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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02387 9361
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofvalleyo00inkerc
A HISTORY
OF THE .
Valley of Virginia.
By Samuel Kercheval.
THIRD EDITION.
REVISED AND EXTENDED BY THE AUTHOR.
WOODSTOCK, VA: W. N. GRABILL, 1902.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, in the Clerk's Office of the Western District of Virginia.
1200024 DEDICATION.
TO GENERAL JOHN SMITH.
Like Nestor of old, you have lived to see "two generations pass away and now remain the example of the third." You saw Dun- more's war with the Indians in 1774; you witnessed the war of the Revolution and the war of 1812, with the haughty Briton. In all these great struggles of our country, you have given the most con- clusive evidence of unbending virtue and uncompromising patriotism. The author has had the gratification of knowing you for a full half century .- When a small boy he frequently saw you, though he was then too young to attract your notice, and it was not until he entered upon the active duties of life that lie had the high satisfac- tion of a personal acquaintance.
The author disclaims every thing like insincere flattery, and feels assured that your candor will readily pardon him for the freedom he uses in his dedication of the History of the Valley to you. To yon, sir, is he indebted for much of the valuable information detailed in the following pages. In you, sir, he has witnessed the calm, dignified statesman and philosopher, the uniform and consistent republican, the active and zealous officer, whether in the field or councils of the country. He has witnessed more : he has seen you in high pecuniary prosperity ; he has seen you in later years strug- gling with adverse fortune; and in all, has discovered the calm, dignified resignation to misfortune, which always characterizes the great and the good man. Yes, sir, you have spent at least fifty years of your valuable life in the service of your country ; and when you go hence, that you may enter into the joy of your Lord, is the fervent prayer of
THE AUTHOR.
.
INTRODUCTION.
ORIGIN OF THE INDIANS IN AMERICA.
From what particular part of the old world the aboriginals found their way to this continent, is a question which has given rise to much philosophical and learned disquisition among historians. It however appears now to be the settled opinion that Ameria first received its inhabitants from Asia. Mr. Snowden, in his History of America, advances many able and ingenious arguments in support of this opinion. After citing many great revolutions which have fron time to time taken place in various parts of our globe, Mr. Snowden states :
"In the strait which separates America from Asia, many islands are found, which are supposed to be the mountainous parts of land, formerly swallowed up by earthquakes; which appears the more probable, by the multitude of volcanoes, now known in the peninsula of Kamtschatka. It is imagined, however, that the sinking of tliat land and the separation of the new continents, has been occasioned by those great earthquakes, mentioned in the history of the Ameri- cans ; which formed an era almost as memorable as that of the deluge. We can form no conjecture of the time mentioned in the histories of the Taltecas, or of the year 1, (Teepatl), when that great calamity happened.
"If a great earthquake should overwhelm the isthmus of Suez, and there should be at the same time as great a scarcity of historians as there was in the first age of the deluge, it would be doubted in three or four hundred years after, whether Asia had ever been united by that part of Africa ; and many would finally deny it.
"Whether that great event, the separation of the continents, took place before or after the population of America, it is impossible to determine ; but we are indebted to the above mentioned naviga- tors, (Cook and others), for settling the long dispute about the point from which it was effected. Their observations prove, that in one place the distance between continent and continent is only thirty-nine miles ; and in the middle of this narrow strait, there are two islands, which would greatly facilitate the passage of the Asiatics into the new world, supposing it took place in canoes, after the convulsion which rent the two continents asunder.
"It may also be added, that these straits are, even in the summer, often filled with ice ; in winter frozen over, so as to admit a passage for mankind, and by which quadrupeds might easily cross, and stock the continent. But where, from the vast expanse of the north-east-
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ern world, to fix on the first tribes who contributed to people the new continent, now inhabited from end to end, is a matter that has baffled human reason. The learned may make bold and ingenious conjec- tures, but plain good sence cannot always accede to them.
"As mankind increased in numbers, they naturally protruded one another forward. Wars might be another cause of migrations. No reason appears why the Asiatic north might not be an officina vivorum as well as the European. The overteeming country to the east of the Riphean mountains, must have found it necessary to dis- charge the inhabitants : the first great increase of people were forced forwards by the next to it ; at length reaching the utmost limits of the old world, found a new, with ample space to occupy unmolested for ages ; till Columbus, in an evil hour for them, discovered their country ; which brought again new sins and new death to both worlds. It is impossible, with the lights which we have so recently received, to admit that America could have received its inhabitants (that is, the bulk of them), from any other place than Eastern Asia. A few proofs may be added, taken from the customs or dresses, com- mon to the inhabitants of both worlds. Some have been long extinct in the old, others remain in full force in botlı.
"The custom of scalping was a barbarism in use among the Scythians, who carried about them at all times this savage mark of triumph. A little image found among the Kalmucs,* of a Tartarian deity, mounted on a horse, and sitting on a human skin, with scalps pendant from the breast, fully illustrates the customs of the ancient Scythians, as described by the Greek historians. This usage, we well know by horrid experience, is continued to this day in America. The ferocity of the Scythians to their prisoners, extended to the remotest part of Asia. The Kamtskatkans, even at the time of their discovery by the Russians, put their prisoners to death by the most lingering and excruciating torments ; a practice now in full force among the aboriginal Americans. A race of the Scythians were named Anthropophagi, from their feeding on human flesh ; the peo- ple of Nootka Sound still make a repast on their fellow creatures.
"The savages of North America have been known to throw the mangled limbs of their prisoners into the horrible cauldron, and de- vour them with the same relish as those of a quadrupid. The Kamtskatkans in their marches never went abreast, but followed one another in the same track; the same custom is still observed by the uncultivated natives of North America. The Tungusi, the most numerous nation resident in Siberia, prick their skins with small punctures, in various shapes, with a needle; then rub them with charcoal, so that the marks become indellible ; this custom is still observed in several parts of South America. The Tongusi use canoes made of birch bark, distended over ribs of woods, and nicely put to- gether ; the Canadian, and many other primitive American nations,
* The Kalmuc Tartars now subjects of Russia.
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INTRODUCTION.
use no other sort of boats. In fine, the conjectures of the learned, respecting the vicinity of the old and new world, are now, by the discoveries of late navigators, lost in conviction ; and in the place of an imaginary hypothesis, the place of migration is almost incon- trovertibly pointed out."
SKETCH OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA.
Having given the foregoing brief sketch of the probable origin of the Indians in America, the author will now turn his attention to the first settlement of Virginia, a brief history of which he considers will not be unacceptable to the general reader, and as a preliminary introduction to his main object, i. e., the history of the early settle- ment of the Valley of Shenandoah in Virginia.
On the 10th of April, 1606, James I., King of England, granted charters to two separate companies, called the "London and Ply- mouth Companies," for settling colonies in Virginia .* The London Company sent Capt. Christopher Newport to Virginia, December 20, 1606, with a colony of one hundred and five persons, to commence a settlement on the island of Roanoke, now in North Carolina. By stress of weather, however, they were driven north of their place of destination, and entered the Chesapeake Bay. Here, up a river which they called James River, on a beautiful peninsula, they com- menced, in May, 1607, the settlement of Jamestown. This was the first permanent settlement in the country.
Several subsequent charters were granted by King James to the company for the better ordering and government of the colony, for the particulars of which the reader is referred to Hening's Statutes at Large. And in the year 1619, the first legislative council was convened at Jamestown, then called 'James City.'" This council was called the General Assembly. "It was to assist the Governor in the administration of justice, to advance christianity among Indians, to erect the colony in obedience to his majesty, and in maintaining the people in justice and christian conversation, and strengthening them against enemies. The said governor, council, and two bur- gesses out of every town, hundred or plantation, to be chosen by the inhabitants to make up a General Assembly, who are to decide all matters by the greatest number of voices; but the governor is to have a negative voice, to have power to make orders and acts nec- essary, wherein they are to imitate the policy of the form of gov- ernment, laws, customs, manners of tryal, and other administration of justice used in England, as the company are required by their letters patent. No law to continue or to be of force till 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 quar- ter court in England shall bind until ratified by the General Assem- bly." *- Dated 24th July, 1621.
* Hening's Statutes at Large, Vol. i,. p. 113, 114.
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INTRODUCTION.
"INSTRUCTIONS TO GOVERNOR WYATT.
"To keep up religion of the church of England as near as may be ;- to be obedient to the king and to do justice after the form of the laws of England; and not to injure the natives; and to forget old quarrels now buried :**
"To be industrious, and suppress drunkenness, gaming, and excess in clothes; not to permit any but the council and heads of hundreds to wear gold in their clothes, or to wear silk till they make it themselves:
"Not to offend any foreign princes; to punish piracies; to build fortresses and block-houses at the mouths of the rivers:
"To use means to convert the heathens, viz .: to converse with some; each town to teach some children fit for the college intended to be built:
"After Sir George Yeardly has gathered the present year's crop, he is to deliver to Sir Francis Wyatt, the hundred tenants be- longing to the governor's place: Yeardly's government to expire the 18th November next, and then Wyatt to be published governor; to swear the council:
"George Sandis appointed treasurer, and he is to put in execu- tion all orders of court about staple commodities ; to whom is allottted fifteen hundred acres and fifty tenants. To the marshall, Sir William Newce, to the same. To the physician five hundred acres and twenty tenants ; and the same to the secretary:
"To review the commissions to Sir George Yeardly, governor, and the council, dated 18th November 1618, for dividing the colony into cities, boroughs, &c., and to observe all former instructions (a copy whereof was sent) if they did not contradict the present ; and all orders of court (made in England) :
"To make a catalogue of the people in every plantation, and their conditions ; of deaths, marriages and christenings:
"To take care of dead persons' estates for the right owners ; to keep a list of all cattle and cause the secretary to return copies of the premises once a year:
"To take care of every plantation upon the death of their chief ; not to plant above one hundred pounds of tobacco per head ;t to sow great quantities of corn for their own use, and to support the multi- tudes to be sent yearly ; to inclose lands ; to keep cows, swine, poultry, &c., and particularly kyne, which are not to be killed yet: "Next to corn, plant mulberry trees, and make silk, and take
* It appears that at a very early period of the colony, they were desirous of cultivating a friendly understanding with the natives of the country. Unfortunately, however, for our ancestors, and for the Indians themselves, this friendly disposition was never of long duration.
+ This order strikes the author as one of a singular character. It cer- tainly requires great judgment and experience of the planter to decide what number of plants would make his 100 1bs. of tobacco, considering the casu- alties to which his crop was liable.
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INTRODUCTION.
care of the French men and others sent about that work ; to try silk grass ; to plant abundance of vines, and take care of the vignerors sent:
"To put prentices to trades, and not let them forsake their trades for planting tobacco or any such useless commodity:
"To take care of the Dutch sent to build saw-mills, and seat them at the falls, that they may bring their timber by the current of the water:
"To build water-mills and block-houses in every plantation:
"That all contracts in England or Virginia be performed, and the breaches punished according to justice:
"The tenant not to be enticed away ; to take care of those sent about an iron work, and especially Mr. John Berkeley, that they don't miscarry again, this being the greatest hope and expectation of the colonies:
"To make salt, pitch, tar, soap, ashes, &c., so often recom- mended, and for which materials had been sent ; to make oil of wal- nuts, and employ apothecaries in distilling lees of beer, and search- ing after minerals, dyes, gums, and drugs, &c., and send small quantities home .*
"To make small quantity of tobacco, and that very good ; that the houses appointed for the reception of new comers and public storehouses be built, kept clean, &c., to send the state affairs quar- terly, and a duplicate next shipping:
"To take care of Captain William Norton, and certain Italians sent to set up a glass-house:
"A copy of a treatise of the plantation business and excellent observances made by a gentleman of capacity is sent to lie among the records, and recommended to the councillors to study.
"Mr. William Clayboure, a surveyor, sent to survey the planters lands, and make a map of the country:
"To make discoveries along the coast, and find a fishery between James River and Cape Cod:
"As to raising staple commodities, the chief officers out to set examples, and to aim at the establishment of the colony:
"Chief officers that have tenants reprimanded for taking fees ; but require that the clerks have fees set for passes, warrants, copies or orders, &c.
"Governor and council to appoint proper times for administration of justice, and provide for the entertainment of the council during their session ; to be together one whole month about state affairs, and law suits ; to record plaints of consequence, to keep a register of the acts of quarter sessions, and send home copies:
* Sending things to England, was, in the phase of the times, termed sending things home. This mode of expression, "going home or sending home," was in use within the recollection of the author. In truth, the term "going or sending home," was never abandoned until after the war of the revolution.
2
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INTRODUCTION.
"If a governor dies, the major part of the council to choose one of themselves within fourteen days; but if voices be divided, the Lieutenant-governor shall have the place; and next the Marshal; next the Treasurer; and one of the two Deputies next:
"Governor and chief officers not to let out their tenants as usual:
"The Governor only to summon the council, and sign warrants, and execute or give authority to execute council orders, except in cases that do belong to the marshal, treasurer, deputies, &c.
"The Governor to have absolute authority to determine and punish all neglects, and contempts of authority, except the councils, who are to be tried at the quarter sessions and censured. Governor to have but the casting voice in council or court, but in the assem- bly a negative voice:
"That care be taken that there be no engrossing commodity, or forestalling of the market:
"All servants to fare alike in the colony, and their punishment for any offences is to serve the colony, in public works:
"To see that the Earl of Pembroke's thirty thousand acres be very good:
"And lastly, not to let ships stay long, and to freight them with walnut and any leas valuable commodity:
"The governor administered the following oath to the council:
" You shall swear to be a true and faithful servant unto the "king's majesty, as one of his council for Virginia: You shall in all " things to be moved, treated, and debated in that council concern- "ing Virginia or any of the territories of America, between the de- "grees of thirty-four and forty-five from the equinoctial line north- "ward, or the trade thereof, faithfully and truly declare your mind "and opinion, according to your heart and conscience; and shall keep "secret all matters committed and revealed to you concerning the "same, and that shall be treated secretly in that council, or this coun- " cil of Virginia, or the more part of them, publication shall not be "made thereof. And of all matters of great importance, or diffi-
"culty, before you resolve thereupon, you shall make his majesty'y 3 "privy council acquainted therewith, and follow their directions "therein: You shall to your uttermost bear faith and allegiance to "the king's majesty, his heirs, and lawful successors, and shall as- "sist and defend all jurisdictions, pre-eminences, and authorities, "granted muito his majesty and annexed unto the crown, against all "foreign princes, persons, prelates or potentates whatsoever, be it by "act of parliament or otherwise; and generally, in all things, you " shall do as a faithful and true servant and subject ought to do. So "help your God and the holy contents of this book."-Hening's Stat. at Large, vol. i. p. 114-118.
It appears the foregoing instructions were drawn up by the council, and intended as the general principles for the government of the colony.
The recommendation "not to injure the natives and forget old
-
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quarrels now buried," goes far to prove that hopes are entertained that the Indians were disposed to be at peace. "To use means to convert the heathen," is another evidence of this amicable state of feeling towards the natives. But lo! this state of peace and tran- quility, in less than one year after, was changed into one of devasta- tion, blood and mourning. On the 22nd of March, 1622, the Indians committed the most bloody massacre on the colonists, recorded in the annals of our country .*
In the following year, to-wit, March, 1623, the colonial general assembly, by statute, directed, "that thie 22nd of March be yearly solemnized as a holiday."; This was done to commemorate the es- cape of the colony from entire extirpation. This bloody massacre produced on the part of the whites, a most deadly and irreconcilable hatred towards the natives. Accordingly we find that a long con- tinued and unabating state of hostilities was kept up, and in one hundred years the Indians were driven from the country east of the Blue Ridge. At the same session, to-wit, 1623, the legislature en- acted several laws in relation to defending themselves against the savages. In the series are the following:
"That every dwelling house shall be pallisaded in for defense against the Indians:
"That no man go or send abroad without a sufficient party well armed:
"That people go not to work in the ground without their arms (and a sentinel upon them:)
"That the inhabitants go not aboard ships or upon any other occasions, in such numbers as thereby to weaken and endanger the plantations:
"That the commander of every plantation take care that there be sufficient of powder and ammunition within the plantation under his command and their pieces fixed and their arms complete:
"That there be due watch kept by night:
"That no commander of any plantation do either himself or suffer others to spend powder unnecessarily, in drinking or entertain- ment, &c.
"That at the beginning of July next the inhabitants of every corporation shall go upon their adjoining salvages, as we did last year."-Hen. Stat. at Large, vol. i. p. 127, 128.
In the year 1629, the legislature again "ordered that every com- mander of the several plantations appointed by commission from the governor, shall have power and authority to levy a party of men out
* This year, (1622), says Mr. Gordon in his history of the American revo- Intion (vol. i. p. 43), "was remarkable for a massacre of the colonists by the Indians, which was executed with the utmost subtility, and without any re- gard to age, sect, or dignity. A well concerted attack on all the settlements destroyed in one hour, and almost at the same instant, 347 persons who were defenceless and incapable of making resistance."
+ Hening's Statutes at Large, Vol. i, p. 123.
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of the inhabitants of that place so many as may well be spared with- out too much weakening of the plantations, and to employ those men against the Indians, &c .- Idem, p. 140.
"It was the opinion of the whole body of the Assembly that we should go three several marches upon the Indians, at three several times of the year, viz: first in November, secondly in March, thirdly in July, &c .- Idem, p. 141.
In 1631-32, "It is ordered that no person or persons shall dare to speak or parley with any Indians, either in the woods or in any plantation, if he can possibly avoid it by any means," &c .- Idem, p. 67.
The author considers the foregoing extracts sufficient to enable the reader to form some opinion of the spirit and character of the early settlers of our State, particularly as it relates to the sufferings and difficulties with the Indian tribes. It is not deemed expedient or necessary to go into a detailed history of the first settlement of our country, as there are several general histories of Virginia now to be obtained, written by authors, whose abilities and means of informa- tion the author could not expect to equal.
The author will close this brief sketch of the first settlement of Virginia, with a few general remarks in relation to the first intro- duction of slavery. It appears from our early historians, that ne- groes were first introduced into our State from "a Dutch ship in the year 1620." O woful day for our country ! To use the language of Mr. Snowden, this was "an evil hour" for our country-It truly brought "new sins and new deaths" to the new world. The present generation have abundant cause to deplore the unhallowed cupidity and want of all the finer feelings of our nature, manifested in this baleful and unrighteous traffic. It has entailed upon us a heavy calamity, which will perhaps require the wisdom of ages yet to come to remove. That it must and will be removed, there can be but little doubt. History furnishes no example of any part of the human race being kept in a perpetual slavery. Whether the scheme of sending them to Africa will ultimately produce the desired effect, can only be tested by time; it is however most "devoutly" to be desired.
BACON'S REBELLION IN VIRGINIA IN 1675-76.
The document which follows relates to one of the most singular events which ever occurred in Virginia, and its interests are a suffici- ent inducement for its insertion in this work. It was published in the Richmond Evangelical Magazine many years ago, but is now out of print. The editor of that work, (the late revered and highly es- teemed Dr. Rice), introducing it into his pages, says: "It was taken verbatim from a copy in the library now belonging to Congress, but formerly the property of Mr. Jefferson. Who the author is we can not discover. He was certainly a man of much cleverness, and wrote well. But our readers will judge for themselves. The name of
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Bacon is very little known to our citizens in general; and this part of our history has been veiled in great obscurity. There are two remembrances of this extraordinary man in the neighbood of Rich- mond. A brook in the northwest of the city, which bears the name of "Bacon Quarter Branch," is said to have received its name from the fact that on that brook Bacon had his quarters. Buck says that he owned a plantation on Shockoe Creek, of which the stream just mentioned is a branch. One of the finest springs in Richmond, or its vicinity, is in the east side of the city, and is called Bloody Run Spring. Its name is said to be derived from a sanguinary conflict which Bacon had with the Indians, on the margin of the streamlet which flows from this spring."
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