USA > Virginia > Washington County > Washington County > History of southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870 > Part 13
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1,000
About 11 miles below mouth of Ky., called " Mt. Byrd."
May 24, 1774 Wm. Fleming.
3,000
On Ohio River.
27, 1774 John Corlin.
200
On Ohio, 19 miles above falls.
June 2, 1774 Henry Harrison.
1,000
On Ohio, 212 miles from h'd of fall.
Mar. 23, 1774 Samuel Scott.
40
The Narrows, Giles County.
Aug. 8, 1774 Andrew Lewis.
2,000
Sinking Cr., 8 miles from Ky. River, N. course from Harwood Landing.
" . 16, 1774 Evan Shelby.
2,000
Elk Horn Cr., Branch of Kentucky.
May 31, 1774 Zachary Taylor.
1,000
On Ohio, Mouth Bear Grass Creek.
June 17, 1774 Zachary Taylor.
2,000
Br. Ky. that empties at Great Crossing.
" 29, 1774 Adam Stephens.
N. side Ky. River and N. W. side Elk Horn Creek about 8 miles from a remarkable buffalo feeding place, the Ky. River.
1, 1774 John Connally.
2,000
1, 1774 Wm. Byrd.
1,000
S. side Ohio, nearly opposite first island above the falls.
2, 1774 Thomas Bower.
1,000
Near falls of Ohio.
66 14, 1775 James McDowell.
2,000
S. Fork Licking Cr., Br. of Ohio.
July 11, 1775 Samuel McDowell.
2,000
Elk Horn Cr., Br. of Kentucky.
June 12, 1774 Wm. Christian.
1,000
Salt River, 20 miles from Great Falls Inc'd Spring and Buffalo Lick.
“ 24, 1775 Jethro Sumner.
2,000
Elk Horn Creek (Sumner's Forest).
3, 1774 Arthur Campbell.
1,000
Br. Bear Grass Cr., S. Br. Ohio.
May 12, 1774 Wm. Christian
1,000
Big Bone Lick and Buffalo Lick.
66
11, 1774 Wm. Christian.
3,000
S. side Ohio River opposite the falls.
147
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
This is a partial list only of the many surveys made in west Fincastle county, now in the State of Kentucky, by Hancock Tay- lor, James Douglas, and John Floyd.
These men were sent to Kentucky by direction of the Governor of the Colony of Virginia, and all the lands thus located were for men or the assignees of men who took part in the French-Indian war of 1254-1763. and who acquired their rights under the King's proclamation of 1763. When the war with the Indians broke out Lord Dunmore was exceedingly anxious to give information of that fact to the surveyors, and he directed Colonel William Preston, who had charge of the defenses of Fincastle county, to communi- cate the fact to the surveyors. Colonel Preston authorized Colo- nel William Russell, who then lived on the Clinch river, to employ two faithful woodmen to go to Kentucky and convey the infor- mation to the several companies of surveyors and their assistants, and on the 26th of June, 1224, Captain Russell wrote Colonel William Preston as follows: "I have engaged to start immediately upon the occasion two of the best hands I could think of, Daniel Boone and Michael Stoner, who have engaged to reach the coun- try as low as the falls, and to return by way of Gasper's Lick, on Cumberland, and through Cumberland Gap, so that by the as- siduity of these men. if it be not too late, I hope the gentlemen will be apprized of the imminent danger they are daily in." Boone and Stoner set out immediately upon their trip, and warned Colonel James Harrod and thirty men at Harrodsburg, now Ken- tucky. They found another company of surveyors at Fontainebleau and on the Kentucky river they found Captain John Floyd and his men, and thence they passed to the falls of the Ohio, where they warned the surveyors at Mann's Lick, and, after an absence of sixty-one days, they reached Russell's Fort on Clinch river, having traveled 800 miles on foot. Captain John Floyd imme- diately set out for the settlements, and on the 13th day of August, 1774, he reached the home of Colonel Preston at Smithfield, and reported : "That on the 8th of July he and three others parted with fourteen men, who were also engaged in the surveying business, and went about twenty miles from them to finish his part of the work, and that they were to meet on the first day of August at a place on the Kentucky, known by the name of the Cabin, in order to proceed on their homeward journey. That on the 24th of July
148
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
he, with his three men, repaired to the place appointed, where he found that a part, or all of the company, had assembled according to agreement, but had gone off in the greatest precipitation, leav- ing him only this notice written on a tree: 'Alarmed by finding some people killed, we are gone down,' upon which he, with his small party, immediately set out, steering for our settlements; and after an extremely painful and fatiguing journey of sixteen days through mountains almost inaccessible and ways unknown, he at last arrived on Clinch river. He did not well understand the notice left him on the tree, whether part of the company had as- sembled at the Cabin, and that they had gone down to the camp in order to warn those who were at work in that neighborhood of danger, or whether the whole company had met and were departed down the Mississippi, as several in the company had before pro- posed returning home that way, with a view both to see the coun- try and avoid the fatigue of returning by land. The names of some of the party not then returned are here inserted, viz .: James Douglas, Hancock Taylor and Isaach Bledsoe; Surveyors John Wil- lis, Willis Lee, Captain John Ashby, Abraham Hempenstall, Wil- liam Ballard, John Green, Lawrence Darnell, Mordecai Batson, John Sodusky, James Strother and John Ball."
The northwestern Indians were greatly alarmed at the encroach- ments of the white settlers, who were daily surveying and settling the lands on the banks of the Ohio and in the wilderness of Ken- tucky. The white settlers insisted that they had a right to survey and settle these lands under the provisions of the treaty made with the confederacy of the Six Nations at Fort Stanwix in 1768, and they were greatly exasperated by the conduct of the northwestern Indians in denying their right to said lands and in murdering their people and plundering their settlements. The white settlers had long been restrained by the British Government from aveng- ing their wrongs on the Indians, and now they clamored for war. When the news of the disposition of the Indians reached Williams- burg the Governor of the Colony and the House of Burgesses of Virginia immediately took steps to protect the western settlers.
By the direction of Lord Dunmore, Lieutenant-Colonel William Christian, in the month of May, 1774, left Williamsburg for Fin- castle county with instructions to use every means possible to pre-
149
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
vent the inhabitants from leaving the settlements on the approach of the Indian war.
As soon as he reached his home a council of the militia officers was held on June 25, 1774, at the Lead Mines, at which council it was resolved that Lieutenant-Colonel Christian should march with a body of militia to the Clinch settlements. The militia was at. once mustered in and equipped at the personal expense of Colonel Christian, William Preston and Major Arthur Campbell, and pro- ceeded to the Clinch settlements, where every preparation was made for war. A considerable part of this force accompanied Colonel Christian to Point Pleasant in the following August. Gen- eral Andrew Lewis was directed by Governor Dunmore to organize a sufficient force to carry war into the enemy's country. The organi- zation of this body of troops was intrusted to General Andrew Lewis and Colonel Charles Lewis, of Augusta county. As it would require some time to organize this body of troops, it was thought proper to send an advance guard into the enemy's country to re- strain the Indians while the whites were preparing, and early in June about 400 men, under the command of Colonel Angus Me- Donald, assembled at Wheeling and immediately marched to the Indian grounds, on the Muskingum, with the loss of two men killed and eight or ten wounded. The Indians fled, and in a few days returned and sued for peace, but their pretensions were not sin- cere ; and they were only delaying McDonald while they removed their property and their women and children beyond the reach of the Virginia troops. Thereupon Colonel MeDonald burned the In- dian towns and crops and retraced his steps to Wheeling. As soon as the troops had retired from the Indian country small bands of Indians invaded the western settlements at many points.
Many of the people of Fincastle county were murdered, and by the first of August all the people in Fincastle county, except a few of the settlers on Holston, were gathered into small forts; and such was the unhappy situation of the people that they could not attend to their plantations, nor were the scouts employed by the county able to investigate the inroads of the enemy, as they came in small parties and traveled along the mountains with great cau- tion. About the last of June one Knox, who went to Ohio with the surveyors in the spring, reached the settlements and reported : "That on the 13th of June one Jacob Lewis departed from the
150
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
camp on Salt river in the morning to hunt, and had never been heard of since; that on the 8th of July, being at said camp, about one hundred miles from the Ohio and nearly opposite to the falls, he, with nine others, was surprised and fired upon by a party of about twenty Indians; that two men were killed on the spot, viz. : James Hamilton, from Fredericksburg, and James Cowan, from Pennsylvania, and as the enemy rushed upon them before it was possible to put themselves in any posture of defence, they were obliged to abandon their camp and make their escape to a party of thirty-five men who were in that neighborhood. Next day, the whole company, being forty-three in number, after burying the dead, set out for the settlement on Clinch river, where they arrived on the 29th, after making several discoveries of the enemy on the way."
General Andrew Lewis had orders to raise four companies of militia from Fincastle and Botetourt counties, to rendezvous at Camp Union, and to march thence down the Kanawha to Fort Pitt, at the junction of the Kanawha and Ohio. Three companies of men were raised in Fincastle county and were commanded by : Captain Evan Shelby, the forces from the waters of the Holston, Captain Wm. Russell, the forces from the waters of the Clinch, Captain Wm. Herbert, the forces from the waters of New river.
Captain Russell left Russell's Fort on Clinch river previously to August 13th, 1774, and Captain Evan Shelby began the march with his forces on the 17th of August, 1774, both companies join- ing the regiment of Colonel Christian on New river; from which place Colonel Christian, with his regiment, proceeded to Camp Union. On the 11th day of September, 1774, the army of Gen. Lewis began the march down the Kanawha, and, after the expira- tion of twenty-five days, they arrived at Point Pleasant and camped upon the banks of the Ohio. When the army of General Lewis left Camp Union, Colonel Wm. Christian, with four hundred men, was directed to remain and guard the provisions until the return of a company of horse that had been sent to the mouth of Elk, when he was to hurry things forward. But the companies of Captains Russell and Shelby accompanied the army of General Lewis upon its march from Camp Union to Point Pleasant and were attached to the command of Colonel Charles Lewis, of Augusta county.
At the same time, Lord Dunmore raised a considerable force in
151
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
the lower Valley and was to march to Fort Pitt, and thence to Point Pleasant, where he was to meet General Lewis. Instead of doing so, he marched into Ohio. General Lewis, upon his arrival at Point Pleasant, waited several days, expecting the arrival of Lord Dunmore, and, not hearing from him, he dispatched messengers, but whether he received a reply before the battle is a matter of dis- pute. On Sunday, the 9th day of October, the sturdy Scotch-Irish Presbyterians from Fincastle county spent the day in religious exercises, little dreaming that on the coming day they would be sur- prised by the Indians and win the most hotly contested battle with the Indians recorded in the annals of our history.
BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT.
Early Monday morning, October 10th. James Mooney and James Hughey, of Captain Russell's company, left the camp in quest of deer. When about three miles distant from their camp, they unex- pectedly came in sight of a large body of Indians, in their en- campment. The Indians, when they discovered the two men, fired upon them, and Hughey was killed by a white renegade by the name of Travenor Ross. Mooney made his escape, and, returning to the camp, reported that he had seen a body of the enemy covering four acres of ground, as closely as they could stand by the side of each other.
About the same time, two members of Captain Shelby's company, James Robertson and Valentine Sevier, who had been out hunting, returned to camp and reported that they had met a body of hostile Indians advancing upon the camp, and that they had fired upon them at the distance of ten steps. It being dark, the Indians were thereby halted. As no official report of this battle has been pre- served, I will here give the report as obtained by Dr. Hale from a letter published in the Belfast (Ireland) News Letter, a paper published at that time.
BELFAST.
Yesterday arrived a mail from New York brought to Falmouth by the Harriot packet boat, Captain Lee.
Williamsburg, Va., November 10th.
The following letter is just received from the camp on Point Pleasant. at the mouth of the Great Kenhawa (as then spelled), dated October 17, 1774 :
"The following is a true statement of a battle fought at this
152
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
place on the 10th instant: On Monday morning about half an hour before sunrise, two of Captain Russell's company discovered a large party of Indians about a mile from the camp, one of which men was shot by the Indians; the other made his escape and brought in the intelligence. In two or three minutes after, two of Captain Shelby's men came in and confirmed the account.
"Colonel Andrew Lewis, being informed thereof, immediately ordered out Colonel Charles Lewis, to take command of one hun- dred and fifty of the Augusta troops, and with him went Captain Dickinson, Captain Harrison, Captain Wilson, Captain John Lewis, of Augusta, and Captain Lockridge, which made the first division. Colonel Fleming was then ordered to take command of one hundred and fifty men of the Botetourt, Bedford, and Fin- castle troops, viz., Captain Thomas Buford, from Bedford; Captain Love, of Botetourt; Captain Shelby and Captain Russell, of Fin- castle, which made the second division.
"Colonel Charles Lewis's division marched to the right some distance from the Ohio, and Colonel Fleming with his division, on the bank of the Ohio to the left.
"Colonel Charles Lewis's division had not marched quite half a mile from the camp when, about sunrise, an attack was made on the front of his division, in a most vigorous manner, by the united tribes of Indians, Shawnese, Delawares, Mingocs, Tawas, and of several other nations-in number not less than eight hundred, and by many thought to be one thousand.
"In this heavy attack, Colonel Charles Lewis received a wound, which, in a few hours caused his death, and several of his men fell on the spot; in fact, the Augusta division was obliged to give way to the heavy fire of the enemy. In about a second of a minute after the attack on Colonel Lewis's division, the enemy engaged the front of Colonel Fleming's division on the Ohio, and in a short time the Colonel received two balls through his left arm and one through his breast, and, after animating the officers and soldiers, in a most calm manner, to the pursuit of victory, retired to the camp.
"The loss in the field was sensibly felt by the officers in par- ticular ; but the Augusta troops being shortly after reinforced from the camp by Colonel Field, with his company, together with Cap- tain McDowell, Captain Matthews, and Captain Stewart, from Augusta ; Captain Paulin, Captain Arbuckle and Captain McClana-
153
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
hon, from Botetourt, the enemy no longer able to maintain their micund, were forced to give way till they were in a line with the troops. Colonel Fleming being left in the action on the Ohio.
"In this precipitate retreat Colonel Fleming was killed. During this time, which was till after twelve, the action in a small degree abated, but continued, except at short intervals, sharp enough till after one o'clock. Their long retreat gave them a most advanta- geous spot of ground, from which it appeared to the officers so diffi- eult to dislodge them that it was thought most advisable to stand as the line was then formed, which was about a mile and a quarter in length, and had sustained till then a constant and equal weight of tl:e action, from wing to wing.
"It was till about half an hour of sunset they continued firing on us scattered shots, which we returned to their disadvantage. At length the night coming on they found a safe retreat.
""They had not the satisfaction of carrying off any of our men's scalps, save those of one or two stragglers they killed before the engagement. Many of their dead they scalped, rather than we should have them, but our troops scalped upwards of twenty of their men that were first killed.
"It is beyond doubt their loss, in number, far exceeded ours. which is considerable.
"The return of the killed and wounded in the above battle, same as our last, is as follows :
"Killed-Colonels Charles Lewis and John Fields, Captains John Murray, R. McClanahan, Samuel Wilson, James Ward, Lieu- tenant Hugh Allen, Ensigns Cantiff and Bracken, and forty-four privates. Total killed, fifty-three.
"Wounded-Colonel William Fleming, Captains John Dickinson, Thomas Buford, and I. Skidman, Lieutenants Goldman, Robinson, Lard and Vance, and seventy-nine privates. Total wounded, eighty- seven ; killed and wounded, one hundred and forty."
When Colonel Charles Lewis fell, Captain Evan Shelby succeed- ed to the command of the regiment, and Isaac Shelby, his son, succeeded to the command of his father's company, and late in the evening General Lewis directed Captains Isaac Shelby, Matthews, and Stewart to assail the Indians in the rear, by advancing up the Kanawha river, protected by the bank and undergrowth. In the execution of this order considerable difficulty was experienced, and
154
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
possibly, failure would have been the result had it not been for the request of John Sawyers an Orderly Sergeant in Captain Shelby's company, for permission to take a few men of the com- pany and drive the Indians from the position which afforded them protection. Permission was granted and the Indians were dislodged. The companies above mentioned having gained their rear, the In- dians precipitately took their flight across the Ohio.
It is generally admitted that this was one of the most hotly con- tested battles between the white men and the Indians that took place in the history of the early settlement of our country. The terrible conflict that took place between the white men and the Indians in this battle is hard to depict in ordinary language. De Hass thus describes the conflict :
"The battle scene was terribly grand. There stood the com- batants, terror, rage, disappointment, and despair riveted upon the faces of one, while calm resolution and the unbending will to do or die were marked upon the other. Neither party would retreat, neither could advance. The noise of the firing was tremendous. No single gun could be distinguished, it was one continuous roar.
"The rifle and the tomahawk now did their work with dreadful certainty. The confusion and perturbation of the camp had now arrived at its greatest height. The confused sounds and wild up- roar of the battle added greatly to the terror of the scene. The shouting of the whites, the continued roar of fire-arms, the war- whoop and dismal yelling of the Indians, were discordant and ter- rific."
Colonel Christian, whom General Lewis had left at Camp Union, as soon as he had complied with the orders of General Lewis, set out for Point Pleasant, with all the troops under his command except one company of Fincastle men, whom he left under the command of Anthony Bledsoe at Camp Union to guard the sup- plies and take care of the sick. He marched his troops with all possible expedition, and arrived at Point Pleasant on the evening of October 10th, after the battle had been fought. Soon thereafter, Lord Dunmore negotiated a treaty of peace with the Indians at one of their towns in Ohio, by which the northwest Indians ceded all their claims to the lands lying south of the Ohio river, to the King of England.
General Lewis marched his army back to Camp Union where it
155
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
was disbanded. The body of militia that went from Fincastle upon this expedition were armed with rifle guns, and, being good woods- men, were looked upon to be at least equal to any troops for the number that had been raised, in America. It is sufficient to know that the credit of having been the first to discover the approach of the Indians, and thereby, possibly, to secure the preservation of General Lewis's army, was due to the vigilance of the backwoods- men from Fincastle. And in addition to that, it should be a mat- ter of pride to every citizen of this section of Virginia to know that the troops from the waters of the Clinch and the Holston were among the number to receive the first assault of the enemy, and to their skill and bravery may be accredited, the successful flanking, and consequently the precipitate rout, of the Indian army. The killed and wounded among the Fincastle troops were considerable. The names of a few of the killed and wounded are given below :
Robert Campbell, private, afterwards granted a pension of 10 pounds per year.
James Hughey, killed.
James Robinson, wounded.
Mark Williams, private, killed.
John Carmack, private, wounded.
John Steward, wounded.
John McKenney, wounded, three times.
Lieutenant Vance, wounded.
The following is a partial list of the men who accompanied Cap- tain Evan Shelby on this expedition :
Isaac Shelby, Captain. Robert Handley,
James Robertson, O. S.
William Casey,
James Shelby,
John Stewart, wounded ;
Richard Burke,
Henry Span, Frederick Mongle,
Elijah Robertson,
John Carmack,
Richard Holliway,
George Brooks,
Julius Robison,
Abram Newland,
Benjamin Graham,
Emanuel Shoatt,
Hugh O'Gullion, James Hughey,
John Fain,
Basileel Maxwell,
Samuel Fain,
Valentine Sevier, O. S.,
Samuel Samples,
John Sawyers, O. S.,
Peter Forney,
156
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
John Findley,
George Armstrong,
Daniel Mongle,
Mack Williams,
John Williams,
Conrad Nave,
Andrew Torrence,
John Riley,
Isaac Newland,
Rees Price,
George Riddle,
Jarrett Williams,
Abram Bogard,
Charles Fielder,
William Tucker,
Andrew Goff,
Samuel Vance,
Patrick St. Lawrence,
Samuel Handley,
John Bradley,
Arthur Blackburn,
Barnett O'Guillion.
Captain Wm. Russell's company : James Mooney, Joseph Hughey ..
FINCASTLE TROOPS.
COMPANIES NOT KNOWN.
Walter Steward, Adjt.
Daniel Smith,
Fincastle troops.
Robert Campbell,
William Campbell, Captain.
Andrew Waggoner,
William McFarland,
John Gilmore,
John McKenney,
John Lyle,
John Moore,
Francis Berry,
Conrad Smith,
James Robinson,
John Floyd, Hickman,
John Steward,
William Tate,
John Campbell, Lieutenant;
George Findley,
Moses Bowen, died with small-pox on expedition ;
Rees Bowen.
Daniel Boone, upon his return from Kentucky to Russell's Fort, on the 13th day of August, found Captain William Russell absent on the Point Pleasant expedition, and he immediately set out with a body of troops to reinforce him, but was ordered back to protect the settlers on the Clinch, where he remained for some time.
The forts on Clinch river, at this time, with the number of men in each and the officers in command, were as follows :
Fort Blackmore, sixteen men, Sergeant Moore commanding. Fort Moore, (twenty miles east), twenty men, Lieutenant Daniel Boone commanding. Fort Russell (four miles east), twenty men,
15%
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
Sergeant W. Poage commanding. Fort Glade Hollow, (twelve miles east), fifteen men, Sergeant John Duncan commanding. Elk Gar- den* (fourteen miles east), fifteen men, Sergeant John Kinkead commanding. Maiden Spring, (twenty-three miles east), five men, Sergeant John Crow commanding. Whitlow's Crab Orchard, three men, Ensign John Campbell commanding.
Boone was very diligent in protecting the settlements and was commissioned Captain for his valued services.
As soon as the Indians ascertained that so many of the citizens from the waters of the Clinch were absent on the expedition to Point Pleasant, they began a series of very alarming raids. On the 8th of September, 1724, they visited the home of John Henry, on the Clinch river, now in Tazewell county, Virginia, in Thompson's Valley, he, having on the 15th day of May of the same year, settled upon a tract of land that Daniel Smith, Deputy Surveyor of Fin- castle county, had surveyed for him. Henry received a dangerous wound from which he died, his wife and three children were taken prisoners, and on the same day a man was taken prisoner by an- other party of Indians on the Holston river. On the 13th day of September, 1774, a soldier was fired upon by three Indians on the Clinch river, but was not hurt. He returned the fire and, it is be- lieved, killed an Indian. This company of Indians were pursued for several days, by Captain Daniel Smith and a company of militia, but they could not be overtaken. On the 23d, two negroes were taken prisoners at Blackmore's Fort, on waters of Clinch river, and a great many horses and cattle were shot down. On the 24th day of the same month, an entire family were taken and killed, at Reedy Creek, a branch of the Holston river, near the Cherokee line. On Sunday morning, the 25th, hallooing and the report of many guns were heard. These last murders were believed to be the work of the Cherokees, who appeared at that time in very bad humor.
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