Road Trip Report

Just completed 10 day road trip – meandering across southern Indiana in search of genealogical information.

This exercise was successful, with a lot of the Chief”s ancestral information and family historical locations visited.

The emotional highlight came with a visit to a remote rural family burying ground, with the grave of (one of) my Revolutionary War ancestors, who served in the 3rd Pennsylvania infantry, and fought at Trenton and Brandywine. Also discovered another previously unknown Revolutionary vet, and a number of War of 1812-ers, and Civil War types also.

The next day, I had the chance to visit the George Rogers Clark memorial – what a job HE did, leading a 3-week forced march of about 190 men across flooded out southern Illinois in mid-winter, and then attacking, and getting the surrender of around 600 Brits in their Ft. Sackville at Vincennes, IN.

This American victory sealed the presence of the United States in the “Old Northwest” and insured that the new republic would NOT be restricted to the strip of the 13 (former) colonies along the Atlantic seaboard.

We stand on the shoulders of giants. May we be worthy of the sacrifice and accomplishments of our ancestors, and add to their edifice rather than tear it down.