Every July 4 when celebrating Independence Day, I consider my ancestors who were effected by the Revolutionary War. I decided to create a page to list them all that I can build on as I learn more in the coming years. This way I will not have to re-remember who they all were.
RUTLEDGE
According to Y-DNA, I am likely related to either a signer of the Declaration of Independence or the writer of the Constitution. Who was my 5th great-grandfather Rutledge? One of his children, James Rutledge, was born in 1790. The Revolutionary War was fought April 19, 1775 to September 3, 1783, with the Declaration of Independence being signed on July 4, 1776. My James Rutledge was born merely 7 years after the Revolutionary War ended making it highly likely that his father fought in the Revolutionary War. If anything, his parents lived through the Revolutionary War. Click to see the DNA results. You cannot get much closer to the Independence of our country than this!
HARBISON TO BYBEE
I am a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) through my 7th Great-Grandfather, John Bybee Jr. You can read the details of his service in the war on his website page. He was at some rather significant locatons in history that you should recognize, two of which are the bitter cold winters of Valley Forge and Morristown.
ESTES-RUTLEDGE TO KIRKPATRICK
My 6th Great-Grandfather John Hugh Kirkpatrick is another soldier for me to investigate. I understand that at one time they were letting ladies into DAR under him, but later decided they were not sure because there were two men with the same name. They allowed the ones in to stay in and were denying the later ones. It seems I confirmed this is no longer true, but I will need to look into it some day.
ESTES TO ROSS
Some people have trees linking Martha Patsy Ross to Daniel Ross as a revolutionary war soldier, and I even created a whole biography for them, but now I am doubting that this is correct. I think Martha Patsy Ross's father is William Ross. I need time to investigate this. Of course, none of the trees have documents of proof except Martha's wedding record in Cape Girardeau County.
FRENCH AND INDIAN ANCESTORS IN MISSOURI
I am a very deeply rooted Missourian. The most western fight in the Revolutionary War was the Battle of St. Louis on May 25-26, 1780. Wikipedia. My ancestors were the French and Indian in Cahokia and Kaskaskia. They moved across the Mississippi River when Illinois became owned by the British. West of the Mississippi River was owned by the Spanish and they preferred that to being governed by the British. As Spanish citizens they were enemies of America's enemy, Great Britian and yet not official friends of America (United States). In July 1778 the American General George Rogers Clark seized Kaskaskia. The Spanish governer, Fernando de Leyba, in St. Louis did provide supplies to Clark and was on friendly terms. It was possible that the British were afraid that citizens west of the Mississippi would cross the river to physically support any battles that might occur.
Read Houcks' History of the Battle of St. Louis.
My 6th (and 7th) Great-Grandparents, Nicholas Marechal and Marie Jean Illeret were original settlers of St. Louis. He received a verbal land grant to the land where the north leg of the arch now stands. I have two lines that go to them.
My 6th Great-Grandparents, Joseph Antoine Calvét and Marie Josephe Therese Marechal were also in St. Louis. Joseph is mentioned by name as having been involved in the Battle of St. Louis as a leader of the Sacks and Outagamies as he undermined the assault by falling back early to protect the citizens of St. Louis. Note that Marie is the daughter of Nicolas Marechal. Joseph Calvé, betrayed his native land in favor of the British. From Houck's writing, Joseph seemed to have been employed by the English (British) prior to the attack on St. Louis. He is the one credited to convincing the Sauk Fox tribe in sending warriors for the attack on St. Louis. Joseph thereafter told the Sauk Fox tribe that he was suspicious because they were between to fires (battle of St. Louis and battle of Cahokia) and they backed off of the battle early helping the forces in St. Louis to be victorious. The Spanish flag was taken to the fort at St. Joseph, Michigan. On February 12, 1781, the Indians redeemed themselves when they joined St. Louis on a counter attack on the British in Michigan. It was a 600 mile journey during the winter for 60 St. Louis militia volunteers led by Captain Eugene Poure, along with 60 Pottawatomie, Sauk and Fox Indians. They surprised the British and were victorious, bringing the Spanish flag back to St. Louis. Their son, Joseph Calvé Jr. was killed by the Indians. Read more about it on Joseph and Marie's page.
My 5th Great-Grandparents, Antoine Marechal and Mary Catherine Tabeau would have been in St. Louis at the time as well. He is the brother of Marie Joseph Therese Marechal (above) and son of Nicolas and Marie Marechal (above).
My 5th Great-Grandparents, Joseph Antoine Theodore St. Germain and Marie Josephine Josette Calvét may have been present in St. Louis as well.
My 6th Great-Grandparents, Nicolas Antoine Boyer III and Dorotée (Dorothee) Olivier moved from Kaskaskia to be the first settlers of Old Ste. Genevieve.
My 6th Great-Grandparents, Jean Baptiste Maurice dit Chatillon and Marie Jeanne Corset moved from Kaskaskia to be the first settlers of Old Ste. Genevieve.
(There may be others in St. Louis or Ste. Gen, but I need to do some biographies it would seem! I also have the Mayottes from Cahokia that I am looking into.)
The British in their attack on St. Louis while coming from the north split its forces and sent some to Cahokia and some to St. Louis to attack them at the same time. The militia in Ste. Genevieve was called up by Governor Leyba to assist St. Louis. Therefore, this Battle was a big part of the lives of my ancestors in both St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve. If my ancestors in Ste. Geneveieve did not themselves fight in the battle, they would have had friends or relatives who were part of the militia. They would have been concerned of the British winning the battle and moving further south to attack their town. Those living in St. Louis were present even if they were not part of the militia because the women and children took cover in the government building which is where the south leg of the arch now stands. I need to find lists of the soldiers in these battles to learn more how my ancestors were involved. The battle is also known as the Battle of Fort San Carlos because there was a tower (aka fort) erected in St. Louis. You can visit the plaque that was placed by the General Society Sons of the Revolution in 1946, which is located at the Hleton St. Louis, in front of Starbucks, at South Broadway and Market Streets. Those that died were outside the trench around the city working in the farm fields. Most of the British forces were Native American.
I found a two recent videos that are great resources for learning about the Battle of St. Louis. The first is a program by the Missouri Historical Society uploaded Jul 14, 2021. In one of the slides of text, you will spy the name Calvé.
The second video is filmed in Ste. Genevieve an Annual Commemoration of the Battle of St. Louis, May 29, 2022. Listen to the speaker that begins about 11 1/2 minutes in to gain a perspective of the Battle for those living in Ste. Genevieve.
OTHERS
All of the above are on my Dad's ancestral line. I need to look further as there may be others. For my Mom's ancestral line, I mostly find that they did not come to America until after the Revolutionary war.