History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 44

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340

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" At the session of Congress, in 1848, I succeeded in procuring an amendment to the Naval appropriation bill, appropriating $10,000 for the construction of a Marine Hospital on such site as should be selected by the Secretary of the Treasury on the lands owned by the United States. It was one of my best arguments, for the appropriation, that the Government already owned the land for the site. This took up another por- tion of the Reservation, it being upon the northern portion of Block 5, fronting Michigan Avenue, and being upon the east side thereof, and adjoining the north of the lots Mr. Collins bought. It was not until September 17, 1850, that I was enabled to telegraph to you, from Con- gress, that we had secured the Illinois Central Railroad grant. And it was not until the 1 4th day of October, 1852,

that Hon. Charles M. Conrad, Secretary of War, in consideration of $45,000, made the deed of what was unoccupied of the Reservation to that company, in which was the following preamble : 'Whereas the military site of Fort Dearhorn, commonly known as the Fort Dearborn Reservation, at Chicago, Ill., has become useless for military purposes, and the traet thereof not being used or necessary for the site of a fort or for any other authorized purposes, has been sold,' etc., etc. The railroad company, complaining that it paid this sum of $45,000 from necessity and under protest in order to expedite their road into the city and insisting that the land was included in the grant made by Congress, which I, who took an active part in framing and passing the law, could not indorse, brought suit in the Court of Claims, at Washington, for refunding the money. The court decided against the claim.

" I have thus shown you how the entire Reservation was disposed of, except what would make about eight full lots, upon which the old light-house was located, or near it. They were not needed for light-house purposes; and were Lots 1 to 6 in Block 4, fractional Lots 8 and 9 in Block 2, and the north thirty-four feet of Lot I in Block 5, all near the Rush-street bridge. James F. Joy bought for the railroad company (Mich- igan Central or Illinois Central, or both jointly) the land occupied by the Marine Hospital building, being the south ten feet of Lot r and Lots 2, 3, 4 and 5 in Block 5. The hospital was burned in the great fire of 1871.

" The Government had erected a new light-house at the end of the North Pier. I was in Congress, and the thought occurred to me that the best way to dispose of the remaining land upon which the old light-house and other necessary Government buildings had been located was to present it to that kind-hearted and popular old pioneer, General Jean Baptiste Beaubien. And it was so done by an act approved August 1, 1854. And there was not a citizen of Chicago who knew him who ever questioned its propriety, to my knowledge."

In addition to the authenticated statements made by Hon. John Wentworth, are the following letters pub- lisbed in the Chicago Tribune of February 2, 1884, sent from Washington to Mr. Wentworth :

FORT DEARBORN, CHICAGO, Sept. 2, 1824 .- The Hon. J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of War-SIR : I have the honor to suggest to your consideration the propriety of making a reservation of this post and the fraction on which it is situated for the use of this agency. It is very convenient for that purpose, as the quarters afford sufficient accommodations for all the persons in the employ of the agency, and the storehouses are safe and commodious places for the provisions and other property that may be in charge of the agent. The buildings and other property, by being in possession of a public officer, will be preserved for public use, should it ever be necessary to occupy them again with a military force.

As to the size of the fraction I am not certain, but I think it contains about sixty acres. A considerably greater tract than that is under fence, but that would be abundantly sufficient for the use of the agency. and contains all the buildings attached to the fort- such as a miul, varn, stable, etc .- which it would be desirable to preserve. I have the honor to be

ALEXANDER WOLCOTT, Indian Agent.

DEPARTMENT OF WAR, Sept. 30, 1824 .- George Graham, Esq., Commissioner of the Gonzal Land Ofice. Treasury Department- SIK : I inclose herewith a copy of a letter from Dr. Wolcott, Indian Agent at Chicago, andl request that you will direct a reser- vation to be made for the use of the Indian Department at that post agreeably to his suggestions. I have the honor to be, etc.,

J. C. CALHOUN.

GENERAL. LAND-OFFICE, Oct. 21, 1824 .- The Hon. J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of War-SIK : In compliance with your request,

162

HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

1 have directed that the Fractional Section 10, Township 39 North, Range 14 East, containing 57.50 acres, and within which Fort Dearborn is situated, should be reserved from sale for military purposes. I am, etc., GEORGE GRAHAM.

DEPARTMENT OF WAR, July 28, 1831 .- The Commissioner of the Land-Ofice-SIR: 1 transmit to you herewith a letter from Thomas J. V. Owen, Indian Agent, stating that an attempt has been made by an individual to obtain the right of pre-emption to the fraction of land on which Fort Dearborn, near Chicago, is erected. As this piece of ground is the public reservation, you are requested to take such measures as will secure the interest of the United States in reference thereto. R. B. T.

[ROGER B. TANEY.]

"DEPARTMENT OF WAR-July 13, 1832. - The Hon. William - R. King, United States Senate .- SIR: In answer to your letter of the gth inst., which has just reached me, I beg leave to inform you that until the Northwestern Indians shall permanently remove beyond the Mississippi, or our settlements in the northern part of Illinois shall be much increased, I consider the position of Fort Dearborn an important one in a military point of view-so much so that it is in contemplation to occupy it as soon as the spring opens. Of course, I shall consider the, disposition of the reserva- tion injurious to the public interest. LEWIS CASS."

"BUREAU OF TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEERS, WASHINGTON CITY, July 10, 1852 .- Colonel J. J. Abert, Topographical Engineer. -COLONEL : In answer to your inquiry of the origin and history of the reservation at Chicago I have the honor to state that I have called upon the officers of the Quartermaster-General, the Com- missioners of the General Land-Office, and that of the Secretary of War, but that I have failed to find in any of them any history of the origin of this reservation. In looking over the reports of the Supreme Court of the United States I find that this military site has been the subject of litigation from which I get the following facts : That it was first occupied as a military post in IS04, and continued in that use until the 16th of August, 1812. The Govern- ment held it by the cession of the Northwestern Territory, and it was occupied for military purposes by the direction of the Presi- dent under authority of these several acts of Congress: First, the Act of May 3, 1798 (United States Statutes at large, p. 555); second, the act of April 21, 1806 (Vol. 3, Laws of the United States), authorizing trading-houses and posts at the discretion of the Presi- dent, and by Act of June 14, 1809, he could continue possession as being necessary for frontier defense.

The post was not occupied after the massacre of 1812 until 1816, when troops again garrisoned it and continued in occupancy until 1823, when it was evacuated, but left in charge of Dr. Alex- ander Wolcott, Indian Agent. In 1828 it was again garrisoned for military purposes and occupied until 1831, when the troops were withdrawn and it was left in charge of another agent, Mr. Oliver Newberry. In 1832 Major Whistler. of the army, once more took possession of it as a military station, and it has been continued in the occupancy of troops or authorized agents for military and other public purposes up to the present date. Up to IS24 it appears to have been occupied by virtue of the authority in the three acts of Congress above recited. In that year the Indian Agent then in charge of it applied to the Secretary of War for a special reservation for military purposes (see his letter with papers), and, in conformity with his request, Mr. Calhoun, then Secretary of War, applied to the Commissioner of the General Land-Office for the reservation. That officer, in conformity with the request of the Secretary of War, ordered the post to be reserved from sale (see their letters herewith). The land reserved was fractional Sec- tion 10, Township 39 north, Range 14 east, containing 57.50 acres. In April, 1839, the Secretary of War, J. R. Poinsett, by an act of authority March 3, ISI9. appointed Matthew Birchard, Esq., agent for the War Office under special instructions to sell a portion of the military reservation at Fort Dearborn. This agent, in conformity with instructions, surveyed the entire fractional section, styling it Fort Dearborn Addition to Chicago, laving it off into lots and streets, and filing the map in the proper nffice in Cook County. He proceeded to sell part only of these lots, reserving from sale that portion now used for convenience of light-house and marking it upon his map in dotted lines. * * * *

B. S. ROBERTS, Colonel U. S. A.

The property platted and subdivided as Fort Dear- born addition to Chicago was east of State Street, north of Madison Street, south of the main river of that time,

and west of the shore line of that period. The sub- division was made June 6, 1839, as per surveyor's cer- tificate ; was acknowledged by Matthew Birchard " of the General Land-Office, and Agent of the War Depart- ment of the United States," for J. R. Poinsett, Secretary of War, and was recorded June 17, 1839, in Book H, of Maps, page Ido. The land was laid off into lots and blocks, with streets, except the Dearborn Park, of which the following remark is authentic : "On the original record of Fort Dearborn addition, in Book H page 322, no boundary line was fixed for what is called hereon "Dearborn Park" (the plot now bonnded by Dearborn Place, Michigan Avenue, Washington and Randolph streets-the eastern boundary, in common with the remainder of the Fort Dearborn addition, be- ing the lake shore meander line). All the area east of the east line of Block 12; south of the south line of Blocks 10 and 11 ; north of the north line of Block 15, and east to the water-line of Lake Michigan was marked ' Public Ground ; forever to remain vacant of buildings.' The certificate of acknowledgement by the Secretary of War sets forth the same thing."* This plot, to remain in its integral emptiness, was from the west line of Dear- born Place, south of the north line of Randolph Street ; north of the south line of Washington Street and west of the shore line of Lake Michigan. Upon the original plat Blocks 11 and 6 were not subdivided, their eastern portions being submerged. As stated by Mr. Went- worth, the land whereon the block-house stood, and the northern half of Block 5, was not parted with at that time, but the title was vested in the Treasury Department, and the Marine Hospital was subsequently erected on the part of Block 5 reserved. The eastern portion of the lots, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, forming the north- ern half of Block 5, were submerged at the time of the subdivision; on October 14, 1842, a deed was recorded in Book 133, page 271, whereby these for- merly submerged parts of lots were conveyed by the Secretary of War to the Illinois Central Railroad. By an act passed June 14, 1852, the right of way for the Illinois Central Railroad was granted, and the city of Chicago likewise provided therefor by law, t aiso for the maintenance of the park in its exempted condition. By this right-of-way the eastern boundary of the exempted property became, necessarily, located at four hundred feet east of the west line of Michigan Av- enue ; such line being the west line of the right-of-way ; a line seven hundred feet east of the west line of Mich- igan Avenue being the east line of the right-of-way. The east line of Michigan Avenue became subsequently fixed by legislative enactment. The land taken in straightening the river channel of the Chicago River, east of Michigan Avenue, was donated by the presi- dent of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, the Mayor of Chicago, Jean Baptiste Beaubien and the United States, per J. D. Graham, in September, 1855, the deed being recorded in. Book 133, page 271 ; the remainder of the land taken being purchased of the owners. These various transactions, with those cited in Mr. Wentworth's speech, passed the title from the United States to numberless individuals, and the real estate of Fort Dearborn became absorbed by the city of Chicago-all but Dearborn Park, the legal disposi- tion of which is at present in controversy.

Ottn Peltzer's Atlas of Chiesgo, 1872; compiled by him while in charge of the Map Department of the Board of Public Works.

t V'ide Municipal Laws, 1850. P. 352.

163

OFFICERS SERVING AT THE POST.

In the appendix to the address as published in Fergus's Historical Series, No. 16, are several rosters of officers and soldiers who served at different times at Fort Dearborn, and other matter deemed invaluable as the source from which they are derived may be deemed authentic. From the appendix the following are extracted :

The following statement shows the companies composing the garrison of the post, at different periods, after October 3, 1828, until its abandonment ; also, the commanding officers and other officers on duty at the post, from time to time :

Garrison,

Officers. .

Rank.

On duty from

Remarks.

Companies "A" and "I" (5th Infantry) from Octo- ber 3, 1828, to May 20, 1831.

Troops withdrawn, May 20, 1831,

Re-occupied, June 17, 1832.

Commanding Post.

June 17, 1832

May 14, 1833

No returns between June and October, 1832.

June 17, 1832

November 23, 1832 )

Captain, zd Infantry

June 17, 1832

February 3, 1833

May 14, 1833

Commanding Post.

L. T. Jamison. .

J. Allen ...

J. T. Collinsworth .. George Bender .... J. M. Baxley. ..

E. K. Smith

5 May 29, 1833 ¿ October 23, 1836

December, 1836

September 16, 1835 September, 1836

December, 1836 December 29, 1836

[thereof till June or July, 1837. Commanding Post and remainel in charge

LATE THREADS OF FORT DEARBORN HISTORY.

No returns on file subsequent to May, 1837.

(John Fowler, Jr ..... David Ilunter .. ..... John G. Furman. . .. Abram VanBuren. .. C. A. F'inley. . James Engle .. Amos B. Foster_ Martin Scott.

Capt. and Byt-Maj. 5th Infantry Ist-Lieutenant, 5th Infantry

2d-Lieutenant, 5th Infantry

Bvt. 2d-lieutenant, 5th Infantry Assistant Surgeon

2d-Lieutenant, 5th Infantry Bvt. 2d-Lieutenant, 5th Infantry Captain, 5th Infantry Major, zd Infantry Assistant Surgeon

Ist-Lieutenant, ed Infantry zd-Lieutenant, 2d Infantry Bvt. 2d-Lieutenant, 2d Infantry Bvt. zd-Lieutenant, 2d Infantry Assistant Surgeon

Capt, and Bvt-Maj., 5th Infantry Capt. and Bvt-Maj., 5th Infantry Ist-Lieutenant, 5th Infantry Bvt. 2d-Lieutenant, 5th Infantry Bvt. 2d-Lieutenant, 5th Infantry Major, 5th Infantry Captain, 5th Infantry

Ist-Lieutenant, 5th Infantry 2d-Lieutenant, 5th Infantry Major, 5th Infantry Bvt. 2d-Lieutenant, 5th Infantry Captain, 5th Infantry Capt. and Bvt .- Maj., 5th Infantry

October 3, 1828 October 3, 1828 October 3, 1828 October 3, 1828 October 3, 1828 October 3, 1828

December 14, 1830

August 20, 1830 March, 1829

Commanding l'os [May 20, IS31. Commanding l'o: from December 14, 1830, 10 A. A. C. S. and A. A. Q. M., d. August 20, 1830. [Son of President Van Buren. ]

December 14, 1830 May 20, 1831 May 20, 1831

June 20, 1829

November 4, 1829

August 20, 1830

May 15, 1833 May 31, 1833 May 15, 1833 May 31, 1833 May 15, 1833

" Fort Dearborn having become a general hos- pital, on the 11th July last, no returns were rendered until its re-occupation. "G" and " I," 2d Infantry, returned to Post on the Ist of October, from campaign."

[Vide return of Post for October, 1832.]

John Fowle, Jr ... D. Wilcox ...

May 14, 1833

May 14, 1833 May 14, 1833

May 14, 1833

June 19, 1833

June 20, 1833

July, 1834

Commanding P'ost from October 31 to Decem- ber 18, 1833, and from September 16, 1835, to August 1, 1836.

Commanding Post.

J. L. Thompson. . . John Greene ... A. H. Tappen .... St. Clair Denny .. . .. J. Plympton. . ......

June 20, 1833 Dec, 18, 1833 October 15, 1835 August, 1836 August 1, 1836

December, 1836 June 19, 1833 August 1, 1836 December, 1836 January, 1834 June 20, 1833 October 31, 1833 April, 1836

Companies "A" and "B" (5th Infantry) from May 14, 1833, to December 29, 1836, when the garrison was withdrawn. .

Companies "G" and "I," (2d Infantry) from June 17, 1832; "I"to May 15, 1833; "G" to May 31, 1833,

William Whistler ... S. G. I. DeCamp .. .. Seth Johnston ... J. J. B. Kingsbury .. Ilannibal Day ... J. W. I'enrose, E. R. Long .. (I'. Maxwell ...

164

HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

THE LALIME HOMICIDE.

One of the lamentable and exciting incidents con- nected with the early history of the fort was the tragical death of J. Lalime, who had been an agent and inter- preter at the fort for many years prior to his death. He was an educated man, of quite violent temper, and per- haps more respected than beloved. In a rencounter with John Kinzie, between whom and himself there had previously been serious disagreements, he lost his life. The narrative of Mrs. Victoire Porthier (see page 105), who claims to have witnessed the tragedy, fully exoner- ates Mr. Kinzie of murderous intent. The following letter, written by the old-time friend of the family, although differing in minor details from the testimony of Mrs. Porthier, goes to corroborate the most essential points which establishes the innocence of John Kinzie as to any murderous intent at the time of the unfort- unate encounter. The letter reads as follows :

"CHICAGO, June 25, ISSI.

" HON. JOHN WENTWORTH,-Dear Sir : Your note of the 22d inst. I received yesterday. Thanks for the slip you inclosed. " In reply to your inquiries, I have to say that I think Matthew Irwin was not sub-agent at Fort Dearborn, but that he was United States factor, acting also as Indian Agent. His duties were confined principally to Indian affairs, under the direction of the command- ing officer, when he was not specially instructed by the Depart- ment at Washington.

" As regards the unfortunate killing of Mr. Lalime by Mr. John Kinzie, I have heard the account of it related by Mrs. Kinzie and her daughter, Mrs. Helm. Mr. Kinzie never, in my

hearing, alluded to or spoke of it. He deeply regretted the act. Knowing his aversion to converse on the subject, I never spoke to him about it.

"Mrs. Kinzie said that her husband and Lalime had been for several years on unfriendly terms, and had had frequent alterca- tions ; that at the time of the encounter, Mr. Kinzie had crossed the river alone, in a canoe, going to the fort ; and that Lalime met him outside of the garrison and shot him, the ball cutting the side of his neck. She supposed Lalime saw her husband cross- ing, and, taking his pistol, went through the gate purposely to meet him Mr. Kinzie closing with Lalime, stabbed him, and retreated to his house covered with blood. He told his wife what he had done, that he feared he had killed Lalime, that probably a. squad would be sent for him, and that he must hide. She, in haste, took bandages, and with him retreated to the woods, where. as soon as possible, she dressed his wounds, returning just in time to meet an officer with a squad, with orders to seize her husband. He could not be found. For some days he was hid in the bush and cared for by his wife.

" Lalime was, I understood, an educated man, and quite a favorite with the officers, who were greatly excited. They decided he should be buried near Mr. Kinzie's house, and he was buried Dear the bank of the river, about the present terminus of Rush Street, and within about two hundred yards of Mr. Kinzie's house, in plain view from his front door and piazza. The grave was inclosed by a picket fence, which Mr. Kinzie, in his life-time kept in perfect order. My impression has ever been that Mr. Kinzie acted, as he told his wife, in self-defense. This is borne out by the fact that, after a full investigation by the officers, whose friend he was, they acquitted Mr. Kinzie, who then returned to his family.

" In some of these details I may be in error, but the fact has ever been firm in my mind that Lalime made the attack, provoking the killing in self-defense. Most certainly Mr. Kinzie deeply regretted the result, and avoided any reference to it.

" Yours, G. S. HUBBARD."

CHICAGO IN 1830. FROM THE LAKE

THE ILLINOIS & MICHIGAN CANAL.

From the earliest period in the discovery and coloni- zation of the Great West, it was the dream of French explorers, and, later, of English traders, to connect the waters of the Great Lakes with the waters of the Great River ; thereby joining the fur-producing provinces of the North with what were to become the exhaustless grain and cotton fields of the West and South. The mighty Father of Waters stretched two long arms toward the northeast and the Lake of the Illinois, now called Lake Michigan. More than one hundred and sixty years before, the public sentiment of the new Northwest was aroused to the. necessity of establishing a grand water-way. French voyageurs and priests had explored the only two courses which were open to future enter- prise. One was by way of Green Bay, the Fox River, and the narrow portage which separated that river from . the Wisconsin and the Mississippi ; the other was from the extremity of the Lake of the Illinois, at a point far to the south of Green Bay, and thence over a few miles of swamp to the Desplaines, a branch of the Illinois. It seemed to be foreordained from the configuration of the country, however, that the main artery of the water com- munication between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico could never be fixed at a point so far north of the central territory of the land as by way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers.

Thus, although for many years the Fox and Wiscon- sin rivers improvement commanded the attention of the people throughout the great regions of the Northwest, from the time of Joliet in 1673, to the period when the State of Illinois actually commenced to construct a canal, the Illinois and Michigan project was looked upon as an enterprise having the elements of grandeur in it ; as something to appeal to the daring and imagination of those far-seeing French explorers-a short link by which the magnificent territory of France, extending from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, was to be bound in a continuous chain ; and, finally, it was viewed by the United States as a work of national importance, to be conducted in a spirit of national pride. To the mind of Joliet the grand idea seemed to be converted into the fact, through a very meagre array of difficulties. Only a few miles of marshy land near the shores of Lake Michigan to be cut through, and the waters of the At- lantic from the north, by way of the Great Lakes, would become united at the south, by way of the Mississippi and the Gulf ! The great ocean, freshened along half its course, would wash the shores of a grand continent, bounded by the lakes, the river and the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the north, the Atlantic Ocean on the east, the Gulf of Mexico on the south, and the Missis- sippi River on the west. One hundred and sixty years is a long time to wait for accomplishment, and, during all this period, the idea which had been conceived by Joliet was being nurtured into active life as much through a realization of the character of the work and its resul's as from motives of individual gain and public utility. The mind of Joliet seems to have been charged with both of these forces. But before the first spade was struck into the earth at Bridgeport, Joliet's little

"ditch " had grown, in the minds of the new civilization, to a grand artificial water-way, nearly one hundred miles in length.

History records the fact* that M. Louis Joliet first suggested the canal idea to Father Claudius Dablon, superior of the missions of the Jesuits in Canada, in the fall of 1673. Father Marquette had accompanied Joliet in his voyage toward the mouth of the Mississippi, by way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. Having pro- gressed south far enough to ascertain, from its general direction, that it flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, and not into the Pacific Ocean, after a month's absence from the mouth of the Wisconsin River, they turned back and, reaching the Illinois, ascended it, and, passing over the portage, half a league in length, reached Lake Michigan. The eager Joliet hastened at once to Mon- treal with his maps and papers, to report the result of his discoveries to the Count de Frontenac. Governor of Canada, with whom the expedition originated ; but while shooting the rapids above that city his canoe was overturned, his companion drowned, and all his docu- ments lost. Joliet was therefore obliged to content himself, for the time, with making merely a verbal report to his superior, but his views on the necessity of a continuous water-way between Lake Michigan and the Illinois River are ascertained from the report of his conversation with Father Dablon, recorded by the reli- able pen of that writer about a year afterward. He says :

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 44

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340