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As silently as they had come, the chiefs went home; some by water, some afoot, and no white man knew of the meeting! Detroit was the largest and most important of the English posts. Pontiac himself would seize this by aid of his Ottawas, some Potawatomis and Wyandots. To the Chippewas and the Sacs was given over the next important fur-trade station, that of Mich-il-i-mac-ki-nac, north.
The Sacs of the upper Mississippi had sent to Canada for ammunition. From Chicago had come word that the Potawatomis and other tribes near Fort Dearborn were preparing. Governor Harrison had suggested that the two brothers travel to Washington and talk with the President about lands. He himself had no power to promise that treaties should not be made with separate nations.
The Potawatomis, whose name is spelled also Pottawattamis, were known as the "Nation of Fire." They had lived the farthest westward of all, until the Sioux met them and forced them back. The Ottawas were recorded by the early French as rude and barbarous. The Chippewas, or Ojibwas, were recorded as skillful hunters and brave warriors.
Under the direction of Commander-in-Chief Little Turtle, in the darkness this night the Indian army stole forward and was posted with as much skill as any white army. The Miamis held the center; the Wyandots, the Delawares and the Senecas held the right; the Ottawas, the Potawatomis, the Shawnees, and others, held the left. They were ready.
The general sent another word, that if Black-hawk did not turn around, soldiers would make him turn around. Black-hawk replied that he was at peace and would stay at peace unless the soldiers attacked him. He told his men not to fire first. Pretty soon he met some Winnebagos and Potawatomis. They said that their nations never had sent him any message talking war.
He was accompanied on this journey by two assistants two true heroes known to history only as Pierre and Jacques, and a band of Potawatomis and Illinois. In ten canoes the party paddled southward from Green Bay, for nearly a month buffeting the tempestuous autumn seas of Lake Michigan. They ascended the Chicago river for six miles and encamped.
The Hurons, styled in English Wyandots, fled clear into Michigan and spread down into northern Ohio. Of the Algonkins there were three nations who clung together as the Council of the Three Fires. These were the Ottawas, the Ojibwas and the Potawatomis. The Ottawas were known as the "Trade People" and the "Raised Hairs."
The Indians to be feared hereabouts were roving Sacs, Potawatomis and Winnebagos from the north; yes, and the Prairie Kickapoos from the Wabash River on the east.
The Potawatomis were recorded as the most friendly and kind-hearted among the northern Indians. Of these people many still exist, in Canada and the United States. When England, aided by her American colonies, began to oppose France in the New World in 1755, the Three Fires helped the French. They were then holding part of present Wisconsin and all of Michigan.
In the village there were perhaps forty other men. On both sides of the river lay the fertile farms of the French settlers. Back of the farms on the east or Canadian side, and about five miles from Detroit, was the teeming village of Pontiac's Ottawas. Potawatomis and Wyandots also lived near. At Pontiac's call there waited more than a thousand warriors. The set time approached.
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