(Photo by Calvin Shepherd - Use By Permission)
Alderson West Virginia - A History
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Baughman's Fort
Main Index
The contents contained in this series is copyrighted and the sole property of The Greenbrier Historical Society - Lewisburg, WV Used by permission - November 18, 2008
Apparently
the
first
settlement
on
land
now
in
the
Alderson
Community
was
Baughman's
Fort.
The
history
of
this
settlement
is
fragmentary,
elusive
and
sometimes
puzzling.
Henry
Baughman's
origin
is
unknown.
He
was
one
of
the
men
called
"surveyees"
or
"patentees"
under
the
surveys
of
Greenbrier
Land
Company.
His
land
was
surveyed
April
22,
1751.
This
land,
780
acres,
lies
just
west
of
Alderson
town
limits
on
the
south
side
of
the
Greenbrier
across
from
the
mouth
of
Muddy
Creek
and
extended
over
much
of
the
area
now
occupied
by
the
Federal
Reformatory.
In
April
1754
Captain
Robert
Orme,
aide-de-camp
to
General
Braddock
said
in
his
journal
appended
to
Sergeant's
History
of
Braddock's
Expedition,
p.
298,
that
"Capt.
Andrew
Lewis
was
ordered
with
his
Company
of
Ranger
to
Greenbrier
to
build
two
stockade
forts,
in
one
of
which
he
was
to
remain
himself
and
to
detach
to
the
other
a
subaltern
with
15
men."
On
July
8,
1754,
Governor
Dinwiddie
of
Virginia
wrote
Capt.
Andrew
Lewis
(Dinwiddie
Papers,
Vol.
II,
p.
91)
saying,
"You
were
ordered
to
Augusta
with
your
company
to
protect
the
frontiers
of
that
country"
(greenbrier
area).
On
the
same
day
Governor
Dinwiddie
wrote
Colonel
Patton,
County
Lieutenant
of
Augusta,
and
enclosed
the
above
letter
for
Captain
Lewis
for
delivery
saying,
"I
think
he
is
at
Greenbrier"
(Dinwiddie
Papers,
Vol.
II,
p.
93).
It
appears,
therefore,
that
Baughman's
Fort
was
on
of
the
stockades
built
as
a
result
of
Dinwiddie's order, and the first or second built on the "Western Waters" and that it was built in 1754. It had a short life.
On
August
12,
1755,
Indians
attacked.
They
killed
Baughman
and
nine
other,
among
them
a
schoolmaster,
and
"Old
Christopher"
probably
a
slave.
In
September
1755
the
Indians
struck
again
and
killed
four
more,
including
a
Corporal
Bennett,
probably
one
of
the
Virginia
Militia
assigned
to
the
fort,
and
captured
a
Mrs.
Fishpaugh
and
five
children
(Records
of
Augusta
County,
Va.
Chalkley,
Vol.
2,
p.
510
and
Virginia
Magazine
of
History
and
Biography, Vol. 1, pp. 400-461, Preston's Register).
This
attack
by
the
Indians
and
the
success
of
it
angered
Governor
Dinwiddie.
The
most
revealing
information
of
what
happened
at
Baughman's
Fort
is
in
several
letters
he
wrote
his
officers
on
the
frontier
(Dinwiddie
Papers,
Vol.
II,
pp.
2410-219).
Evidently
a
Captain
Dickison
was
in
command
at
Baughman's
Fort.
Fifty-nine
people
were
there
at
the
time
of
the
Indian
attack,
with
twenty-one
men
armed
to
defend
the
fort.
But
nine
Mohawk
Indians
attacked.
They
had
with
them
two
captive
Cherokee
Indian
boys.
The
Mohawks
must
have
fooled
the
people
at
the
fort
by
appearing
friendly.
Dinwiddie
concluded
that
the
Indians
making
the
attack
were
"Praying
Indians"
(The
Coughnawaga
Indians
of
Montreal,
recruited
by
the
French
as
soldiers
during
the
French
and
Indian
Wars,
wore
their
native
dress
and
were
known
as
"Praying
Indians").
The
attack
broke
up
the
fort.
Dinwiddie
wrote
that
he
was
sorry
to
hear
of
the
number
of
cattle
driven
off
and
great
quantity
of
corn
left
in
the
fields.
Somehow
the
settlers
got
the
Cherokee
boys
whom
Dinwiddie
then
ordered
returned
home,
as
the
Cherokee
were
friendly
to
the
settlers.
Dinwiddie
accused
the
occupants
of
the
fort
of
timidity
saying
".......in
general
the
people
of
Augusta
have
behav'd
very
ill
in
allow'g
such
scatter'd
and
few
Ind's
to
rob
and
murder
them;
they
appear
to
me
y't
in
gen'l
they
have
been
seized
with
a
panick
by
leav'g
their
Plantat's
and
Crops
which
they
might
have
protect'd
if
they
had
joined
with
Resolut'n."
It
is
not
known,
and
certainly
it
is
doubtful,
if
all
of
the
fort's
survivors,
nearly
forty
people,
fled
back
across
the
mountains.
There
were
other
pioneers
in the section, some not far away.
Although
Baughman
occupied
his
land
and
was
killed
on
it
in
August
1755,
his
title
from
Greenbrier
Land
Co.
evidently
was
not
good.
On
August
10,
1759,
another
grant
for
the
same
land
was
made
to
Henry
Baughman
by
King
George
II
for
four
pounds
"good
and
lawful
money".
Baughman's
wife,
Anna
Maria,
survived
as
did
his
son,
Jacob.
In
1758
she
married
John
David
Wilpert
who
was
appointed
administrator
of
Baughman's
estate
March
16,
1758.
He
settled
the
estate
in
Augusta
County
Court,
Staunton.
Five
men,
Evidently
members
of
the
Virginia
Militia,
testified
they
saw
Baughman
killed. Jacob Baughman, eldest son and heir, sold the 780 to Andrew Lewis March 9, 1769 for one hundred pounds.
Thus
civilization
came
to
the
area
now
Alderson,
more
than
two
hundred
years
ago.
It
was
bloody,
tragic
beginning
and
nothing
approaching
it
in
savagery, brutality, or the number of deaths, has happened here since that summer of 1755.
The
destruction
of
Baughman's
Fort
and
the
twenty
casualties
were
part
of
the
French
and
Indian
War.
It
is
rarely
mention
in
a
history
of
that
war
and
is seldom mentioned in any West Virginia history.
The History of Alderson, West Virginia
From The Journal Of The Greenbrier Historical Society On Alderson, West Virginia
Written by Kenneth D. Swope - Compiled and Transcribed by Barry Worrell
