USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > History of Augusta County, Virginia > Part 40
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(1.) Howe, on page 204 as above, states that "General Andrew Lewis resided on the Roanoke river, in this county. He was one of the six sons [should be five sons and one daughter] of that John Lewis who, with
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Mackey and Salling, had been foremost in settling Augusta county, and the most distinguished of a family who behaved so bravely in defending the infant settlements against the Indians. In Braddock's war he was in a company in which were all the brothers, the eldest, Samuel Lewis, being the captain. On page 182-Augusta county-the same author speaks of but four sons of John Lewis, of whom Thomas is said to be the eldest. Here is obviously a mistake, and an apparent contradiction, since Samuel and Thomas cannot both have been the eldest son. In a note on page 589 of Campbell's larger works, the following statement is made : " Thos. Lewis, eldest son of John Lewis, owing to a defective vision, was not ac- tively engaged in the Indian wars. He married a Miss Strother, of Staf- ford. The second son, Samuel, died without issue. William, of the Sweet Springs, was distinguished in the frontier wars, and was an officer in the Revolutionary war. The fifth son, Col. Charles Lewis, fell at Point Pleasant." I think it may fairly be concluded that Howe is mistaken in his statement that John Lewis had six sons, and that Sam was the eldest. He only gives the names of four, including Samuel, and omitting Charles. The statement of Charles Campbell is no doubt the correct one. Howe proceeds : " This corps distinguished themselves at Braddock's defeat. They, with some other of the Virginia troops, were in the advance, and first attacked the enemy. Severed from the rest of the army, they cut their way through the enemy to their companions, with the loss of many men. The conduct of Andrew Lewis at Grant's defeat, in his attack on Fort du Quesne, acquired for him the highest reputation for prudence and courage. He was at this time a major. Both Lewis and Grant were made prisoners. While they were prisoners, Grant addressed a letter to Gen. Forbes, attributing their defeat to Lewis. This letter being inspected by the French, who knew the falsehood of the charge, they handed it to Lewis, who waited on Grant and challenged him. Upon his refusing to fight, Lewis spit in his face in the presence of the French officers, and then left him to reflect on his baseness. Major Lewis was with Washington July 4th, 1754, at the capitulation of Fort Necessity, when by the articles agreed upon the garrison was to retire and return without molestation to the inhabited parts of the country ; and the French commander promised that no embarrassment should be interposed either by his own men or the savages. While some of the soldiers of each army were intermixed, an Irishman, exasperated by an Indian near him, "cursed the copper-colored scoundrel," and raised his musket. Lewis, who had been twice wounded in the engagement, and was then hobbling on a staff, raised the Irishman's gun as he was in the act of firing, and thus not only saved the life of the Indian, but probably prevented a general massacre of the Virginia troops. He was the commander and general of the Virginia troops at the battle of Point Pleasant, fought the 10th of May, 1774. [This should be the Ioth of October, as stated by all the historians except Howe.] In this cam- paign the Indians were driven west of the Ohio. Washington, in whose regiment Lewis had once been a major, formed so high an opinion of his bravery and military skill that at the commencement of the Revolutionary War he was induced to recommend him to Congress as one of the major- generals of the American army-a recommendation which was slighted in order to make room for Gen. Stephens. It is also said that when Wash- ington was commissioned as commander-in-chief he expressed a wish that the appointment had been given to Gen. Lewis.
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Upon this slight in the appointment of Stephens, Washington wrote a letter to Gen. Lewis, which is published in his correspondence, expressive of his regret at the course pursued by Congress, and promised that he should be promoted to the first vacancy. At his solicitation, Lewis ac- cepted the commission of Brigadier-General, and was soon after ordered to the command of a detachment of the army stationed near Williamsburg. He commanded the Virginia troops when Lord Dunmore was driven from Gwynn's Island, in 1776, and announced his orders for attacking the enemy by putting a match to the first gun, which was an eighteen-pounder.
Gen. Lewis resigned his command in 1781, to return home, being seized ill with a fever. He died on his way, in Bedford county, about forty (more correctly twenty-two) miles, from his own house on the Roanoke, lamented by all acquainted with his meritorious services and superior qualities."
HIS WILL.
The following is the full text of the last will and testament of General Lewis, an interesting document in itself, and bearing evidence to the won- derful success of this emigrant Irish boy, who during his brief career in Vir- ginia, when more than half of his life was spent in the public service, ac- quired and devised to his children over 30,000 acres of land :
" In the name of God, Amen. I, Andrew Lewis, of the county and par- ish of Botetourt, make this my last will and testament. I resign my soul to its Creator in all humble hopes of its future happiness, as in the disposal of a being infinitely good. As to my body, I leave it to be buried at the dis- cretion of my executors hereinafter named. And as to my worldly estate, I dispose of it in the following manner and form :
First. I give to my beloved wife two negro men and two negro women for her lifetime, with a right to work one-third part of the farm I live on, called and known by the name of Birchfield. Also such part of the stock, not exceeding the sixth part, as she may find it necessary for her support for life.
To my son John I give the tract of land on which he lives, containing 470 acres. Also a tract of land on both sides of Greenbrier river, at the mouth of Ewing's creek, containing 480 acres. Also 1,000 acres on Sink- ing creek, in the Kentucky county, part of my 5,000 tract, and that he take 1,000 acres in a body, at either end of this tract, as may best please him.
To my son Samuel I give all my lands near Staunton, in Augusta county, there being three distinct tracts, to-wit : the Stone House tract, containing 740 acres, and a tract joining the lower end thereof, on which I lived, containing 680 acres, and the third, joining the southeast side of the two above named tracts containing 185 acres, deeded to me by Robert Beverly. Also a tract of land in Greenbrier county, on the Sink-hole lands, containing 1,200 acres. I also give him my gold watch.
To my son Thomas I give the tract of land joining the upper end of the tract I live on, known by the name of Burks, or Old Place, containing 283 acres, and on the north side of Roanoke river. Also a tract of land on the north side of Greenbrier river, near to Weaver's Nob, and known by the name of Richland, containing 1,170 acres. Also a tract in Green- brier county, on which John Cook lives, containing 500 acres, and known by the name of Falling Spring tract. Also a tract containing 200 acres, joining the southwest end of the Warm Spring tract, and on both sides of the Warm Spring branch.
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To my son Andrew I give the following tracts of land, to-wit: the mill tract, on which he lives, containing 269 acres, formerly Thomas Tash's. Also a tract of land joining the lower end of the above, containing 100 acres, and known by Burk's Spring. Also two tracts adjoining the south- east side of the above tract, one containing 116 acres, the other 63 acres. Also a tract of land in Greenbrier county, on the south side of Greenbrier river, opposite to the mouth of Muddy creek, containing 780 acres. Also a tract of land in the same county, on the branches of Indian creek, known by the name of Fork Survey containing 400 acres.
To my son William I give the following tracts of land, to-wit : the tract on which I live, called Birchfield, containing 112 acres, and a tract joining the north side thereof, containing 625 acres. Also the Red Spring Mead- ow tract, containing 800 acres or thereabouts. Also a tract containing 400 acres, on the head of Back creek, a branch of Dunlap's creek, and about five miles from the Sweet Springs.
To my daughter Ann, I give, to be sold for her use, the following tracts of land, to-wit : 250 acres on Wolf creek, a branch of Roanoke, and on the north side of the river, and a tract of land on the head branches of Peters' creek, containing 190 acres. Also a tract of land adjoining the northeast end thereof, about 100 or Ic6 acres, patented in the name of Robert Breckenridge, and by his will Col. Preston is to make me a title. Also my part of the land surveyed in partnership between Breckenridge, Preston and myself, and patented as the last-mentioned tract, and the title made in the same manner by Col. Preston to the lands lying between Peter Evans' and Tinker's creek. Also 280 acres between the Warm and Hot Springs, on which Jeremiah Edwards lives. Also all my rights held by my brother Thomas and myself in two small surveys, containing the Hot Springs. Also a tract of land on the Hot Springs branch, called Cedar Run, and joining the end of Thomas Fitzpatrick's, containing 175 acres.
To my three grandsons, Andrew, Samuel and Charles, sons of John Lewis, I give all my part of the Pocotated tract [intended for Pocotalico, no doubt, but incorrectly spelled in transcribing,] of land, which part, I think, is 2,100 acres, and the whole patented in the name of John Fry, Adam Stephen, Andrew Lewis, Peter Hogg, John Savage, Thos. Butler, Wright, and John Daniel Wilper. All the residue of my lands, to-wit : 1,000 acres, part of the 2,000 on Sinking creek, in Kentucky co., . and the 3,000 tract on Elkhorn, and the 9,000 acres in the forks of the rivers Ohio and the Great Kanawha, and a 100 acre tract on Rockcastle creek, near the 9,coo, together with 750 entered by warrants, on the Cole river and the Kanawha, be equally divided, having respect to the situation and quality of the land, between my sons, Thomas, Andrew and William.
Any money, negroes, and stock I may die possessed of, after my wife has set apart what is devised her, and even that part after her decease, and after my daughter Ann has made choice of a negro wench, or girl, and man, to be equally divided between my sons, Samuel, Thomas and An- drew, and William and my daughter Ann.
My wearing apparel I give to my son Andrew, and after Samuel, Thomas and Ann has each taken a bed and furniture, all the remainder of the house and kitchen furniture be considered the property of William, his mother having a right to retain the use of such of them as may be absolutely nec- essary whilst she lives. In case any of my sons and daughter die before her, or without lawful issue, the part of the estate willed to such deceased to be equally divided between the survivors above mentioned. It's my
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desire that my brother Thomas, Col. William Preston, and my three sons, Samuel, Thomas and Andrew, and I hereby appoint them executors of this my last will and testament, and that each of them, with my brother William and sister Margaret, as well as my other children, wear a mourn- ing ring, to be purchased at the expense of the estate before a division.
I hereby revoke all former wills by me made, ratifying and confirming this, and no other, to be my last will and testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal, this 23d day of Jan'y, 1780. Signed, sealed and delivered by the testator in the presence of us as his last will and testament, and on the day and year above mentioned.
ANDREW LEWIS, [L. S.]
JAMES NEILY, WILLIAM ARMSTRONG, WILLIAM NEILY.
Proved and admitted to probate on the 14th day of February, 1782. by the County Court of Botetourt. W. H. ALLEN, D. C.
COLONEL WILLIAM LEWIS.
Col. Wm. Lewis, the Founder's third son, was born in Ireland about 1724. He was remarkably handsome in the face, perfectly well formed in per- son, tall, robust and vigorous. Fond of books, his great delight from boy -. hood was the study of literature and philosophy. He thus shunned public employments, and never would have left his retirement but for the stirring times in which he lived. On reaching a proper age, he was entered at a school in Eastern Virginia-the school of Rev. James Waddell, D. D .- and after acquiring a liberal education, proceeded to Philadelphia, where he graduated as a doctor of medicine. It was during his sojourn in that city that he formed the acquaintance and won the heart of Ann Mont- gomery, of Delaware. who afterwards became his wife. Returning to Virginia, he would gladly have spent his days in the quiet pursuits of his profession, but the war of 1753-'54 coming on, he volunteered for service, and was severely wounded at the battle of Braddock's defeat. Returning to Augusta, he resumed the practice, and soon became conspicuous for his large intelligence, his professional skill and his influence in the community. In this field he sought to promote good fellowship, to inspire a feeling of compassion among the whites for the aborigines, and to protect the In- dians from the injustice of unscrupulous and greedy traders. He urged the erection of schools and churches, and was remarkable for his high re- gard for all things relating to education and religion. Here his life would have been spent but for the Revolution. Imbued with a sense of our wrongs, and a determination to resist the tyranny of Great Britain, he abandoned a second time his peaceful employments in 1776, and accepted a commission as colonel in the old continental line. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church, and his compassionate kindness and many acts of charity drew the eyes of the people upon him, so that he was commonly
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spoken of as the Civilizer of the Border. He served in the army until 1781, when he returned to his family in Augusta. Gov. Gilmer, in his sketches, thus speaks of him on page 58: " William Lewis, though as powerful in person and brave in spirit as either of his brothers, was less disposed to seek fame by the sacrifice of human life. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church of the old Covenanter sort. His son Thomas was an officer in Wayne's army of high reputation for soldierly conduct. Soon after Tom's return home from the service, he saw some wild ducks on a Sunday morning on the Sweet Spring creek. Taking a fowling piece in his hand, he crept along a zig-zag fence until within shooting distance, and was about firing when he felt the sharp pang of a birch applied to his back. Turning suddenly, he saw the uplifted hand of his father, who ex- claimed, ' I'll teach you not to profane the Sabbath here.'" It is not sur- prising that the old man was styled the Civilizer of the Border. In a book published in Richmond by C. H. Wynne, in 1858, entitled " Recollections, &c., of Lynchburg, by the oldest inhabitant," on pages 316-318, there is an account of the Lewis'. The author says "William Lewis owned a princely estate where Staunton now stands (this should doubtless read near Staunton,) and he with his brothers, Andrew, Thomas, Charles and Sam- uel, were in the battle of Braddock's defeat. They received their early instruction from the venerable Dr. Waddell, the blind preacher. The names of these distinguished men are all well known in history, so that only a slight mention of them here is necessary, it being only designed to make a brief record of some of the incidents connected with the family of Mrs. Agatha Towles " (neé Lewis.) William Lewis removed from Au- gusta to the Sweet Spring, circa 1790, where he died in 1812, revered as a patriarch and honored and beloved as a man and citizen.
His son, Hon. William I. Lewis, represented Campbell County District in the United States Congress from 1815 to 1817, and his son, Major John Lewis, a distinguished officer of the Revolution, spent the winter of 1777 at Valley Forge with Washington, between whom and Lewis a warm per- sonal friendship existed, and was in many of the battles of the Revolution. Major Lewis died in 1823. He was a man of lofty character and indomi- table spirit.
COL. CHARLES LEWIS,
the fourth son of the Founder, was killed at the battle of the Point, Octo- ber 10, 1774. "He was esteemed," says Howe, p. 183, " the most skillful of all the leaders of the border warfare, and was as much beloved for his · noble and amiable qualities as he was admired for his military talents."
Hon. Alex. H. H. Stuart, M. C. for the Augusta District from 1841 to 1843, and during President Fillmore's administration Secretary of the In- terior, 1850-'53, has communicated in the following letter some interesting
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particulars as to Col. Charles Lewis, who, it seems, was the " Idol of the Army ":
STAUNTON, October 18th, 1882.
COL. JOHN L. PEYTON :
Dear Sir,-I regret very much that I cannot give you any detailed ac- count of Col. Charles Lewis, who was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. I remember being present at a conversation, about 1830, between my father and the late Andrew Reid (father of Col. Samuel McD. Reid) in regard to him. Mr. Reid had served under Col. Lewis in 1774, and was actively engaged in the battle of Point Pleasant. Col. Charles Lewis was a younger brother of Gen. Andrew Lewis. Gen. Andrew Lewis was rep- resented to have been a man of reserved manners and great dignity of character,-somewhat of the order of George Washington. His vigorous intellect, unquestionable courage and solid virtues inspired unlimited con- fidence in all who knew him, but there was nothing showy or attractive about him. Charles Lewis, on the other hand, was represented by Mr. Reid as being a man of brilliant talents, of most engaging manners, and, as Mr. Reid expressed it, "the idol of the whole army." My father, who was a much younger man than Mr. Reid, and had no personal acquaint- ance with Col. Charles Lewis, but was familiar with his character, as de- scribed by his cotemporaries, concurred with Mr. Reid in the high esti- mate which he had formed of his abilities and noble qualities, and they agreed in expressing the belief that if he had not been prematurely cut off he would have been a conspicuous figure in our Revolutionary war. Mr. Reid said the death of Col. Charles Lewis threw gloom over the whole army. Respectfully yours, &c.,
ALEX. H. H. STUART.
COL. ARTHUR CAMPBELL.
Arthur Campbell was born in Augusta County in 1742. When fifteen years old, he volunteered as a militiaman, to perform duty in protecting the frontier from incursions of the Indians. He was stationed in a fort on the Cowpasture river, near where the road crosses leading from Staunton to the Warm Springs. While engaged in this service, he was captured by the Indians, who loaded him with their packs, and marched seven days into the forests with his captors, who were from Lakes Erie and Michigan, and were on their return. Campbell, at the end of seven days, was so exhausted that he was unable to travel, and was treated by the Indians with great severity. An old chief, taking compassion on him, protected him from further injury, and on reaching the Lakes adopted Campbell, in whose family the young man remained during his three years' captivity.
During this time, Campbell made himself familiar with the Indian lan- guage. their manners and customs, and soon acquired the confidence of the old chief, who took him on all his hunting excursions. During these they rambled over Michigan and the northern parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. In 1749, a British force marched towards the Upper Lakes, of which the Indians were informed by their scouts. Campbell formed the
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bold resolution of escaping to this force. While out on one of their hunting excursions, Campbell left the Indians, and after a fortnight's tramp through the pathless wilds reached the British. The British commander was much interested in Campbell's account of his captivity and escape, and with his intelligence, and engaged him to pilot the army, which he did with success. Shortly after he returned to Augusta, after an absence of more than three years. For his services in piloting the army he received a grant of 1,000 acres of land near Louisville, Kentucky.
In 1772, his father, David Campbell, and family, removed to the " Royal Oak," on Holstein river, and in 1776, Arthur Campbell was appointed major in the Fincastle militia, and elected to the General Assembly. He was also a member of the convention for forming the Constitution. When Washington county was formed he was commissioned colonel comman- dant, and during the time he was in commission commanded several ex- peditions, particularly that against the Cherokees.
He was tall, of a dignified air, an extensive reader and good talker. He married a sister of Gen. William Campbell, and left issue at his death, in 1816, in Knox county, Kentucky.
GEN. WILLIAM CAMPBELL.
William Campbell was born in Augusta County about the year 1745, and was of Scotch origin. He received a liberal education, and early dis- played a taste and genius for military science. He was of well-propor- tioned and commanding figure, being over six feet high, and of grave and dignified demeanor. In 1775, he joined the first regular troops raised in Virginia, having been commissioned a captain in the first regiment. In 1776, he resigned, owing to the danger to which his family and friends were exposed from Indian hostilities, and returned to Washington county, where he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the county militia, and the year following to the colonelcy on the resignation of Col. Evan Shelby, se'r. In this rank he continued until after the battles of King's Mountain and Guilford, when he was appointed by the Legislature of Virginia to the rank of Brigadier-General, and was ordered to join LaFayette in op- posing the British in 1781. After the defeat of the British General Fur- guson, Cornwallis imbibed a personal resentment, and had the temerity to threaten Gen. Campbell with death if he fell into his hands. To these threats Gen. Campbell responded by declaring that if Cornwallis fell into the hands of the Americans he would meet the fate of Ferguson. This, soon after, at the battle of Guilford, had nearly been the case, for had all the militia behaved with the firmness as did the wing commanded by Gen. Campbell, the British army must have met with total defeat.
On forming the army in Virginia, in 1781, under LaFayette, Gen. Camp-
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bell became a favorite of Lafayette, who gave him command of the brigade of light infantry and riflemen. A few weeks before the siege of York- town, illness caused him to retire to the country house of a friend, and there, in the thirty-sixth year of his age, he expired.
To military genius he united moral and social virtues and an exemplary life. His military career was short but brilliant. With an inferior force of undisciplined militia, he marched in a few days near two hundred miles, over rugged mountains, in search of the enemy, who were commanded by experienced officers, and who had chosen at King's Mountain his field for battle. It was a strong position, more in the nature of a fortification than an open field. The assault on the British was impetuous and irresistible, . and their victory glorious. It caused the retreat of the British army, and broke up their plan of an invasion of Virginia in that year. It also reani- mated the friends of Liberty in the southern states, and was the prelude to the final triumph the following year at Yorktown.
The Virginia Legislature voted him a sword, horse and pistols for his conduct at King's Mountain, and named a county in his honor. Congress passed in his favor highly complimentary resolutions.
At the time of his death, LaFayette issued an order regretting the de- cease of " an officer whose services must have endeared him to every citi- zen and soldier," as one who had "acquired a glory in the affairs of King's Mountain and Guilford which will do his memory everlasting honor and ensure him a high rank among the defenders of Liberty in America."
COL. WILLIAM FLEMING.
William Fleming was a native of Scotland, and, while in his minority, emigrated to Virginia. He was represented as of noble blood, and had received a liberal education, which he sought to utilize on a broader field than that of his Caledonian home. Of a bold and adventurous spirit, he wandered from the early seats of colonization in Virginia to the mountains of Augusta, and was so much pleased with the beauty of the country, its fertility, and the hospitable manners and customs of the people, that he determined to take up his residence among them. He accordingly settled in that part of Augusta now known as Botetourt, and on the James river, about 1760. He took up large grants of public lands, which, enhancing in value, soon made him a man of fortune. He was a man of fine phy- sique, vigorous constitution, enterprising spirit, and fond of athletic sports, in which he excelled, and of social tastes, which made him popular. When the war of 1774 was impending, he raised, under the orders of Gen. An- drew Lewis, a regiment, which he commanded at the battle of Point Pleasant, where he received a wound, from which he only partially recov- ered, and which hastened his death.
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