Mainly original manuscripts and contemporary copies of papers dated in 1780 pertaining to Clark's activities during that year. Major topics discussed are the building and defense of Fort Jefferson on the Mississippi River; British and Indian movements toward Kentucky and the Illinois country; preparations for and the success of Clark's retaliatory expedition against the Shawnee towns of Chillicothe and Piqua in Ohio; Clark's constant struggle to obtain men, money, and supplies; and Augustin Mottin de La Balme's defeat by the Miami Indians. Undocumented in this volume are the Indian attacks on Cahokia and St. Louis late in May; Clark's part in the defense of St. Louis; and the subsequent pursuit of the Indians to Peoria and the Rock River Valley of Illinois, a campaign ordered by Clark and carried out under the command of John Montgomery.
Approximately a dozen letters by Governor Thomas Jefferson of Virginia to Joseph Martin, Evan Shelby, Daniel Smith, and Thomas Walker as well as to Clark concern the building of Fort Jefferson, troop enlistments, currency depreciation, the Shawnee campaign, and the proposed expedition to Detroit. Several letters by Oliver Pollock to Clark not only discuss supplies and finances but also mention treatment of deserters from Clark's forces and news of Bernardo de Galvez's campaign against the British posts in Mobile and Pensacola. One letter by Pierre Prevost concerns the British plan to send Indians south from Mackinac.
Other correspondents discussing Indian unrest, military events and appointments, and Clark's campaigns include: Chief Battist of the Kaskaskia Indians, Thomas Bentley, D. Blouin, Daniel Brodhead, Richard Campbell, William Crawford, John Dodge, Pierre Dorion, Robert George, Pierre Gibault, John Gibson, Charles Gratiot, Richard Harrison, J.M.P. Legras, Andrew Lewis, Richard McCarty, John Montgomery, William Shannon, George Slaughter, John Todd, Charles W. Thruston, Thomas Walker, and Richard Winston. Although the Shawnee are the Indians mentioned most frequently in the letters, there are a few references also to other tribes such as the Chickasaw, Kaskaskia, and Kickapoo. Attesting further to Indian threats to settlements in Illinois and Kentucky during this year are petitions from citizens of Cahokia, Boonesborough, Bryan's Station, and Lexington. Citizens of Clarksville on the Mississippi (Fort Jefferson) petitioned for the establishment of a new county.
Also in this volume are a certificate of election of magistrates signed by more than ninety inhabitants of Louisville and a group of Louisville court proceedings signed by Thomas Helm. A few letters by Benjamin Day, Dudley Digges, William Mayo Jr., George Meriwether, and George Morgan pertain to business matters; some allusions are obscure, but there are references to Virginia's claims to western lands and to land speculations in Kentucky. Other signers of documents hitherto not mentioned include John Dougherty, David Gass, James Francis Moore, and John South.
