Inscription
Here lie the remains of Pontiac, chief of the Ottawa people and leader of the greatest alliance of Native Americans against white expansion in the United States and Canada.
Pontiac was born around 1720 and became chief of the Ottawas in 1755. Pontiac organized a coalition of tribes that stretched from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1763 the tribes struck simultaneously at 14 British posts. Pontiac personally led the five-month attack on Fort Detroit, which ended in defeat when Britain forged peace with France, its other adversary for expansion in the New World. Pontiac realized the hopelessness of his cause and negotiated a peace treaty with the British in 1765.
In 1769 a member of a rival tribe in Cahokia, Illinois murdered Pointiac. His remains were buried here, then the edge of the village of St. Louis
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