them. Clark ordered two
strong men to lift each of these poor fellows up, hold him between
them by the arms, and run him up and down until he began to get warm.
By doing this he saved every one.
167. Clark takes the fort; what we got by his victory; his
grave.--After a long and desperate fight Clark took Fort Vincennes
and hoisted the Stars and Stripes over it in triumph. The British
never got it back again. Most of the Indians were now glad to make
peace, and to promise to behave themselves.
By Clark's victory the Americans got possession of the whole western
wilderness up to Detroit. When the Revolutionary War came to an end,
the British did not want to give us any part of America beyond the
thirteen states on the Atlantic coast. But we said, The whole west,
clear to the Mississippi, is ours; we fought for it; we took it; we
hoisted our flag over its forts, and _we mean to keep it_. We did
keep it.
There is a grass-grown grave in a burial-ground in Louisville,
Kentucky, which has a small headstone marked with the letters G. R.
C., and nothing more; that is the grave of General George Rogers Clark,
the man who did more than any one else to get the west for us--or
what was called the west a hundred years ago.
[Illustration: CLARK'S GRAVE.]
168. Summary.--During the Revolutionary War George Rogers Clark of
Virginia, with a small number of men, captured Fort Kaskaskia in
Illinois, and Fort Vincennes in Indiana. Clark drove out the British
from that part of the country, and when peace was made, we kept the
west--that is, the country as far as the Mississippi River--as part
of the United States. Had it not been for him and his brave men, we
might not have got it.
What did the British have in the west? Where were three of those
forts? Who hired the Indians to fight? How did they fight? What did
most of the people in England think about this? What is said of George
the Third? What friend did Daniel Boone have in Virginia? What did
Clark undertake to do? Tell how he went down the Ohio. Tell how he
marched on Fort Kaskaskia. What happened when he got there? What did
Clark say to the people in the fort? How was Fort Vincennes taken?
What did the British do the next year? Tell about Francis Vigo. What
did Clark and his men start to do? How far off was Fort Vincennes?
Tell about the first part of the march. What lands did they come to?
Tell how the men waded. How did Clark save the lives of some of the
men? Di
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