St. Louis to Vincennes, IN

Tuesday June 27
Before we left Ohio, we began paring down more of our junk we had in storage for the last year. Becky's aunt and uncle were having a garage sale over July fourth weekend and we put some of our stuff in it to basically give it away for cheap. (isn't that what a yard sale is?) So we needed to be back to help set up for it and so we only had one day in the Gateway City.
In the morning, we packed up the trailer and headed back east. Our first stop was a place that Becky talked about going for several years. She is a fan of Indian mounds and just east of St. Louis is the largest examples of the Indian mounds in the United States, a place called Cahokia. (Ca-ho-kia). The map says state historic site, but this is a National Historic Site, a UN world heritage site and the site of the largest archeological dig in North America.
At one time, in 1100 AD, the mound area supported around 40,000 people. It was equivalent to London or Paris' population at the same time. The city was larger than any American city until Philadelphia reached the 40k milestone in 1780.
In 1300, the site was largely abandoned due to disease, drought, floods, and the unsustainability of the land. The people disappeared from history and were replaced by other Indian tribes who revered the sites and left them alone.

 From the top of the largest mound, Monk's mound, named for monks that lived in the area, you could see St. Louis. Amos Hill built a house on top of the mound in 1831. Monk's is one hundred feet tall.

We left the mounds and traveled east across Route 50. Our destination was George Rogers Clark Memorial in Vincennes. I spotted this suspension bridge just outside of Carlyle, IL and pulled in to have lunch and to check it out.

 Looking up stream on the Kaskaskia River.

 Becky went into the trailer to fix lunches and discovered that Patrick had not tightened the lid on the quart jar of maple syrup. The jar fell over, sometime while we were driving, and spilled all over the floor, going under one of the cabinets and leaked out onto the ground while we were sitting. She was not a happy camper. I took the dog for a stroll all around the river walk while she and Patrick cleaned things up.

 We got to George Rogers Clark National Historic Monument at 4:30. It closed at 5. The Visitors Center in fairly small but they have a thirty minute movie. We watched the movie, which told about George Rogers Clark's adventures during the Revolutionary War. He came into the area to capture British forts and stop the Indian raids on American citizens. They eventually captured Kaskaskia, Vincennes, and Cahokia, a triangle of villages many days march apart. He found the French to be helpful and they surrendered without much of a fight.
Clark's major achievement in the area was the march he and his men made from Kaskaskia to Fort Sackville in Vincennes. The trek began on February 6 and they reached Sackville on February 23. Most of their route was through flooded marshes in freezing temperatures on foot. Imagine trodding through hip deep water for seventeen days in freezing snow, ice cold rain, and never being able to dry out. These men amaze me with their fortitude and desire to win the war and be free of British tyranny. The original Brexit. After arriving at Fort Sackville, they laid siege to it for two days until the British commander surrendered.
Clark went on to fight in Ohio and won several more major battles. He is called the "Conqueror of the Old Northwest" breaking the British strong hold on the area and helping to win the revolution. He financed much of his campaign by borrowing money from his friends even though Virginia gave him a military commission and the job of defending the Northwest. He died broke and deeply in debt.
FDR, as part of the 1930s Civilian Conservation Corp, had the monument built to honor the brother of William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame.  

 Chapel beside the monument.

 Francis Vigo was an Italian immigrant who established a fur trading business in Vincennes. He traveled to Kaskaskia to inform Clark that the British had retaken Fort Sackville. Vigo was a patriot and a spy. He established Vincennes University and was the foremost financier of the Revolutionary War in the Northwest Territory. He was repaid an amount specified in his will after his death but nowhere near the amount of money he lost due to the government's refusal to pay. The US government welshed on their debt even back then.

 We ended the day at a Knox County Park and Recreation campground for the night.

June 28  We toured on home