Pontiac

Pontiac: Local Warrior or Pan-Indian Leader? by Richard Middleton In 1848 a delegation of Menominee people from the Green Bay area of Wisconsin met a United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs to discuss the tribe's removal west of the Mississippi. One of the chiefs complained to a group of waiting Indians that the white people never gave up their quest for land. This led him to comment that Pontiac had foreseen such an outcome. His listeners asked who was Pontiac? Sho no-nee, the Menominee chief, responded that he was "a noble minded Indian" who had lived long before. He had once come toMilwaukee to warn the different tribes about the white man and his ways. Pontiac had observed that they invariably came speaking sofdy, deluding the Indians into allowing them into their community. Once admitted they gained strength by continually encroaching on the Indians' land. Pontiac's message had been clear. It was time to "sweep the white men from our country." Much to their regret, the Menominee had failed to heed his words.1 Now they were paying the price for not supporting aman who could have been Native America's George Washington. This incident is indicative of the two enduring views of Pontiac. The first is that he was a great pan-Indian leader whose warnings should have been heeded by allNative Peoples. The other is that Pontiac was a relatively minor figure, forgotten even by his own people, whose deeds merit little more than a footnote in the history of North America. Interestingly, Euro-American contemporaries of Pontiac veered toward the first view, that he was a pan-Indian leader. General Sir Jeffery Amherst had few doubts about his central role, dubbing Pontiac "the Ringleader of theMischief that began inMay 1763 and resulted in The author wishes to acknowledge the many helpful comments from the external assessors for this article, as well as the assistance and encouragement from the editorial staff, David Macleod and Mary Graham. 1Louis B. Porlier, "The Capture of Mackinaw, 1763: A Menominee Tradition," Report and Collections of the State Historical Sodety ofWisconsin (Madison: The Society, 1879), 8: 227-29. Porlier was a former Indian trader and witness to this incident. Michigan Historical Review 32:2 (Fall 2006): 1-32 ?2006 by Central Michigan University. ISSN 0890-1686 All Rights Reserved. 2 Michigan Historical Review the capture of every British post west of the Allegheny Mountains, with the exception of Forts Pitt, Detroit, and Niagara with its several outposts.2 Amherst's successor, General Thomas Gage, agreed. Even two years after the outbreak of fighting, he observed that Pontiac had retained his "influence" and capacity to "do mischief," especially among the western nations. This was confirmed by Colonel John Campbell, who noted Pontiac's "vast influence" during a peace conference at Detroit in the summer of 1765, which signaled an end to the hostilities. The importance of the Ottawa leader was publicized for a short time in London by Robert Rogers in his play, Ponteach, or, theSavages of America: A Tragedy.3 Although both Europeans and Native Americans may have subsequendy forgotten about Pontiac, as was seemingly the case at the time of theMenominee removal, his prominence as a pan-Indian leader was restated soon afterwards with the publication in 1851 of Francis Parkman's magisterial study, The Conspiracy ofPontiac and the Indian War after theConquest ofCanada. Parkman wrote that Pontiac's authority over the confederated Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi "was almost despotic, and his power extended far beyond the limits of the three united tribes. His influence was great among all the nations of the Illinois country; while from the sources of the Ohio to those of the Mississippi, and, indeed, to the farthest boundaries of the wide-spread Algonquin race, his name was known and respected."4 However, not everyone was convinced of Pontiac's role as a pan Indian leader, especially by the twentieth century. Randolph G. Adams, author of the 1935 entry about Pontiac in the Dictionary ofAmerican Biography, asserted that in reality he was litde more than "the greatest local menace."5 A similar view was taken by Howard Peckham in Pontiac and theIndian Uprising, published

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