Fort William

Capt. William Preston constructed Fort William nearby in 1755 during the French and Indian War (1754-1763), part of a broader imperial conflict between Great Britain and France known as the Seven Years’ War. This fort was one in a series of outposts built to protect Virginia’s frontier. A group of Cherokee, then allied with the British, visited in the fall of 1755, and Col. George Washington inspected the fort during his frontier tour in 1756. Indians attacked the fort in Oct. 1756, scattering nearby settlers. In 1763, during Pontiac’s War (1763–1766), settlers gathered at Fort William, or at a nearby successor fort built by Preston, for protection.