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1778, Clark traveled down the Ohio River to the Falls
of the Ohio with soldiers and many families who joined
the military convoy for security and protection from
American Indian attacks. For his camp, Clark chose an
island at the Falls of the Ohio River. He named the
place Corn Island. This event, which took place on May
27, 1778, marks the founding of the settlement later
to be named Louisville.
Clark trained his troops at Corn Island
and launched a successful campaign into the lands to
the north, capturing British posts at Kaskaskia and
Cahokia on the Mississippi River and Vincennes on the
Wabash River. However, British Lieutenant Governor Hamilton
marched from Detroit and recaptured Vincennes from the
Americans. Settling in for the winter of 1778-79, Hamilton
planned to reclaim the two Mississippi posts in the
spring. Clark never gave him that opportunity.
In a daring concept, considered one of
the boldest in American military history, Clark took
fewer than 200 men on foot across 175 miles of flooded,
frozen plains to recapture the British fort at Vincennes.
This dangerous mission took almost three weeks, but
British spies never sighted Clark’s men. When Clark
ordered his men to begin firing on the fort, the British
did not know how many Americans were surrounding them.
Clark’s frontiersmen were deadly shots, convincing
the British that they were outnumbered. Hamilton surrendered
and Clark ensured American control of the Northwest
Territory—a region that included the states of
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan.
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