The Revolt of Pontiac and the American Invasion

Native Nations Resist British Control

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Amerindian Displeasure

The news of the signing of the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763, reached Canada as the spring navigation routes were opening up. No sooner had Canadians learned that their country was to remain under the British flag than information that was more worrisome in the short term reached Quebec from the West and the Ohio Valley. The forts there, which had been evacuated by the French and were now occupied by British garrisons, were being attacked by the Amerindians. Indeed the presence of the British in these areas did not please many of the Native nations, who preferred the cordial diplomacy and gifts of the French era. More serious still, the Americans were behaving as if they were in a conquered land and considered the Amerindian hunting grounds land to be colonized. This caused resentment among the warriors. Why, they asked themselves, should battles between white people in remote places have anything to do with their fate and that of their land? Chief Pontiac, 25 an exceptional man, was able to rally several Amerindian nations. His plan was very simple: get rid of the British and the Americans.