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CHANGES IN LOCAL AFFAISS

As time passed the relations between the Fox and Sac Indians and the government became strained. Disputes relative to several treaties stirred up friction and in 1831, a council was held with the chiefs of the two tribes with a view to adjusting differences and the resumption of former conditions.

About thirty chiefs met General Gaines who came for that purpose from Jefferson barracks, in the steamer Enterprise, accompanied by a force of regular soldiers. After much argument and many sessions within the fort, Ofnwal Gaines decided that it was futile to expect that the Indians would consent to go peacably to the proposed territory beyond the Mississippi river, for they would fight to the end rather than abandon their rich hunting grounds along the eastern banks of the mighty river.

During the war which eventually ensued, Fort Armstrong was a place of refuge for the terrorized settlers, and if it had not been for an outbreak of cholera among the soldiers, it would have been the scene of the conclusion of a treaty between the conquered Sacs and Foxes on September 21, 1832, when General Winfield Scott of the regular army forced from them the strip of land known as the Black Hawk Purchase in Iowa, and an abandonment of all hope of retaining their ancestral lands in Illinois. As the fort was not in a sanitary condition for the council, it was held on the site afterwards occupied by the old Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad depot.

During the Black Hawk War, Lieut.Col. Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and other men who later attained world wide fame, came to Fort Armstrong. Several times the garrison was in danger of massacre, but escaped. Fort Armstrong was evacuated in 11836, but the government, recognizing its admirable position, retained the island as a military reservation, appointing various agents to guard the federal interests. General Street, soon after the troops had been withdrawn, established an Indian agency.on the island, but this was removed in 1838, to Agency City, la., and General Street was succeeded by Colonel George Davenport.

During the latter's energetic administration, the island became a depot for arms. In 1840, Captain Shoemaker was placed in charge and so continued until 1845, when, owing to Mexican disturbances, be was sent to the front, and Thomas Drum succeeded him. The latter dying in 1853, Sergeant Cummings of Fort Crawford was appointed, but he declined the honor, and Colonel J. B. Danforth. Jr., was offered the post on January 20, 1854. After three years, H. Y. Staymaker of Davenport succeeded him, and in May, 1861, T. J. Pickett was appointed, and continued at the head of affairs until the arsenal was established.

In later years Fort Armstrong was partly destroyed by fire, and still later what remained was torn down by order of the government, which action is to be deplored as it would have made a historic monument of the beginnings of Rock Island county. The site of the old fort is now marked by a granite monument. The second, or so called new, house built by Colonel George Davenport on the island in 1832, has been restored and is a place of great interest to visitors. The chim ney of the first house, built by him in 1816, Is still standing.

Historic Encyclopedia of Illinois

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Illinois Ancestors

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