Exactly where and when was Robert Looney's first...
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By the 1730's white settlers began settling west of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. The earliest settlers -- Adam Miller, John Hite, Jacob Stover, John and Isaac Van Meter, John Lewis, and many others -- made their new homes in areas drained by the Shenandoah River in what was Orange County, Virginia, at the time. Robert Looney (spelled Luna in his survey for 294 acres in 1735) was also one of the first settlers west of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, but his land was along the Potomac River (see "Exactly where and when was Robert Looney's first settlement in Virginia?").
On November 1, 1738, the Virginia General Assembly formed two new counties form the area of Orange County west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Frederick County, which began their own court in 1743, encompassed the areas drained by the Shenandoah River and much of the headwaters of the Potomac River. Augusta County, which formed their own court in 1745, included the areas drained by the head waters of the Shenandoah River, the James River (west of the Blue Ridge Mountains), and all the land to the southwest.
By 1739 - 40 Robert Looney had established his mill on Looney's Mill Creek in the area designated to be Augusta County. By July 30, 1742, Robert Looney received a patent for 250 acres at the mouth of Looney's Mill Creek and Robert Looney Jr. received a patent for 213 acres on the same stream (see "Exactly where was the Looney Land?"). About this time settlers began pouring into Augusta County by the hundreds.
In December of 1742 the whites and the Indians clashed at what is known as the Battle of Augusta. The site of the battle is believed to be at Glasgow, just a few miles east of Natural Bridge in present-day Rockbridge County. Capt. John McDowell and seven of his men in the Augusta County Militia were killed in this battle. Most sources say the Indians were Iroquois (a few say Shawnee), who were traveling along the War Path (Great Road) to fight their southern enemies, the Catawbas. This battle is significant because it show that there were hostilities between the Indians and the whites soon after the formation of Augusta County.
During 1742 there were twelve companies of the Augusta County Militia. The rolls of nine are extant, including Capt. George Robinson's which named 49 men. Five of the men in Robinson's company were Thomas Looney, Robert Looney [Jr.], Daniel Looney, Adam Looney, and Stephen Ranfro (Rentfro). It is believed that this militia roll enabled Leroy W. Tilton to accurately list the order of Robert Looney, Sr.'s oldest children -- Thomas, Robert Jr. , Daniel, and Adam (the order on the roll). Furthermore, this record is probably how he arrived at their approximate birth dates. For example, Adam who must have been just old enough to serve in the militia (say 18-19 years), would have been born about 1725. Daniel, who would have been a little older, was born about 1723. Titlton's estimation dated Robert Jr.'s birth as 1721 and Thomas' as 1718. It is interesting to see how Tilton arrived at these dates, since there were no birth records, Bible accounts, or other records to be more exact.
In 1744 the Treaty of Lancaster (Pennsylvania) was signed by the Virginia delegates and the Iroquois. By the terms of this treaty, the Iroquois relinquished their right to all their claims in Virginia. For most of the next decade, whites poured into Augusta County unchallenged by the Indians. In 1751 Joshua Fry, in his "Report on the back Settlements of Virginia" named Samuel Stalnaker's settlement on the Holston River as the farthest advance of the whites. Within the period from the late 1730's to the early 1750's, whites had pushed the limits of Augusta County well over 200 miles westward. Robert Looney's settlement at the mouth of Looney's Mill Creek was nearly in the center of Augusta County by the early 1750's.
The situation in the British colonies in America began to change by 1753. The Indians, aided by the French, began making attacks on the most exposed frontier settlements. This grew into a major conflict known as the French and Indian War (1754-1763). At first the western most settlements -- those on the Holston, Bluestone, and New Rivers -- were abandoned as the French and Indians ravaged the areas.
On July 9, 1755, General Edward Braddock's British troops were annihilated at the Battle of the Wilderness (also called Monongahela) in Pennsylvania. With one swift blow the French and Indians had opened the way for large scale attacks in Virginia, especially areas west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. During this time Robert Looney fortified his home at the mouth of Looney's Mill Creek. Hugh McAden, a young Presbyterian minister, was traveling through Virginia at the very time Braddock's Army was defeated. On July 16, 1755, he noted in his journal that he took the road to Luny's Ferry where he stayed overnight because "there were a number of men and arms engaged in building a fort, round the house, where they fled with their wives and children."
Looney's Fort was from July 1755 to a few years afterwards one of the most important places in Augusta County. It was a place where settlers and the militia could go in safety, and from there push into the frontier to defeat the enemy. This fort predates official mention of a chain of forts to protect the frontier. Looney's Fort probably played some part as a supply base for the forts in the chain (Fort William and rebuilt Fort Vause).
Col. John Buchanan, writing near the end of June 1756, noted in a letter to Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie "I have Ordered ten Men to Looney's Fort on James River." This is the only document contemporary with the fort that has been located which specifically names Looney's Fort.
Almost as quickly as Looney's fort became famous, the importance of the fort diminished as the French and Indians were defeated and other more remote forts held the line.
Two excavations at the Looney's Mill Creek Archaeological Site (also called the Lipes Site) in 1968-69 have uncovered what is believed to be one of the palisade walls of Looney's Fort. The details of the excavations are fully covered in Most Distinguished Characters on the American Frontier, Robert Looney .... and Some of His Descendants, Vol. 1 pp. 195-208.
LOCATION OF ROBERT LOONEY'S HOUSE surrounded by Looney's Fort. The excavated areas are shown by small squares and rectangles. It is believed the palisade wall was found at B in grid 10H.