Chiswell

Fort Chiswell stood near the New River, at the junction of the Great Trading Path and the road from Richmond. William Byrd III built the frontier post in 1758 during the French and Indian War, naming it for his business partner Colonel John Chiswell. The two men operated lead mines in the surrounding country. During the American Revolution the fort guarded a deposit of lead used to make bullets, giving this outpost in the Appalachian valleys a place in the supply of the war.