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Pontiac’s War: Fire on the Frontier, Peace in the Shadows
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Apr 21, 2025
Pontiac’s War: Fire on the Frontier, Peace in the Shadows In 1763, as British flags replaced French ones across the Great Lakes, the First Peoples of Michigan faced a new empire—one that dismissed their diplomacy, severed their trade, and threatened their way of life. Led by Odawa war chief Pontiac and inspired by the spiritual teachings of Neolin, tribes from across the region united in a massive resistance campaign. This episode traces the dramatic siege of Fort Detroit, the harrowing use of smallpox at Fort Pitt, and the chilling aftermath of Pontiac’s assassination, including the haunting legend of Starved Rock. (https://thumbwind.com/2019/12/05/starved-rock-state-park/) From war councils beneath the pines to vengeance on the banks of the Mississippi, Pontiac’s War was not just a rebellion—it was a defense of land, life, and sovereignty. And its echoes still shape the memory of the Great Lakes today. Tune in as End of the Road in Michigan brings this powerful story to life through dramatic narrative and historic insight.
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you're listening to End of the Road in
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Michigan today we travel back to the
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spring of 1763 when the waters of the
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Great Lakes rippled with unrest the
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French were gone the British had claimed
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the forts and the indigenous nations who
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had called this land home for
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generations well they had a different
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idea this is the story of Pontiac's
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rebellion a moment when the center did
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not hold and when the first peoples of
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the Great Lakes rose not in rebellion
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but in defense of their world in the
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aftermath of the French and Indian War
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Britain found itself the new landlord of
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a vast wild estate the Ohio Valley the
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Upper Mississippi the forested Great
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Lakes but they didn't inherit empty land
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these woods rivers and lakes were home
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to the Odawa the Podawatami the Ajiway
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to the Hiron Wendit Shauni and Senica to
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those nations treaties were sacred
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alliances were honored through
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giftgiving shared ceremonies and respect
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but when British officers arrived they
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saw native diplomacy as superstition and
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giftgiving as unnecessary expense
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general Jeffrey Amherst cut it off
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without understanding its meaning a
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gesture meant to build trust was
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suddenly a source of insult and when the
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British marched into the old French
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forts they brought more than red coats
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they brought arrogance somewhere in the
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woodlands of what is now Ohio a Delaware
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prophet named Neolin he called himself
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the enlightened one began to speak of a
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vision the creator he said was angry
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angry that native peoples had strayed
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had taken up alcohol iron tools cloth
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from the English angry that the British
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came with fort walls and dishonest words
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he spoke in long-house gatherings in
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winter encampments in fire circles
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passed down through generations the
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English do not belong here Nean warned
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we must return to the ways of our
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ancestors his vision wasn't just
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prophecy it was politics rooted in land
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and survival he became a spark return to
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the old ways Nean preached reject the
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English drive them from the land purify
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your spirit and the world will be
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renewed on April 27th 1763 a council
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gathered near Fort Detroit at a bend in
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the Ecourse River beneath the trees
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Odawa wararchief Abuan Diag known to the
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British as Pontiac stood before warriors
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from many nations he was not a king not
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a general but in that moment he was a
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leader my brothers the master of life is
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displeased the English mean to destroy
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us the time has come to strike pontiac's
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voice carried not just defiance but
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grief his words summoned the memory of
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lost lands of broken promises of
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ancestors buried along riverbanks now
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lined with musket towers to many
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listening the war was not a choice it
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was destiny and they did in early May
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Pontiac's warriors encircled Fort
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Detroit they came with a plan to gain
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entry under false peace then strike but
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the British commander Henry Gladwin had
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been warned he shut the gates denied the
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element of surprise Pontiac turned to
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siege more than 900 warriors from the
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Odawa Ajiway Padawatami and Hiron
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nations joined him in a prolonged
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standoff they blocked food and water
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they harassed centuries intercepted
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messages and waited patient as wolves in
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the woods across the region other forts
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fell like dominoes fort Sanduski Fort St
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joseph Mitchell Machina where a lacrosse
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game turned deadly the Ajiway warriors
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played lost the ball through the gates
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rushed inside and took the fort british
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garrisons were killed or captured their
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presence was erased at Fort Pit where
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today Pittsburgh rises Delaware and
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Senica warriors surrounded the fort
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supplies dwindled tensions spiked on
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June 24th 1763 British officers handed
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two smallox infected blankets to
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visiting native emissaries general
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Amhurst had suggested the move some
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called it clever history would call it
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something else biological warfare the
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disease spread lives were lost not just
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soldiers but families villages
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communities it was a cruel silence the
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kind that settled over an entire forest
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some villages were wiped out others fled
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the fear wasn't just of bullets now it
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was breath touch fever and all from a
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gift meant to kill we will return to our
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flavor welcome back let's continue with
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our story in August British Colonel
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Henry Bouet fought his way through the
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woods of western Pennsylvania at Bushy
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Run his outnumbered force faked retreat
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then turned and struck the siege of Fort
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Pit was lifted the rebellion had reached
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its high water mark still Pontiac held
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on for 2 years negotiations ebbed and
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flowed tribes gave ground the British
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offered peace in 1765 Pontiac himself
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came to Fort Detroit and there beneath
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the shadow of the very fort he had once
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tried to take he laid down his arms but
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he did not surrender his dignity he
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spoke of broken treaties of futures that
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still hung in the balance to those who
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heard him there was no weakness in peace
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only wisdom the British in turn issued
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the Royal Proclamation of 1763 drawing a
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line down the Appalachians this land
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they said West of the mountains shall
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remain for the Indians it was a promise
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it would not last pontiac's war didn't
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end in surrender it ended in a stalemate
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in a treaty forged not from conquest but
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from necessity the British learned to
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negotiate the tribes forced recognition
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for a brief moment the land breathed and
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then the tide rolled in again pontiac
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would not live to see what came next in
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1769 4 years after the last council
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fires burned down he was assassinated on
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the banks of the Mississippi River in
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Cahokia a French village just east of
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today's St louis the man who killed him
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was a Peoria warrior said to be acting
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on orders from tribal rivals who feared
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Pontiac's growing influence british
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officials including those who had once
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called for his death denied involvement
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but whisper said otherwise when word of
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his killing spread a different kind of
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war followed odawa Ajiway and Pawatami
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warriors brothers in arms from the
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rebellion took up vengeance the Peoria
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suffered brutal retaliation nearly wiped
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out in the years that followed in the
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months after Pontiac's assassination the
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blood of one man became the catalyst for
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another reckoning far to the southwest
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in the territory that would one day be
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Illinois a story unfolded that would
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pass into legend and give a lonely bluff
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its name they call it starved rock a
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sandstone but rising 125 ft above the
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Illinois River a place of natural
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strength and terrible memory in 1769 a
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band of Illinois Indians descendants of
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the Cascia and Cahokia fled to the
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summit of that rock according to the
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stories passed down they were being
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pursued by warriors of the Odawa and
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Padawatami bent on revenge for the
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murder of Chief Pontiac the Illinois had
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nowhere else to run the high ground
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offered brief protection but no
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salvation the Odawa and Padawatami
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surrounded the but no escape no food no
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water the siege began days passed then
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weeks under the sun withering winds and
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empty skies the Illinois withered too
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one by one they died not by war clubs
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not by muskballs but by hunger and so
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the name starved rock no treaty records
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it no British officer witnessed it but
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the legend lives in the telling in the
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silence of the forest trails in the way
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the rock catches the light at dusk today
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Starved Rock is a state park visitors
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hike the cliffs and picnic beneath the
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trees few know the story fewer still
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speak it aloud where Chef Pontiac is
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buried no one can say for sure some
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believe his body lies unmarked beneath
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the soil of St louis Missouri others say
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he was brought north secretly reverently
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to Michigan buried on Apple Island in
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Orchard Lake in Oakland County where he
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spent time as a youth or along the lake
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here on shore his grave protected by
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generations who never forgot in this
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country history often forgets the
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battles not won but Pontiac's influence
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in bringing together different tribes to
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restore their world in the Great Lakes
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is not forgotten nor were the words of
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Neolin echoing still among his people
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return to who you are for end of the
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road in Michigan thanks for listening if
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you like this kind of story please let
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us know we appreciate your comments have
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a great day
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