USA > Virginia > Highland County > Highland County > A history of Highland County, Virginia > Part 10
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In 1787 the Highland area was wholly a part of Augusta. In that year the portion of Rockingham lying west of the Shenandoah Mountain was with the addition of narrow slices taken front Hardy and Augusta made into the county of Pendleton. The southern line of the new county passed through the Highland area by following the divide between the waters of the Potomac and the James. Its course was therefore crooked. Scarcely more than two years after Pendleton was created, the county of Bath was stricken off from the parent county by being made to include that section of it west of the Shenandoah range. It thus took in the whole upper basin of the James, down to the point where it passes through the range just mentioned. The boundaries of Bath consequently followed natural lines.
But in 1796 the southern line of Pendleton was pushed south- ward a varying distance of four to twelve miles, and made to cross the Highland area nearly through the center. The reason for such annexation is not at this late day clearly apparent.
In the same year both Pendleton and Bath were enlarged by being made to take in the upper Greenbrier Valley. Their western border was therefore changed from the crest of the main Alle- ghany to that of the "Back Alleghany," which diverges from the
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former on the west line of Pendleton and runs southwestward in a nearly parallel course at a distance of ten or fifteen miles. This enlargement was by petition of the few settlers on the Upper Greenbrier.
In 1821 this remote section of the two counties became a part of the new county of Pocahontas, and in the same year Bath was diminished to the southward by the creation of Alleghany county. It was the intention to name the western county Alleghany and the eastern Pocahontas, but through a blunder of the engrossing clerk the names were transposed. They are less appropriate as they stand than as they were designed.
When the Highland area had thus become identified with the new counties of Pendleton and Bath it seems to have contained from 1,000 to 1,200 people. Many new settlers had come into its valleys. The Back Creek basin, the last to be occupied, now contained the Wade, Slaven, Bird, Matheny, Briscoe, Chestnut, Ryder, and Woods families. On Straight Creek in 1799, we find the following persons in a coroner's jury called together by a tree falling upon John Mifford: John Beverage ( foreman), Henry and John James, James and Jacob Seybert, George Franklin, John Moon, Thomas Jones, George Fisher, John Warwick, James Trimble, and George Rymer. At the sale of the late Christian Wagoner's effects, in May, 1800, we find present Michael Arbo- gast, William Bennett, William Cunningham, Michael Fox, John Hickley, William Janes, James and Hopkins Jones, Martin and Christian Life, William Michael, Francis Nicholas, Michael Peck, John Rexrode, Christopher Reed, James Trimble, Philip Wimer, Martin Waybright, John White, Adam and Michael Wagoner, and Christina Joseph. Abraham Smith was at this time a dweller in Crabbottom.
On the organization of county government in Pendleton, Peter Hull was the only justice from the Highland area. Henry Fleish- er was appointed major of the militia regiment, Jacob Gum was a constable and George Nicholas was a road overseer. John McCoy was a constable in 1792. Michael Arbogast served on the first grand jury. John Wilson and John Peebles appear to be the only Highland representation among the first justices of Bath. Samuel Black, William Ryder, and Stephen Wilson served on its first grand jury.
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The section of Bath beyond the main Alleghany was given two constables and was one of the three districts to elect overseers of the poor. It was peopled quite wholly by the overflow from the older section to the east. The Burners, Houchins, Sharps, and Sharrots removed thither in a body, and were joined by branches of the Arbogast, Gum, and other families. John H. Peyton, an attorney, visiting Huntersville in 1823, very shortly after the organization of Pocahontas, declares it as much out of the world as Tartary. The "town" consisted of two log cabins, one of these being the residence of John Bradshaw, who had moved here from Bullpasture Valley. We extract the following from his letter:
The other hovel is called the Loom-house, for these people are self- sustaining. The big wheel and the little wheel are birring in every hut. The homespun cloth is stronger and more durable than that brought by our merchants from Northern manufacturers. In Bradshaw's dwelling is a large fireplace, which occupies the entire gable end. The chimney is enormous, and so short that the room is filled with light which enters this way. It is an ingenious contrivance for letting all the warmth escape through the chimney, while most of the smoke is driven back into the chamber. In the chimney corner I prepared my legal papers before a roaring fire, surrounded by rough mountaineers, who were drinking whiskey, and as night advanced growing riotous. In the back part of the room two beds were curtained off with horse-blankets; one for the Judge, the other for myself. To the left of the fireplace stood Bradshaw's couch. In the loft, to which they ascended by a ladder, his daughter and the hired woman slept, and in time of a crowd, a wayfarer. The other guests were sent to sleep in the three beds in the Loom-house. The loom was used as a hatrack at night and for sitting on. My clients roosted on the loom while detailing their troubles.
Bradshaw's table is well supplied. There is profusion if not prodi- gality in the rich, lavish bounty of the goodly tavern. As a mark of defer- ence and respect to the Court, I presume, we had a table-cloth-they are not often seen on Western tables, and when they are, are not innocent of color,-and clean sheets upon our beds. This matter of the sheets is no small affair in out-of-the-way places, as it not unfrequently happens that wanderers communicate disease through the bedclothing. Bradshaw's fam- ily is scrupulously clean, which is somewhat remarkable in a region where cleanliness is for the most part on the outside.
The support of the people is mainly derived from their flocks of cattle, horses, and sheep, which they drive over the mountains to market. There is little money among them except after these excursions, but they have little need of it-every want is supplied by the happy country they possess and of which they are as fond as the Swiss of their mountains.
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History of Highland County
We have quoted this letter at length because in a considerable measure it was still applicable to conditions in the older county.
In the grand juries of Pendleton during the first decade of its history, we find the following Highland representation : Adam, David and John Arbogast, John Armstrong, William Blagg, Thomas Duffield, Conrad and Henry Fleisher, Jacob Gum, Charles Halterman, James and William Janes, Henry Jones, Joseph Lantz, Peter Lightner, Edward Morton, George Naigley, George Nicholas, Garrett Peck, Henry Seybert, William, David, and Elibab Wilson, and Peter Zickafoose.
Peter Hull in 1788 took a storekeeper's license, and ten years later Samuel Blagg took a license for an ordinary. In 1800 Peter and Jacob Hull had two stores.
In 1788, George Nicholas was road surveyor from the mouth to the head of Straight Creek. In 1790, Charles Erwin had the road from Mathias Benson's to the Augusta line, James Steuart, the road from the Pendleton line to Joseph Gwin's, and Abraham Gum, the road from John Slaven's to the Pendleton line. Robert Carlile, David Gwin, and William Houchin were other road sur- veyors under Bath. In the same year Jacob Gum took the place of McKenny Robinson on the upper South Branch. Two years later John Arbogast had the road from Michael Arbogast's to the inter- section with the Dry Run road. Garrett Peck had the latter road around to the mouth of Straight Creek. The precinct of James Mullenax was from Peter Hull's to the mouth of Straight Creek, and that of Isaac Gum was from Peter Hull's southward to the old Pendleton line. On the other side of the county, William Jordan in 1790, had the road from the head of the Cowpasture southward to the old Pendleton line. His assistants were Francis Hayworth, Thomas Douglas and three sons, Thomas Devericks and one son, Henry Jones, Edward Morton, William Harris, John Keezle and son, and John Hatton. Four years later, George Sheets cared for the road from Robert Malcomb's to John Hiner's, and Thomas Duffield, the road from Elibab Wilson's to Burnett's mill beyond the present Pendleton line.
Thus we see that when the new counties were formed, the Highland area was quite well supplied with authorized roads.
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History of Highland County
But in 1799 the Pendleton grand jury made a wholesale complaint on the want of index posts.
By 1780 there was a pioneer road from the Crabbottom west- ward across the Alleghany. It was known as the Riffle road from Francis Riffle or Riggle, a pioneer of Tygart's valley.
To provide a jail the Bath court of 1790 laid a special levy of 13 pounds of tobacco (43 cents) per tithable. The more promi- nent offenses in this county during its earlier history were hog stealing, liquor selling, swearing and blasphemy, and obstructing road surveys. But in 1799, 324 citizens were presented for not voting, and in 1881, 332 were likewise called up.
In 1800 the heavier landholders in the Pendleton half were the following :
Michael Arbogast
1,037 Acres
Joseph Bell
611 Acres
John Beverage
559 Acres
Peter Hull.
2,712 Acres
William Janes
566 Acres
Nicholas Seybert
662 Acres
Philip Wimer
772 Acres
Peter Zickafoose.
570 Acres
Until 1815, and especially until 1795, the increase in population was very rapid. The Indian war-cloud, which had hovered so long in and near the Alleghanies, was by virtue of the peace of 1815 practically removed from the eastern side of the Mississippi. The call of the West was now unrestrained, and the lure of its level and fertile lands made a steady and persistent draft on the valleys of Highland, as in the case of the East generally. Still the population had risen by 1847 to not less than 3,500. The valley lands and the more attractive uplands were generally cleared, though not to the extent they are now. The larger valley farmers were generally slave holders, and tillage was relatively more im- portant than at present.
The outside world did not seem so far away. Cattle were driven to market over better roads than formerly, and the building of the James River canal had advanced the head of navigation to Scottsville, a distance from the Cowpasture valley of less than 100 miles. There were now some churches and schools, and a few
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History of Highland County
stores, but as yet no collection of dwellings which might be termed even a hamlet. In the habits of the people the impress of the pioneer days was still very apparent. Cloth was still made at home, and improved farming machinery was not yet known. Post offices were very few, and the mails came only once a week. Nevertheless, the region now seemed rather old and mature. The earliest comers had all passed away, and among the very old peo- ple were natives of the county. Much of the downright crudeness of the early pioneer period had seen its day, and the wares of a newer civilization had found their way into these valleys from the distant cities.
The railroad age dawned about 1830. For some years before this date, and for some years later, the need of better highways for the growing American people became a very live topic. If actual distance could not be shortened, it was necessary to shorten the hours of travel. The people beyond the mountains were in particular need of better roads to the Eastern markets.
In 1822, James B. Campbell, an experienced surveyor, return- ed from the West to Crabbottom, and soon began to plan a turn- pike to connect Staunton with Parkersburg. The route he select- ed was from the top of Shenandoah Mountain to Shaw's Fork nearly the same as the present pike. But from this point his own route followed Shaw's Fork to its mouth, and there crossed Bull- pasture Mountain, reaching the river of the same name near the mouth of Davis Run. This stream was followed to the Sounding Knob Gap. The next range was passed through Vanderpool Gap, and a course was thence traced through the Great Valley of Back Creek to the Townsend Draft near the Bath line. Here it began the ascent of Alleghany Mountain. The entire route was excel- lent, the grades being as easy as the contour of the country would permit, and three barriers wholly eliminated.
But the survey did not become a road. In 1838 the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike was built under the supervision of Claude Crozet, a civil engineer of the first Napoleon, who worked in Russia as well as France. Influential citizens induced him to abandon the easier route which nature indicated, and to adopt the one by which the road was actually constructed. The specifi-
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History of Highland County
cations of Crozet required a track twenty feet wide, exclusive of side ditches, and ten inches higher in the center than on the border. Every visible rock or stump was to be taken out, and no grade was to exceed four degrees.
The road became at once the avenue of a large traffic between the valley and the transalleghany country, and was a large factor in the further development of the Highland area. Though still a very fair road, it has declined from its early estate and importance. That no bridges were ever thrown across Shaw's Fork and the Cowpasture is a strange and needless neglect.
The turnpike paralleled and crossed a common road con- structed by the state, and the long-abandoned track is sometimes in full view for quite a distance. On the slope of Shenandoah Mountain was a still older road, apparently the one laid out by Wallace Estill.
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History of Highland County
CHAPTER XII
THE NEW COUNTY
Desire of the Highland Area for Separate Organization - Formation of High- land - Its Organization.
T HE forming of Highland was one of the events which are perfectly natural. It was not so much that Pendleton and Bath were too long, although the people near their com- mon boundary were farther from their county seats than were the people at the other extremities of those counties. The new turnpike gave the Highland area an advantage which the other sections of the two counties did not possess. The cen- sus of 1850 was to show that Highland had more people than Bath, though not so many as Pendleton. And when to eco- nomic considerations are added the ambitions of men desirous of public office, a movement to create a new county becomes a very active force.
Even before the completion of the turnpike there was a desire in the central section to be set off as a separate county. When, in 1837, the delegate from Bath presented a bill to move the county seat a mile south to Germantown, there was much indignation in the north, and the measure was defeated. The latter section charged the southern with arbitrary doings. But when, in 1839, there was a vote on a new county with its seat of government at Woodsboro-now Vanderpool-the measure carried by a large majority in Bath, yet was defeated in Pen- dleton. Another vote the following year led to the same re- sult. It is said there was now much pulling of wires, and as in many other instances a compromise led to the desired re- sult. Woodsboro was very near the geographic center of the proposed county, but the people of Bath were induced to assent to the choice of Bell's place on the turnpike. Pendle- ton yielded reluctantly, its delegate still opposing the final bill in the Legislature, while the delegate from Bath favored it.
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History of Highland County
Finally, March 19th, 1847, the bill to create Highland was passed,* and in the new county it is related that the joy was like that caused by the surrender at Yorktown. It is signifi- cant that the boundary specified in the bill placed the delegate from Bath a few yards within the Highland line.
In view of the exceptionally high altitude of the county the name selected is very appropriate. As to who was re- sponsible for the choice, there is some dispute. It is said to have been proposed by Andrew H. Byrd, delegate from Bath, while, on the other hand, it is claimed that it was suggested to Byrd by Samuel Ruckman.
Pursuant to the Act of Assembly, the appointed justices met May 20th, 1847, at the house on James Bell's farm occu- pied by John Cook. This dwelling stood near a spring behind the law office of C. P. Jones and Son in Monterey. The jus- tices were George W. Amiss, Emmanuel Arbogast, Abel H. Armstrong, David H. Bird, James Brown, Andrew H. Byrd, James B. Campbell, Benjamin Fleisher, George Hicklin, Peter Hull, Thomas Jones, John H. Pullin, Samuel Ruckman, John Sitlington, Reuben Slaven, Adam Stephenson, Sr., and Charles Steuart.
Major Peter Hull, the first president of the board, was com- missioned as the first sheriff, under a bond of $30,000, his sureties being Andrew H. Byrd, James B. Campbell, John Graham, Frederick K. Hull, and Charles Steuart. Adam Ste- phenson, Jr., was chosen clerk under bond of $3,000, with James B. Campbell and William H. Terrill as sureties. John C. Woodson became commonwealth's attorney, Joseph Layne commissioner of the revenue, Thomas Campbell, surveyor, and John B. Steuart, coroner. The deputy sheriffs were David G. McClung and Peter H. Kinkead. The first jailer was Jacob Hiner, and the first jail was an upper room of his house.
The overseers of the poor-elected for three years, June 15th-were Alexander Gilmer, Jacob Seybert, Solomon Wag- oner, Robert H. Steuart, John T. Armstrong, Jesse Pullin, George Hicklin, and Jacob Hevener. Isaac Seybert was ap- pointed in the place of Jacob.
*See Appendix F.
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History of Highland County
The county was laid off into five constable districts, as follows :
1. The territory east of Jack Mountain and north of the turnpike.
2. The territory west of Jack Mountain and north of the turnpike.
3. The territory south of the pike and west of Back Creek Mountain.
4. The territory south of the pike and between Jack and Back Creek mountains.
5. The territory south of the pike and east of Jack Moun- tain.
The constables chosen for the respective districts were Andrew H. Jones, John M. Rexrode, James H. Ryder, Houston F. Gwin, and William S. Thompson. James Trimble was a second constable for the second district. The constabulary bond was fixed at $2,000.
Through a committee the court accepted the offer of James Bell to donate one acre for a courthouse site and sell two addition- al acres for $150, guaranteeing the use of the spring to the north of the pike. The committee on building courthouse and jail was made up of James Brown, James B. Campbell, Samuel Ruckman, Adam Stephenson, and John C. Woodson. Benjamin Fleisher and Peter Hull were afterward added. The contract for the two buildings was awarded to Robert Johnson for $4,935. The court- house thus provided for, a brick structure forty feet square, is the one still in use, but a new jail has recently been built. While the building was going on, court was held in the house of John Cook,. to whom was granted a tavern and liquor license, James Trimble also receiving a tavern license.
For road purposes the county was divided into eight precincts.
The first grand jury, with George Carlile as foreman, was made up of the following other persons: Thomas Beverage, George H. Bird, John Chestnut, George Colaw, William Curry, Adam Fox, Moses Gwin, James Gwin, John C. Gwin, William T. Johns, John Lightner, Jacob Newman, Thomas Parks, Loftus Pullin, David Steuart, David Varner, Sampson Wagoner, Samuel Wilson, Amos Wimer, and John Vandervender.
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History of Highland County
The offenses brought before the jury pertain to bastardy, un- lawful gaming and liquor selling, and disturbing religious assem- blies. But the grand jury of 1850 found nothing to do.
The tithables were reported as 1,136, and the first poll tax was $1.89, making an aggregate of $2,147,04.
At a certain public sale in 1829, twelve gallons of whiskey at 45 cents a gallon were deemed necessary to furnish "a dram to the bidder." In the 50's a more civilized sentiment had arisen, and in 1852 no licenses were granted by the court. For about twenty years Highland has been "dry" territory.
The first court ordered two voting places for each of the pres- ent districts : Samuel Ruckman's and Sitlington's mill for Blue- grass, John Cook's and John Wiley's for Monterey, and McDowell and William McClung's for Stonewall. In 1851, Doe Hill became a voting place, and another was ordered at Elkanah B. Turner's.
The wolf bounty had risen by 1788 to $6.67, and by 1801 to $8. The court of 1848 fixed the bounty on an old wolf at $12, and the same rate was still in force in 1865. For a wolf cub the bounty was half as much. The bounty on wildcats was $1.50 for a grown animal and 75 cents for one under six months of age. In 1853 the bounties on wildcats and foxes were $1.00 and 50 cents for grown and small animals respectively. At present the only bounty in force is that of 50 cents on hawks and owls.
The new county thius launched as a political unit pursued a quite uneventful career until the early spring of 1861.
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History of Highland County
CHAPTER XIII
HIGHLAND IN THE WAR OF 1861
The Election of 1860 - Attitude of Highland People - New Militia Companies - Operations in the Summer of 1861 - Battle of Camp Alleghany - Advance of Milroy in April, 1862 - Jackson's advance to McDowell - The Battle - Losses - The Confederate Pursuit and the Return to the Valley - Committee of Safety - Local Events - Memorial by County Court - A War Diary - Readjustments in and after 1865.
T HE War of 1861 is too large a topic to treat with a desirable degree of clearness and fullness in the pages of a county history. The present chapter will deal with that conflict only as it affected Highland. And as this county remained with the mother state, it is hardly necessary to take up the formation of West Virginia.
The presidential contest of 1860 requires preliminary mention. Politically, the two great sections of the Union were arrayed against one another, each having a radical and a conservative candidate. The North presented Lincoln and Douglas. The South presented Breckenridge and Bell. The former were Northern men, while the latter were Southern. Lincoln and Breckenridge represented the extremes in the four-sided contest. Only a hand- ful of Southern men, and these in the border states, voted for Lincoln. Only a handful of Northern men, except in the small area where a fusion of the Douglas and Breckenridge followers was attempted, voted for Breckenridge. Yet the conservative Douglas had a considerable number of votes in the South, and the conservative Bell a considerable number in the North. Lin- coln won the election, because he was the successful candidate of the more populous section. He lacked a million votes of having a majority over the other three men. Lincoln, for whom only one in sixty of her men had voted, was as unwelcome to the South as Breckenridge would have been to the North, for whom only one in forty of her men had voted, even with fusion thrown into the scale.
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History of Highland County
The temper of the times caused the political fight to be follow- ed by the appeal to arms. In each section the conservative ele- ment then came over to a more or less complete support of the radical, except in portions of the border states.
Virginia gave a small majority to Bell, the Southern conserva- tive. But Highland, out of perhaps 700 voters, gave a majority of more than 100 to Douglas, the Northern conservative. The vote in Highland is significant of the feeling of the people. It was Unionist from the Southern viewpoint. Secession was not in favor. Nine-tenths of the people were white, and the organiza- tion of society was more Northern than Southern. Yet the politi- cal sentiment was Southern. The river bottoms were largely held by a wealthy and influential class of slave holders. The commer- cial outlets were eastward, where the distinctive Southern feeling was still more pronounced. Unlike many counties west of the Alleghany, its social and industrial contact with the North was slight. The balance of interest inclined the Highland people to the South. Had there been no river bottoms, there would have been fewer slaves. Had the county been well beyond the Alle- ghanies, its commercial outlet would have been toward Pennsyl- vania and Ohio. In either case, interest would have inclined it less to the South than was actually the case. When the crisis came, in the April of 1861, the people of Highland followed their honest conceptions of civic duty, just as people did in all sections of the Union, both North and South. These conceptions differed, because of the differing types of civilization in North and South ; yet though there was a difference, there was entire sincerity in each instance.
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