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Full text of "History of Augusta County, Virginia"

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HISTORY 



—OF— 



AUG-USTA COL^N^TY, 



VIRGINIA 



— BY — 



J. LEWIS PEYTON, 



Author of "The American Crisis, or Pages from the Note Book of a State Agent duiing the Civil 

War ;" "Over the Alleghanies and Across the Prairies, or Personal Recollections of the Far 

West one-and- twenty Years Ago;" "A Statistical Viewr of the State of Illinois," etc. 




Staunton, Virginia : 

SAMUEL M. YOST & SON 

MDCCCLXXXII, 



All rights reserved. 



COPYRIGHTED. 






^^ -.^'l 



FiSANK Prufer & Son, 
Binders. 

Staunton, Va. 



INTRODUCTION. 



A county remote from the first scenes of European settlement in Vir- 
ginia ; not visited by whites until 1716; uncolonized till 1732, and organ- 
ized less than a century and a half ago, appears to offer few materials for 
history. The Valley of Virginia, in the heart of which Augusta lies, was 
unknown to the whites for more than a hundred years after the landing at 
Jamestown. During this long period no effort was made to penetrate into 
what was supposed to be an impenetrable region lying beyond high and 
inaccessible mountains. No one ventured to overcome these obstacles of 
nature, and to enter a dismal solitude of irremediable barrenness and per- 
petual gloom, whose air was said to be infectious and mortal, the ground 
covered with serpents, the forests infested by wild beasts, and the indige- 
nous inhabitants a race of fierce and brutal savages, hating strangers and 
implacable in their cruelty. It was only after the return of the " Knights 
of the Golden Horseshoe " from their successful expedition over the 
mountains and into the Valley, that all previous accounts were discovered 
to be fabulous, and what was hitherto considered an accursed land, was 
found to be a delightful region, blessed with a delicious climate, rich fields, 
groves, shades and streams. From this period many persons seriously 
considered the question of making their homes in these hesperian regions, 
and within less than twenty years of Spotswood's return the Valley became 
the permanent home of Europeans. The early history of the discovery 
and occupation of the country west of the great mountains, so far as the 
present County of Augusta is concerned, is illustrated by few traditionary 
legends or incidents of border warfare, beyond the ordinary privations 
attending a new settlement, but when the entire territory which bore her 
name from 1738 to 1790, comes under view, it is eminently worthy of his- 
torical relation. A small remnant only of the adventures of our western 
pioneers is preserved. Much of the information, collected here and there 
from tradition, is uncertain and some of it absurd, yet we know enough as 
to their patient perseverance in subduing the wilds of nature ; of their 
dauntless valor in their wars with the savages, (whose native courage was 



IV HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

improved before these wars began, by the use of arms and the knowledge 
of discipline,) and of the events of those bloody struggles, to render their 
history both interesting and instructive. 

A strong wish to preserve, in a permanent form, a record of the past, 
that it may no longer be clouded by ignorance nor perplexed by fiction ; 
to rescue from unmerited oblivion the memories of our founders, whose 
heirs we are, with respect to civil and religious laws, language, science and 
territory ; to keep alive in their descendants a love and veneration for their 
memories and a spirit of patriotism, has been the chief incentive to this 
work. It has been well said that a love of country and its institutions and 
distinguished benefactors is as natural to man as is the love of those who 
are endeared to him by his earliest, his most pleasing and permanent asso- 
ciations. And this sentiment inspires a deep sense of obligation to bene- 
factors, and to that Being who, in His infinite mercy, is the bestower of 
every blessing enjoyed by man. It cannot be denied that to our fore- 
fathers we owe much of the happiness and prosperity we now enjoy, and 
every worthy descendant of those gallant and adventurous spirits must 
feel a strong desire to become intimately acquainted with their characters 
and history. A remembrance of what is past, and an anticipation of what 
is to come, seem to be the two faculties by which man differs from most 
animals. Though beasts enjoy them in a limited degree, yet their whole 
life seems taken up in the present, regardless of the past and the future. 
Man, on the contrary, endeavors to derive his happiness, and experiences 
most of his miseries, from these two sources. 

That every existing history of Virginia is incomplete, is generally ad- 
mitted and regretted. The student must still have recourse to Hening's 
Statutes at Large as the best record of the intellectual and moral advance- 
ment in our Commonwealth. When a complete history of Virginia is 
written, it will contain not only a full account of her political, civil and 
military transactions, but a clear and concise exposition of the character of 
her authors, scholars, statesmen, jurists and warriors, and also a view of 
her physical resources. Before such a comprehensive work can be com- 
posed, it is necessary to obtain true and precise details of private and pre- 
liminary transactions. In history, it is not the great and striking events 
that are instructive, but the accessory facts or the circumstances that have 
prepared or produced them. This is evident, because it is only by a 
knowledge of the preparatory circumstances that we can be enabled to 
avoid or to obtain similar results. It is not from the issue of a battle that 
we receive instruction, but from the different movements that led to its 
decision, which, though less splendid, are, however the causes, while the 
event is only the effect. Such is the importance of those details that, 
without them, the term of comparison is vicious, and has no analogy with 
the object to which we would apply it. The history of a county should 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. V 

abound in details, so necessary to the elucidation of the different parts o f 
a general history ; and if a complete history of each county cannot be 
now written, all the fragments, at least, should be collected and put in 
order, as necessary to just conclusions, as to the formation of society, the 
mechanism of government, and a correct view of the habits, manners, 
opinions, laws, internal and external regimen of each community or state. 
The gathering together of this material for a history of Virginia, its pre- 
servation in a convenient shape for reference — (it has been well said to 
know where you can find a thing is, in fact, the greatest part of learning) — 
is one of the duties which the present owes to the future. 

With these views, the writer has undertaken the task of preparing a 
history of his native county. In the scope of his design, he could only 
aim at a brief sketch or outline of the subject previous to 1790, when the 
county assumed its present confines. He has endeavored to exhibit the 
principal events which belong to the history of the Valley and the western 
country, — or that part of Augusta without the existing limits of the 
county, — in the most general and simple terms, confining himself, for the 
most part, in the case of Indian depredations, murders, massacres, «&c., to 
those which occurred within a certain area, or territory, not too remote 
from the present county. He has made free use of the works of various 
authors ; he pretends to no originality, and offers his production to the 
public in the hope that it may prove useful and acceptable. 

Under the head of Excerpts, Ana, &c., it has been found convenient to 
insert, at the close of several chapters, anecdotes, incidents related by 
living persons, genealogical memoranda, extracts from public records, 
original deeds, etc. Such matters could not be included in the text with- 
out interfering too much with the thread of the narrative. He has not 
sifted the evidence as to the authenticity of all these anecdotes, etc., but 
where there was a probability, from the story itself and the circumstances 
of the times that it was true, — where the matter was not inconsistent with 
nature and reason, — he has given them as he has found them in the news- 
papers or as they have been related to him. In this, the author has but 
followed the course of Herodotus, the father of profane history. History 
had its commencement in traditions, or narratives transmitted from 
mouth to mouth, from generation to generation. Indeed, before the 
art of printing was invented there was little else than these traditions. 
Such was the difficulty of multiplying books when writing was the only 
means by which they could be produced. While, therefore, implicit con- 
fidence may not always be placed in the stories handed down to us, we are 
not irreverently to reject them, unless irrational, contrary to nature and 
sound judgment. These scattered traditions, anecdotes and reminis- 
cences are so many living monuments of antiquity, and serve at once to 
instruct and amuse. 



VI HI8T0KY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

It may, perhaps, be proper to make a further remark. In a work of 
t his nature the author could not, without swelling the volume to unreason- 
able proportions, seek to minutely detail the policy or exhibit the springs 
and motives of government. He has, therefore, in general restricted him- 
self to a plain exhibition of facts and events. It would be vain to attempt 
to unravel the tangled maze of British, French and Spanish politics in 
their connection with each other and their American colonies, within the 
limits necessarily assigned to the present volume. The intricacies of the 
complex machinery of government form a difficult study in themselves, 
and are therefore left, with other grave matters, to more competent hands. 

In the appendix he has brought together all the information he could 
procure, or which was supplied to him by friends, as to the families of the 
pioneers or early settlers, and to this has been added a third part made up 
of biographical notices. These biographies are given, because biography 
is the hand-maid of history, portrait- painting for posterity, and the memory 
of our pioneer fathers and distinguished men is passing away, and will 
soon be forgotten unless some attempt be made to rescue it from impending 
oblivion. The heroes, who flourished before Agamemnon, says the Ro- 
man poet, passed into forgetfulness for want of a recording pen. Cicero 
eloquently remarks, the life of the dead is retained in the memory of the 
living, but a lethean wave will soon obliterate the remembrance of both 
living and dead, without the biographer's pen. If an apology is needed 
for his course it will be found in the remark of Lord Macaulay, who has 
justly observed : "A people, which takes no pride in the noble achieve- 
ments of remote ancestors, will never achieve anything worthy to be re- 
membered with pride by remote descendants." 

The writer solicits indulgence for such errors, omissions or imperfec- 
tions as may be found in his work, and will endeavor to render a second 
edition, if one should be called for, more worthy of public favor. In the 
progress of the work he has had frequent occasion to seek in various quar- 
ters for information, but has not thought it necessary to weary the reader 
by crowding his pages with references. All those interested in preserving 
facts worthy of being transmitted to posterity were invited through the 
Staunton papers to communicate them to him. He regrets that much 
apathy exists on the part of the general public, and that information was 
frequendy received too late to be always introduced where it properly be- 
longed. Notwithstanding this apathy, he has received from many so kind 
and ready a response to his appeal for information as to have excited his 
deep gratitude. He cannot forbear mentioning, in this connection, the 
spontaneous kindness of the following gentlemen, which has enabled him 
to enrich the work in many particulars : Rev. William T. Price, R. A. 
Brock, Joseph A. Waddell, Judge William McLaughlin, Hon. A. H. H. 
Stuart, Judge J. H. McCue, Wm. Withrow, Rev. J. S. Martin, Wm. E. 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. Vll 

Craig.T.S. Doyle, Mathew Pilson, Chas. Campbell, Dr.C. Berkley, Dr. J. T. 
Clark, William M. Tate, George M. Cochran, jr., A. G. Christian, Marshall 
Hanger, J. H. Wayt, Maj. H. M. Bell, Hon. Absolom Koiner, J. W. Craw- 
ford, William Frazier, Hon. R. W. Thompson, Col. D. S. Young, J. N. 
Ryan, J. S. Gilliam, W. H. Peyton, W. A. Burnett, Joseph B. Woodward, 
Rev. JohnMcVerry, Hon. Thomas Barry, D. A Kayserand A. H. Davies. 
To the people of Augusta, who love their native land, and who will 
peruse the work with interest, he commends the volume. 

J. L. P. 
Steephill, near Staunton, Va., 
November, 1882. 




THE HISTORY 



— OF — 



ATJG-USTA COXJI^TT. 



CHAPTER I. 



ANCIENT LIMITS. 

The County of Augusta was ushered into existence the 12th year of the 
reign of George II., as one of the shires of the colony of Virginia. No 
reason appears in the act estabhshing the county for the name, but it is 
believed to have been selected in honor of the Princess Augusta, wife of 
Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales, and daughter of Frederick 11. Duke 
of Saxe-Gotha. Frederick county was created at the same time, and it is 
said, with good reason, to have derived its name from the Prince of Wales 
himself. From the act, which we quote in full from Hening's Statutes, 
vol. 5, pp. 78-79, it will be seen that Augusta and Frederick are twin 
sisters : 

ACT FOR ESTABLISHING THE TWO COUNTIES PASSED BY THE GENERAL 
ASSEMBLY OF THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA NOV. 1ST, 1738. 

I. Whereas, great numbers of people have settled themselves of late 
upon the rivers of Sherrando*, Cohengoruto and Opeckon, and the 
branches thereof, on the N. W. side of the Blue Ridge mountains, where- 
by the strength of this colony, and its security upon the frontiers, and H. 
M.'s revenue of quit rents are like to be much increased and augment- 
ed : For giving encouragement to such as shall think fit to settle 
there, 

II. Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council and Burgesses of 
this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority 
of the same, That all that territory and tract of land, at present deemed 
to be part of the county of Orange, lying on the northwest side of the 
top of the said mountains, extending from thence northerly, westerly and 
southerly, beyond the said mountains, to the utmost limits of Virginia, be 



*Sherrando, or Shenandoah, signifies, in the Indian tongue. Beautiful Daughter of the Stars. 



2 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

separated troni the rest of the said county and erected into two distinct 
counties and parishes ; to be divided by a line to be run from the head 
spring at Hedgman river to the head spring of the river Potomack. And 
that all that part of the said territory lying to the northeast of the said 
line, beyond the top of the said Blue Ridge, shall be one distinct county 
and parish, to be called by the name of the County of Frederick and 
parish of Frederick ; and that the rest of the said territory, lying on the 
other side of the said line, beyond the top of the said Blue Ridge, shall be 
one other distinct county and parish to be called by the name of the 
County of Augusta and parish of Augusta, 

III. Provided, always. That the said new counties and parishes shall 
remain part of the County of Orange and parish of Saint Mark until it 
shall be made appear to the Governor and Council, for the time being, 
that there is a sufficient number of inhabitants for appointing justices of 
the peace and other officers, and erecting courts therein for the due ad- 
ministration of justice, so as the inhabitants of the said new counties and 
parishes be henceforth exempted from the payment of all public county 
and parish levies in the County of Orange and the parish of St. Mark ; 
yet, that such exemption be not construed to extend to any of the said 
levies laid and assessed at or before the passing of this act. 

IV. And be it further enacted That after a court be constituted in the 
said new counties respectively, the court for the said County of Frederick 
be held monthly upon the second Friday ; and the court for the said 
County of Augusta be held upon the second Monday in every month, and 
that the said counties and parishes, respectively, shall have and enjoy all 
rights and privileges and advantages whatsoever belonging to the other 
counties and parishes of this colony. And for the better encouragement 
of aliens, and the more easy naturalization of such as shall come to 
inhabit there, 

V. Be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the Gov- 
ernor or Commander-in-Chief of this colony, for the time being, to orant 
letters of naturalization to any such alien, upon a certificate from the clerk 
of any county court, of his or their having taken instead of the oaths of 
allegiance and supremacy ; and taken and subscribed the oath of adjura- 
tion, and subscribed the test, in like manner, as he may do upon taking 
and subscribing the same before himself. 

VI. And ior the more easy payment of all levies, secretary's clerk, 
sheriff's and other officers' fees, by the inhabitants of the said new co' n- 
ties. Be it further enacted. That the said levies and fees shall and may be 
paid in money, or tobacco at three farthings per pound, without anv de- 
duction. — And that the said counties be and are hereby exempted from 
public levies for ten years. 

VII. Provided, nevertheless. That from and after the passing of this act 
no allowance whatsoever shall be made to any person for killing wolves 
within the limits of the said new counties. Any law, custom, or usage to 
the contrary hereof, notwithstanding. 

VIII. And for the better ordering of all parochial affairs in the said new 
parishes, Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, '1 hat the freeholders 
and housekeepers of the same, respectively, shall meet at such time and 
place as the Governor or Commander-in-Chief of this dominion, for the 
time being, with the advice of the Council, shall appoint, by precept under 
his hand, and the seal of the colony, to be directed to the sheriffs of the 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 3 

said new counties, respectively, and by the said sheriffs publickly adver- 
tised ; and then and there elect twelve of the most able and discreet per- 
sons of their said parishes, respectiv^ely : which persons so elected, having 
taken the oaths appointed by law and subscribed to be conformable to the 
doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, shall to all intents and 
purposes be deemed and taken to be the vestries of the said new parishes 
respectively.'" 

The " utmost limits of Virginia," as expressed in this act for the western 
boundary of Augusta County, was the Mississippi river, beyond which 
were situated the French possessions known as Louisiana. This region 
was explored by the French in 151 2 and partly colonized by them in 1699. 
In the year 1717 it was granted by the Crown to the Mississippi Company, 
but three years later was resumed by the Crown, and in 1763 was ceded 
to Spain, but was recovered by Napoleon in 1800. New Orleans was the 
southern and St. Louis the northern capital of these vast territories. The 
French claimed that their possessions extended from the Gulf of Mexico 
to the St. Lawrence, a claim that ignored the rights of English colonists to 
any portion of the western territory, or country lying beyond the Ohio 
river. In support of their pretensions, the French erected forts and block- 
houses at intervals from the great Lakes through the western part of 
Pennsylvania to the Ohio, then along the banks of that stream to its junc- 
tion with the Mississippi, whence their chain of military posts followed the 
course of the latter river to its mouth. The English colonists, more par- 
ticularly the people of Augusta, found themselves by these proceedings of 
the French, hemmed in — prevented all expansion westward. A conflict, 
then, between the two rapes, the French and the English colonists of Au- 
gusta, Pennsylvania and New York, was, under th^se circumstances, soon- 
er or later, inevitable. A conflict in fact took i)lace as early as 1753, on 
the banks of the Ohio, between some English settlers and the garrison of 
one of the forts already referred to. Both parties hastened to lay the 
story of their injuries before their respective governments. The conse- 
quence was a long and sanguinary war between England and France, in 
which half of Europe became involved. 

In this war Braddock's defeat temporarily delayed, but could not avert, 
the final catastrophe. The superior numbers and indomitable resolution 
of the Anglo-Saxon in the end prevailed. Canada was conquered and 
the forts on the Ohio were necessarily abandoned. France, it is true, still 
retained Louisiana, which comprehended not simply the present area of 
that State, but, as we have said, a vast tract of territory extending from the 
Gulf to the 49° of north latitude, and from the Mississippi river on the 
east to the Mexican frontier on the west. The territory embraced within 
the French claim is now known as Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, 
Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. 
To the eastern limits of this vast region, the Mississippi river, the western 



4 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

boundary of Augusta county, extended under this act, and from its ancient 
territory were subsequently carved the present States of West Virginia, 
Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and part of Pennsylvania. 
It is not our purpose to write the history of this extensive region, now the 
seat of many great and prosperous Commonwealths. Its history, how- 
ever, cannot be altogether omitted in our work. It was part of Augusta 
county for over fifty years subsequent to 1738, was the native land of many 
of the savage tribes who harassed the border, the scene of the French and 
Indian war, and the wars of 1764, 1774, and of many civil and military 
expeditions, and, in fact, of continual Indian hostilities for forty years pre- 
vious to 1794, when the brilliant victory at the Rapids of the Maumee by 
Gen. Wayne brought permanent peace to the frontier. 

All the events occurring in this region from the first settlement of Au- 
gusta had more or less influence upon the fortunes of the people of the 
Valley, and the inhabitants ot Augusta and the Valley were so involved in 
them that they form in some measure a part of our history. 

ABORIGINAL POPULATION. 

At the period, 1716, of Col. Spotswood's discovery of the Valley, it was 
the camping, hunting-ground or residence of numerous tribes of Indians. 
These tribes, while wandering in pursuit of game from place to place dur- 
ing a considerable part of the year, possessed a few scattered villages, 
comprising a limited number of habitations, of the most imperfect con- 
struction, where they were in the habit of passing their winters and where 
they left their wives, children and old men during their absence. Round 
about these rude villages some feeble and ill-directed attenipts at agricul- 
tu/e announced the more frequented and permanent haunts of savage life. 

Many learned disquisitions exist as to the origin of these red men, and 
it cannot be denied that the origin, history, languages, and condition of 
the aborigines present ample materials for speculation. Among the Cen- 
tral and South American nations, notably in Mexico and Peru, many evi- 
dences exist oi' a regular, but limited civilization, but for the most part the 
tribes of both North and South America were, on the discovery of Colum- 
bus, composed of roving savages in a brutal state of abasement. Not- 
withstanding the greater progress among some of the aborigines, and 
certain physical differences, the Patagonians being generally over six feet 
high and the Esquimaux less than five feet, — a race of deformed and 
diminutive savages who tremble at the sound of arms, — the varieties of 
complexion, etc., those scholars whose opinions are entitled to most respect 
are agreed that there are sufficient points of general resemblance in all the 
nations of North and South America to justify the belief that they are 
sprung from one primitive pair. Religion, philosophy, geology, history 
and tradition combine to teach that man was created in Asia, and that his 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUMTY. O 

home after the flood continued in the high lands and lofty mountain regions 
of the Eastern continent. 

While much obscurity rests on the question of the origin of the Ameri- 
can tribes, it may be stated as the settled opinion that our continent was 
peopled from different quarters of the old world. Space will not permit 
us to enter into an examination of this subject, of the causes which drove 
the Asiatic tribes from their native seats, which impelled their march to- 
wards the northeastern portion of the Eastern continent, and finally brought 
them to the shores of the New World. In their route to America there 
was no particular obstacle. Behripg's Straits, the water they are believed 
to have crossed, is only 39 miles wide ; in it there are two islands, and in 
winter it is frozen over, so that quadrupeds as well as man can pass. And 
it has been well said that water is the highway of the savage, to whom, with- 
out an axe, the jungle is impervious. Even civilized man migrates by sea 
and rivers, and has ascended 2,000 miles above the mouth of the Missouri, 
while interior tracts in Virginia, New York and Ohio are still a wilderness. 
To the uncivilized man, no path is free but the sea, the lake and the river. 

On supposed analogies of customs and language, some have thought 
the aborigines of the Tennessee Valleys and the plains of the Cordilleras 
were the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, "who took counsel to go 
forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt." — [II Esd. c. 
xiii, V. 4045.] 

Dr. Lang suggests the possibility of an early communication between the 
Polynesian world and South America, and while it is possible that it may 
have taken place, the better opinion is, as mentioned, that it was by Behr- 
ing's Straits that America received her first inhabitants. 

The following is a list of the various tribes who resided in or resorted tO' 
the Valley of Virginia in 1716-32, and they all spoke the same language or 
a dialect of it. This was the mother tongue of the natives from North 
Carolina to Massachusetts. This mother tongue received from the French 
the name of Algonquin, and under it all the wild tribes of this region were 
grouped : 

I. The Shawanese, the most considerable of the Algonquin tribes, had 
their principal villages east of the Alleghanies, near the present town of 
Winchester, but their possessions extended west to the Mississippi river. 
Foote asserts (Second Series, p. 159) that the Shawanese owned the whole 
Valley of Virginia, but had abandoned it. He gives no authority for the 
statement, and we have found none in our researches. Of all the Indian 
tribes with whom our ancestors came in contact, the Shawanese were the 
most bloody and terrible, holding all other men, as well Indians as whites, 
in contempt as warriors in comparison with themselves. This estimate of 
themselves made them more restless and fierce than any other savages, 
and they boasted that they had killed ten times as many white people as 



6 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

any other Indians did. They were a well-formed, active and ing-enious 
people, capable of enduring great privations and hardships, were assuming 
and imperious in the presence of others not of iheir own nation, and some- 
times very cruel. 

II. The Tuscaroras, whose villages were near Martinsburg, in the pres- 
ent county of Berkeley. 

III. The Senedos, who occupied the north fork of the Shenandoah until 
1732, when it was exterminated by hostile natives from the South. 

IV. The Catawbas, whose headquarters were on the Catawba river in 
South Carolina. 

V. The Delawares, who frequented the Susquehanna river in Pennsyl- 
vania. 

VI. The Susquehanoughs, who originally occupied the headwaters of 
the Chesapeake bay, but were driven out by the Cinela tribe and took up 
their residence on the upper waters of the Potomac, supposed to be one of 
their favorite places of residence, as the remains of their villages are more 
numerous in this region than elsewhere in the Valley. 

VII. The Cinelas, on the Upper Potomac. 

VIII. The Pascataway tribe, on the headwaters of the Chesapeake. 

IX. The Cherokees, who occupied the Upper Valley of the Tennessee 
river and the high lands of Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. The Chero- 
kees were the tallest and most robust of the Southern tribes, their com- 
plexions brighter than usual with the red men, and some of their young 
women were nearly as fair and blooming as European women. They owed 
allegiance to the Muscogulges, who stood at the head of a confederacy 
composed ot Cherokees, Seminoles, Chickasaws, Choctaws and Creeks, 
and it is probable that bands from all of these tribes, or at least warriors, 
accompanied the Cherokees in their annual visits to the Valley. Without 
exception, these Southern Indians were proud, haughty and arrogant, 
brave and valiant in war, ambitious of conquest, restless and perpetually 
exercising their arms, yet magnanimous and merciful to a vanquished 
enemy when he submitted and sought their friendship and protection. 

These vagrant tribes camped or resided at great distances from each 
other, were widely dispersed over a vast country, and any connection be- 
tween them and particular localities was of so frail a texture that it was 
broken by the slightest accident. 

The different tribes or nations were small in number as compared with 
civilized societies in which industry, arts, agriculture and commerce have 
united a vast number of individuals whom a complicated luxury renders 
valuable to each other. 

No accurate information exists as to the numbers composing these tribes, 
but it is most probable they did not exceed a few hundred warriors each. 
At the landing of the Pilgrims in 1620, the number of Indians in New En- 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. i 

gland did not exceed 1 23,000, and a few years later the number was greatly 
reduced by a plague. It is probable that the Indian population of Vir- 
ginia was larger at this time, as the climate of our Valley and State is gen- 
erally better adapted to the wants of man than that of New England. 
Bincraft, hjvvsv^r, ventures the opinion that the whole Indian papulation 
east of the Mississippi and south of New England did not:, in 1620, exceed 
180,000. 

Detached parties of armed barbarians fro.n the Northern and Westera 
tribes oejasionally ca ne to the Valley, and the Massawomees penetrated 
to Eastern Virginia and were a terror to the low-land tribes Armed par- 
ties also visited the Valley from the five nations situated on the rivers and 
lakes of New York — the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and 
Senecas. 

There was little difference in character and person between these wild 
men of whatever tribe, and the remark of Capt.Jno. Smith in his general 
history, Vol. i. p 120, that the Cinelas were of gigantic size, is now rejected 
as incredible — a statement as little to be believed as the fabulous origin 
assigned by the Goths to their enemies, the Huns, namely : that the witches 
c5 Scythia had copulated in the desert with infernal spirits, and that the 
Huns were the offspring of this execrable conjunction. 

We distrust whatever is marvelous, but it is proper to mention in this 
connection that the historian of the Valley gives an account, in his second 
chapter, of the discovery, in Hardy county, of the under jaw bone of a hu- 
man being of great size, with eight teeth in each side of enormous size, and 
the teeth standing in the jaw bone transversely ! What is repugnant to 
experie ice and co n non sense we discredit, and consequently have little 
faith in this story, thous^h given upon the authority of a gentleman who 
represented that he had himself seen the jaw bone. Within the present 
year mastodon bones have been excavated on the Kentucky Central rail-- 
road. The supposed human jaw bone found in Hardy, was doubdessthe: 
fossil remain of some extinct animal of the genus mammiferous. 

That portion of the Valley now embraced within the County of Augusta,, 
is not known to have been the home or fixed residence of any tribe of 
Indians at the period of its settlement, nor is it known that it was not the' 
home of some tribe or branch of a tribe. Such red men as Lewis met on 
entering Augusta, in 1732, were friendly, and so continued for over twenty 
years. 

That the country had been, previous to 1732, permanently occu- 
pied, is indicated by the remains of barrows, cairns and ramparts, com- 
posed of mingled earth and stones, found at different points in the county 
— notably near Waynesboro, on Lewis creek, a few miles below Staunton ; 
on Middle river near Dudley's mill, and at Jarman's Gap, north of Rock- 
fish. The cairn at Jarman's Gap is probably sepulchral, and may have 



8 HISTOKY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

been intended and used as a place of worship. In the lower Shenandoah 
Valley and the country west of the Alleghanies — in fact over every part of 
North America, especially in the Mississippi Valley — there are remains of 
fortifications mounds and other monuments of a primitive race, bearing 
marks of great antiquity, which " whisper mysteriously of a shadowy 
race, populous, nomadic, not altogether uncivilized, idolatrous," worship- 
ping '' in high places." It does not come within the scope and design of 
this volume, however, to investigate the question whether they were the 
work of the progenitors of the Indians or of a race long since extinct. 
That and all similar matters must be left to those who have taste and lei- 
sure for such abstruse enquiries. We may remaik, however, that no 
remains exist in the Valley which indicate labor on a large scale or which 
were worthy, in Jefferson's opinion, to be styled Indian monuments. He 
would not dignify with that name their stone arrow-points, pipes, &.c. 

The Valley of Virginia was, in 1716, when visited by Spotswood, with- 
out extensive forests, but the margins of streams were fringed with trees ; 
there were pretty woodlands in the low grounds, and the mountain sides 
were densely covered with timber trees. The wood destroyed by Autum- 
nal fires was replaced by a luxuriant growth of blue grass, white clover and 
other natural grasses and herbage. The spontaneous productions of the 
earth were everywhere numerous and abundant, and there were many 
varieties of game and wild animals. The luxuriance of the vegetation 
evinced the fertility of a soil which required only the hand of art to ren- 
der it in the highest degree subservient to the wants of man. But the 
nomads of the Valley were averse to improvement ; their indolence re- 
fused to cultivate the earth, and their restless spirit disdained the confine- 
ment of sedentary life. To prevent the growth of timber and preserve 
the district as pasture, that it might support as much game as possible, and 
that the grass might come forward in the early Spring, the savages, before 
retiring into Winter quarters, set on fiie the dry grass and burnt over the 
country. The absence of trees in an extensive quarter of the county N. 
W. of Staunton led our ancestors to style it "The Barrens," a name that it 
still bears, though it is interspersed at this time by handsome woodlands, 
the growth of the last eighty years. 

As we shall speak in a subsequent page of the physical character and 
resources of the present county, nothing further need be novi^ said beyond 
this, that the climate of the region west of the mountains was found by the 
first settlers to be mild and agreeable, the winds light and bracing, the 
rain fall ample, storms and mists rare, the soil fertile, producing trees and 
grass, and the earth apparently rich in ores, as indicated by mineral 
springs. 

The two principal non-resident tribes who frequented this fine country 
ini 7 1 6- 1 745, were the Delawares from the North and theCatawbas from 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUN-Tr. 9 

the South. At the time Augusta was settled, 1732, a bloody war was 
progressino: between these tribes, and the Valley was the theatre of action. 
In this war other tribes now and again participated as the allies of one or 
the other party, and it was at a batde on the North fork of the Shenan- 
doah, in the county now bearing that name, that the Senedos tribe 
was exterminated. There is a burial place there eighteen to twenty 
feet high and sixty feet in circumference, filled with human bones, which 
testify to the truth of this tradition. 

Wars between the tribes who frequented the Valley were of constant 
occurrence, and much speculation has been indulged in as to'their origin 
— some inclining to the opinion that there is a natural state of hostility of 
man against man. It is more probable, that these wars resulted from the 
restless and turbulent nature of mankind, the ambition of leaders and dis- 
putes as to the hunting grounds. Such, indeed, was the red man's mar- 
tial and independent spirit, his love of arms, that he considered war and 
rapine as the pleasure and glory of mankind. It was the wars of the 
Iroquois and Massawomies, on the Ohio, which gave that beautiful stream 
its significant name of the " River of Blood." The war-paths conducting 
into the Valley were through Rockfish and Jarman's gaps, thence by the 
present site of Staunton and down the Valley, branching at different points. 
Armed parties during this period constantly passed and repassed the 
white settlements without disturbing them. Sometimes they spent the 
night near the whites, and, when in need, asked for food and other sup- 
plies, which were always given them. If in want of provisions, and no 
white was near to supply them, they would kill pigs or cattle running at 
large, which they considered lawful game. The setders were too few and 
too wise to resent these liberties, and continued on amicable terms 
with both Catawbas and Delawares when those tribes were, in 1732, and for 
many years subsequently, at war with each other. And it is worthy of 
remark that neither tribe sought to involve the colonists in their quarrels. 
When a single Indian, or a party of two or three, called at the hut of a 
white for victuals, rest or social conversation, he confidently approached 
the door and said, " I am come." Soon the whites set before them food 
and drink. After eating and drinking they lit their pipes, and while 
smoking conversed. This over, they arose and said, " I go," and off 
they walked, to stop without an introduction or invitation at the next 
habitation the appearance of which they liked. The sententious brevity 
with which they announced their arrival and departure may be ascribed 
to their limited English vocabulary rather than rudeness, though it must 
be allowed that the easy and graceful manners of a gentleman are not 
innate. The gradual process by which they are arrivedat are summarized 
in Pope's line: " He marries, bows at court and grows polite." 

The Indian villages in the Valley were principally on the upper waters 



10 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

of the Potomac, near the present towns of Martinsburg and Winchester, 
but at some period previous to the settlement of Augusta. villai:;es had 
existed at numerous points on the banks of the streams East and West of 
the inouniains. The spots can now be identified in Eastern Virginia by 
the deposits of oyster and muscle shells, these bivalves constituting a part 
of their food, and in the Valley by ashes, charred wood, arrow points, toma- 
hawks, pipes and otherremdins. Their huts or wigwams were built by uniting 
poles at the top and inserting them at regular distances in the ground. An 
aperture was left at the top for smoke, and the ribs or rafters were covered 
with bark, the skins of wild beasts or with the boughs of trees. A small 
opening was left on one side, and in front of this in warm weather their 
fires were lit. In Winter the fire was niade in the centre of the wigwam, 
and the savages ranged themselves round it on skins, mats and the leaves 
of trees. It was their custom, and a wise one it was, to sleep with their 
feet to the fire. Each family had its own hut, but occasionally they 
allowed others to enjoy its shelter. Their villages were always located 
near pure water, and if possible under the protection of a hill or forest. 
Their wigwams were unfurnished, except a covering of leaves and skms, 
for the dirt floors on which they slept. They ate without table, chairs, 
knives or forks. 

Their clothino: consisted of skins — their feet being encased in a kind of 
sandal made of deer skin or other soft leather, called moccasin. It was, 
unlike the sandal, with a soft sole, and was ornamented on the upper side. 
They took fish with hooks made of fish bones or the spear, or caught 
them in nets. For hunting and in war they used clubs, bows and arrows 
and tomahawks headed with stone. After the settlement of the whites 
the heads of tomahawks were made of metal for their use by the English, 
with the hammer-head hollowed out to suit the purpose of a smoking 
pipe, the mouth-piece being in the end of the shaft. The tomahawk 
was the Indian's most valuable weapon. He used it in time of peace for 
cutting his firewood, and in war wielded it with deadly effect. Their 
arrow-points and scalping-knives were made of flint stone, and many of 
these are constandy picked up near Staunton and in other parts of the: 

county. 

For passing streams the Indians used canoes, which were made of birch 
bark, sewed together with fibres, or roots. Their treatment of females 
was cruel and oppressive. They v;ere considered as slaves and treated as 
such. To the squaw was assigned the labors of the field and the ser- 
vices of domestic care. Chastity was not one of the virtues of the wo- 
men, but when married, they did not dispense their lavors without the 
consent of their husbands. We have no account of the marriage cere- 
mony, if such a ceremony existed among them, and imagine the associa- 
tion of the sexes was a voluntary union, which might be terminated at any 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 11 

time by consent of the parties. As, hovvev^er, in all ages and among all 
people, religion of some kind has prevailed, and a reverence and awe 
of a Divinity existed, and our red men p lid honor and homage to the 
Great Spirit, we do not feel at liberty to declare that such unions were 
altogether without religious character. We shall not dwell upon these 
matters of marital infidelities, as we are not called upon to represent hu- 
man nature in such colors and lineaments as dishonor her, and do not 
wish to familiarize the minds of our readers with vice. A slight allusion 
to tnem was important to historic truth, which renders it necessary to speak 
of the vices and failings as well as the virtues of a people. We shall be 
content with touching thus lightly upon them. The men, who were occu- 
pied procuring the means of a precarious subsistence, were not, as may be 
readily imagined, of a lively disposition. Indeed, much gaiety of temper 
or a high flow of spirits was altogether inconsistent with their surround- 
ings. These red men were, therefore, in general, grave even to sadness ; 
had nothing of that giddy vivacity peculiar to some nations of Europe, 
and they despised it. Though usually silent and gloomy, their aged 
chiefs and the squaws were, on occasion, fond of conversation, and amused 
the children with tales of war and hunting. There were professional 
story-tellers also among them, who imitated the actions of their heroes, 
and thus increased the interest of their narratives and excited the liveliest 
interest in their hearers. When tales of bloody fights, or the incidents of 
buffalo hunts were recounted, the narrators imitating the actors in the 
scenes, the audience listened with breathless attention. When they related 
amusing stories, acting out the parts, the groups would break into wild 
shouts of laughter and applause. 

The diseases of the Indians were not numerous ; their remedies few and 
simple, their physic consisting mainly of the bark and roots of trees. 

For music they used rude drums, rattles made of gourds, and a cane on 
which they piped. They were hospitable, and grateful for benefits ; brave, 
but wayward and inconstant. To sum up their character in a few words : 
They were distinguished in council for gravity and eloquence ; in war, for 
bravery and address. When provoked to anger they were sullen and 
retired, and when determined on revenge no danger would deter them : 
neither absence nor time could cool them. If captured by an enemy, they 
never asked life nor betrayed emotions of fear. 

For over a hundred years after the settlement at Jamestown the colonists 
from Virginia to Massachusetts were harassed by the Indians. The 
friendly relations, which existed for a short time after the landing of the 
English, soon changed, and the Indians became hostile and relendess in 
their enmity. During their wars with the whites they practiced every 
possible cruelty, burnt their houses, shot them down in their fields when 
at work, and now and again met them hand to hand in battle. They were 



12 HISTORY OP' AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

entirely unreliable, neither respecting in peace the faith of treaties nor in 
war the dictates of humanity. They tortured their prisoners to death, 
and some of the tribes notably, the Mianiis, ate the flesh of their cap- 
tives. 

War, if not brought on by an accidental rencontre, was preceded by a 
formal declaration of hostilities. This was made with great ceremony. The 
chief, having determined on fighting, sent wampum, or belts of beads, to 
his allies, inviting them to come and destroy their enemies, and to the 
enemy a belt painted red, or a bundle of bloody sticks, as a defiance. A 
great fire was then lit and the war dance took place. These ceremonies 
observed, the braves issued forth singing to the women a farewell hymn. 
If they surprised a village of their foes, while the flower of the nation was 
absent, they massacred the women, children and helpless old men, or 
made prisoners of such as had strength to be useful to them. Their pris- 
oners were treated with inconceivable barbarity, thus exhibiting to what an 
extremity men's passions lead them when unrestrained by reason and un- 
influenced by the dictates of Christianity. These savage acts make us 
more sensible, too, of the value of commerce, the arts of civilized life, and 
the lights of literature, which, if they abate the force of some of the natural 
virtues by the luxury which attends them, have taken out likewise the 
sting of our natural vices and softened the ferocity of the human race. 

The Indians were not without a certain species of government, which 
prevailed, with little variation, over the continent. Though free, they did 
not despise all sorts of authority. They were attentive to the voice of wis- 
dom, which experience had conferred on the aged, and they enlisted under 
the banners of their chiefs with child-like confidence — chiefs in whose valor 
and military address they had learned to repose their trust. His power, 
however, was rather persuasive than coercive ; he was reverenced as a 
father, rath r than feared as a monarch. He had no guards, no prisons, 
no officers of justice; but, relying upon the respect, confidence and esteem 
of his people, he lived unthreatened by Nihilist cabals and unterrified by 
dynamite and infernal machines. Few modern European rulers do this. 
The elders in every tribe constituted a kind of aristocracy, and were always 
consulted on grave occasions by the chief and people. They possessed 
no power except the influence they exerted by reason of their age and 
experience, and the further fact that they constituted a kind of hereditary 
nobility. Among the Indians age alone acquired respect, influence and 
authority, because age brings experience, and experience is the chief 
source of knowledge among a people without literature. 

Their religious belief consisted of traditions mingled with many super- 
stitions. They believed in two Gods, the one Good, who was the supe- 
rior, and whom they styled the Great Spirit ; the other Evil. They wor- 
shipped both, but principally the latter, the Good Spirit, in their opinion, 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 13 

i^.eeding no prayers to induce him to aid and protect his creatures. Be- 
sides these, they worshipped various other deities, such as fire, water,, 
thunder, — anything which they supposed to be superior to themselves and 
capable of doing them injury. They believed in a future state, in a tran- 
quil and happy existence with their ancestors and friends, spending their 
time in those exercises in which they delighted when on earth. 

From the picturesque situations of their villages, they are supposed to 
have admired the grand and beautiful in Nature. That they possessed to 
a considerable degree the poetic sentiment, is inferred from the names 
given to the rivers and mountains, their war songs, and the speeches of 
some of their chiefs. 

Such, in short, were the wild red men of the forest, on whose lands the 
early settlers pitched their tents. The barbarian heroes of our border 
wars have been depicted with so much fidelity and graphic power by one 
of our greatest writers, that in the defect of materials strictly historical, 
they may to a certain extent supply their place. Nowhere can the moody, 
taciturn and sententious red man be more delightfully studied than in the 
pages of Fenimore Cooper. These delineations of Cooper should not be 
rejected because given to the world in his fictitious writings. Historical 
facts are often rendered the more agreeable by being conveyed in a story 
of adventure designed for the entertainment of the reader. Novels fre- 
quently approach to the nature of history, and history often partakes of 
the character of romance. Histories, in general, are full of chimerical and 
extravagant details, especially as they ascend to periods of great antiquity 
and are connected with the origin of nations, and it has been oftener than 
once said that even Livy is but a romance. Yet who would give up such> 
histories ? We read ihem with deep interest, though we feel that they are 
but a compound of truth and fiction. We linger over the harangues which. 
the characters in history never made, and delight in the eloquence of Lo- 
gan, though persuaded that the author of his eloquence was an educated 
white man. 

A succinct r&ume of Virginia's colonial history, from the landing at 
Jamestown to the year 1750, will be given in the next succeeding chapter^ 
as an interesting, if not necessary preliminary to the history of Augusta. 



14: HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY, 



CHAPTER II. 



The following outline of colonial history, from the first landing at James- 
town to the year 1750, and slight reference to French explorations and set- 
tlements in the West, will enable the reader to understand the condition oi' 
affairs in the colony and western country generally at the period Lewis 
entered, took possession of, and settled Augusta. It exhibits also the 
position of Virginia in her connection with the various colonies which after- 
wards united together to resist the tyranny of Great Britain and found the 
United States, and will enable the reader to understand any points of gen- 
eral history which may be touched upon in the progress of this work. 

The closing years of the fifteenth century saw the theatre of history sud- 
denly enlarged. The history of the world, as embracing all parts of the 
globe, commenced with the discoveries of Columbus and Vasco da Gama. 
To within a century of the end of the Moorish kingdom in Spain, and of 
that ten centuries of medieeval times, the first six of which are known as 
the "dark ages," the settlement of Virginia carries us back. The earliest 
incidents in her career belong to that European era which witnessed the 
massacre of St. Bartholomew, the independence of the United Provinces 
under William of Orange, the destruction of the Spanish Armada, and the 
persecution of the Puritans in England. They belong also to that Eliza- 
bethan era of English history so remarkable for literary taste and for the 
spirit of commercial adventure which pervaded all classes. It was from 
the England of Raleigh, Gilbert, Marlowe, Shrnkespeare, Burleigh, Wal- 
singham, Essex, Leicester, Sidney and Francis Bacon that came the men 
who undertook to found colonies on our shores and to build up politi- 
cal communities in the New World. The most remarkable of these men 
was the "learned and valiant" Sir Walter Raleigh, whose name is indis- 
solubly associated with the first efforts at English colonization in America. 

Upon the unsuccessful efforts of Raleigh to make a settlement on Roa- 
noke Island, we cannot dwell. He had undertaken a task beyond the 
strength of a single individual, and met the common lot of enthusiasts. 
His failures did not deter others, and a few years later James I granted 
charters to the London and Plymouth companies for " deducing colonies 
and making habitation and plantation in that part of America commonly 
called Virginia." Under these charters all the coast was embraced Iving 
between Florida and Nova Scotia. 

These charters are long and tedious documents, which possess no intrin- 
sic merit — are just such stupid papers as one might expect from the narrow 



mSTORT OF AUGUSTA COUNT i'. 15 

mind of James. By virtue of them a complicated form of goveniment was 
framed. For each colony separate councils, appointed by the King, were 
mstituted in England, and these councils were in turn to name resident 
councillors for the colonies. Thirteen members constituted the resident 
council. They had power to choose their own president, to fill vacancies 
in their numbers, and, a jury being required only in capital cases, to act as 
a court of last resort in all other causes. Religion was established in 
accordance with the forms and doctrines of the Church of England. The 
adventurers, as the company were called, had power to coin money and 
collect a revenue for twenty-one years from all vessels trading to their 
ports, and they were also freed from taxation for a term of years. One 
article, and only one, in the most general terms, provided for the liberty of 
the subject. Another clause provided for community of goods. 

A worse system of government could not have been devised. Two 
arbitrary and irresponsible councils — one in England and the other in 
America — the legislative powder reserved to the King — the governing body 
commercial monopoly, and the chief principle of societ)^' a community of 
property. Such was the government elaborated in the charter. With 
such a frame of government the first colonists, composed of men who 
cared little for forms of government, set forth for Virginia. 

The colony consisted of 105 persons, who sailed from the Downs, Jan, 
if I, 1507, for Virginia under command of Capt. Newport, who landed them 
^ at Jamestown on the 13th May, 1607. The men composing the expedition 

were wretched material for founding a State. There were seventy men in 
the party, of whom fifty-four were gentlemen, four carpenters and twelve 
laborers — or, as Capt. Smith describes them, '" poor gentlemen, trades- 
men., serving men and libertines." The first President <>( the Colony, 
appointed in London, was VVingfield, a man of wealth and social position, 
but incapable and unfit for governing. He was soon superceded by the 
strongest man among the colonists — a. man to whose name a romantic 
interest attaches — the celebrated Capt. John Smith. Smith has been 
described as an adventurer of a high order in an age of adventurers. He 
had all the faults of his time and class in full measures,^ but he had also 
their \'irtues, and it was here that he surpassed his companions. He was 
arbitrary, jealous of power, quarrelsome and despotic, ready to lie auda- 
ciously to serve his own ends, and rashly overconfident. But he was also 
brave, energetic, quick-witted, and full oi resource. By his energy and 
wisdom he preserved the colony from impending ruin and improved its 
condition. What we would call now-a-days a many-sided man, he made 
himself familiar, by repeated explorations, with the country and its pro- 
ducts, became well acquainted with the aborigines, with whom he opened 
a trade, and in various ways displayed his superior qualities, and an earn- 
est desire to promote the interest of the colony. 



16 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

A small fort was erected, and a few log huts, and in these the colonists 
were kept together by Smith for two years, in the presence of a subtle and 
ferocious enemy, who, within a fortnight of the first landing, made an 
attack upon them, evidently with a view to their extermination. This 
attack of the Indians was repelled by the colonists under Wingfield, who 
was an old soldier, having served many years in the European wars. 
Notwithstanding Smith's etforts, the colony languished, and matters grew 
so much worse that the settlement was abandoned, and the colony would 
have been broken up but for the arrival of Lord Delaware, as Governor, 
with five hundred fresh men and supplies, in 1609 — 1610. 

Lord Delaware, who received the appointment of Governor for life, 
surrounded himself with stately officers and liveried servants, and as- 
sumed the demeanor of the ruler of an opulent empire. He was an able 
man, and might have rendered valuable service, but unfortunately was 
forced, by disease brought on by the climate, to return to England. He 
committed the gov^ernment to Mr. Percy, who was supplanted by Sir 
Thomas Dale in 161 1, to whom the government granted authority to rule 
by martial law. Dale exercised his arbitrary powers with prudence and 
moderation, and to him Virginia is more indebted than to any of her early 
Governors. He established and maintained order, and extended the settle- 
ments into the interior, forming a colony of 350 men at a point up the 
James river, called Henrico. But the chief good of his administration 
consisted in breaking up the system of community of property and intro- 
ducing individual proprietorship. On his departure, in 1616, he left the 
colony firmly established and under the protection of Sir Thos. Yeardley, 
whose administration was not unlike that oJ his predecessors, but he was 
soon superceded by Cnpt. Samuel Argall, a rough sea captain, accustomed 
to command respect, of a cruel, covetous and tyrannical disposition, with 
a decided taste for piracy. He made an energetic and active Governor, 
carrying out the military code in the spirit of a buccaneer. He oppressed 
and robbed the colonists, his greed lighting especially on the friends of 
Lord Delaware. Complaints went to England, and the Virginians awak- 
ened to the fact that they were shockingly misgoverned ; that they were 
left at the mercy of one man's rule, and that man a tyrant ; that their 
rights were unknown. The period of political development had, however, 
now began. 

The indignation in London at Argall's misconduct led to a new and 
representative government in Virginia, granted under the influence of the 
Earl of Southampton, Sandys, Digges, Selden and others. Argall was 
recalled, and a new form of political organization was granted to the 
colonists. The Governor's power was in future to be limited by a council, 
and the assemblage of a representative body was authorized. Under this 
new order of things the first General Assembly was held at James City in 



IirSP'diV '.)? AUftUSTA OXTtSTTy. 17 

June. i6ig, and in May, 1620, a second Assembly convened. In order to 
give the reader, better than an elaborate disquisition would do, an idea oi 
the spirit and character of the early setd<'rs and of their sufferings and 
difficulties, more particularly with the Indians, we append the commission 
to Sir Francis Wyait, Governor; and the Council, of date July 24, 1621. 
The object of the assembly was '' to assist the Governor in the administra- 
tion of justice, to advance Christianity among the Indians, to erect the 
colony in obedience to his Majesty, and in maintaining the people in justice 
and christian conversation, and streno^thenintj them ao-ainst enemies. The 
said Governor, Council, and two burgesses out of every town, hundred or 
plantation, to be chosen by the inhabitants to make up a General Assem- 
bly, 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 necessary, wherein they are to imitate the policy of the form of 
government, laws, customs, manner of trial, and other administration of 
justice used in England, as the company are required by their letters pa- 
tent. No law to continue or be of force until ratified by a quarter court to 
be held in England, and returned under seal. After the colony is well 
framed and settled, no order of quarter court in England shall bind till 
ratified by the General Assembly." 

From the first, the Burgesses sought to obtain equal rights for all men 
before the law, by praying the company not to violate that clause in the 
charter by which they were guaranteed. After passing various sumptuary 
and police laws, laws for the government of ministers and raising taxes on 
tobacco, &c., they adjourned. But this year marks an era in Virginian 
annals — the dawn of representative government and constitutional free- 
don:!. It is memorable also lor the introduction of the first slaves in Auier- 
ica, and of a forced class of immigrants — boys and girls seized by the 
press gang in the streets of London, and shipped, as if they were felons, 
to Virginia. 

At this Assembly eleven boroughs were r-presented by twenty-two Bur- 
gesses, and this constituted the great State of Virginia in 1619. But the 
prospects of the future were bright. Immigration increased, and was now 
composed, not of adventurers, but of "prudent men v/ith families,' and in 
1623, under the governorship of Sir Francis Wyatt, the population con- 
sisted of 4,000 persons, and the massacre of 350 by the Indians did not 
destroy the colony. Under the system which prevailed in Virginia, free- 
dom of debate and love of independence were fostered. 

To the form of government established by the colony July, 1621, was 
added the proviso, as mentioned above, that no order of the Council in En- 
gland should bind the colony, unless ratified by the General Assembly of 
Virginia. Thus early in our country's history was introduced those prin- 



18 !irSTi)KY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

c'ple.s of republicanism which eventually seaired to us our present gov- 
ernment. 

lames became jealous at what he considered an invasion of prerogative, 
and denounced the Company which gave a democratic constitution to Vir- 
ginia " as a seminary for a seditious Parliament," and also said he would 
rather they "chose the devil as treasurer than Sir Edwyn Sandys." The 
Company was firm, and refused his claim to nominate their officers, and 
from the struggle and the feelings it excited, the colony derived solid ad- 
vantages. 

But the Company was doomed. James pursued them unrelentingly. 
A royal commission was sent to Virginia to gather material for its destruc- 
tion. The commissioners, reaching Virginia, demanded the records of the 
Assembly, which were refused. The clerk was bril^ed to give them up by 
the commissioners. The Assembly stood their clerk in the pillor}' and cut 
off his ears. The patriotic resistance of the colonists was fruitless. A ^uo 
warranto was tried in the King's Bench, and the charter was annulled. 
The dissolution of the London Company was a distinct benefit to the colo- 
nists, by relieving the settlers from the cumbrous, complicated and uncer- 
tain government of a mercantile corporation, and placing them in the same 
rt-lation to the King as his other subjects. 

The five years which now followed of Sir Francis Wyatt's continuance 
in oflice were characterized for their legislative activity, for the formation 
of political habits, and for the first opposition to the home government, 
which strengthened and confirmed the independent spirit of the colonists. 
During the session of 1623-24, Royal Commissioners came to Virginia to 
assist in ruining the Co.;;pany. This peiiod is marked in the statute book 
by the definition and declaration of certain guiding political principles 
which were never afterwards shaken. The Governor's power was limited. 
He was not " to lay any taxes or impositions upon the colony, their lands, 
or other way than by the authority of the General Assembly, to be levied 
and employed as the said Assembly shall appoint." The Goven^or was 
not to withdraw the inhabitants from their labors for his own service, and 
the Burgesses attending the Assembly were to be it ee from arrest. These 
were the great and fundamental principles for which patriotic men were 
then contending in England. Jan:es I died March 25, 1625, and Charles 
I succeeded him and took the government in his own hands. He granted 
large plantations in Virginia to his favorites, Lords Baltimore and Fairfax. 
Shortly afterwards Wyatt departed, and Georj^e Yeardley was appointe-d 
his successor. He lived but a short time, when the Council chose Francis 
West as Governor. Subsequently, John Pott was appointed, who was 
soon superceded by Sir John Harvey. The latter quarreled with the colo- 
nists, was thrust out of the government, was reinstated by the King, and 
in 1639 the King reappointed Sir Francis Wyatt. 



HISTOPa" OF AUGUSTA OOUXTV. V) 

Two important events occurred durin;^- Harvey's administration — the 
settlement of Maryland by Lord Baltimore, an 1 the rise of the Puritan 
party in Virginia. The Virginia colonists considered Maryland as a part 
of Virginia, and resented the course of Lord Baltimore. Quarrels about 
jurisdiction soon broke out, and all parties suffered. Attached to the 
Church of England, Virginia was not a promising field for Puritans, but a 
community of them had settled in Virginia years before. 

Wyatt was replaced in 1642 by Sir William Berkeley, who governed 
well at first, but his accession brought no increase of political freedom to 
Virginia. The first step toward federation was taken ab(^ut this time, in 
the passage of an act ratifying and regulating commerce with Maryland. 
The prosperity of the colony increased rapidly, interrupted only by a sec- 
ond outbreak of Indians, which was quickly quelled. 

The execution of Charles I, 1649, filled Virginians with horror and in- 
dignation, and the well-known sympathy of Virginia with the unhappy 
King drew many exiled cavaliers to America. The Governor invited 
Charles II to come to and be King of Virginia, but on the eve of his em- 
barking from Holland for Virginia, in 1660, he was recalled to the throne 
of England. After he ascended the throne, Charles II, desirous ol giving 
a substantial proof of the profound respect he entertained for the loyalty of 
Virginia, caused her arms to be quartered with those of England, Ireland, 
and Scotland, as an independent member of the Empire. This fact, and 
because Virginia was the first of the English settlements in the limits of 
the British colonies, led to her being styled " The Old Dominion." 

During the administration of Cromwell, Virginia enjoyed a free and in- 
dependent government under three Governors — Bennet, Digges, and 
Mathews — all Puritans, who were chosen by the Assembly. An old histo- 
rian tells us that Mathews was " a most deserving Commonwealth's man, 
who kept a good horse, lived bravely, and was a true lover of Virginia." 
Under these three men the political rights of the people were firmly estab- 
lished and their commercial interests protected and extended by the com- 
mencement of treaties with New England, New York, and the cultivation 
of closer relations with Maryland. General prosperity consequently pre 
vailed. 

After the Restoration, the Virginia Assembly elected Berkeley Gov- 
ernor, an address was voted to the King, and Berkeley was sent to En- 
gland to protest against the enforcement of the Navigation Act ; the 
Church of England was re-established, and severe laws passed against Dis- 
senters.* The Navigation Act was enforced ; tobacco fell in price, and im- 



*As the word Dissenter occurs frequently in these pages, we may as well state at this point that it is a 
vague word, which, in its full latitude, is applied to all who differ from the Church of England, which was 
the Established Church of Virginia down to 1776. Originally it meant in England only the Presbyterians, 
who rather differed from the discipline and polity, than the opinions of the Episcopal Church. 



20 HTSTOEY OF AUGUsTA COUNTY. 

ports rose. The return of the Royahst party to power soon led to trouble, 
and as early as 1663 an outbreak, led by some of Cromwell's soldiers, oc- 
curred, which, however, miserably failed, and four of the conspirators were 
executed. 

Under the profligate government of Charles II, the trade of Virginia was 
almost extinguished ; the titles of the colonists were endangered, if not de- 
stroyed by royal grants to Lords Arlington and Culpepper; the justices 
levied taxes for their own emolument ; the Indians were treated with 
Sfverity ; the Church fell into contempt . the rectors and curates were licen- 
tious and incompetent ; and corruption and extortion prevailed. 

A second outbreak threatened in 1674, but partial reforms and the want 
of a leader quieted the people, though everything was in a combustible 
condition. 

The unwise policy of severity towards the Indians led to a war, and 
Berkeley, for some unknown reason, disbanded the force which ought to 
have been used to repel the enemy. 

At this moment, the leader, whom the people had before wanted, ap- 
peared in Nathaniel Bacon, a voung, popular, wealthy, brave and patriotic 
man. Bacon was aided, if not instigated, by two planters, Drummond and 
Lawrence, who evidently wished to effect a general reform of all abuses, 
as well as put down the Indians. Bacon, having vainly sought a commis- 
sion, marched against the Indians at the head of a few brave volunteers, 
which gave Berkeley die opportunity to proclaim them rebels. The Gov- 
ernor started in pursuit of Bacon — not the Indians — with troops, but the 
revolt becoming general in his rear, he retre.ited. Aware now of the rising 
storai, the Governor issued writs for a new Assembly, to which Bacon was 
elected. On his way to James City, Berkeley caused his arrest, but re- 
leased him on parole, and Bacon read at the bar of the house a written 
confession and apology, and was thereupon p.irdoned and readmitted to 
the Council, of which he had previously been a membv-r. Shortly after. 
Bacon fled on a suspicion that his :ife wa.-. threatened, and ret rned to 
Jamestown with a large force. lie appealed to the Assembly, who made 
him their General, vindicated his course, and sent a letter to England ap- 
pro\'ing him. While the Assembly was engaged in the correction ot 
abuses, Berkeley dissolved them. Bacon, now too strong to be resisted, 
extorted the necessary commission- from the Governor, and again marched 
agiiinst the Indians. Availing himself of his absence, Berkeley pro- 
claimed him a rebel. On hearing this news, Bacon retraced his steps, 
when Berkeley fled to Accomac, thus leaving Bacon supreme. Bacon 
immediately summoned a convention of all the principal men to replace 
the House of Burgesses, pledged them to his support, and even to resist- 
ance to England, if their wrongs were not redressed. Bacon now again 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 



21 



moved against the Indians, but in his absence, the fleet, which he had sent 
to capture BerkeIe\^ was betrayed, and the Governor returned to James- 
town at the head of his would-be captors. Bacon's friends in JamestovvT. 
made terms with the Governor, and Bacon returned a second time. Berke- 
ley fled again to Accomac, and Bacon captured and burnt Jamestown. 
About this time he became ill of fever, and died shortly afterwards ni 
Gloucester county. The hero dead, his followers scattered. The leaders 
were caught in detail and executed. Thus ended the so-called Rebellion. 

Nothing was gained by Bacon's course, and for a hundred years the 
people sunk into apathy. Berkeley was recalled, and died soon after h:s 
return to England. He was a covetous, dishtniest, bloodthirsty, cov,-- 
ardly impotent, whose life was stained with crime. He was succeeded by 
Col. Herbert Jeffreys who died a year later, in 1677, and was followed by 
Sir Henry Chicheley, and he by Lord Culpepper, upon whom the Gover- 
norship was conferred for life in 1675. Culpepper arrived in Virginia in 
1680. His administration was, on the whole, one of simple greed and 
violent exactions. He came to Virginia to make his fortune, and stopped at 
no act to accomplish his purpose. He was one of the most cunning and 
covetous men in England, He was succeeded by Lord Howard, of Ef- 
fingham. He also came to make his fortune, and as he became richer, 
Virginia became poorer. During his time immigration almost ceased. 
Howard returned to England to find James driven from the throne, which 
ended the Stuart domination. The reign of Charles was contemptible for 
its meanness and corruption, and that of James the basest and most barren 
in English history. Charles debauched and debased England, and Cul- 
pepper and Eflingham degraded their governments and almost ruined 
Virginia. 

riie oaly political events of these times of any significance were the 
sending of delegates, in 1684, from Virginia to Albany to meet the Gov- 
ernor of New York and certain agents sent from Massachusetts to discuss- 
Indian affairs. This was a move in the direction of confederation. 

Virginia derived little benefit from the revolution of 1689, which placed 
William and Mary upon the throne, and shortly after that event, a war 
breaking out between the allied powers and Louis XIV of France, the 
colony was ordered to place itself in the best posture for defence. 

The continued complaints of the Virginia Legislature led to the recall 
of Howard, and Sir Francis Nicholson succeeded him. Nicholson was an 
arbitrary man. and practiced the arts of a demagogue, but was not a cor- 
rupt man. His administration is marked for the establishment of William 
and Mary College, under Dr. James Blair, an active and energetic Scotch- 
man, who became one of the most serviceable men in Virginia. 

Sir Edward Andros came after Nicholson, and was actuated in his gov- 
ernment by a sound judgment and a liberal policy. In 1698, Andros re- 



22 HISTOUY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

tired and Nicholson was reappointed and served seven years without ac- 
comphshing any good except what grew out of his own neghgence. From 
his indifference, the Burgesses made the treasurer of the colony an officer 
of their own, and thus obtiined control of the public purse. 

In 1704, Edward Nott beca ne deputy governor under the Earl of Ork- 
ney, but the history of Virginia, more particularly Eastern Virginia, from 
this time, is httle more than a list of Governors. 

The period from 1704 to 1776, barren as it is in political events, was 
socially a period of great importance. The social ele nents, which h id 
gathered in Virginia from its foundation, crystalized, and the fabric of 
society, as seen in 1776, was built up. 

In 1 7 10, Alexander Spotswood became Governor. He was an accom- 
plished and enterprising man, — the best of the eighteenth century Gov- 
ernors. He thus describes in his day the state of affairs in Virginia : " This 
government is," says he, " in perfect peace and tranquility, under a due 
obedience to the Royal authority, and a gentlemanly conformity to the 
Church of England." 

The Virginians at this day were living in the forests, but were men who 
had inherited the culture and intelligence of the seventeenth century. 
They cherished personal freedom, secure possession, and legislative power. 
They soon manifested at the polls some uneasiness at royalist principles 
and the prospects of an aristocracy. " The inclinations of the country," 
says Governor Spotswood, " are rendered mysterious by a new and unac- 
countable humor, which hath obtained in several counties, of excluding 
gentlemen from being Burgesses, and choosing only persons of mean figure 
and character." From ^th^'s it appears that in 1710-23, no less than in 
1882, the post of honor was the private station ; that instead of political 
positions being conferred upon the good and wise, they were, in Spots- 
wood's day, as now, more frequently the rewards of greed and incom- 
petency. 

Many reforms were introduced by Spotswood, and among his benevo^ 
lent schemes was one for civilizing and christianizing the Indians. With 
this view he undertook his expedition to the interior in 17 16, of which we 
shall anon speak more freely. 

In 1723, Spotswood was succeeded by Sir Hugh Drysdale, and he, in 
1727, by William Gooch, who, during his term, commanded the expedi- 
tion against Carthagena. This expedition was the most important event of 
Gooch's administration, as, taken in connection with the other colonies, it 
was another step in the development of union. 

Gooch was a man of firmness and moderation, and ruled Virginia for 
twenty-two years much to the satisfaction of the people. During his time, 
wealth and population increased, printing was introduced, education be- 



TIISTOKY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 23^ 

came diffused, and its improving effects were felt in all, particularly the 
upper classes. But the loose and licentious character of the clergy made 
the Established Church but a feeble bulwark against the tide of religious 
e.illiusiasni which swept in with Whitfield, and the old cry was raised 
against Dissenters by those who conformed from habit or worldly interest 
to the Established Church. Gooch attempted to suppress heterodox opin- 
ions by all the powers of the State, and there was nmch petty persecution, 
which left the Church weaker and more unpopular even than before. In 
April, 1745, in his charge to the Grand Jury of the General Court, he said 
of the Presbyterians and other religious sects, " that false teachers had 
lately crept into this government, who, without order or license, or pro- 
ducing any testimonial of their education or sect, professing themselves 
ministers under the pretended influence of new light, extraordinary im- 
pulse, and such like satirical and enthusiastic knowledge, lead the inno- 
cent and ignorant people into all kind of delusion." And he called upon 
the jury to present and indict the offenders. 

While England was colonizing in Virginia, New England, and at other 
points on the Atlantic coast, and sending into the interior hardy pioneers, 
the descendants of her two earliest colonies, the French were making ex- 
plorations along the coast and into the backwoods. As far back as 1534, 
Jacques Cartier, at the head of a French expedition, entered the St. Law- 
rence and claimed the territory on both sides for France. In 1608, Quebec 
was founded by the French, and French immigrants arrived in succeeding 
years, until the dominion claimed by the French extended, as previously 
mentioned, from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1673, the 
Upper Mississippi was discovered by Father Marquette, a monk of the 
reformed order of Franciscans, called Recollects. In 1679, the French 
sent a second expedition to the West under La Salle. It reached through 
the lakes the Chicago river, passed down the Illinois to where Peoria now 
stands, and there La Salle erected a fort called Creve Coeur, or broken 
heart, on account of the hopeless difficulties he encountered. In 1682, 
La Salle sailed down the Mississippi to the Gulf, and called the country 
Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV. 

In 1700, the population of Virginia was 22,000, and in 17 16 did not ex- 
ceed 30,000. It was principally seated on the rivers and streams of East- 
ern Virginia and the Atlantic coast. No county had been organized west 
of the 78° of longitude, nor were there any white settlements further west. 
The exploring party which discovered the Valley made its way from Ger- 
manna over a hundred miles through a trackless forest. 

The progress of the population in the colony is indicated by the figures 
below: Ini6o7itwas 105; in 1609 itwas490 ; in 1617 itwas 400; in 1622 
it was 3,Soo;in 1628 itwas 3,000; in 1632 itwas 2,000; in 1644 itwas 



24 KISTOKY ()F AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

4,812; in 1645 it was 5,000; in 1652 it was 7,000; in 1700 it w.is 22,OD3 : 

in 1748 it was 82,000. 

From these matters of colonial history, so briefly recapitulated, the 
reader will understand the causes of the subsequent coniiiclii between 
the French and En.^lish colonists, the pro.s^ress of the c3lo:i7 cf Virginia, 
and its actual condition in 17 16, when the Valley war, discovered, and be- 
came a few years later the seat of an English settle nevit. 



CHAPTER III. 



The first passage of the Blue Ridge, or discovery of the Valley, was 
effected by Spotswood at the head of a troop of horse in August, 1716. 
The party consisted of about fifty persons, who had a large number of 
riding and pack-horses, an abundant supply of provisions, and an extraor- 
dinary variety of liquors. The expedition proceeded from Williamsburg 
by Chelsea, King William county, to Beverly's in the county of Middlesex, 
where the Governor left h's chaise and continued on horseback to Germanna. 
There, on the 26th of August, he was joined by the rest of the party, 
among whom were four Meherrin Indians and two sr.ali companies of 
rangers. The party marched thence to Todd's, on Mountain Run, then 
to the Rappahannock, w'hich they crossed at Somerville's ford, thence by 
the left bank to near Peyton's ford, on the Rapidan. Here they turned 
south, recrossed the river and proceeded to where Stanardsville now 
stands ; thence through Swift Run gap to the Valley, crossing the Shenan- 
doah river at a point about ten miles north of the present town of Port 
Republic. The popular belief, down to Bishop Meade's time, that the 
party had reached the Valley by Rockfish gap is thus shown to have been 
a popular error. 

In commemoration of this event Spotswood is said to have been 
knighted, and to have presented each of the party with a golden horse- 
shoe, on which was inscribed : " Sic jurat transcendere montes." (Thus 
he swears to cross the mountains.) 

The glowing accounts given by Spotswood's party — or, as they were 
afterwards styled, the " Knights of the Golden Horseshoe " — of the fertile 
and beautiful valley beyond the mountains, excited the spirit of enterprise 
and adventure in the people of Eastern Virginia and Pennsylvania. Though 



H13T0KY OF AUttUSTA COUXTY. 25 

the approach to the upper country was difficult either from the North or 
East, from the want of roads and bridg^es, and the hills were infested with 
rovinof tribes of savacres, each tribe assertin'j certain ri^fhts in and to the 
country, many plans were now considered by families and little commu- 
nities for changing their residence to these favored regions. The Knights 
of the Golden Horseshoe, who encountered no Indians on their entry into 
the Valley, spread abroad reports that the mountains east and west, which 
enclosed this lovely and fruitful Valley, presented an almost insurmount- 
able obstacle to the entrance of savages, and that defenceless families 
might there live in security and plenty, enjoying not only the necessaries 
but the luxuries of life without labor and without price. They repre- 
sented the verdant plains as sparkling with streams filled with fish, and 
covered with herds browsing in quiet joy. The trees which fringed the 
banks were festooned with vines, and both vines and trees were bending 
under their weight of luscious fruit. It is not surprising that an adventu- 
rous population, many of whom had already given evidence of their spirit 
by severing the ties binding them to friends and native land, should be 
seized with a desire to occupy such a country. Accordingly, in 1732, six- 
teen families from Pennsylvania crossed the Potomac and settled near the 
present town of Winchester. 

Among those whose attention was now directed to our Valley was John 
Lewis, who had been for some time in Pennsylvania, quietly awaiting the 
arrival from Europe of his wife and children. This remarkable man was 
born in the north of Ireland, descended from a French- Protestant family, 
and was educated in Scotland. In Ulster, where he resided until fifty 
years of age, he commanded the confidence, respect and esteem of the 
people, and occupied that position of influence, and took that leading part 
in society and county affairs, which had been traditionally the role of the 
O'Donnells, Chichesters and O'Doghertys. In youth he was of impetu- 
ous temper, but the varied experience of an active life had taught him to 
control his spirit. He was endowed with a high order of intellect, a 
valorous soul, and soon became noted for his virtuous principles. A deplo- 
rable affair, but one alike honorable to his spirit and manhood, terminated 
his career in Ireland. He had been sometime in America, when, in 1732, 
Joist Hite and a party of pioneers set out to settle upon a grant of forty 
thousand acres of land in the Valley, which had been obtained, in 1730, by 
Isaac Vanmeter and his brother, by warrant from the Governor of Vir- 
ginia. Lewis joined this party, came to the Valley, and was the first white 
settler of Augusta. 

The circumstances which led to the emigration of Lewis and his settle- 
ment of Augusta are detailed in the Virginia Historical R^egister for 1851, 
and in Howe's History. The accounts differ sufficiendy to make both 
agreeable reading. The Register narrative, published some years after 



26 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

his death, was written by Hon. Jno. H, Peyton from information derived 
orally from Wm. I. Lewis, of Campbell, M. C. for that district from 1817 
to 18 19, and is as follows : 

"Col. Lewis stated that the account given by the ' Son of Cornstalk,' 
in his essays, of the native country and the causes of the removal of his 
family to the Colony of Virginia, was incorrect. That the true history of 
the matter, as he had obtained it from his father, the late Col. William 
Lewis, of the Sweet Springs, who died in the year_i8i2, at the age of 85 
years, and long after Col. Wm. L Lewis had arrived at manhood, was 
this : John Lewis, his grandfather, was a native of Ireland, and was 
descended of French- Protestants, who emigrated from France to Ireland 
in 1685, at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, to avoid the persecutions 
to which the Protestants, to which sect of religion they belonged, were 
subjected during the reign of Louis XIV. John Lewis intermarried with 
Margaret Lynn, also a native of Ireland, but descended of Scottish ances- 
tors — the Lynns of Loch Lynn, so famous in Scottish clan legends. John 
Lewis, in Ireland, occupied a respectable position in what is there c ailed 
the middle class of society. He was the holder of a free-hold lease for 
three lives upon a valuable farm in the County of Donegal and Province 
of Ulster, obtained upon equal terms and fair equivalents from one of the 
Irish nobility, who was an upright and honorable man, and the owner of 
the reversion. This lease-hold estate, with his wife's marriage portion, 
enabled the young couple to commence life with flattering- prospects. 
They were both remarkable for their industry, piety and stern integrity.. 
They prospered and were happy. Before the catastrophe occurred which 
completely destroyed the hopes of this once happy family in Ireland, and 
made them exiles from their native land, their affection was cemented by 
the birth of four sons, Samuel, Thomas, Andrew and William. About the 
period of the birth of their third son, the Lord from whom he had obtained 
his lease — a landlord beloved by his tenants and neighbors — suddenly 
died, and his estates descended to his eldest son, a youth whose principles 
were direcdy the reverse of his father's. He was proud, profligate and 
extravagant. Anticipating his income, he was always in debt, and to meet 
his numerous engagements he devised a variety of schemes, and among 
them one was to claim of his tenants a forfeiture of their leases upon some 
one of the numerous covenants inserted in instruments of the kind at that 
day. If they agreed to increase their rents, the alleged forfeiture was 
waived ; if they refused, they were threatened with a long, tedious and 
expensive law suit. Many of his tenants submitted to this njustice, and 
raised their rents rather than be involved, even with justice on their side,, 
in a legal controversy with a rich and powerful adversary, who could, in 
this country, under these circumstances, devise ways and means to har- 
rass, persecute and impoverish one in moderate circumstances. Lewis, 
however, was a different man from any who thus tamely submitted to 
wrong. By industry and skill he had greatly improved his property, his 
rent had been punctually paid, and all the covenants of his lease had been 
complied with faithfully. To him, after seeing all the others, the agent of 
the young Lord came with his unjust demands. Lewis peremptorily dis- 
missed him from his presence, and determined to make an effort to rescue 
his family from this threatened injustice by a personal interview with the 
young Lord, who, Lewis imagined, would scarcely have the hardihood to 
insist before his face upon the iniquitous terms proposed by his agent. 



HiStORY OP AUGUSTA C()[JNfi\ 27 

Accordingly he visited the castle of the young Lord. A porter annoanaed 
his name. At the time the young Lord was engaged in his revels over 
the bottle with some of his companions of similar tastes and habits. 

As soon as the name of Lewis was announced he recognized the only 
one of his tenants who had resisted his demands, and directed the porter 
to order him otf. When the porter delivered his Lord's order, Lewis 
resolved at every hazard to see him. Accordingly he walked into the 
presence of the company — the porter not having the temerity to stand in 
his way. Flushed with wine, the whole company rose to resent the insult 
and expel the intruder from the room. But there was something in Lewis' 
manner that sobered them in a moment ; and, instead of advancing, they 
seemed fixed to their places, and for a moment there was perfect Silence, 
when Lewis calmly observed : " I came here with no design to insult or 
injure any one, but to remonstrate in person to your Lordship against 
threatened injustice, and thus to avert from my family ruin ; m such a 
cause I have not regarded ordinary forms or ceremonies, and I warn you, 
gentlemen, to be cautious how you deal with a desperate man." This 
short address, connected with the firm and intrepid tone of its delivery, 
apparently stupefied the company. Silence ensuing, Lewis embraced it 
to address himself particularly, in the following words, to the young Lord : 
" Your much-respected father granted me the lease-hold estate I now pos- 
sess. I have regularly paid my rents, and have faithfully complied with 
all the covenants of the lease. I have a wife and three infant children 
whose happiness, comfort and support depend, in a great degree, upon 
the enjoyment of this property, and yet I am told by your agent that I 
can no longer hold it without a base surrender of my rights to your rapa- 
city. Sir, I wish to learn from your lips whether or not you really medi- 
tate such injustice, such cruelty as the terms mentioned by your agent in- 
dicate ; and I beg you before pursuing such a course to reconsider 
this matter coolly and dispassionately, or you will ruin me and disgrace 
yourself." By the time this address was closed, the young Lord seemed 
to have recovered partially, (in which he was greatly assisted by several 
heavy libations of wine,) from the effects produced by the sudden, solemn 
and impressive manner of his injured tenant. He began to ejaculate : 
■"Leave me! Leave me! You rebel! You villain!" To this abuse 
Lewis replied calmly, as follows : " Sir, you may save yourself this useless 
ebullition of passion. It is extremely silly and ridiculous. I have effected 
the object of my visit ; I have satisfied my mind, and have nothing more 
to say. I shall no longer disturb you with my presence." Upon which 
he retired fi-om the room, apparently unmoved by the volley of abuse 
that broke forth from the young Lord and his drunken comrades as soon 
as he had turned his back. After they had recovered from the magical 
effect which the calm resolution and stern countenance of Lewis pro- 
duced, they descanted upon what they called the insolence of his manner, 
and the mock defiance of his speech, with all the false views which aristo- 
cratic pride, excited by the fumes of wine, in a monarchial government 
were so well calculated to inspire. During the evening the rash purpose 
was formed of dispossessing Lewis by force. Accordingly, on the next 
day, the young Lord, without any legal authority whatever, proceeded at 
the head of his guests and domestics to oust Lewis by force. Lewis saw 
the approach of the hostile array, and conjectured the object of the dem- 
onstration. He had no arms but a shelalah, a weapon in possession of 
every Irish farmer at that period. Nor was there any one at his house but 



28 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COOxNTY. 

a brother, confined to bed by disease, his wife and three infant children ,- 
yet he resolved to resist the lawless band and closed the door. The 
young Lord, on reaching the house, demanded admittance, which, not 
being granted, the posse attacked the house, and after being foiled in 
several attempts to break down the door, or to effect in other ways an en- 
trance, one of the party introduced the muzzle of a musket through an 
aperture in the wall and discharged its contents — a bullet and three buck- 
shot-^upon those within. Lewis' sick brother was mortally v/ounded, 
and one of the shot passed through his wife's hand. Lewis, who had up 
to this time acted on the defensive, seeing the blood stream from the hand 
of his wife, and his expiring brother weltering in his blood, became en- 
raged, furious, and, seizing his shelalah, he rushed from the cottage, deter- 
mined to avenge the wrong and to sell his life as dearly as possible. The 
first person he encountered was the young Lord, whom he despatched at 
a single blow, cleaving in twain his skull, and scattering his brains upon 
himself and the posse. The next person he met was the steward, who 
shared the fate of his master ; rushmg, then, upon the posse, stupefied at 
the ungovernable ardour and fury oi' Lewis' manner, and the death of 
two of their party, they had scarcely time to save themselves, as they did, 
by throwing away their arms and taking to flight. This avv'ful occurrence 
brought the affairs of Lewis in Ireland to a crisis. Though he had violated 
no law, human or divine ; though he had acted strictly in self-defence 
against lawless power and oppression, yet the occurrence took place in a 
monarchial government, whose policy it is to presei've a difference in the 
ranks of society. One of the nobility* had been slain by one of his 
tenants. The connexions of the young Lord were rich and powerful, 
those of Lewis poor and humble. With such fearful odds it was deemed 
rash and unwise that Lewis should, even with law and justice on his side, 
surrender himself to the officers of the law. It was consequently deter- 
mined that he should proceed, on that evening, disguised in a friend's 
dress, to the nearest sea-port, and take shipping for Oporto, in Portugal, 
where a brother of his wife was established in merchandize. Luckily he 
met a vessel just ready to sail from the Bay of Donegal, in which he took 
passage. After various adventures, for the ship was not bound for Portu- 
gal, in different countries he arrived at Oporto in the year 1729. Upon 
his arrival there, he was advised by his brother-in-law, in order to elude 
the vigilance of his enemies, to proceed to Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, 
and there to await the arrival of his family, which, he learned, was in good 
health, and which his brother-in-law undertook to remove to America. 

Lewis, following this advice, proceeded at once to Philadelphia. In a 
year his family joined him, and learning from them that the most industrious 
efforts were being made by the friends of the young Lord to discover the 
country to which he had fled, he determined to penetrate deep into the Amer- 
ican forest. He moved then immediately from Philadelphia to Lancaster, 
and there spent the Winter of 1731 and 1732, and in the Summer of 1732, 
he removed to the place near Staunton, in the County of Augusta. 
Virginia, now called " Bellefonte," where he settled, brought up his 
family, conquered the country from the Indians, and amassed a large for- 
tune. ' At the time he settled at this place, Augusta county was not 
formed. The country was in the possession of the Indians, and Staunton 



*The man killed by Lewis was Sir Mungo Campbell, Lord of the Manor, and hence commonly called 
" The Lord." He was not a Baron or peer of the realm. 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 29^ 

was not known. After establishing himself here, his family was a nucleus 
for new settlers from the East side of the Blue Ridge and Ireland, and the 
number had so increased by 1745. that the County of Augusta was organ- 
ized, when John Lewis was appointed a magistrate, and assisted in the 
organization." 

From this narrative it appears that our early historians, among them 
the late Dr. Ruffner, whose MS. is quoted in Howe, have incorrectly stated 
that Lewis came from Williamsburg. It is not surprising that such errors 
should have crept into our history, which, for nearly a century, was mere 
tradition ; and the reader will not have been surprised to learn that Spots- 
wood was believed to have entered the Valley by Rockhsh gap until wittim a 
few years past, wiien the line of his march was ascertained by the publica- 
tion of Fontaine's journal. The mistake as to Lewis may have arisen 
ij-om the fact that a number of emigrants reached America about this 
time in her Majesty's men-of-war Blandford, Wolf and Hector — the latter 
under command of Sir Yelverton Peyton, Baronet R. N., and the trans- 
ports accompanying them. These emigrants were for the most part Pro- 
testants from Salsburg and bound for Georgia. But some of them came 
to Virginia, in 1732, and were at Williamsburg, and thence made their 
way into the interior. Lewis may have been supposed to have belonged 
to this party. 

Howe's account, p. 181, is as follows, and was written by Charles H. 
Lewis, late Minister Resident to Portugal : 

" |ohn Lewis was a native and citizen of Ireland, descended from a family 
of Huguenots, who took refuge in that country from the persecutions that 
followed the assassination of Henry IV of France. His rank was that of 
an Esquire, and he inherited a handsome estate, which he increased by 
industry and frugality, until he became the lessee of a contiguous property, 
of considerable value. He married Margaret Lynn, daughter of the Laird 
of Loch Lynn, who was a descendant of the chieftains of a once powerful 
clan in the Scottish Highlands. By this marriage he had four sons, three 
of them, Thomas, Andrew, and William, born in Ireland, and Charles, the 
child of his old age, born a few months after their settlement in their moun- 
tain home. 

The emigration of John Lewis to Virginia was the result of one of those 
bloody affrays, which at that time so often occurred, to disturb the repose 
and destroy the happiness of Irish families. The owner of the fee out of 
which the leasehold of Lewis was carved, a nobleman of profligate habits 
and ungovernable passions, seeing the prosperity of his lessee, and repent- 
ing the bargain he had concluded, under pretence of entering for an alleged 
breach of condition, attempted, by the aid of a band of ruffians hired for 
his purpose, to take forcible possession of the premises. For this end, he 
surrounded the house with his ruffians, and called upon Lewis to evacuate 
the premises without delay, a demand which was instantly and indignantly 
refused by Lewis, though surprised with a sick brother, his wife and infant 
children in the house, and with no aid but such as could be afforded by a 
few faithful domestics. With this small force, scarce equal to one-fourth 
the number of his assailants, he resolved to maintain his legal rights at 



30 HISTORY OP AUGUSTA CoUNTY. 

every hazard. The enraged nobleman commenced the affray by discharg- 
ing his fowling-piece into the house, by which the invalid brother of Lewis 
was killed, and Margaret herself severely wounded. Upon this, the en- 
raged husband and brother rushed from the house, attended by his devoted 
little band, and soon succeeded in dispersing the assailants, though not 
until the noble author of the mischief, as well as his steward, had perished 
by the hands of Lewis. By this time the family were surrouhded by their 
sympathizing friends and neighbors, who, after bestowing every aid in 
their power, advised Lewis to fly the country, a measure rendered neces- 
sary by the high standing of his late antagonist, the desperate character of 
his surviving assailants, and the want of evidence by which he could have 
established the facts of the case. He therefore, after drawing up a detailed 
statement of the affair, which he directed to the proper authorities, em- 
barked on board a vessel bound for America, attended by his family and 
a band of about thirty of his faithful tenantry. In due time the emigrants 
landed on the shores of Virginia, and fixed their residence amid the till 
then unbroken forests of West Augusta. John Lewis' settlement was a 
few miles below the site of the town of Staunton, on the banks of the 
stream which still bears his name. It may be proper to remark here, that 
when the circumstances of the affray became known, after due investiga- 
tion, a pardon was granted to John Lewis, and patents are still extant, by 
which his Majesty granted to him a large portion of the fair domain* of 
Western Virginia. 

For many years after the settlement of Fort Lewis, great amity and good 
will existed between the neighboring Indians and the white settlers, whose 
numbers increased apace, until they became quite a formidable colony. It 
was then that the jealousy of their red neighbors became aroused, and a 
war broke out, which, for cool though desperate courage and activity on 
the part of the whites, and ferocity, cunning and barbarity on the part of 
the Indians, was never equaled in any age or country. John Lewis was, 
by this time, well stricken in years, but his four sons, who were now grown 
up, were well qualified to fill his place, and to act the part of leaders to the 
gallant little band who so nobly battled for the protection of their homes 
and families. It is not my purpose to go into the details of a warfare, 
during which scarcely a settlement was exempt from monthly attacks of 
the savages, and during which Charles Lewis, the youngest son of John, is 
said never to have spent one month at a time out of active and arduous 
service. Charles was the hero of many a gallant exploit, which is still treas- 
ured in the memories of the descendants of the border riflemen, and there 
are few families among the Alleghanies where the name and deeds of 
Charles Lewis are not familiar as household words. On one occasion, 
Charles was captured by the Indians while on a hunting excursion, and 
after traveling two hundred miles barefoot, his arms pinioned behind him, 
goaded on by the knives of his remorseless captors, he effected his escape." 

It is unnecessary to give more of Howe's account. It is composed of 
matter which will find a more appropriate place in the history of the Lewis 
family. 

At a point a mile east of Staunton, remarkable for the singular beauty 
and freshness of the scenery, on the estate owned in 1882 by D. C. Mc- 
Guffin, Mrs. J. A. Harman, and Capt. John N. Opie, Lewis pitched his 
tent, calling the place " Bellefont," which a portion of it still bears, from a 



HTSTOKY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 3T 

bold bright spring issuing from the hill side. He was the first to occupy 
the scene ; no axe had ever before rung through that forest ; no spade had 
ever turned up that soil ; nature had delivered it into his hands in its un- 
touched virginity, and it was for him to say where, and how, and to what 
extent labor should mingle with it, and art adorn and enrich it. Here this 
man, nurtured in high civilization, but by sinister fortune deprived of his 
position and banished from his country, planted himself — making a home 
which became his tomb — delighting in the tranquility and independence of 
his secluded retreat. Here, amidst the deep shadows of the wilderness, 
he built a stone dwelling, which, with its flanks, formed one side of Fort 
Lewis, and in this half dwelling, half fortress, he maintained a long strug- 
gle with the savages, and under its stout walls the infant colony grew in 
time strong enough to defy every foe. A portion of this old fort still re- 
mains in 1882, and is occupied as a dwelling by the proprietor. It is the 
oldest house in the Valley, and though without architectural beauty or 
pretensions, is one of the most interesting of our historical relics. 

In this hitherto unvisited region, amidst beautiful landscapes and grand 
points of scenery, the old hero spent the remaining years of his life,, 
finally closing his eyes upon a country blooming in cultivated fertility and 
enlivened by the arts of civilization. 

Having pursued the fortunes of Lewis and his family to their settlement 
in the wilderness, we shall give in the next succeeding chapter a brief 
sketch, of the early settlers, their manners and customs, modes of life, etc., 
or historical outline of the little colony from its foundation to the year 
i749-'50, when Gov. Gooch sailed for England, in the flowery language of 
an old historian, "amidst the blessings and tears of the people, among 
whom he had lived as a wise and beneficent father." 

Such poetical extravagance on the part of writers would shock the 
understanding but for its frequency. It certainly distorts the facts of 
history, and fills her pages with absurdities. Gooch was a moderate and 
sensible man, who reaped the benefits of Spotswood's administration, and 
governed Virginia generally in an acceptable manner. But he made mis- 
takes — committed errors — as what man does not ? — granted lands with 
lavish prodigality to his favorites, and incurred the hostility of those whom 
he did not fancy ; indulged in much petty persecution of Dissenters, made 
enemies, and was far from escaping censure. It is probable, then, that 
this "wise and beneficent father" of the old historian left as many dry 
as weeping eyes in Virginia, and was followed to England by as many 
curses as blessings. 



32 HISTOKY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 



CHAPTER IV. 



No census is extant of the population on Lewis creek at the period when 
the County of Augusta was formed. It is evident from the preamble of 
the act of 1738 that there had been a considerable increase of the inhabi- 
tants west of the great mountains, and it was to give these pioneers the 
benefits of civil government that the county was established. The County 
of Augusta, thus formed from Orang'e, which had previously embraced 
all the country west of the Blue Ridge, was not organized until some years 
later. Meanwhile the legal business of the people west of the Blue Ridge 
continued to be transacted at Orange Court-House. The expense, incon- 
venience and delay caused by this state of aflairs, led to the organization 
of the county, at Staunton, in 1745, when there was a sufficient number of 
inhabitants for appointing justices of the peace and other officers, and 
erecting courts therein. The first court-house was erected on the site of 
the present County Clerk's office, as near as may be, and the first court 
was held on the 9th of Dec, 1745, when the following magistrates, previ- 
ously _^commissioned by the Lieutenant-Governor, took their seats on the 
bench — viz.: John Lewis, John Brown, Peter Schall, John Pickens, Thos. 
Lewis, Hugh Thompson, Robt. Cunningham, James Keer, and Adam 
Dickinson. 

John Patton was appointed High Sheriff, and Jno. Madison clerk. 

The following gentlemen qualified as attorneys -at-law : Gabriel Jones, 
William Russell, James Porters, John Quin, Th. Chew. Gabriel Jones was 
appointed deputy attorney of the county, April 14, 1746, " as a fit person 
to transact his Majesty's affairs in this county," and qualified the follow- 
ing May. He was a learned lawyer, and married a Miss Strother, of Staf- 
ford county, a sister of Mrs. Thomas Lewis and Mrs. Madison, mother of 
Bishop Madison, and has, in 1882, a grandson living in Frederick county, 
namely, Mr. Strother Jones. 

On the second day of the court, a commission from William Dawson, 
President of William and Mary College, was read, appointing Thomas 
Lewis surveyor. 

From a motion now made by the Sheriff, it appears that up to this time 
there had been no prison in the settlement cr county, — that for a period 
of nearly fifteen years this pious little community of Scotch and Irish 
Presbyterians had lived without bolts and bars. 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTT. 33 

Lewis, and we must speak much in this chapter of him, thou,q;-h not 
unmindful of the miserable weakness of mankind, which causes them to 
look with admiration upon persons glorious for mischief, and to be better 
pleased when reading- of the destroyer than the founder of a state ; who 
had entered the wilderness alone, or, at most, with a single companion, 
and whose family afterwards joined him, must be presumed to have given 
law to those who subsequently assembled around him. When the num- 
ber increased, these freemen, no doubt joined together and framed a so- 
ciety as best pleased themselves, in which, we are sure, while they may 
have, and doubtless did, recognize the founder as head, they took care 
that such rules as they adopted were for the good of the governed and 
not the governor. We have a fine picture of freemen, living according to 
their own will, in the case of Abraham and Lot : they went together into 
Canaan, continued together as long as was convenient for them, and 
parted when their substance did not increase, and they became trouble- 
some to each other. The men who collected in Augusta agreed toeether 
and framed a society, and thus became a complete body, having all power 
in themselves over themselves, subject to no other human law than their 
own. All those who composed the society being equally free to enter into 
it or not, no man could have any prerogative above others, unless it was 
granted by the consent of the whole, and nothing obliging them to enter 
into this society but the consideration of their own good ; that good or 
their opinion of it must have been the rule, motive and end of all that 
they did ordain. It is lawful for such bodies to set up one or a few men 
to govern them, and he or they who are thus set up have no power except 
what is conferred upon them by the multitude, and should exercise those 
powers according to the ends for which they were given. That the Foun- 
der was thus constituted the leader of the community until 1745, cannot be 
doubted. In '45, he was placed at the head of the court, and continued in 
this position until he went down, nearly twenty years later, in peace to the 
grave. 

In William I. Lewis' narrative, he speaks of the " industry, piety, and 
ste'rn integrity of the young couple, John Lewis and Margaret Lynn," 
and we see in the significant fact that there was no prison in Augusta for 
nearly fifteen years after the Founder set down on the banks of Lewis 
creek, the legitimate fruit of their characters and example. 

The people took their tone from the heads of the colony, and thus lived 
in the enjoyment of greater order and quiet than is commonly the lot of 
communities furnished with a regular system of laws and administration. 

Such facts enable us to understand better the people themselves and the 
state of society in those days than would otherwise be possible. It must 
not be inferred, because the early colonists lived in the wilderness, beset 
with Indians and wild beasts, that they themselves lacked cultivation — par- 



34 HISTOKY OF AUGUSTA COUNTF. 

took of the nature of their surroundings. It was an infant colony, cam- 
posed of grown men — a settlement in the wilds of the new world made up 
of men trained in the schools and civilization of the Old World. There 
were men of learning among them,, and means were early applied for 
educating the rising generation. A general taste for literature prevailed, 
as is obvious from the attention paid to the erudite men who, from time to 
time, came among them as clergymen ; from the collections of books in 
their houses — the libraries of the King's counsel, Gabriel Jones, and that 
of Hon. Thomas Lewis being famous — and from the early period at which 
schools, and particularly the Augusta Academy, were established. 

Col. and Mrs. Lewis were indeed persons of gentle blood, of education, 
refine nent and independent fortune. They were not adventurers, who 
came to America seeking wealth or social or political position. They 
were the innocent victims of adverse circumstances, of sinister fortune, and 
had crossed the sea and changed their climate, but not their characters. 
And what is true of them is true of others. Lewis, himself, was a man 
endowed with many noble qualities. Of a martial spirit and heroic cour- 
age, he was formed to excel in war ; the ardent friend of progress, of pub- . 
lie improvements, of trade and commerce, wise in his conceptions and 
persevermg in his plans, he was equally adapted for peace. Irreproacha- 
ble in his public and private morals; courteous, affable, and eloquent; 
fond of society and excelling in conversation, he excited the love and 
admiration of the people who adhered to him and the policy he pointed 
out, as well from their attachment to his person as because of their respect 
for his talents and his character. Had he continued in Europe his abilities 
and accomplishments, which had already given him a high local reputa- 
tion and position, could not have remained long unknown and unrewarded 
by his Sovereign. He was destined, however, for another career, a more 
appropriate theatre for his ardent and restless genius. Providence or- 
dained him to become a pioneer of civilization — to erect the standard of 
the Cross in the wilderness. In the colony which he founded the Church 
anticipated the town and the county. Before either was established t^e 
Gospel was preached in the houses of the settlers orunder the shade of the 
trees. In Col. Lewis' house, indeed, the first sermon ever delivered in the 
county was preached by Mr. James Thompson, in 1739. A little later, log 
buildings were erected for the worship of God, called, in the language of 
the day, " meeting-houses." There was no settled pastor, no organized 
church, but the rude walls of the meeting-house resounded to the bold, 
zealous, impassioned and enthusiastic words of the old-school ministers, 
who, from time to time, passed through the settlement. 

Lewis was not one of those men of overweening vanity, who fancy they 
can do without other men. He felt that he needed the counsel of others, 
and was not able to manage and direct all things alone. Accordingly, he 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNT f. 35 

early associated with himself in his labors persons of merit, eLuployin^ each 
of these according to his talents, and left to them the management of minor 
matters, which only consume time, and deprived him of the liberty of 
mind so necessary in the conduct of important affairs. He thus prevented 
envy and jea'ousy, by dividing a power which is apt to be offensive when 
united in a single person, as if all merit centred in him alone. This wise 
course facilitated the execution of affairs, and made their success more cer- 
tain. The value of a man n{ such rare parts — such disinterested soul — in 
a primitive community, cannot be exaggerated. Men, as lago says, are 
but men. They must be treated, ministered to, provided for, and gov- 
erned as such. In the Augusta settlement, they were freer than free- 
dom, and in danger of running into licentiousness. Lewis saw, what uni- 
versal experience has proved to be necessary, namely : that for prosperous 
self-government, a moral tone must pervade the community, a sound pub- 
lic sentiment prevail, and laws, though rude and unwritten, must exist, and 
are best upheld by it. He and his leading associates, by word and deed, 
accomplished the great task of moulding the opinions and forming the 
character of the people between 1732 and 1745. Without the aid of civil, 
military, or ecclesiastical establishments, by their wisdom and firmness, 
their humanity and justice, they maintained law and order in the colony, 
cultivated in all a respect for the rights of others, restrained vice, and 
asserted the majesty of moral virtue. Liberty is precious and dear to all 
men, and no people were more jealous of theirs than these pioneers, who 
had tasted the bitter fruits of slavery in their native lands. To preserve 
liberty — the rights and liberties of all — was the great motive principle of 
their actions, and became, in a manner, the soul of their laws, customs, and 
whole frame of government, as they afterwards existed, and as we see 
them to-day in America. 

These grand men of the frontier, our primitive colonial fathers, not only 
rescued their fields from the forest, but cultivated them with their own 
hands, performing, without reluctance, the offices of domestics. Thus the 
colony soon became, and naturally enough, noted for its prosperity and 
honored for its citizens. Possessing an ample fortune, Col. Lewis dis- 
pensed much hospitality, especially to strangers. While entertaining with 
generosity, he was careful that his establishment should not degenerate 
into luxury. The spirit of hospitality extended to all, and when any 
stranger happened to pass through Augusta, he was not only received, 
lodged, and maintained everywhere, but the inhabitants disputed with 
each other the honor of having him for their guest. This inviolable re- 
gard to hospitality is still preserved among our rural population. 

Each returning season brought accessions to the population from abroad. 
Many were good and true men, and many were turbulent spirits, impa- 
tient of control, and the enemies of law and order. The difficulties of the 



36 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA GO ON IT. 

Founder's position increased, but he and his associates exercised an I'n-e- 
sistible influence in behalf of all measures for the public good. The men 
who, after 1745, (as many had done before,) united with him in his 
labors and exertions, were the Madis-ons, Pattons, Prestons, Browns, Keers, 
Dickinsons, Pickens, Breckenridges, and others. Many of those early set- 
tlers founded families which have since become famous in the land. Madi- 
son was the father ot the Right Rev. James Madison, DD., Bishop of Vir- 
ginia, the first bishop consecrated in America by the three American bish- 
ops previously consecrated in Great Britain, of whom the first was Dr, 
Seabury, of Connecticut, consecrated by the Scotch Episcopal Church, 
who admitted him to the Scotch Episcopate 1784, by the hands of the 
Bishops of Aberdeen, Ross, and Moray. The second and third bishops 
were Drs. White and Prevost, the elect respectively of the conventions of 
Pennsylvania and New York, who were consecrated at Lambeth Palace, 
1787, by Archbishops Moore and Markham, and Bishops Moss, of Bath 
and Wells, and Hinchcliff, of Peterborough. 

John Preston and Robert Breckenridge were the founders of the distin- 
guished families of their names in Virginia and Kentucky, and from other 
early settlers are descended the extensive and highly respectable families 
bearing their names in this county, the State, the West and South. 

The Augusta colony, which was soon noted for its enterprising popula- 
lation, its good order, its industry and progress, was thus physically and 
socially in advance of other frontier settlements. It must be remembered, 
however, that all the settlers in this community were not worthy men. 
Augusta was not, as we have mentioned, thus signally blessed. 

The subject of public improvements soon engaged the attention of the 
leading men, and they quickly discovered difficulties, besides those of na- 
ture, in their way. In every population there are two orders of men — one, 
who with little difficulty are open to a conviction that improvements are 
desirable, and another, who either from excess of ignorance or perversity, 
can tolerate no change whatever. With the former of these, the Founder 
had no difficulty. They readily came into his plans and appreciated his 
general policy, even acknowledging, with gratitude, the benefits and bless- 
ings that had already arisen from the schemes he had introduced of public 
improvement, elementary education, etc. They anticipated other and 
greater benefits from those he now proposed. The enemies of innovation 
and improvement, the suspicious, the prejudiced, the grumblers, were 
harder to manage, but they were, for the most part, in time, skillfully won 
over, and in the end he was supported by a large majority of even these. 

Though the Founder, from the early years of the colony, called to his 
aid, as we have observed, the best men in it, there were such difficulties to 
encounter in executing his wise and benevolent plans, that only the most 
unwearied patience and self-denying virtue could have surmounted them. 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 6i 

One of the chief wants of the community was good roads, and particu- 
larly of a road communicating with the more improved parts of Eastern 
Virginia, whence their supplies were drawn. Lewis perceived this on his 
difficult journey into the wilderness, and every day satisfied him more 
fully that there could be no solid improvement or prosperity among them 
while this was the case. It was difficult to communicate any news or treat 
of affairs with other settlements far and near, being obliged to send a 
courier at great charge and loss of time, or wait for the departure of some 
person going north or east of the mountains, to take their letters — a preca- 
rious and uncertain method. 

Calling into council the chief men, the Founder proposed that they 
should widen and improve the so-called road leading to Goochland, and 
finding his views favorably received, the project was announced to the 
people. We can imagine their astonishment at the boldness of his plans ; 
how some of the more timid and indolent would declare the thing impos- 
sible ; how others would find an excuse, in their private affairs, for not en- 
couraging or wishing to engage in such an enterprise ; how it would be 
argued that the Indian trails through the mountain gaps answered a very 
good, if not every purpose ; how it would be said that by those paths they 
had arrived in the country and were doing well, and how those who 
were not satisfied with doing well, ought to be allowed to leave — to go 
farther and fare better ; how it would be reiterated that they could get, and 
actually did get on pack horses, their salt, iron, steel castings, powder and 
shot, and whatever they needed, including dress and personal ornaments ; 
how these croakers would dwell upon the time and labor such a work 
would cost, and finally, when it was constructed, upon the dangers which 
would menace the community, as by it luxury would be let in in time of 
peace, and the enemy in time of war. Nothing is too absurd for the dis- 
contented to urge on such an occasion. The men, however, who promoted 
this scheme, were not easily discouraged. Without losing time with mal- 
contents, they explained to the public the advantages to be derived from 
having a good outlet for the produce of their fields and facilities for pro- 
curing the multitude of comforts and conveniences of which they were des- 
titute. Soon the better part of the community was on their side, and the 
enterprise was begun. 

Let us attempt to call up the scene when this work was taken in hand. 
There comes the venerable " Lord of the hills," as Lewis was called, with 
Brown, Keer, Pickens, Jones, Preston, Patton, and the leading spirits gen- 
erally. They are about to go forth with Thomas Lewis, the Surveyor, as 
Chief Engineer, to locate this highway. A motley crowd assembles in the 
streets and about the inn door, where horses stand, on whose backs men 
are packing tents and panniers with provisions. In this crowd stand men 
in hunting shirts and moccasins, leaning upon their long rifles, and sympa- 



38 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

thizing, if at all, in the movement, in a listless way. These still hunters, or 
deer-stalking pioneers, are almost as much opposed as the Red Men to 
their hunting-grounds being disturbed — opened up by roads. Business is 
at a stand-still on this morning in the litde hamlet, now the city of Staun- 
ton, and women and children peer curiously from their doors. It is evident 
from the stir that a movement of no ordinary importance is on foot. At 
length the expedition starts, the crowd disperses, and the village relapses 
into its habitual drowsiness. Wetks pass, and the place is again astir. 
The venerable fathers reappear on the outskirts of the hamlet at the head 
of the surveymg party and the mass of the people themselves, — all are 
excited, — some in a lively state of enthusiasm. The road has been located, 
every preliminary arranged, and the work of Its construction is now to 
begin. The chief men — the elders — are all present and mingle in the 
crowd ; the scene is graced, too, by the presence of ladies — a " store of 
ladies -whose bright eyes rain influence." S^e the sturdy old pioneer, the 
venerable Founder, coming to the front, after the blessing of Heaven has 
been asked upon their undertaking, and casting up the first spadeful of 
earth, and hear the loud cheers which make the welkin ring ! Behold 
every one now pressing forward to lend a helping hand — even the malcon- 
tents, catching the spirit of the hour, hurrying to the front and taking part 
in the good work. There was a moral grandeur in such a spectacle, in the 
initiation of such an enterprise, — of turning to practical account, of thus 
giving a right direction to the industry of the people. 

It was no holiday task, but, for that little community, without accumu- 
ted capital or mechanical appliances, a prodigious undertaking. The com- 
pletion of the work, — ^and it was completed in due time, — ameliorated the 
condition of the settlers, and it was from time to time followed by other 
improvements. Thus we see that on the 19th of May, 1749, this order en- 
tered of record by the County Court : " That Jas. Montgomerie, and Richard 
Burton, or any one of them, wait on the Court of Lunenburg and acquaint 
them that the inhabitants of Augusta have cleared a road to the said 
county line, and desire that they will clear a road from the court-house of 
Lunenburg to meet the road already cleared by the inhabitants of Au- 
gusta." 

A good road, for those days, having been constructed over the moun- 
tains to the East, the people used it to market their produce, furs, cattle, 
etc., obtaining, in return, all necessary articles, and sometimes the luxu- 
ries and elegancies of life. The parties which brought in these supplies 
were so large that they were called Caravans. Soon shops, called " stores," 
and still so called, were established, and dealers supplied the public wants. 
About this time a division of labor occurred, and carpenters, wheelwrights, 
blacksmiths, masons, tailors and shoemakers set up their trades. Work 
was now done at home, which hitherto, with much delay and expense, was 
executed at a distance. 



HISTOKY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. " 39 

In the absence of a system of laws, order was preserved and individual 
rights protected by virtue of public opinion and what is termed the forest 
code, -that mysterious power of public opinion, which it is impossible to 
resist, and than which nothing is more unsteady, more vague or more 
powerful, and which, capricious though it may be, is nevertheless just and 
reasonable more frequently than is supposed, — and that backwoodsman's 
code (a relentless and martial one it is), written in the constitution of their 
natures and the circumstances of their position. Every State must have 
its policies, kingdoms have edicts, cities have their charters, and even the 
wild outlaw, in his forest walks, keeps yet some touch of civil discipline. It 
is not easy for those never subjected to frontier trials to understand the 
fierce wrongs which sometimes heat the pioneers' strong passions to the 
fever point, and the necessity for this martial code. As to the forest code, 
it is well known that the punishments inflicted by it were well adapted to 
secure the end in view. Hazing was one of the punishments under it, and 
intended either to reform or expel an obnoxious character. The term 
hazing was not then in use, but the practice prevailed, and base conduct 
on the part of a man led to his being hazed out, or, as the pioneers styled 
it, " hated out " of the community. The unlucky individual who aroused 
public indignation was forced to make atonement and to reform, or incur 
the worse penalty of banishment. This mode of chastisement was com- 
mon among the Greeks, and is an effectual remedy. Few men have the 
hardihood to face the general indignation of an outraged community. 

Two crimes met with peculiar punishment at the hands of the pioneers, — 
the first, theft, which was held in such detestation that the culprit was ban- 
ished, but not before thirtv-nine lashes were well laid unon his bare back. 
The second, seduction, which was punished by death. To extort a confes- 
sion, they sometimes resorted to the torture of sweating ; that is, suspend- 
ing the accused by the arms pinioned behind his back until he confessed. 
Thus the stern morality of the leaders became the prop and support of their 
government. We need not enter further upon the forest code, the spirit and 
effect of which is clearly seen from the foregoing. 

Our sketch would be incomplete without a reference to some of the 
social customs and rural superstitions of the pioneers. When new comers 
arrived, or young married people contemplated housekeeping, all united to 
build them a dwelling. When land was cleared, all aided, as also at har- 
vest, hay-making, and other busy seasons. In times of danger, all men 
performed military duty, and no case is on record of a pioneer seeking to 
evade such service. As a rule, the men were brave and the women pretty, 
seeming to have inherited virtue and valor from their adventurous ances- 
tors. Personal difflculties, when they could not be amicably adjusted by 
the good offices of friends, were settled by wager of battle — a primitive 
mode of deciding causes between parties of high antiquity among the rude 



40 . HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

military people of Europe. This mode of settling disputes made people 
more conservative and less vulgar in expressing their opinions of others 
than is common now-a-days. Family pride in Augusta was always great, 
and family honor was jealously guarded. Such was the chivalric character 
of our forefathers, that no personal insult or injury to a man or a member 
of his family was unavenged. Thus it was that crime and license were 
prevented from distorting humanity in the infantile colony. 

People in those days dressed plainly, in half-savage, half-civilized style ; 
the men generally in a hunting shirt, a kind of loose frock, resembling the 
Roman tunic, fastened by a belt or girdle about the waist, with loose 
sleeves, and a cape to throw off the rain. In the belt of the tunic the 
Roman carried his money — in the hunting shirt the pioneer stored away 
his luncheon. By his side was suspended his knife and tomahawk, both 
in leathern cases. The hunting-shirt was made of Linsev-Wolsey, or 
dressed deer skin for Winter, and of tow linen for Summer. The breeches 
were usually of the same material, and the feet were encased in mocca- 
sins. 

Previous to the Revolution, the married men usually shaved their heads, 
and either wore wigs or white linen caps — a custom adopted, no doubt, 
from the severity of our Summer climate, the heats of which are beyond 
anything prevailing" in Western Europe. The women dressed, ordinarily, 
in the same plain stuff, woven, during the first twenty years of the colony, 
by themselves, for they were skilled at the loom and spinning-wheel, thus 
exemplifying Probs. xxxi.: " She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her 
hand holdeth the distaff.' Their duties were to educate their children, take 
care of their household, and live retired with their families ; their pleasures, 
to visit, give feasts, where there was much mirth and enjoyment. They were 
spiritual and healthful women, and wholly unaffected by that worldliness 
which so often depraves in fashionable society all the powers and faculties 
of the soul. From these peerless women sprung the heroic sons whose 
deeds have since made Virginia famous the world over. We trust the 
young women of the present day will not be unmindful of their bright 
example, or despise the duties of ordinary life. There is no position which 
exonerates a woman from the discharge of female duties, and the higher 
her talents, the more cultivated her understanding, the better regulated 
will be her household, the more eminently qualified will she be to per- 
form all the duties of her station, whether it be of high or low degree. 

Thus on the frontier grew up a race of vigorous and spirited men, pure 
and virtuous women, and within a few years the " wilderness ceased to be 
their habitation, a barren land their dwelling-place." Though remote 
from the world of ton and commerce, they were eminently a happy peo- 
ple — their peace and morals not contaminated with the vices of fashionable 
life, the rooted depravity of a pretended civilization and a spurious and 



HISTORY OF ATTGCSTA CO^jNTt. 41 

mock Christianity. The mass of them were po >r, it is true, but their 
poverty might be styled the truest riches, since those who want least ap- 
proach nearest the gods, who want nothing. 

The first settlers of Augusta, as their names indicate, were Scotch and 
Irish, but soon a few English and many Germans and persons of German 
lineage, from Pennsylvania, joined the community. Each party brought 
with them the religion, habits and customs of their ancestors, and this led to 
the erection of churches of different denominations and to a variety of little 
social circles, which, however, were never at any time very exclusive. The 
prevalence of German names evidences that a considerable part of the 
immigrants were of Teutonic origin. The superior intelligence of the 
people was due to the fact that the county was populated with adults, and 
it requires both talent and enterprise to produce voluntary change of 
country. It may be assumed with confidence as a truth, in our opinion, 
that there was as much talent, intelligence and spirit in the people of 
Augusta in i732-'50, as falls to the lot of any equal number of people in 
the world. 

As the country was, while this influx of immigrants was flowing in, 
without roads, immigrants made their way into the interior on foot or 
horseback, following the Indian or bufifalo trails, or guided by blazed 
trees, carrying their worldly goods upon their backs or in packs lashed to 
horses or mules, crossing water courses on a fallen tree, which served as a 
bridge, or, in case of rivers or high water, swimming the streams. The 
men had, for the most part, seen "military ser\ace in Europe, and 
became inured, in Pennsylvania, to the hardships of frontier life. The 
experience of the women must have been terribly severe, though doubtless 
every possible effort was made to ameliorate their situation. These immi- 
grants are uniformly represented to have been, as a rule, men of staid 
habits, sterling worth, of high spirit, and untiring energy. And this is no 
doubt strictly true, for it is only, let us repeat, the courageous and self-reliant 
who venture on such enterprises. The houses of the pioneers were built 
of wood and covered with clap-boards : the flooring was split puncheons, 
smoothed with the broad-axe ; the chimneys of stone, or brick dried in 
the sun. Their furniture was rudely fashioned from the timbers of the 
forest, oak, walnut, maple ; their beds stuffed with feathers from the backs 
of their geese. It was not until long after 1732, that the pewter plates, dishes 
and spoons, wooden bowls, treanchers and noggins, strangely mingled on 
the pioneer's table with family plate brought from Europe by some of the 
settiers, were replaced by glass, china and silver ware. 

Let no one imagine from the rudeness and simplicity of their dwellings 
and furniture that our conclusions are hastily drawn as to the cultivation 
and refinement of the early settlers. The people were restrained in im- 
provements by want of labor, the absence of machinery, tools, &c. 



4^ fflSTORY Of AI/GUSTA COCTJS^TI'. 

Moreover, tli'e industry of the community was specially directed to the 
fields, where it was certain of an ample reward, as a means of supplying not 
only their own wants, but the heavy demands of incoming parties of stran- 
gers. And their immediate wants were for the necessaries, not the luxuries 
of life. 

In front of every house a garden was cultivated in flowers, and hard by 
in a truck patch, their vegetables. They nourished their bodies by the 
same earth out of which they were made, and to which all must return. 
Water was their pure and innocent beverage, though they sometimes in- 
dulged in the luxury of blackberry wine or spruce beer. 

In the elegant mansions of the present, where one sees displayed the 
delicacies of every clime, served on plate from the mines of Potosi or 
Nevada, and which contain accumulated treasures of mahogany, uphol- 
stery, pictures, china, glass, etc., one can scarcely realize the brief period 
within which these transformation scenes have occurred. Our young men 
no longer disport Linsey-Wolsey hunting-shirts and bear-skin moccasins, 
but are clothed in fine linen and patent-leather boots. Verily, "Jeroboam 
has clad himself with new garments." 

On arriving in the settlement, the first work which engaged the colonist 
was the erection of such log huts, or cabins, as we have described. A 
site having been selected, a hut was erected of round or rifted logs. Each 
family was supplied by the common labor of all with these rude dwellings, 
and in a few days after ending their journey the little community of in- 
comers was put under cover of their own roof. The sites of the settle- 
ments were always in or alongside of groves, near some spring of pure 
water, i'hese log huts, which were built around a square, were united by 
palisades, and thus presented a wooden wall to their enemies. I'he doors 
opened into the common square, on the inner side. As an additional 
protection, around the whole settlement a stockade inclosure was built, 
with block-houses at the angles, and these rude fortifications formed an 
impregnable barrier against the red skms. These block-houses were two 
stories high, the upper story projecting over the lower, that the inmates 
might discharge their rifles from above upon an enemy. They were of 
such strength that they afforded perfect security to those within, if the 
efforts of the Indians to burn them by lighted arrows could be prevented. 
These cabins, block-houses and stockades were constructed without the 
aid of a nail or spike. 

The two first buildings of a public kind which were erected were the 
church, or "meeting-house," and the school-house, where religion and the 
elements of a sound and liberal education were taught, and by the same 
instructors — the Presbyterian clergymen. Those pious, patient, laborious 
men, who brought to the wilderness the cultivation and refinement of 
Europe, became the preceptors of little grammar schools at their own 



rnSTOKY OF ACGTJSTA COUNTT. 43 

Ifiouses, or in t"he immediate neighborhoods, and gave tiieir pupils a thorough 
if not extensive course of education. In a word, these good men formed 
the youth of Augusta, taught them to love their country and to honor 
their parents, and by their examples and admirable lessons sought to engage 
them more warmly in the pursuit of virtue. The first of these teachers 
in Augusta was Rev. John Craig, who did not con-fine himself to penman- 
ship, history and mathematics, but in his course embraced a classical edu- 
cation. In these schools all received the rudiments of education, and 
those who wished to pursue a more elaborate course entered the schools 
of Eastern Virginia— among which may be mentioned that of Rev. James 
Waddell, where William and Charles Lewis were trained. And in the 
year 1749, the '^Augusta Academy" was established, near the present town 
of Lexington. In 1782, it was organized, by a charter, as Liberty Hall 
Academy, and in 1796, Geo. Washington transferred to the institution a 
gift from the State of Virginia to him for his services in the Revolution, of 
100 shares of his James river canal stock, and subsequently the Legisla- 
ture made this amount $50,000. The name was then changed to Wash- 
ington Academy, and, in 18 13, to Washington College. From these be- 
ginnings sprang Washington and Lee University, now one of the principal 
seats of learning in the South — an institution in which the leading men of 
Virginia have always manifested a deep interest, and among whose list of 
trustees the names of such distinguished men appear as Col. Arthur 
Campbell, Gen. Andrew Moore, Judge Arch'd Stuart, Col. James McDow- 
ell, Gen. Sam'l Blackburn, Hon. John Brown, Hon. Allen Taylor, Rev. 
George Baxter, Hon. James McDowell, Hon. John Howe Peyton, Charles 
L. Mosby, Esq., Hon, J. W. Brokenborough, Judge Wm. McLaughlin, 
Rev. Wm. S. White, etc. 

In 1865, after the surrender of the Confederate armies, Gen. Lee was 
appointed President of the University, and on his death, in 1870, the name 
was changed from Washington College to Washington and Lee Univer- 
sity. Since, it has steadily increased in prosperity and usefulness. 

Ignorant and illiberal foreigners have, until recently, reproached 
America with a want of scholars and literary men — thus ungenerously in- 
sinuating that our soil is unfavorable to letters, or our people so degraded 
as to take a pleasure in condemning to obscurity everything formed to 
diffuse lustre and glory around a state. It is unnecessary to descant on 
such a fallacy. The local and temporar}'' causes which have retarded our 
literary development were a virgin soil to be brought under cultivation, roads, 
canals, bridges, and every kind of public work to be constructed, and this, 
too, by a sparse and scattered population, inadequately supplied with im- 
plements of industry, entirely without capital, and pressed by their own 
personal necessities. Ours was a country of proprietors, it is true, but 
every proprietor was a laborer. What opportunity, what leisure, had 



44 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COdNTV. 

such a people to devote to letters ? " The wisdom of a learned man 
cometh by opportunity of leisure ; and he that hath litde business shall 
become wise. How can he get wisdom that holdeth the plough, and that 
glorieth in the goad ; that driveth oxen, and is occupied in their labors ; 
and whose talk is of bullocks." — [Ecclesiasticus : c. 38, v. 24-25.] 

But to return from this digression. When cultivation was going on 
around these stockade forts, strong places, or infant settlements, pickets 
were posted to give warning of an enemy's approach. The women and 
children, when an alarm was raised, retired within the stockade, but the 
men, seizing their rifles and taking to the trees, contested every inch of 
ground, rarely seeking the shelter of the fort until every effort to drive off 
the red skins failed. 

Until a supply of domestic animals was reared, one of the most impor- 
tant employments of the men was the taking of game. This was styled 
hunting, and included the pursuit of both hairy and feathered game. The 
fur obtained from the wild beast found ready sale east of the mountains, 
and thus gave them the means of supplying their necessities. The Au- 
tumn was devoted to hunting until a Winter's supply of meat was secured. 
The pioneers soon learned the habits of wild animals, and knew where to 
find them in all the different stages of the weather. They became guides, 
hunters, trappers, soldiers, knew every mountain peak and valley, every 
path and stream. They were fleet and agile as the deer, tireless as the 
red man, and as indifferent to hunger and cold. The following was one of 
their devices for taking wild beasts : Wolf pits, fox holes, or bear traps, 
were excavations thus formed : a hole was dug, say ten feet deep, small at 
the top and growing wider on all sides as it descended, sloping inwards so 
much that no beast could climb up. Two sticks were fastened together in 
the middle at right angles, the longer one confined in the ground, and the 
shorter — to the inner end of which was attached the bait — swinging across 
the middle of the pit, so that when the wild beast attempted to seize it, he 
was precipated to the bottom. 

As the means of support were easily procured, the cost of living mode- 
rate, the inhabitants married young, families were large, and the increase 
of population astonishingly rapid. A brief description of a wedding may 
not inappropriately, in this connection, be introduced in further illustration 
of frontier life. The few indoor amusements of the early settlers made a 
wedding a social event of the highest importance. It attracted the atten- 
tion of the entire settlement, and was anticipated by old and young with 
impatient delight. From the house of his father, the groom, attended by 
his best man and friends, proceeded, on the morning of the happy day, to 
the home of the bride-elect. Here, the bride and bride's-maids, mounted 
on fine horses, joined the party, and they made their way to the clergy- 
man's. The ceremony performed, the cavalcade set out on the return to 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 45 

the bride's residence, and now what was called running, or racing, for the 
bottle occurred. While the wedding party was absent, the father, or next 
friend of the bride, prepared at the bride's residence a bottle of the best 
spirits, around the neck of which a white ribbon was tied. When within 
a mile or two of the house, on their return from the clergyman's, the 
young men prepared to race for the bottle. Taking an even start, their 
horses were put at full speed, dashing over mud, rocks, stumps, in total 
disregard of all impediments. The race was run with as much desire to 
win as is ever manifested on the turf. The father or next friend of the 
bride, expecting the racers, stood with the bottle in his hand, ready to de- 
liver it to the successful competitor. On getting it, he forthwith returned 
to meet the bride, to whom the botde was presented, and who must at 
least taste it, then the groom and the attendants. Arrived at the bride's 
home, instead of the champagne breakfast of the present, with its Bohe - 
mian glass and epergnes of silver, its lobster salad, savory jellies, etc., a 
substantial dinner awaited them. It was generally dinner time when the 
party returned from the clergyman's. During the dinner, and while the 
healths were being drunk in blackberry wine or spruce beer, dashed with 
whiskey, the wedding cake was cut and handed about. The bride's father 
proposed the health of the bride and groom. They replied themselves, 
or by friends, and generally with such wit and humor as to bring down 
the nouse. After the speechifying, during which there was great hilarity, 
the gentlemen retired to the shade-trees undl the preparations for dancing 
were completed. Before this, we must not omit to mention, while din- 
ner was progressing, the custom of stealing the bride's shoe was ob- 
served. This custom is said to have afforded heart-felt amusement to the 
guests. To succeed in it the utmost dexterity was required on the part of 
the younger portion of the company, while equal vigilance was manifested 
by the attendants to defend her against the theft ; and, if they failed, they 
were in honor bound to pay a penalty, a bottle of wine, for the redemption 
of the shoe. As a punishment to the bride, she was not allowed to dance 
until the shoe was restored. The successful robber, on getting possession 
of the shoe, held it up in triumph to the view of the assemblage. 

Dancing having once commenced, it did not stop until the light of the- 
following morning. If any of the dancers showed signs of weariness, 
there were loud cries to the musicians from the others to strike up with,, 
" Hang out till to-morrow morning." 

While the dance was proceeding, the bride made her escape, and the 
groom, under the guidance of the best man, was soon snugly by her side. 
If it was a wedding among the Germans, the young people were now ad- 
mitted to the bed-chamber, and another custom was observed. A stock- 
ing 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 to it, and 



46 ' HLSrOKV OF AUUIJ6TA CuUNTV. 

throw the stocking over then- shoulders at the bride's head, and tiie first 
who succeeded in touching her cap or head, was the next to be marr!eJ. 
The young men then threw the stocking at the groom's head, in like man- 
ner, with the like motive, and hence their eagerness and ciexterity in throw- 
ing the stocking. These gaieties were kept up for several days at the houses 
of the parents, until the whole company, completely exhausted by loss of 
sleep, retired for a long rest, which was necessary before they could return 
to their ordinary avocations. There was no bridal tour in those days — no 
traveling dress was to be assumed. Within a few days of the marriage 
ceremony, on a plot of land given by one of the parents, preparations were 
made for building the young couple a residence. This rustic edifice hav- 
ing been finished and furnished, the house-warming took place. This 
consisted of a stout meal similar to the marriage dinner, followed by a 
night's dancing, after which the happy pair were left to themselves. As 
far as the means of the respective parents would admit of it, they aided 
the young couple. In all of their affairs our fathers were prudent and 
economical, but not mean or niggardly. They knew that extreme avarice 
is folly, and that to make a proper use of the goods of this world, is to 
enjoy them. They therefore not only lived well themselves, but assisted 
the young married of their households to do likewise. 

There were no towns of consequence in the early days of Augusta. The 
churches were all in the country, and around these was the burial-place or 
grave-yard. Owing to the absence of doctors and the want of medi- 
cines, many died who might have been easily cured. 

The following were the principal diseases among the pioneers, and their 
specifics, mode of treatment, &c., in the absence of any disciple of Escu- 
lapius : 

They gave a solution of common salt, sulphate of iron, or green cop- 
peras, to children afflicted with worms. 
Roasted onions and garlic, for croup. 
Slippery elm bark was applied to burns. 

A purging pill was made from the inner bark of the white walnut tree. 
For snake bite, the snake was killed and cut into pieces, split open and 
laid on the wound to draw out the poison. The wound was then poul- 
ticed with the boiled leaves of the chesnut. After this the snake was 
burnt to ashes. • 

Another remedy was a poultice made of the white plantain. As a ma- 
jority of the settlers were from Ireland, where no poisonous reptiles are 
found, it is doubtless from the Indians they learned these treatments. 

Cupping, sucking the wound, and making deep incisions, which were 
filled with salt and gunpowder, were among the earliest remedies for snake 
bites used by the whites, and may be regarded in the light of experiments 
in the healing art. 



mSTORY OF ArOUSTA COUNTY. 47 

Since this work went to press, the efficacy of one of the above modes of 
treatment has been tested in the writer's family, as will be seen by the fol- 
lowing extract from the Staunton (Va.) Valley Virginla.n of July 20. 
1882: 

A Serious Snake Bite. — On Tuesday last, as Col. Peyton and family 
were crossing North Mountain, fifteen miles from Stavmton, for an outing 
in the Shenandoah mountains, his bright and intelligent little son, Law- 
rence, who was walking up the mountain with his mother and a man-ser- 
vant, stepped upon a moccasin snake coiled under a tuft of grass on the 
roadside. The venomous reptile instantly struck his fangs deep into the 
leg of the little fellow, who sprang forward, crying out that he was bitten. 
The Colonel jumped from his carriage and immediately put his lips to the 
wound and sucked out the poison, sucking until he had raised a blister. 
He then steeped the wound in French brandy, and ordered the coachman 
to return, only delaying a moment to kill the snake, by which time the 
child's leg was much swollen and very painful. Upon reaching home, Law- 
rence was placed under the skillful treatment of Dr. Gibson, and is now, 
we are glad to say, rapidly recovering. We congratulate Colonel and 
Mrs. Peyton upon what, but for his heroic treatment in extracting the poi- 
son, would have proved a fatal calamity. 

Wounds were healed with slippery elm bark, flaxseed, &c. 

Rheumatism was treated with the oil of rattlesnakes, geese, wolves^ 
bears, raccoons, ground-hogs, polecats, &c. 

Coughs and pulmonary consumptions with syrups made with maple 
sugar and the bark of the wild cherry, etc. 

Charms and incantations were also used for the cure of many diseases, 
and these were practiced by the whites as well as the red men.. 

Erysipelas was circumscribed by the blood of a black cat. Hence there 
was scarcely a black cat to be seen whose ears and tail had not been fre- 
quently cut off for a contribution of blood. 

Blood-letting and draughts of warm water were as popular in all cases of 
fever as with Dr. Sangrado. Under this system of medicine, the reader' 
will not be surprised to learn that many of the pioneers perished, that the- 
extreme salubrity of the climate and the robust constitutions of the people 
alone prevented the population from being decimated. 

It is by no means certain that their condition would have been improved, 
by the presence of such practitioners as then drove their trade east of the 
Mountains. In an act passed by the Burgesses for regulating the fees of 
" the practisers of physic," it recites that " the practice is commonly in the 
hands of surgeons, apothecaries, or such as have only served apprentice- 
ships to these trades, who often prove very unskillful, and yet demand 
excessive fees and prices for their medicines, which is a grievance, danger- 
ous and intolerable evil." 

It was no more all work and no play with the pioneers, than with Jack 
of the proverb. Every manly exercise was cultivated. Boys were taught 



4:8 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

to box and use the cudgel and to draw the bow. At the age of t^'^ or 
twelve years, they were supplied with firearms, in the use of which they 
became experts, and aided, not only in supporting the family, but in the 
public defence. The boys became so skilled in imitating the noise of 
every bird and beast, that they could decoy any of the tenants of the for- 
ests within reach of their rifles. In throwing the tomahawk, another of 
their sports, they acquired the skill of the savages, and. would strike down 
an enemy with unerring aim at twenty to thirty paces. No athletic sport 
was neglected, such as running, jumping, pitching (the quoits), wrestling, 
boxing, but all sports were practiced which tended to make them quick of 
eye, fertile in expedients, strong of hand, active of foot, and fearless in exe- 
cution. 

To bar out the schoolmaster was one of the customs of the boys, kept 
up to within the writer's school days, when he has more than once engaged 
in the sport. About a week before Easter and Christmas, the larger 
scholars would meet in the night to bar out the master. On his arrival at 
the school-room, he would take in the situation and endeavor to force his 
way in, but finding his efforts unavailing, he would proceed to negotiate, 
and would enter into an agreement to give the scholars holiday at Easter 
week and between Christmas and New Year's. Sometimes he would agree 
to give a gallon of some beverage and a lot of gingerbread on Christmas 
day, and play a game of corner ball with his pupils on the occasion. The 
terms being understood and agreed upon, the doors would be unbarred, 
and the duties of the school would be resumed. 

It was customary for the ladies to meet at each other's houses usually at 
three in the afternoon, an hour after dinner, when all the busy occupations 
of the day were over. These were called " quilting parties," and the ladies 
presented themselves with their work-bags upon their arms, and work and 
conversation began together. Gossip, of course, constituted the staple of 
their conversation. What else was there in these retired societies but the 
domestic detail of household anecdote and the tattle of the settlement ? At 
five, sassafras tea was brought in, accompanied by a handsome collation, 
consisting of pastry, fruits, creams and sweetmeats, and often of cold fowl 
and meats. This substantial kind of refreshment is not found unacceptable 
after an early dinner, and with the perspective of a solid supper. Pio- 
neers have keen appetites arising from their robust health and the bracing 
mountain air. Among the heads of families, who had children married, 
there were regular days — generally once a week — when all the offsprings 
assembled at the father's or grandfather's house for dinner. There was 
something respectable, and even affecting, in these patriarchal meetings ; 
they seemed a means of drawing closer those ties of consanguinity which 
are the best refuge against human ills, in which the purest affections of the 
heart mingle themselves with the wants and weakness of our nature, guid- 



HISTORV OF AUGCSTA. CODNTT. 49 

ing, with watchful tenderness, the wanderinj^s of youth, and supporting, 
with unwearied care, the feebleness of age. 

The evenings were devoted to amusement, to social pleasure, to friend- 
ship, to some object that cheers or soothes the heart. Music and dancing 
were both practiced, adding much to the general happiness by lessening 
the laborious monotony of their lives. The round dance of the present, so 
much praised by poets and denounced by preachers, was not then known. 
Upon the young the beneficial effects of both music and dancing were 
apparent, particularly of music which is so well adapted to softening the 
manners and humanizing the feelings. The young people were intro- 
duced in the evenings, and entertained strangers with their songs, the girls 
often singing the airs of the countries beyond the seas which their parents 
had left, never to see again, the boys accompanying them on the flute, 
flageolet or violin. The cultivation of a taste for music and poetry pro- 
bably led to descanting in the wild style of the rude minstrels of the Mid- 
dle Ages. The souls of these children of the woods quickly took fire at 
the beauties of, poetry, and the most important benefits of poetry were 
thus produced, by promoting a repugnance to everything mean and igno- 
ble ; by the study of nature in the purity of her poetical forms ; by the in- 
nocent, and at the same time agreeable, direction which the pursuits of 
taste impart to the idler propensities of the mind ; by the influence of gen- 
erous and pathetic verse, in keeping open those hearts which are in danger 
of being choked with the cares of business. The influence of poetry can 
be seen in the eloquence of such men as Patrick Henry and Rev. Samuel 
Davies. Music and dancing were, therefore, considered an essential part 
of their education, and the old field school-houses were the academies 
where they practiced both. History was in this repeating herself, for, 
from the earliest ages, music has been much in use. The ancients attached 
vast importance to it, and ascribed the malignity, brutality and irreligion 
of some of the peoples of antiquity to their absolute neglect of it. In the 
days of Laban, music was much used in Mesopotamia, where he resided, 
since, among other reproaches he makes to his son-in-law, Jacob, he com- 
plains that, by his precipitate flight, he had put it out of his power to con- 
duct him and his family " with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with 
harp." — [Gen., cxxxi, v. 27.] 

On both sides of the Blue Ridge mountain, the amusements of the peo- 
ple were such as might be expected in a rural society ; and in Eastern 
Virginia they were those of a people of considerable wealth and compara- 
tively slight education. Horse-racing and racing balls were the events, 
and fox-hunting, cock-fighting, drinking and card-playing the regular pas- 
times. In the Virginia Gazette for October, 1737, we read: "We have 
advice from Hanover county that on St. Andrew's day there are to be 
horse-races and several other diversions for the entertainment of ladies 



50' HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COtTNTT. 

and gentlemen, at the old field, near Capt. John Brickerton's, in that 
county, ttie substance of which is as follows — viz. : It is proposed that 20 
horses or mares do run around a three miles' course for a prize of ^^5. 

" That a hat of the value of 20 shilling's be cudgfelled for, and that after 
the first challenge made, the drums are to beat every quarter of an hour 
for three challenges round the ring, and none to play with their left hand. 

" That a violin be played for by 20 fiddlers ; no person to have the 
liberty to play unless he bring a fiddle with him. After the prize is won 
they are all to play together, and each a different tune, and to be treated 
by the company. 

■' That 12 boys of 12 years of age do run 112 yards for a hat of the cost 
of 12 shillings. 

" That a flag be flying on said day 30 feet high. 

" That a handsome entertainment be provided for the subscribers and 
their wives ; and such of them as are not so happy as to have wives may 
treat any other lady. 

" That Drums, Trumpets, Hautboys, &.C., be provided to play at said 
entertainment. 

" That after dinner the Royal health, His Honor, the Governor's, &c,, 
are to be drunk. 

" That a Quire of ballads be sung for by a number of Songsters, all of 
them to have liquor sufficient to clear their wind-pipes. 

" That a pair of shoe buckles be wrestled for by a number of brisk 
young men. 

" That a pair of handsome shoes be danced for. 

" That a pair of handsome silk stockings, of one Pistole value, be given 
to the handsomest young country maid that appears in the field ; with 
many other whimsical and comical diversions too numerous to mention. 

"And as this mirth is designed to be purely innocent and void of offence, 
all persons resorting there are desired to behave themselves with decency 
and sobriety, the subscribers being resolved to discountenance all immor- 
ality with the utmost rigor." < 

These were rough, honest English sports, and prevailed everywhere in 
Eastern Virginia. At all the county towns, east of the mountains, fairs 
were held at regular intervals, accompanied by sack and hogshead races, 
greased poles, and bull-baiting. In fine weather, barbecues in the woods, 
when oxen, pigs and fish were roasted, were frequent, and were much en- 
joyed by all, ending usually, among the lower classes, with much intoxica- 
tion. Another great source of delight was the cock-fight. The small 
farmers assembled at the taverns to play billiards and drink. The monthly 
sessions of the courts filled the towns with a miscellaneous crowd. The 
people were not much given to reading or the sister art of writing. Gov. 
Spotswood remarked on one occasion, in an official reply to some remon- 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTT, 51 

strance of the House of B-rgesses: " I observe that the grand ruling 
party in your house has not furnished chairmen of two of your standing 
committees who can spell English or write common sense, as the griev- 
ances under their own hand-writing will manifest." 

FOLK LORE, 

The progress of science has convinced mankind that the material uni- 
verse is everywhere subject to fixed and immutable laws. In the infancy 
and less mature state of human knowledge it was otherwise, and man was 
constantly disposed to refer many of the appearances, with which he was 
conversant, to the agency of invisible intelligence ; sometimes under the 
influence of good, but oftener of malignant disposition. Omens and 
portents told these men of good or ill fortune. These superstitions pre- 
vailed, to a vast extent, among our English ancestors. Queen Elizabeth 
consulted Dr. John Dee, an astrologer, respecting a lucky day for her 
coronation ; James I employed much of his time in the study of witch- 
cratt and demology, and in 1664, Sir Matthew Hale caused two old women 
to be hanged upon a charge of unlawful communion with infernal spirits. 
A belief in such supernatural agency has existed in all ages and coun- 
tries — among the Jews, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, down 
to within recent times. 

The history of mankind, therefore, will be very imperfect, and our 
knowledge of the operations and eccentricities of the mind lamentably 
deficient, unless we take into our view what has occurred under this head. 
The supernatural appearances, with which our ancestors conceived them- 
selves perpetually surrounded, must have had a strong tendency to 
cherish and keep alive the powers of the imagination, and to penetrate 
those who witnessed, or expected such things, with an extraordinary sensi- 
tiveness. But whatever were their advantages or disadvantages, at any 
rate it is good for us to call up in review things which are now passed 
away, but which once occupied a large share of the thoughts and attention 
of our ancestors, and in a great degree tended to modify their characters 
and dictate their resolutions. Vast numbers of persons have been sacrificed 
as witches in different ages and countries, and stringent laws once existed 
against dealers in witchcraft in Virginia. As late as 1705, Grace Sherwood 
was punished in Virginia for witchcraft. An able jury of ancient women 
was impannelled, and, after search, reported " that she was not like them, 
nor any other woman.' 

The witch was, by our ancestors, supposed to be a woman who had 
formed a contract, signed with her blood, with a mighty and invisible 
spirit, the great enemy of man, and to have sold herself, body and 
soul, to everlasting perdition for the sake of gratifying, for a short term of 
years, her malignant passions against those who had been so unfortunate 
as to give her offence. They considered such a crime as atrocious above 



52 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

all Others, and regarded the witch with inexpressible abhorence. The 
witch was thought to possess the power of inflicting strange and incurable 
diseases, particularly on children ; of destroying cattle by shooting them 
with hair balls ; of inflicting spells and curses on guns and other things, 
and of changing human beings into horses, and, after bridling and sadling 
them, riding them, full speed, over hill and dale, to their places of meet- 
ing. The wizard, or man witch, was supposed to possess the same am- 
ple powers of mischief, but to exercise his powers, for the most part, to 
counteract the malevolent influence of the witches. These wizards, or 
witch-masters, as they were commonly called, went about exercising their 
art, and many of these impostors were smart enough to make a good liv- 
ing, without work, out of their calling ; were pure and unadulterated hypo- 
crites. 

All incurable diseases were ascribed to the supernatural agency of a 
malignant witch, such as epileptic and other fits, dropsy of the brain 
rickets, &c. For the cure of diseases inflicted by witchcraft, the picture of 
the supposed witch 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 mortal spell on that part of the witch corresponding 
with the part of the portrait struck by the bullet. Another method was to 
get some of the child's water, which was closely corked up in a vial, and 
hung up in a chimney. This inflicted the witch with stranguary, which 
lasted as long as the vial remained in the chimney. The witch could only 
relieve herself from a spell inflicted on her by borrowing something, no 
matter what, of the family to which the subject of her witch-craft belonged. 
Such family was never in a hurry to accommodate her with a loan. 

When cattle or dogs were bewitched, they were burnt on the forehead 
by a branding-iron, or, when dead, burnt to ashes. When disease and 
pestilence prevailed, fires were lit to ward off both. This was, doubdess, 
a relic of an older custom, when an animal was offered as a burnt sacrifice 
to appease the wrath of the gods. If an animal was infected by murrain, 
the diseased part was cut out while the beast was alive, and solemnly burnt 
in a bonfire. To the modern scientific mind, these would seem wise 
precautions to hinder the spread of infection. Any one who knows the 
rural mind, even at the present day, will be quite sure that the precaution 
was magical, not sanitary. Witches were often said to milk the cows of 
their neighbors. This they did by fixing a 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. 

The first German glass-blowers, in America, drove witches out of their 
furnaces by throwing in live puppies. 

Bewitched persons sometimes vomited quantities of crooked pins ; the 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 63 

palms of their hands were turned outwards, and, if they spoke, it was not 
in their own voice, but that of the devil, by whom they were possessed — at 
least, they were said to do so. Such were some of the extravagant fancies 
of our forefathers, and may afford us a salutary lesson. 

At many remote points on the Western frontier, similar settlements to 
the one \v^ have described on Lewis creek were made by a like class of 
immigrants. The same virtues of hospitality, of disinterested kindness, 
prevailed in all these backwoods communities, and were, in some measure, 
the result of their situation. Unselfish and liberal, these pioneers sought 
no recompense but the approval of their own consciences, and it has been 
well said that the greater part of mankind might derive advantage from 
the contemplation of their virtues. Such were those majestic men of the 
frontier — the men of 1732-1776-1812 — whose souls grew like the shadows 
of the mountain ridge they walked beneath. " wild, above rule or art, 
rugged, but sublime !" 

The first settlers of Augusta were, for the most part, the descendants, 
paternally or maternally, of the ancient Caledonians, who boasted that 
they had never been subjected to the law of any conqueror. They be- 
longed to various Highland clans, and were strongly imbued with the pre- 
judices, feelings, sentiments, &c., of their peculiar clans. One of the cir- 
cumstances connected with their condition as followers of a chieftain was, 
that every clan bore the name of their hereditary chief, and were sup- 
posed to be allied to him, in different degrees, by the ties of blood. Thia* 
kindred band, or admitted claim of a common relationship, led to a freedom: 
of intercourse highly flattering to human pride, and communicated to the- 
vassal Highlanders a sentiment of conscious dignity and a sense of natural 
equality. And every individual sought to show his attachment to his- 
leader as the head of his family. This feeling strongly exhibited itself in 
the Augusta colony, which, from intermarriages, soon assumed something 
of the character of a numerous and increasing family. The poorest preserved 
with pride the facts of this consanguinity, and whatever the distinctions of 
rank that may have arisen from the unequal acquisition of wealth, they 
mutually respected themselves and each other. The haughty backwoods- 
man yielded a cheerful obedience to the head of the clan or colon)-, whom 
they regarded somewhat as a father, and who may be supposed to have 
exercised among them the authority of a judge in peace, and of a leader 
in time of war. 

Such, briefly, was the colony of Augusta from 1732 to 1745, and a more 
interesting spectacle of undisturbed felicity, quiet progress, r otwithstand- 
ing the primitive condition of the community, and the roughing inci- 
dent to their remoteness from commercial centres, it would be difficult to 
imagine or describe. Of luxury, there was little or none, unless it might 
be termed a luxury to be without want, without beggars, and without the 



54 HISTORY OF AUGUST'a COUNTY. 

enervating diseases which attend on idleness and opulence. There were 
no diamonds or pearls, but plenty cf bright eyes and rosy cheeks ; no 
shimmering silks or brilliantly colored velvets and satins, resplendent 
with gold and silver lace, but plenty of woollen stuffs, recommended by 
their warmth and healthfulness ; no theatres, operas, fancy balls, saloons, 
or their attendant licentiousness, but plenty of fun and frolic. When we 
consider the condition of the people, and their fertile, salubrious and beau- 
tiful country; that they married and multiplied, and their virtue, instead of 
degenerating, was confirmed by time, and the more they increased the 
more examples they furnished to animate succeeding generations, one 
feels how impossible it is to describe the happiness of this fortunate peo- 
ple. Could they be other than the favored of Heaven? They who 
recognized God in everything, and constandy approached him with grati- 
tude and veneration. Religion cooperated with nature to soften and pol- 
ish their manners. Nature left but little unfinished ; that little, religion 
completed. 

The brief foregoing account of the manners and customs of the colony 
will hold good, generally, up to and long after the Revolution. 

EXCERPTS FROM THE RECORDS, ANA, ETC. 

The profession of the law seems to have been as popular in Augusta a 
hundred and twenty-five years ago as now. Though five attorneys ob- 
tained a licence to practice in December, 1745, at the February term, 1746, 
less than three months from the organization of the county, five more gen- 
tlemen of wig and gown fraternity qualified to practice in the courts, 
namely : John Newport, Obediah Merriot, Ben. Pendleton, Jno. Nicholas, 
and Wm. Wright. 

These professional gentlemen soon began to wrangle in a too charac- 
teristic way, and the court, at the same term, was driven to make the fol- 
lowing order, viz : " That any attorney interrupting another at the bar, or 
speaking when he is not employed, forfeit five shillings." 

That the manners of the bar were not over refined may be inferred from 
a fine imposed upon the leader of the circuit, Gabriel Jones, at the May 
term, 1746, of five shillings, for swearing. His profanity was indulged in 
before the court, and doubtless directed to one of his legal rivals. 

The fees of lawyers in the county and inferior courts were, as estab- 
lished by act of 1753, for an opinion or advice, ten shillings ; in any suit at 
common law, or petition, fifteen shillings ; in all chancery suits, real, mixt 
or personal actions, thirty shillings ; on a petition for a small debt, seven 
shillings and six pence ; and a fine of ^50 was levied for any violation of 
these prices. A shilling was of the value of sixteen and two-thirds cents. 
Attorneys were not likely to grow fat on such moderate fees, but could 
live well, if they got plenty of them. For we see the court, March, 1746, 
established the following rates for ordinaries, and from the scale we infer 
that they were very ordinary indeed : " For a hot diet, well dressed, nine 
pence ; a cold diet, six pence ; lodging, with clean sheets, three pence ; 
stabling and fodder for the night, six pence; rum, the gallon, nine shil- 
lings ; whiskey, six shillings ; claret, the quart, five shillings." 

Many of these early colonial lawyers were doubtless lawyers only in 



HISTOKT OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 55 

name — men not versed in the laws, but picking up a support as commis- 
sioners in chancery, conveyancers, paper shavers, or usurers and specu- 
lators, who, deriving a knowledge of the troubles of parties from their po- 
sition, availtd themselves of it to make a good turn for themselves. 

The early records abound with proofs of the morality of our ancestors, 
their determination to uphold religion, law and order. At the May term, 
1746, the court ordered Edward Boyle to be put in the stocks for two 
hours and fined twenty shillings for damning the court and swearing four 
oaths in their presence. All through the records appear cases of persons 
fined for swearing, fornication, adultery, drunkenness, and other offences, 
and in August, 1747, the sheriff was ordered to make a duckiug-stool for 
the use of the county, according to the law of 1705. 

The ancient laws of Virginia declared that the court in every county 
shall cause to be set up near the court-house a pillory, pair of stocks, a 
whipping-post and a ducking-stool, in such place as they shall think con- 
venient, which, not being set up within six months after the date of this 
act, the said court shall be fined five thousand pounds of tobacco. 

The corporal punishments inflicted upon criminals consisted of the pil- 
lory, the stocks, the whipping-post and the ducking-stool. Each of these 
is described below, for the benefit of those who are unacquainted with 
those relics of barbarism. 

The pillory is one of the most ancient corporeal punishments in En- 
gland, France, Germany, and other countries. As early as 1275, by a 
statute of Edward I, it was enacted that every stretch-neck, or pillory, 
should be made of convenient strength, so that execution might be done 
upon offenders without peril to their bodies. The pillory consisted of a 
wooden frame, erected on a stool, with holes and folding boards for the 
admission of the head and hands. The heroes of the pillory have not 
been the worst class of men, for we find that a man by the name of Leigh- 
ton, for printing his Zion's Plea against Prelacy, was fined ^10,000, de- 
graded from the ministry, pilloried, branded, and whipped through the 
city of London, in 1637, besides having an ear cropped and his nostrils 
slit. The length of time the criminal stood in and upon the pillory was 
determined by the Judge. 

The stocks was a simple arrangement for exposing a culprit on a bench, 
confined by having his ankles made fast in holes under a movable board. 
Sometimes the stocks and whipping-post were connected together. The 
posts which supported the stocks, being made sufficiently high, were fur- 
nished near the top with iron clasps to fasten round the wrists of the 
offender and hold him securely during the infliction of the punishment. 
Sometimes a single post was made to serve both purposes, clasps being 
provided near the top for the wrists when used as a whipping-post, and 
similar clasps below for the ankles, when used as stocks, in which case the 
culprit sat on a bench behind the post, so that his legs, when fastened to 
the post, were in a horizontal position. 

Women were punished in the ducking-stools. They fasten an armed 
chair to the end of two strong beams, twelve or fifteen feet long, and par- 
allel to each other. The chair hangs upon a sort of axle, on which it plays 
freely, so as always to remain in the horizontal position. The scold, being 
well fastened in her chair, the two beams are then placed as near to the 
centre as possible, across a post on the water-side, aud being lifted up be- 
hind, the chair, of course, drops into the cold element. The ducking is 



56 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

repeated, according to the deg^ree of shrewishness possessed by the pa- 
tient, and has generally the effect of cooling her immoderate heat, at least 
for a time. 



John Preston, at the May term, 1746, came into court and prayed leave 
to prove his importation, which was granted him, and thereupon he made 
oath that at his own charge he had imported himself, Elizabeth, his wife, 
William, his son, and Lettice and Ann, his daughters, immediately from 
Ireland into this colony, and that this is the first time of procuring his said 
right, in order to partake of his Majesty's bounty in taking up land, which 
is ordered to be certified. 



The first court-house of Augusta was no doubt like those common on 
the frontiers, a log cabin covered, but without daubing, sash or doors. In 
this hall of justice, a carpenter's bench, with a half-dozen chairs upon it, 
served as the judgment seat, and though the house was barely sufficient to 
contain the bench, bar, jurors, and constables, the occasion of the first 
court must have brought the whole population to the town. The follow- 
ing description of a scene in one of these frontier court-houses will no 
doubt hold true as to many in that of Augusta. But few spectators could 
be accommodated on the lower floor, the only one laid ; many, therefore, 
clambered up the walls, and placing their hands and feet in the open in- 
terstices between the logs, hung there, suspended like enormous Mada- 
gascar bats. Some had taken possession of the joists, and big Jno. Mc- 
Junkin (who, until now, had ruled at all public gatherings,) had placed a 
foot on one joist and a foot on another, directly over the heads of their 
Honors, standing, with outstretched legs, like the Colossus of Rhodes. 
The Judge's sense ol propriety was shocked at this exhibition. The 
sheriff, John McCandless, was called, and ordered to clear the walls and 
joists. He went to work with his assistants, and soon pulled down by the 
legs those who were in no very great haste to obey. Mc'Junkin was 
the last, and began to growl as he prepared to descend. " What do you 
say, sir?" said the Judge. " I say I pay my taxes, and has as good a 
reete here as iny mon." "Sheriff!" Sheriff!" said the Judge, " Bring 
him before the court !" Mcjunkin's ire was now up, and as he reached 
the floor, began to strike his breast, exclaiming, " My name is John Mc- 
Junkin, d'ye see ; here's the brist that niver flinched, if so be it was in a 
good caase ; I'll stan' iny mon in Butler county, if so be he'll clear me o' 
the la'." " Bring him before the court," said the Judge. He was accord- 
ingly pinioned, and if not gagged, at least forced to be silent while his 
case was under consideration. Some of the lawyers volunteered as amici 
■rcurice ; some ventured a word of apology for Mcjunkin. The Judge pro- 
nounced sentence of imprisonment for two hours in the jail of the county, 
and ordered the Sheriff to take him into custody. The Sheriff, with much 
simplicity, observed : " May it please the court, there is no jail at all to 
put him in." Here the Judge took a learned distinction, upon which he 
expatiated for some length for the benefit of the bar. He said " there 
were two kinds of custody ; first, safe custody ; second, close custody. The 
first is, where the body must be forthcoming to answer a demand or an 
accusation, and in this case, the body may be delivered, for the time being, 
out of the hands of the law, on bail or mainprize ; but where the imprison- 
ment forms a part of the satisfaction or punishment, there can be no bail 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTT. 5 i 

or mainprize. This is the reason of the common law, in relation to escapes 
under capias ad satisfaciendum, ;ind also why a second ca. sa. cannot is^ue 
after the defendant has been once arrested and then discharged by the 
plaintiff. In like manner, a man cannot be twice imprisoned for the same 
offence, even if he be released before the expiration of the term of impris- 
onment. This is clearly a case of close custody — areta custodia — and the 
prisoner must be confined, body and limb, without bail or mainprize, in 
some place of close incarceration." Here he is interrupted by the Sheriff, 
who seemed to have hit upon a lucky thought : " May it please the court, 
I am just thinking I can take him to Bowyer's pig-pen ; the pigs are killed 
for the court, and the pen's empty." " You have heard the opinion of the 
court." said the Judge, " Proceed, Sherifif, and do your duty." The Sheriff 
accordingly retired with the prisoner, and drew after him three-fourths of 
the spectators and suitors, while the Judge, thus relieved, proceeded to 
organize the court. But this was not the end of the affair. Peace and 
order had scarcely been restored, when the Sheriff came rushing into court 
with a crowd at his heels, crymg out, " Mr. Judge ! Mr. Judge ! May it 
please the court!" "What is the matter. Sheriff ? " " Mr. Judge ! Mr. 
Judge ! John Mcjunkin's got off, d'ye mind." " What ! escaped ! Sherifif, 
summon \hc posse comitaius.'" "The posse, the posse, what's that, may it 
please your Honor? Now, I will just tell you how it happened. He was 
going along quietly enough till we got to the hazle patch, and all at once 
he pitched off into the bushes, and I after him, but a limb of a tree kitched 
me first, and I fell back three rods." The Judge could not restrain his 
gravity ; the bar raised a laugh, and there the matter ended, after which 
the business proceeded quietly enough 

Nov. 27, 1751. — The Grand Jury presented Owen Crawford for drink- 
ing a health to King James, and refusmg to drink a health to King George. 

Feb. 19, 175 1. — John and Reuben Harrison presented a petition to the 
court praying to be rewarded for killing two persons, under the command 
of Ute Perkins, who were endeavoring to rob them. 

Feb. 19, 1751.— Catharine Cole being presented for having a bastard 
child, and refusing to pay her fine or give security for the same, according 
to law, it is ordered that she receive on her bare back, at the public 
whipping-post, twenty lashes, well laid on, in lieu of said fine, and that the 
lashing be done immediately. 



May 18, 1749. — Jane Scot, a servant woman, for having a bastard child : 
Ordered that after the expiration of her servitude by indenture, and serv- 
ing her master one year for the trouble of his house, the Church Wardens 
of Augusta Parish sell her for the said offence, according to law. 



March i, 1749. — Robt. Armstrong, in open court, made oath that he 
saw the Indians kill one, and take away another mare, belonging to Peter 
Wright, of this county. 

Nov. 28, 1750. — The Grand Jury present Jacob Coger, for a breach of 
the peace, in driving hogs over the Blue Ridge on the Sabbath day ; and 
May 28, 1751, James Frame was presented for a breach of the Sabbath, in 
unnecessarily traveling ten miles. 



58 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

May 17, 1754. — ^Ann, wife of James Brown, havins^ come into court and 
abused William Wilson, Gent., one of the justices, by calling him a rogue, 
and that on his coming off the bench she would give it to him like the 
devil, ordered that she be taken into custody, &c. 



August 24, 1754. — Joseph Tees, having affronted this court by saying 
" he got nothing in this court but shuffling," it is ordered that he be fined 
twenty shillings, &c. 



March 17, 1756. — Francis Furgesson, being brought before this court, 
&c., for damning Robert EHnwiddie, esq., (Governor of the Colony,) " for 
a Scotch pedling son of a bitch," was* found guilty, but was excused on 
apologising and giving security to keep the peace. 

May 21, 1756. — On motion of Thomas Lewis, Gent., setting forth that 
his negro, Hampton, frequently absconds from his service, and that he has 
several times attempted to ravish Ann West and other white women, and 
praying, to prevent the like mischief, he may be dismembered ; it is or- 
dered that the said Lewis employ such skillful person, as he may think 
proper, to castrate the said slave. 



Dec, 8, 1756. — Charles Dever was tried for cursing God and our Sover- 
eign Lord George II, King, &c., but acquitted. 

SERVING WRITS. 

It was not the easiest thing in the world to bring malefactors to justice 
in those days, as the following returns, made to executions, will illustrate : 

In the case of Johnson vs. Brown, (1751), "not executed by reason 
there is no road to the place where he (Brown) lives." 

Again : " Not executed by reason of excess of weather." 

Nov., 1752. — " Not executed by reason of an axe " (the axe being in 
the hands of defendant, uplifted, no doubt, to cleave the officer's skull.) 

" Not executed, because the defendant's horse was faster than mine." 

" Not executed, by reason of a gun." 

Emlen vs. Miller, — " Kept off" from Miller with a club. Sec; Miller not 
found by Humphrey Marshall." 

" Not executed, because the defendant got into deep water — out of my 
reach." 

Nov., 1754. — " Executed on the within, John Warwick, and he is not 
the man." 

" Not executed, by reason of flux being in the house." 

August, 1755. — Forty-nine executions returned "not executed, by rea- 
son of the disturbance of the Indians." 



One of the early vices of the frontier was insobriety among the lower 
classes, and our ancestors made strenuous efforts, as the records show, to 
stamp it out. They believed, probably like the ancients, that it was a dis- 
ease. Five centuries before the Christian era, Herodotus said that " Drunk- 
enness showed that both body and soul were sick." Diogenes and Plutarch 
assert that " Drink madness is an affection of the body which hath de- 
stroyed many kings and noble people." Laws were passed forbidding 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COTTNTy. 59 

women to use wine and restricting- boys. In the first and second centuries 
the early Christians urged temperance, and from that time to this it has 
engaged the attention of the good and wise. Temperance societies ha\'e 
done much to rescue mankind from the horrors of intemperance, and in 
the early days of Augusta, the County Court was, so to speak, a kind of 
temperance society. The justices were men of sobriety ; the court did not 
s it idle and see the mighty evil entail untold ruin upon man. They sought, 
by rigid execution of the laws, to extirpate the evil and to encourage vir- 
tuous habits. Thus we see that on Feb. loth, 1746, the court ordered the 
sheriff to take William Linwell into custody, and that he be fined five 
shillings for being drunk. Many similar orders might be cited. 



CHAPTER V. 



The early settlers were naturally anxious on entering territory which had 
been held for time immemorial by native inhabitants, to conciliate their 
good will, and, if possible, to live on friendly terms with them* Policy, 
no less than humanity and justice, dictated this course. The pioneers had 
witnessed the good effects of Penn's kind treatment of the simple-hearted 
children of the forest, and were determined to follow his example. The 
colonists on Lewis creek did not require advice on this point, but six years 
after they planted themselves in Augusta, shortly after some acts of injus- 
tice had been perpetrated by reckless whites in the Valley, the people 
were strongly advised to pursue a policy of justice and humanity towards 
the natives by a venerable and respected member of the Society of 
Friends, Thomas Chalkley. In a letter dated May 21st, 1738, and ad- 
dressed to the Friends at Opequon, near Winchester, he urged them " to 
keep a friendly correspondence with the natives ; to recognize their right 
to the country, and not settle on their lands without their consent or until 
purchased ; to therefore select the most reputable whites to treat with the 
Indians as to the acquisition, by purchase, of such lands as the whites 
might wish to possess." He informed them that an opposite course would 
expose themselves and families to murder by a cruel and merciless enemy. 
He begged them to consider " that 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 further, &c.; and you are over and beyond the mountains, there- 



«*•*» 



<>^ HISTOKY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

tore out of that agreement, by which you lie open to the insults and incur- 
sions of the Southern Indians, who have already destroyed many of the 
inhabitants of Carolina and Virginia." " The English having gone beyond 
the bounds of their agreement," says he, " eleven of them were killed by 
the Indians while we were travelling in Virginia." He informed them 
that in Pennsylvania no new settlements were made without an agreeinent 
with the natives, as was the case in Lancaster, a county far within Penn's 
grant, and warned them of the danger they would incur from both the 
N jrthern and Southern Indians by presuming to squat upon their lands. 
And, lastly, he assured them that he was moved to give them this advice 
solely by his love of God and man, and a sincere desire that they might 
live in peace and happiness. 

Lewis and the early settlers recognized, to the fullest extent, the right of 
the Indians to the country of their nativity. As America, up to the dis- 
covery by Columbus, had been unknown to the rest of the world, how 
could it belong to any foreign prince or State ? The native tribes, who 
possessed it, were free and independent communities, and as such capable 
of acquiring territorial property. Among the various principles on which 
a right to the soil has been founded, there is none superior to immemorial 
occupancy. In this case, no European power could derive a title to the 
soil from discovery ; because, that can give a right only to lands or things 
which have neither been owned nor possessed, or which, after having been 
owned or possessed, have been voluntarily deserted. The right of the 
Indian nations to the soil in their possession was, therefore, founded in 
nature. It was the free and liberal gift of Heaven to them, and such as no 
foreigner could rightfully annul. The blinded superstition of the times, 
however, regarded the Deity as the partial God of Christians, and not as 
the common father of saints and savages. The pervading influence of 
philosophy, reason and truth has, since that period, given us better notions 
of the rights of mankind, and of the obligations of morality. These, 
unquestionably, are not confined to particular modes of faith, but extend 
universally to Jews and Gentiles, to Christians and infidels. Unfounded, 
however, as the claims of European Sovereigns to American territory were, 
they severally proceeded to act upon them. By tacit consent they adopted, 
as a new law of nations, that the countries which each explored should be 
the absolute property of its discoverer. While thus sporting with the 
rights of unoftending nations, they could not agree in their respective 
shares of the common spoil, and hence the long and bloody wars between 
the English, French and Spaniards. 

The leaders of the infantile colony in Augusta, not holding the views of 
their Sovereigns, but the juster sentiments to which allusion has been 
made, on arriving near Bellefont, sought to acquire lands, by purchase 
from the aborigines. They soon ascertained that no tribe residing in the 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 61 

Valley claimed exclusive ownership in the soil, or set up a right to dispose 
of it by sale. The whites were, therefore, compelled either to withdraw or 
settle upon the lands and wait for the issue of events. The latter course 
was adopted. That they afterwards found savages claiming authority to 
dispose of the country, may be taken for granted from a remark of Jeffer- 
son in his " Notes on Virginia " : " That the lands of this country were 
taken from the Indians by conquest, is not so generally a truth as is sup- 
posed. I find, in our historians and records, repeated proofs of purchase, 
which cover a considerable part of the lower country, and many more 
would be doubtless found on further search. The upper country (/. ^., the 
Valley,) we know has been acquired altogether by purchase, in the most 
unexceptionable form." That Lewis and the first setders of the " Upper 
Country," did acquire, very soon after their arrival, some such title, may 
be inferred from the friendly relations which existed between them and the 
Indians for many years. And from the proofs which are still extant of such 
purchases in the District of West Augusta — such as the deed quoted in 
full in the sequel of this chapter, from certain Indian chiefs to George 
Croghan. A deed acknowledged, by the way, in that N. W. portion of 
Augusta in which, as will appear later on. justices' courts were frequently 
held anterior to the Revolution. It is well known that the two races, the 
whites and Indians, lived in the Valley for above twenty years, from 1732 
to 1753, on amicable terms. This could not have been the case had the 
policy of the whites been one of injustice and inhumanity, and unappre- 
ciated by the wild men. For as early as 17 12, the Tuscarora Indians, in 
North Carolina, had massacred one hundred and thirty -seven of the whites 
in a systematic effort to rid their country of the new-comers. Had the 
wise course of Penn and of the Augusta settlers been generally followed, 
there is reason to believe that the continent would have passed into the 
hands of the superior race without loss of blood or treasure. 

In 1732, when Lewis and his associates, if others were associated with 
him in his adventurous enterprise, entered the present County of Augusta, 
they had not taken the precaution to secure titles from the Colonial Gov- 
ernment to any lands they might wish to locate — ^a singular omission, if 
they came from Williamsburg, as has been stated. It was the custom of 
the times to issue such grants, and in the year 1733, the Governor issued 
one for 5,000 acres to a German, by the name of Stover, "on the south 
fork of the Gerando (now Shenandoah) river, on what was called Mesi- 
netto creek," and it is certain that the colonial authorities of Virginia 
regarded the Valley and country west of the mountains as belonging to 
the British crown — ignoring, as absurd, any claim to it of natives. This 
has been the traditional course of Great Britain, and continues her present 
policy. Hence within the last decade, i872-'82, she has waged wars with 
the Zulus in Africa, with the native tribes of India, and other quarters of 



62 HISTORV OF AUOUSTA COUNTY. 

the globe, for the possession of their lands, wh'ch she had neither pur- 
chased nor conquered, but to which she calmly set up a claim. 

Having settled in Augusta, without any other title to their lands than 
they may have subsequently acquired from the aborigines, it does not 
appear that the whites applied to the colonial authorities for patents. It 
is probable, having bought of the red men, they did not consider this 
course necessary. If they had given the Indians a satisfactory considera- 
tion for the soil they occupied, they no doubt considered an application to 
Gov. Gooch unnecessary. The Governor, however, took the European 
view of the situation, and commenced sporting with the rights of the In- 
dians in the " Upper Country" by issuing patents for large tracts to his 
favorites. Thus we find him issuing a patent to the Augusta section of the 
Valley, on the 12th day of August, 1736, to William Beverley and his 
associates for 118,491 acres, being a tract known as Beverley Manor. Up 
to this date the colonists had, as we have seen, lived upon the demesne 
without law, or the authority of English law, and governed by such cus- 
toms as had grown up among themselves for regulating their intercourse. 
Among these were what were termed "corn rights," tomahawk rights, and 
cabin rights. The corn right was a title derived from having enclosed and 
cultivated a plot of ground. Whoever cultivated one acre in corn acquired 
a title to one hundred acres of land. The tomahawk right consisted of 
nothing more than the deadening of a few trees, generally round a spring, 
and blazing a few trees on the lines of a claim. The cabin right was 
derived from building a log hut upon a certain tract of land. Every 
escaped trial under the ancient laws of Virginia is, in view of all the facts, 
builder of a hut acquired a title to forty acres. The patent to Beverley, the 
original of which is in the Circuit Clerk's office, Staunton, is as follows : 

PATENT FOR BEVERLEY MANOR. 

George II, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, 
King, Defender of the Faith, &c. : To all to whom these presents shall 
come, greeting : Know, that for diverse good causes and considerations, 
but more especially, for the consideration in an order of our Lieutenant- 
Governor, in Council, bearing date 12th of August, 1736, we have given, 
granted and confirmed, and by these presents for us, our heirs and suc- 
cessors, do give, grant, and confirm unto William Beverley, of the Co. of 
Essex, Gentleman, Sir John Randolph, of the City of Williamsburg, 
Knight, Richard Randolph, of the Co. of Henrico, Gentleman, and John 
Robinson, of the Co. of King and Queen, Gentleman, one certain tract or 
parcel of land, called the Manor of Beverley, containing 118,491 acres, 
lying and being in the county of Orange, beyond the great mountains, on 
the river Sherando, and bounded as follows, to wit : Beginning at five 
white oaks, on a narrow point, between a large run, called Thirsty Creek, 
and a small run, called Gearer Run, about thirty poles on the east side 
through middle (of the) river Sherando, and running thence N. 70°, W. 
364 poles, by four linds, with the same river : thence N. 15°, W. 145 poles, 
crossing the said river the whole course, being 443 poles, by a large white 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 63 

oak and two small ones ; thence N. 75°, E. 297 poles to four linns and a 
red oak on a ridge ; thence N. 15°, E. 44 poles to a double walnut and 
gum on this ridge of the said Middle River ; thence down the same 102 
poles to a red oak and hickory by the river side , then from the first men- 
tioned five white oaks S. 364 poles, crossing Gearer Run twice, just below 
three small Spanish oaks under a steep hill ; thence S. 83°. E. 270, by 
five linds ; thence S. S. E. 330 poles to three white oaks by the side of a 
meadow ; thence E. by South 738 poles, across Sherando River, to a 
forked white walnut, a black one, a hickory and an ash by the river side ; 
thence down the same 74 poles to two water oaks, two hickories, a whortle- 
berry tree and a walnut ; thence E. by South 60 poles to four linds on the 
foot of the Blue Ridge, in stony ground; thence South by East 88 poles, 
between a white and red oak ; thence S. E. 103 poles by four linds and 
white oak; thence S. S. W. 492 to three linds; thfnce South 450 poles 
by a red oak, white oak and two linns ; thence S. W. 456 poles to five 
Imns ; thence S. 5°, W. 88 poles to a white oak and linn saplins on the 
river bank ; thence S. S. E. 38 poles by four linns ; thence S. W. by West 
286 poles to twohnns near the river; thence S. 26°, E. 90 poles to three 
white oaks; thence S. and by West 134 poles, nigh two red oaks, by a 
boiling spring, almost as big as the river in flat grounds ; thence S. 60°, 
W. 176 poles to three linns nigh the river ; thence W. 232 poles by two 
red and two white oaks on the river side ; thence through several thickets 
of the same 1,300 poles, by two Spanish oaks, two red oaks and a white 
oak just below three springs, called the Great Springs ; thence S. 30 poles 
by two hnns and a hickory ; thence S. W. and by W. 178 poles to three 
linds; thence S. 33°, W. 238 poles by four pines; thence West by South 
274 poles by two pines and a red oak bush ; thence West Northwest 114 
poles by three pines ; thence North 85°, West 546 poles by four pines ; 
thence W. 506 poles by a chesnut oak, red oak and pine on the brow of a 
hill; thence N. 50°, W. 244 poles to three pines; thence N. 396 poles to 
three hickories and a pine by a red oak ; thence S. 70°, W. 630 poles by 
four hickories near a valley ; thence S. 20°, W. 544 poles to three red 
oaks on the west side of Hamerk's branch ; thence S. W, by West 94 
poles by two white oaks and a red oak ; thence S W. by South 652 poles 
by four red oaks and three hickories just above the head of some of the 
Sherando waters ; thence N. W. and by West 232 poles to a red oak and 
white oak and hickory by the head of a draft that runs into James River; 
thence S. W. by West 300 poles, crossing two springs of the James River; 
thence N. W. by West 600 poles, crossing the head spring of Sherando 
to two hickories, two chesnuts and white oak, with a spring of James 
River ; thence N. 2,016 poles, crossing four springs of James river to a 
white oak by a path ; thence N. 75°, W. 106 poles on the side of a very high 
hill, (from the foot of which issues a spring about fifty feet broad called 
the Black Spring) to a white oak and hickory; thence S. 60°, W. 120 
poles to a Spanish oak, hickory and walnut ; thence S. 40°, W. 100 poles 
by a hickory and white oak ; thence N. 50°, W. 92 poles, crossing the 
middle river of Sherando, on which we first began to survey the whole 
Louisa county, 160 poles, between two white oaks and a hickory at the 
foot of a ridge of mountains that lies between this and the north branch of 
the same river ; thence N. 40°, E. 160 poles by a white oak and hickory ; 
thence N. 20°, E. 34 poles between two white oak saplings ; thence N. 
40°, E. 183 poles to a white oak ; thence N. by East 47 poles to two 
Spanish oaks by a deep valley ; thence N. 36°, E. 350 poles along the foot 



64 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

of the mountains ; thence N. N. E. 270 poles; thence N. 31°, E. 4S0 poles 
thence N. 19'^, E.460 poles; thence N. 60°, E. 374 poles; thence S. 34^ 
E. 234 poles to the north of a dry meadow; and lastly, N. 70°, E. 4,190 
poles to the red oak and hickory mentioned at the end of the sixth source 
by the river side ; with all woods, underwoods, springs, marshes, low 
grounds, feedings, and their due share of all coal, mines and quarries, as 
well discovered as not discovered, within the bounds and limits aforesaid, 
and being part of the said quantity of 118,491 acres of land, and the rivers, 
waters and water-courses therein mentioned, together with the privileges 
of hunting, hawking, fishing, fowling, and all other profits, commodities 
and hereditaments whatsoever to the same or any part thereof belonging 
or in any wise appertaining : To have and to hold, possess and enjoy the 
said part or parcel of land, and all other the above granted premises, and 
every part thereof, with their and every of their appurtenances, unto the 
said William Beverley, Sir John Randolph, Richard Randolph, and John 
Robinson, to their heirs and assigns forever, to the only use and behoof 
them, the said William Beverley, Sir John Randolph, Richard Randolph, 
and John Robinson, their heirs and assigns forever ; to be held of us, our 
heirs and successors, as of our Manor of East Greenwich, in the county of 
Stout, in free and common soccage, and not in villenage, or by Knight's 
service ; they passing and paying unto us, our heirs and successors, for 
every fifty acres of land, and so proportionately for a lesser or greater 
quantity than fifty acres, the fee rent ot one shilling yearly, to be paid upon 
the feast of St. Michael, the archangel ; and also cultivating and improving 
three acres, part of every fifty of the tract above mentioned, within three 
years after the date of these presents: Provided always, That if three 
years of the said free rent shall be in ^.rrear and unpaid, or if the said 
Wm. Beverley, Sir John Randolph, Richard Randolph and John Robin- 
son, their heirs and assigns, do not, within the space of three years next 
ensuing after the date of these presents, cultivate and improve three acres, 
part of every fifty of the tract above mentioned, upon the estate hereby 
granted, shall cease and be utterly determined, and thereafter it shall and 
may be lawful to and for us, our heirs and successors, to grant the same 
lands and premises, with the appurtenances, to such other person or per- 
sons as we, our heirs and successors, shall think fit. 

In witness whereof, we have caused these, our letters patent, to be made. 

Witness, our trusty and well-beloved William Gooch, Esq., our Lieu- 
tenant Governor, and Commander-in-Chief of our Colony and Dominion 
of Virginia, at Williamsburg, under the seal of our said colony, the 6th 
day of September, 1736, in the fourth year of our reign. 

WILLIAM GOOCH. 

The tract thus conveyed extended across the Shenandoah Valley, and 
the southern portion included the present site of Staunton. Public atten- 
tion was attracted by this and similar grants of various tracts of fertile 
lands at nominal prices, and the basest motives of personal gain were 
attributed to the parties interested, not excepting the Governor, who, with 

the grantees, was denounced in unmeasured terms. 

The grant for Beverley Manor had no sooner been issued than the 

grantees sought industriously to attract immigrants from the northern 

colonies and from Europe. Advertisements, setting forth the advantages 

of the country, were conspicuously displayed in Alexandria, Philadelphia, 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA CODNTT. 65 

and other seaports, and thev were sent to Europe by settlers who wished 
to draw their friends after them. 

In this work they were aided by an Englishman by the name of Benja- 
min Burden, or Borden, who was settled in trade in New Jersey, but who 
frequently visited Eastern Virginia, and during these visits had ingratiated 
himself with the Lieutenant-Governor. Burden came to America as the 
agent of Lord Fairfax, and while in Williamsburg formed the acquaintance 
of John Lewis, who was on a visit to the city. Lewis was pleased with 
the social qualities and keen judgment of the enterprising agent, and in- 
vited him to Bellefonte, Burden accepted, and spent some months under 
the hospitable roof of the Founder. He was delighted with the manners 
and customs of the settlers ; with the beauty and fertility of the country, and 
with the comparative leisure enjoyed by the people — a leisure devoted to 
hunting, fishing, and rural sports. While at Bellefonte, he shot over the 
country with the Founder's sons, Thomas, Andrew and William Lewis. 
During one of their excursions they captured a buffalo calf, which Burden 
took on his return to Williamsburg and presented to the Governor. The 
General was so much gratified at this and other civilities on the part of Bur- 
den, that he directed a patent to be made out, authorizing Burden to locate 
500,000 acres of land on the Sherando (Shenandoah) or James Rivers, 
west of the Blue Ridge. This large grant extended from the southern 
line of Beverley Manor, and embraced the whole upper part of Augusta 
and Rockbridge. It was surveyed by Capt. Jno. McDowell, who, some 
years later, in December, 1743, fell into an ambush while on this land, near 
the junction of North and James rivers, and was killed by Shawnee In- 
dians. Burden's grant was upon the sole condition that he would settle, 
within ten years, one hundred families upon the said land. Burden im- 
mediately returned to England, and in 1737, returned with the required 
number of families, among whom were the McDowells, Crawfords, Mc- 
Clures, Alexanders, Wallaces, Moores, Mathews, and others, who became 
the founders of some of Virginia's distinguished families. 

Neither Burden nor the proprietors of Beverley Manor relaxed their 
efforts to secure emigrants, and the population increased with such ra- 
pidity, as we have seen, that it resulted in the establishment of the county 
of Augusta the following year. Other causes were at work to hasten the 
settlement of the country about Staunton. Lord Fairfax held, under pa- 
tent from James II, all that part of Virginia known as the Northern Neck. 
Under this grant, Fairfax claimed for the western boundary of his terri- 
tory a line from the head springs of the Rappahannock, supposed to rise in 
the Blue Ridge, and the head springs of the Potomac, supposed to rise in 
the Alleghanies. This claim embraced the lower end of the Shenandoah 
Valley, now composed of the counties of Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan, 
Hampshire, Frederick, Clarke, Warren, Page, Shenandoah and Hardy. 



66 HISTORY OF ADGDSTA COUNTT. 

His Lordship's claim was neither admitted in Virginia nor in England, 
and the colonial government continued to issue warrants to enterprising 
men, for surveying and appropriating extensive tracts west of the Blue 
Ridge, on condition of permanent settlements being made. Under these 
grants, settlements were made on the lands claimed by Fairfax, and ex- 
tended quickly as far south as Linvel Creek, in Rockingham county, 
which was in Beverley Manor. 

Disputes arose between Fairfax and these settlers, and expensive law 
suits ensued. This state of things alarmed many immigrants, and in hopes 
of greater security, they passed south, beyond the hmits of Fairfax's claim, 
and settled in Beverley Manor and to the south of it. The upper Valley 
was, for these reasons, more rapidly occupied by the Europeans than the 
lower. Augusta, being thus benefited, made exceptionable progress in 
both population and wealth, which brought about her organization as a 
county at the early period of 1745. In the general work of inviting popu- 
lation to the country west of the mountains, the grantees were aided by 
the whole weight and authority of the government. The Legislature 
passed an act at the session of 1752 to encourage persons to settle on the 
waters of the Mississippi, in Augusta, "as well His Majesty's natural born 
subjects, as foreign Protestants, willing to import themselves and their 
families and effects, as the settling of that part of the country will add to 
the strength and security of the colony in general, and be a means of aug- 
menting His Majesty's revenue of quit rents;" and it was enacted that 
said settlers should be exempt from taxes for the term of ten years. 

At this period there existed, as for some time previously in the colony, 
a regular militia system, rendered necessary by Indian wars, which oc- 
curred, more or less, along the entire frontier, from New Hampshire 
to Georgia, from 1690 to 1794. As from this period, 1752, John Lewis, 
the Founder, is uniformly styled Colonel, it cannot be doubted that he 
was about this time commissioned Colonel, or chief officer of the militia. 
Under this commission, it became the duty of the Colonel to list all free 
male persons above the age of twenty -one, within the county, under such 
captains as the Colonel should think fit to appoint. By this act, public 
officers in the civil service were exempt from duty in the militia, and " any 
of the people commonly called Quakers." That war was near, and Indian 
incursions were apprehended, is evident from their acts, requiring the 
officers and men to be thoroughly armed and accoutred, and every militia 
man to keep at his house at all times one pound of gunpowder and four of 
ball. He was also required, when called out, to bring the same into the 
field with him. These arms, accoutrements, &c., were exempt from seizure 
and distress. The Colonel was further empowered to require all militia 
men " to go armed to their respective parish churches." A court-martial 
was held after every general muster, composed of the field-officers and 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA. COUXTY'. 67 

captains, for tryin'y delinquents, of which the following- officers were to be 
members: the Colonel of the county, the Lieutenant-colonel, and the 
Major. The militia was regularly trained, and in September of each year 
was assembled for a (reneral muster or battalion drill. A similar militia 
system existed in all the colooies, fro n Massachusetts to Georgia, and by 
it were trained and formed for service the future Washingtons, Lewises, 
Lees, Putnams, Waynes, Moultries, Greenes, and Gateses. 

As much of our present civilization and progress is due to the pious 
men who first preached the Gospel in the wilderness, we shall give in the 
next succeeding chapter a brief account of the Presbyterian Church and 
other religious sects, which preceded the Established Church in the Valley. 

MARY GREENLEE, THE SO-CALLED WITCH — HER DEPOSITION IN THE 

BURDEN CASE. 

Mary McDowell, who married James Greenlee, was the daughter of 
Ephraim McDowell, one of the early settlers on Burden's grant, and a 
great aunt of the late Gov. James McDowell, of Rockbridge. She was a 
woman of more than ordinary brightness and vivacity of intellect, but 
many aberrations of mind and eccentricities of character and conduct. 
Early disappointment in a love affair heightened her natural peculiarities, 
and these, with her superior abilities and her independence, caused her 
neighbors to regard her as a witch. Nothing in those days was too wild 
and remote from the reality of things, not to meet with an eager welcome, 
at least, from many. She was, no doubt, as were all witches, thought to 
have signed in her own blood a contract with the devil, to abjure the 
Christian religion and all reverence for the true God ; that she would 
steadily refuse to listen to any one who should desire to convert her or 
convince her of the error of her ways and lead her to repentance. Many 
of our ancestors, no doubt, believed this contract was duplicated, to pre- 
vent mistakes, and that while the Prince of Darkness retained one copy, 
the other was in possession of Mrs. Greenlee, and often consulted by her. 
Such, notoriously, were the supposed conditions and custody of these 
compacts with Satan. On one occasion, at a " quilting party " at her own 
house, and when hospitably pressing one of the ladies to eat more, she 
said gaily, " The mare that does double work should be best fed" The rash 
ignorance of the party construed this to mean that she herself was a witch, 
and this woman the mare she rode in her nightly incursions to the conse- 
crated haunts of diabolical intercourse. Her crimes, and many were attri- 
buted to her, were said to have proceeded from malignity and resentment, 
and she was supposed to go forth at night into the open air, and there, 
amidst darkness and the storm, to curse her victims and pursue her unholy 
incantations. No wonder the more superstitious of her neighbors shrank 
from her with holy horror, poured out curses upon her from the bottom 
of their hearts. In a somewhat mysterious ay , some of the stock of Mr. 



68 HI8TOKY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

Craig, an inhabitant of the Triple Forks, disappeared, and the loss was 
attributed to Mrs. Greenlee, for witches were understood to have the 
power of destroying life, without the necessity of approaching the person 
or beast whose life was to be taken. One method was by exposing an 
image of wax to the action of the fire, while in proportion as the image 
wasted away, the life of the individual, who was the object contrived 
against, was undermined and destroyed. Another, was by incantations 
and spells. Either of these was styled " compassing, or imagining the 
death." Possessed of such subtle and dangerous power, and indulging in 
such practices, in the opinion of her neighbors, one can readily understand 
the indignation and abhorrence with which she must have been regarded. 

From so much of the story of Mrs. Greenlee as is preserved, it is prob- 
able her vanity was flattered at the terror she inspired in her simple neigh- 
bors, and that she was greatly amused at the fright she caused these rus- 
<"ics. Possibly, in the end, she deluded herself, and began to think her 
imprecations had a real effect ; that her curses killed — provided, always, 
that she indulged in any, which is open to doubt. 

Mary Greenlee inherited not only the hard intelligence, but the pluck, 
of her Covenanter stock ; was the kinswoman of the Founder, surrounded 
by a powerful family, and indulged few fears of coming to the ordeal of fire 
and water. In that superstitious age, however, to pursue, at the expense of 
her ignorant neighbors, a mysterious conduct might be likened to whet- 
ting the knife that was to take her life — digging her own grave. That she 
escaped trial under the ancient laws of Virginia is, in view of all the facts, 
surprising. Rather would we have expected to hear that she had been 
seized by the hair of the head, or nape of the neck, and drawn before a 
judge. The belief in witchcraft of our ancestors was sincere, and this is 
the less to be wondered at when we consider that these superstitions are 
cropping up in the civilized life of the present day in " spirit manifesta- 
tions." The belief, however, in these matters is now confined to a class 
who may be, not inappropriately, styled "cranks." 

Let us rejoice that light has broken in upon us, and that amidst the in- 
evitable ills of this life we are no longer harassed, like our forefathers, with 
imaginary terrors and haunted by frightful images. 

In the Burden case, Mrs. Greenlee underwent, in 1806, a long examina- 
tion, testing her temper and memory. In the midst of the examination 
the question was put to her, " How old are you ?" She tartly replied, 
" Ninety-five the 17th of this instant; and why do you ask me my age ? 
Do you think I am in my dotage ?" Her deposition, which follows, can- 
not fail to be read with interest. It casts much light upon our early days, 
supplies valuable information as to the early settlers, their manners and 
customs, and has not inaptly been styled the corner-stone of our county 
history. 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 69 

DEPOSITION OF MRS. JAMES GREENLEE, TAKEN NOVEMBER lO, lSo6, IN 
THE SUIT OF JOSEPH BURDEN, PLAINTIFF, VS. ALEX. CUETON AND 
OTHERS, DEFENDANTS. 

Mrs, Greenlee, being sworn, deposeth and saith : 

That she, with her husband, James Greenlee, settled on Burden's large 
grant, as near as she could recollect, in the Fall of the year 1737. * * * 
That shortly before her settlement on said grant, she, together with her 
husband, her lather, Ephrami McDowell, then a very aged man, and her 
brother, John McDowell, were on their way to Beverley Manor, and were 
advanced as far as Lewis'es creek, intending to stop on South river, hav- 
ing, at that time, never heard of Burden's tract. That she remembers of 
her brother, James, having, the Spring before, gone into said Manor and 
raised a crop of corn on Sourh river, about Turks, near what was called 
Wood's Gap. That about the time they were striking up their camp in 
the evenmg, Benj. Burden, the elder, came to their camp and proposed 
staying all night. In the course of conversation, said Burden informed 
them he had about 10,000 acres of land on the waters of James river, or 
the forks, if he could ever find it, and proposed giving 1,000 acres to any 
one who would conduct him to it. When a light was made, he produced 
two papers, and satisfied the company of his rights. The deponent's 
brother, John McDowell, then informed him, said Burden, he would con- 
duct him to the forks of James river for 1,000 acres ; showed said Burden 
his surveying instruments, &c., and finally it was agreed that said McDow- 
ell should conduct him to the grant, and she thinks a memorandum of the 
agreement was then made in writing. They went on from thence to the 
house of John Lewis, in Beverley Manor, near where Staunton now stands, 
who was a relation of deponent's father. They remained with him a few 
days, and there, she understood, further writings were entered into, and it 
was finally agreed they should all settle in Burden's tract. That said John 
McDowell was to have 1,000 acres for conducting them there, agreeable 
to the writing entered into, and that the settlers were, moreover, tc have 
100 acres for every cabin they should build, even if they built forty ca- 
bins, and that they might purchase any quantity adjoining at 50 shillings 
per hundred acres. The deponent understood that said Burden was inter- 
ested in these cabin rights, as they were called, for that any cabin 
saved him 1,000 acres of land. These cabin rights were afterwards 
counted, as deponent understood, and an account returned to the govern- 
ment, then held at Williamsburg, and she has heard, about that time, 
many tests of the manner in which one person, by going fi-om cabin tO' 
cabin, was counted, and stood for several settlements. 

She recollects, particularly, of hearing of a serving girl of one James 
Bell, named Millhollen, who dressed herself in men's cloaths and saved 
several cabin rights, perhaps five or six, calling herself Millhollen, but 
varying the Christian name. These conversations were current in that 
day. She knows nothing of the fact but from information. She under- 
stood that it was immaterial where the cabins were built ; that they were 
to entitle the builder to 100 acres as aforesaid, whenever he chose to lay it 
ofif, and that he had a right to purchase, at 50 shillings as aforesaid, any 
larger quantity. One John Patterson was employed to count the cabins 
rights, as she understood. He was accustomed to mark the letters on his 
hat with chalk, as she has been informed, and afterwards deliver the ac- 
count to her brother, John McDowell, and remembers to have heard that 



70 HISTOUV OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

her brother had expressed his surprise at so many people by the name of 
Millhollen being settled on the land, but which was afterwards explained 
by the circumstance of the servant girl above mentioned, and was a sub- 
ject of general mirth in the settlement. She does not know whether this 
plan of saving several cabin rights by one person appearing at different 
cabins, was suggested by Burden, the elder, or not. She understood 
that every person saving a cabin right got i6o acres for each right so 
saved, as he, Burden, was to have a cabin for every i, coo acres. When 
the party with which she travelled, as aforesaid, came, as they supposed, 
into the grant, they stopped at a spring, near where David Steele now 
lives, and struck their camp, her brother and said Burden having gone 
down said branch until they were satisfied it was one of the waters of 
James river. The balance of the party remained at that spring until her 
brother John and said Borden, as she understood, went down to the forks 
formed by the waters of the South and North river, and, having taken a 
course through the country, returned to said camp. They then went on 
to the place called the Red House, where her brother, John, built a cabin 
and setded where James McDowell now lives. The first cabin her hus- 
band built was by a spring, near where Andrew Scott now lives, but when 
deponent went to see it, she did not hke the situation, and they then built 
and settled at the place called Browns. They sold this after some short 
time, and purchased the land on which her brother, James, had made an im- 
provement, now called Templetons, and where she resided until about the 
year 1780, being within sight of where her father, then near a hundred years 
of age, resided. This was the first party of white people that ever settled on 
the said grant. The said Burden, the elder, remained on the grant from 
that time, as well as she can recollect, for perhaps two years and more, 
obtaining settlers, and she believes there were more than a hundred set- 
tlers before he left them. She believes he was in the grant the whole time 
from his first coming up until he left it before his death, but how long be- 
fore his death he left it, she does not know. He resided some time with 
a Mrs. Hunter, whose daughter afterwards married one Greene, and to 
whom, she understood, he gave the tract whereon they lived. When the 
said Borden left the grant, she understood he left his papers with her 
brother, John McDowell, to whose house a great many people resorted, as 
she understood, to see about lands, but what authority her brother had to 
sell, or whether he made sales or not, she does not know. Her brother, 
John, was killed about Xmas before her son, Samuel, her first son of that 
name, was born. He was born, as appears by the register of his birth in 
the Bible, about April, 1743. The date of this register is pardy obliterated, 
in the last figure, but from the date of the birth of the preceding and 
subsequent child it must have been, as she believes, in 1743, that said 
Samuel was born. 

Young Benj. Burden came into the grant before her brother's death. 
She recollects this from the circumstance of his being then in ordinary 
plight, and such that he did not seem much respected by her brother's 
wife, and when she afterwards married him she could not but reflect on the 
change of circumstances. She understood that he was altogether illiter- 
ate. She said Benjamin, junior, lived with her brother, John, whilst in the 
grant, but returned to his father's before the death of said John, and after 
his father's death returned, fully empowered by his father's will to com- 
plete titles and sell lands, and then married the widow of her said brother, 
and continued to live at the place where her said brother settled as afore- 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 71 

said, until his death. This place, now called the Red House place, is 
about three-quarters of a mile from Templetons, where the deponent 
resided as above. 

Joseph Burden, (a son of old Ben. Burden, the grantee,) had resided at 
his brother, Benjamin's, some years before his, (Benjamin's) death ; had 
gone to school, and was here at his death ; had the small-pox about the 
time of her brother's death, some time after which (deponent does not 
recollect precisely, but believes it was not long,) he went away, not being, 
very well liked, as she understood, and not made very welcome ; was then 
but aJad about 18 or 19, as well as she can recollect from his appearance. 
This deponent recollects John Hart, who had removed to Beverley Manor 
some short time before the removal of this deponent and her friend, as 
above stated, but she cannot say whether he surveyed for the said Benja- 
min or not ; she understood he was a surveyor. The people who hrst set- 
tled and purchased did not always have their lands surveyed at the time 
of the purchase ; as she understood, some had their lands surveyed and 
some had not, but when it was not surveyed, they described it by gen- 
eral boundaries. Beatty was the first surveyor whom she knows thai 
surveyed in the grant. The said Borden had been at Williamsburg, and 
some one, perhaps the Governor's son-in-law, by name Needier, and his 
other partners, had in a frolic given him their interest in said grant. She 
understood there were four of them — the Governor, Gooch, his said son- 
in-law, and two others whose names she does not recollect, who were 'in- 
terested in the order of Council for said land, and that Burden got it from 
them, as above ; this was his information. She well recollects that her 
brother, John, assisted one Wood to make the survey of said large grant 
alter they removed to it, as aforesaid, it being at the time of their removal^ 
as aforesaid, held by order of Council, as she understood. The said 
Woods and her brother made the survey, she believes, after the cabia 
rights were taken in, as above stated. Many people came up, and many 
settlements and cabins were made immediately after their settling on the 
tract, as aforesaid. 

Being interrogated as to the value of the lands remaining unsold by 
Ben. Burden, she stated that one Harden, who, she understood, was an 
executor, and who was in this country after the death of young Ben. Bur- 
den, (which occurred from small-pox in 1753,) and after John Bowyer had 
married the widow, and who, she understood, was settling Burden s busi- 
ness — but she does not know by what authority — she recollects that said 
Harden offered to her brother, James, the unsold lands for a bottle of 
wine, if he would clear him of the quit rents. She also recollects that her 
said brother consulted with her father about the proposition, who advised 
him to have nothing to do with it, for it would probably run him into jail. 
This, she thinks, was shortly after Bowyer's marriage. She does not 
know whether Benj. Burden, jr., was distressed on account of the quit 
rents or not, but recollects that shortly before his death, Col. Patton was 
at her house ; a horse of said Burden broke out and came there, which 
said Patton wished to have caught, that he might take him for some claims 
against said Burden, but she did not hear what. She had, however, said 
horse sent home, fearing that as there had been some misunderstanding 
between deponent's husband and said Burden about this land, he might 
think they had aided in said seizure. The deponent further states that 
her husband purchased 1,000 acres of land of old Burden at an early day 



72 HISTOKY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

for fifty shillings per hundred, which she understood he had located on the 
Turkey Hill, as it is called. After the death of old Burden, his son, Ben- 
jamin, disputed giving a deed for the whole quantity there, alleging it was 
all valuable land, and afterwards, for the sake of peace, it was agreed that 
a part should be taken there — a part joining Robert Cutton,\vhich was 
sold to one Buchanan, and a part near John Davidson. This arrangement 
was made at the time Harden was present, as aforesaid, who seemed will- 
ing to give the land, and advised this deponent, whose husband was then 
abroad, to agree to take it at those places, which she did. All the land 
purchased by her husband was purchased from old Burden ; indeed, he 
had purchased this i,ooo acres before they came to the tract, at Lewis', as 
before stated, provided he liked the land when he saw it, which he did. 

The deponent being asked what she knew of the persons named in a 
mutilated paper purporting to be an account of entries and sales, beginning 
at " No. I — McDowell, Jno., to No. 22 — Moore, Andrew," on the first 
side, where the papers appeared to be torn off; beginning on the other 
side at " No. 42 — Martin, Robt., and ending at No. 62, at Brown, Robt.," 
and whether those persons were settled in the grant at an early day or 
owned lands in it ? 

Answered — That she knew a number of the persons therein named. 
Many of them lived in Beverley Manor, and others in the Calf Pasture, 
and elsewhere, but she did not know many of them to have lands in Bur- 
den's tract. The McDowells and her husband she had before spoken of. 
She also knew John Moore, who settled at an early day where Charles 
Campbell now lives ; Andrew Moore, who setded where his grandson, 
Wm. Moore, now lives. Wm. McCausland also lived in the grant, as did 
Wm. Sawyers and Robt. Campbell, Sam'l Woods, John Mathews, Rich- 
ard Woods, John Hays, Chas. Hays, his son, Sam'l Walker, &c., all of 
whom settled in the grant at an early day. 

The deponent being interrogated if she knew Alex. Miller, and if he was 
an early settler? 

Answered — That she did know said Miller. He was the first black- 
smith that settled on the tract. She recollects of his shoeing old Bur- 
den's horse, and understood he purchased land of said Burden. He lived 
on land adjoining one John McCroskey's land, who also purchased his 
land from old Burden. He also joined the plantation, now Stewart's mill- 
place, as she believes, whereon one Taylor, who, she believes, married 
Elizabeth Paxton, formerly lived. She recollects being at the burial of 
said Taylor, who was killed by the falling of a tree not long after his mar- 
riage. Said Miller's land, she has understood, has been in possession of 
people of the name of Teeford since the said Millers removed. The de- 
ponent recollects one McMullen, who resided some distance above the 
place where Robt. Stewart's mill now stands, but up the same branch, and 
near a spring. Said McMullen was living on said land, and had a daugh- 
ter married there when this deponent's daughter, Mary, was a sucking 
babe. She recollects this from having gone to the wedding when a 
daughter of said McMullen was married, and having left her child at 
home. Her daughter, Mary, was born, as appears from the register of 
her birth, in May, 1745. Humphrey's Cabins, as they were called, were 
over the hill, at another spring, not far from where said McMullen lived. 
She knows not from whom McMullen purchased, but rather thinks her 
brother, James McDowell, gave him a piece of land there for teaching 



mSTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTV. 78 

school. There was no mill where Stewart's mill now is, in the lifetime 
of Ben. Burden, jr. John Hays' mill was the first mill in the grant, and 
built very early after the settlement. 

The deponent said the people paid no quit rents for two years from the 
time the grant was first settled. She understood this exemption was 
granted by the Governor at the instance of one Anderson, a preacher. 
When they had to pay quit rents, they raised money by sending butter to 
New Castle, to Williamsburg, and other markets below, and got also in 
return their salt, iron, &c. 

Being asked whether Joseph Burden was frequently in this country 
after the death of young Ben. Burden, she answered that he was frequently 
in this country some time after the death of said Benjamin. He called at 
her house, inquiring for a horse, and she thought she knew his name, and 
afterwards heard he lodged in the neighborhood, at one Wm. Campbell's. 
She saw him again at her house about twelve or fifteen years ago. He 
made some enquiries of her about her husband's estate or something of that 
kind. She does not recollect the particulars, but she had very little con- 
versation with him. She also heard of h's being through this country 
some little time before this, but does not recollect how long, nor did she 
see him. 

Question by the defendant's agent — Did not many persons, from time 
to time, in the lifetime of old Burden, settle in the grant, under an expec- 
tation of getting the lands at the usual price, and without first contracting 
with said Burden ? 

Answer — I believe they did. I think many settled before they had an 
opportunity of seeing Burden, and Burden would frequently direct them 
to deponent's husband, to shew them the land, as they said. 

Do you not believe that the first deeds were made for the cabin rights ? 

Answer — I suppose the cabin right, with such land as the settler had 
purchased, would be deeded together, and perhaps these were the first 
made. 

Did Ben. Burden, jr., appear, when he first entered on the affairs of the 
estate, to be disposed to do justice to the devisees ? 

Answer — I thought he did. He appeared to be a good man. She un- 
derstood he was the heir-at-law, and did not hear of the sisters' claims, 
except to five thousand acres, which she understood had been assigned to 
them on Catawba, where the land was good. 

Did he ever leave this country and go to Jersey, after he came up and 
got married ? 

Answer — No, I believe he did not. I am pretty confident he did not. 

Did you know of Archibald Alexander and Magdalen Bowyer selling 
lands ? 

Answer — I did not know they were executors, and had a right to sell. 
I understood John Bowyer sold a great deal and gave away a great deal. 
Alexander was as respectable a man as any I knew. Bowyer, she under- 
stood, claimed what Ben. Burden claimed, though she had no conversation 
with him about his claim. 

Being asked whether Alexander paid Burden any money on account of 
the estate ? 

Answered — She never heard that he had, and from her intimacy with 
the wife of said Bowyer, she believes she would have heard of it, had it 
taken place. 



f4 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUKTT. 

Question by same — When Burden produced his right to the land, as 
you have stated, were you not satisfied, and did not the company appear 
satisfied, that the right was completely in him ? 

Answer — Yes, the papers appeared perfectly satisfactory. 

Did you not understand that your brother, James McDowell, built a 
cabin and purchased the land where Thos. Taylor, above mentioned, 
resided ? 

Answer — My brother, James, purchased a considerable tract, perhaps 
four or five hundred acres, either at or where Stewart's mill now stands. 
It run, as she understood, on a large hill, but whether in one or two tracts, 
she knows not. This tract, she understood, he sold to some person, but 
does not know who. She does not know whether he had it surveyed or 
not, but supposes it was merely designated by general boundaries. She 
thinks if she was on the land, she could point out the tree whereon his 
name was cut, if it is yet standing. It stood near a deep hole in the creek. 
Knows not how he acquired it, but understood he had built a cabin on it 
and saved a cabin right, but never saw the cabin, nor does she know 
where it stood, but the land was called his very shortly after they went to 
the grant, and in the lifetime of old Burden. 

Sworn before us, loth November, 1806. 

JOSEPH WALKER, 
J. GRIGSBY. 

Burden succeeded in procuring the erection of ninety-two cabins within 

two years, and received his patent from the Governor, dated Nov. 8, 1759. 

He died in 1742, and his will is on record in Frederick county. 

ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS, ETC. 

Section II. — Deed for 200,000 acres of land from the Chiefs of the Six 
United Nations to G. Croghan, November 9th, 1768. 
To all people to whom these presents shall come — Greeting : Know ye, 
that we, Abraham, a Mohawk chief; Sennghors, an Oneida chief; Che- 
naugheata, an Onondaga chief; Tagaaia, a Cayuga chief, and Gaustrax, a 
Seneca chief, chiefs and sachems of the Six United Nations, and being 
and effectually representing all the tribes of the Six United Nations, send 
greeting. Whereas, Johonerissa Scaroyadia, Cosswentanica, chiefs or 
sachems of the said Six United Nations, did, by their deed duly executed, 
bearing date the 2nd day of August, 1749, for and in consideration of the 
following goods and merchandise being paid and delivered to them at a 
full council of the Six United Nations, Delawares and Shawanese. held at 
Logstown, on the river Ohio, on the 2nd of August, 1749, that is to say: 
240 strouds*, 400 Duffield blankets, 460 pair of half thick stockings, 200 
shirts, 20 pieces of calico, 20 pieces of callimancoe, 20 pieces of embossed 
serge, fifty pounds of vermilliont, 50 gross of gartering, 50 pieces of rib- 
bon, 50 dozen of knives, 500 pounds of gunpowder, 1,000 of bar lead, 
3,000 gun flints, 50 pounds of brass kettles, 400 pounds of thread, 1,000 
needles, ten dozen jews-harps, 20 dozen tobacco tongs, and 100 pounds 
of tobacco : Grant and sell unto George Croghan, of the Province of 
Pennsylvania. Esquire, in fee, a certain tract or parcel of land, situate, 
lying and being on the southernly side of the river Monongehela : Begin- 
ning at the mouth of a run nearly opposite to Turtle creek, and then down 

*Strouding is a coarse cloth. 

+The Indian kept the record of his wounds by shining marks of vermillion on his skin. 



HISTORY OF AUGTTSTA. COITNTr. 75 

the river Monongehela to its junction with the river Ohio, computed to be 
ten miles ; then running down the eastern bank and sides of and unto the 
said river Ohio to where Raccoon creek empties itself into the said rit^er ; 
thence up the said creek ten miles, and from thence on a straight or direct 
line to the place of beginning on the aforesaid river Monongehela, con- 
taining, by estimation, one hundred thousand acres of land, be the same 
more or less. And, whereas, the said Johonerissa Scaroyadia and Coswen- 
tanica, chiefs or sachems, as aforesaid, for the consideration hereinafter 
mentioned to them in full council, as aforesaid, paid and delivered, that is 
to say: 140 strouds, 240 Duffield blankets, 275 pair of half thick stockings, 
120 shirts, 12 pieces of calico, 12 pieces of callimancoe, 12 pieces of em- 
bossed serge, 30 pounds of vermillion, 12 gross of gartering, 30 pieces of 
ribbon, 30 dozen knives, 300 pounds of gunpowder, 600 of bar lead, 1,000 
gun flints, 30 pounds of brass kettles, 4 pounds of thread, 500 needles, six 
dozen of jews-harps, six dozen tobacco tongs, and 50 pounds of tobacco, 
*did, by one other deed, bearing date the same day and year last aforesaid, 
grant, bargain and 5ell unto the said George Croghan, in fee, one other 
tract or parcel of land, situate, lying and being on the river Yoxhiogeni, 
including the Indian village called the Seurchly, old town; the same tract 
or parcel of land containing 15 miles in length, on the said river, and ten 
miles in breadth, and including the lands on both sides of the said river 
Yoxhiogeni, which, 15 miles in length and ten miles in breadth, he, the 
said George Croghan, has liberty to locate either upon or down the said 
Yoxhiogeni, but nevertheless in such manner so as to include and locate 
the said Indian village and land called the Seurchly, old town, which said 
tract or parcel of land contains, by estimation, 60,000 acres, be the same 
more or less. 

And, whereas, the said Johonerissa Scaroyadia and Cosswentanica did > 
by one other deed, bearing date the day and year last aforesaid, for the 
consideration herein mentioned to them in full council, paid and delivered, 
as aforesaid, that is to say, 96 strouds, 160 Duffield blankets, 184 pair of 
half thick stockings, 80 shirts, 8 pieces of calico, 8 pieces of embossed 
serge, 20 pounds of vermillion, 20 gross of gartering, 20 pieces of ribbon, 
20 dozen of knives, 200 pounds of gunpowder, 400 of bar lead, 1,000 gun 
flints, 20 pounds of brass kettle, two pounds of thread, 500 needles, four 
dozen jews-harps, four dozen tobacco tongs, 50 pounds of tobacco, Grant, 
bargain and sell unto the said George Croghan, in fee, one other tract or 
parcel of land, situate, lying and being, and Beginning on the east side of 
the river Ohio, to the northward of an old Indian village, called Shanop- 
instown, at the mouth of a run called the two mile run ; then up the said 
two mile run where it interlocks with the heads of the two mile springs, 
which empties into the river Monongehela ; then down the said two mile 
spring to the several courses thereof unto the sd. Monongehela ; then up 
the said river Monongehela to where Turtle creek empties itself into the 
same river ; then up the said Turtle creek to the first lorks thereof; then 
up the north or northerly branch of the said creek to the head of the same ; 
thence a north or northerly course until it strikes Plum creek ; then down 
said Plum creek until it empties itself into the river Ohio, and then down 
the said river Ohio to the place of beginning, where, as aforesaid, the two 
mile run discharges itself into the said river Ohio ; containing, by estima- 
tion, 40,000 acres, be the same more or less, which said several grants, 
bargains and sales, duly made and executed, by the last-mentioned chiefs 



76 HISTOEY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

or sachems, in pursuance of certain powers and authorities delegated to 
and vested in them for the purpose aforesaid by the chiefs or sachems of 
the Onondaga Council, in full council assembled ; and, whereas, the said 
first-mentioned chiefs or sachems of the Six United Nations, parties to 
these presents, are not only truly and sensible and convinced that the said 
George Croghan hath faithfully and justly paid and delivered unto Joho- 
nerissa, Scaroyadia and Cosswentanica, chiefs or sachems, as aforesaid, all 
and several the goods and merchandize herein particularly recited and 
mentioned, but of the great justice and integrity of the said George Cro- 
ghan, used and reserved by him towards the said Six Nations and their 
allies in all his public and private conduct and transactions, wherein they 
have been concerned : Now, know ye, therefore, that we, the said chiefs or 
sachems of the Six United Nations, in full council assembled, at Fort 
Stanwix, for and in consideration of the sum of five shillings to them in 
hand paid, by the said George Croghan, the receipt whereof they do 
hereby acknowledge, and for and in consideration of the aforesaid goods 
and merchandise, paid and delivered by him unto Johonerissa, Scaroya- 
dia, Cosswentanica, chiefs as aforesaid, have granted, bargained, sold and 
aliened, released, enfoeffed, ratified and fully confirmed, and by these pre- 
sents do grant, bargain, sell, alien, release, enfeoffe, ratify and fully confirm 
as to his Most Sacred Majesty George III, King of Great Britain, France 
and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., his heirs and successors, for the 
use, benefit and behoof of the said George Croghan, his heirs and assigns, 
all those, the above described or mentioned tracts or parcels of land, 
granted, or intended to be granted, by the said several recited deeds as 
aforesaid, and also all mines, mineral ores, trees, woods, underwoods, wa- 
ters, and water-courses, profits, commodities, advantages, rights, liberties, 
privileges, hereditaments and appurtenances whatsoever the said several 
tracts or parcels of land belonging, or any way appertaining ; and also the 
reversion and reversions, remainder and remainders, rents, issues and 
profits thereof, and of every part or parcel thereof, and all the estate right, 
title, interest, use, property, possessions, claim and demand of them, the 
said Abraham, Sennghors, Sagnarisera, Chenaugheata, Tagaaia, Gaustrax, 
chiefs or sachems aforesaid, and of all and every other person and persons 
whatsoever, for belonging to said nations of, into and out of the premises, 
and every part and parcel thereof, to have and to hold the said several 
tracts and parcels of land, and all and singular the said granted or bar- 
gained premises, with the appurtenances, unto his said Majesty, his heirs 
and successors, to and for the only use, benefit and behoof of the said 
George Croghan, his heirs and assigns forever ; and the said Abraham, 
Sennghors, Sagnarisera, Chenaugheata, Tagaaia and Gaustrax, for them- 
selves and for the Six Nations, and all and every other nation and nations, 
tributaries and dependants on the said Six United Nations, and their and 
every of their posterity, the said several tracts of land and premises, and 
every part thereof, against them, the said Abraham, Sennghors, Sagna- 
risera, Chenaugheata, Tagaaia and Gaustrax, and against the said Six 
United Nations, and their tributaries and dependants, and all and every of 
their posteritys, unto his said Majesty, his heirs and successors, to and for 
the only use, benefit and behoof of the said George Croghan, his heirs 
and assigns, shall and will warrant and forever defend, by these presents ; 
Provided, always, nevertheless, and it is the true intent and meaning of 
these presents, and the said Abraham, Sennghors, Sagnarisera, Chenaug- 
heata, Tagaaia and Gaustrax, do hereby covenant and agree to and with 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 77 

his said Majesty and his heirs and successors, to and for the only use, 
benefit and behoof of the said George Croghan his heirs and assigns, that 
if any or all of the said several tracts of land, or any part thereof, shall 
hereafter be found to be within the bounds and limits of a certain grant, 
bearing date the 4th March, 1681, made by Charles II, King of Great 
Britain, &c., to William Penn, esq., for the tract of country called and 
known by the name of Pennsylvania, that then, and in such case, his said 
Majesty, his heirs and successors, to and for the only use, benefit and be- 
hoof of the said George Croghan, his heirs and assigns, shall be permitted 
and shall have and enjoy full right, power and authority to survey and 
locate the said several quantities of 100,000 acres, 60,000 and 40,000 acres 
of land, be the same more or less, as contained within the limits and 
bounds of the said several and respective tracts or parcels of land men- 
tioned and described as aforesaid, in such quantities and in such parts and 
places of, in and within the lessioner grant of land or territory, which shall 
be ceded and granted at the conference aforesaid, to the said King of 
Great Britain by the chiefs or sachems of the said Six United Nations, 
anything herein contained to the contrary thereof in any wise notwith- 
standing. 

In witness whereof the said chiefs and sachems, in behalf of ourselves, 
respectively, and in behalf of the whole Six United Nations aforesaid, have 
hereunto set our hands and seals, in the presence of the persons subscrib- 
ing as witnesses, hereunto at a Congress held at Fort Stanwix, aforesaid, 
this, the 4th day of November, in the year 9th of his Majesty's reign, and 
in the year of our Lord 1768. 

The mark 
ABRAHAM, or TYAHANESERA, [The Steel] (l. s.) 
a chief of the Mohawks. of his nation. 

The mark 
WILLIAM, or SENNGHORS, [The Stone] (l. s.) 

a chief of the Oneidas. of his nation. 

The mark 
HENDRICK or SAGNARISERA, [The Cross] (l. s.) 
the chief of the Tuscaroras. of his nation. 

The mark 
BURT or CHENAUGHEATA, [The Mountain] (l. s.) 
a chief of the Onondagas. of his nation. 

The mark 
TAGAAIA, [The Pii>e] (l. s.) 

a chief of the Cayugas. of his nation. 

The mark 
GAUSTRAX, [The High Hill.] (l. s.) 

a chief of the Senecas. of his nation. 

Sealed and delivered in the presence of us. 

The word "Croghan"* being first written on Rasures eleven times, 
and the words " and, or down tract," being first interlined. 



♦George Croghan was sub-Commissioner to Sir Wm. Johnson, who was commissioned to treat with tlie 
Indians, and met the representatives of more than twenty tribes in a grand council at Niagara, and in 
August, 1764, concluded a definite treaty at Detroit with them. Croghan accompanied the returning 
deputies of the Delawares and Shawanese to their homes in the West, and reached Vincennes, Indiana, 
June 15, 1764, which he describes in bis journal as "a village of 80 or 90 French families." 



T8 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

Sealed and delivered in presence of us all, the foregoing interlineations, 
Rasures and writings on Rasures being first made. 

WM. FRANKLIN, Governor of New Jersey. 
FRE. SMYTH, Chief Justice of New Jersey. 
THOMAS WALKER, Commissioner for Virginia. 
RICHARD PETERS, ] r,u n -i ro i • 

JAMES TILGHMAN; j °^'^^ ^°^"^^^ of Pennsylvania. 

JOHN SPINNER. Capt. in the 78th Regiment. 

JOSEPH CHEW, of Connecticut. 

JOHN WEATHERHEAD, of N. Y. 

JOHN WALKER, of Virginia. 

E. FITCH, of Connecticut. 

THOMAS WALKER, Junior, Virginia. 

JOHN BALTER, Interpreter for the Crown. 



CHAPTER V. 



As the people of the Valley were, considered as a religious community 
professing Christianity, divided into various sects and denominations, all 
justifying, explaining, and upholding their respective tenets, however va- 
rious or contradictory, by an appeal to the same Sacred Writings, we 
shall, without any remarks as to the propriety or impropriety of any one 
or the other, give a concise sketch of their external situation, as conducing 
to general information and a right understanding of the Augusta colony. 
To observe some order, let us commence with the Presbyterian Church, 
the first established in Augusta. Brief allusion has been made to its more 
obvious temporal effects upon the civil characters of its members and the 
"community. Our limits will not admit of an elaborate statement of the 
causes which led to the emigration of the Scotch-Irish and their settlement 
in America, Our county was principally settled by these religious refugees 
who left Ireland after the siege of Londonderry, the entrance of the Prince 
Orange into London on the escape of James to France, the acceptance 
of the British throne by William and Mary, and the glorious revolution 
of 1688. We style this revolution glorious, not only because it aimed at 
iust and worthy ends, but because established without any of those scenes 
of bloodshed and horror which have so generally been the accompani- 
ments of even beneficial and desirable changes. The highest eulogium 
that can be pronounced upon the revolution of 1688 is, that it has been 
England's last; and the last, because, from the midst of servitude, the 
English people plucked freedom ; from anarchy, order ; obtained the au- 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 79 

thority of law, security for property, peace and happiness in their homes, 
and representative government, as it exists to-day in that country. The 
Bill of Rights passed by Parliament in 1689, which limits the Royal pre- 
rogative, and clearly defines the rights of British subjects, is the only written 
law respecting the liberties of the British people, except Mas;nu Charta. 

But we are wandering from our path. These matters cannot be re- 
viewed here, however interesting in themselves, and however intimately 
connected with the settlement of our Valley. It must suffice to say, that 
after the siege of Derry, while the Episcopal Church was established in 
England and the Presbyterian in Scotland, the Irish, by whose bravery 
and sufferings mainly the Kingdom had been secured to the Prince of 
Orange, were compelled to pay their tithes to the Established Church, 
maintain their own ministers, and also suffer other disabilities consequent 
on an Establishment. And the prospects of the Presbyterians not being 
improved after Ireland was subdued by Williarii, notwithstanding the 
passage of the Toleration Act, and favorable reports reaching Ulster from 
America, many were lured from their homes across the Atlantic. For 
half a century this emigration continued, and thousands of these poor suf- 
ferers found their way to our shores. Early in the eighteenth century 
they formed congregations in New England, some years previous to 1726 
in Pennsylvania, and, as we have seen, came to our Valley in 1732, fixing 
their residence at Opeckon. Thence Lewis made his way to Bellefonte, 
and Presbyterian congregations were formed in Augusta by him and his 
Scotch-Irish neighbors previous to 1740. The Presbyterian Church, thus 
planted in the Valley, has become almost as much identified with the soil 
as the deep-rooted trees themselves. From its first seats in Pennsylvania 
and Western Virginia, it has spread throughout the West and South, be- 
coming the prolific mother of churches in a vast region. 

The colonial government, anxious to seat a white population west of the 
great mountains for the reasons previously mentioned, relaxed its rigor 
towards the Presbyterians and other Dissenters, and welcomed them, in- 
deed, in 1732, and thereafter, to the upper country of Virginia. From the 
Scotch and Irish settlements in Pennsylvania emigrants began to pour into 
the Valley, as soon as the more fertile lands of Pennsylvania and Mary- 
land were located. They were directed and encouraged to do so princi- 
pally by Vanmeter, of Frederick, Beverley, of Augusta, and Burden, of 
Rockbridge. For mutual protection, social intercourse, and religious wor- 
ship, they came in bodies composed of a number of families. If a more 
adventurous spirit penetrated deeper than usual into the forest, he was 
soon followed and surrounded by others. Within five years of Lewis' 
settlement at Bellefonte, so great was his own desire and that of the people 
for the ordinances of religion, that they sought to secure the services of a 
Presbyterian minister. On the 2d of September, 1737, a supplication from 



80 HISTOKY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

the inhabitants of Beverley Manor was laid before the Presbytery of Done- 
gal, Ireland, requesting supplies. The Presbytery "judged it not expe- 
dient, for several reasons, to supply them this Winter, but ordered that 
Mr. James Anderson should write an encouraging letter to the people, to 
signify that the Presbytery resolves, if it be in their power, to grant this 
request next Spring." 

In 1738, Mr. Anderson visited Virginia, bearing a letter from the Synod 
of Philadelphia to Gov. Gooch. His visit was made on the invitation of 
John Caldwell and others, who asked protection in the exercise of their 
religious preferences. He was kindly received by Gooch, and visited 
Augusta with assurances from him that the protection he sought would be 
extended to him, Anderson, and the people west of the mountains. Leav- 
ing Williamsburg, Mr. Anderson crossed the Blue Ridge, proceeded to 
the house of the Founder, where he remained some time, consulting the 
leading Presbyterians of the setdement. The Governor was actuated in 
his liberal course as well by a desire to place a barrier between the eastern 
settlements and the Indians, as by his high opinion of the inhabitants, 
whom he well knew to be enterprising, industrious, and spirited — the best 
of citizens in times of peace and soldiers in times of war. 

The next probationer who visited Augusta was Mr. Dunlap, of the 
Presbytery of New York, who spent three months in the neighborhood of 
Staunton in the year 1739. In this year, Mr. Jno. Thompson, of the Pres- 
bytery of Donegal, also visited the Valley, spent some time in Augusta, 
and was active in promoting the Presbyterian cause in Virginia. Through 
his instrumentality, Mr. John Craig was sent to Augusta in 1739 by the 
Presbytery of Donegal, and ultimately became pastor of Tinkling Spring 
and Augusta churches. 

Rev. John Craig was ordained in 1740, and immediately commenced his 
ministry at Augusta and Tinkling Spring churches. He was thus the first 
Presbyterian minister regularly settled in the colony of Virginia. Uniting 
the duties of a teacher with those of a preacher and pastor, he was emi- 
nently useful in both capacities. Those who may wish to read the story 
of his life can find it in an autobiography which he prepared in his old 
age, entitled " A Preacher Preaching To Himself, &c.," and embraced in 
Foote's Sketches. 

Space will henceforward admit of little more than an enumeration of 
the churches and their ministers from their organization to the present 
time. Those seeking fuller information may obtain it from Foote's excel- 
lent sketches of the Presbyterian Church in Virginia. 

The Old Stone, or Church of Augusta, where Mr. Craig's ministry com- 
menced, was built in 1740, It is situated on the Valley turnpike, about 
eight miles north of Staunton, and is standing, at the end of one hundred 
and forty years, in perfect preservation. It was the second church built 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTF. 81 

in the Valley. The first church, or " meeting-house," was erected about 
1736, at Opeckon. The old Stone Church was erected during that long 
period of tranquility which followed the settlement of Augusta, but while 
the Indians were warring among themselves, but friendly to the whites. 
Doubtless, the apprehension that the savages might turn their arms against 
the colonists on some future occasion, led to its being built of stone at a 
vast labor, in order that it might serve, as it subsequently did, the pur- 
poses of fort as well as church. The reader can form an idea of the labor 
spent upon this venerable edifice when he reflects that there were then no 
roads on which to transport material, no carts or wagons, few trained horses 
or oxen, and the population rather pastoral than agricultural. The build- 
ing of the church, was, indeed, an arduous undertaking, and could never 
have been accomplished in those days but for the persevering labor of all — 
men, women, and children ; for the women and children took part in the 
good work, carrying in sacks upon their backs the lime and sand neces- 
sary for the building, while the men hewed and transported the stone to 
the spot, night oftener, than otherwise, finding them at their work, and not 
putting a stop to it. This sacred building, half church, half fortress, was 
the strong place of the northern part of the county, as Fort Lewis was of 
the country east, south, and about Staunton, and to its shelter the women 
and children betook themselves during the Indian forays which occurred 
so frequently after 1754. The church was surrounded by an earthen em- 
bankment, which gave it greater strength, and traces of this rude military 
work may still be seen. 

Mr. Craig was a man of eminent piety and usefulness, and discharged 
his duties at Augusta Church until his death, in 1774. The church erected 
at its expense, in 1798, a monument to his memory. His successors have 
been Revs. Wm. Wilson, until 1805; Conrad Speece, DD., from 1813 to 
1836 ; Wm. Brown, F. M. Brown, I. I. Handy, DD., and the present pas- 
tor. Rev. Alex. Sprunt. 

Tinkling Spring. — In the southern part of the settlement, on the 
triple forks of the Shenandoah, near the present village of Fishersville, the 
division of the congregation, known as Tinkling Spring, worshipped. 
Staunton belonged, in its early days, to this congregation, and the Foun- 
der, James Patton, John Preston, and the people of Staunton generally, 
attended its services. The first building used for worship was a log house, 
belonging to Preston, and Rev. John Craig preached on alternate Sun- 
days. " The members of this congregation were distinguished," says 
Foote, " for the part they took in the Indian wars, and furnished some of 
the leading military men in the border wars ; the most famous were of the 
Lewis family." 

Shortly after Beverley's grant, a grant of 100,000 acres was made to 
John Lewis and his associates, under the name of the " Greenbrier Com- 



82 HISTORY OF AUGDSTA COUNTY. 

pany." Much of this land was located on the Greenbrier river, a name 
given to the stream by Col. Lewis. James Patton, another member of the 
cong-regation, received a grant for 1 20,000 acres, which he located in the 
present county of Montgomery, where he was killed by the Indians in 
1753" John Preston, who married a sister of Col. Patton, also belonged 
to this congregation, though his residence was north of Staunton, on 
Spring farm, which, in 1882, is owned by the city of Staunton. 

After Mr. Craig ceased to be the pastor of Tinkling Spring, Rev. John 

A. VanLear, the son of an emigrant from Holland, became pastor, and, in 
1778, was succeeded by Rev. James Waddell, D. D., and he by Rev. John 
McCue, D. D., whose ministry extended to September 20th, 1818, when 
he was killed on his way to church by a fall from his horse. 

Mr. McCue has been succeeded at Tinkling Spring by the following : 
Revs. James Wilson, until 1840; B. M. Smith, D. D.; Robert L. Dabney, 
D. D., the distinguished author and theologian ; C. S. M. See, and Givens 

B. Strickler, the present pastor. 

The Rev. John Blair, during his visit to Virginia, in 1746, formed four 
congregations, embracing the whole width of the Valley, from a Uttle 
south of Staunton to some distance south of Lexington. The congrega- 
tions were those of the " Forks of the James." 

Timber Ridge, now in Rockbridge, New Providence, and North Moun- 
tain. 

Timber Ridge and New Providence alone remain. 

In the place of North Mountain there are the two congregations of 
Bethel and Hebron. 

Bethel church was first built about 1772, principally through the exer- 
tions of Col. Doake, a few steps from the site of the present brick church, 
about ten miles south of Staunton, and about midway between the Green- 
ville and Middlebrook roads, leading from Staunton to Lexington. The 
first minister was Mr. Charles Cummings, who received a call in 1766, and 
served till 1772. He was followed by Mr. Archibald Scott, who dis- 
charged his duties for over twenty years with great zeal and fidelity, and 
dying in March, 1799, was followed, after a vacancy of some years, by 
Rev. William McPheeters, D. D., a native of Augusta, who was educated 
in Staunton and at Liberty Hall, Rockbridge. He took charge of Bethel 
in 1805. In 1 8 10, Mr. McPheeters removed to Raleigh, N. C, where he 
died in 1842. His successors have been : Revs. Chapman, D. D., (we 
believe), Francis McFarland, D. D., who resigned and went to Philadelphia, 
when Rev. Alex. B. McCorkle took his place. Mr. McC. resigning. Dr. 
McFarland was recalled, and died, senior member of the church. He was 
succeeded by Rev. James Murray, the present pastor, who was Dr. McFar- 
land's colleague for many years. 

Shemeriah was organized about i832,principallyfrom the congregation 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 8 



g 



of Bethel. The first minister was Rev. Henry Brown. His successors 
have been : Rev. E. S. Thomas, Luther Emerson, W. G. Campbell, Har- 
vey Gilmer, I. N. Campbell, and the present minister, Rev. I. H. H. Win- 
free. 

Hebron Church, which was anciently called " Brown's Meeting- 
House," is situated about four miles west of Staunton, in the midst of 
much attractive scenery. The original church, under the name of North 
Mountain, was organized by Dr. John Blair on his visit to Virginia, in 
1746, and withm the bounds of that congregation there are now Bethel, 
Shemeriah, and Hebron. In October, 1746, Rev. Charles Cummings re- 
ceived a call from the congregations belonging to Major Brown's meeting- 
house, in Augusta. He remained pastor until April, 1776, when the ser- 
vices of Rev. Archibald Scott were secured. He was ordained in 1778, 
preaching from the words, "God is Love." He was a man of great piety, 
and one of his sons has written an able and instructive work, entitled, 
"Genius and Faith ; or, Poetry and Religion in Their Mutual Relations." 
N. Y., 1853. After a vacancy of a few days, in May, 1805, Rev. 
William Calhoun received a call from Staunton and Brown's meeting- 
house. In 1826, his pastoral relations with Staunton ceased, and for 
many years thereafter he gave his attention to Hebron church. Mr. 
Calhoun, whom the writer, as a boy, had the pleasure to know, was 
one of the strong men of the Presbyterian church. He published a trea- 
tise on Christian baptism, which illustrates well his vigorous intellect. He 
was succeeded by Rev. Isaac Jones, remarkable as a revivalist. The 
writer remembers some of his terrific discourses and can endorse the 
general estimate of them — that they excited rather than instructed his lis- 
teners. He was succeeded by a native of Ireland, Rev. Solomon I. Love, 
who continued in charge until 1858, when his place was filled by Rev. 
John F. Baker, who, from ill-health, gave up his charge in a few months, 
and was succeeded by Rev. T. L. Preston, D. D. — a descendant of the 
original John Preston, who settled in Augusta, 1746 — who served from 
i86i-'65,and is now pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Richmond, 
Va. Mr. Preston was followed by Rev. D. B. Ewing, and he by Rev. F. 
H. Gaines, the present pastor. Hebron is identified with the fame of Dr. 
Alexander, the elder, as the place where he was received under care of 
the Presbytery as a candidate for the ministry. 

The Rev. Mr. Paris, missionary to the Sandwich Islands, and Rev. W. W. 

Trimble, of Missouri, are among the ministers who have gone out from 
this congregation. 

Mossy Creek congregation was originally a part of Augusta church, 
but about the year 1767, became a separate organization upon the request 
of John Davis and Mr. Makamie. They were stoutly opposed by Rev. 
John Craig, who said he could "do all the preaching that was needed be- 
tween the mountains." 



84 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

In 1768, Mr. Thomas Jackson was received as pastor of Mossy creek, 
and continued in charge till his death, in 1773. His place was filled by 
Rev. Samuel Edmondson, in 1773, who soon removed to South Carolina, 
and was followed by Rev. Benj. Erwin, who was ordained pastor in 1780. 
His pastorate closed in 1808, when he was dismissed to the Presbytery of 
Transylvania, Ky. In 1809, Rev. A. B. Davidson was installed at Mossy 
Creek, over the united congregations of Cooke's Creek, Harrisonburg and 
Mossy Creek. Mr. Davidson introduced politics into his sermons, thus 
following the pernicious example of many New England divines, which 
gready offended many of his listeners, and probably led to his resignation 
in 1814. After three years, in 1818, Rev. John Hendren became pastor, 
and remained many years in charge. In i835-'36. Rev. Isaac Paul sup- 
plied this church a few months, until his death. Rev. John A. VanLear 
became pastor in 1837, and so continued until his death, in 1850. In 1853, 
Rev. John Pinkerton was ordained and installed, and served with success 
until his death, in 187 1. He was succeeded by Rev. John W. Rosebro, in 
1873. The present church, built during Mr. VanLear's pastorate, is the 
fourth which has been occupied by this congregation since its organiza- 
tion. 

Union Church was organized February 17th, 18 17, Rev. Conrad 
Speece preaching upon the occasion. The ruling elders were Thomas 
Hogshead, F. Gilkerson, D. Hogshead and James Irvine. In 1818, Rev. 
John Hendren was regularly installed as pastor, and his pastorate extended 
until 1855. He was succeeded by Rev. R. C. Walker, who was installed 
in 1857, and served until 1877, when he resigned, and for two years Revs. 
A. S. Moffett and I. N. Campbell preached as supplies. In 1879, Mr. 
Campbell was installed as pastor, and is at present in charge. 

Loch-Willow Church, at Churchville, was organized October 5th, 
1866, within the limits of Union church, and the members came from both 
Union church and Hebron. The first pastor was Rev. P. Fletcher. His 
successors have been: Revs. McDuff Simpson, A. S. Moffett and J. H. H. 
Winfree, the present pastor. 

Mt. Carmel Church. — South of Staunton 17 miles, near Midway, in the 
County of Augusta, upon a beautiful eminence, over-shadowed by primitive 
oaks, stands the neat and tasteful house of worship wherein the Mt. Carmel 
congregation assembles. 

This church was built in 1835, upon an acre of land presented to the 
congregation for this purpose by David Steele, then living in the village of 
Midway, but who afterwards removed to Missouri. Prominent among those 
who exerted themselves to build the church was the late Capt. Jas. Henry. 
Soon after the house was completed, the ministerial services of the Rev. 
James Paine, who also preached at Fairfield, were secured for one-third of 
his time. He commenced his labors in 1836, and continued them until 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 85 

1856, when he resigned. His successors have been: Revs. John Miller, 
WilliaiT) Pinkerton, until his death, in 1875, and A. H. Hamilton. 

Staunton Church. — The Presbyterians of Staunton had no house of 
worship previous to the Revolution, but were in the habit of attending, as 
we have mentioned. Tinkling Spring. If a minister preached in Staunton 
it was in the court-house or some private residence. After the Revolution 
the Episcopal and Presbyterian congregations occupied the Episcopal 
church on alternate Sundays. 

In 1776, Rev. James Waddell settled in Augusta, as the pastor of Tink- 
ling Spring, and in 1783, received a call by the united congregations of 
Tinkling Spring and Staunton ; on part of the Staunton people the call 
was signed by Alex. St. Clair and William Bowyer. Dr. W. removed 
from the county in 1784, and it is not known who, if any one, officiated in 
Staunton until 1791, when Rev. John McCue became pastor of Tinkling 
Spring and Staunton. From 1799 to 1804, Rev. John Glendy, from the 
Root Presbytery, in Ireland, preached occasionally in Staunton. In May, 

1804, the church was organized in Staunton, with the following ruling 
elders : James Bell, Joseph Cowan, Andrew Barry and Samuel Clark. In 

1805, Rev. William Calhoun was installed pastor of the united congrega- 
tions of Brown's meeting-house (Hebron) and Staunton. During his pas- 
torate, a substantial brick church was erected in Staunton, and was used 
until 1 87 1, when the present commodious and elegant church edifice was 
commenced and completed in 1873. Mr. Calhoun retired from his con- 
nection with the Staunton church in 1826, and devoted himself to Hebron 
congregation. He was succeeded by Rev. Joseph Smith, D. D., of Penn- 
sylvania, who, while pastor, was also Principal of the Staunton Academy. 
Mr. Smith retired in 1832, and was succeeded, in 1834, by Rev. John 
Steele, who removed to Illinois in 1837, and was succeeded by Rev. Paul 
E. Stevenson, of New York, during whose pastorate the church and con- 
gregation made considerable progress in various ways. Amongst the 
outward improvements was the enlargement of the church grounds and 
the establishment of the Augusta Female Seminary, under the Rev. R. W. 
Bailey. In 1844, Mr. Stevenson retired, and was succeeded by Rev. R. R . 
Howison, the distinguished author of the History of Virginia ; at the end 
of six months he retired, and was succeeded by Rev. B, M. Smith, D. D., 
who resigned in 1854, when Rev, Joseph R. Wilson accepted a call from 
the congregation, and remained two years in Staunton. He was succeeded 
by Rev. William E. Baker, who was installed in 1859, and continues in 
charge. Under Mr. Baker's pastorate the church and congregation have 
made marked progress, as well as the Seminary. 

Second Presbyterian Church, Staunton. — This church was orga- 
cized in 1875, by many who had previously worshipped in Staunton 
church. Among the active friends of the movement to establish the 



86 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

Second church were Major Jed. Hotchkiss, William Jordan, M. H. Efifin- 
ger, Henry A. Walker, J. W. Morrison, J, S. Lipscomb and J. M Lickli- 
ter. The first elders were Messrs. Morrison and Jordan. The first pastor 
was Rev. McDuft' Simpson, M. A.; the second, the present minister. Rev. 
J. B. Booker. A beautiful lot was purchased on the northwest corner of 
Lewis and Frederick streets, and the handsome and substantial brick 
church, in which the congregation now worships, was erected, and occupied 
in 1876. 

Mt. Horeb Church. — This church was formed from the congregation 
of the Stone church in 1S57. The first minister was Rev. David Erwin, 
His successors have been : Revs. P. M, Custer, H. H. Haws, G. H. Den- 
ny, and Thomas M. Boyd. 

Rocky Spring Church is situated near Deerfield, in the Big Calf 
Pastures, and the minister is Rev. Mr. Brown. 

On the eastern slope of Betsy Bell, about a mile from Staunton, there is a 
pretty little Presbyterian chapel. It originated in the efforts of Mrs. D. A. 
Kayser, Miss M.J. Baldwin, and other ladies, who first established a Sun- 
day-school, occupying the public school-house at that place. In 1881, 
through the zeal and activity of David Doom and other residents of the 
vicinity, assisted by the ladies of Staunton church, the chapel was erected. 
Services are regularly conducted in it by Rev. J. B. Booker, and there is 
also connected with it a flourishing Sunday-school. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 

With all of the above-mentioned churches, as, indeed, with those of 
every denomination of Christians in the County, Sabbath-schools have 
been for many years organized, and in successful operation. At present 
they are in a flourishing condition, many of them having excellent circu- 
lating libraries for the use of the pupils. 



Volumes might be written upon the lives and labors of the noble men 
whose names have been mentioned, and merely mentioned for want of 
space in the foregoing account. Our object has been simply to give a 
proper place in history to those by whose labors and sacrifices the Presby- 
terian church was established in our county and brought to its present 
position of usefulness and importance. In our outline we could do no 
more than place on record names which well deserve to be remembered, 
and deeply regret our inability to give, at least, sketches of lives so worthy 
to be studied. 



THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN AUGUSTA. 

The Methodists are a comparatively new sect, having sprung up in 
England about the year 1737, under Rev. John Wesley and George Whit- 
field, students of the University of Oxford. It was founded in New York 



HISTOKT OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 87 

in 1766. They received their name from Hving by a stricter regimen and 
method than the members of the Church of England, and they are more 
animated, spirited and zealous than the regular clergy of that church. 
The Methodists are, however, baptised with the Episcopalians, attend 
Episcopal services and sacraments, admire the Episcopal liturgy, and only 
blame the Episcopal church for lukewarmness and want of energy and 
animation. About the year 1775, John Hagerty and Richard Owens, two 
Methodist preachers, delivered, at Stephensburg, near Winchester, the 
first sermons ever preached by any ministers of this sect in the Virginian 
Valley, making a most favorable impression ; many joined the church, and 
a place of worship was soon erected in Stephensburg, and the Methodist 
is now one of the most numerous, wealthy and intelligent denominations in 
this section of Virginia. 

We are under obligations to Rev. J. S. Martm, D. D., for the following 
account of the church in Augusta : 

" The name of Staunton Circuit first appears on the minutes published 
for the Methodist Episcopal Church in the year 1806. The circuit, then, 
must have included all of Augusta county, including, under the same 
name, much of the country beyond the North Mountain ; also the county 
of Rockbridge. Much of this territory had been served before in con- 
nection with the Rockingham Circuit. Rockingham Circuit was begun in 
1788. William Phoebus was appointed to it as its first preacher. In 1789, 
Rockingham Circuit had only seventy-nine members, though it then em- 
braced some four or five counties, from Winchester, beyond. Staunton, in 
the Valley, and west of the North Mountain. In 1806, the membership 
had increased to seven hundred and sixty. In that year Staunton Circuit, 
as described above, was formed. In 1807, it embraced two hundred mem- 
bers, scattered over its extensive territory. Noah Fiddler was the first 
preacher appointed to Staunton Circuit. In 1833, Staunton Circuit was 
divided — Rockbridge was taken ofi" under the name of Lexington Cir- 
cuit. Augusta Circuit, embracing all of Augusta county, was formed, and 
the town of Staunton was made a distinct station to itself, and which re- 
ported, in 1834, a few members. In 1838, Staunton had only sixty white 
members, and unable to support a preacher alone, to whom it had given 
usually, as a single man, $100 and his board. It was now placed again as 
one of the appointments on the Augusta Circuit." In 1882, there were 
twenty Methodist churches in Augusta county, with a membership of 
1,511. The value of the church property was $29,100. There were also 
six parsonages, valued at $11,500. The Wesleyan Female Institute, held 
by trustees for the Baltimore Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South, is located in Staunton, and valued at $60,000. The African portion 
of the Methodist church is represented in Staunton by two large and 
flourishing congregations, one of which worships in an imposing brick 



88 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

edifice, handsomely fitted up, and the other in a substantial and well ap- 
pointed frame church. Scattered throughout the county are a number of 
chapels and churches, in which services are held at regular intervals. 

THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN AUGUSTA. 

The Baptists differ from other sects chiefly in the mode of administering 
baptism, which, they conceive, should always be by immersion, and they 
reject the baptism of infants. There were many of this faith in Holland, 
Germany, and the north of Europe ; in Piedmont and the south. Their 
first congregation in England was in 1607. As early as 1754, Mr. Stearns, 
a preacher of this sect, and several others, removed from New England to 
Opeckon, in the present county of Berkeley, where they formed a Baptist 
church, under the care of Rev. John Gerard. This was probably the first 
Baptist church founded west of the Blue Ridge in Virginia. 

The first effort to plant a church in Staunton was in 1834, and in 1836 
Rev. Texas Freeman came into the county and labored as a missionary, 
but soon left the work, owing to ill health. In 1849, Rev. T. W. Rob- 
erts was sent as a missionary to Nelson and Augusta counties. 

In 1853, Dr. S. B. Rice came to Staunton, and a church was organized 
in the Town Hall by Revs. L. W. Allen, Samuel Harris and Charles 
Wingfield, with about twenty members. Major Wm. H. Peyton and S. 
F. Taylor were the principal members. L. W. Allen preached a sermon 
from John, ch. xviii, v. 36. Dr. Rice was elected pastor. Funds for erect- 
ing a church were raised, principally in Eastern Virginia, and the corner- 
stone of the present edifice was laid June 26, 1855, Rev. J. L. Burrows 
delivering an address in the Episcopal church. Dr. Rice was succeeded 
in 1857 by Rev. Geo, B. Taylor. Under Dr. T., the membership increased 
rapidly, the church debt was paid, and the General Association met with 
this church, in its first session west of the Blue Ridge, May 31, i860. 
After the Civil War, 1865, most of the colored members were dismissed, 
to form a separate organization. In 1870, Dr. Taylor, who had been ap- 
pointed Chaplain of the University of Virginia, was succeeded by Rev. 
W. H, Williams. During his pastorate the Church continued to flourish, 
and Prof, Hart's school was removed to Staunton. On Mr. Williams' 
resignation, Dr. Taylor was recalled, and was pastor till 1873, when he 
resigned, to accept the appointment of missionary to Rome. Rev. Dr. J. 
F. Deans was engaged to supply his place, and labored with great accept- 
ance till July, when he removed from Staunton. In the following October, 
1873, Dr. Charles Manly became pastor, and served till 1880. He was 
an excellent pastor, and did more than any one, during his time, to build 
up the Church in the town and county, Rev. Thos. Hume, Jr., followed 
Dr, Manly, and served till March i, 1880, when Rev, J, M. Frost, Jr., 
took charge, and labored with such success that in 1882 more than one 
hundred new members have been added to the church. In the county. 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 89 

Rev. J. H. Taylor and Rev. C. F. Fry have done much toward building 
up the denomination. The Baptists now have six churches in Augusta 
and 891 members. Besides these, are two African Baptist churches in 
Staunton, Mt. Zion and Ebenezer, and a number of small chapels and 
churches throughout the county. 

THE TUNKER, OR GERMAN BAPTIST CHURCH. 

We are indebted to the Rev. Samuel Driver for the following brief ac- 
count of the Tunker Church in Augusta : 

The Tunker, or German Baptist Church, was first organized in Augusta 
about the year 1790, by Bishop Miller, the father of Bishop John Miller, 
who now resides near Mount Sidney. Rev. John Miller was the first 
Bishop permanently settled in the county. After the organization in 1800, 
the Church received accessions of members, and it was found necessary to 
district the county, and a Bishop, or Elder, was appointed for each 
district. The names of the districts are Mt. Vernon, of which the two 
Elders are Messrs. John Cline and George Wine ; 2nd — Barren Ridge — 
Elder, John Bower ; Middle River District — Elder, Levi Garber ; 3rd — 
Valley District — Elders, John Miller and Daniel Miller; Fourth District is 
Moscow — Elder, Levi A. Wenger. In the above list is included all the 
Tunker churches in the county, but there are several branches or congre- 
gations who worship at different points in the county, notably, one at 
Union Hall, in the western part of Augusta ; one at Jarman's Gap, in the 
Blue Ridge ; and one every fifth Sabbath in the Episcopal Trinity chapel, 
near Hebron, The Rev. Sam'l Driver preaches thus four times a year in 
Trinity chapel. There are in Augusta about nine hundred communicants. 
In the United States the Tunkers have three colleges, the first at Hunting- 
ton, Penn., the second in Ashland county, Ohio, and the third at Lanarck, 
Illinois. In connection with all Tunker churches there are Sunday-schools, 
and the Tunker community is justly celebrated for industry, integrity, and 
piety. 

THE LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AUGUSTA. 

Wm. E. Craig, Esq., has kindly furnished the following account of the 
Lutheran Church : 

Among the early emigrants to the Valley of Virginia were many Luth- 
erans, but we have no account of any organized Church in Augusta until 
about the year 1780, when a congregation was formed, and Coiner's 
Church built. This church is about five miles southwest of Waynesboro, 
and we think the first minister was Rev. Adolph Spindle. We have no 
list of his successors, but the present minister is Rev. Mr. Kuegle, and 
the number of communicants about 100. The first trustees and organizers 
of the church were Casper Koiner, Martin Bush, and Jacob Barger. The 
next church organized was Mt. Tabor, about the year 1785. We have 
no list of the former ministers, but the present minister is Rev. L. L. 



90 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

Smith. The number of communicants in this church is about 250. Mt. 
Zion church, situated about six miles west of Middlebrook, was organized 
about 1830, with the following trustees: Martin Miller, David C. Arehart, 

and Weaver. Its number of communicants is about 100, with Rev. 

J. M. Hedrick as its present pastor. Under the charge of Rev. J. M. 
Hedrick is also Mt. Herman church and congregation, situated at New- 
port, organized about 1850 by Rev. C. Beard, with A. S. Craig, Wm. 
Black and David Hull as the first trustees and organizers. The number 
of communicants is about 75. 4th. — Bethlehem, near Fishersville, was 
organized about 1845, with the following trustees : Absalom Koiner, Cyrus 
Koiner, and David W. Coiner. Rev. L. A. Fox, DD., has served this 
charge for a number of years, and is its present pastor. Number of com- 
municants, 150. 5th. — The second Mt. Zion church, near Waynesboro, 
was organized about the same time as Bethlehem. Its first pastor was 

Rev Bowman. Rev. C. Beard served this congregation from 1854 

to 1 88 1. Rev. J. H. Barb is the present pastor. Communicants, 100. 
6th. — The congregation at Staunton was organized and the church built 
about 1850 by Rev. John B. Davis, DD., and George Shuey, B. F. Points 
and George Baylor as the first trustees. Col. George Baylor was mainly 
instrumental in organizing this congregation and building the church. 
The lot was purchased and the church built by the " Virginia Synod," 
together with the aid given it by Col Baylor and other representatives of 
that Synod, under the charge of Col. Baylor as principal superintendent. 
Rev. J. B. Davis, DD., was the first pastor. Rev. D. M. Gilbert. DD.,the 
second, Rev. J. I. Miller the third, Rev. M. R. Minnick the fourth, and 
Rev. J. B. Haskell, the fifth. Number of communicants, about 200, 
6th. — Salem church is located near Mt. Sidney, and was built about 1845. 
It has been served by the pastors in connection with Mt. Zion, No. 2. Its 
number of communicants is about 100. Its present pastor is Rev. A. C. 
Gearhart. 7th. — The Churchville church was built also about 1850, under 
the supervision of Rev. J. B. Davis, DD. Rev. C. Beard is now serving it 
as a supply. Number of communicants, about 75. 8th. — Bethany, near 
Waynesboro, and Pleasant View, near Staunton, have been organized 
within the past five years. The Bethlehem minister serves Bethany, and 
the Staunton minister Pleasant View. The number of communicants of 
each church is about 75. 

The Catholic Church, at Staunton, is situated on a beautiful site on 
the east side of Augusta street, in a fine grove of maples and other native 
trees. The edifice, a substantial brick structure, was built in 1850, the lot, 
which embraces half a square, being donated by the late M. Quinlan, 
Esq. Until about the year 1841, there were but one or two Catholic fami- 
lies in Staunton. The Rev. Daniel Downey made missionary journeys to 
this section from Lynchburg, and labored with such success that in the 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 91 

year 1850 he was enabled to gather a flock around him sufficiently large to 
form the nucleus of a congregation. With zeal they undertook the erec- 
tion of the church, the reverend gentleman's most active helpers being 
Messrs. M. Quinlan and Patrick McAlear. Having thus secured a hand- 
some house of worship, Rev, Downey became the pastor, and con- 
tinued to minister to the spiritual wants of the congregation until 1857, 
when he resigned, and was succeeded by Rev. T. A. Sears, who served 
until 1859. From 1859 to 1861, the church was supplied from Richmond. 
Rev. Jos, Bixio, a Jesuit, then became the pastor, and continued in that rela- 
tion until 1866, when he was succeeded by Rev. J. A. Weed, who died in 
March, 1871. His successor was the Rev. John McVerry, the present pastor. 
During his pastorate, the Rev. McVerry has been aided by the following 
assistant pastors, viz : Rev. J. A. G. Riley, Rev. Peter Fitzsimmons, Rev. 
H.J McKeefry, and the present assistant, Rev. G. T. O'Ferrall. The 
church has prospered. Its membership now reaches 700. The church 
property embraces a handsome brick parsonage. The parochial school 
was, in 1878, placed under the charge of the Sisters of Charity, and since 
then a commodious and imposing brick structure has been erected for 
educational purposes. The school itself has made marked progress, and 
promises, ere long, to be abreast of Staunton's most flourishing seminaries 
of learning. 



CHAPTER Vn. 



With the first colonist to Virginia came a clergyman of the Established 
Church, and from that time onward the Church was protected and fostered 
in Virginia. Non-conformists were expelled from the colony, and a fine 
of 5,000 pounds of tobacco was exacted from participants m the meetings 
of Dissenters. Papists, Presbyterians, and Quakers, were alike perse- 
cuted, and those who even entertained a Quaker were liable to a heavy 
fine. The first sect to make head against this intolerance was the Presby- 
terian, under Rev. Francis Makemie, and the Scotch- Irish settlers of our 
Valley. About the year 1698, this intolerant spirit began to decline, and 
by the year 1776, more than half the people of Virginia were Dissenters, 
and during the war, the Church went down, apparently unregretted. The 
course and reason of the change can be readily followed. The reaction 
which ensued after the intense spiritual excitement of the seventeenth cen- 
tury produced a species of religious lethargy in the eighteenth. Frigid 



■92 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COCNTY. 

morality, a well-bred abhorrence of anything like zeal, and a worldly indif- 
ference, characterized the English clergyman of the latter period and their 
Virginian brethren. The colonial ministers, as a class, were ruder and 
narrower than those of the mother country, and their coldness and indif- 
ference to great religious principles showed themselves more plainly and 
coarsely. Religion declined, and " paganism, atheism and sectaries " be- 
gan to prevail. " Quakers," says Byrd, " prevail in Nansemond county, 
for the want of ministers to pilot the people a better way to heaven." 
Advantage was taken of this relaxation by the Presbyterians, who exacted, 
as we have seen, from Gov. Gooch, promises of toleration to those of their 
faith. Their eloquent and earnest men, however, soon aroused the latent 
hostility of the ruling Church, and Gooch himself joined in the resistance 
to the new doctrines. But the Dissenting sects were full of vitality, and 
grew apace, while the Established Church, maintained simply as a part of 
the social system, declined with proportionate rapidity. The success of 
the Revolution, and the withdrawal of support, caused the Church to fall 
into ruins. 

The Church of England was, as we have said, established by law in 
Virginia, to the exclusion, and without toleration of any other denomina- 
tion. The Act of Conformity, passed by the British Parliament, was ac- 
knowledged as law, and carried into execution by the magistrates. It 
must be remembered, however, that while the Church of England was 
thus recognized, from the settlement at Jamestown down to the Revolu- 
tion, it was, during this long period of 170 years, kept in a state of bondage 
to the Government, which never allowed it to organize. For political 
reasons, it was not permitted to have a bishop, and there were no ordi- 
nances or confirmations in Virginia during the whole colonial period. 
Candidates for orders had to make the voyage to England. The Church 
was not only denied an executive head, but it had no legislature. It had 
no authority to pass a law, enact a canon, or inflict a penalty, not even for 
the discipline of its own ministers and members, and it never performed 
one of these functions. And this enslavement, no doubt, impaired its 
spirit, and rendered it less active in the cause of religion than would other- 
wise have been the case. 

In the previous chapter, we have referred to some of the minor reasons 
which begot a spirit of liberality early in the eighteenth century with the 
colonial authorities in their policy towards Dissenters west of the Blue 
Ridge, namely : A desire to erect a barrier against the encroachments of 
the Indians. Such motives doubtless had their weight with men like 
Gooch, but there was a deeper and broader motive beginning to influence 
the people of Virginia, and which showed itself conspicuously at a later 
period. This was their hostility to the establishment of any religion in 
America by the British Parliament. This feeling, which existed long be- 



HISTOET OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 93 

fore the Revolution, led the sages of 1776 to unite afterwards in destroy- 
ing all ecclesiastical establishments by the bill for religious freedom, which 
was passed by the General Assembly of Virginia December 16, 1785. 

Though the Episcopal was the established religion, no church existed in 
Augusta previous to 1746, and Rev. Joseph Doddridge, DD., the first 
minister of the Episcopal Church who visited the regions of Western Vir- 
ginia and Eastern Ohio, in his " Notes on the Settlement and Indian 
Wars of Western Virginia and Pennsylvania, from 1763 to 1783," thus 
speaks upon the subject of this apathy and neglect : 

" The Episcopal Church, which ought to have been foremost in gather- 
ing their scattered flocks, had been the last and done the least of any 
Christian community in the evangelical work. Taking the western coun- 
try, in its whole extent, at least one-half of its population 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 and dying without the ordinances of 
religion. It can be no subject of regret that these ordinances were placed 
within their reach by 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 suffragan bishop, of a faithful spirit, who, twenty years ago, should 
have ordained these 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, nu- 
merous and respectable ; but the opportunity was neglected, and the con- 
sequent loss to this Church is irreparable. So total a neglect of the spir- 
itual interest 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 eccle- 
siastical 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 on 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 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. There is 
still an immense void in this country, which it is their duty to fill up. 
From their respectability, on the ground of antiquity 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 just expectations of her own people, as well as those 
of other communities, in contributing her full share to the science, piety 
and civilization of our country. From the whole of our ecclesiastical his- 
tory, it appears that, with the exception of the Episcopal Church, all our 
religious communities have done well for their country" 

Bishop Meade differs with Dr. Doddridge as to the percentage of Epis- 
copalians in the population, and assigns very reasonable causes for his 
belief; but as Dr. Doddridge wrote of a country in which he lived, and 



94 HISTORY OF AUOU8TA COUNTY. 

with whose people he mingled, he is more likely to be correct than a sub- 
sequent writer. We cannot but attribute the tardiness of the church in 
evangelizing to the character of the Episcopal clergy, of whom the Bishop 
of London said about this time in a letter to Dr. Doddridge : " Of those who 
are sent from hence, a great part are the Scotch or Irish, who can get no 
employment at home, and enter into the service more out of necessity than 
choice. Some others are willing to go abroad to retrieve lost fortune or 
lost character. For these reasons, and others of less weight, I did apply 
to the King, as soon as I was Bishop of London, to have two or three 
bishops appointed for the plantations, to reside there." 

Of the clergy, more particularly the English, as contradistinguished from 
the Scotch and Irish representatives of the Church in the pulpit, the fol- 
lowing is a picture — graphic, and, no doubt, perfectly true : 

With some exceptions, the Virginian clergy aped the manners and habits 
of the laity. Most of them were men who cultivated their glebes like 
other planters, preaching once a week, and performing the other services 
of the Church for the sake of an addition to their income. Their morals 
were loose, and the general tone of the profession was low. Here and 
there might be found a man of exemplary life and high character; but the 
average parson was coarse and rough, and his parishioners might be 
thankful, if he was not also a drunkard and gambler. They hunted the 
fox and raced horses ; they played cards ; turned marriages, christenings 
and funerals alike into revels, and sat out the stoutest planter after dinner 
to finally accompany him under the table. One reverend gentleman 
bawled to his church warden during communion, " Here, George, this 
bread is not fit for a dog." Another commemorated his Church and office 
by fighting a duel in the grave-yard. Another received a regular stipend 
for preaching four sermons annually against atheism, gambling, racing, 
and swearing, although he was notorious as a gambler, swearer, and horse- 
racer. Still another, of great physical strength, thrashed his vestry 
soundly, and then added insult to injury by preaching to them next Sun- 
day from the text, " And I contended with them, and cursed them, and 
smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair." — [Meade, vol. I, pp. i8, 
162, 231, 250, 275, 361, 387, 470: Vol. II, 179.] One married a wealthy 
widow, although he had a wife living in England. Another was brought 
before a magistrate for drinking and carousing on Christmas Eve, and 
another, who dined every Sunday with a great planter, was sent home 
tied in his chaise, under care of a servant. At every race-course and cock- 
pit might be seen reverend divines betting on the contending birds or 
horses. — [Foote, II: 371.] The petty tradesmen would not trust them 
beyond their salary, and extorted 150 per cent, for interest. 

Among the colonial clergy there was another class, quite the reverse of 
the rollicking blades described, and less to be admired. These were the 



BISTORT OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 95 

self-seeking and ambitious, who, in order to impose upon the world, and 
secure professional success, kept up a constant appearance of sanctity. 
There was no defective preaching or evil living on the part of these models 
of decorum. The sanctity of such, as may be readily imagined, did not 
proceed from spiritual motives and the sentiments of the heart ; it was a 
certain exterior, which they found themselves compelled to preserve. 
Their devotion did not spring from devout feelings; it was affected, 
whether experienced or not. This gave something formal and uncouth to 
their manners. And it could scarcely have been otherwise. A continual 
attention to a pious exterior necessarily gives a constrained and artificial 
bearing to the carriage. The characters of all ministers, under a religion 
established by law and supported by taxation, are liable to be disadvanta- 
geously affected by their situation as legalized guides and teachers of 
others. They address their, audiences at stated periods, and no one is 
allowed to contradict them. They pronounce the prayers of the congre- 
gation, visit the sick, and officiate as oracles to such as are in distress. 
They seek to govern the thoughts of their parishioners, and to restrain 
the irregular sallies of their understandings. They warn their flocks 
against innovation and the intrepidity of thinking. The adversary is 
silent before them. With other men he may argue, but if he attempt to 
discuss a subject freely and impartially with them, it is construed into a 
personal insult. Thus, the circumstances of every day tend to confirm in 
them a dogmatical, imperious, illiberal and intolerant character. Worthy 
Bishop Meade, who recounts the doings of our colonial clergy with much 
sorrow, says there was not only defective preaching, but, as might be sup- 
posed, most evil living among the clergy. The natural result followed, 
and the revival of the eighteenth century broke down the old clergy and 
their abuses. Then came the ill-advised struggle for salaries, famous as 
" The Parsons' Cause," the fatuous effort to procure a bishop, and a fatal 
indecision and lukewarmness in the contest with England. The Revolu- 
tion was the finishing-stroke, and the old Church of Virginia perished. 

But we must return. With such a clergy as above described, no mis- 
sionaries could be found to cross the Blue Ridge, and there was no Estab- 
lished Church in Augusta until nearly fifteen years after the foundation of 
the colony, when the ground was already occupied by Presbyterian and 
other Dissenters. There were doubtless a few Episcopalians in Augusta, 
though it has been observed, we do not know how truly, that persons of 
that denomination do not like new countries, or are deficient in zeal, where 
it is not cherished by parish or tithe. There may have been another rea- 
son. Education is in the Episcopal Church a necessary qualification for 
administering the affairs of both Church and State, and both the educa- 
tion and population of the Valley, to a great extent, belonged to the Scotch- 
Irish, or Dissenting element. In 1745, steps were taken to introduce the 



96 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

Established Church in the county, and in 1746 the first election for 'a vestry 
of Augusta parish took place and resulted in the choicefof the following 
persons : James Patton, Thomas Gordon, John Buchanan, John Madison, 
Patrick Hays, John Christian, Robt. Alexander, Jas. Lockhart, Jas. Bu- 
chanan, Jr., Jno. Archer, Jno. Mathews, and J. Smith. John Madison was 
elected clerk, and Robt. Alexander and James Lockhart church wardens, 
who, before entering upon the discharge of their duties, took the follow- 
ing oaths : 

OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 

" I, A. B., do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful and bear 
true allegiance to his Majesty, King George the Second. So help me 
God." 

OATH OF ABJURATION, ENFORCED BY ACT OF I70I, ABOLISHED 1858. 

" I, A. B., do swear that I do from my heart abhor, detest, and abjure, as 
impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position that Princes 
excommunicated or deprived by the Pope, or any authority of the See of 
Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects, or any other what- 
soever. And I do declare that no foreign Prince, Prelate, Person, State or 
Potentate, hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, 
preeminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm. So 
help me God." 

OATH OF ALLEGIANCE, IMPOSED I558, CHANGED 1689. MODIFIED 1838. 

" I, A. B., do truly and sincerely acknowledge and promise, testify and 
declare, in my conscience, before God and the world, that our Sovereign 
Lord, King George the Second, is lawful and rightful King of this realm 
and all other his Majesty's dominions and countries hereunto belonging; 
and I do solemnly and sincerely declare that I do believe in my conscience 
that the person pretended to be Prince of Wales during the life of the late 
King James, and since his decease pretending to be, and taking upon him- 
self the style and title of the King of England, or by the name of James 
III, or of Scotland by the name of James VIII, or the style and title of 
King of Great Britain, hath not any right whatsoever to the crown of this 
realm, or any other dominion hereunto belonging ; and I do renounce, 
refuse and abjure any allegiance or obedience to him, and I do swear that 
I will bear faithful and true allegiance to H. M. King George II, and him 
will defend to the utmost of my power against all traitorous conspiracies 
and attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his person, crown or 
dignity ; and I will do my utmost to endeavor to disclose and make known 
to his Majesty and his successors all treasonable and traitorous conspiracies 
which I shall know to be against him, or any of them ; and I do faithfully 
promise, to the utmost of my power, to support, maintain and defend the 
successor of the crown against him, the said James, and all other persons 
whatsoever, which succession, by an act entitled 'An act for the further 
limitation of the crown and better securing the rights and liberties of the 
subject,' is and stands limited to the Princess Sophia, late Electress and 
Duchess, dowager of Hanover, and the heirs of her body, being Protes- 
tants ; and all other these things I do plainly and severally acknowledge 
and swear, according to these express words by me spoken, and according 
to the plain and common sense understanding of the same words, without 



HISTOKT OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 97 

any equivocation, mental evasion, or secret reservation whatsoever ; and I 
do make this recognition, acknowledgment, abjuration, renunciation, and 
promise, heartily, willingly, and truly, upon the true faith of a Christian. 
So help me God." 

TEST OATH PASSED 1673, REPEALED 1828. 

" I do declare that I do believe that there is not any transsubstantiation 
in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, or in the elements ol bread and 
wine, at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever." 



The vestries of that day represented all the local and municipal govern- 
ment there was in Virginia. They had assigned to them, by act of the 
Burgesses, secular functions, made returns of births, marriages and deaths, 
presented for crimes, commanded the sheriffs to hold the election for Bur- 
gesses and assisted the county courts in building work-houses. They 
" processioned the lands " every four years, and kept up the roads and 
ferries. 

The first vestry of Augusta parish was doubtless largely composed of 
Dissenters, men who, so far as religion was concerned, were politically 
Episcopalians and doctrinally Presbyterians, but willing to submit out- 
wardly to the powers in being, while they held themsel ves free to have 
their own private opinions. With the exception of Madison, their names 
would seem to indicate this. A liberal feeling prevailed for many years 
after the introduction of the Church of England, and all denominations of 
Christians attended worship, and now and again dissenting ministers 
preached from the Episcopal pulpit. 

The community still retained strong marks of its Presbyterian leaven ; 
the clergyman abjured gown and surplice ; the clerk, a layman, read the 
lessons ; the altar forsook the East windows, and the congregation stood 
and received the Holy Sacrainent. When dissenting ministers increased 
in numbers, the doctrines of dissent were more widely promulgated ; the 
old spirit of non-conformity awoke ; there were many seceders from the 
church, and almost all the sects extant in England were before the Revolu- 
tion represented in Augusta. 

First Rector of Augusta Parish. — At the first meeting of the 
vestry, held in the court-house, 6th of April, 1747, Rev. John Hindman, 
having produced letters from the Governor and Commissary, directed to 
Col. John Patton, setting forth his ability as a minister, the vestry agreed 
to accept of him, conditionally — viz.: That the said Hindman will not in- 
sist on the parish purchasing Glebe lands, building a Glebe, and such 
other necessaries as are prescribed by law for the space of two years, until 
the parish be more able to bear such charges, and that he agree to preach 
in this court ■'house, and in people's houses of the same persuasion, in the 
different quarters of the parish, as shall be most convenient, and that he 
administer the Sacrament in the court-house instead of a church, and in 



98 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

different quarters of the parish as aforesaid, unless His Honor, the Gover- 
nor, thinks proper to reverse the same, which shall not be by complaint of 
said Hindman or any person for him, and that he bring in his charge at 
the laying the parish levy for the same. 

A Glebe. — Our English ancestors were particular to make provision 
for the support of the clergy ; to place them above want and the disrespect 
which too generally attends upon poverty ; to place those who were to in- 
struct ignorance, and be the censors of vice, where they would neither 
incur the contempt nor live upon the alms of the people. The Augusta 
vestry were ready to comply with the provisions of the law in this matter, 
but were particular to stipulate, as above, with Mr. Hindman, as a protec- 
tion against any inconsiderate or rapacious conduct on his part. They 
looked on his dues as his property, and they intended to protect him in 
that possession, but they were determined, also, to secure themselves 
against abuses. 

It is not surprising, considering what manner of men many of the Epis- 
copal clergy were in Virginia, that the vestry should have been thus 
guarded. The sincerity of the Augusta vestry is evident from their action 
in July, 1747, when a committee was appointed to purchase land for a 
Glebe, &c., &c., unless a place could be bought with sufficient improve- 
ments to answer the purposes. On September 21st, 1747, the vestry pro- 
ceeded to make the parish levy, when the number of tithables is stated to 
-be 1,670. If we allow five persons to a family, which is a moderate num- 
ber, the population of the county was, at this time, 8,350, and there were 
no poor, at least none who had applied for relief, as appears from the 
order of February 24th, i747-'48 : " That the money levied for fines, &c., 
be kept in the church wardens' hands until the meeting of the next vestry, 
the poor not being as yet known," Ordered that the persons appointed 
to purchase a Glebe meet on Monday next to purchase the same, and that 
the church wardens advertise and let the public buildings in November 
next, (September, 1747.) These lands were subsequently purchased of 
Robert Campbell, for the sum of ^60. 

The committee appointed for that purpose, having advertised and let out 
on contract the public buildings, at the meeting of the vestry board, Au- 
gust 22nd, 1748, this order was made : 

"John Lewis, gentleman, having undertaken the public buildings of 
Augusta parish for ^140., ordered that he be paid by John Madison, 
the trustee for the sd. parish, on raising the said buildings, ^74, and the 
remainder on completing the same, unless he want money to carry on the 
said work, which the said Madison is ordered to supply him with." 

These buildings had not been completed in 1750, when, on the 21st of 
Mayj it is 

"Ordered : That John Lewis, gendeman, do such work as shall be nec- 
essary for completing the public buildings on the Glebe, over and above 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 99 

his articles, and that it be valued by workmen, and that he be allowed for 
the same." 

In August, 1750, the vestry, at its meeting on the 6th, 

"Ordered that payment be made to Colonel John Lewis of ^64.17.1, 
the balance due him for the Glebe buildings." 

At the meeting of the 22d of August, 1748, the vestry proceeded to lay 
the parish levy as follows : 

Augusta Parish. Dr. 
To the Rev. John Hindman 16,000 pounds of to- 
bacco, at three farthings per pound, without any 

deduction _;i^50 o a 

To 10 per cent, on ditto for collection 500 

To Mr. Hindman, for board ... 20 o o 

To Samuel Gay, per agreement with church war- 
dens 140* 

To James Portees 2 50 

To Robt. McClenachan, peracct 4157 

To Daniel Harrison, per acct 10 o 

To John Madison, clerk 8 00 

^91 14 7 
The Parish Dr. 

To the above creditors . . ;^ 91 14 7 

To a deposite in the collector's hands 50 6 5 

£^42 I o 
Per contra — Creditor, 
To 1,421 tithables, at 2 shilling per pole ;^I42 i o 

While the church buildings were being constructed, the following provi- 
sion was made for Mr. Jones (the Rector) : 

" It appearing to this vestry (22nd November, 1752,) that the Glebe 
buildings are not yet finished, and the said Jones having acquainted this 
vestry that John Lewis, gentleman, (the contractor of the same) agrees to 
allow him at the rate of ^20 per annum until the same be finished, for 
which he declares himself satisfied, and acquits this vestry and parish of 
any further charge for the same. 

"Ordered that a reader to this parish be allowed the sum of £6.5 yearly, 
and that Rev. Mr. Jones have a liberty to choose the same to officiate at 
the court-house. 

"Ordered that William Preston be allowed the sum of ^5 per annum to 
serve as clerk for this vestry, and that he commence from the ist Septem- 
ber, 1752." 

It would seem from the following entry that some difficulty had occurred 

as to articles supplied the parish : 

"Ordered that every particular (thing) to be provided for the parish to be 
set down in the vestry book." 

Accordingly, at the October meeting, we find William Hunter send- 
ing in his account for articles furnished Col. James Patton for the parish, 
which is duly recorded : 



100 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

3 law books ^4 lo o 

3 stitched books 10 6 

Wax 30 

Ink powder 39 

1 ream post paper i 80 

2 8vo. prayer-books i 10 

I folio ditto 234 

£9 19 7 
The Glebe buildings seem to have been completed somewhere between 
I753~i754> as this order is entered on the 22dof November, 1754 : " That 
the church-wardens view the Glebe buildings, and make such reparation 
as they may deem proper, and bring in their charge at the laying of the 
next levy." 

The tradition that the church was built of English-made brick, trans- 
ported on pack mules across the mountains, is a myth. The community 
could not have borne such an expense. We have been informed by an 
aged gentleman that the brick for the Glebe buildings were made on Jos. 
Ast's farm, near Staunton. 

The caution of our ancestors is illustrated by the following entry, made 
evidently after the death or removal of Mr. Hindman, 21st May, 1750 : 

"Col. James Patton having produced a letter, under the hand of Peter 
Hedgman, gentleman, recommending Mr. Robert McClowseme, and desir- 
ing presentation might be made to the Commissary, but the vestry not 
being acquainted with him, do agree to present none nor receive any min- 
ister without a tryal being first had." 

The Glebe was sold about this time, and the proceeds invested in the 
Academy at Staunton. 

Rev. John Jones, Rector. — It does not appear at what precise period 

Mr. Hindman retired from the rectorship of the parish, but on the 13th of 

October, 1752, Gov. Dinwiddle recommended the Rev. John Jones to the 

parish in this note : 

"Williamsburg, i6th October, 1752. 

" To THE Vestry of Augusta Parish : 

" Gentlemen, — The Rev. Mr. John Jones has been recommended to me 
by many persons of good repute and undoubted credit as a worthy and 
learned divine. As such I recommend him to you, gentlemen, to be your 
pastor, not doubting but his conduct will be such as will entitie him to 
your favor by promoting peace and cultivating morality in the parish. 
Your receiving him to be your pastor will be very agreeable to, 
" Worshipful Gentlemen, 

" Your very humble seA''t, 

"ROBERT DINWIDDIE." 

A month later Mr. Jones was received as rector, with a salary of ^50 a 

year and ;^2o for his board. This excellent man continued to hold his 

position for over twenty-five years, and at the last meeting of the vestry at 

which he presided, November 19th, 1772, was authorized to employ a 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 101 

curate. In this capacity the services of Rev. Adam Smith were secured 
but he only remained one year in the parish, and on the 9th of November, 
1773, the Rev. Alex. Belmaine was chosen to fill his place. For more than 
four years subsequent to Mr. Belmaine's appointment, Mr. Jones retained 
his rectorship, as appears from this entry, made at the meeting of the ves- 
try February ist, 1777. Among those present was " Mr. Robert McClen- 
achan, attorney-in-fact of the Rev. John Jones, Rector," &c. Mr. Jones 
was absent, no doubt, from his advanced age and growing infirmities. It 
does not appear how long Mr. Belmaine remained in the parish, but in 
1776, he took an active part with the colonists against the mother country, 
and became a chaplain in the Revolutionary army. 

The financial affairs of the parish still seem to have been in an unsatis- 
factory condition, and we find this order, passed August 21st, 1753 : 

" Whereas, it appears to this vestry that there is no regular account 
either in the minute or register books, how the money collected off this 
parish, for the use of the same, is laid out, 

" I'ts, therefore, ordered that the church wardens and clerk of this ves- 
try wait upon Mr. John Madison, late clerk and treasurer for this parish, 
and demand of him a full and perfect account, deb'r and cred'r, with all 
the vouchers for all the money collected off this parish, both fines and 
levies, since the 6th of April, 1747 ; also a particular account of the per- 
sons' names given in the lists of tithable by Mr. Montgomery in the year 
1748." 

Mr. Madison and his brother officials do not seem to have been rigid 
men of business, or ink and paper must have been scarce, for at the next 
meeting of the vestry, November 28th, 1753, the following gentlemen, 
having apparently neglected to give receipts in writing, were produced 
before the vestry, in person — viz.: 

" Mr. Robert Campbell, of whom the Glebe land for this parish was 
purchased, acknowledged that he received the full sum of ^60 of Mr. 
James Lockhart, being the price agreed on for the said lands." 

"Col. John Lewis came into this vestry and acknowledged that he re- 
ceived of Mr. John Madison the sum of ;^I48, being the full sum agreed 
on for building the Glebe work, according to bargain. He also acknowl- 
edged that he will pay this parish ;^2o per year until the Glebe buildings 
be finished, according to agreement, to commence from the first of Sep- 
tember last past." 

" The Rev. John Jones acknowledged himself satisfied that he receives 
of this parish the sum of ;^20 per year from the ist September last until 
the Glebe buildings are finished, over and above his yearly salary." 

To prevent any further irregularities or looseness in business matters, 

this order was now made : 

"Ordered that the church wardens agree with a collector and take bond 
and sufficient security, and that said collector pay the money put into his 
hands to the church wardens as he collects it, and discount for the whole 
sum with this vestry at the laying of the next levy." 



102 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

Pursuing a strict business system, the church wardens then took the 
following among other receipts : 

" Received of Mr. James Lockhart the sum of ^50, Virginia currency, 
for salary from the ist of September, 1752, till the ist of September, 1753; 
also /4.6.8 for a visit in July, 1752. I say, received by me. 

[Signed] "JOHN JONES." 

" Received of Mr. James Lockhart the sum of ^5, which was due from 
Augusta parish to me for one year's service as clerk to the vestry. I say, 
received by me. 

[Signed] "WM. PRESTON." 

" Received of Mr. James Lockhart the sum of one pound ten, on Wil- 
liam Hayne's account, for carrying the vestry books from Williamsburg. 
I say, received by me. [Signed] DAVID STUART." 

And so on with all the accounts. That the vestry meant business, is 
obvious from this order, made Nov. 27, 1754 : " It appearing to this vestry 
that Robt. McClenachan, gent., late Sheriff of Augusta county, and Col- 
lector of the parish levy, had collected in the year 1748 eighty-one titha- 
bles, at 23. each, the then parish levy, and had not accounted for the same, 
and refuseth so to do, it's 

Ordered, That the church wardens of this parish employ an attorney, 
practicing in this court, to prosecute him for the same." 

From an act of the General Assembly, passed at the session of 1753, it 
appears that the salary of ^50 a year was not sufficient for the support of 
the rector. The act provided : 

That from and after the passing of this act, the vestries of the parishes 
of Frederick and Augusta and of Hampshire, when the same shall take 
place, at the times of laying their respective levies, shall * * * levy and 
assess upon the tithable persons in their respective parishes an annual 
salary of ^100 for the minister of the said parishes, respectively, with an 
allowance of 6 per cent, for collecting the said salary, to be collected, 
levied, distrained for, and paid in the manner directed by the first above 
mentioned act, instead of, and in full compensation for the said salary of 
16,000 pounds of tobacco and cask ; and if the vestries of either said par- 
ishes shall neglect or refuse to levy said ;^ 100, in such case all the vestry- 
men of the parish neglecting or refusing, shall be liable to the action of 
the minister injured thereby, his executors or administrators, for, all dam- 
ages which he shall sustain by occasion of such refusal or neglect. 

In 1760, it was resolved to build a new brick church in Staunton, 40 feet 

by 25. The work was undertaken and executed by Francis Smith, gent., 

of Hanover. 

DIVISION OF THE PARISH. 

On May 23d, 1774, the House of Burgesses received a petition from sun- 
dry inhabitants of the county and parish of Augusta, representing that 
" the parish is upwards of ninety miles long and near eighty miles wide, 
and that there are between three and four thousand tithables in it, and but 
one church ; therefore, praying it may be divided." No action seems to 
have been taken on this subject by the House. 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 103 

" From the commencement of the Revolution, onward," says Rev. T. 
T. Castleman, " until the year 1781, the doors of the venerable old church 
in Staunton remained closed. In that year, however, a portion of the 
British army, under Tarleton, drove the Legislature from its place of meet- 
ing, in Richmond, first to Charlottesville, and thence to Staunton. And 
here they held their meetings in the old church, and here the proposition 
was made to create "a dictator." Here they remained in session undis- 
turbed for about sixteen days, and adjourned to meet in Richmond in 
October following. 

"About 1788, the rectorship of the old church was in the hands of a Mr. 
Chambers. Who he was, or how long he remained in the parish, we are 
nowhere informed. Tradition says that after a short residence in this 
place, he removed to Kentucky. 

" Years rolled on, in which a long interval occurred in the rectorship of 
the parish. At length the few friends who had been left from the desola- 
tions of the Revolution, and from the withering odium which had fallen 
on the Church because of its connection with the British crown, began to 
lift up their heads and to look around with a cautious and timid eye for 
some one to minister to them in holy things. At length a good old man, 
moving in the humbler walks of life ; remarkable for nothing but his inno- 
cent and inoffensive piety, presented himself as willing to serve them in 
the capacity of God's minister. He had long been a member of the 
Methodist church, and had there imbibed that spirit of feeling and ardent 
religion which seemed so peculiarly to characterize that body of Chris- 
tians in those dreary days of our Church. Notwithstanding Mr. King's 
(for that was his name) roughness of manners, his meagre education, his 
simplicity of intellect, and his humble profession as a steam-doctor, he was 
taken in hand by a few friends of the Church and pushed forward in his 
laudable efforts. He was sent off with letters of commendation from 
Judge Archibald Stuart and the Hon. John H. Peyton to Bishop Madison, 
who ordained him Deacon, and sent him back to read the services and 
sermons to the desolate little flock in Staunton. His ministry began in 
181 1, and closed with his death, in 18 19. That was a long and cheerless 
day for the Church here. No evidence can be found that she had a single 
communicant, besides the simple-hearted old Deacon, to kneel at her altar. 
So unpopular was her cause, that none but those whose principles were as 
true and unbending as steel, would venture openly to avow themselves 
her friends. An eye-witness told me that on the occasion of the first ser- 
vice after Mr. King's return from Williamsburg, the small congregation, 
the feeble and disjointed responses, the dampening dreariness of the church, 
with its old, high-back pews, and the long, sing-song, drawling tones in 
which the new Deacon attempted to read the service and one of Blair's 
sermons, presented a solemn ludicrousness he never before or since wit- 
nessed. The congregation, numbering not a dozen, left the church, dis- 
pirited and ashamed, almost resolved never to repeat the expermient. Mr. 
King died here, esteemed by all who knew him for his humble zeal and 
simple-hearted piety. 

"On January i, 1820, Rev. Daniel Stephens, DD., visited the parish and 
remained till the following Easter. On Easter Monday the congregation 
assembled and elected Vincent Tapp, Chapman Johnson, John H. Peyton, 
Briscoe G. Baldwin, Dabney Cosby, Wm. Young, Erasmus Stribling, Jacob 
Fackler, L. L. Stevenson, Alex. McCausland, A. M. Mosby, and N. C. Kin- 
ney. This vestry immediately assembled and passed resolutions highly com- 



104 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

mendatory of the preaching and living of Dr. Stephens, and unanimously 
electing him their rector. These were the props and pillars of the Church 
in its darkest and most trying days. Dr. Stephens labored and preached 
with a zeal and devotion which secured for him the confidence and love of 
the great mass of the congregation. Under his ministry, the Church was 
somewhat revived and the hearts of its friends cheered. At a convocation 
held in Staunton in May, 182 1, the number of communicants reported was 
fifteen. In 1827, Dr. Stephens removed to the far West, where he died in 
1850. His ministry was followed in 1831 by the Rev. Ebenezer Boyden. 
In the early part of Mr. B.'s ministry, the venerable old church was torn 
down, and a new one erected near its site. The latter was ready for use 
on July 23, 1831. Mr. Boyden continued in the parish, with high credit 
and universal acceptability to his congregation, until Jan. 7, 1833, when he 
resigned for another field in the West. Next came the Rev. W, G. Jack- 
son, who preached with success and acceptability for several years. He 
was succeeded by Rev. Fred. D. Goodwin, who continued until 1843, and 
removed to Nelson county, leaving sixty-two communicants. He was fol- 
lowed by Rev. Thos. T. Castleman, who entered on his duties August, 
1843, and continued in them until 1857." 

He was succeeded by Rev. J. A. Latane, who served until 1871, when 
he withdrew from the church, left Staunton, and is now Bishop of the Re- 
formed Episcopal Church of the United States, and a resident of Baltimore. 
The present rector, Rev. W. Q. Hullihen, was chosen to fill Mr. Latane's 
place in the year 1871. 

Having given, as necessary to faithful history, a brief account of the 
Established Church in Virginia during the colonial period, when it was a 
corrupt Church, with an unworthy and hireling clergy — an account we 
would fain have blotted from the page of history — it is proper to refer, 
and it gives us no ordinary pleasure to do so, to the wonderful change which 
has, since the Revolution, taken place in Virginia. It must not be for- 
gotten that while there were defective preaching and evil living among the 
colonial clergy, many of whom proved faithless shepherds, deserting their 
flocks during the war, some seeking Canada, others returning to England, 
and not a few taking to secular pursuits, there was also among them a 
small number of sincerely pious men, full of zeal and fidelity, whose reli- 
gion was deeper than a vague, instinctive feeling. Such a man was Alex. 
Belmaine, who once filled the Staunton pulpit, as we have seen, and who, 
for this reason, is here specially alluded to. He was a man with enough 
of the weakness of humanity to have often been led astray by those around 
him, always warm-hearted, and in his later years, remarkable for his sin- 
cere repentance, his fervid piety, and exemplary life. This good, but too 
frequently erring man, would often, when standing in the chancel on sacra- 
mental occasions, refer in eloquent terms, and with tears in his eyes, to his 
past errors. 

When the connection with the Bishop ot London, the tie which united 
the churches in America, was severed by the acknowledgment of our inde- 



HISTORY OP AUGUSTA COUNTY. 105 

pendence, steps were taken to form for the United States a future eccle- 
siastical government. The first move was in 1784, and in 1785 a meet- 
ing was held in Philadelphia, in which seven States were represented. At 
this meeting the Book of Common Prayer was altered, accommodating it 
to the recent changes in the State. Other steps were also taken for a 
complete organization. It is unnecessary to go into the details of the 
history of the Protestant Episcopal Church, even if our limits and design 
admitted of it. Suffice it to say that it has had, since the formation of the 
Federal Union, a regular, vigorous growth, and has now a sure footing in 
every part of our country ; has founded theological seminaries, domestic 
and foreign mission societies, Sunday-school unions and book societies, 
societies for the promotion of evangelical knowledge, historical societies, 
church extension societies, the University of the South and ladies' colleges, 
all highly successful, and under control of the General Convention. These 
gratifying results have been obtained by reason of the fact that we have 
been blessed for nearly a century with a truly pious, humble-minded, and 
zealous ministry — men of deep-seated and pervasive piety, many of them 
possessing sound, discriminating, well-balanced minds, some gifted with 
eloquence, and all preaching diligently and faithfully " unto death." Some 
of them have had social dispositions and highly-engaging manners, ren- 
dering themselves peculiarly acceptable to and influential with their flocks, 
and the whole constituting a body or fraternity every way equal to any 
similar body of Christian ministers in the land. 

EPISCOPAL CHAPELS. 

There are two Episcopal chapels in Augusta, one called Boyden Chapel, 
situated near Folly Mills, the other near Hebron church, called Trinity 
chapel. No clergyman officiates regularly in either. 

ORPHAN CHILDREN. 

Previous to the Revolution, the vestries bound out orphan children as 
apprentices. They were required to serve until they arrived at the age of 
twenty-one, were instructed in some art, were taught to read and write and 
arithmetic, given two suits of clothing, etc. 

THORNROSE CEMETERY. 

To within a comparatively recent period, the grave-yard of the Episco- 
pal church in Staunton was used for the interment of all persons dying in 
or near the city. Its overcrowded condition, and the fear that the air 
might become tainted, and thus spread disease and death, led to the pur- 
chase of twelve acres of land beyond the town limits in 1850, and the lay- 
ing out of that beautiful City of the Dead, known as Thornrose Ceme- 
tery. Since no more bodies are likely to be buried in this cemetery than 
the free oxygen contained in the rain and dew carried through the soil 
will decompose, the air of Thornrose is not harmful, but fresh and healthy. 
In the absence of a park, garden, or other decorative public ground in or 



106 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

near Staunton, Thornrose is a favorite resort. In its shady retreats silence 
and solemnity reign, diffusing, as it were, a perpetual Sabbath over the 
scene. 

NATIONAL CEMETERY. 

On .the western slope of Betsy Bell, a handsomely improved cemetery 
contains the bodies of the Federal soldiers who lost their lives during the 
Civil war. 

BETSY BELL AND MARY GRAY. 

These two lofty and beautiful mounts, which rise above the landscape 
near Staunton, piloting the people from every part of the county to the 
town, thus derived their names : Some time in the seventeenth century, 
during the prevalence of a plague in Scotland, two young girls, Betsy Bell 
and Mary Gray, to escape infection, fled from their homes and took refuge 
in a solitary booth in the Highlands. Here they were often visited by an 
admirer, who carried them supplies. During his visits, he unconsciously 
communicated the plague to them. Both became ill, both died, and were 
buried near Perth, where their graves, which were carefully sodded over 
and attended to by the hands of surviving friends, were long pointed out, 
and, for aught we know to the contrary, may still be seen. Their sad fate 
gave rise to a ballad commencing 

" Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, twa bonnie lassies," 
which has been preserved. This ballad was taken to Ir eland by Scotch 
emigrants, and the names it commemorates given to two hills, near New- 
town Stewart, in the county of Tyrone. The early settlers of Augusta no 
doubt discovered some resemblance between the Irish mounts and the two 
lovely hills which dominate Staunton, and affixed these names to them. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



From the arrival, in 1752, in Virginia of Gov. Dinwiddle, the history of 
the little colony in Augusta becomes more closely connected with that of 
the colony of Virginia, as that of Virginia becomes part of the history of 
the North American colonies, at the head of which she stood at the open- 
ing of the Revolution. It will have been perceived from the preceding 
chapters that the Mississippi Valley was first explored and settled by the 
French ; that they had a line of forts from New Orleans to Quebec, one of 
them being Fort du Quesne, where Pittsburg now stands. The English 
colonies were jealous of these movements, and that jealousy at length 
ripened into hostility. Previous, however, to any open acts of war, the 



HISTOKY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 107 

English sought to gain possession of the western country by throwing a 
large white population into it by means of land companies. In this way 
three trading companies came into existence — namely : " The Ohio Com- 
pany," to which was granted 500,000 acres of land, to be taken on the 
south side of the Ohio river, between the Monongehela and Kanawha ; 
the " Greenbrier Company," granting to John Lewis, of Augusta, and 
his associates, 100,000 acres, which he located on the river Greenbrier ; the 
third, the " Loyal Company," incorporated June 12th, 1749, with a grant 
of 800,000 acres, from the Canadian line north and west. Tn 1750, the 
lands of the Ohio Company, and the western country, down to the Miami, 
were explored by the company's agent, C. Gist. In 1751, Col. John 
Lewis and his son Andrew, afterwards the distinguished General, surveyed 
the Greenbrier tract. The movements of the English were closely watched 
by the French, who, understanding their designs, determined to defeat 
them. They accordingly crossed Lake Champlain, built Crown Point, 
and fortified certain positions on the waters of the upper Ohio. A com- 
pany of French soldiers was sent south as far as the Miami, by whom the 
English traders among the Indians were ordered to leave the country. 
The Indians, being unwilling to give them up, and the traders refusing to 
leave, a fight ensued in 1752, in which fourteen Miamis were killed and 
four white prisoners were taken. This was the beginning of a contest 
which resulted in the loss to France of all of her territory east of the 
Mississippi. 

Thus stood affairs in 1752, when Gov. Dinwiddle arrived in Virginia. 
In 1753, viewing with alarm the French encroachments, he despatched 
Geo. Washington on a mission to the French commandant. Washington 
arrived at the French headquarters, near the present city of Pittsburg, 
November 26, 1773, and delivered his dispatches. The French comman- 
dant, who refused to leave, informed Washington that it was his purpose to 
destroy every English settlement in tlie West. Having performed his 
task, Washington left on his return, and reached Williamsburg January, 
1774. 

Washington's mission did not prevent war, and Virginia, seeing it to be 
inevitable, proceeded to raise a regiment, under Col. Joshua Fry, with 
Washington as Lieutenant-Colonel. This force was despatched to the 
West, and, on 28th of May, reached a place called Redstone, where they 
encountered a French and Indian force, which they attacked, killing ten 
and taking the rest prisoners. From the prisoners Washington learned 
that a French and Indian force of 1,000 men was in his front. Undaunted, 
he continued his march to the " Great Meadows," where he halted, and 
built a fort, calling it " Fort Necessity." On the 3d of July, at 11 o'clock, 
A. M., the whole French and savage force attacked Washington's works, 
which they attempted to take by assault. The battle raged until 8 in the 



108 HISTORY OF AUOUSTA COUNTY. 

evening, the air resounding with the sharp report of rifles and the hideous 
whoops and yells of the savages. The Virginians, animated by their 
chief, defended the fort with determined pluck. The little fortress was 
said to resemble a volcano in full blast, roaring and discharging its thick 
sheets of fire, which carried death to two hundred of the enemy. At the 
end of nine hours, the French leader. Count de Villiers, sent in a flag of 
truce, extolled the gallantry of the Virginians, and offered to treat for a 
surrender of the works on honorable terms. His proposals were accepted, 
and next morning the Virginians marched out. 

The British Cabinet was now satisfied that a war was inevitable, and 
encouraged the colonies to form a union among themselves. This was 
done, and a plan, or system, was signed by the agents of the leading 
northern colonies and Maryland in 1754. Early in the Spring of 1755, the 
colonies attacked the French at four different points, — Nova Scotia, Crown 
Point, Niagara, and on the Ohio river. The operations against the 
French, on the Ohio, were conducted by Gen. Braddock, who arrived from 
England in February, with two Royal regiments, the i8th, under com- 
mand of Lieut.-Col. Dunbar, and the 44th, under Sir Peter Halkett. Vir- 
ginia raised eight hundred men to join Braddock, who arrived at Alexan- 
dria, then called Bellhaven, and appointed Washington his aide-de-camp. 
Braddock now despatched one company of colonial troops, under Capt. 
Thomas Lewis, of Augusta, to Greenbrier, to build a stockade fort and 
prevent Indian raids on the white settlements in that region. The cap- 
tains of the Virginia companies in Braddock's command were Waggener, 
Cock, Hogg, Stephens, Poulson, Peyronny, Mercer and Stewart. Brad- 
dock commenced his march from Alexandria on the 20th April with about 
2,200 men, and on the 9th of July, 1755, crossed the Monongehela river. 
We cannot delay to describe the amazing difficulties he encountered on his 
march or the disastrous defeat he now sustained. He fell into an ambuscade, 
was mortally wounded, and the army, after sustaining tremendous losses 
in killed and wounded, was put to flight. But for the coolness and cour- 
age of Washington and the Virginia Blues, as our troops were called, the 
whole force would have been destroyed. In this battle the British and 
colonial loss was 777 men killed and wounded. 

The alarm and despondency arising from this disaster was soon dis- 
pelled by the elastic spirits and indomitable pluck of our people, encour- 
aged by the eloquence of Rev. Samuel Davies and other Presbyterian 
and dissenting ministers. 

Among the Virginians who survived this battle, and were afterwards 
distinguished in our annals, were Washington, Andrew and William Lewis, 
Mathews, Field, Grant and others. 

It must be mentioned in this connection that Braddock held the provin- 
cial troops in contempt, and consequently kept them in the rear. Yet, al- 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 109 

though equally exposed with the rest, far from being affected by the fears 
that disordered the regular troops, they stood firm and unbroken, and 
under Washington, the Lewises, Mathews, Fields and other frontiersmen, 
covered the retreat of the regulars, and saved them from destruction. The 
British force retreated one hundred and twenty miles, and had they 
even stopped here, might have rendered important service by preventing 
the devastations and inhuman murders perpetrated by the French and 
Indians during the Summer on the western borders of Virginia and Penn- 
sylvania. Instead of adopting this salutary course, Col. Dunbar, leaving 
the sick and wounded at Cumberland, marched with his troops to Phila- 
delphia. 

The whole frontier of Western Virginia was thus thrown open to the 
ravages of the Indians. The savages crossed the Alleghanies and pushed 
into Augusta and the lower Valley, torturing and murdering men, women 
and children. Some of the settlers fled east of the Blue Ridge, but the 
vast majority of the inhabitants of Augusta remained at home, prepared 
for defence, and determined, if necessary, to embrace an honorable death as 
their refuge against flight. The distresses of the people during this period 
of war exceed all description. In one of Washington's letters to Gov. 
Dinwiddie there is a famous passage which brings all this suffering and 
wretchedness vividly before us. He says : " The supplicating tears of the 
women, and moving petitions of the men, melt me into such deadly sorrow 
that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, I could offer myself a 
willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy, provided that would contribute 
to the people's ease." 

The campaign of 1755, closed by the failure of Braddock's expedition 
and that under Gen. Shirley against Niagara. Although the French and 
English colonies had been for two years at war, peace was maintained be- 
tween the two governments at home. An end was put to this unnatural 
state of affairs by a formal declaration of war by Great Britain against 
France, May 9th, 1756, and the bloody struggle, known as the French and 
Indian war, began, wherein most of Europe, North America, the East and 
West Indies, were engaged. The American colonies were called on to 
raise a force to cooperate with the royal troops, and Virginia contributed 
1,600 men. Washington was commissioned colonel, Adam Stephens, 
Lieutenant-Colonel, and Andrew Lewis, Major. The force intended to 
operate in the West was placed under command of Gen. John Forbes, 
and consisted of 9,000 men. The plan of campaign for i756-'57, was as 
extensive as that of the previous year, and resulted in the capture, by the 
French, of Fort William-Henry, Lake George. The success of the French 
and Indians brought the colonial affairs of England in America to an 
alarming situation, and fears were felt that the French would make good 
their claim to the country from Canada to Louisiana. But the blackest 



110 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

clouds frequently have rays of light in their fleecy folds. There are few 
days all dark. There are wells in the Sahara, flowers on the edge of the 
avalanche, and hope in every heart of despair. The fears now felt by a 
few were not participated in by the many. The mass of the people girded 
themselves for the contest, and affairs assumed, during the campaign of 
i758-'6o, a totally different aspect. Victory everywhere crowned British 
arms, and, in the end, Canada fell into the hands of the English. 

During the expedition of 1758, an affair occurred in which Augusta's 
distinguished son. Gen. Andrew Lewis, was involved, and is so character- 
istic of the chivalric Virginian that we make room for it. During the 
march against Fort du Quesne, under Gen. Forbes, Maj. Grant, with 800 
men, was sent forward to ascertain the state of affairs at the fort, and on 
the morning of the 21st of September, was before it. At the first alarm 
the gates were thrown open, and the French and Indians rushed forth in 
great numbers. The air was rent with the savage war-whoops as they 
charged, and before Grant's men had time to bring their guns to bear 
they were surrounded and captured. Maj. Andrew Lewis, of Augusta, 
who was at the head of the rear guard, hearing the sound of battle, left 
the baggage under charge of Capt. Bullitt and fifty men, and hastened to 
the front. He only arrived in time to see Grant's force prisoners, and be 
captured himself. The following incident is related of these ofiicers while 
on parole at Fort du Quesne. Grant, in his dispatches, endeavored to 
throw all the blame of capture on Lewis, who, in fact, deserved all the 
credit of saving, by means of Bullitt, the baggage and the few men who 
escaped to the rear guard. The messenger who had been despatched with 
the papers by Grant to the British commander, was captured, and the dis- 
patches fell into the French commandant's hands. Lewis being present 
when they were opened and read, heard with astonishment and indigna- 
tion their contents, and, without uttering a word, started in pursuit of 
Grant, whom he soon found. He instantly charged him with his infamous 
calumny, drew his sword, and called on Grant to defend himself. Grant 
declined the combat, when Lewis denounced him as a liar and poltroon, 
and, in the presence of two French officers, spat in his face. 

Hearing of the capture of Grant's force. Gen. Forbes urged forward the 
main body of his troops, and, on reaching Fort du Quesne, found it aban- 
doned by the French, who, alarmed at the size of his force, took to their 
boats and retreated down the Ohio. Before leaving, the French applied a 
slow match to the magazine and blew up the fort. It was rebuilt by the 
British and called Pittsburg, m compliment to William Pitt, Earl of Chat- 
ham, who was very popular in America. 

Thus more than a century and a-half after the first permanent settle- 
ment in America, England completed the conquest of Canada, — an object 
which had been for seventy years desired by the colony, — effected the ex- 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. Ill 

pulsion of the French from the Ohio Valley, and, despite the efforts of her 
rivals, France and Spain, became almost sole possessor of North America. 
The treaty of Fontainbleau, in 1762, put an end to war. 

SANDY CREEK EXPEDITION OF I756. 

Before closing this subject, the leading events of which we have set 
before the reader in such rapid succession, some allusion must be made to 
the Sandy Creek expedition. The depredations of the Indians, after 
Braddock's defeat, led to the fitting out, under Maj, Andrew Lewis, of this 
force, with orders to attack the Indian towns west of the Ohio. The force 
consisted of three hundred and forty men, and left Fort Frederick, on 
New river, in the then County of Augusta, for the mouth of Sandy creek, 
February, 1756. Among the officers in this command were Capts. Wm. 
Preston, Peter Hogg, John Smith, Archibald Alexander, R. Breckenridge, 

Woodson and Overton, and Capt. David Stewart, commissary. 

There were also two volunteer companies, under Capts. Montgomery and 
Dunlap, and a party of friendly Cherokees, commanded by Capt. Paris. 
The Indian forces against whom they marched were commanded by their 
celebrated chiefs, Outacite, the Man Killer, Round O, and Yellow Bird. 
While Lewis' command was at Fort Frederick waiting for supplies, &c., 
sermons were preached to them by Revs. John Craig, of Augusta, and 
Mr. Brown. The command crossed the Holstein river February i8th, 
1756, and reached Sandy creek on the 28th. Their supplies ran short, 
and a famine was threatened, men deserted, and but for the wisdom and 
firmness of Lewis, who possessed the unbounded respect and confidence 
of his officers and men, the whole expedition would have been destroyed. 
The sufferings from hunger were so severe that the men cut their buffalo 
robes into tugs and ate them, and hence the name of the stream, on whose 
banks it occurred, of Tug river. When within a few miles of the Ohio, 
Lewis received orders to return, and thus the expedition ended without 
results of importance. The Indians were much elated at Lewis' retreat, 
and immediately advanced on the white settlements, carrying death to 
many a helpless family. Conspicuous among their blood-thirsty chiefs was 
Killbuck, who, in 1757, drew Capt. Mercer's force of forty Virginians into 
an ambuscade and killed thirty-four of them. The following year, 1754, 
the savages reappeared east of the mountains, and one of these parties, 
consisting of fifty warriors, reached a point nine miles from Woodstock, in 
Shenandoah. The whites took refuge in the house of one George Paint- 
er. Mr. P., attempting to escape, was killed. They then plundered and 
burnt the house. While the house was burning, they forced from Mrs. P. 
her four children, hung them in trees, and shot them in savage sport. 
They then moved off with forty-eight prisoners. On reaching their vil- 
lage, after six days' travel, they tied to a stake Jacob Fisher, a helpless 
prisoner, who had given them much trouble, and burnt him to death. 



112 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

After an absence of three years, Mrs. P., her daughters and several others 
escaped and returned to their homes, but some remained, married Indians, 
and spent their hves with the savages. 

DEATH AND CHARACTER OF THE FOUNDER. 

In 1762, the Founder died, thirty years after coming to Augusta, and in 
his eighty-fourth year. He was a man of superior abihties and virtuous 
principles, prudent in concerting his plans, and perseveringly vigorous in 
executing them. The last thirty years of his life were devoted to advanc- 
ing the interests of the little community he founded. His mind was im- 
proved by a liberal education, and few possessed greater knowledge of 
everything capable of forming and qualifying a man for public employ- 
ment. Tall, vigorous, and commanding in figure, he was distinguished 
for the manly beauty of his person, the cordial frankness of his address, 
the charms of his conversation, and the desperate character of his courage. 
He was buried at Bellefonte, and an enormous limestone slab, rude and 
uncut, was placed over his grave, where it still lies half-buried. In 1850, 
this was replaced by a marble slab, bearing the following inscription : 

Here lie the remains of 
JOHN LEWIS, 

who slew the Irish lord, setded Augusta County, 

Located the town of Staunton, 

And furnished five sons to fight the battles of the 

American Revolution. 

He was the son of Andrew Lewis, Esq., and Mary Calhoun, 

and was born in Donegal Co., Ireland, 1678, 

and died in Virginia Feb. ist, 1762. 

He was a brave man, a true patriot and 

a firm friend of liberty throughout the world. 



Mortalitate relicta, vivit iimnortalitate inductus. 



HANNAH DENNIS, THE QUEEN WITCH OR INVISIBLE PRINCESS. 

In 1 76 1, sixty Shawanese warriors penetrated east of the AUeghanies to 
the James river settlements, committing murders and carrying off prison- 
ers — among them Mrs. Renix and her four children. Mrs. Renix was, 
under Bouquet's treaty, brought to Staunton, in 1767, and redeemed, as also 
her son, afterwards Maj. Renix, of Greenbrier, and her other children, 
except her son Joshua, who became so enamored of savage life that he 
took an Indian wife, became a chief among the Miamis, amassed a con- 
siderable fortune, and died, at Detroit, in 18 10. 

Among the captives was Hannah Dennis, a clever and spiritual woman, 
who was sent to reside at an Indian town, near Chillicothe. Instead of 
giving way to grief at her bondage, she applied herself to learn the Indian 
language, performed such labor as they required of her with alacrity, pro- 



HISTOKY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 113 

fessed warm attachment to their ways of Hfe, painted her body Hke the 
squaws, and conformed to their manners and customs. She became very 
popular with the tribe, and in order to enhance her influence, professed 
a knowledge of medicine, of the properties of plants and herbs, and com- 
menced practice as a doctor among them. She soon discovered the super- 
stitious character of the Indians, and determined to take advantage of it 
to increase her power and position. Accordingly, she professed witchcraft, 
and affected to be a prophetess. Unlike most witches, Hannah was ex- 
ceedingly beautiful, and employed her charms of person and the seducing 
grace of her manners to enhance her influence. By cunning and craft, by 
pretending to tame horses and wild beasts by whispering in their ears ; to 
divine future events from the various indications that manifest themselves 
in fire, smoke, and in other ways ; by spells and incantations to communi- 
cate with the dead ; to foretell earthquakes, allay storms, drive away pes- 
tilence, cure disease by virtue of a few words pronounced over the sick 
person, — a quicker way than with snake-root or ginseng, — this marvelous 
woman acquired such a reputation among the savages that they not only 
gave her perfect liberty but looked upon her as a female deity, and hon- 
ored her as a Queen. Placing little value upon their homage, she deter- 
mined to escape, and in June, 1763, left Chillicothe, in search, as the Indians 
supposed, of herbs for medicinal purposes, as was her custom, and did not 
return, but, crossing the Scioto, set out for Virginia. Alarm spread 
among the tribe when her disappearance was known ; they ran to all parts 
on foot and on horseback, but she could not be found. The chiefs met ; 
the utmost consternation prevailed ; scouts were dispatched to scour the 
country. Finally the pursuing savages caught sight of her beyond the 
Scioto, forty miles below Chillicothe. They fired upon her but without ef- 
fect, and probably they did not expect to kill her, as their rifles were loaded 
with leaden instead of silver bullets. They forded the river and still pur- 
sued, but Hannah had disappeared as if the clouds had received her up, 
or she had been swallowed by the earth. Awed by the mysterious disap- 
pearance, they gave up the chase, lit their camp-fires, and passed the night 
on the spot. Next morning they set out on their return. When they had 
been gone some time, the invisible princess crept from a hollow log, in 
which she had concealed herself, and dressed a wound in her foot which 
had been received during her flight. Knowing enough of the Indian 
character to feel satisfied they would not return to look after one who had 
gone, in their opinion, to the spirit land, Hannah spent three days at this 
point, nursing her wound and recovering her strength, and then resumed 
her journey for the mouth of the Kanawha. She crossed the Ohio on a 
log of drift-wood, and after travelling for twenty nights, resting during the 
day in a cave or under the branches of trees, subsisting on fruits gathered 
in the forest with difficulty, she finally set down on the banks of a stream 



114 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

which supplied her drink, to die. In this condition, ahnost expiring from 
hunger and fatigue, she was discovered by a backwoodsman, relieved by 
the pioneers, and ministered to until restored, then supplied with a horse, 
and conducted to Jackson's river, and thence to her home and friends. 

HISTORY OF SELIM, AN ALGERINE CONVERT. 

Among the curious waifs found astray in Augusta, about the year 1756, 
was a native of Algiers, by the name of Selim. The particulars of his life 
are given upon the authority of Rev. Benj. H. Rice. About 1756, Mr. 
Samuel Givens, of Augusta, when shooting in the forest, near his resi- 
dence, was startled by seeing in the limbs of a fallen tree a living creature, 
which he supposed to be a beast of prey, and was in the act of shooting, 
when he discovered it was a human being. Approaching nearer, he found 
a man in the most wretched and pitiable condition, his person naked, ex- 
cept his feet, about which a few rags were tied, and covered with scabs 
and sores, his body emaciated, and the man nearly famished to death. As 
the man could not speak English, Givens could hold no conversation with 
him, but acted the part of the good Samaritan by conducting him to his 
house, supplied his wants, and by tender care, restored him to health and 
strength. He then accompanied Mr. Givens to the house of Col. Dicker- 
son, near Windy Cave, who entertained him for some months with true 
backwoodsman's hospitality. 

The African, finding it impossible to communicate his history without a 
knowledge of English, applied himself, with remarkable success, to acquire 
it. In the course of a few months, being aided by the Colonel and his 
family, he so far mastered our language as to be able to communicate his 
ideas, and repaid the kindness of his friends by giving them an affecting 
narrative of his various unparalleled misfortunes. He said his name was 
Selim ; that he was born of wealthy and respectable parents in Algiers ; 
that when a small boy his parents sent him to Constantinople for educa- 
tion, and that after he had spent some years in that city, he returned to 
Africa. His visit over, he reembarked for Constantinople, to complete his 
education. The ship was captured by a Spanish man-of-war, and Selim 
was taken prisoner. Spain was at the time an ally of England and France, 
and the Spaniards, falling in with a French ship bound for New Orleans, 
transferred Selim to the vessel, and he was landed in New Orleans (and 
most probably sold into slavery, though this is not stated). After being 
some time in that city, he was sent up the Mississippi, to Ohio, to a Shaw- 
anese town, and left as a prisoner in their hands. The Indians held a 
prisoner at this time, a white woman from the frontiers of Virginia, and 
he, by signs, learned from her whence she came. The woman pointed to 
the rising sun. Selim was sufficiently acquainted with history and geog- 
raphy to know that there were English settlements on the eastern shore 
of America, and resolved to escape to them. With no pilot but the sun. 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 115 

no provisions for the journey, and no arms to kill game, he eluded 
the vigilance of the Indians, and set forth on his journey and traveled 
through the wilderness, subsisting on nuts and berries and other wild 
fruit, until his clothes were torn from his body, and, almost famished and 
dying, he was found by Mr. Givens near Staunton. The Colonel was so 
much moved by his tale of woe, that he supplied his every want, made 
him his companion, and introduced him to his friends and neighbors. 
Taking him to Staunton on court-day, Selim there saw Rev. Jno. Craig 
who attracted his particular attention, so much so, that Selim addressed 
him and asked to accompany him home. Mr. C. consented, and gave 
him a warm welcome. He afterwards asked Selim the cause of his wish 
to live with him. Selim replied : " When I was in my distress, I once, in 
my sleep, dreamed that I was in my own country, and saw the largest 
assembly of men my eyes ever beheld, collected in a vast plain, dressed 
in uniform, and drawn up in military order. At the further side ot 
the plain, and at an immense distance, I saw a person, whom I under- 
stood to be a person of great distinction ; but the distance prevented my 
discerning what sort of a person he was.. I only knew him to be a person 
of distinction. I saw, every now and again, one or two of this large assem- 
bly attempting to cross the plain to this distinguished personage ; but 
when they had got about half over, they suddenly dropped into a hole in 
the earth, and I saw them no more. I also imagined I saw an old man 
standing by himself at a distance from this assemblage, and one or two of 
the multitude applied to him for direction how to cross the plain, and all 
who received and followed his advice, got safely over." " As soon as I saw 
you," added Selim, " I knew you to be the man who gave these directions, 
and this has convinced me that it is in the mind of God that I should 
apply to you for instruction in religion. It is for this reason I desire to go 
home with you. When I was among the French, they endeavored to 
prevail on me to embrace the Christian religion ; but as I observed they 
made use of images, I looked on Christianity with abhorrence, such wor- 
ship being, in my opinion, idolatrous." 

Mr. Craig cheerfully undertook the agreeable work he seemed called to 
by an extraordinary Providence. He soon found Selim understood the 
Greek language, which gready facilitated the business. He gave him a 
Greek testament. Selim spent his time in reading it, and Mr. C. his 
leisure hours in explaining to him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In a fort- 
night he obtained what Mr. C. considered a competent knowledge of the 
Christian religion, and was baptized in Mr. C.'s church. Some time after 
this, Selim expressed a wish to return to his native country. Mr. C. sug- 
gested that he might be ill-used by his friends and countrymen, now that 
he was no longer a Mohammedan, and asked if it would not be better to 
remain in Virginia, where he might enjoy his religion without disturbance. 



116 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

To this Selini replied that his father was a man of good estate, and he 
was his heir ; that he had never been brought up to labor, and knew no 
possible way in which he could obtain a subsistence ; that he could not 
bear the thought of living a life of dependence ; that he was sensible of 
the strong prejudices of his friends against Christianity, yet could not 
think that, after all the calamities he had undergone, his father's religious 
prejudices would so far get the better of his humanity as to cause him to 
ill use his son on that account, and that, at all events, he desired to make 
the experiment. Mr. Craig urged his temptations to return to Moham- 
medanism, to which Selim said he would never deny Jesus. 

Finding him resolved, Mr. C. and his friends supplied him with money 
and a letter of recommendation to Hon. Robert Carter, of Williamsburg. 
Mr. C. gave Selim further aid, and he sailed for England with the flatter- 
ing prospect of once more seeing his parents and native land. Some years 
later, Selim reappeared in Virginia, at Mr. Carter's, in a state of insanity. 
His constant complaint was that he had no friend, and where could he find 
a friend ? From this complaint, and his pitiable condition, it was conjec- 
tured his father was not his friend. In lucid intervals, Selim gave some 
account of his life after leaving Virginia. He arrived in England, and 
proceeded to Africa. He found his parents alive ; on learning that he had 
become a Christian, his father disowned him as a child, and turned him 
out of doors. Broken-hearted, he returned to England, but finding no 
way to earn a support there, he set sail for America, and during the 
voyage such was his grief that he sank into madness. He wandered from 
Williamsburg to Staunton, and thence to Col. Dickerson's, thence to the 
Warm Springs, where he met a young clergyman. Rev. Mr. Templeton, 
who, hearing something of his history, asked him if he was acquainted 
with the Greek language, to which he modestly replied that he understood 
a little of it. Mr. T. handed him a Greek testament, and asked him to con- 
strue some of it. He opened the book, and when he saw what it was, in a 
transport of joy he pressed it to his heart, and then complied with Mr. 
T.'s request. He left the Warm Springs, and returned to Mr. Carter's, 
who was now in Westmoreland, and was finally consigned to the lunatic 
asylum in Williamsburg. Selim was inoffensive in his behavior, grateful 
for favors received, always manifested a veneration for religion, and was 
often seen engaged in prayer. He died with great composure. His por- 
trait was taken for Gov. Page by Peak, of Philadelphia, and long hung on 
the walls of Rosewell. 

MASSACRE AT SEYBERT'S FORT. 

The fatal talent of the Indian for strategy is well illustrated by the cap- 
ture of Fort Seybert, which stood about twelve miles west of the present 
town of Franklin, m Pendleton county, and about fifty miles from Staun- 
ton. This rude fort, composed of log huts enclosing a hollow square, if 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 117 

properly manned, could have resisted any attack of savages. It was the 
strong place of the surrounding settlements, and into it the people gath- 
ered in times of threatened danger. In 1758,3 party of Shawanese invested 
the fort, and demanded a surrender. Finding neither threatening words 
nor bullets of any avail, the cunning savages, after two days' trial, resorted 
to strategy, and unhappily, with success. They made various proposi- 
tions to the besieged to give up, promising to spare their lives ; but if not, 
and the siege continued, and the place was taken, they said every soul 
would be murdered. The promise of safety lured the unfortunate whites 
from the line of security, and they surrendered the fort. There were thirty- 
six persons in the work, and these the savages proceeded to secure. 
Instantly the whites realized the horror of their situation, and foresaw the 
fate which awaited them. Of the whole number, all were massacred but 
eleven. Ten, whom the Indians wished to save, were secured and removed 
from the fort ; the others were tied hand and foot, and seated in a con- 
tinuous line upon a log. Behind each of the unfortunates stood a stalwart 
savage, who, at a given signal, sunk his tomahawk through the skull of his 
quivering victim. The work finished, the fort was destroyed. This hor- 
rible scene was witnessed by a boy named Dyer, who was spared, although 
not of the number removed from the fort. He was led into captivity to 
the Shawanese towns on the Scioto. After nearly two years captivity, he 
escaped and returned home. Nothing was ever known of the fate of the 
ten borne off as prisoners. 

BINGAMON AND THE INDIANS. 

In 1758, near the present village of Petersburg, Hardy county, lived a 
giant by the name of Bingamon, whose house was broken open by the 
Indians at night. Before Bingamon was aware of the danger, the savages 
were in the house. Bingamon got his parents, wife and children, beneath 
a bed, and then prepared for action. The hired man was called down, but 
refused to come. The room was dark, and having discharged his rifle, he 
clubbed it and beat about at random. He fought with desperation, killing 
seven men. The eighth rushed from the house, and escaped, telling his 
tribe he had met a " perfect devil." In the morning, Bingamon could 
scarcely be prevented from killing his cowardly hired man. Bingamon 
was greatly distinguished for his firmness and strength. 

FURMAN'S FORT, ON THE SOUTH BRANCH OF THE POTOMAC. 

In 1764, eighteen Delawares killed Wm. Furman and N. Ashby, who 
had gone hunting near the fort. They then passed on to Frederick county, 
and killed D.Jones and his wife and Mrs. Thomas, capturing Miss Thomas. 
They also killed Mr, and Mrs. Loyd and several of their children, and 
several others. These are only a few of the murders and captures of this 
party. 



lis HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

INDIAN FORAYS AND MASSACRES IN SHENANDOAH. 

In 1764, a party of eight Delaware Indians, with a white man who had 
joined their tribe, by the name of Abraham Mitchell, advanced into the 
present county of Shenandoah, and near Strasburg killed George Miller, 
his wife and two children. They also, the same day, killed John Dellin- 
reg and took his wife and infant child prisoners. In crossing the moun- 
tains the child, who probably retarded the retreat, had its brains beaten 
out against a tree. A party of white men pursued them, overtook them 
in the Southbranch Mountains, fired upon them, killing one, when the 
others fled, leaving everything behind. 

In the Autumn of 1765, the savages reappeared in Shenandoah, near 
Woodstock, and killed George Sigler and some women and children who 
were with him. Shortly before Sigler's murder two Indians were discov- 
ered lurking in the neighborhood of Mill creek. Three whites went in 
pursuit — M. and John Painter, and Wm. Moore. They had not gone far 
before they approached a fallen pine tree, with a very bushy top. As they 
neared it, M. Painter observed. '• We'd better look sharp ; it is likely the 
Indians are concealed under the tops of this tree." The words were 
scarcely spoken before a savage rose up and fired. The ball grazed the 
temple of J. Painter. Moore and Painter returned the fire. One of their 
balls passed through the Indian's body, and he fell, as they supposed, 
dead. The other fled. The whites pursued some distance, but the fugi- 
tive was too fleet for them. They gave up the chase and returned to the 
pine tree ; but, to their astonishment, the supposed dead Indian had moved 
off with both rifles and a large pack of skins. They followed his trail, and 
when he found they were gaining on him, he got into a sink-hole, and as 
soon as they approached, commenced firing upon them. He had poured 
out a quantity of powder on dry leaves, filled his mouth with bullets, and, 
using a musket which was a self-primer, he was enabled to load and fire 
with astonishing quickness. He thus fired thirty times before they got a 
chance to dispatch him. At last Moore got an opportunity, and shot him 
through the head, and Moore received the premium allowed by law for 
Indian scalps. The fugitive who made his escape met a young white 
woman. Miss Sethorne, near the present town of Newmarket, whom he 
pulled from her horse, and forced ofl" with him. After travelling twenty 
miles, it is supposed the young captive broke down from fatigue, when the 
savage beat her to death with a pine knot. Her screams were heard by 
some whites living two miles from the scene of horror. On going, next 
day, to ascertain the cause, they found her dead body, naked, and covered 
with blood and bruises. 

RAID ON Jackson's river and catawba. 

In 1764, a party of forty or fifty Mingos and Delawares came up Sandy 
to New river, where they separated, one party going towards Roanoke 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 119 

and Catawba, the other in the direction of the Jackson's river settlement. 
The party for Jackson's river traveled down Dunlap's creek and crossed 
the river, and killed a Mr. Carpenter, took his son, two young Browns and 
a woman, all of whom were working- in the fields, prisoners. They then 
robbed the house and fled. Capt. Paul and twenty men went in pursuit 
and accidentally fell upon the first party, who had gone towards Roanoke. 
The savages were discovered about midnight, and were all lying round a 
small fire wrapped in their skins and blankets. Paul's men fired upon 
them, killing three and wounding others. The rest fled and escaped. Sev- 
eral captives, taken on the Roanoke, were liberated, and considerable 
plunder recovered. The deadening effects of these terrible scenes may be 
derived from the reply of a prisoner rescued at this time, a Mrs. Glass, of 
English birth. She had known Capt. Paul, and recognized his voice. She 
called his name just as one of his men, supposing her to be a squaw, was 
about tomahawking her. She made no resistance, and, when asked the 
reason, replied : " I would as soon die as not ; my husband is murdered, 
my children slain, my parents are dead. I have not a relative in America ; 
everything dear to me is gone. I have no wishes, no hopes, no fears ; I 
would not rise to my feet to save my life." Such were some of the hor- 
rors experienced on the frontier. 

The British Government, anxious to secure peace on any honorable 
terms, directed Col. Bouquet to issue a proclamation forbidding the whites 
to settle or hunt west of the AUeghanies. In accordance with these in- 
structions. Col. B. issued the following proclamation, which was posted 
against the trees, on the booths at the trading points, and on the trails or 
road sides leading to the west : 

"Whereas, by a treaty at Easton, in the year 1758, and afterwards rati- 
fied by his Majesty's ministers, the country to the west of the Alleghany 
mountam is allowed to the Indians for their hunting ground ; And as it is 
of the highest importance to H. M.'s service, and the preservation of ttie 
peace and good understanding with the Indians, to avoid giving them any 
just cause of complaint : This is, therefore, to forbid any of H. M.'s sub- 
jects to settle or hunt west of the Alleghany Mountains, on any pretense 
whatever, unless such have obtained leave in writing from the general or 
governors of their respective provinces, and produce the same to the com- 
manding officer at Fort^Pitt. And all the officers and non-commissioned 
officers, commanding at the several posts erected in that part of the coun- 
try for the protection of the trade, are hereby ordered to seize, or cause to 
be seized, any of H.M.'s subjects who, without the above authority, should 
pretend, after the publication hereof, to settle or hunt upon the said lands, 
and send them, with their horses and effects, to Fort Pitt, there to be tried 
and punished, according to the nature of their oflence, by the sentence of 
a court martial." 

In October, 1764, a similar proclamation was issued by the government, 

and in 1765, to accomplish the object in view, two movements were made 

into the Indian territory. The first, under Gen. Bradstreet, who proceeded 



120 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

to Lake Erie, and the second, under Col. Bouquet, who marched to the 
Muskingum. Bradstreet had a grand council, at Niagara, with twenty 
tribes, in June, who had sued for peace, and concluded a treaty. Bouquet 
proceeded, at the head of a force, from Fort Pitt, in the Autumn, and, 
reaching the Muskingum, convened in council the Delaware and Shawa- 
nese, negotiated and signed a peace with them, and received from them 
two hundred and six prisoners, ninety of whom were Virginians, or West 
Augusta people, and one hundred and sixteen Pennsylvanians. He also 
received from the Shawanese hostages for the delivery of other captives, 
who could not be brought in at that time. A number of distinguished 
chiefs united in forming this treaty, among them Kyashuta, Red Hawk, 
Custaloga and Captain John. 

THE horse's sagacity AND HATRED OF THE SAVAGE. 

Not only the people but their domestic animals, at least the horse, de- 
tested the savages, and many a pioneer owed his life to his sagacity. The 
animal snuffed the presence of the Indian in the tainted air, and neither 
whip nor spur could urge him to the dreaded spot. Many instances could 
be cited to prove the intelligence and fidelity of the horse. The following 
will suffice : A gentleman, riding home through a wood at night, struck 
his head against the branch of a tree and fell stunned from his horse. The 
steed immediately returned to the house which they had lately left, and 
which was now closed and the family in bed, but he pawed at the door 
until some one arose and opened it. He turned about, and the man, won- 
dering at the affair, followed him, and the faithful animal led him to the 
. place where his master lay senseless on the ground. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The affairs of the people of Augusta, and more particularly of the district 
of West Augusta, were further complicated for over twenty years previous 
to the Revolution. This was caused by a disagreement between the colo- 
nies of Virginia and Pennsylvania as to their boundary line, a question in 
which the Indians were also deeply interested, and which intensified their 
hostility to the Augusta or Virginian people, who were settling on their 
lands without purchase. We purpose now giving a brief history, derived 
from Dr. Creigh's interesting and valuable work, of this controversy, and 
of Mason & Dixon's line, by which, in 1784, the matter was forever 
settled. 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 121 

As far back as 1752, a controversy existed as to the boundary line be- 
tween Virginia and Pennsylvania — Virginia relying upon the charter of 
James I, and Pennsylvania claiming under her charter from Charles II, in 
1 58 1. The Pennsylvanians contended that their line extended several 
miles beyond Pittsburg or Fort du Quesne, while Virginia claimed all the 
territory between the parallels of 36° 30' and 39° 40' North latitude, from 
the margin of the Atlantic due west to the Mississippi. Settlements had 
occurred on the Monongehela, the Youghiogheny and on other tributaries 
of the Ohio for one hundred and twenty miles south of Fort du Quesne, 
as well as on the Greenbrier, the Elk and the Little Kanawha, or in the 
whole region of Northwestern Virginia and Southwestern Pennsylvania, 
and were claimed by Virginia as part of Augusta County, including Pitts- 
burg, a frontier town, where, as will appear later on in this chapter, the 
County Court of Augusta was often held before the Revolution. The 
Pennsylvanians appealed to history in support of their rights, and quoted 
the instructions from George II to Penn, Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania in 1765, in which H. M. said : " Whereas, it hath been represented 
unto us that several persons from Pennsylvania and the back settlements of 
Virginia have emigrated to the westward of the Alleghany Mountains, and 
there have seated themselves on lands contiguous to the river Ohio, in ex- 
press disobedience of our royal proclamation of October 7, 1763, it is, there- 
fore, our will and pleasure, and you are enjoined and required, to put a 
Stop to all these and all other the like encroachments for the future." 

On December 11, 1766, the Governor of Virginia wrote the Governor 
of Pennsylvania : " No regard is paid to the proclamation of October 7th 
and April, 1766, by you. But the commander-in-chief has taken a more 
effectual method to remove these settlers by giving orders to our officer 
and party to summon the settlers on Redstone creek to warn them 
to quit these illegal settlements, and, in case of refusal, to threaten military 
execution," 

And in July, 1766, Gen. Gage wrote to Gov. Penn: "The garrison of 
Fort Pitt shall assist to drive away the settlers," (the settlers on Redstone 
creek, near Brownsville.) 

In May, 1766, the chiefs of the Six Nations held a council at Fort Pitt, 
and said, as soon as peace was made, in 1765, contrary to their engage- 
ments,^mam^ white people came over the great mountains and settled at 
Redstone creek and on the Monongehela. George Croghan, the Indian 
agent, wrote to Gen. Gage : " If some effectual measures are not speedily 
taken to remove these people, till a boundary line can be settled, and the 
governors pursue vigorous measures, the consequences may be dreadful, 
and we be involved in all the calamities of another general war." 

In consequence of this state of affairs. Gov. Penn issued a proclamation 
warning the settiers of the Indian complaints that they had settled on their 



122 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

lands without purchase and contrary to the King's proclamation ; ordering 
them to assemble to be told of their lawlessness, and, in case they refused 
to collect pr leave, directed the commander-in-chief to seize and make 
prize of their goods ; after which they would be driven from " the lands to 
the westward of the Alleghanies, the property of the Indians." 

Gov. Fauquier at the same time, July, 1766, ordered the same people to 
evacuate the lands, and if they failed to do so, " they must expect no 
protection or mercy from the government, and be exposed to the revenge 
of the exasperated Indians." 

In September, 1766, the Speaker of the House of Delegates of Penn- 
sylvania acknowledged that " the boundary has not been exactly ascer- 
tained." In October, Gov. Penn asked the aid of Virginia in removing 
the settlers, and the Governor of Virginia replied that he had already 
issued three proclamations to these settlers, and had given orders on the 
subject to the military, but that a large majority of the families remained. 
Gov. Penn now acknowledged that the boundary line between the two 
colonies, near their western limits, had not been made, and that the set- 
tlers would shelter themselves under a disputed jurisdiction, which subse- 
quent events fairly demonstrated. Gov, Penn, in 1768, issued a procla- 
mation denouncing death without the benefit of clergy against the settlers 
who remained on the lands thirty days after the ist of May, 1768. In 
addition, he sent commissioners to read the proclamation to the people, 
and to expostulate with them on the folly and injustice of their settling on 
the Indian lands, etc. The commissioners reached Redstone March 23d, 
1768, read the proclamation, etc. A meeting of the people took place, 
and while in progress a number of Indians arrived. The business was 
explained to all parties, and they agreed, both whites and reds, that no- 
thing should be done as to the removal of the whites until after the con- 
clusion of a treaty then in progress between Geo. Croghan and the In- 
dians. In these settlements there were only about one hundred and fifty 
families, or, say, seven hundred and fifty persons. 

George Croghan, J. Allen and J.Shippenwere appointed commissioners 
to meet the chiefs of the Six Nations and form a treaty, and they accord- 
ingly met in conference at Pittsburg, May 9, 1768. The result of the con- 
ference was that two messengers were sent to the settlers to signify to 
them the great displeasure of the Six Nations, and that the Indians 
expected them to remove without further notice. These two deputies 
were to be accompanied by the White Mingo and the three deputies sent 
from the Six Nations' country ; but, when the time of their departure ar- 
rived, they refused to go, saying that their instructions were only to attend 
to making a treaty, and that driving the white people away from these set- 
tlements was a matter which no Indian could with any satisfaction be con- 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 123 

cerned in, and they thought it most proper for the English themselves to 
compel their own people to remove from the Indian lands. 

The commissioners, finding all efforts fruitless to gain over the Indian 
deputies, determined to return to Philadelphia, and, while making their 
arrangements, they were visited at their lodgings by one of the principal 
warriors of the Six Nations, who stated that he regretted the state of 
affairs, fearing the ill-will of the white people, yet pledging his Indian 
faith and Indian honor, that the Six Nations had good hearts to all their 
English brethren. Thus ended the treaty at Fort Pitt, and the white set- 
tlers were left on the lands. 

From this period the country west of the Alleghanies began to fill up 
with a further white immigation, but the boundary question was still a 
source of trouble, involving not only the extent of Pennsylvania, but the 
title to lands. The difficulties, too, were aggravated by one Michael Cre- 
sap, who sought to create disturbances on the boundary question, declar- 
ing that the province of Pennsylvania did not extend west of the Allegha- 
nies, but that all " westward of them was the King's land." 

In the midst of the trouble. Dr. John Connolly, a citizen of Virginia, 
appeared, and posted up the following significant notice, taking up the 
controversy on behalf of Virginia : 

" Whereas, his Excellency, John, Earl of Dunmore, Governor of the 
colony of Virginia, has been pleased to nominate and appoint me Captain- 
Commandant of the militia of Pittsburg and its dependencies, with in- 
structions to assure his Majesty's subjects, settled on the western waters, 
that having the greatest regard to their prosperity and interest, and con- 
vinced, from the reported memorials of the grievances of which they com- 
plain, that he purposes recommending to the House of Burgesses the 
necessity of erecting a new county, to include Pittsburg, for the redress of 
your grievances, and to take every other step that may tend to afford you 
that justice which you solicit. In order to facilitate this desirable circum- 
stance, I (John Connolly) hereby require and command all persons in the 
dependency of Pittsburg to assemble themselves there, as militia, on the 
25th inst., at which time I shall communicate other matters for the pro- 
motion of public utility." 

The Pennsylvanians immediately arrested Connolly, and on his refusal 
to find security for his good behavior, committed him to gaol. Connolly 
induced the Sheriff to give him leave of absence for a few days, during 
which, guarded by the settlers of Redstone, with Virginian predilections, 
he returned to Virginia. Penn wrote to Dunmore demanding an explana- 
tion of his sending Connolly to the State, and calling on and requiring the 
law officers of Pennsylvania to assert her rights and protect her people 
" within her own limits." 

The correspondence between Penn and Dunmore was spicy, and in it 
Dunmore supported Connolly, who returned to Pittsburg, and kept around 
him an armed body of men, to execute his orders in defence of Virginia's 



124 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

laws. The magistrates of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, refusing to 
acknowledge any authority but that of Pennsylvania, were arrested when 
returning from court, April 9, 1774, by order of Connolly, and refusing to 
give bail under the laws of Virginia, arrangements were made, and they 
were sent to Staunton for trial. The magistrates sent to Staunton were 
Smith, Mackay, and McFarland, On their way to Staunton, Mackay 
called at Williamsburg to visit Lord Dunmore, who informed him that 
Connolly was authorized by him to prosecute the claim of Virginia to 
Pittsburg and its dependencies. On arriving in Staunton, the three jus- 
tices gave security and returned to their homes. 

Col. Wm. Crawford, President of the Court, immediately sent an express 
to Gov. Penn, detailing the facts, and at the same time stating that Capt. 
Connolly, a few weeks before, went to Staunton, and was sworn in as a 
Justice of the Peace for Augusta county, in which " it is pretended that the 
country about Pittsburg is included, and he is constantly surrounded by 
about 180 militia, and obstructs the execution of every legal process." 

The Provincial Council ordered the arrest of Connolly, and sent com- 
missioners to Lord Dunmore. At the same time, they deprecated the 
alarming situation of affairs, and advised Col. Crawford, as " Virginia had 
the power to raise a much larger military force than Pennsylvania, pru- 
dence would dictate the propriety of not attempting to contend with them 
by way of force." 

The commissioners sent to Dunmore were Jas. Tilghman and A. Allen, 
and arrived in Williamsburg in May, 1774. Dunmore informed them 
that " the jurisdiction of Fort Pitt would not be relinquished by Virginia 
without His Majesty's order." This put an end to their mission. On the 
departure of the commissioners, Dunmore issued the following proclama- 
tion: 

" Whereas, I have reason to apprehend that the government of Penn- 
sylvania, in prosecution of their claim to Pittsburg and its dependencies, 
will endeavor to obstruct His Majesty's government thereof, under my 
administration, by illegal and unwarrantable commitment of the officers I 
have appointed for that purpose, and that that settlement is in some danger 
of annoyance from the Indians, also, and it being necessary to support the 
dignity of His Majesty's government and protect his subjects in the quiet 
and peaceable enjoyment of their rights, I have therefore thought proper, 
by and with the consent of His Majesty's Council, by this proclamation, in 
His Majesty's name, to order and require the officers of the militia in that 
district to embody a sufficient number of men to repel any insult whatever, 
and all His Majesty's liege subjects within this colony are hereby strictly 
required to be aiding and assisting therein, as they shall answer the con- 
trary at their peril. And I do further enjoin and require the several in- 
habitants of the territory aforesaid to pay His Majesty's quit rent, and all 
public dues, to such officers as are or shall be appointed to collect the 
same, within this Dominion, until His Majesty's pleasure shall be known." 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUISTT. 125 

Events were hastening to a crisis between Virginia and Pennsylvania, 
and the Indians, who considered themselves as injured parties, determined 
to avail themselves of a conflict, to join the Pennsylvanians, and be avenged 
on the Virginians. Pennsylvania, too, took immediate steps to meet the 
emergency, though Gov. Penn sent word to the Shawanese that if any 
wicked Virginians had murdered any of their tribe, he would make com- 
plaint to the Governor of Virginia, have the guilty parties punished, and 
that they should not seek to take revenge upon innocent people. Similar 
messages were sent to the Delawares, and the Indians met in council at 
Pittsburg, June, 1774, and all unhappy differences were satisfactorily setded, 
and the red men determined, in their own language, " to hold fast the 
chain of friendship, and make their young men sit quiet." 

Capt. Connolly was not satisfied with this friendly alliance between the 
Indians and the Pennsylvanians, and thus spoke in a letter to Gen. A. St. 
Clair in July : " I am determined no longer to be a dupe to their amiable 
professions, but, on the contrary, shall pursue every measure to offend 
them, the Indians, whether I may have the friendly assistance or not of 
the neighboring country." 

Connolly's course hastened on the war of 1774, and its outbreak was so 
immediately due to the conduct of Capt. Michael Cresap, that it was by 
some styled " Cresap's war." Space does not admit of our entering into 
explanatory details. 

In 1775, the conflicting jurisdiction of the provinces gave rise to further 
troubles, and magistrates, acting under Pennsylvanian authority, were 
threatened with imprisonment. Virginians, who were in prison under 
Pennsylvania laws, were turned loose by an armed mob, claiming to act 
under the laws of Virginia. Confusion reigned ; lands, already occupied, 
were given to friends and favorites by Virginia officers ; the courts of jus- 
tice, under Pennsylvania laws, were obstructed, and land offices were 
opened by the direction of the Government of Virginia. 

The court of the District of West Virginia also engaged in promoting 
the interest of Virginia, as is obvious from the following facts : 

" At a justice's court held at Fort Dunmore (Pittsburg), February 22, 
1775, (this was a court of Augusta), James Caveat was arraigned before 
the court for malevolently upbraiding the authority of His Majesty's offi- 
cers of the government of Virginia at sundry times, and for riotously 
opposing the legal establishment of His Majesty's laws. He offered as a 
plea the want of jurisdiction of the court, which was overruled, and he was 
required to give security for one year and a day, and desist from acknowl- 
edging, as a magistrate, within the colony of Virginia, any authority de- 
rived from the province of Pennsylvania. 

" May I, 1775, Thomas Scott was also bound over for acting and doing 
business as a Justice of the Peace under Pennsylvania laws, in contempt of 
the Earl of Dunmore's proclamation, and also other misdemeanors, and 
was required to desist from acting as a magistrate within the colony of 
Virginia. 



126 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUKTT. 

"September 20, 1775,. George Wilson, gentleman, was bound over for 
aiding, advising, and abetting certain disorderly persons, who, on the 
morning of the 22d of June last, violently seized and carried away Capt. 
John Connolly from Fort Dunmore, and also advising others not to aid 
the officers of justice, when called upon, to apprehend the aforesaid dis- 
turbers of the peace. He, not appearing, his recognizance was forfeited.'' 

These acts aroused the Pennsylvanians, and they seized Capt. Connolly 
and took him to Philadelphia, whereupon the county court of Augusta 
directed that Geo. Wilson, D. Smith and I. Spear should be kept as hos- 
tages for his safe return, and, to prevent their rescue, they were sent in a 
flat-boat to Wheeling. These matters must have led to open hostilities 
between the provinces, but for the merging of all local affairs in the all- 
absorbing question of the freedom of America, and nothing more is heard 
of the boundary until the second year of the Revolutionary war, when, in 
1777, Pennsylvania proposed to Virginia a final settlement of the disputed 
boundary. The correspondence on the subject led to the appointment on 
part of both States of Commissioners to settle the matter. 

Virginia appointed Bishop Madison and Robt. Andrews, to settle the mat- 
ter, and Pennsylvania, Geo. Bryan, Rev. John Ewing, DD.,and David Rit- 
tenhouse. They met in Baltimore, Aug. 31, 1779, and after four days' nego- 
tions, came to this agreement : " That Mason and Dixon's line be extended 
due West 5°, to be computed from the river Delaware for the southern 
boundary of Pennsylvania, and that a meridian, drawn from the western 
extremity thereof to the northern limits of the said States, respectively, be 
the western boundary forever," &c. This agreement, with the conditions 
annexed for the protection of individual rights, was adopted by the Legis- 
lature of Pennsylvania, September, 1780, and transmitted to Virginia for 
confirmation. While the negotiations were pending. Congress passed the 
following preamble and resolution, December 27, 1779: 

" Whereas, It appears to Congress, from the representation of the dele- 
gates from the State of Pennsylvania, that disputes had arisen between the 
States of Pennsylvania and Virginia relative to the extent of their bounda- 
ries, which may probably be productive of serious evils to both States, and 
tend to lessen their exertions in the common defence ; therefore 

Resolved, That it be recommended to the contending parties not to 
grant any part of the disputed lands, or to disturb the possession of any 
person living thereon, and to avoid every appearance of force, until the 
dispute can be amicably adjusted by both States, or brought to a just de- 
cision by the intervention of Congress ; that possessions forcibly taken be 
restored to the original possessors, and things be placed in the situation in 
which they were at the commencement of the present war, without preju- 
dice to the claims of either party." 

In 1784, Virginia confirmed the line agreed upon by the Commissioners 
in August, 1779, and the boundary was temporarily settled ; but it was not 
finally disposed of until the adoption, extension, and approval of the Mason 
8c Dixon line. 



HISTOR"S OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 127 

THE MASON & DIXON LINE. 

As this line forever put to rest all questions as to boundary between the 
two States, a brief history of it will not be here out of place. It was fixed 
in the years 1763-4-5-6-7 by two distinguished mathematicians and astrono- 
mers, Chas. Mason and Jer. Dixon, of London, afterwards extended by 
authority and consent of Virginia and Pennsylvania temporarily, and finally 
adjusted in 1784. The line properly begins at the northeast corner of 
Maryland, and runs due west. The Indians, as we shall see, were trouble- 
some to the surveyors, but, by treaties, they permitted them to proceed as 
far west as the old war-path, within thirty-six miles of the whole distance 
to be run, when the Indian escort informed them that it was the will of 
the Six Nations the surveyors should cease their labors. There was no 
alternative. The surveyors stopped, and hence arose the difficulties which 
we have narrated in the preceding part of this chapter as to the boundary. 

By reference to the charter granted by King Charles II to William 
Penn, his heirs and assigns, on the 4th of March, 1681, we find the follow- 
ing described land : 

" All that tract or part of land in America, with all the islands therein 
contained, as the same is bounded on the east by Delaware river, from 
twelve miles distant northwards of New Castletown unto the three and for- 
tieth degree of northern latitude, if the said river doth extend so far north- 
ward ; but if the said river shall not extend so far northward, then by the 
said river so far as it doth extend ; and from the head of the said river, the 
eastern bounds are to be determined by a meridian line, to be drawn from 
the head of the said river unto the said three and fortieth degree. The 
said land to extend westward five degrees in longitude, to be computed 
from the said eastern bounds, and the said lands to be bounded on the 
north by the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of northern lati- 
tude, and on the south by a circle drawn at twelve miles distance from New 
Castle northwards, and westwards unto the beginning of the fortieth de- 
gree of northern latitude, and then by a straight line westwards to the 
limits of longitude above mentioned." 

It is evident that Penn's grant of land from King Charles was to lie 
west of the Delaware river, and north of Maryland, because the charter 
by Lord Baltimore for Maryland included all the land to the Delaware 
Bay, " which lieth under the 40° of north latitude, where New England 
terminates " ; hence the only mode by which the form and extent of Penn- 
sylvania could be determined was by the two natural landmarks — viz.: 
New Castletown and the river Delaware. This river being her eastern 
boundary. New Castletown was to be used as the centre of a circle of 
twelve miles radius, whose northwestern segment was to connect the river 
with the beginning of the 40°, while the province was to extend westward 
5° in longitude, to be computed from said eastern bounds. 

The Penns claimed, for the western boundary, a line beginning at 
39°, at the distance of 5° of longitude, from the Delaware ; thence at 



128 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

the same distance from that river in every point to north latitude 42°, 
which would take into the province of Pennsylvania some fifty miles 
square of northwestern Virginia, west of the west line of Maryland. Lord 
Dunmore, however, rejtcted this claim, and insisted it would be difficult 
to ascertain such a line with mathematical exactness, and that the western' 
boundary of Pennsylvania should be a meridian line run south from the 
end of 5° of longitude from the Delaware, on the line of 42°. This claim, 
on the other hand, would have thrown the western line of Pennsylvania 
fifty miles east of Pittsburg. 

The foundation of the Mason & Dixon's line was based upon an agree- 
ment entered into July 4th, 1760, between Lord Baltimore and Thomas 
Penn, and the three lower counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex, on 
the Delaware, on account of the very long litigations and contests which 
had subsisted between these provinces from the year 1683. These parties 
mutually agreed, among other things, to appoint a sufficient number of 
discreet persons, not more than seven on each side, to be their respective 
commissioners, with full power to the said seven persons, or any three or 
more of them, for the actual running, marking, and laying out of the said 
part of the circle, (as mentioned in the charter from Charles II to William 
Penn,) and the said before mentioned lines. The commissioners were to 
fix upon their time of commencing said lines not later than the following 
October, and proceed with all fairness, candor and dispatch, marking said 
line with stones and posts on both sides, and complete the same before the 
25th December, 1763, so that no disputes may hereafter arise concerning 
the same. 

James Hamilton, (Governor), Richard Peters, Rev. Dr. John Ewing, 
William Allen, (Chief Justice), William Coleman, Thomas Willing, and 
Benjamin Chew were appointed commissioners on the part of the Penns. 

Horatio Sharpe, (Governor), J. Ridout, John Leeds, John Barclay, 
George Stewart, Daniel St. Thomas Jenefer, and J. Beale Boardley, on 
behalf of Lord Baltimore. 

The Board of Commissioners met at New Castle in November, 1760, 
and each province selected its own surveyors. The Pennsylvania survey- 
ors were John Lukens and Archibald McClain ; those of Maryland were 
John F. A. Priggs and Jonathan Hall. 

The commissioners and surveyors agreed that the peninsula lines from 
Henlopen to the Chesapeake, made under a decree of Lord Hardwicke, 
in 1750, were correct, hence they fixed the court-house at New Castle as 
the centre of the circle, and the surveyors proceeded on this data to mea- 
sure and mark the lines. James Veech, in his history of Mason & Dixon's 
line, quoted by Dr. Creigh, says : 

" Three years were diligently devoted to finding the bearing of the 
western line of Delaware, so as to make it a tangent to the circle, at the 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 129 

end of a twelve mile radius. The instruments and appliances employed 
seem to have been those commonly used by surveyors. The proprietors 
residing in or near London, grew weary of this slow progress, which, per- 
haps, they set down to the incompetency of the artists. To this ground- 
less suspicion we owe their supersedure and the introduction of the men. 
Mason & Dixon, who have immortalized their memory in the name of the 
principal line which had yet to be run." 

In August, 1763, Mason & Dixon were selected by Lord Baltimore and 
the Penns to complete their lines, and arrived in Philadelphia in No- 
vember, bringing the most approved instruments, among them a four- 
foot zenith sector. An observatory is erected in Cedar street, Philadelphia, 
to facilitate the ascertainment of its latitude, which they use until January, 
1764. They then go to New Castle, adopt the radius as measured by 
their predecessors, and, after numerous tracings of the tangent line, adopt 
also their tangent point, from which they say they could not make the 
tangent line pass one inch to the eastward or westward. They, therefore, 
cause that line and point to be marked, and adjourn to Philadelphia to find 
its southern limit in Cedar or South street. This they make to be 39° 56' 
20", while the latitude of the State has been marked as 39° 56' 20". They 
then extend that latitude sufficiently far to the west to be due north of the 
tangent point. Thence they measure down south fifteen miles to the lati- 
tude of the great due west line, and run its parallel for a short distance. 
Then they go to the tangent point and run due north to that latitude, and 
at the point of intersection, in a deep ravine, near a spring, they planted 
the corner-stone, at which point begins the celebrated Mason & Dixon's 
line. 

Mr. Veech continues : " Having ascertained the latitude of this line to be 
39° 43' 32" (although more accurate observations, make it 39° 43' 26" .8, 
or a little over nineteen miles south of 40° as now located), they, under in- 
structions, run its parallel to the Susquehanna, twenty-three miles ; and, hav- 
ing verified the latitude there, they return to the tangent point, from which 
they run the due north line to the fifteen mile corner and that part of the 
circle which it cuts off to the west, and which, by agreement, was to go to 
New Castle county. (This little bow or arc is about a mile and a-half 
long, and its middle width one hundred and sixteen feet. From its upper 
end, where the three States join, to the fifteen mile point, where the great 
Mason & Dixon line begins, is a little over three and a-half miles, and 
from the fifteen mile corner, due east to the circle, is a little over three- 
quarters of a mile. This was the only part of the circle which Mason & Dixon 
run. Lord Baltimore having no concern in the residue. Penn, however, 
had it run, and marked with ' four good notches,' by Isaac Taylor and 
Thomas Pierson, in 1700-'!.) Where it cuts the circle is the corner of 
three dominions, an important point, and, therefore, they caused it to be 
well ascertained and well marked. This brings them to the end of 1764." 

They resumed their labors in June, 1765. If to extend this parallel did 
not require so great skill as did the nice adjustment of the other lines and 
intersections, it summoned its performers to greater endurance. A tented 



130 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

army penetrates the forest, but their purposes are peaceful, and they move 
merrily. Besides the surveyors and their assistants, there were chain- 
bearers, rod men, axe men, commissioners, cooks and baggage carriers, 
with numerous servants and laborers. By the 27th of October, they come 
to the North (Cove or Kittatiny) mountain, ninety-five miles from the 
Susquehanna, and where the temporary line of 1739, terminated. After 
taking Captain Shelby with them to its summit to show them the course of 
the Potomac, and point out the Alleghany mountains, the surveyors and 
their attendants return to the settlements to pass the Winter and get their 
appointment renewed. 

Early in 1766, they are again at their posts, and by the 4th of June they 
are on the top of the Little Alleghany mountain, the first west of Wills' 
creek. They have now carried the line about one hundred and sixty 
miles from its beginning. The Indians, into whose ungranted territory 
they had deeply penetrated, grow restless and threatening. They forbid 
any further advance, and they had to be obeyed. The agents of the pro- 
prietors now find that there are other lords of the soil whose favor must 
be propitiated. The Six Indian Nations were the lords paramount of the 
territory yet to be traversed. To obtain their consent to the consumma- 
tion of the line, the Governors of Pennsylvania and Maryland, in the 
Winter of i766-'7, at an expense of more than ;^500, procured, under the 
agency of Sir William Johnston, a grand convocation of the tribes of that 
powerful confederacy. The application was successful, and early in June, 
1767, an escort of fourteen warriors, with an interpreter and chief, deputed 
by the Iroquois council, met the surveyors and their camp at the summit 
of the Great Alleghany to escort them down into the Valley of the Ohio, 
whose tributaries they were soon to cross. 

Safety being thus secured, the extension of the line was pushed on 
vigorously in the Summer of 1767. Soon the host of red and white men, 
led by the London surveyors, came to the western limit of Maryland, " the 
meridian of the first fountain of the Potomac," and why they did not stop 
there is a mystery, for there their functions terminated. But they pass by 
it unheeded, because unknown, resolved to reach the utmost limit of 
Pennsylvania, " five degrees of longitude " from the Delaware, for so 
were they instructed. By the 24th of August they came to the crossing 
of Braddock's road. The escort now became restless. The Mohawk 
chief and his nephew leave. The Shawanese and Delaware tenants of the 
hunting-grounds begin to grow terrific. On the 27th of September, when 
encamped on the Monongehela river, two hundred and thirty-three miles 
from the Delaware river, twenty-six of the laborers desert, and but fifteen 
axe-men are left. Being so near the goal, the surveyors (for none of the 
commissioners were with them,) evince their courage by coolly sending 
back to Fort Cumberland for aid, and in the meantime they push on. At 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 131 

length they came to where the line crosses the Warrior branch of the 
old Catawba war path, at the second crossing of Dunkard creek, a Httle 
west of Mount Morris, in Greene county, and there the Indian escort say 
to them, " that they were instructed by their chiefs in council not to let 
the line be run westward of that path." Their commands are peremptory, 
and there, for fifteen years. Mason & Dixon's line is stayed. 

Mason and Dixon, with their pack-horse train and attendants, return to 
the East without molestation, and report to the commissioners, who ap- 
proved their conduct, and on the 27th of December, 1767, grant to them 
an honorable discharge, and agreed to pay them an additional price for a 
map or plan of their work 

The commissioners caused stones to be erected upon the lines and at 
the corners and intersections around and near the three counties of Dela- 
ware. On the 9th day of November, 1768, they made their final report to 
the proprietors. 

It would be well to remark that along the line and at the end of every 
fifth mile a stone was planted on which were graven the arms of the pro- 
prietors on the side facing their possessions, respectively, while the inter- 
mediate miles were noted by a stone bearing the initials of the respective 
States thereon. The line opened was of the breadth of twenty-four feet, 
made by felling all the large trees, which were left to rot upon the ground ; 
the stones were erected along the middle of this pathway. 

The instruments used by Mason & Dixon were an ordinary surveyor's 
compass, to find their bearings generally, a quadrant, and the four-feet 
zenith sector, for absolute accuracy, and which enabled them to be guided 
by the unerring luminaries of the heavens. 

The measurements were made with a four-pole chain of one hundred 
links each, except that on hills and mountains one of two poles, and some 
times a one-pole measure, was used. These were frequently tested by a 
statute chain carried along for the purpose. Great care was enjoined as to 
the plumblings on uneven ground, and, so far as they have been since 
tested, the measurements seem to have been very true. 

The width of a degree of longitude varies according to the latitude it 
traverses, expanding towards the equator and contracting towards the 
pole. In the latitude of our line. Mason & Dixon computed it at fifty- 
three miles and one hundred and sixty-seven and one-tenth perches. They 
subsequently made Penns' five degrees of longitude from the Dela- 
ware, to be two hundred and sixty-seven miles and one hundred and 
ninety-five and one-sixteenth perches. To their stopping-place, at the 
war-path on Dunkard, they say was two hundred and forty-four miles, one 
hundred and thirteen perches and seven and one-fourth feet. Hence they 
left, as they computed it, twenty -three miles and eighty-three perches to 
be run. It was subsequently ascertained that this was about a mile and 



132 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

a-half too much, as the surveyors of 1784, made it two hundred and sixty- 
six miles, ninety-nine and one-fifth perches. 

The boundary between Virginia and Pennsylvania, after a long contro- 
versy, was finally settled, as we have seen, by the commissioners of the 
respective States in 1784. From the accounts of the commissary to the 
commissioners, it is evident that while discharging their trust they lived 
well. The bill calls for 120 gallons of spirits, 40 gallons of brandy, 80 
gallons of Madeira wine, 200 pounds of loaf sugar, a small keg of lemon 
juice, 6 pounds of tea, 106 pounds of coffee, 60 pounds of chocolate, 40 
pounds of Scotch barley pepper, 6 bushels of salt, 4 tin mugs, i coffee 
mill, I pewter tea-pot, i tin coffee pot, i frying-pan, i gridiron, 6 boiling 
kettles, I Dutch oven, i tea ketde, 2 pair snuffers, 4 candle-sticks, 2 funnels, 
100 pounds candles, 2 hand-saws, i cross-cut saw, 6 files, 2 hammers, I2 
gimlets, 50 pounds nails, i set knives and forks, tea-cups, glasses, tum- 
blers, bowls, dishes, plates, spoons and basins, 6 large camp stools, 6 small 
ditto, 2 marquees, or 4 horsemen's tents, 60 felling axes, 100 pounds steel, 
6 shovels, 6 pickaxes, 6 spades, 12 pair of H. L. hinges, 3 four-horse 
wagons and one light wagon, with 4 horses, 20 fathom h inch rope, 2 crow 
bars, 2 planes, 2 augurs, 4 broad-axes, 2 drawing-knives, ^ box window- 
glass, I ream of paper, 100 quills, 6 sticks of wax, 2 dozen pencils, i box 
of wafers, 2 ink stands, 2 large camp tables, i dozen memorandum books, 
cheese, 2 dozen hams, i dozen kegs of white biscuit. 

The commissioners for whom such excellent provision was made were, 
on behalf of Virginia, Bishop Madison, Robert Andrews, John Page, and 
Andrew Elliott; and for Pennsylvania, John Ewing, D. Rittenhouse, John 
Lukens and Thomas Hutchins. 

As public documents are difficult of access, owing to our distance from 
any great public library, the original reports of the commissioners are in- 
serted below for future reference : 

JOINT REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS ON THE BOUNDARY LINE BE- 
TWEEN VIRGINIA AND PENNSYLVANIA. 

Agreeably to the commission given by the State of Virginia to James 
Madison, Robert Andrews, John Page, and Andrew Elliott, and by the 
State of Pennsylvania to John Ewing, David Rittenhouse, John Lukens, 
and Thomas Hutchins, to determine, by astronomical observations, the 
extent of five degrees of longitude west from the river Delaware, in the 
latitude of Mason & Dixon's line, and to run and mark the boundaries 
which are common to both States, according to an agreement entered 
into by commissioners from the said two States, at Baltimore, in 1779, and 
afterwards ratified by their respective Assemblies, we, the underwritten 
commissioners, together with the gentlemen with whom we are joined in 
commission, have, by corresponding astronomical observations, made near 
the Delaware and in the western country, ascertained the extent of the 
said five degrees of longitude ; and the underwritten commissioners have 
continned Mason & Dixon's line to the termination of the said five degrees 
of longitude, by which work the southern boundary .of Pennsylvania is 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 133 

completed. The continuation we have marked by opening vistas over the 
most remarkable heights which He in its course, and by planting on many 
of these heights, in the parallel of latitude, the true boundary, posts 
marked with the letters P. and V., each letter facing the State of which it 
is the initial. At the extremity of this line, which is the southwest corner 
of the State of Pennsylvania, we have planted a squared unlettered white 
oak post, around whose base we have raised a pile of stones. The corner 
in the last vista we cut on the east side of a hill, one hundred and thirty- 
four chains and nine links east of the meridian of the western observatory, 
and two chains and fifty-four links west of a deep narrow valley, through 
which the said last vista is cut. At the distance of fifty-one links, and 
bearing from it north twenty-three degrees east, stands a white oak marked 
on the south side with three notches, or bearing south twelve degrees 
west, and at the distance of twenty-nine links, stands a black oak on the 
north side with four notches. The advanced season of the year, and the 
inclemency of the weather, have obliged us to suspend our operations, but 
we have agreed to meet again at the southwest corner of Pennsylvania on 
the i6th day of May next, to complete the object of our commission. 

Given under our hands and seals, in the county of Washington, in 
Pennsylvania, this i8th day of November, 1784. 

ROBERT ANDREWS, [Seal.] 
JOHN EWING, [Seal.] 
ANDREW ELLIOTT, [Seal.] 
DAVID RITTENHOUSE, [Seal.] 
THO. HUTCHINS, [Seal.] 

The report of the Virginia commissioners, which we have not been able 
to procure in time for this volume, is no doubt identical with the following 
report of the Pennsylvania commissioners, which was received by the Ex- 
ecutive Council, December 23, 1784: 

To His Excellency, John Dickerson, President of the Senate, and to the 
Hon. the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania : 

The commissioners appointed for ascertaining the length of five degrees 
of longitude, and for determining and fixing the boundary line between 
this State and Virginia, by astronomical observations, beg leave to report : 

That after procuring the necessary instruments, according to the direc- 
tions of council in the preceding Spring, we set off for our respective 
places of observation about the middle of June, Messrs. Rittenhouse and 
Lukens to Wilmington and Ewing and Hutchins to the southwest corner 
of the State. 

The observers at Wilmington completed their observatory and furnished 
it with the necessary instruments, so as to begin their astronomical opera- 
tions in conjunction with Messrs. Page and Andrews, commissioners 
from Virginia, about the beginning of July, where they continued observ- 
ing the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites till the 20th September, that they 
might have a sufficient number of them, both before and after his opposi- 
tion to the sun ; and although the Summer proved very unfavorable for 
astronomical purposes, they were fortunate enough to make amongst them 
near sixty observations of these eclipses, besides many other observations 
of the other heavenly bodies for the regulation of their clock and fixing 



134 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

their meridian line, so that they were well ascertained of their time to a 
single second. 

In the meantime the other observers, setting out for Philadelphia, pur- 
sued their route to the southwest extremity of the State, where they ar- 
rived about the middle of July, having been gready retarded by the bad- 
ness of the roads through that mountainous country. There they met 
with Messrs. Madison and Elliott, the commissioners from the State of 
Virginia, who had arrived about the same time. With all possible dispatch 
they erected their observatory on a high hill, at the place where the con- 
tinuation of Messrs. Mason & Dixon's line by Messrs. Neville & McClean 
ended, supposing this place would prove to be near to the western extrem- 
ity of five degrees of longitude from the river Delaware. After erecting 
their instruments, which had not sustained the least damage from the 
journey over bad roads, they began their astronomical observations about 
the middle of July, and they continued them night and day till 20th Sep- 
tember. Although they were frequently interrupted and disappointed by 
an uncommon quantity of rain and foggy weather, which seems peculiar 
to that hilly country, yet by their attention to the business of their mis- 
sion, they made between forty and fifty observations of the eclipses of 
Jupiter's satellites, many of which were correspondent with those made by 
the other astronomers at Wilmington, besides innumerable observations 
of the sun and stars for the regulation of their time-pieces and the mark- 
ing of their meridian with the greatest precision. 

In this part of their work, situated thirty miles beyond any of the in- 
habitants, the Commissioners were greatly assisted by the diligence and 
indefatigable activity of Col. Porter, their commissary, to whose industry, 
in providing everything necessary, and prudence in managing the busi- 
ness in his department with the utmost economy, the State is greatly in- 
debted. 

The astronomical observations being completed on 20th September, the 
eastern astronomers set out to meet the other Commissioners in the West, 
in order to compare them together. Messrs. Rittenhouse and Andrews 
carried with them the observations made at Wilmington, while Messrs. 
Lukens and Page returned home, not being able to endure the fatigues of 
so long a journey, nor the subsequent labor of running and marking the 
boundary line. Mr. Madison continued with the western astronomers till 
the arrival of Messrs, Rittenhouse and Andrews, when the affairs of his 
family and public station obliged him to relinquish the business at this 
stage and return home, after concurring with the other Commissioners as 
to the principles on which the matter was fully determined. 

Upon comparison of the observations made at both extremities of our 
southern boundary, your commissioners have the pleasure of assuring you 
that no discouragements, arising from the unfavorable state of the weather, 
or the unavoidable fatigues of constant application by day and frequent 
watchings by night, have prevented them from embracing every opportu- 
nity, and making a sufficient number of astronomical observations, to de- 
termine the length of five degrees of longitude with greater precision than 
could be attained by terrestrial measures of a degree of latitude in differ- 
ent places of the earth ; and further, that they have completed their ob- 
servations with so much accuracy and certainty as to remove from their 
minds every degree of doubt concerning their final determination of the 
southwestern corner of the State. 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 135 

In the result of the calculations, they found that their observatories were 
distant from each other twenty minutes and one second and an eighth part 
of a second of time. But, as the observatory at Wilmington was fixed at 
one hundred and fourteen chains and thirteen links west of the intersection 
of the boundary line of this State with the river Delaware, and as twenty 
minutes of time are equivalent to five degrees of longitude, they made the 
necessary correction for the said one hundred and fourteen chains and 
thirteen links, and also for the said second and one-eighth part of a sec- 
ond, which is equal to nineteen chains and ninety-six links, and accord- 
ingly fixed and marked the southwestern corner of State in the manner 
mentioned in the joint agreement and report of the Commissioners of both 
States, under their hands and seals, which we have the honor of laying 
before the Council. 

After these calculations were made, the Commissioners proceeded with 
all convenient dispatch to the place where Mason & Dixon formerly were 
interrupted by the Indian nation in running the Southern boundary of this 
State, in order to extend the said boundary westward to the length of five 
degrees from the river Delaware. Being prevented by rainy weather for 
near a week from making any astronomical observations, in order to ascer- 
tain the direction of the parallel of latitude which we were to extend, we 
concluded, to save time and expense, that it would be eligible to take the 
last direction of Mason & Dixon's line and correct it, if necessary, when 
we should have an opportunity of a serene sky. Upon extending the line 
in this manner one hundred and ninety-five chains from the place where 
they ended their work, we found, by astronomical observations, that we 
were thirty-two feet and five inches north of the true parallel, and we ac- 
cordingly made the necessary correction here, and marked a tree with the 
letters P on the north side and V on the South. From thence we assumed 
a new direction, which we again corrected in like manner at the distance 
of five hundred and seventy-five chains, where we found our line to be 
seventy-three feet and six inches north of the parallel of latitude. We 
made the offset accordingly, and planted a large post in the true parallel, 
marked as above. From thence we found another direction, by calcula- 
tion, which, beginning at the said post, should, at the distance of eight 
miles from it, intersect the said parallel, making offsets at convenient dis- 
tances, and planting posts in the true parallel. This direction being con- 
tinued thirty-three chains further than the eight miles above mentioned, 
fell twenty-three inches south of the parallel, where we also planted a post 
in the true boundary, marked as before, and from thence, to the southwest 
corner of the State, we assumed a new direction, which, being continued, 
fell two feet and eight inches south of the said corner. This correction, 
therefore, being made, we planted a squared white oak post in the said 
point, and marked its bearing from different objects, as mentioned in our 
joint report. Besides the marking of this boundary line by the posts and 
stones above mentioned, your Commissioners took good care to have a 
vista of twenty or thirty feet wide cut over all the most remarkable ridges 
which were in the direction of the parallels. 

For a more full description of this part of our work, we beg leave to refer 
to the annexed plan (this plan has never yet been found among the State 
papers) and sketch of the country through which the line passes. The 
season being now far advanced, we were obliged to desist from any further 
prosecution of the work, and agreed with the Virginia Commissioners to 
meet them at the southwestern corner of our State on the 17th of May 



136 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

next, to proceed in running and marking the western boundary of this 
State. 

Agreeably to our commission, we were required to report the situation 
of the country, and the best means of preserving the communication be- 
tween the eastern and western parts of the State. We beg leave to ob- 
serve that the natural obstructions to so desirable a purpose may be in a 
great measure removed by a few easy instances of attention paid by the 
Legislature of this State to the situation and exhausted condition of the 
western citizens. Their public roads are numerous, extensive, and in bad 
order, while the citizens being few in number, scattered at a distance from 
each other, and being harassed and exhausted by an Indian war, are unable 
to repair their roads or to open them through more easy and convenient 
passes over the hills and mountains. A few hundred pounds, not exceed- 
ing one thousand, judiciously and frugally applied, would, in our opinion, 
make a tolerable good wagon road from York county to the Monongehela, 
and thereby facilitate the exportation of goods from this city to that west- 
ern country, and secure their trade with us, especially if the ferry over the 
Susquehanna was made free to all the citizens of the State. It appears 
probable to us, that otherwise, the exertions of Maryland and Virginia to 
repair their roads to that country, will frustrate the expectation which we 
are entitled to entertain of enjoying the advantages of the trade with the 
western parts of our own State. We beg leave further to observe that the 
natural attachment of the western citizens to this State might be increased 
and fixed by an indulgence to their distressed situation, in the price of 
their lands and the terms of payment, and particularly in the remission of 
the interest due on the purchase money during the time they have been 
obliged to evacuate their possessions by the savages and fly to forts for 
the security of their lives and families. 

JOHN EWING, 
JOHN LUKENS, 
DAVID RITTENHOUSE, 
THOMAS HUTCHINS. 



CHAPTER X. 



Five years after Francis Fauquier* became Governor of Virginia, a treaty 
of peace was signed, February lo, 1763, at Fontainbleau, between England 
and France. As, however, all questions as to boundary between their 
American colonies were left unsettled, it did not bring peace to our fron- 
tier. On the contrary, the year 1764-65 is memorable for the great extent 
and destructive character of a war waged by the united Indian tribes of 
the western country — from the northern lakes to the mountains of North 
Carolina — with a view to the extermination of the whites. We shall only 



*Fauquier was ruined at the gaming-table, but fascinating and high-bred, a gentleman and scholar, a 
charming companion and a popular Governor, he came to Virginia the friend of William Pitt and fully 
imbued with the spirit of the Great Commoner. 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 137 

refer to the events of this war so far as to give a connected view of the mih- 
tary operations of this disastrous season. The savages were exasperated 
at the cession of Canada to the EngUsh, especially as they knew that the 
English government claimed the jurisdiction of the western country gen- 
erally. They saw forts being built far and near, on the Susquehanna, at 
Pittsburg, Bedford, Ligonier, Niagara, Detroit, Mackinac, and all manned 
by British troops. The various tribes decided, therefore, with great una- 
nimity, upon war, and war to the knife. It was evident to them that the 
time had come when they must either defend or renounce their country. 
Their resolution once taken, they were not slow in carrying out their plans 
of slaughter. They no longer considered the smallness of their numbers 
and their want of resources, but entered the unequal contest with the im- 
petuosity of passion, determined, if they could not rescue their lands from 
a detested foe, to die like men. Their plan of campaign was that of a 
general massacre of all the English settlers in the western country, as well 
as of those occupying lands which they claimed on the Susquehanna. 

" Never," says an old historian, " did the commanders of any nation 
display more skill, or their troops more steady and determined bravery, 
than did those red men in the prosecution of their gigantic plan for the 
recovery of their country. It was 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, but 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, may not a farther extension of the 
influence of those powerful, but salutary agents, put an end to war alto- 
gether?" 

The English traders among the Indians were the first victims of the 
contest, and out of one hundred and twenty of them, only two escaped 
being murdered. The forts of Presque Isle, St. Joseph, and Mackinac, 
were taken, with a general slaughter of their garrisons. They invested 
Fort Pitt, but the garrison had resolved to resist to the last extremity, and 
even perish by famme rather than surrender. In this situation, Col. Bou- 
quet sent Gen. Amherst to its relief. This escort was attacked by a large 
body of Indians in a narrow defile on Turtle creek, and would have been 
destroyed but for a successful stratagem employed by Gen. Amherst for 
extricating his force. After sustaining a furious contest from one o'clock 
till night, and for several hours the next morning, a retreat was feigned, 
with a view to drawing 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 victorious, and, pressing forward with great 



138 HISTORY OF ATJGTJSTA COtTNTY. 

vigor, fell into the ambuscade, and were dispersed with great slaughter. 
The loss on the Englishside was one hundred killed and wounded ; that of 
the savages was never known. The reduction of Fort Pitt, which they 
had so much at heart, was now placed out of their reach. It was during 
this war that the dreadful massacre took place at Wyoming, and desolated 
the settlements of the New 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 boys," that they rivaled the most fero- 
cious of the Indians themselves in deeds of cruelty. The Conestoga In- 
dians had lived in peace more than a century near Lancaster, Pennsyl- 
vania. Their number did not exceed forty. Against the unoffending 
descendants of the first friends of Penn, the Paxton boys first directed 
their more than savage vengeance. Fifty-seven of them, in military array, 
entered the village and instantly murdered all whom they found a:t home, 
to the number of fourteen men, women, and cliildren. Those who did 
not happen to be at home at the massacre, were lodged in the jail of Lan- 
caster for safety. This precaution was unavailing. The Paxton boys 
broke open the jail door, and murdered the whole of them, between fifteen 
and twenty. It was in vain that these poor, defenceless people protested 
' their innocence, and on their knees begged for mercy. Blood was the 
order of the day with these ferocious " boys." The death of their victims 
did not satisfy their rage. They mangled the dead bodies with their 
scalping-knives and tomahawks, scalping even the children, and chopping 
off the hands and feet of most of them. 

While we read, with feelings of the deepest horror, the record of the 
murders which have at different times been inflicted on the unoffending 
Christian Indians, it is some consolation to reflect that our Government 
has had no participation in these murders, but, on the contrary, has at all 
times afforded the peaceable Indians the protection which circumstances 
allowed. 

We now come to events which transpired nearer home — the massacres 
of Big Levels and Muddy Creek, in Greenbrier, when Cornstalk, who after- 
wards became so distinguished in the border wars, for the first time attracted 
public attention. Those two were the principal settlements in the Green- 
brier region, and were about fifteen miles apart. The destruction of these 
settlements was determined on, and they were visited, in 1763, by the In- 
dians, before the whites were aware of the existence of war. The party of 
Indians who went to the settlement on Muddy creek, apparendy on a 
friendly visit, consisted of sixty men, and were kindly received and hospi- 
tably entertained. After feasting, they suddenly fell upon the unsuspect- 
ing and unarmed whites, murdering all the men, and making prisoners of 
the women and children. Having thus repaid the hospitality of the 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 139 

whites, they proceeded to the Big Levels, and on the next day, after hav- 
ing been as hospitably entertained as at Muddy creek, they reenacted the 
revolting scenes of the previous day. Every white man in the settlement, 
but Conrad Yolkom, who was some distance from his house, was slain,, 
and every woman but Mrs. Glendinin. Yolkom, when alarmed by the 
outcries of the women, took in the situation and fled to Jacksons river, 
telling the story. The people were unwilling to believe him, till con- 
vinced by the approach of the Indians. All fled before them, and they 
pursued on to Carr's creek, in Rockbridge, where many families were 
murdered and others captured. 

The following graphic, life-like, and, no doubt, perfectly veracious ac- 
count of the raids on Carr's creek, is derived from the venerable Samuel 
Brown's narrative, published in the " Rockbridge Citizen :" 

" There were two raids on Carr's, or Kerr's creek, but the accounts are 
so mixed that it is not known certainly whether the incidents related as to 
them occurred at the first or second. This settlement dates back to 
1737-38, when Burden was exerting himself to setde his lands, and was 
composed mostly of Scotch-Irish. The first invasion by Indians was early 
in 1763, and the second in October, 1764. The number of Shawanese 
warriors in the first invasion was twenty -seven, and was part of a larger 
force who had been on a hostile expedition against the Cherokees or 
Catawbas, and were on their return to their villages north of the Ohio. 
Some knowledge of their approach led to a hastily organized company 
under Capt. Moffett, who, marching to the mouth of the Falling Spring 
Valley, on Jackson's river, on the estate long owned by the late Hon. John 
H. Peyton, halted there to await the Indians. The Indians, who were hid 
behind a ridge on the right bank of the river, watched the movements 
of the whites, and at a favorable moment opened a destructive fire upon 
them from their concealed position. A number of whites were killed, 
among them, Jas. Sitlington, of Bath, and the force so demoralized by the 
terrific fire from the unseen foes that it took to flight. The Indians pur- 
sued on to the Cow Pasture river, where they burned the smithy of 

Dougherty, who, with his wife and two children, escaped to the mountain, 
west of Peyton Falls, and thus saved their lives. The Indians continued 
their eastern progress, and arrived at Millboro', where the force divided, 
the larger part setting out for the Ohio, and the smaller party, of twenty- 
seven warriors, for Kerr's creek. The larger party killed a man at the 
Blowing Cave, in Panther's Gap, crossed the Warm Spring Mountain, and 
encamped on the lands now owned by the Heckman family. A company 
of whites was quickly formed, and pursued the savages. On reaching 
Heckman's, they found a rude bier, on which a wounded Indian had been 
carried, and afterwards his grave. The whites hastened on, and overtook 
the Indians in their encampment, near the head of Back creek. The 
whites rushed upon the camp, routed the savages, killing many of them, 
and capturing all their camp equipage. Among the whites killed was 
Capt. Dickinson, of Bath ; John Young, grandfather of Col. D. S. Young, 
of Staunton, who resided near Hebron church, in Augusta, and others. 
****** The whites returned, bringing back as trophies of 
their victory a number of scalps, which were recognized by their friends. 
Among them was the scalp of Jas. Sitiington, known by his long, red hair. 



140 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

We shall now return to follow the trail of the smaller party, which set 
out for Kerr's creek. This party crossed Mill mountain at a point still 
called " Indian trail," and the North mountain, where the road now 
crosses leadingfrom the Rockbridge Alum to Lexington. At thebaseof the 
mountain they were on the head waters of Kerr's creek, and proceeding 
on came to the house of Chas. Dougherty, where they murdered the whole 
family. They next came to the house of Jacob Cunningham, who was 
from home. His wife was killed, and his daughter, ten years of age, 
struck down with the tomahawk and scalped. After the Indians left, she 
revived and lived, but fell into their hands on their second invasion in 1765, 
was taken north of the Ohio, where the Indians placed on her head what 
they said was her scalp, and, with great demonstrations of mirth and joy, 
danced around her. She was afterwards ransomed, rejoined her friends, 
and lived many years, but ultimately died from the effects of the scalping, 
her head never having properly healed. The Indians next came to the 
house of Thomas Gilmore, which they burned, killing and scalping him 
and his wife. The rest of the family saved them.selves by flight. The 
alarm now spread, and the inhabitants were flying in every direction. The 
next house they attacked was Robert Hamilton's, where they killed five 
of the ten members composing the family. The Indians went no further 
on this occasion, but retreated, not so much, it is supposed, because their 
thirst for blood was satiated, as because they feared to encounter a white 
force which must have been now collecting. One savage, however, 
pushed on to the house of John McKee, who had sent his six children to 
the house of a friend on Timber Ridge, intending soon to follow with his 
wife. When the alarm reached him, he and his wife fled down the creek 
about a mile to a thicket, followed by the savage. Seeing they would be 
overtaken, Mrs. McKee implored her husband to leave her to her fate and 
make his escape. This he refused to do. She appealed to him again and 
again to leave her for the sake of their children. If he remained, being 
unarmed, both would be slain, but, if he escaped, their young children 
would still have a protector. He yielded to her entreaties, and they 
parted, to meet no more on earth. After running a short distance, he saw 
the tomahawk descend on his wife's head The Indian, without halting, 
followed McKee, but was unable to find him in the bush, and, with a loud 
whoop, gave up the search. At night, McKee returned to the spot where 
he had left his wife, and found her dead. Loaded with scalps and plun- 
der, the savages left the settlement, and the whites, returning, buried their 
dead. The number of persons killed on this occasion was less than would 
otherwise have been the case, from the fact that many were at church, at 
the old Timber Ridge Church, to hear Rev. John Brown, the pastor. 

The second invasion of Kerr's creek was loth October, 1765, and was 
composed of about forty Shawanese. The Indians came over North 
mountain and encamped in a secluded spot, from whence their spies went 
out. They remained concealed two days, but their presence was detected 
by their foot-prints in a corn field. The alarm was given about the time 
they set forth to make an attack. The whites rallied at the " Big 
Spring," in the house of Jonathan Cunningham, to the number of a hun- 
dred — men, women and children. Mr. Gilmore and another settler went 
up the creek to watch the barbarians. The savages shot both from their 
place of concealment, and then rushed on the promiscuous crowd of 
whites. Some young men advanced to meet them, and were killed. Then 
commenced ascenewhich beggars description; the screaming of women and 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 141 

children, and the utter dismay which seized upon all. Many concealed 
themselves in a thick growth of weeds and brush — among them a Mrs. 
Dull, who witnessed the awful tragedy. She said the terror-stricken 
whites ran in every direction trying to hide, and the swift savages, each 
singling out his prey, pursued them round and round with yells. Some 
threw up their hands for mercy. Some were spared their lives, but the 
most fell under the tomahawk. All the men who attempted resistance 
were shot down. The whites had few arms, and, under the circumstances, 
any resistance was vain. The wife of Thomas Gilmore, standing with her 
three children over the body of her husband, fought the Indian who 
sought to scalp him with desperation. A second Indian came forward to 
aid his brother, but the first warded oif the blow of his tomahawk and 
saved her life, saying, " She is a brave squaw " — such was their admira- 
tion of courage. Mrs. Gilmore, her son and two daughters were made 
prisoners. Cunningham was killed and his house burned, and the bloody 
work did not cease until all who could be found were killed or captured. 
Gathering their prisoners in a group, the Indians prepared to leave. 
Among their captives were James and Margaret Cunningham, Archibald 
Marion and Mary Hamilton, Mrs. Gilmore and her three children, and Betsy 
Henry. Among the killed in the two invasions were the entire Dougherty 
family, Mrs. Cunningham, five of the Hamiltons, Thomas Gilmore, Mrs. 
Gilmore and their son, and James McKee. The names of others killed 
and captured are not known to the writer, but the whole num.ber slain was 
not less than sixty to eighty, and twenty-five to thirty were led into cap- 
tivity. 

The following incidents were related by some of these captives, who 
were redeemed by their friends and returned from the Shawanese towns 
north of the Ohio. On the evening of their first day's march, the savages 
opened their kegs of whiskey, made and captured at Cunningham's dis- 
tillery, and spent the night and until the afternoon of the next day in a 
drunken revel. The prisoners were hoping all night that a company of 
whites would come to their rescue, but none came. While here, two war- 
riors returned to " Big Spring," no doubt- to get more whiskey. On their 
way to Ohio the savages made other prisoners on the Cow Pasture. One 
of the white chi dren taking sick, and becoming fretful, a savage seized it 
and dashed its brains out against a tree, and threw the bloody corpse over 
the neck and shoulders of a young girl sitting at the root of a tree. The 
prisoners construed this as a signal that she should soon die, which proved 
true, for she was killed the next day. Another mother caused delay by 
being exhausted carrying her babe. This exasperated the savages, who 
took the child, laid it on the ground, and, running a sharpened pole 
through its body, elevated it in the air. On one occasion some of the 
prisoners were drying some leaves of the New Testament by the fire ; a 
savage snatched them away and threw them into the fire. 

After crossing the Ohio the prisoners were divided, the Indians separat- 
ing into several parties. Mrs. Gilmore and her son fell to one party and 
her daughters to another. The last she heard of them was their heart- 
rending cries as they were torn from her. Soon mother and son were 
parted. She was sold to a French trader and taken to Fort Pitt ; her son 
remained with the Shawanese. He was afterwards redeemed, taken back 
to Jackson's river by Jacob Warwick, where his mother, at the end of 
three years, joined him, after being ransomed. The son married and left 



142 HISTOKY OF ATJGTJSTA COUNTY. 

a family. A number of others, among them Mary Hamilton, were ran- 
somed and brought back." 

During one of these raids some of the savages continued their pursuit 
until within a few miles of Staunton, where they were met by hastily or- 
ganized bodies of men, who drove them back. 

In the wars of i763-'64, the Indians, no longer controlled by their for- 
mer allies, the French, indulged their native ferocity of disposition, and 
perpetrated every species of perfidy and cruelty. This led to retaliation 
on the part of the whites, and occasioned the revolting and sanguinary 
scenes which characterized all future wars with the barbarians. 

The scenes which were occurring on the frontier aroused the people of 
Augusta to the necessity of preparation, and as early as 1763, they took 
steps towards a military organization. This appears from the following 
entry : 

"At the Court of Augusta, held in Staunton, August i6th, 1763, 

"Andrew Lewis, gentleman, took the usual oaths to H. M. person and 
government and subscribed the abjuration oath and test, which is, on his 
motion, ordered to be certified on his commission of Lieutenant of the 
County." 

The Lieutenant of the County was the commander-in-chief of the mili- 
tary forces of the county, and Lewis, the leader of greatest experience 
and ability west of the mountains, was thus commissioned, in view of the 
threatening aspect of affairs. At the same court William Preston qualified 
as Colonel of the County, and the following as Captains : Walter Cun- 
ningham, Alexander McClenehan, William Crow, and John Bowyer ; as 
Lieutenants : John McClenahan, Michael Bowyer and David Long, and as 
Ensign, James Ward. 

At the opening of the Indian war upon the frontier, in 1764, the Six 
Nations were conspicuous. These Indians had previously been known as 
the Five Nations, and called by the French, Iroquois. These five tribes, 
the Mohawks, Oneidas, Senegas, Onandagos and Cayugas had, in 17 12, 
been joined by the Tuscaroras, who had resided in North Carolina and 
had been driven from their hunting-grounds, and became the sixth of this 
powerful confederacy. They were called the Six Nations because they all 
spoke the same language. These Six Nations united, in 1763 -'64, with 
the Shawanese and all the other tribes of the western country in the war 
against Virginia, Pennsylvania and the other colonies. Both Virginia and 
Pennsylvania had attempted to restrain their people from settling west of 
the AUeghanies, because the lands had not been purchased of the Indians. 
The people, however, defied the authorities, and, undaunted by fear of 
the red men, crossed the mountains. Unable to look to their governments 
for protection, they erected forts and block -houses in the west for their 
security. The savages, finding the colonial authorities unable or unwill- 
ing to prevent this invasion of their country, and believing them insincere 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 143 

m their professions, resolved to take up the hatchet, and either to 
expel or exterminate the whites. The following extracts from letters writ- 
ten about 'this time, and subsequently, will show that the Indians had rea- 
son to be exasperated ; that all the blame for these massacres and wars does 
not attach to them. In a letter dated Winchester, April 30th, 1765, the 
following passage occurs : 

" The frontier inhabitants of this colony and Maryland are removing fast 
over the Alleghanies in order to settle and live there. The two hunters 
who killed the two Indians near Pittsburg, some time ago, are so audacious 
as to boast of the fact and show the scalps publicly. What may such pro- 
ceedings not produce ? One of these hunters, named Walker, lives in 
Augusta County, Va." 

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM CARLISLE. 

"A number of men from this settlement went up to Shamokin (Fort 
Augusta) to kill the Indians there, which caused them all to fly from that 
place." 

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM FORT LOUDOUN, I768. 

" The last news we have had here is the killing of nine Shawanese Indians 
in Augusta County, Va., who were passing this way to the Cherokee Nation, 
to war against them, and had obtained a pass from Col. Lewis, of that 
county. Yet, notwithstanding, a number of county people met them a 
few miles from Col. Lewis' and killed nine, there being but ten in the 
Company." 

FROM LORD BOTETOURT, 177O. 

" I send the body of John Ingman, he having confessed himself con- 
cerned in the murder of Indian Stephen. You will find there never was 
an act of villainy more unprovoked and more deliberately undertaken." 

FROM FORT PITT, 1771. 

** I take the liberty to enclose for your perusal the copy of an affidavit 
relative to the murder of two Senecas Indians. I have had several meet- 
ings with the chiefs, who seem well pleased with the steps taken in the 
affair." 

This bloody war, after a course of twelve months, was ended by a treaty 
negotiated in the Autumn of 1764, by Col. Bouquet, near Muskingum, and 
another, concluded by Sir William Johnson, at German Flats, when, as 
we have seen, the Indians surrendered two hundred and six prisoners. 
The most conspicuous negotiator on behalf of the barbarians was the cel- 
ebrated chief. Captain John — than whom no warrior among the Shawanese 
or Delawares was more brutal or ferocious. He possessed great courage, 
energy and sagacity, and wielded a vast influence. This desperate and 
blood-thirsty savage was over six feet high, and celebrated for his strength, 
activity and dexterity with the tomahawk. On one occasion he encoun- 
tered, in single combat, an Indian chief by the name of Cushion, almost 
as noted as himself for physical power and bull-dog courage. They 
fought with tomahawks, and the fight resulted in the death of Cushion, 
whose skull was cloven in twain. Captain John quarreled with his squaw. 



144 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

They agreed to divide their worldly goods and separate. The mother 
held fast to their only child. The Captain jerked it from her arms, and, 
dividing the body with his tomahawk and scalping-knive into two parts, 
threw her one half, saying, " Be off, or I'll serve you in the same way." 

It will not be uninteresting, and will conduce to an understanding of 
western affairs, if we pause at this point to give a brief account of western 
land titles. At the close of the war of i763-'4, the country, from the AUe- 
ghanies to the Wabash, was an almost unbroken wilderness ; a few military 
posts and an occasional pioneer settler were all there was of civilization in 
that vast region. But the tide of emigration to the west was about to set 
in with force. Already, in 1762, some families had settled in Greenbrier, 
and had refused to leave on the King's proclamation, " enjoining and 
requiring ail persons whatsoever, who have either willfully or inadver- 
tently seated themselves upon any lands within the countries above de- 
scribed, or upon any other land:: which, not having been ceded to or pur- 
chased by us, are still reserved to the said Indians as aforesaid, forthwith 
to remove themselves from such settlements." From Greenbrier, the 
whites penetrated to and settled on the New river previous to 1776, and at 
various points were, in contravention of treaties, entering upon and culti- 
vating the lands of different tribes. The Indians witnessed these encroach- 
ments with bitter feelings ; lost faith in such proclamations as that of Bou- 
quet, given in the preceding chapter, and in all treaties, and though Col. 
Johnson had ordered the whites, by proclamation, to leave, they learned 
that he contemplated, himself, founding a colony south of the Ohio river. 
This is true, but it was Johnson's intention to purchase lands before com- 
mencing operations. From Franklin's letters, we learn that this plan was 
in contemplation as early as the Spring of 1766. At this time Franklin 
was in London, and was written to by his son. Governor Franklin, of New 
Jersey, with regard to the proposed colony. The plan seems to have been 
to buy of the Six Nations the lands south of the Ohio, a purchase which, 
it was not doubted. Sir William might make, and then to procure from the 
King a grant of as much territory as the company, which it was intended 
to form, would require. Governor Franklin, accordingly, forwarded to his 
father an application for a grant, together with a letter from Sir William, 
recommending the plan to the ministry, all of which was duly communi- 
cated to the proper department. But at that time there were various inter- 
ests bearing upon this plan of Franklin. The old Ohio Company was 
still suing, through its agent, Col. Mercer, for a perfection of the original 
grant. The soldiers, claiming under Dinwiddie's proclamation, had their 
tales of rights and grievances. Individuals, to whom grants had been 
made by Virginia, wished them completed. Gen. Lyman, from Connec- 
ticut, we believe, was soliciting a new grant similar to that now asked by 
Franklin, and the ministers themselves were divided as to the policy and 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 145 

propriety of establishing settlements so far in the interior, Shelburne be- 
ing in favor of the new colony, Hillsborough opposed to it. 

The company was organized, however, and the nominally leading man 
therein being Thomas Walpole, a London banker of eminence, it was 
known as the Walpole Company. Franklin continued, privately, to make 
friends among the ministry, and to press upon them the policy of making 
large settlements in the west ; and as the old way of managing the Indians 
by superintendents was just then in bad odour, in consequence of the ex- 
pense attending it, the Cabinet Council so far approved the new plan as to 
present it for examination to the Board of Trade, with members of which 
Franklin had been privately conversing. 

This was in the Autumn of 1767. But, before any conclusion was come 
to, it was necessary to arrange definitely that boundary line which had 
been vaguely talked of in 1765, and with respect to which Sir William 
Johnson had written to the ministry, who had mislaid his letters, and 
given him no instructions. The necessity of arranging this boundary was 
also kept in mind by the continued and growing irritation of the Indians, 
who found themselves invaded from every side. This irritation became so 
great, during the Autumn of 1767, that Gage wrote to the Governor of 
Pennsylvania on the subject. The Governor communicated his letter to 
the Assembly on the 5th of January, 1768, and representations were at 
once sent to England expressing the necessity of having the Indian line 
fixed. Dr. Franklin, all this time, was urging the same necessity upon 
the ministers in England, and about Christmas of 1767, Sir William's let- 
ters on the subject having been found, orders were sent him to complete 
the proposed purchase from the Six Nations and settle all differences. But 
the project for a colony was, for the time, dropped — a new administration 
coming in which was not that way disposed. 

Sir William Johnson having received, early in the Spring, the orders 
from England relative to a new treaty with the Indians, at once took steps 
to secure a full attendance. Notice was given to the various colonial gov- 
ernments, to the Six Nations, the Delawares and the Shawanese, and a 
congress was appointed to meet at Fort Stanwix during the following October 
(1768.) It met upon the 24th of that month, and was attended by repre- 
sentatives from New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania, by Sir William 
and his deputies, by the agents of those traders who had suffered in the 
war of 1763, and by deputies from all the Six Nations, the Delawares and 
the Shawanese. 

The first point to be setded was the boundary line, which was to deter- 
mine the Indian lands of the west from that time forward, and this line the 
Indians, upon the ist of November, stated should begin on the Ohio, at 
the mouth of the Cherokee (or Tennessee) river ; thence go up the Ohio 
and Alleghany to Kittatinny ; thence across to the Susquehanna, &c., where- 



146 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

by the whole country south of the Ohio and Alleghany, to which the Six 
Nations had any claim, was transferred to the British. One deed, for a 
part of this land, was made on the 3d of November to William Trent, at- 
torney for twenty-two traders, whose goods had been destroyed by the 
Indians in 1763. The tract conveyed by this was between the Kanawha 
and Monongehela, and was, by the traders, named Indiana. Two days 
afterwards a deed for the remaining western lands was made to the King, 
and the price agreed on paid down. These deeds were made upon 
the express agreement that no claim should ever be based upon previous 
treaties, those of Lancaster, Logstown, &c.; and they were signed by the 
chiefs of the Six Nations for themselves, their allies and dependants, the 
Shawanese, Delawares, Mingos of Ohio, and others ; but the Shawanese 
and Delaware deputies present did not sign them. 

Such was the treaty of Stanwix, whereon, in a great measure, rests the 
title by purchase to Western Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. It 
was a better foundation, perhaps, than that given by previous treaties, but 
was essentially worthless, for the lands conveyed were not occupied or 
hunted on by those conveying them. In truth, we cannot doubt that this 
immense grant was obtained by the influence of Sir William Johnson, in 
order that the new colony, of which he was to be the Governor, might be 
founded there. The fact that such a country was ceded voluntarily — not 
after a war, not by hard persuasion, but at once and willingly — satisfies us 
that the whole affair had been previously settled with the New York sav- 
ages, and that the Ohio Indians had no voice in the matter. 

But besides the claim of the Iroquois and the north-west Indians to 
Kentucky, it was also claimed by the Cherokees ; and it is worthy of re- 
membrance that after the treaty of Lochabar, made in October, 1770, two 
years after the Stanwix treaty recognized a title in the Southern Indians 
to all the country west from a line drawn from a point six miles east of Big 
or Long Island, in Holsten river, to the mouth of the Great Kanawha ; 
although, as we have just stated, their right to all the lands north and east 
of the Kentucky river was purchased by Col. Donaldson, either for the 
King, Virginia, or himself, it is impossible to say which. 

But the grant of the great northern confederacy was made. The white 
man could now quiet his conscience when driving the native from his for- 
est home, and feel sure that an army would back his pretensions. A new 
company was at once organized in Virginia, called the " Mississippi Com- 
pany," and a petition sent to the King for two millions and a-half of acres 
in the west. Among the signers of this were Francis Lightfoot Lee, 
Richard Henry Lee, George Washington and Arthur Lee. The gentle- 
man last named was the agent for the petitioners in England. This ap- 
plication was referred to the Board of Trade on the 9th of March, 1769, 
and after that we hear nothing of it. 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 147 

The Board of Trade was, however, again called on to report upon the 
application of the Walpole Company, and Lord Hillsborough, the presi- 
dent, reported against it. This called out Franklin^s celebrated "Ohio 
Settlement," a paper written with, so much ability that the King's Council 
put by the official report and granted the petition, a step which mortified 
the noble Lord so much that he resigned his official station. The petition 
now needed only the royal sanction, which was not given until August 
14th, 1772; but, in 1770, the Ohio Company was merged into Walpole's, 
and the claims of the soldiers of 1756, being acknowledged both by the 
new company and by government, all claims were quieted. Nothing was 
ever done, however, under the grant to Walpole, the Revolution soon 
coming upon America. After the Revolution, Walpole and his associates 
petitioned Congress respecting their lands, called by them " Vandalia," 
but could get no help from that body. What was finally done by Virginia 
with the claims of this and other companies we do not find written, but 
presume their lands were all looked on as forfeited. 

During the ten years in which Franklin, Pownall and their friends were 
trying to get the great western land company mto operation, actual settlers 
were crossing the mountains all too rapidly, for the Ohio Indians "viewed 
the settlements with an uneasy and jealous eye," and " did not scruple to 
say that they must be compensated for their right if people settled thereon, 
notwithstanding the cession by the Six Nations." It has been said, also^ 
that Lord Dunmore, then Governor of Virginia, authorized surveys and 
settlements on the western lands, notwithstanding the proclamation of 
1763, but Sparks gives us a letter from him in which this is expressly de- 
nied. However, surveyors did go down even to the Falls of the Ohio, and 
the whole region south of the Ohio was filling up with white men. The 
futility of the Fort Stanwix treaty, and the ignorance or contempt of it by 
the fierce Shawanese, are well seen in the meeting between them and Bul- 
litt, one of the early emigrants, in 1733. Bullitt, on his way down the 
Ohio, stopped, and singly sought the savages at one of their towns. He 
then told them of his proposed settlement, and his wish to live at peace 
with them, and said that, as they had received nothing under the treaty of 
1768, it was intended to make them presents the next year. The Indians 
considered the talk of the Long Knife, and the next day agreed to his 
proposed settlement, provided he did not disturb them in their hunting 
south of the Ohio — a provision wholly inconsistent with the Stanwix 
deed. 

Among the earlier operators in western lands was Washington. He 
had always regarded the proclamation of 1763, as a mere temporary ex- 
pedient to quiet the savages, and being better acquainted with the value of 
western lands than most of those who could command means, he early 
began to buy beyond the mountains. His agent in selecting lands was the 



148 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

unfortunate Colonel Crawford. In 1767, we find Washington writing to 
Crawford on this subject, and looking forward to the occupation of the 
western territory ; in 1770, he crossed the mountains, going down the Ohio 
to the mouth of the Great Kanawha ; and in 1773, being entitled, under 
the King's proclamation of 1763, (which gave a bounty to the officers and 
soldiers who had served in the French war,) to ten thousand acres of land, 
he became deeply interested in the country beyond the mountains, and 
had some correspondence respecting the importation of settlers from Eu- 
rope. Indeed, had not the Revolutionary war been just then on the eve of 
breaking out, Washington would, in all probability, have become the lead- 
ing settler of the west, and all our history have been changed. 

But while in England and along the Atlantic men were talking of peop- 
ling the west south of the river Ohio, a few obscure individuals, unknown 
to Walpole, to Franklin, and to Washington, were taking those steps 
which actually resulted in its settlement. 

These deeds were made upon the express agreement that no claim 
should ever be based upon previous treaties — those of Lancaster, Logs- 
town, &c. The deeds were signed by the chiefs of the Six Nations, for 
themselves, their allies and dependents. The Shawanese and Delaware 
deputies present refused to sanction the treaty by their signatures. Such 
was the treaty of Stanwix, whereon, in a great measure, rests the title, by 
purchase, of Western Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. 

In 1769, a new company was formed in Virginia called the '* Mississippi 
Company," and asking of the King a grant of 2,500,000 acres. 

Lord Botetourt encouraged these companies, as did also his successor. 
Botetourt died in 1771, and the Earl of Dunmore, who was appointed to 
the Governorship, arrived in Virginia in 1772. Under the favor of both 
Governors, settlers were crossing the mountains in considerable number, 
and to the very great annoyance of the natives. In order to protect these 
settlers, a small force was sent, in 1773, under Gen. Mcintosh, for the de- 
fence of the frontier, and to attack the Indian towns on the Sandusky. 
Mcintosh's operations were unsuccessful, and his campaign ended after 
severe losses in killed and wounded. That both sides of the question may 
be seen, we give the following extracts from letters written in 1774 by Gen. 
Arthur St. Clair and others : 

FROM ARTHUR ST. CLAIR, 1774. 

" The murder of a Delaware Indian chief was perpetrated eighteen 
miles from this place (Ligonier). It is the most astonishing thing in the 
world — the disposition of the common people of this country. Actuated 
by the most savage cruelty, they wantonly perpetrate crimes that are a 
disgrace to humanity, and seem, at the same time, to be under a kind of 
religious enthusiasm. The Delawares are still .friendly, and it may, per- 
haps, prevent a general war, if they can be kept in temper." 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 149 

FROM ALEX. M'kEE, FORT PITT, 1774. 

" You must, ere this, be acquainted with the critical situation of this 
country, and the unhappy circumstances which have lately arisen between 
the Virginians and the Indians, the event of which still continues doubtful 
— whether matters will be brought to a general rupture or an accommoda- 
tion. Hostilities have been commenced on both sides. * * Some wise 
interposition of Government is truly necessary, or thousands of inhabitants 
must be involved in misery and distress. But, to do the Indians justice, 
they have given more proof of their pacific disposition, and have acted 
with more moderation, than those who ought to have been more rational, 
a few Mingos and Shawanese excepted, who have long been refractory. 
There are more effective means of chastising them for their insolence and 
perjury than by involving the defenceless country in a war." 

FROM D. SMITH, PITTSBURG, I774. 

" The Indians were surprised to see a number of armed men at this 
place, with their colors, at different times, making a warlike appearance, 
and said some of the militia fired on them at their camps near the mouth 
of Saw-mill Run." 

FROM A. MACKAY, PITTSBURG, I774. 

" We do not know what day or hour we will be attacked by our savage 
and provoked enemy, the Indians, who have already massacred sixteen 
persons, to our certain knowledge, about Ten-mile creek. A party of 
militia, consisting of Capt. McClure, Lieut. Kincaid, and forty privates, 
were on their march to join Connelly, at the mouth of Wheeling, where he 
intended to erect a fort, when they were attacked by four Indians, who 
killed the Captain on the spot, wounded the Lieutenant, and made their 
escape." 

FROM JNO. MONTGOMERY, 1774. 

" The Shawanese seem well disposed and inclinable to peace, and will 
continue so, unless provoked by the Virginians. The Delawares are all 
for peace. Logan's party had returned, and had thirteen scalps and one 
prisoner. Logan says he is now satisfied for the loss of his relatives, and 
will sit still until he hears what the Long-knives (Virginians) will say. I 
am in hopes the storm will blow over." 

In June, 1774, Col. McDonald, with four hundred men, was ordered to 
Wheeling. After capturing the Indian village of Wappatomi, the savages 
sued for peace, and while negotiations were pending, removed their women 
and children, burnt their towns, destroyed their crops, and reduced the 
whites to the verge of starvation. 

But we are anticipating events. At the close of the war in 1764, the 
English colonies in America were thirteen in number, with a population of 
2,500,000. In the French and Indian war, to which we have briefly re- 
ferred, they all took part, and while England contributed some men and 
money, on the colonies fell the heaviest share of the burden, and to them 
belongs the merit of success. By their union, in this war, they laid the 
foundation of that union in the Revolution which resulted in the establish- 
ment of the United States. The year 1765 is memorable for the stand 
taken by Virginia as to those questions which were causing a state of hos- 



150 BISTORT OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

tility between the colonies and the mother country, which resulted in a 
long and bloody war, and ended in a final separation. 

BATTLE OF BACK CREEK. 

From D. S. Young, Esq., we have obtained the following account of his 
ancestors' participation in this affair: "About the year 1764, a party of 
Indians, passing through the country, made a raid upon the settlers on 
Kerr's creek, in Rockbridge, murdering men, women and children. The 
whole country was aroused, and a number of brave Augustians armed 
themselves hastily and went in pursuit. Crossing the Warm Spring moun- 
tain — following the Indian trail, they overtook the savages on Back Creek, 
in the present county of Bath. A hand-to-hand fight instantly commenced, 
the whites making an attack with such fury that the guilty barbarians had 
no time to fly. The engagement, which resulted in the defeat and death 
of almost every blood-stained savage, was deplored by the Young family 
for the loss of Thomas Young, one of the two sons of the original founder 
of the family in our county. This occurred in the following manner : In 
the heat of the contest, Thomas Young became engaged in mortal combat 
with two of the savages. While thus contending, a third savage ap- 
proached him from the rear, and with one blow buried his tomahawk deep 
into the skull of the brave white. Death ensued instantly, and, in the 
twinkling of an eye, the savage scalped his victim. John Young, although 
fighting desperately, saw the whole proceeding, and marked the mur- 
derer. Having disposed of his assailants, he fired upon the slayer of his 
brother. The shot took effect in the Indian's hip, who sank upon his 
knees. Young rushed upon him with his sword. His first blow was par- 
ried by the savage, who threw up his gun, on the barrel of which the 
sword was broken. With the remaining portion of the rapier. Young 
hacked and hewed the savage to pieces. Thomas Young's body was 
buried on the battle-field. His scalp was brought home and interred in 
the grave of his father — in the Glebe burying-ground, near the North 
Mountain, in Augusta." 



!BlSTOR"r OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 151 



CHAPTER XI. 



The year 1764, which witnessed the close of the Indian war, is memo- 
rable for the commencement of the narrow policy of Colonial oppression, 
which, after disturbing the ancient harmony of the two countries for twelve 
years, terminated in a dismemberment of the British Empire. Space does 
not admit of our entering upon the origin and history of the disputes be- 
tween the colonies and mother country ; upon the reciprocal insults, which 
soured the tempers ; the mutual injuries, which embittered the passions of 
the opposite parties, made reconciliation impossible, and finally led to the 
establishment of the Federal Government. We must confine ourselves to 
matters nearer home. During the Spring of 1774, it was evident that an 
Indian war was impending on our frontier. Such was the general belief 
i-n its imminency, that the traders and other adventurers who had pene- 
trated into the territory of the red men, left the wilderness, and collected 
at Wheeling. That post was then commanded by Capt. M. Cresap, and 
was called the " Key of the West." It must be remembered that Penn- 
sylvania and Virginia laid equal claim, in 1752-54, to Pittsburg and the 
surrounding country, and doubt still existed as to which colony it belonged. 
This led to the controversy treated of in the ninth chapter, and caused 
further irritation and trouble in 1774. Early in the Spring of this year, 
Dunmore, prompted by Col. Croghan, and his nephew, Dr.Jno. Connolly, 
an intriguing and ambitious man, determined, as we have seen, to assert 
the claims of Virginia upon Pittsburg and its vicinity. Then commenced 
a series of contests, complaints and outrages which are too extensive and 
complicated to be described within our limited space. The upshot of the 
matter was this : Connolly took possession of Fort Pitt, dismantled and 
nearly destroyed it, and then rebuilt and named it Fort Dunmore. He 
also wrote to the settlers along the Ohio that the Shawanese were not to 
be trusted, and he desired all to be in readiness to redress any wrongs 
these savages might perpetrate. One of these circulars he addressed to 
Capt. Michael Cresap, at Wheeling. A few days previous to the date of 
Connolly's letter, April 16, 1774, a canoe loaded with goods for the Shawa- 
nese towns, the property of Mr. Butler, a Pittsburg merchant, had been 
attacked by three Cherokee Indians about sixty miles above Wheeling, 
and one of the whites killed. This greatly excited the Virginians at 
Wheeling, and when, a few days later, it was reported that a canoe con- 
taining Indians was coming down the river, a resolution was at once taken 
to attack it. Connolly was endeavoring to foment a war, and the whites, 
largely participating in his views, exhibited at this time the blind im- 



152 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

petuosity of barbarians. Cresap, one of the leaders of the war party, • 
went up the river with several men, and, firing into the boat, killed 
two Indians, whom they scalped. Next day, several boats containing 
Indians were discovered a few miles up the river. Pursuit was given, and 
that night, while the Indians were encamped near the mouth of Captina 
creek, twenty miles below Wheeling, the Virginians attacked them, kill- 
ing and wounding several. Shortly afterwards, April, 1774, Daniel Great- 
house massacred twelve Indians at Baker's house, on the Big Yellow 
creek, where a considerable number of red men were encamped. By a 
disgraceful device, many of them were made drunk on rum, then mur- 
dered and scalped. Among the slain was the entire family of the famous 
chief, Logan, though Logan had hitherto been friendly to the whites, and 
warmly espoused a peace policy. These were the exciting causes of the 
war of 1774, though, as already premised, the magazine was charged, and 
needed only the application of the match to cause an explosion. 

The settlers, well knowing what would follow such brutalities, left the 
frontier and retired into stockade forts. As they anticipated, the Indians 
were soon on the war path. It was not a single tribe, but a combination, 
or confederacy of all the tribes of the northwest, conspicuous among them 
the Shawanese, Mingos, and Delawares. Having, by their own conduct 
brought affairs to this point, with the hope that, during a general war, the 
Indians would be " polished off the earth," to use the slang phraseology 
of the frontier, Connolly and Cresap despatched a scout to Williamsburg, 
where the Legislature was at the time in session, to inform the Governor. 

Gen. Lewis, a member of the House of Burgesses for the county of 
Botetourt, was then in Williamsburg, attending its deliberations. He was 
widely distinguished for his great actions and the important services he 
had rendered his country. He was now in his fifty-sixth year, and his 
strong understanding fortified by large experience. The Governor imme- 
diately sent for him, and, after a conference, decided on raising an army 
and appointing Lewis to its command. He asked the General his views 
as to a campaign. Lewis soon explained to him a plan of campaign that 
was simple, bold, and judicious. The General knew that no such formi- 
dable union of savage tribes as now existed had ever taken place on the 
continent ; that no such able and astute leaders as Logan, chief of the 
Mingos ; Cornstalk, sachem of the Shawanese, and King of the Northern 
Confederacy; Outacite, the Man-killer, King of the Cherokees; and 
Blue Jacket, had ever been formed against the whites, or occupied such a 
geographical advantage over their enemy. He informed Lord Dunmore 
that the savages must not only be attacked in front, but on the flank ; that 
he should advance by the Kanawha, or the River of the Woods, to the 
Ohio, while a cooperating force from Fort Pitt, coming down the river, 
would be prepared to strike the left of the Indian army, advancing from 



HISTOKY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 153 

the west. He explained his campaign in detail, and the Governor heartily 
approved the prospective acuteness of his plans, and said he would take 
command in person of the force to move from Fort Pitt. Gen. Lewis im- 
mediately left the capital for Staunton, and applied himself, with unexam- 
pled energy, to raising from the southern counties his force, and performed 
such wonders of labor as could hardly have been expected from a human 
body and a human mind. He selected and appointed his own officers, 
and, under them, volunteers came in with such alacrity that there was no 
occasion to resort to a draft, which he was empowered to do, if necessary. 
As the companies were completed in Staunton, they were sent off to Camp 
Union, on the Greenbrier, and, when completed, the force there consisted of 
the foUowmg : 

GEN. lewis' force. 

I. Regiment of Augusta troops, under Col. Charles Lewis. The cap- 
tains in this regiment were : Geo. Mathews, (afterwards Governor of 
Georgia) ; Alex. McClenachan ; John Dickinson ; John Lewis, (son of Col. 
Wm. Lewis, afterwards of the Sweet Springs,) then only sixteen years of 
age, but celebrated for his martial spirit and herculean strength; Benj. 
Harrison; Wm. Paul; Jos. Haynes; Sam'l Wilson. 

n. The Botetourt regiment, under Col. Wm. Fleming. The captains 
in this regiment were : Mathew Arbuckle; John Murray ; John Lewis, (son 
of the General in command) ; James Robertson ; Robt. McClenachan ; 
James Ward ; John Stuart, (author of a Memoir of this campaign). 

HL The regiment from Culpeper, under Col. John Field. 

Three Independent companies from Washington county, Va., under 
command of Col. Wm. Christian. Their captains were: Evan Shelby, 
Wm. Russell, Harbert. 

An Independent company from Bedford county, Va., under command of 
Capt. Thos. Buford. 

These citizen-soldiers were men hardened by exercise and toil. Their 
bodies seemed inaccessible to disease or pain. War was their element. 
They sported with danger, and met death with composure. To such men 
the colony of Augusta, the State of Virginia, and the Republic of the United 
States, owe their present greatness. They remind us of the founders of 
Rome, of whom Cato, the elder, said to the Roman Senate : " Think not 
it was merely by force of arms that our forefathers raised this republic from 
alow condition to its present greatness. No ! By things of a very differ- 
ent nature — industry and discipline at home, abstinence and justice abroad, 
a disinterested spirit in council, unblinded by passion and unbiassed by 
pleasure." 

Gen. Lewis' last preparations completed, he left Staunton, arrived at 
Camp Union early in September, and assumed command. On the nth 
of September, 1774, unsheathing the old sword he had carried twenty 



154 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

years before at the defeat of Braddock, and in the war of '63-'64, he 
pointed to the West and commenced his march into the friendless wilder- 
ness. Never had the Virginians taken the field with so numerous and for- 
midable a force, but Lewis knew he was marching against a powerful Con- 
federacy. He therefore sought to impress upon his men that they should 
not show themselves inferior in valor to the heroes of 1755, nor sink below 
public expectation. He maintained a rigid discipline, and, as far as prac- 
ticable, the regularity of his march, as if in constant expectation of an 
attack, and illustrated the necessity of this course by a reference to 
the defeat of Braddock, and the well-known fact that an inferior number, 
well posted and handled with ability, has often proved too much for a 
more numerous body, whom contempt for their enemy exposes to attacks 
for which they are unprepared. They were on hostile ground from the 
day of their march, and the wisdom of his precautions cannot be doubted. 

There was no road, or even pathway, from Camp Union to the Ohio, a 
distance of one hundred and sixty miles. The whole country was an un- 
broken forest or trackless desert. Through this gloomy region the array 
was to be piloted by Capt. Arbuckle, a skillful backwoodsman. Their 
supplies of flour, salt and ammunition were to be transported on the backs 
of unshod horses, and their cattle driven in rear of the army. After a 
painful march of nineteen days, the army arrived on the ist of October, 
1774, at the mouth of the Kanawha. The troops had thus marched, on 
an average, eight-and-a-half miles a day — an astonishingly good progress 
under all the circumstances. This result could not have been attained 
but for the good health and vigorous character of the men. They had 
neither spirits, wine, nor malt liquor, and drunkenness, disease, crime, 
and insubordination were unknown. When the army reached Point 
Pleasant, the soldiers were almost naked. Their rations consisted of a 
small quantity of meal or flour, a little beef, and such game as they could 
kill — no tea or coffee. No men were ever called on to perform harder or 
more continuous labor, and yet they were always cheery, and worked with 
a will that could not be surpassed. We conclude from this, that water is 
better than grog, and that the theory of old army officers — especially those 
of the British army — that rum is essential to the good health and good 
humor of the soldier, is erroneous. 

The privations, the waste of strength and health, on such a march, are 
enormous, but owing to the temperance of the men, the high morale of the 
force, the troops were, notwithstanding some loss of physical condition, 
ready for action on reaching the Ohio. The General, who was then nearly 
sixty years of age, and was always worse lodged, worse served, and more 
plainly dressed than the youngest of his officers, was full of strength and 
vivacity, and elated at his success in crossing the wilderness. Owing to 
his failure to hear from Dunmore, and the fatigue of some of the less vig- 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 155 

orous of his men, Gen. Lewis now, as he had previously resolved on doing, 
formed and fortified a camp at this point, — selecting an elevated spot of 
land, where there was plenty of fresh air, good water, and excellent drain- 
age. Here the General remained nine days, until rest and a supply of 
wholesome food fully restored the bodies and spirits of his surviving sol- 
diers, and made them, if not more ready, better prepared for action. 

While the events we have related, commencing with April, 1774 — the 
recruiting of Lewis" force, the march to Point Pleasant, &c. — were transpir- 
ing east of the Ohio, the barbarians, fully advised by their spies and scouts, 
began to collect northwest of the Ohio in force. They were animated by 
their ancient hatred of the Virginians, whom they styled " Long Knives ;"* 
by a desire for revenge ; by a wish to rid the country forever of the pale 
faces ; and by a natural fondness for war. They mustered with such 
celerity, and in such force, that, greatly outnumbering the Virginians, 
they believed Lewis would not dare to meet them, or, if rash enough to do 
so, he would be ignominiously defeated. Their commander-in-chief, the 
famous Cornstalk, exerted himself to bring this force together with in- 
credible zeal and activity, and planned to take the two divisions of Lewis 
and Dunmore in detail. Accordingly, he advanced to meet Lewis, and 
was in the neighborhood of Point Pleasant, watching the progress of 
affairs, when Lewis arrived. From his lair, he witnessed the arrival of 
Lewis' force and the disposition made of them. 

On the 9th of October, three white couriers, who had previously lived 
among the Indians as traders, arrived in Lewis' camp, bearing dispatches 
from Dunmore, to inform Lewis that he, Dunmore, had changed the plan 
of campaign, and would not attempt to join Lewis at Point Pleasant, and 
ordering Lewis to march directly to the Indian towns on the Scioto, where 
Dunmore would join him. It is believed that this order was given with 
the base hope that Lewis' command would encounter an overwhelming 
savage force and be destroyed. In such cases, it is the duty of the histo- 
rian to give matters of fact, without reserve, without endeavoring to dive 
into the motives. 

It is charged by historians that Dunmore was now, and had long been, 
engaged in fomenting jealousies and feuds between the colonies, hoping 
thus to draw off their attention from the encroachments of the British 
Government upon their constitutional rights. He is also accused of encour- 
aging and inciting the savages to hostilities by his intrigues. And his pur- 
pose to take command of the force to rendezvous at Fort Pitt, is believed 
by them to have proceeded from a desire to allow, in his absence, the 
whole confederated Indian force to fall upon and annihilate Lewis. If 



*The origin of that term was as follows : Little Eagle, a noted Mingo chief, i*n a rencontre, in the war of 
1755, with some whites, under Col. Gibson, attempted to shoot the Colonel, but the ball missed the target. 
With the quickness and ferocity of a tiger, Gibson sprang upon his foe, and with one sweep of his sword, 
severed Little Eagle's head from his body. The Indians fled, and reported that the white captain had cut 
off their chiefs head with a "long knife" — hence the term. 



156 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

such was his object, he was signally defeated through the gallantry of 
Lewis' forces. Thus strangely do events confound all the plans of man. 

One of the scouts who came to Lewis from Dunmore was McCuUoch, 
and, no doubt, the Major Samuel McCulloch afterwards so famous as a 
scout, hunter and warrior. McCulloch informed Lewis that he had re- 
cendy left the Shawanese towns, on the Ohio, and gone to Dunmore's 
camp ; that the combination against the whites was formidable — composed 
of a larger number of men than under command of either Lewis or Dun- 
more, and all of them eager for the fray. " They will give you grinders, 
and that before long," said McCulloch, and repeating it, he swore " the 
whites would get grinders very soon." The express returned immediately 
to Dunmore, and the day after they left, the batde of the Point was fought. 

On the night of the 9th, Gen. Lewis' scouts reported no Indians within 
fifteen miles, and preparations were made to break camp and commence 
the march westward on the next morning. The morning of October 10, 
1774, had hardly dawned, however, before Lewis' force was startled by 
the report of rifles. The alarm was beaten, the enlivening strains rever- 
berating over the surrounding solitudes. Lewis' pickets came in rapidly, 
and reported the enemy advancing in force, one of them declaring that he 
had seen " a body of Lidians covering four acres of ground." 

Another scout declared the whole woods was swarming with painted 
warriors, armed with rifles, tomahawks, war clubs and battle axes, The 
rapidity with which Gen. Lewis formed his troops for battle alone saved 
the command from destruction. In this unexpected emergency, the ex- 
citement, the noise and confusion. Gen. Lewis was perfectly composed and, 
with the utmost coolness and presence of mind, took the necessary meas- 
ures to meet and repel the attack He ordered to the front the Augusta 
troops, under his brother. Col. Charles Lewis. He personally knew every 
man in this regiment — had known them from boyhood, and knew they 
could be depended on in the hour of danger. The Augusta regiment had 
hardly passed the outposts of the camp, when a furious onset was made 
upon them by an overwhelming force of Indians. Col. Charles Lewis fell 
mortally wounded at an early hour, but his brave troops kept up a stub- 
born resistance, until, overborne by superior numbers, they showed signs 
of being pressed back. At this moment. Gen. Lewis ordered forward Col. 
Fleming's regiment, which gallantly maintained the fortunes of the day 
until he, too, was struck down by a fatal shot, and was borne, dying, as his 
men believed, from the field. At this hour the aspect of affairs was ter- 
ribly gloomy, and less determined men would have been overborne and 
swept from the field. Gen. Lewis, who comprehended the critical situa- 
tion, (he was not more distinguished for the even tenor of his mind in ex- 
citement than for his intrepidity in action) determined to make a supreme 
effort. He immediately brought into action the entire reserve — men who 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 157 

rushed into the fray Hke bloodhounds cut loose from their leashes, and the 
fight raged from one end of the line to the other, both parties exhibiting 
the " stern joy which warriors feel in meeting foemen worthy of their 
steel." The barbarians, who thought their victory sure when they saw 
the whites waver after the fall of Cols. Lewis and Fleming, became frantic 
with rage as Fields' long-knives were seen advancing. " With convulsive 
grasp they seized their weapons, and would have rushed headlong upon 
the whites, had the latter not kept up a most galling fire, which had the 
double effect of thinning their ranks and cooling their rage." " The battle 
scene was now," says de Hass, " terribly grand. There stood the com- 
batants ; terror, rage, disappointment and despair riveted upon the painted 
faces of one, while calm resolution and the unbending will to do or die, 
were marked upon the other. Neither party would retreat, neither could 
advance. The noise of the firing was tremendous. No single gun could 
be distinguished — it was one constant roar. The rifle and tomahawk now 
did their work with dreadful certainty. The confusion and perturbation of 
the camp had now arrived at its greatest height. The confused sounds and 
wild uproar of the battle added greatly to the terror of the scene. The 
shouting of the whites, the continual roar of firearms, the war whoop and 
dismal yelling of the Indians, were discordant and terrific." About twelve 
o'clock the enemy's fire slackened, and Gen. Lewis detached the compa- 
nies of Capts. Stuart, Mathews and Shelby to turn their flank. This 
manoeuvre was handsoniel)'' executed, and by four o'clock the barbarians 
commenced a good-ordered retreat under Cornstalk, and effected their 
escape across the Ohio. 

It was throughout a terrible scene — the ring of rifles and roar of mus- 
kets, the clubbed guns, the flashing knives — the fight hand-to-hand — the 
scream for mercy, smothered in the death-groan — the crashing through 
the brush — the advance — the retreat — the pursuit, every man for himself, 
with his enemy in view — the scattering on every side — the sounds of 
battle, dying away into a pistol shot here and there through the wood, and 
a shriek — the collecting again of the whites, covered with gore and sweat, 
bearing trophies of the slain, their dripping knives in one hand, and rifle- 
barrel bent and smeared with brains and hair in the other ; — no language 
can adequately describe it. 

The calamity of our loss on that day was heightened by the death of 
Col. Charles Lewis, who abandoned himself too much to his passion for 
glory, and forgot that there is a wide difference between an officer and a 
private. Instead of confining himself to giving orders, he sought to exe- 
cute them also. Rushing headlong into the fray, a more than ordinarily 
conspicuous object by reason of a scarlet waistcoat which he wore, against 
the remonstrances of his friends, he fell early under the enemy's fire. Not 
inferior to his brother, the General, in courage, intrepidity and military 



158 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

genius, he surpassed him in some respects. He knew how to oblige with 
a better grace, how to win the hearts of those about him with a more en- 
gaging behavior. He, consequently, acquired the esteem and affection of 
his men in a remarkable manner. To perpetuate the memory of his public 
and private virtues, his eminent services in the field, and his heroic fate, the 
General Assembly of Virginia, in 1816, named Lewis county in his honor. 

The following is a list of our killed on this oocasion — a very incomplete 
list it is — as many subalterns and privates were slain whose names could 
not be obtained ; 

Colonels — Lewis and Field. 

Captains — Morrow, Buford, Wood, Murray, Cardiff, Wilson, and Robt. 
McClenachan. 

Lieutenants — Allen, Goldsby, and Dillon. 

The historian can scarcely do adequate justice to these heroes. Accord- 
ing to some accounts, Col. Christian's force did not reach the Point until 
the day after the battle. Others are to the effect that he came upon the 
ground about mid-day, and aided in routing the barbarians. 

Among the men in this battle who subsequently became distinguished 
were ; Gen. Isaac Shelby, first Governor of Kentucky ; Gen. Wm. and Col. 
John Campbell, heroes of " King's Mountain ;" Gen. Evan Shelby, of 
Tennessee; Col. Wm. Fleming, acting Governor of Virginia during the 
Revolution; Gen. Andrew Moore, U. S. Senator; Col. John Stuart, of 
Greenbrier; Gen. Tate, of Washington county; Col. Wm. McKee, of 
Kentucky; Col. John Steele, Governor of Miss.; Col. Chas. Cameron, of 
Bath; Major John Lewis, of Monroe; Gen. Wells, of Ohio; Gen. George 
Mathews, Governor of Georgia. 

At the commencement of the Revolution, Washington considered Lewis 
the foremost military man in America. His energies were in 1776, however, 
much impaired by disease and age — premature old age from illness and 
sufferings. 

The Indian army comprised the pick of the northern and western con- 
federated tribes. Cornstalk, King of the Northern Confederacy, was 
commander-in-chief, supported by Blue Jacket, Red Hawk, a Delaware 
chief, Scoppothus, a Mingo sachem, Elinipsico, son of Cornstalk, Chiyawee, 
chief of the Wayandottes, and the celebrated chief of the Cayugas, Logan. 
All of these warriors performed prodigies of valor during the battle, and 
above the din, the loud voice of Cornstalk was heard encouraging his 
men. In the heat of battle, seeing one of his men retreating, he slew him 
him with a stroke from his tomahawk. 

No witness of this battle, no one acquainted with the conduct of the red 
men in war, could doubt of their Asiatic origin. In all their habits they 
resemble the wandering Tartars ; support, with astonishing fortitude, hun- 
ger, cold, fatigue, and all the hardships of war. In battle, they exhibit 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 159 

the same want of discipline, the same fury to attack, the same readiness to 
fly from and return to the attack, and the same disposition to slaughter 
when they are conquerors. 

The battle was no sooner won, and the Indians in flight, than General 
Lewis, with that enthusiasm which is peculiar to great minds, took steps to 
reap the fruits of victory. He ordered preparations for pursuit, and, while 
these were progressing, had the wounded cared for, the dead buried, and 
himself laid ofl" a rectangular stockade fort, eighty feet long, with block- 
houses at two of the corners. It was built for the protection of the sick and 
wounded. The next morning he crossed the Ohio with his fighting men, 
and proceeded, though deep ravines and impenetrable thickets impeded 
his progress, by forced marches for the Pickaway Plains. The savages, 
who fled before him or hung upon his flanks, now regarded with admira- 
tion and terror his spirit and energy ; and, notwithstanding the losses of 
Lewis at the battle of the Point, he appeared to them as more formidable 
and more powerful than ever. They saw the folly of opposing such a 
man, and made up their minds to sue for peace. Thus this great soldier 
and wise man not only shaped the opinions and directed the conduct of 
his own men, but those of his enemies. At the Plains, Lewis was met by a 
courier from Dunmore, ordering him to halt, as he, Dunmore, was nego- 
tiating a peace with the barbarians. Lewis indignantly disregarded this order, 
and pushed on. He received a second order from Dunmore, which he equally 
scouted, and continued his march until within three miles of Dunmore's 
detachment. Dunmore, alarmed, proceeded, with a barbarian chief called 
White Eyes, to visit Gen. Lewis, whom he peremptorily ordered to halt. 
The fury of Lewis' men, at what they considered the treachery of Dun- 
more, was such that Lewis only, with great difficulty, preserved his life. 

Gen. Lewis' orders were to return to Point Pleasant, and thence to 
Greenbrier, where his forces were to be disbanded. Dunmore retired to 
his camp, concluded a treaty of peace with the barbarians, — the treaty of 
Camp Charlotte,— and returned to Williamsburg, It was on this occasion 
that the famous Mingo chief, Logan, made his celebrated speech. He 
would not oppose the treaty negotiated by Dunmore, and yet would not 
meet the whites in council. Dunmore, feeling the importance of securing 
his assent to the treaty, sent Col. Gibson to Logan, who was in his tent 
brooding in melancholy silence over his accumulated wrongs. Col. Gib- 
son returned without Logan, but with the following speech, which has 
given its author an imperishable immortality, though not a few doubt its 
authenticity. Jefferson regarded the speech as one of the most eloquent 
passages in the English language, and said ofJt, "I may challenge the 
whole orations of Demosthenes and Cicero, and of any more eminent 
orators, if Europe has furnished more eminent, to produce a single passage 
superior to it." It was in these words : 



160 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

" I appeal to any white man to say if he ever entered Logan's cabin 
hungry, and he gave him not meat ; if ever he 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 of 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 live with 
you. but for the injuries of one man. Colonel 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 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." 

Though the peace thus secured continued through the year 1775, there 
were occasional symptoms of awakening hostility on the part of the Shaw- 
anese and other confederated tribes, which were instigated by the British, 
who saw that a contest between the mother country and her colonies was 
impending. With a view to coming events, the English sought, in May, 
1774, and with too much success, to bring over to their side the Six Na- 
tions. Consequently, during the Revolution, no one outside of a fort was 
safe on the frontiers of Virginia and Kentucky.. 

The following letter, fortunately found by the author some years since, 
and communicated to the public through a Richmond paper, is thought 
worthy of insertion at this point : 

THE BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT. 

To THE Editors of the Standard : 

Gentlemen, — Many years since, when making some researches in the 
British Museum, I came across the following letter (without the writer's 
signature), dated at Williamsburg, Va., November 10, 1774. It gives, 
obviously from hearsay, a brief and incomplete, but, I imagine, a generally 
accurate account of the battle of Point Pleasant. You will probably con- 
sider it of sufficient interest to justify publication in " The Standard." 
Some of the names of the killed and wounded are inaccurate. Captain 
Blueford is doubtless intended for Buford. I'he letter appears in Vol. XLV 
of the "Gentleman's Magazine," page 42 — that is to say, in the January 
number for the year 1775. Yours truly, J. L. PEYTON. 

Staunton, February 10, 1882. 



" Williamsburg, November 10, 1774. 
"On the loth of October last a battle was fought on the Ohio, of which 
the following are the particulars ; On Monday morning, an hour before 
sunrise, two of Captain Russell's company discovered a large party of 
Indians about a mile from the camp, one of which men was shot down by 
the Indians, the other made his escape and brought in the intelligence ; in 
two or three minutes after, two of Captain Shelvey's men came in and con- 
firmed the account. 



HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 161 

"Colonel Andrew Lewis being informed thereof, immediately ordered 
out Colonel Charles Lewis to take command of 140 of the Augusta 
troops, and with him went Captain Dickenson, Captain Harrison, Captain 
John Lewis, of Augusta, and Captain Lockridge, which made the First 
division; Colonel Fleming was ordered to take the command of 150 more 
of the Botetourt, Bedford and Fincastle troops, which made the Second 
division. 

"Colonel Charles Lewis' division marched to the right, some distance 
from the Ohio, and Colonel Fleming, with his division, on the bank of the 
Ohio, to the left. 

"Colonel Charles Lewis' division had not marched quite half a mile 
from the camp, when, about sunrise, a vigorous attack was made on the 
front of his division by the united tribes of Shawanese, Delawares, Min- 
gos, Tawas, and of several other nations, in number not less than 800. In 
this heavy attack. Colonel Charles and several of his men fell, and the 
Augusta division was obliged to give way to the heavy fire of the enemy. 
The enemy instantly engaged the front of Colonel Fleming's division, and 
in a short time the Colonel received two balls through his left arm and one 
through his breast, and, after animating the officers and .soldiers, retired to 
the camp. 

" His loss in the field was sensibly felt, but the Augusta troops being 
shortly after reinforced from the camp by Colonel Field with his company, 
together with Captain McDowell's, &c., the enemy, no longer able to 
maintain their ground, was forced to give way. In their precipitate retreat 
Colonel Field was killed. During this time, which was till after 12 o'clock, 
the action continued extremely hot. The close underwood, many steep 
banks, and logs, greatly favoured the retreat of the Indians ; and the 
bravest of their men made the best use of them, whilst others were throw- 
ing their dead into the Ohio, and carrying off their wounded. 

" Soon after 12 the action abated, but continued, except at short inter- 
vals, sharp enough until sunset, when they found a safe retreat. 

" They had not rhe satisfaction of carrying off any of our men's scalps, 
save one or two stragglers, whom they killed before the engagement. 
Many of their dead they scalped, rather than we should have them ; but 
our troops scalped upwards of twenty men that were first killed. It is 
beyond doubt their loss in number far exceeded ours, which is considera- 
ble. 

" The following is a return of the killed and wounded in the above bat- 
tle : Killed, Colonels Charles Lewis and John Field, Captains John Mur- 
ray, R. M'Chenechan, Samuel Wilson, James Ward, Lieutenant Hugh 
Allen, Ensigns Cantiff, Bracken, forty-four privates — total killed, fifty- 
three. 

" Wounded, Colonel William Fleming, Captains Joe Dickenson, Thomas 
Blufford, J. Skidman, Lieutenants Goldman, Robinson, Lard, Vance, sev- 
enty-nine privates — total wounded, eighty-seven ; killed and wounded, 
146. 

" The account further says that Colonel Fleming and several others are 
since dead of their wounds." 

CORNSTALK. 

It is to be regretted that those early writers who treated of the discovery 
and settlement of our country have not given us more frequent and can- 
diet accounts of the remarkable characters that flourished in savage life. 



162 HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY. 

The sca