The Founder of Louisville, George Rogers Clark

In the year 1778, a group of Virginia militiamen camped on Corn Island on the Ohio River. Their mission was to raid into the Illinois Territory against the enemy British troops. Little did these men know that this would later be part of the founding of the city of Louisville. Their leader was the man credited with the founding of the city of Louisville, George Rogers Clark.

Clark was born in 1752 at Albemarle County, Virginia. His younger brother, William, would gain fame in his own right as co-leader of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition. Clark began a career as a land surveyor for the colony of Virginia, helping to obtain land from the native tribes through treaties.

His true claim to fame came during the Revolutionary War. Clark’s Virginians were influential in taking control of the Northwest Territory from the British. He also helped to found Louisville, which would become an official settlement in 1780. His campaign would open up the state of Kentucky (then still part of Virginia) to settlement.

Sadly for George Rogers Clark, after the Revolutionary War was over, it became a downturn for his military career. In 1786 Clark led a campaign against Native American raiders in Kentucky, but due to lack of supplies and the grumbles of mutiny, Clark withdrew the campaign. Clark’s career became further tarnished when he accused James Wilkinson of working for the Spanish government, an accusation not believed by his superiors (though they found it to be true). Also, reports of his drunkenness on duty added to his being relieved of military command.

Clark struggled financially for most of his later years, owning land but unable to profit from it and to attempt to get money owed him for financing his military campaigns. In 1809, Clark fell into a lit fireplace after suffering a stroke, causing one leg to be amputated. After this blow to his career, Clark relocated from Kentucky to Indiana, near modern Clarksville, named after him. He relocated to Locust Grove in Louisville with his sister, where he would die 1818. He would be buried there, but was relocated to Cave Hill Cemetery in 1869.

Clark’s legacy can still be seen all over the states of Kentucky and Indiana. Louisville and Clarksville are both dotted with monuments and landmarks commemorating this great frontiersman and statesman.