USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, with reminiscences illustrative of the vicissitudes of its pioneer settlers (A Supplement) > Part 11
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In 1761 the Indians renewed the war with all its horrors, if indeed it had ever been suspended. But from this time, for sev- eral years, there is much uncertainty in respect to dates and the scenes of occurrences which are related more or less circumstan- tially. Our chief authority for some two years is Withers's " Border Warfare," and we shall repeat the narratives of that writer without being able to elucidate the history.
Withers states that in the summer of 1761 about sixty Shaw- nee warriors penetrated the settlements on the head waters of James river. They avoided the fort at the mouth of Looney's creek, and passed through Bowen's gap in Purgatory mountain (near Buchanan, in Botetourt county). Coming to the settle- ments, they killed Thomas Perry, Joseph Dennis and his child, and made prisoner his wife, Hannah Dennis. Proceeding to the house of Robert Renix, who was not at home, they captured Mrs. Renix (a daughter of Sampson Archer, one of the vestry- men of Augusta parish) and her five children-William, Robert, Thomas, Joshua and Betsey. At the house of Thomas Smith, they shot and scalped Smith and Renix, and captured Mrs. Smith and a servant girl named Sally Jew.
George Mathews, of Staunton, and William and Audley Maxwell were on their way to Smith's house at the time of the assault. Hearing the report of the guns as they approached, they supposed there was a shooting match at the place; but on riding up to the house, they discovered the dead bodies of Smith and Renix lying in the yard. The Indians had concealed them- selves in and behind the house when they saw Mathews and his companions approaching, and fired upon them as they wheeled
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to ride back. The curl of Mathews's cue was cut off, and Aud- ley Maxwell was slightly wounded in the arm.
The Indians then divided their party, twenty of them with their prisoners and plunder returning to Ohio, while the remain der started towards Cedar creek to commit further depredations. But Mathews and the Maxwells had aroused the settlement, and all the people soon collected at Paul's fort, at the Big Spring, near Springfield. Here the women and children were left to be defended by Audley Maxwell and five other men ; twenty-one men led by Mathews, going in search of the enemy. The In- dians were soon encountered, and, after a severe engagement, took to flight. They were pursued as far as Purgatory creek, but escaped in the night, and overtaking their comrades at the mouth of the Cowpasture river, proceeded to Ohio without fur- ther molestation. Three whites (Benjamin Smith, Thomas Maury and the father of Sally Jew) and nine Indians were killed in the engagement. Returning to the battlefield the next morn- ing, Mathews and his men buried the dead Indians on the spot. The whites slain there, and those murdered on the preceding day, were buried near the fork of a branch in what was (in 1831) the Meadow of Thomas Cross, Sen.
Mrs. Dennis was detained by the Indians at Chilicothe towns till 1763, when she made her escape, as will be related. Mrs. Renix remained with the Indians till 1767.
The town of Staunton was at last chartered by act of assembly, in November, 1761. The first trustees of the town were, Wil- liam Preston, Israel Christian, David Stuart, John Brown, John Page, William Lewis, William Christian, Eledge McClanahan, Robert Breckenridge, and Randal Lockheart. The act pro- vided that two fairs might be held annually, in June and November, but positively prohibited the building of wooden chimneys in the town.
An aged man named James Hill, testifying in 1807, in the cause of Peter Heiskell vs. The Corporation of Staunton, gave some account of the town in 1762 when he settled here. Sampson and George Mathews kept store at the northeast corner of Beverley and Augusta streets. Sampson Mathews also kept an ordinary in the long frame building, a story and a half high, with dormer windows, which formerly stood on the east side of Augusta street below Frederick. The lot at the southwest cor-
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ner of Augusta and Frederick was, in 1762, "Mathews's stable lot." Mrs. Woods lived on the west side of Augusta street, about midway between Beverley and Frederick. Mrs. Cowden lived on the west side of Augusta street, a little north of Bev- erley, and Daniel Kidd lived where the Lutheran church now stands. The deposition of Hill and the diagram which accom- panied it show that most of the twenty-five acres donated by Beverley in 1749 to the county, was occupied by town lots and streets in 1762.
Sampson Mathews was the father-in-law of the late venerable Samuel Clark, of Staunton, and of Mr. Alexander Nelson, whose descendants are quite numerous George Mathews has already been mentioned, and will often appear again.
Colonel John Lewis, the pioneer, was a member of the Green- brier Company, and acquired landed possessions in the region named. We have seen that he and his son, Andrew, were pros- pecting in that region in 1751. The Indian wars checked the proceedings of the Company, and retarded the settlement of the country, but a few families moved there and made two settle- ments, holding on in spite of the dangers to which they were exposed.
Colonel Lewis died February 1, 1762, having attained the age of eighty-four years. His will, executed November 28, 1761, and admitted to record November 18, 1762, expressed the writer's pious hopes. He was buried on the farm where he lived, two miles east of Staunton. The executors were the tes- tator's three sons, Thomas, Andrew, and William. Charles is named in the will, but no mention is made of Samuel. In person Colonel John Lewis is described as having been tall and muscular, and he is said to have been the best backwoodsman of his day. He was born in the reign of Charles II, and lived through the reigns of James II, William and Mary, Queen Anne, George I, George II, and during two years of the reign of George III.
The proceedings of the vestry, in 1762, furnish to us several , curious items. Samuel Craige was allowed £6, 25. 6d. "for keeping a Dutchman;" and another item was allowed on ac- count of "goods for the Dutchman." An order was entered in November, 1762, authorizing the purchase of one hundred acres of land, within ten miles from Staunton, on which to erect
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a poorhouse. The buildings were to have wooden chimneys, and to cost not more than £30-$100. In 1763, the building was postponed for a year, and the work was not resumed till November, 1764.
In 1762, Hugh Green preferred a bill against the parish for keeping Mary Leeper, a pauper, and for her funeral expenses. Among the items of the latter were three gallons of liquor, 9s .; a bushel of flour for cakes, 3s .; and three and a half pounds of sugar, 2s. 11d.
In the same year an account of the widow Young against the parish was recorded in the Vestry Book as follows: "To laying- in, and charges with the attendance of two children ; also half pound of pepper, and half pound of allspice, and three quarts and one pint liquor. I likewise acted as granny for Elianor Dunn-{2." Among the items of another account was one "for three pints of wine for sacrament-3s. 9d.
Dr. William Fleming was practising his profession in the parish in 1762, living in the part of the county which is now Botetourt. For professional services to paupers the parish was indebted to him £15, 11S.22
The parish church at Staunton was finished early in 1763, and was accepted by the vestry June 25th. Two members of the vestry-Sampson Mathews and John Poage-voted against receiving the building, they " supposing the brick in the church to be insufficient."
Canada was conquered by the English in 1759, but peace between Great Britain and France was not formally concluded till 1763. The savage allies of the French, however, having acquired a taste for blood, continued the war on the English settlements until the latter part of 1764. Cornstalk, the cele-
22 Dr. Fleming was a native of Scotland. As has been seen, he was surgeon of the Sandy Creek expedition in 1756. It is said that he settled in Botetourt in 1760, and when that county was organized, in 1769-'70, he was one of the first justices of the peace. In 1774 he was colonel of the Botetourt regiment at the battle of Point Pleasant. He was long a member of the Virginia Assembly, and in 1781 was a member of the Council, during which year he for awhile acted as Governor. His wife was a daughter of Israel Christian, and one of his daughters was the wife of the Rev. Dr. Baxter. He removed to Kentucky, and a county in that State was called for him.
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brated Shawnee warrior, appears in history for the first time in 1763. Nothing is known of his youth.
Mrs. Dennis, who was captured by the Indians, in 1761, on the upper James river (now Botetourt county), made her escape, as stated, in 1763. She left the Chilicothe towns in June of that year, under pretext of gathering herbs for medicinal purposes. When her flight was suspected, she was pursued and fired at by the Indians, but managed to conceal herself in the hollow limb of a fallen tree. Crossing the Ohio river on a log, and subsist- ing on roots, herbs, and wild fruit, she arrived, nearly exhausted with fatigue and hunger, on the Greenbrier river. There, after giving up all hope of surviving, she was found by Thomas Athol and others, and taken to the settlement at Archibald Clen- 'denin's, called the Levels. Remaining at this place for a time to recuperate, she was then taken on horseback to Fort Young [Covington], from whence she was conducted home to her relations.
We have two independent accounts of the immediately succeed- ing occurrences-one by Withers, and the other by Colonel John Stuart, of Greenbrier, in his "Memoir of the Indian Wars." We shall mainly follow the latter.
A few days after Mrs. Dennis had gone from Clendenin's, a party of about sixty Indians, headed by Cornstalk, came to the settlement on Muddy creek, one of the only two white settle- ments in Greenbrier. It is supposed that these Indians were in pursuit of Mrs. Dennis. They professed to be friendly, and were treated hospitably by the white people, who imagined that the war was over. Small parties of them were entertained at the various cabins, until, to the astonishment of the unprepared settlers, the savages rose on them and tomahawked all except a few women and children, whom they reserved as prisoners.
From Muddy creek the Indians passed over into the Levels, where some families were collected at Clendenin's-numbering between fifty and one hundred persons, men, women and chil- dren. There, says Colonel Stuart, they were entertained, as at Muddy creek, in the most hospitable manner. "Clendenin having just arrived from a hunt, with three fat elks, they were plentifully feasted. In the meantime, an old woman with a sore leg, was showing her distress to an Indian and inquiring if he could administer to her relief ; he said he thought he could, and
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drawing his tomahawk instantly killed her and all the men almost that were in the house.
"Conrad Yolkorn only escaped, by being some distance from the house, where the outcries of the women and children alarmed him. He fled to Jackson's river and alarmed the people, who were unwilling to believe him, until the approach of the Indians convinced them. All fled before them ; and they pursued on to Carr's creek [now Rockbridge county], where many families were killed and taken by them.
"At Clendenin's a scene of much cruelty was performed ; and a negro woman, who was endeavoring to escape, killed her own child lest she might be discovered by its cries.
" Mrs. Clendenin did not fail to abuse the Indians, calling them cowards, &c., although the tomahawk was drawn over her' head with threats of instant death, and the scalp of her husband lashed about her jaws.
" The prisoners were all taken over to Muddy creek, and a party of Indians detained them there till the return of the others from Carr's creek, when the whole were taken off to- gether. On the day they started from the foot of Keeney's Knob, going over the mountain, Mrs. Clendenin gave her infant to a prisoner woman to carry, as the prisoners were in the cen- tre of the line with the Indians in front and rear, and she es- caped into a thicket and concealed herself. The cries of the child soon made the Indians inquire for the mother, and one of them said he would bring the cow to the calf." Taking the child by the heels he beat its brains out against a tree and throwing it in the path the savages and horses trampled over it. "She told me," says Colonel Stuart, "she returned that night in the dark to her own house, a distance of more than ten miles, and covered her husband's corpse with rails which lay in the yard where he was killed in endeavoring to escape over the fence with one of his children ,in his arms." Mrs. Clendenin seems to have been partially crazed from the beginning of the massacre. That night, after giving what burial she could to her husband's body, she was seized with mortal terror, thinking she saw a murderer standing over her. Upon recovering her reason, she resumed her flight, and reached the settlements in safety. Colonel Stuart states that the Indians continued the war till 1764, making incursions within a few miles of Staunton.
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Thus the last vestiges of white settlements in the Greenbrier country were exterminated. The number of whites living there is believed to have been at least a hundred. From 1763 to 1769 the country was uninhabited. In the latter year John Stuart, whose narrative we have just quoted, and a few other young men, made the first permanent settlement there.
Withers makes no mention of either of the massacres of Kerr's creek. Stuart merely alludes to the first, in 1763, writ- ing the name, however, "Carr's" instead of "Kerr's." For the only detailed account of these tragedies we are indebted to the Rev. Samuel Brown, of Bath county, who collected the inci- dents from descendants of the sufferers many years ago.
The settlement on Kerr's creek, says Mr. Brown, was made by white people soon after the grant of land to Borden in 1736. The families located there, consisting of Cunninghams, Mckees, Hamiltons, Gilmores, Logans, Irvins, and others, thought them- selves safe from the dangers of more exposed parts of the country.
The Indians who exterminated the Greenbrier settlements are described by Colonel Stuart as following Conrad Yolkom to Jackson's river, and there Mr. Brown's narrative takes them up. He says, some knowledge of their approach had been obtained, and they were met by a company of men under command of Captain Moffett, at or near the mouth of Falling Spring valley, in the present county of Alleghany. The whites fell into an ambush, were taken by surprise, and some of them slain. Among the slain was James Sitlington, a recent immigrant from Ireland. After this, the Indians went some miles down Jackson's river, and came up the valley of the Cowpasture, to the residence of a blacksmith named Daugherty. He and his wife and two children barely made their escape to the mountain, while their house and shop were burned. Daugherty removed to the South, and rose to considerable distinction, being many years afterwards mentioned by General Jackson, in one of his reports, as the " venerable General Daugherty."
From Daugherty's, the Indians passed up the Cowpasture to a point near the site of Old Millborough. There they divided their company, the larger party returning westward, and the smaller moving towards the settlement on Kerr's creek.
Let us, like Mr. Brown, first follow the larger band of Indians
8
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on their retreat. After leaving Millborough, they killed a man whom they met in the narrows, at the Blowing Cave, and whose body fell into the river. They crossed the Warm Spring moun- tain and camped at the head of Back creek. In the meanwhile, a company of men hastily raised, under command of Captain Christian, was in pursuit of this band of savages, and came upon them at the place last mentioned. The assault was made by the whites prematurely ; but, nevertheless, the Indians were routed, a number of them killed, and nearly all of their equipage was taken. Among the spoils, was the scalp of James Sitlington, which was recognized by the flowing locks of red hair. Captain John Dickinson, of Windy Cove, and John Young, who lived near the church since known as Hebron, were with Captain Christian, and also, it is said, some of the young Lewises of Au- gusta. Thomas Young, brother of John, was slain in the fight. His body was buried on the field, but his scalp, torn from his head by the Indian who killed him, was brought home and buried in the Glebe grave yard.
The Indians who escaped from Christian and his men were again encountered by a company of white men coming up the south branch of the Potomac. More of them were killed, and the remainder driven into the fastnesses of Cheat mountain.
The smaller band of Indians made their descent upon Kerr's creek, on the 17th of July. Their number was twenty-seven, Robert Irvin having counted them from a bluff near the road at the head of the creek. Some weeks before, two boys, named Telford, reported that when returning from school they had seen a naked man near their path. This report was not much thought of till the massacre, when it was supposed that the man seen by the boys was an Indian spy sent out to reconnoitre.
Leaving the site of old Millborough, the savages passed over Mill mountain at a low place still called the "Indian Trail." Coming on the waters of Bratton's Run, they crossed the North mountain, where it is now crossed by the road leading from Lexington to the Rockbridge Alum Springs, and where there is a large heap of stones, supposed to have been piled up by Indians. From this point they had a full view of the peaceful valley of Kerr's creek. Hastening down the mountain, they began the work of indiscriminate slaughter. Coming first to the house of Charles Daugherty, he and his whole family were mur-
:
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dered. They next came to the house of Jacob Cunningham, who was from home, but his wife was killed, and his daughter, about ten years of age, scalped and left for dead. She revived, was carried off as a prisoner in the second invasion, was re- deemed, and lived for forty years afterwards, but finally died from the effects of the scalping. The Indians then proceeded to the house of Thomas Gilmore, and he and his wife were killed, the other members of the family escaping at that time. The house of Robert Hamilton came next. This family con- sisted of ten persons, and one-half of them were slain. By this time the alarm had spread through the neighborhood, and the inhabitants were flying in every direction. For some reason the main body of the Indians went no further. Perhaps they were sated with blood and plunder; most probably they feared to remain longer with so small a band. A single Indian pur- sued John McKee and his wife as they were flying from their house. By the entreaty of his wife, McKee did not wait for her, and she was overtaken and killed. He escaped. His six chil- dren had been sent to the house of a friend on Timber Ridge, on account of some uneasiness, caused probably by the report about the naked man.
The Indians hastened their departure, loaded with scalps and booty, and unincumbered by prisoners. As far as known they joined the party left at Muddy creek, in Greenbrier, without being assailed on the way.
" From one cause," says Mr. Brown, " the lives of some were saved no doubt. A number had gone that day to Timber Ridge church, where services were conducted by the Rev. John Brown. During the intermission between the morning and evening ser- mons some alarm was given, but such reports were frequently started without foundation, and therefore not much attention was paid to this. The people went into the church for the second sermon, when a messenger arrived with the sad tidings from Kerr's creek. All was immediately confusion and dismay. The congregation was dismissed, and fled in every direction it was thought would afford them safety."
An account of the second and more disastrous raid upon Kerr's creek, about a year after the first, remains to be given. The lamentable occurrence just related spread alarm throughout the county. Some persons residing in Staunton fled across the
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Blue Ridge. Measures of defence were, however, immediately adopted. At the August court, Andrew Lewis qualified as lieu- tenant of the county, or commander-in-chief of the county militia; William Preston qualified as colonel, and the following persons as captains : Walter Cunningham, Alexander McClana- han, William Crow and John Bowyer. John McClanahan, Michael Bowyer and David Long qualified as lieutenants, and James Ward as ensign.
A fragment of a letter, which was probably written by Colonel William Preston to his brother-in-law, the Rev. John Brown, and preserved by Colonel John Mason Brown, of Kentucky, throws some light upon the state of the times. It is dated " Greenfield, 27th July, 1763." The writer says :
" Our situation at present is very different from what it was when we had the pleasure of your company in this country. All Roanoke river and the waters of Mississippia are depopulated, except Captain English with a few families on the New river, who have built a fort, among whom are Mr. Thompson and his family. They intend to make a stand till some assistance be sent them. Seventy-five of the Bedford militia went out in order to pursue the enemy, but I hear the officers and part of the men are gone home, and the rest gone to Reed creek to help in James Davies and two or three families there that dare not ven- ture to travel.
" I have built a little fort in which are eighty-seven persons, twenty of whom bear arms. We are in a pretty good posture of defence, and with the aid of God are determined to make a stand. In five or six other places in this part of the county they have fallen into the same method and with the same resolution. How long we may keep them is uncertain. No enemy have appeared here as yet. Their guns are frequently heard and their footing observed, which makes us believe they will pay us a visit. My two sisters and their families are here and all in good health. We bear our misfortunes so far with * * * and are in great hopes of being relieved. I have a thousand things * * Captain Christian can't wait I give you joy."23 The asterisks indicate parts of the letter torn out.
We have quoted Colonel John Stuart, of Greenbrier, and a
23 For a copy of this letter we are indebted to Major Jed. Hotchkiss.
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brief notice of him and his connections is appropriate here. Among the partisans of the house of Stuart in 1745, was a John Paul, who was killed at the siege of Dalrymple castle. He left a widow, niece of Colonel John Lewis's wife, and three children- John, who became a Roman Catholic priest and died in Mary- land; Audley, who was active and prominent in the Indian wars in West Virginia, and Polly, who married George Mathews, of Staunton. When Governor Dinwiddie came to Virginia in 1752 he was accompanied by his intimate friend, John Stuart, the elder, who had previously, it is presumed, married the widow of John Paul. His children were John Stuart, known first as Cap- tain and afterwards as Colonel Stuart, of Greenbrier, and Betsy, wife of Colonel Richard Woods, of Albemarle. John Stuart, the younger, married the second daughter of Thomas Lewis, the surveyor, and was the father of two sons-Lewis Stuart, of Greenbrier, and Charles A. Stuart, who for some years lived in Augusta, but spent most of his life in Greenbrier, where he died.
WILLIAM PRESTON was the only son of John Preston, and was born in Ireland in 1730. For some years he acted as clerk of the vestry of Augusta parish. During the Indian wars he became quite prominent as captain of a company of rangers, and many of the letters of Governor Dinwiddie in that stirring time were addressed to him. When the town of Staunton was incorporated in 1761, he was one of the board of trus- tees.' In the same year he married Susanna Smith, of Hanover county. He represented Augusta in the House of Burgesses in 1768-'9, and was probably a member from Botetourt in 1774. Upon the formation of Botetourt in 1769, he removed to that section, and was one of the first justices of that county. At the first court he qualified also as county surveyor, coroner. escheator and colonel of militia. His residence was at a place called Greenfield, near Amsterdam. Fincastle county was formed in 1772, and Colonel Preston became its first surveyor. In 1773, he acquired the Draper's Meadows estate, removed his family there in 1774, and changed the name to Smithfield. He intended to ac- company Colonel William Christian in his march to the Ohio, in the fall of 1774, but was detained at home by his wife's condition. The child born to him at that time was James Preston, who became Governor of Virginia, father-in-law of the first Governor Floyd and grandfather of the second. In 1780, Colonel Preston was engaged with Colonel Arthur Campbell and Colonel Christian in their respective expeditions against the Cherokees. The Legislature of North Carolina included him with
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