In 1831, Chandonnis called & visited Maj. Heald & wife, accompanied by a chief, and spent two or three days there, they being cordially entertained, Maj. H. killing a beef & a sheep & gave them a feast of fresh meat, & talked over the story of the eventful captivity. Chandonnis & others were then on their way to Kansas as a deputation to view the country & report the result of their observations to their people.
Just before the evacuation of Chicago, Mrs. Heald had sewed into a wamus, or roundabout, several hundred dollars in paper money, & gave the since chief Alex. Robinson $100. for conveying Maj. Heald & wife to Mackinaw, which he safely accomplished. This garment Maj. Heald wore under his regular military suit, & when his outside clothing was stripped from him, the old wamus & money were left untouched.
Page 615 of Peck's edition of Annals of the West, says Mrs. Heald was attacked in a boat, this is a mistake.
The Indians were not troublesome as represented in that work, as crowding into the fort before the evacuation.
Wells arrived the 13th, see Heald's official report in the "Annals."
Maj. Heald was so disabled that he was not engaged in any other active military service subsequently. After a few years his wounds gradually grew worse, so that he had to use a crutch & cane, & these wounds finally hastened his death, the ball was never extracted.
Can't say about Capt. Heald first going to Chicago in 1810, don't know whether there was then any garrison there or not.
Mrs. Heald was born in Jefferson Co., Ky., in 1790, was in her 21st year when married in May, 1811.
Mr. Heald has got a small water-color likeness of his grandfather, Gen'l Sam'l Wells, and a daguerreotype[964] of Mrs. Rebecca Heald. There is no likeness extant of Maj. Heald.
[964] Now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Lillian Heald Richmond, of St. Louis; for a reproduction of it see p. 300.