Vincennes Surrenders

February 24th and 25th are important dates with regard to American history. On February 24, 1779, Gen. George Rogers Clark and Governor Hamilton, the British commander at Fort Sackville (Vincennes) met in the old church at Vincennes, which of course, was St. Francis Xavier. There they signed the treaty of surrender, which took place the next morning on February 25, 1779. This was noted in Henry Cauthorn’s history of the old cathedral [Cauthorn p. 228]. There is an excellent web site at the Indiana Historical Bureau linking to a State Library site concerning the surrender. In addition you can read an article on the “Forts of Vincennes” on WikiPedia. Finally, besides the role of the church of St. Francis Xavier, the legendary priest, Pierre Gibault played a major role in the “Americanization” of Vincennes and helped Clark enormously.