Thomas Bullitt

Thomas Bullitt (1730 – February 1778) was a United States soldier and pioneer from Prince William County, Virginia.

Thomas was born to Benjamin and Sarah (Harrison) Bullitt in 1730 in Prince William County of Virginia. He became active in the militia when young, and became interested in western exploration and development. By 1754 he was a Captain in the County's militia, and participated in a number of attempts to secure western Virginia and Pennsylvania from the French.

Captain Bullitt led part his company with Colonel Washington's expedition in 1754 that ended with defeat in the Battle of Great Meadows. The next year he again marched against Fort Duquesne, this time with the Braddock Expedition, and again they failed at the Battle of Monogahela on July 9, 1755.

The third try in 1758 also started badly, but ended in success. Bullitt led a militia company in the Forbes Expedition. In September he was part of the large advance party of regulars and militia commanded by Major James Grant. After Grant refused advice on wilderness fighting, his party was ambushed by the French and their Indian allies on September 21, 1758. They took heavy losses and Grant was captured. Bullitt took to the woods, but rallied the militia, and counterattacked their pursuers. He then led more than half of the original party back to their main force. The French were forced to abandon the fort in November.

Bullitt kept his interest in the frontier. He began to speculate in land and invest in development. When a number of his militia company exercised their land grant bounties in what would become Bath County, Virginia, he bought land there and built an Inn at Hot Springs in 1766. Over the next few years his guests included Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.

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