Achii O Wlea Gm Eii T It

’ RA TEFUL achii o wlea gm eii t it

made h erewith to D o cto r Milo g M . Q ii aife of th e Ba rto n Lib ra ry o f

D etroit Michi an autho r o , g , f ' Chicago and th e Old No rth ' w ef t o r a uixtan ce in the re , f p p ’ aratio n o f thif Jtzi a y of O ld Fo rt

D e r o r a h n .

’ We are alt o z ma er f p ecial o bli gatio n to th e auth o ritief o f th e Chicago Hif t o rical So ciety fo r th e m e of do cu ment; and illll jtt‘d tiOﬂJ' in their [rof f eﬁio rr

AM S A LT O N AM S J E J E ,

No r t w e te r U iver it h s n n s y , C h a ir m a n o f th e C o m “ m itt e e on Hist o r y o f A u r r C e nt r y of P o g e ss .

The ; Story of Old K F or': IDea r hor rL :

F R A ORT DEARBO N, the ﬁrst completed unit of sun n Century of Progress , has sprung up over night in y safety , t - ypifying the long march from wilderness to sky scraper , from des t . candlelight to electrici y, from oxcart to airplane No fear of perate Indians , no battle with the wilderness , no slow and tedious struggle with ineff ective tools and crude materials impeded the progress of this building . Its log embattlements rise serenely amid the tumultuous noises

e - o f of a gr at city , looking away from the topless towers modern ’

man s mechanical genius to , face the blue waters on the shore of which more than one hundred years ago , its counterpart was built ro tec by laboring hands of pioneers , hurrying to secure a place of p tion against the Red Man and the silent terrors of the wilderness .

2 6th The new fort stands on Leif Eriksen Drive at Street , not far from the site of the Dearborn Massacre . To have placed it upon the original location would have been impossible . That ground is now covered with sky - scrapers costing millions of dollars for construction , as against the few paltry hundreds that went into that historic ﬁrst structure . Thoughts race back a cent ury and inherited memories become c real , when one steps through the massive log gate into the sto kaded inclosure of Fort Dearborn , a faithful reproduction of the pioneer fort . Double rows of log palisades , ten and ﬁve feet in height are s o arranged that the blockhouses command not only the space with out the four walls , but also that between the two palisades . Had an enemy scaled the outer barrier he would have found himself in

- - s ac ﬂ a cul de which could be swept at every point by ri e and cannon . At the northeast and southwest c orners of the inclosure stand — blockhouses their topmost points of vantage reached by ladders . Narrow slits are in the walls through which the soldiers might train

“ ’ n their guns . To the left of the e trance gate are the soldiers bar racks , and at right angles and on opposite sides of the parade 3 1

LIBRAR'u - . orI . URBAllA BHAMPAI. ’ th e o fﬁcers h ground are 'uarters , two stories igh with shingled ’ o fﬁcers — roofs . On the east side are the commanding quarters j ust south of the building which housed the supplies . Between this h z building and the northeast block ouse is the powder maga ine . In f fl ’ the center of the grounds the lofty lagpole ies our country s flag .

Materials for the original fort were simple and easily obtained . ff But for the reproduction much st udy and e ort were required .

Norway pines were brought from . Wisconsin to furnish logs for the t stockades and the buildings . Stone tha had lain in the open many years , and so had a weathered effect , was used for the ﬁreplaces . Hamm ered iron hinges were especially b lacksmith ed for the doors s and the gate . Sheets of gla s as full of flaws as possible were chosen to give a semblance to the crude little windows of a century

- t fl - ago . The seven y foot agpole was not easy to ﬁnd . But at last a tall straight spruce of required height was spotted near Shawano , b o — t Wisconsin , and brought y truck to Chicag the last ouch to com p let e the fort .

six Only eight weeks for the task , as compared with more than months spent in erecting the original .

It is fitting indeed , that in an Exposition whose theme is that of A Century of Progress , the first step should have been the repro A duction of a famed and essentially pioneer undert aking . For Century of Progress Will portray the dramatized story of the last one hundred years as science has moulded it . Here will be seen the nature and significance of scientific discoveries as they aff ect the life and happiness of mankind ; the story of industrial changes ; the mi r ti n m ve opening up of new frontiers as g a o . o d westward ; the — — t t a l l su n b o rrle a v amazing epic of elec rici y —itt e in a glass oice in Paris heard in Hong Kong dancing figures on a screen . Here , t too , will be pic ured the growth of agriculture dependent upon scientific discoveries ; great industrial plants learning lessons of effi c ien cy from the quiet of a research laboratory ; and the development of the educational and social life of humanity

Wa r Clo u ds Gat her W AR between the Americans and the Indians was inevitable . War that was to culminate on that fateful ﬁfteenth of 1 8 1 2 ' August , , in the Massacre of Fort Dearborn . War that was to open ﬁnally and forever to the white man all roads into the rich

. and vast western region The drama of that struggle to, gain and in hold this territory dates back to the earliest trappers , and to t rigu ing councils of great powers foreseeing the coming wealth of

. b ut the west Spain , France, England , America, no one of these [ 4 ] - th e had eyes for this far lying richness . No one but would put t tongue in the cheek when a trea y was not to his advantage . On the far outskirts of these wary assemblies , gathered the Red Men , grim in their purpose to keep their homes—to maintain their tribal independence . War ' There could be no other outcome '

A n Advan t ag eo u s Loc at ion

M AN' of the fac t ors that operate today to make r t Chicago the third city of the wo ld , were in evidence in the lat er t part of the eighteen h century, and were responsible for this wilder ness site becoming the center of a long struggle . How early ad vantages of its location were realized is shown in records , where the an d paths of priests , trappers , Indians , explorers all led to this

- marshy place by the lake, with its winding, sand choked river . Its geographic importance then , as now , was due primarily to its

Strategic location , both for war and for commerce . Lake and river communication , north , east , south , and west , with the possibility in the minds of the earliest settlers that the old Chicago Portage would u some day be replaced by canals , making a lake to the g lf waterway — m gave hostages to co merce . The background of lake, the river , ﬂ ff so the atness of the country , a orded protection from the enemy , that it w as practically impossible for a garrison to be taken by sur prise . A fertile surrounding country meant food in abundance .

No more did the pioneer need than means of transportation , pro tectio n from his enemies , and an adequate supply of game, ﬁsh , grains and fruits . 1 67 3 As early as , Louis Joliet was impressed with the ease of comm unication bet ween the Great Lakes and the Gulf and even had in mind a proj ect to connect Lake Michigan with the Illinois

River by means of a canal , doing away with borh the romance and inconveniences of the famous Chicago Portage . French trappers and traders pas sed through on their way to adventure and gain . Over the Portage , and down the Illinois through Lake Peoria , north and south they traveled , but always com ing or going to Chicago , where there seems to have been not only a landing place, but something of a permanent settlement .

At the southern end of Lake Michigan in those days was a th riv ing Ind ian village where more than four hundred Pottawatomies took advantage of this choice location . With them or near them , sometimes for a few weeks or days , sometimes for periods of years , various white families made their homes . 5 I n o r With all these interests , advantages , and possibilities it is strange that Chicago became a recognized trade - center as early as the Revolutionary War . The city itself had its beginnings in those Stormy days and owes much of its early security to George Rogers ' t Clark , whose s ubborn retention of the grip upon this region which he had gained in 1 7 79 was the principal fact or in securing it to the United States in the negotiations which resulted in the treaty 1 of 7 8 3 .

t The long contest be ween Spain , France , Great Britain and Amer ica for possession of the Northwest came again to a head at the ff close of the Revolutionary War, when an e ort was made to limit the boundaries of the new nation on the west by th e Allegheny

Mountains . The withdrawal of the British troops , the demands of

“ the American government , combined to make the problem of the

t . Northwest exigen Desire to retain control of the fur trade, and necessarily of the Indians as well , played its part in the melee . While undoubtedly dreams of unfounded riches in the far west still teased the imaginations of people who had looked upon Amer ica as a land of gold and youth .

t h All these grumblings of conflic , owever , could not restrain the rush of settlers that crossed the Appalachian ranges . Fear of the Indians north of the Ohio drove many of the h om eseekers to the country south . Then followed the passing of th e Ordinance of 1 7 8 7 and provision for civil government and for the ultimate

t . b e formation of s ates in the Northwest General Arthur St . Clair th e came the governor of this ﬁrst territory, and with founding of t Marietta the following year , the tide of immigration into the wes may be said to have fairly begun .

Tribes Disreg ard Treat ies

T HIS did n 0t help the situation with the Indian tribes numbering, all told , warriors . Treaties were made and ff disregarded by a large number of the tribes a ected . This may have been due to their misunderstanding of the terms—perhaps to the fact that they had not all been represented in the groups — 'pue ing in the treaty and sadly enough , it may have been artticoiptahre ’ Indian s knowledge of the fact that the white man did n o r always hold his treaty obligations sacred . Disturbances multiplied . The ’ n national gover ment , exhausted from its eight years struggle, was 1 reluctant to go into a war . In 790 the Indians and the Americans ’ were at each other s throats . Boats conveying settlers down the Ohio were stopped and plundered . Marauding expeditions increased . [ 6 ] The Governor called for troops . General Josiah Harmar , command ing the expedition from Fort Washingt on 'Cincinnati 'against the

. w as Miamis , struck no terror into their hearts His campaign “ deemed a mortifying failure .

’

General St . Clair s advance came a few months later . With a th e sick commander , disorderly and demoralized troops stumbled

t t he . nor hward through wilderness At the end of October , with th e enemy within striking distance, some sixty of the militia de set ted in a body and the unfort unate commander made the fatal blunder of sending back one of his two regiments of regulars after ' them .

Disaster followed disaster . The end came on November third ,

1 7 1 a . 9 , on branch of the Wabash River After a terrible defeat s the troops retreated in disorder , and the most disa trous campaign ever waged by an American army against the Indians was at last at an end .

“ ’ ' Mad Ant hony s Tac tic s

A n T HEN came Maj or Anthony Wayne . Mad m as tho y, he was called . Might he not be expected to cope with the tactics of the savage warriors ' He reorganized the ragged remnants ’ of St . Clair s army and spent the winter drilling his troops . He — made successful use of scouts a branch of frontier service of which the unfort unate St . Clair had failed to avail himself . And again t for this was a pic ures'ue and signiﬁcant group , there came into the picture another character destined a—lso to stand out vividly against the murky backgroun d of warfare even until he found his end at the massacre which laid Fort Dearborn low . William Wells , kidnapped when a child by the Indians , was brought up by Little

Turtle, the wise and honorable chief of the Miamis . The chief as son became attached to the white lad , cared for him his own and

n - in - ﬁnally made him his s o law .

w as For years , Wells one of the Indians , living with them , learn s ing their tactic , their methods of warfare and even ﬁghting with — them against the whites . At last no one seems to know why or — how h e left his Indian life and returned to his own people with whom he fought against his former comrades .

A measure of the calibre of the man is best taken by the u n changing admiration felt for him throughout his life by borh whites and Indians .

But the signiﬁcance, from the point of view of Chicago , which ’ attaches to Wayne s successful campaign , culminating in the Battle [ 7 ] of Fallen Timbers , is the Treaty of Greenville concluded on August

1 0 1 7 9 5 . t t , This trea y brought to an end he long warfare in the Ohio 'alley and achieved in reality the boundaries of the Northwest

as established in 1 7 8 3 by the treaty of Paris . The Northwest was t won . Moreover , a speciﬁc item in the trea y provided for a reserva tion as follows :

O n e iece o Land f ix mile; f nare at th e m o n th o th e Chika o p f , o f g River em t in in t o th e So a th wert en d o Lahe Michi an wh e re a , p y g f g F o rt f o rm erly rto ocl

h e Mad Anthony Wayne had encompassed t site of Chicago .

F ort Dearb orn Es tab lished

A LL E'ENTS were shaping toward the establish ment of Fort Dearborn . The value of this site had long been recognized , and the tradition of a former fort persisted , as shown by the phras e in the treaty Where a fort formerly stood . More than once during the French regime recommendations were made to the French government in favor of a fort at Chicago . The British had proposed establishing British depots along the portages , espe

c iall . y at the Chicago Portage And Wayne , the successful warrior , realized its strategic importance by his demand that this land be tu ceded to serve as a site for a fu re fort .

t ac Two fac s , borh of great importance in American history, ’ count for the establishment of Fort Dearborn . One was Wayne s victory over the northwestern tribes , the results of which were

registered in the treaty of Greenville . The other was the acquisi 1 tion of Louisiana by the U nited States in 803 . Probably the ﬁrst of these would alone have been sufficient to determine the estab lishm en t of a fort at Chicago , but the influence of the two combined

rendered delay impossible . So general was th e consciousness of this need that rumors of the establishment of a fort at Chicago anticipated the actual event by

many years . William Burnett , a French trader on the St . Joseph

1 7 7 - 8 River , wrote during the winter of 9 9 to the Montreal house

with which he traded , that a garrison was expected to be established

at Chicago the following summer . He was not discouraged when

the next summer passed without action , but wrote again with happy

conﬁdence that the garrison would now arrive in the fall . It was n o r 1 803 until , however , that the Secretary of War ordered an

investigation to be made of the situation .

o f 1 80 t set On the morning July fourteen in 3 , roops out from an d Detroit to build to occupy Fort Dearborn , named in honor of [ 8 ] GE N E RAL HE N R' EA R BO R N D , fam o u s R evo l u t i o n a ry s o l di er an d S ecretary o f W ar u n d er Presid en t T ho m as e ff e rs o n f o r o m o ld J , wh Fo rt D earb o rn w as n am ed

F r o m a p ainting in t h e p o ss essio n o f t h e C h i cag o Hi t o r i a l S o i e s c c ty .

LIE U T ENAN T JAM E S W EA RINGE N S , w h o led th e ﬁrSt co n ti n en t o f ro g U . S . t o p s o n th e 3 2 6 m il es m arch f ro m De tro it t o s tart t he c o n st ruc t i o n o f Fo rt D e a rb o rn in 1 803

F r o m a p o r tr ait in t h e . p o ss essio n o f th e C h i cag o Hi t o r i al S m s c o e ty .

[ 9 ] General Henry Dearborn , well known Revolutionary soldier , then m Secretary of War . In com and of this detachment was Captain John h is f am Whistler , no longer a young man , who brought with him

s o n - - ily, including his married , William , with his Sixteen year old ’ in ﬁrm ities wife . Owing to the Captain s , he was not able to make the j ourney by land but went with his family, the supplies for the c fort , artillery and ammunition on the schooner , Tra y, to the mouth of the St . Joseph River . The march of the troops to Chi

w as h t - cago led by Lieutenant James Swearingen , a yout of twen y one , who had volunteered to lead the troops on the three hundred and

- sixty two mile march to their new location . The troops reached the encampment on the banks of the Chicago River at two in the afternoon of August seventeen . They found themselves on the t bank of a sluggish Stream , thir y yards wide and eighteen feet or more in depth , where the fort was to be constructed . The water was stagnant and unﬁt for use owing to the sand - bar at the mou th s o so of the river . This bar was high and the water low that the troops were able to cross the river dry - shod and to encamp on the

O ther side a short distance above the mouth . The site for the fort had been chosen at a bend in the river where the bank rose to the t unusual height of twelve feet, the highest poin on this part of the h river where in general the banks were low and mars y .

To construct a Stockade and a shelter for the t roops was the m ’ ' t t . . Com ander s ﬁrs ask oung Mrs Whistler , who has left a number of valuable records , says that there were no horses or oxen t h e at hand , but that the soldiers were compelled to perform work th e of dragging timbers to their required positions . Trees had been cu t near the lake , some distance north of the mouth of the river , and were rafted down to the mouth of the river and thence up to

t . u the For Work progressed Slowly under these circ mstances , and when wint er came the buildings were still f ar from completed though t th e h opera ions had been carried on since late in summer . T ere t had been , of course, the problem of housing until the new struc ures should be in condition . Wh en the troops arrived in August they found four primitive cabins belonging to some French Canadian traders . One of these, formerly the home of Baptiste Du Sable , was occupied by Le Mai , a half - breed married to a Pottawatomie squaw ; another was o ccu O u ilm ette pied by ; and the third by a man named Pettle , of whom

. h little is known The fourth house , vacant , was the property of Jo n

Kinzie, a trader , who had up to this time, only a casual relation ship with the new community . This house was taken over by F t who cu it Doctor Smith , the ﬁrst surgeon of or Dearborn, oc pied for the winter . [ 1 0 ] Kinzie, who had been prominent in the old northwest for many 1 804 years , came to Chicago to establish himself in the spring of , A t . s j ust after the completion of For Dearborn a boy, in Quebec, he had learned the trade of Silversmith . But the business of Indian trader was more proﬁtable in a new country, and he was soon well established . He was friendly with the Indians , who held him in high regard . He lived on the north side of the river almost directly

th e - opposite fort , with his house surrounded by out buildings and a kitchen garden . “ In addition to these buildings a drawing made by Captain Whistler represents a considerable number of houses and out buildings ranged around the fort and devoted to various purposes . Among these are houses for the interpreter and for the factor ’ s ’ ’ t depar ment , an armorer s shop , a merchant s shop , and a bake shop , h besides several stables on the south side of the river . On the nort th e i z w as Side near K n ie place a Grist Mill worked by horses .

Life in a frontier post during p eace times was at its best , a dull o one . And old Fort Dearb rn added to its isolation the privations of all kinds which attended daily life .

P rivat ions and P leas u res

T HE summer after the Fort was ﬁnished , occupied , as and as comfortable might be , sickness descended upon the little m co muni ty . Fever and malaria and the attendant ills of impure water , mosquito ridden lands , and inadequate drainage, swept the

- f in settlement . More than one hal the men were ill . Not only

O . Chicago , but in all ther frontier posts the fever raged Captain “ Whistler wrote that Mrs . Whistler was on the point of death . She is is in constant pain , and fre'uent bleeding the only thing that aff ords her any relief . Friendly Indians for the most part surrounded the new settle as ment ; the number of white families outside the Fort , has been shown , was limited . Food was to be had in abundance and of fair t varie y and ﬁre wood abounded , but for contact with the outside o world , and for the pleasures and thrills of life , there was little p n i h p o rtu t y . One of the c ief excitements was the occasional arrival ' ' m c of the brig, Ada s , whi h constituted the chief part of Com ’ “ - - b e m o do re Brevo o rt s Navy of the Lakes . And on one never to 1 805 forgotten day in the spring of , Kingsbury passed through with a company of troops on his way to superintend the establishment of

. . Fort Belle Fontaine , near the mouth of the Missouri River Traders

th e n . omads of the new world , passed to and fro Sometimes they brought news from the far east as they wound their way westward

t . with goods for rading with the Indians Returning, they bore [ 1 1 ] u ietin with them more dis g word of Indian movements , rumors and ugly undergroundmutterings . Social life rose to its high tide on the rare occasions of marriages . Once it was the marriage of Ab t Sarah , the eldest daughter of Captain Whistler, to James , a w as Detroit merchant . The story goes that the ceremony performed — by John Kinzie ever the handy man in early Chicago , and that the bridal couple spent a honeymoon on an overland j ourney to

t ren tin . Detroi , traveling on horseback and g at night Active diversions for the men were ﬁshing and hunting and oc cas io nal athletic contests with the Indians . Captain Whistler was

ﬁve - - reputed to have won a mile foor race, against a Pottawatomie chief who , it was said , had never been defeated . Game of all kinds

- w as plentiful . Of ammunition there was enough . And later when

- canoes became common with the whites and saddle horses were kept, there w as more of outdoor life

The c most ac urate picture of Fort Dearborn itself, is found in a diagram carefully drawn to scale by Captain John Whistler and

attached to a written description . The plan of the grounds and buildings is identical with that of the present Fort Dearborn on ' the grounds of A Century of Progress . Wh at Captain Whistler thought of the Fort and surrounding country in regard to safety may be easily conj ect ured from his own words :

' The River is not regularly surveyed , but gives a strong Idea of Its o u rses s ix it is about miles in length except in high water ,

at w hich time there is no portage t o the Illinois River . The woodland On the reserve lyes on the north and west sides

of the Garrison , except a small strip of woods about one mile in

length and two hundred yards in breadth , Lying on the bank of the

river southwest of the Garrison . Along the Margin of Said Woods

is good medow and su pp lyes the Garrison with hay . On the North and West sides of the garrison there has been a quanti ty of under A sh rub sh . wood and y Bushes such as prickly , etc , they are now cut

down and cleared off, all within one Fourth of a Mile of the Gar

r i son . On the south and southwest sides of the Garrison is a large par raria 'prairie'on which stands the aforesaid strip of woods as laid down in the Draught and the distance from the Garrison three h as fourths of a Mile . On the East side is the Lake . There been a picket fen ce on the O p is ite side of the river northwest of the Gar

rison as laid Down . this fence might serve as a barrier against ffi the Garrison as the pickets were ﬁve feet in length , su cient in thic kn ess to pre vent a Mu sket Ball fro m do ing exe cuti on to an n Enemy lying behi d them . I thought it proper for the safety of the Garrison to have them taken up and replaced with a common [ 1 2 ] t rail fence . A this time the Garrison 'except the Houses on the O p is it e side of the river being somewhat in the way'is perfectly secure from any ambuscade or Barrier .

The Branch that emp tyes into the Cheykag 'Chicago'is co n sid erabl y the longest and has the greatest current . The p arraria on

‘ t the south and sou hwest as already mentioned is of great extent . Another means of safety in time of attack was a covered way th e leading from northeast corner of the Stockade to the river , thus c th e se uring to Garrison a supply of water when under attack , or a possible avenue of escape .

’ Cap tain Whis t ler s R eg im e

T HE period of Whistler ’ s command at Fort Dear th e m 1 8 03 w as born lasted from sum er of , when work on the Fort n 1 8 1 0 begu , until April , , when he was sent to Detroit . His regime w as th e longest of any ofﬁcer Stationed at Fort Dearborn and in many respects the most important . He not only conducted the pioneer the so work of establishing post , but maintained it that it was described by a visitor in 1 809 as the n earest and best wooded gar th e U t rison in nited S ates , a fact which did great honor to Captain e o Whistler , who planned and built it . This sam visitor also rec rds that the men at the Fort were the same who came with Whistler in 1 8 0 t 3 and although the term of their enlistment had expired , hey — - w ffi had all t e enlisted a sign that Whistler as a good o cer . It is doubtless impossible to refer to any one person as the found er or the father of a great city , but Dr . Milo M . Quaife in his ' ' Chicago and the old Northwest says :

“ No o ne person can properly claim exclusive right to this title . The event which more adequately than any O ther Signalizes the beginning of modern white settlement here was the founding of Fort Dearborn ; and the man who with more propriety than any other ‘ ’ may be regarded as - the father of th e modern ci ty is Captain John t Whistler , who buil the ﬁrst fort and for seven years dominated the life within and around its walls .

Captain John Whistler , born in Ireland of English descent , was

t . himself a rover , an adven urer and a dreamer And the qualities that go to the making of such a man he handed down to dis tin i h u s ed . g descendants While yet a lad he ran away from home, ’ o ed th e a a n d - b a emb of B in j in rmy ecame m er urgoy ne s army, be g with him when the army surrendered to the Americans at Saratoga . w as Returning to England , young Whistler discharged from the [ 1 3 ] army . After a short time, he came again to America , this time to

j oin the American army . He entered the service in 1 79 1 and after D in 1 8 1 0 1 8 1 2 A leaving Fort earborn , served during the war of . son , George Washington Whistler , became one of the great engi n eers h is of day, building railroads in Russia , where his success led

. as to his being decorated He is better known , however , the father of MacNeil James Abbot Whistler , the artist and grandson of the h builder of Fort Dearborn . Alt ough the artist himself never s aw w as t Chicago , it said that he took more interest in this ci y than in any O ther place in the country with the exception of West Point

E nt er Cap tain He uld

A CHANGED atmosphere came into Fort Dearborn m with the coming of the new co mander , Captain Nathan Heald ,

. 1 7 7 5 who succeeded Captain Whistler Born in New Hampshire in , c he was a mu h younger man than his predecessor . He comes to us from the pages of history as a much less certain figure . The dramatic t quali y of the pioneer is missing , the venturesome daring of the i Colonial soldier s gone . And while Heald expressed himself as satisfied with the condition in which Captain Wh istler had con w . as ducted the Fort , yet he did not like his new detail He dis satisfied from the beginning and almost at once announced his i intention of returning to New England for the w nter . He even so sa went far as to y that if this leave of absence were not granted , he would resign rather than pass the winter at Fort Dearborn . The

n o r . furlough was granted . He went to New England . He did resign

And hence after two years more , he was fated to be the ofﬁcer who t led o u t the troops on the day of the For Dearborn slaughter . Returning from his winter in the east Captain Heald stopped at

Louisville, where he was married to Rebekah Wells , the daughter of Captain Samuel Wells , and the niece of Captain William Wells , with whom Heald had long been associated at Fort Wayne . Only

w as . a year of Fort Dearborn life theirs , but of that brief period Mrs

Heald has left many written records . She was a woman of great

t . charm , with the abili y to win friends everywhere

And again war threatened . The underground rumblings grew n o r more insistent . And this time only did the frontiersman know himself in danger from Indians , but Americans , generally, realized that war between America and England was once more imminent .

- America entered half heartedly . New England was violently o p its e posed to the war . The west had own problems , but it was ager f o r ﬂ the con ict . This section did not depend upon commercial and it t foreign relations as did New England , and had a convic ion that [ 1 4 ] CAP T AIN W IL L IAM “WE L L S

o n eer s o ut an pi , c d warri o r , kill ed in th e Fo rt D earb o rn s s re ﬁ t n t o s a e Ma ac , g h i g v t he wo m en an d childre n o f th e Garri so n

F r o m a w o o dcu t i n th e . co lle ct i o n o f t h e Chic ag o Hist o r i cal S o met y

MR S . R E B E KAH EA L D H , wif e o f th e co mm an da n t o f th e p o st an d a w o m an o f g reat p ers o n al charm w h o h as l ef t m an y i n t er es ti ng wri tt en reco r ds o f th e ﬁrs r pi o n eers this war might help to settle the Indian question and might also open a way to the annexation of Canada

Ne w Wa r Clo u ds

M AN' of the Indian tribes turned against the American forces when war was ﬁnally declared They had always

been friendly with the British , considering themselves almost pen s io n ers of that government , with whose representatives they had traded and from whom they had fre'uently received substantial aid

- in the way of Stores and even of arms and ammunition . The west had long suspected that these tribes would easily ally themselves with s o a foreign foe when the occasion offered , and welcomed a struggle which they believed would settle once and for all the relations of the

Indian to borh national and local governments . Before the actual declaration of war between England and Amer

ica , sporadic Indian outbreaks had indicated not only a rising tide of enmity but assurance from some source to the Red Man that he

was to have assistance . He bore himself with a certainty . Bands of marauders operated boldly and murdered and mutilated without — a let or hindrance . They came down upon Chicago band of — Winnebagoes old friendly relations cast to the winds , and mas sacred a harmless farmer and a casual French Canadian visitor a

. t few miles down the river There was panic among the se tlers . t t Captain Heald , unable to learn the iden i y of the murderers , sev ered friendly relations with the Indians and closed the gates of the

fort to them . John Kinzie and his family moved into the fort . “ h is Jouett , the Indian agent , fortiﬁed house and gathered into it the

other neighbors . No one seemed to doubt the danger .

LeClaire Then , in the middle of the summer , Pierre , a half breed with the easy agility and endurance of a man whom civilization has not softened , walked the ninety miles from St . Joseph in a day and brought the news that war was on between the British and the

. n o r Americans This did tend to ease the Situation with the Indians . Further word of American defeat brought renewed conﬁdence to them and heavier hearts to the little band of whites at Fort Dear born .

Then General Hull , Governor of Michigan Territory, who was Ch ica in command of the army of the Northwest , spoke to g it s spoke the fatal word for Fort Dearborn and people . The order coming to Captain Heald directed him to evacuate the post , to de stroy all arms and ammunition , to disp ose of the goods of the fac tory to the poor and needy or to friendly Indians ' Who may be de s iro us of escorting you to Fort Wayne . [ 1 6 ]

ican s - and half breeds , all were gathered together . They were to

t , l a leave behind them no only homes but means of ivelihood , sso ciatio n s all that they possessed

Am b u sh and Massac re

I T was a small company that sa—llied forth from the Fort at nine in the morning on this sad hegira only ninety - six

- ﬁve in all . Fifty of the regular army troops , including Captain m Heald and Lieutenant Hel , twelve Chicago men who composed S i t a , Heald roop of militi n ne women and eighteen children , John

Kinzie, who was listed in a class by himself as a neutral and non combatant, and Captain Wells . Outside the Fort the company was j oined by th e thirt y Miamis whom Wells had brought to act as an escort but who deserted their leader and the Americans at the begin th e ning of hostilities . Through the gates of the Fort and south ward they marched , Captain Wells and the Miamis leading, scan ning the horizon with watchful eye, alert to any sense of danger .

Following were the troops from the Garrison , then the women and children who were able to walk and the Chicago militia with the baggage wagons guarded by Ensign Ronan and Surgeon 'an ' oorhis . Those who were unable to walk rode in the baggage

Mr . s . wagons . Heald and Mrs Helm were on horseback riding for the ﬁrst part of the way with their husbands . Cautiously and slowly they traveled along the banks of the muddy river , their line of march paralleling Michigan Avenue of today . Be On their left was the Lake , a safe barrier against an attack . hind them the Fort— the only place of comparative safety within m n ' a hundred miles . Ahead of the , who k ew On their right

- was a row of sinister sand hills gray and half barren , running north

t . and sou h , a complete screen for an enemy They must have been encouraged for the ﬁrst half to three

. A 'uarters of an hour , these intrepid frontier people band of seemingly friendly Pottawatomies was riding to the west of them escorting them on their way . In this band were many individual

Indians well known not only to the soldiery , but to private citizens and even to some of the women . These were not the Red Men to be feared— these were friends with whom they had laughed and talked , whom doubtless they had fed when hungry .

The sand dunes paralleled the Lake . The troops and their little following came southward o n the sands near the water . The

Pottawatomies vanished behind the dunes . Perhaps the move went unobserved by the civilians ; it is even possible that its sinister intent n or did immediately become clear to the soldiery, for the Indians [ 1 9 ] were already in ambush and prepared for attack when Captain

Wells , riding in advance, discovered the ambuscade . Wheeling his h is as horse he raced back , waving his hat above head a danger signal and urging the troops to advance to a more favorable posi tion for defense . The Indians now rose silently from among th e dunes , their heads popping up like turtles . Bayonet charges were futile . The whites were outnumbered ten to one . While the battle raged in front , a deadlier conflict , the real massacre was tak ing place in the rear . The Indians had separated Heald with his regulars from the baggage wagons , and here where the women and

- children , the non combatants , were gathered carnage reigned .

Women , armed with swords , fought in desperation . Two of them

. were killed Most of the children were tomahawked . Captain

Wells , ﬁghting his way back to save the women and children was

. o n Shot through the breast Wounded again and again , he fought

ﬁring even as he lay on the ground , unable to rise . The Indians

- — closed in upon him . He was no longer their old time friend but their — rej0 1 c ec1 Sh Ot ﬁn is a enemy and they when a ﬁnal wrote for _ bold warrior . The militia fell . Kinzie was the only white man at the wagons who survived . Captain Heald and the troops in advance were forced to surrender . All of the survivors were taken prisoners by w as the Indians with the exception of Kinzie, who not considered a prisoner of war but was merely brought back to Chicago . Still the lust for blood was not sated . Prisoners were tortured , the Fort reduced to ashes . The massacre of Fort Dearborn was complete .

Sec ond F ort R ises

T HE second Fort Dearborn , built upon the site of 1 8 1 6 the original Fort in , knew a calmer life in a more peaceful country . Rebuilt to serve as protection against hostilities of the 1 8 2 3 Indian tribes , it led a more or less uneventful existence until when , danger seeming to be passed the order came for its evacuation .

With the Garrison , says Dr . Quaife , departed most of the life of Chicago . During the next few years little occurred to inter rupt the monotonous course of existence . Rarely, a new settler , attracted by the presence of relatives who had gone before , or lured westward by the hope of improving his material conditions , would direct his steps to Chicago . Periodically the Indians , who still held possession of the country tributary to Chicago , would assemble to 1 8 2 receive their annuities . Finally in 7 occurred the Winnebago War which for a time furnished excitement for Chicago and led eventually to the reoccupation of Fort Dearborn by a garrison of U nited States troops . [ 2 0 ] Th e F 1 8 2 8 1 8 1 ort , reoccupied in , was abandoned in 3 . Curi o usl 1 8 1 y enough , its last occupancy, beginning in 3 , is of more interest than any except the ﬁrst . The commander at this time w as as Maj or William Whistler , who a young lieutenant had it s served in the ﬁrst fort during earliest days under his father ,

Captain John Whistler . The reopening of the Fort and the arrival of Maj or Whistler followed the opening of the Black Hawk War , which once again threw Chicago settlers into a panic and crowded i the narrow walls of the garr son . The greatest alarm and co n f u n sion ever k own in Chicago took place, not only in the settlement but for miles around when the news came that the enemy was on t i the warpath . But no dis urbances oc curred in the vi c n i ty of Fort w a Dearborn . The most deadly enemy of the troops s an epidemic of cholera which played havoc among them .

Final Salu t e F ired

T HE enemy at last subdued , treaties of peace were concluded which marked the end in Illinois of Indian warfare . — The last great Indian Pow - wow p eaceful and dramatic with all i of the old t me splendor of paint and feathers , dances and war 1 cries was held in the Streets of Chicago in 8 3 5 . The pomp and drama of the early Indian made its last Stand as the Pottawatomies march ed through th e Streets and out into the country - ways to vanish with th e approach of modern civilization . Christmas greens were still on the walls when on the 2 9th of 1 8 3 5 th e s w as f u December , , la t salute ﬁred , the lag was str ck and

w The w as c . as . the last sentry withdrawn fort eva uated Chicago , no longer a frontier settlement needing protection from savages , had commenced her march ci tywards . Signs of th is development are to be seen in a description by a ’

1 8 3 7 : . Gaz eteer traveler in , who writes In Dr Beck s , published in 1 8 2 3 as 1 0 1 2 , Chicago is described a village of or houses , and

60 70 . 1 8 3 2 or inhabitants In , it contained ﬁve small stores , and 2 5 0 inhabitants ; and now the population amounts to with 1 2 0 t t stores , besides a number of groceries ; of the former , wen y sell by wholesale . It has also twelve public houses , three news

t . papers , near ﬁf y lawyers , and upwards of thirty physicians n The Presbyterians , Methodists , Baptists , Episcopalians and Roma

Catholics , each have houses of worship: There are likewise one or i more insurance companies , ﬁre compan es , water works for the sup ply of water from the lake , several good schools , and a respectable s aw academy . An extensive brewery, a steam and grist mill and a large furnace, are all in successful operation . The building of an [ 2 1 ] e Academy of Fine Arts is likewise contemplated , and m asures are about being taken to obtain for it a collection of paintings .

Chicago is , without doubt, the greatest wonder in this wonderful t coun try . The growth and prosperi y of Chicago may be taken as a fair example of the unprecedented increase and advancement of the t country . Cities and towns spring up in every quarter and a migh y tide of emigration is rolling far and wide its fertilizing inﬂuence

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