Unfortunately there exists no portrait of John Kinzie. The portrait of John H. Kinzie, taken from a miniature, and that of his wife, the author of Wau-Bun, are kindly furnished by their daughter, Mrs. Nellie Kinzie Gordon. There has also been copied an oil portrait of the last named lady herself, painted by Healy in 1857, when she was about to quit her native city for her home in Savannah, Georgia, which departure was a loss still remembered and regretted by her many Chicago friends and admirers; in other words by all of the Chicago of 1857 which survives to 1893.
MRS. NELLIE (KINZIE) GORDON.
A fourth portrait of this honored branch of the pioneer stock is that of the son, John H. Kinzie, Jr., who died for his country in a manner which must endear his memory to every Union loving patriot. The following touching sketch of his life and death is contributed by a near relative of the brave young martyr.
John Harris Kinzie, Jr., was born in 1838. He was educated as a civil engineer at the Polytechnic Institute of Ann Arbor, Mich. He served in the navy during the war and met his tragic fate in 1862, while master's mate on the gun-boat Mound City, commanded by Admiral Davis.
While attacking a fort on the White River, a shot from the fort's battery penetrated the boiler of the Mound City. In the terrific explosion that followed, young Kinzie and more than ninety others were scalded and blown overboard.
The hospital boat of the fleet immediately set out to rescue the wounded men. As Kinzie struck out for the boat, his friend Augustus Taylor, of Cairo, called out to him to keep out of the range of the fort as the sharp-shooters were evidently picking off the wounded men in the water. This proved to be true; young Kinzie was shot through the legs and arras by minié balls as he was being lifted into the boat.
JOHN HARRIS KINZIE, JR
He soon heard the shouts of his comrades; and turning to one of his friends, he said: