HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
PUBLICATION 4 - 1968
FRONTIER FORTS
By Emory L. Hamilton
The Seven Original Forts
The actual military defense of Virginia's extreme western frontier did not begin, on a large scale, until the spring prior to the outbreak of
Dunmore's War in the fall of 1774, more commonly referred to by historians
as the Point Pleasant Campaign.
It has been stated by some writers that not a single palisaded fort
existed along the Clinch frontier until after the circulation of Lord Dunmore's order requesting that such be built. Those making these
statements used the argument that after the end of the French and Indian War that peace existed and there was no need of palisaded forts. It is probably quite true that prior to 1774 there were no real palisaded forts,
the inhabitants depending on strongly built fort-houses with port holes for warding off surprise Indian attacks. Some of these still stand today, such as the old Osborne house in Lower Castlewood and the Dickenson house on Clinch River north of Castlewood.
However, those who aver that prior to 1774 peace existed between the Indians and whites need to review their frontier history.
Admittedly peace did exist on paper as the treaty of Fort Stanwix
and Lochaber prove, but a paper peace meant little to many of the savages who probably had never heard of it, or to those who did not concur with it in the first place. Consider the killing of Boone's party on Wallen's Creek on October 10, 1773, almost a year prior to Dunmore's circular letter
regarding the erection of forts.
John McCulloch, whose father Thomas McCulloch had settled on
Moccasin Creek in 1769, states that in June 1771 all of Moccasin Creek was evacuated for fear of Indians and remained so for more than a year. (1)
On June 30, 1773, Colonel Evan Shelby had a roster of 71
militiamen.(2) Captain William Russell also had four Indian scouts on patrol on the 15th of April, 1774, (3) two months prior to Dunmore's request for forts, and again in 1773, Colonel Evan Shelby lists a group of four scouts on Clinch River, among whom was William Moore of Moore's Fort. Does it not seem strange to aver that peace existed when we see a contingent of 71
militiamen, scouts on patrol and the massacre of five people on Wallen's Creek?
There were seven of the original forts erected in compliance with Lord Dunmore's order, four on the lower Clinch under Captain William
Russell's militia command, and three on the upper Clinch under the militia
command of Captain Daniel Smith. These forts were erected by the local militia under the supervision of Colonel William Christian who had been
sent out to the frontier by Colonel William Preston who was militia commandant for the area.
When Captain Russell received Lord Dunmore's orders for building
forts it happened to be muster day for the militia in Cassells Woods, and he immediately, on June 25, 1774, laid the facts before his constituents and informed Colonel Preston of their actions on June 26, 1774, (4) saying:
"My company yesterday voted two (2) forts to be immediately
built, I think in as convenient a place as we can get, and we shall immediately
began to build them."
Two weeks later, on July 13, 1774, Captain Russell again wrote to Colonel Preston the following letter showing that his people had changed
their minds about the number of forts to be built and states that the forts had already been erected:
"Since I wrote you last, the inhabitants of this river have
altered the plan for two forts only, on this river, below Elk Garden, and have
erected three; one in Cassell's Woods which I call Fort Preston; a second
ten miles above which I call Fort Christian; the third, five miles below
the first, which I call Fort Byrd, and there are four families at John Blackmores near the mouth of Stoney Creek, that will never be able to stand alone without a company of men. Therefore, request you, if you think
it can be done, to order them a supply sufficient to enable
them to continue the small fortification they have begun." (5)
None of the names given to the forts by Captain Russell to enhance his military status caught the fancy of the settlers and were never used by them. This is understandable since Colonels Christian and Preston both lived near present day Blacksburg, and Colonel William Byrd lived far away
at Westover on the James.
Fort Preston
The fort that Russell named Fort Preston was on the lands of David Cowan in upper Castlewood, and stood just back of the present Masonic Lodge Hall. It was called Russell's Fort by some because it was here that Captain Russell had his military headquarters and used the fort also for
personal shelter. It is also, sometimes referred to as Cowan's Fort and later Charles Bickley bought the Cowan land and it is then called
Bickley's Fort. A fort in this area was also called Bush's Fort and is probably this same fort, but some contend otherwise.
Russell's Fort, or Fort Preston was perhaps a much smaller fort
than Moore's or Blackmore's, and is mentioned in pension statements less often.
It was attacked on more than one occasion by Indians, and it was at this
fort that Ann Bush Neece was tomahawked, scalped and survived. It continued in use until the cessation of Indian hostilities.
Fort Christian
Fort Christian, better known as Glade Hollow Fort lies between
Dickensonville and Lebanon on Cedar Creek. It is hard to determine just
who owned the land when the fort was erected in 1774, as no one had deeds
to
lands prior to the sitting of the Commissioners in 1781, only warrants,
and these warrants changed hands and were assigned many times to others
before actual recording took place. Some available data indicates that the
land may
have been in possession of one James Smith who seems to disappear from the
records after 1777. This assumption is based upon letters written by
Colonel William Christian and Arthur Campbell, the former being on the
Clinch at
this time supervising the erection of the forts.
On July 12, 1774, the day before Captain Russell wrote to Colonel
Preston giving the names of the forts, Christian wrote to Preston, heading
his letter "Captain's Russell's Fort", and saying:
"There are four (4) forts erecting on the Clinch in Captain
Russell's
company, one at Moore's four miles below this; another at Blackmore's
sixteen miles down; and one at Smith's twelve miles above this place. I am
about to station 10 men at Blackmore's and 10 here. Captain Russell thinks
this will do as the other forts are very strong and well supplied with
men." (6)
Arthur Campbell in a letter relating to Elk Garden and Glade Hollow
Forts, states:
"I give no orders regarding Elk Garden and Glade Hollow, only
that I
would write you so and so. I believe a wiser head that yours or mine put
together would not please Jemmy Smith." (7)
These two letters seem to indicate that James Smith had something
to
do with Glade Hollow Fort, and since he was not a militia officer it must
have meant possession of the land.
In 1777, Robert Dale settled on a tract of land on Big Cedar Creek
in
Glade Hollow and obtained a patent warrant for the same. This may be the
land upon which the fort stood and which James Smith was residing at an
earlier date. John Carr, who was born on Carr's Creek in 1773 refers to
Dale's Fort on the Clinch, which was surely a reference to the Glade
Hollow Fort. (8)
Tradition says that after the cessation of Indian hostilities the
old
Glade Hollow Fort was converted into a church known as the Glade Hollow
church. That a church did exist here is shown in Semple's "Baptist in
Virginia", Table of Holston Baptist Association, page 358, which
reads:
"The Glade Hollow church was planted by T. Burgess and S.
Goodwin in
1788."
"There were baptist churches in this district at a much
earlier date
but they were broken up by the Indian wars." (Do, page 360)
"The glade Hollow was taken off from Clinch River church,
which is
one of the two old churches mentioned above as broken up by the war. A few
members returning after the war, the church was reconstituted."
(Do, page 361)
Tradition states that Squire Boone, the brother of Daniel, preached
in the Clinch River church at Castlewood. If this is true then the church
was active between 1773 and 1775, which period covered Squire Boone's stay
on the Clinch.
Moore's Fort
Russell's Fort Byrd was located in lower Cassell's Woods on the
road
leading to Dungannon, and is now owned by W. S. Banner and known as the
"Sally Meade" place. This fort was built upon the land of
William Moore,
who along with his brother,
Joseph, settled in Castlewood in 1769, hence
the name Moore's Fort. The Moore Brothers assigned their land warrants to
Captain John Snoddy when they left the Clinch and since Captain Snoddy was
a militia officer and at times was in command of Moore's Fort, as well as
owning it, it was sometimes
called Snoddy's Fort. Moore's Fort was the largest and most widely known
of the Clinch chain of forts.
No description has been left of the size or shape of Moore's Fort,
but we know it had two gates, a front and back one, with the front gate
opening toward the spring which one may still see by visiting the spot.
This was the fort that sheltered Daniel Boone and his family after their
return to the Clinch in 1773 when Boone's son and others were killed by
the Indians on Wallen's Creek in his first attempt at a Kentucky
settlement. By petition of the people of Blackmore's Fort, Daniel Boone
was placed in command of Moore's and Blackmore's Forts in 1774 as a
Captain of militia and continued in command of them until he went to
Kentucky in the spring of 1775 to found Boonesboro. While living on Clinch
a son was born to Daniel and Rebecca Boone, whose name was William, and
who died soon after birth and lies in an unmarked grave in the old Moore's
Fort cemetery on the brow of a hill overlooking the fort and Clinch River.
An amusing story is told of the Boone family while they were living
in Moore's Fort by Mrs. Samuel Scott of Jessamine County, Kentucky, who
was also at the time living in the fort. Mrs. Scott says the men had
become very careless in guarding the fort, lounging outside the gates,
playing ball and in general lax in their duties. One day Mrs. Boone, her
daughter, Mrs. Hannah Carr and some of the other ladies loaded their guns
lightly, went out from the fort, shut the gates and shot their guns off in
rapid succession like the Indians. The men all scrambled for the fort, but
finding the gates shut none could get in, but one young man who managed to
climb over the stockade wall. So great was their consternation that some
of the men ran right through the pond in front of the fort. After they
were finally let in the gates Mrs. Scott says the men were so mad some of
them wanted to have the women whipped. (9)
We learn from the pension statement of James Fraley that Moore's
Fort must have been large - perhaps the largest fort on the frontier. He
says
that there was continuously some 20 families in the fort, with 20 or 25
men out on patrol as Indian Spys. Considering the large size of pioneer
families, plus the militia assigned to protect the fort it surely must
have sheltered from one hundred and fifty to two hundred people, and it
would have taken a large stockade to quarter and shelter this number of
people. (10)
Moore's Fort was attacked many times by Indians, and many settlers
and militiamen were killed in and around the fort.
Blackmore's Fort
This is the "small fortification" that Captain Russell
wrote Preston was being built at Blackmore's at the mouth of Stony Creek,
but which in
time grew to be the second most important fort on the frontier. Built on
the lands of Captain John Blackmore, who along with his brother Joseph had
come from Fauquier County, Virginia, with their families to carve out
homes in the wilderness in the year 1772.
Being more exposed it was attacked by Indians more often than
Moore's, and many people were killed and captured in and around this fort.
The fort stood on the north side of the Clinch, just outside the village
of Fort Blackmore. It was to Blackmore's that all the people came when the
forts in Powell Valley were evacuated in 1776, just prior to the outbreak
of the Cherokee War, as did the people from Rye Cove Fort. It must have
been of large proportions, but no one has left any known description of
this fort. According to Samuel Alley who was born in sight of the fort in
the year 1801, it was torn down and no vestige of it remained in 1887,
when he paid a visit to his old home and found the ground where the old
fort stood being tended in corn. However, nearby stood an apple
tree planted by his father which to that day was known as the "John
Alley
Apple Tree." (11)
Across the road in a fringe of trees and brush, and slightly
northeast of where the old fort stood is the old fort graveyard, with
rowsof small, uncut stones marking the final resting place of those who
died
from either the stroke of disease or tomahawk in the long ago.
Always known as Blackmore's Fort, the village today, almost two
centuries later still bears the name except in the reverse order of Fort
Blackmore.
The Forts on the Upper Clinch River
Of the seven original forts built by order of Lord Dunmore, the
last
Colonial Governor of Virginia, three were located on the upper
Clinch
River and were under the military command of Captain Daniel Smith.
Of these three, perhaps the most noted and possibly the largest was
Elk Garden Fort
This fort was located just south of State Route 19, on land now
owned
by the Stuart Land and Cattle Company, and in the general vicinity
of the
Elk Garden Methodist Church. Just who owned the land on which the
old fort stood has not been ascertained, but those owning land in the
immediate vicinity of the fort was Captain John Dunkin, Captain John
Kinkead,
Richard Price and Solomon Litton. That it was a stockaded fort is
beyond question, but as to its size and shape nothing is known.
No record has been found of an actual Indian assault directly upon
the Elk Garden Fort though it is very possible there was such, as
many people were killed and captured in the Elk Garden section from 1774
to the end of Indian depredations which ceased with the slaying of the
half-breed
Chief Benge in 1794. The fort was manned throughout this period by
militia.
Andrew Lynam who filed his pension application in Bath County,
Kentucky in 1834, says:
"In 1776, I entered the service under Captain John Kinkead and
marched immediately to a station called Elk Garden, and as the
object of our service was to keep down the Indians, we were put to repairing
and fixing up the Station."
The statement of Lynam shows that although the fort was only two years old it was in need of repair, which shows that green logs
embedded in earth as a stockade soon rot and no doubt, the stockades had to
be repaired and rotten logs replaced frequently, as well as repair to
the cabins and buildings inside the stockades.
Witten's Fort
The second fort under Captain Daniel Smith's command was Witten's
Fort, also sometimes called "Witten's Crab Orchard" and
the "Upper
Station." This fort was the home of William Witten and was
located not far
from the county seat town of Tazewell. It has been restored, less
the
stockade, as a tourist attraction alongside State Route 19, near
Tazewell.
Apparently from all available records we must come to the
conclusion
that Witten's Fort was a small affair, as the militia complement
stationed
to defend the fort was usually a small force, despite the fact that
it was
wide open to the Sandy War Passes.
In the pension application of James Elkins, filed in Clarke County,
Kentucky in 1832, he makes this statement:
"The next tour of duty was an "old" Mr. William
Witten's Fort on a
tour of three months in the fall of 1777, from Russell County,
Virginia,
under Captain Thomas Maxwell as a volunteer. On this tour we ranged
the country, but the principal part of our time we were guarding the
above
fort."
Maiden Springs Station
The third fort under Captain Daniel Smith's command was the Maiden
Springs Station located on the Maiden Spring branch of Clinch
River, and was the home of Rees Bowen. No
description has been found as to the
construction details or size of this fort. There is no account that
it
ever came under a direct assault by the Indians, but it did remain
one of
the frontier defense bastions throughout the troubled Indian days.
Rees Bowen was born in Maryland in 1742. He fought in the Point
Pleasant Campaign in 1774, and went to the relief of the Kentucky
Stations
in 1778. During the illness of his brother, Captain William Bowen,
he
succeeded as Lieutenant to his brother's command at the Battle of
King's Mountain and was shot dead by a Tory from behind a baggage wagon.
Thus is completed the description of the seven original forts built
on the Clinch frontier. It may be of interest to the reader to know
who manned and protected these forts and the frontier during the well
documented period of Dunmore's War, as militia rosters have been
preserved
of the first men to man these forts immediately after their
construction.
The rosters first lists the forts, distance from each, and the name
of the officer in charge and the number of men assigned.
Blackmore's Fort - 16 Men - Sergeant Moor, Officer in Charge
Moore's Fort - 20 men - 20 miles - Boone (Daniel), Officer in
Charge
Russell's Fort - 20 men - 4 miles - W. Poage, Sergeant, Officer in Charge
Glade Hollow Fort - 15 men - 12 miles - John Dunkin, Sergeant,
Officer in Charge
Elk Garden Fort - 18 men - 14 miles - John Kinkead, Sergeant,
Officer
in Charge
Maiden Spring Fort - 5 men - 23 miles - Joseph Cravens, Sergeant -
Officer in Charge
Witten's Big Crab Orchard - 3 men - 12 miles - Ensign (John)
Campbell
This list is dated 6 October 1774. (Draper Mss 3 QQ 116)
At the Elk Garden Fort - 13 August to 18 November, 1774
James Anderson, Robert Breeze, Robert Donnelson, Thomas Donnelson,
Ben Jones, David Kincaid, John Kincaid, Sergeant, James Laughlin,
John
Lewis, Henry Mannadue, Richard Price, Thomas Price, David Priest,
Samuel
Priest, William Priest (later killed by Indians), Ericus Smith.
At the Glade Hollow Fort - 29 August to 6 November, 1774
Jeremiah Able, William Bustar(d), Richard Byrd, Isaac Chrisman
(killed by Indians Rye Cove 1776), Abraham Cooper, Francis Cooper,
James
Coyle (killed by Indians 1780), John Dunkin, Sergeant (Captured by
Indians 1780, released 1783), William Ferrell (Killed by Indians), Joseph
Horne,
Solomon Litton (prisoner of Indians 1780-1783), James McCarty,
Henley
Moore, Ensign, James Price, Drury Puckett, Archibald Scott (killed
by Indians 1785), James Scott, Richard Thompson, William Wilmoth,
Archibald Woods.
At the Maiden Springs Fort - August to November 1774
Rees Bowen (killed by King's Mountain), Robert Brown, Sergeant, Thomas Bromley, James Cravens, John Cravens, Joseph Cravens
(Sergeant from
22nd September), Robert Cravens, James Douglas, John Flintham,
Samuel Fowler, John Jamison, Andrew Lammey, James McElhenny, John Newland,
Samuel Paxton, James Rogers (Draper Mss 6 XX 106), David Ward, Henry
Willis
At Big Crab Orchard (also called Maxwell's Mills and Witten's Fort
-
First Listing August to October 1774
Levi Bishop, Andrew Branshead, William Brompson, David Bustar(d),
John Campbell, Ensign, John Crawford, Samuel Doack, George
Daugherty,
James Edwards, James Fullen, Michael Glaves, Alexander Grant, John Grinnup, Francis Hambleton, Isaiah Hamilton, John Hamilton,
Alexander Henderson, Francis Hines, James Mitchell, Robert Moffett, Thomas
Potter, Benjamin Redford, Edward Sharp, Isaac Spratt, Sergeant, Andrew
Steel,
George Vaut, Thomas Whitten, Sr., Sergeant, Thomas Whitten, Jr.,
John
Williams, Roland Williams (Draper Mss 9 DD 2)
At the Big Crab Orchard Fort - October to November 1774
Christian Bergeman, Richard Breeze, Robert Brown, Phillip Dutton,
Johnathan Edwards, Daniel Henderson, Thomas Jones, Jacob Kinder,
Peter
Kinder, William King, William Lashley, Thomas Meads, William Pharis
(Ferris), Michael Razor, Thomas Rogers, Jeremiah Whitten (Draper
Mxx 6 XX 106)
Strength of the Upper Clinch Stations at the End of October, 1774
At Elk Garden - 1 Sergeant, 15 men
At Fort Christian - 1 Ensign, 1 Sergeant, 15 men
At Maiden Springs - Brown & Cravens (Sergeants) and 15 men
At Whitten's Fort - 1 Ensign, Sergeants Spratt & Whitten, and
44 men.
Total men and officers - 97 (Draper Mss 5 XX 2)
Indian Scouts on the Clinch in Early 1774
Ephraim Drake, William Herrell, Edward Sharpe, Richard Stanton.
Sent
out by Captain William Russell as Scouts, 15 April 1774. (Draper
Mss 3 QQ
18)
Scouts Listed by Captain Daniel Smith on Clinch - August to
October,
1774
Rees Bowen, William Bowen, William Crabtree, Robert Davis, James
Fowler, Samuel Hays, John Kinkead (17 days), Thomas Maxwell (10
days),
William Priest (7 days), John Sharp (7 days), David Ward. (Draper
Mss XX
2)
Roster of Troops Under Captain Daniel Smith (perhaps Maiden Springs
4
October 1774)
Thomas Boylston, Robert Brown, Saul Cecil, Israel Harman, Vincent Hobbs, William McAdoo, William Magee, Thomas Maxwell, Holton
Munsey,
Samuel Munsey, James Myers (Marrs), John Myers (Marrs), David
Patton, Thomas Shannon, John Smith, Joseph Turner (Draper Mss QQ 114)
While Fort Christian (Glade Hollow) was erected in Captain William Russell's command originally, it seems later to have been
transferred to the command of Captain Daniel Smith.
No list for the Forts in Russell's Command in 1774 have been found,
which were Blackmore's, Moore's and Russell's Forts. A later list
has been uncovered for Moore's Fort, which is given below.
List of Troops at Moore's Fort - June 30, 1777 (Draper Mss 1 XX 20 and 1 XX 24)
Patrick Porter, Sergeant, Lewis Green, Jr., Robert Kilgore, James
Alley, Charles Kilgore, Samuel Alley, John Montgomery, Samuel
Porter, Zachariah Green, John Alley, Alexander
Montgomery, Sr., Alexander
Montgomery, Jr., Andrew Cowan, Frederick Friley, John Kinkead, John
Barksdale, James Ozburn (Osborne), Thomas Osborne, Nehemiah Noe.
Daniel Smith's Fort
Some 16 miles north of
Lebanon, on Highway Number 19, on Indian Creek in upper Russell County, is a
State Highway Historical Marker, which bears this inscription:
"Near here in 1774, stood Daniel Smith's Fort, also known as
Fort Christian. The fort was named for Smith who was a surveyor and
Captain of militia on the upper Clinch."
To prove that this marker has an error, I herewith quote two
letters written at the very time these forts were being built on the Clinch
frontier. The first of these letters was written by Captain William
Russell, who was in command of the forts on the lower Clinch below
Elk
Garden. Russell's letter is dated July 13, 1774, and written to his
superior military officer, Colonel William
Preston, and reads:
"Since I wrote you last the inhabitants of this river have
altered
the plan for two forts only, on this river below Elk Garden, and
have
erected three; one in Cassell's Woods which I call Fort Preston; a
second
ten miles above which I call Fort Christian; the third five miles
below
the first which I call Fort Byrd..." (12)
Colonel William Christian, the same man for whom Fort Christian was
named was in Cassell's Woods at this very time supervising the
construction of the forts, having been sent to do so by Colonel
William
Preston. On July 12, 1774, Colonel Christian wrote to Preston,
heading his
letter up "Captain Russell's Fort" in which he writes:
"There are four forts erecting on the Clinch in Captain
Russell's company; one at Moore's four miles below this; another at
Blackmore's
sixteen miles down; and one a Smith's, twelve miles above this
place."
(13)
Captain Russell says that Fort Christian was ten miles above
Castlewood; and Colonel Christian says it was at Smith's twelve
mile
above. These distances from Castlewood puts the location of the
fort on
Big Cedar Creek in Glade Hollow and it can
be none other than the Glade Hollow Fort, so Glade Hollow Fort and Fort Christian were one and the same.
It will be remembered that at the time of the erection of these
forts
that Fort Christian was in Captain Russell's company below Elk
Garden and
it is not likely that Russell would have had the audacity to name
Daniel Smith's very own fort over which he had no military authority
whatsoever.
It is approximately 40 miles from Russell's Fort in Castlewood to
the site of Smith's Fort at Indian Creek, north of Lebanon, and this
certainly
does not agree with the distance given by both Russell and
Christian from the Castlewood Fort to Fort Christian.
Some say that near Belfast stood Smith's Fort built in 1774 by
Capt. Daniel Smith, and that after Daniel left the Clinch it became the
fort of his brother Colonel Henry Smith who lived at Clifton in upper
Russell County.
This may be true as Colonel Henry Smith became militia commandant
for
Russell County after its formation in 1786, but it either event it certainly must have been a "family fort" defended by its
occupants, as no record has been found to prove that it was manned by State Militia
and no
know Revolutionary War soldier who has left a pension statement
saying he
served in Smith's Fort.
There is only one document that might suggest that Smith had a fort
on Indian Creek, and that is a letter written by Col. Arthur
Campbell to Colonel William Preston, dated September 9, 1774, in which he
states:
"Yesterday morning early, one John Henry was dangerously
wounded upon Clinch, about four miles from Captain Smith's Station. I have sent
out orders to this, and the next company on the Holston for all the men
that have arms and ammunition to assemble tomorrow in order to patrol a
few days in the Rich Valley, and some of the best hands to go over and
see
what has become of Captain Smith, as he is very weak at his own
station, having only eight (8) men the last account." (14)
Campbell's letter does lead one to believe that Captain Smith had a
fort at his home on Indian Creek, but why was it not mentioned in
the military correspondence of 1774, and why were no militia troops
assigned to defend it? There can be only one answer and that is, that it was
a
family fort as previously suggested and then the question arises,
was it a stockaded fort, or only a forthouse?
Other Forts on the Clinch
New Garden Station
In the beautiful New Garden section of Russell County, Virginia, on
the south side of the Clinch was another very early fort
called the New Garden Station. This is another the historians have passed by and
no historical marker denotes its existence, even the people now living
in the area are unaware that fort ever existed there. This section of
Russell County was settled very early, in fact as early as 1769, and upon
whose land and when the fort was built it not known.
Certainly it can be proven that the fort stood upon Thompson's
Creek,
from this entry in Washington County, Virginia, Land Entry Book,
dated August 20, 1780, which reads:
"We the commissioners, etc...do certify that Israel Christian
is entitled to 100 acres of land near the New Garden Fort, on the
north side
of Clinch River, on the waters of Thompson's Creek."
The New Garden Station may have been built as early as 1774 and
manned by the settlers in proximity to it. Certainly there is no
militia list for it as this early date, and neither is it listed as one of
the garrisoned forts under Captain Daniel Smith's command at this time.
Settlers of the New Garden section would have been at the complete
mercy of the Shawnee entering through the Sandy war passes, and
sanctuary in either the Elk Garden or Castlewood Fort would have been miles
away. Considering these conditions and the very early settlement of the
area it
seems that an early fort would have been a most urgent necessity of
the settlers.
Both Andrew Lynam and George Huffaker in their pension applications
say they served at this fort under a Lt. James Leeper in the year
1777, with Huffaker saying that when he served there Alexander Smith and
a Mr. Jackson lived there.
Robert Sinclair says in his pension claim that he served there in
the fall of 1776 or 1777 under Captain William Norton. These statements
not only prove the existence of the fort, but also that it did exist at
an early date.
George William Settle in an unpublished history of Russell County
entitled "A Brief History of the Earliest Generations and
Events, Etc., In
the Eastern Part of Russell County, Virginia, page 53, states:
"About one half mile north of Oaks Garage, or around 300 yards
up the ridge from Robert Green's was an Indian fort where twenty-five or
thirty
people lived for protection against the Indians. Some old man told
me they
would go down to the big spring below the road, eat and go back to
the fort, but never without the men along with their rifles."
The above traditional statement may actually pinpoint the location
of
the New Garden Fort.
Tate's Fort
Tate's Fort on Moccasin Creek in Russell County was another the
early
historians completely overlooked, and only two historical
references brought it to light. The first made by Mrs. Samuel Scott of
Jessamine County, Kentucky, who in referring to her stay on the Clinch makes
this
statement:
"We moved out of Tate's Fort, close on Moccasin Creek, over to
Holston to get ready to come to Kentucky." (15) This was in
the spring of 1780 and she joined a party of emigrants to Kentucky in 1784.
The other statement was made by Captain John Carr, of Sumner
County,
Tennessee, who was born on Carr's Creek in Russell County,
Virginia, in 1773, and moved with his widowed mother to the Cumberland
settlement in
1784. In speaking of the year 1776, he states:
"My father settled on Big Moccasin Creek with some 15 or 20
families from Houston's Fort. The Indians were so troublesome that we built
a 'new fort.' It was called Tate's Fort, where we forted in summer and
returned
home in winter." (16)
Carr's statement needs some clarification and he does not mean that
his father settled on Moccasin Creek in 1776, but that it was this
year in which they moved out of Houston's Fort where they had refugeed in
the past and built a new fort for their convenience. His father had settled
on
Moccasin Creek much earlier for John, himself, was born there in
1773, and
his father died there in 1782. This, then, places the construction
of
Tate's Fort in the year 1776.
That Tate's Fort was a stockaded affair certainly cannot be
doubted,
for 15 or 20 families could never have crowded into a fort house.
It certainly must have been manned and defended by its occupants for I
find no record of militia ever having been stationed there.
This fort was built on the lands of Colonel John Tate who had
settled
on Moccasin Creek in the year 1772, on a tract of 174 acres of land
surveyed for him December 13, 1774. (17) I have not found any
account that this fort was ever attacked directly by Indians.
Rye Cove Fort
On March 25, 1774, Captain Daniel
Smith, who was the Surveyor for
Fincastle County, surveyed 225 acres of land on Cove Creek in the
Rye Cove
of present day Scott County for Isaac Crissman. Crissman entered
his land
in Fincastle County, March 28, 1774. The exact date that he settled
on the
land is not shown. He and two members of his family were slain at
or near the spot in 1776 by the Indians. The Washington County, Virginia,
court
appointed Archibald Scott, who was later himself slain by the
Indians, as Administrator of Crissman's estate on January 28, 1777. Crissman had served in the militia as a
private at
Glade Hollow Fort during the Point Pleasant Campaign in 1774.
Prior to his death at the hands of the Indians, Crissman had built
a fort on his land, probably sometime in the year 1774. John Redd who
had come to Powell Valley with Captain Joseph Martin in 1775, knew
Crissman, and has left the only known description of the fort. Of it he says:
"Rye Cove Fort was about 8 miles from the North Fork of the
Clinch, situated about a half mile from Cove Creek on its west side. There
were several springs at the fort. It enclosed about half an acre of
land." (18)
This fort has been referred to as Crissman's Fort, but more
commonly as the Rye Cove Fort. In military correspondence it is called Fort
Lee, but not a single soldier who served there and left a statement has
ever referred to it as Fort Lee, but always as Rye Cove Fort. It was one
of the major forts and was garrisoned throughout Indian times with
militia. Many
people were killed and captured in the Rye Cove, including troops
and spies sent out from the fort.
There has been some thought that Crissman's Fort and the Rye Cove Fort were separate forts, due to the fact that Captain Joseph
Martin and his troops were paid for building a fort in Rye Cove in 1777. I
think, however, that it can be proven that Fort Lee, Crissman's Fort and
Rye Cove Fort were one and the same, and that Martin and his troops were
paid for repairing the old fort, not building a new one. First let us go to
the pension declaration of Charles Bickley, filed in Russell County,
Virginia, in 1838, in which he states:
"That he entered the service in the month of September or
October, 1775, under the command of Captain William Russell, Lt. William
Bowen and Ensign James Knox, and was rendezvoused and stationed at Rye Cove, where he remained in the service guarding and defending that fort
until January 23, 1776, when he was discharged. That in the ensuing
summer of 1776, exact date not remembered, he was engaged in hoeing corn in
the county of Russell when an alarm that Indians were in the
neighborhood was raised. The people assembled at the fort (Russell's) and the
company of militia from Reed Creek in Wythe County, under the command of
Captain John Montgomery, Lt. Michael Daugherty and Ensign John Simpson, were on
their march to the Rye Cove Fort, preparatory to an expected expedition against the Cherokee, when
he, Charles Bickley, enrolled and marched as a Private under the said
officers
to Rye Cove where they remained a short time.
Colonel (Anthony) Bledsoe, then in
command of the forces on the frontier, ordered the evacuation of
the Rye Cove Fort and marched to Blackmore's Fort on Clinch River, where a junction was made with the forces then in the fort and they marched
from Fort Blackmore into Tennessee, where they were joined by Colonel
(William) Christian and Major Evan Shelby.
On return of Christian's Army at the close of the Cherokee
Campaign, it was disbanded, except a few companies scattered here and there
on the frontier. One of these companies under command of Captain Joseph
Martin was stationed in the Rye Cove during the winter and spring of 1777.
They were stationed at Crissman's Fort. While here Martin's Company was
attacked by Indians under the leadership of a son of Nancy Ward's,
known
among the whites by the name of Little Fellow."
It was during the winter of 1777 that Martin's troops were paid for
building the fort in Rye Cove and Bickley says they were stationed
in Crissman's Fort, which seems to prove that they were paid for
repairing the old fort built by Crissman, which Bickley speaks of as both Rye
Cove and Crissman's Fort.
During 1792 and until after the last Indian raid on the frontier in
1794, Captain Andrew Lewis (Jr.), son of the historically famous
Andrew Lewis of Salem, was in charge of the frontier militia with his headquarters at Fort Lee in Rye Cove.
Carter's Fort
Further westward in the Rye Cove of Scott County stood Carter's
Fort,
supposedly built by the Carter brothers, Joseph, Thomas, and
Norris. Most
early historians place the date of this fort around 1786, but it
can be
proven by Revolutionary war pension claims that this date is at
least a decade too late.
James Elkins says in his pension statement filed in Clarke County,
Kentucky in 1832, that he served at Carter's Station in the Rye
Cove in the latter part of the summer of 1777, under Captain William Bowen.
His statement is no doubt correct for Lt. William Bowen is shown to
have been in the Rye Cove, both in 1776 and 1777, according to early military
records.
How many years prior to 1777 this fort existed is not known, but
the
Carter brothers were very early settlers in the Rye Cove with land
entries in old Fincastle County in 1774. Since this was the most westward
fort in
Scott County and openly exposed to Indian forays it is reasonable
to think
that the early settlers of Rye Cove would have had a fort for their
protection at a very early date. This was undoubtably a palisaded
fort and it stood close along the old "Hunter's Trace" passing
through Scott County.
Houston's Fort
Still in Scott County on the waters of Moccasin Creek was Houston's
Fort. While the Moccasin Creek waters are a tributary of the
Holston River this stream was more in the Clinch River defensive area than of the
Holston, and it was thought for several years after the first
settlers that Moccasin Creek was a tributary of Clinch River.
The fort was built by William Houston and his neighbors in 1774,
upon land which had formerly been settled by Thomas McCulloch in 1769,
and
abandoned by McCulloch in June of 1771, because of fear of Indians.
William Houston, assignee of Thomas McCulloch, seems to have taken
up his
abode on the land in 1772. Nearby stood a grist mill which Houston
had
built to serve his and his neighbors need for bread.
In the late summer of 1776, probably in August, Fort Houston was attacked by a large force of Cherokee Indians, said by some people
who were in the fort to number 300. This attack was driven off when two
companies of militia under Captain Daniel Smith and Captain John
Montgomery were sent to the relief of the station from Fort
Blackmore where the troops were gathering for Colonel William Christian's
Cherokee
Campaign. (19)
Samuel Cowan who lived in lower Castlewood had raced across country
on a borrowed stud horse belonging to Deskin Tibbs to warn the
station that Indians were in the area and arrived before any attack had
been made upon the fort. After delivering his message he insisted upon
returning to his home against the advise of those in the fort and started upon
his
return and was fired upon a short distance from the fort. The
defenders of
the fort hearing the shots sallied out to his assistance, found him
shot
and scalped, but still alive. He as carried into the
fort, but died a short time afterwards. The horse Cowan was riding
was uninjured and reached Castlewood, covered with sweat and lather
from the
long run, and Mrs. Cowan seeing the riderless horse fainted,
knowing that her husband had been shot from the horse. (20)
John Carr, who was in the fort with his parents, and at the time, only three years of age, wrote to Dr. Lyman C. Draper in 1854, that
he could remember his father holding him up to a port hole to see the
Indians firing upon the fort. (21)
Mrs. Samuel Scott, another inmate of the fort, said that when the fort was attacked there was about thirty people in the fort, with
perhaps ten of these being men, and that the Indians stayed around several
days killing livestock. (22)
Rocky Station
On the old Kentucky Trace between Woodway and Dryden in the
vicinity of the Litton Dairy Farm, stood Rocky Station which was the only
fort in Powell Valley to remain open during the dangerous days of the Revolutionary War when the Indians, aided and abetted by the
infamous British agents, living among them were inciting
them to slaughter innocent women and children along the western frontier.
The Rocky station was garrisoned by a Company of Rangers who patrolled Powell Valley and watched the war paths from the Cherokee
and Shawnee nations especially Cumberland Gap, which pass was used by
both nations. Colonel Charles Cocke assumed command of this station in
1780, and remained in command until after the Revolutionary War. Colonel
Cocke was particularly alert, often delegating command of the fort to a subordinate and going out as an Indian spy himself. We sometimes
find this station referred to as Cocke's Station,
because Colonel Cocke was in command there.
There are numerous accounts of Indian attacks upon the fort, and
it's Rangers had many encounters with them throughout the valley,
especially those bonds dedicated to stealing horses, which acts seemed to
increase many fold during the Revolution. (23)
Rocky Station was perhaps erected in 1775 or 1776, and was the home
of Isaac Crissman, Jr., who is assumed, without proof, to have been
a son of Isaac Crissman who built Crissman's Fort in Rye Cove and was
slain by the Indians in early 1776 in Rye Cove. At least Isaac, Jr., was
heir-at-law to an Isaac, Sr., in possession of this property.
Washington
County, Virginia, Land Entry Book 1, shows that Isaac Crissman,
whether Junior or Senior not known, made actual settlement on
the land in 1775. In a letter written by Colonel Joseph martin to the
Governor, dated November 8, 1791, he says:
"Crissman's Station is north of Clinch Mountain in Powell
Valley." (24)
Martin's Stations
In the year 1769, Joseph Martin of Henry County, Virginia, led a group of land seekers into Powell Valley in search of land. After
losing their trail and having much difficulty in finding the valley they
finally arrived, staked out vast acreages under the Loyal Company grant and
returned to Henry County.
In January, 1775, Martin with a group of men from Henry County returned to the valley. Among those accompanying him was John
Redd,
Mordecai Hoard, Brice Martin (his brother), and William Parks, the
latter killed by the Indians the following year on his land claim. These
men and
others staked out their claims and were improving them for home
sites.
Sometime between January and June of 1775, this little group built
a fort of which John Redd leaves this description:
"Martin's Fort was on Martin's Creek. The fort was located on
the
north side of the creek. There was some 5 or 6 cabins; these built
some 20 feet apart with strong stockades between. In these stockades there
were
port holes. The station contained about half an acre of ground. The
shape
was a parallelogram. There were two fine springs near the station
on its
north side. The station was not reoccupied after 1776, or during
the Revolutionary War." (24)
This station was evacuated in June of 1776, just prior to the outbreak of the Cherokee war. Captain Joseph Martin, after the
Cherokee Campaign was appointed Indian Agent to that nation and moved his headquarters from the
valley to Long Island. When Long Island was
ascertained to be in the state of North Carolina, Martin then moved
back to the Valley. In 1783, the Governor of Virginia and Council
authorized the building of a fort at Cumberland Gap which fort was erected
under the supervision and on the lands of Captain Martin, in the fall of
1783. This new station was some 18 or 20 miles below Martin's Old Station and 2
miles from
Cumberland Gap on Indian Creek, or on Station Creek, a tributary
stream, for certainly that is how the stream got its name. Unfortunately no one has left a description of the new station, but
it is sometimes referred to as "the Blockhouse" suggesting that
it had bastions at the corners. This was the last stopover for emigrants on the great
Wilderness Road before their entry into Kentucky. Martin retained possession
of this station
until 1788, (25) when he sold it and returned to Henry County never
to return to the western frontier in which he played so great a role, and has
been almost
forgotten by historians writing of the area.
There is a State Historical Marker locating the site of Martin's
Old
Station at Rose Hill, in Lee County, Virginia. The location is
correct, but the marker states that the fort was built in 1768, which is an
error.
Martin's first venture into the valley, as previously stated was in
1769,
and no fort was built since their stay at this time was only a few
days.
The location of Martin's two forts can be easily verified by
a letter written by him from his home in Henry
County to the Governor of Virginia, on November 8, 1791, wherein he states:
"From
Moccasin Gap to Martin's Old Station, 25 miles; from thence to Martin's New
Station, 20
miles; from thence to Cumberland Gap, 2 miles." He further
states in this
letter that about 100 souls were living at or near the Old Station,
and at
Martin's New Station and the neighborhood about 50 souls. These two
stations were always in Virginia, and when both Walker and
Henderson ran
their lines they were so run as to leave Martin's Stations within
the
state.
Mump's Fort
John Redd, in his Narrative in the Virginia Magazine of History and
Biography states that in the fall of 1775, William Mumps, with a
small
band of men built a fort at the Sinking Springs, about 20 miles
from
Martin's Station. The Sinking Springs was the present site of
Jonesville, the county seat of Lee County.
William Mumps and his men were probably from Henry County,
Virginia, and
likely induced by Martin to make settlement in Powell Valley. Redd
says the fort was evacuated in 1776, and never again reoccupied. In June
of 1776, shortly before the evacuation of the fort the historically
famous George Rogers Clarke was a guest at Mump's Station on his return
from Kentucky, which he had left because of fear of an Indian War.
Redd says the fort was evacuated in 1776 and never again
reoccupied,
yet Alexander Ritchie, Jr., in his Revolutionary war pension claim
gives
the line of forts and stations in use by the militia and he states:
"A fort where Lee County Courthouse now stands."
In this statement he is referring to the year 1777, or thereabouts.
It is
possible that he was referring to Mump's abandoned fort and that it
was in
occasional use by the militia after 1776, however, this is only a
supposition. It is unknown if this was a stockaded fort, but in all probability, due to the exposed location, it had
some sort of rude fortification around it.
Priest's Fort
This is another fort found only in the memoirs of John Redd, and of
it he
says:
"That it was located some 5 or 6 miles above Martin's Station
and was on no water course." It was built about the same time as Mump's
Fort, and
William Priest, its builder, was perhaps a Henry County, Virginia,
man in the valley through Martin's influence. Five or six miles from
Martin's
Station would locate this fort between the towns of Rose Hill and
Jonesville, in Lee County.
This fort was evacuated at the same time as Mump's and Martin's,
and the
men from both fled to Fort Blackmore, in June, 1776,
when alarmed by the outbreak of the Cherokee War. All evidence points to the fact that
it was, as Redd says, never reoccupied after the initial evacuation, as no
other mention of it has been gleaned from any source.
Owen's Station
The only known mention of Owen's Station comes from the pension
statement of James Kincaid, filed in Lafayette County, Missouri. He tells of
going to Owen's Station ten miles below Martin's Station in Powell
Valley, in
present day Lee County. Ten miles below Martin's Old Station would
place Owen's Station some eight miles from Cumberland Gap, and in the
vicinity
of the present village of Ewing. Kincaid's reference was to the
year 1776, or 1777, and no other reference has been found mentioning this
station. In the year 1786, a William Owen was living in the vicinity of Owen's Station, and this station may or may not have been his home.
Yokum's Station
Located in Powell Valley on the banks of Powell River, between
Dryden and
Woodway, near where the highway crosses the bridge at the Wygal
place. Yokum's Station seems to have been a neighborhood fort for the
scattered settlers of Turkey Cove. The station was perhaps the home of one
George Yokum and anything of his personal life is unknown to this writer.
It appears that the station was built some time after 1780, since this
is about the time that Turkey Cove began to be settled, with Vincent
Hobbs and some others settling there in this year. No description has
been found for this fort and none of the military correspondence or pension
claims make mention of it. This leads to the assumption that it may have
been
only a neighborhood fort manned by the settlers. The only intimation that militia troops might have been stationed there comes from the assignment order for militia troops
in
1792, which shows a Captain, Sergeant, Corporal and 24 Privates
stationed in the Turkey Cove, but does not show at what particular places, if
any, they were stationed.
In a letter written from Morristown, Tennessee, September 9, 1925,
by Mr. William A. Orr, who grew up in the neighborhood of the fort, to Dr.
David F. Orr, he says:
"When the fort was built there was only a trail from it up and
down the
river, up Turkey Cove and on over Lovelady Gap and across Natural
Tunnel in Scott County. It was then part of Washington County. Do you
remember a large pile of rocks at the Comfrey Patch? That is where the fort
stood. It was from there that Captain Hobbs went when he shot Benge."
It is true that it was from this fort that Captain Vincent Hobbs
led his
small band of settlers that killed the half-breed Indian Chief
Benge in
present Wise County, Virginia, forever freeing the frontier from
the Indian scourge. All of Hobb's men lived in and around Turkey Cove
and most
of them were members of the militia in Captain Andrew Lewis' (Jr.)
command, which again might suggest that some militia was stationed
at this
fort.
Gibson's Station
Gibson's Station was located in lower Lee County, about five miles
from Cumberland Gap, and is still, today, called Gibson's Station.
In 1775, Ambrose Fletcher made a settlement on a tract of land in
the
western end of what is today Lee County, Virginia, and on the 10th
of August 1785, Fletcher assigned his certificate for this land to
Major
George Gibson. This tract was entered before the Commissioners of Washington County, on August 10, 1781, by Fletcher, and is
described as 400 acres of land lying in Washington County in Powell's Valley,
and known by the name of the "Indian Old Fields". George Gibson had
this land surveyed on December 8, 1785, and was issued a patent for the same on August 1, 1785. (26) George Gibson doubtless moved on
this land shortly after acquiring it and established a station, since,
and to this day known as Gibson's Station. His home was a two story log
house
nearby a spring. The spring was inside the fort, and the chimney of
the
old Gibson home is still standing, but another house has been built
to it.
The location is beyond the Southern Railroad underpass and about
300 yards
beyond, on the right.
Apparently this was another of the neighborhood forts, for I find
no
record that militia was ever stationed there. It was likely
defended only
by its occupants.
George Gibson was a son of Robert and Isabella Gibson, and was born
in
County Cork, Ireland, in 1732. Come to America when quite young
with his parents and settled in Augusta County, Virginia. About 1776 he
married Elizabeth Smith, a daughter of Zachariah Smith of Augusta County.
When
upon coming to Southwest Virginia, it is said that he first settled
in the vicinity of Abingdon, before coming to Powell Valley round 1785. He
was a
Lieutenant in the French and Indian War, and served during the
Point
Pleasant campaign in 1774. During
the Revolution he served in the Continental Army, was promoted to
Major,
and is said to have been at the Battle of King's Mountain. He died
at Gibson's Station, April 3, 1819. The Indians captured his son,
Matthew Moss Gibson, when he was a small child and he lived with the
Indians until grown, when he was identified by a birthmark and ransomed by his
father. Family tradition states that he never became accustomed to living
with his
family, and would often be found outside the door listening and not
entering the house. That he often returned to his Indian parents,
staying awhile and then returning to his own parents. He later moved to
Missouri where he spent the remainder of his life.
Davidson's Garrison
While not on the waters of either the Clinch, Holston, or Powell
Rivers Davidson's Garrison; on the waters of Bluestone River in present
day
Tazewell County, contributed to the defense of the upper Clinch and
Holston Rivers in preventing entry by the Shawnee toward the
headwaters of both streams. The fort located on Cove Creek, about 3 miles from
it's mouth, which stream is a tributary of the Bluestone River, and the Bluestone settlement is often mentioned in military correspondence
during the troubled Indian days, but never Davidson's
Fort, which seems strange, as the head of the Clinch and Bluestone settlements were wide open to the Sandy War passes, and also from
the fact that state militia was stationed at this fort.
The fort was built by the Davidson family who were direct emigrants
from
County Down, Ireland, first settling on Jackson's River in Augusta
County, Virginia, later moving to Crab Creek in Montgomery County and from
thence to Cove Creek in Tazewell County. In this family there were at
least three sons, William born in County Down, Ireland, in 1759, his brothers
Joseph, born in 1767, and Andrew Davidson. Both William and Joseph served
in the
militia at their fort, and it is from the pension statement of
William, that we draw our
information and the knowledge that such a fort really existed. In
his pension statement filed in Tazewell County, Virginia, he states:
" The company stationed in Davidson's Fort in the spring of
1777 was
divided into 3 or 4 companies, and when the spys would come in and
report Indian signs, it was the duty of the companies to go in turns in
pursuit of them. He says the settlement where he lived in Montgomery (now
Tazewell) County was very weak and from 1777 to 1786 they had to
call on
the country to the east for assistance, and that a company was sent
in
each of the aforementioned years from the eastern part of
Montgomery County, part of which were stationed in the garrison with him. That
they usually went on their spying missions from Davidson's Fort across Bluestone River, across the Dividing Ridge between the waters of
Bluestone and Guyandot, and around this ridge between the Bluestone River and
Davidson's Garrison. (27) An interesting sidelight on this fort is
that from 1777 to 1786, it was under the command of Captain James Moore,
who along with his entire family were so cruelly
destroyed by the Indians on
July 14, 1786. A small booklet published many years ago under the
title
"The Captives of Abbs Valley" by an unnamed relative
tells the tragic
story of the destruction of the Moore family, except a son, James
who had previously been captured by the Indians and was still a prisoner when his family were all slain.
James Moore was appointed a Captain by the court of Montgomery
County, on April 8, 1778, on the waters of Bluestone. The same court on
August 23, 1786, entered this interesting order:
"George Peery appointed Captain in place of James Moore,
deceased, Joseph Davidson, Lieutenant, and Andrew Davidson, Ensign in the same
company."
Richlands Station
This is another of the vague stations about which too little is
known.
There are several references in official communications of troops
being stationed in the "Rich Lands", however, no particular
station is mentioned. This station may have been the home of one James Fowler,
who served as a scout under Captain William Russell, and was at Fort
Blair on
the Point Pleasant Campaign in the fall of 1774, and he, Fowler,
was dead prior to 18th of August 1778, the date the Washington County court
appointed administrators of his estate.
In Washington County, Virginia, Survey Book, page 120, is a land
entry which reads:
"On the North Fork, both sides of Clinch, in the
Rich Lands.
We, the Commissioners, etc., do certify that John Fowler,
heir-at-law to James Fowler, deceased, assignee of Thomas Sharp, is entitled to
200 acres
of land by settlement in the year 1772, lying on the North Fork of the Clinch
River, being the same where James Fowler resided in his lifetime."
Joseph Starnes, in his pension statement says that he served under
Captain Aaron Lewis in a tour of 3 months at a placed called "Fowler's
Station." (28)
That Fowler's Station and the Richland Station were one and the
same is perhaps logical reasoning, and certainly it was a very early
station, although we do not know the year in which it was built. In the year
1792 a
list of troops and their places of stationment shows a Sergeant,
Corporal and 12 Privates to be stationed at Brown's or Fugate's in Richlands.
This
may mean that by 1792 the old station had been abandoned and the
above two mentioned places may have been fort-houses where troops were
stationed.
When William Ferrill was killed by Indians in New Garden in June,
1778,
Captain Daniel Smith ordered the Sergeant in charge of Richlands
Fort to take half his men stationed there and go to the assistance of
Captain John Kinkead in New Garden. This order shows that Richlands Fort was a garrisoned station in 1778, with a Captain Edmondson being in
command, but absent at the time.
Dumps Creek Station
Upon whose land and when this station was built cannot be stated at
this
time. Next to nothing is known regarding it, with few references
available and only one pension statement reference which may be found in the application of Patrick Coyle, filed in Wayne County, Kentucky, in
1833, in which he says:
"That he entered the service in October, 1780, under
Lieutenant James
Hawkins and was stationed at Dump's Creek."
It is possible that the Dumps Creek Station may have been only a
fort house and not a stockaded fortress, however, this fact is unknown.
Guest Station
Of all the frontier stations along the Clinch this one presents the
greatest enigma. The location is between Big and Little Tom's
Creek, on the Guest River at the present site of Coeburn, Virginia. Outside
of deed references which mention this station frequently no other direct
reference has been found pertaining to it, and no militia correspondence or
pension
applications make mention of it.
Charles B. Coale, in "Wilburn Waters" tells of the
Indians going to this station in 1777, after their capture of Jane Whittaker and Polly
Alley, and finding it well defended make no attack upon it. Coale gives no
authority for this statement and search for it has prove fruitless.
Who built the station and for what purpose is unknown.
There are several opinions, but opinions unless backed by factual
data should never become a part of written history. This writer does categorically deny that it has any relation with Christopher Gist
as has been written, since Gist did not travel through the present bounds
of Wise
County.
Elder Morgan T. Lipps, who settled on Tom's Creek
in the spring of 1838,
states in his diary: (29)
"That the old settlers showed him
some of the logs of the old fort and chimney rocks still lying upon the ground
when he arrived there in 1838."
Even if Christopher Gist did visit this spot in 1750, he could
never, with the help of a small Negro boy, have built a structure whose remains
would have lasted 88 years after his departure.
That some sort of fortification existed at Coeburn is unquestioned,
since from the earliest times the place was called Guesses Station, and
retained that name until the coming of the railroads when the name was
changed.
Fort Patrick Henry
A few forts along the Holston River played a part in the defense of
the Clinch River Valley settlements, and only those playing some sort
of defensive role will be mentioned in this manuscript. Fort Patrick
Henry
often referred to as the Long Island Station (present Kingsport, Tennessee) was built in 1776, largely by the troops of Captain
William Russell, while waiting there for the gathering of the troops for
Colonel William Christian's Cherokee Campaign. Long Island in the Holston,
upon which the fort was built was a spot held in veneration by the
Cherokee Indian nation and was not ceded to the United States until after
the turn of the 19th century. The fort was the main defensive bastion
against the Southern Indians and was active until cessation of
hostilities. It was at this fort that Captain Joseph Martin had his headquarters as Indian
Agent until it was determined that the island lay in the state of North Carolina
instead of Virginia.
John Redd who has left an excellent description of this fort,
describes it
thusly:
"The fort was built on the Holston in 1776; was built on the
North bank about 200 yards below the upper end of the island. The place
selected for the fort was where the bank of the river was very high, I suppose
some 20 feet, and the water some 4 or 5 feet deep. The ground enclosed by
the fort was about 100 yards square. There was only three sides enclosed,
the bank
of the river being almost impregnable. This fort was built similar
to that built by Joseph Martin in Powells Valley with the exception that
the walls had bastions at the corner. The house for the store was in the
center of the square and also the house for the commander. There
were several springs that broke out of the bank of the river which was used, but
the river was our main dependence for water." (30)
The Anderson Blockhouse
The Blockhouse on the Holston was one of the most widely known
places on the Wilderness Road. It stood in Carter's Valley on the outer edge
of the Holston River settlements, about four miles southeast of Moccasin
Gap.
In Scott County, Virginia. It seems to have been the only
Blockhouse within the area, insofar as available data reveals, the other forts
consisting of log cabins and stockades.
The Blockhouse was built by John Anderson sometime prior to 1782.
It had
two rooms, a lower and upper floor. The walls of the upper floor
had the usual port holes, and the upper story extended out wider than the
first floor. During the period of greatest travel over the Wilderness
Road, John
Anderson, as proprietor of the Blockhouse was host to literally
hundreds of people who stopped over on their way to Kentucky and elsewhere.
When danger of Indian attack had passed, John Anderson built nearby
a
larger two story house with log kitchen, into which the family
moved, and
the old Blockhouse was converted into a "loom-house." It
was continued in
this use until 1876, when it, together with the newer house was
consumed by fire.
Dr. William A. Pusey, of Chicago, author of "The Wilderness
Road to Kentucky", had a monument erected on, or near the site of the
old Blockhouse, the inscription which reads as follows:
"This Tablet Marks The Site of the Blockhouse the meeting
point of the pioneer roads to Kentucky from Virginia and North Carolina, and the
gathering place of pioneer travelers at the entrance to the
wilderness.
Erected by a descendant of William Bowen who recorded that,
"We waited hereabouts near two weeks and then set out for the Wilderness, with
12 men and 10 guns, this being Thursday, 18th July." (1782)
Jeremiah Harrison's Fort
This fort was located on the North Fork of Holston. In the year
1782 tithables of Washington County, Virginia, three adult Harrisons
were listed. They were Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah, and from the Biblical
names they are assumed to have been brothers. Jeremiah bought a tract of
400 acres and the later took up a tract of 340 acres. The 400 acre
tract was
on Sinking Creek of the North Fork of Holston and is dated in the
Fincastle Survey, May 28, 1774. Yet the 340 acre tract appears in
the Washington County Survey Book, and it is this tract he sells to
David Smith on June 14, 1787. (31) The first mention of any fort
here comes in a letter of Arthur Campbell to William Preston, dated
October 6, 1774, (32) in which he says:
"He was stationed on the main
path to Clinch, opposite the Town House (33) to protect the settlers, and he
mentions the families of Vance, Fowler, Harrison, etc., including John Campbell
who had been serving as an Ensign to Captain Daniel Smith on Clinch."
This Jeremiah Harrison and others, probably brothers, must have
come to the area very early as the settlement certificate mentions
settlement in 1772. They certainly appear to be the same family as lived in
Augusta County, Virginia, from the earliest times, for instance, entry of
15th of September, 1742, shows Jeremiah Harrison and Isaiah Harrison
as
delinquents in the company of Hugh Thompson. (34) They appear to be
sons of Joseph Harrison who died in early 1748, with Isaiah as
Administrator of his estate appointed on May 18, 1748, (35) with Jeremiah as his
security.
In the summer of 1774, Jeremiah Harrison was paid for the pasturage of 135 steers for use at the Maiden Springs Station. (36) There were
two Jeremiah Harrisons in Augusta County and they have different named
wives.
Apparently Jeremiah Harrison left the Holston and moved on to
Kentucky where he is listed in a deposition at Woodford Courthouse,
Kentucky, dated July 14, 1781. (37) That these men were old, or aging, when
Dunmore's War
broke out is likely as they are not reflected in any muster lists.
Isaac Crabtree in making a supporting statement to his brother
Abraham's
pension application filed in Wayne County, Kentucky, in 1828, tells
of their being sent to Jeremiah Harrison's Fort in 1776, and
Jacob Crabtree, says that he was discharged from the militia at this fort in 1776.
It is fairly evident that Harrison's Fort was a stockaded affair,
but probably small due to the fact that it did not lie on an exposed
frontier, and how long it remained in use is unknown, as no reference have
been found concerning it, other than those above mentioned.
Vance's Station
This was a sister station to Jeremiah Harrison's Fort, and about
five miles separated the two forts on the North Fork of Holston. This
fort, like some others came to light in Revolutionary War pension
statements.
Vance's Station was no doubt the home of old Alexander Vance. The
station is mentioned in both the pension statements of Abraham and Isaac
Crabtree, who lived with their father, William Crabtree, on the North Fork of
Holston, near the present Saltville, Virginia. The Crabtree
brothers mention going to Vance's Station after a tour of
militia duty at
Blackmore's Fort and at the Flat Lands, which is believed to be
another early name for Flat Lick, that section around Duffield down to Pattonsville in present Scott and Lee counties.
Old Alexander Vance owned 289 acres of land on the North Fork of
the Holston River surveyed and recorded in Washington County, Virginia,
in June, 1783, although he had been living on the land many years
prior to this survey and entry. This land included the mouth of Beaver
Creek.
Somehow, later, this land became the property of General William
Tate who lived at Broadford in Smythe County, just upstream from Saltville.
There were two Vance families in the area, one living on the North
Fork of Holston River and the other on Beaver Creek near Bristol.
In 1818, one Abner Vance of the North Fork of Holston family was
hanged at
Abingdon for murdering a member of the Horton family who had
debauched Vance's daughter. Vance felt he had gotten an unfair trial and
while in prison wrote a very stirring and tragic ballad which in early days virtually became a folk song and was widely sung around the
hearthside of the pioneers and known as the "Vance
Song."
On October 6, 1774, Colonel Arthur Campbell wrote concerning Vance
and
Harrison's Stations in this manner, and this may be the clue to the
dates one, if not both of these forts were built.
"Upon the alarm of (Samuel) Lammey being taken Vance and
Fowler's wives, with several other families convened at Mr. Harrison's, which lies
upon the main path to the Clinch in the Rich Valley, opposite the Town
House. Upon request of several inhabitants on both sides, I ordered six
men to be stationed there for ten days, two of which were to be out ranging.
Henry and John Dougherty moved their families to this side of the
mountain,
disagreeing with ye majority of ye inhabitants, as to the place to
build a fort. Mr. John Campbell's wife has been on
this side of the mountain this past two months and (Campbell)
himself has
acted as Ensign to Captain (Daniel) Smith on Clynch ever since that
Gent
was ordered to duty.
Archibald and John Buchanan's families and Andrew Lammey came here,
(to
Royal Oak) who has continued on this side yet. Captain Wilson went immediately with 15 men, and ranged near a week in the neighborhood
where Lammey was taken," and left four of his best woodsmen with
neighbors for several days longer. I also ordered two of the most trusty persons
I could
get to act as Spys along Clinch mountain for ten days, which they
performed, I am satisfied, faithfully; besides the six men at
Harrison's I ordered Mr. Vance's and Fowler's wives three men a week, particularly to assist about
saving their fodder, which they got secured safely." (38)
Campbell's reference to a disagreement between the settlers as to
the proper place to build a fort, it undoubtably the beginning of both
Vance and Harrison's Stations, thus placing their erection in the year
1774.
Samuel Lammey was taken captive by the Indians on Holston, carried
into captivity and never returned. He was taken by a band under the
leadership
of the Shawnee Black Hawk.
Benham's Fort
Located on the North Fork of the Holston River near Mendota was the
fort of John Benham. This was perhaps only a family fort for no mention
is made
of militia troops ever having been stationed there, or that it was
in use after the Revolutionary War. The date the fort was built is
unknown, but
John Benham settled there in 1769.
He owned a thousand acres of land along the Holston River about
four miles below the village of Holston. (39) John Benham was evidently a brother-in-law to the elder Vincent Hobbs, and Benham had a son
named Vincent as did Hobbs, and both had sons named Joel. The Hobbs and
Benhams lived on adjoining farms. There was also a connection between these
families and the family of John Douglas who was killed by the
Indians at Little Moccasin Gap in 1776. (40) John Douglas who lived with his
father Edward Douglas on Clinch River, near Flour Ford in present day
Scott
County, Virginia, may have been returning from a visit with these relatives when slain by the Indians. John Benham, builder of
Benham's Fort died in 1800.
William Wynn's Fort
This fort was the home of William Wynn and may have been only a
fort house or small fort. It seems likely that it must have had some sort of
rude
palisades due to its exposed location, and seems to have served
Wynn and
his neighbors and was at times also guarded by state militia.
William Wynn was born August 10, 1729, and died July 8, 1808, and
is buried near the old Fort. From his birth date it can be seen that
he was
too advanced in years to take a very active part in the militia.
His first wife was Cynthia Harman, and his second wife was Mary, the daughter
of
William Whitley. William Whitley was murdered by the Indians on the
head
of Clinch River in the fall of 1789, and cruelly mutilated, even
his heart
and entrails torn from his body and cast upon the ground and
bushes. (41)
Wynn's Fort was located at Locust Hill on the North Fork of Clinch
River,
about one and a half miles from the present town of Tazewell,
Virginia, and was probably erected in 1774. Whether it was ever directly
attacked by the Indians is unknown, but due to its proximity to the Sandy War
Passes it may have been.
Scott County Fort Houses
In that section of Scott County from Dungannon down to Gray's
Island, along Clinch river is one of the most interesting sections of Scott
County. It was settled very early with residents there in 1770.
Along that very short stretch of river, approximately two or three miles from Hunter's Ford to Gray's Island, then called the Big Island, there
seems to
have been at least four fort-houses, at least it is believed these
were fort houses and not stockaded forts. This conclusion is deduced
from the fact that the residents of this area, during Indian forays, are
shown to
have been inmates of Moore's and Blackmore's Forts.
Again knowledge of these facts became known from studying the
Revolutionary War pension claims of men who served in them and from
land deed records and litigation suits in the High Court of Chancery of
Augusta County, Virginia. Elisha Wallen says in his pension application
that:
"We were organized by law and by the officers named, and were
divided out
along the line of the following names forts, to-wit: Blackmore's
Fort, Rye Cove, Rocky Station, Stock Creek, Duncan's Fort and Osman's
Fort."
If that is not enough, Charles Kilgore says in his pension statement:
"In the following year (1779) in summer, he again volunteered
under Captain John Snoddy and Lieutenant (William) Cowan for the purpose
of
guarding Osman's Fort on Clinch River in said county of Washington.
He remained in the said fort for three months, with said company,
guarding
the same."
To further add to the confusion Alexander Ritchie,
Jr., says in his pension claim:
"The militia was arraigned from that of a Captain's Company
(24 men) to a Sergeant's command at the different stations and forts from
Blackmore's
Fort to Martin's Station, about 20 miles from Cumberland Gap;
Moore's Fort in Castlewood, Rocky Station, Rye Cove Station, Shallow Ford of
Clinch; Stock Creek and Duncan's Fort."
Ritchie says in an amended statement that he served 6 months
beginning in April, 1780, at Duncan's Fort.
Here we have three militiamen, all living in the same general area
of Scott County, as well as others not quoted, who tell of having
served in the same forts which should prove the truth of their existence.
In disposing of these forts, first there is mention of Stock Creek
and
Shallow Ford of Clinch. Of these two the writer has no knowledge.
The
"fort where Lee County Courthouse now stands", if this
was not the
abandoned fort built by William Mumps, already discussed, then the
writer
has no knowledge of another at this place.
Osman's Fort I believe to be a corruption in the spelling of
Osborne, and
being the home of perhaps one William Osborne, which is not quite
clear,
but certainly not to be confused with Stephen Osborne at Osborne's
Ford,
as the former stood near Gray's Island on Clinch. A deed to one
William Osborne in Scott County, dated October 9, 1829, reads:
"A certain tract or parcel of land, lying and being in Scott
County, on the south side of Clinch River, it being part of the same bottom
that joins Buster's Shoals, opposite a place called Nicholson's Fort, containing 41 acres more or less." (42)
Here we pick up another fort which was the home of Benjamin
Nicholson who
settled there about 1772, later sold his land and emigrated to
Clarke County, Kentucky. The Nicholson land was sold to William McClain
and his
"fish-trap" is mentioned as the place where Elizabeth
Livingston crossed
the Clinch with Indian Chief Benge when he had her captive in 1794.
The
Nicholson land was near Gray's Island and this fort has been found
mentioned in deed references only.
Another in this same area, with no further reference found except
in a
Russell County deed, which reads:
"One certain tract or parcel
of land known by the name of Ritchie's Fort, containing 360 acres."
(43)
Originally this would have been the home of Alexander Ritchie, Sr.,
who
came to the area from Prince Edward County, Virginia, and was the
father
of Alexander Ritchie, Jr., whose pension statement has been
heretofore quoted. The strange thing, however, is that in his pension claim,
Alexander, Jr., makes no mention of his father's fort. The
Ritchie's
settled on this land in 1772, later selling it and leaving the
area. It was sold to one William Osborne of Pendleton County, South
Carolina, and
he in turn sold the same land on October 20, 1792, to one James
Osborne
and it is again referred to as "Ritchie's Fort". Since
this fort land was sold to two men named Osborne it may be logical to assume that
Ritchie's
Fort and the fort referred to as "Osman's Fort" were one
and the same, the name changing with ownership.
Duncan's Fort
Duncan's Fort was the home of Raleigh Duncan and stood between
Dungannon
and Gray's Island on the Clinch River. Raleigh Duncan and his
brother, John, first settled on a tract of land at Hunter's Ford in 1772,
which
they were jointly developing into a plantation. John was killed by
the
Indians in 1774, and Raleigh and the widow of John fell into
dispute over
the Hunter's Ford land and Raleigh moved down the river to another
tract
of land in 1775 and here he built his home which was Duncan's Fort.
(44)
Alexander Ritchie, Jr., in his Revolutionary War statement says
that he
lived at Duncan's Fort from March 1778 to April 1779, and that he
enlisted again in 1779 and 1780 under Captain John Snoddy for six month
tours of
duty for the purpose of guarding Duncan's Fort. In 1786, he was
appointed,
along with John Alley as Indian Spys by Colonel Henry Smith of
Russell
County. He states they left Duncan's Fort every Monday with their
provisions on their backs, ranged across the Cumberland Mountain
and Sandy in Kentucky, returning to Duncan's Fort on Sundays. These
statements show that the fort was an active military defense from 1778 to 1786, and
perhaps before and after these dates. Raleigh Duncan came to the
Clinch from Culpepper County, Virginia, and was born in 1723, and died at
Duncan's Fort in 1786.
Porter's Fort
Other than the old Kilgore Forthouse
which is still standing,
Porter's Fort was perhaps the most widely known fort house in
present day
Scott County. It was the home of Patrick Porter, who emigrated from
Guilford County, North Carolina, in October, 1772, and established
his fort house and grist mill on the waters of Falling Creek, near
Dungannon.
This was nothing more than a strongly build fort house and
according to
the pension statement of his son, John Porter, it was built only
for
family protection. (45A) It is well authenticated that the Porter
family sheltered in Moore's Fort during Indian forays, and Patrick served
in the militia protecting this fort in the year 1774. There is no factual
evidence that Porter's Fort was ever under direct Indian attack.
Just below the falls of Falling Creek, Patrick Porter built his grist
mill, the
first ever approved by court order on the Clinch River, permission
being granted by the court of old Fincastle County, in 1774. Despite the
fact that it was the first mill ever approved for the Clinch, it was not
the first mill. The Lynch Mill at upper Castlewood was in operation for
sometime before Porter's Mill was erected, but no order has been
found
granting permission for this mill. Patrick Porter was born in 1739,
and
had married Susanna, the daughter of John and Ann Houston Walker.
Dorton's Fort
Located about one mile southeast of Nickelsville, Scott County,
Virginia,
on the Combs farm, this was the home of old William Dorton, Sr.,
who was
killed by the Indians in July, 1780. (45) Undoubtably this was just
another family fort house, and there is no record of it ever having
a complement of militia. When it was built is unknown, but likely
sometime in the 1770's. The family of William Dorton continued to live at
the place after he was slain. The court records of the 1780's refer to it as
"Dorton's Old Fort", meaning that it may have fallen into
disuse and disrepair. Little is known of the life of William Dorton, Sr.,
prior to his untimely death at the hands of the Indians, even the place and
details of his death are unknown. His son, William Dorton, Jr., was in one
of the parties that pursued the Indians under Benge after his capture of
the
Livingston family in 1794. This party led by Captain William Dorton,
Jr., overtook one of the Indian parties, who seem to have split into
three separate groups after the capture and killing, and killed one of
the Indians in that particular group. (46)
Scott's Fort
Leaving the waters of Clinch and crossing through Kane's Gap of
Powell Mountain we come to the headwaters of Wallen's Creek, a tributary
of Powell River and Scott's Fort. This was the home of Archibald
Scott, built in 1775, and nothing more than a fort house and not stockaded. It
stood on a section of the old Kentucky Trace and was a noted stop over for
emigrants traveling to Kentucky.
Archibald Scott and his four children were massacred here on the
evening
of June 20, 1785, and his wife, Fanny taken captive and carried
north by the Indians, presumably led by the half breed Benge. She eventually
escaped and returned to the Clinch frontier where her story has
become one
of the classical Indian stories of Virginia's last frontier. After
the
destruction of the Scott family the old fort became the home of
Robert Duff, who had married Fanny Scott's niece and remained a famous
stop over on the Kentucky Trace for many years afterwards. Scott and his
children
were buried near the old fort house, but no markers were ever
erected at their graves and today only the general location of their resting
place is known. The Duff family graves are well marked and it is interesting
to
read the epitaphs of some four or five members of the family who
served in the Confederate Army.
Chadwell's Station
Mordecai Hoard of Henry County, Virginia, came to Powell Valley in
Lee County, with Captain Joseph Martin in 1775 and took up a 400 acre
tract of land in the Martin grant of 1769. He also took up another
tract of 860 acres. Hoard returned to Henry County where he died. Captain David Chadwell, also a native of Henry County, bought from the heirs of
Hoard
the 400 acre tract and 707 acres of the other tract. Deeds for
these tracts being dated November, 1791, however, David Chadwell was in
the area as early as May, 1790, and immediately upon coming here he built a
Station or Fort, which was widely known as "Chadwell's Station."
The station was a stop over for people traveling westward over the Wilderness Road, as well as being a refuge from Indian attacks for Chadwell and his neighbors. Whether this was a stockaded fort or
just a fort house is not known. There is today a church in this area
called
Chadwell's Station Church.
After settlement David Chadwell began acquiring other lands and by
1801 he
was assessed with 1800 acres of land in Lee County. He continued to
acquire land in both Lee County, and adjoining Claiborne County,
Tennessee, and finally moved to Tazewell, the county seat of
Claiborne
County, leaving his Lee County lands in the hands of his children.
He died
at Tazewell, in 1832, at the age of 100, having been born in 1732,
and is buried there at Breastwork Hill. He married Elizabeth Turner and
their
children were:
1. John Chadwell,
b. 1771, m. Mary (Polly) Adams, b. 1772
2. David
Chadwell, Jr., b. 1776, m. Nancy Lane
3. Susanna
Chadwell (1773-1846), m. (1) Benjamin Posey (2) Daniel
O'Daniel
4. Barthena
Chadwell, b. 1775, m. (1) Moses Cotterill, the Ensign who
was chased across Powell Mountain by the Indian Chief Benge in
1793.
Married (2) Jerome Skelton.
5. Mary (Polly)
Chadwell, 8-30-1777, d. 1855, m. (1) Walter Middleton,
2-29-1801. Married (2) Benjamin Cloud who died in 1845 at Chadwell
Station.
6. William
Chadwell, b. 1783, d. 12-5-1857, m. Charterine Lane, b. 1795
in Grainger Co., TN.
7. Alexander
Chadwell, b. 1783, d. 1868, m. Lucy Bailey, b. 1789, d.
3-31-1859, daughter of Carr and Mary Bailey of Henry County,
Virginia.
8. Nancy
Chadwell, b. 1774, m. in 1790 to James Brittain
We know that David Chadwell, who was a Captain in the Revolution,
was in
the area of his station as early as May, 1790, for on that day he
was granted permission to establish a grist mill on his property. David
Chadwell had a sister, Jemima, who married William Cox and settled
also in
Lee County, Virginia. This could possibly have been the Mrs. Cox
shot at
by the Indians, on march 17, 1785, mentioned in letters to the
Governor of
Virginia from both Captain Joseph Martin and Colonel Arthur
Campbell.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
(1) Augusta Court Causes Ended O. S. 177 N. S. 63, Bill filed 1808.
(2) Shelby Family Papers, Library of Congress
(3) Draper MSS 3 QQ 19-20
(4) Ibid, 3 QQ 46
(5) Ibid, 3 QQ 64
(6) Ibid, 3 QQ 63
(7) Ibid, 9 DD 3
(8) Williams, Early Times in Tennessee, Chapter 10 Appendix
(9) Draper MSS 11 CC 224
(10) Pension Statement James Fraley, National Archives
(11) Draper MSS 5 C 70
(12) Ibid, 3 QQ 64
(13) Ibid, 3 QQ 63
(14) Ibid, 3 QQ 94
(15) 11 CC 224
(16) Williams, Early Times in Tennessee, Chapter 10, p. 225
Appendix
(17) Washington County, Virginia, Land Entry Book 1
(18) Virginia Magazine of History & Biography, Vol. 7, p. 3
(19) Pension Statement of Charles Bickley, 1836, National Archives
(20) Draper MSS 11 CC 224
(21) Draper MSS
(22) Ibid, 11 CC 224
(23) Pension Statement Alexander Ritchie, National Archives
(R-8784)
(24) Virginia State Papers, Vol. 4, p. 341
(25) Virginia State Papers, Vol. 5
(26) Pension William Davidson, National Archives (R-2695)
(27) Washington County, Virginia Land Entry Book 1
(28) Pension Joseph Starnes, National Archives
(29) Dairy in possession of author
(30) Virginia Magazine of History & Biography, Vol. 7, p. 1
(31) Washington County, Virginia Land Entry Book 1
(32) Draper Mss 3 QQ 145
(33)Home of James Thompson, near Chilhowie, VA
(34) Draper MSS 1 QQ 20
(35) Augusta County, Virginia Will Book 1, p. 78
(36) Draper MSS 6 XX 106-2
(37) Chalkley, Chronicles of Scotch-Irish Settlement, II, 47
(38) Draper MSS 3 QQ 115
(39)Washington County, Virginia Land Entry Book 1
(40) Draper MSS 4 QQ 53
(41) Virginia State Papers, Vol. 5, p. 180
(42) Scott County, Virginia Deed Book 4, p. 553
(43) Russell County, Virginia Deed Book 1, p. 13 (
44) Augusta Court Causes Ended, Cockrell vs Duncan
(45A) Pension of John Porter, National Archives
(45) Pension James Fraley, National Archives
(46) Virginia State Papers, Vol. 3, (Ltr. Capt. Andrew Lewis)
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