As 1781 opened, Colonel George Rogers Clark’s unbroken string of successes had greatly annoyed British officials and Sir Frederick Haldimand, the Governor General of the Province of Quebec, wanted Clark dealt with once and for all. Haldimand recruited Joseph Brant, a talented Mohawk from New York and the most successful partisan fighter during the war, to destroy Clark’s army. Although their primary objective was to destroy Clark’s army, the Indians following Brant had little desire to try their luck against Clark, and they soon shifted their focus to easier targets.

Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark and his small army arrived on the outskirts of Fort Sackville in the fading sunlight on February 23, 1779, undetected by the British garrison. Such was the fear and respect Clark’s reputation inspired that no one in the town of Vincennes informed the British garrison of the impending attack. At twilight, Clark deployed his men and commenced the siege, announcing his presence by firing on the palisaded walls. When Henry Hamilton, the British commander, asked about all the commotion, his American prisoner Captain Leonard Helm replied, “It means that you and all your men are prisoners of George Rogers Clark.”

On February 5, 1779, Colonel George Rogers Clark and 120 determined American soldiers, left Kaskaskia and began an arduous winter trek eastward to capture the British post of Fort Sackville on the Wabash River, near the town of Vincennes. Many days were spent wading through frigid water, at times up to their necks. To compound matters, their pack horses all died and their provisions dwindled to what the men could carry on their backs.

After capturing Kaskaskia and Cahokia in July 1778, Colonel George Rogers Clark set his sights on the strategically critical British post of Fort Sackville, 200 miles to the east. Clark sent a local delegation to Vincennes who convinced its French inhabitants, never too fond of the British, to switch their allegiance to the American cause. Clark also sent Captain Leonard Helm and a small detachment to safeguard this newest American possession. Word of Clark’s daring exploits reached Fort Detroit, the main British outpost in the region. Its commander, Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton, assembled a relief force and headed south.

In 1778, Colonel George Rogers Clark presented a plan to Virginia Governor Patrick Henry and his executive council of Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and George Wythe to conquer the Illinois Country, part of the Province of Quebec. Clark proposed capturing British forts at Kaskaskia and Cahokia to access badly needed supplies from Spanish Louisiana and force the British to focus their attention away from Kentucky. Incredibly, Clark’s audacious plan to capture these distant British outposts would succeed without firing a shot.