USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, with reminiscences illustrative of the vicissitudes of its pioneer settlers (A Supplement) > Part 24
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customary for the high sheriff, carrying a drawn sword, to escort the judges from their lodgings to the courthouse at the opening of each term. Judge Stuart never entirely laid aside the dress worn by gentlemen in the early days of the Republic. His hair was usually combed back from his forehead, and ended in a queue, and till a short time before his death he wore breeches that buckled at the knee, and fair-top boots. His children were four sons-Thomas Jefferson, Archibald P., Gerard B., and Alexander H. H. Stuart.
SAMUEL BLACKBURN was born about the year 1758, and, it is pre- sumed, somewhere in the bounds of Augusta county; possibly, how- ever, in the lower Valley. His parents probably removed to the Holston region, near the Tennessee line, at an early day. He was educated at Lexington, and in 1785, some years after he left Liberty Hall, the degree of A. B. was conferred upon him by that institu- tion, along with Moses Hoge, John McCue, William Wilson and others. He served more or less as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was at the battle of Guilford Courthouse. At the close of the war he became the principal teacher of an academy in Wash- ington, Georgia. While thus employed, he prepared himself for the practice of the law. In August, 1785, he married the oldest daugh- ter of Governor Mathews. During Governor Mathews's second term, in 1795, General Blackburn was a member of the Georgia Legislature. He voted against the famous "Yazoo Act," but was accused of otherwise promoting its passage, and was therefore bit- terly assailed in the popular clamor which arose. It is not believed that there was any just ground for the assault upon his integrity; but he quitted Georgia in disgust, and removed to Staunton. While residing here, he lived in the house on the west side of New street, north of Frederick, and opposite the Augusta Female Seminary. Some years afterwards he removed to a farm in Bath county, called the Wilderness. He was several times a candidate for Congress in the Augusta and Bath district, but never elected. He, however, repeatedly represented Bath in the Virginia Legislature. He was the author of the anti-duelling law of the State, said to be the first law of the kind passed in the country.
General Blackburn was one of the most successful orators and crimi- nal lawyers of his time in Virginia. Governor Gilmer says of him: "His fine voice, expressive features, noble person, perfect self posses- sion, keen wit and forcible language, directed by a well-cultivated and powerful intellect, made him one of the most eloquent men of his time. He was a Federalist in politics. His strong abusive denunciations of the Republicans, when he was a member of the Virginia Legislature, made him long remembered by the parties of the State."
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Many anecdotes in regard to him are still current. The late William H. Terrill, of Bath, related that when he settled in that county Judge Stuart was on the bench of the Superior Court, and General Blackburn was at the bar. The judge presided with much more formality and ceremony than are observed at the present day. Term after term, the grand jury, after being instructed by the court, retired, but speedily returned with the report that they had no presentments to make. This became almost a matter of course, and a part of the performance consisted in General Blackburn, with a most devout manner and voice, exclaiming aloud : "Thank God, we live in so well-ordered a commu- nity !" One night, however, the judge was kept awake by the card- playing members of the bar assembled in an adjoining chamber, and when the jury came in the next day with their usual report, he admin- istered to them a stern rebuke for their failure to present the gamblers. The general's thanksgiving was, of course, a sarcasm upon the jury.
Judge Stuart and General Blackburn were antipodes in politics. Both were men of strong convictions and ardent feelings, and very likely some degree of mutual dislike grew up between them. But not long before Judge Stuart's death, General Blackburn paid him a visit, and was cordially received They were both visibly affected by the in- terview, and the general, in his emotion, forgot his hat and went out bareheaded.
Governor Gilmer states that on one occasion he met General Black- burn at Rockingham court, and heard him defend with great power a criminal eighty years old, who had, when in the county poor-house, killed another inmate of about the same age in a fight about a cucum- ber, the only witness being a man ninety years old. He says: "The trial of such a criminal for such an offence, proved by such a witness, and advocated by such a lawyer, made a strong impression upon my memory."
General Blackburn, by his will, liberated his slaves, about forty in number, on condition that they would emigrate to Liberia, and they were taken to that country at the expense of his estate. He also left five hundred dollars to the Staunton Bible Society. He said in his will : " I die, as I trust, a Christian, believing as I must in the doctrine of the atonement by the death, the suffering and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, as delivered to us in the gospel by his evangelists and apostles, into whose hands I wish with humble confidence to commit my soul and body with all their vast concerns till it shall please Him to reanimate them in a new and I trust highly improved mode of exist- ence." He goes on to declare himself a Presbyterian, but to express the utmost charity for all professed Christians. He died March 2, 1835, his mind and physical powers having been impaired for some years pre- viously. His widow survived him about five years, and died in Staun- ton. He had no posterity, and an adopted son, George M. Barry, died before attaining manhood. His nephew, Samuel Blackburn, Jr., lived
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with him for many years. Another nephew was the eminent preacher, Gideon Blackburn, D. D., of Tennessee, who was greatly admired by his uncle. General Blackburn's handwriting was so illegible that his correspondents sometimes repaired to him with his letters to learn their contents, and he could not always read them himself. He obtained his title from service in the militia.
Every town has amongst its population one or more odd people, who are well known by all the other inhabitants, and, like gnarled shrub- bery in a park, though not attractive to look upon singly, often enhance the general picturesqueness of the place. During the decade from 1830 to 1840, Staunton had several persons of the sort referred to. Law rence Tremper, the postmaster, was one of the eccentric men of the time. He was long a childless widower, and for many years there was , no one with him in his dwelling except his colored servant, a mulatto named Remus, and the wife of the latter. He was generally surly and un- accommodating, at least the children who went on errands to the post- office thought so; and only now and then he relaxed into a smile, or gave expression to a good-humored remark. Nobody ever thought of complaining of him to the department. He had been appointed in the administration of Washington-that gave a sort of sanctity to his right of possession-and the post-office was conceded to him as his private property, to do as he pleased with it. Remus was his prominent as- sistant in the office as well as in all domestic affairs. Strange to say, Mr. Tremper seemed to feel no pride in the fact that he had been a Revolutionary soldier. He never took partin Fourth of July celebrations, and was unknown in street processions, except of the Masonic fra- ternity.
Another old man, a bachelor, taller and stouter than Mr. Tremper, was known as James Berry Hill, although his name originally was James Berryhill. He was born in Rockbridge while it was a part of Augusta, but spent most of his life in Staunton as the keeper of a retail liquor shop on Main street, a door or two west of Augusta street. At the north- west corner of those streets was a deep well with a pump in it, which supplied many families with water. Mr. Hill constituted himself the Cerberus of the pump, and many times a day did he order off servants and children who tarried at the corner to play or gossip.
Michael Puffenbarger lived on the west side of New street, about mid- way between Frederick and Main, and had an open well in his back yard. He was a patron of Hill's shop, or some similar establishment, and very often was overcome by his potations. On one of these occa- sions he fell into his well. The news flew through-town, and in a short
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time nearly the whole population assembled in the yard. With much trouble the half-drowned man was brought to the surface, dripping wet but somewhat sabered. Seeing the crowd of people on his premises he fell into a rage, and declared that things had come to a pretty pass when a man could not fall into his own well without stirring up a mob.
Smith Thompson was by birth a Scotchman, and in his vigorous man- hood a barber by trade. During the Revolution he was a soldier in the American army, but where he served and for how long we have been unable to ascertain. Unlike Mr. Tremper, however, he was fond of "shouldering his crutch," &c., &c. After he became too feeble to walk in procession, nothing pleased him better than to be drawn about the town in a carriage on the Fourth of July. Having been reared in the goodly town of Glasgow, he, of course, knew all the people of the place, and is said to have claimed a particular acquaintance with Bailie ยท Nicol Jarvie, of Rob Roy fame.
In our catalogue of notable people we must not omit to mention a certain female resident of Staunton. An Irishman and his wife, named McCausland, but called Macaslin, lived here for many years, and con- ducted a school for small children. After the husband's death his wife continued the school, and of her only the writer had any personal knowledge. She lived in an old wooden house on the southeast corner of New and Courthouse streets, opposite the Washington tavern. There, for long years, she " ruled her little school," teaching only spel- ling and reading, if, indeed, she taught anything. The lower apartment of the house served her for kitchen, parlor, chamber and school-room. In the loft she kept stored away many articles of old-fashioned jewelry, and wearing apparel of divers fabrics. Well does the writer remember toddling after her up the stairway, to be indulged, as a reward of merit, with the sight of her "gold-and-green " silk gown. Her official baton was a short stick, having leather thongs tacked to one end, called "cat- o'-nine-tails." Every urchin stood in wholesome dread of this imple- ment, but Mrs. Macaslin was not unmerciful in the use of it. She was lamed for life by the act of one of her pupils, who pitched an axe at her. while she was attempting to chastise him. For at least fifty years she flourished in Staunton, during which time nearly every boy and girl reared here passed through her hands. Such teachers as she, have passed away. We ne'er shall look upon her like again.
Another character, known by everybody, was Pea Johnny, or Johnny Pea, so called, because he first came to Staunton to sell blackeye-peas. He was a half-witted white man, who had a home in the country, twenty miles off, but spent most of his time in Staunton. Now and then he did a little field-work for small pay, but generally subsisted on charity. When sober he was inoffensive, and had free access to every kitchen in
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the town. Many cold winter nights he presented himself at the doors of citizens and begged to be taken in. Often he entered without per- mission, and ladies were sometimes aroused from sleep at night by his efforts to rekindle the fire in their chambers. But Johnny was too fond of a dram, and sometimes became intoxicated. Then the boys teased him, and he became dangerous, throwing stones, and defending himself with the utmost vigor.
The chief tormentor of Johnny Pea was a poor waif, a strapping young negro woman called Crazy Nance, who, however, was probably a born idiot. She was claimed by nobody, could not be induced to do any work, nor to remain at the poor-house, and roamed at large according to her own fancy, except when confined in jail. Where she was born, or properly belonged, we have never ascertained. She was generally harm- less, but sometimes became mischievous, and being very stout, the per- son she picked a quarrel with was liable to suffer serious injury. Johnny Pea and she occasionally came in conflict, and engaged in pitched bat- tles in the public streets. These two unfortunates long ago passed away.
CHAPTER XI.
FROM 1833 TO 1844.
Let us now endeavor to take a view of Staunton, and to some extent of the county, in 1833, or we may say from 1823 to 1843, for as far as we can ascertain, the condition of things during that period remained substantially unchanged.
Whatever the people of Staunton may think of it at this time, in 1833 the town was very shabby and unattractive, in respect to its streets and buildings, public and private. Very few of the side- walks were paved, and pedestrians floundered in the mire at almost every step. The sidewalks of some of the streets had been railed off, to protect people on foot from vehicles and cat- tle, but most of the rails had fallen off, so that only a remnant remained, with here and there a post. The town authorities dis- couraged the planting of trees, and therefore the aspect of the town was bare and bleak. The courthouse stood in the yard still used for that purpose. It was an unsightly stone structure, nearly square, and two stories high. The entrances were on the north and south sides. The lower story was occupied exclu- sively as a court room. The ceiling and upper floor were sup- ported by wooden columns, which were ornamented with iron clamps, in which the hands of criminals were confined, in order to be branded as rogues, etc. The upper story of the court- house was divided into jury rooms.
The County Court clerk's office was a long one-story brick build- ing near the southwest corner of the lot, and south of the court- house. On the north side of the lot adjoining the alley and Augusta street, was a brick house of two stories, where the clerks' offices of the Chancery and Circuit Courts were accommo-
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dated. This house was entered through a two-storied porch on its south side, fronting the courthouse.
The county jail occupied the site of the present prison, and was as plain and unsightly as the courthouse. The town market- house was a large shed with roof supported by posts, and no side walls, on the corner of the jail lot next Augusta street. In the rear of the market-house stood the whipping-post and pil- lory.
Augusta street terminated a short distance south of the creek. The top of " Gospel Hill" was the eastern terminus of Beverley street, and the main Winchester road entered town over that hill, Coalter street being an extension of the road.
The people of Staunton obtained water for drinking and cook- ing from a half dozen public wells, and the labor of carrying water to distant points no doubt retarded the growth of the town. There were few houses on the hills.
There were three churches. The old parish church had dis- appeared and a small new Episcopal church had taken its place. The other churches were the Methodist and Presbyterian, and all three were without ornamentation.
A new house was seldom built, and an old one quite as seldom repaired.
The taverns were the Bell, the Eagle, the Wayne and the Washington. The widow Mitchell kept a country inn half a mile from town, on the Winchester road.
It will be observed that there were no "hotels" in those days, at least in this part of the country ; but all houses of public en- tertainment were called taverns, as at an earlier day they were styled ordinaries. One prominent piece of tavern furniture has entirely disappeared. Whatever else was wanting in the equip- ment of the house, every tavern in town had a large bell suspended in some convenient place, which was used to summon guests to their meals. The bells were rung twice before each meal-first, to notify guests to get ready; and, secondly, after an interval of twenty or thirty minutes, to come to the table. Thus, morning, noon and evening there was a great clatter in the town. These bells, as well as the courthouse bell, were also rung to give the alarm when a fire occurred. As early as 1797 Staunton could boast of possessing a Chinese gong. In that year, Judge Stuart, not yet having been promoted to the bench, received a
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gong as a present from Mr. Jefferson, at that time vice-president of the United States ; and for many years afterwards it often reverberated through the town at dinner time, to summon Judge Stuart's "hands" from the fields. A town clock was procured and placed in the tower of the newly-built Lutheran church, in the year 1851 or '2. Previously, the tavern bells served a gen- erally useful purpose by indicating to the people the hours three times a day.
The Wayne tavern is always associated in the writer's mind with Indians. Before the removal of the southern Indians west of the Mississippi, Staunton was on the direct route from their country to Washington, and Cherokees, Chickasaws and Choc- taws frequently passed through town on their way to visit the " Great Father."
Another familiar sight in Staunton, in 1833, was the "Knox- ville teams." At that time the merchants of East Tennessee transported their goods from Baltimore in wagons, and every spring and fall many lumbering wains passed through town, traversing the county, going and coming. The horses were gen- erally decorated with bells. After the extension of the James River canal to Lynchburg, Knoxville teams were seen in Staun- ton no more. The United States mails for southwestern Virginia and east Tennessee were brought through Staunton in stage coaches. The mail bags were changed here from one set of coaches to another, and many of the bags daily thrown off at our post-office were labelled " Abingdon," where there was a dis- tributing office. The Staunton boys of that era had an idea that Abingdon was a place of immense importance.
About the year 1833 there was a great tide of emigration from eastern Virginia and North Carolina to Ohio. Forlorn looking people, with horses and carts to correspond, and a train of flax- headed children, frequently came along, and when asked where they were going, never failed to reply: "To the Ohio." But while the east was thus peopling the west, Ohio, and especially Kentucky, sent annually to the eastern markets immense droves of hogs. Every fall, drove after drove came through Staunton, till it seemed there must be a surfeit of swine's flesh east of the Blue Ridge. At the same time, little carts drawn by little horses brought over sweet potatoes from Nelson county and oysters from Fredericksburg.
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Staunton was also a great thoroughfare for travelers going to and returning from the Virginia springs. During the "springs season," the town was alive with stage coaches, besides the pri- vate carriages in which many wealthy people traveled. Some of the latter and all of the former were drawn by four horses, and occasionally there was quite a display of liveried servants. The western line of coaches extended from Staunton to Guyandotte, on the Ohio river, and afforded the only mode of public convey- ance for travelers from nearly all parts of Virginia and portions of other States, to the Mississippi valley. Bawcett (pronounced Bocket) long the proprietor of the Winchester line, had retired from business in 1833. He was succeeded in turn by Belden, Porter, Boyd, Farish, Ficklin, Harman, Trotter and others. But at last the railroads drove the stage coaches from the field.
The Fourth of July was often celebrated with great zest, espe- cially when General Porterfield could be induced to come up to town and take part. At other times the people had to put up with Smith Thompson, the Scotch barber, one of the few surviv- ing soldiers of the Revolution in Staunton, who was helped into a carriage and drawn about the streets. An old negro man named Tom Evans, who had been a body servant of Major Wil- lis, of Orange, at Yorktown, dressed up occasionally in a suit of Continental uniform, which he had carefully preserved, to the great delight of the small boys. Old Gabriel, too, who was at Yorktown, as well as at Braddock's defeat, was generally on hand to tell of his exploits.
The district court of the United States sat in Staunton twice a year, and brought many strangers to town every May and Oc- tober. Sometimes there were exciting trials of mail robbers and forgers of United States coin. The judges remembered by the writer were, Caldwell, of Wheeling; Pennybacker, of Harrison- burg; and Brockenbrough, of Lexington. James Points, of Staunton, was the United States marshal.
The courthouse was generally thronged with people, not only on the first day of each monthly County Court, but during nearly the whole of every term of the Circuit Court. The county levy was laid annually by the County Court at June term, the 4th Monday in the month, and it was the duty of all the justices to be present. Generally, from thirty to forty attended. They overflowed "the bench," and many had to sit in places usually
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occupied by jurors and others. On these occasions the court presented the appearance of a legislative body, and the proceed- ings were often enlivened by animated debates. James Bell, Esq., for many years the senior justice, nearly always presided at June court.
Every now and then a case of general interest arose in the Circuit Court, such as the Patrick will case, or a criminal trial like that of Naaman Roberts for forgery; and the whole population became enlisted on one side or the other. The speeches of John- son, Sheffey, Peyton, Baldwin, and other lawyers, were talked about all over the county and at every fireside.
The meeting-house, the school-house, and the courthouse, have always been the great educational institutions in Augusta.
A large proportion of the people of Augusta have always been noted church-goers. Men, women and children have been in the habit of flocking to their various country churches in large num- bers. Many of them went with a devout spirit to worship; others, we must confess, attended from force of habit; some, to tell and hear the news; and some, to show off their fine clothes or fine horses. During the period of which we are now speaking, the roads generally were ungraded and rugged, and there were comparatively few family carriages in the county. Buggies, now so common, were almost unknown. People of both sexes. and all ages came to town and went to church on horseback. Young girls cantered along the highways on spirited steeds, and their beaux, on even more fiery chargers, escorted them home, and remained for dinner or supper. Sedate matrons went about in like manner, on well-broken horses, however, and it was not uncommon to see one thus mounted carrying an infant in her arms, and with an older child sitting behind her on the same horse.
For many years there were only two militia regiments in the county-the Thirty-second and the Ninety-third. The former mustered annually at Hanger's, and the latter at the Cross Keys, a tavern not far from Greenville. A third regiment, the One-Hundred-and-Sixtieth, was afterward formed, and then the Thirty-second mustered at New Hope, the Ninety-third at Mid- dlebrook, and the One-Hundred-and-Sixtieth at Springhill. The officers of the various regiments met in Staunton during the month of May, and were drilled for three days preceding the
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regimental musters by Major George Eskridge, the brigade in- spector.
The militia officers did not pay much attention to their cos- tume. The colonels and majors and some of the captains, wore, when on parade, coats of ancient pattern, not later certainly than the war of 1812-dark blue cloth, long swallow tails, and brass buttons, with epaulets. When, therefore, the Staunton Light Infantry appeared in the field, every private in uniform and carry- ing a musket, an admiring crowd followed the company wherever it marched. After a time some variety was demanded by the popular taste, and Captain Hemphill's rifle company was there- upon organized. The privates of this company wore hunting shirts and carried the regular old-fashioned rifles. Captain Robert S. Brooke's rifle company arose and flourished for some years, long after Hemphill's was disbanded. Every militia com- pany was required to muster twice a year, and also to attend the regimental musters. The late John B. Watts was for some time captain of the Staunton militia, and a few persons still survive to tell how gallantly he handled his men, and with what skill he put them through "the boa-constrictor movement."
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