- Sturdivant Gang
The Sturdivant Gang was a multi-generational group of counterfeiters whose criminal activities took place over a 50 year period from Colonial
Connecticut to theIllinois frontier. Although they did not follow the same frontier settlement pattern as most of the "Ancient Colony of Horse-Thieves, Counterfeiters and Robbers".By the 1810s third-generation counterfeiter Roswell S. Sturdivant led the gang that was based partially at Manville Ferry in St. Clair County, Illinois (modern-day New Athens) as well as at Sturdivant Fort in what was then in Pope County, Illinois (and is now in Rosiclare, Hardin County, Illinois).
Although they didn't base their operations at
Cave-in-Rock , they are considered part of the second wave of outlaws associated the cave. Their fort downriver sat on a bluff that is visible from Cave-in-Rock Bluff. They were contemporaries with James Ford and the Ford's Ferry Gang.The gang was often confused with John Duff's counterfeiting operations by 19th and early 20th Century historians.
References
* [http://www.illinoishistory.com/sturdivantraid.html The Raid on Sturdivant Fort]
* [http://www.illinoishistory.com/sturdivanthall.html Sturdivant the Counterfeiter]
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