Battle+of+Vincennes







**__Background Info:__ ** ====On February 6, 1779, [| Lt. Colonel Clark] set out for Vincennes with 127 volunteers, nearly half of them French militia from Kaskaskia. [|Captain Bowman] was second-in-command on the expedition, which Clark characterized as a "forlorn hope." While Clark and his men marched across country, 40 men left in an armed row-galley, which was to be stationed on the Wabash River below Vincennes to prevent the British from escaping by water. ====

====Clark led his men across what is now the state of Illinois, a journey of about 180 miles. It was not a cold winter, but it rained frequently, and the plains were often covered with several inches of water. Provisions were carried on packhorses, supplemented by wild game the men shot as they traveled. They reached the Little Wabash River on 13 February, and found it flooded, making a stream about 5 miles wide. They built a large canoe to shuttle men and supplies across. The next few days were especially trying: provisions were running low, and the men were almost continually wading through water. They reached the Embarras River on February 17. They were now only 9 miles from Fort Sackville, but the river was too high to ford. They followed the Embarras down to the Wabash River, where the next day they began to build boats. Spirits were low, they had been without food for the last two days, and Clark struggled to keep men from deserting. ==== **__[|The Battle:]__ **

On February 20, five hunters from [|Vincennes] were captured while traveling by boat. They told Clark that his army had not yet been detected, and that the people of Vincennes were still sympathetic to the [|Americans]. The next day, Clark and his men crossed the Wabash by canoe, leaving their packhorses behind. They marched towards Vincennes, sometimes in water up to their shoulders. Clark sent a man ahead with a letter to the Vincennes, warning them that he was just about to arrive with an army, and that everyone should stay in their homes unless they wanted to be considered an enemy. The message was read in the public square. No one went to the fort to warn Hamilton.

Clark and his group were within three miles of the Fort at Vincennes. They were able to take a [|British] prisoner who told them everything they needed to know. Clark knew he was outnumbered, Taking advantage of a slight elevation of land, which concealed his men but allowed their flags to be seen. He devised a plan to make it seem that there were a lot more men than forty-seven storming the Fort. While Clark and Bowman secured the town, a detachment was sent to begin firing at Fort [|Sackville]. Despite the commotion, [|Hamilton] did not realize the fort was under attack until a bullet coming through a window wounded one of his men. The British and the Indians thought there were thousands of soldiers outside. The Indians ran for their safety. Which left about 150 British soldiers inside the fort.

At about 9:00 a.m. on [|February 24], Clark sent a message to the fort demanding Hamilton's surrender. Hamilton declined, and the firing continued for another two hours until Hamilton sent out his prisoner, Captain Helm, to offer terms. Clark sent Helm back with a demand of unconditional surrender within 30 minutes, or else he would storm the fort. Helm returned before the time had expired and presented Hamilton's proposal for a three-day truce. This too was rejected, but Clark agreed to meet Hamilton at the village church.

Before the meeting at the church, the most controversial incident in Clark's career occurred. Unaware that Clark had retaken Vincennes, a war party of Indians and French-Canadians came into town. There was a skirmish, and Clark's men captured six. Two of the prisoners were Frenchmen and were released at the request of the villagers and one of Clark's French followers. Clark decided to make an example of the remaining four Indian prisoners. They were made to sit down in view of the fort and then tomahawked to death; the bodies were scalped and then thrown into the river.

At the church, Clark and Bowman met with Hamilton and signed terms of surrender. At 10:00 a.m. on [|February]25, Hamilton's garrison of 79 men marched out of the fort. Clark's men raised the American flag over the fort and renamed it Fort Patrick Henry. Clark sent Hamilton, seven of his officers, and 18 other prisoners to Williamsburg. French-Canadians who had accompanied Hamilton were paroled after taking an oath of neutrality.

__**Important People:**__

[|Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark-] He was a [|soldier] from Virginia and the highest ranking [|American military officer] on the northwestern frontier during the [|American Revolution]. Clark's ultimate goal during the Revolutionary War was to seize British-held Detroit, but he could never recruit enough men to make the attempt. He served as leader of the Kentucky militia throughout much of the war. Afterwards, he led militia in the opening engagements of the Northwest Indian War, but was accused of being drunk on duty. [|Clark] spent the final decades of his life evading creditors, and living in increasing poverty and obscurity.

[|General Henry Hamilton]-
He was known across the Ohio frontier as the "hair buyer". His real name was Henry Hamilton and he was, in 1779, the [|British Lieutenant Governor] of Detroit. In this position he was the brains and the money behind terrible Indian raids on American settlements all along the frontier. It was widely believed that he had paid bounties for American scalps collected on such raids. In February 1779, [|Hamilton]'s base at Vincennes was under siege by a hardy band of frontiersmen under the command of [|George Rogers Clark]. The hardened American Riflemen were too much for Hamilton's soldiers. Soon many of them were wounded. After several hours of shooting, Clark called a halt and sent a man with a white flag up to the fort with a letter for [|Hamilton]. It urged him to surrender in order to save his men.

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