He had lived at Mackinack,
going to Thunder Bay to hunt. He died, not very old, at a treaty held on
the Maumee. He (himself) had heard of the taking of old Mackinack, but
was born after the removal of the post to the island, and his father
died before he had instructed him. He had not heard of Wawitum, or
Menehwehwa, of whom I questioned him.
This answer is a specimen of Indian caution and suspicion of white men.
I knew but little of the man then, and had seen him but once or twice.
He evidently "played shy," and was determined the Anglo-Saxon race
should get no facts from him that might ever be told to the disadvantage
of the Indians who had once, under the lead of a noted chief (Pontiac),
been led, under the deception of a ball-play, to fall on the unprepared
ranks of a British garrison, and stain their history with a horrible
tale of blood. Henry's travels preserve the most vivid account of this
massacre, for he was himself an eye witness of some of its atrocities,
and was spared, by a remarkable Providence, from being one of
its victims.
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