USA > Indiana > Knox County > Vincennes > History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 19
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time had only two or three white settlements. No sooner had he put foot on Kentucky soil than he busied himself in visiting these sparse settlements for the purpose of laying before the settlers his plans of a proposed meeting to be held at Harrodstown, to discuss the better means to be adopted by the colonists for protection against the savages, and for the further purpose of invoking the aid of Virginia in establishing defenses and making provi- sion for military operations along the Kentucky borders. At this meeting, the assemblage of hardy backwoodsmen, impressed by Clark's pleasing ad- dress, manly and prepossessing appearance, his eloquence and enthusiasm, and knowing his energy, boldness, bravery and fearlessness, and his knowl- edge of the red man, with all the latter's cunning, craftiness and skill, ap- pointed him commander-in-chief of militia, and subsequently delegated him and John Gabriel Jones to go to Virginia and acquaint the legis- lature of the Old Dominion with the condition of the harassed settlements and the demands of the settlers. The journey from Har- rodstown to Williamsburg, as made by Clark and Jones, was by land, in- stead of water, and was a long and hazardous trail over the wilderness road where travel was impeded by mountains and mud and the traveler subjected to constant danger from Indian attacks. During the trip one of Clark's horses died, and he was obliged to walk until his feet became so sore and blistered that, in long years after, he declared he "suffered more torment than he had ever done before or since." Owing to the many interruptions along the route, when they arrived at Williamsburg, much to their sorrow and disappointment, they found that the legislature had adjourned. Jones immediately retraced his steps towards the settlements on the Holston ; but Clark, with a determination to do and dare ever present, was more per- severing, and resolved if he could not have a conference with the legisla- ture he would at least hold an interview with the governor. Accordingly he sought the famous patriot and orator, Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia, who lay upon a bed of sickness at his home in Hanover County. The handsome frontiersman, who was scarcely more than twenty-three years old, but whose youthful mind was then being directed to the solution of difficult military, as well as governmental, problems of broad and far-reach- ing consequences, impressed the governor with much favor and was gra- ciously received into his presence. Young Clark explained the importance of organizing society in the settlements of Kentucky and of the necessity of providing the colonists with military as well as civil protection, by the enactment of laws for the government of the people, guaranteeing them personal and property rights and protecting them in the same by forces of armed men drilled in the arts of war. In the gathering clouds of the revo- lution, which were now casting an ominous shadow over the country, Clark discerned the fury of the impending storm, and realized that the sparsely settled wilderness beyond the Allegheny mountains, and the brave and dar- ing people who had risked so much to take up their abodes therein, were in imminent peril unless provided with better military protection than that
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afforded by the untrained militia that guarded the irregular defenses of isolated posts. Governor Henry listened attentively to the young patriot, and was overcome with the zeal and earnestness in which he pleaded the cause of the people of his adopted state, giving him a favorable letter to the Virginia legislature and recommending that Clark's request for five hun- dred pounds of gunpowder be granted. The legislature at first refused to grant an order for the gunpowder, upon the ground that they had no legal authority to do so, and that* if they violated the law by disposing of money or property of the state which they were not authorized to do, their only remedy would be to trust to a future legislature to legalize their actions which they hesitated to do unless Clark would agree to be responsible for the powder in the event the legislature failed to legalize the transaction ; be- sides, they expected Clark to be at the expense of transporting it to Ken- tucky. Whether this latter requirement appeared within the bounds of rea- son to members of the legislature, or not, it struck Clark as being very un- reasonable, inasmuch as he desired the powder for the protection of the state and the frontiers and the people along its western borders, and had already gone to considerable personal expense and subjected himself to ex- posure and discomfiture, without the hope or desire of reward or reimburse- ment. To say the least, the conduct of the legislature was not only un- reasonable in this respect, but it was unjust, and Clark very promptly re- fused to approve of it by notifying the honorable body that if it did not see fit to grant his request, without conditions, he would refuse to receive it otherwise, maintaining that if Virginia claimed the Kentucky country, then it was her duty to aid in protecting the Kentuckians against the hostilities of savages ; that "a country which was not worth defending was not worth claiming." He called the attention of the legislators to the fact that the Kentuckians would consider they had been abandoned by Virginia, and predicted that necessity would force them, in all probability, to look in another direction for protection, which, he doubted not, would be readily forthcoming; that if the settlers could not obtain assistance to protect them from the enemy, they would either be subjected to annihilation or driven from the country, and the older settlements would then become the objec- tive points of attack. So manfully, eloquently, adroitly, did he press his claim before the council of Virginia that that body, on August 23, 1776, took favorable action thereon by making an order reading as follows :
"Mr. George Rogers Clark, having represented to this board the defenseless state of the inhabitants of Kentucki; and having requested, on their behalf, that they should be supplied with five hundred weight of gunpowder ;
"Ordered, therefore, that the said quantity of gunpowder be forthwith sent to Pittsburg, and delivered to the commanding officer of that station, by him to be safely kept, and delivered to the said George Rogers Clark, or his order, for the use of the said inhabitants of Kentucki."
* W. H. English, Conquest of the Northwest, vol. i, pp. 74, 75.
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By the foregoing proceeding the Kentucky country was not only con- sidered as a part of Virginia, but George Rogers Clark's credentials as a member of the Virginia council from Kentucky was recognized, and he was made a major of Virginia militia. The transportation of the gun- powder from Fort Pitt to Kentucky was an undertaking which called for heroism and resourcefulness, qualities which made Clark conspicuous among all his fellows. It was early in the spring of 1777, when a flat-boat, laden with the ammunition, secretly and cautiously left the shores of the Ohio at Fort Pitt, headed for Harrodstown. The crew consisted of Clark, his col- league Jones and five other men. While yet within the shadow of the fort the crew beheld the forms of Indians, moving stealthily along the shore. At the very outset the journey became one of excitement, anxiety and danger ; but, apparently unalarmed, Clark moved on. As the boat progressed in its course the savages increased in numbers and in boldness, and from along the shores sent their poisoned arrows and leaden missiles towards the voyageurs, who made use of the boat's gunnels for breast-works. Not a bend in the river was turned but what the boatmen were greeted by de- fiant bands of prowling Indians who fired on the voyageurs without effect and were answered by the sharp report from long-barreled rifles in the hands of marksmen having unerring aim. After two days' voyage the men, with the exception of Jones, became so alarmed at the multiplying numbers of the savages along the route that they advised the abandonment of the boat and an escape to the woods as a means of safety. Clark, who was made of sterner stuff, with an oath and a scowl, shamed them out of the notion, and thus saved both the munition and the lives of those who were guarding it. And for four more days and nights, with bloodthirsty Indians in sight the greater part of the time, the boat plied on, at the close of the fourth night, under cover of darkness, and with muffled oars, pulling up at Limestone Creek (Maysville, Ky.) Clark and his men, well nigh exhausted, disembarked and secreted the powder on shore, dragging themselves to the nearest settlement, which was too weak to offer any substantial aid. Here Clark met Kenton, the companion of Boone, and an Indian fighter of dis- tinction, who guided him to Harrodstown where the overjoyed populace greeted him with exclamations of joy and admiration. Clark left Jones and the balance of the crew at Limestone to guard the boat and powder until he could make provision to remove them with safety. Soon after his de- parture "Colonel John Todd* arrived with a small military force, and being apprised by Jones of the situation, they attempted to transport the powder with an escort of only ten men, but before reaching it they were attacked and entirely routed by Indians, several taken prisoners and three killed, among the latter John Gabriel Jones." Clark was pursued on his way to Harrodstown by Indians, but good fortune, as usual, attended him, and he
* W. H. English, Conquest of the Northwest, pp. 78, 79.
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reached his destination unharmed. On* learning of the defeat of Todd's party Clark raised a company of thirty men who were sent after the powder and brought it in safety to Harrodstown. Clark proved to be the most daring and successful Indian fighter the frontier borders ever knew, and had he not come into Kentucky at the time he did the fate of the people would have been vastly different. Boone and his followers believed in a defensive warfare against the savages. Clark was for the aggressive mode of fighting, and insisted on carrying the fight into the enemy's camp-in burning and plundering their villages, destroying their crops and reducing to ashes every habitation wherein the hostile red men dwelt in order to impress them with the horrors of invasion. It was through the wise leader- ship of Clark, as a warrior and a counsellor, that Indian hostilities became less frequent in Kentucky and social order was brought out of chaos. His wonderful ability to cope with the savages and his wisdom and discretion in the organization of society in the backwoods settlements were largely in- strumental in Kentucky taking rank at any early day among the important commonwealths of the western country. There was nothing superficial about the man. While not a statesman, he had all the qualifications of one, had made a close study of governmental affairs, and was capable of grasping the most intricate economical problems. His talents were varied and had he cultivated them there is hardly a station in the world of affairs in any country of any day he could not have filled with distinction. He was a born leader of men, around whose standard individuals as well as com- munities rallied. He was quick in reaching conclusions because his fine discernment permitted him to take in a situation at a glance, and his power- ful mental vision enabled him to foretell results of actions far in advance of their actual occurrence, and to gauge the strength of a position at first sight. He was aware that the British in the north and west were inciting murderous and foraging bands of Indians to make forays into Kentucky, and that the settlements of the middle west could never expect peace, growth or prosperity as long as these conditions were tolerated. His men- tal gaze swept the country in the direction of the northwestern horizon, and at Detroit, Kaskaskia and Vincennes he saw the British installed in positions formerly occupied by the French. From these posts the savages were sent forth to plunder and kill the colonists, for whose welfare and happiness he was bending his every energy. His quick and keen percep- tion made clear to him that to march against and destroy these British strongholds would not only lessen the invasions of their bloody emissaries on Kentucky soil, but it would be a bold strike at British tyranny in de- fense of American liberty and humanity, with the ultimate result of ac- quiring for his beloved Virginia a vast scope of rich and fertile country. The importance of such an undertaking grew upon him. The proposed enterprise, which was the conception of his own brain, engrossed his every
W. H. English, Conquest of the Northwest.
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thought. The more he contemplated it, the stronger became his desire to carry it into execution. His dream of empire had awakened new ambitions. His patriotism was aroused by the thought of dealing a death blow to His Britannic Majesty and wresting from the monarch's grasp the most priceless of his North American possessions. He saw the possibility of becoming the conqueror of the domains of a king. The idea quickened the pulsations of his heart. His whole being was electrified with enthusiasm, but he never allowed his emotions to betray his thoughts. Confiding in no one, he kept his plan hidden from even intimate friends, and guarded it with as jealous care as the miser does his hoarded gold. Clark had openly and freely advocated the establishment of a military post in the enemy's country, north of the Ohio, as a means of intercepting the savages on their detours towards Kentucky, and for the purpose of breaking up the rally- ing points in the northwest, where the English formed foray parties to descend on the settlers. Two young hunters in the meantime had been dispatched to the Illinois country as spies, not dreaming that the informa- tion Clark* sought might be for ulterior purposes. However, they soon returned, reporting that at Kaskaskia and Vincennes the British, who were careless in the maintenance of their fortifications, had attempted to make the French believe that the backwoodsmen of Virginia and Kentucky, and all Americans, were worse than barbarians and more cruel and hostile than the savages; that, while this deception was undertaken for the purpose of winning the French over to the British, the former gave no evidence of other than a cold attachment for His Britannic Majesty.
Clark's dream of the conquest of the northwest led him to again tread the wildernesses and trail over the mountains, with his secret locked within his bosom, and as far removed as ever from the knowledge of the settlers, but soon to be revealed in strictest confidence to one man. It was in Oc- tober, 1777, when he started from Harrodstown for Virginia, taking cau- tious leave of his devoted constituents, who implored him with tears not to forsake them, feeling that in his absence some direful calamity might befall them. The attachment between this resourceful man, this wonderful genius, and the settlers was mutual, and in taking his departure on this occasion, he subsequently said that, "I left them with reluctance, promising them that I would return to their assistance, which I had predetermined."t
* From the reports they brought him in the late summer, he judged the French of the northern territory were very passive and indifferent in their loyalty to the British, without any partisan feeling in the revolutionary struggle, but much in dread of an incursion from the Kentucky frontiersmen of whose ferosity they had heard strange tales .- [Lynn Lew Sprague, in The Outing Magasine, January, 1907.]
t He had carefully looked over the western field and determined that he could best serve his country hy leading a force against the enemy's posts in the Illinois and on the Wabash. The authority to do it, and the men and means to make it a success, could only come from the home government of Virginia. To that he now directed his attention, with his usual caution, good judgment and energy. He went to Williams- burg, still the capital of the state, and there, at first, quietly employed himself in set-
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Having found himself once again within the confines of the Old Dominion, his native state, which witnessed his daring exploits before he was out of his teens, winning the confidence, respect and admiration of soldiers, pa- triots and statesmen, young Clark sought Governor Patrick Henry at Wil- liamsburg, and to him confided the secret hitherto known only to himself. Governor Henry had not forgotten the stalwart young warrior who had, the year before, called on him at his home in Hanover County, and on this occasion was even more cordial and considerate to his guest. In the tall and graceful figure that stood before him the governor, recognizing a man of destiny-a leader of men, born to execute marvelous deeds, whose aim in life was to accomplish great things-readily acquiesced in the scheme which the visitor laid before him with irresistible bursts of passionate and patriotic eloquence.
This memorable meeting occurred on December 10, 1777, and of it, [in his memoirs] Clark says : "At first he [the governor] seemed to be fond of it, but to detach a party at so great a distance, although the service performed might be of great utility, appeared daring and hazardous, as nothing but secrecy could give success to the enterprise. To lay the matter before the assembly then sitting would be dangerous, as it would soon be known throughout the frontiers, and probably the first prisoner taken by the Indians would give the alarm, which would end in the certain destruc- tion of the project." Governor Henry, while realizing the danger to which the invading party might be subjected, did not fail to comprehend the im- mense benefit that might accrue to the country should the campaign prove successful. He, however, felt that the matter was one of most vital im- portance, calling for the prayerful and earnest consideration of men of wisdom and discernment, and accordingly surrounded himself with a coterie of able and distinguished citizens with whom to counsel and advise. The gentlemen composing this secret and confidential board of advisers and counselors were Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, George Mason and George Rogers Clark-"five men," says Mr. English, "who made an honorable impress upon the age in which they lived, and who
tling the accounts of the Kentucky militia, which shows that he had been in military authority in the Kentucky country, but he was, in fact, all the time feeling his way to the development of his great plan of striking the British posts northwest of the Ohio river .- [W. H. English, Conquest of the Northwest, p. 87.] What gave Clark greater confidence in having the Governor consider his proposition with favor was Burgoyne's recent defeat and captivity of the British regulars, which represented a large portion of Great Britain's military forces in America at that time, and why he delayed so long presenting his views to Virginia's chief executive after his arrival in Williamsburg is not stated. Mr. English says Clark "talked confidentially upon the subject to a few discreet friends, but it was about two months after his arrival in Virginia before he ventured to lay his plans before the Governor of the State." If he did really divulge his secret to any of his friends, before confiding in the Governor, the names of his confidants have never been made public. It has always been understood, until his interview with the Governor, that he kept his own counsel in the matter in question. Vol. 1-11
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may justly be ranked with the first men of their time, if not, indeed, of any time; and seldom in the annals of military affairs has a stronger body of men assembled to consider the expediency of a campaign than was as- sembled on this occasion."
Contrary to the inference of many, neither Jefferson, Wythe nor Mason -who, with Henry and Clark, had the weighty proposition under advise- ment for several weeks-were members of the Virginia Council. These distinguished gentlemen, say the memoirs of Clark made the minutest examination into his proposed plan of operations, inquiring particularly as to his method of retreat (in the event of failure of the project) into Span- ish territory, across the Mississippi. The matter was not brought officially to the attention of the Council until Friday, January 2, 1778, when the "expedition against Kaskaskia" was set forth in a communication addressed by the governor to the honorable body and approved-the same to be in- augurated "with as little delay and as much secrecy as possible." The council also empowered the governor to issue his warrant upon the treas- ury for twelve hundred pounds to George Rogers Clark, "who is willing to undertake the service, he giving bond and security faithfully to account for the same." And thus the expedition was launched. The authority for these proceedings was under a law of the Virginia legislature, passed by the general assembly then in session, authorizing "the governor, with the advice of the privy council," to organize an expedition "to march against and attack any of our western enemies, and give the necessary orders for the expedition." According to a statement alleged to have been made by Clark, the real intent of this law (which, of course, was framed and passed for the purpose of giving the governor power to issue orders to aid Clark in carrying out his conquest against the British in the northwest) was known to "but few in the house" at the time of its passage. Whether or not this was the case, it was intended that the general public should be kept in blissful ignorance of Clark's intentions, and for that reason Gov- ernor Henry issued two sets of orders to Colonel Clark-one public, direct- ing him to proceed to Kentucky without delay to enlist seven companies of men, officered in the usual manner, to act as militia under his orders; the other, secret, directing him "to march against Kaskaskia, seize the British fort, munitions of war, and whatever articles that may be of advantage to the state, but to treat British subjects and all who may fall into his hands with humanity."
Having been given authority to enlist for his expedition three hundred and fifty men, Clark, after much labor, was obliged to content himself with less than half that number. "The jealousy between Virginia and Pennsyl- vania," says Mr. Thwaites,* "and the impossibility of revealing his pur- pose, made it difficult for Clark to raise volunteers; indeed, he met with considerable opposition from those who apparently suspected this western
* R. G. Thwaites, How George Rogers Clark Won the Northwest, p. 19.
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movement, on political grounds, or were jealous of an attempt to sequester men whose services were needed in the defense of the mountain valleys.t It was May, 1778, before he could collect about one hundred and fifty bor- derers from the clearings and hunters' camps of the Allegheny foothills, both cast and west of the range."
The rough and ready recruits that formed Clark's first contingent of the army of conquest was a queer lot no doubt ; fresh from the backwoods, unfamiliar with military tactics, clad in homespun or buckskin, shod with moccasins, the dress of the privates and the uniforms of the officers were very similar. "Perhaps," says Mr. Thwaites,* "the majority of the corps had loose, thin trousers of homespun or buckskin, with a fringe of leather thongs down each outer seam of the legs; but many wore only leggings of leather, and were as bare of knee and thigh as a Highland clansman; in- deed, inany of the pioneers were Scotch-Irish, some of whom had been accustomed to this airy costume in the mother land. Common to all were fringed hunting shirts or smocks, generally of buckskin-a picturesque flowing garment reaching from neck to knees, and girded about the waist by a leather belt, from which dangled the tomahawk and scalping knife. On one hip hung the carefully scraped powder horn; on the other a leather sack, serving both as game bag and provision pouch, although often the folds of the shirt, full and ample above the belt, were the depository for food and ammunition. A broad-rimmed felt hat, or a cap of fox skin or squirrel skin, with the tail dangling behind, crowned the often tall and al- ways sinewy frontiersman. His constant companion was his home-made flintlock rifle-a clumsy, heavy weapon, so long that it reached to the chin of the tallest man, but unerring in the hands of an expert marksman such as was each of these backwoodsmen. They were rough in manners and in speech. Among them, we must confess, were men who had fled
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