Bloody British

 The British were at war with the French and in the late 1700s with Americans. They armed the Indians with scalping knives, tomahawks and guns and led them on raiding parties where they butchered thousands of Indians and American settlers. They bought scalps. British Rule began in 1760 when British Major Robert Rogers and his command arrived at Detroit. At that time there were 300 houses and 2,000 inhabitants. The English were also after furs and wanted to own North America. The Indians were duped by Europeans into killing one another and killing Europeans and later killing American settlers. In general the Indians were cheated out of their lands, displaced sometimes murdered by Europeans and Americans and sometimes they retaliated. We in our time have rule by law. They had rule by brute force. To discourage settlers, rumors were spread that the Warren area was as an impassable swamp. The British did not want American settlers coming into our area so they had them killed. Hundreds of Michigan settlers and Indians were brutally tortured and scalped including children. Settlers in the Macomb county area did not escape this terrible fate. Sometimes the savages ate parts of their victims. Not nice but true.

In 1790 scalps of American soldiers were paraded daily thru the streets of Detroit accompanied by the demoniac scalp-yells of the warriors who had taken them. (Silas Farmer p265) Not all Indians agreed with treaties that cheated them out of their lands and they continued to fight when ever and where ever they could often killing innocent settlers.

There were many French settlers around Detroit and northward mostly along the banks of the Detroit River and lake St Clair.  They had very long narrow farms that touched on the water’s edge. They were mostly a happy peaceful lot.  Reports from Detroit were that it was a fairly happy place where almost everyone were friends.  Any trouble was dealt with quickly by the military stationed there.  The French settlers friendliness to the Indians probably saved their lives later.  But the Indians continually begged for things.  
Between 1689 and 1763 France and Great Britain fought four wars.  The French and Indian War went from 1754-1760 was really the struggle between the French and the British for domination of North America. The British defeated the French and took control of Canada, Michigan and the fur trade. About 160 years of French rule came to an end in 1760. 
 

The Bloody British
British Rule began on November 29 1760  when British Major Robert Rogers and his command arrived at Detroit. “At noon, the French Fleur-de-lis was lowered and the British Union Jack was raised.” *  At that time there were 300 houses and 2,000 inhabitants.  The English were also after furs and wanted to own North America. 
 
The British did not treat the Indians as well as the French did.  They did not give out as many gifts and they set the Indian tribes against each other and against American settlers. The Indians were duped by Europeans into killing one another and killing Europeans and later killing American settlers. In general the Indians were cheated out of their lands, displaced sometimes murdered by Europeans and Americans and sometimes they retaliated.  A few of their descendants still live in Macomb County.
We in our time have rule by law.  They had rule by brute force. 
There were small bands of Indians that also lived just outside of the fort at Detroit.  When word of the American Revolution came in most of the French settlers were more sympathetic to the Americans than to the British.  The British did not want American settlers coming into the area so they had them killed.
To discourage settlers, rumors were spread that the Warren area was as an impassable swamp.
  The British gave bands of Indians guns, gun powder, tomahawks and scalping knives.   The British actually bought scalps and led raiding parties against settlers, and any Indian family not aligned with them.  Again it was rule by brute force rather than rule by law.  Hundreds of Michigan settlers and Indians were brutally tortured and scalped including children.  Settlers in the Macomb county area did not escape this terrible fate.
The year of the three bloody sevens
Ferris Lewis in his book my State and Its Story (Located in the Center Line Public Library) states "So murderous were these raids that the year 1777 is known in American History as the year of the three bloody sevens.  Mutilated bodies with scalps gone, smoldering ashes of what was once a settler's cabin on the frontier, tales of horror and massacre; these marked the trail of the Indian raiders.  Hundreds of settlers, thus perished before the Indians' guns and tomahawks." Many innocent people were also cruelly tortured.  Why did the Indians gather scalps?  Who paid them for the scalps?  Who provided this primitive people with scalping knives?  Why? 
  

Pontiac’s rebellion
In late April 1763 Ottawa war chief Pontiac called a grand council of the tribes in the vicinity of Detroit and urged them to join him in an attack upon the nearby British fort. Intelligent, shrewd and possessing oratorical prowess, Pontiac proposed a plan to capture Fort Detroit. On the morning of May 7, fifty warriors accompanied him to the fort, each carrying a concealed tomahawk or knife. Pontiac carried a green-and-white wampum belt (shells embroidered into a belt). Once inside the fort, he would signal the attack by turning the belt over. The fort’s commander, Major Henry Gladwin, had learned of the plan and Pontiac’s followers found themselves outnumbered by the British redcoats, who were armed and ready. Pontiac and his men left the fort. The next day the Indians returned and asked to be allowed into the fort. Gladwin refused. Pontiac and his followers
then placed Detroit under siege. Detroit’s defenders worried about flaming arrows and suffered a constant shortage of supplies, yet, the Indians failed to close Gladwin’s water link to the east and force the fort’s surrender. Several other British forts fell. If there were any American settlers in Warren they were probably butchered. But by fall, Pontiac’s warriors needed to return to their families and the siege ended.
An Indian woman saved the fort at Detroit. She was a member of Pontiac’s tribe and noticed that warriors had obtained filed to cut down their gun barrels to make concealed weapons.  She found out that they were going to massacre the people in the fort.  So she went to see the fort commander and informed him of the plot.  Pontiac found out about it and repeatedly beat her to near death.
 
Although there was no fighting in Michigan during the American Revolution except for the killing of settlers, Detroit was the center of British power in the west. Word of the American Revolution reached the frontier of which the Detroit area was a part.  The British told the Indians that the American settlers would be taking their land. The British gave bands of Indians guns, powder, tomahawks and scalping knives.   Raids on American settlements in the east were organized from Detroit. Thousands of American settlers died because of the raiders.

Hamilton the Hair Buyer
The British Commander of Detroit became known as "Hamilton the Hair Buyer" because he bought scalps.  Englishmen sometimes led the Indians on raids on American settlers.  Ferris Lewis in his book my State and Its Story states "So murderous were these raids that the year 1777 is known in American History as the year of the three bloody sevens.  Mutilated bodies with scalps gone, smoldering ashes of what was once a settler's cabin on the frontier, tales of horror and massacre; these marked the trail of the Indian raiders.  Hundreds of settlers thus perished before the Indians' guns and tomahawks." Many innocent people were also cruelly tortured.

Moraviantown, Upper Canada - October 5, 1813 - Following Commodore Perry's success at Lake Erie, a U.S. force, commanded by Gen. William Henry Harrison, engaged British troops 75 miles east of Detroit. His command included a regiment of Kentucky Mounted Riflemen led by Col. Richard M. Johnson, made up of picked militia volunteers armed with long Kentucky rifles and tomahawks. The Kentucky troops scattered the enemy army -- British regulars, and Indians under the famed Tecumseh. The Battle of the Thames was revenge for an earlier massacre of Kentucky militia on the River Raisin. Coupled with Perry's triumph, it ended a series of defeats and helped restore U.S. dominance in the northwest region.
 
The Treaty of Paris in 1783, obligated the British leave Detroit it took them thirteen years and some naval battle losses before they left. British rule which began in 1760 ended by 1815.  They left a bloody 55 year legacy.  They earned the title Bloody British.

There were small bands of Indians that lived just outside of the fort at Detroit from 1701 -1820.  For the most part they were friendly.  They begged a lot. 

What the settlers had to say about the Indians

Here is what one settler reported about the Indians:  The women cultivated  Indian corn, beans, peas, squashes and melons.  The Indians danced, and play games such as la crosse.  In summer most of the men went naked except for a breech cloth and moccasins.  Some wear fancy clothes with lots of vermillion  and buffalo hide robes in the winter.  many paint their bodies in colorful colors.  They often play village against village with heavy betting. (Farmer p 322)
Regarding the Hurons Silas quotes a French memoir.  They are the most industrious nation they can be seen the scarcely dance are a always at work raise a very large amount of Indian corn, peas, beans, some grow wheat but they construct their huts entirely of bark. very strong and  solid very lofty and very long in arch like arbors.  Their fort is strongly encircled with pickets and bastions well redoubled and have strong gates.  They are the most faithful nation to the French and most expert hunters we have.  Their cabins are divided into sleeping compartments which contain their misirague and are very clean.  They are the bravest of all nations and possess considerable talent.  They are well clad.  Some of them wear close overcoats the men are always hunting summer and winter and the women work.  When they go hunting in the fall a goodly number remain to guard their fort.  The old women and through out the winter the other women who remain gather wood in large quantity.  The soil is very fertile.  Indian corn grows there to the height of ten to twelve feet.  Their fields are very clean and very extensive.  Not the smallest weed is to be seen in them. (Farmer p 322) 

Even though treaties were signed by 1783, the British still tried to maintain their power and influence with the Indians.  This embolded the Indians and they became more hostile killing many Americans. Silas states “Competent authorities estimate that from 1783 to 1790 not less than three thousand persons were scalped or made captives by bands from Detroit.”
This led to the US Government forming armies to kill the Indians.   

Sometimes the Indians won.  In 1790 scalps of American soldiers were paraded daily thru the streets of Detroit accompanied by the demoniac scalp-yells of the warriors who had taken them.  (Farmer p265)  Not all Indians agreed with treaties that cheated them out of their lands and they continued to fight when ever and where ever they could often killing innocent settlers.
 
            Having had thousands of settlers massacred, the Americans went on the attack.  They raised militias and armies.  American settlers often cruelly attacked innocent and harmless Indians such as the Moravians who were gentle, and peace loving.
General George Rogers Clark and about five hundred frontiersmen led raids against the Indians and the French.  Their call was that the only good Indian was a dead Indian. 
The American victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, and the presence of
Wayne’s army, forced the British to leave Michigan. On July 11, 1796, the American
flag was raised over Detroit.  In general after 1820 what few Indians that had not fled or been killed lived in peace with the settlers.  They realized that they were outnumbered and that their hunting, gathering, killing way of life was doomed.
The above is just a brief sketch of life in these times.  I suggest that if you are interested in learning more that you consult books such as My State and Its Story by Ferris Lewis.