William Christian ( 1742 – April 9, 1786) was a military officer, planter and politician from the western part of the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertGilbert (Saunders Family), Sir Humphrey" (histor ...

. He represented Fincastle County in the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been establishe ...

and as relations with Britain soured, signed the

Fincastle Resolutions The Fincastle Resolutions was a statement reportedly adopted on January 20, 1775, by fifteen elected representatives of Fincastle County, Virginia. Part of the political movement that became the American Revolution, the resolutions were addressed ...

. He later represented western Virginia in the Virginia Senate and founded Fort William (now

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

), as well as helped negotiate the Treaty of Long Island of the Holston, which made peace between the

Overmountain Men The Overmountain Men were American frontiersmen from west of the Blue Ridge Mountains which are the leading edge of the Appalachian Mountains, who took part in the American Revolutionary War. While they were present at multiple engagements in th ...

and

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

s in 1777. He was killed in 1786 at the outset of the

Northwest Indian War The Northwest Indian War (1786–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native American nations known today as the Northwestern ...

, leading an expedition against Native Americans near what is now

Jeffersonville, Indiana Jeffersonville is a city and the county seat of Clark County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It lies directly across the Ohio River to the north of Louis ...

Early and family life

Christian was born about 1742, in

Augusta County, Virginia Augusta County is a county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The second-largest county of Virginia by total area, it completely surrounds the independent cities of Staunton and Waynesboro. Its count ...

.Gail S. Terry (2006)
"William Christian (ca. 1742–1786)
" ''Dictionary of Virginia Biography'', accessed December 26, 2021. He was the son of the former Elizabeth Starke and her husband

Israel Christian Israel Christian (17201784) was an 18th-century American pioneer, militia officer, politician and businessman. One of the earliest landowners in Kentucky, he founded the town of Fincastle, Virginia. He was also a representative of Augusta Cou ...

, immigrants from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

who settled in

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities are separate jurisdictions from the counties that surround them, so the government off ...

, in 1740, where they operated a general store.McCormick, Thomas Denton
"William Christian"
in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', vol. III, p. 96, edited by Dumas Malone. New York: Scribner's, 1936; revised 1964. Israel Christian represented Augusta County in the Virginia

multiple times between 1758 and 1765, and helped found the towns of Christiansburg and Fincastle. William Christian and his sisters received an "unusually good" education, perhaps from their mother. As a young man, Christian served as a captain in the Anglo-Cherokee War (1758–1761) under Colonel William Byrd. In the mid-1760s, he read law under the guidance of

Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician and orator known for declaring to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): " Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first a ...

, although there is no evidence Christian ever practiced law. He married Henry's sister, Annie. They had several daughters who married and had children; their only son, William Henry Christian, died in 1800 at about age 19 without marrying.

Career

Christian lived in the part of Botetourt County, Virginia that became Fincastle County, Virginia. He was one of the new county's two representatives in the

in its last three sessions, from 1773 to 1775. In 1774, Christian commanded a regiment of militia from Fincastle County in Dunmore's War, but he and his troops arrived too late to participate in the decisive

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 ...

. As relations with Britain soured, Christian became one of the signers of the

, the earliest statement of armed resistance to the

British Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

in the American colonies. In 1775, as the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

neared, Christian served on the Fincastle Committee of Safety and was elected to represent the county at the first four of the five Virginia Conventions after Virginia's royal governor, Lord Dunmore, dismissed the legislature. After the fifth revolutionary convention established the Commonwealth of Virginia, voters from Botetourt and Fincastle counties elected Christian as their representative in the Virginia Senate. However, in the next session, the district boundaries changed, with Botetourt County joining Washington, Montgomery, Greenbrier and Kentucky counties in a district that elected William Fleming as their state senator for a four-year part time term. Christian soon returned, after yet another boundary change as settlers moved southwest along the Cumberland Road through Washington County and Greenbrier County into what was first

Kentucky County Kentucky County (then alternately spelled Kentucke County) was formed by the Commonwealth of Virginia from the western portion (beyond the Cumberland Mountains) of Fincastle County effective December 31, 1776. The name of the county was taken ...

, then Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln Counties—all before

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

became a state in its own right. On February 13, 1776, he was appointed

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colon ...

of the 1st Virginia Regiment. Christian's brother-in-law Patrick Henry was the initial colonel in command, but when the regiment was taken into the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

, Henry declined to continue serving, and so Congress promoted Christian to colonel on March 18, 1776. When British-allied Cherokees under Dragging Canoe and Oconostota went to war with Virginia in 1776, Christian resigned his Continental Army commission in July, accepting instead the command of an expedition against the Overhill Cherokees. The expedition involved little combat, but Christian and his men destroyed Cherokee towns, compelling some of the chiefs to agree to peace. Christian was one of the commissioners who negotiated the "Treaty of the Long Island of the Holston" with the Cherokees, signed on July 20, 1777. He was also a commissioner in a second treaty with the Cherokees in 1781.

Final years and legacy

In 1785, Christian moved his family and slaves to what became

Jefferson County, Kentucky Jefferson County is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 782,969. It is the most populous county in the commonwealth (with more than twice the population of second ranke ...

, and the Louisville settlement. Christian started a plantation near fellow pioneer and politician Alexander Scott Bullitt (who married one of Christian's daughters and began a family) and executed claims for 9,000 acres (36 km²) of land as a bounty for his military service. Although the Revolutionary War had ended, Native Americans continued to defend their lands against occupation by American settlers. Christian and his wife helped establish Fort William, Kentucky, where Christian directed the defense of what is now Louisville from Native American attacks. As one of the most experienced military officers in Kentucky, in 1786 he led an expedition against Native Americans north of the Ohio River. He was killed in a skirmish on April 9, near present-day

. Troops returned Christian's remains for burial in

in the Bullitt cemetery in Oxmoor. His son would later be buried in the same graveyard. His widow moved east and died in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia B ...

, in 1790. Two of their daughters died in Jefferson County in 1806, and the youngest married Dr. William Fishback and died in 1840. The Christians' early Kentucky log house still stands. Several places are named after him or family members, including: *

Christiansburg, Virginia Christiansburg (formerly Hans Meadows) is a town in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States. The population was 21,041 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Montgomery County. Christiansburg, Blacksburg and the city of Radford are t ...

* Christian County, Illinois * Christian County, Kentucky * Christian County, Missouri

References

External links

Historical marker
in

Historical marker
in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, noting that Christian County was named for him in 1797. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, William 1742 births 1786 deaths Blacksburg–Christiansburg metropolitan area Christian County, Missouri Christian County, Illinois People from Staunton, Virginia American military personnel killed in the Northwest Indian War Continental Army officers from Virginia House of Burgesses members Politicians from Louisville, Kentucky History of Louisville, Kentucky Signers of the Fincastle Resolutions American people of Manx descent American people of the Northwest Indian War Virginia militiamen in the American Revolution Burials in Kentucky People from Fincastle, Virginia 18th-century American politicians People in Dunmore's War American slave owners