USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871 > Part 30
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At the same session of the court, Ensign James Steele reported the desertion of sundry men from their station on the west fork of Monongahela, they being substitutes for Augusta militiamen. Many other substitutes were returned on the same day by Ensign Robert Christian for deserting from his command at Buchanan fort. Some of the alleged deserters were acquitted, and others convicted and sentenced to serve six months longer than their original time.
Early in the spring of 1780, the militia was again called out, Alexander Hamilton being one of the men drafted. On this occasion the Augusta militia rendezvoused at Jennings' Gap, and marched under command of Capt. John McKitrick, by the Warm Springs to Forts Dinwiddie and Warwick, in Bath. At the latter place they re- mained till the end of the three months tour. William Wilson was ensign. There were no lieutenants. The number of officers and men was forty-four.
By act of May, 1780, the vestries in Angusta and several other counties were dissolved ; and the election of five freeholders as over- seers of the poor in each county was provided for. The vestry of Augusta parislı held their last meeting on the 16th of May, 1780, but only entered some orders in regard to the poor.
Soldiers, however, were still needed. Therefore an act passed by the Legislature in May, 1780, provided that the several counties (except the county of Illinois and the territory in dispute between Virginia and Pennsylvania) furnish one-fifteenthi man of the militia, to serve in the Continental army till December 31, 1781. Staunton was appointed a rendezvous.
The last act on the subject during the war, passed at the session which began October 16th, 1780, called for 3,000 men, and fixed the
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quota of Augusta as So, Rockbridge 38, and Rockingham 49, to be drafted for eighteen months, if not furnished by volunteering.
At the same session an act was passed for supplying the army with clothes, provisions and wagons. Augusta was required to furnish forty-six suits of clothes, Rockbridge seventeen, and Rockingham nineteen.
By the militia court-martial which sat at the courthouse, October 24, 1780, six captains were fined fro each for not returning rolls of their respective companies. Zachariah Johnston, a member of the court, was one of the delinquents, and forthwithi paid his fine.
On the following day, John Massey was brought before the court on suspicion of being a deserter from "the detachment of militia ordered on duty from this county to the southward, under the com- mand of Captain Tate and Captain Buchanan." The court was of opinion that Massey's return home was not culpable under the circumstances ; and he, acknowledging that he was a deserter from the British army, and would rather serve to the westward, was allowed to exchange places with James Buchanan, the latter to go south and Massey west.
From the proceedings of the Legislature in 1781, we learn that there had been some trouble in Augusta in reference to a draft ; but the date, cause and extent of it are not stated. Probably the men called for were furnished without drafting.
The court provided for the families of soldiers out of the county levy. At November court, 1779, Mary Waugh and Mary Lendon, soldiers' wives, were allowed, the one forty and the other sixty pounds ($133.337/3 and $200) for the ensuing year. The people were evidently almost unanimous in support of the American cause. We have heard of only two disloyal men in the county during the war. At a term of the county court in 1781, William Ward and Lewis Baker were found guilty of treason in levying war against the com- monwealth, and sent on for trial. The court on that occasion was composed of Elijah McClanahan, Alexander St. Clair, Alexander Mc- Clanahan. Thomas Adams and James Trimble.
In October, 17So, by act of the Legislature, all ministers of the gospel were anthorized to celebrate the rites of matrimony on and after January 1, 1781 ; but Dissenting ministers, not exceeding four of each sect in any one county, were to be specially licensed by the County Courts. Ministers of the "Established Church," were au- thorized ex officio to perform the service. Notwithstanding a large majority of the people had become Dissenters long before this, the
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Legislature, elected by freeholders, clung to the establishment, and it was not till October, 1784, that all ministers were put upon an equal footing in respect to the matter referred to .*
By act of the Legislature, in October, 1780, the Court of Green . brier county was empowered to have a wagon road opened from their courthouse to the Warm Springs, or to the mouth of the Cowpasture river, the costs to be paid by the property-holders of Greenbrier, in money or "clean merchantable hemp." This act was suspended in 1781, but re-enacted in October, 1782. The last act authorized the justices of Greenbrier "to clear a wagon road from the Warm Springs in Angusta to the Savanna," (now Lewisburg.) We presume the road was cleared soon afterwards. Previously, merchandise and baggage were transported from the east in wagons, to or near the Warm Springs, and from thence west on pack-horses, while the wagons returned loaded with venison, hams, etc.
Mention has been made of the Rev. Archibald Scott as the first pastor of Bethel congregation. Foote gives the following account of the origin of Bethel. The year succeeding Mr. Scott's settlement as pastor of North Mountain and Brown's meeting-house-that is, in 1779-"as he was riding through the neighborhood he came unex- pectedly upon a company of men putting up a large log building. Upon inquiry, he found it was designed as a meeting-house. The people worshiping at the old North Mountain meeting-house, had been talking about a new church building and a new position, but nothing had been decided upon by the congregation. Fearing lest evil might spring from this sudden movement of one part of the congregation, the young pastor says : 'Are you not too fast, my boys ?' 'No,' said Colonel Doak, 'we will end the dispute by put- ting up the church.' The church building was completed, and called Bethel, and the dispute was heard of no more." Mr. Scott lived six miles from Staunton, about where Arbor Hill now is. He died in 1799, and was buried in Hebron graveyard.t
A member of Mr. Scott's flock was Mrs. Margaret Humphreys, who lived to an advanced age, near Greenville. "Her graphic descriptions," says Foote, "were full of interest, and conveyed the liveliest impression of the times when the Valley was a frontier settlement. Where now may be seen the beautiful farms and sub- stantial houses in Bethel, her active memory recalled the log cabins, the linsey-wolsey, the short gowns, the hunting shirts, the moccasins,
* See Appendix on Marriage Laws, etc.
+ His descendants are Scotts, Sprouls, McPheeterses, etc.
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the pack-horses, the simple living, the shoes and stockings for winter and uncommon occasions, the deer and the rifle, the fields of flax and the spinning wheel, and the wool and looms, and, with them, the strict attention to religious concerns, the catechising of children, the regular going to church, the reading of the Bible, and keeping Sabbath from the beginning to the end, the singing of hymns and sacred songs, all blended, presenting a beautiful picture of enterprise, economy and religion in laying the foundation of society." >
From an order of the County Court, of February 18, 1780, we learn that Sampson Sawyer's negro woman, Violet, was sentenced to be hung on the 4th of March for burning her master's dwelling house. What is curious, however, in connection with the matter is, that it was ordered also that after the body was cut down, the head should be severed and stuck upon a pole at a cross-road. t
Governor Gilmer gives a picture of the times during the war in an anecdote which he relates, and which we cannot omit.
We have mentioned John Grattan as one of the church wardens of Augusta parish in 1774. He was, says Governor Gilmer, a Scotch- Irish Presbyterian of the old Covenanter's faith and practice, noted for his love of David's Psalms in long metre, and his long prayers at family worship. He settled on North river (now in Rockingham county ), and built the first good flour mill in the Valley. He was also a merchant, supplying a wide extent of country with foreign goods. Little coin circulated here, and trade was generally managed by barter. The goods bought were paid for in cattle, ginseng, pink- root, and bear and deer skins. These articles were disposed of in Philadelphia, and this part of the business was usually transacted by Mrs. Grattan. She went to Philadelphia on horseback, sold the cattle, etc., and bought new goods for her husband's store. She was very expert, and generally very successful ; but on one occasion she suffered a woful defeat. Being in Philadelphia, during the war, on a trading expedition, she was offered Continental paper money for her
* The Rev. Dr. William McPheeters, a native of Augusta, educated in Staunton and at Liberty Hall, was pastor of Bethel from 1805 till 1810, when he accepted a call to Raleigh, North Carolina.
t This custom seems to liave been general in Virginia, at this, or an earlier period. The ghastly memorials thus set up were doubtless to inspire a whole- some dread in the minds of the negro slaves. They impressed themselves in many instances as local topographical designations. Witness : Negro·foot pre- cinct, in Hanover county, and Negro-head, Negro-foot and Negro quarter, in Amelia county.
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cattle, at the rate of two dollars for one of coin. When she left home the depreciation was not near so great. So she took the paper, and set off home with it, exulting in her financial shrewdness. Each day's travel lowered hier anticipations of profit, until, when she reached home, three dollars in scrip were worth only one in specie .*
Until some time after the Revolution, the merchants in the State were, with few exceptions, Scotch or Scotch-Irish.
An incident of the Revolution, which occurred in Augusta, is related in the memoir of Mrs. Jane Allen Trimble. The women and children of that era were left in charge of the homesteads, and many females displayed as much patriotismn and courage as the male mem- bers of their families. Rigid economy and untiring industry were practised in every household, and many families, whose sons and brothers were in the field as soldiers, were dependent upon their neighbors for the means of living.
A German family dwelling near the Stone Church, seemed to be out of the pale of sympathy that pervaded society. They contributed neither men nor means to aid the cause, and were regarded as Tories, but afraid to avow their principles.
An officer of the Virginia line visited his family in Augusta in 1777, and was at a social party composed principally of females, when the conduct of the family alluded to was commented upon. A ma- jority of the party urged that the Tories should be driven out of the neighborhood. Jane Allen and one of the Misses Grattan opposed the proposition, saying that the people, if driven away, would probably go to North Carolina and swell the number of active enemies. It was therefore agreed that the case should be put into the hands of the young women named, to be managed by them. The two heroines
* One of Mr. and Mrs. John Grattan's daughters became the wife of Colonel Robert Gamble ; another, the wife of Samuel Miller, son of Henry Miller, who founded the iron-works on Mossy creek in 1774; and a third married Colonel Samuel Brown, of Greenbrier, who, as we have seen, was carried off by the Indians when he was a boy, in 1764. Their youngest child was Major Robert Grattan, for some years a merchant in Staunton, of the firm of Gamble & Grattan, and afterwards, for many years, famous for his hospitality to travelers by Bockett's stage coaches, while passing his residence on North river, in Rocking- ham. He commanded a company of cavalry against the whiskey insurgents in Pennsylvania. An older son of John Grattan was an officer in one of the Virginia regiments during the Revolution, and died in service in Georgia. Major Robert Grattan was the father of the late Peachy R. Grattan, of Richmond, Major Robert Grattan, of Rockinghanı, Mrs. George R. Gilmer, and Mrs. Dr. Harris.
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made their plan and proceeded to execute it at once. Disguised as Continental officers, it is said, they repaired to the house of the German, two miles off, late in the evening. The dogs announced their approach, and the men, seeing officers coming, hid themselves, the female head of the family presenting herself at the door of her dwelling. "Madam," said one of the recruiting officers, "more soldiers are needed. You have four sons and can spare two. Your family has been protected by your neighbors, while you have con- tributed nothing to relieve the women and children around you. You must either furnish men for the army. or supplies for the neighbor- hood."
The old woman exclaimed, "Mine Fader, vot vill ve do !" A voice from the loft cried out : "O give de money or provisions, and let de men stay at home." The husband was thereupon ordered down, and the contract then ratified was observed during the war.
The young women returned and made their report. Profound secrecy was enjoined and preserved, as to the persons engaged in the enterprise. The evening's entertainment was closed with a hymn, and a prayer for the Divine blessing, led by the good-man of the house.
Very likely, the "good-man of the house" was the old Covenan- ter John Grattan, and the officer referred to his older son.
The prices paid for labor, etc., in Staunton, in 1780, show the great depreciation of the currency at that time. The County Court allowed Jacob Peck {80 " for making a new door to the prison," and £287, ros. " for building a bridge across the creek below Staunton." Alexander St. Clair was allowed £97, 10s. "for one pair of dog-irons for the courthouse," and £30 ($100) were paid for the use of a wagon one day.
During the war, officers were sometimes transferred from one regiment to another. This was doubtless owing to the fact, that by the casualties of war regiments were often broken up, and new combinations were necessary. In a "list of officers on the establish- ment of eight regiments," found among the papers of Colonel Robert Gamble, furnished to us by Dr. Cary B. Gamble, of Baltimore, a grand-son of Colonel Gamble, we discover some familiar names. The date is not given, but we learn, incidentally, that it was after the bat- tle of King's Mountain, which occurred on the 7th of October, 1780. It was therefore probably during the winter of 1780-'81. Thomas Posey is entered as major of the First regiment, and as " rendezvousing at Staunton." Christian Febiger is entered as colonel of the Second
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regiment, and commanding at Philadelphia. Robert Porterfield* was a captain, and William Eskridge a lieutenant in the Second, and both were prisoners in "Charlestown." George Mathews, previously colonel of the Ninth, is here entered as colonel of the Third, and a " prisoner on parole." Robert Breckinridge was a lieutenant in the Fifth, but a prisoner in "Charlestown." Andrew Lewis was a lieutenant in the Seventh, and at Fort Pitt. James Wood was colonel of the Eighth, Robert Gamble a captain, and John McDowell and Henry Bowyer lieutenants of the same regiment. Captains Andrew Wallace and Thomas Bowyer, of the Eighth, are entered as having been killed at King's Mountain.
We have now come to the year 1781, and from this time for more than twelve months, the militia of the Valley, and indeed of the whole State, had no rest. The militia of Rockbridge, and no doubt of Augusta, were in service in the fall of 1780, when Leslie invaded the State, but we can find no account of the matter.
In January, 1781, a British force under Benedict Arnold invaded Virginia. They sailed up James River, entered Richmond without resistance, on the 5th of January, destroyed all the public stores there and some private property, and departed down the river. In the meanwhile the militia had been called ont by Governor Jefferson, Baron Steuben being at the head of the State troops. From the Calendar of Virginia State Papers, Vol. I, we learn that several hundred men from Augusta served in lower Virginia at that time ; and from the "declarations" of several old soldiers, made in 1832, we learn something about three of the companies, - Sampson Mathews was Colonel, William Bowyer Lieutenant-Colonel, and Alex- ander Robertson Major.
Captain John Cunningham's company marched from Teas' (now Waynesborough) January 1, 1781. John Thompson and John Diddle were in this company, but were transferred to the command of Capt. Charles Cameron. Diddle was in a "scrimmage" near Portsmouth, when Capt. Cunningham was wounded, and "succeeded in capturing a British Yeager."
William Willson and William Patrick were in the company of Captain Thomas Rankin, Lieutenant Alexander Scott, and Ensign William Buchanan. Both were in "several little skirmishes."
* Robert Porterfield was Lieutenant and Adjutant of Colonel Daniel Morgan's 11th and 15th Virginia regiments, as they stood from May 31, 1777, to Nov. 30, 1778.
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John McCutchen was in the company of Captain William Kincaid, Lieutenant Jacob Warwick, and Ensign Jonathan Humphreys.
On the 13th of January, Col. Mathews wrote from Staunton to the Governor that, in accordance with orders, he would start to Fredericksburg early the next morning with about 250 men. The men of the second battalion were then on the way, and also the militia from Rockbridge and Rockingham. Major Posey, of the Ist regiment of the line, a recruiting officer at Staunton, was to go with Col. Mathews. His men would take some beef cattle from Augusta, as ordered.
On January 21st, Col. Mathews wrote to the Governor from Bowling Green, in Caroline county, where he was with his command, by order of Gen. Muhlenberg, having been at Fredericksburg four days. [He made a rapid march, starting from Staunton on the 14th, spending four days in Fredericksburg, and arriving at Bowling Green on the 21st.] Col. John Bowyer, with about 220 men from Rock- bridge, joined him that morning. Smiths, vises, files, etc., were needed for the repair of fire-arms.
Col. Mathews wrote again, on the 29th, from Cabin Point, in Surry county, south of James River, where he had been ordered by Gen. Muhlenberg, and was to proceed next morning to Smithfield, in Isle of Wight county. He had been detained three days by "wett and the badness of the Boats." He had hoped to be supplied with tents and ammunition, but was disappointed, and had sent Capt. Robert Gamble [lately a prisoner at Charleston, S. C., and now probably a volunteer aid to Col. Mathews,] to solicit these articles. Many of the men were sick from exposure, and the Colonel feared a mutiny if they were not supplied. "The marching is so severe, the duty on the lines so fatigning, and the exposure to the severity of the season so great, that soldiers must be expected to grumble at their hardships." A surgeon was needed, and the letter requested that Dr. Foushee, or some other good surgeon, be ordered to join the rifle corps. The smiths, vises, etc., had not arrived, and many of the rifles were out of order.
Brig. Gen. Robert Lawson wrote to Governor Jefferson, on Feb- ruary 15th, having left the command in lower Virginia on the 13th. He says : " Our advanced Post is near Hall's, consisting of nearly 350 Riflemen under Col. Mathews, with about 150 pick'd musqueteers, under Major Dick, with some light horse." Hall's was in the vicinity of Portsmouth, then occupied by the British. Of this expedition of
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Col. Mathews and his men, we have no further account. The Au- gusta militia returned home about the 17th of April.
The battle of the Cowpens, in South Carolina, was fought January 17, 1781. Part of Morgan's command consisted of Virginia riflemen, and at least two companies were from Augusta county, Capt. James Tate's and Capt. Buchanan's. Samuel McCune says in his " declaration," that he was drafted, in October, 1780, in Buchanan's company (Lient. Wilson.) The men of this company rendezvoused at the Widow Teas' tavern, and marching by way of Lynchburg joined Gen. Morgan at Hillsboro, N. C. After the battle of the Cowpens, they returned to Salisbury with about 500 prisoners, and were there discharged .*
The victory at the Cowpens was one of the most remarkable of the war. Only twelve of the Americans were killed, and sixty wounded. Of the enemy, ten commissioned officers were killed, and more than a hundred rank and file; two hundred were wounded ; twenty-nine officers and more than five hundred privates were taken prisoners, besides seventy wagons. The prisoners were turned over to the Virginia troops, whose time of service had just expired, to be conducted to a place of safety.
A company of Augusta militia were ordered out, and rendezvoused at Rockfish Gap, for the purpose of guarding the prisoners taken at the Cowpens. They conducted the prisoners to Shenandoah county, and returned home after less than a month's absence. Joseph Bell was one of this company.
The result of the battle excited Cornwallis, the British com- mander in the South, to more vigorous efforts. He pre-sed forward into North Carolina, eager to come to battle with General Greene.
Gen, Greene being hard-pressed by Cornwallis, it seems to have been proposed to send the militia already in the field to North Caro- lina. In reference to this matter, Baron Steuben wrote to the Gover-
* Gen. Henry Lee, in his account of the battle of the Cowpens, mentions only two companies of Virginia militia as participating in it-Capt. Triplett's and Capt. Tate's. Congress presented a sword to Triplett ; probably the death of Tate at Guilford, less than two months afterwards, prevented his receiving a similar compliment. Triplett, however, is styled Major in the official report. The militia Captains were Tate and Buchanan of Angusta, and James Gilmore of Rockbridge, whose subordinate officers were John Caruthers, Lieutenant, and John McCorkle, Ensign. The last named was mortally wounded in the battle. Morgan speaks of Tate's and Buchanan's companies as "Augusta Riflemen." Gilmore's men carried muskets.
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nor on February 15th. He agreed with the Governor that "the mi- litia of Rockbridge, Augusta, Rockingham and Shenandoah would be the most speedy reinforcement to General Greene, but they must first be relieved by others." He advised that the officers of the militia be consulted, and if they consented to go the Governor should issue the necessary order. As far as appears, the regiment or battalion under Col. Mathews was not ordered to North Carolina, but other companies went from the Valley under Tate, etc.
Capt. Robert Porterfield, a paroled prisoner at Charleston, S. C., wrote to the Governor February 1. 1781, informing him that his broth- er, Lt .- Col. Charles Porterfield, had died on the roth ult., on his way from Camden to Charleston, [or Charlestown, as then written], from the effects of a wound at the battle of Camden on August 16, 1780. The British officer, Lord Rawdon, had loaned Col. P. thirty guineas, and otherwise treated him with great kindness. Capt. Porterfield asked the Governor to pay the money, as he flattered himself his brother's services had merited it from the State. If this could not be done, he begged a loan of the amount, promising to return it imme- diately on his release. The guineas were not forthcoming, and Capt. P. wrote to Governor Nelson on the subject, August 9, 1781. He had then just arrived at Richmond as a paroled prisoner from Charleston, S. C.
Capt. Tate had hardly rested from the fatigue of his Southern campaign when he began to retrace his steps to North Carolina, to re- inforce General Greene. Tate's company was composed largely, if not entirely, of men from Bethel and Tinkling Spring congregations. Ac- cording to tradition, they assembled at Midway, and when about to start from there the latter part of February, the Rev. James Waddell delivered to them a parting address. Robert Doak is said to have been Ensign of the company.
At least two other companies went from the county, Capt. Gwin's and Capt. Thomas Smith's. The latter marched from Staunton under command of Col. George Moffett, and joined the Southern army near Guilford C. H. Alexander Williams and Augustine Argenbright were members of this company, and both say in their "declarations " that Col. Moffett commanded the regiment. Neither says what route they took.
Capt. Gwin's company, to which William Armstrong belonged, proceeded, about the first of March, on horseback, by way of Rockfish
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