The Revolt of Pontiac and the American Invasion

Native Nations Resist British Control

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The British Response

The Canadians had never seen anything like it. Amerindians attacking fortified positions defended by regular garrisons, and taking them! This was certainly not in keeping with their customs. The British military and the American colonists were concerned. The whole West was about to fall, and along with it much of the fur trade. The Canadians - who were newly minted British subjects - were perplexed if not worried. In New York, General Amherst, supreme commander in British North America, was at first taken aback by the vigour of Pontiac's attacks; but he eventually decided that a strong contingent of regular troops, supported by volunteer American militiamen, should go as quickly as possible to the Ohio Valley to rescue the forts under attack. A second contingent, made up of British troops assisted by their implacable former enemies - the Canadian militiamen - would leave later from Montreal to retake the small forts located further west.