George Rogers Clark and the War in the West by Lowell H. Harrison 1976 Hardcover

While most histories of the American Revolution focus on the 13 colonies along the Atlantic coast, Lowell Harrison shifts the perspective to the Ohio Valley and the Illinois Country. The book details how George Rogers Clark, a young Virginian surveyor and frontiersman, recognized that the survival of the American cause depended on neutralizing British-led Indian raids from the north and west.

KEY NARRATIVE HIGHLIGHTS

* The Illinois Campaign (1778): Follows Clarks daring expedition as he led roughly 175 men across hundreds of miles of wilderness to capture British-held outposts at Kaskaskia and Cahokia without firing a single shot.

* The Siege of Vincennes: Describes the legendary winter march through the flooded "drowned lands" of the Wabash River, culminating in the surrender of British Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton at Fort Sackville.

* Frontier Strategy: Analyzes Clark's use of psychological warfare and diplomacy to win over French settlers and negotiate with Native American