Augusta County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Lewis, Charles 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Alice Warner Brosey EmbryProject@gmail.com August 28, 2009, 4:19 pm

Source: Historical Collections of Virginia, by Henry Howe, 1845
Author: Henry Howe



 It is not my purpose to go into the details of a warfare, during which scarcely
a settlement was exempt from monthly attacks of the savages, and during which
Charles Lewis, the youngest son of John, is said never to have spent one month
at a time out of active and arduous service. Charles was the hero of many a
gallant exploit, which is still treasured in the memories of the descendants of
the border riflemen, and there are few families among the Alleghanies where the
name and deeds of Charles Lewis are not familiar as household words. On one
occasion, Charles was captured by the Indians while on a hunting excursion, and
after having travelled some two hundred miles, barefoot, his arms pinioned
behind him, goaded on by the knives of his remorseless captors, he effected his
escape. While travelling along the bank of a precipice some twenty feet in
height, he suddenly, by a strong muscular exertion, burst the cords which bound
him, and plunged down the steep into the bed of a mountain torrent. His
persecutors hesitated not to follow. In a race of several hundred yards, Lewis
had gained some few yards upon his pursuers, when, upon leaping a prostrate tree
which lay across his course, his strength suddenly failed, and he fell prostrate
among the weeds which had grown up in great luxuriance around the body of the
tree. Three of the Indians sprang over the tree within a few feet of where their
prey lay concealed; but with a feeling of the most devout thankfulness to a kind
and superintending Providence, he saw them one by one disappear into the dark
recesses of the forest. He now bethought himself of rising from his uneasy bed,
when lo! a new enemy appeared, in the shape of an enormous rattlesnake, who had
thrown himself into the deadly coil so near his face that his fangs were within
a few inches of his nose; and his enormous rattle, as it waved to and fro, once
rested upon his ear. A single contraction of the eyelid--a convulsive
shudder--the relaxation of a single muscle, and the deadly beast would have
sprung upon him. In this situation he lay for several minutes, when the reptile,
probably supposing him to be dead, crawled over his body and moved slowly away.
"I had eaten nothing," said Lewis to his companions, after his return, "for many
days; I had no fire-arms, and I ran the risk of dying from hunger, ere I could
reach the settlement; but rather would I have died, than made a meal of the
generous beast." During this war, an attack was made upon the settlement of Fort
Lewis, at a time when the whole force of the settlement was ot on active duty.
So great was the surprise, that many of the women and children were captured in
sight of the fort, though far the greater part escaped, and concealed themselves
in their hiding places, in the woods. The fort was occupied by John Lewis, then
very old and infirm, his wife, and two young women who were so much alarmed that
they scarce moved from their seats upon the ground floor of the fort. John
Lewis, however, opened a port-hole, where he stationed himself, firing at the
savages, while Margaret reloaded the guns, In this manner he sustained a siege
of six hours, during which he killed upwards of a core of savages, when he was
relieved by the appearance of his party. 

Charles Lewis, the youngest of the sons of John Lewis, fell at the head of his 
regiment, when leading on the attack at Point Pleasant. Charles was esteemed the 
most skilful 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. 

Additional Comments:
From the Augusta County section.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/augusta/bios/lewis183gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/vafiles/

File size: 3.9 Kb