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A HISTORY
OF THE
Valley of Virginia
By SAMUEL KERCHEVAL
FOURTH EDITION
REVISED AND EXTENDED BY THE AUTHOR,
AND NEW NOTES ADDED BY THE EDITOR
Shenandoah Publishing House
STRASBURG, VA.
1925
^ 7 s. S
H 3 il
STATEMENT BY THE PUBLISHEK
In publishing this, the fourth edition of Mr. Samuel KerchevaVs
"A History of the Valley of Virginia", we do so believing that as
time goes on the patriotic people of the land of the Shenandoah and
those sons and daughters of other states who have kinsmen in the
great Virginia Valley will more and more appreciate the original
story of the hardships endured and the adventurous spirit manifested
by their forefathers in settling and developing the fertile and beauti¬
ful Valley between the Blue Ridge and Alleghany mountains. The
fact that three editions of this book have already been printed is
evidence of the popularity of Mr. Kercheval's work. It is also good
for us to reflect upon the past and recount with what handicaps our
forebears conquered and cultivated the soil of the Valley, then the
frontier of America, for with such a knowledge we should the more
appreciate the great heritages left us, heritages that were won only
with the sacrifice of much blood, treasure and toil.
"It is character that counts in nations as in individuals.
Only in loyalty to the old can we serve the new; only in
understanding of the past can we interpret and use the pres¬
ent; for history is not made but unfolded."
—Benjamin Ide Wheeler.
In republishing this work, we have chosen to reproduce Mr.
Kercheval's second edition, which is a revised and extended copy of
the original work, and represents the author's finished product.
There has been some demand for a further revision and extension of
this work so as to bring it up to modern times as well as accompany
the text with illustrations. However, such an undertaking would
require practically as much effort as the writing of a new work and
in our opinion would rob Mr. Kercheval's book of much of its distinc¬
tion, as its chief value undoubtedly lies in the fact that it is largely
source information covering the early history of the lower Shenan¬
doah Valley, or that territory originally embraced by the bounds of
old Frederick County. Hence, we have confined our changes to cor¬
recting some obvious errors in punctuation, spelling and typography,
and to the addition of a number of footnotes, prepared by Mr. Oren
F. Morton, in which some errors in fact have been corrected and some
needed explanations made. We have not in any way attempted to
change or augment the text, except that we have published the list of
original subscribers, which was given only in the first edition, and for
the benefit and convenience of the reader we have also greatly ex¬
tended the index,
^ E. E. Keister,
Shenandoah Publishing House,
Strasburg, Virginia.
578SC9
PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION
The first edition of "A History of the Valley of Virginia," by
Samuel Kercheval, was published in 1^33, and a revised and enlarged
edition in 1850. The author was not only a native of the Valley, but
he was a resident of its colonial metropolis. Although he wrote
almost a century ago, it was yet more than a century after the begin¬
ning of white settlement. Nevertheless, he was of mature years, and
he enjoyed the very great advantage of having conversed with men
and women who had been actors in the pioneer period. Very much
of his information was therefore derived at first hand.
Not only the people of the Valley, hut readers of American his¬
tory in general, are greatly indebted to the industry of Kercheval in
thus preserving so much of the local history that was current in his
own day. That his efforts have been appreciated appears in the fact
that a third edition was issued in 1902. As a narrative of events in
the heroic age of the history of the American frontier, the work by
Samuel Kercheval is of unquestioned value.
And yet the method he followed, though customary enough in
his time, is regarded as somewhat defective by writers of history in
our age. They have found that it is not safe to accept traditions and
off-hand recollections at face value. They demand that all statements
of such nature shall he supported by documentary evidence, whenever
this is possible.
The examination of public records and other written sources was
neglected by Kercheval in a great degree. It is true that the need for
doing so was not felt a century ago as it is now. The Valley settle¬
ments were still young. What had already happened was still a mat¬
ter of common report. For what he committed to writing Kercheval
depended chiefiy on what was given him by word of mouth.
But American tradition, as a rule, is formless hearsay, and when
a given event is related by a second or third person the accounts
usually disagree. And when the informant is aged, as was the case
with many whom Kercheval interviewed, there is commonly more or
less impairment of the mental powers. The general trustworthiness
of all such information is therefore in some doubt.
The personal equation is also to be considered. Kercheval
stresses the "aged and respectable" character of his informants with
unusual frequency. All such individuals were no doubt conscientious
in what they had to say. But theirs was a credulous and uncritical
age, and sbme of their statements cannot be accepted. For example,
we are told, time after time, of skeletons, or parts of skeletons, of
most extraordinary size. But invariably all this rests on hearsay.
Why have none of these enormous hones been preserved ? Why have
no Indians ever been seen of a stature to match the skeletons ? Either
the bones were not human bones, or, if they were human, the size was
grossly exaggerated.
Despite its method, the work by Samuel Kercheval is a most
valuable repository of Valley history during the first century after
the coming of the white settler.
To correct or extend certain of the statements by the author is
the purpose of the Fourth Edition Notes.
Oren F. Morton.
Strasburg, Virginia, March 23, 1925.
SAMUEL KERCHEVAL
By John W. Wayland, Ph. D.
Samuel Kercheval has written his name in the history of his
country and in the hearts of his people, and yet very few facts of his
life have been recorded. From old files of the Shenandoah Herald of
Woodstock it appears that in 1824 he was living in Frederick County,
Virginia, and was a candidate for Congress. From 1828 to 1830 he
was probably a resident of Hampshire County, now West Virginia,
for the State archives show that he was at that time a member of the
Virginia House of Delegates from that county. In 1833 he had the
first edition of his History of the Valley printed at Winchester.
According to his own statements in regard to Rev. James Ireland, a
"neighbor" and "intimate personal acquaintance," he must have been
living near the line between Frederick and Shenandoah for several
years prior to 1806, the year of Ireland's death.
Mrs. Ezra Foltz of near Strasburg states that Kercheval was
born at Stone Bridge, in Clarke, then Frederick County, Virginia;
that he married Susanna Chinn of Gloucester County, and lived
much of his life near Stephens City and at various places between
Stephens City and Middletown; that he had fourteen children; that
he died at Middletown in or about the year 18^; and that he and
three of his daughters were buried in the old Bowman graveyard on
the hill near "Fort Bowman" (Harmony Hall), on Cedar Creek, near
Strasburg in Shenandoah County.
Eercheval's wife, Susanna Chinn, was a sister to Mrs. Isaac
Bowman, who was Mary Chinn. Mrs. Foltz is a granddaughter of
Isaac Bowman, master of Harmony Hall, who is also buried in the
old family graveyard on the hill.
Mr. Curtis Chappelear of Delaplane, Va. states that Samuel
Kercheval was a son of John Kercheval (1736-1788) and Frances
Winifred Gholson, married in Spottsylvania County, about 1761, that
some time after the marriage John Kercheval and his family moved
to Frederick, now Clarke County, Va.; that John Kercheval was some
time sheriff of Frederick County, and that his son, Samuel, was a
deputy sheriff under him; that Samuel Kercheval married Susan
Chinn of Lancaster County, Va. ; that Samuel had nine brothers and
sisters; and that his elder brother, John, married Jane Berry, daugh¬
ter of Captain Thomas Berry of Clarke County.
Mr. Chappelear also states, as a matter of special interest, that
Benjamin Berry Kercheval, a son of John and Jane Berry Kercheval,
located in Detroit, Michigan; there became prominent; and that the
beautiful thoroughfare, Kercheval Avenue, in Detroit, was named in
his hondr. He further relates that Samuel Kercheval's mother
removed with the family of her son, John, and with her younger son,
James, from the Shenandoah Valley to Mason County, Kentuckv,
in 1788.
DEDICATIOlSr
TO GENERAL JOHN SMITH
Like Nestor of old, you kave lived to see "two generations pass
away and now remains the example of the third." You saw Dun-
more's war with the Indians in 1774; you witnessed the war of the
Revolution and the war of 1812, with the haughty Briton. In all
these great struggles of our country, you have given the most con¬
clusive evidence of unbending virtue and uncompromising patriotism.
The author has had the gratification of knowing you for a full half
century.—When a small boy he frequently saw you, though he was
then too young to attract your notice, and it was not until he entered
upon the active duties of life that he had the high satisfaction of a
personal acquaintance.
The author disclaims every thing like insincere fiattery, and feels
assured that your candor will readily pardon him for the freedom
he uses in his dedication of the History of the Valley to you. To
you, sir, is he indebted for much of the valuable information detailed
in the following pages. In you, sir, he has witnessed the calm,
dignified statesman and philosopher, the uniform and consistent
republican, the active and zealous officer, whether in the field or
councils of the country. He has witnessed more : he has seen you
in high pecuniary prosperity; he has seen you in later years strug¬
gling with adverse fortune; and in all, has discovered the calm,
dignified resignation to misfortune, which always characterizes the
great and the good man. Yes, sir, you have spent at least fifty years
of your valuable life in the service of your country; and when you
go hence, that you may enter into the joy of your Lord is the
fervent prayer of
THE AUTHOE.
INTKODUCTIOI^
ORIGIN OF THE INDIANS IN AMERICA
From what particular part of the old world the aboriginals
found their way to this continent, is a question which has given rise
to much philosophical and learned disquisition among historians. It,
however, appears now to he the settled opinion that America first
received its inhabitants from Asia. * Mr. Snowden, in his History of
America, advances many able and ingenious arguments in support of
this opinion. After citing many great revolutions which have from
time to time taken place in various parts of our globe, Mr. Snowden
states :
"In the strait which separates America from Asia, many islands
are found, which are supposed to be the mountainous parts of land,
formerly swallowed up % earthquakes; which appears the more
probable, by the multitude of volcanoes, now known in the peninsula
of Kamchatka. It is imagined, however, that the sinking of that
land and the separation of the new continents, has been occasioned
by those great earthquakes, mentioned in the history of the Ameri¬
cans; which formed an era almost as memorable as that of the
deluge. We can form no conjecture of the time mentioned in the
histories of the Toltecas, or of the year 1, (Teopatl), when that great
calamity happened.
"If a great earthquake should overwhelm the isthmus of Suez,
and there should be at the same time as great a scarcity of historians
as there was in the first age of the deluge, it would be doubted in
three or four hundred years after, whether Asia had ever been united
by that part of Africa; and many would finally deny it.
"Whether that great event, the separation of the continents,
took place before or after the population of America, it is impossible
to determine; but we are indebted to the above mentioned naviga¬
tors, (Cook and others), for settling the long dispute about the point
from which it was effected. Their observations prove, that in one
place the distance between continent and continent is only thirty-nine
miles; and in the middle of this narrow strait, there are two islands,
which would greatly facilitate the passage of the Asiatics into the
new world, supposing it took place in canoes, after the convulsion
which rent the two continents asunder.
"It may also be added, that these straits are, even in the summer,
often filled with ice; in winter frozen over, so as to admit a passage
for mankSid, and by which quadrupeds might easily cross, and stock
* Fourth Edition Note—It has not been conclusively shown that America was
peopled from Asia. A certain similarity in customs between the Mongols and the
Indians is not necessarily anything more than mere coincidence. Similarity in geo¬
graphic conditions and in manner of life will induce more or less similarity in usages.
INTRODUCTION
ORIGIN OF THE INDIANS IN AMERICA
From what particular part of the old world the aboriginals
found their way to this continent, is a question which has given rise
to much philosophical and learned disquisition among historians. It,
however, appears now to be the settled opinion that America first
received its inhabitants from Asia. * Mr. Snowden, in his History of
America, advances many able and ingenious arguments in support of
this opinion. After citing many great revolutions which have from
time to time taken place in various parts of our globe, Mr. Snowden
states :
"In the strait which separates America from Asia, many islands
are found, which are supposed to he the mountainous parts of land,
formerly swallowed up by earthquakes; which appears the more
probable, by the multitude of volcanoes, now known in the peninsula
of Kamchatka. It is imagined, however, that the sinking of that
land and the separation of the new continents, has been occasioned
by those great earthquakes, mentioned in the history of the Ameri¬
cans; which formed an era almost as memorable as that of the
deluge. We can form no conjecture of the time mentioned in the
histories of the Toltecas, or of the year 1, (Teopatl), when that great
calamity happened.
"If a great earthquake should overwhelm the isthmus of Suez,
and there should be at the same time as great a scarcity of historians
as there was in the first age of the deluge, it would he doubted in
three or four hundred years after, whether Asia had ever been united
by that part of Africa; and many would finally deny it.
"Whether that great event, the separation of the continents,
took place before or after the population of America, it is impossible
to determine; hut we are indebted to the above mentioned naviga¬
tors, (Cook and others), for settling the long dispute about the point
from which it was effected. Their observations prove, that in one
place the distance between continent and continent is only thirty-nine
miles ; and in the middle of this narrow strait, there are two islands,
which would greatly facilitate the passage of the Asiatics into the
new world, supposing it took place in canoes, after the convulsion
which rent the two continents asunder.
"It may also he added, that these straits are, even in the summer,
often filiad with ice; in winter frozen over, so as to admit a passage
for mankind, and by which quadrupeds might easily cross, and stock
* Fourth Edition Note—It has not been conclusively shown that America was
peopled from Asia. A certain similarity in customs between the Mongols and the
Indians is not necessarily anything more than mere coincidence. Similarity in geo¬
graphic conditions and in manner of life will induce more or less similarity in usages.
10
History of The Valley
the continent. But where, from the vast expanse of the north-east¬
ern world, to fix on the first tribes who contributed to people the new
continent, now inhabited from end to end, is a matter that has bafiled
human reason. The learned may make bold and ingenious conjec¬
tures, hut plain good sense cannot always accede to them.
"As mankind increased in numbers, they naturally protruded
one another forward. Wars might be another cause of migrations.
No reason appears why the Asiatic north might not be an ofßcina
vivorum as well as the European. The overteeming country to the
east of the Kiphean mountains, must have found it necessary to dis¬
charge the inhabitants : the first great increase of people was forced
forward by the next to it; at length reaching the utmost limits of
the old world, found a new, with ample space to occupy unmolested
for ages; till Columbus, in an evil hour for them, discovered their
country; which brought again new sins and new death to both
worlds. It is impossible, with the lights which we have so recently
received, to admit that America could have received its inhabitants
(that is, the hulk of them), from any other place than Eastern Asia.
A few proofs may be added, taken from the customs or dresses, com¬
mon to the inhabitants of both worlds. Some have been long extinct
in the old, others remain in full force in both.
"The custom of scalping was a barbarism in use among the
Scythians, who carried about them at all times this savage mark of
triumph. A little image found among the Kalmucs,* of a Tartarian
deity, mounted on a horse, and sitting on a human skin, with scalps
pendant from the breast, fully illustrates the custom of the ancient
Scythians, as described by the Greek historians. This usage, we
well know by horrid experience, is continued to this day in America.
The ferocity of the Scythians to their prisoners, extended to the
remotest part of Asia. The Kamchatkans, even at the time of their
discovery by the Kussians, put their prisoners to death by the most
lingering and excruciating torments; a practice now in full force
among the aboriginal Americans. A race of the Scythians was
named Anthropophagi, from their feeding on human flesh; the peo¬
ple of Nootka Sound still make a repast on their fellow creatures.
"The savages of North America have been known to throw the
mangled limbs of their prisoners into the horrible cauldron, and de¬
vour them with the same relish as those of a quadruped. The
Kamchatkans in their marches never went abreast, hut followed one
another in the same track; the same custom is still observed by the
uncultivated natives of North America. The Tungusi, the most
numerous nation resident in Siberia, prick their slans with small
punctures, in various shapes, with a needle; then rub them with
charcoal, so that the marks become indelible; this custom is still
observed in several parts of South America. The Tungusi use canoes
made of birch bark, distended over ribs of woods, and nicely put to-
* The Kalmuc Tartars are now subjects of Russia.
Introduction
11
gether; the Canadian, and many other primitive American nations,
use no other sort of boats. In fine, the conjectures of the learned,
respecting the vicinity of the old and new world, are now, by the
discoveries of late navigators, lost in conviction ; and in the place of
an imaginary hypothesis, the place of migration is almost incon-
trovertihly pointed out."
sketch of the first settlement of virginia
Having given the foregoing brief sketch of the probable origin
of the Indians in America, the author will now turn his attention to
the first settlement of Virginia, a brief history of which he considers
will not be unacceptable to the general reader, and as a preliminary
introduction to his main object, i. e., the history of the early settle¬
ment of the Valley of the Shenandoah in Virginia.
On the 10th of April, 1606, James I., King of England, granted
charters to two separate companies, called the "London and Ply¬
mouth Companies," for settling colonies in Virginia.* The London
Company sent Capt. Christopher Kewport to Virginia, December 20,
1606, with a colony of one hundred and five persons, to commence a
settlement on the island of Roanoke, now in Horth Carolina. By
stress of weather, however, they were driven north of their place of
destination, and entered the Chesapeake Bay. Here, up a river
which they called James River, on a beautiful peninsula, they com¬
menced, in May, 1607, the settlement of Jamestown. This was the
first permanent settlement in the country.
Several subsequent charters were granted by King James to the
company for the better ordering and government of the colony, for
the particulars of which the reader is referred to Hening's Statutes
at Large. And in the year 1619, the first legislative council was
convened at Jamestown, then called "James City."f This council
was called the General Assembly. "It was to assist the Governor in i
the administration of justice, to advance Christianity among Indians,
to erect the colony in obedience to his majesty, and in maintaining
the people in justice and Christian conversation, and strengthening
them against enemies. The said governor, council, and two bur¬
gesses out of every town, hundred, or plantation, to be chosen by the
inhabitants to make up a General Assembly, who are to decide all
matters by the greatest number of voices; but the governor is to
have a negative voice, to have power to make orders and acts nec¬
essary, wherein they are to imitate the policy of the form of gov¬
ernment, laws, customs, manner of tryal, and other administration
of justice used in England, as the company are required by their
letters paient. Ho law to continue or to be of force till ratified
by a quarter court to be held in England, and returned under seal.
* Hening's Statutes at Large, vol. 1., p. 113'114.
t Fourth Edition Note—This was the first legislative assembly in the Western
Hemisphere.
12
History of The Valley
After the colony is well framed and settled, no order of quarter court
in England shall bind until ratified by the General Assembly."*—
Dated 24th July, 1621.
"instructions to governor wyatt
"To keep up religion of the church of England as near as may
be;—to he obedient to the king and to do justice after the form of
the laws of England; and not to injure the natives; and to forget old
quarrels now buried : f
"To be industrious, and suppress drunkenness, gaming, and
excess in clothes; not to permit any but the council and heads of
hundreds to wear gold in their clothes, or to wear silk till they make
it themselves :
"Hot to offend any foreign princes; to punish piracies; to build
fortresses and block-houses at the mouths of the rivers:
"To use means to convert the heathen, viz. to converse with
some; each town to teach some children fit for the college intended
to be built:
"After Sir George Yeardly has gathered the present year's crop,
he is to deliver to Sir Francis Wyatt, the hundred tenants belonging
to the governor's place: Yeardlj^s government to expire the 18th
November next, and then Wyatt to be published governor; to swear
the council:
"George Saudis appointed treasurer, and he is to put in execu¬
tion all orders of court about staple commodities ; to whom is allotted
fifteen hundred acres and fifty tenants. To the marshall. Sir
William Hewce, to the same. To the physician five hundred acres
and twenty tenants ; and the same to the secretary :
"To review the commissions to Sir George Yeardly, governor,
and the council, dated 18th November 1618, for dividing the colony
into cities, boroughs, &c., and to observe all former instructions (a
copy whereof was sent) if they did not contradict the present; and
all orders of court (made in England) :
"To make a catalogue of the people in every plantation, and
their conditions; and of deaths, marriages and christenings:
"To take care of dead persons' estates for the right owners; to
keep a list of all cattle and cause the secretary to return copies of the
premises once a year:
"To take care of every plantation upon the death of their chief ;
not to plant above one hundred pounds of tobacco per head ;I to sow
*Heniiig'6 Statutes at Large, Vol. i., t>. 113, 114.
t It appears that at a very early period of the colony, they were desirous of culti¬
vating a friendly understanding with the natives of the country. Unfortunately, how¬
ever, for our ancestors, and for the Indians themselves, this friendly disposition was never
of long duration.
X This order strikes the author as one of a singular character. It certainly requires
great judgment and experience of the planter to decide what number of plants would
make his 100 lbs. of tobacco, considering the casualties to which his crop was liable.
Introduction
13
great quantities of corn for tlieir own use, and to support the multi¬
tudes to be sent yearly; to inclose lands; to keep cows, swine, poultry,
&c., and particularly kyne, which are not to be killed yet:
"Next to corn, plant mulberry trees, and make silk, and take
care of the French men and others sent about that work; to try silk
grass; to plant abundance of vines, and take care of the vignerors
sent :
"To put prentices to trades, and not let them forsake their
trades for planting tobacco or any such useless commodity:
"To take care of the Dutch sent to build saw-miUs, and seat
them at the falls, that they may bring their timber by the current of
the water:
"To build water-mills and block-houses in every plantation:
"That all contracts in England or Virginia he performed, and
the breaches punished according to justice:
"The teuants not to he enticed away; to take care of those sent
about an iron work, and especially Mr. John Berkeley, that they
don't miscarry again, this being the greatest hope and expectation
of the colonies:
"To make salt, pitch, tar, soap, ashes, &c., so often recommend¬
ed, and for which materials had been sent; to make oyl of walnuts,
and employ apothecaries in distilling lees of beer, and searching after
minerals, dyes, gums, and drugs, &c., and send small quantities
home : *
"To make small quantity of tobacco, and that very good; that
the houses appointed for the reception of new comers and public
storehouses be built, kept clean, &c., to send the state of affairs quar¬
terly, and a duplicate next shipping :
"To take care of Captain William Norton, and certain Italians
sent to set up a glass-house:
"A copy of a treatise of the plantation business and excellent
observances made by a gentleman of capacity is sent to lie among the
records, and recommended to the councillors to study.
"Mr. William Claybourne, a surveyor, sent to survey the planters
lands, and make a map of the country :
"To make discoveries along the coast, and find a fishery between
James Hiver and Cape Cod:
"As to raising staple commodities, the chief officers ought to set
examples, and to aim at the establishment of the colony :
"Chief officers that have tenants reprimanded for taking fees;
but require that the clerks have fees set for passes, warrants, copies
of orders, &c.
"Governor and council to appoint proper times for administra¬
tion of justice, and provide for the entertainment of the council dur-
*Sending: things to England, was, in the phase of the times, termed sending things
home. This mode of expression, "going home or sending home," was in use within
the recollection of the author. In truth, the term "going or sending home," was never
abandoned until after the war of the revolution.
u
History of The Valley
ing their session ; to be together one whole month about state affairs,
and law suits ; to record plaints of consequence, to keep a register of
the acts of quarter sessions, and send home copies :
"If a governor dies, the major part of the council to choose one
of themselves within fourteen days; but if voices be divided, the
lieutenant-governor shall have the place; and next the marshal;
next the treasurer ; and one of the two deputies next :
"Governor and chief officers not to let out their tenants as usual :
"The governor only to summon the council, and sign warrants,
and execute or give authority to execute council orders, except in
cases that do belong to the marshal, treasurer, deputies, &c.
"The governor to have absolute authority to determine and
punish all neglects, and contempts of authority, except the councils,
who are to be tried at the quarter sessions and censured. Governor
to have hut the casting voice in council or court, but in the assem¬
bly a negative voice :
"That care be taken that there be no engrossing commodity, or
forestalling of the market :
"All servants to fare alike in the colony, and their punishment
for any offences is to serve the colony, in public works :
"To see that the Earl of Pembroke's thirty thousand acres be
very good:
"And lastly, not to let ships stay long, and to freight them with
walnut and any less valuable commodity :
"The governor administered the following oath to the council:
"You shall swear to be a true and faithful servant unto the
"king's majesty, as one of his council for Virginia : You shall in all
"things to be moved, treated, and debated in that council concern-
"ing Virginia or any of the territories of America, between the de-
"grees of thirty-four and forty-five from the equinoctial line north-
"ward, or the trade thereof, faithfully and truly declare your mind
"and opinion, according to your heart and conscience ; and shall keep
"secret all matters committed and revealed to you concerning the
"same, and that shall be treated secretly in that council, or this coun-
"cil of Virginia, or the more part of them, publication shall not be
"made thereof. And of all matters of great importance, or diffi-
"culty, before you resolve thereupon, you shall make his majesty's
"privy council acquainted therewith, and follow their directions
"therein: You shall to your uttermost bear faith and allegiance to
"the king's majesty, his heirs, and lawful successors, and shall as-
"sist and defend all jurisdictions, pre-eminences, and authorities,
"granted unto his majesty and annexed unto the crown, against all
"foreign princes, persons, prelates or potentates whatsoever, be it by
"act of parliament or otherwise; and generally, in all things, you
"shall do as a faithful and true servant and subject ought to do. So
"help you God and the holy contents of this book."—Hening's Stat,
at Large, vol. i. p. 114-118.
Introduction
15
It appears the foregoing instructions were drawn up by the
council, and intended as the general principles for the government of
the colony.
The recommendation "not to injure the natives and forget old
quarrels now buried," goes far to prove that hopes were entertained
that the Indians were disposed to he at peace. "To use means to
convert the heathen," is another evidence of this amicable state of
feeling towards the natives. But lo ! this state of peace and tran¬
quility, in less than one year after, was changed into one of devasta¬
tion, blood and mourning. On the 22nd of March, 1622, the Indians
committed the most bloody massacre on the colonists, recorded in the
annals of our country.*
In the following year, to-wit, March, 1623, the colonial general
assembly, by statute, directed, "that the 22nd of March he yearly
solemnized as a holiday."! This was done to commemorate the es¬
cape of the colony from entire extirpation. This bloody massacre
produced on the part of the whites, a most deadly and irreconcilable
hatred towards the natives. Accordingly we find that a long con¬
tinued and unahating state of hostilities was kept up, and in about one
hundred years the Indians were driven from the country east of the
Blue Kidge. At the same session, to-wit, 1623, the legislature en¬
acted several laws in relation to defending themselves against the
savages. In the series are the following:
"That every dwelling house shall be palisaded in for defense
against the Indians:
"That no man go or send abroad without a sufiicient party well
armed :
"That people go not to work in the ground without their arms
(and a sentinel upon them) :
"That the inhabitants go not aboard ships or upon any other
occasions, in such numbers as thereby to weaken and endanger the
plantations :
"That the commander of every plantation take care that there
he sufficient of powder and ammunition vsdthin the plantation under
his command and their pieces fixed and their arms complete :
"That there he due watch kept by night :
"That no commander of any plantation do either himself or
suffer others to spend powder unnecessarily, in drinking or entertain¬
ment, &c.
"That at the beginning of July next the inhabitants of every
corporation shall go upon their adjoining salvages, as we did the last
year."—Hen. Stat, at Large, vol. i. p. 127, 128.
i
* "This year/' (1622), says Mr. Gordon in his history of the American revolution
(vol. i. p. 43), "was remarkable for a massacre of the colonists by the Indians, which
was executed with the utmost subtility, and without any regrard to age, sect, or dignity.
A well concerted attack on all the settlements destroyed in one hour, and almost at
the same instant, 347 persons, who were defenceless and incapable of making resist¬
ance."
tHening's Statutes at Large. Vol. i. P. 123.
16
History of The Valley
In the year 1629, the legislature again "ordered that every com¬
mander of the several plantations appointed by commission from the
governor, shall have power and authority to levy a party of men out
of the inhabitants of that place so many as may well be spared with¬
out too much weakening of the plantations, and to employ those men
against the Indians," &c.—Idem, p. 140.
"It was the opinion of the whole body of the Assembly that we
should go three several marches upon the Indians, at three several
times of the year, viz ; first in Hovember, secondly in March, thirdly
in July," &c.—Idem, p. 141.
In 1631-32, "It is ordered that no person or persons shall dare
to speak or to parley with any Indians, either in the woods or in any
plantation, if he can possibly avoid it by any means," &c.—Idem,
p. 167.
The author considers the foregoing extracts sufficient to enable
the reader to form some opinion of the spirit and character of the
early settlers of our State, particularly as it relates to the sufferings
and difficulties with the Indian tribes. It is not deemed expedient or
necessary to go into a detailed history of the first settlement of our
country, as there are several general histories of Virginia now to be
obtained, written by authors, whose abilities and means of informa¬
tion the author could not expect to equal.
The author will close this brief sketch of the first settlement of
Virginia, with a few general remarks in relation to the first intro¬
duction of slavery. It appears from our early historians, that ne¬
groes were first introduced into our State from "a Dutch ship in the
year 1620."* O woeful day for our country! To use the language
of Mri Snowden, this was "an evil hour" for our country—It truly
brought "new sins and new deaths" to the new world. The present
generation have abundant cause to deplore the unhallowed cupidity
and want of all the finer feelings of our nature, manifested in this
baleful and unrighteous traffic. It has entailed upon us a heavy
calamity, which will perhaps require the wisdom of ages yet to come
to remove. That it must and will he removed, there can be hut little
doubt. History furnishes no example of any part of the human race
being kept in a perpetual slavery. Whether the scheme of sending
them to Africa will ultimately produce the desired effect, can only be
tested by time ; it is however most "devoutly" to he desired.
Bacon^s Rebellion in Virginia in 1675-76
The document which follows relates to one of the most singular
events which ever occurred in Virginia, and its interests are a suffici¬
ent inducement for its insertion in this work. It was published in
the Richmond Evangelical Magazine many years ago, but is now out
of print. The editor of that work, (the late revered and highly es-
♦ Fourth Edition Note—The year was 1619.
Introduction
17
teemed Dr. Rice), introducing it into his pages, says: "It was taken
verbatim from a copy in the library now belonging to Congress, but
formerly the property of Mr. Jeiferson. Who the author is we can
not discover. He was certainly a man of much cleverness, and wrote
well. But our readers will judge for themselves. The name of
Bacon is very little known to our citizens in general, and this part
of our history has been veiled in great obscurity. There are two
remembrances of this extraordinary man in the neighborhood of
Richmond. A brook in the northwest of the city, which hears the
name of "Bacon Quarter Branch," is said to have received its name
from the fact that on that brook Bacon had his quarters. Buck says
that he owned a plantation on Shockoe Creek, of which the stream
just mentioned is a branch. One of the finest springs in Richmond,
or its vicinity, is on the east side of the city, and is called Bloody Run
Spring. Its name is said to he derived from a sanguinary conflict
which Bacon had with the Indians, on the margin of the streamlet
which flows from this spring."
The following account of the original from which this document
was taken, is given by Mr. Jefferson, in his own words:
"The original manuscript, of which the following is a copy, was
communicated to me by Mr. King, our late minister plenipotentiary
at the court of London, in a letter of Dec. 20, 1803. The transac¬
tion which it records, although of little extent or consequence, is yet
marked in the history of Virginia, as having been the only rebellion
or insurrection which took place in the colony during the one hun¬
dred and sixty-eight years of its existence preceding the American
revolution, and one hundred years exactly before that event; in the
contest with the house of Stuart, it only accompanied the steps of
the mother country. The rebellion of Bacon has been little under¬
stood, its cause and course being imperfectly explained by any au¬
thentic materials hitherto possessed; this renders the present narra¬
tive of real value. It appears to have been written by a person
intimately acquainted with its origin, progress and conclusion, thirty
years after it took place, and when the passion of the day had
subsided, and reason might take a cool and deliberate review of the
transaction. It was written, too, not for public eye, but to satisfy
the desire of minister Lord Oxford ; and the candor and simplicity of
the narration cannot fail to command belief. On the outside of the
cover of the manuscript is the Ho. 3947 in one place, and 5781 in an¬
other. Very possibly the one may indicate the place it held in Lord
Oxford's library, and the other its number in the catalogue of the
bookseller to whose hands it came afterwards ; for it was at the sale
of the stock of a bookseller that Mr. King purchased it.
"To bring the authenticity of this copy as near to that of the
original as I could, I have most carefully copied it with my own
hand. The pages and lines of the copy correspond exactly with those
of the original; the orthography, abbreviations, punctuations, inter¬
lineations and incorrectness, are preserved, so that it is a fac simile
18
Histoht of The Valley
except as to the form of the letter. The orthography and ahhrevia-
tions are evidences of the age of the writing,
"The author says of himself that he was a planter; that he
lived in iNTorthumherland, hut was elected a member of the assembly
in 1676 for the County of Stafford, Colonel Mason being his col¬
league, of which assembly Col. Warner was speaker; that it was the
first and should be the last time of his meddling with public affairs;
and he subscribes the initials of his name T. M. "Whether the rec¬
ords of the time, (if they still exist), with the aid of these circum¬
stances, will show what his name was, remains for further inquiry."
the manuscript
To the right hono'hle Robert Harley esq'r. her Mag'ties Principal
Secretary of State, and one of her most Hono'ble Privy Council.
S'B
The great honor of your command obliging my pen to step aside
from its habitual element of ffigures into this little treatise of his¬
tory; which having never before experienced, I am like Sutor ultra
crepidam, end therefore dare pretend no more than (nakedly) re¬
count matters of ffact.
Beseeching yo'r hono'r will vouch safe to allow, that in 30
years, divers occurrences are laps'd out of mind, and others imper¬
fectly retained.
So far as the most solemn obedience can he now paid, is to pur¬
sue the track of harefac'd truth, as close as my memory can recollect,
to have seen, or believed, from creditable ffriends with concurring
circumstances :
And whatsoever yo'r celebrated wisdom shall finde amise in the
composure, my entire dependence is upon yo'r candor favorably to
accept these most sincere endeavors of Yo'r Hon'rs
Most devoted humble serv't.
The mh July, 1705. T. M.
The beginning, progress and conclusion of Bacon's rebellion in Vir¬
ginia in the year 1675 & 1676.
About the year 1675, appear'd three prodigies in that coimtry,
which from th' attending disasters were look'd upon as ominous
presages.
The one was a large comet every evening for a week, or more at
Southwest ; thirty-five degrees high streaming like a horse taile west¬
wards, until it reach'd (almost) the horison, and setting toward the
ííorth-west.
Another was, fflights of pigieons in breadth nigh a quarter of
the mid-hemisphere, and of their length was no visible end; whose
weights brake down the limbs of large trees whereon these rested at
nights, of which the ffowlers shot abundance and eat 'em; this sight
Introduction
19
put the old planters under the more portentous apprehensions, he-
cause the like was seen, (as they said), in the year 1640 when th'
Indians committed the last massacre, but not after, until that present
year 1675.
The third strange appearance was swarms of fflyes about an inch
long, and big as the top of a man's little finger, rising out of spigot
holes in the earth, which eat the new sprouted leaves from the tops
of the trees without doing other harm, and in a month left us. *
My dwelling was in IsTorthumberland, the lowest county on
Potomack River, Stafford being the upmost, where having also a
plantation, servants, cattle, &c. my overseer had agreed with one
Roh't. Hen to come thither, and be my herdsman, who then lived
ten miles above it ; hut on a sabbath day morning in the sumer anno
1675, people on their way to church, saw this Hen lying thwart his
threshold, and an Indian without the door, both chopt on their heads,
arms & other parts, as if done with Indian hatchetts, th' Indian was
dead, but Hen when asked who did that? answered Doegs DoegS,
and soon died, then a boy who came out from under a bed where he
had hid himself, told them, Indians had come at break of day &
done those murders.
ffrom this Englishman's blond did (by degrees) arise Bacons
rebellion with the following mischiefs which overspread all Virginia
& twice endangered Maryland, as by the ensueing account is
evident.
Of this horrid action Coll: Mason who commanded the militia
regiment of ffoot & Capt. Brent the troop of horse in that county,
(both dwelling six or eight miles downwards) having speedy notice
raised 30, or more men, & pursu'd those Indians 20 miles up & 4
miles over that river into Maryland, where landing at dawn of day,
they found two small paths each leader with his party took a separ¬
ate path and in less than a furlong either found a cabin, which they
(silently) surrounded. Capt. Brent went to the Doegs cabin (as it
proved to be) who speaking the Indian tongue called to have a
"Machacomicha woewhio" i. e. a council called presently such being
the usual manner with Indians the king came trembling forth, and
wou'd have fled, when Capt. Brent, catching hold of his twisted lock
(which was all the hair he wore) told him he was come for the mur¬
der of Roh't Hen, the king pleaded ignorance and slipt loos, whom
Brent shot dead with his pistoll, th' Indian shot two or three guns
out of the cabin, th' English shot into it, th' Indians throng'd out
at the door and fled, the English shot as many as they cou'd so that
they killed ten, as Capt. Brent told me, and brought away the kings
son of about ^ years old, concerning whom is an observaMe passage,
at the end of this expedition; the noise of the shooting awaken'd the
Indians in the cabin, which Coll : Mason had encompassed, who like¬
wise rush'd out & fled, of whom his company (supposing from that
* Fourth Edition Note—This insect was the seventeen year locust.
20
Histoby of The Valley
noise of shooting Brent's party to be engaged) shot (as the Coll: in¬
formed me) fFourteen before an Indian came, who with both hands
shook him (friendly) by one arm saying Susquehanoughs netoughs
i. e. Susquehanough friends and fled, whereupon he ran amongst his
men crying out "ffor the Lords sake shoot no more, these are our
friends the Susquehanoughs.
This unhappy scene ended ;—Collo. Mason took the king of the
Doegs son home with him, who lay ten dayes in bed, as one dead,
with eyes and mouth shutt, no breath discern'd, but his body con¬
tinuing warm, they believed him yett alive; th' aforenamed Capt.
Brent (a papist) coming hither on a visit and seeing his little prison¬
er thus languishing said "perhaps he is pawewawd i. e. bewitch'd, and
that he had heard baptism was an effectual remedy against witch¬
craft wherefore advis'd to baptise him Collo. Mason, answered no
minister cou'd be had in many miles; Brent replied yo'r clerk Mr.
Dobson may do that oiflce, which was done by the church of Eng¬
land liturgy; Collo: Mason with Capt. Brent godfathers and Mrs.
Mason godmother, my overseer Mr. Pimet being present, from whom
I first heard it, and which all th' other persons (afterward) affirm'd
to me; the ffour men returned to drinking punch, but Mrs. Mason
stayed & looking on the child, it open'd the eyes, and breath'd
whereat she ran for a cordial, which he took from a spoon, gaping
for more and so (by degrees) recovered, tho' before his baptism, they
had often tryed the same meanes but cou'd not by no endeavours
wrench open his teeth.
This was taken as a convincing proofe against infidelity.
But to return from this digression, the Susquehanoughs were
newly driven from their habitations, at the head of Chesepiack Bay,
by the Cinela Indians, down to the head of the Potomack, where
they sought protection under the Pascataway Indians, who had a
fort near the head of that river, and also were our ffriends.
After this unfortunate exploit of Mason & Brent, one or two
being kill'd in Stafford, boats of war were equipt to prevent excur¬
sions over the river, at the same time murders being likewise com¬
mitted in Maryland, by whom not known, on either side the river,
both eountrys raised their quota's of a thousand men upon whose
coming before the ffort, the Indians sent out 4 of their great men,
who ask'd the reason of that hostile appearance, what they said
more or offered I do not remember to have heard; but our two com¬
manders caused them to be (instantly) slaine, after which the In¬
dians made an obstinate resistance shooting many of our men, and
making frequent, fierce and bloody sallyes: and when they were
call'd to, or offered parley, gave no other answer, than "where are
our four Cockarouses, i. e. great men?"
At the end of six weeks, march'd out seventy five Indians with
their women, children, etc., who by moonlight passed our guards hol¬
lowing & firing at them without opposition having 3 or 4 décrépits
in the ffort.
^ Inteoduction
21
The next morning th' English followed, but could not, or (for
fear of ambuscades) would not overtake these desperate fugities the
number we lost in that siege I did not hear was published.
The walls of this fort was high hanks of earth, with flankers
having many loop-holes, and a ditch round all, and without this
row of tall trees fastened 3. feet deep in the earth, their bodies from
5. to. 8. inches diameter, watled 6. inches apart to shoot through
with the tops twisted together, and also artificially wrought, as our
men could make no breach to storm it, nor (being low land) could
they undermine it by reason of water neither had they cannon to
batter itt, so that 'twas not taken, untill ffamine drove the Indians
out of it.
These escap'd Indians (forsaking Maryland) took their rout
over the head of that river, and thence over the heads of Rappahom
nock & York Rivers, killing whom they found of the upmost plan¬
tations until they came to the head of James River, where (with
Bacon and others) they slew Mr. Bacon's overseer whom he much
loved, and one of his servants, whose bloud bee vowed to revenge if
possible.
In these frightfiil times the most exposed small families with¬
drew into our houses of better numbers, which we fortified with pali-
sadoes and redoubts, neighbours in bodys joined their labours from
each plantation to others alternately, taking their arms into the
ffields, and setting centinels; no man stirrd out of doors unarm'd,
Indians were (ever & anon) espied, three 4. 5. or 6. in a party lurk¬
ing throughout the whole land, yet (what was remarkable) I rarely
heard of any houses burnt, tho' abundance was forsaken, nor ever,
or any corn or tobacco cut up, or other injury done, beside murders,
except the killing of a very few cattle and swine.
Frequent complaints of hloudsheds were .sent to Sr. William
Berkeley (then Govern'r) from the heads of the rivers, which were
as often answered with promises of assistance.
These at the heads of James and York Rivers (having now most
people destroyed by the Indians flight thither from Potomack) grew
impatient at the many slaughters of their neighbours and rose for
their own defence, who chusing Mr. Bacon for their leader, sent
oftentimes to the Govern'r, humbly beseeching a commission to go
against those Indians at their own charge which his hon'r as often
promised but did not send; the misteryes of these delays, were won¬
dered at and which I ne'er heard coud penetrate into, other than the
effects of his passion, and a new (not to he mentioned) occasion of
avarise, to both which he was (by the common vogue) more than
a little addjpted; whatever were the popular surmizes & murmurins
viz't.
"that no bullets would pierce bever skins.
"rebells forfeitures would he loyall inheritances &c.
During these protractions and people often slaine, most or all of
the officers, civil & military with as many dwellers next the heads
22
History of The Valley
of the rivers as made up 300. men taking Mr. Bacon for their com-
mand'r met, and concerted together, the danger of going without a
commiss'n on the one part, and the continuall murders of their
neighbors on the other part (not knowing whose or how many of
their own turns might be next) and came to this resolution viz't to
prepare themselves with necessaries for a march, but interim to send
again for a commission, which if could or could not be obtayned
by a certaine day, they would proceed commission or no commission.
This day lapsing & no com'n come, they marched into the wild¬
erness in quest of these Indians after whom the Govern'r sent his
proclamation, denouncing all rebells, who should not return within
a limited day, whereupon those of estates obey'd; but Mr. Bacon
with 57. men proceeded until their provisions were near spent, with¬
out finding the enemy's when coming nigh a ffort of ffriend Indians,
on th' other side a branch of James River, they desired reliefe
offering paym't which these Indians kindly promised to help them
with on the morrow, but put them off with promises until the third
day, so as then having eaten their last morsells they could not re¬
turn, but must have starved in the way homeward and now 'twas
suspected these Indians had received private messages from the
Govern'r & those to be the cause of these delusive procrastinations;
whereupon the English waded shoulder deep thro' that branche of
the ffort palisado's still entreating and tendering pay, for victuals;
but that evening a shot from the place they left on th' other side
of that branch kill'd one of Mr. Bacon's men, which made them be¬
lieve, those in the ffort had sent for other Indians to come behind
'em & cut 'em off.
Hereupon they fired the polisado's, storm'd & burnt the ffort
and cabins, and (with the losse of three English) slew 150 Indians.
The circumstances of this expedic'n Mr. Bacon entertain'd me with,
at his own chamber, on a visit I made him, the occasion whereof is
hereafter mentioned.
ffrom hence they returned home where writts were come up to
elect members for an assembly, when Mr. Bacon was unanimously
chosen for one, who coming down the river was commanded by a
ship with guns to come on board, where waited Major Houe the
high sheriff of James town ready to seize him, by whom he was
carried down to the Govern'r & by him receiv'd with a surprizing
civility in the following words "Mr. Bacon you had for got to be a
gentleman."]Sro, may it please yo'r hon'r answer'd Mr. Bacon; then
replyed the Govern'r I'll take yo'r parol, and gave him his liberty;
in March 1675-6 writts came up to Stafford to choose their two
members for an assembly to meet in May; when Collo. Mason, Gapt.
Brent and other gentlemen of that county invited me to stand a
candidate; a matter I little dreamt of, having never had inclina-
c'ions to tamper into the precarious intrigues of Govern't. and my
hands being full of my own business; they press't severall cogent
argum'ts. and I having considerable debts in that county, besides my
Introduction
23
plantation concerns, where (in one & th' other, I had much more
severly suffered, than any of themselves hy th' Indian disturbances
in the summer and winter foregoing. I held it not (then) discreet to
disoblige the rulers of it, so Collo: Mason with myself were elected
without objection, he at time convenient went on horse hack; I
took my sloop & the morning I arriv'd to James town after a weeks
voyage, was welcomed with the strange acclamations of All's Over
Bacon is taken, having not heard at home of these Southern com'o-
tions, other than rumors like idle tales, of one Bacon risen up in
rebellion, no body knew for what, concerning the Indians.
The next forenoon, th' Assembly being met in a chamber over
the General court & our Speaker chosen, the Govem'r sent for us
down, where his hon'r with a pathetic emphasis made a short abrupt
speech wherein were these words.
"If they had killed my grandfather and my grandmother, my
"father and mother and all my friends, yet if they had come to treat
"of peace, they ought to have gone in peace, and sat down.
The two chief commanders at the aforementioned seige, who
slew the ffour Indian great men, being present and part of our
assembly.
The Govern'r stood up againe and said "if there be joy in the
"presence of the Angels over one sinner that repented, there is joy
"now, for we have a penitent sinner come before us, call Mr. Bacon ;
then did Mr. Bacon upon one knee at the bar deliver a sheet of paper
confessing his crimes, and begging pardon of god the king and the
Govem'r whereto (after short pause) he answered "God forgive you,
I forgive you, thrice repeating the same words; when Collo. Cole
(one of the council) said "and all that were with him. Yea, said the
Govem'r & all that were with him, twenty or more persons being
then in irons who were taken coming down in the same & other ves¬
sels with Mr. Bacon.
About a minute after this the Govern'r starting up from his
chair a third time said "Mr. Bacon ! if you will live civily but till next
Quarter court (doubling the words) but till next Quarter court, He
promise to restore you againe to yo'r place, there pointing with his
hand to Mr. Bacons seat, he having been of the Councill before these
troubles, tho' he had been a very short time in Virginia but was de¬
posed by the aforesaid proclamac' on and in the afternoon passing by
the court door, in my way up to our chamber, I saw Mr. Bacon on
his quondam seat the Govem'r & council which seemed a marvel¬
lous indulgence to one whom he had so lately prescribed a rebell.
The Govem'r had directed us to consider of means for security
from th' IncKan insults and to defray the charge &c. advising us to
beware of two rogues amongst us, naming Laurence and Drummond
both dwelling at James town and who were not at the Paseata way
siege.
But at our entrance upon businesse, some gentlemen took this
opportunity to endeavour the redressing severall grievances the coun-
24
Histoky of The Valley
try then lahor'd under, motions were made for inspecting the pub-
lick revenues, the Collectors accompts &c. and so far was proceeded
as to name part of a committee whereof Mr. Bristol (now in London)
was and myself another, when we were interrupted by pressing mes¬
sages from the Govern'r to meddle with nothing until the Indian
business was dispatch't.
This debate rose high, but was overruled and I have not heard
that these inspections have since then been insisted upon, tho such
of that indigent people as had no benefits from the taxes groaned
undr our being thus overborn.
The next thing was a Co'mittee for the Indian affaires, whereof
in appointing members, myself was unwillingly nominated having
no knowledge in martiall preparations, and after our names were
taken, some of the house moved for sending 2 of our members to in-
treat the Govern'r woud'd please to assign two of his councill to sit
with, and assist us in our debates, as had been usuall.
When seeing all silent looking at each other with many discon¬
tented faces, I ventur'd to offer my humble opinion to the Speaker
"for the "co'mittee to form methods as agreeable to the sense of the
"house as we could, and report 'em whereby they would more clearly
"see, on what points to give the Govern'r and Councill that trouble
"if perhaps it might be needfull."
These few words raised an uproar; one party urging hard "it
had been customary and ought not to be omitted;" whereto Mr.
Presley my neighbor an old assembly man, sitting next me, rose up,
and (in a blundering manner replied) "tis true, it has been custom-
"ary, but if we have any bad customs amongst us, we come here to
"mend 'em" which set the house in laughter.
This was huddl'd off without coming to a vote, and so the co'¬
mittee must submit to be overaw'd, and have every carpt at expres¬
sion carried streight to the Govern'r.
Our co'mittee being sat, the Queen of Pakunky (descended from
Oppechankenough a former Emperor of Virginia) was introduced,
who entered the chamber with a comportment graceful to admira¬
tion, bringing on her right hand an Englishman interpreter and on
the left her son a strippling twenty years of age, she having round
her head a plat of black & white wampam peague three inches broad
in imitation of a crown, and was clothed in a mantle of dress't deer¬
skins with the hair outwards & the edge cut roimd 6 inches deep
which made strings resembling twisted fringe from the shoulders
to the feet; thus with grave courtlike gestures and a majestick air
in her face, she walk'd up our long room to the lower end of the
table, where after a few intreaties she sat down ; th' interpreter and
her son standing by her on either side as they had walk'd up, our
chairman asked her what men she would lend us for guides in the
wilderness and to assist us against our enemy Indians, she spake to
th' interpreter to inform her what the chairman said, (tho we be¬
lieve she understood him) he told us she bid him ask her son to
Intkoduction
25
whom the English tongue was familiar, & who was reputed the son
of an English colonel, yet neither wou'd he speak to or seem to un¬
derstand the Chairman hut th' interpreter told us he referred all to
his mother, who being againe urged she after a little musing with
an earnest passionate countenance as if tears were ready to gush out
and a fervent sort of expression made a harangue about a quarter of
an hour, often interlacing (with a high shrill voice and vehement
passion) these words "Tatapatomoi Chepiack, i. e. Tatapatomoi dead:
Coll : Hill being next me, shook his head, I ask'd what was the mat¬
ter, he told me all she said was too true to our shame, and that his
father was generali in that battle, where diverse years before Tata¬
patomoi her husband had led a hundred of his Indians in help in th'
English against her former enemy Indians, and was there slaine with
most of his men; for which no compensation (at all) had been to
that day rendered to her wherewith she now upbraided us.
Her discourse ending and our morose Chairman not advancing
one cold word towards asswaging the anger and grief of her speech
and demeanour manifested under her oppression, nor taking any no¬
tice of all she had said, neither considering that we (then) were in
our great exigency, supplicants to her for a favor of the same kind
as the former, for which we did not deny the having been so ingrate
he rudely push'd againe the same question "what Indians will you
now contribute &c? of this disregard she signified her resentment by
a disdainful aspect, and turning her head half aside, sate mute till
that same question being press't a third time, she not turning her
face to the hoard, answered with a low slighting voice in her own
language "six, but being further importun'd she sitting a little while
sullen, without uttering a word between said, "twelve, tho she then
had a hundred and fifty Indian men, in her town, and so she rose up
and gravely walked away, as not pleased with her treatment.
Whilst some dais past in settling the Quota's of men and arms
and ammunic'on provisions &c. each county was to furnish one
morning early a bruit ran about the town Bacon is fled Bacon is fled,
whereupon I went straight to Mr. Laurence, who (formerly) was of
Oxford university, and for wit learning and sobriety was equall'd
there by few, and who some years before (as Col. Lee tho one of the
councill and a friend of the Govern'rs inform'd me) had been parti¬
ally treated at law, for a considerable estate on behalf of a corrupt
favorite; which Laurence complaining loudly of, the Govem'r bore
him a grudge and now shaking his head, said "old treacherous vil-
"lain, and that his house was searcht that morning, at day break,
"but Bacon was escaped into the country, having intimation that
"the Govwn'rs generosity in pardoning him and his followers and
"restoring him to his seat in the councill, were no other than previ-
"ous wheadles to amuse him & his adherents & to circumvent them
"by stratagem, forasmuch as the taking Mr. Bacon again into the
"councill was first to keep him out of the assembly, and in the next
"place the Govern'r knew the country people were hastening down
26
History of The Valley
"with dreadful threatenings to double revenge all wrongs shoul'd be
"done to Mr. Bacon or bis men, or whoever sbou'd have bad the
"least band in 'em.'
And so much was true that this Mr. young Nathaniel Bacon
(not yet arrived at 30 years) bad a nigh relation namely Colo. Nath¬
aniel Bacon of long standing in the council a very rich politick man,
and childless, designing this kinsman for bis heir, who (not without
much paines) bad prevailed with bis uneasy cousin to deliver the
forementioned written recantation at the bar, having compiled it
ready to bis band & by whose means 'twas supposed that timely
intimation was convey'd to the young gentleman to flee for bis life,
and also in 3. or four dais after Mr. Bacon was first seiz'd I saw
abundance of men in town come thither from the beads of the rivers,
who finding him restored & bis men at liberty, return'd home satisfied ;
a few dais after which, the Govern'r seeing all quiet, gave out private
warrants to take him againe, intending as was thought to raise the
militia and so to dispose things as to prevent bis friends from
gathering any more into a like numerous body and coming down a
second time to save him.
In three or ffour dais after bis escape, upon news that Mr.
Bacon was 30 miles up the river, at the bead of four hundred men,
the Govern'r sent to the parts adjacent, on both sides James river
for the militia and all the men that could be gotten to come and de¬
fend the town, expres's came almost hourly of tb' army's approaches,
whom in less than four dais after the first account of 'em att 2. of the
clock entered the town, without being withstood, and form*d a body
upon a green, not a flight shot from the end of the State house of
horse and ffoot, as well regular as veteran troops, who forthwith
possesst themselves of all the avenues, disarming all the town and
coming thither in boats or by land.
In half an hour after this the drum beat for the house to meet,
and in less than an hour more Mr. Bacon came with a file of ffusileers
on either hand near the comer of the State-house where the Gover¬
n'r. and coxmcill went forth to him; we saw from the window the
Govern'r open his breast, and Bacon stmtting betwixt his two files
of men with his left arm on Knebow fiigning his right arm every
way both like men distracted; and if in this moment of fury that
enraged multitude had fain upon the Govern'r & councill we of the
assembly expected the same imediate fate, I stept down and amongst
the crowd of Spectators found the seamen of my sloop, who pray'd
me not to stir from them, when in two minutes, the Govern'r walk'd
towards his private apartm'nt. a Coits cast distant at the other
end of the Statehouse, the gentlemen of the councill following him,
and after them walked Mr. Bacon with outraigous postures of his
head arms body & legs, often tossing his hands from his sword to
his hat and after him came a detachment of ffusileers (musketts
not being then in use) who with their cocks bent presented their
ffusils at a window of the assembly chamber filled with faces, re-
Introduction
27
peating with menacing voices "we will have it," we will have it,"
half a minute when as one of our house a person known to many of
them, shook his handkercher out at the window, "saying you shall
have it, you shall have it," 3 or 4 times; at these words they sate
down their fusils unbent their locks and stood still untill Bacon com¬
ing back, they followed him to their main body; in this hubub a
servant of mine got so nigh as to hear the Govern'rs words, and also
followed Mr. Bacon, and heard what he said, who came & told me,
that when the Govern'r opened his breast he said, "here! shoot me,
foregod fair mark, shoot; often rehearsing the same, without any
other words; whereto Mr, Bacon answered "ilo may it please yo'r
"hono'r we will not hurt a hair of yo'r head, nor of any other
"mans, are come for a Co'mission to save our lives from th' Indians,
"which you have so often promised, and now we will have it before
"we go."
But when Mr. Bacon followed the Govern'r & Councill with the
forementioned impetuous (like delirious) actions whil'st that party
presented their ffusils at the window full of ffaces, he said "Dam my
"bloud I'le kill Govern'or Councill assembly & all, and then I'le
"sheath my sword in my own hearts bloud;" and afterwards 'twas
said Bacon had given a signal to his men who presented their fusils
at those gazing out at the window that if he should draw his sword,
they were on sight of it to fire, and slay us, so near was the massacre
of us all that very minute, had Bacon in that paroxism of phrentick
fury but drawn his sword, before the pacifick handkercher was
shaken out at the window.
In an hour or more after these violent concussions Mr. Bacon
came up to our chamber and desired a co'mission from us to go
against the Indians; our Speaker sat silent, when one Mr. Blayton
a neighbor to Mr. Bacon & elected with him a member of assembly
for the same county (who therefore durst speak to him) made ans¬
wer, "'twas not in our province, or power, nor of any other, save
the king's viceregent our Govern'r, he press'd hard nigh half an
hours harangue on the preserving our lives from the Indians, in¬
specting the publick revenues, th' exorbitant taxes and redressing
the grievances and calamities of that deplorable country, whereto
having no other answer he went away dissatisfied.
Next day there was a rumour the Govern'r & councill had
agreed Mr. Bacon shou'd have a co'mission to go Generali of the
fiorces, we then were raising, whereupon I being a member of Staf¬
ford, the most northern frontier, and where the war begun, con¬
sidering that Mr. Bacon dwelling in the most Southern ffrontier,
county, might the less regard the parts I represented, I went to Coll :
Cole (an actwe member of the councill) desiring his advice, if ap-
plicac'ons to Mr. Bacon on that subject were then seasonable and
safe, which he approving and earnestly advising, I went to Mr.
Laurence who was esteemed Mr. Bacon's principal consultant, to
whom he took me with him, and there left me where I was enter-
28
History of The Valley
tained 2 or 3 hours with the particular relac'ons of diverse before re¬
cited transactions; and as to the matter I spake of, he told me, the
Govern'r had indeed promised him the command of the forces, and
if his hono'r shou'd keep his word (which he doubted) he assured
me "the like care should be taken of the remotest comers in the
"land, as of his own dwelling-house, and pray'd me to advise him
"what persons in those parts were most fit to bear commands." I
frankly gave him my opinion that the most satisfactory gentlemen
to govern'r & people, wou'd be co'manders of the militia, wherewith
he was well pleased, and himself wrote a list of those nominated.
That evening I made known what had passed with Mr. Bacon
to my colleague Coll: Mason (whose bottle attendance doubted my
task) the matter he liked well, but questioned the Govem'rs appro¬
bation of it.
I confess'd the case required sedate thoughts, reasoning, that
he and such like gentlemen must either co'mand or be co'manded,
and if on their denials Mr. Bacon should take distaste, and be con¬
strained to appoint co'manders out of the rabble, the Govern'r him¬
self with the persons & estates of all in the land would be at their
dispose, whereby their own ruine might be owing to themselves; in
this he agreed & said "If the Govern'r would give his own co'mis-
"sion he would be content to serve under general Bacon (as now he
"began to be intituled) but first would consult other gentlemen in
the same circumstances; who all concurr'd 'twas the most safe bar¬
rier in view against pernicious designes, if such should be put in
practice; with this I acquainted Mr. Laurance who went (rejoicing)
to Mr. Bacon with the good tidings, that the militia co'manders were
inclined to serve under him, as their Generali, in case the Governor
would please to give them his own co'missions.
Wee of the house proceeded to finish the bill for the war, which
by the assent of the Govem'or and councill being past into an act,
the Govern'r sent us a letter directed to his majesty, wherein were
these words "I have above 30 years governed the most flourishing
"country the sim ever shone over, but am now encompassed with
"rebellion like waters in every respect like to that of Massanello ex¬
cept their leader, and of like import was the substance of that letter,
But we did not believe his hon'r sent us all he wrote his majesty.
Some judicious gentlemen of our house likewise penn'd a letter
or remonstrance to be sent his Maj'tie, setting for the gradations of
these erupc'ons, and two or three of them with Mr. Minge our clerk
brought it me to compile a few lines for the conclusion of it, which
I did (tho not without regret in those watchfull times, when every
man had eyes on him, but what I wrote was with all possible defer-
rence to the Govern'r and in the most soft terms my pen cou'd find
the case to admit.
Col. Spencer being my neighbor & intimate friend, and a preva¬
lent member in the council I pray'd him to intreat the Govern'r we
might be dissolved, for that was my first and should be my last
Inteoductiow
29
going astray from my wonted sphere of merchandise & other my
private concernments into the dark and slippery meanders of court
embarrassments, he told me the Govern'r had not (then) determined
his intention, but he would move his hon'r about itt, and in 2 or 3
days we were dissolved, which I was most heartily glad of, because
of my getting loose againe from being hampered amongst those per¬
nicious entangleme'ts in the labyrinths & snares of state ambigui¬
ties, & which until then I had not seen the practice nor the dangers
of, for it was observ'd that severall of the members had secret badges
of distinction fixt upon 'em, as not docill enough to gallop the future
races, that court seem'd disposed to lead 'em, whose maxims I had
oft times heard whisper'd before, and then found confirm'd by
diverse considerate gentlem'n viz't "that the wise and the rich were
"prone to fFaction & sedition but the fools & poor were easy to be
governed."
Many members being met one evening nigh sunsett, to take our
leave of each other, in order next day to return homewards, came
Gen'll. Bacon with his handfull of unfolded papers & overlooking
us round, walking in the room said "which of these Gentlem'n shall
I interest to write a few words for me, where every one looking
aside as not willing to meddle; Mr. Lawrence pointed at me saying
"that gentleman writes very well which I endeavoring to excuse Mr
Bacon came stooping to the grund and said "pray S'r Do me the
ho'r write a line for me."
This surprising accostm't schockt me into a melancholy cou
stemation, dreading upon one hand, that StafFord county would fee!
the smart of his resentment, if I should refuse him whose favor 1
had so lately sought and been generously promis'd on their behalf;
and on th' other hand fearing the Govern'rs displeasure who I kne-w
would soon hear of it; what seem'd most prudent at this hazardous
dilemma was to obviate the present impending peril; So Mr. Bacon
made me sit the whole night by him filling up those papers, which
I then saw were blank co'missions sign'd by the Govern'r incerting
such names & writing other matters as he dictated, which I took to
he the happy effects of the consult before mentioned, with the com-
'anders of the militia because he gave me the names of very few
others to put into these co'missions, and in the morning he left me
with an hours work or more to finish, when came to me Capt. Carver,
and said he had been to wait on the Gunerall for a co'mission, and
that he was resolved to adventure his old bones against the Indian
rogues with other the like discourse, and at length told me that I
was in mighty favor and he was bid to tell me, that whatever
I desired ia the Generals power, was at my service, I pray'd him
humbly to thank his hon'r and to acquaint him I had no other boon
to crave, than his promis'd kindness to Stafford county, for besides
the not being worthy, I never had been conversant in military mat¬
ters, and also having lived tenderly, my services cou'd be of no bene¬
fit because the hardships and fatigues of a wilderness campaigns
30
History of The Valley
would put a speedy period to my dais: little expecting to hear of
more intestine broiles, I went home to Potomack, where rejHirts were
afterwards various ; we had account that Generali Bav'ou was
march'd with a thousand men into the fforest to seek the enei vy In¬
dians, and in a few dais after our next news was, that the Govern r
had sum'ontd together the militia of Gloucester & Middlesex coun¬
ties to the number of twelve hundred men, and proposed to them to
follow & and suppress the rebell Bacon, whereupon arose a murmur¬
ing before his face "Bacon, Bacon, Bacon, and all walked out of the
"field, muttering as they went Bacon, Bacon, Bacon, leaving the
Governor and those that came with him to themselves, who being
thus abandon'd wafted over Chesepiacke Bay 30 miles to Accomack
where are two counties of Virginia.
Mr. Bacon hearing of this came back part of the way, and sent
out parties of horse patrolling through every county, carrying away
prisoners all whom he distrusted might any more molest his Indian
prosecuc'on yet giving liberty to such as pledg'd him their oaths to
return home and live quiet; the copies or contents of which oaths I
never saw, but heard were very strict, tho' little observed.
About this time was a spie detected pretending himself a de¬
serter who had twice or thrice come and gone from party to party
and was by councill of war sentenced to death, after which Bacon
declared openly to him, "that if any one in the army wou'd speak a
"word to save him, he shou'd not suffer," which no man appearing
to do, he was executed, upon this manifestation of clemency Bacon
was applauded for a mercifull man, not willing to spill Christian
bloud, nor indeed was it said, that he put any other man to death in
cold bloud, or plunder any house; nigh the same time came Maj'r
Längsten with his troop of horse and quartered two nights at my
house who (after high compliments from the Generali) told me I
was desired "to accept the Lieutenancy for preserving the peace in
the 5 Northern counties betwixt Potomack and Rappahannock River,
I humbly thank'd his hon'r excusing myself, as I had done before on
that invitation of the like nature at James town, hut did hear he was
mightily offended at my evasions and threatened to remember me.
The Govern'r made 2d. attempt coming over from Accomack
with what men he could procure in sloops and boats, forty miles up
the river to James town, which Bacon hearing of, came againe down
from his fforest pursuit, and finding a bank not a flight shot long,
cast up thwart the neck of the peninsula there in James town, he
stormed it, and took the town, in which attack were 12. men slaine
& wounded but the Govern'r with most of his followers fled back,
down the river in their vessells.
Here resting a few dais they concerted the burning of the town,
wherein Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Drummond owning the two best
houses save one, sat fire each to his own house, which example the
souldiers following laid the whole town with church and State house
in ashes, saying, the rogues should harbour no more there.
Introduction
31
On these reiterated molestac'ons Bacon calls a convention at
Midle plantation 15. miles from James town in the month of August
1676, where an oath with one or more proclamations were formed,
and writts by him issued for an Assembly ; the oaths or writts I never
saw, hut one proclamation com'anded all men in the land on pain of
death to joine him, and retire into the wildernesse upon arrival of the
forces expected from England, and oppose them until they should
propose to accept to treat of an accom'odntion, which we who lived
comfortably coud not have undergone, so as the whole land must
have become an Aceldama if gods exceeding mercy had not timely
removed him.
During these tumults in Virginia a 2d danger menaced Mary¬
land by an insurrection in that province, complaining of their heavy
taxes &c. where 2 or 3 of the leading malcontents (men otherwise of
laudable characters) were put to death, which stifled the farther
spreading of that flame. Mr. Bacon (at this time) press't the best
ship in James river, carrying 20 guns and putting into her his Lieu¬
tenant General Mr. Bland (a gentleman newly come thither from
England to possesse the estate of his deceased uncle late of the coun¬
cil) and under him the forementioned Capt. Carver, formerly a com-
'ander of Merch'ts ships with men & all necessaries, he sent her to
ride before Accomack to curb and intercept all small vessels of war
com'ission'd by the Govern'or com'ing often over and making depre¬
dations on the Western shoar, as if we had been fforeign enemies,
which gives occasion in this place to digress a few words.
Att first assembly after the peace came a message to them from
the Govern'r for some marks of distinction to he set on his loyal
friends of Accomack, who received him in his adversity which when
came to be consider'd Col; Warner (then Speaker) told the house
"Ye know that what mark of distinction his hon'r coud have sett
"on those of Accomack unlesse to give them ear marks or burnt
"marks for robbing and ravishing honest people, who stay'd at
"home and preserv'd the estates of those who ran away, when none
"intended to hurt 'em."
Now returning to Capt. Carver the Govern'r sent for him to
come on shoar, promising his peaceable return, who answer'd, he
could not trust his word, but if he wou'd send his hand & seal, he
wou'd adventure to wait upon his hon'r which was done, and Carver
went in his sloop well arm'd & man'd with the most trusty of his men
where he was caress'd with wine &c. and large promises, if he would
forsake Bacon, resigne his ship or joine with him, to all which he
answered that "if he served the Devill he would he true to his trust,
"but that he was resolved to go home and live quiet.
In the mean time of this recepc'on and parley, an armed boat
was prepared with many oars in a creek not far off, but out of sight,
which when Carver sail'd, roVd out of the creek, and it being al¬
most calm the boat out went the sloop whilst all on board the ship
were upon the deck staring at both, thinking the boats company
32
Histoby of The Valley
coming on board by Carvers invitation to be civilly entertained in
requitall for the kindness they supposed he had received on shoar,
untill coming under the stem, those in the boat slipt nimbly in at
the gun room ports with pistolls &c. when one courageous gentle¬
man ran up to the deck, & clapt a pistoll to Blands breast, saying
you are my prisoner, the boats company suddenly following with
pistolls swords &c. and after Capt. Larimore (the com'ander of the
ship before she was presst) having from the highest and hindmost
part of the stern interchang'd a signal from the shoar, by flirting his
handkercher about his nose, his own former crew had laid hand¬
spikes ready, which they (at that instant) caught up &c. so as Bland
& Carvers men were amazed and yielded.
Carver seeing a hurly hurly on the ships deck, would have gone
away with his sloop, hut having little wind & the ship threat'ning
to sink him, he tamely came on board, where Bland & he with their
party were laid in irons, and in 3. or 4 dais Carver was hanged on
shoar, which S'r Henry Chichelly the first of the councill then a
prisoner, (with diverse other gentlemen) to Mr. Bacon, did after¬
wards exclaime against as a most rash and wicked act of the Gover-
n'or he in particular expected to have been treated by way of repri-
zall, as Bacons friend Carver had been by the Govern'r. Mr. Bacon
now returns from his last expedic'on sick of fflux; without finding
any enemy Indians, having not gone far by reason of the vexations
behind him, nor had he one dry day in all his marches to and fro
in the fforest whilst the plantations (not 50. miles distant) had a
sum'er so dry as stinted the Indian corn and tobacco &c. which the
people ascribed to the Pawawings i. e. the sorceries of the Indians,
in a while Bacon dyes & was succeeded by his Lieuten't Gen'll In¬
gram, who had one Wakelet next in com'and under him, whereupon
hasten'd over the Govem'r to York river, and with whom they arti¬
cled for themselves, and whom else they could, so all submitted and
were pardoned exempting those nominated and otherwise proscribed,
in a proclamac'on of indemnity, the principall of whom were Laur¬
ence and Drum'ond.
Mr. Bland was then a prisoner having been taken with Carver,
as before noted, and in a few dais Mr. Drumond was brought in,
when the Govern'r being on board a ship came im'ediately on shore
and complimented him with the ironicall sarcasm of a low hend, say¬
ing "Mr. Drummond! you are very unwelcome, I am more glad to
"see you, than any man in Virginia, Mr. Drumond you shall be
"hang'd in half an hour; who answered What yo'r hon'r pleases,
and as soon as a council of war cou'd meet, his sentence be dis-
patchat & a gibbet erected (which took up near two hours) he was
executed.
This Mr. Drumond was a sober Scotch gentleman of good re¬
pute with whome I had not a particular acquaintance, nor do I know
the cause of that rancour his hon'r had against him other than his
pretensions in com'n for the publick but meeting him by accident
Introduction
33
the morning I left the town, I advis'd him to be very wary, for he
saw the Govern'r had put a brand upon him, he (gravely expressing
my name) answered "I am in over shoes, I will be over hoots," which
I was sorry to heare & left him.
The last account of Mr. Laurence was from an uppermost plan¬
tation, where he and ffour others desperado's with horses pistolls &c.
march'd away in a snow ancle deep, who are thought to have cast
themselves into a branch of some river, rather than to he treated
like Drum'ond.
Bacon's body was so made away, as his bones were never found
to be exposed on a gibbet as was purpos'd, stones being laid on his
coiRn, supposed to he done by Laurence.
Near this time arrived a small ffleet with a regiment from Eng¬
land S'r John Berry Admirall, Coll; Herbert Jefferies com'ander of
the land forces and Collo : Morrison who had one year been a former
Govern'r there, all three joined in a com'ission with or to S'r Wil¬
liam Barclay, soon after when a generali court, and also an assem¬
bly were held, where some of our former assembly (with so many
others) were put to death, diverse whereof were persons of honest
reputation and handsome estates, as that the Assembly petitioned
the Govern'r to spill no more hloud, and Mr. Presly at his coming
home told me, he believed the Govern'r would have hang'd half the
country, if they had let him alone, the first was Mr. Bland whose
friends in England had procured his pardon to he sent over with the
ffleet, which he pleaded at his tryall, was in the Govern'rs pocket
(tho' whether 'twas so, or how it came there, I know not, yet did
not hear 'twas openly contradicted) but he was answered by Collo:
Morrison that he pleaded his pardon at swords point, which was
look'd upon an odd sort of reply, and he was executed; (as was
talked) by private instructions from England the Duke of York hav¬
ing sworn "by god Bacon & Bland shoud dye.
The Govern'r went in the ffleet to London (whether by com'and
from his Majesty or spontaneous I did not hear) leaving Col. Jef-
feryes in his place, and by next shipping came hack a person who
waited on his hon'r in his voyage, and untill his death, from whom
a report was whispePd about that the king did say "that old "fool
had hang'd more men in that naked country, than he had done for
the murther of his father, whereof the Govern'r hearing dyed soon
after without having seen his majesty; which shuts up this tragedy.
APPENDIX
•
To avoid incumbering the body of the foregoing little discourse,
I have not therein mentioned the received opinion in Virginia, which
very much attributed the promoting these perturhac'ons of Mr. Laur¬
ence, & Mr. Bacon with his other adherents, were esteemed, as but
34
History of The Valley
wheels agitated by the weight of his former & present resentments,
after their choler was raised up to a very high pitch, at having been
(so long & often) trifled with in their humble supplications to the
Govern'r for his im'ediate taking in hand the most speedy meanes
towards stopping the continued effusions of so much English bloud,
from time to time by the Indians, which com'on sentim'ts I have the
more reason to believe were not altogether groundless, because my
self have heard him (in his familiar discourse) insinuate as if his
fancy gave him prospect of finding (at one time or other) some ex¬
pedient not only to repair his great losse, hut therewith to see those
abuses rectified that the country was oppressed with through (as he
said) the forwardness avarice & french despotick methods of the
Govern'r & likewise I know him to be a thinking man, and tho'
nicely honest, affable, & without blemish; in his conversation and
dealings, yet did he manifest abundance of uneasiness in the sense
of his hard usages, which might prompt him to improve that Indian
quarrel to the service of his animosities, and for this the more fair
& frequent opportunities offered themselves to him by his dwelling
at James town, where was the concourse from all parts to the Gov¬
ern'r and besides that he had married a wealthy widow who kept
a large house of public entertainm't into which resorted those of
the best quality and such others as businesse called to that town, and
his parts with his even temper made his converse coveted by per¬
sons of all ranks; so that being subtle, and having these advantages
he might with less difficulty discover mens inclinations, and instill
his notions where he found those woud be imbib'd with greatest
satisfaction.
As for Mr. Bacon fame did lay to his charge the having run
out his patrimony in England except what he brought to Virginia,
and for that the most part to be exhausted, which together made him
suspecting of casting an eye to search for retrievement in the
troubled waters of popular discontents, wanting patience to wait the
death of his opulent cousin, old Collo: Bacon, whose estate he ex¬
pected to inherit.
But he was too young, too much a stranger there, and of a dis¬
position too precipitate, to manage things to that length those were
carried, had not thoughtfull Mr. Laurence been at the bottom.
A HISTORY
OF THE
VALLEY OF VIRGINIA
CHAPTER 1
• Indian Wars
From the best evidence the author has been able to obtain, and
to this end he has devoted much time and research, the settlement
of our fine and beautiful valley commenced in the year 1732, about
one hundred and twenty-five years from the first settlement of Vir¬
ginia.* Before going into a detail of the first immigration and im¬
provement of the Valley, the author believes it will not he unin¬
teresting to the general reader, to have a brief history of the long
and bloody wars carried on between contending tribes of " Indians.
Tradition relates that the Delaware and Catawba tribes were engaged
in war at the time the Valley was first known by the white people,
and that that war was continued for many years after our section of
country became pretty numerously inhabited by the white settlers.
I shall commence with a narrative of Indian battles fought on
the Cohongoruton.f At the mouth of the Antietam, a small creek
on the Maryland side of the river, a most bloody affair took place
between parties of the Catawba and Delaware tribes. This was
probably about the year 1736. The Delawares had penetrated pretty
far to the south, committed some acts of outrage on the Catawhas,
and on their retreat were overtaken at the mouth of this creek, when
a desperate conflict ensued. Every man of the Delaware party was
put to death, with the exception of one who escaped after the battle
was over, and every Catawba held up a scalp hut one. This was a
disgrace not to he borne ; and he instantly gave chase to the fugitive,
overtook him at the Susquehanna river (a distance little short of
♦ Fourth Edition Note—It has been quite conclusively shown by Dr. J. W. Wayland,
Charles E. Kemper, and the Rev. J. B. Graham that there were bona fide settlers at
and about what is now Shepherdstown as early as 1717, the actual date of their appear¬
ance being unknown. The Massanutten settlement near Luray began about 1727.
t Cohongoruton is the ancient Indian name of the Potomac from its junction with
the Shenandoah to the Alleghany mountain. % Lord Fairfax, in his grants for land on
this watercourse, designated it Potomac; by which means it gradually lost its ancient
name, and now is generally known by no other name. Maj. H. Bedinger writes the
name of this river Cohongoluta. It is, however, written in the act laying off the county
of Frederick in 1738, Cohongoruton.
t Fourth Edition Note—This appears to be a mutilated form of an Indian expression,
and is thought to mean, "river of wild geese."
36
History of The Valley
one hundred miles), killed and scalped him, and returning showed
his scalp to several white people, and exulted in what he had
done.*
Another most bloody battle was fought at the mouth of Cono-
cocheague,t on Friend's land, in which but one Delaware escaped
death, and he ran in to Friend's house, when the family shut the
door, and kept the Catawbas out, by which means the poor fugitive
was saved.t
There is also a tradition, and there are evident signs of the fact,
of another furious battle fought at what is called the Slim Bottom on
Wappatomaka § (the ancient Indian name of the Great South
Branch of the Potomac), about one and half miles from its mouth.
At this place there are several large Indian graves, near what is
called the Painted Bock. On this rock is exhibited the shape of a
man with a large blotch, intended, probably, to represent a man
bleeding to death. The stain, it appeared to the author, was made
with human blood. The top of the rock projects over the painted
part so as to protect it from the washings of the rains, and is on the
east side of the rock. How long the stain of human blood would
remain visible in a position like this, the author cannot pretend to
express an opinion; but he well recollects the late Gen. Isaac Zane
informed me that the Indians beat out the brains of an infant (near
his old iron works) against a rock, and the stain of the blood was
plainly to be seen about forty years afterwards. In this battle it
is said but one Delaware escaped, and he did so by leaping into the
river, diving under water, continuing to swim until he crossed the
Cohongoruton.il
A great battle between these hostile tribes, it is said, was fought
at what is called the Hanging Kocks, on the Wappatomaka, in the
county of Hampshire, where the river passes through the moun¬
tain, ff A pretty large party of the Delawares had invaded the ter¬
ritory of the Catawbas, taken several prisoners, and commenced
their retreat homewards. When they reached this place, they made
a halt, and a number of them commenced fishing. Their Catawba
enemies, close in pursuit, discovered them, and threw a party of
♦This tradition was related to the author by Capt. James Glenn, of Jefferson
county, now upwards of 73 years of age, and confirmed by the venerable John Tomlin*
son, near Cumberland, Maryland, now 92 years old.
tMr. Tomlinson is of opinion this affair took place at the mouth of the Opequon.
ÎCapt. James Glenn, confirmed by Mr. Tomlinson, except as to the place of battle.
§ The name of this watercourse in Lord Fairfax's ancient grants is written Wai>-
patomac ; but Mr. Heath and Mr. Blue both stated that the proper name was Wap¬
patomaka.**
** Fourth Edition Note—According to the Bureau of Ethnology, the proper form of
this word is Wapacomo, meaning *'wild plum.'*
jlCapt. James Glenn, confirmed by Mr. Garrett Blue, of Hampshire. Indeed, this
tradition is familiar to most of the elderly citizens on the South Branch, as also the
battle of the Hanging Rocks.
tt As the author expects to give a detailed description of this extraordinary place,
in his chapter of natural curiosities, he will barely mention the fact, that this rock,
on one side of the river, is a perpendicular wall of several hundred feet high, and sev¬
eral hundred yards in length.
Indian Wars
37
men across the river, with another in their front. Thus enclosed,
with the rock on one side, a party on the opposite side of the river,
another in their front, and another in their rear, a most furious and
bloody onset was made, and it is believed that several hundred of the
Delawares were slaughtered. Indeed, the signs now to be seen at
this place exhibit striking evidences of the fact. There is a row of
Indian graves between the rock and public road, along the margin
of the river, from sixty to seventy yards in length. It is believed
that but very few of the Delawares escaped.
There are also signs of a bloody battle having been fought at the
forks of the Wappatomaka; but of this battle, if it ever occurred, the
author could obtain no traditional account.
Tradition also relates that the Southern Indians exterminated a
tribe, called the Senedos,* on the Horth fork of the Shenandoah river,
at present the residence of William Steenbergen, Esq., in the county
of Shenandoah. About the year 1734, Benjamin Allen, Riley Moore,
and William White, settled in this neighborhood. Benjamin Allen
settled on the beautiful estate called Allen's bottom. An aged In¬
dian frequently visited him, and on one occasion informed him that
the "Southern Indians killed his whole nation with the exception of
himself and one other youth; that this bloody slaughter took place
when he, the Indian, was a small boy."t From this tradition, it is
probable this horrid affair took place some time shortly after the
middle of the seventeenth century. Major Andrew Keyser also in¬
formed the author that an Indian once called at his father's in Lan¬
caster county, Pennsylvania, appeared to be much agitated, and
asked for something to eat. After refreshing himself, he was asked
what disturbed him. He replied, "The Southern Indians have kill¬
ed my whole nation."
There are also evident signs of the truth of this tradition yet to
be seen. On Mr. Steenbergen's land are the remains of an Indian
mound, though it is now plowed down. The ancient settlers in the
neighborhood differ in their opinion as to its original height. When
they first saw it, some say it was eighteen or twenty feet high, others
that it did not exceed twelve or fourteen, and that it was from fifty
to sixty yards in circumference at the base. This mound was liter¬
ally filled with human skeletons; and it is highly probable that this
was the depository of the dead after the great massacre which took
place as just related.
* Fourth Edition Note—This mention of the Senedos is no longer regarded as having
an authentic basis. The treaty of Albany, made with the Iroquois in 1725, does not
speak of such a tribe. There would have been mention, had the alleged tribe been
resident in the Valley of Virginia at the time indicated. The mound spoken of does
not prove a massacre. Kercheval and other early writers were entirely too hasty in
assuming that the skeletons found in a mound are those of warriors slain in battle.
The Indian burial mound includes the skeletons of women and children, and it rose,
little by little, near every village. Indian "armies" were nearly always very small, and
the losses of the victorious party were small. Until a very recent day, a successful
army, even of the white race, did not hold that it was under any obligation to bury
the enemies it had killed.
tMr. Israel Allen related this tradition to the author.
38
History of The Vaixey
This brief account of Indian battles contains all the traditionary
information the author has been able to collect, with one exception,
which will be noticed in the next chapter. There is, however, a
tradition, that on one particular occasion, a party of thirty Delaware
Indians, having penetrated far to the South, surprised a party of
Catawhas, killed several and took a prisoner. The party of Dela¬
wares, on their return, called at Mr. Joseph Perrill's, near Winches¬
ter, and exulted much at their success. The next day a party of ten
Catawhas called at Mr. Perrill's in pursuit. They inquired when
their enemy had passed. Being informed, they pushed off at a brisk
step, overtook the thirty Delawares at the Oohongoruton (Potomac),
killed every man, recovered their prisoner, called at Mr. Perrill's on
their return, and told what they had done. * But it is probable this
is the same affair which took place at the mouth of the Antietam,
though it is possible that it may he a different one. Mr. Tomlinson
is under the impression that there was an Indian battle fought at the
mouth of the Opequon.
The author has seen and conversed Avith several aged and respect¬
able individuals, who well recollect seeing numerous war parties of
the Northern and Southern Indians, passing and repassing through
the Valley. Several warrior paths haA'e been pointed out to him.
One of them led from the Cohongoruton (Potomac) and passed a
little west of Winchester southwardly.! This path forked a few miles
north of Winchester, and one branch of it dñ'erged more to the east,
crossed the Opequon, very near Mr. Carter's paper mill, on the creek,
and led on toward the forks of the Shenandoah River. Another
crossed the North mountain and the Valley a few miles above the
Narrow Passage, thence over the Fort mountain to the South River
Valley. Another crossed the Cumberland, in Maryland, and pro¬
ceeded up the Wappatomaka or Great South Branch Valley, in the
counties of Hampshire and Hardy.
An aged and respectable old lady on Apple Pie Ridge, informed
the author that she had frequently heard her mother speak of a party
of Delaware Indians once stopping at her father's, where they stayed
all night. They had in custody a young female Catawba prisoner,
who was one of the most beautiful females she had ever seen. Maj.
R. D. Glass also informed the author that his father, who resided at
the head of the Opequon, stated the same fact. It was remarkable
to see with what resignation this unfortunate young prisoner sub¬
mitted to her fate. Her unfeeling tormentors would tie her and
compel her at night to lay on her back, with the cords distended from
her hands and feet, and tied to branches or what else they could get
*Gen. John Smith communicated this tradition to the author.
t Fourth Edition Note—The warrior path here mentioned was one of the greatest
of the aboriginal highways. It was at once adopted by the white settlers, and by them
was called the "Indian Road,*' or the "Pennsylvania Road." From Winchester to Har¬
risonburg its course was almost identical with that of the present Valley Pike. The
branch leading to Front Royal almost certainly left the main line close to the southern
border of Winchester. It is altogether probable, therefore, that the course of the Mill¬
wood pike is substantially the same as that of the Indian path alluded to.
Indian Waes
39
at to make her secure, while a man lay on each side of her with the
cords passing under their bodies.
Mr. John Tomlinson also informed the author, that when about
seven or eight years of age, he saw a party of Delawares pass his
father's house, with a female Catawba prisoner, who had an infant
child in her arms; and that it was said they intended to sacrifice her
when they reached their towns. *
Tomlinson also relates a very remarkable instance of the sacrifice
of a female Catawba prisoner by the Delawares. A party of Dela¬
wares crossed the Potomac, near Oldtown, in Maryland, a short dis¬
tance from which they cruelly murdered their prisoner; they then
moved on. The next day several of them returned, and cut off the
soles of her feet in order to prevent her from pursuing and haunting
them in their march, f
Capt. Glenn informed the author that a Mrs. Mary Friend, who
resided on or near the Potomac, stated to him that she once saw a
body of four or five hundred Catawba Indians on their march to in¬
vade the Delawares; but from some cause they became alarmed, and
returned without success.
The same gentleman stated to the author that a Mr. James
Hendricks informed him that the last sacrifice made by the Dela¬
wares, of their Catawba prisoners, was at the first run or stream of
water on the south side of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Here several
prisoners were tortured to death with all the wanton barbarity and
cruelty peculiar to the savage character. Mr. Hendricks was an eye
witness to this scene of horror. During the protracted and cruel
sufferings of these unhappy victims, they tantalized and used the
most insulting language to their tormentors, threatening them with
the terrible vengeance of their nation as long as they could speak.
This bloody tragedy soon reached the ears of the Governor of
Pennsylvania, and he forthwith issued his proclamation, command¬
ing and requiring all the authorities, both civil and military, to in¬
terpose, and prohibit a repetition of such acts of barbarity and
cruelty.
The author will now conclude this narrative of Indian wars
with a few general reflections.
It is the opinion of some philosophers, that it is inherent in the
nature of man to fight. The correctness of this opinion Mr. Jefferson
seems to doubt, and suggests that "it grows out of the abuse and not
the natural state of man." But it really appears there are strong
reasons to believe that there does exist "a natural state of hostility of
man against man." Upon what other principle can we account for
the long add furious wars which have been carried on, at different
periods, among the aboriginals of our country?
♦ Mr. Tomlicson's father then resided about seven miles below the mouth of Cono-
cocheasme on or near the Potomac, on the Maryland side.
tMr. G. Blue, of Hampshire, stated this tradition to the author.
40
History of The Valley
At an immense distance apart,* probably little less than six or
seven hundred miles, without trade, commerce, or clashing of inter¬
ests—^without those causes of irritation common among civilized
states—we find these two nations for a long series of years engaged
in the most implacable and destructive wars. Upon what other
principle to account for this state of things, than that laid down, is
a subject for which the author cannot pretend to explain. It, how¬
ever, affords matter of curious speculation and interesting reflection
to the inquiring mind. That nations are frequently urged to war
and devastation by the restless and turbulent disposition so common
to mankind, particularly among their leaders, is a question of little
doubt. The glory and renown (falsely so termed) of great achieve¬
ments in war, is probably one principal cause of the wars frequently
carried on by people in a state of nature.
*The Catawba tribes reside on the river of that name in South Carolina. They
were a powerful and warlike nation» but are now reduced to less than two hundred
souls. "Hie Delawares resided at that period on the Susquehanna River, in Pennsylvania,
and are now far west of the Alleghany mountains.
CHAPTEK II
Indian Settlements
The author deems it unnecessary to give a detailed account of
all the particular places which exhibit signs of the ancient residences
of Indians, hut considers it sufficient to say that on all our water¬
courses, evidences of their dwellings are yet to he seen. The two
great branches of the Shenandoah, and the south branch of the Poto¬
mac, appear to have been their favorite places of residence. There
are more numerous signs of their villages to he seen on these water¬
courses than in any other part of our Valley.
On the banks of the Cohongoruton (Potomac), there has
doubtless been a pretty considerable settlement. The late Col.
Joseph Swearingen's dwelling house stands within a circular wall or
moat. * When first known by the white inhabitants, the wall was
about eighteen inches high, and the ditch about two feet deep. This
circular wall was made of earth-—is now considerably reduced, but
yet plainly to be seen. It is not more than half a mile from Shep-
herdstown.
For what particular purpose this wall was thrown up, whether
for ornament or defense, the author cannot pretend to form an opin¬
ion. t If it was intended for defense, it appears to have been too low
to answer any valuable purpose in that way.
On the Wappatomaka, a few miles below the forks, tradition
relates that there was a very considerable Indian settlement. On
the farm of Isaac Vanmeter, Esq., on this watercourse, in the coun¬
ty of Hardy, when the county was first discovered, there was con¬
siderable openings of the land, or natural prairies, which are called
"the Indian old fields" to this day. X Numerous Indiian graves are to
he seen in the neighborhood. A little above the forks of the river a
very large Indian grave is now to be seen. § In the bank of the
river, a little below the forks, numerous human skeletons have been
discovered, and several articles of curious workmanship. A highly
finished pipe, representing a snake coiled round the bowl, with its
head projected above the bowl, was among them. There was the
under jaw bone of a human being of great size found at the same
place, which contained eight jaw teeth, in each side, of enormous size ;
and what is more remarkable, the teeth stand transversely in the
♦Maj. Henry Bedinger informed the author that at his first recollection of this
place, the wall moat was about eighteen inches high, and the ditch around it about
two feet deep. The wall was raised on the outside of the ditch, and carefully thrown up.
t Fourth Edition Note—The purpose of such a wall was to afford a firm support to
a palisade inclosing a village.
$ Fourth Edition Note—A village of the Shawnees stood here from about 1700 till
the spring of 1754.
§ William Seymour, Esq., related this fact to the author.
42
Histort of The Valley
jaw bone. It would pass over any common man's face with entire
ease. *
There are many other signs of Indian settlements all along this
river, hoth ahove and helow the one just described. Mr. Garrett
Blue, of the county of Hampshire, informed the author, that ahout
two miles below the Hanging Rocks, in the banks of the river, a
stratum of ashes, ahout one rod in length, was some years ago dis¬
covered. At this place are signs of an Indian village, and their old-
fields. The Rev. John J. Jacobs, of Hampshire, informed the author
that on Mr. Daniel Cresap's land on the north branch of the Potomac,
a few miles above Cumberland, a human skeleton was discovered,
which had been covered with a coat of wood ashes, ahout two feet
helow the surface of the ground. An entire decomposition of the
skeleton had taken place, with the exception of the teeth; they were
in a perfect state of preservation.
On the two great branches of the Shenandoah there are now to
be seen numerous sites of their ancient villages, several of which are
so remarkable that they deserve a passing notice. It has been
noticed, in my preceding chapter, that on Mr. Steenbergen's land, on
the north fork of the Shenandoah, the remains of a large Indian
mound are plainly to he seen. It is also suggested that this was once
the residence of the Senedo tribe, and that that tribe had been exter¬
minated by the Southern Indians. Exclusive of this large mound, f
there are several other Indian graves. Ahout this place many of
their implements and domestic utensils have been found. A short
distance below the mouth of Stony Creek (a branch of the Shen¬
andoah), within four or five miles of Woodstock, are the signs of an
Indian village. At this place a gun barrel, with several iron toma¬
hawks, were found long after the Indians left the county.J
On Mr. Anthony Kline's farm, within ahout three miles of
Stephensburg, in the county of Frederick, in a glen near his mill, a
rifle was found, which had laid in the ground forty or fifty years.
Every part of this gun (even the stock, which was made of black
walnut), was sound. Mr. Kline's father took the barrel from the
stock, placed the breech on the fire, and it soon discharged with a
loud explosion. §
In the county of Page, on the south fork of the Shenandoah
River, there are several Indian burying grounds and signs of their
villages. These signs are also to he seen on the Hawksbill Creek.
A few miles above Luray, on the west side of the river, there are
*Williain Heath, Esq., in the county of Hardy, stated this fact to the author, and
that he had repeat^ly seen the remarkable jaw bone.
tMr. Steenberger informed the author, that upon looking into this mound, it was
discovered that at the head of each skeleton a stone was deposited ; that these stones
are of various sizes, supposed to indicate the size of the body buried.
ÎMr. George Grandstaff stated this to the author. Mr. G. is an aged and respected
citizen of Shenandoah county.
§Mr. Anthony Kline related this occurrence to the author. No man who is acquaint¬
ed with Mr. Kline, will for one moment doubt his assertions. This rifle was of a very
large calibre, and was covered several feet below the surface of the ground, and doubt¬
less left there by an Indian.
Indian Settlements
43
three large Indian graves, ranged nearly side by side, thirty or forty
feet in length, twelve or fourteen feet wide, and five or six feet high.
Around them, in circular form, are a number of single graves. The
whole cover an area of a little less than a quarter of an acre. They
present to the eye a very ancient appearance, and are covered with
pine and other forest growth. The excavation of the ground around
them is plainly to be seen. The three first mentioned graves are in
oblong form, probably containing many hundreds of human bodies,
and were doubtless the work of ages. *
On the land of Mr. !N"oah Keyser, near the mouth of the Hawks-
bill Creek, stand the remains of a large mound. This, like that of
Mr. Steenbergen's, is considerably reduced by plowing, hut is yet
some twelve or fourteen feet high, and is upwards of sixty yards
round at the base. It is found to be literally filled with human
skeletons, and at every fresh plowing a fresh layer of bones are
brought to the surface. The bones are found to he in a calcarious
state, with the exception of the teeth, which are generally sound.
Several unusually large skeletons have been discovered in this grave.
On the lands now the residence of my venerable friend, John Gate-
wood, Esq., the signs of an Indian village are yet plainly to he seen.
There are numerous fragments of their pots, cups, arrow points,
and other implements for domestic use, found from time to time.
Convenient to this village there are several pretty large graves.
There is also evidence of an Indian town in Powell's Fort, on
the lands now owned by Mr. Daniel Munch. Erom appearance, this
too was a pretty considerable village. A little above the forks of the
Shenandoah, on the east side of the South Fork, are the appearances
of another settlement, exhibiting the remains of two considerable
mounds now entirely reduced by plowing. About this place many
pipes, tomahawks, axes, hommony pestles, &c., have been found.
Some four or five miles below the forks of the river, on the southeast
side, on the land now owned by Capt. Daniel Oliver, is the site of
another Indian village. At this place a considerable variety of
articles have been plowed up. Among the number were several whole
pots, cups, pipes, axes, tomahawks, hommony pestles, &c. A beautiful
pipe, of high finish, made of white flint stone, and several other
articles of curious workmanship, all of very hard stone, have been
found. Their cups and pots were made of a mixture of clay and
shells, of rude workmanship, but of firm texture.
There are many other places on all our watercourses, to-wit:
Stony Creek, Cedar Creek, and Opequon, as well as the larger water¬
courses, which exhibit evidence of ancient Indian settlements, f The
Shawnee tril^, it is well known, were settled about the neighborhood
* These grraves are on the lands now the residence of the widow Long, and appear
never to have been disturbed.
t Fourth Edition Note—The foregoing list of Indian village sites in the Shenandoah
Valley is by no means complete. Others have been found and explored since Kercheval's
time.
44
History of The Valley
of Winchester. * What are called the "Shawnee cabins," and
"Shawnee Springs," immediately adjoining the town, are well known.
It is also equally certain, that this tribe had a considerable village
on Babb's Marsh, some three or four miles northwest of Winchester.!
The Tuscarora Indians resided in the neighborhood of Martins-
burg, in the county of Berkeley, J on the Tuscarora Creek. On the
fine farm, now owned by and the residence of Matthew Ransom, Esq.
(the former residence of Mr. Benjamin Beeson), are the remains of
several Indian graves. These, like several others, are now plowed
down; but numerous fragments of human bones are to be found
mixed with the clay on the surface. Mr. Ranson informed the
author, that at this place the under jaw bone of a human being was
plowed up, of enormous size ; the teeth were found in a perfect state
of preservation. §
Hear the Shenandoah Springs, on the lands of Mr. Fairfax, an
Indian grave, some years since was opened, in which a skeleton of
unusual size was discovered. **
Mr. E. Paget informed the author that on Flint Run, a small
rivulet of the South River, in the county of Shenandoah, a skeleton
was foimd by his father, the thigh bone of which measured three
feet in length, and the under jaw bone of which would pass over any
common man's face with ease.
Hear the Indian village described on a preceding page, on Capt.
Oliver's land, a few years ago, some hands, in removing the stone
covering an Indian grave, discovered a skeleton, whose great size
attracted their attention. The stones were carefully taken off without
disturbing the frame, when it was discovered that the body had
been laid at full length on the ground, and broad flat stones set round
the corpse in the shape of a coflin. Capt. Oliver measured the skele¬
ton as it lay, which was nearly seven feet long, ff
In the further progress of this work the author will occasionally
advert to the subject of Indian antiquities and traits of the Indian
character. This chapter will now be concluded vsdth some general
reflections on the seemly hard fate of the unfortunate race of people.
It appears to the author that no reflecting man can view so many
burying places broken up, their bones torn up with the plow, reduced
to dust, and scattered to the winds, without feeling some degree of
♦ Fourth Edition Note—This village was founded about 1694 and stood until 1754.
t Mr. Thomas Barrett, who was born in 1755, stated to the author, that within his
recollection the signs of the Indian wigwams were to be seen on Babb's Marsh.
i Mr. John Shobe, a very respectable old citizen of Martinsburg, stated to the author,
that Mr. Benjamin Beeson, a highly respectable Quaker, informed him, that the Tuscaro¬
ra Indians were living on the Tuscarora Creek when he (Beeson) first knew the county.
§ Fourth Edition Note—It is remarkable in this book how often we come upon
these tales of skeletons of phenomenal size. The Indians were occasionally tall, but red
men eight feet in stature were as rare as among the white people. A love of the
marvelous was a characteristic of the eighteenth century American, and it caused him to
exaggerate unwittingly such things as were out of the ordinary.
♦♦ Mr. George W. Fairfax gave the author this information.
tt Maximus, a Roman Emperor in the third century, "was the son of a Thracian
shepherd, and is represented by historians as a man of gigantic stature and herculean
strength. He was fully eight feet in height, and perfectly symmetrical in form.*'
Abridged U. History, vol. ii, p. 35.
Indian Settlements
45
melancholy regret.* It is to be lamented for another reason. If
those mounds and places of burial had been permitted to remain
undisturbed, they would have stood as lasting monuments in the
history of our country. Many of them were doubtless the work of
ages, and future generations would have contemplated them with
great interest and curiosity. But these memorials are rapidly disap¬
pearing, and the time perhaps will come, when not a trace of them
will remain. The author has had the curiosity to open several Indian
graves, in one of which he found a pipe of différent form from any
he has ever seen. It is made of a hard black stone and glazed or
rather painted with a substance of a reddish cast. In all the graves
he has examined, the bones are found in a great state of decay, except
the teeth, which are generally in a perfect state of preservation.
It is no way wonderful that this unfortunate race of people
reluctantly yielded their rightful and just possession of this fine
country. It is no way wonderful that they resisted with all their
force the intrusion of the white people (who were strangers to them,
from a foreign country), upon their rightful inheritance. But per¬
haps this was the fiat of heaven. When God created this globe. He
probably intended it should sustain the greatest possible number of
His creatures. And as the human family, in a state of civil life,
increases with vastly more rapidity than a people in a state of nature
or savage life, the law of force has been generally resorted to, and the
weaker compelled to give way to the stronger. That a part of our
country has been acquired by this law of force, is undeniable, f It is,
however, matter of consoling reflection, that there are some honorable
exceptions to this arbitrary rule. The great and wise William Penn
set the example of purchasing the Indian lands. Several respectable
individuals of the Quaker Society thought it unjust to take possession
of this valley without making the Indians some compensation for
their right. Measures were adopted to effect this great object. But
upon inquiry, no particular tribe could be found who pretended to
have any prior claim to the soil. It was considered the common
hunting ground of various tribes, and not claimed by any particular
nation who had authority to sell.
This information was communicated to the author by two aged
and highly respectable men of the Friends' Society, Isaac Brown and
Lewis Heill, each of them upwards of eighty years of age, and both
residents of the county of Frederick.
In confirmation of this statement, a letter written by Thomas
Chaukley to the monthly meeting on the Opequon, on the 21st of
fifth month, 1738, is strong circumstantial evidence; of which letter
the following is a copy:
* Fourth Edition Note—This observation is eminently just.
t Fourth Edition Note—That the Indians were few as compared with the whites did
not negative their claim to the soil. When the Indians sold land, they did not hold that
they were giving it up absolutely. In their view they were selling a right to a joint
occupancy. Had this been conceded by the settlers, the natives would have been assimi¬
lated, and the costly and bloody Indian wars avoided. Such a course was advocated by
Thomas Jefferson, Colonel William Byrd, and other eminent Virginians.
46
History of The Valley
Letter From Mr. Thomas Chaukley
Virginia, at John Cheagle's,
21st 5th month, 1738.
"To the friends of the monthly meeting at the Opequon:
"Dear friends who inhabit the Shenandoah and Opequon—
Having a concern for your welfare and prosperity, both now and
hereafter, and also the prosperity of your children, I had a desire to
see you ; but being in years, and heavy, and much spent and fatigued
with my long joumeyings in Virginia and Carolina makes it seem
too hard for me to perform a visit in person to you, wherefore I take
this way of writing to discharge my mind of what lies weighty
thereon ; and
"First. I desire that you be very careful (being far and back
inhabitants) to keep a friendly correspondence with the native
Indians, giving them no occasion of offense; they being a cruel
and merciless enemy, where they think they are wronged or defrauded
of their rights ; as woeful experience had taught in Carolina, Virginia
and Maryland, and especially in Xew England, &c. ; and
"Secondly. As nature had given them and their forefathers
the possession of this continent of America (or this wilderness),
they had a natural right thereto in justice and equity ; and no people,
according to the law of nature and justice and our own principle,
which is according to the glorious gospel of our dear and holy Jesus
Christ, ought to take away or settle on other men's lands or rights
without consent, or purchasing the same by agreement of parties
concerned ; which I suppose in your case is not yet done.
"Thirdly. Therefore my counsel and christian advice to you
is, my dear friends, that the most reputable among you do with
speed endeavor to agree with and purchase your lands of the native
Indians or inhabitants. Take example of our worthy and honorable
late proprietor, William Penn; who by the wise and religious care
in that relation, hath settled a lasting peace and commerce with the
natives, and through his prudent management therein hath been
instrumental to plant in peace one of the most flourishing provinces
in the world.
"Fourthly. Who would run the risk of the lives of their wives
and children for the sparing a little cost and pains? I am con¬
cerned to lay these things before you, under an uncommon exercise
of mind, that your new and flourishing little settlement may not be
laid waste, and (if the providence of the Almighty doth not inter¬
vene), some of the blood of yourselves, wives or children, be shed or
spilt on the ground.
"Fifthly. Consider you are in the province of Virginia, holding
what rights you have under that government; and the Virginians have
made an agreement with the natives to go as far as the mountains
and no farther ; and you are over and beyond the mountains, therefore
%
Indian Settlements 47
out of that agreement; by which you lie open to the insults and
incursions of the Southern Indians, who have destroyed many of the
inhabitants of Carolina and Virginia, and even now destroyed more
on the like occasion. The English going beyond the hounds of their
agreement, eleven of them were killed by the Indians while we were
traveling in Virginia.
"Sixthly. If you believe yourselves to he within the bounds of
William Penn's patent from King Charles the second, which will he
hard for you to prove, you being far .southward of his line, yet if done,
that will he no consideration with the Indians without a purchase
from them, except you will go about it to convince them by fire and
sword, contrary to our principles; and if that were done, they would
ever be implacable enemies, and the land could never be enjoyed in
peace.
"Seventhly. Please to note that in Pennsylvania no new settle¬
ments are made without an agreement with the natives; as witness
Lancaster county, lately settled, though that is far within the grant of
William Penn's patent from King Charles the second; wherefore
you lie open to the insurrections of the Korthern as well as Southern
Indians; and
"Lastly. Thus having shown my good will to you and to your
new little settlement, that you might sit every one under your own
shady tree, where none might make you afraid, and that you might
prosper naturally and spiritually, you and your children ; and having
a little eased my mind of that weight and concern (in some measure)
that lay upon me, I at present desist, and subscribe myself, in the
love of our holy Lord Jesus Christ, your real friend,
T. C."
This excellent letter from this good man proves that the Quakers
were among our early settlers, and that this class of people were
early disposed to do justice to the natives of the country.
Had this humane and just policy of purchasing the Indian lands
been first adopted and adhered to, it is highly probable the white
people might have gradually obtained possession without the loss of
so much blood and treasure.
The ancestors of the ISTeills, Walkers, Bransons, McKays,
Hackneys, Beesens, Luptons, Barretts, Dillons, etc., were among the
earliest Quaker immigrants to our Valley. Three Quakers by the
name of Fawcett settled at an early period about eight or nine miles
south of Winchester, near Zane's old iron works, from whom a pretty
numerous progeny has descended. They have, however, chiefly mi¬
grated to the'west.
Mr. Jefferson, in his notes on Virginia says, "That the lands
of this country were taken from them (the Indians), by conquest,
is not so general a truth as is supposed. I find in our historians
and records, repeated proofs of purchase, which cover a considerable
48
History of The Valley
part of the lower country; and many more would doubtless be found
on further search. The upper country we know has been acquired
altogether by purchase in the most unexceptionable form."
Tradition relates that several tracts of land were purchased by
Quakers from the Indians on Apple Pie Pidge, and that the Indians
never were known to disturb the people residing on the land so
purchased.
CHAPTER III
First Settlement of The Vaixey
In the year 1732, Joist Hite, with his family, and his sons-in-
law, viz; George Bowman, Jacob Chrisman and Paul Froman, with
their families; Robert McKay, Robert Green, William Duff, Peter
Stephens, and several others, amounting in the whole to sixteen fam¬
ilies, removed from Pennsylvania, cutting their road from York, and
crossing the Cohongoruton about two miles above Harper's Ferry.
Hite settled on Opequon, about five miles south of Winchester, on
the great highway from Winchester to Staunton, now the residence
of the highly respectable widow of the late Richard Peters Barton,
Esq., and also the residence of Richard W. Barton, Esq. Peter
Stephens and several others settled at Stephenshurg, and founded
the town; Jacob Chrisman at what is now called Chrisman's Spring,
about two miles south of Stephensburg; Bovonan on Cedar Creek,
about six miles farther south ; and Froman on the same Creek, eight
or nine miles northwest of Bowman. Robert McKay settled on
Crooked Run, eight or nine miles southeast of Stephensburg. The
several other families settled in the same neighborhood, wherever
they could find wood and water most convenient. From the most
authentic information which the author has been able to obtain, Hite
and his party were the first immigrants who settled west of the Blue
Ridge.* They were, however, very soon followed by numerous others.
In 1734, t Benjamin Allen, Riley Moore and William White,
removed from Monoccacy, in Maryland, and settled on the Korth
Branch of the Shenandoah, now in the county of Shenandoah, about
twelve miles south of Woodstock.
In 1733, Jacob Stover J an enterprising German, obtained from
the then Governor of Virginia, a grant for five thousand acres of land
on the South Fork of the Gerando § River, on what was called
Mesinetto Creek, ft
Tradition relates a singular and amusing account of Stover and
his grant. XX On his application to the executive for his grant, he was
• Fourth Edition Note—See Fourth Edition Note on pasre 35.
t Mr. Steenbergen informed the author that the traditionary account of the ñrst
settlement of his farm, together with Allen's and Moore's, made it about 106 years ; but
Mr. Aaron Moore, grandson of Riley Moore, by referring to the family records, fixes the
period pretty correctly. According to Mr. Moore's account, Moore, Allen and White
removed from Maryland in 1734.
t Fourth Edition Note—Stover was preceded about six years by Adam Miller.
§ This watercourse was first written Gerando, then Sherandoah, now Shenandoah.••
Fourth Edition Note—There were many other orthographic forms of this word.
The same remark is true of the other Indian place-names of the Valley.
tt Mesinetto is now called Masinutton. There is considerable settlement of highly
improved farms, now called "the Masinutton settlement," in the new county of Page,
on the west side of the South River, on Stover's ancient grant.
XX Stover's grant is described as being in the county of Spottsylvania, St. Mark's
Parish. Of course, Spottsylvania at that period i. e., 1733, crossed in the Blue Ridge.
50
History of The Valley
refused unless he could give satisfactory assurance that he would
have the land settled with the requisite numher of families within a
given time. Being unahle to do this, he forthwith passed over to Eng¬
land, petitioned the King to direct his grant to issue, and in order
to insure success, had given human names to every horse, cow, hog
and dog he owned, and which he represented as heads of families,
ready to migrate and settle the land.* By this disingenious trick he
succeeded in obtaining directions from the King and Council for
securing his grant, on obtaining which he immediately sold out his
land in small divisions, at three pounds (equal to ten dollars) per
hundred, and went off with the money.
Two men, John and Isaac Vanmeter, obtained a warrant from
Governor Gooch for locating forty thousand acres of land. This
warrant was obtained in the year 1730. They sold or transferred
part of their warrant to Joist Hite ; and from this warrant emanated
several of Hite's grants, which the author has seen. Of the titles
to the land on which Hite settled, with several other tracts in the
neighborhood of Stephenshurg, the originals are founded on this
warrant.
In the year 1734, Richard Morgan obtained a grant for a tract of
land in the immediate neighborhood of Shepherdstown, on or near
the Cohongoruton. f Among the first settlers on this watercourse
and its vicinity were Robert Harper (Harper's Ferry), William
Stroop, Thomas and William Forester, Israel Friend, Thomas Shep-
hard, Thomas Swearengen, Van Swearengen, James Forman, Ed¬
ward Lucas, Jacob Hite, X John Lemon, Richard Mercer, Edward
Mercer, Jacob Vanmeter, and brothers, Robert Stockton, Robert
Buckles, John Taylor, Samuel Taylor, Richard Morgan, John
Wright, and others.
The first settlers on the Wappatomaka (South Branch) were
Cohurn, Howard, Walker and Rutledge. This settlement commenced
about the year 1734 or 1735. It does not appear that the first im¬
migrants to this fine section of country had the precaution to secure
titles to their lands, until Lord Fairfax migrated to Virginia, and
opened his ofiice for granting warrants in the Korthem Neck. The
earliest grant which the author could find in this settlement bears
date in 1747. § The most of the grants are dated in 1749. This was
a most unfortunate omission on the part of these people. It left
Fairfax at the discretion of exercising his insatiable disposition for
the monopoly of wealth ; and instead of granting these lands upon
the usual terms allowed to other settlers, he availed himself of the
opportunity of laying off in manors, fifty-five thousand acres, in
• Fourth Edition Note—This trick by Stover is believed to be authentic. The an¬
nals of the Valley afford other instances of the same nature, as in the settlement of the
Borden grant in Rockbridge county.
t Fourth Edition Note—The grant was not so close to Shepherdstown as is here
alleged. Morgan ap Morgan settled at Bunker Hill, Berkeley county, in 1726.
I One of Joist Hite's sons.
S Fourth Edition Note—Until Fairfax arrived in 1742, these settlers could have
acquired title to land in the usual manner.
First Settlement of The Valley
51
■what he called his South Branch manor, and nine thousand acres on
Patterson's Creek.
This was considered by the settlers an odious and oppressive act
on the part of his lordship, and many of them left the country.*
These two great surveys were made in the year 1747. To such
tenants as remained, his lordship granted leases for ninety-nine years,
reserving an annual rent of twenty shillings sterling per hundred
acres ; whereas, to all other immigrants only two shillings sterling rent
per hundred was reserved, with a fee simple title to the tenant. Some
further notice of Lord Fairfax and his immense grant will he taken
in a future chapter.
Tradition relates that a man by the name of John Howard, and
his son, previous to the first settlement of our Valley, explored the
country, and discovered the charming Valley of the South Branch,
crossed the Alleghany mountains, and on the Ohio killed a very large
buffalo hull, skinned him, stretched his hide over ribs of wood, made
a kind of boat, and in this frail hark descended the Ohio and Missis¬
sippi to Hew Orleans, were they were apprehended by the French as
suspicious characters, and sent to France; hut nothing criminal ap¬
pearing against them, they were discharged. From hence they
crossed over to England, where Fairfax by some means got to hear
of Mr. Howard, sought an interview with him, and obtained from
him a description of the fertility and immense value of the South
Branch, which determined his lordship at once to secure it in
manors.! Notwithstanding this selfish monopoly on the part of
Fairfax, the great fertility and value of the country induced numerous
tenants to take leases, settle and improve the lands.
At an early period many immigrants settled on Capon (anciently
called Cacaphon, which is said to be the Indian name), also on Lost
Hiver. Along Back Creek, Cedar Creek, and Opequon, pretty
numerous settlements were made. The two great branches of the
Shenandoah, from its forks upwards, were among our earliest settle¬
ments.
An enterprising Quaker, by the name of Ross, obtained a war¬
rant for surveying forty thousand acres of land. The surveys on
this warrant were made along Opequon, north of Winchester, and
up to Apple Pie Ridge. Pretty numerous immigrants of the Quaker
profession removed from Pennsylvania, and settled on Ross' sur¬
veys. The reader will have observed in my preceding chapter, that
as early as 1738, this people had regular monthly meetings establish¬
ed in Opequon. I
The lands on the west side of the Shenandoah, from a little
below the forks, were first settled by overseers and slaves, nearly
down to the mouth of the Bullskin. A Col. Carter, § of the lower
*William Heath, Esq., of Hardy, gave the author this information.
fAlso related by Mr. Heath.
t See Chaukley's letter to the monthly meeting on Opequon, May 21, 1738, page 46.
I Col. Robert Carter obtained grants in September, 1730, for sixty-three thousand
acres.
52
History of The Valley
country, had obtained grants for about sixty-three thousand acres of
land on this river. His surveys commenced a short distance below
the forks of the river, and ran down a little below Snicker's ferry,
upwards of twenty miles. This fine body of land is now subdivided
into a great many most valuable farms, a considerable part of which
are now owned by the highly respectable families of Burwells and
Pages. But little of it now remains in the hands of Carter's heirs.
Another survey of thirteen thousand acres was granted to an¬
other person, and lies immediately below and adjoining Carter's line,
running a considerable distance into the county of Jefferson. This
fine tract of land, it is said, was sold under the hammer at Williams¬
burg some time previous to the war of the Revolution. The owner
had been sporting, lost money, and sold the land to pay his debt of
honor. General Washington happened to be present, knew the land,
and advised the late Ralph Wormley, Esq.,* to purchase it. Worm-
ley bid five hundred guineas for it, and it was struck off to him. It
is also said that Mr. Wormley, just before or at the time of the sale,
had been regaling himself with a social glass, and that when he cooled
off, he became extremely dissatisfied with his purchase, considering
it as money thrown away. Washington, hearing of his uneasiness,
immediately waited on him, and told him he would take the purchase
off his hands, and pay him his money again, but advised him by all
means to hold it, assuring him that it would one day or other be the
foundation of an independent fortune for his children; upon which
Wormley became better reconciled, and consented to hold on. And
truly, as Washington predicted, it would have become a splendid
estate in the hands of two or three of his children, had they known
how to preserve it. But it passed into other hands, and now consti¬
tutes the splendid farms of the late firm of Castleman & McCormick,
Hierome L. Opie, Esq., the honorable judge Richard E. Parker, and
several others. In truth all the country about the larger water¬
courses and mountains was settled before the fine country about
Bullskin, Long Marsh, Spot Run, &c.
Much the greater part of the country between what is called the
Little North Mountain and the Shenandoah River, at the first set¬
tling of the Valley was one vast prairie, f and like the rich prairies of
the west, afforded the finest possible pasturage for wild animals.J
The country abounded in the larger kinds of game. The buffalo,
elk, deer, bear, panther, wild cat, wolf, fox, beaver, otter, and all
other kinds of animals, wild fowl, &c., common to forest countries,
were abimdantly plenty. The country now the county of Shenan-
* Mr. Wormley, it is believed, resided at the time in the county of Middlesex.
t There are several aged individuals now living, who recollect when there were
large bodies of land in the counties of Berkeley, Jeffei^on and Frederick, barren of
timber. The barren land is now covered with the best of forest trees.
t Fourth Edition Note—These prairies had an artifícial cause. At the close of each
hunting season the Indians tired the open ground, and thus kept it from reverting to
woodland. This was done to attract the buffalo, an animal that shuns the forest.
The progressive deforesting of the lowlands of the Valley made the settlement by the
whites very easy and rapid.
First Settlement of The Valley
53
doah, between the Fort Mountain and the K^orth Mountain, was also
settled at an early period. The counties of Rockingham and Au¬
gusta also were settled at an early time. The settlement of the upper
part of our Valley will he more particularly noticed, and form the
subject of a second volume hereafter, should the public demand it.
From the best evidence the author has been able to collect, and
for this purpose he has examined many ancient grants of land, family
records, etc., as well as the oral tradition of our ancient citizens, the
settlement of our Valley progressed without interruption from the
native Indians for a period of about twenty-three years. In the
year 1754, the Indians suddenly disappeared, and crossed the Alle¬
ghany. The year preceding, emissaries from the west of the Alle¬
ghany came among the Valley Indians and invited them to move off.*
This occurrence excited suspicion among the white people that a storm
was brewing in the west, which it was essential to prepare to meet.
Tradition relates, that the Indians did not object to the Penn-
sylvanians settling the country. From the high character of Wil¬
liam Penn (the founder of Pennsylvania), the poor simple natives
believed that all Penn's men were honest, virtuous, humane and
benevolent, and partook of the qualities of the illustrious founder
of their government. But fatal experience soon taught them a very
different lesson, f They soon found to their cost that Pennsylvanians
were not much better than others.
Tradition also informs us that the natives held in utter abhor¬
rence the Virginians, whom they designated "Long Knife," and were
warmly opposed to their settling in the Valley.
The author will conclude this chapter with some general re¬
marks in relation to the circumstances under which the first settle¬
ment of the Valley commenced. Tradition informs us, and the oral
statements of several aged individuals of respectable character con¬
firm the fact that the Indians and white people resided in the same
neighborhood for several years after the first settlement commenced,
and that the Indians were entirely peaceable and friendly. This
statement must in the nature of things be true ; because if it had been
otherwise, the white people could not have succeeded in effecting a
settlement. Had the natives resisted the first attempts to settle, the
whites could not have succeeded without the aid of a pretty consider¬
able army to awe the Indians into submission. It was truly fortun¬
ate for our ancestors that this quiescent spirit of the Indians afforded
them the opportunity of acquiring considerable strength as to num¬
bers, and the accumulation of considerable property and improve¬
ments, before Indian hostilities commenced.
* Mr. Thomfts Barrett, an aged and respectable citizen of Frederick county, related
this tradition to the author.
t Fourth Edition Note—This was because political power in Pennsylvania had
passed from the Quakers to the Scotch-Irish. The latter had an inveterate propensity
for making trouble with the Indians. The paciñc policy of William Penn and his fellow
Quakers was ethically sound and incontestably succ^sful. It facilitated the early settle¬
ment of the Valley, because the lower section thereof was for a while thought to be
within the Pennsylvania border.
54
History of The Vaixey
It has already been stated that it was twenty-three years from
the first settlement, before the Indians committed any acts of outrage
on the white people. During this period many pretty good dwelling
houses were erected. Joist Hite had built a stone house on the
Opequon, which house is now standing, and has a very ancient ap¬
pearance;* hut there are no marks upon it by which to ascertain
the time. In 1751, James Wilson erected a stone house which is
still standing, and now the residence of Mr. Adam Kern, adjoining,
or near the village of Kernstown.
Jacob Chrisman also built a pretty large stone house in the year
1751, now the residence of Mr. Abraham Stickley, about two miles
south of Stephenshurg. Geo. Bowman and Paul Froman each of
them built stone houses about the same period. The late Col. John
Hite, in the year 1753, built a stone house now the dwelling house of
Mrs. Barton. This building was considered by far the finest dwell¬
ing house west of the Blue Ridge, f Lewis Stephens, in the year
1756, built a stone house, the ruins of which are now to be seen at
the old iron works of the late Gen. Isaac Zane. It will hereafter be
seen that these several stone buildings became of great importance to
the people of the several neighborhoods, as places of protection and
security against the attacks of the Indians.
The subject of the early settlement of the Valley will be resumed
in my next chapter.
*0n the wall plate of a framed barn built by Hite, the figures 1747 are plainly
marked, and now to be seen.
tThere is a tradition in this neighborhood that Col. Kite quarried every stone in
this building with his own hands.
CHAPTER IV
First Settlement of The Valley—(Continued)
Tradition relates that a man by the name of John Vanmeter,
from New York, some years previous to the first settlement of the
Valley, discovered the fine country on the Wappatomaka. This man
was a kind of wandering Indian trader, became well acquainted with
the Delawares, and once accompanied a war party who marched to
the south for the purpose of invading the Catawhas. The Catawbas,
however, anticipated them, met them very near the spot where Pendle¬
ton courthouse now stands, and encountered and defeated them with
immense slaughter. Vanmeter was engaged on the side of the Dela¬
wares in this battle. When Venmeter returned to New York, he ad¬
vised his sons, that if they ever migrated to Virginia, by all means
to secure a part of the South Branch Bottom, and described the lands
immediately above what is called "The Trough," as the finest body of
land which he had ever discovered in all his travels. One of his
sons, Isaac Vanmeter, in conformity with his father's advice, came to
Virginia about the year 1736 or 1737, and made what was called a
tomahawk improvement on the lands now owned by Isaac Vanmeter,
Esq., immediately above the Trough, where Fort Pleasant was after¬
wards erected. After this improvement Mr. Vanmeter returned to
New Jersey, came out again in 1740, and found a man by the name
of Coburn settled on his land. Mr. Vanmeter bought out Cobum,
and again returned to New Jersey; and in the year 1744 removed
with his family and settled on the land.* Previous to VanmetePs
final removal to Virginia, several immigrants from Pennsylvania,
chiefly Irish, had settled on the South Branch. Howard Coburn,
Walker and Rutledge, were the first settlers on the Wappatomaka.f
William Miller and Abraham Hite were also among the early
settlers. When the Indian wars broke out. Miller sold out his right
to 500 acres of land, and all his stock of horses and cattle in the woods,
for twenty-five pounds,J and removed to the South Fork of the
Shenandoah, a few miles above Front Royal. The 500 acres of land
sold by Miller lie within about two miles of Moorefield, and one acre
of it would now command more money than the whole tract, includ¬
ing his stock, was sold for.
Casey, Pancake, Forman, and a number of others, had settled on
the Wappatomaka, previous to Vanmeter's final removal.
In the^ear 1740, the late Isaac Hite, Esq., one of the sons of
Joist Hite, settled on the North Branch of the Shenandoah, in the
»Isaac Vanmeter, Esq., of Hardy, detailed this tradition to the author.
fCommunicated by William Heath, Esq.
Ilsaac Vanmeter. Esq.. stated this fact to the author.
56
History of The Valley
county of Frederick, on the beautiful farm called "Long Meadows."*
This fine estate is now owned by Maj. Isaac Hite, the only son of
Isaac Hite, deceased, f
About the same year, John Lindsey and James Lindsey, brothers,
removed and settled on the Long Marsh, between Bullskin and Ber-
ryville, in the county of Frederick; Isaac Larue removed from New
Jersey in 1743, and settled on the same marsh. About the same
period, Christopher Beeler removed and settled within two or three
miles from Larue; about the year 1744, Joseph Hampton and two
sons came from the eastern shore of Maryland, settled on Buck
Marsh, near Berryville, and lived the greater part of the year in a
hollow sycamore tree. They enclosed a piece of land and made a
crop preparatory to the removal of the family. J
In 1743 Joseph Carter removed from Bucks County, Pennsyl¬
vania, and settled on Opequon, about five miles east of Winchester.
Very near Mr. Carter's residence, on the west side of the creek, was
a beautiful grove of forest timber, immediately opposite which a fine
limestone spring issued from the east bank of the creek. This grove
was at the time of Mr. Carter's first settlement, a favorite camping
ground of the Indians, where numerous collections, sometimes two
or three hundred at a time, would assemble, and remain for several
weeks together. Mr. Carter was a shoemaker, and on one occasion
two Indians called at his shop just as he had finished and hung up a
pair of shoes, which one of the Indians seeing secretly slipped under
his blanket, and attempted to make off. Carter detected him, and
took the shoes from him. His companion manifested the utmost in¬
dignation at the theft, and gave Carter to understand that the culprit
would he severely dealt with. As soon as the Indians returned to
the encampment, information was given to the chiefs, and the unfor¬
tunate thief was so severely chastised that Mr. Carter, from mo¬
tives of humanity, interposed, and begged that the punishment might
cease. §
Maj. Isaac Hite informed the author that numerous parties of
Indians, in passing and repassing, frequently called at his grand¬
father's house, on Opequon, and that but one instance of theft was
ever committed. On that occasion a pretty considerable party had
called, and on their leaving the house some article of inconsiderable
value was missing. A messenger was sent after them, and informa¬
tion of the theft given to the chiefs. Search was immediately made,
the article found in the possession of one of them and restored to its
owner. These facts go far to show their high sense of honesty and
♦ Fourth Edition Note—"Long Meadows" was first settled in 1737 instead of 1740.
The original building was replaced in 1845 by Col. George Bowman, grandson of Isaac
Hite.
t Mai. Isaac Hite, of Frederick county, communicated this information to the author.
t Col. John B. Larue and William Castleman, Esq., gave the author this information.
S The late Mr. James Carter gave the author this tradition, which he received from
his father, who was a boy of twelve or thirteen years old at the time, and an eye¬
witness of the fact. Opposite to this camping ground, on a high hill east of the
creek, is a large Indian grave.
First Settlement of The Valley
57
summary justice. It has indeed been stated to the author, that their
traveling parties would, if they needed provisions and could not
otherwise procure them, kill fat hogs or fat cattle in the woods in
order to supply themselves with food. This they did not consider
stealing. Every animal running at large they considered lawful
game.
The Indians charge the white people with teaching them the
knowledge of theft and several other vices. In the winter of 1815-16,
the author spent some weeks in the state of Georgia, where he fell
in with Col. Barnett, one of the commissioners for running the
boundary line of Indian lands which had shortly before been ceded
to the United States. Some conversation took place on the subject
of the Indians and Indian character, in which Col. B. remarked, that
in one of his excursions through the Indian country, he met with a
very aged Cherokee chief, who spoke and understood the English
language pretty well. The Colonel had several conversations with
this aged man, in one of which he congratulated him upon the pros¬
pect of his people having their condition greatly improved, there
being every reason to believe that in the course of a few years they
would become acquainted with the arts of civil life—would be better
clothed, better fed, and erect better and more comfortable habita¬
tions—and what was of still greater importance, they would become
acquainted with the doctrines and principles of the Christian re¬
ligion. This venerable old man listened with the most profound and
respectful attention until the Colonel had concluded, and then with
a significant shake of his head and much emphasis replied that he
doubted the benefits to the red people pointed out by the colonel;
that before their fathers were acquainted with the whites, the red
people needed but little, and that little the Great Spirit gave them,
the forest supplied them with food and raiment; that before their
fathers were acquainted with the white people, the red people never
got drunk, because they had nothing to make them drunk; and never
committed theft, because they had no temptation to do so. It was
true, that when parties were out hunting, and one party was unsuc¬
cessful and found the game of the more successful party hung up,
if they needed provision they took it ; and this was not stealing ; it was
the law and custom of the tribes. If they went to war they destroyed
each other's property ; this was done to weaken their enemy.
Red people never swore, because they had no words to express an
oath. Red people would not cheat, because they had no temptation
to commit fraud; they never told falsehoods, because they had no
temptation to tell lies. And as to religion, you go to your churches,
sing loud, pfay loud, and make great noise. The red people meet
once a year, at the feast of new corn, extinguish all their fires, and
kindle up a new one, the smoke of which ascends to the Great Spirit
as a grateful sacrifice. Now what better is your religion than ours?
The white people have taught us to get drunk, to steal, to lie, to
cheat, and to swear ; and if the knowledge of these vices, as you pro-
58
History of The Valley
fess to hold them, and punish by your laws, is beneficial to the red
people, we are benefitted by our acquaintance with you; if not, we
are greatly injured by that acquaintance.
To say the least of this untutored old man, his opinions, religion
excepted, were but too well founded, and convey a severe rebuke upon
the character of those who boast of the superior advantages of the
lights of education and a knowledge of the religion of the Holy
Redeemer.
From this digression the author will again turn his attention to
the early history of our country.
About the year 1763, the first settlements were made at or near
the head of Bullskin. Two families, by the name of Riley and Alle-
mong, first commenced the settlement of this immediate neighbor¬
hood. At this period timber was so scarce that the settlers were
compelled to cut small saplings to enclose their fields. * The prairie
produced grass five or six feet high, f and even our mountains and
hills were covered with the sustenance of quadrupeds of every species.
The pea vine grew abundantly on the hilly and mountainous lands,
than which no species of vegetable production afforded finer and
richer pasturage.
From this state of the country, many of our first settlers turned
their attention to raising large herds of horses, cattle, hogs, &c.
Many of them became expert, hardy and adventurous hunters, and
spent much of their time and depended chiefly for support and
money-making on the sale of skins and furs.J Moses Russell, Esq.,
informed the author that hilly lands about his residence, near the
base of the North Mountain, in the southwest corner of Frederick,
and which now present to the eye the appearance of great poverty of
soil, within his recollection were covered with a fine growth of pea
vine, and that stock of every description grew abundantly fat in the
summer season.
Isaac Larue, who settled on the Long Marsh in 1743, as has
been stated, soon became celebrated for his numerous herds of horses
and cattle. The author was told by Col. J. B. Larue, who is the
owner of part of his grandfather's fine landed estate, that his grand¬
father frequently owned between ninety and one hundred head of
horses, but it so happened that he never could get his stock to count
a hundred.
The Hites, Frys, Vanmeters, and many others, raised vast stocks
of horses, cattle, hogs, &c. Tradition relates that Lord Fairfax,
happening one day in Winchester to see a large drove of unusually
*Messrs. Christian Allemongr and George Riley both stated this fact to author.
tMr. George Riley, an aged and r^pectable citizen, stated to the author that the
grass on the Bullskin barrens grew so tall, that he had frequently drawn it before
him when on horseback» and tied it before him.
$The late Henry Fry, one of the early settlers on Capon river, upwards of forty
years ago informed the author, that he purchased the tract of land on which he ñrat
settled, on Capon River, for which he engaged to pay either £200 or £250» the author
does not recollect which sum. and that he made every dollar of the money by sale of
skins and furs, the game being killed or caught with his own hands.
First Settlement of The Valley
59
fine hogs passing through the town, inquired from whence they came.
Being informed that they were from the mountains west of Winches¬
ter, he remarked that when a new county should be laid off in that
direction it ought to he called Hampshire, after a county in Eng¬
land celebrated for its production of fine hogs; and this, it is said,
gave name to the present county of Hampshire.
The author will only add to this chapter, that, from the first
settlement of the Valley, to the breaking out of the war, on the part
of the French and Indians, against our ancestors, in the year 1754,
our country rapidly increased in numbers and in the acquisition of
property, without interruption from the natives, a period of twenty-
two years.
In my next chapter I shall give a brief account of the religion,
habits, and customs of the primitive settlers.
CHAPTEK V
Religion, Habits and Customs of The Pkimitite Settlers
A large majority of our first immigrants were from Pennsyl¬
vania, composed of native Germans or German extraction. There
were, however, a number directly from Germany, several from Mary¬
land and Hew Jersey, and a few from Hew York. These immigrants
brought with them the religion, habits and customs of their ances¬
tors. They were composed generally of three religious sects, viz. :
Lutherans, Menonists * and Calvinista, with a few Tunkers. They
generally settled in neighborhoods pretty much together.
The territory now composing the county of Page, Powell's Port,
and Woodstock Valley, between the West Port Mountain and Horth
Mountain, extending from the neighborhood of Stephenshurg for a
considerable distance in the county of Rockingham, was almost ex¬
clusively settled by Germans. They were very tenacious in the pres¬
ervation of their language, religion, customs and habits. In what
is now Page county they were almost exclusively of the Menonist
persuasion; but few Lutherans or Calvinists settled among them.
In other sections of the territory above described, there was a mix¬
ture of Lutherans and Calvinists. The Menonists were remarkable
for their strict adherence to all the moral and religious observances
required by their sect. Their children were early instructed in the
principles and ceremonies of their religion, habits and customs. They
were generally farmers, and took great care of their stock of different
kinds. With few exceptions, they strictly inhibited their children
from joining in the dance or other juvenile amusements common to
other religious sects of the Germans.
In their marriages much ceremony was observed and great prep¬
arations made. Patted calves, lambs, poultry, the finest of bread,
butter, milk, honey, domestic sugar, wine, if it could he had; with
every article necessary for a sumptuous feast in their plain way,
were prepared in abundance. Previous to the performance of the
ceremony (the clergyman attending at the place appointed for the
marriage), four of the most respectable young females and four of
the most respectable young men were selected as waiters upon the
bride and groom. The several waiters were decorated with badges
to indicate their offices. The groomsmen, as they were termed, were
invariably furnished with fine white aprons, beautifully embroidered.
It was deemed a high honor to wear the apron. The duty of the
waiters consisted in not only waiting on the bride and groom, but
they were required, after the marriage ceremony was performed, to
serve up the wedding dinner, and to guard and protect the bride while
•Simon Meno was one of the earliest German reformers and the founder of this sect, f
tFourth Edition Note—Now called Mennonites.
Religion, Habits and Customs
61
at dinner from having her shoe stolen from her foot. The custom of
stealing the bride's shoe, it is said, afforded the most heartfelt amuse¬
ment to the wedding guests. To succeed in it, the greatest dexterity
was used hy the younger part of the company, while equal vigilance
was manifested by the waiters to defend her against the theft ; and if
they failed, they were in honor hound to pay a penalty for the redemp¬
tion of the shoe. This penalty was a bottle of wine or one dollar,
which was commonly the price of a bottle of wine; and as a punish¬
ment to the bride, she was not permitted to dance until the shoe was
restored. The successful thief, on getting hold of the shoe, held it up
in great triumph to the view of the whole assemblage, which was gen¬
erally pretty numerous. The custom was continued among the Ger¬
mans from generation to generation, until since the war of the Revo¬
lution. The author has conversed with many individuals, still living,
who were eye-witnesses of it.
Throwing the stocking was another custom among the Ger¬
mans.* When the bride and groom were bedded, the young people
were admitted into the room. A stocking, rolled into a ball, was
given to the young females, who, one after the other, would go to
the foot of the bed, stand with their backs toward it, and throw the
stocking over their shoulders at the bride's head; and the first that
succeeded in touching her cap or head was the next to be married.
The young men then threw the stocking at the groom's head, in like
manner, with the like motive. Hence the utmost eagerness and
dexterity were used in throwing the stocking. This practice, as well
as that of stealing the bride's shoe, was common to all the Germans.
Among the Lutherans and Calvinista, dancing with other amuse¬
ments was common, at their wedding parties particularly. Dancing
and rejoicing were sometimes kept up for weeks together, f
The peaceable and orderly deportment of this hardy and indus¬
trious race of people, together with their perfect submission to the
restraints of the civil authority, has always been proverbial. They
form at this day a most valuable part of our community.
Among our early settlers, a number of Irish Presbyterians re¬
moved from Pennsylvania, and settled along Back Creek, the Horth
Mountain and Opequon. A few Scotch and English families were
among them.
The ancestors of the Glasses, Aliens, Vanees, Kerfotts, &c.,
were among the earliest settlers on the upper waters of the Opequon.
The ancestors of the Whites, Russells, &c., settled near the North
Mountain. There were a mixture of Irish and Germans at Cedar
Creek and its vicinity; the Frys, Newells, Blackhurns, + Wilsons,
&c., were among the number. The Irish, like the Germans, brought
with them the religion, customs and habits of their ancestors. The
^Throwingr the stocking was not exclusively a German custom. It is celebrated by
an Irish poet, in his "Irish Wedding." It is not improbable but it was common to
the Celtic nations also.
tChristian Miller, an aged and respectable man near Woodstock, related this custom
to the author.
t Gen. Samuel Blackburn, it is said, descended from this family.
62
History of The Valley
Irish wedding was always an occasion of great hilarity, jollity and
mirth. Among other scenes attending it, running for the bottle
was much practiced. It was usual for the wedding parties to ride to
the residence of the clergyman to have the ceremony performed.
In their absence the father, or the next friend prepared, at the bride's
residence, a bottle of the best spirits that could be obtained, around
the neck of which a white ribbon was tied. Returning from the
clergyman's, when within one or two miles of the home of the bride,
some three or four young men prepared to run for the bottle. Taking
an even start, their horses were put at full speed, dashing over mud,
rocks, stumps, and disregarding all impediments. The race, in fact,
was run with as much eagerness and desire to win as is ever mani¬
fested on the turf by our sporting characters. The father or next
friend of the bride, expecting the racers, stood with the bottle in his
hand, ready to deliver it to the successful competitor. On receiving
it, he forthwith returned to meet the bride and groom. When met,
the bottle was first presented to the bride, who must taste it at least ;
next to the groom, and then handed round to the company, every one
of whom was required to swig it.
The Quakers differed from all other sects in their marriage cere¬
mony. The parties having agreed upon the match, notice was given
to the elders or overseers of the meeting, and a strict enquiry follow¬
ed whether there had been any previous engagements by either of the
parties to other individuals. If nothing of the kind appeared, the
intended marriage was made known publicly; and if approved by
all parties, the couple passed meeting. This ceremony was repeated
three times; when, if no lawful impediment appeared, a day was
appointed for the marriage, which took place at the meeting-house
in presence of the congregation. A writing, drawn up between the
parties, purporting to be the marriage agreement, witnessed by as
many of the bystanders as thought proper to subscribe their names,
concluded the ceremony. They had no priest or clergyman to per¬
form the rite of matrimony, and the whole proceeding was conducted
with the utmost solemnity and decorum. This mode of marriage is
still kept up, with but little variation.
Previous to the war of the Revolution, it was the practice to
publish the bands of matrimony, between the parties intending to
marry, three successive Sabbath days in the church or meeting¬
house; after which, if no lawful impediment appeared, it was law¬
ful for a licensed minister of the parish or county to join the parties
in wedlock. It is probable that this practice, which was anciently
used in the English churches, gave rise to the custom, in the Quaker
society, of passing meeting. The peaceable and general moral de¬
portment of the Quakers is too generally known to require particular
notice in this work.
The Baptists were not among our earliest immigrants. About
fourteen or fifteen families of that persuasion migrated from the
state of New Jersey, and settled probably in 1742 or 1743 in the
Religion. Habits and Customs
63
vicinity of what is now called Glerardstown, in the county of
Berkeley.*
Mr. Semple, in his history of the Virginia Baptists, states that
in the year 1754, Mr. Steams, a preacher of this sect, with several
others, removed from New England. "They halted first at Opequon,
in Berkeley County, Virginia, where he formed a Baptist church
under the care of the Rev. John Gerard." This was prohahly the
first Baptist church founded west of the Blue Ridge in our state.
It is said that the spot where Tuscarora meeting-house now
stands, in the county of Berkeley, is the first place where the gospel
was publicly preached and divine service performed west of the Blue
Ridge, f This was and still remains a Presbyterian edifice.
It is not within the plan of this work to give a general history
of the rise and progress of the various religious societies of our
country. It may not, however, he uninteresting to the general reader
to have a brief sketch of the difficulties and persecutions which the
Quakers and Baptists had to encounter in their first attempts to
propagate their doctrines and principles in Virginia.
In Hening's Statutes at Large, vol. I, pp. 532-33, the following
most extraordinary law, if indeed it deserves the name, was enacted
by the then Legislature of Virginia, March, 1660;
"An Act for The Suppressing The Quakers
"Whereas there is an vnreasonahle and turbulent sort of people,
commonly called Quakers, who contrary to the lawe do dayly gather
together vnto them vnlaw'll assemblies and congregations of people,
teaching and publishing lies, miracles, false visions, prophecies and
doctrines, which have infiuence vpon the communities of men, both
ecclesiasticall and civil, endeavouring and attempting thereby to
destroy religion, lawes, communities, and all bonds of civil societie,
leaving it arbitrarie to everie vaine and vitious person, whether men
shall be safe, lawes established, offenders punished, and governours
rule, hereby disturbing the publique peace and just interest; to
prevent and restraine which mischiefe. It is enacted, That no master
or commander of any shipp or other vessell do bring into this col-
lonie any person or persons called Quakers, vnder the penalty of one
hundred pounds |sterling, to he levied vpon him and his estate by
order from the governour and council, or the commissioners in the
severall counties where such ships shall arrive : That all such Quakers
as have been questioned, or shall hereafter arrive shall be appre¬
hended, wheresoever they shall be found, and they be imprisoned
*Mr. McCowan, an aged and respectable citizen of the neighborhood, communicated
this fact to the«author.
tThis information was communicated to the author by a highly respectable old
lady of the Presbyterian church, in the county of Berkeley. She also stated that in ad¬
dition to the general tradition, she had lately heard the venerable and reverend Dr.
Matthews assert the fact. Mr. Mayers, now in his eighty-seventh year, born and raised
on the Potomac, in Berkeley, stated his opinion to the author, that there was a house
erected for public worship at the Falling Water about the same time that the Tuscarora
meeting-house was built. Both these churches are now under the pastoral care of the
Rev. James M. Brown.
64
History of The Valley
without baile or mainprize, till they do adjure this country, or putt in
security with all speed to depart from the collonie and not to return
again : And if any should dare to presume to returne hither after
such departure to be proceeded against as contemners of the lawes and
magistracy, and punished accordingly, and caused again to depart
the country, and if they should the third time be so audacious and
impudent as to returne hither, to be proceeded against as ffelons:
That noe person shall entertain any of the Quakers that have here
tofore been questioned, by the governour and council, or which shall
hereafter he questioned, nor permit in or near his house any assem¬
blies of Quakers, in the like penalty of one hundred pounds sterling :
That commissioners and officers are hereby required and authorized,
as they will answer the contrary at their perill, to take notice of this
act, to see it fully effected and executed: And that no person do
presume on their perill to dispose or publish their bookes, pamphlets
or lihells, hearing the title of their tenets and opinions."
This high-handed and cruel proceeding took place in the time
of Oliver Cromwell's usurpation in England, and at a time when
some glimmering of rational, civil, and religious liberty manifested
itself in the mother country. The preamble to this act is contra¬
dicted by the whole history of Quakerism, from its foundation to the
present period. In all the writings and traditional accounts handed
down to us, the Quakers are represented as a most inoffensive, orderly,
and strictly moral people, in all their deportment and habits.
This unreasonable and unwise legislation, it is presumed, was
suffered to die a natural death, as, in the progress of the peopling
of our country, we find that many Quakers, at a pretty early period,
migrated and formed considerable settlements in different parts of
the State.
It has already been noticed that the Baptists were not among
the number of our earliest immigrants. Mr. Semple says: "The
Baptists in Virginia originated from three sources. The first-were
immigrants from England, who about the year 1.714 settled in the
southeast part of the State. About 1743 another party came from
Maryland and founded a settlement in the northwest. * A third
party from New England, 1754."
This last was Mr. Stearns and his party. They settled for a
short time on Capon River, in the county of Hampshire, but soon
removed to North Carolina. Mr. Stearns and his followers mani¬
fested great zeal and industry in the propagation of their doctrines
and principles. Their religion soon took a wide range in the Caro¬
linas and Virginia. They met with violent opposition from the
established Episcopal clergy, and much persecution followed. To
the credit of the people of our Valley, but few, if any acts of violence
*It is probable this is the party who settled in the neighborhood of Gerardstown.
If so. Mr. Semple is doubtless misinformed as to the place of their origin, ñie first
Baptist immigrants who settled in Berkeley county were certainly from New Jersey.
Eeligion, Habits and Customs
65
were committed on the persons of the preachers west of the Bine
Kidge. This is to be accounted for from the fact that a great ma¬
jority of the inhabitants were dissenters from the Episcopal church.
East of the Blue Ridge, however, the case was widely different. It
was quite common to imprison the preachers, insult the congrega¬
tions, and treat them with every possible indignity and outrage.
Every foul means was resorted to, which malice and hatred could
devise, to suppress their doctrines and religion. But instead of suc¬
cess this persecution produced directly the contrary effect. "The
first instance," says Mr. Semple, "of actual imprisonment, we be¬
lieve, that ever took place in Virginia, was in the county of Spottsyl-
vania. On the 4th of June, 1768, John Waller, Lewis Craig, James
Childs, &c., were seized by the sheriff, and hauled before three magis¬
trates, who stood in the meeting-house yard, and who bound them in
the penalty of 1000 pounds to appear at court two days after. At
court they were arraigned as disturbers of the peace, and committed to
close jail." And in December, 1770, Messrs. William Weber and
Joseph Anthony were imprisoned in Chesterfield jail.
The author deems it unnecessary to detail all the cases of perse¬
cution and imprisonment of the Baptist preachers. He will there¬
fore conclude this narrative with the account of the violent persecu¬
tion and cruel treatment of the late Eev. James Ireland, a distin¬
guished Baptist preacher of our Valley.
Mr. Ireland was on one occasion committed to the jail of Cul-
peper county,* when several attempts were made to destroy him.
Of these attempts he gives the following narrative :
"A number of my persecutors resorted to the tavern of Mr.
Steward, at the courthouse, where they plotted to blow me up with
powder that night, as I was informed ; but all they could collect was
half a pound. They fixed it for explosion, expecting I was sitting
directly over it, hut in this they were mistaken. Eire was put to it,
and it went off with considerable noise, forcing up a small plank,
from which I received no damage. The next scheme they devised
was to smoke me with brimstone and Indian pepper. They had to
wait certain opportunities to accomplish the same. The lower part
of the jail door was a few inches above its sill. When the wind was
favoraWe, they would get pods of Indian pepper, empty them of
their contents, and fill them with brimstone, and set them burning,
so that the whole jail would be filled with the killing smoke, and
oblige me to go to cracks, and put my mouth to them in order to
prevent suffocation. At length a certain doctor and the jailor formed
a scheme to poison me, which they actually effected."
Erom this more than savage cruelty Mr. Ireland became ex¬
tremely ill, was attended by several physicians, and in some degree
*In the life of Ireland» no dates are given. The time of his commitment was
probably about the year 1771 or 1772.
66
History of The Valley
restored to health and activity; but he never entirely recovered from
the great injury which his constitution received.
The author had the satisfaction of an intimate personal ac¬
quaintance with Mr. Ireland, and lived a near neighbor to him for
several years before his death. He was a native Scotchman ; of course
his pronunciation was a little broad. He had a fine commanding
voice, easy delivery, with a beautiful natural elocution in his sennon-
izing. His language, perhaps, was not as purely classical as some
of his contemporaries; hut such was his powerful elocution, particu¬
larly on the subject of the crucifixion and sufferings of our Saviour,
that he never failed to cause a flood of tears to flow from the eyes of
his audience whenever he touched that theme. In his younger years
he was industrious, zealous, sparing no pains to propagate his re¬
ligious opinions and principles, and was very successful in gaining
proselytes; hence he became an object of great resentment to the
established clergy, and they resorted to every means within their
reach, to silence and put him down. But in this they failed. He
at length triumphed over his persecutors and was instrumental in
founding several churches.
Origin of The Methodist Religion In Our Valley
About the year 1775 * two traveling strangers called at the resi¬
dence of the late Maj. Lewis Stephens, the proprietor and founder of
the town, now distinguished in the mail establishment as "Hewtown-
Stephensburg," and enquired if they could obtain quarters for the
night. Maj. Stephens happened to be absent; but Mrs. Stephens,
who was remarkable for hospitality and religious impressions, in¬
formed them that they could be accommodated. One of them ob¬
served to her, "We are preachers; and the next day being Sabbath,
we will have to remain with you until Monday morning, as we do
not travel on the Sabbath." To which the old lady replied, "If you
are preachers, you are the more welcome."
John Hagerty and Richard Owens were the names of the
preachers. The next morning notice was sent through town, and the
strangers delivered sermons. This was doubtless the first Methodist
preaching ever heard in our Valley, f It is said they traveled east of
the Blue Ridge (before they reached Stephensburg), on a preaching
tour, and probably crossed the Ridge at some place south of Stephens-
burg.
A number of the people were much pleased with them, and they
soon got up a small church at this place. The late John Hite, Jr.,
his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Hughes (then a widow), John Taylor and
The author is not positive that he is correct as to the time this occurrence took
place, but has been informed it was just before the commencement of the War of the
Revolution. The late Dr. Tilden communicated this information to the writer—which he
stated he learned from Mrs. Stephens.
t Fourth Fdition Note—If Kercheval is correct in this statement, Hagerty and
Owens came about 1772, Bishop Asbury preached in Winchester in November of that
year.
Religiow, Habits and Customs
67
wife, Lewis Stephens, Sr., and wife, Lewis Stephens, Jr., and wife,
and several others joined the church, and in a few years it began to
flourish. The rapid spread of this sect throughout our country,
needs no remarks from the author.
The flrst Camp Meeting held in our Valley, within the author's
recollection, took place at what is called Chrisman's Spring, about
two miles south of Stephensburg, on the great highway from Win¬
chester to Staunton. This was probably in the month of August, 1806.
It has been stated to the author, that the practice of Camp Meetings
originated with a Baptist preacher somewhere about the James River.
It is said he was a man of great abilities and transcendent elocution ;
he, however, became too much of an Armenian * in his doctrine to
please the generality of his brethren, and they ex-communicated him
from their church, and attempted to silence him, but he would not
consent to he silenced by them, and they refused him permission to
preach in their meeting-houses and he adopted the plan of appointing
meetings in the forest, where vast crowds of people attended his
preaching, and they soon got up to the practice of forming encamp¬
ments. The author cannot vouch for the truth of this statement,
hut recollects it was communicated to him by a highly respectable
member of the Baptist church.
In the year 1836, the author traveled through the southwest
counties on a tour of observation. He frequently passed places where
Camp Meetings had been held; they are sometimes seen in dense
forests, and some of them had the appearance of having been aban¬
doned or disused for a considerable time. The author, however,
passed one in Giles county which was the best fixed for the purpose
he has ever seen. There is a large frame building erected, probably
spacious enough to shelter 2000 people or upwards, with a stroug
shingled roof, and some twelve or fifteen log houses, covered also witli
shingles, for the accommodation of visitors. A meeting had just
been held at this place some two or three days before he passed it, at
which, he was informed, several thousand people had attended. It is
situated very convenient to a most charming spring of delightful
water, and stands on high ground. Its location is certainly very
judicially selected for the purpose.
* Fourth Edition Note—Arminian, not Armenian.
#
CHAPTEE VI
Breaking Out of The Indian War
It has been noticed in a preceding chapter, that in the year
1753, emissaries from the Western Indians came among the Valley
Indians, inviting them to cross the Alleghany Mountains, and that
in the spring of the year 1754, the Indians suddenly and unexpectedly
moved off, and entirely left the Valley.
That this movement of the Indians was made under the influence
of the French, there is hut little doubt. In the year 1753, Maj.
Geo. Washington (since the illustrious Gen. Washington), was sent
by Governor Dinwiddie, the then colonial governor of Virginia, with
a letter to the French commander on the western waters, remonstrat¬
ing against his encroachments upon the territory of Virginia. This
letter of remonstrance was disregarded by the Frenchman, and very
soon afterwards the war commonly called "Braddock's War," between
the British government and France commenced. In the year 1754,
the government of Virginia raised an armed force with the intention
of dislodging the French from their fortified places within the limits
of the colony. The command of this army was given to Col. Fry, and
Greorge Washington was appointed lieutenant-colonel under hint.
Their little army amounted to three hundred men. "Washington
advanced at the head of two companies of this regiment, early in
April, to the Great Meadows, where he was informed by some friendly
Indians, that the French were erecting fortifications in the forks be¬
tween the Alleghany and Monongahela Elvers, and also that a detach¬
ment was on its march from that place towards the Great Meadows.
War had not been formally declared between France and England,
but as neither was disposed to recede from their claims to the lands
on the Ohio, it was deemed inevitable, and on the point of commenc¬
ing. Several circumstances were supposed to indicate a hostile inten¬
tion on the part of the French detachment. Washington, under the
guidance of some friendly Indians, on a dark rainy night surprised
their encampment, and firing once, rushed in and surrounded them.
The commander, Dumonville, was killed, with eight or nine others;
one escaped, and all the rest immediately surrendered. Soon after
this affair. Col. Fry died, and the command of the regiment devolved
on Washington, who speedily collected the whole at the Great Mead¬
ows. Two independent companies of regulars, one from South Car¬
olina, soon after arrived at the same place. Col. Washington was
now at the head of nearly four hundred men. A stockade, afterwards
called Fort Necessity, was erected at the Great Meadows, in which
a small force was left, and the main body advanced with a view to
Breaking Out of The Indian War
69
dislodging the French from Fort Duquesne,* which they had recently
erected at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela Kivers.
They had not proceeded more than thirteen miles when they were
informed hy friendly Indians that the French, as numerous as pig¬
eons in the woods, were advancing in an hostile manner towards the
English settlements, and also that Fort Duquesne had heen strongly
reinforced. In this critical situation, a council of war unanimously
recommended a retreat to the Great Meadows, which was effected
without delay, and every exertion made to render Fort Necessity
tenahle. Before the works intended for that purpose were completed,
Möns, de Villier, with a considerable force, attacked the fort. The
assailants were covered hy trees and high grass, f The Americans
received them with great resolution, and fought some within the
stockade, and others in the surrounding ditch. Washington con¬
tinued the whole day on the outside of the fort, and conducted the
defense with the greatest coolness and intrepidity. The engagement
lasted from 10 o'clock in the morning till night, when the French
commander demanded a parley and offered terms of capitulation.
His first and second proposals were rejected, and Washington would
accept of none but the following honorable ones, which were mutually
agreed upon in the course of the night: The fort to be surrendered
on condition that the garrison should march out with the honors of
war, and be permitted to retain their arms and baggage, and to march
unmolested into the inhabited parts of Virginia."|
In 1755 the British government sent Gen. Braddock, at the head
of two regiments, to this country. Col. Washington had previously
resigned the command of the Virginia troops. Braddock invited
him to join the service as one of the volunteer aids, which invitation
he readily accepted, and joined Braddock near Alexandria. § The
army moved on for the west, and in their march out erected Fort
Cumberland.** The circumstances attending the unfortunate defeat
of Braddock, and the dreadful slaughter of his army near Pittsburg
are too generally known to require a detailed account in this work;
suffice it to say that the defeat was attended with the most disastrous
consequence to our country. The whole western frontier was left
exposed to the ravages of the forces of the French and Indians com¬
bined.
After the defeat and fall of Braddock, Col. Dunbar, the next in
*Fort Duquesne, so called in honor of the French commander, was, after it fell into
the hands of the English, called Fort Pitt, and is now Pittsburg.
tit is presumable that the grass here spoken of by Dr. Ramsey was of the growth
of the preceding year. It is not probable that the grass, the growth of the year 1754,
so early in the season, had grown of sufficient height to conceal a man.
{Ramsey's läfe of Washington.
§Then called Bellhaven.
♦* Fort Cumberland was built in the year 1755, in the fork between Wills Creek and
North Branch of the Potomac, the remains of which are yet to be seen. It is about
fifty-five miles northwest of Winchester, on the Maryland side of the Potomac. There
is now a considerable town at this place. The garrison left at it was commanded by
Maj. Livingston. Mr. John Tomlinson gave the author this information. On the
ancient site of the fort, there are several dwelling houses, and a new brick Episcopal
church.
70
Histohy of The Valley
command of the British army, retreated to Philadelphia, and the de¬
fense of the country fell upon Washington, with the few troops the
colonies were able to raise. The people forthwith .erected stockade
forts in every part of the Valley, and took shelter in them. Many
families were driven off, some east of the Blue Ridge, and others into
Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Immediately after the defeat of Braddock, Washington retreated
to Winchester in the county of Frederick, and in the autumn of
1755 built Fort Loudoun.* The venerable and highly respectable
Lewis Neill, who was born on Opequon, about five miles east of
Winchester, in 1747, stated to the author, that when he was about
eight years of age, his father had business at the fort, and that he
went with him into it. Mr. Thomas Barrett, another aged and
respectable citizen states, that he has often heard his father say that
Fort Loudoun was built the same year and immediately after Brad-
dock's defeat. Our highly respectable and v^enerable general, John
Smith, who settled in Winchester in 1773, informed the author that
he had seen and conversed with some of Washington's officers soon
after he settled in Winchester, and they stated to him that Wash¬
ington marked out the site of the fort, and superintended the work;
that he bought a lot in Winchester, erected a smith's shop on it, and
brought from Mount Vernon his own blacksmith to make the neces¬
sary iron-work for the fort. These officers pointed out to Gen.
Smith the spot where Gen. Washington's huts or cabins were erected
for his residence while in the fort. The great highway leading
from Winchester to the north passes through the fort precisely
where Washington's quarters were erected. It stands at the north
end of Loudoun street, and a considerable part of the walls are now
remaining. It covered an area of about half an acre, within which
area, a well, one hundred and three feet deep, chiefly through a solid
limestone rock, was sunk for the convenience of the garrison, f The
labor of throwing up this fort was performed by Washington's regi¬
ment, so says Gen. Smith. It mounted six eighteen-pounders, six
twelve-pounders, six six-pounders, four swivels, and two howitzers,
and contained a strong garrison. J Ho formidable attempts were
ever made by the enemy against it. A French officer once came to
♦ Fourth Edition Note—The fort was begrun in 1756 and never quite completed.
Nothing of it may now be seen except the bastion at the rear of the Fort Loudoun
Seminary. The well is still in use. The overflowing is because the source of supply is
from still higher ground ; probably the slope of Little North Mountain.
t The water in this well rises near the surface, and in great floods of rain has been
known to overflow and discharge a considerable stream of water. The site of the fort
is upon more elevated ground than the head of any springs in the neighborhood. Upon
what principle the water should here rise above the surface the author cannot pretend
to explain.
t Gen. John Smith stated this fact to the author. The cannon were removed from
Winchester early in the War of the Revolution.! Some further account of this artillery
will be given in a future chapter. Mr. Henry W. Baker, of Winchester, gave the
author an account of the number of cannon mounted on the fort.
§ Fourth Edition Note—One of the cannon, at least, was not removed, and was
used in flring salutes on special occasions.
Bkbaking Out of The Indian War
71
reconnoiter, and found it too strong to be attacked with any probabili¬
ty of success.*
For three years after the defeat of Braddock, the French and
Indians combined carried on a most destructive and cruel war upon
the western people. The French, however, in about three years
after Braddock's defeat, abandoned Fort Duquesne, and it was im¬
mediately taken possession of by the British and Colonial troops
under the command of Gen. Forbes. Washington soon after re¬
signed the command of the Virginia forces, and retired to private
life. A predatory warfare was nevertheless continued on the people
of the Valley by hostile Indian tribes for several years after the
French had been driven from their strongholds in the west, the par¬
ticulars of which will form the subject of my next chapter.
^William L. Clark. Esq., is now the owner of the land including this ancient forti¬
fication, and has converted a part of it into a beautiful pleasure garden.
CHAPTEE VII
Indian Incursions and Massacres
After the defeat of Braddock, the whole western frontier was
left exposed to the incursions of the Indians and French. In the
spring of the year 1756, a party of about fifty Indians, with a French
captain at their head, crossed the Alleghany Mountains, committing
on the white settlers every act of barbarous war. Capt. Jeremiah
Smith raised a party of twenty brave men, marched to meet this
savage foe, and fell in with them at the head of Capon Kiver, when
a fierce and bloody battle was fought. Smith killed the captain
with his own hand; five other Indians having fallen, and a number
wounded, they gave way and fled. Smith lost two of his men. On
searching the body of the Frenchman, he was found in possession of
his commission and written instructions to meet another party of
about fifty Indians at Fort Frederick,* to attack the fort, destroy
it, and blow up the magazine.
The other party of Indians were encountered pretty low doAvn
the Korth Branch of the Capon Kiver, by Capt. Joshua Lewis, at
the head of eighteen men; one Indian was killed when the others
broke and ran off. Previous to the defeat of this party they had
committed considerable destruction of the property of the white set¬
tlers, and took a Mrs. Homer and a girl about thirteen years of age
prisoners. Mrs. Horner was the mother of seven or eight children ;
she never got hack to her family. The girl, whose name was Sarah
Gibbons, the sister of my informant,! was a prisoner about eight
or nine years before she returned home. The intention of attacking
Fort Frederick was of course abandoned.
Those Indians dispersed into small parties, and carried the work
of death and desolation into several neighborhoods, in the counties,
now Berkeley, Frederick, and Shenandoah. About eighteen or
twenty of them crossed the Horth Mountain at Mills Gap, which is
in the county of Berkeley, killed a man by the name of Kelly, and
several of his family, within a few steps of the present dwelling
house of the late Mr. William Wilson, not more than half a mile
from Gerardstown, and from thence passed on to the neighborhood
of the present site of Martinshurg, the neighboring people generally
*Fort Frederick was commenced in the year 1755» under the direction of Gov.
Sharpe» of Maryland» and was probably finished in 1776. It is still standing on the
Maryland side of the Cohongoruton. Its walls are entirely of stone» four and a half
feet thick at the base» and three at the top ; they are at least twenty feet high» and
have undergone but little dilapidation. Dr. John Hedges and his son» Capt. John 0.
Hedges» aided the author in the examination of this place» and measuring its area»
height and thickness of the walls. Its location is not more than twelve miles from
Martinsburg» in Virginia» and about the same distance from Williamsport in Maryland.
It encloses an area of about one and a half acres, exclusive of the bastions or redoubts.
It is said the erection of this fort eost about sixty-five thousand pounds sterling.
tMr. Jacob Gibbons was born the 10th of September» 1745. Since the author saw
him> he has departed this life—an honest, good old man.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
73
taking shelter in John Evans' fort.* A small party of the Indians
attacked the dwelling house of a Mr. Evans, brother of the owner
of the fort; hut being beaten otf, they went in pursuit of reinforce¬
ments. In their absence Mr. Evans and his family got safe to the
fort. The Indians returned and set fire to the house, the ruins of
which are now to he seen from the great road leading to Winchester,
three miles south of Martinshurg, at the head of what is called the
Big Spring.
The same Indians took a female prisoner on the same day at
John Strode's house. A hoy by the name of Hackney, who was on
his way to the fort, saw her previously, and advised her not to go
to the house, saying that Strode's family were all gone to the fort,
and that he suspected the Indians were then in the house. She,
however, seeing smoke at the house, disregarded the advice of the
little hoy, went to it, was seized by the Indians, taken off, and was
about three years a prisoner, hut finally got home. The boy went
to the fort and told what had happened, but the men had all turned
out to bury Kelly and go in pursuit of the Indians, leaving nobody
to defend the fort but the women and children. Mrs. Evans armed
herself, and called on all the women who had firmness enough to
arm, to join her, and such as were too timid she ordered to run bullets.
She then made a boy beat to arms on a drum; on hearing which the
Indians became alarmed, set fire to Strode's house,! and moved off.
They discovered the party of white men just mentioned, and fired
upon them, but did no injury. The latter finding the Indians too
strong for them, retreated into the foi-t.l
From thence the Indians passed on to Opequon, and the next
morning attacked Heally's fort, massacred most of the people, and
took off several prisoners ; among them George Stockton and Isabella,
his sister. Charles Porterfield, a youth about 20 years of age, heard
the firing from his father's residence, about one mile from the fort,
armed himself and set off with all speed to the fort., but on his way
was killed. §
Among the prisoners, were a man by the name of Cohoon, his
wife, and some of his children. Mrs. Cohoon was in a state of
pregnancy, and not being able to travel fast enough to please her
savage captors, they forced her husband forward, while crossing the
FTorth Mountain, and cruelly murdered her; her husband distinctly
heard her screams. Cohoon, however, that night made his escape,
and got safely back to his friends. George Stockton, and his sister,
Isabella, who were also among the prisoners, were taken to the Indian
♦Evans' fo# was erected within about two mil^ of Martinsburg, a stockade. The
land is now owned by — Frvatt. Esa.
tThe present residence of the widow Showalter, three miles from Martinsburg.
JMr. Joseph Hackney, Frederick county, states these facts to the author. The lit¬
tle boy, mentioned above, grew up, married, was a Quaker by profession, and the father
of my informant.
§ George Porterfield, Esq., now residing in the county of Berkeley, is a brother to
the youth who was killed, and stated to the author the particulars of this unhappy
occurrence. Capt. Glenn also stated several of the circumstances to the author.
74
History of The Valley
towns. Isabella was eight or nine years of age, and her story is as
remarkable as it is interesting. She was detained and grew up
among the savages. Being a beautiful and interesting girl, they sold
her to a Canadian in Canada, where a young Frenchman, named
Plata, soon became acquainted with her, and made her a tender of
his hand in matrimony.* This she declined unless her parents' con¬
sent could he obtained ; a strong proof of her filial affection and good
sense. The Frenchman immediately proposed to conduct her home,
readily believing that his generous devotion and great attentions to
the daughter would lay the parents under such high obligations to
him that they would willingly consent to the union. But such were
the strong prejudices existing at the time against everything French,
that her parents and friends peremptorily objected. The Frenchman
then prevailed on Isahella to elope with him, to effect which she
secured two of her father's horses and pushed off. They were, how¬
ever, pursued by two of her brothers, overtaken at Hunterstown,
Pennsylvania, and Isabella forcibly torn from her protector and
devoted lover, and brought back to her parents, while the poor French¬
man was warned that if he ever made any further attempt to take
her off, his life should pay the forfeit. This story is familiar to
several aged and respectable individuals in the neighborhood of
Martinsburg. Isabella afterward married a man by the name of
McClary, removed and settled in the neighborhood of Morgantown,
and grew wealthy. George, after an absence of three years, got
home also.
A party of fourteen Indians, believed to be a part of those de¬
feated by Capt. Smith, on their return to the west killed a young
woman, and took a Mrs. Heff prisoner. This was on the South Fork
of the river Wappatomaka. They cut off Mrs. Heff's petticoat up
to her knees, and gave her a pair of moccasins to wear on her feet.
This was done to facilitate her traveling; but they proceeded no
further than the vicinity of Fort Pleasant,! where on the second
night, they left Mrs. ISTeff in the custody of an old Indian, and divided
themselves into two parties, in order to watch the fort. At a late
hour in the night, Mrs. Neff discovering that her guard was pretty
soundly asleep, ran off. The old fellow very soon awoke, fired off his
gun, and raised a yell. Mrs. Heff ran between the two parties of
Indians, got safely into Fort Pleasant, and gave notice where the
Indians were encamped. A small party of men, the same evening
came from another small fort a few miles above, and joined their
friends in Fort Pleasant. The Indians, after the escape of Mrs. Heff,
had collected into one body in a deep glen, near the fort. Early the
next morning, sixteen men, well mounted and armed, left the fort
with a view to attack the Indians. They soon discovered their en-
♦ Mr. Mayers, of Berkeley county, gave the author the name of this young French¬
man.
t Fort Pleasant was a strong stockade with block houses, erected on the land now
own^ by Isaac Vanmeter, Esq., on the South Branch of the Potomac, a short distance
above what is called The Trough.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
75
campment. The whites divided themselves into two parties, intend¬
ing to inclose the Indians between two fires; hut unfortunately a
small dog which had followed them, starting a rahbit, his yelling
alarmed the Indians, upon which they cautiously moved off, passed
between the two parties of white men unobserved, took a position
between them and their horses, and opened a most destructive fire.
The whites returned the fire with great firmness and bravery, and a
desperate and bloody conflict ensued. Seven of the whites fell dead,
and four were wounded. The little remnant retreated to the fort,
whither the wounded arrived. Three Indians fell in this battle, and
several were wounded. The victors secured the white men's horses,
and took them off.*
Just before the above action commenced, Mr. Vanmeter, an old
man, mounted his horse, rode to a high ridge, and witnessed the
battle. He returned with all speed to the fort, and gave notice of
the defeat. The old man was killed by the Indians in 1757.
After committing to writing the foregoing account, the author
received from his friend Dr. Charles A. Turley, of Fort Pleasant, a
more particular narrative of the battle, which the author will sub¬
join in the doctor's own words:
"The memorable battle of The Trough (says Dr. Turley) was
preceded by the following circumstances. On the day previous, two
Indian strollers, from a large party of sixty or seventy warriors,
under the well known and ferocious chief. Kill-buck, made an attack
upon the dwelling of a Mrs. Brake, on the South Fork of the South
Branch of the Potomac, about fifteen miles above Moorefield, and
took Mrs. Brake and a Mrs. Keff prisoners. The former not being
able to traA^el from her situation, was tomahawked and scalped, and
the latter brought down to the vicinity of Town Fort, about one and a
half miles below Moorefield. There, one of the Indians, under the
pretense of hunting, retired, and the other laid himself down and
pretended to fall asleep, with a view, as was believed, to let Mrs.
Keff escape to the fort and give the alarm. Everything turned out
agreeably to their expectations ; for as soon as she reached the fort,
and related the circumstances of her escape, eighteen men from that
and Buttermilk Fort, five miles above, went in pursuit. They were
men notorious for their valor, and had been well tried on many such
occasions.
"As soon as they came to the place indicated by Mrs. Hefi',
they found a plain trace left by the Indians, by occasionally breaking
a bush. Mr. John Harness, who was well acquainted with the man¬
ners and modes of warfare of the Indians, pronounced that the
hunter Indian had not returned to his comrade, or that they were in
great force somewhere near and in ambush. They, however, pursued
♦ This battle is called the "Battle of The Trough." Messrs. Vanmeter, McNeill and
Heath, detailed the particulars to the author. A block house, with port holes, is now
standing in Mr, D. McNeilTs yard, part of an old fort erected at the time of Brad-
dock's War, the logs of which are principally sound.
76
History of The Valley
the trace, without discovering any signs of a larger party, until they
arrived between two mountains, forming what from its resemblance
is called The Trough. Here, directly above a fine spring, about two
hundred paces from the river, which at that time was filled to an
impassable stage by a heavy fall of rain, these grim monsters of
blood were encamped, to the number above stated. The western
face of the ridge was very precipitous and rough, and on the north
of the spring was a deep ravine, cutting directly up into the ridge
above. Our little hand of heroes, nothing daunted by the superior
number of the enemy, dismounted unobserved, and prepared for
battle, leaving their horses on the ridge. But by one of those unfor-
seen and almost unaccountable accidents which often thwart the
seemingly best planned enterprises, a small dog which had followed
them, just at this juncture started a rabbit, and went yelping down
the ridge, giving the Indians timely notice of their approach. They
immediately flew to arms, and filing off up the ravine before described,
passed directly into the rear of our little band, placing them in the
very situation they had hoped to find their enemies, between the
mountain and the swollen river. Now came the 'tug of war,' and
both parties rushed to the onset, dealing death and slaughter at every
fire. After an hour or two of hard fighting, during which each of
our little hand had numbered his man, and more than half their
number had fallen to rise no more, those that remained were com¬
pelled to retreat, which could only be effected by swimming the river.
Some who had been wounded, not being able to do this, determined to
sell their lives as dearly as possible; and deliberately loading their
rifles, and placing themselves behind some cover on the river bank,
dealt certain death to the first adversary who made his appearance,
and then calmly yielded to the tomahawk.
"We cannot here pass over without mentioning one of the many
despotic acts exercised by the then Colonial government and its
officers towards the unoffending colonists. At the time of which we
are speaking, there were quartered in Fort Pleasant, about one and
a half miles above the battle ground, and within hearing of every
gun, a company of regulars, commanded by a British officer named
Wagner, who not only refused to march a man out of the fort, but,
when the inhabitants seized their rifles and determined to rush to the
aid of their brothers, ordered the gates to be closed, and suffered none
to pass in or out. By marching to the western bank of the river, he
might have effectually protected those who were wounded, without
any danger of an attack from the enemy. And when the few who
had escaped the slaughter, hailed and demanded admission into the
fort, it was denied them. For this act of Capt. Wagner's the sur¬
vivors of our Spartan band called him a coward, for which insult he
thought it his duty to hunt them down like wolves, and when caught,
to inflict corporal punishment by stripes.
"The Indian Chief, Kill-buck, afterwards admitted that, although
he had witnessed many sanguinary contests, this was the most so he
Indian Incfesions and Massacres
77
had ever experienced for the numher of his enemies. Kill-huck was
a Shawnee, a savage of strong mental powers, and well acquainted
with all the families in the settlement before the war broke out. Col.
Vincent Williams, whose father was inhumanly murdered by Kill-buck
and his party on Patterson's Creek, became personally acquainted
with him many years afterwards, and took the trouble, when once in
the state of Ohio, to visit him. He was far advanced in years, and
had become blind. The Colonel informed me that as soon as he told
Kill-buck his name, the only answer he made was, 'Your father was
a brave warrior.' The half brother of Col. Williams, Mr. Benjamin
Casey, was with him. Mr. Peter Casey had once hired Kill-buck to
catch and bring home a runaway negro, and was to have given hirn
fourteen shillings. He paid him six shillings, and the war breaking
out, he never paid the other eight. At the visit spoken of. Kill-buck
inquired the name of his other visitor, and when the Colonel told him
it was Benjamin Casey—'What, Peter Casey's son?' 'Yes.' 'Your
father owes me eight shillings; will you pay it?' said the old chief.
The Colonel at that time got all the particulars of the tragic death
of his father, as well as the great heroism manifested by our little
hand at the battle of The Trough."
Dr. Turley refers in the foregoing narrative to the murder of
Mr. Williams, on Patterson's Creek. This melancholy tragedy the
author is enabled to give, as it was related to him by Mr. James S,
Miles, of Hardy.
Mr. Williams lived on Patterson's Creek, on the farm now oc¬
cupied by his grandson, Mr. James Williams. Hearing of the ap¬
proach of the Indians, he repaired with his neighbors to Fort Pleas¬
ant (nine miles) for security. After remaining here a few days,
supposing their houses might he revisited with safety, Mr. Williams
with seven others crossed the mountain for that purpose. They
separated on reaching the creek; and Mr. Williams went alone to
his farm. Having tied his horse to a bush, he commenced salting his
cattle, when seven Indians (as was afterwards said by Kill-buck)
got between him and his horse, and demanded his surrender. Mr.
Williams answered by a ball from his rifle, which killed one of the
Indians, then retreated to his house, barricaded the door, and put his
enemy at defiance. They fired at him at random through the door
and windows until the latter were filled with shot-holes. For greater
security, Mr. Williams got behind a hommony block in a corner,
from which he would fire at his assailants through the cracks of the
building, as opportunity offered. In this way he killed five of the
seven. The remaining two, resolved not to give up their prey, found
it necessary ^ proceed more cautiously ; and going to the least exposed
side of the house, one was raised upon the shoulders of the other to
an opening in the logs some distance above the level of Mr. Williams,
who did not, consequently, observe the manoeuvre, from which he
fired, and shot Mr. Williams dead. The body was instantly quart¬
ered, and hung to the four corners of the building, and the head stuck
Y8
History of The Valley
upon a fence stake in front of the door. This hrave man was the
father of the venerable Edward Williams, the clerk of Hardy county
court, until the election of 1830, under the new constitution, when his
advanced age compelled him to decline heing a candidate.
Sometime after the hattle of The Trough, at a fort seven miles
above Romney, two Indian hoys made their appearance, when some
of the men went out with the intention of taking them. A growu
Indian made his appearance, hut was instantly shot down by Shad-
rach Wright. A numerous party then showed themselves, which the
garrison sallied out and attacked, but they were defeated with the
loss of several of their men, and compelled to retreat to the fort.*
Kill-buck, the chief before mentioned, used frequently to com¬
mand these marauding parties. Previous to the breaking out of the
war, he was well acquainted with many of the white settlers on the
Wappatomaka, and lived a good part of his time among them. His
intimate acquaintance with the country enabled him to lead his hand
of murderers from place to place, and commit many outrages on the
persons and property of the white inhabitants. In the progress of
this work, some further notice will he taken of this distinguished
warrior. There was another great Indian warrior called "Crane,"
but the author has not been able to collect any particular traditionary
accounts of the feats performed by him.
In the year 1757, a numerous body of Indians crossed the Alle¬
ghany, and, as usual, divided themselves into small parties, and
hovering about the different forts, committed many acts of murder
and destruction of property. About thirty or forty approached
Edward's Fort,f on Capon River, killed two men at a small mill,
took off a parcel of corn meal, and retreating along a path that led
between a stream of water and a steep high mountain, they strewed
the meal in several places on their route. Immediately between this
path and the stream is an abrupt hank, seven or eight feet high, and
of considerable length, under which the Indians concealed themselves,
and awaited the approach of the garrison. Forty men under the
command of Capt. Mercer sallied out with the intention of pursuing
and attacking the enemy. But oh, fatal day! Mercer's party, dis¬
covering the trail of meal, supposed the Indians were making a speedy
retreat, and, unapprised of their strength, moved on at a brisk step,
until the whole line was drawn immediately over the line of Indians
under the bank, when the latter discharged a most destructive fire
upon them, sixteen falling dead at the first fire. The others attempt¬
ing to save themselves by flight, were pursued and slaughtered in
every direction, until, out of the forty, hut six got hack to the fort.
One poor fellow, who ran up the side of the mountain, was fired at
by an Indian, the ball penetrating just above his heel, ranging up his
* Mr. James Parsons, near Romney, Hampshire county, gave the author this in¬
formation.
t Edward's Fort was located on the west side of Capon River, not more than three
quarters of a mile above, where the stage road from Winch^ter to Romney crosses
the river.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
79
leg, shivering the hones, and lodging a little below his knee; he slipped
under the lap of a fallen tree, there he hid himself, and lay in that
deplorable situation for two days and nights before he was found by
his friends, it being that length of time before the people at the fort
would venture out to collect and bury the dead. This wounded man
recovered, and lived many years after, though he always was a cripple
from his wound. Capt. George Smith, who now resides on Back
Creek, informed the author that he was well acquainted with him.
Some time afterwards, the Indians, in much greater force, and
aided, it was believed, by several Frenchmen in person, determined
to carry this fort by storm. The garrison had been considerably
reinforced; among others, by the late Gen. Daniel Morgan, then a
young man. The Indians made the assault with great boldness;
hut on this occasion they met with a sad reverse of fortune. The
garrison sallied out, and a desperate battle ensued. The assailants
were defeated with great slaughter, while the whites lost compara¬
tively few men.
The remains of a gun of high finish, ornamented with silver
mounting and gold touch-hole, were plowed up near the battleground
about forty years ago. It was supposed to have belonged to a French
officer. Part of a bomb shell was also found. Morgan in this action
performed his part with his unusual intrepidity, caution, and firm¬
ness, and doubtless did much execution.*
Other parties of Indians penetrated into the neighborhood of
Winchester, and killed several people about Round Hill; among
others a man by the name of Flaugherty, with his wife. Several
inmates of a family by the name of M'Cracken, on Back Creek, about
twelve miles from Winchester, were killed, and two of the daughters
taken off as prisoners. They, however, got back, after an absence of
three or four years. Mr. Lewis Heill informed the author that he
saw and conversed with these women on the subject of their captivity
after their return home. Jacob Havely and several of his family
were killed near the present residence of Moses Russell, Esq., at the
eastern base of the Worth Mountain, fifteen or sixteen miles southwest
of Winchester. Dispennet, and several of his family, and Vance and
his wife,t were also severally killed by the same party of Indians, in
the same neighborhood.
The late respectable and intelligent Mrs. Rebecca Brinker, who
was born the 25th of March, 1745, and who of course was upwards
of ten years old when Braddock was defeated, related many inter¬
esting occurrences to the author; among others, that a family of
* Mr. William Carlile, now ninety-five years of age, and who resides near the
battle ground, informed the author that he removed and settled on Capon soon after
the battle was fought. He also said that he had frequently heard it asserted that
Morgan was in the battle, and acted with great bravery, &c. Mr. Charles Carlile, son
of this venerable man, stated the fact of the gun and part of a bomb shell being found.
tMoses Russell, Esq., is under the impression that these people were killed in the
summer or fall of the year, 1756. The author finds it impossible to fix the dates of
the various acts of war committed by the savage^. After the most diligent inquiry, he
has not been able to find any person who committed to writing anything upon the
subject at the time the several occurrences took place.
80
History of The Valley
eighteen persons, by the name of Hicholls, who resided at the present
residence of Mr. Stone, a little west of Maj. Isaac Hite's, were at¬
tacked, the greater number killed, and several taken off as prisoners ;
one old woman and her grandchild made their escape to a fort a
short distance from Middletown. This took place about 1756 or 1757,
and it is probably by the same party who killed Havely and others.
In the year 1758, a party of about fifty Indians and four French¬
men penetrated into the neighborhood of Mill Creek, now in the
county of Shenandoah, about nine miles south of Woodstock. This
was a pretty thickly settled neighborhood; and among other houses,
George Painter had erected a large log one, with a good sized cellar.
On the alarm being given, the neighboring people took refuge in
this house. Late in the afternoon they were attacked. Mr. Painter,
attempting to fly, had three balls shot through his body, and fell dead,
when the others surrendered. The Indians dragged the dead body
hack to the house, threw it in, plundered the house of what they
chose, and then set fire to it. While the house was in flames, con¬
suming the body of Mr. Painter, they forced from the arms of their
mothers four infant children, hung them up in trees, shot them in
savage sport, and left them hanging. They then set fire to a stable
in which were enclosed a parcel of sheep and calves, thus cruelly
and wantonly torturing to death the inoffensive dumb animals.
After these atrocities they moved off with forty-eight prisoners;
among whom were Mrs. Painter, five of her daughters, and one of
her sons; and a Mrs. Smith, and several of her children; a Mr. Fisher
and several of his children, among them a lad of twelve or thirteen
years old, a fine well grown boy, and remarkably fleshy. This little
fellow, it will presently he seen, was destined to be the victim of
savage cruelty.
Two of Painter's sons, and a young man by the name of Jacob
Myers escaped being captured by concealment. One of the Painters,
with Myers, ran over that night to Powell's Fort, a distance of at least
fifteen miles, and to Keller's Fort, in quest of aid. They had neither
hat nor shoes, nor any other clothing than a shirt and trousers each.
A small party of men set out early the next morning, well mounted
and armed, to avenge the outrage. They reached Mr. Painter's early
in the day; but on learning their strength (from the other young
Painter, who had remained concealed all that evening and night, and
by that means was able to count the number of the enemy), they
declined pursuit, being too weak in numbers to venture further.
Thus this savage band got off with their prisoners and booty, without
any pursuit or interruption.
After six days' travel they reached their villages, west of the
Alleghany Mountains, where they held a council, and determined to
sacrifice their helpless prisoner, Jacob Fisher. They first ordered
him to collect a quantity of dry wood. The poor little fellow shud¬
dered, burst into tears, and told his father they intended to burn
him. His father replied, "I hope not;" and advised him to obey.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
81
When he had collected a sufficient quantity of wood to answer their
purpose, they cleared and smoothed a ring, around a sapling, to
which they tied him by one hand, then formed a trail of wood around
the tree and set it on fire. The poor boy was then compelled to run
round in this ring of fire until his rope wound him up to the sap¬
ling, and then back until he came in contact with the flame, whilst
his infernal tormentors were drinking, singing and dancing around
him with "horrid joy." This was continued for several hours,
during which time the savage men became beastly drunk ; and as they
fell prostrate to the ground, the squaws would keep up, the fire. With
long sharp poles, prepared for the purpose, they would pierce the
body of their victim whenever he flagged, until the poor and helpless
boy fell and expired with the most excruciating torments, whilst his
father and brothers were compelled to be witnesses of the heart-rend¬
ing tragedy.
After an absence of about three years, Mrs. Painter, with her
son and two of her daughters; Mrs. Smith, who had the honor, if
it could he so deemed, of presenting her husband with an Indian
son,* by a distinguished war chief; Fisher and his remaining sons,
and several other prisoners returned home. Three of Mrs. Painter's
daughters remained with the Indians. Mary, the youngest, was
about nine years old when taken, and was eighteen years a prisoner;
two of the daughters never returned. A man by the name of Michael
Copple, who had himself been a prisoner about two years with the
Indians, had learned their language, become an Indian trader and
traveled much among them, at length found Mary Painter with a
wandering party of Cherokees. In conversing with her, he discov¬
ered who she was-—that he was acquainted with her family connec¬
tions, and proposed to her to accompany him home, to which she
refused her assent. He then said that her brothers had removed to
Point Pleasant, and were desirous of seeing her; upon which she
consented to accompany him that far to see her brothers; but finding,
on arriving at the Point, that he had deceived her, she manifested
much dissatisfaction, and attempted to go back to the Indians.
Copple, however, after much entreaty, and promising to make her
his wife, prevailed upon her to return home. He performed his
promise of marriage, lived several years on Painter's land, and raised
a family of children. Mary had lost her mother tongue, learned a
little English afterwards, but always conversed with her husband in
the Indian language, f They finally removed to the West.
*Smith receiired his wife and never maltreated her on this account ; but he had a
most bitter aversion to the young chief. The boy grew up to manhood, and exhibited
the appearance and disposition of his sire. Attempts were made to educate him, but
without success. He enlisted into the army of the Revolution as a common soldier, and
never returned.
t The author deems a particular history of this woman necessary, because it is one
among many instances of young white children, when taken prisoners, becoming at¬
tached to a savage life, and leaving it with great reluctance. Mr. George Painter, an
aged and respect citizen of Shenandoah county, who resides on the spot where this
bloody tragedy was acted, and is a grandson of the man who was murdered and burnt,
detailed these particulars to the author.
82
Histoey of The Valley
The garrison at Fort Cumber]and was frequently annoyed by
the Indians. There are two high knobs of the mountain, one on
the Virginia side of the Cobongoruton on the south, the other on
the Maryland side on the northeast, within a short distance of the
fort. The Indians frequently took possession of these heights, and
fired into the fort. Although they seldom did any injury in this
way, yet it was disagreeable and attended with some danger. On a
particular occasion a large party of Indians had taken possession
of the knob on the Maryland side, and fired into the fort. A cap¬
tain (the author regrets that he was not able to learn his name), and
seventy-five brave fellows on a very dark night, volunteered to dis¬
lodge the enemy. They sallied out from the fort, surrounded the
knob, and cautiously ascended until they were within reach of the
foe, waited for daybreak to make the attack. Light appearing, they
opened a tremendous fire, which threw the Indians into utter con¬
fusion, rendering them powerless for defense, while the whites con¬
tinued from all sides to pour in volley after volley, spreading death
and carnage. But few of the Indians escaped. The knob is called
"Bloody Hill" to this day. This tradition the author received from
several individuals in Cumberland; indeed, the story appears to be
familiar with every aged individual in the neighborhood.
Shortly after this occurrence. Kill-buck attempted to take Fort
Cumberland by stratagem. He approached it at the head of a large
force of warriors; and under the guise of friendship, pretended to
wish an amicable intercourse with the garrison, proposed to Maj.
Livingston to admit himself and warriors. Some hints having been
given to the commander to be upon his guard, Livingston seemingly
consented to the proposal; but no sooner had Kill-buck and his
chief officers entered than the gates were closed upon them. The
wily chief being thus entrapped, was roundly charged with his in¬
tended treachery, of which the circumstances were too self-evident
to be denied. Livingston, however, inflicted no other punishment
upon his captives than a mark of humiliating disgrace, which to an
Indian warrior was more mortifying than death. This stigma was,
it is supposed, dressing them in petticoats and driving them out of
the fort.*
It has already been stated, that, previous to the breaking out
of the war. Kill-buck lived a good part of his time among the white
settlers in the neighborhood of Fort Pleasant. An Irish servant,
belonging to Peter Casey, absconded, and Casey offered a pistole f
reward for his recovery. Kill-buck apprehended the servant, and
delivered him to his master; but from some cause or other, Casey
refused to pay the reward. A quarrel ensued, and Casey knocked
Kill-buck down with his cane. When the war broke out. Kill-buck
*The venerable John Tomlinson i elated this affair to the author. Mr, Tomlinson
does not recollect the particular mark of disgrace inflicted on these Indians. The
Rev. Mr. Jacobs, of Hampshire, suggested this as the most probable.
t The pistole is a piece of gold, equal to three dollars and seventy-five cents in value.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
83
sought every opportunity to kill Casey, but never could succeed.
Many years afterward, Casey's son obtained a lieutenancy, and was
ordered to Wheeling, where Kill-buck then being, young Casey re¬
quested some of his friends to introduce him to him. When Kill-
buck heard his name, he paused for a moment, and repeating, "Casey !
Casey !" inquired of the young man whether he knew Feter Casey.
The Lieutenant replied, "Yes, he is my father." Kill-buck immedi¬
ately exclaimed, "Ead man, bad man, he once knocked me down with
his cane." On the young man's proposing to make up the breach, the
old chief replied, "Will you pay me the pistole?" Young Casey re¬
fused to do this, hut proposed to treat with a quart of rum, to which
the old warrior assented, saying, "Peter Casey old man—Kill-buck
old man;" and then stated that he had frequently watched for an
opportunity to kill him, "but he was too lazy—would not come out
of the fort; Kill-buck now friends with him, and bury the toma¬
hawk."* This Indian chief, it is said was living about fourteen years
ago, and had become blind from his great age, being little under, and
probably over, one hundred years.
* This anecdote is related somewhat differently by Dr. Turley, page 77 of this work.
CHAPTER VIII
Indian Incubsions and Massacres {Continued)
In a preceding chapter the erection of several stone dwelling-
houses is noticed. These houses generally had small stockade for1;s
about them; and whenever an alarm took place, the neighboring
people took shelter in them, as places of security against their savage
foes.*
The men never went out of the forts without their guns. The
enemy were frequently lurking about them, and at every opportunity
would kill some of the people. At the residence of Major Robt. D.
Glass, on Opequon, five miles southwest of Winchester, part of his
dwelling-house was erected in the time of the Indian war; the port¬
holes were plainly to be seen before the body was covered with
weather-hoarding. The people were closely "forted" for about three
years. After the termination of hostilities between England and
France, the incursions of the Indians were less frequent, and never
in large parties ; but they were continued at intervals until the year
1766 or 1767.t
About the year 1758, a man by the name of John Stone, near
what is called the White House, in the Hawkshill settlement, was
killed by Indians. Stone's wife, with her infant child and a son
about seven or eight years old, and George Grandstaff, a youth of
sixteen years old, were taken off as prisoners. On the South Branch
Mountain, the Indians murdered Mrs. Stone and her infant, and
took the boy and Grandstaff to their towns. Grandstaff was about
three years a prisoner, and then got home. The little boy. Stone,
grew up with the Indians, came home, and after obtaining posses¬
sion of his father's property, sold it, got the money, returned to the
Indians, and was never heard of by his friends afterwards.
The same Indians killed Jacob Holtiman's wife and her children,
Holtiman escaping. They plundered old Brewbecker's house, piled
up the chairs and spinning wheel, and set them on fire. A young
woman who lived with Brewbecker had concealed herself in the garret ;
and after the Indians left the house, extinguished the fire, and saved
the house from burning. Brewbecker's wife got information that
the Indians were coming, and ran off with her children to where sev¬
eral men were at work, who conveyed her across the river to a neigh¬
boring house. Mr. John Brewbecker now resides on the farm where
this occurrence took place. J
* The late Mrs. Rebecca Brinker» one of the daughters of George Bowman, on Cedar
Creek, informed the author that she recollected when sixteen families took shelter in
her father's house.
t Fourth Edition Note—There were no raids between 1764 and 1774, because of the
treaty in the former year.
t Mr. Brewbecker resides on the West side of the South Fork of the Shenandoah
River, on Masinutton Creek, in the new county of Page, and has erected a large and
elegant brick house on the spot where the Indians plundered his father's dwelling.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
85
The following singular tradition, as connected with this occur¬
rence, has been related to the author:
About dusk on the evening previous, Mrs. Brewhecker told her
husband and family that the Indians would attack them next morn¬
ing, saying that she could see a party of them on the side of the
Masinutton Mountain, in the act of cooking their supper. She also
declared that she saw their fire, and could count the number of
Indians. She pointed to the spot; but no other part of the family
saw it; and it was therefore thought that she must be mistaken.
Persisting in her declarations, she begged her husband to remove her
and her children to a place of safety; hut she was laughed at, told
that it was mere superstition, and that she was in no danger. It
was, however, afterwards ascertained that savages had encamped that
night at the place on the mountain pointed out by Mrs. Brewbecker.
It was about two miles off.*
These outrages of the Indians drove many of the white settlers
below the Blue Ridge.
Probably the same year, several Indians attacked the house of
a man named Bingaman, near the present site of New Market.
Bingaman, who was remarkably stout and active, defended his fam¬
ily with great resolution and firmness, and laid two of the assailants
dead at bis feet; they succeeded, however, in killing his wife and
children, Bingaman escaping with several wounds, from which he
finally recovered. The same party took Lewis Bingaman (a nephew
of the one spoken of), a prisoner. He was a boy about thirteen or
fourteen years old, grew up with the Indians, and became a man of
distinction among them.
About the same time the Indians forcibly entered the house of
Mr. Young, who resided on the farm now owned by William Smith,
Esq., not more than a mile from Zane's old iron works, and killed
several of his family. They took an infant, dashed its head against
a rock, beat out its brains, and left it dying on the ground. Two
of Young's daughters, pretty well grown, were carried off prisoners.
Lieutenant Samuel Fry raised a force of between thirty and forty
men, pursued, and came in sight of them unobserved, at the Short
Mountain, near the Alleghany. Fry's party prepared to fire; but
unfortunately one of the white girls stepping accidentally before
their guns, the intention was frustrated, and Fry being discovered
the next moment, he ordered his men to charge. This was no sooner
done than the Indians broke and ran off, leaving their guns, prison¬
ers and plunder. The two young females were thus rescued and
brought safely home.
Anothêr family in the same neighborhood, by the name of Day,
were attacked, several killed, and two of the daughters taken off. A
party of eighteen or twenty whites pursued them. The girls, as they
traveled through the mountains, expecting pursuit, took the precau-
♦ This tradition was given the author by Mr. Andrew Keyser, Jr., who married a
granddaughter of the woman who Baw the Indians.
86
History of The Valley
tion (unobserved by their eaptors) to tear off and frequently drop
small scraps of white linen, as well as pluck off branches of bushes
and drop them as a trail, by which means their friends could readily
discover their route. A brother to the girls, a young man, was one
of the pursuing party. The Indians were overtaken on the South
Branch Mountain, and as soon as seen, preparations were made to
give them a deadly fire. But the young Day, in his eagerness to
avenge the death of his father and family, prematurely fired, killing
the ohject of his aim, when "the others precipitately fled, leaving
everything behind them. They had cut off the girls' petticoats at
the knees, in order that they should be able to make more speed in
traveling. The girls were brought safe home.
There were several instances of the Indians committing murders
on the whites ahout the Potomac, and South Branch, several years
before Braddock's defeat. About the year 1752, a man by the name
of James Davis was killed, pretty high up the Potomac; and in the
succeeding year, William Zane and several of his family were taken
prisoners on the South Branch, in the now county of Hardy. Isaac
Zane, one of his sons, remained during his life with the Indians.
The author saw this man at Chillicothe in the autumn of 1797, and
had some conversation with him upon the subject of his captivity.
He stated that he was captured when about nine years old ; was four
years without seeing a white person; had learned the Indian tongue
quite well, hut never lost a knowledge of the English, having learned
to spell in two syllables, which he still could do, although pretty well
advanced in years. He also said that a trader came to the Indian
village four years after his captivity, and spoke to him in English,
of which he understood every word ; that when he grew up to man¬
hood, he married a sister of the Wyandotte king, and raised a family
of seven or eight children. His sons were all Indians in their habits
and dispositions; his daughters, four of them, all married white men,
became civilized, and were remarkably fine women, considering the
opportunities they had had for improvement.
This man possessed a great influence with the tribes he was ac¬
quainted with; and as he retained a regard for his native countrymen,
was several times instrumental in bringing about treaties of peace.
The government of the United States granted him a patent for ten
thousand acres of land, which he claimed as his private property;
and when the author saw him he was on his way to Philadelphia to
apply for a confirmation of his title. He was a near relation to the
late Gen. Isaac Zane, of Frederick county, Virginia.
About the same time that Mr. Zane's family were taken prison¬
ers, as just related, an Indian killed a white man near Oldtown, in
Maryland, hut was, in return, killed by the late Capt. Michael Cresap,
then a hoy, with a pistol, while he was in the act of scal])ing the
white man.*
* Jacob's Life of Cresap.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
87
About the year 1758, there were two white men who disguised
themselves in the habit of Indians, and appeared in the neighbor¬
hood of the present site of Martinsburg. They were pursued and
killed, supposing them to be Indians.* It was no uncommon thing
for unprincipled scoundrels to act in this manner. Their object was
to frighten people to leave their homes, in order that they might rob
and plunder them of their most valuable articles, f The Indians
were frequently charged with outrages they never committed.
A man by the name of Edes, with his family, resided in a cave
for several years, about three miles above the mouth of Capon.
This cave is in a large rock, and when other people would take
shelter at a fort in the neighborhood, Edes would remain in his cave.
At length the Indians found them, by trailing the children when
driving up their cows, and took Edes and his family prisoners.!
A Mr. Smith, a bachelor, resided on the west side of Capon •
River, in a small cabin. Three Indians, one morning, entered his
house, split up the wooden bowls and trenchers (plates made of wood),
destroyed, his household goods generally, and took him off as a pris¬
oner. Thtw crossed the Cohongoruton and halted at a place called
Grass Lick, op the Maryland side, with the intention of stealing
horses. Two of them went into a meadow for that purpose, while
the third remained to guard Smith. The two men soon haltered a
young unbroken horse, delivered him to the guard, and went in pur¬
suit of more. The fellow who held the horse discovered that the
animal was easily frightened, several times scared him for his
amusement, till at length he became so much alarmed that he made
a sudden wheel, and ran off with the Indian hanging to the halter,
dragging him a considerable distance. Smith took this opportunity
to escape, and succeeded in getting off. The next morning a party
of white "men collected with the intention of giving pursuit. They
went to Smith's^cabin and found him mending his bowls and trenchers
by sewing them up with wax-ends. §
At Hedges' Fort, otuihe present road from Martinsburg to Bath,
west of Back Creek, a man^Vas killed while watching the Spring.**
On Lost River there were two forts, one on the land now the
residence of Jeremiah Inskeep, Esq., called Riddle's Fort, where a
man named Chesmer was killed; the other called Warden's Fort,ff
where William Warden and a Mr. Taff were killed, and the fort
burnt down.
Just before the massacre on Looney's Creek (related on the
succeeding page), seven Indians surrounded the cabin of Samuel
Bingaman, not far distant from the present village of Petersburg, in
♦ Related by Captain James Glenn,
t Related by Lewis Neill.
t Captain Glenn.
§ Related by Captain Glenn.
** The same.
tt Warden's Fort was at the present residence of Mr. Benjamin Warden, a grandson
of the man that was killed, about thirty>ñve miles southwest of Winchester.
88
Histoey of The Valley
the county of Hardy. It was just before daybreak, that being the
time when the Indians generally made their surprises. Mr. Binga-
man's family consisted of himself and wife, bis father and mother,
and a hired man. The first four were asleep in the room below, and
the hired man in the loft above. A shot was fired into the cabin,
the ball passing through the fleshy part of the young Mrs. Binga-
man's left breast. The family sprung to their feet, Bingaman seizing
his rifle, and the Indians at the same moment rushing in at the door.
Bingaman told his wife and father and mother to get out of the way,
under the bed, and called to the man in the loft to come down, who,
however, never moved. It was still dark, and the Indians were pre¬
vented from firing, by a fear of injuring one of their number. Bing¬
aman, unrestrained by any fears of this kind, laid about him with
desperation. At the first blow his rifle broke at the breech, shivering
the stock to pieces; but with the barrel he continued his blows until
he had cleared the room. Daylight now appearing he discovered that
he had killed five, and that the remaining two were retreating across
the field. He stepped out, and seizing a rifle which had been left by
the party, fired at one of the fugitives, wounded and tomahawked
him. Tradition relates that the other fled to the Indian camp, and
told his comrades that they had a fight with a man who was a devil—
that he had killed six of them, and if they went again, would kill
them all. When Bingaman, after the battle, discovered that his wife
was wounded, he became frantic with rage at the cowardice of the
hired man, and would have dispatched him hut for the entreaties of
Mrs. Bingaman to spare his life. She recovered from her wound
in a short time.*
It was the practice of the settlers on the Wappatomaka in times
of danger to leave the forts in numbers, and assist each other in
harvest. About the year 1756, a party of nine whites left the fort
opposite the present village of Petersburg, to assist Mr. .Job Welton
to cut his father's meadow and hunt the cattle. They took their
rifles with them, as was invariably the practice whenever they left
the fort. After collecting the cattle, they turned in and cut a portion
of the meadow. As night approached a proposition was made by
Mr. Welton to return to the fort, which was rather opposed by the
rest of the party, who, not having been molested during the day were
disposed to believe in their perfect security. They repaired to the
house of the elder Mr. Welton, fronting the meadow, and within two
hundred yards of the present residence of Aaron Welton, Esq. Here
they wished to remain, but the determination was resisted by Job
Welton, who again advised to return to the fort. After some con¬
sultation it was agreed on to repair to the shelter of a large elm tree
in the meadow where they had been mowing, and where they con-
* The author received the particulars of this surprising adventure from Job Welton
and Aaron Welton, Esqrs., of Petersburg. Mrs. Blue, wife of Mr. Garret Blue, also
told the author, that when she was a small girl Bingaman frequently stopped at her
father's residence on Cheat River, and she more than once heard him relate the cir¬
cumstances of this affair, and say there were seven Indians.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
89
cealed themselves in a winnow of the grass, and soon fell into a
sound sleep from which they were sometime afterwards aroused by
the crack of a rifle. Mr. Welton was lying with his brother, Jonathan,
under the same blanket, and the latter was shot through the heart.
The party sprang to their feet and attempted to escape. In his
alarm, Mr. Welton forgot his rifle, and fled in company with a Mr.
Delay. They had proceeded about two hundred yards, pursued by
an Indian, when Delay wheeled and discharged his rifle, which
brought his pursuer down. At the same instant that Delay wheeled,
the Indian threw his tomahawk, which sunk into the hack of Mr.
Welton, severing two of his ribs. He fell to the ground, supposing
himself mortally wounded by a rifle hall, while Delay continued on¬
ward pursued by another Indian. Mr. Welton soon recovered from
his surprise, and proceeded cautiously in a direction towards the
fort, very weak from the loss of blood. He soon heard Delay and
the Indian in a parley; the former being exhausted by running and
disposed to yield, and the latter demanding his surrender. Delay
agreed to give up on condition that his enemy would spare his life,
which being solemnly agreed to, he was reconducted to the elm tree.
Here a council was held, and Delay, with three others who had been
taken, were inhumanly scalped, from which they died two or three
days afterwards. Mr. Welton was able to reach the fort, where he
lay three months before his wound healed. Of the whole party, hut
three escaped, four were scalped and died, and two were killed at the
first surprise. The escape of Mr. Kuykendall was remarkable. It
was a bright moonlight night, while the shade of the elm rendered it
quite dark under the tree. Mr. Kuykendall being an old man, was
unable to fly with speed, and therefore remained still, while his com¬
panions fled across the meadow. The Indians passed over him,
leaving the rear clear, when Mr. Kuykendall retreated at his leisure,
and reached the fort in safety, one and a half miles.*
On the day following, the whites left the fort in pursuit, and
overtook their enemy late that night on Dunkard Bottom, Cheat
River, where they had encamped. The pursuers dismounted, and
the captain ordered Bingaman (the same whose prowess is related in
a preceding page) to guard the horses. He, however, disobeyed, and
loitered in the rear of the party. To make the destruction of the
enemy more certain, it was deemed advisable to wait for daylight
before they began an attack; hut a young man, whose zeal overcame
his discretion, fired into the group, upon which the Indians sprang
to their feet and fled. Bingaman singled out a fellow of giant-like
size, whom he pursued, throwing his rifle aside that his speed might
not be retiirded—passed several smaller Indians in the chase—came
up with him, and with a single blow of his hatchet, cleft his skull.
I^en Bingaman returned to the battle-ground, the captain sternly
*Me88r8. Aaron and Job Welton related this tradition to the author. It was thought
that Delay would have recovered but for the unskillfulness of the surgeon (if he de¬
served the name)» who attended him. The late Gen. William Darke married his widow.
90
History oí The Valley
observed, "I ordered you to stay and ^nard the horses." Bin,ajaman
as sternly replied, "You are a rascal, sir; you intended to disajrace
me; and one more insolent word, and you shall share the fate of that
Indian," pointing toward the body he had just slain. The captain
quailed before the stern menace, and held his peace. He and Binga-
man had, a few days before, had a falling out. Several Indians fell
in this affair, while the whites lost none of their party.
Dr. Turley stated to the author that he had often heard Mr.
John Harness, v^ho was one of the partv that followed the Indians,
relate that Delay was taken to Dunkard Bottom, and when the In¬
dians were then surprised, he was shot, but whether by his captors,
or accidentally, was not knowm. Delay himself not being able to tell.
He was conveyed home on a litter, and died directly afterwards.
There were, however, two Delays, and the first relation may be true.
Mrs. Shobe, an aged and respectable lady, living on Mill Creek,
in Hardy county, informed the author, that Delay was buried on the
banks of the South Branch, and some years afterwards his skeleton
was washed out by a rising of the river. She then heard Job Wei ton
say, that Delay had saved his life, and he would take care of his bones.
To show the spirit of the times, the following anecdote is related.
Valentine Powers, and his brother, with two or three others, left the
fort near Petersburg,* on a visit to their farms, when they were
fired upon by the Indians from a thicket, and the brother of Powers
killed. Valentine ran, but soon calling to mind the saying, current
among them, that "it was a bad man who took bad news home," he
turned about and gave himself up and remained a prisoner five or six
years, f
Martin Peterson was taken a prisoner on the South Branch, and
carried to the Sandusky towns. He used to accompany the Indians
in their hunting excursions, and was penmitted (o have one load of
powder and ball each day, which he always discharged at the game
they met with. As he gained on the confidence of his captors, they
increased his allowance to two loads, and subsequently to three.
The same allowance was made to two other white prisoners. These
three, one day after receiving their allowance, determined to attempt
an escape, and left the towns accordingly. As they ventured to
travel only at night, guided by the north star, their progress was
exceeding slow and difficult. On the second day one of their number
died from fatigue, and Peterson took his ammunition. A day or
two afterwards, his remaining companion also gave out, and Peterson,
taking his ammunition, left him to perish. He then pursued his way
alone, and after a succession of hardships, came at length in sight of
the fort. But here, when within reach of his deliverance, his hopes
were well-nigh blasted; for the sentry, mistaking him for an Indian,
fired ! Happily the ball missed its aim, and he was able to make
himself known before the fire was repeated. This fort was on the
^Called Fort George. The land ia now owned by Job Welten, Esq.
tRelated by Aaron Weiten, Esq.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
91
farra now the residence of Mr. John Welton, near Petersburg, Hardy
county.*
Scyhert's Fort,t was erected on the South Fork of the South
Branch of the Potomac, on the land now owned hy Mr. Ferdinand
Lair, twelve miles northeast of Franklin, the present county seat of
Pendleton. In the year 1758, a party of Indians surprised the fort,
in which were thirty persons. They bound ten, whom they conveyed
without the fort, and then proceeded to massacre the others in the
following manner; They seated them in a row upon a log, with an
Indian standing behind each; and at a given signal, each Indian
sunk his tomahawk into the head of his victim; an additional blow
or two dispatched them. The scene was witnessed by James Dyer,
a lad fourteen years old, who, not having been removed without the
fort, supposed that he was to be massacred. He was, however, spared,
and taken to Log Town, sixteen miles below Fort Pitt, tbence to the
mouth of the Muskingum River, and thence to the spot where Chilli-
cothe now stands, where he remained a prisoner one year and ten
months. He had by this time gained the entire confidence of his
captors, and was permitted to accompany them to Fort Pitt on a
trading expedition. When there he planned his escape, and happily
succeeded. Being sent out for some bread with an Indian lad, he
slipped into a hovel, unobserved by his companion, and implored the
protection of the poor woman who occupied it. She told him to get
behind a chest, the only furniture in the room, and threw upon him
a bed. The Indians, on missing him, spent the afternoon in search,
during which they looked into the very hovel where he was, and left
the place the next morning on their return. Fort Pitt, being then in
the possession of the English, a trooper very kindly conveyed him
six or seven miles behind him, whence he made his way to his friends
in Pennsylvania, where he remained two years longer, and then re¬
turned to South Fork. J
Another tradition says that Seybert's Fort was not surprised.
It had been invested for two or three days, and after two Indians
•Related by Aaron Welton, Esq.
fThe author, on a visit to Franklin, obtained eome additional particulars in relation
to the attack on Seybert's Fort. The party of Indians was commanded by the blood¬
thirsty and treacherous chief. Kill-buck. Seybert's son, a lad about fifteen years of
a^e, exhibited great firmness and bravery in the defense of the post. He had with his
ritle brought down two of his a.ssaiiants, when Kill-buck called out to old Seybert, in
English, to surrender, and their lives should be spared. At that instant young Seybert,
having charged his riñe, was in the set of presenting it at Kill-buck, when his father
seized the gun, and took it from him, observing: "We cannot defend the fort, we must
surrender in order to save our lives," confiding in the a&suranee of the faithless Kill-
buck. The first salutation he received, after surrendering the fort, w.is a stroke on
his mouth from the monster. Kill-buck, with the pipe-end of his tomahawk, dislocating
several of the old man's teeth ; and immediately after he was massacred with the other
victims. Younf Seybert was taken off among the prisoners. He told Kill-buck he had
raised his gun to kill him, but that his father had wrested it from him. The savage
laughed, and replied, "You little rascal, if you had killed me you would have saved the
fort; for had I fallen my warriors would have immediately fled, and given up the .«iege
in despair." It is said there were three men in the fort, not one of whom manifested a
disposition to aid its defense. Had they joined young Seybert, and acted with the came
intrepidity and coolness, the place might have been saved, and the awful sacrifice of
the inmates avoided.
X Related by Zebulon Dyer, Esq., clerk of Pendleton county, and son of the James
Over mentioned.
92
History of The Valley
had b^n killed, the garrison agreed to surrender on condition that,
their lives should he spared, which was solemnly pledged. The gate
was then opened, and the Indians rushed in with demoniac yells.
The whites then fled with precipitation, hut were retaken, with the
exception of one man. The massacre then took place, as before re¬
lated, and ten were taken off as prisoners.
Another tradition says, that, on the fort's being given up the
Indians seated twenty of the garrison in two rows, all of whom they
killed except the wife of Jacob Peterson. When they reached her,
an Indian interposed to save her life, and some altercation ensued.
The friendly Indian at length prevailed, and throwing her a pair of
moccasins, told her to march off with the prisoners. How long she
remained in captivity is not remembered.*
The Indians killed John Brake's wife on the South Pork of the
Wappatomaka. John Brake became conspicuous in the War of the
Revolution, which will he noticed hereafter. Frederick Jice had his
whole family killed, with the exception of himself and one son. A
man named Williams and his wife were also killed. Richard Wil¬
liams and his wife and little daughter were taken prisoners ; the latter
was only eighteen months old when taken, remained with the Indians
until she was thirteen, and was then brought home. She had learned
the Indian language perfectly; afterwards learned to speak English,
but there were some words she never could pronounce plainly. She
married Uriah Blue, on the South Branch.
About eight miles below Romney stood a fort. In time of har¬
vest a Mrs. Hogeland went out about three hundred yards to gather
beans, two men accompanying her as a guard. While gathering the
beans, eight or ten Indians made their appearance. One of the
guards instantly fled; the other, whose name was Hogeland, called
to the woman to run to the fort, and placing himself between her
and the enemy, with his rifle cocked and presented, retreated from
tree to tree until both entered it. Some old men in the fort fired off
their guns to alarm the harvest hands, who ran into it, the Indians
from the side of the mountain firing upon them, but doing no injury.
The same day the harvest hands were waylaid as they returned to
their work, fired upon Henry Hewkirk and wounded him in the hip.
The whites returned the fire, and wounded an Indian, who dropped
his gun and fled. The others also made off, and the harvest hands
proceeded to their work.
In 1756, while the Indians were lurking about Port Pleasant
and constantly on the watch to cut off all communications therewith,
a lad named Higgins, aged about twelve years, was directed by his
mother to go to the spring, about a quarter of a mile without the
fort, and bring a bucket of water. He complied with much trepi¬
dation, and persuaded a companion of his of about the same age
to accompany him. They repaired to the spring as cautiously as
♦ Mrs. Shobe informed the author that she had heard the wife of Jacob Peterson
frequently relate this.
Indian Inccksions and Massackes
93
possible, and after filling their buckets, ran with speed towards the
fort, Higgins taking the lead. When about half way to the fort,
and Higgins had got about thirty yards before his companion, he
heard a scream from the latter, which caused him to increase his speed
to the utmost. He reached the fort in safety, while his companion
was captured by the Indians, and taken to the settlements, where
he remained until the peace and was then restored. The young Hig¬
gins subsequently became the active Capt. Robert Higgins in our
Revolutionary army, and after raising a numerous family in Vir¬
ginia, removed with them to the West.*
In the neighborhood of Moorefield a party of men were mowing
for Peter Casey. They had placed their guns under a large tree in
the edge of the meadow, and old Peter stood sentinel to watch and
give the alarm should the enemy make their appearance. In a short
time a party of Indians discovered the hands at work, and cautiously
crept through the brambles and shrubbery in order to get a position
to make a deadly fire. One of them was in front of the others, and
had approached very near old Peter before the latter saw him, when
the old man flew at him with his cane raised, crying out, "By the
Lord, boys, here they come!" The Indian, desperately frightened,
took to his heels ; the men flew to their guns ; and the skulking savages
retreated precipitately without firing a single shot. It is not im¬
probable that Casey still used the same stick with which he "knocked
Kill-buck down."f
The author finding this chapter running to a tedious and per¬
haps tiresome length to the reader, will give his pen a short respite,
and resume his narrative of Indian outrages in the next chapter.
• Related by Col. Isaac Vanmeter.
t Related by Col. Isaac Vanmeter.
CHAPTEKIX
Indian Incursions and Massacres (Continued)
On Stony Creek, five or six miles southwest of Woodstock, there
was a fort called "Wolfe's Fort," where the people took shelter from
the Indians for several years. Mr. Wolfe would venture out some¬
times for the purpose of killing game, and was always accompanied
by a favorite dog. On one particular occasion this faithful animal
saved his master's life. Mr. Wolfe walked out with his gun and
dog, but had not proceeded far before the latter manifested great
alarm, and used all his ingenuity to induce his master to return.
He repeatedly crossed his path, endeavoring to obstruct his walk;
would raise himself up, and place his feet against his master's breast,
and strive to push him back; would run a few steps toward the fort,
and then return whining. From the extraordinary manifestations
of uneasiness on the part of the dog, Mr. Wolfe began to suspect
there was some lurking danger, of course kept a sharp look-out and
soon discovered an Indian at some distance behind a tree, watching
and waiting until he should come near enough to be a sure mark.
Mr. Wolfe made a safe retreat into the fort, and ever after felt the
highest gratitude to his honest and faithful dog. The dog lived to be
twenty-one years of age, and probably more.* Ulysses' dog, "Argus",
is much celebrated in history; but it is very questionable whether
Argus ever rendered more important service to his lord and master.
Ulysses was one of the commanding generals of the Greeks in the
Trojan war, and was absent twenty years, it is said, from his home.
The story of his dog is related by Homer in the following beautiful
poetical effusion : f
Thus near the gates conferring as they drew,
Argus, the dog, his ancient master knew ;
He, not unconscious of the voice and tread,
Lifts to the sound his ear, and rears his head;
Bred by Ulysses, nourish'd at his board,
But ah I not fated long to please his lord !
To him, his swiftness and his strength were vain ;
The voice of glory called him o'er the main.
Till then in every sylvan chase renown'd.
With Argus, Argus, rung the woods around;
With him the youth pursu'd the goat or fawn.
Or trac'd the mazy leveret o'er the lawn,
Now left to man's ingratitude he lay,
IJnhous'd, neglected in the public way ;
And where on heaps the rich manure was spread.
Obscene with reptiles, took his sordid bed.
He knew his lord; he knew and strove to meet;
♦Moses Russell. Ksa.. of the county of Frederick, gave the author a detail of the
particulars of this extraordinary story, and stated that when he was a young man
he once called at Mr. Wolfe's house and saw the dog. He appeared to be decript and
suffering pain, and he asked Mr. Wolfe if he had not better kill the dog, and put him
out of misery. Mr. Wolfe with much emphasis replied, "No, I would as readily consent
to be killed myself as to kill that dog, or suffer him to be killed ; he once saved my
life;" and Mr. Wolfe then related the above story. The dog was then twenty-one years
old.
tit is said that Argus was the only creature that immediately recognized his master
on his return to his place from his twenty years* absence.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
95
In vain he strove to crawl, and kiss his feet,
Yet (all he could) his tail, his ears, his eyes.
Salute his master, and confess his joys.
Soft pity touch'd the mighty master's soul;
Adown his cheek a tear unbidden stole.
Stole unperceiv'd, he turn'd his head, and dried
The drop humane ; then thus impassion'd cried ;
"What noble beast in this abandon'd state.
Ides here all helpless at Ulysses* gate?
His bulk and beauty speak no vulgar praise;
If, as he seems, he was in better days,
Rome care his age deserves, or was he priz'd
Per worthless beauty, therefore now despised?
Such dogs, and men there are, mere things of state.
And always cherish'd by their friends, the great."
"Not Argus BO, (Emmseus thus rejoin'd)
But serv'd a master of a nobler kind.
Who never, never, shall behold him more!
Long, long since perish'd on a distant Rhore !
O bad you seen him, vigorous, bold and young.
Swift as a stag, and as a lion ßtrong ;
Him, no f<^ll savage on the plain withstood,
None sralp'd him, bosom'd in the gloomy wood;
His eye how piercing and his scent how true.
To wind the vapor in the tainted dew?
Such, when Ulysves left his natal coast.
Now years unnerve him, and his lord is lost.
The women keep the generous creature bare,
A sleek and idle race is all their care ;
The master gone, the servants what restrains?
Or dwells humanily where riol reigns?
Jove fix'd it certain, that whatever day
Makes man a slave, take^ half his worth away,"
This said, the honest herdsmen strode before,
The musing monarch pauses at the door.
The dog whom fate had granted to behold
His lord when twenty tedious years had roll'd.
Takes a last look, and having Been him, dies ;
So clos'd forever faithful Argus' eyes !
There was no poet at the time to transmit the name and fame of
Mr. Wolfe's dog to posterity. European authors, in their prejudices,
have on variotis occasions endeavored to disparage everything of
American production. The Count de Buffon is among the number.
Englishmen delight in the disparagement of the American quadru¬
peds. In the Family Encyclopedia, an English work, under the
article "dogs," it is asserted that "when English dogs are transported
to other countries, they degenerate, and become comparatively worth¬
less !" It is believed the annals of the world may be safely chal¬
lenged to produce an instance of greater manifestation of sagacity
and faithful affection towards a master, than was exhibited by Mr.
Wolfe's dog on the occasion spoken of. But to return :
At the Forks of Capon stockade. The men who occupied it had
to go about four miles to cultivate a fine fertile field of low ground
to produce bread for their support. In the year 1757 or 1758, two
men, one named Bowers, the other York, walked to the field to see
how things were going on. On their return in the evening they
were wayláid by seven Indians. Bowers was shot and fell dead;
York ran, was pursued by three Indians, and took across a high
ridge. One of his pursuers tired before he reached the top; the
others continued the chase. After running a considerable distance,
a second gave out. The third got so near that he several times ex-
96
History of The Valley
tended his arm to seize York, but failed, and York got safe into the
fort.*
On Patterson's Creek, at the present site of Frankfort, Ashby's
Fort was erected. It was at this place that the celebrated race took
place between the late Capt. John Ashhy and three Indians. Capt.
Ashhy had walked out from the fort with his gun, and after pro¬
ceeding some distance discovered three Indians, who knew him, but
a little way off. He turned and ran; two of the Indians fired, but
missed him; they all three then gave chase, hut A.shby was too swift
for them; and when they saw they could not overhaul him, one of
them called out, "Run, Jack Ashby, run !" He replied, looking
over his shoulder, "You fools, do you think I run booty?" (with
hoots).
Hear the fort, Charles Keller was killed, the grandfather of
Mr. Charles Keller, the present proprietor of the Frankfort Hotel, f
About the year 1756, Daniel Sullivan, at nine years of age, was
taken prisoner by the Indians, with whom he remained nine years,
when he was brought home. For some time he manifested a desire
to return to the Indians, but at length became reconciled, and was
afterwards their determined enemy. In his last battle with them,
becoming desperately wounded, and his entrails falling out and in his
way, he tore them off, and continued to fight until he fell and ex¬
pired. The Indians after this considered him something more than
man. I
At the Rev. Mr. Jacobs' present residence, on Horth Branch, a
man by the name of Wade was killed.
Logan, the celebrated Indian, killed Benjamin Bowman, and
took Humphrey Worstead prisoner. He compelled the latter to
halter several of his own and Bowman's horses, and took them off.§
At a battle at Old town, John Walker killed an Indian and
wounded another. Walker cut out a part of the dead Indian's
flesh from the thick part of his thigh, and threw it to the dog, who
ate it. He otherwise mutilated his body, and thrust parts of it into
his mouth.
Thomas Higgins was one of the earliest settlers on the Cohon-
goruton. He lived about four miles from Bath, but was driven
thence, and removed to the neighborhood of Gerardstown in the
county of Berkeley. After his removal, three of his sons were taken
off as prisoners, and never returned. At the close of Dunmore's
war, one of them was seen at Wheeling by a man who was acquaint¬
ed with his family, and asked why he did not come home, since his
father had left him a good tract of land. He replied that he did not
^Related by Mr. John Largent.
tMr. Keller stated this fact to the author.
t Isaac Kuykendall, Esq., of th« South Branch, near Romney. stated this fact to
the author, and added that Sullivan was his near relation.
§ Related by Mr. Garrit Blue, of the North Branch.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
97
wish to live with white people; they would always call him Indian,
and he had land enough.*
The wife of the late Walter Denny, of Frederick county, was
taken by the Indians when a small child, and grew up among them.
Her maiden name was Flaugherty. After returning from her cap¬
tivity she married Walter Denny, who resided some time after his
marriage in the neighborhood of Pittsburgh. In 1774 the Indians
advised him to move off, as they intended to go to war with the
whites. Mr. Denny removed and settled in the county of Frederick.
The author recollects of frequently seeing this man. A Miss Wil¬
liams was also taken about the same time ; she, too, grew up with the
Indians. These two female children were taken on Patterson's Creek.
There is a tradition of a battle fought on Patterson's Creek, be¬
tween the whites and Indians, the spring before Braddock's defeat;
but the author has not been able to obtain the particulars, except
that the Indians were defeated.
The Indians killed Oliver Kremer, in Short Gap, and took his
wife prisoner.
In the year 1764, a party of eighteen Delawares crossed the
mountains. Furman's Fort was about one mile above the Hanging
Rock, on the South Branch. William Furman and Himrod Ashhy
had gone out from the fort to watch a deer lick in the Jersey Moun¬
tain, f The Indians discovered and killed them both and passed on
into the county of Frederick, where they divided into two parties.
One party of eight moved on to the Cedar Creek settlement; the
other of ten attacked the people in the neighborhood of the present
residence of Maj. John White. On this place Dr. White, the ances¬
tor of the White family, had settled, and on his land a stockade was
erected. The people in the neighborhood had taken the alarm, and
were on their way to the fort, when they were assaulted by these
ten Indians. They killed David Jones and his wife, two old people.
Some of Mrs. Thomas' family were killed, and she and one daughter
taken off. An old man by the name of Lloyd, and his wife, and
several of his children, were killed. Esther Lloyd, their daughter,
about thirteen years old, received three tomahawk wounds in the
head, was scalped, and left lying, supposed to be dead. Henry
Clouser and two of his sons were killed, and his wife and four of his
daughters taken. The youngest daughter was about two years old;
and as she impeded the mother's traveling, when they reached the
iforth Mountain, the poor little innocent habe was taken by its heels,
its head dashed against a tree, and the brains beaten out, and left
lying on the ground. Mrs. Thomas was taken to the Wappatomaka ;
but the river being pretty full, and deep fording, they encamped near
Furman's lort for the night. The next morning a party of white
men fired off their guns at the fort, which alarmed the Indians, and
they hurried across the river, assisting all their female prisoners
* Related by Mr. James Hisrgins of the North Branch,
t So called from its being first settled by immigrants from New Jersey.
98
Histoey of The Valley
except Mrs. Thomas, who being quite stout and strong, was left to
shift for herself. The current, however, proved too strong for her,
and she floated down the river—hut lodged against a rock, upon
which she crawled, and saved herself from drowning. Before her
capture she had concealed a half loaf of bread in her bosom, which,
during her struggles in the water, washed out, and, on her reaching
the rock, floated to her again. In this instance, the text of Scripture,
"Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many
days," * might have some application. It was not "many days," hut
there appears to have been something providential in it, for it saved
her from extreme sufl^ering. The next morning Mrs. Thomas made
her way to Williams' Fort, about two miles below the Hanging Rock,
on the South Branch, f
The author has received from Maj. John White, of Frederick,
another account of the foregoing outrages, which he will give in klaj.
White's own words:
"In July, 1763, information was received by the late Maj.
Robert White (who had a small fort around his house as an asylum
for the people in the neighborhood), that the Indians had been seen
on that or the preceding day on Capon. He immediately went to
the several families living near the base of the Horth Mountain, as
far as Owen Thomas', five or six miles from the fort, told them of
the report, and advised them to go into the fort until the danger
should be over. It being harvest time, Owen Thomas was unwilling
to leave home, and mounted a horse to go to his neighbor, Jacob
Kackley's, who had several sons grown, to propose to arm themselves
and work together in their respective grain fields; hut on his way to
Mr. Kackley's he was shot dead and scalped, the Indians having
concealed themselves behind two logs that lay one across the other
near the road.
"In June, 1764, similar information of Indians being seen was
received at the fort. Maj. White, as on the former occasion, went
in the afternoon to warn the people of their danger ; when the widow
Thomas, Mr. Jones and Mr. Clouser, set off with their families for
the fort ; hut night coming on when they reached Mr. Lloyd's ( about
two miles from the fort), they concluded to stay there all night. In
the morning, as soon as day appeared, they resumed their journey;
but before they were out of sight of the house, the Indians attacked
them, and killed, wounded, or took prisoners twenty-two or twenty-
three persons. Evan Thomas, a son of the man killed the preceding
summer, a boy of seven years old, ran back into the house, and hid
himself behind some puncheons that he placed across a comer of the
room, and remained concealed, notwithstanding the Indians brought
the prisoners into the house, among whom were his mother and sister,
both tied, and kept them there till they fried bacon and ate their
breakfast; they then set fire to the house in two places, and went
* Ecclesiastes, II :I.
t Mr. Gerrit Blue stated to the author that he was then a small boy, but well
recollects seeing Mrs. Thomas when she got into the fort.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
99
away. Evan said lie continued in the house as long as he could, on
account of the fire ; that he saw through a chink in the wall the direc¬
tion the Indians went; and not knowing which way to go, be con¬
cluded to take the contrary course from the one taken by them. He
rambled about all that day and the most of the next before he found
any person, the houses which he passed having been abandoned by
their owners going to the fort. The Indians encamped the first night
at a spring on the Romney road, between the Horth River and Little
Capon; and on the next day they stopped on the hank of the South
Branch, near where Romney now stands, to eat their dinner. While
thus engaged, a party who were stationed in a fort a mile or two
lower down the river, and who had just returned from a scout, dis¬
charged their guns in order to clean them, which alarmed the Indians,
and they hurried across the river, assisting all their female prisoners
except Mrs. Thomas, who being a large, fat woman, it was supposed
would perish, as the water was rapid and deep. She floated down
the stream, however, until almost exhausted, when she had the good
fortune to get on a rock, and save herself from drowning. She had
put a piece of bread in her bosom the morning she was taken, and lost
it in the water ; hut it happened to float so nea r her while on the rock
that she caught it and ate it; which, as she said, so revived and
strengthened her that she plunged into the water again, and provi¬
dentially got out on the east side of the river. She reached Williams'
Eort, two miles below the Hanging Rock, on the same day. It was
often remarked by Mrs. Thomas' acquaintances, that after her return
she would minutely relate the circumstances attending the murder of
her husband and children, and her own sufferings, without shedding
a tear. Either five or seven of the persons wounded by the Indians,
were taken to the fort of Maj. Robert White's, and attended by Dr.
McDonald, though hut one recovered, Hester Lloyd, who had two
scalps taken from her."
Mrs. Thomas' daughter, and Mrs. Clouser and her three small
daughters, were taken to the Indian towns, and after an absence of
about six months, were released from captivity, and all returned
home safely.
There is something remarkable in the history of the three Miss
Clousers, who were all prisoners at the same time. The eldest was
about ten years old, the next eldest about seven, and the youngest
between five and six. They all returned home from their captivity,
grew up, were married, raised families of children, and are now
widows, living in the same neighborhood, not more than five or six
miles apari. Two of them, Mrs. Shultz and Mrs. Snapp, reside
about one and a half miles from the residence of the author, and the
third, Mrs. Ery, is not exceeding six miles.
Miss Lloyd, who was "tomahawked and scalped," was soon dis¬
covered not to be dead. The late Dr. McDonald was sent for, who
trepanned her in the several fractures in her head. She recovered
100
History of The Valley
and lived many years after. There are several respectable individ¬
uals now living who knew this woman.*
The other party of eight Indians committed several murders on
Cedar Creek. It is probable this party killed a Mr. Lyle, a Mr.
Butler, and some others. Mr. Ellis Thomas, the husband of the
woman whose story has just been given, was killed the harvest pre¬
ceding. This party of eight Indians took off two female prisoners,
were pursued by a party of white men, overtaken in the South
Branch Mountain, and fired upon, when one of the Indians was
killed. The others fled, leaving their guns, prisoners and plunder, f
The prisoners and property were brought home. Two of the fugi¬
tives overtook the party in the Alleghany Mountain who had Mrs.
Clouser, her daughters, and other prisoners, in custody. The fugi¬
tives appeared in desperate ill-humor, and proposed to murder the
prisoners, but the others peremptorily objected, and, would not suffer
their prisoners to be injured.^
The same year, 1764, a party of eight Indians, with a white
man by the name of Abraham Mitchell, killed George Miller, his
wife and two children, within about two miles of Strasburg. They
also the same day killed John Dellinger, on the land now the resi¬
dence of Capt. Anthony Spengler, adjoining the town, and took
Rachel Dellinger, with her infant child, prisoners. It was a male
child, very stout, and heavy of its age. In crossing Sandy Ridge,
west of Capon River, this child had its brains beaten out against a
tree. A party of white men pursued them, overtook them in the
South Branch Mountain, fired upon them, and killed one, when the
others fled, leaving everything behind. Rachel Dellinger was brought
home, and stated that the unprincipled scoundrel Mitchell was with
the Indians. About twelve months before, Mitchell had been pun¬
ished for a petty act of theft, while the people were at BoAvman's
Fort. Miller and Dellinger inflicted the punishment. §
At the massacre of the people near White's Fort, one of Mrs.
Thomas' daughters, when the people were preparing to go to the fort,
was requested by Mrs. Clouser to take a bottle of milk in her hand
and carry it to the fort. When the Indians assailed them, this young
woman concealed herself behind a tree, and finally escaped. As soon
as she could run off without being discovered, she started and ran
eight or nine miles with the bottle of milk in her hand. She was
met by two of the Fawcetts, near their residence, informed them of
^General Smith, Maj. R. D. Glass, Miss Susan Glass, Mrs. Shultz, and Mrs. Snapp,
severally stated to the author that they frequently saw this woman after she recovered
from her wounds. Mrs. Shultz states that it was on the ñrst day of June the outrage
was committed.
tMoses Russell. Rso.
tMrs. Shultz and Mrs. Snann.
§ The late Mrs. Brinker related the particulars of these occurrences to the author.
Major Isaac Hite recollects when Miller and DelUnger were killed.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
101
what had happened, and they forthwith removed their families to
Stephen's Fort.*
A little son of Mrs. Thomas concealed himself under a pile of
flax, which the Indians set on fire. As the fire progressed, the little
fellow kept in a direction to avoid it, while the smpke concealed him
from the sight of the enemy, and he got safe to the fort.
Thomas Pugh resided at the time on the farm, late the residence
of Mr. John M'Cool, eight or nine miles northwest of Winchester.
The same party of Indians who committed the outrage near White's
Fort, on the night after were lurking about Mr. Pugh's house. Hi.s
dog gave the alarm; and from his singular behavior, and manifest.a-
tions of rage (as if he were engaged in a furious battle), Mr. Pugh
cautiously looked out of a window, and although it was rather a dark
night, he discovered several Indians looking over a cluster of briars,
hut a short distance from the house. He and his wife and children
immediately retreated through a hack door, and pushed off. They
had not gone far, when Pugh recollected his money ; he turned back,
got into the house, secured his money, took it with him, and saved
himself and family from injury. During the whole time Pugh and
his family were making their escape, the dog continued his uproar,
and as soon as they were out of danger followed them.f The
Indians broke into the house, robbed it of what they chose, and des¬
troyed the furniture, hut they did not burn the building. It is said
they burnt but comparatively few houses, because they expected to
reconquer the country, and return to inhabit it; in which event they
would have comfortable houses ready built to their hands; hence
they generally spared the buildings.
About the year 1765, the Indians made their appearance in the
neighborhood of Woodstock, in the county of Shenandoah. On
Harrow Passage Creek, eighteen or twenty women and children had
collected together, in order to go to the fort at Woodstock. An old
man by the name of George Sigler was with them. Five Indians
attacked them. Sigler, after firing and wounding one in the leg,
clubbed his gun and fought to desperation. While he was thus en¬
gaged, the women and children made their escape, and got safe to
the fort. Sigler broke his gun over the heads of the enemy, wounded
several of them pretty severely, and received himself several wounds,
but continued to fight until he fell from the loss of blood, when his
merciless enemies mangled his body in a manner shocking to hehold.J
In 1766 the Indians made another visit to the neighborhood of
Woodstock. Two men, by the name of Sheets and Taylor, had taken
their wives and children into a wagon, and were on their way to the
»
♦ Stephen's Fort was the spot where Zane's iron works were afterwards erected on
Cedar Creek. Mr. Elisha Fawcett, a near neighbor of the author, a highly respectable
and intelligent man, stated to the author that he had frequently heard his father and
uncle speak of this occurrence.
t Mr. Joseph Hackney informed the author that he had frequently heard Mr. Pugh
relate this occurrence. This is another instance of the extraordinary evidence of the
sagacity and affection of the dog, and is little inferior to the story of Mr. Wolfe's dog.
t Mr. Christian Miller, a very aged and intelligent man, gave the author this
narrative.
102
History of The Valley
fort. At the Harrow Passage, three miles south of Woodstock, five
Indians attacked them. The two men were killed at the first onset,
and the Indians rushed to seize the women and children. The women,
instead of swooning at the sight of their bleeding, expiring husbands,
seized their axes, and with Amazonian firmness, and strength almost
superhuman, defended themselves and children. One of the Indians
had succeeded in getting hold of one of Mrs. Sheets' children, and
attempted to drag it out of the wagon; but with the quickness of
lightning she caught her child in one hand, and with the other made
a blow at the head of the fellow, which caused him to quit his hold
to save his life. Several of the Indians received pretty sore wounds
in this desperate conflict, and all at last ran off, leaving the two
women with their children to pursue their way to the fort.
In the latter part of August, the same year, a party of eight
Indians and a worthless villain of a white man crossed Powell's Fort
Mountain, to the South Fork of the Shenandoah, at the late resi¬
dence of John Gatewood, Esq., where the Rev. John Roads, a Men-
nonist preacher of the Gospel, then lived. Mr. Roads, his wife, and
three of his sons, were murdered. Mr. Roads was standing in his
door when he was shot and fell dead. Mrs. Roads and one of her
sons were killed in the yard. One of the young men was at the
distance of about one hundred and fifty yards from the house, in a
cornfield. Hearing the report of the guns at the house, he ascended
a pear tree to see what it meant, where he was discovered by an Indian
and instantly killed. The third poor young lad attempted to save
himself by flight, and to cross the river, but was pursued and killed
in the river. The place is called the Bloody Ford to this day. The
enemy demanded of the youth who was killed in the yard, where
his father kept his money; and was told that if he did not immediately
point out the place, they would kill him ; but if he would show them
the money, his life would be spared. On his declaring he could not
tell them, he was instantly shot and fell dead. Mr. Roads' eldest
daughter, Elizabeth, caught up her little sister, a child about sixteen
or eighteen months old, ran into the barn, and secured the door.
An Indian discovered and pursued her, and attempted to force open
the door ; but not succeeding, he vdth many oaths and threats ordered
her to open it. On her refusing, the fellow ran back to the house
to get fire, and while he was gone, Elizabeth crept out of a hole on
the opposite side of the barn, with her little sister in her arms, ran
through a field of tall hemp, crossed the river, and got safe to a
neighboring house, and thus saved herself and sister.
After plundering the house of such articles as they chose to take,
the Indians set fire to all the buildings, and left the dead body of
Mr. Roads to be consumed in the flames.* They then moved off.
♦Mrs. Stover, the mother of Daniel Stover, Esq., now of Page county, stated to
the author that she was then about ñfteen years old, and distinctly saw the houses in
flames from her father's residence, about two miles off, on the opposite side of the river ;
and the next day the neighboring people collecting to bury the dead, found Mr. Roads'
body about half consumed.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
103
taking with them two of the sons and two of the daughters prisoners.
The youngest prisoner was a weak, sickly little boy, eight or nine
years of age ; he of course was not able to stand the fatigue of travel¬
ing, and crossing the head of Powell's Fort, they killed him. His
two sisters then refusing to go any farther with them, were barbar¬
ously murdered, and their bodies left a prey to wolves and other wild
beasts. The other boy was taken off and remained about three years
in captivity before he returned home. It was generally believed at
the time that the white scoundrel who was with the Indians induced
them to commit this horrid murder, in order to rob Mr. Eoads of
his money; hut he missed his object. Mr. Roads kept his money
and title papers in a niche in the cellar wall, the dampness and
coolness of which preserved them from injury. They were all found
safe.
It was quite a common thing with the Germans to have garners
fixed in their garrets to preserve their grain. There was a quantity
of rye aloft in the dwelling house, which was burnt to coal, and as
the floors gave way to the flames, the rye fell in a considerable body
into the cellar. At any time upon digging in the ruins of the cellar,
the grains of rye, or rather coal, can he found ; the shape of the
grain being as perfect as when in its natural state.
With this bloody tragedy ended the irruptions of the savages
upon the people of the Valley. This was the last great outrage of
savage warfare committed east of the North Mountain.
There are several other interesting occurrences which the author
overlooked and omitted to record in due order of time. They are of
a character too interesting to be lost in the history of our country.
He will therefore proceed to relate them.
About the year 1760, two Indians were discovered lurking in
the neighborhood of Mill Creek. Matthias Painter, John Painter
and William Moore armed themselves and went in pursuit. They
had not proceeded far, before they approached a large fallen pine,
with a very bushy top. As they neared the tree, Matthias Painter
observed, "We had better look sharp; it is quite likely the Indians
are concealed under the tops of this tree." He had scarcely uttered
the words before one of the Indians rose up and fired. The ball
grazed the temple of John Painter. Moore and Painter fired at the
same instant; one of their balls passed through the Indian's body,
and he fell, they supposed dead enough. The other fellow fled,
leaving his gun and everything else behind. The white men pursued
him some distance, but the fugitive was too fleet for them. Finding
they could not overhaul him, they gave up the chase and returned
to the pine,tree ; but to their astonishment, the supposed dead Indian
had moved off with both guns and a large pack of skins, &c. They
pursued his trail, and when he found they were gaining upon him,
he got into a sink hole, and as soon as they approached pretty near,
commenced firing at them. He had poured out a quantity of powder
on dry leaves, filled his mouth with bullets, and using a musket which
104
History of The Valley
was a self primer, he was enabled to load with astonishing quickness.
He thus fired at least thirty times before they could get a chance to
dispatch him. At last Mr. Moore got an opportunity and shot him
through the head. Moore and Painter had many disputes which
gave the fellow the first wound. Painter at length yielded, and
Moore got the premium allowed by law for Indian scalps.*
The fugitive who made his escape, unfortunately met with a
young woman on horseback, named Seehon, whom he tore from her
horse, and forced off with him. This occurred near the present site
of K^ew Market, in the county of Shenandoah. After traveling about
twenty miles, chiefly in the night, and getting nearly opposite Keisle-
town, in the county of Eockingham, it is supposed the poor girl
broke down from fatigue, and the savage monster heat her to death
with a heavy pine knot. Her screams were heard by some people
that lived upwards of a mile from the scene of horror, and who next
day on going to the place to ascertain the cause, found her stripped
naked, and weltering in her blood, f
At the attack on George Miller's family, the persons killed were
a short distance from the house, spreading flax in a meadow. One
of Miller's little daughters was sick in bed. Hearing the firing, she
jumped up, and looking through a window and seeing what was
done, immediately passed out a back window, and ran about two
or three miles down to the present residence of David Stickley, Esq.,
and from thence to Geo. Bowman's, on Cedar Creek, giving notice
at each place. Col. Abraham Bowman, of Kentucky, then a lad of
sixteen or seventeen, had hut a few minutes before passed close by
Miller's door, and at first doubted the little girl's statement. He,
however, armed himself, mounted his horse, and in riding to the
scene of action, was joined by several others who had turned out for
the same purpose, and soon found the information of the little girl
too fatally true.
The late Mr. Thomas Xewell, of Shenandoah county, informed
the author that he was then a young man. His father^s residence
was about one mile from Miller's house, and hearing the firing he
instantly took his rifle, and ran to see what it meant. When he
arrived at the spot, he found Miller, his wife, and two children,
weltering in their blood, and still bleeding. He was the first person
who arrived; and in a few minutes Bowman and several others
joined him. Erom the scene of the murder they went to the house,
and on the sill of the door lay a large folio German Bible, on which
a fresh killed cat was thrown. On taking up the Bible it was dis¬
covered that fire had been placed in it ; hut after burning through a
few leaves, the weight of that part of the book which lay uppermost.
*Mr. Georee Painter communicated this adventure to the author,
t Mrs. Brenaman, an aged and respectable old lady near Pennybacker's iron works,
gave the author this information.
Indian Incursions and Massacres
105
together with the weight of the cat, had so compressed the leaves as
to smother and extinguish the fire.*
In the year 1768, Capt. William White, a brave and active Indian
fighter, made a visit to Col. William Crawford, who had removed
and settled at the Meadows, in the Alleghany Mountains. White
lived on Cedar Creek, and Crawford had lived on Bull-skin. They
had been out together on Indian expeditions; of course were well
acquainted. Crawford had an Irish servant, a pretty stout and
active man, who was permitted to accompany White on an hunting
excursion. They had not been out long when they discovered two
Indians in the glades. The latter, the moment they discovered the
two white men, flew behind trees, and prepared for battle. White
and his Irishman, however, soon outgeneraled them, and killed them
both. They were soon after apprehended, and committed to Win¬
chester jail on a charge of murder. But White had rendered his
neighbors too many important services, and was too popular to he
permitted to languish loaded with irons in a dungeon for killing
Indians. Although the Indian hostilities had entirely ceased, too
many individuals were smarting under a recollection of the outrages
they had but recently experienced at the hands of their merciless,
savage and implacable foe, soon after White and his partner in the
charge were committed to jail. Capt. Abraham Fry raised a party
of fifty-five or sixty volunteers, well armed and mounted, to effect
their rescue. They dismounted near the present, site of Mr. Isaac
Hollingsworth's dwelling-house, where they left their horses under a
guard of a few men, and marched into Winche.ster about daybreak
next morning. They repaired directly to the jail door, knocked up
the jailer, and demanded the keys. The jailer hesitated, and at¬
tempted to remonstrate. Fry presented his rifle, cocked it, and
peremptorily demanded the keys, telling the jailer he would be a dead
man in one minute if he did not deliver them. The jailer quailed
under the fiery countenance and stern menaces of Fry, and complied.
Fry placed a guard at the door, went in, knocked off their irons, and
took the prisoners out. The late Robert Rutherford attempted to
harangue the mob upon the impropriety and danger of their proceed¬
ings ; but he might as well have addressed himself to so many lions
and tigers. As Fry's party marched into town, it created consider¬
able alarm and excitement. The women, half dressed, were seen
running from house to house and calling out, "Well done, brave
fellows, good luck to you brave boys." This cheering of Fry's party
at once convinced them the public sympathy and good feeling were
on their side. The prisoners were taken off and set at liberty. Capt.
White afterwards distinguished himself at the bloody battle of the
Point, under Col. Sevier.
* This Bible is now in the possession of Mr. George Miller of Shenandoah county,
about one-half a mile south of Zane's old iron works. The author saw and examined
it. The fire had been placed about the center of the Second Book of Samuel, burnt
through fourteen leaves, and entirely out at one end. It is preserved in the Miller
family, as a sacred relic or memento of the sacrifice of their ancestors.!
t Fourth Edition Note—^The scorched Bible is still in existence.
106
History of The Valley
The author had heard something of this story more than forty
years ago. The late Capt. James Wilson, of the neighborhood of
Stephenshurg, had stated some of the particulars, hut not sufficiently
connected to give to the world. The author was therefore apprehen¬
sive that he would not be able, at this late period, to collect the facts.
Whilst engaged in obtaining materials for this work, he called on the
late Thomas Hewell, of Shenandoah county, and among other things
inquired of him whether he had any knowledge or recollection of the
affair. This venerable man, then ninety-three years of age, in his
second childhood, and his recollection of recent events entirely gone,
the moment the inquiry was made, with much animation and a cheer¬
ful countenance, replied, "Yes, my friend, I reckon I can tell you,
when I was one of the very hoys." The author then asked the old
gentlemen whether he would have any objection to his name being
given as authority, and as one of Fry's party. He replied with equal
animation and emphasis, "Ho, my friend, I always gloried in what
I did." Moses Russell, Esq., informed the author that his two elder
brothers were of Fry's party, and that if he had been old enough, he
would, doubtless, have been among them. But he had more than once
heard one of his brothers speak of this occurrence with great regret,
and lament the part he had taken in it. General Smith recollects
hearing much said on this subject soon after he came to Winchester
to live. To say the least of it, it was a dangerous precedent in a
civilized society. There is another individual, now living in the
neighborhood of the author's residence, who was of Fry's party, and
is now about eighty years of age, who was an active and useful char¬
acter in the war of the Revolution, and from him the author obtained
many particulars of this occurrence, but as he never formally author¬
ized the use of his name publicly, it is withheld. It was from the
information of this indiviual that the author was enabled to find the
year when this important occurrence took place.
After the most diligent inquiry, the author could not ascertain
whether the murder of these two Indians was followed by any acts
of retaliation on the part of the savages.
The same year (1768) a worthless character by the name of
John Price committed a most wanton and unprovoked murder on
the body of a popular young Indian chief. Price had resided several
years in the Hawksbill settlement. He went out to the Indian coun¬
try under the character of an Indian trader, and soon formed an
acquaintance with this young war chief. Price was an expert
marksman and experienced hunter, and soon acquired the confidence
and attachment of the young warrior. They frequently took hunting
excursions; in the last of which, having wandered a considerable
distance from the Indian habitations. Price shot the young man dead,
robbed him of his rifle, a few silver ornaments and hunting dress,
and left him lying in the wilderness ; then pushed home, boasting of
what he had done, and showed his ill-gotten booty.
A few days after Price's return home, Lewis Bingaman, who
was taken prisoner when a boy, and who grew up and became a dis-
Indian Incuesions and Massacres
107
tinguished man (which has heen heretofore noticed), came in at the
head of thirty warriors in pursuit of Price. He made himself
known to Frederick Oft'enherger, and told what Price had done; said
that he would go to Price, and propose to take a hunt ; that his war¬
riors were concealed in the Massinutten Mountain ; and if he suc¬
ceeded in decoying Price into their hands, they would be perfectly
satisfied, and do no injury to any other person; but if they did not
succeed in getting Price, they would revenge the death of their young
chief upon the first white persons they could find, and the lives of
many innocent women and children would he sacrificed to appease
their vengeance. OflFenberger kept Bingaman's communication to
himself, believing that Price deserved punishment. He was accord-
decoyed into the hands of thirty warriors, and never heard
from afterwards; of course he expiated his hase and treacherous
murder of the young Indian, by the most lingering and painful death
which savage ingenuity could devise.
Tradition relates a story of Mr. Hogeland, who on a certain
occasion killed an Indian in the following manner. Hogeland went
out in the evening from Furman's Fort, in pursuit of the milch cows.
He heard the bell in a deep glen, and from its peculiar sound, sus¬
pected some stratagem. Instead of pursuing the hollow therefore,
he took up a high ridge, and passed the spot where the hell was ring¬
ing; then cautiously descending the hollow, he discovered an Indian
with the hell (which he had taken from the cow), suspended to a
small sapling, which he shook gently to keep the bell in motion.
Whilst the savage was thus engaged with a view to decoy the owner
within the reach of his rifle, Hogeland took deliberate aim at him,
and shot him through the body; upon which another Indian started
up, ran, and got off. Thus this wily savage fell into the snare he
believed he had adroitly prepared for killing the owner of the cattle.*
The author has heard another version of this story. It is said
there was a young man vrith Hogeland; and when the Indian was
seen with the bell, Hogeland at the same instant discovered the other
Indian standing at a tree, with his gun raised ready to fire at who¬
ever should come for the cows. Hogeland pointed him out to the
young man, and observed, "How take deliberate aim, whilst I take
the fellow with the hell." Thev both fired and both Indians fell
dead."t
Thus ends the author's narrative of the many important occur¬
rences and great events from the commencement of Indian hostilities,
in the year 1754, until their final termination in 1766,J a period of
twelve years.
From the termination of hostilities in 1766, until the com¬
mencement ^f Dunmore's war in 1774, the people of the Valley en¬
joyed uninterrupted peace and tranquility, and the country settled
*Samuel Kercheval» Jr., of Romney, related this tradition to the author.
tWilliam Naylor, Esq., gave the author this version of the story.
t Fourth Edition Note—1764, not 1766.
108
History of The Valley
and increased with great rapidity. Several families of distinction
removed from the lower country and settled in the Valley. The
ancestors of the Washingtons, Willises, Throckmortons and V^itings,
severally settled in the neighborhood of Long Mar.sh and Bull-skin.
The author did not find it convenient to obtain the several
treaties made with the Indian tribes during the period from the
commencement of Braddock's war until the final termination of
hostilities. Hor does he consider it to he very material, as those
treaties were no sooner made than broken. Should this be deemed
a material defect, he will endeavor to supply it in another edition.
The commencement and termination of Dunmore's war will form
the subject of the next chapter.
CHAPTEK X
Dünmore's War "With The Indians
In the year 1773, the Indians killed two white men on the
Hockhocking Eiver, to-wit, John Martin and Guy Heeks (Indian
traders), and robbed them of about 200 pounds worth of goods.
About the 1st of May, 1774, they killed two other men in a canoe on
the Ohio River, and rohhed the canoe of its contents.* There were
other similar occurrences, which left no doubt upon the minds of the
western people that the savages had determined to make war upon
them; and of course acts of retaliation were resorted to on the pait
of the whites, t
The late Col. Angus McDonald, near Winchester, and several
other individuals, went out in the spring of 1774, to survey the mili¬
tary bounty lands, lying on the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers, allowed
by the King's proclamation to the officers and soldiers of the army,
for their services in a preceding war with the Indians, but were
driven off.
Col. McDonald forthwith waited on Gov. Dunmore in person,
and gave him an account of the hostile disposition of the Indians.
The governor authorized him to raise a regiment of four hundred
men, and immediately proceed to punish the enemy. He soon suc¬
ceeded in raising his little army and in the month of June marched
into the Indian country, destroyed several of their villages, cut off
their com, and returned. He had two or three running fights with
the Indians, but there was little blood shed on either side.
This act of war produced a general combination of the various
nations northwest of the Ohio; and hence arose the necessity of
speedily raising a powerful army to save the western people from
being entirely cut off, or driven from their habitations.
Lord Dunmore issued his order to Col. A. Lewis, of Augusta
county, to raise a body of one thousand men, and immediately pro¬
ceed to the Ohio River, where he (Dunmore) would join him with
an equal number, to be raised in the northern counties of Virginia.
Dunmore very soon raised the requisite number of men, principally
volunteers from the counties of Berkeley, Hampshire, Frederick and
Shenandoah. I Capt. Daniel Cresap went to South Carolina, and
brought in one hundred and twenty Catawba Indian warriors at his
own expense and responsibility, which he intended employing against
the western enemy. He soon after marched at the head of this band
of warriors,* with the addition of sixteen white volunteers, with the
design of breaking up and destroying the Moravian Indian towns on
*Mr. Jacob's Life of Cresao.
t Fourth Edition Note—Kercheval tries to throw the blame for the Dunmore war
wholly on the Indians. The attitude of the latter was not faultless, yet it is now known
that the mihjonduct was mainly on the side of the whites.
t General John Smith.
110
History of The Valley
Cheat River.* These people professed Christianity and neutrality in
the war then going on between the red and white people. But they
were charged hy the white people with secretly aiding and abetting
the hostile Indians; hence Cresap's determination to break up their
settlements and drive them off. In crossing the Alleghany seven
Indians under the guise of friendship, fell in with Cresap's party
and in the most treacherous manner contrived to kill seven of the
white volunteers, and then fled. They were instantly pursued by
the Catawbas, and two of them taken prisoners and delivered up to
Cresap, who, after reproaching them with their base treachery,
discharged them, and retreated into the settlement with his Indians
and remaining white volunteers. The Catawba Indians soon after
left Cresap and returned to their nation. The late Generals, Daniel
Morgan and James Wood, were captains in Dunmore's campaign,
each of whom had served under Mcllonald as captains the preceding
spring, t
For further particulars of this war, the author will give copious
extracts from Mr. Doddridge's "Hotes on the Wars West of the
Alleghany," and from Mr. Jacob's "Life of Cresap." These two
authors have detailed the causes which led to this disastrous and
destructive war, and are directly at issue on some of the most import¬
ant particulars. In this controversy the author of this work will not
partake so far as to express an opinion which of these two divines
have truth on their side; hut he considers it is his duty, as an im¬
partial and faithful historian, to give both these reverend gentlemen's
accounts, at full length, of the original eause and consequences of
this war.
It appears, however evident, that the late Capt. Michael Cresap
has had injustice done to his character, both hy Mr. Jefferson and
Mr. Doddridge. Mr. Jefferson in his "Hotes on Virginia," charges
Cresap with being "infamous for his many Indian murders and mur¬
dering Logan's family in cold blood." Mr. Doddridge repeats the
charge of the murder of Logan's family, and adds the further charge
"that Cresap was the cause of Dunmore's war." How far these
charges are refuted hy Mr. Jacob, an impartial world will determine.
It is to be regretted that Mr. Jacob's vindication of the character
of his friend Cresap cannot have a circulation co-extensive with Mr.
Jefferson's charges against him. The celebrity of Mr. Jefferson's
character, together with the beautiful specimen of Indian oratory in
the Logan speech, has probably caused his work to be circulated and
read all over the civilized world.
The author will only add that he has obtained permission from
the proprietors of those works to use them as he deems proper. The
Hon. Philip Doddridge, shortly before his death, in a letter to the
author, stated that he considered there would be no impropriety in
♦ Fourth Edition Note—Muskingum, not Cheat.
t Mr. John Tomlinson related the particulars of these occurrences to the author,
and added that he himself was one of Cresap's party, and that he was then a youth of
seventeen or eighteen years of age.
Dunmoee's Wae With The Indians
111
appending any part of his brother's book to this publication ; and Mr.
Jacob in the most liberal and unqualified terms, permits him to ap¬
pend the whole, or any part of bis "Life of Cresap."
Rev. Me. Doddeidge's Account of Dunmoee's Wae
After the conclusion of the Indian wars, by the treaty made
with the chiefs by Sir William Johnson at the German flats, in the
latter part of 1764, the western settlements enjoyed peace until the
spring of 1774.
During this period of time, the settlements increased with great
rapidity along the whole extent of the western frontier. Even the
shores of the Ohio, on the Virginia side, bad a considerable popula¬
tion as early as the year 1774.
Devoutly might humanity wish that the record of the causes
which led to the destructive war of 1774, might be blotted from the
annals of our country. But it is now too late to efface it ; the "black-
lettered list" must remain, a dishonorable blot in our national history.
Good however may spring out of evil. The injuries inflicted upon
the Indians, in early times by our forefathers, may induce their
descendants to show justice and mercy to the diminished posterity
of those children of the wilderness, whose ancestors perished, in cold
blood, under the tomahawk and scalping knife of the white savage.
In the month of April, 1774, a rumor was circulated that the
Indians had stolen several horses from some land jobbers on the Ohio
and Kanawha Rivers. Ko evidences of the facts having been ad¬
duced, led to the conclusion that the report was false. This report,
however, induced a pretty general belief that the Indians were about
to make war upon the frontier settlements, but for this apprehension
there does not appear to have been the slightest foundation.
In consequence of this apprehension of being attacked by the
Indians, the land jobbers ascended the river, and collected in l^eel-
ing. On the 27th of April, it was reported in Wheeling that a canoe
containing two Indians and some traders, were coming down the
river, and then not far from the place. On hearing this, the com¬
mandant of the station, Capt. Cresap, proposed to go up the river
and kill the Indians. This project was vehemently opposed by Col.
Zane, the proprietor of the place. He stated to the captain that the
killing of those Indians would inevitably bring on a war, in which
much innocent blood would he shed, and that the act in itself would
be an atrocious murder, and a disgrace to his name forever. His
good counsel was lost. The party went up the river. On being asked,
at their r«tum, what had become of the Indians, they cooly ans¬
wered that "they had fallen overboard into the river !" Their canoe,
on being examined, was found bloody, and pierced with bullets.
This was the first blood which was shed in this war, and terrible was
the vengeance which followed.
In the evening of the same day, the party, hearing that there
was an encampment of Indians at the mouth of the Captina, went
112
History of The Valley
down the river to the place, attacked the Indians and killed several
of them. In this affair one of Cresap's party was severely wounded.
The massacre at Captina, and that which took place at Baker's,
about forty miles above Wheeling, after that at Captina, were un¬
questionably the sole causes of the war of 1774. The last was perpe¬
trated by thirty-two men, under the command of Daniel Greathouse.
The whole number killed at this place, and on the river opposite to
it, was twelve, besides several wounded. This horrid massacre was
effected by an hypocritical stratagem, which reflects the deepest dis¬
honor on the memory of those who were agents in it.
The report of the murders committed on the Indians near
Wheeling, induced a belief that they would immediately commence
hostilities; and this apprehension furnished the pretext for the mur¬
der above related. The ostensible object for raising the party under
Greathouse, was that of defending the family of Baker, whose house
was opposite to a large encampment of Indians, at the mouth of the
Big Yellow Creek. The party were concealed in ambuscade, while
their commander went over the river, under the mask of friendship,
to the Indian camp, to ascertain their number. While there an
Indian woman advised him to return home speedily, saying that the
Indians were drinking and angry on account of the murder of their
people down the river, and might do him some mischief. On his
return to the party, he reported that the Indians were too strong for
an open attack. He returned to Baker's, and requested him to give
any Indians who might come over, in the course of the day, as much
rum as they might call for, and get as many of them drunk as he
possibly could. The plan succeeded. Several Indian men and
women came over the river to Baker's, who had previously been in
the habit of selling rum to the Indians. The men drank freely, and
became intoxicated. In this state they were all killed by Greathouse
and a few of his party. I say a few of his party ; for it is but justice
to state that not more than five or six of the whole number had any
participation in the slaughter at the house. The rest protested
against it as an atrocious murder. From their number, being by far
the majority, they might have prevented the deed ; but alas ! they did
not. A little Indian girl alone was saved from the slaughter, by the
humanity of some of the party, whose name is not now known.
The Indians in the camp, hearing the firing at the house, sent a
canoe with two men in it to inquire what had happened. These two
Indians were both shot down as soon as they landed on the beach. A
second and larger canoe was then manned with a number of Indians
in arms; but in attempting to reach the shore, some distance below
the house, they were received by a well directed fire from the party,
which killed the greater number of them, and compelled the survivors
to return. A great number of shots were exchanged across the river
but without damage to the white party, none of whom were even
wounded. The Indian men who were murdered were all scalped.
Dunmoee's Wae With The Indians
113
The woman who gave the friendly advice to the commander of
the party when in the Indian camp was amongst the slain at Baker's
house.
The massacres of the Indians at Captina and Yellow Creek,
comprehended the whole of the family of the famous but unfortunate
Logan, who before these events had been a lover of the whites, a
strenuous advocate for peace; but in the conflict which followed them,
by way of revenge for the death of his people, he became a brave and
sanguinary chief among the warriors.
The settlers along the frontiers, knowing that the Indians would
make war upon them for the murder of their people, either moved
off to the interior, or took up their residences in forts. The appre¬
hension of war was soon realized. In a short time the Indians com¬
menced hostilities along the whole extent of our frontier.
Express was speedily sent to Williamsburg, the then seat of
government of the colony of Virginia, communicating intelligence of
the certainty of the commencement of an Indian war. The Assembly
was then in session.
A plan for a campaign, for the purpose of putting a speedy con¬
clusion to the Indian hostilities, was adopted between the Earl of
Dunmore, governor of the colony, and Gen. Lewis, of Botetourt
county.* General Lewis was appointed to the command of the south-
em division of the forces to he employed on this occasion, with orders
to raise a large body of volunteers, and drafts from the southeastern
counties of the colony with all dispatch. These forces were to
rendezvous at Camp Union, in the Greenbrier county. The Earl of
Dunmore was to raise another army in the northern counties of the
colony, and in the settlements west of the mountains, and assemble
them at Fort Pitt, and from thence descend the river to Point Pleas¬
ant, at the mouth of the great Kanawha, the place appointed for the
junction of the two armies, for the purpose of invading the Indian
country and destroying as many of their villages as they could reach
in the course of the season.
On the 11th of September, the forces under Gen. Lewis, amount¬
ing to eleven hundred men, commenced their march from Camp
Union to Point Pleasant, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles.
The space of country between these two points was at that time a
trackless desert. Captain Matthew Arbuckle, the pilot, conducted
the army by »the nearest and best route to their place of destination, f
The flour and ammunition were wholly transported on pack horses.
• Fourth Edition Note—Lewis did not become a general until 1775. He was a col¬
onel at this time.
t Fourth Edition Note—Ten years earlier Arbuckle took a load of furs down the
Kanawha.
114
History of The Valley
as the route was impassable for wheel carriages. After a painful
march of nineteen days, the army arrived, on the 1st of October, at
Point Pleasant,* where an encampment was made.
Gen. Lewis was exceedingly disappointed at hearing no tidings
of the Earl of Dunmore, who according to previous arrangements,
was to form a junction with him at this place. He immediately dis¬
patched some scouts, to go by land in the direction of Fort Pitt,
to obtain intelligence of the route which the Earl had taken, and
then return with the utmost dispatch. On the 9th, three men, who
had formerly been Indian traders, arrived in the camp, on express
from the Earl, to inform Lewis that he had changed his plan of
operations, and intended to march to the Indian towns by the way
of Hockhocking, and directing Gen. Lewis to commence his march
immediately for the old Chillicothe towns.
Very early in the morning of the 10th, two young men set out
from the camp to hunt up the river. Having gone about three
miles, they fell upon a camp of the Indians, who were then in the
act of preparing to march to attack the camp of Gen. Lewis. The
Indians fired on them and killed one of them ; the other ran back to
the camp with the intelligence that the Indians, in great force, would
immediately give battle.
Gen. Lewis immediately ordered out a detachment of the Bote¬
tourt troops under Col. Fleming, and another of the Augusta troops
under Col. Charles Lewis, remaining himself with the reserve for
the defense of the camp. The detachment marched out in two lines,
and met the Indians in the same order about four hundred yards
from the camp. The battle commenced a little after sunrise, by a
heavy firing from the Indians. At the onset our troops gave back
some distance, until met by reinforcement, on the arrival of which
the Indians retreated a little way and formed a line behind logs and
*0f the battle of the Point, the author has obtained some further particulars,
which may not be uninteresting to the reader. He saw and conversed with three
individuals who participated in that desperate struggle, viz : Joseph Mays, Andrew
Reed and James Ellison. The two first named informed the author that Col. Lewis
ordered out a body of three hundred men to meet and disperse the Indians as they were
approaching his encampment. The detachment was overpowered by the numerical
force of the Indians, not less than a thousand strong ; the whites, contending, however,
for every inch of ground in their retreat. They were driven back several hundred yards,
when Col. Lewis ordered forward a second detachment of three hundred men, who rushed
forward with impetuosity to the relief of the first, which movement at once checked
the savages, and partially changed the aspect of the fight. Col. Chas. Lewis, who had
arrayed himself in a gorgeous scarlet waistcoat, against the advice of his friends,
thus rendering himself a conspicuous mark for the Indians, was mortally wounded
early in the action ; yet was able to walk back after receiving the wound, into his own
tent, where he expired. He was met on his way by the commander-in-chief, his brother.
Col. Andrew Lewis, who remarked to him, "I expected something fatal would befall you,"
to which the wounded officer calmly replied, *Tt is the fate of war." About two o'clock
Col. Christie t arrived in the field at the head of five hundred men—the battle still raging
—a reinforcement which decided the issue almost immediately. The Indians fell back
about two miles, obstinately fighting the whole distance ; and such was the persevering
spirit of the savages, though they were fairly beaten, that the contest was not entirely
closed till the setting of the sun, when they relinauished the field. Shortly after the
battle, several traders with the Indians, regarded as neutral in war, called at the
Point, and informed Captain Arbuckle, commandant of the station, that there were pot
less than twelve hundred Indians in this memorable action. Cornstalk, confident of
success, had placed a body of some two hundred Indians on the opposite bank of the
Kanawha, to cut off the retreat of the whites ; and that the loss of the Indians in killed
and wounded was not short of three hundred men.
t Fourth Edition Note—Christian, not Christie.
Dunmore's Wae With The Indians
115
trees, reaching from the bank of the Ohio to that of the Kanawha.
By this manoeuver, our army and camp were completely invested,
being enclosed between two rivers, with the Indian line of battle
in front, so that no chance of retreat was left. An incessant fire
was kept up on both sides, with hut little change of position until
sundown, when the Indians retreated, and in the night recrossed the
Ohio, and the next day commenced their march to their towns on
the Scioto.
Our loss in this destructive battle was seventy-five killed, and
one hundred and forty wounded. Among the killed were Col. Chas.
Lewis, Col. Fields, Captains Buford, Murray, Ward, Wilson and
McClenachan ; Lieutenants Allen, Goldsby and Dillon, and several
subaltern officers.
Col. Lewis, a distinguished and meritorious officer, was mortally
wounded by the first fire of the Indians, hut walked into the camp
and expired in his own tent.
The number of Indians engaged in the battle of the Point was
never ascertained, nor yet the amount of their loss.* On the morning
after the engagement, twenty-one were found on the battleground,
and twelve more were afterwards found in the different places where
they had been concealed. A great number of their dead were said
to have been thrown into the river during the engagement. Consid¬
ering that the whole number of our men engaged in the confiict were
riflemen, and from habit sharpshooters of the first order, it is presum¬
able that the loss on the side of the Indians was at least equal to ours.
The Indians during the battle were commanded by the Corn¬
stalk warrior, the king of the Shawnees. This son of the forest, in
his plans of attack and retreat, and in all his manœuvers throughout
the engagement, displayed the skill and bravery of the consummate
general. During the whole of the day, he was heard from our lines,
vociferating, with the voice of a stentor, "Be strong ! Be strong !" It
is even said that he killed one of his men with his own hand for
cowardice.
The day following the battle, after burying the dead, entrench¬
ments were thrown up around the camp, and a competent guard were
appointed for the care and protection of the sick and wounded. On
the succeeding day Gen. Lewis commenced his march for the Shaw¬
nee towns on the Scioto. This march was made through a trackless
desert, and attended with almost insuperable difficulties and priva¬
tions, f
In the meantime the Earl of Dunmore, having collected a force
and provided, boats at Fort Pitt, descended the river to Wheeling,
where the army halted for a few days, and then proceeded down the
♦ Fourth Edition Note—In nearly all the engagements of this period a large pro¬
portion of the casualties were fatal. It is certain that the Indians suffered much less
severely than the whites. The only chief killed was Pushwatawa, the father of Tecum-
seh. The number of warriors present is believed to have been about 800, and their
loss about 100.
t Fourth Edition Note—This is a gross exaggeration. Ohio was not a desert, and
there were many good paths through its forests.
116
History of The Valley
river in about one hundred canoes, a few keel boats and perouges,
to the mouth of the Hockhocking, and from thence overland until
the army had got within eight miles of the Shawnee town Chilli-
cothe on the Scioto River. Here the army halted, and made a breast¬
work of fallen trees and entrenchments of such extent as to include
about twelve acres of ground, with an enclosure in the center con¬
taining about one acre, surrounded by entrenchments. This was the
citadel which contained the markees of the Earl and his superior
officers.
Before the army had reached that place, the Indian chiefs had
sent several messengers to the Earl asking peace. With this request
he soon determined to comply, and therefore sent an express to Gen.
Lewis with an order for his immediate retreat. This order Gen.
Lewis disregarded, and continued his march until his lordship in
person visited his camp, was formally introduced to his officers, and
gave the order in person. The army of Gen. Lewis then commenced
their retreat.
It was with the greatest reluctance and chagrin that the troops
of Gen. Lewis returned from the enterprise in which they were en¬
gaged. The massacres of their relatives and friends at the Big
Levels and Muddy Creek, and above all their recent loss at the battle
of the Point, had inspired these "Big-knives," as the Indians called
the Virginians, with an inveterate thirst for revenge, the gratifica¬
tion of which they supposed was shortly to take place in the total
destruction of the Indians and their towns along the Scioto and
Sandusky Rivers. The order of Dunmore was obeyed, but with
every expression of regret and disappointment.
The Earl with his officers, having returned to the camp, a treaty
with the Indians was opened the following day.
In this treaty, every precaution was used on the part of our
people to prevent the Indians from ending a treaty in the tragedy of a
massacre. Only eighteen Indians, with their chiefs, were permitted
to pass the outer gate of their fortified encampment, after having
deposited their arms with the guard at the gate.
The treaty was opened by Cornstalk, the war chief of the Shaw-
nees, in a lengthy speech, in which he boldly charged the white people
■with having heen the authors of the commencement of the war, in
the massacres of the Indians at Captina and Yellow Creek. This
speech he delivered in so loud a tone of voice, that he was heard all
over the camp. The terms of the treaty were soon settled and the
prisoners delivered up.
Logan, the Cayuga chief, assented to the treaty; but still in¬
dignant at the murder of his family, he refused to attend -with the
other chiefs at the camp of Dunmore. According to the Indian mode
in such cases, he sent his speech in a belt of wampum by an inter¬
preter, to be read at the treaty.
Supposing that this work may fall in the hands of some readers
who have not seen the speech of Logan, the author thinks it not
gmiss to insert the celebrated morsel of Indian eloquence in this place,
Dunmoke's Wae With The Indians
117
with the observation that the authenticity of the speech is no longer a
subject of doubt. The speech is as follows:
"I appeal to any white man to say, if he ever entered Logan's
cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if he ever came cold and
naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long
and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for
peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed
as they passed, and said, 'Logan is the friend of the white men.' I
had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one
man. Col. Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked,
murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women
and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of
any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought
it; I have killed many; I have fully glutted my vengeance; for my
country I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought
that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not
turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan ?
Not one."
Thus ended, at the treaty of Camp Charlotte, in the month of
November, 1774, the disastrous war of Dunmore. It began in the
wanton and unprovoked murders of the Indians at Captina and Yel¬
low Creek, and ended in an awful sacrifice of life and property to
the demon of revenge. On our part we obtained at the treaty a
cessation of hostilities and a surrender of prisoners, and nothing more.
The plan of operations adopted by the Indians in the war of
Dunmore, shows very clearly that their chiefs were by no means
deficient in the foresight and skill necessary for making the most
prudent military arrangements for obtaining success and victory in
their mode of warfare. At an early period they obtained intelligence
of the plan of the campaign against them, concerted between the
Earl of Dunmore and Gen. Lewis. With a view, therefore, to attack
the forces of these commanders separately, they speedily collected
their warriors, and by forced marches reached the Point before the
expected arrival of the troops under Dunmore. Such was the privacy
with which they conducted their march to Point Pleasant, that Gen.
Lewis knew nothing of the approach of the Indian army until a few
minutes before the commencement of the battle, and it is very prob¬
able, that if Cornstalk, the Indian commander, had had a little larger
force at the battle of the Point, the whole army of Gen. Lewis would
have been cut off, as the wary savage had left them no chance of
retreat. Had the army of Lewis been defeated, the army of Dun¬
more, consisting of a little more than one thousand men, would have
shared the fate of those armies which at different periods have suf¬
fered defeats in consequence of venturing too far into the Indian
country, in numbers too small, and with munitions of war inadequate
to sustain a contest with the united forces of a number of Indian
nations.
It was the general belief among the officers of our army, at the
time, that the Earl of Dunmore, while at Wheeling, received advice
118
Histoey of The Valley
from his government of the probahility of the approaching war be¬
tween England and the colonies, and that afterwards, all his meas¬
ures, with regard to the Indians, had for their ultimate object an
alliance with those ferocious warriors for the aid of the mother coun¬
try in their contest with us. This supposition accounts for his not
forming a junction with the army of Lewis at Point Pleasant. This
deviation from the original plan of the campaign jeopardized the
army of Lewis and well nigh occasioned its total destruction. The
conduct of the Earl at the treaty shows a good understanding between
him and the Indian chiefs. He did not suffer the army of Lewis to
form a junction with his own, hut sent them hack before the treaty
was concluded, thus risking the safety of his own forces ; for at the
time of the treaty, the Indian warriors were about his camp in force
sufficient to have intercepted his retreat and destroyed his whole
army.
Eev. Me. Jacob's Account of Dunmoee's Wae
At this period, to-wit: in the commencement of the year 1774,
there existed between our people and the Indians, a kind of doubtful,
precarious and suspicious peace. In the year 1773, they killed a
certain John Martin and Guy Meeks (Indian traders), on the Hock-
hocking River, and robbed them of about 200 pounds worth of goods.
They were much irritated with our people, who were about this
time beginning to settle Kentucky, and with them they waged an
unceasing and destructive predatory war ; and whoever saw an Indian
in Kentucky, saw an enemy; no questions were asked on either side
but from the muzzles of their rifles. Many other circumstances at
this period combined to show that our peace with the Indians rested
upon such dubious and uncertain ground, that it must soon be dis¬
persed by a whirlwind of carnage and war. And as I consider this
an all-important point in the thread of our history, and an interest¬
ing link in the chain of causes combining to produce Hunmore's war,
I will present the reader with another fact directly in point. It is
extracted from the journal of a 'Squire McConnel, in my possession.
The writer says, that about the 3d of March, 1774, while himself
and six other men, who were in company with him, were asleep in
their camp in the night, they were awakened by the fierce barking
of their dogs, and thought they saw something like men creeping
towards them. Alarmed at this, they sprang up, seized their rifles,
and flew to trees. By this time one Indian had reached their fire ; but
hearing them cock their guns, he drew back, stumbled and fell. The
whole party now came up, and appearing friendly, he ordered his
men not to fire, and shook hands with his new guests. They tarried
all night, and appearing so friendly, prevailed with him and one of
his men to go with them to their town, at no great distance from
their camp ; hut when they arrived he was taken with his companion
to their council, or war house ; a war dance performed around them,
the war club shook at or over them, and they were detained close
Dunmoke's Wae With The Indians
119
prisoners, and narrowly guarded for two or three days. A council
was then held over them, and it was decreed that they should be
threatened severely and discharged, provided they would give their
women some flour and salt. Being dismissed, they set out on their
journey to the camp, but met on their way about twenty-five warriors
and some boys. A second council was held over them, and it was
decreed that they should not be killed, but robbed, which was ac¬
cordingly done; and all their flour, salt, powder and lead, and all
their rifles that were good, were taken from them ; and being further
threatened, the Indians left them as already noticed. This party
consisted of seven men, viz: 'Squire McConnel, Andrew McConnel,
Lawrence Darnel, William Ganet, Matthew Riddle, John Laferty
and Thos. Canady.
We have also in reserve some more material facts, that go to
show the aspect of affairs at this period and that may be considered
as evident precursors to an impending war. And it is certainly not
a trifling item in the catalogue of these events, that early in the
spring of 1774, whether precedent or subsequent to Connoly's famous
circular letter, I am not prepared to say, having no positive data;
but it was, however, about this time that the Indians killed two men
in a canoe belonging to a Mr. Butler of Pittsburgh, and robbed the
canoe of the property therein. This was about the 1st of May, 1774,
and took place near the mouth of Little Beaver, a small creek that
empties into the Ohio River between Pittsburgh and Wheeling; and
this fact is so certain and well established, that Benjamin Tomlinson,
Esq., who is now living (1826) and who assisted in burying the dead,
can and will bear testimony to its truth. And it is presumed it was
this circumstance which produced that prompt and terrible vengeance
taken on the Indians at Yellow Creek immediately afterward, to-wit :
on the 3rd day of May, which gave rise to, and furnished matter for,
the pretended lying speech of Logan, which I shall hereafter prove a
counterfeit, and if it was genuine, yet a genuine fabrication of lies.
Thus we find from an examination into the state of affairs in
the west, that there was a predisposition to war, at least on the part
of the Indians. But may we not suspect that other latent causes,
working behind the scenes and in the dark, were silently marching
to the same result?
Be it remembered, then, that this Indian war was but as a por¬
tico to our Revolutionary War, the fuel for which was then prepar¬
ing, and which burst into a flame the ensuing year.
Neither let us forget that the Earl of Dunmore was at this time
governor of Virginia; and that he was acquainted with the views
and designs of the British Cabinet, can scarcely be doubted. What
then, suppose ye, would be the conduct of a man possessing his means,
filling a high, official station, attached to the British government, and
master of consummate diplomatic skill?
Dunmore's penetrating eye could not but see, and he no doubt
did see, two all-important objects, that, if accomplished, would go to
subserve and promote the grand object of the British Cabinet, viz:
120
HiaTORY OF THE Vaelet
the establishment of an unbounded and unrestrained authority over
our North American continent.
These two objects were, first, setting the new settlers on the west
side of the Alleghany by the ears; and secondly, embroiling the
western people in a war with the Indians. These two objects
accomplished, would put it in his power to direct the storm to any
and every point conducive to the grand object he had in view. But
as in the nature of the thing he could not, and policy forbidding that
he should, always appear personally in promoting and effectuating
these objects, it was necessary he should obtain a confidential agent
attached to his person and to the British government, and one that
would promote his views either publicly or covertly, as circumstances
required.
The materials for his first object were abundant, and already
prepared. The emigrants to the western country were almost all
from the three states of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. The
line between the two states of Virginia and Pennsylvania was un¬
settled, and both these states claimed the whole of the western coun¬
try. This motley mixture of men from different states did not
harmonize. The Virginians and Marylanders disliked the Pennsyl¬
vania laws, nor did the Pennsylvanians relish those of Virginia.
Thus many disputes, much warm blood, broils, and sometimes battles,
cattled fisticuffs, followed.
The Earl of Dunmore, with becoming zeal for the honor of the
"ancient dominion," seized upon this stage of things so propitious
to his views ; and having found Dr. John Connoly, a Pennsylvanian,
with whom I think he could not have had much previous acquaint¬
ance, by the art of hocuspocus or some other art, converted him into
a staunch Virginian, and appointed him vice-governor and com¬
mandant of Pittsburgh and its dependencies, that is to say of all the
western country. Affairs on that side of the mountain began to
wear a serious aspect; attempts were made by both states to enforce
their laws; and the strong arm of power and coercion was let loose
by Virginia. Some magistrates acting under the authority of Penn¬
sylvania were arrested, sent to Virginia and imprisoned.
But that the reader may be well assured that the hand of Dun-
more was in all this, I present him with a copy of his proclamation.
It is, however, deficient as to date :
"Whereas, I have reason to apprehend that the government of
Pennsylvania, in prosecution of their claims to Pittsburgh and its
dependencies, will endeavor to obstruct his majesty's government
thereof, under my administration, by illegal and unwarrantable com¬
mitment of the officers I have appointed for that purpose, and that
settlement is in some danger of annoyance from the Indians also;
and it being necessary to support the dignity of his majesty's gov¬
ernment and protect his subjects in the quiet and peaceable enjoy¬
ment of their rights; I have therefore thought proper, by and with
the consent and advice of his majesty's council, by this proclamation
Dunmoke's Wae With The Indians
121
in his majesty's name, to order and require the officers of the militia
in that district to emhody a sufficient number of men to repel any
insult whatsoever; and all his majesty's liege suhjects within this
colony are hereby strictly required to be aiding and assisting therein,
or they shall answer the contrary at their peril; and I further enjoin
and require the several inhabitants of the territories aforesaid to
pay his majesty's quitrents and public dues to such officers as are or
shall be appointed to collect the same within this dominion, until his
majesty's pleasure therein shall he known."
It is much to be regretted that my copy of this proclamation is
without date. There can, however, be no doubt it was issued either
in 1774 or early in 1775, and I am inclined to think it was issued in
1774; but it would be satisfactory to know precisely the day, because
chronology is the soul of history.
But this state of things in the west, it seems from subsequent
events, was not the mere eifervescence of a transient or momentary
excitement, but continued a long season. The seeds of discord had
fallen unhappily on ground too naturally productive, and were also
too well cultivated by the Earl of Dunmore, Connoly, an¿ the Penn¬
sylvania officers, to evaporate in an instant.
We find by recurring to the history of our Eevolutionary War,
that that awful tornado, if it had not the effect to sweep away dis¬
putes about state rights and local interests, yet it had the effect to
silence and suspend everything of that nature pending our dubious
and arduous struggle for national existence; hut yet we find, in fact,
that whatever conciliatory effect this state of things had upon other
sections of the country, and upon the nation at large, it was not
sufficient to extinguish this fire in the west. For in the latter end
of the year 1776, or in the year 1777, we find these people petitioning
Congress to interpose their authority, and redress their grievances.
I have this petition before me, but it is too long to copy ; I therefore
only give a short abstract.
It begins with stating that whereas Virginia and Pennsylvania
both set up claims to the western country, it was productive of the
most serious and distressing consequences; that as each state per¬
tinaciously supported their respective pretensions, the result was, as
described by themselves, "frauds, impositions, violences, depreda¬
tions, animosities," &c., &c.
These evils they ascribe (as indeed the fact was) to the conflict¬
ing claims of the two states ; and so warm were the partisans on each
side, as in some cases to produce battles and shedding of blood.
But the;f superadd another reason for this ill-humor, namely, the
proceedings of Dunmore's warrant officers, in laying land warrants
on land claimed by others, and many other claims for land granted
by the crown of England to individuals, companies, &c., covering a
vast extent of country, and including most of the lands already set¬
tled and occupied by the greatest part of the inhabitants of the west-
122
History of The Valley
ern country; and they finally prayed Congress to erect them into a
separate state and admit them into the Union as a fourteenth state.
As the petition recites the treaty of Pittsburgh, in October, 1775,
it is probable we may fix its date (for it has none) to the latter part
of 1776 or 1777. I rather think the latter, not only from my own
recollection of the circumstances of that period, but especially from
the request in the petition to he erected into a new state, which cer¬
tainly would not have been thought of before the Declaration of
Independence.
But the unhappy state of the western country will appear still
more evident, when we advert to another important document which
I have also before me. It is a proclamation issued by the delegates
in Congress from the states of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and hears
date Philadelphia, July 25, 1775.
But the heat of fire, and inflexible obstinacy of the parties en¬
gaged in this controversy, will appear in colors still stronger, when
we see the unavailing efforts made by the delegates in Congress from
the two states of Virginia and Pennsylvania in the year 1775.
These gentlemen, it was obvious, under the influence of the best of
motives, and certainly with a view to the best interests, peace, and
happiness to the western people, sent them a proclamation, couched
in terms directly calculated to restore tranquility and harmony
among them; hut the little effect produced by this proclamation,
their subsequent petition just recited, and sent the next year or year
after to Congress, fully demonstrates.
But as I consider this proclamation an important document, and
as it is nowhere recorded, I give it to the reader entire ;
"To the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania and Virginia, on the west side
of the Laurel Hill.
"Priends and Countrymen : It gives us much concern to find
disturbances have arisen, and still continue among you, concerning
the boundaries of our colonies. In the character in which we now
address you, it is unnecessary to inquire into the origin of those un-
happy disputes, and it would be improper for us to express our
approbation or censure on either side; but as representatives of two
of the colonies, united among many others for the defense of the
liberties of America, we think it our duty to remove, as far as lies
in our power, every obstacle that may prevent her sons from co¬
operating as vigorously as they would wish to do towards the attain¬
ment of this great and important end. Influenced solely by this
motive, our joint and earnest request to you is, that all animosities
which have heretofore subsisted among you, as inhabitants of dis¬
tinct colonies, may now give place to generous and concurring efforts
for the preservation of everything that can make our common coun¬
try dear to us.
"We are fully persuaded that you, as well as we, wish to see
your differences terminate in this happy issue. For this desirable
Dunmore's War With The Indians
123
purpose we recommend it to you that all bodies of armed men, kept
under either province, be dismissed; that all those on either side,
who are in confinement, or under hail for taking part in the contest,
be discharged; and that until the dispute be decided, every person
he permitted to retain his possessions unmolested.
"By observing these directions, the public tranquility will be
secured without injury to the titles on either side. The period, we
flatter ourselves will soon arrive, when this unfortunate dispute,
which has produced much mischief, and as far as we can leam no
good, will he peaceably and constitutionally determined.
"We are your friends and countrymen,
"P. Henry,
Richard Henry Lee,
Benjamin Harrison,
Thos. Jefferson,
John Dickinson,
Geo. Ross,
B. Franklin,
Jas. Wilson,
Charles Humphreys.
"Philadelphia, July 25th, 1775."
But to conclude this part of our subject, I think the reader can¬
not hut see from Dlinmore's proclamation, the violent measures of
his Lieutenant Connoly and the Virginia officers, and from the com¬
plexion of the times, and subsequent conduct of both Dunmore and
Connoly, as we shall see hereafter ; that this unhappy state of things,
if not actually produced, was certainly improved by Dunmore to
subserve the views of the British court.
We now proceed to examine the question, how far facts and
circumstances justify us in supposing the Earl of Dunmore himself
instrumental in producing the Indian war of 1774.
It has already been remarked that this Indian war was but the
precursor to our Revolutionary War of 1775—that Dunmore, the then
governor of Virginia, was one of the most inveterate and determined
enemies to the Revolution—that he was a man of high talents,
especially for intrigue and diplomatic skill—that occupying the
station of commander-in-chief of the large and respectable state of
Virginia, he possessed means and power to do much to serve the
views of Great Britain. And we have seen, from the preceding
pages, how effectually he played his part among the inhabitants of
the western country. I was present myself when a Pennsylvania
magistrat^ of the name of Scott, was taken into custody, and brought
before Dunmore, at Prestone Old Fort; he was severely threatened
and dismissed, perhaps on bail, but I do not recollect how; another
Pennsylvania magistrate was sent to Staunton jail. And I have
already shown in the preceding pages, that there was a sufficient
preparation of materials for this war in the predisposition and
124
History op The Valley
hostile attitude of our affairs with the Indians; that it was con¬
sequently no difficult matter with a Virginia governor to direct the
incipient state of things to any point most conducive to the grand
end he had in view, namely, in weakening our national strength in
some of its best and most efficient parts. If, then, a war with the
Indians might have a tendency to produce this result, it appears per¬
fectly natural and reasonable to suppose that Dunmore would make
use of all his power and influence to promote it, and although the war
of 1774 was brought to a conclusion before the year was out, yet
we know that this fire was scarcely extinguished before it hurst into
a flame with tenfold fury, and two or three armies of the whites
were sacrificed before we could get the Indians subdued; and this
unhappy state of our affairs with the Indians happening during the
severe conflict of our Revolutionary War, had the very effect, I sup¬
pose, Dunmore had in view, namely, dividing our forces and en¬
feebling our aggregate strength; and that the seeds of these subse¬
quent wars with the Indians were sown in 1774 and 1775, appears
almost certain.
Yet still, however, we admit that we are not in possession of
materials to substantiate this charge against the Earl ; and all we
can do is to produce some facts and circumstances that deserve notice,
and have a strong bearing on the case.
And the first we shall mention * is a circular sent by Maj.
Connoly, his proxy, early in the spring of the year 1774, warning
the inhabitants to he on their guard—the Indians were very angry,
and manifested so much hostility, that he was apprehensive they
would strike somewhere as soon as the season would permit, and en¬
joining the inhabitants to prepare and retire into forts, &c. It
might be useful to collate and compare this letter with one he wrote
to Capt. Cresap on the 14th of July following; see hereafter. In
this letter he declares there is war or danger of war, before the war
is properly begun ; in that to Capt. Cresap he says the Indians deport
themselves peaceably, when Dunmore and Lewis and Cornstalk are
all out on their march for battle.
This letter was sent by express in every direction of the country.
Unhappily we have lost or mislaid it, and consequently are deficient
in a most material point in this date. But from one expression in
the letter, namely, that the Indians will strike when the season per¬
mits, and this season is generally understood to mean when the leaves
are out, we may fis it in the month of May. We find from a sub¬
sequent letter from Pentecost and Connoly to Capt. Reece, that this
assumed fact is proved; see hereafter.
Therefore this letter cannot he of a later date than sometime in
the month of April; and if so, before Butler's men were killed on
Little Beaver; and before Logan's family were killed on Yellow
Creek, and was in fact the fiery red cross and harbinger of war, as in
•The remark, as it should seem incidently made, in Dunmore's proclamation, as to
the Indian war (see pages 120-121), deserves notice, as it has no connection with the
subject of that proclamation.
Dunmoke's Wae With The Indians
125
days of yore among the Scottish clans. That this was the fact is I
think, absolutely certain, because no mention is made in Qonnoly's
letter of this affair, which certainly would not have been omitted, if
precedent to his letter.
This letter produced its natural result. The people fled into
forts, and put themselves into a posture of defense, and the tocsin
of war resounded from Laurel Hill to the banks of the Ohio Eiver.
Capt. Oresap, who was peaceably at this time employed in building
houses and improving lands on the Ohio River, received this letter,
accompanied, it is believed, with a confirmatory message from Col.
Croghan and Maj. McGee, Indian agents and interpreters;* and he
thereupon immediately broke up his camp, and ascended the river
to Wheeling Fort, the nearest place of safety, from whence it is be¬
lieved he intended speedily to return home; hut during his stay at
this place, a report was brought into the fort that two Indians were
coming down the river. Capt. Cresap, supposing from every cir¬
cumstance, and the general aspect of affairs, that war was inevitable,
and in fact already begun, went up the river with his party ; and two
of his men, of the name of Chenoweth and Brothers, killed these
two Indians. Beyond controversy this is the only circumstance in
the history of this Indian war, in which his name can in the remot¬
est degree he identified with any measure tending to produce this
war; and it is certain that the guilt or innocence of this affair will
appear from this date. It is notorious, then, that those Indians
were killed not only after Capt. Cresap had received Connoly's let¬
ter, and after Butler's men were killed in the canoe, hut also after
the affair at Yellow Creek, and after the people had fled into the
forts. But more of this hereafter, when we take up Mr. Doddridge
and his hook; simply, however, remarking here, that this affair of
killing these two Indians has the same aspect and relation to Dun-
more's war that the battle of Lexington has to the war of the Revo¬
lution.
But to proceed. Permit us to remark, that it is very difficult
at this late period to form a correct idea of these times unless we can
bring distinctly into view the real state of our frontier. The inhabi¬
tants of the western country were at this time thinly scattered from
the Alleghany Mountain to the eastern banks of the Ohio River, and
most thinly near that river. In this state of things, it was natural
to suppose that the few settlers in the vicinity of Wheeling, who had
collected into that fort, would feel extremely solicitous to detain
Capt. Cresap and his men as long as possible, especially until they
could see on what point the storm would fall. Capt. Cresap, the son
of a her©, and a hero himself, felt for their situation; and getting
together a few more men, in addition to his own, and not relishing
the limits of a little fort, nor a life of inactivity, set out on what was
called a scouting party ; that is, to reconnoiter and scour the frontier
border ; and while out and engaged in this business, fell in with and
♦I had this from Caot. Cresap himself, a short time after it occurred.
126
History of The Valley
had a running fight with a party of Indians, nearly about his equal
in number, when one Indian was killed, and Cresap had one man
wounded. This affair took place somewhere on the banks of the
Ohio. Doddridge says it was at the mouth of Captina; be it so—it
matters not; but he adds, it was on the same day the Indians were
killed in the canoe. In this the doctor is most egregiously mistaken,
as I shall prove hereafter.
But may we not ask, what were these Indians doing here at
this time, on the hanks of the Ohio? They had no town near this
place, nor was it their hunting season, as it was about the 8th or 10th
of May. Is it not then probable, nay, almost certain, that the
struggling banditti were prepared and ready to fall on some parts
of our exposed frontier, and that their dispersion saved the lives of
many helpless women and children ?
But the old proverb, cry mad dog and kill him! is, I suppose,
equally as applicable to heroes as to dogs.
Oapt. Cresap soon after this returned to his family in Maryland ;
hut feeling most sensibly for the inhabitants on the frontier in their
perilous situation, immediately raised a company of volunteers and
marched back to their assistance; and having advanced as far as
Catfish Camp, the place where Washington, Pa., now stands, he was
arrested in his progress by a peremptory and insulting order from
Connoly, commanding him to dismiss his men and to return home.
This order, couched in offensive and insulting language, it may
be well supposed, was not very grateful to a man of Capt. Cresap's
high sense of honor and peculiar sensibility, especially conscious as
he was of the purity of his motives, and the laudable end he had in
view. He nevertheless obeyed, returned home and dismissed his
men, and with the determination, I well know from what he said
after his return, never again to take any part in the present Indian
war, but to leave Mr. Commandant at Pittsburgh to fight it out as
he could. This hasty resolution was, however, of short duration.
Por however strange, contradictory and irreconcilable the conduct
of the Earl of Dunmore and his vice-governor at Pittsburgh, &c. may
appear, yet it is a fact, that on the lOth of June, the Earl of Dun-
more, unsolicited, and to Capt. Cresap, certainly unexpected, sent
him a captain's commission of the militia of Hampshire county,
Virginia, notwithstanding his residence was in Maryland. This
commission reached Capt. Cresap a few days after his return from
the expedition to Catfish Camp, just above mentioned ; and inasmuch
as this commission, coming to him the way it did, carried with it a
tacit expression of the Governor's approbation of his conduct—add
to which, that about the same time his feelings were daily assailed
by petition after petition, from almost every section of the western
country, praying, begging, and beseeching him to come over to their
assistance—it is not surprising that his resolution should he changed.
Several of these petitions and Dunmore's commission have escaped
the wreck of time and are now in my possession.
Dunmoee's Wae With The Indians
127
This commission coming at the time it did, and in the way and
under the circumstances above recited, aided and strengthened as it
was by the numberless petitioners aforesaid, broke down and so far
extinguished all Capt. Cresap's personal resentment against Connoly
that he once more determined to exert all his power and influence in
assisting the distressed inhabitants of the western frontier, and ac¬
cordingly immediately raised a company, placed himself under the
command of Maj. Angus McDonald, and marched with him to attack
the Indians, at their town of Wappatomachie, on the Muskingum.
His popularity, at this time, was such, and so many men flocked to
his standard, that he could not consistently with the rules of an army,
retain them in his company, but was obliged to transfer them, much
against their wills, to other captains, and the result was, that after
retaining in his own company as many men as he could consistently,
he filled completely the company of his nephew, Oapt. Michael Cresap,
and also partly the company of Capt. Hancock Lee. This little
army of about four hundred men, under Maj. McDonald, penetrated
the Indian country as far as the Muskingum, near which they had a
skirmish with a party of Indians under Captain Snake, in which
McDonald lost six men, and killed the Indian chief Snake.
A little anecdote here will go to show what expert and close
shooters we had in those days among our riflemen. When McDon¬
ald's little army arrived on the near bank of the Muskingum River,
and while lying there, an Indian on the opposite shore got behind a
log or old tree, and was lifting up his head occasionally to view the
white men's army. One of Capt. Cresap's men, of the name of John
Harness, seeing this, loaded his rifle with two balls, and placing him¬
self on the bank of the river, watched the opportunity when the
Indian raised his head, and firing at the same instant, put both balls
through the Indian's neck, and laid him dead,* which circumstance
no doubt had great influence in intimidating the Indians.
McDonald after this had another running fight with the Indians,
drove them from their towns, burnt them, destroyed their provisions,
and returning to the settlement, discharged his men.
But this affair at Wappatomachie and expedition of McDonald
were only the prelude to more important and efficient measures.
It was well understood that the Indians were far from being sub¬
dued, and that they would now certainly collect all their forces, and
to the utmost of their power return the compliment of our visit to
their territories.
The Grovernor of Virginia, whatever might have been his views
as to the ulterior measures, lost no time in preparing to meet this
storm. H« sent orders immediately to Col. Andrew Leivis, of
Augusta county, to raise an army of about one thousand men, and
to march with all expedition to the mouth of the Great Kanawha,
on the Ohio River, where, or at some other point, he would join him,
after he had got together another army, which he intended to raise in
•The Muskingum at this place is said to be about 200 yards wide.
128
Histoky of The Valley
the northwestern counties, and command in person. Lewis lost no
time, hut collected the number of men required, and marched without
delay to the appointed place of rendezvous.
But the Earl was not quite so rapid in his movements, which
circumstance the eagle eye of old Cornstalk, the general of the Indian
army saw, and was determined to avail himself of, foreseeing that
it would he much easier to destroy two separate columns of an in¬
vading army before than after their junction and consolidation.
With this view he marched with all expedition to attack Lewis before
he was joined hy the Earl's army from the north, calculating, con¬
fidently no doubt, that if he could destroy Lewis, he would be able to
give a good account of the army of the Earl.
The plans of Cornstalk appear to have been those of a consum¬
mate and skillful general, and the prompt and rapid execution of them
displayed the energy of a warrior. He, therefore, without loss of
time, attacked Lewis at his post. The attack was sudden, violent,
and I believe unexpected. It was nevertheless well fought, very
obstinate, and of long continuance; and as both parties fought with
rifles, the conflict was dreadful; many were killed on both sides,
and the contest was only finished with the approach of night. The
Virginians, however, kept the field, but lost many valuable officers
and men, and among the rest. Col. Charles Lewis, brother to the
commander-in-chief.
Cornstalk and Blue Jacket, the two Indian captains, it is said,
performed prodigies of valor; hut finding at length all their efforts
unavailing, drew off their men in good order, and with the deter¬
mination to fight no more, if peace could be obtained on reasonable
terms.
This battle of Lewis' opened an easy and unmolested passage
for Dunmore through the Indian country;* but it is proper to remark
here, however, that when Dunmore arrived with his wing of the
army at the mouth of the Hockhocking, he sent Capt. AVhite-eyes, a
Delaware chief, to invite the Indians to a treaty, and he remained
stationary at that place until White-eyes returned, who reported that
the Indians would not treat about peace. I presume, in order of
time, this must have heen just before Lewis' battle; because it will
appear in the sequel of this story, that a great revolution took place
in the minds of the Indians after the battle.
Dunmore, immediately upon the report of White-eyes that the
Indians were not disposed for peace, sent an express to Col. Lewis to
move on and meet him near Chillicothe, on the Scioto, and both
wings of the army were put in motion. But as Dunmore approached
the Indian town, he was met by flags from the Indians, demanding
• A little anecdote will prove that Dunmore was a general, and also the high esti¬
mation in which he held Capt. Cresap. While the army was marching through the
Indian country, Dunmore ordered Capt. Cresap with his company and some more of
his best troops in the rear. This displeased Cresap, and he expostulated with the Earl,
who replied, that the reason of this arrangement was, because he knew that if he was
attacked in front, all those men would soon rush forward into the engagement. The
reason, which was by the by a handsome compliment, satisfied Cresap, and all the
rear guard.
Dunmore's Wae With The Indians
129
peace, to which he acceded, halted his army, and runners were sent
to invite the Indian chiefs, who cheerfully obeyed the summons,
and came to the treaty—save only Logan, the great orator, who re¬
fused to come. It seems, however, that neither Dunmore nor the
Indian chiefs considered his presence of much importance, for they
went to work and finished the treaty without him—referring, I be¬
lieve, some unsettled points for future discussion, at a treaty to he
held the ensuing summer or fall at Pittsburgh. This treaty, the
articles of which I never saw, nor do I know that they were ever
recorded, concluded Dunmore's war, in September or October, 1774.
After the treaty was over, old Cornstalk, the Shawnee chief, ac¬
companied Dunmore's army until they reached the mouth of the
Hockhocking, on the Ohio ; and what was most singular, rather made
his home in Capt. Cresap's tent, with whom he continued on terms
of the most friendly familiarity. I consider this circumstance as
positive proof that the Indians themselves neither considered Capt.
Cresap the murderer of Logan's family, nor the cause of the war.
It appears, also, that at this place the Earl of Dunmore received
dispatches from England. Doddridge says he received these on his
march out.
But we ought to have mentioned in its proper place, that after
the treaty between Dunmore and the Indians commenced near Chil-
licothe, Lewis arrived with his army, and encamped two or three
miles from Dunmore, which greatly alarmed the Indians, as they
thought he was so much irritated at losing so many men in the late
battle that he would not easily be pacified; nor would they he satis¬
fied until Dunmore and old Cornstalk went into Lewis' camp to
converse with him.
Dr. Doddridge represents this affair in different shades of light
from this statement. I can only say I had my information from an
officer who was present at the time.
But it is time to remind the reader, that, although I have wan¬
dered into such a minute detail of the various occurrences, facts and
circumstances of Dunmore's war; and all of which as a history may
be interesting to the present and e.specially to the rising generation;
yet it is proper to remark that I have two leading objects chiefly in
view—first, to convince the world, that whoever and whatever might
he the cause of the Indian war in 1774, it was not Capt. Cresap;
secondly, that from the aspect of our political affairs, at that period,
and from the known hostility of Dunmore to the American Kevolu-
tion, and withal to the subsequent conduct of Dunmore, and the
dreadful Indian war that commenced soon after the beginning of our
war with Great Britain—I say, from all these circumstances, we
have infinitèly stronger reasons to suspect Dunmore than Cresap;
and I may say that the dispatches above mentioned that were re¬
ceived by Dunmore at Hockhocking, although after the treaty, were
yet calculated to create suspicion.
But if, as we suppose, Dunmore was secretly at the bottom of
this Indian war, it is evident that he could not with propriety ap-
130
History of The Valley
pear personally in a business of this kind; and we have seen and
shall see, how effectually his suh-govemor played his part between
the Virginians and Pennsylvanians ; and it now remains for us to
examine how far the conduct of this man (Connoly) will bear us
out in the supposition that there was also some foul play, some dark
intriguing work to embroil the western country in an Indian war.
And I think it best now, as we have introduced this man Con¬
noly again, to give the reader a short condensed history of his whole
proceedings, that we may have him in full view at once. We have
already presented the reader with his circular letter, and its natural
result and consequences, and also with his insulting letter and
mandatory order to Capt. Cresap, at Catfish Camp, to dismiss his
men and go home; and that the reader may now see a little of the
character of this man, and understand him, if it is possible to un¬
derstand him, I present him with a copy of a letter to Capt. Reece.
"As I have received intelligence that Logan, a Mingo Indian,
with about twenty Shawnees and others, were to set off for war, last
Monday, and I have reason to believe they may come upon the in¬
habitants about Wheeling, I hereby order, require and command
you, with all the men you can raise, immediately to march and join
any of the companies already out and under the pay of the govern¬
ment, and upon joining your parties together, scour the frontier and
become a barrier to our settlements, and endeavor to fall in with their
tracks, and pursue them, using your utmost endeavours to chastise
them as open and avowed enemies.
"I am, sir, your most humble servant,
"Horsey Pentecost, for John Connoly.
"To Capt. Joel Reece, use all expedition. May 27, 177Jf."
Now here is a fellow for you. A very short time before this,
perhaps two or three days before the date of this letter, Capt. Cresap,
who had a fine company of volunteers, is insulted, ordered to dismiss
his men and go home; and indeed it appears from one expression in
this letter, namely, "the companies who are already out," that these
companies must have been actually out at the very time Cresap is
ordered home.
Now if any man is skilled in the art of legerdemain, let him
nnriddle this enigma if he can.
But as so many important facts crowd together at this eventful
period, it may be satisfactory to the reader, and have a tendency
more clearly to illustrate the various scenes interwoven in the thread
of this history, to present to his view a chronological list of these
facts; and I think the first that deserves notice is Connoly's circular
letter, which we date the 25th day of April; secondly, the two men
killed in Butler's canoe we know was the first or second day of May ;
thirdly, the affair at Yellow Creek, was on the third or fourth day of
May; fourthly, the Indians killed in the canoe above Wheeling, the
Dunmore's War With The Indians
131
fifth or sixth day of May; fifthly, the skirmish with the Indians on
the Ohio River, ahout the eighth or tenth day of May; after which,
Capt. Cresap returned to Catfish Camp ahout the twenty-fifth day
of May. Indeed, this fact speaks for itself ; it could not be earlier,
when it is considered that he rode home from the Ohio, a distance
of about one hundred and forty miles, raised a company and marched
back as far as Catfish Camp, through had roads, near one hundred
and twenty miles; and all, agreeably to my statement, in seventeen
days; then it is evident that he was not at Catfish Camp sooner than
the twenty-fifth of May ; and if so, he was ordered home at the very
time when scouts were out, and the settlement threatened with an
attack from the Indians as is manifest from Connoly's own letter to
Capt. Reece, dated May 27, 1774.
But the hostility of Connoly to Capt. Cresap was unremitting
and without measure or decency; for on the 14th day of July, of
the same year, we find one of the most extraordinary, crooked, malig¬
nant, Grub Street epistles, that ever appeared upon paper; but let
us see it.
"Fort Dunmore,* July 14, 1774.
"Your whole proceedings, so far as relate to our disturbances
with the Indians, have been of a nature so extraordinary, that I am
much at a loss to account for the cause: but when I consider your
late steps, tending directly to ruin the service here, by inveigling
away the militia of this garrison by your preposterous proposals,
and causing them thereby to embezzle the arms of the government,
purchased at an enormous expense, and at the same time to refiect
infinite disgrace upon the honor of this colony, by attacking a set of
people, which, notwithstanding the injury they have sustained by
you in the loss of their people, yet continue to rely upon the profes¬
sions of friendship which I have made, and deport themselves ac¬
cordingly; I sa,v, when I consider these matters, I must conclude
you are actuated by a spirit of discord, so prejudicial to the peace
and good order of socjety, that the conduct calls for justice, and due
execution thereof can only check. I must once again order you to
desist from your pernicious designs, and require of you, if you are
an officer of militia, to send the deserters from this place back with
all expedition, that they may be dealt with as their crimes merit.
"I àiii, sir, your servant,
I "John Connoly."
I
This letter, although slmrt, contained so many things for remark
and animadversion, that wè scarcely know where to begin. It ex¬
hibits, however, a real picture of the man, and a mere superficial
glance at its phraseology will prove that he is angry, and his nerves
•During the government of ConnoW in this place, he changed the name from Pitt
to Dunmore: but subsequent events haCe blotted out Dunmore's name.
i
\
132
Histokt of The Valley
ill a tremor. It is, in fact, an incoherent jumble of words and sen¬
tences, all in the disjunctive.
But it is a perfect original and anomaly in the epistolary line,
and contains in itself internal marks of genuine authenticity.
The first thing in this letter that calls for our attention is the
language he uses towards the people he calls "militia deserters,"
that they may be dealt with, he says, as their crimes merit. Now I
pray you who were those people? Doubtless the respectable farmers
and others in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. And what does this Mogul
of the west intend to do with them? Why hang them, to be sure;
for this is military law. But the true state of this case doubtless is,
that these militia considered themselves free men ; that they were not
well pleased either with Connoly or garrison duty; that viewing
their country in danger, and their wives and children exposed to
savage barbarity they preferred more active service, and joined the
standard of Capt. Cresap. And is this a new thing, or reprehensible?
How often do our militia enter into the regular army, and whoever
dreamed of hanging them for so doing?
But, secondly, we say it is possible Capt. Cresap did not know
from whence these men came; and if he did, he deserves no censure
for receiving them ; and as to the charge of inveigling away the mili¬
tia from the garrison, we know this must be positively false, because
he was not in Pittsburgh in the year 1774, either personally or by
proxy.
As to the general charge against Capt. Cresap, of attacking the
Indians, and the great injury he had done them, I need only say
that this charge is refuted again and again in the course of this his¬
tory, and its unparalleled impudence especially, or the date of this
letter, merits the deepest contempt. But the most extraordinary
feature in this most extraordinary letter is couched in these words,
namely, "that the Indians relied upon the expressions of friendship
he made them and deported themselves accordingly."
Be astonished, O ye nations of the earth, and áíl ye kindreds of
people at this! Por be it remembered this is ^e 14th day of July,
1774, when Connoly has the unblushing impudence to assert that
the Indians relied upon his expressions of friendship, and deported
themselves accordingly, when at this very time we were engaged in
the hottest part of Dunmore's war; when Dunmore himself was
raising an army and personally on his wjiy to take the command;
when Lewis was on his march from Augusta county, Virginia, to
the Ohio; when Cornstalk, with his Indian army, was in motion to
meet Lewis ; and when Capt. Cresap was actually raising a company
to join Dunmore when he arrived. And it was while engaged in this
business, that he received this letter from Connoly.
Now, if any man can account for this strange and extraordinary
letter upon rational principles, let him do so if he can; he has more
ingenuity and a more acute discernment than I have.
Soon after receiving this letter, Capt. Cresap left his company
on the west side of the mountain and rode home, where he met the
Dunmoke's Wae With The Indians
133
Earl of Dunmore at his house, and where he (the Earl) remained a
few days in hahits of friendship and cordiality with the family. One
day while the Earl was at his house, Capt. Cresap finding him alone,
introduced the subject of Connoly's ill-treatment, with a view, I
suppose, of obtaining redress, or of exposing the character of a man
he knew to he high in the estimation and confidence of the Earl.
But what effect, suppose ye, had this remonstrance on the Earl?
I'll tell you; it lulled him into a profound sleep. Aye, aye, thinks
I to myself (young as I then was), this will not do, captain; there
are wheels within wheels, dark things behind the curtain between
this noble Earl and his sub-satellite.
Capt. Cresap was himself open, candid and unsuspicious, and I
do not know what he thought, but I well remember my own thoughts
upon this occasion.
But let us, as nearly as possible, finish our business with Con-
noly, although we must thereby get a little ahead of our history ; yet,
as already remarked, we think it less perplexing to the reader, than
to give him here a little and there a little of this extraordinary
character.
We find, then, that in the year 1775, Connoly, discovering that
his sheep-skin would not cover him much longer, threw off the mask
and fled to his friend Dunmore, who also, about the same time, was
obliged to take sanctuary on hoard a British ship of war in the
Chesapeake Bay. Erom this place, i. e. Portsmouth, Virginia,
Connoly wrote the following letter to Col. John Gibson, who, no
doubt, he supposed, possessed sentiments congenial to his own. It
happened, however, that he was mistaken in his man, for Gibson
exposed him, and put his letter into the hands of the commissioners
who were holding a treaty with the Indians.
But let us see this letter. It is dated Portsmouth, Virginia,
August 9th, 1775.
"Dear Sir : I have safely arrived here, and am happy in the
greatest degree at having so fortunately escaped the narrow inspec¬
tion of my enemies, the enemies to their country's good order and
government. I should esteem myself defective in point of friend¬
ship towards you, should I neglect to caution you to avoid an over-
zealous exertion of what is now ridiculously called patriotic spirit,
but on the contrary to deport yourself with that moderation for
which you have always been so remarkable, and which must in this
instance tend to your honor and advantage. You rnay rest assured
from me, sir, that the greatest unanimity now prevails at home, and
the innovating spirit among us here is looked upon as ungenerous
and undutiful, and that the utmost exertion of the powers in govern¬
ment (if necessary) will be used in convincing the infatuated people
of their folly.
"I would, I assure you, sir, give you such convincing proofs of
what I assert, and from which every reasonable person may conclude
the effects, that nothing but madness could operate upon a man so
134
History of The Valley
far as to overlook his duty to the present constitution, and to form
unwarrantable associations with enthusiasts, whose ill-timed folly
must draw down upon them inevitable destruction. His lordship
desires you to present his hand to Captain White-eyes (a Delaware
Indian chief), and to assure him, he is sorry he had not the pleasure
of seeing him at the treaty (a treaty held by Connoly in his name),
or that the situation of affairs prevented him from coming down.
"Believe me, dear sir, that I have no motive in writing my
sentiments thus to you, further than to endeavor to steer you clear
of the misfortunes which I am confident must involve but unhappily
too many. I have sent you an address from the people of Great
Britain to the people of America, and desire you to consider it atten¬
tively, which will, I fiatter myself, convince you of the idleness of
many determinations and the absurdity of an intended slavery.
"Give my love to George (his brother, afterwards a colonel in
the Revolutionary War), and tell him he shall hear from me, and I
hope to his advantage. Interpret the inclosed speech to Capt. White-
eyes from his lordship. Be prevailed upon to shun the popular
error, and judge for yourself, as a good subject, and expect the rewards
due to your services. "I am, &c.,
"John Connoly."
The enclosed speech to White-eyes we shall see in its proper
place, after we have finished our business with Connoly. It seems,
then, that either a mistaken notion of his influence, or greatly de¬
ceived by his calculations on the support of Col. Gibson, his brother
and friends, or in obedience to the solicitations of his friend Dun-
more, he undertakes (incog.) a hazardous journey from the Chesa¬
peake Bay to Pittsburgh, in company, if I recollect right, with a
certain Doctor Smith; but our Dutch republicans of Predericktown,
Maryland, smelt a rat, seized and imprisoned him, from whence he
was removed to the Philadelphia jail, where we will leave him awhile
to cool.
But let us now look at these two characters ; Connoly uses every
effort to destroy us and subvert our liberties, and Cresap marches to
Boston with a company of riflemen to defend his country. If then
men's actions afford us the true and best criterion to judge of their
merit or demerit, we can be at no loss to decide on this occasion.
Hor can there be any doubt that this man, so full of tender sensibility
and sympathy for the suffering of the Indians, when arrested with
his colleague (Smith) in Frederick, had a Pandora's box full of fire¬
brands, arrows and death, to scatter among the inhabitants of the
west.
But it is probable the reader, as well as the writer, is weary of
such company; we therefore bid him adieu, and once more attend
his excellency the governor of Virginia, whom we left, I think, on
board a British sloop of war, in the Chesapeake Bay.
The reader has not forgotten, that we long since stated it as our
opinion, that it was probable, and that we had strong reasons to
Dünmore's Wae With The Indians
135
believe, that Dunmore himself, from political motives, though acting
behind , the scenes, was in reality at the bottom of the Indian war of
1774.
We have already alluded to several circumstances previous to
and during that war; but we have in reserve several more evincive
of the same fact subsequent to the war.
It may be remembered that at the treaty of Chillicothe, it was
remarked that some points were referred to future discussion at
Pittsburgh in the ensuing fall; and it appears that a treaty was
actually held by Connoly in Dunmore's name, with the chiefs of the
Delaware, and some Mingo tribes in the summer ensuing. This is
historically a fact, and matter of record, which I extract from the
minutes of a treaty, held in the autumn of the same year, with several
tribes of Indians, by commissioners from the Congress of the United
States and from Virginia.*
But to understand this perfectly, the reader must be informed,
that previous to this treaty Capt. Jas. Wood, afterward governor of
Virginia, was sent to that state as the herald of peace, with the olive
branch in his hand, to invite all the Indian tribes bordering on the
Ohio and its waters, to a treaty at Pittsburgh on the 10th day of
September following. Capt. Wood kept a journal, which is incor¬
porated in the proceedings of the treaty, from which journal I copy
as follows : "July the 9th, I arrived (says he) at Fort Pitt, where I
received information that the chiefs of the Delawares and a few of
the Mingos had lately been treating with Maj. Connoly agreeably to
instructions from Lord Dunmore, and that the Shawnees had not come
to the treaty," &c.
Capt. Wood, however, acknowledges, in a letter he wrote to the
convention in Virginia from this place, that this treaty held by
Connoly was "in the most open and candid manner, that it was held
in the presence of the committee, and that he laid the governor's
instructions before them." Very good. But why these remarks
respecting Connoly and Dunmore? Does not this language imply
jealously and suspicion, which Capt. Wood, who certainly was de¬
ceived, was anxious to remove? But to proceed. He says:
"July 10. White-eyes came with an interpreter to my lodging.
He informed me he was desirous of going to Williamsburg with Mr.
Connoly to see Lord Dunmore, who had promised him his interest
in procuring him a grant from the king for the lands claimed by the
Delawares; that they were all desirous of living as the white people
do, and under their laws and protection; that Lord Dunmore had
engaged to make him some satisfaction for his trouble in going sev¬
eral times ^to the Shawnee towns, and serving with him on the cam¬
paign, &c.,* &c. He told me he hoped I would advise him whether it
was proper for him to go or not. I was then under the necessity of
•The original minutes of this treaty are in my own possession. They were pre¬
sented to me by my friend, John Madison, secretary of the Commissioners, with I
think this remark, that they were of no use to them, but might be of some to me.
136
History of The Valley
acquainting him with the disputes subsisting between Lord Dunmore
and the people of Virginia, and engaged, whenever the assembly
met, that I would go with him to Williamsburg, &c., &c. He was
very thankful, and appeared satisfied."
The reader must observe this is July 10th, 1775, and he will
please refer to pages 133 and 134, where he will see from Connoly's
letter of August 9th, how much reliance was to he placed on his
candor and sincerity, as stated by Capt. Wood to the convention on
the 9th day of July. Thus we find that about thirty days after
Capt. Wood's testimony in his favor, Connoly threw away the mask,
and presented himself in his true character; and from his OAvn con¬
fession and the tenor of his letter to Gibson, it is plain that the cur¬
rent of suspicion ran so strongly against him that he declared himself
"most happy in escaping the vigilance of his enemies."
We owe the reader an apology for introducing this man again;
but the fact is that Dunmore and Connoly are so identified in all the
political movements of this period, that we can seldom see one with¬
out the other; and Connoly is the more prominent character, especi¬
ally in the affairs of the west.
But we now proceed with Capt. Wood's journal. He tells us
that on the 20th of July, he met Gerrit Pendergrass about nine
o'clock; that he had just left the Delaware towns; that two days
before, the Delawares had just returned from the Wyandott towns,
where they had been at a grand council with a French and English
officer, and the Wyandotts; that Monsieur Bauhee and the English
officer told them to he on their guard, that the white people intended
to strike them very soon, &c.
July 21. At one o'clock, arriving at the Moravian Indian town,
examined the minister (a Dutchman), concerning the council lately
held with the Indians, &c., who confirmed the account before stated.
July 22. About ten o'clock arrived at Coshocton (a chief town
of the Delawares), and delivered to their council a speech, which
they answered on the 23d. After expressing their thankfulness for
the speech and willingness to attend the proposed treaty at Pittsburgh,
they delivered to Capt. Wood a belt and string they said was sent to
them by an Englishman and Frenchman from Detroit, accompanied
with a message that the people of Virginia were determined to strike
them; that they would come upon them two different ways, the one
by the way of the lakes, and the other by the way of the Ohio and
to take their lands, that they must he constantly on their guard, and
not to give any credit to whatever you said, as you were a people not
to he depended upon; that the Virginians would invite them to a
treaty, hut that they must not go at any rate, and to take particular
notice of the advice they gave, which proceeded from motives of real
friendship.
ISTow by comparing and collating this with the speech sent hy
Dunmore, enclosed in Connoly's letter, it will furnish us with a
squinting at the game that was playing with the Indians hy the Earl
of Dunmore and other British officers; to he convinced of which,
Dunmore's War With The Indians
137
read the following speech from Diinmore, which was enclosed in a
letter to Gihson :
"Brother Capt. White-eyes : I am glad to hear your good speeches
as sent to me by Maj. Counoly, and you may he assured I shall put
one end of the belt you have sent me into the hands of our great king,
who will he glad to hear from his brothers, the Delawares, and will
take strong hold of it. You may rest satisfied that our foolish young
men shall never he permitted to have your lands ; but on the contrary
the great king will protect you, and preserve you in the possession
of them.
"Our young people in this country have been very foolish, and
done many imprudent things, for which they must soon he sorry,
and of which I make no doubt they have acquainted you; hut must
desire you not to listen to them, as they would be willing you should
act foolishly with themselves; hut rather let what you hear pass in
at one ear and out of the other, so that it may make no impression on
your heart, until you hear from me fully, which shall he as soon as
I can give further information.
"Capt. White-eyes will please acquaint the Cornstalk with these
my sentiments, as well as the chiefs of the Mingos, and other six
nations.
(Signed) "Dunmore."
It is scarcely necessary to remark here, that the flight of Dun-
more from Williamsburg, of Connoly from Pittsburgh, this speech of
Dunmore's, and the speech of the Delawares to Capt. Wood, are all
nearly contemporaneous, and point the reader pretty clearly to the
aspect of our affairs with the Indians at this period. Dunmore's
speech, as you have it above, although pretty explicit, is yet guarded,
as it had to pass through an equivocal medium; hut he tells Captain
White-eyes he shall hear from him "hereafter," and this "hereafter"
speech was no doubt in Connoly's portmanteau when he was arrested
in Prederick.
But to conclude this tedious chapter, nothing more now seems
necessary than to call the attention of the reader to those inferences
that the facts and circumstances detailed in the foregoing pages seem
to warrant.
The first circumstance in the order of events seems to he the
extraordinary and contradictory conduct of Dunmore and Connoly
respecting Captain Cresap. They certainly understood each other,
and had one ultimate end in view ; yet we find on all occasions Dun-
more treats Cresap with the utmost confidence and cordiality, and
that Conntdy's conduct was continually the reverse, even outrageously
insulting him, while under the immediate orders of Dunmore himself.
Secondly, we find Dunmore acting vdth duplicity and deception
with Col. Lewis and his brigade, from Augusta county. So says
Doddridge.
138
Histoey of The Valley
Thirdly, we find Capt. Cresap's name foisted into Logan's pre¬
tended speech, when it is evident, as we shall hereafter prove, that no
names at all were mentioned in the original speech made for Logan.
Fourthly, it appears pretty plainly that much pains were taken
by Dunmore, at the treaty of Chillicothe, to attach the Indian chiefs
to his person, as appears from the facts that afterwards appeared.
Fifthly, the last speech from Dunmore to Capt. White-eyes and
other Indian chiefs, sent in Connoly's letter to Gibson; to all which
we may add, his lordship's nap of sleep while Cresap was stating
his complaints against Connoly, and all Connoly's strange and un¬
accountable letters to Cresap.
I say, from all which it will appear that Dunmore had his views,
and those views hostile to the liberties of America, in his proceedings
with the Indians in the war of 1774, the circumstances of the times,
in connection vrith his equivocal conduct, lead us almost naturally to
infer that he knew pretty well what he was about, and among other
things, he knew that a war with the Indians at this time would
materially subserve the views and interest of Great Britain, and con¬
sequently he perhaps might feel it a duty to promote said war, and if
not, why betray such extreme solicitude to single out some conspicu¬
ous character, and make him the scape-goat, to bear all the blame of
this war, that he and his friend Connoly might escape?
CHAPTEK XI
The Eevoexttionaet War
It is not within the plan of this work to go into a general detail
of the war of the Revolution. The author will only give an account
of it so far as it is connected with the immediate history of the Valley.
At the beginning of the war the late Daniel Morgan was ap¬
pointed a captain, and very soon raised a company of brave and
active young men, with whom he marched to join Gen. Washington
at Boston. John Humphreys was Morgan's first lieutenant. Mor¬
gan was soon promoted to the rank of major, and Humphreys was
made captain. It is believed this was one of the first regular com¬
panies raised in Virginia, which marched to the north. Morgan
with his company was ordered to join Gen. Montgomery, and march
to the attack on Quebec; in which attack Montgomery was killed,
and Morgan, after performing prodigies of valor, compelled to sxir-
render himself and his brave troops prisoners of war. Capt.
Humphreys was killed in the assault. The Reverend Peter Muhlen¬
berg, a clergyman of the Lutheran * profession, in the county of
Shenandoah, laid off his gown and took up the sword. He was ap¬
pointed a colonel, and soon raised a regiment, called the 8th, consist¬
ing chiefly of young men of German extraction. Abraham Bowman
was appointed to a majorality in it, as was also Peter Helphinstine
of Winchester. It was frequently called the "German regiment."
Muhlenberg was ordered to the south in 1776, and the unhealthiness
of the climate proved fatal to many of his men.
James Wood, of Winchester, was also appointed a colonel. He
soon raised another regiment, marched to the north, and joined Gen.
Washington's main army.
Maj. Morgan, after several month's captivity, was exchanged
together with his troops, promoted to the rank of colonel, and again
joined his country's standard in the northern army. Muhlenberg
returned from his southern campaign, and in 1777 also joined the
northern army. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general,
and Abraham Bowman to the rank of colonel. Helphinstine con¬
tracted a lingering disease in the south, returned home on furlough.
* The autiior is mistaken ; he was an Episcopalian.t
t Fourth Edition Note—Muhlenberg: was selected for the clerical post at Woodstock
due to his ability to preach in both Engrlish and German. He came from Trappe, Penn.,
was of Lutheran parentage, and had been ordained a Lutheran minister. However, the
Church of England was the established faith in the Virginia colony, and in order to
perform marriage rites and other legal rituals and in order to receive the usual clerical
grant from the English government, Muhlenberg went to London in April, 1772, and
was ordained an Episcopal minister. The Woodstock Episcopal congregation still
possess the large Bible and Prayer Book of the Episcopal Service which Muhlenberg
brought back with him from London, and the Lutheran congregation at Woodstock owns
the altar cloths, and the old pewter communion set used by Muhlenberg and the robe
which the preacher-patriot cast aside to reveal his uniform is now on display in the
Lutheran Museum at Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, Pa.
140
Histoky of The Valley
and died in Winchester in the autumn of 1776. Col. ilorgan, with
a picked regiment of riflemen, was ordered to join Gen. Gates, to
meet and oppose Gen. Burgoyne. It is universally admitted that
Morgan, with his brave and expert rifle regiment, contributed much
towards achieving the victory which followed.
After the capture of Burgoyne and his army, 17th of October,
1777, Morgan, for his great personal bravery and superior military
talents displayed on all occasions, was promoted to the rank of
brigadier-general. He joined the standard of Washington, and soon
distinguished himself in harrassing the British army in the neigh¬
borhood of Philadelphia.
Numerous calls for the aid of the militia were made from time
to time to assist our country in the defense of its rights and liberties,
which calls were generally promptly obeyed. The spirit of patriotism
and love of country was the prevailing passion of a vast majority of
the people of the Valley; and with one exception, which will be
noticed hereafter, our character was not tarnished by anything like a
Tory insurrection. The author most devoutly wishes for the honor
of his native country, that this exception could be blotted out of our
history, and consigned to eternal oblivion.
Our Valley, at the commencement of the war, was comparatively
thinly populated. The first official return, for the county of Pred-
erick, of the effective militia, to the executive of Virginia, amounted
only to 923 ; the whole number of people in Winchester was 800,
probably a small fraction over. This return and enumeration was
made in the year 1777.
In 1777 Gen. Sullivan "gained possession of some records and
papers belonging to the Quakers, which, with a letter, were forwarded
to Congress, and referred to a committee." On the 28th of August
the committee reported, "that the several testimonies which have
been published since the commencement of the present contest betwixt
Great Britain and America, and the uniform tenor of the conduct
and conversation of a number of persons of considerable wealth, who
profess themselves to belong to the society of people commonly called
Quakers, render it certain and notorious that those persons are with
much rancor and bitterness disaffected to the American cause; that
as those persons will have it in their power, so there is no doubt it
will be their inclination, to communicate intelligence to the enemy,
and in various other ways to injure the councils and arms of America ;
that when the enemy, in the month of December, 1776, were bending
their progress towards the city of Philadelphia, a certain seditious
publication, addressed 'To our friends and brethren in religious pro¬
fession, in these and adjacent provinces,' signed John Pemberton, 'in
and on behalf of the meeting of sufferers, held at Philadelphia, for
Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the 26th of the 12th month, 1776,'
was published, and as your committee is creditably informed, circu¬
lated amongst many members of the society called Quakers, through¬
out the different states; that the seditious paper aforesaid originated
in Philadelphia, and as the persons' names who are under-mentioned.
The Revolütiohary Wak
141
llave uniformly manifested a disposition highly inimical to the
cause of America; therefore, Resolved, That it be earnestly recom¬
mended to the Supreme Executive Council of the state of Pennsyl¬
vania, forthwith to apprehend and secure the persons of Joshua
Fisher, Abel James, James Pemherton, Henry Drinker, Israel Pem-
berton, John Pemherton, John James, Samuel Pleasants, Thomas
Wharton, Sr., Thomas Fisher, son of Joshua, and Samuel Fisher, son
of Joshua, together with all such papers in their possession as may
he of a political nature.
"And, whereas, there is strong reason to apprehend that these
persons maintain a correspondence and connection highly prejudicial
to the public safety, not only in this state, hut in the several states
of America; Resolved, That it be recommended to the executive
powers of the respective states, forthwith to apprehend and secure
all persons, as well among the Quakers as others, who have in their
general conduct and conversation evinced a disposition inimical to
the cause of America; and the persons so seized be confined in such
places, and treated in such manner, as shall be consistent with their
respective characters and security of their persons; that the records
and papers of the meetings of sufferings in the respective states, be
forthwith secured and carefully examined, and that such parts of
them as may be of a political nature, be forthwith transmitted to
Congress."
The said report being read, and several of the paragraphs con¬
sidered and debated, and the question put severally thereon the same
was agreed to. "Ordered, That the board of war remove under guard
to a place of security out of the state of Pennsylvania, the Hon.
John Penn, Esq., and Benjamin Chew, Esq., and that they give
orders for having them safely secured and entertained agreeably to
their rank and station in life." A number of Quakers besides those
mentioned, and several persons of a different denomination, were
taken up by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, con¬
cerning whom Congress resolved, on the 8th of September, "That it be
recommended to the said council to order the immediate departure
of such of said prisoners as refuse to swear or affirm allegiance to
the state of Pennsylvania, to Staunton, in Augusta county,
Virginia."*
In conformity with the recommendation of Congress, a number
of Quakers, together with one druggist and a dancing master, were
sent to Winchester under guard, with a request from the executive
of Pennsylvania, directed to the county lieutenant of Frederick, to
secure them. General John Smith was then the county lieutenant.
When thi prisoners were delivered into his custody, he proposed to
them, that if they would pledge their honors not to abscond, they
should not be placed in confinement. Among the prisoners were
•See Gordon's History of the American Revolution, vol. ii. pp. 222, 223. It was at
the instance of the late General Isaac Zane, of Frederick county, Virginia, that the
place of exile was changed from Staunton to Winchester.
142
History of The Valley
three of the Pemhertons, two of the Fishers, an old Quaker preacher
named Hunt and several others, amounting in all to twelve, and with
the druggist and dancing master, fourteen. One of the Fishers was
a lawyer by profession. He protested in his own name, and on be¬
half of his fellow prisoners, against being taken into custody by Col.
Smith; stated that they had protested against being sent from
Philadelphia, that they had again protested at the Pennsylvania line
against being taken out of the state; had repeated their protest at
the Maryland line, against being taken into Virginia ; that there was
no existing law which justified their being deprived of their liberty,
and exiled from their native homes and families, and treated as
criminals. To which Col. Smith replied, "It is true that I know
of no existing law which will justify your detention; but as you are
sent to my care by the supreme executive authority of your native
state, and represented as dangerous characters and as having been
engaged in treasonable practices with the enemy, I consider it my
duty to detain you, at least until I can send an express to the govern¬
or of Virginia for his advice and direction what to do in the
premises." He accordingly dispatched an express to Williamsburg,
with a letter to the governor, who soon returned with the orders of
the executive to secure the prisoners. Col. Smith again repeated
that "if they would pledge themselves not to abscond, he would
not cause them to be confined." Upon which one of the Pemhertons
spoke and observed to Fisher, "that his protest was unavailing, and
that they must patiently submit to their fate." Then addressing him¬
self to Col. Smith, he observed, "they would not enter into any pledges,
and he must dispose of them as he thought proper." The colonel then
ordered them to be placed under guard.
Shortly before this, three hundred Hessian prisoners had been
sent to Winchester; there was consequently a guard ready prepared
to receive these exiles, and they remained in custody about eight or
nine months, during which time two of them died, and the whole of
them became much dejected; and it is probable more of them would
have died of broken hearts, had they not been permitted to return.
Some time after the British left Philadelphia, these exiles em¬
ployed the late Alexander White, Esq., a lawyer near Winchester,
for which they paid him one hundred pounds Virginia currency in
gold coin, to go to Philadelphia, and negotiate with the executive
authority of the state to permit them to return to their families and
friends; in which negotiation White succeeded; and to the great joy
and heartfelt satisfaction of these captives, they returned to their
native homes.
In the absence of the exiles. Sir William Howe, the British
general, had taken up his headquarters in John Pemberton's dwelling
house. It was a splendid building, and had been much abused by
the British, who also occupied several other houses belonging to
Pemberton, which were much injured. Pemberton owned an elegant
carriage, which Sir William had taken the liberty of using in his
parties of pleasure. When Pemberton saw the situation of his prop-
The Revolutionary War
143
erty, lie obtained permission from the proper authority, and waited
on Sir William Howe, and demanded indemnification for the injury
done to bis buildings and carriage. The plain and independent
language he used to the British general on the subject, was as remark¬
able for its bluntness, as it was for its fearless character. "Thee has
(said he) done great damage to my buildings, and thee suffered thy
w***s to ride in my carriage, and my wife will not use it since;
thee must pay me for the injury, or I will go to thy master (meaning
the king of England), and lay my complaint before him." Sir
William could but smile at the honest bluntness of the man and
thought it best to compromise and pay him a sum of money with
which the old Quaker was satisfied.*
In 1779 there was a considerable increase of British prisoners at
Winchester, and in 1780 barracks were erected about four miles west
of the town, to which the prisoners were removed, and a regular
guard kept over them. In 1781 the number of prisoners increased
to about 1600.
It was in this year, in the month of January, that Gen. Morgan,
at the battle of the Cowpens, in South Carolina, gave the British
Col. Tarleton a most signal defeat. In this action Morgan displayed
the most consummate military skill and bravery. Whilst the two
armies were closely engaged, Morgan, discovering the enemy were
thrown into some confusion, called out in his usual stentorian voice,
"Hurrah, my brave boys! another close fire, and the day is ours.
Remember, Morgan has never been beaten!" The author cannot now
recollect his authority for this statement, but he has repeatedly heard
it asserted by different individuals who were acquainted with the fact.
In the year 1813 the author traveled through South Carolina,
and called to see Mr. William Calmes, with whom he had intimate
acquaintance when quite a youth, having been school-fellows in this
county (Frederick). Mr. Calmes was well acquainted with Gen.
Morgan, and related the following anecdote, in relation to Morgan
and Tarleton.
There were two brothers by the name of , citizens of
South Carolina, men of considerable wealth and respectability, who
joined the British standard, and both obtained colonel's commissions.f
One of them was at Cornwallis' headquarters the day Tarleton set
out determined to take Morgan at all hazards. Meeting with Col.
, he accosted him to the following effect: "Well, Colonel, if
you will be at his lordship's headquarters (naming the day), you
shall have the pleasure of dining with the old wagoner." To which
Col. replied, "I wish you success. Col. Tarleton, but permit
me to caution you; you will find Morgan hard to take." On which
Tarleton flew into a passion, and threatened to arrest the colonel for
using such language in the hearing of his officers. The latter calmly
♦Gen. John Smith detailed the foreeoing Darticulars to the author,
t Fourth Edition Note—Their name was Cunningham, and they moved to South
Carolina from the Valley.
144
History of The Valley
replied, "Col. Tarletoii, I have staked everything dear to me in this
life upon the issue of the present contest. I own a fine estate. My
family and my personal liberty are in danger. If America succeeds
in establishing her independence, my estate will he forfeited, my
family reduced to beggary and the least I can expect (if I escape
with my life), will be perpetual exile. Hence, sir, I most ardently
wish you success. But permit me to again caution you. Morgan
is a cunning, artful officer, and you will find him hard to take."
Tarleton, however, pushed off in high glee, determined at every risk
to capture Morgan and his little band of warriors. The result was
soon known at his lordship's headquarters ; and it so happened, when
Tarleton returned. Col. was present. The moment Tarleton
saw him he apologized to him for the harsh language he had used
towards him, and exclaimed, "By ! Morgan is truly a great
man !" This extorted praise from this haughty British officer speaks
volumes for the high military talents of General Morgan.
At the close of the war this refugee colonel took shelter for
himself and family in the British dominions of Canada, and his fine
estate was confiscated. He, however, petitioned the government of
South Carolina; and from his general good character in private life,
an act of pardon, together with the restoration of his estate, was
passed and he returned to its enjoyment with all the privileges of a
free citizen. After his return Mr. Calmes became acquainted with
him, and received the above statement of facts from him.
The brother of this officer, from some acts of ferocious cruelty
practiced upon the friends of the American cause, had his estate also
confiscated. The government refused to restore it, and passed an act
of perpetual banishment against him.
In 1781 Cornwallis entered Virginia at the head of a large army,
and in the month of June a party of Tories raised the British stand¬
ard on Lost River, then in the county of Hampshire (now Hardy).
John Claypole, a Scotsman by birth, and his two sons, were at the
head of the insurrection.* Claypole had the address to draw over to
his party a considerable majority of the people on Lost River, and
a number on the South Fork of the Wappatomaka. They first man¬
ifested symptoms of rebellion by refusing to pay their taxes and
refusing to furnish their quota of men to serve in the militia. The
sheriff, or collectors of the revenue, complained to Col. Vanmeter,
of the county of Hampshire, that they were resisted in their attempts
to discharge their official duties, when the colonel ordered a captain
and thirty men to their aid. The insurgents armed themselves, and
determined to resist. Among them was John Brake, a German of
considerable wealth, who resided about fifteen miles above Moorefield,
on the South Fork of the river, and whose house became the place of
rendezvous for the insurgents. When the sheriff went up with the
*Moses Russell, Esq., informed the author, that it was reported and believed at the
time that Claypolo's two sons went to North Carolina, and had an interview with Lord
Cornwallis, who appointed and commissioned them both captains in the British service,
and sent the commission of colonel to their father.
The Revolution AKT War
145
militia posse, fifty men appeared in arms. The posse and Tories un¬
expectedly met in the public road. Thirty-five of the latter hroke
and ran about one hundred yards, and then formed, while fifteen
stood firm. The captain of the guard called out for a parley, when
a free conversation took place, in which this dangerous proceeding on
the part of the Tories was pointed out, with the terrible consequences
which must inevitably follow. It is said that had a pistol been fired,
a dreadful scene of carnage would have ensued.* The two parties,
however, parted without bloodshed. But instead of the Tory party
retiring to their respective homes and attending to their domestic
duties the spirit of insurrection increased. They began to organize,
appointed ofiicers, and made John Claypole their commander-in-chief,
with the intention of marching off in a body to Cornwallis, in the
event of his advancing into the Valley or near it.
Several expresses were sent to Col. Smith, requesting the aid of
the militia, in the counties immediately adjoining, to quell this
rebellion. He addressed letters to the commanding ofiicers of Berke¬
ley and Shenandoah, heat up for volunteers in Frederick, and in a few
days an army of four hundred rank and file were well mounted and
equipped. Gen. Morgan, who, after the defeat of Tarleton and some
other military services, had obtained leave of absence from the army,
and was now reposing on his farm (Saratoga) in Frederick, and
whose name was a host in itself, was solicited to take the command,
with which he readily complied. About the 18th or 20th of June the
army marched from Winchester, and in two days arrived in the
neighborhood of this Tory section of Hardy county. They halted at
Claypole's house, f and took him prisoner. Several young men fled,
among them William Baker. As he ran across Claypole's meadow
he was hailed and ordered to surrender; but disregarding the com¬
mand, Capt. Abraham Byrd, of Shenandoah county, an excellent
marksman, raised his rifle, fired, and wounded him in the leg. J He
fell, and several of Morgan's party went to him to see the result.
The ball had penterated just above the heel, ranged up the leg, and
shivered the bone. As the poor fellow begged for mercy, he was
taken to the house, and his wound dressed by the surgeon of the
regiment. He recovered, and is still living. They took from Clay-
pole provisions for themselves and horses; Col. Smith (who was
second in command) giving him a certificate for their value.
From Claypole's the army moved up Lost River, and some
young men in the advance took a man named Matthias Wilkins
prisoner, placed a rope around his neck, and threatened to hang him.
Col. Smith rode up, saw what was going on, and ordered them in¬
stantly to desist. They also caught a man named John Payne, and
*l8aac Vanmeter» Esq.» then about eighteen years of age» was one of the posse»
and related these facts to the author.
tCIaypole's former residence is now owned by Mr. Miller» and is about forty-five
or fifty miles southwest of Winchester» on Lost River in Hardy county.
t The spot was pointed out to the author» by Mr. Miller, where Byrd stood when
he fired at Baker, and where Baker fell. The distance is about four hundred yards.
146
History of The Valley
branded him on the posteriors with a red hot spade, telling him they
would make him a freemason. Claypole solemnly promised to be of
good behavior, gave bail and was set at liberty.
The army thence crossed the South Branch Mountain. On or
near the summit they saw a small cabin, which had probably been
erected by some hunters. Gen. Morgan ordered it to be surrounded,
observing, "It is probable some of the Tories are now in it." As the
men approached the cabin, ten or a dozen fellows ran out and fled.
An elderly man named Mace, and two of his sons, were among them.
Old Mace, finding himself pretty closely pursued, surrendered. One
of the pursuers was Capt. Wüliam Snickers, an aid-de-camp of
Morgan, who being mounted on a fine horse, was soon alongside of
him. One of Mace's sons looking around at this instant, and seeing
Snickers aiming a blow with a drawn sword at his father, drew up
his rifle and fired at him. The ball passed through the crest of his
horse's neck; he fell, and threw the rider over his head. Snickers
was at first thought by his friends to be killed ; and in the excitement
of the moment, an Irishman, half drunk, who had been with Morgan
for some time as waiter, and had seen much Tory blood shed in the
Carolinas, ran up to the prisoner (Mace) with a cocked pistol in his
hand, and shot the poor man, who fell and instantly expired. Capt.
Snickers soon recovered from the bruises received in the fall, as did
his horse also from the wound in his neck.
The army proceeded on to pay their respects to Mr. John Brake,
an old German, who had a fine farm with extensive meadows, a mill,
large distillery, and many fat hogs and cattle. He was an exception
in his political course, to his countrymen, as they were almost to a
man true Whigs, and friends to their country.* Brake, as before
observed, had joined the Tory band, and his house was their place of
rendezvous, where they feasted on the hest he had. All this appear¬
ing unquestionable, Morgan marched his army to his residence, they
halted, and spent two days and nights with his reluctant host. His
troops lived on the best his fine farm, mill and distillery afforded,
&c., while their horses fared no less luxuriously upon his fine un-
mowed meadows, oat fields, &c. As Brake had entertained and feast¬
ed the Tories, Morgan concluded that he should feast them in turn.
The third day, in the morning, the army moved on down the
river, passed by Moorefield, and returned to Winchester, where it
was disbanded, after a service of only about eight or ten days. Thus
was this Tory insurrection crushed in the bud. The party themselves
became ashamed of their conduct, and in some degree to atone for
it and wipe off the stain, several of the young men volunteered their
services and marched to aid in the capture of Cornwallis.
Within three or four days after these men were disbanded, two
expresses in one day arrived at Winchester, and informed Col. Smith
that Tarleton was on his way to rescue the British prisoners at the
• Fourth Edition Note—^Incorrect. The Tories in what is now Pendleton county
were numerous and chiefly German.
The Revolutiohaet War
147
Winchester barracks. Col. Smith had again to call out the militia,
and ordering four hundred men as a guard, removed the prisoners
to Fort Frederick, in Maryland, at which place they remained to
the end of the war.*
The summer of 1781 was emphatically the summer of militia
campaigns. There were frequent alarms that Tarleton and his legion
(of devils, some people termed them), were on their way to visit our
Valley; and sometimes it was reported that Cornwallis and his whole
army would be upon us. The militia was almost constantly march¬
ing and counter-marching.
It, however, pleased Heaven so to order things, that Cornwallis
and his large army should be entrapped and captured at Yorktown,
in Virginia. This put an end to the scourge of the war; and our
people being permitted to enjoy the blessings of peace and agricul¬
ture, commerce and the mechanical arts, improved in a most aston¬
ishing degree. The French and British armies circulated immense
sums of money, in gold and silver coin, which had the effect of driv¬
ing out of circulation the wretched paper currency which had till
then prevailed. Immense quantities of British and French goods
were soon imported; our people imbibed a taste for foreign fashion
and luxury; and in the course of two or three years from the close
of the war, such an entire change had taken place in the habits and
manners of our inhabitants, that it almost appeared as if we had
suddenly become a different nation. The staid and sober habits of
our ancestors, with their plain home-manufactured clothing, were
suddenly laid aside, and European goods of fine quality adopted in
their stead. Fine rufiles, powdered heads, silks and scarlets, decor¬
ated the men; while the most costly silks, satins, chintzes, calicoes,
muslins, &c., decorated our females. Hor was their diet less expen¬
sive; for superb plate, foreign spirits, wines, &c., sparkled on the
sideboards of many farmers. The natural result of this change of
the habits and customs of the people—this aping of European man¬
ners and morals—was to suddenly drain our country of its circulat¬
ing specie; and as a necessary consequence, the people ran in debt,
times became difficTilt, and money hard to raise.
The sufferings and hard dealings with the Quakers deserve some
notice in this place. The unfortunate proceedings of the Philadel¬
phia Quakers drew down upon the whole order the strong prejudices
and even hatred of the friends to the American cause. The treason¬
able proceedings of a few individuals ought not to have been visited
upon the whole order of Quakers. It must he admitted, however,
that this proceeding was a great blot upon Quaker character, and
stamped ¿he individuals concerned in it with base hypocrisy, and gave
the lie to their religious professions. Whilst they professed to hold
it unlawful to shed human blood; whilst they disclaimed all concern
*Gen. John Smith communicated all the particulars of the foresoing narrative to
the author, with the exception of branding: Payne with the spade; this fact was stated
bv Mr. Chrisixutn on Lost River.
148
History of The Valley
with the war; they were secretly giving intelligence to the enemy,
and aiding and abetting them in every way they could except resort¬
ing to arms. But it is again repeated that it was unjust with one
fell sweep to condemn the whole order for the malconduct of a few
individuals. The Quakers in the Valley, notwithstanding their en¬
tire neutrality, were unquestionably the greatest sufferers by the war.
They refused to bear arms, they refused to pay war taxes, and hence
the sheriffs or collectors were compelled to destrain and sell their
property to raise their respective proportion of the public burthens.
At the beginning of the war, attempts were made to compel them
to bear arms, and serve in the militia ; but it was soon found unavail¬
ing. They would not perform any military duty required of them;
not even the scourge would compel them to submit to discipline. The
practice of coercion was therefore abandoned, and the Legislature en¬
acted a law to levy a tax upon their property to hire substitutes to
perform military duty in their stead. This, with other taxes, bore
peculiarly heavy upon them. Their personal property was sold
under the hammer to raise these public demands ; and before the war
was over, many of them were reduced to great distress in their
pecuniary circumstances.
There is an amusing story told of James Gotharp, who resided
on Apple Pie Kidge. He was forced to march with a militia com¬
pany, and on one particular occasion was placed as sentry at a bag¬
gage wagon, with orders to suffer no man to go into the wagon with¬
out a written order from the commanding officer. One of the officers
walked to the wagon to go in, Gotharp demanded his written authori¬
ty, the officer cursed him and stepped upon the houns of the wagon.
Gotharp seized him by his legs and pulled his feet off the houns.
The officer fell with his face upon the houns and had his nose and
mouth sorely bruised.
This selling of Quakers' property afforded great opportunity for
designing individuals to make profitable speculations. They contin¬
ued to refuse to pay taxes for several years after the war, holding it
unlawful to contribute their money towards discharging the war debt.
This being at length adjusted, no part of our citizens pay their pub¬
lic demands with more punctuality (except their muster fines which
they still refuse to pay). Owing to their industrious and sober hab¬
its, they soon recovered from their pecuniary distress produced by
the war, and are, generally speaking, the most independent part of
our community. Vast numbers of them have migrated to the west¬
ern country, and several of their meetings are entirely broken up.
There is, however, still a considerable number of them in the coun¬
ties of Frederick and Berkeley. They continue their ancient prac¬
tice of depending upon their household manufactures for their cloth¬
ing ; and it was a long time before they gave into the practice of pur¬
chasing European goods. A few of them entered into the mercantile
business; several others erected fine merchant mills; others engaged
The Revolutionary War
149
in mechanical pursuits ; hut the great body of them are farmers, and
are generally most excellent cultivators of the soil.
The greater part of the Germans, also, were a long time depend¬
ent upon their domestic manufactures for their clothing; hut they,
too, have imbibed a taste for foreign finery. They, however, have
managed to effect their purchases by bartering, in a considerable de¬
gree, their own household manufactures in exchange.
Some three or four years ago the author called at the house of a
farmer in the southwest part of Shenandoah county, where he saw
five spinning wheels at work. The old lady, three of her daughters,
and a hired girl, were busily engaged in spinning finely prepared
hemp. The author inquired of the old lady, whether she sold any
part of her domestic goods, to which she replied, "Yes; when de
gals wants to puy some fine dings in de sthore, dey hay for it in
linen und linsey; und I puy sugar und goffee, und salt, und any
dings we wants, und I hay for it all in our own coods."
The author stopped at a neighboring house, and inquired of the
inmates how their neighbor I got along. "O," replied the man,
"Mr. I. buys a plantation every four or five years, and always pays
the money down."
CHAPTER XTI
Mode of Living of The Primitive Settlers
The first houses erected by the primitive settlers were log cabins,
with covers of split clapboards, and weight poles to keep them in
place. They were frequently seen with earthen floors; or if wood
floors were used, they were made of split puncheons, a little smoothed
with the broad-axe. These houses were pretty generally in use since
the author's recollection. There were, however, a few framed and
stone buildings erected previous to the war of the Revolution. As
the country improved in population and wealth, there was a corre¬
sponding improvement in the erection of buildings.
When this improvement commenced, the most general mode of
building was with hewn logs, a shingle roof and plank floor, the
plank cut out with a whip saw. As it is probable some of my young
readers have never seen a whip saw, a short description of it may
not be uninteresting. It was about the length of the common mill
saw, with a handle at each end transversely fixed to it. The timber
intended to he sawed was first squared with a broad-axe, and then
raised on a scaffold six or seven feet high. Two able bodied men
then took hold of the saw, one standing on the top of the log and
the other under it, and commenced sawing. The labor was excessive¬
ly fatiguing, and about one hundred feet of plank or scantling was
considered a good day's work for the two hands. The introduction
of saw mills, however, soon superseded the use of the whip saw, but
they were not entirely laid aside until several years after the war
of the Revolution.
The dress of the early settlers was of the plainest material—^gen¬
erally of their own manufacture; and if a modem "belle" or "beau"
were now to witness the extreme plainness and simplicity of their
fashions, the one would be almost thrown into a fit of hysterics, and
the other frightened at the odd and grotesque appearance of their
progenitors.
Previous to the war of the Revolution the married men generally
shaved their heads, and either wore wigs or white linen caps. When
the war commenced, this fashion was laid aside, partly from patri¬
otic considerations and partly from necessity. Owing to the entire
intermption of the intercourse with England, wigs could not easily
be obtained, nor white linen for caps.
The men's coats were generally made with broad backs, and
straight short skirts, with pockets on the outside having large flaps.
The waistcoats had skirts nearly half way down to the knees, and
very broad pocket flaps. The breeches were so short as barely to
reach the knee, with a band surrounding the knee, fastened with
either brass or silver buckles. The stocking was drawn up under
Mode of Living of The Primitive Settlers 151
the knee-band, and tied with a garter (generally red or blue), below
the knee, so as to be seen. The shoes were of coarse leather, with
straps to the quarters, and fastened with either brass or silver buckles.
The hat was either wool or fur, with a round crown not ex¬
ceeding three or four inches high, with a broad brim.* The dress
for the neck was usually a narrow collar to the shirt, with a white
linen stock drawn together at the ends, on the back of the neck, with
a broad metal buckle. The more wealthy and fashionable were some¬
times seen with their stock, knee and shoe-buckles, set either in gold
or silver with brilliant stones. The author can recollect, when a
child, if he happened to see any of those finely dressed "great, folk,"
as they were then termed, he felt awed in their presence, and viewed
them as something more than man.
The female dress was generally the short gown and petticoat
made of the plainest materials. The German women mostly wore
tight calico caps on their heads, and in the summer season they were
generally seen with no other clothing than a linen shift and petti¬
coat—the feet, hands, and arms were bare. In hay and harvest time,
they joined the men in the labor of the meadow and grain fields.
This custom, of the females laboring in the time of harvest, was not
exclusively a German practice, hut was common to all the northern
people. Many females were most expert mowers and reapers. Within
the author's recollection, he has seen several female reapers who
were equal to the stoutest males in the harvest field. It was no un¬
common thing to see the female part of the family at the hoe or plow;
and some of our now wealthiest citizens frequently boast of their
grandmothers, aye mothers too, performing this kind of heavy labor.
The natural result of this kind of rural life was to produce a
hardy and vigorous race of people. It was this race of people who
had to meet and breast the various Indian wars and the storms of
the Revolution.
The Dutchman's barn was usually the best building on his farm.
He was sure to erect a fine large barn, before he built any other
dwelling-houses than his rude log cabin. There were none of our
primitive immigrants more uniform in the form of their buildings
than the Germans. Their dwelling-houses were seldom raised more
than a single story in height, with a large cellar beneath; the chim¬
ney in the middle, with a very wide fire-place in one end for the
kitchen, in the other end a stove room. Their furniture was of thn
simplest and plainest kind; and there was always a long pine table
fixed in one corner of the stove room, with permanent benches on
one side, On the upper floor, garners for holding grain were very
common. Their beds were generally filled with straw or chaff, with
a fine fehther bed for covering in the winter. The author has sev¬
eral times slept in this kind of a bed; and to a person unaccustomed
to it, it is attended not unfrequently with danger to the health. The
♦The Quakers were remarkable for their broad-brim hats. They were lometimes
called "Broadbrims/* by way oí distinguishinsr them from other people.
152
Histoky of The Valley
thick covering of feathers is pretty certain to produce a profuse per¬
spiration, which an exposure to cold, on rising in the morning, is
apt to check suddenly, causing chillness and obstinate cough. The
author, a few years ago, caught in this way the most severe cold,
which was followed by a long and distressing cough, he was ever
afflicted with.
Many of the Germans have what they call a drum, through
which the stove pipe passes in their upper rooms. It is made of
sheet iron, something in the shape of a military drum. It soon
fills with heat from the pipe, by which the rooms become agreeably
warm in the coldest weather. A piazza is a very common append¬
age to a Dutchman's dwelling-house, in which his saddles, bridles,
and very frequently his wagon or plow harness are hung up.
The Germans erect stables for their domestic animals of every
species; even their swine are housed in the winter season. Their
barns and stables are well stored with provender, particularly fine
hay; hence their quadrupeds of all kinds are kept throughout the
year in the finest possible order. This practice of housing stock in
the winter season is unquestionably great economy in husbandry.
Much less food is required to sustain them, and the animals come
out in the spring in fine health and condition. It is a rare occur¬
rence to hear of a Dutchman's losing any part of his stock with
poverty. The practice of housing stock in the winter is not exclu¬
sively a German custom, but it is common to most of the northern
people, and those descended from immigrants from the north. The
author recollects once seeing the cow stalls adjoining a farmer's
dwelling.
The German women, many of them, are remarkably neat house¬
keepers. There are some of them, however, extremely slovenly, and
their dwellings are kept in the worst possible condition. The effluvia
arising from the want of cleanliness is in the highest d^ree disgust¬
ing and offensive to persons unaccustomed to such fare. The same
remarks are applicable to the Irish; nay to some native Virginians.
The Giermans are remarkable for their fine bread, milk and butter.
They consume in their diet less animal flesh, and of course more
vegetables, than most other people. Their "sour krout"* in the win¬
ter constitutes a considerable part of their living. They generally
consume less, and sell more of the product of their labor, than any
other class of our citizens. A Dutchman is proverbial for his patient
perseverance in his domestic labors. Their farms are gener-
*"Sour krout" is made of the best of cabbage. a box about three feet in length,
and six or seven inches wide, with a sharp blade ñxed across the bottom, something
on the principle of the jack plane, is used for cutting the cabbage. The head being
separated from the stalk, and stripped of its outer leaves, is placed in this box, and
run back and forth. The cabbage thus cut is placed in a barrel, a little salt iprinkled
on from time to time, then pressed down very closely, and covered over at the open
head. In the course of three or four weeks it acquires a sourish taste, and to persons
accustomed to the use of it, it is a very agreeable and wholesome food. It is said that
ttie use of it, within the last few years, on board of ships, has proved it to be the best
preventive known for the scurvy. The use of it is becoming pretty general among all
classes of people in the Valley.
Mode of Living of The Primitive Settlers
153
ally small and nicely cultivated. In his agricultural pursuits, his
meadows demand his greatest care and attention. His little farm
is laid off in fields not exceeding ten or twelve acres each. It is
rarely seen that a Dutchman will cultivate more than ahout ten or
twelve acres in Indian corn in one year. They are of the opinion
that the com crop is a great exhauster of the soil, and they make
hut little use of corn for any other purpose than feeding and fat¬
tening their swine.
Previous to the war of the Revolution, and for several years
after, considerable quantities of tobacco were raised in the lower
counties of the Valley. The cultivation of this crop was first
introduced and pursued by immigrants from the eastern counties of
Virginia. From the newly cleared lands, two crops of tobacco in
succession were generally taken, and it was then appropriated to
the culture of other crops. The crop of tobacco left the soil in
the finest possible state for the production of other crops. Cora,
wheat, rye, flax, oats, potatoes, and everything else, were almost cer¬
tain to produce abundant crops after the crop of tobacco.
In the year 1794 the French Revolution broke out, when bread
stuffs of every kind suddenly became enormously high; in conse¬
quence of which the farmers in the Valley abandoned the cultivation
of tobacco and turned their attention to wheat, which they raised
in vast quantities for several years. It was no uncommon thing for
the farmer, for several years after the commencement of the French
Revolution, to sell his crops of wheat from one to two, and some¬
times at two and a half dollars per bushel, and his flour from ten
to fourteen dollars per barrel in our seaport towns.
In the year 1796, the Hessian fly first made its appearance in
Virginia. Its ravages that year were limited, and but little damage
was sustained in the crop of wheat. The crop of 1797, in the coun¬
ties contiguous to the Potomac, was generally destroyed, and the
same year partial injury was discovered in Frederick county. The
crop of 1798, throughout the county of Frederick, was nearly de¬
stroyed, ever since which time the farmers have annually suffered
more or less from the ravages of this destructive destroyer. This
insect had prevailed in some of the Horthera States for several years
before it reached Virginia. It is said it first appeared on Long
Island, and was believed to have been imported by the Hessian
troops in their straw bedding in the time of the war of the Revo¬
lution. If this be true, it was a woeful curse upon our country,
of which it probably will never he relieved. The present generation
have abimdant cause to execrate the inhuman policy of our parent
state in bringing upon us this heavy calamity, and all future gener¬
ations wilf probably join in condemning the British ministry who
forced upon our ancestors that unrighteous and disastrous war.
CHAPTEE XIII
XOKTHERN XECK OF ViEGINIA
Charles II, king of England, granted to the ancestors of the
late Lord Fairfax all the lands lying between the head waters of
the Eappahannock and Potomac Kivers in the Chesapeake Bay.
This immense grant included the territory now comprising the coun¬
ties of Lancaster, Northumberland, Eichmond, "Westmoreland, Staf¬
ford, King George, Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, Fauquier,
Culpeper, Madison, Page, Shenandoah, Hardy, Hampshire, Morgan,
Berkeley, Jefferson and Frederick. It is said that the first grant
to the ancestors of Fairfax was only intended to include the terri¬
tory in the Northern Neck, east of the Blue Eidge; but after Fair¬
fax discovered that the Potomac Eiver headed in the Alleghany
Mountains, he returned to England, and instituted his petition in
the court of king's bench for extending his grant into the Alleghany
Mountains, so as to include the territory composing the present coun¬
ties of Page, Shenandoah, Hardy, Hampshire, Morgan, Berkeley, Jef¬
ferson and Frederick. A compromise took place between Fairfax
and the crown; but previous to the institution of Fairfax's suit, sev¬
eral individuals had obtained grants for large bodies of land west
of the Blue Eidge, from the Colonial government of Virginia. In
the compromise it was expressly stipulated that the holders of lands,
under what were then called the king's grants, were to be quieted
in their right of possession.
Joist Hite and his partners had obtained grants for a large body.
Fairfax, under the pretext that Hite, &c., had not complied with
the terms of their grants, took it upon himself to grant away large
quantities of these lands to other individuals. This arbitrary and
high-handed proceeding on the part of his lordship produced a law¬
suit, which Hite and his partners instituted in the year 1736, and
in the year 1786 it was decided. Hite and partners recovered a large
amount of money for the rents and profits, and a considerable quan¬
tity of land.*
The immense Fairfax estate had passed out of the hands of
Fairfax's heirs. The lands (as observed in a preceding chapter)
were granted by Fairfax in fee simple to his tenants, subject to
*In the year 1736, Fairfax entered a caveat against Hite, &c., alleging that the
lands claimed by them were within the bounds of the Northern Keck, and consequently
his property. This was the beginning of the controversy, and led to the suit instituted
by Hite and partners against him. All the parties died before the suit was decided.
Hite in 1731 purchased from John and Isaac Vanmeter their right or warrant for lo¬
cating 40,000 acres ; Hite and McKay obtained a warrant for locating 100,000 acres
more in their own names ; and in order to obtain settlers, took in Robert Green and
William Duff as partners. Hence the firm of Joist Hite, Robert McKay, Robert Green
and William Duff. Green and Duff settled in Culpeper county, and are the ancestors
of the families of those names in that county, and of Gen. Duff Green of Washington
City.
Northern Neck of Virginia
155
an annual rent of two shillings sterling per hundred acres. This
small rent amounted in the aggregate to a very large sum; added
to which Fairfax required the payment of ten shillings sterling on
each fifty acres (which he termed composition money), which was
paid on issuing the grant.
Ahout the year 1742, his lordship opened his office in the county
of Fairfax for granting out the land. A few years after, he removed
to the county of Frederick, and settled at what he called "Greenway
Court," about twelve or fourteen miles southeast of Winchester, where
he kept his land office during his life. He died in the autumn of
1781, very soon after the surrender of Oomwallis. It is said that
as soon as he heard of the surrender of Cornwallis and his army,
he called to his servants to assist him to bed, observing, "It is time
for me to die and truly the old man never again left his bed until
he was consigned to the tomb. His body was deposited under the
communion table in the then Episcopal church in Winchester.*
In the year 1785 the Legislature of Virginia passed an act which
among other provisions (in relation to the Northern Neck) is the
following :
"And be it further enacted, that the landholders within the said
district of the Northern Neck shall be forever hereafter exonerated
and discharged from composition and quitrent, any law, custom of
usage, to the contrary notwithstanding."f This act of the state
freed the people from a vexatious and troublesome kind of taxation.
Fairfax's representatives soon sold out their interest in their pri¬
vate estate in this country, and it is believed there is no part of
this vast landed estate remaining in the hands of any branch of
the Fairfax family. Chief Justice Marshall, the late Kaleigh Colston,
Esq., and the late Gen. Henry Lee, purchased the right of Fair¬
fax's legatees (in England) to what is called the Manor of Leeds,!
South Branch Manor, Patterson's Creek Manor, and various other
tracts of land of immense value—the most of which had been leased
out for long terms or lives. This estate has been the cause of more
litigation probably than any other estate in Virginia. Suits grow¬
ing out of the case of Hite, &c., against Fairfax, are yet depending
in our courts—and some of the tenants in the Manor of Leeds have
lately taken it in their heads that the Fairfax title is defective, and
*Lord Fairfax made a donation to the Episcopal society, of a lot of land, opon
which a larsre stone building was erected as a place of worship. The lot is in the
center of the town, and, attached to the church, was a large burial ground, in which a
great number of bodies were dei>osited. The Episcopal society lately sold at auction
this ancient building and lot for twelve thousand dollars. The purchasers caused the
skeletons to be removed, and there are now three elegant brick houses erected on the
lot. With the money arising from the sale, the Episcopal society purchased a lot on
Boscowen apid Washington streets, and have built a splendid new church. It is to be
regretted that no account was taken of the number of skeletons removed. The author
inquired of several persons, who were concerned in the removal, no one of whom
eould give any account of the number. It is probable there were not less than 1,000,
the skeleton of LH>rd Fairfax among them.
tSee Revised Code of the Laws of Virginia, vol. 1 p. 361.
i The Manor of Leeds is located in the counties of Culpeper, Fauquier and Fred¬
erick, and contains about 150,000 acres ; the South Branch Manor in Hardy, 55J)00 ;
Patterson's Creek in Hampshire, 9,000 acres ; Goony Run Manor, which adjoins the
Manor of Leeds, contains about 13,000 acres, and lies chieñy in Shenandoah county.
156
History of The Valley
refuse to pay rents to the present claimants. This refusal has pro¬
duced a lawsuit, which will doubtless be a long time pending.
This profligate manner of granting away lands in immense
bodies was unquestionably founded in the most unwise and unjust
policy. Instead of promoting the speedy settlement and improve¬
ment of the country, instead of holding out to the bulk of society
every possible encouragement to make the most speedy settlement
and improvement in the new country, monopolies in several instances
were given, or pretended to he sold to a few favorites of the govern¬
ing powers, whereby these favorities were enabled to amass vast
estates, and to lord it over the great majority of their fellowmen.
Such are the blessings of kingly governments. But the people of this
free and happy republic have abundant cause to rejoice and bless
their God that this wretched kind of policy and high-handed injustice
is done away, in the freedom and wisdom of our institutions, and
that we have no longer our ears assailed, nor our understandings
outraged, with the disgusting, high-sounding title of "My Lord!"
applied to poor frail human beings.
Lord Fairfax was the county lieutenant for Frederick for several
years. On looking into the record of the proceedings of the court-
martial, the author found the following entry :
"At a council of war, held for regulating the militia of Fred¬
erick county, in order to take such steps as shall he thought most
expedient in the present critical conjucture, the 14th day of April,
1756; present, the Et. Hon. the Lord Fairfax, county lieutenant;
John Hite, major; John Lindsey, Isaac Parkins, Richard Morgan,
Samuel Odell, Edward Rodgers, Jeremiah Smith,* Thomas Caton,
Paul Long, captains.
"Proposals having been sent to the several captains of the
militia, signed by the commanding officer of the said militia, and
dated the 7th day of April, 1756, to get what volunteers they could
encourage to go in search of the Indian enemy who are daily
ravaging our frontiers and committing their accustomed cruelties
on the inhabitants; and the aforesaid officers being met together,
and finding the number of men insufficient to go against the enemy,
it is considered that the men he discharged, being only fifteen.
Fairfax."
From this it appears that Lord Fairfax, among others, was
an attentive officer in the time of the Indian wars. In truth it
behooved his lordship to be active. He had more at stake, and
the command of greater funds, than any other individual member
of society. The Indian hostilities retarded the settlement of his
large domain, and of course lessened his revenue. It is said that
his lordship was remarkable for his eccentricities and singularity
* Capt. Jeremiah Smith« the same who def^ted the party of ñfty Indians, and
killed the French captain, noticed in a preceding chapter.
Northern Neck of Virginia
157
of disposition and character, and that he had an insatiable passion
for hoarding up English gold.* He never married; of course left
no child to inherit his vast estate; but devised his property, or a
large portion of it, to the Rev. Denny Martin, his nephew in
England, on condition that he would apply to the Parliament of
Great Britain for an act to authorize him to take the name
of Lord Fairfax. This was done; and Denny Lord Fairfax,
like his uncle, never marrying, he devised the estate to Gen. Philip
Martin, who, never marrying, and dying without issue, devised the
estates to his two old maiden sisters, who sold it to Messrs. Marshall,
Colston and Lee.
He devised that part of his estate on which he resided, and
which he called "Greenway Court Manor" (containing ten thousand
acres, with a large part of his slaves, &c.), to another nephew, the
late Col. Thomas Bryan Martin, who had resided with him for
many years previous to his death." Col. Martin, like the others,
never married. But he contrived to make a daughter by a Mrs.
Crawford, whom Lord Fairfax had employed as a housekeeper. After
Fairfax's death, Martin kept this woman as a mistress for several
years; she died, and the daughter grew up and married the late
Francis Geldart, who was a captain in the British service in the
war of the Revolution. She died soon after her marriage without
issue. Martin gave Geldart about one thousand acres of land, part
of "Greenway Court Manor," with a number of slaves, &c. Col.
Martin, after the death of his daughter, employed a white house¬
keeper, a Miss Powers, to whom he devised Greenway Court, with
one thousand acres of land, a number of slaves, and all the residue
of his personal estate of every description (with the exception of
part of his stock, slaves, and money). Miss Powers, after the death
of Martin, married the late Mr. W. Carnagy, by whom she had an
only daughter, who is now the wife of Rev. Mr. Thomas Kennerly.
Col. Martin directed by his will the sale of all the residue of his
estate, and the money arising from the sale to be remitted and paid
to his two maiden sisters in England, f Shortly after his death an
attempt was made to escheat the landed estate, and the suit was
depending some sixteen or eighteen years before its final decision.
The Court of Appeals at length decided the question in favor of
Martin's legatees.
It is proper, before the subject of Lord Fairfax's immense grant
is dismissed, to inform the reader, that a few years after the war of
the Revolution, an attempt was made to confiscate all that part of
his landed estate devised to his nephew Denny Martin (afterwards
Denny Lord Fairfax). But Messrs. Marshall, Colston and Lee,
having purchased the estate, a compromise took place between them
♦Some four or five years ago the slaves of the Rev. Mr. Kennerly, the present
proprietor of ''Greenway Court," in quarrying stone not far from Fairfax's ancient
dwelling-house, found about $250 worth of gold coin, supposed to have been hidden
there by his lordship.
t The fötate sold for about one hundred thousand dollars.
158
History of The Vai,ley
and the state government, for the particulars of which the reader
is referred to the first volume of the Kevised Code of the Laws of
Virginia, pp. 352, 353.
The sale of the estate of Lord Fairfax by his legatees in England,
and the devise and sale of the estate of the late Col. T. B. Martin,
is the last chapter in the history of the Fairfax interest in the
Northern Neck, a territory comprising about one-fourth of the whole
of the present limits of Virginia.
The state of Maryland has lately set up a claim to a consider¬
able tract of territory on the northwest border of Virginia, including
a part of the Northern Neck. As the claim was pushed with much
earnestness, the executive of our state appointed Charles James
Faulkner, Esq., of Martinsburg, a commissioner, to collect and
embody the necessary testimony, on behalf of Virginia, on this
interesting question. Mr. Faulkner's able report the author deems
of sufiicient interest to his readers generally to insert in this work.
It follows:
Report of Charles James Faulkner, Relative to The Boundary
Line Between Virginia and Maryland
Martinsburg, Va., November 6th, 1832.
Sir:—In execution of a commission addressed to me by your
Excellency, and made out in pursuance of a joint resolution of the
General Assembly of this state, of the 20th of March last, I have
directed my attention to the collection of such testimony as the lapse
of time and the nature of the inquiry have enabled me to procure
touching "the settlement and adjustment of the western boundary of
Maryland." The division line which now separates the two states
on the west, and which has heretofore been considered as fixed by
positive adjudication and long acquiescence, commences at a point
where the Fairfax stone is planted, at the head spring of the Potomac
River, and runs thence due north to the Pennsylvania line. This
is the boundary by which Virginia has held for nearly a century;
it is the line by which she held in 1786, when the compact made
by the Virginia and Maryland commissioners was solemnly ratified
by the legislative authorities of the two states.
An effort is now made by the General Assembly of Maryland
to enlarge her territory by the establishment of a different division
line. We have not been informed which fork of the South Branch
she will elect as the new boundary, but the proposed line is to run
from one of the forks of the South Branch, thence due north to the
Pennsylvania terminus. It is needless to say that the substitution
of the latter, no matter at which fork it may commence, would cause
an important diminution in the already diminished territorial area
of this state. It would deprive us of large portions of the counties
of Hampshire, Hardy, Pendleton, Randolph and Preston, amounting
in all to almost half a million of acres—a section of tbe common-
Northern Neok of Virginia
159
wealth which from the quality of its soil, and the character of its
population, might well excite the cupidity of a government resting
her claims upon a less substantial basis than a stale and groundless
pretension of more than a century's antiquity. Although my
instructions have directed my attention more particularly to the
collection and preservation of the evidence of such living witnesses
"as might he able to testify to any facts or circumstances in relation
to the settlement and adjustment of the western boundary," I have
consumed hut a very inconsiderable portion of my time in any labor
or inquiry of that sort, for who indeed, now living, could testify
to any "facts or circumstances" which occurred nearly a century
since? And if such individuals were now living, why waste time
in taking depositions as to those "facts," in proof of which the most
ample and authentic testimony was taken in 1736, as the basis of
a royal adjudication? I have consequently deemed it of more
importance to procure the original documents where possible, if
not, authentic copies of such papers as would serve to exhibit a
connected view of the origin, progress and termination of that
controversy with the crown, which resulted, after the most accurate
and laborious surveys, in the ascertainment of those very "facts and
circumstances" which are now sought to be made again the subjects
of discussion and inquiry. In this pursuit I have succeeded far
beyond what I had any ground for anticipation; and from the
almost forgotten rubbish of past years, have been enabled to draw
forth documents and papers whose interests may survive the occasion
which redeemed them from destruction.
To enable your Excellency to form a just conception of the
weight and importance of the evidence herewith accompanying this
report, I beg leave to submit with it a succinct statement of the
question in issue between the governments of Virginia and Maryland,
with some observations showing the relevancy of the evidence to the
question thus presented.
The territory of Maryland granted by Charles I to Lord
Baltimore, in June, 1632, was described in the grant as "that
region bounded by a line drawn from Watkins' Point on Chesapeake
Bay to the ocean on the east; thence to that part of the estuary
of Delaware on the north which lieth under the fortieth degree,
where New England is terminated; thence in a right line by the
degree aforesaid, to the meridian of the fountain of the Potomac;
thence following its course by its farther bank to its confluence."
{Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. I, chap. II, pp. 78-81, first
edition.)
It is «plain that the western boundary of this grant was the
meridian of the fountain of the Potomac, from the point where it
cut the fortieth degree of north latitude to the fountain of the river;
and that the extent of the grant depended upon the question, what
stream was the Potomac? So that the question now in controversy
grows immediately out of the grant. The territory granted to Lord
160
History of The Valley
Baltimore was undoubtedly within the chartered limits of Virginia:
(See 1st charter of April, 1606, sec. 4, and the 2nd charter of May,
1609, sec. 6, 1st of Hen. Stat, at Large, pp. 58-88.) And Marshall
says that the grant "was the first example of the dismemberment
of a colony, and the creation of a new one within its limits, by
the mere act of the crown;" and that the planters of Virginia
presented a petition against it, "which was heard before the privy
council (of England) in July, 1633, when it was declared that
Lord Baltimore should retain his patent, and the petitioners their
remedy at law. To this remedy they never thought proper to
resort."
Whether there be any record of this proceeding extant, I have
never been able to learn. The civil war in England broke out about
ten years after, and perhaps the journals of the proceedings of the
privy council were destroyed. Subsequently to this, we are informed
by Graham, the planters, "fortified by the opinion of eminent lawyers
whom they consulted, and who scrupled not to assure them that the
ancient patents of Virginia still remained in force, and that the
griant of Maryland, as derogatory to them, was utterly void, they
presented an application to the parliament complaining of the unjust
invasion which their privileges had undergone." {Graham's His¬
tory, vol. 2, p. 12). But as the parliaments of those days were
but the obsequious ministers of the crown, that application, it is
presumed, likevdse shared the fate of their former petition to the
privy council.
The present claim of Maryland, then, must be founded on the
supposition that the stream which we call the Potomac was not;
and that the stream now called the South Branch of the Potomac
was in fact the Potomac intended in the grant to Lord Baltimore.
I have never been informed which fork of the South Branch she
claims as the Potomac (for there is a li'orth and a South Fork of
the South Branch) ; neither have I been able to learn what is
the evidence, or kind of evidence, on which she relies to ascertain
that the stream which is now called the South Branch of the
Potomac, but which at the date of the grant to Lord Baltimoré
was not known at all, and when known, known for many years
only as the Wappacomo, was the Potomac intended by Lord
Baltimore's grant. For this important geographical fact, I refer
to the munerous early maps of the chartered limits of Virginia and
Maryland, some of which are to be seen in the public libraries of
Washington and Richmond.
The question, which stream was the Potomac? is simply a
question which of them, if either, bore the name. The name is
a matter of general reputation. If there be anything which depends
wholly upon general acceptation, which ought and must be settled
by prescription, it is this question, which of these rivers was and
is the Potomac? The accompanying papers, it is believed, will
ascertain this fact to the satisfaction of every impartial inquirer.
Northekn Neok of Virginia
161
In the twenty-first year of Charles II, a grant was made to
Lord Hopton and others, of what is called the Northern Nech of
Virginia, which was sold by the other patentees to Lord Culpeper,
and confirmed to him by letters patent in the fourth year of James
II. This grant carried with it nothing but the right of soil and
the incident of ownership; for it was expressly subjected to the
jurisdiction of the government of Virginia. Of this earlier patent
I believe there is no copy in Virginia. The original charter from
James II to Lord Culpeper accompanies this report, marked No. 1.
They are both recited in the Colonial statute of 1736. (I Rev. Code,
ch. 89.) The tract of country thereby granted, was "all that entire
tract, territory and parcel of land, lying and being in America, and
bounded by and within the heads of the rivers, Tappahannock alias
Rappahannock, and Quiriough alias Potomac rivers, the course of
said rivers as they are commonly called and known by the inhabi¬
tants, and description of their parts and Chesapeake Bay."
As early as 1729, in consequence of the eagerness with which
lands were sought on the Potomac, and its tributary streams, and
from the difficulties growing out of confiicting grants from Lord
Fairfax and the crown, the boundaries of the Northern Neck
proprietary became a subject which attracted deep and earnest
attention. At this time the Potomac had been but little explored;
and although the stream itself above its confiuence with the Shen¬
andoah was known as the Cohongoroota, or Upper Potomac, it had
never been made the subject of any very accurate surveys and
examinations, nor had it yet been settled, by any competent authority,
which of its several tributaries was entitled to be regarded as the
main or principal branch of the river. It became important, there¬
fore, to remove all further doubt upon that question.
In June, 1729, the lieutenant-governor of Virginia addressed
a communication to the lords commissioners of trades and plantation
affairs, in which he solicits their attention to the ambiguity of the
lord proprietor's charter, growing out of the fact that there were
several streams which might be claimed as the head springs of the
Potomac river, among which he enumerates the Shenandoah, and
expresses his determination "to refuse the suspension of granting
of patents, until the case should be fairly stated and determined
according to the genuine construction of the proprietor's charter."
This was followed by a petition to the king in council, agreed to
by the House of Burgesses of Virginia, in June, 1730, in which it is
set forth, among other matters of complaint, "that the head springs
of the Rappahannock and Potomac are not yet known to any of
your Majegty's subjects; that much inconvenience had resulted to
grantees therefrom, and praying the adoption of such measures as
might lead to its ascertainment to the satisfaction of all interested."
Lord Fairfax, who, by his marriage with the only daughter of
Lord Culpeper, had now succeeded to the proprietorship of the
Northern Neck, feeling it likewise due to his grantees to have the
162
History of The Valley
question relieved from all further diificulty, preferred his petition
to the king in 1733, praying that his Majesty would be pleased to
order a commission to issue, for running out, marking, and ascer¬
taining the bounds of his patent, according to the true intent and
meaning of his charter. An order to this effect was accordingly
directed by the king; and three commissioners were appointed on
behalf of the crown, and the same number on behalf of Lord Fairfax.
The duty which devolved upon them was to ascertain, by actual
examination and survey, the true fountains of the Rappahannock
and Potomac rivers. To enable them more perfectly to discharge
the important trust confided to them, they were authorized to
summon persons before them, to take depositions and affidavits, to
search papers, and employ surveyors, chain-carriers, markers, and
other necessary attendants. The commissioners convened in Fred¬
ericksburg, on the 26th of September, 1736, and proceeded to dis¬
charge their duties, by taking depositions, appointing surveyors, and
making every needful and requisite preparation for the survey.
They commenced their journey of observation and survey on the
12th day of October, 1736, and finished it on the 14th day of
December, of the same year; on which day they discovered what
they marked and reported to he the first fountain of the Potomac
river. Separate reports were made by the commissioners, which
reports, vdth all the accompanying documents, papers, surveys, plans,
&c., were on the 21st of December, 1738, referred to the council for
plantation affairs. That board, after hearing counsel, made a report
on the 6th day of April, 1745, in which they state, "that having
examined into the several reports, returns, plans, and other papers
transmitted to them by the commissioners appointed on behalf of
the crown, as likewise of Lord Fairfax, and having been attended
by council on behalf of your Majesty, as likewise of Lord Fairfax,
and having heard all they had to offer thereupon, and the question
being concerning that boundary which ought to be drawn from the
filrst head spring of the river Rappahannock to the first head or
spring of the river Potomac, the committee do agree humbly to
report to your Majesty as their opinion, that within the words and
meaning of the letters patent, granted by Ring James II, bearing
date the 27th day of September, in the fourth year of his reign,
the said boundary ought to begin at the first spring of the South
Branch of the river Rappahannock, and that the said boundary be
from thence dravra in a straight line northwest to the place in the
Alleghany Mountains where that part of the Potomac river, which
is now called Cohongoroota, first rises." The Cohongoroota is known
to be the stream which the Maryland writers term the North Branch
of the Potomac, but which is recognized in Virginia, and described
on all the maps and surveys which I have ever yet seen, as the
Potomac river, from its fountain, where the Fairfax Stone is located,
to its confluence with the Shenandoah river; there being, properly
speaking, no such stream as the North Branch of the Potomac river.
Nobthekn Neck of ViEonsriA
163
This report of the council for plantation affairs was submitted to
the king in council on the 11th of April, 1745, and fully confirmed
by him, and a further order made, directing the appointment of
commissioners to run and mark the dividing line agreeably to this
decision thus made. Commissioners were accordingly appointed,
who, having provided themselves with surveyors, chain-carriers,
markers, &c., commenced their journey on the 18th of September,
1746. On the I7th of October they planted the Fairfax Stone
at the spot which had been described and marked by the preceding
commissioners as the true head spring of the Potomac river, and
which has continued to he regarded, from that period to the present
time, as the southern point of the western boundary between Mary¬
land and Virginia. A joint report of these proceedings was made
by the commissioners to the king, accompanied with their field notes ;
which report was received and ordered to he filed away among the
records of His Majesty's Privy Council. Thus terminated, after
a lapse of sixteen years, a proceeding, which had for its object, among
other matters, the ascertainment of the first fountain of the Potomac
river, and which resulted in the establishment of that "fact" by a
tribunal of competent jurisdiction. This decision has now been
acquiesced in for near a century; and all topographical description
and sketches of the country have been made to conform to it. I say
acquiesced in, for it is impossible to regard the varying, fluctuating
legislation of Maryland upon the subject, at one session of her general
assembly recognizing the line as now established (see compact of
1785, Session Acts of 1803, 1818, and others), at another authorizing
the appointment of commissioners to adjust the boundary, as a grave
resistance of its conclusiveness, or such a continual claim, as under
the usages of international law, would bar an application of the
principles of usucapation and prescription. (See Vattal, p. 251.
Grotius, lib. 2, cap. 4. Wolfius Jus. Ñat. par. 3.)
Jurisdiction in all cases relating to boundaries between prov¬
inces, the dominion and proprietary government, is by the common
law of England exclusively vested in the king and council. (1 Ves.
Sen. p. 447). And notwithstanding it may he a question of boundary
between the crown and the lord proprietor of a province (such as
that between Lord Fairfax and the crown), the king is the only
judge, and is presumed to act with entire impartiality and justice
in reference to all persons concerned, as well those who are parties
to the proceeding before him, as others not parties who may yet
be interested in the adjustment. (Vesey, ib). Such is the theory
and practice of the English constitution; and although it may not
accord preçisely with our improved conceptions of judicial practice,
it is nevertheless the law which must now govern and control the
legal aspect of the territorial dispute between Virginia and Maryland.
It does not appear by the accompanying papers that Charles
Lord Baltimore, the then proprietor of Maryland, deputed an agent
to attend upon his part in the examination and survey of the Potomac
164
History of The Valley
river. It is possible he conceived his interests sufficiently protected
in the aspect which the controversy had then assumed between Lord
Fairfax and the crown. Certain it is, that it nowhere appears that
he ever considered himself ap^grieved by the result of that adjustment.
That his government was fully apprised of what was in progress,
can scarcely admit of a rational doubt. For it is impossible to con¬
ceive that a controversy so deeply affecting not only the interests of
Lord Baltimore, hut all who were concerned in the purchase of land
in that section of the country, and conducted with so much solemnity
and notoriety, could have extended through a period of sixteen years
without attracting the attention of the government of Maryland—a
government ever jealous, because ever doubtful of the original tenure
by which her charter was held. But had Lord Baltimore even con¬
sidered himself aggrieved by the result of that settlement, it is dif¬
ficult now to conceive upon what ground he would have excepted to
its justice, or question its validity. Could he have said that the
information upon which the decision was founded was imperfect?
Or that the proceedings of the commissioners were characterized by
haste, favoritism or fraud? This, the proceedings of that board,
still preserved, would contradict. For never was there an examina¬
tion conducted with more deliberation, prosecuted with more labor,
or scrutinized with a more jealous or anxious vigilance. Could he
have shown that some other stream ought to have been fixed upon as
the true head spring of the Potomac? This, it is believed, is impos¬
sible ; for although it may be true that the South Branch is a longer
stream, it nevertheless wants those more important characteristics
which were then considered by the commissioners, and have been
subsequently regarded by esteemed geographers as essential in dis¬
tinguishing a tributary from the main branch of a river. (See
Flint's Geography, vol. 2, p. 88). Lastly, would he have questioned
the authority of the crown to settle the boundaries of Lord Fairfax's
charter, without having previously made him a party to the proceed¬
ing? I have before shown the futility of such an idea. Besides,
this would have been at once to question the authority under which
he held his own grant ; for Baltimore held by virtue of an arbitrary
act of the second Charles. His grant was manifestly made in viola¬
tion of the chartered rights of Virginia, and carried into effect not
only without the acquiescence, but against the solemn and repeated
remonstrances of her government. Was Virginia consulted in the
"dismemberment" of her territory? Was she made a party to that
proceeding, by which, "for the first time in colonial history, one new
province was created within the chartered limits of another by the
mere act of the crown?" But the fact is, that Charles Lord Balti¬
more, who lived for six years after the adjustment of this question,
never did contest the propriety of the boundary as settled by the com¬
missioners, but from all that remains of his views and proceedings,
fully acquiesced in its accuracy and justice. (See the treaty with the
six nations of Indians, at Lancaster, in June, 1Y44).
Northern Neck of Virginia
165
The first evidence of dissatisfaction with the boundary as estab¬
lished, which the researches of the Maryland writers have enabled
them to exhibit, are certain instructions from Frederick Lord Balti¬
more (successor of Charles), to Governor Sharp, which were pre¬
sented by the latter to his council in August, 1753. I have not been
able to procure a copy of those instructions, but a recent historian
of Maryland, and an ingenious advocate of her present claim, re¬
ferring to them, says, "His instructions were predicated upon the
supposition that the survey might possibly have been made with the
knowledge and concurrence of his predecessor, and hence he denies
the power of the latter to enter into any arrangement as to the
boundaries, which could extend beyond his life estate, or conclude
those in remainder." (See McMahon's History of Maryland, p. 53).
What were the precise limitations of those conveyances made
by the proprietors of Maryland, and under which Frederick Lord
Baltimore denies the power of his predecessor to enter into any
arrangement as to the boundaries, which could extend beyond his
life estate, I am unable to say—my utmost researches have failed to
furnish me with a copy of them—hut they were so far satisfactory
to his lordship's legal conceptions, as to induce him to resist even the
execution of a decree pronounced by Lord Hardwicke, in 1750 (I
Yes. Sen. pp. 444-46) upon a written compact as to boundaries,
which had been executed by his predecessor and the Penns, in 1732.
To enforce submission to that decree, the Penns filed a bill of reviver
in 1754, and after an ineffectual struggle of six years. Lord Balti¬
more was compelled with a bad grace to submit, and abide by the
arrangement as to the boundaries which had been made by his pre¬
decessor. To this circumstance, in all probability, was Lord Fairfax
indebted for his exemption from the further demands of the pro¬
prietor of Maryland. For Lord Frederick, no ways averse to litiga¬
tion, had by this time doubtless become satisfied that the power of
his predecessor did extend beyond his life estate, and might even
conclude those in remainder. Be that as it may, however, certain
it is that the records of Maryland are silent upon the subject of this
pretension, from September, 1753, until ten years subsequent to the
compact between Virginia and Maryland in 1785.
An opinion prevails among our most distinguished jurists, rest¬
ing solely upon traditionary information, that about 1761, Frederick
Lord Baltimore presented a petition to the king and council, praying
a revision of the adjustment made in 1745, which petition was re¬
jected, or after a short time abandoned as hopeless. If there ever
was such a proceeding, I can find nothing of it in the archives of
Virginia. •
Be that as it may, it is certain that ever since 1745 Lord Fairfax
claimed and held, and the Commonwealth of Virginia constantly
to this day has claimed and held by the Cohongoroota, that is by
the Northern Branch, as the Potomac, and whatever Lord Baltimore
or his heirs, and the state of Maryland may have claimed, she has
166
Histoet of The Valley
held by the same boundary. There was no reason why Lord Fairfax,
being in actual possession, should have controverted the claim of
Lord Baltimore, or Maryland. If Lord Baltimore, or Maryland,
ever controverted the boundary, the question must, and either has
been decided against them, or it must have been abandoned as hope¬
less. If they never controverted it, the omission to do so, can only
be accounted for, upon the supposition that they knew it to be hope¬
less. If Maryland ever asserted the claim—seriously asserted it I
mean—it must have been before the Eevolution, or at least during it,
when we all know she was jealous enough of the extended territory
of Virginia. The claim must have had its origin before the compact
between the two states, of March, 1785 (I Rev. Code, ch. 18). We
then held by the same boundary by which we now hold ; we held to
what we called and now call the Potomac; she then held to what we
call the Potomac. Is it possible to doubt that this is the Potomac
recognized by the compact? That compact is now forty-seven vears
old.
I have diligently inquired whether, as the Potomac above the
confluence of the Shenandoah was called the Cohongoroota, the
stream now called the South Branch of the Potomac ever had any
peculiar name, known to and established among the English settlers
—for it is well known that it bore the Indian name of Wappacomo.
I never could learn that it was known by any other name, but that
which it yet bears, the South Branch of the Potomac. How that
very name of itself sufliciently evinces, that it was regarded as a
tributary stream of another river, and that river the Potomac; and
that the river of which the South Branch was the tributary, was
regarded as the main stream.
But let us for a moment concede that the decision of the king
in council was not absolutely conclusive of the present question; let
us concede that the long acquiescence of Maryland in that adjustment
has not precluded a further discussion of its merits ; let us even sup¬
pose the compact of 1785 thrown out of view, with all the subsequent
recognition of the present boundary by the legislative acts of that
state, and the question between the two streams now for the first
time presented as an original question of preference; what are the
facts upon which Maryland would rely to show that any other stream
than the one hearing the name, is entitled to be regarded as the main
branch of the Potomac? It were idle to say that the South Branch
is the Potomac, because the South Branch is a longer or even larger
stream than the Horth Branch which Virginia claims to hold by.
According to that sort of reasoning, the Missouri, above its confluence
with the Mississippi, is the Mississippi, being beyond comparison the
longer and larger stream. The claim of the South Branch, then,
would rest solely upon its great length. In opposition to this it
might be said that the Cohongoroota is more frequently navigable—
that it has a larger Amlume of water—that the valley of the South
Branch is, in the grand scale of confo7*mation, secondary to that of
Noetheen Ií^eck of Vieginia
167
the Potomac—that the South Branch has not the general direction
of that river, which it joins nearly at right angles—that the valley
of the Potomac is wider than that of the South Branch, as is also
the river broader than the other. And lastly that the course of the
river and the direction of the valley are the same above and below
the junction of the South Branch. (See letters accompanying this
report Wo. 26). These considerations have been deemed suiEcient
to establish the title to the "father of waters," to the name which
he has so long borne. (See History and Geography of Western
States, vol. 2, Missouri). And as they exist in an equal extent, so
should they equally confirm to pre-eminence which the Cohongoroota
has now for near a century so proudly and peacefully enjoyed.
The claim of Maryland to the territory in question is by no
means so reasonable as the claim of the great Frederick of Prussia
to Silesia, which that prince asserted and maintained, hut which
he tells us himself he never would have thought of asserting, if his
father had not left him an ovei-flowing treasury and a powerful army.
With this brief historical retrospect, presented as explanatory of
the accompanying testimony, I will now lay before your Excellency,
in chronological order, a list of the documents and papers referred
to in my preceding observations.
Wo. 1. Is the original grant from King James II to Thomas
Lord Culpeper, made on the 27th of September, in the fourth year
of his reign.
Wo. 2. Copy of a letter from Major Gooch, lieutenant-governor
of Virginia, to the lords commissioners for trade and plantations,
dated at Williamsburg, June 29, 1729.
Wo. 3. Petition to the King in Council, in relation to the
Worthern Weck grants and their boundaries, agreed to by the House
of Burgesses, June 30, 1730.
Wo. 4. The petition of Thomas Lord Fairfax, to his Majesty
in Council, preferred in 1733, setting forth his grants from the crown,
and that there had been diverse disputes between the governor and
council in Virginia and the petitioner and his agent, Robert Carter,
Esq., touching the boundaries of the petitioner's said tract of land,
and praying that his Majesty would be pleased to order a commission
to issue for running out, marking and ascertaining the bounds of
the petitioner's said tract of land.
Wo. 5. A copy of an order of his Majesty in his privy council,
bearing date 29th of Wovember, 1733, directing William Gooch, Esq.,
lieutenant-governor of Virginia, to appoint three or more commis¬
sioners (not exceeding five), who in conjunction with a like number
to be named and deputed by the said Lord Fairfax, are to survey
and settle the marks and boundaries of the said district of land
agreeably to the terms of the patent under which the Lord Fairfax
claims.
Wo. 6. Copy of the commission from Lieutenant-Governor
Gooch to Wüliam Byrd, of Westover; John Robinson, of Piscataway;
168
History of The Valley
and John Grymes, of Brandon; appointing them commissioners on
behalf of his Majesty, with full power, authority, &c.
(I have not been able to meet with a copy of the commission
of Lord Fairfax to his commissioners—they were William Beverly,
William Fairfax and Charles Carter. It appears by the accom¬
panying report of their proceedings, that "his lordship's commis¬
sioners delivered to the king's commissioners an attested copy of
their commission," which having been found upon examination more
restricted in its authority than that of the commissioners of the
crown, gave rise to some little difiiculty which was subsequently
adjusted).
No. 7. Copy of the instructions on behalf of the right honor¬
able Lord Fairfax, to his commissioners.
No. 8. Minutes of the proceedings of the commissioners
appointed on the part of his Majesty and the right honorable
Thomas Lord Fairfax, from their first meeting at Fredericksburg,
September 25th, 1736.
No. 9. Original correspondence between the commissioners
during the years 1736 and 1737, in reference to the examination
and survey of the Potomac river.
No. 10. The original field notes of the survey of the Potomac
river, and the mouth of the Shenandoah to the head spring of said
Potomac river, by Mr. Benjamin Winslow.
No. 11. The original plat of the survey of the Potomac river.
No. 12. Original letter from John Savage, one of the sur¬
veyors, dated January 17, 1737, stating the grounds upon which
the commissioners had decided in favor of the Cohongoroota over
the Wappacomo, as the main branch of the Potomac. The former,
he says, is both wider and deeper than the latter.
No. 13. Letter from Charles Carter, Esq., dated January 20,
1737, exhibiting the result of a comparative examination of the
North and South Branches of the Potomac. The North Branch
at its mouth, he says, is twenty-three poles wide, the South Branch
sixteen, &c.
No. 14. A printed map of the Northern Neck of Virginia,
situated betwixt the rivers Potomac and Kappahannock, drawn in
the year 1737, by William Mayo, one of the king's surveyors,
according to his actual survey in the preceding year.
No. 15. A printed map of the course of the rivers Rappa¬
hannock and Potomac, in Virginia, as surveyed according to order
in 1736 and 1737 (supposed to he by Lord Fairfax's surveyors).
No. 16. A copy of the separate report of the commissioners
appointed on the part of the crown. (I have met with no copy of
the separate report of Lord Fairfax's commissioners).
No. 17. Copy of Lord Fairfax's observations upon and
exceptions to the report of the commissioners of the crown.
Noktheen Neck of Vieginia
169
No. 18. A copy of the report and opinion of the right
honorable the lords of the committee of council for plantation
affairs, dated 6th April, 1745.
No. 19. The decision of his Majesty in Council, made on
the 11th of April, 1745, confirming the report of the council for
plantation affairs, and further ordering the lieutenant-governor of
Virginia to nominate three or more persons (not exceeding five),
Tvho, in conjunction with a like number to be named and deputed
by Lord Fairfax, are to run and mark out the boundary and dividing
line, according to his decision thus made.
No. 20. The original commissioners from Thomas Lord Fair¬
fax to the Honorable William Fairfax, Charles Carter and William
Beverly, Esqrs., dated 11th June, 1745.
(Col. Joshua Fry, Col. Lunsford Lomax, and Major Peter
Hedgeman were appointed commissioners on the part of the
crown).
No. 21. Original agreement entered into by the commissioners,
preparatory to their examination of the Potomac river.
No. 22. The original journal of the journey of the commis¬
sioners, surveyors, &c., from the head spring of the Rappahannock
to the head spring of the Potomac, in 1746. (This is a curious and
valuable document, and gives the only authentic narrative now extant
of the planting of the Fairfax Stone).
No. 23. The joint report of the commissioners appointed as
well on the part of the crown as of Lord Fairfax, in obedience to
his Majesty's order on 11th of April, 1735.
No. 24. A manuscript map of the head spring of the Potomac
river, executed by Col. George Mercer, of the regiment commanded
in 1756 by General Washington.
No. 25. Copy of an act of the General Assembly of Maryland,
passed February 19, 1819, authorizing the appointment of commis¬
sioners on the part of the state, to meet such commissioners as may
he appointed for the same purpose by the Commonwealth of Virginia,
to settle and adjust, by mutual compact between the two governments,
the western limits of that state and the Commonwealth of Virginia,
to commence at the most western source of the North Branch of
the Potomac river, and to run a due north course thence to the
Pennsylvania line.
No. 26. Letters from intelligent and well-informed individuals,
residing in the country watered by the Potomac and its branches,
addressed to the undersigned, stating important geographical facts
bearing upon the present controversy.
Ther# are other papers in my possession, not listed nor referable
to any particular head, yet growing out of and illustrating the
controversy between Lord Fairfax and the crown; these are also
herewith transmitted.
There are other documents again not at all connected with my
present duties, which chance has thrown in my way, worthy of
preservation in the archives of the state. Such, for example, as
170
History of The Valley
the original "plan of the line between Virginia and North Carolina,
which was run in the year 1728, in the spring and fall, from the
sea to Peter's Creek, hy the Hon. William Byrd, William Dandridge
and Richard Pitzwilliams, Esqrs., commissioners, and Mr. Alex'r
Irvine and Mr. William Mayo, surveyors—and from Peter's Creek
to Steep Rock Creek, was continued in the fall of the year 1749,
by Joshua Pry and Peter Jefferson." Such documents, should it
accord with the views of your Excellency, might be deposited with
"the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society," an institution
of recent origin, yet founded upon the most expanded views of public
utility, and which is seeking by its patriotic appeals to individual
liberality, to wrest from the ravages of time the fast perishing records
and memorials of our early history and institutions.
With sentiments of regard, I am, very respectfully, your obedient
servant,
Charles Jas. Faulkner.
To John Floyd, Esq., Governor of Virginia.
After perusing this masterly exposition, the reader will be at
a loss to conceive on what grounds Maryland can rest her claims
to the territory in question, and what authorities she can adduce
to support them. The controversy is still pending, and, in addition
to Mr. Faulkner, Col. John B. J). Smith, of Frederick, and John
S. Gallaher, Esq., of Jefferson, have been appointed commissioners
on the part of Virginia.
CHAPTEK XIV
Laying Off The Counties
The two counties of Frederiek and Augusta were laid off at the
same session of the colonial legislature, in the year 1738, and ineluded
all the vast region of country west of the Blue Ridge. Previous to
that time the county of Orange included all the territory west of
the mountains. Orange was taken from Spottsylvania in the year
1734, Spottsylvania having previously crossed the Blue Ridge, and
took in a considerable part of what is now the county of Page.
Previous to laying off the county of Orange, the territory west of
the Blue Ridge, except the small part which lay in Spottsylvania,
does not appear to have been included in any county. Spottsylvania
was laid off in the year 1720, the act for which is worded as follows:
"Peeamble. That the frontiers towards the high mountains
are exposed to danger from the Indians, and the late settlements
of the French to the westward of the said mountains: Enacted,
Spottsylvania county, hounds upon Snow Creek up to the mill ;
thence by a southwest line to the river North Ann; thence up the
said river as far as convenient, and thence by a line to be run over
the high mountains to the river on the northwest side thereof,* so
as to include the northern passage through the said mountains;
thence down to the said river until it comes against the head of the
Rappahannock; thence by a line to the head of the Rappahannock
river, and down that river to the mouth of Snow Creek; which tract
of land, from the first of May, 1721, shall become a county, by the
name of Spottsylvania county."
Thus it appears that a little more than one hundred years ago
Spottsylvania was a frontier county, and that the vast region west
of the Blue Ridge, with its millions of people, has been settled and
improved from an entire wilderness. The country for more than a
thousand miles to the west has been within this short period rescued
from a state of natural barbarism, and is now the seat of the fine
arts and sciences, of countless millions of wealth, and the abode of
freedom, both religious and political. Judging from the past, what
an immense prospect opens itself to our view for the future. Within
the last half century, our Valley has poured out thousands of emi¬
grants, who have contributed towards peopling the Carolinas,
Georgia* Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and other regions south and
west, and migrations still continue.
It has already been stated that Frederick county was laid off
in the year 1738. The first court of justice held in the county
^South Fork of the Shenandoah.
172
History of The Valley
was in the year 1743. This delay, it is presumable, arose from
the want of a sufficient number of magistrates to form a quorum
for the legal transaction of business.* The first court was composed
of the following justices, to-wit: Morgan Morgan, David Vance,
Marquis Calmes, Thomas Rutherford, William M'Mahon, Meredith
Helm, George Höge and John White. James Wood, clerk. This
court sat the first time on Friday, the 11th day of November, 1743.
At this term of the court is to he found on record the following
entry :
"Ordered, that the sheriff of this county build a twelve-foot
square log house, logged above and below, to secure his prisoners,
he agreeing to be satisfied with what shall be allowed him for such
building by two of the court, and he not to be answerable for escapes."
This was the first jail erected in the county of Frederick.
The county of Hampshire was the next laid off, and was taken
from Frederick and Augusta. This was done in the year 1753. The
first court held in this county was in December, 1757. Thomas
B. Martin, James Simpson, William Miller, Solomon Hedges, and
Nathaniel Kuykendall, justices, composed the court, and Gabriel
Jones the clerk.
Berkeley and Dunmore were taken from Frederick in the year
1772. In October, 1777, the legislature altered the name of Dunmore
county to Shenandoah. It does not appear, from the language of
the law, for what particular reason this alteration was made. It
had been named after and in honor of Lord Dunmore, the then
governor under the royal government. But his lordship took a most
decidedly active part in opposition to the American Revolution; and
in order to have the liberty of wearing his head, took shelter on hoard
of a British armed vessel. His conduct is pretty fully related in Mr.
Jacob's account of Dunmore's war, given in the preceding pages;
and it was doubtless owing to this cause that the namè of Dunmore
county was altered to that of Shenandoah.
In the year 1769, Botetourt county was taken from Augusta.
In the act is to be found the following clause : "And whereas the
people situated on the Mississippi, in the said county of Botetourt,
will be very remote from the court house, and must necessarily
become a separate county, as soon as their numbers are sufficient,
which probably will happen in a short time ; Be it therefore enacted,
by the authority aforesaid, that the inhabitants of that part of said
county of Botetourt, which lies on the said waters, shall be exempt
from the payment of any levies to be laid by the said county court
for the purpose of building a court house and prison for the said
county." Thus it appears that Virginia, at that period, claimed
the jurisdiction and territory of that vast region of country westward
to the Mississippi.
* Fourth Edition Not#^The real cause of the delay was a deficient population.
Laying Off The Counties
173
In 1772 the county of Fincastle was taken from Botetourt; and
in 1776 Fincastle was divided into the counties of Kentucky, Wash¬
ington and Montgomery, and the name of Fincastle became extinct.*
In the year 1777 Rockbridge county was taken from Augusta
and Botetourt. Rockingham county, the same year, was taken from
Augusta, and Greenbrier from Augusta and Botetourt. The years
1776 and 1777 were remarkable for many divisions of the western
counties. West Augusta, in the year 1775, by the convention
assembled for the purpose of devising a plan for resisting the
oppressions of the mother country, among other proceedings, deter¬
mined that "the landholders of the district of West Augusta shall
be considered as a distinct county, and have the liberty of sending
two delegates to represent them in general convention as aforesaid."
This is the first account which the author has been able to find
in our ancient statutes in relation to West Augusta as a separate
district or county. In fact, it does not appear that we ever had a
county legally established by this name. It is presumable that it
acquired the name by general usage, from its remote and western
locality from the seat of justice. Be this as it may, it appears that
the district of West Augusta never had its bounds laid off and defined
until the month of October, 1776, when it was divided into three
distinct counties, viz.: Ohio, Yohogania, and Monongalia. By the
extension of the western boundary between Pennsylvania and
Virginia, the greater part of the county Yohogania falling within
the limits of Pennsylvania, the residue was, by an Act of Assembly
of 1785, added to Ohio, and Yohogania became extinct.
Harrison county was established in 1784, taken from Monon¬
galia. In 1785 Hardy county was laid off, taken from Hampshire.
In 1786 Randolph county was laid off, taken from Harrison. In
1785 Russell county was taken from Washington. In 1787 Pendleton
county was taken from Augusta, Hardy and Rockingham. In 1788
Kanawha was taken from Greenbrier and Montgomery. In 1789
Wythe county was taken from Montgomery, and a part of Botetourt
added to Montgomery. In 1790 Bath county was taken from
Augusta, Botetourt and Greenbrier. In 1792 Lee county was taken
from Russell, and in the same year Grayson county was taken from
Wythe.
The author has deemed it an interesting part of his work to
give a particular histoiy of the establishment of our counties, because
it goes to show the rapid increase of our population, and improvement
of our country, since the termination of the war of the Revolution.
To an individual born and raised in the Valley, and who is old
enough *o recollect the passing events for the last half century—
who was acquainted with the state of our country fifty years ago,
its sparse population, rude log buildings, and uncultivated manners
* Fourth Eklition Note—For the same general reason that Dunmore county was re¬
named Shenandoah. Fincastle was the name of Lord Dunmore's country seat in Scot¬
land» and as a Tory the governor was very obnoxious to the Virginians.
174
Hjstobt of The Valley
and customs of our ancestors—the great improvement of every thing
calculated to better the condition of human life, the astonishing
change in the appearance of our country, its elegant buildings, finely
cultivated farms, improved state of society, &c., are calculated almost
to raise doubts in his mind whether these vast changes could possibly
have taken place within his little span of existence. The author's
destiny when a youth, threw him into a business which gave him
an opportunity of exploring a ^considerable part of the lower counties
of the Valley, and he has lately made it his business again to explore
the same counties; and if he had been for the last forty years shut
up in a dungeon, and recently set at liberty, he would almost doubt
his own senses and believe himself in another country. A great part
of our Valley may be said to he elegantly improved.*
*Capt. James Russell, of Berkeley, some years ago built a brick bam 160 feet lone
and 55 feet wide. The late Mr. John Kite, in the year 1785, built the flrst brick house
ever erected west of the Blue Rideo. This is hut a small one-story huildine, and is
now owned by the heirs of the late Mr. A. Neill, at the north end of Stephenshure, i»
the County of Frederick. In 1787 Mr. Hite built a merchant mill, which was at that
time considered the finest mill in the Valley. It is now hardly considered a second
rate mill.
CHAPTEK XV
Establishment of The Towns
About the year 1738, there were two cahins erected near the
run in Winchester.* The author regrets that he has not been able
to ascertain the names of the first settlers in this town. Tradition
however relates that they were German families.
In the year 1752 the Legislature passed "an act for the estab¬
lishing of the town of Winchester." In the preamble are the
following words:
"Wheeeas, it has been represented to the General Assembly,
that James Wood, gentleman, did survey and lay out a parcel of
land at the court house f in Frederick county, in twenty-six lots,
of half an acre each, with streets for a town, by the name of
Winchester, and made sale of said lots to divers persons who have
since settled and built and continue building and settling thereon;
but because the same was not laid off and erected into a town hy
act of Assembly, the freeholders and inhabitants thereof will not
be entitled to the like privileges enjoyed hy the freeholders and
inhabitants of other towns in this colony. Be it enacted, &c., that
the said parcel of land lately claimed by the said James Wood, lying
and being in the county of Frederick aforesaid, together with fifty-
four other lots of half an acre each, twenty-four thereof in one
or two streets on the east side of the former lots, the street or streets
to run parallel with the street already laid off, and the remaining
thirty lots to he laid off at the north end of the aforesaid twenty-
six with a commodious street or streets in such manner as the
proprietor thereof, the right honorable Thomas Lord Fairfax, shall
see fit, be and is hereby constituted, enacted, and established a town,
in the manner already laid out, to be called by and retain the name
of Winchester, and that the freeholders of said town shall forever
hereafter enjoy the same privileges which the said freeholders of
other towns erected by Act of Assembly enjoyed." This act further
provides that fairs may be held in the town twice in each year.
Thus it appears that the late Col. James Wood was the founder
of Winchester, and not Lord Fairfax as has generally been believed.
The latter made an addition to the town. Tradition relates that
Fairfax was much more partial to Stephensburg than he was to
Winchestej, and used all his influence to make Stephensburg the
*A very aged woman, by the name of Sperry, informed the author that when she
first saw the place where Winchester now stands, she was 22 years of age, and from
her age at the time the author conversed with her (which was in 1809), he found the
year in which she ñrst saw Winchester to be in 1738, at which time she stated there
were but two small log cabins, and those near the run.
t Mr. Jacob Gibbon informed the author that he was in Winchester in 1755, and
that the court house was a small cabin, and that he saw the court sitting in this cabin.
176
History of The Valley
seat of justice, but tbat Wood out-generaled his lordship, and by
treating one of the justices with a bowl of toddy secured his vote
in favor of Winchester, which settled the question, and that Fairfax
was so offended at the magistrate who thus sold his vote, that he
never after spoke to him.*
The late Eohert Rutherford, Esq. opened the first store ever
established in Winchester. There was soon a mixed population of
Germans, Irish, and a few English and Scotch. The national
prejudices which existed between the Dutch and Irish produced
much disorder and many riots. It was customary for the Dutch
on St. Patrick's Day, to exhibit the eifigy of the saint, with a
string of Irish potatoes around his neck, and his wife Sheeley,
with her apron loaded also with potatoes. This was always followed
by a riot. The Irish resented the indignity to their saint, and his
holy spouse, and a battle followed. On St. Michael's Day the Irish
would retort, and exhibit the saint with a rope of sour krout about
his neck. Then the Dutch, like the Yankee, "felt chock full of
fight" and at it they went pell-mell, and many a black eye, bloody
nose, and broken head, was the result, f The author recollects one
of these riots since the war of the Revolution. The practice was
at last put down by the rigor with which our courts of justice
punished the rioters.
In the month of September, 1758, the tovm of Stephensburg,
in the county of Frederick, was established. This town was first
founded hy Peter Stephens, who came to Virginia with Joist Hite,
in the year 1732. The ruins of Stephens' first cahin are yet to
be seen. Lewis Stephens, the late proprietor of the town, was the
son of Peter Stephens. He laid out the town in form, and applied
to the General Assembly to have it established by law, which was
done in the year 1758.
This town was first settled almost exclusively by Germans; and
the religion, habits and customs of their ancestors were preserved
with great tenacity for many years. The German language was
generally used in this village since the author's acquaintance with
it, which acquaintance commenced in the year 1784.
In the month of November, 1761, Strasburg (commonly called
Stover's town), was established by law. This town was settled
entirely by Germans, and to this day the German language is in
general use, though the English language is now generally under¬
stood, and also spoken by the inhabitants. It was laid off by Peter
Stover.
Staunton, in the county of Augusta, was laid off by William
Beverly, Esq., and established by Act of the General Assembly in
November, 1761. The first settlers were principally Irish.
*The late John S. Woodcock, Esq., communicated this fact to the author, and
stated that he had the information from Col. Martin.
tGen. Smith informed the author that this practice was kept up for several years
after he settled in Winchester, and that several very dangerous riots took place, in
which he and other magistrates had to interpose, to preserve the peace.
Establishment of The Towns
177
In March, 1761, Woodstock, then in the county of Frederick,
was established by law. Jacob Miller laid off twelve hundred acres
of land, ninety-six of which were divided into half-acre lots, making
one hundred and ninety-two building lots, the remainder into streets
and five-acre lots, commonly called out-lots. This town appears to
have been originally laid out upon a larger scale than any of our
ancient villages. Like most of our towns it was settled exclusively
by Germans, and their religion, customs, habits, manners and
language were for a long time preserved, and to this day the German
language is generally in use by the inhabitants.
Mecklenburg (Shepherdstown), then in the county of Frederick,
now in Jefferson, was established by law in the month of November,
1762. This village is situated immediately on the hank of the
Cohongoroota (Potomac) about twelve miles above Harpers Ferry.
It was laid off by the late Capt. Thomas Shepherd, and was first
settled chiefiy by German mechanics. It is remarkable for its being
the place where the first steamboat was ever constructed in the world.
Mr. James Eumsey, in the year 1788, built a boat, which was
propelled by steam against a brisk current. There are some of
the remnants of the machinery now to be seen, in the possession
of Capt. Haines, in that place.
Komney, in the county of Hampshire, was laid off by the late
Lord Fairfax, and established by law in the month of November,
1762. His lordship laid off fifty acres into streets and half-acre
lots; hut the town improved hut slowly. It does not contain more
than fifty families at this time. It is nevertheless a place of
considerable business; has a hank, printing office, several stores and
taverns. The new Parkersburg turnpike road passes through it,
which will doubtless, when completed, give it many great advantages.
In February, 1772, Fincastle, in the county of Botetourt, was
established. Israel Christian made a present of forty acres of land
to the justices of Botetourt court, for the use of the county. The
court laid off the said forty acres of land into lots, and applied to
the Legislature to have the town established by law, which was done
accordingly.
In October, 1776, first year of the commonwealth, the town of
Bath, at the Warm Springs, in the county of Berkeley (now the
seat of justice for Morgan county), was established, and laid off by
Act of Assembly.
Preamble. "Whereas it has been represented to this General
Assembly, that the laying off of 50 acres of land in lots and streets
for a town at the Warm Springs, in county of Berkeley, will be of
great uti^ty, by encouraging the purchasers thereof to build
convenient houses for accommodating numbers of infirm persons,
who frequent those springs yearly for the recovery of their health;
Be it enacted, &c., that fifty cares of land adjoining the said springs,
being part of a larger tract of land, the property of the right
honorable Thomas Lord Fairfax, or other person or persons holding
178
History of The Valley
the same by a grant or conveyance from him, be and the same is
hereby vested in Bryan Fairfax, Thomas Bryan Martin, Warner
Washington, the Reverend Charles Mynn Thruston, Robert Ruther¬
ford, Thomas Rutherford, Alexander White, Philip Pendleton,
Samuel Washington, William Ellzey, Van Swearingen, Thomas
Hite, James Edmundson and James Nourse, gentlemen, trustees,
to he by them, or any seven of them, laid out into lots of one
quarter of an acre each, with convenient streets, which shall he
and the same is hereby established a town, by the name of Bath."
The author has been the more particular in making the fore¬
going extract from the Act of the Legislature, because this appears
to he the first instance under our republican government in which
the Legislature took the authority of establishing and laying out a
town upon the land of private individuals, without the consent of
the owner of the land. It is possible Lord Fairfax assented to the
laying off of this town; but if he did, there is nothing in the
language of the act which goes to show it.
In the month of October, 1777, Lexington, in the county of
Rockbridge, was established. Extract from the law: "And he it
further enacted, that at the place which shall he appointed for
holding courts in the said county of Rockbridge, there shall be
laid off a town, to be called Lexington, thirteen hundred feet in
length and nine hundred in width.* And in order to make satis¬
faction to the proprietors of the said land, the clerk of the said
county shall, by order of the justices, issue a writ, directed to the
sheriff, commanding him to summon twelve able and disinterested
freeholders, to meet on the said land, on a certain day, not under
five nor over ten days from date, who shall upon oath value the
said land, in so many parcels as there shall be separate owners,
which valuation the sheriff shall return, under the hands and seals
of the said jurors, to the clerk's office: and the justices, at laying
their first county levy, shall make provision for paying the said
proprietors their respective proportions thereof; and the property
of the said land, on the return of the said valuation, shall be vested
in the justices and their successors, one acre thereof to be reserved
for the use of the said county, and the residue to be sold and conveyed
by the said justices to any persons, and the money arising from such
sale to be applied towards lessening the county levy; and the public
buildings for the said county shall be erected on the land reserved
as aforesaid." From this it appears that the name of the town was
fixed by law before the site was marked out.
Moorefield was also established in the month of October, 1777,
in the county of Hampshire, now the seat of justice for the county
of Hardy. Extract from the Act of the Assembly: "Whereas it
has been represented to this present General Assembly, that the
establishing a town on the lands of Conrad Moore in the county
* This was truly upon a small scale.
Establishment of The Towns
179
of Hampsliire, would be of great advantage to the inhabitants, by
encouraging tradesmen to settle amongst them; Be it therefore
enacted, &c., that sixty-two acres of land belonging to the said
Conrad Moore, in the most convenient place for a town, he, and
the same is hereby vested in Garret Vanmeter, Abel Randall, Moses
Hutten, Jacob Read, Jonathan Heath, Daniel M'Heil, and George
Renneck, gentlemen, trustees, to he by them, or any four of them,
laid out into lots of half an acre each, with convenient streets, which
shall he and the same is hereby established a town by the name of
Moorefield."
Martinshurg was established in the month of October, 1778.
Extract from the law: "Whereas it has been represented to this
present General Assembly, that Adam Stephen, Esq., had lately
laid off one hundred and thirty acres of land in the county of
Berkeley, where the court house now stands, in lots and streets
for a town, &c. ; Be it enacted, &c., that the said one hundred and
thirty acres of land laid out into lots and streets, agreeable to a
plan and survey thereof made, containing the number of two hundred
and sixty-nine lots, as, by the said plan and survey, relation thereunto
being had, may more fully appear, be and the same is hereby vested
in James M'Alister, Joseph Mitchell, Anthony Hoble, Jas. Strode,
Robert Carter Willis, William Patterson and Philip Pendleton,
gentlemen, trustees, and shall be established a town by the name
of Martinsburg." This town was named after the late Col. T. B.
Martin.
Tradition relates that an animated contest took place between
the late Gen. Adam Stephen and Jacob Hite, Esq., in relation to
fixing the seat of justice for this county; Hite contending for the
location thereof on his own land, at what is now called Leetown, in
the county of Jefferson, Stephen advocating Martinsburg. Stephen
prevailed, and Hite became so disgusted and dissatisfied that he sold
out his fine estate, and removed to the frontier of South Carolina.
Fatal remove! He had not been long settled in that state before
the Indians murdered him and several of his family in the most
shocking and barbarous manner.* It is said that the evening before
this bloody massacre took place, an Indian squaw, who was much
attached to Mrs. Hite,t called on her and warned her of the intended
massacre, and advised her to remove with her little children to a
place of safety. Mrs. Hite immediately communicated this intelli¬
gence to her husband, who disbelieved the information, observing,
"the Indians were too much attached to him to do him any injury."
The next morning, however, when it was fatally too late to escape, a
party of Indians, armed and painted in their usual war dress, called
on Hite, find told him they had determined to kill him. It was in
vain that he pleaded his friendship for them, and the many services
• Col. James Hite, of Jefferson county, related this tradition to the author.
t Mrs. Kite was the sister of the late Col. J. Madison, of Orange county, Virginia,
and of course aunt to ex-president Madison.
180
Histoey of The Valley
he had rendered their nation; their fell purpose was fixed, and
nothing could appease them hut his blood, and that of his innocent,
unoffending and helpless wife and children. They commenced their
operations by the most cruel tortures upon Mr. Hite, cutting him to
pieces, a joint at a time; and whilst he was thus in the most violent
agonies, they barbarously murdered his wife and several of her little
offspring. After Mr. Hite, his wife, and several of the children
were dispatched, they took two of his daughters, not quite grown,
and all his slaves, as prisoners. They also carried off what plunder
they chose, and their booty was considerable.
Mr. Hite kept a large retail store, and dealt largely with the
Creek and Cherokee tribes. It is said that a man by the name of
Parish, who went to Carolina with Hite, and to whom Hite had
been very friendly, growing jealous of Hite's popularity with the
Indians, instigated the savages to commit the murder. About the
year 1784 or 1785, the author saw the late Capt. George Hite, who
had been an officer in the Revolutionary Army, and who had just
returned from an unsuccessful search after his two young sisters,
who were taken captive at the time of the murder of his father.
He had traversed a great part of the Southern country, among the
various tribes of Indians, but never could hear anything of them.
Capt. Hite, some short time after the war of the Revolution,
recovered a part of his father's slaves, who had been taken off by
the Indians, one of whom is now owned by Maj. Isaac Hite, of Fred¬
erick county. This woman brought home an Indian son, whom the
author has frequently seen, and who had all the features of an Indian.
A part of Hite's slaves are to this day remaining with the Indians,
and are kept in rigorous slavery. In the winter 1815-16, the author
fell in with Col. William Triplett, of Wilkes county, Georgia, who
informed him that in the autumn of the year, 1809, he was traveling
through the Creek country, and saw an old negro man who told him
he was one of Jacob Hite's slaves, taken when his master and family
were murdered in South Carolina. He further informed Col. Trip¬
lett, that there were then sixty negroes in possession of the Indians,
descended from slaves taken from Hite, the greater number of whom
were claimed by the little Tallapoosa king.
In October, 1778, the town of Abington was established in
Washington county.
In the month of May, 1780, the town of Harrisonburg, in the
county of Rockingham, was established. It appears that Mr.
Thomas Harrison had laid off fifty acres of land into lots and streets,
and the Legislature simply confirmed what Mr. Harrison had done,
without appointing trustees for the town, as was the usual practice.
The privileges, however, granted by law to the citizens of other
incorporated towns, were given to the inhabitants of Harrisonburg.
In the month of October, 1782, the town of Lewisburg, in the
county of Greenbrier, was established. The Act of Assembly ap¬
propriates forty acres of land at the court house, to be laid off into
Establishment of The Towns
181
half acre lots and. streets. Samuel Lewis, James Heid, Samuel
Brown, Andrew Donnelly, John Stuart, Archer Matthews, William
Ward and Thomas Edgar, gentlemen, were appointed trustees.
In October, 1785, Clarksburg, in the county of Harrison, was
established. William Haymond, Hicholas Carpinert, John Myers,
John M'Alley and John Davison, gentlemen, were appointed trustees.
In the same month and year, Morgantown, in the county of
Monongalia, was established. The act appropriates fifty acres of
land, the property of Zackquell Morgan, to be laid off into lots and
streets for a town; Samuel Hanway, John Evans, David Scott,
Michael Kearnes and James Daugherty, trustees.
In October, 1786, Charlestown, in the county of Berkeley (now
the seat of justice for the county of Jefferson), was established.
This town was laid off by the late Col. Charles Washington, a
brother to the illustrious Gen. George Washington, on his own land.
Eighty acres were divided into lots and streets; and John Augustine
Washington, William Drake, Robert Rutherford, James Crane, Cato
Moore, Magnus Tate, Benjamin Rankin, Thornton Washington,
Wm. Little, Alex'r White and Richard Ranson, were appointed
trustees. This town hears the christian name of its proprietor.
In the year 1787, Frankfort, in Hampshire county, was estab¬
lished. One hundred and thirty-nine acres of land was laid off into
lots and streets, with out-lots, by John Sellars. John Mitchell,
Andrew Cooper, Ralph Humphreys, John Williams, Sr., James
Clark, Richard Stafford, Hezekiah Whiteman and Jacob Brookhart,
trustees.
In the month of October, 1787, the town of West Liberty, in
the county of Ohio, was established. Sixty acres of land was laid
off into lots and streets by Reuben Foreman and Providence Mounts.
Moses Chapline, George M'Cullough, Charles Willis, Van Swearin-
gen, Zachariah Sprigg, James Mitchell and Benjamin Briggs were
appointed trustees.
In the same month and year, Middletown, in the county of
Berkeley (commonly called Gerrardstown), was established. This
town was laid off by the late Rev. David Gerrard, and contained
one hundred lots. William Henshaw, James Haw, John Gray, Gil¬
bert M'Kewan and Robert Allen were appointed trustees.
The same year and month, the town of Watson (commonly called
Capon Springs), in the county of Hampshire, was established.
Twenty acres of land to be laid off in lots and streets. Elias Poston,
Henry Fry, Isaac Hawk, Jacob Hoover, John Winterton, Valentine
Swisher, Rudolph Bumgardner, Paul M'lvor, John Sherman Wood¬
cock and Isaac Zane, gentlemen, trustees.
In 1788, Front Royal was established, in the county of Frederick.
Fifty acres of land, the property of Solomon Vanmeter, James Moore,
Robert Haines, William Cunningham, Peter Halley, John Smith,
Allen Wiley, Original Wroe, George Chick, William Morris and
Henry Trout, was laid out into lots and streets, and Thomas Allen,
182
Histoey of The Vaiíey
Robert Russell, William Headly, William Jennings, John Hickman,
Thomas Hand and Thomas Buck, gentlemen, trustees.
The same year and month, Pattonshurg, in the county of Bote¬
tourt, on James river, was established. CroT/sville, in Botetourt,
was established at the same time.
In 1790, Beverley was laid off and established, a town at Ran¬
dolph court house.
Frontville, at the Sweet Springs, and Springfield in the county
of Hampshire, were severally laid off and established in October,
1790.
In October, 1791, Darksville, in Berkeley, Keisletown in Rock¬
ingham, and Charlestown in Ohio counties, were severally established.
This concludes the author's account of the establishment of the
various towns west of the Blue Ridge, within the present western
limits of Virginia, from the earliest settlement of the country to the
year 1792 inclusive.
This history of the establishment of the towns in Western
Virginia, from the earliest settlement of the country to the year
1792 inclusive, is gathered from Hening's Statutes at Large, which
brings the Acts of the Legislature no further than that period. To
continue the list to the present time, would require an examination
of the various session acts since 1792, which it would be difficult to
obtain, perhaps, except in Richmond, to which place it would not
suit tbe author's present convenience to make a journey. As he
confidently anticipates demand for a second edition of this work,
he will, in the meantime, make perfect this portion of the history of
our country for future insertion.
NOTES
ON THE SETTLEMENT AND INDIAN WAES
of the
WESTERN PARTS OF VIRGINIA AND PENNSYLVANIA
From the year 1763 until the year 1783 inclusive
togethee with
A VIEW OF THE STATE OF SOCIETY and MANNERS OF
THE FIRST SETTLERS OF THAT COUNTRY
By The Rev. De. Joseph Doddeidge
DODDRIDGE'S NOTES
CHAPTEK I
Peeliminaky Obsekvations on The Ckaeactek of The Indian
Mode of Wakfaeb, And Its Adoption By
The White People
This is a subject which presents human nature in its most
revolting features, as subject to a vindictive spirit of revenge, and a
thirst of human blood, leading to an indiscriminate slaughter of all
ranks, ages and sexes, by the weapons of war, or by torture.
The history of man is, for the most part, one continued detail
of bloodshed, battles and devastations. War has been, from the
earliest periods of history, the almost constant employment of indi¬
viduals, clans, tribes and nations. Eame, one of the most potent
objects of human ambition, has at all times been the delusive, hut
costly reward of military achievement. The triumph of conquest, the
epithet of greatness, the throne and the sceptre, have uniformly been
purchased by the conflict of battle and garments rolled in blood.
If the modern European laws of warfare have softened in some
degree the horrid features of national conflicts, by respecting the
rights of private property, and extending humanity to the sick,
wounded and prisoners; we ought to reflect that this amelioration is
the effect of civilization only. The natural state of war knows no
such mixture of mercy with cruelty. In his primitive state, man-
knows no object in his wars, hut that of the extermination of his
enemies, either by death or captivity.
The wars of the Jews were exterminatory in their object. The
destruction of a whole nation was often the result of a single cam¬
paign. Even the beasts themselves were sometimes included in the
general massacre.
The present war between the Greeks and Turks is a war upon
the ancient model, a war of utter extermination.
It is, to be sure, much to be regretted, that our people so ofteu
follow the cruel examples of the Indians, in the slaughter of prison¬
ers, and sometimes women and children ; yet let them receive a candid
hearing at the bar of reason and justice, before they are condemned
as barbarians, equally with the Indians themselves.
History scarcely presents an example of a civilized nation carry¬
ing on a war with barbarians without adopting the mode of warfare
of the barbarous nation. The ferocious Suwarrow, when at war
with the Turk, was as much of a savage as the Turk himself.
186
History of The Valley
His slaughter was as indiscriminate as theirs; but during his wars
against the French, in Italy, he faithfully observed the laws of
civilized warfare.
Were the Greeks now at war with a civilized nation, we should
hear nothing of the barbarities which they have committed on the
Turks ; but being at war with barbarians, the principle of self-defense
compels them to retaliate on the Turks the barbarities which they
commit on them.
In the last rebellion in Ireland, that of the United Irishmen,
the government party were not much behind the rebels in acts of
lawless cruelty. It was not by the hands of the executioner alone
they perished. Summary justice, as it was called, was sometimes
inflicted. How many perished under the torturing scourge of the
drummer for the purpose of extorting confessions! These extra¬
judicial executions were attempted to be justifled on the ground of the
necessity of the case.
Our Revolutionary War has a double aspect ; on the one hand we
carried on a war with the English, in which we observed the maxims
of civilized warfare with the utmost strictness; but the brave, the
potent, the magnanimous nation of our forefathers had associated
with themselves, as auxiliaries, the murderous tomahawk and scalp¬
ing knife of the Indian nations around our defenseless frontiers,
leaving those barbarous sons of the forest to their own savage mode
of warfare, to the full indulgence of all their native thirst for human
blood.
On them, then, be the blame of all the horrid features of this war
between civilized and savage men, in which the former was com¬
pelled, by every principle of self-defense, to adopt the Indian mode of
warfare, in all its revolting and destructive features.
Were those who were engaged in the war against the Indians,
less humane than those who carried on the war against their English
allies ? Ho, they were not. Both parties carried on the war on the
same principle of reciprocity of advantages and disadvantages. For
example, the English and Americans each take one thousand prison¬
ers; they are exchanged; neither army is weakened by this arrange¬
ment. A sacriflce is indeed made to humanity, in the expense of
taking care of the sick, wounded and prisoners; but this expense is
mutual. Ho disadvantages result from all the clemency of modern
warfare, except an augmentation of the expenses of war. In this
mode of warfare, those of the nation, not in arms, are safe from death
by the hands of soldiers. Ho civilized warrior dishonors his sword
with the blood of helpless infancy, old age, or that of the fair sex.
He aims his blows only at those whom he flnds in arms against him.
The Indian kills indiscriminately. His object is the total extermina¬
tion of his enemies. Children are victims of his vengeance, because,
if males, they may hereafter become warriors, or if females, they may
become mothers. Even the fetal state is criminal in his view. It is
not enough that the fetus should perish with the murdered mother;
Indian Warfake
187
it is torn from her pregnant womb, and elevated on a stick or pole,
as a trophy of victory and an object of horror to the survivors of the
slain.
If the Indian takes prisoners, mercy has hut little concern in the
transaction. He spares the lives of those who fall into his hands,
for the purpose of feasting the feelings of the ferocious vengeance of
himself and his comrades, by the torture of his captive ; or to increase
the strength of his nation by his adoption into an Indian family; or
for the purpose of gain, by selling him for an higher price, than his
scalp would fetch, to his Christian allies of Canada ; for he it known
that those allies were in the constant practice of making presents for
scalps and prisoners, as well as furnishing the means for carrying on
the Indian war, which for so many years desolated our defenseless
frontiers. Ho lustration can ever wash out this national stain. The
foul blot must remain, as long as the page of history shall convey
the record of the foul transaction to future generations.
The author would not open wounds which have, alas! already
bled so long, hut for the purpose of doing justice to the memory of
his forefathers and relatives, many of whom perished in the defense
of their country, by the hands of the merciless Indians.
How is a war of extermination, and accompanied with such acts
of atrocious cruelty, to he met by those on whom it is inflicted?
Must it he met by the lenient maxims of civilized warfare? Must
the Indian captive be spared his life? What advantage would be
gained by this course? The young white prisoners, adopted into
Indian families, often become complete Indians; hut in how few
instances did ever an Indian become civilized. Send a cartel for an
exchange of prisoners; the Indians know nothing of this measure of
clemency in war: the bearer of the white flag for the purpose of
effecting the exchange would have exerted his humanity at the forfeit
of his life.
Should my countrymen he still charged with barbarism, in the
prosecution of the Indian war, let him who harbors this unfavorable
impression concerning them, portray in imagination the horrid
scenes of slaughter which frequently met their view in the course of
the Indian war. Let him, if he can hear the reflection, look at help¬
less infancy, virgin beauty and hoary age, dishonored by the ghastly
wounds of the tomahawk and scalping knife of the savage. Let
him hear the shrieks of the victims of the Indian torture by fire, and
smell the surrounding air, rendered sickening by the effluvia of their
burning flesh and blood. Let him hear the yells, and view the hellish
features of the surrounding circle of savage warriors, rioting in all
the luxuriance of vengeance, while applying the flaming torches to
the parched limbs of the sufferers, and then suppose those murdered
infants, matrons, virgins and victims of torture, were his friends and
relations, his wife, sister, child or brother; what would he his feel¬
ings? After a short season of grief, he would say "I will now think
only of revenge."
188
Histokt of The Valley
Philosophy shudders at the destructive aspect of war in any
shape; Christianity, by teaching the religion of the good Samaritan,
altogether forbids it; hut the original settlers of the western regions,
like the greater part of the world, were neither philosophers nor
saints. They were "men of like passions with others ;" and therefore
adopted the Indian mode of warfare from necessity and a motive of
revenge; with the exception of burning their captives alive, which
they never did. If the bodies of savage enemies were sometimes
burned, it was not until after they were dead.*
Let the voice of nature and the law of nations plead in favor of
the veteran pioneers of the desert regions of the west. War has
hitherto been a prominent trait in the moral system of human nature,
and will continue such, until a radical change shall he effected in
favor of science, morals and piety, on a general scale.
In the conflicts of nations, as well as those of individuals, no
advantages are to he conceded. If mercy may be associated with
the carnage and devastation of war, that mercy must be reciprocal;
but a war of utter extermination must be met by a war of the same
character, or by an overwhelming force which may put an end to
it, without a sacrifice of the helpless and unoffending part of the
hostile nation. Such a force was not at the command of the first
inhabitants of this country. The sequel of the Indian war goes to
show that in a war with savages the choice lies between extermination
and subjugation. Our government has wisely and humanely pur¬
sued the latter course.
The author begs to he understood that the foregoing observations
are not intended as a justification of the whole of the transactions of
our people with regard to the Indians during the course of the war.
Some instances of acts of wanton barbarity occurred on our side,
which have received and must continue to receive the unequivocal
reprobation of all the civilized world. In the course of this historj%
it will appear that more deeds of wanton barbarity took place on our
side than the world is now acquainted with.
• Fourth Edition Note—The author is silent as to the merciless spirit shown by
Cromwell in Ireland, and the atrocities committed by Louis XIV in the Palatinate;
events of comparatively recent date. He ignores the fact that the Scottish Highlanders
gave no quarter in their murderous clan fights. He also ignores the fact that Tecumseh
and other Indian leaders used their influence to compel their warriors to be more
humane.
CHAPTEE II
"War of 1763
The treaty of peace between his British Majesty and the kings
of France, Spain and Portugal, concluded at Paris on the 10th of
February, 1763, did not put an end to the Indian war against thi;
frontier parts and back settlements of the colonies of Great Britain.
The spring and summer of 1763, as well as those of 1764, deserve
to he memorable in history, for the great extent and destructive
results of a war of extermination, carried on by the united forces
of all the Indian nations of the western country, along the shores
of the northern lakes, and throughout the whole extent of the frontier
settlements of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Horth Carolina.
The events of this war, as they relate to the frontier of Penn¬
sylvania and the shores of the lakes, are matters of history already,
and therefore shall be no farther related here than is necessary to
give a connected view of the military events of those disastrous
seasons. The massacres by the Indians in the southwestern pare
of Virginia, so far as they have come to the knowledge of the
author, shall he related more in detail.
The English historians (Hist, of England, vol. 10, p. 399),
attribute this terrible war to the influence of the French Jesuits
over the Indians; hut whether with much truth and candor, is, to
say the least of it, extremely doubtful.
The peace of 1763, by which the provinces of Canada were
ceded to Britain, was offensive to the Indians, especially as they
very well knew that the English government, on the ground of this
treaty, claimed the jurisdiction of the western country generally;
and as an Indian sees no difference between the right of jurisdiction
and that of possession, they consider themselves as about to be
dispossessed of the whole of their country, as rapidly as the English
might find it convenient to take possession of it. In this opinion
they were confirmed by the building of forts on the Susquehanna,
on lands to which the Indians laid claim. The forts and posts of
Pittsburgh, Bedford, Ligonier, Niagara, Detroit, Presque Isle, St.
Joseph and Michilimackinac, were either built, or improved and
strengthened, with additions to their garrisons. Thus the Indians
saw themselves surrounded on the north and east by a strong line
of forts, while those of Bedford, Ligonier and Pittsburgh threatened
an extensiqp. of them into the heart of their country. Thus circum¬
stanced, the aboriginals of the country had to choose between the
prospect of being driven to the inhospitable regions of the north and
west, of negotiating with the British government for continuance of
the possession of their own land, or of taking up arms for its defense.
They chose the latter course, in which a view of the smallness of
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History of The Valley
their numbers, and the scantiness of their resources, ought to have
taught them, that although they might do much mischief, they could
not ultimately succeed; hut the Indians, as well as their brethren
of the white skin, are often driven by their impetuous passions to
rash and destructive enterprises, which reason, were it permitted
to give its counsels, would disapprove.
The plan resolved on by the Indians for the prosecution of the
war, was that of a general massacre of all the inhabitants of the
English settlements in the western country, as well as of those on
the lands on the Susquehanna, to which they laid claim.
Never did military commanders of any nation display more skill,
or their troops more steady and determined bravery, than did those
red men of the wilderness in the prosecution of their gigantic plan
for the recovery of their country from the possession of the English.
It was indeed a war of utter extermination on an extensive scale; a
conflict which exhibited human nature in its native state, in which
the cunning of the fox is associated with the cruelty of the tiger.
We read the history of this war with feelings of the deepest horror;
hut why? On the part of the savages theirs was the ancient mode
of warfare, in which there was nothing of mercy. If science,
associated with the benign influence of the Christian system, has
limited the carnage of war to those in arms, so as to give the right
of life and hospitality to women, infancy, old age, the sick, wounded
and prisoners, may not a further extension of the influence of those
powerful but salutory agents put an end to war altogether? May
not future generations read the history of our civilized warfare with
equal horror and wonder, that with our science and piety we had
wars at all !
The English traders among the Indians were the first victims
in this contest. Out of one hundred and twenty of them, among the
different nations, only two or three escaped being murdured. The
forts of Presque Isle, St. Joseph and Michilimackinac were taken,
with a general slaughter of the garrisons.
The fortresses of Bedford, Ligonier, Niagara, Detroit and Pitt,
were with difliculty preserved from being taken.
It was a principal object with the Indians to get possession of
Detroit and Fort Pitt, either by assault or famine. The former was
attempted with regard to Detroit. Fort Pitt, being at a considerable
distance from the settlements, where alone supplies could he obtained,
determined the savages to attempt its reduction by famine.
In their first attempt on Fort Detroit, the Indians calculated
on taking possession of it by stratagem. A large number of Indians
appeared before the place under a pretense of holding a congress
with Maj. Gladwin, the commandant. He was on his guard and
refused them admittance. On the next day, about five hundred more
of the Indians arrived in arms, and demanded leave to go into the
fort to hold a treaty. The commandant refused to admit a greater
number than forty. The Indians understood his design of detaining
Wae op 1763
191
them as hostages, for the good conduct of their comrades on the
outside of the fort, and therefore did not send them into the place.
The whole number of men in the fort and on board two vessels of
war in the river, did not exceed one hundred and ten or twelve, but
by means of the cannon they possessed, they made shift to keep the
Indians at a distance, and convince them that they could not take
the place. When the Indians were about to retire Captain Dalyel
arrived at the fort with a considerable reinforcement for the relief
of the place. He made a sortie against the breastworks which the
Indians had thrown up, with two hundred and forty-five men. This
detachment was driven back with the loss of seventy men killed and
forty-two wounded. Capt. Dalyel was among the slain. Of one
hundred men who were escorting a large quantity of provisions to
Detroit, sixty-seven were massacred.
Fort Pitt had been invested for some time, before Capt. Ecayer
had the least prospect of relief. In this situation he and his garrison
had resolved to stand it out to the last extremity, and even perish
of famine, rather than fall into the hands of the savages, notwith¬
standing the fort was a had one, the garrison weak, and the country
between the fort and Ligonier in the possession of the savages, and
his messengers killed or compelled to turn hack. In this situation.
Col. Bouquet was sent by Gen. Amherst to the relief of the place,
with a large quantity of provisions under a strong escort. This
escort was attacked by a large body of Indians, in a narrow defile,
on Turtle Creek, and would have been entirely defeated, had it not
been for a successful stratagem employed by the commander for
extricating themselves from the savage army. After sustaining a
furious contest from one o'clock till night, and for several hours the
next morning, a retreat was pretended, with a view to draw the
Indians into a close engagement. Previous to this movement, four
companies of infantry and grenadiers were placed in ambuscade.
The plan succeeded. When the retreat commenced, the Indians
thought themselves secure of victory, and pressing forward with
great vigor, fell into the ambuscade, and were dispersed with great
slaughter. The loss on the side of the English was above one hundred
killed and wounded; and that of the Indians could not have been
less. The loss was severely felt by the Indians, as in addition to
the number of warriors who fell in the engagement, several of the
most distinguished chiefs were among the slain. Fort Pitt, the
reduction of which they had much at heart, was now placed out
of their reach, by being effectually relieved and supplied with the
munitions of war.
The historian of the western region of our country cannot help
regarding Pittsburgh, the present flourishing emporium of the north-
em part of that region, and its immediate neighborhood, as classic
ground, on account of the memorable battles which took place for
its possession in the infancy of our settlements. Braddock's defeat,
Maj. Grant's defeat, its conquest by Gen. Forbes, the victory over
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History of The Valley
the Indians above related by Maj. Bouquet, serve to show the import¬
ance in which this post was held in early times, and that it was
obtained and supported by the English government, at the price of
no small amount of blood and treasure. In the neighborhood of this
place, as well as in the war-worn regions of the old world, the plow¬
share of the farmer turns up from beneath the surface of the earth,
the broken and rusty implements of war, and the hones of the slain
in battle.
It was in the course of this war that the dreadful massacre of
Wyoming took place,, and desolated the fine settlements of the Hew
England people along the Susquehanna.*
The extensive and indiscriminate slaughter of both sexes and
all ages by the Indians, at Wyoming and other places, so exasperated
a large number of men, denominated the "Paxton hoy.s," that they
rivaled the most ferocious of the Indians themselves in deeds of
cruelty, which have dishonored the history of our country, by the
record of the shedding of innocent blood without the slightest
provocation, deeds of the most atrocious barbarity.
The Conestoga Indians had lived in peace for more than a
century in the neighborhood of Lancaster, Pa. Their number did
not exceed forty. Against these unoffending descendants of the first
friends of the famous William Penn, the Paxton hoys first directed
their more than savage vengeance. Fifty-seven of them in military
array, poured into their little village, and instantly murdered all
whom they found at home, to the number of fourteen men, women
and children. Those of them who did not happen to he at home
at the massacre, were lodged in the jail of Lancaster for safety.
But alas ! this precaution was unavailing. The Paxton hoys broke
open the jail door, and murdered the whole of them, in number about
fifteen to twenty. It was in vain that these poor defenseless people
protested their innocence and begged for mercy on their knees. Blood
was the order of the day'vñth these ferocious Paxton boys. The
death of the victims of their cruelties did not satisfy their rage for
slaughter; they mangled the dead bodies of the Indians with their
scalping knives and tomahawks in the most shocking and brutal
manner, scalping even the children and chopping off the hands and
feet of most of them.
The next object of those Paxton hoys was the murder of the
Christian Indians of the villages of Wequetank and Hain. From the
execution of this infernal design they were prevented by the humane
interference of the government of Pennsylvania, which removed the
inhabitants of both places under a strong guard to Philadelphia for
protection. They remained under guard from Hovember, 1763, until
the close of the war in December, 1764; the greater part of this time
they occupied the barracks of that city. The Paxton hoys twice
assembled in great force, at no great distance from the city, with
* Fourth Edition Note—The Wyoming massacre was an event of the Revolution and
took place in 1778.
"Wae of 1763
193
a view to assault the barracks and murder the Indians; but owing
to tbe military preparations made for tbeir reception, tbey at last
reluctantly desisted from tbe enterprise.*
Wbile we read, witb feelings of tbe deepest borror, tbe record
of tbe murders wbicb bave at different periods been inflicted on tbe
unoffending Christian Indians of tbe Moravian profession, it is some
consolation to reflect that our government bas bad no participation
in those murders ; but on tbe contrary, has at all times afforded them
all tbe protection wbicb circumstances allowed.
Tbe principal settlements in Greenbrier were those of Muddy
Creek and tbe Big Levels, distant about fifteen or twenty miles from
each other. Before these settlers were aware of tbe existence of the
war, and supposing that tbe peace made witb tbe French compre¬
hended tbeir Indian allies also, about sixty Indians visited tbe settle¬
ment on Muddy Creek. Tbey made tbe visit under tbe mask of
friendship. Tbey were cordially received and treated witb all tbe
hospitality wbicb it was in tbe power of these new settlers to bestow
upon them; but on a sudden, and without any previous intimation
of anything like an hostile intention, tbe Indians murdered, in cold
blood, all tbe men belonging to tbe settlement, and made prisoners
of tbe women and children.
Leaving a guard witb tbeir prisoners, tbey then marched to
tbe settlement in tbe Levels before tbe fate of tbe Muddy Creek
settlement was known. Here, as at Muddy Creek, tbey were treated
witb tbe most kind and attentive hospitality, at tbe bouse of Archi¬
bald Clendennin, who gave tbe Indians a sumptuous feast of three
fat elks, wbicb be bad recently killed. Here a scene of slaughter,
similar to that wbicb bad recently taken taken place at Muddy Creek,
occurred at tbe conclusion of tbe feast. It commenced with an old
woman, who having a very sore leg, showed it to an Indian, desiring
bis advice bow she might cure it. This request be answered with
a blow of tbe tomahawk, wbicb instantly killed her. In a few
minutes all tbe men belonging to tbe place shared tbe same fate.
Tbe women and children were made prisoners.
In tbe time of tbe slaughter, a negro woman at tbe spring, near
tbe bouse where it happened, killed her own child for fear it should
fall into tbe bands of tbe Indians, or binder her from making her
escape.
Mrs. Clendennin, whose husband was among tbe slain, and
herself witb her children prisoners, boldly charged tbe Indians witb
perfidy and cowardice, in taking advantage of tbe mask of friend¬
ship to commit murder. One of tbe Indians, exasperated at her
boldness, and stung, no doubt, at tbe justice of her charge against
them, brandished bis tomahawk over her bead, and dashed her
husband's scalp in her face. In defiance of all bis threats, tbe
• Fourth Edition Note—The cowardly ferocity of the Paxton boys was on a par
with the murder of Cornstalk by men of the same spirit.
194
History of The Valley
heroine still reiterated the charges of perfidy and cowardice against
the Indians.
On the next day, after inarching about ten miles, while passing
through a thicket, the Indians forming a front and rear guard, Mrs.
Clendennin gave her infant to a neighbor woman, stepped into the
bushes without being perceived by the Indians, and made her escape.
The cries of the child made the Indians inquire for the mother.
She was not to be found. "Well," said one of them, "I will soon
bring the cow to her calf;" and taking the child by the feet, beat
its brains out against a tree. Mrs. Clendennin returned home during
the course of the succeeding night, and covered the corpse of her
husband with fence rails. Having performed this pious office for
her murdered husband, she chose, as a place of safety, a cornfield,
where, as she related, her heroic resolution was succeeded by a
paroxysm of grief and despondency, during which she imagined she
saw a man with the aspect of a murderer standing within a few
steps of her. The reader of this narrative, instead of regarding
this fit of despondency as a feminine weakness on the part of this
daughter of affliction, will commiserate her situation of unparalleled
destitution and distress. Alone, in the dead of night; the survivor
of all the infant settlers of that district, while all her relatives
and neighbors of both settlements were either prisoners or lying dead,
dishonored by ghastly wounds of the tomahawk and scalping knife
of the savages, her husband and her children among the slain.
It was some days before a force could be collected in the eastern
part of Botetourt and the adjoining county for the purpose of
burying the dead.*
Of the events of this war, on the southwestern frontier of
Virginia, and in the county of Holstein, the then western part of
Horth Carolina, the author has not been informed, farther than that,
on the part of the Indians, it was carried on with the greatest
activity, and its course marked with many deeds of the most atrocious
cruelty, until late in the year 1764, when a period was put to this
sanguinary contest, by a treaty made with the Indian nations by
Sir William Johnston, at the German Flats.
The perfidy and cruelty practiced by the Indians during the
war of 1763 and 1764, occasioned the revolting and sanguinary
character of the Indian wars ivhich took place afterwards. The
Indians had resolved on the total extermination of all the settlers
of our northern and southwestern frontiers, and being no longer
under the control of their former allies, the French, they were at
full liberty to exercise all their native ferocity, and riot in the
indulgence of their innate thirst for blood.
(Hext follows, in Dr. Doddridge's work, his account of Dun-
more's war, which the author of this history has transferred to the
chapter under that head in the preceding pages. The chapter which
follows relates to an event which occurred during that war).
♦ Fourth Edition Note—And yet these settlers on the Greenbrier were trespassers.
They had gone here in deñance of treaty right.
CHAPTEE III
The Death of Coenstalk
This was one of the most atrocious murders committed by the
whites during the whole course of the war (Dunmore's war).
In the summer of 1777, when the confederacy of the Indian
nations, under the influence of the British government, was formed,
and began to commit hostilities along our frontier settlements. Corn¬
stalk, and a young chief of the name of Ked-hawk, with another
Indian, made a visit to the garrison at the Point, commanded at
that time by Capt. Arbuckle. Cornstalk stated to the captain, that,
with the exception of himself and the tribe to which he belonged,
all the nations had joined the English, and that unless protected
by the whites, "they would have to run with the stream."
Capt. Arbuckle thought proper to detain the Cornstalk chief
and his two companions as hostages for the good conduct of the
tribe to which they belonged. They had not been long in this
situation before a son of Cornstalk, concerned for the safety of his
father, came to the opposite side of the river and hallooed ; his father
knowing his voice, answered him. He was brought over the river.
The father and son mutually embraced each other with the greatest
tenderness.
On the day following, two Indians, who had concealed them¬
selves in the weeds on the hank of the Kanawha opposite the fort,
killed a man of the name of Gilmore, as he was returning from
hunting. As soon as the dead body was brought over the river, there
was a general cry amongst the men who were present, "Let us kill
the Indians in the fort." They immediately ascended the bank of
the river with Capt. Hall at their head, to execute their hasty
resolution. On their way they were met by Capt. Stuart and Capt.
Arbuckle, who endeavored to/dissuade them from killing the Indian
hostages, saying that they certainly had no concern in the murder
of Gilmore. But remonstrance was in vain. Pale as death with rage,
they cocked their guns and threatened the captains with instant death
if they should attempt to hinder them from executing their purpose.
When the murderers arrived at the house where the hostages
were confined. Cornstalk rose up to meet them at the door, hut
instantly received seven bullets through his body; his son and his
other two fellow-hostages were instantly dispatched with bullets and
tomahawks.
Thus fell the Shawnee war chief Cornstalk, who, like Logan, his
companion in arms, was conspicuous for intellectual talent, bravery
and misfortune.
The biography of Cornstalk, as far as it is now known, goes
to show that he was in no way deficient in those mental endowments
196
Histoey of The Valley
which constitute true greatness. On the evening preceding the hattle
of Piont Pleasant, he proposed going over the river to the camp of
Gen. Lewis, for the purpose of making peace. The majority in the
council of warriors voted against the measure. "Well," said Corn¬
stalk, "since you have resolved on fighting, you shall fight, although
it is likely we shall have hard work tomorrow; but if any man shall
attempt to run away from the hattle, I will kill him with my own
hand," and accordingly fulfilled his threat with regard to one
cowardly fellow.
After the Indians had returned from the hattle. Cornstalk called
a council at the Chillicothe town, to consult what was to he done
next. In this council he reminded the war chiefs of their folly in
preventing him from making peace, before the fatal battle of Point
Pleasant, and asked, "What shall we do now? The Long-knives
are coming upon us by two routes. Shall we turn out and fight
them?" All were silent. He then asked, "Shall we kill our squaws
and children, and then fight until we shall all be killed ourselves?"
To this no reply was made. He then rose up and stuck his tomahawk
in the war-post in the middle of the council house, saying, "Since
you are not inclined to fight, I will go and make peace;" and
accordingly did so.
On the morning of the day of his death a council was held
in the fort at the Point, in which he was present. During the
sitting of the council, it is said that he seemed to have a presentiment
of his approaching fate. In one of his speeches, he remarked to
the coimcil, "When I was young, every time I went to war I thought
it likely that I might return no more; hut I still lived. I am now
in your hands, and you may kill me if you choose. I can die but
once, and it is alike to me whether I die now or at another time."
When the men presented themselves before the door, for the purpose
of killing the Indians, Cornstalk's son manifested signs of fear, on
observing which, his father said, "Don't he afraid, my son ; the Great
Spirit sent you here to die with me, and we must submit to his
will. It is all for the best."
CHAPTEE IV
"Wappatomica Campaign
Under the command of Col. Angus McDonald, four hundred
men were collected from the western part of Virginia by the order
of the Earl of Dunmore, the then governor of Virginia. The place
of rendezvous was "Wheeling, some time in the month of June, 1774.
They went down the river in boats and canoes to the mouth of
Captina, from thence by the shortest route to Wappatomica town,
about sixteen miles below the present Coshocton. The pilots were
Jonathan Zane, Thomas Nicholson and Tady Kelly. About six miles
from the town, the army was met by a party of Indians, to the
number of forty or fifty, who gave a skirmish by the way of
ambuscade, in which two of our men were killed and eight or nine
wounded. One Indian was killed and several wounded. It was
supposed that several more of them were killed, but they were carried
off. "When the army came to the town, it was found evacuated.
The Indians had retreated to the opposite shore of the river, where
they had formed an ambuscade, supposing the party would cross the
river from the town. This was immediately discovered. The com¬
manding officers then sent sentinels up and down the river, to give
notice, in case the Indians should attempt to cross above or below
the town. A private in the company of Capt. Cresap, of the name
of John Harness, one of the sentinels below the town, displayed the
skill of a backwoods sharpshooter. Seeing an Indian behind a blind
across the river, raising up his head at times to look over the river,
Harness charged his rifle with a second ball, and taking deliberate
aim, passed both balls through the neck of the Indian. The Indians
dragged off the body and buried it with the honors of war. It was
found the next morning and scalpêd by Harness.
Soon after the town was taken, the Indians from the opposite
shore sued for peace. The commander offered them peace on con¬
dition of their sending over their chiefs as hostages. Eive of them
came over the river and were put under guard as hostages. In the
morning they were marched in front of the army over the river.
"When the party had reached the western bank of the Muskingum,
the Indians represented that they could not make peace without the
presence of the chiefs of the other towns ; on which one of the chiefs
was released to bring in the others. He did not return at the
appointed ^ime. Another chief was permitted to go on the same
errand, who in like manner did not return. The party then moved
up the river to the next town, which was a mile above the first, and
on the opposite shore. Here we had a slight skirmish with the
Indians, in which one of them was killed and one of our men
wounded. It was then discovered that during all the time spent in
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History of The Valley
the negotiation, the Indians were employed in removing their women
and children, old people and effects, from the upper towns. The
towns were burned and the corn cut up. The party then returned
to the place from which they set out, bringing with them the three
remaining chiefs, who were sent to Williamsburg. They were released
at the peace the succeeding fall.
The army was out of provisions before they left the towns, and
had to subsist on weeds, one ear of corn each day, with a very scanty
supply of game. The corn was obtained at one of the Indian towns.
CHAPTEE V
Gen. McIntosh's Campaign
In the spring of the year 1773, the government having sent a
small force of regular troops under the command of Gen. Mcintosh,
for the defense of the western frontier, the general with the regulars
and militia from Fort Pitt, descended the Ohio about thirty miles,
and huilt Port Mcintosh on the site of the present Beaver towns.
This fort was made with strong stockades, furnished with bastions
and mounted with one 6-pounder. This station was well selected as
a point for a small military force, always in readiness to pursue or
intercept the war parties of Indians who frequently made incursions
into the settlements on the opposite side of the river in its immediate
neighborhood. The fort was well garrisoned and supplied with
provisions during the summer.
Sometime in the fall of the same year. Gen. Mcintosh received
an order from the government to make a campaign against the
Sandusky towns. This order he attempted to obey with one thousand
men; hut owing to the delay in making necessary outfits for the
expedition, the officers, on reaching Tuscarawa, thought it best to
halt at that place, build and garrison a fort, and delay the further
prosecution of the campaign until the next spring. Accordingly they
erected Fort Laurens on the hank of the Tuscarawa. Some time
after the completion of the fort, the general returned with the army
to Fort Pitt, leaving Col. John Gibson with a command of one
hundred and fifty men to protect the fort until spring. The Indians
were soon acquainted with the existence of the fort, and soon
convinced our people, by sad experience, of the bad policy of building
and attempting to hold a fort so far in advance of our settlements
and other forts.
The first annoyance the garrison received from the Indians was
some time in the month of January. In the night time they caught
most of the horses belonging to the fort, and taking them off some
distance in the woods, they took off their hells, and formed an
ambuscade by the side of the path leading through the high grass
of a prairie at a little distance from the fort. In the morning the
Indians rattled the horse hells at the further end of the line of the
ambuscade. The plan succeeded; a fatigue of sixteen men went out
for the horses and fell into the snare. Fourteen were killed on the
spot, two jpere taken prisoners, one of whom was given up at the
close of the war ; the other was never afterwards heard of.
Gen. Benjamin Biggs, then a captain in the fort, being officer
of the day, requested leave of the colonel to go out with the fatigue
party, which fell into the ambuscade. "No," said the colonel, "this
fatigue party does not belong to a captain's command. When I
200
History of The Valeet
shall have occasion to employ one of that number, I shall he thankful
for your services; at present you must attend to your duty in the
fort." On what trivial circumstances do life and death sometimes
depend !
In the evening of the day of the ambuscade, the whole Indian
army, in full war dress and paint, marched in single file through a
prairie in view of the fort. Their number, as counted from one of
the bastions, was eight hundred and forty-seven. They then took up
their encampment on an elevated piece of ground at a small distance
from the fort, on the opposite side of the river. Trom this camp
they frequently held conversations with the people of our garrison.
In these conversations they seemed to deplore the long continuance of
the war and hoped for peace; hut were much exasperated at the
Americans for attempting to penetrate so far into their country.
This great body of Indians continued the investment of the fort
as long as they could obtain subsistence, which was about six weeks.
An old Indian by the name of John Thompson, who was with
the American army in the fort, frequently went out among the
Indians during their stay at their encampment, with the mutual
consent of both parties. A short time before the Indians left the
place, they sent word to Col. Gibson, by the old Indian, that they
were desirous of peace, and that if he would send them a barrel
of fiour they would send in their proposals the next day ; hut although
the colonel complied with their request, they marched off without
fulfilling their engagement.
The commander, supposing the whole number of the Indians
had gone off, gave permission to Col. Clark, of the Pennsylvania
line, to escort the invalids, to the number of eleven or twelve, to
Fort Mcintosh. The whole number of this detachment was fifteen.
The wary Indians had left a party behind, for the purpose of doing
mischief. These attacked this party of invalids and the escort, about
two miles from their fort, and killed the whole of them with the
exception of four, amongst whom was the captain, who ran hack
to the fort. On the same day a detachment went out from the fort,
brought in the dead, and buried them with the honors of war, in
front of the fort gate.
In three or four days after this disaster a relief of seven hundred
men, under Gen. Mcintosh, arrived at the fort with a supply of
provisions, a great part of which was lost by an untoward accident.
When the relief had reached within about one hundred yards of the
fort, the garrison gave them a salute of a general discharge of
musketry, at the report of which the pack-horses took fright, broke
loose and scattered the provisions in every direction through the
woods, so that the greater part of them could never he recovered
again.
Among other transactions which took place about this time was
that of gathering up the remains of the fourteen men for interment,
who had fallen in the ambuscade during the winter, and which could
Gen. McIntosh's Campaign
201
not be done during the investment of tbe place by tbe Indians. They
were found mostly devoured by tbe wolves. The fatigue party dug
a pit large enough to contain the remains of all of them, and after
depositing them in the pit, merely covering them with a little earth,
with a view to have revenge on the wolves for devouring their com¬
panions, they covered the pit with slender sticks, rotten wood and
bits of bark, not of sufficient strength to bear the weight of a wolf.
On the top of this covering they placed a piece of meat, as a bait for
the wolves. The next morning seven of them were found in the pit.
They were shot and the pit filled up.
For about two weeks before the relief arrived, the garrison had
been put on short allowance of half pound of sour fiour and an equal
weight of stinking meat for every two days. The greater part of
the last week, they had nothing to subsist on but such roots as they
could find in the woods and prairies, and raw hides. Two men lost
their lives by eating wild parsnip roots by mistake. Four more
nearly shared the same fate, but were saved by medical aid.
On the evening of the arrival of the relief, two days' rations
were issued to each man in the fort. These rations were intended
as their allowance during their march to Fort Mcintosh; hut many
of the men, supposing them to have been back rations, ate up the
whole of their allowance before the next morning. In consequence of
this imprudence, in eating immoderately after such extreme starvation
from the want to provisions, about forty of the men became faint
and sick during the first day's march. On the second day, however,
the sufferers were met by a great number of their friends from the
settlements to which they belonged, by whom they were amply
supplied with provisions, and thus saved from perishing.
Maj. Vernon, who succeeded Col. Gibson in the command of
Fort Laurens, continued its possession until the next fall, when the
garrison, after being, like their predecessors, reduced almost to
starvation, evacuated the place.
Thus ended the disastrous business of Fort Laurens, in which
much fatigue and suffering were endured and many lives lost, but
without any beneficial result to the country.
*
CHAPTEE VI
The Moravian Campaign
This ever memorable campaign took place in the month of
March, 1782. The weather, during the greater part of the month
of February, had been uncommonly fine, so that the war parties
from Sandusky visited the settlements, and committed depredations
earlier than usual. The family of a William Wallace, consisting
of his wife and five or six children, were killed, and John Carpenter
taken prisoner. These events took place in the latter part of
February. The early period at which these fatal visitations of the
Indians took place led to the conclusion that the murderers were
either Moravians, or that the warriors had had their winter quarters
at their towns on the Muskingum. In either case, the Moravians
being in fault, the safety of the fror.tier settlements required the
destruction of their establishments at that place.
Accordingly between eighty and ninety men were hastily collected
together for the fatal enterprise. They rendezvoused and encamped
the first night on the Mingo Bottom, on the west side of the Ohio
river. Each man furnished himself with his own arms, ammunition
and provisions. Many of them had horses. The second day's march
brought them within one mile of the middle Moravian town, where
they encamped for the night. In the morning the men were divided
into two equal parties, one of which Avas to cross the river about
a mile above the town, their videttes having reported that there were
Indians on both sides of the river. The other party was divided into
three divisions, one of which was to take a circuit in the woods, and
reach the river a little distance below the town, on the east side.
Another division was to fall into the middle of the town, and the
third at its upper end.
When the party which designed to make the attack on the west
side had reached the river, they found no craft to take them over,
but something like a canoe was seen on the opposite bank. The
river was high with some floating ice. A young man of the name
of Slaughter swam the river and brought over, not a canoe, but a
trough designed for holding sugar water. This trough could carry
but two men at a time. In order to expedite their passage, a number
of men stripped off their clothes, put them into the trough, together
with their guns, and swam by its side, holding its edges with their
hands. When about sixteen had crossed the river, their two sentinels,
who had been posted in advance, discovered an Indian whose name
was Shabosh. One of them broke one of his arms by a shot. A shot
from the other sentinel killed him. These heroes then scalped and
tomahawked him.
The Moravian Campaign
203
By this time about sixteen men had got over the river, and
supposing that the firing of the guns which killed Shabosh would
lead to an instant discovery, they sent word to the party designed
to attack the town on the east side of the river to move on instantly,
which they did.
In the meantime, the small party which had crossed the river
marched with all speed to the main town on the west side of the
river. Here they found a large company of Indians gathering the
corn which they had left in their fields the preceding fall when they
removed to Sandusky. On the arrival of the men at the town, they
professed peace and good will to the Moravians, and informed them
that they had come to take them to Fort Pitt for their safety. The
Indians surrendered, delivered up their arms, and appeared highly
delighted with the prospect of their removal, and began with all speed
to prepare victuals for the white men and for themselves on their
journey.
A party of white men and Indians was immediately dispatched
to Salem, a short distance from Gnadenhutten, where the Indians
were gathering in their corn, to bring them into Gnadenhutten. The
party soon arrived with the whole number of the Indians from Salem.
In the meantime the Indians from Gnadenhutten were confined
in two houses some distance apart, and placed under guard ; and when
those from Salem arrived, they were divided, and placed in the same
houses with their brethren in Gnadenhutten.
The prisoners, being thus secured, a council of war was held to
decide on their fate. The officers, unwilling to take on themselves
the whole responsibility of the decision, agreed to refer the question
to the whole number of the men. The men were accordingly drawn
up in a line. The commandant of the party. Col. David Williamson,
then put the question to them in form, "Whether the Moravian
Indians should he taken prisoners to Pittsburgh, or put to death,
and requested that all those who were in favor of saving their lives
should step out of the line and form a second rank." On this sixteen,
some say eighteen, stepped out of the rank, and formed themselves
into a second line; hut alas! this line of mercy was far too short
for that of vengeance.
The fate of the Moravians was then decided on, and they were
told to prepare for death.
The prisoners, from the time they were placed in the guardhouse,
foresaw their fate, and began their devotions by singing hymns,
praying and exhorting each other to place a firm reliance in
the mercy of the Saviour of men. Wlien their fate was announced
to them, ttese devoted people embraced, kissed, and bedewed each
others' faces and bosoms with their mutual tears, asked pardon of
che brothers and sisters for any offense they might have given them
through life. Thus, at peace with their God and each other, on
being asked by those who were impatient for the slaughter, "whether
204
History of The Valley
they were ready to die?" they answered "that they had commended
their souls to God and were ready to die."
The particulars of this dreadful catastrophe are too horrid to
relate. Suffice it to say, that in a few minutes these two slaughter¬
houses, as they were then called, exhibited in their ghastly interior,
the mangled, bleeding remains of these poor unfortunate people, of
all ages and sexes, from the aged, gray-headed parent, down to the
helpless infant at the mother's breast, dishonored by the fatal wounds
of the tomahawk, mallet, war club, spear and scalping-knife.
Thus, O Brainard and Zeisberger! faithful missionaries, who
devoted your whole lives to incessant toil and sufferings in your
endeavors to make the wilderness of paganism "rejoice and blossom
as the rose," in faith and piety to God ! thus perished your faithful
followers, by the murderous hand of the more than savage white
men. Faithful pastors! Your spirits are again associated with
those of your flock, "where the wicked cease from troubling and the
weary are at rest !"
The number of the slain, as reported by the men on their return
from the campaign, was eighty-seven or eighty-nine; but the Mora¬
vian account, which no doubt is correct, makes the number ninety-
six. Of these, sixty-two were grown persons, one-third of whom were
women; the remaining thirty-four were children. All these, with
few exceptions, were killed in the houses. Shabosh was killed about
a mile above the town, on the west side of the river. His wife was
killed while endeavoring to conceal herself in a bunch of bushes
at the water's edge, on the arrival of the men at the town, on the
east side of the river. A man at the same time was shot in a canoe,
while attempting to make his escape from the east to the west side
of the river. Two others were shot while attempting to escape by
swimming the river. A few men, who were supposed to be warriors,
were tied and taken some distance from the slaughter-houses, to be
tomahawked. One of these had liked to have made his escape at
the expense of the life of one of the murderers. The rope by which
he was led was of some length. The two men who were conducting
him to death fell into a dispute who should have the scalp. The
Indian while marching with a kind of dancing motion, and singing
his death song, drew a knife from a scabbard suspended from his
neck, cut the rope, and aimed at stabbing one of the men; but the
jerk of the rope occasioned the men to look around. The Indian then
fled towards the woods, and while running, dexterously untied the
rope from his wrists. He was instantly pursued by several men who
fired at him, one of whom wounded him in the arm. After a few
shots the firing was forbidden, for the men might kill each other
as they were running in a straggling manner. A young man then
mounted a horse and pursued the Indian, who when overtaken struck
the horse on the head with a club. The rider sprang from the horse,
on which the Indian seized, threw him down and drew his tomahawk
to kill him. At that instant, one of the party got near enough to
The Moravian Campaign
205
shoot the Indian, which he did merely in time to save the life of
his companion.
Of the whole number of Indians at Gnadenhutten and Salem,
only two made their escape. These were two lads of fourteen or
fifteen years of age. One of them, after being knocked down and
scalped, hut not killed, had the presence of mind to lie still among
the dead, until the dusk of the evening, when he silently crept out
of the door and made his escape. The other lad slipped through a
trap door into the cellar of one of the slaughter-houses, from which
he made his escape through a small cellar window.
These two lads were fortunate in getting together in the woods
the same night. Another lad, somewhat larger, in attempting to
pass though the window, it is supposed stuck fast and was burnt
alive.
The Indians of the upper town were apprised of their danger in
due time to make their escape, two of them having found the mangled
body of Shahosh. Providentially they all made their escape, although
they might have been easily overtaken by the party, if they had
undertaken their pursuit. A division of the men was ordered to
go to Shonbron; hut finding the place deserted, they took what
plunder they could find, and returned to their companions without
looking farther after the Indians.
After the work of death was finished, and the plunder secured,
all the buildings in the town were set on fire and the slaughter-houses
among the rest. The dead hodi(;s were thus consumed to ashes. A
rapid retreat to the settlements finished the campaign.
Such were the principal events of this horrid affair. A massacre
of innocent, unoffending people, dishonorable not only to our country,
hut human nature itself.
Before making any remarks on the causes which led to the
disgraceful events under consideration, it may he proper to notice
the manner in which the enterprise was conducted, as furnishing
evidence that the murder of the Moravians was intended, and that
no resistance from them was anticipated.
In a military point of view, the Moravian campaign was con¬
ducted in the very worst manner imaginable. It was undertaken at
so early a period, that a deep fall of snow, a thing very common
in the early part of March, in former times, would have defeated
the enterprise. When the army came to the river, instead of con¬
structing a sufficient number of rafts to transport the requisite
number over the river at once, they commenced crossing in a sugar
trough, which could carry only two men at a time, thus jeopardizing
the safety of those who first went over. The two sentinels who shot
Shahosh, according to military law, ought to have been executed on
the spot for having fired without orders, thereby giving premature
notice of the approach of our men. The truth is, nearly the whole
number of the army ought to have been transported over the river;
for after all their forces employed, and precaution used in getting
206
History of The Valley
possession of the town on the east side of the river, there were hut
one man and one squaw found in it, all the others being on the
other side. This circumstance they ought to have known beforehand,
and acted accordingly. The Indians on the west side of the river
amounted to about eighty, and among them above thirty men, besides
a number of young lads, all possessed of guns and well accustomed
to the use of them; yet this large number was attacked by about
sixteen men. If they had really anticipated resistance, they deserved
to lose their lives for their rashness. It is presumable, however, that
having full confidence in the pacific principles of the Moravians, they
did not expect resistance ; but calculated on blood and plunder
without having a shot fired at them. If this was really the case,
the author leaves it to justice to find, if it can, a name for the
transaction.
One can hardly help reflecting with regret, that these Moravians
did not for the moment lay aside their pacific principles and do
themselves justice. With a mere show of defense, or at most a few
shots, they might have captured and disarmed those few men, and
held them as hostages for the safety of their people and property
until they could have removed them out of their way. This they
might have done on the easiest terms, as the remainder of the army
could not have crossed the river without their permission as there was
but one canoe at the place, and the river too high to he forded.
But alas! these truly Christian people suffered themselves to be be¬
trayed by hypocritical professions of friendship, until "they were
led as sheep to the slaughter." Over this horrid deed humanity must
shed tears of commiseration, as long as the record of it shall remain.
Let not the reader suppose that I have presented him with a
mere imaginary possibility of defense on the part of the Moravians.
This defense would have been an easy task. Our people did not go
on that campaign with a view of fighting. There may have been
some brave men among them ; but they were far from being all such.
For my part, I cannot suppose for a moment that any white man,
who can harbor a thought of using his arms for the killing of women
and children in any case, can be a brave man. Ho, he is a murderer.
The history of the Moravian settlement on the Muskingum,
and the peculiar circumstances of their inhabitants during the
revolutionary contest between Great Britain and America, deserve a
place here.
In the year 1772, the Moravian villages were commenced by
emigrations from Friedenshutton, on the Big Beaver, and from Wya-
lusing and Sheshequon on the Susquehanna. In a short time they
rose to a considerable extent and prosperity, containing upwards of
four hundred people. During the summer of Dunmore's war, they
were much annoyed by war parties of the Indians, and disturbed by
perpetual rumors of the ill-intentions of the white people of the
frontier settlements towards them; yet their labors, schools and
religious exercises, went on without interruption.
The Mob avian Campaign
207
In the Revolutionary War, which began in 1775, the situation
of the Moravian settlements was truly deplorable. The English had
associated with their oivn means of warfare against the Americans,
the scalping-knife and tomahawk of the merciless Indians. These
allies of England committed the most horrid depredations along the
whole extent of our defenseless frontier. Erom early in the spring
until late in the fall, the early settlers of the western parts of Virginia
and Pennsylvania had to submit to the severest hardships and pri¬
vations. Cooped up in little stockade forts, they worked their little
fields in parties under arms, guarded by sentinels, and were doomed
from day to day to witness or hear reports of the murders or captivi+y
of their people, the burning of their houses, and the plunder of their
property.
The war with the English fleets and armies, on the other side
of the mountains, was of such a character as to engage the whole
attention and resources of our government, so that, poor as the first,
settlers of this country were, they had to bear almost the whole
burden of the war during the revolutionary contest. They chose
their own officers, furnished their own means, and conducted the war
in their ovm way. Thus circumstanced, "they became a law unto
themselves," and on certain occasions perpetrated acts which govern¬
ment was compelled to disapprove. This lawless temper of our people
was never fully dissipated until the conclusion of the whiskey
rebellion in 3794.
The Moravian villages were situated between the settlements of
the whites and the towns of the warriors, about sixty miles from the
former, and not much farther from the latter. On this account
they were denominated "the half-way houses of the warriors." Thus
placed between two rival powers engaged in furious warfare, the
preservation of their neutrality was no easy task, perhaps impossible.
If it requires the same physical force to preserve a neutral station
among belligerent nations that it does to prosecute a war, as is
unquestionably the case, this pacific people had no chance for the
preservation of theirs. The very goodness of their hearts, their
aversion to the shedding of human blood, brought them into difficul¬
ties with both parties. When they sent their runners to Fort Pitt,
to inform us of the approach of the war parties, or received, fed,
secreted and sent home prisoners, who had made their escape from
the savages, they made breaches of their neutrality as to the belliger¬
ent Indians. Their furnishing the warriors with a resting place
and provisions was contrary to their neutral engagements to us ; hut
their local situation rendered these accommodations to the warriors
unavoidable *on their part, as the wai'riors possessed both the will
and the means to compel them to give whatever they wanted from
them.
The peaceable Indians first fell under suspicion with the Indian
warriors and the English commandant at Detroit, to whom it was
reported that their teachers were in close confederacy with the
208
Histoky of The Valley
American Congress, for preventing not only their own people, but
also the Delawares and some other nations, from associating their
arms with those of the British for carrying on the war against the
American colonies.
The frequent failures of the war expeditions of the Indians was
attributed to the Moravians, who often sent runners to Fort Pitt to
give notice of their approach. This charge against them was cer¬
tainly not without foundation. In the spring of the year 1781 the
war chiefs of the Delawares fully apprised the missionaries and their
followers of their danger both from the whites and Indians, and
requested them to remove to a place of safety from both. This
request was not complied with, and the almost prophetic predictions
of the chiefs were literally fulfilled.
In the fall of the year 1781, the settlements of the Moravians
were broken up by upwards of three hundred warriors, and the mis¬
sionaries taken prisoners, after being robbed of almost everything.
The Indians were left to shift for themselves in the barren plains
of Sandusky, where most of their horses and cattle perished from
famine during the winter. The missionaries were taken prisoners
to Detroit; hut after an examination by the governor, were permit¬
ted to return to their beloved people again.
In the latter part of February, a party of about one hundred
and fifty of the Moravian Indians returned to their deserted villages
on the Muskingum, to procure com to keep their families and cattle
from starving. Of these, ninety-six fell into the hands of Williamson
and his party, and were murdered.
The causes which led to the murder of the Moravians are now to
he detailed.
The pressure of the Indian war along the whole of the Western
frontier, for several years preceding the event under consideration,
had been dreadfully severe. From early in the spring, until the com¬
mencement of the winter, from day to day murders were committed
in every direction by the Indians. The people lived in forts which
were in the highest degree uncomfortable. The men were harrassed
continually with the duties of going on scouts and campaigns.. There
was scarcely a family of the first settlers who did not, at some time
or other, lose more or less of their number by the merciless Indians.
Their cattle were killed, their cabins burned, and their horses car¬
ried off. These losses were severely felt by a people so poor as we
were at that time. Thus circumstanced, our people were exasperated
to madness by the extent and severity of the war. The •unavailing-
endeavors of the American Congress to prevent the Indians from
taking up the hatchet against either side in the revolutionary contest,
contributed much to increase the general indignation against them,
at the same time those pacific endeavors of our government divided
the Indians amongst themselves on the question of war or peace with
the whites. The Moravians, part of the Delawares, and some others
faithfully endeavored to preserve peace, hut in vain. The Indian
The Mobaviah Campaign
209
maxim was, "he that is not for us is against us." Hence the Moravian
missionaries and their followers were several times on the point
of being murdered by the warriors. This would have been done had
it not been for the prudent conduct of some of the war chiefs.
On the other hand, the local situation of the Moravian villages
excited the jealousy of the white people. If they took no direct
agency in the war, yet they were as they were then called, "half-way
houses" between us and the warriors, at which the latter could stop,
rest, refresh themselves, and traffic off their plunder. Whether these
aids, thus given to our enemies, were contrary to the laws of neutrality
between belligerents, is a question which I willingly leave to the
decision of civilians. On the part of the Moravians they were un¬
avoidable. If they did not give or sell provisions to the warriors,
they would take them by. force. The fault was in their situation,
not in themselves.
The longer the war continued the more our people complained
of the situation of these Moravian villages. It was said that it was
owing to their being so near us, that the warriors commenced their
depredations so early in the spring, and continued them until so late
in the fall.
In the latter end of the year 1781, the militia of the frontier
came to a determination to break up the Moravian villages on the
Muskingum. Tor this purpose a detachment of our men went out
under the command of Col. David Williamson, for the purpose of
inducing the Indians with their teachers to move farther off, or bring
them prisoners to Fort Pitt. When they arrived at the villages they
found but few Indians, the greater number of them having removed
to Sandusky. These few were well treated, taken to Fort Pitt, and
delivered to the commandant of that station, who after a short
detention sent them home again.
This procedure gave great offense to the people of the country,
who thought the Indians ought to have been killed. Col. Williamson,
who, before this little campaign, had been a very popular man on
account of his activity and bravery in war, now became the subject
of severe animadversion on account of his lenity to the Moravian
Indians. In justice to his memory I have to say that, although at
that time very young, I was personally acquainted with him, and
from my recollection of his conversation, I say with confidence that
he was a brave man, but not cruel. He would meet an enemy in
battle and fight like a soldier, but not murder a prisoner. Had he
possessed the authority of a superior officer in a regular army, I
do not believe that a single Moravian Indian would have lost his
life; but hp possessed no such authority. He was only a militia
officer, who could advise, but not command. His only fault was that
of too easy a compliance with popular opinion and popular prejudice.
On this account his memory has been loaded with unmerited reproach.
Several reports unfavorable to the Moravians had been in
circulation for some time before the campaign against them. One
210
History of The Valley
was, that the night after they were liberated at Fort Pitt, they
crossed the river and killed or made prisoners a family by the name
of Monteur. A family on Buffalo Creek had been mostly killed
in the summer or the fall of 1781 ; and it was said by one of them,
who, after being made a prisoner, made his escape, that the leader
of the party of Indians who did the mischief was a Moravian. These
with other reports of a similar import, served as a pretext for their
destruction, although no doubt they were utterly false.
Should it be asked what sort of people composed the band of
murderers of these unfortunate people? I answer they were not
miscreants or vagabonds ; many of them were men of the first
standing in the country; many of them were men who had recently
lost relations by the hands of the savages. Several of the latter class
found articles which had been plundered from their own houses, or
those of their relations, in the houses of the Moravians. One man,
it is said, found the clothes of his wife and children, who had been
murdered by the Indians a few days before; they were still bloody;
yet there was no unequivocal evidence that these people had any
direct agency in the war. Whatever of our property was found with
them had been left by the warriors in exchange for the provisions
which they took from them. When attacked by our people, although
they might have defended themselves, they did not; they never fired
a single shot. They were prisoners and had been promised protection.
Every dictate of justice and humanity required that their lives
should be spared. The complaint of their villages being "half-way
houses for the warriors," was at an end, as they had been removed
to Sandusky the fall before. It was therefore an atrocious and
unqualified murder. But by whom committed—by a majority of
the campaign? For the honor of my country, I hope I may safely
answer this question in the negative. It was one of those convulsions
of the moral state of society, in which the voice of the justice and
humanity of a majority is silenced by the clamor and violence of
a lawless minority. Very few of our men imbrued their hands in
the blood of the Moravians. Even those who had not voted for
saving their lives, retired from the scene of slaughter with horror
and disgust. Why then did they not give their votes in their favor?
The fear of public indignation restained them from doing so. They
thought well, but had not heroism enough to express their opinion.
Those who did so deserve honorable mention for their intrepidity.
So far as it may hereafter be in my power, this honor shall be done
them, while the names of the murderers shall not stain the pages
of history, from my pen at least.
CHAPTER VIT
The Indian Summer
As connected with the history of the Indian wars of the western
country, it may not he amiss to give an explanation of the term
"Indian Summer."
This expression, like many others, has continued in general use,
notwithstanding its original import has been forgotten. A back¬
woodsman seldom hears this expression without feeling a chill of
horror, because it brings to his mind the painful recollection of its
original application. Such is the force of the faculty of association
in human nature.
The reader must here he reminded that, during the long
continued Indian wars sustained by the first settlers of the west,
they enjoyed no peace excepting in the winter season, when, owing
to the severity of the weather, the Indians were unable to make
their excursions into the settlements. The onset of winter was
therefore hailed as a jubilee by the early inhabitants of the country,
who, throughout the spring and early part of the fall, had been
cooped up in their little uncomfortable forts, and subjected to all
the distresses of the Indian wars.
At the approach of winter, therefore, all the farmers, excepting
the owner of the fort, removed to their cabins on their farms, with
the joyful feelings of a tenant of a prison recovering his relea.se
from confinement. All was hustle and hilarity in preparing for
winter, by gathering in the com, digging potatoes, fattening hogs,
and repairing the cabins. To our forefathers the gloomy months
of winter were more pleasant than the zephyrs and the fiowers of
May.
It, however, sometimes happened, after the apparent onset of
winter, the weather became warm; the smoky time commenced, and
lasted for a considerable number of days. This was the Indian
Summer, because it afforded the Indians another opportunity of
visiting the settlements with their destructive warfare. The melting
of the snow saddened every countenance, and the genial warmth of
the sun chilled every heart with horror. The apprehension of another
visit from the Indians, and of being driven hack to the detested fort,
was painful in the highest degree, and the distressing apprehensioTi
was frequently realized.
Toward the latter part of February we commonly had a fine
spell of open warm weather, during which the snow melted away.
This was denominated the "pawwawing days," from the supposition
that the Indians were then holding their war councils, for planning
off their spring campaigns into the settlements. Sad experience
taught us that in this conjecture we were not often mistaken.
212
History of The Valley
Sometimes it happened that the Indians ventured to make their
excursions too late in the fall or too early in the spring for their
own convenience.
A man of the name of John Carpenter was taken early in the
month of March, in the neighborhood of what is now Wellshurg.
There had been several warm days, hut on the night preceding his
capture there was a heavy fall of snow. His two horses, which they
took with him, nearly perished in swimming the Ohio. The Indians
as well as himself suffered severely with the cold before they reached
the Moravian towns on the Muskingum. In the morning after the
first day's journey beyond the Moravian towns, the Indians sent
out Carpenter to bring in the horses, which had been turned out
in the evening, after being hobbled. The horses had made a circuit,
and fallen into the trail by which they came, and were making their
way homeward.
When Carpenter overtook them, and had taken off their fetters,
he had, as he said, to make a most awful decision. He had a chance
and barely a chance to make his escape, with a certainty of death
should he attempt it without success; while on the other hand, the
horrible prospect of being tortured to death by fire presented itself.
As he was the first prisoner taken that spring, of course the general
custom of the Indians, of burning the first prisoner every spring,
doomed him to the flames.
After spending a few minutes in making his decision, he resolved
on attempting an escape, and effected it by way of Forts Laurens,
Mcintosh and Pittsburgh. If I recollect rightly, he brought both
his horses home with him. This happened in the year 1782. The
capture of Mr. Carpenter, and the murder of two families about
the same time, that is to say, in the two or three first days of March,
contributed materially to the Moravian campaign, and the murder
of that imfortunate people.
CHAPTEE VIH
Gen. Crawford's Campaign
This, in one point of view at least, is to be considered as a
second Moravian campaign, as one of its objects was tbat of finishing
the work of murder and plunder with the Christian Indians at their
new establishment on the Sandusky. The next object was that of
destroying the Wyandotte towns on the same river. It was the
resolution of all those concerned in this expedition, not to spare the
life of any Indians that might fall into their hands, whether friends
or foes. It will he seen in the sequel that the result of this campaign
was widely different from that of the Moravian campaign the
preceding March.
It should seem that the long continuance of the Indian war had
debased a considerable portion of our population to the savage state
of our nature. Having lost so many relatives by the Indians, and
witnessed their horrid murders and other depredations on so extensive
a scale, they became subjects of that indiscriminate thirst for revenge,
which is such a prominent feature in the savage character; and
having had a taste of blood and plunder, without risk or loss on their
part, they resolved to go on and kill every Indian they could find,
whether friend or foe.
Preparations for this campaign commenced soon after the close
of the Moravian campaign, in the month of March; and as it was
intended to make what was called at that time "a dash," that is,
an enterprise conducted with secrecy and dispatch, the men were all
mounted on the best horses they could procure. They furnished
themselves with all their outfits, except some ammunition, which was
furnished by the lieutenant-colonel of Washington county.
On the 25th of May, 1782, four hundred and eighty men mustered
at the old Mingo towns, on the western side of the Ohio river. They
were all volunteers from the immediate neighborhood of the Ohio,
with the exception of one company from Ten Mile, in Washington
county. Here an election was held for the office of commander-in-
chief for the expedition. The candidates were Col. Williamson and
Col. Crawford. The latter was the successful candidate. When
notified of his appointment it is said that he accepted it with
apparent reluctance.
The army marched along "Williamson's trail," as it was then
called, un^ they arrived at the Upper Moravian town, in the fields
belonging to which there was still plenty of corn on the stalks, with
which their horses were plentifully fed during the night of their
encampment there.
Shortly after the army halted at this place, two Indians were
discovered by three men, who had walked some distance out of the
214
Histokt of The Valley
camp. Three shots were fired at one of them, hut without hurting
him. As soon as the news of the discovery of Indians had reached
the camp, more than one-half of the men rushed out without
command, and in the most tumultuous manner, to see what happened.
From that time. Col. Crawford felt a presentiment of the defeat
which followed.
The truth is, that notwithstanding the secrecy and dispatch of
the enterprise, the Indians were beforehand with our people. They
saw the rendezvous on the Mingo Bottom, and knew their number
and destination. They visited every encampment immediately on
their leaving it, and saw from their writing on the trees and scraps
of paper, that "no quarter was to he given to any Indian, whether
man, woman or child."
Nothing material happened during their march until the 6th
of June, when their guides conducted them to the site of the Moravian
villages, on one of the upper branches of the Sandusky river; but
here, instead of meeting with Indians and plunder, they met with
nothing hut vestiges of desolation. The place was covered with high
grass; and the remains of a few huts alone announced that the place
had been the residence of the people whom they intended to destroy,
but who had moved off to Scioto some time before.
In this dilemma, what was to be done? The officers held a
council, in which it was determined to march one day longer in
the direction of Upper Sandusky, and if they should not reach the
town in the course of the day, to make a retreat with all speed.
The march was commenced on the next morning through the
plains of Sandusky, and continued until about two o'clock, when
the advance guard was attacked and driven in by the Indians, who
were discovered in large numbers in the high grass with which the
place was covered. The Indian army was at that moment about
entering a piece of woods, almost entirely surrounded by plains; but
in this they were disappointed by a rapid movement of our men.
The battle then commenced by a heavy fire from both sides. From
a partial possession of the woods which they had gained at the onset
of the battle, the Indians were soon dislodged. They then attempted
to gain a small skirt of wood on our right flank, but were prevented
from doing so by the vigilance and bravery of Maj. Leet, who
commanded the right wing of the army at that time. The firing
was incessant and heavy until dark, when it ceased. Both armies
lay on their arms during the night. Both adopted the policy of
kindling large fires along the line of battle, and then retiring some
distance in the rear of them, to prevent being surprised by a night
attack. During the conflict of the afternoon three of our men were
killed and several wounded.
In the morning our army occupied the battle ground of the
preceding day. The Indians made no attack during the day, until
late in the evening, but were seen in large bodies traversing the plains
Gen. Crawfokd's Campaign
215
in various directions. Some bf them appeared to be employed in
carrying off their dead and wounded.
In the morning of this day, a council of the officers was held,
in which a retreat was resolved on as the only means of saving their
army, the Indians appearing to increase in numbers every hour.
During the sitting of this council. Col. Williamson proposed taking
one hundred and fifty volunteers, and marching directly to Upper
Sandusky. This proposition the commander-in-chief prudently re¬
jected, saying, "I have no doubt hut that you would reach the town,
hut you would find nothing there but empty wigwams; and having
taken off so many of our best men, you would leave the rest to he,
destroyed by the hosts of Indians with which we are now surrounded,
and on your return they would attack and destroy you. They care
nothing about defending their towns—they are worth nothing. Their
squaws, children and property, have been removed from them long
since. Our lives and baggage are what they want, and if they can
get us divided they will soon have them. We must stay together and
do the best we can."
During this day preparations were made for a retreat by burying
the dead and burning fires over their graves to prevent discovery, and
preparing means for carrying off the wounded. The retreat was to
commence in the course of the night. The Indians, however, became
apprised of the intended retreat, and about sundown attacked the
army with great force and fury, in every direction excepting that
of Sandusky.
When the line of march was formed by the commander-in-chief,
and the retreat commenced, our guides prudently took the direction
of Sandusky, which afforded the only opening in the Indian lines
and the only chance of concealment. After marching about a mile
in this direction, the army wheeled about to the left, and by a
circuitous route gained the trail by which they came, before day.
They continued their march the whole of next day, with a trifling
annoyance from the Indians, who fired a few distant shots at the
rear guard, which slightly wounded two or three men. At night
they built fires, took their suppers, secured the horses and resigned
themselves to repose, without placing a single sentinel or vidette for
safety. In this careless situation, they might have been surprised
and cut off by the Indians, who, however, gave them no disturbance
during the night, nor afterwards during the whole of their retreat.
The number of those composing the main body in the retreat was
supposed to he about three hundred.
Most unfortunately, when a retreat was resolved on, a difference
of opinioi^ prevailed concerning the best mode of effecting it. The
greater number thought it best to keep in a body and retreat as fast
as possible, while a considerable number thought it safest to break
off in small parties, and make their way home in different directions,
avoiding the route by which they came. Accordingly many attempt¬
ed to do so, calculating that the whole body of the Indians would
216
History of The Valley
follow the main army. In this they were entirely mistaken. The
Indians paid hut little attention to the main body of the army, but
pursued the small parties with such activity, that but very few of
those who composed them made their escape.
The only successful party who was detached from the main
army, was that of about forty men under the command of a Capt.
Williamson, who, pretty late in the night of the retreat, broke
through the Indian lines under a severe fire and with some loss, and
overtook the main army on the morning of the second day of the
retreat.
For several days after the retreat of our army, the Indians were
spread over the whole country, from Sandusky to the Muskingum,
in pursuit of the straggling parties, most of whom were killed on
the spot. They even pursued them almost to the banks of the Ohio.
A man of the name of Mills was killed, two miles to the eastward
of the site of St. Clairsville, in the direction of Wheeling from that
place. The number killed in this way must have been very great;
the precise amount, however, was never fairly ascertained.
At the commencement of the retreat. Col. Crawford placed
himself at the head of the army, and continued there until they had
gone about a quarter of a mile, when missing his son, John Crawford,
his son-in-law, Maj. Harrison, and his nephews, Maj. Rose and
William Crawford, he halted and called for them as the line passed,
hut without finding them. After the army had passed him, he was
unable to overtake it, owing to the weariness of his horse. Falling
in company with Dr. Knight and two others, they traveled all the
night, first north and then to the east, to avoid the pursuit of the
Indians. They directed their course during the night by the north
star.
On the next day they fell in with Capt. John Biggs and Lieut.
Ashley, the latter of whom was severely wounded. There were two
others in the company with Biggs and Ashley. They encamped
together the succeeding night. On the next day, while on their
march, they were attacked by a party of Indians, who made Col.
Crawford and Dr. Knight prisoners. The other four made their
escape; but Captain Biggs and Lieutenant Ashley were killed the
next day.
Col. Crawford and Dr. Knight were immediately taken to an
Indian encampment, at a short distance from the place where they
were captured. Here they found nine fellow prisoners and seventeen
Indians. On the next day they were marched to the old Wyandotte
town, and on the next morning were paraded, to set off, as they were
told, to go to the new town. But alas! a very different destination
awaited these captives! Nine of the prisoners were marched off
some distance before the colonel and the doctor, who were conducted
by Pipe and Wingemond, two Delaware chiefs. Four of the prisoners
were tomahawked and scalped on the way, at different places.
Gen. Crawford's Campaign
217
Preparations had been made for tbe execution of Col. Crawford,
by setting a post about fifteen feet bigb in tbe ground, and making a
large fire of bickory poles about six yards from it. About balf a
mile from tbe place of execution, tbe remaining five of tbe nine
prisoners were tomahawked and scalped by a number of squaws and
boys.
When arrived at tbe fire, tbe colonel was stripped and ordered
to sit down. He was then severely beaten with sticks, and after¬
wards tied to tbe post by a rope of such length as to allow bim to
walk two or three times around it, and then back again. This
done, they began the torture by discharging a great number of loads
of powder upon bim, from bead to foot; after which they began to
apply tbe burning ends of tbe bickory poles, tbe squaws in tbe mean¬
time throwing coals and hot ashes on bis body, so that in a little
time be bad nothing but coals to walk on. In tbe midst of bis suf¬
ferings, be begged of tbe noted Simon Girty to take pity on bim
and shoot bim. Girty tauntingly answered, "You see I have no
gun; I cannot shoot;" and laughed heartily at tbe scene. After
suffering about three hours be became faint and fell down on bis
face. An Indian then scalped bim, and an old squaw threw a quan¬
tity of burning coals on tbe place from which tbe scalp was taken.
After this be rose and walked around tbe post a little, but did not
live much longer. After be expired, bis body was thrown into tbe
fire and consumed to ashes.* Col. Crawford's son and son-in-law
were executed at tbe Shawnee towns.
Dr. Knight was doomed to be burned at a town about forty
miles distant from Sandusky, and committed to tbe care of a young
Indian to be taken there. Tbe first day they traveled about twenty-
five miles, and encamped for tbe night. In tbe morning, tbe gnats
being very troublesome, tbe doctor requested tbe Indian to untie
bim, that be might help bim to make a fire to keep them off. With
this request tbe Indian complied. While tbe Indian was on bis
knees and elbows, blowing tbe fire, the doctor caught up a piece of
a tent pole which bad been burned in two, about eighteen inches
long, with which be struck tbe Indian on tbe bead with all bis might,
so as to knock bim forward into tbe fire. Tbe stick however broke,
so that tbe Indian, although severely hurt, was not killed, but im¬
mediately sprang up. On this the doctor caught up tbe Indian's
gun to shoot bim, but drew back tbe cock with so much violence that
be broke tbe main spring. Tbe Indian ran off with hideous yelling.
Dr. Knight then made tbe best of bis way home, which be reached
in twenty-one days, almost famished to death. Tbe gun being of no
use, after carrying it a day or two be left it behind. On bis journey
be subsisted on roots, a few young birds and berries.
A Mr. Slover, who bad been a prisoner among tbe Indians, and
was one of tbe pilots of tbe army, was also taken prisoner to one of
♦ Fourth Edition Note—According to Mrs. Paulie, herself a captive, the execution
of Crawford was to avenge the killing of Cornstalk.
218
Histoey of The Valley
the Shawnee towns on the Scioto. After being there a few days,
and as he thought, in favor with the Indians, a council of the
chiefs was held, in which it was resolved that he should be burned.
The fires were kindled, and he was blackened and tied to a stake, in
an uncovered end of the council-house. Just as they were about
commencing the torture, there came up suddenly a heavy thunder
gust, with a great fall of rain which put out the fires. After the
rain was over the Indians concluded that it was then too late to
commence and finish the torture that day, and therefore postponed
it until the next day. Slover was then loosened from the stake, con¬
ducted to an empty house, to a log of which he was fastened with a
buffalo tug around his neck, while his arms were pinioned behind
him with a cord. Until late in the night the Indians sat up smoking
and talking. They frequently asked Slover how he would like to
eat fire the next day. At length one of them laid down and went to
sleep ; the other continued smoking and talking with Slover. Some¬
time after midnight, he also laid down and went to sleep. Slover
then resolved to make an effort to get loose if possible, and soon extri¬
cated one of his hands from the cord, and then fell to work with the
tug round his neck, but without effect. He had not been long
engaged in these efforts, before one of the Indians got up and smoked
his pipe awhile. During this time Slover kept very still for fear of
an examination. The Indian laying down, the prisoner renewed
his efforts, hut for some time without effect, and he resigned himself
to his fate. After resting for awhile, he resolved to make another
and a last effort, and as he related, put his hand to the tug, and
without difficulty, slipped it over his head. The day was just then
breaking. He sprang over a fence into a corn field, but had pro¬
ceeded hut a little distance in the field, before he came across a squaw
and several children, lying asleep under a mulberry tree. He then
changed his course for part of the commons of the town, on which he
saw some horses feeding. Passing over the fence from the corn field,
he found a piece of an old quilt. This he took with him, and was the
only covering he had. He then untied the cord from the other arm,
which by this time was very much swelled. Having selected, as he
thought, the best horse on the commons, he tied the cord to his lower
jaw, mounted him and rode off at full speed. The horse gave out
about ten o'clock, so that he had to leave him. He then traveled on
foot with a stick in one hand, with which he put the weeds behind
him, for fear of being tracked by the Indians. In the other he car¬
ried a bunch of bushes to brush the gnats and mosquitoes from his
naked body. Being perfectly acquainted with the route, he reached
the Eiver Ohio in a short time, almost famished -with hunger and
exhausted with fatigue.
Thus ended this disastrous campaign. It was the last one
which took place in this section of the country during the revolution¬
ary contest of the Americans with the mother country. It was under¬
taken with the very worst of views, those of murder and plunder.
Gen. Ckawfokd's Campaign
219
It was conducted without sufficient means to encounter, with any
prospect of success, the large force of Indians opposed to ours in the
plains of Sandusky. It was conducted without that subordination
and discipline, so requisite to insure success in any hazardous enter¬
prise, and it ended in a total discomfiture. Hever did an enterprise
more completely fail of attaining its object. Never, on any occasion,
had the ferocious savages more ample revenge for the murder of their
pacific friends, than that which they obtained on this occasion.
Should I he asked what considerations led so great a number of
people into this desperate enterprise—why with so small a force
and such slender means they pushed on so far as the plains of San¬
dusky? I reply, that many believed that the Moravian Indians,
taking no part in the war, and having given offense to the warriors
on several occasions, their belligerent friends would not take up arms
in their behalf. In this conjecture they were sadly mistaken. They
did defend them with all the force at their command, and no wonder,
for notwithstanding their Christian and pacific principles, the war¬
riors still regarded the Moravians as their relations, whom it was
their duty to defend.
The reflections which naturally arise out of the history of the
Indian war in the western country, during our revolutionary contest
with Great Britain, are not calculated to do honor to human nature,
even in its civilized state. On our side, indeed, as to our infant
government, the case is not so had. Our Congress faithfully endeav¬
ored to prevent the Indians from taking part in the war on either
side. The English government, on the other hand, made allies of as
many of the Indian nations as they could, and they imposed no
restraint on their savage mode of warfare. On the contrary, the
commandants at their posts along our western frontier received and
paid the Indians for scalps and prisoners. Thus the skin of a white
man's or even a woman's head served in the hands of the Indian as
current coin, which he exchanged for arms and ammunition, for the
farther prosecution of his barbarous warfare, and clothing to cover
his half naked body. Were not these rewards the price of blood? of
blood shed in a cruel manner, on an extensive scale; but without ad¬
vantage to that government which employed the savages in their
warfare against their relatives and fellow Christians, and paid for
their murders by the peace!
The enlightened historian must view the whole of the Indian
war from the commencement of the revolutionary contest, in no other
light than a succession of the most wanton murders of all ages, from
helpless infancy to decrepit old age, and of both sexes, without object
and without effect.
On our side, it is true, the pressure of the war along our Atlantic
border was such that our government could not furnish the means
for making a conquest of the Indian nations at war against us. The
people of the western country, poor as they were at that time, and
unaided by government, could not subdue them. Our campaigns.
220
History of The Valley
hastily undertaken, without sufficient force and means, and illy
executed, resulted in nothing beneficial. On the other hand, the
Indians, with the aids their allies could give them in the western
country, were not able to make a conquest of the settlement on this
side of the mountains. On the contrary, our settlements and the forts
belonging to them became stronger and stronger from year to year
during the whole continuance of the wars. It was therefore a war
of mutual, but unavailing slaughter, devastation and revenge, over
whose record humanity still drops a tear of regret, but that tear can¬
not efface its disgraceful history.
CHAPTEE IX
Attack ok Kice's Fort
This fort consisted of some cabins and a small block-house, and
was, in dangerous times, the residence and place of refuge for twelve
families of its immediate neighborhood. It was situated on Buffalo
Creek, about twelve or fifteen miles from its function with the Kiver
Ohio.
Previous to the attack on this fort, which took place in the
month of September, 1782, several of the few men belonging to the
fort had gone to Hagerstown, to exchange their peltry and furs for
salt, iron and ammunition, as was the usual custom of those times.
They had gone on this journey somewhat earlier that season than
usual, because there had been "a still time," that is, no recent alarms
of the Indians.
A few days before the attack on this fort, about three hundred
Indians had made their last attack on Wheeling Fort. On the third
night of the investment of Wheeling, the Indian chiefs held a coun¬
cil, in which it was determined that the siege of Wheeling should be
raised, two hundred of the warriors return home, and the remaining
hundred of picked men make a dash into the country and strike a
heavy blow somewhere before their return. It was their determina¬
tion to take a fort somewhere and massacre all its people, in revenge
for their defeat at Wheeling.
Xews of the plan adopted by the Indians, was given by two
white men, who had been made prisoners when lads, raised among
the Indians and taken to war with them. These men deserted from
them soon after their council at the close of the siege of Wheeling.
The notice was indeed but short, but it reached Kice's Fort about
half an hour before the commencement of the attack. The intel¬
ligence was brought by Mr. Jacob Miller, who received it at Dr.
Moore's in the neighborhood of Washington. Making all speed home
he fortunately arrived in time to assist in the defense of the place.
On receiving this news, the people of the fort felt assured that the
blow was intended for them, and in this conjecture they were not mis¬
taken. But little time was allowed them for preparation.
The Indians had surrounded the place before they were discov¬
ered; but they were still at some distance. When discovered, the
alarm was given, on which every man ran to his cabin for his gun,
and took uefuge in the block-house. The Indians, answering the
alarm with a war-whoop from their whole line, commenced firing
and running towards the fort from every direction. It was evidently
their intention to take the place by assault ; but the fire of the Indians
was answered by that of six brave and skillful sharpshooters. This
unexpected reception prevented the intended assault, and made the
222
IIisTOKY OF The Valeey
Indians take refuge behind logs, stumps and trees. The firing con¬
tinued with little intermission for about four hours.
In the intervals of the firing, the Indians frequently called out
to the people of the fort, "Give up, give up, too many Indian ; Indian
too big; no kill." They were answered with defiance, "Come on,
you cowards ; we are ready for you ; show us your yellow hides, and
we will make holes in them for you."
During the evening, many of the Indians at some distance from
the fort, amused themselves hy shooting the horses, cattle, hogs and
sheep until the bottom was strewed with their dead bodies.
About ten o'clock at night the Indians set fire to a ham about
thirty yards from the fort. It was large and full of grain and hay.
The flame was frightful, and at first it seemed to endanger the
burning of the fort, hut the barn stood on lower ground than the
fort. The night was calm, with the exception of a slight breeze up
the creek. This carried the flame and burning splinters in a differ¬
ent direction, so that the burning of the bam, which at first was re¬
garded as a dangerous, if not fatal occurrence, jjroved in the issue
the means of throwing a strong light to a great distance in every
direction, so that the Indians durst not approach the fort to set fire to
the cabins, which they might have done at little risk, under the cover
of darkness.
After the harn was set on fire, the Indians collected on the side
of the fort opposite the bam, so as to have the advantage of the
light, and kept up a pretty constant fire, which was as steadily
answered by that of the fort, until about two o'clock, when the
Indians left the place and made a hasty retreat.
Thus was this little place defended hy a Spartan band of six
men, against one hundred chosen warriors, exasperated to madness
by their failure at "Wheeling Fort. Their names shall he inscribed
in the list of the heroes of our early times. They were Jacob Miller,
George Lefler, Peter Fullenweider, Daniel Eice, George Felebaum
and Jacob Lefler, Jr. George Felebaum was shot in the forehead,
through a port-hole, at the second fire of the Indians, and instantly
expired, so that in reality the defense of the place was made hy only
five men.
The loss of the Indians was four, three of whom were killed at
the first fire from the fort, the other was killed about sundown.
There can be no doubt but that a number more were killed and
wounded in the engagement, but were concealed or carried off.
A large division of these Indians, on their retreat, passed within
a little distance of my father's fort. In following their trail, a
few days afterwards, I found a large poultice of chewed sassafras
leaves. This is the dressing which the Indians usually apply to
recent gunshot wounds. The poultice which I found having become
too old and dry, was removed and replaced with a new one.
Examples of personal hravery and hair-breadth escapes are
always acceptable to readers of history. An instance of both of these
Attack on Rice's Foet
223
happened during the attack on this fort, which may he worth
recording.
Abraham Rice, one of the principal men belonging to the fort of
that name, on hearing the report of the deserters from the Indians,
mounted a very strong active mare and rode in all haste to another
fort, about three and a half miles distant from his own, for further
news, if any could be had, concerning the presence of a body of
Indians in the neighborhood. Just as he reached the place, he heard
the report of the guns at his own fort. He instantly returned as fast
as possible, until he arrived within sight of the fort. Finding that
it still held out, he determined to reach it and assist in its
defense, or perish in the attempt. In doing this, he had to cross the
creek, the fort being some distance from it, on the opposite bank.
He saw no Indian until his mare sprang down the hank of the creek,
at which instant about fourteen of them jumped up from among the
weeds and bushes and discharged their guns at him. One bullet
wounded him in the fleshy part of the right arm above the elbow.
By this time several more of the Indians came up and shot at him.
A second hall wounded him in the thigh a little above the knee, but
without breaking the bone, and the hall passed transversely through
the neck of the mare. She, however, sprang up the bank of the
creek, fell to her knees, and stumbled along about a rod before she
recovered. During this time several Indians came running up to
tomahawk him. Yet he made his escape, after having about thirty
shots fired at him from a very short distance. After riding about
four miles, he reached Lamb's Fort, much exhausted with the loss
of blood. After getting his wounds dressed and resting awhile, he
set off late in the evening with twelve men, determined if possible to
reach the fort under cover of the night. "When they got within
about two hundred yards of it, they halted ; the firing still continued.
Ten of the men, thinking the enterprise too hazardous, refused to
go any further and retreated. Rice and two other men crept silently
along towards the fort; but had not proceeded very far before they
came close upon an Indian in his concealment. He gave the alarm
yell, which was instantly passed 'round the line with the utmost
regularity. This occasioned the Indians to make their last effort to
take the place and make their retreat under cover of the night. Rice
and his two companions returned in safety to Lamb's Fort.
About ten o'clock next morning, sixty men collected at Rice's
Fort for the relief of the place. They pursued the Indians, who
kept in a body for about two miles. The Indians had then divided
into small parties and took over the hills in different directions, so
that they (jould he tracked no farther. The pursuit was of course
given up.
A small division of the Indians had not proceeded far after their
separation before they discovered four men coming from a neigh¬
boring fort in the direction of that which they had left. The Indians
waylaid the path, and shot two of them dead on the spot ; the others
224
Histoky of The Valley
fled. One of them being swift on foot, soon made his escape; the
other being a poor runner, was pursued by an Indian, who after a
smart chase came close to him. The man then wheeled 'round and
snapped his gun at the Indian. This he repeated several times.
The Indian then threw his tomahawk at his head, hut missed him.
He then caught hold of the ends of his belt which was tied behind
in a bow knot. In this again the Indian was disappointed, for the
knot came loose, so that he got the belt, hut not the man, who wheeled
'round and tried his gun again, which happened to go off and laid the
Indian dead at his feet.
CHAPTER X
Expected Attack ok Doddridge's Fort
When we received advice, at my father's fort, of the attack on
Rice's block-house, which was but a few miles distant, we sent word
to all those families who were out on their farms, to come immedi¬
ately to the fort. It became nearly dark before the two runners had
time to give the alarm to the family of a Mr. Charles Stuart, who
lived about three-quarters of a mile off from the fort.
They returned in great haste, saying that Stuart's house was
burned down, and that they had seen two fires between that and the
fort, at which the Indians were encamped. There was therefore no
doubt that an attack would be made on our fort early in the morning.
In order to give the reader a correct idea of the military tactics
of our early times, I will give in detail the whole progress of the
preparations, which were made for the expected attack, and, as nearly
as I can, I will give the commands of Capt. Teter, our officer, in his
own words.
In the first place he collected all our men together, and related
the battles and skirmishes he had been in, and really they were not
few in number. He was in Braddock's defeat. Grant's defeat, the
taking of Fort Pitt, and nearly all the battles which took place be¬
tween the English, and the French and Indians, from Braddock's
defeat until the capture of that place by Gen. Forbes. He reminded
us, "that in case the Indians should succeed, we need expect no
mercy; that every man, woman and child would be killed on the
spot. They have been defeated at one fort, and now they are mad
enough. If they should succeed in taking ours, all their vengeance
will fall on our heads. We must fight for ourselves and one another,
and for our wives and children, brothers and sisters. We must make
the best preparations we can ; a little after daybreak we shall hear the
crack of their guns."
He then made a requisition of all the powder and lead in the
fort. The ammunition was accurately divided amongst all the men,
and the amount supposed to he fully sufficient. When this was done,
"How," says the Captain, "when you run your bullets cut off the
necks very close, and scrape them, so as to make them a little less,
and get patches, one hundred finer than those you commonly use,
and have them well oiled, for if a rifle happens to be choked in the
time of battle, there is one gun and one man lost for the rest of the
battle. You will have no time to unbritch a gun and get a plug to
drive out a bullet. Have the locks well oiled and your flints sharp,
so as not to miss fire."
Such were his orders to his men. He then said to the women,
"These yellow fellows are very handy at setting fire to houses, and
226
Histoey of The Valley
water is a very good thing to put out fire. You must fill every ves¬
sel with water. Our fort is not well stockaded, and these ugly
fellows may rush into the middle of it, and attempt to set fire to our
cabins in Wenty places at once." They fell to work and did as he
had ordered.
The men having put their rifles in order, "Now," says he, "let
every man gather in his axes, mattocks and hoes, and place them
inside of his door; for the Indians may make a dash at them with
their tomahawks to cut them down, and an axe in that case might
hit, when a gun would miss fire."
Like a good commander, our captain, not content with giving
orders, went from house to house to see that every thing was right.
The ladies of the present day will suppose that our women
were frightened half to death with the near prospect of such an
attack of the Indians. On the contrary, I do not know that I ever
saw a merrier set of women in my life. They went on with their
work of carrying water and cutting bullet patches for the men,
apparently without the least emotion of fear ; and I have every reason
to believe that they would have been pleased with the crack of the
guns in the morning.
During all this time we had no sentinels placed around the fort,
so confident was our captain that an attack would not he made before
daybreak.
I was at that time thirteen or fourteen years of age, hut ranked
as a fort soldier. After getting my gun and all things else in order,
I went up into the garret loft of my father's house, and laid down
about the middle of the floor, with my shot pouch on and my gun
by my side, expecting to he waked up by the report of the guns at
daybreak, to take my station at the port-hole assigned me, which was
in the second story of the house.
I did not wake until about sunrise, when the alarm was all over.
The family which we supposed had been killed, had come into the
fort about daybreak. Instead of the house being burnt, it was only
a large old log on fire, near the house, which had been seen by our
expresses. If they had seen anything like fire between that and the
fort, it must have been fox fire. Such is the creative power of
imagination when under the influence of fear.
CHAPTEK XI
Coshocton Campaign
This campaign took place in the summer of 1780, and was
directed against the Indian villages at the forks of the Muskingum.
The place of rendezvous was Wheeling; the number of regulars
and militia about eight hundred. From Wheeling they made a
rapid march, by the nearest route, to the place of their destination.
When the army reached the river a little below Salem, the lower
Moravian town, Col. Broadhead sent an express to the missionary
of that place, the Rev. John Heckewelder, informing him of his
arrival in his neighborhood, with his army, requesting a small supply
of provisions, and a visit from him in his camp. When the mission¬
ary arrived at the camp, the general informed him of the object of
the expedition he was engaged in, and inquired of him whether any
of the Christian Indians were hunting, or engaged in business in the
direction of his march. On being answered in the negative, he
stated that nothing would give him greater pain than to hear that
any of the Moravian Indians had been molested by the troops, as
these Indians had always, from the commencement of the war, con¬
ducted themselves in a manner that did them honor.
A part of the militia had resolved on going up the river to
destroy the Moravian villages, but were prevented from executing
their project by Gen. Broadhead and Col. Shepherd of Wheeling.
At White-eye's Plains, a few miles from Coshocton, an Indian
prisoner was taken. Soon afterwards two more Indians were dis¬
covered, one of whom was wounded, but both made their escape.
The commander, knowing that these two Indians would make the
utmost dispatch in going to the town, to give notice of the approach
of the army, ordered a rapid march, in the midst of a heavy fall of
rain, to reach the town before them, and take it by surprise. The
plan succeeded. The army reached the place in three divisions.
The right and left wings approached the river a little above and
below the town, while the centre marched directly upon it. The
whole number of Indians in the village, on the east side of the river,
together with ten or twelve from a little village some distance above,
were made prisoners without firing a single shot. The river having
risen to a great height, owing to the recent fall of rain, the army
could not cross it. Owing to this, the villages with their inhabitants
on the weet side of the river escaped destruction.
Among the prisoners, sixteen warriors were pointed out by
Pekillon, a friendly Delaware chief, who was with the army of
Broadhead.
A little after dark, a council of war was held to determine on
the fate of the warriors in custody. They were doomed to death.
228
Histoey of The Valley
and by the order of the commander were bound, taken a little distance
below the town, and dispatched with tomahawks and spears, and
scalped.
Early the next morning an Indian presented himself on the
opposite bank of the river and asked for the Big Captain. Broad-
head presented himself and asked the Indian what he wanted, to
which he replied, "I want peace." "Send over some of your chiefs,"
said Broadhead. "May be you kill," said the Indian. He was
answered, "They shall not be killed." One of the chiefs, a well-
looking man, came over the river and entered into conversation with
the com,mander in the street; but while engaged in conversation, a
man of the name of Wetzel came up behind him, with a tomahawk
concealed in the bosom of his hunting shirt, and struck him on the
back of his head. He fell and instantly expired.
About eleven or twelve o'clock the army commenced its retreat
from Coshocton. Gen. Broadhead committed the care of the
prisoners to the militia. They were about twenty in number. After
marching about half a mile, the men commenced killing them. In
a short time they were all dispatched, except a few women and
children, who were spared and taken to Fort Pitt, and after some
time exchanged for an equal number of their prisoners.
CHAPTEK XII
Captivitt of Mks. Brown
On the 27th day of March, 1789, about ten o'clock in the fore¬
noon, as Mrs. Brown was spinning in her house, her black woman,
who had stepped out to gather sugar water, screamed out, "Here are
Indians." She jumped up, ran to the window, and then to the door,
where she was met by one of the Indians presenting his gun. She
caught hold of the muzzle, and turning it aside, begged him not to
kill her, but to take her prisoner. The other Indian in the mean¬
time caught the negro woman and her hoy, about four years old, and
brought them into the house. They then opened a chest and took
out a small box and some articles of clothing, and without doing any
further damage, or setting fire to the house, set off with herself and
son, about two and a half years old, the black woman and her two
children, the eldest four years old and the youngest one year old.
After going about one and a half miles they halted and held a consul¬
tation, as she supposed, about killing the children. This she under¬
stood to be the subject by their gestures and frequently pointing at
the children. To one of the Indians who could speak English, she
held out her little hoy and begged him not to kill him, as he would
make a fine little Indian after awhile. The Indian made a motion
to her to walk on with her child. The other Indian then struck the
negro boy with the pipe end of his tomahawk, which knocked him
down, and then dispatched him by a blow with the edge across the
back of the neck and scalped him.
About four o'clock in the evening, they reached the river, about
a mile above Wellsburg, and carried a canoe which had been thrown
up in some driftwood into the river. They got into this canoe and
worked it down to the mouth of Rush Run, a distance of about five
miles. They pulled up the canoe into the mouth of the run as far
as they could, then went up the run about a mile, and encamped for
the night. The Indians gave the prisoners all their own clothes for
covering, and added one of their own blankets. Awhile before day¬
light, the Indians got up and put another blanket over them.
About sunrise they began their march np a very steep hill, and
about two o'clock halted on Short Creek, about twenty miles from
the place whence they had set out in the morning. The place where
they halteck had been an encampment shortly before, as well as a
place of deposit for the plunder which they had recently taken from
the house of a Mr. Vanmeter, whose family had been killed. The
plunder was deposited in a sycamore tree. Here they kindled a fire
and put on a brass kettle, with a turkey which they had killed on the
way, to boil in sugar water.
230
History of The Valley
Mr. Glass, the first husband of Mrs. Brown, was working with
a hired man in a field, about a quarter of a mile from the house,
when his wife and family were taken, hut knew nothing of the event
until two o'clock. After searching about the place, and going to
several houses in quest of his family, he went to Mr. Wells' Fort,
collected ten men beside himself, and the same night lodged in a cabin
on the bottom on which the town now stands.
JSText morning they discovered the place from which the Indians
had taken the canoe from the drift and their tracks at the place of
their embarkation. Mr. Glass could distinguish the track of his wife
by the print of the high heel of her shoe. They crossed over the
river and went down on the other side until they came near the
mouth of Rush Run ; hut discovering no tracks of the Indians, most
of the men concluded that they would go to the mouth of the Musk¬
ingum river by water, and therefore wished to turn hack. Mr. Glass
begged of them to go as far as the mouth of Short Creek, which was
only two or three miles farther. To this they agreed. When they
got to the mouth of Rush Run, they found the canoe of the Indians.
This was identified by a proof, which goes to show the presence of
mind of Mrs. Brown. While going down the river, one of the
Indians threw into the water several papers, which he had taken out
of Mr. Glass' trunk, some of which she picked out of the water, and
under pretense of giving them to the child, dropped them into the bot¬
tom of the canoe. These left no doubt. The trail of the Indians
and their prisoners up the run to their camp, and then up the river
hill, was soon discovered. The trail at the time, owing to the softness
of the ground and the height of the weeds, was easily followed.
About an hour after the Indians had halted, Mr. Glass and his
men came within sight of the smoke of their camp. The object then
was to save the lives of the prisoners, by attacking the Indians so
unexpectedly, as not to allow them time to kill them. With this
view they crept as slyly as they could, till they got within something
more than one hundred yards from the camp. Fortunately, Mrs.
Brown's little son had gone to a sugar tree to get some water; but
not being able to get it out of the hark trough, his mother had stepped
out of the camp to get it for him. The negro woman was sitting
some distance from the two Indians, who were looking attentively
at a scarlet jacket which they had taken some time before. On a
sudden they dropped the jacket, and turned their eyes toward the
men, who supposing they were discovered, immediately discharged
several guns, and rushed upon them at full speed, vdth an Indian
yell. One of the Indians, it was supposed, was wounded the first
fire, as he fell and dropped his gun and shot pouch. After running
about one hundred yards a second shot was fired after him by Major
McGuire, which brought him to his hands and knees; but there was
no time for pursuit, as the Indians had informed Mrs. Brown that
there was another encampment close by. They therefore returned
home with all speed, and reached the Beach Bottom Fort that night.
Captivity of Mus. Beowií
231
The other Indian at the first fire, ran a little distance beyond
Mrs. Brown, so that she was in a right line between him and the
white men. Here he halted for a little to put on his shot pouch,
which Mr. Glass, for the moment, mistook for an attempt to kill
his wife with a tomahawk.
This artful manoeuver no doubt saved the life of the savage, as
his pursuers durst not shoot at him without risking the life of Mrs.
Brown.
CHAPTEK XIII
Lewis Wetzel
The following narrative goes to show how much may he effected
by the skill, bravery, and physical activity of a single individual,
in the partisan warfare carried on against the Indians on the western
frontier.
Lewis Wetzel was the son of John Wetzel, a German, who settled
on Big Wheeling, about fourteen miles from the river. He was
amongst the first adventurers in that part of the country. His
education, like that of his contemporaries, was that of the hunter and
warrior. When a boy he adopted the practice of loading and firing
his rifle as he ran. This was a means of making him so destructive
to the Indians afterwards.
When about thirteen years old, he was taken prisoner by the
Indians, together with his brother, Jacob, about eleven years old.
Before he was taken he received a slight wound in the breast from
a bullet, which carried off a small piece of his breast bone. The
second night after they were taken, the Indians encamped at the Big
Lick, twenty miles from the river, on the waters of McMahan's Creek.
The hoys were not confined. After the Indians had fallen asleep,
Lewis whispered to his brother, Jacob, that he must get up and go
back home with him. Jacob at first objected, hut afterwards got up
and went along with him. When they had got about one hundred
yards from the camp, they sat on a log. "Well," said Lewis, "we
can't go home barefooted ; I will go back and get a pair of moccasins
for each of us;" and accordingly did so, and returned. After sitting
a little longer, "How," says he, "I will go back and get father's gun,
and then we'll start." This he effected. They had not traveled far
on the trail by which they came, before they heard the Indians coming
after them. It was a moonlight night. When the Indians came
pretty nigh to them, they stepped aside into the hushes, let them pass,
then fell into their rear and traveled on. On the return of the
Indians they did the same. They were then pursued by two Indians
on horseback, whom they dodged in the same way. The next day
they reached Wheeling in safety, crossing from the Indian shore to
Wheeling Island on a raft of their own making. By this time Lewis
had become almost spent from his wound.
In the year 1782, after Crawford's defeat, Lewis went with a
Thomas Mills, who had been in the campaign, to get his horse, which
he had left near the place where St. Clairsville now stands. At the
Indian Springs, two miles from St. Clairsville, on the Wheeling road,
they were met by about forty Indians, who were in pursuit of the
stragglers from the campaign. The Indians and white men dis¬
covered each other about the same moment. Lewis fired first and
Lewis Wetzel
233
killed an Indian, while the Indians wounded Mills in the heel, who
was soon overtaken and killed. Four of the Indians then singled
out, dropped their guns, and pursued Wetzel. Wetzel loaded his rifle
as he ran. After running ahout half a mile, one of the Indians
having got within eight or ten steps of him, Wetzel wheeled 'round
and shot him down, ran, and loaded his gun as before. After going
ahout three-quarters of a mile farther, a second Indian came so close
to him, that when he turned to fire the Indian caught the muzzle
of the gun, and as he expressed it, "he and the Indian had a severe
wring." He however succeeded in bringing the muzzle to the Indian's
breast, and killed him on the spot. By this time, he as well as the
Indians were pretty well tired ; yet the pursuit was continued by tbe
two remaining Indians. Wetzel, as before, loaded his gun, and
stopped several times during this latter chase; hut when he did so,
the Indians treed themselves. After going something more than a
mile, Wetzel took advantage of a little open piece of ground over
which the Indians were passing, a short distance behind him, to make
a sudden stop for the purpose of shooting the foremost, who got
behind a little sapling, which was too small to cover his body.
Wetzel shot and broke his thigh. The wound, in the issue, proved
fatal. The last of the Indians gave a little yell, and said, "Ho catch
dat man, gun always loaded," and gave up the chase, glad no doubt
to get off with his life.
It is said that Lewis Wetzel, in the course of the Indian wars
in this part of the country, killed twenty-seven Indians besides a
number more along the frontier settlements of Kentucky.
CHAPTEK XIV
Adam Poe
In the summer of 1782 a party of seven Wyandottes made aii
incursion into a settlement some distance below Fort Pitt, and several
miles from the Ohio river. Here, finding an old man alone in a
cabin, they killed him, packed up what plunder they could find, and
commenced their retreat. Among the party was a celebrated Wyan¬
dotte chief, who, in addition to his fame as a warrior and counsellor,
was, as to his size and strength, a real giant.
The news of the visit of the Indians soon spread through the
neighborhood, and a party of eight good riflemen was collected in a
few hours for the purpose of pursuing the Indians. In this party
were two brothers of the names of Adam and Andrew Poe. They
were both famous for courage, size and activity.
This little party commenced the pursuit of the Indians with a
detennination, if possible, not to suffer them to escape, as they usually
did on such occasions, by making a speedy flight to the river, crossing
it, and then dividing into small parties, to meet at a distant point
in a given time.
The pursuit was continued the greater part of the night after
the Indians had done the mischief. In the morning the party found
themselves on the trail of the Indians, which led to the river. When
arrived within a little distance of the river, Adam Poe, fearing an
ambuscade, left the party, who followed directly on the trail, to creep
along the brink of the river bank, under cover of the weeds and
bushes, to fall on the rear of the Indians, should he find them in
ambuscade. He had not gone far before he saw the Indian rafts
at the water's edge. Hot seeing any Indians he stepped softly down
the bank with his rifle cocked. When about half way down, he
discovered the large Wyandotte chief and a small Indian within a
few steps of him. They were standing with their guns cocked, and
looking in the direction of our party, who by this time had gone
some distance lower down the bottom. Poe took aim at the large
chief, but his rifle missed fire. The Indians hearing the snap of the
gun lock, instantly turned 'round and discovered Poe, who being too
near them to retreat, dropped his gun and sprang from the bank
upon them, and seizing the large Indian by the clothes on his breast,
and at the same time embracing the neck of the smaller one, threw
them both down on the ground, himself being uppermost. The small
Indian soon extricated himself, ran to the raft, got his tomahawk,
and attempted to dispatch Poe, the large Indian holding him fast
in his arms with all his might, the better to enable his fellow to effect
his purpose. Poe, however, so well watched the motions of his
assailant, that, when in the act of aiming his blow at his head, by
Adam Poe
235
a vigorous and well directed kick with one of his feet, he staggered
the savage, and knocked the tomahawk out of his hand. This failure
on the part of the small Indian was reproved by an exclamation of
contempt from the large one.
In a moment the Indian caught up his tomahawk again,
approached more cautiously, brandishing his tomahawk, and making
a number of feigned blows in defiance and derision. Poe, however,
still on his guard, averted the real blow from his head, by throwing
up his arm, and receiving it on his wrist in which he was severely
wounded; but not so as to lose entirely the use of his hand.
In this perilous moment, Poe, by a violent effort, broke loose
from the Indian, snatched up one of the Indian's guns, and shot the
small Indian through the breast, as he ran up the third time to
tomahawk him.
The large Indian was now on his feet, and grasping Poe by
a shoulder and leg, threw him down on the bank. Poe instantly
disengaged himself and got on his feet. The Indian then seized him
again, and a new struggle ensued, which, owing to the slippery state
of the bank, ended in the fall of both combatants into the water.
In this situation, it was the object of each to drown the other.
Their efforts to effect their purpose were continued for some time
with alternate success, sometimes one being under the water and
sometimes the other. Poe at length seized the tuft of hair on the
scalp of the Indian, with which he held his head under water until
he supposed him drowned.
Relaxing his hold too soon, Poe instantly found his gigantic
antagonist on his feet again, and ready for another combat. In this
they were carried into the water beyond their depth. In this situation
they were compelled to loose their hold on each other and swim for
mutual safety. Both sought the shore, to seize a gun and end the
contest with bullets. The Indian being the best swimmer, reached
the land first. Poe seeing this, immediately turned back into the
water, to escape, if possible, being shot, by diving. Fortunately the
Indian caught up the rifle with which Poe had killed the other
warrior.
At this juncture, Andrew Poe, missing his brother from the
party, and supposing from the report of the gun which he shot, that
he was either killed or engaged in conflict with the Indians, hastened
to the spot. On seeing him, Adam called out to him, "Kill the big
Indian on shore." But Andrew's gun, like that of the Indian's, was
empty. The contest was now between the white man and the Indian,
who should load and fire first. Very fortunately for Poe, the Indian,
on loading, drew the ramrod from the thimbles of the stock of the
gun with so much violence, that it slipped out of his hand and fell
a little distance from him. He qaickly caught it up, and rammed
down his bullet. This little delay gave Poe the advantage. He shot
the Indian as he was raising his gun to take aim at him.
236
History of The Vaeeey
As soon as Andrew had shot the Indian, he jumped into the
river to assist his wounded brother to shore; hut Adam, thinking
more of the honor of carrying the scalp of the big Indian home as
a trophy of victory than of his safety, urged Andrew to go hack
and prevent the struggling savage from rolling himself into the river
and escaping. Andrew's solicitude for the life of his brother
])revented him from complying with this request.
In the meantime, the Indian, jealous of the honor of his scalp
even in the agonies of death, succeeded in reaching the river and
getting into the current, so that his body was never obtained.
An unfortunate occurrence took place during this conflict. Just
as Andrew arrived at the top of the bank for the relief of his brother,
one of the party who had followed close behind him, seeing Adam in
the river, and mistaking him for a wounded Indian, shot at him and
wounded him in the shoulder. He, however, recovered from his
wounds.
During the contest between Adam Poe and the Indians, the party
had overtaken the remaining six of them. A desperate conflict
ensued, in which five of the Indians were killed. Our loss was three
men killed and Adam Poe severely wounded.
Thus ended this Spartan conflict, with the loss of three valiant
men on our part, and with that of the whole Indian party excepting
one warrior. Hever on any occasion was there a greater display
of desperate bravery, and seldom did a conflict take place, which,
in the issue, proved so fatal to so great a proportion of those engaged
in it.
The fatal result of this little campaign, on the side of the
Indians, occasioned a universal mourning among the Wyandotte
nation. The big Indian and his four brothers, all of whom were
killed at the same place, were among the most distinguished chiefs
and warriors of their nation.
The big Indian was magnanimous as well as brave. He, more
than any other individual, contributed, by his example and influence,
to the good character of the Wyandottes for lenity towards their
prisoners. He would not suffer them to he killed or ill-treated. This
mercy to captives was an honorable distinction in the character of
the Wyandottes and was well understood by our first settlers, who,
in case of captivity, thought it a fortunate circumstance to fall into
their hands.
It is consoling to the historian to find instances of those endow¬
ments of mind which constitute human greatness even among savages.
The original stamina of these endowments, or what is called genius,
are but thinly scattered over the earth, and there can be little doubf
but that the lower grades of society possess their equal proportio'i
of the bases of moral greatness, or in other words, that there is as
much of native genius in proportion to numbers, among savages, as
there is among civilized people. The difference between these two
extremes of society is merely the difference of education. This vicAv
Adam Poe
237
of human nature, philosophically correct, is well calculated to increase
the benevolence of even the good Samaritan himself, and encourage
his endeavors for the instruction of the most ignorant, and the
reformation of the most barbarous.
Had the aboriginals of our country been possessed of science to
enable them to commit to the faithful page of history the events of
their intercourse with us since the discovery and settlement of their
native land by the Europeans, what would be the contents of this
history! Hot such as it is from the hands of our historians, who
have presented nought but the worst features of the Indian character,
as exhibited in the course of their wars against the invaders of their
country, while the wrongs inflicted on them by civilized men have
occupied but a very small portion of the record. Their sufferings,
their private virtues, their bravery and magnanimity in war, together
with their individual instances of greatness of mind, heroism, and
clemency to captives in the midst of the cruelties of their barbarous
warfare, must soon be buried with themselves in the tomb of their
national existence.
CHAPTER XV
The Johnsons
The following narrative goes to show that the long continuance
of the Indian war had inspired even the young lads of our country,
not only with all the bravery, but all the subtility of the Indians
themselves.
In the fall of the year 1793, two hoys by the name of John and
Henry Johnson, the first thirteen and the latter eleven years old,
whose parents lived in Carpenter's Station, a little distance above
the mouth of Short Creek, on the east side of the Ohio river, were
sent out in the evening to hunt the cows. At the foot of a hill, at
the hack of the bottom, they sat down under a hickory tree to crack
some nuts. They soon saw two men coming towards them, one of
whom had a bridle in his hand. Being dressed like white men, they
mistook them for their father and an uncle in search of the horses.
When they discovered their mistake and attempted to run off, the
Indians pointing their guns at them, told them to stop or they would
kill them. They halted and were taken prisoners.
The Indians, being in pursuit of horses, conducted the hoys by
a circuitous route over the Short Creek Hills in search of them, until
late in the evening, when they halted at a spring in a hollow place,
about three miles from the fort. Here they kindled a small fire,
cooked and ate some victuals and prepared to repose for the night.
Henry, the youngest of the hoys, during the ramble had effected
the greatest satisfaction at having been taken a prisoner. He said
his father was a hard master, who kept him always at hard work,
and allowed him no play; hut that for his part he vñshed to live
in the woods and be a hunter. This deportment soon brought him
into intimacy with one of the Indians, who could speak very good
English. The Indians frequently asked the hoys if they knew of
any good horses running in the woods. Sometime before they halted,
one of the Indians gave the largest of the boys a little hag, which
he supposed contained money, and made him carry it.
When night came on the fire was covered up, the boys pinioned,
and made to lie down together. The Indians then placed their hoppis
straps over them, and laid down, one on each side of them, on the
ends of the straps.
Pretty late in the night the Indians fell asleep, and one of them
becoming cold, caught hold of John in his arms, and turned him
over on the outside. In this situation, the boy, who had kept awake,
found means to get his hands loose. He then whispered to his brother,
made him get up and untie his arms. This done, Henry thought
of nothing hut running off as fast as possible; but when about to
start, John caught hold of him, saying, "We must kill these Indians
The Johnsons
239
before we go." After some besitation, Henry agreed to make tbe
attempt. John then took one of the rifles of the Indians, and placed
it on a log with the muzzle close to the head of one of them. He
then cocked the gun, and placed his little brother at the britch with
his finger on the trigger, with instructions to pull it as soon as he
should strike the other Indian.
He then took one of the Indian's tomahawks, and standing
astraddle of the other Indian, struck him with it. The blow, however,
fell on the back of the neck and to one side, so as not to be fatal.
The Indian then attempted to spring up ; hut the little fellow repeated
his blows with such force and ferocity on the skull, that as he
expressed it, "the Indian laid still and began to quiver."
At the moment of the first stroke given by the elder brother
with the tomahawk, the younger one pulled the trigger, and shot
away a considerable portion of the Indian's lower jaw. This Indian,
a moment after receiving the shot, began to flounce about and yell
in the most frightful manner. The boys then made the best of their
way to the fort, and reached it a little before daybreak. On getting
near the fort they found the people all up and in great agitation on
their account. On hearing a woman exclaim, "Poor little fellows;
they are killed or taken prisoners!" the older one answered, "Ho
mother, we are here yet."
Having brought nothing away with them from the Indian camp,
their relation of what had taken place between them and the Indians
was not fully credited. A small party was soon made up to go and
ascertain the truth or falsehood of their report. This party the boys
conducted to the spot by the shortest route. On arriving at the place,
they found the Indian whom the older brother had tomahawked, lying
dead in the camp; the other had crawled away, and taken his gun
and shot pouch with him. After scalping the Indian, the party
returned to the fort, and the same day a larger party went out to
look after the wounded Indian, who had crawled some distance from
the camp and concealed himself in the top of a fallen tree, where,
notwithstanding the severity of his wound, with a Spartan bravery
he determined to sell his life as dearly as possible. Having fixed
his gun for the purpose, he took aim at one of them and pulled the
trigger, but his gun missed fire. On hearing the snap of the lock,
one of the men exclaimed, "I should not like to be killed by a dead
Indian!" The party concluded that the Indian would die at any
rate, thought best to retreat, and return and look for him after some
time. On returning, however, he could not be found, having crawled
away and»concealed himself in some other place. His skeleton and
gun were found sometime afterwards.
The Indians who were killed were great warriors, and very
wealthy. The bag, which was supposed to contain money, it was
conjectured was got by one of the party, who went out first in the
morning. On hearing the report of the boys, he slipped off by
240
Histoet of The Valley
himself, and reached the place before the party arrived. For some¬
time afterwards he appeared to have a greater plenty of money than
his neighbors.
The Indians themselves did honor to the bravery of these two
hoys. After their treaty with Gen. Wayne, a friend of the Indians
who were killed made inquiry of a man from Short Creek, what had
become of the hoys who killed the Indians. He was answered that
they lived at the same place with their parents. The Indian replied,
"You have not done right; you should make kings of those boys."
CHAPTEE XVI
Settlement of The Country
Having thus given to the reader, in the preceding pages, a con¬
nected history of the wars with the Indians, from the earliest settle¬
ment of the country until the treaty of peace made by Gen. Wayne
in 1794, I will go hack to the year 1772, and trace the various steps
hy which our settlements advanced to their present vigorous state of
existence.
The settlements on this side of the mountains commenced along
the Monongahela, and between that river and the Laurel Kidge, in
the year 1772. In the succeeding year they reached the Ohio river.
The greater number of the first settlers came from the upper part of
the then colonies of Maryland and Virginia. Braddock's trail, as it
was called, was the route hy which the greater number of them crossed
the mountains. A less number of them came by the way of Bedford
and Fort Ligonier, the military road from Eastern Pennsylvania to
Pittsburgh. They effected their removal on horses furnished with
pack-saddles. This was the more easily done, as but few of these
early adventurers into the wilderness were encumbered with much
baggage.
Land was the object which invited the greater number of these
people to cross the mountain; for as the saying then was, "it was
to he had here for the taking up." That is, building a cabin and
raising a crop of grain, however small, of any kind, entitled the
occupant to four hundred acres of land, and a pre-emption right to
one thousand acres more adjoining, to be secured by a land office
warrant. This right was to take effect if there happened to he so
much vacant land, or any part thereof adjoining the tract secured
hy the settlement right.
At an early period the government of Virginia appointed three
commissioners to give certificates of settlement rights. These cer¬
tificates, together with the surveyor's plat, were sent to the land office
of the state, where they laid six months to wait any caveat which
might he offered. If none was offered the patent was then issued.
There was, at an early period of our settlements, an inferior
kind of land title, denominated a "tomahawk right," which was made
hy deadening a few trees near the head of a spring, and marking the
bark of some one or more of them with the initials of the name of
the persons who made the improvement. I remember having seen a
number of fhose "tomahawk rights" when a hoy. For a long time
many of them bore the name of those who made them. I have no
knowledge of the efficacy of the tomahawk improvement, or whether
it conferred any right whatever, unless followed hy an actual settle¬
ment. These rights, however, were often bought and sold. Those
242
Histoet of The Valley
who wished to make settlements on their favorite tracts of land,
bought up the tomahawk improvements, rather than enter into
quarrels with those who made them. Other improvers of the land
with a view to actual settlement, and who happened to be stout
veteran fellows, took a very different course from that of purchasing
the tomahawk rights. When annoyed by the claimants under those
rights, they deliberately cut a few good hickories, and gave them
what was called in those days "a laced jacket," that is, a sound
whipping.
Some of the early settlers took the precaution to come over the
mountains in the spring (leaving their families behind), to raise a
crop of corn, and then return and bring them out in the fall. This
I should think was the better way. Others, especially those whose
families were small, brought them with them in the spring. My
father took the latter course. His family was hut small, and he
brought them all with him. The Indian meal which he brought over
the mountain was expended six weeks too soon, so for that length of
time we had to live without bread. The lean venison and the breast
of the wild turkeys we were taught to call bread, and the flesh of the
hear was denominated meat. This artifice did not succeed very well ;
for after living in this way some time we became sickly, the stomach
seeming to he always empty and tormented with a sense of hunger.
I remember how narrowly the children watched the growth of the
potato tops, pumpkin and squash vines, hoping from day to day to
get something to answer in the place of bread. How delicious was
the taste of the young potatoes when we got them ! What a jubilee
when we were permitted to pull the young com for roasting ears;
still more so when it had acquired sufficient hardness to he made into
johnny-cakes by the aid of a tin-grater! We then became healthy,
vigorous and contented with our situation, poor as it was.
My father, with a small number of his neighbors, made their
settlements in the spring of 1773. Though they were in a poor and
destitute situation, they nevertheless lived in peace; but their
tranquility was not of long continuance. Those most atrocious
murders of the peaceable inoffensive Indians at Captina and Yellow
Creek brought on the war of Lord Hunmore in the spring of the year
1774. Our little settlement then broke up. The women and children
were removed to Morris' Fort, in Sandy Creek Glade, some distance
to the east of Uniontown. The fort consisted of an assemblage of
small hovels, situated on the margin of a large and noxious marsh,
the eflluvia of which gave most of the women and children the fever
and ague. The men were compelled by necessity to return home,
risking the tomahawk and scalping knife of the Indians, to raise corn
to keep their families from starvation the succeeding winter. These
sufferings, danger and losses, were the tribute we had to pay to that
thirst for blood which actuated those veteran murderers who brought
the war upon us! The memory of the sufferers in this war, as well
as that of their descendants, still looks hack upon them with regret
Settlement of The Countrt
243
and abhorrence and the page of history will consign their names to
posterity with the full weight of infamy they deserve.
A correct and detailed view of the origin of societies, and their
progress from one condition or point of wealth, science and civili¬
zation to another, is always highly interesting, even when received
through the dusky medium of history, often times hut poorly and
partially written; hut when this retrospect of things past and gone
is drawn from the recollections of experience, the impressions which
it makes on the heart are of the most vivid, deep and lasting kind.
The following history of the state of society, manners and
customs of our forefathers is to he drawn from the latter source;
and it is given to the world with the recollection that many of my
contemporaries, still living, have, as well as myself, witnessed all the
scenes and events herein described, and whose memories would
speedily detect and expose any errors the work may contain.
The municipal, as well as ecclesiastical institutions of society,
whether good or had, in consequence of their long continued use, give
a corresponding cast to the public character of society whose conduct
they direct and the more so because in the lapse of time the observance
of them becomes a matter of conscience.
This observation applies in full force to that influence of our
early land laws which allowed four hundred acres and no more to a
settlement right. Many of our first settlers seem to regard this
amount of the surface of the earth as the allotment of Divine
Providence for one family, and believed that any attempt to get
more would he sinful. Most of them, therefore, contented themselves
with that amount, although they might have evaded the law, which
allowed but one settlement right to any one individual, by taking
out the title papers in the names of others, to be afterwards tranferred
to them, as if by purchase. Some few indeed pursued this practice,
but it was held in detestation.
My father, like many others, believed that having secured his
legal allotment, the rest of the country belonged of right to those
who chose to settle in it. There was a piece of vacant land adjoining
his tract, amounting to about two hundred acres. To this tract of
land he had the pre-emption right, and accordingly secured it by
warrant; but his conscience would not permit him to retain it in
his family; he therefore gave it to an apprentice lad whom he had
raised in his house. This lad sold it to an uncle of mine for a cow
and calf and a wool hat.
Owing to the equal distribution of real property directed by our
land laws, and the sterling integrity of our forefathers in their
observance of them, we have no districts of "sold land," as it is
called, that is, large tracts of land in the haiids of individuals or
companies who neither sell nor improve them, as is the case in Lower
Canada and the northwestern part of Pennsylvania. These unsettled
tracts make huge blanks in the population of the country wherever
they exist.
244
History of The Valley
The division lines between those whose lands adjoined were
generally made in an amicable manner by the parties concerned,
before any survey of them was made. In doing this they were guided
mainly by the tops of ridges and water courses, but particularly the
former. Hence the greater number of farms in the western parts
of Pennsylvania and Virginia bear a striking resemblance to an
amphitheater. The buildings occupy a low situation, and the tops
of the surrounding hills are the boundaries of the tract to which
the family mansion belongs.
Our forefathers were fond of farms of this description, because,
as they said, they are attended with this convenience, "that everything
comes to the house down hill." In the hilly parts of the state of
Ohio, the land having been laid off in an arbitrary manner, by
straight parallel lines, without regard to hill or dale, the farms
present a different aspect from those on the east side of the river
opposite. There the buildings as frequently occupy the tops of the
hills as any other situation.
Our people had become so accustomed to the mode of "getting
land for taking it up," that for a long time it was generally believed
that the land on the west side of the Ohio would ultimately be
disposed of in that way.
Hence almost the whole tract of country between the Ohio and
Muskingum was parceled out in tomahawk improvements; but these
latter improvers did not content themselves with a single four hundred
acre tract apiece. Many of them owned a great number of tracts
of the best land, and thus, in imagination, were as "wealthy as a
South Sea dream." Many of the land-jobbers of this class did not
content themselves with marking the trees, at the usual height, with
the initials of their names ; but climbed up the large beech trees, and
cut the letters in their bark, from twenty to forty feet from the
ground. To enable them to identify those trees, at a future period,
they made marks on other trees around them as references.
Most of the early settlers considered their land of little value,
from an apprehension that after a few years' cultivation it would
lose its fertility, at least for a long time. I have often heard them
say that such a field would bear so many crops, and another so many
more or less than that. The ground of this belief concerning the
short-lived fertility of the land in this country, was the poverty of a
great proportion of the land in the lower parts of Maryland and
Virginia, which, after producing a few crops, became unfit for use,
and was thrown out into commons.
In their unfavorable opinion of the nature of the soil of our
country our forefathers were utterly mistaken. The native weeds
were scarcely destroyed before the white clover and different kinds
of grass made their appearance. These soon covered the ground,
so as to afford pasture for the cattle by the time the wood range was
eaten out, as well as protect the soil from being washed away by
drenching rains, so often injurious in hilly countries.
Settlement of The Country
245
Judging from Virgil's* test of fruitful and barren soils, the
greater part of this country must possess every requisite for fertility.
The test is this. Dig a hole of any reasonable dimensions and depth ;
if the earth which was dug out, when thrown lightly back into it
does not fill up the hole, the soil is fruitful; but if it more than fills
it up, the soil is barren.
Whoever chooses to try this experiment will find the result
indicative of the richness of our soil. Even our graves, notwith¬
standing the size of the vault, are seldom finished with the earth
thrown out of them, and they soon sink below the surrounding surface.
*Ante locum caries ocuHs, alteque jubebis.
In solido puteum, demitti, omnemque repones
Kursus humum, et pedibus sunimas eequabis arenas.
Si deerunt; rarum, pecorique et vitibus almis
Aptius über erit. Sin in sua posse negabunt
Ire loca, et scrobibus superabit terra repletis,
Spissus ager: glebas cunctantes crassaque terga
Expecta, et validis terram proscinde juvencis.
Vir. Geo. lib. 2, I. 230.
CHAPTEK XVII
House Furniture and Diet
The settlement of a new country in the immediate neighborhood
of an old one is not attended with much difficulty, because supplies
can be readily obtained from the latter; but the settlement of a
country very remote from any cultivated region is a very difiFerent
thing; because, at the outset, food, raiment, and the implements of
husbandry are obtained only in small supplies and with great
difficulty. The task of making new establishments in a remote
wilderness, in time of profound peace, is sufficiently difficult; but
when, in addition to all the unavoidable hardships attendant on this
business, those resulting from an extensive and furious warfare with
savages are superadded, toil, privations and sufferings are then carried
to the full extent of the capacity of men to endure them.
Such was the wretched condition of our forefathers in making
their settlements here. To all their difficulties and privations, the
Indian war was a weighty addition. This destructive warfare they
were compelled to sustain almost single-handed, because the revolu¬
tionary contest with England gave full employment for the military
strength and resources on the east side of the mountains.
The following history of the poverty, labors, sufferings, manners
and customs of our forefathers will appear like a collection of "tales
of olden times," without any garnish of language to spoil the original
portraits, by giving them shades of coloring which they did not
possess.
I shall follow the order of things as they occurred during the
period of time embraced in these narratives, beginning with those
rude accommodations with which our first adventurers into this
country furnished themselves at the commencement of their estab¬
lishments. It will be a homely narrative, yet valuable on the ground
of its being real history.
If my reader, when viewing, through the medium which I here
present, the sufferings of human nature in one of its most depressed
and dangerous conditions, should drop an involuntary tear, let him
not blarne me for the sentiment of sympathy which he feels. On
the contrary, if he should sometimes meet with a recital calculated
to excite a smile or a laugh, I claim no credit for his enjoyment.
It is the subject matter of the history, and not the historian, which
makes those widely different impressions on the mind of the reader.
In this chapter it is my design to give a brief account of the
household furniture and articles of diet which were used by the
first inhabitants of our country. A description of their cabins and
half-faced camps, and their manner of building them, will be found
elsewhere.
House Furniture and Diet
247
The furniture for the tahle, for several years after the settlement
of this country, consisted of a few pewter dishes, plates and spoons,
but mostly of wooden bowls, trenchers and noggins. If these last
were scarce, gourds and hard-shelled squashes made up the deficiency.
The iron pot, knives and forks, were brought from the east side
of the mountains, along with the salt and iron, on pack-horses.
These articles of furniture correspond very well with the articles
of diet on which they were employed. "Hog and hominy" were
proverbial for the dishes of which they were the component parts.
Johnny-cake and pone were, at the outset of the settlements of the
country, the only forms of bread in use for breakfast and dinner.
At supper, milk and mush were the standard dish. When milk was
not plentiful, which was often the case, owing to the scarcity of
cattle or the want of proper pasture for them, the substantial dish
of hominy had to supply the place of them. Mush was frequently
eaten with sweetened water, molasses, bear's oil, or the gravy of
fried meat.
Every family, besides a little garden for the few vegetables which
they cultivated, had another small enclosure containing from half an
acre to an acre, which they called a "truck-patch," in which they
raised corn for roasting-ears, pumpkins, squashes, beans and potatoes.
These, in the latter part of the summer and fall, were cooked with
their pork, venison and bear meat, for dinner, and made very whole¬
some and well-tasted dishes. The standard dinner dish for every
log-rolling, house-raising and harvest-day was a pot-pie, or what in
other countries is called "sea-pie." This, besides answering for
dinner, served for a part of the supper also, the remainder of it
from dinner being eaten with milk in the evening, after the conclusion
of the labor of the day.
In our whole display of furniture, the delf, china, and silver
were unknown. It did not then, as now, require contributions from
the four quarters of the globe to furnish the breakfast tahle, namely :
the silver from Mexico, the coffee from the West Indies, the tea
from China, and the delf and porcelain from Europe or Asia. Yet
our homely fare, and unsightly cabins and furniture, produced a
hardy, veteran race, who planted the first footsteps of society and
civilization in the immense regions of the west. Inured to hardihood,
bravery and labor, from their early youth, they sustained with manly
fortitude the fatigue of the chase, the campaign and scout, and with
strong arms "turned the wilderness into fruitful fields," and have
left to their descendants the rich inheritance of an immense empire
blessed with peace and wealth.
I well Recollect the first time I ever saw a tea-cup and saucer,
and tasted coffee. My mother died when I was about six or seven
years old, and my father sent me to Maryland with a brother of my
grandfather, Mr. Alexander Wells, to school.
At Col. Brown's in the mountains (at Stony Creek Glades), I
for the first time saw tame geese; and by bantering a pet gander, I
248
History of The Valley
got a severe biting by bis bill, and beating by bis wings. I wondered
very much tbat birds so large and strong should be so much tamer
than the wild turkeys. At this place, however, all was right,
excepting the large birds which they called geese. The cabin and its
furniture were such as I had been accustomed to see in the backwoods,
as my country was then called.
At Bedford everything was changed. The tavern at which my
uncle put up was a stone house, and to make the change, more
complete, it was plastered in the inside, both as to the walls and
ceiling. On going into the dining room I was struck with aston¬
ishment at the appearance of the house. I had no idea that there
was any house in the world which was not built of logs; but here
I looked 'round the house and could see no logs, and above I could
see no joists; whether such a thing could be made by the hands of
man, or had grown so of itself, I could not conjecture. I had not
the courage to inquire anything about it.
When supper came on, "my confusion was worse confounded."
A little cup stood in a bigger one, with some brownish-looking stuff
in it, which was neither milk, hominy nor broth. What to do with
these little cups and the little spoon belonging to them, I could not
tell; and I was afraid to ask anything concerning the use of them.
It was in the time of the war, and the company were giving
accounts of catching, whipping, and hanging the Tories. The word
jail frequently occurred. This word I had never heard before; but
I soon discovered its meaning, was much terrified, and supposed that
we were in danger of the fate of the Tories ; for I thought as we had
come from the backwoods, it was altogether likely that we must be
Tories too. For fear of being discovered I durst not utter a single
word. I therefore watched attentively to see what the big folks
would do with their little cups and spoons. I imitated them, and
found the taste of the coffee nauseous beyond anything I ever had
tasted in my life; I continued to drink, as the rest of the company
did, with the tears streaming from my eyes, but when it was to end
I was at a loss to know, as the little cups were filled immediately
after being emptied. This circumstance distressed me very much, as
I durst not say I had enoügh. Looking attentively at the grown
persons, I saw one man turn his little cup bottom upwards and put
his little spoon across it ; I observed that after this his cup was not
filled again; I followed his example, and to my great satisfaction,
the result as to my cup was the same.
The introduction of delf ware was considered by many of the
backwoods people as a culpable innovation. It was too easily broken,
and the plates of that ware dulled their scalping and clasp knives;
tea ware was too small for men, but might do for women and
children. Tea and coffee were only slops, which in the adage of
the day, "did not stick by the ribs." The idea was, they were
House Fubnituke and Diet 249
designed only for people of quality, who do not labor, or the sick.
A genuine backwoodsman would have thought himself disgraced by
showing a fondness for those slops. Indeed, many of them have to
this day very little respect for them.
CHAPTER XVIII
Deess
On the frontiers, and particularly amongst those who were much
in the hahit of hunting, and going on scouts and campaigns, the dress
of the men was partly Indian and partly that of civilized nations.
The hunting shirt was universally worn. This was a kind of
loose frock, reaching half way down the thighs, with large sleeves,
open before, and so wide as to lap over a foot or more when helted.
The cape was large, and sometimes handsomely fringed with a
ravelled piece of cloth of a different color from that of the hunting
shirt itself. The hosom of this dress served as a wallet to hold a
chunk of hread, cakes, jerk, tow for wiping the barrel of the rifle,
or any other necessary for the hunter or warrior. The belt, which
was always tied behind, answered for several purposes besides that
of holding the dress together. In cold weather, the mittens, and
sometimes the bullet-hag, occupied the front part of it ; to the right
side was suspended the tomahawk, and to the left the scalping knife
in its leathern sheath. The hunting shirt was generally made of
linsey, sometimes of coarse linen, and a few of dressed deer skins.
These last were very cold and uncomfortable in wet weather. The
shirt and jacket were of the common fashion. A pair of drawers
or breeches, and leggings, were the dress of the thighs and legs. A
pair of moccasins answered for the feet much better than shoes.
These were made of dressed deer skin. They were mostly made of
a single piece, with a gathering seam along the top of the foot, and
another from the bottom of the heel, with gaiters as high as the
ankle joint or a little higher. Elaps were left on each side to reach
some distance up the legs. These were nicely adapted to the ankles
and lower part of the legs by thongs of deer skin, so that no dust,
gravel or snow could get within the moccasin.
The moccasins in ordinary use cost hut a few hours' labor to
make them. This was done by an instrument denominated a
moccasin awl, which was made of the hack spring of an old clasp
knife. The awl, vrith its huckhorn handle, was an appendage of
every shot-pouch strap, together with a roll of buckskin for mending
the mocassins. This was the labor of almost every evening. They
were sewed together and patched with deer skin thongs, or whangs
as they were commonly called.
In cold weather the moccasins were well stuffed with deer's hair
or dried leaves, so as to keep the feet comfortably warm; hut in wet
weather it was usually said that wearing them was "a decent way
of going barefooted;" and such was the fact, owing to the spongy
texture of the leather of which they were made.
Dress
251
Owing to this defective covering of the feet, more than to any-
other circumstance, the greater number of our hunters and warriors
were afflicted with rheumatism in their limbs. Of this disease they
were all apprehensive in wet or cold weather, and therefore always
slept with their feet to the fire to prevent or cure it as well as they
could. This practice unquestionably had a very salutary effect, and
prevented many of them from becoming confirmed cripples in early
life.
In the latter years of the Indian war our young men became
more enamored of the Indian dress throughout, with the exception
of the match coat. The drawers were laid aside and the leggins made
longer, so as to reach the upper part of the thigh. The Indian breech
clout was adopted. This was a piece of linen or cloth nearly a yard
long, and eight or nine inches broad. This passed under the belt
before and behind, leaving the ends for flaps, hanging before and
behind over the belt. These belts were sometimes ornamented with
some coarse kind of embroidery work. To the same belts which
secured the breech clout, strings which supported the long leggings
were attached. When this belt, as was often the case, passed over
the hunting shirt, the upper part of the thighs and part of the hips
were naked.
The young warrior, instead of being abashed by this nudity, was
proud of his Indian-like dress. In some few instances I have seen
them go into places of public worship in this dress. Their
appearance, however, did not add much to the devotion of the young
ladies.
The linsey petticoat and bed gown, which were the universal
dress of our women in early times, would make a strange figure in
our days. A small home-made handkerchief, in point of elegance,
would illy supply the place of that profusion of ruffles with which
the necks of our ladies are now ornamented.
They went barefooted in warm weather, and in cold weather
their feet were covered with moccasins, coarse shoes, or shoe-packs,
which would make but a sorry figure beside the elegant morocco
slippers often embossed with bullion, which at present ornament the
feet of their daughters and granddaughters.
The coats and bed gowns of the women, as well as the hunting
shirts of the men, were hung in full display on wooden pegs around
the walls of their cabins, so that while they answered in some degree
the place of paper-hangings or tapestry, they announced to the
stranger as well as neighbor the wealth or poverty of the family in
the articles of clothing. This practice has not yet been wholly laid
aside an^png the backwoods families.
The historian would say to the ladies of the present time, our
ancestors of your sex knew nothing of the ruffles, leghorns, curls,
combs, rings, and other jewels -with which their fair daughters now
decorate themselves. Such things were not then to be had. Many
of the younger part of them were pretty well grown up before they
252
History of The Valley
ever saw tlie inside of a store room, or even knew there was such a
thing in the world, unless hy hearsay, and indeed scarcely that.
Instead of the toilet, they had to handle the distaff or shuttle,
the sickle or weeding hoe, contented if they could obtain their linsey
clothing and cover their heads with a sun bonnet made of a six or
seven hundred linen.
CHAPTER XIX
The Fort
My reader will understand ty this term, not only a place of
defense, but the residence of a small number of families belonging to
the same neighborhood. As the Indian mode of warfare was an
indiscriminate slaughter of all ages and both sexes, it was as
requisite to provide for the safety of the women and children as for
that of the men.
The fort consisted of cabins, block-houses and stockades. A
range of cabins commonly formed one side at least of the fort.
Divisions, or partitions of logs, separated the cabins from each other.
The walls on the outside were ten or twelve feet high, the slope of
the roof being turned wholly inward. A very few of these cabins
had puncheon floors; the greater part were earthen.
The block-houses were built at the angles of the fort. They
projected about two feet beyond the outer walls of the cabins and
stockades. Their upper stories were about eighteen inches every way
larger in dimensions than the under one, leaving an opening at the
commencement of the second story, to prevent the enemy from making
a lodgment under their walls. In some forts, instead of block-houses,
the angles of the fort were furnished with bastions. A large folding
gate made of thick slabs, nearest the spring, closed the fort. The
stockades, bastions, cabins and block-house walls were furnished
with port-holes at proper heights and distances. The whole of the
outside was made completely bullet-proof.
It may be truly said that necessity is the mother of invention,
for the whole of this work was made without the aid of a single nail
or spike of iron, and for this reason, such things were not to be had.
In some places, less exposed, a single block-house with a cabin
or two constituted the whole fort.
Such places of refuge may appear very trifling to those who
have been in the habit of seeing the formidable military garrisons of
Europe and America; but they answered the purpose, as the Indians
had no artillery. They seldom attacked, and scarcely ever took one
of them.
The families belonging to these forts were so attached to their
own cabins on their farms, that they seldom moved into the fort in
the spring until compelled by some alarm, as they called it; that is,
when itf was announced by some murder that the Indians were in
the, settlement.
The fort to which my father belonged, was, during the first years
of the war, three-quarters of a mile from his farm; but when this
fort went to decay, and became unfit for defense, a new one was built
at his own house. I well remember that when a little boy the family
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Histoky of The Valley
were sometimes waked up in the dead of night by an express with a
report that the Indians were at hand. The express came softly to
the door or back window, and by a gentle tapping waked the family ;
this was easily done, as an habitual fear made us ever watchful and
sensible to the slightest alarm. The whole family was instantly in
motion ; my father seized his gun and other implements of war ; my
step-mother waked up and dressed the children as well as she could ;
and being myself the oldest of the children, I had to take my share
of the burthens to be carried to the fort. There was no possibility
of getting a horse in the night to aid us in removing to the fort ;
besides the little children, we caught up what articles of clothing
and provisions we could get hold of in the dark, for we durst not light
a candle or even stir the fire. All this was done with the utmost
dispatch and the silence of death; the greatest care was taken not
to awaken the youngest child ; to the rest it was enough to say Indian,
and not a whimper was heard afterwards. Thus it often happened
that the whole number of families belonging to a fort, who were in
the evening at their homes, were all in their little fortress before the
dawn of the next morning. In the course of the succeeding day, their
household furniture was brought in by parties of the men under arms.
Some families belonging to each fort, were much less under the
influence of fear than others, and who after an alarm had subsided,
in spite of every remonstrance, would remove home, while their more
prudent neighbors remained in the fort. Such families were denom¬
inated "fool-hardy," and gave no small amount of trouble by creating
such frequent necessities of sending runners to warn them of their
danger, and sometimes parties of our men to protect them during
their removal.
CHAPTEE XX
Caravans
The acquisition of the indispensable articles of salt, steel and
castings, presented great diíRculties to the first settlers of the western
country. They had no stores of any kind, no salt, iron, nor iron
works; nor had they money to make purchases where those articles
were to he obtained. Peltry and furs were their only resources,
before they had time to raise cattle and horses for sale in the Atlantic
states.
Every family collected what peltry and fur they could obtain
throughout the year for the purpose of sending them over the moun¬
tains for barter.
In the fall of the year, after seeding-time, every family formed
an association with some of their neighbors for starting the little
caravan. A master driver was selected from among them, who was
to he assisted by one or more young men, and sometimes a hoy or
two. The horses were fitted out with pack-saddles, to the hinder
part of which was fastened a pair of hobbles made of hickory withs ;
a hell and collar ornamented his neck. The hags provided for the
conveyance of the salt were filled with feed for the horses; on the
journey a part of this feed was left at convenient stages on the way
down, to support the return of the caravan. Large wallets, well-
filled with bread, jerk, boiled ham and cheese, furnished provisions
for the drivers. At night, after feeding the horses, whether put in
pasture or turned out in the woods, were hobbled, and the bells were
opened. The barter for salt and iron was made first at Baltimore.
Frederick, Hagerstown, Oldtown and Cumberland in succession,
became the places of exchange. Each horse carried two bushels of
alum salt, weighing eighty-four pounds to the bushel. This, to be
sure, was not a heavy load for the horses, hut it was enough consid¬
ering the scanty substance allowed them on their journey.
The common price of a bushel of alum salt at an early period
was a good cow and calf ; and until weights were introduced, the
salt was measured into the half bushel by hand as lightly as possible.
Xo one was permitted to walk heavily over the floor while the
operation was going on.
The following anecdote will serve to show how little the native
sons of the forest knew of the etiquette of the Atlantic cities.
A neighbor of my father, some years after the settlement of the
country, had collected a small drove of cattle for the Baltimore
market. Amongst the hands employed to drive them was one who
had never seen any condition of society hut that of woodsmen,
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History of The Valley
At one of their lodging places in the mountain, the landlord
and his hired man, in the course of the night, stole two of the bells
belonging to the drove and hid them in a piece of woods.
The drove had not gone far in the morning before the bells were
missed, and a detachment went back to recover the stolen bells.
The men were found reaping in the field of the landlord ; they were
accused of the theft, but they denied the charge. The torture of
sweating, according to the custom of that time, that is, of suspension
by the arms pinioned behind their backs, brought a confession. The
bells were procured and hung around the necks of the thieves; in
this condition they were driven on foot before the detachment until
they overtook the drove, which by this time had gone nine miles.
A halt was called and a jury selected to try the culprits. They were
condemned to receive a certain number of lashes on the bare back
from the hand of each drover. The man above alluded to was the
owner of one of the bells. When it came to his turn to use the
hickory, "!N'ow," says he to the thief, "you infernal scoundrel; I'll
work your jacket nineteen to the dozen. Only think what a rascally
figure I should make in the streets of Baltimore without a bell on
my horse." The man was in earnest; having seen no horse used
without bells, he thought they were requisite in every situation.
CHAPTEE XXI
Hunting
This was an important part of the employment of the early
settlers of this country. For some years the woods supplied them
with the greater amount of their subsistence, and with regard to some
families in certain times, the whole of it; for it was no uncommon
thing for families to live several months without a mouthful of bread.
It frequently happened that there was no breakfast until it was
obtained from the woods. Fur and peltry were the people's money;
they had nothing else to give in exchange for rifles, salt and iron,
on this side of the mountains.
The fall and early part of the winter was the season for hunting
the deer, and the whole of the winter, including part of the spring,
for hears and fur-skinned animals. It was a customary saying that
fur is good during every month in the name of which the letter E
occurs.
The class of hunters with whom I was best acquainted were
those whose hunting ranges were on the western side of the river and
at the distance of eight or nine miles from it. As soon as the leaves
were pretty well down, and the weather became rainy accompanied
with light snowSj these men, after acting the part of husbandmen,
so far as the state of warfare permitted them to do so, soon b^an to
feel that they were hunters. They became uneasy at home; every¬
thing about them became disagreeable; the house was too warm, the
feather bed too soft, and even the good wife was not thought for the
time being a proper companion; the mind of the hunter was wholly
occupied with the camp and chase.
I have often seen them get up early in the morning at this
season, walk hastily out and look anxiously to the woods and snuff
the autumnal winds with the highest rapture, then return into the
house and cast a quick and attentive look at the rifle, which was
always suspended to a joist by a couple of buck's horns or little forks;
his hunting dog, understanding the intentions of his master, would
wag his tail, and by every blandishment in his power express his
readiness to accompany him to the woods.
A day was soon appointed for the march of the little cavalcade
to the camp. Two or three horses furnished with pack-saddles were
loaded witji flour, Indian meal, blankets, and everything else requisite
for the use of the hunter.
A hunting camp, or what was called a half-faced cabin, was of
the following form ; the hack part of it was sometimes a large log ; at
the distance of eight or ten feet from this two stakes were set in the
ground a few inches apart, and at the distance of eight or ten feet
258
Histoky of The Valley
from these two more to receive the ends of the poles for the sides
of the camp; the whole slope of the roof was from the front to the
back; the covering was made of slabs, skin or blankets, or, if in
the spring of the year, the bark of hickory or ash trees; the front
was left entirely open ; the fire was built directly before this opening ;
the cracks between the logs were filled with moss, and dry leaves
served for a bed. It is thus that a couple of men in a few hours
will construct for themselves a temporary and tolerably comfortable
defense from the inclemency of the weather ; the beaver, otter,
muskrat and squirrel are scarcely their equals in dispatch in
fabricating for themselves a covert from the tempest !
A little more pains would have made a hunting camp a defense
against the Indians. A cabin ten feet square, bullet proof, and
furnished with port-holes, would have enabled two or three hunters to
hold twenty Indians at bay for any length of time ; but this precaution
I believe was never attended to ; hence the hunters were often
surprised and killed in their camps.
The site for the camp was selected with all the sagacity of the
woodsmen, so as to have it sheltered by the surrounding hills from
every wind, but more especially from those of the north and west.
An uncle of mine, of the name of Samuel Teter, occupied the
same camp for several years in succession. It was situated on one
of the southern branches of Cross Creek. Although I have lived
many years not more than fifteen miles from the place, it was not
till within a very few years that I discovered its situation, when it
was shown to me by a gentleman living in the neighborhood.
Viewing the hills 'round about it, I soon perceived the sagacity of
the hunter in the site for his camp. Hot a wind could touch him,
and, unless by the report of his gun or the sound of his axe, it would
have been by mere accident if an Indian had discovered his
concealment.
Hunting was not a mere ramble in pursuit of game, in which
there was nothing of skill and calculation; on the contrary, the
hunter, before he set out in the morning, was informed by the state
of the weather in what situation he might reasonably expect to meet
with his game, whether on the bottoms, sides or tops of the hills.
In stormy weather the deer always seek the most sheltered places and
the leeward sides of the hills. In rainy weather in which there is
not much wind, they keep in the open woods on the highest ground.
In every situation it was requisite for the hunter to ascertain
the course of the wind, so as to get to the leeward of the game.
This he effected by putting his finger in his mouth and holding it
there until it became warm; then holding it above his head, the
side which first becomes cold shows which way the wind blows.
As it was requisite too for the hunter to know the cardinal
points, he had only to observe the trees to ascertain them. The
bark of an aged tree is thicker and much rougher on the north than
on the south side. The same thing may be said of the moss; it is
Hunting
259
thicker and stronger on the north than on the south side of the
trees.
The whole business of the hunter consists of a succession of
intrigues. From morning to night he was on the alert to gain the
wind of his game, and approach them without being discovered.
If he succeeded in killing a deer, he skinned it and hung it up out
of the reach of the wolves and immediately resumed the chase till
the close of the evening, when he bent his course towards his camp;
when arrived there, he kindled up his fire, and together with his
fellow hunters cooked his supper. The supper finished, the adven¬
tures of the day furnished the tales for the evening; the spike buck,
the two and three pronged buck, the doe and the harren doe, figured
through their anecdotes with great advantage. It should seem that
after hunting awhile on the same ground, the hunters became
acquainted with nearly all the gangs of deer within their range, so
as to know each fiock of them when they saw them. Often some
old buck, by the means of his superior sagacity and watchfulness,
saved his little gang from the hunter's skill, by giving timely notice
of his approach. The cunning of the hunter and that of the old
buck were staked against each other, and it frequently happened that
at the conclusion of the hunting season, the old fellow was left the
free uninjured tenant of his forest; but if his rival succeeded in
bringing him down the victory was followed by no small amount of
boasting on the part of the conqueror.
When the weather was not suitable for hunting, the skins and
carcasses of the game were brought in and disposed of.
Many of the hunters rested from their labors on the Sabbath
day, some from a motive of piety, others said that whenever they
hunted on Sunday, they were sure to have bad luck all the rest of
the week.
CHAPTEE XXII
The Wedding
For a long time after the first settlement of this country the
inhabitants in general married young. There was no distinction of
rank, and very little of fortune. On these accounts the first
impression of love resulted in marriage, and a family establishment
cost hut a little labor and nothing else.
A description of a wedding, from the beginning to the end, will
serve to show the manners of our forefathers, and mark the grade of
civilization which has succeeded to their rude state of society in the
course of a few years.
At an early period the practice of celebrating the marriage at
the house of the bride began, and it should seem with great propriety.
She also has the choice of the priest to perform the ceremony.
In the first years of the settlement of this country, a wedding
engaged the attention of a whole neighborhood, and the frolic was
anticipated by old and young with eager anticipation. This is not
to be wondered at, when it is told that a wedding was almost the
only gathering which was not accomplished with the labor of reaping,
log-rolling, building a cabin, or planning some scout or campaign.
In the morning of the wedding day, the groom and his attendants
assembled at the house of his father, for the purpose of reaching the
mansion of his bride by noon, which was the usual time for celebrating
the nuptials, which for certain must take place before dinner.
Let the reader imagine an assemblage of people, without a store,
tailor or mantuamaker within an hundred miles, and an assemblage
of horses, without a blacksmith or saddler within an equal distance.
The gentlemen dressed in shoe-packs, moccasins, leather breeches,
leggins, and linsey hunting shirts, all home-made. The ladies dressed
in linsey petticoats, and linsey or linen bed-gowns, coarse shoes,
stockings, handkerchiefs and buckskin gloves, if any; if there were
any buckles, rings, buttons or ruffles, they were the relics of old
times, family pieces from parents or grandparents. The horses were
caparisoned with old saddles, old bridles or halters, and pack-saddles,
with a bag or blanket thrown over them; a rope or string as often
constituted the girth as a piece of leather.
The march in double file was often interrupted by the narrowness
and obstructions of our horse-paths, as they were called, for we had
no roads ; and these difficulties were often increased, sometimes by the
good, and sometimes by the ill-will of neighbors, by felling trees and
tying grape-vines across the way. Sometimes an ambuscade was
formed by the wayside, an unexpected discharge of several guns took
place, so as to cover the wedding company with smoke. Let the
reader imagine the scene which followed this discharge, the sudden
The Wedding
261
spring of the horses, the shrieks of the girls, and the chivalric bustle
of their partners to save them from falling. Sometimes, in spite of
all that could he done to prevent it, some were thrown to the ground ;
if a wrist, elbow or ankle happened to be sprained, it was tied with
a handkerchief, and little more was thought or said about it.
Another ceremony took place before the party reached the house
of the bride, after the practice of making whiskey began, which was
at an early period. When the party were about a mile from the
place of their destination, two young men would single out to run
for the bottle; the worse the path, the more logs, brush and deep
hollows, the better, as these obstacles afforded an opportunity for the
greatest di.splay of intrepidity and horsemanship. The English fox
chase, in point of danger to their riders and their horses, was nothing
to this race for the bottle. The start was announced by an Indian
yell, when logs, brush, mud holes, hill and glen, were speedily passed
by the rival ponies. The bottle was always filled for the occasion,
so that there was no use for judges; for the first who reached the
door was presented with the prize, with which he returned in triumph
to the company. On approaching them he announced his victory
over his rival % a shrill whoo_p. At the head of the troop he gave
the bottle to the groom and his attendants, and then to each pair
in succession, to the rear of the line, giving each a dram; and then
putting the bottle in the bosom of his hunting shirt, took his station
in the company.
The ceremony of the marriage preceded the dinner, which was
a substantial backwoods feast of beef, pork, fowls, and sometimes
venison and hear meat, roasted and boiled, with plenty of potatoes,
cabbage and other vegetables. During the dinner the greatest hilarity
always prevailed, although the table might he a large slab of timber,
hewed out with a broad-axe, supported by four sticks set in auger
holes, and the furniture, some old pewter dishes and plates, the rest
wooden howls and trenchers. A few pewter spoons, much battered
about the edges, were to be seen at some tables; the rest were made
of horn. If knives were scarce, the deficiency was made up by the
scalping knives, which were carried in sheathes suspended to the belt
of the hunting shirt.
After dinner the dancing commenced, and generally lasted until
the next morning. The figures of the dances were three and four
handed reels, or square sets and jigs. The commencement was always
a square four, which was followed by what was called jigging it off;
that is, two of the four would single out for a jig, and were followed
by the remaining couple. The jigs were often accompanied with
what was called cutting out ; that is, when any of the parties became
tired of the dance, on intimation, the place was supplied by some of
the company, without any interruption of the dance; in this way
a dance was often continued until the musician was heartily tired of
his situation. Towards the latter part of the night, if any of the
company through weariness attempted to conceal themselves for the
262
History of The Valley
purpose of sleeping, they were hunted up, paraded on the floor, and
the fiddler ordered to play "hang out till morning."
About nine or ten o'clock a deputation of young ladies stole off
the bride and put her to bed. In doing this it frequently happened
that they had to ascend a ladder instead of a pair of stairs, leading
from the dining and ball-room to the loft, the floor of which was
made of clapboards lying loose and without nails. This ascent one
might think would put thç bride and her attendants to the blush;
but as the foot of the ladder was commonly behind the door, which
was purposely open for the occasion, and its rounds at the inner ends
were well hung with hunting shirts, petticoats and other articles of
clothing, the candles being on the opposite side of the house, the exit
of the bride was noticed hut by a few. This done, a deputation of
young men in like manner stole off the groom and placed him snugly
by the side of his bride. The dance still continued, and if seats
happened to be scarce, which was often the case, every young man
when not engaged in the dance was obliged to .offer his lap as a seat
for one of the girls, and the offer was sure to be accepted. In the
midst of this hilarity the bride and groom were not forgotten. Pretty
late in the night some one would remind the company that the new
couple must stand in need of some refreshments. Black Betty, which
was the name of the bottle, was called for and sent up the ladder. But
sometimes Black Betty did not go alone. I have many times seen
as much bread, beef, pork and cabbage sent along with her, as would
afford a meal for a half a dozen hungry men. The young couple
were compelled to eat more or less of whatever was offered them.
In the course of the festivity, if any wanted to help himself to
a dram and the young couple to a toast, he would call out, "Where
is Black Betty? I want to kiss her sweet lips." Black Betty was
soon handed to him, when, holding her up in his right hand, he
would say, "Here's health to the groom, not forgetting myself, and
here's to the bride, thumping luck and big children !" This, so far
from being taken amiss, was considered as an expression of a very
proper and friendly wish; for big children, especially sons, were of
great importance, as we were few in number and engaged in perpetual
hostility with the Indians, the end of which no one could foresee.
Indeed, many of them seemed to suppose that war was the natural
state of man, and therefore did not anticipate any conclusion of it;
every big son was therefore considered as a young soldier.
But to return. It often happened that some neighbors or
relations, not being asked to the wedding, took offense ; and the mode
of revenge adopted by them on such occasions was that of cutting
off the manes, foretops, and tails of the horses of the wedding
company.
Another method of revenge, which was adopted when the chastity
of the bride was a little suspected, was that of setting up a pair of
horns on poles or trees, on the route of the wedding company. This
The Wedding
263
was a hint to the groom that he might expect to be complimented
with a pair of horns himself.
On returning to the infare, the order of procession and the race
for Black Betty was the same as before. The feasting and dancing
often lasted several days, at the end of which the whole company was
so exhausted with loss of sleep, that several days' rest was requisite
to fit them to return to their ordinary labors.
Should I be asked why I have presented this unpleasant portrait
of the rude manners of our forefathers? I in my turn would ask
my reader, why are you pleased with the histories of the blood and
carnage of battles? Why are you delighted with the fictions of
poetry, the novel and romance ? I have related truth, and only truth,
strange as it may seem. I have depicted a state of society and
manners which are fast vanishing from the memory of man, with
a view to give the youth of our country a knowledge of the advantage
of civilization, and to give contentment to the aged by preventing
them from saying "that former times were better than the present."
CHAPTEE XXIII
The House Warming
I will proceed to state the usual manner of settling a young
couple in the world.
A spot was selected on a piece of land of one of the parents fox"
their habitation. A day was appointed shortly after their marriage
for commencing the work of building their cabin. The fatigue party
consisted of choppers, whose business it was to fell the trees and cut
them off at proper lengths—a man with his team for hauling them
to the place, and arranging them, properly assorted, at the sides and
ends of the building—and a carpenter, if such he might he called,
whose business it was to search the woods for a proper tree for
making clapboards for the roof. The tree for this purpose must he
straight-grained, and from three to four feet in diameter. The hoards
were split four feet long, with a large frow, and as wide as the
timber would allow. They were used without planing or shaving.
Another division were employed in getting puncheons for the floor
of the cabin; this was done by splitting trees about eighteen inches
in diameter and hewing the faces of them with a broad-axe. They
were half the length of the floor they were intended to make.
The materials for the cabin were mostly prepared on the first
day, and sometimes the foundations laid in the evening; the second
day was allotted for the raising.
In the morning of the next day the neighbors collected for the
raising. The first thing to be done was the election of four corner¬
men, whose business it was to notch and place the logs, the rest of
the company furnishing them with the timbers. In the meantime
the hoards and puncheons were collected for the floor and roof, so
that by the time the cabin was a few rounds high, the sleepers and
floor began to be laid. The door was made by cutting or sawing the
logs in one side so as to make an opening about three feet wide; this
opening was secured by upright pieces of timber about three inches
thick, through which holes were bored into the ends of the logs for
the purpose of pinning them fast. A similar opening, but wider,
was made at the end for the chimney. This was built of logs, and
made large, to admit of a back and jams of stone. At the square
two end logs projected a foot or eighteen inches beyond the wall, to
receive the butting poles, as they were called, against which the ends
of the first row of clapboards were supported. The roof was formed
by making the end logs shorter until a single log formed the comb
of the roof. On these logs the clapboards were placed, the ranges
of them lapping some distance over those next below them, and kept
in their places by logs placed at proper distances upon them.
The House Waeming
265
The roof and sometimes the floor were flnished on the same day
of the raising ; a third day was commonly spent by a few carpenters
in leveling off the floor, making a clapboard door and a table. This
last was made of a split slab, and supported by four round legs set
in auger holes; some three-legged stools were made in the same
manner. Some pins, stuck in the logs at the hack of the house,
supported some clapboards which served for shelves for the table
furniture. A single fork, placed with its lower end in a hole in the
floor, and the upper end fastened to a joist, served for a bedstead,
by placing a pole in the fork with one end through a crack between
the logs in the wall. This front pole was crossed by a shorter one
within the fork, with its outer end through another crack. From the
front pole, through a crack between the logs of the end of the house,
the hoards were put on which formed the bottom of the bed. Some¬
times other poles were pinned to the fork a little distance between
these, for the purpose of supporting the front and foot of the bed,
while the walls were the support of its back and head. A few pegs
around the walls, for the display of the coats of the women and
hunting shirts of the men, and two small forks or buck's horns to a
joist for the rifle and shot-pouch, completed the carpenter work.
In the meantime masons were at work. With the heart pieces
of the timber of which the clapboards were made, they made billets
for chunking up the cracks between the logs of the cabin and
chimney. A large bed of mortar was made for daubing up these
cracks; and a few stones formed the back and jambs of the chimney.
The cabin being finished, the ceremony of house warming took
place, before the young couple were permitted to move into it.
This was a dance of the whole night's continuance, made up of the
relations of the bride and groom and their neighbors. On the day
following, the young couple took possession of their new mansion.
CHAPTER XXIY
"Working
The necessary labors of the farms along the frontiers were
performed with every danger and difficulty imaginable. The whole
population of the frontiers, huddled together in their little forts, left
the country with every appearance of a deserted region; and such
would have been the opinion of the traveler concerning it, if he had
not seen here and there some small fields of com or some other grain
in a growing state.
It is easy to imagine what losses must have been sustained by
our first settlers owing to this deserted state of our farms. It was
not the full measure of their trouble that they risked their lives, and
often lost them, in subduing the forest and turning it into fruitful
fields; but compelled to leave them in a deserted state during the
summer season, a great part of the fruits of their labors was lost by
this untoward circumstance. The sheep and hogs were devoured by
the wolves, panthers and bears. Horses and cattle were often let
into their fields, through breeches made in their fences by the falling
trees, and frequently almost the whole of a little crop of corn was
destroyed by squirrels and raccoons, so that many families, even
after an hazardous and laborious spring and summer, had but little
left for the comfort of the dreary winter.
The early settlers on the frontiers of this country were like
Arabs of the desert of Africa, in at least two respects. Every man
was a soldier, and from early in the spring till late in the fall was
almost continually in arms. Their work was often carried on by
parties, each one of whom had his rifle and everything else belonging
to his war dress. These were deposited in some central place in
the field. A sentinel was stationed on the outside of the fence, so
that on the least alarm the whole company repaired to their arms,
and were ready for combat in a moment.
Here again the rashness of some families proved a source of
difficulty. Instead of joining the working parties, they went out and
attended their farms by themselves, and in case of alarm, an express
was sent for them, and sometimes a party of men to guard them to
the fort. These families, in some instances, could boast that they
had better crops, and were every way better provided for in the
winter than their neighbors. In other instances their temerity cost
them their lives.
In military affairs, when every one concerned is left to his own
will, matters were sure to be badly managed. The whole frontiers
of Pennsylvania and Virginia presented a succession of military
camps or forts. We had military officers, that is to say, captains
and colonels; but they in many respects were only nominally such.
Working
267
They could advise, but not command. Those who chose to follow
their advice did so, to such an extent as suited their fancy or interest.
Others were refractory and thereby gave much trouble. These officers
would leave a scout or campaign, while those who thought proper to
accompany them did so, and those who did not remained at home.
Public odium was the only punishment for their laziness or cow¬
ardice. There was no compulsion to the performance of military
duties, and no pecuniary reward when they were performed.
It is but doing justice to the first settlers of this country to say,
that instances of disobedience of families and individuals to tbe advice
of our officers, were by no means numerous. The greater number
cheerfully submitted to their directions with a prompt and faithful
obedience.
CHAPTEE XXV
Mechanic Arts
In giving a history of the state of the mechanic arts, as they
were exercised at an early period of the settlement of this country,
I shall present a people, driven hy necessity to perform works of
mechanical skill, far beyond what a person enjoying all the advan¬
tages of civilization, would expect from a population placed in such
destitute circumstances.
My reader will naturally ask where were their mills for grinding
grain, where their tanners for making leather, where their smith shops
for making and repairing their farming utensils? Who were their
carpenters, tailors, cabinet workmen, shoemakers and weavers? The
answer is, those manufacturers did not exist, nor had they any
tradesmen who were professedly such. Every family were under the
necessity of doing everything for themselves as well as they could.
The hominy blocks and hand-mills were used in most of oirr
houses. The first was made of a large block of wood about three
feet long, with an excavation burned in one end, wide at the top and
narrow at the bottom, so that the action of the pestle on the bottom
threw the corn up to the sides towards the top of it, from whence it
continually fell down into the center. In consequence of this move¬
ment, the whole mass of the grain was pretty equally subjected to
the strokes of the pestle. In the fall of the year, whilst the Indian
corn was soft, the block and pestle did very well for making meal for
journeycake and mush, hut were rather slow when the corn became
hard.
The sweep was sometimes used to lessen the toil of pounding
grain into meal. This was a pole of some springy elastic wood,
thirty feet long or more, the butt end of which was placed under the
side of a house or large stump. This pole was supported by two
forks, placed about one-third of its length from its butt end, so as to
elevate the small end about fifteen feet from the ground. To this was
attached hy a large mortise, a piece of sapling about five or six inches
in diameter and eight or ten feet long, the lower end of which was
shaped so as to answer for a pestle, and a pin of wood was put through
it at a proper height so that two persons could work at the sweep at
once. This simple machine very much lessened the labor and
expedited the work.
I remember that when a hoy I put up an excellent sweep at my
father's. It was made of a sugar tree sapling, and was kept going
almost constantly from morning till night by our neighbors for
several weeks. ,
Mechanic Arts
2G9
In the Greenbrier country, where they had a number of salt¬
petre caves, the first settlers made plenty of excellent gunpowder by
means of these sweeps and mortars.
A machine still more simple than the mortar and pestle was
used for making meal when the corn was too soft to he beaten. It
was called a grater. This was a half circular piece of tin, perforated
with a punch from the concave side, and nailed by its edges to a
block of wood. The ears of corn were rubbed on the rough edges
of the holes, while the meal fell through them on the board or block
to which the grater was nailed, which being in a slanting direction,
discharged the meal into a cloth or bowl placed for its reception.
This, to be sure, was a slow way of making meal, but necessity has
no law.
The hand-mill was better than the mortar and grater. It was
made of two circular stones, the lowest of which was called the bed¬
stone, the upper one the runner. These were placed in a hoop, with
a spout for discharging the meal. A staff was let into a hole in the
upper surface of the runner, near the outer edge, and its upper end
through a hole in a board fastened to a joist above, so that two
persons could be employed in turning the mill at the same time.
The grain was put into the opening in the runner by hand. These
mills are still in use in Palestine, the ancient country of the Jews.
To a mill of this sort our Saviour alluded, when with reference
to the destruction of Jesusalem, he said, "Two women shall be grind¬
ing at a mill, the one shall be taken and the other left."
This mill is much preferable to that used at present in upper
Egypt for making the dhourra bread. It is a smooth stope, placed
on an inclined plane, upon which the grain is spread, which is made
into meal by rubbing another stone up and down upon it.
Our first water mills were of that description denominated tub-
mills. It consists of a perpendicular shaft, to the lower end of which
a horizontal wheel of about four or five feet in diameter is attached;
the upper end passes through the bed stone and carries the runner,
after the manner of a trundlehead. These mills were built with very
little expense, and many of them answered the purpose very well.
Instead of bolting cloths, sifters were in general use. These were
made of deer skins in the state of parchment stretched over a hoop
and perforated with a hot wire.
Our clothing was all of domestic manufacture. We had no
other resource for clothing and this indeed was a poor one. The
crops of flax often failed, and the sheep were destroyed by the wolves.
Linsey, which is made of flax and wool, the former the chain and
the lattei» the filling, was the warmest and most substantial cloth we
could make. Almost every house contained a loom and almost every
woman was a weaver.
Every family tanned their own leather. The tan vat was a
large trough sunk to the upper end in the ground. A quantity of
bark was easily obtained every spring in clearing and fencing land.
270
History of The Valley
This, after drying, was brought in, and in wet days was shaved and
pounded on a block of wood with an axe or mallet. Ashes were used
in place of lime for taking off the hair. Bear's oil, hog's lard and
tallow answered the place of fish oil. The leather, to he sure, was
coarse; but it was substantially good. The operation of currying
was performed by a drawing knife with its edge turned after the
manner of a currying knife. The blackening for the leather was
made of soot and hog's lard.
Almost every family contained its own tailors and shoemakers.
Those who could not make shoes could make shoe-packs. These, like
moccasins, were made of a single piece of leather, with the exception
of a tongue-piece on the top of the foot, which was about two inches
broad and circular at the lower end, and to which the main piece
of leather was sewed with a gathering stitch. The seam behind was
like that of a moccasin, and a sole was sometimes added. The
women did the tailor work. They could all cut out and make hunt¬
ing shirts, leggins and drawers.
The state of society which existed in our country at an early
period of its settlement, was well calculated to call into action every
native mechanical genius. There was in almost every neighborhood
some one whose natural ingenuity enabled him to do many things
for himself and his neighbors far above what could have been
reasonably expected. With the very few tools which they brought
with them into the country, they certainly performed wonders.
Their plows, harrows with their wooden teeth, and sleds, were in
many instances well made. Their cooper-ware, which comprehended
everything for holding milk and water, was generally pretty well
executed. The cedar-ware, by having alternately a white and red
stave, was then thought beautiful. Many of their puncheon floors
were very neat, their joints close and the top even and smooth.
Their looms, although heavy, did very well. Those who could not
exercise these mechanic arts were under the necessity of giving labor
or barter to their neighbors in exchange for the use of them, so far
as their necessities required.
An old man in my father's neighborhood had the art of turning
bowls, from the knots of trees, particularly those of the ash. In
what way he did it I do not know, or whether there was much
mystery in his art. Be that as it may, the old man's skill was in
great request, as well-turned wooden bowls were amongst our first-
rate articles of household furniture.
My brothers and myself once undertook to procure a fine suit of
these bowls made of the best wood, the ash. We gathered all we
could find on our father's land, and took them to the artist, who
was to give, as the saying was, one-half for the other. He put the
knots in a branch before the door, when a freshet came and swept
them all away, not one of them being ever found. This was a
dreadful misfortune. Our anticipation of an elegant display of new
Mechanic Aets
271
bowls was utterly blasted in a moment, as the poor old man was not
able to repair our loss nor any part of it.
My father possessed a mechanical genius of the highest order,
and necessity, which is the mother of invention, occasioned the full
exercise of his talents. His farming utensils were the best in the
neighborhood. After making his loom he often used it as a weaver.
All the shoes belonging to the family were made by himself. He
always spun his own shoe-thread, saying that no woman could spin
shoe-thread as well as he could. His cooper-ware was made by
himself. I have seen him make a small, neat kind of wooden-ware,
called set work, in which the staves were all attached to the bottom
of the vessel, hy means of a groove cut in them by a strong clasp-
knife and small chisel, before a single hoop was put on. He was
sufficiently the carpenter to build the best kind of houses then in
use; that is to say, first a cabin, and afterwards the hewed log-house
with a shingled roof. In the latter years he became sickly, and not
being able to labor, he amused himself with tolerably good imitations
of cabinet work.
Hot possessing sufficient health for service on the scouts and
campaigns, his duty was that of repairing the rifles of his neighbors
when they needed it. In this business he manifested a high degree
of ingenuity. A small depression on the surface of a stump or log,
and a wooden mallet, were his instruments for straightening the
gun barrel when crooked. Without the aid of a bow-string he could
discover the smallest bend in a barrel, and with a bit of steel he
could make a saw for deepening the furrows when requisite. A few
shots determined whether the gun might be trusted.
Although he never had been more than six weeks at school, he
was nevertheless a first-rate penman and a good arithmetician. His
penmanship was of great service to his neighbors in writing letters,
bonds, deeds of conveyance, &c.
Young as I was, I was possessed of an art which was of great
use, viz; that of weaving shot pouch straps, belts and garters. I
could make my loom and weave a belt in less than one day. Having
a piece of board about four feet long, an inch auger, spike gimlet,
and a drawing knife, I needed no other tools or materials for making
my loom.
It frequently happened that my weaving proved serviceable to
the family, as I often sold a belt for a day's work, or making an
himdred rails; so that although a boy, I could exchange my labor
for that of a full grown person for an equal length of time.
«
CHAPTEE XXVI
Medicine
This among a rude and illiterate people consisted mostly of
specifics. As far as I can recollect them, they shall be enumerated,
together with the diseases for which they were used.
The diseases of children were mostly ascribed to worms, for the
expulsion of which a solution of common salt was given, and the
dose was always large. I well remember having been compelled
to take half a tablespoonful when quite small. To the best of my
recollection it generally answered the purpose.
Scrapings of pewter spoons was another remedy for the worms.
This dose was also large, amounting, I should think, from twenty
to forty grains. It was commonly given in sugar.
Sulphate of iron, or green copperas was a third remedy for the
worms. The dose of this was also larger than we should venture to
give at this time.
For burns, a poultice of Indian meal was a common remedy.
A poultice of scraped potatoes was also a favorite remedy -with some
people. Koasted turnip, made into a poultice, was used by others.
Slippery elm bark was often used in the same way. I do not
recollect that any internal remedy or bleeding was ever used for burns.
The croup, or what was then called the "bold hives," was a
common disease among the children, many of whom died of it. For
the cure of this, the juice of roasted onions or garlic was given in
large doses. Wall ink was also a favorite remedy with many of the
old ladies. For fever, sweating was the general remedy. This was
generally performed by means of a strong decoction of Virginia snake
root. The dose was always very large. If a purge was used, it was
about a half a pint of a strong decoction of walnut bark. This, when
intended for a pui'ge, was peeled dovuiwards; if for a vomit, it was
peeled upwards. Indian physic, or bowman root, a species of
ipecacuanha was frequently used for a vomit, and sometimes the
pocoon or blood-root.
For the bite of a rattle or copper-snake a great variety of
specifics were used. I remember when a small boy to have seen a
man bitten by a rattle-snake brought into the fort on a man's back.
One of the company dragged the snake after him by a forked stick
fastened in its head. The body of the snake was cut into pieces of
about two inches in length, split open in succession, and laid on the
wound to draw out the poison, as they expressed it. When this was
over, a fire was kindled in the fort and the whole of the serpent burnt
to ashes, by way of revenge for the injury he had done. After this
process was over, a large quantity of chestnut leaves was collected
and boiled in a pot. The whole of the wounded man's leg and part
Mediciiíe
273
of his thigh were placed in a piece of chestnut hark, fresh from the
tree, and the decoction was poured on the leg so as to run down into
the pot again. After continuing this process for some time, a
quantity of the hoiled leaves were hound to the leg. This was
repeated several times a day. The man got well ; hut whether owing
to the treatment bestowed on his wound, is not so certain.
A number of native plants were used for the cure of snake bites.
Among them the white plantain held a high rank. This was hoiled
in milk, and the decoction given the patient in large quantities. A
kind of fern, which, from its resemblance to the leaves of the walnut,
was called walnut fèrn, was another remedy. A plant with fibrous
roots, resembling the Seneca snake-root, of a black color, and a strong
hut not disagreeable smell, was considered and relied on as the Indian
specific for the cure of the sting of a snake. A decoction of this root
was also used for the cure of colds. Another plant, which very much
resembles the one above mentioned, hut which is violently poisonous,
was sometimes mistaken for it and used in its place. I knew two
young women, who, in consequence of being bitten by rattle-snakes,
used the poisonous plant instead of the other, and nearly lost their
lives by the mistake. The roots were applied to their legs in the
form of a poultice. The violent burning and swelling occasioned by
the inflammation discovered the mistake in time to prevent them
from taking any of the decoction, which, had they done, would have
been instantly fatal. It was with ditficulty that the part to which
the poultice was applied was saved from mortification, so that the
remedy was worse than the disease.
Cupping, sucking the wound, and making deep incisions which
were filled with salt and gun-powder, were also among the remedies
for snake bites.
It does not appear to me that any of the internal remedies, used
by the Indians and first settlers of this country, were well adapted
for the cure of the disease occasioned by the bite of a snake. The
poison of a snake, like that of a bee or a wasp, must consist of a
highly concentrated and very poisonous acid, which instantly inflames
the part to which it is applied. That any substance whatever can
act as a specific for the decomposition of this poison, seems altogether
doubtful. The cure of the fever occasioned by this animal poison
must he effected with reference to those general indications which
are regarded in the cure of other fevers of equal force. The internal
remedies alluded to, so far as I am acquainted with them, are
possessed of little or no medical eíRcacy. They are not emetics,
cathartics, or sudorifics. What then ? They are harmless substances,
which do wonders in all these cases in which there is nothing to be
done.
The truth is, the bite of the rattle or copper-snake, in a fleshy
or tendonous part, where the blood-vessels are neither numerous nor
large, soon healed under any kind of treatment. But when the fangs
of the serpent, which are hollow, and eject the poison through an
274
History of The Valley
orifice near the points, penetrate a blood-vessel of any considerable
size, a malignant and incurable fever was generally the immediate
consequence, and the patient often expired in the first paroxysm.
The same observations apply to the effects of the bite of serpents
when inflicted on beasts. Horses were frequently killed by tbem, as
tbey were commonly bitten somewhere about the nose, in which the
blood-vessels are numerous and large. I once saw a horse die of
the bite of a rattle-snake; the blood for some time before be expired
exuded in great quantities through the pores of the skin.
Cattle were less frequently killed, because their noses are of a
gristly texture, and less furnished with blood-vessels than those of a
horse. Dogs were sometimes bitten, and being naturally physicians,
tbey commonly scratched a bole in some damp place, and held the
wounded part in the ground till the inflammation abated. Hogs,
when in tolerable order, were never hurt by tbem, owing to the thick
substratum of fat between the skin, muscular flesh, and blood-vessels.
The bog generally took immediate revenge for the injury done him
by instantly tearing to pieces and devouring the serpent which
inflicted it.
The itch, which was a very common disease in early times, was
commonly cured by an ointment made of brimstone and bog's lard.
Gun-shot and other wounds were treated with slippery-elm bark,
flaxseed, and other such like poultices. Many lost their lives from
wounds which would now be considered trifling and easily cured. The
use of the lancet, and other means of depletion, in the treatment of
wounds, constituted no part of their cure in this country in early
times.
My mother died in early life of a wound from the tread of a
horse, which any person in the habit of letting blood might have
cured by two or three bleedings, without any other remedy. The
wound was poulticed with spikenard root, and soon terminated in
an extensive mortification.
Most of the men of the early settlers of this country were affected
with the rheumatism. For relief from this disease the hunters
generally slept with their feet to the fire. From this practice they
certainly derived much advantage. The oil of rattle-snakes, geese,
wolves, hears, raccoons, ground-hogs and pole-cats, was applied to
the swelled joints and bathed in before the fire.
The pleurisy was the only disease which was supposed to require
blood letting, hut in many cases a bleeder was not to be had.
Coughs and pulmonary consumptions were treated with a great
variety of syrups, the principal ingredients of which were spikenard
and elecampane. These syrups certainly gave but little relief.
Charms and incantations were in use for the cure of many
diseases. I learned, when young, the incantation, in German, for
the cure of burns, stopping blood, toothache, and the charm against
bullets in battle; hut for the want of faith in their efficacy, I never
used any of them.
Medicike
275
The erysipelas, or St. Anthony's fire, was circumscribed by the
blood of a black cat. Hence there was scarcely a black cat to be
seen whose ears and tail bad not been frequently cropped off for
a contribution of blood.
Whether the medical profession is productive of most good or
barm may still be a matter of dispute with some philosophers, who
never saw any condition of society in which there were no physicians,
and therefore could not be furnished with a proper test for deciding
the question. Had an unbeliever in the healing art been amongst
the early inhabitants of this country, he would have been in a proper
situation to witness the consequences of the want of the exercises of
the art. For many years in succession there was no person Avho
bore even the name of a doctor within a considerable distance of the
residence of my father.
For the honor of the medical profession I must give it as my
opinion, that many of our people perished for want of medical skill
and attention.
The pleurisy was the only disease which was, in any considerable
degree, understood by our people. A pain in the side called for the
use of the lancet, if there was any kind to he had; hut owing to its
sparing use, the patient was apt to be left with a spitting of blood,
which sometimes ended in consumption. A great number of children
died with the croup. Remittent and intermittent fevers were treated
with warm drinks for the purpose of sweating, and the patients were
denied the use of cold water and fresh air; consequently many of
them died. Of those who escaped, not a few died afterwards of the
dropsy or consumption, or were left with paralytic limbs. Deaths
in childbed were not unfrequent. Many, no doubt, died of the bite
of serpents, in consequence of an improper reliance on specifics
possessed of no medical virtue.
My father died of an hepatic complaint, at the age of about
forty-six. He had labored under it for thirteen years. The fever
which accompanied it was called the "dumb ague," and the swelling
in the region of the liver, "the ague cake." The abscess burst, and
discharged a large quantity of matter, which put a period to his
life in about thirty hours after the discharge.
Thus I, for one, may say that in all human probability 1 lost
both my parents for want of medical aid.
CHAPTEK XXVTI
Sports
These were such as might he expected among a people, who,
owing to their circumstances as well as education, set a higher
value on physical than on mental endowments, and on skill in
hunting and bravery in war, than on any polite accomplishments
or fine arts.
Amusements are, in many instances, either imitations of the
business of life, or at least of some of its particular objects of
pursuit. On the part of young men belonging to nations in a state
of warfare, many amusements are regarded as preparations for the
military character which they are expected to sustain in future life.
Thus the war-dance of savages is a pantomime of their stratagems
and horrid deeds of cruelty in war, and the exhibition prepares the
minds of their young men for a participation in the bloody tragedies
which they represent. Dancing, among civilized people, is regarded
not only as an amusement suited to the youthful period of human
life, but as a means of inducing urbanity of manners and a good
personal deportment in public. Horse racing is regarded by the
statesman as a preparation, in various ways, for the equestrian
department of warfare; it is said that the English government never
possessed a good cavalry, until by the encouragement given to public
races, their breed of horses was improved. Games, in which there is
a mixture of chance and skill, are said to improve the understanding
in mathematical and other calculations.
Many of the sports of the early settlers of this country were
imitative of the exercises and stratagems of hunting and war. Boys
are taught the use of the how and arrow at an early age ; but, although
they acquired considerable adroitness in the use of them, so as to kill
a bird or squirrel sometimes, yet it appears that in the hands of the
white people, the bow and arrow could never be depended upon for
warfare or hunting, unless made and managed in a different manner
from any specimens of them which I ever saw.
In ancient times, the bow and arrow must have been deadly
instruments in the hands of the barbarians of our country; but I
much doubt whether any of the present tribes of Indians could make
much use of the flint arrowheads, which must have been so generally
used by their forefathers.
Firearms, wherever they could be obtained, soon put an end to
the use of the how and arrow ; but independently of this circumstance,
military, as well as other arts, sometimes grow out of date and vanish
from the world. Many centuries have elapsed since the world has
witnessed the destructive accuracy of the Benjaminites in their use
of the sling and stone; nor does it appear to me that a diminution.
Sports
277
in the size and strength of the aboriginals of this country, has
occasioned a decrease of accuracy and effect in their use of the
how and arrow. From all the ancient skeletons which have come
under my notice, it does not appear that this section of the globe
was ever inhabited by a larger race of human beings than that which
possessed it at the time of its discovery by the Europeans.
One important pastime of our hoys was that of imitating the
noise of every bird and beast in the woods. This faculty was not
merely a pastime, hut a very necessary part of education, on account
of its utility in certain circumstances. The imitations of the gobbling
and other sounds of wild turkeys often brought those keen-eyed and
ever watchful tenants of the forest -within reach of the rifle. The
bleating of the fawn brought its dam to her death in the same way.
The hunter often collected a company of mopish owls to the trees
about his camp; and while he amused himself -with their hoarse
screaming, his howl would raise and obtain responses from a pack
of wolves, so as to inform him of their neighborhood, as well as guard
him against their depredations.
This imitative faculty was sometimes requisite as a measure
of precaution in war. The Indians, when scattered about in a
neighborhood, often collected together by imitating turkeys by day,
and wolves or owls by night. In similar situations our people did
the same. I have often witnessed the consternation of a whole
neighborhood in consequence of a few screeches of owls. An early
and correct use of this imitative faculty was considered as an
indication that its possessor would become in due time a good hunter
and a valiant warrior.
Throwing the tomahawk was another boyish sport, in which
many acquired considerable skill. The tomahawk, with its handle
of a certain length, will make a given number of turns in a given
distance. Say at five steps, it will strike with the edge, the handle
do-wnwards; at the distance of seven and a half steps, it -will strike
with the edge, the handle upwards; and so on. A little experience
enabled the boy to measure the distance with his eye, when walking
through the woods, and strike a tree with his tomahawk in any way
he chose.
The athletic sports of running, jumping and wrestling, were
the pastime of boys, in common with the men.
A well-grown boy, at the age of twelve or thirteen years, was
furnished with a small rifle and shot pouch. He then became a fort
soldier, and had his port-hole assigned him. Hunting squirrels,
turkeys and raccoons soon made him expert in the use of his gun.
Dancing was the principal amusement of our young people of
both sexes. Their dances, to be sure, were of the simplest forms-
three and four-handed reels and jigs. Country dances, cotillions and
minuets were unknown. I remember to have seen, once or twice,
a dance which was called "The Irish Trot;" but I have long since
forgotten the fiigure.
278
History of The Valley
Shooting at marks was a common diversion among the men,
when their stock of ammunition would allow it, which, however,
was far from being always the case. The present mode of shooting
off-hand was not then in practice ; it was not considered as any trial
of the value of the gun, nor indeed as much of a test of the skill of a
marksman. Their shooting was from a rest, and at as great a dis¬
tance as the length and weight of a barrel of the gun would throw a
ball on a horizontal level. Such was their regard to accuracy, in
those sportive trials of their rifles, and of their own skill in the use
of them, that they often put moss or some other soft substance on the
log or stump from which they shot, for fear of having the bullet
thrown from the mark, by the spring of the barrel. When the rifle
was held to the side of a tree for a rest, it was pressed against it as
lightly as possible for the same reason.
Rifles of former times were different from those of modern
date; few of them carried more than forty-five bullets to the pound,
and bullets of a less size were not thought sufficiently heavy for
hunting or war.
Dramatic narrations, chiefiy concerning Jack and the Giant,
furnished our young people with another source of amusement
during their leisure hours. Many of those tales were lengthy, and
embraced a considerable range of incident. Jack, always the hero of
the story, after encountering many difficulties and performing many
great achievements, came off conqueror of the Giant. Many of these
stories were tales of knight-errantry, in which case some captive
virgin was released from captivity and restored to her lover.
These dramatic narrations concerning Jack and the Giant bore
a strong resemblance to the poems of Ossian, the story of the Cyclops
and Ulysses in the Odyssey of Homer and the tale of the Giant and
Great-heart in the Pilgrim's Progress, and were so arranged as to
the different incidents of the narration, that they were easily com¬
mitted to memory. They certainly have been handed down from
generation to generation from time immemorial. Civilization has
indeed banished the use of these ancient tales of romantic heroism;
but what then? It has substituted in their place the novel and
romance.
It is thus that in every state of society the imagination of man
is eternally at war with reason and truth. That fiction should be
acceptable to an unenlightened people is not to be wondered at, as the
treasures of truth have never been unfolded to their mind; but that
a civilized people themselves should, in so many instances, like
barbarians, prefer the fairy regions of fiction to the august treasures
of truth, developed in the sciences of theology, history, natural and
moral philosophy, is truly a sarcasm on human nature. It is as
much as to say, that it is essential to our amusement, that, for the
time being, we must suspend the exercise of reason and submit to a
voluntary deception.
Spoets
279
Singing was another but not very common amusement among
our first settlers. Their tunes were rude enough, to he sure. Robin
Hood furnished a number of our songs; the balance were mostly
tragical, and were denominated "love songs about murder." As to
cards, dice, backgammon, and other games of chance, we knew nothing
about them. These are among the blessed gifts of civilization.
CHAPTEK XXVIII
Witchcraft
I shall not be lengthy on this subject. The belief in witchcraft
was prevalent amongst the early settlers of the western country.*
To the witch was ascribed the tremendous power of inflicting strange
and incurable diseases, particularly on children, of destroying cattle
by shooting them with hair balls, and a great variety of other means
of destruction, of inflicting spells and curses on guns and other
things, and lastly, of changing men into horses and after bridling
and saddling them, riding them in full speed over hill and dale to
their frolics and other places of rendezvous. More ample powers of
mischief than these cannot be imagined.
Wizards were men supposed to be possessed of the same mis¬
chievous powers as the witches; but it was seldom exercised for bad
purposes. The power of the wizards was exercised almost exclusively
for the purpose of counteracting the malevolent influence of the
witches of the other sex. I have known several of those witchmasters,
as they were called, who made a public profession of curing these
diseases inflicted by the influence of -witches; and I have kno-wn
respectable physicians, who had no greater portion of business in
their line of their professions, than many of those -witchmasters had
in theirs.
The means by which the witch was supposed to inflict diseases,
curses and spells, I never could learn. They were occult sciences,
which no one was supposed to understand excepting the witch herself,
and no wonder, as no such arts ever existed in any country.
The diseases of children, supposed to be inflicted by witchcraft,
were those of the internal dropsy of the brain, and the rickets. The
symptoms and cure of these destructive diseases were utterly unkno-wu
in former times in this country. Diseases which could neither be
accounted for nor cured, were usually ascribed to some supernatural
agency of a malignant kind.
For the cure of diseases inflicted by witchcraft, the picture of
the supposed vdtch was drawn on a stump or piece of board, and
shot at -with a bullet containing a little bit of silver. This bullet
transferred a painful and sometimes a mortal spell on that part of
the -witch corresponding with the part of the portrait struck by the
bullet. Another method of cure was that of getting some of the
child's water, which was closely corked up in a vial and hung up in
a chimney. This complimented the witch with a stranguary, which
lasted as long as the vial remained in the chimney. The witch had
* Fourth Edition Note—It still lingers in remote parts of the Valley and its moun¬
tain environs. When butter is slow in coming» a heated horseshoe is sometimes thrown
into the chum.
WiTCHCEAFT
281
but one way of relieving herself from any spell inflicted on her in
any way, which was that of borrowing something, no matter what,
of the family to which the subject of the exercise of her witchcraft
belonged.
I have known several poor old women much surprised at being
refused requests which had usually been granted without hesitation,
and almost heartbroken when informed of the cause of the refusal.
When cattle or dogs were supposed to be under the influence of
witchcraft, they were burned in the forehead by a branding iron, or
when dead, burned wholly to ashes. This inflicted a spell upon the
witch which could only he removed by borrowing, as above stated.
Witches were often said to milk the cows of their neighbors.
This they did by fixing a new pin in a new towel for each cow
intended to be milked. This towel was hung over her own door, and
by means of certain incantations, the milk was extracted from the
fringes of the towel after the manner of milking a cow. This hap¬
pened when cows were too poor to give much milk.
The first German glass-blowers in this country drove the witches
out of their furnaces by throwing living puppies into them.
The greater or less amount of belief in witchcraft, necromancy
and astrology, serves to show the relative amount of philosophical
science in any country. Ignorance is always associated -with super¬
stition, which, presenting an endless variety of sources of hope and
fear, with regard to the good and bad fortunes of life, keep the
benighted mind continually harrassed with groundless and delusive,
but strong and often deeply distressing impressions of a false faith.
For this disease of the mind there is no cure but that of philosophy.
This science shows to the enlightened reason of man, that no effect
whatever can be produced in the physical world without a corres¬
ponding cause. This science announces that the death bell is but a
momentary morbid motion of the nerves of the ear, and the death
watch, the noise of a bug in the wall, and that the howling of the dog,
and the croaking of the raven, are but the natural languages of the
beast and fowl, and no way prophetic of the death of the sick. The
comet, which used to shake pestilence and war from its fiery train,
is now viewed with as little emotion as the movements of Jupiter and
Saturn in their respective orbits.
An eclipse of the sun, and an unusual freshet at the Tiber,
shortly after the assassination of Julius Caesar by Cassius and
Brutus, threw the whole of the Koman empire into consternation.
It was supposed that all the gods of heaven and earth were enraged,
and about «to take revenge for the murder of the emperor; but since
the science of astronomy foretells in the calendar the time and
extent of the eclipse, the phenomenon is not viewed as a miraculous
and portentous, but as a common and natural event.
That the pythoness and wizard of the Hebrews, the monthly
soothsayers, astrologers and prognosticators of the Chaldeans, and
282
History of The Valley
the sybils of the Greeks and Romans, were mercenary impostors,
there can be no doubt.
To say that the pythoness, and all others of her class, were
aided in their operations by the intervention of familiar spirits, does
not mend the matter; for spirits, whether good or had, possess not
the power of life and death, health and disease, with regard to man
and beast. Pre-science is an incommunicable attribute of God, and
therefore spirits cannot foretell future events.
The afflictions of Job, through the intervention of Satan, were
miraculous. The possessions mentioned in the li^ew Testament, in
all human probability, were maniacal diseases, and if, at their cures,
the supposed evil spirit spoke with an audible voice, these events
were also miraculous, and effected for a special purpose. But from
miracles, no general conclusion can be drawn with regard to the
divine government of the world.
The conclusion is, that the powers professed to be exercised by
the occult science of necromancy and other arts of divination, were
neither more nor less than impostures.
Among the Hebrews, the profession of arts of divination was
thought deserving of capital punishment, because the profession was
of Pagan origin, and of course incompatible with the profession of
theism, and a theocratic form of government. These jugglers per¬
petrated a debasing superstition among the people. They were also
swindlers, who divested their neighbors of large sums of money and
valuable presents without an equivalent.
On the ground then of fraud alone, according to the genius of
the criminal codes of the ancient governments, the offense deserved
capital punishment.
But is the present time better than the past with regard to a
superstitious belief in occult influences? Do no traces of the poly¬
theism of OUI- forefathers remain among their Christian descendants?
This inquiry must he answered in the affirmative. Should an
almanac-maker venture to give out the Christian calendar without the
column containing the signs of the zodiac, the calendar would be
condemned as totally deficient, and the whole impression would
remain on his hands.
But what are those signs? They are the constellations of the
zodiac, that is clusters of stars, twelve in number, within and
including the tropics of Cancer and Capricon. These constellations
resemble the animals after which they are named. But what
influence do these clusters of stars exert on the animal and the plant ?
Certainly none at all ; and yet we have been taught that the northern
constellations govern the divisions of living bodies alternately from
the head to the reins, and in like manner the southern from the reins
to the feet. The sign then makes a skip from the feet to Aries, who
again assumes the government of the head, and so on.
About half these constellations are friendly divinities, and exert
a salutary influence on the animal and the plant. The others are
WlTCHCKAFT
283
malignant in their temper, and govern only for evil purposes. They
hlast during their reign the seed sown in the earth, and render
medicine and the operation of surgery unsuccessful.
We have read of the Hebrews worshipping the hosts of heaven
whenever they relapsed into idolatry; and these same constellations
were the hosts of heaven which they worshipped. We, it is true,
make no offering to these hosts of heaven, hut we give them our
faith and confidence. We hope for physical benefits from those of
them whose dominion is friendly to our interests, while the reign of
the malignant ones is an object of dread and painful apprehension.
Let us not boast very much of our science, civilization, or even
Christianity, while this column of the relics of paganism still
disgraces the Christian calendar.
I have made these observations with a view to discredit the
remnants of superstition still existing among us. While dreams,
the howling of the dog, and the croaking of the raven, are prophetic
of future events, we are not good Christians. While we are dismayed
at the signs of heaven, we are for the time being pagans. Life has
real evils enough to contend with without imaginary ones.
CHAPTEK XXIX
Mobals
In the section of the country where my father lived, there was,
for many years after the settlement of the country, "neither law nor
gospel." Our want of legal government was owing to the uncertainty
whether we belonged to the state of Virginia or Pennsylvania. The
line which at present divides the two states, was not run until some
time after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War. Thus it hap¬
pened, that during a long period of time we knew nothing of courts,
lawyers, magistrates, sheriffs or constables. Every one was therefore
at liberty "to do whatsoever was right in his own eyes."
As this is a state of society which few of my readers have ever
witnessed, I shall describe it as minutely as I can, and give in detail
those moral maxims which in a great degree answered the important
purposes of municipal jurisprudence.
In the first place let it he ohseiwed that in a sparse population,
where all the members of the community are well known to each
other, and especially in time of war, where every man capable of
hearing arms is considered highly valuable as a defender of his
country, public opinion has its full effect, and answers the purposes
of legal government better than it would in a dense population in
time of peace.
Such was the situation of our people along the frontiers of our
settlements. They had no civil, military or ecclesiastical laws, at
least none that were enforced ; and yet, "they were a law unto them¬
selves," as to all the leading obligations of our nature in all the
relations in which they stood to each other. The turpitude of vice
and the majesty of moral virtue were then as apparent as they are
now, and they were then regarded vrith the same sentiments of
aversion or respect which they inspire at the present time. Industry
in working or hunting, bravery in war, candor, honesty, hospitality,
and steadiness of deportment, received their full reward of public
honor and public confidence among our rude forefathers, as well as
among their better instructed and more polished descendants. The
punishments which they inflicted upon offenders by the imperial
court of public opinion, were well adapted for the reformation of the
culprit, or his expulsion from the community.
The punishment for idleness, lying, dishonesty, and ill-fame
generally, was that of "hating the offender out," as they expressed
it. This mode of chastisement was like the atimea of the Greeks.
It was public expression, in various ways, of a general sentiment of
indignation against such as transgressed the moral maxims of the
community to which they belonged and commonly resulted either in
Morals
285
the reformation or banishment of the person against whom it was
directed.
At house-raising, log rolling and harvest-parties, every one was
expected to do his duty faithfully. A person who did not perform
his share of labor on these occasions, was designated by the epithet
of "Lawrence," or some other title still more opprobrious; and when
it came to his turn to require the like aid from his neighbors, the
idler felt his punishment in their refusal to attend to his calls.
Although there was no legal compulsion to the performance of
military duty, yet every man of full age and size was expected to
do his full share of public service. If he did not do so, he was
"hated out as a coward." Even the want of any article of war
equipment, such as ammunition, a sharp flint, a priming wire, a
scalping knife, or tomahawk, was thought highly disgraceful. A
man who, without a reasonable excuse, failed to go on a scout of
campaign when it came to his turn, met with an expression of
indignation in the countenance of all his neighbors, and epithets of
dishonor were fastened upon him without mercy.
Debts, which make such an uproar in civilized life, were but
little known among our forefathers at an early settlement of this
country. After the depreciation of the continental paper, they had
no money of any kind ; everything purchased was paid for in produce
or labor. A good cow and calf was often the price of a bushel of
alum salt. If a contract was not faithfully fulfllled, the credit of
the delinquent was at an end.
Any petty theft was punished with all the infamy that could be
heaped on the offender. A man on a campaign stole from his com¬
rade a cake out of the ashes in which it was baking. He was immedi¬
ately named "The bread rounds." This epithet of reproach was
bandied about in this way. When he came in sight of a group of
men, one of them would call, "Who comes there?" Another would
answer, "The bread rounds." If any one meant to be more serious
about the matter, he would call out, "Who stole a cake out of the
ashes?" Another replied by giving the name of the man in full.
To this a third would give confirmation by exclaiming, "That is true
and no lie." This kind of "tongue lashing" he was doomed to bear
for the rest of the campaign, as well as for years after his return
home.
If a theft was detected in any of the frontier settlements, a
summary mode of punishment was always resorted to. The first
settlers, as far as I knew of them, had a kind of innate or hereditary
detestation of the crime of theft, in any shape or degree, and their
maxim -^^as that "a thief must be whipped." If the theft was
something of some value, a kind of jury of the neighborhood, after
hearing the testimony, would condemn the culprit to Moses' law;
that is, to forty stripes save one. If the theft was of small articles,
the offender was doomed to carry on his back the flag of the United
States, which then consisted of thirteen stripes. In either case, some
286
History of The Valley
able bands were selected to execute the sentence, so that tbe stripes
were sure to be well laid on.
Tbis punisbment was followed by a sentence of exile. He tben
was informed tbat be must decamp in so many days and be seen
tbere no more on penalty of baring tbe number of bis stripes doubled.
For many years after tbe law was put in operation in tbe western
part of Virginia, tbe magistrates themselves were in tbe babit of
giving tbose wbo were brought before them on charges of small thefts,
tbe liberty of being sent to jail or taking a whipping. Tbe latter
was commonly chosen, and was immediately inflicted after which
tbe thief was ordered to clear out.
In some instances stripes were inflicted, not for tbe punisbment
of an offense, but for tbe purpose of extorting a confession from
suspected persons. Tbis was tbe torture of our early times, and no
doubt sometimes very unjustly inflicted.
If a woman was given to tattling and slandering her neighbors,
she was furnished by common consent with a kind of patent right
to say whatever she pleased, without being believed. Her tongue
was tben said to be harmless, or to be no scandal.
With all their rudeness, these people were given to hospitality,
and freely divided their rough fare with a neighbor or stranger, and
would have been offended at tbe offer of pay. In their settlements
and forts, they lived, they worked, they fought and feasted, or suf¬
fered together, in cordial harmony. They were warm and constant
in their friendship. On tbe other band they were revengeful in
their resentments; and tbe point of honor sometimes led to personal
combats. If one man called another a liar, he was considered as
having given a challenge which the person who received it must
accept, or be deemed a coward, and the charge was generally answered
on the spot with a blow. If the injured person was decidedly unable
to fight the aggressor, he might get a friend to do it for him. The
same thing took place on a charge of cowardice, or any other dis¬
honorable action. A battle must follow, and the person who made
the charge must either fight the person against whom he made it, or
any champion who chose to espouse his cause. Thus circumstanced,
our people in early times were much more cautious of speaking evil
of their neighbors than they are at present.
Sometimes pitched battles occurred, in which time, place and
seconds were appointed beforehand. I remember having seen one
of these pitched battles in my father's fort, when a boy. One of
the young men knew very well beforehand that he should get the
worst of the battle, and no doubt repented the engagement to fight;
but there was no getting over it. The point of honor demanded the
risk of battle. He got his whipping; they then shook hands, and
were good friends afterwards.
This mode of single combat in tbose days was dangerous in the
extreme. Although no weapons were used, fists, teeth and feet were
employed at will; but above all, the detestable practice of gouging.
Morals
287
by which eyes were sometimes put out, rendered this mode of fighting
frightful indeed. It was not, however, so destructive as the stiletto
of an Italian, the knife of a Spaniard, the small sword of the French¬
man, or the pistol of the American or English duelist.
Instances of seduction and bastardy did not frequently happen
in our early times. I remember one instance of the former, in which
the life of the man was put in jeopardy hy the resentment of the
family to which the girl belonged. Indeed, considering the chival¬
rous temper of pur people, this crime could not then take place with¬
out great personal danger from the brothers or other relations of the
victims of seduction, family honor being then estimated at a high
rate.
I do not recollect that profane language was much more preva¬
lent in our early times than at present.
Among the people with whom I was conversant, there was no
other vestige of the Christian religion than a faint observance of
Sunday, and that merely as a day of rest for the aged and play-day
for the young.
The first Christian service I ever heard was in Garrison
church, in Baltimore coirnty, in Maryland, where my father had sent
me to school. I was then about ten years old. The appearance of
the church, the "windows of which were Gothic, the white surplice
of the minister, and the responses in the service, overwhelmed me
"with surprise. Among my school-fellows in that place, it was a
matter of reproach to me that I was not baptized; and why?
Because, as they said, I had no name. Such was their notion of the
efficacy of baptism.
CHAPTEE XXX
The Kevolution
The American Kevolution was the commencement of a new era
in the history of the world. The issue of that eventful contest
snatched the sceptre from the hands of the monarch, and placed it
where it ought to he, in the hands of the people.
On the sacred altar of liberty it consecrated the rights of man,
surrendered to him the right and power of governing himself, and
placed in his hands the resources of his country, as munitions of war
for his defense. The experiment was indeed hold and hazardous,
but success has hitherto more than justified the most sanguine
anticipations of those who made it. The world has witnessed, with
astonishment, the rapid growth and confirmtaion of our noble fabric
of freedom. Erom our distant horizon, we have refiected a strong
and steady blaze of light on ill-fated Europe, from time immemorial
involved in the fetters and gloom of slavery. Our history has
excited a general and ardent spirit of inquiry into the nature of our
civil institutions, and a strong vdsh on the part of the people in
distant countries to participate in our blessings.
But will an example, so portentous of evil to the chiefs of
despotic institutions, he viewed with indifference by those who now
sway the scepter with unlimited power, over the many millions of
their vassals? Will they adopt no measures of defense against the
influence of that freedom, so widely diffused and so rapidly gaining
strength throughout their empires? Will they make no effort to
remove from the world those free governments, whose example gives
them such annoyance? The measures of defense will he adopted,
the effort will he made; for power is never surrendered without a
struggle.
Already nations, which, from the earliest period of their history,
have constantly crimsoned the earth "with each other's blood, have
become a hand of brothers for the destruction of every germ of human
liberty. Every year witnesses an association of the monarchs of
those nations, in unhallowed conclave, for the purpose of concerting
measures for effecting their dark designs. Hitherto the execution
of those measures has been alas! too fatally successful.
It would be impolitic and unwise in us to calculate on escaping
the hostile notice of the despots of continental Europe. Already we
hear, like distant thunder, their expressions of indignation and
threats of vengeance. We ought to anticipate the gathering storm
without dismay, hut not with indifference. In viewing the dark
side of the prospect before us, one source of consolation, of much
magnitude, presents itself. It is confidently expected, that the brave
and potent nation, with whom we have common origin, will not risk
The Revolution
289
the loss of that portion of liberty, which at the expense of so much
hlood and treasure, they have secured for themselves, by an unnatural
association with despots, for the unholy purpose of making war on
the few nations of the earth, which possess any considerable portion
of that invaluable blessing; on the contrary it is hoped by us that
they will, if necessity should require, employ the bravery of their
people, their immense resources and the trident of the ocean, in
defense of their own liberties, and by consequence those of others.
Legislators, fathers of our country! lose no time, spare no
expense in hastening on the requisite means of defense, for meeting
with safety and with victory the impending storm, which sooner or
later must fall upon us.
CHAPTEE XXXI
Civilization
The causes which led to the present state of civilization in the
western country, are subjects which deserve some consideration.
The state of society and manners of the early settlers, as pre¬
sented in these notes, shows very clearly that their grade of civiliza¬
tion was indeed low enough. The descendants of the English
cavaliers from Maryland and Virginia, who settled mostly along the
rivers, and the descendants of the Irish, who settled in the interior
parts of the country, were neither remarkable for science nor urbanity
of manners. The former were mostly illiterate, rough in their man¬
ners, and addicted to the rude diversions of horse racing, wrestling,
shooting, dancing, &c. These diversions were often accompanied
with personal combats, which consisted of blows, kicking, biting, and
gouging. This mode of fighting was what they called rough and
tumble. Sometimes a previous stipulation was made to use the fists
only. Yet these people were industrious, enterprising, generous in
their hospitality, and brave in the defense of their country.
These people, for the most part, formed the cordon along the
Ohio river, on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Ken¬
tucky, which defended the country against the attacks of the Indians
during the Revolutionary War. They were the janizaries of the
country; that is, they were the soldiers when they chose to he so,
and when they chose laid down their arms. Their military service
was voluntary, and of course they received no pay.
With the descendants of the Irish I had but little acquaintance,
although I lived near them. At an early period they were com¬
prehended in the Presbyterian church, and were more reserved in
their deportment than their frontier neighbors, and from their
situation being less exposed to the Indian warfare, took less part in
that war.
The patriot of the western region finds his love of country and
national pride augmented to the highest grade, when he compares
the political, moral, and religious character of his people with that
of the inhabitants of many large divisions of the old world. In Asia
and Africa, generation after generation passes without any change
in the moral and religious character or physical condition of the
people.
On the Barbary coast, the traveler, if a river lies in his way and
happens to be too high, must either swim it or wait until it subsides.
If the traveler is a Christian, he must have a firman and a guard.
Yet this was once the country of the famous Carthagenians.
In upper Egypt, the people grind meal for their dhourra bread,
by rubbing it between two flat stones. This is done by women.
Civilization
291
In Palestine, tlie grinding of grain is still performed by an
ill-constructed hand-mill, as in the days of our Saviour. The roads
to the famous city of Jerusalem are still almost in the rude state
of nature.
In Asiatic Turkey, merchandise is still carried on hy caravans,
which are attended with a military guard ; and the naked walls of the
caravansera is their fortress and place of repose at night, instead of
a place of entertainment. The streets of Constantinople, instead of
being paved, are in many places almost impassable from mud, filth,
and the carcasses of dead beasts. Yet this is the metropolis of a
great empire.
Throughout the whole of the extensive regions of Asia and
Africa, man, from his cradle to his grave, sees no change in the
aspect of anything around him, unless from the desolations of war.
His dress, his ordinary salutations with his neighbor, his diet and
his mode of eating it, are prescribed by his religious institutions;
and his rank in society, as well as his occupation, are determined
by his birth. Steady and unvarying as the lapse of time in every
department of life, generation after generation beats the dull
monotonous round. The Hindoo would sooner die a martyr at
the stake, than sit on a chair or eat with a knife or fork.
The descendant of Ishmael is still "a wild man." Hungry,
thirsty and half naked, beneath a burning sun, he traverses the
immense and inhospitable desert of Sahara, apparently without any
object, because his forefathers did before him. Throughout life
he subsists on camel's milk and flesh, while his only covering from
the inclemency of the weather is a flimsy tent of camel's hair.
His single, solitary virtue is that of hospitality to strangers; in
every other respect he is a thief and robber.
The Chinese still retain their alphabet of thirty-six thousand
heiroglyphics. They must never exchange it for one of twenty
letters, which would answer an infinitely better purpose.
Had we pursued the course of the greater number of the nations
of the earth, we should have been this day treading in the footsteps
of our forefathers, from whose example in any respect we should
have thought it criminal to depart in the slightest degree.
Instead of a blind or superstitious imitation of the manners
and customs of our forefathers, we have thought and acted for
ourselves, and we have changed ourselves and everything around us.
The linsey and coarse linen of the first settlers of the country
have been exchanged for the substantial and fine fabrics of Europe
and Asia, the hunting-shirt for the fashionable coat of broadcloth
and the moccÄsin for boots and shoes of tanned leather. The dresses
of our ladies are equal in beauty, fineness and fashion to those of
the cities and countries of Europe and Atlantic America.
It is not enough that persevering industry has enabled us to
purchase the "purple and fine linen" from foreigners, and to use
their porcelain and glassware, whether plain, engraved or gilt; we
292
History of The Valley
have nobly dared to fabricate those elegant, comfortable, and valuable
productions of art for ourselves.
A well-founded prospect of large gains from useful arts and
honest labor has drawn to our country a large number of the best
artisans of other countries. Their mechanic arts, immensely
improved by the American genius, have hitherto realized the
hopeful prospect which induced their emigration to our infant
country.
The horse paths, along which our forefathers made their
laborious journeys over the mountains for salt and iron, were soon
succeeded by wagon roads, and those again by substantial turnpikes,
which, as if by magic enchantment, have brought the distant region,
not many years ago denominated "the backwoods," into a close and
lucrative connection with our great Atlantic cities. The journey
over the mountains, formerly considered so long, so expensive, and
even perilous, is now made in a very few days, and with accommo¬
dations not displeasing to the epicure himself. Those giants of
North America, the different mountains composing the great chain
of the Alleghany, formerly so frightful in their aspect, and presenting
so many difficulties in their passage, are now scarcely noticed by
the traveler, in his journey along the graduated highways by which
they are crossed.
The rude sports of former times have been discontinued.
Athletic trials of muscular strength and activity, in which there
certainly is not much of merit, have given way to the more noble
ambition for mental endowments and skill in useful arts. To the
rude and often indecent songs, but roughly and unskillfully sung,
have succeeded the psalm, the hymn, and swelling anthem. To the
clamorous boast, the provoking banter, the biting sarcasm, the horrid
oath and imprecation, have succeeded urbanity and manners, and a
coarse conversation enlightened by science and chastened by mental
attention and respect.
Above all, the direful spirit of revenge, the exercise of which
so much approximated the character of many of the first settlers
of our country to that of the worst of savages, is now unknown.
The Indian might pass in safety among those, whose remembrance
still bleeds at the recollection of the loss of their relatives, who
have perished under the tomahawk and scalping knife of the savages.
The Moravian brethren may dwell in safety on the sites of
the villages desolated, and over the bones of their brethren and
forefathers, murdered by the more than savage ferocity of the whites.
Nor let it be supposed that the return of peace produced this salutary
change of feeling toward the tawny sons of the forest. The thirst
for revenge was not wholly allayed by the balm of peace; several
Indians fell victims to the private vengeance of those who had
recently lost their relations in the war, for some years after it had
ceased.
Civilization
293
If the state of society and manners, from the commencement of
the settlements in this country, during the lapse of many years,
owing to the sanguinary character of the Indian mode of warfare
and other circumstances, was in a state of retrogression, as was
evidently the case, if ignorance is more easily induced than science,
if society more speedily deteriorates than improves, if it he much
easier for the civilized man to become wild, than for the wild man
to become civilized; I ask, what means have arrested the progress
of the early inhabitants of the western region toward barbarism?
What agents have directed their influence in favor of science, morals
and piety?
The early introduction of commerce was among the first means
of changing, in some degree, the existing aspect of the population
of the country, and giving a new current to public feeling, and
individual pursuit.
The huntsman and warrior, when he had exchanged his hunter's
dress for that of a civilized man, soon lost sight of his former
occupation, and assumed a new character and a new line of life,
like the soldier, who, when he receives his discharge and lays aside
his regimentals, soon loses the feeling of a soldier, and even forgets
in some degree his manual exercise.
Had not commerce furnished the means of changing the dresses
of our people and the furniture of their houses, had the hunting shirt,
moccasins and leggins, continued to be the dress of our men, had
the three-legged stool, the noggin, the trencher and wooden bowl,
continued to be the furniture of the houses, our progress towards
science and civilization would have been much slower.
It may seem strange that so much importance is attached to
the influence of dress in giving the moral and intellectual character
of society.
In all the institutions of despotic governments we discover evident
traces of the highest grade of human sagacity and foresight. It must
have been the object of the founders of those governments to repress
the genius of man, divest the mind of every sentiment of ambition,
and prevent the cognizance of any rule of life, excepting that of a
blind obedience to the despot and his established institutions of
religion and government; hence the canonical law of religion, in
all governments despotic in principle, have prescribed the costume
of each class of society, their diet and the manner of eating it; and
even their household furniture is in like manner prescribed by law.
In all these departments, no deviation from the law or custom is
permitted or even thought of. The whole science of human nature,
under such gcfV^ernments, is that of a knowledge of the duties of the
station of life prescribed by parentage, and the whole duty of man
that of a rigid performance of them; while reason, having nothing
to do with either the one or the other, is never cultivated.
Even among Christians, those founders of religious societies have
succeeded best who have prescribed a professional costume for their
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History of The Valley
followers, because every time tbe disciple looks at bis dress be is
put in mind of bis obligations to tbe society to wbicb be belongs,
and be is therefore tbe less liable to wander into strange pastures.
Tbe English government could never subdue tbe esprit du cour
of tbe north of Scotland, until, after tbe rebellion of '45, tbe
prohibition of wearing tbe tartan plaid, tbe kilt and tbe bonnet
among tbe Highlanders, broke down tbe spirit of tbe clans.
I have seen several of tbe Moravian Indians, and wondered that
they were permitted to wear tbe Indian dress. Their conduct, when
among tbe white people, soon convinced me that tbe conversion of
those whom I saw was far from being complete.
There can be but little doubt but that, if permission should be
given by tbe supreme power of tbe Mussulman faith for a change,
at tbe will of each individual, in dress, household furniture, and
in eating and drinking, tbe whole Mohammedan system would be
overthrown in a few years. With a similar permission, tbe Hindoo
superstition would share tbe same fate.
We have yet some districts of country where tbe costume, cabins,
and in some measure tbe household furniture of their ancestors, are
still in use. Tbe people of these districts are far behind their
neighbors in every valuable endowment of human nature. Among
them tbe virtues of chastity, temperance and industry, bear no great
value, and schools and places of worship are but little regarded.
In general, every one "does what is right in bis own eyes."
In short, why have we so soon forgotten our forefathers, and
everything belonging to our former state? The reason is, everything
belonging to our former state has vanished from our view, and we
meet "with nothing in remembrance of them. The recent date of
the settlement of our country is no longer a subject of reflection.
Its immense improvements present to the imagination the results
of the labors of several centuries, instead of the work of a few
years; and we do not often take the trouble to correct the false
impressions.
The introduction of the mechanic arts has certainly contributed
not a little to the morals and scientific improvement of the country.
The carpenter, the joiner and mason, have displaced the rude,
unsightly and uncomfortable cabins of our forefathers, by
comfortable, and in many instances elegant mansions of stone, brick,
hewn and sawed timbers.
The ultimate objects of civilization are the moral and physical
happiness of man. To the latter, the commodious mansion house,
with its furniture, contributes essentially. The family mansions of
the nations of the earth furnish the criteria of the different grades
of their moral and mental condition. The savages universally live
in tents, wigwams, or lodges covered with earth. Barbarians, next
to these, may indeed have habitations something better, but of no
value and indifferently furnished. Such are the habitations of the
Kussian, Tartar, and Turkish peasantry.
Civilization
295
Such is the effect of a large, elegant, and well furnished house,
on the feelings and deportment of the family, that if you were to
build one for a family of savages, by the occupancy of it they would
lose their savage character; or if they did not choose to make the
exchange of that character for that of civilization, they would forsake
it for the wigwam and the woods.
This was done by many of the early stock of backwoodsmen,
even after they built comfortable houses for themselves. They no
longer had the chance of "a fall hunt;" the woods pasture was
eaten up ; they wanted "elbow room." They therefore sold out, and
fled to the forest of the frontier settlements, choosing rather to
encounter the toil of turning the wilderness into fruitful fields a
second time, and even risk an Indian war, than endure the incon¬
veniences of a crowded settlement. Kentucky first offered a resting
place for those pioneers, then Indiana, and now the Missouri; and
it cannot be long before the Pacific ocean will put a final stop to
the westward march of those lovers of the wilderness.
Substantial buildings have the effect of giving value to the soil
and creating an attachment for the family residence. Those who
have been accustomed to poetry, ancient or modern, need not be told
how finely and how impressively the household gods, the blazing
hearth, the plentiful board, and the social fireside figure in poetical
imagery. And this is not "tying up nonsense for a song." They are
realities of life in its most polished state; they are among its best
and most rational enjoyments ; they associate the little family
community in parental and filial affection and duty, in which even
the well clothed child feels its importance, claims and duties.
The amount of attachment to the family mansion furnishes the
criterion of the relative amount of virtue in the members of a family.
If the head of the family should wander from the path of paternal
duty, and becomes addicted to vicious habits, in proportion as his
virtue suffers a declension, his love of his home and family abates,
until, any place, however base and corrupting it may be, is more
agreeable to him than the once dulce domum. If a sinoilar declension
in virtue happens on the part of the maternal chief of the family
mansion, the first effect of her deviation from the part of maternal
virtue is, that "her feet abideth not in her own house." The same
observations apply to children. When the young man or woman,
instead of manifesting a strong attachment to the family mansion, is
"given to outgoing," to places of licentious resort, their moral ruin
may be said to be at no great distance.
Architecture is of use even in the important province of religion.
Those who build no houses for themselves, build no temples for the
service of God, and of course derive the less benefit from the
institutions of religion. While our people lived in cabins, their
places of worship were tents, as they were called, their seats logs,
their communion tables rough slabs of hewn timber, and the covering
of the worshippers the leaves of the forest trees.
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History of The Valley
Churches have succeeded tents with their rude accommodations
for public worship. The very aspect of those sacred edifices fills
the mind of the beholder with a religious awe, and as to the most
believing and sincere, it serves to increase the fervor of devotion.
Patriotism is augmented by the sight of the majestic forum of
justice, the substantial public highway, and the bridge with its long
succession of ponderous arches.
Rome and Greece would no doubt have fallen much sooner, had
it not been for the patriotism inspired by their magnificent public
edifices. But for these, their histories would have been less complete
and lasting than they have been.
Emigration has brought to the western regions the wealth,
science, and arts of our eastern brethren, and even of Europe.
These we hope have suffered no deterioration in the western country.
They have contributed much to the change which has been effected
in the moral and scientific character of our country.
The ministry of the gospel has contributed no doubt immensely
to the happy change which has been effected in the state of our
western society. At an early period of our settlements three Presby¬
terian clergymen commenced their clerical labors in our infant
settlements, the Rev. Joseph Smith, the Rev. John McMillan and
the Rev. Mr. Bowers, the two latter of whom are still living. They
were pious, patient, laborious men, who collected their people into
regular congregations, and did all for them which their circumstances
would allow. It was no disparagement to them that their first
churches were the shady grove, and their first pulpits a kind of tent,
constructed of a few rough slabs, and covered with clapboards. "He
who dwelleth not exclusively in temples made with hands," was
propitious to their devotions.
From the outset they prudently resolved to create a ministry
in the country, and accordingly established little grammar schools
at their own houses or in their immediate neighborhoods. The course
of education which they gave their pupils was indeed not extensive;
but the piety of those who entered into the ministry more than made
up the deficiency. They formed societies most of which are now
large and respectable, and in point of education their ministry has
much improved.
About the year 3792, an academy was established at Canons-
burg, in Washington county, in the western part of Pennsylvania,
which was afterwards incorporated under the name of Jefferson
College.
The means possessed by the society for the undertaking were
indeed hut small ; hut they not only erected a tolerable edifice for the
academy, hut created a fund for the education of such pious young
men as were desirous of entering into the ministry, hut were unable
to defray the expenses of their education. This institution has been
remarkably successful in its operations. It has produced a large
Civilization
297
number of good scholars in all the literary professions, and added
immensely to the science of the country.
Next to this, Washington College, situated in the county town
of the county of that name, has been the means of diffusing much of
the light of science through the western country.
Too much praise cannot be bestowed on those good men who
opened these fruitful sources of instruction for our infant country,
at so early a period of its settlement. They have immensely im¬
proved the departments of theology, law, medicine and legislation
in the western regions.
At a later period the Methodist society began their labors in the
western parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania. Their progress at first
was slow, but their zeal and perseverance at length overcame every
obstacle, so that they are now one of the most numerous and respect¬
able societies in this country. The itinerant plan of their ministry
is well calculated to convey the gospel throughout a thinly scattered
population. Accordingly their ministry has kept pace with the
extension of settlements. The little cabin was scarcely built, and
the little field fenced in, before these evangelical teachers made their
appearance amongst them, collected them into societies, and taught
them the wor.ship of God.
Had it not been for the labors of these indefatigable men, our
country, as to a great extent of its settlements, would have been at
this day a semi-barbaric region. How many thousands and tens of
thousands of the most ignorant and licentious of our population have
they instructed and reclaimed from the error of their ways! They
have restored to society even the most worthless, and made them
valuable and respectable as citizens, and useful in all the relations
of life. Their numerous and zealous ministry bids fair to carry on
the good work to any extent which our settlements and population
may require.
With the Catholics I have but little acquaintance, but have
every reason to believe, that in proportion to the extent of their fiocks,
they have done well. In this country they have received the
episcopal visitations of their bishops. In Kentucky they have a
cathedral, a college and a bishop. In Indiana they have a monastery
of the order of St. Trappe, which is also a college, and a bishop.
Their clergy, with apostolic zeal, but in an unostentatious
manner, have sought out and ministered to their scattered flocks
throughout the country, and as far as I know with good success.
The societies of Friends in the western country are numerous,
and their establishments in good order. Although they are not much
in favor of* a classical education, they are nevertheless in the habit
of giving their people a substantial English education. Their habits
of industry, attention to useful arts and improvements are highly
honorable to themselves and worthy of imitation.
The Baptists in the state of Kentucky took the lead in the
ministry, and with great success. Their establishments are, as I have
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Histokt of The Valley
been informed, at present numerous and respectable in that state. A
great and salutary revolution has taken place in this community of
people. Their ministry was formerly quite illiterate; but they have
turned their attention to science, and have already erected some very
respectable literary establishments in different parts of America.
The German Reformed and Lutheran churches in our country,
as far as I know of them, are doing well. The number of the
Lutheran congregations is said to be at least one hundred ; that of the
Reformed, it is presumed, is about the same amount.
It is remarkable, that throughout the whole extent of the United
States, the Germans, in proportion to their wealth, have the best
churches, organs and graveyards. It is a fortunate circumstance
that those of our citizens who labor under the disadvantage of speak¬
ing a foreign language, are hlessed with a ministry so evangelical
as that of these very numerous and respectable communities.
The Episcopalian church, which ought to have been foremost in
gathering their scattered flocks, have been the last, and done the
least of any Christian community in the evangelical work. Taking
the western country in its whole extent, at least one-half of its popu¬
lation was originally of Episcopalian parentage; but for want of a
ministry of their own they have associated with other communities.
They had no alternative but that of changing their profession or
living or dying without the ordinances of religion. It can be no
subject of regret that those ordinances were placed within their
reach hy other hands, whilst they were withheld by those, by whom,
as a matter of right and duty, they ought to have been given. One
single chorea episcopiis, or suffragan bishop, of a faithful spirit, who,
twenty years ago, should have "ordained them elders in every place"
where they were needed, would have been the instrument of forming
Episcopal congregations over a great extent of country, and which
by this time would have become large, numerous and respectable;
but the opportunity was neglected, and the consequent loss to this
church is irreparable.
So total a neglect of the spiritual interests of so many valuable
people, for so great a length of time, by a ministry so near at hand,
is a singular and unprecedented fact in ecclesiastical history, the like
of which never occurred before.
It seems to me, that if the twentieth part of their number of
Christian people, of any other community, had been placed in Siberia,
and dependent upon any other ecclesiastical authority in this country,
that that authority would have reached them many years ago with
the ministration of the gospel. With the earliest and most numerous
Episcopacy in America, not one of the eastern bishops has yet crossed
the Alleghany Mountains, although the dioceses of two of them
comprehended large tracts of country on the western side of the
mountains. It is hoped that the future diligence of this community
will make up, in some degree, for the negligence of the past.
Civilization
299
There is still an immense void in this country which it is their
duty to fill up. From their respectability, on the ground of antiqui¬
ty among the reformed churches, the science of their patriarchs, who
have been the lights of the world, from their number and great
resources, even in America, she ought to hasten to fulfill the iust
expectations of her own people, as well as those of other communities,
in contributing her full share to science, piety and civilization of
our country.
From the whole of our ecclesiastical history, it appears that,
with the exception of the Episcopal church, all our religious com¬
munities have done well for their country.
The author begs that it may he understood, that with the
distinguished tenets of our religious societies he has nothing to
do, nor yet with the excellencies nor defects of their ecclesiastical
institutions. They are noticed on no other ground than that of their
respective contributions to the science and civilization of the country.
The last but not the least, of the means of our present civiliza¬
tion, are our excellent forms of government and the administration
of the laws.
In vain, as means of general information, are schools, colleges,
and a ministry of the gospel of the best order. A land of liberty is
a land of crime, as well as of virtue.
It is often mentioned as a matter of reproach to England, that,
in proportion to her population, they have more convictions, execu¬
tions, and transportations, than any other country in Europe. Should
it be asked, what is the reason of the prevalence of crime in England ?
Is it, that human nature is worse there than elsewhere? We answer,
no. There is more liberty there than elsewhere in Europe, and that
is the true and only solution of the matter in question. Where a
people are at liberty to learn what they choose, to think and act as
they please, and adopt any profession for a living or a fortune, they
are much more liable to fall into the commission of crimes, than
people who from their infancy have been accustomed to the dull
monotonous march of despotism, which chains each individual to
the rank and profession of his forefathers, and does not permit him
to wander into strange and devious paths of hazardous experiments.
In America, should a stranger read awhile our numerous publi¬
cations of a religious nature, the reports of missionary and Bible
societies, at first blush he would look upon the Americans as a nation
of saints; let him lay these aside, and read the daily newspapers, he
will change his opinion, and for the time being consider them as a
nation abounding in crimes of the most atrocious dye. Both por¬
traits are*true.
The greater the amount of freedom, the greater the necessity of
a steady and faithful administration of justice, but more especially
of criminal justice; because a general diffusion of science, while it
produces the most salutary effects, on a general scale, produces also
the worst of crimes, by creating the greater capacity for their com-
300
History of The Valley
mission. There is scarcely any art of science, which is not in some
hands and under certain circumstances made an instrument of the
most atrocious vices. The arts of navigation and gunnery, so
necessary for the wealth and defense of a nation, have often degen¬
erated into the crime of piracy. The beautiful art of engraving,
and the more useful art of writing, have been used by the fraudulent
for counterfeiting all kinds of public and private documents of credit.
Were it not for science and freedom, the important professions of
theology and physic would not be so frequently assumed by the
pseudo priest and the quack without previous acquirements, without
right, and for purposes wholly base and unwarrantable.
The truth is, the western country is the region of adventure.
If we have derived some advantage from the importation of science,
arts and wealth, we have on the other hand been much annoyed and
endangered, as to our moral and political state, by an immense
importation of vice, associated with a high grade of science and the
most consummate art in the pursuit of wealth by every description
of unlawful means. The steady administration of justice has been
our only safety from destruction, by the pestilential influence of so
great an amount of moral depravity in our infant country.
Still it may he asked whether facts warrant the belief that the
scale is fairly turned in favor of science, piety and civilization,
whether in regard to the important endowments of our nature, the
present time is better than the past, whether we may safely consider
our political institutions so matured and settled, that our personal
liberty, property and sacred honor, are not only secured to us for
the present, but likely to remain the inheritance of our children for
generations yet to come. Society, in its best state, resembles the
sleeping volcano, as to the amount of latent moral evil which it
always contains. It is enough for public safety, and all that can
reasonably be expected, that the good predominate over the evil. The
moral and political means, which have been so successfully employed
for preventing a revolutionary explosion, have as we trust, procrasti¬
nated the danger of such an event for a long time to come. If we
have criminals, they are speedily pursued and brought to justice.
The places of our country, which still remain in their native
state of vidlderness, do not, as in many other countries, afford notori¬
ous lodgments for thieves. Our hills are not, as in the wilderness of
Judea, "hills of robbers." The ministry of the holy gospel is enlight¬
ening the minds of our people with the best of all sciences, that of
God himself, his divine government and man's future state.
Let it not he thought hard that our forums of justice are so
numerous, the style of their architecture so imposing, and the
business which occupies them so multifarious; they are the price
which freedom must pay for its protection. Commerce, circulating
through its million channels, will create an endless variety of litigat¬
ing claims. Crimes of the deepest dye, spring from science and
Civilization
301
liberty tbemselves, require constantly tbe vigilance and coercion of
criminal justice. Even the poorest of our people are solicitous for
the education of their children. Thus the great supports of our
moral and political state, resting on their finest hases, public opinion
and attachment to our government and laws, promise stability for
generations yet to come.
APPENDIX
The autho;' of the History of the Valley had intended to post¬
pone the subject of the following pages, and give the subject matter
thereof in a second edition; but at the request of a highly respectable
subscriber, and on consulting the printer, it is found that this addition
to his work will not greatly increase the expense of the present
volume. It is therefore deemed expedient to gratify public curiosity
by giving the following sketches. If any one should be found
incredulous enough to doubt the correctness of his statements, he can
only say to such individuals, that they can have ocular proof of the
truth of each by taking the trouble to examine for themselves.
CHAPTER I
Pace of The Couhtby
That portion of the Valley lying between the Blue Ridge and
Little North Mountain, is generally about an average of twenty-five
miles wide, commencing at the Cohongoruton (Potomac) and run¬
ning from thence a southerly course to the commencement of the
northern termination of Powell's Fort Mountain, a distance of about
forty-five miles.
This region, it has already been stated in a preceding chapter,
when the country was first known to the white people, was one entire
and beautiful prairie, with the exception of narrow fringes of timber
immediately bordering on the water-courses. The Opequon (pro¬
nounced Opeckon), heads at the eastern base of the Little North
Mountain, and thence passing through a fine tract of limestone
country, seven or eight miles, enters into a region of slate. This
tract of slate country commences at the northern termination of
Powell's Fort Mountains, and is six or eight miles in width east and
west, and continues to the Potomac, a distance of about forty-five
miles. The Opequon continues its serpentine course through the
slate region, and empties into the Potomac about fifteen or sixteen
miles above Harpers Ferry. It is thought by some individuals that
this water-course is susceptible of navigation for small craft, twenty-
four or twenty-five miles from its mouth. This slate region of coun¬
try is comparatively poor, unproductive land; yet in the hands of
industrious and skillful farmers, many very valuable and beautiful
farms are to be seen in it. About twenty years ago a scientific
Frenchman suggested to the author the opinion "that this region of
slate country was, at some remote period of the world, covered with a
mountain, an abrasion of which had taken place by some great con¬
vulsion of nature." This he inferred from an examination of the base
of the Fort Mountain, the stratum of the slate at the foot of which
being precisely similar to that of the slate at the edges of the region
of this slate country. The author will not venture an opinion of
his own on this subject, but has given that of an individual who it
was said at the time was a man of considerable philosophical and
scientific acquirements.
East of this slate country commences another region of fine
limestone land, averaging ten or twelve miles in width, and for its
extent certainly unsurpassed in point of natural beauty, fertility and
value, by any section of country in Virginia.
Powell's Fort presents to the eye much grandeur and sublimity.
Tradition informs us that an Englishman by the name of Powell, at
the early settlement of our country, discovered silver ore in the West
Fort Mountain, and commenced the business of money coinage; and
306
Histokt of The Valley
wlien any attempts were made to arrest him, he would escape into
the mountain and conceal himself. From this circumstance it
acquired the name of Powell's Fort. The late Capt. Isaac Bo"wman,
about thirty years ago, pointed out to the author the site of Powell's
shop, where it was said he wrought his metal, the ruins of which were
then to he seen. Capt. Bowman also informed the author that
several crucibles and other instruments, which he had frequently
seen, had been found about the ruins of this shop, so that there is
no doubt of the truth of the tradition that this man Powell was in
the practice of melting down some sort of metal, if he did not actually
counterfeit money.
The grandeur and sublimity of this extraordinary work of nature
consist in its tremendous height and singular formation. On
entering the mouth of the Fort, we are struck with the awful height
of the mountains on each side, probably not less than a thousand feet.
Through a very narrow passage, a hold and beautiful stream of water
rushes, called Passage Creek, which a short distance below works
several fine merchant mills. After traveling two or three miles, the
valley gradually widens, and for upwards of twenty miles furnishes
arable land, and affords settlements for eighty or ninety families,
several of whom own very valuable farms. The two mountains run
parallel about twenty-four or twenty-five miles, and are called the
East and West Fort Mountains, and then are merged into one,
anciently called the Masinetto, now Massanutton mountain. The
Massanutton continues its course about thirty-five or thirty-six miles
southerly, and abruptly terminates nearly opposite Keisletown in the
county of Rockingham. This range of mountain divides the two
great branches of the Shenandoah River, called the South and Horth
Forks. This mountain, upon the whole, presents to the eye some¬
thing of the shape of the letter Y, or perhaps more the shape of the
houns and tongue of a wagon.
The turnpike road from Yew Market, crossing Massanutton and
Blue Ridge into the county of Culpeper, is held as private property.
The dwelling-house where the toll is received stands on the summit
of Massanutton, from which each of the valleys of the North and
South Rivers present to the delighted vision of the traveler a most
enchanting view of the country for a vast distance. The little
thrifty village of Yew Market, with a great number of farms and
their various improvements are seen in full relief. On the east side
of the mountain, on the South River and Hawksbill Creek, are to he
seen a number of fine farms, many of them studded with handsome
brick buildings. Upon the whole, the traveler is amply rewarded
by this gratifying sight, for his labor and fatigue in ascending the
mountain, which is said to he two miles from its base to its summit.
There is a considerable depression where the road crosses at this place,
called Massanutton Gap.
From the East Fort Mountain, at a point nearly opposite Wood¬
stock, the South River presents to the eye precisely the appearance of
Face of The Country
307
three distinct streams of water crossing the valley from the western
base of the Blue Ridge to the foot of the Fort Mountain. At the
northern end of the West Fort Mountain, from an eminence, Win¬
chester can be distinctly seen, at a distance of not less than sixteen
miles, air measure, and a great portion of the county of Frederick
can be overlooked from this elevated point. There is also an elevated
point about five miles south of Front Royal, on the road leading
from thence to Luray, from which there is a most ravishing view of
the eastern section of the county of Frederick, and the tops of the
mountains bordering on the north side of the Cohongoruton.
After leaving this eminence, and proceeding southerly towards
Luray, from the undulating form of the country between the South
River and Blue Ridge, for a distance of fourteen or fifteen miles, it
appears constantly to the traveler as if he were nearly approaching
the foot of a considerable mountain, and yet there is none to cross
his way. The South River, for seventy or eighty miles on each side,
affords large proportions of fine alluvial lands, in many parts of it
first-rate high lands, which are generally finely improved, and owned
by many wealthy and highly respectable proprietors. The new
county of Page, for its extent, contains as much intrinsic wealth as
any county west of the Blue Ridge, with the exception of Jefferson.
The valley of the I7orth River, from the West Fort Mountain
to the eastern base of the Little I7orth Mountain, is generally fine
limestone land, undulating and finely watered. It is also highly
improved, with a density of population perhaps unequalled by any
section of Virginia; and it is believed there is more cash in the hands
of its citizens than in any part of the state for the same extent.
It is hardly necessary to state that the three counties of Jefferson,
Berkeley and Frederick, contain a greater proportion of fertile lands
than any other section of the state; but unfortunately, it may with
truth be affirmed that it is a badly watered country. There are
many neighborhoods in which nothing like a spring of water is to
be seen. It is however true that there are many fine large limestone
springs, remarkable for the great quantity of water which is dis¬
charged from them. But nature appears to have distributed her
favor in this respect unequally.
The counties of Morgan, Hampshire and Hardy are remarkable
for their mountains and fine freestone water. From the mountainous
character of this section, it is but sparsely inhabited in many parts
of it. The South and North Branches of the Cohongoruton (Poto¬
mac) afford considerable quantities of as fine fertile alluvial land
as any part of the United States. Patterson's Creek also furidshes a
considerable body of fine land. Capon River, Lost River, and Back
Creek, furnish much fine land, and are all thickly populated.
The western parts of Frederick, Berkeley and Shenandoah
include considerable portions of mountainous country. The Little
North Mountain commences near the Cohongoruton, having Back
Creek Valley on the west, which extends about thirty-five miles into
308
Histobt of The Valley
the interior, to the head waters of the creek. This mountain runs
a southerly course, parallel with the Great North Mountain, passing
through the three counties just mentioned. This tract of mountain
land is comparatively poor and unproductive. It is, however, pretty
thickly populated, by a hardy race of people. In our mountains
generally, wherever spots of arable land are to be found (which are
chiefly in the glens), there scattered settlers are to be found also.
East of the Shenandoah Hiver, the Blue Ridge is thickly popu¬
lated, and many fine productive farms are to be seen. The vast
quantity of loose stone thickly scattered over the surface of the moun¬
tain, one would be ready to believe, would deter individuals from
attempting its cultivation; but it is a common saying among those
people, that if they can only obtain as much earth as will cover their
seed grain, they are always sure of good crops.
The public road crosses the Blue Ridge, from the South River
Valley into the county of Madison. From the western base of the
mountain to the summit, it is said to be five miles. On the top of
the mountain, at this place, there is a large body of level land,
covered almost exclusively with large chestnut timber, having the
appearance of an extensive swamp, and producing great quantities of
the skunk cabbage. But little of it has been reclaimed and brought
into cultivation. It produces fine crops of grass, rye, oats, potatoes
and turnips ; but it is said to be entirely too moist for the production
of wheat, and too cool for the growth of Indian com. The people
in its neighborhood say that there is not a week throughout the
spring, summer and autumn, without plentiful falls of rain, and
abundant snows in the winter. In the time of long droughts on each
side of the mountain, this elevated tract of country is abundantly
supplied with rains. It is also said, that from this great height
nearly the whole county of Madison can be seen, presenting to the
eye a most fascinating and delightful view.
On the summit of the West Fork Mountain, about fifteen miles
south of Woodstock, there is also a small tract of land, remarkable
for its depth of fine rich soil, but inaccessible to the approach of
man with implements of husbandry. This tract produces immense
quantities of the finest chestnut, though from the great difficulty of
ascending the mountain, but little benefit is derived from it to the
neighboring people.
In our western mountains small bodies of limestone land are to
be met with, one of the most remarkable of which is what is called
the "Sugar Hills," pretty high up the Cedar Creek Valley. This
tract is said to contain four or five hundred acres, and lies at the
eastern base of Paddy's Mountain. It derives its name from two
causes; first, when discovered it was covered chiefly vsdth the sugar
maple; and secondly, several of its knobs resemble in shape the
sugar loaf. Its soil is peculiarly adapted to the production of wheat
of the finest quality, of which, let the seasons be as they may, the
land never fails to produce great crops, which generally commands
Face of The Country
309
seven or eight cents per bushel more than any other wheat grown in
its neighborhood. The Hessian fly has not yet been known to injure
the crops while growing.
Paddy's Mountain is a branch of the great Horth Mountain,
and is about eighteen or twenty miles long. It takes its name from
an Irishman, whose name was Patrick Black, who flrst settled at
what is now called Paddy's Gap in this mountain. This fact was
communicated to the author by Moses Russell, Esq.
CHAPTEK II
Natural Curiosities
It would require perhaps several volumes to give a minute
description of all the natural and interesting curiosities of our
country. The inquisitive individual can scarcely travel more than a
mile or two in any direction among our mountains, but some sublime
and grand work of nature presents itself to the eye, which excites his
wonder and admiration. The author must therefore content himself
with a brief description of comparatively a few of the most remark¬
able. He will commence his narrative with Harpers Ferry. This
wonderful work of nature has been so accurately described by Mr.
Jefferson, that it is deemed unnecessary to give a detailed description
of it. Suffice it to say, that no stranger can look at the passage of
the waters of the Potomac and Shenandoah, rushing through the
yawning gap of the mountain, without feeling awe at the grandeur
and sublimity of the scene, and ready to prostrate himself in adora¬
tion before the Omnipotent God whose almighty arm hath made all
things according to his own wisdom and power.
It is much to he regretted that a Capt. Henry, during the
administration of the elder Adams in 1799, when what was called the
provisional army was raising, and a part of which was stationed at
Harpers Ferry, greatly injured one of the most interesting curiosities
of this place. A rock of extraordinary shape and of considerable
size stands on the brink of a high hill, on the south side of the tongue
or point of land immediately in the fork of the river. The apex of
this rock was a broad ffat table, supported on a pivot, on which Mr.
Jefferson, during his visit to this place, inscribed his name, from
which it took the name of Jefferson's rock.
The years 1798 and 1799 were a period of extraordinary political
excitement. The two great political parties. Federal and Democratic,
of our country, were at this period completely organized, and an
interesting struggle for which party should have the ascendancy was
carried on. This same Capt. Henry, whether actuated by the same
motive which impelled the Macedonian youth to murder Philip, his
king, or whether he hoped to acquire popularity with his party (he
calling himself a Federalist), or whether from motives purely hostile
towards Mr. Jefferson and all the Democratic party, placed himself
at the head of a band of soldiers, and with the aid of his myrmidons,
hurled off the apex of this rock, thus wantonly, and to say the least,
unwisely, destroyed the greatest beauty of this extraordinary work
of nature. By this illiberal and unwise act, Capt. Henry has
"condemned his name to everlasting fame."
Natural Curiosities
311
Caves in The County of Jefferson
About seven or eight miles above Harpers Ferry, on the west
side of the Shenandoah, nearly opposite the Shannondale Springs,
from a quarter to a half mile from the river, a limestone cave has
been discovered, which contains several beautiful incrustations of
stalactites formed from the filtration of the water.
Near Mecklenburg ( Shepherdstown), another cave has been
found, out of which considerable quantities of hydraulic limestone
are taken, and when calcined or reduced to lime, is found to make a
cement, little if any inferior to plaster of Paris. Out of this cave a
concreted limestone was taken, which the author saw in the possession
of Dr. Boteler, of Sheperdstown, which at first view presents to the
eye, in shape, a striking resemblance to that of a fish of considerable
size. A smaller one was found at the same time, which has a strong
resemblance to a mink. Several intelligent individuals were inclined
to believe they were genuine petrifications.
Caves in The County of Frederick
In the county of Frederick are to be seen five or six of these
caves. Zane's cave, now on the lands owned by the heirs of the late
Maj. James Bean, is the one described by the late Mr. Jefferson, in his
"Notes on Virginia." This cave the author partially explored about
eighteen months ago, but found it too fatiguing to pursue bis
examination to any extent. The natural beauty of this place has of
late years been greatly injured from the smoke of the numerous pine
torches used to light it. All the incrustations and spars are greatly
darkened, giving the cave a sombre and dull appearance. The author
was informed, on his visit to this place, that Major Bean, shortly
before his death, cut out several of the spars, reduced them to lime,
sprinkled it over some of his growing crops, and found that it
produced all the effects of gypsum.
On the lands, late the residence of Capt. Edward McGuire,
deceased, is another cave of some considerable extent; but its incrus¬
tations and spars are of a muddy yellowish color, and not considered
a very interesting curiosity.
Adjoining the lands of Mr. James Way, the former residence
of the late Col. C. M. Thruston, an extensive cave of very singular
and curious formation was discovered many years ago. On exploring
it with the aid of a pocket compass, the needle was found running
to every part of it.
On the east side of the Shenandoah River, some two or three
miles below Berry's Ferry, at the base of the Blue Ridge, a cave of
considerable extent has been discovered, containing several curiosities.
About two miles below this cave on the same side of the river, is to
be seen what was anciently called Redman's fishery. At the base
of the rock a large subterraneous stream of water is discharged into
the river. At the approach of winter myriads of fish make their
312
History of The Valley
way into the subterraneous stream, and take up their winter quarters.
In the spring they return into the river. By placing a fish-basket
in the mouth of the cavern, great quantities of fine freshwater fish
are taken, both in the autumn and spring of the year. The author
recollects being at this place upwards of fifty years ago, just after
Mr. Eedman had taken up his fish-hasket, and can safely affirm, that
he drew out of the water from two to three bushels of fish at a single
haul.
On Crooked Run, near Bethel meeting house, on the lands now
owned by Mr. Stephen Gruhbs, is a limestone cave, which the author
has more than once been in. It does not exceed one hundred yards
in length, and is remarkable only for its production of saltpetre and
preserving fresh meats in hot weather.
The Panther Cave, on the north bank of Cedar Creek, owned by
Major Isaac Hite, about a half or three-fourths of a mile west of the
great highway from Winchester to Staunton, is a remarkable curi¬
osity. Hature here has formed a most beautiful and solid upright
wall of a gray limestone rock, of about one hundred yards in length,
near the west end of which is to be seen an elegant arch, of about
sixty feet in front, ten or twelve feet high in the center, and extending
twenty-five or thirty feet under the body of the wall. There are
two circular apertures running into the body of the rock from the
arch, one about twelve inches in diameter, the other somewhat smaller.
Whether these openings do or do not lead into large apartments or
caverns in the body of the rock, is not and probably never will be
known. Tradition relates that at the early settlement of the coimty
this place was known to he the haunt and habitation of the panther,
from which it derives its name.
We have two natural wells in this county; one at what is called
the Dry Marsh, a drain of the Opequon, about two miles east of the
creek, not more than a quarter of a mile north of the road leading
from Winchester to Berryville. This natural well in dry seasons
furnishes several contiguous families with water. It is formed by a
natural circular opening in an apparently solid limestone rock. Its
walls are undulating, and in times of dry seasons the water sinks
some sixteen or eighteen feet below the surface, hut at all times
furnishes abundant supplies. In the winter, no matter how great the
degree of cold, small fish are frequently drawn up with the water
from the well. In times of freshets, the water rises above the surface,
and discharges a most beautiful current for several weeks at a time.
Tradition relates that this well was discovered at the first settlement
of the neighborhood.
The other natural well is the one described by Mr. Jefferson.
This natural curiosity first made its appearance on the breaking up
of the hard winter of 1789-90. All the old people of our country
doubtless recollect the great falls of snow and severity of this remark¬
able winter. The author was born, and lived with his father's
family until he was about thirteen years of age, within one and a
î^atural cltriosities
313
half miles of this natural well. The land at that period was owned
hy the late Fielding Lewis of Fredericksburg, Va., but is now the
property of the heirs of the late Mr. Thomas Castleman, in the
neighborhood of Berryville. Nature had here formed a circular
sink of a depth of some fourteen or fifteen feet, and fifty or sixty
feet in diameter at the surface. In the spring of the year 1790, the
earth at the bottom of this sink suddenly gave way and fell into the
cavity below, forming a circular aperture about the ordinary circum¬
ference of a common artificial well. It was soon discovered that
a subterraneous stream of water passed under the bottom. There
being no artificial or natural means to prevent the earth immediately
about the well from falling in, the aperture is greatly enlarged, form¬
ing a sloping bank, by which a man on foot can easily descend within
eight or ten feet of the water. The current of water is quite percept¬
ible to the eye. The whole depth of the cavity is thirty or thirty-
five feet.
Caves in The Countv of Shenanooah
Within two or three miles of Woodstock, on the lands of the late
William Payne, Esq., is an extensive cavern, which it is said has
never yet been explored to its termination. It contains many curious
incrustations, stalactites, &c. From the mouth of this cave a con¬
stant current of cold air is discharged, and the cavern is used by
its owners as a place to preserve their fresh meats in the hottest
seasons of the year.
On the east side of the South Fork of the Shenandoah River,
three or four miles south of Front Royal, there are two caves but a
short distance apart, which, like all other caves, contain bealutiful
curiosities. One of them many years ago was visited and explored
by the late celebrated John Randolph, of Roanoke; hut the author
has never been able to learn whether he committed to writing his
observations upon it. One of its greatest curiosities is an excellent
representation of the hatter's kettle.
Within about three miles northwest of Mt. Jackson, Shaffer's
cave is situated. It has been explored about half a mile. It is not
very remarkable for its production of natural curiosities. Tradition
relates an amusing story in connection with it. A large human
skeleton was many years ago found in this cavern, the skull bone
of which a neighboring man had the curiosity to take to his dwelling
house. This aroused the ghost of the dead man, who, not being
pleased with the removal of his head, very soon appeared to the
depredator afcd harrassed him until he became glad to return the skull
to its former habitation. The ghost then became appeased and
ceased his visits. It is said that there are many persons to this day
in the neighborhood, who most religiously believe that the ghost
did really and truly compel the offender to return his skull. The
author saw in the possession of Dr. Witherall, of Mt. Jackson, one
334
History of The Valley
of the arm bones of this skeleton, that part extending from the
shoulder to the elhow, which was remarkable for its thickness, hut
was not of very uncommon length. At that time he had not been
visited by the ghost to demand his arm; but perhaps he was not so
tenacious of it as he was of his head.
In the county of Page, within about three miles of Imray, a
cave, hut little inferior to Weyer's cave, was some years ago discov¬
ered, a graphic description of which was written by W. A. Harris,
Esq., and published in the Woodstock Sentinel of the Valley, and
copied pretty generally throughout the Union.
Ebbing and Flowing Springs
Pretty high up Cedar Creek there is a beautiful spring of clear
mountain water, issuing from the western side of Little JSTorth
Mountain, in a glen, which ehhs and flows twice in every twenty-four
hours. It rises at ten o'clock in the morning, and ebbs at four in
the evening. It is in a perfect state of nature, has considerable fall
immediately from its mouth, so that it cannot conveniently be ascer¬
tained precisely what is its greatest rise and fall. When the author
saw it it was down, and he could not conveniently spare the time to
wait to see it rise. But the author's informant (Mr. J. Bond), went
with him to the spring, and assured him that he has repeatedly
seen it rise. The author is also informed that there is a salt .sulphur
spring on the land, late the property of Mr. John Lee, hut a short
distance from where the Staunton stage road crosses Cedar Creek,
which has a dairy erected over it. The respectable widow of Mr. Lee
informed the author that this spring ehhs and flows twice in every
twenty-four hours, and that if care is not properly taken at every
flow, its current is so strong as to overset the vessels of milk placed
in the water.
Falling Hun
Some thirteen or fourteen miles southwest of Winchester and
within about two miles of the residence of Moses Russell, Esq., in
the county of Frederick, is to be seen what is called the Falling Run.
Between what the neighboring people call Falling Ridge (the com¬
mencement of Paddy's Mountain), and the Great North Mountain,
pretty near the summit, on the east side of the mountain, a fine large
spring rises, forming a beautiful lively stream of sufficient force to
work a grist mill. This stream pursues its serpentine course through
a glen several hundred yards in width, of gradual descent, between
the mountain and Falling Ridge. Pursuing its course in a northerly
direction from its fountain, for about one and a half miles, it makes
a pretty sudden turn to the east, and shoots over a solid granite rock
probably not less than one hundred feet high. The first eighteen or
twenty feet of the rock over which the water passes is a little sloping,
over which the water spreads and covers a surface of fifteen or sixteen
Natural Curiosities
315
feet, from whence the fall is entirely perpendicular, and strikes on a
mass of solid rock ; it then forms an angle of about forty-five degrees,
rushing and foaming over an undulating surface of about ninety or
one hundred feet ; from thence is a third fall of about the same length,
and then pitches into a hole of considerable depth; from thence it
escapes down a more gradual descent, and suddenly becomes a gentle,
smooth, placid current, as if it is pleased to rest from the violent
agitations and turmoils through which it had just passed. At the
first base reached by the water, a perpetual mist arises, which, viewed
on a clear sunshiny day, presents to the eye a most interesting and
beautiful sight. The whole fall is little if any less than three hun¬
dred feet.
A short distance from the south of this place, at the junction of
the Falling Ridge with the North Mountain, is to be seen what the
neighboring people call "the Pinnacle." The apex of this pinnacle
is a flat, broad table, supported on a pivot, and can be set in motion
by the hands of a man, and will continue to vibrate for several min¬
utes. There are several small caverns in this rock, and it is known
to be the abode of the turkey buzzards in the winter, where they
remain in a state of torpitude. Mr. Russell informed the author
that he once took out a torpid buzzard in the winter, laid it on the
sunny side of the rock, and it very soon regained life and motion.
Trout Pond
In the county of Hardy, about eight or nine miles south of the
late residence of James Sterrett, Esq., deceased, and a little east of
Thombottom, is situated a most beautiful miniature lake, called the
Trout Pond. A large spring rises near the summit of the Great
North Mountain, descending on the west side into a deep glen,
between the mountain and a very high ridge immediately east of
Thombottom, in which glen nature has formed a receptacle of
unknown depth for this stream of water. This stream forms an area
of about one and a half acres, nearly an oblong square. Nature
never presented to the eye a more perfectly beautiful sheet of water.
It is as transparent as crystal, and abounds with fine trout fish.
The late Col. Taverner Beale, upwards of forty years ago,
described this place to the author, and stated that he could safely
afiirm that he believed he had seen ten thousand trout at a single
view in this pond. Col. Beale also informed the author that himself
and a friend of his once made a raft, and floated to the center of
the pond, where they let down a plumb and line (the author does
not now 'recollect the length of the line, though it was certainly
not less than forty feet), but did not succeed in reaching the bottom.
A Mr. Gochenour, who resides near this place, informed the author
that he had heard it was fathomed many years ago, and was found
to be sixty feet deep, but did not know the certainty or truth of
this report. The water is discharged at the northeast comer of the
316
History of The Valley
pond, and after descending about two miles, works a sawmill, and
thirty or forty yards from the mill falls into a sink and entirely
disappears. This sink is in the edge of Thornhottom, a pretty
narrow strip of limestone land, which affords between the mountains
a residence for four or five families, each of whom has a fine spring
of water, all which, after running a short distance, also disappear.
The stream of water from the pond, doubtless considerably increased
by the waters of Thornhottom, again appears at the northern termi¬
nation of a very high ridge called "The Devil's Garden." It bursts
out in one of the finest and largest springs the author has ever seen.
It is said that this subterranean passage of the water is fully eight
miles in length. This spring is within about one-quarter of a mile
from Mr. Sterrett's dwelling-house, and forms a beautiful stream of
water called Trout Run, which is a valuable tributary of the Capon
River.
"The Devil's Garden" is truly a wonderful work of nature.
Between two lofty ridges of the Sandy Ridge and North Mountain
a strip of ground about a mile in width, commences rising gently
from the head of Trout Run, and pursues its regular ascent for three
miles, when it abruptly terminates, at its southern extremity, in a
vast pile of granite rocks, having a perpendicular height of some
four or five hundred feet. This immense pile is entirely separated
from and independent of its neighboring mountains, having a vast
chasm on its two sides and southern termination. At its south end
it is covered with nearly lèvel rocks, forming a floor of about an acre.
This floor is curiously marked with fissures on the surface of various
distances apart. On the eastern side stands a statue, or perhaps
it may more appropriately be called a bust, about seven feet high;
the head, neck and shoulders bear strong resemblance to those of a
man, and from the breast downwards it gradually enlarges in size
from two and a half to three feet in diameter. It is without arms.
It stands on a level table of rock, is of a dark color, and presents to
the eye a frowning terrific appearance. When this singular curiosity
was first discovered, some superstitious people concluded it was
the image of the Devil ; and hence the name of "The Devil's Garden."
Near his satanic majesty anciently stood a four-square stone pillar,
about two and a half feet in diameter, and ten or twelve feet high.
This pillar is broken off at its base, crosses a chasm, and reclines,
something in the form of an arch against the opposite rock.
About one hundred feet below the stand of the statue, a door
lets into numerous caverns in the rock, the first of which forms a
handsome room of moderate size, the floors above and below being
tolerably smooth and level. From this room there is a handsome
flight of stone steps ascending into a room of larger size, until twelve
different apartments are passed through, and then reaches the top of
the rocks. The late Mr. Sterrett, in riding with the author to view
this extraordinary work of nature, said that it was difiicult for an old
man to get access to the inlet. Of course I did not attempt it. Mr.
Natural Curiosities
317
Babb, who resides in its neigbborhood, informed tbe author that ht
had frequently explored the cavern; and the young people of the
neighborhood, male and female, frequently in parties of pleasure,
visit and pass through its various apartments.
Lost River
Here again the eye is presented with another evidence of the
all-powerful arm of God ! This river heads in several small springs,
on a high ridge of land on Brock's Gap, which divides the waters of
the North Fork of the Shenandoah from the waters of the Lost
River. This water-course meanders through a beautiful valley of fine
alluvial land, a distance of about twenty-five miles. On its west side,
some ten or twelve miles below its head springs, is a cavern at the
eastern base of Lost River Mountain, which has been explored
about one hundred yards (some say more) from its mouth. Over
the inlet is a handsomely turned arch twelve or fourteen feet wide,
and six or seven feet high. From this cavern is discharged a stream
of beautiful water, remarkable for its degree of coldness. It is called
"the cold spring cave." The mouth of this cave effectually preserves
fresh meats of every kind from injury in the hottest seasons. This
cave exhibits but few curiosities.
Some ten or twelve miles farther down, the river comes in con¬
tact with Lost River Mountain (which is of considerable magnitude),
has cut its way through the mountain, and about two miles further
down has to encounter a second mountain called Timber Ridge,
through which it has forced its way, and one and a half or two miles
further has to contend with Sandy Ridge, a mountain of considerable
height and width. Here the water and mountain appear to have a
mighty struggle for the ascendency. In flood times, Mrs. River,
despising all obstructions, forces her way through a yawning,
frowning chasm. But at times of low water, when her ladyship is
less powerful, his giantship, the mountain, defies all her power to
remove a huge mass of adamantine rocks, which obstructs her passage
in the gap; but to remedy this evil, Mrs. River has adroitly and
cunningly undermined the mountain, formed for herself a subter¬
raneous passage, and generously supplied her sister. Capon, with all
the water she has to spare. It is impossible for the inquisitive eye
to view this mighty work of nature without being struck with the
idea of the great obstruction and mighty dilficulty this water had
to contend with in forcing a passage through this huge mountain.
The author viewed this place with intense interest and curiosity.
At the western, hase of the mountain, the water has found various
aperturesf one of which is under the point of a rock, of seven or
eight feet wide, which appears to be the largest inlet. For the
distance of about a quarter of a mile from the sink, not a drop of
water is to be seen in times of drought. There are several large
springs which issue from the mountain in the gap, forming a small
stream, which always runs through it. The water of the river has
318
Histoky of The Valley
a subterraneous passage of full three miles, and is discharged in
several very large springs at the eastern base of the mountain.
These several springs form the great fountain head of Capon Eiver.
An old man and his son (their names not recollected), v/hose
dwelling is very near the sink, related a very singular occurrence
which they represented as having happened a few days before the
author's visit to this place. They stated that several dogs were in
pursuit of a deer on the mountain, that the deer ran to the brink of
a rock, at least one hundred feet high, which is very near the sink,
and the poor animal being pretty closely pursued, leaped from the
rock, and falling on a very rough, stony surface, was terribly
crushed and hruised by the fall, and instantly expired. They
immediately ran to it and opened the large veins in the neck, but
little blood was discharged. They took off the skin and cut up the
flesh ; but most parts of it were so much bruised and mangled as to
be unflt for use.
Capon River exhibits several great natural curiosities. Near
its head waters is a rock called "The Alum Rock," from which
exudes native alum, and forms a beautiful incrustation on its face,
which the neighboring people collect in rather small quantities, hut
often sufficient for the domestic purposes of staining their clothes.
About two miles above the forks of this river is situated "Caudy's
Castle," a most stupendous work of nature. It is said by tradition
that in the time of the wars between the white and red people, a
man by the name of James Candy more than once took shelter on
the rock from the pursuit of the Indians, from whence its name.
It consists of a fragment of the mountain, separated from and
independent of the neighboring mountains, forming, as it were, a
half cone, and surrounded with a yawning chasm. Its eastern base,
washed by the Capon River, rises to the majestic height of four
hundred and fifty to five hundred feet, while its eastern side is a
solid mass of granite, directly perpendicular. A line drawn 'round
its base probably would not exceed one thousand or twelve hundred
yards. From its western side it may be ascended by a man on foot
to within about ninety or one hundred feet of its summit. From
thence the rock suddenly shoots up something in the form of a comb,
which is about ninety or one hundred feet in length, eight or ten
feet in thickness, and runs about north and south. On the eastern
face of the rock from where the comb is approached, a very narrow
undulating path is formed, by pursuing which, active persons can
ascend to its summit. The author called on Mr. John Largent,
from whom he received much kindness and attention, and requested
Mr. Largent to be his pilot, which request was readily acceded to.
Mr. Largent's residence is less than a half mile from the spot. In
his company the author undertook to ascend this awful precipice.
Along the path a few laurel shrubs had grown out of the fissures
of the rock. With the aid of the shrubbery, the author succeeded
in following Mr. Largent until they reached within twenty or twenty-
Natural Curiosities
319
five feet of the summit, where they found a flat tahle, four or five
feet square, on which a pine tree of five or six inches in diameter
had grown some ten or twelve feet high. This afforded a convenient
resting place. By supporting myself with one arm around the body
of the tree, and a cane in the other hand, I ventured several times
to look down the precipice, hut it produced a disagreeable giddiness
and painful sensation of the eyes. From this elevated situation an
extensive view of what is called the White Mountain presents itself
for a considerable distance, on the east side of Capon River. The
beautiful whiteness of this mountain is produced by a considerable
intermixture of fine white sand with rocks, which almost exclusively
form the west side of the Capon Mountain for several miles.
Nine or ten miles below this place, in a deep rugged glen three
or four miles east of Capon, on the west side of the mountain, the
"Tea Tahle" is to he seen, than which nature in her most sportive
mood has seldom performed a more beautiful work. This table
presents the form of a man's hat, with the crown turned downwards.
The stem (if it may he so termed), is about four feet in diameter
and about four feet high. An oval brim, some seven or eight feet
in diameter, and seven or eight inches thick, is formed around the
top of the stem, through which a circular tube rises twelve or
fourteen inches in diameter. Through this tube a beautiful stream
of transparent water arises, and regularly flows over the whole
surface of this large brim, presenting to the eye one of the most
beautiful fountains in nature's work.
Ice Mountain-
This most extraordinary and wonderful work of God's creation
certainly deserves the highest rank in the history of the natural
curiosities of our country. This mountain is washed at its western
base by the North River, a branch of the Capon. It is not morp
than a quarter of a mile north of the residence of Christopher
Heiskell, Esq., at North River Mills, in the county of Hampshire,
twenty-six miles northwest of Winchester. The west side of this
mountain, for about one mile, is covered with loose stone of various
sizes, many of which are of a diamond shape. It is probably six or
seven hundred feet high, very steep, and presents to the eye a most
grand and sublime spectacle.
At the base of the mountain, on the western side, for a distance
of about one hundred yards, and ascending some twenty-five or thirty
feet, on removing the loose stone, which is easily done with a small
prize, the most perfectly pure and crystal looking ice, at all seasons
of the year, is to he found, in blocks of from one or two pounds to
fifteen or twênty pounds in weight.* At the base of this bed of ice
•The neighboring people assert, that at the setting in of the winter season, the ice
commences melting, and soon disappears, not a particle of which is to be found while
the winter remains If this be true, it renders this place still more remarkable and ex«
traordinary. The order of nature, in this immediate locality, seems to be reversed ;
for, when it is summer all around this singular spot, here it is covered with the Ice
of winter, and vice versa. We cannot account for this effect, except the cause be come
chemical laboratory under the surface, operating from the influence of the external
atmosphere, but in epposition to it.
320
History of The Valley
a beautiful spring of pure water is discharged, which is by many
degrees colder than any natural spring water the author has ever seen.
It is belived that its natural temperature is not many degrees above
freezing. Near this spring the owner of the property has removed
the stone, and erected a small log dairy, for the preservation of his
milk, butter and fresh meats. When the author saw this little
building, which was late in the month of April, the openings between
the logs (on the side next the cavity from which the stone had been
taken out), for eighteen inches or two feet from the floor was
completely filled with ice, and above, one-half the floor was covered
with ice several inches thick. This is the more remarkable from
its being a known fact that the sun shines with all its force from
eight or nine o'clock in the morning until late in the evening, on the
surface covering the ice, but the latter defies its power. Mr. Deevers,
who is the owner of the property, informed the author that milk,
butter, or fresh meats of every kind, are perfectly safe from injury
for almost any length of time in the hottest weather. If a fly
ventures in, he ia immediately stiffened with the cold and becomes
torpid. If a snake in his rambles happens to pass over the rocks
covering the ice, he soon loses all his motion and dies. Christopher
Heiskell, Esq., informed the author that several instances had
occurred of the snakes being found dead among the rocks covering
the ice. An intelligent young lady at the same time stated that she
had seen instances of this character. In truth, it was upon her first
suggesting the fact, that the author was led to make inquiry of Mr.
Heiskell. Mr. Deevers stated that he had several times removed
torpid flies from his dairy into a more temperate atmosphere, when
they soon recovered life and motion and flew off.
Nature certainly never formed a better situation for a fine
dairy establishment. But it will probably be asked by some persons,
where is the milk to come from to furnish it ? The time will probably
come, and perhaps it is not very distant, when our mountains will be
turned to good account. Their sources of wealth are not yet known ;
but the spirit of enterprise and industry is abroad, and the present
generation will hardly pass away before the most astonishing changes
will be seen in every part of our happy country.
The Hangino Rocks
These, or as they are sometime called, "Blue's Rocks," are
another wonderful work of nature. They are situated on the
Wappatomaka, about four miles north of Romney, the seat of justice
for the county of Hampshire. The author has several times viewed
this place with excited feelings and admiration. The river has cut
its way through a mountain probably not less than five hundred
feet high. By what extraordinary agency it has been able to do this,
it is impossible to conceive, unless we look to that Almighty Power
whose arm effects all his great objects at pleasure. On the east of
Natubal Cueiosities
321
tlie river is a huge mass of rocks which forms a perpendicular wall
several hundred yards in length, and not less than three hundred feet
high. The opposite point of the mountain is more sloping, and may
be ascended hy a man on foot. On the top of the mountain is a
level bench of land, pretty clear of stone, and fine rich soil, upwards
of one hundred yards in width ; hut, from the difficulty of approaching
it, it remains in a state of nature. It would, if it could be brought
into cultivation, doubtless well reward the husbandman for his labors.
The public road, leading from Komney into the great western
highway, passes between the margin of the river and the great
natural wall formed hy the rocks. The center of the rocks for about
eighty or one hundred yards, is composed of fine gray limestone,
while on each side are the common granite mountain stone.
The reader will recollect that this is the place where a most
bloody battle was fought between contending parties of the Catawba
and Delaware Indians, noticed in a preceding chapter of this volume.
One other natural curiosity remains to be noticed, and that is
what is called the "Butterfly Bocks." These rocks are to be seen
in Frye's Gap, on Cedar Creek, in the county of Frederick. The
whole mass of rocks are intermixed with petrified flies, of various
sizes. The entire shape of the wings, body, legs, head, and even
the eyes of the flies, are distinctly to be discovered. The rocks are
of deep brown color, and of the slate species.
The author will conclude this section with a brief notice of an
avalanche or mountain slide, which he has omitted to notice in its
proper place. In the month of June, in the remarkable wet spring
and summer of the year 1804, during a most tremendous and awful
flood of rain, near the summit of the Little Horth Mountain, a vast
column of water suddenly gushed from the eastern side, and rapidly
descending, with its tremendous current, tore away every tree, of
whatever size, rocks of eight or ten tons weight, hurling them into
the level lands below, and threatening desolation and destruction to
everything which was within the limits of the vortex. In its passage
down the mountain it opened a chasm from ten to fifteen yards in
width, and from eight or ten to twelve or fifteen feet in depth. The
farm of Mr. David Funkhouser, which the flood took in its course,
was greatly injured, and a beautiful meadow covered over with the
wood, stone, and other rubbish. The flood ran into the lower floor
of his dwelling house, the foundation of which is elevated at least
three feet above the surface of the ground. This rent in the side of
the mountain, at the distance of five or six miles, presented for many
years the appearance of a very wide road. It is now grown up thickly
with youn^pine timber, and so crowded that there is scarcely room
for a man to pass between them.
CHAPTER III
Medicinal Springs—Wateking Places
Our country abounds in medicinal waters. Humerons sulphur
springs exist, particularly in the slate lands and mountains. Springs,
of various qualities of water, are also to he seen, several of which
are remarkable for their superior virtues in the cure of the various
disorders of the human body.
It is not within the plan of this work to notice all the medicinal
springs which the author has seen and heard of. He will content
himself with a brief account of those deemed most valuable, beginning
with Bath in the county of Morgan.
This is doubtless the most ancient watering place in the Valley.
Tradition relates that those springs were known to the Indians as
possessing valuable medical properties, and were much frequented by
them. They were anciently called the "Berkeley Warm Springs,"
and have always kept their character for their medical virtues. They
are much resorted to, not only for their value as medicinal waters,
but as a place (in the season) of recreation and pleasure. Bath
has become a considerable village, is the seat of justice for Morgan
county, and has several stores and boarding houses. It is too publicly
known to require further notice in this work.
Shannondale
It is not more than twelve or fourteen years since this spring
was first resorted to as a watering place, though it was known for
some years before to possess some peculiar medicinal qualities. A
few extraordinary cures were effected by the use of the water, of
obstinate scorbutic complaints, and it suddenly acquired a high
reputation. A company of gentlemen in its neighborhood joined
and purchased the site, and forthwith erected a large brick boarding
house, and ten or twelve small buildings for the accommodation of
visitors. For several years it held a high rank among our watering
places.
Salus Springs, Commonly Called Bond's Springs
These are situated between the Little Horth Mountain and
Paddy's Mountain, forming the head fountain of Cedar Creek,
and about twenty-eight or thirty miles southwest of Winchester,
and seven or eight miles northwest of Woodstock. These springs
are acquiring a high character for their valuable medical qualities,
though it is only four or five years since they have been resorted
to. It is well ascertained that the water from at least one of them
has the powerful quality of expelling the hots from the horse.
Medicinal Springs—Watering Places
323
Another of the springs is called "The Poison Spring," and it
is asserted by the peoplei of the neighborhood that by drinking the
water freely, and bathing the part wounded, it will immediately cure
the bite of any poisonous snake.
There are five or six beautiful transparent springs within a
circumference of one hundred and fifty or two hundred yards, several
of which are yet unimproved. îTaturc has seldom done more for an
advantageous watering-place than she has exhibited at these springs.
No place the author has ever seen presents more conveniences for
the construction of baths. One of the springs is discharged from
an elevated point of a ridge, and has fall and water enough to
construct any reasonable number of shower baths. It is asserted by
those who attend the springs that several great cures of obstinate
scorbutic complaints have been made by the use of the water. One
remarkable instance was related to the author. A little hoy, of
eight or nine years of age, had become dreadfuly disordered by
eruptions all over his body, which formed large running ulcers. The
complaint baffled all the efforts of the most skillful physicians in
the neighborhood, and continued for about twelve months, when the
child's life was despaired of. An uncle of the child, who was
acquainted with the valuable quality of these waters, took him to
the springs, and by repeatedly washing his body with the water of
the poison spring, and also his freely drinking it, in ten, or twelve
days the child was perfectly cured, and has ever since remained in
fine health. Within one and a quarter miles from this place there
is a! fine white sulphur spring, which is said to possess very active
cathartic qualities. It is also said that the water has a sweetish
taste, and is by some called the sweet sulphur spring. The water
has a pure crystal look, and is discharged from a spring at the base
of Paddy's Mountain. Plunging baths may be multiplied at pleasure.
The waters are pretty cool; a handsome bath house is erected, and
the visitors use it freely.
Sixteen neat looking dwelling-houses have been erected by as
many proprietors within the last four or five years ; but unfortunately
there is no regular boarding-house established, which has heretofore
prevented much resort to this place. In the hands of a man of
capital and enterprise, it doubtless might be made one of the most
charming rural summer retreats west of the Blue Ridge. It has
the advantage of a most beautiful summer road much the greater
part of the whole route from Winchester; what is called Prye's Gap,
within twelve miles of Winchester, being by far the worst part of
it; and an excellent road can be made at inconsiderable expense
across the Littlé North Mountain. Travelers passing up or down
the Valley would, in the summer season, find this a delightful resting
place, if it was put in a proper state of improvement for their
accommodation, nor is it more than seven or eight miles out of the
direct road. The present buildings are arranged so as to leave in
the center a beautiful grove of young oak and other timber, which
324
History of The Valley
affords a lovely shade in hot weather. Hear Capt. J. Bond's dwelling
house, within three hundred yards of the mineral springs, there is
a fine large limestone spring.
Orkney Springs, Commonly Called Yellow Springs
These springs are near the head waters of Stony Creek, about
seventeen or eighteen miles southwest of Woodstock. The waters
are composed of several lively springs, are strong chalybeate, and
probably impregnated with some other mineral besides iron. Every
thing the water passes through or over is beautifully lined with a
bright yellow fringe of moss. The use of this water is found very
beneficial for the cure of several complaints. There are ten or twelve
small buildings erected by the neighboring people for their private
accommodation.
The author visited this watering place about four years ago.
A Mr. Kaufman had brought with him, the day preceding, the
materials for a small framed dwelling-house. He reached the place
early in the day, raised his house, had the shingles and weather-
boarding nailed on, the floor laid, and doors hung, and ate his dinner
in it the next day at one o'clock. The author had the pleasure of
dining with the old gentleman and lady, when they both communicated
the foregoing statement of facts to him. A free use of this water acts
as a most powerful cathartic, as does also a small quantity of the
fringe or moss mixed with any other kind of water.
Capon Springs, More Properly Frye's Springs
The late Henry Frye, of Capon, upwards of forty years ago,
informed the author that he was the first discoverer of the valuable
properties of this celebrated watering place. He stated that he was
hunting, and killed a large bear on the side of the mountain near
the springs, and becoming dry, he descended the glen in search of
water, where he found a large spring, but it was thickly covered with
moss and other rubbage ; on removing which, he drank of the water,
and found it disagreeably warm. It at once occurred to him that it
possessed some valuable medical qualities. The next summer his wife
got into bad health, and was afflicted with rheumatic and probably
other debilitating disorders. He went and cleared out the spring,
erected a small cabin, removed his wife there, and remained four or
five weeks, when the use of the waters had restored his wife to a
state of fine health. From this occurrence it took the name of
"Frye's Springs," and was called by that name for many years. By
what whim or caprice the name was changed to that of "Capon,"
the author cannot explain. It is situated four miles east of Capon
River, and with what propriety it has taken the name of that river,
the reader can as readily determine as the author. This place is too
publicly known to require a minute description in this work; suffice
it to say, that it is located in a deep narrow glen, on the west side
Medicinal Spkings—^Watering Places
325
of tlie Great North Mountain. The road across the mountain is
rugged and disagreeable to travel, but money is now raising by
lottery to improve it. The trustees for several years past have
imposed a pretty heavy tax upon visitors for the use of the waters.
This tax is intended to raise funds for keeping the baths, &c., in
repair. There are seventeen or eighteen houses erected without
much regard to regularity, and a boarding establishment capable
of accommodating some fifty or sixty visitors, which is kept in
excellent style.
The waters at this place are a few degrees cooler than the waters
of Bath; but it is believed by many that they possess some qualities
far more powerful. There is no fact better known, than that an
exclusive use of the water for five or six days (like the waters of
Salus), will expel the hots from horses. This place is twenty-two
miles southwest of Winchester.
White Sulphur Spring, Howard's Lick
This fine White Sulphur Spring lies about four miles west of
Lost River, in a most romantic retired glen in the mountains. It
is almost wholly in a state of nature, the nearest dwelling-house to
it being about two miles, and is but little known and resorted to as
a watering place. The spring has been cleaned out, and a small
circular wall placed around it, and a beautiful lively stream of
water discharged. It would probably require a tube of one and
a half or two inches diameter to vent the water. Everything the
water passes over or touches is pretty thickly incrusted with pure
white sulphur. The water is so highly impregnated as to be quite
unpleasant to the taste, and can be smelled thirty or forty feet from
the spring. The use of the water is found very efficacious in several
complaints, particularly in autumnal bilious fevers. The people in
the neighborhood say that persons attacked with bilious complaints,
by a single dose of epsom salts, worked off with this water, in three
or four days are entirely relieved and restored to health. The author
cannot pretend to express his own opinion of the valuable properties
of this water, merely having seen it as a transient passenger. But
he has no hesitation in saying that it presents to the eye the
appearance of by far the most valuable sulphur water he has ever
yet seen. There is level land enough around it for the erection of
buildings sufficient for the accommodation of a great many visitors.
A fine and convenient road can be had to it from Lost River, a gap
in the mountain leading to it being generally quite level, and wide
enough for the purpose. It is probably twenty-three or twenty-four
miles southwest of Capon Springs.
Paddy's Gap, or Maurer's White Sulphur Srring
This is a small pure white sulphur spring, and is said to possess
some valuable medicinal qualities. It lies in Paddy's Gap, about
half way between Capon and Salus Springs.
326
Histoet of The Valley
Pembkoke Spbings
These are situated about one mile south of the residence of
Moses Kussell, Esq., seventeen miles northwest of Winchester. The
waters are considered too cool to hathe in. A hath house has been
erected, hut it is little used. The waters are pure and salubrious,
discharged from the base of the •li'orth Mountain, and if good
accommodations were kept, it would doubtless become a resting place
for travelers in the season for visiting the Capon Springs. Mr.
George Kitenour has lately erected a tannery at this place, and it
will probably become a place of business.
Williams' White Sulphur Springs, Eormerly Duvall's
These are situated about six miles northeast of Winchester. A
commodious boading-house has been erected by Mr. Williams, who
is going on yearly with additional improvements to meet the
increasing popularity of the establishment.
There are three or four other sulphur springs which were
formerly places of considerable resort, hut they have fallen into
disrepute. The author therefore considers it unnecessary to give
them any particular notice in this work. Many chalybeate springs
are to he met with in our mountains, hut it is not deemed necessary
to describe them.
Gray Earth
The author will conclude with a brief notice of a light gray
earth of singular texture, and probably containing some highly
valuable properties. A considerable hank of this earth or clay is
to he seen about two miles below Salus Springs. When dissolved
in water it makes a beautiful whitewash, and is said to he more
adhesive than lime. It is remarkably soft, being easily cut with a
knife, has an unctuous or rather soapy feel when pressed between
the fingers, and when mixed with a small quantity of water, forms
a tough adhesive consistence, very much resembling dough made of
wheat flour.
The author, when he first heard of this hank of earth, concluded
it was probably fuller's earth, so highly prized by the manufacturers
of cloth, &c., in England; but upon an examination of it, it does
not appear to answer the description given by chemists of that earth.
It is highly probable that it would he found a most valuable manure,
and in all likelihood would on trial make a beautiful ware of the
pottery kind for domestic use. It would in the opinion of the writer,
he well worth while for manufacturers and others to visit this place,
and examine for themselves. The author has no pretensions to a
knowledge of chemistry, and therefore cannot give anything like an
analytical description of this singular and curious kind of earth.
CHAPTEK IV
Description of Weyek's Cave
By R. L. Cooke, A. M.
"Weyer's Cave is situated near the northern extremity of Augusta
county, Va., seventeen miles northeast of Staunton, on the eastern
side of the ridge running nearly north and east parallel to the Blue
Bidge, and somewhat more than two miles distant from it.
The western declivity of this ridge is very gradual, and the
visitor, as he approaches from that direction, little imagines from its
appearance that it emhowels one of nature's masterpieces. The
eastern declivity, however, is quite precipitous and difficult of ascent.
The guide's house is situated on the northern extremity of this
ridge, and is distant eight hundred yards from the entrance of the
cave. In going from the house to the cave, you pass the entrance
of Madison's Cave, which is two hundred and twenty yards from the
other. Madison's Cave was known and visited as a curiosity, long
before the discovery of Weyer's, but it is now passed by and neglected
as unworthy of notice, compared with its more imposing rival,
although it has had the pen of a Jefferson to describe its beauties.
Let me remark here, that the incurious visitor, who goes because
others go, and is hut slightly interested in the mysteries of nature,
may retain his usual dress when he enters the cave which I am
attempting to describe; but if he is desirous of prying into every
recess, climbing every accessible precipice, and seeing all the beauties
of this subterranean wonder, I would advise him to provide himself
with such habiliments as will withstand craggy projections, or receive
no detriment from a generous coating of mud.
The ascent from the bottom of the hill to the mouth of the cave
is steep, but is rendered less fatiguing, by the zigzag course of the
path, which is one hundred and twenty yards in length.
Before entering the cave, let us rest ourselves on the benches
before the door, that we may become perfectly cool, while the guide
unlocks the door, strikes a light and tells the story of its first
discovery.
It seems that about the year 1804, one Bernard Weyer ranged
these hills as a hunter. While pursuing his daily vocation, he found
his match in a lawless groundhog, which not only eluded all his
efforts, hut eventually succeeded in carrying off the traps which had
been set for his capture. Enraged at the loss of his traps he made
an assault upon the domicil of the depredator, with spade and
mattock.
A few moments labor brought him to the ante-chainher of this
stupendous cavern, where he found his traps safely deposited.
328
History of The Valley
The entrance originally was small and difficult of access; but
the enterprise of the proprietor has obviated these inconveniences;
it is now enclosed by a wooden wall, having a door in the center,
which admits you to the ante-chamher.
At first it is about eight feet in height, hut after proceeding a
few yards, in a southwest direction, it becomes contracted to the
space of three or four feet square.
At the distance of twenty-four feet from the entrance, descending
at an angle of nineteen degrees, you reach the Dragon's Room, so
called from a stalactitic concretion, which the nomenclátor undoubt¬
edly supposed to resemble that nondescript animal.
Above the Dragon's Room there is an opening of considerable
beauty, but of small size, called the Devil's Gallery.
Leaving this room, which is not very interesting, you proceed
in a more southerly direction, to the entrance of Solomon's Temple,
through a high hut narrow passage, sixty-six feet in length, which
is by no means difficult of access. Here you make a perpendicular
descent of thirteen feet, by means of an artificial hank of earth and
rock, and you find yourself in one of the finest rooms in the whole
cave. It is irregular in shape, being thirty feet long and forty-five
broad, running nearly at right angles to the main course of the cave.
As you raise your eyes, after descending the bank before mentoned,
they rest upon an elevated seat, surrounded by sparry incrustations,
which sparkle beautifully in the light of your candles.
This is not unaptly styled Solomon's Throne. Everything in
this room, receives its name from the wise man; immediately to the
left of the steps, as you descend, you will find his meat-house, and
at the eastern extremity of the room, is a beautiful pillar of white
stalactite, somewhat defaced by the smoke of candles, called by his
name. With strange inconsistency, an incrustation resembling fall¬
ing water, at the right of the steps, has obtained the name of the F alls
of Niagara.
Passing Solomon's Pillar here, you enter another room, more
irregular than the first, hut still more beautiful. It would be impos¬
sible adequately to describe the magnificence of this room. I shall
therefore merely observe, that it is thickly studded with beautiful
stalactites, resembling in form and color the roots of radishes, which
have given the appellation of Radish Room to this delightful place.
I cannot refrain from reprobating here, the vandal spirit of
some visitors, who regardless of all prohibitions, will persist in
breaking off and defacing these splendid specimens of nature's
workmanship, forgetting that a single blow may destroy the work of
centuries.
The main passage to the rest of the cavern is immediately
opposite the entrance to Solomon's Temple, and you reach it by an
ascent of twelve feet, to what is called the Porter's Lodge. From tbia
place, pursuing the same course, you pass along a passage varying
from ten to thirty feet in height, from ten to fifteen in breadth, and
Desceiptioií of Wetek's Cave
329
fifty-eight in length, until you reach Barney's Hall, which receives
its name from the fancied resemblance of a prostrate stalactite, at the
base of one that is upright, to old Commodore Barney, and the can¬
non that he used at the "Bladenshurgh races."
Hear the center of the room, which is small and scarcely deserves
the name, an upright board points out to the visitor the main path
of the cave, which runs to the right. Two passages run off to the
left, the first one to a large, irregular room, called the Lawyer's
Ofiice, in which is a fine spring, or rather reservior, where the drop¬
pings from the ceiling have collected; the other, through a passage
to what is called The Armory, from an incrustation that has received
the name of Ajax's Shield. Between the Lawyer's Office and The
Armory, and communicating with both, is another large, irregular
apartment, which is named "Weyer's Hall, after the original discov¬
erer of the cave, who together with his dog, stands immortalized in
one corner.
Before we get bewildered and lost in this part of the cave, which
is more intricate than any other, let us return to the guide board in
Barney's Hall, and pursue the route usually taken by visitors.
Following the right hand opening mentioned above, which is rather
low, being not more than five feet high, you pass into the Twin Boom,
taking heed lest you fall into the Devil's Bake Oven, which yawns
close by your feet. This room is small, and communicates directly
with the Bannister Boom, which is fifty-nine feet from the guide
board. The arch here suddenly expands, and becomes elevated to
the height of thirty feet, and by dint of hard climbing you may
return to the Porter's Lodge, through a passage directly over the one
which you have just passed.
A descent of thirty-nine feet due west from the Twin Boom,
brings you to the Tanyard, which contains many beauties. The floor
is irregular; in some places sinking into holes somewhat resembling
tan vats, which together with several hanging stalactites resembling
hides, have given a name to this immense apartment. On the south¬
east side of the room, immediately to the left of the main path, is a
large opening, which admits you at once into The Armory.
It may be well to remark here, that a notice of many beautiful
appearances in the different rooms has been omitted, because they
are noted upon the map of the cave, lately published by the author
of this sketch.
Changing your course to the northwest, you leave the Tanyard
by a rough but not difficult ascent of twenty feet, at an angle of eigh¬
teen degrees, into what may be considered an elevated continuation of
the same room^ but which has been deservedly dignified with a distinct
appellation.
To your right, as you step upon level ground you will observe
a perpendicular wall of rock, rising with great regularity; if you
strike upon it with your hand, it sends forth a deep mellow sound,
strongly resembling the tones of a bass drum, whence the room has
330
IIiSTOEY OF The Valley
received the name of the Drum Room. Upon a closer examination,
this apparent ■wall ■will he found to be only a thin stalactic partition,
extending from the ceiling to the floor.
You leave the Drum Room by a flight of natural steps, seven feet
in perpendicular height. A large opening no^w presents itself, ■which
expands to an extensive apartment, to reach which it is necessary to
make a nearly perpendicular descent of ten feet, by means of sub¬
stantial stone steps. This apartment is the far-famed Ball Room.
It is one hundred feet long, thirty-six ■wide, and about twenty-five
high, running at right angles to the path by which you entered it.
The general course of this room is from north to south, but at the
northern extremity, there is a gradual ascent, bearing 'round to the
east, until you reach a precipice of twenty or thirty feet, from which
you can look do^wn into The Tanyard.
Near the center of the Ball Room, is a large calcareous deposit,
that has received the name of Paganini's Statue, from the circum¬
stance that it furnishes a good position for the music, whenever balls
are given in these submundane regions. The floor is sufficiently level
to admit of dancing upon it, and it was formerly common to have
balls here. The ladies are accommodated with a convenient dressing
room, the only opening to which communicates directly with the
Ball Room.
You leave this room by a gradual ascent of forty-two feet at the
southern extremity. This acclivity is called the Frenchman's Hill,
from the following circumstances: Some years since, a French
gentleman visited the cave, accompanied only by the guide ; they had
safely gone through, and returning had reached this hill, when by
some accident both their lights were extinguished, and they were left
in Egyptian darkness without the means of relighting them.
Fortunately, the guide, from his accurate knowledge of localities,
conducted him safely to the entrance, a distance of more than five
hundred feet.
Another gentleman by the name of Patterson has immortalized
his name by attempting the same feat, although it was a complete
failure. Hearing of the Frenchman's adventure, he sent his com¬
pany ahead, and undertook to find his way hack without a light,
from the Ball Room to the entrance. He succeeded in ascending the
steps, but had proceeded only a few paces further, when his feet
slipped from under him, and he was laid prostrate in an aperture,
where he lay unhurt until his companions, alarmed at his protracted
absence, returned for him. His resting place is called Patterson's
Grave to this day.
From the French Hill, a long, irregular passage extends in a
northwest direction, which is denominated the Narrow Passage.
This passage is fifty-two feet long, from three to five feet wide, and
from four to eight high. It leads you to the brink of a precipice
twelve feet high.
Description of Wetee's Cave
331
Natural indentations in the face of this precipice afford a
convenient means of descent, and these natural steps have received
the name of Jacob's Ladder. To correspond with this name, as in
Solomon's Temple, everything is named after the Patriarch; a flat
rock opposite to the end of the Narrow Passage, is Jacob's Tea Table,
and a deep, inaccessible perforation in the rock by its side, is Jacob's
Ice House ! Descending the ladder, you turn to the left, and pass
through a narrow opening, still continuing to descend, though less
perpendicularly, to the center of a small apartment called the
Dungeon.
This room communicates immediately with the Senate Chamber,
over nearly half of which stretches a thin flat rock, at the height of
six or eight feet from the floor, forming a sort of gallery, which
probably suggested the name which has been given to the room.
The Senate Chamber communicates by a high, broad opening,
with a much larger apartment, called Congress Hall, an appellation
bestowed rather on account of its proximity to the last mentioned
room than from anything particularly appropriate in the room
itself. It is long, and like the Ball Eoom runs at right angles to
the main path, which winds to the left, as you enter. Its course
is nearly north and south, and a wall, perforated in many places,
runs through its whole length. Instead of pursuing the customary
route, we will turn to the right and explore the dark recess that
presents itself.
The floor of Congress Hall is very uneven, and at the northern
extremity rises somewhat abruptly. If you climb this ascent, and
pass through one of the perforations in the wall above mentioned,
you can see through the whole extent of the other half of the room,
but cannot traverse it, on account of two or three deep pits that
occupy the whole space between the western side of the room and
the wall.
Turning to the right of the opening through which you just
passed, your eye vainly attempts to penetrate the deep, dark abyss
that is presented to view, and you hesitate to descend. Its name.
The Infernal Regions, does not offer many inducements to enter it;
in addition to this, the suspicion that it contained fixed air, for
many years deterred the curious frojn visiting it, and consequently
it has not until recently been thoroughly explored.
In the spring of 1833, I determined at all hazards to explore
this room, for I doubt the existence of any bad air, as I had never
detected any in the course of extensive researches in almost every
part of the cave. My brother and the guide accompanied me, each
carrying* two candles, and thus prepared we descended twenty feet
before we reached a landing place. Here our candles burned dimly
and great care was necessary to prevent them from going out
entirely; yet we experienced no difficulty of breathing, or any other
indication of the presence of this much dreaded gas. The floor is
not horizontal, but inclined at an angle of fifteen or twenty degrees.
332
History of The Valley
and wlien we emerged from the pit into which we had first entered,
our candles shone hrighlty, and displayed to our view a room more
extensive than any that I have as yet described. Its greatest length
was from west to east, and it seemed to run nearly parallel to the
path over which we had just traveled. From its length we are
induced to helieve that it approached very near the Ball Room, with
which it might communicate by some yet undiscovered passage.
So strongly were we impressed with this idea, that we determined, if
practicable, to ascertain how far we were correct. For this purpose
I set my watch exactly with my brother's, and requested him to go
to the Ball Room and pursue, as far as possible, a low passage that
leads to the right, from the foot of the Frenchman's Hill, while I
went to the eastern extremity of this immense apartment. At an
appointed moment I fired a pistol, hut the only answer was the
deafening reverberation of the sound rolling like thunder along the
lofty arches. I shouted, but no return met my ear save the hollow
echo of my own voice, and I began to think we had been hasty in
our opinion. At this moment a beautiful stalactite sparkled in the
light of the candle, and I forgot my desire to discover an unknown
passage in my anxiety to secure this prize. Taking the butt of
the pistol, I hammered gently upon it to disengage it from the rock
where it hung. I was surprised to hear the taps distinctly answered
apparently from the center of the solid rock, and a repetition of
the blow brought a repetition of the answer. After comparing our
impressions, we were satisfied there could be but little space between
the two rooms.
We have lingered so long in these Infernal Regions,* that we
must hasten hack to the spot whence we diverged in the center of
Congress Hall. Our course now lies to southwest, up a perpen¬
dicular ascent of seventeen feet to what is called the Lobby. From
this place, an expert climber may pass through secret passages and
hy-rooms to the end of the cave, without once entering the main
path. You have ascended to the lobby only to descend again on
the other side, when you reach the most magnificent apartment in
the whole cave.
This is Washington's Hall, so called, in token of respect for
the memory of our Country's Father, and is worthy of bearing his
name. Its length is two hundred and fifty-seven feet, its breadth
from ten to twenty, its height thirty-three, and it is remarkably
level and straight through the whole length. Hot far from the
center of this room is an immense deposit of calcareous matter rising
to the height of six or seven feet, which strikingly resembles a statue
clothed in drapery. This is Washington's Statue, and few can look
upon it as seen by the dim light of two or three candles which rather
stimulate than repress the imagination, without experiencing a
*For an account of some recent interesting discoveries in this room, see note on
page 338.
Description of Wbter's Cave
333
sensation of solemnity and awe, as if they were actually in the
presence of the mighty dead.
By ascending a bank, near the entrance, of five or six feet
perpendicular height, you enter another room called the Theatre,
from the fact that different parts of it correspond to the stage,
gallery and pit. I notice this room, which is otherwise uninter¬
esting, for the purpose of mentioning a circumstance, related to
me by Mr. Bryan, a former guide, which confirms an opinion that
I have long entertained, that the whole cave is thoroughly ventilated
by some unknown communication with the upper air. About six
years since, during a heavy and protracted rain which raised the
waters of the South River that fiows at the bottom of the cave-hill,
to an imprecedented height, Mr. Bryan conducted a company through
the cave. As he ascended the stairs that led to the lobby, he heard
the rush of water; fearing that; the cave was flooding, he directed
the visitors to remain in Congress Hall, while he investigated the
cause of the unusual and alarming noise. Cautiously descending
into Washington's Hall, he followed the sound until he arrived
opposite to the entrance to the Theatre, in which he saw a column
of water pouring from the ceiling into the pit, and losing itself in
the numerous crevices that abound. When the rain ceased, the flood
was stayed, and it has never been repeated; but even at the present
time, small pebbles and gravel, resembling that found on the top
of the hill, may he seen in the Theatre. Ho aperture is visible from
within, neither has any perforation been discovered on the surface
of the hill, yet beyond a doubt, some communication with the
exterior does exist.
I have said that the breadth of Washington's Hall is from ten
to twenty feet; this must he understood as applying to the lower
part of the room, for the arch stretches over a rock twenty feet high,
which forms the left wall, and embraces another room called Lady
Washington's Room. The entrance to this apartment is opposite to
the statue, and is on a level with the hall. The wall that separates
the two rooms is ten feet thick, and is named the Rock of Gibraltar.
One or two candles placed upon this rock produce a fine effect,
particularly if every other light is extinguished; for it shows you
the arch, spreading out with beautiful regularity, until it is lost in
the surrounding darkness, and imagination, supplying the deficiency
of vision, peoples the dark recesses with hosts of matterless phantoms.
You leave this splendid apartment at the southwest extremity, by a
rough and narrow, hut high passage, running at the foot of the
Pyramids of Egypt and Cleopatra's Heedle. At the end of this
passage, *in a recess to the right is another spring or reservoir,
similar to the one in the Lawyer's Office. A descent of eight or ten
feet brings you into the Diamond Room, which may be considered
as forming a part of The Church, a long, irregular room more lofty
than any that we have yet entered. Its length is one hundred and
fifty-two feet, its breadth from ten to fifteen, and its height fifty.
334
Histoey of The Valley
At tlie farthest extremity, a beautiful white spire shoots up to a
considerable height, which is appropriately styled The Steeple, and
has no doubt suggested the name of the room. Nearly opposite to
the center of The Church is a recess of considerable extent and
elevation, which forms a very good gallery ; in the rear of the gallery
and in full view from below, is a great number of pendant stalactites,
several feet long and of various sizes, ranging like the pipes of an
organ and hearing a striking resemblance to them. If these
stalactites are struck by any hard substance, they send forth sounds
of various pitches, according to their sizes, and if a stick he rapidly
run along several of them at once, a pleasing variety of notes is
produced. This formation is called The Organ.
Passing under The Steeple, which rests on an arch elevated not
more than ten feet, you enter the Dining Room. This room is
named from a long natural table, that stands on the left, and is
not quite so large as The Church, though its height is sixty feet.
But for the sort of wall which the steeple makes, it might be
considered as a continuation of The Church. A little to the left
of the table, you will see a small uninviting opening; if you are
not deterred by its unpromising appearance, we will enter and see
whither it will lead us. Proceeding only a few paces you will
suddenly find yourself in an immense apartment, parallel to the
Dining Room, extending to the gallery in The Church, with which
it communicates. This is Jackson's Room, and is rather uninter¬
esting on account of its irregularity, but it leads to one that deserves
notice. Directly opposite to the little passage which conducted you
thither, is a large opening; passing this, the walls contract until
only a narrow pass a few feet long is left, which conducts you, if
not to the most magnificent, at least to one of the most beautiful
and interesting portions of the whole cavern. There is but one
apartment, and that is small, but the Garden of Eden, for so it is
called, derives its beauty from the singular arrangement of the
immense stalactites that hang from the roof, and unite with the
stalagmites which have ascended from the floor to meet them; or
in few words, it seems as if at some former period, a sheet of water
had poured down from the roof and by some wonderful operation
of nature had become suddenly petrified. This sheet is not
continuous, but strongly resembles the folds of heavy drapery, and
you may pass among its windings as through the mazes of a
labyrinth, and the light of a candle shines distinctly through any
part of it. A portion of the floor of this room is composed of
beautiful fine yellow sand ; the floor of most, if not all other portions
of the cave, is a stiff clay, with very few indications of sand.
We must now retrace our steps to the Dining Room, for there
is no other place of egress; but as we return let us make a short
digression to the left into a small passage that does not appear to
extend very far. Be careful ! there is a deep hole just before you.
Now hold your candle above your head and look through the opening.
Description of Weyer's Cave
335
■which is large enough to admit the hody of a man; you will see
a deep unexplored abyss,
"Where the footstep of mortal has never trod."
No man as yet ever ventured into this forbidding place, for it
can he entered only by means of a rope ladder, but it is my intention
if my courage does not fail me, to attempt at no distant period, to
explore the hidden mysteries of the apartment.
Once more in the Dining Eoom, let us hasten to the completion
of our task. The main path pursues the same course from this
room, that it has done ever since you entered Washington's Hall;
hut your way now lies up a sort of a hill, in the side of which is
the opening through which you are to pass. If you are adventurous,
you will follow me above the opening, up the nearly perpendicular
face of the rock, to the height of fifty feet, where a ledge of rock
extends itself, forming the left side of the Dining Room. From
this eminence, called the Giant's Causeway, you can look down into
the Dining Room on one side, and Jackson's Room on the other.
Great caution is necessary in climbing this height, lest too much
confidence be reposed in the projecting stalagmites, that offer a
convenient and seemingly a secure foothold to the incautious
adventurer. It must he remembered that they are formed by
droppings from the roof, and are generally based on the mud. By
cautiously descending the ledge a few feet on the opposite side to
that which we ascended, we shall be enabled to reach ■with ease the
room which has already been attained by the rest of the company,
who have been less adventurous than ourselves and passed through
the opening already pointed out, in ascending the Causeway.
This room, or perhaps it should he called passage, is denomi¬
nated The Wilderness, from the roughness of the pathway, and is
only ten feet ■wide, but it rises to the immense height of ninety
or one hundred feet ! As we come along the Causeway, and look
down upon our right, we shall see our company forty or fifty feet
below us, while our eyes can scarcely penetrate through the darkness
to the ceiling above our heads. Upon the very verge of the rock
on which we are standing, are several beautiful white stalagmites,
or rather columns, grouped together, among which one stands pre¬
eminent. This is Bonaparte with his body-guard, crossing the Alps !
The effect is peculiarly fine when viewed from below.
Without descending from our dangerous elevation, we will go
on our way a little further. Proceeding only a few paces from the
Emperor, you find yourself upon an arch under which your company
is passing, which is very appropriately called The Natural Bridge;
but it should he crossed with great caution, if at all, for foothold
is insecure, and there is danger of being precipitated to the floor
beneath. Retracing our steps near to Bonaparte's Statue, we ■will
descend an inclined plane on the left, and by a jump of six feet,
rejoin our friends at the end of The Wilderness.
336
History or The Valley
You are now upon the lowest level of the cave, and at the
entrance of the farthest room. This is Jefferson's Hall, an extensive
and level but not very elevated apartment. Before I describe this
room, we must diverge a little and visit one or two rooms that
branch off from the main path. Directly to your right, as you
emerge from The Wilderness, there rises an immense mass,
apparently of solid stalagmite, thirty-six feet long, thirty feet broad,
and thirty feet high; this mass is beautiful beyond description, very
much resembling successive stories, and is called the Tower of
Babel! The most magnificent portion of the tower is on the back
or northern part, but it is difficult of access, for it is necessary to
climb up the surface of the rock to the height of fifteen or twenty
feet; the view, however, amply repays you for the labor. For a
few moments you can scarcely convince yourself that an immense
body of water is not pouring over the precipice in a foaming torrent
—so white, so dazzling is the effulgence of the rock, and when this
impression is effaced, the words of the pious bard rush into the
mind, where he describes the awful effects that will follow the
consummation of all things:
"The Cataract, that like a Giant wroth.
Rushed down impetuously, as seized at once
By sudden frost, with all his hoary locks,
Stood still !"
One might almost imagine that Pollock had visited this wonder,
and caught the idea so forcibly expressed above, from viewing this
magnificent scene.
We have already so much exceeded our intended limits, that
we can only look into the large apartment that occupies the space
behind The Tower, which is called Sir Walter Scott's Boom, and
then hasten back to the main path.
Jefferson's Room, that we left some time since, is very irregular
in shape, and is two hundred and thirty-five feet long, following the
various windings. What is commonly called the end of the cave
is distinguished by two singular, thin, lamellar rocks, five or six
feet in diameter, united at their bases, but spreading out so that the
outer edges are several feet apart. This is called the Fly Trap.
To the left of the Fly Trap is a large recess, where you will find
a fine spring of water, at which the weary visitor is glad to slake
his thirst, after the fatigues of his arduous undertaking.
Very many visitors have their curiosity satisfied long before
they have gone over the ground that we have, but I am writing for
those only, who, like me, are not satisfied until everything is seen
that is worthy of notice. Such would not excuse me, did I not
mention one more curiosity, that few are inclined to visit. A few
yards beyond the Fly Trap, there is an opening in the solid wall,
at the height of about twelve feet, through which you are admitted
by a temporary ladder. By hard climbing you soon penetrate to
Description of Weyer^s Cave
337
the end of the recess, where you find the source of the ííile. This
is a beautiful, limpid spring, covered over with a thin pellicle of
stalagmite, yet sufficiently strong to hear your weight; in this crust
there is a perforation that gives you access to the water beneath.
I have thus very cursorily described, as far as it is practicable,
this wonderful cavern, hut I feel convinced that no pen can
adequately describe an object so extensive, so magnificent, and so
varied in its beauties. I shall only add a few remarks in
explanation of the motives that induced me to prepare this sketch,
and some general facts that could not, with propriety, have been
stated in the description of individual portions of the cave. To
settle a dispute relative to its depth, I was induced to make a full
and accurate survey of the whole cavern, which I found had never
been done. This was undertaken solely for my own gratification,
but the solicitations of the proprietor, and others, have induced me
to construct a sort of map, which is now before the public. This
description therefore, may be depended upon as being as accurate
as possible, for the distances, heights, elevations, &c., are given from
actual measurements. The dotted line in the map represents what
has so often been called the "main path," and if we measure this
line the length of the cave is one thousand six hundred and fifty
feet. By following its windings, the distance may be more than
doubled.
At all times, the air of the cave is damp, but the dampness
of the fioor depends much upon the seasons; if you except a moist
place near the Fly Trap, there is no standing water in all the cave.
The temperature remains invariably at fifty-six degrees, in all parts,
from which it follows that the air feels quite warm to a visitor
in winter, and directly the reverse in summer, and it is therefore
important that in the summer he should become perfectly cool before
he enters, and in winter, before he leaves it. The spring and fall
are the best seasons for visiting the cave, for then the atmosphere
without is nearly of the same temperature with that within, and
it is more dry at these times.
The question is often asked, which of the two great curiosities
of Virginia is the greatest, Weyer's Cave or the Natural Bridge?
This is not a fair question, neither can it be easily answered; for
they are totally different in themselves, and in their effects upon
observers. You visit the Natural Bridge in the full blaze of noon¬
day, and when you reach the object of your curiosity, it bursts upon
your view in all its magnificence and grandeur, you comprehend at
once the magnitude of the scene, and you turn away, overpowered
with a sense of the majesty of Him who has spanned that gulf, and
thrown His arch across it. Visit it as often as you please, this
feeling returns upon you with unabated force, but no new impressions
are made—you have seen the whole.
You visit the cave by the dim light of a few candles; of course
no impression will at first be produced, or, if any, an unfavorable
338
Histoey of The Valley
one. As successive portions of the cavern are presented to view,
they produce successive and varied emotions. !N^ow you are filled
with delight at the heauty of the sparkling ceilings; again, this
feeling is mingled with admiration, as some object of more than
ordinary beauty presents itself, and anon you are filled with awe
at the magnitude of the immense chambers, the hollow reverberations
of the lofty arches, and the profuse display of the operations of an
omnipotent hand. Indistinctness of vision allows free scope to the
imagination, and consequently greatly enhances your pleasure.
Many persons go away from the cave disappointed ; they hear of
rooms and ceilings, and if they do not expect to see them plastered
and white-washed, they think at least that they will be mathe¬
matically regular in form, and that they will be able to walk in
them with as much ease and see as many wonders as they would
in a visit to Aladdin's palace. A visit to the cave is not unattended
with fatigue, hut the pleasure you derive from it is ample compen¬
sation.
(The author of this pamphlet has omitted to notice what I
consider one of the greatest and most beautiful of nature's curiosities
in this grand work of nature, namely, what is called the Rising
Moon. In a dark recess, on the eastern side of the cave, this
curiosity appears in full relief. It is a very natural representation
of the moon in her last quarter, rising in the morning.)
(NOTE A)
Since the publication of the first edition of this description, a
discovery of great interest has been made in the Infernal Regions,
which deserves notice on account of its extraordinary richness and
rarity. The floor of this apartment, until recently, has been
supposed to be solid rock, hut it is now ascertained to he a rich
mine of calcareous deposits, surpassing in beauty anything ever yet
discovered in this or any other cavern. By perforating the floor
with a crow bar, it was found to consist of successive layers of
brilliant white crystals, to the depth of three feet, the layers being
often interrupted, and varying in width.
The crystals are usually pendent from the lower surfaces of
the layers, though very many of them serve as pillars to support
the superincumbent mass. After penetrating through the layers,
a large geode or hollow space was discovered, extending many yards
horizontally, but only three feet deep, which was half full of very
limpid water. In this cavity the crystals assume the form of well-
defined dog-tooth spar, and are unrivalled in brilliancy and beauty.
In the course of extensive and minute explorations in different caves
in this and other states, I have never met with a similar formation,
or with crystals of such transcendent beauty. By the kindness of
the proprietor, I have been enabled to make a choice collection of
specimens, embracing almost every variety. For one of these I have
refused $100.
Description of Weter's Cave
339
(íí"OTE B)
Much has been said of late of another cave that has been
discovered within two years, in the immediate vicinity of Weyer's.
A few words respecting it may not be uninteresting. You gain
admittance by a long flight of steps, and immediately flnd yourself
in a large apartment, the first view of which (under the circum¬
stances in which I first saw it, by the light of several hundred
candles), is very imposing.
Pillars and enormous pendant stalactites impart an air of
wildness and irregularity to the scene, that is not observable in
the other cave. There are few narrow passages; the cavern aeeins
to be comprised in one immense room, its floor, however, being
so uneven and rugged, and the view so much curtailed by pillars
and stalactites that extend nearly to the floor, that the effect which
otherwise would be produced by its vastness, is very sensibly
diminished. I have not space to describe this cave more minutely,
but vrill briefly give my impressions of the comparative merits of
these rival claimants of our admiration. We are immediately struck
with astonishment and pleasure at the general view that is presented
to us in Weast's Cave, as long as we look at it at a little distance,
but our emotions are not very varied; and when we examine closely
the objects of our admiration, our emotions subside, for their beauty
is gone.
As we enter Weyer's Cave we are not transported with those
violent yet agreeable emotions, but as we proceed, new and richer
beauties rise successively before us, and our feelings rise with them,
until they reach an almost painful degree of intenseness, nor is the
effect lessened by the most minute examination of the objects of our
admiration. Weast's Cave richly deserves a visit from all who
love to contemplate the works of nature, but in variety, in beauty,
and in general effect, it must yield the palm to Weyer's.
CHAPTEE V
Account of The Medical Peopebties of The
Geey Sulphub Spbings
The great reputation which the mineral springs of Virginia
have of late years acquired, causes them to he resorted to in great
numbers, not only by invalids fnom every section of the United
States and foreign parts, but ala» by individuals of leisure and
fashion, whose principal object is to pass the summer in an agreeable
manner. The properties of the Warm, Hot, Sweet, White Sulphur,
Salt Sulphur, and Eed Sulphur Springs, are generally known.
Those of the Grey Sulphur, having been ascertained only within
the two last years, have yet to be made public, and in order to
do so, we are induced to give, in this form, an account of the
situation and medical properties, together with a statement of
some of the cases benefitted by the use of the waters.
The Grey Sulphur Springs are situated near the line, dividing
the counties of Giles and Monroe, Virginia, on the main road
leading from the court house of the one to that of the other. They
are three-fourths of a mile from Peterstown, nine miles from Red
Sulphur, and by the county road, twenty and a quarter miles from
the Salt Sulphur Spring. In traveling to the Virginia springs,
by either the main Tennessee or Goodspur Gap Road, and crossing
the country from Hewbern, by the stage road to the Sulphur Springs,
the Grey Sulphur Springs are the first arrived at. They are thirty
miles distant from Hewbern. The location is such as to admit of
many and varied improvements, which, when completed, will render
this spot an elegant and desirable resort during the summer months,
independent of the high medicinal properties of the mineral waters.
The present improvements consist of a brick hotel ninety feet
long and thirty-two wide; two ranges of cabins, one hundred and
sixty-two feet long each, which, with other buildings in connection,
afford accommodation for from ninety to one hundred visitors.
There are two springs at this establishment, situated within
five feet of each other and inclosed in one building. Although
rising so near to each other, yet they differ most materially in
their action on the system. Both appear to be peculiarly serviceable
in dyspeptic cases, and in such as originate in a disordered state
of tbe stomach—the one in those in which inflammation exists, the
other in such as proceed from torpidity. They have hitherto been
known as Large and Small Springs; but having succeeded towards
the close of the last season in procuring a much larger supply of
water at the Small Spring than is afforded by the Large, a change
of names became necessary. The Large will hereafter be known
Medical Pkopekties of Grey Sulphur Springs 341
as the Anti-Dyspeptic, and the Small as the Aperient, which names
will serve to point out their peculiar characteristics.
The springs have heen classed hy Professor Shepard, as
"Alkalino Sulphurous," a variety so rarely met with that another
is not known in the United States. The waters are heautifully
clear, and highly charged with gas, which render them light and
extremely pleasant, especially that of the Anti-Dyspeptic Spring,
which produces none of those unpleasant sensations so frequently
felt on the first drinking of mineral waters.
When first purchased some of the water was submitted to a
chemist for analysis; the quantity, however, was too small for hi-m
to ascertain all its ingredients. A more recent examination has
heen made hy Professor C. U. Shepard, who has furnished us vdth
the following abstract of an article which appears in the April
number (1836) of Prof. Silliman's Journal of Science and Arts.
"The following is the most satisfactory view which my
experiments enable me to present of the condition of these waters:
Specific gravity, 1,003.
Soluble Ingredients
Nitrogen
Hydro-Sulphuric Acid
Bi-Carhonate of Soda*
A Super Carbonate of Lime
Chloride of Calcium
Chloride of Sodium
Sulphate of Soda
An Alkaline or earthly Crenate, or both
Silicic Acid
Insoluble Ingredients
Sulphuret of Iron
Crenate of Peroxide of Iron
Silicic Acid
Alumina
Silicate of Iron
"My experiments do not permit me to point out the differences
between the two springs with precision. The new spring appears
to give rise to a greater amount of hydro-sulphuric acid, as well
as of iron and silicic acid. Probably it may differ in still other
respects. I have not examined it for iodine or bromine."
* It cannot be determined whether free carbonic acid exists in these waters, without
going into a quantitative analysis.—C U. S.
342
Histoey of The Valley
As no regular analysis was attempted, tlie quantities in wliich
these several ingredients exist, still remain undetermined. That
they are in difiFerent proportions in the two springs, is evident not
only from their deposits, but also from their action on the system.
The action of the Anti-Dyspeptic Spring is diuretic and gently
aperient, tending to restore the healthy performance of the functions,
and reduce or diffuse the local irritation of disease. The Aperient
Spring, while it possesses all the alkaline properties of the other,
has an aperient and alterative action. Possessing more iron (of
which the other has hut a trace), it acts more powerfully as a tonic,
whilst its other ingredients cause it to act in some cases as a very
powerful aperient.
As these springs have been visited by invalids only during the
two last seasons, it is reasonable to suppose that all their properties
have not yet been discovered, nor all the cases ascertained in which
they can be beneficially used. In fact, owing to the small quantity
of water furnished hitherto by the Aperient Spring, its qualities
have been hut little tested, and there can be no doubt (judging from
its constituents), that it will be found equally salubrious as the
Anti-Dyspeptic Spring, only better adapted to another class of cases.
To give a general idea of the properties of these waters, we might
say that they are peculiarly serviceable in those diseases which
originate in a disordered state of the stomach and bowels, and also
in hepatic affections. It is proper, however, to enter more into
details, and we therefore submit the following synopsis of the medical
properties of the Anti-Dyspeptic Spring.
Medical Peoperties
1. It relieves nausea and headaches, arising from disordered
stomachs.
2. I^eutralizes acidity, and if taken at meals, or immediately
after, it has a tendency to prevent those unpleasant sensations so
often experienced by invalids, from indiscretion in dieting.
3. Is an excellent tonic, exciting appetite and imparting
strength to digestion.
4. Quiets irritation of the alimentary canal.
5. Controls and lessens the force of the circulation when
unnaturally excited by disease, and often in this way, is remedial
in internal inflammation of the organs.
6. It tranquilizes nervous irritability.
7. Is a mild and certain expectorant, often allaying dyspnoae,
and promoting recovery from chronic ailments of the chest or
windpipe.
8. It alters the action of the liver, where this has been
previously deranged, in a manner peculiar to itself, and under
circumstances in which the ordinary alteratives are forbidden by
reason of their excitive or otherwise irrelevant properties.
Medical Properties of Grey Sulphur Springs 343
9. It is also sudorific or diaphoretic; and
10. When taken at bedtime, often proves itself soporific;
apparently stilling that indescribable, hut too well understood
inquietude which so frequently and unhappily interrupts or prevents
the repose of the invalid, and especially of the dyspeptic.
Having thus briefly stated the properties of this spring, we
submit the following statement of cases, treated at the Grey Sulphur,
illustrative of the effect of the waters, and in corroboration of what
has been advanced. Except those which are noticed in their proper
places, all are either directly from the pen of the sufferers themselves,
or were immediately dictated by them in the form in which they
appear in the notes. The originals are in our possession, signed
by the individuals whose cases are referred to.
Ho. 1
Dear Sir—I take pleasure in stating that the waters of the
Grey Sulphur have proved quite beneficial, during a visit of ten
days, both to Mrs. S. and myself. We have both been suffering with
that distressing malady, dyspepsia, for a long time, and in my case
with a general nervous debility, a weak and torpid state of the
stomach and bowels, and at times great distress of the head and
mind, and nervous excitement, even to spasms. After drinking
freely of the Anti-Dyspeptic Spring, even at meals, the water
produced a fine glow and perspiration, suspended the nervous
irritation and distress, and acted as a tonic for the stomach, created
a strong appetite and enabled me to partake, with impunity, of any
or all the solid and delicate dishes with which your table abounded.
The water of the Anti-Dyspeptic Spring corrected and prevented
acidity of the stomach, and seemed to give activity and strength to
that organ,) but we required a free use of the Aperient Spring, in
the mornings, to prevent a constipation of the bowels, which the
Anti-Dyspeptic Spring seemed to produce.* A glass or two of the
Anti-Dyspeptic Spring, on retiring, produced a glow, allayed nervous
irritation, and induced a fine night's sleep; and we have, as well
as our servant woman, who was in a debilitated state of health,
experienced more benefit here than from any of the waters we
have as yet visited.
Respectfully yours, &c..
Ho. 2
Dear Sir—It gives me great pleasure to inform you of the
general effects of your Anti-Dyspeptic Spring, in my case. During
the three days' trial of the waters, I am convinced of its diuretic
*In a few instances this effect was complained of, but we found it was only In
those cases where habitual costiveness existed, and this was easily remedied by tnaking
use of the Aperient Spring before breakfast.
344
Histoky of The Valley
and diaphoretic qualities, and in one instance it acted as an alterative
on my liver, producing a free discharge of bilious matter. My
general health has improved, the symptoms of my disease
(neuralgia) have mitigated, my appetite increased, my pulse has
become more tranquil and regular, and my sleep more continual
and refreshing. I have also gained strength and weight (three
pounds in three days) during my short sojourn with you.
Yours respectfully,
No. 3
On the 6th of August, 1835, I arrived at the Grey Sulphur
Springs in a state of much depression, accompanied by a fever and
rapid pulse, both arising from a complication of disorders belonging
to the throat, the stomach and bowels. In the afternoon I drank
of the Anti-Dyspeptic Spring, and the immediate effect was to
produce a gentle moisture of the skin, and to reduce the pulse from
an hundred beats in a minute to about eighty. In the evening my
system generally was relieved. On going to bed I drank of the
same spring, and on the following morning felt a continuance of the
same agreeable influence, and an improved appetite. In the
afternoon there was a furthur reduction of pulse, and my fever
entirely subsided, but partially returned in the night, with quickness
of pulse, but by no means accelerated as it was when I came. In
the course of the second day, the pulse beat sixty per minute, but
quickened again. The first twenty-four or thirty-six hours'
experience was followed by similar effects the two following days,
one of which I confined myself to the Aperient Spring, and perceived
no difference. Neither of them had the effect to move my bowels,
but on the contrary to constipate them. I am much inclined to
believe that a continuance of these waters might have a salutary
influence upon my very singular, very troublesome, and very
obstinate case, if I can judge of their agreeable effect upon my
skin, my spirits and system generally, in so short a time as three
days. There was a continued reduction of the pulse from
accelerated action, produced at the Sulphur Spring, by
drinking its waters; but it varied, being considerably quickened in
the evening and during the night. The appetite was much improved
and continued uniform. I regret that I could not remain long
enough at the Grey Sulphur to test its effects upon my chronic
complaints.
No. 4
Mr. H had frequent hemorrhages, accompanied with a pain
in the chest ; his cough was slight, but he suffered much from phlegm.
Twenty-four hours after being at the Grey Sulphur, on examining
his pulse, it was found to be about one hundred. Made use of
Medical Pbopbkties of Grey Sulphur Springs 345
the Anti-Dyspeptic Spring, taking about three tumblers per diem.
Three days after (about the same hour of the day), his pulse was
again examined and found to he reduced to seventy-six heats per
minute, and he felt much better. Having left home for
Spring, he thought it his duty to go there. About a month after,
he returned. He had gradually improved in health, and looked
much better, and was evidently so. His pulse, however, was much
too frequent, and he could not get it lowered. After leaving the
Grey Sulphur, it had risen up from eighty-five to ninety, and in
the afternoon was frequently at one hundred. In the afternoon of
the day he arrived, his pulse was counted, and found to he one
hundred. After remaining five days, he again left for the
Spring, his pulse varied, during his stay at the Grey, from seventy-
five to ninety, hut never reached as high as one hundred. His
complexion became clearer, his spirits better, and his cough entirely
left him. It had been gradually lessening at the Spring,
hut he could not get rid of it altogether, and was, moreover, very
annoying to him early in the mornings. In reply to an inquiry,
he stated, after a little reflection, "that he had not coughed once,
that he could recollect, since his (recent) arrival at the Grey, and
expectorated with more ease the phlegm which collected in his
throat."
ISTote.—The above is extracted from notes we kept of a few
cases during last summer. Hot intending, at first, to publish them,
we did not ask the consent of Mr. H., and we hope he will pardon
the liberty we have taken.
The three following cases, which occurred in 1834, we give from
notes made soon after, and whilst the circumstances were fresh in
our memory, and for the correctness of which we hold ourselves
responsible.
Ho. 5
Mr. A. W., of Baltimore, arrived at the Grey Sulphur in
August, 1834. His health had been feeble for some time, though
in appearance he looked but little like an invalid. On the morning
of the second day after his arrival at the Grey Sulphur, he had,
whilst standing at the spring house, a considerable hemorrhage—
a half pint of blood, at least, was spit up in a I'ery short time.
A little common salt was administered, which had the effect of
stopping it. It being deemed improper for him to move immedi¬
ately, he was induced to lie down on one of the benches. About
half an hous after this occurrence, his pulse was felt for the first
time. It then heat one hundred and eighteen per minute; nor did
it vary for the next half hour. He was persuaded to take some of
the water of the Anti-Dyspeptic Spring, which he was loath at first
to do, lest a recurrence of the hemorrhage should take place. He
took about a half pint of water, in small quantities at a time, with
346
Histobt of The Valley
intervals of from fifteen to twenty minutes between each. In about
an hour from the drinking of the first portion of the water, bis pulse
was reduced to ninety-eight beats per minute. Soon after, be was
assisted up to bis room and put to bed. His pulse was not again
examined until about four o'clock in the afternoon (the hemorrhage
bad occurred about ten o'clock a. m.), it was then found to have
fallen to eighty-six. In the course of the day, be bad taken about
a pint of water, in quantities of about a half tumbler at a time. The
next morning bis pulse was again examined, and found to have
fallen to eighty-four beats per minute. In the course of the day,
be left bis bed and came down stairs, and the day following, be left
the Grey for the Ked Sulphur, to obtain medical advice. His pulse
was not examined after be left bis bed.
Ho. 6
Mr. M., of South Carolina, bad been long a dyspeptic, and bad
suffered for many years from chronic diarrhea. Early in the season
of 1834, be visited the Saratoga Springs, the water proving injurious
to him. From thence be visited the V^ite Sulphur, Salt Sulphur,
and Red Sulphur Springs, without experiencing material benefit.
"When be arrived at the Grey Sulphur Springs, be was exceedingly
feeble and bad to be assisted about, and for several days scarce ever
left bis chamber, except at meal times. His passages were very
frequent, from eight to ten during the night, and about the same
number during the day. He bad entirely lost the power of secreting
urine, and all liquids which be drank passed through bis bowels mixed
up with undigested food. His passages were thin and of a whitish
clay color, apparently made up of water and undigested food, the
latter so little changed as to be easily recognized. In three days bis
passages were reduced to from two to three each night, and about
the same number during the day, the consistency and color also
changed. In a week's time this change was still greater. The
number of passages were about the same, but they became of a
bright yellow color, and similar to a child's in consistency. He
moreover secreted urine freely, and on one occasion he informed us
that he had passed a large quantity of "pure bile." His bowels
remained nearly in this state, during the time he remained at the
spring (about a fortnight), but he improved greatly in bodily health,
walked out, was cheerful, and in every respect appeared better.
The intended stoppage of the stage hurried him off earlier than he
wished. He left the Grey Sulphur with the belief that he had
derived considerable benefit from the use of the waters. It is proper
to remark that his appetite was enormous, and that he did not restrict
himself in his diet.
Hote—There were several other cases of diarrhea at the Grey
Sulphur in 1834; all were materially benefitted by the use of the
Anti-Dyspeptic Spring.
Medical Peopekties of Geey Sulphde Speings
347
li'o. 7
Mr. L. arrived at the Grey Sulphur Springs about four o'clock
in the afternoon. He had been for some time in a delicate state
of health and had suffered much during the day. Early in the
morning he had been seized with nausea, which brought on vomiting.
The irritation increased during the day, and the vomiting became
frequent and easily excited; all food was immediately rejected, and
■so irritable became the stomach, that two mouthfuls of water, taken
a short time before reaching the Grey Sulphur, were thrown up
before he could recline hack in his carriage. He was very much
exhausted when he arrived, hut "without sitting down, requested to
he shown to the spring. We accompanied him do"wn. He took a
glass of the Anti-Dyspeptic Spring, paused for a few seconds, then
took another. A minute or two elapsed, and he drank several in
quick succession. The precise properties of the water had not then
been ascertained, and we felt hound to caution him against making
such free use of an untried water, although we then knew nothing
of his case. He laid down the glass and walked up to the house
with us. On the way, he mentioned the particulars already given—
in continuation, he stated that on drinking the first tumbler of water,
he experienced a slight nausea, as the first of it reached the coat
of the stomach, hut that this wore off almost instantaneously. Being
much exhausted and exceedingly thirsty, he determined to venture
a second, although he firmly believed that both would he thro"wn up.
Hot the slightest nausea was experienced on drinking the second
tumbler of water. Surprised at this effect he determined to ascertain
what would be the effect of taking it in larger quantities, and for
this purpose he drank about four tumblers more, when he was
prevented from proceeding further by our remarks. The great
quantity he had taken not only produced no unpleasant sensations,
hut on the contrary, removed those he had previously experienced,
and served to revive him. In the course of the afternoon he took
two or three glasses more of the water. About seven o'clock supper
was served, of which he partook freely, making choice of substantial
food, such as broiled chicken, bread, rice, &c. Hot the slightest
nausea was produced. Tearing a recurrence the next morning, he
was advised to take some of the water before he left his bed. We
were informed that a slight nausea was felt, hut it immediately wore
off on drinking a glass of water. In similar attacks, which this
gentleman had previously had, each was succeeded by such costiveness
that medicin« had to he resorted to. In the present one, there was
no occasion for medicine; the evacuations were large and the bowels
continued regular during the time he remained; nor did he at any
time thereafter experience any nausea, with which we were made
acquainted.
348
Histoey of The Valley
No. 8
Extract of a Letter, dated New York, January 21, 1836.
"It gives me great pleasure to inform you that I fully realized
all the benefits I had heen led to anticipate from the use of the -waters
of the Grey Sulphur (Anti-Dyspeptic) Spring, -with which you so
kindly provided me. On Monday morning, I was very seasick, so
that I could not leave my herth "without vomiting, hut on taking
half a tumhler of the water, I was sensibly relieved. I continued
to use it agreeably to your directions, taking half a tumbler at
intervals of fifteen minutes, till the bottle was exhausted. By that
time, I had so far recovered as to be able to go about the deck with
great comfort, and took a hearty meal, both at dinner and supper.
The next morning, however, the weather having become more
boisterous, and the sea running high, I was again very sick, hut my
resource had failed me, and I had only to yield myself quietly to
the influence of that most distressing affection. From the result of
the experiment, I am satisfied that it is the best remedy for
seasickness that I have ever heard of, and that, had not the supply
of water failed, I should not have lost one meal during the voyage."
The following note which has heen kindly furnished us, refers
to the same subject:
"Dear Sir—The following is an extract of a letter received by
me, from Mr. J. H., who went passenger by the steamboat William
Gibbons, in January last, sho-wing the very beneficial effects of the
Grey Sulphur water in relieving him from seasickness.
"The effects of the water on me were most beneficial, and while
the supply lasted, relieved me entirely of nausea, so that I was
enabled to eat heartily."
Having been at sea with Mr. H., I hear testimony that he is a
complete victim to seasickness, and I do not know any one on whom
the effects of that water could he better tested.
No. 9
Sir—It affords me pleasure to bear testimony to the efficacy
of the waters of the Grey Sulphur Springs in my case. I have been
suffering from dyspepsia for at least fifteen years, during which
time it has made fearful inroads on a naturally delicate constitution.
The disease had progressed so far (a few years ago) that the slight
stimulus of food produced an immediate evacuation after every meal.
This state of things could not last, and a most violent inflammation
of the bowels ensued, which brought me to the borders of the grave,
and eventuated in the formation of a fistula in ano. The sinuses
spread so far, and became so numerous, that I was forced to have some
of them laid open, hut having a predisposition to pulmonary affec¬
tions, it was not deemed prudent to operate on all of them. My diges¬
tive organs had not recovered their strength, and the irritation of un-
Medical Peopekties of Geey Sulphue Speings 349
digested food (though I had lived extremely low), kept up the
inflammation, and this at last extended to the neck of the bladder and
became extremely distressing. To remove the inflammation and
obtain relief, I had recourse to mustard poultices and opiates, but the
relief was very temporary.
Whilst suffering much from this cause, I was induced to set off
for the Virginia springs. At that time my bodily health was so much
impaired that I was almost incapable of transacting business;
all employment, even reading, was irksome to me. My digestion
was so bad that I scarcely knew what to live on ; everything, however
plain, appeared to disagree with me, and I was at times truly wearied
of life, for I looked forward only to a life of pain and suffering.
Such was my situation, when in 1834,1 left my home for the springs.
On my journey I did not improve in health, but on the contrary,
had a slight attack of diarrhea. The irritation around the bladder
continued, or rather increased, so that I was obliged to make use
of opiates daily, and sometimes, two or three times in the course of
the day. The flrst spring I arrived at was the Grey Sulphur. This
I consider fortunate, as I found on trial that all the others were
too stimulating for me, with the exception of the Ked Sulphur, and
from that I am not aware of experiencing any material benefit.
Be this as it may, it enabled me satisfactorily to ascertain that the
waters of the Grey Sulphur Spring were decidedly beneficial in my
case. I can scarcely describe my situation when I arrived at your
springs. I was weak, feverish, and laboring under a kind of nervous
excitement, whilst the inflammation had evidently increased, and I
suffered much from it, especially towards evening. I have been thus
particular, that the action of the water may be more distinctly
understood. The flrst day of my arrival I drank freely of the
Anti-Dyspeptic Spring. I took no note of the quantity, but drank
whenever I felt thirsty, or had an inclination, and I must confess,
with but little expectation of finding relief, or at least, not immediate,
for your spring had not then obtained that celebrity, which I am
glad to find it has since acquired. Judge, then, of my very agreeable
surprise at finding in the evening (the time when the paroxysms of
pain were the most violent), that they were so slight that I had no
need of medicine. I retired to rest and slept soundly. The next
day I was not at all annoyed, and at the usual time, I scarcely
perceived that there was any irritation at all. The third day I
was entirely relieved, and had no return during my stay at the
spring, nor had I occasion once to use any medicine.
Other changes not less important, also took place. The diarrhea
ceased on fhe second day, and in the course of the week the
evacuations, from being thin and of a whitish clay color, became
of an orange color, and acquired considerable firmness, and in a
short time afterwards, acquired all the characteristics of healthy
passages. It is needless to say that my digestion had improved.
One thing is worthy of remark, and that is, that I found myself
350
History of The Valley
able to digest not only plain food, but also the ricber kinds, and even
desserts; and this without suffering, and even without experiencing
any unpleasant feeling after meals. I should here state, however,
that I invariably took from one to two tumblers of the water after
each meal, and I found this peculiarly serviceable after breakfast,
when the tea, or coffee, became (almost invariably at first) acid.
During my sojourn with you, I improved in every respect, and even
the discharge from the fistulas ceased nearly altogether, and I
returned home in comparatively excellent health, which I enjoyed
until, unfortunately, I was attacked with the influenza during the
last winter. From that time I began to retrograde, and when
summer arrived I was in almost as had condition as the year
previous. The inflammation and irritation were quite as violent,
and my digestion had again become disordered. I had experienced
too much relief at the Grey Sulphur to hesitate long as to the
proper course to he pursued, and again I had the pleasure of visiting
them the last season. I have only to say that the same happy effects
were produced, the only difference I observed being that these were
not so immediate as the year previous, hut 1 amply compensated for
this by their permanency. And I have now the pleasure of stating
to you that I have enjoyed, and am now enjoying (February 12th)
better health than I have known for the last ten or twelve years,
and most happy am I to state to you, that I have not had the
slightest indication of inflammation in those regions where I had
suffered so much.
I remain. Dear Sir, yours, &c.,
Ho. 10
Mr. B. has had a bronchial affection for many years, which at
times was so distressing as to compel him to remain propped up in
a sitting posture, in bed, the whole night, and in this mode obtain
some sleep. To obtain relief from this affection, he now traveled.
When he first arrived at the Grey Sulphur, the cough was very
troublesome. Made use of the Anti-Dyspeptic Spring, which had
the effect of producing a gentle perspiration, especially at night, and
which effect was continued whenever the water was taken, during
the whole time of his stay. The cough gradually diminished until
it almost disappeared altogether. At first there was considerable
difficulty in getting up the phlegm, but after drinking the water a
short time, it was expectorated with ease. During the time he was
at Grey Sulphur, he slept well, had an excellent appetite, and could
easily digest whatever he partook of. B.
The above statement of cases was submitted to Professors James
Moultrie, Jr., and S. Henry Dickson, of the Medical College of the
State of South Carolina. The following letters will show the
Medical Peoperties of Geey Sulphur Springs
351
opinion entertained by these gentlemen relative to the medical
properties of these waters.
Charleston, Feb. 11th, 1836.
Dear Sir—I have overlooked your intended publication together
with the accompanying documents. I think the statements furnished
by the latter fully authorize you to put forth what you propose.
The amount of experience with the waters is very small, to be sure,
but such as it is, it is calculated to excite strong presumption in
their favor. Indeed, considering their analysis jointly with the facts
furnished in your documents, I have confident expectations that they
WÜ1 prove among the most useful discoveries of that sort, yet made
in our country. All thus early known of them encourages us to
look for future corroboration of the impressions you have imbibed
respecting their virtues. Considering their elements, they cannot
be nugatory, and must therefore, be productive of benefit or mischief.
Eeasoning from what we already know, the evidence appears to be
altogether in favor of a salutary result.
Very truly yours,
James Moultrie, Jr., M. D.
J. D. Legare, Esq.
Feb. 11th, 1836.
Dear Sir—I have perused with attention and interest the papers
sent me, containing reports of cases in which the waters of your
Virginia spring have been tried; and do not hesitate to express the
opinion that they fully justify the statements made in your proposed
publication. Prof. Shepard's analysis exhibits a singular combi¬
nation of ingredients, and prepare us to anticipate striking and
gratifying results from the use of waters containing remedies of
such obvious efficiency. I confess, I am led to entertain sanguine
expectations of benefit to a large class of patients, from these
fountains, and shall be much disappointed if the "Grey Sulphur
Springs" do not soon attain a high rank among the summer resorts
of invalids, and of the fashionable world.
With great regard, I remain. Dear Sir, yours faithfully,
S. Henry Dickson, M. D.
J. D. Legare, Esq.
We here close for the present our account of the medical
properties of the Grey Sulphur Springs. The report of cases
might have been more extended, had we applied to all of the
individuals wiio have been benefitted by the use of these waters.
It was not deemed necessary to do so. Invalids, with strongly
marked cases, will in all probability visit these springs during the
next and succeeding seasons, and it is our intention to preserve a
record of such as may be communicated to us.
John D. Legare.
CHAPTER VI
Items of General Interest
Winchester
The reader will douhtless recollect that this flourishing town
was established by law in the year 1752. In 1738, there were hut
two cabins erected near the run. It is now a very wealthy corporate
town, has its own court of justice, is the seat of justice for the
county of Frederick, is the place where the Supreme Courts of
Chancery and Law are held for the county, the residence of many
distinguished lawyers and physicians, has a flourishing academy
and numerous classical and English schools, many mechanical
establishments of first order, some thirty or forty retail stores, a
number of taverns kept in the best style, several confectionery shops,
several merchant tailors, and almost every variety of business done
in our seaport cities. Its buildings are many of brick of superior
order. Taylor's Hotel is conspicuous for its great size and elegance
of structure. Its front on Loudoun street, is ninety feet, and runs
its wings one hundred and thirty feet back—contains seventy rooms—
is calculated to entertain numerous companies of visitors and
boarders, and is kept in superb style. This building is three stories ;
the basement story is divided into cellars and several rooms
furnished in the neatest manner; the attic is divided into lodging
rooms, which are also furnished in neat style. It commands an
immense business.*
Within the last five or six years a railroad has been constructed
from Winchester to Harper's Eerry, on the Baltimore highway, six
or seven spacious warehouses erected at the commencement of the
road, and is the place of deposit of vast quantities of merchandise
and produce of every variety. It now contains upwards of 4,000
inhabitants, and is a place of great business. Several gentlemen,
descended from German ancestors, who have accumulated consid¬
erable wealth, are among them. It has two Presbyterian edifices,
handsomely built, as places of public worship ; one Catholic chapel ;
two Methodist meeting houses, and a splendid Episcopal church
lately erected ; the Baptists have a meeting house, as also the German
Lutherans; and the Friends have a neat brick building. The people
are divided into various religious sects, and it is believed much piety
prevails. It is doubtless one of the finest watered towns in the
Valley, and a place of general good health. Fine water is conveyed
through iron pipes to almost every part of the town ; there are many
hydrants erected in the streets; and many of the citizens have the
* Fourth Edition Note—It ceased to be a hotel in 1911.
Items of General Interest
353
water conveyed into their yards. This water is taken from a fine
limestone spring ahout half a mile west of the town. There is a
regular organized fire company, remarkable for their excellent
discipline and activity. But few houses have ever been destroyed
by fire. The author recollects seeing an old house on Loudoun street
destroyed by fire upwards of thirty years ago; the wind blew a
strong gale from the northwest, and notwithstanding the opposite
side of the street was closely built with wooden houses, such was the
activity of the fire company and other citizens, that every building
was saved except the one which first took fire. Several years
afterwards a fire broke out in a wooden building at the north end
of the town, and the flames spread with great rapidity. It was said
that twenty-two buildings took fire at the same time, and hut two
small buildings consumed. Those two belonged to an old gentleman
by the name of Benjamin Rutherford, and stood about one hundred
and fifty yards apart. The astonishing exertions and activity of
the fire company, together with the aid of every citizen, and even
ladies, saved twenty out of the twenty-two buildings on fire at the
same time; and what was remarkable, but little damage was done
to the buildings that were saved. A few years ago there were three
old wooden buildings on Loudoun street burned down, hut the flames
were so kept under that no other damages were done. Ahout sixty
years ago a framed building on Loudoun street, which was called
the "Long Ordinary," was destroyed by fire, and an old building on
the west side of the town, called "The Brewery," was destroyed by
fire. The author recollects seeing this building on fire. It is
believed that the foregoing statement contains a true account of
all the houses destroyed by fire for the last sixty or seventy years.
So that it may truly be said that Winchester has heretofore been
very fortunate.
Staunton
This town may with truth be said to he classical ground. In
the War of the Revolution, the Legislature had assembled at
Richmond; the enemy had advanced to the seat of government, and
the assembly adjourned and met at Charlottesville. Tarleton pursued
them thither, and they again adjourned and met at Staunton—here
they finished their session. Tarleton did not dare to interrupt them
there, for the best of all reasons ; the people of Augusta and adjoining
counties were a brave, hardy, and active race, well acquainted with
the use of the rifle; and if Tarleton had ventured to pursue them to
Staunton, he would in all probability have met with another "Cowpen
defeat." The citizens turned out manfully, well armed, and
determined to contest his march to that place, and protect their
legislators in their deliberations.
Staunton, like Winchester, has incorporated privileges, its own
court of justice, is the seat of justice for Augusta county, and the
place for holding Superior Courts of Law and Chancery for the
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History of The Valley
county, is the residence of several distinguished lawyers and
physicians, and is the site of a lunatic hospital of great reputation.
It has several beautiful edifices erected for public worship, and
fifteen or twenty retail stores, with four or five taverns kept in good
style. It is surrounded by many valuable farms, and a considerable
number of elegant brick dwelling houses, has several turnpike roads
leading to east and west, north and south, from which it derives great
advantages, and of course is a place of extensive business. In all
human probability, it is destined at some future day to become the
site of our state government. Its central situation, the fine health
of the country, its contiguity to the numerous mineral springs, its
safety from danger of invasion from a foreign enemy in time of
war, present most cogent arguments in its favor, and whenever our
western counties shall be filled with population, we will have a
considerable majority of the free white population west of the Blue
Ridge, and it appears to the mind of the author that the people of
the west will not rest satisfied with their seat of government in its
present situation.
Staunton has become conspicuous in the history of our state for
other important reasons. It is the place where two large conventions
of citizens were held some years ago, for deliberating on the great
question of reforming our State Constitution, the last of which
conventions was held in the month of July, 1825. In this convention
upwards of one hundred members attended. Their proceedings were
characterized by great temperance, but much energy. A most solemn
appeal was made to the Legislature on this vital question, and at
the ensuing session, an act passed submitting this question to the
lawful voters of the state, which resulted in a majority of the citizens
in favor of the necessity of calling a convention for the purpose of
revising and amending the organic law of our state. This body was
elected in the spring of 1826, and assembled at the capital in the city
of Richmond the ensuing autumn, and drew up certain amendments
to the original constitution, which were submitted to the people for
their final ratification or rejection. There were many of our ablest
statesmen opposed to its ratification, but a majority of our citizens
voted for its adoption.
Lewisbürg
This is a thriving village in the county of Greenbrier, west of
the Alleghany Mountains. It is yet but a small village, but the
seat of justice for the county. There is a Superior Court of Law
and Chancery and a Court of Appeals. It has become conspicuous
in the history of the state, from the circumstance that a convention
was lately held there of the citizens of the western commonwealth, by
which resolutions were passed, recommending a further amendment
to the State Constitution so as to give a more equal representation
of the two great divisions of the State in the General Assembly.
Neither is it undeserving of celebrity on account of its several
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355
religious edifices, among wfiich the Presbyterian deserves first to be
named from its size and commodious internal arrangements. The
Methodists and Baptists respectively, have also chaste and convenient
houses for public worship. There are several elegant brick dwelling
houses in the village, from six to seven retail stores, and two public
hotels, under excellent management. From the locality of the village
situated in the midst of a productive country, steadily increasing in
population and wealth, it is destined to become a place of consider¬
able business and importance. The face of the country contiguous to
and surrounding the village, is beautifully diversified by hills and
valleys, woods and fertile fields, and the town, with the whole of the
circumjacent region, is remarkable for the salubrity and healthiness
of its climate.
The Fine Arts
From the youth of our Commonwealth, and the character of
our people, devoted almost exclusively, as they have been, to
agriculture and its collateral pursuits, we cannot as yet, nor is it
yet expected that we can, produce before the world any masters in
the fine arts comparable with the old masters of Europe. Yet,
notwithstanding the fact that we have as yet no representatives in
sculpture to stand by the side of Canova, nor in painting, a champion
to compete with a Titian, a Guido, or a Stuart, yet we have not yet
been wholly denied the genius of the pencil. Some ten years since,
in the county of Berkeley, a young man of the name of McCautry,
with the intuitive perception only exliibited by true genius,
commenced, first in playful sketches, and shortly after in more
serious efforts, the divine art of painting. Encouraged by his rapid
advancement, he subsequently took a trip to the hallowed ground
of Italy, there to perfect himself in the business of his choice. He
promised much from improvement; but shortly after his return to
his native country, he died, and with him the hopes of his friends.
Six years ago, a Mr. Henry Bowen, of Frederick county, a
self-taught artist, commenced the business of a portrait painter,
and such was his proficiency in the art that it may be almost said
of him that he was accomplished in it from the outset. He has
since devoted himself assiduously to his employment, and has earned
thereby, from the striking fidelity of his sketches to truth and nature,
a well-merited reputation. The author can bear the safest testimony
to his character from the specimens of Mr. Bowen's work which he
has seen.
* Culture of Silk
The excellent lady of Mr. Amos Lupton, residing within two
and a half miles west of "Winchester, has met with very encouraging
success in her efforts at producing silk from the cultivation of the
trees and the domestication of the worm. She exhibited to the
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History of The Vai-ley
author several pair of hose she had manufactured from this silk,
and stated her intention of having the residue of the raw material
spim and woven into articles of wearing apparel. A hired woman,
meantime, was employed in spinning the silk from the cocoons upon
the common flax-wheel, and really made considerable headway in
her delicate task. We hope that Mrs. Lupton will persevere in the
enterprise; for we cannot hut believe that our soil and climate are
both well adapted for the culture of silk. Mr. Lupton has been
completely successful in the raising of the Morus Multicaulis, the
plants having grown very thrifty.
HYBRinOUS
An animal was begotten between a buck and a young cow about
twenty years ago. This extraordinary and beautiful animal was
produced in the neighborhood of Zane's Old Furnace. The owner
intended selling it to a butcher to make a veal of it; hut the late
Major Bean purchased it, and intended to raise it by hand. He
kept it several weeks, hut it died, and with it the hopes of Mr. Bean
and many of the neighbors. Mr. Bean flattered himself with high
expectations of having in his possession one of the most rare,
beautiful, and extraordinary curiosities in nature's work. The
author did not get the opportunity of seeing this singular creature,
but several of his neighbors visited Mr. Bean for the express purpose
of viewing it, who reported the facts to the writer of this narrative.
It was said to exhibit the head, neck, shoulders and forelegs of its
sire, and hinder parts that of the dam, and promised to grow to
pretty good size. It was a male.
The author saw the skin of a double calf in the neighborhood
of Luray. The hide was carefully taken off and stuffed. It had
a double body, two distinct heads and two tails, four perfect eyes,
and hut four legs. This singular extra natural production was in
possession of Capt. John Gatewood, Jr.
A Cow of Six Legs
Fifteen or sixteen years ago the late Samuel G. Sydnor owned
a cow with six perfectly formed legs, which the author frequently
saw. It had two extra legs formed on the shoulders, and when it
walked these two legs made regular motions. They hung over on
each side, and were much smaller than the other legs.
Splendid Improved Farm
Bushrod B. Washington, Esq., a few years ago erected a very
large brick dwelling house, in the neighborhood of Charlestown,
Jefferson county, with all the necessary offices. This building with
other improvements cost upwards of thirty thousand dollars.
Items of General Interest
357
The building was finished in the most tasteful style of modern
architecture; but unfortunately, some two or three years ago, it
accidentally took fire; and all the interior works were consumed.
But the writer is informed Mr. Washington has lately rebuilt it.
The author obtained a sketch of its dimensions, but has unfortunately
mislaid the memorandum. Sufiice it to say, it is one of the largest
and most elegant edifices in our country.
Judge Henry St. G. Tucker has erected in the neighborhood
of Leetown a most splendid stone building, rough-cast, finished in
beautiful style, three stories high; but the writer does not recollect
the exact size of the edifice, but it is a very large building. Jefferson
county contains a great number of fine large dwelling houses, with
other capital improvements. Berkeley county has many fine
buildings and highly improved farms. In the county of Clarke,
David H. Allen, Esq., has lately erected a brick dwelling on a
beautiful eminence, from which there is a most enchanting view
of the Blue Kidge and adjacent country. It is sixty-six feet by fifty,
with a splendid portico, supported hy a beautiful colonnade twenty-
five feet high of solid pine pillars.
In front of the house is an extended lawn, partly covered with
a sheet of transparent water, which adds greatly to the novelty and
beauty of the scenery. Mr. Allen informed the writer that some
years ago the watercourse contained much dark alluvial mud, on each
side, very miry and difficult to cross. He hauled out six thousand
wagon loads of the mud upon the adjoining high lands, which so
increased the fertility that, for several years, it was too rich for the
production of wheat.
Mr. Allen is pretty extensively engaged in the stock way. A
few years ago, he at one time owned one hundred and twenty head
of horses, and a large stock of improved black cattle, sheep and hogs.
Mr. Allen was bred to the law, but having married the daughter of
the late Col. Griffin Taylor, got this fine estate by her; and his
father being also wealthy, he soon abandoned the practice, and lived
a retired and private life ever since.
Edward Jaquline Smith, Esq., has built a fine brick dwelling
house, large and tastefully finished, on an extensive farm in the
same neighborhood. He is a most judicious and successful farmer.
Col. J. W. Ware has erected a fine large brick building near
Mr. Smith's, is also a successful farmer—is remarkable for breeding
the very finest cattle; and his stable has been the stand for several
years of the very finest horses which have been imported into our
country.
Col. Joseph Tuly, in the county of Clarke, has built a most
splendid aiid expensive mansion on his beautiful farm in the
neighborhood of Millwood, which he has named "Tulyries." To
give a detailed account of this fine building would be tedious and
perhaps tiresome to the reader. It is sufficient to say that this
edifice is sixty feet by forty, of the best of brick, finished from the
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History of The Valley
base to the attic in the most elegant style of modern architecture,
and is covered with tin. A spacious portico, supported underneath
with massive marble slabs, with pillars of solid pine, twenty-eight
feet high, supporting the roof—forming a most beautiful colonnade,
based on square marble blocks; the porch floor is laid with white
marble, and marble steps; a spacious entry; a spiral stairway
running from the passage to the summit, on which there is a
handsome cupola with a large brass ball erected; the fire-places
decorated with the finest marble mantles; his doors and windows of
the best mahogany; with a greenhouse in which there is sheltered
a great variety of the richest exotic plants and flowers; the yard
decorated with a great variety of native and imported trees and
shrubbery, with several orange trees which bear fruit handsomely.
Adjoining the yard, an extensive park is enclosed in the forest,
within which enclosure there are a number of native elks and deer.
The old buck elk will not suffer any stranger to intrude on his
premises. Col. Tuly's father was born and raised in the state of
Jersey, learned the trade of tanner, came to Virginia a young man,
commenced business on a small capital, and amassed a very
considerable estate, the greater part of which he devised to his only
son, Joseph. The Colonel carries on the tanning business extensively,
and has added considerably to the estate left him by his father.
He farms extensively and successfully, and largely in the stock way.
Mr. John Kerfoot, twenty-five or thirty years ago, built a large,
comfortable brick dwelling, finished in plain style, with most of his
offices and all his slaves' houses of the same material. In
approaching his residence it strikes the eye of the stranger as a
sprightly village. Mr. Kerfoot is beyond question one of the most
enterprising, judicious and successful farmers in our section of
country. He has acquired more wealth by his agricultural pursuits
than any individual within the author's knowledge; has raised a
large family of sons and daughters, and provided handsomely for
them all; has given each of his sons fine farms and every necessary
to commence business. His daughters as they have married and
left him have each of them been handsomely portioned off. Mr.
Kerfoot is, and has been for many years a member of the Baptist
church, a liberal, consistent and most worthy member. He is
rigidly punctual in his pecuniary engagements; it is said of bim
that he was never known to fail in a single instance to pay or fulfill
any engagement he has entered into. Thus coming up to "the golden
gospel rule of "doing to others as he would they should do unto
him."
Mr. John Eichardson is now the owner of the fine tract of
land formerly owned by, and the residence of the late Col. Warner
Washington, called "Fairfield," on which he has established an
extensive distillery. The stillhouse is built of brmk, attached to
which a large yard is enclosed and nicely fioored with the same
material, for the purpose of raising and fattening pork. About
Items of General Interest
359
every two months he sends off to the Baltimore market from eighty
to one hundred head of finely fattened hogs. Mr. Richardson is
a man of great industry and enterprise, farms extensively, and raises
a fine stock of improved cattle. He, like many of our citizens, is
the builder of his own fortune, having commenced on a very small
capital.
The Eev. Thomas Kennerly has lately erected a beautiful, plain,
extensive brick mansion at "Greenway Court," the ancient residence
of the late Lord Fairfax, now in the county of Clarke, near the
White Post village. James Madison Hite, Esq., resides in an
elegant brick mansion contiguous to the stone bridge.
Doctor James Hay has lately built in the same neighborhood
a truly splendid edifice of considerable size and finished in the most
elegant manner.
Doctor Berkeley, previous to his death, was engaged in erecting
a brick house near the Shenandoah, of very extensive dimensions,
but before he had finished it he was most cruelly murdered by his
slaves, and his body consumed in a tremendous fire. He was robbed
of a large sum of money by them, which they scattered about
amongst their confederates, part of which was found; hut it was
said at the time that a considerable part of it was lost. John Bust,
Esq., has lately purchased a part of Doctor Berkeley's estate,
including this fine hiiilding, which he has had finished in plain
neat style.
Doctor Berkeley was killed in 1818. Three of his slaves, one
female and two males, were tried and convicted of the murder in
Frederick court, and all three executed at Winchester, in the month
of July, 1818. The representatives of the doctor obtained an act
of assembly, authorizing them to sell off a number of the slaves
who were suspected with being concerned in the murder, and they
were sent to the South and sold. This estate now lias in the county
of Warren.
Capt. Robert C. Burwell, just before the late war, had erected
an elegant brick mansion in the neighborhood of Millwood. At the
commencement of the war he commanded a company of militia, and
marched at the head of his company, and joined the standard of
his country at Horfolk. He fell a sacrifice to that unhealthy climate
and died.
Previously to leaving home, he provided his last will, in which
he devised his fine estate to Philip Helson, Esq., who married his
sister, and now owns this elegant property.
The late Col. Charles Magill commenced, shortly before his
death, on hj^ fine farm about five miles south of Winchester, a very
large brick dwelling, but died before it was finished. Since his
death it has been finished, and now is the residence of John S.
Magill, Esq., one of his sons.
Mr. William A. Carter is now erecting a splendid brick dwelling,
about two miles west of Hewtown-Stephensburg on a beautiful
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History of The Valley
eminence which commands a most fascinating view of this village,
the adjacent country and mountains east and west, for a vast
distance. It is covered with English slate.
Joseph Heill, Esq., has erected a beautiful brick dwelling at
the north end of Hewtown-Stephenshurg, plastered and neatly
whitened on the outside. His neat little farm on which the buildings
are erected adjoins the village.
Mr. Isaac Hollingsworth has erected a splendid brick dwelling
near Winchester, contiguous to his fine mills—^his yard and curtilages
handsomely enclosed with first rate stone walls.
There are a number of other brick dwelling houses in the several
counties named, exclusively of those particularly mentioned; and
there are a considerable number of fine large stone buildings.
The residence of George H. Burwell, Esq., is most splendidly
improved with stone buildings. It adjoins the village of Millwood,
called "Carter Hall." The main building is sixty-six feet by thirty,
three stories, with a wing at each end, twenty-one feet long, two
stories high; the whole building finished in the most tasteful style
of modern architecture. This was the former residence of the late
Col. Hathaniel Burwell, a gentleman of great wealth. The buildings
stand on a beautiful eminence, and command a delightful view of
the Blue Ridge and the adjacent neighborhood. The water is
conveyed by force pumps from a fine spring to the dwelling house,
yards and stables, at a distance of about three hundred yards. This
fine farm may with truth he said to be among the most elegantly
improved estates west of the Blue Ridge.
Maj. Seth Mason has lately built a spacious stone dwelling,
stone ham and stable, on the waters of Crooked Run, in the county
of Frederick. The buildings are erected on a beautiful eminence,
and command a fine view of the Blue Ridge for a vast distance.
From the Major's yard about one hundred farms are to be seen in
full relief on the west side of the mountain.
Capt. Phenias Bowen has lately erected a stone dwelling, three
stories high, near the Opequon, in Clarke county. The writer never
obtained the exact dimensions of this building; but it is very large,
and covered with tin. It is not finished.
The late Maj. Isaac Hite, on his fine large farm, about the year
1792, built a stone dwelling near the great highway from Winchester
to Staunton—a most spacious and elegant building—in the county
of Frederick. At that period it was doubtless the most splendid
building west of the Blue Ridge. In point of taste, and beauty of
symmetry, it is certainly not exceeded by any country building the
author has ever seen. It still stands to be admired by every beholder.
In the county of Shenandoah, the late Messrs. Isaac Bowman,
Joseph Stover, and Anthony Spengler, severally built large brick
dwellings, but a short distance from Strasburg, each on a fine large
farm. It is hardly deemed necessary for the author to proceed with
a further detail of particular dwelling houses. It would require a
Items of General Interest
361
large volume to contain an account of all the fine dwellings in our
Valley. It is presumed that a sufficient number has been described
to enable the reader to form an estimate of the vast improvement of
our country within the last forty or fifty years. It is sufficient to say
that many counties in the Valley are equally well improved.
The great number of first rate merchant mills and factories
deserve some particular notice, but it would swell this publication
far beyond all reasonable limits to attempt a detail. The author
will therefore content himself, and be hopes the reader will be
content to have a brief description of Mr. Valentine Kbodes' mill
on Cedar Creek, the dividing line between Frederick and Shenandoah
counties. The author is induced to give a passing notice to this
building from the extraordinary and unparalleled labor performed
by Mr. Rhodes, with the assistance of one of bis sons, a youth of
about twelve or fourteen years of age, in its construction and erection.
Mr. Rhodes informed the author that when be bad purchased and
paid for the site, including a small tract of land, for which be paid
in advance, be bad no more than ten dollars left. Mr. Rhodes is an
ingenious mechanic and first rate mill-wrigbt. He determined,
however, on building bis mill, to enable himself to go on with it, that
be would undertake every job at bis trade that be could engage,
and if be earned eighty or one hundred dollars, be would proceed with
bis own building imtil bis money gave out; be would then engage in
work as opportunity afforded until be could gather one or two
hundred dollars more, and so proceeded on until be got bis mill to
running. It was six years from the time be commenced until be
got it to grinding.
But the most extraordinary, and the writer may truly say,
wonderful circumstance attending this building, is the immense
weight of stone and timbers used in its construction. The first story
is built of stone of enormous size and weight, several of which
are seven or eight feet long and fifteen or eighteen inches thick,
doubtless weighing several tons each, all of which Mr. Rhodes worked
into the walls with bis own personal labor. The only machine be
used was the mill screw. The wall on the west side is at least
five feet thick, and no part less than three. The first part of the
mill-bouse was twenty-eight feet square, or perhaps thirty, to which
be added another building fifty feet in length and thirty in width,
stretching across the entire stream, excepting a small arm of the
water-course forming a small island, on which the first building is
erected. The south end of the building juts against a solid perpen¬
dicular limestone rock twenty-five or thirty feet high, which forms
one of the walls; nature has formed niches in this, which receive
the ends of timbers fifty feet long and from ten to twelve inches
square, which Mr. Rhodes raised and put into place with the aid
of his son and mill-screw, one end restinjg on the wall of the first
building and the other inserted in the natural niches in the stone
wall. These powerful timbers are elevated about ten feet above
362
History of The Valley
the water. He receives his customers' grain at each end of his
mill, so that it may he said it stands in the two counties. It is
doubtful whether a similar instance of extraordinary exertion,
enterprise and successful perseverance can be found in our country.
Mr. Rhodes certainly deserves a premium for his wonderful
diligence and successful enterprise and perseverance in the
construction of this extraordinary building. There have been several
floods in the creek since the mill was erected; but the immense
strength of the dam and walls has heretofore resisted the force of
the waters, and the mill sustained no injury.
Churches
The Episcopal Society have within a few years past erected
several beautiful houses of worship ; one at Berryville, one at
Millwood, one in "Winchester (the latter a truly splendid building,
with a first rate organ), and another at Middletown, which is also a
beautiful and chaste structure, and is truly creditable to the Society.
The writer heard a minister of the gospel express the opinion that
it presented to the eye precisely what a church edifice ought to exhibit,
that is, a ray of truth. The Roman Catholic Society have erected
several chapels in several places. They have built a superb edifice
at Harper's Eerry, with a beautiful pulpit, with the image of the
Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus in her lap.
Harper's Ferry
It is scarcely necessary to inform the reader that this is the
location of the United States armory, and in the several shops are
generally employed about three hundred first rate mechanics, engaged
in the manufacture of arms for the purposes of war. There are
annually made about six or seven thousand muskets, two or three
thousand rifles, beside an immense number of swords, pistols, and
other side arms. The government employs at this establishment
a superintendent-general, a paymaster and a number of clerks. The
quantity of iron, steel, brass and other materials annually wrought
up, is immense. A vast number of strangers annually visit this
place to gratify their curiosity in seeing and inspecting the public
works and great mechanical operations, so extensively carried on.
The machinery of the musket factory is wrought by the waters of
the Potomac, and that of the rifle factory by the waters of the
Shenandoah.
This site for the public works, it is said, was first marked out
or recommended by the immortal Washington, and is certainly
evidence of his superior skill and judgment in all military matters.
A railroad from Winchester to Harper's Ferry has been lately
constructed, which has rendered Winchester a place of deposit for
the vast products of our Valley, hut little inferior to some of our
Items of General Interest
363
seaport towns. A turnpike road from Winchester to Parkersburg,
on the Ohio river, a distance of about two hundred and eighty
miles, has lately been finished; and another macadamized turnpike
road from Winchester to Staunton, has just been put into operation,
and it is almost inconceivable what vast quantities of produce now
find a ready way to Baltimore from the increased facilities of our
improved roads to that market.
An improved road from Staunton across the Alleghany
Mountains, is now going on to Parkersburg, which will still add
great facilities to Valley trade and greatly enhance the value of
real estate in western Virginia. There is also a turnpike from
Harrisonburg by way of the Warm Springs, Hot Springs and White
Sulphur, across the Alleghany and Wyandotte, by way of Kanawha.
Those several turnpikes are passable at all seasons of the year, and
greatly expedite the passenger's journey from east to west. These
several turnpikes have been made at vast expense to the state and
stockholders, notwithstanding which improvements are still going on.
A few years more and western Virginia will vie with our northern
and sister states with her vast improvements. Our Valley is making
great improvement in every agricultural pursuit. Copying after
our great and good countryman, Washington, immense improvements
have already been made, and are still making, in the rearing of
fine animals of every variety. Stage coaches travel all our turn¬
pike roads, drawn by the most splendid horses; and most of our
substantial farmers rear the finest cattle, sheep and hogs, and are
greatly improving the fertility of their lands. Our Valley furnishes
the several markets with vast quantities of superior beef, pork,
mutton, butter and the finest of breadstutfs. The quantities of oats
annually raised for market are incalculable. Immense crops of the
finest timothy, clover, and orchard grass hay, and corn fodder are
annually consumed by our farmers' stock; and notwithstanding the
vast quantities raised, once in awhile there are seasons of great
scarcity of provender for sustaining the vast stock of animals kept
on hand.
Our winters are frequently of great length and extremely severe.
The author will here notice one winter which was remarkable for
its long and excessive severity. When a youth, he frequently met
with individuals who well recollected the hard winter of 1740. It
was said that that remarkable winter produced the greatest depth
of snow ever known in our climate. The snow fell to such an
immense depth as to smother vast numbers of homed cattle, sheep,
hogs, deer, and many other wild animals.
The aufhor believes that it will not be uninteresting to the reader
to have a brief description of several remarkable works of nature
in our Valley, together with a notice of some elegant buildings and
improvements on the farms of private individuals. He will begin
with
364
History of The Vaieey
Jefferson County
Washington's Masonic Cave—^About two and a balf miles
southeast of Charlestown in this county is to he seen this cavern.
Tradition informs us that Gen. Washington and a number of other
gentlemen formed themselves into a Masonic Society and held their
lodges in this cavern. The writer saw and partially explored it. It
is not an extensive cavern, and is more remarkable from the fact
of its having been used as a lodge room by Washington and members.
It, however, has several different departments. The author was not
able to get into the lodge room, the entrance to which is quite low
and narrow. The proprietor, Mr. Clark, informed the author that
Washington's name, with the names of the several members of the
lodge, is inscribed in the face of the rocks in the lodge room. A
rock of very :hard stone, which lies near a very fine lime spring
convenient to the cave, has several inscriptions on it. The letters
are the plain Roman character; hut the author could not explain
the meaning. They probably are masonic enigmas.
Having introduced the name "Washington," though a digression
from the general subject, it will be well enough to notice several
important anecdotes in the history of thai great, heaven-protected
man, which the writer has heard from respectable authority.
The late Maj. Lawrence Lewis, a favorite nephew of Washing¬
ton's, and who resided with him at "Mount Vernon," for several
years, related the following remarkable anecdote of his uncle. In
the battle fought between Braddock and the Indians, it is well known
Washington acted as one of Braddock's aides. After the battle,
Daniel Craig, then of Winchester—but afterwards settled in Alexan¬
dria—became acquainted with Redhawk, a distinguished young
Indian warrior. In a conversation with the Doctor, Redhawk
inquired what young oflicer (who vas mounted on a very fine young
horse) it was, who rode with great rapidity from post to post, during
the action. The Doctor replied. Col. Washington. Redhawk im¬
mediately stated, "I fired eleven deliherate shots at that man, hut
could not touch him. I gave over any further attempt, believing he
was protected by the Great Spirit, and could not he killed by a bullet."
Redhawk further added, that his gun was never known to miss its
aim before.
We have another tradition in this neighborhood in relation to
this great man. It is stated that when he was retreating before the
British army in Jersey, he at once expressed to some of his officers
his determination, if he was still pursued, and unable to make a
stand, to continue his retreat until he reached Powell's Fort, which
he would fortify and defy all their forces.* This tradition was
*Poweirs Fort is in fact a natural fortress. The mountains on each side are of
immense height, and covered with loose stone; at the entrance, they come so close to¬
gether that a few hundred men nlaced on the heights could destroy ten times their
number, by hurling stone down on the enemy. If the enemy had attempted by a count¬
er route to enter the Fort, a few hundred active and brave riflemen, from the tnountaia-
DUS character of the country, could cut to pieces an army of almost any force.
Items of General Interest
365
communicated to the author hy a highly respectable gentleman of
this vicinity.
There was another tradition related to the author hy an old lady,
Mrs. Elizabeth Madson, on Koanoke river, of great respectability.
She stated the following fact: Several old Indian chiefs had offered
considerable premiums to any warrior or set of warriors, who would
bring out Washington's scalp. Seven Indians who were living in
the neighborhood of Koanoke, got to hear that Washington was on
his way out to inspect the fort very near the Roanoke river. There
were two roads leading to the fort ; one across the point of the moun¬
tain, and the other on level land. The one across the mountain was
the shorter way; the other on the level land the better. The seven
Indians placed themselves in ambush close to the side of level road,
and lay concealed two days and nights; but Washington did not pass.
They grew impatient, and their chief, the third day, stated that he
would go to the other road and ascertain whether Washington had
taken that route to the fort, the two roads being only one mile apart.
He gave his men positive orders not to fire at any person that might
pass in his absence. While he was gone. Col. Washington, Col. Lewis
and Col. Preston, all three passed close hy the enemy without being
molested.
Another tradition informs us that Lord Fairfax appointed
Washington one of his surveyors. He hoarded with Capt. Charles
Smith, within half a mile of Battletown. He kept his office in an
upper room in the spring house. This small log building is on the
farm owned by John B. Taylor, Esq., the only son of the late Col.
Griffin Taylor, now in Clarke county.
The Indian Church
This is said to he a most grand work of nature. It is a spacious
and beautiful cavern, in a high rock, about four miles west of
Watkins' Ferry, on the Virginia side of the Cohongoruton (Poto¬
mac). It is a circular dome of considerable height, with a most
extraordinary spiral opening in the arch, resembling the steeple of a
church. Seats are formed all around the interior; the inlet is by a
large door. Tradition informs us that the Indians, when in posses¬
sion of the country, used to assemble in considerable numbers in this
place. For what particular object is not known; but it is probable
they used it as a place of worship, or for holding their councils.
^ Prospect Rock
This splendid work of nature is in the county of Morgan, about
three miles southwest of Bath, immediately on the bank of Capon
river. It is certainly not less than one thousand feet perpendicular
height. Capon river viewed from this immense height presents to the
eye a most curious and interesting sight. The river running a consid-
366
History of The Valley
erable distance to the west, makes a gradual turn around a point of
level land, thence returning an easterly course to the base of the moun¬
tain enclosing some two or three hundred acres of fine, fertile, alluvial
land, constituting a most valuable farm. The river viewed from this
rock appears to the eye not to exceed fifteen or twenty feet in width,
and forms, as it were, the shape of a horse shoe. It is at this place,
not less than fifty or sixty yards in width. The two points of the
water are but a few poles apart at the base of the mountain. There
is an extensive view of the valley up the river ; some say fifteen miles.
The top of the Alleghany mountain can be distinctly seen from it.
Hew Creek Gap
This is seen in the county of Hardy, about twenty miles south¬
west of Eomney, and is too, a most tremendous work of nature. The
author viewed this place with considerable awe and trepidation.
The passage is quite narrow, between two mountains of stupendous
height, probably from fifteen hundred to two thousand feet high.
The points of the mountains are covered with numerous rocks, and
appears to be hanging over the traveler's head. Through this
passage is a fine, lively stream of water, which, after leaving the
mountain, forms Patterson's Creek. At the west side of the moun¬
tain there are two streams, one from the south and the other from the
north, which meet at the gap and unite their waters, and run through
the gap directly an east course. About midway the gap is seen what
is called the "spouting spring." This spring, it is said, is formed
by a stream of water which runs to the northern base of the mountain,
and has formed a subterraneous passway under the mountain, and
bursts out in a large spring in the gap. Hear the eastern termination
of the gap, nature has formed a natural dam of solid rock, quite
across the cavity, twenty-five or thirty feet high. By the aid of this
dam, Messrs. Harness & Turley convey the water to their iron works
on Patterson's Creek.
A Large Cave Ih Berkeley County
Hear the mouth of the Opequon, in the county of Berkeley,
exists a large cave. In the year 1813, a man named , called in
the evening at old Mrs. Purman's, stayed till next morning, and after
breakfast, told the old lady he would go into the cave and examine it,
in order to ascertain whether he could or not obtain saltpetre clay, for
the making of powder. The old lady furnished him with candles,
and he left her house alone, promising to return in the evening. He
entered the cave, and was not seen or heard of that day. The second
day passed over, and no tidings were heard of him. The old lady
grew uneasy, apprehended he had lost himself in the cave, and would
perhaps perish. The third day his absence continued, and the old
lady proposed to two of her grown sons and another young man who
Items of General Interest
367
happened to be at her house, to go in search of him. They at first
objected, suggesting it was probable he had gone down the Potomac
in some of the trading boats to Georgetown. She declared if they
would not go, she would go herself and make the search. The young
men then agreed to go, furnished themselves with sufficient lights, and
forthwith proceeded to make search. They had not proceeded far
into the cave before they found the poor fellow's hat, which satisfied
them that he was in the cave. They continued the search and at
length found him in a most perilous and distressing condition. He
stated to them, that he had not proceeded far into the cave before his
candle, by accident, became extinguished, and he was left in more
than "Egyptian darkness." The second day he became distressed
with thirst, but could find no water. He continued scrambling in the
cave, in the hope of getting out, but instead of finding the entrance
got farther from it. At length he heard the dropping of water, and
groping his way, he found the water was dropping into a deep cavern.
He contrived to get into the cavity, and after reaching the bottom,
the only chance he had to get the water into his mouth, was by laying
himself down on his hack, and letting the water drip into it. But
after his thirst was assuaged, he could not get out of the sink, and he
had given out all hope of relief, and reconciled himself to his fate,
expecting to die in a very little time.
The young men, in searching for him, frequently called aloud;
he could hear them, hut was so exhausted and weakened, that he
could not make himself heard by them until they approached very
near his place of seclusion. They succeeded in raising him out of his
confinement; he soon recovered his strength, and lived some fifteen
or eighteen years after this perilous experiment.
There is an amusing tradition related in connection with this
cavern. An old German, by the name of Bidinger, had ascertained
that by building a fire in the mouth of the cave, the smoke would
ascend and pass out at the small aperture in the rocks on the top of
the hill, about three hundred yards from the entrance. This shrewd
old man persuaded several young men that he could raise old Hick
out of the cave, and invited them in the morning to go with him, and
see his experiment. He directed a negro man to go to the mouth of
the cave and raise a large pine fire. The old gentleman had ascer¬
tained about what time it would take for the smoke to show at the
top of the hill ; they assembled near the aperture, and he engaged in
many incantations and jugglings whilst watching for the smoke to
appear. The young men waited with trepidation and fear. When
the smoke hurst out, the old man exclaimed, "See, there he comes!
See his smoke!" It was enough for the young men; they saw the
devil's smoke, and precipitately took to flight, leaving the old gentle¬
man to make the best terms he could with his satanic majesty.
There is a most extraordinary cave a short distance from Shep-
herdstown. The Rev. Mr. Hill informed the author, that he once
explored this cavern about one mile; it passes under the Potomac
368
History of The Vai,ley
river, and reaching into the state of Maryland, contains a great
variety of stalactite formations and beautiful curiosities.
House Cave
This cavern is on Apple Pie Ridge, in the county of . It
is remarkable for its vast depth and has a pretty good room near its
entrance. It is said this cave is not less than six hundred feet deep.
At its termination a most delightful stream of cold water runs across
its bottom. The author, several years ago visited this place, and
partially explored it; descending about one hundred feet into it.
Two young men descended about one hundred feet below where the
author stopped.
In the county of Frederick exists a cave, on the land now owned
by Dr. Walker M. Hite, near the waters of Cedar Creek. It is not
so remarkable for its size as for its production of natural curiosities.
Several years ago the author explored this cavern, hut had abundant
cause to regret his undertaking. He became so excessively fatigued
that it was with great difficulty he was enabled to get out. He was
reminded of an anecdote of a Dutch woman : Two men in the county
of Shenandoah had missed their way in the night and got into the
enclosure of a farmer, found the house, and asked the way out. The
woman of the house replied, "So you came in so you can got out
acain." There are several other caves the author has heard of, hut
has not seen. There is one on the land of George F. Hupp, Esq., the
former residence of Mr. Joseph Stover, near Strasburg. This is said
to he pretty extensive, and contains much stalactite matter.
On the land of Mr. Israel Allen, in the county of Shenandoah,
exists a most valuable cavity, forming one of the finest dairies the
author has ever seen. At the early settlement of the country, it was
discovered that a small cavity in the rocks, on a pretty high hill, led
to a charming stream of delightful water. But it was attended with
some difficulty to descend and ascend the aperture to get water. Mr.
Allen built a handsome brick dwelling near the mouth of the cavity,
then dug a well so as to strike the stream of water. At the depth of
thirty-two feet below the surface, he came upon a bed of black alluvial
mud, in removing which he found a very large human skeleton, which
was greatly above the common size of the human frame. Mr. Allen
himself was rather upwards of six feet high ; he stated that he placed
one of the leg hones and measured it by his own leg. It was between
two and three inches longer than his own leg. From this data, it is
probable the individual owner of this skeleton was little under, if not
full eight feet high. Mr. Allen opened and improved the mouth of
the cavern, and constructed one among the most valuable places for
preserving milk, butter, and fresh meats, in our country. The
aperture from the milkhouse to the water is still open, and in warm
weather discharges a constant current of cool air into the dairy, and
keeps it perfectly cool. In winter the current of air is tepid and
protects everything in the dairy from freezing.
Items of General Interest
369
Harrison^s Cave
In the county of Eockingham, on the land of Mr.
Harrison, on the turnpike road leading from Winchester to Staunton,
is to he seen a most beautiful cave, seven miles north of Harrison¬
burg, the seat of justice for the county. Mr. Harrison has improved
the entrance into the cave with steps, so that it is very convenient to
enter it. This cave, which the author explored, presents several most
interesting works of nature. Hear the center, a splendid column of
about twenty-five feet high, a stalactite formation, stands as if
designed to support the arch. Pretty near this column is setting the
bust of a very large old woman, covered over with beautiful white
drapery, in numerous folds; the walls generally covered with stalac¬
tite formations, several of which have a strong resemblance to the
pipes of an organ. The whole length does not exceed three hundred
yards. The floor is pretty level, and convenient to walk upon. It is
generally above twenty-five feet high from the floor to the arch, and
thirty-five or forty wide. The author heard of several other caves
in Eockingham, hut did not visit them.
At the head of the South Branch a man by the name of
Euthledge, was shot through the body by an Indian; the ball pene¬
trated the left breast and passed out within an inch of the spine.
This man recovered and lived many years after. There were two
female children, daughters of John Moore, taken by the Indians and
grew up with them. The elder had two children by a white trader;
the younger became the wife of the distinguished war chief Blue
Jacket. She left an Indian son with his father, was enceint when
brought home, and brought forth a daughter, who grew up and
married a man by the name of John Stuart. Her father. Blue
Jacket, secured her a tract of land on the waters of Lake Erie, to
which Stuart removed and settled.
Two of John Cartmell's daughters were taken by the Indians
and remained with them several years. Their brother went to the
Indian country, obtained their release and brought them home.
James Stuart was shot while crossing the Greenbrier river,
reached the opposite shore, and died immediately. Several others
were killed the same summer, whose names are not recollected.
A few years ago, there was found on the hanks of Greenbrier
river, in the cavity of a rock, a very large human skeleton, his how
and arrows, mat and tomahawk, and a deerskin was deposited with
the body a¿ the time of its burial; it was about ten feet below the
surface.
Human skeletons have been frequently discovered on the margin
of the watercourses. About thirty years ago, Samuel McDonald
discovered a human skull on the hank of the Cowpasture river. It
was remarkable for its great size and thickness—had a visible mark
370
History of The Valley
of a tomahawk wound on it—supposed to be the head of a giant-like
warrior. A walnut tree of immense size, which grew on the bank of
the Cowpasture river, was blown down in a violent gale of wind, and
a number of human bones were discovered in the cavity. The author
was informed that the body of this tree was not less than six or seven
feet in diameter. If so, as it must have grown over the bodies after
they were buried, it was probably several hundred years old.
But to return from this digression. Mrs. Sarah Erskine, in her
eighty-fourth year,* was first married to John Pauly, they were
removing to Kentucky, and on the 23d of September, 1779, on the east
branch of Hew river, they were attacked by a party of five Shawnee
Indians and a white man by the name of Morgan. Mr. Pauly was
killed, and his little child, about two years old, had its brains dashed
out against a tree and left a prey to wild beasts. This venerable and
highly intelligent lady was once while a prisoner threatened with the
most horrid destruction. An old chief who had a favorite son killed
in a battle in Kentucky, had determined to revenge his son's death
on her little son, who was bom a few months after captivity, and two
young prisoners, Calway and Hoy. The old savage monster had
determined to enclose them all in Mrs. Erskine's house and set fire to
it. But Col. McKee, the British agent, successfully interposed; he
called on Mrs. Erskine and told her not to be alarmed; that if he
found that he could not restrain the violence of the old monster, he
would immediately convey her off to Detroit; but from the friendly
interposition of Mr. McKee, a majority of the Indians became
opposed to the violent and vindictive revenge of the old savage. She
was upwards of three years a prisoner. Her son, young Pauly, she
brought home with her ; he grew up, went to the west, became secre¬
tary to the great Missouri Fur Company, and was killed while
engaged in that business. Mr. John Higgins came out to the
Shawnee towns and redeemed and aided her in getting home to her
friends.
There was a brother of Mr. John Pauly, also a married man,
with his wife and one child, on his way to Kentucky. He was killed
at the same time, his infant killed and his wife taken prisoner. She
was taken to the Shawnee town, was claimed by two squaws, and
taken to Detroit and sold, from whence she escaped, but never got
home to her friends.
Mrs. Erskine stated to the author, that she did work for the
men, making their garments; that one particular occasion a warrior
called on her to make him a calico shirt; the fellow informed her
that he had lately returned from a trip to the neighborhood of the
Sweet Springs, in quest of a box of red paint.f He obtained his
* Fourth Edition Note—Kercheval means that Mrs. Erskine was in her eighty-fourth
year when she related her story.
t It was stated to the author, when in that section of country, that there is a con¬
siderable bank of beautiful red oaint in Peter's Mountain, five or six miles from the
spring.
Items of General Interest
371
paint, and returning, he passed the house of a farmer, who had left
his shot-pouch and powder horn hanging to the corner of his corn-
house. The Indian took off the pouch and horn, and left his own
buffalo horn, with a little powder, in place of it. He observed to
Mrs. Erskine, that "it was an even exchange, no robbery." But if
the owner had happened to discover the exchange at the moment, it
is highly probable the fellow might have paid for his even exchange
with his life.
Mrs. Erskine said that the Shawnee women, from the number
of white persons taken among them, had greatly improved in their
domestic arrangements, and several of them had become pretty good
housekeepers.
Mrs. Erskine resides in Greenbrier county, near Lewisburg.*
The author met with her at her son's in Lewisburg, who is a highly
respectable merchant of that place.
Tradition relates that the Sweet Springs were discovered by a
man who was passing near the spring. A colt, which was following
the horse he was riding, was bitten by a rattlesnake, when it immedi¬
ately ran into the spring, where it continued for some time, nor could
it be induced to come out until it had been entirely relieved from the
pain occasioned by the wound, f The man examined the water and
found that it possessed some valuable medicinal quality.
A man by the name of Robert Armstrong, in those troublesome
times had removed his family across the mountain to a place of
safety. He was on a visit to his family, accompanied by a young
man. Seven Indians approached his house, and were in the yard
before discovered. Armstrong told the young man to jump into bed
and threw a blanket over him. The Indians pushed into the house,
and Armstrong went to the bed, raised the blanket, and asked the man
if he were better. He replied in the negative. An Indian immedia¬
tely asked, "Man very sick?" "Yes, small pox, very bad." They
cried "Wough," and ran off, crying as they ran, "Small pox! Small
pox!" as far as they could be heard. It is said the Indians are
dreadfully afraid of this disorder. Armstrong, by this stratagem,
saved himself and property from being touched by the enemy.
In the year 1774, in the month of June, there were four white
families settled on the headwaters of Greenbrier, and apprehensive
of danger, removed their families into the settlement where they were
safe. A man by the name of John Johnson came in, and stated he
had seen fresh signs of Indians. The late Col. John Dickinson, a
brave and active Indian fighter, raised a party of twenty-seven men,
and marched out; but it was two or three days before they found
any traces «f Indians. They went to Jacob Riffle's house, found the
beds totally cut open, and the feathers scattered to the winds. The
* Fourth Edition Note—Near Union, Monroe county, and not at Lewisburg,
t Dr. Lewis, the present proprietor, informed the author that he had a favorite
dog bitten by a rattlesnake; he immersed him in the spring, and it entirely cured
him of the bite.
372
Histoky of The Valley
Indians had kept themselves so completely concealed, that they could
not he discovered ; yet they contrived to kill one of Dickinson's men,
named Malone, and wounded Robert McClay. Col. Dickinson was
himself pretty severely wounded at the battle of the Point, in the
year 1774, under Col. Lewis. The ball penetrated high up his
shoulder and came out very near his spine. Yet he soon recovered,
suifering hut little from the wound. The Indians, after a few days
lurking about, and discovering Dickinson's party to he too strong
for them, fled. It is said there were only three Indians in the party.
The warrant of Mr. Joseph Maye's land was issued in 1743,
surveyed in 1746, patent or grant issued in 1761. Joseph Maye,
Esq., at about twelve years of age was taken prisoner by a party of
Indians; but was rescued by his friends after five days of captivity,
and brought safely home. This venerable and intelligent man was
wounded at the battle of the Point. Hè was at the time preparing
to shoot the Indian that wounded him, who was standing behind a
tree that was rather small to protect him. It had a crook in the
body, below which Mr. Maye attempted to fire at him, for which
purpose he bent his right knee and stooped a little ; hut the fellow
was too quick for him, fired at him and struck him very near the cap
of his knee. The ball ranged down the bones of his leg, shivering
them pretty much. He was not able to walk for three years after¬
wards. He, however, so far recovered as to he able to use his leg
about twenty years or upwards; hut it frequently would inflame and
break out, and he was finally compelled to have it amputated above
his knee. When the author saw this highly respectable old gentle¬
man, he was eighty-four years of age, and appeared to enjoy fine
health.
A story was told to the writer, of rather singular and extraordi¬
nary character. Seven Indians were lurking about one of the forts.
A young woman had walked out, perhaps in search of wild fruit.
The seven Indians seized her and took her off. They proceeded a few
miles, and halted for the purpose of terrifying and tormenting the
unfortunate girl. They stripped her, tied her hands aboA^e her head
to a sapling, and threw their tomahawks at her, trying hoAV near they
could pass their instruments by her body without wounding her. A
bold and enterprising hunter happened to be within hearing of her
screams, and ran to see what produced the poor girl's terrors. As he
approached he discovered the scene, and with his rifle killed one of
the party ; the other six fled, and the hunter ran to the relief of the
unfortunate sufferer, instantly cut the bandage from her hands, threw
his hunting shirt around her, and directed her to run to the fort, and
he instantly reloaded his rifle and followed her. The remaining
Indians, discovering there was hut one man, gave chase. The hunter
discovering this, slackened his pace, and as they approached pretty
near him, brought another down. He was master of the art of
loading as he ran. The remaining fi^'e continued the chase until this
brave and skillful marksman brought another down. The others
Items of General Interest
373
continued the pursuit until the whole number was killed. The author
can not vouch for the truth of this story, hut has given it as he heard
it related by several respectable individuals; the reader can take it
for what it is worth.
George Keneade was kiUed, and his wife and four children taken
off. An old Indian, soon after her arrival at the village, proposed
to marry her, but she promptly refused the offer. The savage
monster threatened to burn her. A Frenchman told her if she would
consent to marry him, he would take her off. She consented to his
offer, and he soon took her to Redstone, and married her. This
Frenchman kept a little store in the Indian village. Paul Leash was
the name of this Frenchman.
There were a number of people killed and taken prisoners by
the same Indians, at the big bend of Jackson's river. But Mr. Byrd,
my informant, could not recollect the precise number or names of the
sufferers.
There is an Indian grave near Mann's Mills, on Jackson River,
thirty yards or more in diameter, and perfectly round.* The author
will here remark, that in all his excursions through that country, he
never saw an Indian grave, f and heard of but two, the one just
spoken of, and another at Peter's Mountain. This is said to be in
circular form, and covered entirely with stone.
During the troublesome times with the Indians, a party of them
attacked the dwelling of Maj. Graham, on Greenbrier river, killed
some of his children and took off a yoimg daughter. She remained a
prisoner for several years, and grew up with the savages; a short
interval of peace took place with the tribes, and her father went out
to the Indian country and found his daughter, whom he had for a
long time believed was entirely lost to him, and brought her home.
She soon manifested great uneasiness, and expressed a desire to return
to the Indians.
A small party of Indians came into the neighborhood of Muddy
Creek, and killed a man near her father's residence, and as soon as
she heard of the occurrence, made an attempt to run off to the
Indians, but was prevented from doing so by the family. She after a
while became better reconciled to remain with her connections, and
married a worthy man, raised a respectable family of children, and
was living in the year 1836, in the county of Monroe. This is
another among the many instances of white children, taken while
quite young, growing up with the savages, and becoming so much
attached to the manners and habits of the people in a state of nature,
as to leave them with the greatest possible reluctance.
In the autumn of 1797, the author traveled through the state of
Ohio. At Chillicothe he saw a young man named Williamson, who
was on his way to his residence at the Three Islands of the Ohio ; he
*Now entirely olowed down.
tThere is a pretty considerable mound about two miles south of Frankfort, in
Pendleton county, noticed in the first edition of this work.
374
History of The Valley
was returning with two of his brothers, one fourteen, the other ahout
twelve years of age, who had been taken ahout three years before.
He had found them near the lakes, with different tribes, ahout sixty
miles apart. The young man stated that it was with considerable
difficulty he could prevail on the little fellows to leave the Indians;
and even after he had started with them, they made several attempts
to run off and get hack to the Indians. He was at length compelled
to obtain a canoe and descend the Alleghany river with them, and
by this means, and vigilant watching, he prevented their making
their escape from him.
It is remarkable that those children should have so soon lost
their affection for their parents and brothers and sisters, as to prefer
remaining with their savage captors. The author has been informed
by persons who have been prisoners, that natives never apply the
scourge to children, hut treat them with the greatest indulgence. It
is probably owing to this cause that white children become so much
pleased with them.
The author attempted to converse with the hoys, hut immedi¬
ately discovered that they had acquired all that coyness and diffidence
so commonly manifested by the native Indians. They would scarcely
answer a question; and before they answered yes or no, they would
look at their elder brother, and at each other, and pause before either
would reply; and that reply was only yes or no.
In the year 1774, there were four families. Ash, Bumgardner,
Croft and Hupp, who settled at a place called Tea Garden at Ten
Mile Creek, on Monongalia river. They had entered into a contract
with the Indians for permission to occupy a certain quantity of land,
and the privilege of hunting on the lands, for which they agreed to
pay a small annual rent. When Dunmore's war commenced, a
messenger was sent to them, warning them of their danger, and
advising them to remove immediately into the fort at Redstone. The
messenger stated to them, that if they remained they would all be
killed. Several Indians were present, and their chief replied to the
bearer of the message: "Tell your king he is a d—d liar, the Indians
will not kill them." And the people remained at their residence
during the continuance of the war, without being disturbed by the
enemy.
Eeguegitary Spring
This is a most singular and curious work of nature. The writer
did not see it, hut it was described by several intelligent, respectable
gentlemen who had repeatedly examined it. On the summit of a
high mountain, in the county of Hardy, five or six miles from Peters¬
burg, a small village on the main fork of the South Branch of the
Wappatomica, this spring makes its appearance. It ebbs and fiows
every two hours. When rising, it emits a gurgling noise, similar to
the gurgling of any liquid running out at the bung-hole of a hogshead,
runs freely two hours, and then ebbs and the water entirely disap-
Items of Geneeal Intekest
375
pears. At every flow, sand and small pebbles are forced out with
the water.
Samuel McDonald was wounded at the battle of the Point, under
Col. Lewis. He belonged to the company commanded by Capt.
Dickinson. The ball passed through both his thighs, but neither was
broken. He recovered from his wounds, but continued a little lame
as long as he lived. Mrs. Ellen McDonald, his widow (eighty-three
years of age, and still living), informed the author that she once had
two sisters taken by the Indians, one ten years of age and the other
seven. They were prisoners seven years, lost their mother tongue,
and spoke the Indian language perfectly. Two of Mr. McDonald's
sisters wère taken hy the Cherokees.
In the year 1764, the Indians killed, at the house of James
Clanahan, Edward Sampson and Joseph Mayes. They killed and
took prisoners all the families, except three individuals. A woman
seventy years of age had left the house, but returned and took a small
trunk, in which she kept her caps and money, and carried it off, while
the Indians were killing a number of persons around her ; and finally
made her escape. There were but two other persons who escaped.
The Indians then passing up the Cowpasture river, stopped at
the house of William Fitzgerald. Thomas Thompson was there at
the time. They barricaded the door, so that the Indians could not
force it open. The savages immediately set fire to the house, and
Fitzgerald and Thompson were burned to death. A little girl of
Fitzgerald's was cruelly burnt. They killed its mother the next day,
and took the child off. It was rescued by the whites and brought
part of the way home, but died at Marlow's ford, Greenbrier river.
Mrs. Sampson and her daughters were taken off by the Indians, and
when they found they could be overtaken by the whites, a young
warrior shot Mrs. Sampson through the body. She was found in a
languishing condition, and brought part of the way home, but died
on the way. Her daughters were never more heard of.
In 1779 a man by the name of McKeever was killed, and Thos.
Grening and George Smith were fired at by the party who killed
McKeever, but made their escape. Both their wives and children
were taken off as prisoners. Mrs. Smith made her escape from the
savages, and on her way homeward was met by Col. John Hill, now
of Pocahontas county, and conveyed to her friends in Horth Carolina.
John Day's Foet, How Peice's Old Foet,
• Foemeely Keckley's Foet
About 1772 John McHeil settled in the Little Levels j at that
period there were very few settlers in that neighborhood. Mrs.
Sarah Brown, the mother of Col. Brown in this neighborhood, at
the age of ninety-one years, was able to walk about the neighborhood,
376
Histoey of The Valley
and rode by herself to visit some of ber children, who lived ten or
fifteen miles off. Col. Brown stated to the author that a sugar tree
of immense size, at least six feet in diameter, stood in one of his fields,
and that it yielded him at least fifty pounds of sugar yearly. The
Indians did no mischief after the war of 1763, until the year 1774.
There was some huffalo and elk to be seen in the country at this
period.
William Meeks, his wife, six children, and his mother, were
taken off four or five years after the hattle of the Point. Capt.
Woods of the present county of Monroe, raised a party of seventeen
men, pursued the enemy, and after several days' march, overtook them
late in the evening. The Indians had halted and been encamped
three or four days. Capt. Woods and his party approached within
a short distance of them without being discovered. Early the next
morning, it being very foggy, the whites rushed in among the enemy.
Capt. Woods and the Indian captain fired at each other, the muzzles
of their guns almost touching; hut each of them springing to one
side, neither shot took effect. Woods knocked the Indian down with
his gun, and pursued the flying enemy. The fellow knocked down
soon recovered and ran off.
Not one of the Indians was killed, hut the prisoners were all
rescued, and returned to their homes with the plunder all retaken,
and the Indians losing all their own property.
Cook's Fokt, Indian Ckeek
In the year 1774, about the time of the attack on Donnally's
Fort, there were about three hundred people sheltered in this fortress.
It was oblong, and covered one and a half acres of ground. A Mrs.
Bradsburn was killed.
Shortly before Wm. Meeks was taken. Steel Lafferty was killed
at the mouth of Indian Creek, three miles off from the fort. Meeks
heard the report of his death, immediately mounted his horse, and
rode with all speed to his house, to the relief of two women. As he
approached the house, he called to them to open the door, which was
immediately done, when he rushed into it, sprang to a port-hole, saw
two Indians running across a small field, near the house, fired at
them, when one of them dropped his blanket and gun, increased his
speed and got off ; but it was believed he was shot through the body ;
he never could he found, however.
In 1771, Mr. James Ellison removed from the state of Jersey,
with his father, at which time he was about fifteen years of age. On
the 19th of October, 1780, a party of seven or eight Indians attacked
him, wounded him in the shoulder, the ball passing under his
shoulderblade and out very near his spine; he was tied and taken off
a prisoner. The next day, when they had traveled about fifteen miles
with him, while passing through a thicket he suddenly escaped from
them, and was pursued, but outran them and got off. This old and
Items of Geneeal Interest
377
intelligent man, was afterwards in the battle of the Point, under Col.
Lewis. The author saw him and conversed with him; he was then
about eighty years of age.
Mr. Ellison has been a great and successful hunter. There were
hut very few buffalo and elk remaining in the country, but abundance
of bears, deer, panthers, wolves, wild cats, and a vast number of
turkeys and other small game. Mr. Ellison stated that he might
safely affirm that he had killed more than one thousand deer, three or
four hundred hears, a great many panthers, wolves, &c. The wild
game was the chief dependence of the first settlers, for subsistence.
There were a great many heavers, otters, and other furred animals
taken by hunters.
Mr. John Lyhrook, born in Pennsylvania, aged seventy-three,
was too young to recollect when his father moved and settled on Hew
river, at the mouth of Sinking Creek (this was in 1772). He is now
living in Giles county.
In the year 1774 the Indians commenced their outrages in this
neighborhood. The first act of murder was perpetrated by four
Indians near his father's house. Mr. Lyhrook was then about ten or
eleven years old. About the first of July, my informant and several
of his brothers and sisters, and several of Mr. Snydow's children,
were at play on the edge of the river. They discovered the Indians
approaching. John went to the shore and ran some distance along
the margin of the water; hut he discovered that an Indian on the
bank had got ahead of him. The bank at that place was so precipi¬
tous that there was but one point that could be ascended. The Indian
stooped to fire at two lads swimming the river, and John took this
opportunity to ascend the bank by a narrow channel, worn in it by
the feet of wild animals, when they used it as a passage to and from
the water. He darted by the Indian, who instantly pursued him.
After running about one hundred yards, he leaped across a gully
worn by a small stream of water in the bank of the river. It was at
least twelve feet wide. At this place the Indian halted, but would
not try the leap, but threw a buffalo tug at the boy, which he felt
strike his head and back; but the little fellow made his escape, and
got safely to the fort at his father's house. Mr. Lyhrook stated this
fact to the author, and most solemnly declared it was true. Three of
the Indians entered the canoe, and killed and scalped five of the
children. A sister of my informant, a girl about thirteen years of
age, had the presence of mind to turn the canoe, which she was in,
with the other children, stern foremost, while the Indians were
engaged in killing and scalping their victims, and jumped out and
ran. She was pursued by an Indian: her screams attracted the
attention df a remarkably fierce dog, which immediately ran with the
utmost speed to her relief. The Indian had got so near her, that he
extended his arm to seize her, but the dog had approached near
enough to save her. He ran so close to her that he threw her down ;
then seized the Indian by one of his thighs just above his knee, gave
378
Histoky of The Valley
a TÍolent jerk, and threw the fellow to the ground. The girl escaped ;
the dog hung on, tearing at him for a little time : hut letting go his
hold, he sprang at the fellow's throat. The Indian struck him a
violent blow with a war club, and knocked him down. The dog then
ran to the canoe and guarded the dead children until the people took
them away for burial. The dog refused to follow them, immediately
ran off, and raised a most piteous howl. Some of the party went to
see what produced the distress of the dog, and found a little boy about
six years old, who had been violently struck on the head with a war
club, his skull severely fractured, and his brains oozing out and his
head scalped. He was a brother to my informant. The little fellow
breathed about twenty-four hours, and then expired. The author will
take some further notice of Mr. Lybrook in this chapter.
Mrs. Margaret Hall, sixty-nine years of age, when ten years old,
with a younger sister, and a little daughter of Richard Esty, were
taken by a party of Shawnee Indians, on Hew river. Her mother,
three sisters and brother, were killed at the time, and the prisoners
were taken to the Shawnee towns. The same morning Philip
Kavanah was killed, and a young lad fifteen or sixteen years of age
taken, named Francis Denny. Mrs. Hall was eighteen years with
the Indians, and never returned home until after Gen. Wayne
defeated them. Mrs. Hall was transferred by the Shawnees to the
Delaware tribe. She was adopted by the Indian chief Koothumpun,
and her sister Elizabeth in the family of Petasue, commonly called
Snake. The Indians had a few cattle, and used some milk and
butter. Their bread was commonly made with pounded corn meal.
The English, however, frequently furnished them with flour, which
they usually baked in the ashes. The bread ate very well when
fresh. They also made fritters and pancakes. The Shawnee women
were far better house-keepers than the Delawares. The Shawnees
lived better and more plentifully than the Delawares. A few years
before Mrs. Hall returned home, a young Indian chief made love to
her and vehemently urged her to consent to marry him, which she
peremptorily refused. He threatened her life if she would not
consent. He continued his visits to her, and her foster mother urged
her to consent to the match. The young squaws frequently congratu¬
lated her on her fine offer. She at length, by continued solicitations
of the young chief, became so annoyed that she determined on taking
flight to another village, seventy miles off, to which her foster sister
and brother had removed. Early one morning she secured a very
fine horse, mounted him, and pushed off. She traveled briskly, and
reached her destination about sunset, traveling the seventy miles
through a trackless wilderness. She found her foster sister, hut her
brother was out on a hunting excursion. She complained to her
foster sister of the treatment she had received, who replied, "I will
defend you with my life." The young warrior determined not to be
defeated in this way, without another effort to secure her to himself
or take her life. He pursued her immediately, and reached the
Items of Genekal Intebest
379
village to whicli she had fled, the next day in the afternoon. He
soon found where she was, and called on her and told her if she did
not immediately consent to become his wife, he would kill her. Her
foster sister stood hy her. She raised her hands and protested that
she never would. He made a lounge at her with a long knife, hut
her sister threw herself between them, and received a slight wound in
her side, the point of the knife striking a rib. The girl instantly
seized the knife, and wrenching it from his hand, broke the blade and
threw it away. They quickly commenced a furious fight, while she
sat petrified, as it were, -with fear. Her sister told her to run and
hide herself, exclaiming, "He will kill me and then kill you." She
then ran and concealed herself. But the young woman proved too
stout for the fellow, gave him a severe drubbing, and drove him off.
Her foster brother returned in about a fortnight, from his hunting
expedition. She complained to him. He told her not to be uneasy;
called him a dog (the worst epithet they could apply to each other),
and said that if he ever made any further attempt upon her, he would
immediately kill him. The fellow, however, never annoyed her
again. He was some time after killed in Wayne's battle with the
Indians. Mrs. Hall's residence is in Giles county, about four miles
from the Grey Sulphur Spring.
Fiee Hunting
Mr. John Lyhrook has been a most enterprising and successful
hunter. He stated to the author that he had probably killed three
thousand deer, five or six hundred hears, hundreds of panthers,
wolves and wild cats; and an innumerable number of turkeys and
small game. When he was about thirteen years of age, his father's
dog treed a panther of enormous size. He came to the house and
took down a rifle. His mother asked him what he was going to do
with the gun. He replied that he was going to see what the dog had
treed. She remarked that it was probably a panther, and charged
him, if it was, not to shoot at it, hut to get his father to shoot it ;
adding, if he wounded it and did not kill it, it would tear him to
pieces. He soon discovered that it was a huge panther, standing at
full length on a large limb of the tree, about twenty feet from the
ground. He knew himself to he a sure marksman, and would not
forego the temptation at firing at so fine a mark. Disobeying his
mother's injunction, he took a deliberate aim at his side, a little
behind the»ehoulder, and the hall passed through the animal's heart,
and it fell dead. His mother was near scourging him for disobeying
her orders; but he acquired great credit from his father and the
neighborhood generally, for his bravery and firmness. It was the
largest animal of the kind ever known to he killed in that part of the
380
History of The Valley
country. It measured upwards of fourteen feet from the end of its
nose to the end of its tail.*
The author had frequently heard that the western people, in
early times, practiced what they called "fire hunting," but neYcr
knew exactly what it meant, until Mr. Lyhrook explained it to him.
The hunters made stone hearths in one end of their canoes, on which
they would raise large pine lights in the night, and set their canoes
to floating down the stream. The deer usually collected in consider¬
able numbers in the rivers, in order to feed on the moss which grew
in them. As the light approached near the deer, it would raise its
head, and stare it; and its eyes would shine as bright as diamonds.
When the shining of the eyes were seen, the hunter would consider
himself near enough to shoot. Thousands and thousands of deer were
killed in this way.
In 1778, grain grew scarce at the fort. Old Mr. Lyhrook and
the Snydows had several parcels of wheat standing in the stack, at
their respective farms. Ten men were sent to thresh out the wheat.
Mr. Lyhrook, about fifteen years of age, was directed to take charge
of the pack horses, to convey the wheat to the fort (Preston's fort,
about fifteen miles distant). Two men were sent with him. When
they reached the wheat yard, the threshers had left and gone to his
father's house or fort, and they, Mr. Lyhrook and the other two, went
there also. Mr. Lyhrook discovered a party of Indians on a high
hill, who also discovered Mr. Lyhrook and his companions, and
attempted to intercept them. They had to use great ingenuity and
caution to elude the enemy, but got safe to the fort and gave informa¬
tion of the Indians skulking in the woods.
A brave and active man by the name Scott went out and killed
one of the party of Indians, and the others immediately took to flight.
In the year 1775, peaceable times were had with thè Indians.
But in 1776, they recommenced their warfare, and continued with
unabated fury until 1780. The white people had extended their
settlements considerably to the west of Hew river; this afforded
some protection to the settlers in this section; but the enemy would
once in a while skulk into the neighborhood, commit murders and
robberies, and steal horses, and then push off. This state of things
continued for several years after the year 1780.
Mr. Lyhrook, after his well managed trip for the conveyance of
the wheat to the fort, was almost every year appointedj an Indian
spy, and after he grew to manhood, he served regularly for three
years in that capacity. His brother, Philip, and a Mr. Phillips
♦The author would not have ventured to state this fact, lest it might be suspected
that be is disposed to deal in the relation of marvelous stories. But be related this
story to Col. Welton, on the South Branch, in Hardy county, who stated that be had
himself killed one of enormous size.f
t Fourth Edition Note—This would make the animal much larger than a tiger.
The usual length of the puma is five feet, inclusive of the tail.
t Near the mouth of Indian Creek, a branch of Greenbrier.
Items of General Interest
381
generally served with him. It was an arduous and dangerous service,
hut they were fortunate enough never to get hurt by the enemy.
The last time the hostile Indians were known to he in Greenbrier
county, was in the summer of 1793. The three Indians came into
the settlement, stole several horses, and attempted to make their
escape.*
Matthew Farly, an intrepid hunter, raised ten men and pursued
them. He came in sight of their encampment late in the evening,
halted and remained until early next morning. Farly divided his
men into two parties, and directed that each should fire separately
at an Indian. Two of them had risen, and setting quietly; the third
was lying down. When the whites approached near enough to fire,
each party singled their object, fired, and the two Indians were killed;
the third sprang to his feet, and ran up the side of the hill. Farly
having reserved his fire, seeing the fellow endeavoring to make his
escape, fired at him, and broke his thigh. He fell, rolled down the
hill, and cried out, "Enough, I give up." Farly was desirous of
saving his life, hut Charles Clay and others, whose friends had been
massacred by the Indians, rushed upon him and dispatched him.
The executive of Virginia rewarded this little company of men
by paying for their tour of service.
The author was informed that in the year 1795, there was an
outrage committed on the property of a farmer in Greenbrier county,
charged to the Indians. The dwelling house, in the absence of the
family, and a new wagon which was drawn up close to the house,
were both set on fire and consumed together. But it is more probable
that it was the work of incendiaries, who had first robbed the house
and then fired it, with a view to conceal their villainy. Every Indian
warrior was called home in the spring of 1794, when it was known
that Gen. Wayne was preparing to invade their country with a
powerful army. The Indians concentrated all their forces for their
own defense, and after their decisive defeat by Wayne, immediately
entered into a treaty, which put a final end to the further hostilities
by the savages in Western Virginia.
Col. Stuart, the clerk of Greenbrier court, expressed this opinion
to the writer :
During the period of Indian hostilities, four Indians came into
the settlement on the head of the Wappatomaca. They were said to
belong to a tribe then at peace with the whites. One of them objected
to traveling down the South Branch Fork, saying they would be in
danger. The other three laughed at him. He separated from them,
and took down the Horth Fork. The three were pursued by white
men and kilfed on Mill Creek; the fourth was seen by a negro man
belonging to Cunningham, and pursued seven or eight miles. As
he was crossing the river, the negro fired at him. He fell into the
water, but immediately sprang up and made his escape. His blanket
♦ The Indians were overtaken on the marshes of Cole river.
382
History of The Valley
was folded up, and placed on his back; the ball struck the blanket,
and penetrated through several folds, hut remained in it. When the
Indian reached his tribe, he unfolded his blanket, and the bullet was
found in it.
The men who committed the murder were apprehended and
ordered to jail, hut their neighbors raised a party of men, and rescued
the prisoners, and set them at liberty. They were never brought to
trial for the offense. The father of my informant was one of the
party who effected the rescue.
App's Valley
This valley is situated in the county of Tazewell, and took its
name from Absalom Looney, a hunter, who is supposed to have been
the first white man that explored it. It is about ten miles long, and
generally about fifty rods wide. There is no stream of water running
along it, nor across it. The branches that come down the mountain
hollows, and the springs, all sink at the edge of the flat land and rise
in a large spring at the lower end of the valley. When first visited
by the white man, it was overgrown by the crah-apple, plum, and
thorn, and covered with the most luxuriant herbage, affording the
finest range for stock, and abounding with game.
In the autumn of 1775, Capt. James Moore removed with his
family from Rockbridge county to this valley, having cleared some
land the preceding spring, and raised a crop of corn. A short time
afterwards, his brother-in-law, Robert Poage, settled near to him in
the same valley. The place was exceedingly secluded, and these two
families were ten or twelve miles from any other settlement of whites.
As this had been a favorite hunting ground of the Indians, they often
visited it. Indeed, there was scarcely a year in which these families
were not compelled to leave the valley and take shelter in a fort in
the Bluestone settlement.
In the spring of 1782, the Indians attacked the house of Robert
Poage at night. They hurst the door open, but finding that there
were several men in the house (there happened to he three besides
Mr. Poage), they did not attempt to enter the house, hut after
watching it for some time, went off; and the next morning killed a
young man by the name of Richards, who had been living for some
time at Capt. Moore's. He had gone out early in the morning to put
some deerskins to soak in a pond about a quarter of a mile from the
house ; and whilst engaged at the pond, he was shot and immediately
scalped. At this time the families forted again in the Bluestone
settlement; and soon afterwards Mr. Poage removed to Georgia.
In September, 1784, the Indians again excited great alarm.
The first that was known of their being in that part of the country,
was the capture of James, one of Mr. Moore's sons. After breakfast,
his father sent him to bring a horse from a waste plantation about
two miles from where he lived. Accustomed to go about alone, and
Items of Générai, Interest
383
being out often after night, be was a fearless lad. But on this
occasion, be had scarcely got out of sight of his father's house, before
a most distressing panic came over him. At one time he determined
to return, but feared his father's displeasure. When he got near the
field where the horses were, three Indians sprang out from behind a
log near his path and captured him at once. They then endeavored
to catch some of the horses, but failing in this, they started with their
captive to the Shawnee towns, situated on the head waters of Mad
river, in Ohio. This journey occupied about twenty days. Soon
after reaching the towns, James was sold by the Indians who had
captured him to their sister, for an old horse. By her he was sent
with a party of the tribes on a winter hunt, in which he suffered great
hardships from hunger and exposure. In the following spring, at a
great dance held at a town near to the one in which he lives, he was
purchased by a French trader for fifty dollars, paid in goods. The
Frenchman was induced to purchase him, from seeing in the captive
lad a striking likeness to one of his own sons. By Mr. Ariome and
his vdfe, James was treated as a son. At the time when he was sold
by the Indians, James got an opportunity to communicate with his
father, through a trader from Kentucky, intelligence of his release
from the Indians, and that he had gone to the neighborhood of
Detroit. The intelligence gave rise to hopes of seeing him again,
hopes which but two of the family realized. And when they met him,
it was at a place and in circumstances very different from what they
had anticipated. '
In 1785, the valley was again visited by the Indians. On the
morning of the 14th of July, a party of between thirty and forty,
led to the place by one of those who had captured James, attacked
and destroyed Mr. Moore's family. At that time when it was broken
up Capt. Moore's family consisted of his wife (who before marriage
was a Miss Poage, of Kockbridge county), seven children, an old
English servant by the name of Simpson, Martha Evans, who was
assisting Mrs. Moore, and two men hired as laborers. On that morn¬
ing these men had gone out to reap wheat; and Mr. Moore was
engaged about breakfast time in salting some horses that had come up
from the range, and was some distance from the house. The Indians,
who had been watching in a grainfield about two hundred yards
from the house, raised a war whoop and rushed on. Capt. l^foore
ran towards the house, but seeing that the door was closed, and that
the Indians would reach it as soon as he could, he ran across the
small lot in which the house stood, but when he got on the fence he
stopped and was shot with seven balls. He then ran about fifty
yards and fejl. The Indians told one of the captives afterwards,
that he might have escaped if he had not halted on the fence. Mrs.
Moore and Martha Evans barred the door on the first alarm. The
old Englishman, Simpson, was also in the house, and there were
five or six rifles. Martha Evans took three of them upstairs to
Simpson and called to him to shoot. He was in a bed ; and on lifting
384
Histoky of The Valley
tlie clotlies, she saw that he had been shot in the side of the head,
and was dying. There were two large fierce dogs that fought the
Indians at the door until they were shot down. The door was soon
cut down with the tomahawk. Three children were killed before the
house was forced—two at the place where Mr. Moore was salting the
horses, and one in the yard near the house. The prisoners were
Mrs. Moore, John, Polly, Jane and an infant, and Martha Evans.
"Whilst the Indians were cutting down the door, Martha and Polly
lifted a loose plank in the fioor and got under it, taking the infant
with them. It, however, began to cry, and Polly unwilling to set
it out alone, went out with it. Martha remained concealed until
after the house had been plundered and set on fire, and whilst the
attention of the Indians was taken up in dividing the spoil, she
slipped out at a hack way and secreted herself under a log which lay
across a branch not far from the house. A short time before they
left the place, a straggling Indian seated himself on the log and began
to work with the lock of his gun. She supposing that he saw her,
and was going to shoot her, came out and gave herself up.
After plundering the house of everything that they chose to
take, and setting the buildings on fire, the Indians started for their
towns, which stood near the place on which the town of Chillicothe
now stands. John was sick and unable to travel, and was killed with
the tomahawk on the first day ; and the infant becoming fretful, was
killed on the second or third day.
The men who were in the harvest field at the time when the
Indians attacked the house, immediately took to flight and went with
all speed to the Bluestone settlement; and in the evening a party of
seven or eight men came to the place; hut seeing the indications of
a large party of Indians, after burying the three children and making
a little search for the body of Capt. Moore, but without success, they
returned, an express was sent to Col. Cloyd, of Montgomery county,
a distance of sixty or seventy miles. He reached the place with a
company of thirty-five or forty men, on the fourth day after the
disaster. They made no attempt to follow the Indians. After
searching for some time they found the body of Capt. Moore, and
wrapping it in a saddle blanket, they buried it at the spot where he
fell. His death was much regretted. He was a Christian, a patriot,
and a brave man. In the memorable battle of Guilford, he com¬
manded one of the companies of the Virginia riflemen with great
credit.
A short time after the Indians reached their towns with the
captives, a war party of Cherokees halted there on their return from
an attack on some of the settlements in Pennsylvania, in which they
had been unsuccessful, and had lost some of their party. They laid
a plan to avenge their loss, by murdering these captives. To accom¬
plish this, they commenced a drunken frolic, taking care to get the
Shawnees dead drunk, but to keep in some measure sober themselves.
They then accomplished their purpose, when those to whom the
Items of Geneeal Interest
385
captives belonged were unable to protect them. Mrs. Moore and
Jane were massacred. Polly Moore and Martha Evans escaped
through the timely care of the squaws belonging to the families into
which they had been adopted. When the drinking commenced they
suspected the design; and secretly got these two off, and carefully
secreted them in a thicket, two or three miles from the towns, until the
Cherokees were gone. When they were brought back, Polly was
shown, in a pile of ashes, the half burnt bones of her mother and
sister. Whether they had been put to the torture, or whether they
had been tomahawked, and then burnt, she never ascertained cer¬
tainly. The former is more probable. With an Indian hoe she dug
a hole, and gathered the bones out of the ashes as well as she could ;
and having covered them, rolled a stone over them. She was at the
time in the tenth year of her age, an orphan, and an orphan among
savages. Her comforts were her fellow captive and a copy of the
New Testament, which she had. Her parents were pious. They
had taught her to love and value the Bible. When the Indians were
setting fire to the furniture which they had taken from her father's
house and which they had gathered into a pile in the yard, she
saw her copy of the New Testament in it, and stepped up to the
pile and took it, and put it under her arm. This she carefully
preserved, and the old chief into whose family she had been adopted,
often called her to him to read, although he could not understand a
word of what he heard. He was kind to her.
In the latter part of the following autumn, a detachment of
American troops attacked and destroyed the Indian towns; and
burning up their whole stock of winter provisions, reduced them to a
state of extreme want. As soon as they could, the Indians set off
for Detroit. In their journey they encountered great hardships.
The country was an unbroken wilderness, the snow often knee deep,
the weather cold, and the game very scarce. Their principal food
was the harkberry. They cut the trees down, gathered the berries,
and after breaking them in their mortars, made broth of them. In
the hardships of this journey, the captives had their full share.
Sometime, about the middle of the winter, they reached Detroit ; and
early in March, Martha was sold, and about the same time Polly was
sold, in a drinking spell, for a keg of rum, to a man by the name of
Stogwell, an American by birth, but an unprincipled man, a Tory,
and an unfeeling wretch. Whilst living with him, her suffering
were greater than while with the Indians.
In one of Mr. Ariome's trading excursions, James, who was with
him, met with a Shawnee Indian whom he had known whilst a cap¬
tive, who jnformed him of the ruin of his father's family; and late
in the winter after Polly had been purchased by Stogwell, he learned
where she was. The following spring Stogwell removed to the
neighborhood in which Mr. Ariome lived; and James and his sister
met. The writer of this narrative, when he was a lad, has often
heard them talk over the scenes of that meeting. What their feelings
386
History of The Valley
were, the reader must conjecture. James lodged a complaint against
Stogwell for the cruel treatment of his sister, with Col. McKee, the
Indian agent at Detroit, and endeavored to obtain her release. In
this he was unsuccessful, hut it was decided that as soon as an oppor¬
tunity should offer for her return to Virginia, she should be given up
without any ransom; and Stogwell, from motives of policy, became
less severe in his treatment. Martha Evans was also living in the
same neighborhood, with a kind, independent farmer. These three
were often together; and the subject of returning to their friends
was often talked over. But serious difficulties were in the way. In
the meantime, the God whose Providence had protected them thus far,
was preparing the way for them.
The father of Martha Evans lived in the Walker's Creek settle¬
ment in the county of Giles. After the peace which followed Wayne's
expedition, Thomas Evans, his son, determined to find and release
his sister, or perish in the attempt. He was an active, athletic young
man, a first-rate woodsman, cool, fearless and generous. He pre¬
pared for his expedition by furnishing himself with a good rifle, a
full supply of ammunition, a suit of buckskin, and a sufficient sum of
money in specie, and set out to seek his sister amongst the savages of
the western wilderness. The enterprise was full of hazards, hut
nothing daunted him. After various perils and unsuccessful
attempts to get any tidings of her, he at length heard she was near
Detroit, and made his way thither. In the early part of October,
1797, he set out on his return to Virginia with his sister and James
and Polly Moore. The two Moores got a passage in a trading boat
down the lakes, about two hundred miles, to the Moravian towns.
There Mr. Evans and his sister met them with three horses. Fortu¬
nately for them, a party of these friendly Indians were just starting
out on a winter hunt. With them they traversed the hunting ground
of several tribes less friendly, and were protected in some situations
which seemed full of danger. They reached the neighborhood of
Pittsburgh, in the beginning of winter, and remained with an uncle
of Thomas Evans until spring. In the early part of spring they
reached Rockbridge county, where the Moores met with their younger
brother, Joseph, who at the time of the breaking up of his father's
family was in Rockbridge, at his grandfather Poage's.
After some years, the Evans family moved to the West. James
Moore resides on the tract of land owned by his father. Joseph
resides in the same neighborhood. Each of them has raised a large
family, and each has been for many years a professing Christian.
Polly became a member of the church at an early period, and in 1798
was married to the Rev. Samuel Brown, for many years pastor of
New Providence church. Few have lived more generally beloved by
a large circle of acquaintances. She closed her eventful life in the
month of April, 1824, in the joyful triumphs of Christian faith. Her
remains rest beside those of her husband in the graveyard of New
Providence church. She became the mother of eleven children; of
Items of General Interest
387
these, one died in infancy and one in early youth. The nine who
survive are all professors of religion. Of her seven sons, five are
ministers of the gospel in the Presbyterian church; one is a farmer,
and the youngest at this time, 1837, is at college. (Prepared for
Kercheval's History of the Valley, by J. M. Brown).
The author heard from Poage of Kockhridge county, a connec¬
tion of the younger prisoner, some additional circumstances in
relation to the intended cruel treatment of the prisoner, by the
savages. Soon after reaching their village, they held a council, and
determined that James should run the gauntlet. They, as was their
usual practice, placed themselves in two lines, with their scourges,
and ordered the prisoner to run between them. James started and
when the first struck him, he wheeled around and made furious battle
on the fellow. All the Indians immediately gathered around him,
patting and caressing him, and pronounced him a good warrior.
The Rev. Mr. Brown, the author of the foregoing narrative,
stated to the author that he has no recollection of hearing this
anecdote; hut as Mr. Poage is a much older man than Mr. Brown,
and a man of highly respectable character, and who certainly would
have no motive to induce him to misrepresent any of the facts con¬
nected with this interesting story, the author has thought proper to
give it to the reader, without holding himself responsible for its truth.
Weyer's Cave, In Augusta County
The reader will find a particular description of this grand work
of nature in the appendix, written by a gentleman of scientific
acquirements, and is a most graphic account of it. The author of it
resides in Staunton. The writer saw and explored this cave in the
year 1836.
Natural Bridge, In Rockbridge County
Mr. Jefferson has given a most graphical and beautiful descrip¬
tion of this stupendous work of nature.* The author deems it hardly
necessary to attempt any additional description, except in one or two
instances. The author saw this place for the first time in the month
of June, 1819. He again called to see it in the month of August,
1836. When he first saw it, he was alone, and had crossed it before
he knew he was near it. He inquired at a house very near to it, and
was informed by one of the inmates that he had just crossed it, who
then directed me the way to get to it. Descending into a deep glen, I
had to dismount my horse and walk up the margin of a fine stream
of beautiful plear water, until I approached within seventy or eighty
yards of the arch, the view being obstructed by a point of rocks, until
within that distance. Passing the rocks, the most grand, sublime,
and I may add, awful sight that I had ever looked upon, burst sud-
* See Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, pp. 21, 22, Second Edition.
388
History of The Valley
denly in full view. It was a very clear day, the sun rather past
meridian, and not a speck of cloud or anything to obstruct the sight.
The author was so struck with the grandeur and majesty of the scene,
as to become for several minutes terrified and nailed to the spot, and
incapable to move forward. After recovering in some degree from
this, I may truly say, agonizing mental state of excitement, the author
approached the arch ivith trembling and trepidation.
After some moments, he became more composed, and wrote the
folloAving lines:
O ! thoujçh eternal architect Divine,
All beautiful thy works do shine !
Permit me thus to sing :
Who can this towering arch exulore.
And not thy sovereign tK)wer adore.
Eternal King ?
Awed, at first sight, my blood was chiU'd,
My trembling limbs and nerves all thrill'd
Beneath this splendid pile.
My mind, howe'er. was soon on flame
To adore the great builder's name.
Viewing the heavenly smile.t
Did'st thou, O God ! this arch uprear.
To make us trembling mortals stare,
And humblv own thy name?
Or did'st thou build it for thy pleasure,
To prove thy power without measure,
And spread eternal fame?
Whate'er the motive or the nlan.
It far exceeds the art of man :
The grandeur of the scheme
Shows that the builder lives on high.
Beyond that blue, ethereal sky.
And wields a hand supreme.
At the author's second visit to this place, he discovered on view¬
ing the arch attentively, the image of a very large eagle, as if it was
in full fiight, with the image of a lion in chase of it. This sight is
near the eastern edge of the arch. The author, however, had heard
of those images before he saw them.
There is a story told in the neighborhood, in connection with
this most wonderful work of nature, of a very extraordinary per¬
formance of one of the young students of Lexington College. Some
years ago, several of the students rode out to view the bridge. One
of them seeing the name of Washington inscribed in the face of the
rock, observed to his companions that he would place his name above
Washington's. He ascended the rock, and effected his object; when
looking at the yawning gulf beneath, he was afraid to attempt the
descent, and requested his friends not to speak to him; then com¬
menced climbing up the wall. Some of the young men ran 'round
t The view through the arch.
Items of General Interest
389
on the bridge, and placed themselves in a posture to assist him, if he
should get within their reach. The young man actually succeeded
in getting so near them, that they seized him and drew him up;*
hut the moment he was on the bridge, from the great bodily exertion,
and extreme mental excitement, he fainted, and lay some moments
before he recovered.
This individual in the year 1886, was residing in the village at
Wythe courthouse. The author intended to visit him and converse
with him on the subject, hut was told by a friend that he conversed
on the subject with great reluctance. Of course, the author declined
his intended visit.
Salt Pond, In Giles County
This is a most beautiful work of nature. There are three
mountains f of considerable magnitude, which meet at this place, the
several mountains at their terminations forming a considerable
chasm; this affords a receptacle for the water. It presents to the
beholder the appearance of a miniature lake of pure transparent
water, and is about one mile in length, and generally from one-
quarter to a half mile in width. From its head to its termination,
it lies nearly a northeast course. It is obstructed at its termination
with vast piles of huge rock, over which it is discharged. When this
place was first known, the water found passage through the fissures
of the rocks. In the year 1804, the remarkable wet spring and
summer, which is doubtless recollected by every elderly person, it is
supposed the vast quantity of leaves and other rubbish that washed
into it, closed up the fissures in the rocks ; immediately after which it
commenced rising. An elder gentleman residing, in 1836, on New
river, a few miles from it, Col. Snydow, informed the author lhat
it had risen fully twenty-five feet since the year 1804. It is said to
produce but few fish, there having been a few fine trout caught in
it; but vast numbers of the water lizard exist in it. Col. Snydow
informed the writer that when this place was first known to the white
people, vast numbers of buffalos, elks and deer resorted to it, and
drank freely of its waters; from which circumstance it acquired the
name of "Salt Pond." The author tasted the water, but could not
discover that it had any saltish flavor.
Col. Snydow also informed the writer, that previous to the rising
of the water, a very large spring raised at the head, and supplied
the lake with water; hut since its rise, that spring has disappeared,
and it is now fed by numerous small springs around its head.
The author recollects seeing (in a description of this place,
published in«a Northern magazine, some years ago), the opinion
expressed that this wonderful work of nature had been formed within
the memory of man; but this is doubtless a mistake. Messrs.
* From the base to the top of the arch, is two hundred feet perpendicular height.
tPeter's Mountain« the Salt Fond Mountain, and Baldnob Mountain.
390
History of The Valley
Snydow and Lybrook both state to the writer that it existed when the
country was first discovered. Col. Snydow particularly, stated that
he could recollect it upwards of sixty years, and that it had not
increased in length within that period hut had risen as above
described.
Near this pool of water stands a wild cherry, which those gentle¬
men described to be ninety feet high to the first limb, perfectly
straight, and not less than five feet in diameter.
The Koyal Oak
This grand and majestic tree is within ahout one mile of Union,
a very sprightly village, the seat of justice for Monroe county. It
is of vast height, and is said to he eight feet in diameter.* It has
acquired the name from its immense size; towering over every other
tree in the forest in that section of country.
Sopis Knob
This is a part of the mountain contiguous to the village. Union ;
and is the residence of Alexander Calder, Esq., who has erected a
splendid brick dwelling house near the summit of the mountain. It
is two miles from the village to Mr. Calder's house, a continued
ascent from the village to his house, and considerably steep in places.
Of course, Mr. Calder's house stands on most elevated ground. Mr.
Calder is a resident of Charleston, South Carolina, and has improved
this place for his summer residence. The author rode to Mr. Calder's
house for the purpose of viewing the splendid works of nature and
art combined at this extraordinary place.
Col. Andrew Beirne, the representative in Congress, resides near
Union, in Montgomery county, is said to be a man of great wealth
and has erected a splendid brick dwelling house and other fine
improvements, on an extensive farm.
Col. Beirne informed the author that a tract of country for more
than one hundred miles between Greenbrier county and the Kenawha,
was inhabited; that it is very mountainous, but contains a large
proportion of fertile lands.
This gentleman also expressed the opinion that it is one of the
healthiest regions, hoth for man and beast, in all North America.
Valuable Minerals
Our mountains abound in valuable minerals. We have three
manganese mines within about twenty miles of Winchester. The
• Fourth Edition Note—The Royal Oak was about five feet in diameter.
Items of Genekal Interest
391
price of the article is, however, so much reduced of late years, that
there is hut little of it taken to the market. The author is informed
that a rich copper mine has lately heen discovered, and a company
formed for working it. It is said it yields well. Several lead mines
are said to have heen discovered, but as yet, they have not heen very
productive. There have heen several coal mines opened, of the
anthracite kind, one of which yields well. It is probable that on
further research, sufficient quantities may be found to supply this
section of country.
The people of our Valley have abundant cause to he humbly
thankful to the Great Author of our existence for the blessings He
has in His wisdom and benevolence provided for their happiness.
THE END
INDEX
Abington, 180.
Accomack, County, 30, 31.
Alleghany Mountain, 80, 85, 100.
Allemong, Christian, 58.
Allen, , 61.
Allen, Lt. , 115.
Allen, Benjamin, 37, 49.
Allen, David H., 357.
Allen, Israel, 37, 368.
Allen, Robert, 181.
Allen, Thomas, 181.
Amusements, 276-279.
Animal Life in Early Valley, 52.
Antietam Creek, 35.
Anthony, Joseph, 65.
Apple Pie Ridge, 38, 48, 51; House
Cave, 368.
App's Valley, 382.
Arbuckle, Capt. Matthew, 113, 114,
195.
Armstrong, Robert, 371.
Ashby, Capt. John, 96; Ashby's
Fort, 96. ■
Ashby, Nimrod, 97.
Ashley, Lieut. , 216.
Asbury, Bishop Francis, 66.
Augusta County, 53, 171.
Babb's Marsh, 44.
Babb, , 317.
Back Creek, 51, 79, 307.
Bacon, Nathaniel, 17; Rebellion,
18-21.
Bacon Quarter Branch, 17.
Baker, , 112.
Baker, Henry W., 70.
Baker, William, 145.
Baltimore, (¡baríes. Lord, 163, 164.
Baltimore, Frederick, Lord, 165.
Baptist Church, 63-66, 297.
Baptism, , 20, 287.
Barclay, Sir William, 33.
Barnett, Gen. , 57.
Barrett, Thomas, 44, 53, 70, 73.
Barrett Family, 47.
Barton, Richard Peters, 49, 54;
Richard W., 49, 54.
Beale, Taverner, 315.
Bean, Maj. James, 311.
Bedinger, Maj. H., 35, 41.
Beeler, Christopher, 56.
Beeson, Benjamin, 44.
Beeson Family, 47.
Beirne, Col. Andrew, 390.
Berkeley County, 50, 109, 154, 172,
307.
Berkeley, Dr. , 359.
Berkeley, John, 13.
Berkeley, Sir William, 21.
Berkeley Warm Springs, 322.
Berry, Sir John, 33.
Berry's Ferry, 311.
Berryville, 56.
Beverly, William, 168, 169, 176.
Big Levels Massacre, 193.
Biggs, Gen. Benjamin, 199.
Biggs, Capt. John, 216.
Bingaman, Samuel, 88, 89; Lewis,
106.
Black, Patrick, 309.
Blackburn, , 61; Gen.
Samuel, 61.
Bland, , 31, 33.
Bloody Ford, 102.
"Bloody Hill", 82.
Bloody Run Spring, 17.
Blue, Mr. Garrett, 36, 39, 42, 88, 98.
Blue, Mrs. Uriah, 92.
Blue Ridge, 305.
Blond, J., 314.
Bond's (Salus) Springs, 322.
Boteler, Dr. , 311.
Botetourt County, 114, 172.
Bowman, Col. Abraham, 104, 139.
Bowman's Fort, 100.
Bowman, George, 49, 54, 84.
394
History of The Valley
Bowers, Rev. , 296.
Bowers, , 95.
Bowen, Henry, 355.
Braddock, Gen. , 69 ;
War and Defeat, 68-69.
Brake, John, 92, 144, 146.
Branson Family, 47.
Brent, Capt. , 19-22.
Brewbecker, , 84, 85.
Brinker, Mrs. Rebecca, 79, 84.
Bristol, Mr. , 24.
"Broad-brims," 151.
Broadbead, Col. , 227.
Brock's Gap, 317.
Brown, Mrs. , 229-231.
Brown, Isaac, 45.
Brown, Rev. James M., 63.
Brown, Capt. Pbenias, 360.
Brown, Mrs. Sarah, 375.
Buck, , 17.
Buckles, Robert, 50.
Buford, Capt. , 115.
Bullskin, The, 51, 52, 108.
Burgoyne, Gen. , 140.
Burwell Family, 52.
Burwell, George H., 360.
Burwell, Nathaniel, 360.
Burwell, Capt. Robert C., 359.
Business Pursuits Early Settlers,
58.
"Butterfly Rocks," 321.
Byrd, Abraham, 145.
Byrd, Col. William, 45, 167, 170.
Calder, Alexander, 390.
Calmes, Marquis, 172.
Calmes, William, 143.
Calvinists, 60, 61.
Camp Meetings, 67.
Canady, Thomas, 119.
Canine Wisdom, 94, 101.
Capon (Cacapbon) 51; Capon
River, 64, 72, 100, 307, 318.
Capon Springs (Watson), 181, 324.
Captina Massacre, 111, 112.
Caravans, 255, 256.
Carlile, William, 79; Charles, 79.
Carnagy, W., 157.
Carpenter, John, 202, 212.
Carpinert, Nicholas, 181.
Carter, Charles, 168.
"Carter Hall," 360.
Carter, Joseph, 56.
Carter, Col. Robert, 51, 167.
Carter, William A., 359.
Cartmell, John, 369.
Carver, Capt. , 29, 31.
Casey, Benjamin, 77.
Casey, Peter, 55, 77, 83. 93.
Castleman & McCormick, 52; Wil¬
liam Castleman, 56.
Castleman, Thomas, 313.
Catholic Church, 297.
Caton, Thomas, 156.
Catawba Tribe, 35, 40, 55.
Candy, James, 318; Candy's Rock,
318.
Cedar Creek, 43, 49, 51, 61, 100.
Chapline, Moses, 181.
Charleston, 182.
Charles Town, 181.
Chaukley, Thomas, 45, 51; Letter
to Quaker Meeting, 46, 47.
Cheagle, John, 46.
Cheat River (Muskingum), 88, 89,
110, 127, 197, 202, 227.
Cherokee Indians, 57, 180, 384.
Chesepiack Bay, 20, 30.
Chew, Benjamin, 141.
Chick, George, 181.
Childs, James, 65.
Chillicothe, Shawnee Town, 115,
116.
Chrisman, Jacob, 49.
Christian, Israel, 177.
Churches, 296.
Cinela Tribe, 20.
Civilization, 293-301.
Clanahan, James, 375.
Clark, Col. , 200.
Clark, James, 181.
Clark, William L., 71.
Clarksburg, 181.
Clay, Charles, 381.
Clayhourne, William, 13.
Claypole, John, 144.
Index
395
Clendennin, Archibald, 193.
Clouser Family, 97, 99, 100.
Coburn, , 50, 55.
Cohoon, , 73.
Cohongoruton (roota), 35, 38, 49,
82, 166, 167, 305, 307.
Cole, Col. , 23.
Colston, Raleigh, 155.
Commerce, 293.
Conestoga Indians, 192.
Congress' Proclamation to Western
Country, 122, 123.
Connoly, John, 120; Letters, 130-
134.
Conocoheague, 36.
Constellations, Belief in, 282, 283.
Cook's Fort, 376.
Cooper, Andrew, 181.
Copple, Michael, 81.
Cornstalk, Chief, 114, 115, 128;
Murder of Cornstalk, 195, 196.
Cornwallis, Lord, 144; Claypole
Insurrection on Lost River, 144,
145.
Coshocton Campaign, 227, 228.
Cowpasture River, 369, 375.
Craig, Daniel, 364.
Craig, Lewis, 65.
Crane, James, 181.
Crawford, Col. , 213;
Moravian Campaign, 213-220.
Crawford, John, 216.
Crawford, Col. William, 105.
Crawford, William, 216.
Creek Indians, 180.
Cresap, Daniel, 42.
Cresap, Capt. Michael, 42, 86, 109,
110, 125, 126.
Crops and Crop Rotation, 153, 244.
Cross Creek, 258.
Crowsville, 182.
Culpeper County, 154.
Cunningham, , 143.
Cunningham, William, 181.
Dancing, 261, 277.
Dandridge, William, 170.
Darke, Gen. William, 89.
Darksville, 182.
Darnel, Lawrence, 119.
Davis, James, 86.
Davison, John, 181.
Daugherty, James, 181.
Day, , 85.
Day's Fort, 375.
Deevers, , 320.
Delay, , 89, 90.
Delaware Indians, 35, 38, 40, 55,
208, 378.
Dellinger, John, 100; Rachel, 100.
Denny, Walter, 97.
Denny, Francis, 378.
Detroit (Fort), 190, 207.
Dickinson, John, 371.
Dickinson, Thomas, 123.
Dillon, , 115.
Dinwiddle, Gov. , 68.
Dispennet, , 79.
Dobson, Mr. (Clerk), 20.
Doddridge, Rev. Joseph, 185; Notes
on War of 1763, 186-194.
Doddridge's Fort, 225-226.
Doegs, 19.
Donnolly, Andrew, 181.
Donnally's Fort, 376.
Drake, William, 181.
Dress of Early Settlers, 150, 151,
250, 252, 293, 294.
Drinker, Henry, 141.
Drummond, , 23, 32, 33.
Duff, William, 49, 154.
Dunbar, Col. , 69.
Dunmore, Lord, 109; Dunmore's
War, 111-112, 114-119; Treaty of
Camp Charlotte, 117; Proclama¬
tion to Pennsylvania, 120; Ef¬
fects of War, 129-138.
Dyer, James, 91.
Dyer, Zebulon, 91.
Edes, , 87.
Edgar, Thomas, 181.
Edmundson, James, 178.
Edward's Fort, 78.
Ellison, James, 114, 376.
Ellzey, William, 178.
396
History of The Valley
Episcopal Church, 298, 362.
Erskine, Mrs. Sarah, 370.
Esty, Richard, 378.
Evans, John, 73, 181.
Evans Fort, 73.
Evans, Martha, 383; Thomas, 386.
Fairfax, Bryan, 178.
Fairfax County, 154.
Fairfax, George W., 44.
Fairfax Stone, 163-169.
Fairfax, Thomas, Lord, 50,154-157,
161-169, 175-176.
Fairfax, William, 168, 169.
"Fairfield," 358.
Falling Run, 314.
Falling Waters, 63.
Farly, Matthew, 381.
Farming, 266, 357.
Faulkner, Charles James, 158;
Report on Maryland-Virgpnia
Boundary, 158-170.
Fauquier County, 154.
Fawcett Family, 47.
Fawcett, Elisha, 101.
Felebaum, George, 222.
Fields, Col. , 115.
Fincastle County, 173; Town of,
177.
Fisher, Jacob, 80.
Fisher, Joshua, 141; Thomas, 141;
Samuel, 141.
Fitzgerald, William, 375.
Fitzwilliams, Richard, 170.
Flaugherty, , 79, 97.
Floyd, Gov. John, 170.
Forbes, Gen. , 71.
Forester, Thomas, 50; William, 50.
Foreman, Reuben, 181.
Forman, , 55.
Forts and Block-Houses, 253-254.
Fort Cumberland, 69, 82.
Fort DuQuesne, 69.
Fort Frederick, 72, 147.
Fort Laurens, 199-201.
Fort Loudoun, 70.
Fort Loudoun Seminary, 70.
Fort Mcintosh, 197.
Fort Necessity, 68.
Fort Pitt, 69, 91, 114, 190, 191, 199,
209, 234.
Fort Pleasant, 55, 74, 76.
Frankfort, 181.
Franklin, Benjamin, 123.
Frederick County, 45, 109, 154, 171,
172, 307.
Friend, , 36.
Friend, Israel, 50.
Friend, Mrs. Mary, 39.
Froman, Paul, 49, 54.
Front Royal, 181.
Frontville, at Sweet Springs, 182.
Fry, , 61, 68.
Fry, , 99.
Fry, Abraham, 105.
Fry, Henry, 58, 181, 324.
Fry, Col. Joshua, 169.
Fry, Samuel, 85.
Fullen welder, Peter, 222.
Funkhouser, David, 321.
Furman, William, 97.
Furman's Fort, 97, 107.
Gallaher, John S., 170.
Ganet, William, 119.
Gates, Gen. Horatio, 140.
Gatewood, Esq., John, 43, 102.
Geldart, Francis, 157.
German Flats, Treaty of. 111.
German Gamers, 103, 151.
Gerrard, Rev. David, 181.
Gerard, Rev. John, 63.
Gerrardstown (Middletown), 181.
Gibbons, Jacob, 72, 175, Sarah, 72.
Gibson, Col. John, 133, 199.
Giles County, 377, 389.
Gilmore, , 195.
Girty, Simon, 217.
Glass, , 61.
Glass, , 230.
Glass, Maj. Robert D., 38, 84.
Glass, Miss Susan, 100.
Glenn, Capt. James, 36, 39, 73, 87.
Gloucester County, 30.
Gochenour, , 315.
Goldsby, , 115.
Index
397
Gooch, Gov. , 50, 167.
Goony Run Manor, 155.
Gotharp, James, 148.
Graham, Rev. J. B., 35.
Graham, Maj. , 373.
Grandstaff, George, 42, 84.
Gray, John, 181.
Grayson County, 173.
Greathouse, Daniel, 112.
Great Meadows, 68, 69.
Green, Robert, 49, 154.
Green, Gen. DufF, 154.
Grening, Thomas, 375.
Greenbrier County, 173, 269, 381.
Greenbrier River, 369, 371, 373.
Greenway Court, 155, 157, 359.
Grey Sulphur Springs, 340-351.
Grubbs, Stephens, 312.
Grymes, John, 168.
Hackney Family, 47.
Hackney, Joseph, 73, 101.
Hagerty, John, 66.
Haines, Capt. , 177.
Haines, Robert, 181.
Hall, Capt. , 195.
Hall, Mrs. Margaret, 378.
Halley, Peter, 181.
Hampton, Joseph, 56.
Hampshire County, 36, 42, 59, 109,
144, 154, 172.
Hand-Mills, 269.
Hand, Thomas, 182.
Hanging Rocks, 36, 42, 320.
Hanway, Samuel, 181.
Hardy County, 41, 144, 154, 173,
374.
Harness, John, 90, 127, 197.
Harper, Robert, 50.
Harpers Ferry, 305, 310; Jeffer¬
son's Rock, 310; Armory, 362.
Harrison, Maj. , 216.
Harrison,, Benjamin, 123.
Harrisonburg, 180.
Harrison, Thomas, 180.
Harrison's Cave, 369.
Harrison County, 173.
Havely, Jacob, 79.
Haw, James, 181.
Hawk, Isaac, 181.
Hawksbill Creek, 42, 43, 306; Set¬
tlement, 106.
Hay, Dr. James, 359.
Haymond, William, 181.
Headly, William, 182.
Heath, Jonathan, 179.
Heath, William, 36, 42, 51.
Heckewelder, Rev. John, 227.
Hedges, Dr. John, 72; Capt. John
C., 72.
Hedges' Fort, 87.
Hedges, Solomon, 172.
Hedgeman, Peter, 169.
Heiskell, Christopher, 319.
Helm, Meredith, 172.
Helphinstine, Peter, 139.
Hen, Rob't., 19.
Hendricks, James, 39.
Henry, Capt. , 310.
Henry, Patrick, 123.
Henshaw, William, 181.
Hickman, John, 182.
Higgins, Robert, 92, 93.
Higgins, Thomas, 96.
Higgins, James, 97.
Higgins, John, 370.
Highways, 363.
Hill, Col. John, 25, 375.
Hite, Abraham, 55.
Hite, Jacob, 50, 179.
Hite, Major Isaac, 56, 100, 360.
Hite, James Madison, 359.
Hite, Joist, 49, 54, 154, 176.
Hite, John, 156.
Hite, John, Jr., 66, 174.
Hite, Thomas, 178.
Hite, Dr. Walker, 368.
Hockhocking River, 109.
Höge, George, 172.
Hogeland, Mrs. , 92, 107
Hollingsworth, Isaac, 105, 360.
Holtiman, Jacob, 84.
Hoover, Jacob, 181.
Horner, , 72.
Houses and Furnishings 151, 152,
264, 295; Bams, 151, 174.
398
History of The Valley
House Warming, 264-265.
Houe, Major , 22.
Howard, , 50, 55.
Howard, John, 51.
Howe, Sir William, 143.
Hughes, Mrs. Elizabeth, 66.
Humphreys, John, 139.
Humphreys, Charles, 123.
Humphreys, Ralph, 181.
Hunting, 257-259.
Hupp, George F., 368; Hupp's
Cave, 368.
Hutton, Moses, 179.
Ice Mountain, 319.
Ingram, , 32.
fnfare, 263.
Indian Graves, 37, 42, 43, 44.
Indian Origin, 9-10.
Indian Road (Pennsylvania Road),
38.
Indian Settlements, 41-43.
Indian Skeletons, 37, 43, 44.
Indian Standards of Honor, 56-57.
Indian Wars, 35-40.
Insurrection, 31.
Ireland, Rev. James, 65-66.
Iroquois, 37; Treaty of Albany, 37.
Irvine, Alexander, 170.
Jackson River, 373.
Jacobs, Rev. John J., 42.
James, Abel, 141; John, 141.
James River, 11, 21, 22, 26.
Jamestown, 11-15, 22, 23; Massa¬
cre, 15.
Jefferson, Peter, 170.
Jefferson, Thomas, 17, 45, 123.
Jefferson College, 296.
Jefferson County, 154, 307.
Jeffries, Herbert, 33.
Jennings, William, 182.
Jice, Frederick, 92.
Jones, David, 97.
Jones, Gabriel, 172.
Johnson, John, 238-240, 371;
Henry, 238-240.
Kackley, Jacob, 98.
Kanawha County, 173.
Kanawha River, 109, 111.
Kavanah, Philip, 378.
Keames, Michael, 181.
Keisletown, 182.
Keller's Fort, 80.
Keller, Charles, 96.
Kelly, , 72.
Kelly, Tady, 197.
Kemper, Charles E., 35.
Keneade, George, 373.
Kennerly, Rev. Thomas, 157, 359.
Kentucky County, 173.
Kercheval, Samuel, Jr., 107.
Kerfoot, , 61.
Kerfoot, John, 358.
Kern, Adam, 54.
Kernstown, 54.
Keyser, Major Andrew, 37.
Keyser, Noah, 43.
Keyser, Andrew, Jr., 85.
Kill-buck, Shawnee Chief, 77, 78,
82, 83.
King, , 17.
King George County, 154.
Kline, Anthony, 42.
Knight, Dr. , 216, 217.
Kremer, Oliver, 97.
Kuykendall, , 89; Isaac
96.
Kuykendall, Nathaniel, 172.
Laferty, John, 119.
Lafferty, Steel, 376.
Lair, Ferdinand, 91.
Lambs' Fort, 223.
Lancaster County, Pa., 37, 39, 47.
Lancaster County, Va., 154.
Land Titles, 50, 51, 241; "Toma¬
hawk Rights," 241-244.
Largent, John, 96, 318.
Larimore, Capt. , 32.
Larue, Isaac, 56, 58; Col. John, 56.
Law Enforcement, 299.
Lawrence, , 23, 25, 28,
29, 33.
Leash, Paul, 373.
Index
399
Leet, Major , 214.
Lefler, George, 222; Jacob, Jr., 222.
Lee, Col. , 25.
Lee, Capt. Hancock, 127.
Lee, Gen. Henry, 155.
Lee, John, 314.
Lee, Richard Henry, 123.
Lee County, 173.
Leed's Manor, 155.
Lemon, John, 50.
Lewis, Col. A., 109, 127.
Lewis, Col. Charles, 114.
Lewis, Fielding, 313.
Lewis, Capt. Joshua, 72.
Lewis, Maj. Lawrence, 364.
Lewis, Samuel, 181.
Lewisburg, 180, 354.
Lexington, Va., 178.
Lindsey, John, 56, 156; James, 56.
Little, William, 181.
Livingston, Maj., 69, 82.
Lloyd, Hester, 99; Lloyd Massacre,
97.
Logan, Cayuga Chief. 116; Lo¬
gan's Speech, 117.
Lomax, Col. Lunsford, 169.
Long Marsh, 52, 56, 58, 108.
"Long Meadows," 56.
Long, Paul, 156.
London, 17.
Looney, Absalom, 382.
Lost River, 51, 87, 307, 317.
Loudoun County, 154.
Lucas, Edward, 50.
Lupton Family, 47.
Lupton, Amos, 355.
Luray, 307.
Luray Caverns, 314.
Lutherans, 60, 61, 298.
Lybrook, John, 377.
Mace, , 146.
Madison County, 154, 308.
Madison's Cave, 327.
Madison, Col. J., 179.
Madison, Mrs. Elizabeth, 365.
Madison, John, 135.
Magill, Col. Charles, 359; Johns
S., 359.
Marriage Ceremonies, 60-62, 260-
261.
Marshall, John (Chief Justice),
155.
Martin, Rev. Denny, 157.
Martin, Thomas Bryan, 172, 178,
179.
Martin, John, 109.
Martin, Gen. Philip, 157.
Martinsburg, 179.
Maryland, 19, 20, 21; State Line,
158.
Mason, Col., , 18, 19,
20, 22, 23.
Mason, Maj. Seth, 360.
Massacres—On Capon River, 72,
78; In Berkeley County, 72, 73;
On the Opequon, 73; Near Win¬
chester, 79; At Mill Creek, 80;
At White's Fort, 100.
Massanetto, 28.
Massanutten Mountain, 49, 107,
306.
Massanutten Settlement, 35.
Matthews, Dr. , 63.
Matthews, Archer, 181.
Mayers, , 63.
Mays, Joseph, 114, 372, 375.
Mayo, William, 168, 170.
M'Alister, James, 179.
M'Alley, John, 181.
McCautry, , 355.
McClay, Robert, 372.
McClenachan, ' , 115.
M'Cool, John, 101.
McConnel, Squire, 119; Andrew,
119.
M'Cracken, , 79.
M'Cullough, George, 181.
McDonald, Dr. , 99.
McDonald, Col. Angus, 109, 127,
197.
McDonald, Samuel, 369, 375; El¬
len, 375.
McGowan, , 63.
McQuire, Capt. Edward, 311.
Mcintosh Campaign, 199-201.
400
History of The Valley
MTvor, Paul, 181.
McKay Family, 47.
McKay, Robert, 49, 154.
M'Kewan, Gilbert, 181.
M'Mahon, William, 172.
McMillan, Rev. John, 296.
M'Neil, Daniel, 179.
McNeil, John, 375.
Mechanic Arts, 268-271.
Medicine, 272, 275.
Meeks, Guy, 109.
Meeks, William, 376.
Meno, Simon, 60; Menonists, 60.
Mercer, Edward, 50; Richard, 50.
Mercer, Capt. , 78.
Mercer, Col. George, 169.
Methodism in Valley, 66, 67, 297.
Middlesex County, 30.
Miller, Christian, 61, 101.
Miller, George (Massacre) 100,
104; Miller Bible, 105.
Miller, Jacob, 177, 221-223.
Miller, William, 55, 172.
Miles, James S., 77.
Mill Creek, 80, 103.
Mills, 174, 361, 362.
Mills, Thomas, 216, 232.
Minge, , 28.
Mingo Bottom, 202.
Mineral Wealth, 390, 391.
Mitchell, Abraham, 100.
Mitchell, James, 181.
Mitchell, John, 181.
Mitchell, Joseph, 179.
Monongalia County, 173.
Montgomery County, 173.
Moore, Cato, 181.
Moore, Conrad, 178.
Moore, Capt. James, 181, 382;
Moore Massacre, 383-385; Jos¬
eph, 386.
Moore, John, 369.
Moore, Polly (Mrs. Samuel
Brown), 384-386.
Moore, Riley, 37, 49.
Moore, William, 103.
Moorefield, 178.
Moravian Town, 109, 193, 227;
Destruction of, 202-210; Craw¬
ford's Campaign, 213-220; Sa¬
lem, 227.
Moral Standards, 283-287.
Morgan, Gen. Daniel, 79, 110, 139,
140; Battle of Cowpens, 143,
145, 146.
Morgan, Richard, 50, 156.
Morgan ap Morgan, 50, 172.
Morgan, Zackquell, 181.
Morgantown, 181.
Morgan County, 154.
Morrison, Col. , 33.
Morris, William, 181.
Morris Fort, 242.
Mounts, Providence, 181.
Muddy Creek Massacre, 193.
Muhlenberg, Rev. John Peter
Gabriel, 139; "The German
Regiment," 139.
Munch, Daniel, 43.
Murray, , 115.
Myers, Jacob, 80.
Myers, John, 181.
Narrow Passage, 101.
Natural Bridge, 387.
Naylor, William, 107.
Neally's Fort, 73.
Neill Family, 47.
Neill, A., 174.
Neill, Lewis, 45, 70, 87.
Neill, Joseph, 360.
Nelson, Philip, 359.
Newell, , 61.
Newell, Thomas, 104, 106.
Newkirk, Henry, 92.
Newce, Sir William, 12.
Newport, Capt. Christopher, 11.
New Market, 306.
New Providence Church, 386.
New River, 378, 381.
Nicholls, , 80.
Nicholson, Thomas, 197.
Noble, Anthony, 179.
Northern Neck, The, 153-156, 161.
Northumberland County, 18, 19,
154.
North Mountain, 52, 58, 61, 98;
Index
401
Little North Mountain, 305, 307;
Great North Mountain, 308,
309, 314, 315.
Norton, Capt. William, 13.
Nourse, James, 178.
Odell, Samuel, 156.
Offenberger, Frederick, 107.
Ohio County, 173.
Ohio River, 109, 110, 125, 126.
Oldtown, Md., 86, 96.
Oliver, Capt. Daniel, 43, 44.
Opequon, 36, 38, 43, 49, 51, 61, 63,
305.
Opie, Hierome L., 52.
Oppechankenough, Chief, 24.
Orange County, 171.
Orkney Springs, 324.
Outrages—At New Market, 85;
Near Zane's Iron Works, 85;
On the Cohongoruton, 87 ; On
the Wappatomaka, 88; Dunkard
Bottom, Cheat River, 89; On the
South Branch, 90; in Frederick
County, 98, 99; on Cedar Creek,
100; Near Strasburg, 100; At
Woodstock and Narrow Passage,
101, 102; on Mill Creek, 104.
Owens, Richard, 66.
Oxford, Lord, 17.
Oxford, University, 25.
Paddy's Mountain, 309, 323.
Page Family, 52.
Page County, 42, 60, 154, 307.
Paget, E., 44.
Painted Rock, 36.
Painter, George, 80, 104.
Painter, Mary, 80, 81.
Painter, John, 103.
Painter, Matthias, 103.
Pakunky, Queen of, 24.
Pancake, • , 55.
Panther Cave, 312.
Parker, Richard E., 52.
Parkins, Isaac, 156.
Parsons, James, 78.
Passage Creek, 306.
Pasca ta way Indians, 20, 23.
Patterson's Creek, 51, 77, 97, 307;
Patterson's Creek Manor, 155.
Patterson, William, 179.
Pattonsburg, 182.
Paulie, Mrs. , 217.
Pauly, John, 370; Sarah, 370.
Payne, John, 145.
Payne, William, 313.
Pemberton, John, 140, 141; James,
141; Israel, 141.
Pembroke Springs, 326.
Penn, William, 45, 46, 47, 53.
Penn, John, 141.
Pendleton County, 91, 173; Frank¬
lin, 91.
Pendleton, Philip, 178, 179.
"Pennsylvania Road," 38.
Perrill, Joseph, 38.
Peterson, Martin, 90.
Pimet, Mr. , 20.
Pleasants, Samuel, 141.
Poage, Robert, 382.
Poe, Adam, 234-235; Andrew, 234-
235.
Point Pleasant, Battle of, 114, 195,
196.
Porterfield, Charles, 73.
Potomack River, 19, 21, 160-170.
Poston, Elias, 181.
Powells Fort, 43, 80, 305, 364;
Powells Fort Mountain, 305;
West Fort Mountain, 307; East
Fort Mountain, 306.
Powers, Valentine, 90.
Prairie Lands, 52.
Presbyterians, 61, 296.
Presly, , 24, 33.
Price, John, 106.
Prince William County, 154.
Prospect Rock, 365.
Pugh, Thomas, 101.
Quakers, 47, 62-63; Attitude to¬
wards War, 140, 141, 147, 148;
Friend's Society, 297.
Randall, Abel, 179.
Randolph, John, of Roanoke, 313.
402
History of The Valley
Randolph County, 173.
Rankin, Benjamin, 181.
Ransom, Matthew, 44.
Ranson, Richard, 181.
Rappahannock River, 21, 30, 161-
170.
Read, Jacob, 179.
Redman's Fishery, 311.
Reed, Andrew, 114.
Reformed Church, 298.
Reid, James, 181.
Religion, Habits and Customs, 60-
67.
Renneck, George, 179.
Revolutionary War, 139-149.
Rhodes, Valentine, 361.
Rice, Dr., 17.
Rice, Abraham, 223.
Rice, Daniel, 222.
Rice's Fort, 221.
Richardson, John, 358.
Richmond, City of, 17.
Richmond County, Va., 154.
Riddle, Matthew, 119.
Riffle, Jacob, 371.
Right of Possession of Land, 45.
Riley, George, 58.
Ritenour, George, 326.
Roads, Rev. John, 102; Roads
Family Massacre, 102, 103.
Robinson, John, 167.
Rockbridge County, 50, 173, 178.
Rockingham County, 53, 173.
Rodgers, Edward, 156.
Romney, 177.
Ross, , 51.
Ross, George, 123.
Rose, Maj. , 216.
Rumsey, James, 177.
Rush Run, 229.
Russell County, 173.
Russel, , 61.
Russell, Capt. James, 174.
Russell, Moses, 94, 106, 144.
Russell, Robert, 182.
Rust, John, 359.
Rutherford, Robert, 105, 176, 178,
181.
Rutherford, Thomas, 172, 178.
Rutherford, Benjamin, 353.
Ruthledge, —, 50, 55.
"Salt Pond," 389.
Sampson, Edward, 375.
Sandis, George, 12.
Sandy Ridge, 100.
Sandusky River, 214.
"Saratoga," 145.
Savage, John, 168.
Scott, David, 181.
Scythians, 10.
Sellars, John, 181.
Senedos, 37, 42.
Seybert's Fort, 91, 92.
Seymour, William, 41.
Shaffer's Cave, 313.
Shannondale Springs, 311, 322.
Shawnee Tribe, 41, 43, 378.
Shawnee Springs, 44.
Sheets, , 101.
Shenandoah County, 52, 109, 154,
172.
Shenandoah River, 37, 38, 42, 43,
44, 101, 306.
Shepard, C. U., 341.
Shepherd, Thomas, 50, 177.
Shepherd, Col. , 227.
Shepherdstown, 35, 41, 50, 177.
Shobe, John, 44; Mrs. Shobe, 92.
Shockoe Creek, 17.
Short Creek, 229, 238.
Short Mountain, 85.
Shultz, , 99.
Sigler, George, 101.
Simpson, James, 172.
Slaughter, , 202.
Slim Bottom on Wappatomaka, 36.
Slover, , 217, 218.
Smith, Mrs. , 80.
Smith, Capt. Charles, 365.
Smith, Edward Jacquline, 357.
Smith, George, 375.
Smith, Capt. Jeremiah, 72, 156.
Smith, Gen. John, 38, 70, 140, 176.
Smith, Col. John B. D., 170.
Smith, John, 181.
Index
403
Smith, Rev. Joseph, 296.
Smith, William, 85.
Snapp, , 99.
Snicker's Ferry, 52.
Snickers, Capt. William, 146.
South Branch River and Valley,
38, 50, 51, 55, 99, 160.
South Branch Mountain, 86, 100,
146.
South Branch Manor, 51, 155.
Spengler, Capt. Anthony, 100, 360.
Spencer, Gen. , 28.
Sperry, , 175.
Spottyslvania County, 49, 65, 171.
Sprigg, Zachariah, 181.
Springs, 314; Medicinal Springs,
322-326.
Springfield, W. Va., 182.
St. Clairsville, 216, 232.
Stafford, County, 18, 19, 20, 22,
154.
Stafford, Richard, 181.
Staunton, 176, 353, 354.
Stearns, Rev. , 63.
Steenbergen, William, 37, 42, 49.
Stephen, Gen. Adam, 179.
Stephen's Fort, 101.
Stephens, Lewis, 54, 176.
Stephens, Peter, 49, 176.
Stephensburg, 49, 50, 54, 175.
Sterrett, James, 315.
Steward, , 65.
Stickley, Abraham, 54.
Stickley, David, 104.
Stockton, Isabella, 73; George, 73.
Stockton, Robert, 50.
Stone, John, 84.
Stone Dwellings and Stockades, 84.
Stony Creek, 42, 43, 94.
Stover, Daniel, 102.
Stover, Jacob, 49, 50.
Stover, Joseph, 360.
Stover, Peter, ¿76.
Strasburg, 176.
Strode, John, 73.
Strode, James, 179.
Stroop, William, 50.
Stuart, House of, 17.
Stuart, Capt. , 195.
Stuart, Charles, 225.
Stuart, James, 369.
Stuart, John, 181, 369.
Sullivan, Daniel, 96.
Summer, The Indian, 211, 212.
Susquehanough, 20, 189, 190.
Susquehanna River, 35.
Swearingen, Col. Joseph, 41.
Swearengen, Thomas 50; Van 50,
178, 181.
Swisher, Valentine, 181.
Sydnor, Samuel G., 356.
Tanneries, 269.
Tarleton, Gen. , 143, 144.
Tatapatomoi, Chief, 25.
Tate, Magnus, 181.
Taylor, , 101.
Taylor, Griffin, 357, 365; John B.,
365.
Taylor's Hotel, 352.
Taylor, John, 50; Samuel, 50.
Tazewell County, 382.
Teter, Capt. Samuel, 225, 258.
"The Devil's Garden," 316.
Thomas, Owen, 98; Mrs. Thomas,
98, 99; Evan, 98.
Thomas, Ellis, 100.
Thompson, John, 200.
Thompson, Thomas, 375.
Throckmorton Family, 108.
Thruston, Rev. Charles Mynn, 178,
311.
Tobacco Raising, 153.
Tomlinson, John, 36, 39, 69, 82,
109.
Tomlinson, Benjamin, 119.
Tortures, 38, 39.
Tory Sentiment in Valley, 140,
144, 145, 146.
Triplett, Col. William, 180.
Trout, Henry, 181.
Trout Pond, 315; Trout Run, 316.
Trough, The, 55; Battle of The
Trough, 75-76.
Tucker, Henry St. G., 357.
Tuly, Col. Joseph, 357; "Tulyries,"
357.
404
History of The Valley
Tunkers, 60.
Turley, Charles A., 75.
Tuscarora Indians, 44.
Tuscarora Meeting House, 63.
Vance, , 61, 79.
Vance, David, 172.
Vanmeter, Esq., Isaac, 41, 50, 55,
154.
Vanmeter, John, 50, 55, 154.
Vanmeter, Garrett, 179.
Vanmeter, Solomon, 181.
Villier, Mousde, 69.
Virginia Historical Society, 170.
Wagner, Capt., 76.
Walker, , 50, 55.
Walker Family, 47.
Walker, John, 96.
Wallace, William, 202.
Waller, John, 65.
Wappatomaka, 86, 38, 50, 55, 88.
Wappatomica Campaign, 197-198.
War of 1763, 189-194.
Ward, , 115.
Ward, William, 181.
Warden, William, 87; Benjamin,
87.
Warden's Fort, 87.
Ware, Col. J. W., 357.
Warm Springs, 177.
Warner, Col. T. M., 18, 31.
Washington College, 297.
Washington County, 173.
Washington Family, 108.
Washington, Bushrod B., 356.
Washington, Col. Charles, 181.
Washington, Gen. George, 52, 68,
70, 139, 364.
Washington, John Augustine, 181.
Washington's Masonic Cave, 364.
Washington, Samuel, 178.
Washington, Thornton, 181.
Washington, Warner, 178.
Way, James, 311.
Wayland, Dr. John W., 35.
Wayne, Gen. , 240.
Weast's Cave, 339.
Weaving, 269.
Weber, William, 65.
Wellsburg, 229.
Wells' Fort, 230.
Wells', Alexander, 247.
Welton, Aaron, 88; Job, 88; Jona¬
than, 89.
Welton, John, 91.
We.st Augusta, 173.
West Liberty, Ohio, 181.
Westmoreland County, 154.
Wetzel, Lewis, 232, 233.
Wetzel, Jacob, 232.
Wetzel, John, 232.
Weyer, Bernard, 327.
Weyer's Cave, 314, 327-338.
Wharton, Thomas, 141.
Wheeling, W. Va., 96, 221.
Wheeling Fort, 221.
Whiskey Rebellion, 207.
White, , 61.
White-eyes, Chief (Delaware)
134; Dunmore's Letter, 137.
White-eye's Plains, 227.
White, Alexander, 178, 181.
Whiting Family, 108.
Whiteman, Hezekiah, 181.
White, John, 172.
White, Maj. Robert, 97, 98.
White's Fort, 100.
White, William, 37, 49, 105.
"White House, The," 84.
White Mountain, 318.
White Sulphur Springs, 325.
Wilkins, Matthias, 145.
Wiley, Allen, 181.
Williams, Edward, 78.
Williams, John, 181.
Williams, Richard, 92.
Williams, Vincent, 77.
Williamson, Col. David, 203, 209,
213-216.
Williamsburg, 113.
Williams' White Sulphur Springs,
326.
Willis Family, 108.
Willis, Charles, 181.
Index
405
Willis, Robert Carter, 179.
Wilson, , 116.
Wilson, James, 54, 77, 106, 123.
Wilson, William, 72.
Winchester, 38, 44, 70; prisoners
of war 142, 143, 175, 352, 353.
Winslow, Benjamin, 168.
Winterton, John, 181.
Witchcraft, 280-283.
Witherall, Dr. , 313.
Wolf's Fort on Stony Creek, 94,
95.
Wood, Col. James, 110, 135, 139,
171, 175, 176.
Woods, Capt. , 376.
Woodcock, John S., 176, 181.
Woodstock, 101, 102, 177.
Wormley, Ralph, 52.
Worstead, Humphrey, 96.
Wright, John, 50.
Wright, Shadrach, 78.
Wroe, Original, 181.
Wyandotte (Indians), 213, 216,
234.
Wyatt, Gov. Francis, 12.
Wyoming, Penn., Massacre, 192.
Wythe County, 173.
Yeardly, Sir George, 12.
Yellow Creek Massacre, 112, 113.
Yohogania County, 173.
York, , 95.
York, Penn., 49.
York River, 21, 32.
Young, , 85.
Zane, Gen. Isaac, 36, 54, 111, 181.
Zane's Cave, 311.
Zane's Iron Works, 47, 54.
Zane, Jonathan, 197.
Zane, William, 86; Isaac, 86.
975.5 K39h
3 5556 010 437 176