JOSEPH A. WADDELL, in his "Annals of Augusta County, Virginia," says: "It is a question what number
of sons John Lewis (Irish or Pioneer John) had. Various writers state that he brought with him to America and that
a fifth, Charles, was born after the settlement here, but others mention only four, omitting Samuel."
Governor George R. Gilmer of Lexington (Oglethorpe county), Georgia, a great grandson of Pioneer John, in his book
called "Georgians," printed in 1854, is silent as to both Samuel and John. Waddell, wholly ignorant of
John, argues from his oversight of Governor Gilmer that Samuel is probably a myth. He says that Governor Gilmer's
mother, a daughter of Thomas Lewis (son of Irish John), lived to a great age, and could hardly have been ignorant
of an uncle named Samuel, and that it hardly seems possible that her son should not have named him if there had
been such a person.
John Lewis Peyton, in his "History of Augusta County, Virginia," noting Howe's statement that Pioneer
John had six sons, of whom Samuel was the eldest, doubts the correctness of Howe, and sides with Campbell's statement
that Lewis had five sons of whom Thomas was the eldest. Peyton also shows utter ignorance of the existence of a
son, John. Of John's reality, however, there is not a shadow of a doubt. Neither is there any doubt as to a son,
Samuel, who, according to eminent Lewis authority, was, as Howe stated, the eldest of six sons of Irish John Lewis.
In Lippincott's "Washington and his Generals," in an account of Brigadier General Andrew Lewis, is this
statement: "Andrew Lewis, son of a gentleman, who came to Virginia from Ireland, whither a Huguenot ancestor
had fled from France upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, settled in Augusta County in that colony, and
was one of six brothers distinguished for their bravery in defending the infant settlement against the Indians.
He was, with all his brothers, in a company, of which the eldest was captain, at Braddock's defeat."
The captain of the company here referred to was the brother, Samuel. Three of the brothers were wounded at this
defeat where they fought with Washington under Braddock.
The foregoing establishes by inference that John was also a soldier and was in active service in the old French
and Indians Wars, in which wars he probably won the rank of major.
Actually, then, there is no question, as suggested by Waddell, as to what number of sons John Lewis had. He had
six sons, all of whom are well accounted for. The only question concerning these six sons is whether they were
all the sons of one mother. There is inferential evidence that John and (possibly) Charles were sons of a second
(or American) marriage of Irish John Lewis, while the others were sons of his marriage in Ireland to Margaret Lynn.
The six sons of Irish John Lewis were Samuel, Thomas, Andrew, William, John and Charles. The first four were born
in Ireland and joined their father in America following his flight from Ulster. The latter two were born in Virginia.
Samuel Lewis, eldest of the six sons, was a captain in the war between the English and French colonists. He commanded
a company at Braddock's Defeat in 1755. He was a defender of Greenbrier county and was distinguished in defense
of the settlements against the Indians. He died unmarried. His birth was in the province of Ulster, in north Ireland,
in 1716. He was twelve years old when his father, in valiant defense of his home and family, killed Sir Mungo Campbell
and fled to Portugal, thence to America.
Thomas Lewis, second of Irish John's sons, born in Donegal county, Ulster, Ireland, in 1718, suffered from detective
vision and therefor was not as prominently identified with the Indian wars as were his brothers. So poor was his
vision that it was said he could not readily distinguish an Indian from a white man at a distance of 30 paces.
He was, however, a man of much learning and ability, and was prominently associated with the history of Virginia,
being the colonial surveyor of Augusta county, a member of the House of Burgesses, a member of the Virginia Convention
of 1776, and one of the Commissioners of the Confederation to treat with the Indians defeated at the Battle of
the Point.
Cabell, in "Sketches and Recollections of Lynchburg," relates that the Lewis brothers received their
early instruction from the venerable Doctor Waddell, the blind preacher mentioned by Wirt in his British Spy. Colonel
Thomas Lewis's library was said to be one of the most extensive and well selected in the Virginia colony.
Colonel Lewis in 1749 married Jane, a daughter of William Strother of Stafford county, Virginia, and his wife,
who was Margaret Watts. Jane Strother was the eldest of 13 children, all daughters.
Colonel Lewis and Jane Strother had 13 children, born in the period 1749-1778, namely, John Margaret Ann, Agatha,
Jane, Andrew, Thomas, Mary, Elizabeth, Anne, Frances, Charles, Sophia and William Benjamin.
Thomas Lewis's son Charles, born 1772, married a Miss Yancy, and at his death near Port Republic, Rockingham county,
Virginia, in 1832, left as issue Thomas, Samuel H., Charles, Mary and Margaret Strother. General Samuel H. Lewis
married, first, his first cousin, Nancy, daughter of John Lewis of Bath. His wife's mother, according to Gilmer,
had so many children that she counted them at night after she put them to bed, to be certain none of them had been
eaten by bears during the day. They numbered fifteen.
General Lewis's second wife was a Miss Lomax, a daughter of Judge Lomax. His third marriage was to a Mrs. Fry.
General Samuel H. Lewis had a son, John Lewis, who was a United States Senator from Virginia in 1874; a son, Charles
H., who was United States Minister to Portugal in 1873; and a son, Samuel H., who married a Miss Dabney and had
unknown issue. We have previously quoted from Charles H. Lewis's account of his great great grandfather, Irish
John.
Elizabeth Lewis, first daughter of Colonel Thomas, married Thomas M. Gilmer and became the mother of the Honorable
George R. Gilmer, twice Governor of Georgia, whose book, entitled "Georgians," has frequently been quoted.
Gilmer, when he was courting Colonel Lewis's daughter, once, at a crossing of the Shenandoah river, encountered
a horseman who asked how he should go to reach Colonel Lewis's. Supposing the rider to be some big Dutchman of
the neighborhood who was trying to poke fun at him for his frequent visits to the Lewis home, Gilmer replied, sourly:
"Follow your nose." The inquiring rider was General George Washington.
Washington was often a visitor at Colonel Lewis's following the Revolution. Lewis was the colonial surveyor of
Augusta county, when that county occupied the greater part of western Virginia. General Washington after the war
often met Lewis at his home to work out the matter of boundary surveys.
Gilmer relates that John and Andrew Lewis, sons of Colonel Thomas, were with Washington at Valley Forge and throughout
the Jersey campaign, that john and Thomas were at the surrender of Cornwallis, and that Andrew was an officer under
General Mad Anthony Wayne against the western Indians in 1795, in which campaign he lost an arm.
Two of Colonel Thomas's daughters, Margaret and Agatha, married border soldiers who marched with General Andrew
and Colonel Charles Lewis against the united Indian tribes in 1774. Margaret married Captain McClenahan as her
first husband, and Agatha's first husband was her kinsman, Captain John Frogg.
About noon on October 10, 1774, in a house in Staunton, Virginia, a little daughter of Captain Frogg and Agatha
Lewis, sleeping soundly near her mother, arose from her sleep, screaming that her father was being killed by the
Indians. Finally, quieted by her mother, she again fell asleep. Again she awakened, crying wildly that the Indians
were killing her father. Again she was quieted into slumber and again she was terrified by the same frightful dream.
The mother, alarmed by the child's first dream, became hysterical when for the third time she dreamed the same
dream.
The mother's cries alarmed the neighbors, and soon the womenfolk of the town were gathered at the home of Captain
Frogg, adding their lamentations to the cries of the child and her mother. Strangely, the great Battle of the Point,
described in the preceding chapter, was then being fought, on a point of land where the Great Kanawha empties into
the Ohio, and gallant Captain Frogg had fallen that day, just as his child had dreamed. With him, at about the
same hour, fell also Captain McClenahan, husband of Agatha's sister Margaret. The story of the child's dream is
as related by Governor Gilmer.
Of Brigadier General Andrew Lewis of the Continental Army, third son of Irish John, we have given an account in
connection with the Battle of the Point, of which he was the hero.
Colonel William Lewis, fourth of Pioneer John's sons, born in Donegal county, Ireland, in 1724, came with the family
to Augusta county, Virginia, at the age of eight. He married Anne Montgomery, April 7, 1754, and they had eight
children, born in the period 1756 to 1780, namely, Margaret, John, Thomas, Alexander, William I., Agatha, Elizabeth
Montgomery and Charles W.
Colonel Lewis of the Sweet Springs, called the "Civilizer of the Border," resided at the "Old Sweet,"
which property he owned and which was one of the most celebrated watering places in the Virginia mountains. His
wife, Anne Montgomery, was the daughter of a fugitive from Ireland who, when a child, fled with his family to Scotland
to avoid persecution, and who there married a Miss Thomson, relative of the famous poet, James Thomson of Roxburgshire,
author of "The Seasons."
Of Colonel William Lewis, Governor Gilmer says: "Though as powerful in person and as brave in spirit as his
brother, Andrew, he was less disposed to seek fame by the sacrifice of human life."
On one occasion during the Revolution, when Colonel Tarleton was over-running the country and the Virginia legislature
had fled from Charlottesville to Staunton, it is related that the Virginia governor was a guest one day at Colonel
William Lewis's. His Excellency expressed some uneasiness lest Colonel Tarleton swoop down and capture them. Mrs.
Lewis, sitting at the head of the table, with some animation, replied: "Do not allow yourself, Mr. Governor,
to be disturbed by such apprehensions. I have sent my three sons to Rockfish Gap, and Colonel Tarleton will never
cross the mountains except as a prisoner or corpse."
The older Lewis sons were away at this time with the Northern Army and Mrs. Lewis had sent her younger sons to
the mountain pass with the admonition to stay the feet of the invader, even at the expense of life. The husband
and father was at the time confined to his bed with sickness.
Howe thus quotes this Spartan mother as she sent her young sons from her:
"Go, my children - I spare not my youngest, my fair-haired boy - the comfort of my declining years - I devote
you all to my country! Keep back the feet of the invader from the soil of Augusta, or see my face no more!"
Washington, when informed of this occurrence a short time afterward, is said to have replied: "Leave me but
a banner to plant upon the mountains of Augusta, and I will rally around me the men who will lift our bleeding
country from the dust and set her free."
It was said that Washington planned to make his last stand in the country of John Lewis in West Augusta, if ever
he should be driven by the British from the tidewater lands.
Tarleton and his dragoons are said to have boasted often, following the breaking up of the legislature at Charlotteville
and its flight to Staunton, of how Mrs. William Lewis, engaging in conversation in the street one day with a gentleman
she did not know, said to him: "If the great Patrick Henry had been there, Tarleton would never have crossed
the Rivannah river." She did not know that it was Patrick Henry himself whom she addressed.
Colonel William Lewis's eldest son, John Lewis, was captain of a company under his uncle, Colonel Charles Lewis,
at the Battle of the Point, being then only 16 years of age. Later, during the Revolution, John became a distinguished
officer in the Continental Army, attaining the rank of major. Major John spent the winter of 1777 at Valley Forge,
with Washington. Between Washington and Major John there was a warm personal friendship.
Gilmer relates that John was the most athletic man in all Virginia and that he threw down and out-jumped Andrew
Jackson until the future hero came to admire him greatly. John married Mary Preston, the sister of Governor Preston,
and an aunt of Governor McDowell and of Governor Floyd. Major John died in 1823.
William I. Lewis, son of Colonel William, was representative in the Congress from the Campbell county (Virginia)
district 1815-17. He lacked but a few votes on one occasion of being made Governor of Virginia. The most reliable
account of Irish John Lewis and his affairs in Ireland, and of his flight and eventual settlement in the new world,
is given by William I. Lewis from the narratives of his father, who lived to be an old man, his death occurring
in 1812. The Honorable John H. Peyton's account of Irish John, included in John Lewis Peyton's history, derives
from William I. Lewis's narrative. Colonel William I. Lewis married a Cabell and resided atop Mt. Athos, seven
miles from Lynchburg, Virginia.
Colonel William Lewis had a son, Major Thomas Lewis, born 1761, who was appointed a major in the U. S. Army by
Washington. He was greatly distinguished for his bravery and was called the modern Chevalier Bayard, "sans
peur et sans reproche." He killed Dr. Bell of South Carolina in a duel and complained that he never enjoyed
peace of mind afterward. He was an officer in Wayne's army. He died in 1804.
Ann Trent, a niece of Colonel William I. Lewis, being a daughter of his sister, Elizabeth Montgomery Lewis, and
Colonel John Trent of Cumberland county, Virginia, married Judge John Robertson of Richmond, who was a lineal descendant
of the Princess Pocahontas. He was gifted, brilliant and eccentric, as were most of the descendants of the Indian
princess, who included some of the most distinguished participants in colonial history.
Margaret Lewis, born in 1726, and Ann Lewis, born in 1728, daughters of pioneer John Lewis, both died unmarried.
Both were born in Donegal county, Ireland, and were infants at the time of their father's flight from his native
land.
Colonel Charles Lewis, probably the latest born of Irish John's sons, was born in 1736, four years after the settlement
in Augusta county, Virginia. He was still a boy when the Indians began to terrorize the border settlements. He
was regarded as the ablest borderer and foremost defender of the infant colony. The story of his capture by the
Indians and his almost miraculous escape from torture and death at the stake has been related in a preceding chapter.
Colonel Charles married Sarah MURRAY, a half sister of Colonel Cameron of Bath county, Virginia. They had the following
issue: Elizabeth, born 1762, who died unmarried; Margaret, born 1765; John, 1766; Mary, 1768; Thomas, 1771; Andrew,
1772; Charles, Jr., 1774.
The historians apparently have confused Colonel Charles's son, John, with the Colonel's brother, Major John Lewis.
Obviously they are mistaken when they say that Colonel Charles's son John was an officer in General Andrew Lewis's
command in 1774, in the Battle of the Point. John, son of Charles, was then only eight years old. There were several
John Lewises engaged in this battle, but it is probable that the John Lewis referred to in this instance was General
Andrew's brother (or half brother), father of Pike county Samuel Lewis, he being about 40 years old at the time
of the battle.
Says Howe of Colonel Charles Lewis: "He was esteemed the most skillful of all the leaders of the border warfare,
and was as much beloved for his noble and amiable qualities as he was admired for his military talents."
Near the house of pioneer John Lewis, on Lewis Creek in West Augusta, ran the great north and south Indian trail,
along which stalked the warriors of the northwestern tribes and the Cherokees and Creeks, to make war upon each
other. Often these war parties of the Indians stopped at John Lewis's house, where, except in time of war with
the whites, they were treated hospitably.
In June, 1754, twelve northwestern Indian warriors, returning from the south where they had glutted their vengeance
upon the Cherokees, stopped at John Lewis's. Some of Lewis's mountain neighbors happened to be present, whose families
had suffered in former times from Indian attacks. At the earnest entreaties of some of these people, the Indians
consented to stay in the neighborhood until to give an exhibition of their dances.
A beef was killed and a large log fire made, around which the Indian braves assembled, cooking and eating. The
Lewises knew nothing of all this. The Indians were provided with whisky and they drank and danced until the assembled
whites were satisfied. Then the Indians went their way towards home, as far as Middle river, where they "lodged
in Anderson's barn." No sooner were they asleep, stupefied by the liquor given them, than the whites, in revenge
of former Indian atrocities, were upon them with axes, knives and guns. Only one Indian escaped. But that was enough.
Returning to his tribe he carried the news of the white treachery.
For that night's doings, many a Virginia wife was made a widow, many a Virginia mother was made childless. The
government attempted to punish the perpetrators of the outrage, but all fled save one man by the name of King,
who thereafter lived a skulking life along the border, being permitted by the Lewises and the West Augustans to
work out his own punishment. A hunted and haunted man, his gun was ever in his hand. Gilmer relates that he would
go to the Augusta church, seat of the Scotch-Irish assembly, and there, seated upon the sill of the door, with
his gun in hand, drink in the words of the preacher, so necessary for the solace of the Irish soul, whether Catholic
or Protestant.
In the war which followed the outrage upon the Indians, which was committed without the knowledge of the Lewises,
John Lewis fortified his house, making it a sort of fort, with barricades and port-holes for resisting Indian attack.
Charles Lewis, then 18, became foremost in defense of the settlement. Many a young couple of Augusta in succeeding
years named their first born son for this Charles Lewis who so gallantly defended their mothers in the time of
the Indian war.
Colonel Charles Lewis, as previously related, was killed at the Battle of the Point, October 10, 1774, and was
buried on the field of battle, like Sir John Moore, "with his martial cloak around him." Fearless of
danger and to encourage his followers, he donned a scarlet waistcoat, and plunged into the foremost of the fight,
a challenging target for the Indian guns, which soon found their mark. Colonel Charles's son, Charles, Jr., was
born that same year. Descendants of the gallant Charles Lewis are scattered through West Virginia, Kentucky and
Alabama.