USA > Iowa > Scott County > Davenport > History of Davenport and Scott County Iowa, Volume I > Part 57
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93
TEMPLE EMANUEL.
Temple Emanuel church was organized in 1861 and the congregation erected a temple on the corner of Ripley and Fourth, which was dedicated in 1884. The congregation's new church on the corner of Eleventh and Brady was dedicated in 1906. The first rabbi was Isaac Fall. He was succeeded by Rabbi Freuder. Then came Rabbi Maurice Thorner. In 1900 W. H. Fine- shriber assumed the pastorate and is the present rabbi. The congregation is made up of seventy-five families of Davenport, Rock Island and Moline. Fifty children attend the Sunday school.
SWEDISH LUTHERAN.
The Swedish Lutheran church was organized in 1883, and the same year the church building was erected and dedicated. It had for its first pastor O. Tor-
616
HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
rell. In 1888 Prof. O. Oleson came to this charge and remained until 1903, when he was succeeded by A. W. Kjellstrand. The present pastor, O. W. Ferm, has been here since 1906. The church was incorporated by the following gentle- men : Charles Lindwall, John W. Matson, G. Eklund, A. Lindblom, and C. L. Lindholm.
The church started with twenty-five members and now has 150, with sixty-five in the Sunday school. The building is located on East Sixth street and just east of it is the parsonage, built in 1905.
THIRD BAPTIST (COLORED).
This church is made up of the good colored Baptist people of Davenport, and was organized in 1875. The congregation, though weak in number, is strong in fervor and hopes for the future. Its church building is located on West Thir- teenth street.
THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL.
The A. M. E. church was organized in 1875 and it has a membership of about fifty souls. It has its Sunday school, which is prospering. This church is at the corner of Fourth and Gaines streets.
THE FIRST GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHER ZION'S CHURCH.
The history of this church begins on the 9th of July, 1862, that being the time of its organization. It had for its first members S. Hiller, G. Crecelius, B. Borgelt, H. Flemming and F. Kurmeier. The church edifice is located at the cor- ner of Eighth and Gaines streets, and there is also a chapel belonging to this con- gregation on Oak and Fifth streets, where services are held every Sunday eve- ning. The present membership numbers 350 and in the Sunday school there are 130. Connected with the church is a Ladies Aid Society with twenty-five mem- bers, and also a Young Folks society of twenty-two members. The church is in a very prosperous condition. The following have been pastors of the church: Revs. John Keisel, from 1861 to 1865; Josias Ritter, 1865 to 1868; Wilhelm Von- hof, 1868-1870; C. Reuter, 1870-1871 ; S. Gass, 1871-1879 ; B. Foelsch, 1879-1891 ; C. Ziche, 1891-1897 ; P. Bunge, 1897-1903; John Hurtzig, 1903-1908; C. Holter- man, 1908, who is the present pastor.
The present church edifice was erected in 1866.
FOUNTAIN IN CENTRAL PARK
SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. DAVENPORT
CHAPTER XXI.
THE CIVIL WAR.
DRED SCOTT IN DAVENPORT-JOHN BROWN AND COPPOC THE REFUGEE-THE CALL FOR TROOPS-IOWA'S RESPONSE-LOCAL ENTHUSIASM-SCOTT COUNTY SOLDIERS IN MANY REGIMENTS-PROVED THEMSELVES THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE- IOWA DRUM BEAT HEARD IN EVERY PORTION OF THE SOUTH-THE HONORED DEADUNAPPRECIATED ELOQUENCE-LITTLER'S FIREMEN-SOME CLOTHES.
From the fact that Dr. Emerson, who owned "Dred" Scott, the slave whose name gives the title to one of the most famous and momentous decisions ever handed down by the United States supreme court, lived in Davenport and prac- ticed his profession here, and also it being a matter of history that "Old John Brown" came to Davenport at one time and laid in a supply of provisions for his followers, makes any mention of these historic characters of more than the ordinary interest and for that reason newspaper extracts relating to them are here presented, one written by William A. Meese, of Moline, Illinois, and the other by Warren Teele, the latter appearing in the Half Century number of the Democrat.
DRED SCOTT THE SLAVE.
"Dred Scott was a negro owned by Dr. John Emerson, a surgeon in the United States army, and in the year 1834 Scott came with the doctor from Missouri to Fort Armstrong on Rock island, Illinois, where the doctor was stationed. Scott remained at Fort Armstrong until May, 1836, when he went with the doctor to Fort Snelling (in Minnesota) where he married Harriet, a slave of his mas- ter, and had two children. Slavery was illegal in both places-in Illinois by its constitution ; in Minnesota (Louisiana Purchase) by the Missouri Compromise.
"In 1838 Scott was taken to Jefferson Barracks, a military post at St. Louis, and here an action was brought in the circuit court of the state by Scott to test
620
HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
the question of his freedom. The St. Louis court held that Scott's residence on free soil had made him free. The case was appealed to the supreme court of Missouri, which court reversed the decision of the St. Louis circuit court and held that Scott was a slave. In the meantime Dr. Emerson had sold Dred and his family to John F. A. Sanford of New York, and suit was brought against Sanford in the United States court for Scott's freedom. The case was tried at St. Louis on May 15, 1854, before the court and a jury, and the latter found that 'Dred Scott was a negro slave, the lawful property of the defendant.' A new trial was refused and Scott carried his case to the supreme court of the United States. The final decision in the Dred Scott case was the longest and, up to that period, the most interesting one ever given by the supreme court of the United States. The substance of the decision was as follows :
"'Scott was not made free by being taken to Rock Island in the state of Illinois. As Scott was a slave when taken into the state by his owner, and was there held as such, and brought back into Missouri in that character, his status, as free or slave, depended on the laws of Missouri, and not of Illinois. He and his family were not free, but were, by the laws of Missouri, the property of the defendant.' This decision by Roger B. Taney only helped to fan the flames, and the free-soil, native American and anti-slavery democrats of the north now took more aggressive steps toward the abolition of the slave trade."
THE EMERSON CLAIM.
While Dr. John Emerson was serving his country as surgeon to the garrison at Fort Armstrong the tide of immigration set strongly to the newly opened Black Hawk Purchase and carried him across the river to Davenport, his assignment as surgeon allowing him some little latitude of action. Here he built a substantial brick residence which still standing is numbered as 219 on East Second street. A view of this relic of early days appears in this work. From the signs generously plastered thereon it can be surmised that in this lowly condition it is a warehouse of the Iowa Telephone Company. While at Fort Armstrong Dr. Emerson en- tered a claim on the banks of the river, next east and adjoining the claim taken up by George L. Davenport, the first claim entered upon in the Black Hawk Pur- chase. Upon this claim Dr. Emerson built a shack and installed therein his slave Dred Scott to occupy and make good all rights of a claimmaker. At that time this region was in the territory of Michigan. Later, July 4, 1836, it became Wis- consin. Upon this Davenport residence, or rather, stay in Bettendorf, Scott in his famous suit for freedom predicated residence in Michigan and Wisconsin, free territory. When the Fort Armstrong garrison was transferred to Fort Snelling, Dr. Emerson accompanied the troops. Later he came to Davenport, sold his claim for one thousand dollars, and returned to St. Paul, taking Dred with him. This strengthened Dred's case later by a stay in Minnesota. When Dr. Emerson died his remains were buried in Antoine LeClaire's cemetery where LeClaire street crosses Sixth. After the bodies here buried had been removed to St. Mary's churchyard and the City cemetery in West Davenport this location became the site of the fine old residence of our historian, Willard Barrows.
621
HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
In the Gazette of date May 4, 1843, was published the following profes- sional card: "Dr. John Emerson offers his professional services to the citizens of Davenport and surrounding country. He may be found at present at the Le- Claire House." In the issue of the same paper which appeared on the evening of January 4, 1844, was this notice: "Died-On the evening of December 28, 1843, John Emerson, M. D., aged forty years, late surgeon in the army of the United States."
JOHN BROWN'S VISIT.
"There was a great celebration of the 4th of July here in 1858," says War- ren Teele, "most of the business houses of the town were closed and the people generally turned out to the picnic. I was with Dalzell then, on the corner of Second and Perry. I did not care to celebrate, and so I stayed at the store through the morning, though Dalzell urged me to close up and go out for a good time. At last I said I would close at noon, one or two other houses having kept open till then, and I was waiting through the last few minutes before the hour of twelve when a stranger came in. He was a well built man, with heavy beard and hair, quaint and old-fashioned in style, and very gray. 'Has thee any sidemeat?' he asked as I came to meet him. 'No,' I said, 'we are just out of sidemeat ; but we have some very fine shoulders.' 'I did not ask thee for shoulders ; I asked thee for sidemeat,' he said, not in an irritated tone, but steadily and composedly as though merely setting me right when I was wrong. I was anxious to save the sale for somebody, if I could not for my own house, so I said, 'Wait, I think I can take you to a man who will sell you all the sidemeat you want, if you will. come with me.' He did not say a word, but was ready to go, so I locked the store and led him as fast as we could walk-I was afraid we should find the place closed-half a block south on Perry and then a block west through the alley to Burr & Swift's store, which stood just across the alley from the present sta- tion of the interurban road. We were in time, and the sidemeat was satisfactory. After it the stranger bought flour and other provisions, in all a bill of over $400, and paid the cash. He went around the corner of Front street, toward Burrows & Prettyman's mill, and came back with a covered conestoga wagon ; an immense big thing, with the high bed flaring forward and back like the ends of a scow, and the whole interior hooded under the cover. He loaded in his provisions and drove away, saying not a word more than was necessary. It was months later that we learned-Burr and Swift and I-that our customer was old John Brown, the liberator. He had the bottom of that wagon bed full of guns and pikes then, and he was on his way out to his rendezvous at Springdale.
"The raid, capture, trial and execution of John Brown made a tremendous sensation here, where the great mass of the people sympathized with him. The escape of one of the Coppocs, Springdale boys who were in his desperate little band at Harper's Ferry, gave great satisfaction here, and delighted me very much, for I was a Jolin Brown man. Eli Adams kept a bookstore on Brady street where the trunk store is now, between Second and Third. One day Eli slipped me quietly upstairs, and there was Coppoc. I know that at least one other man be- side myself was admitted to see him, and I know that he was kept there at
622
HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
least about four days. The detectives and United States marshals were rak- ing the country for him, and were right here in Davenport when he was hidden there; but they never got on his trail, and he got away. The story of his escape from Harper's Ferry, and his wayfaring all the way to this city, is most thrill- ing, as it has been given in one of the magazines of thirty years ago, or more. He was escorted out of Davenport and on to safety. I do not remember his face so well, but his old leader had a physiognomy and a bearing that impressed me deeply, so that I shall never forget him, just as he looked. I may add that the clue that brought the detectives to Davenport on Coppoc's scent was the ad- dress, 'Burr & Swift, Davenport, Iowa,' on a box found among the effects of John Brown that were captured at Harper's Ferry."
COPPOC THE REFUGEE.
In coming to Davenport Barclay Coppoc was coming among friends he had made while serving as clerk in local stores. After evading the extradition papers of Governor Wise of Virginia this young man enlisted in the war for the union and early in the struggle fell a victim to Missouri bushwhackers. He was killed with other soldiers in the wreck of a train which went through a bridge which had been weakened by incendiary fire.
Colonel Wm. Penn Clark, formerly of Davenport, wrote a letter to the Des Moines Register in which he tells of a trip he made in March, 1859, from West Liberty to Davenport with John Brown and party who were taking twelve slaves captured in Missouri to freedom. A freight car containing the slaves was attached to the train and placed directly back of the engine. In this car were Brown and others of his adherents, all strongly armed. Kagi, the writer and orator of the Brown movement, accompanied Col. Clark into a passenger coach to keep an eye on a man who had threatened to reveal to the United States officers the character of the freight in the car attached to the train when the train should reach Daven- port. It was the purpose of Clark and Kagi to overawe and keep this man quiet during the short stay the train made in this city. Col. Clark says in his letter, "And this we did. Kagi was thoroughly armed, as were all the white men with Brown, and the party could not have been arrested without bloodshed. The con- ductor of the passenger train was a man named Jones, an Englishman, who, I believe, is dead. He was in sympathy with the movement, and who knew how anxious I was to get the fugitives safely out of Iowa. From a window of the old Burtis House I watched the train crossing the bridge over the Mississippi and felt greatly relieved when the train started on its journey to Chicago, where the negroes were safely landed the next morning."
While the train stopped here Laurel Summers, United States marshal with a strong posse searched the passenger cars, but did not examine the freight car on the rear of the train. At Chicago Allan Pinkerton, the famous detective, con- ducted the slaves to a waiting car which took them safely to Canada.
THE REBELLION OR THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES.
John Brown, who declared and honestly believed himself chosen of the Lord to strike the shackles from the southern slave, was hanged on the gallows at
623
HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
Charlestown, near Harper's Ferry, Virginia, on the 2d day of December, 1859, as a penalty for his misguided attempt to cause an uprising of the blacks in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry, where he and his small band of followers had forcibly taken possession of the United States arsenal. This event caused a furor of excitement in the south and events that made for internecine strife and the bloodi- est civil war on record were hastened at a furious speed toward Fort Sumter, where the shot was fired that echoed its baleful significance throughout the hills and vales of Christendom. The walls of Fort Sumter were battered by the rebel guns at Charleston, South Carolina, by the would-be assassins of the Union on the morning of April 12, 1861, and in twenty-four hours thereafter news of the world-momentous action had reached every accessible corner of the United States. In the south the portentous message was generally received with bois- terous demonstrations of joy and the belief on the part of the masses that the day would soon come for their deliverance from the "northern yoke" and that their "peculiar institution" was to be perpetuated under the constitution and laws of a new confederacy of states. In the north a different feeling possessed the peo- ple. The firing on Fort Sumter was looked upon with anger and sadness, and the determination was at once formed to uphold the integrity of the Union and the perpetuity of its institutions. It was then that Abraham Lincoln began his great work of preserving the Union.
THE CALL FOR TROOPS.
On the 16th of April, four days following the assault on Fort Sumter, Gov- ernor Samuel J. Kirkwood, of Iowa, received the following telegram from Simon Cameron, secretary of war:
"Call made on you by tonight's mail for one regiment of militia for imme- diate service."
That very day the governor proclaimed to the people of Iowa that the nation was imperiled and invoked the aid of every loyal citizen in the state. The tele- gram above alluded to was received at Davenport. The governor was then re- siding at Iowa City, but there was no telegraphic communication in those days between the two cities.
It was important that the dispatch should reach the eyes of the governor at once and General Vandever, then a civilian, volunteered to take the message to Iowa City. The governor was found on his farm outside the city by the self-appointed messenger, dressed in homespun and working in the field. Read- ing the dispatch Governor Kirkwood expressed extreme surprise and exclaimed : "Why, the president wants a whole regiment of men! Do you suppose I can raise so many as that, Mr. Vandever?" When ten Iowa regiments were offered a few days later the question was answered.
THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION.
President Lincoln announced, April 15, 1861, that the execution of the laws of the Union had been obstructed in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Flor- ida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas by "combinations too powerful to be
624
HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law." He called out the militia to the number of 75,000. Seeing that the insurgents had not dispersed in the states named and that the inhabitants of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee had joined them, he issued this proclamation, August 16, 1861 :
"Whereas, on the 15th day of April, 1861, the president of the United States, in view of an insurrection against laws, constitution and government of the United States, which has broken out within the states of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, and in pursu- ance of the provisions of the act entitled, 'An act to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions, and to repeal the act now in force for that purpose,' approved Feb- ruary 28, 1795, did call forth the militia to suppress said insurrection and cause the laws of the Union to be duly executed and the insurgents having failed to disperse by the time directed by the president; and whereas such insurrection has since broken out and yet exists within the states of Virginia, North Caro- lina, Tennessee and Arkansas; and whereas, the insurgents in all the said states claim to act under the authority thereof, and such claim is not disclaimed or repudiated by the persons exercising the functions of government in such state or states, or in the part or parts thereof in which combinations exist, nor has any such insurrection been suppressed by said states :
"Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States, in pursuance of an act of congress approved July 13, 1861, do hereby declare that the inhabitants of the said states of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi and Florida (except the inhabitants of that part of Virginia lying west of the Alleghany Mountains, and of such other parts of that state and the other states hereinbefore named as may maintain a loyal adhesion to the Union and the constitution or may be from time to time occupied and controlled by the forces of the United States engaged in the dispersion of said insurgents), are in a state of insurrection against the United States; and that all commercial inter- course between the same and the inhabitants thereof, with the exceptions afore- said, and the citizens of other states and other parts of the United States, is unlawful, and will remain unlawful until such insurrection shall cease or has been suppressed; that all goods and chattels, wares and merchandise, coming from any of said states with the exception aforesaid, into other parts of the United States, without the special license and permission of the president, through the secretary of the treasury, or proceeding to any said states, with the exceptions aforesaid, by land or water, together with the vessel or vehicle conveying the same or conveying persons to or from said states, with said exceptions, will be forfeited to the United States; and that from and after fifteen days from the issuing of this proclamation, all ships and vessels be- longing in whole or in part to any citizen or inhabitant of any of said states with said exceptions found at sea or in any port of the United States will be forfeited to the United States, and I hereby enjoin upon all district attorneys, marshals and officers of the revenue and of the military and naval forces of the United States, to be vigilant in the execution of said act, and in the en-
625
HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
forcement of the penalties and forfeitures imposed or declared by it; leaving any party who may think himself aggrieved thereby to his application to the sec- retary of the treasury for the remission of any penalty of forfeiture, which the said secretary is authorized by law to grant if, in his judgment, the special circumstances in any case shall require such remission.
"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
"Done at the City of Washington, this sixteenth day of August, in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the indepen- dence of the United States of America the eighty-sixth year.
"Abraham Lincoln."
IOWA RALLIES TO THE COLORS.
"Whether in the promptitude of her responses to the calls made on her by the general government, in the courage and constancy of her soldiery in the field," said Colonel A. P. Wood, of Dubuque, upon one occasion, "or in the wisdom and efficiency with which her civil administration was conducted dur- ing the trying period covered by the war of the rebellion, Iowa proved herself the peer of any loyal state. The proclamation of her governor, Samuel J. Kirkwood, responsive to that of the president calling for volunteers to compose her first regiment, was issued on the fourth day after the fall of Sumter. At the end of only a single week men enough were reported to be in quarters (mostly in the vicinity of their own homes) to fill the regiment. These, how- ever, were hardly more than a tithe of the number who had been offered by company commanders for acceptance under the president's call. So urgent were these offers that the governor requested on the 24th of April permis- sion to organize an additional regiment. While awaiting the answer to this request he conditionally accepted a sufficient number of companies to compose two additional regiments. In a short time he was notified that both of these would be accepted. Soon after the completion of the second and third regi- ments, which was near the close of May, the adjutant general of the state reported that upward of 170 companies had been tendered to the governor to serve against the enemies of the Union.
"Much difficulty and considerable delay occurred in fitting these regiments for the field. For the First infantry a complete outfit-not uniform-of cloth- ing was extemporized-principally by the volunteered labor of loyal women in the different towns, from material of various colors and qualities obtained within the limits of the state. The same was done in part for the Second infantry. Meantime an extra session of the general assembly had been called by the governor to convene on May 15th. With but little delay that body authorized a loan of $800,000 to meet the extraordinary expenses incurred and to be incurred by the executive department in consequence of the new emer- gency. A wealthy merchant of the state-Ex-Governor Merrill. then a resident of McGregor-immediately took from the governor a contract to supply a com- plete outfit of clothing for the three regiments organized, agreeing to receive, should the governor so elect, his pay therefor in state bonds at par. This con- tract he executed to the letter, and a portion of the clothing, which was manu-
626
HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
factured in Boston to his order, was delivered at Keokuk, the place at which the troops had rendezvoused, in exactly one month from the day on which the contract had been entered into. The remainder arrived only a few days later. This clothing was delivered to the regiments, but was subsequently condemned by the government for the reason that its color was gray, and blue had been adopted as the color to be worn by national troops.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.