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Telescope - 3 - On The Conspiracy of Pontiac Nineteen Sixty-Three brings us a multitude of Great Lakes anniversaries. First, there is the Battle of Lake Erie, which took place on September 10, 1813, one-hundred-and-fifty years ago. We should hear more in coming months about public commemoration of this if it doesn't become buried in observing the current Civil War centennial. Fifty years ago occurred the Great Storm of 1913, best known of Great Lakes gales. And finally, this is also the two hundredth anniversary of what is known as "Pontiac's Conspiracy." Two hundred years ago the British had just acquired the Great Lakes region from France in the "French and Indian War" of roughly 1755 to 1760. But except for Lake Ontario the Great Lakes saw very little action in that conflict, and the outcome was decided on eastern soil. But if French-Canadians became resigned to becoming British subjects, Indians didn't welcome the idea. France gave up its domain in the Peace of Paris in 1763 without so much as asking consent of the Indians, who were indignant at being considered negotiable property. Indians distrusted British fur-traders and land-hungry British settlers. In turn the British regarded Indians as irritable nuisances akin to wild animals, squandering land that only civilization knew how to cultivate properly. The French fur-trading economy, on the other hand, had always agreed with preserving the Indians' wild domain. In the lake region the French hadn't been settlers, and Detroit--with a 1760 population of about 2,500 -- had been the only major French settlement (except forts and trading posts) between Montreal and the Illinois country. Encouraged by French-Canadian inhabitants, the Indians came to believe that a major Indian initiative to expel the British would be followed up by mighty armies of the King of France. The Indians could not imagine how firmly established were the eastern British colonies which they supposed might be driven into the Atlantic. But the outposts of the Great Lakes region looked vulnerable enough. The British were complacent, having put down minor Indian conspiracies in 1761-62, and their forts were lightly garrisonned. Normally, under their informal disciplines and allegiences, Indians were seldom able to mount a long-term military campaign under a single leader. But in the Ottawa chief Pontiac they found a clever leader commanding enough strong loyalties for such an undertaking. After his diplomatic groundwork brought together other Indians in the region above the Ohio River, Pontiac called a council at Ecorces River in late April of 1763. Early in May, with weapons concealed under blankets, Pontiac's forces paid a social visit to the fort nearby at Detroit. Tipped off in advance, the British Major Gladwyn received his callers, but his British troops presented a well-armed appearance and Pontiac wisely let pass the opportunity to strike. Now Pontiac's forces besieged the British garrison of Detroit. Secret provisioning by friendly French inhabitants sus-