Publisher's Synopsis
For anyone looking for their American Revolutionary War patriot in the Midwest region once known as the Spanish Illinois (today's Missouri and surrounding areas west of the Mississippi River), this is the definitive source. In the American colonies, local militiamen formed the core of every town's defense. The same was true for the Spanish province of Louisiana where the Crown did not have the financial means to provide enough regular army soldiers to defend such a vast territory. Local militias of Louisiana were therefore the mainstay of the colony's military force. So that the Spanish government in New Orleans could know the exact size of the force that existed at each settlement or post, militia lists were supposed to be made at the end of every year. For the Spanish Illinois region, very few of these yearly militia rosters have actually survived to our day. After the successful defense of the upper Illinois settlements of St. Louis
