Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
CARDINAL, Jean Marie
CARDINAL, Jean Marie. (Unknown-St. Louis, MO, May, 1780). The fourth white person to mine LEAD at the present site of Dubuque and the only Iowan to die in the American Revolution. In 1780 in a daring escape from Dubuque by canoe down the MISSISSIPPI RIVER, Cardinal warned the Spanish and French in St. Louis of an attack on their city by the English and their Native American allies. Cardinal's early warning allowed the inhabitants to properly prepare. Twenty-nine regular troops and 281 villagers repelled the attack of an estimated 1,500 enemy troops.
A fugitive from justice, Cardinal and his partner in 1763 had killed Abraham Lansing and his son, fur dealers in Wisconsin. Fleeing westward, Cardinal took over the MINING of lead from a Mr. Longe. Cardinal was one of the miners who escaped capture by troops led by Emmanuel Hesse who attacked the Dubuque-area mines as part of an English strategy to capture supply points along the Mississippi River.
Cardinal was captured during the battle at St. Louis and died of wounds inflicted while trying to escape.