Rockfish Valley Chapter
Organized February 23, 1973
Afton, Virginia
The name "Rockfish Valley" was chosen to recognize the area which had provided most of its male inhabitants for service during the War for American Independence. At the direction of the Patriot Virginia Convention of July 1775, a battalion was raised and went into training in November just three miles from Rockfish Gap, near the site of Hebron Church. On January 10, 1776, when the Convention again asked for additional forces, the area was requried to furnish one company of riflemen; each rifleman was armed with"one good rifle and tomahawk." Another quota of men was to be levied for the relief of South Carolina; 135 men were requested for George Washington's Army. These men were recruited as volunteers, not one man had to be drafted.