First Great Lakes Indian War (1763-1766) - Bibliography

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The War in General & Pontiac's Role in it

First called by Francis Parkman "Pontiac's Rebellion," or "The Conspiracy of Pontiac," this event was more than a "rebellion" and Pontiac's role in it was limited to the Detroit area. Parkman's interpration was dominant for decades as the event drew little attention as more than either a coda to the French & Indian War or the introduction to the "era of crises" preceding the American Revolution.

Within the past twenty years, historians have again turned attention to this event. William R. Nester's "Haughty Conquerors" (2000) focuses on the role of Jefferey Amherst and his complicity in provoking an unnecessary war. Parkman, Dowd, Dixon, and Middleton all emphasize the importance of Pontiac in the war. Nester downplays the role of Pontiac even to the point of suggesting that the war should be called "Amherst's War."

Nester, William R. "Haughty Conquerors": Amherst and the Great Indian Uprising of 1763. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2000.

Gregory Evans Dowd's War Under Heaven (2002) focuses more on Indian culture of the 1760s than the war.

Dowd, Gregory Evans. War Under Heaven: Pontiac, the Indian Nations, & the British Empire. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.

David Dixon ?'s Never Come to Peace Again (2005) focuses on the war in Western Pennsylvania and the Ohio River Valley and how the war affected the American frontier and the American Revolution. American Revolution

Dixon, David. Never Come to Peace Again: Pontiac's Uprising and the Fate of the British Empire in North America. Campaigns and Commanders series, v. 7. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014.

Colin G. Calloway ?'s The Scratch of a Pen (2006) offers a more comprehensive overview of the events of 1763 on the frontier peoples all along eastern North America of which the Anglo-Indian War was just one event affecting just certain parts of the frontier.

Richard Middleton ?'s Pontiac's War (2007) seeks to identify the participants and acts of the war, especially those of the Indians and French that had not previously received much attention.

See also Matthew S. Muehlbauer, Review of Richard Middleton, Pontiac's War: Its Causes, Course, and Consequences, in Michigan Historical Review 35.1 (2009): 133+.

Middleton, Richard. "Pontiac: Local Warrior or Pan-Indian Leader?" Michigan Historical Review 32, No. 2 (Fall, 2006): 1-32.

Fred Anderson ?, Crucible of War

Nolan, Jenny. "Michigan History: Chief Pontiac's siege of Detroit." Detroit News, June 13, 2000.

Michilimackinac

One significant engagement of the war was the attack on Fort Michilimackinac, where Ojibwe forces used the stratagem of a celebratory game of baggataway in honor of King George's birthday to breach the fort.

Widder, Keith R. Beyond Pontiac's Shadow: Michilimackinac and the Anglo-Indian War of 1763. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press; and Machinac Island: Mackinac State Historic Parks, 2013.

Even this text, which is to date the most detailed account of the Michilimackinac segment of the war, must reference the event in relation to Pontiac.

Widder, Keith R. "Beyond Pontiac's Shadow: Michilimackinac and the Anglo-Indian War of 1763." Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, October 8, 2013.