On July 17, 1812, 600 British regulars, Canadian militia and Indians took Fort Mackinac on the strategic Lake Huron and Michigan. The American garrison surrendered without firing a shot.
Loss of this post made it impossible to supply Fort Dearborn. The ranking American commander in the region, General William Hull, at Detroit, ordered the fort abandoned. Arms and ammunition that couldn't be carried were to be destroyed.
As far as being a massacre, detractors say that only a small number of women and children were killed, perhaps just one. It is reported that one Potawatomi, Black Partridge saved one of the women.
In retaliation, American troops raided a Potawatomi villages and burned several to the ground, including that of Black Partridge. This caused him to cease being a part-time friend of the Americans to a full-time British ally.
Simon Pokagon, a Potawatomi several generations removed from the event said, "When whites are killed, it is a massacre, but when Indians are killed, it is a fight."
Still Calling a Massacre. --Brock-Perry
2012 marks the 200th anniversary of America's "Forgotten War," the War of 1812 that took place over three years, 1812 to 1815.
Battle of New Orleans.
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