The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1906-01-24
Historical Manuscript.
Perhaps Most Important
to bs Found.
Memoirs of Col ,. steuart
Writer Took Part in the Battle Of
Point Pleasant and Witnessed
Death of CornstaIk.

and interesting document which
has been received by the depart
ment of archives and history is a
complete typewritten copy Of
"The Memoir of the Indian Wars
and other Occurrences by Col.
John Steaart, one of the found
ers of Greenbrier county, and
perhaps the most scholarly man
identified with the earl6 settle
ment eff that county.
Born and educated in the val
ley of Virginia he came over the
mountains in 1869, when in his
nineteenth year and made his
home in the Greenbrier Valley.
He commanded a company OF
Greenbrier men in the battle OF
Point Pleasant in 1774, where his
company performed one of the
most conspicuous parts in achiev-
ing that great victory. He ac-
compnied the army north of the
Onion to the Pickaway plains,
where the southern division met
the northern wing commanded
by Lord Dunmore in person. He
was at Point Pleasant in Nov,
LIT, where he witnessed the as
trocious murder of the Shawnee
Chieftan Cornstalk, which he
risked his life in an unsuccessful
effort to prevent. In 1878 he led
the leinforcments from Lewis
burg and raised the siege OF Fort
Donnally ten miles north of that
place, when attacked by a large
body of Shawnee Indians.
In 1880 he was made clerk of
the County Conrt of Greenbrier,
position which he filled for 27
years. In 1882 he was appoint
ed trustee of Lewisburg when
it was legally established town
by the Generally Assembly. In
1888 he was one of the delegates
from Greenbrier county to the
Virginia Federal Convention
which ratified the national con-
stitution. He voted for ratifica-
ton despite streng opposition
under the leadership of Patrick
Henry.
In 1898 he was appointed Lieu
tenant Colonel of the 10th regi-
ment of the Virginia military es-
tablishment.
In these years he read much
and had in his home a large book
case filed with the choicest vol
umes of that period. Because of
his literary attainments he was
elected member of the Ameri
can Philosophical Society of Phil
adelphia, in 1897.
In these years he wrote his
"Memoirs of the Indian Wars
and Other Occurrences" which
he left at the time of his death in
1923.
In 1881 his son, Hon. A. A.
Stuart, then representing Angus
ia county in the Virginia senate,
presented this manuscript to the
Virginia Historical Society, which
in 1888 had it printed as the first
publication of that society. But
few copies were made and for
seventy-three years the work has
been out of print.
For number of years Hon.
Virgil A. Lewis, present State
Historian and archivant, has en-
deavored to secure copy of this
work, but failed to obtain it and
the past summer contracted with
typewriter to make complete
copy of the volume in the library
of congress. This has been done
and the manuscript is now in the
department of archives and his
tory.
1t treats of the early settlement
of the Greenbrier valley and its
author was the most prominent
and scholarly historian of Lord
Dunmore's wars.
To his work alone all are in.
debted for knowledge of the
tradgic death of the famous chief
tain Cornstalk, as well as much
other pioneer history.
This was not the only literary
work of Col. Stuart. ,Tulv 15