The Indians had captured the convoy and were
forcing their captives to row. In the foremost boat were
four soldiers and three savages. Nearing the fortress
one of the soldiers conceived the daring plan of
overpowering the Indian guard and escaping to the _Beaver_,
which lay anchored in front of the fort. Seizing the
nearest savage he attempted to throw him into the river;
but the Indian succeeded in stabbing him, and both fell
overboard and were drowned. The other savages, dreading
capture, leapt out of the boat and swam ashore. The bateau
with the three soldiers in it reached the _Beaver_, and
the provisions and ammunition it contained were taken to
the fort. The Indians in the remaining bateaux, warned
by the fate of the leading vessel, landed on the east
shore; and, marching their prisoners overland past the
fort, they took them across the river to Pontiac's camp,
where most of them were put to death with fiendish cruelty.
The soldiers who escaped to the _Beaver_ told the story
of the ill-fated convoy. On May 13 Lieutenant Abraham
Cuyler, totally ignorant of the outbreak of hostilities
at Detroit, had left Fort Schlosser with ninety-six men
in ten bateaux. They had journeyed in leisurely fashion
along the northern shore of Lake Erie, and by the 28th
had reached Point Pelee, about thirty miles from the
Detroit river.
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