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[ 6 ] From Crisis to Surrender, August 15–16 Saturday morning, August 15, ushered in the weekend that would bring a sad closure to military events in Detroit as well as in Fort Dearborn on the opposite, or western, portion of the Territory of Michigan. Before it was over, the entire territory would be in the hands of the British. For lonely Fort Dearborn, now the site of Chicago, the day would prove disastrous. Over two weeks before, on July 29, General Hull had written an urgent express to Captain Nathan Heald, the fort’s commandant , after receiving news of the fall of Fort Mackinac. He ordered Heald to distribute the fort’s stores to the neighboring Potawatomi Indians , abandon the fort, and remove the garrison to a new location, either Detroit or Fort Wayne, as quickly as possible. Hull had forwarded the dispatch through a friendly Potawatomi chief who subsequently warned Heald to leave as soon as he could. News of the orders for Heald to turn over the fort and its supplies to the Indians spread rapidly. When Heald dallied, the Indians became impatient, for they were anxious to claim the fort’s excess guns—and its whiskey. Heald, however, wasted several days by calling the Indians to council to explain what they already knew. During the council he promised to leave all the stores that the garrison would not need during its march to Fort Wayne. He then proceeded to destroy all the surplus arms and ammunition, and the liquor as well, rather than leave them behind. He assumed that if the Indians acquired them while the garrison was still in the area, he would have trouble on his hands. It was a wrong decision. The Indians believed he had broken his promise and turned hostile. Before they could act, however, Heald received a surprise visit from Captain William Wells, accompanied by 27 Miami From Crisis to Surrender 87 Indians. Wells, an Indian agent based at Fort Wayne and a chief of the Miami as well, had come to reinforce Heald’s garrison. He also was the uncle of Heald’s wife. Wells readily agreed to Hull’s orders for the fort’s evacuation. Heald’s party marched out of the fort at 9:00 in the morning on August 15, heading toward Fort Wayne, some 165 miles to the southeast. For protection, Wells placed several of his 27 Miami Indians at the head of the column and the rest at its rear. Heald’s group of soldiers and civilians otherwise consisted of 53 regular troops, 12 militia volunteers, nine women, and 15 children. The trail initially tracked along the shore of Lake Michigan, with the water on their left and a high sandbank 100 yards inland to their right. Heald noted that a large group of Indians trailed them on the other side of the bank. Fearing that they were preparing an attack , he ordered his regulars to disperse them, only to discover that other Indians had circled around and enveloped the rest of his train. A fierce fight erupted, during which 26 of the regulars and all of the militiamen were killed, including Captain Wells. When the Miami Indians learned of Wells’s death, they defected to the Potawatomi side. Heald and his remaining men plus the women and children retreated to a small elevation in the center of the prairie between the lake and the sandbank. They continued to beat off new attacks but lost two of the women and 12 children. Meanwhile the Indians made off with their horses, baggage, and provisions. At a pause in the fighting, one of the Potawatomi chiefs, Black Bird, made signs for Heald to approach. Heald bravely did so, alone. Black Bird promised him that he would spare the lives of all survivors if they would surrender. Confronted by several hundred Indians, realizing that further fighting would lead to the death of the rest of his party, Heald reluctantly agreed. The Indians took the survivors captive and distributed them among themselves. Heald and his wife, both severely wounded, were conveyed by canoe to an Indian camp at the mouth of the St. Joseph River. There an Indian trader named Burnett took them under his protection. A few days after they had arrived, all of the Indians in the vicinity unexpectedly departed for Fort Wayne. Heald immediately arranged for a local Frenchman to take him and his wife by canoe 300 miles along the Lake Michigan eastern shoreline to...

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