Detail from Ohio River Map

A detail from the circa 1766 map River of Ohio by Harry Gordon shows a segment of the Ohio River near which several key actions in Dunmore’s War of 1774 took place. Dunmore’s War was a conflict between white Virginian colonists and Shawnee and allied tribes over disputed territory south of the Ohio River. Virginia governor John Murray, fourth earl of Dunmore, called for the construction of Fort Gower at the confluence of the Hocking River (labeled in the map as Hockhocking R.) and the Ohio River in early October of 1774. The Battle of Point Pleasant, the deciding battle of the brief conflict, took place on October 20 at the confluence of the Ohio and the Great Kanawha (Kanhawa on the map) rivers, labeled on the map downriver to the southwest of Fort Gower.