Revolutionary War Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

April 3, 1755: Pioneer Simon Kenton Born in Fauquier Co., Va.

Simon Kenton was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, on April 3, 1755. He left home at age 16, after he mistakenly thought he’d killed a neighbor. Kenton first traveled north through present West Virginia to Pittsburgh. Then, during the 1770s, he spent several winters trapping game along the Ohio River between the Big Sandy and Kanawha rivers.

In 1774, Kenton served as a scout during the Muskingum War and Lord Dunmore’s War, which culminated in the Battle of Point Pleasant. He was a scout under George Rogers Clark during the Revolutionary War and was one of the best-known scouts for early settlers. He also was a celebrated hunter and trapper. And in 1777, he saved the life of Daniel Boone during an Indian attack in Kentucky.

He founded his own station in what is now Mason County, Kentucky. After losing his wife to a fire, he moved to Ohio in 1798.

Late in life, Kenton fell upon rough times, spending more than a year in prison for bad debts. He died in Ohio in 1836 at age 81. He’s remembered as one of western Virginia’s legendary pioneers.

February 6, 1732: General Charles Lee Born in England

General Charles Lee was born in England on February 6, 1732. As a young man, he served with distinction in the British army before immigrating to America in the early 1770s. When the Revolutionary War began, he sided with the Americans and served as a major general in the Continental Army.

He made a name for himself during the early months of the war, defending Boston and Charleston, South Carolina. However, after being captured in 1776, he supplied the British with plans to defeat the Americans. Unaware of Lee’s betrayal, George Washington exchanged prisoners for him and placed him back in command.

At the time, Lee was the American army’s third-ranking officer. But he wasn’t quite the same general after his capture. His poor performance at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778 led to a court martial.

Lee left the army and moved to present-day Jefferson County, where he enlarged a pioneer home he’d bought right before the war. He died just four years later at age 50. Lee’s Jefferson County home, which he named Prato Rio, is one of the oldest structures still standing in West Virginia.

September 19, 1777: Continental Soldiers Battled with British Troops at Saratoga, New York

On September 19, 1777, Continental soldiers battled with British troops at Saratoga, New York. A month later, another conflict at Saratoga ended with the surrender of John Burgoyne’s British army. Coming after a long string of defeats for the Americans, the battles at Saratoga were a turning point in the Revolutionary War—giving patriots a shot of optimism and encouraging the French to enter the war on the American side.

The American commander at Saratoga was General Horatio Gates—a resident of what is now West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle. In 1773, he’d purchased a farm in present Jefferson County and began building his home, known as Traveller’s Rest.

After Saratoga, Gates became a national hero. There was even talk of replacing George Washington with Gates as the overall American commander.

But, by the end of the war, Gates was no longer a hero. In 1780, he suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of the British at Camden, South Carolina. During the Americans’ haphazard retreat, Gates essentially abandoned his troops, riding ahead of them to Charlotte, North Carolina. He never led a field command again.

May 16, 1778: Wyandot and Mingo Indians Attack the Fort Randolph

On May 16, 1778, about 300 Wyandot and Mingo Indians attacked the garrison at Fort Randolph in Point Pleasant. Located at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha rivers, Fort Randolph was one of the most important military outposts in Western Virginia during the Revolutionary War.

The attack was perhaps in retaliation for the murder of Indian chiefs Cornstalk and Red Hawk and Cornstalk’s son Elinipsico months earlier. Cornstalk had led Shawnee forces in their valiant but failed effort against the Virginia militia at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. Once the Revolutionary War started, however, Cornstalk, Red Hawk, and other chiefs from nearby Ohio wanted to remain neutral between the Americans and British.

Cornstalk and Red Hawk came to Fort Randolph to warn the Americans they could no longer control their warriors and that an attack could be imminent. Instead of accepting the intelligence information in good faith, the Americans detained the two chiefs at the fort. After an Indian attack on two white hunters in the area, local residents captured and killed the two chieftains and Elinipsico, who’d come looking for his father.

Greenville Treaty Ends Indian Threat to Western Va: August 3, 1795

On August 3, 1795, the United States and several Indian tribes signed the Treaty of Greenville. Although the treaty was signed in western Ohio, it had a major impact on the region that would later become West Virginia.

Under the terms of the treaty, the Indians ceded to the United States about two-thirds of present Ohio. By pushing the tribes west, it ended the threat of Indian attacks on the Western Virginia frontier.

For decades, Indians and pioneers had had continual conflicts on the Western Virginia frontier, with the violence peaking in 1774 and again during the Revolutionary War. Although Indian attacks waned in the years following the Revolution, there were still sporadic conflicts. The Treaty of Greenville brought peace to Western Virginia and sparked an influx of new settlement, while depriving Indians of even more of their ancestral land.

The treaty didn’t assure peace in Ohio, though, and places further west. Settlers immediately poured into territory promised to the tribes. Also, some Indian leaders, such as Tecumseh, refused to sign the treaty and began putting up long-term resistance.