The Branch that emptys into the Cheykag is considerably the longest, and has the greatest current. The parraria on the south and southwest as already mentioned is of great extent.
Fort Dearborn 20.th Feb.y 1808. J. Whistler Capt.
FORT DEARBORN AND VICINITY IN 1808
From the original draft by Captain Whistler in the archives of the War Department at Washington
Within the stockaded inclosure were the barracks for the officers and men. They were two stories in height, with shingled roofs and covered galleries, and occupied the middle of each side of the inclosure facing toward the parade ground, in the center of which stood a lofty flagstaff. The commanding officer's quarters stood on the east side, and directly opposite were those for the subordinate officers. The main gateway of the stockade was at the middle of the south side and was flanked on either side by the main barracks for the common soldiers. The building opposite was in part devoted to barracks for the soldiers and in part to housing the contractor's store of supplies. Between this building and the northwestern blockhouse stood the magazine, a small structure made of brick. This alone defied the fire which destroyed the fort at the time of the massacre. Two small houses, one near the northeast corner of the inclosure and the other in the corner diagonally opposite, completed the list of structures within the stockade. The parade ground was surrounded by gutters for carrying off the water. A small wicket gate in the stockade gave ingress and egress near the northwestern blockhouse. From the northeast corner of the stockade a covered way led to the river, securing thus to the garrison access in safety to the water in time of attack.
To the south of the fort were the commanding officer's gardens in which, in Cooper's time, melons and other small fruit and vegetables were raised. Somewhat to the east, between the fort and the mouth of the river, was a smaller garden and an Indian graveyard. A short distance to the southwest were two log houses, one occupied by Matthew Irwin, the United States factor, and the other by Charles Jouett, the Indian agent. On the north side of the river, almost directly opposite the fort, was the house of John Kinzie, with outbuildings and a "Kitchen" garden. Whistler's diagram represents three houses to the westward of Kinzie's establishment, but omits the names of their owners. The omission is supplied by Cooper, however, who says that in his time there were four houses on the north side, occupied by Kinzie, Ouilmette, La Lime, and Le Mai. La Lime and Ouilmette were Frenchmen; Le Mai was a half-breed, married to a Pottawatomie squaw.
In addition to these houses Whistler's drawing represents a considerable number of houses and outbuildings ranged around the fort devoted to various purposes. Among these are houses for the interpreter and for the factor's department, an armorer's shop, a merchant's shop, and a bake shop, besides several stables on the south side; and on the north side, near Kinzie's place, a "Grist Mill Worked by Horses."
In the rear of the group of houses on the north side, the space between the lake and the north branch of the river was covered with timber. Along the east side of the South Branch, stretching southward from the forks of the river, was another strip of timber, two hundred yards in width and a mile long. Except for this strip of woodland, the area to the south and southwest of the fort constituted what Whistler quaintly designates as "a large Parraria." Along the inner margin of this woodland lay a good meadow which supplied the garrison with hay. Close to the forks on the south side of the main river a small field of eight or nine acres had been reduced to cultivation and made to serve as the company gardens and public cornfield.
It is evident from Whistler's description that he took careful measures to prepare the fort against the possibility of a hostile attack. The ground to the north and west was clear as far as the woodland mentioned, which lay at a distance of three-fourths of a mile from the fort. The east side was protected, of course, by the river and the lake. To the west and the north the ground had originally been covered with an undergrowth of prickly ash and other scrubby bushes, but this had been cleared away to a distance of a quarter of a mile from the stockade. On the north side there had been erected a heavy picket fence, four feet in height and sufficiently strong to afford an enemy protection against musketry fire from the fort. This Whistler caused to be removed and replaced by a common rail fence. At the time of making this diagram, in the winter of 1808, Whistler announced with satisfaction that the garrison was now perfectly secure from an ambuscade or barrier, except for the houses on the north side, which were somewhat in the way.