As Jackson River was a frontier settlement, the farmers met at the school house and made preparations for defense.
All able bodied freemen between the ages of fifteen and fifty were enrolled in the local militia. All realized that serious days were ahead for the colony, which must not only suppress the Indians, but be prepared to join with the other colonies in resisting, even by force of arms, the oppressive measures adopted by the mother country.
In the reorganization, they insisted upon choosing new and competent officers to command them; men who had seen military service and whose loyalty to the colony was not tainted by Toryism.
Mr. Campbell’s efforts at organization coupled with the knowledge that he had been an officer in and seen actual service in the British army and that a warrant had been issued for his arrest resulted after careful consideration in his selection as their captain. This selection after some delay was confirmed upon the recommendation of Mr. Peyton Randolph and Mr. Fairfax.
After receiving his commission he worked zealously in organizing, drilling and equipping his company of 170 [pg 114] men; all of whom were experienced woodsmen and excellent marksmen.
With this command he counted not only upon protecting the frontier; but if all peaceful means failed, at an opportune time of rescuing his son and little Dorothy.
His plantation, well up the mountain side, was the first settlement on the trail coming over the mountain from the Kanawha country, and at night half a dozen men used his barn as barracks, while he and his two servants slept in the house, their rifles within easy reach of their beds. A guard of three men was also placed in the mountain pass to watch the trail and give warning.
Signal flags were set upon John Calvin Rock to give warning by day and a great pile of wood and timber, ready for flint and steel, was placed upon its summit to give a blaze of warning by night.
On the night of the thirtieth of July, the party in the barn were awakened by Indians stealing the two horses. They gave the alarm by firing at them just as they were leaving the lot, and then followed up the mountain trail in close pursuit, occasionally taking a shot when a rolling stone or the noise made by the horses indicated the location of the marauders.
The shooting warned the guards at the pass, and they, at close range, making out the figures of the Indians even in the darkness, killed one and recovered one of the horses.