USA > Virginia > A history of the valley of Virginia, 3rd ed > Part 7
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In Hening's Statutes at Large, vol. I. pp. 532-33, the follow- ing most extraordinary law, if indeed it deserves the name, was enacted by the then legislature of Virginia, March, 1660 :
* Mr. McCowan, an aged and respectable citizen of the neighborhood, communicated this fact to the author.
t This information was communicated to the author by a highly respect- able old lady of the Presbyterian church, in the county of Berkeley. She also stated that in addition to the general tradition, she had lately heard the venerable and reverend Dr. Matthews assert the fact. Mr. Mayers, now in his eighty-seventh year, born and raised on the Potomac, in Berkeley, stated his opinion to the author, that there was a house erected for public worship at the Falling Water about the same time that the Tuscarora meeting-house was built. Both these churches are now under the pastoral care of the Rev. James M. Brown.
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RELIGION, HABITS AND CUSTOMS
"AN ACT FOR THE SUPPRESSING THE QUAKERS."
" Whereas there is an vnreasonable and turbulent sort of peo- ple, commonly called Quakers, who contrary to the lawe do dayly gather together vnto them vnlaw'll assemblies and congregations of people, teaching and publishing lies, miracles, false visions, prophe- cies and doctrines, which have influence vpon the communities of men, both ecclesiasticall and civil, endeavouring and attempting thereby to destroy religion, lawes, communities, and all bonds of civil socie- tie, leaving it arbitrarie to everie vaine and vitious person, whether inen shall be safe, lawes, established, offenders punished, an govern- ours rule, hereby disturbing the publique peace and just interest ; to prevent and restraine which mischiefe, It is enacted, That no master or commander of any shipp or other vessell do bring into this col- lonie any person or persons called Quakers, vnder the penalty of one hundred pounds sterling, to be levied vpon him and his estate by order from the governour and council, or the commissioners in the severall counties where such ships shallarrive : That all such Quak- ers as have been questioned, or shall hereafter arrive, shall be ap- prehended, wheresoever they shall be found, and they be imprisoned without baile or mainprize, till they do adjure this country, or putt in security with all speed to depart from the collonie and not to return again : And if any should dare to presume to returne hither after such departure, be proceeded against as contemners of the lawes and magistracy, and punished accordingly, and caused again to depart the country, and if they should the third time be so audacious and impudent as to returne hither, to be proceeded against as ffelons : That noe person shall entertain any of the Quakers that have here- tofore been questioned, by the governour and council, or which shall hereafter be questioned, not permit in or near his house any assem- blies of Quakers, in the like penalty of one hundred pounds sterling: That commissioners and officers are hereby required and authorized, as they will answer the contrary at their perill, to take notice of this act, to see it fully effected and executed : And that no person do presume on their perill to dispose or publish their bookes, pamph- lets or libells, bearing the title of their tenents and opinions."
This high-handed and cruel proceeding took place in the time of Oliver Cromwell's usurpation in England, and at a time when some glimering or rational, civil, and religious liberty, manifested itself in the mother country. The preamble to this act is contra- dicted by the whole history of Quakerism, from its foundation to the present period. In all the writings and traditional accounts handed down to us, the Quakers are represented as a most inoffensive, or- derly, and strictly moral people, in all their deportment and habits.
This unreasonable and unwise legislation, it is presumed, was suffered to die a natural death, as, in the progress of the peopling
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OF THE PRIMITIVE SETTLERS.
of our country, we find that many Quakers, at a pretty early period, migrated and formed considerable settlements in different parts of the State.
It has already been noticed that the Baptists were not among the number of our earliest immigrants. Mr. Semple says : "The Baptists in Virginia originated from three sources. The first were immigrants from England, who about the year 1714 settled in the southeast part of the State. About 1743 another party came from Maryland and founded a settlement in the northwest .* A third party from New England, 1754."
This last was Mr. Stearns and his party. They settled for a short time at Capon River, in the county of Hampshire, but soon removed to North Carolina. Mr. Stearns and his followers mani- fested great zeal and industry in the propagation of their doctrines and principles. Their religion soon took a wide range in the Caro- linas and Virginla. They met with violent opposition from the established Episcopal clergy, and much persecution followed. To the credit of the people of our Valley, but few, if any acts of vio- lence were committed on the persons of the preachers west of the Blue Ridge. This is to be accounted for from the fact that a great majority of the inhabitants were dissenters from the Episcopal church. East of the Blue Ride, however, the case was widely dif- ferent. It was quite common to imprison the preachers, insult the congregations, and treat them with every possible indignity and out- rage. Every foul means was resorted to, which malice and hatred could devise, to suppress their doctrines and religion. But instead of success this persecution produced directly the contrary effect. "The first instance," says Mr. Semple; "of actual imprisonment, we be- lieve, that ever took place in Virginia, was in the county of Spotts- ylvania. On the 4th of June, 1768, John Waller, Lewis Craig, James Childs, &c., were seized by the sheriff, and hauled before three magistrates, who stood in the meeting-house yard, and who bound them in the penalty of {1000 to appear at court two days after. At court they were arraigned as disturbers of the peace, and committed to close jail." And in December, 1770, Messrs. William Weber and Joseph Anthony were imprisoned in Chester- field jail.
The author deems it unnecessary to detail all the cases of perse- cution and imprisonment of the Baptist preachers. He will there- fore conclude this narrative with the account of the violent persecu- tion and cruel treatment of the late Rev. James Ireland, a very distinguished Baptist preacher of our Valley.
Mr. Ireland was on one occasion committed to the jail of Cul-
* It is probable this is the party who settled in the neighborhood of Ge- rardstown. If so, Mr. Semple is doubtless misinformed as to the place of their origin. The first Baptist immigrants who settled in Berkeley county were certainly froin New Jersey.
:
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RELIGION, HABITS AND CUSTOMS
peper County, * when several attempts were made to destroy him. Of these attempts he gives the following narrative :
"A number of my persecutors resorted to the tavern of Mr. Steward, at the courthouse, where they plotted to blow me up with powder that night, as I was informed ; but all they could collect was half a pound. They fixed it for explosion, expecting I was sitting directly over it, but in this they were mistaken. Fire was put to it, and it went off with considerable noise, forcing up a small plank, from which I received no damage. The next scheme they devised was to smoke ine with brimstone and Indian pepper. They had to wait certain opportunities to accomplish the same. The lower part of the jail door was a few inches above its sill. When the wind was favorable, they would get pods of Indian pepper, empty them of their contents, and fill them with brimstone, and set them burning, so that the whole jail would be filled with the killing smoke, and oblige me to go to cracks, and put my mouth to them in order to prevent suffocation. At length a certain doctor and the jailor formed a scheme to poison me, which they actually effected."
From this more than savage cruelty Mr. Ireland became ex- tremiely ill, was attended by several physicians, and in some degree re- stored to health and activity ; but he never entirely recovered from the great injury which his constitution received.
The author had the satisfaction of an intimate personal ac- quaintance with Mr. Ireland, and lived a near neighbor for several years before his death. He was a native Scotchman ; of course his pronunciation was a little broad. He had a fine com- manding voice, easy delivery, with a beautiful natural elocution in his sermonizing. His language, perliaps, was not as purely classical as some of his cotemporaries ; but such was his powerful elocution, particularly on the subject of the crucifixion and sufferings of our Saviour, that he never failed to cause a flood of tears to flow from the eyes of his audience, whenever he touched that theme. In his younger years he was industrious, zealous, sparing no pains to pro- pagate his religious opinions and principles, and was very successful in gaining proselytes ; hence he became an object of great resentment to the established clergy, and they resorted to every means within their reach, to silence and put him down. But in this they failed. He at length triumphed over his persecutors, was instrumental in founding several churches.
ORIGIN OF THE METHODIST RELIGION IN OUR VALLEY.
About the year 1775 f two traveling strangers called at the resi- dence of the late Maj. Lewis Stephens, the proprietor and founder of
* In the life of Ireland, no dates are given. The time of his commit- ment was probably about the year 1771 or 1772.
t The author is not positive that he is correct as to the time this occur- rence took place, but has been informed it was just before the commence-
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OF THE NATIVE SETTLERS.
the town, now distinguished in the mail establishment as " Newton- Stephensburg," and enquired if they could obtain quarters for the night. Maj. Stephens happened to be absent ; but Mrs. Stephens, who was remarkable for hospitality and religious impressions, in- formed them that they could be accommodated. One of them ob- served to lier, " We are preachers ; and the next day being Sabbatlı, we will have to remain with you until Monday morning, as we do not travel on the Sabbath." To which the old lady replied, "if you are preachers, you are the more welcome."
John Hagerty and Richard Owens were the names of the preach- ers. The next morning notice was sent through town, and the strangers delivered sermons. This was doubtless the first Methodist preaching ever heard in our Valley. It is said they traveled east of the Blue Ridge, (before they reached Stephensburg), on a preaching tour, and probably crossed the Ridge at some place south of Stephensburg.
A number of the people were much pleased with them, and they soon got up a small church at this place. The late John Hite, Jr., his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Hughes, (then a widow), John Taylor and wife, Lewis Stephens, Sr., and wife, Lewis Stephens, Jr., and wife, and several others joined the church, and in a few years it began to flourish. The rapid spread of this sect throughout our country, needs no remarks from the author.
The first Camp Meeting held in our Valley, within the author's recollection, took place at what is called Chrisman's Spring, about two miles south of Stephensburg, on the great highway from Win- chester to Staunton. This was probably the month of August, 1806. It has been stated to the author, that the practice of Camp Meetings originated with a Baptist preacher somewhere about the James River. It is said he was a man of great abilities and trans- cendant elocution ; he however became too much of an Armenian in his doctrine to please the generality of his brethren, and they ex- communicated him from their church, and attempted to silence him, but he would not consent to be silenced by them, and they refused him permission to preach in their meeting-houses, and he adopted the plan of appointing meetings in the forest, where vast crowds of people attended his preaching, and they soon got up the practice of forming encampments. The author cannot vouch for the truth of this statement, but recollects it was communicted to him by a highly respectable member of the Baptist church.
In the year 1836, the author traveled through the Southwest counties on a tour of observation-he frequently passed places where Camp Meetings had been held; they are sometimes seen in dense forests, and some of them had the appearance of having been aban- doned or disused for a considerable time. The author, however,
ment of the war of the Revolution. The late Dr. Tilden communicated this information to the writer-which he stated he learned from Mrs. Stephens.
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RELIGIONS, HABITS, CUSTOMS, ETC.
passed one in Giles county which was the best fixed for the purpose he has ever seen. There is a large frame building erected, probably spacious enough to shelter 2000 people or upwards, with a strong shingled roof, and some twelve or fifteen log houses, covered also with shingles, for the accommodation of visitors. A meeting had just been held at this place some two or three days before he passed it, at which, he was informed, several thousand people had attended. It is situated very convenient to a most charming spring of delight- ful water, and stands on high ground. Its location is certainly very judicially selected for the purpose.
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BREAKING OUT OF THE INDIAN WAR.
CHAPTER VI.
BREAKING OUT OF THE INDIAN WAR.
It has been noticed in a preceding chapter, that in the year 1753, emissaries from the Western Indians came among the Valley Indians, inviting them to cross the Alleghany Mountains, and that in the spring of the year 1754, the Indians suddenly and unexpect- edly moved off, and entirely left the valley.
That this movement of the Indians was made under the influ- ence of the French, there is but little doubt. In the year 1753, Maj. Geo. Washington, (since the illustrious Gen. Washington), was sent by Governor Dinwiddie, the then colonial governor of Virginia, with a letter to the French commander on the western waters, re- monstrating against his encroachments upon the territory of Vir- ginia. This letter of remonstrance was disregarded by the French- man, and very soon afterwards the war commonly called "Brad- dock's war," between the British government and France com- menced. In the year 1754, the government of Virginia raised an armed force with the intention of dislodging the French from their fortified places within the limits of the colony. The command of this army was given to Col. Fry, and George Washington was appointed Lieutenant-colonel under him. Their little army amount- ed to three hundred men. "Washington advanced at the head of two companies of this regiment, early in April, to the Great Mea- dows, where he was informed by some friendly Indians, that the French were erecting fortifications in the forks between the Alle- ghany and Monongahela Rivers, and also that a detachment was on its march from that place towards the Great Meadows. War had not been formally declared between France and England, but as neither was disposed to recede from their claims to the lands on the Ohio, it was deemed inevitable, and on the point of commencing. Several circumstances were supposed to indicate a hostile intention on the part of the French detachment. Washington, under the guidance of some friendly Indians, on a dark rainy night surprised their encampment, and firing once, rushed in and surrounded them. The commander, Dumonville, was killed, with eight or nine others ; one escaped, and all the rest immediately surrendered. Soon after this affair, Col. Fry died, and the command of the regiment de- volved on Washington, who speedily collected the whole at the Great Meadows. Two independent companies of regulars, one from South Carolina, soon arrived at the same place. Col. Washington was now at the head of nearly four hundred men. A stockade, afterwards
9
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BREAKING OUT OF THE INDIAN WAR.
called Fort Necessity, was erected at the Great Meadows, in which a small force was left, and the main body advanced with a view to dislodging the French from Fort Duquesne,* which they had recently erected at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers. They had not proceeded more than thirteen miles, when they were informed by friendly Indians that the French, as numerous as pig- eons in the woods, were advancing in an hostile manner towards the English settlements, and also that Fort Duquesne had been strongly reinforced. In this critical situation, a council of war unanimously recommended a retreat to the Great Meadows, which was effected without delay, and every exertion made to render Fort Necessity tenable, before the works intended for that purpose were completed, Mons. de Villier, with a considerable force, attacked the Fort. The assailants were covered by trees and high grass. ; The Americans received them with great resolution, and fought some within the stockade, and others in the surrounding ditch. Washington con- tinued the whole day on the outside of the fort, and conducted the defense with the greatest coolness and intrepidity. The engagement lasted from 10 o'clock in the morning till night, when the French commander demanded a parley and offered terms of capitulation. His first and second proposals were rejected, and Washington would accept of none but the following honorable one, which were mutu- ally agreed upon in the course of the night : The fort to be surren- dered on condition that the garrison should march out with the honors of war, and be permitted to retain their arms and baggage, and to march unmolested into the inhabited parts of Virginia." }
It 1755 the British government sent Gen. Braddock, at the head of two regiments, to this country. Col. Washington had previously resigned the command of the Virginia troops. Braddock invited him to join the service as one of the volunteer aids, which invitation he readily accepted, and joined Braddock near Alexandria. § The army moved on for the west, and in their march out erected Fort Cumberland. || The circumstances attending the unfortunate defeat
* Fort Duquesne, so called in honor of the French commander, was, after it fell into the hands of the English, called Fort Pitt, and is now Pitts- burg.
t It is presumable that the grass here spoken of by Dr. Ramsey was of the growth of the preceding year. It is not probable that the grass, the growth of the year 1754, so early in the season, had grown of sufficient height to conceal a man.
# Ramsey's Life of Washington.
§ Then called Bellhaven.
Į Fort Cumberland was built in the year 1755, in the fork between Wills Creek and North Branch of the Potomac, the remains of which are yet to be seen. It is about fifty-five miles north-west of Winchester, on the Mary- land side of the Patomac. There is now a considerable town at this place. The garrison left at it was commanded by Maj. Livingston. Mr. John Tom- linson gave the author this information. On the ancient site of the fort, there are several dwelling houses, and a new brick Episcopal church.
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BREAKING OUT OF THE INDIAN WAR.
of Braddock, and the dreadful slaughter of his army near Pittsburg, are too generally known to require a detailed account in this work : suffice it to say that the defeat was attended with the most disas- trous consequence to our country. The whole western frontier was left exposed to the ravages of the forces of the French and Indians combined.
After the defeat and fall of Braddock, Col. Dunbar, the next in command of the British army, retreated to Philadelphia, and the de- fense of the country fell upon Washington, with the few troops the colonies were able to raise. The people forthwith erected stockade forts in every part of the Valley, and took shelter in them. Many families were driven off, some east of the Blue Ridge, and others into Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Immediately after the defeat of Braddock, Washington retreated to Winchester in the County of Frederick, and in the autuinn of 1755 built Fort Loudoun. The venerable and highly respectable Lewis Neill, who was born on Opequon, about five miles east of Winchester, in 1747, stated to the author, that when he was about eight years of age, his father had business at the Fort, and that he went with him into it. Mr. Thomas Barrett, another aged and respectable citizen states, that he has often heard his father say, that Fort Loudoun was built the same year and immediately after Brad- dock's defeat. Our highly respectable and venerable general, John Smith, who settled in Winchester in 1773, informed the author that he had seen and conversed with some of Washington's officers soon after he settled in Winchester, and they stated to him that Wash- ington marked out the site of the Fort, and superintended the work ; that lie bought a lot in Winchester, erected a smith's shop on it, and brought from Mount Vernon his own blacksmith to make the neces- sary iron-work for the Fort. These officers pointed out to Gen. Smith the spot where Gen. Washington's huts or cabins were erected for his residence while in the Fort. The great highway leading from Winchester to the north passes through the Fort pre- cisely where Washington's quarters were erected. It stands at the north end of Loudoun street, and a considerable part of the walls are now remaining. It covered an era of about half an acre, within which area, a well, one hundred and three feet deep, chiefly through a solid limestone rock, was sunk for the convenience of the garrison .* The labor of throwing up this Fort was performed by Washington's regiment ; so says Gen. Smith. It mounted six eighteen pounders, six twelve pound- er, six six-pounders, four swivels, and two howitzers, and contained a strong garrison. No formidable attempts were ever made
* The water in this well rises near the surface, and in great floods of rain has been known to overflow and discharge a considerable stream of water. The site of the fort is upon more elevated ground than the head of any springs in the neighborhood. Upon what principle the water should here rise above the surface the author cannot pretend to explain.
+ Gen, John Smith stated this fact to the author. The cannon were re-
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BREAKING OUT OF THE INDIAN WAR.
by the enemy against it. A French officer once came to reconnoi- ter, and found it too strong to be attacked with any probability of success. *
For three years after the defeat of Braddock, the French and Indians combined carried on a mnost destructive and cruel war upon the western people. The French, however, in about three years after Braddock's defeat, abandoned Fort Duquesne, and it was im- mediately taken possession of by the British and Colonial troops under the command of Gen. Forbes. Washington soon after re- signed the command of the Virginia forces, and retired to private life. A predatory warfare was nevertheless continued on the people of the Valley by hostile Indian tribes for several years after the French had been driven from their strongholds in the west ; the par- ticulars of which will form the subject of my next chapter.
moved from Winchester early in the war of the revolution. Some further account of this artillery will be given in a future chapter. Mr. Henry W. Baker, of Winchester, gave the author an account of the number of cannon mounted on the fort.
* William L. Clark, Esq., is now the owner of the land including this ancient fortification, and has converted a part of it into a beautiful pleasure garden.
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INDIAN INCURSIONS AND MASSACRES.
CHAPTER VII.
INDIAN INCURSIONS AND MASSACRES.
After the defeat of Braddock, the whole western frontier was left exposed to the incursions of the Indians and French in the spring of the year, 1756, a party of abont fifty Indians, with a French cap- tain at their head, crossed the Alleghany Mountains, committing on the white settlers every act of barbarous war. Capt. Jeremiah Smith, raised a party of twenty brave men, marched to meet this savage foe, and fell in with them at the head of Capon River, when a fierce and bloody battle was fought. Smith killed the captain with his own hand ; five other Indians have fallen, and a number wounded, they gave way and fled. Smith lost two of his men. On searching the body of the Frenchinan, he was found in possession of his commission and written instructions to meet another party of about fifty Indians at Fort Frederick, * to attack the Fort, destroy it, and blow up the magazine.
The other party of Indians were encountered pretty low down the North Branch of the Capon River, by Capt. Joshua Lewis, at the head of eighteen men ; one Indian was killed when the others broke and ran off. Previous to the defeat of this party they had committed considerable destruction of the property of the white set- tlers, and took a Mrs. Horner and a girl about thirteen years of age prisoners. Mrs. Horner was the mother of seven or eight children ; she never got back to her family. The girl, whose name was Sarah Gibbons, the sister of my informant, i was a prisoner about eight or nine years before she returned home. The intention of attacking Fort Frederick was of course abandoned.
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