The English army officers formed alliances with the Indian tribes living north of the Ohio River in the territory now composing Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and incited them to frequent attacks on the Kentucky settlements, with the hope that they would the sooner capture the State of Virginia by an approach from the west. Clark, as military commander of Kentucky, sent spies into this northern country to determine the location of the fortresses and the number of English and Indians in each. One of these spies was the celebrated Simon Kenton, who was not content with locating the enemy but attempted to recapture a lot of horses stolen from Kentucky by the Indians on a former raid. Kenton and his companions were not able to travel fast with the number of horses they had secured, and when they were attacked by a band of Indians, Kenton’s companions were slain and he was captured. The Indians hated him cordially and began to beat him unmercifully, calling him the “hoss-steal.” They easily could have murdered Kenton on the spot, but since he had proved such a terrible foe to them in the past, they preferred to enjoy their capture all the more by torturing him for awhile. He was carried by the Indians to Chillicothe, where he was several times forced to run the gauntlet. Finally, when tied to the stake to be burned, he was recognized by his boyhood friend, Simon Girty, who sent him to Detroit, from which place he made his escape and returned to Kentucky, reporting to General Clark the conditions as he had found them.
Other spies returned, and from the general reports General Clark thought it necessary to make another appeal to Virginia for aid. In 1778, Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia gave to Clark a commission as commanding officer to take such soldiers as he could secure in Virginia, together with his Kentuckians, and go against the British and Indians north of the Ohio River. Leaving Corn Island, now Louisville, he and his brave followers marched northward through swamps and swam streams, capturing every fortification to which they came. Among these were Kaskaskia and Vincennes. By this heroic deed of Clark’s the great territory north of the Ohio River was secured from the British, and became a part of Virginia’s territory. Clark continued at the head of military affairs in Kentucky, but his greatest work was done before he was thirty years of age.