George Rogers Clark

George Rogers Clark was a Virginian, born in the foothills of Albermarle County.  Although not of landed gentry, Clark did receive some education before becoming a surveyor.  At the age of 22 he became a staff of Governor Dunmore.  During an expedition to survey the new western territory, Clark visited the back country of Kentucky and was so taken by it, that in 1774, he decided to call it home.

A man of powerful form, keen blue eyes and the red hair of his Scottish ancestors, George was also a man of ardent patriotism, a strong common sense, and extraordinary leadership abilities.  So it was that he became a dominating person in the new territory beyond the mountains.

In the spring of 1755, the men of Kentucky held a convention at Harrodsburg to elect two delegates to petition the Virginia assembly about the trouble white settlements were facing with Indians.  Clark was chosen as one of those men.  After a long and arduous journey, the men found the assembly already adjourned.  During the visit, though, Clark found opportunity to explain to Patrick Henry the situation in the back country of Kentucky and obtain 500 pounds of gunpowder.  Clark's persuasion eventually led to Kentucky becoming a county of Virginia.

While the settlers were facing a hopeless situation against the Indians, ordered to attack the whites by the British, George Rogers Clark had a idea to capture the British posts and stop the orders to attack altogether.  Problem?  Kentucky had neither the men nor the money for such an undertaking...

In the spring of 1777, two hunters, disguised as traders were sent to Illinois country and neighboring Vincennes, to spy out the situation.  They reported back that the posts were not well-manned, and the French inhabitants were not pro-British and not apt to fight to preserve British rule at the posts.
Clark then joined a band of settlers on the Wilderness Trail to Virginia to secure funds.  Instead of a plan to defend just the Kentucky settlements against the Indians, it would become a plan of how to conquer the whole Northwest.

Next time...Clark is given orders
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On January 11, 1776, Georgia's royal governor, Sir James Wright, escapes from his residence in Savannah to the safety of a waiting British warship, after being taken into custody and placed under house arrest by Patriots under Major Joseph Habersham."
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