The Fort Dearborn Massacre-- Part 3

Yep, that's what I'm calling it, despite what others say that it was just a battle.

Lt. Helm feared his wife was among the dead, but found that she had been rescued by Potawatomi Chief Black Partridge, who had opposed the attack.  He dragged her to the lake and pretended to drown her.  John Kinzie, her stepfather, also survived as he had friends among the Indians.

This took place August 15, 1812.  Of the 55 soldiers who left the fort, 26 were killed; seven of the ones who surrendered were murdered; the remainder were enslaved, as were the civilian survivors.  Some died in captivity and some were later ransomed. Potawatomi losses are unknown, but most likely were less than the Americans.

The next day, the Indians burned Fort Dearborn to the ground.

The bloody clash took place somewhere between what is now Roosevelt Road and 18th Street and through the years has been referred to as the Fort Dearborn Massacre.  That site was recently renamed the Battle of Fort Dearborn.  The reasoning being that both sides committed atrocities during the long struggle for control of what is today the United States.

In 1899, Simon Pokagon, a Potawatomi writer, observed, "When whites are killed, it is a massacre; when Indians are killed, it is a fight."

It Was a Massacre.  --Brock-Perry