Captain Mathew Arbuckle Sr., (July 15, 1740 – July 27, 1781) was a pioneering hunter and trapper of western Virginia (now

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

) and the Ohio territory. He is considered likely to have been the first white person to travel through Virginia all the way to the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

, other than as a prisoner of the Indians. This trapping and trading trip may have occurred around 1764.

Biography

Arbuckle was born in Augusta (now Botetourt) County, Virginia, to James Arbuckle (1713–1783) and his wife Margaret (''née'' Thompson) Arbuckle (1714–1761). He served in the Augusta County militia in 1758 and '59. He was the first white man to travel the length of the "Great Kanawha" valley and records indicate that he reached the future site of Point Pleasant, at the confluence of the Kanawha and Ohio, around 1764. By 1767 he is listed as a lieutenant and in 1770 he was commissioned captain of (the newly formed) Botetourt County militia. He served as a "gentleman justice" of Botetourt County from its founding in 1769 until 1773. In 1774, he built the stockade on Muddy Creek,

Greenbrier County Greenbrier County () is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,977. Its county seat is Lewisburg. The county was formed in 1778 from Botetourt and Montgomery counties in Virginia. History P ...

, now known as Arbuckle's Old Fort. After the outbreak of

Lord Dunmore's War Lord Dunmore's War—or Dunmore's War—was a 1774 conflict between the Colony of Virginia and the Shawnee and Mingo American Indian nations. The Governor of Virginia during the conflict was John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore—Lord Dunmore. H ...

in May 1774, Arbuckle both assumed command of a company of Botetourt County militia and served as guide and chief scout for General

Andrew Lewis Andrew Lewis may refer to: Law and politics * Sir Andrew J. W. Lewis (1875-1952), Scottish businessman and politician; Lord Provost of Aberdeen * Andrew L. Lewis Jr. (1931–2016), American railroad executive and US Secretary of Transportation *And ...

's late summer march to Point Pleasant. This led directly to the defeat

Chief Cornstalk Cornstalk (c. 1720? – November 10, 1777) was a Shawnee leader in the Ohio Country in the 1760s and 1770s. His name in the Shawnee language was Hokoleskwa. Little is known about his early life. He may have been born in the Province of Pennsylv ...

's native forces at the

Battle of Point Pleasant The Battle of Point Pleasant, also known as the Battle of Kanawha, was the only major action of Dunmore's War. It was fought on October 10, 1774, between the Virginia militia and Shawnee and Mingo warriors. Along the Ohio River near modern-day P ...

in October. Soon after the battle, Arbuckle had returned to Greenbrier County and established his residence near Fort Savannah, later known as Lewisburg. In 1776, Arbuckle built Fort Randolph at Point Pleasant and was in command in there the following year when a contingent of newly arrived and undisciplined militia witnessed one of their number killed and scalped by Indians. This mob overcame their officers' (including Arbuckle's) attempts to maintain order and famously murdered the captive Cornstalk, an event which cast a shadow over the region for decades. In 1778, Arbuckle was active in raising the siege of

Fort Donnally Fort Donnally is an unincorporated community in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, United States. It is located along Rader Run Road in Rader Valley, just off US 60, approximately west of Lewisburg. It is also about southwest of Falling Spring. ...

, near his home in Greenbrier County. When the town of Lewisburg was formally laid out in 1780, Arbuckle was the first settler. Upon retirement from active military service he farmed his extensive lands and served in several official public positions. In March 1781, he was commissioned to lay out a route from Lewisburg to Warm Springs, Bath County, Virginia. On June 27th, returning from the temporary state capital at Staunton with

Archer Mathews Archer Mathews (1744 – 1796) was a United States pioneer, legislator, and city founder in the colony (and later U.S. state) of Virginia. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Greenbrier County from 1780 to 1782.Leonard, Cynt ...

, the men became trapped in a violent storm near the banks of the Jackson River and Arbuckle was killed by a falling tree. He was laid to rest where he fell and was survived by his widow (Frances Lawrence Arbuckle Hunter Welch; 1749 – 1834) and six sons (Charles, 1768–1846; John, 1771–1843; James Harvey, 1774–1869; Mathew Jr, 1778–1851; Thomas, 1780–1838; and Samuel, 1782–1831).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arbuckle, Mathew Sr. 1740 births 1781 deaths People from Botetourt County, Virginia Virginia militiamen in the American Revolution People from Lewisburg, West Virginia