Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1909-12-02

An aftur vile when its too lait to play
She lookt at him in sutch skornul way
Az tho he was krimmnle an sed
He mite 20 home. his prowd and hotty he'd
Was bent with greet an he went sloly owt
The skooroom dore an he went sloly owt
Az tho reieest frum prizzen an the brand
Nv sin on him was moar than he kood stand.
An he went sloly homewurd how'd with sham
o liburtey the krines dun in tt naini.
Story of the Battle at Point Pleasant.
II was the victory Of Andrew Lewis
over the allied tribes of Indians at Point
Pleasant on October 10, 1774, that resulted
in fixing our boundary line at the Miss
issippi in the treaty of Paris in 1888. AT
this treaty, the English commissioners in
sisted that the Western boundary OF the
United States should be the crest OF the
Allegheny mountains, and in this claim
the English were supported by the Span
ish representatives, but because OF the es-
tablishment Of civil government over this
wilderness section the American COM
miSsoners contended that the western
boundary should be fixed at the MisSis-
sippi river.
In 1774 the Virginia 'front.' erSmen were
dwelling upon the borderland OF a savage
empire. The white man had gradually
pushed the American Indian to the inland
and treaties effected gave to the King all
the land east OF the Ohio river. and the
eastern tribes of Indians had joined their
kinsmen west OF the Ohio.
Forced by the white men back into the
Northwest, the Indians of six nations met
in Congress on the banks OF the Scioto
and formed then orthwestern Confederacy,
the most powerful organization that ever
confronted English civilization on the
American frontier. The allied tribes OF
Shawnees, Delawares, WyandotteS, Min
goes, Miamis, Ottowas and lllinoiees
were led by the famous Shawnee chief
tain, Cornstalk, whose fate is one OF the
saddest in the history ofthe American In
dian, for he was assasSinated three years
after the battle OF Point Pleasant while
depending on the white mans pledges OF
faith and hospitality.
In 1774 John Murray, Earl OF Dunmore,
was Governor of Virginia, aid the en-
croachment OF the white man upon the
hitherto wilderness populated by Indians
was the remote cause for the general an
tagonism between the Red and White
races brought nearer to each other on the
boundary line between barbariSm and
civilization.
In the same year, repeated niaSSacres
of white men, women and children on the
frontier caused the House Of BurgesseS TO
authorize Governor Dunmore to declare
war against the Indians, and the war, the
last campaign to be planned by the colo
onsts under the British flag, was plan
ned.
The oldest and most experienced SOL
dier in the Southern counties OF Virginia
was General Andrew Lewis, an officer OF
Botetourt county, and on July "a, l774, he
received orders from Governor Dunmore
to raise respectable body OF men and
join him at the mouth of the Great Ka-
nawha river.
Soldiers were enlisted in the war atva-
rious points in Virginia, but the place OF
general rendezvous was at Camp Union,
Monroe county, where General Andrew
Lewis arrived on September |. The en-
listed men at Camp Union had fought with
the English and with Washington, were
schooled in English, Colonial and Indian
warfare.
On the 3Oth day OF August Lord Dun
more, then at the mouth Of the south
branch OF the Potomac, wrote General
Andrew Lewis asking him to join him at
the mouth of the little Kanawha river,
now Parkersbnrg. Lewis made a reply
that it was too late for him to change his
course and he must proceed to the mouth
of the Great Kanawha.
Through a trackless forest, the army
under the command Of General Lewis LEFT
Camp Union on September 6, moved
westward and disappeared into the will
derness. Through the mountain faStness
of Greenbrier, Fayette and Kanawha, and
following the river through Putnam and
Mason counties, this army of Virginians
marched for l60 miles. arriving at the
mouth of the Great Kanawha, where the
Kanawha mingles her waters with those
of the Ohio, on the 9th day OF October.
Despite the reports OF the scouts who
preceded the army under command Of
General Andrew Lewis, Cornstalk had
followed the advance OF the Virginians
along the Great Kanawha river, and the
Shawnee warrior knew Immediately when
the Virginia army arrived at Point Pleas
ant.
Lord Dunmore, in the meantime, had
determined to attack the Indians on the
Pickaway Plains, where. the Indians had
assembled, resolved to wage relentless
war upon the English border. Lord
Dunmore directed communication to
General Lewis while the latter was en-
camped at Point Pleasant, requesting him
to join him on the Pickaway Plains.
Cornstalk made his plans to defeat the
two armies before they could be united,
and when his scouts reported the Lewis
army at Point Pleasant, he marched for
ward down the Hooking river until Sun-
day, October 9th, when they halted near
the present site of the village Of Addison,
Gallia county, Ohio, and the same night
under cover of darkness, crossed the