The story of Detroit / by George B. Catlin.

MASSACRE AT FORT DEARBORN

I47.. _.. _.

a brass cannon which bore the inscription: "Taken at Saratoga
on October 17th, I777." This cannon was now used to fire the
salute to the British flag and the British officers announced
that they would add to the inscription: "Retaken at Detroit,
August I6, I812." The battery across the river echoed the
salute and the brig Queen Charlotte which had sailed up the
river after landing troops at Springwells fired her guns as fast
as her crew could work them.
At the close of this ceremony, Col. Brock took off his crimson silken sash and threw it about Tecumseh. The chief
received it with becoming dignity, but he never wore it afterward, for Tecumseh was a man not given to show.
Gen. Hull and his regular soldiers were taken to Montreal
as prisoners of war, where they were afterward exchanged. The
Ohio volunteers were taken to the Cuyahoga River and released
to go back to their homes. The Americans had just completed
a brig called the Adams, at the River Rouge shipyard. This
was taken over by the British and renamed the Detroit. It
was taken to Fort Erie, at the head of Niagara River. One
night a few weeks later a company of Americans crossed the
river and attempted to tow the brig across to Buffalo, on the
American side. Foiled in this attempt they set the ship on fire
and turned her adrift in the river, where she soon ran aground
and became a total loss.
Detroit and Mackinac were lost but disasters were not at
an end in the West. On the site of the present city of Chicago
a rude fortification known as Fort Dearborn had been erected.
It was even more inaccessible for rescuing parties than the others.
It was garrisoned by a little company of 54 soldiers and the
officers were Capt. Nathan Heald, Lieut. L. T. Helm and Ensign George Ronan. About the fort were a few settlers' cabins,
all within a radius of one mile. The officers did not regard the
Indian unrest as anything serious until the month of April,
when a family named Lee in the outer edge of the settlement
were murdered by a passing band of Winnebagoes.
From that time the settlers kept close to the fort, which was
closely guarded. On August 7 a friendly Pottawatomie Indian