Frontier Forts

There were eight frontier forts in Scott County, Virginia territory built to provide protection against Indian raids and for use as stopping places for hunters and settlers:

Blackmore’s Fort, overlooking the Clinch River, was built by Capt. John Blackmore in 1772. It was attacked by Indians many times and several people were killed or captured near the fort. Daniel Boone was in command of Fort Blackmore and other forts on the Clinch in 1774 while the militia was engaged in the battle of Point Pleasant during Dunmore’s war.

Huston’s [Houston's] Fort was built in 1774 on the waters of Big Moccasin Creek by William Huston [Houston] on land assigned to him by Thomas McCulloch. McCulloch had established the first Scott County territory settlement there in 1769, but was forced out by Indians. In 1776 Fort Huston was attacked by an Indian force estimated to be near 300.

Porter’s Fort was built by Patrick Porter in 1775 on Falling Creek near present-day Dungannon. He built a grist mill there which was most likely the first mill in Scott County territory.

Other forts were Carter’s Fort located in Rye Cove, Duncan’s Fort on the Clinch River, Dorton’s Fort east of present Nickelsville, the Anderson Blockhouse located near the North Fork of the Holston River and Moccasin Gap, and Kilgore’s Fort built on the waters of Copper Creek west of Nickelsville.

(Source: Wilderness Road: Virginia's Heritage Migration Route)

A Koger Marries a Porter, GrandDaughter of the Western Waters

On November 26, 1818, in Floyd County, Kentucky, my great-great-great-grandfather James Koger married Sarah Walker Porter, aka "Sally". Tracing the Walker name in Sally's name led me to her paternal grandmother Susanna Walker (1739-1795), who married Sgt. Patrick Porter (1737-1805) around 1756 at Walker's Creek, Augusta County, Virginia.
Sgt. Patrick Porter and his father-in-law, John Walker, my 6x great-grandfather, relocated to southwest Virginia about 1770-1772, settling on the Clinch River in what became Russell County. Western lands in North Carolina had been closed to settlement by Colonial government policy until 1778. In Virginia, however, Indian Treaties of 1768 and 1770 opened the "western waters" for settlement. While there had been settlers in the area before these treaties, emigration into the area did not begin in earnest until 1769-70. The Walker and Porter families were likely part of this immigration.
In 1772, the Porters, along with others, moved from Castle's Woods, where they had first settled, to Patrick Porter's land survey at Falling Creek, near present day Dungannon, Virginia. They quickly set to building a fort, called Porter's Fort, nearby. In 1774 Porter added a mill, the first on the Clinch River, and gradually a settlement began to grow.
Daniel Boone lived in the Castle's Woods, Virginia area from 1773-1775. The Porters were friends with the pioneer. Patrick's son (my 5x great-uncle) Samuel Walker Porter travelled with Daniel Boone to Kentucky in 1773, and in 1778 answered Boone's request for assistance defending Boonesborough during the Shawnee siege.
At various times, Patrick Porter commanded part or all of the forts along the Clinch River and was in charge of monitoring and responding to hostile Indian activity over a wide area.

Chief Logan & The Porters

Patrick and Samuel Porter were intimately acquainted with Cayuga Indian Chief Logan. Patrick Porter, while serving under General Lewis on the Ohio River, was approached by Chief Logan who, with a smile, extended his hand to Porter, at the same time saying, "I know you. You are Patrick Porter. I want to be your friend. You don't know me. I am Capt. John Logan. Many times I could have killed you, but would not."

He then asked Patrick about his son, Samuel, but at that moment, he saw Samuel coming towards them. When Samuel walked up, Chief Logan said: "I am Logan; and was your friend. Many times I could have killed you, but would not. You were too good a man. You guarded the women and children, which made me love you and your father." On being assured of their perpetual love and friendship, he then mentioned several occurrences that had taken place in the vicinity of Porter's Fort. One of the incidents recalled was concerning a large, fine horse that was hitched to the fort gate. By some chance, the horse was left there a great while, night coming on in the meantime. Logan, who was skulking near the fort, had watched the horse with covetous eyes. Taking advantage of the darkness, he tried to steal him. Covering himself with a shock of fodder, he began gradually to approach the horse. But just at the moment when he was nearly ready to lay hold of the horse, a child inside the fort fell out of bed, and made such a noise that Logan, fearing discovery, dropped the fodder, and left. "Did you ever notice that sock of fodder?" asked Logan. "Yes," replied Samuel Porter. "The breaking of that child's arm saved your life, Logan; I was on guard at the fortgate that night, and observing the fodder moving toward me, cocked my gun and was in the very act of firing when you dropped the fodder and ran away. I was within twenty feet of you, with as good a gun as was ever fired." Logan replied that the Great Spirit did not let one friend kill another.

(Source: Draper Manuscripts; Collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, WI)

Patrick Porter (1737-1805)

In 1769, Patrick Porter and his family, William and Edward Russell, and a party led by John Morgan (consisting of the Walker sisters and their husbands, William and Andrew Cowan, James Smith, William Trimble, James Wharton, Fredrick Fraley, Joseph Moore, James Anderson, three Dickenson brothers, and Col. John Snoddy) moved to the area called "Castle's Woods," which was settled earlier by Jacob Castle. The group soon built Snoddy's Fort, later called Moore's Fort, the largest on the Clinch River.
In 1772, Porter and his family, along with Raleigh Stallard, Capt. John Montgomery (Porter's son-in-law,) Samuel Porter, and Charles Kilgore moved to Porter's land survey at Falling Creek near present day Dungannon, Virginia. Shortly they set to building a fort, called Porter's Fort, nearby. In 1774 Patrick Porter added a mill, the first on the Clinch, where Falling Creek spills over a cliff near the river.