Dunmore's War (or Lord Dunmore's War) was the result of several collisions that took place in the spring of 1774, on the Ohio River above the mouth of the Little Kanawha River, between Native American peoples (particularly Shawnee, Miami, and Wyandot) and parties of Anglo-American settlers who were in the region either exploring the country farther to the northwest or clearing land for settlement. The Ohio River is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River, 981 mi (1,579 km) long in the eastern United States. ... The Little Kanawha River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 160 mi (257 km) long, in northwestern West Virginia in the United States. ... Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, Amerindians, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ... For other meanings, see Shawnee (disambiguation). ... The Miami are a Native American tribe originally found in Indiana and Ohio. ... This article is about the First Nations people, the Wyandot, also known as the Huron. ...

The Proclamation of 1763 had reserved the land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River for the First Nations living there. American colonials, however, saw the Proclamation as a betrayal of their interests to those of Native Americans, and in defiance of the Proclamation, a series of settlers under Daniel Boone and others established themselves in what is now Kentucky. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763 by the British government in the name of King George III to prohibit settlement by British colonists beyond the Appalachian Mountains in the lands captured by Britain from France in the French and Indian War/Seven Years War and to... The Appalachian Mountains are a system of North American mountains running from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada to Alabama in the United States, although the northernmost mainland portion ends at the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec. ... Length 6,270 km Elevation of the source 450 m Average discharge 16,200 m³/s Area watershed 2,980,000 km² Origin Lake Itasca Mouth Gulf of Mexico Basin countries United States (98. ... First Nations is the current title used by Canada to describe the various societies of the indigenous peoples, called Native Americans in the U.S. They have also been known as Indians, Native Canadians, Aboriginal Americans, Amer-Indians, or Aboriginals, and are officially called Indians in the Indian Act, which... Daniel Boone Daniel Boone ( November 2, 1734- September 26, 1820), was a famous United States pioneer and frontiersman who blazed the Wilderness Road and founded Boonesborough, Kentucky (also known as Boonesboro). ... State nickname: Bluegrass State Other U.S. States Capital Frankfort Largest city Louisville Governor Ernie Fletcher Official languages English Area 104,749 km² (37th)  - Land 102,989 km²  - Water 1,760 km² (1. ...

Initial incidents

Among the settlers was Captain Michael Cresap, who was the owner of a trading post at Redstone Old Fort (now Brownsville, Pennsylvania) on the Monongahela River. Under authority of the colonial government of Virginia, Cresap had taken up extensive tracts of land at and below the mouth of Middle Island Creek (now Sistersville, West Virginia), and had gone there in the early spring of 1774 with a party of men to settle his holdings. Ebenezer Zane, afterwards a famed “Indian fighter” and guide, was engaged at the same time and in the same way with a small party of men on lands which he had taken up at or near the mouth of Sandy Creek. A third and larger group that included George Rogers Clark, who later became a general during the Revolutionary War, had gathered at the mouth of the Little Kanawha River (the present site of Parkersburg, West Virginia), and were waiting there for the arrival of other Virginians who were expected to join them at that point before moving downriver to settle lands in Kentucky. Brownsville is a borough located in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. ... The Monongahela River is a river of the eastern United States of America. ... State nickname: Old Dominion Other U.S. States Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Governor Mark R. Warner Official languages English Area 110,862 km² (35th)  - Land 102,642 km²  - Water 8,220 km² (7. ... Sistersville is a city located in Tyler County, West Virginia. ... Ebenezer Zane (1747-1811) was an American pioneer and land speculator. ... George Rogers Clark Painted by Rosemary Brown Beck George Rogers Clark (November 9, 1752–February 13, 1818) was the preeminent American military leader on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. ... The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the American War of Independence, was a war fought primarily between Great Britain and revolutionaries within thirteen of her North American colonies. ... Parkersburg is the county seat of Wood County6. ... State nickname: Bluegrass State Other U.S. States Capital Frankfort Largest city Louisville Governor Ernie Fletcher Official languages English Area 104,749 km² (37th)  - Land 102,989 km²  - Water 1,760 km² (1. ...

While waiting for some days on the Little Kanawha, reports began to reach Clark’s group that Native Americans were robbing and occasionally killing traders, surveyors and others traveling down the Ohio, which caused them to believe that the Native Americans were bent on all-out war. With this in mind the group decided to attack the Native town called Horsehead Bottom, which was near the mouth of the Scioto River and on the way to their intended destination in Kentucky. The question arose as to who would lead the attack, as few in the group had experience in warfare. After some discussion the group decided on Capt. Cresap, whom they knew was about fifteen miles upriver from them and was intending to follow them into Kentucky, and who also had combat experience. Cresap was sent for and he quickly met with the group. After some discussion of their plan, Cresap dissuaded the group from the attack, saying that while the actions of the Native Americans were certainly hostile they didn’t indicate that war was inevitable. He further argued that if they carried out their plans he had no doubt of their success, but a war would surely result, and they could justifiably be blamed for it. Instead he suggested the group should return to Wheeling, West Virginia for a few weeks to see what would develop, and if the situation calmed they would then resume their journey to Kentucky. The group agreed. The Scioto River is a river of central and southern Ohio. ... Wheeling is a city located in West Virginia, in the United States. ...

When they arrived at Wheeling they found the whole area in an uproar, panicked by what was believed to be imminent war with the Native Americans. People from the surrounding countryside flocked to the town for protection, and the ranks of Cresap’s group soon swelled with volunteers willing to fight. Word of the group’s arrival reached Fort Pitt, and Capt. John Connolly, commander of the fort, sent a message asking that the group remain in Wheeling a few days, as messages had been sent to the local tribes to determine their intentions. A reply was sent to Connolly saying the group would do as he asked, but before it got to Fort Pitt a second message from Connolly was received, addressed to Cresap, stating the tribes had signaled they intended war. Fort Pitt refers to two forts: Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania, and Fort Pitt, Kent. ...

A council was called April 26 and after Cresap read Connolly’s letter to the assembly, war was declared. The following day some Native canoes were spotted on the river, and after chasing them fifteen miles downriver to Pipe Creek the settlers engaged them, and a battle ensued. Both sides suffered a few wounded. The following day, Clark's party abandoned the original idea of proceeding to Kentucky, as they anticipated retaliation would follow for the attack at Pipe Creek. They broke camp and marched with Cresap's men to his headquarters at Redstone Old Fort.

Growth of violence

Immediately after the occurrence of the Pipe Creek incident came the murder of the relatives of the Mingo Chief Logan, who up to this point had been peaceful towards the settlers. Logan and his hunting party were camped on the west bank of the Ohio at Yellow Creek, about thirty miles above Wheeling (near present day Steubenville, Ohio) across the river from Baker’s Bottom. On April 30 some members of the hunting party (Logan was not among them) crossed the river to Baker’s tavern for their customary ration of rum. When most of them were intoxicated a group of settlers that had been lying in wait killed all of them except for an infant child. The settlers who did the killing were under the leadership of Daniel Greathouse, a settler living near the mouth of King's Creek. Logan believed, as did others at the time, that Capt. Cresap was responsible for the murder of Logan’s family, as he was known to have killed other Native Americans. However, several people familiar with the incident (including George Rogers Clark) have stated that Daniel Greathouse and his party were the ones who committed the murders, and Cresap was not involved at all. The Mingo people were an Iroquois group that migrated west to the Ohio River Valley in the mid-eighteenth century 1750s and formed their own distinct identity there. ... Tah-gah-jute (~1725-1780), sometimes known as Chief Logan or James Logan, was a Mingo chief in the pre-Revolutionary War era, who had befriended the white settlers, moving in from Virginia into the territory that is now West Virginia and Kentucky. ... Steubenville is a city located in Jefferson County, Ohio. ...

The settlers along the frontiers, knowing the Native Americans would surely make war in revenge for the killing of their people, immediately sought safety, either in blockhouses or by abandoning their settlements and flying eastward across the Monongahela, with many traveling back across the Allegheny Mountains. This fear was well founded: Logan, whose former friendship for the settlers had been turned into hatred by the killing of his people, came in with his band to ravage the settlements on the west side of the Monongahela. The Allegheny Mountains are a part of the Appalachian mountain range located in the eastern United States. ...

Lord Dunmore's response

Early in May 1774 Virginia's Governor John Murray, Lord Dunmore received word of the hostilities that commenced at Yellow Creek and other points on the Ohio. In response he mustered forces for the invasion of the Native territories. He split his force into two groups: one would move down the Ohio from Fort Pitt, under the Governor himself, and another body of troops under Colonel Andrew Lewis would travel from Camp Union (now Lewisburg, West Virginia) to meet Dunmore at the mouth of the Great Kanawha River. Under this general plan Governor Dunmore traveled to Fort Pitt and then he proceeded with his forces down the Ohio River, and on September 30 arrived at Fort Fincastle (later Fort Henry) which recently had been built at Wheeling by Dunmore's order. The force under Col. Lewis, eleven hundred strong, proceeded from Camp Union to the headwaters of the Kanawha, and then downriver to the appointed rendezvous at its mouth, which was reached on October 6. Gen. Lewis, not finding Lord Dunmore already there, sent messengers up the Ohio to meet him and inform him of the arrival of the column at the mouth of the Kanawha. On October 9 a dispatch was received from Dunmore saying that he (Dunmore) was at the mouth of the Hocking River, and that he would proceed thence directly to the Shawnee towns on the Scioto, instead of coming down the Ohio to the mouth of the Kanawha as originally planned. At the same time he ordered Lewis to cross the Ohio and march to meet him (Dunmore) at the Shawnee towns. John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore (1730–February 25, 1809) was the British governor of the Province of New York from 1770 to 1771 and the Virginia Colony, from September 25, 1771 until just before the American Revolutionary War began in June 1775. ... Andrew Lewis (c. ... Lewisburg is a city located in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. ... The Kanawha River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 miles (156 km) long, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. ... Fort Fincastle was built in 1774 at Wheeling, which was then part of the state of Virginia. ... Fort Fincastle was built in 1774 at Wheeling, which was then part of the state of Virginia. ... The Hocking River is a river that drains part of southeast Ohio, mostly within the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau, although its headwaters are within glaciated territory. ... For other meanings, see Shawnee (disambiguation). ...

On October 10, before Col. Lewis had commenced his movement across the Ohio, he was attacked by a large body of Shawnee warriors under Chief Cornstalk. The fight (known as the Battle of Point Pleasant) raged nearly all day, and resulted in the defeat of the Native warriors, who subsequently retreated across the Ohio. Dunmore and Lewis advanced from their respective points into Ohio to within eight miles of the Shawnee town on the Scioto and erected a temporary camp called Camp Charlotte, on Sippo Creek. Here they met Cornstalk to begin peace negotiations. Chief Logan, although he stated he would cease fighting, would not attend any of the formal peace talks. The Shawnee accepted the terms but the Mingo did not; Major William Crawford was therefore sent against one of the Mingo villages, called Seekunk, or Salt Lick Town. His force consisted of two hundred and forty men, with which he destroyed the village. Cornstalk (1720?–November 10, 1777) was a prominent leader of the Shawnee people in the era of the American Revolution. ... The Battle of Point Pleasant was an action in Lord Dunmores War between Virginia militia and the Indians fought on October 10, 1774 near modern Point Pleasant, West Virginia. ...

These operations and the submission of the Shawnee and Mingo at Camp Charlotte virtually closed the war. Governor Dunmore immediately set on his return, and proceeded by way of Redstone and the Great Crossings of the Youghiogheny River to Fort Cumberland, and then to the Virginia capital. The Youghiogheny River (pronounced yah-kuh-GAIN-ee) is a tributary of the Monongahela River, approximately 135 mi (217 km) long, in the U.S. states of West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. ... Fort Cumberland was built to guard the entrance to Langstone Harbour, east of Portsmouth. ...

References

• History of Washington County, Pennsylvania With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Boyd Crumrine, L. H. Everts & Co. (Philadelphia, 1882).
• The Border Wars of the Upper Ohio Valley (1769-1794), William Hintzen, Precision Shooting Inc. (Manchester, CT 2001).