Describing this painting the artist wrote, “It is late May in 1763, and these Ojibwa men conspire outside the former French garrison of Fort Michilimackinac where the Great Lakes of Michigan and Huron meet. Wampum belts, calling for the expulsion of the British occupiers, had circulated for several years before the decision to attack was made. Native leaders expected British officials to treat them as allies rather than subjects, but with the French army gone, presents to Indian allies were considered unnecessary. On June 2, the garrison watched a familiar sight as hundreds of Ojibwa and Sauk men played lacrosse. Suddenly, a player threw a ball over the wall as a signal to attack the fort. Within minutes more than a dozen soldiers lay dead and the rest of the garrison were prisoners. By the end of the summer of 1763, a loose alliance of American Indians drove British soldiers and traders from all but a handful of posts lying west of the Allegheny Mountains.”

PROVENANCE
The Artist
[Settlers West Galleries, Tucson, AZ 2003]
Private Collection, Tucson, AZ 2003

EXHIBITED
The Great American West, Settlers West Galleries, Tucson, AZ, Nov 2003

LITERATURE
Exhibition catalog, The Great American West (Tucson, AZ: Settlers West Galleries, 2003), illustrated
Tim J. Todish, The Narrative Art of Robert Griffing Volume II