obtained from the traders, the Indians also brought in quantities of
maple sugar put up in birch-bark packages, which usually found ready
sale among the settlers. These packages were called "barks" by some
and "mococks" by others, each of them containing from twenty-five to
fifty pounds. Birkbeck says, in his _Letters from Illinois_, written in
1818, that maple sugar could be purchased from the Indians for about
twenty-five cents a pound, which was about the same price as the coarse
brown or "muscovado" sugar from Louisiana was sold for. In his book of
reminiscences of early Chicago, Gale tells us that he remembers as a boy
how he prized the granulated maple sugar which he bought from the squaws,
"put up in small birch-bark boxes, ornamented with colored grasses, and
in large baskets made of the same material, holding some twenty-five
pounds." It was often called "Indian sugar." When the Indians visited the
settlements it was their custom to wander about the streets in an aimless
manner, stopping from time to time and taking a look into the window
of any house they happened to be passing. The Indians, whether men,
women, or children, would cover the tops of their heads with blankets to
exclude the light, and press their faces against the window panes and
gaze intently into the houses for long periods at a time, to the great
discomfort and even terror of the people within. If they wished to enter
a house they did not pause to knock, but stalked in and squatted on the
floor, and none dared to resist them or to order them to depart from
the premises. "You always heard a man come in," says Mrs. Baird, in her
narrative, "as his step was firm, proud, and full of dignity. The women,
however, made no sound."
There were several chiefs of the Potawatami tribe whose names are
well known in the historic annals of that time. One of them was Black
Partridge, often called "the Partridge"; there were also Winnemeg, or, as
he was sometimes called, Winamac; Waubansee; Topenebe; Billy Caldwell,
otherwise known as Sauganash or "the Sauganash," meaning Englishman, as
he was an educated half-breed; and Alexander Robinson.
On account of the close and friendly relations existing between the
whites and the Potawatamis, the latter were usually spoken of as "our
Indians," to distinguish them from those tribes whose hunting grounds
were at a greater distance. The Winnebagoes from the north were
occasional visitors to the neighborhood, as were also tribes from the
south,--Miamis and others,--who were generally referred to as "Wabash
Indians."
When councils were held between the representatives of the Government and
the tribes, to agree on a treaty, all those tribes were in attendance
which could be allowed to have any claims to ownership of lands that
were the subject of the treaties about to be made. At such assemblages,
whenever they were held in the Western country, the Potawatamis were
always found fully represented by their chiefs and a large number of
their followers, insisting upon recognition of their claims; and they
thus succeeded in getting the lion's share in the distributions made
by the Government; and even though their claims were often vague and
ill-defined they were always noisy and forward in asserting them. It thus
happened that the Indians of the Potawatami tribe were greatly interested
in keeping on good terms with the whites.
The Indians in their harangues described an assemblage held for purposes
of deliberation as a place where a council fire was lighted; and in
referring to the United States Government the Indian orators spoke of
the States of the Union--which in 1811 were seventeen in number--as the
nation of "the Seventeen Fires," that is, seventeen council fires.
In a former generation the Potawatamis were "French Indians" in their
sympathies and trade relations; and this allegiance continued up to and
even after the close of the French régime in 1763. They were reluctant
to acknowledge the sway of the British during the period of their
possession, but through the commanding influence of the New York Indians
(the Iroquois or Six Nations) they kept the peace that was guaranteed
by the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768. This treaty was made between
the English and the Iroquois with "their dependent tribes"; and it
was understood that the said treaty bound the Western Indians, though
afterwards the latter resented the proceedings. Narrowing the view to
the Potawatami tribe, it appears that even while maintaining friendly
relations with the Americans after the latter had succeeded to the
sovereignty of the Western territories, the tribe was still to a certain
extent under British influence. They shared in the gratuities annually
distributed by the English at Maiden, Canada; and, as the event will
show, they at length became the enemies of the Americans after the War of
1812 had begun.
There was a tract of land under cultivation some four miles southwest of
the fort, situated on the west bank of the South Branch of the Chicago
River, about where at the present time the old Illinois and Michigan
Canal opens into that stream. This tract was owned by a man named Charles
Lee, and the farm was known as "Lee's place."
On this tract stood a log cabin in which a number of men employed by Lee
lived and carried on the work of the farm. Lee himself lived with his
family in a house near the fort on the bank of the river opposite where
it discharged into the lake; which was near the present intersection of
Madison Street and Michigan Avenue. It will be remembered that in those
days a long sand-bar prevented the river from finding an outlet directly
in line with its course, and the current was forced to creep along close
to the shore for some distance toward the south.
Lee's place was also known as "Hardscrabble," a name which continued to
be applied to that neighborhood for many decades thereafter. "The name
of 'Hardscrabble,'" it is said in a recent history of Chicago, "has
always been a favorite one among pioneers to describe a place in which
conditions of existence were hard and difficult. A place of that name
was situated near Lewiston, New York, on the Niagara River, about the
same period, and is mentioned in military despatches during the ensuing
War of 1812; and in the State of Illinois the town of Streator was thus
colloquially known during its earlier history." Before the Civil War,
General Grant lived on a farm near St. Louis, where he built a log cabin
with his own hands and called it "Hardscrabble." The same name was given
to a work of fiction by Major John Richardson, with the subtitle "A Tale
of Indian Warfare." This work takes the events which occurred at Lee's
place and bases upon them a romance the details of which the author
supplied largely from his imagination. Many other examples of the use of
this name might be given.
[Illustration: HARDSCRABBLE.
_There was a farmhouse standing on the west bank of the South Branch of
the Chicago river some four miles from the mouth of the river, built some
time after Fort Dearborn had been established This house and the farm
adjoining it was owned by a man named Charles Lee, who, however, did not
live on the premises, but occupied a house near the fort. The house and
farm were known as Lee's Place, or Hardscrabble._
_It was here that two men in the employ of Lee were killed by Indians in
the April preceding the evacuation and destruction of Fort Dearborn and
the massacre of the troops._]
On the seventh of April of the fateful year 1812 the log house at
Hardscrabble was occupied by three men and a boy. The man who seems to
have been in charge of the work at the farm was one Liberty White, and
with him were a discharged soldier, also a Frenchman named Debou, and the
boy, a son of Mr. Lee's. Communication between the farm and the fort was
usually maintained by means of canoes. The products of the farm found
a ready market at the fort, thus supplementing the supplies for the
garrison coming in the regular way by lake schooners.
On the afternoon of the day mentioned a party of soldiers from the fort,
consisting of a corporal and six men, had obtained leave to go up the
river to catch a supply of fish, with which the stream at that time
abounded. The party went up the South Branch, passing Lee's place, with
the usual exchange of greetings, and at length reached a point some
two miles beyond, where they remained engaged in fishing until nearly
dark. Suddenly they were startled by hearing the dull boom of a cannon
which they knew at once to be a danger signal from the fort, and as they
surmised was caused by some manifestation of Indian hostility.
Hastily starting on their return, they soon came to Lee's place, which,
they observed, was silent and deserted. It was now quite dark, and the
party drew up to the bank, meantime calling and shouting, but receiving
no answer. The mysterious silence which enveloped the place seemed to
indicate that the occupants whom they had seen there a few hours before
had suddenly become alarmed and had perhaps fled toward the fort, if
indeed something worse had not befallen them. The corporal knew that
the commandant would require a full report of the matter, and he at
once began an investigation. Stepping ashore, the corporal and his
men cautiously advanced toward the house, in which there was not a
glimmer of light, and from which issued no sound of human voice. As they
groped their way along they stumbled upon the body of a man lying on
the ground, and by the sense of touch the corporal quickly ascertained
that the head was without a scalp and the body mutilated. "The faithful
dog of the murdered man," says the account from which the narrative is
derived, "stood guarding the lifeless remains of his master." The party
now reëmbarked and proceeded on their way to the fort without further
adventure, where they arrived about eleven o'clock at night and made a
report to the commandant of what they had seen.
We now return to the log house at Hardscrabble and to the dreadful
occurrences which took place there on that eventful afternoon. After the
fishing party had passed up the river beyond the farmhouse a wandering
band of Indians appeared at the door of the cabin, and according to
the custom of savages they entered and seated themselves on the floor
without ceremony. Their deportment was sullen and unfriendly, and this
circumstance aroused the suspicions of the men in the cabin. One of
them, the Frenchman Debou, remarked to Liberty White: "I do not like the
appearance of the Indians; they are none of our folks. I know by their
dress and paint that they are not Potawatamis." Another one of the white
men, the discharged soldier, then said to the boy Lee: "If that is the
case we had better get away from them if we can. Say nothing, but do as
you see me do."
As the afternoon was then far advanced, the discharged soldier passed out
of the house and walked in a deliberate manner down the path toward the
canoes tied up at the river bank, accompanied by the boy Lee. Some of the
Indians inquired where they were going. The soldier pointed to the cattle
standing among the haystacks on the opposite side of the river and made
signs that they must go over and fodder them and that they would then
come back and get supper for them all.
The boy got into one of the canoes while the man took possession of the
other. The stream was narrow and they quickly passed over to the eastern
side. Here they pulled some hay from the stacks for the cattle, and made
a show of collecting them together, and when they had gradually made a
circuit so that their movements were concealed by the haystacks they made
a run for the woods which were near at hand and directed their course
toward the fort as fast as their legs could carry them.
When they had covered a distance of a quarter of a mile in their flight
they heard the sound of two gunshots, which they readily conjectured
were fired by the strange Indians upon the two men, Liberty White and
the Frenchman Debou. The man and boy did not slacken their speed until
they had reached the river somewhere near the present location of State
Street bridge. Here they paused long enough to call out to John Burns,
then living in a cabin on the north bank of the river near that point,
to hasten to the fort with his family, as the Indians were killing and
scalping up the river at Lee's place.
Mrs. John Kinzie was at the Burns house at that moment to render what aid
she could to Mrs. Burns, who but a few hours before had been delivered
of a child. She instantly left the house and ran to her own home, a
quarter of a mile distant, to give the alarm and procure help for the
sick woman. She found the family awaiting her return, the table spread
for supper, while Mr. Kinzie was playing on his violin and the children
dancing before the fire.
Rushing into the house, quite out of breath and pale with terror, she was
only able to exclaim: "The Indians! the Indians!"
"The Indians? What? Where?" they all demanded at once. Recovering herself
for a moment, she replied: "Up at Lee's place, killing and scalping!"
She then proceeded to relate that while she was at Burns's house a man
and boy were seen running with all speed along the opposite bank of the
river; that they had called across the river, warning the Burns family
to save themselves, for the Indians were at Lee's place, killing and
scalping, and that they themselves had barely been able to make their
escape. The man and boy had then continued on their way as fast as they
could toward the fort, where they reported the terrifying news to the
officers of the garrison.
"All was now consternation and dismay," says the author of _Wau-Bun_,
from which these particulars are gathered. The Kinzie family hurried to
the river side and, by means of two old pirogues, or dugouts, that were
kept moored near the house, made all possible haste across the river and
took refuge in the fort.
We can but faintly realize what a consuming terror seized upon the
pioneers when the cry was heard that hostile Indians were coming. Often
the alarm and the attack were simultaneous, for however quick and
resourceful the whites might be, the savages were superior to them in one
respect at least: their stealthy advance and cat-like spring upon their
foes usually gave them the advantage at the beginning, which was followed
by brutal ferocity and unsparing cruelty in the treatment of their
victims.
It was no wonder that Mrs. Kinzie was terrified at the mention of the
approach of hostile Indians. In her childhood, as previously related,
she had been stolen by a tribe of Seneca Indians in New York State and
had lived among them for four years. She knew Indian ways in peace and
warfare, and she knew that now at any moment the war-whoop might be heard
and the savages be upon them. Not until she had crossed the threshold of
the fort gates with her family about her could she feel a sensation of
even temporary security.
After the fugitives from Lee's place had reached the fort and related
their adventures the order was given to fire the alarm gun for the
purpose of giving notice to any who were at a distance from the fort, and
especially to the boat party, who were far up the South Branch of the
river, that danger was impending.
Energetic measures were at once taken to secure the safety of the
helpless Mrs. Burns and her infant. It was the gallant young Ensign Ronan
who volunteered for this duty and, with five or six others who joined
him, navigated an old scow up the river to the Burns house, took the
mother and her infant child, together with the mattress upon which they
lay, placed them on the scow, and soon had them within the walls of the
fort, where they were tenderly cared for, and where all gathered felt
perfectly safe.
The anxiety felt by all regarding the safety of the still absent boat
party was at length relieved by its appearance at a late hour. Their tale
was soon told, confirming and amplifying the alarming details related by
the fugitives who had so narrowly escaped with their own lives.
On the morning following the events just narrated a party of volunteers
made up of soldiers and civilians went up the river to Lee's place.
There they found the bodies of Liberty White and the Frenchman Debou
pierced with many wounds, the former having received the two shots heard
by the fugitives, and the latter bearing the marks of numerous knife
thrusts. The scalps of the murdered men had been taken by the Indians.
The scalping process, which was practised by all the tribes of American
Indians, has always added an element of horror to the outrages committed
by them. The bodies of the murdered men were brought to the fort and
buried in its immediate vicinity.
The few inhabitants of the place living outside the fort, consisting
of discharged soldiers and half-breeds, now took measures to defend
themselves against a possible attack from the Indians, which they fully
expected to follow. They planked up the long piazzas of the Agency
House, which stood a short distance west of the fort on the bank of the
river, and cut loopholes through the planks for use of musketry. Greater
watchfulness was exercised by the garrison, and every preparation was
made to resist attack.
It was afterward learned through traders out in the Indian country that
the perpetrators of this bloody deed were a band of Winnebago Indians
who came into this neighborhood to "take some white scalps." Their plan
had been to massacre all the men at the farm and then proceed down the
river and kill every white man who could be found outside the walls of
the fort. This plan they had partially carried out as we have seen, but
hearing the sound of the cannon fired at the fort, which they knew would
alarm all the whites of the neighborhood, and having no further hope of
coming upon them by surprise, they thought it best to remain satisfied
with what they had already accomplished, and hastily returned to their
villages on Rock River.
The tragedy at Lee's place was no doubt the result of the hostility
awakened among the Indians of the western country by the malign influence
of Tecumseh communicated through the various tribes of the Wabash
Indians, among whom he was regarded as the champion of Indian rights.
The battle of Tippecanoe, which had apparently crushed his power, was
fought in the previous September; but he had renewed his activity from
the safe shelter of the British dominions in Canada, where he had taken
refuge, and as it was plain to all observers at this time that war
between England and the United States was inevitable, the friendship of
that chief was regarded as desirable by the former. Indeed, he and his
tribesmen became an integral part of the British forces.
But as the days and weeks passed by, and the friendly Indians of the
neighborhood explained that the attacking party at Lee's place were
Winnebagoes, with whose hostility they had no sympathy, the tension of
feeling was gradually relieved and more dependence came to be placed
on the peaceable disposition of the Potawatamis. The vigilance of the
garrison was relaxed, as it seemed to all that no further outbreak was
likely to occur. The whites became convinced at length that no connection
existed between the Winnebagoes concerned in the attack at Lee's place
and the other tribes in the vicinity, and that no concert of action was
apparent between the different tribes. Thus the memory of the bloody
deed was permitted to slumber, and no serious attempt was made to bring
the perpetrators to account. In fact, the feeling of unrest among the
savages in general throughout the country was such that it seemed the
part of wisdom to postpone any schemes of reprisal or punishment that the
whites might have entertained until the times were more propitious. The
excitement and fear which such an outrage usually inspired among the
people of the frontiers wore off by degrees, and the ordinary activities
of life were resumed.
Thus for a year or more there had been intermittent alarms of Indian
attacks and outrages before the final catastrophe. Besides the murders
committed in this region and in other parts of the western country,
the horses and cattle of settlers had been stolen. On one occasion,
when marauders failed to find horses in the stable near the fort, they
wantonly killed a number of sheep found on the premises.
A significant incident occurred within the walls of the fort a few months
preceding its destruction. It is related that two Indians from a northern
tribe had been admitted to the fort as visitors. They noticed Mrs. Heald
and Mrs. Helm playing at battledore on the parade ground opposite the
officers' quarters. One of the Indians turned to the interpreter and
said: "The white chiefs' wives are amusing themselves very much; it will
not be long before they are hoeing in our cornfields!"
Not much importance was attached to the remark at the time but it was
afterward bitterly remembered.
The following is a brief summary of the important national events which
occurred during the years from 1803 to 18 12, concurrent with and of
especial interest to this narrative.
The Louisiana Purchase, consummated on April 30, 1803, added a vast
extent of territory to the American possessions beyond the Mississippi,
and greatly increased the responsibilities of the general Government. The
public men of that day but faintly realized the consequences that would
follow the immense addition to the territories of the United States thus
brought about, though with characteristic energy and good sense they set
about the task of developing the new domain.
"The winning of Louisiana," says Roosevelt, in his _Winning of the West_,
"followed inevitably upon the great westward thrust of the settlerfolk, a
thrust which was delivered blindly, but which no rival race could parry,
until it was stopped by the ocean itself."
The entire area of what is now the State of Illinois was, in 1803, a
part of Indiana Territory, which had been organized three years before,
with William Henry Harrison, then a young man of twenty-seven, as first
Governor. It was not until February, 1809, that Illinois Territory was
organized, with Ninian Edwards as the first Governor. No civil government
was in existence at Chicago; the first authority, as at all frontier
posts, was military. The only people here during the period of which we
are writing, besides the few traders we have mentioned and their helpers,
were the officers and soldiers of Fort Dearborn, and they were of course
under military authority and discipline. All orders came to the captain
commanding at the fort through the commandant at Detroit, Colonel Jacob
Kingsbury, until the breaking out of the war with England, when General
William Hull, previously the Governor of Michigan Territory, was placed
in command of the Northwestern army then assembling at Detroit. Orders
thenceforth issued from the commanding general.
The southern portion of the territory now within the bounds of the State
of Illinois had been settled in some few localities during the French
period of domination, and the population of the towns of Kaskaskia,
Prairie du Rocher and Cahokia were predominantly French, being composed
of a few native born French, but mostly of French Canadians and Creoles.
Even under British domination (1763 to 1783) there were practically no
English-speaking people among the inhabitants of the places mentioned
except the garrisons in the forts at those points; and after the
conquering march of Colonel George Rogers Clark and his Virginians in
1778 and 1779 the English authority ceased altogether, the forces forming
the garrisons having become prisoners in the hands of the Americans.
The result of the stream of emigration that set in from Kentucky and
the States farther east, after the creation of the Northwest Territory
in 1787, was that in a few years the Americans outnumbered the earlier
inhabitants.
At the time Fort Dearborn was built almost the entire State of Illinois,
as at present constituted, was included in a county called St. Clair
County. It was not until long after Illinois had become a State in the
Union that county government began to be effective in any way in the
affairs of the little community at Chicago; and indeed, it did not matter
in the least to the inhabitants what the name of the county might be in
which the place was situated. It is quite likely that no one there even
knew that he was living within the limits of St. Clair County, which in
any case was merely a geographical expression carrying no exercise of
jurisdiction whatever.
Thomas Jefferson was President of the United States from 1801 to 1809; in
the latter year he was succeeded by James Madison, who was President for
the ensuing eight years.
III
THE TRAGEDY