University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XL

ENCROACHMENTS OF THE FRENCH AND
INDIANS

As early as 1735, the second William Byrd had pointed out
that it was to the advantage of the French "to be beforehand
with the English in gaining possession of the mountains
(Alleghany)." "For so doing," he said, "they will have the
following temptations: first, that they may make themselves
masters of all the mines with which those mountains abound;
second, that they may engross all the trade with the western
Indians for skins and furs, which, besides being very profitable,
will bind those numerous natives to the French interest so far
as to cause them to side with the French against the King's
subjects, just as those bordering on Canada are already
employed to give trouble to the adjacent British colony. And
lastly, that they (the French) may build forts to command the
passes through those mountains, by means of which they will
be in condition, not only to secure their own traffic and protect
their own settlements westward, but also to invade the British
colonies from thence." "Nor are these views so distant as
some may imagine," he added, "because a scheme for that
purpose was some years ago laid before the Sieur Croissat
and approved; but it was not, at that time, thought to be sufficiently
ripe for execution. These inducements to the French
make it prudent for the British monarchy to be watchful to
prevent them from seizing this important barrier. There
should be employed some fit person to reconnoitre these
mountains in order to discover what mines may be there, and
likewise to observe what nations of Indians dwell there, and

where lie the most considerable passes, with a view to their
being secured by proper fortifications."

These were words of remarkable wisdom and foresight.
Unfortunately, they were not heeded until the French had
seated themselves so firmly in the territory beyond the Alleghanies,
that they could only be driven off by a fierce and
expensive war. They were near enough to the western boundaries
of Virginia to keep the Indians in the outlying parts
in a state of sullen animosity to the English, which flared up
every now and then in ruthless incursions. In 1738, a band
of sneaking savages stole down from the valley of the Ohio
River and murdered eleven men, women, and children, in one
of the remote settlements of Orange County. Gooch at once
organized a force of rangers to pursue them to their towns
and compel the surrender of all who had taken part in the
massacre. The Indians in the parley that followed sought to
justify themselves by asserting that the persons killed had
built their cabins far beyond the boundary line which had
been set by formal agreement.

By 1742, no such excuse for such bloody cruelty as this
could be offered, for, by that year, title to all lands up to the
eastern banks of the Ohio had been transferred to the English
by the Treaty of Lancaster. But this fact did not check the
Indian incursions. In the very year in which that treaty was
signed, a roving company of Iroquois, descending from the
North, entered the Valley of Virginia on the warpath against
the Cherokees seated further South. All the way through the
dispersed plantations,—according to the report of the whites,
—they seized horses to hasten their journey; and for the
recovery of these animals, they were followed by militia summoned
from the tobacco and corn fields. They were overtaken
at Balcony Falls by Captains John McDowell and John
Buchanan at the head of an incensed body of troops. A soldier,—so
it was said by these troops,—was sent forward with
a signal of peace, but when he was shot down by the Indians,
the whites rushed forward and fired upon the enemy, killing

as many as ten or twelve warriors. The Indians returned the
fire, and eleven men, among them Captain McDowell, fell in
their tracks. The savages then took to flight, and by scattering
in the underbrush, escaped.

Gooch was indignant at this supposed violation of the
terms of the treaty, and insisted, by special messenger, that
Governor Clark of New York should punish the band guilty
of what he denounced as an indefensible outrage. The Iroquois
declined to make any reparation, on the ground that the intruders
had, in passing up the Valley, carried off only the hogs
running wild in the woods; and that they had been forced to
do this by the positive refusal of the English settlers to supply
them with food. They denied that the bearer of the signal
had been wantonly killed. On the contrary, they said, it was
only after two Indian boys had been made the target of bullets
and two adults actually shot down that the band began
firing; and, a few minutes later, they had retreated for their
lives into the forest. It was proved that the whites, and not
the Indians, had been the real aggressors in the battle, as was
so often the case in these bloody episodes of border warfare.
Gooch, indeed, was, in the end, compelled to pay the sum of
one hundred pounds sterling to quiet the Indian claim against
the Colony arising from this incident.

In 1749, Thomas Lee and twelve other citizens of Virginia
and Maryland united in organizing the Ohio Company.
Among the members were Governor Dinwiddie, George Mason,
and the two Washingtons, Lawrence and Augustine. One of
the earliest acts of this company was to send out Christopher
Gist to inspect the western country as far as the falls in the
Ohio, at the modern site of Louisville, and to report on its
various resources. He arrived on the banks of the great river
safely, and crossing to the other side, explored the region up
and down for a considerable distance. Every step of it which
he traversed during this excursion was found by him to be,
for the most part, overgrown with forest; but, here and there,
were beautiful savannas, and, at longer intervals, wide plains

clothed in luxuriant grasses, and watered by limpid streams,
and enlivened by magnificent herds of elk and bison. The like
scenes and objects confronted him all the way to the mouth of
the Kentucky River after he had returned to the southern
bank of the Ohio.

So favorable was Gist's report of all that he had observed
that the Ohio Company was prompted by it to acquire from
the Indian tribes inhabiting that country the right to establish
settlements there. The accession of Lawrence Washington
to the presidency of the Company, after the death of
Thomas Lee, was directly influential in bringing his brother
George into active participation in the practical management
of its affairs. Lawrence was so much impressed with the
importance of planting colonists on the Ohio lands as soon as
possible that he endeavored, through Mr. Hanbury of London,
to obtain a large band of Germans for that purpose; but his
efforts to secure for them exemption from taxation for a
definite period failed.