Three days after Harrison wrote this, Wells’ most intimate friend and greatest of the chiefs, Little Turtle, died at Fort Wayne. The chief had long suffered from the gout, and in order that he might have the attendance of the post surgeon, he was brought from his village on the Eel river to the home of Wells. Little Turtle was buried with full military honors on Captain Wells’ farm, Captain Rhea and the officers of the garrison being present.[28]
Within a period of two weeks after the death of Little Turtle, General William Hull, governor of Michigan and commandant of a strong American force at Detroit, sent an order to Fort Dearborn, instructing the commander Captain Nathan Heald to evacuate the fort and transfer the occupants of the lonely post to Fort Wayne. Hull also sent word of the intended evacuation to Fort Wayne, ordering the officers there to cooperate in the movement by rendering Captain Heald any information and assistance in their power. Captain Wells, spurred by a desire to aid in the evacuation and by the fact of his close relationship with Mrs. Heald, organized a company of thirty friendly Miamis and with Corporal W. K. Jordan from the garrison started for Fort Dearborn on August 8, 1812. Milo Quaife asserts that the arrival of Wells five days later afforded the only ray of cheer and hope which came to the settlement in this time of danger.[29] Preparations for departure were under way when Wells arrived. Wells was downcast. To remain in the fort now meant death from starvation as all the supplies except the little needed for the journey had been destroyed or given to the Indians. The attempt to reach Fort Wayne was the only alternative.
The story of the anguished departure from the fort on the morning of August 15 and the subsequent massacre need not be related here. Suffice it to say that Captain Wells was killed during the battle in an attempt to save the women and children. The Indians paid their sincerest tribute of respect to his bravery by cutting out his heart and eating it, thinking thus to imbibe the qualities of its owner in life. Quaife writes, “Wells was the real hero of the Chicago masacre, giving his life voluntarily to save his friends.”[30] Thus, Captain Wells’ colorful career was brought to a close. Paradoxically, he died while fighting against the Indians, although in his first battles he had fought on their side. In death as in life Wells remained an enigmatic figure, one who deserves far more attention by those endeavoring to understand the frontier with its curious mixture of romanticism and realism. Wells’ companion from Fort Wayne, Corporal Jordan, was captured by the Indians but later made his escape, finally reaching the safety of Fort Wayne on August 26 after seven days in the wilderness.
[1]IHC, VII, Harrison’s Messages and Letters, ed. Logan Esarey, p. 223.
[2]Ibid., p. 242.
[3]Ibid., p. 285.
[4]Elmore Barce, “Harrison and the Treaty of Fort Wayne, Indiana”, Indiana Magazine of History, II, 361.
[5]IHC, VII, Harrison’s Messages and Letters, p. 337.
[6]Harrison to Eustis, Oct. 3, 1809, this letter was copied by Capt. Heald and sent to Colonel Kingsbury. This copy is to be found in the Kingsbury Papers, Chicago Historical Society Library.
[7]IHC, VII, Harrison’s Messages and Letters, ed. Logan Esarey, pp. 393-5.