Fort Armstrong (Illinois)
Fort Armstrong (1816–1836), was one of a chain of western
General Purpose of Fort Armstrong
Fort Armstrong really served five purposes of the United States. First, as a U.S. Army base of operations as mentioned earlier. Second, it was the regional headquarters location for the Indian Agent. The Indian Agent served in a liaison capacity between the regional Native American tribes and the United States government. Third, the regional interpreter who served both civilians and Soldiers at the request of both Americans and Native Americans. Fourth, the trade industry that thrived between civilians (settlers), U.S. Army Soldiers, and local Native Americans. Fifth, the U.S. Army surgeon was stationed there that really served as the regional hospital.[2]
Rock Island Arsenal Island before construction of 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 and naming it Rock Island.
The Sauk considered the island sacred:
This [island] was the best one on the Mississippi, 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. Being situated at the foot of the rapids, its waters supplied us with the finest fish. 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 rocks 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 particular not to make much noise in that part of the island which it inhabited, 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.
Construction
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, a Native American people in the region. 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."[3]
On May 10, 1816,
Black Hawk War (May 1832 - September 1832)
The Black Hawk War, (May 1832 to September 1832) named after the Sauk Chief Black Hawk, was a result of rising tensions between Native Americans in the greater territory areas of Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois. As British and Spanish influenced waned, the United States started to expand. This expansion led to incursions against Native Americans land, their people, and their livelihood. As a result, several tribes, including Black Hawk's Sauk, fought back.[5]
Black Hawk War cholera epidemic
During the Black Hawk War of 1832, General
Black Hawk War treaty negotiations
On September 21, 1832, the Black Hawk War officially came to an end with the treaty signed at Fort Armstrong. The defeated Sauk and 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 captures following the
See also
References
- ^ a b "Fort Armstrong Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
- JSTOR 40187754.
- ^ a b Black Hawk (1882 [1833]) Autobiography of 'Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak' or Black Hawk, Edited by J. B. Patterson, St. Louis: Continental Printing, first published 1833
- ^ a b "Fort Armstrong – Illinois Genealogy". 2015-03-23. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
- .
- D. W. Flagler, History of the Rock Island Arsenal
- Stephen H. Long, Voyage in a Six-Oared Skiff to the Falls of Saint Anthony in 1817, Minnesota Historical Society Collections, II, Part I.
41°30′59″N 90°33′50″W / 41.5165°N 90.5639°W