The conflict has also been argued to have been a measure of self-defense on the part of the Potawatami. Aftermath Following the battle, the Native Americans took their prisoners to their camp near Fort Dearborn and the fort was burned to the ground. The region remained empty of U.S. citizens until after the war ended. Some of the prisoners died in captivity, while others were later ransomed. The fort, however, was rebuilt in 1816. General William Henry Harrison, who was not present at the battle, later claimed the Miami had fought against the Americans, and used the Battle of Fort Dearborn as a pretext to attack Miami villages. Miami Chief, Pacanne, and his nephew, Jean Baptiste Richardville, accordingly ended their neutrality in the War of 1812, and allied with the British. Historical perspective Seen from the perspective of the War of 1812, and the larger conflict between Britain and France which precipitated it, this was a very small and brief battle, but it ultimately had larger consequences in the territory. Arguably, for the Native Americans, it was an example of "winning the battle but losing the war": the U.S. later pursued a policy of removing the tribes from the region, resulting in the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, which was marked at its culmination in 1835 by the last great Native American war dance in the then nascent city. Thereafter, the Potowatomie and other tribes were moved further west. Location of the battle Eye-witness accounts place the battle on the lake shore somewhere between south of Fort Dearborn. Heald's official report said the battle occurred south of the fort, placing the battle at what is now the intersection of Roosevelt Road (12th Street) and Michigan Avenue. Juliette Kinzie, shortly before her death in 1870, stated that the battle had started by a large cottonwood tree, which at that time still stood on 18th Street between Prairie Avenue and the lake. The tree was supposed to have been the last remaining of a grove of trees that had been saplings at the time of the battle. The tree was blown down in a storm on May 16, 1894, and a portion of its trunk was preserved at the Chicago Historical Society. Historian Harry A. Musham points out that the testimony relating to this tree is all second hand and came from people who settled in Chicago more than 20 years after the