Geography of Ohio 417 



Appalachians was deserted except by the west-bound pioneer. 

 Geographic conditions thus account for the first trans-Appala- 

 chian settlements being opposite Virginia. 



Dunmore's Indian war. Dunmore, the royalist governor of 

 Virginia, decided that he would take the initiative in punishing 

 the Indians who continued to harass Virginian frontiersmen. 

 Though George III had forbidden settlement in the western 

 valleys of the Appalachians, or the fertile plains beyond, Dunmore 

 led a force into this northwest territory, for the purpose of sub- 

 duing these tribes. Dunmore organized two forces to proceed 

 into the Indian land; one under Dunmore himself went through 

 western Pennsylvania; the other, under General Lewis, appears 

 to have moved directly from Virginia through the Greenbrier 

 valley, thence down the Kanawha. The second division, in 

 October, 1774, at the mouth of the Kanawha, met and defeated 

 a band of about one thousand warriors commanded by the fam- 

 ous chief. Cornstalk. General Lewis had in his command about 

 one thousand five hundred frontiersmen of Virginia. This battle 

 was really the beginning of the Revolutionarj- war. Here, not 

 at Lexington, the first blood was shed in resentment of George's 

 policy. After the battle of the Great Kanawha, Lewis crossed 

 the Ohio river and proceeded to join his commander who had con- 

 structed a fort near where Chillicothe now stands. Already the 

 Indians had begged Governor Dunmore for peace, and a treaty 

 was made, the Indians assenting to their conquerors' demands. 



Dunmore placed the rights of subjects above the whims of 

 kings. The colonists moved westward in spite of George III. 

 Unfortunately the Indian onslaughts were sometimes inspired by 

 the representatives of Great Britain, usually narrow-minded 

 officials and traders, and occasionally the hasty acts of the settlers 

 aggravated matters. Race evolution made it necessary to dis- 

 place the Indians; it was a question of survival. Governor 

 Dunmore doubtless felt that if he could overawe the Indians, the 

 colonists might move on in greater numbers and so firmly occupy 

 the area that the Quebec Act would be futile. 



Campaign of George Rodger s Clark. The just rebellion of the 

 colonies against the selfishness of the mother country was im- 

 minent in the resolutions placed before the House of Burgesses by 

 the Virginian, Patrick Henry. During part of the Revolutionary 

 war he was governor of his state, and in that position rendered 

 his country valuable service. 



