North American Indians delivering up English captives to Colonel Henry Bouquet, commander of the Royal American Regiment, 1764

Engraving by Pierre Charles Canot after Benjamin West, 1765. Published in 'An historical account of the expedition against the Ohio Indians in the year 1764: under the command of Henry Bouquet', by William Smith, 1765-1766.

Colonel (later Brigadier General) Henry Bouquet was a Swiss soldier of fortune who fought in the British Army against the French in North America during the Seven Years War (1756-1763). During the Native American rising, known as Pontiac's War or the Pontiac Rebellion, which followed the defeat of the French, Bouquet gained both repute and notoriety. He led a British force to a significant victory at Bushy Run on 5 August 1863 but was subsequently involved in a deliberate operation, authorised by General Jeremy Amherst, to introduce smallpox into Native American communities via the supply of infected blankets.

In 1864 the Native American tribes in the Ohio region sued for peace and as part of the settlement Bouquet demanded the return of all white captives. Many of the captives had been with the tribes for as long as they could remember and so the enforced repatriation of captives was nor always welcome.