John Richardson (1796 -1852) was a British Army officer and the first Canadian-born novelist to achieve international recognition. During the War of 1812, he was imprisoned for a year in the United States after his capture during the battle of Moraviantown. Hardscrabble: or the fall of Chicago is a tale of Indian warfare. Unlike the stereotypical Indians of Fenimore Cooper's frontier tales, Richardson's Indians are portrayed in a more complex manner. It is possible Richardson had read an 1844 pamphlet about the Hardscrabble massacre before writing this novel. His story is based loosely on this event and the events surrounding the war of 1812.