During the battle Halkett was shot and killed and his son James, seeing him fall and rushing to his aid, at once met the same fate. Both bodies were scalped and robbed and then left where they fell. Three years later Halkett's eldest son, the then Sir Peter Halkett, a major in the 42nd Regiment, joined General Forbes' new and successful expedition against Fort DuQuesne, especially to seek some trace of the fate of his father and brother. With friendly Indian help the bodies were found and identified and given a military burial nearby.
As the defeated English retreated to the east, the story of the calamity spread terror and dismay among the more westerly settlers. In Virginia the people in the valley were panic-stricken and in great numbers fled over the Blue Ridge to the Piedmont counties, spreading their terror among the people there. Washington wrote that he learned from Captain Waggoner who, as we have seen, had had command of the Virginia troops and had been wounded in the battle "that it was with difficulty he passed the Ridge for crowds of people, who were flying as if every moment was death." The fear and restlessness continued among the colonists on both sides of the Blue Ridge until General Forbes, as noted, in 1758 led his force to Fort DuQuesne and took possession of what was left by the French who burned and abandoned it at his approach. From then until after the Revolution this former outpost of France, under its new name of Fort Pitt, remained in the hands of the English government.
On the 1st day of September, 1758,[73] an act was passed in Virginia to pay arrears to "forces in the pay of this colony" and to raise money therefor. Section 5 recites:
"And whereas several companies of the militia were lately drawn out into actual service, for the defense and protection of the frontiers of this colony, whose names, and the time they respectively continued in the said service, together with the charge of provisions found for the use of the said militia are contained in the schedule to this act annexed....
"Loudoun County l s d To captain Nicholas Minor 1 00 00 Aeneas Campbell, lieutenant, 7 6 Francis Wilks, 1 17 James Willock, 1 15 To John Owsley, and William Stephens, 15 s. each 1 10 Robert Thomas 10 John Moss, Jun. 4 John Thomas for provisions 5 John Moss, do 2 8 William Ross, do 2 "