Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts - George Rogers Clark Papers, General correspondence, accounts, and vouchers, 1776-1795, 1834-1835

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888

Summary

Extent:
21.1 cu. ft. (33 boxes) and 25 volumes
Creator:
Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

This is an artificial collection of records concerning George Rogers Clark and the conquest of the Old Northwest during and after the revolutionary war. The records, which are now so intermingled they defy any attempt to separate them, were brought together from two distinct sets of records. The first set contained Clark's original accounts and vouchers, which had been submitted to the auditors of public accounts for settlement in 1779. These records were misplaced by the auditors and when the Board of Western Commissioners sought to settle his accounts in 1783, Clark produced a second set of records consisting of copies of the materials submitted in 1779, in addition to the records he had created since then. The Clark papers, then, consist of the misplaced records (since found) submitted to the auditor, as well as the vouchers submitted to the Board of Western Commissioners.

Papers, 1776-1795 and 1834-1835, including accounts, bills, certificates, correspondence, orders, pay rolls, receipts, and vouchers regarding George Rogers Clark's campaign in the Illinois Campaign and the Northwest Territory during the American Revolution and his efforts to be reimbursed by Virginia for his wartime expenditures. The bulk of the collection consists of accounts, receipts, and vouchers. The correspondence mainly relates to Clark's accounts and repayment of accounts, although some of the correspondence is military in nature. The collection is organized into two series, Series I: Papers and Series II: Photostat volumes. The Photostat volumes were select papers duplicated for the Filson Club in 1927 [Filson Historical Society (Louisville, Ky.)]. Oversized materials are arranged to the rear of the collection and separation notes were placed with the papers.

The accounts contain the names of persons to whom payments were made, the amounts, items purchased, and the dates paid. The vouchers include the names of persons to whom money was owed, items purchased, and the amounts and dates the vouchers were submitted. Of note is the correspondence with Governors Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, William Fleming, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Randolph. Other notable correspondents include Joseph Crockett, William Davis, Daniel-Maurice Godefroy de Linctot, Benjamin Logan, Oliver Pollock, Chief Ponemataka, George Slaughter, John Todd, and Levi Todd, among others.

Some of the material that had long been part of the Clark records was separated from it in 1975 and interfiled with the Office of the Governor records, in the Letters Received series [available online]. The records removed consisted mostly of correspondence with the governor and Council of State. In lieu of the original documents photocopies or tracers (handwritten notes that included the date and author of letter) were left in the Clark papers. In 2018 the archivist made copies of all of the separated letters to replace the tracers. Some of the letters had been reprinted in part or whole in the Calendar of Virginia state papers : and other manuscripts preserved in the Capitol at Richmond. Noted on the tracers were the volume and page numbers where the letter had been reprinted. [For example a handwritten notation, 'printed 3C 278', refers to Volume 3 and page 278, of the Calendar.]

The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Illinois and the Sons of the Revolution in the State of Illinois funded a microfilming and indexing project of the microfilmed George Rogers Clark Papers at the Library of Virginia. The index is available online at the Internet Archive-Way Back Machine here: George Rogers Clark Papers Index. Not only does the website index the papers, but it also includes descriptions of each item in the collection, as well as the date and names. The index is also available in paper format, Index to the George Rogers Clark papers: the Illinois Regiment, compiled by Richard Eugene Willson, Indexing, and Dr. Donald E. Gradeless, Editor.

Biographical / historical:

George Rogers Clark was born 19 November 1752 in Albemarle County, Virginia, to John Clark (1725-1799) and Ann Rogers Clark (1728-1798). Clark learned surveying from his grandfather in Caroline County, Virginia. He explored down the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers in what is now Kentucky and West Virginia and surveyed farms for settlers arriving in that territory. Clark served as a captain in the Virginia militia during Lord Dunmore's War in 1774, and the next year returned to Kentucky to survey lands for the Ohio Company. When the Revolution began, Clark encouraged Virginia to protect Kentucky from the British and Native Americans. He captured Kaskaskia, Illinois, from the British 4 July 1778 and won the allegiance of French settlers in Vincennes, Indiana. When the British took Vincennes in October 1778, Clark recaptured it 25 February 1779. He was responsible for the defense of the Northwest Territory during the rest of the American Revolution. After Kentucky troops were defeated at Blue Licks, Kentucky, by the Shawnee 19 August 1782, Clark retaliated with an attack on Chillicothe, Ohio, defeating the Shawnee 4 November 1782. After the American Revolution ended, Clark served on the Board of Commissioners which allotted the lands in Kentucky and the Northwest Territory granted by Virginia to its soldiers. He left Kentucky to live on the Indiana frontier but was never fully reimbursed by Virginia for his wartime expenditures. He spent the final decades of his life evading creditors and living in increasing poverty and obscurity. Clark lived the last few years of his life with his sister and her husband outside Louisville, Kentucky, where he died 13 February 1818.

Acquisition information:
Transferred from the Auditor of Public Accounts in 1913.
Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into the following series:

  • Series I: Papers, 1776-1795, 1834-1835
  • Series II: Photostat volumes, 1776-1795