Mar 4, 2019 2 min read

Pewter musket ball

You may not realize that the last battle of the American Revolution was fought in Washington County. A group of 100 Shawnee warriors attacked Rice’s Fort in September 1784. This force was sent under the orders of Capt. Bradt of Buttler’s Rangers. The Rangers were a British regiment that fought with the Shawnee in the West during the American Revolution. After a failed attack at Fort Henry, Bradt sent 100 warriors to attack outposts along the frontier. On Sept. 14, the warriors arrived at Rice’s Fort and attacked. The men, women and children who were in the area ran for the fort. Six men – Jacob Miller, George Lefler, Peter Fullenweider, Daniel Rice, George Felebaum and Jacob Lefler Jr. – made it to the fort. As the day wore on, the defenders of the fort began to run low on their supply of lead. George Felebaum’s wife began fashioning musket balls from pewter utensils for the men to fire from their muskets. Although more brittle than those made of lead, the pewter musket balls were sufficient and helped the men to successfully defend the fort.

In 2012, the Washington County Historical Society worked with National Geographic to film an episode of the NatGeo show “Diggers” on the history of frontier forts. During their survey of the site of Rice’s Fort, George Wyant uncovered an intact pewter musket ball. This musket ball is one that was made by Mrs. Felebaum for the defense of Rice’s Fort in 1784.

Clay Kilgore is executive director of the Washington County Historical Society.