T

THERE were two Fort Dearborns, the first one having been built in 1803. This was occupied by a garrison of United States troops until 1812, 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 military post, though at several intervals during periods of peaceful relations with the surrounding tribes the garrisons were withdrawn for a time.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 Franquelin's map printed in 1684 as "Chekagou," 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 period of its discovery to the year 1763, when, after the French and Indian War, it passed into the possession of the English. As British territory it remained until the close of the Revolutionary War, when the Western Territories were ceded by the English to the Americans at the treaty of peace concluded in 1783; and thus the region in which Chicago is situated 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