The Chicago Massacre of 1812: With Illustrations and Historical DocumentsKirkland, Joseph
History
The Chicago Massacre of 1812: With Illustrations and Historical Documents
Kirkland, Joseph
Chicago (Ill.) -- History; Fort Dearborn Massacre, Chicago, Ill., 1812
_My dear sir:_--At your request I will state my recollections
concerning the cottonwood tree in the east end of Eighteenth Street.
When I removed from Eldredge Court to the present 1808 Prairie Avenue,
in 1858, the tree was in apparent good condition, though showing all
the marks of advanced age. The large lower branches (since cutoff),
after mounting upward for a time, curved gracefully downward, so that a
man riding under them could have readily touched their extremities with
his whip at a distance of twenty or twenty-five feet from the body.
From an intimate knowledge of the growth of trees, I have no doubt but
its sapling life long ante-dated the time of the massacre of the Fort
Dearborn garrison. I will venture the opinion that if it were cut down
and the stump subjected to a careful examination, it would be found
that the last two inches of its growth cover a period of fifty years at
least.
Yours truly,
A. J. Galloway.
To these highly convincing letters. Captain Andreas adds verbal
testimony as follows:
Charles Harpell, an old citizen, now living on the North Side, says
that as far back as he can remember this locality was known as "the
Indian battle-ground;" that years ago, when a boy, he with others
used to play there (the place, from its very associations, having
the strongest attractions) and hunt in the sand for beads and other
little trinkets, which they were wont to find in abundance. Mr.
Harpell relates, also, that he, while playing there one day, found an
old single-barreled brass pistol, which he kept for many years.
Mrs. Mary Clark Williams, whose father, H. B. Clark, purchased in
1833, the land on which the tree now stands, says that nearly fifty
years ago she played under the old cottonwood, and that it was then
a large and thrifty tree. In 1840 an old Indian told her that the
massacre occurred on that spot.
On the same branch of the subject, and in absolute conformation of the
Clark testimony, see the following letter, later than the other, which
I am glad to be able to give as "the conclusion of the matter."
Aspen, Colorado, March 15, 1890.
_Editor of the Tribune:_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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