The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1875-06-17
IETTER FROlTSDR. JOHN @.
: : q HUPP.
Point Pleasant 8 surroundings.

--fT ~
Correspondents Wheeling tntelEgenccr.ll
PointPleasant is located in Mason
county, West Nirginia, on7fhe right
flank Of the Great Ranawha river at
the confluence of that river and the
Ohio.
! Crooked Creek, skirted by high
ground, puts into the Kanawha near
It's mouth Standing on this emin-
hence of Surprising beauty, mental-
Ely and involuntarly, We are borne
hack to the thrilling affair that trans
pred here one hundred years ago
| At that time this region was an un-
broken wilderness. Here, on the
10th Of October, i774, the indoinits
able General Andrew LeSis;sat the
head d-abouts eight hundred slotg
| kai s.; con sei 9e IIsss
! giTes i, OF Fhe very Hover Of the 8ir.
ginia Valley, met in mortal combat.
with an Indian army Of superior
numbers, composing the pick Of the
northern confederated tribes-Dela-
wares, NIingos, I-oquois, Wyandotts
and Pawnees-commanded by the
noble-minded' Corn Stalk and assist
ed by Logan and other experienced
and able chiefs. Here the rife and
tomakawk did their work with dread
ful certainty.
Here fell Coloncls Lewis, Fleming
and Fields, together with over two
hundred of their comrades. Their
remains lie beneath the soil of the
bloody field on which they fell, over
which the storms and winds ola CEN
tury have howled, and there lctthem
rest until the morningof the resur-
rection.
"Dlhee ct decorum est pro pu.ria mOri,"
Here turks no treason, here no envy swclls,
Here grow no damned grudses, here are no
storms,
No noise, butsilence and Eternal Sleep"
Thesite ofthe breastwork construct
ed on that occasion from the Ohio to
the Kanawha by order of General
Lewis, was pointed out to us, every
trace of which, however, has beenob-
liberated by the hand of time and of
civilization.
The umbrareous monarch of the
forest, the last of the ancient land
marks, under which Captain Lewis
fell and against the trunk of which
he reclined when dying, has long
since fallen and no traces remain, as
| ] learn from the venerable Dr.. S. G.
Shaw. who has been q resident of
Point Pleasant for more than fifty
wears. and who has seen and convers-
ed with many of the actors in the
bloody battle fought on this historic
ispot.s-
three companies headed by Captains
Stewart. Matthews and Shelby, de-
tachcd by General Lewis on that me-
morable occasion, moved quietly be-
meath the banks Of the Kanawha and
Crooked Creek, gained the enemy's
rear filing the savagcs with conster-
nation and dismay, and ended the
sanguinary conflict, which had ragged
with unabated fury from early dawn
to four o'clock p. M, and which is
said to have been one Of the most
thrilling affairs that ever took place
on our Western frontier.
We are pleased to learn that the
memory of these brave and gallant
soldiers, who fell on that occasion,
will be perpetuated in an appropri-
ate and enduring form on the sceneof
this memorable conflict. So mote it
be. OF those who escaped death in
that sanguinary struggle, which is
regarded as the first battle of the Rev
olution, not one remains, but many
of the descendants of some of them
are still living in the Kanawha Val
lev and elsewhere. The paternal
great-grand-father of William A. Cra-
craft, Clerk in the State Auditors Of
fee at Wheeling, seryedin the capac-
ity of Surgeon on that trying occa-
sion and dressed the mortal wounds
of the lamented Captain Lewis.
The State Medical Society, which
will begin its eighth annual session
at . o'clock this afternoon in this
''old town." will doubtless, in these
davs of Centennial excitement, hon
or itself by extending its aid and CO.
operation, to those having the mat
ter in charge; in perpetuating the
memory of the braves who fell in bat
tie, on this spot, one hundred years
ago.
Although Point Pleasant ii "very
old town" It's population numbers
only about twelve hundred.
According to tradition, the curse of
Cornstalk, the great shanee chief
who. with his son Ellinipsico, were
murdered at this place in the spring
of III, rests upon the town for a
period of one hundred years!
If tradition be correct, as that pc
riod has nearly expired, We conclude
that Point Pleasant will soon have
emerged from the clouds that have
dimmed her otherwise fairescutcheon
for nearly a century, and that within
the ensuing two years she will step
into line with her sister towns in
| a, r..o,.o,,,oog A G,or