USA > Virginia > Tazewell County > Tazewell County > History of Tazewell county and southwest Virginia, 1748-1920 > Part 15
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The thirty years following the Bacon rebellion were stamped with full assurance that the Virginia colony had reached a stage of permaneney and stability. Many incidents occurred which showed that all the colonies were entering upon a period of revolu tion that was to culminate in the formation of a federal government.
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The year 1710 was an eventful one in the history of Virginia. In the month of June of that year Alexander Spottswood arrived from England to assume charge of the colony as its governor. All historians affirm that he was the best and ablest of the colonial governors. He was descended from an old and distinguished Scottish family, and from his early boyhood had been a soldier in the English army. His valor and ability won for him the rank of colonel at the early age of twenty-eight; and he eame to Virginia six years later with a reputation so exalted as to make his reception at Williamsburg, then the seat of government, most cordial by the leading citizens of the colony. He brought with him from England authority from the Parliament to extend to Virginians the privilege or right of habeas corpus, which had previously been denied them, though other Englishmen had enjoyed the saered right for many years. This one thing made Spottswood very popular with the people.
In a short time after his arrival the new governor became involved in quarrels with the burgesses, oceasioned by what he believed to be a lack of publie spirit on their part and reluctance
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to provide revenue for the essential needs of the government. They refused to appropriate money to send armed assistance to the Carolina colonists who were hard pressed by the Indians and were appealing for help; and plead the poverty of the colony as an excuse for their reprehensible conduct. Spottswood was so pro- voked that he sharply called the attention of the burgesses to the fact that they were greedily taking their pay as members of the assembly without enacting any laws that would be helpful to the colony. And in an address to the assembly he said: "To be plain with you, the true interest of your country is not what you have troubled your heads about. All your proceedings have been cal- culated to answer the notions of the ignorant populace; and if you can excuse yourselves to them, you matter not how you stand before God, or any others to whom you think you owe not your elections. In fine, I cannot but attribute these miscarriages to the people's mistaken choice of a set of representatives whom Heaven has not * * endowed with the ordinary qualifications requisite to legislators ; and therefore I dissolve you." Commenting on the manner in which Governor Spottswood rebuked the dema- gogues and time-serving politicians of the assembly, the historian Fiske thus writes of the gallant and honorable gentleman:
"In spite of this stinging tongue Spottswood was greatly liked and respected for his ability and honesty and his thoroughly good heart. He was a man sound in every fibre, clear-sighted, shrewd, immensely vigorous, and full of public spirit. One day we find him establishing Indian missions, the next he is undertaking to smelt iron and grow native wines: the next he is sending out ships to exterminate the pirates. For his energy in establishing smelting furnaces he was nicknamed 'The Tubal Cain of Virginia'. For the making of native wines he brought over a colony of Germans from the Rhine, and settled them in the new county named for him Spottsylvania, hard by the Rapidan River. where Germanna Ford still preserves a reminiscence of their coming."
Spottswood was governor from 1710 to 1723, and his adminis- tration was clean, able, and progressive. He introduced the English postal system into the colony, but for a time was antagonized in this movement by the burgesses. They contended that the postal charges were a tax, and that Parliament had no right to lay such a tax upon the people without their consent, given through their representatives.
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More than a hundred years had passed since Captain Newport landed the first settlers at Jamestown; and no concerted effort had been made by individuals or the government to explore and occupy that extensive region belonging to Virginia, lying beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains. The belief was still almost universal in the colony that the coast land from Virginia to Labrador was a narrow strip, like Central America, separating the Atlantic Ocean and the one that was known to wash the western shores of the continent. In the fall of 1608, at the command of the London Company. Cap- tain Newport made an ineffectual effort to reach and pass over the mountains, with the confident hope of finding a "salt sea" not far beyond the Blue Ridge. From that time to the coming of Spotts- wood the settlers were content to confine themselves to the tidewater section, where there was an abundance of everything necessary for their comfort, and where their tobacco erops could be used as money in all commercial transactions. The settlements had been extended far enough to bring the mountains in view, but a strip of forest fifty miles wide still intervened between the frontier and the Blue Ridge.
In 1716 the stalwart and energetic Spottswood determined to explore the region west of the mountains; and for that purpose organized an expedition composed of a number of gentlemen who were eager to accompany the governor. They took along a number of negro servants and some Indian guides, and a train of pack- horses laden with supplies, including an abundance of native and imported wines and liquors. The gay Cavaliers assembled at Germanna, and traveled thence up the Rappahannock River and its tributaries until the mountains were reached. They crossed the Blue Ridge at Swift Run Gap, and entered the great Shenandoah Valley a short distance north of Port Republie, a locality that was afterwards to be made famous by Stonewall Jackson, the greatest military leader America has ever produced, in his brilliant eam- paigns against the Federal armies. Spottswood and his company discovered a beautiful stream flowing down the valley and he named it the Euphrates, which was soon changed to the more appropriate name of Shenandoah. The party erossed the river at a very deep ford, on the 6th of September, and, on the western bank of the stream, Governor Spottswood formally took possession of the country for George I., King of England. After remaining a few days in the splendid country, which no white man had ever visited before, the governor started back to Williamsburg and arrived there after an absence of eight weeks.
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John Fontaine, who was a member of the party, kept a diary from which there has been preserved a partial account of the expedition. He said that the governor had no graving irons and could not grave anything on stone, but Mr. Fontaine said: "I graved my name on a tree by the riverside, and the Governor buried a bottle with a paper enclosed, on which he writ that he took pos- session of this place in the name of the King George First of Eng- land. * * * We had a good dinner (on the 6th) and after it we got the men together and loaded all their arms, and we drank the King's health in champagne and fired a volley, the Princesse's health in Burgundy and fired a volley, and all the rest of the royal family in claret and fired a volley. We drank the Governor's health and fired another volley. We had several sorts of liquors, viz: Virginia red wine and white wine, Irish usquebaugh, brandy, shrub, two sorts of rum, champagne, canary, cherry punch, eider &c." The diarist also relates that bears, deer, and turkeys were abundant, and in the Valley the foot-prints of elk and buffalo were seen in many places.
Governor Spottswood was so delighted with the outcome of his exploring expedition that, upon his return to Williamsburg, he established an Order which he named "Knights of the Golden Horse- shoe." From a letter written by Rev. Hugh Jones, who was then rector of Bruton Church, we learn the reason for the name given the Order. Rev. Jones says: "For this expedition they were obliged to provide a great quantity of horse shoes, things seldom used in the lower parts of the country, where there are few stones. upon which account the governor upon their return presented each of his companions with a golden horse shoe, some of which I have seen, studded with valuable stones, resembling the heads of nails. with this inscription * Sic juvat transcendere montes. This he instituted to encourage gentlemen to venture backwards and make discoveries and new settlements, any gentleman being entitled to wear this golden shoe that can prove he drank his Majesty's health upon Mount George."
It seems that a party climbed the highest peak that they could find and that Spottswood eut the name of George I. on the summit. In letters which he wrote to the Lords of Trade in London, Spotts- wood disclosed that the object of his expedition across the moun- tains was not for pleasure, nor for the discovery of new territory, but was for a military and commercial purpose; and to prevent the French from coming down from the Lake Country and encroach-
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ing upon the dominions of Virginia as defined by the several ehar- ters given the London Company. After referring to the fact that the French had in recent years built forts in places that threatened the possessions of England, he stated, "that the Brittish Planta- tions are in a manner Surrounded by their Commeree w'th the numerous Nations of Indians seated on both sides of the Lakes; they may not only Engross the Whole Skin Trade, but may, when they please, Send out Bodys of Indians on the back of these Plan- tations as may greatly distress his Maj'ty's subjects here, And should they multiply their settlem'ts along these Lakes, so as to join their Dominions of Canada to their new Colony of Louisiana, they might even possess themselves of any of these plantations they pleased. Nature, 'tis true, has formed a Barrier for us by that long Chain of Mountains w'ch run from the back of South Carolina as far as New York, and w'ch are only passable in some few places, but even that Natural Defence may prove rather destruc- tive to us, if they are not possessed by us before they are known to them. To prevent the dangers W'eh Threaten his Maj'ty's Domin- ions here from the growing power of these Neighbours, nothing seems to me of more consequenee than that now while the Nations are at peace, and while the French are yet uncapable of possessing all that vast Traet W'ch lies on the back of these Plantations, We should attempt to make some settlements on ye Lakes, and at the same time possess ourselves of those passes of the great Mountains, W'ch are necessary to preserve a Communication with such Settle- ments."
Though he made such intelligent suggestions as to how the French could be prevented from doing what they afterwards tried to do, and partially accomplished, he remained very ignorant of the physical structure and extent of the regions north and west of the Shenandoah Valley. In another letter addressed to the Lords of Trade, dated August 14, 1718, he said:
"The chief aim of my expedition over the great mountains in 1716, was to satisfye myself whether it was practicable to come at the lakes. Having on that occasion found an easy passage over that great ridge of mountains W'eh before were judged unpassable, I also discovered, by relation of Indians who frequent those parts, that from the pass where I was it is but three days' march to a great nation of Indians living on a river W'eh discharges itself in the Lake Erie, that from ye western side of one of the small moun- tains W'ch I saw, that lake is very visible, and cannot, therefore,
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be above five days march from the pass afore-mentioned, and that the way thither is also very practicable, the mountains to the west- ward of the great ridge being smaller than those I passed on the eastern side. W'ch shews how easy a matter it is to gain possession of those lakes."
Spottswood became involved in a quarrel with Dr. James Blair, who was President of William and Mary College. Blair's influence was very great with the English Court, and he procured the removal of Spottswood as governor in 1722. The deposed governor had become so deeply attached to Virginia that he made it his future permanent home. He continued to act as postmaster-general for the American colonies, and by 1738 had a regular mail route estab- lished that extended from New England to Williamsburg; and irregular mails were sent by riders on south to the Carolinas. In 1740 Spottswood died at his estate of "Temple Farm" at Yorktown. The surrender of Lord Cornwallis was negotiated in the house where the valiant and noble gentleman died.
Pioneer Period
Embracing Discovery and Settlement of the Shenan- doah, Roanoke, New River, Holston and Clinch Valleys and Kentucky.
ยท
PIONEER PERIOD
CHAPTER I.
SETTLEMENT OF SHENANDOAH AND ROANOKE VALLEYS.
Events that seem of little importance at the time of their occurrence are sometimes followed by consequences of such magni- tude as to greatly affect the character and material welfare of a nation. The discovery of the Shenandoah Valley by Governor Spottswood was an event of this kind. His expedition across the Blue Ridge, so far as he was concerned, was executed for purely military and commercial purposes. It was certainly nothing more than a pleasure-seeking excursion on the part of Robert Beverly, Colonel Robertson, and the other Virginia gentlemen who accom- panied the governor, judging from the account of the expedition related by John Fontaine in his diary. The handsome jewel Spotts- wood gave to each member of his illustrious Order of "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe," bore the inscription : "Sic juvat trans- cendere montes," which translated means: "Thus it is a pleasure to cross the mountains."
When Spottswood buried a bottle on the bank of the beautiful Shenandoah, with a paper in the bottle declaring that the river and newly discovered territory were the possessions of King George I., neither the governor nor any one of his gallant companions took thought that the seed of European civilization was being planted in the strange, vast wilderness lying beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains. Nor could they foresee that this seed of civilization would quickly germinate, and its rich harvest be scattered broadcast, northward to the lakes, and westward until it reached the distant shores of the great "salt sea," which the London Company ordered Captain Newport to seek and find. Spottswood's expedition was the fore- runner of the pioneer movement that brought the first settlers to the Clineh Valley and all parts of Southwest Virginia. Writing about this wonderful western movement, Fiske, the delightful historian, says :
"This development occurred in a way even far-seeing men could not have predicted. It introduced into Virginia a new set of people, new forms of religion, new habits of life. It affected all the
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colonies south of Pennsylvania most profoundly, and did more than anything else to determine the character of all the states afterwards founded west of the Alleghanies and south of the latitude of middle Illinois. Until recent years, little has been written about the com- ing of the so-called Scotch-Irish to America, and yet it is an event of scarcely less importance than the exodus of English Puritans to New England and that of English Cavaliers to Virginia. It is impossible to understand the drift which American history, social and political, has taken since the time of Andrew Jackson, without studying the early life of the Scotch-Irish population of the Alle- ghany regions, the pioneers of the American backwoods. I do not mean to be understood as saying that the whole of that population at the time of our Revolutionary War was Scotch-Irish, for there was a considerable German element in it, besides an infusion of English moving inward from the coast. But the Scotch-Irish ele- ment was more numerous and far more important than all the others."
A very large portion of the pioneer settlers in Tazewell were of the Seotch-Irish blood, therefore it is proper to inquire at this stage of my work: Who were these peculiar people, with a eom- pound name, and from whence did they come? Fiske very con- cisely and splendidly gives the desired information by saying:
"The answer carries us back to the year 1611, when James I. began peopling Ulster with colonists from Scotland and the north of England. The plan was to put into Ireland a Protestant population that might ultimately outnumber the Catholics and become the controlling element in the country. The settlers were picked men and women of the most excellent sort. By the middle of the seventeenth century there were 300,000 of them in Ulster. That province had been the most neglected part of the island, a wilderness of bogs and fens; they transformed it into a garden. They also established manufactures of woolens and linens which have ever since been famous throughout the world. By the begin- ning of the eighteenth century their numbers had risen to nearly a million. Their social condition was not that of peasants; they were intelligent yeomanry and artisans. In a document signed in 1718 by a miseellaneous group of 319 men, only 13 made their mark, while 306 wrote their names in full. Nothing like that could have happened at that time in any other part of the British Empire, hardly even in New England.
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"When these people began coming to America, those families that had been longest in Ireland had dwelt there but for three generations, and confusion of mind seems to lurk in any nomencla- ture which couples them with the true Irish. On the other hand, since love laughs at feuds and schisms, intermarriages between the colonists of Ulster and the native Irish were by no means unusual, and instances occur of Murphys and MacManuses of Presbyterian faith. It was common in Ulster to allude to Presby- terians as Scotch, to Roman Catholics as Irish, and to members of the English Church as Protestants, without much reference to pedigree. From this point of view the term 'Scotch-Irish' may be defensible, provided we do not let it conceal the fact that the people to whom it is applied are for the most part Lowland Scotch Presbyterians, very slightly hibernicized in blood."
In 1698 the English manufacturers became very jealous of the successful Scotch-Irish manufacturers in Ulster, and secured from Parliament legislation that inflicted such damage to the Irish linen and woolen industries that they had to discharge many of their skilled workmen, who suffered grievously from lack of employ- ment. And about the same time the English Church inaugurated disgraceful persecutions against all Protestants who dissented to the doctrines of the Established Church. Similar persecutions were being used in Virginia and were continued for a number of years. The Presbyterians were not permitted to have schools; their ministers were not allowed to perform the marriage cere- mony; and if any persons had the courage to violate the law, the marriage was declared invalid. They were also denied the right to hold any office higher than constable. There were other despotic and foolish enactments that were a disgrace to the British Govern- ment. Oppressions were heaped upon the Scotch-Irish in Ulster until they became unendurable; and they began to emigrate to America in large numbers about the time Spottswood made his famous exploration of the Shenandoah Valley. This tide of emigration from Ulster continued to flow to America until the Toleration Act for Ireland was enacted by Parliament in 1782. It is known that during one week in 1727 six ship-loads of emigrants from Ulster were landed at Philadelphia; and that in the two years 1733 and 1734 as many as 30,000 came over to America, seeking religious and political freedom. From carefully prepared estimates it is also known that between the years 1730 and 1770-a
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period of forty years-half a million of the Scotch-Irish left Ulster and made their future homes among the American colonies. Most of them located in Pennsylvania, where they were given grants of land in the western mountain sections for the purpose of thus making them a strong defence of the frontier against Indian invasion of the older settlements, as well as against the French.
The "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe", after their return to Williamsburg from the famous exploring expedition, were loud in their praises of the country beyond the mountains. They spoke in the most glowing terms of its scenic beauty, its fertile soil, and the abundance of big game. Their brilliant descriptions, however, did not induce any of the Virginians then living east of the Blue Ridge to migrate to the Valley. and take the risks and endure the hardships of pioneers. They preferred to live in safety, and to enjoy the luxury that had been built upon indentured servitude and slavery. Thus was the honor of bringing this magnificent section of America to a high state of civilization given to a hardier and more intelligent class of men, who came from Ulster and Germany, via Pennsylvania and Maryland.
The General Assembly of Virginia at a session "Begun and holden in the Capitol in the City of Williamsburg on the second day of November 1720" passed an act to erect a county to be called Spottsylvania in honor of Governor Spottswood. The pre- amble of the bill stated: "That the frontiers towards the high mountains are exposed to danger from the Indians and the late settlements of the French to the westward of the said mountains." In the enacting clause, the boundaries of the new county are thus given: "Spottsylvania County bounds upon Snow Creek up to a mill, thence by a southwest line to the river North-Anna, thence up said river as far as convenient, and thence by a line to be run over the high mountains to the river on the North-west side thereof, so as to include the northern passage thro' the said mountains, thence down the said river until it comes against the head of the Rappahannock; thence by a line to the head of Rappahannock river; and down that river to the mouth of Snow Creek; which tract of land from the first of May, 1721. shall become a county by the name of Spottsylvania County."
The preamble of the act discloses the primary purpose for the creation of the new county. It was another invitation to bold spirits to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains and establish homes
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and build forts, as did the pioneer settlers of the Clinch Valley; and erect a strong barrier against the Indians who had previously been making bloody attacks upon the frontier settlements east of the mountains. The Virginia colonists did not respond to this second invitation, following Spottswood's discovery of the Valley; and no settlements were made there until more than ten years after Spottsylvania County was formed. It appears that the entire Valley between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany Moun- tains was uninhabited. The aborigines had, though different tribes asserted claim to the territory, set it apart as a hunting ground, just as they had done with all the territory in Virginia west of New River and south of the Ohio. Therefore it became a highway for war parties of hostile tribes as they traveled either north or . south to make war on their enemies. The Shawnees, who had settled at the present site of Winchester, Virginia, after their expulsion from South Carolina by the Cherokees in 1690, had joined their kindred either in Pennsylvania or in the Ohio Valley. This is indicated by the fact that the first settlement made in Virginia west of the Blue Ridge was at or near Winchester. Hunters and small exploring parties had, possibly, visited the Valley but no settlements were made there until 1732.
Several local historians state, as a fact, that before any settle- ments were made in the Shenandoah Valley, John Marlin, a pedlar, and John Salling, a weaver, started out from Winchester to explore the upper country. Waddell, in his Annals of Augusta County, fixes the date of the Marlin-Salling exploration at about the year 1726. They traveled up the valley of the Shenandoah to the divide which separates that valley from the James River Valley, and journeyed on until they reached the Roanoke River. There they were discovered and surprised by a hunting party of Cherokee Indians, possibly, about the "Great Lick," where the city of Roanoke is now located. Salling was captured by the Indians, but Marlin escaped. Salling's experience as a captive was about as thrilling as that of Thomas Ingles, who was captured by the Shawnees at Draper's Meadows in 1755, and James Moore, who was captured by a band of the same tribe in Abb's Valley in 1784. Salling was taken by the Cherokees to one of their towns in Tennessee. While on a hunting expedition in Kentucky with a party of the Cherokees he was captured by a band of Illinois Indians, and was taken to Kaskaskia, where he was adopted into the family of an Indian squaw who had lost a son in battle. The
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