St. Louis - The Fourth City, Volume 1. Walter Barlow Stevens

house eight barrels of powder belonging to a trader. This they seized upon the first alarm. These very singular circumstances gave rise to the strongest possible aversion for their commandant, which showed itself in execration of his base character for a long time afterwards.

      

      The action of St. Louis upon the conduct of the Spanish governor, De Leyba, in relation to the attack of 1780, was an illustration of the independent spirit of the community. These bold settlers, after their narrow escape from destruction, did not condone the course of the governor. They sent to New Orleans, by a special representative, a full statement of the actions of De Leyba, with a detailed account of the attack and repulse. Father O'Hanlon says:

       There can hardly be a doubt that De Leyba had been seduced into defection from his duty, and that it was only the unflinching heroism of the St. Louis people that saved their infant outpost from utter destruction. Their defense against this attack and that bold spirit manifested on the occasion were in keeping with the deeds of their brethren, the French, who took part in the American Revolution; while their course of action has given them the right to Bay. that, on the occidental shores of the Mississippi river, they were the first to battle against English oppression and English ambition.

      De Leyba made his will on the 10th of June, 1780, two weeks after the battle. Father Bernard entered in the cathedral register that Don Ferdinand De Leyba, having received the sacraments of our Holy Mother the church, had been inhumed immediately in front of the right hand balustrade of the St. Louis Old Church on the 28th of June, 1780. But it appears from the inventory of the governor's property, made with evident care, that he died on the 28th. That he was buried on the day of his death was so unusual as to suggest suspicion. In the families which preserved the traditions, there was transmitted a rumor that De Leyba died of poison administered by himself, as the result of shame and remorse.

      The feeling in St. Louis toward the governor did not end with the indignant protest sent to the governor-general at New Orleans. It was not quieted by the death of De Leyba a month after his inexplicable conduct in the battle against the British and the Indians. John B. Trudeau, the village schoolmaster, Canadian by education, wrote a song, abounding in satire directed against the Spanish commandant. The composition was called the "Chanson de l'Anne du Coup." It was set to music and was sung by the St. Louisans of two or three generations. Aside from the historical interest, this song is significant as showing the boldness with which the independent spirit of the community was manifested under Spanish authority. There was a good deal of the instinct of Americanism in St. Louis as early as 1780. The chanson of Trudeau was the Yankee Doodle of the St. Louisans. It is tradition that a copy of the song was transmitted to the governor-general at New Orleans to inform him as to the sentiment of the community. On the 17th of February, 1845, the St. Louis Reveille printed the song in the original French and with it an English translation in verse by J. M. Field, the editor of the Reveille and the literary authority of St. Louis in that day. Trudeau gave the song the character of a musical dialogue between the governor-general at New Orleans and the messenger who had arrived from St. Louis with news of the battle and the settlers' charges against De Leyba. The chanson was sung as late as the time of Field's translation which began as follows:

       Governor

      

       Courier, say, what Is the news

       That seems thy fancies to confuse?

       What! Have we lost the Illinois?

       Then English— do they the land enjoy? Downhearted thus!

       Speak, courier, say.

       What great misfortune has happened, pray?

      

       Courier

      

       Oh, General. General, all Is lost.

       If not redeemed with speed and cost.

       We've been by savages attacked —

       They threaten us. still, by others backed

       Ever so many, alas '. were killed ,

       Unable to aid them, with grief we're filled.

      

       When the enemy first appeared,

       To arms we ran. no one afeared:

       Townsmen, traders, grave and gay.

       Bravely to battle and win the day;

       But by command we were forbid

       To quit the trench where our ranks were hid.

      The defenses of St. Louis in 1780 were temporary. They were constructed hurriedly when the rumor came of an attack being planned by the British. Trunks of small trees were planted in the ground in a double row a few inches apart. The space between was filled in with earth. This protection was five or six feet high. It began at the river bank, where the electric plant is, near the foot of Biddle street. It extended up the hill to about Third street and curved southward with the present court house site as the highest point, reaching the river again some distance north of Chouteau avenue. In this rampart were three gates, one well to the south, the others on the high ground so located as to give exit to and entrance from the tilled fields on the northwest and the great pasture on the southwest. At the gates were posted cannon. These were, according to tradition, some of the pieces St. Ange had brought from Fort Chartres. They were kept loaded and in good condition. It is further tradition that the men of St. Louis built this fortification in the fall of 1779 without encouragement from De Leyba and in the face of repeated assurances from him that the rumors of an attack were false.

      The fortifications of St. Louis did not amount to much until long after 1780. Church records at the old cathedral show that on the 17th of April, 1780, Father Bernard blessed the first stone of the fort on the hill. That was Fort St. Charles, named in honor of the king. It stood as late as 1820 very near what is now the southwest corner of Walnut and Fourth streets, where the Southern hotel corners. "The high-fenced house of thunder" was the name the Indians bestowed upon the fort.

      Plans were drawn for elaborate defenses. Auguste Chouteau, at the request of the Spanish governor, made a study of the situation with a view to the construction of substantial fortifications. But more was done on paper than with stone and timber and earth. The fort on the hill was, after many months, completed. At what is now Olive street, was built a circular tower and about Fourth and Poplar was another, with a third stone tower between that and the river. A square stone structure not far from what is the entrance to the Eads bridge was the bastion. Another piece of work in that vicinity was the half-moon. Governor Cruzat built a palisade of posts connecting the stone towers and other structures. Cannon were placed in the towers. The wall of posts was pierced with loopholes for firing. Soldiers went on guard at the fortifications.

      When General George Victor Collot visited St. Louis during the Spanish regime, he obtained a plan, showing the streets and principal houses, the existing fort and the proposed additional defenses, some of which were never constructed. The map was drawn by Adjutant Warin.

      While on a visit to Paris, George E. Leighton found in a second-hand bookstore what is, probably, the most elaborate map of St. Louis, made during the period of the Spanish governors. This plan was made in 1796 by a former French officer, George de Bois St. Lys. It gave the existing topography of St. Louis quite in detail and showed the plans proposed for the more complete fortification.

      Relations between the Spanish soldiers and the habitants of St. Louis were pleasant. They