Pontiac Conspiracy
| Pontiac's War Pontiac's Rebellion |
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| Part of the American Indian Wars | |||||||||
 In a famous council on April 28, 1763, Pontiac urged listeners to rise up against the British. (19th century engraving by Alfred Bobbett). |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Great Britain |
Ottawas Ojibwas Potawatomis Hurons Miamis Weas Kickapoos Mascoutens Piankashaws Delawares Shawnees Wyandots Mingos Seneca |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Jeffrey Amherst Henry Bouquet Thomas Gage
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Pontiac Guyasuta |
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| Strength | |||||||||
| ~3,000 soldiers | ~3,500 soldiers | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 450 soldiers killed, 2,000 civilians killed or captured, 4,000 civilians displaced |
~200-1,500 soldiers. Civilian casualties unknown. | ||||||||
Pontiac's War (also known as Pontiac's Conspiracy or Pontiac's Rebellion) was launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of elements of Native American tribes, primarily from the Great Lakes region, the Illinois Country, and Ohio Country who were dissatisfied with British postwar policies in the Great Lakes region after the British victory in the French and Indian War (1754–1763). Warriors from numerous tribes joined the uprising in an effort to drive British soldiers and settlers out of the region. The war is named after the Odawa leader Pontiac, the most prominent of many native leaders in the conflict.
The war began in May 1763 when Native Americans, offended by the policies of British General Jeffrey Amherst, attacked a number of British forts and settlements. Eight forts were destroyed, and hundreds of colonists were killed or captured, with many more fleeing the region. Hostilities came to an end after British Army expeditions in 1764 led to peace negotiations over the next two years. Native Americans were unable to drive away the British, but the uprising prompted the British government to modify the policies that had provoked the conflict.
Warfare on the North American frontier was brutal, and the killing of prisoners, the targeting of civilians, and other atrocities were widespread. The ruthlessness and treachery of the conflict was a reflection of a growing divide between the separate populations of the British colonists and Native Americans. Contrary to popular belief, the British government did not issue the Royal Proclamation of 1763 in reaction to Pontiac's War, though the conflict did provide an impetus for the application of the Proclamation's Indian clauses. This proved unpopular with British colonists, and may have been one of the early contributing factors to the American Revolution.
The conflict is named after its most famous participant, the Ottawa leader Pontiac; variations include "Pontiac's War", "Pontiac's Rebellion", and "Pontiac's Uprising". An early name for the war was the "Kiyasuta and Pontiac War", "Kiyasuta" being an alternate spelling for Guyasuta, an influential Seneca/Mingo leader. The war became widely known as "Pontiac's Conspiracy" after the publication in 1851 of Francis Parkman's The Conspiracy of Pontiac. Parkman's influential book, the definitive account of the war for nearly a century, is still in print.
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