North America because it was interpreted by some to suggest that private purchases of land from American Indians would now be recognized by the British Crown. With this in mind, Murray and his Philadelphia employers organized the Illinois Company and, on 5 July 1773, purchased two tracts of land from the Kaskaskia, Peoria, and Cahokia tribes. British officials refused to recognize the legality of the Illinois Company's purchase–the interpretation of Camden-Yorke circulating in America had been misleading. In April 1774, Murray turned to his kinsman, Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia. Dunmore agreed to lend support to the company's purchases in exchange for a piece of the action. Murray then formed the Wabash Company with Lord Dunmore as a member. On October 18, 1775, an agent for the Wabash Company purchased two tracts of land along the Wabash River from the Piankeshaw tribe called the 'Piankeshaw Deed'. Soon after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, however, Dunmore was forced to flee Virginia, and the companies were compelled to turn to new officials for recognition of its purchases. Merger and American denial of title During the war the British had sparsely garrisoned the Illinois Country, which was far away from the main area of action. In July 1778, Colonel George Rogers Clark and a small force took possession of the region on behalf of Virginia, which, by virtue of its colonial charter, had a claim to the entire Illinois Country. In December of that year, Murray presented a memorial to the Virginia legislature, informing them of the land claims of the Illinois and Wabash companies. In order to consolidate their lobbying efforts, the two companies merged on March 13, 1779, becoming the United Illinois and Wabash Land Company. The cause of the company was promoted by influential Americans such as James Wilson and Robert Morris, who had become investors. Other notable members included Silas Deane, Samuel Chase, and Maryland governor Thomas Johnson. Despite these political connections, Virginia declined to recognize the Illinois-Wabash purchases and instead created the "County of Illinois" in November 1779. Thus rejected, the company turned its efforts to lobbying the new national government of the United States. This issue became part of a wider debate in Congress about the western boundaries of states, with the states without western lands demanding that Virginia and other states with large land claims cede these lands to the national government.