Pontiac

Pontiac, Ottawa chief

Pontiac, fl. 1760–66, Ottawa chief. He may have been the chief met by Robert Rogers in 1760 when Rogers was on his way to take possession of the Western forts for the English. Although the Native American uprising against the English colonists just after the French and Indian Wars is known as Pontiac's Rebellion or Pontiac's Conspiracy, Pontiac's role is uncertain. He definitely was present at the siege of Detroit, and encouraged other tribes to fight the British, but most of the actual fighting and strategy was probably planned independently by other Native American leaders. After the rebellion had failed and a treaty had been concluded (1766), Pontiac is supposed to have gone west and to have been murdered by Illinois at Cahokia. This story is, however, accepted by few authorities.

Bibliography

See bibliography under Pontiac's Rebellion.

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Pontiac, city, United States

Pontiac, industrial city (1990 pop. 71,166), seat of Oakland co., SE Mich., on the Clinton River; founded 1818 by promoters from Detroit, inc. as a city 1861. Industries developed early and expanded after the railroad came. Carriage making, important in the 1880s, gave way to the automobile industry and the manufacture of trucks, buses, and automotive parts. Pontiac still is an auto-manufacturing center, but on a much smaller scale since the decline of the U.S. auto industry in the 1970s and 80s. Chemicals, ferrous and nonferrous metals, wood products, and electrical equipment are also manufactured. The city was named for the Ottawa chief Pontiac, who is said to be buried nearby. The Silverdome sports and entertainment complex is there. Numerous state parks and several hundred lakes are in the area.

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Pontiac

(born c. 1720, on the Maumee River in present-day Ohio, U.S.—died April 20, 1769, near the Mississippi River at present-day Cahokia, Ill.) Ottawa Indian chief. At first friendly with whites, Pontiac realized that his people would lose their ancestral lands in the Great Lakes area if white encroachment were not stopped. With a series of actions that came to be known as Pontiac's War (1763–64), he coordinated the attack on 12 fortified British posts by a confederacy of tribes, winning a great victory. He himself led the attack on the fort at Detroit, in what is now Michigan, U.S. Continuing British action took its toll, however, and in 1766 Pontiac finally agreed to a peace treaty. His murder in 1769 by an Illinois Indian provoked the vengeance of several northern Algonquian tribes, resulting in the virtual destruction of the Illinois.

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Pontiac (?1720–69) Ottawa chief; born in present-day Ohio. Nothing is known of his early years, but according to the 19th-century historian Francis Parkman, he was an Ottawa chief who favored the French in their struggle with the English. Opposing the British takeover of the Old Northwest, about 1762 he organized a coalition of Indian tribes against them. He led the year-long siege of Fort Detroit (1763–64) while other Indian forces captured eight British forts before they were eventually defeated. Pontiac agreed to peace in 1766. He was apparently murdered by a Peoria warrior in the pay of an English trader. Historians are unsure whether Pontiac actually led what is called "Pontiac's conspiracy" or "rebellion," or if he was only one of several Indian leaders; his role was dramatized and highlighted by Parkman.

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Pontiac

died 1769, chief of the Ottawa Indians, who led a rebellion against the British (1763--66)

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Pontiac

(1720–1769) brains behind widespread American Indian uprising (1762). [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 398]

See : Conspiracy