LEWIS COUNTY IN DUNMORE'S WAR

     The movement of settlers into northwestern Virginia, which in 1772 and 1773 promised to people the country within a few years, was rudely interrupted early in 1774 by Dunmore's war. The war resulted early in victory for the whites; but the final results of this war and of others which followed it in quick succession, upon the settlement of Lewis County and its later history can hardly be estimated. For twenty years, with only a short breathing space, the pioneers were subjected to all the horrors of Indian warfare, whole settlements were broken up, and many outlying families were completely destroyed.
     The renewal of the Indian wars had been foreseen by English statesmen, who had advised against a settlement of the interior of the country until the lands between the Alleghanies and the Atlantic were completely occupied. The prospect of securing cheap lands, coupled with other reasons which have been enumerated, had resulted, as we have seen, in a considerable immigration even before the ban had been lifted, and before satisfactory arrangements had been made with the Indians. From the time of their first coming— that is, from about 1765 in the region around Fort Pitt— there had been hostilities between the Indians and the settlers at widely separated points. The wanton aggression of the borderers in murdering every Indian they could find alone, and the action of the Indians in repaying the debts with interest led to bitter feeling on both sides, until finally open war broke out with all the horrors usually attendant upon frontier conflicts with savages. The rapid advance of the settlers caused the Indians to fear lest the hunting grounds of their forefathers should be completely destroyed.
     The land really belonged to the whites. The Indian title to the lands south of the Ohio had been extinguished by several treaties: with the Iroquois at Lancaster, Pa., in 1744; with the Shawnees at Logstown, on the Ohio, in 1752; and a renewed cession by the Iroquois, the real owners of the country, at Fort Stanwix, New York, in 1768. The last named treaty "was, as we have seen, the immediate cause of the large immigration in 1769 and the following years. The Ohio Indians, lessors of the territory for hunting purposes, had not given their assent to the provisions of the treaty of Fort Stanwix, and they regarded the settlers as trespassers on their territory.
     Almost from the beginning of the settlement on Hacker's creek some of the more reckless pioneers killed without thought of mercy all Indians whom they could find unprotected. Bald Eagle, a chief who was well regarded by both his own people and the whites, and who often took part in the hunting parties arranged by the settlers, was foully murdered at some time between 1770 and 1772 by Jacob Scott, William Hacker (a brother of John Hacker) and Elijah Runner. No motive for the crime seems to have existed save a wanton desire to kill. The body was placed in a canoe and allowed to drift down the Monongahela until it reached Province plantation where it was decently interred by Mrs. Province.
     An even more atrocious crime took place at Bulltown, on the Little Kanawha river, now in Braxton County. The place had been occupied about the time of the coming of the whites by Captain Bull, a Delaware chief from New York, who had led five Indian families to western Virginia. He was regarded by the settlers as being friendly to the whites, who often resorted to his town to secure supplies of salt, and who often hunted with him. It was rather to the advantage of the pioneers to cultivate the friendship of Captain Bull, and most of them thought highly of him and his people. Unfortunately, in 1772 the family of Adam Stroud, a settler on the Elk river a few miles south of Bull's village, were all murdered in the absence of the husband and father, by a band of Shawnees. The trail of the murderers led in the direction of Bull's village; and without determining whether or not his people were guilty, a party composed of William Hacker, William White, John Cutright, Jesse Hughes and another man whose name is not known, constituted themselves a court of inquiry to wreak vengeance for the murder. All the Indians at Bulltown, with the exception of Captain Bull, who was then absent beyond the Ohio, were treacherously slain and their bodies thrown into the river. Upon their return to the settlements the five avengers stated nonchalently that they had been out hunting. Later, when the fact of the massacre had become generally known and suspicion was cast upon them, they at first denied all knowledge of the killing and then came out boldly with the story that they had killed the five Indian families because they were the murderers of the Stroud family. As proof of their assertion they declared that they had found clothing belonging to the Stroud family in some of the houses in the Indian village. None of the clothing was ever shown to the other settlers if it had, in fact, been found. Under the circumstance of nearby residence, the finding of the clothing there is not strange. At best it would be insufficient to convict the Indians of more than theft. The intentions of the party were suspected by the other settlers before they ever went to Bulltown, and they prepared a general remonstrance against the killing of the Indians. There is no record, however, of any action having been taken by the community as a whole after the murder. The settlers probably did not care particularly whether peaceful Indians were killed or not— but as a matter of policy they disapproved of such murders as likely to bring down upon the heads of the settlement the vengeance of the relatives of the dead tribesmen.
     While the five were at Bulltown, they learned that a party of thirteen Indians, who had come from beyond the Ohio on a hunting trip, were then at Indian Camp on the upper course of the Buckhannon river. They secured the assistance of Samuel Pringle, James Strange and others from the Buckhannon river settlement and made preparations for an attack against the hunting party. Just before daybreak the whites arrived outside the cave in which the Indians were asleep, and posted themselves so as to command the exit. When it had become sufficiently light, at a preconcerted signal a volley was poured without warning upon the unsuspecting Indians. So effective was the first fire that only one warrior, badly wounded, succeeded in escaping from the cave. He was dispatched by another shot. According to tradition, the bodies of the Indians were left unburied.
     There was no immediate retaliation against the participants in the wholesale slaughter of these Indians. In other centers of white settlement there were Indian reprisals on detached cabins and lonely settlers. An intermittent guerrilla war was fought for another year in which both whites and Indians were killed. The whites on the Kentucky border suffered most.
     War was inevitable within a short time, the character of the whites and Indians being as it was. The only question was how long the embers of conflict would smoulder before breaking out into the blaze of a general war.
     The event was precipitated by an attempt to settle a problem which had nothing whatever to do with the Indians. Lord Dunmore, then the royal governor of Virginia, had land claims in the vicinity of Fort Pitt which would not be valid if Pennsylvania acquired title to the region as that colony threatened to do. He wished to secure the northwest for Virginia and also to divert the attention of the Virginians from the tyrannous acts of George III by a popular Indian war.
     The war did not continue long. The Indians had little time in which to organize attacks against the settlements in the Monongahela valley before two Virginia armies reached the Ohio river. General Andrew Lewis with the southern army met the main army of the Indians under Cornstalk at Point Pleasant. After an all day battle he retained possession of the field at great cost. The Indians, being unable to sustain heavy losses, retired in disorder to the western side of the river. Lord Dunmore, with the northern army, advanced to within a few miles of their principal villages, and could have easily destroyed them. He refrained from attacking them, however, because he wished to secure peace, although the Virginia soldiers clamored for a further prosecution of the war.
     The peace negotiated by Lord Dunmore was exceedingly advantageous to the settlers. His moderate conduct in not destroying the Indian villages was calculated to win their admiration; and the prowess of the Virginians at Point Pleasant gave the Indians a wholesome respect for the "Long Knives," as they were called. The Indians agreed to give up all their lands south of the Ohio river. In order to prevent further trouble which would follow settlement of the frontiersmen north of the Ohio, the British Parliament passed an act the same year which added all the territory north of the Ohio river to the province of Quebec.
     The horrors of Indian warfare were not visited upon the Hacker's creek settlements in 1774, although other settlements in the vicinity suffered. The settlers in northwestern Virginia at first took no precautions of any kind, believing that they were too far from the Indian country to be molested. An attack led by the Cayuga chief Logan on the settlement at the mouth of Simpson's creek disillusioned them. Following the raid, the settlers in the vicinity of Clarksburg immediately erected Nutter's fort, which afforded protection as well to the Hacker's creek and Buckhannon settlements.
     Local tradition, not well substantiated, says that Jesse Hughes and Elias Hughes, who afterwards became famous as scouts, were members of General Lewis's army at Point Pleasant, and Elias Hughes was reputed long afterwards to be the last survivor of the battle.
     The effects of Dunniore's war upon the settlements in Lewis County were more deeply felt than is indicated in chronicles of raids and reprisals. In the first place the westward movement received a decided setback. At the first outbreak of hostilities some of the settlers left their cabins and took refuge in the settlements on the South Branch. Some of them even sold their claims intending never to return. After the close of the war most of the former residents returned and with them were a few new homeseekers who took up their abode in the older settlements or made new settlements in locations which had been neglected before.
     Among the new comers were John Schoolcraft, who built his cabin on Stone Coal creek at the mouth of Smith's run; Robert Burkett, who claimed land on Sand fork of West Fork; Elijah Williams and Lewis Duvall, who lived on Freeman's creek; Charles Washburn on Stone Coal creek; and Henry Flesher on the present site of Weston. The last named settlement was made in 1776. Tradition states that his home was built near the present site of Whelan's store, a few yards from the corner of First and Main; his barn stood near the corner of Center avenue and Second street; and his threshing floor later occupied the site of the court house. The settlement of John Schoolcraft on lands adjoining th<m of Henry Flesher, was made a year earlier. The lands farther up Stone Coal creek were more desirable than those at the mouth on account of the swampy nature of the latter location. An old river channel and a deep hollow about where Bank street now is must have further decreased the desirability of the lands for farming purposes.
[A History of Lewis County, West Virginia By Edward Conrad Smith, 1920 - Transcribed by Therman Kellar]