Benge's Gap

Benge's Gap is a Virginia historical marker in Wise County, dedicated 1999.

Rte. 23, at Powell Valley Overlook

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Beginning in 1774, Chief Benge led a part of the Shawnee from the Ohio River on raids along the frontier. Benge, who was part white and part Cherokee, frequently captured slaves and then resold them; he also seized white women and children who were then adopted by various Indian groups. On 6 Apr. 1794, Benge attacked the Henry and Peter Livingston farm on the Holston River, took several residents prisoner, and marched them northeast. Three days later, when they entered the Powell Mountain gap just south, Lt. Vincent Hobbs and eleven Lee County militiamen ambushed them, killed Benge with the first volley, and freed the captives.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1776 · Carte nouvelle de l'Amérique Angloise contenant tout ce que les Anglois possédent sur… (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1796 · Kentuckey. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1796 · Map of The Tennassee (sic) Government. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1797 · Tennassee Government. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1807 · Map Of Virginia (lower left sheet) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Kentuckey, 1796, covering the location of Benge's Gap, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Kentuckey, 1796, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

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Benge's Gap

Historical maps covering this location

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