Near this spot in April 1763, the Ottawa chieftain Pontiac presided over one of the largest Indian councils ever held in the Great Lakes region. Thousands of Indians met here to plan an attack on Fort Detroit as part of an ambitious plan to seize all of the English forts west of the Allegheny Mountains. Although the plan partially succeeded, Pontiac failed to take Detroit and died a few years later knowing bitterly that his people were doomed.