1774.
Indian Hostilities--Battle of Point Pleasant--General Andrew
Lewis--Death of Colonel Charles Lewis--Cornstalk--Indignation
against Dunmore--General Lewis and his Brothers.
IN April, 1774, some extraordinary hostilities occurred between the
Indians and the whites on the frontier of Virginia. On which side these
outrages commenced was a matter of dispute, but the whites appear to
have been probably the aggressors. An Indian war being apprehended,
Dunmore appointed General Andrew Lewis, of Botetourt County, then a
member of the assembly, to the command of the southern division of the
forces raised in Botetourt, Augusta, and the adjoining counties east of
the Blue Ridge, while his lordship in person took command of those
levied in the northern counties, Frederick, Dunmore, and those adjacent.
According to the plan of campaign, as arranged at Williamsburg, Lewis
was to march down the valley of the Kanawha[582:A] to Point Pleasant,
where that river empties into the Ohio, there to be joined by the
governor, who was to march by way of Fort Pitt, and thence descend the
Ohio.
Late in August the _Virginia Gazette_ announced news from the frontier
that Lord Dunmore was to march in a few days for the mouth of New River,
where he was to be joined by Lewis.
Early in September the troops under his command made their rendezvous at
Camp Union,[582:B] now Lewisburg, in the County of Greenbrier. They
consisted of two regiments, under Colonel William Fleming, of Botetourt,
and Colonel Charles Lewis, of Augusta, comprising about four hundred
men. At Camp Union they were joined by a company under Colonel Field, of
Culpepper, one from Bedford, under Colonel Buford, and two from the
Holston settlement, (now Washington County,) under Captains Shelby and
Harbert. These were part of the forces to be led on by Colonel
Christian, who was to join the troops at Point Pleasant as soon as his
regiment should be completed.
On the eleventh of September General Lewis, with eleven hundred men,
commenced his march through the wilderness, piloted by Captain Matthew
Arbuckle; flour, ammunition, and camp equipage being transported on
pack-horses and bullocks driven in the rear of the little army. After a
march of one hundred and sixty miles, they reached, on the thirtieth of
September, Point Pleasant, at the junction of the Great Kanawha with the
beautiful Ohio. "This promontory was elevated considerably above the
high-water mark, and afforded an extensive and variegated prospect of
the surrounding country. Here were seen hills, mountains, valleys,
cliffs, plains, and promontories, all covered with gigantic forests, the
growth of centuries, standing in their native grandeur and integrity,
unsubdued, unmutilated by the hand of man, wearing the livery of the
season, and raising aloft in mid-air their venerable trunks and branches
as if to defy the lightning of the sky and the fury of the whirlwind.
This widely-extended prospect, though rudely magnificent and
picturesque, wanted, nevertheless, some of those softer features which
might embellish and beautify, or, if the expression were permitted,
might civilize the savage wilderness of some of nature's noblest
efforts. Here were to be seen no villages nor hamlets, not a farm-house
nor cottage, no fields nor meadows with their appropriate furniture,
shocks of corn, nor herds of domestic animals. In its widest range the
eye would in vain seek to discover a cultivated spot of earth on which
to repose. Here were no marks of industry, nor of the exercise of those
arts which minister to the comfort and convenience of man; here nature
had for ages on ages held undisputed empire. In the deep and dismal
solitude of these woodlands the lone wanderer would have been startled
by the barking of the watch-dog, or the shrill clarion of a chanticleer.
Here the whistling of the plough-boy, or the milk-maid's song, sounds
elsewhere heard with pleasing emotions, would have been incongruous and
out of place."[583:A]
Dunmore, who had marched across the country to the Shawnee towns,
failing to join Lewis, runners were sent out by him toward Fort Pitt in
quest of his lordship. October the sixth the _Williamsburg Gazette_
announced advices from the frontier that the Earl of Dunmore had
concluded a treaty of peace with the Delaware Indians. And before the
return of the runners despatched from Point Pleasant, an express from
the governor reached Point Pleasant on Sunday, the nineteenth of
October, ordering General Lewis to march for the Chilicothe towns and
there join him. Preparations were immediately made for crossing the
Ohio.
In the mean time the Indians, headed by Cornstalk, had determined to
cross the Ohio, some miles above Point Pleasant, and to march down
during the night, so as to surprise the camp at daybreak. "Accordingly,
on the evening of the ninth of October, soon after dark, they began to
cross the river on rafts previously prepared. To ferry so many men over
this wide river and on these clumsy transports must have required
considerable time. But before morning they were all on the eastern bank,
ready to proceed. Their route now lay down the margin of the river,
through an extensive bottom. On this bottom was a heavy growth of
timber, with a foliage so dense as in many places to intercept, in a
great measure, the light of the moon and the stars. Beneath lay many
trunks of fallen trees, strewed in different directions, and in various
stages of decay. The whole surface of the ground was covered with a
luxuriant growth of weeds, interspersed with entangling vines and
creepers, and in some places with close-set thickets of spice-wood or
other undergrowth. A journey through this in the night must have been
tedious, tiresome, dark, and dreary. The Indians, however, entered on it
promptly, and persevered until break of day, when, about a mile distant
from the camp, one of those unforeseen incidents occurred which so often
totally defeat or greatly mar the best concerted military
enterprises."[584:A]
Two soldiers setting out very early from the camp on a hunting
excursion, proceeded up the bank of the Ohio, and when they had gone
about two miles they came suddenly upon a large body of Indians, who had
crossed the river the evening before, and were now just rising from
their encampment and preparing for battle. Espying the hunters they
fired and killed one of them; the other escaping unhurt, ran back to the
camp, where he arrived just before sunrise, and reported that "he had
seen about five acres of ground covered with Indians as thick as they
could stand one beside another." It was Cornstalk at the head of an army
of Delawares, Mingoes, Cayugas, Iowas, Wyandots, and Shawnees, and but
for the hunter's intelligence they would have surprised the camp. In a
few moments two other men came in and confirmed the report, and then
General Lewis lit his pipe, and sent forward the first division under
his brother, Colonel Charles Lewis, and the second under Colonel
Fleming; the first marching to the right at some distance from the Ohio,
the bottom being a mile wide there; the second marching to the left
along the bank of the river. General Andrew Lewis remained with the
reserve to defend the camp. Colonel Lewis's division had not advanced
along the river bottom quite half a mile from the camp when he was
vigorously attacked in front, a little after sunrise, by the enemy,
numbering between eight hundred and a thousand. Fleming's division was
likewise attacked on the bank of the river. In a short time Colonel
Charles Lewis was mortally wounded; this gallant and estimable officer,
when struck by the bullet, fell at the foot of a tree, when he was,
against his own wish, carried back to his tent by Captain Morrow and a
private, and he died in a few hours, deeply lamented. Colonel Fleming
also was severely wounded, two balls passing through his arm and one
through his breast. After cheering on the officers and soldiers, he
retired to the camp. The Augusta troops, upon the fall of their leader,
Colonel Lewis, and several of the men, gave way, and retreated toward
the camp, but being met by a re-enforcement of about two hundred and
fifty, under Colonel Field, they rallied and drove back the enemy, and
at this juncture this officer was killed. His place was taken by Captain
Shelby. At length the Indians formed a line behind logs and trees, at
right angles to the Ohio, through the woods to Crooked Creek, which
empties into the Great Kanawha a little above its mouth. The engagement
now became general, and was obstinately sustained in the bush-fighting
manner on both sides. The Virginia troops being hemmed in between the
two rivers, with the Indians in front, General Lewis employed the troops
from the more eastern part of the colony (who were less experienced in
Indian fighting) in throwing up a breastwork of the boughs and trunks of
trees, across the delta between the Kanawha and Ohio. About twelve
o'clock the Indian fire began to slacken, and the enemy slowly and
reluctantly gave way, being driven back less than two miles during six
or seven hours. A desultory fire was still kept up from behind trees,
and the whites as they pressed on the savages were repeatedly
ambuscaded. At length General Lewis detached three companies, commanded
by Captains Shelby, Matthews, and Stuart, with orders to move secretly
along the banks of the Kanawha and Crooked Creek, so as to gain the
enemy's rear. This manoeuvre being successfully executed, the Indians,
as some report, at four o'clock P.M., fled; according to other accounts,
the firing continued until sunset. During the night they recrossed the
Ohio. The loss of the Virginians in this action has been variously
estimated at from forty to seventy-five killed and one hundred and forty
wounded--a large proportion of the number of the troops actually
engaged, who did not exceed five hundred and fifty, as one hundred of
General Lewis's men, including his best marksmen, were absent in the
woods hunting, and knew nothing of the battle until it was all over.
Among the killed were Colonel Charles Lewis, Colonel Field, who had
served in Braddock's war, Captains Buford, Morrow, Murray, Ward,
Cundiff, Wilson, and McClenachan, Lieutenants Allen, Goldsby, and
Dillon. Of the officers present at the battle of Point Pleasant many
became afterwards distinguished men.[586:A]
The loss of the savages was never ascertained; the bodies of
thirty-three slain were found, but many had been thrown into the Ohio
during the engagement. The number of the Indian army was not known
certainly, but it comprised the flower of the northern confederated
tribes, led on by Red Hawk, a Delaware chief; Scoppathus, a Mingo;
Chiyawee, a Wyandot; Logan, a Cayuga; and Ellinipsico, and his father,
Cornstalk, Shawnees. But some say that Logan was not present in the
battle. The Shawnees were a formidable tribe, who had played a prominent
part on many a bloody field. Cornstalk displayed great skill and courage
at Point Pleasant. It is said that on the day before the battle he had
proposed to his people to send messengers to General Lewis to see
whether a treaty of peace could be effected, but his followers rejected
the proposal. During the battle, when one of his warriors evinced a want
of firmness, he slew him with one blow of his tomahawk; and during the
day his sonorous voice was heard amid the din of arms exclaiming, in his
native tongue, "Be strong, be strong."
On the morning after the battle General Lewis buried his dead. They were
interred without the pomp of war, but the cheeks of hardy mountaineers
were bedewed with tears at the fate of their brave comrades. "The dead
bodies of the Indians who fell in battle were left to decay on the
ground where they expired, or to be devoured by birds or beasts of prey.
The mountain eagle, lord of the feathered race, while from his lofty
cairn with piercing eye he surveyed the varied realms around and far
beneath, would not fail to descry the sumptuous feast prepared for his
use. Here he might whet his beak, and feast, and fatten, and exult. Over
these the gaunt wolf, grim tyrant of the forest, might prolong his
midnight revelry and howl their funeral dirge. While far remote in the
deepest gloom of the wilderness, whither they had fled for safety, the
surviving warriors might wail their fate, or chant a requiem to their
departed spirits."[587:A]
General Lewis, after caring for the wounded, erected a small fort at
Point Pleasant, and leaving a garrison there, marched to overtake
Dunmore, who, with a thousand men, lay entrenched at Camp Charlotte,
called after the queen, near the Shawnee town, (Chilicothe,) on the
banks of the Scioto. The Indians having sued to him for peace, his
lordship determined to make a treaty with them, and sent orders to Lewis
to halt, or, according to others, to return to Point Pleasant. Lewis,
suspecting the governor's good faith, and finding himself threatened by
a superior force of Indians, who hovered in his rear, disregarded the
order, and advanced to within three miles of his camp. His lordship,
accompanied by the Indian chief, White Eyes, visited the camp of Lewis,
who (as some report) with difficulty restrained his men from killing the
governor and his Indian companion. Lewis, to his great chagrin, received
orders to return home with his troops, and he obeyed reluctantly, as it
seemed a golden opportunity to give the savage enemy a fatal blow.
General Andrew Lewis lived on the Roanoke, in the County of Botetourt.
He was a native of Ireland, being one of five sons of John Lewis, who
slew the Irish lord, settled Augusta County, founded the town of
Staunton, and furnished several sons to fight the battles of their
country. He was the son of Andrew Lewis and Mary Calhoun, his wife, and
was born in Donegal County, Ireland, (1678,) and died in Virginia,
(1762,) aged eighty-four: a brave man, and a firm friend of liberty. All
his sons were born in Ireland except Charles, the youngest. Andrew Lewis
was twice wounded at Fort Necessity; was appointed by Washington major
of his regiment during the French and Indian war, and no officer more
fully enjoyed his confidence. Major Lewis commanded the Sandy Creek
expedition in 1756, and was made prisoner at Grant's defeat, where he
exhibited signal prudence and bravery. His fortitude while a prisoner
was equal to his courage in battle, and commanded the respect of the
French officers. He was upwards of six feet in stature, of uncommon
activity and strength, and of a form of exact symmetry. His countenance
was stern and invincible, his deportment reserved and distant. When he
was a commissioner on behalf of Virginia at the treaty of Fort Stanwix,
in New York, in 1768, the governor of that colony remarked of him, that
"the earth seemed to tremble under him as he walked along." At the
commencement of the revolutionary war Washington considered him the
foremost military man in America, and the one most worthy of the post of
commander-in-chief of the American army. And it was to the country
beyond the mountains that Washington looked as a place of refuge, in
case he should be overpowered in the struggle, and there, defended by
mountains and mountaineers, he hoped to defy the enemy. The statue of
General Andrew Lewis is one of those to be placed on the monument in the
capitol square, in Richmond.[589:A]
Dunmore remaining after the departure of Lewis, concluded a treaty with
the Indians. Upon this occasion Cornstalk, in a long speech, charged the
whites with having provoked the war, his tones of thunder resounding
over a camp of twelve acres. The truth is that during the years which
elapsed between Bouquet's treaty of 1764 and open war in 1774, a period
of nominal peace was one of frequent actual collision and hostilities,
and more lives were sacrificed on the frontier by the murderous Indians
than during the whole of the year 1774, including the battle of Point
Pleasant.[589:B]
FOOTNOTES:
[582:A] Or "River of the Woods," as the word signifies, or New River, as
it was also sometimes called.
[582:B] Styled by Stuart, in his "Memoir of Indian Wars," Fort Savannah.
[583:A] Memoir of Battle of Point Pleasant, by Samuel L. Campbell, M.D.
[584:A] Dr. Campbell's Memoir of the Battle of Point Pleasant.
[586:A] There may be mentioned General Isaac Shelby, a native of
Maryland, who distinguished himself at King's Mountain, and was
subsequently the first governor of Kentucky; General William Campbell,
the hero of King's Mountain, and Colonel John Campbell, who
distinguished himself at Long Island; General Evan Shelby, who became an
eminent citizen of Tennessee; Colonel William Fleming, a revolutionary
patriot; Colonel John Stewart, of Greenbrier; Colonel William McKee, of
Kentucky; Colonel John Steele, governor of the Mississippi Territory,
and General George Matthews, who distinguished himself at Brandywine,
Germantown, and Guilford, and was governor of Georgia, and United States
senator from that State.--_Howe's Hist. Collections of Va._, 363.
[587:A] Dr. Campbell's Memoir of Battle of Point Pleasant.
[589:A] Thomas Lewis, eldest son of John Lewis, owing to a defective
vision, was not actively engaged in the Indian wars. He was a man of
learning, and representative of Augusta in the house of burgesses, and
voted for Henry's resolutions of 1765; was a member of the conventions
of 1776 and 1788. He married a Miss Strother, of Stafford. The second
son, Samuel, died without issue. Andrew commanded at Point Pleasant.
William, of the Sweet Springs, was distinguished in the frontier wars,
and was an officer in the revolutionary army. He married first, Anne
Montgomery, of Delaware, secondly, a Miss Thomson, a relative of the
poet of "The Seasons." The fifth son, Colonel Charles Lewis, fell at
Point Pleasant.
[589:B] Lyman C. Draper, in Va. Hist. Register.