Chief to infect the hostile tribes with the small-pox, and that of a distinguished subordinate officer to take revenge on the Indians by permitting an unrestricted sale of rum.