Fort Dearborn: The History of the Controversial Battle of Fort Dearborn during the War of 1812 and the Settlement that Became Chicago
ISBN: 9781530909834
*Includes pictures
*Includes an account of the Dearborn Massacre by an American soldier
*Includes online resources, footnotes, and a bibliography for further reading
*Includes a table of contents
“We had marched half a mile, when we were attacked by 600 Kickapoo and Wynbago Indians. In the moment of trial our Confute savages joined the savage enemy, Our contest lasted ten minutes, when every man, woman and child was killed except 15. Thanks be to God I was one of those who escaped." – Walter K. Jordan, one of the men present at the Battle of Dearborn
Tucked safely away in storage is an unnamed sculpture commissioned by George Pullman and sculpted by Carl Rohl-Smith depicting the “Fort Dearborn Massacre.” It was originally installed near the mansion of the creator of the Pullman Palace Car Company, which manufactured railroad sleeping cars in the mid-19th century. Although placing such a sculpture at that location may initially sound weird, the Pullman mansion had been built on the site of a controversial battle that took place at an old, historic European fort along the Chicago River in Illinois in 1812.
The ongoing fighting between white settlers, militias, Army units, and Native Americans not only bled into the War of 1812 but was one of the main causes of it. Many Americans chaffed at the fact that along the Northwestern frontier, the British in Canada were supporting Indian resistance to American settlement. So-called “War Hawks” from that region in Congress pushed for a declaration of war, and many hoped that a war would not only stop Indian depredations but evict the British from Canada and lead to completion of some unfinished business from the American Revolution, namely Canada joining the U.S.