“The Valor and Spirit of Bygone Times”: The Memory of the Battle of St. Louis and the Persistence of St. Louis’s Creole Community, 1820-1847. In the context of the American Revolution, the Battle of St. Louis is a mere footnote, resulting in under 100 casualties. But to the St. Louisans who experienced it – mostly French civilians living in a Spanish territory, many of whom lost loved ones in the battle – it was the defining event of their lifetimes. This paper focuses on two antebellum tellings of the battle story - Thomas Hart Benton's speech in the United States Senate in 1822 and Creole Wilson Promm's speech at St. Louis's anniversary celebration of 1847 - to explore the ways in which Creoles and their allies altered the battle narrative to serve their own cultural or political ends. A close reading of these tales reveals that despite their declining numbers and waning cultural influence, French Creoles remained a distinctive and politically important community in St. Louis throughout the antebellum period. Furthermore, Primm's speech complicates traditional narratives of the nativist moment, showing that some Catholic non-immigrants - such as St. Louis Creoles - risked being targets of nativist prejudice and that they took steps to prevent this, such as invoking the Battle of St. Louis as proof of American bona fides."

This thesis examines slave labor in Missouri from the time of its acquisition by the Americans from the French in 1804 to the Missouri Compromise in 1821. Historians are familiar with the important compromise in Missouri in 1821. In 1817, the territory of Missouri petitioned for statehood. Northern congressmen insisted that all Missouri slaves must be freed before the process could continue. Missouri slave owners, however, resented this outside interference. The Senate was unable to resolve this conflict because they were equally divided on the issue: half of the senators were from pro-slavery states while the other half represented anti-slavery states. After a long series of debates a compromise was reached: Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state and Maine (also seeking statehood) would enter as a free state. In addition, Congress set the 36th parallel as the boundary above which slavery could not spread. The Missouri Compromise, reached in 1821, allowed the country to expand while attempting to maintain as close to a number of pro and anti-slavery members in the House and Senate as possible. At least for the short term this compromise allowed the country to postpone any serious discussion of slavery in America.

This dissertation is a social and legal history of St. Louis and Missouri in the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. The study examines African American women's individual and collective struggles for freedom and civil status in the Age of Emancipation. By mining the records of the local military police in Missouri, this project finds that freedwomen, and even enslaved women, used military courts to seize rights during the Civil War. African American women entered this legal system as petitioners and claimed specific rights, including the right to paid labor, the right to state protection from bodily assault, and the right to custody of their children.

This study describes the lynching of slaves in "Little Dixie" which is comprised of seven Missouri counties: Saline, Boone, Callaway, Clay, Cooper, Howard, and Lafayette. The purpose of this study is to explore the social apathies of violence towards slaves in Missouri and to examine their impact on slaves and the institution of slavery. It provides vivid details of slave experiences and the reaction of Missouri whites to insolent slaves.