Sturdivant Gang

[8] During the War of 1812, two unnamed Sturdivants were mentioned as counterfeiters operating in Kingston Township, Delaware County, Ohio in 1812.

For several years he resided at a secluded spot in Illinois, where all his immediate neighbors were his confederates or persons whose friendship he had conciliated.

He could, at any time, by the blowing of a horn, summon some fifty to a hundred armed men to his defense; while the few quiet farmers around, who lived near enough to get their feelings enlisted and who were really not at all implicated in his crimes, rejoiced in the impunity with which he practiced his schemes.

"[13] East of St. Louis, Missouri and the Mississippi River, Manville Ferry now present-day New Athens, Illinois was a settlement in St. Clair County, Illinois on the Kaskaskia River founded by early settler and ferryman, Ira Manville who ran the ferry until his death in 1821.

[15] The Sturdivant Gang was often confused with the counterfeiter John Duff, who operated, from 1790 to 1799, around the region of Illinois and Kentucky, near Cave-in-Rock, by 19th and early 20th-century historians.

[19] The counterfeiters' blockhouse was raided by local law enforcement and regulator/vigilantes, in 1822 and by citizen mob action, twice, in 1823, which finally drove out the Sturdivant Gang from the lower Ohio River valley.

In 1829, Bloody Jack Sturdivant was a dealer in a faro card game and cheated a friend of James Bowie named Dr. William Lattimore, out his money.

Dr. Daniel Lawrence of Golconda, Illinois a visitor to the historic site noted that all that existed of the once imposing fortress was a dilapidated blockhouse but what remained revealed it had formerly been a substantial log structure.

In 1998, Ron Nelson and Gary DeNeal local historians in Hardin County, Illinois researched the former location of Sturdivant's Fort using surviving early 19th century land ownership records.

The former site of the Sturdivant Gang fort is now on private property where it is located in the undeveloped backyard lot of a residential house, just north of the present-day water tower in Rosiclare.

To physically locate the fort site they use dowsing rods and red flags to mark the perimeters and layout of the structures where they had stood in the past.

[44] In 1964, Wellman also published the book, Spawn of Evil, which went into more depth about Roswell Sturdivant and his gang and the crime network on the early American frontier.

This is an early 19th century horse-powered ferry boat the kind used by Ira Manville, early settler and town namesake of Manville Ferry, St. Clair County, Illinois who ran the Manville ferry until his death in 1821. The Sturdivant Gang had counterfeiting operations at Manville Ferry now present-day New Athens , St. Clair County, Illinois.
James Ford , the ferry operator and outlaw across the Ohio River in western Kentucky knew the Sturdivant Gang and helped them disperse their counterfeit money throughout the area.
Jim Bowie (pictured) fought a bloody knife duel with Bloody Jack Sturdivant an alias of Roswell Sturdivant at Natchez-under-the-Hill in 1829, where Sturdivant was badly wounded and Bowie spared his life.
Part of a counterfeit coin mold similar to the type used by the Sturdivant Gang. The coin mold would come with two halves that would be lined with clay to make an impression of a genuine coin, would be poured into the funnel feeder cut into the side of the mold, and the fake coin later plated with a thin layer of silver . Legitimate coins were made by government mints and stamped from silver or gold coin discs as most counterfeit coins were molded.
The Spanish silver peso was the most common currency found on the American frontier . The Sturdivant Gang " coinied " this type of counterfeit money , which was minted in Mexico and considered legal tender , in the United States , until the Coinage Act of 1857 .
A rough line drawing of the location, layout, and approximate dimensions of Sturdivant's Fort compiled from survey information of historians, Ron Nelson and Gary DeNeal presented in their article, " To find a fort: The search for Sturdivant's lair "
"Bloody Jack" Sturdivant portrayed by American actor, Tony Caruso (on the right) in a knife dueling scene with James Bowie played by Alan Ladd in the 1952 film, The Iron Mistress .