George Rogers Clark and the War in the West

A Note to Readers

A Note to Readers porary with its subject, is available on George Rogers Clark. Lyman C. Draper collected materials over several decades for a biography he never wrote; the Clark Papers constitute the largest collection in the Draper Manuscripts (State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison). A microfilm copy of these papers at Western Kentucky University was used in this study. Temple Bodley also collected extensively from many depositories in preparation for his biography of Clark; his large collection is in The Filson Club (Louisville). Most of the Clark papers dating from before 1785 (including Clark's Harrodsburg diary) were published in George Rogers Clark Papers, ed. James Alton James, 2 vols. (Springfield, 111., 1912-1926). The validity of Clark's most important writings is examined in James A. James, "Value of the Memoir of George Rogers Clark as an Historical Document," MVHR 5 (Oct. 1918):249-70, and Temple Bodley, "Clark's 'Mason Letter' and 'Memoir,' " FCHQ 3 (July 1929): 163-70. A number of useful letters are in Julian P. Boyd, ed., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 19 vols. to date (Princeton , N.J., 1950-); John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington, 39 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1931-44); Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vols. 1-5 (Richmond, 1875-1885); and Lawrence Kinnaird, "Clark-Leyba Papers," American Historical Review 41 (Oct. 1935):92-112. Robert A. Rutland, ed., The Papers of George Mason, 2 vols. to date (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1970-), 117 GREAT MASS of information, much of it contemA is disappointing in view of Clark's close friendship with Mason. The best biographies of Clark are James Alton James, The Life of George Rogers Clark (Chicago, 1928); Temple Bodley, George Rogers Clark, His Life and Public Services (Boston, 1926); William H. English, Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio 1778-1783 and Life of Gen. George Rogers Clark, 2 vols. (Indianapolis, Ind., 1896); and John Bakeless, Background to Glory (Philadelphia, 1957). The Bodley and English volumes contain a great deal of primary material. A good brief sketch is Hambleton Tapp, "George Rogers Clark, A Biographical Sketch," FCHQ 15 (July 1941): 133-51. Less adequate biographies include Consul W. Butterfield, History of George Rogers Clark's Conquest of the Illinois and the Wabash Towns, 1778 and 1779 (Columbus, Ohio, 1904); Walter Havighurst, George Rogers Clark, Soldier in the West (New York, 1952); Ross F. Lockridge, George Rogers Clark, Pioneer Hero of the Old Northwest (Yonkers-on-the-Hudson, N.Y., 1927); and Frederick Palmer, Clark of the Ohio (New York, 1930). Earlier biographies are discussed in Louise Phelps Kellogg, "The Early Biographers ofGeorge Rogers Clark,"American Historical Review 35 (Jan. 1930):295-302. Excellent introductionsto the early history ofKentucky are Otis K. Rice, Frontier Kentucky (Lexington, Ky., 1975), and Thomas D. Clark, A History of Kentucky (Lexington, Ky., 1960). Robert Spencer Cotterill, History of Pioneer Kentucky (Cincinnati, Ohio, 1917), is anti-Clark. Humphrey Marshall's History of Kentucky (Frankfort, Ky., 1812), and Mann Butler'sA History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky (Louisville, Ky., 1834) have special significance because the authors were personally acquainted with the Clark era in the state's history. Lewis Collins and Richard H. Collins, History of Kentucky, 2 vols. (Covington, Ky., 1874), has a great deal of information , especially in its "Annals." All of the comprehensive 118 histories of the state devote considerable attention both to Clark and to the Revolutionary period. Charles Gano Talbert, Benjamin Logan: Kentucky Frontiersman (Lexington, Ky., 1962), is a fine objective biography of one of Clark's frequent associates. Other useful biographies are: John Bakeless, Daniel Boone (New York, 1939); Kathryn Harrod Mason, James Harrod of Kentucky (Baton Rouge, La., 1951); James Alton James, Oliver Pollock (New York, 1937); Edna Kenton, Simon Kenton (Garden City, N.Y., 1930); and Patricia Jahns, The Violent Years: Simon Kenton and the Ohio-Kentucky Frontier (New York, 1962). Robert Breckinridge McAfee, "The Life and Times of Robert B. McAfee and His Family and Connections," Register 25 (Jan., May, Sept. 1927): 5-37, 111-43, 215-37, has some fascinating accounts of life in pioneer Kentucky. The best general introduction to the American Revolution is Don Higginbotham, The War of American Independence (New York, 1971), but Christopher Ward, The War of the Revolution, 2 vols. (New York, 1952), is more complete on military aspects of the conflict. Dale Van Every has written two good popular accounts ofthe West...