Batts and Fallum Expedition into West Virginia

General Abraham Wood, at the direction of Royal Governor William Berkeley, sent Thomas Batts and Robert Fallum into the West Virginia area. They followed a tributary of the Kanawha River and discovered Kanawha Falls.

People involved

• Abraham Wood
• William Berkeley
• Thomas Batts
• Robert Fallum

When this happened

Batts and Fallum Expedition into West Virginia occurred in 1671, during the colonial period period of American history.

Where this happened

Batts and Fallum Expedition into West Virginia took place in West Virginia. Explore the full history of West Virginia and primary source records from this era.

European colonization of North America accelerated after 1600, with England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands establishing competing settlements along the Atlantic coast, the St. Lawrence River, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi Valley. The first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia (1607) struggled with starvation and conflict; the Plymouth colony (1620) and the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630) followed. By the mid-1700s, thirteen English colonies stretched along the Atlantic seaboard, governed through a mix of royal charters, proprietary grants, and elected assemblies. The colonial economy depended on tobacco in Virginia and Maryland, rice and indigo in the Carolinas, and maritime trade in New England — all increasingly reliant on enslaved African labor after 1619. Conflict with Indigenous peoples over land was continuous, punctuated by major wars including King Philip's War (1675–1676) in New England and the Yamasee War (1715–1717) in the South. The French and Indian War (1754–1763), part of the global Seven Years' War, ended French power in North America and left Britain deeply in debt — triggering the taxation disputes that would lead to revolution.

Content adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Source: Wikipedia: European exploration and settlement.