Jim Clements
James is the President Elect of the Patrick Henry Chapter TXSSAR, he is retired and living in the Texas Hill Country town of Wimberley, Texas with his wife Judy Clements the Vice Regent of the Jacobs Well Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution “DAR”. James served in the U.S. Army 1965 – 1968 and served two tours in Vietnam with the 86th Combat Engineers as a Demolition Specialist.
James has been an independent businessman throughout his career and has extensive experience in team leadership in facilities and plant personnel as the President, CEO at Powerbridge Inc. and Chairman, CEO at United Enertec, Inc.
His expertise is in Latin America, South America, Europe and Asia. He has past experience as a Chairman/CEO, among other executive roles, in several companies over his unique career. He has a unique blending of business development and executive management experience. James created Powerbridge, Inc. in 1986, an independent power development company, in the growing Cogeneration and Independent Power industry. His company provided contract consulting services to national and international organizations in the independent power industry services. He negotiated a joint venture partnership with John Hancock, Energy Investors Funds in 1993 providing services throughout China and S.E. Asia. The scope of work included designing and developing power projects in partnership with Enron Corporation, General Electric and Stewart & Stevenson. In 1994, James signed an exclusive agreement with the Ministry of Energy (Coal) in China. A new project was launched, known as Coal Bed Methane Power, in the district of Sichuan Province of China. He continued to provide executive management for Powerbridge until 1996 when he accepted a lucrative buyout from Evergreen Resources. Specializing in global Power and supply chain security programs including start-up initiatives, risk assessments, and business partner validations in transportation, logistics, distribution, warehousing and manufacturing.
In his retirement James continues to serve his Country, his Community and his fellow American Compatriots through his volunteer and charity efforts. James has been the leader in the development of a new Veterans support organization where he serves as the Vice President, of the Central Texas Returning Heroes, 501c3 non-profit organization where he is the founder and Director of the MGS Bob Horrigan Memorial Golf Tournament.
James is active in the Patrick Henry Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution as President Elect, Program Committee Chair and serves as a member of the Color Guard. He is an active Board Member of Senator Ted Cruz’s Military Services Appointment Committee.
James is the Chairman of the Wimberley Veterans Memorial Plaza, he is a member of American Legion Travis Post 76, he has served as the Sr. Vice Commander, Wimberley VFW Post 6441and is a life member of the VFW and the AMVETS where he served as the 1st Vice Commander, CenTex AMVETS Post 115.
James is very actively involved in the politics of Hays County where he has served as the Precinct Chairman and on the Executive Committee at on the Hays County Republican Party Board. James has served as the Hays County Coordinator for Senator Donna Campbell supporting her election for Texas Senator Donna Campbell.
ROGER THOMPSON CLEMENTS
5th Great Grandfather Patriot
Roger Clements was born in Augusta County, Virginia on January 1st 1762, and died July 31st, 1835 and is buried in Mt. Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky, the son of John R. Clements (1725 VA) and Elizabeth Keturah Thompson. Roger enlisted in the Revolutionary Army as a Private in the Spring of 1780 and served three months under Capt. Davidson and Col. Davidson in North Carolina, then one month under Capt. James Hogan and Col. Charles McDowell and for a short time under Capt. Hart and Col. Brisby. Roger at the age of 20 fought in Ranson Mills and in the Famous Battle of Blue Licks as a Kentuckian.
Roger Clements was awarded two land grants for his military service during the revolution, 1000 acres in Fayette County in the region of Slate Creek, Kentucky and 1500 acres in N. Carolina. Upon his death in 1835 Roger Clements’ estate in Mt. Sterling, KY included 290 acres. Roger’s original homestead listed as the “Clements Bottoms” in the Patrick Henry County of Kentucky is still exactly as originally laid out at:
Clements Bottom Rd, Lockport, KY 40036
Battle of Blue Licks
The Battle of Blue Licks, fought on August 19, 1782, was one of the last battles of the American Revolutionary War. The battle occurred ten months after Lord Cornwallis’s famous surrender at Yorktown, which had effectively ended the war in the east. On a hill next to the Licking River in what is now Robertson County, Kentucky (but was then in Kentucky County, Virginia), a force of about 50 American and Canadian Loyalists along with 300 American Indians ambushed and routed 182 Kentucky militiamen. It was the worst defeat for the Kentuckians during the frontier war.
The militia arrived at Bryan Station on August 18. The force included about 47 men from Fayette County and another 135 from Lincoln County. The highest-ranking officer, Colonel John Todd of Fayette County, was in overall command. Assisting him were two lieutenant colonels, Stephen Trigg of Lincoln County and Daniel Boone of Fayette County.
The militiamen could either pursue the enemy immediately, to keep them from escaping, or they could more safely wait for Colonel Logan to arrive with reinforcements. Daniel Boone wanted to wait for Logan and his troops to arrive. Logan was only a day away, but Major Hugh McGary urged Boone to chase after the Indians. McGary convinced others that they would be cowards if they did not follow the Indians and Boone was forced to go after them.[3] The Kentuckians decided to pursue the enemy, who had a 40 mile (60 km) lead on them. They set out on horseback over an old buffalo trail before making camp at sunset.
Battle
On the morning of August 19, the Kentuckians reached the Licking River, near a spring and salt lick known as the Lower Blue Licks. A few Indian scouts were seen watching them from across the river. Behind the scouts was a hill around which the river looped. Colonel Todd called a council and asked Daniel Boone, the most experienced woodsman, what he thought. Boone said he had been growing increasingly suspicious because of the obvious trail the Indians left. He felt the Indians were trying to lead them into an ambush.
Hugh McGary, eager to prove he was no coward, urged an immediate attack. When no one listened, he mounted his horse and rode across the ford. He yelled out, “Them that ain’t cowards, follow me.” The men immediately followed McGary, as did the officers, who hoped to restore order. Boone remarked, “We are all slaughtered men,” and crossed the river.
Most of the men dismounted and formed a line of battle several rows deep. They advanced up the hill, Todd and McGary in the center, Trigg on the right, Boone on the left. As Boone had suspected, Caldwell’s force was waiting on the other side, concealed in ravines. When the Kentuckians reached the summit, the Indians opened fire at close range with devastating accuracy. After only five minutes, the center and right of the Kentucky line fell back. Only Boone’s men on the left managed to push forward. Todd and Trigg, easy targets on horseback, were shot dead.
The Kentuckians began to flee down the hill, fighting hand-to-hand with other Indians who had flanked them. McGary rode up to Boone’s company and told him everyone was retreating and that Boone was now surrounded. Boone ordered his men to retreat. He grabbed a riderless horse and ordered his 23-year-old son, Israel Boone, to mount it. He then turned to look for a horse for himself. Israel suddenly fell to the ground, shot through the neck. Boone realized his son was dead, mounted the horse and joined in the retreat.
Aftermath
Although he had not taken part in the battle, George Rogers Clark, as senior militia officer, was widely condemned in Kentucky for allowing the British force to cross the river and inflict the Blue Licks disaster. In response, Clark launched a retaliatory raid across the Ohio River in November 1782. His force consisted of more than 1,000 men, including Benjamin Logan and Daniel Boone. The Kentuckians destroyed five unoccupied Shawnee villages on the Great Miami River in the last major offensive of the American Revolution. No battles took place, since the Shawnees refused to stand and fell back to their villages on the Mad River.
Four years later, the Indian villages on the Mad River would be destroyed by Benjamin Logan at the outset of the Northwest Indian War. Hugh McGary confronted the Shawnee chief Moluntha and asked if he had been at Blue Licks. In fact, the Shawnees had not taken part, the Indians being Wyandots. Moluntha nodded his head in agreement. McGary killed him with a tomahawk. Moluntha had voluntarily and peacefully surrendered, waving an American flag and a copy of the peace treaty he had signed earlier that year, in the belief that these would protect him. Colonel Logan immediately relieved McGary of his command and ordered him court-martialed for killing a prisoner. McGary was stripped of his commission for a year, but was otherwise unpunished.
Legacy
The Blue Licks battle site is commemorated at Blue Licks Battlefield State Park, on U.S. Route 68 between Paris and Maysville, just outside the town of Blue Licks Springs. The site includes a granite obelisk, burial grounds, and a museum. Every August, on the weekend closest to the 19th, a re-enactment and memorial service is held.[4]