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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
the reassembling of the legislature Clark
was present and succeeded in gaining for-
mal recognition of the Kentucky country
and its organization as a county with the
same name and boundaries it now has as a
state. In January, 1777, gunpowder was
delivered in Kentucky. Clark stopped at
Leestown and McClelland's and set about to
organize aggressive warfare against the In-
dians, who had been making serious depre-
dations. He was given the rank of lieu-
I'^nant-colonel, and instructed by Gov.
Henry to enlist seven companies of sol-
diers, of fifty men each. W'ith this force
he was to attack the British post at Kas-
kaskia. Early in May, 1778, he departed
from Red Stone with only one-third of the
troops expected. He stopped at the mouth
of the Kentucky river and finally to the falls
of the Ohio and selected Corn Island for
his camping ground. His men numbered
about one hundred and seventy, and on
June 24, 1778, they started for Kaskaskia,
arriving there on the evening of July 4. Be-
fore daylight they had disarmed the town.
Clark sent a part of his force to take pos-
session of the French villages up the Miss-
issippi, Capt. Joseph Bowman succeeding in
capturing Prairie du Rocher, Cahokia, and
other villages. Meanwhile Clark secured
the allegiance of the inhabitants of Vincen-
nes, the most important post on the river.
At Cahokia he met representatives from
several tribes, and secured treaties of peace.
On February 5, 1779, the little army left
Kaskaskia for Vincennes. For ten days
they marched through the waters then over-
flowing the Wabash river and all its tribu-
taries; Fort Sackville and Vincennes were
captured after considerable fighting. Clark
received a commission from Gov. Henry,
dated December 14, 1778, promoting him
colonel. He contemplated attacking De-
troit, but decided it to be impracticable,
owing to his scanty force. On June 12,
1779, Virginia presented Col. Clark with a
costly sword in recognition of his services.
He returned to the falls of the Ohio later
in 1779 and found that the garrison had re-
moved to the mainland and constructed a
fort in what is now Louisville, Kentucky.
Early in 1780 he proceeded to the mouth
of the Ohio river and built Fort Jefferson,
but owing to sickness and Indian attacks,
the fort was abandoned in 1781. In that
year he was commissioned brigadier-gen-
eral and began to recruit troops for an at-
tack on Detroit. This expedition, through
the failure of Col. Lochry to reach Wheel-
ing until after Clark's departure, was un-
successful, and the defeat embittered Clark's
after life. On Clark's return to the west
he set about organizing the militia. Fort
Nelson, on the site of Louisville, was con-
structed, and early in November, 1782, at
the head of one thousand men, he marched
against the Indians on the Miami river and
subdued them. In January, 1783, the treaty
of peace with Great Britain was ratified by
congress and attention was turned to the
vast territory of land acquired through the
eflforts of Gen. Clark, but Virginia, exhaust-
ed by the war, failed sufficiently to provide
for his troops, and on June 2, 1783, he was
relieved of his command. His financial
condition rendered impossible the purchase
of food and clothing, and necessity led him
to appeal to the government. The appeal
was unheeded, and even the half pay allot-
ted to all Continental officers was denied
him, as he had been a member of the Vir-
ginia militia and not of the Continental
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