With the opening of spring preparations began in earnest for a twofold invasion of the Indian country.  One army was to proceed to Detroit by way of Niagara and the Lakes, and another from Fort Pitt was to take the field against the Delawares and the Shawnees.  To Colonel John Bradstreet, who in 1758 had won distinction by his capture of Fort Frontenac, was assigned the command of the contingent that was to go to Detroit.  Bradstreet was to punish the Wyandots of Sandusky, and likewise the members of the Ottawa Confederacy if he should find them hostile.  He was also to relieve Gladwyn and re-garrison the forts captured by the Indians in 1763.  Bradstreet left Albany in June with a large force of colonial troops and regulars, including three hundred French Canadians from the St Lawrence, whom Gage had thought it wise to have enlisted, in order to impress upon the Indians that they need no longer expect assistance from the French in their wars against the British.

To prepare the way for Bradstreet’s arrival Sir William Johnson had gone in advance to Niagara, where he had called together ambassadors from all the tribes, not only from those that had taken part in the war, but from all within his jurisdiction.  He had found a vast concourse of Indians awaiting him.  The wigwams of over a thousand warriors dotted the low-lying land at the mouth of the river.  In a few days the number had grown to two thousand —­representatives of nations as far east as Nova Scotia, as far west as the Mississippi, and as far north as Hudson Bay.  Pontiac was absent, nor were there any Delaware, Shawnee, or Seneca ambassadors present.  These were absent through dread; but later the Senecas sent deputies to ratify the treaty made with Johnson in April.  When Bradstreet and his troops arrived negotiations were in full swing.  For nearly a month councils were held, and at length all the chiefs present had entered into an alliance with the British.  This accomplished, Johnson, on August 6, left Niagara for his home, while Bradstreet continued his journey towards Detroit.

Bradstreet halted at Presqu’isle.  Here he was visited by pretended deputies from the Shawnees and Delawares, who ostensibly sought peace.  He made a conditional treaty with them and agreed to meet them twenty-five days later at Sandusky, where they were to bring their British prisoners.  From Presqu’isle he wrote to Bouquet at Fort Pitt, saying that it would be unnecessary to advance into the Delaware country, as the Delawares were now at peace.  He also reported his success, as he considered it, to Gage, but Gage was not impressed:  he disavowed the treaty and instructed Bouquet to continue his preparations.  Continuing his journey, Bradstreet rested at Sandusky, where more Delawares waited on him and agreed to make peace.  It was at this juncture that he sent Captain Thomas Morris on his ill-starred mission to the tribes of the Mississippi. [Footnote:  Morris and his companions got no farther