Rock Island Arsenal

The Rock Island Arsenal comprises 946 acres, located on Arsenal Island, originally known as Rock Island, on the Mississippi River between the cities of Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. It lies within the state of Illinois. 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 in the United States. It has been an active manufacturer of military equipment and ordnance since the 1880s. In 1919-20 100 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.

Established as both an arsenal and a center for the manufacture of leather accoutrements and field gear, today it provides manufacturing, logistics, and base support services for the Armed Forces. The Arsenal is the only active U.S. Army foundry, and manufactures ordnance and equipment, including artillery, gun mounts, recoil mechanisms, small arms, aircraft weapons sub-systems, grenade launchers, weapons simulators, and a host of associated components. Some of the Arsenal's most successful products include the M198 and M119 towed howitzers, and the M1A1 gun mount. About 250 military personnel and 6,000 civilians work there. The 2000 census population was 145.

During the Civil War, Arsenal Island was home to a large Union army prison camp for captured Confederate soldiers (the Rock Island Prison Barracks). The island facilities were converted and built in 1863 and was not yet completed in December of that year when the first Confederate prisoners were incarcerated. The construction was makeshift and was built with little notice of prisoners arriving. The first to arrive were 468 Confederate prisoners captured in battles at Chattanooga, Tennessee, although, over 5,000 total would swell the population of Rock Island Prison in that month alone. A total of 41 Confederate prisoners successfully escaped during the prison’s existence while 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, most of which died from disease or exposure. The prison camp was operational 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 over 12,400 Confederates. Following the war, the government retained ownership of Arsenal Island and used it for various functions. See also: Prisoner camps of the Civil War

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.

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 museum has been closed twice, during World War I and World War II, to provide more space for manufacturing facilities. Exhibits focus on the history of Rock Island Arsenal and Arsenal Island's use as a Union prison camp during the American Civil War and its role as a military industrial facility. The museum also 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):

Literary References

 * In the 1936 Margaret Mitchell novel Gone with the Wind, Ashley Wilkes was imprisoned on Arsenal Island during the Civil War.
 * In the zombie novel World War Z by Max Brooks, all of the continental United States east of the Rocky Mountains is overrun by hordes of zombies. However, Rock Island is mentioned as one of the isolated zones east of the Rocky Line that was still manned and defended, as one of the vital munitions manufacturing centers which were so essential to the war effort that they could not be abandoned.  The US Marines at Rock Island managed to successfully defend the position for over seven years, until relieved by Army Group North as it drove east across the Great Plains.  They were said to have faced some of the toughest fighting in the entire war.