A few soldiers were stationed at Fort Miami to keep the officers at Detroit informed of any interesting events in that neighbourhood.

Provisions being scarce at Detroit, Rogers sent the majority of his force to Niagara; and on December 10 set out for Michilimackinac with an officer and thirty-seven men.

But he was driven back by stormy weather and ice, and forced, for the present year, to give up the attempt to garrison the posts on Lakes Huron and Michigan.

Leaving everything in peace at Detroit, Rogers went to Fort Pitt, and for nine months the forts in the country of the Ottawa Confederacy were to be left to their own resources.
Meanwhile the Indians were getting into a state of unrest.
The presents, on which they depended so much for existence, were not forthcoming, and rumours of trouble were in the air.

Senecas, Shawnees, and Delawares were sending war-belts east and west and north and south.