THE POWDER PLOT.
Be it truth or fiction there is connected with the history of Fort Armstrong an incident that to my mind possesses more reasons in favor of its being fact than fiction. At the north side of the lower end of the island was a cave, which is now closed. This cave extended quite a way into the island and was directly underneath the main gate of the fort, the eastern end of the present government bridge being over and at its mouth. This cave was sacred to the Sacs. Black Hawk said, '' A good spirit had care of it (meaning Rock Island), who lived in a cave in the rocks immediately under the place where the fort now stands, and has often been seen by our people. He 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 he inhabited for fear of disturbing him. But the noise of the fort has since driven him away, and no doubt a bad spirit has taken his place."
After the Black Hawk War in 1832, some soldiers happening to enter the cave found three kegs of powder each attached to a fuse. No one seemed to know how these things had come there, but after the war some Indians had said that Black Hawk when he marched up Rock River in April, 1832, stopped overnight at his old village, and during the night of April 12 he, with over two hundred braves, had gone to the island, crossing at the ford between Rock Island and Moline, remaining there nearly all night. It was said his intention was to see if he could not capture the fort. Black Hawk, in his autobiography, does not mention this incident, the reason being that his attempt to blow up the fort proved a failure. It is a fact that Black Hawk was on the island that night. Benjamin F. Pike, the captain of the Rock River Rangers in 1831, and afterwards sheriff of this county, together with two companions, had been selected to do picket and scout duty that night. They took their place near the ford, and some time near midnight saw Black Hawk and his braves cross the slough to the island. They at once ran to the fort and to the stockade and gave the warning.
The garrison at this time was commanded by Captain Bliss who had with him only two companies of infantry, partly full, not over eighty men. The stockade around Colonel Davenport's store was filled with settlers and their families and was crowded to its utmost capacity. By an oversight the only well on the premises had not been enclosed in the stockade. Dreading fire from the Indians' fire arrows, every bucket, tub and barrel was hastily filled with .water and the anxious settlers momentarily awaited the attack. An old swivel had been brought up from the fort and this was loaded to the brim and placed in front of the gate, where Sergeant Hanchett of the garrison, with a smoldering fire by his side, stood ready to fire it off at the first approach of the enemy. The night was one of terror to the settlers ; a drifting rain and pelting hail storm had set in, and the occasional claps of thunder and flashes of lightning but added new alarm to the already frightened women and children.
At about 2 o'clock in the morning the firing of cannon was heard from the direc tion of the fort and those in the stockade believed the attack had commenced, but they were soon apprized that the firing was from the cannon on board the steamer Chieftain, which brought General Atkinson and his regulars from St. Louis.
It is said that when the people at the stockade heard the firing of cannon and the shouts of the garrison welcoming the reinforcement, they believed it the shouts of triumph of the Indians at the capture of the fort, and Elder Kinney of Rapids City, a devout Presbyterian, advised them all to unite in an appeal to God as their only hope of safety'' ; whereupon Antoine Gouquy, Colonel Davenport's French servant, said, " Ze prayer he be good for ze vimmin an ze childer, but he be not wort one cent to fight ze Injins. Wattair, he be bettair zan ze prayer."
Black Hawk had been with the British so much that he well knew the use of gunpowder. He was in the attack on the fort at Detroit and undoubtedly believed he could with a few kegs of powder blow up the fort at its gate and the rock embankment upon which it stood, and then with his braves rush in on the weak garrison. The Sac chief knew that the fort was but weakly garrisoned. The Prophet had several times attempted to enter its gate, but had been kept out on the orders of Major Bliss, who suspected treachery. The last attempt of the Prophet to enter the fort was but a few days before Black Hawk's attempt to capture it. He knew that General Atkinson had not arrived and as he went from there down the river and met Black Hawk and his band he certainly communicated to him all the information he had secured.Caleb Atwater, who visited the fort in 1829, in writing about it said: '' Setting down a pair of compasses large enough to extend thirty-five miles around the lower end of Rock Island and taking a sweep around it, you would have within the circle the handsomest and most delightful spot of the same size on the whole globe, so far as nature can produce anything called beautiful.
The island lies in latitude 41 degrees 30 minutes, is two miles in length, and contains above two thousand acres of land. The extreme lower end is occupied by Fort Armstrong and the village of Rock Island. After passing through several feet of rich alluvial soil in perforating the earth, you come to limestone rock, which forms the foundation of this island. Passing around this island, which is long and narrow, you everywhere see the rock on which the fort and village stand. The lower end of the island is high and dry above the river, whereas the upper end is overflowed in high waters, and all the upper end of the island is covered with a forest of excellent timber trees. The main channel of the river is on the western side of the island, and that part of the Mississippi is half a mile in width, whereas in a low stage of the water, as when we saw it,'the eastern branch of the river is not more than twenty rods wide perhaps, though so deep that it is ferried constantly from the island to the mainland. When we were there, the ground where the fort stood was twenty feet or more above the surface of the river; ten or more feet of it were limestone rock, from the water upwards. The officers have adjoining the fort a most beautiful garden regularly laid out, with graveled walks, in which are cultivated beets, carrots, onions, potatoes, corn, and every vegetable growing in this climate.
Nothing could exceed this garden in fruitfulness, and every leaf appeared to shine in luxuriance. The gourd seed corn was fit to roast, the beets had attained a good size, and so had the potatoes, beans and carrots. The village adjoins the fort on the north, and a few families live here, Mr. Davenport, who keeps a store for the American Fur Company, being a principal man among them. The sutler has a store here in addition to the company's store. Mr. Davenport is an Englishman, and formerly lived at Cincinnati , where I became acquainted with him. His son-in-law and a few others live on the island. With such persons I was happy to meet in the far west."
Early Days of Rock Island
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