There were always battles over Kaskaskia, Illinois.
First, there was the French and British who volleyed for control of the river village but the French officially ceded the land to the British in 1763.
Then the British and the Americans exchanged rule during the Revolutionary War, under George Rogers Clark, the elder brother of the William Clark of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition.
"On the 4th of July, [1778] in the evening, we got within a few miles of the town [Kaskaskia] . . . and took possession of a house . . . on the bank of the Kaskaskia river . . . . We soon procured a sufficiency of vessels . . . to convey us across the river, (and) formed the party into three divisions. . . .
"With one of the divisions, I marched to the fort and ordered the other two into different quarters of the town. . . . In a very little time we had complete possession, and every avenue was guarded to prevent any escape . . . ."
Indigenous Battles
These battles were fought by foreigners who entered the area, but there were battles against the indigenous populations as well. The Great Lakes Indian Tribes came against the Kaskaskian tribe and its Illinois Confederacy for the killing of Chief Pontiac, who had come with 400 warriors seeking Kaskaskia's help against the invasion of European while men.
The land that made up the village, town, or city of Kaskaskia was always in contention. That did not stop, even after the town was flooded and separated from the state by the Mississippi River.
In fact, the battle for Kaskaskia did not end until the year 1970.
Legal Battles
Because the city was cut off from Illinois and the only land connection to the town that was now an island came from the neighboring state of Missouri, Missouri wanted to add the land to their holdings. Illinois did not want to relinquish their first state capital.
The Untied States Supreme Court rules on June 22, 1960 that Kaskaskia would remain under Illinois jurisdiction.
In incidence to the establishment of such boundary line, and upon Missouri's disclaimer herein, the territorial and sovereignty right claimed by Illinois to the body of land given identification in the evidence as "Kaskaskia Island" is hereby confirmed as against Missouri and decreed to exist in Illinois.
The final battle had been won for the forgotten city.
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