Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/92

 artillery. Vass's fort was a small structure erected by the settlers as a place of temporary refuge.

Still fearing an attack by Indians, Mrs. Ingles prevailed upon her husband to take her east of the Blue Ridge. On the very day they left Vass's, that fort was captured by Indians, and every one in it killed or taken prisoner. John Ingles, a bachelor, and the wife and child of his brother, Matthew, were killed in the fort. Matthew was out hunting when the attack was made, and hearing the firing hastened back. He shot one Indian, and clubbed others with his gun, till it was wrenched from his hands. He then seized a frying pan that happened to be near, and belabored his foes with the handle till he was wounded and overcome. The Indians carried him off, but some time after, being released or escaping, he returned to the settlement. He never entirely recovered from his wounds, however, and died a few months after his return.

The fort is supposed to have been destroyed by the Indians. In 1756, however, a stronger fort was built there at public expense, under the superintendence of Captain Peter Hogg, and the latter is the fort alluded to by Governor Dinwiddle in his correspondence as Vass's or Voss's fort.

From early in 1755 till he finally left the province and went "home," Governor Dinwiddle's letters flew thick and fast. On the 11th of August he wrote to Captain Andrew Lewis, recognizing him as next in command to Colonel Patton, in Augusta, and enclosing blank commissions for the officers of a company of rangers. He also sent him £200 to defray expenses. To Colonel John Buchanan he wrote, recommending the employment of dogs for finding out the Indians. By the 25th of August he had four companies of rangers in Augusta. In another letter of the same date he speaks of five companies on the frontier of the county. He still had an eye to economy, however, and took time to advise Captain John Smith that forty shillings was too much to pay for a coat to be given to some friendly Indian warrior. He never did get over the loss of the wagon which Colonel Patton had with him in his last expedition. In a letter to Washington, dated December 14, 1755, the Governor complained of Captain Hogg's extravagance as follows: "Captain Hogg sent a messenger here for money to pay for provisions for his company. The quantity he mentioned I think was sufficient for