More than 18 killed The Battle of Great Cacapon — also known as Mercer's Massacre — was fought on April 18, 1756[2] between members of Colonel George Washington's Virginia Regiment and French-allied Shawnee and Delaware Indians.

In an attempt to defend against these raids, Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie ordered a series of defensive fortifications to be constructed.

These forts were manned by members of Virginia provincial militia under the overall command of Colonel George Washington.

A Delaware leader named Bemino, known as John Killbuck to the whites, a number of years after the incident, described how he and a band of Indians (probably composed of Delawares and Shawnee) killed two men near Fort Edwards, not far from the Cacapon River in what is now Hampshire County, West Virginia.

Captain John Mercer led a band of militia (said to number from forty to one hundred, depending on sources) in pursuit.