Without making his purpose known to anyone, Clark forthwith
joined a band of disheartened settlers and made his way with them
over the Wilderness Trail to Virginia. By this time a plan on the
part of the rebels for the defense of the Kentucky settlements
had grown into a scheme for the conquest of the whole Northwest.

Clark's proposal came opportunely. Burgoyne's surrender had given
the colonial cause a rosy hue, and already the question of the
occupation of the Northwest had come up for discussion in
Congress. Governor Henry thought well of the plan. He called
Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and George Wythe into conference,
and on January 2, 1778, Clark was given two sets of orders--one,
for publication, commissioning him to raise seven companies of
fifty men each "in any county of the Commonwealth" for militia
duty in Kentucky, the other, secret, authorizing him to use this
force in an expedition for the capture of the "British post at
Kaskasky." To meet the costs, only twelve hundred pounds in
depreciated continental currency could be raised. But the
Governor and his friends promised to try to secure three hundred
acres of land for each soldier, in case the project should
succeed. The strictest secrecy was preserved, and, even if the
Legislature had been in session, the project would probably not
have been divulged to it.

Men and supplies were gathered at Fort Pitt and Wheeling and were
carried down the Ohio to "the Falls," opposite the site of
Louisville. The real object of the expedition was concealed until
this point was reached. On learning of the project, the men were
surprised, and some refused to go farther. But in a few weeks one
hundred and seventy-five men, organized in four companies, were