The new commander-in-chief was not as great a general as Amherst.  It is doubtful if he could have planned and brought to a successful conclusion such campaigns as the siege of Louisbourg and the threefold march of 1760 on Montreal, which have given his predecessor a high place in the military history of North America.  But Gage was better suited for winding up the Indian war.  He knew the value of the officers familiar with the Indian tribes, and was ready to act on their advice.  Amherst had not done this, and his best officers were now anxious to resign.  George Croghan had resigned as assistant superintendent of Indian Affairs, but was later induced by Gage to remain in office.  Gladwyn was ‘heartily wearied’ of his command and hoped to ‘be relieved soon’; Blane and Ourry were tired of their posts; and the brave Ecuyer was writing in despair:  ‘For God’s sake, let me go and raise cabbages.’  Bouquet; too, although determined to see the war to a conclusion, was not satisfied with the situation.

Meanwhile, Sir William Johnson was not idle among the tribes of the Six Nations.  The failure of Pontiac to reduce Fort Detroit and the victory of Bouquet at Edge Hill had convinced the Iroquois that ultimately the British would triumph, and, eager to be on the winning side, they consented to take the field against the Shawnees and Delawares.  In the middle of February 1764, through Johnson’s influence and by his aid, two hundred Tuscaroras and Oneidas, under a half-breed, Captain Montour, marched westward.  Near the main branch of the Susquehanna they surprised forty Delawares, on a scalping expedition against the British settlements, and made prisoners of the entire party.  A few weeks later a number of Mohawks led by Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) put another band of Delawares to rout, killing their chief and taking three prisoners.  These attacks of the Iroquois disheartened the Shawnees and Delawares and greatly alarmed the Senecas, who, trembling lest their own country should be laid waste, sent a deputation of four hundred of their chief men to Johnson Hall—­Sir William Johnson’s residence on the Mohawk—­to sue for peace.  It was agreed that the Senecas should at once stop all hostilities, never again take up arms against the British, deliver up all prisoners at Johnson Hall, cede to His Majesty the Niagara carrying-place, allow the free passage of troops through their country, renounce all intercourse with the Delawares and Shawnees, and assist the British in punishing them.  Thus, early in 1764, through the energy and diplomacy of Sir William Johnson, the powerful Senecas were brought to terms.