Gazing Towards Fort Dearborn

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Shabbona

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Apparent Even To The Enemy

Unknown Source

The New Nation Grows... included a section entitled, "A Cowardly Commander Surrenders Detroit."

"The day after the Fort Dearborn massacre General William Hull surrendered Detroit to General Brock, the British commander. Hull's incompetence and cowardice were apparent even to the enemy."

"...[an] account was written by Thomas Vercheres de Boucherville, a French Canadian serving in the British army."

Where The Fort Dearborn Massacre Occurred

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The Chicago Massacre

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The garrison at Fort Dearborn, at the mouth of the Chicago river, together with the few civilians of the neighborhood--men, women, and children--left the place for a long overland march of three hundred miles through the woods of Michigan, on August 15, 1812.  The ill-starred General Hull was in command at Detroit, expecting a battle with the British force, and he had sent orders by an Indian runner to the commander at Fort Dearborn, to move his command to Detroit, after disposing of the government stores and property as he thought fit.

Turned Her Face To Heaven

The first part of the story of Mrs. Susan Simmons' and her daughter who were in captivity after the Fort Dearborn Massacre.

Source [Where Mrs. Simmons Was Captured]

Site of the Fort Dearborn Massacre

Heroes and Heroines of the Fort Dearborn Massacre: A Romantic and Tragic ... By Noah Simmons, included the following, about Mrs. Susan Simmons:

It was an awful moment for the poor woman but as she had often done before in the last twelve days when overcome with grief and almost famished with hunger, she turned her face to heaven and reposed her trust in her creator, her only source of hope and consolation...she ran rapidly down the line reaching the goal bleeding and bruised, but with [her infant] unharmed.

Block-House At Chicago

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Note:  My grandson starts his college career in Chicago this year.

1812 Site Of Chicago And Events There

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Captain William Griffith

From The Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana: A Review of Two ..., Volume 1:

"...Quartermaster Sergeant (later Captain) William Griffith, one of the survivors of the Fort Dearborn massacre... ."

"Detroit was surrendered the day before the Chicago Massacre took place. As soon as information of the tragedy reached Detroit, Judge Woodward appealed to Colonel Proctor in behalf of the prisoners and possible survivors of the Massacre at Fort Dearborn. The information given by Judge Woodward in this letter to Colonel Proctor probably came from William Griffith, a survivor who had reached Detroit." [Source]

"...William Griffith, afterward a captain of General Harrison's spies. He joined Harrison's army after his escape to Michigan, was placed in command of the spies, and received two wounds in the skirmish at the Moravian towns a few days before the battle of the Thames, but participated also in the latter engagement."

"He was the son of William Griffith, Sr., a farmer of Welsh descent whose home was near the present site of Geneseo, NY. His sister, Mrs. Alexander Ewing, removed with her husband to Michigan in 1802 and thence to Piqua Ohio in 1807 from which place William Griffith probably came to Chicago. He died in 1824, leaving two sons and a daughter and was buried near old Fort Meigs, Ohio." [Source]

The Fate Of The Simmons Family

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On the 14th of March 1810, John Simmons enlisted in Captain Whistler's Company, First Regiment, United States Infantry, afterward commanded by Captain Nathan Heald, and was assigned to duty at Fort Dearborn on the site of the city of Chicago.

Such was the [vulnerable] condition of Fort Dearborn on the seventh day of August, 1812, when Captain Heald received the order from Gen. Hull [to evacuate], who had reported to the war department on July 29th that he would send "at once."  Why, therefore, Captain Heald faltered for seven days is a serious question. The inexplicable delay gave the Indians an opportunity to collect their warriors from the Pottawatomie villages in the vicinity.

When the attack was made, Corporal John Simmons, from his position near the great cottonwood known as the Massacre Tree, loaded and fired as rapidly as possible... .  Finally covered with wounds he fell to rise no more. 

 No sooner had Mrs Simmons seen her husband fall...[when the enemy] struck his bloody weapon into the heads of every child within killing them instantly [including young David Simmons].

Mrs. Simmons discovered that the delight...of the [enemy] was much enhanced by tormenting their prisoners... . She therefore summoned all her marvelous fortitude to prevent any expression of the anguish which was crushing her great soul [and continued her stoicism during her entire captivity of eight months].

The story of other survivors here and another victim here.

General Hull's Fatal Letter To Captain Heald

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Carrot Top In 1812?

"And Then There was Carrot Top," was one in a series of posts on the Not So Forgotten: The War of 1812 blog.

Fort Dearborn Massacre Survivor Cooper Who Settled In Detroit

The story of old Fort Dearborn told of the fate of members of the Cooper family:

"The story of John Cooper, surgeon's mate at Fort Dearborn, was similar in many of its details to that of others in the battle.  Cooper was accompanied by his wife and two young daughters... . Cooper was among the killed, and when the Indians made a rush for the women and children in the wagons, a young Indian boy attempted to carry off Isabella, but encountered so lively a resistance that he was obliged to throw her down.  He succeeded in scalping her and would have killed her outright had not an old squaw prevented him. The squaw, who knew the Cooper family, took Mrs Cooper and her children to her wigwam and cured the girl of her wound. The family remained in captivity two years when they were ransomed. They afterwards lived in Detroit. The mark of the wound on the girl's head caused by the young Indian's scalping knife was about the size of a silver dollar and of course remained with her through her life."

Some names and details have changed according to the EarlyChicago website:

Cooper, Ezekiel  settler who built a house on the N side of the river close to the Forks in 1809; with wife, Mary, had four children: James (1797), Isabella (1800), Anne (1806?), and Frances (1809?); died early in 1811...; later that year, Mary remarried discharged Fort Dearborn soldier Thomas Burns, and gave birth to Catherine...; only Mary, Isabella, and Catherine would survive the 1812 massacre... .
Cooper, Isabella  born in 1800; daughter of Ezekiel and Mary Cooper, stepdaughter to Thomas Burn...later married George Fearson of Detroit, younger brother of Mary Julia Fearson, wife of William Whistler... .

George Fearson was the son of John and Mary Amable Fearson.  There is a marriage listed between George Fearson and Elizabeth Cooper here.

United States Census, 1830

name: George Fearson

event place: Detroit, Wayne, Michigan Territory

page number: 39

nara publication number: M19

nara roll number: 69

George Fearson died in 1846 and Elizabeth (Cooper) Fearson died in 1847 according to records at Ancestry records.

Some War of 1812 Papers Listed At The State Historical Society of Wisconsin

From the Descriptive List of Manuscript Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin:

Dr. Isaac Van Voorhis, Slain At Fort Dearborn

 From The Story of Old Fort Dearborn, an obituary of Dr. Isaac Van Voorhis (1790 - 1812), of Fishkill (NY), who was slain at the Fort Dearborn Massacre (now called Battle of Ft. Dearborn as of 2009):

Dr. Van Voorhis' article on vaccines published in 1812.

Battle Of Fort Dearborn (Massacre)

The Battle of Fort Dearborn took place on August 15, 1812.  It is also known as the Fort Dearborn Massacre.  The approximate site of the battle in present day Chicago, Illinois, can be found here.
 

 From The Fort Dearborn Massacre by Linai Taliaferro Helm