Although both states were involved in the Revolutionary effort, Virginia and Pennsylvania were also at war with each other over land west of the Alleghenies. This territory had been claimed by both since the days of their early charters in the 1600s.

During the Revolution, the land claimed by both states had rival governments, courthouses and militias. Pennsylvania’s Hannas Town was the seat of its Westmoreland County, while Virginia’s West Augusta County was headquartered at Fort Pitt.

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Throughout the 1770s, rival justices and other county officials were arrested and held in prison at either Hannas Town or Fort Pitt. Each claimed jurisdiction over the other, and saw the other as illegal.

At one point, Pennsylvania Governor John Penn wrote to Lord Dunmore of Virginia that he was “surprised” at Dunmore’s claim on the land, enclosing a map showing it firmly in Pennsylvania. Dunmore responded by denying the claim and explaining it was part of his colony. Penn then wrote that he “request your Lordship neither grant lands nor exercise the government of Virginia within these limits.”

Going in person to Fort Pitt, Dunmore issued a proclamation that, “whereas the Province of Pennsylvania has unduly laid claim to … His Majesty’s territory…. I do hereby in His Majesty’s name require & command all of His Majesty’s subjects West of Laurel Hill to pay a due respect to my Proclamation, strictly prohibiting the authority of Pennsylvania at their peril.”

Continue reading “The War on the Pennsylvania Frontier: Part 5 of 5: The war between Virginia and Pennsylvania” →

The Southwestern corner of Pennsylvania was perhaps the most isolated in the state. It was also a region claimed by both Virginia and Pennsylvania. Far removed from assistance from the eastern centers of population, they had to rely on their own resolve for defense.

These settlers experienced unrelenting violence during the Revolution. Ironically, the fighting here escalated as the main war was winding down to the east. The years of 1780, 81, and 82 saw many Indian raids on the area. In taking the war to these settlers, the Indian groups were trying to stop encroachment on their lands in what become, to them, a never ending fight. A series of historic markers note the sites of forts and raids in the region.

I am a frequent visitor to Oakwood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia’s East End. The Cemetery, founded in 1854 with its first burials in 1856, is the resting place for about 17,000 Confederate soldiers. I recently made a startling discovery that connects this 19th Century landmark to the Revolution.

Buried in a family plot, not far from the massive Confederate section, is Richard Eubank. His stone reads, “Richard Eubank, 1758-1855, Coxswain of Boat That Took George Washington Across the Delaware – 1776, Rev War.” I was stunned to make such a discovery.

It cried out for more research for several reasons. First, Eubank died in 1855, but the cemetery wasn’t even in use until the next year, so there’s a story there. Secondly, how did this soldier, the man who guided Washington across the Delaware, come to be buried here, in Oakwood, one of the city’s lesser known cemeteries? Most Revolutionary ‘celebrities’ are found in either St John’s or Shockoe Cemeteries in Richmond.   What could I find out about Eubank? The more I investigated, the stranger the story got.

Continue reading “George Washington’s Coxswain” →

Previously I wrote about the fighting in the Mississippi Valley and Gulf coast during the Revolution.  Below is a brief overview of the modern states in the Mississippi Valley and a summary of their colonial origins and events there during the Revolution:

Alabama

The French colonized the area that is now Alabama in the early 1700s.   They constructed a fort at what is now Mobile, and this was the capital of La Louisiane- not New Orleans.  The French presence was never very strong or deep, and they had few settlements in the region.

The French established trade network with Native Americans in the interior.  The English were also interested in the region, and trades and explorers penetrated the northern area of modern-day Alabama.

The 1763 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years’ War after France’s defeat by Britain, resulted in France ceding its territories east of the Mississippi to Britain.  Great Britain came into undisputed control of the region between the Chattahoochee and the Mississippi rivers. The portion of Alabama below the 31st parallel became a part of British West Florida.  Today this is the long section of the Alabama-Florida state line.

The portion north of this line became a part of the “Illinois Country,” established by the British Crown for use by Indians.  At the conclusion of the Revolution, The British ceded West Florida to Spain, and the land to the north to the United States.  Yet there was disagreement about where the division between Spanish and American territory was, laying the foundation for a long boundary dispute between the two nations.

Continue reading “War in the Mississippi Valley: Part II” →