The Role of George Rogers Clark
in the Illinois Frontier

Leanna Bray
Unity Point School, Carbondale

All Americans owe George Rogers Clark and his men a debt for fighting and winning the lands of Illinois from the British. In 1777 a militia was established to defend Kentucky and take three forts under British control by surprise in Illinois. The British were supplying the Indians with guns and ammunition to raid settlements to scare settlers into giving up their land.

The militia was not large enough to defend the whole frontier; thus as Clark traveled from fort to fort he made a plan. Clark set out for Williamsburg to see Patrick Henry. There at Williamsburg he learned some exciting news. Men from thirteen colonies had held a meeting, declared the thirteen colonies were free from British control, and that they were a new nation—the United States of America. The flag of the union had been designed. It had thirteen stars on a blue field.

Patrick Henry was glad to see Clark. He told him about the Indian raids. Clark told Henry that Colonel Hamilton, head of the British army, would come and attack them one day. His plan was to attack them first. He told Henry that they would surprise the British at Forts Cahokia, Kaskaskia, and Vincennes in Illinois Territory. Clark had spies in place in each of the forts and they had brought reports.

Henry liked the plan. Clark was promised some money and 350 men. He was disappointed. He needed twice as many men and more money. But General Washington needed men, too. His campaign was not going well in the East. Washington was at Valley Forge, and he was trying to build his own army. Patrick Henry gave Clark two sets of orders. One was to defend Kentucky, and the other orders were secret. They gave him permission to march on the Illinois forts by surprise. If this mission was successful he would be promoted from Captain to Colonel.

Clark wrote letters to his fellow captains in Kentucky. They recruited as many men as they could. The men met at the Monongahela River.

The men his captains brought were farmers. They wore fur caps and deer skin shirts. Their moccasins were old and dirty. They carried short-handled axes, rifles, and long-bladed knives, and there were only 150 of them. They were called the Long Knives.

They loaded flat boats at Fort Pitt. They started down the Ohio River toward the falls of the Ohio River. This was a dangerous stretch of water. While they were there a messenger brought news that the French would join them in their fight. On June 23 they started down the river from Corn Island. The weather was cloudy. The Indians did not see them pass.

After four days on the river they came across some hunters who had been to Kaskaskia. They informed them about the town and the fort. They decided they would go by land with the hunters' help. They marched through forest. Clark was impressed by Illinois and became more determined to win the fort. The hunters thought they knew the path but almost lost their way. They wandered for an hour and became afraid they would be spotted; however, they found the path along the Kaskaskia River.

Across the river was a village. When evening fell, Clark went to a village farmer and ordered him to get them rowboats. The men divided into two parties. One group surrounded the town. The second group climbed the bank to the fort gate that faces the river.

Clark led one group up the river by boat. Just then the town's dogs began to bark. At last they stopped and the men moved on. There was no guard at the gate. Like shadows, Clark's men crept across the fort yard. Suddenly a dozen British soldiers rushed out into the darkness when they heard the American's voices. Clark's men grabbed them. Clark grabbed a lantern and went to the governor's house.

Governor Phillipe Francois de Rastel Rocheblave was asleep. Clark shook him awake. Rocheblave stared up at him under his night cap. "I am George Rogers Clark," Clark said, and "You have just become a prisoner of the Commonwealth of Virginia."

Then the rest of Clark's army ran through town. They shouted and whooped. The frightened villagers stayed in their homes. Clark's men patrolled the streets. No one could get away.

Kaskaskia had fallen to the Americans, not a shot had been fired and not a drop of blood had been spilled. It was July 4, 1778, just two years after the Declaration of Independence had been signed.

After this successful mission Clark was promoted to the rank of Colonel. The priest of the Kaskaskians, Father Gibault told Clark the people expected to be sent into exile. Gibault asked that families not be separated. The people were French and knew little about war. The priest told Clark that the French had nothing against the Americans.

2 ILLINOIS HISTORY / DECEMBER 2000

Clark told the people that he had word that the French were sending men and money to help fight. When the word spread everyone was overjoyed. Clark said they were free to choose the United States or Great Britain. All the Kaskaskians wanted to join the United States.

That same day Clark sent a troop of men to Cahokia. It was a trading town fifty miles away. Hunters, trappers, and Indians came from all over the Illinois Country.

Some of the men from Kaskaskia went with Clark's soldiers. They told the Cahokians they could join the United States or stay with Britain. Without a drop of blood shed or one bullet shot, they agreed to join the United States.

Clark's next idea was to take over Fort Sackville in Vincennes. Father Gibault knew Vincennes well and often preached there. Even though it was two hundred miles away, they agreed Father Gibault should talk to the settlers about joining the American side. Two weeks later he returned saying they had won the people of Vincennes. The Indians along the Wabash wanted to make peace, too. To them Clark was the "Big Knife."

A merchant warned that Hamilton had arrived from Detroit and planned to attack, had captured Vincennes, and taken Captain Helm prisoner. All night the men trudged through the flooded Wabash River. When they got to Vincennes all of Clark's men traveled in a zigzag line and attached flags to trees to make them think there were more men than there were.

The bloody battle lasted all night long. When they used all their powder, Clark sent a message to surrender. Hamilton asked for a three-day truce. During the truce a tribe of Indians fighting for the British came whooping toward the town. Clark and his men captured and tomahawked them, and General Hamilton finally surrendered.

Thus, George Rogers Clark and his unit of frontiersmen actually occupied the Illinois Country for the new United States. It was a remarkable accomplishment.—[From D. O. Marrison, Illinois "Prairie State"; J. M. Pease, The Story of Illinois; V. D. Every, The First American Frontier; Adele De Leeuw, George Rogers Clark]

ILLINOIS HISTORY / DECEMBER 2000   3