The most tragic event of the time before the Louisiana Purchase in the southern part of Spanish Upper Louisiana was the murder of David Trotter. Trotter was a Revolutionary War veteran who settled on Big Prairie, south of present-day Sikeston. He farmed and traded with indigenous people. A series of events involving the Machecoux band of the Mascoutin tribe resulted in the tragedy at his home and store on January 28, 1802.
Hearing of disturbances at Trotter’s, the commandant of New Madrid, Don Henri Peyroux, assembled eight men led by Pierre Antoine LaForge to reason with the Machecoux. The group included well-known storekeepers and traders, local officials, and some of Trotter’s neighbors. They found five Machecoux men, all intoxicated, armed, and violent. They were angry because Trotter withheld more liquor after having traded some for fresh meat.
The group reprimanded Trotter for violating the prohibition on providing liquor to native people. Most of the Machecoux calmed down, although two continued to threaten and fired their carbines in anger. Trotter sent warnings to neighbors with a request to come and stay with his family. Six men responded, and the group sent by the commandant went to lodge with a local man, Elisha Winsor. Jacob Wheat, a neighbor of Trotter who had come with the officials, stayed with Trotter.
The native men returned that night. Wheat left after they returned, and from a distance saw the men wrecking furniture, then striking Trotter and leaving him bleeding on the ground. He conveyed the information to the men at Winsor’s home. As they approached Trotter’s, they heard the Machecoux yelling, shooting their guns, and smashing things in the house. They decided to go back to Winsor’s and return in daylight.
Another neighbor, Peter Cline, appeared at seven the next morning. He had hidden behind a fence and observed the events of the previous evening. The natives returned, and one man who was more sober demanded liquor. Trotter refused. Cline then heard a noise like the thumping of a club. The natives withdrew a short distance but soon returned and continued to attack Trotter. He fended off the initial attacker but then fell to the club of another. Cline last saw his body on the ground covered in blood.
The group made the sad journey to the Trotter home. The house and furniture and an outbuilding were burned, metal household items were scattered and damaged, and the mutilated body of Trotter lay on the ground. Edward Robertson, a neighbor and part of the group from Winsor’s, agreed to bury Trotter.
The murderers remained at large for many months after the tragedy. Peyroux issued an edict forbidding the Machecoux from trading or entering any home and calling for the arrest of the five men who committed the crime. Nonetheless, it took mobilizing the militias of the several districts of Upper Louisiana to capture them. A group of Cape Girardeau militia apprehended them on November 10, 1802, and brought them to New Madrid for trial. One of the natives, Tewanaye, received a death sentence with the approval of the head men of his band. The other four were made to witness his execution, then were turned over to the head men.
The most enduring aftermath of the murder of David Trotter was a direct result of mobilizing the militia. Cape Girardeau had no way to pay militia, so Louis Lorimier could only offer land grants to the men. These were subsequently confirmed by the commissioners charged with confirming Spanish and French land grants after the Louisiana Purchase.
