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 72

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893. cn
Publication date: 1856
Publisher: Charleston, S. C. : Wm. R. Babcock
Number of Pages: 1148

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 72

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Lebanon, the county-seat, is 325 miles sw. of Rienmond, and 130. miles from Knoxville, Tenn. It is beautifully situated on a branch of Clinch River, and commands a fine view of mountain scenery. It was founded in 1816, and although a small village, it is the only one in the county.

464

SCOTT COUNTY.

SCOTT.

ScorT was formed in 1814, from Lee, Washington, and Russell. and named from Gen. Winfield Scott : its mean length is 24, mean breadth 23 miles. It is drained by the north fork of Holston and Clinch Rivers, each of which affords the facilities of boat naviga- tion in times of freshets. Big and Little Moccasin and Sinking creeks, also water the county. The face of the country is moun- tainous and uneven, and much of the soil is good. Iron, coal, marble, limestone, and freestone, are found within its limits, About 60,000 pounds of maple sugar are annually produced. Pop. in 1840, whites 6,911, slaves 344, free colored 48 ; total, 7,303.

Estillville, the county-seat, is 344 miles sw. of Richmond, and 40 from Abingdon. It contains 3 stores, a Methodist church, and about 60 dwellings. The Holston Springs are on the north fork of Hols- ton, 4 miles from the C. H. The medicinal qualities of the water are excellent, and its growing reputation, together with the im- provoments lately made, draw a large number of visitors. The water contains all the ingredients of the White Sulphur possessing any medical efficacy. The principal difference is the existence, in the latter, of sulphureted hydrogen. The uniform temperature of the water is 681º, which renders it a natural medicated bath of the most agreeable degree of heat.

The NATURAL TUNNEL is situated upon Stock creek, about 12 miles westerly from Estillville. That part of the description in fine type, is extracted from the communication of Lieut .- Col. Long, of the U. S. Army, published in the Monthly American Journal of Geology for Feb., 1832 :

To form an adequate idea of this remarkable and truly sublime object, we have only to imagine the creek, to which it gives a passage, meandering through a deep narrow valley, here and there bounded on both sides by walls or rerctements, rising to the height of two or three hundred feet above the stream; and that a portion of one of these chasmo, instead of presenting an open thorough cut from the summit to the base of the high grounds, is intercepted by a continuous unbroken ridge more than three hundred feet high, extending entirely across the valley, and perforated transversely at its base, after the manner of an artificial tunnel, and thus affording a spacious subterranean chan- nel for the passage of the stream.

The entrance to the natural tunnel, on the upper side of the ridge, is imposing and picturesque, in a high degree ; but on the lower side, the grandeur of the scene is greatly heightened by the superior magnitude of the cliffs, which exceed in loftiness, and which rise perpendicularly -- and in some instances in an impending manner-more than three hundred feet ; and by which the entrance on this side is almost environed, as it were, by an amphitheatre of rude and frightful precipices.

The observer, standing on the brink of the stream, at the distance of about one hun- Gred yards below the debouchure of the natural tunnel, has, in front, a view of its arched entrance, rising seventy or eighty feet above the water, and surmounted by horizontal stratifications of yellowish, white, and gray rocks, in depth nearly twice the height of the arch. On his left, a view of the same furul precipice, defreved from the springing of the arch in a manner to pass thence in a continuous curve quite to his rear, and tow. ering, in a very impressive maaner, above his head. On his right, a sapling growth of buckeye, poplar, lindens, &e., shirting the margin of the creek, and extending obliquely to the right, and upwards through a narrow, abrupt ravine, to the summit of the ridge,

THE NATURAL TUNNEL.

The Natural Tunnel is in the southwestern part of Virginia, three hundred and fitty-six miles from Richmond, near the line of Tennessee. This passage through a mountain is abont four hundred and fifty feet in length. A stream of water passes through it, and a stage road over it. The above is an internal view, taken near the lower entrance, looking out upon a wall of rock beyond, shown on page 466. At the point where the figures are seen, the roof is estimated at about amety feet above the stream, and the strata is there arranged in concentric circles, bearing a striking resemblance to a dome.

465

SCOTT COUNTY.

which is herc, and elsewhere, crowned with a timber-growth of pines, cedar, oaks, and shrubbery of various kinds. On his extreme right, is a gigantic cliff lifting itself up perpendicularly from the water's edge, to the height of about three hundred feet, and accompanied by an insulated cliff, called the chimney, of about the same altitude, rising in the form of a turret, at least sixty feet above its basement, which is a portion of the imposing cliff just before mentioned.

The following passages are from Col. Long's private journal, which he gives in addition to the above :

The creek, which is about seven yards wide, and has a general course of about s. 15 w., here passes through a hill elevated from two to three hundred feet above the surface of the stream, winding its way through a huge subterraneous cavern, or grotto, whose roof is vaulted in a peculiar manner, and rises from seventy to eighty feet above its floor. The sides of this gigantic cavern rise perpendicularly in some places to the height of fifteen or twenty feet, and in others, are formed by the springing of its vaulted root immediately from its floor. The width of the tunnel varies from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet ; its course is that of a continuous curve, resembling the letter S-first winding to the right as we enter on the upper side, then to the left, again to the right, and then again to the left, on arriving at the entrance on the lower side. Such is its peculiar form, that an observer, standing at a point about midway of its subterranean course, is completely excluded from a view of either entrance, and is left to grope in the dark through a distance of about twenty yards, occupying an intermediate portion of the tunnel. When the sun is near the meridian, and his rays fall upon both entrances, the light reflected from both extremities of the tunnel contributes to mollify the darkness of this interior portion inte a dachy twilight.

The extent of the tunnel from its upper to its lower extremity, following its meanders, is about one hundred and fifty yards, in which distance the stream falls about ten feet,. emitting, in its passage over a rocky bed, an agreeable murmur, which is rendered mere grateful by its reverberationg upon the roof and sides of the grotto. The discharge of a musket produces a crash-like report, succeeded by a roar in the tunnel, which has a deaf- ening effect upon the ear. The hill through which this singular perforation leads, de- scends in a direction from east to west, across the line of the creek, and affords a very convenient passage for a road which traverses it at this place, having a descent in the direction just mentioned of about four degrees.

In the view of the lower entrance to the Natural Tunnel, there is represented an occurrence which took place many years since. At this point the deep gorge, through which the creek passes, is bounded on three sides by a perpendicular wall of rock over 300 feet in height, the fourth side being open to allow the passage of the creek after leaving the mouth of the tunnel. The rocks at this place have several small caves, or fissures, in which the nitrous earth from which saltpetre is extracted has been found. One or more of these are in the sides of the tunnel itself. A gentleman informed us that the first time he visited the tunnel, some persons were inside extracting saltpetre, and that the smoke belching forth from its mouth and curling up the gorge, enhanced the natural gloom and hideousness of the scene. In the late war, when salt- petre was very scarce, the small fissure in the wall of rock-at that place over 300 feet high-shown in the view, attracted at- tention, and it was determined to explore it. An adventurous in- dividual, by the name of George Dotson, was accordingly lowered from the top by a rope running over a log, and held by several men. The rope not being sufficiently long, the last length, which was tied around his waist, was made of the bark of leatherwood: When down to the level of the fissure, he was still 12 or it foot from it horizontally, being thrown so by the overhanging of the wall of rock. With a long pole, to which was attached a hook.

466

SCOTT COUNTY.

he attempted to pull himself to the fissure. He had nearly suc- ceeded, when the hook slipped, and he swung out into the middle of the ravine, pendulum-like, on a rope of perhaps 150 feet in length. Returning on his fearful vibration, he but managed to ward himself off with his pole from being dashed against the rock.

Lower Entrance to the Natural Tunnel.

when away he swung again. One of his companions, stationed on the opposite side of the ravine to give directions, instinctively drew back, for it appeared to him that he was slung at him across the abyss. At length the vibrations ceased. At that juncture Dotson heard something crack above his head: he looked, and saw that a strand of his bark rope had parted. Grasping, with both hands, the rope immediately above the spot, he cried ont hastily, " Pull! for - sake pull !" On reaching the top he fainted. On another occasion, the bark rope being replaced by a hempen one, he went down again and explored the cave. His only reward was the satisfaction of his curiosity. The hole extended ouly a few feet.

467

SHENANDOAH COUNTY

SHENANDOAH.

SHENANDOAH Was established in 1772, from Frederick, under the name of Dunmore ; but in October, 1777, after Lord Dunmore had taken a decided stand against the colonists, one of the delegates from the county stated, "that his constituents no longer wished to live in, or he to represent, a county bearing the name of such a tory ; he therefore moved to call it Shenandoah, after the beautiful stream which passes through it ;" and it was accordingly done. It is 32 miles long. with a mean width of 15 miles. The eastern and western portions are mountainous. The central part of the county is watered by the north fork of the Shenandoah, and the soil is extremely fertile. Population in 1840, whites 10,320, slaves 1,033, free colored 265 ; total, 11,618.

Woodstock, the county-seat, is 150 miles Nw. of Richmond. and 32 ssw. of Winchester, on the Staunton and Winchester macada- mized turnpike, and about a mile from the x. fork of the Shonan- doah. The town was established in March, 1761. It contains several mercantile stores, I newspaper printing-office, an academy, a masonic hall, 1 German Reformed, 1 Lutheran, and I Methodist church, and a population of over 1.000. New Market was estab- lished in 1781. It is situated on the main turnpike through the valley of Virginia, about 20 miles south of Woodstock, and 18 s. of Harrisonburg: it contains six mercantile stores, 1 Lutheran, 1 Baptist, and 1 Methodist church. an academy, and a population of about 700. The Massanutten Fall, a beautiful cataract of nearly 50 feet perpendicular descent, is situated on a mountain of the same name, about three miles east of this village. The north " fork of the Shenandoah runs within a mile on the west of the town, and is navigable, at high water, for large boats. to the Plain Mills. Strasburg is on the main turnpike, and on the N. branch of the Shenandoah, 12 miles N. of Woodstock : it contains 1 free, 1 Presbyterian, and i Lutheran church, and 85 dwellings. Edin- burg, formerly called Stony Creek, is 5 miles ssw. of Woodstock : it is flourishing, and contains about 30 dwellings. Stony Creek, on which it is situated, is a bold stream. containing excellent sites for manufactories.

The Orkney or Yellow Springs, are about 18 miles southwest of Woodstock. " The waters are composed of several lively springs, and are strongly chaly beate. Every thing the water passes through, or over, is beautifully lined with a bright yellow fringe or mors. The use of this water is found beneficial for the cure of several complaints. A free use of this water acts as a most powerful cathartic, as does also a small quantity of the fringe, or moss, mixed with common water." "There is, high up on Cedar creek, an ebbing and nowing spring. It is " a beautiful spring of clear mountain water, issuing from the western side of the Little North mountain, in a gleu. It ebbs and flows twice in every twenty-four hours : and if care is act particularly taken at every flow, its cur rent is so strong as to overset the vessels of milk placed in the water."

This county was settled by Germans from Pennsylvania, a plain,

468

SHENANDOAH COUNTY.

frugal, and industrious people. Within the memory of those living, the German language was universally spoken among them, and is now, to a considerable extent. A traveller in this section during the French and Indian war, draws a glowing description of their condition. He says :

The low grounds upon the banks of the Shenandoch are very rich and fertile. They are chiefly settled by Germans, who gain a sufficient livelihood by raising stock for the troops, and sending butter down into the lower parts of the country. i could not but reflect with pleasure on the situation of these people; and think, if there is such a thing as happiness in this life, they enjoy it. Far from the bustle of the world, they live in the most delightful climate and richest soil imaginable. They are everywhere surrounded with beautiful prospects and sylvan scenes-lofty mountains, transparent streams, falls of water, rich valleys, and majestic woods; the whole interspersed with an infinite vari- ety of flowering shrubs, constitute the landscape surrounding them. They are subject to few diseases, are generally robust, and live in perfect liberty. They are ignorant of want, and are acquainted with bet few vices. Their inexperience of the elegances of life, precludes any regret that they have not the means of enjoying them ; but they possess what many princes would give half their dominions for-health, content, and tranquillity of mind

The Historian of the Valley has given the particulars of several incursions of the Indians into this region, from which we select the following : .

In the year 1758, a party of about fifty Indians and four Frenchmen penetrated into the Mill Creek neighborhood, about nine miles south of Woodstock, and committed some murders, and carried off forty-eight prisoners. Among them was a young lad of the name of Fisher, about thirteen years of age ..

After six days' travel they reached their villages west of the Alleghany mountains, where they held a council, and determined to sacrifice their helpless prisoner, Jacob Fisher. They first ordered him to collect a quantity of dry wood. The poor little fel- low shuddered, burst into tears, and told his father they intended to burn bim. His father replied, " I hope not ;" and advised him to obey. When he had collected a sof- ficient quantity of wood to answer their purpose, they cleared and smoothed a ring around a sapling, to which they tied him by one hand, then formed a trail of wood around the tree, and set it on fire. The poor boy was then compelled to run round in this ring of fire until his rope wound him up to the sapling, and then back, until he came in contact with the flame, while. his infernal tormentors were drinking, singing, and dancing around him, with " horrid joy.". This was continued for several hours ; during which time the savage men became beastly drunk, and as they fell prostrate to the ground. the squaws would keep up the fire. With long sharp poles, prepared for the purpose, they would pierce the body of their victim whenever he flagged, until the poor And helpless boy ful, and expired with the most excruciating tormento, while his father and brothers, who were also prisoners, were compelled to be witnesses of the heart-rend- ing tragedy.

In 1766, two men by the name of Sheetz and Taylor, had taken their wives and children in a wagon, and were on their way to the fort at Woodstock. At the Narrow l'assage, three miles south of Woodstock, five Indians attacked them. The two men were killed at the first onset, and the Indians rushed to seize the women and children. The women, instead of swooning at the sight of their bleeding, expiring husbands, seized their axes, and with Amazonian firmness, and strength almost superhuman, de- fended themselves and children. . One of the Indians had succeeded in getting hold of nhe of Mrs. Sheetz's children, and attempted to drag it out of the wagon ; but with the quickness of lightning she caught her child in one hand, and with the other made a blow at the head of the follow, which saased hun to quit his fold to rave his life. Several of the Indians received pretty sure wounds in this desperate conflict, and all at last ran off, leaving the two women with their children to pursue their way to the fort. -

Gen. PETER MURLENBURG was a native of Pennsylvania, and by profession a clergy. man of the Lutheran order. At the breaking out of the revolution, he was & young

469

SMYTH COUNTY.

man about 30 years of age, and pastor of a Lutheran church at Woodstock. In 1776, he received the commission of colonel, and was requested to raise his regiment among the Germans of the valley. Having in his pulpit inculcated the principles of liberty, he found no difficulty in enlisting a regiment. He entered the pulpit with his sword and cockade, preached his farewell sermon, and the next day marched at the head of his regiment to join the army. His regiment was the 8th Virginia, or,'as it was commonly called, the German regiment. This corps behaved with honor throughout the war. They were at Brandywine, Monmouth, and Germantown, and in the southern campaigns. In 1777, Mr. Muhlenburg was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. After the war he returned to Pennsylvania, and was appointed treasurer of that state, where bc ended bis days. In person, Gen. Muhlenburg was tall and well-proportioned, and in his address, remarkably courteous. He was & fine disciplinarian, an excellent officer, and esteemed and beloved by both officers and soldiers.

Human bones of extraordinary size-thigh bones three feet in length, and skeletons seven feet in length-have been discovered on Flint run, in this county, on Hawksbill creek, Tuscarora creek, and in Hardy county. (See p. 300.) Capt. Smith's " General! Historie," vol. I., p. 120, gives an account of a prodigious giant tribe of Indians, the Sasquesahanocks, whom he met with at the head of Chesapeake Bay. This relation has been rejected as incredible, and considered as on a footing with the stories of Baron Munchausen, or Sinbad the Sailor ; but these evidences would seem to confirm it .*

SMYTH.

SMYTE was formed in 1831, from Washington and Wythe, and named from Gen. Alexander Smyth, an officer of the late war, and a M. C. from 1817 to 1825, and 1827 to 1830. It is 30 miles long, with a mean width of 22 miles. It has three valleys ; the north, south, and middle forks of the Holston running parallel with each. The mountains are lofty, the bottom lands rich and productive. There are three quarries of gypsum, of the best quality, on the N. fork of the Holston, and several other quarries on Cove creek. It is now extensively and advantageously used in agriculture, About 60,000 pounds of maple sugar are annually produced. Pop., whites 5,539, slaves 838, free colored 145 ; total, 6,522.

Marion, the county-seat, is a recently established village, near the centre of the county; 275 miles sw. of Richmond, 20 NE. of Abingdon, and 26 sw. of Wytheville, on the great turnpike from Baltimore to Nashville, Tenn. It is a small, but neat town, con- taining 3 mercantile stores, and about 30 dwellings. The Chil- howee Sulphur Springs are on, or near the great turnpike, within 18 miles of Abingdon. The settlement called Saltville, derives its name from the justly celebrated salt-works of Preston and King, which are on the line of this and Washington counties. in a narrow plain between the Rich Valley and the north fork of the Holston. There are two wells here, and the salt manufactured from them is of an excellent quality. About 100 persons are employed at these works. The only fossil salt yet discovered in the Union, is found at this place. There were 3 8 volt well In 19" ?

* Southern Literary Messenger, Dec. 1839

James crabtree

470

SOUTHAMPTON COUNTY.

SOUTHAMPTON.

SOUTHAMPTON Was formed in 1748, from Isle of Wight. Its length is 40, mean width 15 miles. The rail-road from Portsmouth to Welden, N. C., runs across the county. It is watered by the Meherrin, Nottoway, and Blackwater Rivers. The Nottoway is navigable for vessels of 70 tons, as far as Monroe, from which place produce and lumber are shipped to Norfolk. The Black- water is navigable for large vessels to South Quay, in Nansemond. There were in 1840, whites 5,171, slaves 6,555, free colored 1,799 ; total. 14,525. Jerusalem, the county-seat, is on Nottoway River, 70 miles ssE. of Richmond, and contains about 30 dwellings.

In this county are the relics of the once powerful tribe of Not- toway Indians. They have a reservation of good land, about 15 miles square, on the Nottoway River, near Jerusalem. These, with the relics of the Pamunkey* tribe at Indian Town, in King William county, are the last remains of the Indians of eastern Virginia. Col. Byrd, in 1728, thus speaks of the Nottoways in his journal :

In the morning we dispatched a runner to the Nottoway Town, to let the Indians know we intended them a visit that evening, and our honest landlord was so kind as to be our pilot thither. being about four miles from his house. Accordingly, in the afternoon we marched in good order to the town, where the female scouts, stationed on an eminence for that purpose, had no sooner spied us, but they gave notice of our approach to their fellow-citizens by continual whoops and cries, which could not possibly have been more dismal at the sight of their most implacable enemies. This signal assembled all their great men, who received us in a body, and conducted us into the fort. This fort was a square piece of ground, enclosed with substantial puncheons, or strong palisades, about ten feet high, and leaning a little outwards, to make a scalade more difficult. Each side of the square might be about a hundred yards long, with loop-holes at proper distances, through which they might fire upon the enemy. Within this enclosure we found bark cabins suf- ficient to lodge all their people, in case they should be obliged to retire thither. These cabins are no other but close arbors made of saplings, arched at the top, and covered so well with bark as to be proof against all weather. The fire is made in the middle, according to the Hibernian fashion, the smoke whereof finds no other vent but at the door, and so keeps the whole family warm, at the expense both of their eyes and com- plexion. The Indians have no standing furniture in their cabins but hurdles to repose their persons upon, which they cover with mats and deer-skins. We were conducted to the best apartments in the fort, which just before had been made ready for our reception, and adorned with new mats that were very sweet and clean. The young men had painted themselves in a hideous manner, not so much for crnament as terror. In that frightful cumpage they entertained as with sundry war-dances, wherein they endeavored

* Smee the account of the Pamunkey Indians was printed (see p. 349) we have acej. dentally met, in the Family Magazine for 1838, a description of an Indian ornament, accompanied by an engraved representation. The description, signed " J. M.," and dated at Fredericksburg, here follows :

"There is now before me a silver frontlet, obviously, I think, part of a crown. The engraving upon it Es, first. the crest, a crown surmounted by a lion passant, The escutcheon, as delinented, field argent. Beneath this is a serol! containing the words, 'THE QUEENE OF PAMUNKEY! Those nondescript things in the dexter, chief, and sinister buse quarters are lions passant, and the whole is bordered with a wreath, Just within the wreath you will see inscribed, . CHARLES THE SECOND, KING OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, FRANCE, IRELAND, AND VIRGINIA,' and within that the words, 'HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE, TEVIL TO HIM WHO EVIL THINKS.| The ornament was purchased of some Indians many years ago by Alexander Morson, of Falmouth, the spindfather of the present proprietor.

" You know that the Pamonkey tribe still occupies its oid ground in King William county, exercising to a certain extent its own laws, an ' imperium in imperio.'"

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Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893. cn Publication date: 1856 Publisher: Charleston, S. C. : Wm. R. Babcock Number of Pages: 1148

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893. cn
Publication date: 1856
Publisher: Charleston, S. C. : Wm. R. Babcock
Number of Pages: 1148