Letter to St. Louis Mayor on Jean Marie Cardinal and Five Flags Center_06.13.1973T H E C I T Y O F
DUBUQUE
G IL B E R T 0. CH AV E N E L LE
C IT Y M ANA G E R
June 13, 1973
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The Honorable John Poelker
Mayor of the City of St. Louis
City Hall - Room 200
1200 Market Street
St. Louis, Missouri 63100
Dear Mayor Poelker:
O E P AR TM E NT OF
N O V 8 I O A ND R E D E V E L O P M E N T
G E N T M. W 1 T T E N B C R O O I g E C T O R
SV IIf IUO FlscilCl! Elu'Ll.I nl i. i'rIJNC ]195JI1u01>
UU O U CU E ION1 52001
Greetings from the Citizens of the City of Dubuque on the occasion
of commemorating the exploration of the Mississippi River by Louis
Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette.
Historians in recording the Fight for St. Louis in 1780 during the
Revolutionary War comment upon the preparedness of the defenders
in repulsing the attack by the English and their allies. Several his-
torians observe that the Commanding Officer at St. Louis had been
prewarned of the British Plan to seize this important Mississippi
River settlement.
As a matter of courtesy we believe you may be interested to learn
that we have a historian who documents that jean Marie Cardinal, a
Dubuqueland miner, was that messenger. Monsieur Cardinal was the
first, casualty suffered during the defense of St. Louis, and history
speaks of his many daughters marrying Frenchmen. Our historian
further suggests that had it not been for Cardinal's warning, the
exploits of George Rogers Clark might have well been in vain, and
the Treaty of 1782 might have well fixed the western boundary of the
United States along the Allegheny Mountains instead of the Missis-
sippi River. Jean Marie Cardinal is the only known Iowa casualty of
the American Revolutionary War.
This bit of his':ory provides the stage upon which all Dubuqueland is
preparing to celebrate in 1976 the Bicentennial Anniversary of the
founding of our nation. Dubuque's permanert salute to this great
The Honorable John Poelker
-2-
June 13, 1973
occasion will be the Five Flags Center, and a distinctive piece of
sculpture commissioned especially to capture the spirit of our nation's
heritage and its historic perspective as it relates to Dubuqueland.
The Five Flags Center is a story of citizen leadership and involvement
at its best. Significantly, there is to be included within this project,
a fully equipped multi -media center which will dramatically portray in
sight and sound to audiences of all ages the early history and American
Revolutionary War involvement of the Upper Mississippi Valley.
Please accept the enclosed medallion as a reminder that perhaps an
obscure Dubuqueland miner was the savior of St. Louis in 1780.
ordially your
oseph . Bitt r
Mayor
JJB/GMW/vt
Enclosure