Battle of the Trough The Battle of the Trough ( March or April 1756 ) was a skirmish of the early French and Indian War ( 1754 – 63 ) fought between Native Americans and British settlers in the valley of the South Branch Potomac River in what is now northern Hardy County , West Virginia , USA . Background . After the defeat of General Edward Braddock at the Battle of the Monongahela ( 9 July 1755 ) , the white settlers of the Allegheny Mountains were largely unprotected from a series of Shawnee and Delaware Indian raids . In October , in an effort to provide some respite , two forts were raised in the North Branch Valley on Patterson Creek . By the end of the year , the Virginia Regiment had increased its numbers by several hundred troops and began to temporarily man some of these settler forts . Shortly after the new year , a new commander of the Regiment — the 24 year old Colonel George Washington — ordered Captain Thomas Waggener to leave Fort Cumberland with his company and proceed up the South Branch . His orders directed him to construct two forts in the area above the rugged gorge known locally as " The Trough " and to station detachments accordingly to best protect the settlers on the upper South Branch . That spring of 1756 , a pair of Indians , a remnant of a party recently defeated ( along with their French captain ) by a Capt . Jeremiah Smith at the head of the Capon ( Cacapon ) River , were passing through the upper South Branch ( somewhere near the present site of Cabins , West Virginia ) when they encountered two white women . One of these ( a Mrs . Brake ) they killed ( tomahawked and scalped ) outright and the other ( a Mrs . Neff ) they took prisoner . The party then proceeded to the vicinity of Fort Pleasant ( at present day Old Fields and the lowermost of Waggener ' s two forts ) where they encamped . That night Neff escaped and fled to the fort . ( According to one version , the Indians deliberately allowed her to “ escape ” in order to draw the whites out . ) Battle . Mrs . Neff alerted the men at Fort Pleasant to the two Indians ' presence and deeds , but what she could not know was that her captors had not been the only warriors in the area . Years later , the battle was described by a then - teenaged participant , James Parsons of Hampshire County : [ The Indians ] … divided into small squads and appointed a time and place of combining their force at a large spring at the lower end of the valley , a few miles below Fort Pleasant … . According to arrangement , a part of them made their appearance before that fort early in the morning and fired a few shots at the fort , and then marched off down the valley in full view . . . Encouraged by the small number that made their appearance , spies were immediately sent out to ascertain if any other signs or trails could be discovered . They soon returned and reported that there was no other signs or trails , and that there could be plenty of men spared from the fort to follow and avenge the depredations recently committed by them . Immediate preparations were accordingly made for hot pursuit … . That morning , 16 or 18 well - armed and mounted white men moved out from the fort , and from Buttermilk Fort ( Waggener ' s upper fort some five miles upstream ) , intending to attack the Indians . These men were said to be seasoned and tough Indian fighters . They soon dismounted and divided into two parties for a “ pincer ” approach and moved north behind the Indians into the rugged gorge known as “ The Trough ” for its steep and impassable slopes . Owing to a noisy dog , however , they soon completely lost the element of surprise . According to Parsons : The Indian trail crossed the river about a mile above the said spring , at which the Indians had been in the habit of stopping and preparing something to eat on their passages up and down the valley . Here the whites expected to overtake them … . Soon after crossing the river their smoke was discovered , but in place of taking their repast at the spring , as usual , they had advanced up to the head of a small branch entering into the Potomac immediately below the spring . A point projected down to the bottom on each side of this branch ; the right hand point being somewhat easiest of ascent , the whites concluded to ascend that point to bring on the battle . The Indians , expecting to be followed , had their spies out , and as soon as it was discovered which point the whites took , a part of the Indians slipped down the other point and got in the rear of the whites without their being aware of this movement . The Indians , who ( according to one account ) were now revealed to be a party of some 60 or 70 warriors under the Shawnee chief Killbuck , had managed to get between them and their horses . The whites were now pinned between a steep mountainside ( to the east ) and the flood - swollen river ( to the west ) . The battle soon commenced , and raged with great fury for some time on both sides , but the whites found that they were outgeneraled as well as largely outnumbered ; they were soon beat back and compelled to force their way through the enemy in their rear . In doing so , many lost their lives and many were wounded . Those that succeeded in breaking through , had each to shift for himself — some plunged into the river , which was not far from the spring ; some took up the bottom , on the route they had pursued the Indians . The Indians had initiated a one to two hour firefight which resulted in seven dead and four wounded whites . The Indian casualties were three dead and “ several ” wounded . The horses went to the natives and the surviving whites made good a withdrawal back to Fort Pleasant where they were immediately put on duty defending the fort and remained vigilant all the next night . Aftermath . This encounter became known locally as the “ Battle of the Trough ” and was detailed to the author Samuel Kercheval when he visited the area in 1830 . According to one account , at the time of the fight a company of British regulars were quartered at Fort Pleasant under the command of Capt . Waggener who had overseen the building of the fort shortly before . Waggener supposedly refused to come to the aid of the besieged settlers , a mere mile and a half away . Adding insult to injury , this account further relates that Waggener , after being called a coward , had several of the survivors of the fight pursued and whipped . The next encounter between Killbuck and the white settlers in the South Branch Valley was the ambush known as the Battle of Great Cacapon ( April 18 , 1756 ) , another disaster for the whites . Strong emotions long ran high among the settlers after this time of extreme vulnerability and brutal violence . But in later years , after the Indians were long gone , many locals became more reflective and thoughtful . Felix Renick , who recorded and published Parsons ' account , was one : I was well acquainted with the battle ground , having lived from my birth to the age of thirty years within three miles of it ; have often viewed it and admired the sagacity of the Indians in its selection , and wondered at the imprudence of the whites in going into battle on such unequal terms . . . This instance . . . has sometimes almost led me to the conclusion that the whites have often been impelled by an influence that they were not aware of , to rush into conflict at such great odds , that they might be punished or scourged for the great injustice done the red people . In my youth I was ready to sanction almost everything done to them by the whites ; but a mature age , with much reflection on the subject , has convinced me of my former error ; and now , taking an impartial view of the past , I fear we have a great debt on this score that must at some time and in some fearful way be cancelled , unless we make them proper amends .