FIRST
BATTLE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
BY W. H. HUNTER, CHILLICOTHE.
[This article was prepared for and read
by author at the Banquet of the
Ohio Society of the Sons of the American
Revolution, held at the
Neil House, Columbus, April 19, 1902. It
is herewith published at
the request of the editor of the
Quarterly.-E. 0. R.]
At the time the dreadful battle of Point
Pleasant was fought
at the mouth of the Kanawha river, on
October 10, 1774, the
American colonies were in the travail of
revolution. For years
the people had been oppressed by the
iron heel of inexorable
tyranny to a point beyond further
acquiescent endurance. The
word had gone forth from settlement to
settlement that the hour
had come to invoke the arbitrament of
the sword to cut the
shackles forged upon America by Britain.
The aspect of the po-
litical horizon was being watched from
the tower of thought, and
as the days passed the hope of harmony
grew dimmer and dim-
mer. The lightning of revolt rent the
skies and the thunder of
discontent reverberated from the Green
Mountains to the Ala-
mance; from the Delaware to the Ohio.
Profound discussions
were waged at the firesides in the
wilderness where the solitude
of the night was interrupted only by the
howl of the wolf, the
melancholy moan of the ill-boding owl or
the shriek of the fright-
ful panther; here was considered the
status of the colonies as
well as in the drawing room of the
tidewater mansion. That an
awful storm was brewing was made
manifest on every hand.
After the French and Indian wars, whose
horrors are un-
paralleled in historic record; after the
terrors of Pontiac's hideous
conspiracy; after the treaty of 1765,
peace with the savage seemed
assured, and the awful nightmare and its
terrible realization in
Indian atrocities and frightful
barbarities had passed away and
the indomitable pioneer had crossed the
mountains in large num-
bers to seek home in the ever expanding
west. Peace then seemed
as sure as the spring blooming of the
anemone and the annual put-
ting forth of the golden petals of the
wild sunflower. The whole
aspect was tranquil save the loud
mutterings of discontent that
(93)
94 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
filled the air with alarming
forebodings, and the British heart with
fear of insurrection of the outraged
colonies. The long period
of friendly relationship with the
Indians gave the people time to
think of their political troubles, and
they thought long and in-
tently. They made haste to be bold in
denunciation of cruel rule,
and whenever the people gathered the
menace of tyranny was the
absorbing topic. The stamp act had been
passed. The clergy-
man's case had been through court with
all its inexorable bitter-
ness. Patrick Henry had delivered the
speech heard across the
mighty ocean. The tea had been thrown
overboard. The Bos-
ton massacre had filled the country with
horror, for it impressed
the alert mind of the American patriot
with the possibilities of
tyrant rule. American citizens had been
shot down on the banks
of the Alamance by the cruel soldiers of
the crown for expression
of opinion. Henry, Jefferson and Carr
had organized themselves
into that great revolutionary machine,
the Committee of Corre-
spondence for the dissemination of
intelligence between the colo-
nies. All the colonies were taking note
of the conditions obtain-
ing. Jefferson had written his famous
document on the rights of
Americans which was the Declaration of
Independence in the
concrete. Massachusetts had made a
courageous stand against
parliament and her soil had received the
baptism of blood. The
most determined revolutionists had been
summoned to meet in all
the colonies. Those were stirring times.
The burgesses of Vir-
ginia had passed a resolution calling
upon the people to set apart
a day as one of fasting and prayer for
the purpose of invoking
Divine direction in the impending
political strife, and declaring
that it would oppose by all proper and
just measures every injury
to American rights. Other colony
legislative bodies did likewise
Lord Dunmore had dissolved the burgesses
and the patriots had
retired to the Raleigh tavern where it
was resolved to propose an
immediate assemblage of a general
congress of the colonies to
meet annually to deliberate on the
common welfare. Hanover
Presbytery in Pennsylvania had passed a
declaration which had
an ominous sound. Revolution was rife. A
collision between
Britain and her American colonies was in
the highest degree prob-
able, and there was only one possible
way to avert a conflict that
meant the loss to England of the very
apple of her eye.
First Battle of the American
Revolution. 95
It was evident to the loyalists that an
Indian war would
serve to unite the colonies on another
matter of far more import
than politics, of taxation, of freedom,
of independence of the
crown; for life and home are the most
potential factors of har-
mony. Lord Dunmore, the Governor of
Virginia, knew the hor-
rors of Indian warfare; he knew that the
young men had grown
up ina season of peace and were not
inured to war, and he felt
that a conflict with the savage native
would call out all the Vir-
ginians and that there would follow
carnage that would steep
the soil in blood and so satiate the
colonists with its bitterness
that they would want no more of it. They
were to be forced to
drink the bitter cup to the dregs.
At the opening of the spring of 1774 the
colonists were at
peace with the Indians. The savages were
permitting peaceable
settlements in Western Virginia and
Kentucky and Ohio. The
pioneers no longer feared the stealthy
enemy who had been wont
to sneak upon his cabin and violate his
fireside. During this
tranquil period the Zanes settled at
Wheeling and were being sur-
rounded by many families of energy and
brawn from over the
mountains. Michael Cresap was taking up
land in order to hold
them for the inevitable rise in the
price, for the settlers were grow-
ing numerous. At the same time Dr. John
Conolly, by authority of
Lord Dunmore, was commandant of Fort
Dunmore, and he had
appointed Cresap captain of the militia
of the section in which he
resided. Cresap was located below the
Zane settlement, and he
had a number of young men employed in
improving the lands.
Dr. Conolly was in constant
communication with Lord Dunmore,
who kept himself posted on the
revolutionary movement, and
when he refused protection to friendly
Indians who were trading
with the settlers, he did so to excite
the savage against the whites.
He not only did this; he heaped abuse
upon the men who were
outspoken as to issue of the impending
troubles between the colo
nies and Britain; he threatened them
with arrest and in some
cases attempted to coerce with violent
hands.
Dr. Conolly, commandant of Fort Dunmore,
knew Michael
Cresap as a Whig; he had taken sides
with the colonists although
holding a military commission signed by
Governor Dunmore and
Commandant Conolly, for this reason
there was enmity between
96 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
them; but he also knew Cresap as a
desperate man who hated the
Indians so intensely that he loved the
provocation that would give
him opportunity and excuse to kill the
savages. Cresap was the
man he needed for a purpose. So early in
the spring of 1774,
when all the colonies were preparing for
revolt, Conolly notified
Cresap that a war with the Indians was
inevitable; but the settlers
saw no evidence of it. He wrote to
Cresap that he was investi-
gating; then he sent another letter to
the effect that the war was
on in all its fury, and advised Cresap
to call out the troops under
his command as captain and take up arms
against the savage foe.
Conolly knew well the temper of Cresap.
He knew that the kill-
ing of a few Indians would inaugurate a
war for revenge that
would make the colonists forget their
other troubles; and he
knew that Cresap only needed an
intimation to start him on an
unrelentless war path and he being a
Whig the blame could be
laid to the insurgents and not to the
crown.
As I have said the Indians at this time
were engaged in
friendly trade and were employed in
carrying stores from Ft.
Dunmore to traders along the Ohio, the
Muskingum, the Scioto
and the Kanawha, and they were unmolested.
This is the
evidence of contemporaries whose
testimony was taken under
oath afterward. The Indians and whites
treated each other as
neighbors and there seemed to be nothing
to disturb the good
fellowship then obtaining. Much progress
was being made in
settlements on the Ohio and other
Virginia rivers.
Conolly was kept constantly informed of
the mutterings
against the crown in Virginia; and again
sent Cresap word that
his investigations revealed that the
Indians were on the warpath
and urged him to prepare for the
conflict. The information in
the letter spread like wildfire and the
settlers became alarmed
and rushed to the fortifications. Col.
Crawford and George
Rogers Clark could not stay the
apprehension.
A canoe containing two Indians was
reported on its way
down the river from Ft. Dunmore. Cresap
proposed to take a
party up the river to kill the Indians
in the canoe, but this was
strenuously opposed by Col. Zane, he
declaring that to slay the
savages would be cold-blooded murder and
that it would be fol-
lowed by retaliation, but his counsel
was not heeded and the
First Battle of the American
Revolution. 97
party went up the river, the Indians
were met and killed. Michael
Myers and Cresap were in the party and
both afterward soldiers
of the Revolution, the first being with
Col. Crawford in his
disastrous expedition to Sandusky. He
lived to be 106 years
of age and his bones lie buried in an
old country church yard
in Jefferson county. Near the same time,
according to Withers
and Butterfield, several canoes of
Indians were discovered on
the Ohio by Cresap and his men who drove
them to the mouth
of Pipe creek where the savages landed
and a battle ensued,
in which three of the Indians were
killed, scalp d and their stores
were taken. A few days after Michael
Myers shot an Indian near
Hollow Rock spring in Jefferson county,
near where Myers after-
ward settled on land won as a
Revolutionary soldier. This
Indian was from Logan's camp which was a
few miles east on
a rise in the ground near the mouth of
Yellow creek, the exact
spot having been marked by the writer
several years ago.
After the Pipe creek incident, according
to George Rogers
Clark, Cresap and his men formed a
resolution to attack Logan's
camp, but Clark remonstrated against
such a movement as did
also Col. Zane. Clark says that after
the expedition stopped for
refreshment it was proposed to take a
vote and every person
present including Cresap, opposed the
projected massacre, all
declaring that they were satisfied
beyond doubt that Logan was
in camp only as a hunting expedition
without the least sem-
blance of war. Clark further says that
it was two days after
this incident that Logan's people were
killed at Baker's cabin,
in Virginia, immediately opposite the
mouth of Yellow Creek,
but Clark and Cresap had moved on toward
Redstone.
That horrible murder was viewed by the
whole country
as most atrocious. While he has been
blamed even to this day
Cresap had nothing to do with that
crime; he was far away
from the scene when it was committed. No
doubt the letter
he got from Conolly incited the murder,
and that it was a
part of the conspiracy of Conolly to
blame Cresap in order to
more assuredly incite the Indians
against the Whigs. Logan
did not know that Cresap was in the
party, but Cresap's name
was in Logan's speech after that speech
was delivered to Gov.
Vol. XI-7
98
Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
Dunmore, although we have the testimony
of Col. Gibson that
he erased this name before the speech
reached Dunmore. All
that Cresap had to do with the crime
against Logan and humanity
was to circulate the letter from Conolly
which incited the whites
against the Indians, and it is possible
that Daniel Greathouse
and his party of settlers who inveigled
Logan's people across the
river to Baker's cabin, were influenced
by that letter. Of Logan's
own family his mother, a sister and a
brother were killed, to-
gether with several of his tribe. It was
a shameless and atrocious
murder, as heartless in its manifest
barbarity as any crime com-
mitted by the Indians in all their wars.
It was the inciting cause
of the awful carnival of carnage that
followed.
Cresap always claimed that whatever
blame that might attach
to him for the killing of the two
Indians on the then Jefferson
county river front, belonged to his
superior officer, Dr. Conolly,
whose circular letter directed or
authorized his conduct, and
he was bound to obey or suffer the
penalty for mutiny. Conolly
was denounced for his actions by an
indignation meeting held at
Pittsburg, June 25, 1774, when it
was set forth that he was the
cause of "our present calamity and
dread of an Indian war,"
Conolly's conduct was described as
tyrannical and unprecedented.
There was such certainty of retaliation
by the Indians and
that a merciless war would soon be
waged, that according to
Valentine Crawford's statement, the
settlers, who had located
with full hope of abiding peace,
immediately and spontaneously
abandoned their new homes. The trails
were swarmed with
settlers returning to the East to the
protection of the fortifica-
tions. Col. Crawford wrote to Washington
on the 6th of May:
"I am sorry to inform you that the
disturbance between the white
people and the Indians has prevented my
going down the river.
* * * It has ruined about all the
settlers. There were more
than one thousand people crossed the
Monongahela in one day."
The wrath of Logan was too deep to
assuage; the iron had
pierced his soul, and his thirst was for
blood. He wanted to be
the friend of the white man and so he
was, but the white man
would not have it so continue. He was
now for revenge: he
would engage in the saturnalia of
atrocity until his diabolical
yearnings were satiated. He had no other
joy, no other hope
First Battle of the American
Revolution. 99
than to retaliate, to murder and to
torture, as his own people
had been murdered and tortured. And a
Christian nation con-
spired to set red devils on fire and
turn them upon its own
people; incited savages to deeds of
crime, urging them on to
actions so appalling, so awful, so
cruel, that history does not
record its parallel in the degree of
barbarity.
The successive events which led up to
the murder of Indians
for no other purpose than to incite them
to revenge, demon-
strated that the British had crushed the
influence of Christian
civilization in their hearts in order
that its place might be filled
with a wicked spirit to coerce
recalcitrant colonists to continue
to wear the galling yoke of tyranny.
Lord Dunmore organized the flower of
Virginia and of
Pennsylvania to engage in battle with
the savages. These men
were brave; they were sympathetic and
could not see their kin-
dred murdered without making effort to
defend them. It was
known to Dunmore that they would enter
the conflict and he fur-
ther believed that before they were done
they would have enough
war to teach them its most excruciating
terrors.
Gen. Andrew Lewis with 1,100 men marched
through the
Lower country to Point Pleasant. Col.
Crawford and Major
Angus McDonald early in July arrived at
Wheeling, where Fort
Fincastle was erected. This fort, too,
became an important fac-
tor in the Revolutionary War, having
withstood two awful sieges,
neither of which have been made a part
of the history written
in the East, and yet the work done in
those two conflicts aided
greatly the American patriots, for the
fury of the Indians was
held at bay and permitted the
frontiersmen to join Daniel Mor-
gan's regiment of sharpshooters.
According to contemporary statements the
information re-
ceived by Dunmore from England while at
Fort Fincastle en-
couraged the belief that insurrection of
the American colonies
was apparent and led him to waive the
original plan of forming
a junction with Lewis at Point Pleasant
and it was this devia-
tion that placed the brave Lewis and his
intrepid army in jeopardy
out of which only divine power could
have carried him. The
conduct of Dunmore at the treaty on the
Congo in Pickaway
county showed an understanding between
Dunmore and the In-
100
Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
dians. He had ordered Lewis to join him
at the place of the
treaty. While Lewis and his men were
eager to wipe out the
savage foe by continuing the onslaught
commenced at Point Pleas-
ant, Dunmore sent him back before the
treaty was completed,
which he would have been afraid to do
without a well fixed pur-
pose, for the Indian warriors were about
him in sufficient num-
bers to have utterly destroyed his army.
Before the battle Lewis
sent scouts to ascertain the reason for
Dunmore's delay in send-
ing reinforcements, and although Dunmore
was informed of
Lewis' peril he refused to respond to
the cry for help. Capt.
Stewart notes in his narrative that he
believed a spy, a friend
of Dunmore's, was in Lewis' camp before
the battle and that
he carried information to the Indians.
Capt. Stewart informs us that Lewis had
no contemptible
enemy with which to deal; the Indian
army was composed chiefly
of the Shawanese that cut off the
British army under Gen. Brad-
dock in 1756; they were the Indians who
defeated Major Grant
and his Scotch Highlanders at Fort
Duquesne in 1758 when the
whole of his troops were either killed
or taken prisoners. And
after the battle of Point Pleasant they
defeated the very flower of
Virginia at the battle of Blue Licks in
Kentucky. Afterward
they defeated the United States army
commanded by Harmer, and
lastly defeated Gen. St. Clair's great
army after prodigious
slaughter.
It seems evident to me that it was for
the great purpose after-
ward realized, that an All-wise
Providence permitted and di-
rected the issue of the battle of Point
Pleasant to be victory for
the American patriots. I believe that
the issue of American in-
dependence was in that battle, for had
Lewis and his intrepid
soldiers been cut down because Lord
Dunmore failed or refused
to furnish reinforcements, the die would
have been cast: A terrible
Indian war would have followed, whose
awful carnage would
have been so appalling that the
Americans would have halted in
their demands upon England; they would
have been so glad of
crown help in the emergency that they
would have forgotten the
question of taxation without
representation in the terrible con-
flict with the red savages.
First Battle of the American
Revolution. 101
The battle of Point Pleasant was more to
the American cause
than the mere victory of the day over
the Indians; it trained men
who were not inured to bloody conflict
for the struggle that was
inevitable. It tried the nerve and found
it not lacking for Mor-
gan's sharpshooters; it trained men for
King's Mountain and for
the Cowpens; it fitted soldiers for
Morgan's march to Quebec;
and the men who followed George Rogers
Clark through the
swamps on his conquest of the Illinois
were from the same he-
roic mould, of the same blood, of the
same training as the men
at Point Pleasant; the conquest gave to
America the empire which
comprises five great states, the very
heart of the Republic. The
battle of Point Pleasant was not only
the first decisive conflict of
the Revolutionary War; had the issue
been otherwise-had it
turned as Dunmore expected and hoped it
would turn, the peo-
ple would have submitted, they would
have acquiesced in the
tyranny of the English crown.
From the battle of Point Pleasant came
Gen. Andrew Lewis
and Gen. Daniel Morgan. I may say that
from that battle also
came George Rogers Clark; he took no
part in the battle, but was
a scout with the Dunmore division of the
army. These were
three colossal figures in the
Revolutionary War; Morgan's sharp-
shooters were organized almost
immediately after the battle was
fought, for on the way home Morgan
learned of the Conti-
nental Congress at Philadelphia and he
at once organized his
men into a society sworn to do battle
for freedom and independ-
ence, and after the surrender at
Yorktown, Cornwallis said to
Morgan that he commanded the most
magnificent regiment in
the world. Andrew Lewis won fame in the
war, and when
Washington was made Commander-in-Chief
he insisted that An-
drew Lewis was more capable for the
trying position and urged
that he be selected. And what of Clark?
He fought all through
the Revolution and his achievements were
everything to the West.
Had he failed in his conquest of the
Illinois; had he failed in
his efforts to dislodge the British hold
on the Northwest Ohio
today would be under the British flag.
Had it not been for the
steadfastness, the patriotism, the
prowess of these three men
developed at the battle of Point
Pleasant, the results of the first
102 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
war for independence would have been
greatly at variance with
the desires of the American people.
[Authorities for the above article are:
John J. Jacob's Biography of
Michael Cresap; Olden Time-Monthly
historical paper printed by Nevin
B. Craig at Pittsburg, 1847; Statement
of George Rogers Clark; Wash-
ington-Crawford
Correspondence-Butterfield; Doddridge's Notes; Nar-
rative of Capt. John Stewart;
Pennsylvania Archives; McKiernan's Bor-
der History.-W. H. H.]
OHIO'S PART IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
BY E. O. RANDALL.
[This article was the substance of a
speech made by the author at the
banquet of the Ohio Sons and Daughters
of the American Revolu-
tion, at the Hollenden Hotel, Cleveland,
February 22, 1902.-
Editor.]
It has been said that Belgium is the
battleground of Europe.
Ohio may then be called the Belgium of
America. It is the
great battlefield of the United States.
For the Ohio Valley,
of which Ohio may be regarded as the
center, was the arena in
the contest of centuries between the
Latin and the Saxon races
for the American stakes. The French,
through their discoveries
up the St. Lawrence, along the great
lakes to the sources of
the Mississippi, and thence down that
great river course to
the Gulf of Mexico, claimed the
tributaries of those waterways,
including the territory east of the
Mississippi and south of the
chain of lakes, except that strip
settled by the English colonies
along the Atlantic coast, and reaching
back to the Allegheny
mountains. The English, by their right
of discovery and settle-
ment and through their royal charters
and patents, claimed the
extension of their rights west from the
Atlantic to the Mississippi
and even on beyond to the
"unknown" sea.
It was at Logstown, some twenty miles
below the site of
Pittsburg, 1753, when the first great
conference was held between
the three rival races. The Indian, the
native savage, represented
by Half King, chief of the Iroquois; St.
Pierre, representing
the French, and he whose name we
celebrate tonight, George