Reflecting on the upcoming 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution, it seems unlikely that southeastern Missouri had any role. However, hostilities did directly affect those who lived in Ste. Genevieve.
Lands west of the Mississippi were French until the 1762 Treaty of Fontainbleau, when France ceded Louisiana to Spain. Lands east of the Mississippi went to Great Britain under the 1763 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years’ War. Many French inhabitants of the Illinois country, not wishing to live under British rule, moved west of the river to St. Louis or Ste. Genevieve.
Spain entered the American Revolutionary War against Great Britain in 1779. The Spanish required a more formalized militia in their colonies than had the French. The volunteer milice (militia) organized in the village in 1770, consisted of men aged 15 to 50, with officers assigned and promoted by the Spanish government. The Capitaine de Milice was François Vallé père.
Great Britain set out to secure the Mississippi River corridor against both the Spanish and the Patriots. The intent of British military planners in London was to secure New Orleans by a strike through West Florida and Upper Louisiana by strikes on settlements such as St. Louis. Spanish governor Bernardo de Gálvez quickly secured British military outposts and blunted the threat to New Orleans.
The military governor at Fort Machilimackinac in present-day Michigan, Patrick Sinclair, directed Loyalist fur traders to begin recruiting indigenous allies in the upper Midwest starting in February 1780 for an attack on St. Louis. He enticed the traders with the opportunity to control the fur trade in Upper Louisiana. The force assembled in Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi in present-day Wisconsin, under the command of Emanuel Hesse, a former officer in the militia turned fur trader. The force numbered about two dozen traders and 750 to 1,000 indigenous allies when it moved south on May 2. Tribal groups represented included Ho-Chunk, Kickapoo, Odawa, Ojibwe, Macouten, Menominee, Potawatomi, Sioux, and Sac and Fox.
The Spanish Lieutenant Governor, Fernando de Leyba, stationed in St. Louis, received word in April 1780 of the invading force. The sole defensive structure in St. Louis was a dilapidated wooden fort. He implemented plans to build four stone defensive towers on April 17. Defenders only completed the first, dubbed Fort San Carlos, at today’s Fourth and Walnut. Defenses also included 2000 yards of breastwork.
Leyba called in hunters and local militias. The largest non-local contingent Leyba ordered into St. Louis was the Ste. Genevieve milice. The order of May 9 commanded the Commandant, Silvio Francisco de Cartabona, and a detachment of one sergeant, one corporal, three soldiers, and 60 militia volunteers from Ste. Genevieve to St. Louis to aid against the anticipated attack. The men came by water in two bateaux with swivel cannons and 20 days of supplies.
Four days later, all local militia had arrived in St. Louis. The force totaled 290 defenders, including 60 from Ste. Genevieve. The Ste. Genevieve milice’s assignments included 20 men and Cartabona guarding the Government House protecting women and children, guarding retrenchments, and participating in sorties in the area.
The attack occurred on May 26, 1780. Attempts by the attackers to provoke the main defensive force in the tower to come out were unsuccessful. After several hours, the attackers withdrew. Modern analysts credit the Ste. Genevieve milice with turning what could have been a defeat into a victory for the Spanish.
Much more on the Battle of St. Louis can be found in two books: The Battle of St. Louis, the Attack on Cahokia, and the American Revolution in the West by Stephen L. Kling Jr., Kristine Sjostrom, and Marysia T. Lopez; and The American Revolutionary War in the West by Stephen L. Kling Jr. et al., especially the chapter by Robert Mueller.
