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BUILDING OF THE FORT

The Rock Island Arsenal which has a national importance, lies between the tri-cities of Rock Island and Moline in Illinois, and Davenport in Iowa, upon tbe island of Rock Island. The latter is located in the Mississippi river just opposite the upper portion of the city of Rock Island, and its area is about two and three quarter miles long by three-fourths of a mile wide. It contains upward of 1,000 acres. The base of the island is of the Hamilton limestone group, and at the lower end this rocky outcrop forms an almost perpendicular wall to a considerable height above the swirling waters of tbe river beneath. This wall of solid rock gave the island its appropriate name and from it was taken the nomenclature of both the city of Rock Island and the county as well.

The story of the Island of Rock Island is one full of interest and romance. While it has been continuously in possession of tbe federal government since its purchase from the Indians in 1804, and the remainder of the time since used as a military reservation, there have been many attempts to wrest it from the government, and in a number of instances control has been retained by only a hairbreadth.

For many years it was the cause of constant strife between the federal government and all manner of claimants, speculators and adventurers. In this contest many men whose names subsequently were made famous in the history of the nation, have taken part. Singularly enough. Jefferson Davis, at one time secretary of war of the United States and later president of the Confederate States of America, and leader of the secession movement in the South, was one of the best and most efficient friends the island ever had. It was due to his influence more than to that of any other one man that it was preserved as a federal military possession.

When early explorers passed by this attractive island in the Father of Waters, with its towering cliffs and exquisitely beautiful forest trees and luxuriant undergrowth, their attention was culled to its advantages. This territory having been acquired by the government through a treaty with the Indians, it was soon decided by those in charge of frontier affairs that owing to the close proximity of warlike Indians, it would be expedient to build a fort in the vicinity for the purpose of holding the land and protecting the settlers.

As the Island of Rock Island was the strategic point in all of the territory ceded by the treaty of 1804, it was decided that the proposed fort should be erected on it. In 1816 a force of regular soldiers under the command of Colonel William Lawrence came up the river and on May 10 landed on the island. The soldiers cut the logs for their storehouses for provisions and a bakehouse and erected the same, .an oven being attached to the latter. Having thus provided for their welfare, the soldiers then proceeded to build the fort which was named Armstrong" in honor of the then secretary of war under President Madison.

The fort was located on the rocky promontory at the lower or western end of the island. The little fort was totally different from the imposing buildings which now dignify the government island. The lower half of the walls was of stone and the upper half of hewn logs, both procured on the island. The walls were built about a square, the sides of which were 400 feet in length. As was the custom in those days, a blockhouse was built at each of the four corners, and the walls were equipped with necessary embrazures for cannon and pierced with loopholes for musketry. This fort was 200 feet from the island end of the present Davenport bridge.

Begun in the spring of 1816, it was completed in 1817. In addition to the blockhouses, a magazine, store house, barracks and officers' quarters were built within the enclosure, and protection against fire was supposed to be secured by the stone work in the lower half of the walls.

Historic Encyclopedia of Illinois

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