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On July 30, 1755 among the rolling ridges of southwest Virginia, a small outpost on the edge of Western civilization was attacked by Shawnee Indians. Rising tensions between the natives and western settlers was exacerbated by fighting in the French and Indian War and the encroachment on tribal hunting grounds. Recent victories by the French over the British, although north of Virginia, had left much of the frontier unprotected. Unlike the French pioneers who tended to be hunters and trappers, these settlers were establishing an agricultural community with potentially permanent inhabitants.

As the storm broke, a group of Shawnee entered the camp virtually unimpeded. At least four settlers were killed and five were taken back to Kentucky as captives to live among the tribe; among them Mary Draper Ingles. After several years of captivity, she escaped at Big Bone, Kentucky, and made a journey of more than eight hundred miles across the Appalachian Mountains back to Draper's Meadow. Her marriage to William Ingles is said to be the first white wedding west of the Alleghenies. Also taken captive were her two sons; one of which, Thomas Ingles, lived among the Indians for many years and never fully gave up the Shawnee way of life.

The original 7,500 acre tract was awarded to James Patton, an Irish sea captain turned land speculator. The group of around twenty settlers were a mix of migrants from Pennsylvania of English and Germanic origin. The settlement was situated somewhere near the present day campus of Virginia Tech.

"Follow the River", a historical novel by James Alexander Thom is based on the story of Mary Draper Ingles and has sold over one million copies.

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