USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > History of Augusta County, Virginia > Part 17
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length they came to where the line crosses the Warrior branch of the old Catawba war path, at the second crossing of Dunkard creek, a little west of Mount Morris, in Greene county, and there the Indian escort say to them, "that they were instructed by their chiefs in council not to let the line be run westward of that path." Their commands are peremptory, and there, for fifteen years, Mason & Dixon's line is stayed.
Mason and Dixon, with their pack-horse train and attendants, return to the East without molestation, and report to the commissioners, who ap- proved their conduct, and on the 27th of December, 1767, grant to them an honorable discharge, and agreed to pay them an additional price for a map or plan of their work
The commissioners caused stones to be erected upon the lines and at the corners and intersections around and near the three counties of Dela- ware. On the 9th day of November, 1768, they made their final report to the proprietors.
It would be well to remark that along the line and at the end of every fifth mile a stone was planted on which were graven the arms of the pro- prietors on the side facing their possessions, respectively, while the inter- mediate miles were noted by a stone bearing the initials of the respective States thereon. The line opened was of the breadth of twenty-four feet, made by felling all the large trees, which were left to rot upon the ground ; the stones were erected along the middle of this pathway.
The instruments used by Mason & Dixon were an ordinary surveyor's compass, to find their bearings generally, a quadrant, and the four-feet zenith sector, for absolute accuracy, and which enabled them to be guided by the unerring luminaries of the heavens.
The measurements were made with a four-pole chain of one hundred links each, except that on hills and mountains one of two poles, and some times a one-pole measure, was used. These were frequently tested by a statute chain carried along for the purpose. Great care was enjoined as to the plumblings on uneven ground, and, so far as they have been since tested, the measurements seem to have been very true.
The width of a degree of longitude varies according to the latitude it traverses, expanding towards the equator and contracting towards the pole. In the latitude of our line, Mason & Dixon computed it at fifty- three miles and one hundred and sixty-seven and one-tenth perches. They subsequently made Penns' five degrees of longitude from the Dela- ware, to be two hundred and sixty-seven miles and one hundred and ninety-five and one-sixteenth perches. To their stopping-place, at the war-path on Dunkard, they say was two hundred and forty-four miles, one hundred and thirteen perches and seven and one-fourth feet. Hence they left, as they computed it, twenty-three miles and eighty-three perches to be run. It was subsequently ascertained that this was about a mile and
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a-half too much, as the surveyors of 1784, made it two hundred and sixty- six miles, ninety-nine and one-fifth perches.
The boundary between Virginia and Pennsylvania, after a long contro- versy, was finally settled, as we have seen, by the commissioners of the respective States in 1784. From the accounts of the commissary to the commissioners, it is evident that while discharging their trust they lived well. The bill calls for 120 gallons of spirits, 40 gallons of brandy, 80 gallons of Madeira wine, 200 pounds of loaf sugar, a small keg of lemon juice, 6 pounds of tea, 106 pounds of coffee, 60 pounds of chocolate, 40 pounds of Scotch barley pepper, 6 bushels of salt, 4 tin mugs, I coffee mill, I pewter tea-pot, I tin coffee pot, I frying-pan, I gridiron, 6 boiling kettles, I Dutch oven, I tea kettle, 2 pair snuffers, 4 candle-sticks, 2 funnels, 100 pounds candles, 2 hand-saws, I cross-cut saw, 6 files, 2 hammers, 12 gimlets, 50 pounds nails, I set knives and forks, tea-cups, glasses, tum- blers, bowls, dishes, plates, spoons and basins, 6 large camp stools, 6 small ditto, 2 marquees, or 4 horsemen's tents, 60 felling axes, 100 pounds steel, 6 shovels, 6 pickaxes, 6 spades, 12 pair of H. L. hinges, 3 four-horse wagons and one light wagon, with 4 horses, 20 fathom } inch rope, 2 crow bars, 2 planes, 2 augurs, 4 broad-axes, 2 drawing-knives, } box window- glass, I ream of paper, 100 quills, 6 sticks of wax, 2 dozen pencils, I box of wafers, 2 ink stands, 2 large camp tables, I dozen memorandum books, cheese, 2 dozen hams, I dozen kegs of white biscuit.
The commissioners for whom such excellent provision was made were, on behalf of Virginia, Bishop Madison, Robert Andrews, John Page, and Andrew Elliott; and for Pennsylvania, John Ewing, D. Rittenhouse, John Lukens and Thomas Hutchins.
As public documents are difficult of access, owing to our distance from any great public library, the original reports of the commissioners are in- serted below for future reference :
JOINT REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS ON THE BOUNDARY LINE BE- TWEEN VIRGINIA AND PENNSYLVANIA.
Agreeably to the commission given by the State of Virginia to James Madison, Robert Andrews, John Page, and Andrew Elliott, and by the State of Pennsylvania to John Ewing, David Rittenhouse, John Lukens, and Thomas Hutchins, to determine, by astronomical observations, the extent of five degrees of longitude west from the river Delaware, in the latitude of Mason & Dixon's line, and to run and mark the boundaries which are common to both States, according to an agreement entered into by commissioners from the said two States, at Baltimore, in 1779, and afterwards ratified by their respective Assemblies, we, the underwritten commissioners, together with the gentlemen with whom we are joined in commission, have, by corresponding astronomical observations, made near the Delaware and in the western country, ascertained the extent of the said five degrees of longitude ; and the underwritten commissioners have continned Mason & Dixon's line to the termination of the said five degrees of longitude, by which work the southern boundary of Pennsylvania is
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completed. The continuation we have marked by opening vistas over the most remarkable heights which lie in its course, and by planting on many of these heights, in the parallel of latitude, the true boundary, posts marked with the letters P. and V., each letter facing the State of which it is the initial. At the extremity of this line, which is the southwest corner of the State of Pennsylvania, we have planted a squared unlettered white oak post, around whose base we have raised a pile of stones. The corner in the last vista we cut on the east side of a hill, one hundred and thirty- four chains and nine links east of the meridian of the western observatory. and two chains and fifty-four links west of a deep narrow valley, through which the said last vista is cut. At the distance of fifty-one links, and bearing from it north twenty-three degrees east, stands a white oak marked on the south side with three notches, or bearing south twelve degrees west, and at the distance of twenty-nine links, stands a black oak on the north side with four notches. The advanced season of the year, and the inclemency of the weather, have obliged us to suspend our operations, but we have agreed to meet again at the southwest corner of Pennsylvania on the 16th day of May next, to complete the object of our commission.
Given under our hands and seals, in the county of Washington, in Pennsylvania, this 18th day of November, 1784.
ROBERT ANDREWS, [Seal.] JOHN EWING, [Seal.] ANDREW ELLIOTT, [Seal.] DAVID RITTENHOUSE, [Seal.] THO. HUTCHINS, [Seal.]
The report of the Virginia commissioners, which we have not been able to procure in time for this volume, is no doubt identical with the following report of the Pennsylvania commissioners, which was received by the Ex- ecutive Council, December 23, 1784 :
To His Excellency, John Dickerson, President of the Senate, and to the
Hon. the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania :
The commissioners appointed for ascertaining the length of five degrees of longitude, and for determining and fixing the boundary line between this State and Virginia, by astronomical observations, beg leave to report :
That after procuring the necessary instruments, according to the direc- tions of council in the preceding Spring, we set off for our respective places of observation about the middle of June, Messrs. Rittenhouse and Lukens to Wilmington and Ewing and Hutchins to the southwest corner of the State.
The observers at Wilmington completed their observatory and furnished it with the necessary instruments, so as to begin their astronomical opera- tions in conjunction with Messrs. Page and Andrews, commissioners from Virginia, about the beginning of July, where they continued observ- ing the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites till the 20th September, that they might have a sufficient number of them, both before and after his opposi- tion to the sun ; and although the Summer proved very unfavorable for astronomical purposes, they were fortunate enough to make amongst them near sixty observations of these eclipses, besides many other observations of the other heavenly bodies for the regulation of their clock and fixing
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their meridian line, so that they were well ascertained of their time to a single second.
In the meantime the other observers, setting out for Philadelphia, pur- sued their route to the southwest extremity of the State, where they ar- rived about the middle of July, having been greatly retarded by the bad- ness of the roads through that mountainous country. There they met with Messrs. Madison and Elliott, the commissioners from the State of Virginia, who had arrived about the same time. With all possible dispatch they erected their observatory on a high hill, at the place where the con- tinuation of Messrs. Mason & Dixon's line by Messrs. Neville & McClean ended, supposing this place would prove to be near to the western extrem- ity of five degrees of longitude from the river Delaware. After erecting their instruments, which had not sustained the least damage from the journey over bad roads, they began their astronomical observations about the middle of July, and they continued them night and day till 20th Sep- tember. Although they were frequently interrupted and disappointed by an uncommon quantity of rain and foggy weather, which seems peculiar to that hilly country, yet by their attention to the business of their mis- sion, they made between forty and fifty observations of the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, many of which were correspondent with those made by the other astronomers at Wilmington, besides innumerable observations of the sun and stars for the regulation of their time-pieces and the mark- ing of their meridian with the greatest precision.
In this part of their work, situated thirty miles beyond any of the in- habitants, the Commissioners were greatly assisted by the diligence and indefatigable activity of Col. Porter, their commissary, to whose industry, in providing everything necessary, and prudence in managing the busi- ness in his department with the utmost economy, the State is greatly in- debted.
The astronomical observations being completed on 20th September, the eastern astronomers set out to meet the other Commissioners in the West, in order to compare them together. Messrs. Rittenhouse and Andrews carried with them the observations made at Wilmington, while Messrs. Lukens and Page returned home, not being able to endure the fatigues of so long a journey, nor the subsequent labor of running and marking the boundary line. Mr. Madison continued with the western astronomers till the arrival of Messrs. Rittenhouse and Andrews, when the affairs of his family and public station obliged him to relinquish the business at this stage and return home, after concurring with the other Commissioners as to the principles on which the matter was fully determined.
Upon comparison of the observations made at both extremities of our southern boundary, your commissioners have the pleasure of assuring you that no discouragements, arising from the unfavorable state of the weather, or the unavoidable fatigues of constant application by day and frequent watchings by night, have prevented them from embracing every opportu- nity, and making a sufficient number of astronomical observations, to de- termine the length of five degrees of longitude with greater precision than could be attained by terrestrial measures of a degree of latitude in differ- ent places of the earth; and further, that they have completed their ob- servations with so much accuracy and certainty as to remove from their minds every degree of doubt concerning their final determination of the southwestern corner of the State.
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In the result of the calculations, they found that their observatories were distant from each other twenty minutes and one second and an eighth part of a second of time. But, as the observatory at Wilmington was fixed at one hundred and fourteen chains and thirteen links west of the intersection of the boundary line of this State with the river Delaware, and as twenty minutes of time are equivalent to five degrees of longitude, they made the necessary correction for the said one hundred and fourteen chains and thirteen links, and also for the said second and one-eighth part of a sec- ond, which is equal to nineteen chains and ninety-six links, and accord- ingly fixed and marked the southwestern corner of State in the manner mentioned in the joint agreement and report of the Commissioners of both States, under their hands and seals, which we have the honor of laying before the Council.
After these calculations were made, the Commissioners proceeded with all convenient dispatch to the place where Mason & Dixon formerly were interrupted by the Indian nation in running the Southern boundary of this State, in order to extend the said boundary westward to the length of five degrees from the river Delaware. Being prevented by rainy weather for near a week from making any astronomical observations, in order to ascer- tain the direction of the parallel of latitude which we were to extend, we concluded, to save time and expense, that it would be eligible to take the last direction of Mason & Dixon's line and correct it, if necessary, when we should have an opportunity of a serene sky. Upon extending the line in this manner one hundred and ninety-five chains from the place where they ended their work, we found, by astronomical observations, that we were thirty-two feet and five inches north of the true parallel, and we ac- cordingly made the necessary correction here, and marked a tree with the letters Pon the north side and V on the South. From thence we assumed a new direction, which we again corrected in like manner at the distance of five hundred and seventy-five chains, where we found our line to be seventy-three feet and six inches north of the parallel of latitude. We made the offset accordingly, and planted a large post in the true parallel, marked as above. From thence we found another direction, by calcula- tion, which, beginning at the said post, should, at the distance of eight miles from it, intersect the said parallel, making offsets at convenient dis- tances, and planting posts in the true parallel. This direction being con- tinued thirty-three chains further than the eight miles above mentioned, fell twenty-three inches south of the parallel, where we also planted a post in the true boundary, marked as before, and from thence, to the southwest corner of the State, we assumed a new direction, which, being continued, fell two feet and eight inches south of the said corner. This correction, therefore, being made, we planted a squared white oak post in the said point, and marked its bearing from different objects, as mentioned in our joint report. Besides the marking of this boundary line by the posts and stones above mentioned, your Commissioners took good care to have a vista of twenty or thirty feet wide cut over all the most remarkable ridges which were in the direction of the parallels.
For a more full description of this part of our work, we beg leave to refer to the annexed plan (this plan has never yet been found among the State papers) and sketch of the country through which the line passes. The season being now far advanced, we were obliged to desist from any further prosecution of the work, and agreed with the Virginia Commissioners to meet them at the southwestern corner of our State on the 17th of May
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next, to proceed in running and marking the western boundary of this State.
Agreeably to our commission, we were required to report the situation of the country, and the best means of preserving the communication be- tween the eastern and western parts of the State. We beg leave to ob- serve that the natural obstructions to so desirable a purpose may be in a great measure removed by a few easy instances of attention paid by the Legislature of this State to the situation and exhausted condition of the western citizens. Their public roads are numerous, extensive, and in bad order, while the citizens being few in number, scattered at a distance from each other, and being harassed and exhausted by an Indian war, are unable to repair their roads or to open them through more easy and convenient passes over the hills and mountains. A few hundred pounds, not exceed- ing one thousand, judiciously and frugally applied, would, in our opinion, make a tolerable good wagon road from York county to the Monongehela, and thereby facilitate the exportation of goods from this city to that west- ern country, and secure their trade with us, especially if the ferry over the Susquehanna was made free to all the citizens of the State. It appears probable to us, that otherwise, the exertions of Maryland and Virginia to repair their roads to that country, will frustrate the expectation which we are entitled to entertain of enjoying the advantages of the trade with the western parts of our own State. We beg leave further to observe that the natural attachment of the western citizens to this State might be increased and fixed by an indulgence to their distressed situation, in the price of their lands and the terms of payment, and particularly in the remission of the interest due on the purchase money during the time they have been obliged to evacuate their possessions by the savages and fly to forts for the security of their lives and families.
JOHN EWING, JOHN LUKENS, DAVID RITTENHOUSE, THOMAS HUTCHINS.
CHAPTER X.
Five years after Francis Fauquier* became Governor of Virginia, a treaty of peace was signed, February 10, 1763, at Fontainbleau, between England and France. As, however, all questions as to boundary between their American colonies were left unsettled, it did not bring peace to our fron- tier. On the contrary, the year 1764-65 is memorable for the great extent and destructive character of a war waged by the united Indian tribes of the western country-from the northern lakes to the mountains of North Carolina-with a view to the extermination of the whites. We shall only
*Fauquier was ruined at the gaming-table, but fascinating and high-bred, a gentleman and scholar, a charming companion and a popular Governor, he came to Virginia the friend of William Pitt and fully imbued with the spirit of the Great Commoner.
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refer to the events of this war so far as to give a connected view of the mili- tary operations of this disastrous season. The savages were exasperated at the cession of Canada to the English, especially as they knew that the English government claimed the jurisdiction of the western country gen- erally. They saw forts being built far and near, on the Susquehanna, at Pittsburg, Bedford, Ligonier, Niagara, Detroit, Mackinac, and all manned by British troops. The various tribes decided, therefore, with great una- nimity, upon war, and war to the knife. It was evident to them that the time had come when they must either defend or renounce their country. Their resolution once taken, they were not slow in carrying out their plans of slaughter. They no longer considered the smallness of their numbers and their want of resources, but entered the unequal contest with the im- petuosity of passion, determined, if they could not rescue their lands from a detested foe, to die like men. Their plan of campaign was that of a general massacre of all the English settlers in the western country, as well as of those occupying lands which they claimed on the Susquehanna.
"Never," says an old historian, " did the commanders of any nation display more skill, or their troops more steady and determined bravery, than did those red men in the prosecution of their gigantic plan for the recovery of their country. It was a conflict which exhibited human nature in its native state, in which the cunning of the fox is associated with the cruelty of the tiger. We read the history of this war with feelings of the deepest horror, but why ? On the part of the savages, theirs was the ancient mode of warfare, in which there was nothing of mercy. If science, associated with the benign influence of the Christian system, has limited the carnage of war to those in arms, may not a farther extension of the influence of those powerful, but salutary agents, put an end to war alto- gether ?"
The English traders among the Indians were the first victims of the contest, and out of one hundred and twenty of them, only two escaped being murdered. The forts of Presque Isle, St. Joseph, and Mackinac, were taken, with a general slaughter of their garrisons. They invested Fort Pitt, but the garrison had resolved to resist to the last extremity, and even perish by famine rather than surrender. In this situation, Col. Bou- quet sent Gen. Amherst to its relief. This escort was attacked by a large body of Indians in a narrow defile on Turtle creek, and would have been destroyed but for a successful stratagem employed by Gen. Amherst for extricating his force. After sustaining a furious contest from one o'clock till night, and for several hours the next morning, a retreat was feigned, with a view to drawing the Indians into a close engagement. Previous to this movement, four companies of infantry and grenadiers were placed in ambuscade. The plan succeeded. When the retreat commenced, the Indians thought themselves victorious, and, pressing forward with great
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vigor, fell into the ambuscade, and were dispersed with great slaughter. The loss on the English side was one hundred killed and wounded ; that of the savages was never known. The reduction of Fort Pitt, which they had so much at heart, was now placed out of their reach. It was during this war that the dreadful massacre took place at Wyoming, and desolated the settlements of the New England people along the Susquehanna. The extensive and indiscriminate slaughter of both sexes and all ages 'by the Indians, at Wyoming and other places, so exasperated a large number of men, denominated the "Paxton boys," that they rivaled the most fero- cious of the Indians themselves in deeds of cruelty. The Conestoga In- dians had lived in peace more than a century near Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania. Their number did not exceed forty. Against the unoffending descendants of the first friends of Penn, the Paxton boys first directed their more than savage vengeance. Fifty-seven of them, in military array, entered the village and instantly murdered all whom they found at home, to the number of fourteen men, women, and children. Those who did not happen to be at home at the massacre, were lodged in the jail of Lan- caster for safety. This precaution was unavailing. The Paxton boys broke open the jail door, and murdered the whole of them, between fifteen and twenty. It was in vain that these poor, defenceless people protested their innocence, and on their knees begged for mercy. Blood was the order of the day with these ferocious " boys." The death of their victims did not satisfy their rage. They mangled the dead bodies with their ·scalping-knives and tomahawks, scalping even the children, and chopping off the hands and feet of most of them.
While we read, with feelings of the deepest horror, the record of the murders which have at different times been inflicted on the unoffending Christian Indians, it is some consolation to reflect that our Government has had no participation in these murders, but, on the contrary, has at all times afforded the peaceable Indians the protection which circumstances allowed.
We now come to events which transpired nearer home-the massacres of Big Levels and Muddy Creek, in Greenbrier, when Cornstalk, who after- wards became so distinguished in the border wars, for the first time attracted public attention. Those two were the principal settlements in the Green- brier region, and were about fifteen miles apart. The destruction of these settlements was determined on, and they were visited, in 1763, by the In- dians, before the whites were aware of the existence of war. The party of Indians who went to the settlement on Muddy creek, apparently on a friendly visit, consisted of sixty men, and were kindly received and hospi- tably entertained. After feasting, they suddenly fell upon the unsuspect- ing and unarmed whites, murdering all the men, and making prisoners of the women and children. Having thus repaid the hospitality of the
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