Revolutionary War Captain James Piggot, a native of Connecticut who later moved to Pennsylvania, commanded Pennsylvania troops in battles including Brandywine and Saratoga, then after fighting the Chickasaw and Chocktaw tribes at Fort Jefferson near Paducah, Kentucky, arrived in the American Bottoms with 17 other families around 1783. They established a fort where the Grand Ruisseau emerged from the bluffs along the road from Kaskaskia; the creek was later renamed Carr Creek. Said to have been the largest settler fortification in Illinois, the fort was defended with cannons, small arms, and a swivel gun used to warn neighboring settlers. After the Kickapoo began making war on the Illinois frontier in 1786, local histories say they killed about 10 percent of the settlers and took some captives over the next 9 years. In 1788, William Biggs and John Vallis were ambushed while carrying packs of beaver skins to sell at Cahokia; Biggs was captured, Vallis escaped to Piggott's Fort, and warning shots from the blockhouse alerted settlers in the fields. Biggs was later ransomed and became the first territorial sheriff in St. Clair County. In 1790, Piggott and 45 inhabitants of the fort petitioned Governor St. Clair for land grants, and it is presumed this petition led to an act of Congress granting 400 acres to every settler on public land in Illinois and a militia donation of 100 acres to each enrolled militiaman. Although the exact site of the fort is unknown, this location stands on Piggott's land grant and is presumed near it; a barn foundation here is thought to include stones from the fort, and a wood beam from the barn dates to the late 1700s. Appointed Presiding Judge of the St. Clair County Court by Governor St. Clair, Piggott established the first ferry across the Mississippi River at St. Louis in 1795, carrying people, animals, carts, wagons, and goods to the docks. The area around the dock developed quickly, the growth of St. Louis encouraged development on the Illinois side of the river, and after Piggott's death in 1799 the ferry continued under his sons before later passing into the McKnight-Brady operation and then the Wiggins Ferry monopoly.