Part 2

When the schooner "Tracy" arrived at Chicago she anchored half a mile from shore and discharged her cargo by boats; for a long sand-bar, with its surface slightly higher than the lake level, forced the current of the river to follow the shore toward the south before finding an outlet into the lake, and even then over a broad stretch of shallow water, thus preventing the entrance of the vessel into the river channel. "Some two thousand Indians," said an eye-witness in an interview reported many years later, "visited the locality while the vessel was here, being attracted by so unusual an occurrence as the appearance in these waters of 'a big canoe with wings.'"

But notwithstanding the astonishment of the Indians, it was probably not the first time that sailing vessels had visited the shores of the future site of Chicago. William Burnett, the trader at St. Joseph before referred to, in writing to a merchant in Mackinac in 1786, makes a request that a vessel be sent to St. Joseph to take on board a quantity of grain, and further says regarding the expected vessel, "If she is to come to Chicago you can very likely get her to stop at the mouth of the river"--that is, the St. Joseph River. It is probable enough, however, that the great majority of the Indians around Chicago, who gazed with so much interest at the sight of the wonderful "canoe with wings," had never before seen a craft with sails spread to the breeze.

The "Tracy" was a vessel of ninety tons' burden, and belonged to the United States Government. After the goods were unloaded they were placed in tents to await the completion of the buildings. At the end of five days the vessel departed on her return voyage to Detroit, and on board of her Lieutenant Swearingen took passage.

Later in the summer the fort was ready for occupancy, and its garrison of United States regulars took possession of the barracks and dwellings within the stockade. The fort was named in honor of General Henry Dearborn, who had been a distinguished officer of the Revolutionary War, as well as Secretary of War at the time of the building of the fort.

The fort was located on the south bank of the Chicago River near the present Rush Street bridge, somewhat north of the spot marked by a tablet placed in recent years upon a building at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and River Street. The river, as is well known, is deflected from its general east and west direction at a point just east of the present State Street bridge. Owing, however, to the construction of the drainage canal a few years ago, the river now flows _from_ the lake so that when it reaches the point mentioned, its course, instead of northeast forty rods, as formerly, is now southwest.

But at the time the fort was built the bend in the river reached much farther toward the north. In later years the south bank was partially dredged away, and the bend was therefore considerably lessened. Thus the site of the fort, being close to the river bank, was some distance farther north than the building upon which the tablet is placed; in fact, the northern portion of the fort extended over ground now covered by the bed of the river.

It may be well to remark here that in the year 1833 a channel was dredged through the bar directly in line with the river's course. The old channel between the sand-bar and the shore gradually became filled up in the course of years, and at the present day it is which covered by a mass of earth, and forms a part of the area enclosed in Grant Park.

In the construction of the fort there were two blockhouses erected, one at the southeast and the other at the northwest corner of the stockaded enclosure. These blockhouses projected partially beyond the line of pickets so that their defenders could command the approaches from the open spaces without the fort. On the north side of the fort there was a sally-port with a subterranean passage, leading from the parade ground within to the river bank, designed as a means of escape in case of emergency, or of obtaining a supply of water if needed, though a well was sunk for the ordinary uses of the garrison within the fort enclosure. Beyond the main line of pickets another similar line was placed at a different angle converging toward the blockhouses, thus providing two strong palisades entirely surrounding the fort.

A plan for the construction of frontier forts was prepared by the War Department and this plan was referred to in a letter of instructions written by General Dearborn under date of June 28, 1804. While it thus appears that the letter was written a year later than the building of Fort Dearborn, it was an outline of the general principles by which the department had been governed in all such works.

"Being of the opinion," wrote General Dearborn, "that for the general defense of our country we ought not to rely upon fortifications, but on men and steel, and that works calculated for resisting batteries of cannon are necessary only for our principal seaports, I cannot conceive it useful or expedient to construct expensive works for our interior military posts, especially such as are intended merely to hold the Indians in check."

He added that he had directed stockade works "aided by blockhouses" to be erected at Vincennes, "Chikago" and at other places, "in conformity with the sketch herewith enclosed." The details of the plan are further described in the letter as follows: "The blockhouses to be constructed of timber slightly hewed," and the magazines to be of brick "of a conic figure," each capable of receiving from fifty to one hundred barrels of powder. "The blockhouses," he continued, "are to be so placed as to scour from the upper and lower stories the whole of the lines."

The plan thus outlined was followed in the construction of Fort Dearborn as well as of other forts generally along the frontier.

Three pieces of light artillery composed the armament of the fort, until at a later time another gun was added, and in a magazine constructed for the purpose was stored the necessary ammunition.

Directly west of the fort, fronting toward the river, was built a double log house, between the two parts of which an open passage was left, though the roof was made continuous over both portions as well as over the open passage. Along the front and rear a veranda extended the full length of the structure. This building was the Agency House, or United States Factory, used for storing goods to be sold to the Indians under Government regulations. For a number of years, from 1796 to 1822, the United States supplied goods to the Indian tribes at many places on the frontier in exchange for their furs. In these exchanges the Government's policy was to deal with the Indians on an equitable basis, providing them protection against the rapacity of the traders, many of whom swindled them unmercifully.

It may be said in passing that this benevolent purpose on the part of the Government was completely frustrated. The traders supplied their savage customers with liquor, which the Government agents were not at liberty to do, and thus the Indians preferred to do business with the former in spite of the lower prices and superior quality of the goods furnished by the latter. In 1822, the "Factory System," as it was called, was discontinued entirely.

For many years previous to the building of Fort Dearborn a substantial dwelling had been standing on the opposite side of the river, near the present foot of Pine Street. This house was built by a man named Jean Baptiste Point de Saible, a native of San Domingo and a negro, some time before 1779, as appears from a report made by Colonel De Peyster, the commander at Michilimackinac during the British occupation.

De Saible was an Indian trader. One of the pioneers who remembered him said of him that he was "pretty wealthy and drank freely," and the British commander above referred to wrote that he was "much in the French interest," which gave occasion to that officer to keep a close watch on his activities, situated as he was at the principal portage between the Lakes and the Mississippi. De Saible resided in this house for over eighteen years, and in 1797 sold it and returned to the Peoria Indians, among whom he had previously resided, and remained with them the rest of his life.

The purchaser of the house was a man named Le Mai, a French trader. Le Mai made some improvements and occupied the house until 1804, when he in turn sold it to John Kinzie, who arrived with his family at Chicago in the fall of that year. After the house came into the possession of John Kinzie he repaired it, added a veranda, and planted four Lombardy poplars at the foot of the slope on which the house stood. The house faced toward the south, having the river directly in front and the lake a short distance to the east.

This house became known as the "Kinzie Mansion" and is a familiar and picturesque object in the views of early Chicago. The house escaped the general destruction at the time of the massacre and remained the residence of John Kinzie and his family until the time of his death, in 1828, except during the four years of his enforced absence, from 1812 to 1816. The house was finally demolished in the early thirties after more than a half-century's existence.

There was also the less pretentious cabin of Antoine Ouilmette, situated close in the rear of the Kinzie house. Ouilmette was a Frenchman with an Indian wife, and had lived here since 1790. His wife, being a member of the Potawatami tribe, was awarded, at one of the Indian treaties many years later, a tract of land on the north shore about fourteen miles from the mouth of the Chicago River, which became known as the "Wilmette Reservation," and is now the site of the village of Wilmette.

A man named Pettell also had a small cabin near the Kinzie house. Over on the North Branch another trader named Guarie had a trading house which had been there from a time previous to the year 1778. Guarie's house was situated on the west bank of the river, about where Fulton Street now ends. The North Branch was called by the Indian traders and _voyageurs_ of those days the "River Guarie," and the South Branch "Portage River," the name Chicago River being confined to that part of the river below the confluence of those two streams.

Captain John Whistler, after serving seven years as commandant at Fort Dearborn, was ordered to another post early in the summer of 1810, and his successor was Captain Nathan Heald, of whom we shall have much more to say in the following pages. In bidding adieu to Captain Whistler it is proper to add a few particulars concerning him. He was a native of Ireland, and had come to America as a British soldier at the time of the War of the Revolution. He was in Burgoyne's army and was taken prisoner by the Americans when that army was surrendered after the battle of Saratoga in 1777.

After the war he decided to remain in America and took up his residence in Maryland, where he married, and where his son William was born. Later he enlisted in the American army, taking part in the campaigns against the Indians in the West. His loyalty to his new allegiance is shown in the naming of his youngest son after the "Father of His Country."

Captain Whistler served in the army of General Arthur St. Clair and afterward in that of General Anthony Wayne, and in time was promoted to be a captain of infantry. After leaving Fort Dearborn he was transferred to Fort Wayne and the rank of major was bestowed upon him. He died in 1827.

John Whistler was a brave and efficient soldier and the progenitor of a distinguished posterity. His son William was, as we have seen, a lieutenant in his father's company, and long after the events we are here treating of was placed in command of Fort Dearborn (in the year 1832), and his daughter became the wife of Robert A. Kinzie, one of the sons of John Kinzie, the pioneer. George Washington Whistler, the infant son of Captain John Whistler, was brought to Fort Dearborn in 1803, as we have already narrated, and afterward was graduated at West Point. Eventually he resigned his commission in the United States army and entered the service of the Russian Government as an engineer, where he rendered distinguished services.

The eminent painter, James A. McNeill Whistler, was a descendant of Captain John Whistler. In the life of Whistler, the artist, by Joseph and Elizabeth Pennell, it is mentioned that Whistler once said to a visitor from Chicago that he (Whistler) ought to visit the place some day, "for," said he, "you know, my grandfather founded the city."

John Kinzie has been called "The Father of Chicago," and also "Chicago's Pioneer." He was born at Quebec about the year 1763, and he was therefore about forty years of age when he arrived in Chicago, in 1804. His father was a Scotchman named John McKenzie, but instead of retaining his patronymic in the usual manner, John of Quebec changed it to conform to a usage established by his boyish companions and others, who called him "Little Johnny Kinzie."

Young John's father died while he was yet an infant; the widow married William Forsyth, and soon thereafter the family moved to New York. Here he was placed in school, but at the age of ten he ran away and took passage on a sloop bound for Albany, with the purpose of finding his way back to his old home at Quebec. By good fortune he found a friendly fellow traveler bound for the same destination, who assisted him on the way. Arriving at Quebec he found employment with a silversmith and learned the trade. He remained with the silversmith three years, at the expiration of which time he returned to his parents, who had in the meantime removed to Detroit.

John Kinzie had an active and enterprising disposition which led him as he grew older to live much upon the frontier. He entered the Indian trade while he was yet very young and became an adept in his intercourse with the Indians. He learned their language and was esteemed by them as a reliable and fair-dealing trader. He soon began trading on his own account, and before he came to Chicago he had trading establishments at Sandusky and Maumee, and pushing farther west, he established a post at St. Joseph. It was in the pursuance of a general policy of business expansion that he bought the Le Mai house at Chicago, a house which afterward became historic. Kinzie himself has become of historic importance to a degree he could never have dreamed of, and which would not have been possible but for the fact that the place he chose for his residence has since become one of the world's great cities.

While by no means the first settler at Chicago, John Kinzie is generally accorded the title of "Chicago's Pioneer," although it is quite probable that there were traders, hunters, and trappers residing here for longer or shorter periods even earlier than De Saible and Le Mai.

"I doubt if any known person can safely be called the 'earliest settler' of Chicago," writes Thwaites. "The habitants and traders went back and forth like Arabs. No doubt there was a succession of temporary visitors residing any time from a few months to several years at this site during the entire French régime, but especially in the eighteenth century, concerning which period the records are unfortunately scanty."

When John Kinzie arrived here he found Ouilmette, Pettell, Le Mai, and Guarie, all of whom were permanent residents. Mr. Kinzie was a man of character and influence. He had been well educated for those times, and possessed civic virtues in an eminent degree. Through all the vicissitudes of frontier life he maintained and brought up a large family, assisted those who were related to him as step-children and half-brothers, and his descendants became honorable members of the community with which they were identified.

Mr. Kinzie was generally known as the "Indians' Friend," and had received from them the name of Shaw-ne-aw-kee; that is, _Silverman_, on account of his having learned the trade of a silversmith, which he practiced on occasion.

When he came here from Detroit Mr. Kinzie was accompanied by his family, consisting of his wife and son, John Harris Kinzie, then an infant one year old, and his step-daughter, Margaret McKillip. Three other children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kinzie during the next few years, and at the time of the massacre these children as well as their parents escaped harm through the assistance of several friendly Indian chiefs.

Excepting the four years following the massacre, the Kinzie family resided here until the death of Mr. Kinzie, in 1828, at the age of sixty-five years. His widow and some of his children continued their residence in Chicago until long after the middle of the century.

A few words concerning the earlier life of the remarkable woman who was the wife of John Kinzie will be appropriate in this place. Previous to her marriage to Mr. Kinzie, in 1800, Mrs. Kinzie was a widow, her first husband having been a Captain McKillip, serving in the British army, who had been killed in the year 1794. Her daughter, Margaret McKillip, afterward became the wife of Lieutenant Linai T. Helm, one of the officers at Fort Dearborn.

Mrs. Kinzie's maiden name was Eleanor Lytle, and when a child she lived with her parents in Western Pennsylvania. When but nine years of age she was carried off by Indians and adopted as a sister by a chief of the Seneca tribe. After four years of captivity she was safely restored to her parents. Writing of her experiences at this time, so similar to those of thousands of other children captives, the author of _Wau-Bun_ (who it will be remembered was a daughter-in-law of Mrs. John Kinzie) says: "Four years had now elapsed since the capture of little Nelly. Her heart was by nature warm and affectionate, so that the unbounded tenderness of those she dwelt among had called forth a corresponding feeling of affection in her heart. She regarded the chief and his mother with love and reverence, and had so completely learned their language and customs as almost to have forgotten her own.

"So identified had she become with the tribe that the remembrance of her home and family had nearly faded from her memory; all but her mother--her mother whom she had loved with a strength of affection natural to her warm and ardent character, and to whom her heart still clung with a fondness that no time or change could destroy."

The peace of 1783 between Great Britain and the United States was followed by a general pacification of the Indian tribes, and the chief who held little Nelly captive was invited to a council fire at Fort Niagara by Colonel William Johnson, a man celebrated for his wonderful popularity and influence with the Indians of New York State, and the chief was requested to bring the little captive with him. The invitation was accepted, but not before a promise was made that there should be no effort to reclaim the child.

The parents of the child were anxious to behold once more the form and features of their offspring, and came to Fort Niagara for the purpose. "The time at length arrived," runs the narrative, "when, her heart bounding with joy, little Nelly was placed on horseback to accompany her Indian brother to the great council of the Senecas. She had promised him that she would never leave him without permission, and he relied confidently on her word.

"As the chiefs and warriors arrived in successive bands to meet their 'father,' the agent, at the council fire, how did the anxious hearts of the parents beat with alternate hope and fear! The officers of the fort had kindly given them quarters for the time being, and the ladies, whose sympathies were strongly excited, had accompanied the mother to the place of council, and joined in her longing watch for the first appearance of the band from the Alleghany River.

"At length they were discerned, emerging from the forest on the opposite or American side. Boats were sent across by the commanding officer to bring the chief and his party. The father and mother, attended by all the officers and ladies, stood upon the grassy bank awaiting their approach. They had seen at a glance that the little captive was with them."

The chief held the little maiden's hand while crossing the river, and when the boat touched the bank he saw the child spring forward into the arms of her waiting mother from whom she had been so long separated. When the chief witnessed this outburst of affection he was deeply moved, and could no longer continue steadfast in his resolution to retain possession of the child.

"She shall go," said he. "The mother must have her child again. I will go back alone."

"With one silent gesture of farewell," says the writer, "he turned and stepped on board the boat. No arguments or entreaties could induce him to remain at the council; but having gained the other side of the Niagara, he mounted his horse, and with his young men was soon lost in the depths of the sheltering forest."

Soon afterward the parents of Eleanor Lytle removed to Detroit and it was there when but fourteen years of age that she met and married Captain McKillip.

The writer of the narrative from which the above sketch has been derived was Mrs. Juliette A. Kinzie, the wife of John Harris Kinzie, who was the oldest child of John Kinzie and Eleanor (Lytle) McKillip Kinzie. Mrs. John H. Kinzie wrote a book, already mentioned, called _Wau-Bun_, which was published in 1856, in which are a number of sketches of Chicago's early settlers, and an account of the period extending over the occupation and destruction of the first Fort Dearborn. Her book is the earliest and most substantial contribution to Chicago history of the period referred to that we possess.

It is gratifying to be able to state that the granddaughter of the "little Nelly" of the narrative, who was so wonderfully restored to her own people after all those years of captivity, is Mrs. Nelly Kinzie Gordon, now residing in Savannah, Georgia. Though now nearly eighty years of age, Mrs. Gordon is in possession of all her faculties to a remarkable degree, and seems indeed to have preserved the freshness of her youth in body and mind. She takes a sympathetic and intelligent interest in all the historical writings having to do with the early history of Chicago, where she was born and where she lived many years of her life, and she is always ready to aid inquirers with advice and suggestions.

The interior arrangements of the Kinzie house were described by Mrs. Elizabeth Baird, who as a child visited the Kinzies at Chicago in company with her mother. The family of which Mrs. Baird was a member lived on the island of Mackinac and came to Chicago in a lake vessel loaded with a cargo of supplies.