In 1768，the Iroquois and Cherokee tribes released（发表）their claims to the territory between the Ohio River and the Allegheny Mountains．This nullified（无效）the Proclamation of 1763，producing a rapid increase in settlement．Land speculators again became concerned with their legal rights to the land on which white settlers were squatters（在无主土地上合法定居的人）．One of the speculators was none other than George Washington，who acquired 45，000acres of present－day Mason，Putnam，and Kanawha counties．
With the incursion（袭击，侵入）of colonial surveyors into the trans－Allegheny region，Shawnee forces once again attempted to defend their property．Colonists attempted pre－emptive attacks which further infuriated（激怒）the Native Americans．In 1773，land speculator Michael Cresap led a group of volunteers from Fort Fincastle（later renamed Fort Henry）at present－day Wheeling，murdering several Shawnee at Captina Creek．Among many other atrocities，on April 30，1774，colonists murdered the family of Mingo chieftain（酋长，首领）Tah－gah－jute，who had been baptized［命名（作为洗礼仪式的一部分）］under the English name of Logan．Although Logan had previously lived peacefully with whites，he killed at least 13settlers that summer in revenge，justifying（证明．．．是正当的）his actions in a famous letter．
Virginia Governor John Murray，Earl of Dunmore，decided to end the conflict in the Ohio Valley by force．Dummore created two armies，one marching from the North，consisting of 1，700men led by himself and the other marching from the South，comprised of 800troops led by western Virginia resident and land speculator Captain Andrew Lewis．Shawnee chieftain Keigh－tugh－qua，or Cornstalk，elected to strike the southern regiment before they united with Dunmore’s forces．On October 10，1774，Cornstalk’s approximately 1，200men attacked Lewis’forces at the confluence of the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers，present－day Point Pleasant．After the battle，which resulted in significant losses on both sides and a Shawnee retreat（撤退）to protect their settlements in the Scioto Valley，Lord Dummore met with members of the Delaware，Shawnee，and Mingo tribes．As a condition of the subsequent Treaty of Camp Charlotte，the Native American tribes relinquished（放弃）all property and hunting claims on land south of the Ohio River．
The Battle of Point Pleasant eliminated Native Americans as a force on the frontier for the first three years of the American Revolutionary War，clearing the way for peaceful settlement of the region．It was the second colonial step in eliminating the elements restricting settlement and successful land speculation，as the Treaty of Paris had removed the French eleven years before．The Revolutionary War would eventually remove British claims from the Appalachian region，leaving the area in the hands of large non－resident land holders such as George Washington，Robert Morris，and DeWitt Clinton．
After the defeat of the French and their Native American allies，England and American colonists finally clashed（冲突）over the ownership of what became the United States．Despite years of conflict with the British，by 1777，many Native American tribes had joined in the fight against the colonists．The great Indian chief Cornstalk was taken hostage（人质）at Fort Randolph at present－day Point Pleasant while trying to warn settlers that the Shawnee had decided to fight on behalf of the British．In retaliation（报复，报仇）for the murder of a colleague，soldiers at the fort murdered Cornstalk and his son．In 1777and 1778，British and Native American forces attacked outposts（边区村落）held by colonials，including Fort Henry（present－day Wheeling），Fort Randolph，and Fort Donnally（west of present－day Lewisburg）．In 1778，George Rogers Clark，accompanied by troops from the Monongahela and Shenandoah valleys，temporarily broke the British－Indian alliance with victories in the Illinois territory at Kaskaskia，Cahokia，and Vincennes．Colonials rejected（拒绝）an attempt by Wyandots and some Shawnee to negotiate a peace in 1779．One of the most violent skirmishes in present－day West Virginia took place when Wyandot and Delaware warriors laid siege（围攻）to Fort Henry in 1782，nearly a year after the surrender of the main British army at Yorktown．American aims were consolidated with General Anthony Wayne’s victory at Fallen Timbers in present－day northwestern Ohio，effectively removing any remaining Indian claims in the Ohio Valley．A number of prominent（显著的）Revolutionary War officers came from present－day West Virginia，including Horatio Gates，Charles Lee，Adam Stephen，Hugh Stephenson，and William Darke．
Besides determining self－rule of the country，the American Revolution negated（否定）all claims upon land in western Virginia by the third and final group，the British．The Revolution opened up settlement of territory west of the Allegheny Mountains，but at the same time，cleared a route to a frontier beyond the Ohio River，which was often more appealing than that territory guarded by the mountains．
Those unwilling or unable to purchase property from land companies claimed homesteads（家园，田产）on the frontier through squatter’s rights．Although avoiding considerable expense，the settlers faced problems on the frontier，such as conflict with Native Americans and disease．Furthermore（而且），the government and land speculators in eastern Virginia，disregarding（漠视，忽视）the “squatter’s rights”，surveyed and distributed the land．
Early settlers pushed west of the Alleghenies and settled first along the major river valleys，including the Greenbrier，Monongahela，Cheat，Tygart，Kanawha，and Ohio．It was not until the 1780s，that a substantial number of people had moved west of the mountains，but after that settlement proceeded at a rapid rate．In 1790，there were 56，000people in present－day West Virginia．By 1810，there were 105，000，and on the eve of the Civil War，377，000．
