For the Last Time

George Rogers Clark was on the outskirts of Fort Vincennes which had been retaken by the British.  Reports came to him that the inhabitants would gladly return to American allegiance, so he wrote a letter to the town's inhabitants informing them of his position two miles outside of the town with his army and appealing to those who wanted liberty the Americans would give them.

Marching his men forward and making it appear that he had a much bigger army than he did by hiding in bushes and behind trees, he reached the stockade by nightfall and fired from two directions.  No one realized they were even there until a officer fell from his chair, shot in the chest.  The inhabitants had proven their loyalty, even providing ammunition when Clark's ran low.  In a few hours, it was over and there was little American loss. 

Colonel Hamilton and 25 of his men were sent as captives to Virginia, where Hamilton was in prison until 1780 when Washington paroled him.  For the second time, the American flag flew over Indiana soil, never to be lowered again.

Shortly after the surrender, Hamilton's reinforcement expedition was captured in route from Detroit and put 10,000 pounds of supplies in Clark's hands.  The missing ship The Willing appeared with a message from Governor Henry thanking Clark on behalf of the Virginia Legislature.  The whole of Illinois and Indiana was in American hands thanks to Clark.

Clark set about to organize a new expedition to Detroit which alone remained in British hands. Several obstacles stood in his way, among the most immediate were new Indian uprisings from the Great Lakes.  Clark was ordered to build a fort at the mouth of the Ohio.  Clark knew this would be a perfect place to launch a mission to Detroit from. 

Thomas Jefferson, the new Governor of Virginia in 1779, was also deeply interested in the Detroit project, and ordered guns, supplies and troops for Clark and appointed him Brigadier General in 1781.  However, suitable opportunity to capture Detroit never came for Clark, and when the Revolutionary War ended, Detroit was still in British hands.

In later years, George Rogers Clark was awarded 6000 acres of land in southern Indiana along the banks of the Ohio, and a sword.  Without employment and not feeling that his contribution to the war was honored, he lived a lonely and bitter life, dying in 1818.  He is buried in his beloved Kentucky, and a statue of him is in Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis.

Next time...Spain's Role in the Revolutionary War
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On February 28, 1953, scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C> Crick announce that they have determined the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule containing the human genes.  DNA  - Deoxyribonucleic acid was discovered in 1869).