Dick Pointer (before 1778 – 1827) was an American frontier hero and an enslaved African. He is best known for his bravery in the defence of
Fort Donnally
Fort Donnally is an unincorporated community in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, United States. It is located along Rader Run Road in Rader Valley, just off US 60, approximately west of Lewisburg. It is also about southwest of Falling Spring ...
, in
Greenbrier County, West Virginia
Greenbrier County () is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,977. Its county seat is Lewisburg. The county was formed in 1778 from Botetourt and Montgomery Counties in Virginia.
History
P ...
, from a
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 ...
attack in 1778. During the attack, he used a rifle to secure the front door against attackers. Some years later, Pointer spoke before the Virginia General Assembly, requesting his freedom in consideration for his act of bravery; he was emancipated in 1801. He died in 1827.
[Clauson-Wicker & Rockefeller (2009), p. 99]
See also
*
Phillip Hamman
Phillip Hamman was an American soldier in the Revolutionary War of 1775–1783. In 1823 he was ordained preacher of the Friendship Baptist Church of Fackler, Alabama. In 1970 the Tidence Lane chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution ...
Notes
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* https://wvexplorer.com/2019/09/22/dick-pointer-grave-lewisburg-west-virginia-wv-slave/
* https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1891
* https://www.wvpublic.org/post/may-29-1778-dick-pointer-black-slave-helps-save-some-60-settlers-greenbrier-valley-0#stream/0
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pointer, Dick
Year of birth uncertain
1827 deaths
African Americans in the American Revolution
18th-century American slaves
People of Virginia in the American Revolution
People from colonial Virginia