Abraham Lincoln and the Bridge

Navigating the Mighty Mississippi: Lincoln's Adventures

When he was 19 years old, Abraham Lincoln signed onto a flatboat that transported goods and freight up and down the Mississippi River, from Illinois to New Orleans between 1828 and 1831. He was employed by Captain Allen Gentry as a "bow hand" for a monthly wage of $8. It was young Lincoln's first exposure to the world beyond the dominant influence of his father—his first glimpse into the diversity that lay beyond the borders of Kentucky. It is very likely his experiences on the waters of the Mississippi enriched and expanded his previously localized perspective, especially since he was raised in a family opposed to slavery.

Rivers served as crucial conduits for U.S. commerce, particularly in connecting the Northern and Southern export and import markets. The abundance of cotton and sugar plantations in the South opened doors for northern markets dealing in corn, meat, and other goods like tobacco. Richard Campanella, in his book, Lincoln in New Orleans: The 1828–1831 Flatboat Voyages and Their Place in History, speculates that Lincoln’s maiden voyage took him to plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana, before arriving at slave plantations in and around New Orleans. These flatboat expeditions down the Mississippi presumably not only reshaped his socio-political outlook, but also highlighted the pivotal role and economic machinery of trade and commerce.

Evolving American Commerce Through Transportation

Construction began on the Rock Island Bridge on July 16, 1853, with the intent to establish a direct rail line across the Mississippi, bridging Rock Island, Illinois, with Davenport, Iowa. This effort sought to connect the East Coast with the burgeoning West via the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad, which eventually became the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad. As it would turn out, this bridge project would sow seeds of disagreement between a future U.S. president, a future president of the Confederacy and his Confederate Army general—a dispute which would intensify a decade later during the most brutal war ever fought on U.S. soil.

In 1854, then U.S. Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, sought an injunction against the ongoing bridge construction, advocating instead for a different span farther south along the Mississippi River. However, nearly two decades earlier, Lt. Robert E. Lee of the Army Corps of Engineers had assessed the site, declaring the Rock Island location as the optimal point for a transcontinental link between the eastern and western United States. Since the War Department had relinquished its land holding of Rock Island, a federal judge rejected Davis’s injunction, and on April 21, 1856, three steam locomotives successfully transported passenger cars from Illinois over the Mississippi to Davenport.

Catastrophe on the River and a Future President's Intervention

Several weeks later, on the evening of May 6, the steamboat Effie Alton approached the new bridge and signaled for the draw to be opened. But the starboard engine of the vessel malfunctioned and the port engine propelled the boat into the bridge span adjacent to the draw, wreaking destruction on the vessel and the bridge. A toppled stove onboard the Effie Alton sparked a fire that engulfed the steamer and the new bridge. Steamboat advocates, who had initially opposed the bridge, celebrated. The captain of the Effie Alton filed a lawsuit against the Railroad Bridge Company, seeking recompense for his destroyed boat.

Already a seasoned lawyer at that time, Abraham Lincoln was renowned for his meticulous attention to detail and previous work with the Illinois Central Railroad, and was given the task of spearheading the defense. Unsatisfied with mere anecdotal accounts of the accident, and leveraging his extensive knowledge of river navigation from his youthful Mississippi adventures, Lincoln researched river speeds and the record of boat traffic, and then referred to Robert E. Lee’s survey and the engineering specifications of the bridge. The key issue revolved around whether the bridge posed a threat to steamboat navigation. Lincoln managed to present a compelling case, which resulted in a hung jury. The judge dismissed the case, marking a victory for the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad, and propelling Lincoln into the national limelight.

After the 1856 calamity, the bridge was swiftly reconstructed. Throughout the Civil War, Rock Island morphed into a Union prison camp and later became an arsenal. Today, the Rock Island Bridge, the first bridge to span the Mississippi River, links Moline, Illinois, with Davenport, Iowa, as a double-decked structure, now called the Government or Arsenal Bridge.