Pontiac (Ottawa leader) On May 9, he laid siege to the fort, and was eventually joined by more than 900 warriors from a half-dozen tribes. While Pontiac was besieging Fort Detroit, messengers spread word of his actions. Indians made widespread attacks against British forts and Anglo-American (but not French) settlements, and at one point controlled nine of eleven British forts in the Ohio Valley. They destroyed Fort Sandusky. In July 1763, Pontiac defeated a British detachment at the Battle of Bloody Run, but he was unable to capture the fort. In October, he lifted the siege and withdrew to the Illinois Country, where
Siege of Fort Detroit stopped at Point Pelee on its way to Detroit. Unaware of the ongoing siege, Cuyler and his men made camp without taking extra security precautions. About 200 Indians attacked, killing or capturing 61 of the 96 men of Cuyler's expedition. Those who escaped made their way to Fort Sandusky, but found it destroyed, and so they returned to Fort Niagara. The Indians took their captives to Detroit, where they were tortured and mutilated. The bodies were then tossed into the river to float by Fort Detroit, which undermined morale in the fort. Late in July, 260 British reinforcements under the