Deflection

Water puddles everywhere this morning, since the area has had rain. I walked over to Fort Massac this morning and looked around. There is a large story about the fort, or maybe I should stated the two forts. The second fort was built along side of the original fort site, since the original fort was no longer in existence then the second fort was built.

In the past, I have studied General George Rogers Clark. When I read the first book, I read about his success on the western front of the Revolutionary War, but I had no idea on the importance that his family had on the devilment of the western United States. At Fort Vincennes on the Wabash River in Indiana, he took the British Fort with a third of the men that was holding the fort. He was one of George Washingtons top generals during the war. However, since his family was neighbors to Thomas Jefferson, his younger brother William is very will know for his trip with Merriwether Lewis to open up the northwest part of the United States. It was William calm demeanor that Jefferson picked him for the trip.

General Clark’s retirement is worthy of discussion. I live in almost poverty on the north side of the Ohio River, since the receipts for his expenses for commanding his troops was lost; but, years after his death, a box of his receipts were found in an attic of one of the federal buildings in Washington, DC. This is no was to treat an out standing general.

Metropolis, Illinois, is the home of the fictional Superman, so I had to stop and take a few photos and walk through the private museum. It bought back memories of the old superman series and movies. It was worth stop.

I got here at the Columbus-Belmont State Park on the east side of the Mississippi River in Kentucky at about 3:30. Being 500 miles south of Whitewater, the days are longer, but there was a beautiful sunset. The sky turn red. As I remember Ken Burn’s film on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, he had captured these red skies over the Mississippi River and now I have had a chance to observe them. It was great.

Tomorrow I am heading west to Fort Donaldson.

Roger