Major Amos Stoddard

Amos Stoddard, born in Woodbury, Connecticut, on October 26, 1762, began military service in 1777 as a private in the American Army after his father returned home early from war. He served at Fort West Point on the Hudson River, where he saw Benedict Arnold flee after Arnold's plot to surrender West Point to the British was uncovered, and he witnessed the hanging of the British spy Major John Andre. His unit later campaigned into Virginia and took part in the siege and surrender at Yorktown on October 20, 1781. After his discharge, he returned to his father's home in Massachusetts, worked as an assistant clerk of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, studied law, and in late 1786 and early 1787 served as a junior officer in suppressing Shays' Rebellion. After admission to the Massachusetts Bar and a term in that state's legislature, he returned to military duty as a captain of artillery and engineering. In 1803 he was stationed at Fort Kaskaskia, Illinois, on the Mississippi River, where on November 28 the Lewis and Clark expedition visited and received additional soldiers and gunpowder from him. In February 1804 he was commissioned the first civil commandant of Upper Louisiana and directed to oversee the transfer of government there from Spain to France and then to the United States. Following President Thomas Jefferson's instructions, he made few changes in government and personnel, kept the peace, and received much credit for his decisions. Relieved on September 30, 1804, and assigned to Lower Louisiana, he wrote about the history and geography of the Louisiana Purchase and its importance to the country. In 1812, at age 50, Major Amos Stoddard was sent to northwest Ohio to command artillery under Gen. William Henry Harrison. Wounded by shrapnel during the battle of Ft. Meigs, he died on May 11, 1813, and was buried in an unmarked grave near his cannon with other fallen soldiers. In 1829 Missouri named a new county after him.

Bloomfield, Missouri · United States