The Chicago Massacre of 1812

History is not a snap-shot. Events happen, and the true record of them
follows at a distance. Sometimes the early report is too voluminous,
and it takes time to reduce it to truth by a winnowing process that
divides chaff from grain. This has been the case regarding every great
modern battle. Sometimes, on the other hand, the event was obscure and
became important through the rise of other, later conditions; in which
case, instead of winnowing, the historian sets himself to gleaning the
field and making his grist out of scattered bits of its fruitage. This
has been the case regarding the Chicago massacre of 1812.