Lewisburg, county seat of Greenbrier, was incorporated by an Act of the Virginia General Assembly in 1782.  Its history begins with the first settlers discovered here in 1751 by Andrew Lewis who had been sent by the Greenbrier Land Company to encourage settlement west of the Alleghenies.

 

Col. Lewis would return again in 1754 to fortify “The Levels” against Indian attack.

 

“Leave me but a banner to plant upon the mountains of Augusta, and I will rally around me the men who will lift our bleeding country from the dust, and set her free.”                                        George Washington

 

 

 

General Andrew Lewis

Hero of the Battle of Point Pleasant – Patriot, Soldier and Statesman

 

(The above portrait was finished in the 1930’s by James E. True, an artist of Salem, Virginia, and was accomplished after a careful study of all available records concerning General Lewis, interviews with direct descendants, and an examination of the famous statue of the soldier in front of the Capitol in Richmond.  On May 24, 1938, the painting was officially presented to Andrew Lewis High School in Salem, Virginia, where General Lewis is buried.)

 

In 1774 General Andrew Lewis arrived at “Fort Savannah,” later named “Camp Union,” where he gathered over 1,000 pioneer soldiers and began the march north to defeat Chief Cornstalk at the Battle of Point Pleasant.

 

The significance of the Battle of Point Pleasant has long been a subject of much debate.  However, as a matter of record, in 1908, by unanimous vote, the Sixtieth Congress of the United States declared this the official first battle of the American Revolution.

 

Lewisburg was named in honor of Andrew Lewis and the Lewis Family.

 

 

INDEX of

Greenbrier County History

 

 Visit The General Lewis Inn