The Fort Dearborn Massacre-- Part 4

Continuing from the August 12th Chicago Tribune.

Regardless of whether you cal it a battle or massacre, it was a classic example of winning a battle, but losing the war.  The event convince Americans flooding into the territory that the Indians had to go.  Fort Dearborn was rebult in 1816 and the Potawatomi Indians were forced to move west of the Mississippi River.

One of the four stars on the Chicago flag represents Fort Dearborn.

The battle was just "one small episode in a global conflict that stretched from a European continent dominated by Napoleon Bonaperte to America's western frontier.

Sand dunes and woods covered what would become the Loop.  The future Magnificent Mile had but one store, Kinzie's trading post.  The site of Millenium Park was still underwater with the shoreline being farther west than it is today.  Indeed, all of Grant Park was under water.

Captain Nathan Heald, commander of the fort in 1812, wrote that the place was "so remote from the civilized part of the world."

To Be Continued.  --Brock-Perry