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During the War of 1812, General William Hull ordered the evacuation of Fort Dearborn in August of 1812. Heald oversaw the evacuation, and on August 15, the evacuees were ambushed by about 500 PotawatomiThe Potawatomi (also spelled Pottawatomie or Pottawatomi are an Aboriginal American people of the upper Mississippi River region. The Potawatomi were part of a long term alliance with the Ottawa and Ojibwe, called the Council of Three Fires and which foug Indians in the Fort Dearborn MassacreThe Fort Dearborn Massacre occurred on August 15, 1812 near Fort Dearborn in the United States during the War of 1812. The massacre followed the evacuation of the fort ordered by the commander of the US forces, General Hull. Commandant Captain Nathan Heal. The Potawatomi captured Heald and his wife, Rebekah, and ransomed them to the BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in Western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom the UK Britain or less accurately as Great Britain . The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly. Of the 148 soldiers, women and children who evacuated the Fort, 86 were killed in the ambush. The Potawatomi burned the fort to the ground the next day.

Following the war, in 1816Events March 25 Friedrich Karl Ludwig, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck dies and is succeeded by the later Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg, his son and founder of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg., a second Fort Dearborn was built. The fort consisted of a double wall of wooden palisadeA palisade is a Medieval wooden fence. It was constructed most often around castles as a temporary wall until a permanent stone wall could be created. Fortification., officer and enlisted barracksBarracks are military housing. Often times NCOs and enlisted personel will be housed in barracks for service or training. Lower level NCOs will be housed in larger numbers where as higher ranking NCOs or officers will be housed in fewer numbers. Military, a garden, and other buildings. The Americans garrisoned the fort until 1823Events July 15 San Paolo fuori le Mura church in Rome almost completely destroyed by fire September 10 Simon Bolivar named President of Peru December 2 US President James Monroe delivers a speech to the United States Congress, announcing a new policy of f, when peace with the Indians led to a feeling that the garrisonThe term garrison is mainly used in a military sense. A garrison unit is a unit that is garrisoned somewhere, usually a city or something similar (however, it could be a military fort, or other areas). For example, the 1st Battalion, 1st Infantry (U. was redundant. This temporary abandonment lasted until 1828, when it was regarrisoned following the outbreak of war with the Winnebago Indians. Closed briefly before the Black Hawk War of 1832, in the early 1830s, part of the fort was demolished to make way for a new channel for the Chicago River. By 1837, the fort was being used by the Superintendent of Harbor Works.

In 1857, a fire destroyed nearly all the remaining buildings in the fort. The blockhouse and a few outbuildings were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

In 1933 - a stamp was issued in honor of the fort. Part of the fort outline is marked by plaques and a line embedded in the sidewalk and road near the Michigan Avenue Bridge and Wacker Drive. A few boards from the old Fort were retained - and they're now in the Chicago Historical Society in Lincoln Park.