August 30, 2016

Just Saying…

Just-Sayin-feh_cowboy_hat_2_PBy Q.C. Jones

On this day in history – QC Style

Back when I was a kid, my dad had every radio in the house tuned to the local small town radio station. We listened to shows like the swap shop; where folks would come on the air and announce they were selling three good sized boxes of used Mason jars or giving away a brand new baby goat. We listened to the local news, weather and an octogenarian organ player each day at 10 a.m. But, one of the most vividly memorable shows was a five minute section at noon called “On this day in history.” It was educational and fun to talk about historical facts and minutia.

Most of these points were obscure. For instance, speaking for September we might make a point to mention Tarzan of the Apes creator Edgar Rice Burroughs was born on September 1, 1875 in Chicago. Before becoming a novelist, he was as a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. Or that September 3 is the birthday of Dutch musician and conductor Eduard A van Beinum. Isn’t that a snooze? For most our 50+ crowd it means almost nothing.

Leave it to your old pal, QC Jones to bring you the good stuff. I have scoured ancient logs, journals and faded manuscripts to come up with some “on this day in history” that mean something to the Quad-City Citizen. Here goes…

September 4, 1814

Our first September date goes back to the War of 1812, Zachary Taylor, of later Presidential fame, planned an attack against the Sauk of the Rock River region. Taylor left St. Louis with 334 men. His mission: undertake a strike against the Sauk to punish them for their attacks on the earlier American expeditions of Governor Clark and Lieutenant Campbell. Before he could attack, his vessels were discovered. British artillery on Credit Island and Sauk musket fire riddled Major Taylor’s vessels, forcing them to retreat back to St. Louis. The Red Coat artillery was the deciding factor in the battle.

September 10, 1819

Obviously, the U.S. Army needed artillery, too. In an excerpt from a report by Fort Armstrong Commander, Major Morrell M. Martson 1819-1821, “dated 10 September 1819” the good Major reports the fort now has three blockhouses each equipped with 6-pounder artillery pieces. But some other interesting news was reported from Fort Armstrong under Martson’s watch.

September 27, 1820

John Haines, a soldier stationed at Fort Armstrong, decided to go on a solo hunting trip. His body was discovered a week later, shot, scalped, and mutilated with multiple stab and club wounds. The army responded to such acts of violence by demanding that the responsible tribe, in this case the Winnebagoes (not to be confused with the Iowa’s largest RV manufacturer) at Prophet’s Town, turn over to them the guilty party. To ensure such actions were taken, the army held five Winnebago chiefs as hostages until the murderers were delivered to the fort. Thankfully, we worked things out.

September 21, 1832

Fast forwarding to 1832, peace was struck with the Black Hawk Treaty being signed. The great Chief Keokuk presented a special gift of land to Antoine LeClaire’s wife Marguerite on the condition that she and her husband live on the site of the treaty. The signing occurred in the area of Davenport that today is 5th and Farnam streets, and was attended by hundreds of Indians. Keeping to their word, the LeClaire family built Treaty House which was located near 5th and Perry. Later the house was donated for use as the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad as the first railroad depot in Davenport.

Davenport_City-540x405

The “Treaty House” was built at the exact location Chief Keokuk and General Winfield Scott signed a treaty to end the Black Hawk War in 1832. The house has since been moved from its original location.

The rest is reminiscent of the Abbott and Costello “who’s on first” bit. LeClaire founded Davenport, in honor of his friend Col. George Davenport who lived in Rock Island and somebody down in Southern Iowa named their town after LeClaire’s benefactor Keokuk. But let’s turn our attention to another September date tied to Col. Davenport.

September 14, 1978

Davenport died an untimely death at the hands of 4 “River Roughians”. All but one of these guys were hung including a guy named John Long. After the execution, his body was packed in a barrel of Rum and sent to a physician. The physician displayed Long’s skeleton in his office. (There had to be something for the waiting room before they invented People Magazine.) The doctor’s widow returned the skeleton to Rock Island and for years, the bones of the murderer were kept at the Rock Island County House, at Black Hawk Park Museum and later “in storage.” John Long’s skeleton was buried in the dirt of the old pioneer’s cemetery in 1978 which probably isn’t as exotic as laid to rest in a cask of rum.

There’s plenty more September, unfortunately we just don’t have the time or space for the exhaustive list created by your man QC Jones. We do want to be timely. Speaking of which, on September 28th, 1857 Davenport got its first town clock. Since then there has been no reason to be late for work… Just Saying.

 

Filed Under: History, Humor

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