(10-31-24) A battle between the native Shawnee and Virginia soldiers in the southern wing of Lord Dunmore’s army took place at Point Pleasant on the Ohio River on October 10, 1774. Followed shortly by Chief Logan’s famous speech beneath the boughs of a giant spreading elm tree and the Treaty of Camp Charlotte on October 19th, on the Pickaway Plains, Dunmore’s army marched back down the Hockhocking River. At the confluence of the Hockhocking and the Ohio rivers they had built the small Fort Gower to store their canoes and supplies for their return trip east.

At this place, on November 5, 1774, six months before the first shots of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord, a group of Virginian officers, under Dunmore’s command gathered at Fort Gower to consider the grievances of British America and draft a series of resolves in response. An early declaration of independence from the crown, the resolves helped inspire revolutionary thinking among the population.

In honor of the 250th Anniversary of this event, the Southeast Ohio History Center is planning a daylong conference bringing together historians from across the United States to bring this largely forgotten chapter of Ohio’s history to life, with new perspectives.

The Conference will be on Saturday, November 9th from 8 am to 4pm at the Southeast Ohio History Center at 24 West State Street in Athens, Ohio.

Registration is required and the cost of registration includes breakfast, lunch, and snacks. The cost is $40 for adults and $25 for students.

For more information about the conference contact the Southeast Ohio History Center at 740-592-2280 or register online at southeastohiohistory.org.