USA > Virginia > A history of the valley of Virginia, 3rd 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 furn- ished with port holes, would have enabled two or three hunters to hold twenty Indians at bay for any length of time ; but this precau- tion I believe was never attended to ; hence the hunters were often surprised and killed in their camps.
The site for the camp was selected with all the sagacity of the woodsmen, so as to have it shelted by the surrounding hills from every wind, but more especially from those of the north and west.
An uncle of mine, of the name of Samuel Teter, occupied the same camp for several years in succession. It was situated on one of the southern branches of Cross Creek. Although I have lived many years not more than fifteen miles from the place, it was not till within a few years that I discovered its situation, when it was shown to me by a gentleman living in the neighborhood. Viewing the hills round about it, I soon perceived the sagacity of the hunter in the site of his camp. Not a wind could touch him, and unless by the report of his gun or the sound of his axe, it would have been by mere accident if an Indian had discovered his concealment.
Hunting was not a mere ramble in pursuit of game, in which there was nothing of skill andcalculation ; on the contrary, the hun- ter, before he set out in the morning was informed by the state of the weather in what situation he might reasonably expect to meet with his game, whether on the bottoms, sides or tops of the hills. In stormy weather the deer always seek the most sheltered places and the leeward sides of the hills. In rainy weather in which there is not much wind, they keep in the open woods on the highest ground.
In every situation it was requisite for the hunter to ascertain the course of the wind, so as to get to the leeward of the game. This he effected by putting his finger in his mouth and holding it there until it became warm; then holding it above his head, the side which first becomes cold shows which way the wind blows.
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HUNTING.
As it was requisite too for the hunter to know the cardinal points, he had only to observe the trees to ascertain them. The bark of an aged tree is thicker and much rougher on the north than on the south side. The same thing may be said of the moss, it is thicker and stronger on the north than on the south side of the trees.
The whole business of the hunter consists of a succession of in- trigues. From morning to night he was on the alert to gain the wind of his game, and approach them without being discovered. If he succeed in killing a deer, he skinned it and hung it up out of the reach of the wolves, and immediately resumed the chase till the close of the evening, when he bent his course towards his camp ; when arrived there, he kindled up his fire, and together his fellow hunters cooked their supper. The supper finished, the adventures of the day furnished the tales for the evening ; the spike buck, the two and three pronged buck, the doe and the barren doe, figured through their anecdotes with great advantage. It should seem that after hunting awhile on the same ground, the hunters became ac- quainted with nearly all the gangs of deer within their ranger, 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 notice of his approach. The cunning of the hunter and that of the old buck where staked against each other, and it frequently happened that at the conclusion of the hunting season, the old fellow was left the free uninjured tenant of his forest ; but if his rival succeeded in bringing him down, the victory was followed by no small amount of boasting on the part of the conqueror.
When the weather was not suitable for hunting, the skins and carcasses ot 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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THE WEDDING.
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CHAPTER XXII.
THE WEDDING.
For a long time after the first settlement of this country the in- habitants in general married young. There was no distinction of rank, and very little of fortune. On these accounts the first impres- sion 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 show the manners of our forefathers, and mark the grade of civilization which has succeeded to their rude state of society in the course of a few years.
At an early period the practice of celebrating the marriage at the house of the bride began, and it should seem with great pro- priety. She also had 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 the whole neighorhood, and the frolic was anticipated by old and young with eager anticipation. This is not to be wondered at, when it is told that a wedding was almost the only gathering which was not 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 attend- ants assembled at the house of his father, for the purpose of reach- ing the mansion of his bride by noon, which was the usual time for celebrating the nuptials, which for certain must take place before dinner.
Let the reader imagine an assemblage of people, without a store, tailor or mantuamaker, within an hundred miles, and an as- semblage of horses, without a blacksmith or saddler within an equal distance. The gentlemen dressed in shoe-packs, moccasons, leather breeches, leggins, and linsey hunting shirts, all home-made. The ladies dressed in linsey petticoats, and linsey or linen bed-gowns, coarse shoes, stockings, handkerchiefs and buckskin gloves, if any ; if there were any buckles, rings, buttons or ruffles, they were the relics of old times, family pieces from parents or grandparents. The horses were caparisoned with old saddles, old bridles or halters, and pack-saddles, with a bag or blanket thrown over them ; a rope or string as often constituted the girth as a piece of leather.
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THE WEDDING.
The march in double file, was often interrupted by the narrow- ness and obstructions of our horse-paths, as they were called, for we had no roads ; and these difficulties were often increased, sometimes by the good, and sometimes by the ill-will of neighbors, by falling trees and tying grape-vines across the way. Sometimes an ambus- cade was formed by the way side, an unexpected discharge of sev- eral guns took place, so as to cover the wedding company withi smoke. Let the reader imagine the scene which followed this dis- charge, the sudden spring of the horses, the shrieks of the girls, and the chivalric bustle of their partners to save them from falling. Some- times, in spite 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 took place before the party reached the house of the bride, after the practice of making whiskey began, which was at an early period. When the party was about a mile from the place of their destination, two young men would single out to run for the bottle ; the worse the patlı, the more logs, brush and deep hollows, the better, as these obstacles afforded an opportunity for the greatest display of intripidity and horsemanship. The English fox chase, in point of danger to their riders and their horses, was nothing to this race for the bottle. The start was announced by an Indian yell, when logs, brush, mud holes, hill and glen, were speed- ily passed by the rival ponies. The bottle was always filed 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 re- turned in triumph to the company. On approaching them he an- nounced 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 hunting shirt, took his station in the company.
The ceremony of the marriage preceded the dinner, which was a substantial backwoods feast of beef, pork, fowls, and sometimes vension and bear meat, roasted and boiled, with plenty of potatoes, cabbage and other vegetables. During the dinner the greatest liil- arity always prevailed, although the table might be a large slab of timber, hewed out with a broad-axe, supported by four sticks set in auger holes, and the furniture, some old pewter dishes and plates, the rest wooden bowls and trenchers. A few pewter spoons, much battered about the edges, were to be seen at some tables ; the rest were of horn. If knives were scarce, the deficiency was made up by the scalping knives, which were carried in sheathes suspended' to the belt of the hunting shirt.
After dinner the dancing commenced, and generally lasted until the next morning. The figures of the dances were three and four handed reels, or square with sets and jigs. The commencement
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THE WEDDING.
was always a square four, which was followed by what was called jigging it off, that is, two of the four would single out for a jig, and were followed by the remaining couple. The jigs were often accom- panied with what was called cutting out, that is, when any of the par- ties became tired of the dance, on intimation, the place was supplied by some of the company, without any interruption of the dance; in this way a dance was often continued until the musician was heart- ily tired of his situation. Towards the latter part of the night, if any of the company through weariness attempted to conceal themselves 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 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 ladder was commonly behind the door, which was purposely open for the occasion, and its rounds at the inner ends were well hung with hunting shirts, petticoats and other articles of cloth- ing, 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 refreshments ; Black Betty, which was the name of the bottle, was called for and sent up the ladder. But sometimes Black Betty did not go alone. I have many times seen as much bread, beef, pork and cabbage, sent along with her, as would afford a meal for a half a dozen of hungry men. The young couple was compelled to eat more or less of whatever was offered them.
In the course of the festivity, if any wanted to help himself to a dram and the young couple to a toast, he would call out, " Where is Black Betty ? I want to kiss her sweet lips." Black Betty was soon handed to him, when, holding her up in his right hand, he would say, "Here's health to the groom, not forgetting myself, and here's to the bride, thumping luck and big children !" This, so far from being taken amiss, was considered as an expression of a very proper and friendly wish; for big children, especially sons, were of great importance, as we were few in number and engaged in perpetual hostility with the Indians, and the end of which no one could foresee. Indeed, many of them seemed to suppose that
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THE WEDDING.
war was the natural state of man, and therefore did not anticipate any conclusion of it; every big son was therefore considered as a young soldier.
But to return. It often happened that some neighbors or rela- tions, not being asked to the wedding, took offense ; and the mode of revenge adopted by them on such occasions, was that of cut- ting off the manes, foretops, and tails of the horses of the wedding company.
Another method of revenge, which was adopted when the chas- tity 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 compli- mented with a pair of horns himself.
On returning to the infare, the order of procession and the race for Black Betty was the same as before. The feasting and dancing often lasted several days, at the end of which the whole company was so exhausted with loss of sleep, that several days' rest were re- quisite to fit them to return to their ordinary labors.
Should I be asked why I have presented this unpleasant por- trait of the rude manners of our forefathers ? I in my turn would ask my reader, why are you pleased with the histories of the blood and carnage of battles? Why are you delighted with the fictions of poe- try, the novel and romance? I have related truth, and only truth, strange as it may seem. I have depicted a state of society and man- ners which are fast vanishing from the memory of man, with a view to give the youth of our country a knowledge of the advantage of civilization, and to give contentment to the aged by preventing them from saying, "that former times were better than the present."
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THE HOUSE WARMING.
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 consisted of choppers, whose business it was to fall the trees and cut them off at proper lengths-a man with his team for haul- ing 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 purpose 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 shav- ing. Another division were employed in getting puncheons for the floor of the cabin ; this was done by splitting trees about eighteen inches in diameter, and hewing the faces of them with a broad-axe. They were half the length of the floor they were intended to make.
The materials for the cabin was mostly prepared on the first day, and sometimes the foundations laid in the evening ; the second day was allotted for the raising.
In the morning of the next day the neighbors collected for the raising. The first thing to be done was the election of four corner- men, whose business it was to notch and place the logs, the rest of the company furnishing them with timbers. In the mean time the boards and puncheons were collected for the floor and roof, so that by the time the cabin was a few rounds high, the sleepers and floor began to be laid. The door was made by cutting or sawing the logs in one side so as to make an opening about three feet wide; this opening was secured by upright pieces of timber about three inches thick, through which holes were bored into the ends of the logs for the purpose of pinning them fast. A similar opening, but wider, was made at the end for the chimney. This was built of logs, and made large, to admit of a back and 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
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THE HOUSE WARMING.
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 the next below them, and kept in their places by logs placed at proper distances from them.
The roof and sometimes the floor were finished on the same day of the raising ; a third day was commonly spent by a few carpenters in levelling 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 man- ner. Some pins, stuck in the logs at the back of the house, sup- ported some clapboards which served for shelves for table furniture. A single fork, placed with its lower end in a hole in the floor, and the upper end fastened to a joist, served for a bedstead, by placing a pole in the fork with one end through a crack between the logs in the wall. This front pole was crossed by a shorter one within the fork, with its outer end through another crack. From the front pole, through a crack between the logs of the end of the house, the boards were put on which formed the bottom of the bed. Some- times other poles were pinned to the fork a little distance between these, for the purpose of supporting the front and foot of the bed, while the walls were the support of its back and head. A few pegs around the walls, for the display of the coats of the women and hunting shirts of the men, and two small forks of 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 chim- ney. A large bed of mortar was made for daubing up the cracks ; and a few stones formed the back and jambs of the chimney.
The cabin being finished, the ceremony of house warming took place, before the young couple were permitted to move into it. This was a dance of the whole night's continuance, made up of the relations of the bride and groom and their neighbors. On the day following, the young couple took possession of their new mansion.
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WORKING.
CHAPTER XXIV.
WORKING.
The necessary labors of the farms along the frontiers were per- formed with every danger and difficulty imaginable. The whole population of the frontiers, huddled together in their little Forts, the country with every appearance of a deserted region ; and such would have been the opinion of the traveler concerning it, if he had not seen here and there some small fields of corn or some other grain in a growing state.
It is easy to imagine what losses must have been sustained by our first settlers owing to this deserted state of our farms. It was not the full measure of their trouble that they risked their lives, and often lost them, in subduing the forest and turning it into fruitful fields; but compelled to leave them in a deserted state during the summer season, a great part of the fruits of their labors was lost by this untoward circumstance. The sheep and hogs were devoured by the wolves, panthers and bears. Horses and cattle were often let into their fields, through breeches made in their fences by the falling trees, and frequently almost the whole of a little crop of corn was destroyed by squirrels and raccoons, so that many famillies, even after an hazardous and laborious spring and summer, had but little left for the comfort of the dreary winter.
The early settlers on the frontiers of this country were like Arabs of the desert of Africa, in at least two respects. Every man was a soldier, and from early in the spring till late in the fall was almost continually in arms. Their work was often carried on by parties, each one of whom had his rifle and everything else belong- ing to his war dress. These were deposited in some central place in the field. A sentinel was stationed on the outside of the fence, so that on the least alarm the whole company repaired to their arms, and were ready for combat in a moment.
Here again the rashness of some families proved a source of difficulty, instead of joining the working parties, they went out and attended their farms by themselves, and in case of alarm, an express was sent for them, and sometimes a party of men to guard them to the Fort. Those families, in some instances, could boast that they had better crops, and were every way better provided for in the win- ter than their neighbors? in other instances their temerity cost them their lives.
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WORKING.
In military affairs, when eyery one concerned is left to his own will, matters were sure to be badly managed. The whole frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia presented a succession of military camps or forts. We had military officers, that is to say, captains and colonels ; but they in many respect were only nominally such. The could advise, but not command. Those who choose to follow their advice did so, to such an extent as suited their fancy or inter- est. Others were refractory and gave much trouble. These officers would leave a scout or campaign, while those who thought proper to accompany them did so, and those who did not remained at home. Public odium was the only punishment for their laziness or 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 families and individuals to the ad- vice of our officers, were by no means numerous. The greater num- ber cheerfully submitted to the directions with a prompt and faith- ful obedience.
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274
MECHANIC ARTS.
CHAPTER XXV.
MECHANIC ARTS.
In giving a history of the state of the mechanic arts, as they were exercised at an early period of the settlement of this country, I shall present a people, driven by necessity to perform works of mechanical skill, far beyond what a person enjoying all the advan- tages of civilization, would expect from a population placed in such destitute circumstances.
My readers will naturally ask where were their mills for grinding grain, where there tanners for making leather, where their smith shops for making and repairing their farming utensils? Who were their carpenters, tailors, cabinet workmen, shoemakers and weavers? The answer is, those manufacturers did not exist, nor had they any tradesmen who were professedly such. Every family were under the necessity of doing everything for themselves as well as they could.
The hominy blocks and hand mills were used in most of our houses. The first was made of a large block of wood about three feet long, with an excavation burned in one end, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, so that the action of the pestle on the bottom threw the corn up to the sides towards the top of it, from whence it continually fell down into the centre. 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 In- dian corn was soft, the block and pestle did very well for making mneal for journeycake and mush, but were rather slow when the corn became hard.
The sweep was sometimes used to lessen the toil of pounding grain into meal. This was a pole of springy elastic wood, thirty feet long or more, the butt end of which was placed under the side of a house or large stump. The pole was supported by two forks, placed about one third of its length from its butt end, so as to ele- vate the small end about fifteen feet from 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 end of which was shaped so as to answer for a pestle, and a pin of wood was put through it at a proper height, so that two persons could work at 'the sweeps. This simple machine very much lessened the labor and expedited the work.
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MECHANIC ARTS.
I remember that when a boy I put up an excellent sweep at my father's. It was made of a sugar tree sapling, and was kept going almost constantly from morning till night by our neighbors for several weeks.
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