George rogers clark/ john paul jones/ Burgoyne, John

Clark, George Rogers (1752-1818), American soldier and frontiersman, who commanded important victories over British troops in the Northwest Territory during the American Revolution (1775-1783). The brother of famed explorer William Clark, he was born near Charlottesville, Virginia. With little education, he became a surveyor while still a young man. Clark was living in Kentucky, then part of the Virginia Colony, when the American Revolution began. He convinced the colonial government of Virginia to send aid …

…commission in 1746. He rejoined at the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in 1756 and saw his first action in France. In 1761, while the war was still going on, he was elected to Parliament. The following year he served with distinction in the campaign along the Spanish-Portuguese frontier, where, as brigadier general, he captured Valencia de Alcántara. After the war he became a critic of the colonial policies of the British government.