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.