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Marquis, Thomas Guthrie, 1864-1936

"The War Chief of the Ottawas : A chronicle of the Pontiac war"

' On the 23rd Indian messengers, among
whom was an Ottawa chief, [Footnote: In Rogers's journal
of this trip no mention is made of Pontiac's name. In _A
Concise Account of North America_, published in 1765,
with Rogers's name on the title-page, a detailed account
of a meeting with Pontiac at the Cuyahoga is given, but
this book seems to be of doubtful authenticity. It was,
however, accepted by Parkman.] arrived at the British
camp, at the western end of Lake Erie, reporting that
Beletre intended to fight and that he had arrested the
officer who bore Rogers's message. Beletre's chief reason
for doubting the truth of Rogers's statement appears to
have been that no French officers had accompanied the
British contingent from Montreal.
When the troops entered the Detroit river Rogers sent
Captain Donald Campbell to the fort with a copy of the
capitulation of Montreal and Vaudreuil's letter instructing
Beletre to hand over his fort to the British. These
documents were convincing, and Beletre [Footnote: Although
Beletre received Rogers and his men in no friendly spirit,
he seems soon to have become reconciled to British rule
for in 1763 he was appointed to the first Legislative
Council of Canada, and until the time of his death in
May 1793 he was a highly respected citizen of Quebec.


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