The Battle of Fort Dearborn (also known as the Fort Dearborn Massacre) was an engagement between United States troops and Potawatomi Indians that occurred on August 15, 1812, near Fort Dearborn in what is now Chicago, Illinois, but was then part of the Illinois Territory. The battle, which occurred during the War of 1812, followed the evacuation of the fort as ordered by William Hull, commander of the United States Army of the Northwest.