ed during
the scenes of the year 1812, eight years after Mr. Kinzie first came to
live among them.

Some of the most prominent events of that year are recorded in the
following Narrative.

CHAPTER XVIII.

MASSACRE AT CHICAGO.[29]

It was the evening of the 7th of April, 1812. The children of Mr. Kinzie
were dancing before the fire to the music of their father's violin. The
tea-table was spread, and they were awaiting the return of their mother,
who had gone to visit a sick neighbor about a quarter of a mile up the
river.

Suddenly their sports were interrupted. The door was thrown open, and
Mrs. Kinzie rushed in, pale with terror, and scarcely able to
articulate, "The Indians! the Indians!"

"The Indians? What? Where?" eagerly demanded they all.

"Up at Lee's Place, killing and scalping!"

With difficulty Mrs. Kinzie composed herself sufficiently to give the
information, "That, while she was up at Burns's, a man and a boy were
seen running down with all speed on the opposite side of the river; that
they had called across to give notice to Barns's family to save
themselves, for _the Indians_ were at Lee's Place, from which they had
just made their escape. Having given this terrifying news, they had made
all speed for the fort, which was on the same side of the river that
they then were."

All was now consternation and dismay. The family were hurried into two
old _pirogues_, that lay moored near the house, and paddled with all
possible haste across the river to take refuge in the fort.

All that the man and boy who had made their escape were able to tell,
was soon known; but, in order to render their story more intelligible,
it is necessary to describe the scene of action.

_Lee's Place_, since known by the name of Hardscrabble, was a farm
intersected by the Chicago River, about four miles from its mouth. The
farm-house stood on the western bank of the south branch of this river.
On the north side of the main stream, but quite near its junction with
Lake Michigan, stood (as has already been described) the dwelling-house
and trading-establishment of Mr. Kinzie.

The fort was situated on the southern bank, directly opposite this
mansion--the river, and a few rods of sloping green turf on either side,
being all that intervened between them.

The fort was differently constructed from the one erected on the same
site in 1816. It had two block-houses on the southern side, and on the
northern a sally-po