The Indian Wars, 1784-1787 307 



life generally shown by the leading families of Vir 

 ginia. In many cases they were kin to these fam 

 ilies; not, however, as a rule, to the families of the 

 tidewater region, the aristocrats of colonial days, 

 but to the families so often of Presbyterian Irish 

 stock who rose to prominence in western Vir 

 ginia at the time of the Revolution. In Kentucky 

 all were mixed together, no matter from what State 

 they came, the wrench of the break from their 

 home ties having shaken them so that they readily 

 adapted themselves to new conditions, and easily 

 assimilated with one another. As for their differ 

 ences of race origin, these had ceased to influence 

 their lives even before they came to Kentucky. 

 They were all Americans, in feeling as well as in 

 name, by habit as well as by birth ; and the positions 

 they took in the political life of the West was 

 determined partly by the new conditions surround 

 ing them, and partly by the habits bred in them 

 through generations of life on American soil. 



One man, who would naturally have played a 

 prominent part in Kentucky politics, failed to do 

 so from a variety of causes. This was George 

 Rogers Clark. He was by preference a military 

 rather than a civil leader; he belonged by choice 

 and habit to the class of pioneers and Indian fight 

 ers whose influence was waning; his remarkable 

 successes had excited much envy and jealousy, while 

 his subsequent ignominious failure had aroused con 

 tempt; and, finally, he was undone by his fondness 

 for strong drink. He drew himself to one side, 



