George Rogers Clark | |
|---|---|
 1825 portrait by James Barton Longacre | |
| Nickname(s) | Conqueror of the Old Northwest[1] Hannibal of the West[2] Washington of the West[3] Father of Louisville Founder of the Commonwealth[4] |
| Born | November 19, 1752 Albemarle County, Virginia, British America |
| Died | February 13, 1818 (aged 65) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Buried | Cave Hill Cemetery (Louisville) |
| Allegiance | Virginia United States |
| Service | Virginia Militia |
| Years of service | 1774–1790 |
| Rank | Brigadier-General |
| Unit | Illinois Regiment |
| Commands | Western Frontier |
| Battles / wars | |
| Relations |
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George Rogers Clark (November 19, 1752 – February 13, 1818) was an American military officer and surveyor from Virginia who became the highest-ranking Patriot military officer on the northwestern frontier during the Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the Virginia militia in Kentucky (then part of Virginia) throughout much of the war. He is best known for his captures of Kaskaskia in 1778 and Vincennes in 1779 during the Illinois campaign, which greatly weakened British influence in the Northwest Territory (then part of the British Province of Quebec) and earned Clark the nickname of "Conqueror of the Old Northwest". The British ceded the entire Northwest Territory to the United States in the 1783 Treaty of Paris.
Clark's major military achievements occurred before his thirtieth birthday. Afterward, he led militia forces in the opening engagements of the Northwest Indian War, but was accused of being drunk on duty. He was disgraced and forced to resign, despite his demand for a formal investigation into the accusations. Clark left Kentucky to live in the Indiana Territory but was never fully reimbursed by the Virginian government for his wartime expenditures. During the final decades of his life, he worked to evade creditors and suffered living in increasing poverty and obscurity. He was involved in two failed attempts to open the Spanish-controlled Mississippi River to American traffic. Following a stroke and the amputation of his right leg, he became disabled. Clark was aided in his final years by family members, including his younger brother William, one of the leaders of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He died of a stroke on February 13, 1818.
- ^ Miles P DuVal (1969). George Rogers Clark: Conqueror of the Old Northwest.
- ^ James J. Holmberg. The Clark Family and the Kentucky Derby. Filson Historical Society.
- ^ Mead, Edwin Doak (1893). Old South Meeting House. The Old South Leaflets: Annual Series. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016.
- ^ Biles, Roger (2005). Illinois A History of the Land and Its People. Northern Illinois University Press. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-0-87580-604-4.