Richard "Long Hunter" Skaggs and Morgan's Rifles

Richard "Long Hunter" Skaggs was one of the Longhunter brothers, sons of James and Rachel Skaggs of the New River valley of Virginia.  His more famous brother, Henry, is the one we usually think of when we think of adventurers, however, Richard had a well-documented three-year military career during the American Revolution as a member of the 7th Virginia Regiment of Foot (Infantry) and the Provisional Rifle Corps, otherwise known as Morgan's Rifles.

A Family of Early Ohio Scaggs Pioneers

Most Ohio Skaggs settlers moved over from Kentucky sometime in the mid-1800s.  Many of these Ohio Skaggs are descendants of Old Peter.  I was recently shown a Scaggs family with a completely different and somewhat unexpected origin, apparently Maryland in the 1790s.

Lord Dunmore's War

Many of the Scaggs family of Virginia were involved in the militia during Lord Dunmore's War in 1774.  Lord Dunmore was the Governor of colonial Virginia.  White settlers and the Indians were in conflict over land disputes on the Virginia frontier in present day West Virginia and Kentucky.  Lord Dunmore decided to put an end to this frontier conflict with an attack against the Indians using Virginia militia.