Andrew Lewis (1720-1781) as a young man became known as an outstanding frontiersman and surveyor. In 1745, he assisted in surveying large tracts in the Cowpasture valley and, between 1749 and 1754, he helped survey about 50,000 acres in the Greenbrier (now West Virginia) area. In the early 1740s, he married Elizabeth Givens, daughter of an early Augusta settler, and the couple had seven children. They established a homestead named Richfield in Botetourt County (established in 1769 from Augusta) near Salem, in what is now Roanoke County.

In 1754 he began his illustrious career as a soldier, serving as a captain in General Washington's Virginia Regiment. He was with Washington at the surrender of Fort Necessity in Southwestern Pennsylvania. He later supervised the construction of frontier forts along the Greenbrier River, and was a pointed county lieutenant (the highest county military rank) for Augusta County.

He fought with distinction in several military expeditions against the French and Indians. On one occasion, he was captured and spent 13 months imprisoned by the French before being exchanged.

As a colonel, in Dunsmore's War in 1774, he led his forces of mostly Augusta men in the Battle of Point Pleasant, at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers. With 600 men, Andrew fought to bloody victory against Cornstalk and his Shawnee warriors. His brother Charles Lewis, was killed in this engagement, which has been recognized as the first battle of the American Revolution.

With his brother, Thomas, Andrew served in the Virginia Conventions of the 1770s, as a delegate from Botetourt County. As a general in the Revolutionary War, Andrew, and his Virginia force were instrumental in driving Governor Dunsmore from Virginia. In 1780-81, Andrew Lewis served in the governor's council, first under Governor Thomas Jefferson, then under Governor Thomas Nelson.

He died in Bedford, on his way home to Richfield from Richmond in 1781.

The statue of Andrew Lewis stands with those of five other prominent Virginians around the base of the equestrian statue of George Washington in Capitol Square in Richmond.

(This biography was taken from www.lewisgenealogy.com and the photos are of a memorial outside of the Salem Civic Center)

Stretch of I-81 Designated Andrew Lewis Memorial Highway

On March 13, 2001, the General Assembly of Virginia designated that portion of Interstate Route 81 within the boundaries of Rockbridge County, Botetourt County, Roanoke County, and the City of Salem the “Andrew Lewis Memorial Highway.”

Richard H. Fisher, first president of the Salem Educational Foundation & Alumni Association, and House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith collaborated to bring the idea of an Andrew Lewis Memorial Highway to the Virginia House of Delegates.

In May, signs were placed at each county line and at interval of 8 miles to pay tribute to the Revolutionary Hero Gen. Andrew Lewis.

Thirty-eight miles of the highway within the boundaries of Augusta County were designated the “John Lewis Memorial Highway.” John Lewis, the father of Andrew Lewis, brought his family from Ireland to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1731. He moved to Orange County (now Augusta), Virginia in 1732 and built the area’s first homestead.

Fisher graduated from Andrew Lewis High School in 1941, grew up on the original Andrew Lewis land grant in Salem, and became interested in perpetuating the deeds of the Revolutionary Hero five years ago after reading a biography of Gen. Lewis given to him by his wife Anne.

Griffith, a history major in college, had been interested in the life and deeds of Andrew Lewis since his high school days in Salem. He believes the signs will increase the public’s awareness of “Virginia’s most underrated hero.”

In 1780, Andrew Lewis was appointed by Governor Thomas Jefferson as a member of the governor’s advisory council. On his way home to Salem from Richmond in 1781, Lewis fell ill and stopped in Bedford at Captain Talbot’s place. On September 25, 1781, just two weeks before his sixty-first birthday and three weeks before the American victory at Yorktown, Andrew Lewis died of “bilious fever.” He was brought home to Richfield in Salem; and on Thursday, September 27, 1781, he was buried beside his youngest son Charles on the family plantation. In 1897, the remains of Lewis and his son Charles were moved to East Hill Cemetery.