USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > History of Augusta County, Virginia > Part 14
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EPISCOPAL CHAPELS.
There are two Episcopal chapels in Augusta, one called Boyden Chapel, situated near Folly Mills, the other near Hebron church, called Trinity chapel. No clergyman officiates regularly in either.
ORPHAN CHILDREN.
Previous to the Revolution, the vestries bound out orphan children as apprentices. They were required to serve until they arrived at the age of twenty-one, were instructed in some art, were taught to read and write and arithmetic, given two suits of clothing, etc.
THORNROSE CEMETERY.
To within a comparatively recent period, the grave-yard of the Episco- pal church in Staunton was used for the interment of all persons dying in or near the city. Its overcrowded condition, and the fear that the air might become tainted, and thus spread disease and death, led to the pur- chase of twelve acres of land beyond the town limits in 1850, and the lay- ing out of that beautiful City of the Dead, known as Thornrose Ceme- tery. Since no more bodies are likely to be buried in this cemetery than the free oxygen contained in the rain and dew carried through the soil will decompose, the air of Thornrose is not harmful, but fresh and healthy. In the absence of a park, garden, or other decorative public ground in or
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near Staunton, Thornrose is a favorite resort. In its shady retreats silence and solemnity reign, diffusing, as it were, a perpetual Sabbath over the scene.
NATIONAL CEMETERY.
On the western slope of Betsy Bell, a handsomely improved cemetery contains the bodies of the Federal soldiers who lost their lives during the Civil war.
BETSY BELL AND MARY GRAY.
These two lofty and beautiful mounts, which rise above the landscape near Staunton, piloting the people from every part of the county to the town, thus derived their names: Some time in the seventeenth century, during the prevalence of a plague in Scotland, two young girls, Betsy Bell and Mary Gray, to escape infection, fled from their homes and took refuge in a solitary booth in the Highlands. Here they were often visited by an admirer, who carried them supplies. During his visits, he unconsciously communicated the plague to them. Both became ill, both died, and were buried near Perth, where their graves, which were carefully sodded over and attended to by the hands of surviving friends, were long pointed out, and, for aught we know to the contrary, may still be seen. Their sad fate gave rise to a ballad commencing
" Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, twa bonnie lassies,"
which has been preserved. This ballad was taken to Ir eland by Scotch emigrants, and the names it commemorates given to two hills, near New- town Stewart, in the county of Tyrone. The early settlers of Augusta no doubt discovered some resemblance between the Irish mounts and the two lovely hills which dominate Staunton, and affixed these names to them.
CHAPTER VIII.
From the arrival, in 1752, in Virginia of Gov. Dinwiddie, the history of the little colony in Augusta becomes more closely connected with that of the colony of Virginia, as that of Virginia becomes part of the history of the North American colonies, at the head of which she stood at the open- ing of the Revolution. It will have been perceived from the preceding chapters that the Mississippi Valley was first explored and settled by the French; that they had a line of forts from New Orleans to Quebec, one of them being Fort du Quesne, where Pittsburg now stands. The English colonies were jealous of these movements, and that jealousy at length ripened into hostility. Previous, however, to any open acts of war, the
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English sought to gain possession of the western country by throwing a large white population into it by means of land companies. In this way three trading companies came into existence-namely : "The Ohio Com- pany," to which was granted 500,000 acres of land, to be taken on the south side of the Ohio river, between the Monongehela and Kanawha ; the " Greenbrier Company," granting to John Lewis, of Augusta, and his associates, 100,000 acres, which he located on the river Greenbrier ; the third, the "Loyal Company," incorporated June 12th, 1749, with a grant of 800,000 acres, from the Canadian line north and west. In 1750, the lands of the Ohio Company, and the western country, down to the Miami, were explored by the company's agent, C. Gist. In 1751, Col. John Lewis and his son Andrew, afterwards the distinguished General, surveyed the Greenbrier tract. The movements of the English were closely watched by the French, who, understanding their designs, determined to defeat them. They accordingly crossed Lake Champlain, built Crown Point, and fortified certain positions on the waters of the upper Ohio. A com- pany of French soldiers was sent south as far as the Miami, by whom the English traders among the Indians were ordered to leave the country. The Indians, being unwilling to give them up, and the traders refusing to leave, a fight ensued in 1752, in which fourteen Miamis were killed and four white prisoners were taken. This was the beginning of a contest which resulted in the loss to France of all of her territory east of the Mississippi.
Thus stood affairs in 1752, when Gov. Dinwiddie arrived in Virginia. In 1753, viewing with alarm the French encroachments, he despatched Geo. Washington on a mission to the French commandant. Washington arrived at the French headquarters, near the present city of Pittsburg, November 26, 1773, and delivered his dispatches. The French comman- dant, who refused to leave, informed Washington that it was his purpose to destroy every English settlement in the West. Having performed his task, Washington left on his return, and reached Williamsburg January, 1774.
Washington's mission did not prevent war, and Virginia, seeing it to be inevitable, proceeded to raise a regiment, under Col. Joshua Fry, with Washington as Lieutenant-Colonel. This force was despatched to the West, and, on 28th of May, reached a place called Redstone, where they encountered a French and Indian force, which they attacked, killing ten and taking the rest prisoners. From the prisoners Washington learned that a French and Indian force of 1,000 men was in his front. Undaunted, he continued his march to the "Great Meadows," where he halted, and built a fort, calling it " Fort Necessity." On the 3d of July, at 11 o'clock, A. M., the whole French and savage force attacked Washington's works, which they attempted to take by assault. The battle raged until 8 in the
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evening, the air resounding with the sharp report of rifles and the hideous whoops and yells of the savages. The Virginians, animated by their chief, defended the fort with determined pluck. The little fortress was said to resemble a volcano in full blast, roaring and discharging its thick sheets of fire, which carried death to two hundred of the enemy. At the end of nine hours, the French leader, Count de Villiers, sent in a flag of truce, extolled the gallantry of the Virginians, and offered to treat for a surrender of the works on honorable terms. His proposals were accepted, and next morning the Virginians marched out.
The British Cabinet was now satisfied that a war was inevitable, and encouraged the colonies to form a union among themselves. This was done, and a plan, or system, was signed by the agents of the leading northern colonies and Maryland in 1754. Early in the Spring of 1755, the colonies attacked the French at four different points,-Nova Scotia, Crown Point, Niagara, and on the Ohio river. The operations against the French, on the Ohio, were conducted by Gen. Braddock, who arrived from England in February, with two Royal regiments, the 18th, under com- mand of Lieut .- Col. Dunbar, and the 44th, under Sir Peter Halkett. Vir- ginia raised eight hundred men to join Braddock, who arrived at Alexan- dria, then called Bellhaven, and appointed Washington his aide-de-camp. Braddock now despatched one company of colonial troops, under Capt. Thomas Lewis, of Augusta, to Greenbrier, to build a stockade fort and prevent Indian raids on the white settlements in that region. The cap- tains of the Virginia companies in Braddock's command were Waggener, Cock, Hogg, Stephens, Poulson, Peyronny, Mercer and Stewart. Brad- dock commenced his march from Alexandria on the 20th April with about 2,200 men, and on the 9th of July, 1755, crossed the Monongehela river. We cannot delay to describe the amazing difficulties he encountered on his march or the disastrous defeat he now sustained. He fell into an ambuscade, was mortally wounded, and the army, after sustaining tremendous losses in killed and wounded, was put to flight. But for the coolness and cour- age of Washington and the Virginia Blues, as our troops were called, the whole force would have been destroyed. In this battle the British and colonial loss was 777 men killed and wounded.
The alarm and despondency arising from this disaster was soon dis- pelled by the elastic spirits and indomitable pluck of our people, encour- aged by the eloquence of Rev. Samuel Davies and other Presbyterian and dissenting ministers.
Among the Virginians who survived this battle, and were afterwards distinguished in our annals, were Washington, Andrew and William Lewis, Mathews, Field, Grant and others.
It must be mentioned in this connection that Braddock held the provin- cial troops in contempt, and consequently kept them in the rear. Yet, al-
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though equally exposed with the rest, far from being affected by the fears that disordered the regular troops, they stood firm and unbroken, and under Washington, the Lewises, Mathews, Fields and other frontiersmen, covered the retreat of the regulars, and saved them from destruction. The British force retreated one hundred and twenty miles, and had they even stopped here, might have rendered important service by preventing the devastations and inhuman murders perpetrated by the French and Indians during the Summer on the western borders of Virginia and Penn- sylvania. Instead of adopting this salutary course, Col. Dunbar, leaving the sick and wounded at Cumberland, marched with his troops to Phila- delphia.
The whole frontier of Western Virginia was thus thrown open to the ravages of the Indians. The savages crossed the Alleghanies and pushed into Augusta and the lower Valley, torturing and murdering men, women and children. Some of the settlers fled east of the Blue Ridge, but the vast majority of the inhabitants of Augusta remained at home, prepared for defence, and determined, if necessary, to embrace an honorable death as their refuge against flight. The distresses of the people during this period of war exceed all description. In one of Washington's letters to Gov. Dinwiddie there is a famous passage which brings all this suffering and wretchedness vividly before us. He says : " The supplicating tears of the women, and moving petitions of the men, melt me into such deadly sorrow that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy, provided that would contribute to the people's ease."
The campaign of 1755, closed by the failure of Braddock's expedition and that under Gen. Shirley against Niagara. Although the French and English colonies had been for two years at war, peace was maintained be- tween the two governments at home. An end was put to this unnatural state of affairs by a formal declaration of war by Great Britain against France, May 9th, 1756, and the bloody struggle, known as the French and Indian war, began, wherein most of Europe, North America, the East and West Indies, were engaged. The American colonies were called on to raise a force to cooperate with the royal troops, and Virginia contributed 1,600 men. Washington was commissioned colonel, Adam Stephens, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Andrew Lewis, Major. The force intended to operate in the West was placed under command of Gen. John Forbes, and consisted of 9,000 men. The plan of campaign for 1756-'57, was as extensive as that of the previous year, and resulted in the capture, by the French, of Fort William-Henry, Lake George. The success of the French and Indians brought the colonial affairs of England in America to an alarming situation, and fears were felt that the French would make good their claim to the country from Canada to Louisiana. But the blackest
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clouds frequently have rays of light in their fleecy folds. There are few days all dark. There are wells in the Sahara, flowers on the edge of the avalanche, and hope in every heart of despair. The fears now felt by a few were not participated in by the many. The mass of the people girded themselves for the contest, and affairs assumed, during the campaign of 1758-'60, a totally different aspect. Victory everywhere crowned British arms, and, in the end, Canada fell into the hands of the English.
During the expedition of 1758, an affair occurred in which Augusta's distinguished son, Gen. Andrew Lewis, was involved, and is so character- istic of the chivalric Virginian that we make room for it. During the march against Fort du Quesne, under Gen. Forbes, Maj. Grant, with 800 men, was sent forward to ascertain the state of affairs at the fort, and on the morning of the 21st of September, was before it. At the first alarm the gates were thrown open, and the French and Indians rushed forth in great numbers. The air was rent with the savage war-whoops as they charged, and before Grant's men had time to bring their guns to bear they were surrounded and captured. Maj. Andrew Lewis, of Augusta, who was at the head of the rear guard, hearing the sound of battle, left the baggage under charge of Capt. Bullitt and fifty men, and hastened to the front. He only arrived in time to see Grant's force prisoners, and be captured himself. The following incident is related of these officers while on parole at Fort du Quesne. Grant, in his dispatches, endeavored to throw all the blame of capture on Lewis, who, in fact, deserved all the credit of saving, by means of Bullitt, the baggage and the few men who escaped to the rear guard. The messenger who had been despatched with the papers by Grant to the British commander, was captured, and the dis- patches fell into the French commandant's hands. Lewis being present when they were opened and read, heard with astonishment and indigna- tion their contents, and, without uttering a word, started in pursuit of Grant, whom he soon found. He instantly charged him with his infamous calumny, drew his sword, and called on Grant to defend himself. Grant declined the combat, when Lewis denounced him as a liar and poltroon, and, in the presence of two French officers, spat in his face.
Hearing of the capture of Grant's force, Gen. Forbes urged forward the main body of his troops, and, on reaching Fort du Quesne, found it aban- doned by the French, who, alarmed at the size of his force, took to their boats and retreated down the Ohio. Before leaving, the French applied a slow match to the magazine and blew up the fort. It was rebuilt by the British and called Pittsburg, in compliment to William Pitt, Earl of Chat- ham, who was very popular in America.
Thus more than a century and a-half after the first permanent settle- ment in America, England completed the conquest of Canada,-an object which had been for seventy years desired by the colony,-effected the ex-
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pulsion of the French from the Ohio Valley, and, despite the efforts of her rivals, France and Spain, became almost sole possessor of North America. The treaty of Fontainbleau, in 1762, put an end to war.
SANDY CREEK EXPEDITION OF 1756.
Before closing this subject, the leading events of which we have set before the reader in such rapid succession, some allusion must be made to the Sandy Creek expedition. The depredations of the Indians, after Braddock's defeat, led to the fitting out, under Maj. Andrew Lewis, of this force, with orders to attack the Indian towns west of the Ohio. The force consisted of three hundred and forty men, and left Fort Frederick, on New river, in the then County of Augusta, for the mouth of Sandy creek, February, 1756. Among the officers in this command were Capts. Wm. Preston, Peter Hogg, John Smith, Archibald Alexander, R. Breckenridge, Woodson and - Overton, and Capt. David Stewart, commissary. There were also two volunteer companies, under Capts. Montgomery and Dunlap, and a party of friendly Cherokees, commanded by Capt. Paris. The Indian forces against whom they marched were commanded by their celebrated chiefs, Outacité, the Man Killer, Round O, and Yellow Bird. While Lewis' command was at Fort Frederick waiting for supplies, &c., sermons were preached to them by Revs. John Craig, of Augusta, and Mr. Brown. The command crossed the Holstein river February 18th, 1756, and reached Sandy creek on the 28th. Their supplies ran short, and a famine was threatened, men deserted, and but for the wisdom and firmness of Lewis, who possessed the unbounded respect and confidence of his officers and men, the whole expedition would have been destroyed. The sufferings from hunger were so severe that the men cut their buffalo robes into tugs and ate them, and hence the name of the stream, on whose banks it occurred, of Tug river. When within a few miles of the Ohio, Lewis received orders to return, and thus the expedition ended without results of importance. The Indians were much elated at Lewis' retreat. and immediately advanced on the white settlements, carrying death to many a helpless family. Conspicuous among their blood-thirsty chiefs was Killbuck, who, in 1757, drew Capt. Mercer's force of forty Virginians into an ambuscade and killed thirty-four of them. The following year, 1754, the savages reappeared east of the mountains, and one of these parties, consisting of fifty warriors, reached a point nine miles from Woodstock, in Shenandoah. The whites took refuge in the house of one George Paint- er. Mr. P., attempting to escape, was killed. They then plundered and burnt the house. While the house was burning, they forced from Mrs. P. her four children, hung them in trees, and shot them in savage sport. They then moved off with forty-eight prisoners. On reaching their vil- lage, after six days' travel, they tied to a stake Jacob Fisher, a helpless prisoner, who had given them much trouble, and burnt him to death.
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After an absence of three years, Mrs. P., her daughters and several others escaped and returned to their homes, but some remained, married Indians, and spent their lives with the savages.
DEATH AND CHARACTER OF THE FOUNDER.
In 1762, the Founder died, thirty years after coming to Augusta, and in his eighty-fourth year. He was a man of superior abilities and virtuous principles, prudent in concerting his plans, and perseveringly vigorous in executing them. The last thirty years of his life were devoted to advanc- ing the interests of the little community he founded. His mind was im- proved by a liberal education, and few possessed greater knowledge of everything capable of forming and qualifying a man for public employ- ment. Tall, vigorous, and commanding in figure, he was distinguished for the manly beauty of his person, the cordial frankness of his address, the charms of his conversation, and the desperate character of his courage. He was buried at Bellefonte, and an enormous limestone slab, rude and uncut, was placed over his grave, where it still lies half-buried. In 1850, this was replaced by a marble slab, bearing the following inscription :
Here lie the remains of JOHN LEWIS, who slew the Irish lord, settled Augusta County, Located the town of Staunton, And furnished five sons to fight the battles of the AMERICAN REVOLUTION. He was the son of Andrew Lewis, Esq., and Mary Calhoun, and was born in Donegal Co., Ireland, 1678, and died in Virginia Feb. Ist, 1762. He was a brave man, a true patriot and a firm friend of liberty throughout the world.
Mortalitate relicta, vivit immortalitate inductus.
HANNAH DENNIS, THE QUEEN WITCH OR INVISIBLE PRINCESS.
In 1761, sixty Shawanese warriors penetrated east of the Alleghanies to the James river settlements, committing murders and carrying off prison- ers-among them Mrs. Renix and her four children. Mrs. Renix was, under Bouquet's treaty, brought to Staunton, in 1767, and redeemed, as also her son, afterwards Maj. Renix, of Greenbrier, and her other children, except her son Joshua, who became so enamored of savage life that he took an Indian wife, became a chief among the Miamis, amassed a con- siderable fortune, and died, at Detroit, in 1810.
Among the captives was Hannah Dennis, a clever and spiritual woman, who was sent to reside at an Indian town, near Chillicothe. Instead of giving way to grief at her bondage, she applied herself to learn the Indian language, performed such labor as they required of her with alacrity, pro-
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fessed warm attachment to their ways of life, painted her body like the squaws, and conformed to their manners and customs. She became very popular with the tribe, and in order to enhance her influence, professed a knowledge of medicine, of the properties of plants and herbs, and com- menced practice as a doctor among them. She soon discovered the super- stitious character of the Indians, and determined to take advantage of it to increase her power and position. Accordingly, she professed witchcraft, and affected to be a prophetess. Unlike most witches, Hannah was ex- ceedingly beautiful, and employed her charms of person and the seducing grace of her manners to enhance her influence. By cunning and craft, by pretending to tame horses and wild beasts by whispering in their ears ; to divine future events from the various indications that manifest themselves in fire, smoke, and in other ways ; by spells and incantations to communi- cate with the dead ; to foretell earthquakes, allay storms, drive away pes- tilence, cure disease by virtue of a few words pronounced over the sick person,-a quicker way than with snake-root or ginseng,-this marvelous woman acquired such a reputation among the savages that they not only gave her perfect liberty but looked upon her as a female deity, and hon- ored her as a Queen. Placing little value upon their homage, she deter- mined to escape, and in June, 1763, left Chillicothe, in search, as the Indians supposed, of herbs for medicinal purposes, as was her custom, and did not return, but, crossing the Scioto, set out for Virginia. Alarm spread among the tribe when her disappearance was known; they ran to all parts on foot and on horseback, but she could not be found. The chiefs met ; the utmost consternation prevailed ; scouts were dispatched to scour the country. Finally the pursuing savages caught sight of her beyond the Scioto, forty miles below Chillicothe. They fired upon her but without ef- fect, and probably they did not expect to kill her, as their rifles were loaded with leaden instead of silver bullets. They forded the river and still pur- sued, but Hannah had disappeared as if the clouds had received her up, or she had been swallowed by the earth. Awed by the mysterious disap- pearance, they gave up the chase, lit their camp-fires, and passed the night on the spot. Next morning they set out on their return. When they had been gone some time, the invisible princess crept from a hollow log, in which she had concealed herself, and dressed a wound in her foot which had been received during her flight. Knowing enough of the Indian character to feel satisfied they would not return to look after one who had gone, in their opinion, to the spirit land, Hannah spent three days at this point, nursing her wound and recovering her strength, and then resumed her journey for the mouth of the Kanawha. She crossed the Ohio on a log of drift-wood, and after travelling for twenty nights, resting during the day in a cave or under the branches of trees, subsisting on fruits gathered in the forest with difficulty, she finally set down on the banks of a stream
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which supplied her drink, to die. In this condition, almost expiring from hunger and fatigue, she was discovered by a backwoodsman, relieved by the pioneers, and ministered to until restored, then supplied with a horse, and conducted to Jackson's river, and thence to her home and friends.
HISTORY OF SELIM, AN ALGERINE CONVERT.
Among the curious waifs found astray in Augusta, about the year 1756, was a native of Algiers, by the name of Selim. The particulars of his life are given upon the authority of Rev. Benj. H. Rice. About 1756, Mr. Samuel Givens, of Augusta, when shooting in the forest, near his resi- dence, was startled by seeing in the limbs of a fallen tree a living creature, which he supposed to be a beast of prey, and was in the act of shooting, when he discovered it was a human being. Approaching nearer, he found a man in the most wretched and pitiable condition, his person naked, ex- cept his feet, about which a few rags were tied, and covered with scabs and sores, his body emaciated, and the man nearly famished to death. As the man could not speak English, Givens could hold no conversation with him, but acted the part of the good Samaritan by conducting him to his house, supplied his wants, and by tender care, restored him to health and strength. He then accompanied Mr. Givens to the house of Col. Dicker- son, near Windy Cave, who entertained him for some months with true backwoodsman's hospitality.
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