Dunmore's plan is to march into the Ohio Country and force the natives to accept the Ohio River boundary that had been negotiated with the Iroquois in the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix.
Shawnees had not been consulted in that treaty, however, and many do not want to surrender their lands south of the Ohio River without a fight.
Officials of the British Indian Department, led by Sir William Johnson until his death in July 1774, have worked to diplomatically isolate the Shawnees from other natives.
As a result, when the war begins, Shawnees have few allies other than a few Mingos.
Cornstalk, the Shawnee leader, moves to intercept Lewis's army, hoping to prevent the Virginians from linking up. (Estimates of the size of Cornstalk's force have varied over the years, but scholars now suspect Cornstalk was greatly outnumbered, having around three hundred to five hundred warriors.)
Blue Jacket, a future notable Shawnee leader, probably takes part in the battle.
On October 10, 1774, Cornstalk's forces attack Lewis's camp where the Kanawha River flows into the Ohio River, hoping to trap him along a bluff.
The battle lasts for hours and is extremely intense; the fighting eventually becomes hand-to-hand.
Cornstalk's voice is reportedly heard over the din of the battle, repeatedly urging his warriors to "be strong."
Lewis sends several companies along the Kanawha and up a nearby creek in order to attack the natives from the rear, reducing the intensity of the Shawnee offensive.
At nightfall, the Shawnees silently withdraw back across the Ohio.
The Virginians had held their ground, and so won the day, suffering about seventy-five killed and one hundred and fifty wounded.
The Shawnee are supposed to have had thirty-three killed.
The natives had thrown many of their dead companion's bodies into the river to prevent them from being mutilated. (Scalping is routinely practiced by both sides for proof of claim for bounty reasons in this era.
Among the dead is Pucksinwah, the father of Tecumseh.
The Battle of Point Pleasant, sometimes known as the Battle of Kanawha, is the only major battle of Dunmore's War.
After the battle, the Virginians, along with a second force led by Lord Dunmore, march into the Ohio Country and compel Cornstalk to agree to the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, ending the war and ceding Shawnee land claims south of the Ohio (modern Kentucky) to Virginia.
