USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Discovery and conquests of the Northwest, with the history of Chicago, Vol. I > Part 35
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"Thus taken by surprise, the savages were ashamed to acknowledge their bloody purpose. They therefore said modestly that they came to beg of their friends some white cotton in which to wrap their dead, before interring them. This was given to them with some other presents, and they took their departure peaceably from the premises.
"Along with Mr. Kinzie's party was a non-commis- sioned officer who had made his escape in a singular manner. As the troops were about leaving the fort it was found that the baggage horses of the surgeon had strayed off. The quartermaster-sergeant, Griffith, was sent to collect them and bring them on, it being abso- lutely necessary to recover them, since their packs con- tained part of the surgeon's apparatus, and the medi- cines for the march.
"This man had been for a long time on the sick re- port, and for this reason was given the charge of the baggage, instead of being placed with the troops. His efforts to recover the horses being unsuccessful, he was hastening to rejoin his party, alarmed at some appear- ances of disorder and hostile indications among the Indians, when he was met and made prisoner by To-pee-nee-bee.
"Having taken from him his arms and accouter- ments, the chief put him into a canoe and paddled him across the river, bidding him make for the woods and secrete himself. This he did, and the following day, in the afternoon, seeing from his lurking place that all appeared quiet, he ventured to steal cautiously into the
407
The Kinzie Family Sent to Detroit.
garden of Ouilmette, where he concealed himself for a time behind some currant bushes.
"At length he determined to enter the house, and accordingly climbed up through a small back window, into the room where the family were. This was just as the Wabash Indians left the house of Ouilmette for that of Mr. Kinzie. The danger of the sergeant was now imminent. The family stripped him of his uniform and arrayed him in a suit of deerskin, with belt, moccasins, and pipe, like a French engagé. His dark complexion and large black whiskers favored the disguise. The family were all ordered to address him in French, and although utterly ignorant of the language, he continued to pass for a Ween-tee-gosh, * and as such to accom- pany Mr. Kinzie and his family, undetected by his ene- mies until they reached a place of safety.
"On the third day after the battle, the family of Mr. Kinzie, with the clerks of the establishment, were put into a boat, under the care of Francois, a half-breed interpreter, and conveyed to St. Joseph's, where they remained until the following November, under the pro- tection of To-pee-nee-bee's band. They were then conducted to Detroit, under the escort of Chandonnai and their trusty Indian friend, Kee-po-tah, and delivered up as prisoners of war, to Colonel McKee, the British Indian agent.
"Mr. Kinzie was not allowed to leave St. Joseph's with his family, his Indian friends insisting on his re- maining and endeavoring to secure some remnant of his scattered property. During his excursions with them for that purpose, he wore the costume and paint of the tribe, in order to escape capture and perhaps death at the hands of those who were still thirsting for blood. In time, however, his anxiety for his family induced him to follow them to Detroit, where, in the month of January, he was received and paroled by General Proctor.
" Captain and Mrs. Heald had been sent across the lake to St. Joseph's the day after the battle. The former had received two wounds, the latter seven, in the engagement.
* Frenchman.
408
Hospitality of Alexander Robinson.
"Lieutenant Helm, who was likewise wounded, was carried by some friendly Indians to their village on the Au Sable, and thence to Peoria, where he was liberated by the intervention of Mr. Thomas Forsyth, the half brother of Mr. Kinzie. Mrs. Helm had accompanied her parents to St. Joseph, where they resided in the family of Alexander Robinson,* receiving from them all possible kindness and hospitality for several months.
" After their arrival in Detroit, Mrs. Helm was joined by her husband, when they were both arrested by order of the British commander, and sent on horseback, in the dead of winter, through Canada to Fort George, on the Niagara frontier. When they arrived at that post, there seemed no official appointed to receive them, and notwithstanding their long and fatiguing journey, in weather the most cold and inclement, Mrs. H., a delicate woman of seventeen years, was per- mitted to sit waiting in her saddle without the gate for more than an hour, before the refreshment of fire or food, or even the shelter of a roof was offered them. When Col. Sheaffe, who had been absent at the time, was informed of this brutal inhospitality, he expressed
the greatest indignation. He waited on Mrs. Helm immediately, apologized in the most courteous manner, and treated both her and Lieut. H. with the most con- siderate kindness, until, by an exchange of prisoners, they were liberated, and found means to reach their friends in Steuben county, N. Y.
"Captain Heald had been taken prisoner by an Indian from the Kankakee, who had a strong personal regard for him, and who, when he saw the wounded and enfeebled state of Mrs. H., released her husband, that he might accompany his wife to St. Joseph's. To the latter place they were accordingly carried, as has been related, by Chandonnai and his party. In the meantime, the Indian who had so nobly released his prisoner, returned to his village on the Kankakee, where he had the mortification of finding that his con- duct had excited great dissatisfaction among his band.
* The Pottawattamie chief, so well known to many of the citizens of Chicago, residing at the Aux Plaines.
409
Ransom of the Last Survivors.
So great was the displeasure manifested, that he resolved to make a journey to St. Joseph's and reclaim his prisoner.
"News of his intention being brought to To-pee-nee- bee and Kee-po-tah, under whose care the prisoners were, they held a private council with Chandonnai, Mr. Kinzie and the principal men of the village, the result of which was a determination to send Captain and Mrs. Heald to the island of Mackinac, and deliver them up to the British.
" They were accordingly put in a bark canoe, and paddled by Robinson and his wife a distance of 300 miles along the coast of Michigan, and surrendered as prisoners of war to the commanding officer at Mackinac.
"As an instance of the procrastinating spirit of Cap- tain Heald, it may be mentioned that even after he had received certain intelligence that his Indian captor was on his way from the Kankakee to St. Joseph's to retake him, he would still have delayed another day at that place, to make preparation for a more comfortable journey to Mackinac. *
"The soldiers, with their wives and surviving chil- dren, were dispersed among the different villages of the Pottawattamies upon the Illinois, Wabash, Rock River and at Milwaukee, until the following spring, when they were, for the most part, carried to Detroit, and ran- somed.
"Mrs. Burns, with her infant, became the prisoner of a chief, who carried her to his village and treated her with great kindness. His wife, from jealousy of the favor shown to . the white woman' and her child, always treated them with great hostility. On one occasion she struck the infant with a tomahawk, and narrowly missed her aim of putting an end to it altogether.+ They were
* Captain (subsequently Major) Ileald, his wife and family, settled in the country of St. Joseph, Mo., after the war, about 1817, where he died, about fifteen years since. He was respected and beloved by his acquaint- ance. His health was impaired by the wounds he received .- Western Annals, Published in 1850.
+ Twenty-two years after this, as I was on a journey to Chicago in the steamer "Uncle Sam," a young woman, hearing my name, introduced herself to me, and raising the hair from her forehead, showed me the mark of the tomahawk which had so nearly been fatal to her .- Mrs. Heln.
410
Black Partridge as a Rejected Suitor.
not left long in the power of the old hag, after this demonstration, but on the first opportunity carried to a place of safety.
"The family of Mr. Lee had resided in a house on the lake shore, not far from the fort. Mr. Lee was the owner of Lee's place, which he cultivated as a farm. It was his son who ran down with the discharged sol- dier to give the alarm of 'Indians' at the fort on the afternoon of the 7th of April. The father, the son and all the other members of the family had fallen victims on the 15th of August, except Mrs. Lee and her young infant. These were claimed by Black Partridge, and carried to his village on the Au Sable. He had been particularly attached to a little girl of Mrs. Lee's, about twelve years of age. This child had been placed on horseback for the march, and as she was unaccustomed to the exercise, she was tied fast to the saddle, lest by any accident she should slip off or be thrown.
"She was within reach of the balls at the commence- ment of the engagement, and was severely wounded. The horse set off in a full gallop, which partly threw her, but she was held fast by the bands which confined her, and hung dangling as the animal ran violently about. In this state she was met by Black Partridge, who caught the horse and disengaged her from the saddle. Finding her so much wounded that she could not recover, and that she was suffering great agony, he put the finishing stroke to her at once with his toma- hawk. He afterward said that this was the hardest thing he ever tried to do, but he did it because he could not bear to see her suffer.
"He took the mother and her infant to his village, where he became warmly attached to the former-so much so, that he wished to marry her, but as she very naturally objected, he treated her with the greatest respect and consideration. He was in no hurry to re- lease her, for he was in hopes of prevailing on her to become his wife. In the course of the winter her child fell ill. Finding that none of the remedies within their reach were effectual, Black Partridge proposed to take the little one to Chicago, where there was now a French
4II
Wedlock Closes the Scene.
trader living in the mansion of Mr. Kinzie, and procure some medical aid from him. Wrapping up his charge with the greatest care, he set out on his journey.
"When he arrived at the residence of M. Du Pin, he entered the room where he was, and carefully placed his burden on the floor.
"""' What have you there?' asked M. Du Pin.
"'A young raccoon, which I have brought you as a present,' was the reply, and opening the pack, he showed the little sick infant:
" When the trader had prescribed for its complaint, and Black Partridge was about to return to his home, he told his friend his proposal to Mrs. Lee to become his wife, and the manner in which it had been received.
"M. Du Pin entertained some fears that the chief's honorable resolution might not hold out, to leave it to the lady herself whether to accept his addresses or not, so he entered at once into a negotiation for her ransom, and so effectually wrought upon the good feelings of Black Partridge that he consented to bring his fair prisoner at once to Chicago, that she might be restored to her friends.
"Whether the kind trader had at the outset any other feeling in the matter than sympathy and brotherly kindness we cannot say-we only know that, in process of time Mrs. Lee became Madame Du Pin, and that they lived together in great happiness for many years after.
" The fate of Nau-non-gee, one of the chiefs of the Calumet village, who is mentioned in the early part of the narrative, deserves to be recorded.
"During the battle of the 15th of August, the chief object of his attack was one Sergeant Hays, a man from whom he had received many acts of kindness.
"After Hays had received a ball through the body, this Indian ran up to him to tomahawk him, when the sergeant, collecting his remaining strength, pierced him through the body with his bayonet. They fell together. Other Indians running up soon dispatched Hays, and it was not until then that his bayonet was extracted from the body of his adversary.
412
Death Bed Remorse.
"The wounded chief was carried after the battle to his village on the Calumet, where he survived for several days. Finding his end approaching, he called together his young men, and enjoined them in the most solemn manner to regard the safety of their prisoners after his death, and to take the lives of none of them, from re- spect to his memory, as he deserved his fate from the hands of those whose kindness he had so ill-requited."*
* Mrs. Helm, who, after the return of the Kinzie family to Chicago, became the intimate friend of Mrs. John H. Kinzie, has drawn a vivid picture of the Chicago massacre, seldom equaled by a historic pen. In Wabun it has been reproduced in Mrs. Kinzie's lucid style, whose freshness can never be equaled by any future historian, since the hand of time has spread its mantle of oblivion over the incidents of that day. For this reason it has been transferred to these columns.
Lake Michigan, ne'er " born to blush unseen, Nor waste its sweetness on the desert air," In nature's negligence was laid between Two sylvan shores, a tuneful solitaire, Till hither came the watchful pioneer, To reconnoiter on the wild frontier.
Here was an empire held in nature's hands, A wilderness of waves and fallow lands, Peopled with native tribes who ne'er had known The servile homage due a regal throne.
These braves were pleased, when first the pale face came To smoke the calumet, and share their game ; And when Fort Dearborn stood upon their shore, 'Twas just a trading post, and nothing more. Thus to its gate their offerings they brought, And blankets, guns and fire water bought.
Thus smoothly ran these grooves of harmony, When suddenly there came from o'er the sea, Of war's alarms the distant battle cry, Whose echoes wafted through a frowning sky.
'Twas Jonathan and Johnny Bull at odds, Each had unloosed, of war, the spiteful dogs. Each vied with each, their subtle arts to ply, To gain the Indian braves for his ally.
In this attempt our fathers got the best, And Indian war whoops rang throughout the west, But brief the triumph of the transient hour Till pale faced pioneers returned to power.
THE FORT. DEARBORN-MASSACRE AUGUST IS 1812 BLACK PARTRIDGE SAVING MRS. HELM
BRONZE MEMORIAL GROUP OF THE CHICAGO MASSACRE OF 1812. PRESENTED TO THE CHICAGO HISTORICAL SO- CIETY BY GEORGE M. PULLMAN, JUNE 22, 1893.
CHAPTER XVIII.
The British Take the Offensive-Fort Wayne Besieged by Their Indian Allies-Timely Warning to Its De- fenders-General Harrison Marches to Its Defense- Desperate and Successful Defense of Fort Harrison by Captain Taylor -Daring Achievement of Captain Oliver-Arrival of General Harrison at Fort Wayne -Its Besiegers Fly-Expedition against the Indian Towns on the Illinois River-Its Bootless Termina- tion-Governor Reynolds in the Ranks-His Statement -Relentless Attack on Peoria-The English on the Upper Mississippi-Black Hawk's Historical Narra- tion.
No human vision could forecast the future destiny of the country around the upper lakes after the surrender of Michilimackinac, Chicago and Detroit. That the Indians would ever be driven entirely out of the country was an event that no British Canadian ever deemed possible, and accordingly Tecumseh was, in the eyes of General Brock, the head and front of a permanent dynasty to live in the future on the soil. He had accom- plished all that was required of him in the late cam- paign, which had terminated so gloriously to British arms. And now a new one was contemplated, which was to carry the war into the very vitals of the north- west, by taking Fort Wayne and Fort Harrison, which was built by General Harrison during his Tippecanoe campaign. There were then no maps of the country obtainable in the British camp; but to supply this deficiency Tecumseh drew a sketch of its rivers, which indeed were nearly all that could be shown at that time.
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415
Another Indian Plot.
General Brock was agreeably surprised at his versa- tility of talent, and with all confidence counseled with him as to future plans. Fort Wayne was the important objective point, and no time must be lost in seizing upon it, lest the Americans should reinforce the place before the attack was made. It was therefore ordered that the Indians should march against the place imme- diately, and environ it to prevent the escape of the gar- rison, till a British army could arrive at the spot and make its conquest certain. Prominent among the tribes who volunteered in this enterprise were the Pottawat- tamies, whose achievement at Chicago had emboldened them and whetted their appetites for plunder. The part they were to take was planned in a council at St. Joseph, where their chiefs met the British agents, and were promised if they would lay siege to the place and prevent the escape of the garrison till the British forces came up, they should be allowed to plunder the fort when taken. This inducement was sufficient, and promptly joining their forces to some Shawanese and Miamis, they appeared before the place in August.
True to their time honored custom, they made no direct attack, but bent all their efforts to gain the place by strategy, kill the sentinels, and throw the gates of the fort open to their braves, who all the while were crouching in a covert near by. But before this was to be done, the Miamis wished to save their friend, Antoine Bondie, a French trader who had married one of their tribe, and had won their affections by a residence of thirty-eight years among them. Metea, a Pottawat- tamie chief, was deputied to go privately to his cabin, inform him of the Indians' intentions, and make arrange- ments for the rescue of himself and family.
This news placed the trader in an embarrassing situa- tion, and he was in a dilemma to know what to do, but finally resolved to betray the confidence of the Indians, and even forfeit their protection, by revealing the plot to Major Stickney, the Indian agent. This he did the next morning under an injunction of secrecy, and from him the information was soon given to Captain Rhea, the officer who held command of the fort.
416
Fort Wayne Besieged.
All the while the agent was skeptical as to the truth of the news, but on thinking the matter over, both he and Captain Rhea concluded to take the necessary steps to meet the emergency, in case it should come upon them, and immediately sent a messenger to Gen- eral Harrison, then at Cincinnati, and one to Governor Meigs, of Ohio, asking assistance, and a third messen- ger to Fort Harrison, to warn its inmates of danger. This done, preparations for defending the fort were made. *
While the slender garrison were hotly pressed by their swarthy foes, a furious attack was made on Fort Harri- son. It was situated on the Wabash river, ten miles above its present intersection of the eastern boundary line of Illinois. On the 3d of September the Shawanese had visited the Pigeon Roost settlement, not far from the place, with a destructive raid, in which twenty per- sons were killed, whose scalps were soon dangling from the belts of these merciless knights of the tomahawk.
This fresh alarm drove the immediate settlers around Fort Harrison within its walls for protection. Young Captain Taylor, the same who afterward became presi- dent of the United States, held command of the place, to defend which he had but eighteen men. Nine women and their children had taken refuge within its walls, in fearful suspense, for the forests were alive with Indians on the war path. On the night of the 4th, at II o'clock, the inmates of the fort were aroused from their disquiet slumbers by the report of a rifle. Captain Taylor sprang from his couch, and found that the shot came from one of his sentinels firing at the skulking foe, who, in great numbers, immediately began the attack. One of the block houses was soon set on fire, and two panic stricken soldiers leaped over the barri- cades and fled into the forest for an asylum from the scalping knife, while the terrified women pressed their babes to their breasts in despair.
Young Taylor's voice now rose above the din of yells without and wailings within, giving orders to throw off
* Brice's History of Fort Wayne.
417
Brave Defense of Fort Harrison.
the roof of the building which connected the burning block house with the main defenses. This arrested the progress of the flames. The sharpshooters now kept the attackers at bay till morning, when they with- drew, to the great relief of the garrison.
Of the two soldiers who forsook the fort in a panic, one was killed and the other, after being wounded, took refuge behind a barrel close by the palisades. On the 13th, Captain Taylor found means to send a messenger to General Harrison, and on the 16th he was rescued from his perilous position by Colonel Hop- kins, then at the head of 1,200 volunteers, on their way to the Illinois territory. Turning again to Fort Wayne, we find both besiegers and besieged waiting for reinforcements.
The Indians kept up their wily devices wherewith to gain peaceable admittance to the fort in sufficient numbers to overpower the sentinels, and even the old friendly chief, Winamac, was a lead- ing spirit in this attempted treachery. At one time he was admitted under a white flag, with thirteen of his comrades, but he found the guard ready to overpower his band when the critical moment came, and the dis- comfited dissemblers retired by virtue of. the same flag by which they had gained admittance.
The next day two soldiers outside of the fort were fired upon by the Indians, and both killed. This was an overt act, and made any future pretension of friend- ship on the part of the Indians a gossamer fabric of pretense. The beleaguered garrison, which numbered but eighty men, commanded by a drunken parvenu, and surrounded by a countless host of savages thirsting for their blood, were in desperate extremities. While thus eking out their hours of unremitting watchfulness, a yell of triumph saluted their ears from the northern gate, and through its opening ajar rushed their old triend, William Oliver, and three friendly Indians at his back. His story was soon told to the anxious gar- rison, who had not received any tidings from the outside world since their messengers had been sent to General Harrison to apprise him of their danger. Oliver was at Cincinnati on a brief visit, when the news of the
418 Oliver Penetrates through the Enemy's Lines.
attack on Fort Wayne came to General Harrison, and he instantly resolved to hasten back to the beleaguered post, of which he was sutler, to inform them that Har- rison would soon arrive at the place with sufficient force to raise the siege, and to assist in its defense till he came. The adventure was a desperate one, which could only be conceived by a bold spirit of hardihood which pioneer life in that day had brought into being on the frontier. Starting from Cincinnati immediately on his mission, he pursued the forest road to the St. Mary's river, where Thomas Worthington commanded an encampment of Ohio militia (the same who af- terward became governor of Ohio). To him Oliver communicated his plan, and animated by Oliver's hero- ism, Worthington joined him with sixty-eight militia and sixteen friendly Shawanese. At the head of this force, the two bold leaders advanced down the St. Mary's river toward the place, but on the second day thirty-six of the militia and ten of their Indian allies deserted.
One day's march now brought the reduced but cour- ageous band within the hearing of the enemy's guns, who had crouched around Fort Wayne on every side, to prevent the escape of the garrison.
What was to be done? To attempt with this small force to pierce the lines of the enemy by a direct attack was not to be thought of, and Oliver, with three Indian companions, determined to steal their way to the fort through grounds not occupied by the besiegers. Pur- suing the main road leading to the fort, five miles dis- tant from it they found the enemy's rifle pits, which, happily for Oliver and his party, were not occupied; but fearing to advance further along the road, they made a detour to the east through the woods, and came to the banks of the Maumee, one and one-half miles below the fort. Here they tied their horses in a thicket, and crept carefully toward the fort to see if it was still in possession of the Americans. After a nearer approach, they beheld the American flag ele- vated above the bastions, and soon afterward saw the measured pace of the sentinels at their post. The
419
General Harrison Relieves Fort Wayne.
party then returned, and, mounting their horses, put them into a keen run till the inside of the fort was safely reached. "Harrison is coming"; this was the news he brought to the almost spent garrison. *
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