Battle of Fort Dearborn

The Battle of Fort Dearborn was an engagement between United States troops and Potawatomi Native Americans that occurred on August 15, 1812, near Fort Dearborn in what is now Chicago, Illinois, but was then part of the Illinois Territory. The battle, which occurred during the War of 1812, followed the evacuation of the fort as ordered by William Hull, commander of the United States Army of the Northwest.

The battle lasted about 15 minutes and resulted in a complete victory for the Native Americans. Fort Dearborn was burned down and those soldiers and settlers who survived were taken captive. Some were later ransomed. After the battle, however, settlers continued to seek to enter the area, the fort was rebuilt in 1816, and settlers and the government were now convinced that all Indians had to be removed from the territory, far away from the settlement.

Background

Fort Dearborn was constructed by United States troops under the command of Captain John Whistler in 1803. It was located on the south bank of the main stem of the Chicago River in what is now the Loop community area of downtown Chicago. At the time, the area was seen as wilderness; in the view of later commander, Heald, "so remote from the civilized part of the world." The fort was named in honor of Henry Dearborn, then United States Secretary of War. It had been commissioned following the Northwest Indian War of 1785–1795, and the signing of the Treaty of Greenville at Fort Greenville (now Greenville, Ohio), on August 3, 1795. As part of the terms of this treaty, a coalition of Native Americans and frontiersmen, known as the Western Confederacy, turned over to the United States large parts of modern-day Ohio, and various other parcels of land including 6 square miles (16 km²) centered at the mouth of the Chicago River.

Fort Dearborn

Fort Dearborn was an United States fort built in 1803 beside the Chicago River, in what is now Chicago, Illinois. It was constructed by troops under Captain John Whistler and named in honor of Henry Dearborn, then United States Secretary of War. The original fort was destroyed following the Battle of Fort Dearborn during the War of 1812, and a new fort was constructed on the same site in 1816. By 1837, the fort had been de-commissioned. Parts of the fort were lost to both the widening of the Chicago River in 1855, and a fire in 1857. The last vestiges of Fort Dearborn were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The site of the fort is now a Chicago Landmark, located in the Michigan–Wacker Historic District.

Background

Historic events

The history of human activity in the Chicago area prior to the arrival of European explorers is mostly unknown. In 1673, an expedition headed by Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette was the first recorded to have crossed the Chicago Portage and traveled along the Chicago River. Marquette returned in 1674, and camped for a few days near the mouth of the river; then moved on to the portage, where he camped through the winter of 1674–75. Joliet and Marquette did not report any Indians living near the Chicago River area at that time, although archaeologists have discovered numerous Indian village sites dating to that time elsewhere in the greater Chicago area. Two of de La Salle's men built a stockade at the portage in the winter of 1682/1683.

Odiorne Point State Park

Odiorne Point State Park is a New Hampshire state park located on the seacoast in Rye near Portsmouth. The location of the first European settlement in New Hampshire, the point got its name from the Odiorne family, who settled on the land in the mid-1660s.

Near Odiorne Point is one of the Sunken Forests of New Hampshire.

Fort Dearborn

Prior to 1942, the site of the park was private, expensive oceanfront land. In 1942, during World War II, the site was taken by the United States government for construction of Fort Dearborn. In 1961 the site was sold to the state of New Hampshire.

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