Bloody Island (Mississippi River)

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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

See also

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