Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-26


Americans had no cannon ;bay uare
sIeat inarksmen. and they had taken pro-
.ected positions that commanded the mort
iioles through which the people in the fort
tlau 70 iire- IL was death for one of the
Desiesed 10 appear at a porthoIe Thraupb
out the night the Americans gave fhe
British no rest.
IN the morning the attackers paused
Tor breakfast. the first regular Meal they
mad had in six days Then Clark SAM /,
nag into the fort demanding its surren-
der Hamilton promptly declined Firing
thereupon was resumed. A little later
hamilton and his men witnessed some
thing that broke their spirits. some
French and Indian marauders, who mad
peen sent to attack settlers. returned
with Scalps and prisoners Six of them
were captured by Clark, who ordered
them tomahawked and thrown into the
river Two hours later Hamilton asked
Tor a truce of three days. Clark refused
Ihen a conference was agreed TO. Clark
would grant nothing but that Hamilton
should surrender at discretion. He made
IT clear to Hamilton that he considered
MIN murderer and that the massacres
or the whites by the Indians were due to
the lieutenant governor
hamilton and his garrison of about
eighty men marched ont prisoners OF
war, and Clark's men took possession OF
the fort. Thirteen guns one for each
of the states, were fired to celebrate the
victory. victory as magnificent in its
result as almost any in the history of the
country, and one marvellous indeed, in the
light or the wonderful hardships the in
trepid band of frontiersmen endured to
bring 1t about.
A stern, bitter man Hamilton found
clark TO be. The Englishrnan was put i'm
1d FaIf
Then he was sent to Williamsburg, Va,
Wnere he was kept IN a dungeon for a
long time. Thomas Jefferson who sue
ceeded Patrick Henry as governor. had
no sympathy or respect for him and was
determined not to exchange him. but at
last consented after Hamilton had been
q prisoner nearly two years.
1t was Clarks cherished ambition to at
tack Detroit, but he never fulfilled ii. He
went to Virginia and fought for a time
against Arnold when the traitor ravaged
Virginia. Then he returned to Kentucky.
AS result of his victory at Vincennes
the Indians had wholesome fear of
Clark. They had additional reason to
fear him, for the terrific losses he in
ficted upon them toward the close OF the
revo utionary war in the battles of Piqua
and Chillicothe
When the revolutionary war closed the
British peace commissioners wee will
ing TO recognize the thirteen states. bur
claimed the territory embracing Ohio in
diana, Illinois, Wisconsin. Mich gan and
the eastern portion OF Minnesota as 4
part of Canada. Franklin and Jay in
sisted that the land won by Clark and
he'd by him was American territory and
their contention prevailed Without Clark
and without the victory OF N.ncennes the
United States would have been confined.
for time at least 10 the seaboard states.
Nlncennes may be said to have given to
the nation territory almost as large as
the original thirteen states.
If the career OF George Rogers Clark
had ended with Vincennes IL would have
been without a blemish but such was
not TO be. Virginia made him a brigadier
general for his services, and then, when
troubles embarrassed him, the state dis
missed him. The state was burdened with
debt and the cutting off Of his pay was
CONSIDERED an economy. This action in
furiated him, especially as he never had
been paid in full for the claims he mad
against the state. He became intemper-
ate. too. Possibly his sufferings account
ed for the growth of the drinking habit
Exposure in his campaigns had made him
a prey 10 rheumatism and other painful
illnesses He bitterly resented the IN
gratitude of Virginia and the nation.
Once he consented to aid Genet, the
French minister, in a ii 'ibustering expe-
dition to conquer the transmississippi
country from Spain.
He had never married and he lived q
lonesome life in home he built for him
self at Clarkville, in sight OF the Falls
Of the Ohio There one night, after
party of hunters had called upon him. he
was stricken with paralysis while he
dozed in his chair. He fell TO the floor
one leg falling into the dying fire. I'm
able to move. he lay there until morning
The leg badly burned had TO be
putated That was before the day of
anaesthetics. When the surgeon came to
tut away the limb Clark asked some
% beat a drum. AS the drumbeats
doomed out he kept time with his fingers
On the handles of his chair.
Thereafter he could not live alone, so
re made his home with relatives near
Louisville, the city of which he was the
'ounder. He died February Il, ISIS.
Forty years after his death Virginia paid
he money claim he could not collect
while he lived and when he needed 1t
,orely.
Clark was not the only one neglected
yigo never got back from Virginia or the
lation the money he advanced to aid and
.quip the expedition to Nincennes, and
rood, faithful Father Bibault, merely
Lsking for a miserable grant OF five acres
IN which to make a garden and a home.
rot the answer that the authorities had
10 right to make such disposition of the
domain of the public.
Certainly the republic Of the United
states owes much to the Clarks. One
rother, George Rogers Clark, gave to it
he middle west; another, William Clark,
e OF the famous Lewis and Clark ex-
edition. did much toward giving to Il
hat northwest beyond the Rockies.
Copyright. 1909 by Richard spillane)