USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871 > Part 43
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Our last extract is from Wirt's last letter in camp, dated Septem- ber 28th : " The Blues at Montpelier are suffering much from sickness. Murphy, your brother John" [Gamble] " and his friend Blair are all down. The other companies are almost unofficered,-the men very sickly. I strongly suspect that if we are kept much longer hovering over these marshes, our soldiers will fall like the grass that now covers them. We hope to be ordered in a few days to Richmond. It is believed on every hand that the British, with their mutinous and deserting troops, will not attempt a march on Richmond through the many defiles, swamps, thickets and forests that line the road, where, besides the abundant opportunities for desertion, nature has formed so many covers for our riflemen and infantry."
"This little piece of history," says Wirt's biographer, "is a faithful transcript of some of the most characteristic incidents of militia warfare in nearly all the service of the war of 1812."- [Kennedy's Memoir of William Wirt, Vol. I, pages 335-6-7 and 8.]
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The privations during the war of 1812 were similar to those experienced in the late war. The mothers of our community were wont to tell how the price of common calico went up to a dollar a yard, and how at their tea-parties they had no tea and no cake, because sugar could not be obtained.
Peace was proclaimed by the President of the United States on the 18th of February, 1815, and was received with universal joy. People of all parties united in bonfires, illuminations, and every mani- festation of delight. The victory at New Orleans on the 8th of January was some compensation for the disasters of the early period of the war, and gave a feeling of triumph at its close. Dr. John K. Moore, afterwards for many years a citizen of the county, was present at the battle, but he then resided in Tennessee.
For many years there were two relics of the war left at Staunton. Captain Sowers' field pieces-six pounders-remained here until long after the gun-carriages had rotted away, but the town boys managed to load and discharge them every Fourth of July and Christmas day. It was not uncommon to find, just when the guns were required for action, that the enemy, in the shape of some mischievous urchin, had driven nails into the touch holes. The spikes were withdrawn, how- ever, whatever the labor might be, just as the pieces were shifted from Garber's Hill to Green Hill, whenever the occasion made a change of position necessary. At length an extremely particular governor came into office, and by his order the guns were seized and taken to the State arsenal at Lexington. Many old Staunton boys must remember our feelings of bereavement and indignation at the ruthless act. But there was no help for it. Staunton was left defenceless, as far as artillery was concerned, and from that day there has been here hardly any observance of the Fourth of July.
By the year 1815, inany of the elements of wealth in the coun- ty had increased very considerably, compared with 1800. Some of the statistics of that time strike us now as rather curious. In the year 1802 property in the town of Staunton was separately assessed for taxation for the first time, but the following figures of 1815 em- brace the town as well as the two country revenue districts : The number of horses was 7,544; cattle, 17,987 ; ice-houses, 10 ; carpets over $20 in value, 19 ; cut-glass decanters, 102 ; pianos, 17 ; Venetian blinds, 23 ; two-wheeled riding carriages, 50 ; and four-wheeled riding carriages, 13. There were five four-wheeled riding carriages in the first revenue district of the county, and the aristocratic owners of these vehicles were William Black, Sr., Rev. William Calhoon, Mrs. Nancy Kinney, James McNutt, and Edward Valentine. In the next year
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John McDowell appears as the owner of a "phæton." The owners of carriages and chairs (gigs) in the second district, the same year (1816), were Joseph Bell, Sr., Joseph Bell, Jr., Andrew Barry, Charles Dickenson, James A. Frazier, David Golladay, Jolın Harman, Peter Hanger, John Lawrence, James Marshall, and Rev. John McCue.
The number of merchants in Stauuton in 1815 was thirteen, and the number of ordinaries, five.
The lawyers at the same time were Briscoe G. Baldwin, James Crawford, Samuel Clarke, William Clarke, Chapman Johnson, Wil- liam Kinney, Jr., Jolin H. Peyton, and Lyttleton Waddell. The town doctors were William Boys, Thomas Clarke, Edmund Edring- ton, William King, George C. McIntosh,* and Addison Waddell. The country doctors who paid license tax were James Allen and James Wilson.
We anticipate our narrative so far as to give some of the statistics of 1883, for the sake of comparison with the foregoing. The follow- ing figures embrace the whole county, including Staunton : In the year 1883, the number of horses, mules, etc., was 8,688 ; cattle, 19,359 ; carriages of all descriptions, wagons, and carts, 4,432; and the value of pianos, organs, etc., as assessed for taxation, was $41,359. The first cost of the musical instruments was probably $80,000 to $90,000.
For some time after the war the country enjoyed "flush times." Property of all kinds was readily salable at high prices, and every interest seemed to prosper. Political animosities were allayed. It was the "era of good feeling," when, it was said, "all were Federal- ists and all Republicans." A fall in prices and depression in trade came in due time.
In 1816 quite an imposing convention met in Staunton. The object was to devise measures for obtaining a State convention to amend the Constitution. Every county was entitled to two delegates, but only thirty-five were represented in the convention. It was called, doubtless, in the manner of the political conventions of the present day, but appeared to regard itself as clothed with higher au- thority than such bodies now assume. Among the members were William F. Gordon, of Albemarle ; General Porterfield and Chapinan Johnson, of Augusta ; General Blackburn, of Bath ; James Breckin- ridge and Allen Taylor, of Botetourt ; James Marshall, of Brooke ; William H. Fitzhugh, of Fairfax ; Heury St. G. Tucker, of Frederick;
* Dr. McIntosh was a native of Scotland. His wife was a sister of Mrs. Peter Heiskell. He, or his family after his death, moved to Tennessee, and many years afterwards a grand-daughter, Miss Matilda Morgan, came to Staunton on a visit.
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James Pindal1, of Harrison ; William C. Rives, of Nelson ; George Tucker, of Pittsylvania, etc., etc.
General Breckinridge was elected president and Erasmus Stribling secretary. John Clarke was appointed door-keeper, and Henry Cease and Michael Forbes assistants.
The convention met Monday, August 19th, and sat from day to day for a week, not adjourning finally till Saturday, the 24th. Its proceedings were conducted with all the formalities of a legally constituted assembly. The contingent expenses were defrayed by the people of Staunton.
The particular matter complained of at that time was the basis of representation in the Legislature. A memorial was adopted by a vote of 61 to 7 in favor of a State convention to amend the Constitution. The memorial stated that the country west of the Blue Ridge, con- taining a white population of 212,036 had only four senators, while the district on Tide-water, containing a white population of only 162,717, had thirteen senators.
A protest against the action of the convention, presented by Mr. Johnson and signed by six of the minority, was ordered to be spread upon the journal. The minority objected to the action of the conven- tion only because it proposed to open the way for a general revision of the Constitution, while they wished an amendment only in respect to the basis of representation. General Blackburn was one of the minority, but did not sign the protest. The contest between "white basis " and "mixed basis" (counting negroes as well as whites) was not settled till 1850.
From 1816 to 1824-'5, nothing of interest occurred in the history of the county. Farmers delved, lawyers and doctors pursued their professions, mechanics toiled, and the ministers of religion were faith- ful to their calling.
In the year 1818, the Rev. John McCue, who had filled a large space in the county, was thrown from his horse and killed one Sabbath morning, while on his way to Tinkling Spring church.
Dr. Ruffner, in his History of Washington College, alluding to Mr. McCue, says : "He was a good man. When he chose,-which was not often, -he could tell comic stories in a manner irresistibly ludi- crons."*
* Mr. McCue's sons were James A., Jolın and Franklin, long prominent cit- izens of Augusta ; Dr. William McCue, of Lexington, and Cyrus, a lawyer, who died young. His daughters were Mrs. Mathews, Mrs. Porterfield, Mrs. Barry, Mrs. McDowell and Mrs. Miller. Major Moses McCue was a brother of the min- ister, and father of Moses H. McCue, the first sheriff under the Constitution of 1850.
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In the same year, (1818), the Presbyteriaus of Stauntou erected their first church building. The Methodists had long before had a church of their own. The Episcopalians, about 1811, re-occupied the old parish church, but had no regular rector till 1820, when the Rev. Dr. Stephens located here. For some fourteen or fifteen years the parish church was occupied by Episcopalians and Presbyterians 01 alternate Sundays.
The Presbyterian Synod of Virginia met in Staunton, in October, 1818. The Rev. Dr. John H. Rice, a member of the body, states in his diary, that he arrived in Stannton October 15th, and says :
" While in Staunton, I experienced the kindness of the people of that place, and had the pleasure of observing that they were in a great degree attentive to the preaching of the gospel by the members of the Synod. The Presbyterians have a large and very decent house of worship in the town, in a state of considerable forwardness. If com- pleted in the style in which it is begun, it will do great credit to the public spirit of the citizens."
Upon the erection of the New Presbyterian church, in 1870, the old building was turned over to the Augusta Female Seminary. The sessions of the Synod, 1818, were no doubt held in the old parish church.
During the time alluded to above, and for long afterward, the Presbyterian congregations of the county were served by a number of able and venerable ministers, such as are seldom found in close proximity. We can do little more than name some of them.
The Rev. William Calhoon came to the county in 1805, and till 1823 was pastor of the united congregations of Staunton and Hebron. Afterward, for many years, he was pastor of Hebron alone.
The Rev. Conrad Speece, D. D., a native of Campbell county, was pastor of Augusta church from 1813 to 1836. He cultivated general literature and wrote on a variety of subjects. He was eminent as a preacher, a public-spirited citizen, and no mean poet. The hymn be- ginning, " Blest Jesus, when thy cross I view," found in most church collections, was written by him .*
* The first school Conrad Speece attended when a boy was the New London Academy. At first he could not understand the Latin grammar, complaining to his teacher (Mr. Edward Graham) that he could never learn "that thing." Soon, however, he showed great aptness at acquiring knowledge. From New London he went to Lexington, and graduated there in 1796. After acting as tutor at Lexington for a year and a half, he studied theology, and was licensed as a preacher by Hanover Presbytery. In the course of time Princeton College con- ferred upon him the degree of D. D. He chewed tobacco excessively, even sleeping with a quid in his month. His figure was tall, heavy and nngraceful,
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The Rev. John Hendren, D. D., pastor of Mossy Creek and Union churches, was born in Ireland, but reared and educated in Lexington. He conducted a classical school at liis residence in this county for many years, of wide-spread reputation, at which many prominent men were educated.
The Rev. Francis McFarland, D. D., pastor of Bethel church, was also a native of Ireland, reared and educated in Western Pennsyl- vania.
The Rev. James C. Wilson, pastor of Tinkling Spring and Waynesborough, was a native of Rockbridge county.
All the ministers named were buried in the fields of their labor. Other denominations had ministers who were men of mark and in- fluence, but none of them remained here long enough to become identified with the county.
The Rev. John A. Van Lear, a native of the county, was for some years pastor of Mossy Creek church, and a cotemporary of several of the ministers just named.
In 1823 Kenton Harper, a young printer from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, bought the establishment of Isaac Collett, and converted the Republican Farmer into the Staunton Spectator, which he continued to publish until 1849. Some time before the arrival of Harper, Thomas J. Michie settled here to practise law, and in the course of time became widely known and distinguished as a lawyer.
On March 8, 1824, the Legislature passed an act chartering the " Staunton and James River Turnpike Company," with a capital of $200,000, for the construction of a turnpike from Staunton to Scotts- ville, in Albemarle. The company was formed, and the road was made in due time. This was the first graded road in the county, and was doubtless a valuable improvement. Previously, Augusta farmers wagoned their produce to Richmond, the trip requiring at least two weeks. Now Scottsville became the market town, and for a large part of every year the road leading to it was lined with Augusta wagons. The trip was shortened, and time was therefore saved ; but the labor was hardly less than before. The road, especially in Albe- marle, was often impassable, being cut into deep ruts by the wagons after every rain ; and sometimes being through its whole extent a "Slough of Despond." The broken parts of wagons scattered along
and his clothes, always much too large for his burly frame, hung loosely on him. His voice was loud, deep aud unmusical. He was very sociable, and full of droll humor and curious phrases. While a most able and interesting speaker, he did not excel as a prose writer. He never married.
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the route were like the debris of a battle field. Over this road, or not at all, the Augusta farmer transported his flour, etc., to market. In order to concentrate the product, and aid transportation, much grain was sent to market in the shape of whiskey. The "Temperance Reformation " had not then arisen, and there was a distillery on nearly every large farm in the county.
The wagons used for transporting produce to market have almost gone out of fashion, at least in this section of country, and a brief description of them is appropriate here. The "running gear" was very strong and heavy. The body was shaped somewhat like a boat, higher at the bow and stern than "mid-ship," and was spanned by hickory bows for supporting the covering of coarse canvas. An "end- gate" at the stern could be taken off for loading and unloading. The feed-trough was swung at the stern, and when in use was supported on the tongue by a simple arrangement. Every wagon was drawn by not less than four horses, and often six were employed, the horses being arranged two abreast. There was hardly any limit to the capac- ity of the wagon-body, and the loading was regulated by the strength of the horses and the condition of the roads. With good roads four horses were required to draw "forty hundred " pounds, including forage for the trip, and six horses "sixty hundred " pounds. The usnal load for four horses was about sixteen barrels of flour, (three thousand, four hundred and twenty-four pounds). A train of these wagons, from five to twenty in a line, creeping along a public road, the white canvas covers conspicuous at a distance, was always an in- teresting spectacle. The teamsters made themselves as jolly as pos- sible around their camp-fires at night, and on the road many of them betrayed much pride in their horses and equipments. The sight of one of the Kellers of Augusta, driving his team through the streets of Richmond, as most of our farmers did, suggested to St. Leger Carter, a member of the Legislature, his lines called "The Mountain Wagoner." The first stanza is as follows :
I've often thought if I were asked Whose lot I envied most, Which one I thought mostly lightly tasked Of man's unnumbered host ; I'd say I'd be a mountain boy, And drive a noble team-Wo hoy ! Wo hoy! I'd cry, and lightly fly Into my saddle seat ; My rein I'd slack, my whip I'd crack, What Music is so sweet ?
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But the life of the wagoner was not without its temptations, as well as hardships. The undue use of liquor often caused trouble. Dr. Speece was accustomed to say that some men who were staid church-members at home, left their religion on the Blue Ridge when they went east with their produce.
Probably three-fourths of the Augusta farmers drove their own teams to market. Iu Eastern Virginia the teamsters were always negro slaves, and the people of that section, associating something servile with the employment, imagined that the Cohees were generally rude and illiterate. But some of the Augusta wagoners were college- bred, many others were more or less educated, and most of them were men of sharp intellect. Moreover, they were accustomed to hear good sermons on Sunday, and good speeches at the bar on court days, and profited accordingly.
There was a marked difference between the speech and manners of the people of the two sections. The Tuckahoe carried himself rather pompously, and pronounced many words as his English forefathers did in the days of Queen Elizabeth .* The Cohee was plain and even blunt in his manners, and every now and then gave utterance to words which had come down to him from his Scotch- Irish ancestors, and which the Tuckahoe did not understand. Each thought the other spoke a mere jargon.t
* Such as whar and thar for where and there, and stars for stairs.
+ An anecdote is told of Capt. John Bowyer, of Rockbridge, which illustrates the feeling of the people of the two sections. Capt. Bowyer was a man of wealth and aristocratic manners, but nevertheless was elected a member of the Legis- lature for many successive years. In reply to the inquiry how such a man received the popular support, a plain Rockbridge voter said: "We send him to Richmond to sass the Tuckahoes."
SAMUEL BLACKBURN was born about the year 1758, and, it is presumed, somewhere in the bounds of Augusta county ; possibly, however, in the lower Valley. His parents probably removed to the Holston region, near the Tennessee line, at an early day. He was educated at Lexington, and in 1785, some years after he left Liberty Hall, the degree of A. B. was conferred upon him by that institution, along with Moses Hoge, John McCue, William Wilson and others. He served more or less as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was at the battle of Guilford Courthouse. At the close of the war he be- came the principal teacher of an academy in Washington, Georgia. While thus employed, he prepared himself for the practice of law. In August, 1785, he married Ann Mathews, the oldest daughter of
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Governor Mathews. During Governor Mathews' second term, in 1795, General Blackburn was a member of the Georgia Legislature. He voted against the famous "Yazoo Act," but was accused of other- wise promoting its passage, and was therefore bitterly assailed in the popular clamor which arose. It is not believed that there was any just ground for the assault upon his integrity ; but he quitted Georgia in disgust, and removed to Staunton. While residing here, he lived in the house on the west side of New street, north of Frederick, and opposite the Augusta Female Seminary. Some years afterwards he removed to a farm in Bath county, called the Wilderness. He was several times a candidate for Congress in the Augusta and Bath dis- trict, but never elected. He, however, repeatedly represented Bath in the Virginia Legislature. He was the author of the anti-duelling law of the State, said to be the first law of the kind passed in the country.
General Blackburn was one of the most successful orators and criminal lawyers of his time in Virginia. Governor Gilmer says of lıim : " His fine voice, expressive features, noble person, perfect self- possession, keen wit and forcible language, directed by a well-culti- vated and powerful intellect, made him one of the most eloquent men of his time. He was a Federalist in politics. His strong abusive de- nunciations of the Republicans, when he was a member of the Vir- ginia Legislature, made him long remembered by the parties of tlie State."
Many anecdotes in regard to him are still current. The late Wil- liam H. Terrill, of Bath, related that when he settled in that county Judge Stuart was on the bench of the Superior Court, and General Blackburn was at the bar. The Judge presided with much more for- mality and ceremony than are observed at the present day. Term after term, the grand jury, after being instructed by the court, retired, but speedily returned with the report that they had no presentments to make. This became almost a matter of course, and a part of the performance consisted in General Blackburn, with a most devout man- ner and voice, exclaiming aloud : "Thank God, we live in so well- ordered a community !" One night, however, the judge was kept awake by the card-playing members of the bar assembled in an adjoin- ing chamber, and when the jury came in the next day with their usual report, he administered to them a stern rebuke for their failure to present the gamblers. The general's thanksgiving was, of course, a sarcasm upon the jury.
Judge Stuart and General Blackburn were antipodes in politics. Both were men of strong convictions and ardent feelings, and very likely some degree of mutual dislike grew up between them. But not long before Judge Stuart's death, General Blackburn paid him a visit, and was cordially received. They were both visibly affected by the interview, and the general, in his emotion, forgot his hat and went ont bareheaded.
Governor Gilmer states that on one occasion he met General Blackburn at Rockingham court, and heard him defend with great
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power a criminal eighty years old, who had, when in the county poor- house, killed another inmate of about the same age in a fight about a cucumber, the only witness being a man ninety years old. He says : " The trial of such a criminal for such an offence, proved by such a witness, and advocated by such a lawyer, made a strong impression upon my memory."
General Blackburn, by his will, liberated his slaves, about forty in number, on condition that they would emigrate to Liberia, and they were taken to that country at the expense of his estate. He also left five hundred dollars to the Staunton Bible Society. He said in his will : " I die, as I trust, a Christian, believing as I must in the doctrine of the atonement by the death, the suffering and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, as delivered to us in the gospel by his evange- lists and apostles, into whose hands I wish with humble confidence to commit my soul and body with all their vast concerns till it shall please Him to reanimate them in a new and I trust highly improved mode of existence." He goes on to declare himself a Presbyterian, but to express the utmost charity for all professed Christians. He died March 2, 1835, his mind and physical powers having been im- paired for some years previously. His widow survived him about five years, and died in Staunton. He had no posterity, and an adopted son, George M. Barry, died before attaining manhood. His nephew, Samuel Blackburn, Jr., lived with him for many years. Another nephew was the eminent preacher, Gideon Blackburn, D. D., of Tennessee, who was greatly admired by his uncle. General Black- burn's handwriting was so illegible that liis correspondents sometimes repaired to him with his letters to learn their contents, and he could not always read them himself. He obtained his title from service in the militia, in Georgia.
CHAPTER XVII.
FROM THE YEAR 1825 TO THE YEAR 1833.
The subject we now approach demands a new chapter, if not a whole chapter. But yet an apology, or at least a precedent, is required for introducing it. Therefore, we shall first give a brief ac- count of some wonderful occurrences a hundred and ten years earlier, in England, citing Southey's Life of Wesley as our authority.
The Rev. Samuel Wesley was a minister of the church of England. His son, John, the founder of the Methodist church, was, at the time referred to, a boy at school, away from home.
On the night of December 2, 1715, Mr. Wesley's servants in the dining room, were frightened by dismal groans as of a person at the point of death. Strange noises were shortly heard over the house, and outside as well as in,-rapping with a stick, rattling among bot- tles, footsteps of a man going up and down stairs, the rocking of a cradle, and gobbling of a turkey cock. Every time the noises began, the house dog appeared more terrified than any of the children. For two weeks Mr. Wesley did not hear the noises, and when his wife told him of them he was angry and said : "Suky, I am ashamed of yon : these boys and girls frighten one another ; but you are a woman of sense, and should know better. Let me hear of it no more." That evening, however, at family prayer, when Mr. Wesley began the prayer for the King, a knocking began all around the room, and a thundering knock attended the Amen. " The Ghost " was evidently a Jacobite, and so was Mrs. Wesley .- She never would say Amen to the prayer for King William.
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