Dameron-Damron Family AssociationThough several books about the history of eastern Kentucky mention Lazarus Damron, as a
well-known Indian fighter or an Indian spy during the Revolutionary War with James Fraley, no
military records of his service have been found. Leonard L. Damron suggested that records for
James Fraley should be checked for any information about Lazarus Damron.
JAMES FRALEY, age 75, applied for a Revolutionary War pension in June of 1834.
Though he was a resident of Lawrence Co., KY, he filed his application in Floyd Co., KY. The
following sections from the pension application of James Fraley (# R3736) describe his first two
terms of service.
…he entered the service of the United States and served under the following named officers
as herein stated — Col. William Camel [Campbell], Capt. Snody for nine months as an Indian
spy in the county of Washington and state of Virginia. This was the 3rd March, as he now
recollects, 1779. His employment was to scout & spy. He served with no Continental officers
or militia regiments during the period of his tour and traversed and spied during that year on the
frontier of the state bordering on the Clinch River settlements in the county afsd. We spies did
not go all together, by two and by four, chiefly in twos we marched and spied during the months
of April, May, June not far from fort on the Clinch River known by Moores fort situated about a
mile from Clinch River. In this fort there was constantly about 20 families and 20 or 25 men
besides the spies out. The Indians were not so troublesome in the immediate vicinity of Moores
fort but they were more troublesome lower down on Clinch and Powells Valley. In August the
Wyandots from the north appeared in our vicinity when out he saw Indian sign. Three persons
only were killed in his neighborhood to wit John English’s wife, Molly and two of his little boys.
The Indians retreated down Sandy and they were pursued by the spies as well as the others
who remained in the fort to guard it. We were unable to overtake the Indians. They had stolen
some horses. These are the particular circumstances that I now recollect. The spies had
particular sections allotted to them where the war paths of the Indians passed and some time
we would not return unless Indian sign was seen for a month. But in August and September
the Indians were always the most troublesome in stealing, murdering, and burning. The spies
below had a running fight with the Indians and they retreated. This was with the lower squads.
He received his discharge some time about the 10th December, 1779, for nine months service,
he thinks it was a kind of recommendation and stating his service to get his pay. He has never
seen it since. The man who spied with him this year as his companion was LAZRAS
DAMRON.
In April the date has escaped him, 1780, he enlisted for one year in the county of
Washington and state of Virginia as an Indian spy under Col. Camel [Campbell], Capt. Snody
again, Lt. Cowan to spy in the same section. The spies were ________ to find themselves.
They lived on venison and bear meat. Early in June the Indians made their appearance in his
quarter of Washington County. They first stole many horses. In July they killed one Dorten and
stold two girls to wit Ann and Mary Bush and made off for Canada. They succeeded in getting
down on the waters of Sandy with them as far as Jenney’s Creek in Floyd County about 12
miles from the courthouse. At that time there was not a single
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white person living in Floyd County. It was entirely an Indian country then. Our company came
up to the Indians where they were in the act of skinning a buffaloe that they just killed. Our men
fired on the Indians and they retreated to the camp about 200 yards distant, and as they ran by
they tomahawked Ann Bush. Mary jumped down the bank and escaped any violence. Ann
Bush got over it, and afterwards married and was again tomahawked by the Indians after that
and still survived. Our company lost in the running fight only one man, James Coyle. When the
Indians retreated from the camp he [Coyle] followed and as he now recollects shot only once.
One Indian stopped behind a tree top, fired, and mortally wounded him. He was carried back to
Clinch and died in Moores Fort. The father of this applicant was the surgeon that extracted the
bullet. He served with no Continental officers and militia companies. He marched or rather
spied in the same section of country that he did the year previous. When the spies enlisted
they enlisted under the kind of arrangement that they could be retained for one year or
discharged at 9 months. In January at the end of 9 months we were all discharged. The
Shawney Indians had killed several persons down the river. The lower settlements were in a
bad situation in the fall as Col. Camel [Campbell] had taken many of the frontier men with their
rifles to Kings Mountain some of which had to brake up their forts and come further up stream
to the north fork of Holsten. This he believes are chiefly the circumstances as he now
remembers them that occurred during the year 1780. Col. Camel [Campbell] was the colonel of
Washington County but he never was in company with spies, but it was under his orders his
captains acted. Camel was killed and Col. Henry Smith succeeded him as he now remembers.
During this service LAZRAS DAMRON who enlisted the 2nd time when he (Fraley) did again
spied as his comrade. The spies were divided out in twos.
James Fraley was not granted a pension. The U. S. Pension Office explained that Fraley’s
service was not covered by the Pension Act of 1832 because Fraley had served for short terms
under militia officers.
There can be no doubt which Lazarus Damron spied with James Fraley. He would have
been the Lazarus Damron who married NANCY SHORT and moved from Russell Co., VA, to
Floyd Co., KY, in 1801 and on to Cabell Co., VA, (now WV) shortly before the 1820 census.
Born ca. 1766/1767, he was the only Lazarus Damron living in the area of Washington Co.,
Virginia, during the years 1779 and 1780. He would have been 12 or 13 years of age at the
time he first served as a spy against the Indians.
Though Lazarus Damron was young when he first enlisted as an Indian spy, he was not the
only Indian spy who enlisted while still very young. Kenneth Dyer sent an abstract of the
pension application of Alexander Ritchie who also served as an Indian spy in Washington Co.,
VA. Ritchie’s pension application, dated 19 Jan. 1839, listed his age as 75. Ritchie stated that
he first was called out as a volunteer in the spring of 1776. These dates would indicate that he
was only about 12 when he volunteered. Ritchie stated that when he first volunteered he “was
yet a boy, but well grown, as he is now six feet four inches high.” Samuel Auxier, who spied
with James Fraley in 1781, is said to have enlisted for service at the age of 15. James Fraley
was 19 years of age when he enlisted. Alexander Ritchie’s account of the duties and activities
of the Washington Co. Indian spies generally agrees with Fraley’s account.
At the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, England had gained control of the land
from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. The English
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government had no desire to shoulder the expense of governing the area between the
Alleghany Mountains and the Mississippi River and protecting settlers in that regions from the
Native American tribes who did not welcome the intrusion colonial settlers into their traditional
homelands. Consequently, the Proclamation Line of 1763 was drawn, prohibiting colonists to
settle west of a line that ran along the Alleghany Mountains. Though settlers did venture
beyond that line, they did so without the approval or protection of the British government. This
prohibition against settlement west of the proclamation line led to strong anti-British sentiment
among the frontier settlers who wished to cross the mountains in search of new land.
When the American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain, the Native
American tribes and the British were natural allies. Both desired to prevent the colonists from
settling west of the proclamation line. England welcomed and even encouraged the Indian
attacks on the outlying frontier settlements, which forced the colonists to divide their forces
between fighting the British and defending their western frontier. Though most of the Indian
spies of Washington Co., VA, probably never saw a British soldier, their efforts to defend the
frontier settlements were a part of the Revolutionary War effort.
More information about the ancestry and the children of Lazarus Damron and Nancy Short
can be found in Vol. 16 (Spring 1989) of the newsletter. Nancy Short was a daughter of
THOMAS SHORT, one of the earliest residents of the area that is now Wayne Co., WV.
Thomas Short was listed on the 1787 tax list for Russell Co., VA.
[Thanks to Kenneth Dyer and Pharo Osborn for sending information that has been included
in this article.]