Dr.+John+Emerson,+Fort+Armstrong+Medical+Officer,+and+His+Slave,+Dred+Scott

Original Author: Tammy Braden Revision Author:  When the Treaty of 1804 was signed, the United States government took federal control over the area now known as the Rock Island Arsenal. Forts were strategically placed along the upper Mississippi River Valley “to impress the Indians and monitor their trade” (Slattery 19). They also established a sanctuary for the early settlers, seeking refuge from the Indian uprising. Fort Armstrong on the Rock Island Arsenal was established in 1816 before communities were established in the Quad Cities and before Iowa and Illinois attained statehood. Fort Armstrong is the oldest institution in the Quad Cities. Brigadier General Smith choose the site for Fort Armstrong because the site allowed the Unites States troops to observe the “troublesome Sauk and Fox Indians: protect American fur traders, be kept apprised of any foreign intrigues, and keep open a line of communications and commerce to Prairie du Chien and other posts upriver” (Slattery 20). Fort Armstrong allowed the United States Army to establish a presence in the area. Fort Armstrong and Fort Edwards, at the mouth of the Des Moines River, were two of the smaller forts that were established on the Mississippi River Valley. In 1819 the series of Forts that were established along the upper Mississippi River Valley were completed.  Fort Armstrong was named after John Armstrong. He was an army officer in the American Revolutionary War and also served under President James Madison as Secretary of War (Slattery 23). During the construction of Fort Armstrong, there was a garrison of 600 soldiers; however the number of soldiers quickly diminished to 200 soldiers. During the years of 1824 and 1836, the number of soldiers at Fort Armstrong regularly fell below 100. Fort Armstrong was an active military post until 1836 when the garrison left for Fort Snelling. Fort Armstrong was never regarrissoned.  Dr. John Emerson served as an assistant medical officer at Fort Armstrong between 1833 and 1836; he was one of the last medical officers at Fort Armstrong. Dr. Emerson also served as a physician to a few of the “white residents” in the area (Koch 67). After his arrival he staked out a claim for land just under 320 acres, next to George L. Davenport.  Prior to Dr. Emerson’s arrival at Fort Armstrong he purchased a slave named Sam Blow. Sam Blow “was born in Virginia, the property of Peter Blow” (Snyder 442). Peter Blow and his family moved to St. Louis where Peter purchased a boarding house and Sam waited on guests. Peter died ten years later “leaving many debts” (Dykstra 51). His daughter sold the slave at a public auction for a measly “five hundred dollars, less than a third of what slaves his age normally brought” (Dykstra 51). Dr. Emerson purchased the slave and brought him to Fort Armstrong. Eventually slave, Sam Blow, begane answering to the name of Dred Scott. Dr. John Emerson will forever be linked to the infamous Dred Scott Decision of the United States Supreme Court.  Sometime between 1836 and 1838 Dr. Emerson purchased a wife, Harriet, for Dred Scott. In 1838, Dred and his wife Harriet were sent to St. Louis where Dr. Emerson returned a few years later. Dred and Harriet had two children, Eliza and Lizzie. Dr. Emerson married Irene Sanford, sometime between 1838 and 1840. She was a “descended from an old Virginia family” who resided in St. Louis. “Irene was one of seven children, five of them girls, all of whom married army officers but one” (Snyder 451-452). Sometime after 1840 Emerson left Fort Snelling, and was sent to Florida. “Mrs. Emerson had no use for [Dred, and] allowed him to remain as a hanger on the army post and to shift for himself” (Snyder 457-458). While in Florida, Mrs. Emerson’s brother-in-law, Col. Bainbridge, oversaw the Scott’s. Bainbridge would hire the Scott’s out for five dollars a month. This continued during the time Dr. Emerson was in Iowa and upon his death.  In 1842 Dr. Emerson resigned from the army and returned to Davenport, Iowa to start a practice and rekindle old friendships with Colonel Davenport and Antoine LeClaire; whom he became friends with while residing at Fort Armstrong. Evidence indicates that Dr. Emerson’s slave did not return with him to Iowa. During the month of May 1843 Dr. Emerson ran several ads in the Davenport Gazette for professional services. Dr. Emerson and his family were residing at The LeClaire House while their home was being constructed. As the year passed his health was failing and while still of sound mind he created his last will and testament. In his will Dr. Emerson left his medical books to his brother and all the rest of his property, including his slaves, to his wife and daughter, in a trust administered by his wife’s brother John Sanford. Dr. Emerson’s daughter, Henrietta, was only one month old when her father died. He passed away sometime during the night in December 1843, at the age of 40. “There is a difference in the dates of his death. . . [since] he died in [sometime in] the night of December 29-30” (Snyder 453). Dr. Emerson died of tuberculosis before his home was completed, at The LeClaire House.  <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Dred Scott was under the impression that Dr. Emerson’s slaves would be free upon his death; however this was not the case. “Dred Scott’s family was. . . included among the assets of Dr. Emerson, although as slaves the family could not be so enumerated or held in free Iowa; but in Missouri they could be so held and were” (Snyder 457). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Scott eventually went back to his former masters, the Blow family. Peter Blow’s son, Taylor, did not want him. “Mrs. Emerson did not want. . . slaves, but she doubted her right to emancipate the Scotts under the terms of her husband’s will” (Snyder 458). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">In 1846, while residing in St. Louis, Missouri, Dred Scott was encouraged to sue and fight for his freedom. He claimed that he was indeed free because he resided in the free state of Illinois and in the Wisconsin Territory, where slavery was prohibited. In 1847 the trial took place and Dred Scott lost, due to a technicality and a new trail was granted. In 1848, Mrs. Emerson and her daughter went to Springfield Massachusetts to reside with her sister, while the case was being settled. In 1850, Dred Scott and his wife Harriet won and received their freedom; however Mrs. Emerson’s appealed the decision and won in 1852. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Dred Scott was determined to be free and continued to fight for his freedom. The case was brought to the United States Supreme Court. Ironically, Mrs. Emerson’s brother, John Sanford’s, name appears as a defendant on the U.S. Court record. John Sanford who administered the trust of Dr. Emerson somehow took ownership of the Scott’s. The records indicated that “Scott was sold to Sanford. . . who had been dead three years before the case started” (Snyder 459). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">In 1857 the ruling came down in favor of Mrs. Emerson. It was declared that descendents from Africa were not United States citizens and could not sue in federal court. The court also ruled that “neither the Northwest Ordinance nor the Missouri Compromise had the power to exclude slavery or to grant freedom and citizenship to. . . descendants of Africa” (“Dred Scott Slept Here” 1). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">While residing in Springfield Massachusetts Mrs. Emerson met Calvin C. Chafee, an active abolitionist, whom she married in 1850. When Calvin discovered his wife’s involvement in the Dred Scott case, he became very upset. Calvin contacted Dred Scott’s original owner, Taylor Blow, in St. Louis, Missouri. They agreed to free Dred Scott. While Dred Scott finally received his freedom on May 26, 1857, he did not have his freedom very long. He died of tuberculosis in September 1857, which was the same disease that ended Dr. Emerson’s life. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">While Dred Scott did not win his fight for freedom in the courts the ruling caused a great debate that spread across the nation. Abraham Lincoln was soon elected president of the United States and the Civil War broke out; ultimately providing freedom to more than three million slaves. While Dred Scott did not see the impact of his case on the nation, he helped lead the way for the emancipation of every American salve in 1863. His fight for freedom stirred the nation in the fight against slavery. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Work Cited ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">“Dred Scott Slept Here.” // Primary Selections from Special Collections. // Davenport Library, Mon 21 Sep. 2009. Web. 1 March 2010. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Dykstra, Robert R. “Dr. Emerson’s Sam Black Iowans before the Civil War.” Iowa Heritage <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Illustrated 85.2 (June 2004): 50-63. Print. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Koch, James. // Rock Island: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow. //Ed. B. J. Elsner & James F.   <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Warwick//. //Iowa: Rock Island History Book Committee, 1988. Print. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Slatery, Thomas J. // An Illustrated History of the Rock Island Arsenal and Arsenal Island – Parts // // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">One and Two. //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Rock Island, IL: Historical Office U.S. Army Armament, Munitions <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">& Chemical Command, 1990. Print <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Snyder, Charles E. “John Emerson, Owner of Dred Scott.” Annals of Iowa 21.6 (Oct.   <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">1938); 440-461. Print. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Svendsen, Maryls. // Davenport – a Pictorial History 1836-1986 //. N.p.: G. Bradely, Publishing Inc., 1985. Print. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Return to Fort Armstrong and the Rock Island Prison Barracks <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Return to Home
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Dr. John Emerson, Fort Armstrong Medical Officer, and His Slave, Dred Scott **