On May 29, 1778, Dick Pointer, an enslaved Black man, helped save about 60 settlers during an attack in the Greenbrier Valley. After hearing that Shawnee Indians planned to attack, the settlers took shelter at Fort Donnally near Lewisburg. The attack came the next morning.

Pointer and Philip Hammond were the first to respond. They helped block the fort door by rolling a large barrel of water behind it and fired shots to wake the others. Thanks to their quick actions, the settlers were able to fight off the attackers, who left by nightfall.

For his bravery, Pointer was given land to live on. Though his first request for freedom was denied in 1795, he was freed in 1801. He lived to be about 89 and died in 1827. In 1976, a stone monument (pictured) was placed in Lewisburg to honor him, and his musket is displayed in the State Museum in Charleston.