Daniel Bissell (general)

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Daniel Bissell 1768-1833 was an American soldier and administrator. In 1803 he was appointed Commandant of the U.S. Military Department of Missouri. As Commandant, General Bissell welcomed the Lewis and Clark expedition upon their arrival in St. Louis. He served with distinction during the War of 1812, in which he commanded U.S. forces at the Battle of Cook's Mill.

When Bissell arrived in St. Louis he met with a delegation of the leading fur traders and the representative of the Spanish government in the area (an army Lieutenant who retired from the service and remained in St. Louis). Bissell was presented with Spanish documents conferring large grants of land throughout the Missouri valley to the furriers and a large estate to the Lieutenant. These were all forgeries. Bissell nevertheless accepted the legitimacy of the grants and issued new titles to the land in Question under US law. Bissell immediately thereafter began to build two palatial houses: one in Spanish Lake near the fort where his troops were posted and another on high bluff just north of the city of St. Louis. No direct evidence of a bribe has ever been discovered, but there is no way to explain Bissell’s new dwellings which could certainly not have been paid for out of his salary as a military officer.

The Spanish Lake home is now owned by St. Louis county and run as a historical attraction. The St. Louis home is privately owned and houses a dinner theatre.

He died in St. Louis, Missouri, on December 14, 1833.