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FORT DEARBORN
The Story of Old Fort Dearborn
OF
OLD FORT DEARBORN
iNv
Henry Dearborn teas born in New Hampshire in 1751. He
was an officer in the American ar^ny, took part tn the battle of
BunTcer Hill, was present at the capture of Burgoyn,e's army,
and remained in the service xintil the end of the tear. In
1801 he was ap:SQiute4 StcretaK.y..of KafrMV4^>' Fresident
Jefferson, antthiem ifiafhffice for-^t^M ikm.'^
In ISW Dearborn ivas appointed Major-General and did
excellent service on the Niagara frontier during the Second War
with Great Britain. John Wentworth said of him that "history
records no other man who teas at the battle of Bunker Hill,
the surrender of Burgoyne and CornvaUis, and then took an
active part in the Wa ',' ; ^ , . ' "
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CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1912
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THE STORY ^y2l
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OLD FORT DEARBORN
BY
J. SEYMOUR CURREY
WITH ELEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS
CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1912
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Copyright
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1912
Published August, 1912
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PREFACE
THERE were two Fort Dearborns, the
first one haying been built in 1803. This
was occupied by a garrison of United States
troops until 18 12, when it was destroyed by
the Indians immediately after the bloody
massacre of that year. The second Fort
Dearborn was built on the site of the former
one in 1816, and continued in use as a mili-
tary post, though at several intervals during
periods of peaceful relations with the sur-
rounding tribes the garrisons were with-
drawn for a time. In 1836 the fort was
finally evacuated by the military forces. The
events narrated in the succeeding pages of
this volume concern the first or Old Fort
Dearborn.
The name " Chicago," as descriptive of the
river and its neighborhood, was in use for
more than a century before the first Fort
Dearborn was built; it appears on Franque-
lin's map printed in 1684 as '' Chekagou,"
PREFACE
and is mentioned in various forms of spelling
in the written and printed records of that and
succeeding periods. It has been said that
Chicago is the oldest Indian town in the West
of which the original name is retained; thus
its name enjoys a much greater antiquity than
that of Fort Dearborn, familiar as the latter
name is in our local annals.
In the course of its history Chicago has
existed under three flags; first, under the
domination of the French kings, from the pe-
riod of its discovery to the year 1763, when,
after the French and Indian War, it passed
into the possession of the English. As Brit-
ish territory it remained until the close of the
Revolutionary War, when the Western Terri-
tories were ceded by the English to the Ameri-
cans at the treaty of peace concluded in 1783;
and thus the region in which Chicago is situ-
ated finally came under the Stars and Stripes.
CONTENTS
Preface
PAGE
I Wilderness Days ..... 3
II Fortifying the Frontier ... 17
III The Tragedy 95
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
General Henry Dearborn . . . Frontispiece
Chicago from 1803 to 1812 3
The Wild Onion Plant 12
Bird's- Eye View of Old Fort Dearborn . . 27
Residence of John Kinzie 32
Mr. and Mrs. John H. Kinzie ..... 47
Rebekah Wells Heald 58
Captain William Wells 58
Hardscrabble 74
Facsimile of Letter of General Hull to
Captain Heald 103
Memorial Monument to the Massacre . . 136
Franquelin's Map of 1684 165
Map of Chicago in 1812 165
I
Wilderness Days
THE STOPV (
<« si'
OLD F0R71^i)S:AI
V. ^ 5; -"
S d[ S £
!< .2 I* -.^
WILDEpilll-. f)AYS
AT the rirr;f i?giii|-:'ns|i;(|irborn was buiit
o; ;Ji:|T 1 been known to
the civilizea wur^i .S^;^ |'£ .tldfed and thirty
years. The Chic2!tr<>'^ J^ ' S^d the surround-
. . 1^ I s o s^ 5
ing region had l^Ci^f'-i^^fnlred by two ex-
plorers. Toliet arnt e-.tif l^'J^e. ■••ho with 1
' ■ ,0 s I ^ *= «
'-' s -2 '~ i ~
irurr. a vu}agc ongli|;§'|i|-| .5
were th^ first white rloS |-^ f
fi the leaf;i =^'..5 |
was acconnpanied, llljl Jthe cw
French expeditions l^^nj Inown
V- >^ »~i 2 li *i
by a missionary, wht'^^ s-i! 'S case w.
Marquette, a Jesuit t^'i^ll Hoth v
men, Joliet twenty-e^^p|S"5ears 0
Marquette thirty-six. The ex
[3]
3 U »
is-*
' ■'? -2
»- - --
- i^
- 3'
THE STORY OF
OLD FORT DEARBORN
WILDERNESS DAYS
AT the time that Fort Dearborn was built
the site of Chicago had been known to
the civilized world for a hundred and thirty
years. The Chicago River and the surround-
ing region had been discovered by two ex-
plorers, Joliet and Marquette, who with a
party of five men in two canoes were returning
from a voyage on the Mississippi, which they
were the first white men to navigate.
Joliet was the leader of the party, and he
was accompanied, as was the custom in
French expeditions into unknown countries,
by a missionary, who in this case was James
Marquette, a Jesuit priest. Both were young
men, Joliet twenty-eight years of age and
Marquette thirty-six. The expedition had
[3]
THE STORY OF
been authorized by the French Government,
the purpose being to penetrate the western
wilderness in an endeavor to reach the '' Great
River," of which so much had been heard
from wandering tribes of Indians, and to find
the direction of its flow. Many conjectures
were made by the men of that time as to the
course of this river and where it reached the
sea, some believing that it emptied into the
" Sea of Virginia," others that it flowed into
the Gulf of Mexico, and still others that it
discharged its waters into the "Vermilion
Sea," that is, the Gulf of California; and if
the latter conjecture should prove to be cor-
rect a passage might thus be opened to China
and India.
In the event of such a discovery being
made, great honor would naturally accrue to
its projectors. The instructions to under-
take such an expedition came from Colbert,
the minister of Louis XIV, who wrote in 1672
to Talon, the Intendant at Quebec, that an
efifort should be made "to reach the sea";
that is, to discover and explore the "Great
River" and solve the mystery of its outlet.
[4]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
Father Dablon, in the Jesuit Relations, thus
wrote of the enterprise about to be under-
taken: "The Count Frontenac, our Gover-
nor, and Monsieur Talon, then our Intendant,
recognizing the importance of this discovery,
. . . appointed for this undertaking Sieur
Joliet, whom they considered very fit for so
great an enterprise; and they were well
pleased that Father Marquette should be of
the party."
The -expedition was accordingly organized,
and started from the Mission of St. Ignace on
the 17th of May, 1673. In due course the
party reached the mouth of the Fox River
(of Wisconsin), at the head of Green Bay.
From this point the party passed up the Fox
and soon after crossed the portage into the
Wisconsin River. They were now far beyond
the farthest point reached by any previous
explorers. On the 17th of June the explorers
paddled their canoes out on to the broad
bosom of the Mississippi. Marquette wrote
in his journal that when he beheld the great
river it was " with a joy that I cannot express."
It was while carrying out the purposes of
[5]
THE STORY OF
this expedition that the explorers passed
through the Chicago River from the west.
They had reached the Mississippi as they had
planned to do, had floated down its current as
far as the mouth of the Arkansas, and on the
way back had ascended the Illinois and Des-
plaines rivers, made a portage into the
Chicago River, and, passing out on Lake
Michigan, pursued their journey to the point
on Green Bay at the mouth of the Fox River
from which they had started at the beginning
of June, after an absence on the journey of
almost four months.
It should not be forgotten that De Soto, a
Spanish explorer, had discovered the Missis-
sippi at a point not far from the present city
of Memphis, in the year 1541, a hundred and
thirty-two years before the voyage of Joliet
and Marquette; but the knowledge of that
discovery had faded from men's minds. They
actually passed over the spot where De Soto
had crossed the river in the previous century,
though apparently they were not aware of
that fact, for no mention is made in Mar-
quette's journal of De Soto or his discovery.
[6]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
The chief significance of the Chicago port-
age to the explorers when they passed it was
the view of the lake which they had as they
descended the stream towards its mouth. Lake
Michigan, indeed, had been discovered long
before, but it was known only along its north-
ern shores extending as far as Green Bay,
which had been entered by the missionaries, a
station being established at its farthest ex-
tremity. The southern extension of Lake
Michigan was unknown until Joliet and Mar-
quette paddled into it with their canoes as
they left the Chicago River.
' No date was mentioned by Marquette in
his journal of the arrival of the party in the
river, but it must have been about the begin-
ning of September, 1673. Joliet also kept a
journal, but unfortunately he lost all his
papers in a canoe accident before he reached
Quebec on his return. That the site of the
future Chicago, situated as it was on so im-
portant a portage connecting the lake with
the river systems of the interior, possessed
advantages of a striking kind was plainly per-
ceived by Joliet, who afterward wrote that
[7]
THE STORY OF
an artificial waterway could easily be con-
structed by cutting only a half league of
prairie, " to pass from the Lake of the Illinois
into St. Louis River."
Thus, upon reaching the mission station of
St. Francis Xavier, situated near the mouth
of the Fox River, from which they had
started, the explorers had completed a journey
of about twenty-five hundred miles in a period
of four months, had opened to the eyes of the
world the wonderful river of the West, had
incidentally discovered the site of the future
great city of Chicago, and had made the com-
plete circuit back to Green Bay without the
loss of a man or the occurrence of a single
untoward accident.
La Salle's first appearance on Lake Michi-
gan was in September, 1679, six years after
Joliet's expedition. La Salle came down
through the Straits of Mackinac with a party
of seventeen, skirted the western shore of the
lake toward the south, but believing he could
reach the Illinois River by a more favorable
route than that over which Joliet had passed,
he coasted around the southern end of the lake
[8]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
until he reached the mouth of the St. Joseph
River. Ascending that river he found the
portage into the Kankakee and readily made
his way to the Illinois, where he established
a fort near Peoria. He returned to Canada
the following year, and recruiting another
party he once more passed over the St. Joseph-
Kankakee route to the same destination as
before.
Again returning to Canada he started near
the end of the year 1681 with a much larger
party, and this time he chose the Chicago-
Desplaines route to the interior. He contin-
ued on down the Illinois to its mouth, thence
down the Mississippi, passed the farthest
point reached by Joliet, and at length arrived
at its mouth and issued forth upon the waters
of the Gulf of Mexico. This event took place
on the 7th of April, 1682.
La Salle was thus the first white man to
pass down the Mississippi River from the
mouth of the Illinois to the Gulf. De Soto's
followers after his death had indeed returned
from their ill-starred expedition by way of
the lower Mississippi, but it remained for
[9]
THE STORY OF
La Salle to arrive at a certain knowledge of
the course taken by the river throughout the
long distance over which he passed and to
determine its flow into the Gulf of Mexico,
and moreover to establish the first substantial
claim in behalf of a European power to the
soil of Louisiana.
La Salle had entered upon an extensive
system of colonization, and through many
dangers and difficulties he had secured foot-
holds for the French in the western country.
He passed frequently back and forth between
the forts he had established and his base of
supplies at Montreal. In the summer of 1683
he was in Chicago and wrote a letter to his
lieutenant, Tonty, whom he had left in com-
mand of Fort St. Louis, on the Illinois River,
dating the letter " Portage du Chicagou, 4
Juin, 1683." During the next three years he
spent the larger part of his time in attempting
to found a colony on the shores of the Gulf of
Mexico, and while in the midst of his activi-
ties he was foully assassinated by some of his
followers. His death occurred on March 19,
1687.
[10]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
Parkman sums up the character of La Salle
in this fine passage: "Serious in all things,
incapable of the lighter pleasures, incapable
of repose, finding no joy but in pursuit of
great designs, too shy for society and too re-
served for popularity, often unsympathetic
and always seeming so, smothering emotions
he could not utter, schooled to universal dis-
trust, stern to his followers and pitiless to him-
self, bearing the brunt of every hardship and
every danger, demanding of others an equal
constancy joined to an implicit deference,
heeding no counsel but his own, attempting
the impossible and grasping at what was too
vast to hold, — he contained in his own com-
plex and painful nature the chief springs of
his triumphs, his failures, and his death."
The Chicago-Desplaines portage was used
to a constantly increasing degree in the fol-
lowing years. Missionaries, traders, and mili-
tary people found it a convenient point for
residence or as a thoroughfare to the Illinois
River. But on account of divided counsels
among the French authorities at Quebec there
were no adequate measures taken to protect
[II]
THE STORY OF
the whites from the encroachments and
hostility of the savages, so that early in the
next century the portage declined in impor-
tance and fell into disuse, other routes to the
interior being preferred.
The name " Chicago," in some of the nu-
merous forms of spelling employed, is met
with on the maps of successively later dates,
occasionally in the reports of French com-
mandants at Detroit or Mackinac, and more
frequently m the letters of the missionaries
preserved in that extensive collection known
as the Jesuit Relations. After the victory of
Wolfe over Montcalm and the fall of Que-
bec, the French ceded in 1763 all their western
possessions to the English, which " left France
without a foothold on the American main."
But so far as the portage at Chicago was
concerned this change of sovereignty made
little difference. What with the constant
strife among the savage tribes whose normal
condition was that of warfare, and the dan-
gers to the whites caused by the neglect of
military protection, the region was left a soli-
tude; and the few references to its existence
[12]
*
\
'y:AJ*5 z
)IKO
mo
ba!\wt^'i2 pmjijv oi\^ $iis\*,, Wv>|f ,fcKn ,H»'^ii\oi\L. a^AoJ. «o ^fe^
,S,'^'l ^o'viiD-i-v^ s<nib!\;i i^ |i<'s/V«n "VHoi«o bVs'is aiU \o ts'jIV'
j .iso^^ims^O
<^«B-jjqiQ vrab io'i?.'=M\\ j>s\/
||
the whites fr and
hostility of the ^n .'.^^t ciHv in the
next century *^- " if . impor-
tance and fe' s to the
interior b* relci
The of the nu-
n rms of sp-: ^ . , ioyedy is met
... ^^n the p^aps of S'.jrcessively later dates,
::-:^ ■•.m^m^P?^mi''h{ French com-
That the name "Chicago" was derived ^from an Indian W^ori^
meaning '^>wild onion,^ ' 4s i'eltehfed bji mbst author tiies. %'cthcri-''^^^
craft tells us that the word tvus Chi-lcaug-ona. meaning, ■ uild •
leek or onion. ■ i-.^ tht <^'v.cn ot m^ nii^u.rianes
Cadillac, the French commandant at MacJcinae in 1695, men-
tioned in a report the name of Chicagon as -one of a chain oP^'^''^
posts on Lake Michigan, and said that jthe name signified f
"river of the wild onion;" anB'{n an iMian' treaty of IJyS^ ^*
the river loas referred , to as "Chicapou, or GarlicJc Creel:'}.
Gurdon S. Hubbard, in his Memoirs,- staie's^ that the name' wah^^'
denied from the icUd onion, and Colonel ,Samufi A, Storrowsi^rn
who visited this site in 1817. refers U'Ms'Utte^/to^^W mver
Chicagou. or in English, Wild Oyiion Mivi^r." ■ . ,. j , . r. •''.-on/>#>
The wild onion plant in&vh^ se'en at 'the pT^e^enrda'^^dhw^nd
luxuriantly on the prai- ■ • Chicaqn^ y • • »
vi;!! .ui at I nli^e American mam.
'' i': so far as the portage at Chicago was
cuiiv '^ this change of sovereignty made
li: nee. What with tl at
Si e savage tribes ^ :al
ct s that of warfare, and the dan-
gers to the whites caused by the neglect of
military prof *-'n, the regioh v-^o left a soli-
tude; and the icw references to its existence
]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
during a hundred years indicate confused
relations between the tribes and the few
whites who ventured to visit the region. The
sovereignty of the western country again
changed in 1783, this time from the British
to the American Government. A few cabins
were built in the vicinity in later years,
and when the American Government pro-
ceeded to the erection of a fort in 1803 these
cabins constituted the only evidences of civil-
ization that existed on the spot.
[13]
II
Fortifying the Frontier
aljiJiS* iV
II
FORTIFYING THE FRONTIER
IN the early summer of 1803, ^^^ schooner
"Tracy," a transport vessel belonging to
the United States Government, left Detroit
with a cargo of building material and sup-
plies, and in due time arrived off the mouth
of the Chicago River. The purpose was to
build a fort at this point. About the same
time a company of sixty-six men and three
commissioned officers took their departure
from Detroit to take part in building the
fort and to occupy it after its completion.
Because of the diminutive size of the schooner
the men composing this force did not sail in
her, except the commanding officer, Captain
John Whistler, accompanied by several mem-
bers of his family. The soldiers marched
overland, conducted by Lieutenant James S.
Swearingen, and reached Chicago about the
[17]
THE STORY OF
same time that the vessel arrived. On its way,
the vessel stopped at St. Joseph, Michigan,
where Captain Whistler and his family dis-
embarked; they continued their journey to
Chicago in a rowboat. The family of Captain
Whistler consisted of himself and his wife,
their son. Lieutenant William Whistler, and
his wife, recently married, and a younger son,
George Washington Whistler, who was about
two years old.
General Henry Dearborn was at that time
Secretary of War in the cabinet of President
Jefferson. His orders to the commanding
officer at Detroit were to send a body of men
to construct and garrison a fort at the mouth
of the Chicago River. This locality had long
been considered a suitable one for the con-
struction of a frontier military post. A tract
"six miles square, at the mouth of the Chikago
River," had been ceded by the Indians to the
United States at the Treaty of Greenville in
1795, evidently with a view to its favorable
location as the site of a fort.
William Burnett, a trader at St. Joseph,
writing to a firm in Montreal under date of
[18]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
August, 1798, said that it was understood that
a garrison would be sent to Chicago in that
year. This expectation, however, was not
realized until five years later.
The Treaty of Greenville referred to was
concluded by General Anthony Wayne with
the tribes in 1795, after they had been disas-
trously defeated at the battle of Fallen Tim-
bers in the previous year. A part of the
description of the tract ceded was that it was
"where a fort formerly stood." There was
no trace of such a fort, however, when the
builders of Fort Dearborn arrived upon the
scene. The Miami Indian chief, Little
Turtle, well known to the whites at that
period and a man familiar with this region,
said in later years when questioned about it
that he remembered nothing of any fort that
had ever stood on the spot before the building
of Fort Dearborn.
There is evidence, however, that a fort,
perhaps several of them at different periods,
had been erected in this vicinity and occupied
by the French; but having been built in a
temporary fashion they utterly disappeared
[19]
THE STORY OF
after the French had ceased to occupy the
country.
The tract *'six miles square" mentioned in
the Treaty of Greenville was never surveyed,
and as the treaties of later years included the
locality within other descriptions of ceded
lands, it did not become necessary to make a
survey. For that reason the exact boundaries
of the six-mile-square tract were never deter-
mined and are not shown on official maps
now recognized in title abstracts, though on
some maps an outline of the tract is shown as
an illustration, but without any authority as
to the precise position occupied.
It has been stated that commissioners from
Washington had selected as the site of a pro-
posed fort on Lake Michigan a location at the
mouth of the St. Joseph River where the city
of St. Joseph now stands, but as the Indian
tribes would not give their consent for its con-
struction at that point, the commissioners had
been obliged to decide on a site at the mouth
of the Chicago River. In commenting on this
statement a writer in the Michigan Pioneer
Collection of Historical Publications says:
[20]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
"We conclude that had the fort been built at
St. Joseph there would have been no Chi-
cago." Mr. Edward G. Mason, a writer of
acknowledged authority on subjects pertaining
to western history, refers to this statement, and
rather humorously observes : " This matter of
a fort seems to have been peculiarly disastrous
to the St. Joseph country. When it had one it
constantly invited capture, and caused the in-
habitants to spend more or less of their lives
as prisoners of war, and when it did not have
one it thereby lost the opportunity of becom-
ing the commercial metropolis of the North-
west. I know of no such tract of land in all
this section which has been so singularly un-
fortunate as the St. Joseph region."
Mr. Mason alludes in this passage to the
vicissitudes suffered by the small military post
or "tomahawk fortress," as such posts on the
frontier were sometimes called, at the mouth
of the St. Joseph River, which during the
troublous period of the eighteenth century had
frequently changed masters. At the time of
which we are writing, the fort, or the remains
of a fort, at that point was in such a condition
[21]
THE STORY OF
that a new structure would have been neces-
sary if that site had been determined upon by
the authorities.
Building operations for Fort Dearborn be-
gan on the Fourth of July, under the direction
of Captain Whistler. The soldiers cut the tim-
ber required from the neighboring forests
and, as there were no horses or oxen available
in the vicinity, the men dragged the logs with
ropes from the woods to the banks of the
river, and floated them to the site chosen. At
that period a forest of considerable density
covered the land on the north side of the river,
and there was also a fringe of trees along the
South Branch throughout its entire length;
but the extensive area in the South Division,
excepting the woodland on the margin of the
river, was open prairie. In fact, the Grand
Prairie of Illinois, extending for hundreds of
miles into the interior of the state, here
reached the shore of the lake for a space of
three or four miles along the water, and it is a
singular fact that at no other place does the
Grand Prairie border on Lake Michigan. It
was on the line of this famous tract that the
[22]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
massacre occurred, which will be described in
the following pages.
The portion of the Grand Prairie between
the mouth of the river and a point some three
or four miles south along the lake shore was
mostly devoid of trees, a scanty growth of cot-
tonwoods and pines, however, maintaining a
precarious existence among the sand-dunes.
A mile or two south of the river's mouth these
low sand-hills became the predominant fea-
ture of the landscape, just as may be found at
the present time along the low shores of the
lake beyond the city limits toward the south
and east. Behind the sand-hills the level
prairie stretched away as far as the eye could
reach. Schoolcraft, in one of his early voy-
ages, related that as one approached the shores
from the southern end of Lake Michigan, the
appearance of these sand-dunes — between
which was occasionally seen a scanty growth
of stunted pines — gave a desolate aspect to
the scene, in wonderful contrast with the rich
and abundant verdure of the far-reaching
prairie land lying just beyond them.
When the schooner "Tracy" arrived at
[23]
THE STORY OF
Chicago she anchored half a mile from shore
and discharged her cargo by boats; for a long
sand-bar, with its surface slightly higher than
the lake level, forced the current of the river
to follow the shore toward the south before
finding an outlet into the lake, and even then
over a broad stretch of shallow water, thus
preventing the entrance of the vessel into the
river channel. *' Some two thousand Indians,"
said an eyewitness in an interview reported
many years later, "visited the locality while
the vessel was here, being attracted by so un-
usual an occurrence as the appearance in these
waters of 'a big canoe with wings.'"
But notwithstanding the astonishment of the
Indians, it was probably not the first time that
sailing vessels had visited the shores of the
future site of Chicago. William Burnett,
the trader at St. Joseph before referred to, in
writing to a merchant in Mackinac in 1786,
makes a request that a vessel be sent to St.
Joseph to take on board a quantity of grain,
and further says regarding the expected vessel,
" If she is to come to Chicago you can very
likely get her to stop at the mouth of the
[24]
OLD FORT DEARbORN
river" — that is, the St. Joseph River. It is
probable enough, however, that the great ma-
jority of the Indians around Chicago, who
gazed with so much interest at the sight of
the wonderful " canoe with wings," had never
before seen a craft with sails spread to the
breeze.
The ''Tracy" was a vessel of ninety tons'
burden, and belonged to the United States
Government. After the goods were unloaded
they were placed in tents to await the comple-
tion of the buildings. At the end of five days
the vessel departed on her return voyage to
Detroit, and on board of her Lieutenant
Swearingen took passage.
Later in the summer the fort was ready for
occupancy, and its garrison of United States
regulars took possession of the barracks and
dwellings within the stockade. The fort was
named in honor of General Henry Dearborn,
who had been a distinguished officer of the
Revolutionary War, as well as Secretary of
War at the time of the building of the fort.
The fort was located on the south bank of
the Chicago River near the present Rush
[25]
THE STORY OF
Street bridge, somewhat north of the spot
marked by a tablet placed in recent years
upon a building at the intersection of Michi-
gan Avenue and River Street. The river, as
is well known, is deflected from its general
east and west direction at a point just east of
the present State Street bridge. Owing, how-
ever, to the construction of the drainage canal
a few years ago, the river now flows from the
lake so that when it reaches the point men-
tioned, its course, instead of northeast forty
rods, as formerly, is now southwest.
But at the time the fort was built the bend
in the river reached much farther toward the
north. In later years the south bank was par-
tially dredged away, and the bend was there-
fore considerably lessened. Thus the site of
the fort, being close to the river bank, was
some distance farther north than the building
upon which the tablet is placed; in fact, the
northern portion of the fort extended over
ground now covered by the bed of the river.
It may be well to remark here that in the
year 1833 a channel was dredged through the
bar directly in line with the river's course.
. . [26]
:i'^^T
'I
MV
U
ULu FOR
The old chan^' ^^^
the shore grad..
course of years, u. o at
wholly covered bv a n
a part of the area | I
In the construes S
two blockhoi!' I -^ I
and the othv « S I
Stockade.' w "* s
jccted partiaii}^? !a I
that their defif? Il'l
proaches fromqi:'g?||j , |-|>aces
fort. On the rftrl:!;:-! ^i^\ht U.
a sally-port wil$i ;-eS II |s
o a
in? from the i^ «.§^*^ s
CO O
o
river bank, d.-?iv^»^|*^ -S.'|>g^ .
r_r^ *^ pn ^ f\\ 1^
ciise of emerc>-:!>^i -^
lor iiico: § .sllSiiiill
fort enclosuic ^r^j ^^pqaqofq^g
pickets another '^i^j,!^ iJ^:Hi"«-o^:oQ
different angle con'^s-ei&in
houses, thus providing
entirely surrounding th-
A plan for the co
.<c
1^ ,
'«iA'
js
■\l;'i
•;?
's,
'Vi
9i
'
5:
■0-''
g!^
n
»;
<.^
\.
.' 6
'..J CN- -^
' i
»
,51
;^ o
:■& »
I ^ ^ JL'^'^
•5 g :SS £- £, S^ g. §
o
^s G-" c-> K'' rfi
c
OLD FORT DEARBORN
The old channel beween the sand-bar and
the shore gradually became filled up in the
course of years, and at the present day it is
wholly covered by a mass of earth, and forms
a part of the area enclosed in Grant Park.
In the construction of the fort there were
two blockhouses erected, one at the southeast
and the other at the northwest corner of the
stockaded enclosure. These blockhouses pro-
jected partially beyond the line of pickets so
that their defenders could command the ap-
proaches from the open spaces without the
fort. On the north side of the fort there was
a sally-port with a subterranean passage, lead-
ing from the parade ground within to the
river bank, designed as a means of escape in
case of emergency, or of obtaining a supply
of water if needed, though a well was sunk
for the ordinary uses of the garrison within the
fort enclosure. Beyond the main line of
pickets another similar line was placed at a
different angle converging toward the block-
houses, thus providing two strong palisades
entirely surrounding the fort.
A plan for the construction of frontier forts
[27]
THE STORY OF
was prepared by the War Department and
this plan was referred to in a letter of instruc-
tions written by General Dearborn under date
of June 28, 1804. While it thus appears that
the letter was written a year later than the
building of Fort Dearborn, it was an outline
of the general principles by which the de-
partment had been governed in all such works.
"Being of the opinion," wrote General
Dearborn, " that for the general defense of
our country we ought not to rely upon forti-
fications, but on men and steel, and that works
calculated for resisting batteries of cannon are
necessary only for our principal seaports, I
cannot conceive it useful or expedient to con-
struct expensive works for our interior mili-
tary posts, especially such as are intended
merely to hold the Indians in check."
He added that he had directed stockade
works "aided by blockhouses" to be erected
at Vincennes, " Chikago" and at other places,
" in conformity with the sketch herewith en-
closed." The details of the plan are further
described in the letter as follows: "The
blockhouses to be constructed of timber
[ 28 ]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
slightly hewed," and the magazines to be of
brick "of a conic figure," each capable of re-
ceiving from fifty to one hundred barrels of
powder. "The blockhouses," he continued,
" are to be so placed as to scour from the upper
and lower stories the whole of the lines."
The plan thus outlined was followed in the
construction of Fort Dearborn as well as of
other forts generally along the frontier.
Three pieces of light artillery composed
the armament of the fort, until at a later time
another gun was added, and in a magazine
constructed for the purpose was stored the
necessary ammunition.
Directly west of the fort, fronting toward
the river, was built a double log house, be-
tween the two parts of which an open passage
was left, though the roof was made continu-
ous over both portions as well as over the
open passage. Along the front and rear a
veranda extended the full length of the
structure. This building was the Agency
House, or United States Factory, used for
storing goods to be sold to the Indians under
Government regulations. For a number of
[29]
THE STORY OF
years, from 1796 to 1822, the United States
supplied goods to the Indian tribes at many-
places on the frontier in exchange for their
furs. In these exchanges the Government's
policy was to deal with the Indians on an
equitable basis, providing them protection
against the rapacity of the traders, many of
whom swindled them unmercifully.
It may be said in passing that this benevo-
lent purpose on the part of the Government
was completely frustrated. The traders sup-
plied their savage customers with liquor,
which the Government agents were not at
liberty to do, and thus the Indians preferred
to do business with the former in spite of the
lower prices and superior quality of the goods
furnished by the latter. In 1822, the "Fac-
tory System," as it was called, was discon-
tinued entirely.
For many years previous to the building
of Fort Dearborn a substantial dwelling had
been standing on the opposite side of the
river, near the present foot of Pine Street.
This house was built by a man named Jean
Baptiste Point de Saible, a native of San Do-
[ 30 ]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
mingo and a negro, some time before 1779,
as appears from a report made by Colonel De
Peyster, the commander at Michilimackinac
during the British occupation.
De Saible was an Indian trader. One of
the pioneers who remembered him said of
him that he was " pretty wealthy and drank
freely," and the British commander above re-
ferred to wrote that he was ''much in the
French interest," which gave occasion to that
officer to keep a close watch on his activities,
situated as he was at the principal portage
between the Lakes and the Mississippi. De
Saible resided in this house for over eighteen
years, and in 1797 sold it and returned to
the Peoria Indians, among whom he had pre-
viously resided, and remained with them the
rest of his life.
The purchaser of the house was a man
named Le Mai, a French trader. Le Mai
made some improvements and occupied the
house until 1804, when he in turn sold it to
John Kinzie, who arrived with his family at
Chicago in the fall of that year. After the
house came into the possession of John Kinzie
[31]
THE STORY OF
he repaired it, added a veranda, and planted
four Lombardy poplars at the foot of the
slope on which the house stood. The house
faced toward the south, having the river di-
rectly in front and the lake a short distance
to the east.
This house became known as the " Kinzie
Mansion" and is a familiar and picturesque
object in the views of early Chicago. The
house escaped the general destruction at the
time of the massacre and remained the resi-
dence of John Kinzie and his family until
the time of his death, in 1828, except during
the four years of his enforced absence, from
1 81 2 to 1 8 16. The house was finally demol-
ished in the early thirties after more than a
half-century's existence.
There was also the less pretentious cabin
of Antoine Ouilmette, situated close in the
rear of the Kinzie house. Ouilmette was a
Frenchman with an Indian wife, and had
lived here since 1790. His wife, being a
member of the Potawatami tribe, was
awarded, at one of the Indian treaties many
years later, a tract of land on the north shore
[32]
5K*»flKi»V*> ■ ■'-^.iK^r^,
iC, "&-"
^atoh
o
THE
>i^
3^ u iiiiu planter
0|Vihe foot of the
he repairt^a u, uaaca a
four Lombardy p
slope on which th
faced toward the south, f §■
rectly in fmnf ^nd thr g
to the east.
This house be : iiir^';: ic
Mansion" and is a tamill^r and piciurcsque
<5
as-
-5^ G > ,
The house
the river di-
iistahce
? w
fKi^
f 1-. •■> C ; -I ;■- • *k
. he views of ^xlls'i Chicago. The
escaped the gene?^ I, istruction at the
"5'.*' S • 1 ^1
' ^n^' resi-
iiuy until
during
•m
I-
a-
rt;
.2-^
s of
o
■ th*-' r.-r
5 ^
, ,^-.
P3
There was also theSfss pretentious cabin
of )ine OuilmetteK*6'tuatcd close \n the
rca" '?" the Kinzie hf^|c. Ouilmeite was a
Fi. 1 with an «.t<§dian wif? md had
livec since I7c>^,^ His ^g a
' the pII umn
ded, ii
\"as
lany
)ne of tg^
later, a tract of land on the north shore
.^^1
OLD FORT DEARBORN
about fourteen miles from the mouth of the
Chicago River, which became known as the
"Wilmette Reservation," and is now the site
of the village of Wilmette.
A man named Pettell also had a small cabin
near the Kinzie house. Over on the North
Branch another trader named Guarie had
a trading house which had been there from
a time previous to the year 1778. Guarie's
house was situated on the west bank of the
river, about where Fulton Street now ends.
The North Branch was called by the Indian
traders and voyageiirs of those days the " River
Guarie," and the South Branch "Portage
River," the name Chicago River being con-
fined to that part of the river below the con-
fluence of those two streams.
Captain John Whistler, after serving seven
years as commandant at Fort Dearborn, was
ordered to another post early in the summer
of 1 8 10, and his successor was Captain Nathan
Heald, of whom we shall have much more
to say in the following pages. In bidding
adieu to Captain Whistler it is proper to add
a tew particulars concerning him. He was
[33]
THE STORY OF
a native of Ireland, and had come to America
as a British soldier at the time of the War of
the Revolution. He was in Burgoyne's army
and was taken prisoner by the Americans when
that army was surrendered after the battle of
Saratoga in 1777.
After the war he decided to remain in
America and took up his residence in Mary-
land, where he married, and where his son
William was born. Later he enlisted in the
American army, taking part in the campaigns
against the Indians in the West. His loyalty
to his new allegiance is shown in the naming
of his youngest son after the " Father of His
Country."
Captain Whistler served in the army of
General Arthur St. Clair and afterward in
that of General Anthony Wayne, and in time
was promoted to be a captain of infantry.
After leaving Fort Dearborn he was trans-
ferred to Fort Wayne and the rank of major
was bestowed upon him. He died in 1827.
John Whistler was a brave and efficient sol-
dier and the progenitor of a distinguished pos-
terity. His son William was, as we have seen,
[34]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
a lieutenant in his father's company, and long
after the events we are here treating of was
placed in command of Fort Dearborn (in
the year 1832), and his daughter became the
wife of Robert A. Kinzie, one of the sons of
John Kinzie, the pioneer. George Washing-
ton Whistler, the infant son of Captain John
Whistler, was brought to Fort Dearborn in
1803, as we have already narrated, and after-
ward was graduated at West Point. Eventu-
ally he resigned his commission in the United
States army and entered the service of the
Russian Government as an engineer, where
he rendered distinguished services.
The eminent painter, James A. McNeill
Whistler, was a descendant of Captain John
Whistler. In the life of Whistler, the artist,
by Joseph and Elizabeth Pennell, it is men-
tioned that Whistler once said to a visitor
from Chicago that he (Whistler) ought to
visit the place some day, " for," said he, "you
know, my grandfather founded the city."
John Kinzie has been called "The Father
of Chicago," and also " Chicago's Pioneer."
He was born at Quebec about the year 1763,
[35]
THE STORY OF
and he was therefore about forty years of age
when he arrived in Chicago, in 1804. His
father was a Scotchman named John Mc-
Kenzie, but instead of retaining his patro-
nymic in the usual manner, John of Quebec
changed it to conform to a usage established
by his boyish companions and others, who
called him '' Little Johnny Kinzie."
Young John's father died while he was yet
an infant; the widow married William For-
syth, and soon thereafter the family moved to
New York. Here he was placed in school, but
at the age of ten he ran away and took passage
on a sloop bound for Albany, with the purpose
of finding his way back to his old home at
Quebec. By good fortune he found a friendly
fellow traveler bound for the same destina-
tion, who assisted him on the way. Arriving
at Quebec he found employment with a sil-
versmith and learned the trade. He remained
with the silversmith three years, at the ex-
piration of which time he returned to his
parents, who had in the meantime removed
to Detroit.
John Kinzie had an active and enterprising
[36]
I
OLD FORT DEARBORN
disposition which led him as he grew older
to live much upon the frontier. He entered
the Indian trade while he was yet very young
and became an adept in his intercourse with
the Indians. He learned their language and
was esteemed by them as a reliable and fair-
dealing trader. He soon began trading on his
own account, and before he came to Chicago
he had trading establishments at Sandusky and
Maumee, and pushing farther west, he estab-
lished a post at St. Joseph. It was in the
pursuance of a general policy of business ex-
pansion that he bought the Le Mai house at
Chicago, a house which afterward became
historic. Kinzie himself has become of his-
toric importance to a degree he could never
have dreamed of, and which would not have
been possible but for the fact that the place
he chose for his residence has since become
one of the world's great cities.
While by no means the first settler at Chi-
cago, John Kinzie is generally accorded the
title of " Chicago's Pioneer," although it is
quite probable that there were traders, hunt-
ers, and trappers residing here for longer or
THE STORY OF
shorter periods even earlier than De Saible
and Le Mai.
" I doubt if any known person can safely
be called the 'earliest settler' of Chicago,"
writes Thwaites. "The habitants and traders
went back and forth like Arabs. No doubt
there was a succession of temporary visitors
residing any time from a few months to sev-
eral years at this site during the entire French
regime, but especially in the eighteenth cen-
tury, concerning which period the records are
unfortunately scanty."
When John Kinzie arrived here he found
Ouilmette, Pettell, Le Mai, and Guarie, all
of whom were permanent residents. Mr. Kin-
zie was a man of character and influence. He
had been well educated for those times, and
possessed civic virtues in an eminent degree.
Through all the vicissitudes of frontier life
he maintained and brought up a large fam-
ily, assisted those who were related to him as
step-children and half-brothers, and his de-
scendants became honorable members of the
community with which they were identified.
Mr. Kinzie was generally known as the
[38]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
" Indians' Friend," and had received from
them the name of Shaw-ne-aw-kee; that is,
Silverman^ on account of his having learned
the trade of a silversmith, which he practiced
on occasion.
When he came here from Detroit Mr. Kin-
zie was accompanied by his family, consist-
ing of his wife and son, John Harris Kinzie,
then an infant one year old, and his step-
daughter, Margaret McKillip. Three other
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kinzie
during the next few years, and at the time of
the massacre these children as well as their
parents escaped harm through the assistance
of several friendly Indian chiefs.
Excepting the four years following the mas-
sacre, the Kinzie family resided here until the
death of Mr. Kinzie, in 1828, at the age of
sixty-five years. His widow and some of his
children continued their residence in Chicago
until long after the middle of the century.
A few words concerning the earlier life of
the remarkable woman who was the wife of
John Kinzie will be appropriate in this place.
Previous to her marriage to Mr. Kinzie, in
[39]
THE STORY OF
1800, Mrs. Kinzie was a widow, her first hus-
band having been a Captain McKillip, serv-
ing in the British army, who had been killed
in the year 1794. Her daughter, Margaret
McKillip, afterward became the wife of
Lieutenant Linai T. Helm, one of the officers
at Fort Dearborn.
Mrs. Kinzie's maiden name was Eleanor
Lytle, and when a child she lived with her
parents in Western Pennsylvania. When but
nine years of age she was carried off by In-
dians and adopted as a sister by a chief of
the Seneca tribe. After four years of cap-
tivity she was safely restored to her parents.
Writing of her experiences at this time, so
similar to those of thousands of other chil-
dren captives, the author of Wau-Bun (who
it will be remembered was a daughter-in-
law of Mrs. John Kinzie) says: " Four years
had now elapsed since the capture of little
Nelly. Her heart was by nature warm and
afjfectionate, so that the unbounded tenderness
of those she dwelt among had called forth a
corresponding feeling of afifection in her
heart. She regarded the chief and his mother
[40]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
with love and reverence, and had so com-
pletely learned their language and customs as
almost to have forgotten her own.
" So identified had she become with the
tribe that the remembrance of her home and
family had nearly faded from her memory;
all but her mother — her mother whom she
had loved with a strength of affection natural
to her warm and ardent character, and to
whom her heart still clung with a fondness
that no time or change could destroy."
The peace of 1783 between Great Britain
and the United States was followed by a gen-
eral pacification of the Indian tribes, and the
chief who held little Nelly captive was in-
vited to a council fire at Fort Niagara by
Colonel William Johnson, a man celebrated
for his wonderful popularity and influence
with the Indians of New York State, and the
chief was requested to bring the little captive
with him. The invitation was accepted, but
not before a promise was made that there
should be no effort to reclaim the child.
The parents of the child were anxious to
behold once more the form and features of
[41]
THE STORY OF
their offspring, and came to Fort Niagara for
the purpose. "The time at length arrived,"
runs the narrative, "when, her heart bound-
ing with joy, little Nelly was placed on horse-
back to accompany her Indian brother to the
great council of the Senecas. She had prom-
ised him that she would never leave him with-
out permission, and he relied confidently on
her word.
"As the chiefs and warriors arrived in suc-
cessive bands to meet their ' father,' the agent,
at the council fire, how did the anxious hearts
of the parents beat with alternate hope and
fear! The officers of the fort had kindly
given them quarters for the time being, and
the ladies, whose sympathies were strongly
excited, had accompanied the mother to the
place of council, and joined in her longing
watch for the first appearance of the band
from the Alleghany River.
"At length they were discerned, emerging
from the forest on the opposite or American
side. Boats were sent across by the command-
ing officer to bring the chief and his party.
The father and mother, attended by all the
[42]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
officers and ladies, stood upon the grassy bank
awaiting their approach. They had seen at
a glance that the little captive was with them."
The chief held the little maiden's hand
while crossing the river, and when the boat
touched the bank he saw the child spring
forward into the arms of her waiting mother
from whom she had been so long separated.
When the chief witnessed this outburst of
affection he was deeply moved, and could no
longer continue steadfast in his resolution to
retain possession of the child.
"She shall go," said he. "The mother
must have her child again. I will go back
alone."
"With one silent gesture of farewell," says
the writer, " he turned and stepped on board
the boat. No arguments or entreaties could
induce him to remain at the council; but
having gained the other side of the Niagara,
he mounted his horse, and with his young
men was soon lost in the depths of the shelter-
ing forest."
Soon afterward the parents of Eleanor
Lytle removed to Detroit and it was there
[43]
THE STORY OF
when but fourteen years of age that she met
and married Captain McKillip.
The writer of the narrative from which the
above sketch has been derived was Mrs. Juli-
ette A. Kinzie, the wife of John Harris Kin-
zie, who was the oldest child of John Kinzie
and Eleanor (Lytle) McKillip Kinzie. Mrs.
John H. Kinzie wrote a book, already men-
tioned, called Wau-Bun, which was pub-
lished in 1856, in which are a number of
sketches of Chicago's early settlers, and an
account of the period extending over the
occupation and destruction of the first Fort
Dearborn. Her book is the earliest and most
substantial contribution to Chicago history
of the period referred to that we possess.
It is gratifying to be able to state that
the granddaughter of the ''little Nelly" of
the narrative, who was so wonderfully restored
to her own people after all those years of cap-
tivity, is Mrs. Nelly Kinzie Gordon, now re-
siding in Savannah, Georgia. Though now
nearly eighty years of age, Mrs. Gordon is
in possession of all her faculties to a remark-
able degree, and seems indeed to have pre-
[44]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
served the freshness of her youth in body
and mind. She takes a sympathetic and in-
telligent interest in all the historical writings
having to do with the early history of Chi-
cago, where she was born and where she
lived many years of her life, and she is
always ready to aid inquirers with advice and
suggestions.
The interior arrangements of the Kinzie
house were described by Mrs. Elizabeth
Baird, who as a child visited the Kinzies at
Chicago in company with her mother. The
family of which Mrs. Baird was a member
lived on the island of Mackinac and came
to Chicago in a lake vessel loaded with a
cargo of supplies.
The account written by Mrs. Baird in her
old age is printed in the Wisconsin Histori-
cal Society's collections. She remembers dis-
tinctly the house and its surroundings. " It
was a large, one-story building," she said,
"with an exceptionally high attic. The front
door opened into a wide hall that led through
to the kitchen, which was spacious and bright,
made so by the large fireplace. Four rooms
[45]
THE STORY OF
opened into the hall, two on each side, and the
attic contained four rooms." There was room
in the house for all the members of the Kinzie
family besides quite a number of servants and
helpers.
The only way of crossing the river, she
says, was by a wooden canoe or " dugout,"
which was used even by the children, who
became very skillful in navigating the deep
and slow-moving stream which separated the
house from the fort. Besides amusing them-
selves in the canoe, often called a pirogue,
the children found delight in running among
the sand-hills along the lake shore and ''tum-
bling down their sides."
Mrs. Baird was the daughter of a half-
breed mother whose mother was a member of
the Ottawa tribe of Indians. "To know we
had Indian blood in our veins," she writes,
"was in one respect a safeguard, in another
a great risk. Each tribe was ever at enmity
with the others. No one could foretell what
might happen when by chance two or more
tribes should meet or encamp at any one place
at the same time. This, however, would be
[463
OITi FORT Df
of rare occu,
Indians keep b
John Harris k;
Kinzie, spen*: +^'
the age of mix :
Kinzie mansion,
the vicinitv, ^nd
UpOi
rudimei;,
Unless on rl
2-^
?^o!dest- con of foha
2^3
•1
•^ ^
5S.-W
among ii!.
arriving by
Is s ^
la
•to o
found a spelling ^':JvL :fywie ,
which the elder Kgi -^il ':,i^^ to :
the aid of his f:;gii§:^. ^^§)-b^
Forsyth, then a njJmT::>| Vl"- ■
ily, youHi
minded li
study in hi:-
The chiidr
o
5-
S
-^•■r
I'^Sii
'^ 2; -.A ^
as those of the ollui^^Scm:
fort who had tlieir ^gififlg.;
c.= :
a number of them|il?4^5v
classes and taught ^^'|i'>^t
cation ^vh.
ClUi? ill liW
schools in
depend
[T the
' that
iviii^ie,
•here was
t of tea
1. With
— as
jrmed into
of some edu-
had expired,
c- '^'
'BIS'
C r-^
S o
OLD FORT DEARBORN
of rare occurrence. Unless on the warpath
Indians keep by themselves."
John Harris Kinzie, the oldest son of John
Kinzie, spent the years from his infancy to
the age of nine living with his parents in the
Kinzie mansion. There were no schools in
the vicinity, and young John had to depend
upon chance opportunities of obtaining the
rudiments of an education. It is related that
among the supplies consigned to John Kinzie,
arriving by the *' annual schooner," there was
found a spelling book inside a chest of tea
which the elder Kinzie gave to his son. With
the aid of his father's step-brother, Robert
Forsyth, then a member of Mr. Kinzie's fam-
ily, young John learned his first lessons. In
later years he said the odor of tea always re-
minded him of the spelling book he used to
study in his boyhood.
The children of the Kinzie family, as well
as those of the officers and soldiers at the
fort who had their families with them, — as
a number of them did, — were formed into
classes and taught by a soldier of some edu-
cation whose term of service had expired,
[47]
THE STORY OF
but on account of his irregular habits the
school was discontinued after some months.
A brief sketch of General Henry Dearborn,
already referred to in this history, should be
given in this place. The name of Dearborn
is often met with among Chicago localities
and institutions; and the city is honored in
thus perpetuating the name and memory of a
man who, though he had never visited this
vicinity, held positions of responsibility and
honor in the afifairs of the country.
General Dearborn was a native of New
Hampshire, and at the time of the establish-
ment of Fort Dearborn was a man somewhat
past fifty years of age. After passing through
the best schools of the State in which he was
born he studied medicine and practiced that
profession for some years before the breaking
out of the Revolutionary War. At an early
period in that struggle he raised a company
of militia and joined a regiment commanded
by Colonel John Stark, who afterward became
the hero of the battle of Bennington. As a
captain young Dearborn took part in the
battle of Bunker Hill, and at a later time
[48]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
was with Arnold on his unsuccessful expedi-
tion to Canada, where he was taken prisoner
by the British. He was exchanged and again
entered the service, and as major assisted in
the capture of Burgoyne's army at the battle
of Saratoga.
It is related in a recent history:
During this campaign he kept a journal, which is
now preserved in the Boston Public Library. The
entry made the day of the surrender is as foHows :
" This day the great Mr. Burgoyne with his whole
army surrendered themselves as prisoners of war with
all their public stores ; and after grounding their arms
marched off for New England — the greatest conquest
ever known."
At a later period of the war Dearborn was
promoted to be lieutenant-colonel and was
present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis
at Yorktown in 1781. After this event he
wrote in his journal: "Here ends my mili-
tary life." He was, however, afterwards com-
missioned a major-general of militia by the
State of Massachusetts, of which State he was
a citizen. He became a member of Congress
in 1 801, and was appointed Secretary of War
by President Jefiferson. He remained in the
[49]
THE STORY OF
cabinet of President Jefferson throughout the
eight years of his administration.
In the War of 1812 General Dearborn was
appointed senior major-general by President
Madison, and rendered distinguished services
on the Niagara frontier during that war. He
died in Boston at the advanced age of seventy-
nine years.
A portrait of General Dearborn is at the
present time in the possession of the Calumet
Club of Chicago, painted by Gilbert Stuart.
John Wentworth once said: "One of the
highest compliments paid to General Dear-
born is the fact that whilst the names of so
many of our streets have been changed to
gratify the whims of our aldermen, no
attempt has been made to change that of
Dearborn Street. Not only is this the case
but the name Dearborn continues to be pre-
fixed to institutions, enterprises, and objects
which it is the desire of projectors to honor."
There was an interpreter at the fort, John
Lalime by name, who was at enmity with
John Kinzie, the Indian trader. One after-
noon early in the year 1812, Mr. Kinzie had
[50]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
occasion to be at the fort, and when the gates
were about to be closed for the night he passed
out to return to his home across the river.
Just after his departure Lalime also passed
out at the gate, and knowing the state of feel-
ing between the two men, Lieutenant Helm,
who was the officer on duty, called out to
Mr. Kinzie to beware of Lalime. The latter
was following the other closely and his actions
were threatening.
Lieutenant Helm had married Mr. Kin-
zie's step-daughter, Margaret McKillip, some
years before, and the relationship thus exist-
ing doubtless caused a feeling of natural
anxiety on the part of the officer for Mr. Kin-
zie's safety. When Mr. Kinzie heard the
warning shout he turned suddenly upon the
man following him and at the same time saw
that he was armed with a pistol in his hand
and a knife in his belt. Mr. Kinzie himself
was totally unprovided with weapons, but
notwithstanding, he grappled with Lalime at
once. In the course of the struggle which
ensued the pistol was discharged, though with-
out harm to either antagonist. Both men
[51]
THE STORY OF
attempted to get possession of the knife and
both were wounded by it. Mr. Kinzie, how-
ever, succeeded in inflicting a fatal thrust
upon his adversary, while he himself was
covered with blood as a result of the encoun-
ter. Lalime fell dead upon the ground.
This tragic affair was witnessed by the
people at the fort, and by a half-breed woman
who was a servant in the Kinzie family from
the door of the Kinzie house. As Lalime had
many friends at the fort who at first thought
that Mr. Kinzie had attacked him without
provocation there was a movement to take
Kinzie into custody; and fearing that a squad
would be sent for this purpose, he concealed
himself in the woods near his house, and soon
after embarked in a boat with an Indian guide
for Milwaukee, where one of his trading posts
was located.
An inquiry into all the circumstances of the
affair was made by the officers of the garri-
son, and a verdict of justifiable homicide
was reached. Mr. Kinzie, hearing of this,
returned to his home as soon as he had suffi-
ciently recovered from his wound to do so.
[52]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
It was said by Gurdon S. Hubbard in later
years that Mr. Kinzie deeply regretted the
killing of Lalime, and further, that he firmly
believed the deed was committed in self-
defence. Lalime was an educated man and
was a favorite with the military people. He
was buried on the north side of the river,
and for many years thereafter the grave
was enclosed with a small picket fence,
which was cared for by Mr. Kinzie and his
family.
When Captain Nathan Heald assumed
command at Fort Dearborn, in succession
to Captain Whistler, he entered upon his
duties with much reluctance, owing to the
remoteness of the post and the loneliness of
its situation. He was a much younger man
than his predecessor, being at the time thirty-
five years of age and unmarried, and found
himself associated with officers still younger
than he was. A few days after his arrival at
his new post he wrote Colonel Jacob Kings-
bury, commandant at Detroit, that he was
not pleased with his situation and could not
bear to think of staying there during the win-
[53]
THE STORY OF
ter. "It is a good place," he wrote, "for a
man who has a family, and can content him-
self to live remote from the civilized part of
the world."
Two years previous to this time Captain
William Wells had taken his niece, Rebekah
Wells, daughter of his brother, Captain Sam-
uel Wells of Louisville, Kentucky, to Fort
Wayne on a visit, and while there she met
Captain Heald, who was on duty at that point.
In the summer following Heald's arrival at
Fort Dearborn he obtained a leave of absence
for the purpose of going to Louisville to
be married to Rebekah Wells. The marriage
followed his arrival there and was doubtless
the result of the acquaintance formed at the
time of the Fort Wayne visit, the first of many
romantic episodes.
The journey of the newly wedded couple
from the old Kentucky home to their new
place of residence at Fort Dearborn was made
in May, 1811, and it is interesting to learn
that the whole distance was covered in six
days. There were three in the party — the
captain, his bride, and a little slave girl who
[54]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
begged to be taken along. Each had a horse
to ride, and an extra horse carried the bag-
gage; they traveled by compass.
On their arrival the garrison turned out to
receive them with military honors. Rebekah
was much pleased with her reception, and
found everything to her liking; she liked
the wild place, the wild lake, and the wild
Indians, then indeed friendly enough, but soon
to become fierce enemies. Everything suited
her ways and disposition, "being on the wild
order" herself, she said; and we can well
imagine Captain Heald becoming, in his
changed circumstances, quite reconciled to
the situation with which he was so much
displeased the year before.
Captain Heald was a martinet in the matter
of military discipline, and during the two
years or more that elapsed between his arrival
and the evacuation of the fort he became
unpopular by reason of his strict insistence
upon every detail required by the military
regulations. It had become the recognized
practice in isolated garrisons at lonely posts
to relax somewhat the discipline usually found
[55]
THE STORY OF
necessary where large numbers of troops were
assembled.
But while Captain Heald was so exacting
in the affairs of the post, he applied the same
principles to his own conduct where the orders
of his superior officers were concerned, even
when conditions would have warranted inde-
pendent action.
Heald would have been an ideal officer on
the staff of a general where it was necessary
to render instant and implicit obedience to
orders, and in such a position his services
would have been without doubt faithful and
efficient. But when serving at a distant
post, where much latitude in complying with
instructions might have been permitted and
justified, he failed to use the discretion that
he was unquestionably entitled to exercise
under such circumstances. Heald was not
able to see beyond the letter of his instruc-
tions, and to the literal manner in which he
construed them may be attributed in great
measure the disasters that overtook the fort
and its occupants.
Captain William Wells, the hero of the
[56]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
Story we are here relating, was born about
1770, in Kentucky. His career throughout is
surrounded with an atmosphere of romance.
When Mr. Roosevelt was writing his Win-
ning of the West, he did not fail to see the
picturesque figure of Captain Wells among
the pioneer scenes which he there delineates
with characteristic vigor and sympathy. We
commemorate his name and deeds in our
street nomenclature of the present day, and
the historical interest which attaches to the
name of Wells Street would be worthily sup-
plemented by the people of Chicago in the
erection of a statue to his memory.
William Wells and Samuel Wells, the noted
Indian fighters, were brothers living in Louis-
ville, Kentucky, belonging to a family of early
settlers in that region. When twelve years
of age, William was carried ofif by a band of
Miami Indians, whose chief, Little Turtle,
adopted him in his family. With this tribe
William remained some years, and when he
arrived at manhood the chief gave him his
daughter in marriage. He became greatly
attached to the people of the tribe, and in the
[57]
THE STORY OF
disastrous campaigns of Generals Harmer and
St. Clair, in 1790 and 1791, when those two
generals were successively defeated, he fought
with his tribe against the Americans.
The Wells family learned of William's
presence with the Indians and of the attach-
ment he had formed for savage life and soci-
ety, and during one of the intervals of peaceful
relations they endeavored to win him back
to his early home and family connection.
Messages were sent to him begging him to
abandon his savage life and return to his
family. Referring to this period in the life
of William Wells, Rebekah Wells, his niece,
said: "We all wanted Uncle William, whom
we called our ' Indian Uncle,' to leave the
Indians who had stolen him in his boyhood,
and come home and belong to his white rela-
tions. He hung back for years, and even at
last when he agreed to visit them the proviso
was made that he should be allowed to bring
along an Indian escort with him, so that he
should not be compelled to stay with them
if he did not want to do so."
Accordingly he came with a company of
[58]
il £: O
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THE SrORY OF
n-
disastrous camp;'j|i|^*^^ Generals Harmer and
•^ ^ £• 51 «>
^'lair, in 179CI ^.'li|; '■ when those two
generals were suc|o^'§:^.' g ed, he fought
with his tribe ap';|jl?s;§'r^ Americans.
The Wells ijill-^.njd of William's
presence with the^ |-^& 'i and of the attach-
ment he had formt^'li?^ "giv, '. and soci-
ety, and during one^ 1 1 1 j^iitervais of peaceful
s they end^.^arlS to win him back
.„ ..:S early hom«§^oi^?ia ramily connection.
Messages were ser-* ^r^ •- '. ,. :-r;„,, t-,:,^ (q
abandon his sava^- fife aii. j his
familv. Referring to this period in the life
iam Wells, ift^ckah ' his niece.
We all waoufil- • horn
we called our *In(i§ai,i ^ ncie,' to leave the
Indians who had SmIIj! ^,im in his boyhood,
and come home andM.)lif^sz; to his white rela-
tions L huno^ backs^i'M years, and even at
la 1 to. vpiljiL them the proviso
vvn?^ l-''^'-^" rJ'owed to bring
, «u . 3 ^ r ,.; that he
DC "^ ?» W} juy with them
i not want tt) "*
y he cai| ■ a company of
r 58 1
i
OLD FORT DEARBORN
his Indian friends, and after seeing the old
places and meeting once more with his rela-
tives, he became convinced that he ought to
remain with them, though he decided first
to return to his father-in-law. Little Turtle,
for whom he felt a strong attachment, and
acquaint him with his determination. He
frankly told the chief that though he had
lived happily among his tribe for many years,
had fought for them in the past against the
whites, the time had now come when he was
going home to his relatives, thereafter to live
with and fight for his own flesh and blood.
He was permitted to depart, and soon after
joined the army of General Anthony Wayne,
who had been sent into the Western country
by President Washington to repair the disas-
ters that had overtaken the Americans in the
previous campaigns. He was made captain of
a company of scouts, and performed effective
service in the march of Wayne's army through
the wilderness, ending with the battle of
Fallen Timbers, in the fall of 1794.
Mr. Roosevelt, in the work to which we
have already referred, relates some of Wells's
[59]
THE STORY OF
thrilling adventures while engaged in this
service, among others the following:
On one of Wells's scouts lie and his companions
came across a family of Indians in a canoe by the river
bank. The white woodrangers were as ruthless as
their red foes, sparing neither sex nor age ; and the
scouts were cocking their rifles when Wells recognized
the Indians as being the family into which he had been
adopted, and by which he had been treated as a son
and brother. Springing forward he swore immediate
death to the first man who fired ; and then told his
companions who the Indians were. The scouts at
once dropped their weapons, shook hands with the
Miamis, and sent them off unharmed.
After the campaign had terminated in the
utter defeat of the tribes, Captain Wells was
joined by his Indian wife and children. Wells
settled on a farm and was made a justice of
the peace and appointed Indian agent at Fort
Wayne. His children "grew up and married
well in the community," says Roosevelt in his
history, "so that their blood now flows in the
veins of many of the descendants of the old
pioneers." One of these descendants, writing
to the Hon. John Wentworth at Chicago, said
of his ancestors : " We are proud of our Indian
(Little Turtle) blood, and of our Captain
[60]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
Wells blood. We try to keep up the customs
of our ancestors, and dress occasionally in
Indian costumes. We take no exceptions when
people speak of our Indian parentage." Refer-
ring to the later services of Captain Wells in
the Tippecanoe campaign and of his tragic
end at the Fort Dearborn massacre, this letter-
writer further says: "We take pleasure in
sending to you the tomahawk which Captain
Wells had at the time of his death, and which
was brought to his family by an Indian who
was in the battle. We also have a dress sword
which was presented to him by General Will-
iam Henry Harrison, and a great many books
which he had, showing that even when he
lived among the Indians he was trying to
improve himself."
Wells was indeed a man of fair education
for those times, as his correspondence, pre-
served in the American State Papers, shows.
Wentworth, in one of his lectures, printed in
the Fergus Historical Series, says that all
of Captain Wells's children were Vv^ell edu-
cated, one of them, William Wayne Wells,
having graduated at West Point in 1821.
[61]
THE STORY OF
Little Turtle, the Miami chief, and father-
in-law of Captain Wells, became reconciled
to the Americans after Wayne's victory at the
battle of Fallen Timbers, and indeed became
their fast friend to the end of his life. In
1797, three years after the battle. Captain
Wells accompanied Little Turtle on a visit to
the East, and no doubt met President Wash-
ington himself at the seat of government,
which was at that time in Philadelphia. Little
Turtle was frequently at Chicago during the
following years, but lived near Fort Wayne,
where he died in July, 1812. This was only
a few weeks before the dreadful massacre of
that year. Wells himself was also a frequent
visitor at Chicago during these years and was
thoroughly familiar with the surrounding
country.
Some account of the Indian tribes and their
chiefs will aid the reader in obtaining a
clearer knowledge of the conditions and sur-
roundings of the garrison and the few civilian
traders dwelling at this remote outpost of the
frontier, during the next few years after the
establishment of Fort Dearborn.
[62]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
The Potawatamis were the principal tribe
of Indians met with by the whites in the vicin-
ity of Fort Dearborn in 1803, and they con-
tinued here until their final removal to their
new reservations in 1835. Other tribes were
represented by occasional parties camping in
their wigwams on the banks of the river near
the fort. Among such visitors were Winne-
bagoes, Miamis, Ottawas, and Chippewas.
When the early explorers passed over the
Chicago Portage more than a century before,
they found the Illinois Indians in possession of
most of the territory of what is now the north-
ern portion of Illinois; but their country was
frequently invaded by the Iroquois Indians
from the East and their allies, and their num-
bers rapidly diminished, until the last remnant
of the tribe was exterminated, about the year
1770, at Starved Rock, on the Illinois River.
It is worthy of notice here that more Indians
perished and more tribes were exterminated in
intertribal conflicts than in all the wars that
have taken place between the white race and
the red.
The Potawatami tribe had formerly made
[ ^Z ]
THE STORY OF
their abiding-place near the shores of Green
Bay, except when roaming in quest of game
into neighboring regions. A portion of the'
tribe, which was scattered over the south-
ern peninsula of Michigan and continually
advancing toward the south, began to press
upon the Illinois tribes, which included,
besides the Illinois, the Kickapoos and
Miamis. The Indians from Michigan in
time succeeded in reaching the region of the
Chicago Portage, where they met the south-
ward advance of their former friends from
Wisconsin, from whom they had been long
separated. The Michigan Indians, when they
appeared in this region, became known as the
" Potawatamis of the Woods," or "Woods
Indians," while those who had come from
Wisconsin more recently, having in their
movements wandered over the prairie coun-
try, became known as the " Potawatamis of
the Prairies," or the "Prairie Band." The
latter were also often referred to as " Plains
Indians." The two divisions of the tribe, hav-
ing thus met after so long a separation, had
become quite different from each other in
[64]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
their habits and customs, and also in their dis-
position and character.
The Woods Indians were engaged in agri-
culture to some extent, and were susceptible
to the influences of civilization and religion;
the Prairie Indians " despised the cultivation
of the soil," says Judge Caton, " as too mean
even for their women and children, and
deemed the captures of the chase the only fit
food for a valorous people." In other re-
spects the two divisions were regarded as a
single tribe. The northern portion of Illinois
was particularly the possession of the Pota-
watamis, over which they ranged freely,
though Chicago and its immediate vicinity
was the most important point in their terri-
tory where councils were held and trading
was carried on.
Caton writes :
The relations existing between the Potawatamis
and the Ottawas were of the most harmonious char-
acter. They lived together almost as one people, and.
were joint owners of their hunting grounds. Their
relations were quite as intimate and friendly as existed
among the different bands of the same tribe. Nor
were, the Chippewas scarcely more strangers to the
[65]
THE STORY OF
Potawatamis and the Ottawas than the latter were to
each other. They claimed an interest in the land
occupied, to a certain extent by all jointly, so that all
three tribes joined in the first treaty for the sale of
their lands ever made to the United States.
The relations existing between the whites
in and around Fort Dearborn and their
Indian neighbors were generally harmonious
throughout the interval of time from the first
occupation of the fort in 1803 until 181 1,
when Tecumseh became active in stirring up
the Western tribes to oppose the settlement
of Western lands by the whites. Tecumseh
was a chief of the Shawnee tribe, whose coun-
try was on the lower Wabash. He believed
that this country was created by the Great
Spirit for the exclusive use of the Indians,
and that the grants of land made by the tribes
in their treaties with the United States Gov-
ernment were not valid or binding unless the
consent of " all the tribes of the continent" had
been obtained.
• This contention was regarded as preposter-
ous, and Tecumseh was informed that such a
principle could not be allowed. He then suc-
ceeded in forming a league of several tribes
[66]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
under his leadership, and hostilities soon
after began against the settlers and the United
States Government. In November, 1811, the
battle of Tippecanoe was fought between
General William Henry Harrison, Governor
of Indiana Territory, and commander of the
American forces, on the one hand, and
the tribes under Tecumseh's brother, the
*' Prophet," on the other, Tecumseh himself
being temporarily absent. The Indians were
badly defeated. Tecumseh took refuge in
Canada, where he joined the British, who
were soon afterwards at war with the United
States. He was killed while fighting on the
side of the British at the battle of the Thames,
October 6, 1813.
Many of the Indians of the Potawatami
tribe sympathized with Tecumseh, and it was
well known that some of the chiefs and many
of the Indians were present at the battle of
Tippecanoe among the enemies of the Amer-
icans. But in spite of the malign influence of
Tecumseh, the Indians conducted themselves
generally in a peaceable manner while in the
vicinity of Fort Dearborn, and seemed anxious
[ ^7 ]
THE STORY OF
to be regarded as friendly toward their white
neighbors.
The Indians continued to come and go on
their nomadic excursions according to their
habit, and while in this vicinity they lived
in their wigwams near the river, their favorite
camping place being at a point on the south
bank near the present State Street bridge. A
swale or gully opened into the river there,
reaching back as far as the present line of
Randolph Street. The movements of the
Indians were regarded with great interest by
the traders located in the neighborhood, who
were anxious to sell them supplies in exchange
for the furs brought in by them; they were
regarded with interest also by the officers
and men of the garrison, who desired to
maintain peaceable relations with their sav-
age neighbors.
But while furs were the principal article
offered in payment for goods obtained from
the traders, the Indians also brought in quanti-
ties of maple sugar put up in birch-bark pack-
ages, which usually found ready sale among
the settlers. These packages were called
[68]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
"barks" by some and "mococks" by others,
each of them containing from twenty-five to
fifty pounds. Birkbeck says, in his Letters
from Illinois, written in 1818, that maple
sugar could be purchased from the Indians for
about twenty-five cents a pound, which was
about the same price as the coarse brown or
"muscovado" sugar from Louisiana was sold
for. In his book of reminiscences of early
Chicago, Gale tells us that he remembers as
a boy how he prized the granulated maple
sugar which he bought from the squaws, " put
up in small birch-bark boxes, ornamented with
colored grasses, and in large baskets made of
the same material, holding some twenty-five
pounds." It was often called " Indian sugar."
When the Indians visited the settlements it
was their custom to wander about the streets
in an aimless manner, stopping from time to
time and taking a look into the window of
any house they happened to be passing. The
Indians, whether men, women, or children,
would cover the tops of their heads with
blankets to exclude the light, and press their
faces against the window panes and gaze
[69]
THE STORY OF
intently into the houses for long periods at a
time, to the great discomfort and even terror
of the people within. If they wished to
enter a house they did not pause to knock, but
stalked in and squatted on the floor, and none
dared to resist them or to order them to depart
from the premises. " You always heard a man
come in," says Mrs. Baird, in her narrative,
" as his step was firm, proud, and full of dig-
nity. The women, however, made no sound."
There were several chiefs of the Potawat-
ami tribe whose names are well known in the
historic annals of that time. One of them
was Black Partridge, often called "the Par-
tridge" ; there were also Winnemeg, or, as
he was sometimes called, Winamac; Wau-
bansee; Topenebe; Billy Caldwell, otherwise
known as Sauganash or "the Sauganash,"
meaning Englishman, as he was an educated
half-breed; and Alexander Robinson.
On account of the close and friendly rela-
tions existing between the whites and the Pota-
watamis, the latter were usually spoken of as
''our Indians," to distinguish them from
those tribes whose hunting grounds were at
[70]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
a greater distance. The Winnebagoes from
the north were occasional visitors to the
neighborhood, as were also tribes from the
south, — Miamis and others, — who were gen-
erally referred to as "Wabash Indians."
When councils were held between the rep-
resentatives of the Government and the tribes,
to agree on a treaty, all those tribes were in
attendance which could be allowed to have
any claims to ownership of lands that were
the subject of the treaties about to be made.
At such assemblages, whenever they were held
in the Western country, the Potawatamis were
always found fully represented by their chiefs
and a large number of their followers, insist-
ing upon recognition of their claims; and
they thus succeeded in getting the lion's share
in the distributions made by the Government;
and even though their claims were often vague
and ill-defined they were always noisy and
forward in asserting them. It thus happened
that the Indians of the Potawatami tribe were
greatly interested in keeping on good terms
with the whites.
The Indians in their harangues described
[71]
THE STORY OF
an assemblage held for purposes of delib-
eration as a place where a council fire was
lighted; and in referring to the United States
Government the Indian orators spoke of the
States of the Union — which in 1811 were
seventeen in number — as the nation of "the
Seventeen Fires," that is, seventeen council
fires.
In a former generation the Potawatamis
were ''French Indians" in their sympathies
and trade relations; and this allegiance con-
tinued up to and even after the close of the
French regime in 1763. They were reluctant
to acknowledge the sway of the British dur-
ing the period of their possession, but through
the commanding influence of the New York
Indians (the Iroquois or Six Nations) they
kept the peace that was guaranteed by the
Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768. This treaty
was made between the English and the Iro-
quois with "their dependent tribes" ; and it
was understood that the said treaty bound the
Western Indians, though afterwards the lat-
ter resented the proceedings. Narrowing the
view to the Potawatami tribe, it appears that
[72-]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
even while maintaining friendly relations with
the Americans after the latter had succeeded
to the sovereignty of the Western territories,
the tribe was still to a certain extent under
British influence. They shared in the gratui-
ties annually distributed by the English at
Maiden, Canada; and, as the event will show,
they at length became the enemies of the
Americans after the War of 1812 had begun.
There was a tract of land under cultivation
some four miles southwest of the fort, situated
on the west bank of the South Branch of the
Chicago River, about where at the present
time the old Illinois and Michigan Canal
opens into that stream. This tract was owned
by a man named Charles Lee, and the farm
was known as " Lee's place."
On this tract stood a log cabin in which
a number of men employed by Lee lived and
carried on the v/ork of the farm. Lee himself
lived with his family in a house near the fort
on the bank of the river opposite where it dis-
charged into the lake; which was near the
present intersection of Madison Street and
Michigan Avenue. It will be remembered
[73]
THE STORY OF
that In those days a long sandbar prevented
the river from finding an outlet directly in
line with its course, and the current was forced
to creep along close to the shore for some
distance toward the south.
Lee's place was also known as " Hardscrab-
ble," a name which continued to be applied
to that neighborhood for many decades there-
after. "The name of ' Hardscrabble,'" it is
said in a recent history of Chicago, " has
always been a favorite one among pioneers to
describe a place in which conditions of exist-
ence were hard and difficult. A place of that
name was situated near Lewiston, New York,
on the Niagara River, about the same period,
and is mentioned in military despatches dur-
ing the ensuing War of 1812; and in the
State of Illinois the town of Streator was thus
colloquially known during its earlier history."
Before the Civil War, General Grant lived on
a farm near St. Louis, where he built a log
cabin with his own hands and called it " Hard-
scrabble." The same name was given to a
work of fiction by Major John Richardson,
with the subtitle "A Tale of Indian War-
[74]
Hai|i»-f f«n«i.-viijnu4pr; 014^1 -'nfti^.
,•75 "■
:. 3
#
-ft
to
n-
p5 p^
bc!^''^'-
S t3 "^ 3? .
^ S •: ^
"t*^
=>!■■
1^
■ in
THE STORY OF
that In those da|? I^l'l sandbar prevented
the river from iJ-sJlil'f outlet directly in
line wit- * ^li^.© | '^ current was forced
to creep along S^f^i Kahe shore for some
distance toward l^l?i^-^l^
■^ R jtj c 2 ^ 5
Lee's place w:f;S e ig-^v n .■,_^ ''Hardscrab-
'^^ S o f* ~ 1
ble,'' a name vvi^i' sf':!! > . i^. oe applied
to that neiGrhborMiydl-l-riiany decades' there-
after he naerke (Hs.-^-|^ardscrabble '" it is
said in a recen^liiigigl-o of Chicago, "has
always been a f'i'^'«^n|'|''^^S^ '^'^^'^■'^ pioneers to
2 K^ a § s '^ y
describe a placets 11^^ I ^ '■ cxist-
* «. 55- C 15 Co y
were hard l^li •J^'J I ^ >; that
§ 5 2 ® « a W
en tl , i ^ ^l;*:'!'-^^' fbe same period,
d is mentione^'^n |r|^!^iry despatches dur-
ijg the ensuing^H-Vcr^g-ll 1812: and in the
State of ^''' '■'■^M: \^t^tii Streator was thus
• 2' ^-S [-^ -I ;<
colloquially knowu ri|j^ ;||^its earlier history.
Before the Civil ^^i% %»s^ " nt lived on
A fr^rni near -. ■?: ^^g-r ^r a log
•■■ 1-li!? Hard-
sci^.. & g 1:^11 ' given to a
work V.' i ^ fjli Richardson,
with the : :^*"A iiae ot Indian War-
OLD FORT DEARBORN
fare." This work takes the events which
occurred at Lee's place and bases upon them
a romance the details of which the author
supplied largely from his imagination. Many
other examples of the use of this name might
be given.
On the seventh of April of the fateful year
1812 the log house at Hardscrabble was occu-
pied by three men and a boy. The man who
seems to have been in charge of the work at
the farm was one Liberty White, and with
him were a discharged soldier, also a French-
man named Debou, and the boy, a son of
Mr. Lee's. Communication between the farm
and the fort was usually maintained by means
of canoes. The products of the farm found
a ready market at the fort, thus supplementing
the supplies for the garrison coming in the
regular way by lake schooners.
On the afternoon of the day mentioned a
party of soldiers from the fort, consisting of
a corporal and six men, had obtained leave to
go up the river to catch a supply of fish, with
which the stream at that time abounded. The
party went up the South Branch, passing Lee's
^'2 Tf.
[ 75 ] ^- '^.^
'•.1
THE STORY OF
place, with the usual exchange of greetings,
and at length reached a point some two miles
beyond, where they remained engaged in fish-
ing until nearly dark. Suddenly they were
startled by hearing the dull boom of a cannon
which they knew at once to be a danger sig-
nal from the fort, and as they surmised
was caused by some manifestation of Indiaa
hostility.
Hastily starting on their return, they soon
came to Lee's place, which, they observed,
was silent and deserted. It was now quite
dark, and the party drew up to the bank,
meantime calling and shouting, but receiving
no answer. The mysterious silence which
enveloped the place seemed to indicate that
the occupants whom they had seen there a few
hours before had suddenly become alarmed
and had perhaps fled toward the fort, if indeed
something worse had not befallen them. The
corporal knew that the commandant would
require a full report of the matter, and he
at once began an investigation. Stepping
ashore, the corporal and his men cautiously
advanced toward the house, in which there
[7^^
OLD FORT DEARBORN
was not a glimmer of light, and from which
issued no sound of human voice. As they
groped their way along they stumbled upon
the body of a man lying on the ground, and
by the sense of touch the corporal quickly
ascertained that the head was without a scalp
and the body mutilated. "The faithful dog
of the murdered man," says the account from
which the narrative is derived, "stood guard-
ing the lifeless remains of his master." The
party now reembarked and proceeded on their
way to the fort without further adventure,
where they arrived about eleven o'clock at
night and made a report to the commandant
of what they had seen.
We now return to the log house at Hard-
scrabble and to the dreadful occurrences
which took place there on that eventful
afternoon. After the fishing party had passed
up the river beyond the farmhouse a wander-
ing band of Indians appeared at the door
of the cabin, and according to the custom
of savages they entered and seated them-
selves on the floor without ceremony. Their
deportment was sullen and unfriendly, and
[77]
THE STORY OF
this circumstance aroused the suspicions of the
men in the cabin. One of them, the French-
man Debou, remarked to Liberty White: " I
do not like the appearance of the Indians;
they are none of our folks. I know by their
dress and paint that they are not Potawat-
amis." Another one of the white men, the
discharged soldier, then said to the boy Lee:
"If that is the case we had better get away
from them if we can. Say nothing, but do as
you see me do."
As the afternoon was then far advanced,
the discharged soldier passed out of the house
and walked in a deliberate manner down the
path toward the canoes tied up at the river
bank, accompanied by the boy Lee. Some of
the Indians inquired where they were going.
The soldier pointed to the cattle standing
among the haystacks on the opposite side of
the river and made signs that they must go
over and fodder them and that they would
then come back and get supper for them all.
The boy got into one of the canoes while the
man took possession of the other. The stream
was narrow and they quickly passed over to
[78]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
the eastern side. Here they pulled some hay
from the stacks for the cattle, and made a
show of collecting them together, and when
they had gradually made a circuit so that their
movements were concealed by the haystacks
they made a run for the woods which were
near at hand and directed their course toward
the fort as fast as their legs could carry them.
When they had covered a distance of a
quarter of a mile in their flight they heard
the sound of two gunshots, which they readily
conjectured were fired by the strange Indians
upon the two men. Liberty White and the
Frenchman Debou. The man and boy did
not slacken their speed until they had reached
the river somewhere near the present location
of State Street bridge. Here they paused
long enough to call out to John Burns, then
living in a cabin on the north bank of the
river near that point, to hasten to the fort
with his family, as the Indians were killing
and scalping up the river at Lee's place.
Mrs. John Kinzie was at the Burns house
at that moment to render what aid she could
to Mrs. Burns, who but a few hours before
[79]
THE STORY OF
had been delivered of a child. She instantly
left the house and ran to her own home, a
quarter of a mile distant, to give the alarm
and procure help for the sick v/oman. She
found the family awaiting her return, the
table spread for supper, while Mr. Kinzie
was playing on his violin and the children
dancing before the fire.
Rushing into the house, quite out of breath
and pale with terror, she was only able to
exclaim: "The Indians! the Indians!"
"The Indians? What? Where?" they all
demanded at once. Recovering herself for
a moment, she replied : " Up at Lee's place,
killing and scalping!" She then proceeded
to relate that while she was at Burns's house
a man and boy were seen running with all
speed along the opposite bank of the river;
that they had called across the river, warning
the Burns family to save themselves, for the
Indians were at Lee's place, killing and scalp-
ing, and that they themselves had barely been
able to make their escape. The man and
boy had then continued on their way as fast
as they could tov\^ard the fort, where they
[80]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
reported the terrifying news to the officers of
the garrison.
*'A11 was now consternation and dismay,"
says the author of fVau-Bun, from which these
particulars are gathered. The Kinzie family
hurried to the river side and, by means of
two old pirogues, or dugouts, that were kept
moored near the house, made all possible haste
across the river and took refuge in the fort.
We can but faintly realize what a consum-
ing terror seized upon the pioneers when the
cry was heard that hostile Indians were com-
ing. Often the alarm and the attack were
simultaneous, for however quick and resource-
ful the whites might be, the savages were
superior to them in one respect at least: their
stealthy advance and cat-like spring upon their
foes usually gave them the advantage at the
beginning, which was followed by brutal
ferocity and unsparing cruelty in the treat-
ment of their victims.
It \vas no wonder that Mrs. Kinzie was ter-
rified at the mention of the approach of hostile
Indians. In her childhood, as previously re-
lated, she had been stolen by a tribe of Seneca
[8il
THE STORY OF
Indians in New York State and had lived
among them for four years. She knew Indian
ways in peace and warfare, and she knew that
now at any moment the war-whoop might be
heard and the savages be upon them. Not
until she had crossed the threshold of the
fort gates with her family about her could
she feel a sensation of even temporary se-
curity.
After the fugitives from Lee's place had
reached the fort and related their adventures
the order was given to fire the alarm gun for
the purpose of giving notice to any who were
at a distance from the fort, and especially to
the boat party, who were far up the South
Branch of the river, that danger was im-
pending.
Energetic measures were at once taken to
secure the safety of the helpless Mrs. Burns
and her infant. It was the gallant young
Ensign Ronan who volunteered for this duty
and, with five or six others who joined him,
navigated an old scow up the river to the
Burns house, took the mother and her infant
child, together with the mattress upon which
[82],
OLD FORT DEARBORN
they lay, placed them on the scow, and soon
had them within the walls of the fort, where
they were tenderly cared for, and where all
gathered felt perfectly safe.
The anxiety felt by all regarding the safety
of the still absent boat party was at length
relieved by its appearance at a late hour.
Their tale was soon told, confirming and
amplifying the alarming details related by
the fugitives who had so narrowly escaped
with their own lives.
On the morning following the events just
narrated a party of volunteers made up of
soldiers and civilians went up the river to
Lee's place. There they found the bodies of
Liberty White and the Frenchman Debou
pierced with many wounds, the former hav-
ing received the two shots heard by the fugi-
tives, and the latter bearing the marks of
numerous knife thrusts. The scalps of the
murdered men had been taken by the Indians.
The scalping process, which v/as practised by
all the tribes of American Indians, has always
added an element of horror to the outrages
committed by them. The bodies of the mur-
[83]
THE STORY OF
dered men were brought to the fort and buried
in its immediate vicinity.
The few inhabitants of the place living out-
side the fort, consisting of discharged soldiers
and half-breeds, now took measures to defend
themselves against a possible attack from the
Indians, which they fully expected to follow.
They planked up the long piazzas of the
Agency House, which stood a short distance
west of the fort on the bank of the river, and
cut loopholes through the planks for use of
musketry. Greater watchfulness was exer-
cised by the garrison, and every preparation
was made to resist attack.
It was afterward learned through traders
out in the Indian country that the perpetrators
of this bloody deed were a band of Winne-
bago Indians who came into this neighbor-
hood to " take some white scalps." Their plan
had been to massacre all the men at the farm
and then proceed down the river and kill
every white man who could be found outside
the walls of the fort. This plan they had
partially carried out as we have seen, but
hearing the sound of the cannon fired at the
[84]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
fort, which they knew would alarm all the
whites of the neighborhood, and having no
further hope of coming upon them by sur-
prise, they thought it best to remain satisfied
with what they had already accomplished, and
hastily returned to their villages on Rock
River.
The tragedy at Lee's place was no doubt the
result of the hostility awakened among the
Indians of the western country by the malign
influence of Tecumseh communicated through
the various tribes of the Wabash Indians,
among whom he was regarded as the cham-
pion of Indian rights. The battle of Tippe-
canoe, which had apparently crushed his
power, was fought in the previous September;
but he had renewed his activity from the safe
shelter of the British dominions in Canada,
where he had taken refuge, and as it was plain
to all observers at this time that war between
England and the United States was inevitable,
the friendship of that chief was regarded as
desirable by the former. Indeed, he and his
tribesmen became an integral part of the
British forces.
[85]
THE STORY OF
But as the days and weeks passed by, and the
friendly Indians of the neighborhood ex-
plained that the attacking party at Lee's place
were Winnebagoes, with whose hostility they
had no sympathy, the tension of feeling was
gradually relieved and more dependence came
to be placed on the peaceable disposition of
the Potawatamis. The vigilance of the gar-
rison was relaxed, as it seemed to all that no
further outbreak was likely to occur. The
whites became convinced at length that no
connection existed between the Winnebagoes
concerned in the attack at Lee's place and
the other tribes in the vicinity, and that no
concert of action was apparent between the
different tribes. Thus the memory of the
bloody deed was permitted to slumber, and no
serious attempt was made to bring the per-
petrators to account. In fact, the feeling of
unrest among the savages in general through-
out the country was such that it seemed the
part of wisdom to postpone any schemes of
reprisal or punishment that the whites might
have entertained until the times were more
propitious. The excitement and fear which
[86]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
such an outrage usually inspired among the
people of the frontiers wore ofif by de-
grees, and the ordinary activities of life were
resumed.
Thus for a year or more there had been
intermittent alarms of Indian attacks and out-
rages before the final catastrophe. Besides
the murders committed in this region and in
other parts of the western country, the horses
and cattle of settlers had been stolen. On one
occasion, when marauders failed to find
horses in the stable near the fort, they wan-
tonly killed a number of sheep found on the
premises.
A significant incident occurred within the
walls of the fort a few months preceding its
destruction. It is related that two Indians
from a northern tribe had been admitted to
the fort as visitors. They noticed Mrs. Heald
and Mrs. Helm playing at battledore on the
parade ground opposite the officers' quarters.
One of the Indians turned to the interpreter
and said : " The white chiefs' wives are amus-
ing themselves very much ; it will not be long
before they are hoeing in our cornfields!"
[87]
THE STORY OF
Not much importance was attached to the
remark at the time but it was afterward bit-
terly remembered.
The following is a brief summary of the
important national events which occurred
during the years from 1803 to 1812, concur-
rent with and of especial interest to this
narrative.
The Louisiana Purchase, consummated on
April 30, 1803, added a vast extent of terri-
tory to the American possessions beyond the
Mississippi, and greatly increased the respon-
sibilities of the general Government. The
public men of that day but faintly realized
the consequences that would follow the im-
mense addition to the territories of the United
States thus brought about, though with char-
acteristic energy and good sense they set about
the task of developing the new domain.
"The winning of Louisiana," says Roose-
velt, in his Winning of the West, "followed
inevitably upon the great westward thrust of
the settlerfolk, a thrust which was delivered
blindly, but which no rival race could parry,
until it was stopped by the ocean itself."
[88]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
The entire area of what is now the State of
Illinois was, in 1803, a part of Indiana Ter-
ritory, which had been organized three years
before, with William Henry Harrison, then
a young man of twenty-seven, as first Gov-
ernor. It was not until February, 1809, that
Illinois Territory was organized, with Ninian
Edwards as the first Governor. No civil gov-
ernment was in existence at Chicago ; the first
authority, as at all frontier posts, was military.
The only people here during the period of
which we are writing, besides the few traders
we have mentioned and their helpers, were
the officers and soldiers of Fort Dearborn, and
they were of course under military authority
and discipline. All orders came to the cap-
tain commanding at the fort through the com-
mandant at Detroit, Colonel Jacob Kingsbury,
until the breaking out of the war with Eng-
land, when General William Hull, previously
the Governor of Michigan Territory, was
placed in command of the Northwestern
army then assembling at Detroit. Orders
thenceforth issued from the commanding
general.
[89]
THE STORY OF
The southern portion of the territory now
within the hounds of the State of Illinois had
been settled in some few localities during the
French period of domination, and the popula-
tion of the towns of Kaskaskia, Prairie du
Rocher and Cahokia were predominantly
French, being composed of a few native born
French, but mostly of French Canadians and
Creoles.
Even under British domination (1763 to
1783) there were practically no English-
speaking people among tlie inhabitants of the
places mentioned except the garrisons in the
forts at those points; and after the conquering
march of Colonel George Rogers Clark and
his Virginians in 1778 and 1779 the English
authority ceased altogether, the forces form-
ing the garrisons having become prisoners in
the hands of the Americans. The result of the
stream of emigration that set in from Ken-
tucky and the States farther east, after the
creation of the Northwest Territory jn 1787,
was that in a few years the Americans out-
numbered the earlier inhabitants.
At the time Fort Dearborn was built almost
[90]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
the entire State of Illinois, as at present con-
stituted, was included in a county called St.
Clair County. It was not until long after
Illinois had become a State in the Union that
county government began to be eflfective in
any way in the affairs of the little community
at Chicago; and indeed, it did not matter in
the least to the inhabitants what the name of
the county might be in which the place was
situated. It is quite likely that no one there
even knew that he was living within the limits
of St. Clair County, which in any case was
merely a geographical expression carrying no
exercise of jurisdiction whatever.
Thomas Jefferson was President of the
United States from 1801 to 1809; in the latter
year he was succeeded by James Madison, who
was President for the ensuing eight years.
[91]
i
Ill
The Tragedy
Ill
THE TRAGEDY
THE echoes of the Napoleonic wars raging
throughout Europe during the period be-
fore and after our war with Great Britain
were heard even in this far-away region of
the western frontier. England and her con-
tinental allies were engaged in a gigantic
struggle with France under Napoleon, then
at the height of his power. For the purpose
of crippling her adversary England issued, in
1807, her famous Orders in Council, which
declared that the vessels of neutral nations
were liable to seizure if engaged in trade with
the enemy. Napoleon retaliated by issuing
the equally famous Decrees of Berlin and
Milan, which declared Great Britain to be
in a state of blockade, and that all vessels
bound to or from British ports were liable to
capture.
To enforce the Orders in Council was a
[95]
THE STORY OF
comparatively easy task for the English navy,
then as now the most powerful among the
nations; and in consequence the ocean com-
merce of the Americans suffered severely, for
at that time every ocean highway was thronged
with the merchant ships of the United States.
The interference with our commerce was
greatly aggravated by the high-handed action
of the English in forcibly taking away from
our ships many of their seamen and pressing
them into the service of the English navy.
This grievance especially became so exasper-
ating that the war spirit of the American
people was aroused from one end of the land
to the other.
But the protests of the Americans, though
made to both England and France, were dis-
regarded, and it was realized that war could
not be avoided with one or the other of those
nations. Indeed, the proposal was frequently
made in the press and in Congress that the
country ought to declare war against both
powers in view of the outrages suffered by our
people. "The insolence of the powerful bel-
ligerents toward the young republic of the
[96]
J
OLD FORT DEARBORN
United States was hard to endure," says
Larned, though " the conduct of the French
Government was more insulting, if possible,
and more injurious, than that of Great
Britain." But the American people, still in-
spired by the feelings inherited from the
Revolutionary strife, seemed more incensed at
the treatment they received from the English
than from the French.
The sparse settlements of the West and the
isolated posts on the frontier were confronted
with a more serious and imminent menace to
their safety than were the inhabitants of the
older portions of the country on the Atlantic
seaboard. They beheld the war cloud gather-
ing, with a dreadful apprehension of the cer-
tainty that it would bring upon them a
sanguinary conflict with the savages of the
wilderness.
The increasingly hostile relations between
the Americans and the Western tribes, extend-
ing over a period of some years previous to the
time of which we are writing, was brought to
a climax through the disturbing influence of
Tecumseh; but at the battle of Tippecanoe in
[ 97 ]
THE STORY OF
the fall of 1811, where the savages met with
disastrous defeat, it was thought that at length
an era of peace on the frontier was about to
follow. And this, no doubt, would have been
the case had it not been for the activity of
British agents along the Canada border.-
It soon became manifest that Indian hos-
tility was once more increasing, and it was
generally regarded as due to the machinations
of the British at Maiden in Canada, where
they gave welcome and shelter to the discon-
tented chiefs and their followers who sought
their protection. Forays and attacks, sporadic
expeditions of the savages for purposes of
plunder or the taking of the scalps of set-
tlers, were continually reported throughout
the years 181 1 and 1812. One of the causes
of war recited by President Madison in his
message to Congress just previous to the
declaration of war against England was the
attacks of the savages upon the frontier settle-
ments incited by British traders, " a warfare,''
said the President, "which is known to spare
neither age nor sex, and distinguished by fea-
tures peculiarly shocking to humanity."
[98]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
When at length the Indian tribes became
assured that war between the English and the
Americans was about to follow, it was readily
seen that they would act for their own inter-
ests, and that they would be found opposed to
the Americans. The sympathies of the tribes
were plainly with the English by reason of the
fact that the latter were more liberal in mak-
ing presents to them than the Americans were.
Every year the Indians gathered at Maiden,
opposite Detroit, to receive presents both use-
ful and ornamental. Besides blankets and pro-
visions, a large quantity of objects suitable for
the adornment of their persons were distrib-
uted among them for the purpose, as it was
alleged, of " stimulating trade."
Thus the Western Indians passed by the
American trading posts at Chicago, St. Jo-
seph and other stations, and traveled over the
old Sauk Trail, which extended from the Mis-
sissippi at Rock Island around the southern
shore of Lake Michigan, loaded with furs,
which they sold to the English traders at
Maiden. In addition to the goods received in
barter by them, they v/ere shown many favors
[99]
THE STORY OF
by the English Government officials, and the
friendship thus cultivated proved of immense
value to the English when war broke out. In
that war the Indians were generally found
fighting on the side of their English friends.
Another cause of the hostility shown by the
Indians toward the Americans was the con-
stant irritation created in their minds after
treaties had been concluded. These treaties,
though formally agreed to by the chiefs rep-
resenting their tribes^ were often regarded by
the Indians as without validity for one reason
or another. Indeed, the Indians were not
without grievances against the Americans,
some real and others conjured up and dis-
torted by wrong-headed leaders among them.
Added to this was the difficulty of restrain-
ing the squatter and the bushranger, who de-
fied all treaties, trampled upon the rights of
the Indians, and disregarded the treaty obli-
gations of the Government. The frontiersman
had scant consideration for the red man, whom
he looked upon as his natural enemy and the
principal obstacle to his safety and well-being.
This feeling constituted a natural antagonism
[ loo]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
which was not allayed until the final removal
of all the tribes to Government reservations
many years later.
In the summer of the year 1812 the officers
on duty at Fort Dearborn were Captain
Nathan Heald, the commanding officer;
Lieutenant Linai T. Helm, Ensign George
Ronan and Surgeon Isaac van Voorhis.
Captain Heald was at that time thirty-seven
years old and the other three officers were all
well under thirty; Ronan was the youngest of
them all, having graduated from West Point
only the year before.
The force composing the garrison consisted,
according to Captain Heald's own account
written a couple of months afterward, of sixty-
six enlisted men, fifty-four of whom were
regulars, and twelve militia. In addition to
these there were nine women and eighteen
children. This makes a total, including the
officers, of ninety-seven persons. Some ac-
counts, however, give a different enumeration,
but we shall make no attempt to reconcile
them, as the variations are not many.
The news that the United States had de-
[lOl]
THE SrORY OF
clared war against Great Britain was received
at Fort Dearborn on the seventh day of
August, 1812. This was fifty days afterwards,
and it had taken this long time for the news
to reach the remote post on the frontier. The
authorities at Detroit, however, had been in-
formed some three or four weeks before the
messenger was finally despatched to Fort Dear-
born. If word had been sent as soon as re-
ceived at Detroit, there is no reasonable doubt
that timely measures might have been taken
to prevent the terrible disaster which followed.
The despatches containing this important an-
nouncement were brought by a chief of the
Potawatami tribe named Winnemeg, also
called Winamac, who was friendly to the
Americans and sent by General Hull to Cap-
tain Heald.
General William Hull, then in command
of the Northwestern army assembled at De-
troit, had served with distinction in the Revo-
lutionary War, and had rendered excellent
service as Governor of the Territory during
the previous seven years. Until he sur-
rendered Detroit he was held in high esteem
[ 102]
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and DC i the conti> is-
tiation.
A letter of instrn^-^''nnt
from Gener-ril Hu . -.>.,
among the despatch e
ger. This letter gave sp 'is to .the
officer commanding at rn, and
wn«; ?!?: follows:
It is with regret I order the evacuation of your post,
owing to the want of provisions only, a neglect of the
Comman<lai!t of Detroit. You will therefore destroy
all arli^C8JMiJi'ffii^v;ijE^Ti:;R ; 0F( GEJTBE^jif ®Fi?ftcEO
tory you may give to f!t\.'^'^v-^ilf-^hV^^iii> who may be
desirous o^it?mir^'<^/}%iiWMc(mi>f¥hi'^^9!y^j«^(l to
the poor and needy of your post. I am informed this
day thai- M:^cl:inac and the Island of St. Joseph's [in
the *■ er] will be evacuated on account of
the scarcity of provisions, and I hope in my next to
give you an account of the surrender of the at
Maiden, as I expect 600 men here by the hegltauug of
Sept. • [Signed] Brigadier Gen. li
The letter, the original of which is pre-
set ved in the Draper collection of manu-
scripts at Madison, Wisconsin, bears the marks
of having been hastily written. Evidently
Mrs. John H. Kinzie, when she wrote the
Hr^t nnhlished accounts of the events here nar-
[103 J
y' .^
/ >-
Ot
y^r>^
i ^ ^ ^
OLD FORT DEARBORN
and possessed die confidence of the adminis-
tration.
A letter of instructions to Captain Heald
from General Hull was tlie most important
among the despatches brought by the messen-
ger. This letter gave specific directions to the
officer commanding at Fort Dearborn, and
was as follows:
It is with regret I order the evacuation of your post,
owing to the want of provisions only, a neglect of the
Commandant of Detroit. You will therefore destroy
all arms and ammunition ; but the goods of the Fac-
tory you may give to the friendly Indians who may be
desirous of escorting you on to Fort Wayne, and to
the poor and needy of your post. I am informed this
day that Mackinac and the Island of St. Joseph's [in
the St. Mary's River] will be evacuated on account of
the scarcity of provisions, and I hope in my next to
give you an account of the surrender of the British at
Maiden, as I expect 600 men here by the beginning of
Sept. . [Signed] Brigadier Gen. Hull.
The letter, the original of which is pre-
served in the Draper collection of manu-
scripts at Madison, Wisconsin, bears the marks
of having been hastily written. Evidently
Mrs. John H. Kinzie, when she wrote the
first published accounts of the events here nar-
[ 103]
THE STORY OF
rated, had never seen the letter in which is
contained the order to evacuate. In her work
entitled Wau-Bun she says that the order re-
ceived by Captain Heald from General Hull
was "to evacuate the fort, if practicable; and
in that event, to distribute all the United
States property contained in the fort and in the
United States' Factory or agency among the
Indians in the neighborhood."
Mrs. Kinzie's account of the order was
doubtless gathered from those who were par-
ticipants in the afifairs of that time and who
gave the contents of General Hull's letter from
memory. For it must be remembered that
the author of Wau-Bun, in which was printed
the first authentic account of these events, was
not a participant in them. She was the wife
of John H. Kinzie, the son of John Kinzie the
pioneer of 1804, and she did not come to Chi-
cago until 1833, twenty-one years after the
occurrences of which we are writing.
The original letter has come to light only
within the last few years; and upon making
a comparison with the Wau-Bun account it is
seen that General Hull ordered the evacua-
[ 104 ]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
tion, without leaving anything whatever to the
discretion of the officer to whom the order is
addressed, though discretionary permission is
implied by the conditional clause " if prac-
ticable" in the Wau-Bun account. Just how
far Captain Heald would have been justified
in using his discretion and disregarding the
order to evacuate in view of the great danger
there was in obeying it, is a question upon
which there were opposing views then, and
regarding which there has since been much
controversy. It is plain, however, that a strict
construction of the order would have required
that the post be evacuated, no matter how seri-
ous the consequences of doing so might be;
and judging from what we know of Captain
Heald's character, it is not at all strange that
he interpreted his orders literally.
The difficulties with which Captain Heald
w^as encompassed can be but dimly realized.
Far removed, as he was, from the nearest
post; surrounded by hordes of savages who,
though professing friendship, were without
doubt in sympathy with the enemy, he well
knew that whatever course he might adopt
[ 105 ]
THE STORY OF
would endanger the safety of the people under
his care. Flis orders to evacuate were indeed
positive; but if he could have been assured
of safety by remaining and holding the post,
he would have been justified without doubt
in doing so; and it was the unanimous opin-
ion of his advisers, including the officers of
the garrison, that this should be done.
Captain Heald's problem, however, was a
military one; he believed in obeying orders,
on the theory that his superiors issued them
as a part of a comprehensive plan. If he
should remain at the post in defiance of his
plain instructions he might embarrass a well-
planned campaign and invite disaster in a
larger field than he could be aware of. Thus,
he decided (for though slow in his judgments,
he was a man of much decision of character)
that the evacuation must be made, and the
many appalling risks of a retreat through the
wilderness must be hazarded.
After his arrival with the despatches, the
friendly Winnemeg sought out and conferred
with John Kinzie, in whom the Indians gen-
erally placed much confidence. Kinzie was
[io6]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
widely known as " the Indians' friend," and
the regard felt by the savages of the neigh-
borhood toward him and his family had here-
tofore been a powerful influence in protect-
ing the post from their attacks. As it was,
many of the young men of the tribes could
scarcely be restrained in their desire to in-
augurate hostilities in spite of their older men,
who not only entertained a high regard for
Kinzie and his family, but who also realized
that the friendship of the Americans was of
more value to them than that of the British.
Mr. Kinzie had taken up his residence at
the fort and was soon in possession of all the
material facts contained in Winnemeg's des-
patches. Winnemeg, well knowing the tem-
per of the tribes, advised Mr. Kinzie that it
would be dangerous to evacuate the post and
attempt to pass through a country infested
with hostile Indians. The garrison, he said,
was well supplied with provisions and means
of defence, and the post could withstand a
siege until reinforcements arrived. But
should Captain Heald decide upon abandon-
ing the post according to his instructions, it
[ 107]
THE STORY OF
ought to be done immediately by all means, be-
fore the tribes had become aware of the actual
condition of affairs.
All this was promptly communicated to the
commandant, but it had little effect upon him,
and he expressed his determination to carry
out his instructions to the letter, distribute the
supplies to the friendly Indians, and evacuate
the post. Mr. Kinzie strongly reinforced the
advice given by Winnemeg, but without effect,
and on the following morning the order
received from General Hull was read to the
troops on parade.
Five days after the receipt of General
Hull's order Captain Heald called a council
of the Indians, who were then assembled in
considerable numbers in the vicinity of the
fort, to acquaint them with his intentions and
request of them an escort for the garrison on
its march to Fort Wayne.
Rumors of the state of affairs at the fort had
already been spread among the Indians, and
there were evidences of considerable excite-
ment in their actions and conduct. Some of
the savages entered the fort in defiance of the
[io8]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
guards and making their way to the officers'
quarters strode rudely around the living
apartments. On one occasion an Indian went
into the parlor of the commanding officer and,
seizing a rifle, fired it, as an expression of de-
fiance— so it was thought, though some be-
lieved it was the signal for an attack. "The
old chiefs passed backwards and forwards
among the assembled groups," says the Wau-
Bun account, "with the appearance of the
most lively agitation, while the squaws rushed
to and fro in great excitement, and evidently
prepared for some fearful scene."
Notwithstanding these demonstrations, the
commanding officer, in a perhaps mistaken
endeavor to avoid any appearance of fear or
hesitation, attended the council which he had
called, though warned against doing so. This
council was held on the esplanade adjoining
the fort. He was accompanied only by Mr.
Kinzie, the officers declining to participate.
The officers had been secretly informed, they
asserted, that the young men of the tribes in-
tended to fall upon them when they attended
the council and treacherously murder them,
[ 109 ]
THE STORY OF
but Captain Heald was not convinced that
there was any truth in the information.
After the two passed out of the fort gates,
the portholes of the blockhouses were opened
and the cannons were pointed so as to com-
mand the whole assembly. This precaution
no doubt saved the lives of the two white men
who attended the council. Captain Heald in-
formed the assembled Indians that he pro-
posed to evacuate the fort, but before doing
so it was his intention " to distribute among
them, the next day, not only the goods lodged
in the United States' Factory, but also the am-
munition and provisions, with which the gar-
rison was well supplied."
Following this statement he asked the Pota-
watamis to furnish him an escort for his troops
on their march to Fort Wayne, promising that
a liberal reward would be paid to them on
their arrival, in addition to the presents he
was then about to distribute. This proposal,
apparently, was well received, and, "with
many professions of friendship and good will,
the savages assented to all he proposed, and
promised all he required."
[no]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
But Mr. Kinzie, well knowing the disposi-
tion of the Indians, did not place reliance
upon the assurance they had given. After the
council he had an interview with Captain
Heald and earnestly tried to convince him of
the utter worthlessness of the promises made
by the Indians. He reminded him of the
many instances of hostility shown by them
during the past year, especially by the Wabash
Indians, with whom the Potawatamis were
closely associated; and that it had become the
settled policy of the Americans to withhold
from the savages whatever would aid them
in carrying on warfare against the scattered
white inhabitants of the frontier; and that
the distributions he was now making would
directly assist them in their bloody purposes.
Owing to the representations thus made,
Captain Heald at length became convinced
that it would be dangerous to place in the
hands of those who might at any moment be-
come enemies the ammunition he had intended
giving to them, and he determined to destroy
all except what was necessary for the use of
his own troops.
THE STORY OF
A letter written by Lieutenant Helm some
two years afterwards has recently come to
light. In this letter is given the amount of
supplies and war material at the fort when
the order to evacuate was received. "We
had," says Helm, "two hundred stand of
arms, four pieces of artillery, six thousand
pounds of powder, and a sufficient quantity
of shot, lead, etc. There was a supply of
Indian corn and provisions to last three
months, exclusive of a herd of two hundred
head of horned cattle, and twenty-seven bar-
rels of salt."
The next day after the council was held, the
thirteenth, there was a general distribution of
blankets, broadcloths, calicoes, paints, etc.,
among the Indians of the neighborhood; but
in the evening the ammunition was thrown
into a well and the liquors emptied into the
river. The Indians, who were particularly
eager for the ammunition and the liquors, had
observed that neither of these articles was
forthcoming in the distribution of the day,
and under cover of darkness crept as near to
the fort as possible in order to ascertain if
[112]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
any attempt was being made to destroy them,
as they strongly suspected there would be. A
guard had been placed, however, so that the
Indians could not approach close to the scene.
But though the prowling savages may not
have actually witnessed the proceedings, the
work of destruction was accomplished. The
Indians were well convinced that all this had
been done, especially as the river was so im-
pregnated with the liquors that its waters had
the taste of strong grog for some time after-
ward. All the weapons of warfare not neces-
sary for the use of the soldiers were broken
up and thrown into the well, along with quan-
tities of powder, shot, flints and gunscrews.
The eight days intervening between the ar-
rival of the order to evacuate the fort and the
actual departure of the garrison were filled
with forebodings and anxiety. The inmates of
the fort, which now included not only the gar-
rison but the civilian inhabitants of the neigh-
borhood as well, believed that an appalling
fate — death at the hands of a savage foe —
inevitably awaited them. The one exception
was Captain Heald, who still had faith that
[113]
THE STORY OF
the Indians would be true to their promise and
furnish an escort on the " march through."
He was convinced that he had succeeded in
creating an amicable feeling among the sav-
ages, and that the safely of all was assured.
The officers of the garrison, finding that
Captain Heald failed to call a council with
them and that he had expressed an intention
of abandoning the fort and proceeding to Fort
Wayne with an Indian escort, drew up and
presented a remonstrance to him in which it
was recited that it was highly improbable that
the command would be permitted to pass
through the country in safety to Fort Wayne.
For although it had been said that some of
the chiefs had opposed an attack upon the
fort, planned the preceding autumn, yet it was
well known that they had been actuated in
that matter by motives of private regard to one
family, that of Mr. Kinzie, and not to any
general friendly feeling toward the Amer-
icans; and that at any rate it was hardly to be
expected that these few individuals would be
able to control the whole tribe, who were
thirsting for blood.
[114]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
In another clause of the remonstrance it
was added that the march of the troops must
be necessarily slow, as their movements must
be accommodated to the helplessness of the
women and children, of whom there were a
number with the detachment; and that their
unanimous advice was to remain where they
were and fortify themselves as strongly as
possible.
The reply made by Captain Heald to the
remonstrance was that his force was totally in-
adequate to an engagement with the Indians;
— that is, in withstanding a siege; — that he
should unquestionably be censured for re-
maining when there appeared a prospect of a
safe march through; that, upon the whole, he
deemed it expedient to assemble the Indians,
distribute the property among them, and then
ask of them an escort to Fort Wayne, with the
promise of a considerable reward upon their
safe arrival; — and that he had "full confi-
dence in the friendly professions of the
Indians."
The gathering perils that now environed
the fort and its inmates were rapidly ap-
[115]
THE STORY OF
proaching a climax. A fatal mistake had been
made in disregarding Winnemeg's advice to
begin the retreat without delay if that course
was determined upon. Winnemeg had ad-
vised that in such an event everything about
the fort should be left standing as it was,
and while the Indians were engaged in plun-
dering the abandoned fort the troops might
be well on their way to Fort Wayne, and per-
haps escape attack altogether. John Kinzie
likewise strongly urged the necessity of
prompt action if the movement was to be
made at all.
The officers held aloof from Captain Heald
after the distribution of the supplies had taken
place, convinced at length that further efforts
to dissuade him from his course were useless.
They denounced his purpose as "little short
of madness." There were many evidences of
insubordination observed among the soldiers,
and an atmosphere of gloom pervaded the
minds of all in the fort.
On the fourteenth, the day before that de-
cided upon for the evacuation, the general
despondency was relieved by the arrival of
[ii6]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
Captain William Wells from Fort Wayne
at the head of a band of about thirty friendly
Indians of the Miami tribe mounted on
ponies. Captain Wells will always be classed
among the heroic figures of the time. He
was then in the prime of life, a man about
forty years of age, and known throughout the
frontier as a " perfect master of everything
pertaining to Indian life both in peace and
war, and withal a stranger to personal fear."
When General Hull had sent the order to
Captain Heald to evacuate his post, he also
sent an express to Major B. F. Stickney,
Indian agent at Fort Wayne, advising him of
the order and requesting him to render to Cap-
tain Heald all the information and assistance
in his power to give. In accordance with this
request. Major Stickney had promptly des-
patched Captain Wells with a party of Miami
warriors. A warm attachment existed be-
tween Wells and Heald, and upon the arrival
of Wells with his Miamis he was hailed with
joy, and the hopes of the people at the fort
were revived.
It was Wells's intention to prevent if pos-
[117]
THE STORY OF
sible the abandonment of the fort, aware as he
was of the hostility of the Potawatamis, for he
knew that certain destruction awaited the gar-
rison if it should make the attempt. Possess-
ing a perfect knowledge of the character and
disposition of the Indians, derived from his
long residence among them. Wells foresaw
that the savages would take quick advantage
of the whites should they leave the shelter
of the fort walls and expose themselves in the
open on their long slow march of a hundred
and fifty miles to Fort Wayne.
When Wells reached the fort he found to
his dismay that most of the ammunition had
been destroyed, and that the provisions, blan-
kets and other goods in the factory had been
distributed to the Indians. He perceived at
once that the means of defence having been so
seriously reduced there was now no other
course to pursue, and that the march must be
attempted.
During the day another council with the
Indians was held, and on this occasion the
savages were found to be in an angry mood.
They immediately reminded the commanding
[ii8]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
officer that they were aware of the destruction
of the ammunition and the liquors and that
they regarded it as an act of bad faith. It
was with the utmost difficulty that the chiefs
could restrain the young men of the tribe from
carrying out their sanguinary designs at once.
For although there were several of the chiefs
who shared the generally hostile feeling of
the tribe toward the whites, yet they enter-
tained a regard for the men of the garrison
and the traders of the neighborhood.
The evening of the last day at the fort,
Black Partridge, a prominent chief of the
Potawatamis, of whom further mention will
be made, came to the officers' quarters and ad-
dressed Captain Heald as follows: "Father,
I come to deliver up to you the medal I wear.
It was given me by the Americans, and I have
long worn it in token of our mutual friend-
ship. But our young men are resolved to im-
brue their hands in the blood of the whites.
I cannot restrain them, and I will not wear a
token of peace while I am compelled to act
as an enemy."
The language of this speech cannot, of
[119]
THE STORY OF
course, be accepted as the verbatim utterance
of Black Partridge. He spoke in his own
tongue, and the speech was translated by the
interpreter, who at that time was John Kinzie.
The utterance has, however, become a classic
in all the historical accounts pertaining to the
events of that time.
An observer taking a survey from the walls
of the fort at this time would have beheld the
river to the north flowing in a sluggish cur-
rent toward the lake, then bending to the south
until it reached its mouth over a shallow bot-
tom nearly opposite the present Madison
Street. On the bank of the river, near its
mouth, stood the house of Charles Lee, the
owner of " Lee's Place," the farm some four
miles up the South Branch where two men
were murdered by the Indians in the previous
April. Toward the west was the Agency
House, standing near the bank of the river,
beyond which were the groups of Indian
wigwams clustered along the creek that for-
merly flowed into the main stream at the
present State Street. Opposite this point, on
the north bank, was the house of John Burns;
[ 120]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
and further eastward was the most pretentious
residence of the place, the house of John Kin-
zie. A little in the rear of it stood the cabin
of Antoine Ouilmette.
Taking a more distant view toward the
west, the observer might have seen the point
where the North and South branches of the
river met and formed the main body of the
stream. The north banks of the river were
wooded to the water's edge except where
clearings had been made around the cabins
mentioned.
Looking eastward, the broad expanse of
Lake Michigan stretched away beyond the
limits of vision. At the season of year in
which the events of which we are writing took
place the lake was usually devoid of storms
and rough weather.
Lake Michigan at this point has a breadth
of fifty miles between the mouth of the Chi-
cago River and the opposite or Michigan
shore; and there being no eminence of suffi-
cient height to rise above the horizon, the
prospect was like looking off to sea where
there is an offing of thousands of miles.
[121]
THE STORY OF
Northward the shores were fringed with a
white oak forest, with a line of sand-hills near
the beach. Looking southward, the shore of
the lake trended away in a curve toward the
southeast, and on its margin could be traced
the sand-hills characteristic of the shores as
far as the eye could reach.
It is a remarkable fact that most of the
details of the Chicago massacre are derived
from the accounts furnished by the two
women who were eye-witnesses of the scenes
described. Neither of these accounts was
directly written by the two women referred
to, but are preserved through secondary
reports.
The narrative of Mrs. Helm, who was only
seventeen years old at the time, was taken
down from dictation apparently by Mrs. John
H. Kinzie and incorporated in Wau-Bun.
While this account, as given in the work men-
tioned, is enclosed in quotation-marks as if in
the language of the narrator, it was evidently
rendered by Mrs. Kinzie in her own words.
Mrs. Kinzie was not present at the massacre,
not having come to Chicago until twenty
[ 122]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
years thereafter, but she was diligent in pro-
curing all the information available at the
time of writing her book. In her later years
she no doubt talked the matter over at length
with Mrs. Helm, who was a half-sister of
her husband.
It is important, in obtaining a clear under-
standing of this narrative, that the names of
Mrs. John Kinzie, the wife of the pioneer
of 1804, and of Mrs. John H. Kinzie, the
author, be not confused.
The narrative of Mrs. Heald reaches pos-
terity through the story of her son, Darius
Heald. A portion was given in John Went-
worth's address at the unveiling of the memo-
rial tablet on the site of old Fort Dear-
born, delivered May 21, 1881; and another
portion is quoted in Joseph Kirkland's book,
The Chicago Massacre, published some years
later.
Darius Heald was not born until ten years
after the massacre, and his testimony, written
from his dictation, was derived entirely from
the oral account of his mother.
Comparing the account with that given by
[123]
THE STORY OF
Mrs. Helm a number of discrepancies in de-
tails is observed, though the main events are
related in both accounts in practically identi-
cal form.
The accounts of both Mrs. Helm and Mrs.
Heald were w^ritten from dictation. Mrs.
Helm's account appeared in print twenty-four
years after the event which it describes, while
Mrs. Heald's did not appear until seventy-
five years thereafter, having in the meantime
been preserved only in the form of a family
tradition. It can therefore hardly have as
much historical value as the older published
narrative of Mrs. Helm.
The morning of the fifteenth of August,
1812, dawned clear and the day was oppres-
sively warm. There was scarcely a breath of
air stirring and the surface of the lake was
unrufHed, stretching away, as one expressed it,
" like a sheet of burnished gold." The prep-
arations for the departure went actively for-
ward. At nine o'clock Captain Wells took a
place at the head of the column on horseback,
his face blackened, according to the Indian
custom, "in token of his impending fate."
[ 124]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
Wells was under no illusions. He knew that
at any moment the crisis would be upon them,
and he clearly realized how hopeless in the
presence of hordes of savages in the neighbor-
hood, bent on blood and plunder, any resist-
ance would be, and how faint a chance there
was for escape. But brave and resolute he
calmly went forward with the fixed purpose
of doing his duty in the face of inevitable
destruction.
Following him rode half of his Miami
band, and behind them the musicians came,
and as the march began they played the Dead
March. Then came the soldiers, each carry-
ing twenty-five rounds of ammunition, all that
had been reserved from the general destruc-
tion, though a totally inadequate supply for
such a campaign as they might reasonably
look forward to in these threatening circum-
stances.
Next came a train of wagons in which the
camp equipage and provisions were carried,
and in the wagons were also placed the
women and children. The rear of the column
was brought up by the remainder of the
[125]
THE STORY OF
Miami escort. The wives of the married
officers, Mrs. Heald and Mrs. Helm, accom-
panied the procession on horseback.
The escort promised by the Potawatamis
in council was on hand and moved with the
procession, a few hundred yards to the west,
keeping a parallel course. There was a
lingering hope among the whites that the In-
dians would be true to their promise and
continue with them throughout their journey
as a protecting force, and in this hope the
movements of the Indians were watched with
the greatest interest, though with painful fore-
bodings and suspicions.
Among the people thus hoping against hope
" there were not wanting gallant hearts who
strove to encourage in their desponding com-
panions the hopes of escape they were far
from indulging themselves."
Early in the morning of the day of the de-
parture of the garrison John Kinzie had
received a message from Topenebe of St.
Joseph's band informing him of what he
already was well convinced of, that the Pota-
watamis who were to act as escort on the
[126]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
march had treacherous designs, and would
without doubt attack the column. Topenebe
was a chief in the Potawatami tribe, but a
firm friend of the whites and especially of the
Kinzie family. He warned Mr. Kinzie not
to accompany the troops when they left the
fort, but rather to take passage in a boat with
his family and proceed directly to St. Joseph,
where he might rejoin the troops if they were
successful in passing through the country.
Mr. Kinzie, however, decided to place his
family in the boat, while he himself accom-
panied the troops, in the hope and belief that
his presence would operate as a restraint
upon the fury of the savages in case of an
attack. This brave action on the part of Mr.
Kinzie, who thus cast in his lot with those
who were going forth to almost certain
destruction, must be regarded as an exhibition
of rare personal courage notable even among
many other instances of a similar kind seen
on that fatal day.
The party in the boat which left the Kinzie
house about the same time that the troops
marched out of the fort consisted of Mrs. Kin-
[ 127]
THE STORY OF
zie and her four children, the eldest of whom
by her second marriage was John Harris, then
nine years old. The others were: Ellen
Marion, six and a half years old; Maria
Indiana, four years old, and Robert Allen,
two and a half years old. In addition there
were Josette La Framboise, a French-Ottawa
half-breed, a nurse in the family; Chandon-
nais, a clerk in the employ of Mr. Kinzie; two
servants, a boatman, and the two Indians who
had brought the message from Topenebe.
This made a party of twelve persons in the
boat.
Upon Mrs. Kinzie now devolved the re-
sponsibility and direction of the party in the
boat, since her husband had chosen to accom-
pany the troops. Proceeding to the mouth of
the river, the boat was detained for a time
while the party beheld the passage of the col-
umn just beginning its march. Mrs. Kinzie
''was a woman of uncommon energy and
strength of character," says the author of
Wau-Bun, "yet her heart died within her as
she folded her arms around her helpless In-
fants, and gazed upon the march of her hus-
[128]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
band and eldest child to certain destruction."
It will be recalled that Mrs. Kinzie's eldest
child was Mrs. Margaret Helm, who was
with her husband on the march.
Antoine Ouilmette and his family did not
abandon their dwelling as did all the other
residents of the village. A sister of his wife,
known in the accounts as Mrs. Bisson, was
a member of this same household. Ouilmette
was regarded by the Potawatamis as belong-
ing to their tribe, and he felt no apprehension
of danger in remaining on the ground. Rene-
gade whites living among the savages usually
maintained their standing among them by
offering no opposition to any atrocities com-
mitted by them, and sometimes even partici-
pating in the warfare against their own race.
The line of march lay along the shore of
the lake toward the south. In the absence
of roads through the country at that early
period the traveling was difficult for wagons,
and the margin of the lake was usually pre-
ferred for that kind of locomotion wherever
it lay in the desired direction. For a consider-
able distance toward the southern end of the
[ 129 ]
THE STORY OF
lake the route of the proposed march would
be along the sandy beach, usually firm and
smooth near the water's edge.
Boat navigation was the main reliance for
transporting men and goods, though as yet
there was not a sufficiently large number of
boats of any description on Lake Michigan to
have moved so large a body of men and
women at one time as composed the proces-
sion leaving the fort. And even if there had
been enough of such as were used by the
traders, it is not likely that the people would
have been permitted by the hostile Indians
even to embark in them.
The fort was no sooner vacated than the
Indians rushed in and began to plunder the
place of everything that was movable. In
an adjoining field there had been a herd of
cattle kept for the use of soldiers, such as
milch cows, oxen, etc., and these were al-
lowed to run at large when the troops
departed. The Indians gave chase and shot
them all, seemingly for the satisfaction they
found in the mere act of killing, and the deed
was quite in keeping with their usual im-
[130]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
provident habits. Mrs. Helm, in her account,
said that she well remembered a remark of
Ensign Ronan as the shooting of the cattle
went on. " Such," said he, " is to be our fate,
— to be shot down like beasts."
In taking their departure from the fort
there was little in the conduct of the savages
to indicate the hostility which was so soon
to manifest itself. Mrs. Heald gave an ac-
count of the scene many years later, and she
said in her narrative that " the fort was va-
cated quietly, not a cross word being passed
between soldiers and Indians, and good-byes
were exchanged."
In fact, it was generally believed that those
Indians who gathered about the entrance of
the fort, prepared to rush in the moment the
last men passed out, took no part in the later
events of the day, being fully occupied in their
work of plundering and cattle-killing. John
Wentworth in one of his lectures on the sub-
ject went further, and declared that the
Indians who had lived a long time in the
immediate vicinity of the fort were friendly
to the whites and "did their best to pacify
[131]
THE STORY OF
the numerous warriors who flocked here from
the more distant hunting grounds."
The column had not proceeded very far
on its course before it was noticed that the
Potawatami escort was diverging from the
direction in which both columns started out
and that at the distance of a mile from the
fort there was a considerable distance between
them.
A range of sand-hills and sand-banks of no
great height skirted the shore dividing the
sandy beach from the prairie beyond them.
Among these sand-hills were a few trees and
bushes supporting a precarious existence.
Westward of this range of sand-hills which
began to rise about a mile from the fort the
Indians continued their course and were soon
lost to view.
Suddenly, far in the advance, Captain
Wells was seen to turn his horse and ride
furiously back along the marching men, who
quickly came to a halt. Wells was swinging
his hat in a circle around his head, which
meant in the sign language of the frontier,
"We are surrounded by Indians!" As he
[132]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
approached the commanding officer he
shouted, "They are about to attack us; form
instantly and charge upon them." The Pota-
watami escort had in fact become the attack-
ing party, choosing to murder the whites
rather than join in looting the fort.
The Indians could now be seen in great
numbers coming into view from behind the
mounds of sand, their heads bobbing up and
down "like turtles out of the water." The
troops were promptly formed and they had
no sooner taken position than the Indians be-
gan firing upon them with deadly effect, the
first victim being a veteran of seventy years
of age.
After firing one round the troops charged
up the slopes of the sand-hills, driving the
Indians from the position. However, they
scattered in both directions and presently be-
gan to envelop the flanks of the line according
to the usual practice in savage warfare. At
this juncture the mounted Miamis would
have been of the greatest service in prevent-
ing such a manoeuvre, but they had all fled
across the prairie after the first shot was fired,
[133]
THE STORY OF
quickly disappeared in the distance, and were
seen no more.
Captain Heald, in a letter written a few
weeks after the event, said:
The situation of the country rendered it necessary
for us to take the beach, with the lake on our left, and
a high sand-bank on our right, at about one hundred
yards' distance. We had proceeded about a mile and
a half when it was discovered that the Indians were
prepared to attack us from behind the bank. I imme-
diately marched up with the company to the top of the
bank when the action commenced; after firing one
round we charged, and the Indians gave way in front
and joined those on our flanks.
The horses upon which Mrs. Heald and
Mrs. Helm were riding became almost un-
manageable after the firing had begun. The
explosion of a charge in an old flint lock mus-
ket was a terrific outburst of noise. It
produced a volume of sound which we can
scarcely realize when comparing it with the
report of a service rifle in use at the present
day. It was little wonder that the horses
pranced and bounded when these thundering
volleys were heard.
Mrs. Helm said that she drew off a little
[134]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
and gazing upon her husband (Lieutenant
Helm) and her father (Mr. Kinzie), whom,
although he was her step-father, she was al-
ways fond of calling father, she saw that they
both were yet unharmed. But she felt that as
for herself her hour had come, and she en-
deavored to forget those she loved, and to pre-
pare herself for her approaching fate.
It was the endeavor of the savages to close
upon their victims whenever they found an
opportunity to bring their tomahawks and
scalping knives into use. While some were
firing upon the troops from cover, others were
seeking to attack those who had become sepa-
rated from their friends. These they could
quickly overcome owing to their skill in the
use of those murderous weapons.
One Sergeant Holt, who was accompanied
by his wife, had received a ball in his neck
in the early part of the engagement. He
handed his sword to his wife, who was on
horseback near him, and told her to defend
herself. The Indians were desirous of ob-
taining possession of the horse and at the same
time sparing her life, for generally they
[135]
THE STORY OF
wished to take the women captives. Mrs.
Holt resisted vigorously when the savages at-
tempted to seize the horse; she broke away
from them and dashed out on the open
prairie. Still pursuing, they overtook her
and succeeded in dragging her from her
horse. She was then made a prisoner and
later taken to the Illinois River country,
where she received kind treatment. Ulti-
mately she was ransomed and restored to her
friends.
Mrs. Helm was attacked by a young Indian,
who raised his tomahawk, intending to deal
her a blow, but she avoided the murderous
weapon and seized her assailant around the
neck. This is the moment that the sculptor
of the bronze group, now situated at the
intersection of Eighteenth Street and Calu-
met Avenue, chose for his representation.
Mrs. Helm tried to get possession of the
scalping knife which hung in a scabbard over
his breast, but another and an older Indian
dragged her away with a strong grasp.
Struggling and resisting, she was then borne
toward the lake, plunged into the water and
[136]
THE STORY OF
wisiitu lu t . i^^ci v/omen captive
It resisted vigorously when the sav:igc:> ut
tempted to seize the horse; she broke a-
from them and das] ut on the open
prairie. Still r^ursuin^, they overtook her
and succeedea ^t:>o & •'-' -^'^^^^ ^^^''
horse. She was theti made a prisoner and
later taken to ' 'Uinois River country,
of the froops and others took place on the loth of August 181S.
The mdiMmeWlnas designed by Mr. Carl Sohl-Smith. It consists
of a bronsfi grqup^ p^<^fied on a 'm^^siv.^,ped8st,qJ.o^,graiii1^,:upiit),-^,.
the sides of ho'^i<:h'are^p^n'eis^'depfdiihg-id&)ies ifr relief connected' "'
Kith the events of that. d(iy: It is situated st the^,o,oi<,^, ^wh\^enik^ -.%
street, adjoining the' traeki of''Wfe''JI^noii^Cen'tfal'F(iiln>ad.ann
u-as the gift of Mr. Gcorge_ M..^vi})manJto.ihe.peaple of Chicago, .xc:
The scene represents Black Ptttiridge'rekchirig Hifrs. Helni from *■'"
death at the hands of ^a. fr.en^ied savage, the prostrate ^/^jM^fi^^Sthe
that of the vnfortwnate th. Yijn Voorhis, the post" surgeon,' who
met his death on-^kcit oc<;a.<iion,^.Tfi^e^cMd,s^reMdytg *0,vt iU-^ar
171 an a'pp^atfor Ifelp recdfis ihe^ficnmsh massacre of infants ^whi^"
''''' ^KT''iW^^hik%Mp, now situated at the
intersection of Eighteenth Street and Calu-
met Avenue, chose for his representation.
Mrs. \ tried to get possession of the
d over
Indian
io\
ti it
-g grasp.
and '-
s then borne
lake, plur
the water and
[i3t>J
OLD FORT DEARBORN
firmly held, as if it were the intention to
drown her. She soon perceived, however,
that the object of her captor was not to drown
her, as he held her in such a position as to
keep her head above water. She began to
gather courage, and looking the savage full in
the face, she saw at once, notwithstanding the
paint with which he had disguised himself,
that it was Black Partridge, the chief who
had surrendered his medal to the commandant
the evening before.
When the firing was nearly over, the chief
brought her out of the water and placed her
on a sand-bank. " It was a burning August
morning," she said, " and walking through
the sand in my drenched condition was inex-
pressibly painful and fatiguing. I stooped
and took off my shoes to free them from the
sand with which they were nearly filled,
when a squaw seized them and carried them
of]f, and I was obliged to proceed without
them."
As she gained the prairie she was met by
Mr. Kinzie, who informed her that her hus-
band (Lieutenant Helm) was safe, and but
[ n?^
THE STORY OF
slightly wounded. She was led back to the
Indian encampment on the banks of the Chi-
cago River. "At one time," she continues in
her story, " I was placed upon a horse without
a saddle, but finding the motion insupportable,
I sprang off. Supported partly by my kind
conductor, Black Partridge, and partly by
another Indian, Pee-so-tum, who held dan-
gling in his hand a scalp, which by the black
ribbon around the queue I recognized as that
of Captain Wells, I dragged my fainting steps
to one of the wigwams."
Arrived at the entrance of a chief's wig-
wam, the wife of the chief, inspired by a
sentiment of pity for her, an exhibition of
feeling rare among Indian women, seeing her
exhausted condition, took a kettle and, dip-
ping up some water from the small creek near
by, threw in a quantity of maple sugar, and,
stirring it with her hand, gave the mixture
to her to drink. She was greatly refreshed
by the draught. This act of kindness touched
the poor young woman deeply, occurring as it
did in the midst of so many horrors.
In the meantime the men in the ranks fell
[138]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
rapidly under the withering fire of their sav-
age foes, who were now on all sides of them
in overwhelming numbers. Still they con-
tinued the struggle bravely, and the prairie
was soon thickly scattered with dead and
wounded. Captain Heald himself received a
wound in his hip, from which he suffered for
the remainder of his life, and which caused
his death some years later. It may be stated
in passing that the bodies of those who were
killed in this bloody combat lay exposed to
the elements and wild beasts for four years,
until eventually their remains were gathered
up and buried by United States soldiers
arriving to rebuild the fort.
The troops behaved most gallantly while
the battle lasted and seemed determined to
make as brave a defence as possible. They
were soon reduced to about one-half of their
original number. After the action had con-
tinued about a quarter of an hour Captain
Heald drew ofif the few men still remaining
and took possession of a small elevation in
the open prairie, beyond the range of the
shots coming from the sand-hills which the
[ 139 ]
THE STORY OF
Indians now held, thus having reversed the
positions which the opposing forces occupied
at the beginning of the battle.
There was nothing now to prevent the sav-
ages from attacking the wagons containing the
w^omen and children. The troops were iso-
lated on the prairie and could not even defend
themselves, much less could they do anything
to protect the helpless people in the wagons.
Meantime Captain Wells was fighting,
Indian fashion, and doing more execution
than any other man on the field. Mounted
on horseback, he freely exposed himself wher-
ever the combat was most furious. He was
armed with a rifle and carried two pistols.
His powder and bullets were carried in belts
slung over his shoulders, convenient for instant
use. He usually had the bullet needed for
the next load ready in his mouth. " He would
pour in the powder," said an eye-witness,
''wad it down, blow in the bullet, prime, and
fire, more rapidly than one can tell the facts."
The savages had a wholesome fear of Wells,
and they fled from his aim in all directions.
They broke from him right and left. In the
[ 140]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
effort to protect the women and children he
closely watched the movements of the Indians
toward the wagons, and presently saw a young
savage come up and enter one of them in
which twelve of the children had been col-
lected. Before he could prevent him, the sav-
age ruthlessly tomahawked the entire group;
and when Wells caught sight of this horrid
deed, he shouted in rage: '' Is that their game
— butchering women and children?"
But his own end was near. He received a
shot which passed through his lungs, and real-
izing that it was a mortal wound, he rode up
to his niece, Mrs. Heald, still maintaining his
position upon his horse. Seizing her hand,
he exclaimed, " Farewell, my child." Mrs.
Heald, who, though thus addressed, was
nearly as old. as her uncle, replied, "Why,
uncle, I hope you will get over this." "No,
my child," he said, " I cannot." She then
saw that blood was coming from his nose and
mouth, and he said that he could not last five
minutes longer. He then gave his niece his
last message in these words: "Tell my wife,
if you live to get there, — but I think it doubt-
[141]
THE STORY OF
ful if a single one gets there, — tell her I died
at my post doing the best I could. There are
seven red devils over there that I have killed."
Wells's horse had already been shot through
the body, and at that moment fell exhausted,
w^ith his rider pinioned beneath him. Wells
then saw several Indians coming toward him,
bent on taking advantage of his apparent help-
lessness. He summoned his failing strength
and from his prostrate position took aim and
killed one of them on the spot. The others
approached closer to the wounded lion, deter-
mined to strike a blow or fire a shot that would
instantly end his life. Mrs. Heald saw the
movement and cried out, " Uncle, there is an
Indian pointing right at the back of your
head." He put his hand back and held up
his head, in spite of his failing strength, so
that better aim might be taken, and then
exclaimed, "Shoot away!"
The Indian fired and Captain Wells fell
dead. Thus perished the man to whom in a
greater degree than to any other person those
who still remained alive upon the scene
looked for help and guidance in this awful
[ 142]
I
OLD FORT DEARBORN
extremity. Without him, the thickening
perils of the hour seemed the climax of
despair.
Some time later the news of the death of
Captain Wells reached his widow (the
daughter of the chief Little Turtle), long
before Mrs. Heald, who survived the mas-
sacre, was able to convey the message entrusted
to her. One of the Indians present who wit-
nessed the scene, though he took no part in
the perpetration of that dark deed, was a
friend of Wells, whom he had known in
former years and whom he regarded as a
brother. It was this Indian who went to Fort
Wayne after the battle was over and gave
Mrs. Wells the first intimation of her hus-
band's death. After doing so he disappeared,
and it was supposed that he returned to his
tribe, as he was not seen again.
The tw^o younger officers, Ensign George
Ronan and Surgeon Isaac Van Voorhis, had
been all this time gallantly bearing their
part in the unequal struggle with the savage
hordes that surrounded them, and both of
them had received dangerous wounds. In her
[143]
THE STORY OF
account of the battle, Mrs. Helm says that,
overwrought by his fighting and pain, the
surgeon came up and addressed her. He
had been wounded, his horse had been shot
under him, and he was in a state of terror.
Aware of Mrs. Helm's lifelong experience
with the Indians, though she was much
younger than himself, he said to her: "Do
you think they will take our lives? I am
badly wounded, but I think not mortally.
Perhaps we might purchase our lives by
promising them a large reward. Do you
think there is any chance?"
" Dr. Van Voorhis," said the seventeen-
year-old girl, " do not let us waste the few
moments that yet remain to us in such vain
hopes. Our fate is inevitable. In a few
moments we must appear before the bar of
God. Let us make what preparation is yet in
our power."
"Oh, I cannot die!" he exclaimed. "I am
not fit to die. If I had but a short time to
prepare! Death is awful!" Mrs. Helm
pointed to Ensign Ronan, who, though even
then mortally wounded, was down on one
[ 144]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
knee and was still fighting with desperate
courage.
"Look at that man," she said. "At least
he dies like a soldier." "Yes," replied the
surgeon, "but he has no terrors of the future
— he is an unbeliever!"
The wounded surgeon's fear, thus shown
under these trying circumstances, was entirely
natural. He was then only twenty-two years
of age and had entered the service on the
frontier but the year before. The bravest men
have often passed through a similar expe-
rience in moments of danger. An unbeliever,
in his view, would not concern himself with
the hereafter; but he considered that he him-
self was unfit to appear before the bar of
God. What more natural than that this young
man's heart should fail him in that supreme
moment?
There was no opportunity, however, even
had he been able, to show his mettle by a
renewed effort to stem the tide of disaster,
for almost immediately afterwards he was
tomahawked by one of the Indians, and was
seen dead on the ground when Mrs. Helm
[145]
THE STORY OF
passed that way a little time later as the cap-
tive of the chief Black Partridge, on their way
to the river.
In an obituary notice, published in The
Political Index, November 17, 1812, at New-
burg, New York, there is the following notice
of the unfortunate young surgeon: "Among
the slain (at the Fort Dearborn Massacre)
was Dr. Isaac Van Voorhis, of Fishkill, sur-
geon in the army. He was a young man of
great merit, and received his early education
at the academy in this village. He possessed
an enterprising and cultivated mind, and was
ardent in the support of the interest and honor
of his country."
Ensign George Ronan, who was also only
twenty-two, had entered the service on the
frontier the previous year. He was a graduate
of West Point, with the rank of ensign, cor-
responding to that of second lieutenant in
the modern army regulations. He is always
referred to as a brave and enterprising young
officer. He won the admiration of all during
the months previous to the events here nar-
rated, and especially for the courage and devo-
[146]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
tion shown by him in the last scene, when he
perished on the field of battle.
From his position on the battle-field, Cap-
tain Heald saw the Indians making signs to
him to approach and consult with them.
Heald advanced alone in response to this
invitation. Through a half-breed interpreter,
Peresh Leclerc, he was asked to surrender to
them, the Indians at the same time promising
to spare the lives of all the prisoners. A Pota-
watami chief, named Black Bird, was the
spokesman for the Indians. Captain Heald
in his report says that after a few moments'
consideration he concluded it would be most
prudent to comply with this request, although
he did not put entire confidence in the prom-
ise. In fact, Heald was reduced to extremi-
ties, and a parley with the Indians was his
only hope. They were surrounded by the
savages. Lieutenant Helm was wounded and
a prisoner in the hands of the enemy,
who indeed had possession of all the horses,
wagons, and property of every description,
besides having killed or captured all the
women and children. He was obliged to
[ 147 ]
THE STORY OF
make the best terms possible, for though a
surrender might be followed by treachery,
there was really no other course for him to
take.
The surrender was then agreed to and the
fighting ceased. The air was filled with the
shouts of the savages exulting over their vic-
tory, while from the wounded issued moans
of pain, and from the distance could be heard
the wailings of cruelly bereaved mothers.
After delivering up their arms, the sur-
vivors were taken back to the encampment of
the Indians near the fort, and distributed
among the different tribes. The number of
their warriors, Heald said, was between four
hundred and five hundred, mostly of the
Potawatami nation, and the loss on their side
was about fifteen. There were about sixty of
the whites killed in the battle and the mas-
sacre which followed, but when the troops
surrendered and the Indians promised that
the lives of the survivors should be spared,
it was found that the savages regarded the
wounded as exempted from this condition.
Accordingly, many of the wounded were
[148]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
ruthlessly tomahawked after the surrender,
and in the same evening five of the soldiers
were tortured to death. A number of others
perished from the privations they suffered
while in the hands of the Indians during the
ensuing season.
The boat containing the Kinzie family and
the servants accompanying them at first kept
near the mouth of the river, the occupants
watching the troops and the wagon train pass-
ing along the beach toward the south. They
heard the discharge of the guns when the
Indians attacked, and the boat's course was
directed so as to approach as nearly as pos-
sible to the scene of the fighting. They saw
a woman on horseback led by an Indian not
far from the edge of the water.
"That is Mrs. Heald," cried Mrs. Kinzie.
"That Indian will kill her. Run, Chandon-
nais, take the mule that is tied there and offer
it to him to release her." The Indian was
already attempting to take off her bonnet,
with the evident intention of scalping her, and
she was resisting vigorously.
The Indian paused long enough in the
[ 149]
THE STORY OF
Struggle to listen to the offer made by Chan-
donnais, who added the promise of two bottles
of whiskey as soon as they would reach their
destination. "But," said the Indian, "she is
badly wounded — she will die. Will you give
me the whiskey at all events?" Chandonnais,
who was well known to the Indians, promised
that he would, and the bargain was concluded.
Several squaws, keen for plunder, had fol-
lowed the procession closely, and made an
ineffectual attempt to rob Mrs. Heald of her
shoes and stockings. The savage had suc-
ceeded in getting possession of her bonnet,
and placed it on his own head. She was taken
on board the boat, and lay moaning with pain
from the wounds she had received.
As it was impossible to continue their jour-
ney under the circumstances, the boat and
its passengers returned to the Kinzie house,
trusting to the influence possessed by Mr. Kin-
zie to maintain their safety. They were joined
there by Mr. Kinzie, who had escaped injury
from the savages. Around them gathered a
number of Indians still friendly to the Kinzie
family, whose intentions were to assist them
[150]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
in a renewed attempt to reach their proposed
destination at St. Joseph.
Among the friendly Indians thus gathered
was Black Partridge, who had rescued Mrs.
Helm and had safely brought her to the Kin-
zie house, where she rejoined her family.
Thus were assembled the entire family of
John Kinzie, except his son-in-law, Lieuten-
ant Helm. Mrs. Heald and Mrs. Helm
were both suffering from wounds. Both
had been attacked by the savages while
on horseback, the former having perhaps es-
caped death, through the ransom negotiated
by Chandonnais, and the other having been
rescued by Black Partridge.
John Burns, with his wife and infant child,
had lived in the house west of the Kinzies', on
the north bank of the river, and were with the
troops at the time of the attack. It will be
recalled that Mrs. Burns and her one-day-old
infant had been brought to the fort for safety
at the time of the Indian alarm in the pre-
vious April. Burns was killed while with the
troops, but his wife and child were made cap-
tives by one of the chiefs and by him taken
[151]
THE STORY OF
to his village and treated with great kindness;
but his squaw wife, excited by feelings of
jealousy of the favors shown to the captives,
attempted to kill the child with a tomahawk
thrown at it with great force. The blow
narrowly missed being fatal, but it inflicted
a wound the marks of which she carried
through the remainder of her life. The chief
prevented further attempts of the kind by re-
moving the captives to a place of safety.
Eventually the mother and child found their
way back to civilization.
"Twenty-two years after this," writes the
younger Mrs. Kinzie, in Wau-Bun, " as I was
on a journey to Chicago in the steamer
' Uncle Sam,' a young woman, hearing my
name, introduced herself to me, and raising
the hair from her forehead, showed me the
mark of the tomahawk which had so nearly
been fatal to her."
A somewhat similar case was that of Mrs.
Charles Lee, whose husband owned the farm
on the South Branch where the two men were
murdered by Indians in the previous April.
His son, a lad of twelve years, who, with the
[152]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
discharged soldier, ran to the fort from the
farm and gave the alarm on that occasion,
was also with the troops in company with his
father. Lee and his son were both killed in
the battle, but Mrs. Lee and her young child
were captured, and later came into the pos-
session of Black Partridge. This "knightly
rescuer of women" proved the worth of his
friendship toward the whites in the case of
Mrs. Lee and her child, as he had already
done in the rescue of Mrs. Helm.
The story of John Cooper, surgeon's mate
at Fort Dearborn, was similar in many of its
details to that of others in the battle. Cooper
was accompanied by his wife and two young
daughters, the elder of whom was named Isa-
bella. Cooper was among the killed, and
when the Indians made a rush for the women
and children in the wagons, a young Indian
boy attempted to carry off Isabella, but
encountered so lively a resistance that he
was obliged to throw her down. He suc-
ceeded in scalping her, and would have killed
her outright had not an old squaw prevented
him. The squaw, who knew the Cooper fam-
[153]
THE STORY OF
ily, took Mrs. Cooper and her children to her
wigwam and cured the girl of her wound.
The family remained in captivity two years,
when they were ransomed. They afterwards
lived in Detroit. The mark of the wound
on the girl's head caused by the young
Indian's scalping knife was about the size of
a silver dollar, and, of course, remained with
her through her life.
An infant of six months was with its mother
among the survivors of that dreadful day.
Corporal Simmons had with him on the
march his wife and two children, the eldest
a boy of two years, and a little girl an infant
in its mother's arms. The mother and her
children were in the army wagon, which was
entered by the Indian, who despatched the
children as rapidly as he could reach them.
Mrs. Simmons, while not able to save her
boy, succeeded in concealing the baby in a
shawl behind her, and the child survived the
scenes of that day. The corporal himself was
among those who were slain.
When the division of prisoners took place
after the action Mrs. Simmons was carried off
[154]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
by the Indians to Green Bay, the whole dis-
tance to which she walked, carrying her
child in her arms. On arriving at their des-
tination the captives were required to " run
the gauntlet," according to the brutal custom
of the savages, but in doing so she was able
to protect her precious charge by bending
over it as she held it in her arms. She
received many cruel blows and half dead she
reached the goal where a friendly squaw gave
her and her child a kind reception. In the
following year, after many weary wanderings,
Mrs. Simmons reached a frontier post in Ohio
and was at length set at liberty.
This child grew up and became the wife
of Moses Winans, and in later life she and
her husband lived in California, but she never
returned to Chicago again. She died in 1903,
at the advanced age of ninety years.
Of the nine women who set out with the
troops, two were killed; the others, except
Mrs. Heald and Mrs. Helm, were carried off
by the savages, and some did not survive the
hardships of the life they were compelled to
undergo. There were eighteen children, of
[155] .^^.-^*^
THE STORY OF
whom twelve were killed outright, and. but
few of the others were ever heard of.
The following fall and winter the British,
then in possession of Detroit, were urged by
some of the American residents of that place
to exert their influence among their Indian
allies to return the captives to the custody of
the British military authorities. Tardy efforts
were made, and at length the agent who was
appointed for that work reported that he had
gathered at the St. Joseph River seventeen
soldiers, four women, and some children.
There were, however, several other survivors
not included among those whom the British
agent was able to find, as appears from some
other accounts. The soldiers were taken to
Detroit and became prisoners of war, but
their condition was thus only slightly ame-
liorated. Young John Kinzie, then a lad ten
years of age, recalled that while his father's
family were living in their own house at De-
troit during that winter, themselves practically
prisoners of war, he saw the miserable cap-
tives suffering from exposure in the severe
cold weather without adequate shelter, and
[156]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
but little could be done for them by their
American friends.
The perils surrounding the Kinzie family
when they were once more gathered under the
family roof were of the most serious charac-
ter. Here were assembled a company of the
survivors after a day of excitement, blood-
shed, and distress hardly to be paralleled in
the lives of civilized people. Across the river
from the Kinzie house could be seen the vic-
torious savages indulging in wild antics, shout-
ing and dancing exultantly, ransacking and
plundering the buildings within the fort, and
preparing to torture some of the prisoners
to death. They had- arrayed themselves in
women's hats, shawls, and ribbons, and filled
the air with their savage outcries.
Notwithstanding the fact that the house and
its inmates were closely guarded by their
Indian friends, and that Black Partridge and
other friendly Indians had established them-
selves in the porch of the building as sentinels,
to protect the family from any evil that the
young men of the tribes might endeavor to
commit, their peril was extreme. Everything
[157]
THE STORY OF
remained tranquil, however, during the day,
and the following night was passed in com-
parative freedom from alarms.
The next day the Indians set fire to the fort
and the entire place was consumed. A party
of Indians from the Wabash arrived at this
time, having heard of the intended evacua-
tion of the fort, and eager to share in
the plunder. They were disappointed and
enraged on finding that their arrival was too
late, that the spoils had been divided, and
the scalps all taken. These Indians had no
particular regard for the Kinzies, and it at
once became evident that their presence boded
destruction to the devoted inmates of the house.
They blackened their faces and proceeded to
the Kinzie house as the most promising spot
to carry out their plundering and bloodthirsty
designs.
Black Partridge was especially anxious in
behalf of Mrs. Helm, whose safety he wished
to assure. By his directions she disguised her-
self and took refuge in the house of Ouil-
mette. Ouilmette, being a Frenchman, and
living with an Indian wife, was never molested
[158]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
by the Indians at any time, being regarded
as one of themselves.
The Indians approached this house first
and entered without ceremony. Mrs. Bisson,
sister of Ouilmctte's wife, hastily concealed
Mrs. Helm by covering her with a feather
bed. She then took her seat in front of the
bed and occupied herself with her sewing.
The Indians looked into every part of the
room, but did not raise the feather mattress
under which Mrs. Helm was lying, half
smothered. Mrs. Bisson was in terror for her
own safety, but bravely maintained an air of
indifference during this trying ordeal, and
presently the Indians left the house.
They then went over to the Kinzie dwell-
ing, entered the principal room, and seated
themselves on the floor in ominous silence.
Black Partridge then spoke in a low voice to
Waubansee, who was with him as one of the
guards, and said: "We have endeavored to
save our friends, but it is in vain — nothing
will save them now."
At that moment a friendly whoop, loud and
clear, was heard from the bank of the river
[159]
THE STORY OF
opposite to the house, and Black Partridge
instantly arose and ran toward the landing,
calling out, "Who are you?" "I am the
Sauganash," came the reply. Black Partridge
replied, "Then make all speed to the house;
your friend is in danger, and you alone can
save him."
Sauganash, also known as Billy Caldwell,
was a half-breed and was a chief of the Pota-
watami tribe, and a man of great influence
among the Indians. He was not present at
the evacuation and massacre of the day before,
but had come in time to save the lives of many
of the prisoners. With him had come the
chief Shabbona, who also used his influence
in moderating the brutality of the younger
members of the tribes.
The Sauganash hastened across the river,
while the threatening savages waited in won-
der for his appearance. He calmly entered
the room, stood his rifle behind the door, and
gazed about him at the silent savages squat-
ting on the floor. He boldly asked them why
they had blackened their faces. "Is it that
you are mourning for the friends you have
[i6o]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
lost in battle?" — thus purposely misunder-
standing their evil designs, which he easily
penetrated. "Or is it," he continued, "that
you are fasting? If so, ask our friend here,
and he will give you to eat. He is the Indians'
friend, and never yet refused them what they
had need of."
The savages were taken by surprise at this
speech, and none among them had the courage
to say what the purpose was in their minds.
One of them answered that they had come to
ask for some white cotton cloth in which they
might wrap the bodies of their dead friends
before placing them in their graves. As soon
as this was said they were provided with a
quantity of cloth, and to the relief of everyone
they took their departure peaceably.
Quartermaster Sergeant William Griffith
escaped the general massacre by a series of
remarkable strokes of good fortune. While
the troops were leaving the fort it was dis-
covered that the horses carrying the sur-
geon's apparatus and medicines had strayed
off. Griffith went to search for them and
bring them up, but being unsuccessful, he
[i6i]
THE STORY OF
hastened to join the column on foot. Before
he had proceeded very far he was met and
made a prisoner by the chief Topenebe, who
was friendly to the whites. The chief took
him to the river and put him in a canoe, pad-
dled it across the river and told him to hide
himself in the thick woods on the north side.
The next day he cautiously appeared in the
vicinity of Ouilmette's house, and the place
seeming to be quiet, he entered the cabin at
the rear. This was just after the Wabash
Indians had left the house for that of Mr.
Kinzie.
The family were greatly alarmed at his
appearance, and he was at once stripped of
his army uniform; he was arrayed in a suit
of deerskin, with belt, moccasins, and pipe,
like a French engage. His dark complexion
and black whiskers favored the disguise, and
all were instructed to address him in French,
although he was ignorant of the language. In
this character he joined the Kinzie family
and with them eventually reached a place of
safety.
After the surrender Captain Heald was
[ 162 ]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
kept unmolested, quite fortunately being
given into the custody of an Indian from the
Kankakee, who, it seems, had known him
previously, and who had formed an attach-
ment for him. The Indian at once made plans
for his escape, and soon Captain Heald was
placed in a canoe and taken to St. Joseph.
Here he was joined by Mrs. Heald, and they
both pursued their journey up the east coast
of Lake Michigan to Mackinac, where Cap-
tain Heald delivered himself up as a prisoner
of war to the British commandant, by whom
he was well treated and released on parole.
Later in the season he found means to
reach Louisville, where Mrs. Heald's father,
Colonel Samuel Wells, resided. It had been
supposed that both Heald and his wife had
perished in the massacre, and their appear-
ance was as if they had awakened from the
dead.
In due course of time Heald was exchanged,
and again entered the service with the rank
of Major. He never got rid of the effects of
his wound, and in 1817 he resigned his com-
mission in the army and removed with his
[163]
THE STORY OF
family to a small town in Missouri, where he
died a few years later.
Lieutenant Helm, who was among the
wounded at the time of the surrender, had
the good fortune to fall into the hands of
some friendly Indians, and was taken to
Peoria. He was liberated through the inter-
vention of Thomas Forsyth, the half-brother
of Mr. Kinzie, who was the Indian agent
at that place. Forsyth had great influence
with the Potawatamis. " He had been raised
with this nation," says Reynolds, "spoke their
language well, and was well acquainted with
their character." He advanced the amount
demanded by the Indians for Helm's ransom,
and had him sent to St. Louis in safety. In
this important and dangerous service Forsyth
risked his life every moment he was engaged
in it, for the Indians at that time were in a
highly inflamed condition.
Eventually Lieutenant Helm rejoined his
wife at Detroit.
The final scene in the story of old Fort
Dearborn was the departure of the Kinzie
family and their retinue of servants on the
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O
OLD FORT DEARBORN
third day after the battle and massacre. The
fort and the agency house had been destroyed
by fire on the second day, and there were now
remaining only the Kinzie house, the Ouil-
mette cabin near it, the house lately occupied
by John Burns and his wife and child on the
north bank of the main river, and that lately
occupied by Charles Lee and his family near
the mouth of the river.
On the eighteenth the family of Mr. Kin-
zie, together with the servants and clerks
in his trading establishment, were placed on
board of a boat of sufficient capacity to accom-
modate them all, and they thus took their
departure from the scene of so many calami-
ties. There were left in the vicinity only
Ouilmette and his family, who were the sole
inhabitants of Chicago until the arrival, some
time later, of a French trader named Du Pin,
who took possession of the unoccupied Kinzie
house and lived in it. The length of his stay
is not recorded.
The Indians now began to realize the folly
of breaking up a station which to them was
an abundant source of supplies, where they
[165]
THE STORY OF
could come and obtain ammunition, provi-
sions and clothing in exchange for their furs.
They would henceforth be obliged to depend
upon the small resources of the St. Joseph
trading post or travel to Detroit.
All this had been foreseen by the older and
wiser men among them, but the hot-blooded
young men of the tribes were intent on plun-
der and the ghastly trophies represented by
the scalps of their victims, and they could not
be restrained. There was now little induce-
ment to visit the post at Chicago ; consequently
the great numbers that formerly assembled in
the neighborhood scattered to remote places
and eked out a precarious existence by fishing
and hunting.
The Indians also found that the friendship
of the British was a poor dependence as com-
pared with that of the Americans, who were
the only governmental authority with whom
they could make treaties, and through whom
they could obtain recognition and satisfaction
for their claims of territorial ownership.
The following episode has been relegated
to this late portion of the narrative, as belong-
[i66]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
ing more to the echoes of the battle on the
lake shore than to the battle itself.
Mrs. Lee was one of the women taken by
the Indians when her husband and son had
been killed at the massacre, as already nar-
rated. She had with her a daughter twelve
years old and an infant. These were claimed
by our old friend Black Partridge under the
following circumstances: The daughter had
been placed on horseback for the march and
tied fast for fear she would slip off the sad-
dle. When the action was at its height she
was severely wounded by a musket ball ; and
the horse, becoming frightened, set off at a
gallop. The girl was partly thrown off, but
was held fast by the bands, and hung dangling
until she was met by Black Partridge, who
caught the horse and disengaged her from the
saddle. The chief had known the family and
was greatly attached to this little girl, whom
he recognized at once.
On finding that she was so seriously
wounded that she could not recover, and
that, besides, she was suffering great agony,
he put the finishing stroke to her at once
[167]
THE STORY OF
with his tomahawk. He said afterwards that
this was one of the hardest things he ever
attempted to do, but that he did it because
he could not bear to see her sufifer.
Black Partridge then took the mother and
her infant to his village on the Au Sable,
where he became warmly attached to the for-
mer; *'so much so," relates the author of
Wau-Bun, "that he wished to marry her;
but as she very naturally objected, he treated
her with the greatest respect and considera-
tion." He was not disposed to liberate her
from captivity, however, hoping that in time
he could prevail upon her to become his wife.
During the following winter the child
became ill, and was not restored by ordi-
nary cures. Black Partridge then offered to
take the child to Chicago, where the French
trader named Du Pin, who had arrived after
the massacre, was then living in the Kin-
zie house, and obtain medical aid from him.
Accordingly the child was warmly wrapped,
and the chief carried his precious charge all
the way in his arms.
Arriving at the residence of M. du Pin, he
[i68]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
carefully placed the child on the floor. " What
have you there? " asked the trader. " A young
raccoon, which I have brought you as a pres-
ent," replied the chief. Then opening the
pack, he displayed the little sick child. M.
du Pin furnished some remedies for its com-
plaint and when Black Partridge was about
to return he told the trader of his proposal
to Mrs. Lee to become his wife, and of the
way it had been received.
M. du Pin, being a man of discernment,
"entertained some fears," continues the Wau-
Bun account, " that the chief's honorable reso-
lution might not hold out, to leave it to the
lady herself whether to accept his addresses
or not, so he entered at once into a negotiation
for her ransom, and so effectually wrought
upon the good feelings of Black Partridge
that he consented to bring his fair prisoner
at once to Chicago, that she might be restored
to her friends."
Mrs. Lee accordingly was brought to Chi-
cago and had an opportunity of expressing
her gratitude to the French trader who had,
without having seen her or known her, ren-
[169]
THE SrORY OF
dered so important a service as paying a ran-
som for her return to civilization. In course
of time this M. du Pin, who it seems was a
man without a family when he came, pro-
posed to Mrs. Lee himself, and, more fortu-
nate than the dusky chieftain, he was accepted.
"We only know," says the JVau-Bun account,
"that in process of time Mrs. Lee became
Madame du Pin, and that they lived together
in great happiness for many years after."
It is a relief, after narrating the events con-
nected Vv^ith the evacuation of Fort Dearborn
and the massacre which followed it, to invite
the reader's attention to this picture, as a con-
trast with the havoc and dismay of that dread-
ful day in August, 1812, when Chicago was
left with but one white inhabitant, and he a
renegade.
At St. Joseph the Kinzie family remained
under the protection of Chief Topenebe and
his band until the following November. They
were then conducted to Detroit under the
escort of trusty Indian friends, and delivered
up as prisoners of war to the British. Soon
after John Kinzie was paroled, though after-
[170]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
wards again taken into custody. At the end
of the war he was finally released, and in
1816 he again became a resident of Chicago,
when the second Fort Dearborn was built and
occupied by a garrison of United States troops.
After the destruction of Fort Dearborn,
Chicago ceased for a time to be a fit dwelling-
place for white men and their families. It
continued in this condition with but little
change for the following four years, and
then the troops came back. Meanwhile peace
had been concluded between the two warring
nations, treaties of peace and friendship had
been made with various tribes of Indians,
and a new era began.
During the winter succeeding the battle
and massacre the only two residents of Chi-
cago who were householders were Ouilmette
and Du Pin. A pretty fair estimate may be
made of the total population of the place, in-
cluding the half-breed children of Ouilmette
and the engages and helpers in the employ of
Du Pin. It is safe to say that the total num-
ber was not more than ten or twelve persons.
Bloody retribution overtook at least one of
[171]
THE STORY OF
those among the savages who on the day of
the massacre showed no mercy to his victims.
This was a chief known as a deadly enemy
of the whites and who bore the expressive
name of Shavehead, because of his peculiar
manner of tying up his scanty hair. Years
afterwards Chief Shavehead was in company
with a band of hunters in the Michigan
woods; in the party was a white man who
had formerly been a soldier at Fort Dear-
born, and was one of the survivors of the
battle on the lake shore. At one of the camp-
fires the chief, being of a boastful disposition,
related, while under the influence of liquor,
to those sitting about the camp-fire, the fright-
ful tale concerning the events of that day,
dwelling upon its horrors and boasting of his
own deeds. He was not aware that one of the
whites whom he had so fiercely assailed was
at that moment listening to his braggart utter-
ances. The old soldier, as he heard the tale,
was maddened by the recall of the well-
remembered scenes.
Toward nightfall the old savage departed
alone in the direction of the forest. Silently
[ 172]
OLD FORT DEARBORN
the soldier with loaded rifle followed upon
his steps. Others observed them as they passed
out of sight into the shades of the forest. The
soldier returned after a time to his com-
panions, but Shavehead was never again seen.
" He had paid the penalty of the crime," says
Mason, " to one who could with some fitness
exact it."
The War of 1812, between the United
States and Great Britain, was actually begun
some time before the date of the declaration
of war issued by the United States, on June
12, 1812; and it was continued some time
after the treaty of peace had been signed,
December 24, 18 14. Of this war, the Fort
Dearborn massacre on August 15, 18 12, was
one of the disastrous events.
''The lives of thirty thousand Americans,"
says Larned, "were sacrificed during this war
of two and a half years, and the national
debt was increased one hundred millions of
dollars."
Nine years cover the period of existence
of Old Fort Dearborn. In that nine years
of history it witnessed the efforts of three
[ 173 1
THE STORY OF
nations to subdue a continent, and played its
part in the struggles between those nations.
Established as a frontier post, it became an
important link in the chain of western de-
fenses, and one of those schools of military
instruction in which lessons were learned by
those who had the task of preserving by force
of arms a young republic in the midst of
powerful and unscrupulous foes. A rallying
point for traders and settlers in the virgin
fields of the west, it was representative of a
phase of development of the great Northwest
Territory, and indeed of the development of
the United States. Its culminating disaster,
which left it a heap of ruins, was one of those
temporary setbacks which do not for long
hold back the progress of such a growing
nation. Within four years after the accident
of war had made the fort and those in and
about it the victims of a lingering barbarism,
the foothold of the nation was secure in the
west, the beginnings of its agricultural and
commercial prosperity were laid, and upon
the ruins of the old fort rose the walls of a
new Fort Dearborn.
THE END.
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CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
F
5M8
.4
C87
1912
C.l
ROBA