DUNMORE'S WAR. A war in 1774 between the Indians and the whites on the western fron tiers of Virginia. so called from Lord Dunmore, then (1overnor of Virginia, who was accused, ap parently with little justice, of having caused it in order to prevent the Virginians from taking part in the approaching war With England. There had been considerable friction between the settler. and various Indian tribes, particularly the Shawnees, since 1764, the Indians steadily resisting the encroachments of the whites, and in 1773 an unusually large number of settler; Were massacred. The killing of the family of Logan. a noted hinge chief (see Loll A N, Jottx), on April 30. 1774, was the occasion for the out break of general hostilities, and for several months thereafter frequent Indian attacks. of unusual ferocity, were directed against the fron tier. The Virginian Government promptly raised a force of about 3000, and in Septemher General Lewis (see 1_,Ewls, ANonEw), with about 1200 men. marched to the month of the Great Ka nawha, there to await a second force of about 1300 under Lord Dunmore, who was to start from Fort Pitt. Dunmore subsequently changed
his plans. however, and on October 10 Lewis fought alone the important battle of Point Pleasant. which virtually closed the war. (See Pomr PLEASANT, BATTLE OF.) Soon afterwards Dunmore made a treaty with the Indians, whereby the latter agreed not to hunt south of the Ohio and not to molest voyagers on the river. But for this war, it is likely that the migration of settlers to the West would have been almost wholly checked until after the close of the Revo lution, and that, in consequence, the western boundary of the United States might have heen fixed, by the treaty of 1783, at the Alleghany Alountains. The war is sometimes called from Captain _Michael ('recap, who was unjustly charged with having murdered Logan's family. For brief accounts of the war, consult: Roosevelt, Winning of the West (vol. i., New York. 1839-94) and Perkins, .Innois of the West (Pittsburg, 1357).