A little less than a century and a half ago a small band of armed frontiersmen, led by George Rogers Clark, took and held a territory in which is now the center of the population of the United States. How rapid was the westward movement when once begun!

rison of the fort at Kaskaskia gave a ball. The French Creoles of this little Illinois river settlement attended. The scene which the flaming torches revealed was one of backwoods gayety. In the midst of the revels a tall, blue-eyed stranger stepped quietly within the hall, and for a time leaned against the wall, unnoticed by the dancers. Calmly he stood, undisturbing and undisturbed. Suddenly an Indian yell rent the air. It came from a sharp-eyed savage who had been intently studying the bronzed face of the stranger. That single whoop of recognition marked the end of British power from the western limits of the struggling colonies to the Mississippi river. The stranger was George Rogers Clark, the bold leader of a little army that was then posted about the place.

He stepped forward and bade the dance go on, saying that now and henceforth they danced under the American and not under the British flag.

This account is published in Denny's "Memoir of Major Ebenezer Denny." An artist's representation of it is found in Lodge's "Story of the Revolution." In Clark's letter to George Mason of Virginia, written November 19, 1779, he makes no mention of the incident of the ball, but writes of the taking of Kaskaskia as follows: "I immediately divided my little army into two Divisions, ordered one to secure the Town, with the other I broke into the Fort, secured the Governour Mr. Rockblave, in 15 minutes had every Street secured, sent Runners

through the Town ordering the People on the pane of Death to keep close to their Houses, which they observed and before daylight had the whole disarmed." He made a similar statement in his memoirs-probably written in 1791.

Whatever the details, certain it is that the English Commandant was made a prisoner; no resistance was offered; no blood was shed. Clark's work was well begun. His force of one hundred and fifty men invested the town. The terror of the French population turned to joy when the American leader offered to treat them as citizens of the United States.

The consequences of this drama were tremendous. Before considering them, let us look for a moment at its chief actor.

In the year 1752, in a little farm house situated about a mile from Monticello, Virginia, the home of Thomas Jefferson, George Rogers Clark was born. It is probable that in his youth for some months he and James Madison together attended the school of one Donald Robertson. Like many of the ambitious young men of his time, Clark became a surveyor. When nineteen years old, he journeyed westward on an expedition to the upper Ohio Valley. He finally built his cabin about twenty-five miles below Wheeling, near where Fish Creek enters the Ohio. There he grew a crop of corn, hunted, fished, and, as he wrote his brother Jonathan in 1773, received "a good deal of cash by surveying on this river." In 1774 the conflicts between the

Indians and the few settlers who had ventured into the hunting grounds of Kentucky culminated in Lord Dunmore's War. In this Clark served under the famous Indian fighter and pioneer, Col. Cresap. In 1776 he went to Kentucky. A meeting of settlers held at Harrodsburg in June of that year chose Clark and one John Gabriel Jones to represent them in the Virginia legislature then in session at Williamsburg. The two delegates made their way through Cumberland Gap over Boone's Wilderness Road to Williamsburg, arriving after the legislature's adjournment. Through Governor Patrick Henry, Clark secured from the Executive Council of Virginia, for the Kentucky inhabitants, five hundred pounds of powder, which was delivered at Pittsburg. Thence it was taken down the Ohio River probably to a point near Manchester, Ohio, and hidden to await the gathering of a sufficient force to carry it to interior Kentucky points. While Clark was pushing on to Harrodsburg for this purpose, a Col. Todd arrived and provided Jones an escort. On their way from Licking Creek to the powder caches they were attacked and routed by Indians, Jones and two others being killed and several taken prisoners. From Harrodsburg, thirty men, among them Simon Kenton, started for the powder on January 2, 1777. They successfully obtained it. Small as this supply now seems, its importance was tremendous. Without this ammunition, it is probable that in the Indian border war

fare the Kentucky pioneers could not have survived. In the French villages north of the Ohio, and then under British domination, the red men were frequently incited to gather their war parties for forays against the sparse Kentucky settlements. Clark determined to march against these principal posts. With such slight help as Patrick Henry, Virginia's Governor, could give Clark was enabled to equip a small army of pioneer riflemen for the audacious project. Under severe difficulties this band proceeded down the Ohio to its falls. Here Clark, with huts of logs, made the small beginnings of what afterward became Louisville, Kentucky. From Louisville, so named in honor of the French king with whom the American alliance had just been made, they marched first through forests and then over prairies, where buffalo still roamed. They traveled by night and hid by day, for the Indian allies of the British were abroad. Here no bands played-no fifes shrilled-no drums beat-no proud chargers pranced-no artillery rattled. There were none of the usual accompaniments of an invading army. At the head of the dauntless invaders the leader walked silently-a handsome youth was he, blue-eyed and with red-tinged hair. He was six feet tall, of powerful frame and fit in body and in mind to lead his rough unlettered followers. Most of them wore the usual seam-fringed buckskin leggins; their feet were moccasined. From shoulder to knee hung the long rudely ornamented and belted hunting shirt