A beginner's history

by William H. Mace

GEORGE ROGERS CLARK, THE HERO OF VINCENNES

Clark born in Virginia

A surveyor

111. A Successful Leader against the Indians and the British. George Rogers Clark was born in Virginia in 1752. From childhood Clark liked to roam the woods. He became a surveyor and an Indian fighter at the age of twenty-one. Like Washington, with chain and compass, and with ax and rifle, he made his way far into the wild and lonely forests of the upper Ohio.

INDIANS ATTACKING A FORT

Again and again, when a surprise was not possible, the Indians from safe hiding places picked off the men in a garrison

A scout

Clark was a scout for the governor of Virginia in the expedition which defeated the great Shawnee chief Cornstalk at the mouth of the Kanawha.

Two years later Clark made his way alone over the mountains and became a leader in Kentucky, along with Boone. The Kentucky hunters chose Clark to go to Virginia as their lawmaker.

GEORGE ROGERS CLARK

From a painting on wood by John Wesley Jarvis, now in the State Library at Richmond, Virginia

In Kentucky

He told Governor Patrick Henry that if Kentucky was not worth defending against the Indians, it was not worth having. At this the Virginian lawmakers made Kentucky into a Virginia county and gave Clark five hundred pounds of powder, which he carried down the Ohio River to Kentucky.

Life at Harrodsburg

Clark lived at Harrodsburg where, for more than a year, he was kept busy helping the settlers fight off the Indians. This was the very time when Boonesboro and other settlements were so often surrounded by Indians who had been aroused by the British officers at Detroit. These officers paid a certain sum for each scalp of an American the Indians brought them.

Turns to Patrick Henry in time of need

After having seen brave men and women scalped by the Indians, Clark decided to strike a blow at the British across the Ohio. But where could he find money and men for an army? Kentucky did not have men enough. Clark thought of that noble patriot across the mountains, Patrick Henry. He mounted his horse and guided some settlers back to Virginia, but kept his secret. In Virginia he heard the good news that Burgoyne had surrendered.

Governor Henry was heart and soul for Clark's plan. He made Clark a colonel, gave him six thousand dollars in paper money, and ordered him to raise an army to defend Kentucky.

A colonel with a secret

112. The Campaign against Old Vincennes. In May, 1778, Clark's little army of about one hundred fifty backwoodsmen, with several families, took their flatboats and floated down the Monongahela to Fort Pitt. Clark did not dare tell the riflemen where they were going, for fear the British might get the word. Here they took on supplies and a few small cannon.

Floating down the beautiful Ohio

On they floated, in the middle of the river to keep away from the Indians who might be hiding in the deep, dark forests on the river banks. At the falls of the Ohio, on Corn Island, Clark landed his party. He built a blockhouse and cabins, and drilled the riflemen into soldiers while the settlers planted corn. This was the beginning of the city of Louisville.

Clark tells his secret

One day Clark called his men together and told them the secret—he was really leading them against the British forts on the Illinois and the Wabash rivers.

A few of the men refused to go so far from home—a thousand miles—but the rest were willing to follow their leader.

A long march begun

In June, Clark's boats "shot the falls" and were soon at the mouth of the Tennessee, where a band of hunters joined the party. There Clark hid the boats and began the long march through tangled forests and over grand prairies. But they did not know what minute the Indians might attack, or some British scout discover them and carry the news to General Hamilton at Detroit.

Kaskaskia, July 4, 1778

They reached the old French town of Kaskaskia at dusk on July 4. They did not dare give a shout or fire a gun, for the British officer had more men than Clark.

Surrounds the town

Clark sent part of his men silently to surround the town, while he led the others to the fort, where they heard the merry music of the violin and the voices of the dancers.

CLARK'S SURPRISE AT KASKASKIA

Virginia, not Great Britain

The French settlers alarmed

Clark himself slipped into the great hall, folded his arms, and looked in silence on the dimly lighted scene. An Indian lying on the floor saw Clark's face by the light of the torches. He sprang to his feet, and gave the terrible war whoop. Instantly the dancing ceased, the women screamed, and the men rushed toward Clark. But Clark simply said: "Go on with your dance, but remember that you dance under Virginia and not under Great Britain!" The British general surrendered, and the French inhabitants trembled, when they learned that the backwoodsmen had captured the town. They sent their priest, Father Gibault, and other chief men to beg for their lives. Imagine their surprise and joy when Clark told them that not only were their lives safe, but that the new republic made war on no church, and protected all from insult.

The treaty with France

He also told them that the King of France had made a treaty with the United States and was sending his great war ships and soldiers to help America. The town of Cahokia also surrendered.

Vincennes surrenders

Father Gibault went to Vincennes to tell the French settlers about the doings of Clark and to give them the news that France had taken sides with the Americans. The people rejoiced, and ran up the American flag. Clark sent Captain Helm to command the fort.

General Hamilton at Detroit was busy planning to attack Fort Pitt and to encourage the Ohio Indians to kill and scalp Kentuckians.

General Hamilton stirred up

Stays in Vincennes until spring

How astonished he was when he heard that the forts on the Illinois and the Wabash had fallen! He gathered a mixed army of British, Canadians, and Indians, crossed Lake Erie to the mouth of the Maumee, and "poled" and paddled up that river to the portage. Down the Wabash they floated, five hundred strong. Vincennes surrendered without a blow. Hamilton decided to stay there for the winter and march against Clark in the spring. This was a blunder. He did not yet know Clark and his backwoodsmen.

"I must take Hamilton or Hamilton will take me," said Clark, when he heard the news. He immediately set to work to build a rude sort of gunboat, which he fitted out with his cannon and about forty men. He sent the Willing, as it was called, down the Mississippi, around into the Ohio, and up the Wabash to meet him at Vincennes.

Clark begins the march

All was excitement in the French towns. Forty or fifty French joined Clark's riflemen. Father Gibault gave them his blessing, and the march overland to Vincennes began.

CLARK'S MEN ON THEIR WAY THROUGH THE DROWNED LANDS OF THE WABASH VALLEY

On the march

Clark divided his men into parties. Each, in its turn, did the hunting, and at night invited the others to sit around great camp fires to feast on "bear ham, buffalo hump, elk saddle, and venison haunch." They ate, sang, danced, and told stories. No doubt they often talked of their loved ones far away in the cabins of Virginia and Kentucky.

The drowned lands

On they pushed till they came to the "drowned lands of the Wabash," and there they saw miles and miles of muddy water. They made a rude boat to carry them over the deepest parts. The horses had to swim.

THE BIG TROOPER CARRIED THE DRUMMER BOY

The morning gun

Soon they were near enough Vincennes to hear the "morning gun" at the fort, but they did not dare fire a gun themselves for fear of being discovered by parties of hunters. Food grew scarce, game was hard to find, and starvation threatened them.

Terrible suffering

Sometimes, after wading all day, they could hardly find a dry spot to camp for the night. Some grew too weak to wade and were carried in boats. The stronger sang songs to keep up the courage of the weak. When they finally reached the opposite shore of the Wabash many fell, worn out—some lying partly in the water.

Those who were well built great fires and warmed and fed the faint ones on hot deer broth. But these brave men soon forgot their hardships and again were full of fight.

Clark's letter

Clark now decided to take a bold course. He sent a letter to the people of Vincennes telling them that he was about to attack the town. He advised all friends of America to remain quietly in their homes, and asked all friends of the British to go to the fort and join the "hair buyer," as the backwoodsmen called Hamilton.

The attack

At dark, Clark's men charged into the town and attacked the fort. The fight went on all night. As soon as it was daylight the backwoodsmen fired through the portholes and drove the gunners from the cannon.

Hamilton surrenders

Clark's men begged to storm the fort. Only one American had been wounded, but several British soldiers had been killed and others wounded. In the afternoon Hamilton surrendered and once more the Stars and Stripes floated over "old Vincennes."

The Willing appeared in a few days. Her men were deeply disappointed because they were too late to take part in the fight.

EXPEDITIONS TO THE WEST AND THE SCENE OF GEORGE ROGERS CLARK'S CAMPAIGN

Clark put men in the forts at Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes, and made peace with the Indians round about. But he was never able to march against Detroit, as once he had planned to do.

Clark's Grant

Virginia rewarded the brave men who had followed Clark by giving to each three hundred acres of land in southern Indiana. The land was surveyed and is known to-day as "Clark's Grant."

Clark and his men had performed one of the greatest deeds of the Revolutionary War. They made it possible for the United States to have the Mississippi River for her western boundary when England acknowledged our independence.

Clark unrewarded

George Rogers Clark was never properly rewarded. He spent his last days in poverty at the falls of the Ohio, on Corn Island, and died in 1818. In 1895 a monument was erected in honor of his memory in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana.