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An Illustrated History Of The Rock Island Arsenal And Arsenal Island Part Two National Historic Landmark 71 FOREWORD On 11 July 1989 the Rock Island Arsenal commemorated its designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior. This auspicious occasion came about due in large measure to the efforts of the AMCCOM Historical Office, particularly Mr. Thomas J. Slattery, who spent many hours coordinating the efforts and actions necessary to bring the landmark status into fruition. Rock Island Arsenal Commander, Colonel David T. Morgan, Jr., was also instrumental in the implementation of the above ceremony by his interest, guidance, and support of Rock Island Arsenal’s National Historic Landmark, status. Incidental to the National Historic Landmark commemoration, the AMCCOM Historical Office has published An Illustrated History of Rock Island Arsenal and Arsenal Island, Part Two. Mr. Thomas J. Slattery is the author of this history and has presented a very well-written and balanced study of the beginning of Rock Island Arsenal in 1862 through 1900, including the arsenal construction period, the arsenal’s role in providing ordnance stores to the west, and its contributions during the Spanish-American War. This information was gathered from a number of primary and secondary sources including the author’s own files, the AMCCOM Historical Office archives, and the Rock Island Arsenal Museum collection. Mr. Slattery would like to acknowledge the efforts of past and present historians who gathered and preserved historical sources maintained in the holdings of these two institutions. Mr. Slattery is especially appreciative of the contributions made in this area by his colleagues Mr. O. Bryan England, Mr. Ralph Krippner, and Dr. Robert Bouilly. Mr. Slattery would also like to thank Mr. Daniel Whiteman, Rock Island Arsenal Museum Director; and Mrs. Kris Leinecke, Rock Island Arsenal Museum Curator; for the use of the U.S. War Department’s War of Rebellion series, a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies; and the Rock Island Arsenal Commander’s Annual Report to the Chief of Ordnance from 1871-1900. Mr. Slattery’s history illustrates well the importance of individuals such as Thomas J. Rodman and Daniel W. Flagler in the construction of the great stone buildings which still stand today and serve as a silent tribute to these arsenal commanders. The history also addresses problems experienced during the construction of the arsenal. The reader will hopefully be enriched and educated by having learned something about Rock Island Arsenal’s illustrious past, and how the past has impacted upon the present arsenal as it continues to serve our nation. Colonel David T. Morgan, Jr., is accorded special thanks for his support and enthusiasm. Special thanks are also extended to Mrs. Carol L. Secoy and Ms. Nancy Newton of the AMCCOM Historical Office for respectively providing exemplary editorial and administrative support for this history. In addition, gratitude is extended to the Field Printing Office for its professional assistance. HERBERT P. LEPORE Chief, Historical Office 72 AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL AND ARSENAL ISLAND PART TWO By Thomas J. Slattery Historical Office U.S. Army Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command Rock Island, Illinois 61299-6000 1989 73 Below: The western entrance to the Rock Island Arsenal via Main (Rodman) Avenue, the island’s principal east-west thoroughfare. The limestone Gate House, built in 1875 and portions of the cast iron gate and limestone pillars still grace the entrance to the Arsenal. Note: the Gate House has since been reroofed and the “gingerbread” trim removed. CHAPTER FIVE SOLDIERS RETURN TO ROCK ISLAND The history of Arsenal Island is divided into the United States Army returned to Rock Island. several periods of government occupancy. These This was the beginning of the second, or arsenal periods are mirrored in the divisions of this history. construction period which continued until Part one focuses on the federal government’s approximately 1908 when the original Arsenal was acquisition of the island; the reasons for this completed and had its first test in meeting the acquisition; the Fort Armstrong era; and the demands of the Spanish-American War and the subsequent caretaker period which ended in 1863. subsequent retrenchment. This second period The Black Hawk War, the last Indian uprising in the began on 11 July 1862, when the United States state of Illinois, resulted in hostile tribes being Congress passed an act which established an transferred to reservation camps west of the arsenal on Rock Island. The next year, the Army Mississippi River, thus ending the Indian threat in Ordnance Department started construction of a Illinois. Therefore, with the need for Fort Armstrong storehouse on the western tip of the island, near diminished, the federal government reduced the the ruins of Fort Armstrong. This storehouse, fort’s status to that of a depot. From 1845 to 1863, completed in 1867, and known today as the Clock a number of War Department civil custodians Tower Building, was the first permanent arsenal managed the affairs of Rock Island. building erected.64 During the American Civil War, 1861-1865, 74 Below: A total of 12,192 Confederate soldiers were confined at Rock Island during the Civil War years of 1863-1865. The camp, constructed on the north central shore of the island, consisted of 84 wooded barracks and a variety of ancillary buildings. However only the Confederate Cemetery remains as a reminder of the prison’s existence. CHAPTER SIX ROCK ISLAND PRISON BARRACKS During the Civil War the Union Army’s approximately twelve acres of land. Eighty four Ordnance Department had company on the island. wooden-framed barracks, 22 x 100 feet in size, Two separate army units operated on Rock Island arranged in six rows of fourteen barracks each, during the last two years of the Civil War. Several comprised the containment area. Each barracks months prior to initial construction of the Clock had a kitchen, with a stove and a forty gallon kettle Tower Building in 1863, the U.S. Army for cooking, located at the west end of the building. Quartermaster Department began to build a Captain Reynolds built enough bunks in each prisoner of war camp on the north central section of barracks to accommodate 120 prisoners. A main Rock Island. The Union Quartermaster General avenue running east to west divided the camp and Montgomery Meigs became aware of the island’s led to the two main gates. The barracks were advantages in 1837 when he assisted a young enclosed by a twelve foot high rough board fence. army lieutenant named Robert E. Lee in surveying A guard platform built four feet from the top of the the upper rapids of the Mississippi River at Rock stockade fence, on the exterior side, had a sentry Island.65 General Meigs then ordered Captain box every 100 feet. Trenches maintained inside the Charles A. Reynolds to build a prison barracks fence served as a warning line. Sentries were large enough to accommodate 10,000 prisoners of ordered to fire at prisoners venturing beyond this war. In August 1863, Captain Reynolds began point. The “dead line” supposedly deterred construction of the prison barracks near the north prisoners from tunneling under the stockade. In central shore of the island.66 addition, the closeness of bedrock to the surface The prison, rectangular in shape, covered prevented tunneling near the southern side of the stockade.67 75 Below: Persons visiting the Rock Island Prison Barracks were required to obtain passes issued under the order of Colonel A.J. Johnson, prison commandant. Right: Colonel Adolphus J. Johnson, commanding officer of the Rock Island Barracks for most of its operational period. The barracks were numbered consecutively prisoners. Colonel William Hoffman, the Union’s from one to eighty four, and each building had a commissary general of prisoners, inspected the prisoner who served as sergeant of the barracks. Rock Island Prison Barracks in November 1863. A Wooden bunks in three tiers, one above the other, few days before Colonel Hoffman’s visit, several extended the length of each building on each side. barracks at the Camp Douglas prison near Chicago The commandant of the prison, for all but a were destroyed by fire, thus necessitating the few early days of its twenty-month existence, was apparent relocation of some of the camp prisoners. Colonel Adolphus J. Johnson. The government It has been surmised that some of the Camp selected the Rock Island site for the prison for Douglas prisoners may have been sent to the Rock basically the same reasons it had chosen the island Island Prison Barracks. However, it is not certain as the location for the new western arsenal— whether this transfer actually took place.69 security, location, and space. In addition, Construction of the Rock Island Prison government ownership made the island a prime Barracks was behind schedule from the start. In the location for both a prison camp and an arsenal.68 rush to organize prison camps to handle the influx By the time the Rock Island Prison Barracks of southern prisoners, the Rock Island prison received its first Confederate prisoners-of-war in opened before it was completed. Some of the December 1863, the Union Army had established prison guards were quartered in tents, others in 21 other prison sites. During the course of the war, local communities, and still others in cheap some of these prisons closed, while new prisons shanties built to house prisoners of war. Union opened. Quartermaster General M.C. Meigs, in a letter Prior to the arrival of the first Confederate dated 12 August 1863, instructed Captain C.A. 76 Below: Union Quartermaster General Montgomery C.

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