It is impossible to dwell without a shudder on the monstrous woe and misery of such a contest.
The Lake Posts.
The men of Kentucky and of the infant Northwest would have found their struggle with the Indians dangerous enough in itself; but there was an added element of menace in the fact that back of the Indians stood the British.

It was for this reason that the frontiersmen grew to regard as essential to their well-being the possession of the lake posts; so that it became with them a prime object to wrest from the British, whether by force of arms or by diplomacy, the forts they held at Niagara, Detroit, and Michilimakinac.

Detroit was the most important, for it served as the headquarters of the western Indians, who formed for the time being the chief bar to American advance.

The British held the posts with a strong grip, in the interest of their traders and merchants.

To them the land derived its chief importance from the fur trade.