Augusta County militiamen were not only local defenders.

They were repeatedly sent across the western theater to guard frontier posts, respond to internal threats, and support American efforts to secure the mountain and Ohio Valley frontier.

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The Augusta County militia’s Revolutionary War service began on Virginia’s southwestern frontier near Fort Patrick Henry, at present-day Kingsport, Tennessee. 

In 1776, Augusta militiamen serving under officers including Colonel William Russell and Captain John Lyle marched to the Long Island of the Holston, where they joined a larger force assembled under Colonel William Christian.

The campaign followed attacks by Cherokee warriors on frontier settlements, but those attacks occurred within a longer struggle over colonial settlement in Cherokee homelands.  Some Cherokee leaders and communities cooperated with the British in hopes of resisting further land loss, while others advocated neutrality, negotiation, or different responses.  The Cherokee Nation did not act as a single, unified political body.

Christian’s army defended frontier settlements and advanced into the Overhill Cherokee towns, destroying several towns and food supplies before negotiations led to a temporary peace in 1777. 

This history demonstrates that the Revolutionary War was not simply a conflict between Britain and the American colonies.  In the borderlands, it was also a struggle over Native sovereignty, homelands, and the continued expansion of colonial settlement.  Cherokee people made difficult strategic choices within that conflict, while Native and settler communities both experienced violence, loss, and displacement.

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The Revolutionary War was also a civil conflict. 

Although many Virginians supported independence, others remained loyal to the British Crown or opposed the Revolution for personal, political, or economic reasons.  County militias were therefore called upon not only for campaigns beyond their home counties, but also to investigate suspected Loyalist activity and enforce the authority of Virginia’s revolutionary government.

While some Augusta County militiamen served at distant posts such as Fort Patrick Henry, others remained closer to home, where they monitored unrest and responded to threats within their own communities. 

In 1777, reports that men loyal to the British Crown had assembled near Peaked Mountain prompted volunteer companies under Captains Patrick Buchanan and Thomas Smith to march from Staunton to investigate. 

This operation demonstrates that Virginia’s county militias not only defended communities from external threats, but also helped enforce the authority of the Commonwealth during a period of deep political division.

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Other Augusta detachments were sent north and west to strategic frontier posts. 

Fort Randolph stood at the meeting of the Kanawha and Ohio rivers, hundreds of miles from Augusta County’s communities.  From this isolated post, troops guarded the frontier, monitored important river routes, and prepared for possible operations into the Ohio Country.

In September 1777, Augusta County militiamen assembled at Staunton and marched west in companies led by officers including Captain Thomas Smith.  Joseph Bell, who served as first sergeant in Smith’s company, recalled traveling through the Little Levels of Greenbrier before reaching Point Pleasant. 

There, the Augusta militiamen joined a larger force under Colonel John Dickenson that had gathered to await General Edward Hand and a planned expedition across the Ohio River.

The expedition was intended to reinforce the western defenses and potentially carry the war into Native homelands across the Ohio River. 

It did not proceed as planned. 

General Edward Hand arrived without the larger force expected from Fort Pitt, and the approaching winter made further operations increasingly difficult.

Violence at Fort Randolph

In November 1777, the Shawnee leader Cornstalk came to Point Pleasant during a period of increasing conflict over Shawnee homelands in the Ohio Country.  Cornstalk had led Shawnee resistance during Lord Dunmore’s War in 1774, but later advocated that the Shawnee remain neutral during the American Revolution.  Captain Matthew Arbuckle, the American officer commanding Fort Randolph, detained Cornstalk and several Shawnee companions at the post.

After Native warriors killed an American militiaman near the fort, a group of armed men forced their way into the building where the Shawnees were confined.  They murdered Cornstalk, his son Ellinipsico, and two other prisoners.  No evidence connected the captives to the militiaman’s death.  Arbuckle and other officers reportedly attempted to prevent the killings.

Governor Patrick Henry denounced the murders and offered a reward for apprehending those responsible.  Four suspects were later examined in Rockbridge County, which then had jurisdiction over the region, but no witnesses testified against them and they were acquitted.

Several Augusta County militia pensioners later remembered this event in their accounts of service at Point Pleasant and Fort Randolph, making it part of the Revolutionary War western frontier history they carried with them.

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In 1778, Augusta County militiamen marched hundreds of miles to support General Lachlan McIntosh’s campaign on the western frontier. 

After crossing the Ohio River near the mouth of Big Beaver Creek, the troops helped establish Fort McIntosh—the first fort constructed by the Continental Army north of the Ohio River.  The fort served as a supply base and staging point for an expedition into the Ohio Country.

Some Augusta militiamen remained at Fort McIntosh, while others continued west with McIntosh’s army to the Tuscarawas River, where they helped build Fort Laurens.  

The expedition required more than marching and fighting.

Augusta militiamen helped transport provisions and livestock, build and occupy frontier posts, guard camps, and support an army operating far from its main supply bases.

Pension records identify men serving under several company commanders, including Captains Samuel McCutcheon, William Henderson, and Robert Cravens.  Although the surviving accounts do not always specify the duties assigned to each company, together they show that multiple Augusta County and neighboring militia companies participated in General Lachlan McIntosh’s broader western expedition.

Augusta militiamen helped sustain the Southern Campaign through combat support, prisoner guard duty, wagon guard duty, and siege-related service.

Their contribution was not always in the center of the battlefield, but it helped keep the army functioning.

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In late 1780, militia companies from Augusta County marched south to reinforce the American army in the Carolinas. 

Pension records identify at least two Augusta companies—commanded by Captains Patrick Buchanan and James Tate—that served under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan during the campaign that culminated at Cowpens.

Morgan faced a fast-moving British force commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton.  Knowing that many militiamen lacked the extensive combat experience required to withstand a prolonged attack by British regulars, Morgan arranged his army in successive lines.  Riflemen and militia were positioned forward, while Continental soldiers under Lieutenant Colonel John Eager Howard formed the main defensive line.  Morgan instructed the militia to fire and then withdraw behind the Continentals.

When Tarleton attacked on the morning of January 17, the American lines absorbed and disrupted the British advance.  Howard’s Continentals then turned, fired at close range, and charged with bayonets as Lieutenant Colonel William Washington’s cavalry struck the British flank. 

The coordinated counterattack shattered Tarleton’s force and produced one of the most decisive American victories of the Revolutionary War.

Pension applications document Augusta militiamen fighting in the battle, while others escorted hundreds of captured British prisoners during Morgan’s withdrawal to Salisbury. 

Their service demonstrates that Virginia’s county militia contributed to one of the Revolution’s most decisive victories through combat, prisoner security, and support operations.

The Augusta militia’s service did not end when the firing stopped. 

Morgan’s army had captured hundreds of British and Loyalist soldiers who had to be removed before Cornwallis could recover them.  Thomas M. Caul recalled marching with the prisoners toward the Catawba River and believed that they were ultimately sent to the barracks at Winchester, Virginia.

Other Augusta pensioners, such as John Clemens, described duty guarding prisoners captured at Cowpens.

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Following the American victory at Cowpens, Augusta County militiamen continued serving with General Nathanael Greene as his army maneuvered across North Carolina in one of the Revolutionary War’s most demanding campaigns. 

Pension applications place Augusta soldiers on the march toward Guilford Courthouse, where they performed a variety of duties.  While some participated in the campaign’s fighting, others guarded British prisoners captured at Cowpens, protected the army’s baggage, or completed their terms of service as Greene prepared for battle. 

Their experiences illustrate that military success depended not only on those who fought in the battle itself, but also on the soldiers who secured prisoners, protected supplies, and sustained the army throughout the campaign.

These Augusta County militiamen’s service at Guilford Courthouse demonstrates an important reality of eighteenth-century campaigning: victory required large numbers of soldiers performing security and logistical duties away from the battlefields.

Marching to Virginia’s Defense

Following the Guilford Courthouse campaign, the Revolutionary War entered a new phase as British General Charles Cornwallis marched into Virginia and the Marquis de Lafayette maneuvered to oppose him.

After completing their service in North Carolina, many Augusta County militiamen returned briefly to their homes in Augusta County before being called into the field once again to help defend the Commonwealth.

From that point forward, Augusta County militiamen participated in the Virginia Campaign, serving in a series of operations that culminated in the Siege of Yorktown and the decisive American victory in October 1781.

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In the fall of 1781, Augusta County militiamen joined Virginia’s forces for the campaign against British General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Augusta County officer Colonel Sampson Mathews served in Brigadier General Robert Lawson’s Virginia militia brigade, which formed part of the Virginia militia supporting the allied American and French siege.  Because Virginia militia officers commonly commanded men from their own counties, Mathews’ service strongly suggests that Augusta County militiamen served within Lawson’s command, although surviving pension applications also document service under captains including Patrick Buchanan, John Givens, and Francis Long.

The Yorktown campaign required far more than soldiers on the firing line. 

Virginia militia guarded roads and approaches, escorted supplies, protected lines of communication, performed fatigue labor such as digging entrenchments, and helped secure British prisoners following Cornwallis’ surrender.  Augusta County pension applications document these varied responsibilities. 

Together, these firsthand accounts demonstrate that Augusta County’s militia contributed to the decisive victory at Yorktown through combat service, logistics, military security, and the demanding support duties that made the allied siege possible.