Attack Oct 1757 on Captain Joshua Lewis
Colonel George Washington writes from Fort Loudoun Winchester VA to Lt Gov Dinwiddie a report about Captain Joshua Lewis' raid on enemy party:
The party of the Regiment that was out with Captn Lewis suffered greatly in point of clothes & necessaries—
From the first intelligence Capt. Lewis received of them, he imagined the enemy’s numbers trifling and inconsiderable:
and in order to better his chance of coming up with them,
stripped, and ordered his men to follow his example.
In that condition he soon overtook them;
but was obliged to make a very precipitate retreat—the enemy getting near the fort almost as soon as he did.
He has applied to me, in behalf of his men, to get them supplied out of the public stores, for what they lost.
But as I had no directions in such case cou’d not let them have any thing, altho’ I thought they deserved it.
They have likewise applied for the reward of the scalp they took, I have sent your Honor, and hope they will by Mr Boyds’ return, receive it; which will greatly encourage them.3
Enclosed is a copy of Doctr Ross’s Letter, respecting the provisions at Fort Cumberland.4
I am &c.
G:W. LB, DLC:GW.
3. This is Capt. Joshua Lewis’s encounter with the Indians on about 1 October. See GW to Dinwiddie, 5 Oct., to John Stanwix, 8 Oct. 1757. Lewis’s “A Return of the Soldiers Cloaths Lost” (DLC:GW), dated 30 Sept. 1757, lists the names of eight soldiers who lost five “west Coats,” six hats, one bucket, five cockades, and one blanket. Alexander Boyd was paymaster of the Virginia Regiment.
4. David Ross’s letter is dated 28 Sept. 1757.
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More notes
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P:S: I think the poor men that Lost their Cloaths in pursuit of the Indians under the Command of Capt. Lewis Should & I hereby Order you to Supply them from the CLoathing you have at Winchester, Settle with doctor Ross for the provisions the best Method you can. You have inclos’d a Letter to Capt. Swearingen from the Attorney wc. deliver Yourself.7 LB, ViHi: Dinwiddie Papers. 1. This is the letter that GW’s copyist dated 5 Oct., and it is published above under that date. 2. Dinwiddie wrote Andrew Lewis on 19 Sept.: “The Ho: of Burgesses voted 300 Rangers. 200 thereof I propose for yr Frontrs, which Yo. are to station in such Places as Yo. may think proper, but take Care the Officers don’t make Sine Cures of em” (ViHi: Dinwiddie Papers). See 7 Hening 69–87. See also Dinwiddie to Andrew Lewis, October 1757, in Brock, Dinwiddie Papers, 2:710–11. Dinwiddie had made Peter Hog a ranger captain over GW’s objections. On 19 Nov. 1757 Andrew Lewis instructed militia captain William Preston to engage as many of his militiamen as he could to serve as rangers under his command in Augusta County. He was to have sixty-five rangers in his company to serve until 1 Aug. 1758. Lewis also told Preston that he could assure those who would become rangers that they would “be paid at the End of every Two Months at the Rate of One Shill. pr Day; that they are to serve in this Country only, not to be ⟨in⟩corporated in the Virginia Regiment or detain’d in the Country’s Service beyond the above mention’d Time” (WHi: Draper Collection, IQQ, 164). See also Lewis to Preston, 28 Oct. 1757, ibid., 162, for Lewis’s initial decision to continue Preston and his militia company as rangers. Lewis asked militia captain John Dickinson to raise a third ranger company, and so apparently Augusta County ended up with three ranger companies of sixty-five men, more or less, in each, instead of with two companies of one hundred men each as was initially intended. 3. GW wrote Dinwiddie on 24 Oct. that Peter Hog was a bad choice to be a ranger captain and that Robert Rutherford would not accept the position of second in command. Dinwiddie agreed, 2 Nov. 1757, that Rutherford should raise and command the ranger company on the northern frontiers. See Rutherford to GW, 22 Nov. 1757. 4. On 18 Oct. 1757 the council examined Edmond Atkin’s account and confirmed his appointments, including that of Christopher Gist as deputy superintendent of Indian affairs which Atkin had made on 5 July 1757. The councilors who examined Atkin’s accounts “were of Opinion that his Disbursements on Account of the Indians, and for Major [Alexander] Finnie’s Expences, who attended him to Winchester, amounting to Three hundred and nine pounds, fifteen Shillings, and seven pence farthing, ou[gh]t to be paid by his Honor’s Warrant on the Treasury; but that the Article of his own travelling Charges, and that of his Secretary with his Pay, amounting to Two hundred and ninety eight Pounds two shillings and three pence, tho’ reasonable in themselves, he ought to apply to Lord Loudoun for Payment of” (Exec. Journals of Virginia Council, 6:66–68). The council accepted the recommendations on 20 October. When confirming Gist’s appointment as Atkin’s deputy, the council agreed that Gist should “take Charge of the Indian Presents” for the colony of Virginia. For the exchange between GW and Dinwiddie on this point, see GW to Dinwiddie, 27 Aug., 17 Sept. 1757 (first letter), and Dinwiddie to GW, 24 September (first letter). 5. This may be the letter to “Capt. Swearingen” which Dinwiddie refers to in the postscript to this letter. Peyton Randolph was the attorney general, and Thomas Swearingen was the senior of the three justices of the Frederick County court who were involved in the proceedings regarding Quartermaster John Hamilton’s sale of regimental supplies to people in Winchester (see particularly Gabriel Jones to GW, 6 Oct. 1757). 6. For the action the council took on 20 Oct. 1757 with regard to the petition of the Dunker Samuel Eckerlin, see Dinwiddie to GW, 24 Oct. 1757. 7. See note 5. The letter has not been found.
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