Ohio History Journal

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Editorialana

Editorialana.                        293

 

reliable history only can be produced. This book is especially interesting

at this time owing to the revival of interest in the achievements of

George Rogers Clark in the Northwest Territory and the voyages of

research and exploration by William Clark, a younger brother of George

Rogers, who, with Meriwether Lewis, led the expedition across the

continent from 1803 to 1806, by which the extent and resources of the

Louisiana Purchase were first made known to the American people.

The account of the conquest of the Illinois by George Rogers Clark

as it is told by Mr. Butterfield has all the fascination and intense interest

of a romance while it portrays the exploits of a fearless and patriotic

leader who saved the great Northwest Territory to the American Republic.

George Rogers Clark was known as "The Washington of the West." He

was a huntsman of the trackless forest interior of Kentucky, who with the

soul of a patriot, the bravery of an American soldier and the mind of a

statesman, hastened on foot, through six hundred miles of wilderness,

to Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia. There he obtained audience

with Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia. Clark proposed to strike

the vast power of Great Britain in the Northwest and save that magnifi-

cent territory to American independence. His plans were appreciated and

approved, but troops could not be spared him from the Continental army;

they were needed to a man in the East. Clark gathered two hundred

Virginia and Pennsylvania backwoodsmen and while the sun of spring

was melting the snows of Valley Forge and hope and courage were

again animating the heart of Washington, Clark set out on that famous

expedition for the capture of the interior northwest posts of Great Britain.

It was the campaign of the 'Rough Riders' of the Revolution. It was

the dash of Sheridan in the Shenandoah. It was Sherman's 'march to

the sea,' through the interior of the enemy's country. That campaign

of Clark broke the backbone of British strength in the West. The British

posts of Illinois and Indiana were all taken save Detroit. The North-

west was secured and preserved to the United States.

The book has a scholarly introduction by Mr. W. H. Hunter, trus-

tee of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society.

Price, post-paid $1.50. Address all orders to F. J. Heer, Printer

and Publisher, Columbus, Ohio.

 

 

 

JUDGE THOMAS J. ANDERSON             AND WIFE.

"Life and Letters of Judge Thomas J. Anderson and Wife." in-

cluding a few letters from children and others; mostly written during

the Civil War; a history; carefully edited and copiously annotated by

James H. Anderson, LL. B., life member and trustee of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, and president of the Old Northwest

Genealogical Society.