William Fleming (governor)

[2] His parents were Leonard and Dorthea Saterthwaite Fleming, who lived on Lake Windermere and registered four children in the Hugil Parish records and in Edinburgh.

He then entered the Royal Navy, supposedly serving as a surgeon's mate and surviving capture and imprisoned by the Spanish.

Hog's company was assigned to protect Fort Dinwiddie near Warm Springs as part of George Washington's Virginia Regiment and was told to rendezvous with experienced scouts in Augusta Court House before heading further into the Appalachian Mountains.

[4] Weathering problems in accessing his promised bonus for serving as the unit's surgeon, Fleming received a promotion to Second Lieutenant the following spring, although Capt.

By fall, surgeon Fleming was assigned to Lewis' headquarters at Fort Dickenson on the Cowpasture River near present Millboro,[5] but his request to transfer to the regular army was ignored.

[6] In 1768 Fleming retired from medicine in Augusta County and moved southward with other settlers and built "Belle Mount" or "Belmont" on land his father-in-law gave him in the Roanoke Valley.

These gifts, his medical practice, and his further investments in land individually and through the Loyal Company of Virginia eventually made Fleming wealthy.

[7] In Dunmore's War (1774), Colonel Fleming led the Botetourt County militia along with other troops under the guidance of the experienced Col. Andrew Lewis at the Battle of Point Pleasant.

[8] A patriot nonetheless, Fleming remained active in politics during the American Revolution, representing a western district as a member of the Senate of Virginia.

When the legislature reconvened at Staunton, Jefferson's term had expired, so Fleming, as the senior member of the Virginia Council present, acted unofficially as governor.

During this brief time, Fleming called out the Virginia militia to oppose the British invasion by Benedict Arnold, Banastre Tarleton, and others.

His final public service was as one of Botetourt County's two delegates to the 1788 Virginia Ratifying Convention (alongside Martin McFerran); an event held at the Richmond Theatre.

George Baxter, who presided over Washington College (under the supervision of this Fleming and other trustees), although only his widow ultimately survived the American Civil War in Lexington, Virginia, not very far from where her parents had courted.