Campbell's Island is an island and unincorporated community in 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 ...

. The island is located in Hampton Township,

Rock Island County, Illinois Rock Island County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois, bounded on the west by the Mississippi River. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 147,546. Its county seat is Rock Island; its largest city is neighboring ...

. It is adjacent to the city of East Moline and is connected to the city by a bridge. It is the site of the

Campbell's Island State Memorial Campbell's Island State Memorial is a granite monument that marks the site of a day-long battle on July 19, 1814 during the War of 1812 on Campbell's Island, Illinois. Dedicated in 1908, the monument is maintained by the Illinois Historic Prese ...

, a

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

historic site overseen by the

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency The Illinois Historic Preservation Division, formerly Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is tasked with the duty of m ...

Demographics

History

War of 1812

Campbell's Island was the site of the Battle of Rock Island Rapids, one of the westernmost battles of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

, when a band of approximately 500 Sauk warriors allied with the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

clashed on July 19, 1814, with an American force led by Lieutenant John Campbell of the 1st U.S. Regiment of Infantry. Campbell was leading three gunboats along the Mississippi River to carry military supplies to Fort Shelby, located at the present site of

Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin Prairie du Chien () is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,506 at the 2020 census. Its ZIP Code is 53821. Often referred to as Wisconsin's second oldest city, Prairie du Chien was est ...

."Rock Island (Campbell's Island)", U.S. National Park Service, accessed October 19, 200

/ref> One boat carried 42 people – soldiers of the 1st U.S. Regiment of Infantry and members of their families. The other two boats carried 66 U.S. Rangers. The Native Americans of the United States, British-allied Indians attacked the flotilla in their canoes and forced Campbell to turn back. The American loss was 8 men of the 1st Regiment killed and 16 wounded;4 Rangers killed and 8 wounded. This victory helped to enable the Sauk to maintain their control over the

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...

area for almost 20 more years. The Campbell's Island State Memorial, dedicated in 1908, commemorates this battle. However, the movement of Euro-American militiamen and families into northwestern Illinois continued, and in 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 the Sauk were decisively defeated. The Quad Cities area was "opened to settlement," and Campbell's Island was named in honor of the loser of the 1814 battle, John Campbell."Campbell's Island", Illinois State Historical Society (historic marker), accessed October 13, 200

Active Regular Army units with campaign credit for the War of 1812, Five currently active infantry battalions of the Regular Army (1-1 Inf, 2-1 Inf, 1-3 Inf, 2-3 Inf and 4-3 Inf) perpetuate the lineages of elements of the old 1st and 7th Infantry Regiments that were at the Battle of the Rock Island Rapids.

Early 1900s

At the turn of the 20th century, Campbell's Island was bought by a streetcar company who intended to build an amusement park which would have covered the island. In 1904 the first streetcar bridge was constructed atop a closing dam that had been built by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1899.Coopman, David T. Rock Island County. Charleston SC, Chicago IL, Portsmouth NH, San Francisco CA: Arcadia Publishing, 2008. Campbell's Island was a popular resort area in the early to mid 20th century. Cottages were available for rent, and some of the more affluent built their own summer cabins. Extra streetcars were added to the island in the mornings and afternoons to accommodate seasonal residents traveling to and from work in the cities. The House-In-the-Woods, built in 1904, offered dining on the first floor and orchestra concerts in the ballroom on the second floor. It was destroyed by fire in 1911, but rebuilt the following spring and eventually renamed The Campbell's Island Inn. In the late 1950s the inn became the Ship's Wheel Boat Club, encompassing a visitor's dock and marina. After surviving flood damage in 1965, the boat club and marina burned down in 1979.

Today

The size and shape of Campbell's Island has been somewhat variable in historic times, due to additions and subtractions created by the power of the Mississippi River. Today, the island is approximately 1.25 miles (2 km) long and 0.5 miles (0.8 km) wide. It is the home of a suburban community that dwells on a ring road that circles the island. The low-lying Campbell's Island is subject to

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ing, and many of the island homes are raised, built on stilts, or otherwise constructed so as to minimize damage during periods of high water such as the

Great Flood of 1993 The Great Flood of 1993 (or Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993) was a flood that occurred in the Midwestern United States, along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries, from April to October 1993. The flood wa ...

. The bridge to East Moline was built in 1938 and completely rebuilt in 1999."Campbell's Island Bridge", Upper Mississippi River Bridges Project, accessed October 13, 200

/ref> The ''Rock Island Rapids'', a

riffle A riffle is a shallow landform in a flowing channel. Colloquially, it is a shallow place in a river where water flows quickly past rocks. However, in geology a riffle has specific characteristics. Topographic, sedimentary and hydraulic indica ...

in the Upper Mississippi River after which the 1814 battle was named, have disappeared. The riffle was replaced in 1934 by

Lock and Dam No. 15 Lock and Dam No. 15 is a Lock (water transport), lock and dam located on the Upper Mississippi River, Upper Mississippi River. It spans the river between Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. Lock and Dam 15 is the largest roller dam in the ...

, an engineering structure several miles downstream from Campbell's Island.

Notes

References

* * {{authority control River islands of Illinois Islands of the Mississippi River Unincorporated communities in Rock Island County, Illinois Pre-statehood history of Illinois Unincorporated communities in Illinois