The military conflict had essentially ended with the 1764 expeditions, but natives still call for resistance in the Illinois Country, where British troops have yet to take possession of Fort de Chartres from the French.

A Shawnee war chief named Charlot Kaské emerges as the most strident anti-British leader in the region, temporarily surpassing Pontiac in influence.

Kaské travels as far south as New Orleans in an effort to enlist French aid against the British.

In 1765, the British decide that the occupation of the Illinois Country can only be accomplished by diplomatic means.

As Gage comments to one of his officers, he is determined to have "none our enemy" among the native peoples, and that includes Pontiac, to whom he now sends a wampum belt suggesting peace talks.

Pontiac has by now become less militant after hearing of Bouquet's truce with the Ohio Country natives.

Johnson's deputy, George Croghan, accordingly travels to the Illinois Country in the summer of 1765, and although he is injured along the way in an attack by Kickapoos and Mascoutens, he manages to meet and negotiate with Pontiac.

While Charlot Kaské wants to burn Croghan at the stake, Pontiac urges moderation and agrees to travel to New York, where he will make a formal treaty with William Johnson at Fort Ontario on July 25, 1766.

It is hardly a surrender: no lands will be ceded, no prisoners will be returned, and no hostages will be taken.

Rather than accept British sovereignty, Kaské will leave British territory by crossing the Mississippi River with other French and native refugees.