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A
Fascinating History - Village of East Davenport
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Detail
from 1888 lithographic bird's eye view of |
Bits & Pieces of History • In 1828, President John Quincy Adams formally declared that all lands east of the Mississippi were to be sold to settlers gradually moving their way westward. This resulted in Indian tribes being forced to the West. Chief Black Hawk and 2,000 of his followers refused to move and the "Black Hawk War" resulted. (Source: State of Iowa)
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The
Treaty of 1836 was signed near what is now College Avenue in East Davenport.
The treaty was an agreement between Chief Keokuk and the U.S. Government,
in which the Indians relinquished a large part of what is now Iowa.
Chief Black Hawk, who no longer had power after his capture during the
Black Hawk War, camped with
his remaining warriors high above the river at the present-day
Lindsay Park. During the gathering for the treaty signing, famed Western
artist, George Catlin not only painted and sketched the Indians–including
Chief Black Hawk–before
they left their native lands but also signed his name as a witness to
the treaty. (Above: Catlin's painting of Chief Black Hawk). (Sources:
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Antoine LeClaire, part Indian and part white, served as a translator and
eventually became an East Davenport entrepreneur. Pictured at left.
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Location of the Civil War Camp McClellan in 1861. Also the site in 1862
of the Camp Kearney Indian Prison, which received 177 Sioux from Minnesota;
hundreds of Sioux had been condemned to hanging, but President Lincoln
warned Minnesota authorities that each was entitled to due process. Eventually
these 177 prisoners were able to be released from Camp Kearney. (