The Battle of Point Pleasant A Battle of the Revolution October l0th, I774 \ Biographical Sketches of the Men Who Participated ) By \‘ Mrs. Livia Nye Simpson-Poffcnbarger The State Gazette, Publisher Point Pleasant, West Virginia 1909 RUl3?3 aa53n</ Dedication ‘ ,1 - ‘ I. k '1 If' This little volume is dedicated to the memory of the brave ' \ | \ . ‘ f colonists who, successful at the battle of Point Pleasant, had fought Z ;,\’ I the opening battle of the Revolution,in preserving the right arm of Virginia for the struggle with the Mother Country; thusfimaking _ i possible the blessings of liberty Wenow enjoy as a Nation. MRS. LIVIA NYE SIMPSON-POFFENBARGER. A :«;:; '¥"'T % um ‘-33aas ¢ .a,._\..(..4 ’ copyright, 1909. 3! Mrs. Livia Nye Simpson-Pnflenbarger. F ‘-9’A‘P(-‘3'\"‘!"1‘H'.'f""""”-—»<~—.—....,.......,...;;—:.-~;-«r.»—.,_‘....-m—<-"TV POINT PLEASANT’ BATTLE TMONUMENT, COMMEMOR­ ATING THE FIRST BA’1‘TLEOF THE REVOLUTION, OCTOBER 10, 1774. Battle of Point Pleasant. Andrew Lewis, who command­ er and hence granted her sons, ed the colonial troops in the Bat­ together with one Benjamin Bur­ tle of Point Pleasant, October den a land warrant for 500,000 10, 1774, was the son of John acres of land in the James and Lewis and Margaret Lvnn Lew­ Shenandoah Valleys, with the is, his wife. proviso that they were to locate John Lewis was of Scotch Irish one hundred families within ten descent, having been born in years. They induced their France, 1673, where his ances­ friends from Scotland and the tors had taken refuge from the north of Ireland, and the Scotch­ persecution following the assas­ Irish of Pennsylvania, to emi­ sination of Henry IV. He mar­ grate to Augusta County, Vir­ ried Margaret Lynn, the daugh­ ginia. In her diary, Mrs. Lewis ter of the “Laird of Loch Lynn,” says: “It sounded like the gath­ of Scotland, and emigrated to ering of the clans to hear the Ireland, thence to A In e ri c a names of these settlers viz: Mc­ in 1729,and became the founder Kees. McCues, McCampbells, of Staunton, Virginia. Here, he McC1ungs,McK0uns, Caruthers, planted a colony and reared a Stuarts. Wallaces, Lyles, Pax­ family that have given luster to tons, Prestons and Grisbys.” American History. We quote the following from Governor Gooch, of Williams­ the Ohio Archaeological and His­ burg, then the seat of Govern­ torical Quarterly, July, 1903,pp. ment of Virginia. was the per­ 288, 289, 290: sonal friend of Mrs. Lewis’ fath­ “When John Randolph said that Pennsylvania had produced Randolph possibly did not know but two great men-Benjamin that the first Declaration of In­ Franklin, of Massachusetts, and dependence by the American Albert Gallatin, of Switzerland—— patriots was issued by the mem­ - he possibly did not know that the bers of Hanover Church out best blood of his own State was there in Dauphin county, when that of the Scotch-Irish people on June 4th, 1774, they declared who went down from Pennsylva­ “that in the event Great Britain nia and settled in the Valley. attempting to force unjust laws He likely did not know that the upon us by the strength of Arms, great and good Dr. Archibald our cause we leave to heaven and Alexander, the founder of Lib­ our rifles.” This declaration erty Hall, now Washington and was certain y carried to Meek­ Lee University (so much loved lenburg to give the sturdy peo­ by Washington,) the very seat of ple of that region inspiration for culture and power of the Shen­ the strong document issued by andoah and James, the greatest them a year later, and which factor of the State’s prowess, gave Jefferson a basis for the . was a Pennsylvanian. He possi­ Declaration of 1776. There was bly did not know that Dr. Gra­ much moving from Pennsylva­ ham, the first president of this nia ‘into Virginia and North Car­ institution, was from Old Pax­ olina before the Revolution, and tang; that many of the families Hanover Presbytery in the Val­ whose names are in the pantheon ley was largely made up of peo­ of old Dominion achievement, the ple from Pennsylvania, whose - families that give Virginia her petition of ten thousand names prominence in the sisterhood of for a free church in a free land, States, had their American ori­ made in 1785, was the force back gin in Pennsy1vania—iu the of Jetferson’s bill for religious Scotch-Irish reservoir of the tolerance, a triumph for freedom Cumberland Va1ley—the Mc­ that has always been considered Bowells, the Pattersons. the a Presbyterian victory by the McCormacks. Ewings, McCor­ Scotch-Irish of America. cles, Prestons, McCunes,Craigs. We know that Dr. Sankey of McCul1oughs, Simpsons, Stew­ Hanover Church was a minister arts, Moflats, Irwins, Hunters, in Hanover Presbytery, and that Blairs, Elders, Grahams, Fin­ he was followed into Virginia by leys, Trimbles, Rankins, and large numbers of the Hanover hundreds of others, whose congregation, who kept up a con­ achievements mark the pathway stant stream into the Valley. _By of the world’s progress. John’ the way, two settlements were made by this congregation in them, within the dark Wilderness Ohio. Col. Rogers, Gov. Bush­ of forest, when all hope of rescue nel’s secretary, derives his de­ seemed forbidden; undaunted scent from them. The popula­ by the fiendish revelings of their tion of North Carolina at the out­ savage captors, they sang aloud break of the Revolution was with the most pious ferver— largely made up of Scotch-Irish “On Babel’s stream we sat and wept when Zion we thought on, immigrants from Pennsylvania In midst thereof we hanged our harps the and the Virginia Valley who had willow trees among. For thenasong required they whodid us a public schoolsystem before the captive bring, war. These were the people Our spoilers called rormirth and said, a. who stood with the Rev. David song of Zion sing.“ Caldwell on the banks of the Al­ It was this blood ' that fought amance May 16th, 1771, and re­ the battle of King’s Mountain, ceived the first volley of shot which victory gave. the patriots fired in the contest for independ­ the courage that is always in ence- This same blood coursed hope; it was the winning force at the veins of the patriot army Cowpens, at Guilford, where with Lewis at Point Pleasant. the Rev. Samuel Houston discharged first battle of the Revolutionary his rifle fourteen times, once for War. fought October 10,1774, each ten minutes of the battle. Lord Dunmore having no doubt These brave hearts were in every planned the attack by the Indians battle of the Revolution, from to discourage the Americans Point Pleasant in 1774to the vic­ from further agitation of the then tory of Wayne at the Maumee pending demand for fair treat­ Rapids twenty years later, for ment of the American Colonies the War of Independence con­ at the hands of Great Britian. tinued in the Ohio Country after It was this blood that coursed the treaty of peace. And yet, the veins of those courageous after all this awful struggle to people who, having survived the gain and hold for America the Kerr’s creek ‘massacre, were very heart of the Republic, one ‘car/ried toia Shawnee village in of the gentlemen referred to by Ohio, and on being bantered to Mr. Randolph wrote pamphlets sing by the Indians in their cruel in which he derided as murder­ sport, sang Rouse’s version of ers the courageous settlers of one of the Psalms. “Unappalled our blood on the occasions they by the bloody scene,” says the felt it necessary to “remove” In­ Augusta historian, “through dians with their long rifles. Af­ which they had already passed, ter all the struggle, he too would and the fearful tortures awaiting have made an arrangement with England by which the Ohio river and colonization, new lands for ' would have been the boundary their children, and on the other line.” ' wrought out their national inde­ These were the people who in pendence of the British King.” , coming to America had not only Kercheval’s History of the secured for themselves that per­ Valley, p. 120, says: “Be it re­ sonal religious freedom of a membered, then, that this Indian church without a Bishop and ul­ war was but a portico to our rev­ timately a state without a King, olutionary war, the fuel for which but they became recruits in the was then preparing, and which Army ofAndrew Lewis, the hero burst into a flame, the ensuing of the Battle of Point Pleasant, year. Neither let us forget that and like many of their country­ the Earle of Dunmore was at this men, continued in the army, time governor of Virginia; and (those who had not met the fate that he was acquainted with the of battle,) and became the flower views and designs of the British of Virginia’s Colonial Army. Cabinet, can scarcely be doubted. What then, suppose ye, would be The Status of the Battle of Point the conduct of a man possessing Pleasant. his means, filling a High, official While the Battle of Point Pleas­ station, attached to the British _ant has always been conceded to government, and master of con­ have been the most terrific con­ sumate diplomatic skill.” flict ever waged between the Dr. John P. Hale, in writing of White man and the Indian, its full the Battle of Point Pleasant. significance has not been made says, in the Historv of the Great the text of American history. Kanawha Valley, Vol.