Note 410 — Chapter XXVI · 1764. BRADSTREET’S ARMY ON THE LAKES.
Reading edition
Extract from a MS. Letter—Gage to Bradstreet, Sept. 2:—
“I again repeat that I annul and disavow the peace you have made.”
The following extracts will express the opinions of Gage with respect to this affair.
MS. Letter—Gage to Bradstreet, Oct. 15:—
“They have negotiated with you on Lake Erie, and cut our throats upon the frontiers. With your letters of peace I received others, giving accounts of murders, and these acts continue to this time. Had you only consulted Colonel Bouquet, before you agreed upon any thing with them (a deference he was certainly entitled to, instead of an order to stop his march), you would have been acquainted with the treachery of those people, and not have suffered yourself to be thus deceived, and you would have saved both Colonel Bouquet and myself from the dilemma you brought us into. You concluded a peace with people who were daily murdering us.”
MS. Letter—Gage to Johnson, Sept. 4:—
“You will have received my letter of the 2d inst., enclosing you the unaccountable treaty betwixt Colonel Bradstreet and the Shawanese, Delawares, &c. On consideration of the treaty, it does not appear to me that the ten Indians therein mentioned were sent on an errand of peace. If they had, would they not have been at Niagara? or would the insolent and audacious message have been sent there in the lieu of offers of peace? Would not they have been better provided with belts on such an occasion? They give only one string of wampum. You will know this better, but it appears strange to me. They certainly came to watch the motions of the troops.”