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William Preston (Virginia Soldier)
Colonel William Preston (December 25, 1729 – June 28, 1783) played a crucial role in surveying and developing the western colonies, exerted great influence in the colonial affairs of his time, enslaved many people on his plantation, and founded a dynasty whose progeny would supply leaders of the South for nearly a century. He served in the Virginia House of Burgesses and was a colonel in the militia during the American Revolutionary War. He was one of the fifteen signatories of the Fincastle Resolutions. He was a founding trustee of Liberty Hall (later Washington and Lee University) when it was made into a college in 1776. Personal life William Preston was born on Christmas Day in 1729, in Limavady, Ireland, to Col. John Preston and his wife, Elizabeth. Elizabeth's father, Henry Patton, was a prominent shipwright and merchant, and her brother, James Patton, served with distinction in the Royal Navy. The Crown granted him between 100,000 and 120,000 acres in America to permit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slavery In The United States
The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Slavery was established throughout European colonization in the Americas. From 1526, during early colonial days, it was practiced in what became Britain's colonies, including the Thirteen Colonies that formed the United States. Under the law, an enslaved person was treated as property that could be bought, sold, or given away. Slavery lasted in about half of U.S. states until abolition. In the decades after the end of Reconstruction, many of slavery's economic and social functions were continued through segregation, sharecropping, and convict leasing. By the time of the American Revolution (1775–1783), the status of enslaved people had been institutionalized as a racial caste associated with African ancestry. During and immediately ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French And Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the start of the war, the French colonies had a population of roughly 60,000 settlers, compared with 2 million in the British colonies. The outnumbered French particularly depended on their native allies. Two years into the French and Indian War, in 1756, Great Britain declared war on France, beginning the worldwide Seven Years' War. Many view the French and Indian War as being merely the American theater of this conflict; however, in the United States the French and Indian War is viewed as a singular conflict which was not associated with any European war. French Canadians call it the ('War of the Conquest').: 1756–1763 The British colonists were supported at various times by the Iroquois, Catawba, and Cherokee tribes, and the French ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandy Creek Expedition
The Sandy Creek Expedition, also referred to as the Sandy Expedition or sometimes the Big Sandy Expedition, (not to be confused with the Big Sandy Expedition of 1851) was a 1756 campaign of Virginia soldiers and Cherokee warriors into what is now western West Virginia, against Shawnee warriors who were raiding Virginia farms and settlements. The campaign set out in mid-February, 1756, and was immediately slowed by harsh weather and inadequate provisions. With morale failing, the expedition was forced to turn back in mid-March without encountering the enemy. The expedition was the first allied military campaign between the British and the Cherokees against the French and their allied Native Americans, and Virginia's only military offensive during the French and Indian War. Background The campaign was initiated in early 1756 by Virginia's Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie in response to Indian raids on settlements in the New River, Greenbrier River, and Tygart River valley ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virginia Regiment
The Virginia Regiment was formed in 1754 by Virginia's Royal Governor Robert Dinwiddie, as a provincial corps. The regiment served in the French and Indian War, with members participating in actions at Jumonville Glen and Fort Necessity in 1754, the Braddock expedition in 1755, and the Forbes expedition in 1758. Small detachments of the regiment were involved in numerous minor actions along Virginia's extensive wilderness frontier. History The conflict over the Ohio country led to raising of the first provincial regiment in Virginia. In 1754, the General Assembly of Virginia voted to raise a regiment of 300 men and send it to the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers. After the battle of Fort Necessity, the Assembly voted to increase the size of the regiment from five companies to ten. The Virginian provincial troops who participated in the Braddock Expedition of 1755 and suffered defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela were unregimented: at the behest of General ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smithfield (Blacksburg, Virginia)
Smithfield is a plantation house outside Blacksburg, Virginia, built from 1772 to 1774 by Col. William Preston to be his residence and the headquarters of his farm. It was the birthplace of two Virginia Governors: James Patton Preston and John B. Floyd. The house remained a family home until 1959 when the home was donated to the APVA. History The plantation site was part of 120,000 acres originally granted to James Patton by the British Crown. Patton was killed in the Draper's Meadow massacre in July 1755. The property was purchased by Patton's nephew, William Preston, who built the house from 1773 to 1774. Preston was an important colonial political figure, and may have been the author of the Fincastle Resolutions. He remained on the property, despite frequent threats from nearby Tories and Loyalists and Native Americans and the disruptions of the American Revolutionary War until his death from a stroke at a 1783 local militia muster. The property then passed to his wif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shawnee
The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky and Alabama. By the 19th century, they were forcibly removed to Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and ultimately Indian Territory, which became Oklahoma under the 1830 Indian Removal Act. Today, Shawnee people are enrolled in three federally recognized tribes, all headquartered in Oklahoma: the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians, Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, and Shawnee Tribe. Etymology Shawnee has also been written as Shaawanwaki, Ša·wano·ki, Shaawanowi lenaweeki, and Shawano. Algonquian languages have words similar to the archaic ''shawano'' (now: ''shaawanwa'') meaning "south". However, the stem ''šawa-'' does not mean "south" in Shawnee, but "moderate, warm (of weather)": See Charles F. Voegelin, "šawa (plus -ni, -te) MODERATE, WARM ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Draper's Meadow Massacre
In July 1755, the Draper's Meadow settlement in southwest Virginia, at the site of present day Blacksburg, was raided by a group of Shawnee warriors, who killed at least four people including an infant, and captured five more. The Indians brought their hostages to Lower Shawneetown, a Shawnee village in Kentucky. One of the captives, Mary Draper Ingles, later escaped and returned home on foot through the wilderness. Although many of the circumstances of the massacre are uncertain, including the date of the attack, the event remains a dramatic story in the history of Virginia. Location The original 7,500 acre (30 km²) tract that became known as Draper's Meadow was awarded on 20 June 1753 to Colonel James Patton, an Irish sea captain turned land speculator, by Governor Robert Dinwiddie. This land was bordered by Tom's Creek on the north, Stroubles Creek on the south and the Mississippi watershed (modern-day U.S. Route 460) on the east; it approached the New River on th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New River (Kanawha River Tributary)
The New River is a river which flows through the U.S. states of North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia before joining with the Gauley River to form the Kanawha River at the town of Gauley Bridge, West Virginia. Part of the Ohio River watershed, it is about long. The origins of the name are unclear. Possibilities include being a new river that was not on the Fry-Jefferson map of Virginia, an Indian name meaning "new waters", or the surname of an early settler. It was once called Wood's River for Colonel Abraham Wood, an English explorer from Virginia, who explored the river in the mid-17th century. Despite its name, the New River is one of the five oldest rivers in the world geologically. However this claim is disputed by the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey and the National Park Service. This low-level crossing of the Appalachians, many millions of years old, has long been a biogeographical corridor allowing numerous species of plants and animals to spread ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Montgomery County, Virginia
Montgomery County is a county located in the Valley and Ridge area of the U.S. state of Virginia. As population in the area increased, Montgomery County was formed in 1777 from Fincastle County, which in turn had been taken from Botetourt County. As of the 2020 census, the population was 99,721. Its county seat is Christiansburg, and Blacksburg is the largest town. Montgomery County is part of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg metropolitan area. It is dominated economically by the presence of Virginia Tech, Virginia's third largest public university, which is the county's largest employer. Board of Supervisors The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors sets the annual budget and tax rates, enacts legislation governing the county and its citizens, sets policies and oversees their implementation. There are seven supervisors; one is elected from each of the seven geographic districts. Terms are four years; three or four seats are up for re-election each odd year. History Mont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fincastle County
Fincastle County, Virginia, was created by act of the Virginia General Assembly April 8, 1772 from Botetourt County.Pendleton, William C. (1920)''History of Tazewell County and Southwest Virginia: 1748-1920'' pp. 255-57. W. C. Hill Printing Company. As colonial government considered Virginia's western extent to be the Mississippi River, that became Fincastle's western limit. Its eastern boundary was essentially the New River (Wood's River at the time, including what is today the Kanawha River), thus dividing Botetourt County from north to south. The new county encompassed all of present day Kentucky, plus southwestern West Virginia and a slice of Virginia's western "tail". Although no county seat was designated by the act creating the county, the colonial governor ordered it to be placed at the "Lead Mines" of present day Wythe County; the community of Austinville later developed there. The governor of Virginia Colony, John Murray, Earl of Dunmore and Viscount of Fincastle, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Botetourt County
Botetourt County ( ) is a US county that lies in the Roanoke Region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Located in the mountainous portion of the state, the county is bordered by two major ranges, the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains. Botetourt County was created in 1770 from part of Augusta County and was named for Norborne Berkeley, known as Lord Botetourt. It originally comprised a vast area, which included the southern portion of present-day West Virginia and all of Kentucky. Portions were set off to form new counties beginning in 1772, until the current borders were established in 1851. Botetourt County is part of the Roanoke Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area, and the county seat is the town of Fincastle. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 33,596. History First proposed in the House of Burgesses in 1767, Botetourt County was created in 1770 from Augusta County. The county is named for Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt, more co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Lewis (Virginia Politician)
Thomas Lewis (April 27, 1718 – January 31, 1790) was an Irish-American surveyor, lawyer, politician and pioneer of early western Virginia. He was among the signers of the Fairfax Resolves, represented Augusta County at four of the five Virginia Revolutionary Conventions and the first session of the Virginia House of Delegates during the American War for Independence, and after the conflict, represented newly established Rockingham County at the Virginia Ratification Convention, as well as contributed to the settlement of an area that long after his death become part of West Virginia. Early life Lewis was born to John (1678–1762) and Margaret Lynn Lewis (1693–1773) in County Donegal, Ireland on April 27, 1718. Needing to leave Ireland after killing his landlord, John Lewis immigrated to Philadelphia in 1728; and two years later brought over his family, including Thomas and his brothers Andrew and William. In the summer of 1732 the Lewis family moved to the western fronti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
