Greenbrier County, West Virginia - 160th Anniversary Booklet - Part 2 *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. *********************************************************************** Historical Booklet - Greenbrier County 160th Anniversary - 1778-1938 Published 1938 Transcribed by Lori Samples PAGE TWO, THE WESTERN CRADLE OF INDEPENDENCE, 1938 Historical Booklet In 1755, Fort Savannah was erected at what is now Lewisburg. It stood near the two springs about 100 yards southeast of the present court house. Prior to this time, the settlers had had little help from the Commonwealth of Virginia in resisting Indian depredations. In 1774, Gov. Dunmore and Gen. Andrew Lewis organized two divisions of an army to assemble at the mouth of the Great Kanawha River. Gov. Dunmore commanded the northern division, going by way of the Shenandoah Valley and Fort Pitt, and Gen. Lewis took his men by way of Greenbrier and the Kanawha Valley, to what is now Point Pleasant. On September 4, 1774, Gen. Lewis assembled his army of about 1100 men at Camp Union, adjacent to Fort Savannah. On September 11 they began the march to Point Pleasant, 160 miles distant. Trackless forests and rugged mountains made the march "tedious and laborious." Capt. Matthew Arbuckle, Greenbrier's famous hunter and Indian fighter, led them on a 19-day march to the Ohio. Provisions and ammunition were transported on pack animals. Cattle also followed the army. Gov. Dunmore took it upon himself to follow a different route from that agreed upon, and did not join Lewis at the mouth of the Kanawha. On Sunday, October 9, scouts from Dunmore, one of whom had been a trader with the Indians, reached Lewis. the trader scout told Lewis, "Aye, they will be giving you grinders, and that before long!" Dunmore never did arrive, and surely enough Lewis and his men did get "grinders" (the ancient expression meaning "catch hell"!) the following morning, October 10, 1774. Two of Lewis's men, hunting deer, discovered a body of Indians. One was killed. His companion returned and reported "A body of Indians covering four acres of ground as closely as they could stand by the side of each other." Gen. Lewis immediately ordered out detachments of Augusta troops under his brother, Col. Charles Lewis, and another of Botetourt troops under Col. Fleming. The Indians fired first, killing the two scouts who were in front of their respective detachments. Just as the sun was rising, terrific firing started. Thus began the famous Battle of Point Pleasant, which was to go down in history as the most important frontier engagement. The flower of the Shawnee, Deleware, Mingo, Wyandotte, and Cayuga tribes, led by Chief Cornstalk, King of the Northern Confederacy of Indians, suffered a decisive defeat. The army of Gen. Lewis sustained a loss of 75 dead, 140 wounded. The terrific loss suffered by the Indians was never exactly ascertained. Col. John Stuart declared: "This battle was, in fact, the beginning of the Revolutionary War, and a presage of the future success of the colonies in obtaining freedom. * * * the blood, therefore, spilt upon this memorable battle of Point Pleasant will long be remembered by the good people of Virginia and the United States with gratitude." Officers in Lewis's army included Col. Chas. Lewis, Col. Wm. Fleming, Col. John Field, Col. Wm. Christian, and the following captains: George Mathews, Alexander McClanahan, John Dickinson, John Lewis, Benjamin Harrison, Wm. Naul, Joseph Haynes, Samuel Wilson, Matthew Arbuckle, John Murry, James Robertson, Robert McClanahan, James Ward, John Stuart, Wm. Russell, Evan Shelby, Buford and Harbert, Morrow, Wood and Cundiff. On May 29, 1778, the last Indian raid of any consequence in the Greenbrier region occurred at Fort Donnally. Phillip Hammond and John Pryor, two scouts from Fort Randolph at Point Pleasant, followed the Indians, anticipating a raid on the Greenbrier Settlements. The young men had been made up to represent Indians. "The Grenadier Squaw," sister of Cornstalk, assisted in disguising the scouts, using bear grease and red ochre for the purpose. They set out on their journey of over on hundred and sixty miles, through dense forests, competing against the savages. The scouts overtook and passed the Greenbrier. Reaching Fort Donnally as speedily as possible, they warned the settlers, thus preventing another terrible massacre. The fort, built by Col. Andrew Donnally in 1767, stood about 100 yards east of the residence of the late Anthony Rader, on Rader's Run, 10 miles northwest of Lewisburg. As soon as possible, word having been dispatched to Col. John Stuart, a relief party of 67 men under the command of Capt. William Johnston arrived from Camp Union. They entered the fort and helped beat off the Indians. At nightfall, realizing their plan had failed, the Indians withdrew, leaving 16 dead. four white men were killed. "In comparison with what has occurred in driving the early frontiers of America westward, the Battle of Fort Donnally is but dust in the balance; yet, as being an important part of the warp and woof in the great drama acted out by our forefathers, it is of peculiar interest to the people of the Greenbrier region, and an all-important and outstanding even in its effect in the early days of convincing the Indian that his domain must be moved west of the Mississippi." The following men with their families were among those known to be in the fort at the time of the siege: Col. Andrew Donnally, Lieut. John Williams, Ensign Richard Williams, William Cutlar, James Miller, James Sconce, William Blake, John McFerrin, John Lockridge, James Hugart, William Hugart, John Flinn, Christopher Hedrick, Johnathon Hughes, James Jordan, D. Williams, Thomas Cooper, N. H. Cavendish, Thomas Ellis, John Fenton, J. Hugart, W. Jamison, S. Greer, W. Gray, T. Hugart, John Pryor, William Pritchard, John Pritchard, James Million, William McCoy, Sr., William McCoy, Jr., Phillip Hammond, and Dick Pointer (negro). The far-reaching effects of the Fort Donnally affair made possible the support given to George Rogers Clark, by almost two hundred citizens, in his operations which saved for the union the great Northwest Territory, as well as the assistance given to George Washington in the East. NEXT SECTION: FORMATION OF OLD GREENBRIER COUNTY