Chicago's Magnificent Mile Self-Guided (GPS) Audio Walking Tour, Illinois - Architecture, history, shopping & hidden gems

This is just an intro spot for the tour - nothing particularly significant about the spot itself.

You now stand at the intersection of Wacker Drive & Michigan Avenue. Pause here for a moment so I can get you oriented and tell a quick story. Ahead of you across the intersection, the DuSable bridge spans the Chicago River. The width of the bridge is marked by the ornately carved bridge houses, two of which sit on either side of Michigan Avenue in front of you. The space between you and the left bridge house marks the one-time location of Fort Dearborn - a US Army fort whose abandonment led to a fierce battle and a defining moment in the history of Chicago. As was mentioned, the Chicago River serves as a connection between the water systems of the Great Lakes & the Mississippi. After completing the Louisiana Purchase, President Thomas Jefferson sent US Army Officer John Whistler to this strategic crossroads. Whistler built a fort named after Henry Dearborn, the Secretary of War, on this very spot. Clear your mind and you can almost picture the scene. It's 1803. The landscape around you is almost entirely open; a gently swaying landscape of tallgrass prairie bisected by lakes & rivers which smell faintly of wild onions, except for an upturned patch of earth ahead, where a small log fort is being constructed on the riverbank by a crew of rough hewn men in shirtsleeves. Its surrounding palisade & block houses slowly rise out of the earth as the dull thump of sledge hammers and the thwack of axes fills the air. You notice a surrounding settlement has sprung up about the skeleton of the fort; a ramshackle assortment of huts for settlers, soldiers, merchants and traders. In the distance, and seemingly on all sides, thousands of people from the indigenous Potawatomi Tribe look on … tensely. The fort was completed in 1804 and would remain intact until the war of 1812. In that year war broke out with the British and their Native American allies - including the Potawatomi. Soon after, American settlers farther downriver were murdered by local tribesmen while US soldiers were driven out of Michigan territory to the north. Fearing that Fort Dearborn could not be held, American forces evacuated the fort & settlement on a sultry August day. As the mixed group of just under 100 American soldiers and civilians (including women & children) drew a few miles beyond the fort, they collided with a large, hostile band of Potawatomi and were quickly overwhelmed. During the brief yet sharp fight, the American commander - Captain Wells - fell bravely and (according to eyewitness accounts) had his heart cut out by Potowatomi warriors in order to absorb his courage. Those that didn't die were taken hostage and the fort was burned, emptying the region of U.S. troops until after the war. The fort was eventually rebuilt but was done away with permanently in 1857 as the wild nature of this frontier territory receded into memory. The Battle of Fort Dearborn is commemorated on the bridge house sculpture on the other side of the intersection. Cross over and I'll take a look with you!