The escort was fired on by militiamen under command of Connolly, who also issued a proclamation declaring a state of war to exist.

Connolly, however, probably acted on his own initiative.

He was interested in land on his own behalf and was by no means the only man at that time who was ready to commit outrages on Indians in order to obtain it.

As Croghan lamented, there was "too great a spirit in the frontier people for killing Indians." Two hundred thousand acres in the West--Kentucky and West Virginia--had been promised to the colonial officers and soldiers who fought in the Seven Years' War.

But after making the Proclamation the British Government had delayed issuing the patents.