WILLIAM FLEMING.
William Fleming emigrated from Scotland to Virginia in early manhood.
By tradition he was of noble extraction, and he had received a
liberal education. He is believed to have had a knowledge of medicine,
and to have served in a medical and military capacity in the French
and Indian war, with the rank of Lieutenant, in 1755 and 1756, and
perhaps longer. He was of a bold and adventurous spirit, and was
among the earliest settlers in the portion of Augusta County which now
forms Botetourt County, taking up large tracts of land, which, enhancing
in value, made him a man of wealth. In 1774 he raised a regiment,
which he gallantly and effectively commanded in the sanguinary battle
of Point Pleasant, in which he received a wound from which he never
fully recovered. He was a member of the Council of Virginia in 1781,
and for a time in the month of June was the executive of the Colony,
as is evidenced by the following resolution of the Virginia Assembly
(Hening's Statutes, Vol. X, p. 567):
"It appearing to the General Assembly that Colonel William Fleming,
being the only acting member of the council for some time before
the appointment of the Chief Magistrate, did give orders for the calling
out the militia, and also pursued such other measures as were essential
to good government, and it is just and reasonable that he should be
indemnified therein,
"Resolved, therefore, That the said William Fleming, Esq., be indemnified
for his conduct as before mentioned, and the Assembly do approve
of the same.
"John Beckley, C. H. D.
1781, June 23d.
"Agreed to by the Senate.
Will. Drew, C. S."
Colonel Fleming, in 1788, represented the county of Botetourt in the
Virginia Convention which ratified the Federal Constitution—an eminent
body.
Colonel Fleming married and left a family. One of his daughters,
Anne, became the wife of Rev. George A. Baxter, D. D., Rector in
1798 of Liberty Hall Academy (the beginning of the present Washington
and Lee University). He was also Professor of Mathematics,
Natural Philosophy, and Astronomy in that institution, and Minister of
the New Monmouth and Lexington Presbyterian Churches.
