Major General James G. Blunt

Rock Island in the pre-arsenal years, following the Black Hawk War of 1832, with a view of the U.S. Army post Fort Armstrong, circa 1839
Perspective drawing of the prison for Confederate soldiers at Rock Island, 1864

The Rock Island Arsenal comprises 946 acres (383 ha) and is located on Arsenal Island, originally known as Rock Island, on the Mississippi River between the cities of Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. Rock Island was previously used as the summer camp site for Sauk Native Americans, and the dispute over tribal ownership led to the Black Hawk War of 1832, after the primary leader of the Sauk, Black Hawk. It is now home to the United States Army First Army Headquarters, and the United States Army Center of Excellence for Additive Manufacturing.

The island was originally established as a government site in 1816, with the building of Fort Armstrong. It is now the largest government-owned weapons manufacturing arsenal in the United States. It has manufactured military equipment and ordnance since the 1880s. In 1919–1920 one hundred of the Anglo-American or Liberty Mark VIII tanks were manufactured there, although too late for World War I. In 1988 it was designated a National Historic Landmark.

Originally established as both an arsenal and a center for the manufacturing of leather accoutrements and field gear, today it provides manufacturing, logistics, and base support services for the United States Armed Forces. The Arsenal is the only active U.S. Army foundry, and manufactures ordnance and equipment, including artillery, gun mounts, recoil mechanisms, small arms, aircraft weapons sub-systems, grenade launchers, weapons simulators, and a host of associated components. Some of the Arsenal's most successful products include the M198 and M119 towed howitzers, and the M1A1 gun mount. About 250 military personnel and 6,000 civilians are currently employed there and the population from the 2020 census was a small 182 people.

History

From 1816-1862, the site was known as Fort Armstrong. Before that, Native Americans occupied it because of its strategic positioning along the Mississippi River. The United States came into possession of the island in 1804 in the Harrison Peace Treaty with the Chief of the Fox and Sac Tribes.[3] From 1804 to 1812 the island was unoccupied by the U.S. Army; however, it was the scene of a small conflict out the outbreak of the War of 1812 with Great Britain. Following that, in 1814 it was the site of a U.S. Army expedition from St Louis to use the island as a guard post to control traffic on the Mississippi and maintain watch over the local Native Americans.[3]

From the autobiography of Sauk Native American Black Hawk: "When we arrived we found that the troops had come to build a fort on Rock Island...We did not object, however, to their building their fort on the island, but were very sorry, as this was the best one on the Mississippi, and had long been the resort of our young people during the summer. It was our garden, like the white people have near their big villages, which supplied us with strawberries, blackberries, gooseberries, plums, apples and nuts of different kinds."

The island facilities were converted and built in 1863; they were not yet completed in December of that year, when the first Confederate prisoners were incarcerated. The construction was makeshift. The first prisoners were 468 Confederates captured in battles at Chattanooga, Tennessee. That month more than 5,000 Confederates would swell the population of Rock Island military prison. They were kept in 84 barracks, each holding around 100 prisoners.[4] A total of 41 Confederate prisoners successfully escaped during the prison's operation, and many more would try but fail.[5][6]

A total of 1,964 Confederate prisoners and 125 Union guards are buried in the adjacent military cemetery, including 49 members of the 108th Regiment of United States Colored Troops, who served as guards. Most died from disease, since sanitation was primitive as in all army encampments, and exposure to heat and humidity during the summers and freezing temperatures during winters. In 1864, deadly smallpox epidemics rapidly spread through the prison.

The prison camp operated from December 1863 until July 1865, when the last prisoners were freed. After the war, the prison facility was completely destroyed. During its two years in operation, the prison camp housed a total of more than 12,400 Confederates.[5][6]

Other historical sites in the area include the Confederate Cemetery, the Rock Island National Cemetery, 19th-century stone workshops, officers' quarters along the river, Col. Davenport's House, and the site of the first railroad bridge built across the Mississippi. Following the war, the federal government retained ownership of Arsenal Island and developed it for use as an arsenal and ordnance manufacturing center, which led to its being renamed.

Womens History

During the first World War, demand for war materials drastically increased which resulted in a demand for skilled labor. Due to the draft of men, women had to fill the gap at the arsenal. This is often referred to as the women draft as they had to backfill the men leaving to fight in order to keep meet the demands of the war time efforts in the factories. Rock Island Arsenal increased from 175 female employees in 1914 to 300 in 1917, a drastic increase in the time before women’s suffrage.[7] Women were absolutely critical to the war time effort of World War I and Rock Island Arsenal was no exception.

Early historical timeline

  • 1809: Declared a federal military reservation by an Act of Congress[8]
  • 1816: Fort Armstrong built on the island
  • 1818: George Davenport, U.S. Army sutler established trading post
  • 1832: Served as U.S. Army HQ for Blackhawk War
  • 1833: George Davenport mansion built
  • 1836: Abandoned, but remained ordnance depot
  • 1845: George Davenport killed by Banditti of the Prairie
  • 1856: First railroad built across the Mississippi River
  • 1862: Rock Island Arsenal (the name we know it to be today) established by an Act of Congress
  • 1862: First Commanding Officer of Rock Island Major Charles P. Kingsbury.
  • 1863-1865: Rock Island Prison Barracks existed for Confederate Soldiers
  • 1865: Second Commanding Officer of Rock Island Arsenal, Brevet Brigadier General Thomas J. Rodman, also known as the Father of Rock Island Arsenal for his contributions
  • 1867: Clock Tower Building erected, still standing and is the home of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
  • 1871: First military quarters built on Rock Island, named, Quarters One, an Italianate villa. At 20,000 square feet it is one of the largest government single family residences in the United States
  • 1872: First Government bridge built across the Mississippi River, replaced the railroad bridge destroyed by a steamboat

Rock Island Arsenal Museum

The Rock Island Arsenal Museum was established on July 4, 1905. It is the second-oldest US Army Museum in the US after the West Point Museum. The museum has been closed twice, during World War I and World War II, to provide more space for manufacturing facilities.

Exhibits interpret the history of Rock Island Arsenal and the Union prison camp during the American Civil War, and the site's role as a military industrial facility. The museum contains the second-largest collection of small arms weapons in the U.S. Army, and an outdoor vehicle display.


exhibits include (as of 2012)
Weapon Country of origin Period
M1 75mm Pack Howitzer  United States 1927–present
M40A1 106mm Recoilless Rifle  United States 1950s–present
M45 Quadmount 50 caliber machine gun turret  United States World War II – 1980s
M14 conversion display to M14 Enhanced Battle Rifle (RI)  United States 1959–present
M65 Atomic Cannon  United States 1953–1963
M198 155mm towed howitzer  United States 1979–present
M119 105mm towed howitzer  United Kingdom
 United States
1989–present
M115 8 inch towed howitzer  United States 1931–1950s
Type 59-1 130mm Field Gun (Chinese version of Russian M46)  China 1954–present
M22 or T9E1 Locust Light Tank  United States World War II
M4A3 Sherman Medium Tank with battle damage from the Battle of the Bulge in World War II with the 4th Armored Division  United States World War II
M50 Ontos self-propelled anti-tank gun  United States 1956–1969
M51 Skysweeper towed anti-aircraft gun  United States 1953–1975
M1 Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft Gun  Sweden World War II
D-44 85mm Field Gun  Soviet Union 1945–1953
M2A1 105mm Howitzer  United States 1941–present
XM123A1 Medium Auxiliary Propelled 155mm Howitzer (experimental model of M114 howitzer)  United States 1961
XM124E2 Light Auxiliary Propelled 105mm Howitzer (experimental model of M2 or M101 howitzer)  United States 1962–1965
M114 155mm Howitzer  United States 1942–present
M2A2 Terra Star Auxiliary Propelled Howitzer with tri-star wheels  United States 1969–1977
15 cm Nebelwerfer 41 Multiple Rocket Launcher  Germany World War II
XM70E2 Rocket Launcher  United States 1959–1963
M5 3 inch anti-tank gun  United States 1943–present
M102 Lightweight 105mm Howitzer (Airmobile)  United States 1964–present
T66 or M16 4.5 inch Multiple Rocket Launcher  United States 1945–1954
M3A1 37mm Anti-tank Gun  United States World War II
M1 57mm Anti-tank Gun  United Kingdom World War II
M3 105mm Light Howitzer (Airborne)  United States 1943–present
M55 Self-propelled Howitzer  United States 1970s
MGR-1 Honest John Surface-to-surface Missile  United States 1954–1973
MGR-3 Little John Surface-to-surface Missile with XM80 launcher  United States 1961–1969
ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" Self-Propelled Anti-aircraft gun  Soviet Union 1962–present

See also

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ "Rock Island Arsenal". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2006-02-13. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
  3. ^ a b Tillinghast, Benjamin Franklin (1898). Rock Island arsenal: in peace and in war. With maps and illus. Cornell University Library. Chicago : H.O. Shepard.
  4. ^ The Civil War in America, The Library of Congress
  5. ^ a b Chestnut, Mary (1982). A Diary from Dixie. Gramercy Books, New York. ISBN 0-517-18266-1.
  6. ^ a b Speer, Lonnie R. (1997). Portals to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, c1997. ISBN 0-8032-9342-9.
  7. ^ "Arsenal of Democracy: A History of RIA from WWI to WWII". www.army.mil. 23 November 2022. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  8. ^ "U.S. Army Official History of Rock Island Arsenal". U.S. Army Official History. 24 February 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2024.

External links