USA > Virginia > Washington County > Washington County > History of southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870 > Part 22
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Colonel Christian finding nothing further to engage his attention, returned with his army to the Long Island in Holston river. This campaign lasted three months, and but a single white man was killed. This was a man whose name was Duncan, a soldier under Captain Jacob Womack. He was killed in an engagement with the Indians. This man left a wife (she was a cripple), and five small children, to whom the General Assembly of Virginia, on June 16, 1777, allowed the sum of twenty pounds for their present relief and
*Rear Guard of the Revolution, p. 126.
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
the further sum of five pounds per annum, for the period of five years, with directions to Anthony Bledsoe and William Cocke, to lay out and expend the same for the support and maintenance of Eliza- beth Duncan and her children. Several white men were slightly wounded by the Indians and by accident, upon this expedition, among the number being Samuel Douglas, Thomas Berry and George Berry, Jr.
Upon the return of the army to the Long Island of the Holston, Colonel Christian reorganized the same, and, for the protection of the frontiers, left six hundred men at the island under the command of Colonel Evan Shelby and Major Anthony Bledsoe.
The General Assembly of Virginia directed the Governor and Council to take such measures for the preservation and disposition of the horses and provision belonging to the government and in use upon this expedition as should appear to be most proper and con- ducive to the interest of the country. And, by the same act, the Governor and Council were directed to give instructions to the com- manding officer of the army destined against the Cherokees, to take such steps, at the end of the campaign, as were thought neces- sary for the future safety and protection of the southwestern fron- tier of this State. Whereupon the Governor and Council of Virginia directed Captain Thomas Madison to take the necessary steps to col- lect all the cattle and horses on hand upon the return of the army from this expedition, and to take care of them, whereupon Captain Madison employed :
William Carmack,
John Delaney,
Stephen Richards,
Matthew Dean,
John Fulkerson,
Cornelius Carmack,
Andrew Greer,
Joseph Greer,
John Nash,
Samuel Looney,
Peter Looney,
William McBroom,
John Cox,
John Carmack,
Jonathan Drake,
Ezekiel Smith,
Henry Hickey,
Isaac Drake,
Hugh Blair,
Benjamin Drake,
to herd and take care of the country cattle, from the 13th day of November, 1776, to the 11th day of June, 1777. And Colonel Christian, pursuant to the directions of the Governor and Council, stationed the six hundred men as above detailed at Long Island,
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and directed Captain Joseph Martin to proceed to the Rye Cove Fort, about fifty miles from North Fork of the Clinch river, with eighty men. The rest of the army were mustered out of service. Captain Martin immediately began the march to the Rye Cove. Upon this march he had to pass through a very dangerous gap, called Little Moccasin, where the trail went through a very nar- row and deep gorge of the mountain and where the Indians had killed a great many white people. When Captain Martin began the march through the gap, he had his men in fine order and strung out in single file. Just as the head of the column emerged from the narrow defile, the whole column was fired upon by Indians from the top of the ridge, where they were strung out in a line as long as Captain Martin's. As soon as the Indians fired, they ran off, having failed to kill any of Martin's men But one man, James Bunch, a member of Martin's company, had five balls shot through his flesh, whereby he was rendered incapable of getting a livelihood by labor, and was allowed by the General Assembly of Virginia thirty pounds for his pres- ent relief and half pay as a soldier for three years.
The Indians having all fled, Captain Martin proceeded to Rye Cove, where he remained until the first of May, 1777, when he was ordered back to the Long Island, where he remained until the treaty of peace was concluded between the Indians and the whites on July the first.
In December of the year 1776, the commanding officer at Fort Patrick Henry dispatched Samuel Newell and another per- son to the Cherokee town for the Indian chief, the Raven of Chote. Upon their return trip they were accompanied by the Indian chief.
A short time thereafter, in the month of January, 1777, Samuel Newell was again ordered to the Indian town, Chote, with letters in regard to a family that had been murdered near Fort Patrick Henry. While on his way to the town of Toquo, he was tomahawked by the Indians and scalped, and soon there- after died in the town of Chote. His horse, gun, saddle and bridle, saddle-bags and clothes were carried off by the Indians, who murdered him.
A number of the citizens of Fincastle county petitioned the General Assembly of Virginia for compensation for pasturage
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
taken and the provisions used by Colonel Christian upon this expedition, among the number so petitioning being
Amos Eaton,
John Latham,
James Kincannon
Evan Shelby,
David Getgood,
Abel Richardson,
John Beatie,
James McGavock,
William Savers,
James Aylett,
Ephraim Dunlop,
Robert Barnett,
William Cocke,
The General Assembly of Virginia at its fall session in 1726, allowed Isaac Thomas, the faithful friend of the white settlers, one hundred pounds as a reward for the services he had rendered the settlers by giving them information of the intended incur- sions of the Indians, and paid him for the stock and property lost at the time of the outbreak of the Indian war.
The Governor and Council of Virginia directed that for the purpose of concluding a treaty of peace between the Indians and the Commonwealth of Virginia a convention should be held at the Long Island of Holston, in the month of May, 1727, and appointed Colonel William Christian, Colonel William Preston and Major Evan Shelby to act as the Virginia commissioners at said convention. The Governor and Council of North Carolina appointed Waightstill Avery, Joseph Winston and Robert Lanier, commissioners upon the part of North Carolina at said convention. The commissioners of the two States met the Indian chiefs, who had been assembled through the efforts of Nathaniel Gist, at the Long Island in May, 1722, and drafted a treaty. which treaty was submitted to the Governor and Council of Virginia on May 28, 1727. at which time the Council entered the following orders :
"Having referred to the Governor of this board to direct a treaty begun with the Cherokee Indians in such manner as they think best.
"Resolved. That the Governor be desired to confer with the Cherokee chiefs and warriors, from time to time during their said meeting, on the subject of all disputes now subsisting between them and this State, and in regard to the treaty of peace now under consideration, and if he receive any proposals to
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
make a good and proper answer to them, preparatory to com- pletion, the conference to be held at the Great Island on two days next month, and this board will attend at such conference as may be appointed, and that Dr. Walker and Colonel Christian be desired to provide from the public store, or, in their place, proper presents to be made to the Indians now here and consider what is necessary to provide for the Indians at the next meeting at the Great Island.
"Adjourned at 10 o'clock.
"John Page, "Dudley Diggs,
Tho. Walker, Nathaniel Harrison,
"John Blair,
David Jamison,
"Bartho Dandridge.
"Colonel William Christian, one of the commissioners ap- pointed on behalf of this State to form a treaty of peace with the Cherokee Indians, having attended this board with the pro- ceedings of himself and the other commissioners at a treaty held at the Great Island, in consequence of their former instructions, upon considering the same the board entirely approved thereof, and think it necessary that the same should be laid before the General Assembly, which the Governor is desired to do, and Col- onel ยท William Christian having also informed the board that several of the chiefs and warriors of said nation of Indians will accompany him to Williamsburg, resolved that they be received and treated in the most friendly manner and furnished with all necessaries until the General Assembly shall give further direc- tions in the matter."
This treaty was not concluded until the first day of July, 1777. By this treaty a new boundary line was established between the settlers and the Indians. The boundaries as fixed by this treaty extended as far down as the mouth of Cloud's creek. This treaty was signed by all the Indian chiefs except Dragging Canoe, who was wounded at the battle of Long Island Flats. He said "that he would hold fast to the talks of Cameron the British agent and continue the war as before." While the treaty was being nego- tiated two men were murdered on the Clinch river by Dragging Canoe and some of his men, and conduct of this character was continued for many years on the part of Dragging Canoe and the Chickamauga Indians.
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
While this treaty was being negotiated a great many Indians, with their squaws and children, had collected and were quartered in the island, surrounded by a guard to prevent improper inter- course with the whites, but, notwithstanding this precaution, some abandoned fellow shot across the river and killed an Indian. This produced great confusion; the Indians thought they were betrayed and prepared to fly, and it was with much exertion that the officers and commissioners pacified and convinced them that such was not the fact. Afterwards, when the Council met, the Raven opened the conference on the part of his people by a speech in which he reverted to the case of the murdered Indian. He said, "lest that unhappy affair should disturb the harmony and sincerity that ought to exist at that time between the white and red brethren, each party ought to view it as having happened so long ago, that if, when the Indian was buried, an acorn had been thrown into his grave, it would have sprouted and grown and become a lofty spreading oak, sufficiently large for them to sit under its shade and hold their talk.
This speech was thought by many to be equal to anything in the celebrated speech of Logan.
From the fall of 1775 to the close of the Revolutionary war, the settlers in this part of Virginia were compelled to occupy their forts from early spring until late in the fall, as their settle- ments were constantly visited by bands of Cherokee and Shaw- nese Indians sent upon them by the British agents, but the settle- ments enjoyed perfect freedom from the Indians from the first appearance of winter until the return of spring. During this interval of time the Indians were deterred from making raids into the settlements, by the great danger of detection in conso- quence of the nakedness of the trees, by the danger of being traced by their tracks in the snow, and by the suffering pro- duced by exposure to cold while traveling and lying in wait. The settlers took advantage of this immunity from attacks by the Indians, cleared their lands, built their houses and made every possible preparation for their crops during the coming season.
During the summer of 1776, elections were held throughout the Commonwealth for members of the House of Delegates and the Senate under the new Constitution. At this election the fol- lowing persons were elected members of the House of Delegates
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
from Fincastle county : Arthur Campbell and William Russell. And the member of the Senate from Botetourt and Fincastle, that being the Tenth Senatorial District, was Colonel William Christian.
By an ordinance of the convention of 1775, adopted July 15, 1775, the Western District of Virginia, of which Fincastle county vas a part, was required to furnish sixty-eight expert riflemen for the regular service.
And by an Act of the Assembly of Virginia adopted in Octo- ber, 1776, a requisition of seventy-four men was made upon the authorities of Fincastle county to be officered by a captain ap- pointed by the Governor.
A First Lieutenant,
A Second Lieutenant,
and an Ensign.
The officers of the company organized in Fincastle county for the continental service in the year 1776 cannot be ascertained, save in one instance.
John Buchanan was lieutenant of this company at its organ- ization, and was a lieutenant in the Seventh Regiment in the fall of the same year, and remained in the service until killed in the year 1777.
At a meeting of the General Assembly of Virginia, in the fall of the year 1776, a petition from the inhabitants of the western parts of Fincastle county was presented to the House and read ; setting forth that they became adventurers in that part of the county in the year 1774, and were obliged by the incursions of the Indians to abandon their settlements, after having discovered and explored the country; that others afterwards became adven- turers and claimed the lands by warrants from Lord Dunmore, under the royal proclamation of 1763, and a company of men from North Carolina purchased, or pretended to purchase, from the Cherokee Indians, all the lands from the southernmost waters of Cumberland river to the banks of the Louisa river, including the lands in Powell's Valley, by virtue of which purchase they styled themselves the absolute proprietors of the new independent Transylvania ; that officers, both civil and military, are appointed, writs of election issued, assemblies convened, a land office opened. and lands sold at an exorbitant price, and a system of policy
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introduced, not agreeing with that lately adopted by the late United Colonies, and that they have the greatest reason to ques- tion the validity of the purchase aforesaid; that they consider themselves and the said lands to be in the State of Virginia. whose legislature they acknowledge, and to which State they con- ceive they justly belong: that having assembled together after due notice, they elected two members to represent them in this House, and hope they may be received as their delegates; that they are ready and willing, to the utmost of their abilities, to assist in the support of the present laudable cause, by contribut- ing their quota of men and moneys, and that in order to pre- serve good order, they had. as was done in West Augusta, elected a committee consisting of twenty-one members, and cheerfully submitted the case to the House. This petition of the inhabi- tants of that part of Fincastle county, now included within the State of Kentucky, was accompanied by petitions from nearly all the settlers on the Holston and Clinch rivers, and was pre- sented to the General Assembly on the eighth day of October, 1:26. and the General Assembly on Friday, October 11, 1276, adopted the following resolutions :
"Resolved. That the inhabitants of the western part of Fincas- tle county not being allowed by the law a distinct representation in the General Assembly. the delegates chosen to represent them in this House cannot be admitted. At the same time the com- mittee are of opinion, that the said inhabitants ought to be formed into a distinct county, in order to entitle them to such representation and other benefits of government."
The petition for the division of Fincastle county was referred to a committee of which Carter Braxton was chairman, which committee, through its chairman, on Tuesday, October 15, 1176. presented a bill for the division of the county of Fincastle into two distinct counties, which bill was read the first time and ordered to be read the second time. On Wednesday, October 16. 1116. this bill was read a second time and was committed to Thomas Jefferson and the members from Augusta and Botetourt counties, and on October 17. 1176, Mr. Jefferson, from the com- mittee to whom the bill for dividing the county of Fincastle into two distinct counties was committed, reported that the com- mittee had gone through the bill and made several amendments
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
thereto, which he read in his place, and afterwards delivered in at the clerk's table, where the same was again twice read and agreed to and ordered to be engrossed and read a third time. And, on Wednesday, October 30, 1776, this bill was ordered to be committed to Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Simms, Mr. Bullitt and the members from Fincastle, Augusta and Botetourt counties, and on November 19, 1776, Mr. Mason and the members from Frederick, Hampshire and Bedford counties were added to the committee, to whom the bill for dividing the county of Fincastle into two distinct counties was committed. And on Monday, November 26, 1776, the bill for dividing the county of Fincastle into three distinct counties was read a third time, and it was:
"Resolved, That the said bill do pass, and that the title be, an Act for dividing the county of Fincastle into two distinct coun- ties, and the parish of Botetourt into four distinct parishes, and Mr. Arthur Campbell was appointed to carry the same. to the Senate for their concurrence.
In the Senate, several amendments were proposed to the bill passed by the House, which amendments, being communicated to the House, were disagreed to, whereupon, the Senate com- municated with the House, through Mr. Ellzey, as follows : "Mr. Speaker:
"The Senate do insist on the amendments by them proposed to the bill entitled, An Act for Dividing the County of Fincastle into three distinct counties, and the parish of Botetourt into four distinct parishes. And upon the amendments being again read, it was, by the House of Delegates,
"Resolved, That this House do recede from their disagree- ment to the said amendments proposed by the Senate, which action of the House having been communicated to the Senate, the Senate insisted on the amendments proposed to the bill by them, whereupon, the Virginia House of Delegates, on December 6, 1776,
"Resolved, That this House do insist on the disagreement to said amendments, and that Mr. Campbell do acquaint the Sen- ate therewith."
Which resolution being communicated to the Senate, the Act for the dividing of the county of Fincastle into three distinct counties, and the parish of Botetourt into four distinct parishes,
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
was adopted, the Senate having receded from the amendments proposed by them.
This aet provided that from and after the 31st day of Decem- ber, 1776, the county of Fincastle shall be divided into three distinct counties, to be known by the names of Montgomery, Washington and Kentucky.
Thus ends the history of Fincastle county, in so far as the history of that county forms a part of the history of Washing- ton county.
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
CHAPTER VII.
WASHINGTON COUNTY, 1777-1786.
The Act of the General Assembly of Virginia dividing the county of Fincastle into three distinct counties, to-wit: Mont- gomery, Washington, and Kentucky, was adopted by the General Assembly of Virginia on the 6th day of December, 1776, and pro- vided that from and after the last day of December, 1776, the said county of Fincastle should be divided into three counties. And this Act defines the bounds of Washington county as follows, viz. : "That all that part of said county of Fincastle included in the lines beginning at the Cumberland mountains where the line of Kentucky county intersects the North Carolina (now Tennes- see) line; thence east along the said Carolina line to the top of Iron mountain; thence along the same easterly to the source of the South Fork of the Holston river; thence northwardly along the highest part of the highlands, ridges and mountains that di- vide the waters of the Tennessee from those of the Great Ka- nawha to the most easterly source of Clinch river; thence west- wardly along the top of the mountain that divides the waters of the Clinch river from those of the Great Kanawha and Sandy Creek to the line of Kentucky county, and thence along the same to the beginning, shall be one other distinct county and called and known by the name of Washington .*
"The eastern boundary of Washington county as thus defined was altered by Act of the General Assembly of Virginia at its session in the month of May, 1777, as follows: Beginning at a ford on Holston river, next above Captain John Campbell's, at the Royal Oak, and running from thence a due south course to the dividing line between the States of Virginia and North Carolina; and from the ford aforesaid to the westerly end of Morris' Knob, about three miles above Maiden Spring on Clinch, and from thence. by a line to be drawn due north, until it shall intersect the waters of the Great Sandy river."
The Act establishing the county of Washington directed that the
*Hening statutes, 1776.
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Washington County, 1777-1870.
justices named in the commissions of the peace for the said county should meet at Black's Fort, in said county, on the last Tuesday in January, 1722, which day in each month was desig- nated by said Act as County Court day, and a majority of the justices ao commissioned were authorized to designate the place for holding said court and to elect a clerk for said court.
The power to appoint the first sheriff of the county was vested in the Governor.
The territory included within the county of Washington as thus established is now embraced in the following counties :
Washington, -
Tazewell, ~
Russell, -
Lee, -
Scott. -
Buchanan, -
Smyth, -
Dickenson,
Wise, _
a territory sufficient in extent and wealth to constitute a great State.
Governor Patrick Henry, on the 21st day of December, 1776, is- sued a commission of the peace and dedimus for Washington county appointing the following persons as justices of the peace for said county :
Arthur Campbell,
William Edmiston,
Evan Shelby,
Joseph Martin,
James Dysart, John Campbell,
John Anderson,
Alexander Buchanan,
John Coulter,
John Kinkead,
William Campbell,
James Montgomery,
Daniel Smith, John Snoddy,
George Blackburn and Thomas Mastin,
and on the same day he issued his commission appointing the fol- lowing officers for the said county :
Sheriff-James Dysart, County Lieutenant-Arthur Campbell, Colonel -- Evan Shelby, Lieutenant-Colonel-William Campbell, Major-Daniel Smith.
The first court of said county assembled at Black's Fort (now Abingdon) on the last Tuesday in January, 1727, being the 28th
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
day of that month, pursuant to the Act of the Assembly establish- ing the county, on which day William Campbell and Joseph Mar- tin, two of the justices commissioned by the Governor, adminis- tered the oath of a justice of the peace and of a justice of the County Court in Chancery to Arthur Campbell, the first justice named in said commission, and he afterwards administered the aforesaid oaths to :
William Campbell,
William Edmiston,
John Campbell,
Joseph Martin,
John Kinkead,
John Anderson,
James Montgomery, John Snoddy,
and George Blackburn.
The court thus assembled, constituting a majority of the jus- tices commissioned by the Governor, proceeded to the election of a clerk, when David Campbell was elected clerk.
At the time Washington county was established by law Colo- nel Arthur Campbell and Colonel William Russell represented Fincastle county in the House of Delegates, and Colonel William Christian represented the district in the Senate of Virginia. Colonel Campbell and Colonel Russell resided in that portion of Fincastle county afterwards included in the bounds of Washington county. Colonel Russell and Colonel Christian had served with General Washington in the Continental Army, while Colone! Arthur Campbell had been a member of the Convention that adopted the Constitution establishing the Commonwealth of Vir- ginia, which Convention elected General George Washington a member of the Continental Congress which assembled in Philadel- phia in 1776. It is not definitely known who suggested the name of Washington for the new county; and while the question is in doubt, still it is reasonable to suppose that Colonel Arthur Camp- bell was the author of the idea, as it appears from the proceedings of the House of Delegates that he was designated by the House to convey the information to the Senate of Virginia that the House had passed the Act establishing the county.
But without regard to who suggested the name for the new county it is a fact that this is the first locality in the United States that was honored with the name of the "Father of Our Country." The Act establishing the new county was agreed to by the General
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Washington County, 1777-1870.
Assembly of Virginia on December 6, 1726, and the county gov- ernment was organized on January 28, 1777.
Tennessee and North Carolina historians insist that Washington county, Tennessee, was the first locality in the Union to receive the name of Washington, but, by an examination of the North Carolina records, it will be ascertained that Washington districts. North Carolina (now Tennessee), was not mentioned until April, 1777, and the county of Washington, North Carolina (now Ten- nessee), was not established by the General Assembly of North Carolina until November, 1777.
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