Clark County lies on the north bank of the Ohio River. A significant gateway to the state of Indiana, Clark County's settlement began in 1783. The state of Virginia rewarded General George Rogers Clark and his regiment for their victorious capture of Forts Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes from the British, by granting them of land. A small portion of this land, , became known as Clarksville, the first authorized American settlement in the Northwest Territory, founded the next year in 1784.