Home › How the Northwest Was Won › How the Northwest Was Won: Clark

How the Northwest Was Won: Clark

As he uttered these words, a crowd of Patriots, dressed as he was, stepped into the room, seized all the guns of the soldiers, and thus occupied the fort. The young man's name was John Rogers Clark. The fort had been captured without a blow or a shot.

This is how it happened. John Rogers Clark, who had been living for some time in Kentucky, saw plainly that the English were stirring up the Indians of the West for an attack on the American settlements. So he determined to put a stop to it. Besides, he wished to capture the western forts for his own country. He went to Virginia, and asked Patrick Henry, who was then Governor, "Give me permission to raise a body of soldiers, and march West for the protection of Virginia and Kentucky."

Patrick Henry looked into the brave eyes of the young man, and said, "Go, my dear sir, raise your companies, and I will make you a Colonel.