George Rogers Clark was a soldier from Virginia and the preeminent American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. The leader of the Kentucky militia throughout much of the war, Clark is best-known for his celebrated capture of Kaskaskia and Vincennes , which greatly weakened British influence in the Northwest Territory. Because the British ceded the entire Northwest Territory to the United States in the 1783 Treaty of Paris, Clark has often been hailed as the "Conqueror of the Old Northwest."

Clark's military achievements came before his 30th birthday. Never fully reimbursed by Virginia for his wartime expenditures, he spent the final decades of his life in increasing poverty and obscurity, often struggling with alcoholism. He was aided in his final years by family members, including his younger brother William, one of the leaders of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.