USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871 > Part 18
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 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
156
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
Cole, Fort Vanse, prisoner. Graham, Fort Vause, prisoner. Benj. Daries, Fort Vause, prisoner. Lieut. John Smith, Fort Vanse, killed. John Tracey, Fort Vause, killed. John English, Fort Vause, killed. Mrs. Mary English, Fort Vause, prisoner. WVm. Robinson, Fort Vause, wounded.
Tho. Robinson, Fort Vause, wounded. Sam'l Robinson, Fort Vause, wounded. Rob't Pepper, Fort Vause, wounded. Sept. 11-Ensign Madison, Jackson's River, killed.
12, 13, 14-Nicholas Carpenter, Jackson's River, killed. Steren Sowel, Jackson's River, killed. James Mais, Jackson's River, killed. James Montgomery, Jackson's River, killed.
Nicholas Nut, Jackson's River, killed.
John Bird, Jackson's River, killed. George Kinkead, Jackson's River, killed.
Fry, Jackson's River, killed. Mrs. Boyl, Jackson's River, killed. Three children named Parsinger, Jackson's River, killed. Joseph Swobs, Jackson's River, wounded.
Wilson, Jackson's River, wounded. Five children of Chas. Boyl, Jackson's River, prisoners.
David Gallaway, Jackson's River, prisoner, escaped. Mrs. McConell, Jackson's River, prisoner, escaped. Joseph Carpenter, Jackson's River, prisoner, escaped.
Mrs. Bird and six children, Jackson's River, prisoners.
Mrs. Kinkead and three children, Jackson's River, prisoners.
Mrs. Parsinger and two children, Jackson's River, prisoners.
Five children called Carpenter, Jackson's River, prisoners. Sam'l Brown, a boy, Jackson's River, prisoner.
-
Swobs, a boy, Jackson's River, prisoner.
John Robinson, Fort Vause, killed.
1857. John Walker, Fort Vause, prisoner.
Feb -Jacob Peters lost six children, South Branch, prisoners, one escaped.
March -Wm. Bradshaw and son, Craig's Creek, prisoners. May 14-And. Arnold, Jackson's River, killed. Henry Lawless, Jackson's River, killed. 16-John Moon, Cow Pasture, killed. Mrs. Moor and five children, Cow Pasture, prisoners. George Neese and two sons, South Branch, prisoners. Sudie, South Branch, killed. Henry Lawrence, South Branch, killed. Michael Freeze and wife, South Branch, killed.
July - Mark Tallet, Jackson's River, killed. A servant man, Jackson's River, prisoner. James Allen, Jackson's River, wounded.
157
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
Swobs, Jackson's River, wounded.
25-Robert Renick, Forks of James River, killed. Thos. Moon, Forks of James River, killed. Mrs. Renick and seven children, Forks of James River, prisoners. Mrs. Denis, Forks of James River, prisoner. John Crawford, jr., Craig's Creek, killed. Jno. Alex. Crawford, Craig's Creek, wounded.
Sept. -Serj. Henry, Fort Dinwiddie, killed. James Stuart, Cow Pasture, killed. James Stuart, jr., Cow Pasture, prisoner. James McClung and two children named Cantuell, Cow Pasture, prisoners.
Oct. -James McFerrin, Catawba, killed. Wm. McFerrin, Catawba, prisoner.
Nov. -Three Dutch people, Brock's Gap, one killed, two prisoners. John States, Brock's Gap, killed. 1858. Abm. Merchant, Brock's Gap, killed.
Jan. -Win. Ward, a boy, Fort Dinwiddie, prisoner. A Soldier of Capt. Woodward, Roanoke, killed. A Servant of Bryan's, Roanoke, killed.
Mch. 19-Wm. Clepole, Brock's Gap, killed. Peter Moser, South Branch, killed. Nicholas Frank, South Branch, killed.
John Coonrad, South Branch, killed.
John Cunningham and two others (names forgotten), South Brauclı, prisoners. George Moses, South Branch, wounded.
Adam Harper, South Branch, wounded.
A servant-man killed, and maid and one child prisoners, Cow Pasture. 20-James Gatlire, Roanoke, killed. Joseph Love, Roanoke, killed. Wm. Love, Roanoke, killed. A servant maid and child, Roanoke, prisoners.
Snodgrass, a girl, Catawba, prisoner.
Ap'1 24- John McCreary, Cow Pasture, prisoner. WVm. McCreary, Cow Pasture, prisoner. Capt. James Dunlap, South Branch, killed. Josiah Wilson, South Branch, killed. John Hutchinson, South Branch, killed. Thomas Caddon, South Branch, killed. Henry McCullam, South Branch, killed. John Wright, South Branch, killed. Thomas Smith. South Branch, killed. Robert McNully, South Branch, killed." Wm. Elliott, South Branch, killed.
Ap'1 27-Mrs. Elliott, South Branch, killed. Ludwick Falck and wife, Sonth Branch, killed. Adam Little, South Branch, killed.
158
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
Brock, South Branch, killed. John Ramsey, South Branch, killed. Wm. Burk, South Branch, killed. Rooney, South Branch, killed. Wm. Woods, South Branch, killed. John McCulley, South Branch, killed.
Thomas Searl, South Branch, killed. James Gill, South Branch, killed. John Guy and a stranger, South Branch, killed.
28-Capt. Sylest and sixteen persons not known, South Fork, prisoners. Twenty-four persons at same place missing, South Fork, prisoners.
May -Moses Moore, Jackson's River, prisoner.
MAJOR JOHN HAYS lived on a farm under the Jump mountain, Rockbridge. His sons were-1. Michael Hays, of Ohio, who was an officer in the United States Army in 1812; 2. Andrew Hays, a dis- tinguished lawyer of Nashville, Tennessee; 3. John Brown Hays, of Columbia, Tennessee, whose wife was a sister of President Polk ; and, 4. James Campbell Hays, of Tennessee and Texas, who was the father of Jack Hays, the Texan Ranger.
CHAPTER VI.
INDIAN WARS, ETC., FROM 1758 TO 1764.
Before the departure of Dinwiddie, the Earl of Loudoun, com- mander -in - chief of British forces in America, was commissioned Governor of Virginia, but it is believed he never visited the colony. Francis Fauquier was afterwards appointed, and arrived in June, 1758, the duties of the office being discharged in the meanwhile by John Blair, President of the Council.
It is stated that in the early part of 1758 sixty persons were murdered by Indians in Augusta county, but exactly where and when we are not told .- [Campbell's History of Virginia, page 500.] Possi- bly the allusion is to the massacre at Seybert's fort .*
This fort was in the northern part of the present county of High- land, then Augusta. There the inhabitants of the surrounding country had taken shelter from the Indians. Between thirty and forty persons of both sexes and all ages were in the enclosure. No Indians having yet appeared, a youth named James Dyer and his sister went outside one day for some purpose, and had not proceeded far before they came in view of forty or fifty Shawnees going towards the fort. Hurrying back to provide for their own safety and give the alarm, they were overtaken and captured. The place was incapable of with- standing a vigorous assault, and the garrison was poorly supplied with ammunition. Captain Seybert, therefore, determined to surrender, and did so in spite of the opposition of some of the people. The gate was thrown open, and the money and other stipulated articles were handed over to the Indians. Thereupon, one of the most ruthless tragedies of Indian warfare was perpetrated. The inmates of the fort were arranged in two rows and nearly all of them were tomahawked. A few, spared from caprice or some other cause, were carried off into captivity. Young Dyer was the only captive who ever returned.
He was taken to Logstown, thence to the Muskingum, and thence to Chillicothe, where he remained a prisoner nearly two years. Ac- companying the Indians to Fort Pitt, he there concealed himself in a hovel, and after two years more returned home.
* According to the "Preston Register," Seybert's fort was captured on April 28, 1758, and 41 persons were taken prisoners,
160
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
At a court-martial held at the courthouse May 19, 1758, upon the complaint of Edward McGary, the conduct of Captain Abraham Smith on a recent occasion was inquired into. Captain Smith was "out with a part of his company on the South Branch after Seybert's fort was burned by the enemy," and was accused by McGary, a member of the company, of cowardice. The court declared the charge without foundation aud malicious. They then took McGary in hand, found him guilty of insubordination, and fined him forty shillings for that offence and five shillings "for one oath."
Another expedition for the capture of Fort Duquesne was set on foot early in 1758. It was under command of General Forbes, a meritorious British officer, but in a feeble state of health. Washing- ton was still commander-in-chief of the Virginia troops, now consisting of two regiments, one led by himself and the other by Colonel Byrd. Forbes' command consisted of about 1,600 British regulars, 2,700 men contributed by Pennsylvania, and the Virginia regiments of 1,800 or 1,900, making altogether an army of more than 6,000 men, besides some Indian allies.
Washington gathered his regiment at Winchester, several of the companies being recalled from Augusta, and from that place was ordered to Fort Cumberland, where he arrived on the 2d of July, and was detained there till the middle of September. The troops being scantily supplied with clothing, Washington equipped two companies, under the immediate command of Major Lewis, in hunting shirts, and that style soon became all the fashion.
Colonel Bouquet, who commanded the advanced division of the army, took his station at Raystown, in the centre of Pennsylvania. General Forbes arrived at that place in September, and ordered Wash- ington to join him there. Bouquet then made a further advance, and, while upwards of fifty miles from Duquesne, sent on a detachment under Major Grant to reconnoitre. This body consisted of eight hun- dred picked men, some of them British regulars, others in Indian garb, a part of the Virginia regiment, and commanded by Major Lewis.
Arrived in the vicinity of the fort, Grant posted Lewis in the rear to guard the baggage, and, forming his regulars in battle array, sent an engineer to take a plan of the works, in full view of the garrison. When he was completely thrown off his guard, " there was a sudden sally of the garrison, and an attack on the flanks by Indians hid in am- bush. A scene now occurred similar to that at the defeat of Braddock. The British officers marshaled their men according to European tactics, and the Highlanders for some time stood their ground bravely, but the destructive fire and horrid yells of the Indians soon produced panic
161
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
and confusion. Major Lewis, at the first noise of the attack, left Captain Bullitt with fifty Virginians to guard thie baggage, and hastened with the main part of his men to the scene of action. The contest was kept up for some time, but the confusion was irretrievable. The Indians sallied from their concealment, and attacked with the tomahawk and scalping-knife. Lewis fought hand to hand with an Indian brave, whom he laid dead at his feet, but was surrounded by others, and only saved his life by surrendering himself to a French officer. Major Grant surrendered himself in like manner. The whole detachment was put to the rout with dreadful carnage."-[Irving's Life of Washington, Volume I, page 285.]
Captain Bullitt rallied some of the fugitives, and made a gallant stand. He finally drove off the pursuing Indians, and then collecting as many of the wounded as he could, hastily retreated. The routed detachment returned in fragments to Bouquet's camp, with the loss of twenty-one officers, and two hundred and seventy-three privates, killed and taken. Washington's regiment lost six officers and sixty- two privates.
The Highlanders of Grant's command were not acquainted with the Indian custom of scalping, and it is said that when Lewis was ad- vancing with his provincials he met a Highlander flying from the field, and inquiring about the battle, was answered that they were "a' beaten, and Donald McDonald was up to his hunkers in mud, with a' the skeen af liis heed."
No doubt many Augusta men were in the affair just mentioned ; bnt Andrew Lewis is the only one of them whose name we know. He will not appear again in these Annals till 1763, when he was at home, but preparing to go to war. His niece, Mrs. Towles, says he was de- tained a prisoner at Quebec for three years.
The army of General Forbes resumed its march in November, Washington commanding a division and leading the way. Nearing Fort Du Quesne, the ground was strewed with human bones, the relics of Braddock's and Grant's defeats. Arriving in sight of the fort, the place was found to be abandoned. The French, not exceeding five hundred in number, deserted by the Indians, and without a sufficient supply of provisions, had set fire to the fort and retreated down the Ohio in boats. On the 25th of November, Washington marchied in, and planted the British flag on the smoking ruins. The fort was repaired, and the name changed to that of Fort Pitt.
The officers and inen of Forbes' army united in collecting the bones of their fellow-soldiers who had fallen in the recent battles and routs, burying them in a common grave.
162
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
Col. James Smith says that the Indians, who had been hopeful of driving all the Virginians "over the lake," which was their name for the sea, became discouraged upon the advance of General Forbes to Fort Du Quesne. "They said that Forbes' inen were beginning to learn the art of war, and that there were a great number of American riflemen along with the red coats, who scattered out, took trees, and were good marksmen." * * "If it was only the red coats they had to do with, they could soon subdue them, but they could not withstand Ashalecoa, or the Great Knife, which was the name they gave the Virginians."
Washington soon retired from the army, and was not again engaged in war till called out at the Revolution. In 1758 he was elec- ted a member of the House of Burgesses from Frederick county.
The County Court of Augusta and the vestry of the parish held regular meetings in 1758, but we find little that is interesting in their proceedings. The vestry appear to have been faithful in taking care of the poor, at least in burying them ; and at every pauper burial there was a liberal allowance of liquor at public expense. At one time the parish collector was credited by six shillings expended by him, "for a poor child's burial, two gallons of liquor." At the same time credit was given for 5s, 8d, "for nine quarts of liquor at burial of William Johnson." James Wiley cost the parish, one year, £13, Is. He seems to have been "a beggar on horseback," as John Young was allowed ros. for keeping his horse, and 2s. for shoeing the same. He was also allowed 2s. 6d. for leather breeches, and 2s. 3d. for making a shirt. Possibly Wiley was an old ranger who had been disabled in the public service.
At the meeting of the vestry in November, 1758, James Lockhart moved to "lay a levy for building a church in the parish," but the proposition was defeated, the vote standing : for a church, James Lockhart, John Archer, Sampson Archer and John Mathews; against, Colonel Buchanan, John Buchanan, John Christian, Robert Breckin- ridge and John Smith.
From the close of 1758 till 1761, the people of Augusta appear to have been relieved from the alarms of savage warfare. We have no account of any massacre or raid during that time. The year 1759 is a blank in our Annals, affording not one item.
Canada was surrendered to the English in September, 1760. For many months previously the military operations in that region oc- cupied the attention of the whole country, and after the surrender the English considered the war as over. It was certainly suspended by the Indians on the frontiers of Virginia from early in 1759 till early in
163
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
1763. Indeed, through the influence of the Moravian missionary, Christian Frederick Post, the Delawares and Shawnees of Ohio con- cluded a formal treaty of peace, at Easton, Pennsylvania, in the fall of 1758. The treaty was kept as such treaties usually were, individual whites, as well as Indians, continuing to commit lawless acts.
Ill 1760 a tragedy occurred in the present county of Rockingham, then part of Augusta, which must be briefly related. Two Indians came to Mill Creek, now Page county, and were pursued by three white men. One of the Indians was killed, but the other escaped with the loss of his gun. The fugitive encountered a young woman named Sechon, on horseback, near the site of New Market. Dragging lier from the horse, he compelled her to accompany him. After traveling about twenty miles, chiefly in the night, and getting nearly opposite Keezeltown, in Rockingham, the poor girl broke down, it was sup- posed, and was beaten to death with a pine knot. Her cries were heard by persons in the neighborhood, and the next day they found her body stripped naked.
We are indebted to Kercheval (page 138) for this narrative. He has preserved accounts of many Indian massacres, but all of them, ex- cept the above, occurred outside of Augusta county, even as it was originally, and therefore do not come within the scope of these Annals.
In or about the same year, 1760, a party of eight or ten Indians crossed the Blue Ridge, and murdered some people living east of the mountain, in what was then Bedford or Halifax county. They took several women and children prisoners, and loading horses with plunder returned by way of the New River settlement. A man from the Ingles Ferry fort, who was out in search of strayed horses, discovered the Indians in their camp at night, six miles from the fort. William Ingles assembled sixteen or eighteen men, and, guided by the man who had made the discovery, proceeded to attack the Indians. The assault was made while the Indians were preparing their breakfast, and a sharp fight ensued. One white man was killed. Seven Indians were shot down, and the remainder escaped. All the captives and stolen property were recovered. This is said to have been the last battle with Indians in that region .- [Dr. Hale's narrative.]
The vestry of Augusta county, at their meeting in May, 1760, unanimously agreed to build a church in Staunton, on the ground laid off for that purpose. A committee was appointed to let out the work, which was to be done in "a fashionable and workmanlike manner." The dimensions of the building were 40 feet by 25 feet, and the total cost £499, or $1,663.3373. Francis Smith, of Hanover county, con-
164
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
tracted to build the church, of brick, and to finish it by December I, 1762. He entered into bond, with William Preston and Charles Lewis as his securities.
In 1761 the Indians renewed the war with all its horrors, if in- deed it had ever been suspended. But from this time, for several years, there is much uncertainty in respect to dates and the scenes of occurrences which are related more or less circumstantially. Our chief anthority for some two years is Withers' "Border Warfare," and we shall repeat the narratives of that writer without being able to reconcile contradictory statements, or otherwise elucidate the history.
Withers states that in the summer of 1761 about sixty Shawnee 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 settlements, they killed Thomas Perry, Joseph Dennis and his child, and made prisoner his wife, Han- nah Dennis. Proceeding to the house of Robert Renix,* who was not at home, they captured Mrs. Reuix and her five children, -William, Robert, Thomas, Joshua and Betsy. At the house of Thomas Smith, they shot and scalped Smith and Renix, and captured Mrs. Smith and a servant girl named Sally Jew.t
George Mathews, of Staunton, and William and Andley Maxwell were on their way to Smith's honse at the time of the assault. Hear- ing 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 themselves in and behind the house when they saw Mathews and his companions approaching, and fired upon them as they wheeled to ride back. The club of Mathews' cue was cut off, and Audley 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 remainder 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
* Properly Renick.
t The " Preston Register " gives the date of the killing of Robert Renick and capture of his wife and children, as July 25, 1757. It mentions the capture of Mrs. Dennis at the same time, but says nothing about the killing of Joseph Den- nis and child and of Thomas Smith. The probability is that Withers confused a raid which occurred in 1757, with the one in 1761, iu which George Mathews appeared as an actor. Mathews was only 18 years old in 1757.
165
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
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 Indians 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 further 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 morning, 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 Chillicothe towns till 1763, when she made her escape, as will be related. Mrs. Renix remained with the Indians till 1767.
The late Dr. Draper of Wisconsin, in unpublished notes to With- ers' Border Warfare, gives some further account of the Renix, or Renick, family. Upon authority of the " Preston Register," he states that the date of the captivity was July 25, 1757. He obtained his information from various descendants of Robert Renick, who was killed, as we have seen. The son Robert, was about eighteen months old, and was carried by his mother the greater part of the way to Chillicothe. His crying, however, irritated the Indians, and they dashed out his brains against a tree. Ou arriving at the Indian towns on the Sciota, the prisoners were divided amongst their captors and scattered. Joshua, who was about five years old,* was taken to Piqua, reared in the family of Tecumseh's parents, and after the birth of Tecumseh was the companion of that celebrated Indian and his brother, the Prophet.
Soon after reaching the Indian towns, Mrs. Renick gave birth to a male infant and called his name Robert, after his murdered father and little brother ; and in 1867, William Renick of Greenbrier, then seven- ty-five years of age, son of the child born in captivity, related the family traditions to Dr. Draper.
In April, 1760, Hanover Presbytery met in Augusta Stone church, and James Waddell, a youth of twenty-one years of age, afterwards widely known, was then received as a candidate for the ministry.t
* Joshua was baptized by the Rev. Mr. Craig in 1746, and was therefore at least eleven years old in 1757.
t Archibald Alexander, Dr. Waddell's son-in-law, preached his trial sermon, before Lexington Presbytery, in the same house, on September 20, 1791.
166
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
The town of Staunton was at last chartered by act of assembly, in November, 1761. The first trustees of the town were, William Pres- ton, Israel Christian, David Stuart, Johu Brown, John Page, William Lewis, William Christian, Eledge McClanahan, Robert Breckinridge and Randal Lockheart. The act provided that two fairs might be held annually, in June and November, but positively prohibited the build- ing 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 Mat- thews kept store at the northeast corner of Beverley and Angusta streets. Sampson Mathews also kept an ordinary in the long frame building, a story and a half high, with dormer windows, which for- merly stood on the east side of Augusta street below Frederick. The lot at the southwest corner of Augusta and Frederick was, in 1762, "Matthews' 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 Beverley, and Daniel Kidd lived where the Y. M. C. A. building now stands. The deposition of Hill and the diagram which accompanied 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 de- scendants are quite numerous. George Mathews has already been mentioned, and will often appear again.
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.