Colonel Andrew Lewis
1720 - 1781
Born October 9, 1720, in County Donegal, Ireland. The second son of John and Margaret Lynn Lewis. He served in the early campaigns on the American frontier. Wounded at Fort Necessity in 1754. Commanded the Big Sandy Expedition in 1756. With Forbes in 1758 and on Bouquet's Campaign in 1764. Treated with Indians at Fort Stanwix 1768 and at Lochaber 1770. Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Division of Army during Lord Dunmore's War which fought and won the Battle of Point Pleasant October 19, 1774...first battle of the Revolution. Elevated to Brigadier General March 1, 1776. He commanded the American Army before Williamsburg. On July 9 - 10 he expelled Governor Dunmore from the shores of America at Gwynn's Island. Died September 25, 1781 in Bedford County en route to his home at "Richfield," now Salem, Virginia. Buried on his estate beside his youngest son, Charles. Married Elizabeth Givens in 1749. Father of seven children, John, Thomas, Samuel, Andrew, Anna, William and Charles. In 1897 his body was removed to East Hill Salem Cemetery where a monument was erected to his memory in 1902 by the Margaret Lynn Lewis Chapter of DAR.
Andrew's second son, Thomas, established the first ferry service across the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers at Point Pleasant on December 9, 1791. His great-granddaughter, Mary Ann Adams Maverick, was San Antonio's first pioneer American woman.
In 1909, West Virginia's historian, Virgil A. Lewis, wrote: "General Lewis was a leading actor in all the events in which he took part, yet fame has trumpeted to the world his exploits with far feebler tone than the deeds of others of far less importance."
On June 3, 1965, at 3:45 P.M., Andrew Lewis' fifth great-grandson, Major Edward Higgins White II of Gemini 4, became the first American to walk in outer space.
Marker is on Main Street 0 miles west of 1st Street, on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
