Volume 12 , Issue 49

Raid At Kerr's Creek, Virginia - 10 October 1759

[people.virginia.edu/~mgf2j/warfare.html] -- On October 10, 1759 a Shawnee war party attacked the settlement of Kerr's Creek in present Rockbridge County, Virginia. and killed twelve people, among them John Gilmore, his wife, their son [James], and the wife of William Gilmore. Other victims included Jacob Cunningham, his wife, and their ten-year-old daughter Margaret.

Although Margaret miraculously survived being scalped, her wounds never completely healed, and she died in old age of "a cancerous affection." The Indians made prisoners of thirteen others and took considerable plunder.

The survivors sent for Captain William Christian who responded with "a Company of Volunteers." They trailed the Shawnee to "near the Allegheny Hills" and attacked their camp. The Indians made a feeble resistance, but shattered Halbert McClure's ankle with a musket ball.

The whites recovered 11 of the Prisoners, and 17 Horses, and brought in six white Scalps; some Money, Matchcoats, Blankets.

Anxious relatives had told the volunteers they could keep any plunder if they brought home the captive unharmed. One of the volunteers, George Wilson, took a fancy to a horse that had belonged to John Gilmore, assuming it was part of the spoils offered for the return of the prisoners. But Thomas Gilmore, whose father and mother were dead, did not feel bound by the pledge and sued Wilson for the return of the horse.   |  View or Add Comments (3 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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