Lewis-Preston-Fleming Lives Converged in Our Area

By ASHLEY WEBB, Curator, HSWV

Andrew Lewis, William Preston, and William Fleming helped shape the course of history for Southwestern Virginia. Others also influenced our area, but these three left a physical legacy that can be seen in the collection of the Historical Society of Western Virginia and elsewhere.

These individuals, while having striking similarities in their early upbringings as well as in their military and political careers, were also friends, working together during the French and Indian War, as well as during Lord Dunmore’s War. All three served under Gen. George Washington at some point in their military careers and were highly respected by their communities, with each dedicating their later lives to serving Virginia’s early government. Their lives, while separate before arriving in Augusta County, were very much entwined on the frontier.

The Historical Society’s collection directly relating to Preston and Lewis consists mainly of papers from their descendants, but objects relating to them are available in our area, especially at the Salem Museum in Salem and at Historic Smithfield Plantation in Blacksburg. And, while we might not have an exact history behind the objects, they still talk and tell us about their craftsmanship and use, regardless of the provenance and their owners.

Andrew Lewis was the first of the three patriots to emigrate to Virginia, and unfortunately, not under extremely happy circumstances. Lewis was born in 1724 in Ireland; the actual location is up for debate. His parents, John and Margaret Lynn Lewis, were both descended from noble Scottish and Irish lines.

In the late 1720s, John found himself in a bit of an unlucky circumstance, the details of which are muddy but John supposedly he killed his landlord, a young, hotheaded nobleman, in a skirmish over rents. The landlord killed John’s brother in what was described as sort of a mob event, where the landlord fired a gun through the Lewis’ barred door, killing John’s brother, and injuring his wife. John retaliated and killed his landlord. John fled the same night, hiding out until a ship left Ireland for the colonies. The rest of the Lewis family emigrated three years later, arriving in Pennsylvania in 1732 on a ship owned by John Patton, a cousin of Andrew’s mother.

The Lewis family, now members of Captain John Patton’s settlement in the colonies, eventually migrated down to Augusta County, Virginia, which at the time, spread past the Blue Ridge Mountains. Not much is known about the family life between their arrival in Pennsylvania in 1732 and their move to Augusta County, but we do know that John acquired 2,071 acres in 1738, in the newly created Augusta County (originally part of Orange County), and this provided Andrew the opportunity to explore the frontier. A map showing John Lewis as one of the earliest settlers in the area also shows land owned by William Preston. In 1745, Andrew took up surveying, and in the subsequent years, he surveyed over 800,000 acres with the Loyal Company and later the Ohio Valley Company, along the North Carolina line up through Greenbrier, West Virginia, and beyond. We have a surveyor’s compass in our collection, like that of one Lewis would have used. These sorts of compasses were critical to a surveyor’s kit at the time, and as a surveyor was a well-respected position, it often fell upon them to determine the establishment of land boundaries and defend claims of land ownership. Andrew Lewis acted as a surveyor into the mid-1750s. In 1754, having just surveyed the Ohio River Valley, Lewis was recruited by Governor Dinwiddie and Major George Washington to venture into the Ohio Valley to defend territory from the Indians and stop the advancement of the French. Apparently, this was a pretty ragtag crew that appeared at the Augusta courthouse, as Washington described his recruits as “loose, idle persons, quite destitute of house, home, and clothes.”

In 1754-1755, lives intermingle

William Preston was also a native of Ireland, born in 1729. He also emigrated at a young age with his parents, John and Elizabeth Preston. His uncle, Captain James Patton, a merchant between Ireland and Virginia, sold the idea of emigrating to the family. (Patton had been enticed by the Council of the Virginia Colony to recruit settlers in turn for large tracts of land). With the his help, in 1738, the Prestons left Ireland and landed in Alexandria on the Potomac. They migrated down toward Augusta County and settled on land near the Lewis family with a loan from William Beverley. John Preston died suddenly in 1748, and Patton took over the education of William Preston, then in his teens. As the oldest son, William was expected to help hunt and put food on the table, as well as defend the family from unfriendly Indians. A fowling piece, while not William Preston’s, would have been a staple in many, if not all, frontier homes. This fowling piece belonged to William Ingles, also a resident of Augusta County, and by 1755, a resident of Draper’s Meadow. It is a flintlock, with its flint still intact and is beautifully constructed with brass and iron fittings. On the side with the decorated brass plate, you can just make out a W. Ingles. It was heavily used, and you can still make out the flint marks on the frizzen, where the flint strikes to create the spark to light the gunpowder.

Because William’s father had died, earning money was left up to him. His mother and sisters, under the employ of Patton, created Irish lace items to sell, and William was employed as his uncle’s secretary in his merchant business. In 1752, however, much like Andrew Lewis, Preston became a surveyor with the Loyal Company. And if not before then, Preston probably would have interacted with Lewis, who was also surveying at this time with the Loyal Company. This is where their paths sort of diverge. While Lewis enthusiastically joined the recruits heading for Fort Necessity under Major Washington, Preston decided to stay with Patton, who was employed as a ranger of sorts employed by Dinwiddie to stop Indian attacks throughout the valley.

So in 1754, we have Lewis, marching with Washington to Fort Necessity at the start of the French and Indian War, and we have Preston, acting as a ranger under his uncle. In July 1755, a band of Shawnee Indians killed and captured several individuals at Draper’s Meadow, with William Ingles’ wife, Mary Draper Ingles, being one of those captured. She eventually made it back after a long and grueling escape through the Ohio wilderness, and that experience is well documented in the New River Valley.

James Patton was killed. His nephew William Preston had been out with William Ingles helping with the harvest and returned too late to aid in the rescue of the captives. At Patton’s death, Andrew Lewis was elevated to a major and in charge of the Virginia Regiment, as he was second in command to Patton. William Preston was elevated to captain. So that’s where we are in 1755.

And then there were three

In 1755, the three paths start to converge.

Col. William Fleming was born in Jedburgh, Scotland, to Leonard and Dorothea Fleming in the late 1720s. He received a classical education in Dumfries, Scotland, and evidence of this can be seen in the volumes of books accounted for in his brief autobiography, and in the Historical Society’s collection, we have eight. It was rumored for him to have more than 320 volumes, considered the largest library on this side of the state. He would have studied Greek and Latin, arithmetic and mathematics, English, and more esoteric subjects such as astronomy and navigation. At the age of 16, instead of going to college, Fleming decided to apprentice with a surgeon in Dumfries. On the subject of studying medicine, Fleming wrote that it was more to “satisfy [his] curiosity in travelling than as a business on which [he] was to depend at a future day for [his monetary] support.”

After three years apprenticing, he again forwent the traditional route of studying medical theory at a university and chose to apprentice with an apothecary in Kendal, England, in order to have a “thorough knowledge in the Materia Medica & Pharmacy.”

We have scales that directly relate to Fleming’s time as an apothecary apprentice. They were a common addition to an apothecary kit, as they helped measure out and regulate medicines and powders dissolved in tinctures for patients. Fleming’s kit contains both scales and one weight, measuring 1 drachm, a unit equal to an eighth of an ounce.

In 1746, Fleming left the apothecary and attended the University of Edinburgh to study anatomy. His early endeavors of apprenticing with a surgeon, while not necessarily seen as a profession for him, ultimately paved his way for the adventure he craved. After leaving university, Fleming took a commission as a surgeon’s mate either with the British Navy or on a merchant ship. On a journey to West Africa, he was captured by the Spanish and placed in prison. He was eventually released and soon after traveled to Virginia and emigrated to Nansemond County around 1749/1750. By early 1755, he had moved to Augusta County and set up a surgery. In August of 1755, Fleming received a commission as an ensign under Governor Dinwiddie, and under the orders of Washington, Fleming was sent to Fort Dinwiddie with winter provisions and as a surgeon to the post. Shortly after arriving, he was charged as acting surgeon under Major Andrew Lewis, along with Captain William Preston, on the Big Sandy Creek Expedition, a failed campaign of helping the Cherokee Indians regain territory in neighboring tribe lands. At some point on this campaign, their friendships were cemented.

The three continued their service during the French and Indian War, but Lewis fared worse than the other two during subsequent skirmishes. In 1758, in an attack on the French fort of Dukane, Lewis was captured and pronounced dead. He actually spent two years in a French prison in Quebec and was released at in fall 1760. Later in his life, Lewis remarked on his release, “…the Virginia leaders promised me a surveyor’s place on the Virginia’s frontiers.”

Unfortunately, this wasn’t to happen, as the Proclamation of 1763 and the end of the French and Indian War, prevented the expansion into the western territories past the Appalachian Mountains. With all of Lewis’ time spent in forts throughout the far-reaching edges of the American colonies, Lewis decided to move his family from Augusta into Botetourt County, which had not quite yet been established, to Richfield, which is close to where the Salem Civic Center sits now. Preston resided at Greenfield, and in our collection we have several documents relating to Preston and his land at Greenfield. One in particular, from 1761, is an articles of agreement between William Preston, the owner of the land, George Patterson, John Rork, and Jacob Kimmerlin and the use of Preston’s land for crop sharing along the Catawba Creek.

In 1768, Fleming joined Lewis and Preston in Botetourt, building his home at Belmont, now part of the Ole Monterey Golf Club. Between the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, all three dabbled in politics. Lewis was elected to the House of Burgesses in 1769 and reelected several times up until 1780. Fleming became justice of the peace for Botetourt in 1769, and later justice of the court, as well as acting as Governor for Thomas Jefferson in 1781 when Jefferson was forced to flee. Preston was elected to the House of Burgesses in 1765 and served until 1770. At some point, William Preston acted as a justice of Augusta County. This document was certified by Preston under his guise as Justice regarding a land dispute of John Buchanan’s for a tract of land called “Patton’s Bottom.”

Additionally, all three had a part in Lord Dunmore’s War regarding the Battle of Point Pleasant, with Andrew Lewis leading around 1,000 men against the Shawnee and Mingo Indian tribes. Fleming fought and was shot two times. He continued the charge, but a third bullet lodged in his chest near his lungs and forced his removal from combat. The musket ball was never removed, and bothered him the rest of his life. William Preston, residing at Fincastle Court, received word from Col. Lewis after the battle, and forwarded the list of killed and wounded in the form of a letter to Patrick Henry.

The last and final items we have relate to the individuals later in their lives. We have the only likeness of Andrew Lewis. In 1992, a miniature of a young man surfaced and was thought to have been Andrew Lewis. After much research, it was determined to be his son, Andrew Lewis Jr., who owned most of Bent Mountain after the Revolution. The cufflinks on display here, in front of the silhouette, were among Col. Lewis’ personal possessions upon his death in 1781. The delicate cufflinks illustrate Lewis’ status as a gentleman, an important figure in the community, as well as wealthy individual at the time of his death.

The last item is a desk attributed to William Fleming. The maker isn’t known, but the desk is a beautiful handcrafted specimen of what is considered Country Chippendale – or rather, a rural, simplified version of a Thomas Chippendale piece of furniture made from local materials instead of imported mahogany. Thomas Chippendale, a London cabinetmaker, blended styles to create fashionable furniture during the third quarter of the 18th century, roughly between 1750 and 1790. His work was highly desirable, so much so that American craftsman made similar pieces of furniture, but without the elaborate rococo or gothic carvings and details for which Chippendale was known.