Leaving Fort Cumberland - Finally
As your Honor gave me no particular directions concerning withdrawing the Troops from Fort Cumberland, or how they are to be employed & posted when relieved by the Marylanders; I shou’d be glad of orders now also, whether I am to bring off all the Virginia Stores (Provisions excepted) at the same time that the Indian Goods are removed.
Governor Sharpe did not incline to give Captain Dagworthy orders to march to Fort Cumberland, until you shall have given particular Orders about withdrawing our Garrison—Therefore the sooner I receive them the better. I shall be down [to Willamsburg] by the 28th if possible, & remain Your Honors, &c.
Gov Horatio Sharpe actually wrote orders to Captain Dagworthy 30 March 1757 but held off sending the letter until GW got specific instructions from Lt Gov Dinwiddie.
Lord Loudoun gave the okay to remove the Virginia Regiment from Fort Cumberland. This he did at his conference of Governors from PA, MD, VA, SC held in Philadelphia, 14 March - 23 March 1757.
Now GW needed more specific instructions on how to implement leaving Fort Cumberland.
This move was a long time coming.
Finally !!
Colonel George Washington has been requesting leaving that fort forever.
He wanted not to bother with this fort for 2 principle reasons.
It was defenseless.
It had high mountains allowing enemy to potshot its occupants all day long. His troops accomplished mostly nothing there. They were a marooned island outpost. Constantly surrounded by enemy Indians. Many letters by GW and his officers attest to this.
For a most recent example of this fort not being able to do much even just outside its own walls:
Some enemy indians killed two Cuttawbas on Thursday last at about 150 Yards from the fort, and 70 from a Sentry; & made their escape tho’ pursued by other Cuttawbas’ and near 200 men. And the day before yesterday, two Soldiers were killed, and a third taken prisoner, as they were coming to this place from the fort below. The rest of the party, being 10 in number, with Capt. Waggener among them, made their escape. -- Colonel George Washington at Fort Cumberland writes to Lt Gov Dinwiddie 16 April 1757.
More detail is given by the Pennsylvania Gazette on that same above incident:
Another account of this Indian action appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia) for 5 May 1757:
“While the Catawba’s were at Fort Cumberland, three of the Enemy, within a Hundred Yards of the Fort; fired on three of them in a Canoe, two of which they killed outright, but the third made his Escape to the Fort; when all rushed out, and tho’ they pursued for about six Miles, they could not come up with them, occasioned by the Falling of a heavy Rain, which washed out their Tracks, and obliged them to give over the Pursuit. About the same time Captain Waggoner, with a Party of ten Men, was fired upon within a Quarter of a Mile of the Fort, when he had one Man killed, and another taken Prisoner. He prepared to return the Fire, but about eighteen of the Enemy appearing, made him retire to the Fort.”
The 2nd reason -
Even more aggravating, was that John Dagworthy, a Marylander who had an expired British Captain's Commission, claimed superiority over a provincial colonel. And that wasn't the first time a British Captain claimed superiority or independence over a provincial Colonel. Colonel George Washington had to share command with Captain James MacKay at Fort Necessity and his Captaincy wasn't an expired British commission, although GW appeared to have a better relationship with MacKay (others spell it McKay) judging from the letters between the two.
That reason of unity and clarity in command is a necessity when there is an emergency, let alone the personal insult GW felt.
GW importuned VA Lt Gov Dinwiddie and Maryland's Horatio Sharpe. Neither could settle the issue. So GW travelled with his aide de camp Capt George Mercer and Capt Robt Stewart to Boston in Feb 1756 to see Massachusetts Gov William Shirley . He was not only a Governor there, but at the time was commander of all North American forces.
GW needed this man to settle the issue of dominance, unity and clarity in command.
But all that aggravation is over with. Huzzah !!!
Win One Lose One:
And yet anybody who has worked for a corporation or any company long enough, what do you find?
One aggravation removed is paid for by another aggravation.
Now that GW is no longer staffing and supplying that fort, he now loses some of his men to South Carolina to help them.
Originally, Lord Loudoun in 1756 insisted that Virginia Regiment maintain their garrison in this King's Fort.
Then in March 1757 in a big Conference with the Governors of PA, MD, VA, SC in Philadelphia, Lord Loudoun commanded only the Maryland forces to garrison that fort.
That would leave the Virginia Regiment free to send troops to patrol Charleston SC, in turn freeing up South Carolina to send its forces to fight the threat on the frontier.
Purpose?
We are still searching for the references where Adam Stephen and George Mercer under Colonel Bouquet's leadership are guarding the peace in Charleston against possible slave insurrection, along with possible Spanish threats and threats from the Creek nations, thus freeing up the Carolina military to go west to handle frontier threats.
Dates and Times:
And we will go on to list dates and times when the Virginia Regiment and its supplies departed from Fort Cumberland and when Maryland's Dagworthy took sole possession of the fort.
Stay tuned:
We will be updating this, with many more links and proofs of the above points.
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Compiled and written by Jim Moyer and published in Wix only 4/11/2021, update 4/12/2021, 4/18/2021
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