9. Cannibalism was practiced by Indians during Pontiac’s Rebellion, according to the account of a survivor
Following the French and Indian War in North America, a confederation of Indian tribes raised by the Ottawa war chief Pontiac besieged Fort Detroit. Prior to the siege warriors from Pontiac’s force encountered a party of British troops and American militia on a patrol of the Detroit River. The party was under the command of Captain Charles Robson, of the 77th Regiment of the British Army. The Indians captured most of the small party after killing Robson and at least one other. The officer’s coat was taken as a prize and he was scalped before the Indians – who were either Ottawa or Huron – drank the rum they found in the British boat.
That evening the drunken Indians dragged one of the prisoners, a man named Rutherford, into one of their shelters, where he observed them roasting the body of Captain Robson in their fires, and eating of its flesh. The following morning Rutherford was unbound and offered some of the remaining flesh from the repast of the evening before, which according to his account he refused. Rutherford informed his Indian master that he would obey his every command but that one, and in so doing pleased his Indian captor to the point that he was not forced to eat of his late commander’s flesh. After he was freed, Rutherford told his comrades that some of the North American tribes ate the flesh of their enemies because they believed it would ensure they would prosper in the art of war.