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Preserving the historic heritage of the original settlers of the Fort Germanna Colonies in Virginia

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You are here: Home / Germanna Blog / Historian Illuminates Culpeper Patriot’s Revolutionary Role
Historian Illuminates Culpeper Patriot’s Revolutionary Role

Historian Illuminates Culpeper Patriot’s Revolutionary Role

September 12, 2019 By Germanna Foundation Leave a Comment

Updated — Video of the lecture:

The Culpeper Star-Exponent wrote an article about a lecture at the Germanna Foundation:

Area residents are in for a treat tonight (Sept 12, 2019) as a researcher presents fresh findings about Virginia’s “German Regiment,” a notable player in the Revolutionary War.

Gabe Neville
Gabe Neville

Gabe Neville of Fairfax County, who has been studying the 8th Virginia Regiment for more than 20 years, will share his work on George Slaughter, a captain of the regiment’s Culpeper County company and one of the founders of Louisville, Ky.

Born in Culpeper in 1739, Slaughter probably was a descendant of the Germanna Colony’s settlers.

He recruited one of the first companies for the famous Culpeper Minutemen.

Slaughter probably participated in the Battle of Great Bridge, Virginia, an early patriot victory over the British. He stayed with the regiment through the battles of Charleston and Brandywine, earning a promotion to major of the 12th Virginia just before the Battle of Germantown, Neville has written.

At Valley Forge in December 1777, Slaughter learned that a fire had destroyed his family’s Culpeper house and that they were threatened by a smallpox epidemic. That prompted him to ask Gen. George Washington for a furlough, which was denied.

Slaughter resigned his commission on Dec. 23 and headed home, later asking to be reinstated.

Later, he recruited 150 Virginians to reinforce frontier militia leader George Rogers Clark’s western army, boating downstream to the falls of the Ohio River, where Louisville sprang up.

In 1780, Slaughter joined Clark on a military campaign against the Shawnee in Ohio. (Clark’s brother William and Meriwether Lewis, both Virginians, explored the Pacific Northwest from 1804 to 1806, journeying 8,000 miles into the unknown and back by boat, on foot and on horseback.)

When Clark departed for Virginia, he left Slaughter in command, and the Culpeper native oversaw construction of Fort Nelson at Louisville.

At age 25, Slaughter had volunteered to help suppress an Indian uprising known as Pontiac’s Rebellion. A decade later, he participated in Dunmore’s War, the royal governor of Virginia,’s campaign to “pacify” the Indians.

“An 8th Virginia soldier like Captain George Slaughter might have seen the Revolution as one chapter in a six-decade fight with the Indians for control of Kentucky and Ohio,” Neville has written.

“The territories were the scenes of nearly constant bloodshed from the defeat of General Edward Braddock in 1755 to the defeat of Shawnee chief Tecumseh in 1813. Slaughter and his comrades suffered from no moral anguish when it came to killing Indians.”

Nevillle will also mention other Culpeper soldiers with Germanna connections, following their stories into the Tennessee and Kentucky postwar frontiers.

A former journalist and congressional staffer, Neville is a senior advisor at Covington & Burling, an international law firm based in Washington, D.C. The Pennsylvania native writes a blog at 8thVirginia.com and updates a Facebook page, facebook.com/8thVirginia.

Neville has written articles for the Journal of the American Revolution, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and National Review.

The public is invited to his 7 p.m. talk in the Germanna Foundation’s new Hitt Archaeology Center, next to its five-sided, cupola-topped Fort Germanna Visitor Center on State Route 3 at the Orange-Culpeper line. The foundation’s headquarters is next to Germanna Community College’s Locust Grove Campus; the address is 2062 Germanna Highway, Locust Grove. Please register via Eventbrite.

After Neville’s presentation, he will entertain questions from the audience.

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Germanna Foundation’s Mission and Stewardship

The Germanna Foundation tells America’s story of liberty through the frontier experience of her settlers and descendants using archaeological, historical, and genealogical research and interpretation. We are stewards over these important properties and initiatives:

  • Fort Germanna Visitor Center campus which includes a Museum, Genealogy Library, the Hitt Archaeology Center, and the Germanna Memorial Garden
  • Siegen Forest – 170-acre Hiking and Nature Trails along the Rapidan river
  • 1714/1717 Fort Germanna Archaeology Site
  • Virginia Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood’s home “Enchanted Castle” Archaeology Site
  • 1757 Georgian-style Salubria Manor
  • 1800 Peter Hitt Farm
  • Publishing “The Germanna Record” genealogy/ history books
  • Maintaining a genealogy database with over 130,000 records of descendants of the Germanna colonists

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Germanna Foundation

The Germanna Foundation
MAILING: P.O. Box 279
LOCATION: 2062 Germanna Highway
Locust Grove, VA 22508-0279
Phone: 540-423-1700
Fax: 540-423-1747
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Fort Germanna Visitor Center, Museum & Library

2062 Germanna Highway (Route 3)
Locust Grove, VA 22508
(Next to the Germanna Community College campus)

Hours of Operation:
Monday-Friday, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Saturdays, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Closed on Sundays

Out of town visitors are urged to call us at 540-423-1700 to confirm or to make special arrangements for groups.

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Behind the Fort Germanna Visitor Center is our 170-acre Siegen Forest nature and hiking trails along the Rapidan river. Trails are OPEN 7 days a week, during daylight hours. When visiting the trails, please practice “Leave no Trace” ethos. If you enjoy the trails, consider donating to the Germanna Foundation to help support their upkeep.

 

About

The Germanna Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to exploring the Colonial Virginia frontier via the historic 1714 Fort Germanna and its German colonists and their descendants.

It conducts archaeological exploration and conservation, genealogical research and publishing, and historic preservation and interpretation.

The Foundation owns and maintains several historic sites and properties, such as Salubria Manor, that were part of or closely connected to the Germanna colonies, the town of Germanna, and the other early colonial Virginia settlements and towns in the Piedmont area of Virginia.

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