Transcriber Note
Text emphasis denoted by _Italics_.
[Illustration:
_Henry Dearborn was born in New Hampshire in 1751. He was an officer in
the American army, took part in the battle of Bunker Hill, was present
at the capture of Burgoyne's army, and remained in the service until the
end of the war. In 1801 he was appointed Secretary of War under President
Jefferson, and held that office for eight years._
_In 1812 Dearborn was appointed Major-General and did excellent service
on the Niagara frontier during the Second War with Great Britain. John
Wentworth said of him that "history records no other man who was at the
battle of Bunker Hill, the surrender of Burgoyne and Cornwallis, and then
took an active part in the War of 1812."_]
THE STORY
OF
OLD FORT DEARBORN
BY
J. SEYMOUR CURREY
WITH ELEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS
[Illustration]
CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1912
Copyright
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1912
------
Published August, 1912
W. F. HAL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO
This Volume is Dedicated to
NELLY KINZIE GORDON
_PREFACE_
THERE were two Fort Dearborns, the first one having been built in 1803.
This was occupied by a garrison of United States troops until 1812, when
it was destroyed by the Indians immediately after the bloody massacre of
that year. The second Fort Dearborn was built on the site of the former
one in 1816, and continued in use as a military post, though at several
intervals during periods of peaceful relations with the surrounding
tribes the garrisons were withdrawn for a time. In 1836 the fort was
finally evacuated by the military forces. The events narrated in the
succeeding pages of this volume concern the first or Old Fort Dearborn.
The name "Chicago," as descriptive of the river and its neighborhood, was
in use for more than a century before the first Fort Dearborn was built;
it appears on Franquelin's map printed in 1684 as "Chekagou," and is
mentioned in various forms of spelling in the written and printed records
of that and succeeding periods. It has been said that Chicago is the
oldest Indian town in the West of which the original name is retained;
thus its name enjoys a much greater antiquity than that of Fort Dearborn,
familiar as the latter name is in our local annals.
In the course of its history Chicago has existed under three flags;
first, under the domination of the French kings, from the period of
its discovery to the year 1763, when, after the French and Indian War,
it passed into the possession of the English. As British territory it
remained until the close of the Revolutionary War, when the Western
Territories were ceded by the English to the Americans at the treaty of
peace concluded in 1783; and thus the region in which Chicago is situated
finally came under the Stars and Stripes.
CONTENTS
Preface
PAGE
I Wilderness Days 3
II Fortifying the Frontier 17
III The Tragedy 95
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
General Henry Dearborn _Frontispiece_
Chicago from 1803 to 1812 3
The Wild Onion Plant 12
Bird's-Eye View of Old Fort Dearborn 27
Residence of John Kinzie 32
Mr. and Mrs. John H. Kinzie 47
Rebekah Wells Heald 58
Captain William Wells 58
Hardscrabble 74
Facsimile of Letter of General Hull to Captain Heald 103
Memorial Monument to the Massacre 136
Franquelin's Map of 1684 165
Map of Chicago in 1812 165
[Illustration: CHICAGO FROM 1803 TO 1812
_This broad view, while not accurate, gives a good general idea of
the appearance of the site of Chicago, with old Fort Dearborn and the
surrounding region, in the years from 1803 to 1812. Some of the details
are out of proportion, for instance the long sand-bar extending to the
south opposite the mouth of the river is much exaggerated, and the view
of the Kinzie house is not correct._
_Reproduced from a lithograph in the possession of The Chicago Historical
Society._]
THE STORY OF
OLD FORT DEARBORN
--------------
I
WILDERNESS DAYS
AT the time that Fort Dearborn was built the site of Chicago had been
known to the civilized world for a hundred and thirty years. The Chicago
River and the surrounding region had been discovered by two explorers,
Joliet and Marquette, who with a party of five men in two canoes were
returning from a voyage on the Mississippi, which they were the first
white men to navigate.
Joliet was the leader of the party, and he was accompanied, as was the
custom in French expeditions into unknown countries, by a missionary, who
in this case was James Marquette, a Jesuit priest. Both were young men,
Joliet twenty-eight years of age and Marquette thirty-six. The expedition
had been authorized by the French Government, the purpose being to
penetrate the western wilderness in an endeavor to reach the "Great
River," of which so much had been heard from wandering tribes of Indians,
and to find the direction of its flow. Many conjectures were made by the
men of that time as to the course of this river and where it reached
the sea, some believing that it emptied into the "Sea of Virginia,"
others that it flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, and still others that it
discharged its waters into the "Vermilion Sea," that is, the Gulf of
California; and if the latter conjecture should prove to be correct a
passage might thus be opened to China and India.
In the event of such a discovery being made, great honor would naturally
accrue to its projectors. The instructions to undertake such an expedition
came from Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV, who wrote in 1672 to Talon,
the Intendant at Quebec, that an effort should be made "to reach the sea";
that is, to discover and explore the "Great River" and solve the mystery
of its outlet.
Father Dablon, in the _Jesuit Relations_, thus wrote of the enterprise
about to be undertaken: "The Count Frontenac, our Governor, and
Monsieur Talon, then our Intendant, recognizing the importance of this
discovery, ... appointed for this undertaking Sieur Joliet, whom they
considered very fit for so great an enterprise; and they were well
pleased that Father Marquette should be of the party."
The expedition was accordingly organized, and started from the Mission
of St. Ignace on the 17th of May, 1673. In due course the party reached
the mouth of the Fox River (of Wisconsin), at the head of Green Bay. From
this point the party passed up the Fox and soon after crossed the portage
into the Wisconsin River. They were now far beyond the farthest point
reached by any previous explorers. On the 17th of June the explorers
paddled their canoes out on to the broad bosom of the Mississippi.
Marquette wrote in his journal that when he beheld the great river it was
"with a joy that I cannot express."
It was while carrying out the purposes of this expedition that the
explorers passed through the Chicago River from the west. They had
reached the Mississippi as they had planned to do, had floated down its
current as far as the mouth of the Arkansas, and on the way back had
ascended the Illinois and Desplaines rivers, made a portage into the
Chicago River, and, passing out on Lake Michigan, pursued their journey
to the point on Green Bay at the mouth of the Fox River from which they
had started at the beginning of June, after an absence on the journey of
almost four months.
It should not be forgotten that De Soto, a Spanish explorer, had
discovered the Mississippi at a point not far from the present city of
Memphis, in the year 1541, a hundred and thirty-two years before the
voyage of Joliet and Marquette; but the knowledge of that discovery had
faded from men's minds. They actually passed over the spot where De
Soto had crossed the river in the previous century, though apparently
they were not aware of that fact, for no mention is made in Marquette's
journal of De Soto or his discovery.
The chief significance of the Chicago portage to the explorers when they
passed it was the view of the lake which they had as they descended the
stream towards its mouth. Lake Michigan, indeed, had been discovered long
before, but it was known only along its northern shores extending as
far as Green Bay, which had been entered by the missionaries, a station
being established at its farthest extremity. The southern extension of
Lake Michigan was unknown until Joliet and Marquette paddled into it with
their canoes as they left the Chicago River.
No date was mentioned by Marquette in his journal of the arrival of
the party in the river, but it must have been about the beginning of
September, 1673. Joliet also kept a journal, but unfortunately he lost
all his papers in a canoe accident before he reached Quebec on his
return. That the site of the future Chicago, situated as it was on so
important a portage connecting the lake with the river systems of the
interior, possessed advantages of a striking kind was plainly perceived
by Joliet, who afterward wrote that an artificial waterway could easily
be constructed by cutting only a half league of prairie, "to pass from
the Lake of the Illinois into St. Louis River."
Thus, upon reaching the mission station of St. Francis Xavier, situated
near the mouth of the Fox River, from which they had started, the
explorers had completed a journey of about twenty-five hundred miles in a
period of four months, had opened to the eyes of the world the wonderful
river of the West, had incidentally discovered the site of the future
great city of Chicago, and had made the complete circuit back to Green
Bay without the loss of a man or the occurrence of a single untoward
accident.
La Salle's first appearance on Lake Michigan was in September, 1679, six
years after Joliet's expedition. La Salle came down through the Straits
of Mackinac with a party of seventeen, skirted the western shore of the
lake toward the south, but believing he could reach the Illinois River by
a more favorable route than that over which Joliet had passed, he coasted
around the southern end of the lake until he reached the mouth of the
St. Joseph River. Ascending that river he found the portage into the
Kankakee and readily made his way to the Illinois, where he established
a fort near Peoria. He returned to Canada the following year, and
recruiting another party he once more passed over the St. Joseph-Kankakee
route to the same destination as before.
Again returning to Canada he started near the end of the year 1681 with
a much larger party, and this time he chose the Chicago-Desplaines route
to the interior. He continued on down the Illinois to its mouth, thence
down the Mississippi, passed the farthest point reached by Joliet, and at
length arrived at its mouth and issued forth upon the waters of the Gulf
of Mexico. This event took place on the 7th of April, 1682.
La Salle was thus the first white man to pass down the Mississippi River
from the mouth of the Illinois to the Gulf. De Soto's followers after his
death had indeed returned from their ill-starred expedition by way of the
lower Mississippi, but it remained for La Salle to arrive at a certain
knowledge of the course taken by the river throughout the long distance
over which he passed and to determine its flow into the Gulf of Mexico,
and moreover to establish the first substantial claim in behalf of a
European power to the soil of Louisiana.
La Salle had entered upon an extensive system of colonization, and
through many dangers and difficulties he had secured footholds for the
French in the western country. He passed frequently back and forth
between the forts he had established and his base of supplies at
Montreal. In the summer of 1683 he was in Chicago and wrote a letter to
his lieutenant, Tonty, whom he had left in command of Fort St. Louis,
on the Illinois River, dating the letter "Portage du Chicagou, 4 Juin,
1683." During the next three years he spent the larger part of his time
in attempting to found a colony on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and
while in the midst of his activities he was foully assassinated by some
of his followers. His death occurred on March 19, 1687.
Parkman sums up the character of La Salle in this fine passage: "Serious
in all things, incapable of the lighter pleasures, incapable of repose,
finding no joy but in pursuit of great designs, too shy for society and
too reserved for popularity, often unsympathetic and always seeming so,
smothering emotions he could not utter, schooled to universal distrust,
stern to his followers and pitiless to himself, bearing the brunt of
every hardship and every danger, demanding of others an equal constancy
joined to an implicit deference, heeding no counsel but his own,
attempting the impossible and grasping at what was too vast to hold,--he
contained in his own complex and painful nature the chief springs of his
triumphs, his failures, and his death."
The Chicago-Desplaines portage was used to a constantly increasing degree
in the following years. Missionaries, traders, and military people found
it a convenient point for residence or as a thoroughfare to the Illinois
River. But on account of divided counsels among the French authorities at
Quebec there were no adequate measures taken to protect the whites from
the encroachments and hostility of the savages, so that early in the next
century the portage declined in importance and fell into disuse, other
routes to the interior being preferred.
The name "Chicago," in some of the numerous forms of spelling employed,
is met with on the maps of successively later dates, occasionally in the
reports of French commandants at Detroit or Mackinac, and more frequently
in the letters of the missionaries preserved in that extensive collection
known as the _Jesuit Relations_. After the victory of Wolfe over Montcalm
and the fall of Quebec, the French ceded in 1763 all their western
possessions to the English, which "left France without a foothold on the
American main."
[Illustration: THE WILD ONION PLANT.
_That the name "Chicago" was derived from an Indian word meaning "wild
onion," is believed by most authorities. Schoolcraft tells us that the
word was Chi-kaug-ong, meaning wild leek or onion._
_Cadillac, the French commandant at Mackinac in 1695, mentioned in a
report the name of Chicagou as one of a chain of posts on Lake Michigan,
and said that the name signified "river of the wild onion;" and in an
Indian treaty of 1773, the river was referred to as "Chicagou, or Garlick
Creek." Gurdon S. Hubbard, in his Memoirs, states that the name was
derived from the wild onion, and Colonel Samuel A. Storrow, who visited
this site in 1817, refers in his letters to "the River Chicagou, or in
English, Wild Onion River."_
_The wild onion plant may be seen at the present day growing luxuriantly
on the prairies near Chicago._]
But so far as the portage at Chicago was concerned this change of
sovereignty made little difference. What with the constant strife among
the savage tribes whose normal condition was that of warfare, and the
dangers to the whites caused by the neglect of military protection, the
region was left a solitude; and the few references to its existence
during a hundred years indicate confused relations between the tribes and
the few whites who ventured to visit the region. The sovereignty of the
western country again changed in 1783, this time from the British to the
American Government. A few cabins were built in the vicinity in later
years, and when the American Government proceeded to the erection of a
fort in 1803 these cabins constituted the only evidences of civilization
that existed on the spot.
II
FORTIFYING THE FRONTIER
IN the early summer of 1803, the schooner "Tracy," a transport vessel
belonging to the United States Government, left Detroit with a cargo of
building material and supplies, and in due time arrived off the mouth of
the Chicago River. The purpose was to build a fort at this point. About
the same time a company of sixty-six men and three commissioned officers
took their departure from Detroit to take part in building the fort and
to occupy it after its completion. Because of the diminutive size of the
schooner the men composing this force did not sail in her, except the
commanding officer, Captain John Whistler, accompanied by several members
of his family. The soldiers marched overland, conducted by Lieutenant
James S. Swearingen, and reached Chicago about the same time that the
vessel arrived. On its way, the vessel stopped at St. Joseph, Michigan,
where Captain Whistler and his family disembarked; they continued their
journey to Chicago in a rowboat. The family of Captain Whistler consisted
of himself and his wife, their son, Lieutenant William Whistler, and his
wife, recently married, and a younger son, George Washington Whistler,
who was about two years old.
General Henry Dearborn was at that time Secretary of War in the cabinet
of President Jefferson. His orders to the commanding officer at Detroit
were to send a body of men to construct and garrison a fort at the mouth
of the Chicago River. This locality had long been considered a suitable
one for the construction of a frontier military post. A tract "six miles
square, at the mouth of the Chikago River," had been ceded by the Indians
to the United States at the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, evidently with
a view to its favorable location as the site of a fort.
William Burnett, a trader at St. Joseph, writing to a firm in Montreal
under date of August, 1798, said that it was understood that a garrison
would be sent to Chicago in that year. This expectation, however, was not
realized until five years later.
The Treaty of Greenville referred to was concluded by General Anthony
Wayne with the tribes in 1795, after they had been disastrously defeated
at the battle of Fallen Timbers in the previous year. A part of the
description of the tract ceded was that it was "where a fort formerly
stood." There was no trace of such a fort, however, when the builders
of Fort Dearborn arrived upon the scene. The Miami Indian chief, Little
Turtle, well known to the whites at that period and a man familiar
with this region, said in later years when questioned about it that he
remembered nothing of any fort that had ever stood on the spot before the
building of Fort Dearborn.
There is evidence, however, that a fort, perhaps several of them at
different periods, had been erected in this vicinity and occupied by
the French; but having been built in a temporary fashion they utterly
disappeared after the French had ceased to occupy the country.
The tract "six miles square" mentioned in the Treaty of Greenville
was never surveyed, and as the treaties of later years included the
locality within other descriptions of ceded lands, it did not become
necessary to make a survey. For that reason the exact boundaries of the
six-mile-square tract were never determined and are not shown on official
maps now recognized in title abstracts, though on some maps an outline of
the tract is shown as an illustration, but without any authority as to
the precise position occupied.
It has been stated that commissioners from Washington had selected as
the site of a proposed fort on Lake Michigan a location at the mouth of
the St. Joseph River where the city of St. Joseph now stands, but as the
Indian tribes would not give their consent for its construction at that
point, the commissioners had been obliged to decide on a site at the
mouth of the Chicago River. In commenting on this statement a writer in
the _Michigan Pioneer Collection of Historical Publications_ says:
"We conclude that had the fort been built at St. Joseph there would have
been no Chicago." Mr. Edward G. Mason, a writer of acknowledged authority
on subjects pertaining to western history, refers to this statement,
and rather humorously observes: "This matter of a fort seems to have
been peculiarly disastrous to the St. Joseph country. When it had one it
constantly invited capture, and caused the inhabitants to spend more or
less of their lives as prisoners of war, and when it did not have one it
thereby lost the opportunity of becoming the commercial metropolis of the
Northwest. I know of no such tract of land in all this section which has
been so singularly unfortunate as the St. Joseph region."
Mr. Mason alludes in this passage to the vicissitudes suffered by the
small military post or "tomahawk fortress," as such posts on the frontier
were sometimes called, at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, which during
the troublous period of the eighteenth century had frequently changed
masters. At the time of which we are writing, the fort, or the remains
of a fort, at that point was in such a condition that a new structure
would have been necessary if that site had been determined upon by the
authorities.
Building operations for Fort Dearborn began on the Fourth of July, under
the direction of Captain Whistler. The soldiers cut the timber required
from the neighboring forests and, as there were no horses or oxen
available in the vicinity, the men dragged the logs with ropes from the
woods to the banks of the river, and floated them to the site chosen.
At that period a forest of considerable density covered the land on the
north side of the river, and there was also a fringe of trees along the
South Branch throughout its entire length; but the extensive area in
the South Division, excepting the woodland on the margin of the river,
was open prairie. In fact, the Grand Prairie of Illinois, extending for
hundreds of miles into the interior of the state, here reached the shore
of the lake for a space of three or four miles along the water, and it is
a singular fact that at no other place does the Grand Prairie border on
Lake Michigan. It was on the line of this famous tract that the massacre
occurred, which will be described in the following pages.
The portion of the Grand Prairie between the mouth of the river and a
point some three or four miles south along the lake shore was mostly
devoid of trees, a scanty growth of cottonwoods and pines, however,
maintaining a precarious existence among the sand-dunes. A mile or two
south of the river's mouth these low sand-hills became the predominant
feature of the landscape, just as may be found at the present time along
the low shores of the lake beyond the city limits toward the south and
east. Behind the sand-hills the level prairie stretched away as far as
the eye could reach. Schoolcraft, in one of his early voyages, related
that as one approached the shores from the southern end of Lake Michigan,
the appearance of these sand-dunes--between which was occasionally seen a
scanty growth of stunted pines--gave a desolate aspect to the scene, in
wonderful contrast with the rich and abundant verdure of the far-reaching
prairie land lying just beyond them.
When the schooner "Tracy" arrived at Chicago she anchored half a mile
from shore and discharged her cargo by boats; for a long sand-bar, with
its surface slightly higher than the lake level, forced the current of
the river to follow the shore toward the south before finding an outlet
into the lake, and even then over a broad stretch of shallow water, thus
preventing the entrance of the vessel into the river channel. "Some two
thousand Indians," said an eye-witness in an interview reported many
years later, "visited the locality while the vessel was here, being
attracted by so unusual an occurrence as the appearance in these waters
of 'a big canoe with wings.'"
But notwithstanding the astonishment of the Indians, it was probably
not the first time that sailing vessels had visited the shores of the
future site of Chicago. William Burnett, the trader at St. Joseph before
referred to, in writing to a merchant in Mackinac in 1786, makes a
request that a vessel be sent to St. Joseph to take on board a quantity
of grain, and further says regarding the expected vessel, "If she is to
come to Chicago you can very likely get her to stop at the mouth of the
river"--that is, the St. Joseph River. It is probable enough, however,
that the great majority of the Indians around Chicago, who gazed with so
much interest at the sight of the wonderful "canoe with wings," had never
before seen a craft with sails spread to the breeze.
The "Tracy" was a vessel of ninety tons' burden, and belonged to the
United States Government. After the goods were unloaded they were placed
in tents to await the completion of the buildings. At the end of five
days the vessel departed on her return voyage to Detroit, and on board of
her Lieutenant Swearingen took passage.
Later in the summer the fort was ready for occupancy, and its garrison
of United States regulars took possession of the barracks and dwellings
within the stockade. The fort was named in honor of General Henry
Dearborn, who had been a distinguished officer of the Revolutionary War,
as well as Secretary of War at the time of the building of the fort.
The fort was located on the south bank of the Chicago River near the
present Rush Street bridge, somewhat north of the spot marked by a
tablet placed in recent years upon a building at the intersection of
Michigan Avenue and River Street. The river, as is well known, is
deflected from its general east and west direction at a point just east
of the present State Street bridge. Owing, however, to the construction
of the drainage canal a few years ago, the river now flows _from_ the
lake so that when it reaches the point mentioned, its course, instead of
northeast forty rods, as formerly, is now southwest.
But at the time the fort was built the bend in the river reached much
farther toward the north. In later years the south bank was partially
dredged away, and the bend was therefore considerably lessened. Thus
the site of the fort, being close to the river bank, was some distance
farther north than the building upon which the tablet is placed; in fact,
the northern portion of the fort extended over ground now covered by the
bed of the river.
[Illustration: BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF OLD FORT DEARBORN.
_1. Main entrance of the fort passing beneath building, the upper
story of which was directly over the passageway._
_2. Location of the "sally-part," or underground passage, running
from the interior of the fort to the river._
_3. Gateway to the west._
_4. Blockhouse at the northwest corner of the fort._
_5. Blockhouse at the southeast corner of the fort._
_6. Officers' quarters._
_7. Barracks for the troops._
_8. Magazine._]
It may be well to remark here that in the year 1833 a channel was dredged
through the bar directly in line with the river's course. The old channel
between the sand-bar and the shore gradually became filled up in the
course of years, and at the present day it is which covered by a mass of
earth, and forms a part of the area enclosed in Grant Park.
In the construction of the fort there were two blockhouses erected, one
at the southeast and the other at the northwest corner of the stockaded
enclosure. These blockhouses projected partially beyond the line of
pickets so that their defenders could command the approaches from the
open spaces without the fort. On the north side of the fort there was a
sally-port with a subterranean passage, leading from the parade ground
within to the river bank, designed as a means of escape in case of
emergency, or of obtaining a supply of water if needed, though a well was
sunk for the ordinary uses of the garrison within the fort enclosure.
Beyond the main line of pickets another similar line was placed at a
different angle converging toward the blockhouses, thus providing two
strong palisades entirely surrounding the fort.
A plan for the construction of frontier forts was prepared by the War
Department and this plan was referred to in a letter of instructions
written by General Dearborn under date of June 28, 1804. While it thus
appears that the letter was written a year later than the building of
Fort Dearborn, it was an outline of the general principles by which the
department had been governed in all such works.
"Being of the opinion," wrote General Dearborn, "that for the general
defense of our country we ought not to rely upon fortifications, but
on men and steel, and that works calculated for resisting batteries of
cannon are necessary only for our principal seaports, I cannot conceive
it useful or expedient to construct expensive works for our interior
military posts, especially such as are intended merely to hold the
Indians in check."
He added that he had directed stockade works "aided by blockhouses" to
be erected at Vincennes, "Chikago" and at other places, "in conformity
with the sketch herewith enclosed." The details of the plan are further
described in the letter as follows: "The blockhouses to be constructed
of timber slightly hewed," and the magazines to be of brick "of a conic
figure," each capable of receiving from fifty to one hundred barrels of
powder. "The blockhouses," he continued, "are to be so placed as to scour
from the upper and lower stories the whole of the lines."
The plan thus outlined was followed in the construction of Fort Dearborn
as well as of other forts generally along the frontier.
Three pieces of light artillery composed the armament of the fort, until
at a later time another gun was added, and in a magazine constructed for
the purpose was stored the necessary ammunition.
Directly west of the fort, fronting toward the river, was built a double
log house, between the two parts of which an open passage was left,
though the roof was made continuous over both portions as well as over
the open passage. Along the front and rear a veranda extended the full
length of the structure. This building was the Agency House, or United
States Factory, used for storing goods to be sold to the Indians under
Government regulations. For a number of years, from 1796 to 1822, the
United States supplied goods to the Indian tribes at many places on the
frontier in exchange for their furs. In these exchanges the Government's
policy was to deal with the Indians on an equitable basis, providing them
protection against the rapacity of the traders, many of whom swindled
them unmercifully.
It may be said in passing that this benevolent purpose on the part of the
Government was completely frustrated. The traders supplied their savage
customers with liquor, which the Government agents were not at liberty
to do, and thus the Indians preferred to do business with the former in
spite of the lower prices and superior quality of the goods furnished
by the latter. In 1822, the "Factory System," as it was called, was
discontinued entirely.
For many years previous to the building of Fort Dearborn a substantial
dwelling had been standing on the opposite side of the river, near the
present foot of Pine Street. This house was built by a man named Jean
Baptiste Point de Saible, a native of San Domingo and a negro, some time
before 1779, as appears from a report made by Colonel De Peyster, the
commander at Michilimackinac during the British occupation.
De Saible was an Indian trader. One of the pioneers who remembered him
said of him that he was "pretty wealthy and drank freely," and the
British commander above referred to wrote that he was "much in the French
interest," which gave occasion to that officer to keep a close watch
on his activities, situated as he was at the principal portage between
the Lakes and the Mississippi. De Saible resided in this house for over
eighteen years, and in 1797 sold it and returned to the Peoria Indians,
among whom he had previously resided, and remained with them the rest of
his life.
The purchaser of the house was a man named Le Mai, a French trader. Le
Mai made some improvements and occupied the house until 1804, when he
in turn sold it to John Kinzie, who arrived with his family at Chicago
in the fall of that year. After the house came into the possession of
John Kinzie he repaired it, added a veranda, and planted four Lombardy
poplars at the foot of the slope on which the house stood. The house
faced toward the south, having the river directly in front and the lake a
short distance to the east.
This house became known as the "Kinzie Mansion" and is a familiar and
picturesque object in the views of early Chicago. The house escaped
the general destruction at the time of the massacre and remained the
residence of John Kinzie and his family until the time of his death, in
1828, except during the four years of his enforced absence, from 1812 to
1816. The house was finally demolished in the early thirties after more
than a half-century's existence.
There was also the less pretentious cabin of Antoine Ouilmette, situated
close in the rear of the Kinzie house. Ouilmette was a Frenchman with an
Indian wife, and had lived here since 1790. His wife, being a member of
the Potawatami tribe, was awarded, at one of the Indian treaties many
years later, a tract of land on the north shore about fourteen miles
from the mouth of the Chicago River, which became known as the "Wilmette
Reservation," and is now the site of the village of Wilmette.
[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF JOHN KINZIE.
_The house in which John Kinzie and his family lived from 1804 to 1813,
and again from 1816 to 1828, as it was lithographed by Sarony from a
sketch made by Mrs. John H. Kinzie, the author of Wau-Bun._]
A man named Pettell also had a small cabin near the Kinzie house. Over on
the North Branch another trader named Guarie had a trading house which
had been there from a time previous to the year 1778. Guarie's house was
situated on the west bank of the river, about where Fulton Street now
ends. The North Branch was called by the Indian traders and _voyageurs_
of those days the "River Guarie," and the South Branch "Portage River,"
the name Chicago River being confined to that part of the river below the
confluence of those two streams.
Captain John Whistler, after serving seven years as commandant at Fort
Dearborn, was ordered to another post early in the summer of 1810, and
his successor was Captain Nathan Heald, of whom we shall have much more
to say in the following pages. In bidding adieu to Captain Whistler it
is proper to add a few particulars concerning him. He was a native of
Ireland, and had come to America as a British soldier at the time of the
War of the Revolution. He was in Burgoyne's army and was taken prisoner
by the Americans when that army was surrendered after the battle of
Saratoga in 1777.
After the war he decided to remain in America and took up his residence
in Maryland, where he married, and where his son William was born. Later
he enlisted in the American army, taking part in the campaigns against
the Indians in the West. His loyalty to his new allegiance is shown in
the naming of his youngest son after the "Father of His Country."
Captain Whistler served in the army of General Arthur St. Clair and
afterward in that of General Anthony Wayne, and in time was promoted to
be a captain of infantry. After leaving Fort Dearborn he was transferred
to Fort Wayne and the rank of major was bestowed upon him. He died in
1827.
John Whistler was a brave and efficient soldier and the progenitor of
a distinguished posterity. His son William was, as we have seen, a
lieutenant in his father's company, and long after the events we are here
treating of was placed in command of Fort Dearborn (in the year 1832),
and his daughter became the wife of Robert A. Kinzie, one of the sons of
John Kinzie, the pioneer. George Washington Whistler, the infant son of
Captain John Whistler, was brought to Fort Dearborn in 1803, as we have
already narrated, and afterward was graduated at West Point. Eventually
he resigned his commission in the United States army and entered the
service of the Russian Government as an engineer, where he rendered
distinguished services.
The eminent painter, James A. McNeill Whistler, was a descendant of
Captain John Whistler. In the life of Whistler, the artist, by Joseph and
Elizabeth Pennell, it is mentioned that Whistler once said to a visitor
from Chicago that he (Whistler) ought to visit the place some day, "for,"
said he, "you know, my grandfather founded the city."
John Kinzie has been called "The Father of Chicago," and also "Chicago's
Pioneer." He was born at Quebec about the year 1763, and he was
therefore about forty years of age when he arrived in Chicago, in 1804.
His father was a Scotchman named John McKenzie, but instead of retaining
his patronymic in the usual manner, John of Quebec changed it to conform
to a usage established by his boyish companions and others, who called
him "Little Johnny Kinzie."
Young John's father died while he was yet an infant; the widow married
William Forsyth, and soon thereafter the family moved to New York. Here
he was placed in school, but at the age of ten he ran away and took
passage on a sloop bound for Albany, with the purpose of finding his
way back to his old home at Quebec. By good fortune he found a friendly
fellow traveler bound for the same destination, who assisted him on
the way. Arriving at Quebec he found employment with a silversmith and
learned the trade. He remained with the silversmith three years, at the
expiration of which time he returned to his parents, who had in the
meantime removed to Detroit.
John Kinzie had an active and enterprising disposition which led him
as he grew older to live much upon the frontier. He entered the Indian
trade while he was yet very young and became an adept in his intercourse
with the Indians. He learned their language and was esteemed by them as
a reliable and fair-dealing trader. He soon began trading on his own
account, and before he came to Chicago he had trading establishments
at Sandusky and Maumee, and pushing farther west, he established a
post at St. Joseph. It was in the pursuance of a general policy of
business expansion that he bought the Le Mai house at Chicago, a house
which afterward became historic. Kinzie himself has become of historic
importance to a degree he could never have dreamed of, and which would
not have been possible but for the fact that the place he chose for his
residence has since become one of the world's great cities.
While by no means the first settler at Chicago, John Kinzie is generally
accorded the title of "Chicago's Pioneer," although it is quite probable
that there were traders, hunters, and trappers residing here for longer
or shorter periods even earlier than De Saible and Le Mai.
"I doubt if any known person can safely be called the 'earliest settler'
of Chicago," writes Thwaites. "The habitants and traders went back and
forth like Arabs. No doubt there was a succession of temporary visitors
residing any time from a few months to several years at this site during
the entire French régime, but especially in the eighteenth century,
concerning which period the records are unfortunately scanty."
When John Kinzie arrived here he found Ouilmette, Pettell, Le Mai,
and Guarie, all of whom were permanent residents. Mr. Kinzie was a
man of character and influence. He had been well educated for those
times, and possessed civic virtues in an eminent degree. Through all
the vicissitudes of frontier life he maintained and brought up a large
family, assisted those who were related to him as step-children and
half-brothers, and his descendants became honorable members of the
community with which they were identified.
Mr. Kinzie was generally known as the "Indians' Friend," and had
received from them the name of Shaw-ne-aw-kee; that is, _Silverman_,
on account of his having learned the trade of a silversmith, which he
practiced on occasion.
When he came here from Detroit Mr. Kinzie was accompanied by his family,
consisting of his wife and son, John Harris Kinzie, then an infant one
year old, and his step-daughter, Margaret McKillip. Three other children
were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kinzie during the next few years, and at the
time of the massacre these children as well as their parents escaped harm
through the assistance of several friendly Indian chiefs.
Excepting the four years following the massacre, the Kinzie family
resided here until the death of Mr. Kinzie, in 1828, at the age of
sixty-five years. His widow and some of his children continued their
residence in Chicago until long after the middle of the century.
A few words concerning the earlier life of the remarkable woman who was
the wife of John Kinzie will be appropriate in this place. Previous to
her marriage to Mr. Kinzie, in 1800, Mrs. Kinzie was a widow, her first
husband having been a Captain McKillip, serving in the British army,
who had been killed in the year 1794. Her daughter, Margaret McKillip,
afterward became the wife of Lieutenant Linai T. Helm, one of the
officers at Fort Dearborn.
Mrs. Kinzie's maiden name was Eleanor Lytle, and when a child she lived
with her parents in Western Pennsylvania. When but nine years of age she
was carried off by Indians and adopted as a sister by a chief of the
Seneca tribe. After four years of captivity she was safely restored to
her parents. Writing of her experiences at this time, so similar to those
of thousands of other children captives, the author of _Wau-Bun_ (who
it will be remembered was a daughter-in-law of Mrs. John Kinzie) says:
"Four years had now elapsed since the capture of little Nelly. Her heart
was by nature warm and affectionate, so that the unbounded tenderness
of those she dwelt among had called forth a corresponding feeling of
affection in her heart. She regarded the chief and his mother with love
and reverence, and had so completely learned their language and customs
as almost to have forgotten her own.
"So identified had she become with the tribe that the remembrance of her
home and family had nearly faded from her memory; all but her mother--her
mother whom she had loved with a strength of affection natural to her
warm and ardent character, and to whom her heart still clung with a
fondness that no time or change could destroy."
The peace of 1783 between Great Britain and the United States was
followed by a general pacification of the Indian tribes, and the chief
who held little Nelly captive was invited to a council fire at Fort
Niagara by Colonel William Johnson, a man celebrated for his wonderful
popularity and influence with the Indians of New York State, and the
chief was requested to bring the little captive with him. The invitation
was accepted, but not before a promise was made that there should be no
effort to reclaim the child.
The parents of the child were anxious to behold once more the form and
features of their offspring, and came to Fort Niagara for the purpose.
"The time at length arrived," runs the narrative, "when, her heart
bounding with joy, little Nelly was placed on horseback to accompany her
Indian brother to the great council of the Senecas. She had promised
him that she would never leave him without permission, and he relied
confidently on her word.
"As the chiefs and warriors arrived in successive bands to meet their
'father,' the agent, at the council fire, how did the anxious hearts of
the parents beat with alternate hope and fear! The officers of the fort
had kindly given them quarters for the time being, and the ladies, whose
sympathies were strongly excited, had accompanied the mother to the place
of council, and joined in her longing watch for the first appearance of
the band from the Alleghany River.
"At length they were discerned, emerging from the forest on the opposite
or American side. Boats were sent across by the commanding officer to
bring the chief and his party. The father and mother, attended by all
the officers and ladies, stood upon the grassy bank awaiting their
approach. They had seen at a glance that the little captive was with
them."
The chief held the little maiden's hand while crossing the river, and
when the boat touched the bank he saw the child spring forward into the
arms of her waiting mother from whom she had been so long separated. When
the chief witnessed this outburst of affection he was deeply moved, and
could no longer continue steadfast in his resolution to retain possession
of the child.
"She shall go," said he. "The mother must have her child again. I will go
back alone."
"With one silent gesture of farewell," says the writer, "he turned and
stepped on board the boat. No arguments or entreaties could induce him to
remain at the council; but having gained the other side of the Niagara,
he mounted his horse, and with his young men was soon lost in the depths
of the sheltering forest."
Soon afterward the parents of Eleanor Lytle removed to Detroit and it was
there when but fourteen years of age that she met and married Captain
McKillip.
The writer of the narrative from which the above sketch has been derived
was Mrs. Juliette A. Kinzie, the wife of John Harris Kinzie, who was
the oldest child of John Kinzie and Eleanor (Lytle) McKillip Kinzie.
Mrs. John H. Kinzie wrote a book, already mentioned, called _Wau-Bun_,
which was published in 1856, in which are a number of sketches of
Chicago's early settlers, and an account of the period extending over
the occupation and destruction of the first Fort Dearborn. Her book is
the earliest and most substantial contribution to Chicago history of the
period referred to that we possess.
It is gratifying to be able to state that the granddaughter of the
"little Nelly" of the narrative, who was so wonderfully restored to her
own people after all those years of captivity, is Mrs. Nelly Kinzie
Gordon, now residing in Savannah, Georgia. Though now nearly eighty years
of age, Mrs. Gordon is in possession of all her faculties to a remarkable
degree, and seems indeed to have preserved the freshness of her youth in
body and mind. She takes a sympathetic and intelligent interest in all
the historical writings having to do with the early history of Chicago,
where she was born and where she lived many years of her life, and she is
always ready to aid inquirers with advice and suggestions.
The interior arrangements of the Kinzie house were described by Mrs.
Elizabeth Baird, who as a child visited the Kinzies at Chicago in company
with her mother. The family of which Mrs. Baird was a member lived on the
island of Mackinac and came to Chicago in a lake vessel loaded with a
cargo of supplies.
The account written by Mrs. Baird in her old age is printed in the
Wisconsin Historical Society's collections. She remembers distinctly the
house and its surroundings. "It was a large, one-story building," she
said, "with an exceptionally high attic. The front door opened into a
wide hall that led through to the kitchen, which was spacious and bright,
made so by the large fireplace. Four rooms opened into the hall, two on
each side, and the attic contained four rooms." There was room in the
house for all the members of the Kinzie family besides quite a number of
servants and helpers.
The only way of crossing the river, she says, was by a wooden canoe or
"dugout," which was used even by the children, who became very skillful
in navigating the deep and slow-moving stream which separated the house
from the fort. Besides amusing themselves in the canoe, often called a
pirogue, the children found delight in running among the sand-hills along
the lake shore and "tumbling down their sides."
Mrs. Baird was the daughter of a half-breed mother whose mother was a
member of the Ottawa tribe of Indians. "To know we had Indian blood in
our veins," she writes, "was in one respect a safeguard, in another a
great risk. Each tribe was ever at enmity with the others. No one could
foretell what might happen when by chance two or more tribes should meet
or encamp at any one place at the same time. This, however, would be of
rare occurrence. Unless on the warpath Indians keep by themselves."
[Illustration: MR. AND MRS. JOHN H. KINZIE
_There are no pictures of John Kinzie, the pioneer, in existence. The
pictures shown are those of John Harts Kinzie, the son of John Kinzie,
and of his wife, Mrs. Juliette A. Kinzie, the talented Author of
Wau-Bun._
_John H. Kinzie was a lad nine years of age at the time the Fort Dearborn
massacre. His wife was born and brought up in Connecticut, and she did
not come to Chicago until 1833._]