Chief Pontiac
By: Madison Lennox
Chief Pontiac’s Early Life
Chief Pontiac was
born in an Ottawa Village in
1720. His mother was an
Ojibwa and his father was
an Ottawa. He was known
Obwandiyag in his village.
He was an Ottawa war
leader by 1747. He was
assassinated by a Peoria
Indian on April 20th,1769.
Pontiac’s Rebellion
Chief Pontiac continued to support the
French throughout The French and Indian War.
Pontiac’s Rebellion began in May 1763, after the
British won the war and occupied the Great
Lakes Region. Pontiac and 300 followers
attempted to take Fort Detroit by surprise. This
plan eventually foiled but, 2,000 British people,
450 British soldiers and 200 Native American
Warriors were killed or captured in the process.
Native Americans involved in the capture of Fort
Detroit, included Ottawa, Ojibwas, Potawatomis
and Hurons. Chief Pontiac’s message reached
tribes across the land.
Pontiac’s Rebellion
The Ottawa Tribe
 Ottawa, spelled Odawa in their native language,
means “traders”.
 The Ottawa and the Ojibwa and Potawatomi tribes
are related, they have mostly identical cultures and
languages.
 Most Ottawas lived/live in Ontario, Michigan and
Oklahoma.
 The Ottawa tribes did lots of story-telling, artwork
and music, and traditional medicine.
 The people lived in villages of birch bark houses
called wigwams.
Examples of Wigwams
The Council of Three Fires
The Ottawa and
Ojibwa tribes were apart of
a long term alliance with
the Potawatomi tribe. This
was called the Council of
Three Fires. They fought the
Iroquois Confederacy and
the Sioux. In this council, the
Ojibwa were addressed as
the “older brother”, Ottawa,
“middle brother” and
Potawatomi, “younger
brother”.
Hero vs. Villain
 Some people think that Pontiac was a hero
because he occupied the North American Great
Lakes Region. He also negotiated with the British
to get the Native Americans out of a punishment
for the war.
 Some people considered him a villain because
he never accomplished his original goal, which
was to expell the British from their homeland.
Pontiac, MI and Pontiac, IL
 Pontiac, Michigan was named after Chief
Pontiac because he had made the area his
headquarters for his Ottawa Tribe.
 Pontiac, Illinois was named after Chief Pontiac
because after his plan failed to take over Fort
Detroit, he came to Illinois Country to resist more
British occupation.
Relationship between the French
The French traders
and the Native American
tribes had always had good
relations with one another.
They traded furs for supplies,
like food, guns, ammunition,
and tobacco. Because of
this good relationship, the
Native Americans sided
against Britain, with the
French, in The French and
Indian War.
After Pontiac’s Rebellion
After Pontiac’s Rebellion, by
1764, the French had no
longer supported the Native
American efforts or beliefs
so, they actually sided with
the British. By July 1766
Pontiac agreed to sign a
peace treaty at Fort de
Chartres, Illinois. Three years
later he was killed by a
Peoria Indian, and for
revenge, the Ottawa
Indians later attacked and
killed many Peoria Indians.
Peoria Indian Moccasins
Bibliography
 http://www.chiefpontiac.org/
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Pontiac
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pontiac%27s_war.png
 http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/p/pontiac.shtml
 http://www.detroithistorical.org/main/pdfs/ChiefPontiac.pdf
 http://www.ohiojudicialcenter.gov/pontiac.asp
 http://www.tolatsga.org/otta.html
 http://www.bigorrin.org/ottawa_kids.htm
 Book- Pontiac: Ottawa Rebel, By: Celia Bland, published in 1995,
Genre- Biography
The End!
I really enjoyed working on this project. Chief
Pontiac was very interesting to learn about. My
favorite thing was learning all about the Ottawa
tribe and the other Native American tribes that
were associated with them. I hope you liked
learning about Chief Pontiac as much as I did!
Thanks for reading!