The George Rogers Clark Memorial - Virginia
N 38° 18.213 W 077° 28.014
18S E 284292 N 4242374
The George Clark Memorial is one of the points of interest cited in the Virginia American Guide Series.
Waymark Code: WM73R5
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 08/28/2009
Views: 6
| The GEORGE ROGERS CLARK MEMORIAL, Lewis St. and Washington Ave., is a small granite block in a circular grass plot, erected in 1929 'in grateful acknowledgment of the valor and the strategic victory' that acquired the Northwest Territory for Virginia. Clark spent part of his childhood about 15 miles south of Fredericksburg. Virginia: A Guide To The Old Dominion 1940 |
George Rogers Clark was born in Albemarle County, VA in 1752. Five years later, the Clark family moved to a farm in Caroline County. George trained as a surveyor and left home to explore Kentucky and the Ohio River.
During the Revolutionary War, Clark served as an officier with the VA Militia defending KY and the Ohio River region. His capture of Vincennes is considered one of his greatest victories. Because of his activities during the war, he has been called Conquerer of the Northwest.
Today, there is a granite block with engraved plaque that stands as a memorial to George Clark on a traffic island in the middle of Wsshington Ave. in historic Fredericksburg. The location of this memorial is considered a mystery because the plaque does not mention any connection between Clark and Fredericksburg, since he actually spent his childhood in Caroline County, approximately 15 miles south of here.
The plaque reads:
GEORGE ROGERS CLARK
1752 - 1818
IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE VALOR, AND THE
STRATEGIC VICTORIES OF GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK
SON OF OLD VIRGINIA
THE PAUL REVERE CHAPTER OF THE DAUGHTER OF THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION OF MUNCIE, INDIANA,
DEVOTE THIS TABLET
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NO HERO OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION SERVED WITH
MORE SACRIFICE, FORTITUDE, AND TAUNTLESS COURAGE,
AND NO HERO HAS ACCOMPLISHED GREATER VICTORIES
AGAINST GREATER ODDS.
THE OLD NORTH-WEST OWES
ITS FREEDOM FROM THE BRITISH TYRANNY TO THIS
DISTINGUISHED PATRIOT AND SOLDIER
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DEDICATED AT FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA
APRIL 1929