U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statementon the following page: ----------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER V. LEWIS COUNTY DURING THE REVOLUTION Before the effects of Dunmore's war in retarding emigration to the west had ceased to be felt, the set- tlements were profoundly influenced by events which were taking place along the Atlantic seaboard. "The shot heard 'round the world" was distinctly audible in northwestern Virginia. Just how great an influence the American Revolution had upon the course of develop- ment of the region can only be surmised. Certain it is that if there had been no Indian wars after the battle of Point Pleasant the whole of northwestern Virginia would have reached a mature development much earlier than it did. One of the first results of the commence- ment of hostilities between the colony of Virginia and the mother country was the legal recognition of the ex- istence of settlements west of the Alleghanies. Under the royal government no settlements were allowed there, hence it was not deemed necessary to provide any form of civil government for the district. For several years prior to the Revolution the Trans-Alleghany region was known as the District of West Augusta. It was a shadowy geographical division with no very definite boundaries or political status. There were no courts in the settlements, no justices of the peace, no recognized officers of the law. With the exceptions of the garrisons at Fort Redstone and Fort Pitt, both of which are now in Pennsylvania, there was no form of governmental authority until the very beginning of the Revolution when a court was held at Little Washington. The settlements on Hacker's creek and on the West Fork river at first were examples of pure anarchies. When the Indians at Bulltown were murdered, the set- tlers prepared a remonstrance. If there had been a horse stolen or a white man murdered and the crime had been fixed upon one of the settlers, it may be imagined that the whole neighborhood would have risen as one man and applied lynch law. Doubtless the knowledge that some such action would be taken, coupled with the necessity of uniting to combat the common danger from the Indians, prevented much disorder. One of the first acts of the Commonwealth of Vir- ginia was that defining the boundaries of the District of West Augusta and providing for the creation of three counties from it. One of these counties was Mononga- lia, including all the region drained by the Mononga- hela and its tributaries nearly as far north as Pittsburgh. Justices were appointed for the new county, among them being William Lowther, who had saved the settlers from starvation in the "starving year" of 1772. A county gov- ernment was immediately set up with the county seat at Fort Redstone, far over the present boundary in Pennsylvania. Notwithstanding the distance of the Hacker's creek settlers from the seat of government there was an advantage in being in the new county. It meant that the people were to receive such help in solving their problems as the government of the state could give them. The settlers were also given the right to name their own officials and to take a part in the gov- ernment of the state as a whole. One of the first acts of the county court was to designate Morgantown and Bush's fort (on the present site of Buckhannon) as voting places. There were responsibilities as well as advantages connected with membership in the Commonwealth of Virginia. When it became apparent to the British gov- ernment that the people of the colonies meant to fight, they sent their agents among the people of the frontier trying to induce them to take the side of the king and promising to protect them from the Indians in case of war. How much they underestimated the character of the Virginia backwoodsmen — the "shirt men", as they contemptuously called them — can be seen in a study of the history of the time. Practically all the frontiers- men were staunch patriots. Some of them were Tories but they soon moved to the vicinity of Detroit where they could be under the shelter of the British guns. Failing in their efforts to induce the frontiersmen to side with them, the British officials in Canada sent their agents among the western Indians to urge them to break their treaties with the Virginians and again fall upon their settlements with tomahawk and scalping- knife, and to drive them completely out of the Indian domain. It was the idea of the English king and his ad- visors not only to send civilized armies against the sea- coast districts of the colonies but to take them in the rear, compel a division of their forces and make easier the task of subduing them. The English agents were not at first successful in inducing the Indians to lay aside the pipe of peace and make war upon the Virginians. The memory of the prowess of the "Long Knives" at the battle of Point Pleasant and in a dozen smaller encounters was a potent influence in causing the Indians to hesitate before again going on the warpath. Although the Tories, who had been compelled to flee from the settlements through fear of their neighbors, went among the Indians adding their appeals to those of the British agents, they se- cured only a lukewarm promise from some of the tribes to fight the settlers. Two years after the outbreak of the Revolution the British agents lacked the acquies- cence of the Shawnees, the ablest warriors of the north- west, when two unfortunate circumstances led that tribe into the field. The first was the murder of their sachem. Cornstalk, who had been held as a hostage by the whites; the other was the arrival of Burgoyne in Canada with a large British force designed to march against the col- onies in the vicinity of the Hudson river. Here was proof positive of British assistance; and the Shawnees and all the other Indians northwest of the Ohio, as well as the Iroquois farther north sent war parties against the frontiers. The frontier line of defense in western Virginia proved a strong one. It stretched from Fort Pitt, at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, along the Ohio to Wheeling and Moundsville, and then turned inland from the river forming a great semi-circle which passed through Morgantown, Clarksburg, the Hacker's creek settlements and Charleston, and again reached the Ohio river at Fort Randolph on the battle- ground at Point Pleasant. From there the line of de- fense included the few settlements which had been made in Kentucky. The Indians fell upon the settlements in 1777, mur- dering alike the fighting men and the defenseless women and children, leading some into captivity to suffer the tortures of the gauntlet and the stake, and destroying all the property of the settlers they could find. The frontier was lurid with the flames of burning crops and houses during all the remaining years of the Revolution and for long afterwards. In the bloody "year of the three sev- ens", they besieged Wheeling fort, killing many of its defenders in ambuscades, they plundered homes and murdered settlers on Rooting creek in Harrison County, near Coon's fort on the borders of Harrison and Marion, on the Little Kanawha river, and very late in the year in the Tygart's Valley. Fortunately the Lewis County settlements escaped being attacked during the whole season. The exposed position of the Hacker's creek settle- ment on the very edge of the Virginia frontier, and on the route from the Indian towns to the Tygart's Valley region made it impossible for the attack to be long de- layed. Beginning in 1778 and continuing almost every year thereafter there were one or more Indian attacks against the Hacker's creek pioneers. An examination of the history of the period of the Indian wars shows that more attacks were directed against the Hacker's creek settlement than against any other settlement in northwestern Virginia. It is apparent from an examination of the records of the period that most of the settlements in what is now Lewis County except those on Hacker's creek, the Flesher settlement at Weston, and some of the clear- ings farther down the West Fork were abandoned. Some of the settlers returned to their former homes east of the mountains and others gathered around some of the numerous forts which were built at centrally lo- cated points in the Trans-Alleghany region. The only large fort anywhere on the West Fork until the outbreak of the Revolution was Nutter's fort at Clarksburg; as soon, however, as it became apparent that the western Indians would attack the exposed settlements others were built. Powers' fort stood on the present site of Bridgeport; Richards' fort was about two miles below the present site of West Milford at the mouth of Sassa- fras run; Bush's fort stood near the present site of Buck- hannon; and West's fort was within the present cor- porate limits of Jane Lew on the slight rise where Minor Hall now lives. West's fort was probably a small stockade of logs enclosing a large log building constructed to protect from the elements those who had taken refuge within the stockade. The builders probably set the logs on end deep into the ground and then tamped loose earth around them to make the stockade substantial. Loop- holes between the logs afforded opportunity for the gar- rison to command all approaches to the walls and all the cleared space around the fort within range of their rifles. At the same time they were protected from the fire of their besiegers by the logs composing the walls. None of the rifles at that time could pierce the heavy wall of logs, though artillery would soon have sent them splintering down. Since none of the Indian parties had cannon, and would have been unable to transport them without building roads if they had, the settlers were safe within the walls. Few of the frontier forts succumbed to the attacks of the savages. There was danger that the food supply might not hold out, or that the powder might be exhausted, but, if these were suffi- cient, the only danger was that the savages might set fire to the fort. The stockade was called West's fort because built by Edmund West and his two sons, Edmund and Alex- ander, assisted probably by some of the neighbors. The Wests had come to Hacker's creek from Accomack County, Virginia, in 1773, and the senior West had set- tled at the old Straley farm about one mile above Jane Lew. Alexander West later became one of the greatest scouts on the border, and saw service in one or more attempts to carry the war into the Indian country. He has been described by McWhorter as being "a tall, spare-built man, very erect, strong, lithe and active; dark-skinned, prominent Roman nose, black hair, very keen eyes; not handsome, rather raw-boned, but with an air and mien that commanded the attention and respect of those with whom he associated." Beyond the fact that he took the lead in building the fort, little is known of the character of Edmund West, Sr. By a peculiar turn of fortune, the builder of the fort was later taken by surprise outside its walls and put to death by a body of Indians under circumstances of the most shocking brutality. The settlers on Hacker's creek and vicinity were not terrified by the prospect of another Indian war. A large number stayed on the frontier, and many others made new settlements in the time of the worst savage fury. The Hacker's creek bordermen did not supinely trust to the walls of West's fort to keep away the In- dians, but went out into the open, stalked the Indians on nearly equal terms, formed parties in pursuit of them and oft-times inflicted greater damage upon them than they themselves had suffered. Among the settlers were many whose names are written large upon the tablets of history of northwestern Virginia. John P. Duvall, Jesse Hughes, Elias Hughes, Thomas Hughes, Alexan- der West, George Jackson, William Lowther, William While and John Cutright are all men who achieved more than local prominence as scouts or military lead- ers in the wars against the Indians in northwestern Vir- ginia. Greatest of all without the shadow of a doubt was Jesse Hughes. Jesse Hughes was born probably on Jackson river in what is now western Virginia, about the year 1750. With his parents he moved to the South Branch of the Potomac, where he lived until he joined the party which followed Samuel Pringle to examine the land in the vicinity of the sycamore in the Buckhannon valley. He became a hunter at first and roamed the wilds, becom- ing acquainted with every feature of the geography of the section. In 1771, he married and settled on a clear- ing at the mouth of Jesse's run. It will be remembered that he was one of the men connected with the massa- cres at Bulltown and the Indian camp. He first became prominent on the border in the year 1778, from which time he was one of the mainstays in the protection of the settlements. His pony was constantly kept tied in the lean-to adjoining his house ready for instant use in warning settlers of the near approach of Indians. His vigilance saved many lives. Jesse Hughes is described by McWhorter as being rather tall and slender. He could not have weighed more than 145 pounds at any time in his life. His coun- tenance was hard, stern and unfeeling; his eyes were cold, cruel and vicious — "like a rattlesnake's", accord- ing to the statement of a contemporary. "No Indian, no matter how peaceful, nor how good his record, was safe in his presence." He murdered young and old alike, under circumstances which would hardly be equalled in bloodthirsty ferocity by the worst savage. An old woman who knew him said he was desperately wicked, superstitious, cruel and vindictive. He is said often to have given way to abuse of his family. So uncontrolled were his passions, and so bad his reputation among his own people that he never attained leadership in the com- munity. He is said on one occasion to have decoyed an In- dian almost to his own door by promising to go hunting with him, and then shot the unsuspecting savage from ambush. At another time, while he was on his way down the Monongahela in a canoe he saw an Indian boy playing with some white children. Only the interfer- ence of his companion kept him from taking the Indian boy into the canoe and then drowning him in the river. He was one of the most terrible enemies of the Indians to be found anywhere on the frontier. He could trail with any Indian that lived on the border, and, though not a dead shot like some of the other settlers, his skill in stalking Indians and game caused him to have a better record at the end of the day than any of his fellows. Though he was by far the best trailer on the frontier, though he was more than a match for the Indian in cunning, though he seemed to have an intuition as to the plans of the Indians, and though his plans for following them were nearly al- ways adopted, he was never placed in command of any important expedition. He served for a short time as ensign of a company of scouts, but seemed never to have had any of the men under him. The ability to command men is not usually possessed by men of his tempera- ment. His temper was too fiery, his passions too fierce for him to retain the respect which was necessary to keep frontiersmen attached to a leader. Yet it is said that he had many friends, and that he was generous to those who had gained his confidence. During the year 1778, the settlers collected within the forts early in the spring, and only went out in large groups to work the fields of the different farms in turn. At least two Indian attacks were made on West's fort during the year. Early in May the male population were working in a field near the fort, when the report of firearms at the edge of the clearing broke the still- ness. Jonathan Lowther, a brother of William Lowther, and Thomas Hughes, father of Jesse and Elias Hughes, fell at the first volley. The other men of the party, all of whom had incautiously come to the field without their arms, ran to the fort for safety, with the exception of two, who were cut off by the Indians. They escaped by running to Richards' fort, where they gave the alarm. The Indians had already been in that community and had murdered one of the settlers on his way home from Hacker's creek. The settlers were too weak to pursue the Indians, who left Hacker's creek at once after taking the scalps of the men they had killed. The Indians probably lost more by the attack than they gained; for the murder of the elder Hughes intens- ified, if possible, the hatred of the Hughes brothers for the Indians, and caused them to take an oath "to fight Injuns as long as they lived and could see to fight them" — an oath which was only too well carried out. The Indians made a bolder assault on West's fort early in the next month. Three women who had gone out from the fort for the purpose of gathering greens in the field adjoining, were fired upon by one of a party of four Indians who were lying in ambush. The shot failed to take effect, and the women ran screaming toward the fort closely pursued by one warrior. He overtook a Mrs. Freeman, and thrust a spear into her back with such force that it penetrated completely through her body. Though fired at several times from the fort, he then coolly secured the scalp and carried it away with him. Jesse Hughes and others happened to be outside the fort at the time without their guns. As Hughes and John Schoolcraft were proceeding Cautiously toward the fort they noticed two Indians standing by a fence. closely watching the fort for an opportunity to kill some of the refugees. Hughes and Schoolcraft passed on without attracting their attention. Later when a party went out of the fort for the purpose of bringing in the body of Mrs. Freeman, Hughes went to the spot where he had seen the Indians. At that moment from a point farther in the woods there came a sound like the howl- ing of a wolf. Hughes answered it. The sound was re- peated. This time the party located it, and running to a point of land they saw two Indians. Hughes fired once, but succeeded only in wounding the Indian. Others in the party wished to stop and finish him, but Hughes called to them to leave him alone and follow him in pur- suit of the unwounded warrior. By doubling on his track like a fox, the Indian succeeded in eluding his pur- suers. Meanwhile the wounded warrior had also got away, and Hughes was forced to return to the fort without a scalp hanging from his belt. The garrison of the fort at this time had lately been strengthened by the addition of Captain Stuart and a company of Virginia militia, most of whom had come from the South Branch, but a few had volunteered from Randolph County. Some of his men pursued the war party and overtook them on Salt Lick creek, where they wounded one of them and the remainder dispersed upon the approach of Captain Stuart and the main body of his force. Stuart returned to West's fort and thence march- ed to Lowther's fort where he detached part of his men. He then returned to guard the fords of the Tygart's Valley river. These two attacks were typical of all that followed. Without artillery the Indians could not hope to capture log forts, particularly if they were well built. It was opposed to the Indian temperament to sit down before the walls of a fortified place and wait until the garrison could be starved into surrender, while their own num- bers were constantly being diminished by the fire of the beleaguered whites. No large bodies of Indians came east of the Ohio river. Attacks on the settlements in the Monongahela valley were more in the nature of raids planned with the idea of capturing prisoners, cut- ting off detached families or killing small bodies of whites whom they could surprise, than large expeditions to destroy all of the settlements. Most of the attacks were made by very small bands. It was but natural that women and children should be made the objects of at- tack, and that the vengeance of the savages should be visited upon those who were innocent of any harm to them. The number of settlers was insufficient as yet to allow the formation of a large army, which should carry the war into the villages of the Indians beyond the Ohio, and purchase peace with the lead from their rifles. They had to content themselves with defending as best they might their lonely oases of settlement in the western wilderness. Other forays of the Indians into the West Fork valley, though they did not result in the death of any of the other members of the settlement on Hacker's creek, caused severe losses to the neighboring settlements around Richards' fort. The continual danger from the Indians kept the Hacker's creek settlers idle within their fort or engaged in distant scouting expeditions, with the result that their crops were neglected. It may have been that the crops were set lire to by the Indians in the fall, and were destroyed. At any rate there was an acute shortage of grain at the beginning of the suc- ceeding winter. Numerically the settlement at West's fort was not strong enough at that time to sustain the defense of so important a section of the frontier, exposed as it was to the first assault of every war party that came up the Little Kanawha valley. Discouraged at the prospect of another campaign like the last, and lacking requisite supplies to satisfy their wants through the coming growing season, they abandoned their homes on Hacker's creek. Some of the inhabitants went to Nutter's fort, and some to Bush's fort on the Buckhan- non, in both of which places their numbers were a desir- able reinforcement. The more timorous returned to the South Branch where they would be safe from Indian molestation. The Flesher settlement at the mouth of Stone Coal creek seems not to have been abandoned at this time, and it remained during 1779 the only habita- tion of a white man within the present limits of Lewis County. The opening of the year 1779 found practically all the settlements in better condition than ever before to resist the raids of the Indians. For one thing they had been consolidated. The detached farms had been aban- doned. The settlers had also received considerable ac- cretions in strength from adventurous young men who came west to engage in the war where they would not have to bother with discipline and commanding officers, and also from militiamen from east of the Alleghanies, who, like Captain Stuart, had been ordered to the forts in the valley of the West Fork. Most of the militiamen were rather indifferent Indian fighters, and some were court-martialed later for desertion. They afforded much strength, however, not only in the addition to the small numbers of the settlers, but also in the encouragement they gave the frontier guardians of Virginia that the authorities of the state had not utterly forgotten their danger, but were doing all they could to send relief, while themselves carrying on the war with the British troops on the Atlantic seaboard. Active measures were soon afterwards taken by the state authorities to reduce the number of raids and the amount of damage done by the Indians. Vigorous ef- forts were made to watch the Indians and to warn the settlements of their approach. Several companies of spies were formed, among them George Jackson's com- pany on the Buckhannon in 1779 and William Lowther's at Nutter's fort. From that time forth small parties scoured the woods in the vicinity of the Indian trails. Sometimes the scouts would go down the Little Ka- nawha from the Buckhannon settlement to the mouth of the river, and return the same way, but the usual route was to proceed overland to Wheeling, then drift down the Ohio to the Little Kanawha, from which point they would return, closely examining all the trails along the river for signs of Indians. This system of scouting had been found to be most successful through a long period of warfare with the Indians, and by 1779, it was working well. The vigorous action of Colonel Lowther in pur- suing the Indians after each attack had the effect of making them wary, keeping them from the settlements and reducing the amount of damage done. The largest number of men which he commanded in pursuing the Indians at any one time during the Revolution was about twenty-five. During 1779, the Shawnees and other tribes were engaged elsewhere, chiefly in expeditions to regain the Illinois country which had been captured by George Rogers Clark, and in defending their villages, some of which Clark had captured and burned. During the win- ter of 1779-1780, several of the settlers who did not want to lose all their improvements and have to commence again in the wilderness ventured back to Hacker's creek, and in the spring they moved, as usual, into West's fort. They had not been there long when a party of Indians laid siege to the fort, and, contrary to their usual cus- tom, remained there several days. The inhabitants were too few to sally out with any hope of success, their supplies were nearly exhausted and they were in despair of being relieved. Jesse Hughes determined, if possible, to secure aid from the Buckhannon settlements. It was an extremely hazardous undertaking, for the Indians had posted sentinels on all sides to prevent the escape of the garrison; but Hughes crept out in the dead of night, and, after proceeding cautiously for several hours, he passed far beyond the last outpost of the savages. In order to inform those still within the fort of his being clear, he gave the prearranged signal of the hoot of an owl. The Indians, probably understanding the counter- feit nature of this particular bird's cry, and knowing that help must be near, broke camp at once. The next morn- ing Hughes led a party from Bush's fort back to Hack- er's creek, and conducted the residents of West's fort in safety to the banks of the Buckhannon. Here they spent the remainder of the year. During their absence West's fort was set on fire by Indians, and completely destroyed. Two days after the arrival of the garrison from West's fort there occurred perhaps the only battle on the West Fork, which was fought in the open, and which was yet not an ambuscade. A small party of settlers who had returned to some of the houses on Hacker's creek to remove their furniture, came unexpectedly upon a party of Indians in the woods not far from the Buck- hannon. The Indians were equally surprised. They fired first and Jeremiah Curl, an old man, was hit under the chin. He refused to take flight, and called to the others that they were able to whip the Indians. An Indian rushed at him. Curl took aim and pulled the trigger; but the powder in his gun had become wet with blood from his wound and it failed to ignite. It happened that he was carrying a gun belonging to another of the party in addition to his own, and, taking quick aim with it, he brought the warrior down. Alexander West, who was one of the swiftest on foot of all the frontiersmen, pursued the Indians, and succeeded in wounding one of them before the others took refuge behind trees and made the conflict too unequal for him to maintain un- aided. The war party was pursued the next day by about fifteen whites who could be spared from the fort, and they succeeded in recovering several stolen horses and other plunder with the loss of only one man slightly wounded. The savages continued to lurk about Bush's fort all summer, and they succeeded in killing one of the Buckhannon settlers and taking his niece prisoner. They also infested the settlement around Richard's fort, steal- ing horses, killing live stock and committing other dep- redations. Horses were the special objects of their thiev- ing propensities. Cows and sheep were often killed by the Indians in order to reduce the already extremely small number of domestic animals in the frontier com- munities. The winter season of 1780-81 was, as usual, free from Indian forays, most of the savages being snug and warm in their log houses beyond the Ohio. During the seasonal lull the Hackers creek settlers again ventured back to their homes, and prepared to defend them. All joined in the erection of a new fort in a stronger loca- tion. It stood on level, rather marshy ground, but it was a far more satisfactory site than that of the old fort because the besiegers could not have a vantage point within gunshot where they could hide. Because the fort was built almost entirely of beech logs, it was called Beech fort, a name which stuck for a year or so, and then the settlers returned to the old designation of West's fort. It is supposed that the beech fort was more capa- cious than the old fort, and that it was a stockade of logs enclosing a much larger house of hewn logs. Beech fort was used for other purposes than for de- fense. The Rev. John Mitchell, the first minister of the gospel on Hacker's creek, alternately fought Indians and shepherded a more or less wayward flock, holding services within its walls. Other preachers came later and held their services there. There is a tradition that the first school in Lewis County was held in the new fort, with the Rev. Mitchell as its teacher. The fort soon be- came the social center of the settlement. Primarily, however, it was for defense; and the settlers behind its strong walls, their numbers increased by new arrivals, and perhaps by militia from the counties east of the mountains, had well-founded hopes of maintaining their positions against any force that the Indians were likely to send against them. The year 1781 was a quiet one so far as the settle- ments on Hacker's creek were concerned. Henry Flesh- er left his cabin at the present corner of First street and Main avenue, Weston, and went to Buckhannon to spend the winter, returning apparently the next spring. The only military operations in the upper West Fork valley that were of any importance were those con- nected with the pursuit of a party of Indians who had broken up an outlying settlement on the Tygart's Val- ley river. Colonel Lowther and his company of scouts gloriously avenged the murder of the settlers and recov- ered several of the prisoners they had captured. The Indians received a lesson on the strength and unity of the settlements. The usual reinforcement from east of the mountains failed to come to the aid of the western settlements in 1781 on account of the invasion of Virginia by Lord Cornwallis. Every nerve of the state was being strained to add new recruits to the forces of Lafayette, who was attempting to defend the state. Additional volunteers were raised wherever possible. Even Hampshire county, which had furnished the bulk of the militia for the de- fense of the west, sent a regiment to Yorktown which in- cluded some of the Monongahela pioneers. The Trans-Alleghany settlers were thus left to shift for themselves, but the activities of General George Rogers Clark in the Illinois country had the effect of keeping the Indians occupied at home. In May, 1781, George Jackson, of the Buckhannon river settlements, recruited a company for service against the British and Indians. General Clark had planned an expedition against Detroit to capture that stronghold of British influence over the western Indians, that headquarters for Indian supplies, that refuge from which British agents kept continually stirring up the savages against the settlements. Clark hoped by destroying the evil at its source to end all Indian wars, and he invited settlers from all over the western territory to take part with him. William Lowther also responded to the call, and was raised to the rank of colonel for meritorious services rendered. The expedition failed to secure its expected strength, and nothing was accomplished except that the Indians were kept occupied beyond the Ohio by the threat against their villages. Colonel Lowther gained experience while on the expedition which served him in good stead in organ- izing the defense of the settlements at a later date. He saw the need for improvements after his return as never before, and he took the lead from that time on, not only in pursuing Indians who had committed depredations, but in preventing the depredations. The militia of Monongalia County in 1781 was esti- mated at not less than a thousand men. The number in the valley of the upper West Fork must have been in the neighborhood of 150 men between the ages of sixteen and sixty The actual population was prob- ably six or seven hundred. Colonel Benjamin Wilson wrote to the governor at the beginning of the year 1782 stating the effective force of the West Fork at eighty men, and urging that reinforcements be sent from east of the mountains. "If the Indians pursue the war as they did last spring," he wrote, "it will cause the settlers to leave the country." In response to the appeal, sev- enty men of the Hampshire County militia were sent to help defend the Trans-Alleghany. They were stationed at Beverly, (now in Randolph County) St. George, (now in Tucker County) and Clarksburg. Early in the spring a large war party invaded the Buckhannon valley, and 8 March 1782, they attacked the homes of some of the settlers before they had time to move into the fort. Some of the people were mur- dered without warning. Captain White, "the lion in the defense of the settlement in the absence of George Jack- son," was killed within plain view of the fort, and Tim- othy Dorman, who had been a subaltern in Captain Jackson's company of scouts, joined the Indians. So bad was the character of Dorman, so many were the threats which he had made against the other settlers, and so well acquainted was he with the habits of the settlement and the weak points in its defense, that in despair of successfully resisting an attack, the whole body of the inhabitants left the fort and went to Clarks- burg. Dorman returned in the same year at the head of a war party of savages. A number of settlers who had come from Nutter's fort for the purpose of gathering the grain on the Buckhannon and transporting it to Clarksburg, found Bush's fort in ruins. They suspected from certain signs that the Indians were still in the neighborhood, and they therefore exercised all possible vigilance. All attempts to lure them into an ambuscade having failed, Dorman and others fired upon them while they were near the fort, and they were forced to take refuge in a cellar. Here they remained all night while George Jackson ran to Clarksburg for help. The year 1781 saw the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown; and in 1783 commissioners appointed by the Continental Congress signed a treaty of peace by which Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and admitted their right to territories reaching as far west as the Mississippi. The Revolution was fought and won on the eastern seaboard; but the hum- ble part of the settlers on Hackers creek and the other outlying points west of the mountains kept the savage allies of the British king from harassing eastern Vir- ginia, and allowed the state to devote practically all its energies to the defeat of the red-coated British and their German hirelings. For six long years the devoted bands of settlers had sustained the weight of the Indian as- saults, suffering untold privations and hardships, but still maintaining a foothold in the region west of the Alleghanies, as a basis for a tremendously important later development. Now that the war was over they expected that the Indian outrages would stop and that they would be allowed to pursue their accustomed em- ployments of hunting and tilling the ground unmo- lested. -----------------------------------------------------------