USA > Virginia > A history of the valley of Virginia, 1st ed > Part 28
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A little more pains would have made a hunting camp a defense against the Indians. A cabin ten feet square, bullet proof and furnished with port holes, would have enabled two or three hunters to hold twenty Indians at . bay for any length of time; but this precaution I be- lieve was never attended to: hence the hunters were often surprised and killed in their camps.
The site for the camp was selected with all the saga- city of the woodsmen, so as to have it sheltered by the surrounding hills from every wind, but more especially from those of the north and west.
An uncle of mine, of the name of Samuel 'Teter, occupied the same camp for several years in succession. It was situated on one of the southern branches of Cross creek. Although I had lived many years not more than fifteen miles from the place, it was not till
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within a very few years that I discovered its situation, when it was shewn to me by a gentleman living in the neighborhood. Viewing the hills round about it, I soon perceived the sagacity of the hunter in the site for his camp. Not a wind could touch him, and unless by the report of his gun or the sound of his ax, it would have been by mere accident if an Indian had discovered his concealment.
Hunting was not a mere ramble in pursuit of game, in which there was nothing of skill and calculation; on the contrary, the hunter before he set out in the morning was informed by the state of the weather in what situation he might reasonably expect to meet with his game, whether on the bottoms, sides or tops of the hills. In stormy weather the deer always seek the most sheltered places and the leeward sides of the hills. Iniainy weather in which there is not much wind, they keep in the open woods on the highest ground.
In every situation it was requisite for the hunter to ascertain the course of the wind, so as to get to the leeward of the game. This he effected by putting his finger in his mouth and holding it there until it be- came warm; then holding it above his head, the side which first becomes cold shews which way the wind blows.
As it was requisite too for the hunter to know the cardinal points, he had only to observe the trees to as- certain them. The bark of an aged tree is thicker and much rougher on the north than on the south side. 'The same thing may be said of the moss, it is thicker and stronger on the north than on the south side of the trees.
The whole business of the hunter consists of a suc- cession of intrigues. From morning to night he was on the alert to gain the wind of his game, and ap- proach them without being discovered. If he succeed- ed in killing a deer, he skinned it and hung it up out of the reach of the wolves, and immediately resumed the chase till the close of the evening, when he bent
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his course towards his camp ; when arrived there, he kindled up his fire, and together with his fellow hunter cooked his supper. The supper finished, the adven- tures of the day furnished the tales for the evening ; the spike buck, the two and three pronged buck, the doe and barren doe, figured through their anecdotes with great advantage. It should seem that after hunt- ing awhile on the same ground, the hunters became acquainted with nearly all the gangs of deer within their range, so as to know each flock of them when they saw them. Often some old buck, by the means of his superior sagacity and watchfulness, saved his little gang from the hunter's skill, by giving timely no- tice of his approach. The cunning of the hunter and that of the old buck were staked against each other, and it frequently happened that at the conclusion of the hunting season, the old fellow was left the frec uninjured tenant of his forest ; but if his rival suc- ceeded in bringing him down, the victory was followed by no small amount of boasting on the part of the conqueror.
When the weather was not suitable for hunting, the skins and carcasses of the game were brought in and disposed of.
Many of the hunters rested from their labors on the Sabbath day, some from a motive of piety, others said that whenever they hunted on Sunday, they were sure to have bad luck all the rest of the week.
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CHAPTER XXII.
The wedding.
For a long time after the first settlement of this country the inhabitants in general married young. There was no distinction of rank, and very little of fortune. On these accounts the first impression of love resulted in marriage, and a family establishment cost but a little labor and nothing else.
A description of a wedding, from the beginning to the end, will serve to shew the manners of our fore- fathers, and mark the grade of civilization which has succeeded to their rude state of society in the course of a few years.
At an early period the practice of celebrating the marriage at the house of the bride began, and it should seem with great propriety. She also has the choice of the priest to perform the ceremony.
In the first years of the settlement of this country, a wedding engaged the attention of a whole neighbor- hood, and the frolick was anticipated by old and young with eager anticipation. 'This is not to be wondered at, when it is told that a wedding was almost the only gathering which was not accompanied with the labor of reaping, log-rolling, building a cabin, or planning some scout or campaign.
In the morning of the wedding day, the groom and his attendants assembled at the house of his father, for the purpose of reaching the mansion of his bride by noon, which was the usual time for celebrating the nuptials, which for certain must take place before din- ner.
Let the reader imagine an assemblage of people, without a store, tailor or mantuamaker, within an hundred miles, and an assemblage of horses, without a
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blacksmith or saddler within an equal distance. The gentlemen dressed in shoepacks, moccasons, leather breeches, leggins, and linsey hunting shirts, all home- made. . The ladies dressed in linsey petticoats and lin- sey or linen bed-gowns, coarse shoes, stockings, hand- kerchiefs, and buckskin gloves, if any; if there were any buckles, rings, buttons or ruffles, they were the re- lies of old times, family pieces from parents or grand- parents. The horses were caparisoned with old saddles, old bridles or halters, and pack-saddles, with a bag of blanket thrown over them : a rope or string as often constituted the girth as a piece of leather.
'The march, in double file, was often interrupted by the narrowness and obstructions of our horse path:, as they were called, for we had no roads ; and these dinti- culties were often increased, sometimes by the good, and sometimes by the ill will of neighbors, by falling trees and tying grape vines across the way. Sometimes an ambuscade was formed by the way side, and an unexpected discharge of several guns took place, so as to cover the wedding company with smoke. Let the reader imagine the scene which followed this dischaute, the sudden spring of the horses, the shrieks of the girls, and the chivalric bustle of their partners to satte them from falling. Sometimes, in spite of all that could be done to prevent it, some were thrown to the ground ; if a wrist, elbow or ankle happened to be sprained, it was tied with a handkerchief, and little more was thought or said about it.
Another ceremony commonly took place before the party reached the house of the bride, after the practice of making whisky began, which was at an early pe- riod. When the party were about a mile from the place of their destination, two young men would single out to run for the bottle : the worse the path, the nane loss, brush and deep hollows, the better, as these obsta- cles afforded an opportunity for the greater display of intrepidity and horsemanship. The English fox chase, in point of danger to the riders and their horses, was
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nothing to this race for the bottle. The start was an- nounced by an Indian yell, when logs, brush, mud holes, hill and glen, were speedily passed by the rival ponies. The bottle was always filled for the occasion, so that there was no use for judges ; for the first who reached the door was presented with the prize, with which he returned in triumph to the company. On approaching them he.announced his victory over his rival by a shrill . whoop. "At the head of the troop he gave the bottle to the groom and his attendants, and then to each pair in succession, to the rear of the line, giving each a dram ; and then putting the bottle in the bosom of his hunt- ing shirt, took his station in the company.
The ceremony of the marriage preceded the dinner, which was a substantial backwoods feast of beef, pork, fowls, and sometimes venison and bear meat, roasted and boiled, with plenty of potatoes, cabbage and other vegetables. During the dinner the greatest hilarity always prevailed, although the table might be a large slab of timber, hewed out with a broad-ax, supported · by four sticks set in auger holes, and the furniture some old pewter dishes and plates, the rest wooden bowls and trenchers. A few pewter spoons, much battered about the edges, were to be seen at some tables ; the rest were made of horns. If knives were scarce, the deficiency was made up by the scalping knives, which were car- ried in sheaths suspended to the belt of the hunting shirt.
: After dinner the dancing commenced, and generally lasted until the next morning. The figures of the dances were three and four handed reels, or square sets and jigs. The commencement was always a sq tare four, which was followed by what was called jieging it off, that is two of the four would single out for a jig, ai! were followed by the remaining couple. 'The jigs were often accompanied with what was called cutting out, that is when any of the parties became tired of the dance, on intimation, the place was supplied by some one of the company, without any interruption
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of the dance; in this way a dance was often continued till the musician was heartily tired of his situation. 'Toward the latter part of the night, if any of the com- pany through weariness attempted to conceal them- selves for the purpose of sleeping, they were hunted up, paraded on the floor, and the fiddler ordered to play "hang out till morning."
About nine or ten o'clock a deputation of the young ladies stole off' the bride and put her to bed. In doing this it frequently happened that they had to ascend a ladder instead of a pair of stairs, leading from the dining and ball room to the loft, the floor of which was made of clapboards lying loose and without nails; This ascent one might think would put the bride and her attendants to the blush ; but as the foot of the lad- der was commonly behind the door, which was pur- poscly opened for the occasion, and its rounds at the inner ends were well hung with hunting shirts, petti- coats and other articles of clothing, the candles being on the opposite side of the house, the exit of the bride was noticed but by a few. This done, a deputation of young men in like manner stole off' the groom and placed him snugly by the side of his bride. The dance still continued, and if seats happened to be scarce, which was often the case, every young man when not engaged in the dance was obliged to offer his lap as a seat for one of the girls, and the offer was sure to be accepted. In the midst of this hilarity the bride and groom were not forgotten. Pretty late in the night some one would remind the company that the new couple must stand in need of some refreshment ; Black Betty, which was the name of the bottle, was called for and sent up the ladder. But sometimes Black Betty did not go alone. I have many times seen as nmuch bread, beef, pork and cabbage, sent along with her, as would afford a good meal for half a dozen of hurry men. The young couple were compelled to eat more or less of whatever was offered them.
In the course of the festivity, if any wanted to help
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himself to a dram and the young couple to a toast, he would call out, " Where is Black Betty ? I want to kiss her sweet lips." Black Betty was soon handed to him, when, holding her up in his right hand, he would say, " Here's health to the groom, not forgetting myself, and here's to the bride, thumping luck and big children!" 'This, so far from being taken amiss, was considered as - an expression of a very proper and friendly wish ; for big children, especially sons, were of great importance, as we were few in number and engaged in perpetual hostility with the Indians, the end of which no one could foresee. Indeed many of them seemed to sup- pose that war was the natural state of man, and there- fore did not anticipate any conclusion of it; every big son was therefore considered as a young soldier.
But to return. It often happened that some neigh- bors or relations, not being asked to the wedding, took offense ; and the mode of revenge adopted by them on such occasions, was that of cutting off the manes, fore- tops, and tails of the horses of the wedding company.
Another method of revenge which was adopted when the chastity of the bride was a little suspected, was that of setting up a pair of horns on poles or trees, on the route of the wedding company. This was a hint to the groom that he might expect to be complimented with a pair of horns himself.
On returning to the infare, the order of procession and the race for Black Betty was the same as before. 'The feasting and dancing often lasted several days, at the end of which the whole company were so exhaust- ed with loss of sleep, that several days' rest were requi- site to fit them to return to their ordinary labors.
Should I be asked why I have presented this unplea- sant portrait of the rude manners of our forefathers ? I in my turn would ask my reader, why are you pleas. ed with the histories of the blood and carnage of battles ? Why are you delighted with the fictions of poetry, the novel and romance ? I have related truth, and only truth, strange as it may scem. I have depicted a state
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of society and manners which are fast vanishing from the memory of man, with a view to give the youth of our country a knowledge of the advantage of civiliza- tion, and to give contentment to the aged by prevent- ing them from saying, "that former times were better than the present."
CHAPTER XXIII. The house warming.
I will proceed to state the usual manner of settling a young couple in the world.
A spot was selected on a piece of land of one of the parents for their habitation. A day was appointed shortly after their marriage for commencing the work of building their cabin. The fatigue party consi-ted of choppers, whose business it was to fall the trees and cut them off at proper lengths-a man with his team for hauling them to the place, and arranging them, properly assorted, at the sides and ends of the building -- and a carpenter, if such he might be called, whose business it was to search the woods for a proper tree for making clapboards for the roof. The tree for this pur- pose must be straight-grained, and from three to four feet in diameter. The boards were split four feet long, with a large frow, and as wide as the timber would allow. They were used without planing or shaving. Another division were employed in getting puncheons for the floor of the cabin; this was done by splitting trees about eighteen inches in diameter, and hewing the faces of them with a broad-ax. They were half the length of the floor they were intended to make.
The materials for the cabin were mostly prepared on the first day, and sometimes the foundation laid in
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the evening ; the second day was allotted for the rais- ing.
In the morning of the next day the neighbors col- lected for the raising. The first thing to be done was the election of four corner-men, whose business it was to notch and place the logs, the rest of the company fur- nishing them with the timbers. In the mean time the boards and punchcons were collecting for the floor and roof, so that by the time the cabin was a few rounds high, the sleepers and floor began to be laid. The door was made by cutting or sawing the logs in one side so as to make an opening about three feet wide ; this opening was secured by upright pieces of timber about three inches thick, through which holes were bored into the ends of the logs for the purpose of pin- ning them fast. A similar opening, but wider, was made at the end for the chimney. This was built of logs, and made large, to admit of a back and jambs of stone. At the square two end logs projected a foot or eighteen inches beyond the wall, to receive the butting poles as they were called, against which the ends of the first row of clapboards was supported. The roof was formed by making the end logs shorter until a single log formed the comb of the roof. On these logs the clapboards were placed, the ranges of them lapping some distance over those next below them, and kept in their places by logs placed at proper distances upon them.
The roof and sometimes the floor were finished on the same day of the raising ; a third day was common- ly spent by a few carpenters in leveling off the floor, making a clapboard door, and a table. This last was made of a split slab, and supported by four round legs set in auger holes ; some three-legged stools were made in the same manner. Some pins, stuck in the logs at the back of the house, supported some clapboards which served for shelves for the table furniture. A single fork, placed with its lower end in a hole in the floor, and the upper end fastened to a joist, served for
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-a bedstead, by placing a pole in the fork with one end through a crack between the logs of the wall. This front pole was crossed by a shorter one within the fork, with its outer end through another crack. From the front pole, through a crack between the logs of the end of the house, the boards were put on which formed the bottom of the bed. Sometimes other poles were pinned to the fork a little distance between these, for the pur- pose of supporting the front and foot of the bed, while the walls were the support of its back and head. A few pegs around the walls, for a display of the coats of the women and hunting shirts of the men, and two small forks or buck's horns to a joist for the rifle and shot pouch, completed the carpenter-work.
In the mean time masons were at work. With the heart pieces of the timber of which the clapboards were made, they made billets for chunking up the cracks between the logs of the cabin and chinmey. A large bed of mortar was made for daubing up these cracks; and a few stones formed the back and jambs of the chimney.
The cabin being finished, the ceremony of house warming took place, before the young couple were per- mitted to move into it. This was a dance of the whole night's continuance, made up of the relations of the bride and groom and their neighbors. On the day fol- lowing, the young couple took possession of their new mansion.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Working.
The necessary labors of the farms along the fron- tiers were performed with every danger and difficulty imaginable. The whole population of the frontiers,
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huddled together in their little forts, left the country with every appearance of a deserted region ; and such would have been the opinion of a traveler concerning it, if he had not seen here and there some small fields of corn or other grain in a growing state.
It is easy to imagine what losses must have been sustained by our first settlers owing to this deserted state of their farms. It was not the full measure of their trouble that they risked their lives, and often lost them. in subduing the forest and turning it into fruit- ful fields ; but, compelled to leave them in a deserted state during the summer season, a great part of the fruits of their labors was lost by this untoward circum- stance. Their sheep and hogs were devoured by the wolves, panthers and bears. Horses and cattle were offen let into their fields, through breaches made in their fences by the falling of trees, and frequently al- most the whole of a little crop of corn was destroyed by squirrels and raccoons, so that many families, even after an hazardous and laborious spring and summer, had but little left for the comfort of the dreary winter.
The early settlers on the frontiers of this country were like. Arabs of the desert of Africa, in at least two respects. Every man was a soldier, and from early in the spring till late in the fall was almost continually in arms. Their work was often carried on by parties, each one of whoin had his rifle and every thing else belonging to his war dress. These were deposited in some central place in the field. A sentinel was station- ed on the outside of the fence; so that on the least alarm, the whole company repaired to their arms, and were ready for combat in a moment.
Here again the rashness of some families proved a source of difficulty. . Instead of joining the working parties, they went out and attended their farms by themselves, and in case of alarm, an express was sent for them, and sometimes a party of men to guard them to the fort. These families, in some instances, could boast that they had better crops, and were every way
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better provided for in the winter than their neighbors : in other instances their temerity cost them their lives.
In military affairs, when every one concerned is left to his own will, matters were sure to be but badly man- aged. The whole frontiers of Pennsylvania and Vir- ginia presented a succession of military camps or forts. We had military officers, that is to say, captains and colonels ; but they in many respects were only nomi- nally such. They could advise, but not command. Those who chose to follow their advice did so, to such an extent as suited their fancy or interest. Others were refractory and thereby gave much trouble. These of- ficers would leave a scout or campaign, while those who thought proper to accompany them did so, and those who did not remained at home. Public odinm was the only punishment for their laziness or coward- ice. There was no compulsion to the performance of military duties, and no pecuniary reward when they were performed.
It is but doing justice to the first settlers of this country to say, that instances of disobedience of fami- lies and individuals to the advice of our officers, were by no means numerous. The greater number cheer- fully submitted to their directions with a prompt and faithful obedience.
CHAPTER XXV.
·Mechanic aris.
In giving the history of the state of the mechanic arts, as they were exercised at an early period of the settlement of this country. I shall present a people, driven by necessity to perform works of mechanical skill. far beyond what a person enjoying all the advan-
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tages of civilization, would expect from a population placed in such destitute circumstances.
My reader will naturally ask where were their mills for grinding grain-where their tanners for making leather-where their smith shops for making and re- pairing their farming utensils? Who were their car- penters, tailors, cabinet workmen, shoemakers and wea- vers ? The answer is, those manufacturers did not exist, nor had they any tradesmen who were professedly such. Every family were under the necessity of doing every thing for themselves as well as they could.
The hoimony blocks and hand mills were in use in most of our houses. The first was made of a large block of wood about three feet long, with an excava- tion burned in one end, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, so that the action of the pestle on the bot- tom threw the corn up to the sides towards the top of it, from whence it continually fell down into the center. In consequence of this movement, the whole mass of the grain was pretty equally subjected to the strokes of the pestle. In the fall of the year, whilst the Indian corn was soft, the block and pestle did very well for making meal for journeycake and mush, but were ra- ther slow when the corn became hard.
The sweep was sometimes used to lessen the toil of pounding grain into meal. This was a pole of some springy elastic wood, thirty feet long or more, the but- end of which was placed under the side of a house or a large stump. This pole was supported by two forks, placed about one third of its length from the but-end, so as to elevate the small end about fifteen feet froni the ground. To this was attached, by a large mortise, a piece of sapling about five or six inches in diameter and eight or ten feet long. the lower ent of which was shaped so as to an-wer for a pestle, and a pin of wood was put through it at a proper hight, so that two per- sons could work at the sweep at once. This simple machine very much lessened the labor and expedited the work.
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MECHANIC ARTS.
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