Today, on July 4th, we celebrate a momentous achievement in American history. No, not the signing of the Declaration of Independence, that was actually signed on July 2. I'm talking, of course, about the capture of Kaskaskia by George Rogers Clark on July 4, 1778.
Clark lead less than 200 men on a 6 day march across the hills, valleys, and swamps of Southern Illinois - and you know how Illinois summers are! They arrived at one of the biggest and most important cities in the wild frontier - Kaskaskia. Situated in and around the Mississippi River (on a island that is no longer there), Kaskaskia was the seat of French colonial power in the middle of North America in the 18th century. After the French ceded control of all provinces to the British as part of the treaty of the French and Indian Wars, the British occupied the region and one of their headquarters was Kaskaskia. Clark and his men took the town in the middle of the night while the French were partying or sleeping.
Not only did Clark capture the town of Kaskaskia and turn the French villagers into loyal Americans (not hard considering they hated the British), he did it without firing a shot!
To learn more about this remarkable man and the Capture of Kaskaskia check out these links:
And the book that first introduced me to the wonderfulness of GRC:
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