On this day in 1836, the City of Davenport was platted and
named. In order to understand the weight of history behind that
simple sentence, one would have to look back at least to the
treaty, signed on September 21, 1832, that ended the Black Hawk
War and sold the land west of the Mississippi River to the
United States government. Chief Keokuk, considered by the United
States to be the official leader of the Sac-Fox tribes,
presented several acres on the bank of the Mississippi to
Marguerite LeClaire, who was the granddaughter of Acoqua, a Sac
chief, and wife to Antoine LeClaire, a government translator who
assisted with the treaty. A condition of this gift was that the
LeClaires build their home on the exact spot where General Scott
signed the treaty. In the spring of 1833, Antoine built a log
cabin on the site, later replacing it with a small clapboard
house. According to historian Franc Wilkie,* two other men had a
prior claim to the gifted land. Forestalling a challenge,
Antoine bought this quarter sectio