Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-03-21
Achievements Of George Rogers Clark
Great North West Territory.

Ihe following most interesting paper
was read by it's author, Miss Muriel
Dyar at the last Relic Room reading:
On the green lift of grass in Monu-
ment Place, Indianapolis, there stands
today statue, bearing on its pedestal,
the inscription: General George Rog-
ers Clark, Concueror of the Country
Northwest of the River Ohio from the
British, 177S-9," and above this, direct
ly beneath the foot of the statue, the
one splendid word "Vincennes. The
bronze represents stalwart pioneer
officer in colonial uniform, his sword
drawn and grasped firmly in his right
hand, his left arm flung up with
beckoning gesture as he calls his fol-
lowers UP and on to victory, The thin
aquiline face is tense with courage and
set with a dauntless determination.
1t is the face and figure of leader
the attitude of General Clark as step
ping swiftly forward and upward from
the last flooded prairie he had to cross
with his weary men, he swept on finely
to Vincennes, gaining for the American
colonies the great Northwest Territory
In the University of Vincennes there
hangs the portrait of hurt old man,
with dropping, unhappy mouth. Tho
portrait is that of General Clark, paint
ed in his later years. Between the face
of the statue bright and strong with
a great provision, and the face of the
portrait, dulled, disappointed, weaken
ed, is the touching history of one of
the great officers CT the Revolutionary
era.
Very little is known of the boyhood
of George Ro"ers Clark. Born in 1852
in Virginia, that tender bosomed moth
er of so many soldiers and statesmen,
he is thought to have known the young
James Madison and Jefferson. Be
tween the latter and General Clark
there was always lasting and warm
friendship. When he, too, was an old
man, but in the zenith of his glory.
President Jefferson. with delicacy
characteristic of the Sage of Month
cello, wrote to his friend, broken down,
neglected: 81 avail myself of this OF.
portunity of recalling myself to your
memory and of assuring you that time
has not lessened my friendship for you.
We are both now grown old. You have
been enjoying in retirement the recol-
lection of the services you haye rend-
cred your country and am about to re-
tire without an equal consciousness
that l have not occupied places in
which others would have done more
good. But in all times and all places |
shall wish you every happiness and
salute you with great friendship and
esteem" The education which Clark
received was only in the common
English branches and not very thor
oughly instilled at that in all lines, for
certainly the hero of the Northwest
was lamentably deficient in spelling
But his intellect was strong, keen.
leaning toward a practical knowledge
of men and material things rather than
the narrow rules of the school-room.
Full of vitality and ambition he early
determined to 'go West" and unite
his destiny with the new country now
so big with possibilities, in the Ohio
valley, so when only nineteen he eros
sed the lovely Virginia mountains as
member of an exploring and surveying
expedition. AS yet no dreams of fu-
ture military career had entered his
mind.
Pushing from point to point in the
fallow new lands with the exploring
party, he drifted into the fair Ken
lucky country, then claimed but unde-
Tended by Virginia, when just in the
prime of his sturdy young manhood.
Brave, bold, and energetic, progresses
ing in appearance, pleasing in manner,
he had at the start the qualities need
ed to win the heart of frontier people.
hC SOhhbly was lhOl t1dIllAGu, ClldOIlC,
ready for leadership and in the youth
full George Rogers Clark it found
leader. The desire to procure produc-
tive land for himself which had
prompted his coming, soon deepened
into a desire to promote Kentucky's
security and welfare. With his keen,
swift judgment, he saw the necessity of
gaining the aid of Virginia in the pro-
lection of her neglected border country.
Without stopping to shrink from the
difficulties in the way of such an un-
dertaking he secured the possession of
Kentucky that he and one of her sons
should represent her in the Virginia
House of Delegates and started at once
with little party over the wilderness
road to the Mother State 1t was for
tunate venture. The two delegates,