Evolution+of+the+Chippiannock+and+Rock+Island+National+Cemeteries

Original Author: Valerie Walker, A&S195 SP11 Revision Author:
 * Evolution of the Chippiannock and Rock Island National Cemeteries **

Since humans have been recognized as human - and even before then - we as a species have given special attention to our dead. What that means depends on who, where, and when you are, but in recent centuries the most common right of the dead is practiced by burial. In modern western culture, this need of the living to bury their dead gives rise to the cemetery. By examining the history of two quad cities cemeteries - namely, the Chippiannock and the Rock Island National Cemetery, we can better understand why and how the modern cemetery came to be.

"Up until the Reformation in the sixteenth century, most cemeteries consisted primarily of randomly placed headstones" (Keister, 13). Cemeteries were claustrophobic, tightly packed lines of markers that were in no way inviting to the living. They served their strictly functional purpose of housing bodies with little concern at all in accommodating visiting mourners. If they were lucky, the rows between the headstones were wide enough for a person to navigate. This, fortunately, was a time in the history of cemeteries long past before even the idea of an official cemetery was thought of in the quad cities.

Until the middle of the 19th century, the area now known as the quad cities had no official burial ground for its citizens. When a family member died, it was commonplace to simply bury loved ones on "family-owned property, or in a pasture owned by Bailey Davenport" ( Powers-Douglas, 7) that is now Long View Park (Powers-Douglas, 17). The growing population needed a designated place to bury their dead. So, in 1855, the Chippiannock Cemetery was created.

"Even before the land was officially purchased, the cemetery had a name" (Powers-Douglas, 7). The land designated as the Chippiannock Cemetery in Rock Island was originally Native American land, specifically the land of the Sauk Nation (Powers-Douglas, 7). In their language, Chippiannock meant "village of the dead" (Powers-Douglas, 7). This new cemetery would live up to its' name, for with the time of crowded cemeteries past, now the resting places for the dead would become lavish areas of greenery, landscaping, and ornate architecture. Chippiannock Cemetery was to become a "garden cemetery" (Taylor, 2).

"Garden Cemeteries", also known as "Rural Cemeteries", were given their names because of the "uses of landscaping and open spaces of greenery" (Curl, 245) gave these cemeteries a more "park-like setting" (Curl, 245). Interestingly enough, these "Garden Cemeteries" were the nation's "first public parks" (Powers-Douglas, 7). In fact, Chippiannock Cemetery "would become the first designed landscape in Illinois" (Powers-Douglas, 7).

It was not uncommon, as the Chippiannock Cemetery developed and its' monuments grew more extravagant, for townspeople to stroll along the wide paths of the cemetery with their dog, or take picnic lunches there on nice days (Curl, 247). To promote a "cheerful association with death" (Powers-Douglas, 7) one female writer even "urged women to take their children on ... walks [around the park-like] cemetery" (Powers-Douglas, 7). Chippiannock Cemetery became the resting place of many, from "soldiers [to] blacksmiths" (Powers-Douglas, 7) and a scenic strolling area for still many more.

Unfortunately, it was only a decade later when yet another cemetery in the quad cities was required. The devastation of the Civil War, deaths of prisoners of war, and a resting place "for those who died in the general hospital at Davenport" (Holt, 252) were the primary motivators for the creation of the Rock Island National Cemetery. It now contains more than "10,000 veterans and some of their dependents" (Cragg, 115).

The Rock Island National Cemetery's location today is not, in fact, where it began. It was first moved because of a "conflict with [the] plans for extending arsenal-complex buildings" (Rock). It was also suggested that "Civil War descendants [currently laid to rest at] Oakdale Cemetery in Davenport, Iowa, be moved [to the Rock Island National Cemetery's new location]" (Rock). Today, this cemetery is the final resting place of veterans from many wars, including the "Mexican War, Indian War, Vietnam, [and both World Wars]" (Rock).

This cemetery also contains an additional area were Confederate soldiers were buried. There rests the bodies of "2,000 prisoners who died a Rock Island while interned there during the Civil War" (Cragg, 115). The captured prisoners died for a "variety of causes" (Rock) that were often the result of poor treatment. The captured Confederates fell prey to anything from malnutrition and harsh winters, to less preventable causes such as outbreaks of Smallpox. (Rock)

The Rock Island National Cemetery doesn't quite have the garden cemetery layout that Chippiannock Cemetery has, though it has changed and improved itself over time just the same. At first, it was noted by one cemetery inspector that the "walks were covered in blue grass and the graves were marked with wooden headboards" (Holt, 252-253). It was also originally "enclosed by a light wooden picket fence" that was then replaced first by iron, then by stone walls (Rock).

Although the Rock Island National Cemetery has more interest in function than the more extravagant monuments of Chippiannock Cemetery, it isn't without any attention to aesthetic. There is even a walkway lined with plaques "inscribed with selected verses of ... 'Bivouac of the dead'" (Rock).

In the end, these two cemeteries built in the same geographical area and created only a decade apart are very different from each other. Chippiannock Cemetery has a glorious, expansive park setting and sometimes overly extravagant monuments to the deceased. Rock Island National Cemetery, with its' straight rows of white stones, holds the purpose of its' creation in clear view. And yet both have evolved over time, and both display wide spaces of green grass and cared for landscapes that were unheard of only a few decades before their creation. These two cemeteries, and the notion of cemeteries themselves, have clearly evolved into something better than their ancestors.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Works Cited **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Cragg, Dan. //Guide to military installations//. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 2000. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Curl, James Stevens. //A Celebration of Death: An Introduction to Some of the Buildings, Monuments, and Settings of Funerary Architecture in the Western European Tradition//. New York: B T Batsford Ltd, 1993. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Holt, Dean W. //American Military Cemeteries//. Jefferson: McFarland, 2009. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Keister, Douglas. //Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography//. New York: MJF Books, 2004. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Powers-Douglas, Minda. //Chippiannock Cemetery//. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2010. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">"Rock Island National Cemetery". //United States Department of Veteran Affairs//. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. <http://www.cem.va.gov/pdf/rockilnd.pdf>.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Taylor, Troy. //Beyond the Grave: The History of America's Most Haunted Cemeteries//. New York: Whitechapel Productions, 2001. Print.

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