Battle of Fort San Carlos Color Guard Events and Battle of Fort San Carlos Festival
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About the Battle and the Ceremony
Each year around the May 26 anniversary of the Battle, the Missouri Society Sons of the American Revolution and the French Militia honor the Patriots of the Battle and mark the graves of many of the French buried at Memorial Cemetery.
In July, 1779, Spain joined the American Revolutionary War against Great Britain. Great Britain had ordered its generals in Canada to begin expeditions against Spanish settlements on the Mississippi River a few weeks before this. Their mission was to drive out the rebels led by George Rogers Clark. Clark learned of this and warned the Spanish Commandant at Saint Louis, Fernando de Leyba, in March, 1780 to prepare for an attack. de Leyba began fortifying the village. With money from the villagers and his own
resources, and with volunteer labor, he began to construct a tower which we call Fort San Carlos at what is now the intersection of 4th and Walnut Streets in St. Louis. He also had the villagers dig a mile-long trench from each side of the tower to the riverbank. French Militia volunteers from in and around Ste. Genevieve marched to St. Louis to defend the village. The Spanish brought cannons to place in the tower from an abandoned fort.
Around 1PM on May 26, 1780 the large force of Indians, fur traders and seasoned troops under British command attacked the village. These attackers found the village to be protected by the tower and about 200 armed defenders. However, some villagers were surprised working in the fields, and about 25 were killed and 70 captured. The cannon fire alarmed the Indians and they withdrew. The British western campaign failed. The village of Saint Louis was never attacked again. The same day George Rogers Clark and his army defeated the British at Cahokia.
Learn More About the Battle, the Revolutionary War in the West and MOSSAR Commemorative Events.
NSSAR Revolutionary War Rarities Podcast “S3E23 “Fort San Carlos: St. Louis’s Revolutionary Stand”
American Revolution in the West: Spain’s Strategy in the American Revolutionary War
Historian Thomas Chávez talked about the contributions of Spain in the American Revolutionary War. This was part of the American Revolutionary War in the West conference hosted by the St. Charles County (MO) Historical Society.
The Battle of St. Louis and the Attack on Cahokia May 26, 1780 by Stephen L. Kling, esq.
Battle of St. Louis (San Carlos) Link to American Revolutionary War Battles for 1780
Link to the Ste. Genevieve Community TV Production of the May 25, 2025 Ceremony
Battle of San Carlos Grave Marking Ceremony – May 25, 2025
Battle of San Carlos Grave Marking Ceremony – May 26, 2024
Battle of San Carlos Grave Marking Ceremony – May 27, 2023
Join us Every Year at Memorial Cemetery, Sainte Genevieve, Missouri, for the
Fort San Carlos Festival Program
Grave Marking Ceremonies
See Events Calendar for Dates and Times When They are Announced
Click Here to See Patriots at Memorial Cemetery Biographies
Map and Directions to Memorial Cemetery:
Commemoration Committee for the Battle of Fort San Carlos
More information about this little known, but strategic battle may be found at the Commemoration Committee for the Battle of San Carlos website: http://www.battleoffortsancarlos.org/.
Planning a Visit to Historic Ste. Genevieve?
Be sure to visit the Centre for French Colonial Life Museum
Since January 2017, French Colonial America (FCA) has been proudly operating the historic Centre for French Colonial Life Museum Campus in Ste. Genevieve, MO. Initially owned by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Missouri (NSCDA-MO), the properties were gifted to FCA by NSCDA-MO in early 2020. The campus features four historic French Colonial structures (The Louis Bolduc, Bolduc-LeMeilleur, Beauvais-Linden, and Francois Valle II Houses) as well as the education and exhibits facility, the Centre for French Colonial Life.
The Centre features the campus gift shop, offices, a curatorial lab, lecture hall, warming kitchen, conference room, and two exhibits: 1) an orientation exhibit, detailing the origins of Ste. Genevieve and history of the IL River valley under French & Spanish colonial periods and 2) a temporary exhibit examining the ways that wild foods were harvested by the various people of the region to feed their families and communities in the colonial period. A new temporary exhibit, The American Revolutionary War in the West, will be installed in May 2020 and will explore the Battle of Fort San Carlos (St. Louis) and the role the Ste. Genevieve Militia played in the victory.
See the FSC Broadside
Militia & Guard Muster 30 minutes before at Guibord-Valle House
National Color Guard Event Sons of the American Revolution
