William Russell (1735 – January 14, 1793) was an American military officer, planter and politician who served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and for whom several sites are named in Virginia, although he is often confused with his son (William Russell III) who had a similar career in Virginia and Kentucky. Renowned in his day as an Indian fighter, this William Russell participated in military campaigns against the Shaawanwaki (Shawnee), Lenape (Delaware), Mingo, and Aniyvwiya (Cherokee) peoples on the Appalachian frontier, as well as operated commercial enterprises in southwestern Virginia that relied on enslaved labor. Russell County and Russellville, Kentucky are named in his honor.
Early life and education Russell was born in 1735 in then-huge Orange County in the Virginia Colony (in an area that in 1748 became Culpeper County, as described below). Initially educated near home as befit his class, he traveled to the colony's capital, Williamsburg and finished his formal schooling at the College of William & Mary circa 1754.Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (Lewis Historical Publishing Co. 1915) vol. 2, p. 243 available on hathitrust.org
His father, also William Russell (circa 1685-1757), had been educated at the Inns of Court in London, and bought a military officer's commission before emigrating to the Virginia Colony. By 1712, the elder Russell had begun speculating in western real estate, purchasing thousands of undeveloped acres from Lord Fairfax in the Northern Neck Proprietary in what became enormous Spotsylvania County a decade later. According to family tradition, the elder Russell in 1716 participated in Governor Alexander Spotswood's westward expedition to the Shenandoah Valley and Appalachian mountains and become a Knight of the Golden Horseshoe. In 1730 he purchased tracts of 10,000 acres and 6,000 acres in the part of Spotsylvania County that became Orange County in 1734, and later Culpeper County in 1748 (in this boy's youth as development proceeded westward). The elder Russell built a home on the old Wilderness Road on acreage extending to the Rapidan River, in the drainage of the streams known as Big Russell and Little Russell Runs. He became active in St. Mark's Parish, as well as a justice of the peace and captain in the Orange County militia (and later lieutenant colonel of the Culpeper militia). In 1735 the elder Russell patented (purchased subject to settlement) 4,950 and 3,650 acre tracts in then-vast Frederick County and additional tracts in then-vast Augusta County, those counties in the Shenandoah Valley and westward having also been formed from Orange county in 1739.Anna Russell des Cognets,William Russell and his Descendants (Lexington, KY, 1884) pp.2-3 In 1741, he purchased two fifths of the Beverly Manor tract of 118,491 acres and became the sales agent for the interests of powerful politician William Beverley in Augusta County, including along the Shenandoah River which the elder Russell had surveyed in 1728 and Beverly and Peter Jefferson surveyed in 1746. After the lopsided Treaty of Lancaster with the Iroquois in 1744 and reading law under Colonel James Taylor, the elder William Russell qualified as a Virginia attorney in 1745.Theodosia Wells Barrett, Famous Virginia and Kentucky Russells, (Overmountain Press for the Historical Society of Russell County, Virginia, 1991) pp. 2-3J.E. Norris, History of the Lower Shenandoah Valley (Chicago, A. Warner & Co. Publishers 1890, reprinted Berryville AV: Virginia Book Company 1972) p. 73 One of his last cases, in 1754, involved a 5000 acre tract in the part of Augusta County that later became Rockingham County, Virginia, and that actually involved 6,600 acres due to a generous survey, and which this man (his son) sold using an agent in 1767.John W. Wayland, Virginia valley Records (Harrisonburg, 1930 republished in 1985 by Genealogical Publishing Company) p. 316
In 1730, the elder Russell married Mary Henley, who bore two sons and a daughter, and would survive her husband for decades. In 1743, the elder Russell executed a last will and testament naming his wife as executor for their then underage sons William and Henry and daughter Katherine. He added a codicil in 1757 allowing his widow to sell any of his lands to pay his debts "or to buy negroes to be divided among my said children." The documents were admitted to probate in Culpeper County in 1758, but Mary declined to become an executor as did Henry (educated in medicine in England, never married and practicing in the West Indies), so this man buried his father and served as his executor.de Cognets pp. 4-6 Their sister Katherine married Mr. Roberts, had sons John and Henry, and was living in Shenandoah County (established 1772 and receiving its current name in 1778) in 1786 and 1793.des Cognets p. 7
In the spring of 1755, this William Russell returned home and instead of continuing his legal education, established a plantation in the northwestern area of Culpeper County near the Hedgman River after marrying Tabitha Adams Moore, as discussed below. In 1763, resolving his father's estate, Russell sold several tracts and began moving his family southwestward into the Blue Ridge Mountains then along the Wood River (now the New River) across the Appalachian Divide. In the interim, as discussed below, Russell had also served as Captain of a company of Rangers under General Braddock in the French and Indian War, and British authorities in 1765 had sent him on a mission to the Native Americans near what became Chattanooga.de Cognets pp. 8-9 By 1770 he built a cabin in the Castle's Woods area of the Clinch River in southwestern Virginia. The Russells planned to continue across the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky where Russell owned land possibly inherited from his brother Henry or granted him because of his son Henry's death as described below. However, by 1773 they remained near Castlewood because further travel to the Cumberland Gap was too dangerous as Native Americans defended their territory by raids and attacking new farmsteads. For protection, Russell fortified his home (which became known as "Russell's Fort").
Military leader Russell enlisted as an ensign during the French and Indian War, and rose to become captain of a group of Rangers.D.C. Pratt, Russell County: Virginia's Bluegrass Empire 1968) p. In 1765 British authorities sent him to visit the Cherokee near what became Chattanooga. He spent a year on that dangerous mission, leaving his wife home to deal with their small children and the plantation.Barrett pp. 3-4
In September 1773, Russell, his eldest son (Henry, then 17 years old) and several slaves joined an 80-person expedition led by Daniel Boone across the Cumberland Gap.de Cognets pp. 8-9 They left Fort Russell with 20 men under the command of Sergeant W. Peago, with Fort Blackamore staffed by 1 men under the command of Sergent Moore, Fort Moore with 20 men commanded by Lt. Daniel Boone, Fort Glade Hollow and Fort Elk Garden commanded by Sgt. Kinkead.Pratt p. 14 The expedition was part of a pattern of settler encroachment despite the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which had explicitly forbidden colonial settlement west of the Appalachians. Indigenous nations had been defending this territory against such incursions for years. They called the area Kain-tuck-ee — unceded hunting grounds of the Shaawanwaki (Shawnee), Lenape (Delaware), Mingo, and Aniyvwiya (Cherokee).
On October 10, 1773, Shaawanwaki, Lenape, and Mingo warriors attacked a scouting party to repel the invasion in Powell Valley. Henry Russell and one of his Negro men as well as James Boone (eldest son of Daniel Boone), were among the six killed, and whom Russell helped bury.de Cognets pp. 8-9 The surviving settlers withdrew, Russell to his land in the Clinch Valley.de Cognets pp. 10-11 refers to the tract as 2400 acres but Barrett below as substantially less While colonial accounts framed the attack as an unprovoked ambush; the warriors were defending territory that was legally and historically theirs.
The deaths were used to justify Lord Dunmore's War (1774). Virginia's governor claimed that the various indigenous people were violating the Treaties of Fort Stanwix (with the Six Nations) and Lochaber (with the Cherokee), which the English claimed gave up all their claims to vast areas. While Lord Dunmore commanded troops of the northern division, Brigadier General Andrew Lewis commanded the southern division. Colonel William Christian commanded the Fincastle County men, including the lower Clinch Valley troops which Russell led. Captain Russell first led an expedition southward against the Shawnee, joining Captain Shelby's company from the Holston valley, then joined with Colonel Christian's men from the New River Valley on August 17, and finally General Lewis' army at Camp Union on September 11. The joint force then encountered and defeated Chief Cornstalk's forces at the Battle of Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774.Barrett pp. 19-21
Russell later commanded a garrison at Kanawha until July 1775, although Capt. Daniel Boone was allowed to relinquish the lower Clinch forts in the spring and started the Wilderness Road to Kentucky.de Cognets pp. 11Barrett p. 22 The war ended with the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, under which the Shaawanwaki surrendered their hunting rights south of the Ohio River — a major dispossession that opened the region and settler colonization accelerated.
During the American Revolutionary War, Russell initially received a commission as captain.Tyler p. 243 He was promoted to colonel in 1776, and given responsibility for defending the border with Virginia and Tennessee, including along the Holston and Wautauga Rivers (his first wife dying during that absence).de Cognets pp. 11-12 His sons William III and Robert would eventually enlist under his neighbor General William Campbell. By 1777 his 13th Virginia regiment was part of Brigadier General Peter Muhlenberg's brigade and General Greene's division at the Battle of Germantown before transferring to the 5th Virginia Regiment in 1778. Col. Russell probably fought at the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778 and at the Battle of Brandywine.Barrett p. 29 In July 1979 he and his troops assisted General Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Stony Point in New York's Hudson Valley.Barrett p. 29 By December 1779 the Virginia line had been reduced to about 700 men and under the command of General William Woodford was sent to assist General Lincoln's troops defending Charleston. They arrived on April 10, 1780 and were among the 5,500 patriots surrendered about a month later.de Cognets pp. 13-14Barrett pp.29-30
While imprisoned Russell refused entreaties of his British relatives that he transfer allegiance, including his six months as a prisoner of war before being released in a prisoner.Barrett p. 30 He also corresponded directly with George Washington regarding the deployment of his troops, although none of his military letters during after 1779 survive (due to fire years after his death). Russell rejoined the Continental Line and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781. On November 15, 1783, he was brevetted to the rank of Brigadier General upon the disbanding of the 5th Virginia Regiment, and retires on half pay for the rest of his life, as well as received large land bounties in the Green River section of Kentucky.de Cognets pp. 14Barrett p. 31
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