Before other British outposts had learned of Pontiac's siege at Detroit, Indians captured five small forts in attacks between May 16 and June 2. Fort Sandusky, a small blockhouse on the Lake Erie shore, was the first to be taken. It had been built in 1761 by order of General Amherst, despite the objections of local Wyandots who warned the commander they would burn it down. On May 16, 1763, a group of Wyandots gained entry under the pretense of holding a council, the same stratagem that had failed in Detroit nine days earlier. They seized the commander and killed 15 soldiers and a number of British traders, among the first of about 100 traders who were killed in the early stages of the war. They ritually scalped the dead and burned the fort to the ground, as the Wyandots had threatened a year earlier.