Douglas Family

The Slaying of John Douglas at Little Moccasin Gap
                      By Emory L. Hamilton
                                
     From the unpublished manuscript,
Indian Atrocities Along the Clinch, Powell, and
Holston Rivers, pages 28-30.

     This incident has perhaps suffered more
abuse as to correct date than any event on the
frontier. L. P. Summers, in his History of
Washington County, has John Douglas and
William Benham chasing the Indians who had
captured the wife and children of Capt. Isaac
Newland, near Abingdon in 1789, thirteen years
after young Douglas had been killed. Just what age
John Douglas was when slain is unknown, but he
must have been a fairly young, unmarried man,
yet, old enough to have served in the militia as a
Sergeant under Capt. William Cocke, August 5,
1774. (1)
     Captain William Russell Wrote to Colonel
Preston, on July 7, 1776, (2) saying:
     Dear Colo. - I wrote you yesterday in
great haste intendent to send of the express
immediately, but he, being disappointed, shall
enclose that one in this. I omitted giving the
account of two men (no names Given), being
killed at Blackmore's Fort last week, and since I
left Fort Chiswell, poor John Douglas got killed
in Little Moccasin Gap, on his way to Clinch.
Captain Daniel Smith saw his bones yesterday
(July 6th) arriving over here.
     As evidenced by Captain Russell's letter,
John Douglas was probably killed either on July 5th
or 6th. Tradition has it that Douglas was
accompanied by his friend William Benham, and
that they, as was customary of most people
traveling from Abingdon to the Clinch settlements,
had stopped in Little Moccasin Gap, and were
seated on a large flat rock, eating their lunch when
a rifle cracked and Douglas was killed. A bronze
plaque has been placed on the rock, probably by
the D. A. R., and just east of the spot a wayside
has been built, known as the "John Douglas
Wayside", perpetuating the memory of this
incident.
     It has been written that John Douglas was
living in the vicinity of Abingdon at the time, but of
this I can find no confirmation. He, at the time, was
a young unmarried man, and his parents, Edward
and Sarah George Douglas were living on a 400
acre tract of land on both sides of Clinch River at
the Flour Ford in Scott County, VA, where they
had settled in 1776. The Douglas family and that
of Captain John Blackmore had intermarried.
Sarah Douglas, a sister of the slain John, having
married Thomas, a son of Captain John
Blackmore, and Almore Douglas was married to a
daughter of Captain John Blackmore to the
Nashboro settlement when he rafted down the
Clinch to that place in 1779.
     There was a connection between the
Douglas, Benham and Hobbs families which may
account for John Douglas' friend William Benham
being with him at the time of the slaying. For the
foregoing data I am indebted to Gordon Aronhime,
of Bristol, VA.
     A man named John Benham settled on the
north side of the North Fork of Holston River in
1769. William Benham was likely his son. He, the
elder Benham owned about a thousand acres of
land along the Holston River, about four miles or
less below the village of Holston. John Benham
was evidently a brother-in-law of the elder
Vincent Hobbs. Benham had a son named Vincent,
and the Benhams and Hobbs lived next farms to
each other, coming to the area about the same
time. John Benham (died 1800) had a fort between
those near Saltville (that of Jeremiah Harrison)
and the Anderson Blockhouse near Big Moccasin
Gap. Benham had built his fort before the
Revolutionary War. William Benham married
Mary Kendrick.
     John Douglas had probably been visiting
with his friends and kindred, Benhams and Hobbs
over at Holston, and was returning to the Clinch,
along with William Benham when he was slain.
     At a court held for Washington County,
VA, on September 30, 1777, Edward Douglas (his
father) was granted administration of the estate of
John Douglas, deceased, with his securities being
William Wilson and Richard Stanton, the latter
living on Stanton's Creek, below Dungannon, in
Scott County, VA. The appraisers of the estate
were John Blackmore, Blackmore's Fort, Andrew
Davis who lived at the mouth of Stoney Creek,
near Blackmore's Fort, and Alexander Ritchie, Sr.,
who lived on Clinch River, below Dungannon in
Scott County.
     Who were the two men that Captain
Russell says were killed at Blackmore's Fort? 
     
(1) Shelby Family Papers, Vol. I, Item 412, Library of
Congress
(2) Draper Mss 4 QQ 53.

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