xt7s4m918z5f https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7s4m918z5f/data/mets.xml Thwaites, Reuben Gold. 1853-1913; Kellogg, Louise Phelps; State Historical Society of Wisconsin; Sons of the American Revolution; Wisconsin Society. 1908  books b92e2305o3t62009 English Wisconsin historical society : Madison, Wisconsin Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Ohio River Valley --History --Revolution, 1775-1783. The revolution on the upper Ohio, 1775-1777 text The revolution on the upper Ohio, 1775-1777 1908 2009 true xt7s4m918z5f section xt7s4m918z5f 
    
    
    
    
   THE REVOLUTION ON THE UPPER OHIO, 1775-1777 
    
    
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Facsimile of map in Crevecceur's "I.ettre* d*un Cultivate   - Americain" (Paris. 1787) Consisting or sketch-maps of the Muskingum. Scioto, and Big Beavp rivers, based on information given by White Eyes and V.ite Mingo, Indian chiefs

 
    
   DRAPER SERIES, VOLUME II

THE REVOLUTION

ON THE

Upper Ohio, 1775-1777

Compiled from the Draper Manuscripts in the Library of the Wisconsin Historical Society and published at the charge of the Wisconsin Society of the Sons of the American Revolution

EDITED BY

REUBEN GOLD THWAITES, LL. D. Secretary of the Society

AND

LOUISE PHELPS KELLOGG, PH.D.

Editorial Assistant on the Society's Staff

MADISON Wisconsin Historical Society 1908 
    
   CONTENTS

Page

Introduction. The Editors ... uc Explanation        ..... xx

Documents

Movement to Kentucky; Frontier Forts   .        . I Letter for Cornstalk        . . . . -7

Orders for the Militia      ..... 8

'-Virginia hears of Lexington and Concord . . 10

Garrison at Point Pleasant        . . . .12

Affairs at Fort Pitt        . .        .        . .17

Virginia arms       . . . . . .21

Treaty at Pittsburgh, 1775 . . . . .25

British Report of Treaty   ..... 127

Connolly's Plot     ...... 136

Ihe Frontiers, early in 1776       .... 143

A Captain's Commission   ..... 145

Information regarding Detroit    .... 147

Indians visit Niagara       .        .        . . . 151

Alarm in Kentucky . . . . . 153

Protection for the Frontier       .... 155

Garrison for Point Pleasant; Indian Affairs     . . 158

Conference at Fort Pitt    ..... 159

Report from Niagara; neutrality to be maintained       . 171 Frontiers of Virginia       . .        .        . .172

News from Fort Randolph        .... 185

Indian depredations . . .    188, 205, 209, 249

Threatened hostilities       . . . 190, 218, 245

L 
   VI

CONTENTS

Page

Forts on the Ohio . . .        .        .            I9S

Reinforcements ordered    ..... 196

Disposition of the Indian Tribes   .... 199

Fort Randolph re-inforced . . 204, 209, 239

News from Williamsburgh .... 214

Treaty of 1776      . . . . . .216

Situation at Grave Creek   ..... 224

Supplies from New Orleans .... 226

Militia arrangements        . . . . . 229

Pluggy's Town Expedition ordered . . . 236

Situation at Wheeling      ..... 242

Allies to be protected      ..... 244

Pluggy's Town Expedition abandoned    . . . 247

Return of Military Stores at Fort Pitt   . . .258

Index

259

 
   ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

Map from Crevecceur's Lettres d'un Cultivates Ameri-cain (Paris, 1787), consisting of sketch-maps of the Muskingum, Scioto, and Big Beaver rivers Frontispiece

Portrait of George Morgan (silhouette) . . -30

Portrait of Peyton Randolph      . . . .66

Portrait of Lewis Morris . . . . 76

Portrait of James Wilson . . . . -90

Portrait of Gov. Henry Hamilton .... 128 Portrait of Governor Blacksnake, Seneca chief   . . 160

Portrait of Gyantwahchia (or John Abeel, John the Corn-planter),. Shawnee chief       .... 162 Portrait of Red Jacket, Seneca chief     .        . . 164

    Portrait of Gov. Patrick Henry   .... 232 
    
   INTRODUCTION

In May, 1905, the Society published from the Draper Manuscript Collection in its possession, a Documentary History of Dunmore's War, 1774-While the material was selected, annotated, and put through the press by the present Editors, the bill for printing was generously met by the Wisconsin Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. The latter organization kindly offered to pay for the printing of a second Draper volume, edited at the cost of the Society, to be in due course succeeded, the hope was expressed, by a third and possibly others. This proposition being accepted it was determined to follow Dunmore's War with two volumes, both bearing upon the conduct of the Revolutionary War on the Upper Ohio River.   The present is the first of these.

We were led to this selection from the Wisconsin Historical  Society's abundant store of manuscript sources, by considerations of logical sequence. The events herein chronicled immediately succeeded and ? in considerable degree were the direct outgrowth of     Dunmore's War.   In a sense the district involved was much the same as that affected by his lordship's opera-, tions; the military leaders were in many cases those who had served in the expedition of 1774; the rank and file was composed of the like race of fearless, in- 
   REVOLUTION ON UPPER OHIO

dependent frontiersmen, who fretted at martial discipline and democratized the militia which had been organized for the defense of their homes against the aborigines.

The documents chosen for publication herein do not afford a continuous history of any one campaign or group of men.   They do, however, shed light upon the principal incidents and the prominent characters of the long frontier stretching from the Greenbrier (. region in southwestern Virginia to the post at Kit-    tanning on the Upper Allegheny.   The time is the first two years of the Revolutionary struggle   March, i 1775, to May, 1777, inclusive   and deals with the de-I fense of the border while still in the hands of the ( militia of the Western counties.   The coming to Fort Pitt, June 1, 1777, of an officer of Continental rank, sent by Congress to take command of the West, marked an epoch in the military history of the region, lit is with the advent of General Hand that our ini-tial volume closes.   This earlier history of the Revolution in the trans-Alleghany region has been but little known or understood.   Comparatively few documents concerning it have thus far been published; secondary accounts in general dismiss the subject with a hasty paragraph.   It is hoped that the present publication of contemporary material will lead to a more considerate treatment of what we believe (o be an interesting and significant period.

It will be remembered by readers of the preceding volume, that when Lord Dunmore left the frontier in the autumn of 1774, bearing with him the Shawnee hostages, he embodied a small garrison at Fort Dun- 
   INTRODUCTION

xi

more, and another at Fort Blair near the mouth of f the Kanawha.   They were the only fortifications up- j J on the frontier at the beginning of 1775.   When the governor found himself involved in quarrels with the colonists, one of his last executive acts was to order the evacuation of these posts.    The colonists there-j upon quickly seized the first, which reverted to its [ earlier name of Pitt; Fort Blair was actually evacuated, and its buildings burned by lurking Indians during the summer of 1775.

The attitude of the Indians towards the colonial cause was of vital importance to the Western borderers. Lord Dunmore's treaty of the previous autumn had been but provisional. The Shawnee hostages were still in his hands; the Mingo prisoners were in confinement at Fort Pitt; his lordship had promised the Indians to come to Fort Pitt in the spring and arrange a permanent peace. Meanwhile his agent upon the frontier. Dr. John Connolly, was a professed Loyalist. Connolly dismissed the imprisoned Mingo to their homes, with messages urging their people to rely upon the English king, their father, and to come to Fort Pitt to treat with him as the representative of the governor. In his Narrative, Connolly asserts that it was his "first work to convene the Indians to a treaty, restore the prisoners, and endeavour to incline them to espouse the royal cause."1

Meanwhile the people of West Augusta district had formed a committee of safety. This met at Pittsburgh early in May, and drafted a petition, to Con-

1 Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, xii. P- 314- 
   REVOLUTION ON UPPER OHIO

gress setting forth their fear of a rupture with the Indians on account of Lord Dunmore's conduct.2 The matter was referred to the delegates from Virginia and Pennsylvania, the former of whom took cognizance thereof in their state assembly, which appointed commissioners to meet the tribesmen and endeavor to complete the peace in favor of the colonies. Later, Congress appointed a like commission, and the two met jointly at Pittsburgh in September.

Rumors of the Revolutionary conflict had by early summer reached the Indian towns, resulting in much confusion and misunderstanding among the aborigines. Upon one occasion Lord Dunmore had employed the Shawnee hostages with him as a personal guard against colonial violence. They not unnaturally, therefore, fancied themselves likewise hated by the "Long Knives," and destined to fall victims to the enmity of the latter. Similar suspicions were excited in the Indian villages by Loyalist traders, and the king's Indian agents were already gathering the Northern tribes to resist the proposed American invasion of Canada.

Whether British or Americans were first to enroll the tribesmen in their armies is even now a mooted question. There were differences in the situation The slight aid that the Americans might receive from Indian warriors enlisted in their interest, was far outweighed by the danger of retaliatory attacks to which they thereby exposed their long and weak frontier. Obviously, their safest policy was to secure native

-Journals of Continental Congress (new ed.), ii, p. 76 
   INTRODUCTION

xiii

neutrality. To the British, on the other hand, the employment of barbarian allies had long been customary in colonial wars. Their incursions would create a needed diversion upon the frontier. As early as 1775, secret orders were received from the ministry, not only to enlist the sympathies of the tribesmen, but actually to enroll them in the royal armies.3

On the Western border, the Americans were prompt. Connolly's earlier treaty had had the effect somewhat to allay the fears of the warriors. The influence of a Frenchman in the British interest, sent from Detroit to the Indian villages with belts of wampum, was quickly counteracted by that of the Virginia envoy, Capt. James Wood. In September, 1775, there gathered at Pittsburgh the largest Indian delegation ever seen at this frontier fort   Ottawa and Wyandot from the neighborhood of Detroit; Mingo, Shawnee, and Delawares from the Ohio valley; Seneca from the Upper Allegheny. All united in a pledge of peace, friendship, and neutrality with the new American nation.

The importance of these early negotiations can hardly be overestimated. Not only was thereby set free from both the Pennsylvania and Virginia frontiers, a body of competent riflemen who hastened eastward to swell the Continental army; but the way was opened for Kentucky settlement, which involved the general occupation of Western territory, and ultimately the settlement of the Western boundary at the Treaty of Paris.   Had the Pittsburgh treaty proved

sAmer. Archives, 4th series, iii, p. 6; New York Historical Society Proceedings, 1845, p. 167. 
   REVOLUTION ON UPPER OHIO

unsuccessful, the entire trans-Alleghany region must surely have been evacuated, George Rogers Clark's expeditions against Kaskaskia and Vincennes could hardly have occurred, and the West might easily have reverted to aboriginal occupation, and become a reserve for the British fur-trade.

Another secret danger averted by the vigilance of the colonial authorities, was that known as "Connolly's Plot." This was a scheme not entirely impracticable; with the aid of troops from Canada and the contingents already stationed at Niagara, Detroit, and the Illinois, it would not have been difficult to capture the militia garrison at Fort Pitt and force a passage into the heart of Virginia, before an invasion from that quarter was suspected. The arrest of Connolly and his agents, in the autumn of 1775, not only checked this enterprise, but led to the evacuation of the Illinois by British military forces, and their concentration at Detroit.

Aside from the machinations of both Indians and Royalists, the American commandant at Pittsburgh had reason to fear an invasion from the British fort at Niagara. Here the attitude of the Allegheny Seneca stood the colonists in good stead. While not averse to negotiating with their British father at Niagara, they announced to both contestants that the passage of an army from either side through their territory would be regarded as an act of war, to be stoutly opposed by the confederated Iroquois. This no doubt saved Fort Pitt from a siege similar to that sustained by Fort Stanwix in 1777.

The frontier has ever been a region of daring ad- 
   INTRODUCTION

xv

venture and picturesque achievement. One exploit worthy of a place among the hero tales of American history, had its origin on the Upper Ohio during the early Revolutionary years. The chief need of the rebellious colonists was gunpowder. The English commandant at Niagara told the Indian tribesmen that the colonists would soon be beaten, since they had no powder and could no longer secure any from the mother country. Urged by this necessity, young Capt. George Gibson of the Virginia line, who had formerly been a trader on the lower reaches of the Ohio, conceived the project of securing a supply from the Spanish authorities at New Orleans, and transporting it up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to Fort Pitt. The Virginia authorities sanctioned the scheme. Choosing as his co-operator another noted frontier officer, Lieut. William Linn, the two set forth in a skiff, under the guise of Indian traders, and after a perilous journey arrived at their destination. At New Orleans, fresh difficulties awaited them. Governor Galvez, although favorable to the Americans, was disinclined to break with the British consul, who suspected the strangers, and inveighed against their presence. By a private undestanding, therefore, Gibson was thrown into prison, and at once all British suspicions were lulled.

Meanwhile Oliver Pollock, an American sympathizer residing at New Orleans, aided Linn to secure the coveted powder from the Spanish authorities. With forty-three men in several barges the latter left New Orleans September 22nd, with a cargo of ninety-eight barrels (over 9,000 pounds) of the precious explosive. 
   REVOLUTION ON UPPER OHIO

After severe hardships, and much suffering from illness and lack of provisions, the expedition reached Arkansas Post on the twenty-sixth of November, being received with marked kindness and courtesy by the Spanish commandant.4 There the adventurers passed the winter hunting, and curing meat for the spring advance.

Gibson, now released from confinement, returned to Virginia by sea, carrying news of his successful undertaking. Orders were sent out by the Virginia authorities to hasten a detachment to the aid of Linn, but that officer was beforehand with his plans. By the third of March he had reached the mouth of the Ohio, where an American from Kaskaskia met him with provisions. The Spanish at St. Louis, not so friendly as their colleagues farther south, sent a band of Indians to intercept the party at the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville) ; but before the arrival of the savages the little company had already passed, and by the first of May safely landed the valuable cargo at Wheeling. For brilliancy of conception, cool daring, and successful accomplishment, this exploit deserves high irank among the minor achievements of that heroic time.

During the year 1776 the rigorous work of defense went forward. The line of forts was extended, the militia enrolled and drilled, and scouting parties main-rained both in the interior and along the Ohio boundary    In the autumn, while Congressional commis-

4 Letter of Linn to Pollock, dated "Arkansaws, Nov'. 30, 1776," Draper MSS., 60J277. 
   INTRODUCTION

xvii

sioners were conducting negotiations at Pittsburgh, a general alarm was sounded. A number of men were killed and scalped along the border, families hastily moved in from outlying settlements, or "forted" in their neighborhood, and consternation prevailed. In Kentucky, a party carrying gunpowder to the forts was attacked, several killed, and the rest scattered, and all but three of the posts in that district were abandoned.

Most of these breaches of the treaty signed by the Indians in 1775 were the work of a small body of ir-reconcilables, known as Pluggy's Band. An expedition to invade their territory and burn the village was called out by Congress, and only abandoned through fear of thereby inciting a general Indian war. The winter of 1776-77 was an anxious one, and with the opening of the season of 1777 advices made it certain that the border would be harried by tribesmen under British influence. A call was thereupon made for a unified national defense, and Gen. Edward Hand, an experienced Continental officer, sent to Fort Pitt to take command. The period of partial peace was over, that of active warfare at hand.

The prompt ability with which the backwoodsmen managed their own affairs during the early years of the Revolution in the West, is worthy of notice. They performed a double duty with energy and loyalty. Organizing temporary governments with the militia company as a unit, and engaged in vigorously defending their own homes from savage neighbors, they nevertheless loyally supported the newly-constituted, but far-distant, state authorities both with men and equip-

m 
   xviii REVOLUTION ON UPPER OHIO

ment. The Eastern armies were to a considerable degree recruited from the frontiersmen; Western riflemen formed a valuable adjunct of the Continental forces. The first contingent from beyond New England to join Washington at Cambridge, was Daniel Morgan's battalion of sharpshooters from the upland border of Virginia.

But if loyalty was characteristic of the frontier, there also lurked treachery and treason. The best and the worst of the race gather upon the borders of civilization. As usual, there were those not averse to an Indian war for the sake of the spoils and the excitement. To keep faith with the Indians, on the part of the authorities, proved often exceedingly difficult. At the beginning of ;the Treaty of Pittsburgh the White Mingo, one of the chiefs most friendly to the American cause, narrowly escaped assassination. Indian envoys not infrequently suffered harsh treatment from fanatical and enfuriated militiamen. The horrors of Indian warfare were not entirely due to British incitement. In many cases, American frontiersmen but reaped the bitter harvest of their own rash deeds.

It should not be overlooked, however, that during these fateful years armed encounters with British and Indians were but incidents in the main purpose of the pioneer, who sought to occupy and subdue the wild land, to make it fruitful and blossom, and fill it with American homes. Kentucky was first permanently settled during the early years of the Revolution. The frontier of Virginia, while restrained within the limits of the territory south of the Ohio, was fast be- 
   INTRODUCTION

xix

ing strewn by farms and small communities. The importance of Pittsburgh and Wheeling as Western ports of entry was being recognized. The West was becoming homogeneous, self-conscious, nationalistic.

We are under obligations to the Rev. Joseph H. Bausman, of Rochester, Pa., for permission to copy the silhouette of Col. George Morgan, given in his History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Dr. William Cabell Rives of Washington, D. C, has enabled us to add greatly to the value of the volume by furnishing therefor a careful transcript of the official report of the treaty held at Pittsburgh in September and October, 1775, the original manuscript of which he inherited from his ancestor, Dr. Thomas Walker, one of the treaty commissioners. Valuable assistance in the reading of the proof of the entire volume has been rendered by Miss Annie A. Nunns of the Society's staff.

R. G. T. L. P. K. 
   EXPLANATORY

Following the names of the writer and recipient of each document is given its press-mark in the Draper Manuscript Collection, by which the original can readily be identified if its further consultation is desired. The capital letter or letters refer to the series to which the document belongs; the volume number precedes the series letter, the folio or page number follows. E. g., the press-mark 4QQ7 means Vol. 4 of the Preston Papers, p. 7; the press-mark 45J101 is equivalent to Vol. 45 of the George Rogers Clark Papers, p. 101.

Immediately after the press-mark, the nature of the document is indicated by the descriptive initials customarily employed in describing manuscripts:

A. L.     autograph letter unsigned (usually a draft in the author's handwriting).

A. L. S.     autograph letter signed.

L. S.    letter signed (text being in another's handwriting) .

D. S.     document signed. 
   THE REVOLUTION ON THE UPPER OHIO, 1775-1777

MOVEMENT TO KENTUCKY; FRONTIER EORTS

[Col. William Preston to Lord Dunmore.1 4QQ7   A. L., draft in Preston's handwriting.]

Fincastle, March io  1. 1775 My Lord   Herewith your Lordship will receive two Letters from Cap* Russell2 & Col0 Henderson's Proposals for Settling the Lands on the Ohio under the Company's Purchase; as one of the Letters relate chiefly to that Transaction I shall only observe that between five hundred and a Thousand Cherokees came in & that the whole Business was to be concluded this Week, as the Indians had no Objections to the Sale.8

1 For biographical sketches of Lord Dunmore and Col. William Preston, see Documentary History of Dunmore's War (Madison, Wis., 1905), pp. 425-431.   Ed.

2 A sketch of William Russell will be found in Ibtd., p. 6, note 9.   Ed.

3 Richard Henderson, a prominent North Carolinian, conceived the plan of settling a large tract of land between the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers, to be purchased from the Cherokee Indians. For the carrying out of his scheme, he organized the Transylvania Company, purchased goods to the value of   10,000 sterling, and invited the Cherokee to hold a treaty at Sycamore Shoals, on the Watauga River. Early in March, 1775, the Indians began arriving, and about twelve hundred in all collected.  After some opposition on the part of 
   2

REVOLUTION ON UPPER OHIO

That a great Number of Hands are employed in cutting a Waggon Road4 through Mockeson & Cumberland Gaps'5 to the Kentucky which they expect to compleat before JPlanting.Jimej & that at least 500 People are preparing to go out this Spring from Carolina beside great Numbers from Virga to Settle there & that the Company intends to have a Treaty with

Dragging Canoe and his band, the purchase was consummated on March 17, the treaty being signed by Oconastota, Little Carpenter, and many prominent chiefs. The Transylvania Company settled Boonesborough, opened a land-office, and held one legislative session in Kentucky. But their claim was protested by North Carolina, Virginia, and the Kentucky settlers already on the ground. In 1778 the Virginia legislature granted the Transylvania Company 200,000 acres of land on Green River as indemnity for their expense in settling Kentucky.

Henderson went out with the first group of settlers, his journal on that trip being among the Draper MSS., iCC. In 1779 he was commissioner from his state for extending westward the boundary line between it and Virginia, and visited Boonesborough in the spring of 1780. After serving in one session of the North Carolina Assembly, Henderson died at his home in Granville County, Jan. 30, 1785. The above account is abridged from a sketch by Dr. Lyman C. Draper in Draper MSS, 3B341-345, 5B83.   Ed.

4 Before tHe conclusion of the treaty at Watauga, Henderson dispatched Daniel Boone with a company of experienced woodsmen to open a road to the Kentucky River, a distance of some two hundred miles. This was the origin of the well-known Wilderness Road, later traversed by thousands of emigrants into the new West. It was a wagon-road only as far as Powell's Valley; after that, until 1792, but a pack-horse trail. See Thomas Speed, "Wilderness Road," in Filson Club Publications (Louisville, 1886), No. 2. For the list of Boone's co-workers see R. G. Thwaites, Daniel Boone (New York, 1902), p. 117.   Ed.

6 For reference to Moccasin Gap see Dunmore's War, p. 60, note 2.   Cumberland Gap was first discovered by Dr. Thomas' Walker,^April 13, 1750, and named in honor of the English: duke of that title.  See J. Stoddard Johnston, "First Explorations of Kentucky," Filson Club Publications, No. 13.   Ed. 
   MOVEMENT TO KENTUCKY

3

the Wobaush Indians0 & give them a considerable present to Permit the Settlement on those Lands. The Cherokees I hear says that Col0 Donelson promised them   500 for the Lands above the Kentucky which has not been paid & therefore they believe themselves at liberty to sell them a second Time;7 & the Company it is said have furnished themselves with the Journals of our house of Burgesses & other Authen-tick Papers to make it Appear that Virginia looked upon those Lands to be the property of the Cherokees.

It is generally believed that had the Commissioners been there from this Government, & met the Indians before they Saw the Goods that the Sale might have been prevented; however that be the matter is now become Serious & demands the Attention of Govern-

8 The Wabash Indians were not a distinct tribe; this was a collective term for the tribes residing on or near Wabash River, comprising the various divisions of the Miami, with the Mascoutin and the Kickapoo. They frequently raided the territory below Kentucky River. There seems to have been no attempt, however, on the part of the Transylvania proprietors to communicate with the Wabash Indians.   Ed.

7 For the Indian purchase here referred to, see Dunmore's War, p. Si note 8, also p. 20. Col. John Donelsonwas born_in Maryland about 1726; but he early removed to Pittsylvania County, Va., where he owned iron-mills and was a man of importance, representing his county in the Virginia house of burgesses. In 1771 he was employed to survey the Cherokee boundary line. Becoming interested in Western lands, he moved his family (1779-80) to central Tennessee. Descending Tennessee River with a fleet of flat-boats, he joined James Robertson at Nashville, and laid the foundation of that settlement. In 1781 he removed to Kentucky, returning to the Cumberland settlement in 1785. This latter year he visited Virginia, and was employed by Georgia to lay out a town at the Tennessee bend, being killed in the wilderness in the spring of 1786. His daughter Rachel became the wife of President Andrew Jackson.   Ed. 
   REVOLUTION ON UPPER OHIO

ment otherwise it is too likely that valuable & extensive Territory will be forever lost to Virginia.

It has been said here that your Lordship intended to have those Lands Surveyed and Sold for the Crown at a reasonable Price. If, so, I can think of no step so effectual to settle that Country, as the Virginians at least, & perhaps many of the Carolinians would rather Purchase even at a higher Price from the Crown & be assured of a good Title than run any Risque under the Carolina Company. But as that Company has declared that they will not suffer any Land to be Surveyed below the Kentucky, I am apprehensive this step could not be taken unless the Business could be Supported by an armed force; & how that could be effected, either by the removal of the Garrison or a large part of it from point Pleasant8 to the Falls or by raising a Company for that Purpose your Lordship can best determine.

Should yr Lordship incline to dispose of the Land in this or any other Manner & order it to be laid off in Lotts, I will cheerfully wait for my Fees until money can be raised out of the Sales, & should any unforeseen accident prevent the Sales thereof I am willing to run the Risque without having any charge against your Lordship or the Govern*, for that service.

Tho' there are yet Lands to Survey for Officers & Soldiers" I was affraid to Send out any Surveyors this

8 For the garrison at Point Pleasant, left there at the close of the campaign of 1774, see Ibid., pp. 309, 310.   Ed.

9 Prestop here refers to the bounty lands granted by Gov. Robert Dinwiddie to the officers and soldiers from Virginia who took part in the French and Indian War (1754-153). After the king's proclamation of 1763, these lands could not 
   MOVEMENT TO KENTUCKY

5

Spring untill I first acquainted your Lordship there-with & untill I would receive further Instructions, & the rather as I have been informed by Col0 Christian10 and others that your Lordship intended to send me Instructions how to proceed in this important Business.

(The bearer Capt. Floyd who was out last year as a Surveyor11 can inform your Lordship fully of the j Probability of settling that Country as above proposed, \ & of the Numbers who have already removed, & are about to remove there this Spring in order to plant Corn let the Consequences be what it will.

Upon the whole my Lord it appears to me that the Country will very shortly be inhabited by Numbers of Industrious People who can not be prevented from going there; & it now remains with your Lordship to take such immediate Steps as you may Judge most expedient to encourage those People, to dispose_of the Land for the Crown, & to secure to the purchasers proper Titles for the Same

By the last returns Cap* Russell had from the Point he informed me that the Flour & Indian Corn there would not last longer than the middle of this Month, upon which Report I conveened several Officers who advised to have some Corn purchased on Clinch &

be surveyed on Ohio waters until after the treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768). Washington was much interested in these claims, and in 1770 visited the upper Ohio on their behalf, em-

110-133.   Ed.

10 For a brief biography of Col. William Christian, see Ibid., pp. 429, 430.   Ed.

11 For John Floyd, and a letter written while surveying in the West, see Ibid., pp. 7-9; consult also pp. 42, 143, 144.   Ed. 
   6

REVOLUTION ON UPPER OHIO

Send it on Horse back to Sandy Creek & from thence to the Fort by Water,12 for an immediate Supply; but as this will be attended with considerable Expense to the Country I could not venture to advise Cap* Russell to purchase more than 75 or 100 Bushells untill I would inform your Lordship thereof, which I was about to do by Express had I not prevailed on Mr. Floycl to go down, for which reason your Lordship will perhaps think proper to Order his Expenses to be repaid.

Cap* Russell is of opinion that Col0. Stephen would order Some Flour by the way of Fort Dun-more on an application from your Lordship.13 It will be necessary either to send a Supply of Flour down, or have the Company discharged and the stores disposed of; which last would discourage the settling of that Country; but could part, even fifty men be Sent to the Falls it would certainly answer a good purpose on the present occasion.

Should your Lordship Honour me with any Instructions relative to ordering a Supply of Flour to the Point, or to the Surveying of the Lands on the Ohio I shall take the utmost Pleasure in Obeying them with the greatest Punctuality.

I am Your Lordships most Ob*. & very hble Sevt - W. P.

12 Clinch River is an upper tributary of the Tennessee, on which a considerable settlement was beginning to spring up. It was contiguous to the headwaters of Sandy River, that affluent of the Ohio River which now forms the boundary line between Kentucky and West Virginia. Sandy was more easily navigated than the Great Kanawha, hence this suggestion with regard to provisioning the fort at Point Pleasant.   Ed. 18 For Col. Adam Stephen and Fort Dunmore, see Dunmore's War, p. 191, note 35, and p. 35, note 60.   Ed.

 
   GOVERNOR AND CHIEF

7

LETTER FOR CORNSTALK

[Edmund Winston to Col. William Preston.  4QQ8   A. L. S.]

Bedford March 20th, 1775 Dear Sir   I received only last Week the Favour of your Letter of January the 9th. I happened to get early Information of Cap*. Russell's coming in, & procured the Governor's Letter to the Corn Stalk,14 which Col  . Christian has before this