Op-Ed: If Cornstalk Had Pagers

This month marks the 250th anniversary of the Battle at Point Pleasant between Shawnee warriors led by Chief Cornstalk and Colonial Militia led by Colonel Andrew Lewis. It is the most important battle ever fought in West Virginia, as it was arguably the first battle of the American Revolution.

To understand the context of the battle, one must start 20 years earlier in 1754. The French had claimed the land north and south drained by the Mississippi – including the Ohio River Valley. In contrast, England had established colonies along the seaboard and claimed land east to west. When the Virginia Governor learned French were building forts extending down from Canada, he directed a young British officer, 21-year-old George Washington, to demand the French leave the Ohio River Valley.

And there was a third set of actors. A coalition of Native Americans had various claims to the region, as the mountains provided prime hunting grounds. The Indian tribes had disputes between themselves and would align with either the French or the British depending on trade agreements, security arrangements, and grievances.

The two European empires clashed in the backwoods of Appalachia in a glen 30 miles north of Morgantown. There, Indians with Washington’s expedition learned from Indians with the French that the French were planning to attack Washington’s messenger detachment. Washington then took the initiative and attacked a French patrol. The British killed a dozen or so French and took the rest captive.

The Indian leader aligned with Washington had a severe grievance with the French and took the opportunity to take revenge. He approached the wounded and subdued French leader, Lieutenant Jumonville, and repeatedly bashed Jumonville’s head with a tomahawk killing him. This event led to the Seven Years War, known in America as the French and Indian War (as it was a French and Indian coalition that the British were fighting).

The British won the war, but the war virtually bankrupted both France and England. The War had major implications on the colonies. First, England wanted the colonies to pay for the war, and thus imposed a series of taxes and strong-arm tactics against the colonists. The Stamp Act, and taxes on sugar and tea led to the infamous saying, “taxation without representation.” Second, King George issued a proclamation in 1763 prohibiting colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Divide. Our Declaration of Independence cites these grievances among others as causes for our rebellion against England.

Andrew Lewis fought alongside George Washington in the French and Indian War and participated in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768. This treaty was intended to resolve boundary disputes between the Indians and the colonists, and included the highest amount ever paid by the British Crown to Native Americans. The Indians conceded the land east and south of the Ohio, amounting to what is today most of West Virginia and Kentucky.

Yet, the Indians did not abide by the Treaty and with dual incentives at work, continued their attacks on the settlers. First, the Indians themselves didn’t want settlers to continue moving west. Point of fact, exactly one year before the Battle of Point Pleasant, Indians captured, tortured and killed Daniel Boone’s oldest son James south of the Ohio River.

Second, the Indians were encouraged and supported by the British to stop the settlers’ westward expansion consistent with the King’s 1763 Proclamation. The British did not want another war with the French and Indians, and they wanted to keep the colonists close to the seaboard. England was content to let the French and Indians have the land west of the Appalachian Divide.

For years, British agents out of Fort Detroit on Lake Erie provided weapons and training to the Shawnee tribes to use against the settlers. That way, the British Administration could keep control of the colonists, keep them subject to British laws, and keep them reliant on British goods and services. Once settlers moved over the mountains, the British could no longer control them…Mountaineers are always free!

Now, here is where things get complicated. In 1770, 36-year-old John Murray (Lord Dunmore), became the British Governor of New York. When Virginia’s governor died shortly thereafter, Dunmore was promoted to become the governor of England’s largest and wealthiest colony, Virginia (note that four of our first five presidents were from Virginia). By 1773, relations between the Governor and colonists began to sour. In 1774, England responded to the Boston Tea Party with passage of the Intolerable Acts, and when the Virginia legislature passed a resolution in support of Patrick Henry’s fiery rebellion rhetoric, Dunmore dissolved the Assembly.

Yet, as Governor, Dunmore still had the responsibility to protect settlers. As Indian confrontations increased along the Ohio River, he developed a plan ostensively to quell the Indian attacks. Whether he had other designs remains in question today.

Dunmore’s battle plan was that he would lead a large contingent north to Pittsburgh, while Colonel Andrew Lewis would gather recruits at Lewisburg and move the smaller contingent northwest along the Kanawha River. They were to meet where the Kanawha flows into the Ohio – Point Pleasant.

When Lewis arrived at the rendezvous point in October 1774, Dunmore was nowhere near. On the morning of October 10, a small hunting party from Lewis’ camp came across lead elements of Chief Cornstalk’s attack party. Cornstalk had gotten word of Dunmore’s plan, and devised a surprise attack on Lewis before the two opposing forces could unite. Had Cornstalk been able to keep the element of surprise, the outcome of the battle would have been much different; he had Lewis’ militia pinned against two rivers.

But, with Cornstalk’s surprise lost, Lewis skillfully defended his position. Cornstalk and Lewis’ combatants fought all day, with much of the fighting being savage hand-to-hand combat. Many were killed on both sides, with precise numbers unknown— the Indians threw their dead in the rivers throughout the battle. At day’s end, Chief Cornstalk retreated back across the Ohio River, and eventually made considerable concessions in land, hostage exchanges, and to stop attacking people on the river.

Numerous theories arise that draw into question Dunmore’s actual intentions. First, how did Cornstalk know of Dunmore’s battle plans? Second, why was Dunmore slow in getting to the rendezvous point? Third, was Dunmore wanting Lewis’ contingent to be weakened or defeated so as to not pose a threat to Dunmore’s authority in colonial Virginia?

These theories have credence when viewed in hindsight. Following Cornstalk’s defeat at the hands of Lewis’ heroic band of fighters, Dunmore basked in the glow of a victory; yet, he was nowhere near the action. As 1775 rolled around, he felt increasingly threatened. He ordered Virginia to not elect delegates to the Continental Congress, but they did so anyway. Following Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech, and the shot heard round the world at Lexington, Dunmore showed his colors and his concern by moving gunpowder from a local magazine in Virginia onto British warships.

When Patrick Henry led a group to retake the gunpowder, Dunmore swore, “I have once fought for the Virginians and by God, I will let them see that I can fight against them!”

From then on, Dunmore raised forces for, coordinated with, and openly fought for the British against the colonists. From British warships, he directed raids along the coast. In a dramatic turn of events, just days after the colonies declared independence, Andrew Lewis, now a General in the Colonial Army, forced his former British Commander Lord Dunmore from safe haven on Gwynn’s Island in the Chesapeake Bay. Dunmore escaped, sailed to the Caribbean, and never returned to America.

A well-known saying in military circles is, “The enemy gets a vote.” That is, one never knows for sure what an enemy will do or when they will act. In fact, one might not even know an enemy, say a sleeper cell, is at hand. Take for instance, on September 10, 2001, no one expected terrorists to fly airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon the next day. We may not have been “at war” with them, but they sure were with us.

Such was the case with Britain’s intentions toward the Colonies. They were going to suppress and control the colonists, no matter what. The colonists wanted their British government to protect them, but the British government was colluding with the Indians against the colonists. Given Lord Dunmore’s proclivities as demonstrated after October 10, 1774, what was going through his mind as he slow-rolled his way toward Point Pleasant? How did Cornstalk know in such detail the colonists’ battle plan in time to raise a large fighting force — and know where to strike? No doubt, it was at the encouragement and armed support of the British that Cornstalk made his surprise attack.

Imagine if Cornstalk had had pagers, how many British military would have been killed or wounded when George Washington sent a detonation message? Would Lord Dunsmore have been among the casualties?

Yes, the British were in conflict with the colonies stemming back to the French and Indian War. The conflict was fought with taxes, military occupation, oppressive proclamations, unfair trade, and non-responsive government. Through their Native American surrogates, the British brought the confrontation to actual armed conflict on October 10, 1774, in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. First blood had been drawn and, for the Mountaineers of western Virginia, the war was on.

It would take several more months for other colonies to become convinced of the need to take up arms and fight. Thank God Andrew Lewis and his brave contingent of colonial fighters answered the call with a decisive win…in the first battle of the American Revolution.

He had two relatives, Captain John McCoy and Lieutenant William McCoy, who fought alongside COL Andrew Lewis at the Battle of Point Pleasant.