Battle of Galudoghson

Battle of Galudoghson
DateDecember 18, 1742 (1742-12-18)
Location
near present-day Glasgow, Virginia
37°37′59″N 79°27′6″W / 37.63306°N 79.45167°W / 37.63306; -79.45167
Result Both sides withdrew
Belligerents
Virginia Onondaga, Oneida Indians (Iroquois)
Commanders and leaders
Colonel James Patton, Captain John McDowell †, Captain John Buchanan Jonnhaty
Units involved
Augusta County militia (Virginia militia) Iroquois war party
Strength
33 militia troops, some mounted 29–36 Iroquois warriors
Casualties and losses
8 dead, 3 wounded 3–17 dead, 5 wounded

The Battle of Galudoghson took place in December 1742, at a site near present-day Glasgow, Virginia, when the Augusta County militia engaged in combat with Onondaga and Oneida Indians. These warriors had traveled to Virginia from Pennsylvania under the command of an Iroquois chief named Jonnhaty, to participate in a campaign against the Catawba.[1] The battle was the first armed conflict between settlers in Western Virginia and Native Americans.[2] Several distinct accounts of the battle exist, with contradictory details. The Iroquois regarded the battle as an unprovoked act of aggression, while the Virginia colonists claimed that the Iroquois had raided Virginia settlements and killed livestock.[3]: 44–47  The battle was one factor that led colonial authorities to negotiate with Native American leaders for the 1744 Treaty of Lancaster.

  1. ^ Draper, Lyman C. Action at the Galudoghson December 14, 1742; Colonel James Patton, Captain John McDowell and the First Battle with the Indians in the Valley of Virginia; with an Appendix Containing Early Accounts of the Battle. Jared C. Lobdell, ed. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1995
  2. ^ Charles E. Kemper, "The Early Westward Movement of Virginia, 1722-1734, As Shown by the Proceedings of the Colonial Council," Virginia Historical Society, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, July 1905, Vol. 13, No. 1; pp. 1-16
  3. ^ Hofstra, Warren R. The Planting of New Virginia: Settlement and Landscape in the Shenandoah Valley. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.