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Subject: [LATTA-L] JAMES LATTA KILLED IN CHICAGO MASSACRE
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 08:23:31 EDT

The following is an account of the Chicago Massacre in which James Latta was
killed on August 15, 1812, found in Gateway to Empire, by Allan W. Eckert, a
historical novel.

(Some background information) Tecumseh was a Shawnee warrior who gathered
together numerous bands of Indians in the Chicago area to eliminate the white
man from the area. The Indians were tired of the whites making deals with
chiefs of lesser tribes for the sale of large amounts of land to the United
States. The Indians were getting moved further and further west and Tecumseh
did not like it. So he went from village to village for several years talking
the Indians into banding together to get rid of the white man.

Saturday, August 15, 1812

That morning the civilians living near Ft. Dearborn and the soldiers at the
fort were preparing to leave in canvas covered wagons. They were attacked and
nearly all killed by the Indians. All survivors were taken as captives.
Captives were usually later traded to the British for something.

p. 596 "8:48 a.m. Under orders from Captain Heald, a squad of a half-dozen
privates led by Corporal Joseph Bowen, all armed with rifles, passed through
the main gate and the outer pickets and went directly to the livestock
compound several rods to the southwest. Here the thirty or forty mulch cows
and one hundred fifty or more beef cattle were hazed out into the open prairie
to wander and graze as they wished. Since the animals were to be left behind
anyway, it was Captain Heald's belief that they might serve as a diversion,
with the Indians trying to capture them as the column moved away. Within
three minutes the squad had returned to the safety of the fort."

p. 597. "8:55 a.m. Obeying the order of the commanding officer, Private Hugh
McPherson beat his drum in the signal for assembly. Immediately, as
prearranged, the sentries still at their posts on the parapets climbed down to
take their places with the troops...

p. 598. "9:00 a.m. Open the gates!" Lieutenant Helm called loudly...Instantly
the front portion of the line began to move - three officers and two officers'
wives and John Kinzie (owner of trading post) first, with Salienne (young boy
interpreter - spy) only a pace behind the commander, then the standard bearer
and four musicians - the drummers immediately beginning a cadenced tattoo -
followed by the marching regulars, which included a sergeant, five corporals
and forty-five privates." Behind this group went the two wagons filled with
civilians.

As they proceeded out of the fort, the Indians, who they knew were waiting
outside the fort, and who they hoped would let them leave, slowly began
advancing themselves into a position to set up an ambush from behind a large
dune a quarter of a mile ahead.

p. 613. "The Indian Agent's stomach was churning at the thought of the captain
and his lieutenant leading a direct charge of only a few over forty men into
the teeth of an enemy at least three or four hundred strong right here and
with more coming, and with cover to hide behind to begin with. That was
insanity!"

9:29 a.m. "Charge! The word ripped out of Captain Heald's mouth explosively as
he held his sword high in the air...

p. 631. "9:41 a.m. The pitiful remainder of Captain Heald's company had
finally reached the slight elevation southwestward in the prairie and the men,
many of them wounded, threw themselves down...Close to half the men who had
participated in the initial charge were no longer with them and lay dead,
either among the dunes or in the grass between here and there."

p. 632. "Amid the groans of the wounded, the soldiers now agreed among
themselves in a hasty conference to stick together and continue to fight so
long as one of them remained to fire. Captain Heald, however, shook his head.
'There is a chance that those of us left alive will survive if we surrender',
he told them. 'The only alternative to surrender is death for all of us.
Courage is one thing; foolhardiness is another. Our deaths at this point
would serve no useful end. If we surrender, we may ultimately expect to be
ransomed and eventually, perhaps, bring a terrible vengeance against these
savages'.

p. 636. "Only thirty-five of his men here were still alive, including officers
and noncommissioned officers as well as privates, of which twelve were
wounded, with eight of those in serious condition." 296 (reference # - see
below)

p. 641. "10:03 a.m. The soldiers stood in little clusters, stunned, unable yet
to comprehend fully the enormity of their present situation, beyond the fact
that the fierce action was over...They watched as the Indians gathered up the
weapons that had been discarded at the knoll..."

p. 644. "10:17 a.m. The sorry procession of soldiers, with Captain Heald and
Lieutenant Helm in their lead, were herded past the scene of horror at the
wagons and to a man they paled, some becoming violently ill at the sight of
the dead men, women and children, most of them stripped, some beheaded...Other
soldiers passed and recognized wife or child as their own and became all but
hysterical."

p. 646. "The surviving soldiers, many of them - including Captain Heald -
limping very badly and some being helped by others, straggled into the
encampment."

p. 647. "Voices down the line of men caused them to turn and look. The
soldiers were methodically being stripped of their outer clothing - hats, if
they wore them, jackets, shirts, pouches, trousers, shoes. They were being
left only with their undergarments".

p. 650. "10:35 a.m. The division of the prisoners among the Indians was
accomplished with surprising speed. The soldiers were forced to sit in a
circle in the midst of the clearing while the chiefs held a council and the
distribution was made."

(The Indians discussed whether or not to allow Captain Heald to live or be
held hostage and later returned to the President of the United States.)

p. 656 "they have already reached their decision about what to do with the
white chief...It is their decision that he is to be burned at the stake
tomorrow night".

p. 660. "12:00 Midnight..Only a short while later the screaming had begun from
across the river and it was terrible - agonizing, drawnout screams of terror
and anguish and pain; cries of men being tortured. Cries of death. Now, at
last, the screaming had ended and a terrible silence had settled over Chicago.
The long, long day of August 15, 1812, had finally come to an end."

Footnotes by the author in the back of the book:

p. 742. Latta, James; U. S. Army private; surname also incorrectly recorded
as Lata, Latte and Lutta; enlisted on April 10, 1810; enlistment to expire on
April 10, 1815. Captured; executed later in evening.

p. 757. Note No. 296. Survivors at the prairie knoll at the time they were
surrendered by Captain Heald included: Captain Nathan Heald (wounded); Second
Lieutenant Linai Helm (slightly wounded).....James Latta....

p. 759. Note No. 307. One severely wounded woman, Emmaline Clark, and twelve
solders were killed by various means, primarily tortures of different sorts,
by Indians that night. Exact details are not known, although later evidence
showed some had been burned at the stake. Of the twelve solders, eight were
known to have been so severely wounded in the fighting that they would have
been unable to march away with their captors to the respective villages and so
they were executed. The same was true of two privates who had been captured
at the sick wagon and were too ill to march. The final two were neither
injured nor sick, but no reason is known for why these two were singled out to
be executed, although the probability is that they had in some way, prior to
the massacre, offended the Indians and the execution was a form of revenge.
Whatever the case, the identify of those killed this night is as follows:

Severely wounded, unable to march: Mrs. Emmaline Clark, Corporal Richard
Garner, Private John Allin, Private Prestly Andrews, Private Micahjah Denison,
Private Stephen Draper, Private Jacob Landon, Private John Smith, Sr., Private
Anthony L. Waggoner. Sick, too ill to march: Private Thomas Poindexter,
Private John Fury. Neither sick nor wounded: Private James Latta, Private
Hugh Logan.

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