On this day 250 years ago, at Beaver Creek in what is now West Virginia, three traders were camped after canoeing down the Ohio from Pittsburgh in order to trade with the Shawnee for pelts. That morning the traders were attacked by party of four Cherokee without warning. One of the traders named Murphy was killed, and another trader named Stephens was wounded. This attack would soon lead to war between Virginians and the Shawnees and their allies, a war that continued throughout the Revolutionary War and for years afterward, with only intermittent periods of peace.

Source: Glenn F. Williams, Dunmore’s War at 56.