During 1810, a series of raids were launched by Illinois Indians which resulted in a great deal of anxiety among the settlers. Throughout the next year, British representatives from Canada; still upset over their defeat in the American Revolution, continued to encourage the Indians to attack the white settlers throughout the Illinois Territory.
The War of 1812 began in June of that year and that caused the French settlers in Peoria to be at war with the British and their Indian allies, including the Potawatomi. Because the French settlers at Peoria had a close relationship with the Potawatomi, their position was extremely difficult.
In August of 1812, the American post at Chicago, Fort Dearborn, was taken by the Potawatomi, and many of the soldiers and residents were killed or taken prisoner. Thomas Forsyth of Peoria, half brother and partner of Chicago trader John Kinzie, went north to negotiate with the Indians for the return of the prisoners.
In the meantime, Governor Ninian Edwards had been receiving reports that Peoria was a hotbed of Indian troubles. In October, 1812, just a few months after Fort Dearborn, the governor led an attack of mounted troops across the prairies from Fort Russell near Edwardsville (no one is sure where this fort's actual location was), and destroyed the Potawatomi village of Chief Black Partridge at the upper end of Lake Peoria, on the east side of the river.
Although the soldiers found the village deserted, they plundered and burned it. In clashes with nearby Indians, 25 to 30 were killed.
--Brock-Perry
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