CHAPTER II.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE STATE.

The object in presenting a few facts regarding the early history of eastern Iowa is to enable the reader to contrast the condition of that part of the State with its western sections, in which are included the county of Cass. In briefly outlining the extension of civil government over the Territory and State of Iowa, its special relation to Cass county has also been kept continually in mind. Therefore it is that more general movements of population have been described, such as the formation of the settlements which eventuated in Dubuque, Fort Madison, Keokuk, Burlington, and Davenport, rather than the movements of individual settlers, however interesting. The personal details are reserved for the history of Cass county.

PERMANENT SETTLEMENT AT DUBUQUE.

With the conclusion of the Black Hawk War in 1832, and the session by the defeated Sacs and Foxes of the fifty-mile strip on the eastern border of Iowa known as the Black Hawk Purchase, the first white settlers became firmly established on the soil of the Hawk-Eye State. As early as June, 1830, the Longworthy brothers, of Galena, Ill., with several other miners, had settled upon the present site of Dubuque in order to work the lead mines there. They met on the banks of the river and substantially adopted the miners' code in force on the east side of the Mississippi, but as the Indian title to these lands had not been extinguished the men were twice driven away by the United States troops. When the Black Hawk treaty went formally into effect, in June, 1833, the military was withdrawn, and the Langworthy [sic? Longworthy or Langworthy?] brothers and their friends resumed possession of their homes, furnaces and claims. Before the end of the year about 500 people arrived in the mining district, of whom 150 were from Galena.

FORT MADISON FOUNDED.

The first fort erected within the limits of the State, and whose establishment, in 1865, was one of the principal causes of the rupture between the United States and the fiery chief of the Sacs, was also the scene of the next permanent settlement. Soon after the close of the war, Zachariah Hawkins, Benjamin Jennings, Aaron White, Augustine Horton, Samuel Gooch, Daniel Thompson and Peter Williams made claims at Fort Madison. In 1833 General John H. Knapp and Colonel Nathaniel Knapp purchased these claims, laid out the town by that name in the summer of 1835, and placed the lots on the market early in 1836. Within two years Fort Madison became a flourishing town of 600 people.

BURLINGTON, CAPITAL OF WISCONSIN TERRITORY.

In the fall of 1832, while negotiations with Black Hawk were in progress, Simpson S. White erected a cabin on the site of Burlington, seventy-nine miles below Rock Island. Others followed him, but the settlers were driven off by the United States troops as intruders upon the Indian lands, and White's cabin was burned by the soldiers. He returned to Illinois, where he remained during the winter, and in the following summer, when the Indian title had been extinguished, settled there permanently. His brother-in-law, a Mr. Doolittle, accompanied him, and in 1834 they laid out the town of Burlington on its series of sloping eminences surrounded by forest-clad hills. Two dry-goods stores were opened in the autumn, and the new town so prospered that within four years it had become the seat of government for the Territory of Wisconsin.

FIRST SETTLERS OF DAVENPORT.

As eary as 1827 Colonel Davenport had established a flat-boat ferry which ran between the island and the main shore of Iowa, by which he carried on a trade with the Indians west of the Mississippi river. In September, 1832, immediately after the treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, he made the first claim on the site of the present city of Davenport. Soon afterward, as settlers, came Antoine LeClaire, Major Thomas Smith, Major William Gordon, Philip Hambrough, Alexander McGregor, Levi S. Colton and Captain James May.

"Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pp. 39-40.
Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, October, 2017.