Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, Illinois (1816–1836)

Fort Armstrong, Illinois, was one of a chain of western frontier defenses that the United States erected after the War of 1812. It was located at the foot of Rock Island, Illinois, in the Mississippi River near the present-day Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa. It was five miles from the principal Sac and Fox village on Rock River in Illinois.

1839 painting of Fort Armstrong, six years after the removal of the Sauk and Fox tribes, on the U.S. Army's present-day Rock Island Arsenal Island, looking toward Iowa, in the background, from the Illinois side, of the Mississippi River.

Built of stone and timber construction, 300 feet square, the fort began in May 1816 and was completed the following year. In 1832, the U.S. Army used the fort as a military headquarters during the Black Hawk War. It was normally garrisoned by two companies of United States Army regulars. With the pacification of the Indian threat in Illinois, the U.S. Government ceased operations at Fort Armstrong, and the U.S. Army abandoned the frontier fort in 1836.

Fort Armstrong

ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL ISLAND BEFORE CONSTRUCTION OF THE U.S. ARMY FORT.
In 1805, when President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark on their expedition into the Louisiana Territory, he also sent Lieutenant Zebulon Pike and Major Stephan H. Long up the Mississippi River to gather data and determine strategic sites for forts. Pike identified one site as the "big island." Congress agreed with his recommendation, reserving the island for military use in 1809, naming it "Rock Island."

THE SAUK CONSIDERED THE ISLAND SACRED.
"The island was the best one on the Mississippi River and had long been the resort of our young people during the summer. It was our garden like the white people have near their big villages, which supplied us with strawberries, blackberries, gooseberries, plums, apples, and nuts of different kinds. Its waters supplied us with the finest fish situated at the foot of the rapids.

In my early life, I spent many happy days on this island. A good spirit had charge of it, which lived in a cave in the rock immediately under the place where the fort now stands. This guardian spirit has often been seen by our people. It was white, with large wings like a swan's, but ten times larger. We were careful not to make much noise in that part of the inhabited island for fear of disturbing it. But the noise at the fort has since driven it away, and no doubt a bad spirit has taken its place."  [NOTE: The quote is from an Indian, but it's unknown who] 

CONSTRUCTION OF FORT ARMSTRONG.
This was to be the second US fort between St. Louis and Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. The US wanted to establish a military presence to dissuade the French and English Canadians (who traded in areas nearby) from encroaching upon the unorganized territory. After its losses at several forts during the War of 1812, the US Army wanted to increase its presence on the Mississippi frontier. The fort also would serve to protect American settlers within the area and to help control or remove the Sauk, the American Indians in the region.

A Model of Fort Armstrong, Illinois.

The Sauk disapproved of its construction; Black Hawk wrote in his memoir, "When we arrived, we found that the troops had come to build a fort on Rock Island. This, in our opinion, was a contradiction to what we had done– 'to prepare for war in time of peace.' We did not object, however, to their building their fort on the island but were very sorry."

On May 10, 1816, soldiers arrived to begin constructing Fort Armstrong. It was named after John Armstrong, the Secretary of War under President James Madison. The army assigned 600 soldiers and 150 laborers to the project. After the construction was completed, fewer than 200 soldiers garrisoned the post. Between 1824 and 1836, the garrison was reduced to fewer than 100 troops.

THE BLACK HAWK CHOLERA EPIDEMIC.
In 1832, President Andrew Jackson ordered Winfield Scott to Illinois to take command of the Black Hawk War conflict. General Winfield Scott led 1,000 troops to Fort Armstrong to assist the U.S. Army garrison and militia volunteers stationed there. While General Scott's army was en route along the Great Lakes, his troops had contracted Asiatic cholera before they left the state of New York; it killed most of his 1,000 soldiers. Only 220 U.S. Army regulars from the original force made the final march, from Fort Dearborn, in Chicago to Rock Island, Illinois. Winfield Scott and his troops likely carried the highly contagious disease with them; soon after their arrival at Rock Island, a local cholera epidemic broke out among the whites and Indians around Fort Armstrong. Cholera microbes were spread, through sewery-type, contaminated water, which mixed with clean drinking water, brought on by poor sanitation practices of the day. Within eight days, 189 people died and were buried on the island.

By the time Scott arrived in Illinois, the conflict had come to a close with the army's victory at the Battle of Bad Axe. Also known as the Bad Axe Massacre, it was a battle between Sauk (Sac) and Meskwaki (Fox) Indians and United States Army regulars and militia that occurred on August 1st and 2nd of, 1832. This final battle of the Black Hawk War took place near present-day Victory, Wisconsin.

BLACK HAWK WAR TREATY NEGOTIATIONS.

Painting of Black Hawk, the Sauk
war chief and Black Hawk War
namesake, being the last Indian
war in Illinois.

On September 21, 1832, the Black Hawk War officially ended with the treaty signed at Fort Armstrong (named the Treaty of Fort Armstrong)[1]. The defeated Sac and Mesquakie (Fox) Indians agreed to cede to the US the lands they occupied east of the Mississippi River. Black Hawk, two of his sons, and other Sac and Fox warriors had been taken to the fort as prisoners after their capture following the Battle of Bad Axe. They spent the winter held at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, after which the Army took the men on a tour of Eastern cities, hoping to impress them with the wealth and power of white civilization. The natives met with President Andrew Jackson and were of great interest and celebrity among the white population, who at that period admiringly viewed natives as "noble savages[1]." After a brief period of imprisonment at Fortress Monroe at Hampton Roads, Virginia, the Sauk and Fox warriors were allowed to return to Iowa. Together with their people, they occupied a small reservation in Iowa allotted by the Treaty of Fort Armstrong. Black Hawk died there in 1838.

THE END OF FORT ARMSTRONG.
Fort Armstrong was abandoned by federal troops on May 4, 1836, but continued in use by militia until 1845. The remains of the old fort were destroyed by fires in 1855 and 1859.

The historical reconstruction of Fort Armstrong, a three-story blockhouse on the U.S. Army's Rock Island Arsenal Island.

The photograph above is the replica blockhouse that was built in 1916.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

---

[1] THE TREATY OF FORT ARMSTRONG.
On Sept. 21, 1833, following the Black Hawk War, at Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, HI., a final treaty of peace, friendship and cession was made by Gen. Winfield Scott and the Hon. John Reynolds, of the State of Illinois, representing the United States, and the chiefs, head-men, and warriors of the "Sac and Fox" Indians. 

This treaty recites that certain "lawless and desperate" leaders constituting a formidable band and a large portion of the Sac and Fox nations, left their country in April of 1832, and, in violation of their treaties, commenced an unprovoked war upon citizens of the United States, which, at great expense, has subdued said hostile band and killed or captured all of the principal chiefs and warriors. Thereupon, partly to indemnify it for such expense and partly to secure the future safety and tranquility of the invaded frontier, the United States demanded of said tribes (to the use of the United States) a cession of a tract of the Sac and Fox country, bordering on said frontier, more than proportional to the numbers of said hostile band. Said tribes accordingly ceded a large territory in Iowa to the United States and, among other things, provided:

By Article V, the United States agreed to pay to Farnham & Davenport, Indian traders at Rock Island, $40,000 to satisfy their claims against said tribes for articles furnished to them. 

By Article VI, the United States, at the request of said confederated tribes, agreed to grant by patent, in fee simple, to Antoine Le Claire, interpreter, a part Indian, one section of land opposite Rock Island and one section at the head of the first rapids above said Island within the country herein ceded by the Sacs and Foxes.

By Article VII, Muk-ka-ta-mish-aka-kaik (or Black Hawk) and his two sons, Wau-ba-ku-shik (the Prophet), his brother and two sons, Napope, We-shut, Iowa, Pama-ho, and Cha-kee-pa-she-pa-ho (the Little Stabbing Chief) were to be held as hostages for the future good conduct of the late hostile bands during the pleasure of the President of the United States.

This treaty was signed by the "marks" of nine of the Sacs, including Keokuk, "or he who has been everywhere," and by twenty-four of the Foxes.

On Oct. 1, 1834, the United States made a treaty with the united nations of the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi Indians, whereby they ceded to the United States all their land along the shore of Lake Michigan, and between that lake and the land ceded to the United States by the Winnebago nation by the treaty of Fort Armstrong, made Sept. 15, 1832, bounded on the north by the country lately ceded by the Menominees, and on the south by the country ceded at the treaty of Prairie du Chien, made July 29, 1829, and supposed to contain 5,000,000 acres of land.

This cession was in lieu of 5,000,000 acres of other lands to be given them by the United States west of the Mississippi river; also, $250,000 to satisfy claims of persons against them, $100,000 in goods, $280,000 to be paid in annual amounts of $14,000 for twenty years, $150,000 for the erection of mills, etc., $70,000 for the education of young Indians, and $4,600 to certain Indians named.

On Dec. 17, 1834, the United States made a treaty with the Potawatomi whereby they agreed to remove farther west within three years thereafter to a country provided for them by the United States.

By these numerous treaties, it is apparent that the United States became seizin of an absolute and indefeasible title to all the land in this portion of the State of Illinois.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

---

[1] "SAVAGE" is a word defined in U.S. dictionaries as a Noun, Verb, Adjective, and Adverb. Definitions include:

• a person belonging to a primitive society
• malicious, lacking complex or advanced culture
• a brutal person
• a rude, boorish or unmannerly person
• to attack or treat brutally
• lacking the restraints normal to civilized human beings

Unlike the term "RED MEN," dictionaries like Merriam-Webster define this term, its one-and-only definition, as a Noun meaning: AMERICAN INDIAN (historically dated, offensive today).

The term Red Men is often used in historical books, biographies, letters, and articles written in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries.

I change this derogatory term to "INDIANS" to keep with the terminology of the time period I'm writing about.

The Life and Times of John Washington Barker (1822-1863), 131st Illinois Civil War Infantry Man.

John Washington Barker was born about 1822 in Perry County, Indiana. Nothing is known of his first 35 years of his life.

John Washington Barker lived in this cabin sometime in the mid-19th century. It was located in Bethel Hollow, Pope County, Illinois. This photo is Circa 1880.

At age 36 he married Elizabeth Thacker on Christmas Day of 1858 in Pope County, Illinois. His life moved very quickly after that as John and Elizabeth had three children: Maria (or Mariah) born in 1860, Angelana in 1861, and John Washington Barker Jr. in 1863.

Barker was not at home while Elizabeth was pregnant with John Jr., and he was never able to return home after he left 2 months after John Jr.'s inception. Barker enlisted in the Civil War the month after John Jr. was conceived and by the time Elizabeth was round with child he was being transported far away from his family aboard Union steamboats. He had joined the newly formed 131st Illinois Infantry on August 12, 1862, along with 814 other men.

Pope County residents were nervous in 1862. Grant's Union Army had come through in 1861 and by the spring of 1862, the bloodiest battle in US history to that date occurred 200 miles to the south in Shiloh, Tennessee. New fighting units were being formed throughout Illinois and Pope County was no exception. The Illinois 131st infantry was formed in August 1862 and took in men from Hamilton, Gallatin, Hardin, Pope, and Massac counties.

Unbeknownst to Pope County's residents, a major reason for the new units was to prepare for the new 1862 Union thrust: to split the Confederacy in two by taking control of the Mississippi River. The 131st became a part of that effort and they first gathered at Fort Massac, Illinois in September 1862. They had no tents or firearms when the measles broke out. About 100 of the 815 men were discharged due to death or disability.

On November 13, 1862, the 131st was mustered into US service and boarded the steamboat Iowa bound for Cairo, Illinois.

The Steamboat Iowa.

There they were issued inferior Harpers Ferry flintlock guns of various calibers, which they received in protest.

An Original 1860 Musket Harper's Ferry Musket - Model № 1855; .58 caliber.

They again boarded the steamboat Iowa and proceeded along the Mississippi to Memphis, TN where they arrived on December 7, 1862. 

On December 20, 1862, the 131st embarked again on the steamer Iowa and headed south on the Mississippi to Milliken's Bend, just north of Vicksburg, Mississippi. They stayed there until December 27, 1862, when they were sent to land near Hayne's Bluff, up the Yazoo River and north of Vicksburg.

They returned to Milliken's Bend on January 1st or 2nd of 1863. The size of their group had grown to about 74 boats.

On January 4, 1863, the steamer Iowa began it's trek north first along the Mississippi to the mouth of the White River then up the Arkansas River 30 miles to just outside the Arkansas Post. The 131st disembarked at noon on January 10th and marched 4 miles until 11 PM through swamp covered with underbrush and fallen timber during snow and rainstorms.

Unbeknownst to our Barker, Joseph Fardell and the rest of the 131st they were about to become part of an important Civil War battle. The Confederates had been disrupting Union shipping on the Mississippi River from Fort Hindman located at Arkansas Post.

Union Major General John McClernand began landing troops there the evening of January 8, 1863. Major General William T. Sherman forced the Confederates to retreat into Fort Hindman.

Plat of Fort Hindman Arkansas.

Rear Admiral David Porter moved his fleet toward Fort Hindman on January 10, 1863, and bombarded it until dusk. Union artillery fired on the fort from artillery positions across the river on January 11th, and the infantry moved into position to attack. Union ironclads continued shelling the fort and Porter's fleet cut off any means of retreat. The Confederate command surrendered during the afternoon of January 11, 1863, after 6,547 casualties had occurred.

After four days of filling ditches, burying the dead, and demolishing fortifications the 131st was again on the move aboard the steamer Iowa on January 15, 1863. They arrived at Youngs Point on January 23, 1863.

The curve of the river in front of Vicksburg made it impossible for Union ships to pass the town without being exposed to rebel fire.

Abraham Lincoln proposed building a canal at Youngs Point that would allow the ships to bypass Vicksburg. He was very disappointed when the concept did not work as planned. The canal came to be called Grant's Canal and the project started on June 27, 1862.

The men left the steamer on January 25th and set up camp at a point surrounded by the levee while the rain continued to pour. They waded through waist-deep water to get to their posts and used pick and ax to dig the canal. Pneumonia, smallpox, and measles were rampant. The regimental surgeon was too sick to report to duty, and the healthy troops were tasked with burying those that died. They buried between 1 and 5 members of the 131st each day.

On March 2, 1863, General McClernand ordered the 131st to board the steamship Westwind and return to Memphis to recruit its health. (On March 7th, the dam holding the Mississippi out of Grant's Canal broke and work permanently ceased on the canal) The troops arrived at Fort Pickering on March 6, 1863. This is apparently where Barker and Joseph Fardell part company because Fardell did not go to Memphis with the other troops - he was sent to Jefferson Barracks at the US General Hospital in St Louis, Missouri.

By May 10, 1863, the original 815 men of the 131st were down to about 400 due to death or disablement. The remaining 400 boarded the steamboat Golden Era on that day and headed down the Mississippi River bound for Vicksburg, accompanied by the steamboats Crescent City and Warren along with a gunboat.

They came under fire while passing Island No 82 from a group of about 100 men positioned behind logs on the shore. The gunboat returned fire and the men on shore dispersed, but not before one man and a mule were killed on board, and two men injured.

The 131st arrived at Shermans Landing just north of Vicksburg on May 12, 1863. They returned to Milliken's Bend on May 17 and relieved the 30th Ohio that was on duty there guarding army supplies against thieves.

They used the steamboat, Fanny Bullett, to return to Shermans Landing on May 24, 1863, and camped within full view of Vicksburg. Some of the men did duty on the picket line (ie they guarded the larger force) and some of the men manned mortar boats. The siege on Vicksburg had started on May 23, 1863.

On June 7th the 131st and 120th were ordered back to Milliken's Bend to support a colored regiment equipped with inferior weaponry that was being attacked by 1200 rebels. They arrived at Milliken's Bend one hour after the order, but the rebels retreated at the sight of the gunboats. The Union had lost 652 and the rebels 185 in the battle. They stayed for two days awaiting a reattack that never came, then they returned to picket duty at Sherman's Landing. 

By the end of June 1863, Confederate General Pemberton realized his situation was desperate. Over 10,000 of his soldiers were incapacitated due to illness, wounds, and malnutrition. His supplies were at critically low levels and he had just learned that Grant was preparing another massive assault for early July.

Pemberton and his commanders concluded that surrender was inevitable. On the morning of July 3, 1863, he gave orders to display a white flag of truce and sent someone to deliver a message to General Grant proposing to meet to discuss surrender terms. At 3 o'clock pm, Grant and Pemberton met under an oak tree midway between opposing lines. They did not reach an agreement, but notes exchanged later in the day brought about the final terms.

Also on this day, General Robert E. Lee was defeated in Gettysburg. These two events marked the turning point in the Civil War. On July 4, 1863, Union soldiers took control of Vicksburg.

This home was known as the White House or the Shirley House.

On May 18, 1863, as Confederate forces retreated, they were ordered to burn the house but were shot before they could apply the torch. Mrs. Adeline Shirley, her 15-year-old son Quincy and several servants were in the house and huddled for three days before they made their presence known by waving a white flag.

Troops stationed on the edge of Shirley House.

Jefferson Davis, a Democratic US Senator from Mississippi, resigned in order to become the President of the Confederacy.

Jefferson Davis' home, called Brierfield, was captured in Vicksburg.

The next day, on July 5, 1863, John Washington Barker died near Vicksburg.

The cause of death was "Chronic Dysentery," but it cannot be denied that the capture of Vicksburg leads to his demise on that day. Working in unimaginable conditions for almost a year had taken its toll on Barker. On various documents, the location of death is listed as "Mouth of the Yazoo River" and "Paw Paw Island in the Mississippi River," but those locations are very close together.

He died in a hospital at the mouth of the Yazoo River. At that time, there were many floating hospitals along the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers.

The Red Rover floating hospital was in the vicinity at that time.

There were numerous "field hospitals," such as this one, used throughout the Civil War.

During the battle from March 29, 1863, through July 4, 1863, numbers range northward of 10,000 Union and 9,000 Confederate men killed. The city of Vicksburg did not celebrate the 4th of July for the next 80 years.

Monument to the 131st Infantry in Vicksburg.

There is no grave marker for John Washington Barker in the Vicksburg National Cemetery, but it's possible that he's buried in one of the 13,000 unknown graves.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

The "Saturday Night Fire" Struck Chicago on Saturday, October 7, 1871.

The so-called "Saturday Night Fire" of October 7, 1871, was an omen of the Great Chicago Fire, which would erupt about twenty-four hours later and ten blocks to the south. 

This fire ignited around 10 p.m. in the boiler room of Lull and Holmes Planing Mill, located at what is now 209 South Canal Street, and burned for 17 hours. It was suggested that the fire that began in the basement of the Lull and Holmes was most likely arson, but there was no time for any formal investigation.

The Chicago "Saturday Night Fire" of October 7, 1871, Burned District.

The neighborhood was popularly known to insurance brokers as the "Red Flash" so named because a large percentage of its occupiers were lumber yards and coal yards.

The Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago railroad tracks ran along the Chicago River, bordering the eastern edge of the west side. The National Elevator, presumably stocked with grain, was sandwiched between lumberyards, with the tracks on its west flank and the river on the east. Saloons, wooden tenements, and factories such as a paper box factory and a sash factory filled the rest of the space of these four city-block areas.

The 'Chicago' Steamer was wrapping up a small fire across the river when the call came for this new fire. Before the fire gained ground, they set up on the north end of the fire. As they were connecting the hose to the hydrant, the hose burst.

While they were fitting a new hose, the building in front of them collapsed, shooting flames into the street aiming at the steamer. The firemen had to make a run for it. With the horses unhitched and tethered safely away, the firemen had to return to pull their steamer by hand or lose the engine to the fire.

The fire soon crossed Jackson Street and spread through the next block as well. The firemen then relocated the Chicago steamer to protect the National Elevator. A fire started up a few times, but they quickly extinguished it. The elevator was one of the only standing structures when the blaze was over.

The great number of spectators who came to watch the free entertainment also had their share of calamity. A roof of a shed collapsed at Clinton and Jackson under the weight of nearly 150 spectators. A raised sidewalk gave way, as well. Each incident doled out its share of injuries. And several volunteers who were fighting the fire at the lumberyards found themselves in the river when they got caught between flames. They threw planks into the river and jumped in after them, paddling them across to the other side of the river.

Some other volunteers came in quite handy as the fire was trying to spread north across Adams Street. Quirks saloon, on the northwest corner of Adams and Canal, started smoking. A number of men from the insurance patrol were in the area (perhaps enjoying Quirk’s generosity as he was giving away his stock of liquor and cigars). They were ready with portable extinguishers and kept the walls wet when they started to smoke. This action helped keep the fire at bay. Another set of volunteers was tearing down sheds and fences along the train track when a small hut on the corner across from Quirks caught. They ran in and brought out a terrified old woman who was caught inside. She lost her home, but her life was safe.

The fire raged for many hours. It was under control by 3:30 in the morning. And the last of the fire engines left the scene around 4 pm, Sunday afternoon. The Chicago steamer was one of them.

The 'Chicago' Steamer.

After seventeen hours of fighting Chicago’s worst fire to date, the fire department was hurting. Hoses took a beating, coal was running low, the William James steamer was badly damaged and deemed unusable. The Clybourne hose cart was lost and the 190, or so, firemen who worked it were exhausted, suffering from smoke poisoning, swollen eyes, dehydration, and burns.

Yet, the fire department was seen as the heroes of the event as historian A. T. Andreas captures, “It was not an accident, nor the extraneous influence that checked the fire here, but calm deliberate, intelligent heroism; and to those heroes, Chicago owes eternal gratitude.”

The pathetic side of this fire has never been given the vital touch of personal narrative. From among the hundreds of experiences, one is selected that tells, in a simple form, the grief of a broken life; it is the humble story of J. Develin, and is given in his own words:

“Previous to the fire of 1871, I lived on West Jackson Street, near Clinton. I occupied a two-story house, which I had lived in from the time it was built, in the spring of 1857; and, although I did not own the property, I had paid more for it, in rent, than the whole thing was worth. At the time of the fire, we happened not to have a servant, and my wife was not only quite alone but was suffering from a swollen ankle. We had no family, and I was employed in business down in the city. This was on Saturday evening, the night before the great conflagration. My house was fully furnished and contained many pieces of costly, if not elegant, furniture. I had also about three hundred volumes of well-selected books, mostly English publications. My wife was a careful, saving woman, and much attached to reading and home comforts. She had saved a little money and was her own banker. She had been for some years gathering and holding on to gold and silver, specie being then scarce. I myself had, on that day, in the inside pocket of a vest, the same being in a bureau drawer, $825 in currency (all bills of large denomination), with the intention of depositing the sum in the bank immediately. In all, we had between us, in cash, on that fatal day, not less than $2,300, and our furniture and clothing cost about $2,700. This to us would have been quite a heavy loss, but—oh, the horror of horrors!—when I reached what I supposed to be my home, about ten o'clock that evening, I could not get within half a block of where my home had stood, and my wife was nowhere to be found. As soon as it was daylight on the following morning, I and a few friends gathered up the charred remains of my poor wife—a mere handful of burned bones. The coroner was summoned, and all there was left me in this world was the contents of a small wooden box, which I had the melancholy satisfaction of taking to the place of Mr. Wright, the undertaker, on Madison Street, near LaSalle, for internment on the following day. It is needless to say that on that day, not only Wright's place, but the entire city was swept out of existence so that I was even deprived of the poor bones of my beloved wife. This was my share of the blaze of 1871. At that time I was sixty-three years of age and was left on the sidewalk, with a thin rag of a summer coat and a pair of rather old buckskin boots. My nervous system was completely unstrung with the fright consequent upon my then state of mind, and bad health followed so that my ambition was entirely destroyed. I have been comparatively a pauper ever since.”

In less than five hours from the time the last engine left the burned district, a new fire started mere blocks away in a little wooden barn that would indeed spread across the city.

Read about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.