Page:Lacrosse- The National Game of Canada (New Edition).djvu/78

 Rh original game of Lacrosse, in a most thrilling tragedy of colonial history, which occurred about four months after the signing of the Treaty of Peace at Paris in 1763, between the Sovereigns of England, France and Spain,—we refer to the surprise and massacre of the British garrison of Fort Michillimackinac, by a party of Indian Lacrosse players, during a grand exhibition game before the Fort.

To thoroughly understand the occurrence we must retrace our view to the motives which prompted the massacre,—the prologue, as it were, of the tragedy.

In the contests between England and France for dominion on this continent, the red men of the forest were always found convenient and willing auxiliaries; treacherous and unstable, 'tis true, but faithful in following their instinct for war, on whichever side they fought. When the country was first discovered, the Indian tribes had been at war with each other for unknown years; the arrow and the tomahawk had decimated numerous tribes, and the chief end of the red skins was to develop the instincts of war, and accumulate scalps in preference to the richest furs.

On the 13th of September, 1759, was fought the