Andrew Sharp's exact facts of his beginnings are a little unclear.

Andrew Sharp's exact facts of his beginnings are a little unclear.

It has been stated that he was born between 1750-1755, in Northern Ireland, but some reports state that he was born, in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, to Scottish immigrants Thomas Sharp and Margaret Elder.

Andrew spent his mid-twenties fighting as a patriot in the Revolutionary War and he served three separate enlistments. He first enlisted in March 1776, as a Private in Captain William Pebble’s Company, in Colonel Samuel Miles’ Pennsylvania Rifles. He fought with his unit under General George Washington during the Battle of Long Island, Princeton, and Germantown. His first enlistment expired on 31 December 1776.

His second enlistment was from 1 March, through 1 May 1777, with the Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foote. His third enlistment started on an unknown date, and he was mustered out of service on 13 November 1783. During this enlistment, he fought at the Battle of Trenton Ferry, and after the battle, he was cited for heroism. Family lore states that before the Battle of Brandywine, his reputation for bravery caused him to be given a promotion to the rank of Captain by General Washington!

After the war, Captain Sharp returned to Cumberland County, where in 1783, he married Ann Woods. They had seven children. Like most of the early settlers, they moved further west and lived in what is now known as Indiana County, Pennsylvania. In 1794, the Sharps decided to be one of the thousands of families to migrate to Kentucky.

It was early summer when Captain Sharp along with his family and three families of neighbours totalling twenty in all, began their adventure. They loaded a large flatboat and started down the Kishkiminitas River. Just before they reached the Allegheny River the party banked their boat, and the four men began to set up camp.

Earlier that day a band of twelve Native Americans had gone to Pittsburg to trade. The people would not trade with them which threw them into a rage. They shot and killed two men in canoes before coming upon Captain Sharp’s party.

As the men were starting to set up camp the natives opened fire on them. Two of the men scattered into the trees and Sharp and his friend frantically pushed the boat back adrift into the river. Sharp’s friend was shot dead, and Sharp was severely wounded, but once the boat was adrift he climbed back on it to defend the women and children. Luckily there were four rifles on the boat and with the women reloading the rifles he was able to fire back at the attackers almost continuously.

Eventually, the boat broke loose, and the natives followed them along the river for twelve miles, shouting all the way for them to give themselves up. Mrs Conner and her son wanted to give themselves up because the men were either dead or wounded. Captain Sharp told them to back down or he would shoot them himself. At that moment Mrs. Conner’s son was shot dead by one of the attackers.

Eventually, the Natives disappeared into the woods. Once again, Captain Sharp’s bravery had saved the ones that he loved. This attack became known as the last Native American attack in the State of Pennsylvania.

The next morning the party arrived at Fort Pitt where they reported the attack and regrouped. Sadly, in addition to the man who was killed trying to assist in getting the boat back afloat, two of the neighbour's children were killed. Most were amazed that Captain Sharp was still alive because he had been shot in four different places. He had one of his eyebrows shot off and was shot once in each side of his abdomen, and once in his back. He was taken to doctors in Pittsburg to recuperate from his wounds. He was treated and was on the mend making progress every day.

Thirty-six days after the attack was the morning of 4 July 1794, America’s 18th Independence Day. The day began with the patriotic citizens of Pittsburg firing off a barrage of cannons to get the celebrations started. This blast startled Captain Sharp, and he leapt from his bed, and while doing so, ripped open his main wound. The doctors were not able to stop his flow of blood and he sadly died four days later. His youngest child was only 11 days old. Captain Sharp was the last person in Pennsylvania killed by Indians.

(𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞: 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩; 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝)