Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-12-18

was SCTeuSLueueu Wy auouI loIIy nuhVoAo, 81
we'll armed. The company now consisted Of
about eighty persons. On the fifth of Octo
ber, while passing narrow deile, these bolo
pioneers were startled by the wild battle cry
of Indians concealed behind natural forti6
cations On the unsuspectiug emigrauts they
poured deadly fire. Six of Boones men fell
dead and one was wounded. Boone's eldes,
son, a youth of about twenty years, was among
the killed. These together with several other
acts of bad faith on the part of both the white
settlers and Indians. resulted in a great battle
at Point Pleasant.
The apparent immediate cause of the battle
was the fact that the authorities of Virginia
had sent out large corps Of surveyors and
woodmen, to locate and take possession of land
in the wilderness of Kentucky. These locations
we're to be made under royal grants and mil
itary warrants. The Indians regarded this
an invasion of their rights, and began the
work of massacre, in detached parties, all
along the frontier of Virginia. The Shawanese
were the most hostile of all the tribes. Their
warriors swarmed over the forest from the AL.
leghany River, to Sullivan county, Tennessee.
One of them entered the camp of his people
with the scalps of forty men, women and chill
dren, as trophy of his reckless daring and
merciless cruelties.
Both the whites and Indians now began to
prepare for war. There was no alternative.
Both, by acts of cruelty done by the other,
were driven to desperation. The blood of
slaughtered friends cried for vengeance. The
Governor of Virginia, in whom the people
had little confidence, called out troops from
various sections of the State. These troops
were placed under the command Of Colonel
Andrew Lewis. The back-mountain men
heard the cry of their afflicted countrymen,
I'D hastened to the scene of cesaiet- Point
Pleasant, at the mouth of the Kanawha, was
named as the place of rendezvous. By the
ninth of October, the greater part of the white
troops had reached the point of destination.
They encamped in front of the Shawanese
town. Two men, who had gone out along the
banks of the Ohio, hunting deer, were sur
prised. One was killed and the other wound
ed. The next morning, James Robertson and
Valentine Sewer, who had also gone out be-
fore day, on hunting expedition, were fired
upon. They rushed to the American camp,
and reported that they saw a FIVE acre plat Of
land literally covered with red men. Just at
sunrise, the battle began. The conflict lasted
all day. Under cover of night, the Indians
retreated, carrying with them the most OF their
killed and wounded. The loss sustained by
the Virginians, was two colonels, six captains,
three lieutenants, and sixty subalterns and
privates killed and one hundred and forty
wounded. ,....... -...-
In this battle, the most bloody and best
contested in the records of Indian warfare,
Colonel William Campbell commanded one
Of the companies, which constituted the regl-
meut lei by Col. William Christian. In that
fearful conflict he stood side by side with the
Shelbys-father and son-and number Of
others of the back mountain men who witness
ed with him the defeat of British arms on
Kings Mountain, six years afterward.
In 1775-the year after the battle of Point
Pleasant-it became evident that war be-
tween Great Britain and her colonies in North
America was inevitable. On the morning of
the nineteenth of April, the battle of Lexing-
ton was fought. This was the first act in the
drama. The blood shed in that skirmish,
between few militia and British regulars,
dissolved the tie which bound an affectionate
child to harsh and unsympathyzing mother.
Neglect on the part of the mother, had begot-
ten contempt in the mind of the child. The
spirit of liberty was diffused throughout the
whole land, from seaboard town to mountain
hut. The sentiment of the American people
was, "Give us liberty, or we will sacrifice our
lives in defence of it" The martial drum
and fife were heard in every settlement. The
border communities were among the foremost
in the strife. These bold pioneers had never
received any British favors, and little if any,
British sympathies; and now that the con-
fict was actually begun, they resolved to ask
for no British protection. This resolution
they faithfully kept
So soon as the back mountain men heard
of the battle of Lexington, they espoused the
cause of the colonies. William Campbell
was among the first of Virginia's sons who
offered his services in defence of his country's
rights. He received a captains commission,
and commanded company in the first regi-
ment raised in that grand old State that gave
birth to George Washington and Chief Jus,
tice John Marshall This commission he held
for about one year, or until the latter part OF
1776, when he resigned. The Indians, whose
vengeance had been slumbering for some
time, began now to threaten the border set
Elements with utter determination. To this
they were encouraged and melted by emissa'
ries of the British government. William
Campbell's family and friends were constant
ly exposed to the maddened rage of these in
furiated red men of the forest. That be
might assist in the defence of the homes o1
his neighbors and kindred, he resigned his
commission and returned home. His worth
had already become known, and his neigh
bors, in appreciation of his merit, made him
lieutenant colonel of the militia of Washing
ton county, and on the resignation of Evar
Shelby, in 1777, he was made colonel of the
regiment.
When the news of the advance of Genera
Ferguson, into the western district Of Soutf