Bloody Island (Mississippi River)

Last updated
Bloody Island
Bloody Island.jpg
1853 Map of Bloody Island towhead
Bloody Island (Mississippi River)
Geography
Location Mississippi River,
East St. Louis, Illinois
Coordinates 38°38′18″N90°10′26″W / 38.6384°N 90.1738°W / 38.6384; -90.1738
Administration
Additional information
The neutral ground, between Illinois and Missouri, of many notorious duels in the 19th century, including Thomas Hart Benton and Charles Lucas. It’s also in St. Clair County in Illinois.
Notable Bloody Island duelists
Duration1817-1856
LocationBloody Island Dueling Grounds
Participants Thomas Hart Benton vs. Charles Lucas (fought two duels in 1817)

Joshua Barton vs. Thomas C. Rector (1823)

Thomas Biddle vs. Spencer Darwin Pettis (1831)

Benjamin Gratz Brown vs. Thomas C. Reynolds (1856)
Casualties
Thomas Hart Benton and Charles Lucas, both wounded in first duel

Charles Lucas, killed in second duel

Joshua Barton, killed

Thomas Biddle vs. Spencer Darwin Pettis, both killed

Contents

Benjamin Gratz Brown, wounded

Bloody Island was a sandbar or "towhead" (river island) in the Mississippi River, opposite St. Louis, Missouri, which became densely wooded and a rendezvous for duelists because it was considered "neutral" and not under Missouri or Illinois control. [1]

History

After its first appearance above water in 1798, its continuous growth menaced the harbor of St. Louis. In 1837 Capt. Robert E. Lee, of U.S. Army Engineers, devised and established a system of dikes and dams that washed out the western channel and ultimately joined the island to the Illinois shore. In 1846 as the Miami people were being forcibly removed westward from their traditional homelands; the group stopped on Bloody Island. [2] According to Miami oral history, the group buried an infant and elderly member of the tribe on or near the island. [2]

The south end of the island is now under the Poplar Street Bridge at the site of a train yard. Samuel Wiggins bought 800 acres (3.2 km2) around the island in the early 19th century and operated a ferry between East St. Louis and St. Louis (at one point using an 8-horse team on the ferry to provide the propulsion). The Wiggins Ferry Service would develop the train yards which in the 1870s carted train cars across the river one at a time until the Eads Bridge opened in 1879. The train yard is now owned by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.

Notable duels

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Hart Benton (politician)</span> Senator from Missouri

Thomas Hart Benton, nicknamed "Old Bullion", was an American politician, attorney, soldier, and longtime United States Senator from Missouri. A member of the Democratic Party, he was an architect and champion of westward expansion by the United States, a cause that became known as Manifest Destiny. Benton served in the Senate from 1821 to 1851, becoming the first member of that body to serve five terms. He was born in North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Biddle</span> American financier and banker

Nicholas Biddle was an American financier who served as the third and last president of the Second Bank of the United States. Throughout his life Biddle worked as an editor, diplomat, author, and politician who served in both houses of the Pennsylvania state legislature. He is best known as the chief opponent of Andrew Jackson in the Bank War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Bates</span> American politician, lawyer and judge (1793–1869)

Edward Bates was an American lawyer, politician and judge. He represented Missouri in the US House of Representatives and served as the U.S. Attorney General under President Abraham Lincoln. A member of the influential Bates family, he was the first US Cabinet appointee from a state west of the Mississippi River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B. Gratz Brown</span> American politician (1826–1885)

Benjamin Gratz Brown was an American politician. He was a U.S. Senator, the 20th Governor of Missouri, and the Liberal Republican and Democratic Party vice presidential candidate in the presidential election of 1872.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Hempstead</span> American politician (1780–1817)

Edward Hempstead was an American lawyer, pioneer, and one of the early settlers in the new Louisiana Purchase in 1805. Born in New London, Connecticut, Hempstead was the delegate in the U.S. House for the Missouri Territory from 1812 to 1814. He served as territorial attorney general in Upper Louisiana and in the Missouri Territorial Legislature. He is the older brother of Charles S. Hempstead, the first Mayor of Galena, Illinois.

Spencer Darwin Pettis was a U.S. Representative from Missouri serving from 1828 until his assassination. He was also the fourth Missouri Secretary of State. Pettis is best known for being a participant in a fatal duel with Major Thomas Biddle. Pettis County, Missouri, is named in his honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Barton (politician)</span> American politician (1783–1837)

David Barton was one of the first U.S. senators from Missouri, serving from 1821 to 1831.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry S. Geyer</span> American politician

Henry Sheffie Geyer was a politician, lawyer, and soldier from Missouri. Born in Frederick, Maryland, he was the son of John Geyer, saddler of Frederick Town. Geyer was of German descent, his father having come from Prussia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis</span> Switching and terminal railroad

The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis is a Class III switching and terminal railroad that handles traffic in the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is co-owned by five of the six Class I railroads that reach the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri</span> United States federal district court in Missouri

The United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri is the federal judicial district encompassing 66 counties in the western half of the State of Missouri. The Court is based in the Charles Evans Whittaker Courthouse in Kansas City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Caute Reynolds</span> American politician

Thomas Caute Reynolds was the Confederate governor of Missouri from 1862 to 1865, succeeding upon the death of Claiborne F. Jackson after serving as lieutenant governor in exile. In 1864 he returned to the state, but was forced back into exile after the Battle of Westport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Baptiste Charles Lucas</span> American judge

John Baptiste Charles Lucas was a French-born member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. After meeting Benjamin Franklin, Lucas was so inspired—and so impatient with class injustices in France—that he sailed to America. Armed with a letter of introduction from Franklin, Lucas was made a federal land grant judge by Thomas Jefferson, then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He eventually resigned and moved to St. Louis, reportedly in part because he and his wife, Anne, missed French society.

Charles Lucas was an entrepreneur and legislator in Missouri Territory who was killed in a duel with U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Biddle</span>

Thomas Biddle was an American military hero during the War of 1812. Biddle is better known though for having been killed in a duel with Missouri Congressman Spencer Pettis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1824 United States presidential election in Missouri</span>

In Missouri, the 1824 United States presidential election resulted in the state's electoral college votes going to Henry Clay, but then its vote in the House of Representatives contingent election going to the eventual winner, John Quincy Adams. In the 1824 presidential election, five major candidates emerged: Clay, Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford, and John C. Calhoun, although Calhoun dropped out to run for the vice presidency. In the new state of Missouri, Crawford had little support, Clay was the popular favorite, Jackson was popular in rural areas, and Adams had some support in urban areas, particularly St. Louis. Clay won the popular vote, with Jackson second, Adams third, and Crawford fourth, and Clay received Missouri's three votes in the electoral college.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua Barton</span> American politician (1792–1823)

Joshua Barton was the first Missouri Secretary of State. He was involved in three duels with prominent Missouri politicians before being killed in a duel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calvary Cemetery (St. Louis)</span> Roman Catholic cemetery located in St. Louis, Missouri

Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery located in St. Louis, Missouri and operated by the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Founded in 1854, it is the second oldest cemetery in the Archdiocese. Calvary Cemetery contains 470 acres (1.9 km2) of land and more than 300,000 graves, including those of General William Tecumseh Sherman, Dred Scott, Tennessee Williams, Kate Chopin, Louis Chauvin and Auguste Chouteau.

References

  1. "History of Bloody Island and its Duels". www.museum.state.il.us. Retrieved 2018-08-19.
  2. 1 2 "myaamiaki aancihsaaciki A Cultural Exploration of the Myaamia Removal Route" (PDF). miamination.com/node/11. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
  3. Dictionary of Missouri Biography by Lawrence O. Christensen (Editor), William E. Foley (Editor), Gary R. Kremer (Editor), Kenneth H. Winn (Editor) - University of Missouri Press (October 1999) ISBN   0-8262-1222-0
  4. "Fatal Duel in the West". North Star. Danville, Vermont. 1831-09-27. p. 3.

Sources