The “Shot Heard Round the World” on April 19, 1775, hurled the American colonies into a fever pitch and a war footing. But in the 18th century, slow travel and communication meant the news spread gradually. It took 21 days for word of the fighting at Lexington and Concord to reach the town of Mecklenburg, in Berkeley County, Virginia (now Shepherdstown, in Jefferson County, West Virginia).
On May 10, the citizens of Mecklenburg learned of the battles between colonial militiamen and British troops. Combined with reports that Virginia’s royal governor, Lord Dunmore, had seized gunpowder from the magazine in Williamsburg, the townspeople prepared to support their fellow patriots in any way they could.
Local militia members began to drill and ready themselves for action. On June 10, they gathered on the property of Colonel William Morgan, just outside of town, for a patriotic barbecue. Songs were sung, and those present made a solemn pledge to return to the same spot—Morgan’s Grove—fifty years later to commemorate the day.
After the festivities, drilling resumed, though the men still wondered whether they’d truly be called to arms. That call came on June 14, when the Continental Congress resolved that “six companies of expert riflemen be immediately raised in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia.” Once formed and equipped, the companies were to “march and join the army near Boston, to be there employed as light infantry under the command of the chief Officer in that army.”
Virginia’s quota fell to two experienced frontiersmen: Daniel Morgan, who raised a company in Winchester, and Hugh Stephenson, who assembled his company at Mecklenburg. The recruits signed one-year enlistments.
Henry Bedinger, one of Stephenson’s men, noted that “none were received but young men of character, and of sufficient property to clothe themselves completely, find their own arms and accoutrements—that is, an approved rifle, handsome shot pouch and powder-horn, blanket, with such decent clothing as should be prescribed.” It took fewer than seven days to raise a full complement of 100 men. Only a delay in procuring enough rifles kept the company from marching immediately.
Stephenson and Morgan agreed to rendezvous in Frederick, Maryland, before continuing to Boston. Morgan’s men departed first, on July 15. Stephenson’s company followed from Morgan’s Grove on July 17.
“Morgan having the start, we used every exertion to overhaul him—in vain,” wrote Bedinger, “although we marched (always in single file) from 30 to 36 miles a number of days.”
Along the way, Stephenson’s men were greeted by cheering citizens and well-supplied with food. Their grueling pace—averaging over 20 miles per day—became legendary. Only two men failed to complete the full journey: one was court-martialed, the other accidentally wounded.
On August 11, after marching more than 500 miles in just 25 days, Stephenson’s company arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just behind Morgan’s men. There, they halted before General George Washington.
As the riflemen presented arms, Bedinger recalled, the general “slowly rode by us looking attentively and affectionately at the soldiers from his native state. When he shook hands with our captain, it was said they both shed tears.”
The journey became known as the Beeline March for its quick and direct route to join the Continental Army. Fifty years later, on June 10, 1825, the veterans honored their pledge to return to Morgan’s Grove. Of the original company, only five men were still alive, and just two were able to attend the reunion. One of them was Michael Bedinger, who recalled the events of 1775 and sang “two patriotic songs…the very same that had been sung at that spot fifty years before.”
Today, two markers commemorate the Beeline March’s origin. In Morgan’s Grove Park, a 1988 monument marks the “Shepherdstown Rally Point.” Down the road, in Elmwood Cemetery, a 1932 monument erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution lists the names of the commissioned and non-commissioned officers of Stephenson’s company.
For a fledgling armed force preparing to challenge one of the world’s greatest military powers, the Beeline March demonstrated the resolve, discipline, and patriotic fervor of early American soldiers—and set a standard for those who would follow.
Emerging Revolutionary War Era 