This Day In Founders History – 19 November

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This Day In Founders History – 19 November

On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress addressed the need for men to enlist: “Congress deem it necessary, upon every principle of propriety, to remind the several states, how indispensable it is to the common safety, that they pursue the most immediate and vigorous measures to furnish their respective quotas of troops for the new army, as the time of service, for which the present army was enlisted, is so near expiring, that the country may be left in a condition in a great measure defenceless, unless quickly supplied by new levies.”

One notable birthday on this day in history in 1752, that of George Rogers Clark, “Conqueror of the Northwest.” Rogers grew up in Virginia, not far from Jefferson’s home. Clark left home for a surveying trip, making his way into Kentucky. Settlers in Kentucky were in dispute over sovereignty after Richard Henderson illegally purchased land from the Cherokee. The settlers chose Clark and John Gabriel Jones to deliver a petition to the Virginia General Assembly asking Virginia to extend its boundaries to include Kentucky. Clark and Jones were successful in convincing Governor Patrick Henry to create Kentucky County, Virginia. Henry later commissioned Clark as lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia, and later Governor Thomas Jefferson promoted Clark to brigadier general, giving him command of all the militia in Kentucky and Illinois Counties. Clark is often credited with doubling the size of the original colonies when control of Illinois country was seized during the war. Not the only well-known member of his family, George Clark was older brother to William Clark, half of the famous Lewis and Clark duo.

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