Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/191

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

the reassembling of the legislature Clark was present and succeeded in gaining for- mal recognition of the Kentucky country and its organization as a county with the same name and boundaries it now has as a state. In January, 1777, gunpowder was delivered in Kentucky. Clark stopped at Leestown and McClelland's and set about to organize aggressive warfare against the In- dians, who had been making serious depre- dations. He was given the rank of lieu- I'^nant-colonel, and instructed by Gov. Henry to enlist seven companies of sol- diers, of fifty men each. W'ith this force he was to attack the British post at Kas- kaskia. Early in May, 1778, he departed from Red Stone with only one-third of the troops expected. He stopped at the mouth of the Kentucky river and finally to the falls of the Ohio and selected Corn Island for his camping ground. His men numbered about one hundred and seventy, and on June 24, 1778, they started for Kaskaskia, arriving there on the evening of July 4. Be- fore daylight they had disarmed the town. Clark sent a part of his force to take pos- session of the French villages up the Miss- issippi, Capt. Joseph Bowman succeeding in capturing Prairie du Rocher, Cahokia, and other villages. Meanwhile Clark secured the allegiance of the inhabitants of Vincen- nes, the most important post on the river. At Cahokia he met representatives from several tribes, and secured treaties of peace. On February 5, 1779, the little army left Kaskaskia for Vincennes. For ten days they marched through the waters then over- flowing the Wabash river and all its tribu- taries; Fort Sackville and Vincennes were captured after considerable fighting. Clark received a commission from Gov. Henry,

dated December 14, 1778, promoting him colonel. He contemplated attacking De- troit, but decided it to be impracticable, owing to his scanty force. On June 12, 1779, Virginia presented Col. Clark with a costly sword in recognition of his services. He returned to the falls of the Ohio later in 1779 and found that the garrison had re- moved to the mainland and constructed a fort in what is now Louisville, Kentucky. Early in 1780 he proceeded to the mouth of the Ohio river and built Fort Jefferson, but owing to sickness and Indian attacks, the fort was abandoned in 1781. In that year he was commissioned brigadier-gen- eral and began to recruit troops for an at- tack on Detroit. This expedition, through the failure of Col. Lochry to reach Wheel- ing until after Clark's departure, was un- successful, and the defeat embittered Clark's after life. On Clark's return to the west he set about organizing the militia. Fort Nelson, on the site of Louisville, was con- structed, and early in November, 1782, at the head of one thousand men, he marched against the Indians on the Miami river and subdued them. In January, 1783, the treaty of peace with Great Britain was ratified by congress and attention was turned to the vast territory of land acquired through the eflforts of Gen. Clark, but Virginia, exhaust- ed by the war, failed sufficiently to provide for his troops, and on June 2, 1783, he was relieved of his command. His financial condition rendered impossible the purchase of food and clothing, and necessity led him to appeal to the government. The appeal was unheeded, and even the half pay allot- ted to all Continental officers was denied him, as he had been a member of the Vir- ginia militia and not of the Continental

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