The
details of the Ponteac plan for the capture of the two
forts were what she most enlarged upon, and although a
long lapse of years of absence from the scene, and ten
thousand incidents of a higher and more immediate importance
might have been supposed to weaken the recollections of
so early a period of life, the impression has ever vividly
remained. Hence the first appearance of "Wacousta" in
London in 1832, more than a quarter of a century later.
The story is founded solely on the artifice of Ponteac
to possess himself of those two last British forts. All
else is imaginary.
It is not a little curious that I, only a few years
subsequent to the narration by old Mrs. Erskine of the
daring and cunning feats of Ponteac, and his vain attempt
to secure the fort of Detroit, should myself have entered
it in arms. But it was so. I had ever hated school with
a most bitter hatred, and I gladly availed myself of an
offer from General Brock to obtain for me a commission
in the King's service. Meanwhile I did duty as a cadet
with the gallant 41st regiment, to which the English
edition of "Wacousta" was inscribed, and was one of the
guard of honor who took possession of the fort.
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