THE DUNMORE WAR.*
BY E. O. RANDALL.
Secretary Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society.
The American colonists had fought the
French and Indian
war1 with the expectation that they were
to be, in the event of
success, the beneficiaries of the result
and be permitted to occupy
the Ohio Valley as a fertile and
valuable addition to their Atlantic
coast lodgments. But the war over and
France vanquished, the
royal greed of Britain asserted itself,
and the London government
most arbitrarily pre-empted the
territory between the Alleghanies
and the Mississippi as the exclusive and
peculiar dominion of the
Crown, directly administered upon from
the provincial seat of
authority at Quebec. The parliamentary
power promulgated the
arbitrary proclamation (1763) declaring
the Ohio Valley and the
* Authorities consulted in preparation
of the article on Dunmore's
War-E. O. R.: Abbott's History of Ohio;
Albach's Western Annals;
American Archives (4th Series, Vol. 1);
Atwater's History of Ohio;
Bancroft's History of the United States;
Black's Story of Ohio; Brow-
nell's Indians of North America; Burk's
History of Virginia; Butler's
History of Kentucky; Butterfield's
History of the Girtys; Campbell's
History of Virginia; Cook's History of
Virginia; Doddridges's Notes
on Indian Wars, etc.; Drake's Indians of
North America; Drake's life
of Tecumseh; Fernow's Ohio Valley in
Colonial Days; Fiske's Ameri-
can Revolution, Vol. II; The Hesperian,
Vol. II., (1839); Hildreth's
Pioneer History of the Ohio Valley;
Hosmer's Short History of the
Mississippi Valley; Howe's Historical
Collections of Ohio; Howe's His-
torical Collections of Virginia; Jacob's
Life of Cresap; Jefferson's Notes
on Virginia; Kercheval's History of the
Valley of Virginia; King's His-
tory of Ohio; Lewis's History of West
Virginia; Mayer's (Brantz)
Logan and Cresap; McDonald's sketches;
McKnight's Our Western Bor-
der; Mitchener's Ohio Annals; Moore's
Northwest Under Three Flags;
Monette's Valley of the Mississippi;
Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Publications; Olden Time (Monthly), Vol.
II; Peter Parley's History
of the Indians; Ryan's History of Ohio;
Roosevelt's Winning of the
West; Stone'sLife of Joseph Brant;
Taylor's (J. W.) History of Ohio;
Thatcher's Indian Biographies;
Thwaites's Afloat on the Ohio; Vir-
ginia Historical Register (Vol. V);
Walker's History of Athens County;
Whittlesey's Fugitive Essays; Winsor's
Western Movement; Withers'
Chronicles of Border Warfare.
11756-1763. (167)
168 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
Great Northwest territory should
practically be an Indian reserva-
tion, ordering the few straggling
settlers to move therefrom,
forbidding the colonists to move
therein, and even prohibiting
trading with the Indians, save under
licenses and restrictions so
excessive as to amount to exclusion.
On June 22, 1774, Parliament passed the
detestable Quebec
Act which not only affirmed the policy
of the Crown adopted in
the proclamation of 1763, but added many
obnoxious features, by
granting certain religious and civil
rights to the French catholic
Canadians.
This policy of the Crown stultified the
patents and charters
granted the American colonies in which
their proprietary rights
extended to the Mississippi, and beyond,
embracing the very
territory to which they were now denied
admittance2.
The establishment of England's authority
in Canada, with
Quebec as the seat of arbitrary and
direct rule over the colonies,
was a tightening of the fetters that
bound the chafing colonies.
The Quebec Act was one of the irritants
complained of in the
Declaration of Independence "for
abolishing the free system of
English law in a neighboring province,
establishing therein an
arbitrary government and enlarging its
boundaries so as to render
it at once an example and fit instrument
for introducing the same
absolute rule into these colonies."
The French Canadians were
favored by the Quebec Act in their legal
rights and religious
privileges. The untutored savages were
its especial foster chil-
dren. The colonists were flagrantly and
unjustly discriminated
2 "In
1763, at the close of the French and Indian War, the English
Parliament passed an act which
disfranchised the Catholics of Canada,
and cut off the revenues of their
church. This law continued in force
until October, 1774, when Parliament,
having received intelligence of
the "Boston Tea Party," and
fearing that the Canadians would unite
with her now disaffected colonies,
enacted what is known as "The Quebec
Act." By it the boundaries of that
province were extended to the Ohio
and Mississippi rivers; the old French
laws were restored in all judicial
proceedings, and to the Catholics were
secured the enjoyment of all
their lands and revenues. Thus it is
seen that the present State of Ohio
was made a part of Quebec, and the
inhabitants of the District of West
Augusta were correct in their
representations to Congress that the Ohio
was all that separated them from
Quebec."--Lewis, History of West
Virginia, p. 139. This last (1774) act
was especially obnoxious to the
American colonists.
The Dunmore War. 169
against. The restless enterprise and
obstinate opposition of the
frontier settlers led them to encroach
and "poach" upon the "pre-
serves" of the Crown. The fearless
and independent frontiersman
of Pennsylvania and Virginia longed for
the unrestrained oppor-
tunity to cross the Ohio, and pushing
their way into the trackless
wilderness, seek homes upon the banks of
the Tuscarawas, the
Muskingum, the Scioto, the Sandusky and
the Miamis. They
went first as hunters, then as
prospectors, and finally as settlers;
"they purchased lands with bullets,
and surveyed claims with
tomahawks."
Such was the situation until the year
1774 when the smoulder-
ing embers burst into a flame, and
Dunmore's war was the prelude
to the Revolution. The Dunmore war has
been promotive of
much ingenious speculation and curious
guesswork by writers and
historians. An air of semi-mystery
heightens the intense interest
that attaches to this most important and
romantic event in western
American history. John Murray, Earl of
Dunmore, was the royal
governor of Virginia colony. He was a
descendant in the feminine
line from the house of Stuart; the blood
of the luxurious, im-
perious and haughty Charleses ran in his
veins. He was a Tory of
the Tories. He was an aristocratic,
domineering, determined,
diplomatic representative of his
sovereign, King George, but he
was also a tenacious stickler for the
prerogatives of the colony
over which he presided. He held his
allegiance as first due the
Crown, but he also was "eager to
champion the cause of Virginia
as against either the Indians or her
sister colonies." He was
avaricious, energetic and interested in
the frontier land specula-
tions. He had an eye for the main
chance, financial and political.
He could not have looked complacently
upon the Canadian policy
of his government. But he was the center
of opposing influences.
The prescribed limits of the various
colonies, while generally dis-
tinctly defined near the Atlantic coast,
often became indefinite and
conflicting west of the mountains. The
grant to Virginia gave
her a continuation of territory west
across the continent, and
according to her claim took in the
southern half of Ohio, Indiana
and Illinois. The Quebec Act nullified
this claim and incurred the
disfavor of Dunmore, who defiantly
opposed this injustice to his
colony. More than this the Virginians
assumed title to all of the
extreme western Pennsylvania, especially
the forks of the Ohio
170 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
river and the valley of the Monongahela.
This, of course, meant
Fort Pitt, which, at this time was
occupied as a Virginian town,
though claimed by the Pennsylvanians as
their territory.
Governor Dunmore appointed as his agent
or deputy at Fort
Pitt one Dr. John Connolly, a man of
reputed violent temper and
bad character. Connolly was named vice
governor and command-
ant of Pittsburg and its dependencies.
Connolly was at best an
impetuous and unscrupulous minion of his
master. He changed
the name of the settlement from Fort
Pitt to Fort Dunmore, and
proceeded to assume jurisdiction in such
an arrogant and merciless
manner in behalf of the Virginians, and
against the peaceable
Pennsylvanians, that a war-like
collision was narrowly averted3.
Connolly's counter plays between the
Virginians, the Penn-
sylvanians, the Indians and the British
authorities are too complex
and contradictory to be unravelled here.
Whatever Lord Dun-
3 In the winter of 1773-4, one Dr. John
Connolly, a nephew of
George Croghan, determined to assert the
claims of Virginia upon Fort
Pitt and its vicinity. He issued a
proclamation to the inhabitants to
meet at Redstone, now Brownsville, on
the 24th and 25th of January,
1774, and organize themselves as a
Virginia militia. Before the time
appointed Connolly was arrested by
Arthur St. Clair, who then repre-
sented the Pennsylvania proprietors at
Pittsburg, and the assemblage
at Redstone dispersed without definite
action. As soon as Connolly was
released from custody, however, he
renewed his efforts to establish the
exclusive authority of Virginia. He came
to Pittsburgh on the 28th
of March, with an armed band of
followers, and in the name and by
the authority of Lord Dunmore,
proclaimed the jurisdiction of Virginia,
rebuilding Fort Pitt, which was called
Fort Dunmore. He was recog-
nized as Captain Commandant of a
district called West Augusta, and
almost immediately exhibited a
tyrannical spirit to all who were in the
Pennsylvania interest, while he seemed
not unwilling to involve the
frontier in an Indian War, one motive
for the latter policy being, as
suggested by Arthur St. Clair and
others, to cloak his extravagant civil
expenditure, with the indefinite item of
frontier defence.-Taylor (J.
W.), History of Ohio, pp. 242-3.
American Archives, 4th Series, Vol. I,
p. 270 et seq. contains
numerous letters and documents revealing
the riotous state of affairs
prevailing at Fort Pitt after the
arrival there of John Connolly, who,
though a native of Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania, was regularly com-
missioned by Lord Dunmore to represent
his lordship's authority as
magistrate for West Augusta, the county
Dunmore had added to Vir-
ginia from Pennsylvania territory.--E.
0. R.
The Dunmore War. 171
more was, this man Connolly was
double-dyed in duplicity. He
pitted one colony against the other, the
Indians against both, and,
so far as he could, doubtless aided the
British to urge on the
Indians. That the British authorities
were, in this whole affair,
the abettors of the savages, is
sufficiently evidenced by the fact
that while the Indians were openly and
unitedly fighting the
colonies who were still British subjects
on the Ohio frontier, they
(the Indians) were receiving arms,
ammunition and provisions
from the English distributing station at
Detroit4.
The Canadian French traders who drove a
thriving business
with the Indians naturally stimulated
them to resist the frontiers-
men's encroachments. The occupation of
the exclusive territory
by the colonists meant the termination
of their traffic. The brunt
of this contention fell upon the Ohio
Indians and the Virginian
backwoodsmen. The six nations as such
took no part in it. The
Pennsylvanians stood aloof. They were
not so aggressive as
their southern neighbors, and their
interest in the Indian was a
commercial and peaceful one. The
Virginians, therefore, were
the only foes the Ohio Indians really
dreaded. The Virginians
were crack fighters in those frontier
days. They were adventur-
ous, courageous, and of hardy stuff. In
the mountain dwellers
of the Monongahela and Kanawha valleys
the red man found a
foeman worthy of his prowess. It was
they the Indians styled
the "long knives," or
"big knife," because of the bravery they
displayed in the use of their long belt
knives, or swords. They
were a match for the deadly tomahawk.
Another reason why
the Virginians were willing and active
aggressors in these border
difficulties was that the royal
authority had promised the Vir-
ginia troops a bounty in these western
lands as reward for their
services in the French and Indian war. A
section had been
allowed them by royal proclamation on
the Ohio and Kanawha
rivers. When in the spring of 1774
Colonel Angus McDonald
4 "For it is well known that the
Indians were influenced by the
British to continue the war to terrify
and confound the people, before
they commenced hostilities themselves
the following year in Lexington.
It was thought by British politicians
that to excite an Indian war would
prevent a combination of the colonies
for opposing parliamentary meas-
ures to tax the Americans." -
Narrative of Capt. John Stuart in the Vir-
ginia Historical Register, Vol. V, p.
188.
172 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
and party proceeded to survey these
lands they were driven off by
the Indians. Meanwhile, intrusions
across the border, depreda-
tions, conflagrations and massacres were
committed in turn by
either side. Much has been written as to
which was the earlier
or greater aggressor. That discussion is
not pertinent to our
purpose. Many cabins were burned and
many lives brutally de-
stroyed. Havoc and horror were
prevalent.
Most prominent among the leaders of the
whites in this In-
dian warfare was one Captain Michael
Cresap, a Marylander
who removed to the Ohio early in 1774,
and after establishing
himself below the Zane settlement
(Wheeling) organized a com-
pany of pioneers for protection against
the Indians5. He was
appointed by Connolly, a captain of the
militia of the section in
which he resided, and was put in command
of Fort Fincastle3.
Cresap was a fearless and persistent
Indian fighter, and just the
one to lead retalitory parties across
the Ohio into the red men's
country. In April, Connolly, only too
anxious to spring the ex-
plosion, issued an open letter warning
the frontiersmen of the
impending war and commanding them to
prepare to repel the
Indian
attack7. Such a
letter from Dunmore's
lieutenant
amounted to a declaration of war. The
backwoodsmen were at
once in arms and seeking an opportunity
to fight. As soon as
Cresap's band received Connolly's letter
they proceeded to declare
war in regular Indian style, calling a
council, planting the war
post, etc. What is sometimes known as
"Cresap's war" ensued.
Several Indians while descending the
Ohio in their canoes were
killed by Cresap's company. Other
Indians were shot within the
Ohio border by intruding and exasperated
whites. Logan, chief
of the Mingos, established a camp near
the mouth of Yellow
This individual (Captain Michael
Cresap), owing to the beauty
and eloquence of the Logan speech, has
acquired a reputation, certainly
not to be envied, and which we verily
believe he does not merit. He
was an early martyr in the cause of his
country, in the struggle for
independence, and we feel it to be a
duty and a pleasure to do him
justice. That he killed some Indians in
the spring of 1774, seems un-
deniable, but that he was clear of any
connection with the Yellow Creek
outrage is equally certain.-Craig's
Olden Time, Vol. II, p. 65.
6 Monette's
Valley of the Mississippi, Vol. I, p. 370.
7Roosevelt,
Winning of the West, Part I, p. 257.
The Dunmore War. 173
creek, about forty miles above Wheeling.
It was first thought
Logan's camp was a hostile
demonstration, and the camp should
be attacked and destroyed. Cresap and
his party proposed and
started to do this, but finally thought
better and decided Logan's
intentions were peaceful, - for he had
ever been the friend of the
whites, - and the intended attack was
abandoned. But Logan's
people did not escape. Opposite the
mouth of Yellow creek on
the Virginia side of the Ohio resided an
unscrupulous scoundrel
and cut-throat, Daniel Greathouse, and
fellow frontier thugs.
They kept a carousing resort, known as
Baker's Bottom, where
the Indians were supplied with rum, at
Baker's cabin. On the
last day of April, a party of Indians
from Logan's camp, on the
invitation of Greathouse, visited
Baker's place and while plied
with liquor were set upon and massacred.
There were nine, in-
cluding a brother and a sister of Logan,
the latter being the re-
puted squaw of John Gibson, who were
thus foully murdered.
Other relatives of Logan had been
previously killed. The Baker
massacre is one of the most awful blots
upon the white man's
record. Michael Cresap was not present
and had nothing
to do with the dastardly deed, and his
innocence in the af-
fair is well established, though many
authorities still couple
his name with the plot, if not the act
itself. Logan be-
lieved Cresap to be the guilty party, as
is evidenced by his using
Cresap's name in the famous speech8.
There were many bloody
enactments. Vengeance and retalition
were resorted to equally
by both sides. The malevolent murder of
Bald Eagle, the Dela-
ware chief, of Silver Heels, the
Shawanee chief, the malignant
massacre of the mother, brother, sister
and daughter of the famous
Mingo chief Logan, were but incidents
among many that aroused
8A vast deal of literature pro and con
is extant concerning Cresap's
relation to the murder of Logan's
family. This subject has been pretty
thoroughly worked over in Jacob's Life
of Cresap; Brantz Mayer's Logan
and Cresap; Jefferson's Notes on
Virginia; American Pioneers, Vol. I
(1842); The Olden Time, Vol. II (edited
by Craig), and many other
publications. The best vindication of
Cresap is the statement of George
Clark as printed in The Hesperian Vol.
2. 309, 1839. The evidence is
conclusively in favor of the innocence
of Cresap in the Baker's Bottom
massacre. Cresap was made captain of a
company in Dunmore's com-
mand.- E. O. R.
174
Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
the hostility of the Indians to a
furious pitch. They thirsted for
the warpath. The white borderers were no
less anxious for the
encounter. Lord Dunmore did not wish to
repress it. While the
solitude of the western forest was
broken by the war whoop, and
the crack of the white man's deadly
rifle, and the midnight sky
was lighted with the flaming cabin, and
the burning ripened crops,
the citizens of the New England colonies
were no less astir with
intense excitement. Freedom was
beginning to breathe. Meet-
ings were being held to protest against
royal tyranny, and com-
mittees of correspondence were sending
forth their missives
laden with the ideas of independence. It
was 1774. The Boston
Port Bill had been passed by parliament
in March, and denounced
in the Boston public meeting in May.
That same month the Vir-
ginia House of Burgesses, of which
George Washington, Patrick
Henry and Thomas Jefferson were members,
assembled at Wil-
liamsburg, the colony capital, and
resolved "with a burst of in-
dignation," to set aside the first
of June, when the Port Bill
should go into operation, "as a day
of fasting and prayer to
implore the divine interposition for
averting the heavy calamity
which threatens the civil rights of
America." The right honor-
able, the Earl of Dunmore, governor of
Virginia, at once dissolved
that highly impertinent king-insulting
assembly. The Virginians
saw the clouds gathering in the east.
But the storm in the west
was howling at their door. They were
prepared to take up arms
for their political rights against the
mother government, while
they hastily made ready to fight for
their proprietary rights
against their hostile neighbors, the
forest savages. The panic
among the inhabitants along the river
banks, and for a distance
inland, had become terrible. The time to
strike could not be de-
layed. Both red men and pale faces were
spoiling for the fray.
When Dunmore learned of the failure of
the surveying
expedition of Colonel Angus McDonald, he
authorized that brave
soldier to raise a regiment and proceed
into the country of the
enemy and punish them. McDonald easily
collected some four
hundred militiamen, and crossing the
mountains moved down the
Ohio to the site of Wheeling, where he
built Fort Fincastle, after-
wards Fort Henry. In June he descended
the Ohio to Captina
creek, the scene of one of the late
massacres, and there the men
The Dunmore War. 175
debarking from their boats and canoes,
made a dashing raid upon
the Shawnee villages as far as
Wappatomica, an Indian town on
the Muskingum, near the present city of
Coshocton.
The little army suffered many hardships,
and encountered
many perils. At times their only
sustenance consisted of weeds
and one ear of corn a day. Many villages
and fields of crops were
destroyed. The soldiers returned in a
few weeks without serious
loss. This forceful invasion of the
Indian country was sufficient
declaration of war, and produced a
general combination of the
various Indian tribes northwest of the
Ohio.
Meanwhile the Virginians were girding up
their loins. Gov-
ernor Dunmore was awake to the
situation. His actions have been
both attacked and applauded. He is
credited with moving
promptly and zealously in defense of his
colony, and in defiance
of the policy and public promulgation of
the sovereign powers
concerning the inhabited Indian
province. He is charged with
using this opportunity, in view of the
coming colonial revolt, to
bring about a clash between the
ferocious Indians and the strength
and flower of Virginian soldiery that
the onslaught might divert
the attention of the colonists from the
threatening rebellion
against the mother country, and through
the inhuman methods of
the savage and the ensuing calamities
and atrocities cause the
Americans to pause in, if not positively
desist from, their further
procedure towards independence. The
proof of his alleged
treachery is not conclusive. His
movements in this war were at
times not above suspicion, and his
subsequent proceedings were
such as to add grave conjectures
concerning his integrity. But
Dunmore thus far seems entitled to the
benefit of a doubt.
9Even
Lord Dunmore, that bitter enemy of the colonies and stead-
fast upholder of the British cause,
ignored the western policy of the home
government. His personal
characteristics, love of money and of power,
contributed to this end. "His
passion for land and fees," says Bancroft,
"outweighing the proclamation of
the king and reiterated most positive
instructions from the Secretary of
State, he supported the claims of
the colony to the West, and was a
partner in two immense purchases
of land from the Indians in southern
Illinois." - Hinsdale's Old North-
west, p. 144. When the Revolutionary War
broke out the Earl not only
fought the revolted colonists with all
legitimate weapons, but tried to in-
cite the blacks to servile insurrection,
and sent agents to bring his old foes,
176 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
In August the governor began his
preparations and the
plan for the campaign agreed upon. An
army for offensive
operations was called for. Dunmore
directed this army should
consist of volunteers and militiamen,
chiefly from the countries
west of the Blue Ridge, and be organized
into two divisions. The
northern division, comprehending the
troops collected in Fred-
erick, Dunmore (now Shenandoah), and
adjacent counties, was
to be commanded by Lord Dunmore in
person; the southern di-
vision comprising the different
companies raised in Botetourt,
Augusta and adjoining counties east of
the Blue Ridge, was to be
led by General Andrew Lewis. The two
armies were to number
about fifteen hundred each; were to
proceed by different routes,
unite at the mouth of the Big Kanawha,
and from thence cross
the Ohio and penetrate the northwest
country, defeat the red
men and destroy all the Indian towns
they could reach.
The volunteers who were to form the army
of Lewis began to
gather at Camp Union, the Levels of
Greenbrier (Lewisburg)
before the first of September. It was a
motley gathering. They
were not the king's regulars, nor
trained troops. They were not
knights in burnished steel on prancing
steeds. They were not
cavaliers' sons from luxurious manors.
They were not drilled
martinets. They were, however, determined, dauntless men,
sturdy and weather-beaten as the
mountain sides whence they
the redmen of the forest down on his old
friends, the settlers. He
encouraged piratical and plundering
raids, and on the other hand failed
to show the courage and daring that are
sometimes partial offsets to
ferocity. But in this war, in 1774, he
conducted himself with great
energy in making preparations, and
showed considerable skill as a nego-
tiator in concluding the peace, and
apparently went into the conflict with
hearty zest and good-will. He was
evidently much influenced by Con-
nolly, a very weak adviser, however, and
his whole course betrayed
much vacillation and no generalship.-
Roosevelt's Winning of the West,
Part II; footnote under p. 14. These two
objects (speaking of Dun-
more's ulterior designs) were first,
setting the new settlers on the west
side of the Alleghany by the ears; and
secondly, embroiling the western
people in a war with the
Indians.--Jacob's account of Dunmore's War,
as quoted in Kercheval's Valley of
Virginia, p. 160.
The above citations represent the
opposite views taken of Dun-
more's purposes. The better belief now
coincides with such opinions
as are expressed by Roosevelt and
Hinsdale. - E. O. R.
The Dunmore War. 177
came. They were undrilled in the arts of
military movements, but
they were in physique and endurance and
power nature's noble-
men, reared amid the open freedom and
hardihood of rural life.
The army as finally made up consisted of
four main commands,
a body of Augusta troops, under Colonel
Charles Lewis, brother
of the General; a contingent of
Botetourt troops, under Colonel
William Fleming; those commands numbered
four hundred each;
a small independent company, under
Colonel John Field, of Cul-
pepper; a company from Bedford, under
Captain Thomas Buford,
and two from the Holstein settlement
under Captains Evan Shelby
and Harbert. The three latter companies
were part of the force
to be led by Colonel Christian, who was
likewise to join the two
main divisions of the army at Point
Pleasant as soon as the other
companies of his regiment could be
assembled.
The army started on September 8th in
three divisions, the
two under Colonel Charles Lewis and
General Andrew Lewis,
respectively, followed by the rather
irregular and independent
force under Colonel John Field. Colonel
Christian's contingent
left later, and portions of them did not
reach Point Pleasant in
time to engage in the battle, but
Captains Shelby and Russell,
with parts of their companies, hastened
ahead and did valiant
service in the engagement. It was a
distance of one hundred and
sixty miles from Camp Union to their
destination at the mouth
of the Kanawha. The regiments passed
through a trackless forest
so rugged and mountainous as to render
their progress extremely
tedious and laborious. They marched in
long files through "the
deep and gloomy wood" with scouts
or spies thrown out in front
and on the flanks, while axmen went in
advance to clear a trail
over which they would drive the beef
cattle, and the pack-horses,
laden with provisions, blankets and
ammunition. They struck out
straight through the dense wilderness,
making their road as they
went10. On September 21st they reached
the Kanawha at the
mouth of Elk creek (present site of
Charleston). Here they
halted and built dug-out canoes for
baggage transportation upon
the river. A portion of the army
proceeded down the Kanawha,
10 The country at this time, in its
aspect, is one of the most romantic
and wild in the whole Union. Its natural
features are majestic and
grand. Among the lofty summits and deep
ravines, nature operates on
12 Vol. XI.
178 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
while the other section marched along
the Indian trail, which
followed the base of the hills, instead
of the river bank, as it was
thus easier to cross the heads of the
creeks and ravines. Their
long and weary tramp was ended October
6th, when they camped
on Point Pleasant, the high triangular
point of land jutting out on
the north side of the Kanawha where it
empties into the Ohio11.
General Lewis was disappointed in not
finding Governor Dun-
more at the appointed place of meeting.
Dunmore was far away.
While the backwoods general was
mustering his "unruly and tur-
bulent host of skilled riflemen"
the Earl of Dunmore had led his
own levies12, some fifteen
hundred strong, through the mountains
at the Potomac Gap to Fort Pitt. Here he
changed his plans and
decided not to attempt uniting with
Lewis at Point Pleasant.
Taking as scouts George Rogers Clark,
Michael Cresap, Simon
Kenton12a and Simon Girty, he descended
the Ohio river with a
a scale of grandeur, simplicity and
sublimity scarcely ever equaled in
any other region, and never surpassed in
the world. At the time of this
expedition only one white man had ever
passed along the dangerous
defiles of this route. That man was
Captain Matthew Arbuckle, who was
their pilot on the painful and slow
march. -Atwater's History of Ohio,
p. 112.
11 The site upon which the Virginia army
encamped was one of
awe-inspiring grandeur. Here were seen
hills, valleys, plains and prom-
ontories, all covered with gigantic
forests, the growth of centuries, stand-
ing in their native majesty unsubdued 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. The broad reach of the Ohio
closely resembled a lake with
the mouth of the Kanawha as an arm or
estuary, and both were, at
that season of the year, so placid as
scarcely to present motion to the
eye. Over all, nature reigned supreme.
There were no marks of in-
dustry, nor of the exercise of those
arts which minister to the comforts
and convenience of man. Here nature had
for ages held undisputed
sway over an empire inhabited only by
the enemies of civilization.-
Lewis's History of West Virginia, p.
121.
12 Dunmore
himself raised about a thousand men among the old
Virginians east of the Blue Ridge for
this expedition. With these men
he marched by the old route in which
Washington and Braddock had
passed the Alleghenies. He marched up
the Potomac to Cumberland,
thence across the remaining mountains to
Fort Pitt. Here procuring
boats, he descended the Ohio river to
Wheeling, where he rested several
days, and concluded to change his
mind.-Atwater's History of Ohio,
p. 114.
12a Known at that time as Simon Butler.
The Dunmore War. 179
flotilla of a hundred canoes, besides
keel boats and pirogues, to the
mouth of the Hockhocking, where he built
and garrisoned a small
stockade, naming it Fort Gower. Thence
he proceeded up the
Hockhocking to the falls, moved overland
to the Scioto, finally
halting on the north bank of the Sippo
creek four miles from its
mouth at the Scioto, and about the same
distance east of Old
Chillicothe, now Westfall, Pickaway
county. He entrenched him-
self in a fortified camp, with
breastworks of fallen trees, so con-
structed as to embrace about twelve
acres of ground. In the center
of this he built a citadel of
entrenchments, in which he and his
chief officers resided for special
protection. This camp Dunmore
named Charlotte, according to most
authorities, in honor of the
handsome queen of George III., but more
likely the gallant gov-
ernor called the camp Charlotte after
his accomplished wife Char-
lotte, who was the daughter of the Earl
of Galloway. While
Governor Dunmore was thus engaged in the
heart of the
Ohio country Lewis was destined to
strike the decisive
blow
on the banks of the Kanawha.
On the ninth of
October Simon Girty and probably two
other messengers13
arrived at Lewis's camp bringing the
message from Lord
Dunmore which bade Lewis join his
lordship at the Indian towns
on the Pickaway plains. General Lewis,
deeply displeased at this
change in the campaign, arranged to
break camp that he might
set out the next morning in accordance
with his superior's orders.
He had with him about eleven hundred
men. His plans were
destined to be rudely forestalled, for
Cornstalk, coming rapidly
through the forest, had reached the
Ohio. The very night that
Girty brought Lewis the message from
Dunmore the Indian chief
ferried his men across the river on
rafts, a few miles above the
13 Captain John Stuart says one of the
governor's express messen-
gers to Lewis at Pt. Pleasant on the 9th
was McCullough.
Dunmore and his weaker force, after
throwing up a fortification
at the mouth of the Hockhocking, were
permitted to march undisturbed
to Sippo Creek, a tributary of the
Scioto (near the line between Ross
and Pickaway counties), and there, at
his fortified camp (Charlotte),
had received the submission of the
Shawnees. Their messengers, suing
for peace, had set out to meet him at
the Hockhocking, whilst Cornstalk
was executing his quick flanking stroke
at the other wing. In skill and
strategy, nothing superior to this had
occurred in Indian warfare.
-King's Ohio, p. 110.
180 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
Kanawha, and by dawn was on the point of
hurling his whole
force of savage braves on the camp of
the slumbering Virginians.
The great Shawnee chief, Cornstalk, was
as wary and able as he
was brave. He was chief of the Shawnees,
and the head of the
Indian tribes of Ohio now united against
the whites. The Shaw-
nees were a very extensive and warlike
tribe. They were the
proudest and the richest of Indian
nations. They were the most
populous of any of the tribes in Ohio,
and they had, in the main,
ever been the fierce foe of the whites,
first against the French, then
with the French against the British, and
now goaded on by the
late depredations upon their land and
homes, and the recent massa-
cre of members of their own and fellow
tribes, they were aroused
to the greatest warlike ferocity14. Cornstalk's army numbered
about eleven hundred, practically the
same as that of Lewis, and
was composed of the flower of the
Shawnee, Delaware, Mingo,
Wyandot and Cayuga and minor tribes. The
great General Corn-
stalk, sachem of the Shawnee and king of
the northern confed-
eracy, though in chief command, was
aided by some of the most
famous and skilled warriors of his race.
Logan15, Elenipsico, son
of Cornstalk; Red Hawk, the Delaware
chief; Scrappathus, a
Mingo; Chiyawee, the Wyandot; Red Eagle,
Blue Jacket, Pack-
ishenoah, the Shawnee chief and father
of Tecumseh; his son
Cheesekau, elder brother of Tecumseh. In
no battle were there
ever so many bold and distinguished
braves. They were unaided
14 It was chiefly the Shawnees that cut
off the British army under
General Braddock, in the year 1755, only
nineteen years before our
battle (Pt. Pleasant), when the General
himself, and Sir Peter Hackett,
second in command, were both slain and a
mere remnant of the whole
army only escaped. It was they, too, who
defeated Major Grant and
his Scotch Highlanders at Fort Pitt in
1758, where the whole of the
troops were killed and taken prisoners.
After our battle they
defeated all the flower of the first
bold and intrepid settlers of Ken-
tucky at the Blue Licks. There fell
Colonel John Todd and Colonel Ste-
phen Trigg. "The whole of their men
were almost cut to pieces. After-
wards they defeated the United States
army over the Ohio commanded by
General Harmar. And lastly, they
defeated General Arthur St. Clair's
great army with prodigious
slaughter." - Narrative of Captain John Stuart
in the Virginia Historical Register,
Vol. V, p. 187.
15 Brantz Mayer, Cresap and Logan, p.
120, says Logan was not in
the battle.
The Dunmore War. 181
by French or English allies. Cornstalk
had the craft of his race
and the tact of a Napoleon. He saw his
enemy divided. Lewis
was at Kanawha; Dunmore on the Pickaway
Plains. If Lewis's
army could be surprised and overwhelmed,
the fate of Lord Dun-
more would be merely a question of days15.
So Cornstalk, "mighty
in battle and swift to carry out what he
had planned, led his long
file of warriors with noiseless speed,
through leagues of trackless
woodland to the banks of the Ohio."
Stealthily and unannounced
had Cornstalk arrived on the Virginia
side of the Ohio banks
below
the mouth of Oldtown creek, which, parallel to the
Kanawha, pours into the Ohio some three
miles above the Kan-
awha point. Early on the morning of the
tenth, just as the sun
was peeping over the Virginia hills, two
soldiers (Robertson and
Hickman) left the camp and proceeded up
the Ohio river in quest
of game. When they had progressed about
two miles they un-
expectedly came in sight of a large
number of Indians, just rising
from their encampment, and who
discovering the two hunters,
fired upon them and killed one
(Hickman); the other escaped
unhurt and fled back to communicate the
intelligence "that he had
seen a body of the enemy covering four
acres of ground as closely
as they could stand by the side of each
other."
General Andrew Lewis was a well seasoned
soldier, alert and
self-possessed in every emergency and an
Irishman, quick-witted
and full of fight. He had been schooled
in Indian warfare for
twenty years. He was major of a Virginia
regiment at Brad-
dock's defeat. He had served with
Washington, who held him in
the highest esteem. General Lewis
"lighting a pipe," it is re-
ported, coolly ordered the troops in
battle array in the grey of
early dawn. Colonel Charles Lewis with
several companies was
directed to move toward the right in the
direction of Crooked
creek. Colonel Fleming, with other
companies, was instructed to
proceed to the left up the Ohio. Lewis's
force met the left of
Cornstalk's column about a half mile
from the Virginians' camp.
15 But the earl was not quite so rapid
in his movements, which
circumstance the eagle eye of old
Cornstalk, the general of the Indian
army, saw, and was determined to avail
himself of, foreseeing that it
would be much easier to destroy two
separate columns of an invading
army before than after their junction
and consolidation.--Kercheval,
p. 172.
182 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
Fleming's command found the Indian right flank at a greater distance up the Ohio bank. Cornstalk's line of advance was more than a mile in front stretch, so drawn as to cut diagonally across the river point. By this tactic he had calculated upon pocketing General Lewis on the corner of the bluff between the Ohio and the Kanawha. The first shock of the onslaught was favorable to the foe. |
|
Colonel Charles Lewis made a gallant advance that was met by a furious response. The colonel was mortally wounded at almost the first fire of the enemy. He calmly marched back to the camp and died. His men, many of whom were killed, unable to with- stand the superior numbers of the Indians at this point, began to waver and fall back. Colonel Fleming was equally hard pressed in his encounter. He received two balls through his left arm and one through his breast, urging his men on to victorious action he re- tired to the camp, the main portion of his line giving way. |
The Dunmore War. 183
General Lewis now began to fortify his
position by felling
timber and forming a breastwork before
his camp. The fight was
soon general, and extended the full
front of the opposing armies.
What a strange and awful scene was
presented, one of mingled
picturesque beauty and ghastly carnage
on that October Monday
morning. A host of forest savages,
"a thousand painted and
plumed warriors, the pick of the young
men of the western tribes,
the most daring braves between the Ohio
and the great lakes"
their brown athletic and agile bodies
decked in the gay and rich
trappings of war; their raven black hair
tossed like netted manes in
the fray as with glowering eyes and
tense muscles they leaped
through the brush and stood face to face
with the white foe, the
latter rigid with firm resolution and
unwincing courage, fighters
typical of the frontier; a primitive
army equal in numbers to their
assailants, heroes in homespun, and
backwoodsmen in buckskin,
clothed in fringed leather hunting
shirts and coarse woollen leg-
gings of every color; they wore skin and
fur caps, and slung over
their shoulders were the straps of the
shot-bag and the strings of
the powder-horn. Each, like his barbaric
antagonist, carried his
flint-lock, his tomahawk and his
gleaming scalp-knife. For that
tragic tableau, quaint and dramatic,
nature never made a more
magnificent or peaceful setting. The two
lines grappled in deadly
conflict on the peak of land elevated by
precipitate banks high
above the Ohio, which swept by in
majestic width, joined by the
Kanawha that noiselessly crept its way
amid a forest and hill-
framed valley. The Ohio heights fretted
the sky to the west, and
the Virginia mountains in the near
eastern background were re-
splendent in the gorgeous drapery of
early autumn. It was a
landscape upon which nature had lavished
her most luxuriant
charms. It was a picture for the painter
and the poet rather than
the cold chronicler of history. No event
in American annals sur-
passes this in the mingling of natural
beauty and human violence.
The brutal savage and the implacable
Anglo-Saxon were to ex-
change lives by gory combat in the
irrepressible conflict between
their races.
It was nearly noon and the action was
"extremely hot," says
a participant. The Indians, who had
pushed within the right line
of the Virginians, were gradually forced
to give way; the dense
184 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
underwood, many steep banks and fallen
timber favored their
gradual retreat. They were stubbornly
but slowly yielding their
ground, concealing their losses as best
they could by throwing
their dead in the Ohio, and carrying off
their wounded. The in-
cessant rattle of the rifles; the shouts
of the Virginians, and the
war whoops of the red men made the woods
resound with the
"blast of war." The groans of
the wounded and the moans of the
dying added sad cadence to the clash of
arms. At intervals, amid
the din, Cornstalk's stentorian voice
could be heard as in his native
tongue he shouted cheer and courage to
his faltering men, and
bade them "be strong, be
strong." But their desperate effort did
not avail, though exerted to the
utmost16. No more bitter or
fierce contest in Indian warfare is
recorded. The hostile lines
though a mile and a quarter in length
were so close together, being
at no point more than twenty yards
apart, that many of the com-
batants grappled in hand-to-hand
fighting, and tomahawked or
stabbed each other to death. The battle
was a succession of single
combats, each man sheltering himself
behind a stump or rock, or
tree-trunk. The superiority of the
backwoodsmen in the use of
rifles - they were dead shots, those
Virginia mountaineers -
was offset by the agility of the Indians
in the art of hiding and
dodging from harm. After noon the action
in a small degree
abated. The slow retreat of the Indians
gave them an advan-
tageous resting spot from whence it
appeared difficult to dislodge
them. They sustained an "equal
weight of action from wing to
wing." Seeing the unremitting
obstinacy of the foe, and fearing
the final result if they were not beaten
before night, General
Lewis, late in the afternoon, directed
Captains Shelby, Mathews
and Stuart with their companies to steal
their way under cover
of the thick and high growth of weeds
and bushes up the bank
16 "I could hear him (Cornstalk)
the whole day speaking very loud
to his men, and one of my company, who had been a prisoner, told
me what he was saying, encouraging the
Indians, telling them to 'Be
strong, be strong.'"--Stuart's
Narrative, p 187.
Cornstalk and Blue Jacket, the two
Indian captains, it is said,
performed prodigies of valor; but
finding at length all their efforts un-
availing, drew off their men in good
order, and with the determination
to fight no more, if peace could be
obtained upon reasonable terms.-
Kercheval, p. 172.
The Dunmore War. 185
of the Kanawha and along the edge of
Crooked creek until they
should get behind the flank of the
enemy, when they were to
emerge from their covert, move downward
towards the river
point, and attack the Indians in the
rear. The strategic manoeuver
thus planned was promptly and adroitly
executed and turned the
tide in favor of the colonial soldiers.
The Indians finding them-
selves suddenly and unexpectedly
encompassed between two
armies and believing that the force
appearing in the rear was the
reinforcement from Colonel Christian's
delayed troops, they were
discouraged and dismayed, and began to
give way. The appear-
ance of troops in the rear of the
Indians at once prevented the con-
tinuance of Cornstalk's scheme of
fighting, namely, that of alter-
nately attacking and retreating,
particularly with his center, thus
often exposing the advancing front of
the Virginians to the mercy
of the Indian flanks17. The
skirmishing continued during the
afternoon, the Indians though at bay
making a show at bravado.
But their strength was spent, and at the
close of the day under the
veil of darkness they noiselessly and
precipitately retreated across
the Ohio and started for the Scioto
towns18.
The battle of Point Pleasant was won.
"Such a battle with
the Indians, it is imagined, was never
heard of before," says the
writer of a letter printed in the
government reports. But the day
17 Those acquainted with Indian tactics
inform us that it is the
great point of his generalship to
preserve his flanks and overreach those
of his enemy. They continued, therefore,
contrary to their usual prac-
tice, to dispute the ground with the
pertinacity of veterans along the
whole line, retreating slowly from tree
to tree, till one o'clock p. m.,
when they reached a strong position.
Here both parties rested, within
rifle range of each other, and continued
a desultory fire along a front
of a mile and a quarter until after
sunset. - Chas. Whittlesey's Address
on Dunmore War (1850).
18 In the battle of the great Kanawha
the Indians, though hardly
defeated, were somewhat cowed by the
prowess of the frontiersmen,
which was now shown for the first time
on a considerable scale.-
Hosmer's Mississippi Valley, p. 71.
The Indians marched 80 miles through an
untrodden wilderness,
and on October 24 encamped on the banks
of the Congo (Pickaway
township, Pickaway county), near the
chief Shawnee village of Old
Chillicothe-now Westfall-on the Scioto, the headquarters of
the
Confederate tribes.-Howe's Ohio, Vol.
III, p. 64.
186 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
was dearly bought. The Americans lost a
fifth of their number,
some seventy-five being killed or
fatally wounded, and one hun-
dred and forty-seven severely or
slightly wounded. Among the
slain were some of the bravest Virginian
officers, including Col-
onels Charles Lewis, Major John Field,
Captains Thomas Buford,
John Murray, James Ward, Samuel Wilson,
Robert McClanna-
han; and Lieutenants Allen, Goldsby and
Dillon. The Indian loss
was never definitely known19. They
cunningly carried off or con-
cealed most of their killed, and
secretly cared for their wounded.
They lost probably only half as many as
the whites. About forty
warriors were known to be killed
outright, or to have died of their
wounds. Of the number of wounded no
estimate could be made.
While the Virginians lost many officers,
strangely enough among
the Indians no chief of importance was
slain, except Packishenoah,
the Shawnee chief, and father of
Tecumseh20. No "official report"
of this battle was made, or if so,
probably not preserved. The
battle of Point Pleasant was the most
extensive, the most bitterly
contested, and fraught with the most
significance of any Indian
battle in American history21.
It was purely a frontier encounter.
The whites were colonial volunteers. The
red men, the choice of
their tribes, led by their greatest
warriors. The significance of
that battle was manyfold and
far-reaching. It was the last battle
fought by the colonists while subjects
to British rule. It was the
first battle of the Revolution. Whatever
the exact understanding
may have been between Lord Dunmore and
the royal authorities,
or between the Indians and the British
powers, or whether there
was any explicit understanding at all,
that battle represented the
19 "I believe it was never known
that so many Indians were ever
killed in any engagement with the white
people as fell by the army of
General Lewis at Point Pleasant." -Narrative of
Captain John Stuart.
It is fair to assume that the loss of
the Indians was not far short
of that sustained by the
whites.--Drake's Tecumseh, p. 33.
20 Drake's
Life of Tecumseh, p. 33.
21All
circumstances considered, this battle may be ranked among
the most memorable and well-contested
that has been fought on this
continent. The leaders on either side
were experienced and able, the
soldiers skillful and brave. The
victorious party, if either could be
so called, had as little to boast of as
the vanquished. It was alike credit-
able to the Anglo-Saxon and to the
aboriginal arms.- Drake's Tecumseh,
p. 33.
The Dunmore War. 187
opening bloodshed between the allies of
the British and the colon-
ial dependents. Had Cornstalk been the
conqueror of that contest
the whole course of American events
would doubtless have been
otherwise than history records. The
colonists would have been
stunned to inaction by the blow of
defeat, the fear of an extended
and horrible Indian warfare on their
western borders would have
deterred them from entering upon a
revolt against England's
power. At any rate the Ohio and
Mississippi valleys would most
certainly have remained the great
western province of the royal
power, and the United States be but a
strip east of the Alleghenies.
The victory of General Lewis destroyed
the danger in the west,
and gave nerve and courage to the
Virginians, who were the
strength and sinew of the Revolutionary
movement. England's
fate lay in the balance in the battle of
Point Pleasant, though no
British soldier participated therein.
America has no more historic
soil than the ground of the Kanawha and
Ohio point - reddened
that October day by the blood of savage
warriors and frontier
woodsmen22.
The Virginian victors buried their dead,
and left the bodies
of the vanquished to the decay of
uncovered graves. General
Lewis, leaving his sick and wounded in
the camp at the Point,
protected by rude breastworks, and with
an adequate guard,
crossed the Ohio (October 18) and began
his march by way of the
Salt Licks and Jackson to join Dunmore
on the Pickaway Plains.
When but a few miles from Dunmore's camp
Lewis was met by a
messenger from the earl informing him
that a treaty of peace was
22 Very
many survivors of the battle of Point Pleasant became
famous soldiers in the American
Revolution and distinguished civilians
in the United States Nation. We note a
few by illustration: General
Isaac Shelby, Governor of Kentucky, aid
to General Harrison in War of
1812; Colonel William Fleming, Acting
Governor of Virginia; General
Andrew Moore, Senator from Virginia;
Colonel John Steele, Com-
mander of Washington's lifeguard in
1780; General George Matthews,
Governor of Georgia and Senator from
that state; and so through a long
list of distinguished officials and
heroes who were either officers or pri-
vates in the battle of Point Pleasant.
Hale, in his Trans-Alleghany Pio-
neers, devotes a chapter to this
subject, entitled, "Point Pleasant (battle)
as a Developing Military High
School." He gives a long list with brief
biographies of those who fought in that
contest, and were subsequently
conspicuous for distinguished services
to their country. - E. 0. R.
188 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
being negotiated with the Indians and ordering him (Lewis) to return immediately to the mouth of the Big Kanawha. Lewis's men were flushed with success, and exasperated at their losses in the late battle and eager for revenge upon the red men, and the opportunity to crush their power and destroy their homes. Lewis |
|
shared the feelings of his soldiers and refused to obey the order of Dunmore. He continued to advance until when on the east bank of the Congo near its juncture with the Sippo, he was met by the earl himself and the Indian chief White Eyes23. The earl
23"Captain Arbuckle was our guide. When we came to the prairie on Killicanic Creek we saw the smoke of a small Indian town, which was deserted and set on fire upon our approach. Here we met an express from the Governor's camp, who had arrived near the nation and pro- |
The Dunmore War. 189
explained the situation to Lewis,
complimented his generalship,
and the bravery of his men, stating
there was no further need of
advancement by his (Lewis's) division of
the army. General
Lewis, recrossing the Congo, encamped
for the day, and then re-
luctantly commenced his return march to
the Ohio, proceeding
posed peace to the Indians. Some of the
chiefs with the Grenadier
Squaw (sister of Cornstalk) on the
return of the Indians after their
defeat, had repaired to the Governor's
army to solicit terms of peace
for the Indians, which I apprehend they
had no doubt of obtaining. The
Governor promised them the war should be
no further prosecuted, and
that he would stop the march of Lewis's
army before any more hostili-
ties should be committed upon them.
However, the Indians, finding we
were rapidly approaching, began to
suspect that the Governor did not
possess the power of stopping us, whom
they designated by the name
of the Big Knife men; the Governor,
therefore, with White Fish (Capt.
Stuart must mean White Eyes-E. O. R.)
warrior set off and met us
at Killicanic Creek and there General
Lewis received his orders to return
with his army, as he (Dunmore) had
proposed terms of peace with the
Indians, which he assured should be
accomplished."-Narrative of Capt.
John Stuart, as printed in Virginia
Historical Register, Vol. V, p. 189.
The two divisions were now within a few
miles of each other; for
Lewis, disregarding the commands of his
lordship, continued to advance
until the Indians, fearful of the
destruction of their towns and crops
by the enraged men under his command,
again applied to Dunmore,
who went in person to Lewis's command,
and persuaded him to halt
his men and retire. To this, with great
reluctance, he finally consented,
as it was an abandonment of the sole
object of the campaign-the de-
struction of the crops and towns of the
Indians.-Hildreth, Pioneer
History, p. 89.
The Ohio campaign of Dunmore brought
upon him much angry
criticism. Many of the border men felt
as did Lewis, who was for
carrying out the original revengeful
program, regardless of Indian sur-
render or repentance. Dunmore's official
conduct in connection with the
colonial revolt made it easy in
the.earlier days to misconstrue his mo-
tives under circumstances calling for no
such suspicion. That he had
no other than humane and honorable
designs in accepting the Indians'
plea for peace, no longer appears
probable.-Black's Story of Ohio,
footnote under p. 70.
Before Dunmore reached the vicinity of
the Indian towns he was
met by a flag of truce and a deputy from
the Indians, requesting for
the chiefs an interpreter with whom they
could communicate. He moved
on to Camp Charlotte. Lewis marched on
and encamped on the west
side of the Congo Creek, about a mile
and a half below where it enters
into the Sippo. Dunmore, on the approach
of Lewis and his army, sent
190 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
by the route he had come, to Point
Pleasant. Meanwhile Corn-
stalk and his crestfallen warriors had
reached the Pickaway
Plains. The spirit of the Indians had
been broken by their defeat;
but the stern old chief, their
commander, Cornstalk, remained
with unshaken heart. He was still
prepared to fight to the bitter
word to him to return, as he would
settle the result with the Indians.
Lewis refused to obey this order.
Dunmore then went in person to
enforce his orders. It is said Dunmore
drew his sword upon Colonel
Lewis. -Howe's Ohio Collections. This
incident is another of the
alleged suspicious movements of Dunmore,
it even being charged that
Dunmore wanted to keep the armies
divided that they might fall a prey
to the Indian attacks if renewed. Again,
that he did not wish to over-
awe the Indians by the presence of the
united forces, as he wished to
conciliate the Indians and incur their
favor with a view to their friend-
ship in the coming revolution.- E. O. R.
Lewis encamped that night on the west
side of Congo Creek, two
miles above its mouth, and five and a
quarter miles from old Chillicothe,
with the Indian town half way between.
The Shawnees were now
greatly alarmed and angered, and Dunmore
himself, accompanied by
the Delaware chief, White Eyes, a
trader, John Gibson, and fifty vol-
unteers, rode over in hot haste that
evening to stop Lewis and repri-
mand him. His lordship was mollified by
Lewis's explanations, but
the latter's men, and indeed Dunmore's,
were furious over being stopped
when within sight of their hated quarry;
and tradition has it that it
was necessary to treble the guards
during the night to prevent Dunmore
and White Eyes from being killed. The
following morning (the 25th)
his lordship met and courteously thanked
Lewis's men for their valiant
service; but said, that now the Shawnese
had acceded to his wishes,
the further presence of the southern division might
engender bad blood.
Thus dismissed, Lewis led his army back
to Point Pleasant.-Thwaite's
Note in Border Warfare, pp. 176-8,
quoted by Safford in Ohio Arch.
Hist. Pub., Vol. VII, p. 353.
That Earl Dunmore, the last royal
Governor of Virginia, rendered
himself excessively unpopular by
ordering Lewis back is certain, and
it hastened his final abandonment of the
colony, when he fled to a
British fleet for protection from his
not very loving people. Whether
his object, while at Camp Charlotte, was
to make the Indians friendly
to the British crown, and unfriendly to
the colonists, in case of war
between the two countries, which so soon
followed this campaign, we
can never know with absolute certainty.
We are well aware, though,
that General George Washington always
did believe that Dunmore's
object was to engage the Indians to take
up the tomahawk against the
colonists as soon as war existed between
the colonies and England. So
believed Chief Justice Marshall, as we
know from his own lips.-
Atwater's History of Ohio. p. 118.
The Dunmore War. 191
end. He summoned a council over the
situation, and in an elo-
quent address strove to goad on the
braves to another campaign.
They listened in sullen silence.
Finally, finding himself unable
to stir his braves to further battle, he
struck his tomahawk into
the war post and peremptorily declared,
"I will go and make
peace." He was as good as his word.
With his retinue of fellow
chiefs, some eight in number, Cornstalk
proceeded to Dunmore's
quarters within the entrenchments of
Camp Charlotte. Here he
made a prolonged and passionate plea for
his people, reciting the
wrongs inflicted by the whites, and the
rights denied the red men24.
Various parleyings ensued, the net
conclusion of which was, the
Indians agreed to give up all white
prisoners and stolen horses in
their possession, cease from further
hostilities, and molestation
of travelers down the Ohio and
"surrender all claim to the lands
south of the Ohio25."
24 The
conference was commenced by Cornstalk in a long, bold,
and spirited speech, in which the whites
were charged with being the
authors of the war by their aggressions
on the Indians at Captina and
Yellow Creeks-Drake, Tecumseh, p. 35.
Cornstalk was a truly great man. Colonel
Wilson, who was pres-
ent at the interview between the chief
and Lord Dunmore, thus speaks
of the chieftain's bearing on the
occasion: "When he arose he was
in nowise confused or daunted, but spoke
in a distinct and audible
voice, without stammering or repetition,
and with peculiar emphasis.
His looks while addressing Dunmore were
truly grand and majestic, yet
graceful and attractive. I have heard
the best orators in Virginia--
Patrick Henry and Richard Lee--but never
have I heard one whose
powers of delivery surpassed those of
Cornstalk." - Stone's Life of Joseph
Brant, Vol. I, p. 45.
25
What the exact terms of that treaty were is not now fully known.
No copy of the treaty can be
found.-Drake's Tecumseh, p. 35. Both
Burk and Campbell, in their respective
Histories of Virginia, say peace
was secured on condition that the lands
"on this side of the Ohio"-
meaning the south side-"should be
forever ceded to the whites," etc.
Butler (History of Kentucky), quoting
the above terms, remarks (p. 10),
"Such a treaty appears at this day
(1834) to be utterly beyond the ad-
vantages which could have been claimed
from Dunmore's expedition."
Doddridge, in his notes, p. 237, says:
"On our part we obtained at the
treaty a cessation of hostilities and a
surrender of prisoners, and nothing
more." Whatever the terms of the
treaty may have been, the results
of the Dunmore war were most important.
"It kept the northwestern
tribes quiet for the first two years of
the Revolutionary struggle; and
192 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
This agreement whatever its explicit
text, was another step
in the westward progress of the white
invader. Cornstalk haught-
ily and disdainfully acceded to the
terms of the whites. But there
was one distinguished chief who was not
at that council, and who
had refused to be present. It was Logan.
He declared that he
was a "warrior, not a councillor,
and he would not come." Logan
was a splendid specimen of his race. He
was chief of the Mingo
tribe and his father, whom he succeeded,
had been chief of the
Cayugas. Up to the time of the Dunmore
war Logan had been
the friend of the white man. He took no
part in the French and
Indian war, except that of peacemaker.
But when in the border
troubles between the Indians and whites
in the spring of 1774,
Logan's relatives were massacred at the
Yellow creek, as he sup-
posed, by Cresap and party, Logan's rage
became terrible. His
character changed into all the
revengeful and distorted hate and
unrelenting ferocity of which the Indian
nature is capable. From
that moment for the rest of his life he
was the inveterate and
implacable foe of the white. He would
not attend the peace coun-
cil with Cornstalk. His influence with
the Indians made it impor-
tant that his concurrence be secured.
Lord Dunmore, desiring
his presence, sent John Gibson,
afterwards general, a frontier
veteran and one familiar with the Indian
language, to urge the
attendance of Logan. Taking Gibson
aside, under the shade of a
neighboring tree, Logan suddenly
addressed him that famous
speech which immortalized the chief and
furnished a model of
oratory for thousands of American school
boys26. The speech is
popularly supposed to have been
delivered in Logan's native In-
above all, it rendered possible the
settlement of Kentucky, and therefore
the winning of the West. Had it not been
for Lord Dunmore's war
it is more than likely that when the
colonies achieved their freedom they
would have found their western boundary
fixed at the Allegheny Moun-
tains.-Roosevelt, Winning of the West,
Part II, p. 33.
26 "Gibson found Logan some miles
off at a hut with several Indians,
with whom he (Logan) talked and drank a
while, and then touching
Gibson's coat, stealthily beckoned him
out of the house, led him to a
solitary thicket, when, sitting on a
log, he burst into tears and uttered
some sentences of impassioned eloquence,
which Gibson immediately
committed to paper. As soon as the envoy
(Gibson) had reduced the
message to writing, it was read aloud in
the council and heard by the
soldiers."-Brantz Mayer's Cresap
and Logan, p. 122.
The Dunmore War. 193
dian tongue, and have been literally
translated and written down
in English by John Gibson, and so
delivered to Lord Dunmore,
who read it in open council to the
Virginian army. However it
may have been that speech is one of the
great Indian classics. It
has a wierd, pathetic strain, and is a
poetic recital with a rhetorical
charm not unlike the Greek chorus.
"I appeal to any white man to say
if ever he entered Logan's
cabin hungry and he gave him not meat;
if ever he came cold and
naked and he clothed him not? During the
course of the last long
and bloody war, Logan remained idle in
his camp, an advocate for
There is much dispute, of course, about
the details of this historic
incident. Some authorities assert Logan
spoke fluently in English, which
Gibson either wrote down on the spot or
subsequently at Dunmore's camp.
Again, it is related Logan could not
speak English and delivered his "say"
to Gibson in his native tongue, and that
Gibson, who understood the
Indian language, either took it down in
translation or put it into English
after returning to the camp of Dunmore.
Jefferson's report of the speech
in his Virginia notes created considerable
controversy and led to the
affidavit of John Gibson, which we give
in the appendix. This affidavit
does not show what language Logan used.
Even if he could speak
English, which is most probable, it is
doubtful if he used such rhetoric
as the "report" gives him. The
English phraseology of the speech as
read to Dunmore's army is most likely
partially due to Gibson, the senti-
ment and thought without question are
Logan's. - E. O. R. On this
question see American Pioneer for
January, 1842, and Jefferson's Notes
on Virginia, Jefferson's Works, Vol.
VIII, p. 309.
"While negotiations were going
forward, the Mingo chief, Logan,
held himself aloof. 'Two or three days
before the treaty,' says an
eye witness, 'when I was on the
outguard, Simon Girty, who was
passing by, stopped with me and
conversed. He said he was going after
Logan, but he did not like his business,
for he was a surly fellow. He,
however, proceeded on, and I saw him
return on the day of the treaty,
and Logan was not with him. At this time
a circle was formed and
the treaty begun. I saw John Gibson, on
Girty's arrival, get up and
go out of the circle and talk with
Girty, after which he (Gibson) went
into a tent, and soon after returning
into the circle, drew out of his
pocket a piece of clean, new paper, on
which was written, in his own
handwriting, a speech for and in the
name of Logan.' This was the
famous 'speech' about which there has
been so much controversy. It
is now well established that the version
as first printed was substantially
the word of Logan, but it is equally
certain that he (Logan), in attrib-
uting the murder of his relatives to
Colonel Cresap, was mistaken. Girty
from recollection, translated the
'speech' to Gibson, and the latter put
13-Vol. XI.
194 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
peace. Such was my love for the whites
that my countrymen
pointed as I passed and said, 'Logan is
the friend of the white
man.' I had even thought to have lived
with you, but for the
injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the
last spring, in cold
blood and unprovoked, murdered all the
relations of Logan, not
even sparing my women and children.
There runs not a drop of
my blood in the veins of any living
creature. This called on me
for revenge. I have sought it. I have
killed many. I have fully
glutted my vengeance. For my country I
rejoice at the beams of
peace; but don't harbor a thought that
mine is the joy of fear.
Logan never felt fear. He will not turn
on his heel to save his
life. Who is there to mourn for Logan?
Not one."
This speech was a fitting epilogue to
the close of the Dunmore
war. The campaign had ended.27 The camp was struck and the
soldiers took up their march from the
Pickaway Plains back to
it into excellent English, as he was
abundantly capable of doing."-
Butterfield's History of the Girtys, p.
30.
That Logan delivered his speech in
English, there is no reason to
doubt, and that Mr. Jefferson called it
a translation by mistake, is by
no means strange. We will now adduce the
affidavit of General Gibson
(See Appendix for this affidavit-E. O.
R.), which relates to the gen-
uineness of the speech, in which he says
that "Logan, after shedding
abundance of tears, delivered to him the
speech, and that on his return
to camp he delivered it to Lord
Dunmore" - not that he translated it for
Lord Dunmore. Logan delivered it to him,
he delivered it at camp, and
no doubt both deliveries were in
English.-American Pioneer (January,
1842), a monthly publication of the
Logan Historical Society. The same
is also authority for the statement (p.
5): "In an assemblage of pioneers
and citizens from different parts of the
Scioto Valley, at Westfall, in
Pickaway county, July 28, 1841, Judge Corwin,
of Portsmouth, a
pioneer of the last century, in a short,
impressive speech, stated, that
from the best information he possessed,
we are on or very near the
spot where Logan, the Mingo chief, the
Indian philanthropist and friend
of the white man, delivered his
celebrated speech, sent to Lord Dunmore
creditable to mankind and honorable to
him and his nation."
Popular tradition places the site of the
delivery of Logan's speech
under the famous Logan's elm on the
Boggs farm, banks of the Congo,
some three miles southeast of old
Chillicothe, in which Logan's cabin
was located.-E. 0. R.
27 The
Dunmore war, so far from being a mere episode of the border,
conquered the peace that opened Kentucky
to settlement; and Kentucky
in its turn not only made an impassable
frontier barrier to protect the
The Dunmore War. 195
the Ohio. When Dunmore's army arrived at
Fort Gower at the
mouth of the Hockhocking the soldiers
learned for the first time
of the action taken by the first
Continental Congress, which had
assembled at Philadelphia September 5, 1774.
The officers of the
army thereupon held a meeting and passed
resolutions28 to the
effect, after complimenting the success
of their general, that they
professed allegiance to the king and
crown, but added that "their
devotion would only last while the king
deigned to reign over a
free people, for their love of liberty
for America outweighed all
other considerations, and they would
exert every power for its
defense when called forth by the voice
of their countrymen."
Strange scene, on the soil of Ohio, on
the banks of the "beautiful
river," Virginia frontiersmen
celebrate their triumph over the
western Indians by proclaiming their
sympathy with colonial
independence. That was six months before
the shot was fired
at Lexington that was "heard round
the world."
rear of the colonies during the
Revolution, but also furnished the men and
the leaders who subdued the savages of
the Northwest, and finally broke
the power of the British at the battle
of the Thames in the War of 1812.
-Moore's Northwest, etc., p. 194.
28
For the resolution in full see Appendix B. to this article.- E. O. R.
APPENDIX A. AFFIDAVIT OF GIBSON
CONCERNING
LOGAN'S SPEECH.
ALLEGHENY COUNTY, STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA,
SS.:
Before me, the subscriber, a Justice of
the Peace in and for said
county, personally appeared John Gibson,
Esq., an Associate Judge of
same county, who being sworn, deposeth
and saith, that in the year
1774, he accompanied Lord Dunmore on the
expedition against the
Shawnese and other Indians on the
Sciota; that on their arrival within
fifteen miles of the towns, they were
met by a flag, and a white man
of the name of Elliott, who informed
Lord Dunmore that the chiefs
of the Shawnese had sent a request to his
lordship to halt his army
and send in some person who understood
their language; that this de-
ponent, at the request of Lord Dunmore
and the whole of the officers
with him, went in; that on his arrival
at the towns Logan, the Indian,
came to where this deponent was sitting
with the Corn-Stalk, and the
other chiefs of the Shawnese, and asked
him to walk out with him;
that they went into a copse of wood,
where they sat down, when Logan,
196 Ohio Arch. and
His. Society Publications.
after shedding abundance of tears,
delivered to him the speech, nearly
as related by Mr. Jefferson in his Notes
on the State of Virginia; that
he, the deponent, told him then that it
was not Colonel Cresap who
had murdered his relations, and that
although his son, Captain Michael
Cresap, was with the party who killed a
Shawnese chief and other
Indians, yet he was not present when his
relations were killed at Baker's
near the mouth of Yellow Creek on the
Ohio; that this deponent on
his return to camp delivered the speech
to Lord Dunmore, and that
the murders perpetrated as above, were
considered as ultimately the
cause of the war of 1774, commonly called
Cresap's War.
JOHN GIBSON.
Sworn and subscribed the 4th April,
1800, at Pittsburgh, before me.
JER. BAKER.
APPENDIX B. RESOLUTIONS OF DUNMORE'S
SOLDIERS AT
FORT GOWER.
[Taken from American Archives, 4th
Series, Vol. I, p. 962.-E. 0. R.]
Meeting of Officers Under Earl of
Dunmore. - At a meeting of the
officers under the command of his
Excellency, the Right Honorable the
Earl of Dunmore, convened at Fort Gower,
November 5, 1774, for
the purpose of considering the
grievances of British America, an officer
present addressed the meeting in the
following words:
"Gentlemen:-Having now concluded the campaign, by
the assistance of Providence, with honor
and advantage to
the colony and ourselves, it only
remains that we should give
our country the strongest assurance that
we are ready, at all
times, to the utmost of our power, to
maintain and defend
her just right and privileges. We have
lived about three months
in the woods without any intelligence
from Boston, or from
the delegates at Philadelphia. It is
possible, from the ground-
less reports of designing men, that our
countrymen may be
jealous of the use such a body would
make of arms in their
hands at this critical juncture. That we
are a respectable body
is certain, when it is considered that
we can live weeks with-
out bread or salt; that we can sleep in
the open air without
any covering but that of the canopy of
Heaven; and that our
men can march and shoot with any in the
known world. Blessed
with these talents, let us solemnly
engage to one another, and
our country in particular, that we will
use them to no purpose
but for the honor and advantage of
America in general, and
of Virginia in particular. It behooves
us, then, for the satis-
faction of our country, that we should
give them our real
sentiments, by way of resolves, at this
very alarming crisis."
The Dunmore War. 197
Whereupon the meeting made choice of a
committee to draw up
and prepare resolves for their
consideration, who immediately with-
drew, and after some time spent therein,
reported that they had agreed
to and prepared the following resolves,
which were read, maturely con-
sidered, and agreed to, nemine
contradicente, by the meeting, and or-
dered to be published in the Virginia
Gazette:
Resolved, That we will bear the most faithful allegiance to His
Majesty, King George the Third, whilst
His Majesty delights to reign
over a brave and free people; that we
will, at the expense of life, and
everything dear and valuable, exert
ourselves in support of his crown,
and the dignity of the British Empire.
But as the love of liberty, and
attachment to the real interests and
just rights of America outweigh
every other consideration, we resolve
that we will exert every power
within us for the defense of American
liberty, and for the support of
her just rights and privileges; not in
any precipitate, riotous or tumul-
tous manner, but when regularly called
forth by the unanimous voice
of our countrymen.
Resolved That we entertain the greatest respect for His
Excellency,
the Right Honorable Lord Dunmore, who
commanded the expedition
against the Shawnese; and who, we are
confident, underwent the great
fatigue of this singular campaign from
no other motive than the true
interest of this country.
Signed by order and in behalf of the
whole corps.
BENJAMIN ASHBY, Clerk.
THE DUNMORE WAR.*
BY E. O. RANDALL.
Secretary Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society.
The American colonists had fought the
French and Indian
war1 with the expectation that they were
to be, in the event of
success, the beneficiaries of the result
and be permitted to occupy
the Ohio Valley as a fertile and
valuable addition to their Atlantic
coast lodgments. But the war over and
France vanquished, the
royal greed of Britain asserted itself,
and the London government
most arbitrarily pre-empted the
territory between the Alleghanies
and the Mississippi as the exclusive and
peculiar dominion of the
Crown, directly administered upon from
the provincial seat of
authority at Quebec. The parliamentary
power promulgated the
arbitrary proclamation (1763) declaring
the Ohio Valley and the
* Authorities consulted in preparation
of the article on Dunmore's
War-E. O. R.: Abbott's History of Ohio;
Albach's Western Annals;
American Archives (4th Series, Vol. 1);
Atwater's History of Ohio;
Bancroft's History of the United States;
Black's Story of Ohio; Brow-
nell's Indians of North America; Burk's
History of Virginia; Butler's
History of Kentucky; Butterfield's
History of the Girtys; Campbell's
History of Virginia; Cook's History of
Virginia; Doddridges's Notes
on Indian Wars, etc.; Drake's Indians of
North America; Drake's life
of Tecumseh; Fernow's Ohio Valley in
Colonial Days; Fiske's Ameri-
can Revolution, Vol. II; The Hesperian,
Vol. II., (1839); Hildreth's
Pioneer History of the Ohio Valley;
Hosmer's Short History of the
Mississippi Valley; Howe's Historical
Collections of Ohio; Howe's His-
torical Collections of Virginia; Jacob's
Life of Cresap; Jefferson's Notes
on Virginia; Kercheval's History of the
Valley of Virginia; King's His-
tory of Ohio; Lewis's History of West
Virginia; Mayer's (Brantz)
Logan and Cresap; McDonald's sketches;
McKnight's Our Western Bor-
der; Mitchener's Ohio Annals; Moore's
Northwest Under Three Flags;
Monette's Valley of the Mississippi;
Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Publications; Olden Time (Monthly), Vol.
II; Peter Parley's History
of the Indians; Ryan's History of Ohio;
Roosevelt's Winning of the
West; Stone'sLife of Joseph Brant;
Taylor's (J. W.) History of Ohio;
Thatcher's Indian Biographies;
Thwaites's Afloat on the Ohio; Vir-
ginia Historical Register (Vol. V);
Walker's History of Athens County;
Whittlesey's Fugitive Essays; Winsor's
Western Movement; Withers'
Chronicles of Border Warfare.
11756-1763. (167)