Frontier Disputes and the War for Independence

Frontier Disputes and the War for IndependenceChapter 7

Legislation that disrupts the colonies

Sugar Act 1764 was aimed to raise revenues from the colonies by taxing sugar.

Stamp Act 1765 required colonists to by a stamp for newspapers, pamphlets, legal documents.

Townshend Acts 1767 placed duties on imported glass, lead, paper and tea and made it easier for tax collectors to get writs of assistance.

Legislation that disrupts the colonies

Tea Act 1773 kept in place duties on imported tea and allowed the British East India Company to export directly to the colonies.

The Intolerable Acts 1774 closed Boston Harbor, canceled the Massachusetts Charter, moved trials of colonial officials to Britain, allowed quartering of British troops in all colonies and gave Canada control of Ohio Region.

Forbidden Western Lands

Proclamation Line of 1763 forbade settlement west of the Allegheny Front. Those already there had to move back and those wanting to move were not allowed.

Daniel Boone was one of those people who refused to listen to the king. He settled the Cumberland Gap and Boonesborough, Kentucky. Over 200,000 people followed his trail.

Crossing the Line

John and Samuel Pringle were British Soldiers and deserted from Fort Pitt during the French and Indian War.

For three years, on the Buckhannon River, they lived in a Sycamore Tree. It was large enough for two beds and a fireplace.

They covered the opening with animal hides during winter and hunted small game for food.

Crossing the line

John left to go to the Potomac Valley to get ammunition. He finds out the war is over and can come out of hiding.

Eventually they lead settlers to Buckhannon River where people cleared land and started settlements.

Eventually, John Pringle moved to Kentucky and Samuel Pringle stayed on the Buckhannon River.

Acquiring Indian lands

William Johnson and John Stuart we given control of the land west of the Proclamation Line. It was divided in to a North and Southern territory for the Indians.

These men treated the Indians as fair as possible. They organized the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, in which

Iroquois gave up land south of Ohio River. Also, the Treaty of Hard Labor in which the Cherokee gave up land between Kentucky and Kanawha Rivers.

Acquiring Indian Lands

These two treaties nullified the Proclamation of 1763 and opened lands to western migration.

Zackquill Morgan was able to settle what is now Morgantown and John Simpson was able to settle Elk Creek or present-day Clarksburg.

George Washington, at seventeen was given a surveying job by Lord Fairfax.

Acquiring Indian Lands

Washington had never been to western Virginia until then and was promised a share from the French and Indian War.

Washington sailed down the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers, surveying 55,000 acres of land.

Washington had plans to settle in present-day Mason County. He had made plans for a settlement with Irish indentured servants.

Acquiring Indian Lands

The property was cleared, houses built, and by 1776, the property was worth over $5,500.

Because of the American Revolution and Indians, people abandoned the settlement .

The land was given to Washington’s nieces and nephews. One of them actually settled the land.

Vandalia

Vandalia was a proposed 14th colony of Great Britain. It was come from the lands that are part of southwestern Pennsylvania, current lands of West Virginia, west of the mountains, and parts of Eastern Kentucky.

Its capital was to be located where Point Pleasant is located today.

It was named so in honor of the Queen of England, who was descended from the Vandals.

Problems in the East

Problems in the East were caused by taxes placed on the colonies after the French and Indian War.

The taxes were assumed to be tyrannical because the colonies had no representation in Parliament.

In refusal pay unfair taxes, the colonists tar and feathered tax collectors or hanged them in public.

Boston tea Party

On December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty disguised as Indians boarded three ships in Boston Harbor and threw 342 chests of tea into the Harbor.

It took three hours to dump all the crates of tea overboard.

Then the British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in retaliation for the wasted tea.

Trouble with the American Indians

In April of 1774, the pioneers west of the Proclamation Line were preparing for their own isolated war with the Indians.

Michael Cresap was chosen to lead the pioneers in battle against the Indians.

Cresap led an attack on Captina Creek. This attack caused the death of several Shawnee Indians and led to other problems with Indians later.

Trouble with the American Indians

Logan, a Mingo Chief lost his whole family due to the raids of Michael Cresap.

Daniel Greathouse killed several Indians who visited a tavern in Virginia. Among those killed were siblings of Chief Logan.

Logan lived on the Ohio River at Yellow Creek. He was initially very friendly with the white colonists.

Trouble with the American Indians

Once he found out about the deaths of his relatives, Logan went on raids and attacked several white settlements.

He killed or took captive more than thirty settlers. Several conflicts went on killing Chief Bald Eagle and

Silver Heels. Sir William Johnson convinced the Indians to uphold a

treaty they signed to keep them from uprising.

Lord Dunmore’s War

Governor Dunmore decided to get rid of the Indians. He raised an army of 2,500 men to get their attention off

the problems with the British. Lord Dunmore and Andrew Lewis split the 2,500 men.

Each took control of half, one in the north and the other south.

Dunmore traveled to Wheeling and Lewis to the Little Kanawha River.

The Battle of Point Pleasant

Lord Dunmore traveled south and crossed Hocking River instead of meeting Lewis as planned.

He believed he could defeat the Indians himself. Chief Cornstalk had been following Dunmore and Lewis

the whole time. Once Dunmore got away from Lewis, Cornstalk planned an attack on Lewis.

The Battle of Point Pleasant

Lewis divided his men into four groups. Once they got to Point Pleasant, they became aware that Lord Dunmore had went ahead.

He wanted them to meet him at some Shawnee settlements near the Scioto River.

Cornstalk had an army made up of Mingo, Shawnee, Delaware, Wyandotte and Cayuga.

The Battle of Point Pleasant

Two soldiers accidently found the encampment while hunting. One was killed and the other made it back to camp to warn Lewis.

Lewis tried to build a fort quickly but the Indians fought the frontiersmen in hand to hand combat. This was one of the bloodiest and most violent Indian battles on the frontier.

Cornstalk withdrew at night. They picked up their dead and hurt and left.

The Treaty of Camp Charlotte

After not being able to defeat Lewis and fearing defeat from Lord Dunmore, Cornstalk asked for peace.

After the battle with Cornstalk, Lewis’ encampment built Fort Randolph.

Lewis traveled to Dunmore when heard of possible peace negotiations. By the time he reached Dunmore, a peace agreement was signed.

Treaty of Camp Charlotte

Treaty of Camp Charlotte was signed by Shawnee, Delaware, Mingo and Lord Dunmore.

The Indians were to return all of the captives and horses taken.

They also gave up their hunting lands south of the Ohio River.

The Treaty of Pittsburgh finalized everything in 1775 and Indians also decided to stay neutral in British conflicts in America.

Treaty of Camp Charlotte

Logan refused to sign the peace treaty, even after Dunmore requested him to sign it.

Lewis’ men were angry when a peace treaty was signed by Dunmore.

They met at Fort Gower and released a statement of allegiance to King George III and Lord Dunmore and they would only fight for America and Virginia.

Treaty of Camp Charlotte

This meeting was also taking place at the same time the First Continental Congress was meeting. Neither side knew of each other’s meeting.

Sometimes, the Battle of Point Pleasant is referred to as the first battle of the Revolutionary War.

In actuality, this cannot be the first battle of the Revolution because Americans fought on the same side as their British Officer.

West Virginia and the American Revolution

When Washington was asked to the American Army for the Revolutionary War, he specifically asked for men from west of the Alleghenies.

Daniel Morgan and Hugh Stephenson commanded two companies from Western Virginia.

They wore buckskin clothing, coonskin hats, carried rifles and tomahawks and large knives.

War in the West

In 1777, Henry Hamilton, a British General, was nicknamed the “hair buyer” because he tried to undermind the Treaty of Pittsburgh.

At the beginning of the war, 1/3 of colonists favored Revolution, 1/3 of colonists wanted to remain British, 1/3 remained neutral.

Loyalists were in Hampshire, Greenbrier and Berkeley counties and refused to give aid for the war.

War in the West

Quakers, Mennonites and Dunkards didn’t support the war for religious purposes.

They believed it was wrong to supply food or money to either side.

Most people on the frontier were more focused on possible Indian attacks and protecting their land instead of fighting with the British.

The Siege at Fort Henry

Fort Henry is located near Wheeling. It was originally named Fort Fincastle in honor of Lord Dunmore’s family.

It was changed in honor of Patrick Henry. Indians attacked Fort Henry in 1777 because some men

went outside the walls looking for horses. The attack lasted for three days.

The Siege at Fort Henry

Because the British and Indians couldn’t draw the people outside the fort, they burned the houses near the fort, killed the cattle, destroyed the crops and went back across the Ohio River.

The Tragedy at Fort Randolph

Cornstalk went to Fort Randolph to warn the colonists, his friends, that is young warriors had joined sides with the British. He warned them of a possible attack.

Cornstalk and Red Hawk were taken prisoner instead by Captain Arbuckle. He feared Cornstalk was lying to him.

Cornstalk’s son went to the fort looking for his father and was taken prisoner as well.

The Tragedy at Fort Randolph

A handful of men went out of the fort to hunt and were attacked by Indians hiding outside. One was killed and scalped.

When the others inside the fort heard the commotion, they retrieved their dead and assumed Elinipsico brought those Indians with him.

Captain Arbuckle let his men kill the three Indians and left shortly after to join forces at Camp Union.

The Tragedy at Fort Randolph

When Indians heard of Cornstalk’s death they vowed revenge and Governor Patrick Henry tried to settle the matter without war with the Indians.

In May of 1778, the Indians came and attacked Fort Henry again, for a week, unsuccessfully.

Since the Indians couldn’t take over the fort, they took the cattle in the area and left.

The Attack on Fort Donnally

John Pryor and Phillip Hammond set out disguised as Indians, to warn settlers in Greenbrier Valley of impending Indian attacks.

The settlers gathered at the house of Colonel Andrew Donnally.

Eighty men, sixty women and children were inside the stockade at Donnally’s house. Phillip Hammond and a slave kept watch through the night.

The Attack on Fort Donnally

In the early morning hours, Hammond and the slave blocked the door with a barrel of water to keep the Indians out.

They shot into the crowd and awakened everyone. Seventeen Indians were killed and the Indians concealed themselves the rest of they day, while continue attack.

Later in the day, Captain Arbuckle arrived at Camp Union and ran the Indians away from Fort Donnally ending the battle.

The Closing Years of the War

Elizabeth Zane risked her life for Fort Henry in 1782, when it was attacked by the British soldiers and Indians attacked.

Treaty of Paris 1783 officially ended the Revolutionary War. The British were supposed to leave their western forts and America would repay debts to England.