With one important exception there were no events of any historical significance during the Revolutionary period.   Great Britain was fully occupied in the endeavor to conquer her rebellious subjects, and the demands upon the resources of the colonies in the arduous and protracted struggle were too great to allow any attention to be given to schemes of Western colonization.   The exception to which reference has been made was the capture of the British military posts in the west by George Rogers Clark.  Clark was a Virginian who had made his home in Kentucky.   With a far sighted sagacity, which had in it something of statesmanship, he conceived and executed the plan which subsequently furnished the American commissioners entrusted with the negotiation of the treaty of 1783, at Paris, with their strongest argument in support of the claim of the United States to territory west of the Ohio.   It is probable that Clark did not himself fully realize its far-reaching consequences.  His immediate purpose was to put a stop to the persistent Indian attacks on the outer settlements, which he reasoned could be most effectually done by destroying the British posts whence the savages obtained supplies, ammunition, and oftentimes leadership.   One person, however, appreciated the full significance of Clark's plan, as will be seen by the following extract from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to Clark before the issue of the campaign was known in Virginia: "Much solicitude will be felt for the issue of your expedition to the Wabash; it will at least delay their expedition to the frontier settlement, and if successful have an important bearing ultimately in establishing our north western boundary."

CAPTURE OF FORTS KASKASKIA, CAHOKIA AND VINCENNES.

     In 1777 Clark sent out scouts to spy out the country, secure information in regard to the forts, and ascertain the sentiment of the French inhabitants of the villages.  Having received a favorable report, he went to Williamsburg, then the capital of Virginia, where he obtained authority from Governor Patrick Henry to enlist a militia force of seven companies of men to act under his command.  The object of the expedition was kept as secret as possible.  Private instructions were given Clark by the Governor, in accordance with which he was to attack the post of Kaskaskia.  Supplies were to be obtained at Fort Pitt.  The secrecy Which he was obliged to maintain made the work of recruiting his command one of great

RESIDENCE OF MRS. KATE M. MACKEY, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO; (top left)
RESIDENCE OF MYRON I. ARMS, YOUNGSTOWN; (top right)
RICHARD BROWN MEMORIAL SUNDAY SCHOOL CHAPEL, YOUNGSTOWN; (bottom left)
ST. JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, YOUNGSTOWN (bottom right)

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difficulty, and he found obstructions thrown in his way by many leading men on the frontier, "which prevented the enlistment of as many men as had been contemplated, and led to frequent desertions."  At last, on June 26, 1778, with a small command, not exceeding two hundred men, he left the Falls of the Ohio, and descended the river in boats to Fort Massac, forty miles from its mouth.  Thence he marched to Kaskaskia, which fell into his hands, as did Cahokia soon after, without the loss of a single life.  Vincennes surrendered "to a mere proclamation when there was not an American soldier within 100 miles of the place."  For this easy victory Clark was largely indebted to Father Gibault, who, representing the sentiment of the French population, entered into his plans with great warmth and energy, and afforded him all the assistance in his power.
     Here, although in possession of the country, Clark was placed in an embarrassing position, owing to the desire of his men to return home, their term of enlistment having expired.  It was necessary to hold the conquered territory, or all would be lost.  After much persuation persuasion he prevailed upon 800 of the men to reenlist for eight months, and then filled up his companies with recruits from the villages, at the same time sending an urgent request to Virginia for reinforcements.  The good effect of his expedition was already seen in the conduct of the Indian tribes, some ten or twelve of which within five weeks sent representatives to sue for peace.  Clark completed his conquests on the Wabash by capturing the post of Ouiatenon*, and also showed great ability in outwitting the English and counteracting their influence with the savages.

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     * NOTE: Ouiatenon (Miami-Illinois: waayaahtanonki) was a dwelling place of members of the Wea tribe of Native Americans. The name Ouiatenon, also variously given as Ouiatanon, Oujatanon, Ouiatano or other similar forms, is a French rendering of a term from the Wea dialect of the Miami-Illinois language which means "place of the people of the whirlpool", an ethnonym** for the Wea.  Ouiatenon can be said to refer generally to any settlement of Wea or to their tribal lands as a whole, though the name is most frequently used to refer to a group of extinct settlements situated together along the Wabash River in what is now western Tippecanoe County, Indiana.
     ** An ethnonym is a name used to refer to an ethnic group, tribe, or people.

THE BRITISH TRY TO RECOVER THE FORTS.

"And now," says Hinsdale, from whom this narrative has been condensed, "Clark began really to feel the difficulties of his situation.  Destitute of money, poorly supplied, commanding a small and widely scattered force, he had to meet and circumvent an active enemy who was determined to regain what he had lost.  Governor Hamilton projected a grand campaign against the French towns that had been captured and the small force that held them.  The feeble issue was the capture, in December, 1778, of Vincennes, which was occupied by but two Americans.  Clark, who was in the Illinois at the time of this disaster, at once put his little force in motion for the Wabash, knowing, he says, that if he did not take Hamilton, Hamilton would take him; and, Feb. 25, 1779, at the end of a march of two hundred and fifty miles, that ranks in peril and hardship with Arnold's winter march to Canada, he again captured the town, the fort, the governor, and his whole command.  Hamilton was sent to Virginia a prisoner of war, where he was found guilty of treating American prisoners with cruelty, and of offering the Indians premiums for scalps but none for prisoners."

PROJECT AGAINST DETROIT ABANDONED.

     Clark was very anxious to attempt the capture of Detroit, as being by far the most important of the British posts, but he had to abandon the enterprise owing to the lack of sufficient resources.  The project was several times considered by Congress, and also by the Virginia State authorities, but was as often abandoned for the same reason.  Detroit, therefore, to Clark's great chagrin, remained in the hands of the British till the end of the war, and, in fact, till 1796.  As it was, Clark won and held the Illinois and the Wabash in the name of Virginia and of the United States, thus enabling the American commissioners "to plead uti possidetis in reference to much of the country beyond the Ohio."  "It would not be easy," says Hinsdale, "to 'find in our history a case of an officer accomplishing results that were so great and far-reaching with so small a force."

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE FRENCH POPULATION.

     It is worthy of note that Clark's success was due largely to the spirit in which he was received and aided by the French settlers beyond the Ohio.  In thus assisting him they were actuated by their ancient feeling of antipathy

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to the British, and by a desire to see the work of 1763 apparently undone; yet in reality they were aiding to perfect it.  The French alliance of 1778 "made them think they were again opposing the old enemy."  "But * * * the welcome which they gave the Americans did not arrest their fate or retard their decline.  The breath of Anglo-American civilization seemed almost as fatal to them as to the Indians themselves.  Louisiana and the fur lands continued to draw away their strength and scarcely a trace of them can be found in Northwestern life today.  Cbamplain laid the foundation of the British province of Quebec; the State of Louisiana is the child of the French colony; but the habitants of the Northwest seem as effectually lost in the past as the Mound Builders."

THE BRITISH RETAIN NORTHWESTERN POSTS AFTER THE TREATY OF PARIS.

     It was the Clark conquest, together with the colonial titles, that enabled the United States to wrest the Northwestern territory from Great Britain.  Possession was reluctantly yielded, and for some time England, in the hope that the young republic would prove a failure, refused to surrender the military posts in the territory that remained in her hands at the close of the war, alleging as an excuse the non-fulfilment non-fulfillment on the part of the United States of certain stipulations of the treaty of peace.  For thirteen years after the conclusion of the treaty British garrisons continued to occupy Oswego, Niagara, Detroit, Mackinaw, and a number of minor posts, and a British force even invaded territory that England did not hold at the close of the war and built Fort Miami at the rapids of the Maumee.  It was at these forts that the Indians found aid and encouragement in their attacks on the settlements.  This state of things was finally brought to an end by General Wayne, who pursued the Indians up to the very guns of Miami, and, in 1795, negotiated with them the treaty of Greenville.  The Jay treaty by which England bound herself to surrender the forts which she should have yielded in 1783 had been negotiated the year before.  "On July 11, 1796, a detachment from Wayne's army raised the Stars and Stripes above the stockade and village of Detroit, where the French and British colors had successively waved, and this act completed the tardy transfer of the old North west to the United States."
     The war of 1812, with Hull's surrender of Detroit, revived for a time British hopes of recovering the Northwest, and not until the signing of the treaty of Ghent was the destiny of the territory fully assured.