The Fort of Chicago, at that period, stood upon a portion of the same
ground occupied by its successor, and was, in fact, a very epitome of
a fortress. On the western side, two block-houses constituted its
chief defence, while on the north, a subterranean passage led from the
parade-ground to the river, near the banks of which it had been erected.
The uses of this sally port were two-fold--firstly, to afford the
garrison a supply of water in the event of a siege--secondly, to
facilitate escape, if necessary. The country around, now the seat of
fruitfulness and industry, was at that time a wilderness, tenanted only
by the savage, and by the few daring and adventurous whites who had
devoted their lives to purposes of traffic, yet whose numbers was so
small as to induce them, with a view to their safety, to establish
themselves as near the Fort as possible. Roads, there were none, and
the half formed trail of the Indian furnished the only means of
communication between this distant port, and the less thinly-settled
portions of Michigan. Nor were these journeys of frequent occurrence,
but performed at long intervals, by the enterprising and the robust
men--who feared not to encounter privations and hardships--camping at
night in the woods, or finding a less desirable repose in the squalid
wigwam of the uncertain Indian.
The mouth of the Chicago River was then nearly half a mile more to the
southward than it is now. At a short distance from the lake, which gives
its name to the territory, it soon branched off abruptly to the north,
and then again, taking another turn, pursued its original westernly
coarse, and, passing near the Fort, gave to the latter the appearance of
a slightly elevated peninsula, separated only from the water by a gentle
declivity of no great extent. On the same side of the river was the
Government Agency House, and at about a quarter of a mile from that, a
spot generally used as a place of encampment by the friendly Indians--at
that moment occupied by a numerous band of Pottawattamies. Immediately
opposite to the Fort, stood the residence and trading establishment of
Mr. Mackenzie--a gentleman who had long mixed with the Indians--had
much influence with, and was highly regarded by them; and, close to his
abode, lived with his family, consisting of his wife and her sister,
French Canadians like himself, Ouilmette, one of the most attached of
his people, and enjoying almost equal popularity with the red men. About
a quarter of a mile beyond Ouilmettes, and immediately opposite to the
Pottawattamie encampment, from which it was divided only by the river,
was another small but neat dwelling. This belonged to Mr. Heywood, and
was then inhabited by his wife and daughter, whom he would not permit to
reside at the farm, as well on account of its rudeness of accommodation,
as of the dread of exposing them, in that remote situation, to the very
danger which we have seen he had himself so recently encountered.
Such was the civilian population of that sparsely inhabited country in
1812. Let us now see the strength of its garrison.
For the defence of so distant an outpost, almost cut off, as we have
already shown, from communication with the more inhabited portions of
the States, the American government had not thought it requisite
to provide more than a single company of soldiers, a force utterly
inadequate to contend in a case of emergency, with the hordes of savages
that could be collected around them within a few hours, and WEEKS before
any efficient succor could be obtained. This error, grave at any time,
in those who sought to extend the influence of their name and arms
throughout that fertile region which has now, within little more than
a quarter of a century, become the very head of American commerce and
navigation, was especially so at this particular epoch, when the
Indian spirit, stirred to action by the great chief who had so recently
measured his strength with his hated enemies at Tippecanoe, was likely
to be aroused on all occasions where facility of conquest seemed to
present itself. And, yet, that government well knew that there were,
even at that moment, difficulties existing between themselves and
Great Britain of a character to lead to an interruption of the friendly
intercourse that had hitherto subsisted between the two countries,
and which, if suffered to ripen into hostilities, would necessarily,
associate many of the Indian tribes with the forces of England, drawing
down certain destruction on those remoter posts, whose chief reliance on
immunity from danger, lay, in a great degree, in the array of strength
they could oppose to their subtle and calculating enemy.
This company, consisting, of seventy-five men--many of them married
and with families--was under the command of an officer whose conduct
throughout the eventful and trying scenes about to be recorded, has
often been the subject of much censure--with what justice our readers
must determine.
Captain Headley was one of those officers who, without having acquired
no greater rank at the age of forty than he now possessed, had served
in the army of the United States from his boyhood, and was, in all the
minutiae of the service, a strict disciplinarian. He had, moreover,
acquired habits of deference to authority, which caused him, on all
necessary occasions, to regulate his conduct by the orders of his
superiors, and so strongly was this engrafted on his nature, that
while he possessed mind and energy sufficient to plan the most feasible
measures himself, his dread of that responsibility which circumstances
had now forced upon him, induced the utmost disinclination to depart
from the letter of an instruction once received, and unrevoked.
These, however, were purely faults of his military education. To a
commanding person and dignified manners, Captain Headley united a mind
highly cultivated, and feelings and sentiments which could not fail to
secure the respect even of those who were most ready to condemn that
caution and prudence of character which so eminently distinguished his
career as a subordinate soldier. It was well known and conceded that,
if he erred, the error grew not so much out of his own want of judgment,
but was rather the fruit of the too great deference to authority which
led him, implicitly, to adopt the judgment of others. In the private
relations of life, he was deservedly esteemed, excelling in all those
higher accomplishments that ensure favor with society, and seldom fail
to win for their possessor the approbation of women. Such, indeed, had
been his success in this particular application of the gifts with which
nature had endowed him, that he had, for some years, been the possessor
of the affections and the hand of one of the noblest of her sex, whom,
however, we shall take a later opportunity of introducing to the reader.
The next officer in rank was Lieutenant Elmsley, married also, and about
ten years the junior of Headley. From causes, which will be explained in
the coarse of our narrative, the subaltern did not incline to place that
confidence in the measures and judgment of his captain, which, it has
been shown, the latter almost invariably accorded to HIS superiors, and
hence arose feelings, that, without absolutely alienating them--for, in
their relative military positions this could never be--rendered their
intercourse daily more and more formal, until, in the end, a sentiment
almost of enmity prevailed. In a remote garrison like this such an
evil was the more to be regretted, even while there was the greater
probability, from absence of serious occupation, of its occurrence.
The junior subaltern was Ensign Ronayne, a high-spirited young
Southerner, who had now been three years at the post, and within that
period, had, by his frank demeanor, and handsome person, won the regard
of all--military and civil--there and in the neighborhood. Enterprising,
ardent, fearless, and chivalrous, this young man had passed the first
year of what he, then, considered little short of banishment, in a
restless desire for adventure; but at the end of that period, came a
marked change over him, and the spirit that had panted exclusively for
action, now bent before a gentler and a holier influence.
Last of the officers of this little fort, was the surgeon. Doctor Von
Vottenberg, who as his name would imply, was a descendant from one of
the earlier Dutch settlers in the colonies. There was nothing remarkable
about this gentleman. He was short, stoat, rather of a bilious
temperament--clever in his profession, and much addicted to compounding
whisky punch, which he not only brewed, but drank most satisfactorily.
What other attributes and accomplishments he possessed, the incidents
herein related must develop.
It has been said that, on its Western side, the Fort was protected by
two block-houses, while on the northern a sally port communicated
with the tower. On each side of the sally port were two small stores,
reserved for the ammunition and arms, and for the provisions and spare
clothing of the garrison. On the north and south faces, rose a series of
small low wooden buildings, appropriated to the officers, and capable of
containing thrice the number now occupying them. The southern face, or
that which looks towards the locale of the scene described in our last
chapter, was now the residence of the commanding officer, and of his
senior subordinate, who, with their families and domestics, tenanted the
whole of that range of buildings, with the exception of one large room
in the centre, generally used as a hall of council with the Indians.
In the other range, precisely similar in construction, were quartered
Ensign Ronayne and the surgeon Von Vottenberg, who each, however
occupied but one apartment. The central and largest serving as their
mess-room. The other half of the building was vacant, or rather had been
so, until the doctor obtained the permission of the commanding officer
to use it as a temporary surgery--the hospital being a distinct edifice
between the two block-houses. These latter, capacious for the size
of the fort, accommodated the non-commissioned officers and men--the
company being divided as equally as possible between the two.
Without the whole of these buildings stood a strong stockade, about
twelve feet high, loop-holed for musquetry, with a bastion at each
angle, facing the four principal points of the compass, on each of
which was placed a small gun, that the men had been trained to work. The
entrance to the fort was from the westward, and in the direction of the
agency house, which two of these bastions immediately flanked.
The guard consisted of a non-commissioned officer and nine men--three
sentries being furnished for the necessary duties--one for the stores
already described--another for the commanding officer's quarters--the
mess-room and the surgery, and the third for the, southern bastion,
upon which floated the glorious stars and stripes of the Union. A
fourth sentry at the gate had been dispensed with, in consequence of
the proximity to it of the guard-house. This, was a small building
immediately in front of the hospital, which, with the gate, came
particularly under the surveillance of the non-commissioned officer of
the guard.
With the character for strict attention to discipline, which has been
ascribed to Captain Headley, it will be easily understood that every man
on duty was expected to be as correct in the execution of its details,
as though he had been at the Head Quarters of his regiment, or at
the Seat of Government itself. The utmost regard to dress, and to the
efficiency of arms was moreover enjoined, and so far did their commander
feel indisposed to trust the inspection of them to the non-commissioned
officer of the guard, that, although there were in the Fort, but two
regimental officers besides himself, he had, from the moment of assuming
the command, required them alternately to perform the necessary duties;
superintending the relief of guards, and parading all men off duty and
out of hospital, in full dress, at least once in the twenty-four hours.
At the outset, this had been a source of much discontent with the men,
who conceiving that, in that remote region, the rigor of the service
might be dispensed with, almost openly expressed their desire that
there might be sent to command them, some officer less severe in his
exactions. This had been reported to Captain Headley by his senior
subaltern, from whose manner, while communicating the information, it
was apparent that he did not wholly disapprove of a remonstrance against
measures which involved the sacrifice of his own comfort. His superior
was not slow to remark this, he, however, quietly observed that he was
not, at his years, and in his responsible position, to be told the duty
required to be performed by the troops under his command; and that, if
he perceived any symptoms of insubordination, he would take the proper
means to suppress it. The lieutenant made no reply, but bit his lip, and
withdrew. This was the first manifestation of any thing approaching to
disunion, between these two officers.
Lieutenant Elmsley, although by no means a negligent officer, was no
disciplinarian. He could not but look upon formal guard mountings and
parades, in that isolated quarter, as unnecessary--serving only to
create discontent amongst the men, and to induce them--the unmarried
especially--to desert, whenever an opportunity presented itself; while,
bringing the subject more immediately home to himself, he deemed it to
be a needlessly severe tax upon the only two subalterns of the garrison.
This, he thought might, situated as they were, have been dispensed with,
without the slightest inconvenience to the service; and the duty left to
the superintendence of the non-commissioned part of the force. Hence his
annoyance with his superior.
But Captain Headley was of a different opinion. He thought that the
very remoteness of his post, rendered it the more necessary that no
appearance of carelessness should be remarked by the tribes of Indians,
who were in the vicinity, and who, however amicable their relations
THEN with the United States, might later, from caprice or events yet
unforeseen, take advantage of the slightest negligence, to attempt the
destruction of all.
Better, he thought, that they who received the pay of the Government,
for upholding its interests and dignity, should be subject to a frequent
recurrence of duty--not in itself particularly irksome-than that
an important post--the nucleus of the future prosperity of the
State--should be perilled by the absence of that vigilance which ought
to characterize the soldier. If he allowed to be retrenched, or indeed
left unemployed, any of that military exhibition, which tends to impress
upon the many the moral superiority of the few, where, he argued, would
be their safety in the hour of need; and if those duties were performed
in a slovenly manner, and without due regard to SCENIC effect, the
result would be to induce the wily savage to undervalue that superiority
which discipline chiefly secured to the white warrior. Captain Headley
was discriminating and observant. He had, more than once, remarked the
surprise and admiration created among the Indians who had access within
the stockade, at the promptness and regularity of the system introduced
into it, and this, of itself, was a sufficient motive to cause him to
persevere in the course his judgment had adopted.
Such was the condition of affairs at the moment when Ephraim Giles,
breathless with speed, and fancying the party of Winnebagoes close upon
his heels, made his entry into the Fort. The news he brought was of a
nature to assemble the officers, as well as many of the men and women,
all anxious to hear the details of an occurrence, which now, for
the first time since their arrival at the Fort, had created serious
apprehension. But there was one of the party who manifested more
than ordinary uneasiness. His impatience was great, and, after having
whispered a few words in the ear of Captain Headley, and received an
affirmative reply, coupled with an injunction of caution, he left
the building in haste, and proceeded towards the block-houses, where,
selecting half a dozen men, and ordering them to arm on the instant, he
passed with them through the gate--sprang into a large scow which was
unchained from its moorings, on the bank of the river, and pulled in the
direction of the house already said to have been occupied by the wife
and daughter of Mr. Heywood.
Meanwhile, Captain Headley closely interrogated the fugitive as to the
number and appearance of the Indians who had created all this alarm,
their probable object in visiting the farm in this seemingly hostile
manner, and the number of shots he had heard fired. To all these
questions the soldier, who had now, in some degree, recovered from his
panic, replied in the usual drawling tone, his stick and knife, which
had been drawn forth again from his pocket, in which he had deposited
them in crossing from the farm-house, affording him his usual amusement,
but nothing, of course, was elicited beyond what has already been
related. Whether any one had been killed in the house, or the guns
merely discharged to frighten the fugitive, or that the reports had
proceeded from the fishing party that had been sent for, with a view to
alarm the Indians, and deter them from the commission of outrage,
were surmises that severally occurred to Captain Headley, but without
enabling him to arrive at any definite opinion. That there was cause for
apprehension, there was no doubt. The appearance of a band of strange
Indians in the neighborhood, however small in number, dressed in their
war-paint, gave earnest of coming trouble, not only through their own
acts, but through the influence of example on the many other tribes
whom they had been accustomed to look upon as friends and allies. In the
midst of these reflections arose a feeling of self-gratulation that he
had preserved that discipline and strict attention to duty, which, he
knew, that all must now admit to have been correct, and which, if any
difficulty did occur, could not fail to prove of the utmost importance.
His first consideration now was the safety of the small fishing party,
to which allusion has more than once been made in the preceding pages,
and which it was a source of satisfaction to him to recollect were,
in accordance with an order never departed from on these and similar
excursions, furnished with the necessary arms and ammunition, although
only in their fatigue dress.
“Mr. Elmsley,” he said turning to that officer, who stood waiting his
orders, “who commands the fishing party?”
“Corporal Nixon, sir,” replied the lieutenant, at once entering into his
motive for the inquiry, “a brave, but discreet soldier, and one who, I
am sure, will evince all necessary resolution, should he see anything of
these Indians. The men who are with him are also fine young fellows, and
among our best shots.”
“I am glad to hear this,” was the rejoinder, “but still, twelve Indians
firing from the woods upon half their number in an open boat, and taken
by surprise, would, I fear, render the activity, courage, and skill of
these latter but of little avail. My hope is, that Corporal Nixon may
see nothing of them, but that, on the contrary, if he has been apprised
by the boy, as the fellow says he was to be, of their presence at
Heywood's farm, he will make his way back without stopping, or at least,
use every precaution to conceal himself, until he can drop down under
cover of the darkness.”
“What, sir,” said the lieutenant, with a surprise he could ill conceal,
“would you desire him not to afford the necessary succor to Mr. Heywood,
if, indeed, he should be in time to render any service?”
“Mr. Elmsley,” remarked his captain, somewhat sternly, “my sympathy for
the fate of those at the farm, is, perhaps quite as strong as yours, but
I have a higher stake at issue--a higher object than the indulgence of
personal sympathy. I can ill afford, threatening as appearances are at
this moment, to risk the lives of six men, the best you say in the fort,
out of the very small force at my disposal. Nothing must be left undone
to secure their safety. Order a gun to be fired immediately from the
southern bastion. It will be distinctly heard by the party, and if not
already apprised of the existing danger they will at once understand
the signal. Moreover the report may have the effect of alarming the
savages.”
Lieutenant Elmsley withdrew to execute the order, and soon after
the dull booming of a cannon was heard reverberating throughout the
surrounding woods, and winding its echoes along the waters of the narrow
and tranquil Chicago. So unusual an event as this excited a good deal
of speculation, not only among the inmates of the Fort, but among the
numerous friendly Indians encamped without, who, wholly unacquainted
with the cause of the alarm, were, by the strict orders of Captain
Headley, kept ignorant of the information of which Ephraim Giles had
been the bearer--
That night there was a more than usual vigilance exercised by the
sentinels, and although the rest of the garrison were exempt from
extraordinary duty, the watchful and anxious commanding officer slept
not until dawn.