In January 1775, on the rugged edge of Virginia’s western frontier, a group of determined leaders gathered in what was then Fincastle County—one of the largest counties ever to exist in colonial America. Meeting likely at McGavock’s Tavern near present-day Fort Chiswell, these men issued what we now call the Fincastle Resolutions—a bold declaration that they would never surrender their liberties, “but at the expense of our lives.”

A full year before the Declaration of Independence, these frontier voices signaled a turning point. They expressed loyalty to King George III, yet firmly rejected the unchecked power of Parliament, asserting their natural rights to liberty, property, and self-governance. Their words helped lay the ideological groundwork for independence—and several of these men would go on to fight, and even die, in the Revolutionary War.

Michael Gillman serves as the Manager of Historic Sites and Homestead Museum Operations for Wytheville, Virginia. A respected public historian, Gillman specializes in early Southwest Virginia history, with a focus on frontier settlement, Revolutionary-era communities, and the cultural landscape of the region. His work brings clarity to complex and often misunderstood historical moments like the true origins and significance of the Fincastle Resolutions. Through research, preservation, and engaging interpretation, Gillman connects modern audiences to the people and places that shaped America’s earliest fight for independence.