USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, with reminiscences illustrative of the vicissitudes of its pioneer settlers (A Supplement) > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44
We pause to mention that in February, 1756, John O'Neil was examined by the County Court on the charge of speaking treasonable words and acquitted, but being convicted of " abusing the government and cursing the Bible" he was held for trial.
The expedition having started at last, Governor Dinwiddie turned his attention for a time to other matters. He indited a long report to the Lords of Trade on the state of the province. In this he broaches the idea of a chain of forts from the head waters of the Potomac, upon the ridges of the Alleghany, to the North Carolina line, for the protection of the frontier, and also the establishment of another colony west of the Alleghany, with such indulgences in matters of religion, &c., as would induce Protestant Dissenters to settle in that region.
In March, 1756, the Provincial Assembly passed an act pro- viding for the construction of the forts referred to-" to begin at Henry Enoch's, on Great-Cape-Capon, in the county of Hamp- shire, and to extend to the south fork of Mayo river, in the county of Halifax."
In regard to the Dissenters in the province, the laws affecting them were always relaxed in times of. war or public danger, and many of them were disposed to act as if all such laws were abolished. We find that the Rev. John Brown, of New Provi. dence, was so imprudent as to perform the marriage ceremony twice in 1755 for members of his flock, but, discovering his mistake, he did not officiate again in that manner till 1781, when the law authorized him to do so .- [See list of marriages by Mr. Brown, published in Staunton Spectator of December 18, 1866.]
We are not done, however, with Governor Dinwiddie's report to the Lords of Trade. He had been endeavoring for more than four months to raise a thousand men for the protection of the frontier, but had not been able to recruit above half that
86
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
number. He says : "They are a lazy, indolent set of people, and I am lieartily weary of presiding over them." He esti- mated the population of the colony as 293,472-whites 173,316, and blacks 120, 156. The number of white tithables in Augusta county in February, 1756, he states as 2,273, and of blacks only 40. Multiplying the white tithables by 4, as he did, the white population of the county was .8,992. All negroes, male and female, over sixteen years of age, were tithables, and therefore the black tithables were multiplied by 2, showing a total black population in the county of about 80.
After the departure of Major Lewis on his expedition, Gover- nor Dinwiddie did not forget the enterprise. He continued to refer to it in his correspondence, and to express sanguine hopes. He had also sent commissioners, Peter Randolph and William Byrd, to conclude formal treaties with the Cherokee and Catawba Indians.
Major Lewis started from Fort Frederick on February 18, and reached the head of Sandy Creek on the 28th. Before the middle of March the supply of provisions began to run low, and soon afterwards some of the party were rescued from star- vation only by the killing of several elks and buffaloes. On March II ten men deserted, and finally the whole body, except the officers and twenty or thirty of the privates, declared their purpose to return. It is related that on the westward march the raw hides of several buffaloes were hung upon bushes near a certain stream, and that on the return the men in the extremity of their hunger cut these hides into thongs, or tugs, and de- voured them From this circumstance, it is said, the stream referred to received the name of Tug river, which it still bears. Some writers state that a day or two after the retreat began a party of Captain Hogg's men went out from camp in pursuit of wild turkeys and encountered a dozen Indians in war paint, who fired upon them. According to these writers, two of the white men were killed, and the fire being returned, one Indian was wounded and captured. What was done with him is not mentioned. This story, however, like many other things related of the expedition, is of doubtful authenticity. Governor Din- widdie's letters imply that no hostile Indians were encountered.
It required two weeks for the men to reach the nearest settle- ment, and during that interval they endured great suffering from
87
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
cold and hunger. Some of the men who separated from the main body perished.
At what date Major Lewis and other survivors of the expe- dition returned to the settlements, we have not found stated. Governor Dinwiddie alludes to their return, in a letter to Wash- ington, dated April 8th. He takes no blame to himself, but in- dulges in sarcasm towards Lewis. "Major Lewis," he says, "and his men are returned, having done nothing essential. I believe they did not know the way to the Shawnesse towns. I ex- pect him in town to give an account of his march, &c." To Governor Dobbs he writes, April 13: "The expedition against the Shawnesse proved unsuccessful. They were gone upwards of a month ; met with very bad weather; a great part of their provisions lost crossing a river, the canoes being overset. They were obliged to eat their horses, and are returned, having taken the Frenchmen, who I believe are of the neutrals, bound to Fort Duquesne. The commissioners that went to the Cherokees, &c., are not returned, but write me the Cherokees and Catawbas are in good humor and profess great friendship. They are ready to assist us with their warriors, if they can have a fort built for their women and children."
Fifteen of the returned Cherokees visited the Governor at Williamsburg, and he endeavored to induce the whole party, re- duced to sixty, to march to Winchester and join Washington.
Andrew Lewis made his peace with the Governor. At any rate, whether in wrath or as a token of favor, he was immediately ordered to proceed to the Cherokee country, now East Tennessee, and build the fort those Indians had stipulated for as a condition of their sending reinforcements. He was directed to enlist sixty men who could use saw and axe, "taking great care to be as frugal as possible," to be much on his guard "against any surprise from the enemy lurking in the woods," and to lose no time about the business. This order was issued April 24th. Of course it required some time for Major Lewis to get ready, and in the meanwhile he was the superior military officer in Augusta.
On the 27th of April, in consequence of a report that the French and Indians had invested Winchester, the Governor called out the militia of ten counties, and Major Lewis was ordered to speed the departure of the Clierokees under Pearis to join Wash-
88
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
ington. The reports from Winchester were greatly exaggerated, and the alarm in that quarter soon subsided ; but some new cause of anxiety had arisen in Augusta. On the 5th of May the Gov- ernor wrote to Lewis, in a very sulky mood. He was surprised at "the supineness of the people of Augusta," who were "in- timidated at the approach of a few Indians," and most shame- fully ran away. "They are always soliciting for arms and am- munition. Of the first," said the Governor, " I have none, and powder and lead they have been supplied with more from me than any six counties in this Dominion, and as they have not exerted themselves in any action against the enemy I fear those supplies have been misapplied, but still if they want a little pow- der I can supply them if they will send for it, as the other coun- ties do, but I have no lead." That unfortunate wagon lost by Colonel Patton the year before, was still on the Governor's mind, and he declares that the county must pay for it. Colonel Jeffer- son, of Albemarle (father of President Jefferson), was ordered to take half of his militia to Augusta ; but Lewis was on no account to remain here. He was, with all possible dispatch, to proceed to the Cherokee country and build the fort. there. No time was to be lost. Captain Hogg would assist the people of Augusta. It was hoped that the Cherokees were on the march to Win- chester.
We do not know in what part of the country this alarm arose. Probably it was the disaster at Edward's fort, April 18th, men- tioned in a note on page 111, Volume I, Dinwiddie Papers. This note states that Edward's fort was on the Warm Springs mountain, now Bath county, but Kercheval, who was more likely to be accurately informed, says it was on Capon river, between Winchester and Romney. In 1756, according to the note referred to, but in 1757, according to Kercheval, thirty or forty Indians approached the fort and killed two men who were out- side. Captain Mercer, at the head of forty of the garrison, sallied out in pursuit of the enemy, but fell into an ambush, and he and all his men, except six, were slain. One poor fellow, who was badly wounded, lay for two days and nights before he was found, the whites not venturing sooner to collect and bury the dead. - .
The apprehension of the people, and the unwillingness of the men to enlist in the army, were natural and unavoidable. Au-
89
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
gusta men were always ready to go on any warlike expedition when their homes could be left in safety, but to abandon wives and children to the merciless savages, who came by stealth to slaughter or capture their helpless victims, was more than ought to have been demanded. It was no common danger, and one which no courage could guard against. Governor Dinwiddie, in his comfortable quarters at Williamsburg, was totally unable to appreciate the difficulties and the spirit of the people.
The Governor's vituperation of the people of Augusta did not impair the intense loyalty of the County Court, however others of the population may have been affected by it. This spirit was carried to excess, and rather absurdly exhibited at times. It was in 1756 that one Francis Farguson was brought before the court " by warrant under the hand of Robert McClanahan, gent., for damning Robert Dinwiddie, Esq., for a Scotch peddling son of a b-,"' and found guilty. He was discharged, however, on apologizing and giving security to keep the peace.
Major Lewis did not get off till the month of June. The Cherokees brought out by Pearis refused to go to Winchester, but went home, promising, however, to come back with a larger reinforcement of their tribe. The Governor, on the 12th of June, addressed a stately message "to the Emperor, Old Hop, and other sachems of the great nation of Cherokees."
It was determined by a council of war, held at Fort Cumber- land, that Captain Hogg should have the care of constructing the forts provided for by Act of Assembly. Washington ad- dressed instructions to Hogg, dated Winchester, July 21, 1756. The militia of Augusta were ordered out to assist. The forts were to be twenty or thirty miles apart, to the southward of Fort Dinwiddie, on Jackson's river. Lieutenant Bullet was to be left at Fort Dinwiddie, with thirty privates of Hogg's company, and the other forts were to be garrisoned by fifteen to thirty men each. Hogg was instructed not to divide his force, but to keep his men together, and build fort after fort, without attempt- ing to construct more than one at the same time. This pre- caution indicates the danger of attack by the enemy. The building of the forts was a scheme of the Governor's, disap. proved by Washington, and resulted in no good.
In a letter to Henry Fox, Esq., dated July 24th, Governor Dinwiddie says: " About one month ago, one hundred French
1
90
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
and Indians came into Augusta county, murdered and scalped some of the unweary and unguarded people, but I think the militia drove them over the mountains." It is tantalizing that we cannot ascertain the scene of this raid, and other circum- stances; but it probably occurred on the frontier, and more or less remote from the western limit of the present county. In a letter to General Abercrombie, dated August 12th, the Governor alluded to the raid just mentioned, or another-we cannot tell which. He says : " About a month ago, a hundred of them" [Shawnee Indians] " with some French, came into the county of Augusta, in this Dominion, killed and carried away prisoners twenty-four of our people. We killed sixteen of them."
The record book of Courts Martial held by officers of Augusta militia, from 1756 to 1796, has in part escaped destruction. Both backs have disappeared, and some leaves also here and there, but a large part of the volume remains.
We find from this volume that "a Council of War" was held at Augusta Courthouse, July 27, 1756, by order of the Governor, to consider and determine at what points forts should be erected along the frontier for the protection of the inhabitants. The Council was composed of Colonels John Buchanan and David Stewart, Major John Brown, and Captains Joseph Culton, Robert Scott, Patrick Martin, William Christian, Robert Breckenridge, James Lockhart, Samuel Stalnicker, Israel Christian, and Thomas Armstrong. William Preston acted as clerk. The William Christian mentioned could not have been Captain Israel Chris- tian's son of the same name, who twenty years later was a prominent man, unless he was a wonderfully precocious boy in 1756.
The Council unanimously agreed that forts should be con- structed at the following places : "At Peterson's, on the South Branch of Potowmack, nigh Mill Creek," two miles from the northern county line ; at Hugh Man's Mill, on Shelton's tract, 18 miles from Peterson's; "at the most important pass between the last named place and the house of Matthew Harper, on Bull Pasture " [the place afterwards designated was Trout Rock, 17 miles from Man's] ; at Matthew Harper's, 20 miles from Trout Rock ; and at Captain John Miller's, on Jackson's river, 18 miles from Harper's. The Council then say : "As the frontiers are properly protected by the forts of Captains Hog [Dinwiddie's],
91
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
Breckenridge and Dickinson, there is no want of a fort unto the mouth of John's Creek, a branch of Craig's Creek, at which place a fort is to be erected." John's Creek was 25 miles from Dickinson's fort. Fort William, 20 miles from John's Creek, and supposed to be the same as Breckenridge's fort, was deemed "sufficient to guard that important pass," and the next place to the southwest, 13 miles distant, designated for a fort, was Neal McNeal's. The remaining places named for forts are, Captain James Campbell's, 13 miles from McNeal's; Captain Vaux's [Vass's], 12 miles from Campbell's; and Captain John Mason's on the south side of Roanoke, 25 miles from Vaux's. From Mason's "to the first inhabitants in Halifax county, south side of Ridge," was 20 miles.
The Council ordered, subject to the approval of Captain Peter Hog, that Fort Vaux be at least one hundred feet square in the clear, with stockades at least sixteen feet long, and be garrisoned by seventy men. The other forts were to be sixty feet square, with two bastions in each. The garrisons, besides Vaux's, were to be as follows : Mason's and McNeal's thirty men each, Dickin . son's forty, Dinwiddie's sixty, and each of the others fifty men.
The length of frontier to be protected was estimated by the Council as two hundred and fifty miles, and the number of men to garrison the forts as six hundred and eighty. The scheme was abandoned, however, only one or two new forts having been built.
The Courts Martial record book gives the names of the cap- tains of militia in 1756. The captains of horse were Israel Christian, Patrick Martin and John Dickinson; of foot, besides those already named, Samuel Norwood, James Allen,19 George Willson, John Mathews, Joseph Lapsley, James Mitchell, Daniel
19 Captain James Allen was one of the first elders of the stone church. One of his daughters married Captain James Trimble, and removed with her husband to Kentucky after the Revolutionary war. She was the mother of Governor Allen Trimble, of Ohio, and the late Mrs. James A. McCue, of Augusta, the mother of Major J. M. McCue. Another daughter of Captain Allen married the Rev. John McCue, the father of Mr. James A. McCue and others. Captain Allen's company, in 1756, consisted of sixty-eight men, and was composed of Walkers, Turks, Kerrs, Robertsons, Bells, Crawfords, Givenses, Craigs, Patter- sons, Poages, and others.
92
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
Harrison, Abram Smith, Ephraim Love, Ludovick Francisco, and Robert Bratton.
The Governor had received no report from Major Lewis up to August 19th. Writing to Washington on that day, he says : "Col. Stewart, of Augusta, proposed and sent the sketch for fourteen forts, to be garrisoned by 700 men, but I took no notice of it, waiting for Captain Hogg's report of what he thinks may be necessary, and to be managed with frugality, for the people in Augusta appear to me so selfish that private views and inter- est prevail with them without due consideration of the public service, which makes me much on my guard with them." He appears to have cherished a bitter animosity towards Stewart, the name being then generally so written at that time, but now Stuart.
On the 20th, the Governor had tidings from Lewis, and was happy in the expectation of soon receiving a reinforcement of one hundred and fifty Cherokees and fifty Catawbas. He de- sired to have provisions for these allies at several points on their march to Winchester, and, not being acquainted with any per- son in Augusta he could confide in, ordered Colonel Clement Read, County-Lieutenant of Lunenburg county, to make ar- rangements for supplies at Roanoke and Augusta Courthouse. Colonel Buchanan had advised him that wheat could be bought at Roanoke for 2s. 6d., and if Read had " an opinion " of Buch - anan, the latter might be employed to make purchases. Five chests of small arms and six barrels of gunpowder were sent to Roanoke for the Indians. To Lewis the Governor wrote on the 30th of August: "I have wrote Col. Washington that he may expect the Cherokees under your conduct, and I order you to march them with all possible expedition. They shall be sup plied at Winchester with all sorts of ammunition, but no cut- lasses to be had here."
Captain Hogg enjoyed the Governor's entire confidence, and was no doubt worthy of it-they were brother Scots. To him the Governor poured out his heart on September 8th :- " The behavior and backwardness of the militia in assisting you is un- accountable, or can I account for the dastardly spirit of our lower class of people in general, but that of Augusta county, I think, exceeds them all." Colonel Buchanan, commanding the Augusta militia, and probably then residing on the Roanoke
93
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
river, is accused of inefficiency; and it turned out that Colonel Read "has no influence but in his own county." By the date of this letter, the writer had changed his mind about the forts. He thought as many as three unnecessary, and the one Hogg was then building, enough. " Dickinson," adds the Governor, "is now here, and says he was sent for to the general muster when his fort was attacked. I told him he had no call to be there when he otherways was on duty, and he confesses his errors, but says he constantly kept centries and scouting parties from the fort for some months" [or miles] "round, and those that went after the Indians, he says, were militia under different officers, that he could not command them; that he had 120 pounds of powder and 200 pounds of lead when attacked. In short, I am of opinion, if there had been proper conduct they might have destroyed some of the enemy."
Here again we are ignorant of details. Dickinson's fort was on the Cowpasture river, some four miles below Millborough. Withers says [Border Warfare, page 75] the garrison was so careless that several children playing under the walls outside the fort were run down and caught by the Indians, who were not discovered till they arrived at the gate. He states that the cir- cumstance occurred in 1755, but was no doubt mistaken in re- gard to the date. He, moreover, is silent as to an assault upon the fort ; but in addition to the Governor's reference to one, there is a reliable tradition of an assault, during which a young girl aided in moulding bullets for the men. This young girl was the grandmother of Judge William McLaughlin. The incident mentioned of her may, however, have occurred in 1757, when Dickinson's fort was assailed again. Tradition also informs us that at one time, when a party of hostile Indians was believed to be at hand, a married woman, hastening with her family and neighbors to take shelter in Dickinson's fort, was seized with the pains of child-birth on the way, and was detained in the forest till her agony was over.
In September, 1756, the number of Indian allies expected by the Governor had grown to four hundred, and he was correspond- ingly elated. The Cherokees were highly pleased with their fort, but desired a small garrison of white men to hold it during the absence of their warriors. Captain Overton, with most of the
94
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
men sent to build the fort, had returned by September 18th. Major Lewis remained to bring in the Indian reinforcement.
At a Court Martial held September 11, 1756, Colonel David Stewart presiding, several persons were exempted from military duty, among them one man for the reason that two of his chil- dren were "natural fools."
The alarm in Augusta still continued. "One-third of the militia from Augusta," wrote the Governor on September 30th, "and some from other counties contiguous have been ordered out for protection of their frontiers, but they are such a dastardly set of people that I am convinced they do not do their duty, which is the reason of the late invasion there. They have neither courage, spirit, or conduct." Again, on the 26th of October, to Washington : " I received your letter from Augusta, and observe its contents. The behavior of the militia is very unaccountable, and I am convinced they are under no command. I ordered part of the militia to the frontier and there to remain till relieved by others, * * instead thereof, they go and come at their own pleasure, and many of them come here with large demands as if they had done the duty ordered in a proper manner : they are a dastardly set of people, and under no management or discipline, much owing to their officers, who I fear are little better than the private men.'
At last Major Lewis returned from the Cherokee country, and brought in only seven warriors and three women, to the Gover- nor's "great surprise and concern."
The French, it was feared, had been tampering with the South- ern Indians, and had seduced them from the English. One of the seven was sent back to remind the Cherokees of their re- peated promises, and the others in Augusta were exhorted by the Governor to accompany Major Lewis to Winchester.
The fort built by Andrew Lewis was called Fort Loudoun. It was on the south bank of the Tennessee river, at the head of navigation, and about thirty miles south of the present town of Knoxville. In 1760, when garrisoned by two hundred men, it was beleaguered by Cherokee Indians who had become hostile. Re- duced to the point of starvation, and without hope of rescue, the garrison surrendered. Accounts vary as to the fate of the prisoners. One account states that the Indians fired upon the
95
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
whites and killed twenty-five or thirty of them the day following the surrender. but that the greater number effected their escape. Another account states that all the prisoners, except three, were massacred, and that the Indians made a fence of their bones. Captain Stuart, one of the three, was saved by a friendly Indian. The fort was destroyed .- [ Ramsay's Annals of Tennessee.] The South-western boundary of Virginia was not defined at this time, and, until about twenty years afterwards, all the settlements on the Holston, even those now in Tennessee, were supposed to be in Virginia.
The middle of November, 1756, having arrived, Governor Dinwiddie, thinking there was no danger of invasion during the cold season, ordered Major Lewis to recall the men on the fron- tiers, and to reduce the Augusta companies in service to three. In the meanwhile, however, he was much concerned about the accounts sent in by the officers of militia in Augusta. Colonel Buchanan was instructed to scrutinize the accounts closely, with the assistance of Captain Hogg. These officers were to meet at Vass's fort, where Hogg was stationed. When December 23d came round, the Governor's wrath was particularly directed to Captain Robert Breckenridge, of Augusta, and Major Lewis was peremptorily ordered to "put him out of commission."
Early in January, 1757, Governor Dinwiddie was full of another scheme. This one was instigated apparently by Captain Voss, Vass, or Vance-the Governor writes the name all sorts of ways, but Vaux was probably the correct mode-and encouraged by Colonel Read and others. It seems that a number of persons calling themselves " Associators," proposed to raise two hun- dred and fifty to three hundred men for an expedition against the Shawnees. They were to choose their own officers, to be provided by the government with provisions, arms and ammu- nition, to have all the plunder, and to be paid {10 for every scalp or prisoner brought in. The provisions were to be car- ried to Vass's fort, and from thence on horses to the pass in the mountains, where the horses should be kept under a guard. The whole affair was to be kept as secret as possible, to pre- vent intelligence of it getting to the enemy. The Governor had the affair "much at heart," and on the Ist of February he wrote: " The expedition is very pleasable." It is observable that he wrote to nobody in Augusta on the subject. On the 5th
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.