The war with the French lasted 7 years, beginning in Va.but fought in the West Indies, Europe, India, and Canada also.The final victory won in Quebec 1759, England, by the Treaty of Paris forced France to surrender Canada and all the region west of the Allegheny Mountains as far as the Mississippi River. The Treaty of Paris gave England complete control of the land westward to the Mississippi River, and the colonist expected to move into these lands. King George the 3rd in 1763 issued a proclamation that forbid the colonist to settle west of the Allegheny Mountains. The people already settled there were told to remove themselves from the area. The English Gov. was afraid the advance of English settlers beyond the mountains would injure the fur trade, and did not want to anger the Indians. Virginians and others that had helped win the war was extremely angry. For 20 years they had been west of the line and now many others still moved west directly disobeying the command of the King. As the settlers moved westward there were other short wars with the Indians. Dunmore's War was caused by the refusal of the Shawnee to accept a treaty by which the Iroquois surrendered the Ohio country to the English. A group of settlers killed the family of a friendly Indian chieftain named John Logan, and this sent the Indians on the warpath in earnest. The settlers begged Lord Dunmore for protection so he sent out two forces to strike at the heart of the Indian country. Dunmore took command of one force at the forks of the Ohio and Col.Anthony Lewis commanded the second body of troops which came from Southwest Va. ( Note: There is much on the web about Dunmore's war, and my Joseph Whittaker fought in this war. If you want to learn more e-mail privately for web addresses.) The Virginians who gave and suffered most in the winning of the west were the German and Scotch-Irish settlers in the Shenandoah Valley and in Southwest Va. Draper's Meadow was not the only settlement to suffer Indian massacres. Fort Vause, at Kerr's Creek , and other settlements along the frontier suffered greatly also. During the entire French and Indian War no fighting took place east of the Blue Ridge. After the French were defeated , the frontiersmen continued to fight the Indians for possession of the land until 1794 when Chief Benge was defeated near Benge's Gap in Wise County. ( Note: I have seen much on Benge in list discussions.) Had the German and Scotch-Irish pioneers not been willing to sacrifice lives and fourtains to hold the land on which they had settled the west may not have been won for Va.