USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > History of Augusta County, Virginia > Part 19
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But the grant of the great northern confederacy was made. The white man could now quiet his conscience when driving the native from his for- est home, and feel sure that an army would back his pretensions. A new company was at once organized in Virginia, called the " Mississippi Com- pany," and a petition sent to the King for two millions and a-half of acres in the west. Among the signers of this were Francis Lightfoot Lee, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington and Arthur Lee. The gentle- man last named was the agent for the petitioners in England. This ap- plication was referred to the Board of Trade on the 9th of March, 1769, and after that we hear nothing of it.
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The Board of Trade was, however, again called on to report upon the application of the Walpole Company, and Lord Hillsborough, the presi- dent, reported against it. This called out Franklin's celebrated "Ohio Settlement," a paper written with so much ability that the King's Council put by the official report and granted the petition, a step which mortified the noble Lord so much that he resigned his official station. The petition now needed only the royal sanction, which was not given until August 14th, 1772; but, in 1770, the Ohio Company was merged into Walpole's, and the claims of the soldiers of 1756, being acknowledged both by the new company and by government, all claims were quieted. Nothing was ever done, however, under the grant to Walpole, the Revolution soon coming upon America. After the Revolution, Walpole and his associates petitioned Congress respecting their lands, called by them "Vandalia," but could get no help from that body. What was finally done by Virginia with the claims of this and other companies we do not find written, but presume their lands were all looked on as forfeited.
During the ten years in which Franklin, Pownall and their friends were trying to get the great western land company into operation, actual settlers were crossing the mountains all too rapidly, for the Ohio Indians "viewed the settlements with an uneasy and jealous eye," and " did not scruple to say that they must be compensated for their right if people settled thereon, notwithstanding the cession by the Six Nations." It has been said, also, that Lord Dunmore, then Governor of Virginia, authorized surveys and settlements on the western lands, notwithstanding the proclamation of 1763, but Sparks gives us a letter from him in which this is expressly de- nied. However, surveyors did go down even to the Falls of the Ohio, and the whole region south of the Ohio was filling up with white men. The futility of the Fort Stanwix treaty, and the ignorance or contempt of it by the fierce Shawanese, are well seen in the meeting between them and Bul- litt, one of the early emigrants, in 1733. Bullitt, on his way down the Ohio, stopped, and singly sought the savages at one of their towns. He then told them of his proposed settlement, and his wish to live at peace with them, and said that, as they had received nothing under the treaty of 1768, it was intended to make them presents the next year. The Indians considered the talk of the Long Knife, and the next day agreed to his proposed settlement, provided he did not disturb them in their hunting south of the Ohio-a provision wholly inconsistent with the Stanwix deed.
Among the earlier operators in western lands was Washington. He had always regarded the proclamation of 1763, as a mere temporary ex- pedient to quiet the savages, and being better acquainted with the value of western lands than most of those who could command means, he early began to buy beyond the mountains. His agent in selecting lands was the
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unfortunate Colonel Crawford. In 1767, we find Washington writing to Crawford on this subject, and looking forward to the occupation of the western territory ; in 1770, he crossed the mountains, going down the Ohio to the mouth of the Great Kanawha ; and in 1773, being entitled, under the King's proclamation of 1763, (which gave a bounty to the officers and soldiers who had served in the French war,) to ten thousand acres of land, he became deeply interested in the country beyond the mountains, and had some correspondence respecting the importation of settlers from Eu- rope. Indeed, had not the Revolutionary war been just then on the eve of breaking out, Washington would, in all probability, have become the lead- ing settler of the west, and all our history have been changed.
But while in England and along the Atlantic men were talking of peop- ling the west south of the river Ohio, a few obscure individuals, unknown to Walpole, to Franklin, and to Washington, were taking those steps which actually resulted in its settlement.
These deeds were made upon the express agreement that no claim should ever be based upon previous treaties-those of Lancaster, Logs- town, &c. The deeds were signed by the chiefs of the Six Nations, for themselves, their allies and dependents. The Shawanese and Delaware deputies present refused to sanction the treaty by their signatures. Such was the treaty of Stanwix, whereon, in a great measure, rests the title, by purchase, of Western Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.
In 1769, a new company was formed in Virginia called the " Mississippi Company," and asking of the King a grant of 2,500,000 acres.
Lord Botetourt encouraged these companies, as did also his successor. Botetourt died in 1771, and the Earl of Dunmore, who was appointed to the Governorship, arrived in Virginia in 1772. Under the favor of both Governors, settlers were crossing the mountains in considerable number, and to the very great annoyance of the natives. In order to protect these settlers, a small force was sent, in 1773, under Gen. McIntosh, for the de- fence of the frontier, and to attack the Indian towns on the Sandusky. McIntosh's operations were unsuccessful, and his campaign ended after severe losses in killed and wounded. That both sides of the question may be seen, we give the following extracts from letters written in 1774 by Gen. Arthur St. Clair and others :
FROM ARTHUR ST. CLAIR, 1774.
" The murder of a Delaware Indian chief was perpetrated eighteen miles from this place (Ligonier). It is the most astonishing thing in the world-the disposition of the common people of this country. Actuated by the most savage cruelty, they wantonly perpetrate crimes that are a disgrace to humanity, and seem, at the same time, to be under a kind of religious enthusiasm. The Delawares are still.friendly, and it may, per- haps, prevent a general war, if they can be kept in temper."
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FROM ALEX. M'KEE, FORT PITT, 1774.
" You must, ere this, be acquainted with the critical situation of this country, and the unhappy circumstances which have lately arisen between the Virginians and the Indians, the event of which still continues doubtful -whether matters will be brought to a general rupture or an accommoda- tion. Hostilities have been commenced on both sides. *
* Some wise interposition of Government is truly necessary, or thousands of inhabitants must be involved in misery and distress. But, to do the Indians justice, they have given more proof of their pacific disposition, and have acted with more moderation, than those who ought to have been more rational, a few Mingos and Shawanese excepted, who have long been refractory. There are more effective means of chastising them for their insolence and perjury than by involving the defenceless country in a war."
FROM D. SMITH, PITTSBURG, 1774.
" The Indians were surprised to see a number of armed men at this place, with their colors, at different times. making a warlike appearance, and said some of the militia fired on them at their camps near the mouth of Saw-mill Run."
FROM A. MACKAY, PITTSBURG, 1774.
" We do not know what day or hour we will be attacked by our savage and provoked enemy, the Indians, who have already massacred sixteen persons, to our certain knowledge, about Ten-mile creek. A party of militia, consisting of Capt. McClure, Lieut. Kincaid, and forty privates, were on their march to join Connelly, at the mouth of Wheeling, where he intended to erect a fort, when they were attacked by four Indians, who killed the Captain on the spot, wounded the Lieutenant, and made their escape."
FROM JNO. MONTGOMERY, 1774.
" The Shawanese seem well disposed and inclinable to peace, and will continue so, unless provoked by the Virginians. The Delawares are all for peace. Logan's party had returned, and had thirteen scalps and one prisoner. Logan says he is now satisfied for the loss of his relatives, and will sit still until he hears what the Long-knives (Virginians) will say. I am in hopes the storm will blow over."
In June, 1774, Col. McDonald, with four hundred men, was ordered to Wheeling. After capturing the Indian village of Wappatomi, the savages sued for peace, and while negotiations were pending, removed their women and children, burnt their towns, destroyed their crops, and reduced the whites to the verge of starvation.
But we are anticipating events. At the close of the war in 1764, the English colonies in America were thirteen in number, with a population of 2,500,000. In the French and Indian war, to which we have briefly re- ferred, they all took part, and while England contributed some men and money, on the colonies fell the heaviest share of the burden, and to them belongs the merit of success. By their union, in this war, they laid the foundation of that union in the Revolution which resulted in the establish- ment of the United States. The year 1765 is memorable for the stand taken by Virginia as to those questions which were causing a state of hos-
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tility between the colonies and the mother country, which resulted in a long and bloody war, and ended in a final separation.
BATTLE OF BACK CREEK.
From D. S. Young, Esq., we have obtained the following account of his ancestors' participation in this affair : "About the year 1764, a party of Indians, passing through the country, made a raid upon the settlers on Kerr's creek, in Rockbridge, murdering men, women and children. The whole country was aroused, and a number of brave Augustians armed themselves hastily and went in pursuit. Crossing the Warm Spring moun- tain-following the Indian trail, they overtook the savages on Back Creek, in the present county of Bath. A hand-to-hand fight instantly commenced, the whites making an attack with such fury that the guilty barbarians had no time to fly. The engagement, which resulted in the defeat and death of almost every blood-stained savage, was deplored by the Young family for the loss of Thomas Young, one of the two sons of the original founder of the family in our county. This occurred in the following manner : In the heat of the contest, Thomas Young became engaged in mortal combat with two of the savages. While thus contending, a third savage ap- proached him from the rear, and with one blow buried his tomahawk deep into the skull of the brave white. Death ensued instantly, and, in the twinkling of an eye, the savage scalped his victim. John Young, although fighting desperately, saw the whole proceeding, and marked the mur- derer. Having disposed of his assailants, he fired upon the slayer of his brother. The shot took effect in the Indian's hip, who sank upon his knees. Young rushed upon him with his sword. His first blow was par- ried by the savage, who threw up his gun, on the barrel of which the sword was broken. With the remaining portion of the rapier, Young hacked and hewed the savage to pieces. Thomas Young's body was buried on the battle-field. His scalp was brought home and interred in the grave of his father-in the Glebe burying-ground, near the North Mountain, in Augusta."
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CHAPTER XI.
The year 1764, which witnessed the close of the Indian war, is memo- rable for the commencement of the narrow policy of Colonial oppression, which, after disturbing the ancient harmony of the two countries for twelve years, terminated in a dismemberment of the British Empire. Space does not admit of our entering upon the origin and history of the disputes be- tween the colonies and mother country; upon the reciprocal insults, which soured the tempers ; the mutual injuries, which embittered the passions of the opposite parties, made reconciliation impossible, and finally led to the establishment of the Federal Government. We must confine ourselves to matters nearer home. During the Spring of 1774, it was evident that an Indian war was impending on our frontier. Such was the general belief in its imminency, that the traders and other adventurers who had pene- trated into the territory of the red men, left the wilderness, and collected at Wheeling. That post was then commanded by Capt. M. Cresap, and was called the " Key of the West." It must be remembered that Penn- sylvania and Virginia laid equal claim, in 1752-54, to Pittsburg and the surrounding country, and doubt still existed as to which colony it belonged. This led to the controversy treated of in the ninth chapter, and caused further irritation and trouble in 1774. Early in the Spring of this year, Dunmore, prompted by Col. Croghan, and his nephew, Dr. Jno. Connolly, an intriguing and ambitious man, determined, as we have seen, to assert the claims of Virginia upon Pittsburg and its vicinity. Then commenced a series of contests, complaints and outrages which are too extensive and complicated to be described within our limited space. The upshot of the matter was this : Connolly took possession of Fort Pitt, dismantled and nearly destroyed it, and then rebuilt and named it Fort Dunmore. He also wrote to the settlers along the Ohio that the Shawanese were not to be trusted, and he desired all to be in readiness to redress any wrongs these savages might perpetrate. One of these circulars he addressed to Capt. Michael Cresap, at Wheeling. A few days previous to the date of Connolly's letter, April 16, 1774, a canoe loaded with goods for the Shawa- nese towns, the property of Mr. Butler, a Pittsburg merchant, had been attacked by three Cherokee Indians about sixty miles above Wheeling, and one of the whites killed. This greatly excited the Virginians at Wheeling, and when, a few days later, it was reported that a canoe con- taining Indians was coming down the river, a resolution was at once taken to attack it. Connolly was endeavoring to foment a war, and the whites, . largely participating in his views, exhibited at this time the blind im-
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petuosity of barbarians. Cresap, one of the leaders of the war party, went up the river with several men, and, firing into the boat, killed two Indians, whom they scalped. Next day, several boats containing Indians were discovered a few miles up the river. Pursuit was given, and that night, while the Indians were encamped near the mouth of Captina creek, twenty miles below Wheeling, the Virginians attacked them, kill- ing and wounding several. Shortly afterwards, April, 1774, Daniel Great- house massacred twelve Indians at Baker's house, on the Big Yellow creek, where a considerable number of red men were encamped. By a disgraceful device, many of them were made drunk on rum, then mur- dered and scalped. Among the slain was the entire family of the famous chief, Logan, though Logan had hitherto been friendly to the whites, and warmly espoused a peace policy. These were the exciting causes of the war of 1774, though, as already premised, the magazine was charged, and needed only the application of the match to cause an explosion.
The settlers, well knowing what would follow such brutalities, left the frontier and retired into stockade forts. As they anticipated, the Indians were soon on the war path. It was not a single tribe, but a combination, or confederacy of all the tribes of the northwest, conspicuous among them the Shawanese, Mingos, and Delawares. Having, by their own conduct brought affairs to this point, with the hope that, during a general war, the Indians would be "polished off the earth," to use the slang phraseology of the frontier, Connolly and Cresap despatched a scout to Williamsburg, where the Legislature was at the time in session, to inform the Governor.
Gen. Lewis, a member of the House of Burgesses for the county of Botetourt, was then in Williamsburg, attending its deliberations. He was widely distinguished for his great actions and the important services he had rendered his country. He was now in his fifty-sixth year, and his strong understanding fortified by large experience. The Governor imme- diately sent for him, and, after a conference, decided on raising an army and appointing Lewis to its command. He asked the General his views as to a campaign. Lewis soon explained to him a plan of campaign that was simple, bold, and judicious. The General knew that no such formi- dable union of savage tribes as now existed had ever taken place on the continent ; that no such able and astute leaders as Logan, chief of the Mingos; Cornstalk, sachem of the Shawanese, and King of the Northern Confederacy ; Outacité, the Man-killer, King of the Cherokees; and Blue Jacket, had ever been formed against the whites, or occupied such a geographical advantage over their enemy. He informed Lord Dunmore that the savages must not only be attacked in front, but on the flank ; that he should advance by the Kanawha, or the River of the Woods, to the Ohio, while a cooperating force from Fort Pitt, coming down the river, would be prepared to strike the left of the Indian army, advancing from
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the west. He explained his campaign in detail, and the Governor heartily approved the prospective acuteness of his plans, and said he would take command in person of the force to move from Fort Pitt. Gen. Lewis im- mediately left the capital for Staunton, and applied himself, with unexam- pled energy, to raising from the southern counties his force, and performed such wonders of labor as could hardly have been expected from a human body and a human mind. He selected and appointed his own officers, and, under them, volunteers came in with such alacrity that there was no occasion to resort to a draft, which he was empowered to do, if necessary. As the companies were completed in Staunton, they were sent off to Camp Union, on the Greenbrier, and, when completed, the force there consisted of the following :
GEN. LEWIS' FORCE.
I. Regiment of Augusta troops, under Col. Charles Lewis. The cap- tains in this regiment were: Geo. Mathews, (afterwards Governor of Georgia); Alex. McClenachan ; John Dickinson ; John Lewis, (son of Col. Wm. Lewis, afterwards of the Sweet Springs,) then only sixteen years of age, but celebrated for his martial spirit and herculean strength; Benj. Harrison ; Wm. Paul; Jos. Haynes; Sam'l Wilson.
II. The Botetourt regiment, under Col. Wm. Fleming. The captains in this regiment were : Mathew Arbuckle; John Murray ; John Lewis, (son of the General in command); James Robertson ; Robt. McClenachan ; James Ward ; John Stuart, (author of a Memoir of this campaign).
III. The regiment from Culpeper, under Col. John Field.
Three Independent companies from Washington county, Va., under command of Col. Wm. Christian. Their captains were: Evan Shelby, Wm. Russell, - Harbert.
An Independent company from Bedford county, Va., under command of Capt. Thos. Buford.
These citizen-soldiers were men hardened by exercise and toil. Their bodies seemed inaccessible to disease or pain. War was their element. They sported with danger, and met death with composure. To such men the colony of Augusta, the State of Virginia, and the Republic of the United States, owe their present greatness. They remind us of the founders of Rome, of whom Cato, the elder, said to the Roman Senate: "Think not it was merely by force of arms that our forefathers raised this republic from a low condition to its present greatness. No! By things of a very differ- ent nature-industry and discipline at home, abstinence and justice abroad, a disinterested spirit in council, unblinded by passion and unbiassed by pleasure."
Gen. Lewis' last preparations completed, he left Staunton, arrived at Camp Union early in September, and assumed command. On the 11th of September, 1774, unsheathing the old sword he had carried twenty
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years before at the defeat of Braddock, and in the war of '63-'64, he pointed to the West and commenced his march into the friendless wilder- ness. Never had the Virginians taken the field with so numerous and for- midable a force, but Lewis knew he was marching against a powerful Con- federacy. He therefore sought to impress upon his men that they should not show themselves inferior in valor to the heroes of 1755, nor sink below public expectation. He maintained a rigid discipline, and, as far as prac- ticable, the regularity of his march, as if in constant expectation of an attack, and illustrated the necessity of this course by a reference to the defeat of Braddock, and the well-known fact that an inferior number, well posted and handled with ability, has often proved too much for a more numerous body, whom contempt for their enemy exposes to attacks for which they are unprepared. They were on hostile ground from the day of their march, and the wisdom of his precautions cannot be doubted.
There was no road, or even pathway, from Camp Union to the Ohio, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles. The whole country was an un- broken forest or trackless desert. Through this gloomy region the army was to be piloted by Capt. Arbuckle, a skillful backwoodsman. Their supplies of flour, salt and ammunition were to be transported on the backs of unshod horses, and their cattle driven in rear of the army. After a painful march of nineteen days, the army arrived on the Ist of October, 1774, at the mouth of the Kanawha. The troops had thus marched, on an average, eight-and-a-half miles a day-an astonishingly good progress under all the circumstances. This result could not have been attained but for the good health and vigorous character of the men. They had neither spirits, wine, nor malt liquor, and drunkenness, disease, crime, and insubordination were unknown. When the army reached Point Pleasant, the soldiers were almost naked. Their rations consisted of a small quantity of meal or flour, a little beef, and such game as they could kill-no tea or coffee. No men were ever called on to perform harder or more continuous labor, and yet they were always cheery, and worked with a will that could not be surpassed. We conclude from this, that water is better than grog, and that the theory of old army officers-especially those of the British army-that rum is essential to the good health and good humor of the soldier, is erroneous.
The privations, the waste of strength and health, on such a march, are enormous, but owing to the temperance of the men, the high morale of the force, the troops were, notwithstanding some loss of physical condition, ready for action on reaching the Ohio. The General, who was then nearly sixty years of age, and was always worse lodged, worse served, and more plainly dressed than the youngest of his officers, was full of strength and vivacity, and elated at his success in crossing the wilderness. Owing to his failure to hear from Dunmore, and the fatigue of some of the less vig-
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orous of his men, Gen. Lewis now, as he had previously resolved on doing, formed and fortified a camp at this point,-selecting an elevated spot of land, where there was plenty of fresh air, good water, and excellent drain- age. Here the General remained nine days, until rest and a supply of wholesome food fully restored the bodies and spirits of his surviving sol- diers, and made them, if not more ready, better prepared for action.
While the events we have related, commencing with April, 1774-the recruiting of Lewis force, the march to Point Pleasant, &c .- were transpir- ing east of the Ohio, the barbarians, fully advised by their spies and scouts, began to collect northwest of the Ohio in force. They were animated by their ancient hatred of the Virginians, whom they styled " Long Knives ;"* by a desire for revenge; by a wish to rid the country forever of the pale faces ; and by a natural fondness for war. They mustered with such celerity, and in such force, that, greatly outnumbering the Virginians, they believed Lewis would not dare to meet them, or, if rash enough to do so, he would be ignominiously defeated. Their commander-in-chief, the famous Cornstalk, exerted himself to bring this force together with in- credible zeal and activity, and planned to take the two divisions of Lewis and Dunmore in detail. Accordingly, he advanced to meet Lewis, and was in the neighborhood of Point Pleasant, watching the progress of affairs, when Lewis arrived. From his lair, he witnessed the arrival of Lewis' force and the disposition made of them.
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