(1720?–69). A chief of the Ottawa people, Pontiac was one of the greatest of all Native American leaders. Pontiac is best known for the alliance he made with other tribes to stop the British from expanding their settlements into the Great Lakes area. The war he started is now called Pontiac's War.

Early life

Pontiac was born in about 1720 along the Maumee River in what is now Ohio. What he did as a young man is not known, but by 1755 he was a chief. At that time the French and Indian War was being fought. The British were fighting against the French for control of North America. The Ottawa and most other tribes were on the side of the French. The war lasted nine years, from 1754 to 1763.

Despite siding with the French, Pontiac allowed British troops to pass through his people's land in 1760. The troops were on their way to claim forts that the French had surrendered. Pontiac soon realized that his people would no longer be welcome at the forts. He also feared that his people would lose their hunting grounds to British settlers. As the French were being defeated, Pontiac picked up the fight against the British.

Pontiac's War

In 1762 Pontiac asked for help from nearly every Indian tribe in the region. He called upon each tribe to make a surprise attack on the fort nearest to them. Then he wanted the tribes to come together to destroy the defenseless British settlements. His goal was to drive the British out of the Great Lakes region.

Pontiac himself planned to capture the most important fort—Fort Detroit, on the site of present-day Detroit, Michigan—in May 1763. The British had been warned in advance, however, and Pontiac had to call off his attack. Instead he laid siege to the fort, meaning that he and his forces stopped people from entering or leaving it. In the end Pontiac was unable to take Detroit from the British. He went back to the Maumee River.

Pontiac's larger war plan was more successful. In all, Pontiac's forces attacked 12 forts and captured eight of them. They also destroyed many British settlements. After a few years of fighting without help from the French, however, Pontiac grew tired. He agreed to a treaty of peace with the British in 1766.

Death

In 1769 a Peoria Indian of the Illinois group stabbed and killed Pontiac in Cahokia, Illinois, near St. Louis, Missouri. Pontiac is said to have stabbed an Illinois Indian three years earlier. The killing of Pontiac may have been revenge for that act, or it may have been ordered by the British. Several tribes took revenge for Pontiac's death by attacking the Illinois, greatly reducing their power.