Pontiac (Ottawa leader) exaggerated. Historians today generally view him as an important local leader who influenced a wider movement that he did not command. The war began in May 1763 when Pontiac and 300 followers attempted to take Fort Detroit by surprise. His plan foiled, Pontiac laid siege to the fort, where he was eventually joined by more than 900 warriors from a half-dozen tribes. Meanwhile, messengers spread the word of Pontiac's actions, and the war expanded far beyond Detroit. In July 1763, Pontiac defeated a British detachment at the Battle of Bloody Run, but he was unable to capture the fort. In
The Forest and the Fort of a planned North American historical romance called "Sylvania". The other two novels of this sequence are "Bedford Village" and "Toward the Morning". The Forest and the Fort The Forest and the Fort is an historical novel by the American writer Hervey Allen based upon the Siege of Fort Pitt in 1763. The book was a "New York Times" bestseller in 1943. Set in colonial Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it is the story of Salatheil Albine, who was captured by Native Americans as a child and raised by them, and who manages to get back there. In addition to the Siege of