Andrew Donnally was a colonel by virtue of his being sheriff of Greenbrier County when it was formed in 1778, the year of the attack on Fort Donnally.
Andrew Donnally was a High Sheriff and County Lieutenant of Bottetourt County, Virginia in 1775. He was appointed to the rank of Colonel by the Governor. He served as the County Lieutenant or Commander in Chief of Greenbrier County and continued his service in that role uonder the leadership of Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson the first two Governors of Virginia.
Andrew Donnally was a colonel by virtue of his being sheriff of Greenbrier County when it was formed in 1778, the year of the attack on Fort Donnally. Colonel Donnally resigned his commission as a military commander on September 19, 1781, However it was not accepted as he writes officially to Governor Patrick again in 1785.
"Fort Donnally in Rader’s Valley, Greenbrier County, was the scene of one of the largest Revolutionary War battles in Western Virginia. On the morning of May 29, 1778, a force of between 50 and 300 Wyandot and Mingo Indians attacked the fort, which was occupied by about 20 local militiamen under Lt. Col. Andrew Donnally and Lt. Jack Williams, 60 white women and children, and Donnally’s slaves. The fort’s occupants had been warned of the impending attack by two scouts, Philip Hammond and John Pryor, from Fort Randolph in Point Pleasant. They withstood the attack alone until a relief force of 68 militiamen under Col. Samuel Lewis, Capt. John Stuart, and Capt. Matthew Arbuckle arrived from Fort Savannah in present-day Lewisburg at 3 p.m." (Source: The West Virginia Encyclopedia)
He was born in northern Ireland and came to the United States as part of the Scotch Irish emigration. On 10 September 1776 at Augusta Co., Virginia he married Jane McCreary. Together they had several daughters and a son Andrew Donnally Jr..
Donnally owned the valley, or at least a large part of it, where he erected the stockade to protect the settlers from Indian forays. It was not Greenbrier County then, Greenbrier was formed from Botetourt and Montgomery counties in 1778. Several pioneer forts and many bloody engagements mark the history of Greenbrier County now the second largest in the state.
After Donnally sold his holdings in this valley he moved to Charleston and bought a river bottom farm where present Kanawha City is. Sprawled on the land once owned by Donnally is the huge Ownes-Illinois [sic] Glass Factory which is folded up now. Colonel Donnally died there and was buried in a little grave yard there on the south bank of the Kanawha. There the dust of him and family remained undisturbed until construction of the West Virginia turnpike. Then the graves were moved to another location.
Col. Donnally had eight children: Andrew Donnally, Jr., married Margery Van Bibber, May 31, 1802 (Margery's sister, Chloe, married Jesse, son of Daniel Boone.) Catherine B. (1768-1858) married John Wilson, Mary "Polly" married Reuben Slaughter, marriage recorded in 1791 in Kanawha County; Charles born 1769 died young; Jennie; Elizabeth married Jacob Skyles; Sallie married Samuel Henderson; and John born 1784.
Other Sources Used:
West Virginia Historical Magazine Quarterly, Vol. 1 "A Brief Sketch of the Late Col. Andrew Donnally" By: Mrs. Miriam Welch Donnally.
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