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222 On February 17, 1780, Patrick Sinclair, the lieutenant governor of Michilimackinac, a British post in the Great Lakes, predicted that a planned attack on Spanish interests in the Illinois Country—with St. Louis as the centerpiece of a three-pronged offensive—would prove a certain success.1 Once Britain and Spain were officially at war, Sinclair had been assigned by his superiors to plan the expedition against American and Spanish settlements on the Mississippi. Sinclair expected that taking St. Louis would pose no particular challenge as it lacked much in the way of defense, with “only 20 men and 20 brass Cannon” to ward off invaders. Perhaps more importantly, the fact that Indians found “Easy admission” to the village meant that “the reduction of Pencour [St. Louis], by surprise,” was assured.2 With such an expectation in mind, Sinclair organized a group of 750 men, “including Traders, Servants, and Indians” to attack “the Spanish & Illinois Country.” That force set out on May 2, heading south to Chicago to meet another group there.3 Joined by a third contingent, the allied BritishIndian forces proceeded to attack several settlements on both sides of the Mississippi, with St. Louis the central target. Fortunately for St. Louisans, Chapter 8 “L’Année du Coup” THE “LAST DAY OF ST. LOUIS” AND THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR 1. Michilimackinac’s location on the southern shores of the straits of Mackinac, the span of water linking Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, made it important to British maneuvers. 2. Patrick Sinclair to Frederick Haldimand, February 17, 1780, “Documents Relating to the Attack upon St. Louis,” 41; Sinclair was lieutenant governor of Michilimackinac; Nasatir, “The Anglo-Spanish Frontier in the Illinois Country,” 311 n. 63. 3. Patrick Sinclair to Frederick Haldimand, May 29, 1780, in “Documents Relating to the Attack upon St. Louis,” 42. “ la s t Day o f S t. lo u i s ” a n d r e vo l u t i o n a ry Wa r / 2 2 3 the information Sinclair had in February, which underpinned his plans for the offensive, had grown stale by late May, when his forces descended on the village. Due to the efforts of the commanding officer, Lieutenant Governor Leyba, and the villagers’ own resourcefulness, St. Louis was no longer an undefended, easy target when English and Indian forces arrived. And while l’année du coup, or “the year of the blow” as villagers named it, did destroy the tranquility of the community and witness the bloodshed of many St. Louisans, it did not signal the conquest and devastation that the allied British-Indian forces envisioned. d Over the course of the 1760s and 1770s, the western reaches of colonial settlement increasingly preoccupied British officials. Engaged in an uneasy dance of competition for supremacy over the fur trade of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, the British and the Spanish eyed each other warily. Their officers on either side of the Mississippi observed each other’s moves as colonists engaged with Indian trading partners and parried each other’s thrusts as they trespassed on the other’s territory, all the while exchanging letters full of diplomatic niceties and veiled threats. From the Spanish perspective, the British presence and the vast quantities of merchandise British traders offered to the Indians of the area undermined Spanish efforts to maintain the trading connections and indigenous alliances the French had cultivated and enjoyed. For the British, the Spanish occupation of western lands was an ongoing reminder that they were hemmed in, their North American empire inhibited from expanding. The Spanish control of New Orleans, and thus command over the trade that flowed through it, rankled the British. Competition for trade along the Upper Mississippi was especially fierce, with both powers vying for dominance with the Sac (or Sauk) and Fox nations, in the area that is today Iowa.4 Indigenous rivalries complicated the situation. While the Spanish considered both the Sac and Fox in their camp, the hostilities between these tribes and the Little Osage and Missouri peoples threatened to undermine peaceful trading and thus Spanish interests. Despite British efforts to enlist Sac and Fox support, the 4. Nasatir, “The Anglo-Spanish Frontier in the Illinois Country,” 295. These two tribes were among those who visited St. Louis regularly to receive presents, “Report of the Various Indian tribes receiving presents in the district of Ylinoa or Illinois, 1769,” in Houck, SRM, 1: 44; in 1777, the Sac were described as “well...

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