The Rock Island Arsenal comprises , located on Arsenal Island, originally known as Rock Island, on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

between the cities of

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and ...

, and

Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Arsenal Island. The population was 37,108 at the 2020 census. Located on t ...

. It lies within the state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

. Rock Island was previously used as the summer camp site for Sauk Native Americans, and the dispute over tribal ownership led to the

Black Hawk War The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the "British Band", cross ...

of 1832, after the primary leader of the Sauk,

Black Hawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to: Animals * Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856 * Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus'' * Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii'' * Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus urub ...

. It is now home of First Army headquarters, and the US Army's

Center of Excellence A center of excellence (COE or CoE ), also called excellence center, is a team, a shared facility or an entity that provides leadership, best practices, research, support or training for a focus area. Due to its broad usage and vague legal prec ...

for Additive Manufacturing.

ASA(ALT) The Office of the United States Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (ASA(ALT) pronounced ''A-salt'') is known as OASA(ALT). OASA(ALT) serves, when delegated, as the Army Acquisition Executive, the Senior Pr ...

br>Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology) (Friday, October 4, 2019) Army Advanced Manufacturing Initiative

Ryan McCarthy (18 September 2019) Army Directive 2019-29 (Enabling Readiness and Modernization Through Advanced Manufacturing)
This directive is to be implemented by Materiel Command and Futures Command; the proponent will be ASA(ALT)
Mark Esper (07 Dec 2018) Army Directive 2018-26 (Enabling Modernization Through the Management of Intellectual Property)

Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. (October 23, 2019) Army’s 3D Printing Hub Will Be Rock Island: Gen. Perna
The 10 Active Army divisions each have a deployable 3D printer as part of the Metal Working & Machining Shop Set (MWMSS), in expandable mobile containers. The 3D designs are downloaded from an interim digital repository developed in-house by Army Futures Command.
Industry Week Staff (May 21, 2019) Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence Opens at Army Center
Rock Island Arsenal (RIA)
Sgt. Travis M. O'Brien (January 4, 2016) Advanced shop sets for Soldiers' advanced skill sets
MWMSS for MOS 91Es The island was originally established as a government site in 1816, with the building of Fort Armstrong. It is now the largest government-owned weapons manufacturing

arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It has manufactured military equipment and ordnance since the 1880s. In 1919–1920 one hundred of the Anglo-American or Liberty Mark VIII tanks were manufactured, although too late for World War I. It is designated as a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

. Established as both an arsenal and a center for the manufacture of leather accoutrements and field gear, today it provides

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

, and base support services for the

Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

. The Arsenal is the only active

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

foundry, and manufactures ordnance and equipment, including

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during si ...

, gun

mount Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, ...

s, recoil mechanisms,

small arms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

, aircraft weapons sub-systems,

grenade launcher A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially-designed large-caliber projectile, often with an explosive, smoke or gas warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary grenade cartridges. The mo ...

s, weapons

simulators A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the ...

, and a host of associated components. Some of the Arsenal's most successful products include the M198 and

M119 The M119 howitzer is the American version of the British L119 light gun, a lightweight British 105 mm howitzer also used by the United States Army. The M119 is typically towed by the M1097 or M1152 High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehic ...

towed

howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...

s, and the M1A1 gun mount. About 250 military personnel and 6,000 civilians work there. The 2000 census population was 145.

History

From the autobiography of Sauk Native American

: "When we arrived we found that the troops had come to build a fort on Rock Island...We did not object, however, to their building their fort on the island, but were very sorry, as this was the best one on the Mississippi, and had long been the resort of our young people during the summer. It was our garden, like the white people have near their big villages, which supplied us with strawberries, blackberries, gooseberries, plums, apples and nuts of different kinds." The island facilities were converted and built in 1863; they were not yet completed in December of that year, when the first Confederate prisoners were incarcerated. The construction was makeshift. The first prisoners were 468 Confederates captured in battles at

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...

. That month more than 5,000 Confederates would swell the population of Rock Island military prison. They were kept in 84 barracks, each holding around 100 prisoners.The Civil War in America
''The Library of Congress'' A total of 41 Confederate prisoners successfully escaped during the prison's operation, and many more would try but fail. A total of 1,964 Confederate prisoners and 125 Union guards are buried in the adjacent military cemetery, including 49 members of the 108th Regiment of

United States Colored Troops The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American ( colored) soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served within the units. They were first recruited durin ...

, who served as guards. Most died from disease, since sanitation was primitive as in all army encampments, and exposure to heat and humidity during the summers and freezing temperatures during winters. In 1864, deadly smallpox epidemics rapidly spread through the prison. The prison camp operated from December 1863 until July 1865, when the last prisoners were freed. After the war, the prison facility was completely destroyed. During its two years in operation, the prison camp housed a total of more than 12,400 Confederates. Other historical sites in the area include the Confederate Cemetery, the Rock Island National Cemetery, 19th-century stone workshops, officers' quarters along the river, Col. Davenport's House, and the site of the first bridge built across the Mississippi. Following the war, the federal government retained ownership of Arsenal Island and developed it for use as an arsenal and ordnance manufacturing center, which led to its being renamed.

Rock Island Arsenal Museum

The Rock Island Arsenal Museum was established on July 4, 1905. It is the second-oldest US Army Museum in the US after the

West Point Museum The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

. The museum has been closed twice, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, to provide more space for manufacturing facilities. Exhibits interpret the history of Rock Island Arsenal and the Union

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

camp during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

, and the site's role as a military industrial facility. The museum contains the second-largest collection of small arms weapons in the U.S. Army, and an outdoor vehicle display. Indoor exhibits include (as of June 2012): Outdoor exhibits include (as of June 2012):

References

External links

* *
The Rock Island Arsenal Joint Manufacturing & Technology Center
(archive link)
Rock Island Arsenal Museum
(archive link)

* ttps://sites.google.com/site/rockislandmemorialpowcampscv/ Rock Island Memorial POW Camp #2229br>Rock Island Arsenal Wikimapia
{{authority control 1816 establishments in Illinois Territory United States Army posts Illinois in the American Civil War American Civil War prison camps Defunct prisons in Illinois Islands of Illinois Tourist attractions in Rock Island, Illinois United States Army arsenals National Historic Landmarks in Illinois Military installations in Illinois Economy of the Quad Cities Tourist attractions in the Quad Cities Quad Cities Military and war museums in Illinois Museums in Rock Island County, Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Rock Island County, Illinois Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Armories on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois United States Army arsenals during World War II Historic American Engineering Record in Illinois Landforms of Rock Island County, Illinois American Civil War on the National Register of Historic Places Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois

History

Rock Island Arsenal Museum

See also

References

External links