USA > West Virginia > Randolph County > The history of Randolph County, West Virginia. From its earliest settlement to the present, embracing records of all the leading families, reminiscences and traditions > Part 4
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During the three years following Braddock's defeat the frontier was exposed to incessant danger. Virginia appointed George Washington com- mander-in-chief of all forces raised or to be raised in that State. He trav- eled along the frontier of his State, inspecting the forts and trying to bring order out of chaos. His picture of the distress of the people and the hor- rors of the Indian warfare is summed up in these words, addressed to the Governor of Virginia: "The supplicating tears of the women, and the mov- ing petitions of the men, melt me with such deadly sorrow that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, I would offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy, provided that would contribute to the people's ease." He found no adequate means of defense. Indians butchered the people and fed. Pursuit was nearly always in vain. Washington insisted at all times that the only radical remedy for Indian depredation was the capture of Fort Duquesne. So long as that rallying point remained the Indians would be armed and would harrass the frontiers. But, in case the reduction of Fort Duquesne could not be undertaken, Washington recommended the erection of a chain of twenty-two forts along the frontier, to be garrisoned by two thousand soldiers.
In 1756 and again in 1757 propositions were laid before the Government of Virginia, and also before the commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, by Washington for the destruction of Fort Duquesne. But in neither of these years was his proposition acted upon. However, the British were waging a successful war against the French in Canada, and by this were indirectly contributing to the conquest of the Ohio Valley. In 1758 all was in readiness for striking a blow at Fort Duquesne with the earnest hope that it would be captured and that rallying point for savages ulti- mately destroyed. The settlements in the eastern part of West Virginia were nearly broken up. Only two frontier forts west of Winchester held out, exclusive of military posts. Both were in Hampshire County, one at Romney, the other on Capon. The savages swarmed over the Blue Ridge and spread destruction in the Valley of Virginia.
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THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
General Joseph Forbes was given command of the army destined for the expedition against Fort Duquesne. This was early in 1758. He had twelve hundred Highlanders; two thousand seven hundred Pennsyl- vanians; nineteen hundred Virginians, and enough others to bring the total to about six thousand men. Washington was leader of the Virginians. Without him, General Forbes never would have seen the Ohio. The old General was sick, and his progress was so slow that but for the efforts of Washington in pushing forward, the army could not have reached Duquesne that year. A new road was constructed from Cumberland, intended as a permanent highway to the West. When the main army had advanced about half the distance from Cumberland to Fort Duquesne, Major Grant with eight hundred Highlanders and Virginians, went forward to reconnoitre. Intelligence had been received that the garrison numbered only eight hundred, of whom three hundred were Indians. But a re-inforce- ment of four hundred men from Illinois had arrived unknown to Major Grant, and he was attacked and defeated with heavy loss within a short distance of the Fort. Nearly three hundred of his men were killed or wounded, and Major Grant was taken prisoner.
On November 5, 1758, General Forbes arrived at Hannastown and decided to advance no further that year; but seven days later it was learned that the garrison of Fort Duquesne was in no condition for resistance. Washington and twenty-five hundred men were sent forward to attack it. General Forbes, with six thousand men, had spent fifty days in opening fifty miles of road, and fifty miles remained to be opened. Washington's men, in five days from the advance from Hannastown, were within seven- teen miles of the Ohio. On November 25 the fort was reached. The French gave it up without a fight, set fire to it and fled down the Ohio.
The power of the French in the Ohio Valley was broken. When the despairing garrison applied the match which blew up the magazine of Fort Duquesne, they razed their last stronghold in the Valley of the West. The war was not over; the Indians remained hostile, but the danger that the country west of the Alleghanies would fall into the hands of France had passed. Civilization, progress and religious liberty were safe. The gate- way to the great West was secured to the English race, and from that day there was no pause until the western border of the United States was washed by the waters of the Pacific. West Virginia's fate hung in the balance until Fort Duquesne fell. The way was then cleared for coloniza- tion, which speedily followed. Had the territory fallen into the hands of France, the character of the inhabitants would have been different, and the whole future history of that part of the country would have been changed. A fort was at once erected on the site of that destroyed by the French, and in honor of William Pitt was named Fort Pitt. The city of Pittsburg has grown up around the site. The territory now embraced in West Virginia was not at once freed from Indian attacks, but the danger was greatly lessened after the rendezvous of Fort Duquesne was broken up. The sub- sequent occurrences of the French and Indian War, and Pontiac's War, as they affected West Virginia, remain to be given.
The French and Indian War closed in 1761, but the Pontiac War soon followed. The French had lost Canada and the Ohio Valley and the English had secured whatever real or imaginary right the French ever had in the country. But the Indians rebelled against the English, who had speedily taken possession of the territory acquired from France. There is no evi-
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dence that the French gave assistance to the Indians in this war; but much proof that more than one effort was made by the French to restrain the savages. Nor is the charge that the French supplied the Indians with ammunition well founded. The savages bought their ammunition from traders, and these traders were French, English and American. In Novem- ber, 1760, Rogers, an English officer, sailed over Lake Erie to occupy French posts further west. While sailing on the Lake he was waited upon by Pontiac, who may be regarded as the ablest Indian encountered by the English in America. He was a Delaware captive who had been adopted by the Ottawas, and became their chief. He hailed Rogers and informed him that the country belonged neither to the French nor English, but to the Indians, and told him to go back. This Rogers refused to do, and Pontiac set to work forming a confederacy of all the Indians between Canada on the north, Tennessee on the south, the Mississippi on the west and the Allegha- nies on the east. His object was to expell the English from the country west of the Alleghany mountains.
The superiority of Pontiac as an organizer was seen, not so much in his success in forming a confederacy as in keeping it secret. He struck in a moment, and the blow fell almost simultaneously from Illinois to the frontier of Virginia. In almost every case the forts were taken by surprise. Detroit, Fort Pitt and Fort Ligonier were almost the only survivors of the fearful onset of the savages. Detroit had warning from an Indian girl who betrayed the plans of the savages; and when Pontiac, with hundreds of his warriors, appeared in person and attempted to take the Fort by surprise, he found the English ready for him. He besieged the post nearly a year. The siege began May 9, 1763, and the rapidity with which blows were struck over a wide expanse of country shows how thorough were his arrangements, and how well the secret had been kept. Fort Sandusky, near Lake Erie, was surprised and captured May 16, seven days after Detroit was besieged. Nine days later the Fort at the mouth of St. Joseph's was taken; two days later Fort Miami, on the Maumee river, fell, also taken by surprise. On June 1 Fort Ouatamon in Indiana, was surprised and captured. Machili- mackinac, far north in Michigan, fell also. This was on June 2. Venango in Pennsylvania, near Lake Erie, was captured, and not one of the garrison escaped to tell the tale. Fort Le Boeuf, in the same part of the country, fell June 18. On June 22 Presque Isle, now Erie, Pennsylvania, shared the fate of the rest. On June 21 Fort Ligonier was attacked and the siege was prosecuted with vigor, but the place held out. It was situated on the road between Fort Pitt and Cumberland. On June 22 the savages appeared before the walls of Fort Pitt, but were unable to take the place by surprise, although it was in poor condition for defense. The fortifications had never been finished, and a flood had opened three sides. The commandant raised a rampart of logs round the Fort and prepared to fight till the last, The garrison numbered three hundred and thirty men. More than two hundred women and children from the frontiers had taken refuge there.
Despairing of taking the Fort by force, the savages tried treachery, and asked for a parley. When it was granted, the chief told the commandant of the Fort that resistance was useless; that all the forts in the North and West had been taken, and that a large Indian army was on its march to Fort Pitt, which must fall. But, said the chief, if the English would aban- don the Fort and retire cast of the Alleghanies, they would be permitted to depart in peace, provided they would set out at once. The reply given by
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the commandant was, that he intended to stay where he was, and that he had provisions and ammunition sufficient to enable him to hold out against all the savages in the woods for three years, and that English armies were at that moment on their march to exterminate the Indians. This answer apparently discouraged the savages, and they did not push the siege vigorously. But in July the attack was renewed with great fury. The savages made numerous efforts to set the Fort on fire by discharging burning arrows against it; but they did not succeed. They made holes in the river bank and from that hiding place kept up an incessant fire, but the Fort was too strong for them. On the last day of July, 1763, the Indians raised the siege and disappeared. It was soon learned what had caused them to depart so suddenly. General Bouquet was at that time marching to the relief of Fort Pitt, with five hundred men and a large train of sup- plies. The Indians had gone to meet him and give battle. As Bouquet marched west from Cumberland he found the settlements broken up, the houses burned, the grain unharvested, and desolation on every hand, show- ing how relentless the savages had been in their determination to break up the settlements west of the Alleghanies.
On August 2, 1763, General Bouquet arrived at Fort Ligonier, which had been besieged, but the Indians had departed. He left part of his stores there, and hastened forward toward Fort Pitt. On August 5 the Indians who had been besieging Fort Pitt attacked the troops at Bushy Run. A desperate battle ensued. The troops kept the Indians off by using the bayonet, but the loss was heavy. The next day the fight was resumed, the Indians completely surrounding the English. The battle was brought to a close by Bouquet's stratagem. He set an ambuscade and then feigned retreat. The Indians fell into the trap and were routed. Bouquet had lost one-fourth of his men in killed and wounded; and so many of his pack horses had been killed that he was obliged to destroy a large part of his stores because he could not move them. After a march of four days the army reached Fort Pitt.
The effect of this sudden and disastrous war was wide-spread. The settlers fled for protection from the frontiers to the forts and towns. The settlements on the Greenbrier were deserted. The colonists hurried east of the Alleghanies. Indians prowled through all the settled portions of West Virginia, extending their raids to the South Branch of the Potomac. More than five hundred families from the frontiers took refuge at Winchester. Amherst, commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, was enraged when he learned of the destruction wrought by the Indians. He offered a reward of five hundred dollars to any person who would kill Pontiac, and he caused the offer of the reward to be proclaimed at Detroit. "As to accommodation with these savages," said he, "I will have none until they have felt our just revenge." He urged every measure which could assist in the destruction of the savages. He classed the Indians as "the vilest race of beings that ever infested the earth, and whose riddance from it must be esteemed a meritorious act for the good of mankind." He declared them not only unfit for allies, but unworthy of being respected as enemies. He sent orders to the officers on the frontiers to take no prisoners, but kill all who could be caught.
Bouquet's force was not large enough to enable him to invade the Indian country in Ohio at that time; but he collected about two thousand men, and the next summer carried the war into the enemy's country, and struck
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THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
directly at the Indian towns, assured that by no other means could the sav- ages be brought to terms. The army had not advanced far west of Pitts- burg when the tribes of Ohio became aware of the invasion and resorted to various devices to retard its advance and thwart its purposes. But General Bouquet proceeded rapidly, and with such caution and in such force, that no attack was made on him by the Indians. The alarm among them was great. They foresaw the destruction of their towns; and when all other resources had failed, they sent a delegation to Bouquet to ask for peace. He signified his willingness to negotiate peace on condition that the Indians surrender all white prisoners in their hands. He did not halt however in his advance to wait for a reply The Indians saw that the terms must be accepted and be complied with without delay if they would save their towns. The army was now within striking distance. The terms were therefore accepted, and more than two hundred prisoners, a large number , of whom were women and children, were given up. Other prisoners remained with the Indians in remote places, but the most of them were sent to Fort Pitt the next spring, according to promise. Thus closed Pontiac's War.
An agency had been at work for some time to bring about peace, but unknown to the English. It was the French, and without their co-opera- tion and assistance it is probable the Indians would not have consented to the peace. DeNeyon, the French officer at Fort Chartres, wrote a letter to Pontiac advising him to make peace with the English, as the war be- tween the French and English was over and there was no use of further bloodshed. This letter reached Pontiac in November while he was con- ducting the siege of Detroit, and its contents becoming known to his Indian allies, greatly discouraged them; for it seems that up to that time they believed they were helping the French and that the French would soon appear in force and fight as of old. When the Indians discovered that no help from France was to be expected, they became willing to make peace with Bouquet, and for ten years the western frontiers enjoyed immunity from war.
CHAPTER IV.
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THE DUNMORE WAR.
The progress of the settlement of West Virginia from 1764 to 1774 has been noticed elsewhere in this volume. There were ten years of peace; but in the year 1774 war with the Indians broke out again. Peace was restored before the close of the year. The trouble of 1774 is usually known as Dun- more's War, so called from Lord Dunmore who was at that time Governor of Virginia, and who took personal charge of a portion of the army operat- ing against the Indians. There has been much controversy as to the origin or cause of hostilities, and the matter has never been settled satis- factorily to all. It has been charged that emissaries of Great Britain incited the Indians to take up arms, and that Dunmore was one of the moving spirits in this disgraceful conspiracy against the colony of Vir- ginia. It is further charged that Dunmore hoped to see the army under General Andrew Lewis defeated and destroyed at Point Pleasant, and that Dunmore's failure to form a junction with the army under Lewis according to agreement, was intentional, premeditated and in the hope that the southern division of the army would be crushed.
This is a charge so serious that no historian has a right to put it for- ward without strong evidence for its support-much stronger evidence than has yet been brought to light. The charge may be neither wholly true nor wholly false. There is not a little evidence against Dunmore in this campaign, especially when taken in connection with the state of feel- ing entertained by Great Britain against the American colonies at that time. In order to present this matter somewhat clearly, yet eliminating many minor details, it is necessary to speak of Great Britain's efforts to annoy and intimidate the colonies, as early as 1774, and of the spirit in which these annoyances were received by the Americans.
Many people, both in America and England, saw, in 1774, that a revo- lution was at hand. The Thirteen Colonies were arriving very near the for- mation of a confederacy whose avowed purpose was resistance to Great Britain. Massachusetts had raised ninety thousand dollars to buy powder and arms; Connecticut provided for military stores and had proposed to issue seventy thousand dollars in paper money. In fact, preparations for war with England were going steadily forward, although hostilities had not begun. Great Britain was getting ready to meet the rebellious colonies, either by strategy or force, or both. Overtures had been made by the Americans to the Canadians to join them in a common struggle for liberty. Canada belonged to Great Britain, having been taken by conquest from France in the French and Indian War. Great Britain's first move was regarding Canada; not only to prevent that country from joining the Amer- icans, but to use Canada as a menace and a weapon against them. Eng-
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THE DUNMORE WAR.
land's plan was deeply laid. It was largely the work of Thurlow and Wed- derburn. The Canadians were to be granted full religious liberty and a large share of political liberty in order to gain their friendship. They were mostly Catholics, and with them England, on account of her trouble with her Thirteen Colonies, took the first step in Catholic emancipation. Having won the Canadians to her side, Great Britain intended to set up a separate empire there, and expected to use this Canadian empire as a constant threat against the colonies. It was thought that the colonists would cling to England through fear of Canada.
The plan having been matured, its execution was at once attempted. The first step was the emancipation of the Canadian Catholics. The next step was the passage of the Quebec Act, by which the Province of Quebec was extended southward to take in western Pennsylvania and all the coun- try belonging to England north and west of the Ohio River. The King of England had already forbidden the planting of settlements between the Ohio River and the Alleghany Mountains in West Virginia; so the Quebec Act was intended to shut the English colonies out of the West and confine them east of the Alleghany Mountains. Had this plan been carried into execution as intended, it would have curtailed the colonies, at least Penn- sylvania and Virginia, and prevented their growth westward. The country beyond the Ohio would have become Canadian in its laws and people, and Great Britain would have had two empires in America, one Catholic and the other Protestant; or, at least, one composed of the Thirteen Colonies and the other of Canada extended southward and westward, and it was intended that these empires should restrain, check and threaten each other, thus holding both loyal to and dependent upon Great Britain.
Some time before the passage of the Quebec Act a movement was on foot to establish a new province called Vandalia, west of the Alleghanies, including the greater part of West Virginia and a portion of Kentucky. Benjamin Franklin and George Washington were interested in it. The capital was to be at the mouth of the Kanawha. The province was never formed. Great Britain was not inclined to create states west of the moun- tains at a time when efforts were being made to confine the settlements east of that range. To have had West Virginia and a portion of Kentucky neu- tral ground, and vacant, between the empire of Canada and the empire of the Thirteen Colonies would have pleased the authors of the Quebec Act. But acts of Parliament and proclamations by the King had little effect on the pioneers who pushed into the wilderness of the West to find new homes.
Before proceeding to a narration of the events of the Dunmore War, it is not out of place to inquire concerning Governor Dunmore, and whether, from his past acts and general character, he would be likely to conspire with the British and the Indians to destroy the western settlements of Vir- ginia. Whether the British were capable of an act so savage and unjust as inciting savages to harrass the western frontier of their own colonies is not a matter for controversy. It is a fact that they did do it during the Revo- lutionary War. Whether they had adopted this policy so early as 1774, and whether Governor Dunmore was a party to the scheme, is not so certain. Therefore let us ask, who was Dunmore? He was a needy, rapacious Scotch earl, of the House of Murray, who came to America to amass a fortune and who at once set about the accomplishment of his object, with little regard for the rights of others or the laws of the country. He was Governor of New York a short time; and, although poor when he came, he was the
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THE DUNMORE WAR.
owner of fifty thousand acres of land when he left, and was preparing to decide, in his own court, in his own favor, a large and unfounded claim which he had preferred against the Lieutenant Governor. When he as- sumed the office of Governor of Virginia his greed for land and money knew no bounds. He recognized no law which did not suit his purpose. He paid no attention to positive instructions from the crown, which forbade him to meddle with lands in the west. These lands were known to be be- yond the borders of Virginia, as fixed by the treaties of Fort Stanwix and Lochaber, and therefore were not in his jurisdiction. He had soon acquired two large tracts in southern Illinois, and also held lands where Louisville, Kentucky, now stands, and in Kentucky opposite Cincinnati. Nor did his greed for wealth and power stop with appropriating wild lands to his own use; but, without any warrant in law, and in violation of all justice, he ex- tended the boundaries of Virginia northward to include much of western Pennsylvania, Pittsburg in particular; and he made that the county seat of Augusta County, and moved the court from Staunton to that place. He even changed the name Fort Pitt to Fort Dunmore. He appointed forty- two justices of the peace. Another appointment of his, as lieutenant of militia, was Simon Girty, afterwards notorious and infamous as a deser- ter and a leader of Indians in their war against the frontiers. He appointed John Connolly, a physician and adventurer, commandant of Fort Pitt and its dependencies, which were supposed to include all the western country. Connolly was a willing tool of Dunmore in many a questionable transaction. Court was held at Fort Pitt until the spring of 1776. The name of Pitts- burg first occurs in the court records on August 20, 1776. . When Connolly received his appointment he issued a proclamation setting forth his author- ity. The Pennsylvanians resisted Dunmore's usurpation, and arrested Con- nolly. The Virginia authorities arrested some of the Pennsylvania officers, and there was confusion, almost anarchy, so long as Dunmore was Gov- ernor.
Dunmore had trouble elsewhere. His domineering conduct, and his support of some of Great Britain's oppressive measures, caused him to be hated by the Virginians, and led to armed resistance. Thereupon he threat- ened to make Virginia a solitude, using these words: "I do enjoin the mag- istrates and all loyal subjects to repair to my assistance, or I shall consider the whole country in rebellion, and myself at liberty to annoy it by every possible means, and I shall not hesitate at reducing houses to ashes and spreading devastation wherever I can reach. With a small body of troops and arms, I could raise such a force from among Indians, negroes and other persons as would soon reduce the refractory people of the colony to obe- dience." The patriots of Virginia finally rose in arms and drove Governor Dunmore from the country. Some of these events occurred after the Dun- more War, but they serve to show what kind of a man the Governor was.
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