FAMILY MATTERS

Cassel and Catherine Elizabeth Unknown, - aka “Gilding Swan,” a Sowege Indian. The Fugates bought their land from the Loyal Company of Virginia, owned in part by Dr. John Walker, one of the first to settle in the area).

Wikipedia offers a comprehensive look at Abingdon, VA, the focus of early settlement, and mentions William Campbell

(later General), one of the first settlers, who had the same name, but was not an ancestor:

The land on which the town of Abingdon is situated was originally surveyed between the years 1748 and 1750 by Dr. Thomas Walker and was part of the Great Road that ordered cut through the wilderness on to . In 1760, famed , , named the area Wolf Hills, after his dogs were attacked by a pack of wolves during a hunting expedition. The original location of the attack is located on ‘Courthouse Hill’ and is also the location of The Cavehouse Craft Shop. For a time, 27 wolf sculptures are found around the city, most were sold at an auction to raise money for Advance Abingdon. During , Black’s Fort was established in 1774 by to Ix

protect local settlers in the region from attacks. It consisted of a log stockade, with a few log cabins inside, to which nearby settlers were to repair in event of attack, as they did in 1776 when harassed by . Between the years 1765 and 1770 James Douglas, Andrew Colville, George Blackburn, Joseph Black, Samuel Briggs and James Piper settled in and around present day Abingdon under purchases from Dr. Thomas Walker. The settlement later became known as Black’s Fort prior to its present name of Abingdon. Abingdon was then the crossing point of two great Indian trails, themselves following ancient animal migration trails, and thus presented a logical location as a trade center and access point to the west and south. Black, Briggs and Walker donated Forts of Southwest Virginia

the 120 acres of land upon which the original town of Abingdon was laid out. In 1776 the community of Black’s Fort was made the county seat of the newly formed Washington county. In 1778, Black’s Fort was incorporated as the town of Abingdon, said to be named for the ancestral home of . , a school for women, operated in Abingdon from 1860 to 1932 in a former private residence; since 1935 the building has been occupied by a hotel, the . The , the state theatre of Virginia, was opened in Abingdon in 1933.

Augusta County, and later Washington and associated counties near Abington, VA., were not settled all at once, nor did they Virginia Governors , , and lived here. Abingdon is also the final stop along the , which allows pedestrian, cyclist and equestrian remain in a wild state for long. Forts were established up and down the water courses; families settled near enough to each of traffic. This trail is 35 miles long extending from White Top Mountain through Damascus, VA with the trailhead in Abingdon.

them so that they could retreat behind the walls when the Indians came after them; and the previous associationsand cooperation The is located in Abingdon and serves as a regional genealogy center, in addition as a repository for Washington County history.

among the clans that were settled there provided internal organization.

The town of Abingdon was possibly named after , England, the ancestral home of Martha Washington. Other possible origins Even so, the commitment to settlement there remained tentative enough so that, if their defense of their homes seemed impos-of the name include Daniel Boone’s home in Abingdon, Pennsylvania, or Lord Abingdon, friend of settler

sible, the entire community could uproot and clear out with very little preparation and quickly retrace their original steps to the families they had left behind to the north, the east, and the south.

The following information is taken from information taken from the Southwest Virginia Project (http://www.werelate.org/

wiki/Forts_of_Southwest_Virginia_1774-1794):

The following summarizes information about various forts in Southwest Virginia during the period of Indian hostilities.

This list is based on , with additional information added as noted. Little is known about some of these forts, and there are likely

to have been other fortifications about which no information has survived. Some forts appear in the records under a variety

of names. The most commonly used/significant/important name for referencing purposes is shown here, along with known

alternatives. The forts shown here are organized by watershed. A map showing the approximate is provided. A map showing

the location of forts in the Upper Holston will follow.

Forts of Southwest Virginia

Approximately 40 known fortifications were constructed in Southwest Virginia during the period of Indian Hostilties

from 1774-1794. The map below shows the location of some of the most prominent fortifications. These forts were either

part of the defensive network constructed during Dunmore’s War or were privately erected for the protection of a few fami-

lies (e.g, Houston’s Fort). There were three main types of fortifications erected during this period: Palisaded forts (Moore’s

Fort at Castle’s Woods), blockhouses (Anderson’s Blockhouse at the start of the Wilderness Road), or forthouses (Kilgore’s

Forthouse, not shown). In many cases we do not know the specific type of fort that was constructed at any given location. The

forts shown here are believed to be mostly either palisaded structures or blockhouses, and figured prominently in the history of

the area. Note that some of these forts, particularly those which were constructed as part of Dunmore’s War, have been known

by different names. A list of known fortifications in southwest Virginia is provided under the heading

• Moore’s Fort (Snoddy’s Fort, Fort Byrd)–constructed 1774, palisade

• Cowan’s Fort (Russell’s Fort, Fort Preston, Bickley’s Fort)–constructed 1774, palisade

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