Augusta County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Lewis, William 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Alice Warner Brosey EmbryProject@gmail.com August 28, 2009, 4:21 pm

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



William, the third son, was an active participator in the border wars, and was
an officer of the revolutionary army, in which one of his sons was killed, and
another maimed for life. When the British force under Tarleton drove the
legislature from Charlottesville to Staunton, the stillness of the Sabbath eve
was broken in the latter town by the beat of the drum, and volunteers were
called for to prevent the passage of the British through the mountains at
Rockfish Gap. The elder sons of Wm. Lewis, who then resided at the old fort,
were absent with the northern army. Three sons, however, were at home, whose
ages were 17, 15, and 13 years. Wm. Lewis was confined to his room by sickness,
but his wife, with the firmness of a Roman matron, called them to her, and bade
them fly to the defence of their native land. "Go my children," said she, "I
spare not my youngest, my fair-haired boy, the comfort of my declining years. I
devote you all to my country. Keep back the foot of the invader from the soil of
Augusta, or see my face no more." When this incident was related to Washington,
shortly after its occurrence, he enthusiastically exclaimed, "Leave me but a
banner to plant upon the mountains of Augusta, and I will rally around me the
men who will lift our bleeding country from the dust, and set her free."



Additional Comments:
From the Augusta County section.

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