The little village clustered around the nondescript hill on the Missouri River was under Indian attack. Lives had been lost but the settlers had managed to barricade themselves. The Indians set fire to the powder magazine and were dancing around it in celebration when the magazine exploded. Several Indians were killed; the rest fled. Cote Sans Dessein had been saved. In its time it was a crude frontier trading village. It was almost the capital of Missouri.

AOWM – August 16