View source for Battle of Point Pleasant

{{Short description|Battle between Virginian militia and Native Americans}}
{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict    = Battle of Point Pleasant
|partof      = [[Dunmore's War]]
|image       = File:Thrilling adventures among the Indians- comprising the most remarkable personal narratives of events in the early Indian Wars, as well as of incidents in the recent Indian hostilities in Mexico and (14763496504).jpg
|image_size  = 300px
|caption     = ''Battle of Point Pleasant'' by John Frost
|date        = October 10, 1774
|place       = [[Point Pleasant, West Virginia|Point Pleasant]], [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]]
|coordinates = {{coord|38.8393|-82.1408|display=inline,title|region:US-WV_type:event|format=dms}}
|result      = Virginian victory
|combatant2  = [[Shawnee]] <br /> [[Mingo]]
|combatant1  = {{flagicon image|Red Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg}} [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]]
|commander2  = [[Cornstalk (Shawnee leader)|Cornstalk]] <br /> [[Pukeshinwa]]{{KIA}} <br /> [[Blue Jacket]]
|commander1  = {{flagicon image|Red Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg}} [[Andrew Lewis (soldier)|Andrew Lewis]] <br /> {{flagicon image|Red Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg}} Charles Lewis{{KIA}} <br /> {{flagicon image|Red Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg}} Thomas Buford{{KIA}}
|strength2   = 300–500
|strength1   = 1,000
|casualties1 = ~75 killed <br /> ~140 wounded
|casualties2 = +41 killed <br /> unknown wounded

{{Infobox NRHP
| name      = Point Pleasant Battleground
| embed     = yes
| nrhp_type =
| image     =
| caption   =
| location  = SW corner of Main and 1st Sts., [[Point Pleasant, West Virginia]]
| locmapin  = West Virginia#USA
| built     = 1774
| architect =
| added     = January 26, 1970
| area      = {{convert|5.3|acre}}
| refnum    = 70000656<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
}}}}

The '''Battle of Point Pleasant''', also known as the '''Battle of Kanawha''' and the '''Battle of Great 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 [[Point Pleasant, West Virginia]], forces under the Shawnee chief [[Cornstalk (Shawnee leader)|Cornstalk]] attacked Virginia militiamen under Colonel [[Andrew Lewis (soldier)|Andrew Lewis]], hoping to halt Lewis's advance into the [[Ohio Valley]]. After a long and furious battle, Cornstalk retreated. After the battle, the Virginians, along with a second force led by [[John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore|Lord Dunmore]], the [[List of colonial governors of Virginia|Royal Governor of Virginia]], marched into the Ohio Valley and compelled Cornstalk to agree to a treaty, which ended the war.

==Preparations==
[[Colonel Andrew Lewis]], in command of about 1,000 men, was part of a planned two-pronged Virginian invasion of the Ohio Valley. As Lewis's force made its way down the [[Kanawha River]], guided by pioneering hunter/trapper [[Matthew Arbuckle Sr.]], Lewis anticipated linking up with another force commanded by John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, who was marching west from [[Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)|Fort Pitt]], then known as Fort Dunmore. Dunmore's plan was to march into the Ohio Valley and force the Indigenous inhabitants to accept Ohio River boundary which had been negotiated with the [[Iroquois]] in the 1768 [[Treaty of Fort Stanwix]].

The Shawnee, however, had not been consulted in the treaty and many were not willing to surrender their lands south of the Ohio River without a fight. Officials of the [[British Indian Department]], led by [[Sir William Johnson]] until his death in July 1774, worked to diplomatically isolate the Shawnee from their neighbors. As a result, when the war began, the Shawnees had few allies other than the [[Mingo]].

Cornstalk, the Shawnee leader, moved to intercept Lewis's army, hoping to prevent the Virginians from joining their forces together. Estimates of the size of Cornstalk's force have varied, but scholars<ref>who?</ref> now believe Cornstalk was probably outnumbered at least two to one, having between 300 and 500 warriors. Future Shawnee leader [[Blue Jacket]] most likely participated in this battle.

==Battle==
Cornstalk's forces attacked Lewis's camp where the Kanawha River joins the [[Ohio River]], hoping to trap him along a bluff. The battle lasted for hours and the fighting eventually became hand-to-hand. Cornstalk's voice was reportedly heard over the din of the battle, urging his warriors to "be strong." Lewis sent several companies along the Kanawha and up a nearby creek to attack the warriors from the rear, which reduced the intensity of the Shawnee offensive. Captain [[George Mathews (Georgia)|George Mathews]] was credited with a flanking maneuver that initiated Cornstalk's retreat.<ref name= Herndon>Herndon, G. Melvin (1969). George Mathews, Frontier Patriot. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 77, No. 3 (Jul., 1969) pp. 311-312</ref> At nightfall, the Shawnees quietly withdrew back across the Ohio. The Virginians had held their ground, and thus are considered to have won.

==Aftermath==
The Virginians lost about 75 killed and 140 wounded.<ref>Atkinson, George W., ''History of Kanawha County: from its organization in 1789 until the present time''; Printed at the Office of the West Virginia Journal, 1876, 345 pgs.</ref><ref name="Winning of the West">{{cite book|last=Roosevelt|first=Theodore|url=https://archive.org/details/winningwest02roosgoog|quote=Girty.|title=The Winning of the West: From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, 1769-1776|publisher=[[G. P. Putnam's Sons|Putnam's]]|year=1889}}</ref>  The Shawnee's losses could not be determined, since they carried away their wounded and threw many of the dead into the river.<ref>Randall, and Ryan ''History of Ohio'' p 96</ref> The next morning, Colonel William Christian, who had arrived shortly after the battle, marched his men over the battlefield. They found twenty-one dead warriors in the open, and twelve more were discovered hastily covered with brush and old logs. Among those killed was Pucksinwah, the father of [[Tecumseh]].{{cn|date=August 2025}}

Besides scalps, the Virginians reportedly captured 40 guns, many tomahawks and some other plunder which was later sold at auction for 74[[GBP|£]] 4s 6d.<ref name="Winning of the West"/>

The Battle of Point Pleasant forced [[Cornstalk (Shawnee leader)|Cornstalk]] to make peace at the [[Treaty of Camp Charlotte]], ceding to Virginia the Shawnee claims to all lands south of the Ohio River (today's states of [[Kentucky]] and [[West Virginia]]). The Shawnee were also obliged by the treaty to return all white captives and cease their attacks on barges of settlers traveling on the Ohio River.<ref>Hurt, R D. The Indian Frontier, 1763-1846. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2002. Print.</ref>

Colonel John Field, an ancestor of United States Presidents [[George H. W. Bush]] and [[George W. Bush]], was killed in the battle.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Reitwiesner|first1=William Addams|title=Ancestry of George W. Bush|url=http://www.wargs.com/political/bush.html|website=wargs.com|access-date=31 July 2015|ref=Ancestor #728}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Tu-Endie-Wei State Park]]
* [[John Stuart (Virginia)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Downes, Randolph C. ''Council Fires on the Upper Ohio: A Narrative of Indian Affairs in the Upper Ohio Valley until 1795''. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1940. {{ISBN|0-8229-5201-7}} (1989 reprint).
* [[Virgil A. Lewis|Lewis, Virgil A.]], ''History of the Battle of Point Pleasant''. Charleston, West Virginia: Tribune, 1909. Reprinted Maryland: Willow Bend, 2000. {{ISBN|1-888265-59-0}}.
* Randall, E. O. ''The Dunmore War''. Columbus, Ohio: Heer, 1902.
* Randall, Emilius Oviatt and Daniel Joseph Ryan. ''History of Ohio: the rise and progress of an American state, Volume 2.'' The Century History Company, 1912, public domain [https://books.google.com/books?id=GHkUAAAAYAAJ&q=History+of+Ohio:+the+rise+and+progress+of+an+American+state,+Volume+2 online edition]
* Roosevelt, Theodore. ''The winning of the West, Volume 1'' (1889) pp 227–33 [https://archive.org/details/winningwest00joygoog online edition]
* Smith, Thomas H., ed. ''Ohio in the American Revolution: A Conference to Commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the Ft. Gower Resolves.'' Columbus: Ohio Historical Society, 1976.
* Sugden, John. ''Blue Jacket: Warrior of the Shawnees''. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-8032-4288-3}}.
* [[Reuben Gold Thwaites|Thwaites, Reuben Gold]] and Louise Phelps Kellogg, eds. ''Documentary History of Dunmore's War, 1774.'' Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society, 1905. Reprinted Baltimore: Clearfield, 2002. {{ISBN|0-8063-5180-2}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Battle of Point Pleasant}}
* [http://www.wvparks.com/pointpleasant/ Point Pleasant Monument State Park web site]
* [http://www.wvculture.org/history/journal_wvh/wvh56-5.html "Manufactured History": Re-Fighting the Battle of Point Pleasant], 1997 article about the historical debate over whether the Battle of Point Pleasant should be considered a battle of the American Revolutionary War.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061206131623/http://www.blueridgeinstitute.org/ballads/kanawha.html "The Battle Song of the Great Kanawha"], online exhibit from the [[Blue Ridge Institute]] about a ballad which recounted the battle.
* [http://www.masoncountytourism.org/ Point Pleasant Tourism Information]

{{National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Point Pleasant}}
[[Category:Shawnee history]]
[[Category:Battles in West Virginia|Point Pleasant]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of West Virginia]]
[[Category:Mason County, West Virginia]]
[[Category:Point Pleasant, West Virginia]]
[[Category:1774 in the Colony of Virginia]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1774|Point Pleasant]]
[[Category:Mingo]]