Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/211



Government purchased a number of the claims, others were abandoned and, in 1862, the Attorney-General held that the island was a military reservation. In 1863 extensive barracks were erected by the War Department for the safe keeping of thirteen thousand Confederate prisoners.

By act of Congress of July 11, 1862, an appropriation of $100,000 for the construction of an arsenal on Rock Island was made. There have been additional appropriations from time to time for the enlargement of the works first contemplated. The total amount appropriated up to 1871 was $3,220,000.