Andrew Lewis (October 9, 1720 – September 26, 1781) was an Irish-born American surveyor, military officer and politician. Born in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

, he moved with his family to the British

colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

at a young age. A

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

in the

Virginia militia The Virginia militia is an armed force composed of all citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia capable of bearing arms. The Virginia militia was established in 1607 as part of the English militia system. Militia service in Virginia was compulso ...

during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

, and brigadier general in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, his most famous victory was the

Battle of Point Pleasant 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 ...

Dunmore's War Lord Dunmore's War, also known as Dunmore's War, was a brief conflict in the fall of 1774 between the British Colony of Virginia and the Shawnee and Mingo in the trans-Appalachia region of the colony south of the Ohio River. Broadly, the war in ...

in 1774, although he also drove Lord Dunmore's forces from

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

and Gwynn's Island in 1776. He also helped found Liberty Hall (later

Washington and Lee University Washington and Lee University (Washington and Lee or W&L) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. Established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, it is among ...

) in 1776.

Early life

Andrew Lewis was born in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

on October 9, 1720. His parents were

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American civil rights activist and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

and his wife, the former Margaret Lynn. Circa 1729, John fled across the Atlantic Ocean to the British

colony of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from ...

with at least his older sons and perhaps 30 retainers after killing the family's landlord, Sir Mungo Campbell, in an altercation.Howe, Henry. ''Historical Collections of Virginia.'' Charleston, SC: Babcock & Co. 1845
/ref> By 1732, his wife had also emigrated to the colony, where she gave birth to their youngest son, Charles. The Lewis' settled in the upper end of the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia in the United States. The Valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the east ...

in the

. Ultimately, her brother Charles remained in Ireland (presumably inheriting the family estate), while her brother Dr. William Lynn also emigrated to the Virginia colony, where he settled comfortably in the port city of Fredericksburg, where he died in 1757. Meanwhile, before 1736, King George II of England had already awarded 118,491 acres of land, including the Shenandoah Valley land on which the Lewises had settled, to the Tidewater aristocrat

William Beverley William Beverley (1696–1756) was an 18th-century legislator, civil servant, planter and landowner in the Colony of Virginia. Born in Virginia, Beverley—the son of planter and historian Robert Beverley, Jr. (c. 1667–1722) and his wife, Ursu ...

, who promised to survey and develop it, but remained near the colonial capital and proposed to sell the land to those already squatting upon it. The Lewises were among the first white settlers in what became

Augusta County, Virginia Augusta County is a county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The second-largest county of Virginia by total area, it completely surrounds the independent cities of Staunton and ...

in 1745 (with John Lewis and his eldest son Thomas becoming two of the original justices of the peace). Beverley appreciated John having built a fort for protection against Native Americans upset with the settlers, as well as providing hospitality to the settlers. On April 22, 1738, the Governor's Council of Virginia (on which Beverley sat) acknowledged having received a petition from pioneers in the Shenandoah Valley which mentioned John Lewis as their captain in defending against marauding natives. On February 20, 1739, John Lewis and three others acquired title to land in what was then called "Beverly Manor" (with Lewis' parcel of 2,071 acres on both sides of the creek named after him and on which he had erected a mill being the largest, and at a bargain price of 14 pound sterling). By the end of the year his eldest sons (Thomas Lewis and this man) and three prominent Tidewater gentleman also received land grants totaling 30,000 acres south and west of the parcel granted their father and Tidewater lawyer

Edward Barradall Edward Barradall (c. 1703–1743) was a British attorney, admiralty judge and politician who represented the College of William and Mary in the House of Burgesses, served as mayor of Williamsburg and compiled the first volume of decisions of the ...

, in what ultimately became Bath County.

Surveyor and explorer

Lewis received a basic education as well as learned the mathematics and other skills of a surveyor. He spent at least fifteen years farming and working as a surveyor in southwestern Virginia. In 1751 he and his father explored much of the Greenbrier District of Augusta County (which much later became later Greenbrier County, West Virginia). John Lewis supposedly named the

Greenbrier River The Greenbrier River is a tributary of the New River (Kanawha River), New River, long,McNeel, William P. "Greenbrier River." ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia''. Ken Sullivan, editor. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Humanities Council. 2006. . in ...

after getting stuck in a patch of the thorny plant. Andrew Lewis also served as county lieutenant and later captain in the Augusta County militia.

Personal life

Early in the 1740s, Andrew Lewis married Elizabeth Givens, daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Cathey) Givens, formerly of

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

, Ireland. They established their own home, called "Richfield", considerably south of Staunton in what later became Roanoke County near Salem. Their children included: Samuel (c.1748-1763), John (1750–1788), Thomas (1752–1800), Andrew Jr. (1759–1844), Anna (who married Andrew Lambert (1768-1845))), William (1764–1812) and Charles (c.1768-1781). Their granddaughter Agatha Strother (1779-1852), married Elijah McClanahan.

French and Indian War

The Virginia frontier became a battleground in the

, as did the frontiers of the more northerly colonies of Pennsylvania (which like Virginia also claimed land west of the Appalachian Mountains) and Maryland (whose boundary ended at the Appalachians). Virginia organized provincial troops to defend settlers subject to attacks by Indians upset at encroachments into their territories; Lewis became a captain in

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

Virginia Regiment The Virginia Regiment was an infantry unit of the Virginia Provincial Forces raised in 1754 by the Virginia General Assembly and Governor Robert Dinwiddie for service in the French and Indian War. The sole provincial unit raised by the British ...

. After the loss at the Battle of Great Meadows in 1754, Washington was forced to surrender to the French. Lewis was then at

Fort Necessity Fort Necessity National Battlefield is a National Battlefield in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, which preserves the site of the Battle of Fort Necessity. The battle, which took place on July 3, 1754, was an early battle of the ...

(now in Pennsylvania) and likewise retreated eastward across the Appalachians. Washington proposed a series of frontier fortifications to protect settlers east of the Appalachians. Lewis initially built Fort Dinwiddie on the Jackson River of present-day Bath County, but was relieved of his command September 21, 1755. The Virginia assembly soon approved Lewis' promotion to major and assigned him to oversee the region along the

. On February 18, 1756, Lewis led the

Sandy Creek Expedition The Sandy Creek Expedition, also known as the Sandy Expedition or the Big Sandy Expedition, (not to be confused with the Big Sandy Expedition of 1861) was a 1756 campaign by Virginia Regiment soldiers and Cherokee warriors into modern-day West V ...

from Fort Prince George (modern day

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It lies in Southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanok ...

) with a mixed force of militiamen and

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

s to raid the

Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

towns along the Big Sandy and

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

rivers to retaliate for Shawnee attacks. Lewis led several expeditions against both Indian settlements and French outposts. During the

Forbes Expedition The Forbes Expedition was a British military campaign to capture Fort Duquesne, led by Brigadier-General John Forbes in 1758, during the French and Indian War. While advancing to the fort, the expedition built the Forbes Road. The Treaty of Eas ...

, Lewis was captured during Major James Grant's attack on Fort Duquesne in September 1758. Taken to

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Lewis remained a prisoner until late 1759.

Between wars

The Proclamation of 1763 officially restricted Virginia's western expansion across the Appalachians, but Lewis continued his hunting and exploration trips into what later became

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. When relative peace returned, Lewis entered politics. Three years after the formation of Botetourt County from Augusta County in 1769, Botetourt County voters elected Lewis and John Bowyer as their part-time representatives in the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...

and reelected the pair several times before 1780, though the grueling travel to

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

or later

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, as well as the American Revolution precluded much attendance in later years. In 1774, Virginia's Governor Dunmore led a force to Fort Pitt and into the Ohio Country, in what became known as

. Lewis, now promoted to colonel, led a second force by a more southern route. Shawnee Chief

Cornstalk "Corn stalk" or "Cornstalk" may refer to: * The stem of a maize plant * ''Dracaena fragrans'' or cornstalk dracaena, a flowering plant * Cornstalk (Shawnee leader), a Shawnee Indian chief during the American Revolution (1720–1777) * Cornstalk, We ...

attacked Lewis' force while it was camped at the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

crossing at Point Pleasant. Lewis' victory in the

on October 10, 1774, secured his military reputation. Lewis became one of the founding trustees of Liberty Hall, formerly the Augusta Academy, along with his brother Thomas Lewis,

Samuel McDowell Samuel McDowell (October 29, 1735 – September 25, 1817) was a soldier in three wars and political leader in Virginia and Kentucky. He served under George Washington in the French and Indian War, as an aide-de-camp to Isaac Shelby in Lord ...

Sampson Mathews Sampson Mathews ( – January 20, 1807) was an American merchant, soldier, and legislator in the colony (and later U.S. state) of Virginia. A son of John and Ann (Archer) Mathews, Mathews was an early merchant in the Shenandoah Valley reg ...

, George Moffett, William Preston, and

James Waddel James Waddel (or Waddell, July 1739 – September 17, 1805) was an Irish American Presbyterian preacher from Virginia noted for his eloquence. He was a founding trustee of Liberty Hall (later Washington and Lee University), when it was made into ...

. In 1776 the academy was renamed in a burst of revolutionary fervor and relocated to Lexington, Virginia. Chartered in 1782 by the new Commonwealth of Virginia, Liberty Hall was again renamed, to Washington College. After the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

it became

, and is now the nation's ninth oldest institution of higher education.Waddell, Joseph A (1902) "Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 187
Waddell's Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871
Retrieved October 20, 2012

American Revolution

When the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

began, Governor Dunmore suspended Virginia's legislature. The Whigs (soon to become American rebels) formed a provisional Virginia legislature, which included both Andrew Lewis (from Botetourt County) and his brother

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

(from Augusta County) as delegates. When the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

created a

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

in 1775 and made George Washington its commander, he asked that Lewis be made a brigadier general. Initially the Continental Congress had decided there should be only one general from each state, and the more experienced Charles Lee became Virginia's only commissioned Brigadier General. In March 1776, Lewis became a brigadier general, overseeing Virginia's defense and raising men for the Continental Army. Virginia's Committee of Safety called on Lewis to stop Governor Dunmore's raids along the coast from his last stronghold, a fortified position on

Gwynn's Island Gwynn's Island is an island in the Chesapeake Bay and the U.S. state of Virginia, lying off of the Middle Peninsula. A summer colony, the island is located in the northeast part of Mathews County, south of the mouth of the Piankatank River. ...

in the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

. On July 9, 1776, Lewis led Virginia's forces which captured the island as Lord Dunmore escaped by sea, sailing to the Caribbean, never to return. Thus Lewis protected

and the

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...

area. On April 15, 1777, Lewis resigned his commission, citing poor health. He also faced discontent among his men as well as in the army as a whole. Lt. Thomas Townes, present at Gwynn's Island, wrote, "Lewis who after the enemy (Lord Dunmore) were vanquished proved a traitor & suffered them to escape". Moreover, Lewis was bypassed when promotions were announced for Major General in early 1777. George Washington, in need of every able officer, expressed his disappointment to Lewis, who replied, "In my last I intimated to your Excellency the impossibility of my remaining in a disagreeable situation in the army. My being superseded must be viewed as an implicit impeachment of my character. I therefore requested a court of inquiry into my conduct. I believe the time is now at hand, when I can leave this department without any damage to the public interest. When that is the case, I will wait on your Excellency, not doubting my request will be granted, and that I shall be able to acquit myself of every charge, which malice or envy can bring against me." March 17, 1777.

Later years and death

Botetourt County voters continued to support Lewis and in 1780 elected him to the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

following formation of the Commonwealth, though his service proved brief because later that year, Governor

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

appointed him to the Executive Council. The following year, Lewis fell ill while returning home from a council meeting; he died of fever in Bedford County near Lynchburg on September 26. His remains were returned for burial in the family plot at his home, where his grave site was unmarked. Colonel Elijah McClanahan, who married Lewis' granddaughter, Agatha Lewis McClanahan, attended his funeral as a young man, and later identified his grave to Roanoke County's Clerk of the Court. In 1887 General Lewis' remains were re-interred in the East Hill Cemetery at Salem, Virginia.

Legacy

* Lewisburg, West Virginia, is named after Andrew Lewis. *A statue of Lewis is among those honoring Virginia patriots (including

Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. May 18, 1736une 6, 1799) was an American politician, planter and orator who declared to the Virginia Conventions, Second Virginia Convention (1775): "Give me liberty or give m ...

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, where he was one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution. His wr ...

, Thomas Nelson, and

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American statesman, jurist, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth chief justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remai ...

) on Richmond's Washington Monument in Capitol Square. *A memorial at the

Salem Civic Center The Salem Civic Center is a 6,820-seat multi-purpose arena in Salem, Virginia. It was built in 1967 and is part of the James E. Taliaferro Sports and Entertainment Complex (named after a former mayor of Salem), which also includes Salem Football ...

in Salem, Virginia, features a statue of Lewis next to a cannon. *Andrew Lewis High School, now Andrew Lewis Middle School, opened in 1931 in Salem. Some residents petitioned unsuccessfully for the new high school in Salem to bear Andrew Lewis' name, but it opened in 1977 as Salem High School. *On March 13, 2001, the General Assembly of Virginia designated the portion of Interstate 81 that traverses Rockbridge, Botetourt, and Roanoke Counties, and the city of Salem as the "Andrew Lewis Memorial Highway."H2406: An Act to designate one portion of Interstate Route 81 the “John Lewis Memorial Highway” and another portion of Interstate Route 81 the "Andrew Lewis Memorial Highway." Virginia General Assembly, approved 13 March 2001
/ref> *The Tri-State Area Council of the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

named its reservation in Ona, West Virginia (near Huntington) after the general.

References

External links

"Andrew Lewis: A Hero of Salem and Virginia"
, from the Salem irginiaEducational Foundation and Alumni Association
"Andrew Lewis Memorial Highway"
from the

Virginia Historical Society The Virginia Museum of History and Culture founded in 1831 as the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is a major repository, research, and teaching center for Virginia history. It is a private, ...

The George Washington Equestrian Monument
with pictures of the Andrew Lewis statue on Capitol Square {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Andrew 1720 births 1781 deaths Surveyors from the Thirteen Colonies Continental Army generals Continental Army officers from Virginia House of Burgesses members People of Virginia in the French and Indian War Military personnel from County Donegal People of Dunmore's War People from colonial Virginia British America army officers People from Salem, Virginia Politicians from County Donegal 18th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly

Early life

Surveyor and explorer

Personal life

French and Indian War

Between wars

American Revolution

Later years and death

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links