George Rogers Clark: (1752 - 1818)
     He was the son of John Clark III & Ann Rogers (his second cousin), born on a Virginia (Albemarle County) plantation. He was called the "Father of the West" by the Americans colonies.
     As the population of the American colonies grew, Virginia attached to itself the lands of todays Kentucky. In 1776, the British controlled the lands to the Northwest (the rebel colony of Virginia also claimed the Northwest and their Federal Assembly divided the district of West Augusta - which included western Wisconsin - into the counties of Ohio, Yohagany & Monongahela) due to the many tribal allies (loyal to the Crown) in the western regions. The British encouraged raids of these allies into Kentucky (and other rebel colonies lands) to stem the "Long Knife" growing threat. The Governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry, sent Clark to organize & lead an army against the British & their allied tribes. In the summer of 1778, Clark managed to take Vincennes, Kaskaskia & Cahokia, which were the centers of British control. In December of 1778 British Lt.Gov.Henry Hamilton re-took Vincennes (Ft.Sackville), organizing a force from "loyal" Detroit. In February of 1779 Clark (Major Joseph Bowman's Journal) & his forces (of 130 rebels) arrive at Vincennes, Indiana and convince the British to surrender, taking Hamilton prisoner and sending him back east to Virginia.
     Clark forced the British to withdraw from the Illinois & Mississippi River regions (Alexander McKee, Matthew Elliot & Simon Girty the famous Torys flee to British Detroit in March of 1778) and the British lines receded to the Great Lakes (leaving their allied tribes to face the Americans alone). He financed much of his campaigns through his own resources and was never fully compensated by Virginia or American governments, he remained indebt for the rest of his life.
 
William Clark: (1770 - 1838)
      He was the son of John Clark & Ann Rogers, born on a Virginia (Caroline County) plantation (he was the younger brother of George Rogers Clark).
     William followed his older brothers in a military career, signing up under Mj.John Hardin in his campaign against the Ohio Valley tribes in 1789 and in 1791 serving under Mj.Gen.James Wilkinson in Scott's Campaign against the tribes north of the Ohio River. In 1793 he found himself on intelligence gathering missions toward the Mississippi and in 1795 Gen.Anthony Wayne sent him on a diplomatic mission to a Spanish fort on the Mississippi. William retired from the military in 1796. In 1799 his father died and William inherited most of his father estate which included over 7,000 acres of land in Kentucky & lands north of the Ohio River. William was chosen by Meriwether Lewis (who was President Thomas Jefferson's private secretary in 1803/04 and was asked by Jefferson to lead an expedition into the far west) to co-Captain the "Corps of Discovery" up the Missouri River to the Pacific Northwest. In 1807, William began his new career as U.S. Indian agent of the tribes of Louisiana Territory, at St.Louis, Missouri. After the War of 1812 the U.S. focused on the removal of tribes east of the Mississippi and as Indian agent in St.Louis, William played a large role in carrying out this mission. He served as Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St.Louis until his death in 1838.
 
 
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