USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871 > Part 11
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2. James Brown, the second son of Rev. John Brown, was distin- guished as a lawyer in Kentucky. His wife was a sister of Mrs. Henry Clay. Upon the acquisition of Louisiana, he removed to New Orleans, was associated with Livingston in compiling the civil code of that State, was several times elected to the United States Senate, and was subsequently Minister to France. He died in Philadelphia in 1836, without issue.
3. Dr. Samuel Brown, the third son, studied in Edinburgh, and for many years was a professor in Transylvania University.
4. Dr. Preston W. Brown, the youngest son, studied his profession in Philadelphia, practised in Kentucky, and died in 1826.
The Rev. John Brown became pastor of New Providence in 1753, and continued such till 1796, when he followed his sons to Kentucky. He died at Frankfort in 1803, in the seventy-fifth year of liis age, his wife having died in 1802 in her seventy-third year.
Mr. Brown had two daughters,-Elizabeth, wife of the Rev. Thomas B. Craigliead, of Tennessee, son of the Rev. Alexander Craig- head, and Mary, wife of Dr. Alexander Humphreys.
John Humphreys, whose wife was Margaret Carlisle, lived in the county of Armagli, Ireland. His oldest son, David Carlisle Hum- phreys, came to America in 1763, when he was about twenty-two years old, and lived for eight years in Pennsylvania. There he married Margaret Finley, who is the Mrs. Margaret Humphreys mentioned on a future page. In 1771 he removed to Augusta county, and purchased a farm near Greenville, where he died in 1826, aged eighty-five years. His children were three sons, Jolin, Samuel and Aaron Finley, and five daughters who were the wives respectively of Samnel Mccutchen, Samuel Blackwood, David Gilkeson, James S. Willson and Archibald Rhea.
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Dr. Alexander Humphreys was a brother of David C. Humphreys. He came to America some years later thau David C., and lived first near New Providence church. He afterwards removed to Staunton, where he practised his profession till his death, in 1802. His widow and children then removed to Frankfort, Kentucky.
Major ANDREW HAMILTON was born in Augusta county in 1741. His parents were Archibald and Frances Calhoun Hamilton, who canie to this country from Ireland. Archibald is said to have been a de- scendant of James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, who was regent of Scotland during the infancy of Mary Stuart.
The date of Archibald Hamilton's settlement in Augusta is not known. He was probably one of the first to come, and like other early settlers, located on the public domain, without legal title to his home- stead. Il1 1747, however, he received from William Beverley, the patentee, a deed for three hundred and two acres of land on Christian's creek, in Beverley Manor, for the nominal consideration of five shil- lings. He also acquired lands by patent from the Government. He survived till about the year 1794. His children were five sons, Audly, John, Andrew, William, and Archibald, and a daughter, named Lettice.
Andrew Hamilton married, in August, Jane Magill, a native of Pennsylvania, and in 1765 removed to South Carolina and settled in Abbeville, in the neighborhood of Andrew Pickens, afterwards the cel- ebrated General Pickens, who had gone with his parents from Augusta some years previously. Both Hamilton and Pickens entered the mili- tary service at the beginning of the Revolutionary war. The former served through the whole war, first as captain and then as major under General Pickens, and took part in nearly all the important battles in South Carolina and Georgia. At one time he was imprisoned in a block-house on his own estate.
After the war, Major Hamilton was elected to the Legislature of South Carolina, and continued to serve in that capacity till he was unfitted for it by old age. Then he was requested to nominate liis successor, who was immediately elected.
The life of Major Hamilton was long and eventful. He died Jan- uary 19, 1835, in the ninety-fifth year of his age, his wife having died April 20, 1826, in her eighty-sixth year. The remains of this aged and distinguished couple lie in the cemetery of Upper Long Cane Church, of which General Pickens and Major Hamilton are said to have been the first elders.
Major Hamilton is described as a strict Presbyterian in his relig- ious faith, and a man of inflexible will, dauntless courage, and superb physical development. He left many descendants, and among them are the Simonds aud Ravenels, of Charleston, Parkers and Waites, of Columbia, Calhouns, of South Carolina and Georgia, and Alstous and Cabells, of Virginia. Some time before the year 1830, Major Hamil- ton and one of his daughters, Mrs. Alston, made a trip on horseback from South Carolina to Augusta county, to visit the spot where he was
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born and reared. It was his first visit-one of tender remembrance- since he had left the county in his youth. A brother of his went to Kentucky, and was the founder of a wealthy and distinguished family.
The Rev. CHARLES CUMMINGS was born in Ireland and emi- grated to Lancaster county, Virginia, where he taught school and studied theology with the Rev. James Waddell. He was licensed to preach by Hanover Presbytery at Tinkling Spring, April 17, 1766. As stated heretofore, he became pastor of Brown's meeting-house con- gregation in 1767. The elders present at his ordination were George Moffett, Alexander Walker and John McFarland. In 1773 he was called to minister to two congregations on the Holston, and settled near Abingdon. The call was signed by one hundred and twenty heads of families-Campbells, Blackburns, Edmondsons, Christians, · Thompsons, Montgomerys, and others. The country on the Holston was then exposed to Indian inroads, and Mr. Cummings was in the habit of carrying his rifle with him into the pulpit. On one occasion he was engaged in a deadly conflict with the Indians. In 1776 he accompanied the troops under Colonel Christian in their expedition against the Cherokees, and was the first minister that ever preached in Tennessee. He died in 1812.
The Rev. JAMES MADISON, D. D., was born August 27, 1749, near Port Republic, then in Augusta county. He was educated at William and Mary College, and first studied law, but soon abandoned that profession for the ministry. In 1773 he was chosen Professor of Mathematics in William and Mary, and going to England was there licensed as a Minister by the Bishop of London. Returning to Vir- ginia he resumed his place in the College, of which he became Presi- dent in 1777. He presided as Bishop over the first Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Virginia, in May, 1785. During the same year the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by the University of Pennsylvania. He died in 1815. His children were a son, James C. Madison, of Roanoke county, and a daughter, Mrs. Robert G. Scott, of Richmond.
CHAPTER IV.
INDIAN WARS, ETC., FROM 1753 TO 1756.
From 1753, for more than ten years, war raged all along the frontier. We do not propose to give a history of the general war and can only briefly sketch some of the principal events which imnie- diately concerned the people of Angusta county.
Some account of the Indian tribes most frequently in contact with the white settlers of this region is appropriate here. Withers states, in his "Border Warfare " [p. 39], that when Virginia became known to the whites, the portion of the State lying northwest of the Blue Ridge and extending to the lakes was possessed by the Massawomees. These were a powerful confederacy, rarely in unity with the tribes east of that range of mountains; but generally harassing them by fre- quent hostile irruptions into their country. Of their subsequent his- tory, nothing is now known. They are supposed by some to have been the ancestors of the Six Nations.
"As settlements were extended from the sea shore," says Withers, "the Massawomees gradually retired, and when the white population reached the Blue Ridge, the Valley between it and the Alleghany was entirely uninhabited. This delightful region of country was then only used as a hunting ground, and as a highway for belligerent parties of different nations, in their military expeditions against each other. In consequence of the almost continuous hostilities between the northern and southern Indians, these expeditions were very frequent, and tended somewhat to retard the settlement of the Valley, and render a residence in it, for some time, insecure and unpleasant. Between the Alleghany mountains and the Ohio river, within the present limits of Virginia, there were some villages interspersed, inhabited by small numbers of Indians, the most of whom retired northwest of that river as the tide of immigration rolled towards it. Some, however, remained in the interior after settlements began to be made in their vicinity.
"North of the present boundary of Virginia, and particularly near the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, and in the circumjacent country, the Indians were more numerous and their villages larger. In 1753, when General Washington visited the French posts on the Ohio, the spot which had been selected by tlie Ohio Company as the site for a fort, was occupied by Shingess, King
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of the Delawares ; and other parts of the proximate country were in- habited by Mingoes and Shawanees [Shawnees]. When the French were forced to abandon the position which they had taken at the forks of Ohio, the greater part of the adjacent tribes removed further west. So that when improvements were begun to be made in the wilderness of Northwestern Virginia, it had been almost entirely deserted by the natives; and except a few straggling hunters and warriors, who oc- casionally traversed it in quest of game, or of human beings on whom to wreak their vengeance, almost its only tenants were beasts of the forest."
We have no statistics of Indian population in 1753. A Captain Hutchins visited most of the tribes in 1768, and made the most accu- rate estimate he could of their numbers at that date. The Indian pop- ulation was no doubt much greater in 1753 than 1768; ten years of war having thinned their ranks considerably. In the latter year the statistics were as follows, as reported by Hutchins : The Cherokees, in the westeru part of North Carolina, now Tennessee, numbered about two thousand five hundred. The Chickasaws resided south of the Cherokees, and had a population of seven hundred and fifty. The Catawbas, on the Catawba river, in South Carolina, numbered only one hundred and fifty. These last, although so few, were remarkably enterprising. They are said to have frequently traversed the Valley of Virginia, and even penetrated the country on the Susque- hanna and between the Ohio and Lake Erie, to wage war with the Delawares. The more northern tribes were the Delawares, Shawnees, Chippewas, Wyandots, Miamis and other northwestern tribes, and had an aggregate population of about three thousand five hundred. The Shawnees, the terror of the inhabitants of Augusta county from the frontier to the Blue Ridge, in 1753, numbered only about three hun- dred fighting men in 1768. They then dwelt on the Sciota and Mus- kingum rivers, in Ohio, having sixteen small villages. We write the name Shawnee as it is generally pronounced. Some historians write it Shewanee, and Parkman calls the tribe Shawanees. The Shawnees and Delawares were close allies.
Col. James Smith, a native of Pennsylvania, was captured by Indians, in 1755, wlien he was eighteen years old, and detained amongst them five years ; but being adopted into the tribe, was treated with great kindness. He became a prominent citizen of Bourbon county, Kentucky, and in 1799 published an account of his life and travels. He says: "I am of the opinion that from Braddock's war until the present time, there never were more than three thousand Indians at any time in arms against us, west of Fort Pitt, and fre-
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quently not half that number. According to the Indians' own ac- counts, during the whole of Braddock's war, or from 1755 till 1758, they killed or took fifty of our people for one that they lost." After- wards, the frontiersmen, especially the Virginians, learned something of the Indian mode of warfare, and fewer whites and more Indians were killed ; yet, even then, the savages claimed, and Smith believed with good reason, that they killed or took ten of our people for one that they lost. Col. Smith thinks the Indians displayed admirable skill in warfare.
Kercheval states that the Catawba and Delaware Indians were said to have been engaged in war at the time the Valley was first entered by white people, and that the feud was continued for many years afterwards. Several bloody battles were fought between these tribes on or near the Potomac. One of these occurred at the month of Antietam creek, in 1736, it is believed. "The Delawares," says Kercheval, "had penetrated far to the south, committed some acts of outrage on the Catawbas, and on their retreat were overtaken at the mouth of this creek, wlien a desperate conflict ensued. Every man of the Delaware party was put to death, with the exception of one who escaped after the battle was over, and every Catawba held up a scalp but one. This was a disgrace not to be borne ; and he instantly gave chase to the fugitive, overtook him at the Susquehanna river, (a dis- tance little short of one hundred miles), killed and scalped him, and returning showed his scalp to several white people, and exulted in what he had done." Other battles between these tribes occurred at Painted Rock, on the South Branch; at Hanging Rock, in Hampshire ; and near the site of Franklin, Pendleton county. According to Kercheval, a few Shawnees continued to live in the lower valley till 1754, when they removed west of the Alleghany mountain.
According to tradition, a battle between Indians occurred on the Cowpasture river, near Millborough, Bath county, where there is a small mound supposed to cover the remains of the slain. In the spring of 1886 the floods washed away a portion of the mound, and exposed to view five large skeletons in a good state of preservation. Tradition also says that an Indian maiden, from a neighboring eminence, watched the battle, in which her lover was engaged.
Europeans paid little or no attention to the claim of the Indians to the territory which they held, or roamed over. France held Canada and Louisiana, which latter was understood to embrace all the country west of the Mississippi river. The territory mentioned was conceded by England to France; but not content with this vast domain, the French claimed all the territory watered by streams tributary to the
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Mississippi. In pursuance of their claim, they built several forts on the Ohio, and finally Fort Du Quesne, where Pittsburg now stands, at that time, as held by Virginians, within the county of Augusta. In 1753, Governor Dinwiddie sent Major Washington to remonstrate with the French officer commanding on the Ohio, and to warn him that war was inevitable unless he withdrew. The French persisting in their claim, Dinwiddie began to prepare for the conflict, and invited the co- operation of the other colonies. The Indians, at first not specially friendly to either side, were conciliated by the French, and proved their faithful and efficient allies during the war.
It is generally supposed that the French were specially skilful in gaining the friendship of the Indians, and it may have been so to a considerable extent ; but there is another reason why the Shawnees, Delawares and other Algonquin tribes, became their efficient partisans. Champlain and other early French settlers in Canada, to ingratiate themselves with the Indians of that region, assisted them in their wars with the Iroquois, or Five nations, of New York, and thus gained their lasting friendship, while the English secured the Iroquois as allies. The Shawnees, Delawares and others were congeners of the Canada Indians. The Iroquois waged incessant and exterminating war with all other tribes.
The Iroquois were composed originally of five tribes,-Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas, -and occupied the country from Upper Canada to West Virginia, surrounded by Algonquins. They were called the "Five Nations" of New York, where most of them resided. The Tuscaroras joined the confederacy, and they were then known as the "Six Nations."
In 1754, David Tygart and a man named Files, crossed the Alle- ghany mountain and settled near each other on a branch of the Monon- gahela, since known as Tygart's Valley River. Files located at the month of a creek where Beverley, the county-seat of Randolph, now stands, and Tygart a few miles higher up the river. They had not been there long, when feeling unsafe they concluded to return to the settlements ; but before they proceeded to do so, the family of Files was attacked by Indians, and every member killed, except a son who was absent from the house, but within sight of the massacre. Young Files fled to the house of Tygart and gave the warning, which enabled that family to escape and leave the country. [Trans-Alleghany Pio- neers, p. 253.]
Colonel James Patton was "County Lieutenant," or commander- in-chief, of the Augusta militia in 1754. In January of that year Gov- ernor Dinwiddie wrote to him that he had determined to send two
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hundred men to reinforce the troops then building a fort on the Monongahela. He therefore ordered Patton to "draw out " the militia of the county, and from them obtain by volunteering, or drafting, fifty men for the purpose. The troops were to be "at Alexandria, the head of Potomack river, by the 20th of next mo. and if possible with their arms, &c." As the county was large, the number of men called for so sinall, "and the pay so very good," the Governor did not doubt that there would be a sufficient number of volunteers. They were to be commanded, he said, by Major George Washington. The company was no doubt raised and led by Andrew Lewis. At any rate, Lewis was with Washington, July 4, 1754, at the capitulation of Fort Neces- sity, and, although wounded and hobbling on a staff, by his coolness probably prevented a general massacre of the Virginia troops. Wash- ington had been compelled to fall back to Fort Necessity, a rude stockade at Great Meadows. On the 3d of July, about noon, six hun- dred French, with one hundred Indians, came in sight and took posses- sion of one of the eminences, where, says Bancroft [Vol. IV, p. 121], every soldier found a large tree for his shelter, and could fire in security on the troops beneath. For nine hours, in a heavy rain, the fire was returned. At last, after thirty of the English, and but three of the French had been killed, De Villiers, the French commander, proposed a parley. The terms of capitulation which were offered were interpreted to Washington, who did not understand French, and, as interpreted, were accepted. On the 4th, the English garrison, retain- ing all its effects, withdrew from the basin of the Ohio.
Then began the famous seven years war which kept all Europe ablaze while it lasted. It is curious that the first blow was struck in the wilds of America and by George Washington.
In his book called "Georgians," to which we have heretofore referred, Governor Gilmer relates an occurrence near Staunton as follows :
"In June, 1754, a party of twelve Northwestern Indian warriors stopped at John Lewis's on their return from the South, where they had been satisfying their revenge upou the Cherokees for some injury received. Some of his neighbors happened to be there, whose families or friends had suffered from attacks of the Indians. They insisted upon the party remaining until night, and exhibiting their dances. Upon their consenting, they left and employed the time until dark collecting the neighbors who had suffered from Indian murders. A beef was killed, and a large log fire made, around which the Indians assembled, cooking and eating to their stomach's content. They danced and drank whiskey until their lookers-on were satisfied with
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the display of their antics, and then went on their way homeward as far as the Middle river, where they lodged in Anderson's barn. As soon as they were sound asleep the whites were upon them with their axes, knives and guns. Only one escaped. For that night's doings many Virginia wives were made widows, and mothers childless. The government of Virginia endeavored to punish the perpetrators. All fled to some distant part of the extended frontier of the colonies, except one by the name of King, who lived a skulking life for a long time, always keeping his gun near him. He sometimes would go to the old Augusta church, the great assembling place for worship of the Scotch-Irish of that part of the country, where, seated upon the sill of the door with his inseparable companion, the rifle, in his hand, he listened to the words of the preacher, so necessary to the comfort of the Irish spirit, whether Protestant or Catholic. He was suffered to work out his own punishment, avoiding all men, and avoided by all."
We presume this story is substantially true as related. Governor Gilmer's mother being a danghter of Thomas Lewis, the surveyor and burgess, the facts had to pass through only one or two hands to reach him. We, however, think it probable that the occurrence took place a year or two earlier than the time mentioned ; and we find no evi- dence in the proceedings of the County Court, or the voluminous correspondence of Governor Dinwiddie, of any effort to bring the per- petrators of the outrage to punishment.
Governor Dinwiddie, wisely or unwisely, precipitated the war between the English and French in America. After it began he threw himself into the fray with great ardor. He was indefatigable in recruiting troops, calling for help from neighboring colonies and Eng- land, writing letters, and scolding and blustering. He rivaled Horace Walpole, one of his correspondents, in the number, if not in the elegance, of lis epistles. His voluminous correspondence, published by the Virginia Historical Society, and edited by R. A. Brock, secre- tary, etc., is full of interest to those who have a taste for such litera- ture. He was too much pressed for time and space to write his words in full, and often it is difficult to read his productions. He set the rules of grammar and spelling at defiance-especially when in a passion he rebuked a military officer, or abused the savages. The latter suf- fered terribly at his hands, being denounced as "wicked murderers," "insatiate cowards," "villainous," "banditti," "infidels," "vermin." He was economical to the extent of parsimony, demanding an account of every pound of powder or lead he issued to the troops. Withont military training or experience he planned campaigns, and undertook
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to instruct George Washington and Andrew Lewis how to fight the Indians. He was punctilious in etiquette, and informed Washington : " The method that you are to declare war is at the head of your com- panies, with three vollies of small arms for his Majesty's health and a successful war."
Many of the Governor's letters were addressed to Angusta men, and others relating to events taking place here. We shall refer to some of them.
Writing to the Lords of Trade, July 24, 1754, Governor Dinwiddie gives a highly exaggerated account of the casualties at Fort Necessity. He reports the number of the enemy killed as three hundred, and "of our people," thirty.
He set to work energetically to repair the disaster and to organize another expedition to the Ohio. By his order, Fort Cumberland was built at Wills's creek where the city of Cumberland, Maryland, now stands, and Colonel James Innes was put in command of it. This gentleman was born in Scotland, but came to Virginia with some troops from North Carolina. He was a favorite with the Governor, who addressed him in one of his letters as "Dear James." Notwith- standing "the intolerable obstinacy of our neighboring colonies," as Governor Dinwiddie expressed it, North Carolina had sent some troops. One of the companies, commanded by Captain Bryan, on their march towards Cumberland on the 27th of July, "mutinied at Augusta Court-house," says the Governor, "and would march no further till a friend of mine advanced £40." Innes was expected to proceed across the Alleghanies and assail the French, and Washing- ton, then a colonel, was to co-operate. Andrew Lewis was a captain in Washington's regiment, having been commissioned March 18, 1754.
Richard Pearis, whose name is also witten Parris, or Paris, was located on Holston River, Augusta county, in 1754, in order to trade with the Cherokees and other southern Indians. The Governor util- ized him as far as possible. Some Indian depredations had occurred in that quarter, and the Governor writes to Pearis August 2d, "I am surprised the inhabitants on Holstein river should submit to be robbed by a few Indians." He sends his thanks to a certain Chickasaw war- rior for "resenting the murder of one of our people." "Let the Chicksaw know that I greatly approve of his conduct, and have a real esteem for him." He wishes to know whether "the Emperor," or "Old Hop" is the head man of the Cherokees. He exhorts Pearis to stir up the Indians to prevent the building of forts by the French in
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