USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871 > Part 42
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ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
On April court day, 1812, Colonel Andrew Anderson and Colonel Robert Doak were elected to represent Augusta in the House of Dele- gates. Claudius Buster, another Federalist, was also a candidate, as was Captain William Abney, a Democrat, or Republican. Anderson received 535 votes, and Abney 299, which probably shows the relative strength of the two political parties in the county.
On the 19th of April, 1812, the Republican Farmer published Governor Barbour's general orders, calling for Virginia's quota of troops, twelve thousand men, to be organized and ready to march at a moment's warning. The Seventh Brigade of militia was required to furnish seven hundred and thirty-five men. Five companies already organized, however,-two in Augusta, two in Rockingham, and one in Shenandoah,-of fifty men each, were credited to the quota called for from the brigade, leaving four hundred and eighty-five infantry of the line to be raised. The Augusta companies referred to were : Captain Steele's rifle company, and Captain McCue's artillery. Captain Steele was a nephew of the Revolutionary soldier of the same name, hereto- fore mentioned.
Major McCue's, (as the Captain was then and afterwards called), stable was burnt, in May, 1812, and the editor was aroused to write a few lines about it, showing that he could write if he only chose to do so. See what he said : "It is to be hoped that the avenging spirit of unerring justice, will yet drag from his covert the fiend-like incen- diary, and immolate him upon the altar of violated rights."
Fortification and gunnery were taught at this time at the Staun- ton Academy.
General Porterfield issued brigade orders, May 20, 1812, for rais- ing the quota of the Seventh Brigade. The Thirty-second regiment was required to furnish ninety men, with two captains, one lieutenant and one ensign ; and the Ninety-third, ninety-four men, with one captain, two lieutenants, and two ensigns. Major William Bell, com- manding the Thirty-second, ordered a regimental muster at Hanger's. on the 2d of June. If the editor of the Farmer ever knew what took place at that muster, he kept it a profound secret. His readers could never learn from his columns.
All this while war had not been declared. But on the 25th of June, 1812, the Farmer published, in large type, the act of Congress, passed on the 18th, declaring that war existed between the United States and Great Britain.
During the month of June an effort was made to establish a mili- tary school at Staunton, but it did not succeed. Captain George Turner, however, taught military tactics here.
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The Fourth of July was celebrated at Staunton by a salute in the morning from the field pieces of the artillery, commanded by Lieuten- ant Sowers, and a dinner at McDowell's spring ; and at Greenville by a parade of Captain Abney's and Captain Doak's infantry companies, and Captain Dold's cavalry, and a barbecue on Thomas Jackson's land.
The recruiting officers of the United States army seem to have had a hard time of it. In July, Captain Page, of the Twelfth infantry advertised a reward of $10 each for the arrest of two deserters from the station in Pendleton county ; and in August, Lieutenant Camp, also of the Twelfth infantry, advertised a reward of $40 for the arrest of four men who deserted between Lexington and Brownsburg, while on the march from Abingdon to Winchester. Captain Henry, of the Twelfth, advertised other deserters in September.
On the 21st of September, 1812, a State convention of the Federal party was held in Staunton, " for the purpose of recommending to the freeholders of Virginia twenty-five fit and suitable characters to serve as electors at the approaching election of President of the United States." The Convention continued in session three days. Only six- teen counties, however, were represented. No doubt the Federalists of Augusta enjoyed the implicit confidence of their political brethren throughout the State, and the latter did not think it necessary to at- tend here in any large number. Robert Porterfield and Jacob Swoope were the delegates from Augusta. The former was made president of the convention, and the latter headed the electoral ticket. Rufus King, of New York, was nominated for President, and William R. Davie, of North Carolina, for Vice-President. A State central com- mittee was appointed, consisting of General Porterfield, Jacob Swoope, Dr. William Boys, Samuel Clarke, and Charles A. Stuart.
The presidential election took place November 2d, and the vote of Augusta stood : Federal, 396; Democratic, 244. The editor bemoaned that about four hundred voters stayed away from the polls.
On the 13th of November, the celebrated Petersburg Volunteers arrived in Staunton, being received near town and escorted by some local military under Captain Turner. On the next day the company partook of a barbecue prepared for the occasion, and on Sunday, the 15th, resumed their march to the northwest. The company consisted of one hundred and seventeen young men. They remained in service one year, and highly distinguished themselves at the battle of Fort Meigs on the 5th of May, 1813.
On Friday, December 11, 1812, a negro girl was hung near Staunton for the murder, by drowning, of her master's infant child. She was duly tried and convicted by the County Court, October 29th,
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Mr. Peyton prosecuting, and General Blackburn defending the ac- cused. The circumstance would not deserve mention in a history of the county, but an incident connected with it is somewhat interest- ing. Much sympathy was excited in the community in behalf of the miserable girl, many persons doubting whether she intended to drown the child. At any rate there was a feverish state of feeling on the subject.
During the night after the execution the people of Staunton were aronsed from their slumber by a most unearthly noise. Loud and apparently supernatural groans resounded through the town. The people generally rushed into the streets to ascertain the cause, and some of the more superstitious sort professed to have seen the girl al- luded to sitting on the steps of the jail.
It was years before the cause of alarm was ascertained. At the time of the occurrence and for many years afterwards, a large two- story frame building stood on the northwest corner of New and Courthouse streets, opposite the Washington Tavern, and in this building Ben. Morris, a prosperous merchant, had his store. He had in his employment a mischievous clerk, or salesman, who confessed, when it was safe to do so, that he had climbed upon the roof of the store-house through the trap-door, and aroused the town by means of a speaking-trumpet.
In March, 1813, the central committee appointed by the "Friends of Peace, Commerce, and no Foreign Alliance," nominated General Blackburn for Congress, and he accepted, but William McCoy was elected as before and afterwards. The committee consisted of Dr. Boys, Alexander Nelson, Moses McCue, and Samuel Clarke.
Colonel Robert. Doak, who had commanded the Ninety-third regiment of militia for some years, and had recently been active in raising troops, expecting to go with them to the field, resigned his conimission in March, 1813, the brigade commander having designated a junior colonel (Koontz) to command the force detached for service. No doubt the fact that Colonel Koontz was a younger man, led to his appointment by General Porterfield, instead of Colonel Doak. But the veteran of the Revolutionary war was unconscious of approaching age and infirmity, and, panting for renown on new fields, felt offended at the act of the general.
A ludicrous incident occurred in Staunton, in connection with the war preparations, in or about 1812. The captain of one of the town companies, who was a man of strict sobriety, felt it incumbent on him to "treat " his men, in accordance with the custom of the times. His
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wife, then confined to her chamber, had on liand a large supply of brandied cherries, which the captain appropriated and distributed liberally to his company. Of course, he had to partake of them him- self, and being unaccustomed to the use of liquor, a very few made him very jubilant and very affectionate to everybody, his wife especial- ly. Hurrying home, he quite overwhelmed the lady with caresses, and she soon discovered the cause of the unusual demonstration. Calling a servant, she ordered that the remaining cherries be emptied into the street gutter. Pigs running at large fell upon the dainties, and after devouring them became drunk and went reeling through the streets like any other topers, to the great amusement of the town people. As far as known, this was the Captain's first and last spree .*
An issue of the Republican Farmer in April, 1813, announced that Captain Samuel Steele's company of riflemen had been ordered to Richmond immediately. This was the first company called from the county.
And here we are constrained to take leave of Editor Collett, for while he continued to publish his paper for some ten years, we have not been able to find a single copy of later date than the above. During the subsequent years, the series of essays written mainly by Dr. Speece, and republished afterwards in a volume called The Mountaineer, appeared in the columns of the Farmer.
Some time after the war began, barracks were established on the place now known as McAleer's, two miles east of Staunton, on the Waynesborougli road. For many years this place was called the "Old Barracks," and it is still so called by some of our older people. Here the various companies raised in the county, and perhaps others, rendezvoused, and were drilled when called into service, and before being ordered off.
We have no account of the departure of any of the companies, and only such limited information as the muster and pay-rolls afford.
The first company called into service from the county, as stated, was Captain SAMUEL STEELE's infantry or riflemen, from the Ninety- third militia regiment. The subordinate officers were : Lieutenant, John Humphrey ; Ensign, Jacob Bumgardner ; Sergeants, James Boyd, William King, Edward Mulhollen and Jacob Hatton. Including corporals, the rank and file consisted of fifty-six men. Among the privates, the ouly familiar name is that of Jacob Vanlear.
* The Captain was John C. Sowers. The incident was related to me by one of his daughters.
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The company was in the service of the United States at Camp Holly, under the command first of Major William Armistead, and afterwards of Colonel John H. Cocke, from March 28th to August 21st, 1813. Camp Holly was ten miles below Richmond, on the north of the Chickahominy, between that river and the Seven Pines.
The next call upon the county took four companies,-Captains Baldwin, Baskin and Stuart, and Lieutenant Todd. These companies were in service from July 6 to September 28, 1813. Baskin's and Todd's companies were, however, broken up August 16, and most of the men enrolled in other companies. The pay-rolls state that they were at the "Flying Camp," commanded by Colonel James McDowell (of Rockbridge). The name "Flying Camp," which looks like a misnomer, implies that the command was on the wing ; and we know only that it hovered somewhere in lower Virginia. Many years after- wards, when some allusion was made in a public debate to General Baldwin's military services, he replied that his company had made as- saults on oyster beds, but no enemy, from which it appears they were on tide-water. The officers of these companies were :
I. Captain, BRISCOE G. BALDWIN, (afterwards General, and finally Judge Baldwin ) ; Lieutenant, Joseph Houston ; Ensign, Mustoe Chambers ; and Sergeants, Alexander Douglas, Henry H. Crump, Edward Fulton and Thomas Harris. Among the privates, were John Guy, George Imboden, Henry McCadden, Joseph Peck, Bailey Shumate, James Mills and John Young. The number of men, includ- ing corporals, was seventy-one. They were enrolled at home in the Thirty-second and Ninety-third militia regiments.
2. Captain, JOHN C. BASKIN ; Lieutenant, William Brown ; and Sergeants, Ralph A. Loftus, John Yorkshire and James Black. The number of men, including corporals and drummer, was twenty, and they belonged at home to the Thirty-second regiment of militia.
3. Captain, ARCHIBALD STUART, (afterwards Major Stuart) ; Lieutenant, William Brown, (transferred from Baskin's company) ; Ensigns, John Steele and Frederick Golladay ; and Sergeants, William Brooks, James Russell, John Yorkshire, (transferred from Baskin's company), William Ashford and John Shannon. The men were drawn from the Ninety-third regiment, and the number of rank and file was seventy-one, including corporals.
4. Lieutenant, JAMES TODD ; and Sergeants, William Lacoste, William H. Younger and Daniel McCutcheson. Including corporals, the rank and file numbered seventy-two, and they were from the Ninety-third regiment. Why so large a company did not have a full
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complement of officers is not explained. A note on the company pay- roll says: "Most of these names appear on other pay-rolls of the 'Flying Camp.'"'
Other companies at the "Flying Camp," and under command of Colonel McDowell, were as follows : From Frederick, two companies; Botetourt, four ; Shenandoah, one; Rockbridge, four ; Rockingham, four ; Cumberland, one, and Bath, one.
The Staunton Artillery was the next company from the county called into service. The officers of this company were :
Captain, JOHN C. SOWERS ; Lieutenants, William Young and Benjamin Brady ; and Sergeants, Robert W. Carr, Thomas Sperry, James Coalter, John Temple and Alexander Shields ; Musicians, Samuel Cupps, David Hiller, William Miller and Henry Snyder. In- cluding corporals and musicians, the company consisted of fifty-four rank and file. Among the privates were Adam Bickle, James Bickle, Jolın L. Cowardin, Peter Kurtz, Abraham Laywell, John Merritt, John A. North, Joseph Points, Eli Parrant, Alexander Paris, Daniel Trayer, Joseph Tront and Anthony Weiford. They were in service, at or about Norfolk, from January 4th to April 13, 1814, being at- taclied to a battalion of United States artillery. The men belonged to the Thirty-second regiment of militia.
Next four companies were called out from the county at the same time, viz : Link's, Givens' and Lange's infantry, and Dold's cavalry. We give such particulars as we have been able to obtain :
1. Captain, JOHN LINK ; Lieutenants, Jacob Burger and David Ross ; Ensign, Peter Hughes ; Sergeants, John Bush, Joseph Butler, William Johnson, Michael Coiner, Christopher Balsley and Willianı Trotter. The number of men, including corporals, was seventy-six, and among thieni were Dalhouses, Fishers, McCunes, Patterson and Turk. They served from August 29th to December 28, 1814, as a part of the "Second Corps D'Elite, commanded by Colonel Moses Green, at Camp Charles City Courthouse."
2. Captain, ALEXANDER R. GIVENS ; Lieutenants, Samuel Crawford and Jonathan Eagle ; Ensigns, Philip Coyner and Jacob Coyner ; Sergeants (at different times), L. G. Bell, David E. Orr, Charles Dickerson, Alexander L. Saunders, John Gregory, James Coursey, David Miller and Abraham Eversole. The number of privates on the roll is one hundred and sixteen ; but many of the men obtained substitutes, and the names of principals and substitutes being kept on the roll, the list was swelled accordingly. Several deserters from the company are reported, but no one now known in the county. Among the privates were Charles Batis, Hatch Clark, Samuel Cline
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(who never joined the company and obtained a substitute), Conrad Doom, Henry Imboden, Franklin McCue, John McCue, James Patter- son, Lyttelton Waddell and Ephraim Woodward.
The company served under Lieutenant-Colonel James McDowell, from August 30th, to - - 30, 1814. The scruple of the Treasury Department at Washington, from which we obtained the muster-roll, or of a clerk who copied the roll, prevents our stating at what date the company was discharged, or where it was stationed. We are quite sure, however, that the time of service was from August 30th to November 30th, as Lange's company, which went in with Givens', was discharged at the latter date. Both companies were no doubt discharged in Maryland, as Lange's was. It will be observed that the commander of the regiment or battalion to which the company was at- tached is here styled Lieutenant-Colonel McDowell, while in 1813 he was styled Colonel.
It is related that when the company was organized, Captain George C. Robertson (afterwards well known as Colonel Robertson, of the Thirty-second regiment) was designated to command it. But Captain Givens (afterwards Colonel) having returned home after a temporary absence, claimed his right to command as senior captain, and accordingly went with the men to the field.
Colonel Givens, as many persons still living remember, was very soldier-like in his appearance and bearing. But while noted for his kindliness to the poor, he had a masterful spirit and was not likely to fill a subordinate position anywhere with comfort to himself or those above him in office. Tradition says he was under arrest all the time in camp upon the charge of insubordination, and therefore the muster- roll has it : "company of infantry," etc., " commanded by Lientenant Samuel Crawford."
3. Captain, ABRAHAM LANGE ; Lieutenants, Jacob Bear and Thomas Ruddle ; Ensigns, James Gardner and John A. Douglass ; Sergeants, Samuel Patton and Gilbert Ray. The number of privates on the roll is one hundred and twenty-four, including principals and substitutes. Among the privates were, James Guthrie, David Gilke- son, William C. McCamey, John McDowell, Andrew Thompson, Thomas Thompson, William Thompson, John Thompson, John Tate, John Christian, George Wilson, and Thomas Young. The company served as a part of the Fifth Virginia regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel James McDowell, from September Ist to Novem- ber 30, 1814; and was mustered out "at Camp Cross-roads, near Ellicot's Mills," Maryland, by Major John Alexander, of Rock- bridge.
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4. Captain, JESSE DOLD, (cavalry); Lieutenants, Matthew Link, Robert Brown and Jacob Clingenpeel ; Sword-master, J. F. Whitcomb; Sergeants, Jacob Beard, Andrew Grove, John Tate and Robert Guy. The company was in service at Norfolk from September Ist to Novem- ber 12th, 1814. It numbered ninety-three men, including all officers, and the men when at home belonged to the Ninety-third regimeut of militia. William McComb, of Barterbrook, who was a member of Captain Dold's company, died July 21, 1886, aged ninety-two years. He was the last survivor in Augusta of the soldiers of the war of 1812.
Capt. Christopher Morris' company was called into service in July, 1814, as we learn from testimony produced before the County Court, January 27, 1817, by the widows of Garland Eubank and Jacob Grove, members of the company. They marched from Staunton to Norfolk, and were there mustered into service under Brig. Gen. Porter. In October, Eubank was permitted to return home on sick furlough, but died on the way, at Sandy Point. Grove died in service, December 31, 1814.
As far as we can learn, no other company from the county was in the service of the United States during the war, although other com- panies were organized.
On the 12th of March, 1813, the Governor commissioned James Fuller of Staunton, Ensign in a regiment anthorized by an act of the Legislature, for the defence of the State. James Maurice of Norfolk, was Colonel of the regiment, and Charles Fenton Mercer of Loudoun, Lt. Colonel. The Ensign was a son of Bartholomew Fuller, the school teacher, and afterwards removed to Tennessee, where he died 1876.
In the summer of 1813, fifty-four men, principally residents of Staunton and vicinity, formed a company for military service. More than forty of them were mounted. They elected Chapman Johnson, Captain, and proceeded to Richmond without waiting for orders, as the enemy was supposed to threaten the State. Mr. Johnson wrote to the Governor, July 9, after arriving at Richmond, tendering the service of the compay ; but it was not needed at the time, and the men re- turned home. The late John Cochran, of Charlottesville, then a youth living iu Staunton, was a member of the company.
We cannot learn the character and extent of the services of Gen- eral Porterfield and his staff during the war. Mr. John Howe Peyton, the emineut lawyer, was General Porterfield's aide-de-camp, and his services were recognized by the Government ; a warrant for eighty acres of public land having been issued in 1852, after his death, to his minor children.
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Captain Henry McClung, long a citizen of Staunton, but a resi- dent in Rockbridge during the war, commanded a company of artillery from that county, which was in service at Norfolk.
None of the Angusta soldiers were called upon to face the enemy. Therefore we have no account to give of the killed and wounded. But they faced a more insidious danger. In the low- lands of Virginia many of them fell victims to deadly disease. We have sought in vain for a letter from some soldier to his family at home, relating his experience in the army. Nothing of the kind from an Augusta man can be found. But we are not without some light on the subject. William Wirt, in command of an artillery com- pany, was stationed, in September, 1814, at Warrenigh church, on York river. He was famous as a letter-writer, as well as in other re- spects, and many of his letters were preserved and have been published. In several, written in camp, he gives descriptions of military life at the time, and from them we take a few extracts.
Writing, September 9, 1814, Wirt says : "Your most seasonable supply, under convoy of our man Randal, came in last evening. The starving Israelites were not more gladdened by the arrival of quails and manna than we were by the salutation of Randal. The fish would have been a superb treat had there been such an article as a potato in this poverty-stricken land. And yet the parish, according to the old inscriptions, is called 'Blissland.' The church was built in 1709."
On September 12th, he wrote : " Your kindness and thoughtful- ness have filled my camp with luxury. I fear we shall have no opportunity to become memorable for anything but our good living,- for I begin to believe that the enemy will not attempt Richmond. They are said to have gone up the bay on some enterprise. If they are hardy enough to make an attempt on Baltimore, there is no know- ing what they may not attempt. We are training twice a day, which doesn't well agree with our poor horses. We have a bad camping- ground,-on a flat which extends two miles to the river,-the water is not good, and the men are sickly."
The companies of Captains Givens and Lange were, probably, at the date of the above letter, on the upper Potomac, or in Maryland, for the defence of Baltimore.
On the 19th of September, Wirt wrote : "Our volunteers are be- coming disorderly for want of an enemy to cope with. Quarrels, arrests, courts-martial, are beginning to abound. I have had several reprimands to pronounce at the head of my company, in compliance with the sentence of the courts. To one of these, James, our man, held the candle,-it being dark at the time,-and when I finished and
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turned around, the black rascal was in a broad grin of delight. I was near laughing myself at so unexpected a spectacle. My men are all anxious to return home-constant applications for furloughs, in which Colonel Randolph indulges them liberally. At present I have not more than men enough to man two guns. One of my sergeants deserted this morning ; another will be put under arrest presently. So much grumbling about rations,-about the want of clothes,-about their wives,-their business, debts, sick children, etc., etc."
Again, on September 26tlı, Wirt wrote: "Still at Warrenigh, and less probability of an enemy than ever. We are doing nothing but drilling, firing national salutes for recent victories, listening to the everlasting and growing discontents of the men, and trying their quarrels before courts-martial. I have endeavored to give satisfaction to my company, so far as I could, compatibly with discipline. My success, I fear, has been limited. In addition to their rations, which have been very good and abundant, I have distributed to the sick, with a liberal hand, the comforts which your kindness had supplied. The company is well provided with tents and cooking utensils, yet they murmur incessantly. Such are volunteer militia when taken from their homes and put on camp duty. One source of their in- quietude is, that they thought they were coming down merely for a fight, and then to return. Being kept on the ground after the expectation of a battle has vanished, and not knowing how long they are to remain,-looking every day for their discharge,-they are enduring the pain of hope deferred, and manifest their disquiet in every form."
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