Peter Conley appears as a witness to Laclede’s will. Charles Gratiot was a member of the firm of David McCrae & Co., at Cahokia, from 1771 to 1781. Among the earliest mortgages in St. Louis is that of Pierre Saffray to Joseph O’Neille. Mathew Kennedy, in 1771, executed a bond to Antoine Bernard, and in the will of Jan Louis Lambert, a merchant, who died here in 1771, is found memoranda of an indebtedness due Morrissey & Co. Both Kennedy and Morrissey were prominent merchants here long prior to this. When Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia, determined to check the progress of the English on the Western frontier, he gave the command to the son of an Irishman, Gen. George Rogers Clark. Virginia was unable to furnish the money to equip Clark’s troops for the Illinois campaign, but an Irish merchant of New Orleans, Oliver Pollock, borrowed $70,000 from Count O’Reilly, once commandant of the Louisiana territory. What Morris did in the East Pollock did in the West for the American cause. To his financial aid the United States owes the success of Clark’s Illinois campaign. That Clark had many soldiers of Irish birth in his army is shown by a deposition taken at Kaskaskia, June 11, 1779, in which are the names of Andrew McDonald, Aaron Barrett, Patrick Shine, Andrew Coil and Tarrance Mooney. The first American who settled in St. Louis after Clark’s surprise of Kaskaskia, in 1778, was Philip Fine, son of Thomas Fine, an Irish settler in Virginia. He came in 1781. Kaskaskia was the settling place of many Irish in the early days, among them being Robert Morrison, an Irish merchant, who arrived in 1792. In 1800 occurred the murder of Adam Horne, on the Meramec. The commandant at Carondelet appointed as witnesses to the inventory John Cummings and John Donald, the witness to the order being Bartholomew Harrington. In 1803 Governor Delassus organized two companies of militia for the protection of New Madrid, and appointed Richard Waters, captain, and George K. Reagan, lieutenant of cavalry, and Robert McCoy, captain, and John Hart, ensign of infantry. William Sullivan obtained the first tavern license issued in the town after its transfer to the Americans, and was appointed by General Harrison constable and coroner, holding in the latter capacity the first inquest. In 1816, when Chouteau laid out the first addition to the town, Sullivan purchased a half block, on which he built a residence, where he died. Immediately after the transfer of the territory, Colonel Delassus addressed an official note to the new American officials commending, among others, the following officers who had served under him in the French service: James Mackay, commandant at St. Andrew, “an officer of knowledge, zealous and punctual”; also Mr. Mathew McKonel, Robert McKay, “a brave officer,” and Dr. Samuel Dorsey, surgeon of the fort.