Richard Clark, joined his brother George Rogers Clark at Kaskaskia in March, 1779. He was then in his nineteenth year, having been born in Caroline county, Virginia, in 1760. He served for a short time as a volunteer in Captain Robert Todd's company and was commissioned a lieutenant in June, 1779. He was one of the party that marched to the relief of Cahokia, in 1780, and also was in the campaign against the Indians about Peoria. He was stationed for some time at Fort Jefferson, but went to the falls of the Ohio in the summer of 1781, and the next year was with his brother in the campaign against the Indians. Lieutenant Richard Clark was allotted two thousand one hundred and fifty-six acres of land in Clark's Grant, Indiana, for his services in the Illinois campaign, being Nos. 15, 18, 191, 274 and part 160.
He lost his life in March, 1784, probably on Indiana soil. He started to make a journey on horse-back from the falls of the Ohio to Vincennes or possibly Kaskaskia. The strange part of the story is that he undertook this long and dangerous journey alone. There is but little wonder that he lost his life in the effort. The particulars are not known, but the probabilities are that he was drowned in trying to cross some stream. His horse, saddle-bags and some other things were found on the bank of the White river which is pretty clear evidence that he was not killed by the Indians as they would have taken the horse. The family long entertained the hope that he might not be dead, and the mystery and uncertainty added greatly to their distress. There is another tradition which names the Little Wabash as the river where his horse was found, but this is not probable as it is not likely he was aiming to go further than Vincennes.
