Fort Dearborn: Chicago's Swallowed, BurnedHistory

Fort Dearborn: Chicago's Swallowed, BurnedHistory

A forgotten war and progress buried Chicago's first steps – remnants of 1812 Battlefield, devoured by the Chicago River, respawned, then immolated.

Fort Dearborn, merely an echo and a few plaques today, lurks beneath Chicago's concrete and steel. Established in 1803, it met its doom in the War of 1812, resurrected once, then soaked in 1855 by the Chicago River, rebirthed again, only to be set ablaze in 1857. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 finished off what was left. Now a Chicago Landmark in the Michigan–Wacker Historic District, it's just a missing piece here, a faint trace there in the Chicago History Museum. Hidden within those walls, death danced in numbers during the 1812 Battle of Fort Dearborn – soldiers, women, children. A bone-headed move for the Americans, yet an event long erased from memory.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons

Written by Leroy

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