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Show CONQUEST OF THE NORTHWEST Il Was Acquired from the llrllUh by ore. t.f Arms. In l"7fl. when Independence was declared, de-clared, the United Mates Include. I only ' the thirteen original states on the seaboard sea-board With Ihe cxi. pi ion of a few huntei's. lh. ie were mi while men west of the All.-ghiiuy mounlaliis, and there was not i yen su American hunter 111 the greut country out of which we hsvs since made the slales of Illinois. Indian., In-dian., ohi,., Michigan, and Wisconsin. All Ihls region north of the Ohio river then formed a pan or the Province of yilebec. It waa a wilderness of forests and pnilil.s, lis. ruing wllh game, and Inhabited by many warlike irll.es of Indians. In-dians. Hi re and there through It wero dolled iiualm little towns of French t'reoles. Ihe most Imimrlunt being lie-troll, lie-troll, Vlmetinea on the Wabash, and Kuskiiskla and Kahokla on Ihe llllnnla. These French villages were ruled by Mulish tilth-era c. inm, in. ling small laid-h laid-h s of regulur sohlieis or Tory rangers and t'reole partisans. The lowua wire I erilnplelely In the power of the Hrll- j Ish government; none of the American I. stales had actual possession of a ftait f of property In the northw.-atern tcn-t- lory. The northwcsl waa aeiiulled at Ihe time of the revolution cnlv by uroe-d c, ii. in. si. and ir It hud let been so acquired, ac-quired, It would have ri'iiiutm-il a plrt uf the Mrltlsh Dominion of t'anada. Tht man to whom this cumuiest was due waa a ratnous buckw Is leader, a mighty hunter, a noted Indian lighter lleorge Itogera t'lark. He wus a very strong man, with light hair and blue eyea, of a good Virginian family, who. eally In his youth, embarked on the adventuroua career of a backwoods surveyor, sur-veyor, exactly as Washington nnd so many other young Vliglnlana of spirit did at that perloil. He traveled out to Kentucky soon after It was opened up P by Hoono, and lived there for a year, either ut the Stallone or camping by f himself in the wootts, surveying, hunt. . lug and making war against the In- f' .liana like any oilier settler; but all Ihe time his mind was bent on vuster , schemes than were dreamed -if by the men ttrnuii.l hlin. He had his splss out ' In Ihe northwestern territory, and he- ' came ennv lin ed that wllh a small force nf resolute backwoodsmen he could con- iUer II for the I'lillcd Mates. When ! he went buck to Virginia tlov. Ihilrlcg ; Henry euteri-d heartily Into t'luka j schemes and gave Mm oillhnilty til lit , out a force for his purpose. . 1 j |