George Rogers Clark
From 20th Century History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Hon. William A. Rockel
Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co., 1908
We have already in giving a description of the battle of Piqua and the important events enacted in the northwest during the War of the Revolution, had occasion to speak of the distinguished military talent and patriotism of George Rogers Clark; however, as our county received its name from him, it will certainly not be inappropriate to give a more extended sketch than is contained in the places referred to.
George Rogers Clark was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, November 19, 1752, and died at Locust Grove, near Louisville, Kentucky, February, 1818. He was of a good, though not prominent family, and was a brother of Captain William Clark, whose great journey with Captain Lewis in their noted trip across the Rocky Mountains was one of the great distinguishing events in the colonization of what is now known as the north and the northwest portions of this country. In honor of that event the World's Fair at Portland was held in 1905.
General Clark's education was the meager one offered by the cabin schools of Virginia in his time, but he had shown a marked talent for mathematics and geography and at the age of seventeen had chosen surveying as an avocation that better suited his gifts and his love of adventure.
When Lord Dunmore's War broke out with the Indians he volunteered, and as a non-commissioned officer had conducted himself with such bravery and had shown such marked military talent that he was offered a commission of lieutenant in the British army; but the spirit of the Revolution was in the air and although the offer was a very tempting one, especially to one of his military spirit, patriotism was stronger and he declined. He had tasted and felt the fire of frontier fighting and had found himself in love with its hazards and perils.
In the spring of 1775, yielding to his love of adventure, he found himself with Daniel Boone and other early kindred spirits in the "Blue Grass Regions" of Kentucky. During his visit there he was temporarily placed in command of the militia of that country. At this time there had been but three settlements in all Kentucky. These were only small groups of log cabins surrounded by stockades continually exposed to the attacks of fierce and cunning Indians. The lives of Boone, Kenton, Logan, Harrod, and Todd fully attested their war-like spirit. Clark fought the Indians, hunted the wolf, bear and panther, and explored the wilderness, and like other pioneers had many hair-breadth escapes. It was no doubt by reason of the natural ability of General Clark that he was chosen to command the militia of that rude settlement.
In the fall of 1775, he returned home and for some time he contemplated entering military service with the Virginia Continentals, but the fascination of the unbounded wilderness of the west with its perils, was more to his liking than services in the regular organized army; but that was not all that induced him to again try his fortunes in the west. He had dreamed of a great empire. He realized perhaps better than most men of his time the boundless resources of the country, unknown yet, beyond the Alleghanies.
So in the spring of 1776 he again took up his perilous trail to the wilds of Kentucky. Upon his arrival he visited all the settlements and proposed a meeting of the colonists at Harrodstown, for the purpose of forming some plan of defense and military aid and furthermore, to formulate an effective appeal for aid to the parent state, Virginia. This having been done he returned to his mother state and visited Jefferson who was then governor and pleaded for aid to pursue his desired object.
The revolutionary war was now taxing all the energies of the east and the colonists had thought little of this western country, but Clark's persistence and firmness had never faltered. His official character was recognized. Kentucky was declared a county of Virginia and Clark himself was made a major of the Virginia militia. An order was also obtained by Clark directing 500 pounds of powder to be delivered at Fort Pitt for the use of the settlement.
To transport this munition to Kentucky, a perilous trip was taken down the Ohio. Embarking on a flat-boat, he and his colleague Jones, with five other men launched out, secretly for Fort Pitt early in the spring of 1777. Scarcely were they beyond sight of Fort Pitt when they discovered that Indians were running along the shore. The savages at every bend of the stream tried to cut Clark's men off, and they constantly augmented in numbers. All of Clark's men, with the exception of Jones, counseled the abandonment of the boat and escape into the woods while their lives were yet their own. To do this however would have been to have abandoned Clark's cherished object. While almost exhausted from constant vigil, Clark managed to elude the savages in the night and ran the boat into a creek in the boundaries of Kentucky, hastily concealing the powder on shore, and with his companions pushed on to the settlement for aid. The nearest place, however, was too weak to send aid, so leaving Jones and his men behind, Clark, guided by the famous Indian fighter, Kenton, whom he had found at this first settlement, started out for Harrodstown. Here Clark got help and brought his powder safe into the heart of the wilderness whose constant warfare had won for it the name of the "Dark and Bloody Land."
As soon as he had returned to Kentucky he dispatched two young hunters to spy out the Illinois country which was the name given to all beyond the Ohio River. From these spies he gathered that the French in the settlements there were not very enthusiastic in their loyalty to the British Crown, and he came to the conclusion that a successful expedition into that country would wrest all of that territory from the British Government. The same patiiotism that led him to decline the lieutenant's commission in the British army fired him here in a scheme of subduing the entire northwest. It had such effect upon him that be again undertook the perils attendant upon a trip to his native colony.
Patrick Henry was then governor of Virginia. Henry's patriotism was of that dash and spirit that easily led him to endorse what to his friends seemed the visionary scheme of Clark, but Virginia was so much engaged then in the Revolutionary warfare at home that her resources were ahuost exhausted, and the state was not able to give Clark the assistance he desired. Governor Henry consented, however, to lend Clark the weight of his name, and authorized him to raise seven companies of fifty men each among the settlers of the Alleghany Mountains, and as an incentive to the military men, they were each promised 300 acres of land to be selected from the richest valleys of the conquered territory. Thus originated the "Virginia Military Lands," between the Scioto and the Miami Rivers, part of which are in Clark County.
In May, 1778, Clark re-crossed the mountains and again recruited his forces. Governor Henry had advanced him 1,200 pounds and an order on the commandment at Fort Pitt for all the powder he might need, together with supplies.
From this Fort the little band of 250 men—adventurers and settlers—embarked on flat-boats, and on May 27th, the flotilla reached the falls of Ohio, where they established a post, which afterwards became the city of Louisville. I cannot go into detail of all of General Clark's adventures and expeditions of heroism, they are certainly not surpassed in American history.
The first object of attack was the settlement of Kaskaskia. Having met three American hunters who had recently returned from that trading post, Clark learned that the fort there was strong and in good repair. That there was a force there three times as strong as his own, and that a large number of Indians friendly to the British and hostile to the Americans, had recently been in conference with the commandant at the post, did not deter General Clark.
After several days of perilous travel they reached the banks of the Kaskaskia River, three miles below the town, the strictest silence being enjoined under penalty of death.
When night was well advanced, Clark's men crept up to the town and after dividing the company into two divisions, one long straggling column surrounding the town, the other consisting of picked men, was led by Clark himself straight to the walls of the fort. When everything was in readiness, Clark crawled to within a few feet of the stronghold to reconnoiter. He discovered that a ball given by the officer of the garrison was in progress. Under cover of the river bank some of his men were directed to come forward and seize the two sentinels at the gate, if possible without causing an alarm, and now Clark who was very fond of adventure entered by the rear gate alone, and making his way to the door of the ball-room, leaned against the door jamb and watched the merry festival. So high ran the mirth-making spirit that it was some time before Clark was discovered. Then an Indian chief who sat on the floor saw him and made a frightful war-cry. Upon hearing this cry Clark's men came rushing into the fort and seized the officer. The scene was highly dramatic and greatly to Clark's taste.
The pretty mirth-loving French girls shrieked and swooned upon the floor and the captured officers swore loud and long, uttering creole oaths, amidst the hair-raising war whoops of the visiting Indian chiefs. Fortune had favored the brave; the victory was theirs. Not a gun was fired. In two hours Clark was in complete possession.
Clark's conduct here gives a pretty good index of his character and love for the spectacular. For two days his haughty and stern attitude added to the terror of the simple folk and then, when they were crouching at his feet, calling him "Sovereign Lord," he suddenly flung off his sternness and waxed mild and forgiving. He discoursed to them the joy of a free country which should be theirs if they would forswear British rules and become citizens of a new Republic. The fickle French were now enraptured. Clark completely won their hearts and dazzled their understanding. The color-loving Creole girls tore up their gowns to make flags, and the stars and stripes were fluttering everywhere. The young men organized a militia with which to fight for their new country. This was his first conquest in the northwest.
General Hamilton, who countenanced, if he did not aid in the cruelties of the Indians not surpassed by them anywhere, was commandant at the British post at Detroit. He learned of this bloodless conquest of Kaskaskia, by General Clark, and determined to check that adventurous and successful general in his career of conquest.
In the next spring he set out with quite an expedition, with the object in view not only to regain the lost country, but also to destroy Clark and sweep the settlers from the country and capture Fort Pitt. He made vast preparation, laid in great stores, and hastened toward Vincennes. This fort was in command of a Captain Bowman but was not prepared to resist so large an expedition as Hamilton's and capitulated. Hamilton had hoped to push on to Kaskaskia and capture Clark, but the hardships of winter prevented it.
When Clark heard of this move of Hamilton's he recognized at once his critical position, but met the situation with his usual resourceful skill. With a bravery, dash and hardiness that has seldom been equalled, he took up offensive operations against the enemy, and after a campaign in which his troops suffered every hardship and privation, he once more signalized his ability by capturing Hamilton. This stroke was a decisive one, and thereafter Clark's forces held authority over the entire northwest, except Detroit. The American colors were again hoisted over old Vincennes and the fort, in honor of Virginia's patriotic governor, was re-christened Fort Henry.
Clark was now about twenty-seven years old, a period when most men have only begim their careers of usefulness. Virginia made him a brigadier general and granted him a tract of land in Kentucky. Congress only presented him with a sword, and a vote of thanks. It is a matter of regret that a man capable of such achievements should not have entered into one of the many useful careers that were then opening to men of his ability, but his temperament was such that he could not settle down and habituate himself to the calmer scenes of a peaceful life, and unfortunately, moreover, this nervous temperament of his led him to the use of intoxicants. Besides, he felt the government had never properly recognized his services, it not having even reimbursed him for the money he had spent. He was stung by the taunts and jealousy of the regular army officers. And allowing these matters to sour his temper and give a morose tinge to his disposition, he gradually lost the esteem and respect of his subordinates. Broken by ill health and bowed down by disappointment he retired to private life in bitterness and passed his remaining years in obscurity and poverty.
A few years before he died, friends called attention to Clark's condition and the Legislature of Virginia with a flow of words which would have been more appreciated if it had been accompanied by a draft of money, sent him a jeweled sword. The old general's anger was aroused. "When Virginia needed a sword, I gave her one, she now sends me this toy; I want bread," and he thrust the blade of the costly gift into the ground and broke it.
Clark never married. In the height of his distinguished career he became engaged to a daughter of the Spanish governor of St. Louis District, but when that general in an interview betrayed a spirit of pusillanimity Clark promptly broke the engagement, declaring with heat, "I will never be the father of a race of cowards." And thus ended the life and career of Gen. George Rogers Clark.