USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871 > Part 25
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* Captain McClanahan left two sons, Robert and John, who went to Ken- tucky. Robert, however, was back in Augusta in 1808.
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"I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him no meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not? During the course of the last long and bloody war Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate of peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed and said, 'Logan is the friend of white men.' I have even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood and nnprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not sparing even my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any liv- ing creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it ; I have killed many ; I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on liis heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one."
Mr. Jefferson, it is said, found this speech at Governor Dunmore's in Williamsburg, and afterwards published it in his Notes on Virginia. The genuineness of the speech has been questioned, but it is generally believed to be authentic. The charge against Cresap, however, who was captain in the division of the army under Dunmore, appears to have been unfounded. Logan did not name him in the speech, or message, which he sent to Dunmore.
Of Cornstalk it is said : "If in the battle of Point Pleasant he displayed bravery and generalship, in the negotiation at Camp Char- lotte he exhibited the skill of a statesman, joined to powers of oratory rarely, if ever, surpassed."
Logan, refusing to be included in the treaty, wandered among the Northwestern tribes for several years, and became addicted to gaming and the use of ardent spirits. He was finally murdered on a journey from Detroit to the northwestern part of Ohio, by his own nephew, it was generally supposed.
The news of the battle of Point Pleasant could not well have reached Stannton until about the 24th of October. The anxiety of the people at home, while waiting the result of the expedition, may be imagined.
There is no record or tradition in regard to it, but the County Court records indicate the state of feeling. The October term of the court began on the 18th, but no business was transacted, except the qualification of several new justices of the peace. The court met again on the 19th, but only to adjonrn to the next term. The whole com-
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munity was too anxiously awaiting intelligence from the west to attend to ordinary affairs.
When November court came round the surviving heroes of Point Pleasant had returned to their homes. Alexander McClanahan sat as a magistrate on the County Court bench, August 22, and then hurried with his company to Camp Union ; he was on the bench again on November 16, soon after his return.
By January court, 1775, the men who were in the expedition had gotten up their accounts against the government for pecuniary com- pensation. Many were for "diets of militia ; " some for " sundries for the militia ; " others for " driving pack horses." William Sharp and others presented claims for services as spies. John Hays demanded pay for himself and others as " pack-horse masters." William Ham- ilton had a bill for riding express, and William McCune another as " cow herd."
In the Virginia Convention of 1776, the petition of Michael Coal- ter, a soldier in Capt. McDowell's company, for additional pay for services as a carpenter, was presented and allowed ; and on another day, the petition of John Lyle, a lieutenant in "the expedition against the Shawneese," was presented. John Lyle was probably the person afterwards known as the Rev. John Lyle of Hampshire county, who, according to Foote, was at the battle of Point Pleasant. His extra service consisted in aiding Sampson Mathews, "a master drover of cattle. ''
Colonel Charles Lewis executed his will August 10, 1774, on the eve of his departure for Point Pleasant, and the instrument was ad- mitted to record January 17, 1775. The testator seems to have been a man of considerable wealth. Four children survived him,-John, An- drew, Elizabeth and Margaret, and one was born after his death. His wife was Sarah Murray, a half sister of Colonel Cameron, of Bath county.
We anticipate the course of events to relate briefly the fate of Cornstalk. A fort had been established at Point Pleasant, and in 1777 was garrisoned by a small force. The Indians having recently shown an unfriendly disposition, a larger force was ordered there, with a view to an advance into the Indian country, to overawe the savages. Colonel Skilleri, of Botetourt, commanded several companies raised in Augusta and Botetourt, and with him arrived a company of Green- brier men. Captains Stuart and Arbuckle, of Greenbrier, were also present. Cornstalk, and another chief called Redhawk, came to the fort professedly to give warning that the Shawnees intended to take part with the British against Virginia, and were detained as hostages.
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Elinipsico, the son of Cornstalk, afterwards arrived to inquire about his father. This being the state of things at the fort, two young men, named Gilmore and Hamilton, from Kerr's creek, belonging to a com- pany commanded by Captain James Hall, went across the Kanawha to hunt. On their return, as they approached the river, some Indians hid in the weeds fired upon them. Gilmore was killed and scalped, but Hamilton was rescued by some of his comrades. They brought the bloody body of Gilmore across the river, and no doubt instantly thought of the terrible inroads upon Kerr's creek, led by Cornstalk, it was believed, years before. The cry arose, " Let us kill the Indians in the fort !" Hall's men, with the captain at their head, rushed in, and, notwithstanding the intervention of Stuart and Arbuckle, ac- complished their purpose.
While the strife between the colonies and mother country was brewing in 1774 the port of Boston was closed by the British, and the people of that city, mainly dependent upon commerce for subsistence, were reduced to a state of destitution and suffering. The sympathy of the country was aroused, and contributions for their relief were made in various places. The remote county of Augusta sent her quota the very autumn her sons fought the Indians at Point Pleasant. Says the historian, Bancroft : "When the sheaves had been harvested and the corn threshed and ground in a country as yet poorly provided with barns or mills, the backwoodsmen of Angusta county, withont any pass through the mountains that could be called a road, noiselessly and modestly delivered at Frederick one hundred and thirty-seven barrels of flour as their remittance to the poor of Boston." (VII, page 74.) What a task the transportation was, may be inferred from the fact that nearly fifty years afterwards Bockett's stages took three days to make the trip from Staunton to Winchester.
We come now to a curious episode in the history of the county. Lord Dunmore, the last royal Governor of Virginia, and his Lieuten- ant, Connoly, figure therein somewhat as comic actors, it seems to us, although at the time the business was considered serions enough.
Virginia claimed, by virtue of her charter, all the territory be- tween certain parallels of latitude, which included a part of western Pennsylvania about Pittsburg. Fort Pitt was abandoned as a military post in 1773, but the country was rapidly occupied by English settlers.
In January, 1774, Dr. John Connoly, a citizen of Virginia, but previously of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, appeared at Pittsburg and posted a notice of his appointment by Governor Dunmore as
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" Captain-Commandant of militia of Pittsburg and its dependencies," etc., etc.
Governor Penn, of Pennsylvania, wrote to Dunmore, demanding an explanation. At the same time he wrote to the Pennsylvania authorities at Pittsburg urging them to maintain the rights of that province, and ordering the arrest of Connoly. The "Captain-Com- mandant " was accordingly arrested and committed to jail, but he pre- vailed with the sheriff to give him leave of absence for a few days, and instead of returning to prison came to Virginia.
On March 15, 1774, Connoly presented himself before the court at Staunton, and qualified as a justice of the peace for Augusta county, and commandant at Pittsburg.
Dunmore replied to Penn on March 3d, insisting upon the rights of Virginia, and demanding reparation for the insult to Connoly. The least that would be accepted was the dismissal of Arthur St. Clair, the clerk who " had the audacity to commit a magistrate acting in dis- charge of his duty." Governor Penn replied, and so the controversy continued.
Connoly returned to Pittsburg, and gathered around him a body of armed men, a portion of the people claiming to be Virginians. He opened correspondence with the Pennsylvania magistrates, which proving unsatisfactory, he arrested three of them,-Smith, Mackey and McFarland,-and sent them to Staunton for trial. Upon arriving here they gave security and were discharged to find their way home.
The President of the Pennsylvania court informed Governor Penn of the arrest of his associates. He stated that Connoly, having at Staunton qualified as a justice of the peace for Augusta county, "in which it is pretended that the country about Pittsburg is included," was constantly surrounded by an armed body of about one hundred and eighty militia, and obstructed every process eman- ating from the court.
Connoly reoccupied Fort Pitt, changing the name to Fort Dunmore.
The following order appears among the proceedings of the County Court of Augusta, under date of January 19, 1775 : "His majesty's writ of adjournment being produced and read, it is ordered that this court be adjourned to the first Tuesday in next month, and then to be held at Fort Dunmore, in this county, agreeable to the said writ of adjournment."
The court was held at Fort Dunmore, under Captain Connoly's auspices, and several persons were arraigned before it for obstructing the authority of Virginia, as we learn from a Pennsylvania historian.
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-[Creighi's History of Washington County, Pennsylvania.] The record of proceedings is not on file at Staunton. The court could not sit in Staunton at the usual time in March, being on an excursion to Pennsylvania ; but we next find in the order book the following : " His majesty's writ of adjournment from Fort Dunmore to the courthouse in the town of Staunton, being read, the court was accord- ingly held the 25th day of March, 1775."
A deed from six Indian chiefs, representatives of the united tribes of Mohawks, Oneidas, etc., to George Croghan, for two hun- dred thousand acres of land on the Ohio river, executed November 4, 1768, was proved before the court of Augusta county at Pittsburg, September 25, 1775-the land lying in the county. It was further proved before the court at Staunton, August 19, 1777, and ordered to be recorded. - [See Deed Book No. 22, page 1.] The consideration for which the Indians sold these lands embraced blankets, stockings, calico, vermilion, ribbons, knives, gunpowder, lead, gun - flints, needles, and jew's-harps. The deed was also recorded in Philadelphia.
At length the Pennsylvanians kidnapped Captain Connoly and took him to Philadelphia, and thereupon the Virginians seized three of the rival justices and sent them to Wheeling as hostages.
By this time the war of the Revolution was approaching. The people of the disputed territory were alike patriotic, but the distinc- tion between Virginians and Pennsylvanians was still maintained. Each party held meetings separate from the other, and denounced the encroachments of the British government.
Captain Connoly, being discharged from custody, joined Lord Dunmore on board a British ship in Chesapeake Bay. He was at Portsmouthlı, Virginia, August 9, 1775, on which day he wrote to Colonel John Gibson to dissnade him from joining the patriot side. He then undertook a journey from the Chesapeake to Pittsburg, in con- pany with a Doctor Smith, and in November, 1775, was arrested in Fredericktown, Maryland, for being engaged in treasonable projects. He was detained in jail, at Philadelphia, till April 2, 1777.
Finally, in 1779, each of the States appointed commissioners, and through their agency the dispute was quieted in 1780. The boundary was not definitely fixed, however, till 1785, when Mason and Dixon's line was established.
It is generally believed that Dunmore fomented thie controversy about the boundary line, in order to embroil the people of the two provinces between themselves, and that Connoly was his willing agent. Connoly joined Dunmore at Fort Pitt, in the fall of 1774, and accom- panied him in his march into the Indian country. In the summer of
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1775, it is said, he was appointed colonel, with authority to raise a regiment of white men on the frontiers hostile to the cause of the colonies, and to enlist the Indians on the side of Great Britain. His arrest at Fredericktown defeated the attempt. After his release he joined the British army, and was with Cornwallis when he surrender- ed at Yorktown. By grant from Dunmore, he acquired a large land- ed interest on the Ohio river, where Louisville, Kentucky, now stands, John Campbell and Joseph Simon having an interest in the grant, and his share of the property was confiscated by act of the Legislature of Virginia, the territory then being a part of the State. The last we have heard of him was in 1788, when he came from Canada to Louisville, for the purpose professedly of making a business arrangement with Mr. Campbell, but the popular prejudice against him was such that he could not remain, and leaving the United States nothing further is known of him .- [See Border Warfare, page 134, and various acts in Hening, passed in 1780, 1783 and 1784, "for establishing the town of Louisville, in the county of Jefferson," etc., etc.] For some further account of Connoly see McMaster's History of the people of the United States, Vol. 1, page 522.
In November, 1770, as Washington was returning from his voy- age down the Ohio, he noted in a pocket almanac that in Pittsburg lie invited Dr. Connoly and others to dinner. He says Connoly was a very intelligent man, who had been up the Shawna River (now the Cumberland) nearly four hundred miles, and gave a glowing account of the river valley. Connoly also mentioned the Falls of the Ohio, the site of his lands afterwards located and confiscated. He thus pointed the way to that land of promise to many Revolutionary sol- diers. By act of the Legislature of Virginia, the proceeds of sale of Connoly's land went as an endowieut to Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky.
In order not to break the connection, we have anticipated the course of events, and will return in the next chapter to the early part of the year 1775.
THE ACADIAN FRENCH-ALEXANDER MCNUTT.
Nova Scotia was settled by the French, and called by them Acadia, before the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock. The soil generally was fertile, and in course of time farms and villages sprang up over the country. Early in the eighteenth century, in the
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time of war between the English and French, the former conquered the peninsula, and their title to it was confirmed by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713. For more than forty years the descendants of the original settlers remained in quiet possession of their homesteads. They were a simple-minded people, French in all their sentiments and habits, very superstitious, and entirely under the control of their priests. The English rule was the mildest that can be imagined. The people were not subjected to taxation, and were protected in all their civil and religious rights and liberties. In 1755, however, war arose again between England and France. The Acadians sympathized with the latter, and refused to swear allegiance to the British government, unless formally allowed to remain neutral during the war. Hence they were styled "French Neutrals."-Their priests taught them that submission to a heretic nation was disloyalty to God, and imperiled their eternal salvation. According to the belief of the English, they were not only "spies in the camp," but active enemies. They had not been required to bear arms on the English side ; but, instigated by the priests and Canadian French, it is said that many of them engaged in the strife on the side of the French. Disguised as Indians, they participated in the slaughter of Englishi settlers, and in every way sought to throw off the British yoke.
The English military authorities again required them to take the oath of allegiance, and again they refused. The unfortunate people were in a painful dilemma, the priests and the neighboring French urging them in one direction, and the English in another. Many of them took refuge in Canada, where, from French accounts, they suf- fered intolerable hardships. At length the alternative was presented to the English authorities, either of abandoning the country them- selves, or of transporting the Acadian inhabitants. The latter course was pursued, after long delay and fair notice. The villages and farmns were laid waste, and more than six thousand men, women and chil- dren were driven on board ships and scattered among the English from New Hampshire to Georgia. The English officers charged with this duty executed their orders with as much kindness as possible. Their cotemporary letters and journals show that the duty was very distasteful to them. They took care not to separate families, and it is believed that very few instances of separation occurred. Some of the people found their way back to Nova Scotia, and were allowed to re- main. Many of them reached the French settlement in Louisiana, and their descendants now constitute a distinct community on the Gulf of Mexico.
While the course of the English authorities cannot be fully justi- fied, it does not deserve the severe denunciations generally heaped upon it. The fictitious story of the separation of two youthful Acadian lovers has been related pathetically by Longfellow in his poem of Evangeline.
Late in 1755, eleven hundred of these "French Neutrals" were landed at Hampton, in Virginia, without means of support, or pre- vious notice of their coming. Governor Dinwiddie and his Council maintained them at the public expense for months, but the opposition
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on the part of the people to their remaining in the colony was univer- sal. No public land remained in lower Virginia upon which to settle them, and west of the Blue Ridge the French and Indians were waging a ruthless war upon the frontier settlers, rendering it unsafe to send them to that region. The Governor described them in one of his numerous letters as "bigoted Papists, lazy, and of a contentious behavior." Finally, when the General Assembly met, it was de- termined by that body to ship the unfortunate people to England, and this was done at a cost to the colony of £5,000.
Mention has been made several times of Alexander McNutt as a resident of Augusta county. He is supposed to have been in confi- dential relations with Governor Dinwiddie, to whom (and not to Governor Fauquier) he delivered his account of the Sandy Creek Ex- pedition of 1756. After his affray in Staunton with Andrew Lewis, he went to England, and, being recommended by the Governor of Virginia, was admitted to an audience by the King. Ever afterwards he wore the prescribed court dress. The French having been driven out of Nova Scotia as related, McNutt received from the Government grants of extensive tracts of land in that province upon condition of introducing other settlers. He accordingly brought over many people from the north of Ireland, including persons of his own name, and a sister, who married a Mr. Weir. Admiral Cochrane, of the British navy, is believed to be a descendant of Mrs. Weir, and other of her descendants are now living in Nova Scotia.
A letter from Halifax, Nova Scotia, published in the Boston Gazette of October 26, 1761, says: "Last Friday arrived liere the ship Hopewell, of Londonderry, by which came upwards of two lith- dred persons for the settlement of this Province, with Colonel Alexan- der McNutt, who, we are informed, has contracted for five thousand bushels of wheat, five thousand bushels of potatoes, etc., etc., for the use of the Irish settlers." In November, 1762, McNutt arrived with one hundred and seventy settlers, and at different times with many more. The last mention of him in the archives of the Province is in 1769, when the Attorney-General complained that he had parceled out certain lands without authority.
While living in Nova Scotia, in 1761, McNntt executed a power of attorney, authorizing his brother, John, to sell and convey his real es- tate. In pursuance of this instrument, John McNutt, on August 16, 1785, conveyed to Thomas Smith, in consideration of £110, lot No. 10 in Staunton, which was purchased by Alexander in 1750 for £3, as stated on page 72. Buildings afterwards erected on the lot were long known as the "Bell Tavern." Captain Thomas Smith was the father-in-law of Michael Garber, who came into possession of the property and owned it for many years.
Alexander McNutt seems to have returned to Nova Scotia after the Revolution, as in the deed of 1785 he is described as " late of Au- gusta county, now of Halifax, Nova Scotia." But he did not remain there long. He appears to have been a visionary man, and, in his latter years at least, somewhat of a religions enthusiast. While living in Nova Scotia, he attempted to found there a settlement to be called
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" New Jerusalem." It is presumed that his lands in that Province were confiscated when lie came away and joined the American "rebels "; but in 1796 he undertook to convey by deed 100,000 acres in Nova Scotia to the Synod of Virginia, in trust for the benefit of Liberty Hall Academy, in Rockbridge, among other purposes "for the support of public lectures in said seminary annually, on man's state by nature and his recovery by free and unmerited grace through Christ Jesus, and against opposite errors." Possibly finding that this deed would not do, he executed another the next year directly to the trustees of Liberty Hall, for the same uses. The second deed was witnessed by Andrew Alexander, Conrad Speece and Archibald Alexander. It is unnecessary to say that Liberty Hall did not get tlie land.
McNntt never married, and left no posterity. His old-fashioned dress sword was preserved by his collateral descendant, Alexander McNutt Glasgow, of Rockbridge ; but at the time of " Hunter's Raid," in 1864, the silver-mounted scabbard was carried off, leaving only the naked blade.
John McNutt, a brother of Alexander, settled on North River, Rockbridge. His wife was Catherine Anderson, a great-aunt of Judge Francis T. Anderson. One of his sons, Alexander, was the father of Governor Alexander G. McNutt, of Mississippi, and grandfather of General Frank Paxton and General Albert G. Jenkins.
A daughter of John McNutt married, first, Ensign McCorkle, who was mortally wounded at the battle of the Cowpens, the grandfather of the Rev. Alexander B. McCorkle, and great-grandfather of Thomas McCorkle, E-q Her second husband was Arthur Glasgow, grand- father of William A. Glasgow, Esq., and Col. J. K. Edmondson. To the former we are indebted for most of the facts here given.
THE MOORES.
David Moore, with his mother and ten brothers and a sister, came from the north of Ireland to America, and settled in Borden's Grant. The maiden name of the mother was Baxter. When a young girl, she was in Londonderry, during the famous siege of 1689. David Moore's wife was Mary Evans, and his sons were William and Andrew.
WILLIAM MOORE was born about the year 1748, at Cannicello, now in Rockbridge county, and received a plain education at schools in the neighborhood. From his boyhood he was remarkable for his temperate habits, intrepidity, and great physical strength. At times, when the country was in a state of alarm on account of the Indians, he would take solitary excursions and remain out all night by himself. In 1774. he participated in the battle of Point Pleasant. During the action, John Steele was wounded and about to be scalped, when Moore
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interposed, shooting one Indian and knocking down another with his rifle. He then shouldered Steele, who was a very large and heavy man, and after laying him down in a safe place nearly two miles off, returned to the fight. Steele was accustomed to say, "There was no other man in the army who could have done it, if he would ; and no other who would have done it, if he could." Moore is believed to have been in the military service during the whole war of the Revolution, and at the surrender of Cornwallis, he held the rank of captain.
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