Histories

DAR To Honor Grave of Soldier's Daughter, From the Anderson, Indiana Herald, June 8, 1953 Mary (Polly) Dickinson Arbuckle was the only known daughter of a Revolutionary War Veteran to be buried in Madison County, Indiana (in 1847). She was born in 1784 at Fort Randolph, Virginia (at Point Pleasant, now in West Virginia), to William Arbuckle Nelson and Catherine Madison (who are also my ancestors). William Arbuckle served in the Virginia Militia throughout the war, and most notably at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. (Yes, it is generally considered to be a Revolutionary War battle, because, though the British didn't participate, they had signed a treaty with the Native Americans who participated, and failed to assist the militia as promised). The article notes that William Arbuckle explored the Northwest Territories with William Rogers Clark after the Revolutionary War. Clark's forays into the Northwest Territories were actually military engagements with the British and allied native Americans during the war. It may not be clear that, at that time, the "Nortwest Territories" covered portions of what are not Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. The article also states that William Arbuckle was the commandant of Fort Randolph when Mary was born. His brother Matthew definitely was commandant of the fort in the late 1770's, particularly when the Native American Chief Cornstalk was murdered there. The fort was abandoned by 1780, and rebuilt a few years later. William definitely served at the rebuilt fort, but it is not clear whether he was ever the commandant. - Robin Richmond