PREFACE
"The Fort in the Wilderness" is a complete tale in itself, but forms the fifth volume in a line known under the general title of "Colonial Series."
When I began this series I had in mind to pen not more than three volumes, embracing colonial times during the fourth intercolonial war, when Canada, and the territory lying between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi, were wrested from the domination of France. The first volume, entitled "With Washington in the West," told of the disastrous Braddock campaign against Fort Duquesne; the second, called "Marching on Niagara," related the particulars of General Forbes's expedition against Fort Duquesne, and also the advance of Generals Prideaux and Johnson against Fort Niagara; while the third volume, "At the Fall of Montreal," took our youthful heroes down the mighty St. Lawrence, to fight under General Wolfe and to witness the conclusion of a struggle which had lasted for years and had been bloody in the extreme.
After this war the Colonists hoped for peace, but this was not to be. The Indians were enraged to see the English occupying territory which they considered their own, and soon, led by the wily and resourceful Pontiac, they entered into a conspiracy to fall upon all the frontier forts and settlements simultaneously and massacre all who dared oppose them. There was a demand that I relate something of these times to my youthful readers, and in the fourth volume of the series, called "On the Trail of Pontiac," I told of what was done by Indians and whites during the years 1761 and 1762, when the great conspiracy was slowly drawing to a head and more than one small settlement was wiped out in the crudest manner imaginable.
Early in the year 1763 Chief Pontiac considered the time ripe to strike, and in the present volume are related the particulars of the siege of Detroit, the attack upon Fort Pitt, and the uprisings at numerous other points, followed by the advance of Colonel Bouquet against the red men, the memorable battle of Bushy Run, and other contests, by which the Indians were forced to give up a struggle they at last realized was hopeless. In this volume the Morris boys do their duty as of old, helping to make this grand country of ours what it is to-day.
In writing this volume the author has tried to be as accurate, historically, as possible. May the reading of the work prove an inspiration to all who have the good of our land at heart.
Edward Stratemeyer.
July 15, 1905.