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 54
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KING WILLIAM.
KING WIJAAM was formed in 1701 from King and Queen, The mean length of the county is 32 miles; mean breadth 83 miles. The county lies between the Pamunkey and Mattapony, which unite at the se. angle of the county, and form the York. The land on the borders of these streams is very fertile, and their waters afford convenient navigation, as well as fine shad and herring fisheries. Pop. in 1840, whites 3,150, slaves 5,780, free colored 338 ; total, 9,258. King William C. H. lies 27 miles NE. of Rich- mond, 2 miles from the Mattapony. It contains but a few dwell- ings beside the public buildings, which are of brick, and stand in a handsome square. Ayletts is a small village at the head of navigation, on the Mattapony, 30 miles above its junction with the - Pamunkey.
The Pamunkey and the Mattapony meet at the southerly angle of the county. and form York River. The place of their junction is named West Point. It was the place of habitation of Opechan- canough, the brother of Powhatan, and king of Pamunkee. "He was the author of the great massacre in 1622, the 'Sicilian Ves- pers' of the colony. When very old and infirm, and nearly blind, he headed his people in battle, borne on a litter ; he was et length captured by Governor Berkeley, with a party of horse, and finally assassinated by a private hand while a prisoner at Jamestown, displaying to the last moment the fortitude of a 'stoic of the woods,' unimpaired by age, and unshaken by calamity" In " Ba- con's Rebellion," the followers of Bacon occupied West Point, and strongly fortified it.
West Point was. anciently, a large village : it has now but one good house, and the ruins of several others. There is the rem- nant of the Mattapony tribe of Indians, now dwindled down to only 15 or 20 souls. Further up on the l'amonkey, at what is call-
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LNE COUNTY.
ed Indian Town, are about 100 descendants of the Pamunkeys. Their Indian character is nearly extinct, by intermixing with the whites and negroes. Their land is in the hands of trustees ap- pointed to hold it for the tribe. They manufacture pottery sud baskets very neatly. A traveller, as long ago as 1759, thus speaks of this Indian settlement :
On the north side of Pamunkey River stands the Pamunkey Indian town, where at present are the few remedios of that Tree tribe : the rest having dwindled oway through intemperance and disease. They live in little wigwams, or cabins, upon the river ; and have a very fine tract of land of about 2000 acres, which they are restrained from alen- ating by art of Assenbly. Their employment is chiefly hunting or fishing for the neigh- boring gentry. "They commonly dress like the Virginians, and I have sometimes mista- ken them for the lower sort of that people.
On the banks of Monchen creek, just above Warranuncock island, now known as Goodwin's island, are two ludian mounds or tomuli, somewhat reduced in size by cultivation, yet eight or ten feet high, and about sixty feet in diameter. Evident traces exist of an Indian settlement in the vicinity, on the Pampitike estate.
LANCASTER.
LANCASTER was formed in 1652. It lies on the N. side of the Rappahannock, at its mouth, and is 24 miles long, with a mean breadth of 8 miles. Pop. in 1840, whites 1,903, slaves 2,478, free colored 247; total, 4,628.
Lancaster C. H., situated near the centre of the county, 83 miles NE. of Richmond, contains a population of about 100. Kilmarnock is a small village on a creek putting up from Chesapeake Bay. Pain's Cross Roads, in the se. part of the county, was, 20 years since, a place of considerable trade ; but at present it has a few dwellings only.
In the year 1762, James Waddel, the BLIND PREACHER described in Wirt's British Spy, was settled over the churches of Lancaster and Northumberland. His residence in the latter part of his time here, was on Curratoman River. For a more full notice of this extraordinary divine, see Orange county.
LEE.
LER was formed in 1792, from Russell, and named after Henry Lee, Gov. of Va, from 1791 10 1794; it lies in the southwestern angle of the state, bordering on Tennessee and Kentucky. Its greatest length is 75 miles ; breadth 10 miles, The Curaberland mountains run on the Kentucky line, the Powell mountain is on 4 part of the gr. boundary, and there are several other ridges in the county, known as Stone, Chesnut, Wallens, &c. Powell's River
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LEWIS COUNTY.
runs lengthwise through the county into Tennessee. Much of the land is of a very black, rich soil .. The staples are beef, pork, and horses. The people of this county make their own sugar and mo- lasses from the maple sugar tree, which grows in great abun- dance. Pop. in 1840, whites 7,829, slaves 580, fece colored 32; to- tal, 8,11.
Jonesville, the county-seat, lies 284 miles from Richmond, 65 from Knoxville, Tenn., and 60 from Barboursville, Kentucky, on one of the branches of Powell's River. It stands on a beautiful eminence, in the midst of wild mountain scenery. It was founded in 1793, and contains a church, 5 stores, and abont 40 dwellings. The following account of a duel which took place in this county in the year 1823, is from a newspaper of the time :
A remarkable duel took place in Lee county, on Sunday, Dec. 7th, which has been the subject of much conversation here ...... Two negro men, belonging to two gen- demen, had been smitten by the charing of a sable beauty, and neither being willing to yield to the other, they determined. like gentlemen, to decide their pretensions by a due !. The arrangement was accordingly made, and they met in a distant and retired wood, unattended by seconds, and without the knowledge of any other person-each armed with a trusty nife. Their proceedings appear to have been conducted with a strict honor, the more remarkably . in such case, as it was exhibited by slaves. The ground was meas- ured off about fifteen paces ; the antagonists took their posts ; the word was given by one of them, and both instantly fell -- one shot through the heart, and the other through the right breast. The former expired immediately ; the latter, with great difficulty and pain, crawled to a small path not far from the scene of combat ; but unable to go far- thei, he remained by it in the hope that some one would pass and find him. Ho lav there, under all the suffering which his wound and exposure inflicted, until the following Tuesday, before he was found. Depressed and debased as that unfortunate race is, there are occasional instances in which they exhibit traits of character which elevate them above the sphere to which our policy compels us to confine them. The strict ob. servance of honorable conduct, and the cool. determined courage of these negroes, af- ford an example which ought to make some gentlemen of high condition blush
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LEWIS.
Lewis was formed in 1816, from Harrison, and named in honor of Col. Charles Lewis, who fell at the battle of Point Pleasant. It is 60 miles long, with a mean width of about 20 miles. It is watered by the Little Kanawha and west fork of Monongahela ; the surface is rocky, hilly, and in some parts mountainous : on the streams there is considerable fertile land. Stone-coal of an ex- cellent quality abounds in some parts of the county. In 1843, portions of its territory were set off to the new counties of Barbour and Ritchie. Large quantities of sugar, and some tobacco, are raised in this county ; the greatest staple is Indian corn. Pop. in 1840, whites 7,989, slaves 124, free colored 38; total, 8,151.
Weston, the county-seat, is situated at the west fork of Mouon- gabela, 281 miles northwesterly from Richmond, and 50 from the Ohio River, and contains about 60 dwellings.
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LOUDON COUNTY.
LOGAN.
LOGAN was formed in 1824, from Giles, Kanawha, Cabell, and Tazewell, and named from the Mingo chief. It is about 70 miles long, with a mean width of 35 miles. It is watered by Guyan- dotte, Tug Fork of Big Sandy, and branches of the Great Kanawha. The surface is generally mountainous, and the soil adapted to gra- zing. It is one of the largest, wildest, and most sparsely inhabited counties in the state, with a population of less than 2 persons to a. .square mile. Pop. in 1840, whites 4,159, slaves 150 ; total, 4,808.
Lawnsville, or Logan C. H., is 351 miles west of Richmond, in a fertile bottom in a bend of the river Guyandotte, surrounded by mountains abounding in stone-coal and iron ore, It was laid off in 1827, and contains a few dwellings only.
The destruction of the Roanoke settlement in the spring of 1757, by a party of Shawnees, gave rise to a campaign into this region of country, called by the old settlers " the Sandy ereck voyage." This expedition was for the purpose of punishing the In- dians, and to establish a military post at the month of the Great Sandy, to counteract the influence of the French at Gallinalie with the Indians. It was composed of four companies, under the command of Andrew Lewis. The captains were Audley Paul, Wm. Preston, (ancestor of the late Gov. P.,) Win. Hogg, and Job: Alexander, father of Archibald Alexander, D. D., president of Princeton Theological Seminary. The party were ordered, by a messenger from Gov. Fauquier, to return. They had then penetrated nearly to the Ohio, without accomplishing any of the objects of their expedition. When the army on their return arrived at the Burning spring, in the present limits of this county, they had suffered much from extreme cold, as well as hunger : their fear of alarning the Indians having prevented them from cither hunting or kindlieg fires Some buttale hides, which they had left at the spring on their way down, were ent into tuggs or long thongs, and caten by the troops, after having been exposed to the heat from the flame of the spring. Hence they called the stream near by, now dividing Ken- tucky from Virginia, Togg River, which name it yet hours. Several who & tacked themselves from the main body, to hunt their way home, perished. The main body, uh- · der Col. Lewis, reached home after much suffering ; the strings of their moccasins, the belts of their hunting-shirts, and the flaps of their shot-pouches, having been all the food they had eaten for several days.
LOUDON.
Loupor was formed in 1757, from Fairfax, and named in honor of the Earl of London, commander of the military affairs in America during the latter part of the French and Indian war. It is about 28 miles long, and 22 broad. The Blue Ridge, forming its western boundary, rises to an altitude of 1000 to 1 100 feet above tide-water, and from 300 to 700 above the adjacent country. Another range, of equal height, called the Short Hills, in the NW. part of the county, runs parallel with the Blue Ridge about 12 miles. The Kittoctan mountain runs centrally through the county, parallel with the above. This county contains all varieties of soil, from rich alluvion to an unproductive clay. The eastern por- tion is most unproductive, in consequence of a wretched system of farning hitherto practise of cropping with corn and tobacco. without endeavoring to improve the soul ; some of it, formerly for-
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LOUDON COUNTY.
tile, is now thrown out to common as useless. The middle and western portion of the county bas generally a good soft. Fiaster of Paris and clover act finely in improving the soil. Pop. in 18 10, whites 13,840, slaves 5,273, free colored 1,318; total, 20,431.
Central View in Leesburg.
Leesburg, the county-seat, lies in the northern part of the county, 34 miles sw. of Washington, and 153 miles x. of Richmond. It was named from the Lee family, who were among the early set- tiers of the county : it was established in September. 1458. in the 32d year of the reign of George II. Mr. Nicholas Minor, who owned 60 acres around the court-house, had then laid it off into streets and lots, some of which, at the passage of the act, had been built upon. The act constituted the Ron. Philip Ludwell Lee, Esq., Thomas Mason, Esq., Franeis Lightfoot Lee. James Hamil -.. ton, Nicholas Minor, Josias Clapham, Æneas Campbell, John Hugh, Francis Hague, and William West, gentlemen, trustees for the town. Leesburg is well and compactly built, its streets are well paved, and it is supplied with fine water, conducted into the town in pipes from a neighboring spring at the base of a moun- tain. It contains the county buildings, (of which the court-house is shown in the above view.) I Presbyterian, 1 Episcopalian, and 1 Methodist church, a bank, a very handsome academy recently erected, 1 newspaper printing-office, and a population of about 1500. During the French and Indian war. Braddock's army passed through here. Traces of the road ent by them are still discernible, about a mile & of the village. Braddock remained in Leoborg several days ; the house he occupied (now down) stood in London
street. Washington, who was here, also put up in that portion of the town. Middleburg. near the line of Fauquier county. 16 miles ssp. of Leesburg, is a flourishing village, surrounded by a fertilo country. It contains 6 or S mercantile stores ! Epis., I
45
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LOUDON COUNTY.
Met., and 1 free church used by Baptists, and a population of about 500. Waterford, 6 miles Nw. of Leesburg, contains 4 mercantile stores, 1 Friends' meeting-house, I free church, and about 70 dwell- ings. There are, beside these, several suvill villages in the county, containing from 6 to 25 dwellings ; among them are Aldie, Bloom- field, Hillsborough, Lovettsville, Mount Gilead, Montville, Phil- mont, Snickersville, aud Union.
" A very considerable contrast is observable in the manners of the inhabitants in the diferent sections of the county. That part. lying ww. of Waterford was originally settled by Germans, and is called the German settlement ; and the middle of the county, sw. of Waterford and w. of Leesburg, was mostly settled by emigrants from the middle statos, many of whom were Friends. In these two sections the farms are small, and cultivated by free libor." The Quakers in this state, as well as elsewhere, suffered much persecution at an early day. By referring to page 15! of this volume, the reader will perceive the severity of the law : passed against them in the early history of Virginia. In the revolution, their non-conformity to the military laws of the state from con- scientious motives, brought them into difficulty, as will be seen itx the annexed extract from Kercheval :-...
At the beginning of the war. attempts were made to compel them to bear ums and serve in the militia ; but it was soon found unavailing. They would not parfois any military duty required of them : not even the scourge would compel them to submit to discipline. The practice of coracion was therefore abandoned, and the len Worry en. acted a law to bory a tax upon their property, to sulfites to prima mili daty in their stead. This, with other taxes, bore prealivaly heavy you them. Thes per- sonal property was sold under the hammer to raise theso public demands ; and before the war was over, many of them were reduced to great distress in their pecuniary cir- cumstanie: s.
This selling of Quakers' property afforded great opportunity for designing individuals to make profitable speculations. They continued to refuse to pay taxes for several years after the war, holding it unlawful to contribute their money tawards discharging the war debt. This being at length adjusted, no part of our quizens pay tiens poblo demands with more punctuality, (except their muster-fines, which they still refuse to pay.) Owing to their industrious and sober habits, they soon recovered from their pe- entiary distress produced by the war and are. generally speaking, the most independent part of our community. Vast nunpers of theia have migrated to the westera country, and several of their meetings are entirely broken up. They continued their ancient practice of depending upon their household manufactures for their clothing ; and it was a long time before they gave in to the practice of. purchasing European goods. A & w of them entered into the mercantile business ; several others erected fine merchant mills .; others engaged in mechanical pursuits ; but the great body of them are farmers, ard are generally most excellent cultivators of the soil.
All who have read Lee's " Memoirs of the War." will doubtless recollect the thrilling narration of the pretended desertion of Jony CHAMPS sergeant-major of Lee's celebrated partisan legion. He perilled his life, and, what was far more sacred to thes high-minded soldier, his reputation, to bring the traitor Arnold into the power of the Americans, and shas save the life of the unfortunate Andre : but his well-laid plans were frustrated. Change was a native of this county, Near the close of the revolution he returned to Lou.
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LOUDON COUNTY.
don, but removed thence after some years to Kentucky, where he died. When Cinauppe arrived in New York, he was placed in the company of a Captain Cameron, in Arnold's legion. A portion of Cameron's private journal published in the British United Service Journal, gives some interesting anecdotes of Champe. Among others, it seems that his old captain after the war married in Vir- ginia, and while travelling through Loudon with his servant, was benighted in a severe thunder-storm in the woods. Their situation was one of peril. They at last descried a light glimmering through the trees, and found it to proceed from a log-house, in which they sought shelter. They were most cordially received by its owner, as will be seen in the annexed extract from the journal of Capt. Cameron :
He would not permit either master or man to think of their horses, but insisting that we should enter the house, where fire and changes of apparel awaited us, he himself led the jaded animals to a shed, rubbed them down, and provided thein with forage. It would have been affeciation of the worst kind to dispute bis pleasure in this lastonce. so I readily sought the abetter of his rest, to which a comely danne bade me velemne, and busied herself in preventing my wishes. My drenched uniform was exchanged for a suit of my host's angered ; my servant une accommodated in the same manner, and we soon afterwards found ourselves scared beside a blazing fire of wood, by the light of which our hostess assiduously laid out a well-stocked supper table. I need not say that all this was in the highest degree comfortable. Yet I was not destined to sit down to supper with- out discovering still greater cause for wonder. In due time our host returned, and the first glance which I cast towards him satisfied me that he was no stranger. The second set every thing like doubt at rest. Sergeant Champe stood before me ; the same in com- plexion, in feature, though somewhat less thoughtful in the expression of his eye, as when he first joined my company in New York.
I cannot say that my sensations on recognising my ci-devant sergeant were altogether agreeable. The mysterious manner in which he both came and went, the success with which he had thrown a veil over his own movements, and the recollection that I was the guest of a man who probably entertained no sense of honor, either public or privute, excited in me a vague and undefined alarm, which I found it impossible on the instant to conceal. I started, and the movement was not lost upon Champe. He examined my face closely ; and a light appearing to burst in all at once upon his memory, he ran forward towards the spot where I sat.
" Welcome, welcome, Captain Cameron," said he, " a thousand times welcome to my rond; you behaves well to me while I was under your command, and deserve more of hospitality than I possess the power to offer ; but what I do possess is very much at your service, and heartily glad am I thit accident should have thus brought us together again. You have doubtless looked upon me as a twofold traitor, and I cannot blame you if you have. Yet I should wish to stand well in your estimation, too ; and therefore I will, if you please, give a faithful narrative of the causes which led both to my arrival in New York, and to my abandonment of the British army on the shores of the Chesapeake. But I will not enter upon the subject now. You are tired with your day's travel ; you stand in need of food and rest. Eat and drink, I pray you, aad sleep soundly ; and to. morrow, if you are so disposed, I will try to put my own character straight in the esti- mation of the only British officer of whose good opinion I am covetous."
'There was so much frankness and apparent sincerity in this, that I could not resist it, so I sat down to supper with a mind perfectly at ease ; and having eaten heartily, I soon afterwards retired to rest, on a clean pallet which was spread for me on the floor Sleep was not slow in visiting my eyelids : nor did I awake until long after the sun had risen on the morrow, and the hardy and active settlers, to whose kindness I was indebted, had gone through a considerable portion of their day's labor.
I found my host next morning the same open, candid, and hospitable man that he had shown himself on first recognising me. He made no allusion. indeed, during breakfast, to what had fallen from him over night ; but when he heard me talk of getting my horses ready, he begged to have a few minutes' conversation with me. His wife, for
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LONDON COUNTY.
such my hostess was, immediately withdrew, under the pretext of attending to her household affairs, upon which he took a seat beside me and began his story.
Oak Hill, the Seat of President Monroc.
Oak Hill, the seat of the late James Monroe, President of the United States, is situated 9 miles s. of Leesburg, on a commanding eminence enveloped in a beautiful grove of oaks, locusts, and poplars. The place is now in the possession of Samuel L. Gover- neur, Esq., a son-in-law of Mr. Monroe. The main building, with a Grecian front, is of brick, and was built by Mr. Monroe while in the presidential chair. The one on the left is a wooden dwell- ing of humble pretensions, and was occupied by him previous to his inauguration. The memoir annexed is from the Encyclopedia Americana.
Lamm Mouroc
Fac-simile of the signature of James Monroe.
JAMES MONROE, the fifth President of the United States, was born in Westmoreland county, April 28th, 1758. He graduated at William and Mary, and having entered as a cadet in the American army in 1776, he was soon after appointed lienten int. He was in the battle of Harlaen: Heights, White Plains, and Trenton. At the latter. pereviving that the enemy were endeavoring to form a six-gun battery at the head of King-street, Licut. Monroe, with Capt, Mio. Washington, rushed forward with the advance-guard. drove the artillerists from their guns, and took two pieces which they were in the act of tring. There officers were both wounded in this successful enterprise, and for his gal- Jant conduct, Lieut. Mouros was promoted to a captaincy. He was aid to Jord Stirling in the campaigns of 1777 and 1775, and was at Brandywine, Germantown, and Move mouth, in which actions he distinguished himself. By the recommendation of Washing. ton, he was appointed to raise a regiment, of which he was to be given the command ; but in the exhausted state of Virginia, he failed to raise his reglement, and therefore re- sumed the study of the law under Jefferson, then governor of the state. He was active as a volunteer in the militia, and in the subsequent invasions of Virginia, and in 1750
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LOUDON COUNTY.
visited the southern army, under De Kalb, as a military commissioner, at the request of Mr. Jefferson.
In 1782, he was a member of the Virginia legislature, and of the executive council, and in 1783, at the age of 24, a member of Congress, in which he served three years. He was always at hi por, and engaged in the most arduous duties. He introduced a resolution to vest in Congress the power to regulate the trade with all the states, and other important resolutions. Ile was appointed a commissioner to settle the boundary Leveen New York and Massachusetts. In 1787 he was again a member of the Vie- ginia legislatare, and in 1. CE, of the Virginia convention. From 1790 to 1794 he was a member of the United States senate. From 1794 to 1796 he was minister plenipo- ientiary to Chance, and he was recalled by Washington, ride au implied censure. In 1799, under the nomination of Me. Madison, he was appointed governor of Virginia, In 1803 he was minister extraordinary to France, to act in conjunction with Mr. Liv- ingston, the resident minister.
This mission was of the utmost consequence, as it terminated in the acquisition of Louisiana. In the same year, he was appointed minister to London, and in 1:04, to Spain. In 1806, in conjunction with the late William Pinckney, he was appointed min- ister to London, where he pursued the negotiations with the Fox ministry. Mr. Monroe having been prominently brought forward as a candidate for the presidency, as the suc- cessor of Mr. Jefferson, returned from London ; but soon after withdrew from the can- vass. In 1810 he was again elected to the legislature, and again appointed governor. He was appointed secretary of state, Nov. 26, 1811. The war department being in a very embarrassed state, on the departure of its head, Gen. Armstrong, Mr. Monroe un- dertook it, and made extraordinary and very useful exertions to help the war on the lakes, and the defence of New Orleans. After he had reduced to order the war depart- ment, he resumed the duties of the department of state ; which he continued to exercise until, in 1817, he was chosen successor to James Madison in the presidency. In 1821, he was re-elected by a vote unanimous, with a single exception, one vote in New Hamp- shire having been given to J. Q. Adams.
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