1780 A.D.

BC
23000

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George Rogers Clark, along with Richard McCarty and 170 men, make the Impossible March to capture the British fort at Vincennes. It was located on the Wabash River at the present Indiana/Illinois border. Clark tricked Henry Hamilton, the fort's commander, into thinking he was being attacked by a superior force. McCarty convinces Clark to spare the life of Chief Pontiac's son because Pontiac had once spared McCarty's life during his rebellion. Several months later, Clark promotes McCarty to major and appoints him as commander of Fort Bowman at Cahokia as a reward for serving with distinction in the Vincennes campaign.

Richard McCarty organizes a relief expedition to help the inhabitants of Fort Jefferson who are under Indian attack. He richly deserved his new rank of major. McCarty and Piggott probably meet for the first time.

Captain James Piggott's wife Eleanor dies, along with seventeen others, from malaria and malnourishment at Fort Jefferson which is near present day Wickliffe, Kentucky. The fort had been under siege by the British and Indians. Piggott, a veteran of Revolutionary War (1775-1783) fighting in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, will be considered as the founder of East St. Louis. Although Richard McCarty built the first mill and ferry on the site of present-day East St. Louis, his handiwork did not endure and he lost interest in the project. Piggott most likely first heard about the site from Richard McCarty while the two of them were serving with George Rogers Clark.