USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, with reminiscences illustrative of the vicissitudes of its pioneer settlers > Part 6
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14 The Rev. John Blair, a native of Ireland, while living in Cumber- land county, Pennsylvania, made two visits to Virginia, the last in 1746. He officiated for a time as Vice-President of Princeton College, and died in Orange county, New York, in 1771. He was the father of the Rev. John D. Blair, the first Presbyterian minister in Richmond, Vir- ginia. Another son, William Lawrence Blair, became a lawyer and set- tled in Kentucky.
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The vestry of the parish met August 21, 1753, and ordered the church-wardens "to pale in a church yard one hundred feet square," and also "to pale and clear out a garden of half an acre at the glebe." At the meeting on November 28th, Robert Campbell, of whom the glebe land was pur- chased, acknowledged payment of £60 in full. Colonel John Lewis acknowledged payment to him of {148, the "full sum agreed on for building the glebe work according to bargain," and renewed his obligation to pay Mr. Jones {20 a year till the buildings should be finished, Mr. Jones consenting thereto.
The Colonial Assembly passed an act at their session which began in November, 1753, reciting that part of the county and parish of Augusta was within the bounds of the Northern Neck belonging to Lord Fairfax, and setting off this portion of Au- gusta and a part of Frederick to form the county of Hampshire.
The " returns" of the early sheriffs give us an idea of the state of the country and the times in which these officers lived. In the year 1751 the sheriff, on an execution issued in the cause of Johnson vs. Brown, made return: "Not executed by reason, there is no road to the place where he lives." Other execu- tions were returned as follows: "Not executed by reason of excess of weather;" "Not executed by reason of an axx;" " Not executed by reason of a gun." In Emlen vs. Miller, 1753 : "Kept off from Miller with a club, and Miller not found by Humphrey Marshal." In Bell vs. Warwick, 1754: " Exe- cuted on the within John Warwick, and he is not the man." In August, 1755, forty-nine executions were returned : "Not executed by reason of the disturbance of the Indians."
Major ANDREW HAMILTON was born in Augusta county in 1741. His parents were Archibald and Frances Calhoun Hamilton, who came to this country from Ireland. Archibald is said to have been a descend- ant of James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, who was regent of Scotland during the infancy of Mary Stuart.
The date of Archibald Hamilton's settlement in Augusta is not known. He was probably one of the first to come, and like other early settlers, located on the public domain, without legal title to his homestead. In 1747, however, he received from William Beverley, the patentee, a deed for three hundred and two acres of land on Christian's
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creek, in Beverley Manor, for the nominal consideration of five shil- lings. He also acquired lands by patent from the government. He survived till about the year 1794. His children were five sons, Audly, John, Andrew, William, and Archibald, and a daughter named Lettice.
Andrew Hamilton married, in Augusta, Jane Magill, a native of Pennsylvania, and in 1765 removed to South Carolina and settled at Ab- beville, in the neighborhood of Andrew Pickens, afterwards the cele- brated General Pickens, who had gone with his parents from Augusta some years previously. Both Hamilton and Pickens entered the mili- tary service at the beginning of the Revolutionary war. The former served through the whole war, first as captain and then as major under General Pickens, and took part in nearly all the important battles in South Carolina and Georgia. At one time he was imprisoned in a block-house on his own estate.
After the war, Major Hamilton was elected to the Legislature of South Carolina, and continued to serve in that capacity till he was unfitted for it by old age. Then he was requested to nominate his suc- cessor, who was immediately elected.
The life of Major Hamilton was long and eventful. He died January 19, 1835, in the ninety-fifth year of his age, his wife having died April 20, 1826, in her eighty-sixth year. The remains of this aged and dis- tinguished couple lie in the cemetery of Upper Long Cane Church, of which General Pickens and Major Hamilton are said to have been the first elders.
Major Hamilton is described as a strict Presbyterian in his religious faith and a man of inflexible will, dauntless courage, and superb physi- cal development. He left many descendants, and among them are the Simonds and Ravenels, of Charleston, Parkers and Waties, of Colum- bia, Calhouns, of South Carolina and Georgia, and Alstons and Cabells, of Virginia. Some time before the year 1830, Major Hamilton and one of his daughters, Mrs. Alston, made a trip on horseback from South Carolina to Augusta county, to visit the spot where he was born and reared. It was his first visit-one of tender remembrance-since he had left the county in his youth. A brother of his went to Kentucky and was the founder of a wealthy and distinguished family.
The Rev. CHARLES CUMMINGS was born in Ireland and emigrated to Lancaster county, Virginia, where he taught school and studied the- ology with the Rev. James Waddell. He was licensed to preach by Hanover Presbytery at Tinkling Spring, April 17, 1766. As stated, he became pastor of Brown's meeting-house congregation in 1767. The elders present at his ordination were George Moffett, Alexander Walker, and John McFarland. In 1773 he was called to minister to two congregations on the Holston. and settled near Abingdon. The call was signed by one hundred and twenty heads of families-Campbells, Blackburns, Edmondsons, Christians, Thompsons, Montgomerys, and
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others. The country on the Holston was then exposed to Indian inroads, and Mr. Cummings was in the habit of carrying his rifle with him into the pulpit. On one occasion he was engaged in a deadly con- flict with the Indians. In 1776 he accompanied the troops under Colonel Christian in their expedition against the Cherokees, and was the first minister that ever preached in Tennessee. He died in 1812.
The Rev. JAMES MADISON, D. D., was born August 27, 1749, near Port Republic, then in Augusta county. He was educated at William and Mary College, and first studied law, but soon abandoned that profes- sion for the ministry. In 1773 he was chosen Professor of Mathematics in William and Mary, and going to England was there licensed as a minister by the Bishop of London. Returning to Virginia he resumed his place in the College, of which he became President in 1777. He presided as Bishop over the first Convention of the Protestant Episco- pal Church of Virginia in May, 1785. During the same year the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by the University of Pennsylvania. He died in 1815. His children were a son, James C. Madison, of Roanoke county, and a daughter, Mrs. Robert G. Scott, of Richmond.
CHAPTER III.
INDIAN WARS, ETC., FROM 1753 TO 1756.
From 1753, for more than ten years, war raged all along the frontier. We do not propose to give a history of the general war, and can only briefly sketch some of the principal events which immediately concerned the people of Augusta county.
Some account of the Indian tribes most frequently in contact with the white settlers of this region is appropriate here. With- ers states, in his "Border Warfare" [p. 39], that when Virginia became known to the whites, the portion of the State lying northwest of the Blue Ridge and extending to the lakes was pos- sessed by the Massawomees. These were a powerful confed- eracy, rarely in unity with the tribes east of that range of moun- tains; but generally harassing them by frequent hostile irrup- tions into their country. Of their subsequent history, nothing is now known. They are supposed . by some to have been the ancestors of the Six Nations.
"As settlements were extended from the sea shore," says Withers, "the Massawomees gradually retired ; and when the white population reached the Blue Ridge, the Valley between it and the Alleghany was entirely uninhabited. This delightful re- gion of country was then only used as a hunting ground, and as a highway for belligerent parties of different nations, in their military expeditions against each other. In consequence of the almost continuous hostilities between the northern and southern Indians, these expeditions were very frequent, and tended some- what to retard the settlement of the Valley, and render a resi- dence in it, for some time, insecure and unpleasant. Between
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the Alleghany mountains and the Ohio river, within the present limits of Virginia, there were some villages interspersed, in- habited by small numbers of Indians ; the most of whom retired northwest of that river as the tide of emigration rolled towards it. Some, however, remained in the interior after settlements began to be made in their vicinity.
"North of the present boundary of Virginia, and particularly near the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, and in the circumjacent country, the Indians were more numerous, and their villages larger. In 1753, when General Washington visited the French posts on the Ohio, the spot which had been selected by the Ohio Company as the site for a fort, was occu- pied by Shingess, King of the Delawares; and other parts of the proximate country were inhabited by Mingoes and Shawanees [Shawnees]. When the French were forced to abandon the posi- tion which they had taken at the forks of Ohio, the greater part of the adjacent tribes removed further west. So that when improvements were begun to be made in the wilderness of North- western Virginia it had been almost entirely deserted by the na- tives ; and excepting a few straggling hunters and warriors, who occasionally traversed it in quest of game, or of human beings on whom to wreak their vengeance, almost its only tenants were beasts of the forest."
We have no statistics of Indian population in 1753. A Cap- tain Hutchins visited most of the tribes in 1768, and made the most accurate estimate he could of their numbers at that date. The Indian population was no doubt much greater in 1753 than in 1768; ten years of war having thinned their ranks con- siderably. In the latter year the statistics were as follows, as reported by Hutchins: The Cherokees, in the western part of North Carolina, now Tennessee, numbered about two thou- sand five hundred. The Chickasaws resided south of the Cherokees, and had a population of seven hundred and fifty. The Catawbas, on the Catawba river, in South Carolina, num- bered only one hundred and fifty. These last, although so few, were remarkably enterprising. They are said to have frequently traversed the Valley of Virginia, and even pene- trated the country on the Susquehanna and between the Ohio and Lake Erie, to wage war with the Delawares. The more northern tribes were the Delawares, Shawnees, Chippewas,
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Wyandots, Miamis and other northwestern tribes, and had an aggregate population of about three thousand five hundred. The Shawnees, the terror of the inhabitants of Augusta county from the frontier to the Blue Ridge, in 1753, numbered only about three hundred in 1768. They then dwelt on the Sciota and Muskingum rivers, in Ohio.
Kercheval states that the Catawba and Delaware Indians were said to have been engaged in war at the time the Valley was first entered by white people, and that the feud was continued for many years afterwards. Several bloody battles were fought between these tribes on or near the Potomac. One of these occurred at the mouth of Antietam creek, in 1736, it is believed. " The Delawares," says Kercheval, "had penetrated far to the south, committed some acts of outrage on the Catawbas, and on their retreat were overtaken at the mouth of this creek, when a desperate conflict ensued. Every man of the Delaware party was put to death, with the exception of one who escaped after the battle was over, and every Catawba held up a scalp, but one. This was a disgrace not to be borne; and he instantly gave chase to the fugitive, overtook him at the Susquehanna river, (a distance little short of one hundred miles, ) killed and scalped him, and returning showed his scalp to several white people, and exulted in what he had done." Other battles between these tribes occurred at Painted Rock, on the South Branch; at Hanging Rock, in Hampshire; and near the site of Franklin, Pendleton county. According to Kercheval, a few Shawnees continued to live in the lower valley till 1754, when they removed west of the Alleghany mountain.
According to tradition, a battle between Indians occurred on the Cowpasture river, near Millborough, Bath county, where there is a small mound supposed to cover the remains of the slain. In the spring of 1886 the floods washed away a portion of the mound, and exposed to view five large skeletons in a good state of preservation.
Europeans paid little or no attention to the claim of the Indians to the territory which they held, or roamed over. France held Canada and Louisiana, which latter was understood to embrace all the country west of the Mississippi river. The territory mentioned was conceded by England to France; but not content with this vast domain, the French claimed all the
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territory watered by streams tributary to the Mississippi. In pursuance of their claim, they built Fort Du Quesne, where Pittsburg now stands, at that time, as held by Virginians, within the county of Augusta. In 1753, Governor Dinwiddie sent Major Washington to remonstrate with the French officer com- manding on the Ohio, and to warn him that war was inevitable unless he withdrew. The French persisting in their claim, Dinwiddie began to prepare for the conflict, and invited the co-operation of the other colonies. The Indians, at first not specially friendly to either side, were conciliated by the French, and proved their faithful and efficient allies during the war.
Colonel James Patton was "County Lieutenant," or com- mander-in-chief, of the Augusta militia, in 1754. In January of that year, Governor Dinwiddie wrote to him that he had deter- mined to send two hundred men to reinforce the troops then build- ing a fort on the Monongahela. He therefore ordered Patton to "draw out" the militia of the county, and from them obtain by volunteering, or drafting, fifty men for the purpose. The troops were to be "at Alexandria, the head of Potomack river, by the 20th of next mo. and if possible with their arms, &c." As the county was large, the number of men called for so small, "and the pay so very good," the Governor did not doubt that there would be a sufficient number of volunteers. They were to be commanded, he said, by Major George Washington. The company was no doubt raised and led by Andrew Lewis. At any rate, Lewis was with Washington, July 4, 1754, at the capitulation of Fort Necessity, and, although wounded and hobbling on a staff, by his coolness probably prevented a gene- ral massacre of the Virginia troops. Washington had been compelled to fall back to Fort Necessity, a rude stockade at Great Meadows. On the 3d of July, about noon, six hundred French, with one hundred Indians, came in sight, and took possession of one of the eminences, where, says Bancroft, [Vol. IV, p. 121,] every soldier found a large tree for his shelter, and could fire in security on the troops beneath. For nine hours, in a heavy rain, the fire was returned. At last, after thirty of the English, and but three of the French had been killed, De Villiers, the French commander, proposed a parley. The terms of capitulation which were offered were interpreted to Washington, who did not understand French, and, as inter-
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preted, were accepted. On the 4th, the English garrison, retaining all its effects, withdrew from the basin of the Ohio.
In his book called " Georgians," to which we have heretofore referred, Governor Gilmer relates an occurrence near Staunton as follows :
" In June, 1754, a party of twelve Northwestern Indian war- riors stopped at John Lewis's on their return from the South, where they had been satisfying their revenge upon the Cherokees for some injury received. Some of his neighbors happened to be there, whose families or friends had suffered from attacks of the Indians. They insisted upon the party remaining until night, and exhibiting their dances. Upon their consenting, they left and employed the time until dark collecting the neighbors who had suffered from Indian murders. A beef was killed, and a large log fire made, around which the Indians assembled, cooking and eating to their stomach's content. They danced and drank whiskey until their lookers-on were satisfied with the display of their antics, and then went on their way homeward as far as the Middle river, where they lodged in Anderson's barn. As soon as they were sound asleep the whites were upon them with their axes, knives and guns. Only one escaped. For that night's doings many Virginia wives were made widows, and mothers childless. The government of Virginia endeavored to punish the perpetrators. All fled to some distant part of the extended frontier of the colonies, except one by the name of King, who lived a skulking life for a long time, always keeping his gun near him. He sometimes would go to the old Augusta church, the great assembling place for worship of the Scotch-Irish of that part of the country, where, seated upon the sill of the door with his inseparable companion, the rifle, in his hand, he listened to the words of the preacher, so necessary to the comfort of the Irish spirit, whether Protestant or Catholic. He was suffered to work out his own punishment, avoiding all men, and avoided by all."
We presume this story is substantially true as related. Gover- nor Gilmer's mother being a daughter of Thomas Lewis, the surveyor and burgess, the facts had to pass through only one or two hands to reach him. We, however, think it probable that the occurrence took place a year or two earlier than the time mentioned; and we find no evidence in the proceedings of
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the County Court, or the voluminous correspondence of Gover- nor Dinwiddie, of any effort to bring the perpetrators of the outrage to punishment.
Governor Dinwiddie, wisely or unwisely, precipitated the war between the English and French in America. After it began he threw himself into the fray with great ardor. He was indefati- gable in recruiting troops, calling for help from neighboring colo- nies and England, writing letters, and scolding and blustering. He rivaled Horace Walpole, one 'of his correspondents, in the number, if not in the elegance, of his epistles. His voluminous correspondence, published by the Virginia Historical Society, and edited by R. A. Brock, secretary, &c., is full of interest to those who have a taste for such literature. He was too much pressed for time and space to write his words in full, and often it is difficult to read his productions. He set the rules of gram- mar and spelling at defiance-especially when in a passion he rebuked a military officer, or abused the savages. The latter suffered terribly at his hands, being denounced as "wicked mur- derers," "insatiate cowards," " villainous," " banditti," "infi- dels," "vermin." He was economical to the extent of parsi- mony, demanding an account of every pound of powder or lead he issued to the troops. Without military training or expe- rience he planned campaigns, and undertook to instruct George Washington and Andrew Lewis how to fight the Indians. He was punctilious in etiquette, and informed Washington : "The method that you are to declare war is at the head of your com- panies, with three vollies of small arms for his Majesty's health and a successful war."
Many of the Governor's letters were addressed to Augusta men, and others relating to events taking place here. We shall refer to some of them.
Writing to the Lords of Trade, July 24, 1754, Governor Dinwiddie gives a highly exaggerated account of the casual- ties at Fort Necessity. He reports the number of the enemy killed as three hundred, and " of our people," thirty.
He set to work energetically to repair the disaster and to organize another expedition to the Ohio. By his order, Fort Cumberland was built at Wills's creek where the city of Cum- berland, Maryland, now stands, and Colonel James Innes was put in command of it. This gentleman was born in Scotland,
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but came to Virginia with some troops from North Carolina. He was a favorite with the Governor, who addressed him in one of his letters as " Dear James." Notwithstanding " the intoler- able obstinacy of our neighboring colonies," as Governor Dinwiddie expressed it, North Carolina had sent some troops. One of the companies, commanded by Captain Bryan, on their march towards Cumberland on the 27th of July, "mutinied at Augusta Courthouse," says the Governor, "and would march no further till a friend of mine advanced £40." Innes was expected to proceed across the Alleghanies and assail the French, and Washington, then a colonel, was to co-operate. Andrew Lewis was a captain in Washington's regiment, having been commissioned March 18, 1754.
Richard Pearis, whose name is also written Parris, or Paris, was located on Holston river, Augusta county, in 1754, in order to trade with the Cherokees and other southern Indians. The Governor utilized him as far as possible. Some Indian depreda- tions had occurred in that quarter, and the Governor writes to Pearis August 2d, "I am surprised the inhabitants on Holstein river should submit to be robbed by a few Indians." He sends his thanks to a certain Chickasaw warrior for "resenting the murder of one of our people." "Let the Chickasaw know I greatly approve of his conduct, and have a real esteem for him." He wishes to know whether "the Emperor," or "Old Hop" is the head man of the Cherokees. He exhorts Pearis to stir up the Indians to prevent the building of forts by the French in that quarter. The trader wanted to obtain "the long island in Hol- ston river," and is encouraged to hope he may get it.
As we have seen, Governor Dinwiddie was all agog for a campaign immediately against the French at Fort Duquesne [Pittsburg]. Washington was opposed to it under the circum- stances. The force which could be raised was too small, and the season was too late for a march over the Alleghanies. The Vir- ginia Assembly at first refused to vote a supply of money. Some members of that body had opposed the original measures of the Governor, which resulted in the war. They were not sure that England had a just title to the region around Fort Duquesne, which was held and claimed by the French .- [Irving's Life of Washington, Vol. I, p. 103.] Under the pretext of protecting all settlers on the waters of the Mississippi, a supply was finally
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granted, and the Governor proceeded to raise a regiment of three hundred men, divided into six companies, of fifty men each. Joshua Fry was Colonel, and Washington, Lieutenant-Colonel ; but the latter soon succeeded to the command, on the death of the former. Recruiting went on slowly, till bounty land on the Ohio river was promised to the soldiers. Early in August, 1754, Washington rejoined his regiment at Alexandria, and was urged by the Governor to raise the full complement of men, and unite with Colonel Innes, at Wills's creek.
Governor Dinwiddie wrote to the Earl of Albemarle, August 15, 1754, pleading for assistance from " home," as England was still called. Two regiments of regular forces, he said, would be absolutely necessary. To Earl Granville he wrote on the same day, that the French intended to build forts, not only on the Ohio, but on Greenbrier, Holston and New rivers, and "the back of North Carolina." On the 6th of September, he had heard " complaints from our frontier in Augusta county of many parties of Indians, &c., robbing and ill-treating our people." In another letter of the same date, he says: "The French and Indians are now making incursions among our inhabitants in Augusta county, threatening our people to depart from their plantations, and propose building forts on Holstein's, Green Brier's and other rivers."
"Therefore," wrote the Governor to Washington, September II, 1754, "I now order you to give a detachment of forty or fifty men to Capt. Lewis. With them he is to march imediately to Augusta county, in order to protect our frontier from the in- cursions of small parties of Indians, and I suppose some French. Order him to march imediately, and to apply to Col. Patton, the County-Lieutenant, who will direct him where to proceed that he may be most usefull." A letter was addressed to Captain Andrew Lewis the same day-the first of a long series-of which we give a literal copy :
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