Haughty Conquerors: Amherst and the Great Indian Uprising of 1763

They would not dare to anger us for before a regular army the Indians are helpless. -- Sir Jeffrey Amherst

I know the Indians cannot long persevere. They are a rash, inconsistent people and inclined to mischief and will never consider consequences though it may lead to their ruin. -- George Croghan

All the nations who are our brothers attack -- why should we not attack too? Are we not men like them? . . . What do we fear? It is time. -- Pontiac

Fort Detroit was the key bastion of British power in the upper Great Lakes.¹ For that the British could thank the French who founded Detroit in 1719 at one of the most strategic sites in North America. The Detroit River flows southwest from Lake St. Clair, Lake Huron's drainage, and then south into Lake Erie. Fort Detroit was sited on the northwest bank where the river begins to angle south.

The fort was a rectangular palisade whose walls rose a dozen feet and were backed by packed earth ramparts seven feet high from which troops could level their muskets at the surrounding fields. Two blockhouses anchored each coener of the wall along the river while another blockhouse stood at the north wall's center. About 150 yards beyond the north wall two blockhouses were placed within musket fire of each other. Three cannon

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