85 [ 2.n ] 



is called by the French VAnnee da Grand Coup— the year of the great 

 blow. 



Historical accuracy demands a denial here of the assertion of some au- 

 thors, who ascribe to American troops an active part in this defence. Un- 

 fortunately, there were no United States troops on ihe bank of tfie Mississippi 

 opposite to St. Louis, as none were needed, there being nothing to guard or 

 to defend. It is well known that General George R. Clark, with liis men, 

 then occupied the important post of Kaskaskia, which is more than 56 

 miles SE. of St. Louis; and that, consequently, this gallant officer could 

 not have had time, even if it fell within his lino of duty, to aid in an 

 affair that concerned the Spaniards and the British, which v/as planned as 

 a surprise, and lasted but a few hours. 



It was probably on this occasion, or perhaps on a similar one, that took 

 place in the summer of 1811, as tradition informs ns, that, after the battle, 

 the Indians being reproached by the French that their women had been 

 indiscriminately murdered by them, replied : '• But why did they not wear 

 their blue kerchiefs about their heads, as they used' to do formerly? we 

 would have recognised and spared ihem." 



After the event narrated above, the inhabitants of St. Louis, finding that 

 their garrison were unworthy of trust, without ammunition, and without 

 means of defence against a regularly-organized attack, deputed Mr. Auguste 

 Chouteau to proceed to New Orleans for assistance. Cruzat was again 

 made commander of St. Louis, the affairs of which place he administered 

 with mildness and public satisfaction. A wooden fort was built on the 

 most elevated spot within the city, upon which were mounted several heavy 

 pieces of ordnance; and still later there were added four stone turrets, from 

 which crossfires could be kept up. This might have answered for the 

 protection of the city, but only against the Indians. No traces of this for- 

 tification are now to be seen — the very site of which has yielded to the im- 

 provements of the city. 



It may be well to remark, in this place, that this event proves the policy 

 that has prevailed in Canada and Louisiana, in granting lands to the 

 colonists, whereby they were commanded not to scatter themselves, but to 

 concentrate into villages, under the protection of the f irts ; thus combining 

 for mutual labor as well as mutual defence. Hence the government ceded 

 tracts of lands for a whole community, on condition that they should be 

 worked in a body. There was first a field assigned, the extent of which 

 was proportioned to the number of families in the village. To each f im- 

 ily was allotted a certain portion for cultivation, and all contributed to its 

 general enclosure. Another tract was laid out for the pasturage of the 

 stock, and a third in wood land. These concessions were called co/n/«o« 

 lands, or simply commons. There were yet, a few years ago, such com- 

 mons in the neighborhood of St. Louis, Carondelet, St. Genevieve, Kaskas- 

 kia, and near almost all the French villages in Missouri and Illinois. 



1785. — This year is called VAnnee des Grandes Eaux—\he year of tlie 

 great flood. In the month of April, the waters of the Mississippi rose 

 15 or 2U feet above the highest mark they had ever been known to reach 

 at St. Louis, and at some narrow parts of the river as high as 30 feet. The 

 whole region of country drained by the Mississippi to its mouths, presented, 

 the aspect of an immense sheet of water studded with islands. The villages 

 of St. Genevieve, Fort Charlres, Kaskaskia, St. Philippe, Cahokia, etc., 



