The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-22
III

In a chapter on HTheWest In the Revolu-
ton, DIR. Geer recalls that ,alth ough great
majority of the men beyond the mountains
arrnyed themselves heartily on the Aneri-
can side, there were among them number
OF Tories some OF whom, perhaps. favored
the King from con viction, but most OF whom
were prompted by the perception that
in antagonism to the ma jority would be
found greater opportunity for plumber.
These constituencies Tories were despera-
does and outlaws from the seaboard settle
ments, who bad crossed the mountains
TO live as outlaws or to Join the Indians.
Neither the British nor the Continental
Governments had regular troops to spare
for the hght for the possession of the West,
40 that, as rule, the battles that took place
between the Alleghsnies and the Mississippi
were between the English speaking settlers
on the one hand and the Indians. with or
without Tory leaders on the other Under
the circumstances, IL would naturally be
conflict OF fieroe and relentless hatred. AS
our author puts It: "On the Atlantic slope
the Revolution was a struggle for liberty;
in the West, it was a war for liberty and life,
the Indians knowing that now, If ever.
with the help OF some ofthe rene gade whites,
they must drive the invaders back. while
the settlers knew that they were fighting
for home and existence against desperate
and remorseless foe In these battles
the white men adopted the Indian method
of warfare, shooting from behind trees in
the wilderness and picking OF their enemy
with unerring rifles The war in the West
was a long, hideous series OF ambuscades
and rnassacres.
There is no doubt that as re CARDS the part
taken by the West in the Revolution, George
Rogers Clark was the protagonist. With
his expedition the Continental Congress,
as such, had nothing to do it was purely a
yirRinian affair. This virginian Colonel
who, at the age OF rs, started out TO win an
empire, did not at first meet with fattering
SUCCESS, p I'D. even when he beg gan his march
against he French settlements. he had no
more than i75 men under his command.
Nevertheless, thanks to Clarks votori-
Gus campaign, Americans won and held
the region northwest Of the Ohio. DR..
Geer SAYS rightly that Clark's place in
American history has never been sde-
uuately recognized. At n time when the
colonies were struggling for existence,
his was an audaoious attempt to gain new
territory. Clark Wac the tlrst eIpans orist;
and It Is probable that his work made tho
later expansion possible Had he failed
in an enterprise which, at the tins, seemed
desperate it Is probable that, at the time
when the treaty of peace was made G7s3),
the boundary Of the United States would
have been the Alleghanies instead OF the
Mississippi. When the treaty Of peace was
made the Americans could fairly claim
all the trans-Alleghany region as theirs by
conquest. That the nation stretches to-
day from ocean to ocean. instead Of from
tho Atlantic to the AlleGhanies, we owe to
GeoSge Rogers Clark as much as 10 any man.
Neither should we omit 10 recognize that
the defeat and surrender OF Ferguson at
Kings Mountain by an American force,
largely recruited beyond the mountains,
was one OF the decisive battles OF the Revo-
lutionary War. 1t came at time when
the Americans we're greatly in need Of en-
couragement after the dispiriting reverses
suffered at Camden, Savannah and Charles
ton. 1t gave fresh courage to the Wings
In the South, and caused a new uprising
among them which showed CORVALLIS
that his march into Virginia would not be
an easy matter.
DR.. Geer recalls on page IS that from the
outbreak OF the Revolutionary War to the
treaty Of peace there had been a continuous
growth OF population in the Western ooun-
try. Tho increase was particularly notice
able in the settlements which were In close
contact with the older communities, such
settlements as were TO be found In western
Pennsylvania or in Virginia on the branches
OF the Potomac and Ohio rivers. These
however. were rather extensions Of old
communities than distinctly now and iso-
lated outpoets As n matter OF fact. there
was a similar growth In the Kentucky and
Tennessee settlements that were separated
by long distances and mountain ranges
from the older communities. Our authors
researches have convinced him that @in
1880 5000 people entered Kentucky by
floating down the Ohio. BY 1888 there
were schools and churches and prosperous
farms; the population rose rapidly in that