USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871 > Part 32
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In " the Interregnum," in 1775, the convention passed an act for raising the public revenue, which imposed a tax of 40 shillings, ($6.662/3 ), on every marriage license ! By an act of October, 1776, the ist of the Commonwealth, the tax was reduced to 20 shillings, and the fees of the Governor were abolished.
An act of the Legislature in 1784, put all ministers on an equal footing in respect to marriages, and then, for the first time, the clerks of courts begau to keep registers of marriages, as required.
The present wiser generation has relieved marriage of some of its burdens. The fees of clerks and ministers legally demandable, are only one dollar each, and no tax is imposed. As this is the age of pensions and subsidies, very likely after awhile bounties will be offered to stimulate the ardour of young couples.
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Judge Lyman Chalkley, in his researches among the musty records of the County Court of Augusta, found lists of marriages from 1749 to 1773, kept by the Clerk evidently with reference to the fees of the Governor. The names of females married and of the officiating ministers are not given.
The papers in a suit prosecuted in the County Court, in 1773, also brought to light by Judge Chalkley, shows that the Rev Jolin Jones, rector of Augusta parish, recovered against the Rev. Adam Smith, rector of Botetourt parish, {2, 2s., 6d, for marriage fees unlaw- fully received by the latter.
In only one list are the names of the females given, as follows : June 17, 1749, John Buchanan and Margaret Patton. 20, Archibald Houston and Mary Stevenson.
28 John Hinds and Jean Kerr.
July Robert Boyd and Eleanor Porterfield.
Aug. John Driskell and Jane Burnet.
Sept. Silas Hart and Jane Robertson.
Elijah McClanahan and Letitia Breckiuridge.
Feb. 1748 Archi'd Elliot and Sarah Clark.
CHAPTER XI.
THE REVOLUTION, ETC., FROM 1781 TO THE END OF THE WAR.
General Phillips arrived at Portsmouth, Virginia, March 26, 1781, with two thousand men, and took command of the British at that place.
Major Posey of the Continental army had returned to Staunton by the 27th of March, and on that day wrote to Governor Jefferson that according to Baron Steuben's orders he could not enlist any man under 5 feet 4 inches. There were men well adapted to military service who did not reach that standard, and he asked for discretionary powers in such cases. The Baron was a Prussian, of the military school of King Frederick William, who had a mania on the subject of tall soldiers.
Anticipating an advance of the enemy from Portsmouth, the State authorities sought to recruit the Continental ranks by again calling out the militia. The condition of affairs in the Valley at this time appears from letters written by military officers to the Governor, which we find in the Calendar of State Papers.
Col. William Preston, County Lieutenant of Montgomery, wrote, on April 13, 1781, that "nearly one-half of our militia are disaffected, and therefore cannot be drawn into the service either by threats or otherwise ; and should they be punished according to law, they would either withdraw to the mountains, or embody or disturb the peace of the county." Moreover, the frontier of the county was ex- posed to depredations by Indians, and the men could not join Greene's army without leaving their families exposed.
On the 20th of April, Col. Samuel McDowell, of Rockbridge, wrote to the Governor that a draft was ordered to take place on the 26th, but the men drawn would be ruined. Most of them were in service in the fall of 1780, when Leslie invaded the State, and were prevented from sowing fall crops, and to go now would prevent their raising spring crops. With few exceptions they would leave no one at home to work their farms. The letter continues : "This county had, in October last, Capt. James Gilmer [Gilmore] and forty-odd men in Carolina, under Gen. Morgan, for near four months, and was
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at Tarleton's defeat at the Cowpens in South Carolina. And there were also three companies drawn when Leslie invaded the State ; their numbers were about 180 men. On Arnold's invasion, Col. John Bowyer marched with about 200 men down the country. And when Gen. Greene retreated into Virginia * I marched near 200 men from this county to join Gen. Greene. * I with difficulty per- suaded the men to cross the Dan into Carolina, and joined Gen. Greene some time before the battle of Guilford Courthouse ; continued with him till after the battle, the 15th of March last, had I Capt. and 4 Privates killed; two Capts., one Ensign and seven Privates wounded, and Maj. Stuart and four Privates taken prisoners. From these different calls all the men in this county have been on hard service, eacli a term, since October last, and nearly two-thirds of them at the same time."
On the 24th of April, the British under General Phillips entered Petersburg. Baron Steuben with a thousand militia made such re- sistance as he could. Phillips advanced, on the 30th, to Manchester, opposite Richmond.
LaFayette, having been assigned to the command in Virginia, entered Richmond, on the 29th of April, with a small body of Continental troops. The enemy thereupon abandoned the thoughit of attacking Richmond, and departed towards the coast, destroying mills, flour, tobacco, etc., as they went. Early in May, however, the British returned to Petersburg, no doubt in pursuance of advices from Cornwallis.
In the meanwhile, Cornwallis was advancing from North Caro- lina. He marched towards Halifax, on the 25th of April, sending before him Colonel Tarleton, with one hundred and eighty dragoons, and arrived at Petersburg on the 20th of May.
Major Thomas Posey wrote to Col. William Davies, from Staun- ton, May 18, 1781, as follows : "The number of men which I have collected at this place (in deserters and others) amount to twenty-one. The draft for eighteen monthers has not yet taken place in any of these back counties, neither can I inform you at what particular time it will. The people seem much aversed to it in Augusta and Rock- bridge, but it don't amount to a majority I beleave. However, a con- siderable number met at the place apointed for laying of the Districts, and in a very bold and daring manner, seased the papers and destroyed then. I don't know where this may stop, if there is not a timeous check, in Hanging a few, for examples to the rest. The cloathing, I understand, the different counties is providing, as fast as possible, but
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none as yet delivered to me. I have a deserter or two delivered to me every five or six days-I suppose I shall have a comp'y of them in a short time to send down."
Colonel Davies, son of the celebrated Samuel Davies, was In- spector General .*
LaFayette now commanded three thousand troops, continentals and militia. He was pursued by Cornwallis, who crossed James River at Westover, and wisely retreated before the advancing enemy. On the 10th of June he was joined by General Wayne, in Culpeper county, with eight hundred men of the Pennsylvania line.
After Cornwallis entered Virginia, a party of Tories raised the British standard on Lost river, then in Hampshire, now Hardy county. John Claypole, a Scotchman, and John Brake, a German, were the leaders, and drew over to their side a majority of the people in the neighborhood. Their object appeared to be to organize and march in a body to join Cornwallis upon his approaching the Valley. The militia of Shenandoah, Frederick and Berkeley were called out to suppress the insurrection, and a body of four hundred inen was speedily equipped and mounted. General Daniel Morgan, of Fred- erick, being out of service and at home, was called to the command, and advanced with the troops into the disaffected region. Claypole was arrested, but released on bail, and Brake was punished by the ariny living at free quarters for a day or two on his cattle pens and distillery. No collision occurred, but one man was killed by a drunken attendant of General Morgan, and another, while running away, was shot in the leg. The militia were ont only eight or ten days. The Tories soon became ashamed of their conduct, and several of their young men volunteered and went to aid in the capture of Cornwallis .- [Kercheval, page 199.]
The Legislature adjourned in Richmond on the 10th of May, to meet in Charlottesville on the 24th. The official term of Governor Jefferson expired on tlie ist of June, but his successor not having been elected by the Legislature, Col. William Fleming, a member of the Council, acted as Governor for nearly two weeks, "holding his court " in Staunton.
At the junction of the Rivanna river with the James, called Point of Fork, the Virginians had collected a quantity of military stores, defended by Steuben with about six hundred raw militia. Cornwallis detached Colonel Simcoe with five hundred men to destroy
* He was grand-father of Bishop Whittle, of the Virginia Episcopal church.
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the stores referred to, while Tarleton and his dragoons started to capture the Legislature at Charlottesville. Simcoe succeeded in his enterprise ; but when Tarleton reached Charlottesville on the 4th of June, the Legislature, warned in time, had adjourned to meet in Staunton on the 7th. Tarleton then, with seven members of the Legislature he had picked np, turned to join Cornwallis and Simcoe near the Point of Fork.
Colonel Fleming, acting Governor, wrote from Staunton, on the 6th, to Colonel James Wood, in reference to the removal of the British prisoners of war, from Albemarle to Rutland, Mass. On the 9th he wrote again, advising that fifty men be stationed at Swift Run Gap, and thirty at Woods' Gap, (Jarman's), some of them mounted, " so as to discover in time the approach of the enemy," in an attempt to rescue the prisoners.
The Legislature convened in Staunton, in the old parish church, on the 7th of June, but the members were soon stampeded again, as we shall see.
Stephen Southall, Quartermaster, had 280 barrels of powder and other army supplies, stored at Staunton, on the 9th of June, 1781.
Capt. Henry Young wrote to Col. Davies, June 9th, from Staun- ton, where the Legislature was then in session : "We have reason to apprehend that the enemy are within twelve miles of Charlottesville. I apprehended two days ago a Deserter on suspicion of his being a Spie ; circumstances are strong against him, but no positive proof; he says that the enemy will be hear in a day or two-some confidence is reposed in his assertion by many, for my part I give no credit to any- thing that he says. Two days ago Mr. Nicholas gave notice that he shou'd this day move to have a Dictator appointed. Gen. Washington and Gen. Greene are talked of. I dare say your Knowledge of these worthy gentlemen will be sufficient to convince you that neither of them will or ought to accept of such an appointment."
On Sunday, the 10th, a session of the Legislature was held to enter an adjournment to the Warm Springs. This proceeding was caused by a report that Tarleton was pursuing across the Blue Ridge. Some of the members of assembly took the road toward Lexington, and others went to the northwest part of the county. Patrick Henry was one of the latter, and such seemed to be tlie emergency that, according to tradition, he left Staunton wearing only one boot.
A book of travels published anonymously, in 1826, at New Haven, gives some account of the alarm in Staunton caused by the anticipated
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approach of Tarleton. The author is said to have been Mrs. Ann Royall, a lady of some literary pretensions, who died in Washington City, September 1, 1854. She was in Staunton in 1823, and obtained a report of the affair from Mrs. William Lewis. She says : "Col. Sam Lewis, at midnight, called at the home of his uncle, William Lewis, living then at Staunton, but later at Sweet Springs, and called out, 'Where are the boys, annt ?' 'They are up stairs in bed,' she said. 'Call them up, Tarleton is coming.' She did so, and they set out immediately. Among the persons quickly rising were the mem- bers of the Legislature, calling for horses, which were obtained. Next morning the streets were strewn with bags, portmanteaus, bundles of clothes, and not a member in sight. They rode with the utmost speed during the night and the next day, but instead of going to the mountain to meet Tarleton, they went the opposite direction ; one member, Dr. Long, rode 20 miles without a saddle. Meanwhile, the others, young and old, men and boys of Augusta county, repaired to the point of danger at Rockfish Gap." Only one member, Major William Rovall, from Amelia county, was with the Augusta troops .- [ Virginia Historical Magazine of January, 1901.]
The cause of the alarm and stampede has been variously reported. The late Judge Francis T. Brooke, then a young Lieutenant of the Continental army, gives one version of the matter in a memoir he left behind him. He was in Albemarle, in command of a detachment, and was ordered by his captain, Bohannon, if he could not join the Baron Steuben, to proceed to Staunton, and thence to join the corps to which he belonged in the army of La Fayette. He says : "The next day I crossed the ridge about six miles to the south of Rockfish Gap. When I got to where Waynesboro' is, I found a large force of eight hundred men, or one thousand riflemen, under the command of General McDowell, probably Colonel Samuel McDowell. He stopped me, saying he had orders to stop all troops to defend the gap. I re- plied that I belonged to the Continental army and had orders to go to Staunton, and said to the men, 'Move on,' and he let me pass. At that time I suppose a regimental coat had never been seen on that side of the mountain-nothing but hunting-shirts. I marched with drums beating and colors flying, and some one seeing the troops, carried thie news to Staunton that Tarleton had crossed the mountain, and the Legislature then sitting there ran off again ; but learning the mistake, rallied and returned the next day. In the morning I entered the town. There, for a few days, I heard Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George Nicholas, and my neighbor, Mann Page, of Mansfield."
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Judge Brooke's narrative proceeds : " When I arrived at Staun- ton, Colonel Davies, whom I found there, insisted on retaining me in that service, but Captain Fleming Gaines, who belonged to Harrisou's regimeut of artillery, ordered me to join my corps as speedily as I could in the army of the Marquis, and furnished mne with his horses and servant to do so. In a few days I left Staunton, and took the road, by what is now called Port Republic, to cross the ridge at Swift Run Gap. A curious incident occurred : one of the horses was taken lame, and I stopped at a smith's shop to have his shoes repaired ; the people were all Dutch, and spoke no English, and seeing me in regimentals, they took me for a British officer, aud detained me for a time as their prisoner, until one of them came who understood English, and I showed him my commission, and he let me pass."
Yet there was good reason for anticipating an inroad by Tarleton. The first rumor of it seems to have arisen on Saturday, but on Sun- day the report was apparently confirmed. On Saturday, Mr. Scott was hearing a class in the catechism at Bethel, which he dismissed to spread the alarm. On Sunday, the people of Tinkling Spring con- gregation were assembled as usual for worship, when a strange man, arrested in the vicinity, was brought to the church. This man was one of four who had been captured, but the others had escaped. He was dressed partly in the uniform of a British soldier, and was sup- posed to be a spy sent forward by Tarleton. The excitement at the church may be imagined. The pastor, Rev. James Waddell, addressed the congregation, urging the men to obtain arms and hasten to Rock- fish Gap, intending to go with them. But what should be done with the prisoner ? A guard of several men could not be spared, and a young man named Long, who had carried his trusty rifle to church, volunteered to bring the stranger to Staunton and lodge him in jail. By command of Long, the prisoner marched on before and moved obedient to orders till they arrived at Christian's Creek. There, Long wished to take off his moccasins, but the spy persisted in coming on, wading the stream in his jack-boots. Long repeatedly warned him to stop, and finally shot him down. After a few days he died, confess- ing that he was a British soldier, and had been sent in advance by Tarleton. These facts were related to the writer by the late Joseph Long, who was a son of the young man who shot the spy.
The alarm having arisen, riders traversed the county to notify the people. From Lexington to the Peeked Mountain, now Massanutten, the people were aroused. The men hastened to Rockfish Gap, while the women and children hid their silver spoons aud other portable
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articles of value. Two venerable men, who were children in 1781, many years ago related to the writer their recollections of the time. One of these remembered that his father came home from Tinkling Spring church and took down his gun, to the boy's great astonish- ment, as it was the Sabbath day ; the other told of his anxiety to bury his only treasure, a little bar of lead.
By Monday morning the mountain at Rockfish Gap was lined with men. Some, who could not procure guns, provided piles of stones to hurl at the invaders. The force under General McDowell, encountered by Lieutenant Brooke, was doubtless composed of the hasty levies referred to.
On the day the alarmı first arose, the Rev. William Graham, of Lexington, was coming to Staunton. He heard the exciting report before he arrived here, and immediately returned home to call out the militia. With a company of men he went on the next day to Rock- fish Gap. Finding that Tarleton did not come, part of the militia, ac- companied by Mr. Graham, went in quest of the enemy, and joined La Fayette below Charlottesville. During a short stay with the army Mr. Graham had evening prayers in the company to which he belonged. The services were not well attended, except on one occasion, when a battle was anticipated ; then the men generally assembled, and ap- peared to listen with much attention .- [Foote, First Series, page 453] -
The Legislature reassembled at Staunton, and on the 12th of June elected General Thomas Nelson Governor of the Commonwealth. On the 19th the new Governor qualified by taking the prescribed oaths before Sampson Mathews, J. P., and on the same day Samuel McDow- ell qualified as a member of the Governor's Council.
At some period during the war, an accusation was preferred by Thomas Hughes against Zachariah Johnston, one of the delegates from Augusta, of instigating opposition in the county to the act of assem- bly for raising troops .* While the Legislature sat at Staunton, June 14th, Mr. Henry reported that Mr. Johnston had uniformly recom- mended obedience to the law, and that the accusation was groundless.
On June 23d, the assembly adjourned at Staunton, to meet in Richmond in October following.
Before the introduction of putty, lead was used for fixing panes of glass in window sashes, and towards the close of the war was sought after for moulding into bullets. On June 13, 1781, Maj. John Pryor, Commissary, wrote from Charlottesville to Col. Davies, at Staunton,
* Probably the disturbance referred to by Major Posey in his letter of May 18th.
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that he had sent out " by Expresses to every probable Houses within 40 miles extent along the S. W. Mountains, to collect what can be found in the windows and elsewhere." On the 14th he wrote again that lead was "amazingly wanted in canıp."
By order of Col. Carrington, Deputy Quartermaster General, on June 14, 1781, Staunton was made the principal depot for public stores "beyond the mountains," under Capt. Thomas Hamilton.
Col. Febiger wrote from camp, June 30, 1781, to Col. Davies, at Staunton, that the men were " literally naked, shirts and blankets ex- cepted"-" unless supplied, they would from real nakedness be com- pelled to quitt the field." There were not more than twenty pairs of good shoes in the regiment. No wonder men objected to being drafted as soldiers under such circumstances.
In pursuance of orders from New York, Cornwallis turned towards the coast on the 16th of June, and was closely followed by La Fayette. On the 22nd of August the British army occupied Yorktown.
A draft of Augusta militia was made in May, 1781. According to Alexander Hamilton's "declaration," the men rendezvonsed at the site of the present town of Waynesborough in the latter part of May. Joseph Bell says they rendezvoused "at Col. Eason's, now Waynes- borough," June 6th. This was only a few days before the alarm in the Valley in regard to Tarleton's approach. Bell was Ensign in Capt. Francis Long's company. Hamilton was a private in the com- pany of Capt. Patrick Buchanan. Col. Thomas Hughart commanded the troops. They proceeded to join the army under La Fayette, at Colonel Dandridge's, probably in King William county. Both Bell and Hamilton were in the battle of "Hot Water," on the 26th of June, says Hamilton, under the immediate command of Colonel, or Major. Jack Willis of the Continental line .* No engagement is men- tioned in history by this name. The reference is probably to a severe skirmish, on June 26, about six miles from Williamsburg. Colonel Butler, ; of the Pennsylvania line, commanded the Americans, and Colonel Simcoe the British. It is described as a desperate melee in which much execution was done on both sides .- James Hamilton,
* La Fayette selected seven hundred and fifty of his best militia marksmen, and dividing them into three corps of light infantry, placed them respectively under the command of three regular officers, of whom Major Willis was one. [Lee's Memoirs, p. 415.] It was therefore a distinction to have served under Willis.
t Colonel Butler was the second and rival of Morgan at Saratoga. He was employed by Washington as next in command to St. Clair, in whose disastrous defeat he was killed.
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brother of Alexander, was severely wounded. He was sent to a hos- pital in New Kent county, and Alexander was detached to take care of him, which he did till his term expired, and his brother John then took his place as nurse.
Major William Willson testified that he was with Alexander Hamilton at the battle of Hot Water, and saw him aid in carrying his brother from the field.
Capt. John Davis of the Pennsylvania line,* kept a diary from May 26, 1781, when Wayne's Brigade left York, Pa., till January 11, 1782, when it was at Jacksonborough, S. C. From the original we take the following extracts relating to the battle of Hot Water :
"June 25th .- Lay by this day. At dark took up the line of march in order to overtake Simna" [Simcoe] "who had plundered a quantity of cattle."
" 26th-At six o'clock in the morning we overtook a covering party who retreated before us. We mounted a party of infantry behind light - horse, who overtook their rear. We had a small skirmish, horse and foot, in which we took some light-horse and cattle and killed 30 on the spot with inconsiderable loss."
Joseph Bell was at the battle of Jamestown, under General Wayne, in July, 1781.
When Lord Cornwallis was about to cross James River at James- town Island, on July 6th, a British dragoon and a negro, pretending to be deserters, informed the Americans that nearly all the King's troops had passed over, leaving only the rear guard on the north side. General Wayne with the Pennsylvania line made a furious assault, but found he was confronted by the whole British army. La Fayette, who was at hand and in chief command, ordered a retreat, and the Americans were not pursned. The loss of the Americans in the short but severe conflict was 118 men killed, wounded and captured, and three cannon ; of the British 80 killed and wounded. The engage- ment is otherwise called the battle of Green Spring.
Capt. Davis gives, in his diary, the following brief account of the battle of Green Spring, under date of July 6th :
" At sun rise we took up the line of march for Jamestown, which place the enemy lay at. The Ist Battery was detached with some
* General Henry Lee says in his Memoir they might have been called with more propriety the line of Ireland.
Capt. Davis was the grand-father of Mrs. Alexander H. Fultz, late of Staun- ton. His wife was a daughter of John Morton, a signer of the Declaration of In- dependence.
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riflemen, which brought on a scattering fire that continued inany hours. When the 2nd and 3rd Battery with one of Infantry arrived in sight, we formed and brought ou a general action. Our advances regular at a charge, till we got within 80 yards of their main body under a heavy fire of grape shot, at which distance we opened our musketry at their line, 3 of our artillery horses being wounded ; and then their right flanking our left, rendered a retreat necessary, with the loss of 2 pieces of artillery."
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