1977,3031 
 Ist28| 
 
 Dan B. Starkey. 
 
 "George Rogers Clark and his Illinois 
 Campaign. (1897)
 
 li!iec!S fiiiisr&i Scrvjy
 
 PARKMAN CLUB PUBLICATIONS 
 
 No. 12 
 MILWAUKEE, Wis., January 12, 1897 
 
 GKOROK ROOERS CLARK: 
 
 AND HIS ILLINOIS CAMPAIGN 
 
 DAN B. STARKLY 
 
 Printed for the Parkman Club by Edward Keogh
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK AND HIS ILLINOIS 
 CAMPAIGN. 
 
 There is no name associated with the early history of the 
 West more worthy of grateful remembrance by the people of 
 the United States than that of George Rogers Clark, "the 
 Washington of the West," as Reynolds called him, "the 
 Hannibal of the West" [i], as he is styled. by John Randolph. 
 By an almost bloodless contest, he gave force and validity to 
 shadowy charter claims, and rendered an inestimable service 
 in securing to this country the domain of an empire, out of 
 which five great states have been carved. Conceiving and 
 carrying to a successful conclusion against the most formidable 
 obstacles, "one of the most daring and brilliant military enter- 
 prises recorded in the annals of individual or national hardi- 
 hood" [2], he helped to make the Mississippi River the western 
 boundary of the nation at the close of the Revolution, and 
 paved the way for securing the vast territory to the West, the 
 accession of which extended the nation's boundaries from sea 
 to sea. It was perhaps no very great stretch of the historian's 
 imagination to say that but for the work of this remarkable 
 man, the magnificent country which now forms the greater 
 part of the United States, "might at this hour be broken from 
 us at the Alleghany Mountains' summit, or the Ohio River's 
 shore." [3] 
 
 When American independence had been won by force of 
 arms, the chief obstacle to the securing of peace by the arts 
 
 [1] See chapter headed "The Hannibal of the West" in Dunn's 
 "Indiana." 
 
 [2] Rives' "Life and Times of Madison," vol. i., p. 192. 
 [3] "Clark's Campaign," introduction.
 
 26 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 of diplomacy was the western boundary. The fisheries ques- 
 tion was also a stumbling block, but that was of secondary 
 importance, and was more easily adjusted. Many months of 
 wearing negotiations were spent in an endeavor to arrive at 
 a satisfactory settlement of the boundary question, and the 
 fact that the United States held the disputed territory by right 
 of conquest and settlement, as well as by charter claims, was 
 the principal ground upon which the American commissioners 
 relied to sustain their claim to the Mississippi River and the 
 Great Lakes as the western boundaries of the new nation. It 
 has been said that "while due credit should be given to Clark 
 for his daring and successful undertaking, we must not forget 
 that England's jealousy of Spain, and the shrewd diplomacy on 
 the part of America's peace commissioners, were factors even 
 more potent in winning the Northwest for the United States" 
 [4], but. the fact remains that but for Clark's campaign "the 
 force of conquest, the moving etiquette of treaties of peace, 
 would have been lost." [5] By the treaty of 1763 England 
 had come into actual possession of the country between the 
 Alleghanies and the Mississippi River, to which she had previ- 
 ously claimed an imaginary title [6], and Spain had obtained 
 the vast territory west of the Mississippi, but twenty years 
 later, when the United States wanted peace, the British title 
 to the country was disputed and the King of Spain saw fit to 
 lay claim to it on very slender grounds, perhaps with the con- 
 nivance of both France and England. [7] France had 
 undertaken to aid the United States to obtain its independence, 
 and had made a treaty in which it had been expressly stipulated 
 that peace should not be made with England until the inde- 
 
 [4] K. G. Thwaites, in Wither's "Border Warfare, p. 254, note. 
 [5] "Clark's Campaign," introduction. 
 
 [6] The early charters of the colonies had extended their boundaries 
 from ocean to ocean, but England's domain did not extend beyond the 
 Alleghany Mountains. 
 
 [7] In 1781 a detachment of Spaniards and Indians took possession of 
 Fort St. Joseph, near the source of the Illinois. The Spanish minister 
 caned it a conquest and insisted that if the country did not belong to the 
 King of Spain, it belonged to the Indians. See "Clark's Campaign."
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 27 
 
 pendence of the United States in its entirety should be 
 acknowledged, but when it came to making the treaty of peace, 
 she showed no disposition to help the young nation to any 
 territory that it had not wrested from Great Britain for itself, 
 and it became a question of the utmost importance as to what 
 had been British territory, and what was in the hands of 
 the United States -at the close of the war. M. Vergennes, 
 the able French minister, said that "France did not desire to 
 see the new Republic mistress of the entire continent" [8], and 
 the secret diplomatic correspondence of the period of the pease 
 negotiations shows that he was in sympathy with the desire of 
 Spain and England to curtail the domain of the infant Repub- 
 lic, notwithstanding his professions of friendship. [9] 
 
 The King of Spain, who had acted for a while the part of 
 mediator, and was reluctant to make war upon England, 
 insisted that the United States should renounce its claims to 
 the lands east of the Mississippi, as a condition precedent to 
 his entering the alliance with France, and France, anxious for 
 reasons of her own to give the Bourbon kingdom the balance of 
 power in. America, used her influence to get the American 
 commissioners to yield the point. Interests too great were at 
 stake, however, and they declined at the risk of a breach with 
 France. The Catholic king's claim that England had for- 
 feited her title [10] to the disputed territory, that it did not 
 belong to the Americans, but to him or to the Indians, was not 
 tenable, and it was the only ground upon which the demand 
 of the United States could be refused. There was no doubt 
 that the territory had belonged to England and had been won 
 from her in the name of Virginia. The State of Virginia had 
 asserted her claim to the territory by virtue of her chartered 
 
 [8] See "Diplomatic Correspondence," vol. i. 
 
 [9] See "Diplomatic Correspondence," Winsor's "Narrative and Crit- 
 ical History," "Adams' Writings," "Franklin's Works," "Magazine of 
 Western History," etc., etc. 
 
 [10] "Narrative and Critical History," vol. vii., p. 118.
 
 28 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 limits, and by "the right of conquest'' [n], and her Assembly 
 had, on November 5th, 1779, adopted resolutions instructing 
 her delegates in Congress "in the pending negotiations with 
 Spain to use their utmost endeavors to obtain an express stipu- 
 lation in favor of the United States for the free navigation of 
 the River Mississippi to the sea," etc. At the previous session 
 the Legislature had passed an act incorporating into her gov- 
 ernment the whole country between the Ohio and the Missis- 
 sippi, under the name of the County of Illinois, and provision 
 had been made for its protection by reinforcements to Clark's 
 army. Virginia had later granted 150,000 acres to Clark and 
 his officers, and had reserved lands for other soldiers and 
 officers, while Congress in 1780, recognizing the title of the 
 different states to their western lands, had recommended that 
 they cede them to the United States. These transactions had 
 taken place before the signing of the preliminary articles of 
 peace and all the facts were known to the peace commissioners 
 of the- interested nations. Congress, too, when by its act of 
 March, 1779, it instructed its commissioner to insist upon the 
 Mississippi River for the western boundary, had held that the 
 American people had succeeded to the English rights. [12] 
 The design of Spain, abetted by France, had been "to coop 
 us up within the Alleghany Mountains," as Dr. Franklin 
 expressed it in 1782, and it has been said that the chief reason 
 why the design failed was that "George Rogers Clark had 
 conquered the country, and Virginia was in undisputed pos- 
 session of it at the close of hostilities." Judge Burnet says in 
 his interesting "Notes on the Early Settlement of the North- 
 West Territory:" "That fact [the capture of the British forts] 
 was confirmed and admitted, and was the chief ground upon 
 which the British commissioners reluctantly abandoned their 
 claims." In the light of more recent historical knowledge, it 
 
 fll] Rives' "Madison," vol. i., p. 206. 
 
 [12] "Narrative and Critical History," vol. vii., p. 90.
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 29 
 
 must be admitted that those statements need some modifica- 
 tion. As has been said, the whole credit for the winning of 
 this large portion of the West can not be given to Clark, and 
 yet the fact remains beyond dispute that his achievements 
 played a part, without which the diplomacy of our embassa- 
 dors abroad might have been unavailing. It detracts some- 
 what from Clark's glory that he did not, himself, take into 
 account the important bearing his undertaking would have 
 upon the boundary question ; and it can hardly be said that he 
 was actuated by any such high patriotic motive as the exten- 
 sion of the domain of his mother country. Clark probably 
 had another end in view, but Thomas Jefferson saw the 
 importance of the successful outcome of the expedition, as is 
 shown by a letter which he wrote to Clark before the expedi- 
 tion started, in which he said: "Much solicitude will be felt 
 for the result of your expedition to the Wabash; it will, at least, 
 delay their expedition to the frontier, and if successful, have 
 an important bearing ultimately in establishing our North- 
 western boundary." [13] 
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK'S .EARLY LIFE. 
 
 The limits of this paper will not permit an extended 
 account of the disturbed condition of things prevailing in the 
 Western country shortly before the breaking out of the revolu- 
 tion, nor an inquiry into the causes which made the eastern 
 half of the Mississippi Valley the theater of a long and bloody 
 border war. It will suffice to say that the encroachment of 
 the American settlers upon their hunting grounds had gained 
 for the colonists the hatred of the Indians who fought them 
 first on their own account, and then broke a short-lived peace 
 
 [13] Dr. Hinsdale in his work on "The Old Northwest" takes the view 
 that Clark's conquest, separate and apart from the colonial titles, would 
 not have secured the great West to the United States, but in another place 
 he remarks that the American commissioners at Paris in 1782 could plead 
 nti possidetis in reference to much of the country beyond the Ohio 
 because the flag of the Republic raised over it by George Rogers Clark had 
 never been lowered.
 
 30 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 to fight them at British instigation, until George Rogers Clark 
 whipped them into subjugation. Much has been written about 
 the Illinois campaign and its results, but the life of the man 
 who conceived and executed it remains in comparative 
 obscurity. Of his early years almost nothing is known. He 
 was born near Monticello, in Albermarle County, Virginia, of 
 British ancestry, on November I9th, 1752, and at the age of 
 sixteen had begun life as a surveyor. Four years later he was 
 practicing his profession on the upper Ohio, and had taken up 
 a claim at the mouth of Fish Creek. He seems to have con- 
 tinued to work on the upper Ohio for a couple of years, and 
 in April, 1774, was one of a party of eighty or ninety Virginians 
 who gathered at the Little Kanawha River with the intention 
 of making a settlement in Kentucky, the tide of emigration 
 being that way at the time. Rumors of Indian outbreaks 
 diverted them from their purpose, and made them participants 
 in the events which led up to the Dunmore war. Clark was 
 a member of a company which started out to attack the camp 
 of Logan, the famous chief, but relented when it had gone five 
 miles on its journey, and it was his testimony which years 
 afterwards cleared Capt. Cresap from the charge of having 
 murdered Logan's family. When activities began in earnest 
 against the Indians, Clark joined Dunmore's army and was 
 made captain of a company, though he was then only twenty- 
 one years of age. The part which he took in this war gave him 
 a knowledge of Indian fighting, which, joined with his experi- 
 ence as a frontiersman, fitted him for the greater enterprise in 
 which he was to be the moving spirit. His services in the war 
 had evidently been valuable, for at its close he was offered a 
 commission in the English service, but evidently foreseeing 
 the clash that was to come, and being heartily in sympathy 
 with the colonists as against the mother country, he declined 
 the commission. 
 
 Then, as now, the West was regarded as the field of action 
 for young men, and Clark had for some time thought of cast-
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 31 
 
 ing his lot in the country beyond the Alleghany Mountains. 
 It does not appear that he went west with any political ambi- 
 tion, but on the contrary that he sought only a fortune. His 
 letters of that period are full of talk about the land that was to 
 be obtained in the far country, and there is no ground for sup- 
 posing that he left Virginia with any other intent than that 
 of securing an estate for himself, and making money by the 
 speculation which is always incident to a new and developing 
 country. In the spring of 1775 he carried out the intent, 
 frustrated by the Indian outbreak the year before, of visiting 
 the Kentucky country, which had been explored by Daniel 
 Boone and others a few years previous. He remained until 
 the fall of the year, engaging in surveying, and soon became 
 very popular with the pioneers, who recognized in the young 
 adventurer the qualities of a leader. He thought of making 
 Kentucky his permanent home, and busied himself during his 
 stay investigating the condition of the settlement. He found 
 that great dissatisfaction prevailed., and saw that something 
 had got to be done to bring about a better feeling or the settle- 
 ment would languish and perhaps die. Early in the year 
 Colonel Richard Henderson & Company had purchased from 
 the Cherokee Indians a large tract in the territory that now 
 comprises Kentucky. [14] There had been a considerable tide 
 of emigration, and the proprietors had soon begun to raise 
 the price of their lands, which had caused complaints. Some 
 of the leaders were trying to persuade the people to pay no 
 attention to the company [15], and trouble was brewing. 
 Clark, no doubt, saw that the disturbed condition of things 
 afforded an opportunity for a bold and venturesome spirit like 
 himself to become a leader, an opportunity which he would be 
 the last to miss. In the fall he returned to Virginia, and while 
 there matured his plans for bettering the conditions of Ken- 
 
 [14] Butler's "Kentucky." 
 
 [15] "Clark's Memoirs" in Dillon's "Indiana."
 
 32 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 tucky. "While in Virginia," he says in his "Memoirs," "I 
 found there were various opinions respecting Henderson & 
 Company's claim. Many thought it was good ; others doubted 
 whether or not Virginia could, with propriety, have any pre- 
 tensions to the country. This was what I wanted to know. 
 I immediately fixed on my plan, viz: That of assembling the 
 people getting them to elect deputies, and sending them to 
 treat with the Assembly of Virginia respecting the condition 
 of the country. If valuable conditions were procured, we 
 could declare ourselves citizens of the state; otherwise, we 
 might establish an independent government; and, by giving 
 away a great part of the lands, and disposing of the remainder, 
 we would not only gain great numbers of inhabitants, but in 
 a good measure protect them." 
 
 Earlv in the summer of 1776, Clark returned to Kentucky 
 to carry out his plan. He induced the people to convene at 
 Harrodstown and the meeting was held on June 6th. He did 
 not outline his plan in advance, simply stating that "something 
 would be proposed to the people that very much concerned 
 their interest.'' [16] "The reason I had for not publishing what 
 I wished to be done," he says in his "Memoirs," "was that the 
 people should not get into parties on the subject; and as every 
 one would wish to know what was to be done, there would be 
 a more general meeting." Unfortunately for the detail of his 
 plans, he was late, and before he arrived the meeting had 
 elected him and Gabriel Jones as delegates to the Virginia 
 Assembly, with petition praying for the establishment of a 
 new county, instead of electing them as "deputies under the 
 authority of the people," as he had wished [17], and he could 
 not prevail upon them to change the principle. Clark and 
 Jones immediately set out on their long journey through the 
 trackless wilderness to Williamsburg, where the Virginia 
 
 [16] "Clark's Memoirs." 
 [17] "Clark's Memoirs."
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 33 
 
 Assembly was sitting. They hoped to get there before the 
 session ended, but, after enduring the greatest hardships and 
 suffering, they arrived in Virginia too late. There was noth- 
 ing to do but to wait until the fall session for a hearing, and 
 Clark determined to attempt in the interim to get some powder 
 for the Kentuckians, who needed it to defend themselves 
 against the Indians. Jones went to Holston to join the forces 
 about to set out against the Cherokees, who had begun hos- 
 tilities, and Clark proceeded to Williamsburg alone. Patrick 
 Henry, who was then governor of Virginia, was lying sick at 
 his seat in Hanover, and Clark visited him there. Henry was 
 favorably impressed with Clark, and gave him a letter to the 
 Council recommending the granting of his request for five 
 hundred pounds of powder. The Council, however, took a 
 very different view of the matter, and at first could not be pur- 
 suaded to do more than to let him have the powder as a loan 
 for which he was to be personally responsible in the event that 
 the Assembly declined to receive the Kentuckians as citizens. 
 Clark, who probably secretly favored the plan of an inde- 
 pendent state, declined the offer, writing to the Council that "if 
 a country was not worth protecting, it was not worth claim- 
 ing." [18] "I resolved," he said, "to return the order I had 
 received [issued to the keeper of the magazine] and repair at 
 once to Kentucky, knowing that the people would readily fall 
 into my first plan as what had passed had almost reduced it 
 to a certainty of success." The letter brought the Council to 
 time; Clark was recalled, an order, dated August 23rd, 1776, 
 was issued for conveying the powder to Pittsburg, there to 
 await Clark's orders; and a beginning was made in a series 
 of events which was to give Virginia, and ultimately the United 
 States, the magnificent country west of the Alleghanies. At 
 the fall session Clark and Jones appeared before the Assembly, 
 and, in spite of the opposition of Colonel Richard Henderson 
 
 [18] "Clark's Memoirs."
 
 34 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 and Colonel Arthur Campbell, secured the passage of an act 
 creating the County of Kentucky. It was dated December 
 7th, 1776, and it gave a political existence to what is now the 
 State of Kentucky. 
 
 It does not appear that up to this time Clark had had any 
 idea of reducing the British posts. His sole object had appar- 
 ently been to give the country of Kentucky a political exist- 
 ence, and it is a reasonable conclusion that what he wanted 
 was an independent state in which he might be the leading 
 spirit, notwithstanding that in one place in his "Memoirs" he 
 speaks of "being a little prejudiced in favor of his mother 
 country" [19], which made him willing to meet the Virginia 
 Council half way in the matter of getting a supply of powder. 
 His real intent, it seems to me, is apparent from his declaration 
 that "if valuable conditions were procured we [the people of 
 Kentucky] could declare ourselves citizens of the state; other- 
 wise ire could establish an independent government" [20] ; from 
 his chagrin at the action of the Harrodsburg meeting in peti- 
 tioning the Virginia Assembly to accept them as citizens, 
 instead of electing deputies to treat with the Virginia govern- 
 ment in the name of a people already organized; and by his 
 willingness to break off the negotiations with the Virginia 
 Council for powder, and to return to Kentucky, "knowing 
 that the people would readily fall into his first plan." [21] It 
 is perhaps safe to say that until some years after the date of 
 Clark's first visit to Kentucky the opinion was general that 
 the country beyond the mountains would have a separate gov- 
 ernment, and Clark only sought to bring about what was gen- 
 erally expected. 
 
 Word had been sent to Kentucky that powder was to be 
 obtained at Pittsburg, but the letter never arrived, and Clark 
 and Jones, hearing that the ammunition was still undelivered, 
 
 [19] Dillon's "Indiana." 
 [20] Dillon's "Indiana." 
 [21] "Memoirs."
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 35 
 
 determined to return to Kentucky by way of the Ohio River 
 and take it with them. Pittsburg was surrounded at the time 
 with hostile Indians, which made a guard necessary for the safe 
 transportation of the powder. They embarked with seven boat- 
 men, and though hotly pursued by Indians, managed to reach 
 the mouth of Limestone Creek, where they secreted the pow- 
 der, and Clark returned to Harrodsburg. Jones joined a party, 
 commanded by Colonel Todd, and lost his life in an attempt 
 to return for the powder [22], but Clark afterwards secured 
 a convoy, and conveyed it safely to Harrodsburg, where 
 it was badly needed for protection against the Indians 
 who were making a great deal of trouble. The condition of 
 the country was infinitely worse in 1777 than it was when Clark 
 had left the summer before, and it was while he was actively 
 engaged in defending Harrodsburg from the assaults of the 
 Indians that he conceived the plan of reducing the British 
 forts, and subduing the Indians by removing the cause which 
 incited them to hostilities. Kentucky was experiencing the 
 horrors of Indian warfare, and scarcely a day passed without 
 bloodshed. Clark found time, while fighting the Indians, to 
 keep a journal, the laconic entries of which furnish a vivid 
 picture of the hand-to-hand combat that was being waged. 
 Day after day, from March to September, he chronicled the 
 bloody deeds of their fierce assailants, who gave them no rest, 
 night or day. In the midst of this direful chronology is this 
 brief passage, showing the light-hearted character of the brave 
 frontiersman: "July 9- Lieutenant Linn married; great 
 merriment." 
 
 At this time the British held three forts which had been 
 ceded to them by France at the close of the French and Indian 
 war in 1765 Detroit, on the Great Lakes; Kaskaskia, on the 
 right bank of the Kaskaskia River, seven miles above its junc- 
 tion with the Mississippi; and St. Vincent's, now Vincennes, 
 
 [22] Perkins' "Western Annals," p. 161.
 
 36 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 
 
 on the Wabash, one hundred and fifty miles above its mouth. 
 From these forts the Indians were sent out, armed and 
 equipped, to prey upon the settlements along the western 
 border, incited to murder by a reward for scalps. No reward 
 was offered for prisoners, and consequently no mercy was 
 shown to the poor settler who fell into their hands. Without 
 the aid of tl]e British, the Indians could not have held out long 
 against the valiant men who had undertaken the defense of the 
 settlements. The downfall of the forts, therefore, meant a 
 speedy end to the Indian troubles, if nothing more. Each of 
 these forts which were strong stockades with block houses at 
 the corners was surrounded by a town inhabited mostly by 
 French habitants, an easy-going, light-hearted, picturesque 
 people, who hunted or trapped or farmed for a living, and filled 
 their idle hours with mirth and music, caring little about who 
 governed them so long as they were not interfered with. They 
 gave a careless obedience to the English, but they had no very 
 great love for them, and naturally would have sympathized 
 with the Americans but for the misrepresentations of the 
 British, who poured into their ears frightful tales of the cruelty 
 and ferocity of the Long Knives, as the colonists were called. 
 In spite of those stories, many of them had a friendly feeling 
 for the settlers, as was later clearly shown by their readiness to 
 aid in the overthrow of their British masters when the forts 
 were attacked. Their friendship contributed not a little to the 
 success of the Illinois campaign. 
 
 THE ILLINOIS CAMPAIGN. 
 
 Clark understood the whole situation perfectly, and, with 
 the grasp of a great military genius, saw that the quickest and 
 surest way to obtain peace was to carry the war into the 
 enemy's country. Without consulting anybody, or taking 
 anybody into his confidence, he sent two young hunters to the 
 British posts in the capacity of spies, and from them learned
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 37 
 
 that they were not strongly garrisoned, though they were very 
 active. They reported, what Clark suspected, that, despite 
 the misrepresentations of the British regarding the Ameri- 
 cans, there were many among the inhabitants of the towns 
 who were in sympathy with the colonists and would aid them. 
 Clark knew that the British hope of uniting the western 
 tribes in an alliance that would destroy the frontier was but 
 half realized, that some of the tribes were divided in feeling, 
 and that if the British in the Northwest could be expelled, the 
 Indians could soon be awed into quiet. Having his plans fully 
 matured, he left Harrodsburg on October ist to make the long 
 journey to Virginia alone, fearing not the dangers of the 
 wilderness. He arrived in Williamsburg on November 5th, 
 and, while busying himself settling the accounts of the Ken- 
 tucky militia, carefully noted everything that indicated the 
 disposition of those in power. Burgoyne having surrendered 
 while he was on his way to the capitol, "and things seeming to 
 wear a pleasant aspect/' as he says in his "Memoirs," on Decem- 
 ber loth he laid his scheme before Governor Henry. He also 
 consulted George Mason, George Wythe and Thomas Jeffer- 
 son, but he was careful not to divulge his plans to others, lest 
 they should become generally known and be defeated by 
 reports reaching the posts he intended to attack. Those to 
 whom he communicated his design entered into the spirit of it 
 heartily. They saw in it a means of diverting the savage attack 
 upon the western frontier that had already fallen upon the 
 frontiers of New York and Pennsylvania, and they lent all their 
 influence to securing for Clark the aid which he needed. 
 Under the pretext that supplies were needed for the defense of 
 Kentucky, they secured the necessary legislation, 1,200 in the 
 depreciated currency of the state being voted to him to cover 
 his expenses. Governor Henry made him a colonel, and in 
 [anuary he departed with two sets of instructions, one public, 
 the other private. The first authorized him to enlist seven
 
 38 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 companies of men "in any county of the commonwealth," who 
 were to proceed with him to Kentucky, there to obey such 
 orders and directions as he should give them. The second 
 directed him to take his force and "attack the British post at 
 Kaskasky," the Governor earnestly desiring him to "show 
 humanity to such British subjects and other persons" as fell 
 into his hands. If the white inhabitants of the post gave 
 evidence of their attachment to the state by taking the test 
 prescribed by law, their persons and property were to be duly 
 secured, but 'if they would not accede to those reasonable 
 demands, "they must feel the Miseries of War, under the 
 direction of that Humanity that had hitherto distinguished 
 Americans," etc. [23] 
 
 Proceeding to Pittsburg, Clark began the work of raising 
 his companies, but owing to a dispute between Virginia and 
 Pennsylvania, and the fact that there was reluctance to send 
 men to Kentucky when they were wanted nearer home, he had 
 great difficulty in securing recruits. He finally raised three 
 companies, and, hearing that four companies had been raised 
 by the officers whom he had sent to Kentucky for the purpose, 
 started down the river with his three companies of fifty men 
 each, taking supplies at Pittsburg and Wheeling. He pro- 
 ceeded to Corn Island, at the falls of the Ohio, opposite the 
 point where the city of Louisville now stands, to await the 
 arrival of the Kentucky troups. Only one of the Kentucky 
 companies appeared, and when Clark revealed the true object 
 of the expedition many of his men deserted. However, enough 
 remained to make four companies, and on June 24th, 1778, the 
 expedition started, leaving a few men to guard the island. On 
 that day the sun was in eclipse, and they shot the falls at the 
 moment when it became total, a circumstance which, Clark- 
 says, "caused various conjectures among the superstitious.'' 
 A less resolute man, starting upon so great an undertaking 
 
 [23] Appendix to "Clark's Campaign."
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 39 
 
 with so small an army [24], might have seen in it an augury of 
 defeat; but Clark was an army in himself, and he had news of 
 the alliance between France and the United States, which he 
 knew would help him with the French settlers at Kaskaskia, so 
 he proceeded, not at all disturbed by the phenomenon that so 
 alarmed some of his soldiers. 
 
 It was Clark's original intention to proceed against 
 Vincennes from Corn Island, but, being informed that the post 
 was held by a strong garrison, he determined to strike 
 Kaskaskia first. Kaskaskia at that time consisted of a fort 
 and a town [25] inhabited almost entirely by Frenchmen. If 
 he could overcome the prejudices aroused by the British, Clark 
 felt that he could gain the support of the French residents, and 
 he hoped to increase his strength sufficiently to make the con- 
 quest of the more powerful Vincennes easy. Deliberating 
 upon his plans as he proceeded, he urged his men to the 
 greatest efforts. The oars were double-manned and plied 
 night and day. Their progress was rapid, and on June 28th 
 they reached an island at the mouth of the Tennessee. As 
 the river below the Illinois towns was being watched by spies, 
 Clark had determined to make a portion of the journey over- 
 land, and he made a landing on the island to prepare for the 
 march. Here their boats brought in "a party of hunters from 
 whom Clark obtained some valuable information concerning 
 the posts he was about to attack. They informed Clark that 
 the French had a "horrid idea of the barbarity of the Rebels, 
 especially the Virginians," and the astute commander saw in 
 this piece of news a circumstance that could be turned to 
 advantage. "I was determined," he says in his Memoirs, "to 
 improve upon this if I was fortunate enough to get them into 
 
 [24] Dunn places the number at 153. Governor Henry in a letter speaks 
 of 170 or 180, and Major Bowman also says 170 or 180. but both had in mind 
 the number gathered at Corn Island, and as Clark, had left a squad there, 
 his army probably did not exceed 153. 
 
 [25] The number of houses is variously estimated at from 80 to 250. 
 See Perkins' "Annals," pp. 176-178, and "Magazine of Western History," 
 Vol. ii., p. 138.
 
 40 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 my possession; as I conceived the greater the shock I could 
 give them at first, the more sensibly would they feel my lenity, 
 and become more valuable friends." 
 
 Everything being in readiness, the boats were concealed in 
 a small creek nine miles below the island and one mile above 
 old Fort Massac, and without a cannon, or means of transport- 
 ing supplies, the little army started on its march of more than 
 one hundred miles over the prairies. After getting lost, suffer- 
 ing from hunger and thirst, and enduring the other hardships of 
 such a march, they arrived within three miles of Kaskaskia on 
 the afternoon of July 4th. Waiting until dark, they procured 
 boats, crossed the river, and entered the town, to find that the 
 people, who had been under arms in expectation of an attack, 
 had not been aware of their approach. Dividing his army, 
 Clark ordered one division to surround the town, and with vhe 
 other he broke into the fort [26] and captured M. Rochblave, 
 who was in command. In fifteen minutes every avenue of 
 escape from the town was guarded. It was of the utmost 
 importance that nobody should get away to warn Vincennes, 
 and, to prevent an attempt, the soldiers, who could speak 
 French, were sent through the town warning the people that 
 every person appearing on the streets would be shot down, and 
 that anybody taken in an attempt to escape would be put to 
 death. To make an impression upon the minds of the inhab- 
 itants, the soldiers kept up a frightful- uproar in all parts of the 
 town, and the poor people, thinking they had fallen into the 
 hands of men worse than savages, gave themselves up for lost. 
 In the morning M. Gibault, the priest of the village, and five or 
 six aged citizens waited on Clark, and asked that before the 
 people were separated forever they be allowed to assemble in 
 the church and hold a farewell service, a request which, of 
 
 [26] A great historical painting 1 in the capitol at Springfield, 111., shows 
 the fort on the east side of the river, following Butler's statement in his 
 history of Kentucky, but it is now known that the old fort on the east side 
 was burned in 176fi. and the fort that Clark took was in the town. See 
 "Narrative and Critical History," vol. vii., pp. 719-722.
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 41 
 
 course, Clark granted readily, the time for leniency having 
 come. After the service, which was attended by almost every 
 inhabitant of the town, a deputation again waited upon Clark, 
 and, expressing a willingness to sacrifice their property, asked 
 that their families might not be broken up, and that they be 
 given food upon which to sustain themselves. This was 
 Clark's opportunity, and he embraced it. "Do you take us for 
 savages?" he asked, in feigned surprise. "My countrymen 
 disdain to make war on women and children. It was to 
 prevent the horrors of Indian butchery upon our wives and 
 children that we have taken up arms and appear in this strong- 
 hold of British and Indian barbarity, and not the despicable 
 prospect of plunder." He told them of the alliance between 
 France and the United States, assured them of personal and 
 religious liberty if they espoused the American cause, and, to 
 show his sincerity, informed them that they were "at liberty to 
 conduct themselves as usual, without the least apprehension." 
 The joy of the people knew no bounds. They decorated their 
 streets, sang songs and manifested their happiness in different 
 ways. They took the oath of allegiance, and raised a company 
 of volunteers to accompany Captain Bowman to Cahokia, a 
 French settlement a few miles below St. Louis, which surren- 
 dered without a blow. Clark, thinking all the tirne of Vin- 
 cennes, took pains not to let the people know the size of his 
 force. He would not allow them to enter the fort, which they 
 supposed was full of soldiers. He spoke of a big force at the 
 falls of the Ohio, and pretended that he could summon any 
 number of men from Kentucky. When he announced that he 
 was going to march on Vincennes, the people evinced a desire 
 to save their friends at that post. Father Gibault thought it 
 would not be necessary to send troops there, and he 
 volunteered to go with Dr. Lafonte to negotiate a 
 capitulation. Clark assented to the proposal, and, with 
 a caution that he never failed to exhibit, sent a spy
 
 42 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 in their retinue. Vincennes was in Father Gibault's [27] 
 spiritual jurisdiction, and after he had explained the 
 matter he did not have much difficulty in inducing the 
 citizens to surrender and become American citizens. The few 
 British soldiers left there by Governor Abbott, who had gone 
 to Detroit on business, could not prevent the action, and they 
 withdrew to follow their chief. "The people went to the 
 village church in a body, and took the oath of allegiance; an 
 officer was elected, the fort garrisoned, and the American flag 
 was raised for the first time on Indiana soil." [28] Clark in 
 less than one month had secured possession of every post in 
 the Illinois country without a battle or the loss of a single life. 
 The object of the expedition was accomplished, but a new 
 problem presented itself. How was the country so easily 
 acquired to be held against the forces that the British could at 
 any time send against it? His force was inadequate, and it 
 threatened to grow smaller. The term for which the men had 
 enlisted had expired, and he had no authority to extend it. 
 Moreover, the Virginia currency in his possession would buy 
 nothing in the Illinois country. Clark, however, was not a 
 man to be stopped by ordinary obstacles. Authority or no 
 authority, the country had to. be held, and he was the man 
 to hold it. He met this, as he met every other emergency, with 
 a sagacity and self-reliance that marked him as a great man. 
 He induced about one hundred of the men to reenlist for eight 
 months, under promise of liberal pay. The others he sent 
 home, and had them take Rochblave a prisoner to Williams- 
 burg, besides carrying dispatches to the Virginia government. 
 Then he put Captain Bowman in charge of Cahokia and 
 Captain Helm in command of Vincennes, and turned his 
 attention to the Indians. Through Captain Helm, whom he 
 
 [27] Judge Law, in his "Colonial History of Vincennes," says of 
 Gibault: "To whom, next to Clark and Vigo, the United States is indebted 
 for the accession of the states comprised in what was the original North- 
 west Territory, more than any other man." 
 
 [28] Dunn's "Indiana."
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 43 
 
 had made superintendent of Indian affairs on the Wabash, he 
 negotiated a treaty with the Piankeshaws, and soon all the 
 tribes in the vicinity were flocking in to make peace with the 
 great white warrior. He held a council with the Indians at 
 Cahokia, and, with characteristic coolness, treated them with 
 contempt until he had awed them, and then, with apparent 
 reluctance, granted a peace that he desired above all things. 
 His negotiations with the Indians lasted five weeks, and they 
 had an influence upon all the tribes around the great lakes. 
 
 Meanwhile Governor Hamilton at Detroit had heard of the 
 state of affairs in the Illinois country. In the fall he started out 
 with a force of regulars, Canadian volunteers and Indians [29] 
 to recapture the posts. On December I5th he took Vincennes, 
 which the inhabitants of the town made no attempt to defend. 
 Captain Helm and one soldier, Moses Henry, held the fort. 
 When the British appeared they found a loaded cannon point- 
 ing at them through the open gate. Helm, standing beside it 
 with a lighted match, commanded the British to halt. Hamil- 
 ton called upon the fort to surrender. Helm exclaimed with an 
 oath, "No man shall enter until I know the terms." Hamilton 
 answered, "You shall have the honors of war," and was aston- 
 ished to see the captain and one man walk out! [30] Thinking 
 it too late to operate against the rest of the country, Hamilton 
 sent out his Indians to harass the Americans and prevent 
 troops joining them by way of the Ohio River, and then sat 
 down to pass the winter in Vincennes. 
 
 CLARK'S CAPTURE' OP VINCENNES. 
 
 On the strength of the dispatches announcing the reduc- 
 tion of the British posts, the Virginia Assembly had in October 
 erected the country beyond the Ohio into the County of Illinois, 
 
 [29] Clark ("Campaign," p. 52) says there were 800 men. Dillon makes 
 the number 480. 
 
 [30] This anecdote is related in Perkins" "Annals" and Butler's 
 "Kentucky."
 
 44 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 but the county and Clark were now in a fair way to pass into 
 the hands of the British. Early in January a scouting party 
 sent out by Hamilton almost succeeded in capturing Clark 
 while he was on his way from Cahokia. Supposing that the 
 party was the advance guard of Hamilton's army, Clark called 
 Captain Bowman from Cahokia and made preparations for 
 defending Kaskaskia. In the midst of the preparations 
 Colonel Francis Vigo, a Spanish merchant, arrived from Vin- 
 cennes, and gave Clark information which changed his mind, 
 and gave a new direction to his energies. Judge Law says 
 that Vigo was sent to Vincennes by Clark in the capacity of a 
 spy, that he was captured by Indians on his way and taken 
 before Hamilton, and got off with great difficulty, in which 
 statement most of the historians have followed him, but Clark 
 nowhere mentions that fact, and speaks of Vigo's having been 
 at the fort when it was taken. [31] Neither does Vigo men- 
 tion the fact in his memorial to Congress [32] for the payment 
 of a claim growing out of advances made to Clark, though he 
 speaks of having given Clark the information which enabled 
 him to surprise Hamilton, and Major Bauman says in his 
 Journal that Vigo was there on "his lawful business.' 1 [33] 
 Vigo was an Indian trader, with headquarters at St. Louis, 
 who took a great interest in Clark, and. by advancing money 
 on his drafts enabled him to get supplies when he must other- 
 wise have failed. [34] From Vigo Clark learned that Hamil- 
 ton had sent away his Indians and most of his soldiers, retain- 
 ing only a force of eighty men at the fort, and did not contem- 
 plate an attack upon Kaskaskia until spring. Though it was 
 in the dead of winter, and the expedition must be attended with 
 great hardships and danger, the daring leader determined to 
 
 [31] "Clark's Campaign," p. 63. 
 
 [32] "House Report, No. 117," 33rd Congress, first session, etc. 
 
 [33] "Journal." 
 
 [34] For history of Vigo's claim, see "Magazine of Western History," 
 January, 1885, p. 230.
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 45 
 
 attack Vincennes and beard the British lion in his den. With- 
 out the loss of an hour, he set about preparing for the expedi- 
 tion that was to go down in history as one of the most brilliant 
 in the annals of American warfare. He received his first 
 definite information concerning Hamilton's movements on 
 January 29th, and on February 4th he had a big "battoe," 
 mounted with two four-pounders and four large swivel guns, 
 and filled with provisions, ready to go down the river and aid 
 in the attack. She was named The Willing, and Clark says 
 that she "was much admired by the inhabitants, as no such 
 thing had been seen in the country before." Lieutenant 
 Rogers was placed in command of The Willing, which had a 
 crew of forty-six men. He had instructions to force his way 
 up the Wabash as far as the mouth of White River, there to 
 secrete himself until he received further orders. On the next 
 day Clark, with one hundred and seventy men, started on his 
 overland march, "after receiving a lecture and absolution from 
 the priest.'' They crossed the Kaskaskia River, marched 
 three miles, and then encamped. What the reckless com- 
 mander may have thought as he lay in camp can only be con- 
 jectured, but the mind of the bravest man might well have 
 been filled with dismay at the thought of the difficulties ahead 
 of him. There was a painful march of two hundred miles [35] 
 to be made over a country that was well nigh impassable. 
 There had been heavy rains, and the rivers, choked with float- 
 ing ice, had overflowed their banks and covered the prairies, 
 converting portions of the plains into veritable lakes. Where 
 there was no water there was mud, deep as only Illinois mud 
 can be. The weather was comparatively mild at the time, but 
 it was at a season of the year when intense cold might be 
 expected at any moment. Altogether, the prospect was most 
 disheartening, but if the fearless captain felt any dismay he has 
 left no record of it. 
 
 [35] The distance actually marched is variously estimated from 160 to 
 250 miles.
 
 46 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 Captain, afterwards Major, Bowman, who accompanied the 
 expedition, kept a journal, the terse entries of which tell the 
 sufferings endured on that terrible march, better than anything 
 Clark wrote. Clark dwells upon the means employed to 
 accomplish his ends, but passes lightly over the suffering of his 
 men. [36] On the 7th the expedition set out again. In six 
 days the Little Wabash was reached. The chief difficulty, 
 Clark says, had been to keep up the spirits of his men. This he 
 did by encouraging them to shoot game and hold nightly 
 entertainments in the shape of games and feasts. The Little 
 Wabash presented the greatest obstacle they had yet encoun- 
 tered. The river and one of its affluents had united their 
 floods and formed a lake from three to five miles wide. Clark 
 confesses that he viewed this sheet of water with distrust, but 
 he sat about building a raft, and pretended that the crossing 
 would be nothing more than a diversion. The "diversion" 
 occupied them for three days, and the men had to wade 
 through water four feet deep to reach the opposite bank, after 
 the ammunition had been ferried across. The next day their 
 provisions commenced to run short, and hunger began to 
 aggravate their sufferings. On the i7th they reached the 
 Embarrass River, and found it impassable. Until 8 o'clock at 
 night they marched up and down the river in search of a dry 
 spot. Finally, in the words of Major Bowman, "we found the 
 water falling from a small spot of ground. Staid there the 
 remainder of the night. Drizzly and dark weather." [37] 
 Four men had been sent out to cross the river and steal some 
 boats from a plantation to ferry the army across the Wabash, 
 but the attempt failed. On the i8th, to continue with Major 
 Bowman's narrative, "at daybreak heard Governor Hamilton's 
 
 [36] Clark in his letter to George Mason says: "If I was sensible that 
 you would let no person see this relation, I would give you a detail of our 
 sufferings for four days in crossing these waters, and the manner it was 
 done, as I am sure you would credit it; but it is too incredible for any 
 person to believe, except those that are as well acquainted with me as you 
 are, or had experience something similar to it." "Campaign," p. 66. 
 
 [37] Appendix to "Clark's Campaign," p. 102.
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 47 
 
 morning gun. Set off and marched down the river saw some 
 fine land. About 2 o'clock came to the banks of the Wabash ; 
 made rafts for four men to cross and go up to town and st^al 
 boats; but they spent the day and night in the water to no pur- 
 pose ; for there was not one foot of dry land to be found/' The 
 next day a canoe was built, and Captain McCarty set out with 
 three men to make another attempt to steal boats. He had not 
 gone far before he discovered four large fires, which seemed to 
 be the fires of Indians and whites, and he returned. Clark then 
 dispatched two men in the canoe to go after The Willing, with 
 orders to have her proceed without rest to the rescue of his 
 starving company. It was their last hope, Major Bowman 
 says, and many of the men were downcast. He closes his 
 entry for that day: "No provisions now for two days. Hard 
 fortune!" It was hard fortune indeed. 
 
 On the 2Oth the men began to despair, and for the first time 
 the French volunteers talked of returning, but Clark laughed 
 away their fears, and told them he would be glad if they would 
 go out and kill some deer. They shot one, "which," says the 
 hungry Major, "was brought into camp very acceptably." To 
 keep them occupied, Clark set the men to work building 
 canoes, and during the day a party of hunters told them of two 
 canoes that were floating in the river, one of which was 
 captured. They also told them that the British had not yet 
 discovered their presence. At daybreak on the following 
 morning the work of ferrying the men across the river began. 
 They were landed on a small hill, and, hoping to reach town 
 that night, waded through water up to their necks to a second 
 hill three miles away. Here they were surrounded by water. 
 The nearest spot of dry land was a small elevation called the 
 Sugar Camp, nearly a league away. To transport the men 
 there in boats would take a day and night, which was a long 
 time to starving men. Wading being the only way out of the 
 difficulty, Clark assumed an air of bravado, blackened his face
 
 48 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 with powder, gave a warwhoop and plunged into the water, 
 with his officers at his heels. "The party gazed," he says in his 
 Memoirs, "and fell in one after another, without saying a word, 
 like a flock of sheep. I ordered those near me to begin a 
 favorite song of theirs; it soon passed through the line, and the 
 whole went on cheerfully." [38] The water was up to their 
 necks, but they reached Sugar Camp in safety. That day the 
 men had nothing to eat, and that night the weather turned so 
 cold that their clothing froze to them, and ice half an inch thick 
 formed on the water. No tidings had been received from The 
 Willing. "Heard the evening and morning guns from the 
 fort," says Major Bowman. "No provisions yet. Lord 
 help us!" 
 
 The morning broke bright and clear. Before the starving 
 and half frozen band of heroes lay Horseshoe Plain, covered 
 for four miles with icy water breast deep, through which they 
 must wade to reach Vincennes. Clark addressed his men, 
 encouraging them to make a last effort. Within sight was 
 their goal; they had but to reach the wood beyond the plain, 
 and their hardships would be over. Without waiting for a 
 reply he dashed into the water, breaking the ice as he went. 
 The men answered with a hurrah and followed. When a few 
 had entered he sent Major Bowman back with a detachment to 
 put to death any man who refused to march. The order was 
 greeted with another shout, and the men rushed after their 
 dauntless leader. Strong as he was, Clark found himself fail- 
 ing before he reached the middle of the plain, and as there were 
 no trees or bushes for the men to cling to, he began to fear that 
 many would drown. He directed the canoes to hurry back 
 and forth, picking up the men who were weak and numb with 
 cold. At the same time he ordered some of the stronger men 
 forward with instructions to send back word that the water was 
 getting shallower, and when they got to the wood to cry out 
 
 [38] Dillon's "Indiana," p. 143.
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 49 
 
 "land!" The stratagem had the desired effect; the strong 
 helped the weak, and they renewed their struggles to reach the 
 wood. There the water was no shallower, but the exhausted 
 men could cling to the trees or float upon logs until they were 
 picked up by the canoes. The strongest men reached the 
 shore almost exhausted. "Many," says Clark, "would reach 
 the shore and fall with their bodies half in the water, not being 
 able to support themselves without it." The day had grown 
 warm, and, under the influence of the sunshine and the fires 
 built by those who reached the shore first, the men soon 
 revived. Fortune began to smile upon them. Their boats 
 captured an Indian canoe in which some squaws and children 
 were taking provisions to town. In it they found a quarter of 
 a buffalo, some corn, tallow and kettles. Broth was made and 
 served to the famished soldiers. The spirits of the party rose 
 rapidly, and the past hardships became matters of jest. In the 
 afternoon they crossed a lake in their canoes, marched a short 
 distance, and rested in a belt of timber with Vincennes in full 
 view. From a hunter who was taken prisoner, it was learned 
 that the tow r n was still in ignorance of the approach of the 
 Americans and that it was full of Indians. 
 
 The situation in which the little army now found itself was 
 critical in the extreme. A few hours would determine its 
 fate, and it was victory or death. Retreat was out of the 
 question. Behind them lay miles of flood, which, in their 
 exhausted and half-famished condition, they could not re-pass. 
 In front of them was a town filled with Indians and British 
 soldiers. Capture meant torture at the hands of the savages. 
 Their only hope was in the success of a bold play to secure 
 possession of the town. The Willing had not arrived, and no 
 assistance could be counted upon from that direction. As they 
 were sure to be discovered before night, Clark determined to 
 begin operations at once. He knew that the inhabitants of the 
 town were favorable to the Americans, or at least lukewarm in
 
 50 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 their attachment to the British, and he knew also that Chief 
 Tobac, with whom a treaty had been made some time before, 
 was on hand, and had openly avowed his friendship for the Big 
 Knives. Encouraged by those circumstances to hope for 
 assistance from the town, he began his operations by sending 
 the following proclamation to the inhabitants, using his 
 prisoner for a herald : 
 
 To the Inhabitants of Post Vlncennes: 
 
 Gentlemen Being now within two miles of your village, 
 with my army, determined to take your fort this night, and not 
 being willing to surprise you, I take this method to request 
 such of you as are true citizens, and willing to enjoy the liberty 
 I bring you, to remain still in your houses; and those, if any 
 there be, that are friends of the king, will instantly repair to 
 the fort and join the hair-buyer [39] general, and fight like men. 
 And if any such as do not go to the fort shall be discovered 
 afterward, they may depend on severe punishment. On the 
 contrary, those who are true friends of liberty may depend on 
 being well treated ; and I once more request them to keep out 
 of the streets. For every one I find in arms on my arrival 1 
 shall treat him as an enemy. [40] 
 
 [Signed] G. R. CLARK. 
 
 Clark was a little disturbed by the fact that nothing had 
 been heard from the fort, not so much as a drum beat. He 
 feared that his information had not been reliable; that the 
 enemy knew of his presence and was expecting him. But the 
 suspicion did not deter him from acting. With marvelous 
 cunning, he took advantage of favorable circumstances to 
 deceive the people as to the strength of his army, and so timed 
 his manoeuvres that the deception could not be discovered 
 until it was too late for the discovery to have any effect upon 
 the inhabitants. The ground around Vincennes was uneven, 
 
 [39] Alluding to Governor Hamilton's reward for scalps and not for 
 prisoners. After Hamilton had been taken prisoner and sent to Virginia, 
 where he was "placed in irons and detained long after other prisoners had 
 been paroled, the council investigated the charge against him and 
 reported that he had offered such rewards, and had been guilty of great 
 cruelty. See "Jefferson's Writings," vol. L, pp. 226-8. The matter is 
 treated at length in the "Narrative and Critical History," vol. vi., pp. 
 681-684. 
 
 [40] "Major Bowman's Journal."
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 51 
 
 the low hills running obliquely toward the town. The low 
 ground was covered with water, but water was no obstacle to 
 Clark's men. Setting out just before sunset, he marched and 
 countermarched his army on the lowlands in such a manner 
 that to the crowds watching the approach there appeared to be 
 a long and unbroken column advancing. His men had cap- 
 tured some mounted hunters, and the officers, on the prisoners' 
 horses, trotted back and forth as though directing the move- 
 ments of a great body of men. The colors of the troops had 
 been fastened upon long poles, and they were allowed to show 
 a long distance apart, over the tops of the low slopes, to make 
 it appear as though company after company was coming up. 
 In that manner they moved along until it became dark; then, 
 suddenly changing their course, they approached the town, 
 over a plain covered with water breast deep, at a point where 
 they could not have been expected. A detachment was sent to 
 make a demonstration against the fort, while the balance of the 
 army invested the town, which surrendered without opposition. 
 Some of the inhabitants had buried ammunition to keep it out 
 of the hands of the British, and now produced it with offers of 
 assistance. Chief Tobac volunteered to furnish a band of 
 Indians to aid in the attack, but Clark declined his offer and 
 accepted only a few volunteers from among the inhabitants. 
 The friendly inhabitants had conveyed word to the Americ.m 
 prisoners in the fort that Clark was coming, but had kept the 
 information from the British, who did not dream of an attack 
 until the firing by Lieutenant Bay ley's detachment began, and 
 then it was at first supposed to be the work of drunken 
 Indians. In Butler's "Kentucky" an amusing anecdote is told 
 about the beginning of the attack. It was well known that 
 Captain Helm, who was a prisoner in the fort, had a great 
 fondness for apple toddy, and it was thought that he would 
 have some brewing on his hearth. When the location of his 
 quarters had been ascertained, one of Clark's men asked and
 
 52 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 obtained permission to shoot at the chimney and knock down 
 some mud and sticks. The toddy was on the hearth, and the 
 mud, falling into it, spoiled it. Helm, as soon as the firing 
 began, jumped up and exclaimed that Clarke's men had 
 
 arrived, and would take the fort, but added that the "d d 
 
 rascals 1 ' had no business to spoil his toddy. A heavy fire was 
 kept up on both sides all night, but not much damage was 
 done. Clark had placed his men in rifle pits within thirty 
 yards of the walls, where the cannon could not be trained upon 
 them, and, under cover of the darkness, had thrown up an 
 earthwork across the road one hundred and twenty yards in 
 front of the main gate. "In a few hours," says Clark, "I found 
 my prize sure. Certain of taking every man that I could have 
 wished for, being the whole of those that incited the Indians to 
 war, all my past sufferings vanished; never was a man more 
 happy." [41] Even Major Bowman enjoyed the situation in 
 spite of his hunger. "The cannon played smartly," he says. 
 "Not one of our men wounded. Men in the fort badly 
 wounded. Fine sport for the sons of liberty." In the morn- 
 ing the firing became still hotter, and was kept up until nearly 
 9 o'clock. Clark had purposely allowed a scouting party to 
 get back into the fort, in order not to have it out among the 
 Indians, and to impress the British with his confidence; but 
 learning that it had taken two prisoners, who were supposed 
 to have letters for him, he decided to demand the surrender of 
 the fort at once, to prevent the letters from being destroyed. 
 He, therefore, sent a flag of truce with the following character- 
 istic letter: [42] 
 
 Sir: In order to save yourself from the impending storm 
 that now threatens you, I order you immediately to surrender 
 yourself, with all your garrison, stores, etc., etc. For if 1 am 
 obliged to storm, you may depend on such treatment as is due 
 to a murderer. Beware of destroying stores of any kind, or 
 
 [11] "Campaign," p. 70. 
 [42] "Memoirs."
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 53 
 
 any papers or letters that are in your possession, or hurting one 
 house in town for, by heavens! if you do, there shall be no 
 mercy shown you. 
 
 [Signed] G. R. CLARK. 
 
 Governor Hamilton immediately replied: "Lieutenant- 
 Governor Hamilton begs leave to acquaint Col. Clark that he 
 and his garrison are not disposed to be awed into any action 
 unworthy of British subjects." 
 
 Major Bowman takes time to remark that while the nego- 
 tiations were pending the men were served with a breakfast, 
 "it being the only meal of victuals since the i8th inst." After 
 that the Major appears to have had enough to eat, since he 
 makes no more remarks about provisions. Governor Ham- 
 ilton having refused to surrender, the firing was renewed with 
 increased vigor, but the Americans were at a great advantage. 
 Every one of them was an expert marksman to whom a man's 
 head was a target too big ever to be missed. Captain Helm told 
 the British soldiers to keep away from the loopholes or the 
 Virginians would shoot their eyes out, and they soon found 
 that he spoke the truth. The Americans, sheltered behind 
 buildings and earthworks, completely surrounded the fort, 
 and the instant a soldier ventured near a loop-hole, a dozen 
 bullets sped toward him with deadly aim. Several of the 
 soldiers fell with their eyes shot out, and the garrison became 
 disheartened. They wished to surrender, because they feared 
 that if they were captured they would be made to suffer for 
 the Indian barbarities brought down upon the Americans in 
 the past by their leader. As their spirits fell, those of the 
 besiegers rose. They wanted to storm the fort, and it was 
 with difficulty that they could be restrained from exposing 
 themselves. Late in the afternoon Governor Hamilton sent 
 a flag with a proposal for a truce of three days, and asked for 
 a conference with Colonel Clark at the gate of the fort. Clark 
 replied that he could not agree to any terms except immediate 
 surrender at discretion, but would confer with him if he
 
 54 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 desired at the village church, which stood about eighty yards 
 from the fort. Hamilton met him there, accompanied by 
 Major Hay, and Captain Helm, who was a prisoner at the 
 fort. Clark was accompanied by Major Bowman. While 
 they were conferring a thing happened which greatly increased 
 the alarm of the soldiers at the fort. A party of Indians who 
 had been sent to the falls of the Ohio for scalps was seen 
 returning, and a company of Americans, commanded by Cap- 
 tain Williams, went out to meet them. "The Indians, mistak- 
 ing the men for friends, came on with demonstrations that 
 denoted a successful raid. The Americans encouraged them 
 until they had them in their power, then killed two on the spot, 
 wounded three and took the rest prisoners. The captives 
 were ordered put to death. Two who were found to be white 
 men were liberated, but the others were tomahawked and 
 their bodies thrown into the river. [43] This action threw 
 the soldiers in the fort into terror. The negotiations at the 
 church did not progress very satisfactorily. Hamilton pro- 
 posed to surrender upon condition that he and his men be 
 allowed to go to Pensacola on parole, but as Clark wanted to 
 get the "Indian partisans," as he called them, into his hands, 
 he declined to accept the conditions. A long conversation 
 ensued which showed that there was distrust and hatred on 
 both sides, and negotiations were finally broken off. Hamil- 
 ton started to return to the fort, but after he had gone a few 
 feet turned, and asked Clark to give him his reason for refusing 
 to accept the conditions he had suggested. Clark replied that it 
 was because he knew that the principal part of the Indian 
 partisans of Detroit were with him in the fort, and he wanted 
 to be at liberty to put them to death or treat them as he saw 
 fit. Major Hay, who had been paying close attention, said, 
 
 [43] Hamilton in his report, which has been printed in the Canadian 
 Archives and in the Michgan Pioneer Collections, enlarges upon the 
 barbarity of the act. Clark says he permitted it because he wanted to 
 show the Indians' that the British would not protect their friends, and it 
 had the desired effect.
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 55 
 
 "Pray, sir, who is it that you call Indian partisans?" "Sir," 
 replied Clark, "I take Major Hay to be one of the principals." 
 "I never," continues Clark, "saw a man in the moment of exe- 
 cution so struck as he appeared to be pale and trembling, 
 scarcely able to stand. Hamilton blushed and, I observed, 
 was much affected by his behavior. Major Bowman's 
 countenance sufficiently explained his disdain for the one and 
 his sorrow for the other." Some moments elapsed without a 
 word being spoken on either side. Then Clark said he would 
 reconsider the matter, and there should be no hostilities until 
 the negotiations were ended. Before sunset the following 
 terms of surrender had been agreed to : [44] 
 
 I Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton engages to deliver up 
 to Colonel Clark, Fort Sackville [45], as it is at present, with 
 all the stores, etc. 
 
 II The garrison are to deliver themselves as prisoners of 
 war; and march out with their arms, accoutrements, etc. 
 
 Ill The garrison to be delivered up at ten o'clock 
 tomorrow. 
 
 IV Three days time to be allowed the garrison to settle 
 up their accounts with the inhabitants and traders of this place. 
 V The officers of the garrison to be allowed their neces- 
 sary baggage, etc. 
 
 Signed at Post St. Vincents, 24th Feb'y, 1779. 
 
 Agreed for the following reasons: the remoteness from 
 
 succor, the state and quantity of provisions, etc. ; unanimity of 
 
 officers and men in its expediency; the honorable terms 
 
 allowed ; and lastly, the confidence in a generous enemy. [46] 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 HENRY HAMILTON, 
 Lieut.-Gov. and Superintendent. 
 
 The next morning at TO o'clock the conditions of the capit- 
 ulation were carried out. Clark had had one man wounded: 
 seven had been wounded in the fort. Governor Hamilton 
 had made a favorable impression upon Clark and his men. "I 
 
 [44] "Major Bowman's Journal." 
 
 [45] The English had renamed the fort, Fort Sackville. 
 
 [46] In his report Governor Hamilton excuses himself for paying Clark 
 that compliment on the ground that he desired to flatter him in order to 
 secure kind treatment for the wounded.
 
 56 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 was happy," says Clark, "to find that he never deviated, while 
 he stayed with us, from that dignity of conduct which became 
 an officer in his position." Two days after the surrender, The 
 Willing arrived, its men greatly chagrined that the capture 
 should have been made without their assistance. They 
 brought with them a government express with dispatches con- 
 taining the welcome news that the battalion was to be com- 
 pleted, and supplemented by an additional one in the spring. 
 On the day after the surrender a detachment of sixty men, 
 under the command of Captain Helm, was sent up the river 
 in three boats to intercept some boats coming with goods and 
 provisions from Detroit. They traveled about one hundred 
 and twenty miles, surprised the boats and captured them with- 
 out firing a shot. Seven boats, loaded with goods worth 
 10,000, were secured, and Philip Dejean, grand judge of 
 Detroit, was taken prisoner, with M. Adimar, the commissary, 
 and thirty-eight others. Clark, who regarded Vincennes only as 
 a stepping stone toward Detroit, put 800 worth of the goods 
 aside for the use of the soldiers he proposed to take with him 
 on the expedition, and divided the rest among the people. On 
 March 7th, Captain Rogers and Captain Williams set out from 
 Vincennes with Governor Hamilton, Major Hay, Captain 
 Lamoth, Judge Dejean and twenty-two subordinate officers 
 and privates to conduct them to the falls of the Ohio, and 
 thence to Williamsburg. There the subordinates were soon 
 released, but Hamilton and his principal associates were 
 imprisoned in irons for some months, occasioning no end of 
 diplomatic correspondence, until they were finally released on 
 the recommendation of General Washington, who considered 
 their imprisonment a violation of the conditions of the terms 
 of the surrender. [47] Thus ended this most remarkable 
 campaign which was fraught with so much importance to the 
 
 [47] "Diplomatic Correspondence," vol. ii., p. 333. "Washington's 
 Writings," vol. vii., pp. 240, 291, 317, 407. "Jefferson's Works," vol. i., 
 pp. 226-237, 258, 267.
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 57 
 
 future of the young Republic. It not only added the force of 
 conquest to the colonies' charter claims to the vast territory, 
 but immediately put an end to the Indian hostilities and by 
 exalting Clark in the opinion of the savages, made it possible 
 for him to make treaties with them that were of the greatest 
 benefit in the development of the conquered country. 
 
 CLARK'S SUBSEQUENT CAREER. 
 
 It would not be possible in this brief paper to follow in 
 detail the subsequent career of this extraordinary man, nor 
 would it be a pleasing task if it were possible. From this 
 crowning point he would have to be followed step by step in 
 a downward career until he sank at last in poverty and distress 
 into the grave, unrewarded, and, comparatively speaking, 
 unknown among the great benefactors of his country. A 
 hasty survey will suffice. His cherished project of taking 
 Detroit was destined never to be accomplished, but he set 
 about preparing for the expedition with his usual energy. As 
 soon as his business at Vincennes had been arranged he went 
 to Kaskaskia, and there occupied himself settling the affairs of 
 the Illinois country. While he was there the Indians pre- 
 sented him with a tract of land, two and one-half leagues 
 square, on the west side of the falls of the Ohio, the site of 
 Virginia's subsequent grant to Clark and his officers. In 
 October, 1778, Virginia had established the County of Illinois 
 and in December had appointed Colonel John Todd as county 
 lieutenant, but until his arrival some months later, the gov- 
 ernment of the same rested in Clark's hands. When Todd 
 arrived in the following May and a system of government was 
 established, which had an important bearing on the subsequent 
 boundary question, Clark turned with joy to his plans for the 
 conquest of Detroit, only to be bitterly disappointed by the 
 failure of Virginia to furnish him the men he needed. He 
 had assurances of a large number of troops which he was to
 
 58 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 meet at Vincennes, but when he arrived there in July he found 
 only thirty, instead of three hundred men, from Kentucky, 
 and no tidings of the men expected from Virginia. He sent 
 out officers to get recruits and went himself for the same pur- 
 pose to the falls of the Ohio, where Louisville had been estab- 
 lished. There he received a letter from Jefferson, then gov- 
 ernor of Virginia, stating that troops would be sent to him, 
 and suggesting the building of a fort below the mouth of the 
 Ohio River in order to strengthen the claim of the United 
 States to the country, out of which suggestion grew the build- 
 ing of Fort Jefferson, by Clark, in the following year. About 
 the time of the completion of Fort Jefferson, Colonel Byrd 
 made his famous raid into Kentucky with a force of Indians and 
 Canadians, retreating as quickly as he had come, because, it 
 has been said, he was shocked at the barbarity of the Indians, 
 but more likely because he feared that things would be made 
 unpleasant for him if he happened to meet Colonel Clark and 
 his warriors. Colonel Clark went to Harrodsburg, enlisted 
 a thousand men, and retaliated by destroying the Indian towns 
 on the Big and Little Miami, conducting his campaign with the 
 same secrecy and dispatch that he had shown in the Vincennes 
 campaign. Clark returned to the Ohio and spent his time 
 revolving the project of reducing Detroit, which he could not 
 put into execution because he had no men. Jefferson, who 
 was deeply interested in the matter, urged Washington to 
 furnish the necessary troops, and, in the latter part of Decem- 
 ber, Colonel Brodhead, in command of Fort Pitt, was ordered 
 to furnish Clark with the men and supplies that he needed, 
 Washington taking the precaution to instruct Colonel Brod- 
 head to see that no Continental officer outranked Clark, in 
 whom he had the greatest confidence, though he had never 
 seen him. [48] Brodhead's instructions did not reach him 
 until late in February. Meanwhile Benedict Arnold had 
 
 [48] "Washington's Writings," vol. vii., pp. 343-345.
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 59 
 
 begun his invasion of Virginia, which was practically defense- 
 less, and Clarke tendered his services to Baron Steuben. With 
 two hundred and fifty men, he lay in ambush for the enemy 
 and treated him to a taste of Western fighting that was not at 
 all to his liking. He then returned to Fort Pitt and spent 
 several months in a vain endeavor to get troops, Colonel Brod- 
 head being unable to spare the men promised him. He had 
 been made a brigadier-general, and at one time had hope of 
 getting enough men to start upon the expedition, but a- por- 
 tion of his expected troops, under Colonel Lochry, were 
 defeated by a party of Indians under the leadership of Joseph 
 Brant. The end of the year found him at the falls of the 
 Ohio bitterly lamenting the opportunity that was gone. 
 "Detroit lost for a few hundred men," he said in his disap- 
 pointment, and from the moment that the enterprise was 
 abandoned his star declined. At this point, at the early age of 
 twenty-nine, he ceased to be an important factor in Western 
 affairs. The following summer he led a successful but not 
 very brilliant expedition against the Indians on the Miami. 
 On July 2, 1783, he was dismissed from the service of the State 
 of Virginia with a letter of thanks from the governor. The 
 financial distress of the 'state was given ^s the reason for his 
 discharge, but chafing under the disappointments he had met, 
 and the wrongs he had suffered, he had taken to drink and 
 was fast becoming a wreck. Three years later he undertook 
 to lead an army of one thousand Kentucky volunteers against 
 the Indians, but he was a changed man and the expedition 
 failed. When the news of the failure reached Louisville, a 
 political enemy exclaimed, "The sun of General Clark's 
 military glory has set forever!" and the prediction was only 
 too true. In the thirty-two years of his subsequent life he 
 appeared in Western affairs only once, and that in an unfortun- 
 ate light. It was at the time of Genet's proposed expedition 
 against the Spanish possessions on the Mississippi. Clark
 
 60 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 accepted a commission from the French minister, and under- 
 took to raise a force of Kentucky volunteers. Before the 
 project could be carried out, Genet was recalled and Clark's 
 commission was annulled. He never appeared in public life 
 again. He never married. In his declining years he suf- 
 fered from ill health. Rheumatic troubles, brought on no 
 doubt by the exposure he endured in his younger years, term- 
 inated in paralysis and caused him the loss of one limb. Poor 
 and neglected, he lived in the little home near the falls of the 
 Ohio, which was all that he ever received from this great gov- 
 ernment in return for his services, until the year 1814. Then 
 he removed to the home of his sister, Mrs. William Croghan, 
 at Locust Grove, where he died in February, 1818. 
 
 Clark had all the qualifications of a great leader. In 
 appearance he was tall and commanding, and in his demeanor 
 there was a dignity that compelled respect. There was no 
 danger that he feared to face, no hardship that he could not 
 endure. He was quick to act and as crafty as an Indian in 
 action. With the eye of a military genius, he saw where and 
 how he could get the enemy at a disadvantage, and he struck 
 his blows with a force and suddenness that were paralyzing. 
 He commanded not only the respect, but the love, of his men, 
 from whom he always received a willing obedience. Had he 
 been supported by the state, there is not much doubt that he 
 would have taken Detroit, gone from Detroit to Niagara, from 
 Niagara to Montreal, from Montreal to Quebec, and changed 
 the map of North America. "He was a great man," says 
 Dunn in his "History of Indiana." "Of all those who pre- 
 ceded or followed him, La Salle is the only one who can be 
 compared to him in the wonderful combination of genius, 
 activity and courage that lifted him above his fellows." Neglect 
 and disappointment were the 'direct cause of his downfall. 
 Chafing under bitter chagrin at the failure of his cherished 
 Detroit expedition, worried by lawsuits over goods taken in
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 61 
 
 the Vincennes campaign, for which the government refused to 
 pay, mortified because his great ability was not recognized 
 by a commission in the Continental army, oppressed by pov- 
 erty and harassed, by political enemies, he sought relief in 
 drink and destroyed himself. There is no doubt that he felt 
 the neglect of his country keenly. It is related of him that 
 when late in life Virginia presented him with a sword, he 
 exclaimed: "When Virginia needed a sword, I gave her one. 
 She sends me now a toy. I want bread!" thrust the sword 
 into the ground and broke it with his crutch, though his latest 
 biographer discredits the story. [49] In 1799 Judge Burnet, 
 induced by the veneration he felt for his military talents and 
 services, made a journey of some miles to visit Clark. "His 
 health," he says, "was much impaired, but his majestic person, 
 strong features, and dignified deportment, gave evidence of 
 an intelligent, resolute mind. He had the appearance of a 
 man born to command, and fitted by nature for his destiny. 
 There was a gravity and solemnity in his demeanor, resembling 
 that which so eminently distinguished 'the venerated Father 
 of his Country.' A person familiar with the lives and char- 
 acter of the military veterans of Rome, in the days of her 
 greatest power, might readily have selected this remarkable 
 man as a specimen of the model he had formed of them in his 
 own mind; but he was rapidly falling a victim to his extreme 
 sensibility, and to the ingratitude of his native state, under 
 whose banner he had fought bravely and with great success. 
 The time will certainly come when the enlightened and mag- 
 nanimous citizens of Louisville will remember the debt of 
 gratitude they owe the memory of that distinguished man. 
 He was the leader of the pioneers who made the first lodgment 
 on the site now covered by their rich and splendid city. He 
 was its protector during the years of its infancy, and in the 
 period of its greatest danger. Yet the traveler who has read 
 
 [49] English's "Conquest of the Northwest," vol. ii., pp. 88-93.
 
 62 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 
 of his achievements admired his character and visited the 
 theater of his brilliant deeds, discovers nothing indicating the 
 place where his remains are deposited, and where he can go 
 and pay tribute of respect to the memory of the departed and 
 gallant hero." The prediction remains unfulfilled. Indian- 
 apolis has erected a statue in his honor, but Louisville has not 
 followed her example. For half a century his remains lay in 
 the grave at Locust Grove and then were removed to Cave 
 Hill cemetery in the suburb of Louisville, where they lie with 
 nothing more than a simple headstone to mark their resting 
 
 place. 
 
 DAN B. STARKEY. 
 
 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, January I2th, 1897.
 
 PARKMAN CLUB PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 No. 1. Nicholas Perrot; a Study in Wisconsin History. By Gard- 
 ner P. Stickney, Milwaukee, 1895. 16 pp. paper; 8vo. 
 
 No. 2. Exploration of Lake Superior; the Voyages of Radisson and 
 Groseilliers. By Henry Colin Campbell, Milwaukee, 
 1896. 22 pp., paper; 8vo. 
 
 No. 3. Chevalier Henry de Tonty; His Exploits in the Valley of 
 the Mississippi. By Henry E. Legler, Milwaukee, 1896. 
 22 pp., paper; 8vo. 
 
 No. 4. The Aborigines of the Northwest; a Glance into the Remote 
 Past. By Prank T. Terry, Milwaukee, 1896. 14 pp., 
 paper; 8vo. 
 
 No. 5. Jonathan Carver; His Travels in the Northwest in 1766-8. 
 By John G. Gregory, Milwaukee, 1896. 28 pp., 1 plate, 
 1 map, paper; 8vo. 
 
 No. 6. Negro Slavery in Wisconsin. By John N. Davidson, Mil- 
 waukee, 1896. 28 pp., paper; 8vo. 
 
 No. 7. Eleazer Williams; His Forerunners, Himself. By William 
 Ward Wight, Milwaukee, 1896. 72 pp., portrait, and four 
 appendices, pap.er; 8vo. 
 
 No. 8. Charles Langlade, First Settler of Wisconsin. By Mont- 
 gomery E. Mclntosh, Milwaukee, 1896. 20 pp., paper; 8vo. 
 
 No. 9. The German Voter in Wisconsin Politics Before the Civil 
 War. By Ernest Bruncken, Milwaukee, 1896. 14 pp., 
 paper; 8vo. 
 
 No. 10. The Polanders in Wisconsin. By Frank H. Miller, Milwau- 
 kee, 1896. 8 pp., paper; 8vo. 
 
 No. 11. P6re Ren6 M6nard, the Predecessor of Allouez and Mar- 
 quette in the Lake Superior Region. By Henry Colin 
 Campbell. Milwaukee, 1897. 24 pp., paper; 8vo. 
 
 No. 12. George Rogers Clark and His Illinois Campaign. By Dan 
 B. Starkey. 
 
 IN PRESS. 
 
 Stickney, Gardner P. The Use of Maize by Wisconsin Indians. 
 Gregory, John G. The Land Limitation Movement of 1848-51. 
 
 IN PREPARATION. 
 
 Bruncken, Ernest The German Voter in Wisconsin Politics. 
 This paper will include the period of the Civil War. 
 
 Campbell, Henry Colin Du Luth, the Explorer. 
 
 Davidson, Rev. John Nelson Underground Railway Stations in 
 Wisconsin. 
 
 Kelly, Frederick W. Local Government in Wisconsin. 
 
 La Boule, Rev. Joseph S. Allouez, the Father of Wisconsin 
 Missions. 
 
 Legler, Henry E. Mormons in Wisconsin. 
 
 Mclntosh, Montgomery E. Cooperative Communities in 
 Wisconsin. 
 
 Miller, Frank H. The Buffalo in Wisconsin. 
 
 Starkey, Dan B. The Fox- Wisconsin Waterway. 
 
 Stickney, Gardner P. Bibliography of Wisconsin History. 
 
 Wight, William Ward Joshua Glover, the Fugitive Slave. 
 
 An index to the Club's publications during 1896 will soon be 
 issued. 
 
 PUBLICATION COMMITTEE Henry Colin Campbell, Henry E. Leg- 
 ler and John G. Gregory. 
 
 The Parkman Club was organized December 10th, 1895, for study 
 of the history of the Northwest. A limited number of copies of each 
 publication are set aside for sale and exchange. Single copies are 
 sold at the uniform price of 25 cents, and the annual subscription 
 (ten numbers) is placed at $2.00. 
 
 Correspondence may be addressed, 
 
 GARDNER P. STICKNEY, Secretary, 
 
 427 Bradford Street, MILWAUKEE, Wis.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK AND HIS ILLINOIS CAM