Mary Dillon

The Rose of Old St. Louis (published in 1904, written by Mary Dillon) is a historical, fictional novel, based on the founding of St. Louis, Missouri. It chronicles a boy who is first coming to St. Louis and his adventures there. In her forward, Dillon explicitly states that she does not want this book to be taken as direct history, however it does remain "absolutely faithful" to what happened. In addition, she put in a great deal of work to ensure that even the geography and customs were accurate to the time. For this reason and when looking at the age and details of the book, many people comment on details and the amount of research necessary for this and are amazed at how accurate many of the descriptions are.

My story does not claim to be history, but in every important historical detail it is absolutely faithful to the records of the times as I have found them. Every word of the debate in Congress, every word of Marbois, Livingston, Decr s, Napoleon, and his two brothers on the subject of the Louisiana Cession is verbatim from the most authentic accounts. I am indebted for the historical part of my story to Gayarr 's "History of Louisiana," to Martin's "History of Louisiana," to James K. Hosmer's "History of the Louisiana Purchase," to Lucien Bonaparte's "Memoirs," to numerous lives of Napoleon, Jefferson, Talleyrand, and others, and particularly to Marbois himself, whose account of the negotiations on the subject of the cession is preserved in his own handwriting in the St. Louis Mercantile Library.