Produced by Gardner Buchanan WAU-NAN-GEE OR, THE MASSACRE AT CHICAGO, A ROMANCE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, By MAJOR RICHARDSON, AUTHOR OF "WACOUSTA," "HARDSCRABBLE," "ECARTE," "JACK BRAG IN SPAIN," "TECUMSEH," &c. NEW YORK: H. LONG AND BROTHER, No. 43 ANN STREET. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-Two, BY H. LONG AND BROTHER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York PREFATORY INSCRIPTION. My Publishers ask of me a couple of pages of matter to precede this Tale. It is scarcely necessary to state, that the whole of the text approaches so nearly to Historical fact, that any other preface than that which admits the introduction of but one strictly fictitious character--Maria Heywood--in the book, must be, in a great degree, supererogatory. Yet I gladly avail myself of this pleasing opportunity of manifesting the deep interest and sympathy with which I have ever regarded those brave spirits--heroes not less than heroines--who participated in the trials of that brief but horrid epoch. How can I better exemplify this than by inscribing to the descendants of the venerable founder of the City of Chicago--a prominent actor in the scene--as well as to the gallant military survivors of the Massacre, if any yet exist, the fruits of that interest and that sympathy. Dedications and Inscriptions have almost grown out of fashion--at least they are not so general in the present century as in the days of Dryden; but where, through them, an opportunity for the expression of esteem and sympathy is presented, an Author may gladly avail himself of the occasion to show that no common interest influenced the tracings of his pen--not the mere desire to make a book, but to establish on a high pedestal, and to circulate through the most attractive and popular medium, the merits of those whose deeds and sufferings have inspired him with the generous spirit of eulogistic comment. To Her Majesty's 41st Regiment, in garrison at Detroit shortly after the occurrences herein detailed, my first Indian Tale, "Wacousta," was inscribed, and this in memory of the long, and by no means feather-bed service I had seen with that gallant Corps, in the then Western wilds of America; it was a tribute of the soldier to his companions in arms. In the same spirit I inscribe "Wau-nan-gee" to those who were then our enemies, but whose courage and whose sufferings were well known to all, and claimed our deep sympathy, our respect, and our admiration,--none more than the noble Mrs. Heald, and Mrs. Helme, the former the wife of the Commanding Officer, the latter the daughter of the patriarch of Illinois, Mr. Kenzie, some years since gathered to his forefathers. THE AUTHOR. New York, March 30th, 1852. WAU-NAN-GEE; OR, THE MASSACRE AT CHICAGO. CHAPTER I. "He has come to ope the purple testament of war." --_Richard II_