By Charles William Jefferys (1869–1951), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. Source
Battle of Bushy Run, near Fort Pitt.
X
The Battle of Bushy Run, as imagined by Charles William Jefferys (1869–1951) in about 1915. The battle, fought on August 5th-6th, 1763, was a victory for the British under their Anglo-Swiss commander Henry Bouquet, and delivered Fort Pitt, the origin of Pittsburgh, from the hands of the indigenous Canadian forces. Pontiac’s grievances were real and his fears justified, and he is to be applauded for appreciating the benefits of free markets and of ‘multipolarity’, i.e. a world not dominated by one bullying Power. Yet victory would have given the French monarchy a tremendous boost to its prestige, its war-chest, and its ideas of government. Would Parisians have thrown out such a King in 1789? Would French colonists have broken from him in 1776?
Back to text
Battle of Bushy Run, near Fort Pitt.
Enlarge & read more...
By Charles William Jefferys (1869–1951), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
The Battle of Bushy Run, as imagined by Charles William Jefferys (1869–1951) in about 1915. The battle, fought on August 5th-6th, 1763, was a victory for the British under their Anglo-Swiss commander Henry Bouquet, and delivered Fort Pitt, the origin of Pittsburgh, from the hands of the indigenous Canadian forces. Pontiac’s grievances were real and his fears justified, and he is to be applauded for appreciating the benefits of free markets and of ‘multipolarity’, i.e. a world not dominated by one bullying Power. Yet victory would have given the French monarchy a tremendous boost to its prestige, its war-chest, and its ideas of government. Would Parisians have thrown out such a King in 1789? Would French colonists have broken from him in 1776?
THE tribes south of the Great Lakes and east of the Mississippi were roused to action by Pontiac,* a chief of the Ottawas, whose eloquence convinced the warriors of the iniquity of the English. The Wyandots and the Senecas joined Pontiac, and the other Iroquois* tribes might have gone with him had it not been for the restraining influence of Sir William Johnson.*
In the summer of 1763 the western posts were seized; Michilimackinac,* St Joseph,* Miami,* and Presqu’ile* fell before the savage onslaught. War was carried to the frontier settlements of Virginia and Pennsylvania, and the communities were terrorized as was New England in the older days of the Indian raiding parties. Fort Pitt was relieved by Colonel Bouquet* and Detroit by Colonel Bradstreet after a siege of more than fifteen months.* It was not until July, 1766, that peace was restored and the submission of the Indians obtained.
* Pontiac or Obwaandi’eyaag (?1714/20-1769) was a leader from among the Ottawa or Odawa tribe of native Americans, who dwelt in what is now the State of Michigan, USA.
* Iroquois, pronounced (English style) irre-kwoy or (French style) irre-kwa, was a French term borrowed from the Wyandot or Huron tribe, meaning ‘black snake’. As used by Europeans, it denoted peoples speaking a language of the Iroquois family, and specifically six peoples (the Mohawk, Oneida, Seneca, Onondaga, Cayuga and Tuscarora) from what is now southern Ontario, Quebec and northern New York State, who together had formed an Iroquois Confederacy.
* Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet of New York (?1715-1774), a respected army officer with a good knowledge of Mohawk language and Iroquois culture, who served as British Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern District from 1756 to his death in 1774.
* Fort Michilimackinac (pronounced mishili-mac-inaw), erected by the French in 1715 on the northernmost tip of what is now the State of Michigan, guarding the Straits of Mackinac that connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron. Pontiac’s warriors took the fort thanks to a cleverly staged game of bagattaway, the Ojibwa’s form of Lacrosse.
* Fort St Joseph was a British garrison at what is now Niles, Michigan, at the southeastern corner of Lake Michigan. It fell to Pontiac on May 25th, 1763.
* Fort Miami, now Fort Wayne in the northeast corner of Indiana. The garrison was established by the French in 1715 among the Miami tribe, where the St Joseph and St Mary’s rivers meet to form the Maumee.
* Fort Presqu’île (French for peninsula) — or, to the British, Presque Isle — was built by French soldiers in the summer of 1753, along Presque Isle Bay at present-day Erie, Pennsylvania.
* Henry Bouquet (1719-1765), a Swiss-born officer in the British Army, who lifted the siege of Fort Pitt on August 5th-6th, 1763, at the Battle of Bushy Run. Fort Pitt, some 100 miles south of Lake Erie, later grew into Pittsburgh. It was as Bouquet was nearing Fort Pitt that he and Lord Amherst corresponded on how blankets infected with smallpox might be used ‘to extirpate this execrable race’. The ghastly experiment was tried, but happily no abnormal incidence of smallpox made itself felt. A better attitude prevailed in 1807: see A Precious Gift.
* Fort Detroit, the foundation of the modern city of Detroit at the southern end of Lake Huron. The siege began on May 9th, and Pontiac retained a tight external grip through to the end of October, when the onset of winter drew away many of his warriors. In the Spring of 1764, the blockade was renewed though numbers were smaller. John Bradstreet (1714-1774), a Canadian-born British officer, arrived in late August 1764.
Questions for Critics
1. What is the author
aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that
strike you. How do they help the author communicate his
ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you?
How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939)
by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at
Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn,
Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University,
USA.
Précis
An Ottawa chieftain named Pontiac emerged as the leader of the revolt. Not every tribe supported him; nevertheless, within months his warriors had taken several key forts in the Great Lakes area, while harassing civilian settlements further east. The British Army eventually turned the tide, but it was not until the summer of 1766 that the danger was truly past.(60 / 60 words)
An Ottawa chieftain named Pontiac emerged as the leader of the revolt. Not every tribe supported him; nevertheless, within months his warriors had taken several key forts in the Great Lakes area, while harassing civilian settlements further east. The British Army eventually turned the tide, but it was not until the summer of 1766 that the danger was truly past.
Edit | Reset
Variations:
1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words.2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words.3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, if, may, must, or, ought, since, whether.
About the Author
Duncan A. McArthur (1885-1943), born in Dutton, Ontario, started out as an archivist, a lawyer and then a fund manager. In 1922, he joined the Department of History at his alma mater, Queen’s University at Kingston, Nova Scotia, as Douglas Professor in Canadian and Colonial History, later serving as Head of Department. A gifted teacher, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Education for Ontario in 1934, and elevated to Minister in 1940, a post he held for three years while representing Simcoe Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal. McArthur reformed and modernised the Ontario education system, and wrote several textbooks himself. He married Floy Lawson in 1920, and the couple had two daughters, Mary and Helen.
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1Action.Force.Have.
2Life.Now.Take.
3Bouquet.Great.Month.
Variations:1.include direct and indirect speech2.include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who3.use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
In each group below, you will find words that are similar to one another, but not exactly the same. Compose your own sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between them, whether in meaning, grammar or use.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
In each group below, you will find words that sound the same, but differ in spelling and also in meaning. Compose your own sentences to bring out the differences between them.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
If you like what I’m doing here on Clay Lane,
from time to time you could
buy me a coffee.
Buy Me a
Coffee is a crowdfunding website, used by over a million people. It is designed
to help content creators like me make a living from their work. ‘Buy Me a
Coffee’ prides itself on its security, and
there is no need to register.
Related Posts
Hudson Bay
ByDuncan A. McArthur
Canada’s Hudson Bay has been a cause of war and an engine of
prosperity, but long before that it was the scene of cold treachery.
