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Chapter 5: The Revolutionary Era
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5 The Revolutionary Era The Response to Revolution. Satisfaction with the intervention of Lord Dunmore in land affairs and the victory at Point Pleasant did not divert the attention of western Virginians from events in Boston and Philadelphia in 1774. On November 5, before they returned home from the campaign, officers and soldiers in Dunmore's War issued the Fort Gower Resolves. They coupled professions of loyalty to King George I11 and confidence in Lord Dunmore with a declaration that "the love of liberty, and attachment to the real interests and just rights of America outweigh[ed] every other consideration." They pledged exertion of every power within them "for the defense of American liberty."' Adam Stephen, who probably convened the men at Fort Gower, declared that "before I would submit my life, liberty, and property to the arbitrary disposal of a corrupt, venal aristocracy, . . .I would set myself down with a few hundred friends upon some rich and healthy spot, six hundred miles to the westward, and there form a settlement, which, in a short time would command attention and respect. " 2 Professions of support for the American cause from Westerners, who had their own interests, were no idle boasts. Richard Henry Lee asserted that he could raise six thousand men from the counties of Hampshire, Berkeley, Frederick, Dunmore (now Shenandoah), Augusta, and Botetourt alone. These men had developed "amazing hardihood" from years spent in the woods and such "dexterity" with the Kentucky rifle that they scorned any target within two hundred yards and larger than an orange.3 Westerners reacted angrily to reports in April 1775 that Dunmore had removed the powder from the Williamsburg magazine to a British vessel at anchor in the James River. A thousand men from the frontier counties gathered at Fredericksburg to march against the governor, but George Washington dissuaded them from their course. 'John E. Robbins, "The Fort Gower Resolves, November 5, 1774," in Thomas H. Smith, ed., Ohio in theAmerican Revolution, Ohio American Revolution Bicentennial Conference Series, no. 1 (Columbus, 1976), 21-26. ?Quoted in Freeman H. H a r t ,The Valley of Virginia in the American Revolution, 1763-1789 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1942), 85. 3Don Higginbotham, Daniel Morgan, Revolutionary Rijleman (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961), 19-20. 38 West Virginia: A History When the ContinentalCongress, on June 14,1775, called upon Virginia to raise two of the ten companies of riflemen for service in Boston, Westerners again demonstrated enthusiasm for the American cause. Upon the advice of Horatio Gates, Washington named two veterans of Dunmore's War, Hugh Stephenson of Berkeley County and Daniel Morgan of Frederick County, to command the companies. The two captains filled their companies within a week, mostly with young men equipped with rifles, tomahawks, scalping knives, and other accoutrements. Morgan left Winchester on July 15, and Stephenson set out from Shepherdstown two days later. Eager to arrive in Cambridge first, and knowing that their simultaneousarrival would give more creditto Stephenson,who outrankedhim, Morgan ignored an agreementtojoin Stephenson at Frederick, Maryland, and hastened on to Cambridge, Massachusetts , where he arrived on August 6, five days ahead of Stephenson. Although there were instancesof disloyalty and disaffectionduringthe war, West Virginians generally answered the call of their country with promptness and even enthusiasm. They participated in nearly every major battle, including Quebec, Saratoga, Cowpens, and Kings Mountain. Among the officers who achieved military distinction were Major Generals Horatio Gates and Charles Lee, Brigadier General Adam Stephen, and Captains Hugh Stephenson and William Darke. IndianRelations. The greatest immediatedangerto West Virginiaresidents lay in the possibility that western Indians might join the British. Peace with western tribes, envisioned in the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, no longer served British interests. In February 1775 Lord Dunmore instructed John Connoily to make the Indians allies. Connolly obtained pledges of friendship from the Delaware and a few of the Mingo chiefs. About a month later Dunmore ordered the disbanding of garrisons at Forts Dunmore, Fincastle, and Blair and the evacuation of the posts. The defenseless frontiersmen appealed to both the Continental Congress and Virginia authorities for protection. On August 7 the Virginia Convention ordered Captain John Neville and a hundred men from Winchester to Fort Dunmore, now hastily renamed Fort Pitt. Already it had named a commission consisting of Thomas Walker, Andrew Lewis, James Wood, John Walker, and Adam Stephento conferwith tribal chiefsand seektheirneutrality. Wood visited the Indianvillagesat greatpersonalrisk and arrangedaconferenceat Fort Pitt in September. The Treaty of Pittsburgh...