Biographical Notes
George Rogers Clark
Shortly after Clark left the Falls of the Ohio a courier caught up with him and gave him the news that France had signed a treaty of alliance with the United States. Although Britain now controlled the Illinois it was still largely occupied by French settlers. Chevalier de Rocheblave was acting for the British in Kaskaskia, an important town on the Mississippi River below St. Louis. On July 4, 1778, Clark entered Kaskaskia before Rocheblave could mount a defense. Within a matter of days he had convinced the French citizens of Kaskaskia that it was in their interest to support the newly established United States. Several days later, on July 6, Clark occupied Cahokia a few miles upriver without having to fire a shot and went on to visit St. Louis where he was enthusiastically greeted by the largely French citizenry and by the Spanish Lieutenant Governor, Don Fernando de Leyba. De Leyba had a daughter named Teresa. Clark appears to have been enamored and in the months ahead visited her frequently. Indians in and around Kaskaskia consulted with their French friends and decided not to attack Clark even though they generally felt enmity toward Americans. Clark next occupied Vincennes on the Wabash River on July 14 - again without opposition. In early summer Clark had seen nearly half of his force return home when their enlistments ran out. In August he was reinforced by a sixty man contingent commanded by Lieutenant Robert George. That same month Governor Hamilton in Detroit learned of Clark's capture of Kaskaskia and Vincennes. Hamilton, who had been planing an attack on Fort Pitt, was forced to turn his attention to Clark. On December 17, Governor Hamilton, with a superior force armed with artillery, retook Vincennes without a fight. The American commander, Captain Leonard Helm, was captured and made Hamilton's prisoner.
Clark learned of Hamilton's recapture of Vincennes in late January or early February, 1779. He immediately decided to march on Vincennes and attack Hamilton even though it was very cold, was raining heavily, and the countryside was badly flooded. Hamilton did not expect an attack in such weather and Clark was able to surprise him. After a short siege, Hamilton surrendered to what he thought was a superior force and Clark reoccupied Vincennes. Helm was freed and Hamilton was sent back to Williamsburg where he was en-prisoned and treated harshly by then Governor Thomas Jefferson. Virginians held Hamilton accountable for the atrocities committed by Indians along the frontier during the 1777 - 1779 period. (The only American to argue for more humane treatment of Hamilton was Daniel Boone who had received kind treatment from Hamilton while a prisoner of the Shawnee in 1778.) Part of Hamilton's force at Vincennes were French Canadian Militia. Clark released these prisoners, told them of the French - American alliance and sent them home to Canada. On their arrival in Detroit they spread considerable discontent and undermined Britain's relations with their Indian allies. Clark next wanted to attack Detroit, but was unable to recruit enough men for the campaign. In May 1780, Clark constructed Fort Jefferson on the Mississippi River just below the mouth of the Ohio River. It's purpose was to control transportation and travel on the two rivers. To the east the war was stalemated in the north, but the British were putting increased pressure on the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia. A corollary of this effort was intensified Indian attacks on the frontier. In Detroit, Hamilton was replaced by Major Arent S. De Peyster and elaborate plans were developed for multiple British attacks supported by numerous Indian allies. In January 1780 the British took Savannah and the following May captured Charleston. In the west, in May, they attacked at Cahokia and St. Louis, but Clark turned them back. In August 1780 the British went on to defeat the revolutionaries' southern army at Camden, South Carolina, and continued to stimulate Indian raids on settlers in Kentucky.
In August 1780, Clark gathered a force of 998 Kentucky militia and destroyed the Shawnee towns of Chillicothe and Piqua on the Miami River. In December 1780, Clark conferred with Governor Thomas Jefferson in Williamsburg. General George Washington was pressing Cornwallis in the east and the British wanted maximum pressure on the frontier in an effort to help their besieged forces in Yorktown. With British encouragement, the Shawnee were gathering for a massive attack on Kentucky in retaliation for the destruction of Chillicothe and Piqua. Both Jefferson and Clark wanted to attack Detroit, but the British had mounted an invasion of Virginia. General Benedict Arnold had defected to the British at West Point and now commanded the 1,600 man invasion force. General Baron von Steuben commanded the American force that opposed Arnold and Colonel Clark was pressed into service for the immediate defense of Virginia. In June 1781 Arnold managed to sack Richmond before being driven off. During this period, Clark was engaged in one fire-fight near Hood's Ferry before being promoted to brigadier general and returning to his plans for Detroit. He managed to gather 400 men in Virginia and hoped to recruit another thousand in Kentucky. A hundred Pennsylvanians under Colonel Archibald Lochy was also designated to be part of Clark's Detroit campaign. Lochy's unit was ambushed and destroyed by the Mohawk Indian Chief Joseph Brandt assisted by several experienced British advisors including Simon and George Girty. The loss of Lochy's troops combined with Clark's inability to recruit replacements forced Clark to postpone the Detroit campaign. On October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered to Washington at Yorktown. In December, the Virginia Assembly passed a resolution forbidding any further planning for an attack on Detroit.
Yorktown was effectively the end of the revolution in the east, but hostilities continued in the west. Britain accepted that it had lost the thirteen colonies but hoped to maintain control of the frontier lands and the very lucrative fur trade. De Peyster in Detroit continued to encourage and support Indian attacks on the settlements. In August 1782 a combined British and Indian force defeated the Kentucky Militia in the Blue Licks Massacre. Clark was not present, but he was severely criticized none-the-less. Daniel Boone was in the battle and was particularly critical of Clark's absence. In November, Clark again destroyed Piqua, but was unable to bring the Shawnee to a major engagement. All during the war, Clark had great difficulty supplying his troops. The Continental Congress had inadequate resources and Virginia was no better off. Clark was forced to give personal guarantees on much of the supplies that were obtained for his men. He thought that if the revolution failed he would lose everything he owned anyway and if it succeeded the government would pay off his debts. Following his return to Kentucky after the second Piqua expedition Clark met with a board of commissioners who wanted to examine his financial records. It was the start of a long legal process that basically destroyed Clark financially. Although he was never suspected of fraud, the poor state of his financial records made it possible for the various levels of government to avoid honoring most of his debts. He was to spend the rest of his life being hounded by a host of creditors. He had been promised large land grants for his service during the war, but those that he did receive were largely sold to help deal with his debts. All in all he was shabbily treated by government during the rest of his life. On July 2, 1782, Governor Benjamin Harrison removed Clark from command with profuse thanks but no pay for his service.
During 1783 the frontier was more peaceful and Clark returned to the family home in Caroline County, Virginia. In December 1783, Thomas Jefferson sounded Clark out as to the possibility of his leading an expedition of exploration into the western territories, but nothing came of it. On January 14, 1784, the Congress of the Confederation ratified the Treaty of Paris which formally ended the war with Britain. In February 1784, Clark was appointed surveyor of military lands that were to be provided to the soldiers of his command in compensation for their service during the revolution. In the spring of 1785, Clark moved his parents to Mulberry Hill in Louisville, Kentucky. In January 1786, Clark served as one of the commissioners who met with Indian Chiefs at the confluence of the Miami and Ohio Rivers. On February 1, a peace treaty was signed that protected Indian hunting grounds from settlement. Over the next few years the treaty was ignored as more and more settlers crowded into the western lands. Indian hostility flared up again and in September 1786, Clark was involved in an abortive Indian expedition in and around Vincennes. Shortly after that he briefly considered accepting a Spanish offer to settle at the mouth of the Yazoo River in what is today Mississippi and another opposite the mouth of the Ohio in what is today Missouri. Rumor circulated that he was involved in a plot to separate Kentucky from Virginia and place it under Spanish sovereignty, but there is no evidence that this was true. In 1792 he wrote to the French Government and offered his services for a campaign against Spanish control of the Mississippi River. The French commissioned him a major general of the Independent and Revolutionary Legion of Mississippi, but the campaign never took place.
Clark was now drinking heavily and increasingly despondent over his financial problems. His youngest brother, William, took over management of the family estate and began helping deal with George's debt. When John Clark died in 1799 his will made no provision for George except for three personal slaves. Had anything more been bequeathed to George it would have immediately been claimed by one or more of his creditors. In a similar move William purchased land from George so as to protect it. William continued to live and work with George until he joined Meriwether Lewis in the Expedition of Discovery in 1803. George then moved to Clarksville across the river from Louisville and built a cabin on Clark's Point above the Falls of the Ohio. In 1805 the State of Virginia voted to give Clark a pension of $400 a year. In 1809 Clark fell into his fireplace and badly burned his leg. His leg had to be amputated. He had also recently suffered a stroke which affected his speech and his memory. He died of a second stroke on February 13, 1818.
