Yorktown/Mt. Pleasant Historical Alliance and Museum

Category: H 1751-1800

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George Roger Clark’s Grant in Present-Day Indiana (Clark County)

Map: William Hayden – English, William Hayden (©1896). Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio, 1778–1783, and Life of Gen. George Rogers Clark. Indianapolis: Bowen-Merrill., pages 852, 853 Public Domain.

Land granted by the state of Virginia on January 2, 1781 to George Rogers Clark and the soldiers who fought with him during the American Revolutionary War, became the first authorized settlement in the present-day Indiana. Clark’s Grant contained over 150,000 acres and was located in present-day Clark County, Indiana and parts of the surrounding counties.

Clark’s Grant sat across the river from Louisville, Kentucky on the northwest side of the Ohio River. Clark was certainly familiar with this area before the grant. During the Revolutionary War, he built a post on an island in the Ohio River to train Revolutionary War soldiers from the Virginia militia. He led them in capturing a large part of the Illinois Country as part of the Illinois Campaign. The captured land, which included most of present-day Indiana became Illinois County, Virginia.

Land Claims east of the Mississippi River

There was little cash to pay men to fight the Revolutionary War. Land was offered as an incentive to get recruits to sign up as soldiers. After the war ended, Virginia granted the soldiers and officers land to compensate them for their service in their militia as did other states and the federal government.

Clark’s Grant

George Rogers Clark

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1783 First Authorized Settlement by White Americans in Indiana

Although there were some European settlers already in Indiana, Clarksville became the first authorized American settlement in present-day Indiana in 1784. The settlement sat on the north bank of the Ohio River, opposite Louisville, Kentucky) at the Falls of the Ohio.

George Rogers Clark used the area during the American Revolution. In 1778 , he built a post on an island at the head of the Falls of the Ohio. The Clark commanded regiment was trained at the post tasked with protecting the west.

After the Revolutionary War, Clark was granted a tract of 150,000 acres for his services. In 1783, 1,000 acres were set aside for the development of a town, Clarksville. The same year a stockade was built and settlement began.

Old Clarksville Site National Park Service

Clarksville, Indiana Wikipedia

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1778 Treaty with Delaware; Treaty of Ft. Pitt

Smithsonian Magazine has a complete article on this treaty and how it balanced the power with the newly formed United States.

From the Smithsonian Blog, Smithsonian Voices, Museum of the American Indian; 2018 May 21: A Brief Balance of Power—The 1778 Treaty with the Delaware Nation:

“On September 17, 1778, the newly formed United States Continental Congress dispatched a treaty commission to the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers to negotiate America’s first treaty of peace with an American Indian tribe.

Three leaders—named in the treaty as “Capt. White Eyes, Capt. John Kill Buck, Junior, and Capt. Pipe, Deputies and Chief Men of the Delaware Nation”—represented the Lenape (Delaware) people.

During colonial times, Lenape communities had been compelled to move west from their historic home along the Delaware and lower Hudson River watersheds to lands between modern-day Pittsburgh and Detroit. General Andrew Thomas and his brother Lewis served as commissioners on behalf of the United States. Eleven other Americans witnessed what would become known as the Treaty of Fort Pitt.” ~ Dennis Zotigh

The Delaware Indians came to Indiana and settled along the White River as early as 1795.

National Museum of the American Indian

Smithsonian Voices Blog

Full Article: A Brief Balance of Power—The 1778 Treaty with the Delaware Nation

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1797-1801 John Adams 2nd US president.

1797-1801 John Adams served as the 2nd US president. In his re-election campaign of 1800, Adams lost to Thomas Jefferson, becoming the nation’s first one-term president.

Adams signed the unpopular Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 which restricted the activities of foreign residents in the United States and limited free speech. Today, their passage is widely recognized as one of the biggest mistakes of Adams’ presidency.

At least 26 individuals were arrested and tried under the Sedition Act. The primary targets were Republican newspaper editors opposed to Adams and the Federalist party ideals. The meaning of a free press and the right of opposition parties to speak were widely debated.

Trivia: Adams was the first president to live in the White House.

Read more about the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. Two dueling parties fighting against each other amid challenges of the new county and impending war with France is a deja vu moment in history. ~Julie

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1795-1799 Delaware Indians Settled at White River

Delaware Indians settled around present-day Yorktown. After 1800 there is no record of fighting with native Americans in our area. When Oliver H. Smith platted Yorktown, he named the town for the “York Indians”. The native Americans who settled along the White River, were part of the Lenape/Delaware Tribe coming originally from the area that became New York stopping in Ohio on their journey. 

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1795 The Treaty of Greenville

The Treaty of Greenville was negotiated to end the violence and establish lands for the tribes. The Miami tribes were given the lands in the Wabash River watershed with the exception of the White River which was to be occupied by the Delawares. This was but a temporary measure for as the white Americans pushed west the agreement was nullified.

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1791 Defeat of St. Clair

Tribal warriors led by Mihšihkinaahkwa (Little Turtle) of the Miami and Weyapiersenwah (Blue Jacket) of the Shawnee led the defeat of the American Army at St. Clair’s. The American army lost approximately 1,000 men, the largest defeat between tribal forces and the American Army.

Between 1774 and 1794, Indian villages in New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Ohio were constantly attacked by the American army and militias. The native Americans saw 100 villages burned and untold violence and casualties.

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1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers

The Battle of Fallen Timbers effectively ended the Northwest Indian War led by General “Mad Anthony” Wayne. Ft. Wayne and Wayne County are named for him.

The Battle of Fallen Timbers (20 August 1794) was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between Western Confederacy of Native American tribes with the British, fighting against the newly formed United States. This was the battle for control of the Northwest Territory, of which present-day Indiana was a part.

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9132 W Smith St., Yorktown, Indiana 47396
Next to Osborn County Kitchen
Free Parking in the Town Lot

Museum is Open

12 Noon-4:00 PM on Thursdays and Fridays

Other hours by appointment

Contact us

Karen Strahan Brown Good,  President Email: yorktownhistoricalalliance@gmail.com

Phone: 765-729-0093

 

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