[April 20] Pontiac, chief of the Ottawa

Pontiac's council that prompted the rebellion in 1763.

True Name: Obwandiyag
Date of Birth: circa 1720

House: Odowa

Reign: around 1747 – 1769

Summary: Pontiac was raised as a member of the Odawa faction of Algonquin Native Americans. He first became known in 1747 when he allied his tribe with New France in the Seven Years' War (French & Indian War) against the British colonials. It is possible that he was responsible for the victory over the Braddock Expedition in 1755. When the British won the war and all of New France fell to Great Britain, the Natives became increasingly restless. The British held back provisions from the Natives and the Natives became upset with their new trading partners. A Native prophet, Neolin, inspired a religious revival among the Algonquin tribes and Pontiac decided it was time to resist the British and their exclusionist policies. In 1763, Pontiac led the largest Native uprising to date. His own tribe put Fort Detroit to siege while other allies sieged forts throughout Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. In recognition of their past alliance, the Natives did not attack regions populated primarily by French settlers. Pontiac failed in his mission when his tribe was unable to take Fort Detroit. The entire tribe fled to Illinois where they resumed militant resistance to British expansion. In 1766, the British sent a diplomat to Pontiac to negotiate an end to hostilities, which was finally achieved in July of that year. Pontiac had become the most respected Native leader among the British. But when a local rivalry flared up in 1768, Pontiac fled to Missouri and was killed early the next year. The Ottowa tribe never achieved importance again after his death.

Date of Death: 19 April 1689

Other Monarch Deaths:

Clement V, pope of Rome (1314)

Zhengde, emperor of China (1521)

Christian X, king of Denmark (1947)