An Early Attack On Fort Madison

George Catlin painted this picture of a Sauk & Fox war dance in the early 1830s

 

The following passage has been reprinted from “Old Fort Madison: Some Source Materials” by Jacob Van der Zee, published in the Iowa Journal of History and Politics. October 1913. P. 520-525. It is part of a journal entry from a soldier or trader stationed at Fort Madison in 1808 and 1809.

 

[The Indians] kept in a body and counseled among themselves, the best manner of surprising Fort Madison, or rather the temporary stockade before the new fort could be occupied. They knew the new fort could not be occupied before the following summer; the soldiers hauled all the pickets and timber in the winner, hitched to sleds, 10 or 15 men to a sled, for want of horses or oxen.

 

Whilst they were occupied, the Indians were debating on the best mode of attack, several head, men and warriors spoke in council, each submitting his favorite mode of attack. They kept themselves posted up in regard to the progress of the new fort, which was to be of picket work and blockhouses. The pickets were to be about 15 feet high and sharpened at the top. The month of May was decided upon as the time for attacking the troops and kill every man if they could.

Black Hawk Purchase And The Opening of Iowa Territory

 

Chief Keokuk signing the Black Hawk Purchase

It ended at the Bad Axe River in August 1832.

Black Hawk and his followers were trying to cross the Mississippi. They were tired, hungry, and running. U.S. troops caught them at the river. What followed wasn’t much of a battle.

It was a massacre.

Soldiers fired from the shore. A steamboat moved into position and opened fire. People tried to swim across. Many didn’t make it. Men, women, and children were shot in the water or cut down on the shore.

By the time it was over, hundreds were dead.

That ended the war.

Black Hawk escaped with a small group and headed north, but he didn’t get far. Ho-Chunk men captured him and turned him over to U.S. forces.

He was taken to Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis and held there as a prisoner.

While he was in custody, the future of his people was being decided.

Chief Keokuk In The Black Hawk War

When Black Hawk crossed back into Illinois with his band, it lit a fuse. Panic spread fast. Settlers ran. Militias formed. War was coming whether or not anyone wanted it.

Keokuk didn’t join him, even though a lot of his people expected it. Black Hawk was a war leader with a following, and tradition said you stood with your own. Keokuk saw it differently. He warned his band that this was a fight they couldn’t win. The Americans had too many soldiers and guns.

Hs decision to keep his band out of the war split the Sauk Nation. Some followed Black Hawk, but most stayed with Keokuk. It wasn’t a popular call, but it held.

While the fighting moved north and west, Keokuk stayed put. He worked with U.S. officials, kept his people from getting pulled in, and did what he could to keep things from getting worse.

When it was over, Black Hawk’s band was shattered. Keokuk’s people were still there.

That didn’t mean they won. The Americans still took their land, but they weren’t wiped out in a lost war.

Chief Wapello

 

Chief Wapello was born around 1787 and grew up in a world the Meskwaki (Fox) people understood—rivers, trade, alliances, and long-held ground in what’s now Iowa. By the time he became a leader, that world was coming apart. American soldiers, settlers, and traders kept pushing in, taking their lands.

He’d  been a warrior when he was younger, but as things changed, Wapello leaned into diplomacy. He worked closely with U.S. Indian agent General Joseph Street, a man he trusted more than most. That didn’t mean Wapello trusted the system. It meant he understood what he was up against.

He signed treaties that gave up huge chunks of land. Nobody on his side thought those deals were good. They were damage control. The alternative was war, and Wapello had seen enough to know how that usually ended.

Americans called him steady and honest. His own people followed him because he didn’t pretend things were better than they were.

When he died in 1842, he asked to be buried next to Joseph Street near Agency City.

Pioneers of Fort Madison Iowa

This sketch of the early pioneers of Fort Madison was published in Illustrated Fort Madison, 1896.

Augustus Caesar Dodge Iowa Politician

Augustus Caesar Dodge was a delegate to Congress from Iowa Territory in 1840. After Iowa became a state in 1846, he became one of its first United States senators.

In 1855, President Franklin Pierce appointed him minister to Spain. He ran for governor when he returned to the country, and later served as mayor of Burlington.

Plans For The New Hyperion Club Des Moines 1909

 

(Picture from Des Moines Register. January 17, 1909)

In January 1909, the Des Moines Register published plans for the Hyperion Club, offering a glimpse of what was shaping up to be one of Des Moines’s more ambitious country clubs.

The Hyperion started out in 1904 as a dancing club, organized by about 19 members. Before long, the group shifted gears, reorganized as a country club, and grew to around 100 members.

By 1909, it was still growing. Membership had reached 225, and the club was clearly thinking bigger. Its grounds, near Waveland Park, covered 225 acres and included an 18-hole golf course laid out at full championship length.

The plan printed in the paper showed a sketch of a new clubhouse with plenty of extras. The building was to include family quarters, bachelor quarters, lockers, a bathhouse, and a billiard parlor. There was also to be a separate building called Bachelor’s Hall.

The club sat along the Perry Interurban Line, about a 35-minute ride from downtown Des Moines. That made it close enough for city members to get there with little trouble, while still feeling like a trip out of town.

Brown-Williams Auto Co. Advertisement Des Moines 1909

This advertisement for the Brown-Williams Auto Co. appeared in the Des Moines Register on January 17, 1909. The dealership was located at 512 Grand Avenue in Des Moines, Iowa.

 

Sioux City Telephone Company 1907

The Sioux City Journal published this picture of the operations center of the Sioux City Telephone Company on February 17, 1907. Pictured are: Milton S. Crandall, wire chief; and Irma Markley.

Waterloo Fire Department 1919

 

New Waterloo fire truck - an American-La France model

1919 was a year of big changes for the Waterloo Fire Department. Longtime chief A. A. Dunham retired in early August, citing health problems. Assistant Chief Martin Burke filled in as chief for a few months until Captain Ray Tiller was appointed chief in early October.

Shortly after that, the city council approved the purchase of a new American-La France fire truck at a cost of nearly $12,000. The new truck had a complete hose and chemical system and a booster pump. It could pump 300 gallons per minute.

Davenport Police Motorcycle Patrol 1914

Motorcycle police officers Edwin Blackhan and John Bryant

 In the spring of 1913, the Davenport Police Department tried something new.

 

Automobiles were multiplying, drivers were testing the limits of speed, and the old methods—foot patrols and horse officers—couldn’t always keep up. So the department bought a motorcycle.

 

The plan was simple. A motorcycle officer would remain near the station house. When an emergency call came in, he was dispatched, racing through city streets faster than any patrol wagon could manage.

 

The first motorcycle officer was Charles Boettcher. He set the pace for the new experiment, proving that two wheels and a powerful engine could change the way a city was policed. When Boettcher moved up to detective work, Olaf Dahlquist took his place.

 

By 1914, the motorcycle squad had become indispensable. The Davenport Democrat and Leader said the department would be “lost” without its motorcycle officers. Speeding automobiles—sometimes called “auto speed maniacs”—were becoming a menace. The department answered with a machine built to match them.

 

They chose a Flying Merkle, a powerful motorcycle capable of reaching 55 to 60 miles per hour. That speed made it more than a novelty. It made it a weapon against reckless driving. As the department put it, a “motorcycle cop is the only effectual solution of the auto speed maniac problem.” It took a high-powered car to escape a motorcycle man, and few drivers owned one.

 

In the spring of 1914, two officers carried the city’s motorcycle duties. Edwin Blackhan handled the daytime shift. John Bryant took the night watch.

 

What began as a simple experiment quickly proved its worth. Within a year, Davenport’s motorcycle patrol wasn’t just a curiosity. It was essential. And plans were in the works to add another cycle.

Torpedo Motorcycles Advertisement 1909

This advertisement for Torpedo Motorcyles was published in The Daily Times on April 3, 1909. The cycles manufactured by The Hornecker Motor Mfg. Co, in Geneseso, Illinois, were sold by John Vollertsen in Davenport, Iowa.

Cadillac Advertisement Davenport Auto Show

Check out this sexy new Cadillac convertible that was featured at the 1912 Auto Show in Davenport, Iowa. This advertisement for the Iowa Auto and Tire Company was published in The Cedar Rapids Gazette. February 24, 1912.

1912 Velie Motor Vehicle Co. Advertisement

 

This advertisement for the Velie Motor Vehicle Co., Moline, Illinois, was published in The Daily Times on February 24, 1912.

1905 Olds Motor Works Advertisement Davenport Iowa

 

If you lived in Davenport in 1905, the Oldsmobile Touring Car might have been the automobile for you. This advertisement for Mason's Carriage Works was published in The Daily Times on April 8, 1905.