The Life of George Rogers Clark

New York: Greenwood Press, 1969. Reprint edition, First Greenwood reprinting [stated]. Hardcover. Very good. xiii, [1], 534, [4] pages. Frontis illustration. Illustrations. Maps. Footnotes. Appendixes. Bibliography. Index. No DJ present. Minor edge soiling. James Alton James (September 17, 1864 - February 12, 1962) was an American educator and historian. James was born on September 17, 1864, in Jefferson, Wisconsin. He entered the University of Wisconsin, where he graduated as valedictorian with an LL.B. in 1888. He received a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1893. He was superintendent of schools in Darlington, Wisconsin, 1888-90; professor of history in Cornell College, Iowa, 1893-97. He became a professor of history at Northwestern University in 1897, becoming professor emeritus in 1935. He was head of the history department for over two decades, and was the chairman of the graduate student work at the university 1917-1931. He was a member of several educational and historical societies. George Rogers Clark (November 19, 1752 - February 13, 1818) was an American military officer and surveyor from Virginia who became the highest-ranking Patriot military officer on the northwestern frontier during the Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the Virginia militia in Kentucky (then part of Virginia) throughout much of the war. He is best known for his captures of Kaskaskia in 1778 and Vincennes in 1779 during the Illinois campaign, which weakened British influence in the Northwest Territory (then part of the British Province of Quebec) and earned Clark the nickname of "Conqueror of the Old Northwest". The British ceded the Northwest Territory to the United States in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. Clark's major military achievements occurred before his thirtieth birthday. Afterward, he led militia forces in the opening engagements of the Northwest Indian War, but was accused of being drunk on duty. He was disgraced and forced to resign, despite his demand for a formal investigation into the accusations. Clark left Kentucky to live in the Indiana Territory but was never fully reimbursed by the Virginian government for his wartime expenditures. During the final decades of his life, he worked to evade creditors and suffered living in increasing poverty and obscurity. He was involved in two failed attempts to open the Spanish-controlled Mississippi River to American traffic. Following a stroke and the amputation of his right leg, he became disabled. Clark was aided in his final years by family members, including his younger brother William, one of the leaders of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He died of a stroke on February 13, 1818. On May 23, 1928, President Calvin Coolidge ordered a memorial to Clark to be erected at Vincennes, Indiana. Completed in 1933, the George Rogers Clark Memorial was dedicated on June 14, 1936, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Roman-style temple was erected on what was believed to have been the site of Fort Sackville. The site, now called the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, became a part of the National Park Service in 1966.