Ottawas leapt into their canoes and paddled swiftly to Ile au Cochon, where lived a former sergeant, James Fisher.  Fisher was seized, killed, and scalped, his young wife brutally murdered, and their two little children carried into captivity.  On this same day news was brought to the fort that Sir Robert Davers and Captain Robertson had been murdered three days before on Lake St Clair by, Chippewas who were on their way from Saginaw to join Pontiac’s forces.  Thus began the Pontiac War in the vicinity of Detroit.  For several months the garrison was to know little rest.

That night at the Ottawa village arose the hideous din of the war-dance, and while the warriors worked themselves into a frenzy the squaws were busy breaking camp.  Before daylight the village was moved to the opposite side of the river, and the wigwams were pitched near the mouth of Parent’s Creek, about a mile and a half above the fort.  On the morning of the 10th the siege began in earnest.  Shortly after daybreak the yells of a horde of savages could be heard north and south and west.  But few of the enemy could be seen, as they had excellent shelter behind barns, outhouses, and fences.  For six hours they kept up a continuous fire on the garrison, but wounded only five men.  The fort vigorously returned the fire, and none of the enemy dared attempt to rush the palisades.  A cluster of buildings in the rear sheltered a particularly ferocious set of savages.  A three-pounder—­the only effective artillery in the fort—­was trained on this position; spikes were bound together with wire, heated red-hot, and fired at the buildings.  These were soon a mass of flames, and the savages concealed behind them fled for their lives.

Presently the Indians grew tired of this useless warfare and withdrew to their villages.  Gladwyn, thinking that he might bring Pontiac to terms, sent La Butte to ask the cause of the attack and to say that the British were ready to redress any wrongs from which the Indians might be suffering.  La Butte was accompanied by Jean Baptiste Chapoton, a captain of the militia and a man of some importance in the fort, and Jacques Godfroy, a trader and likewise an officer of militia.  It may be noted that Godfroy’s wife was the daughter of a Miami chief.  The ambassadors were received in a friendly manner by Pontiac, who seemed ready to cease hostilities.  La Butte returned to the fort with some of the chiefs to report progress; but when he went again to Pontiac he found that the Ottawa chief had made no definite promise.  It seems probable, judging from their later actions, that Chapoton and Godfroy had betrayed Gladwyn and urged Pontiac to force the British out of the country.  Pontiac now requested that Captain Donald Campbell, who had been in charge of Detroit before Gladwyn took over the command, should come to his village to discuss terms.  Campbell was confident that he could pacify the Indians, and, accompanied by Lieutenant George McDougall, he set out along the river road for the