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| Art work by: Gary Zaboly |
The Battle of Bloody Run was fought 250 years ago this July, the British and the Indians fought a fierce
battle. In an attempt to break Chief Pontiac’s siege against Fort
Detroit, British Captain James Dalyell urged Major Henry Gladwin to
authorize a surprise attack on the Indians. Gladwin reluctantly agreed.
At 2:30 a.m. on July 31, Dalyell began his intended surprise attack
on the Indian encampment. However, Pontiac had learned of Dalyell’s plan
(perhaps from the French settlers) and gathered more than 400 men to
fight the British. Pontiac ordered nearly half the men to hide on the
opposite side of a narrow bridge called Parent's Creek, two miles east of Fort Detroit, below Pontiac's encampment. As the
British troops, some 200 soldiers, attempted to cross the bridge over
Parent’s Creek, they fell to a vicious crossfire.
Gunfire erupted
from all sides devastating the British. Dalyell
realized his plan was destined to fail and called for a retreat.
Unfortunately, the call came too late. The only hope left for the
British was to charge their way out of the battle. Dalyell and about
sixty of his men were killed as a result of the fire fight. Robert
Rogers and a small group of rangers along with the help of to small boat
armed with swivel guns out on the Detroit river supplied cover for the
rest of the British troops to retreat.
There was so much blood spilled in the battle that the water in
Parent’s Creek appeared red. The Creek became known as Bloody Run. This
battle marked the height of Chief Pontiac’s siege of Detroit, which he
was forced to abandon three months later.
After learning of Dalyell's death, General Jeffery Amherst offered a £200 bounty to anyone who would kill Pontiac.
