Clark set off without delay on the long and dangerous journey, reached
Williamsburg, gained an audience of Patrick Henry, the governor of
Virginia, and painted the needs of Kentucky in such colors that he soon
gained the sympathy of the impulsive and warm-hearted governor, and
together they secured from the Assembly a large gift of lead and powder
for the protection of the frontier. More than that, they succeeded in
making Virginia acknowledge her responsibility for the new colony by
constituting it the county of Kentucky. This, it may be added, put an
end forever to Henderson's dream of the independent colony of
Transylvania.
Clark got his powder and ball safe to Harrodsburg just in time to repel
a desperate Indian assault; but it was evident that there would be no
safety for the Kentucky settlements so long as England controlled the
country north of the Ohio. All that region formed a part of what was
known as the Province of Quebec. Here and there dotted through it were
quaint little towns of French Creoles, the most important being
Detroit, Vincennes on the Wabash, and Kaskaskia and Kahokia on the
Illinois. These French villages were ruled by British officers
commanding small bodies of regular soldiers, and keeping the Indians in
a constant state of war against their Kentucky neighbors, furnishing
them with arms and ammunition, and rewarding them for every expedition
they undertook against the Americans.
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