Places: Credit Island, Davenport, Iowa

Trading posts on the frontier worked on a system of credit.  Natives who routinely visited the trading post to trade hides could purchase needed supplies on credit, working off their expenses by bringing in more hides, similar to paying a modern grocery bill on a running tab.  One such trading post was located on an Island in the Mississippi River in the midst of what are now the Quad Cities.  Credit Island has gone by a number of names over the years, such as Suburban Island or Offerman's Island, but the one that seemed to stick and become the official name was Credit.

It was at Credit Island that a young army officer and future POTUS named Zachary Taylor got one of two tastes of defeat at the hands of Natives.  A war party of Sac met up with a small detachment under then-Major Taylor on September 4-5, 1814 in one of the westernmost battles of the War of 1812.  The Sac won and Taylor's men had to beat a hasty retreat back to more welcoming territory. Taylor wasn't the only future celebrity on the field.  A young warrior named Black Hawk likely commanded the war party.  The British provided at least three small cannon, which still delivered a blistering smack-down to Taylor's pride.  It wouldn't be the first time he'd be handed his desserts by a Native war party.