Tag: Western Virginia

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.

May 23, 1862: The Battle of Lewisburg Fought in Greenbrier County

On May 23, 1862, the Battle of Lewisburg was fought in Greenbrier County. It occurred as Union troops were moving from Western Virginia toward Tennessee in the spring of 1862. Union General John C. Frémont planned to move his forces southwest from Monterey, Virginia, to the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad near Christiansburg. There, Frémont was to connect with troops under General Jacob Cox.

Fremont, however, got detained by fighting in the Shenandoah Valley. Cox, not realizing the plan had fallen apart, transferred one his four brigades to Lewisburg. The 1,600-man brigade, under General George Crook, was unknowingly vulnerable to attack from Confederate General Henry Heth.

On the morning of May 23, Heth’s 2,200 Confederate troops attacked Crook’s position at Lewisburg. Despite facing superior numbers, Crook and his men repelled the advance, killing 38, wounding 66, and reportedly capturing nearly 100. Crook lost only 13 of his own men. Although the Union victory at Lewisburg was widely reported and a boost to waning Northern morale, its importance was overshadowed by Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s legendary Shenandoah Valley Campaign, which was occurring at the same time.

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.

Exit mobile version