Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-01-05
By HARVEY REYNOLDS.
George Rogers Clark.


station in the heart of the wilderness of Ken
tucky-some mystery attending his coming
man destined to play conspicuous part in the
early history of Kentucky; whose genius and
enterprise did more than any other man to secure
to the colonies the conquest and the settlement
of the entire Northwest, from the lakes on the
north, to the Mississippi the west-George
Rogers Clark, the founder of this commonwealth,
a young soldier, engineer, of twentythree or four
years old, related to the McAfees, by ties of
blood their mothers having been sisters named
Rogers.
In stature he was some six feet three inches
tall; of imposing presence and dignity, which
commanded the tribute of respect and Difference
of all who approached him, and yet, so gentle and
affable to ALL that the magnetism of his person
won the confidence and secured the friendship of
those around him.
His person and bearing and the unselish
nobility of his character, his civic and military
genius and his devoted patriotism made him in
the obscure field of the mighty West a hero,
only less than Washington, by the limited theatre
of his opportunities.
He became early impressed with the Importance
of this country west of the mountains to the
security of Virginia and her sister colonies, the
pivot key to the great M, Invest. BY his genius,
and bold finesse, he eaT4sd for himself the honor
of laying the first foT .~dtion of a sovereign gov
eminent westward On the Appalachian Chain
This conquest of the Northwest was the great
work of his life, and it done thoroughly and
we'll. He made a Major-general, and led
many successful expeditions against the hostile
Indians, by the time he was twenty-seven years
old. The beginning of his army recruited
at Harrods fort and the McAfee Stockade.
After short rest with the McAfeeS, continuing
his tramp he soon reached Harrodstown and was
received into the fort where owing to his natural
advantages and ability, be soon became the Com
mander in Chief of the frontiersman. year
later he gathered together a convention of the
backWoodsmen, and chosen to represent them
in the Virginia legislature where he espoused
their cause 80 bold by placing before the assembly
hoir cI1ffo rtnoc and har Chi md of ,O-
tection that they forced to yield to his
demand fvr ammunition,-powdera and lead with
which y. defend themselves from their savage
foes, IL. Indians. The women of that day often
told * Aow. when they would hear the Indians at
nigh stealing through the canebrake, the chill
drbN would be hurried down through trap door
t.to the potato hole, beneath the floor to remain
.here, while the older persons in the fort drove
way the marauders. Those days of cruel
differing and danger, hard to realize sit
surrounded by all the comforts and luxuries of
life
1t shows of what stuff these pioneer women
and men were made.
Many of them-Scotch-Irish emigrants-had in
their veins the blood of the Hamiltons the Wal
laces, Bruce, and other Scotch patriots. When
driven from their Scotch highlands, they fled to
Ireland and from there came to this country to
win for themselves in the wilderness homes, where
they might unmoested enjoy that liberty and
freedom which was denied them in their father
land. This was the incentive which strengthened
the hearts of the women. and the arms of the men
in the unequal contest
Clark returned from Virginia in the spring, and
after a summer of great suffering and hardship
from the invasion of the Indians-abetted by their
English allies-he returned to Virginia about the
first of October to importune the assembly for
money to raise an army to take the offensive;
to go out and strike the Indians and their allies,
the British and French in their strongholds, on
the banks of the Mississippi.
From the Governor, Patrick Henry he wrung
twelve hundred pounds in Continental money, and
the power to raise troops. Word came to Capt