Fort Upper Tract and Fort Seybert MASSACRE!
This was no school shooting. Still, it was just as horrific. Horrific also because of the silence that followed. Just mute lifeless forms lying about. What was left later after the wolves? Normally only the skulls are left. We know this from reports on what was left 3 years after Braddock's Defeat. We know this from a civil war battleground known as the Battle of the Wilderness, 1864.
April 29, 1758, there is no one left to tell the story. All were killed at Fort Upper Tract. You might as well stop there. Scroll on your phone to something else. Because everything said from this point on will be spurious, unprovable speculation. There was no one left to tell us on our cell phones what happened on April 29, 1758. Even those who lived nearby didn't identify the bodies and record them. No one wrote in a diary about it. No one drew pictures.
But !!! Did the same killers move on the next day to the next Fort? That fort is Fort Seybert. The killing continued. Those left were taken hostage. What did they tell? How provable is their story?
The picture is of the annual reenactment of burning down Fort Seybert.
7:00 P.M. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH 2022 has been cancelled.
There are versions of this story.
First, Read Kercheval's and Cartmell's versions below.
And this animated picture is Kercheval's version.
10 settlers from the Fort Seybert are marched to a long log.
They must sit on that log.
It is their fate. Behind each one?
An indian stands behind each one.
With Tomahawk raised high they await the signal.
Such horror to White Eyes.
But to them? The juggernaut of White Eyes is far more crushing. White Eyes method is unstoppable. Red Man's? A blip. A blink of the eye.
What proof other than the hearsay reported by Kercheval and Cartmell?
We got some letters.
Read those below.
KERCHEVAL version:
Seybert's fort was erected on the South fork of the South branch of the Potomac, on the land now owned by Mr. Ferdinand Lair, 12 miles north east of Franklin, the present county seat of Pendleton.
In the year 1758, a party of Indians surprised the fort, in which
were thirty persons.
They bound ten, whom they conveyed without the fort, and then proceeded to massacre the others in the following manner :
They seated them in a row upon a log,
with an Indian standing behind each ; and at a given signal, each Indian sunk his tomahawk into the head of his victim : an additional blow or two dispatched them.
The scene was witnessed by James Dyer,
a lad 14 years old, who, not having been removed without the fort, supposed that he also was to be massacred.
He was however spared, and taken to Log town, 16 miles below Fort Pitt, thence to the mouth of the Muskingum river, and thence to the spot where Chilicothe now stands, where he remained a prisoner one year and ten months.
He had by this time gained the entire confidence of his captors, and
was permitted to accompany them to Fort Pitt on a trading expedition.
When there he planned his escape,
and happily succeeded. Being sent out for some bread with an Indian lad, he slipped into a hovel, unobserved by his companion, and implored the protection of the poor woman who occupied it. She told him to get benind a chest, the only furniture in the room, and threw upon him a bed. The Indians, on missing him, spent
^ Rioted by Aaron Welton, Esq.
Page 121
die afternoon in seaipb, during which they looked into
the very hovel where he was, and left the place on the
next morning on their return.
Fort Pitt being then in possession of the English,
a trooper very kindly conveyed him 6 or 7 miles behind him, whence he made his way to his friends in Pennsylvania, where he remained two years longer, and then returned to the South Fork.*
Another tradition says
that Seybert's fort was not surprised. It had been invested for two or three days, and after two Indians had been killed, the garrison agreed
to surrender on condition that their lives should be spared, which was solemnly pledged. The gate was then opened, and the Indians rushed in with demoniac yells. The whites fled with precipitation, but were retaken,
with the exception of one man. The massacre then took place, as before related, and ten were taken off as prisoners.
Another tradition says,
that, on the fort's being given up, the Indians seated' twenty of the gairi^^on in two rows, all of whom they killed excejU the wiio of Jacob
Peterson. When they reached her, an Indian iiuci}»u- sed to save her life, and some altercation endued. The friendly Indian at length prevailed ; and throwing her a pair of moccasons, told her to march off with the pri-
soners. How long she remained in captivity is not reniembered.t
The Indians killed John Brake's wife on the South fork of the Wappatomaka. John Brake became conspicuous in the war of the revolution, which will be noticed hereafter.
Frederick Jice had his whole family killed, with the exception of himself and one son. A man named Williams and his wife were also killed.
Richard Williams and his daughter were taken prisoners : the latter was only eighteen months old when taken, remained with the Indians untU she was thirteen, and was then brought home. She had learned the In-
Footnotes:
* Related by Zebalon Dyer, Esq. clerk of PeDdleton county, and son of
the James Dyer mentioned.
Footnote:
f 'Mrs. Shobe informed the author that she had heard the wife of Jacob Pe-
terson frequently relate this.
Page 122
dian language perfecdy ; afterwards learned to speak English, but there were some words she never could pronounce plainly. She married Uriah Blue, on the South Branch.
Source:
Pages 120 - 122
A history of the valley of Virginia
by Kercheval, Samuel,
1786-1845?; Doddridge, Joseph, 1769-1826; Faulkner, Charles James, 1806-1884; Jacob, John J. (John Jeremiah), 1758?-1839,
Publisher Winchester : S.H. Davis, Publication date 1833
Link:
https://archive.org/details/ahistoryvalleyv01jacogoog/page/n86/mode/1up
CARTMELL version:
In 1758, a band of Indians surprised Fort Seybert, located near the site of Franklin in Pendleton County.
The bloodthirsty Killbuck was the Chief; he demanded surrender.
Seybert, after a parley with the savage, agreed to surrender on terms that all would be spared.
The savages violated every promise, and murdered all except a young man named James Dyer, who made a miraculous escape, and returned to live on South Fork, where the writer saw some of his descendants several years since.
Source:
Page 75
Shenandoah valley pioneers and their descendants : a history of Frederick County, Virginia (illustrated) from its formation in 1738 to 1908
by Cartmell, T. K. (Thomas Kemp), 1838-1920 Publication date 1909
Link:
https://archive.org/details/shenandoahvalle00cartgoog/page/75/mode/1up
What other sources are there ?
Other than hearsay from the memories of the old who were interviewed by Kercheval?
In his letter to St. Clair of 4 May [1758]
GW adds information
about parties of Indians having
“fallen upon the back Inhabitants
of Augusta County
and destroyd near 50 persons
besides an Officer &
18 Men of Captn Hogs Rangg Company.”
The Virginia council
at its meeting of 19 May read
“two Letters from Capt. Hog in Augusta,
the one of the 7th of April,
giving an Account of two Forts
in that County
being destroyed by the Enemy,
and the third Part of his Company cut off”
(Exec. Journals of Virginia Council, 6:91–93).
The forts captured and burned
were the Upper Tract fort
on the upper reaches
of the South Branch
and Fort Seybert,
a short distance away
on the South Fork of the South Branch.
The Preston Register reports
on 27 April [1758]
the slaying of Capt. James Dunlop
and twenty-two others at the Upper Tract,
and, on the following day at Fort Seybert,
the killing of Capt. Jacob Seybert (Siebert)
and sixteen others
and the capture of twenty-four.
Dunlop, a militia captain, was also a lieutenant in Peter Hog’s ranger company.
Source:
Compiled and written by Jim Moyer 2013, updated 9/24/19, but lately revisited in April and May of 2022, updated 6/8/2022
Research Notes:
THE STORY OF FORT SEYBERT
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Compiled and written by Jim Moyer 2013, updated 9/24/19
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April 28, 1758
Date of the attack
The day before, Fort Upper Tract was attacked.
No one survived to tell the story.
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Where was the Virginia Regiment at this time?
Captain Waggener was on the South Branch of the Potomac manning his forts.
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Fort Seybert was on the South Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac.
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Neither one knows Fort Upper Tract was destroyed and all its people killed.
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Nor do either know of the attack on Fort Seybert 2 days earlier.
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Six days later (4 May 1758), Washington wrote to John Blair, Sr. (then acting Governor of Virginia) from Fort Loudoun (present day Winchester) of the disasters at Forts Upper Tract and Seybert:
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The enclosed letter from Capt. Waggener will inform your Honor of a very unfortunate affair. From the best accounts I have yet been able to get there are about 60 persons killed and missing. Immediately upon receiving this Intelligence I sent out a Detachment of the Regiment, and some Indians that were equipped for war in hopes of their being able to intercept the Enemy in the retreat. I was fearful of this stroke, but had not time enough to avert it, as your Honor will find by the following account which came to hand just before Capt. Waggener’s letter, by Capt. Mackenzie.
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Founders Online source May 4 letter
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We will start at the end of this story.
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See the cemetery holding those killed. See their names listed. See who was taken hostage. Some of those were killed too.
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By who? John Killbuck Sr., a man who lived with the white settlers, a man who knew these people well, knew their ways.
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Fort Seybert Websites
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Here are some sites dedicated to preserving the memory of Fort Seybert and its horrific story:
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The Pendleton Times has a Facebook album of 2019
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Youtube siege of Fort Seybert www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCXlcA8IlAc
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West Virginia Muzzler Loaders Association Gary Butts Memorial Shoot, Killbuck Riflemen Sept 18-20, 2015 Killbuck Rendezvous http://wvmla.com/events.html
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THE STORY
as told by these links
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Wikipedia summary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Seybert
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This picture is different from the round stockade fence http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/2055
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The round stockade http://www.wvculture.org/history/settlement/fortseybert01.html
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Great stories and maps http://family.ties.tripod.com/fort_seybert.htm
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THE LOCATION
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Description of location found in this link, by Grant County Press May 13, 1937 by Mrs. Lee Keister Talbot
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Fort Seybert was built within one hundred yards of a mill which had been erected at the edge of the river some years before Fort Seybert was built. The first owner of the land was John Patton, Junior, who purchased from Robert Green of Orange on the 5th of November, 1747, 210 acres of land “on the southernmost fork of the South Branch of the Potomack.” This land had a “corner to Roger Dyer.” In the Original Petitions filed in Augusta County for 1751-52 there is a petition for a road “from Widow Cobern’s Mill, on the South Branch, to John Patton’s Mill on the South Fork.
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On May 21, 1755, John Pat[t]on, Jr., sold his land to Jacob Seybert. It is assumed that Jacob Seybert used the mill, and that the location of the Fort on his land may have been determined by its proximity to the mill
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Mr. Alonzo D. Lough, who lives at Fort Seybert, wrote a description of Fort Seybert some years ago as follows:
“Fort Seybert was located on the left hand side (west) of the South Fork River, and situated on an elevation which sloped rapidly to a ravine on the north and descended abruptly over a ledge of rocks to the river on the southeast. Westwardly a gradual incline sloped back to the mountain.
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“The defense consisted of a circular stockade some thirty yards in diameter, consisting of logs or puncheons set on end in the ground, side by side, and rising to a height often of twelve feet. A puncheon door closed the entrance. Within the stockade stood the two storied block-house twenty-one feet square. From the upper loop-holes the open space about the fort could be swept by the rifles of the defenders.”
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AUGUSTA COUNTY, VIRGINIA – CHALKLEY’s COURT RECORDS.
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Petition for road from Widow Cobern’s Mill, on the South Branch,
to John Paton’s Mill, on the South Fork,
at least 30 miles nearer than the road we formerly traveled.
A bridle road asked for: William Stephenson, Mathew Patton, Jeremiah Calkin, George West, Peter Reed, Jr., Samuel Patton, Benjamin Patton, Leonard Reed, John Reed, John Knowles, Alexander Crockett, John Patton, Luke Collins, Jacob Reed, Daniel Richardson.
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See link on Find a Grave for John Patton
who built Patton’s Mill and where Fort Seybert was then built
born 1689 Ireland, died 10 March 1757 Augusta Co (now Pendleton Co WV)
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[John Patton] later moved to Augusta Co, VA, settling in that part of the county which later became Pendleton Co, WV. He purchased several tracts of land in that region known as “The Buffalo Meadows“, near the present town of Franklin. He built his home on the banks of the South Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River. He built the first mill in that part of the county on the South Fork. Fort Seybert was later erected on the hill about 100 yards above the mill site. He also entered claims on Mill Creek and John’s Creek near Sweedland.
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Questions
1. Where is the Roger Dyer cemetery?
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2. Where is Patton’s Mill?
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3. Where is Widow Cobern’s Mill?
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4. Exact location of Fort Seybert?
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5. Where is Mill’s Creek and John’s Creek in relation to Patton’s Mill?
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6. This website refers to an Indian named Grey Fox instead of Bemino aka John Killbuck Sr.?
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Notes:
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Defunct websites
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No updates since 2013 and now no longer operating
No update since 2015
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Burning of fort event http://tmf.squarespace.com/the-fort-burning/
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Reenactment 7pm Saturday night, September 19, 2015
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Fort Seybert Attack and Burning is re-enacted during:
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Categories :
1 Comments
1
1759. To Israel Christian, administrator, &c, of Alexander Sayers, deceased, for his pay as a captain of Militia,
page 104 from this link: https://archive.org/stream/gleaningsvirgin00booggoog#page/n118/mode/2up
I am betting Alexander Sayers got hit with Small Pox. Small Pox hit hard in 1758 and 1759. James Wood founder of Winchester VA got hit with it. So did Christopher Gist, Washington’s old guide.
Also more on Alexander Sayers from above link:
page 30 To Captain Alexander Sayers, for his pay and the pay of his oflBcers and company of militia to the last day of Aug., 1758, in- clusive, as per muster-roll.
page 36 To Alexander Sayers, for a horse impressed and killed, appraised to 14 10
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From George Washington to John Blair, 4–10 May 1758
To John Blair To The President Honble Sir
Ft L[oudou]n the 4[–10]th May, 1758.
The enclosed letter from Capt. Waggener, will inform your Honor of a very unfortunate affair. From the best accounts I have yet been able to get, there are about 60 persons killed and missing.1
Immediately upon receiving this Intelligence, I sent out a Detachment of the Regiment, and some Indians that were equipped for war, in hopes of their being able to intercept the Enemy in their retreat. I was fearful of this stroke, [(]but not time enough to avert it) as your Honor will find by the following account which came to hand just before Capt. Waggener’s letter, by Captn McKenzie.2
“Lieutenent Gist with 6 Soldiers and 30 Indians marched the 2d of April from the South-Branch; and after a tedious march (occasioned by the deep snows on the mountains) got on the waters of the monongahela, where Mr Gist was lamed by a fall from a steep bank, and rendered incapable of marching. The white people and some of the Indians remained with him; and the rest of the indians divided themselves into three parties, & separated. Ucahula and two more went down the monongahela in a bark-canoe and landed near Ft du Quesne, on the no. side, where they lay concealed for two days; at length an opportunity offered of attacking a canoe, in which were two french-men fishing; those they killed and scalped in sight of two other canoes with french men in them, and came off safe.
When he got about 15 miles on this side Ft du Quesne, he came upon a large indian Encampment; from the size of which, and the number of tracks, judged to be at least 1,00, making directly for the frontiers of Virginia; as they again discovered, by crossing their tracks.”3
At present I have nothing more to add to your Honor, having written several times lately on matters, to which I have received no answer. I had wrote thus far, and was going to send off an Express with this melancholy account, when I received advice, that the Particulars relative to those murders had been transmitted from Augusta, to your Honor:4
I thereupon thought it most advisable to postpone sending, ’till I should receive answer to my several letters by Jenkins and Mr Gist;5
which I was accordingly honored with, the 7th and last night. May 10th
After due deliberation on your Honors letter of the 2d by Gist;6
I am of opinion, that the number of Militia you have ordered for the defence of the Posts, to be evacuated by the Regiment, will be sufficient, unless the completing the works at this place should be thought necessary: As it can not be supposed, that the Enemy will attempt any formidable inception after the march of our army; and as to the depradations to be feared from their small scalping-parties, it would be out of the power of thrice the proposed number (or indeed of any number) effectually to prevent them. But, as you are pleased to desire my opinion—I beg leave to offer a few things relative to the disposition you propose.
I humbly conceive, therefore, that it wou’d be infinitely more for the interest of the service, to order the 1,00 from Prince-William to the south-branch, and continuing Rutherford’s company in its present station, making this its Head-Quarters. For, as that compy is perfectly acquainted with all that range of mountains, extending from the Potomack to the Augusta Line; and thro’ which the Enemy make incursions into this settlement; they could, with greater facility obstruct their inroads, and assist the Inhabitants of this valley (of whom they themselves form a very great part) than those who are ignorant of the Ground. The Militia from Prince-William, equally know the Branch and this vicinity, and therefore may be supposed to do as much there, as here; Whereas moving Rutherfords there, would be stripping them of those essential advantages which they may derive from their thorough knowledge of these parts, & removing them from defending their immediate Rights (the sole motive of their enlisting.) One half of this company, were it continued here, might be constantly ranging, and the other left in this fort, which is centrical to their present Station.7
If the works here are to be completed, which from their great importance I should think highly necessary—in that event, an additional number of 60 or 80 good men from the militia, for that particular service, would be wanted; and I do not know any person so capable of directing the works as Major Joseph Stephen, of Carolina-County. He formerly had the over-looking of them, and managed with remarkable Industry.8
A part of the Militia ordered for the Branch, should take post at Edwards’s (on Cacapehon) and at Pearsalls, for the security of convoys passing from hence to Fort Cumberland.9
I really do not know what method can be practised to compel the Country-people to deliver up the public arms; unless there cou’d be a general search in every County. Governor Dinwiddie, if I remember right, issued two or three proclamations ordering them in, to no purpose.10
With regard to opening the Roads, I think it would be most advisable to postpone all attempts, ’till Sir Jno. St Clairs’ arrival, as he is expected so soon. For Pearsalls, altho’ it is the most convenient road for the Virginia, may not be used by the northern Troops; as I understand their Rendezvous is ordered at Fort Frederick in maryland—This may also (altho’ I can not yet absolutely say) render Garrisons at Edwards and Pearsalls, useless—unless it be a few to preserve the Forts, and the families gathered into them.11
As several of our best Sergeants were made Officers in the Carolina Regiment (besides some other vacancies in that Rank) parting with 10 for the use of the new Regiment, will be a very great hardship at this juncture.12
We are likewise short of our number of Drummers; and many of those we have, are raw and untutored.
As the General expects not regularity from the new Levies, well knowing how little any attempts towards it, in a short time, would avail; I can not help being surprized at their requesting your Honor to give directions for doing what would be of no real service to the new Regiment, and would be of vast prejudice to that I have the honor to command.
In consequence of your Orders for completing the Regiment (with all possible dispatch) by Recruiting; I sometime ago sent all the officers I could spare to those parts of the Country where there is the greatest probability of success, and furnished them with all the money I had, and directions to draw upon me for whatever sum they might want for that Service.13
I likewise engaged some of the most popular of the Country Gentlemen to recruit for me, giving them the same liberty, to draw upon me, well knowing the difficulty of getting any tolerable number in a short time. I exerted myself in prosecuting every measure that afforded a prospect of success, having then, not the least reason to doubt of being duly supplied with money: But how great is my surprize at that paragraph of your Honors letter, that you can not send me any for that Service. As I had immediate demands upon me, which I put off until Mr Gist’s arrival, I consulted with my officers about applying the £4,00 sent for contingencies, towards these demands; and enclose you their opinion on that head:14
and I must earnestly request, that you will be pleased to fall upon some measures of sending me 8,00 or 1,000£ more; as your honor, the honor of the Colony, as well as mine and the Officers, together with that of those Gentlemen above-mentioned, who I have employed, is so nearly and immediately interested in the completion of those Engagements, which I have, in consequence of your Orders entered into. Surely it can not be imagined that I can pay the money (if I had it to deposit) out of my own private fortune; nor does the shortness of the time, nor the circumstances I am under, admit of any other alternative.
I will chearfully bespeak, and can easily procure, the Stage-Horses you desire—when furnished with money for that purpose. As Jno. Berry was made a Soldier [(]how legally, the Court of Officers, &c. that sent him, can better declare) I must think it not only repugnant to Law but to the articles of war, and the customs of the army, to allow him to enlist in any other Corps; for, by this means, if there were no other bad consequences attending it, he defrauds the Country of double Bounty-money.15
I shall make a prudent use of the Power you have been pleased to give me, respecting the issuing Orders to the parties of Militia. Your favor of the 3d by Mr French Mason, I have just been presented with: and would gladly have appointed him Ensign in the Regiment, had not the vacancies been disposed of, in the following manner, before it came to hand—vizt Capt. Lt Bullett, to Joshua Lewis’s company—Mr Duncanson, oldest Ensign, to the Lieutenancy occasioned by this removal: and Mr Thomas Gist, and Mr Allen, volunteers; and John McCully, & John Sallard, worthy Sergeants, (all of whom had served a considerable time with credit and reputation) to be Ensigns.16
I had likewise, before the receipt of yours, promised Major Hite, of this County, a Gentleman of good character, the Colours that would become vacant, upon the event of Colo. Mercer’s Company being filled up; as he, in consideration, had engaged to recruit 50 men for the Service—which I then thought would be a vast advantage.17
I am, with great Respect, Your Honors most obedient, humble Servant, G:W. LB, DLC:GW.
Founders Online Footnotes:
1. In his letter to St. Clair of 4 May GW adds information about parties of Indians having “fallen upon the back Inhabitants of Augusta County and destroyd near 50 persons besides an Officer & 18 Men of Captn Hogs Rangg Company.”
The Virginia council at its meeting of 19 May read “two Letters from Capt. Hog in Augusta, the one of the 7th of April, giving an Account of two Forts in that County being destroyed by the Enemy, and the third Part of his Company cut off” (Exec. Journals of Virginia Council, 6:91–93).
The forts captured and burned were the Upper Tract fort on the upper reaches of the South Branch and Fort Seybert, a short distance away on the South Fork of the South Branch.
The Preston Register reports on 27 April the slaying of Capt. James Dunlop and twenty-two others at the Upper Tract, and, on the following day at Fort Seybert, the killing of Capt. Jacob Seybert (Siebert) and sixteen others and the capture of twenty-four. Dunlop, a militia captain, was also a lieutenant in Peter Hog’s ranger company.
2. The (missing) letter from Thomas Waggener that GW enclosed was clearly one that Waggener wrote after his letter to GW of 30 April, which Robert McKenzie also apparently brought to Winchester.
3. Nathaniel Gist, the second son of Capt. Christopher Gist, became a lieutenant at the end of 1755 in his father’s company of scouts, which was attached to GW’s regiment, and he remained in the Virginia Regiment after the scouts were disbanded in 1757. Ucahula (Ocayula) was a son of the Cherokee emperor Old Hop. GW’s letter to John St. Clair of 4 May seems to suggest that GW got this account from Ucahula himself.
5. See GW to Thomas Gist, 26 April.
6. Blair’s letter of 2 May has not been found. For GW’s refusal to call out the militia himself, see GW to Blair, 24 April.
7. For a discussion of the differences of opinion about the disposition of Robert Rutherford’s rangers, see GW to Blair, 24 April, n.3. See also GW’s Orders to Rutherford, 24 June 1758.
8. Maj. Joseph Stevens (d. 1766) of the Caroline County militia supervised the work on Fort Loudoun at Winchester in the early stages of its construction in the summer of 1756.
9. The forts of Joseph Edwards and Job Pearsal were on the old wagon road from Winchester to the South Branch, the road usually taken to Fort Cumberland on the Potomac at Wills Creek. Soldiers of the Virginia Regiment had been stationed at Edwards’s since the fall of 1755 and at Pearsal’s on the South Branch since at least the beginning of 1756.
10. Blair had instructions from Gen. John Forbes “to encourage the provincialls to bring their own arms” (Forbes to James Abercromby, 24 April 1758, in James, Writings of Forbes, 71–73).
11. For GW’s short-lived advocacy of Fort Loudoun as the general rendezvous point for the expedition, see GW to Stanwix, 10 April, and note 4 of that document; and GW to St. Clair, 18 April, and note 3 of that document.
12. For earlier reference to sergeants in the two companies of the Virginia Regiment stationed in South Carolina becoming officers in the South Carolina forces, see George Mercer to GW, 17 Aug. 1757.
13. Receipts in DLC:GW indicate that among the officers GW sent out in April–May 1758 to recruit for the 1st Virginia Regiment were Lt. John King to Fairfax County, Lt. William Crawford to Loudoun County, and Lt. John Campbell and Lt. Nathaniel Thompson perhaps to Winchester and outlying Frederick County. For the recruiting of men for the 1st Virginia Regiment in and around Fredericksburg, see GW to Adam Stephen, 24 April, n.2.
14. See Council of War, 9 May 1758.
15. Among the draftees taken up to Winchester in the summer of 1757 was a John Berry from Fairfax County who was promptly declared unfit for service and a John Berry, Jr., from Culpeper County whom GW described as “Carpr likely usd ⟨to⟩ Arm⟨s⟩” (GW’s Notes and Memoranda, NN).
16. James Duncanson, who served as a volunteer in the Virginia Regiment until he was made an ensign in Capt. Joshua Lewis’s company in the summer of 1756, was reported to be “mortally wounded” at Loyalhanna on 12 Oct. 1758 (Bouquet to John Forbes, 13 Oct., in Stevens, Bouquet Papers, 2:555–56); but he survived and remained a lieutenant in the regiment until the end of the war. The cadet, or volunteer, John Allen may have been the Mr. Allen who carried messages from Lt. Gov. Robert Dinwiddie and Maj. Andrew Lewis to the Cherokee in the fall of 1756 (see Andrew Lewis to GW, 28 Oct. 1756, n.2). In any case, he was at this time in Augusta with Andrew Lewis, and he was killed in James Grant’s raid in September 1758 when Andrew Lewis was captured. John McCulley, a member of the Virginia forces since 1754 and a protégé of Andrew Lewis with whom he was now serving, was a longtime and well-regarded sergeant in the Virginia Regiment (see the recommendation that he be promoted made to GW, 10 Oct. 1757, by Thomas Bullitt et al.). John Sallard came in September 1755 from Richmond County with the recommendation of Landon Carter to join the Virginia Regiment. He was a sergeant in 1756 and a lieutenant in 1762 before the Regiment was disbanded.
17. John Hite, son of Jost Hite, was an officer in the Frederick County militia. George Mercer upon his return from South Carolina in April got the appointment of lieutenant colonel in the 2d Virginia Regiment, and the promotion of the two subalterns left vacant the ensigncy in Mercer’s company of GW’s regiment. There is no evidence that Hite became an officer in the Virginia Regiment or marched in the Forbes expedition. At GW’s insistence the senior lieutenant in his regiment, Walter Steuart, filled the vacant captaincy (see GW to Blair, 28 May, and Steuart to GW, 27 June). Steuart was the lieutenant in Capt. George Mercer’s company and had acted as captain of the company in South Carolina and Georgia when Mercer was ill in the fall of 1757.
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