The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after the Conquest of CanadaParkman, Francis
History
The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada
Parkman, Francis
Pontiac's Conspiracy, 1763-1765
have been dangerous to build fires within its precincts, to direct the aim
of the lurking marksmen. Surrounded by such terrors, the men snatched a
disturbed and broken sleep, recruiting their exhausted strength for the
renewed struggle of the morning.
With the earliest dawn of day, and while the damp, cool forest was still
involved in twilight, there rose around the camp a general burst of those
horrible cries which form the ordinary prelude of an Indian battle.
Instantly, from every side at once, the enemy opened their fire,
approaching under cover of the trees and bushes, and levelling with a
close and deadly aim. Often, as on the previous day, they would rush up
with furious impetuosity, striving to break into the ring of troops. They
were repulsed at every point; but the British, though constantly
victorious, were beset with undiminished perils, while the violence of the
enemy seemed every moment on the increase. True to their favorite tactics,
they would never stand their ground when attacked, but vanish at the first
gleam of the levelled bayonet, only to appear again the moment the danger
was past. The troops, fatigued by the long march and equally long battle
of the previous day, were maddened by the torments of thirst, “more
intolerable,” says their commander, “than the enemy’s fire.” They were
fully conscious of the peril in which they stood, of wasting away by slow
degrees beneath the shot of assailants at once so daring, so cautious, and
so active, and upon whom it was impossible to inflict any decisive injury.
The Indians saw their distress, and pressed them closer and closer,
redoubling their yells and howlings; while some of them, sheltered behind
trees, assailed the troops, in bad English, with abuse and derision.
Meanwhile the interior of the camp was a scene of confusion. The horses,
secured in a crowd near the wall of flour-bags which covered the wounded,
were often struck by the bullets, and wrought to the height of terror by
the mingled din of whoops, shrieks, and firing. They would break away by
half scores at a time, burst through the ring of troops and the outer
circle of assailants, and scour madly up and down the hill-sides; while
many of the drivers, overcome by the terrors of a scene in which they
could bear no active part, hid themselves among the bushes, and could
neither hear nor obey orders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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