"I would like to comment on a recent column written by Julie Mack, “Columbus should be remembered, but how?” in which she mentions finding a "90-year-old carving on a stone pillar" on the Michigan Avenue bridge in Chicago. She states the carving "commemorated pioneers who died in a battle with Native Americans when Chicago was first being settled."

Actually, the relief carving to which she refers commemorates the victims of the Fort Dearborn Massacre, during the War of 1812. This "battle with the Native Americans" took place several miles to the south, around 16th Street and Indiana Avenue, just west of Soldier Field. The reason that the massacre did not occur at the site of Fort Dearborn, where the carving stands, is that the settlers had abandoned the fort and begun the trek to Fort Wayne.

The Potawatomi had sided with the British in the War of 1812, and had been gathering in a show of force around the American fort. The fort's commander, Captain Nathan Heald, negotiated with the Potawatomi leaders on the evening of Aug. 14, 1812, and secured a promise of a safe retreat for the fort's occupants. The soldiers and settlers, along with their families, left the fort immediately.

Despite the Indians' promises of safe conduct, the column of settlers was attacked. The soldiers were taken by surprise and routed. Soldiers and civilians alike were butchered. The camp's surgeon was literally hacked to pieces."

Get the Story:
Ed Pierucci: Native Americans were not just victims of American expansion (The Kalamazoo Gazette 12/16)