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GENERAL HENRY DEARBORN.
Henry Dearborn was born in New Hampshire in 1751. Hewas an officer in the American army, took part in the battle ofBunker Hill, was present at the capture of Burgoyne's army,and remained in the service until the end of the war. In1801 he was appointed Secretary of War under PresidentJefferson, and held that office for eight years.
In 1812 Dearborn was appointed Major-General and didexcellent service on the Niagara frontier during the Second Warwith Great Britain. John Wentworth said of him that "historyrecords no other man who was at the battle of Bunker Hill,the surrender of Burgoyne and Cornwallis, and then took anactive part in the War of 1812."
THE STORY
OF
OLD FORT DEARBORN
BY
J. SEYMOUR CURREY
WITH ELEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS
CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1912
Copyright
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1912
Published August, 1912
W. F. HAL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO
This Volume is Dedicated to
NELLY KINZIE GORDON
THERE were two Fort Dearborns, thefirst one having been built in 1803. Thiswas occupied by a garrison of United Statestroops until 1812, when it was destroyed bythe Indians immediately after the bloodymassacre of that year. The second FortDearborn was built on the site of the formerone in 1816, and continued in use as a militarypost, though at several intervals duringperiods of peaceful relations with the surroundingtribes the garrisons were withdrawnfor a time. In 1836 the fort wasfinally evacuated by the military forces. Theevents narrated in the succeeding pages ofthis volume concern the first or Old FortDearborn.
The name "Chicago," as descriptive of theriver and its neighborhood, was in use formore than a century before the first FortDearborn was built; it appears on Franquelin'smap printed in 1684 as "Chekagou,"and is mentioned in various forms of spellingin the written and printed records of that andsucceeding periods. It has been said thatChicago is the oldest Indian town in the Westof which the original name is retained; thusits name enjoys a much greater antiquity thanthat of Fort Dearborn, familiar as the lattername is in our local annals.
In the course of its history Chicago hasexisted under three flags; first, under thedomination of the French kings, from the periodof its discovery to the year 1763, when,after the French and In