"Born in Albermarle County, Virginia, November 19, 1752; died near Louisville, Kentucky, February 13, 1818. He was a land surveyor, and commanded a company in Dunmore's war against the Indians in 1774. He went to Kentucky in 1775 and took command of the armed settlers there. He captured Kaskaskia and other towns in 1778, which, with the surrounding region, were organized into Illinois country, under the jurisdiction of Virginia. Commissioned a Colonel, he successfully labored for the pacification of the Indian tribes. Learning that Governor Hamilton, of Detroit, had captured Vincennes, Clark led an expedition against him (February 1779) and recaptured it (February 25). He also intercepted a convoy of goods worth ten thousand dollars, and afterward built Fort Jefferson on the west side of the Mississippi. The Indians from north of the Ohio, with some British, raided Kentucky in June, 1780, when Clark led a force against the Shawnoese on the Grand Miami, and defeated them with heavy loss at Pickaway. He served in Virginia during its invasion by Arnold and Cornwallis, and in 1782 he led one thousand mounted riflemen from the mouth of the Licking and invaded the Scioto Valley, burning five villages and laying waste their plantations. The savages were so awed that no formidable war party ever afterward appeared in Kentucky. Clark made an unsuccessful expedition against the Indians on the Wabash, with one thousand men, in 1786. His great service to his country in making the frontier a safe dwelling place was overlooked by his countrymen, and he died in poverty and obscurity." - Lossing's "Cyclopedia of U. S. History."