George Ronan-- Part 9: George Ronan and the Fort Dearborn Massacre

From the Together We Served site.

From August 19, 2009, WLS AM  "Historian wants recognition for forgotten hero."  Frank Mathie.

Almost all Chicagoans have heard about the Fort Dearborn Massacre.  But very few of us have ever heard of Ensign George Ronan.

Ronan was a hero of that battle in the War of 1812, and now a Chicago historian, Victor Giustino, wants recognition for that forgotten man.

In this age of political correctness, the Fort Dearborn Massacre is now referred to as the Battle of Fort Dearborn.  And at 18th and Prairie along the lakefront, a new historical marker tells the story of how 91 people - soldiers, men, women and children - who were fleeing Fort Dearborn were attacked by 500 Potawatomi Indians.  More than half the Americans were killed.

--Brock-Perry

George Ronan-- Part 8: Did He Insult Captain Heald?

From the Together We Served Site.

From the book "Checagou:  From Indian Wigwam to Modern City 1673-1835.

In March 1811, George Ronan, a young cadet direct from West Point, was given the rank of ensign and ordered to repair at once to Fort Dearborn.  Practically our only estimate of him  is one recorded by Mr. Kinzie.

At the height of the panic over the murders at the Lee farm, Ronan volunteered to lead a squad of soldiers to the rescue of the Burns family, which was believed to be in imminent danger of slaughter.

On the fateful day of the evacuation [from Fort Dearborn] four months later, Ronan is pictured as uttering an impudent taunt to Captain Heald.  If he actually committed this fault, he offered the best possible atonement a little later, when "mortally wounded and nearly down"  he continued to fight desperately to the end.

--Brock-Perry

George Ronan-- Part 7: His Legacy

George Ronan is usually considered the first West Point-educated officer to die in the War of 1812.  He was an ensign, which made him the lowest rank of officer in the U.S. Army at the time.  That rank has been abolished and today would be a second lieutenant.

Sculptor Henry Hering, in his 1928 "Defense" bas relief mounted on the Michigan Avenue Bridge, adjacent to the site of Fort Dearborn, centered it on an unnamed junior officer depicted as protecting women and children civilians.  That was probably Ronan.

Ronan Park, a 3-acre unit of the Chicago Park District is located at 3000 West Argyle Street on the Chicago River and named in his honor.

--Brock-Perry

George Ronan-- Part 6: His Death

On the morning of August 15, 1812,  Nathan Heald and George Ronan led their force and civilians out of Fort Dearborn, 93 persons in all.  And, they ran into the Potawatomi ambush.  It quickly turned into a massacre.

Witnesses said they saw Ronan continuing to fight even after he was mortally wounded.  They say he killed two warriors before he died.

Survivors believe the spot where he was struck down was at or close to what is now  the intersection of 21st Street and Indiana Avenue in the Prairie Avenue neighborhood of Chicago's Near South Side.

--Brock-Perry

George Ronan-- Part 5: Ronan and His Commander Did Not Get Along

Although he didn't know it at the time, George Ronan had been posted to one of the hottest spots on the frontier.

Ronan was described by survivors of the massacre as a high-spirited young man who did not get along well with the fort's commander, Captain Nathaniel Heald.  It is thought this was the reason Heald kept assigning Ronan increasingly dangerous operations outside the fort's walls.

One of the things Ronan was to do was to try to knit the diverse inhabitants of the area into a group, but some were French-speaking, others English-speaking and still others  were Indians.

When war broke out, Nathaniel Heald received orders to evacuate the post and move to Fort Wayne, Indiana.  News of this evacuation, scheduled for August 15, 1812,  emboldened the Chicago "British" band of Potawatomi who took a position two miles south of the fort along the shore of Lake Michigan where they planned to attack  the Americans.

--Brock-Perry

The Rank of U.S. Army Ensign

In the last four posts about George Ronan I have mentioned his rank as an ensign.  Now, before I started this blog I knew of the Navy rank of Ensign, which is the lowest of the officer grades, but I'd never heard of an ensign.  I know that the lowest Army officer rank is 2nd lieutenant.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary has three meanings for ensign:

1.  A flag that is flown (as if by a ship) as a symbol of its nationality.

2.  An infantry officer  of what formerly was the lowest commissioned rank.

3.  A commissioned officer in the Navy or Coast Guard ranking above a chief warrant officer and below a lieutenant junior grade.

Wikipedia says the ranks of ensign and cornet were abolished by the United States Army in the Army Organization Act of 1815.

So, George Ronan would be the second definition.  Today, he would have been a 2nd lieutenant.

In Case You're Wondering.  --Brock-Perry

George Ronan-- Part 4: Setting the Stage for the Fort Dearborn Massacre

One of the most threatened American forts on the Frontier  was a small stockaded fort associated with a fur-trading post near the southern tip of Lake Michigan.  Although the Chicago River and the area is flowed through was officially a part of the United States, the Fort Dearborn soldiers and fur traders were tremendously outnumbered by adjacent bands of Indians.

The predominant Indian group in the area was the Potawatomi nation, who remained allied with the British though their land had been ceded to the United States at the end of the American Revolution at the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

On the Great Lakes, the years before the War of 1812 saw increasingly embittered competition between British-Canadian fur traders and American merchants and fur traders, many of whom were in alliance with the interests of the powerful John Jacob Astor and his American Fur Company.

--Brock-Perry

George Ronan-- Part 3: Killed a Year After Commissioning

From Wikipedia.

Ensign George Ronan was a commissioned officer in the United States Army.  Educated at West Point, he was assigned to the 1st Infantry Regiment in 1811, and assigned to duty at Fort Dearborn, a frontier post at the mouth of the Chicago River.  Just over a year later, he was killed in combat there and as such was the first member of the West Point Corps of Cadets to die in battle.

He attended the Military Academy for almost three years from June 1808 to March 1811.  At the time eh graduated, the  Academy was just six years old and he was commissioned in its ninth year.  And, there weren't a lot of cadets attending at the time.

--Brock-Perry

George Ronan-- Part 2: "At Least He Dies Like A Soldier"

At what is today referred to as the Fort Dearborn Massacre and died.

Fighting a "vastly superior force of savages, two of who he slew in a hand-to-hand fight, but, while upon his knees as he had fallen faint from his bleeding wounds, still wielding his sword, he himself was killed , in the Combat, August 15, 1812:  Aged 28."

"I pointed to Ensign Ronan, who, though mortally wounded and nearly down, was still fighting with desperation on one knee.

"Look at that man! said I.  At least he dies like a soldier."

The exact spot of this encounter was about where 21st Street crosses Indiana Avenue.

--Brock-Perry

George Ronan, Mortally Wounded at Fort Dearborn-- Part 1

From the For What They Gave On Saturday Afternoon site.

While researching for Col. James Gibson, I came across his name.

GEORGE RONAN

Born New York.  Appointed to USMA from New York.

Military History Cadet of the Military Academy, June 15, 1806, to March 1, 1811, when he graduated and was promoted to Army Ensign, 1st Infantry, March 1, 1811.

Served on the Northwest Frontier, 1811-1812; and in the War of 1812-1815 with Great Britain, being engaged in Captain Heald's desperate engagement  near Ft. Chicago, Illinois,  (Fort Dearborn).

--Brock-Perry

In Case You're Wondering What A Sortie Is

Both Colonels Eleazor Wood and James Gibson were killed on September 17, 1814, during a sortie from Fort Erie, Upper Canada (Ontario today).

In case you're not completely sure what a sortie is:

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a sortie as a sudden issuing of troops from a defensive position against the enemy.

The Dictionary.com site says a sortie is a rapid movement by troops at a besieged place to attack the besiegers.

I had this question yesterday at the meeting of the McHenry County Civil War Round Table discussion group in connection with plane attacks during World war II.  I have across that term many times in connection with planes and wasn't sure if it referred to one plane or a group of planes.

Yesterday I was told it could either be one plane or a group of planes that would be a sortie.

However, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary says it is one mission or attack by a single plane.  Dictionary.com says it is the flying of one airplane on a combat mission.

Well, sort me out.

Signed:  Confused in Illinois.  --Brock-Perry

Two West Point Graduates Killed at Fort Erie Sortie in 1814

I have been writing about West Point graduate Col. James Gibson who died at the Sortie from Fort Erie in 1814.   Fort Gibson in New York Harbor was named after him.

Also killed at Fort Erie was West Point graduate Eleazor Wood.  Fort Wood (today the base of the Statue of Liberty) was named after him.

--Brock-Perry

Col. James Gibson-- Part 6: The Painting

A painting done by E.C. Watmough in 1840 titles "Repulsion of the British at Fort Erie, August 15, 1814," shows two officers prominently.  They are reputed to be  Eleazor Wood and James Gibson.  Both Col. Wood and Col. Gibson distinguished themselves here and both died here of wounds received on September 17, 1814.

However, a recent description of the painting says Lt. John Watmough was the one thought to be Gibson.  He was later brevetted  for his "gallant and meritorious" conduct at Fort Erie.

I can't help but notice that the painter and Lt. John Watmough have the same last name.  Brothers?

--Brock-Perry

Col. James Gibson-- Part 5: The Campaign of 1814 and Defense of Fort Erie

In the Campaign of 1814 on the Niagara Frontier, he was engaged in the defense of Fort Erie, Upper Canada, from August 3 to September 17, 1814.  Actions there he was involved in included the Bombardment August 13-15, Repulse of the enemy's assault August 15, while in command of the 4th Rifles which he had commanded since February 21, 1814.

His death came during the Sortie from Fort Erie upon the British batteries and siege works, September 17, 1814.  He was 33 years old at the time.

The fort in New York Harbor on Ellis Island was named in his honor after his death.

--Brock-Perry

Col. James Gibson-- Part 4: Military Career

From the "For What They Gave  On Saturday Afternoon" blog site  "James Gibson."

Cadet of the Military Academy , Oct. 20, 1806, to Dec. 12, 1808, when he graduated and was promoted to First Lieut. Light Artillery, Dec. 12, 1808.

Served in garrisons at Atlantic posts and on the Southwest Frontier, 1808-1812; Captain Light Artillery, May 2, 1810.

War of 1812 on the Niagara Frontier in 1812 and participated in the attack on Queenstown Heights, Upper Canada, October 12, 1812.

Major, staff, Asst. Inspector General, April 2, 1813.    Colonel, staff Inspector General  July 13, 1813.

--Brock-Perry

Col. James Gibson-- Part 3: Burial Site Unknown

Colonel Gibson was initially buried in Canada.  But his remains were later reburied at an unknown location..

The author of the article requests that if anyone has information on his whereabouts to please let him know.

--Brock-Perry

Col. James Gibson-- Part 2: Mortally Wounded at Fort Erie, Canada

James Gibson graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1808.  After graduation, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Light Artillery Regiment.

Within just five years he reached the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army.  In early 1814, he was appointed commander of the newly formed 4th Rifle Regiment.

The following summer, he and his regiment participated in the defense of Fort Erie.  During an attack on the British artillery batteries bombarding the fort, he was mortally wounded and died of the wounds the next day.

In his honor, the fort on Ellis Island in New York Harbor was named Fort Gibson.

--Brock-Perry

Colonel James Gibson-- Part 1

From Find-A-Grave.

Born June 1781 in Milford, Delaware.

Died 18 September 1814 at age 33 in Ontario, Canada.

Body lost or destroyed.

--Brick-Perry

Fort Gibson-- Part 9: Second Fort at Site

The second fort was  constructed of stone and brick between 1807 and 1811 and was finished just as war broke out between the United Stares and Britain.

The fort was armed with around thirteen cannons and garrisoned with 182 soldiers.

It was also used by Union soldiers fifty years later during the Civil War.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gibson-- Part 8: The Other Ellis Island Story of Two Forts

From HDdb.

To most people today, the name Ellis Island invokes thoughts of immigrants coming to a new land.

An area has been cleared off at Ellis Island revealing the remains of Fort Gibson.

Ir was one of the earliest forts built after the American Revolution to protect the new country and New York Harbor.  They were discovered during   the excavations for the American Immigrant Wall of Honor.  These evidence the nearly 100 years  when Ellis Island was used to ward off enemies rather than to welcome immigrants.

Two forts stood on this site.  The first was a crescent-shaped structure of wood and sod built in 1794 on the edge of what then was the island's shoreline.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gibson-- Part 7: Part of Those Triangles of Fire

HMdb.

The man mostly responsible for the defenses of New York Harbor, Colonel Jonathan Williams, was so sure his defense was near impregnable that he had this to say:

"It would be difficult to go into either the North or East River. without passing within point blank  shot ... of some of them ... it is not a very bold assertion to say that no ship that sails on the Ocean would engage on such terms."

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gibson, NY-- Part 6: Two Triangles of Fire

From HMdb.

Fort Gibson, on Ellis Island in New York Harbor, was part  of two defensive triangles which made it virtually impossible for enemy ships (especially British) to approach New York City.

Any ship approaching would first have to pass through the crossfire between Fort Wood on today's Liberty Island, Fort Gibson on the west and from Castle Williams on Governors Island to the east.

In the unlikely event a ship or ships would get through that triangle it would face an even bigger challenge, passing through the second triangle formed by Ellis Island, Governors Island and the Battery of Lower Manhattan.

Within this second triangle, the farthest a ship could be at any time from the guns of one of these harbor defenses would be 1,000 yards.

No enemy ever attempted to penetrate this extraordinary  defense system.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gibson-- Part 5: Named After James Gibson

Colonel Jonathan Williams, a grandnephew of Benjamin Franklin, oversaw the construction of the brick and stone fortification.  Some of the remains of the fort are still there.

During the war, British prisoners were housed on Ellis Island, but since the British never made an attempt to take New York City, it saw no action.

In 1814, the fort was named for Colonel James Gibson, a 33-year-old officer killed at the Battle of Fort Erie during the War of 1812.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gibson, NY-- Part 4: Worsening Tensions Between the U.S. and Britain

HMdb.

Fort Gibson:  Oyster Banks to Batteries

The earliest fort at this site was built in 1794.  Britain's navy had begun seizing American merchant vessels and forcing sailors to serve on their warships.  (Impressment)  Congress decided that America's most important harbors should be defended in case of war.

Charles Vincent, a French engineer, was hired to construct defenses in New York Harbor.  He chose tiny Oyster Island (as Ellis Island was then called), known only for its ouster banks and shad fishing as the location of an eight-gun battery.

Tensions between Britain and the United States continued to worsen and in 1807, a British frigate attacked the frigate USS Chesapeake.  This led President Jefferson to further improve the nation's defenses and many of the earlier forts were rebuilt.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gibson-- Part 3: One of 40 U.S. Forts Built 1794-1812

From the HMdb.

Fort Gibson was one of 40 forts constructed between 1794 and 1812 in the United States.  All were built  during threats of war resulting from attacks in American shipping by Great Britain and France.

Many of the forts in the New York area were constructed in this period, including Castle Williams on Governors Island, Castle Clinton in lower Manhattan, and the star-shaped Fort Wood, which now forms the base of the Statue of Liberty.

Together these forts and batteries of the lower and upper harbor deterred attacks on one of the new nation's largest cities and most important ports.  Most of these historic fortifications still exist; some, such as Fort Wadsworth and Staten Island, are preserved by the National Park Service.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gibson, N.Y. Harbor-- Part 2: Magazine to Immigration to Coast Guard

In 1861, Fort Gibson was dismantled and a naval magazine put in its place.  It was used as an ammunition depot during the Civil War.

In 1890, the Ellis Island and remains of Fort Gibson were selected for a new immigration station.  The munitions station was removed and the Immigration Station built.

A temporary Coast Guard training station was established there in 1939 and operated through 1946 in the Immigration Station part of the structure.  This was during World War II.

--Brock-Perry

December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor

Every year I write about Pearl Harbor on December 7.

From the November 29, 2018, Harrison Daily "Museum Musings:  Pearl Harbor survivor recalls the Day of Infamy" by Dave Holsted.

Unfortunately, the article never referred to him as anything other than Wade so I am not sure if that was his first or last name.  I also do not know if he is still alive.

Wade was on the USS Nevada that day and was tossed out of his bunk.  When he looked out the porthole he saw a plane with the Rising Sun on the underside of its wing and then he knew what was going on.

He had been a student at Bergen High School.  In August 1940 he enlisted in the U.S. Navy for six years and earned $21 a month.

Continued in today's Tattooed On Your Soul: World War II blog.

--Brock-Perry

George H.W. Bush: WW II Service to End of Combat Duty

Yesterday, I watched the removal of the coffin from the U.S. Capitol and the service held at the National Cathedral.  Today the burial took place at College Station, Texas, at his presidential library.

I am writing about his World War II service in each of my blogs today.

In November 1944, George Bush returned to the USS San Jacinto and participated in operations in the Philippines until his unit was replaced and sent home to the United States.  Through that time, he flew 58 missions for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Air Medals, and the Presidential Unit Citation awarded to the San Jacinto.

--Brock-Perry

Illinois' 200th-- Part 3: The War of 1812

In September 1813, Americans built Fort  Clark in Peoria.  In June 1814,  William Clark built Fort Shelby  at Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin Territory.  This was the William Clark who was in the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The British captured Fort Shelby in July and renamed it Fort McKay.  Two American attempts to recapture it were turned back at Rock Island Rapids and Credit Island, which I have written about before.  Click on the labels.  These were the final actions of the War of 1812 in this area.

Hostilities between Indians and Americans would continue, reigniting in the Winnebago War of 1827 and the Black Hawk War of 1832.

Five million acres of land in the Illinois Territory between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, below Rock Island were set aside as the Military Tract of 1812 to pay soldiers land grants for their War of 1812 service.This is over one-eighth of the land in present-day Illinois and some of it was in Indian occupied area, causing many to side with Black Hawk in the forthcoming hostilities.

--Brock-Perry

Illinois' 200th!!!!-- Part 2: Fort Dearborn Massacre and Peoria

The first major engagement in the war in the Illinois Territory took place at Fort Dearborn in present-day Chicago.  In August 1812, a force of Indians, primarily Potawatomis, attacked soldiers and civilians as they evacuated the fort in what is generally called the Fort Dearborn Massacre.

In October 1812, Americans launched and expedition against the Indian center in the Peoria area.  It wa sled by Governor Ninian Edwards and Colonel William Russell.  They attacked  and destroyed Potawatomi and Kickapoo villages, prompting the Indians to leave the area.

Raids between the two sides, however, continued.

--Brock-Perry

Illinois' 200th!!!!!-- Part 1: The Illinois Territory During War of 1812

I'll be taking a few days' break to write about the bicentennial of Illinois becoming a state in 1818.

From Wikipedia.

During the War of 1812, the Illinois Territory was the scene of fighting between American settlers and soldiers and Indians.  At the time, the Illinois Territory consisted of modern Illinois and parts of Minnesota and Michigan.

Tensions between Americans and Indians had been increasing in the years before the war.  Present-day Peoria was the site of a major Indian concentration and the chief there was a big supporter of Shawnee Prophet Tenskwatawa and his brother Tecumseh.

There were few U.S. soldiers in the area which was the far frontier at the time.  Ninian Edwards, Illinois Territorial governor directed militia operations.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gibson, New York Harbor-- Part 1: On Oyster Island/Ellis Island

From New York State Military Museum.

Fort Gibson, 1795, New York County, Ellis Island.

New York State acquired Oyster Island, by then known as Ellis Island, from the City of New York in 1794 Shortly thereafter  the War Department established a twenty-gun battery there as well as a magazine and barracks.

During the War of 1812 it did not see action since the British did not attack New York City.  However, it was used  as a garrison post and held POWs.

--Brock-Perry