The Fort Dearborn Massacre

This one really makes you think. I always go up and down Dearborn St. shopping like nothing. To read this makes you take a second look around, especially at night.

Perhaps one of the most brutal events in all of Chicago history took place when the city was only beginning. The terrible incident has become known as the Fort Dearborn Massacre and memories of it still linger in the city today.

Chicago began as nothing but empty wilderness and open prairie. It first appeared on maps of the region in 1684 as “Chekagou”, which literally means “wild onion”. Despite these inauspicious beginnings, it became home to a trading post owned by Jean Baptist Point du Sable, a French Canadian trapper in 1779. He stayed along the Chicago River until 1800, before selling the establishment to Jean Lalime. As American’s spread further west, there was talk of a military garrison being established at Chicago as early as 1795. It finally came about in 1803 under the command of Captain John Whistler. He brought with him 40 men and they built Fort Dearborn. This is where the tragedy begins.
Very interesting story, check it out.