of war, and to be allowed to
march back to Detroit, but Colonel Clark wrathfully answered, "To that I
can by no means agree. I will not again leave it in your power to spirit
up the Indian nations to scalp men, women, and children."

Soon into the fort marched the victors, with shouts of triumph, their
long rifles slanting over their shoulders. And soon the red cross flag
of England came down and the star-spangled banner of America waved in
its place. Hamilton and his men were prisoners in American hands.

There was proof enough that this English colonel had been busy in
stirring the Indians up to their dreadful work. His papers showed that.
And even while the fight was going on some of the red demons came up
with the scalps of white men and women to receive their pay. The pay
they got was in bullets when they fell into the hands of the incensed
Kentuckians. Colonel Hamilton and his officers were sent as prisoners to
Williamsburg, Virginia, and were there put in fetters for their
murderous conduct. It would have served them right to hang them, but the
laws of war forbade, and they were soon set free.

We have told this story that you may see what brave men Virginia and
Kentucky bred in the old times. In all American history there is no
exploit to surpass that of Colonel Clark and his men. And it led to
something of the greatest importance to the republic of the United
States, as you shall hear.

It was not long after that time that the war ended and the freedom of
the colonies was gained. When the treaty of peace was made the question
arose, "What territory should belong to the new republic and what should
still be held by England?" It was finally decided that the land which
each country held at the end of the war should be held still. In that
way England held Canada. And it would have held the great country north
of the Ohio, too, if it had not been for George Rogers Clark. His
capture of Kaskaskia and his splendid two weeks' march through the
"drowned lands" of the Wabash had won that country for the United
States, and when the treaty was signed all this fine country became part
of the territory of the United States. So it is to George Rogers Clark,
the Virginian and Kentuckian, that this country owes the region which in
time was divided up into the great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
and Michigan, and perhaps Kentucky also, since only for him the British
might have taken the new-settled land of Daniel Boone.