 The Cavalcade of America starring Robert Young, Wanda Hendricks and Lon McAllister, sponsored by the DuPont Company, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. Tonight, our DuPont Cavalcade comes to you from the stage of the Memorial Auditorium in Louisville, Kentucky, where we are the guests of the men and women of the DuPont Company's neoprene works in Louisville. And here is Robert Young. Thank you and good evening. Wanda Hendricks, Lon McAllister and I are happy to be in Louisville for this Cavalcade broadcast. It's good to be hearing Stephen Foster's My Old Kentucky Home, but this is homecoming year in the Bluegrass State. Tonight our thoughts turn to those pioneers and builders who have given us the Kentucky of beauty and memory. We recall Daniel Boone, who founded Early Settlements here, and Henry Clay of Lexington. Here was born Jefferson Davis, and in a humble cabin Abraham Lincoln. But we might not have known their Kentucky, nor indeed our own, had it not been for the man whose story we tell you tonight, George Rogers Clark. With Robert Young as George Rogers Clark, Wanda Hendricks as Polly Ann, and Lon McAllister as Tom McChesney, our DuPont play, The Sword of Kentucky, begins with a very old letter, dated September 20th, 1779, and written by Polly Ann McChesney to her brother in Virginia. Dear brother, then with her down in Carolina two years ago, I was so lonely. Now here in Louisville, with Colonel Clark's new town of building all around us, it's hard to imagine that dire loneliness. But I do remember the log cabin in the shadow of the Blue Ridge where I lived and sometimes taught school. And Tom might be chosen away fighting the Cherokee. I don't know what I'd have done had it not been for little Daisy, the orphan boy father taken in. One day in the early spring, Daisy would clean father's rifle at the cabin door. Hi, Sonny. Hi. Hey, that's my long piece of gun for such a short piece of boy. I shot a deer last week. Oh, that's so loud. Say, this used to be the school moms house, didn't it? Ah, it still is. Oh, but you're new around here. What's your name, son? David Ritchie. Howdy, Dave. Howdy, stranger. Uh, is this Polly Ann home? No. She's gone down to the Ohio. Tell me. Has she been happy? She used to be, but her father died. And because of Tom McChesney, him she's promised to marry. He's been away in his village, they say, he's run off to the Kentucky gout from over the mountain. Oh, they say that, do they? Well, you tell her. You tell her, stranger. Here she comes. Polly. Tom, oh, Tom, you've come back. Oh, Polly. Oh, no, no. Wait, wait, wait. Why did you come back? Well, to marry you, of course. You haven't forgotten. And what about that Kentucky group? Oh, you don't believe that. Oh, look here, Polly. I'm no boaster. But when I think what I came through to get back here to you, I wonder I ever came back at all. I've walked 200 miles, fed seven times, and my scalp is near hanging on a Cherokee's belt as, as that. Here I am. And we're going to be married tomorrow. Um, where are we? Of course we are, Tom. Whoever said we weren't. Tell my dear brother we were married. Tom and New Prince Buckskin, me and a white linen gown I'd made myself. And lovely blue beaded mossy. I remember the goon babsus priests and the fiddlers too. The dancing that lasted all night. The huge maple under which we stood. But most of all, I remember Tom McChesney. My Tom. Then a few weeks later. Polly, there's something I've got to tell you. Something I should have told you for. Tom, if it's about that Kentucky woman, you can save your breath. Who cares about her now? There weren't no Kentucky woman. It's about a man. A man I met at Herod's. He's a great man, Polly. His name is Colonel Clark. And he has a great plan of foot to lick the Indians and the British out in the western country. He's gathered an army at the Falls of the Ohio in Kentucky. And, well... Go on, Tom. Well, I promised him I'd join up at the Falls. They'll be needing hunters. And, well, I, I gave him my word. If you gave him your word, you'll go. Oh, Polly, I knew you'd understand. You'll go and I'll go with you. And so will Daisy. But you can't go, Polly. It's too dangerous. But we'll have to go all the way to the Falls of the Ohio River over a boon's trace, what they call the wild in this trail. But there's Indians all up through that country. And the British are payin' them for scouts. And all the Kentucky settlers are holed up in forts. No, I, I couldn't let you and Little Dave run such a risk. Listen to me, Tom. We're through your one family now. We'll stick together. And so we set off in early April for Kentucky. Up the trail, first blazed by Daniel Boone, the path across the great Blue Ridge. For weeks there was no sign of Indians. We were lucky, Tom kept saying. And then one day, just as we were almost within sight of our gold, Corn Island, our luck changed. We were crossing a clearing. Tom was leading the pack horse. And Davey and I were on Prince the pony. Went from a crumbled bushes, just as. Polly, Indians, get down. Quick, Davey, they got my horse. Now pull that other one down here. Down, Prince, down you. Come here, crouch back here with me. Behind the horses. Now, those Indians are right up ahead in those bushes. Not a bad shot. Reach Davey that other gun, Polly. Good. Now get that gun there, and jump over Prince's saddle boy. And if you see one of them, shoot. I hope we can get out of this. I can see one of them. He's standing up. I think he's hitting. I'm afraid that he's surrounded. Down, Davey. You stay down. You hear me? You just got to wait him out. Maybe it'll dark. But if they charge us, we're outnumbered. Tom, if you don't get out of here. Listen. Yeah, I hear something too. The horse, did you hear him? Somebody's coming. Oh, Tom, more Indians. Look, look, the Indians are running away. No, but don't move it. It may be a trick. Hello there. Hello. I know that voice. That's Colonel Clark. Tom McChesney. Colonel. Si, we've got company. This mount man. Well, howdy, Tom. You know Si Kenton here? Sure thing. Howdy, Simon. Howdy. Looks like we got here just in time. Back at Corn Island, we had news of an Indian scouting party. So we rode out to have a look. Didn't have an engine trouble? Might. Just a might. I will say, though, we had more than we could handle. Thanks, Colonel, for taking that look. Oh, Colonel Clark. Si, this is my wife, Polly Ann, and our board, David Ritchie. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy do, man. Well, Tom, you're just in time. We'll be starting Don River next week. If all goes well. You've got an army, sir? My army, such as it is, rests on Corn Island above the falls. 153 men. All I could beg, borrow, bribe, or steal in Virginia in the mountain settlements. We'll need you, Tom. I said I'd make it, Colonel. My compliments on keeping your word. And on your charming wife. My congratulations, ma'am. Thank you. Well, now, it's hardly an hour to the river. Baby, would you like to ride with me? Yes, sir. All right, then. Up we go. So, dear brother, I first met George Rodney Clark. He was tall and had wonderful courtly Virginia manners. He and Davey rode ahead. And we came to a rise overlooking a lovely valley. There you are, Davey. Look, the great river. The Ohio? The Ohio. And the finest country the most beautiful land got ever made. New, untouched, unspoiled, glorious. See the falls, boy, and the island above it? Yes, ma'am. That's Corn Island, boy, and the settlement. Someday, there'll be a great city there at the falls. It's in the stars. There'll be farms and towns and cities all up and down that river, and beyond up to the lakes. The western lands, the golden western lands. British and Indian country now, everything between the Ohio River and the North Pole. But I mean to make it ours, lad, for ourselves and those who come after us. I'd sure like to help you, sir. Well, now, uh... I don't quite see how, uh... Hold on a minute. Can you play a drum, Davey? No, sir, but I can learn. Do you have a drum, sir? That we have. A big British drum with a royal arms all over it. Stolen it was like much of our gear. It's yours, Davey. We'll go down the river on this expedition in style to the tune of the king's own drum. And you'll be our drummer boy. Davey, call the men to attention. Men, in an hour, we'll launch the flat boats and be off down the Ohio about our business. In nature of that business, I've had to conceal from you for reasons of secrecy. I'll tell you now what we're going to do. My friends and neighbors, there's scarce a man among you who has not suffered at the hands of the savages. Many of you have seen wives and children slaughtered before your eyes or dragged off into captivity. West of the mountains, no man's home is safe against the red hirelings of the British Colonel Henry Hamilton at Fort Detroit. We're right behind you. You were told that this force was being raised to defend the Kentucky settlement. So it was. But to my mind, the best defense is a strong attack. And I have so convinced Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia, I am authorized to lead this expedition right to Hamilton's doorstep at Detroit. First, however, we must cut off the enemy's southern supply depots at Cascadia and in San. Few as we are, we can with the help of God win a new empire to the American cause. The Northwest Territory, all the land from the Alleghenies to the Mississippi, from the Great Lakes to Kentucky. That's all, men. We leave in an hour. Well, Tom, it's goodbye, Ben. I'm afraid it is, Polly. But I'll come back. I promise you I'll come back. Tell me how I know you will. Polly, why is it that you haven't been freshin' to come along? This time my job's to stay behind. As long as I live, I'll never understand a woman's ways. I think you'll understand when you come back. Hey, Macchessie, come along now. The canoe's ready. Oh, Tom. Tom. Goodbye, Polly. Goodbye. And God go with you. You're listening to Robert Young as George Rogers Clark, Wanda Hendricks as Polly Ann, and Lon McAllister as Tom McChessney on the Cavalcade of America sponsored by the DuPont Company, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. Our DuPont story continues with an old faded letter written by Polly Ann. Polly was writing to her brother in Virginia. Polly's husband, Tom, is a lieutenant in the Army of George Rogers Clark. Hello, dear brother. After Tom left with Colonel Clark, I had good reason to stay behind with the women and the settlers on Corn Island. What happened on that expedition was told to me later by Colonel Clark himself. After it was over, I had to bring many a long-falled eagles in Louisville. At first Polly all went well. If Kastia was taken by surprise and our diplomacy zoomed quite at the fears of its French settlers. Thanks to a frontier priest, Father Pierre Jebeau, other French settlers over near Vincennes also accepted the authority of Virginia in the Congress. One day in my headquarters at Kastia... Come in. Colonel Clark, sir, that traitor, Mr. V, goes back. I met him at the stockade. He's outside now. Come in at once, Tom. Yes, sir. In here, Mr. Vigo. Ah, Colonel Clark. Well, Vigo, how's trade up river? Oh, the trade. It is good, but the news, it is bad. Oh? It's true, then. Oui, Hamilton has marched in and occupied Vincennes. Now, Colonel Clark, your position here at Cascasca is threatened. Your whole expedition imperiled. You saw Hamilton? Oui. I drink with him. I talk with him. How large is his force? He has ninety British regulars and five hundred Indians. Ah, Vigo, what I wouldn't give for five hundred men and a few pound sterling. We've no cannon and no money to buy swivel guns at St. Louis. We've got twenty flags stitched together for us by the women here. Enough flags for a thousand troops. The hundred and seventy odd men I command have little powder and less lead. Still, we'll go after Hamilton. Wait, wait. You have not heard the worst news. Between here and Vincennes is one great lake. The water has overflowed all this country between. The floods, icy waters come early and very bad. And it is winter, my friend. Well, we're going to take Vincennes Vigo, floods or no floods. If necessary, we'll swim there. So, we began the march. The hungry, lean, icy march through Wabash floods in January 1779. The first days provisions lasted. Long before the march was over, my officers' horses were killed for food. Mile by freezing mile. Sometimes inch by inch from the tangled underbrush of flooded forests. Day by day, hour by hour, we pushed ahead. On the 18th day, having slept in our soaps and icy buck skins on a swampy knoll, we were awakened by a new sound. You hear that, Colonel? Yes. Hamilton's sunrise gun Vincennes. Sir, I take a look over the hillock yonder. See if the water up ahead is frozen. Yes, sir. Tom? Yes, sir. Here, sir. How's the Ritchie boy? All of your things all right, sir, at least why they never complained. He's our luck, and no truth's ever stood in greater need of good fortune. You'll carry him on your shoulders again today, Tom. Yes, sir. Here's a lad now. Good. Son? Yes, sir? How about a little noise by way of revelry? Care attention, please. We're one day's march away from Vincennes. Twenty-four hours from food and fire and dry bridges once more. Have you got one more day left in you? Ahead of us lies the horseshoe plain, or maybe I should call it Horseshoe Lake. Ahead of that lies Vincennes and Colonel Hamilton, the scout merchant. The French hunters we picked up yesterday have told me that no word of our coming has reached the fort of Vincennes. Most of Hamilton's Indians are off to the south on a raid. Ahead of us, men, lies victory. Colonel Clark? Yes, Colonel. How's the water up ahead? Throw solid an inch thick over the whole plain, two thin to hold up, two thick for an ice-warm swim, and about chest deep, I'd say. We'll break the ice and wade through it. I'll lead the way. Baby? Yes, sir? Up on Tom's back. Up. Now, forward to Vincennes. March. Colonel Hamilton, a communication from Colonel Clark. Where did you get this major? A French trapper brought it to Vincennes. Clark's army is at our very gates. What? A surprise move, sir. He marched out of Cascaskia across the Illinois country. Here, you'd better read this letter. As... What damnable influence. What colossal, unmitigated effrontery. This... this backwood Caesar demands that we surrender than fans without firing a shot. Listen, listen to this. Sir, in order to save yourself from the impending storm that threatens you, I order. Order, he says. I order you to immediately surrender yourself up with all your garrison stores, et cetera, for if I'm obliged to storm, you may depend upon such treatment justly due to a murderer. The man's mad, sir. Ah, beware. Beware, he says, of destroying stores of any kind or papers or letters that are in your possession or hurting one house in the town for by-heavens. If you do, there should be no mercy showing you. Why, that... that... It's preposterous. Perhaps so, but after all, the trapper counted twenty flags. Clark must have a thousand men, at least. Nonsense. Take down my reply. Right? Governor Hamilton begs to acquaint Colonel Clark that he and his garrison are not disposed to be awed into any action unworthy of pretty substance. By nightfall, the outcome was clear and at dusk before the old French church had been sent, Hamilton surrendered. All right, man, attention. Colonel Clark, His Excellency Governor Hamilton. Colonel Clark, you have forced me to capitulate. I and my garrison are your prisoners. You will be treated according to the honors of war. You good settlers of incense, I bring you American freedom. To my own man, I want to express not only my deep gratitude, but also the appreciation of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Continental Congress. Our task is finished. Sergeant Cowan, you may raise the flag over Vincennes. And, Davey, as the flag goes up, I want you to beat that drum as you've never beat it before. From now on, it will fly over all this territory as a symbol of liberty and hope. Very well, Sergeant. Raise the colors. Private Richie. Yes, Colonel Clark? How would you like to go back to Corn Island? Is Tom going, sir? I need Tom a bit longer. I've got these Britishers to feed for a while as well as ourselves. I'm sending Simon Kenton back to the falls of the Ohio with dispatches. You're to go with him. It's an order, Private Richie. Yes, sir. Tom will be free to go back soon, I promise you. There's one thing, sir. What is that? Please, Colonel Clark. May I take my drum? And so, dear brother, Colonel Clark himself, the story of his expedition to conquer the Northwest Territory. And I had something to tell him, too. Of what Tom found that day he got back. Davey was polishing his drum outside the door of our cabin as Tom came up the trail. Paulie, Paulie, darling. I'm so glad you're home, Tom. Come over here, under the window. Look here. Paulie, darling. He's a boy. Have you had him christened yet? No, Tom, I was waiting for you. Oh, I've a name for him, Paulie. I've got a great name for him. So have I. George. Rogers. Clark. McKinney. Yes, that was what I told Colonel Clark. We named our baby for him. You see, I feel very close to Colonel Clark. Each of us in our own way gave something to this country we love and to its future. May it be a bright one for all of us. For ourselves and our children. Think of us occasionally, dear brother. Think well of us as we do with you. Your affectionate sister, Polly Ann McChesney, at Louisville, the new settlement on the Ohio in Kentucky. Thanks to Robert Young, to Wanda Hendricks, and to Lon McAllister and our Cable Cade cast for tonight's Stupont Story, The Sword of Kentucky. The Cable Cade returns to New York and presents the distinguished star of stage and screen Basil Rathbone. Our Dupont Story tells of a strange visit to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. Be sure to listen. Tonight's Dupont Cable Cade, The Sword of Kentucky was written by George Faulkner and was suggested by a passage in the book The Crossing by the American novelist Winston Churchill. Robert Young, star of Father Knows Best, appeared through the courtesy of Maxwell House Coffee. Wanda Hendricks can soon be seen in an admiral with a lady. Lon McAllister's latest picture is the boy from Indiana. Our Cable Cade supporting players were Clipper Tatum Jr. as Baby, Dan Arco as Vigo, Horace Brayham as Hamilton, and George Petrie as Hay. Music was composed by Arden Cornwell and conducted by Donald Bryan. This is Ryan Halloran speaking. The program was directed by John Zoller. Cable Cade of America is presented by the Dupont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. Makers of better things for better living through chemistry. This is America's number one advertising medium, NBC.