The American Revolutionary War in the West
edited by Stephen L. Kling, Jr.
The American Revolutionary War, while beginning in the Thirteen Colonies, quickly became a far ranging war fought across the globe and eventually involved France and Spain. The war spilled into the areas west of the Thirteen Colonies and along the Mississippi River, and the resulting battles and attacks impacted the future development and expansion of the United States. The western areas also contained a rather unique collection of diverse groups and interest.
These interests included French-heritage inhabitants living along the Mississippi River, the new Spanish owners of the Louisiana Territory, the British masters of the east side of the Mississippi River, the Americans who conquered much of the east side of the Mississippi River from the British, the Native Americans who were often (but not exclusively) allied with the British and were involved in almost every military action in the west, and both free and enslaved Blacks who participated in several conflicts (sometimes voluntarily and often involuntarily). Stephen L. Kling, Jr, co-author of The Battle of St. Louis, the Attack on Cahokia, and the American Revolution in the West and editor of the two-volume Great Northern War Compendium has brought together a diverse group of scholars and experts for a book covering the war in the west enriched with maps and artwork that will be useful and engaging to a wide audience of history lovers, military enthusiasts, students, teachers and scholars.
Supported in part by a grant from The Enterprise Holdings Foundation.
Topics examined in this book include:
Clark’s conquest of the Illinois Country • Spanish aid to the Americans up the Mississippi River • Galvez’s Mississippi River campaign • 1780 Attacks on St. Louis and Cahokia as part of a British grand plan to control the entire Mississippi River Valley • Colonial St. Louis, Cahokia and Ste. Genevieve • 1780 Chickasaw Attack on Clark’s Fort Jefferson • 1780 British Attacks on Ruddle’s and Martin’s Stations • 1781 Natchez Rebellion • Free and enslaved blacks in Spanish Louisiana and the Illinois Country • Biography of Fernando de Leyba • Analysis of the militia lists and defenders at St. Louis and Cahokia • 1783 Attack on the Spanish Arkansas Post • British Native American Policy in the West • Impact of the Final Treaties and Louisiana Transfer Ceremonies • Historical remembrances of the Battle of St. Louis in Missouri and Spain
Contributors:
Morris S. Arnold
Margaret A. Carr
Kenneth C. Carstens
Thomas E. Chávez
Stephen L. Kling, Jr.
Kristin Condotta Lee
Molly Long Fernandez de Mesa
Robert J. Moore
Robert J. Mueller
Larry L. Nelson
Kristine J. Sjostrom
Mary Anthony Startz
Frances Kolb Turnbell
With introduction by Blanche M. Touhill