[323] McCulloch, Early Days of Peoria and Chicago, 91.
[324] Mrs. Kinzie's brief statement on this point is greatly enlarged and improved upon by Matson, French and Indians of Illinois River, 188-91.
[325] Interview with Lyman C. Draper, Draper Collection, S, XXI, 276.
The accounts we have of the personality and character of Du Sable are for the most part highly creditable to him. Robinson describes him as tall and of commanding appearance. Another observer, Stephen Hempstead, who was acquainted with him in his old age, describes him as quite gray and venerable, about six feet in height, with a well-formed figure and a very pleasant countenance.[326] De Peyster, himself a rhymster and a friend of Robert Burns, calls him "handsome" and well educated. Doubtless in this case allowance should be made for poetic license and for the fact that the poet probably never actually saw the subject of his verse. Grignon recalled that Du Sable "drank pretty freely," and Robinson stated that he danced and caroused with the Indians and "drank badly." By way of palliation of this charge it may be noted that drinking was a habit common alike to Du Sable's age and his profession. There is a much larger mass of testimony in Du Sable's favor to offset this venial habit. Hempstead, who has already been quoted, says that he was not degraded, and that he appeared to be respected by those who knew him. Long years after his death the observant Schoolcraft recorded the information received from Mrs. La Framboise, an aged métif lady at Mackinac, that he was "a respectable man."[327] But the strongest praise comes from Lieutenant Bennett, Du Sable's captor in 1779. He reported to De Peyster that since his imprisonment Du Sable had behaved in every respect as became a man in his situation, and that he had many friends who gave him a good character.
[326] Interview of Lyman C. Draper with Hempstead, Draper Collection, S, XXII, 177.
[327] Schoolcraft, Personal Memoirs, 478.
According to the tradition preserved by Mrs. Kinzie, Du Sable withdrew from. Chicago to the home of a friend in Peoria, where he terminated his career. Alexander Robinson stated that he went off to the region of St. Louis and died there, probably before the beginning of the War of 1812.[328] A more specific and, apparently, reliable account of his last years is furnished by Hempstead.[329] He states that Du Sable had no goods in these last years, but spent his time hunting and fishing and lived by himself. He had a hut near the mouth of the Osage River, and here he died, probably about the year 1811.
[328] Interview with Lyman C. Draper, Draper Collection, S, XXI, 276.
[329] Ibid., XXII, 177.
When the troops came to Chicago in 1803 they found four huts or cabins here, belonging to some French-Canadian traders.[330] One of these was occupied by Le Mai, who had bought out Du Sable, one by Ouilmette, and a third by Fettle. The fourth, apparently, belonged to Kinzie and was at this time vacant. Doctor Smith, the first surgeon at Fort Dearborn, and John La Lime shortly secured possession of it for the winter and fitted it up in a comfortable manner for their joint occupancy.[331]