The Road to Independence Speaker Series

The war spilled into the areas west of the Thirteen Colonies and along the Mississippi River, and the resulting battles and attacks impacted the future development and expansion of the United States. The western areas also contained a rather unique collection of diverse groups and interests.

These interests included French-heritage inhabitants living along the Mississippi River, the new Spanish owners of the Louisiana Territory, the British masters of the east side of the Mississippi River, the Americans who conquered much of the east side of the Mississippi River from the British, the Native Americans who were often (but not exclusively) allied with the British and were involved in almost every military action in the west, and both free and enslaved black people who participated in several conflicts (sometimes voluntarily and often involuntarily).

Steve Kling is a practicing attorney who has an MS in finance and a JD from St. Louis University. Besides being an active military history researcher, Kling is a descendant of Joseph Robidoux, who was in the Spanish militia at St. Louis when it was attacked by the British in 1780.