In the aftermath of the French and Indian War, Britain assumed control of several forts scattered across the Great Lakes Region, among them Fort Michilimackinac. The British began encroaching on Native American territory and treated the indigenous peoples as subordinates. This growing hostility prompted Chief Pontiac of Ottawa to forge a powerful alliance of neighboring American Indian tribes, united in their mission to strike at the forts closest to their homelands. The tribes that joined the Pontiac Rebellion were the Ottawa, Shawnee, Seneca, Ojibwas, Potawatomis, Huron, Wyandot, Kickapoo, Mascouten, Delaware, Seneca-Cayuga, Piankashaw, and Miami.
Fort Michilimackinac became the fifth target of Pontiac's Rebellion, following Fort Detroit. On June 2 1763, the native Indian tribes cleverly lured the British garrison and settlers outside to observe a game pitting the Ojibwe against the Sauk. What the British didn't realize was that the game served as an elaborate cover, allowing Pontiac's forces to smuggle weapons inside the Fort without raising suspicion. Under this deception, about 300 Native Americans gradually infiltrated the fort. With only about fifty British soldiers on hand, the defenders were hopelessly outnumbered by the attacking forces. The assault proved devastatingly effective, claiming the lives of many British colonists.
Warning signs had been there all along, and the British really should have anticipated the attack. French Canadians had alerted them to the possibility of an uprising, and the local market was struggling to meet surging demand for weapons such as tomahawks.
Yet this triumph did not last. For all of Pontiac's carefully coordinated assaults and string of victories, the campaign ultimately fell short of its goal — the settlers were never driven from Native American lands. By 1764, American Indians had returned Fort Michilimackinac to British control.