Chicago and the Old Northwest, 1673-1835 / A study of the evolution of the northwestern frontier, together with a history of Fort Dearborn

by Milo Milton Quaife

A critical estimate of the printed accounts of the Fort Dearborn massacre, more particularly of Mrs. Kinzie's Wau Bun.

Reynolds, John. The Pioneer History of Illinois. Containing the discovery in 1673, and the history of the country to the year 1818, when the state government was organized. 2d ed., with portraits, notes, and a complete index (Chicago, 1887).

Roosevelt, Theodore. The Winning of the West (New York, 1889-96). 4 vols.

Vols. Ill and IV of this work contain a good account of the Indian troubles in the Northwest and the campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne in the opening years of the new national government.

Schoolcraft, Henry R. Narrative Journal of Travels from Detroit Northwest through the Great Chain of American Lakes to the Sources of the Mississippi River in the Year 1820 (Albany, 1821).

This volume has a second title-page with a somewhat longer title. The author was an observer of more than usual intelligence and zeal who spent a great many years in the Northwest as Indian agent at Sault Ste. Marie and Mackinac. The expedition described in this volume was sent out by the government under the leadership of Lewis Cass. The Journal contains a description of Chicago in 1820 and an account of the massacre based in part on information obtained from John Kinzie.

——. Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River in 1820: Resumed and Completed by the Discovery of Its Origin in Itasca Lake, in 1832 ... (Philadelphia, 1855).

——. Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising Observations on Its Mineral Geography, Internal Resources, and Aboriginal Population (New York, 1825).

The "travels" which furnished the material for this work comprised a circuit by Schoolcraft from Detroit by way of the Maumee and Wabash rivers to the Ohio, across southern Illinois, up the valley of the Illinois River to Chicago, and thence around the lakes to Detroit. Most of the journey was made in a large canoe, the remainder on horseback. The occasion for making it was the Chicago Treaty of 1821 to which Schoolcraft came with Lewis Cass in the capacity of secretary. The work contains, therefore, the most valuable account in existence of the negotiations attending that treaty.

——. Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontier, with Brief Notices of Passing Events, Facts, and Opinions, A.D. 1812 to A.D. 1842 (Philadelphia, 1851).