Captain Leonard Helm

Helm's forces capture British boats on the Wabash river

from Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio by William English, vol. 1

Quick Facts

Significance:

Captain under George Rogers Clark in the Illinois Campaign of the American Revolution

Place of Birth:

Virginia

Date of Birth:

1720

Place of Death:

Kentucky

Date of Death:

1782

Place of Burial:

Unknown

Cemetery Name:

None

Leonard Helm was born around 1720 on a farm that straddles the present Virginia county lines of Fauquier and Prince William Counties to Thomas Helm and Margaret Lynaugh. Little is known of his early years except for that he was born into a large, wealthy, family. Since only the richest families could send children to school in England or one of the few universities in the colonies, Helm most likely would have been tutored if he received any formal education.

In 1748, he married Margaret Farr of Prince William County, Virginia. Shortly after marriage and the birth of their first son, the family moved to the Kentucky wilderness. There, Helm settled in Jessamine County, south of where Lexington, Kentucky is today. He farmed and raised his family there and served in the local militia like many young men during the 1700s. While still in Jessamine County, his wife Margaret died from complications while giving birth to triplets in 1774 and was buried there. That same year, he served alongside George Rogers Clark in Lord Dunmore’s War. During this time, Helm developed such a fondness for liquor that one commanding officer, after settling Helm’s extensive tavern bills, reprimanded him for his disorderly conduct while drinking. 

Helm’s redemption came on January 4th, 1778, when his old friend George Rogers Clark recruited him for his planned invasion of the ‘Illinois country.’ Helm was tasked to recruit a company of men from the interior of Virginia, mostly from Prince William and Fauquier Counties. After meeting up with Clark and other companies, they helped build a stockade at the Falls of the Ohio on Corn Island (near present day Louisville, KY), giving them a staging area for the Illinois campaigns. Under Clark, Helm and his company helped capture Kaskaskia, on July 4, and Cahokia, July 6, 1778 in the Illinois Territory. With the assistance of Father Pierre Gibault , two other Virginians, and a French militia platoon Helm was able to peacefully occupy the dilapidated Fort Sackville and secure Vincennes. This gave Lt. Colonel Clark a tenuous control of land inhabited by mostly French fur traders, few if any Colonial Americans and many Native American tribes.

With a sizable force of British soldiers, Canadian militia, and Native allies, Lt. Governor Henry Hamilton set out from Fort Detroit in December of 1778 determined to remove Clark and his forces from the Northwest Territory. When Hamilton's forces arrived at Vincennes, Captain Helm was forced to surrender the fort on December 17th when his local militia deserted, leaving him little manpower to defend the decrepit fort.

On February 23, 1779, after a harrowing march through frigid flood waters, Clark's mixed company of Virginians and French militia surrounded the fort. Helm, having been held at Fort Sackville after his surrender, acted as an intermediary through negotiations. Eventually, Hamilton, feeling he was outnumbered and fearing that Clark would slaughter the British and their allies, surrendered himself and the fort on February 25th.

After retaking the fort Clark sent Helm and a small force of 40 to 50 French troops to surprise and capture the British supply and relief force coming from Fort Detroit. Helm's force was able to capture 40 British troops, seven boats and supplies worth about $50,000.

Fort Sackville was renamed Fort Patrick Henry and Clark appointed Helm civil commandant and put him in charge of Indian affairs. Helm served in the Northwest territory throughout 1781 quelling Native American uprisings and raids in the area. However, his alcohol use worsened with time, likely due to the loneliness and hardship of living on the frontier and supporting a fort with increasing debt, and empty promises of repayment by the new US government.

Captain Helm is presumed to have died in June 1782 having gone alone into the Kentucky countryside to investigate reports of Native American raiding parties. He did not tell anyone where he was going and was never heard from again. The Virginia government never reimbursed Helm for the money he spent in the performance of his duties. However, after 52 years and multiple petitions filed on behalf of Helm’s relatives and regiment, his heirs finally received money due to him but not the land that had been promised.

The lives of the Illinois regiment and Captain Helm are remembered along with Clark at George Rogers Clark National Historical Park.