Vincennes Trace

The Trace was created by millions of migrating bison that were numerous in the region from the Great Lakes to the Piedmont of North Carolina.

[1] In Indiana the Trace's main line split into several smaller trails that converged north of Jasper, near several large ponds, or mud holes, where buffalo would wallow.

[5] Due to the large number of buffalo that used the Trace, the well-worn path was twelve to twenty feet wide in places.

[8] The Trace crossed the White River at several points, including places near the present-day towns of Petersburg and Portersville, Indiana.

[11] After the American Revolutionary War, in the late 1780s the U.S. government granted land in New York, Ohio and Indiana to veterans as payment for service.

The US granted "so many acres of land" to George Rogers Clark and his men for their military service in the Illinois campaign against the British during the Revolutionary War.

There was speculation that he was killed by Indians or thieves in the area, but historian William Hayden English concluded that he probably drowned while crossing a river.

[15] General Josiah Harmar, Commander of the Army of the Ohio, kept a log when he led the First American Regiment on a return march from Vincennes in 1786.

[17] In late 1799 U.S. postmaster Joseph Habersham established a mail route from Louisville through Vincennes to Kaskaskia, Illinois at the Mississippi River along the Trace.

[22] Survey maps and field notes identified forty-three miles of the old trace road from Clark's Grant to the White River in southern Indiana.

[23] During the War of 1812, Harrison assigned 150 men to patrol the Trace between Vincennes and Louisville, "so as to completely protect the citizens and the road.

It was extended to Paoli, Indiana, after the state government leased operation of the road to a private organization as part of their negotiations to avoid bankruptcy.

[29] A large section of the original Trace can be seen south of French Lick in Orange County, Indiana, along the Springs Valley Trail System.

Survey notes, plat maps and other documents provide clues as archeologists continue to discover more sections, aided by modern technologies such as GIS and GNSS.