The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1932-03-24
WASHINGTON PROTECTED
FRONTIER FROM INDIANS
How He Did 1t Is Interestingly
Told By Newspaper Writer

George Washington for his organi-
cation of those early Virginia troops
that risked their lives in protecting
the homes of the settlers of the Po-
tomac and South Branch Valleys dur
ing the period of the French and In
dian War from 1854 to 1853.
From the coming of the first white
settlers to this section to the year
1852, period of nearly thirty years,
the white man and the Indian dwelt
together in peace and harmony.
The Shawnees had their wigwams
at "Old Town." Maryland, opposite
the mouth of the South Branch; an
other site of the wigwams of the tribe
was at cold Indian Field" now in
Hardy county, W. Va, in the valley
of the South Branch, and still an
other at Shawnee Springs" now
Winchester, Frederick county, Vir-
.ginia.
A band of the Tuscaroras lived on
Tuscarora Creek, near Martinsburg,
now Berkeley county, West Va.
Previous to this time the Miamis,
the Delawares, the Wyandottes, the
Mingoes and the Ottowas had moved
west of the Ohio River.
In about the year 1853 emissaries of
the Western Indians came among the
Indians of the Shenandoah and Po-
tomac Valleys and invited them across
the Allegheny Mountains. Thus in
the spring of 1854 these Indians sud-
denly and unexpectedly moved away
and left the valleys east of the Allie
gheny Mountains. This movement
was evidently made through the in
fiuence of the French as trouble had
already been brewing between the
French and English over the possess
sion of the Ohio Valley.
After the disastrous defeat of Brad
dock at the battle of the Monongahela,
Washington withdrew from service in
the front ranks of the English army
and at the direction of Governor Din
widdie spent his time in organizing
Virginia troops and building forts to
protect the frontier settlers from at
tacks by the Indians. This line of
forts commenced on the Potomac at
Fort Cumberland at Wills Creek
(now Cumberland, Md, extended up
the South Branch and down the Shen-
andoah Valley almost to the border
of North Carolina. Only one of these
forts, Fort Ashby, is still standing.
Others were Fort Ohio, on the pres
ent site of Ridgeley, West Va; Fort
Sellers, at the mouth of Patterson
Creek, Mineral county, W. Va; Fort
Cox, at the mouth of Little Capon;
Fort Cooke, near Burlington, Mineral
county; Fort Parsalls, at Romney;
Fort Pleasant and Fort Buttermilk,
near Moorefeld; Fort George, oppo-
site Petersburg, Grant county; Fort
Seybert, on the South Fork, Pendle-
ton county, w. Va.
These forts together with about
twenty others, were built in this per-
Tod to protect the early settlers of
these valleys.
Around these forts "border warfare
was carried on for seven years, in all
of which the French and Indians car
ried death and desolation all along
the frontier of civilization. The pio-
neers nevertheless stood their ground
and aided by the companies raised in
Virginia by Washington warred sue
Y cessfully again their barbarian enc
mics till the close of the war in 1853.
During this period more than a
dozen companies of Virginia rangers
were organized and directed by Wash
ington to keep the savage red man
west of the Alleghenies. The depreda-
lions of the French and Indians upon
the white settlers during the years
of this war were in many cases quite
fatal. They destroyed completely the
settlements of Fayle and Tygarts on
the Tygart's Valley River; that of
the settlers on Dunkard Bottom on
Cheat River and at the mouth of
Decker's Creek (Morgantown) on the
Monongahela. Scalping parties over
ran all the region of the Shenandoah
and Upper Potomac Valleys, then car
ried death and desolation to the New
River and Greenbrier settlements.
In the spring of 1855 Lieutenant
Rutherford and his company Of men
were defeated by the French and In
dams on Patterson Creek and made a
retreat to Fort Ashby which stood
nearby; everywhere dark, mysterious
clouds of malignant spirits hung
over the horizon, threatening every
moment to overwhelm and extermin-
ate the half-protected pioneer in his
wilderness home, and there was
scarcely settlement in all the region
of the Potomac, South Branch, Cheat
or Capon Valleys that did not expert
ence some of the fatal effects of some
of the storm of savage warfare that
ragged all about them during this per-
iod.
The battle of Great Capon was