Southeast Missouri men fought the Battle of the Sinkhole

Oftentimes we hear that the Battle of New Orleans was the last battle of the War of 1812, fought on Jan. 8, 1815, after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. However, Southeast Missouri men fought a later battle on May 24, 1815: the Battle of the Sinkhole.

During the conflict, the primary threat to Americans was not the British, but their allies the Sauk, Fox, Potawatomi, Miami, Ioway and some other American Indians. Beginning in 1812, raiders attacked isolated cabins and militia in outlying settlements, particularly in the St. Louis and St. Charles districts. Militia rosters show most able-bodied men in the Southeast Missouri area served in defense of the settlements. Among the last units organized was a company of mounted Rangers recruited in May to July 1814 by Capt. Peter Craig, a son-in-law of Cape Girardeau pioneer Andrew Ramsey Sr.

Craig's company garrisoned Fort Howard in the southeast corner of present-day Lincoln County by May 24, 1815. That morning, a small party attempted to retrieve a grindstone from an abandoned cabin. Concealed Indians attacked, killing Francois Lammey, Antoine Pelkey and Hubbard Tayon of Cape Girardeau. Rangers shot at the attackers from the fort, with little effect.

Craig mustered 40 men and rode out to engage the enemy, who fell back gradually to a sinkhole in a plain northwest of the fort. Twenty rangers commanded by Capt. David Musick from nearby Fort Independence joined after hearing the shooting. Craig and Alexander Giboney Jr., were the first to fall, and command passed to Lt. Edward Spear of Cape Girardeau. The fight reached a stalemate, with the Sauks sheltered in the sinkhole.

Lt. Spear ordered his men to rig a mobile battery from pieces of a cart. The resulting wheeled structure concealed six men. A squad commanded by Spear pushed the battery near the edge of the sinkhole, but the battery was unconcealed from below. Aiming at an upward angle, the Sauks could hit the attackers. Lt. Spear sustained a fatal wound, with others hit. The men abandoned the makeshift structure after sundown.

The rangers retired to the fort, expecting a night attack that never materialized. Casualties totaled eight killed (including also James Putney of Cape Girardeau), one missing, and five wounded (including John Patterson Jr., and Cpl. Abraham Letts from Cape Girardeau, and Benjamin Haile of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri), and roughly 15 Indians killed or wounded. The skirmish was one of the largest battles of the War of 1812 in Missouri. A few days after the battle, hostilities ended when news of the treaty reached Missouri and the militia returned to their homes.

The local aftermath of the War of 1812 and the Battle of the Sinkhole fell hardest on the Ramsey family. The patriarch, Andrew Sr., sustained a severe wound in 1813 and would die in 1815 as a result. Sons Andrew Jr. and Allen perished in the same skirmish. Craig, married to Mary Ramsey, and Giboney, nephew of Andrew Sr., died at the Battle of the Sinkhole.