USA > Virginia > Historical collections of Virginia : containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, &c. relating to its history and antiquities ; together with geographical and statistical descriptions ; to which is appended, an historical and descriptive sketch of the District of Columbia. > Part 37
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Culpeper was distinguished carly in the war of the revolution for the services of her gallant MINUTE-MEN, who, as Mr. Randolph said in the U. S. Senate, "were raised in a minute, armed in a minute, marched in a minute, fought in a minute, and vanquished in a minute."
Immediately on the breaking out of the war in 1775, Patrick Henry, then commander of the Virginia troops. sent to this section of the colony for assistance. Upon his sum- mons, 150 men from Culpeper, 100 from Orange, and 100 from Fauquier, rendezvoused here and encamped in a field now the property of John S. Barber, Esq., half a milo west of the court house. An old oak now standing, marks the spot. These were the first minute-then raised in Virginia. They formed themselves into a regiment, choosing Lawrence Taliaferro of Orange, colonel : Edward Stevens of Culpeper, lieutenant- colonel; and Thomas Marshall of Fauquier-the father of Chief Justice Marshall- major. The flag used by the Culpeper men is depicted in the accompanying engraving, with a rattlesnake in the centre. The head of the snake was intended for Virginia, and the 12 rattles for the other 12 states. This corps were dressed in green hunting shirts, with the words " LIBERTY OR DEATH !"* in large white letters on their bosons
* A way, on seeing this, remarked it was too severe for him ; but that he was willing to enlist if the words were altered to " Liberty or he crippled "
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CULPEPER COUNTY.
They wore in their hats buck-tails, and in their belts tomahawks and scalping-knives Their savage, warlike appearance, excited the terror of the inhabitants as they marched through the country to Williamsburg. Shortly after their arrival at that place, about
CULPEPER 330
LIBERTY,
OR DEATH!
DONT TREAD ON ME
150 of them-those armed with rifles-marched into Norfolk co., and were engaged in the battle of the Great Bridge. Among them was Chief Justice Marshall. then a lieu- tenant, and Gen. Edward Stephens.
In the course of the war, 8 companies of 84 men cach, were formed in Culpeper for the continental service. They were raised by the following captains : John Green,* John Thornton, George Slaughter, Gabriel Long, Gabriel Jones, John Gillison,t M Clanah in,f and Abraham Buford §
. Virginia raised, in the beginning of the war, 15 continental regiments of about 800 meu, besides 3 state regiments of regular troops, not subject to be ordered out of the state. Besides these went Let's legion, composed of two companies of cavalry and two of infantry, a regiment of artillery under Col. Harrison, Col. Baylor's and Col. Bland's regiments of paralry, and De corps of horse raised by Col. Nelson. These, we believe, comprised most if not all the regular troops raised by the state. They became reduced to one quarter of their original number before the war was over, particularly by disease and the cessation of battle in the southern campaigns. From this statement -- supplied from the memory of a surviving officer of the Virginia line -it will be seen that Culpeper bore her full share of the burden of war. On the same authority we state, that ir skir. mishes, when the numbers were equal, the American troops were superior to the British. The former took aim ; the latter fired with their pieces brought on a level with the hip. Hence the superiority of the Americans on these occasions. They despised the English as being no marksmed.
Capt. PHILIF SLAUGHTER, now (1844) residing in this co., is probably the only officer living in Virginia who served in the continental establishment throughout the revolution, At the age of 17 years he entered the Culpeper minute-men as a private, and marched with them to Williamsburg shortly after the hegira of Danmore. Having received the commission of lieutenant, he marched to the north in the fall of 1776 with the ilth Vir- ginia continental regiment. Daniel Morgan was then colonel of this corps, and of a. volunteer rifle regiment. There Slaughter remained until the commencement of the year 1780, and was in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and at the storming of Stony Point. He spent the winter of 1777-75 at Valley Forge. Ilis mess .
* John Green was afterwards a rojonel. While storming a breastwork he was wounded in the shoul- der and m de a cripple for life. th died about 30 years ago.
. John Gillison, while galliani; holding on his men to attack the enemy at Brandywire. to prevent them making prisoners the coastany of thep. Long, was struck in the forehead by a rusket ball. The surgeon ex quired the word, and then filling up his hands, exclaimed. "Oh, captain ! It is a noble sound. Right in the middle of the Forehead, and no harm done." The wound soon healed. and lett a scar of which any soldier witht have been proud.
$ Copt. MClinaban was a Baptist clergy men, and at first regularly preached to his mer. His recruits were drawn principal's from his own dopamination in conformity with the wishes of the legislature who invited the senders of particular religious societies, especially Baptiste and Methodists, to organize themselves into separate companies under officers of their own principles. The Baptists were among the most strer anus supporters of liberty.
@ Abraham Buford was the Col. Buford defeated by Tarleton, May 29th, 1780, at the Weshaws, neog the borders of North Carolina.
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CULPEPER COUNTY.
mates were Lieut. Robert (afterwards Gen.) Porterfield, Capt Chas, Porterfield, Capt. Johnson, and Lieut. John (afterwards Chief-Justice) Marshall. There they were all re- duced to great deprivations in the want of food and clothing. They bore their saffer- ings without murmur, bei is fortified by an undaunted patriotism. Most of the officers gave to their almost naked soldiers nearly the whole of their clothing, reserving only that they themselves had da. Slaughter was reduced to a single shirt. While this was being washed, he wrapped hunself ia a blanket. From the breast of his only shirt ho had wristbands and e collar made, to complete his uniform for parade. Many of his brother officers were still worse off. having no under garment at all ; and not one soldier in five had a blanket. They all lived in rude huts, and the snow was knee-deep the whole winter. Washington daily invited the oficers in rotation, to dine with him at bis private table ; but for want of decent clothing, few were enabled to attend. Slaughter being so much beder provided. frequently went in the place of others, that, as he said. " his regiment might be represented." While in, this starving condition, the country people brought fald to the camp. Often the Dutch women were seen riding in, sitting on bags on their horses' backs, holding two or three bushels each of apple pies, baked sufficiently hard to be thrown across the room without breaking. These were purchased eagerly, eaten with avidity, and considered a great luxury.
Slaughter performed the duties of captain, paymaster, and clothier. He was promoted to a captriacy in 1775, he then trying not 20 years of age. He has in his possession a brief journal of the movements of the troops during the time he was in service. and certificates of his soldier-like conduct from Chief-Justice Marshall, Gen. Robert Porter. feld, and Col. Jamieson.
As toudleg to show the shivaleone feelings among the Virginia officers, we will state, that one of them. on his promotion to a captaincy, wrote the name of the lady to whom he was engaged upon his commission, declaring, at the same time, that it should never be disgraced with her name upor it. It never was disgraced. The same officer, while in camp in New Jersey, heard that a wealthy gentleman was laying siege to the aftec- tions of his betrothed, and was advised to return home. Failing in his application for a furlough, he dispatched a sergeant on horseback with a letter -- there being no mails -- to the friend in Virginia from whom he received the information, making further inquiries. "The distance there and back was 500 miles. The messenger returned with an answer that quieted the apprehensions of the officer, and he married the lady after the war.
Capt. Slaughter has held various civil offices, among which was that of high sheriff of Culpeper. He has married twice, bad 19 children, and numbers among his descend- ants nearly 100 souls. From the lips of this venerable and patriotic old man, we have received most of the information embodied in the two preceding pages.
It is well known that dissenters generally, and the Baptist cler- gymen in particular, were persecuted for opinion's sake in Virginia previous to the war of the revolution. (On this point more par- ticularly, ser Mildleses county.) Ono among the many suffo. ers by this mistaken mode of what was deemed the suppression of error, was the Rev. James Ireland, a worthy clergyman of the Baptist persuasion, who was forcibly seized and imprisoned in the jail of this county. While there confined, several attempts were. made to murder him, of which he has given the following nar- rative :
A number of iny persecutors resorted to the tavern of Ms. Steward, at the court-house, where they plotted to blow me up with powder that night, as I was informed, but all they could collect was half a pound. They fixed it for explosion. expreting I was sitting dige il . over it, but in this they were mistaken. Fire was put to it, and it went off with consid- prable noise, foreing up a small plank, from which I received no damage. The next scheme they devised was to smoke me with brimstone and Indian pepper. They had to wait certain opportunities to accomplish the same. The lower part of the jail door was a few inches above its sill. When the wind was favorable, they would get pods of Indian pepper, empty them of their contents, and fill them with brimstone and set them burning, so that the whole jail would be filled with the killing smoke, and oblige mne to ge to cracks and put my mouth to them, in order to prevent suffocation. At length a cer- tain doctor, and the jaiter, formed a scheme to poison me, winch they actually effected.
This last-mentioned act of diabolical malevolence, came near
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CUMBERLAND COUNTY
costing Mr. Ireland his life. He was made extremely ill, and his constitution never recovered from the injury. He however bore up against these persecutions with Christian fortitude. He said, in giving an account of his persecutions :
My prisen thea, was a place in which I enjoyed umch of the Divine presence ; a day seldom passed without some sigoal token of the Divine goodness towards me, which generally led me to subscribe my letters in these words, " From my Palace in Cut. peper."
In a family burying-ground, half a mile N. of Culpeper C. H., is a monument bearing the following inscription :
IN MEMORY OF GENERAL EDWARD STEVENS, WHO DIED AUGUST THE 1730, 1820, At his seat in Cuipeper, in the 76th year of his ape.
This gallant officer and upright town, had served his country with reputa- tion in the Field and Senate of bis native state. He took an vetive part, and and a principal share in the war of the revolution, and acquired great dis- tinction at the bottles of Gre .t Bridge, Brandywine, Germantown, Camden, Golfford Court Hat and Some of York: and although zealous in the cause of America Freedom, his conduct was not marked with the least de- gree of malevolence. or party spir't. Those who honestly differed with him in opinion, ne ntways treated With, singmiar tenderness. in strict integrity. honest patriotism, and unmoveable courage, he was surpassed by none, and h d few equals.
Gen. Stevens resided in the village of Culpeper C. H., in the house on the corner of Coleman and Fairfax streets, now occupied by Mrs. Lightfoot. Aside from the above, we have but little to add respecting this highly meritorious officer. The histories of the revolution make such honorable mention of him, that it is evident his epitaph is no ful- some eulogy. At the battle of Guilford Court-House, " the brave and gallant Stevens," animated his men by words, and still more by his example. Resolved to make even the timid perforin their duty, he placed several riflemen in the rear, with peremstory orders to shoot down any of his militia that should attempt to escape before a retreat was or- dered. In this action he received a ball in the thigh, but he enjoyed the refection that his men had made a noble stand, and displayed an honorable firmness in opposing the enemy, by whom they were at last, after an obstinate conflict, driven back by an over- whelming force at the bayonet's point.
CUMBERLAND.
CUMBERLAND was formed in 171S, from Goochland. It is 32 miles long and about 10 broad, with the Appomattox running on its s .. the James River on its x. boundary, and Willis River through its Nw. portion. The surface is undulating, and the soil productive. Pop. 1830, 11,689 ; 1510, whitex 3,263, slaves 6,791, free colored 355; total, 10,399.
Cartersville, on the James River, contains a church and about 50 dwellings. Ca Ira, 5 miles w. of the C. H., has an Episcopal church and 10 dwellings. Cumberland court-house is in the southern part of the county. about 52 miles Than Richmond, The village has not . increased since the Marquis de Chastellux was here, about the year 1782. In his travels, he says :
Besides the court-house and a large tavern, its necessary appendage, there are seven or eight houses, inhabited by gentlemen of fortune. I found the cavern fill of people.
CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
and understood that the judges were assembled to hold a court of claims, that is to say , to hear and register the claims of sundry persons who had furnished provisions for the army. We know that in general, but particularly in unexpected invasions, the Ameri- can troops had no established magazines, and as it was necessary to have subsistence for them, provisions and forage were indiscriminately laid hold of, on giving the holders : receipt, which they called a certificate. During the campaign, while the enemy were at hand, little attention was given to this sort of loans, which accumulated incessantly, without the sum total being known, or any means taken to ascertain the proofs. Vir- ginia being at length loaded with the-e certificates, it became necessary, sooner or later. to liquidate these claims. The last assembly of the state of Virginia had accordingly thought proper to pass a bill, authorizing the jaistices of each coolty to take coquizance of these certificates, to authenticate their validity, and to register them, specifying the value of the provisions in money, according to the established tariff. I had the curiosity to go to the court-house to see how this affair was transacted, and saw it was performed with great order and simplicity. The judges wore their common clothes, but were seated on an elevated tribunal, as at London in the Court of King's Bench, or Common Pleas.
Gen. CHARLES ScorT, a distinguished officer of the revolution, and subsequently governor of Kentucky, was born near the line of this and Powhatan county. The present residence of Mr. Thomas Palmer, in the upper part of that county, was built by bim.
Scott raised the first company of volunteers in Virginia, south of the James River, that entered into actual service ; and so distinguished himself prior to 1777, that when Powhatan county was formed in that year, the county-scat was named in honor of him. . When governor of Kentucky, he had some severe battles with the Indians, in which he last two sons. Immediately after St. Clair's defeat, Gen. Scott, at the head of a beer of Kentucky cavalry, reconnoitred the battle-ground. Finding the Indians still ther., rejoicing over their victory in a drunken revelry, he surprised and fell upon them. Being totally unprepared, they were routed with great slaughter. About two hundred of thep) were killed, and he recovered six hundred muskets, and all the artillery and baggage remaining in the field. This. the most brilliant affair of the war, in a measure " dispel- led the gioom occasioned by the misfortune of st. Clair, and throw, by the power of contrast, a darker shade of disgrace over that unfortunate general's miscarriage."
Scott was a man of strong natural powers, but somewhat illiterate and rough in his manners. He was eccentric, and many amusing antedotes are related of bin. When a candidate for governor, he was opposed by Col. Allen, a native of Kentucky, who, in an address to the people when Scott was present, made an eloquent appeal. The friends of the latter, knowing he was no orator, felt distressed for him, but Scott, no- thing daunted, mounted the stump, and addressed the company, nearly as follows :
"Well, boys, I am sure you must all be well pleased with the speech you have just heard. It does my heart good to think we have so smart a man raised up among us here. He is a native Kentuckinn. I see A good many of you here that I brought out to this country when a wilderness. At that time we hardly expected we should live to see such a sm urt man rised up among ourselves. Yon, who were with me in those early times, know we had no time for eduration, no means of improving from books. We dared not then go about our most cannnon affairs without arms in our hands, to defend-onrsolves against the In. dions. Bat we guarded and protected the country, and now every one can go where he pleases : nud you now see what anrt fellows are growing up to do their country honor. But I think it would be a pity to make this nrin governor : I think it would be better to send him to Congress. I don't think it requires a very smart min to theke a governor; if he has sense enough to gather shirt meg about who can help him on with the business of st .te. It would sua a worn-out old wife of a man like myself. But, as to this young own, I am very proud of him; as much so as any of his kin. if any of them have been here to-day. hetrening to his speech." Scott then descended from the stump, and the buzzis for the old soldier made the welkin ring.
Scott had the greatest veneration for Washington : and while governor of Kentucky. he visited Philadelphia during the session of Congress. Attired in the rough garb of the back woods, with a loanting-shirt, buckskin leggings, and a long beard, he gave out that he was going to visit the president. He was told. that Washiington had become puffed up with the importance of his station, and was too much of an aristocrat to wel- come him in that garb. Scott, nothing daunted, passed up to the house of the president, who, with his lady, happened to be at the window, and recognising the old soldier, rushed out, and each taking him by the arm, led him in. " Never," said Scott, " way
31
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DINWIDDIE COUNTY.
I better treated. I had not believed a word against him ; and I found that he was "old hoss'* still."
Major JOSEPH SCOTT, a brother of the above, was an officer of the revolutionary army, and was appointed marshal of Virginia by Jefferson, under the following circum- stances : Major Joseph Eggleston, from Amelia, who had been a meritorious officer of Lee's legion through the whole of the southern campaigns, and a member of Congress in 1798-99, was tendered the office by the president. This he declined, but recommended his old friend and companion in arios, Major Scott, then a steward upon the estate of John Randolph. The first intimation Scott had of the matter was the reception of the appointment, which was extremely gratifying ; he being at the time in necessitous cir. cumstances.
DINWIDDIE.
DINWIDDIE was formed in 1752, from Prince George, and named from Robert Dinwiddie, governor of Va. from 1752 to 1758. The surface is rolling. and its form hexagonal, with a diameter of about 28 miles. The Appomattox runs on its N., the Nottaway on its s. · boundary, and the great southern railroad through its eastern por- fion. Pop. 1860, 21,301, 1840. whites 9,847, slaves 0,041, free colored 2,764; total, 22,558. The court-house is centrally situa- ted upon a branch of the Nottaway.
The large, wealthy, and flourishing town of Petersburg. is situ- ated at the northeastern angle of the county, on the south bank of the Appomattox, 22 miles s. of Richmond, and 9 s. w. of City Point, on the line of the great southern railroad, with which last- named place there is also a railroad communication. The harbor admits vessels of considerable draught, and even ships come up as far as Walthall's Landing. 6 miles. below the town, where there is a branch railroad about 3 miles in length, connecting with the Richmond and Petersburg railroad. It contains 2 Epis., 2 Pres., 2 Metb., 1 Bap., and 1 Catholic church, besides those for colored people. It exports largely tobacco and flour, and there were, in 1843, belonging to this place, the following cotton manufactories, viz : Merchants co., Matoaca co., Ettricks co., Mechanics co., Bat- tersea co., Canal Mills, Washington Mill, and the Eagle Mill. The goods here manufactured have a high reputation. There is also a very large number of tobacco factories. There were inspected here in 1813, 11,912 horsheads of tobacco. Petersburg contains branches of the Bank of' Va., Farmers Bank of Va., and the Ex- change Bank of Va. The tonnage in 1840, was 3,098. There were 6 commercial and 8 commission houses engaged in foreign . Erade, capital 8875,000; 121 retail stores, capita! $1,026,250 ; 2 lumber yards, cap. $6.000 ; 1 furnace, 6 forges, I woollen faeto- ry, 1 pottery, 2 rope-walks, 2 Bouring-mills, 1 grist-mill, 2 saw- mills, 2 printing offices, I semi-weekly newspaper. Cap. in manu- facturing 8726,555. Pop. in 1830, 8,322 ; 1810, 11,136.
As early as 1615-6, a fort called Fort Henry, was established at the falls of the Ap-
* " Old hoss." was a term frequently applied by the soldiers of the revolution to their commander In -chief.
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DINWIDDIE COUNTY.
pomattox, where Petersburg now is, for the defence of the inhabitants on the south side of James river.
In 1675, war being declared against the Indians, 500 men were ordered to proceed to. the frontier, and eight forts garrisoned. Among these was the one near the falls of the Appomattox, at Major General Wood's, " or over against him at one ffort or defensible place at fire's, of which Major Peter Jones be captain or chief commander."
In 1728, fifty-three years after, Col. Byrd, on bis return from the expedition in which he was engaged as one of the Virginia conunissioners, in running the line between this state and North Carolina, mentions the site of Petersburg, as follows : " At the end of thirty good miles, we arrived in the evening at Col. Bolling's, where from a primitive course of life we began to relax into luxury. This gentleman - lives within hearing of the falls of Appomattox river, which are very noisy whenever a flood happens to roll a. greater stream than ordinary over the rocks. The river is navigable for small craft as high as the falls, and, at some distance from them, fetches a compass and runs nearly parallel with James River, almost as high as the mountains."
By an act passed in 1646, it appears that 600 acres of land adjacent to Fort Henry, together with all the "houses and edifices" appartenant thereto, were at that time granted to Captain Abraham Wood in fee-simple ; yet he was not the earliest settler ; for, by the same act. it appears that the land of which the fact stood, together with part of the adjacent 600 acres, had been granted to Thomas Pitt. He may, therefore, be considered the earliest proprietor of the site of Petersburg, it having been granted to him previous to 1646. The town derived its name from Peter Jones, who opened a trading establishment with the Indians at an early day, a few rods west of what is now the junction of Sveamore and Old streets. The locality was called Peter's Point, sub- sequently changed to Petersburg.
This Peter Jones was an old friend and fellow traveller of Col. William Byrd, of Westover; and in 1733, accompanied the latter on a journey to Roanoke, on which occasion the plan of establishing Richmond and Petersburg was conceived. Byrd says, in his journal, " When we got home, we laid the foundation of two large cities-que at Sbacco's, to be called Richmond, and the other at the point of Appotrattox River, to be called Petersburg. These Major Mayo offered to lay off into lots, without fre o reward. "The truth of it is, these two places being the uppermost landing of Jaines and Appo- mattox rivers, are naturally intended for marts, where the traffic of the outer inhabitants must centre. Thus we did not build castles only, but cities, in the air."
In the October session, in 1715, in the 228 year of the reign of king George II., the towns of Petersburg and Blandford were established. Four years later an act way passed, allowing a bridge to be built by subscription over the Appomattox, at Bolling's Point, " to the land of John Bolling, gentleman ;" which was probably the first bridge ever built over the river, In 1762, in the preamble to an act enlarging the town. it is stated that it " had very greatly increased, and become a place of considerable trade. ' At that time Robert Bolling, Roger Atkinson. William Laton, John Bannister. Robert Ruffin, Thomas Jones, Henry Walker, George Turnbull, and James Field, gentlemen, wore appointed trustees for laying out the town. In 1254, Petersburg was incorporated, and Blandford, Pocahontas, and Ravenscrofts, united with it.
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