Dick Pointer was an American frontier hero and African slave who was commended for bravery in the defence of Fort Donnally of Greenbrier County, West Virginia from a Shawnee attack in 1778. During the attack he used a rifle to keep secured the front door, which was being prised open by the attackers. Some years later, he spoke before the Virginia General Assembly requesting his own freedom in consideration for his act of bravery, and his emanciaption was granted in 1801.
He died in 1827 and was buried with "honors of war" in Lewisburg.