Under the threat of attack from Black Hawk and his allies, the U.S. Army sent Winfield Scott with troops to protect the American settlement at Chicago. The soldiers carried cholera with them and were laid low on arrival. In July 1832, Lemuel Bryant described the chaotic arrival of Winfield Scott’s troops in Chicago. Sick with cholera, these troops were to be feared almost as much as an Indian attack. In the end, Black Hawk did not attack Chicago, and the allied tribes were forced to turn over their claims to land in northeastern Illinois in the Treaty of 1833.

Author: Lemuel Bryant
Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-37422)