Thus the speculators of Virginia's southwestern frontier had influence in Williamsburg, for Colonel Byrd was a power in official circles and Patrick Henry kept himself well informed as to Dunmore's interest in lands. It is clear, at any rate, that the governor cooperated heartily with both groups of land speculators throughout the earlier part of the year 1774. But his hands were tied to a considerable extent by orders from England. According to the instructions of April 7, 1773, no lands were to be granted except to officers and soldiers of the French and Indian War, who had been promised tracts under the proclamation of 1763. When spring came and travelling through the back country became practicable, the new movement to Kentucky got under way. On April 7, John Floyd, a deputy surveyor of Fincastle, set out from Preston's house for Kentucky. The end of the year 1774 found Kentucky with many new land claims established by the surveyors, but not a single white man had yet made his home permanently in the vast region." What is known as Dunmore's War in 1774, was a combination of treaties and agreements made and scrapped through the vacillation of Lord Dunmore and the action of the frontier troops under General Andrew Lewis. The Governor directed Lewis to march his forces to Point Pleasant at the mouth of the great Kanawha He was to build a fort there and await the arrival of the Governor with another body of men who were to come down the Ohio from Pittsburgh. Abernathy says, "When Colonel Lewis reached Point Pleasant, he found in a hollow tree a message from the governor. It was an order to march on and join forces with Dunmore at the mouth of the Little Kanawha. But Lewis had to await arrival of supplies and was still at Point Pleasant when day began to break a October 10, 1774. Two members of the force who had gone out early for purpose of hunting were fired on by Indians who had crossed the Ohio on rafts during the night. A general engagement followed which has come to be known the battle of Point Pleasant. The contest was severe and the issue doubtful until a flank movement led by Captains George Matthews and John Stuart and Lieutenant Shelby, the son of the Welsh pioneer, Evan Shelby, who also was in the battle in command of the Fincastle troops and who near the close of the fray directed the action at the front. Colonel Andrew Lewis had lost his brother, Major Charles Lewis, and Colonel Fleming had been seriously wounded. The casualties were heavy on both sides, for it was the greatest pitched battle fought with the natives between the French and Indian War and the outbreak of the Revolution. Thus ended Dunmore's War. The home government and the Virginia H of Burgesses opposed the governor's policy, and Lewis' army was disgusted that it was not allowed to pursue its advantage to a more convincing conclusion. was clear from the first that Dunmore wished nothing more than the Shaw cease interfering in the settlement of Kentucky. Numerous charges have been made to the effect that Dunmore's activities in whole struggle were thoroughly aggressive and purely selfish." The immediate results of the success at Point Pleasant was more than an end to Indian raids. It made possible the settlement of the Kentucky country next year, led to George Rogers Clark's conquest of the Northwest, definitely fixing the Canadian border, and was a powerful factor in final peace after Yorktown in Revolution. Immigration continued to pour into the country and thousands of pioneers sought and found homes for themselves along the streams and plateaus of west- Virginia. Consequently, not four years had passed when petitions were again presented to the assembly requesting that additional counties be formed due to vast extent and great inconvenience involved in traveling so far to the Fine County Seat. In 1776, the Ohio country was organized into Ohio county and the counties of Monongalia and Yohogania, the latter being eventually made part of Ohio county. Illinois county was formed in 1778, and included the territory of the Indiana Land Company. The question of the western lands could be fully disposed of until the North Carolina boundary should be expanded the boundary dispute with Pennsylvania settled. These controversies had drag through the years, but definite steps had now been taken to settle them, although they were not completed until 1779-80. The Virginia Assembly resolved that instead of creating one new county that they would extinguish Fincastle, named for Lord Dunmore's son, and form three counties and so the counties of Kentucky, Washington, the first named for him, and Montgomery were formed. Montgomery county was named for General Richard Montgomery, one of the heroes the French and Indian War, who died on the Field of Abraham at Quebec. According to Hardesty's History, "Montgomery County as it was then formed its northern extremity near Hardy's Ford on the Staunton River east of Roanoke county; thence a line marking its northern boundary extended northwest passing near Lewisburg to Hawk's Nest and Gauley Bridge on New River; thence down that stream and the great Kanawha to the Ohio River at Point Pleasant thence down the Ohio a distance of fifty-four miles to the mouth of the Big Sandy River, thence up that stream to North Spring where the three states of Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky join; thence in a southeasternly direction to Sugar Grove at the southern extremity of Wythe County; thence east to a point on the Blue Ridge, where the present counties of Carroll, Patrick, and Floyd join; thence northeast with the Blue Ridge to the place of the beginning. The territory thus embraced within its limits, included an area of 12,000 square miles; three times as great as that of Connecticut, six times that of Delaware, and ten times that of Rhode Island." Since its formation thirty-two counties wholly or in part have been formed am it, namely: Greenbrier in 1778; Kanawha, 1789; Wythe, 1790; Grayson, 1793; Monroe, 1799; Mason, 1804; Giles, 1806; Campbell, 1809; Logan, 1894; Floyd, 1831; Mercer, 1837; Pulaski, 1839; Tazewell, 1799; Smyth, 1832; Carroll, 1842; Raleigh, 848; Wayne, 1842; Fayette, 1831; Putnam, 1848; Roanoke, 1838; Summers, 1867; Lincoln. 1867; Craig, 1848; Boone, 1849; McDowell, 1866; Wyoming, 1865; Bland 1847: Bath. 1791; Alleghany, 1822; Buchanan, 1858; Dickinson, 1880; and Hi land, 1847. FIRST COURT FOR MONTGOMERY COUNTY The first court held for Montgomery county convened at Fort Chiswell, seven miles east of the present city of Wytheville, on the seventh day of January 1777 On December 21, 1776, Patrick Henry, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, issued Commmissions to William Preston, William Ingles, John Montgomery, Stephen Trigg, James Robertson, Waiter Crockett, James McGavock, James Thompson and James McCorkle as gentlemen justices for the new county. All of then were present, took the oath of office and sat together to hold court. William Ingles qualified as Sheriff of the County, Francis Byrd as Clerk, William produced a commission from the Governor appointing him Colonel of the county and William Preston as County Lieutenant. All of them took their oaths and entered into bond. The first civil case tried was that of Edward Almond, Agent for Ross and Trigg against William Price and resulted in judgement for the plaintiff. The court appointed the following constables in their several localities, as follows Benjamin Rogers, Sr., on Cripple Creek; Robert Miller, in the neighborhood of New Dublin; Thomas Alley, in the neighborhood of Little River; Bryant McDaniel, in the neighborhood of Tom's Creek; John Henderson, in the neighborhood of Walker Creek; James McFarland, in the neighborhood of Reed Creek; and Charles Luca in the neighborhood of Sinking Creek. Then the rates to be charged by ordinary keepers were fixed, and the court adjourned. The following accounts are taken from Hardesty's History of County: THE FIRST COUNTYSEAT "We have seen that the first court held for Fincastle convened at was known as the "Lead Mines." These mines are situated on New River, opposite the mouth of Cripple Creek. Formerly they were worked with great profit, but the discovery of lead in the far West has operated disadvantageously to the interest of these works, situated, as they are, so far inland and away from easy means of transportation. These mines were discovered very tarry, and were extensively worked during the Revolution. The first proprietor was Colonel Chriswell, an English gentleman, who built a frame house, the first of its kind in Southwest Virginia. It was still standing forty years ago, but in a dilapidated condition. The colonel opened the mines believing the ore to be that of silver, but in the days of the Revolution it proved to be something more valuable, lead. He afterward killed man in a quarrell <sic>, and died in prison. Colonel Lynch then became the proprietor and was in turn succeeded by Moses and Stephen Austin, the latter of whom was the father of Stephen Austin, whose name is so intimately connected with early history of Texas, he having been born at that place. They worked the mines until l796, since which time they have passed through the hands of several owners as the Whites. Pierces, Jacksons and others. Formerly, shafts were sunk perpendicularly at the top of the hill, from 50 to 150 feet, until ore was reached, when excavations were made in a horizontal direction. From the bottom of the shafts the was raised by windlasses. In or about the year 1840, an excavation was commenced horizontally 1,000 feet in solid limestone rock, the material being carried by a railroad. "Nearby is old Fort Chiswell, named for the first proprietor of the mines. Colonel John Chriswell. Here sat the first court for Montgomery County, and here stationed the body of English grenadiers during Braddock's war and here a local tradition fixes the place at which Daniel Morgan was tied and whipped unmercifully for beating a British officer. We very much doubt the correctness of this tradition, believing as we do that the transaction took place several hundred miles let north." The site of this Court House is perpetuated by a monument erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution on the Lee Highway in front of the Fort Chiswell mansion. THE FIRST LANDS LOCATED IN MONTGOMERY "The first lands surveyed within the present limits of Montgomery county were known as the "Patton Grant," by which permission was given by Governor Gooch, to locate 100,000 acres of land between the waters of the Roanoke and New Rivers. The first survey was made by Thomas Lewis, surveyor of Augusta County, in October, 1747, but the patent was not issued until June 20, 1753. In meantime, however, a number of surveys were made, in which many thousand acres were included, consisting of the best land lying in the region to which the survey were restricted. The patentee was Colonel James Patton, a son-in-law of Benjamin Burden, where mentioned. He was born in the town of Newton, Linaddy, Ireland, in year 1692; he was bred to the sea, and in the wars of England with the Low Countries, served as an officer in the royal navy. After the treaty of Utrecht he procured a passenger ship, and traded to the coast of Virginia. He is said to have I the Atlantic twenty-five times, bringing with him Irish emigrants, and returning with peltries and tobacco. Augusta county, then including the region in he located his lands, was largely settled through his agency. He was, in 1745, high sheriff of the county of Augusta, and subsequently, county lieutenant his title of colonel. In 1752 he served as one of the commissioners on the of Virginia at the treaty of Logstown, by which the colony secured the Indian title to all the region lying between the Alleghany mountains and the Ohio River. He was killed by the Indians in 1775, while surveying land in Drapers Meadow, near where the town of Blacksburg now stands. William Preston and William Thompson became his administrators, and as such parceled out and sold land to many purchasers, among whom were the ancestors of the Breckenridges in Botetourt County; the Magees, Montgomerys, Dunns and Crocketts of Wythe; the Boyds of Wythe and Russell, the Edwards, McMullins, Peppers, and Taylors, Montgomery; the Drapers of Montgomery and Pulaski, the Frys and Shannons, of Giles; and the Cecils of Pulaski.