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
This completed the rout. The four
companies, uniting, drove the flying savages through the woods, giving
them no time to rally or reload their empty rifles, killing many, and
scattering the rest in hopeless confusion.
While this took place at one part of the circle, the troops and the
savages had still maintained their respective positions at the other; but
when the latter perceived the total rout of their comrades, and saw the
troops advancing to assail them, they also lost heart, and fled. The
discordant outcries which had so long deafened the ears of the English
soon ceased altogether, and not a living Indian remained near the spot.
About sixty corpses lay scattered over the ground. Among them were found
those of several prominent chiefs, while the blood which stained the
leaves of the bushes showed that numbers had fled wounded from the field.
The soldiers took but one prisoner, whom they shot to death like a captive
wolf. The loss of the British in the two battles surpassed that of the
enemy, amounting to eight officers and one hundred and fifteen men.[318]
Having been for some time detained by the necessity of making litters for
the wounded, and destroying the stores which the flight of most of the
horses made it impossible to transport, the army moved on, in the
afternoon, to Bushy Run. Here they had scarcely formed their camp, when
they were again fired upon by a body of Indians, who, however, were soon
repulsed. On the next day they resumed their progress towards Fort Pitt,
distant about twenty-five miles; and, though frequently annoyed on the
march by petty attacks, they reached their destination, on the tenth,
without serious loss. It was a joyful moment both to the troops and to the
garrison. The latter, it will be remembered, were left surrounded and
hotly pressed by the Indians, who had beleaguered the place from the
twenty-eighth of July to the first of August, when, hearing of Bouquet’s
approach, they had abandoned the siege, and marched to attack him. From
this time, the garrison had seen nothing of them until the morning of the
tenth, when, shortly before the army appeared, they had passed the fort in
a body, raising the scalp-yell, and displaying their disgusting trophies
to the view of the English.[319]
The battle of Bushy Run was one of the best contested actions ever fought
between white men and Indians. If there was any disparity of numbers, the
advantage was on the side of the troops; and the Indians had displayed
throughout a fierceness and intrepidity matched only by the steady valor
with which they were met. In the provinces, the victory excited equal joy
and admiration, especially among those who knew the incalculable
difficulties of an Indian campaign. The Assembly of Pennsylvania passed a
vote expressing their sense of the merits of Bouquet, and of the service
he had rendered to the province. He soon after received the additional
honor of the formal thanks of the King.[320]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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