Andrew Lewis (October 9, 1720 – September 26, 1781) was an Irish-born American pioneer, surveyor, military officer and politician in Colonial Virginia and during the American Revolutionary War. A colonel of militia during the French and Indian War, and brigadier general in the American Revolutionary War, his most famous victory was the Battle of Point Pleasant in Dunmore's War in 1774, although he also drove Lord Dunmore's forces from Norfolk and Gwynn's Island in 1776. He also helped found Liberty Hall (later Washington and Lee University) in 1776. Early and family life Lewis was born in County Donegal, Ireland, to Col. John Lewis (d. 1762) and his wife Margaret Lynn. In 1732 John Lewis, having killed his landlord in an altercation, fled to Virginia with his sons Andrew and Thomas. They became among the first settlers in then vast western Augusta County, John Lewis having received a large land grant before emigrating. Andrew Lewis received a basic education and learned the skills of a surveyor. He spent at least fifteen years farming and working as a surveyor in southwestern Virginia. In 1751 he and his father explored much of the Greenbrier District of Augusta County (which much later became later Greenbrier County, West Virginia). John Lewis named the Greenbrier River after getting stuck in a patch of the thorny plant. Andrew Lewis also served as county lieutenant and later captain in the Augusta County militia. Early in the 1740s Andrew Lewis married Elizabeth Givens, daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Cathey) Givens, formerly of County Antrim, Ireland. They established their own home, called Richfield, in what later became Roanoke County near Salem. Their children included: Samuel (c.1748-1763), John (1750–1788), Thomas (1752–1800), Andrew Jr. (1759–1844), Anna (who married Andrew Lambert (1768-1845))), William (1764–1812) and Charles (c.1768-1781). Their granddaughter Agatha Strother (1779-1852), married Elijah McClanahan. French and Indian War The Virginia frontier became a battleground in the French and Indian War, as did the frontiers of the more northerly colonies of Pennsylvania (which like Virginia also claimed land west of the Appalachian Mountains) and Maryland (whose boundary ended at the Appalachians). Virginia organized provincial troops to defend settlers subject to attacks by Indians upset at encroachments into their territories; Lewis became a captain in George Washington's Virginia Regiment. After the loss at the Battle of Great Meadows in 1754, Washington was forced to surrender to the French. Lewis was then at Fort Necessity