The Warrior’s Offensive Faulters
In April 1812 the simple pioneer homes of Chicago came under attack by the Potawatomi. Cannon fire from Fort Dearborn, which was adjacent to the town, scared the warriors off. The whole populace moved into the security of the fort and waited not knowing what to do next. They waited apprehensively for the next four months until Winamek, a friendly Potawatomi chief arrived on August 7th with an order from General Hull to evacuate. The chief advised against leaving and the garrison’s officers agreed but the commander Captain Nathan Heald was determined to carry out Hull’s order. At the same time the local Potawatomi accepted a red calumet from Main Poc who was at Fort Malden.
Billy Wells was also at the fort. He had been sent with thirty Miami warriors to escort the fort’s garrison as well as the whole civilian population back to the relative safety of Fort Wayne. Wells was a conflicted man. He had been captured by the Miami as a boy and adopted into the band. He took the name of Black Snake and was raised Miami. He married Little Turtle’s sister and fought with Little Turtle’s confederacy when they smashed the American Armies of Generals Harmar and St. Clair.
However, confusion over his identity brought about feelings of doubt and guilt concerning the Americans he had slain in battle. He thought some could even have been his relatives! He switched sides joining General Wayne as a scout and interpreter. He fought again at Fallen Timbers, but this time on the side of the Big Knives. He went on to become the Indian Agent at Fort Wayne, a position he presently held. Both Wells and his brother-in-law were despised by Tecumseh who considered them turncoats. Although he held great sway with the First Nations friendly to the U.S. he still was not trusted by Harrison who thought he was secretly working with enemy war chiefs.
The Potawatomi were led by war chiefs Assikenack or Blackbird from Milwaukee, Tonquish of the Detroit Potawatomi and Nuscotomeg or Bad Sturgeon who came from a village at the junction of the Iroquois and Kankakee Rivers. Together, with a few Ojibwa, Kickapoo and Winnebago warriors, they commanded 600 warriors. They had the fort surrounded but Heald prepared to abandon the fort anyway. On August 14th he distributed all the goods and supplies they could not carry with them to the warriors as payment for safe passage out of the fort. The Potawatomi withdrew to the sand dunes near road which would become Michigan Avenue.
Unfortunately Heald had destroyed all extra arms, ammunition and liquor the night before so they would not fall into the hands of the warriors. That was probably a mistake because it infuriated the Potawatomi putting them in a most foul mood. They took this action as a betrayal of their agreement thereby nullifying it so they attacked the column as they marched down the road.
The thirty Miami warriors immediately abandoned the field. Captain Heald circled the wagons then he and Wells led a charge up the dunes directly at the warriors’ position. This was Heald’s second mistake. After all he had only fifty-three soldiers under his command. This left the civilians cowering behind their only protection, the wagons. Heald’s men were quickly overwhelmed by far superior numbers as were the civilians.
There was a total of ninety-three persons that filed out of the fort that August 15th. They got to a point three miles from the Chicago River when they were attacked. The civilians included twelve men, nine women and eighteen children. Of the military twenty-six were killed and scalped including Wells whose heart was cut out and eaten raw by the Potawatomi chiefs in order to absorb his great courage. Five more were put to death that same night. Captain Heald survived and was taken back to the fort where he found his wife who had been rescued by the friendly chief Black Partridge. The other twenty-two soldiers who survived were also taken prisoner. Of the thirty-nine civilians all eighteen men, two women and twelve children were killed and scalped at the wagons. The balance were also herded back to the fort as prisoners. A few were ransomed but most were split up and adopted into various bands. With the fall of Forts Michilimackinac, Dearborn and Detroit the Americans lost control of all territory north and west of the Maumee River.
After the First Nations conference at Brownstown in July Black Hoof, Logan and The Wolf hurried back to Ohio to attend the conference at Piqua. They arrived in time only to find out that the conference had been postponed until August 15th. When it finally did get underway there were only 750 First Nations people in attendance and not the 3,000 expected! Not surprisingly the attendees were the eastern Shawnee from Ohio and the White River Delaware along with a few Ottawa and Kickapoo. Tarhe’s Wyandotte of Sandusky didn’t arrive until September. Fearing attacks by hostile warriors they were busy moving their village to the Upper Sandusky behind American lines. Most of the missing attendees were from the Northwest and had either joined Tecumseh or were observing the war with a view to joining him.
The U.S. commissioners were Governor Meigs, Thomas Worthington and Jeremiah Morrow. In the time leading up to the conference they learned of Tecumseh’s stunning successes. Just after the meetings began they received the news that Detroit had fallen and Chicago was now under Potawatomi domination. The commissioners’ refrain was predictable.
They tried to convince their audience that although the Americans had suffered some losses in the end they would prevail. That the United States harbored no interest in acquiring any more of their lands. If they remained neutral they would receive total protection of U.S. forces against any enemy but if they joined the hostiles that would only end in their destruction. They were preaching to the choir as all of the attendees were already committed to the U.S.
On September 6th the Potawatomi besieged Fort Wayne. Main Poc with his Detroit Potawatomi joined with their Tippecanoe and St. Joseph country men and had the Fort hemmed up. Fort Wayne was a heavily reinforced fortification. The Potawatomi had no heavy artillery with which to breach its walls. They could only hem it in taking pot shots at whatever moved while waiting for British reinforcements. Main Poc built ramparts made of logs and earth in a ruse to make the Big Knives think that British artillery had arrived. It didn’t work.
On September 14th Captain Adam Muir, Roundhead and Tecumseh left Amherstburg with a force of 1,000 to help Main Poc and Winamek take Fort Wayne. Yes, the same Winamek that was pro American. The same Winamek that brought General Hull the news of Fort Michilimackinac’s capitulation in July. The same Winamek that carried Hull’s evacuation order to Fort Dearborn. He had switched sides!
Governor Harrison had been given command of the western army so he relinquished his governorship and took the rank of Major General. He was ordered to raise a force of 10,000 to retake Detroit and then strike into Canada as far as possible. He was in the process of carrying out the order when the siege of Fort Wayne began. Local friendly chiefs and warriors including Captain Lewis, Logan, Bright Horn, Captain Johnny and The Wolf joined him as scouts and interpreters. Harrison marched the army of 2,000 he had raised to Fort Wayne to break the siege. Brigadier-General Winchester arrived just after him with a small contingent of Kentucky Militia. They arrived ahead of Muir and Tecumseh who, when they saw they faced vastly superior numbers turned around and headed back to Fort Malden. The siege was broken and the Potawatomi assault had failed.
NEXT WEEK: The War Turns Ugly
