Fort Dearborn-- Part 1

From the August 12th Chicago Tribune Flashback page "Fort Dearborn: How events unfolded" by Kyle Bentle and Rick Tuma.

There was a nice diagram/drawing of what the fort looked like with outer and inner walls and two nlockhouses.  the blockhouse away from the river was fitted for cannons.  The outside fence was a double stockade.  Inside the inner wall were three barracks, a hospital, guardhouse, weapons storehouse and store.  Of interest, there was a tunnel to the Chicago River to allow defenders to get water during an attack.

Fort Dearborn was built at the mouth of the Chicago River in 1803 by Captain John Whistler and named after Henry Dearborn, Thomas Jefferson's secretary of war.  It was one of the US's westernmost outposts and located in the heart of present-day Chicago, at Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive.

The garrison had been ordered to evacuate the fort and head southeast to Fort Wayne and that led into the trap set by the Pottawatomie Indians.

More to Come.  --Brock-Perry