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CHAPTER XI
The year after the departure of Lewis and Clark the
Government fitted out another expedition to explore the upper
Mississippi and its valley. Zebulon M. Pike, a brilliant young
officer, was placed in command.* (*Lieutenant Pike became
a distinguished American officer in the War of 1812. In leading an
army against the British at York (Toronto), in Canada, April 27,
1813, he was mortally wounded and died soon after the capture of the
fort and city.) On the 9th of August, 1805, the
expedition consisting of twenty soldiers, embarked in a keel boat
seventy feet in length from St. Louis, under command of Lieutenant
Pike. They carried provisions for a journey of four months and
expected to explore the Mississippi to its head waters. By the 20th
of August they had ascended the river two hundred and thirty-two
miles above the mouth of the "Riviere des Moines," as Pike writes
it. He describes it as coming in from the northwest at a point
where the Mississippi is three-quarters of a mile wide. He says:
"We here arrived at the foot of the Rapids
des Moines, which are immediately above the confluence of the river
of that name with the Mississippi. Although no soul on board had
ever passed them before we commenced ascending without delay. Our
boat being large and moderately loaded, we found great difficulty.
The rapids are eleven miles long, with successive shoals extending
from shore to shore across the bed of the river. The channel, which
is a bad one, is on the eastern side at the first two falls. It
then passes under the edge of the third, crosses to the west side
and ascends that side all the way to the Sac village. We had passed
the first and most difficult shoal when we were met by William
Ewing, an agent of the United States residing at the Sac village to
instruct the Indians in agriculture. A French interpreter and
fifteen men of the Sac nation came with Mr. Ewing in their canoes
(with a United States flag) to assist me over the rapids. Taking a
part of my load and putting two pilots in my barge, we soon reached
Ewing's house at the village."
The next morning the chief men of the Sac village
assembled and Lieutenant Pike explained to them the object of his
expedition. The country here is described as hilly on both sides of
the rapids, the soil fertile. On Thursday, August 22d, a number of
islands were passed; the river was wide and full of sandbars. After
ascending twenty-eight miles, Lieutenant Pike thus describes the
country on the western shore:
"The channel of the river passes under a hill
which rises up perpendicularly to a height of about sixty feet. On
the summit is a level platform of about four hundred yards. In the
rear of a small prairie of about eight or ten acres suitable for
gardens. This would be a very good place for a garrison. Directly
under the rocks is a limestone spring, which would supply a regiment
of men with water. The landing is bold and safe, and a road could
easily be made up the hill for teams. Black and white oak timber
are here found in abundance. The hill continues for two miles, and
gives rise to five springs in that distance. The view from this
hill across the river east is very beautiful, showing broad prairies
as far as the eye can reach, occasionally interrupted by groves of
trees.* We remained here nine hours and saw traces
of Indians. We learned that the largest Sac village was about two
and a half miles eastward on the prairie, and that this point was
about half way between St. Louis and Prairie du Chien."
*From the general description, distance
from the rapids, and other circumstances, it is believed that the
spot here described is what was known in early days as the "Flint
Hills," where the city of Burlington now stands.
On the 25th , the explorers landed on a prairie from
which Lieutenant Pike writes: "There is a beautiful view for at
least forty miles down the river, bearing S. E." The next day they
passed the mouth of the Iowa River and camped at night on
Grant's Prairie. Pike thus describes the river and vicinity:
"The Iowa River bears from the Mississippi S.
W., and is one hundred and fifty yards wide at its mouth. In
ascending the Iowa thirty-six miles you come to a fork. The right
branch is called the Red Cedar from the great quantity of that wood
found on its banks. It is navigable for bateaux nearly three
hundred miles. It then branches into three forks called the 'Turkey
Foot.' Ten miles up the Iowa from its mouth is a village of the
Iowa Indians. From the Iowa to Rock River we generally found
beautiful prairies on the west side, and in some places very rich
land covered with black walnut and hickory timber. A short distance
above the mouth of Rock River we came to the great rapids of the
Mississippi, which extend up the river a distance of eighteen miles.*
These shoals are continuous chain of rocks, reaching in some
places from shore to shore. They afford much more water than the
Des Moines rapids, but the current is swifter and more difficult to
ascend.
*The city of Davenport was
afterward built on the west shore of the river at the foot of these
rapids. The cities of Rock Island and Moline occupy the east shore,
with a National Armory on Rock Island, which divides the river.
These, with the wooded bluffs rising from either side, form one of
the most beautiful and picturesque landscapes to be found in the
west.
On Saturday, August 31st, Lieutenant Pike writes:
"We saw an encampment of Fox Indians on the
west shore of the river, on a beautiful eminence, which appeared to
be an old town. It is about ninty miles above Rock Island by the
river."
At 12 o'clock the next day the explorers arrived at
the "Mines of Spain." Lieutenant Pike writes:
"We were saluted with a field piece by
Monsieur Dubuque, the proprietor. There were no horses to take us
to the mines, which were six miles west of the river, and it was
impossible for me to make an inspection of them from the river. I
therefore proposed ten queries, which Dubuque answered. The
substance of his answers was, that the mineral lands were supposed
to extend twenty-seven leagues in length and from one to three
leagues in width. The ore yielded about 75 per cent, and from
20,000 to 40,000 pounds were annually formed into pig lead. From
the first Reynard (Fox) village to the lead mines the Mississippi
became narrower, but the navigation became less difficult. The
shores consist in general of prairie, which, when not immediately
bordering the river, can be seen through the skirts of forest that
in some places line the banks. The timber is generally maple, birch
and oak, and the soil very excellent." *
*While here lieutenant Pike met
the Sac and Fox chief, Black Hawk, who had just returned from
leading a war party against the Sauteurs.
On the 2d day of September the explorers reached
Turkey River. The country is described as follows:
"From the lead mines to Turkey River, the
Mississippi continues about the same width; the banks, soil and
productions are entirely similar. Between the Iowa and Turkey
rivers we found coming in from the west the Wabisapenkum (Wapsipinicon)
river; it runs parallel with the Red Cedar, and has scarcely any
wood on its banks. We next came to the Great Macottite (Maquoketa),
and a little higher up the little river of the same name. The two
streams approach each other, but present nothing remarkable
excepting some lead mines, which are said to exist upon their banks.
The Turkey River empties in on the west, bearing from the
Mississippi about S. W., and is about one hundred yards wide at its
mouth. Half a league up this river, on its right bank, is the third
village of the Reynards, where they raise sufficient corn to supply
all of the permanent and transient inhabitants of Prairie des Cheins."
Lieutenant Pike in writing of the Indians of this
region says:
"It is surprising what a dread the Indians in
this quarter have of the Americans. I have often seen them go
around islands to avoid meeting my boat. The traders have impressed
upon the minds of the savages the idea that we are vindictive,
ferocious and very warlike people. They seem to fear us."
On the 4th of September, the explorers had reached
Prairie du Chien, and from there Lieutenant Pike took a small boat
to the mouth of the Ouisconsin (Wisconsin) River. He landed on the
west shore of the Mississippi River nearly opposite the mouth of the
Wisconsin and ascended a high hill. Here he found a level plateau
commanding a fine view of the surrounding country. He held a
council with the Puant (Winnebago) Indians. One object of the
expedition was to meet and confer with as many of the tribes of the
upper Mississippi Valley as he could reach in order to establish
friendly relations with them. It was hoped that the way might thus
be opened for treaties with them, which would enable the whites to
establish settlements in this newly acquired territory. In this he
was quite successful, for he was an officer of excellent judgment
and in every way well qualified for the important mission entrusted
to him.
Before leaving this point, Lieutenant Pike selected
a site for a military post three miles from the mouth of the
Wisconsin, on a hill called "Petit Gris." He writes:
"The Ouisconsin River is the grand source of
communication between the great lakes and the valley of the
Mississippi, and is the route by which all the traders convey their
good to the Mississippi River and the regions tributary to it as far
down as St. Louis."
He describes the settlements and villages along the
valley of the Mississippi at this time, September, 1805, as follows:
"The village of Prairie des Chiens was laid
out in 1783 by M. Giard, Mr. Antoya and Mr. Dubuque. It consists of
eighteen dwelling houses, on two streets. Sixteen were on Front
Street, and two on First Street. There is a marsh or pond in the
rear of the village, and behind the marsh are eight more houses.
Some of the houses are framed, but most of them are built of small
logs let in mortices, made in uprights joined close, daubed with
mud on the outside and white-washed within. There are eight houses
scattered in the country within a distance of five miles. On the
west side of the Mississippi there are three houses on a small
stream called Giard River,* making in all
thirty-seven houses which contain on an average ten persons each,
making a population of three hundred and seventy. During the fall
and spring, when the traders gather in, there are at least six
hundred people here. Most of the men have Indian wives, and more
than half of the young people under twenty years of age are
half-breeds."
*These houses were where North McGregor
has since been built.
On the 9th of September the explorers reached the
mouth of the Upper Iowa or Oneota River, which is near the northern
limits of the present State of Iowa. Lieutenant Pike extended his
journey up the Mississippi, stopping wherever Indian camps or
villages were found, to confer with the inhabitants and assure them
of the friendship of his government. On the 22d of September, he
reached the mouth of St. Peter Rover, near which he found a large
Sioux village. Here he met Le Petit Corbeau, head chief of the
Sioux nation and several other chiefs with whom he negotiated an
important treaty by which the United States secured a grant of one
hundred thousand acres of land in that vicinity. Proceeding up the
river two hundred and thirty-three miles farther, he landed at the
mouth of Pipe Creek and erected a fort in which to leave a part of
his men and stores, while with a smaller party he extended his
journey farther north. The river was now liable to freeze and
Lieutenant Pike remained in camp until December 10th, building sleds
and light canoes with which to pursue his explorations northward.
By the 8th of January, 1806, Pike with a corporal of
his command reached a trading post on Lake Sable, in latitude 47',
kept by a Mr. Grant, for the Northwest Fur Company. This English
company had extended its trade into this region in 1766m and from a
small beginning in this section had built up gradually an immense
concern. Its operations now extended from Hudson's Bay to the great
lakes, up the St. Lawrence River, to the source of the Red River of
the North, all of its tributaries west to the Rocky Mountains,
including the territory since formed into the States of Iowa,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas and Montana. From here Pike, with
a small party, proceeded to the head waters of the Mississippi,
which point he reached on the first day of February, 1806, arriving
at Lake La Sang Sue at half-past two p. m. It was a proud moment
for the young commander when he stood upon the shores of the lake
from which the mighty Mississippi River takes its rise.
On the 12th of the month Lieutenant Pike, in company
with the agent at the post, Mr. McGillis, ascended another fork of
the Mississippi to its source in Red Cedar Lake, about thirty miles
northeast of Leech Lake. They were now within six miles of the
source of the Hudson Bay waters. On the 18th of February the
lieutenant began his journey southward, accompanied by several
Sauteur warriors.
He had been successful in establishing peaceful
relations with all Indian tribes he had met, some of whom were the
most fierce and warlike savages of the west. By the 7th of April,
the ice having disappeared from the rivers, he started on his
homeward journey, arriving at St. Louis on the 30th of April, after
an absence of nearly nine months.
Previous to the explorations made by Lewis, Clark
and Pike very little was known of the regions of the central west,
drained by the two greatest rivers of North America. The reports of
these explorers, who had only examined the country along the great
water courses, awakened a deep interest among thoughtful Americans
in the country recently acquired by Jefferson, known as Louisiana.
The only people who had penetrated this unknown wilderness of woods
and prairie were French missionaries who sought to convert the
savages to Christianity; and the hunters and trappers who cultivated
the friendship of the Indians in the interest of their traffic.
Neither of these classes made homes, cultivated the soil, or left
marks of civilizations in their track. Hardly a trace of their
wanderings for more than a hundred years within the limits of Iowa,
Minnesota and Nebraska were found by the first actual settlers who
came to the country to make permanent homes. No record even of the
discoveries of the missionaries, hunters and trappers survived.
Thus a hundred and fifteen years passed from the
time Marquette and Joliet discovered Iowa, before Jullien Dubuque
and his companions made the first white settlement within its
limits. It was forty-four years later that the Indian title to any
portion of its soil was relinquished. For the first half century
after the new American Republic was established, it was the
prevailing opinion that there was little country west of the
Mississippi River valuable for agricultural purposes, and that
portion of our possessions could be best utilized as permanent homes
for the various Indian tribes which were being dispossessed of their
lands east of the Mississippi. It was believed that having there an
almost unlimited range, they could subsist largely upon game and
fish, in the regions bordering upon an unexplored country marked
upon the maps as the "Great American Desert."
As late as 1819, the St. Louis Enquirer,
Thomas H. Benton, editor, said:
"After you get forty or fifty miles west of
the Mississippi the arid plaines set in. The country is
uninhabitable except upon the borders of the rivers and creeks. The
Grand Prairie, a plain without wood or water, which extends to the
northwest farther than hunters or travelers have ever yet gone,
comes down to within a few miles of St. Charles *
and so completely occupies the fork of the Mississippi and
Missouri rivers that the woodland for three hundred miles of each
forms a skirt from five to twenty miles wide, and above that
distance the prairie actually reaches the rivers in many places."
*A town on the Missouri
River about twenty-five miles from St. Louis.
When it is seen that a statesman and editor so
intelligent and eminent as Thomas H. Benton, as late as 1819,
regarded the northwestern prairies covering a large portion of
Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas as
uninhabitable except along the borders of the rivers and creeks, it
is not strange that the early pioneers, hunters and trappers
entertained a similar opinion. For many years settlements were
confined exclusively to the borders of streams where timber grew and
to the forest regions. The first farms were hewn out of the
forests; but as the fields were gradually extended out onto the
prairies and they were found to be productive, yielding immense
crops, the fertility of the prairies had to be recognized and a new
value placed upon them.
But as the woods covered but an insignificant
fraction of the surface of the prairie regions, it was generally
believed many years later, that the prairies remote from woods could
never become thickly settled or valuable for farms. Fuel and
fencing, it was supposed, could never be supplied to make farms on
the great prairies habitable. So for generations after the prairie
regions were known, the hardy pioneers toiled in the dense forests
of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan, hewing out farms among the
sturdy trees which covered a large portion of the country. No more
slavish toil can be found than that which the first settlers in
these states patiently wrought to subdue the forests and remove the
obstructing stumps for the rich soil. The natural meadows,
unobstructed by trees, waited long for the breaking plow of the
pioneer; and were left as rich pastures for elk and buffalo and to
feed the annual fires which swept over them unchecked, lighting the
horizon with a lurid glow in the awful grandeur of their desolating
march.
In 1806 the loyal American citizens of the
Mississippi Valley were excited by rumors of a secret conspiracy
said to be organizing under the leadership of the late
Vice-President of the United States, Aaron Burr, to separate that
region from the Union. It was reported that the scheme was to
capture the adjacent Spanish provinces of Mexico and, uniting with
them, found a western empire.
On the 5th of November the United States
District-Attorney for Kentucky made formal charges in the United
States Court against Aaron Burr, and followed with a brief statement
explaining the nature of the alleged conspiracy. Henry Clay
appeared as counsel for Aaron Burr and defeated the attempt to have
him held for trial. Burr had caused to be built at Marietta, Ohio,
ten large bateaux and had collected a great amount of provisions and
stores for a voyage. He had secured the cooperation of many
prominent men in various parts of the valley, and after the failure
to indict him, took active steps to carry out his plans. General
James Wilkinson,* who was Governor of Louisiana Territory, was
approached and there was evidence that he had for several months
possessed some knowledge of the enterprise. Captain Tyler, with a
force of men and boats, accompanied by Harman Blennerhassett, a
wealthy Irish gentleman occupying an island near Marietta, finally
began the descent of the Ohio River. Below Louisville they were
joined by Burr. The authorities now became thoroughly aroused over
the gravity of the situation.
*General Wilkinsen was a distinguished
officer in the Continental Army in the War of the Revolution and the
Indian War of 1794-6. In the latter year he became General-in-Chief
of the army. He was appointed Governor of the new Louisiana
Purchase in 1805.
President Jefferson issued a proclamation warning
all citizens against aiding the conspiracy and directing the arrest
of all concerned in the unlawful enterprise. Burr and his party
were arrested near Natchez, his boats and military supplies were
seized and he was taken before the Supreme Court and released on
bail. The grand jury refused to indict him and Burr, failing to
secure a discharge escaped. In attempting to make his way by night
to Pensacola to find shelter on a British vessel in that harbor, he
was captured and taken to Richmond, Virginia. He was there
indicted, tried for high treason and acquitted.
With the arrest of Burr the whole scheme failed,
although there is little doubt that several influential men were
implicated. The mass of the people, however, were loyal to the
Union and gave no encouragement to Burr's visionary scheme.
Emigration now spread westward along the rivers and many of the
more courageous and farseeing home-seekers pushed out upon the
treeless plains of the Mississippi Valley.
The first newspaper published west of the river was
issued at St. Louis in July, 1808, called the Louisiana Gazette.
Its proprietor was Joseph Charles and, as there was no print paper
to be found in Louisiana at that time, the first numbers of the new
journal were printed on cap writing paper. When the Territory of
Missouri was organized the name of the paper was changed to the
Missouri Gazette, and in later years became the Missouri
Republican, afterward the St. Louis Republic. During
this year the southern portion of Louisiana was organized into the
District of Arkansas.
In 1805 General James Wilkinson was in command of
the Military Department of the West, with headquarters at St. Louis.
When he and Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike on an expedition to the
upper Mississippi River, he gave him instructions to select a site
for a military post somewhere between St. Louis and Prairie du Chien
and procure the consent of the Indians for the building of a fort.
In Lieutenant Pike's report he says:
"I have chosen a site on a hill forty miles
above the river De Moyen rapids, on the west side of the river. The
channel of the river runs on that shore; the hill is about sixty
feet perpendicular, nearly level on top."
In September, 1808, Lieutenant Alpha Kingsley was
sent with a company of the First United States Infantry up the river
to make a plat of the ground and begin the erection of the fort.
During the fall and winter barracks and store houses were built and
work pushed on the block houses and fort. In April of the next year
it was garrisoned and named in honor of the new President Fort
Madison. It does not appear that the Indians had consented to the
erection of this fort on the west side of the Mississippi, which was
a direct violation of the treaty negotiated with the five Sac and
Fox chiefs in 1804. By the eleventh article of that treaty the
United States was entitled to build a fort in the vicinity of the
mouth of the Wisconsin River; but the sixth article of the treaty
provided that if any citizen of the United States, or any other
white person, should form a settlement upon lands belonging to the
Indians, such intruders should at once be removed. Notwithstanding
this article, Fort Madison was built on lands belonging to the Sac
and Fox Indians, without their permission, in clear violation of the
treaty. It is not strange that the Indians complained of such an
act of bad faith and hostility and under the lead of Black Hawk made
an attempt to capture and destroy the fort.
Lieutenant Kingsley's force at the time he built the
fort, and up to August, 1809, when he was relieved by Captain
Horatio Stark, consisted of seventy men. In September, 1812, the
fort was under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Hamilton, who had
about fifty men. On the 5th of that month a band of about two
hundred Winnebago warriors made an attack upon the fort. Among
these Indians was Black Hawk, then a young man. A lively fight
ensued, lasting until the 8th, when the Indians withdrew after
having burned several buildings in the vicinity.
In 1813 the fort was again attacked by Indians, who
were defeated but several soldiers were killed. In August of that
year a large force of Indians laid siege to the fort entirely
surrounding it. The garrison, under Hamilton, made a brave defense
until the provisions were exhausted and they were reduced to the
verge of starvation. During the night of September 3d, Hamilton,
ordered a trench to be dug from the block house to the river where
the boats were lying. There was no prospect of reinforcements being
sent to their relief. Starvation, massacre or escape were the
alternatives confronting them. They chose to attempt the latter.
The night was dark and cloudy with a fierce wind roaring in the
forest surrounding the fort. The little garrison, crawling on hands
and knees along the bottom of the trench in perfect silence, at
midnight entered the boats without alarming the watchful savages.
The last man to enter the trench applied the torch to the fort. A
moment later the boats pushed out into the rapid current of the
Mississippi, and before the Indians were awakened by the roaring
flames of the burning buildings, the fugitives were beyond the reach
of the rifle shot. They reached St. Louis in safety and the fort
was never rebuilt. But the name clung to the spot where the ruins
of the fort were long visible and later generations built a city on
the historic site, giving it the name of Fort Madison.
In 1815 the Government sent Colonel R. C. Nichols
with the Eighth United States Infantry to build a fort on Rock
Island. His command, in keel boats, ascended the Mississippi to the
mouth of the Des Moines River, where the channel was obstructed by
ice and the party was compelled to land and spend the winter in that
vicinity. Early in the spring of 1816, General T. A. Smith arrived
and took command of the expedition, which reached Rock Island on the
10th of May. The day following his arrival General Smith sent
messengers to all of the Indian villages in the vicinity inviting
the chiefs to meet him in council, but none of them came. The
Indians understood the significance of a fort and garrison and
regarded it as unfriendly but made no resistance. The island had
long been a favorite resort for the Indians, where they camped among
its beautiful groves and paddled their canoes along the rocky
shores. It was one of the most beautiful places in the Mississippi
Valley and they were reluctant to see it occupied by a military
force of the whites.
General Smith at once began the erection of a
fortress on a rocky elevation at the lower end of the island. When
completed the interior of the fort was four hundred feet square.
The lower half of the walls was of stone and the upper half was
constructed of heavy timber. At the northwest, southwest and
southeast block houses were built which were provided with cannon.
On one side of the square barracks were erected of hewn timber
with roofs sloping inward to protect them from the fire of the
Indians and also that they might not furnish a safe lodging place
for the enemy in case of attack. The northwest corner of the fort
stood about two hundred feet from the bridge which now connects the
island with the Iowa shore. The west end of the island was at that
time covered with a dense forest of oak, black walnut and elm.
Colonel George Davenport, who came to Rock Island
with the first troops, was the contractor's agent who furnished the
supplies for the army. He made his permanent home on the island,
where he was murdered on the 4th of July, 1845. Fort Armstrong was
completed in 1817, and continued to be occupied by troops under
various commanders until May 4, 1836, when it was evacuated. The
last commander was Lieutenant-Colonel William Davenport, of the
First United States Infantry.
After the evacuation of the fort, attempts were made
by various parties to preempt and enter land on the island and to
secure possession and title. Congress, by special acts, permitted
George Davenport and David B. Sears to enter the tracts of land upon
which they had made valuable improvements, but held the island as a
Government reservation. Long litigation followed, but in the end
the Government purchased a number of the claims, others were
abandoned and, in 1862, the Attorney-General held that the island
was a military reservation. In 1863 extensive barracks were erected
by the War Department for the safe keeping of thirteen thousand
Confederate prisoners.
By act of Congress of July 11, 1862, an
appropriation of $100,000 for the construction of an arsenal on Rock
Island was made. There have been additional appropriations from
time to time for the enlargement of the works first contemplated.
The total amount appropriated up to 1871 was $3,220,000.
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