Chris Lowrey
PONTIAC Feb. 19, 2018
With the recent agreement struck between the MRC Pontiac and a group of concerned citizens about the use of a representation of Chief Pontiac as the logo that sits on the SAAQ office floors, it seems like a good time to dig into who the man known as Pontiac actually was.
Pontiac, also known as Obwandiyag, was a chief in the Odawa nation in the territory around Detroit, Michigan. He was born around 1720.
Little is known about his early life, but after backing the French in the French and Indian War, Pontiac led a coalition of Indigenous nations in opposition to British rule in what’s known as Pontiac’s War.
After the British defeated New France during the French and Indian War, Indigenous groups became increasingly frustrated with the fur trading practices of the victorious British.
By 1761, tribal leaders began calling for an alliance of Indigenous tribes to oppose the British.
On May 7, 1763 Pontiac staged a surprise attack on Fort Detroit with the assistance of 300 supporters. After unsuccessful attempts to take the fort, Pontiac decided to lay siege to it.
He was eventually joined by more than 900 warriors from more than a half-dozen tribes.
Although the siege was ultimately unsuccessful, several other Indigenous Nations decided to take up the mantle and attacked British forts – eventually controlling nine of 11 British forts in the Ohio Valley.
In July of 1763, Pontiac defeated a British attachment during the Battle of Bloody Run, but was unable to secure the fort.
After withdrawing to the Illinois County, Pontiac began to exert even more influence.
On July 25, 1766, Pontiac signed a peace treaty with the British at a conference in Oswego, New York.
After the end of hostilities, Pontiac began acting as a representative of the Indigenous Nations. However, several groups felt Pontiac was overstepping his authority.
In 1768, he was forced out of his Odawa village on the Maumee River and dictated a letter to the British explaining that his people no longer recognized him as a chief.
On April 20, 1769, Pontiac was murdered by a Peoria warrior who was apparently avenging his uncle, whom Pontiac had stabbed in 1766. The Peoria warrior clubbed Pontiac from behind and stabbed him to death.
Pontiac is remembered as an early catalyst for Indigenous opposition to British rule in North America.
