MILITARY RECORD. - 427 CHAPTER I. WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. "Where are our sires, our noble sires. Those men of toil and early thought, Who lit our sacred vestal fires, A heritage so dearly bought?" "Ah! bright upon historic. page. Enrolled their names shall ever shine With peerless luster, age on age, Through bright'ning realm of coming time.." AT the close of the war of the Revolution the soldiers were given lands in payment for their services. The territory comprising Union County is all "Virginia Military Lands," being a part of that between the Scioto and the Miami Rivers, all of which was set apart for the Revolutionary soldiers by the United States Government. Many of these old patriots took up these lands and in this way quite a number found homes in Union County. From this grand old Revolutionary stock sprang Union County's brave and patriotic sons who fought in the war of 1812 the Mexican war and the war of the rebellion. Of these old heroes of '76, several are buried in the cemeteries of this county, But little can be learned, even traditional, of their services, although many of their descendants reside in the county. Some of them are known to have fought at Yorktown, Monmouth, White Plains, Germantown and other historic battlefields of the war of the Revolution. James Thompson, grandfather of James Thompson, of Dover Township, served under LaFayette, and no doubt saw much hard service, but no particulars Cali be learned, so the old hero must rest in his soldier's grave unhonored and unsung. Col. James Carry served through all the years of the Revolution, an officer of the "Virginia line." He was in the battle of Point Pleasant, October 10, 1774, and in this engagement was severely wounded. This is called "A First Battle of the Revolution " by Chamber's encyclopedia, from which we copy the following account of this battle. As it was fought before the breaking-out of the Revolution, and was participated in by at least one of the citizens of this county, we give it place, believing it will be a subject of interest to the reader "An important battle, fought October 10, 1774, between colonial troops of Virginia, tinder Gen. Andrew Lewis and the Shawnees, Delawares and other Indians composing the Northern Confederacy, led by Cornstalk as king and sachem of the Shawnee tribe, on the east bank of the Ohio River, and just above the great Kanawha. The village of Point Pleasant has since grown up on the spot where this battle was fought, which was and is to this day always spoken as the first battle of the Revolution. The "Boston Tea Party' had already been held in the spring of the same year, and the 'Boston Port Bill' was received in May-the signal of actual conflict between the colonies and the mother country. Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, had been busy in the interests of England by way of stirring up a hostile feeling between the hardy white settlers and the various tribes of Indians, the object of which bad become apparent. At last a. crisis was reached. The Legislature took action, under which Gen. Andrew Lewis gathered together 1,200 men at Lewis Springs, now Lewisburg, W. Va. and from thence proceeded to Point Pleasant, acting as was understood, in con 428 - UNION COUNTY cert with the Colonial Governor, who in person led about 1,000 men through the wilderness, striking the Ohio at Wheeling, from which point he was to meet Gen. Lewis. All this time, unbeknown to Gen. Lewis, the agents of Lord Dunmore had been busy concentrating the Indians in the neighborhood of Point Pleasant, and subsequent events show that he never intended to join his forces with the troops under Lewis. Our space will not admit of our giving the various facts substantiating this statement made so emphatic in the history of the 'Border wars' by Withers and others. "In this bloody battle, about one-fifth of the entire army of Gen. Lewis were either killed or wounded, and of the Indians the number must have been even greater. It was the most severely contested battle of the kind of which we have any account, and was fought on both sides from behind trees in a dense forest of primeval growth, on one of the richest bottoms of the Ohio. It was wholly un. expected, the object being on the part of Gen. Lewis, in fulfillment of the purposes on the part of the Legislature, to proceed with an overpowering force in conjunction with Gov. Dunmore from Point Pleasant to the Indian settlement on the Scioto, beyond the Ohio. In vain did the brave Lewis look for troops from Wheeling. During the night of the 9th and I 10th, a body of Indians was reported by a scouting party as having encamped near the site of an old Shawnee village, about six miles above. "At the same time, advices were received that Lord Dunmore would cross the country directly to the Scioto. Before sunrise on the morning of the 10th, a hunting party returned and brought the startling report of "four acres of Indians,' about a mile above the camp of Gen. Lewis. The party had been fired upon. At once.. on receipt of this news, the main body of the troops, under 'Col. Charles Lewis and Col. Fleming, were mustered into line. The battle soon began, and raged with varied fortune through nearly the entire day. The brave Col. Lewis fell, mortally wounded. Col. Fleming was soon after disabled, when Col. Field, who had come up with a re-enforcement, took command. This officer had learned a lesson from the unfortunate Braddock - but he, too, soon fell. At times the battle raged like a tempest. The roar of musketry Was continuous. The clarion voice of Cornstalk was, nevertheless, everywhere heard bidding his warriors, 'Be strong' ' I Be strong !' Seeing a warrior shrink, he sunk his tomahawk into his skull. The most unyielding and desperate courage was on both sides displayed until late in the afternoon, when three companies that had been detained in camp, perhaps on account of Indians in large numbers on the opposite shore of the Ohio, under Capts. John Stewart, Isaac Shelby and George Matthews-distinguished names-reached the rear of Cornstalk by a well-planned movement, and decided the fortunes of the day. "A treaty was entered into at Camp Charlotte, in Ohio, at which Lord Dunmore was present, who seemed to have a perfect understanding with the Indians; though the colonists were indebted mainly to Cornstalk for the treaty of peace which Dunmore seemed determined to postpone, as we might show. It was in view of the surprising valor displayed by the troops under Gen. Lewis in this decisive battle that Washington, in the darkest days of the Revolution, was led to exclaim: 'Leave me but a banner to plant upon the mountains of Augusta, and I will rally around me the men who will lift our bleeding country from the dust and set her free.' " The following are the names of the soldiers of the Revolution buried in Union County, so far as can be ascertained after very careful inquiry in each township: THE HEROES OF '76. Col. James Curry, Curry Cemetery, Jerome Township; Charles Carter, Dover To ; J. Coleman, Watkins Cemetery, Mill Creek Township; William Edgar, Liberty Township; Enoch Fisher; Israel Hale, Milford Cemetery, Union Township; P. Hale O. Hibbard, Milford Cemetery, Union Township; Henry Shover; MILITARY RECORD. - 429 Robert Snodgrass, Wood's Cemetery, Union Township; John Stewart, Liberty Township; James Thompson, Watkins Cemetery, Mill Creek Township,- David Worley, Dover Township. As a matter of interest to the soldiers of to-day, we give a copy of an old commission, now in possession of A. D. Doolittle, of Marysville, which was issued to his great-grandfather in 1776 IN CONGRESS. The Delegates of the United Colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the counties of Newcastle, Kent and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, to Ephraim Doolittle, Esquire: We, reposing special trust and confidence in your patriotism, valour, conduct and fidelity, do by these presents constitute and appoint you to be Colonel of the Twenty-fourth Regiment in the army of the United Colonies, raised for the defense of American liberty, and for repelling every hostile invasion thereof. You are therefore to carefully and diligently discharge the duty of Colonel, by doing and performing all manner of things there unto belonging. And we do strictly charge and require all officers and soldiers under your command to be obedient to your orders as Colonel.. And you are to observe and follow such orders and directions from time to time as you shall receive from this or a future Congress of the United Colonies, or committee of Congress for that Colonies, appointed, or Commander In Chief for the time being of the army of the United Colonies, or any other of your superior officers, according to the rules and discipline of war, in pursuance of the trust reposed in you. This commission to continue In force until revoked by this or an future Congress. By order of the Congress. Attest: July 1, 1776. JOHN HANCOCK, President. Charles Thompson, Secretary. (RETURN TO THE TITLE P AGE)