But his principal claim to distinction is due to his position as the head of a confederacy -- whereas the other chiefs in the conflict were merely leaders of single tribes--and to the fact that he was situated at the very centre of the theatre of war.

News from Detroit could be quickly heralded along the canoe routes and forest trails to the other tribes, and it thus happened that when Pontiac struck, the whole Indian country rose in arms.

But the evidence clearly shows that, except against Detroit and the neighbouring blockhouses, he had no part in planning the attacks.
The war as a whole was a leaderless war.
Let us now look for a moment at the Indians who took part in the war.

Immediately under the influence of Pontiac were three tribes--the Ottawas, the Chippewas, and the Potawatomis.

These had their hunting-grounds chiefly in the Michigan peninsula, and formed what was known as the Ottawa Confederacy or the Confederacy of the Three Fires.
It was at the best a loose confederacy, with nothing of the organized strength of the Six Nations.