On 30 July 1755, during the French and Indian War, Shawnee Indians attacked the nearby Draper's Meadow settlement. They killed Col. James Patton, Casper Berger, Mrs. George Draper, and a Draper child, wounded James Cull, and captured Mary Draper Ingels, her two sons, Mrs. John Draper, and Henry Leonard. The Indians took their captives to Ohio. After several months, Ingels escaped and wandered some 800 miles to return home, a legendary feat. She and her husband, William, moved near Radford and operated a New River ferry. She died and was buried there in 1815, aged 83.