The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-06-29

tlon would have enShrined his memory
as one of her greatest heroes In
stead 1t has been a matter of shame
to historians who have recognized the
full Indebtedness of the United States
to this great Virginian that our nation
allowed him to die in poverty and neg
lect, his last years embittered by the
ingratitude of republic which for
GETS"
Recently, however, some recompense,
tardy though it is, has been made for
the many years of neglected honor to
the name and fame of George Rogers
Clark. Last year the first organized
tribute of the Old Northwest to the
man who made ii part of the United
States was offered in a pilgrimage
made by large number of citizens of
the six states to his birthplace at
Charlottesville, Va, on November 10.
the one hundredth seventy-fifth ami
versary of his birth.
Further honors to the memory of
Clark were also projected during the
sessions of congress this year in the
introduction of various bills. One was
to authorize the construction of a
George Rogers Clark memorial light
house on the Ohio river near Louis
vile, KY; another provided for the
construction of memorial on the site
Of Fort Gage fKaskaskia) in RAN
dolph county, Illinois.
But most important of all was the
recent passage of bill providing an
appropriation of S1,OOO,OO0 for the
construction of a historical museum
on the the site of Fort Sackville at
vincennes, Ind, and the participation
of the federal government in the Clark
sesquicentennial celebration to be
held there next year. This celebra-
ton which will open next February
on the one hundredth and fiftieth an
niversary of the capture of Fort Sack
vile by Clark will be the most impress
sive gesture of honoring the conQueror
Of the Old Northwest that has yet
been made. Initiated by the people of
that section, the whole nation will be
invited to participate because it is the
whole nation which owes debt of
gratitude to Clark.
The celebration will have a special
significance since it will also mark the
one hundredth and fiftieth anniversary
of the first time the Stars and Stripes
were raised over that section of the
country. For when the British flag
Id n frnrt nrf
Sackville, after Hamilton's surrender
of the fort, 1t was the new flag of the
new nation, one of the several stands
of colors which the French inhabi-
tants had presented to Clark's men
and the volunteers who accompanied
them on their expedition against Vim
cennes, which was run up In its place
Some historians have stated that
Clark first unfurled the Stars and
Stripes on the soil of Illinois before
setting out for Kaskaskia, but Clark's
narrative, in the book quoted above,
makes no mention of this fact, and 1t
is probable that Vincennes and not
Kaskaskia first had sight Of Old
Glory.
1t would have been final touch Of
patriotic appropriateness if the Stars
and Stripes had been displayed on
July 4, ITS. But even though it was
not, the events of that day were sig
nificant enough, and on Independence
day this year, when Americans are re-
Numbering the men on the Atlantic
seaboard who, on July A, 1776. signed
the Declaration of Independence, they
should also remember the little group
of backwoodsmen who helped make
that Declaration good by their daring
and the privauons they endured un-
der the leadership of George Rogers
Clark.