Nathan Heald American The Fort Dearborn Massacre

Captain Nathan Heald led the ill-fated expedition out of Fort Dearborn. He followed General William Hull’s order to evacuate even though he could have stayed in the sufficiently well-provisioned, and fortified garrison. Heald and Billy Wells led troops and civilians out of the fort accompanied by some Miami Natives. They were soon ambushed by a large force of Potawatomi and Winnebago warriors led by Black Bird. Much of the party was slaughtered. Heald and his wife were reported to have been saved by a sympathetic Potawatomi chief, Leopold Pokagon, who later blamed the massacre on the “firewater” consumed by the warriors before the attack. They were eventually handed over as prisoners to the British at Fort Mackinac. Mrs. Heald would later become the heroine of one of soldier-turned-author, John Richardson’s, later novels.