g at the place now known as Louisville,
in Kentucky. William's elder brother, George Rogers Clark, had preceded
the others, and had built the first fortification against the Indians
at the Falls of the Ohio, around which were clustered a few of the rude
dwellings of the frontiersmen. At this place, amidst the crudest
conditions of the Kentucky border, the lad grew to maturity. That was
not an orderly life; it was rather a continuing state of suspense,
demanding of those who shared in it constant hardihood and fortitude.
For the right-minded man, however, it had incalculable value. Many of
the strongest examples of our national character have been men who owed
the best that was in them to the apparently unkindly circumstances of
their youth. What was denied to Clark in easy opportunity had ample
compensation in the firmness and self-reliance which came from
mastering difficulties.

To read Clark's letters and papers is to discover that his education in
the politer branches of learning was as primitive as the surroundings
of his home. It is plain that the training which prepared him for
manhood was got mostly outside the schoolroom.

Like Lewis, he chose a military career. When he was but eighteen years
of age, he was appointed ensign in the regular army; and two years
later he was made captain of militia in the town of Clarksville, "in
the Territory of the United States North West of the Ohio River." In
1791 he was commissioned as a lieutenant of infantry, under Wayne, and
served afterward as adjutant and quartermaster. Ill health led him to
resign his commission in the army in 1796.

A few months before his resignation he first became acquainted with
Meriwether Lewis, who, as an ensign, was put under his command. Then
began one of those generous and enduring friendships that are all too
rare amongst men. It is not known just what their private relations
were in the mean time; but in 1803, upon Lewis's earnest solicitation,
Captain Clark consented to quit his retirement upon his Kentucky farm
and join in that work which was destined to be but the beginning of his
real usefulness.

He comes to us out of the dark. We must forego intimate knowledge of
his growth, being content with finding him full-grown and ready. No
doubt his service in the army, where he was associated with men of
ability, had helped him to master many details of engineering craft,
which he was to use in his later service. But this was at most
incid