USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, with reminiscences illustrative of the vicissitudes of its pioneer settlers > Part 20
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At a meeting of the trustees of the academy, held May 23, 1793, Dr. Humphreys was appointed president of the board. The Rev. Charles O'Neal was elected principal, and the tuition fees were fixed as follows : for the learned languages or mathe- matics, one guinea the quarter ; writing, arithmetic, and rudi- ments of English, 10 shillings ; teaching English grammatically, £1.
In November, 1795, William Sterret offered himself as teacher of Latin and Greek, and the Rev. John McCue, John Coalter, Dr. Humphreys, and Archibald Stuart, were appointed a com- mittee to examine him. The Rev. Hugh White, however, was "authorized to teach," August 27, 1796. Next, in 1800 and 1801, James Clarke and John McCausland taught in separate rooms under the auspices of the trustees. As yet no building had been erected for the academy, and rooms were provided by the trus- tees in the town.
An act of the Legislature was passed December 22, 1792, which, among other things, organized the militia regiments of Augusta, Rockingham, and Shenandoah as the Seventh bri- gade
A post-office was first established at Staunton in 1793. Previ-
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ous to that date all letters received here were brought by trav- elers. As described of the " mail facilities " of east Tennessee in 1796, every horseman had in his saddle-bags, or portmanteau, a wallet, in which he carried letters. This was carefully opened and examined at the several places where the traveler lodged, and the letters delivered or forwarded as the case required. The inhabitants cheerfully performed the duty of forwarding letters thus brought into their possession. An endorsement "on the public service," secured the transmission of a letter by a volunteer express with the utmost fidelity.
The first postmaster at Staunton was Robert Douthat, whose accounts with the government began March 20, 1793. He was succeeded by William Chambers, who held the office from Janu- ary 1, 1795, till October 1, 1796. At the latter date, Vincent Tapp became the postmaster, and he was succeeded July 1, 1798, by Lawrence Tremper. Mr. Tremper was postmaster nearly forty-three years. He died in January, 1841, and Norborne C. Brooks was appointed in his place, February 4, 1841. In 1789 the number of post-offices in the whole United States was only seventy-five.45
Archibald Stuart, of Staunton, was elected a judge of the gen- eral court in 1799, and for some years presided, with an associate, in the district courts. At the time of his election he was a mem- ber of the Legislature.
The tide of Indian warfare had rolled back from Augusta county as white settlers located in the west, but it did not cease on the frontier till 1794. In August of that year, General An- thony Wayne, at the head of a considerable force, encountered and routed a large body of Indians at the rapids of the great Maumee river in Ohio. General Wayne had been distinguished during the Revolutionary war, but his last achievement made him a popular hero. He escaped becoming President of the United States by dying in 1796. He, however, had the honor of giving his name to divers and sundry places. Waynesbo- rough, in Augusta county, which was founded about that time, was called for him. The Wayne Tavern, in Staunton, was another of his namesakes. This tavern, which stood at the
" In 1800 the number was 903, and in 1884, 50,017, of which 45 were in Augusta county.
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northwest corner of Beverley and New streets, invited travelers to take shelter there by its old-fashioned swinging sign, on which a native artist exhausted his skill in trying to paint a like- ness of " Mad Anthony." The Washington Tavern stood on the present site of the Virginia Hotel, and displayed on its sign a portrait of the Father of his Country.
John Wise, a soldier under Wayne at the Maumee, settled in Staunton before the close of the century. He was originally a printer, and at one time published a newspaper here.
While General Wayne was on his expedition against the In- dians, the Whiskey Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania culmi- nated. Not being able to transport their grain to market, the people of that region, as many others then and since, converted the products of their farms into whiskey. A horse could not transport more than four bushels of grain, but it could carry the product of twenty four bushels in the shape of "high wines." By means of this article the people obtained the other necessaries of life. Whiskey was then considered indispensable. Every- body used it more or less, and, as was .remarked, "a man could not be born, married, or buried without it." Congress, however, passed an act laying a duty on distilled spirits, and the people of Western Pennsylvania rose in rebellion against the tax as unjust and oppressive. Politicians of the Republican party throughout the country sympathized to some extent with the insurgents, while Federalists supported the government A military force of 14,000 men was raised, and under command of General Henry Lee, Governor of Virginia, marched into the disturbed district. These troops were from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia. There was no fighting, however, and most of the soldiers returned home in a short time.
A company of cavalry, or mounted infantry, from this section, composed a part of Lee's army. It was commanded by Robert Grattan, then a merchant of Staunton, afterwards Major Grattan, of Rockingham. In all probability Grattan's company were the soldiers referred to in the following anecdote related by the Rev. Dr. Ruffner in his History of Washington College. Alluding to the Rev. William Graham, founder of that institution, Dr. Ruffner says :
" Another illustration of Mr. Graham's bold and independent spirit was a scene which occurred at Harrisonburg at a meeting
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of the Synod of Virginia, in the year 1794, when a company of soldiers arrived there on their way to put down the whiskey in- surgents of Pennsylvania. The Rev. Moses Hoge, warm with pa- triotic zeal, moved that the Synod should adopt an address to the people, inculcating obedience to the laws. Mr. Graham opposed all Synodical action on the subject, and boldly avowed that the 'whiskey boys,' as they were usually called, were not rebels, but a suffering people, whose grievances ought to be redressed. Other members also opposed the motion, either because they sympa- thized with the 'whiskey boys'-whiskey being at that time a chief staple of the Valley, and the tax upon its manufacture was felt as a grievance. The address was carried by a small majority. The soldiers were exasperated against Mr. Graham and his party, and threatened violence against him, insomuch that he found it expedient to retire privately from the scene of tumult."
Captain Grattan's company performed another service, on the occasion of the captain's return to Staunton after his marriage, which is worth mentioning. Colonel John G. Gamble, in his un- published account of the Grattan family, says: "I accompanied his troop of cavalry, which went out some eight or ten miles to meet their captain and escort his young bride to town."
The court-martial of the Thirty second regiment of militia was held in Staunton, December 12, 1794. Lieutenant-Colonel An- drew Anderson presided, and Robert Doak was present as a captain. Smith Thompson was elected provost marshal. Joseph Bell, of Captain Turk's company, "charged with not performing his tour of duty against the insurgents when called upon," ap- peared and was acquitted. For the offence mentioned, however, John Armstrong was fined $36, and Benjamin Grove, $15. Other militiamen were tried on the same charge, some being acquitted and others convicted and fined.
Mr. Jefferson, while residing at Monticello, previous to his election to the presidency, turned his attention, among his various projects, to the manufacture of nails, and wished to establish an agency in Staunton. In June, 1795, he wrote to Archibald Stuart, his former pupil and personal and political friend, inclosing some "nail cards," which he wished put into the hands of a substantial and punctual merchant. He sug- gested a Mr. Stuart, Mr. St. Clair, or Gamble & Grattan. The next year, in January, he wrote again on the same subject. The
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nail business was not prospering, evidently ; but we are gratified to find that even at that early day Staunton was considered a better market, at least for nails, than Warren or Warminster. In February following, the price of nails had gone up in Philadel- phia, and the "Sage of Monticello" was encouraged. He advised his Staunton correspondent to embark in the manufac- ture of potash, and assured him there were "millions in it." The tradesmanlike way he wrote about " penny brads," and the profits of potash, remind one of Dr. Johnson playing the busi- ness man at the sale of Thrale's brewery. From a letter, writ- ten at Philadelphia, June 8, 1798, Mr. Jefferson being vice-presi- dent, it seems that John McDowell was then the agent at Staun- ton. Mr. Jefferson · was anxious for a remittance, as for six months he had been advancing money for nail rods. McDowell threw up the agency in 1799, and by that time it appears the "nailery " was near its end.
Before the close of the century some attempts were made to establish factories in the county. In 1790 an act was passed by the Legislature authorizing Alexander St. Clair, William Cham- bers, John Boys, Robert Grattan, Robert Gamble, and others, to raise by lottery three hundred pounds, to be applied by them in erecting a paper mill near Staunton, "for the use of Gideon Morgan and Peter Burkhart." And, in 1791, another act au- thorized trustees to raise four thousand dollars by lottery for re- pairing and completing Smith Tandy's "bleaching mill " near Staunton.
In the year 1796 Staunton was visited by Isaac Weld, an Eng- lish traveler, whose book of Travels through the States of North America, etc., was published in London in 1799. In his pages we find some description of Staunton and the surrounding coun- try at the date of the visit. He says: "As I passed along it" (the road traversing the Valley) " I met with great numbers of people from Kentucky“ and the new State of Tennessee, going
" From the date of the first settlement of Kentucky, till near the close of the century, the most frequented route of travel from the north- eastern States to Kentucky was called the "Wilderness road," which traversed the Valley of Virginia, passing through Staunton, Fincastle, and Cumberland Gap. A northern route was also traveled to some extent, but it was exceedingly dangerous on account of the hostility of the Indians on the north bank of the Ohio river. In 1790 Mr. Charles
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towards. Philadelphia and Baltimore, and with many others going in a contrary direction, 'to explore,' as they call it, that is, to search for lands conveniently situated for new settlements in the western country. These people all travel on horseback, with pistols or swords, and a large blanket folded up under their sad- dles, which last they use for sleeping in when obliged to pass the night in the woods *
* * Thirty miles further on" (from Lexington) "stands Staunton. This town carries on a. considerable trade with the back country, and contains nearly two hundred dwellings, mostly built of stone, together with a church. This was the first place on the entire road from Lynch- burg, one hundred and fifty miles distant, and which I was about ten days in traveling, where I was able to get a bit of fresh meat, excepting indeed on passing the Blue Mountains, where they brought me some venison that had been just killed. I went on fifty miles further from Staunton before I got any again. * " In every part of America a European is surprised at finding
* so many men with military titles, * * but nowhere, 1 believe, is there such a superfluity of these military personages as in the town of Staunton ; there is hardly a decent person in it, excepting lawyers and medical men, but what is a colonel, a major, or a captain. *
* * In Staunton there are two or three corps " (volunteer military companies), "one of cavalry, the other of artillery. These are formed chiefly of men who find a certain degree of amusement in exercising as soldiers, and who are also induced to associate by the vanity of appearing in regimentals."
Weld relates that when he was in Staunton a party of Creek Indians arrived there on their way to Philadelphia, then the seat
Johnston started with Mr. John May, of Petersburg, on a business trip to Kentucky. They went through the wilderness from Lewisburg to the Kanawha, and about where Charleston now stands embarked with others in a flat boat to go down the Kanawha and Ohio rivers. When near the mouth of the Sciota the party was decoyed to the northern shore and assailed by Indians. Mr. May and a woman were killed, and the others captured. After several months young Johnston was re- deemed by British traders at Detroit, and returned home. He was the father of Frederick Johnston, Esq, long clerk of the courts of Roanoke county, and grandfather of the Rev. Lewis B. Johnston, pastor of Hebron church, Augusta county.
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of the United States Government. The next morning half of the Indians set off without the others, who did not follow till some hours afterwards. When the latter started, several of the townspeople on horseback escorted them part of the way. After proceeding along the road for some miles they all at once turned off into the woods, though there was no path. The peo- ple who accompanied them, surprised at the movement, informed them that they were quitting the road to Philadelphia and would miss their companions who had gone on before. The Indians persisted, however, asserting that they knew the way and the route taken by the others. Curiosity led some of the horsemen to go on, and to their surprise the first party of Indians was overtaken in the thickest part of the wood. Moreover, the route taken, as well as could be ascertained, was on an air-line to Philadelphia. This anecdote is quoted, in a note to Campbell's Gertrude of Wyoming, as an instance of Indian sagacity.
Rochefoucault, the French philanthropist, visited Staunton in 1797. He does not give a flattering picture of the place, but as a faithful annalist we reproduce it, protesting, however, that Staunton and its people are very different now-a-days. He says there were eight inns here, fifteen to eighteen stores, and about eight hundred inhabitants. Two market days were kept weekly, but badly furnished with provisions. Fresh meat sold at six- pence per pound (eight cents), flour at eleven dollars per barrel. A newspaper was published twice a week (?). The inhabitants, like the generality of Virginians, were fond of gambling and bet- ting. The traveler witnessed here two miserable horse races. Manners were much like those of Richmond, nor were the peo- ple " actuated by a superior desire to discharge the debts which they contracted." During his stay at the inn he "saw great numbers of travelers pass by, merchants or sellers of land, going to Greenbrier and Carolina, or persons on their way to the me- dicinal springs." The goods sold by the storekeepers were brought from Baltimore or Philadelphia.
Rochefoucault states that at the time of his visit a Presbyterian church was going up in Staunton. He is clearly mistaken as to the denomination, as the Presbyterians had no building till twenty years afterwards, and it was no doubt the first house of worship erected by the Methodists that attracted his attention.
At the time the French traveler was in Staunton, Bob Bailey, 14
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the noted gambler, made his headquarters here. He was an ele- gant gentleman, very insinuating, and very likely sought the acquaintance of the stranger. A few years afterwards he was in the hands of the district court upon the charge of "exhibiting faro," but fled to escape the penalty of the law.
The Rev. JAMES WADDELL was born in July, 1739, either in County Down, Ireland, or on the long passage across the Atlantic. His father was Thomas Waddell, who, it is believed, was a son of William Wad- dell, one of the prisoners captured at Bothwell Bridge, in 1679, as men- tioned in a previous note. Thomas Waddell settled in. Eastern Penn- sylvania, near the Delaware State line. His youngest son, James, had his left hand nearly severed from the wrist during his early boyhood, by an axe wielded by an older brother, who was cutting into a hollow tree in pursuit of a hare; and although the hand, upon being bandaged, adhered to the arm, it was permanently disabled. He was educated at the school of the Rev. Dr. Finley, at Nottingham, Pennsylvania, then one of the most celebrated schools in the colonies, and finally became an assistant teacher. Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, was one of his pupils. When nineteen or twenty years old, in 1758 or 1759, young Waddell was proceeding on horseback to South Carolina, to engage in .
teaching, but on arriving in Hanover county he was prevailed upon by the Rev. Samuel Davies to remain in Virginia. His first employment was as a teacher with the Rev. John Todd, of Louisa county, with whom he also studied theology. While he was teaching in Louisa it is said that several of the young Lewises, of Augusta, were amongst his pupils. He was licensed as a preacher by Hanover Presbytery in 1761, and after preaching at various places, including Hat creek, in Campbell, he settled in Lancaster county, where there was a considerable congre- gation of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. His preaching soon attracted much attention. An aged man named Irvin, son of the first white set- tler in Campbell, many years ago wrote a history of Hat Creek church. After speaking of several other ministers who had preached at Hat Creek, the writer, alluding to Mr. Waddell, says: "And an eloquent one he was. It was said forty years back [probably about 1800] that of all the preachers who had preached at Hat creek, none was so much of an orator as Mr. Waddell." Colonel James Gordon, of Lancaster, kept a diary which, in part, has been preserved, and in it alludes to the sensa- tion in that county caused by the young preacher. In Lancaster Mr. Waddell married a daughter of Colonel Gordon. Soon after the break- ing out of the Revolutionary war, his health being impaired by the . climate of the lower country, he purchased and removed to the Spring- hill estate, in Augusta. While living in Augusta he preached regularly
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at Tinkling Spring, and occasionally in Staunton. He took an active part during and after the war in the movement in favor of religious liberty, and is said to have written one of the memorials of Hanover Presbytery to the Legislature on that subject. After the war he removed to an estate near the present town of Gordonsville, and there he spent the last twenty years of his life. During this period he was totally blind from cataract for several years, but partially recovered his sight after undergoing a surgical operation. He continued to preach while blind, chiefly in a log meeting-house he had built on his own land. He also often preached by invitation in the former parish churches of the establishment. Bishop Meade quotes from the parish records his formal invitations to fill such pulpits. Carlisle College, Pennsylvania, conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. His death occurred in Sep- tember, 1805. He was buried on his plantation, and, by his direction, his remains were borne to the grave by his colored male slaves. Before his death he destroyed all his manuscripts, except a few fragments. His powers of oratory were testified to, not only by Mr. Wirt, but by Gov- ernor Barbour, Judge Stuart, the Rev. Dr. Baxter, the Rev. Dr. Alexan- der, and many others. The ornate style of Mr. Wirt's account of the "Blind Preacher " has caused many people to regard the piece as a fiction, and the person himself as almost a myth. Some of the details are certainly fictitious. It is said that Dr. Waddell never appeared in public in the costume described by Wirt. He is described also as a very old man, whereas he was only sixty-four, although his blindness and palsy probably caused him to appear older. Wirt represents himself as a stranger who had never heard of the preacher till he encountered him in the rustic meeting-house. They were well acquainted, however, years before the letters of the British Spy were published; and instead of no one in Richmond knowing of the preacher, he was well known by many people there. Other liberties were taken by Mr. Wirt, but to his dying day he declared that he had given a truthful account of Dr. Waddell's eloquence.
The children of Dr. Waddell who survived him were, James G., born in Lancaster; Mrs. Elizabeth Calhoun, Mrs. Janetta Alexander, and Ann H., born in Augusta; and Addison (M. D.), Sally and Lyttelton, born in Louisa, near Gordonsville.
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CHAPTER IX.
FROM 1800 TO 1812.
Before the year 1800 Staunton was thronged every summer and fall with people going to and returning from "The Springs." The Warm and Sweet Springs were then much frequented by invalids and pleasure seekers.
Dr. William Boys, long a prominent physician in Staunton, and the first physician of the Western Lunatic Asylum, came here from Philadelphia about the beginning of the present cen- tury, having received his professional education in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was a cousin of John Boys, heretofore mentioned, and their wives were sisters, daughters of Alexander St. Clair."
From the books of the commissioners of the revenue for the year 1800 we obtain some interesting facts. The number of tith- ables in the county, including Staunton, was 3,236. The number of horses was 6,088. The cattle were not listed. Four-wheeled riding carriages were taxed, but gigs were not ; and the number of the former in the county was exactly two, viz .: Thomas Mar- tin's "stage," and Archibald Stuart's " chariot." The total tax was $1,557.78.
47 Another daughter of Alexander St. Clair was the wife of Captain Robert Williamson, a sea captain in the mercantile service, and by birth a Scotchman. Captain Williamson spent most of his life on the ocean, voyaging to and from China, Archangel, and other foreign countries. His family resided in Philadelphia till the war of 1812 banished trading vessels from the sea. He then removed to Staunton and engaged in merchandising, in partnership, at different times, with Mr. Cowan and Captain John C. Sowers. He is described as a man of vigorous mind, exemplary character, and ardently religious. His death occurred in 1823.
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Twenty-five merchants doing business in the county, paid license tax the same year, and among them appear the still familiar names of John McDowell, Jacob Swoope, Andrew Barry, John Wayt, Joseph Cowan, Alexander St. Clair, Peter Hanger, and others.
Joseph Cowan was a conspicuous citizen of the county for many years, although he never held any public office, except that of treasurer of the Western Lunatic Asylum. He was a native of the north of Ireland, and possessed all the character- istics of his race in a prominent degree. There was no bank in Staunton during his time, and he acted as banker for many citi- zens of the county. His store was a favorite place of resort for elderly men. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church, and very rigid in his observance of the Sabbath day.
Dr. Alexander Humphreys, who died in Staunton, in 1802, and whose family afterwards removed to Kentucky, seems to have been the solitary practicing physician in the county in 1800. Still the lawyers were exempt from license tax. Surely there were lawyers here at the time. General Samuel Blackburn was living here, and was at the zenith of his fame as an advocate. He afterwards removed to his estate, called the Wilderness, in Bath county, where he spent the latter years of his life.
Another citizen of the county, in 1800, must not be omitted. The Rev. John Glendy, D. D., was born in Londonderry, Ireland, June 24, 1755, and educated at the University of Glasgow. For several years he was pastor of a Presbyterian church at London- derry. When the rebellion of 1798 occurred, his course was ob- noxious to the government, and an order was issued for his arrest. After concealing himself in various places, he gave himself up for trial. He always declared that he had taken no active part in the rebellion, but, nevertheless, he was convicted, and sentenced to perpetual banishment. He and his wife were compelled to embark for America in an old vessel, which, in distress, put in at Nor- folk. This was in 1799. Mr. Glendy preached at Norfolk, and attracted much attention by his oratory. The climate of lower Virginia proved unfavorable to Mrs. Glendy's health, and by advice of a physician he came to Staunton. Here he was em- ployed by the Presbyterians of the town and of Bethel congre- gation to minister to them temporarily. On the 22d of Febru- ary, 1800, he delivered in Staunton a eulogy of Washington,
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