USA > Virginia > Washington County > Washington County > History of southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870 > Part 25
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Daniel Boone, in March, 1775, undertook to mark out for a num- ber of North Carolina gentlemen a road from Watauga, Tennessee, through the wilderness to Kentucky, which he did. The road marked out by Boone, at this time, was from the Watauga settle- ment near Elizabethton (Tennessee), to the Cumberland Gap, and, from the Gap, it followed the Indian trace known as "the War- rior's Path," about fifty miles, where it left the "Warrior's Path," bearing to the west to the "Hazel Patch" and to Rock Castle river. From Rock Castle river the road passed through the present county of Madison (Kentucky) and on to the Kentucky river, at the mouth of Otter creek. About one mile below the mouth of this creek, Boone established headquarters and erected a fort, and called it Boonesborough. Boone was followed by a large company in charge of Richard Henderson, who claimed to own all the lands between the Ohio and the Cumberland rivers, by purchase from the Chero- kee Indians, to which country he had given the name of Transyl- vania. Benjamin Logan with a company of men from the Wolf Hills,
219
Washington County, 1777-1870.
(now Abingdon), joined Colonel Henderson in Powell's Valley, and the two companies traveled together as far as Rockcastle river in Kentucky, where Logan, not approving of Colonel Henderson's pre- tensions or plans, left Henderson and traveled westwardly in the direction of the Crab Orchard, and when he had reached the level land he halted and built a fort which he called "Logan's Fort."
In this year, a large number of emigrants began to travel into Kentucky, seeking homes, and, by the month of July, a considerable body of people had gathered at Boone's Fort and Logan's Fort.
On the 4th day of July, 1727, one hundred Indians appeared before Logan's Fort and laid siege to it, which siege continued until the month of September. When the siege had lasted for some time, Captain Benjamin Logan, with a number of friends, slipped out of the fort by night and began an exceedingly hard and dangerous trip to the settlements on Holston, to procure supplies for the fort and reinforcements against the Indians. They traveled by night and lay by during the day ; but, finally reaching the Holston at Wolf Hills, they secured powder and the assistance of forty rifle- men, and returned to the fort within ten days.
The riflemen from the Holston settlements were under the command of Colonel John Bowman. Many of the men who went to the rescue of their relatives and fellow-citizens in Kentucky at this time subsequently made their homes in Kentucky, and Ben- jamin Logan became a great man in the new State.
The road thus marked by Daniel Boone and Benjamin Logan continued to be the passageway of many hundreds of settlers and emigrants on their way to Kentucky until the year 1781, although it was nothing more than a mere path or trace.
By the year 1:19 great numbers of people were emigrating to and settling to the westward of the Cumberland mountains. In this year the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act for mark- ing and opening a road over the Cumberland mountains into the county of Kentucky. The act in question appointed Evan Shelby and Richard Calloway commissioners to explore the country adja- cent to and on both sides of the Cumberland mountains, and to trace and mark the most convenient road from the settlements on the east side of the mountains over the same into the open coun- try into the county of Kentucky, and to cause such road, with all convenient dispatch to be opened and cleared in such manner as
280
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
to give passage to travelers with pack-horses for the present, and to report to the next session of the Assembly the distance. the prac- ticability and the cost of completing and making the same a good wagon road. The act further provided that should the said Evan Shelby or Richard Calloway refuse or be unable to act, then the County Court of their residence should appoint his or their succes- sor. It provided also that a guard of not more than fifty men from the county most convenient should attend said commissioners while locating this road.
Colonel Evan Shelby declined to act as commissioner, pursuant to the act of the Assembly above mentioned, and the County Court of Washington county, in which he lived, on June 20, 1780, en- tered the following order :
"Ordered that Captain John Kinkead be appointed in the room of Colonel Evan Shelby, who has refused to act agreeably to the Act of Assembly for marking and opening a road over the Cum- berland mountains into the county of Kentucke."
This appointment Captain Kinkead accepted, and, along with Captain Calloway, effected the opening of a road through the Cumberland mountains to Kentucky, and on the first day of De- cember, 1781, a petition of John Kinkead was presented to the General Assembly of Virginia "setting forth that agreeably to ap- pointment of the County Court of Washington he, in conjunction with the other commissioner, proceeded to and effected the open- ing of a road through the Cumberland mountains to Kentucky, and praying to be paid for the service."
The road thus located by Captains Kinkead and Calloway, be- came what was known as the "Wilderness Road," and for twenty years subsequent thereto was the principal highway traveled by an immense train of emigrants to the West. This road passed through Abingdon, and that the present generation may be able to locate this road, I give the stopping points, with the distances between, along the road from Inglis' Ferry at New river to Cum- berland Gap:
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Washington County, 1777-1870.
Miles.
Miles.
*From Hand's Meadow to
Inglis' Ferry at New River 12
To Fort Chiswell. . . 30 To Atkins' Ordinary .... 19 To Mid. Fork Holston ... - To Cross White's, Mont- gomery 3
To Col. Arthur Campbell's 3
To 7-mile Ford of Holston 6 To Major Dysart's Mill .. 12 To Washington Courthouse 10 To Head Reedy Creek, Sul-
livan county, N. C ..... 20
To Block House. 13
To North Fork of Holston 2
To Moccasin Gap. 5
To Clinch River. 11
To Ford Stock Creek. 2
To Little Flat Lick 5
To North Fork Clinch. . .
1
To Powell's Mountain. .
1
To Wallen's Ridge. 5
To Valley Station. 5
To Powell's River 2
To Glade Spring. 4
To Martin's Station .. 19
To Big Spring.
12
To Cumberland Mountain
Gap
8
Thomas Speed traveled this same route in the year 1790, and gives the names of the stopping points with the distances between :
Miles.
Miles.
Inglis' Ferry 20
To Carter's. 13
To Clinch River 12
To Fort Chiswell 12 To Scott's Station. 12
To the Stone Mill 11 To Cox's at Powell's River 10
To Adkins'. 16
To Martin's Station. 2
To Russell Place 16
To
To Greenway's. 14
To Washington Co. House 6
To Cumberland River .... 15
To the Block House. ..... 35
To Farriss's. 5
At this time five ferries were maintained across New river in Southwest Virginia by land owners, to-wit: William Inglis, Samuel Pepper, Cornelius Brown, Thomas Herbert and Austin & Co., for the accommodation of travelers and emigrants, and the General Assembly fixed the toll at four cents for each man and four cents for each horse ferried.
Chief-Justice Robertson, of Kentucky, in speaking of the land law enacted for Kentucky by the General Assembly of Virginia
*Wm. Brown's MSS.
To Cumberland Mountain 3
1
NATURAL TUNNEL SCOTT COUNTY, VIRGINIA.
CUMBERLAND GAP 1889
VIEW OF SALT VALLEY 1856
FERNS ON WHITE TOP MOUNTAIN
OLD FIELD ON WHITE TOP MOUNTAIN
283
Washington County, 1777-1870.
in the year 1779, and of the emigration which took place in that year, used the following language :
"This beneficent enactment brought to the country during the fall and winter of that year an unexampled tide of emigrants, who, exchanging all the comforts of their native society and homes for settlements for themselves and children here, came, like pilgrims, to a wilderness to be made secure by their arms and habitable by the toil of their lives. Through privations incredible and perils thick, thousands of men, women and children came in successive caravans, forming continuous streams of human beings, horses, cattle and other domestic animals, all moving onward along a lonely and houseless path to a wild and cheerless land. Cast your eyes back on that long procession of missionaries in the cause of civilization : behold the men on foot with their trusty guns on their shoulders, driving stock and leading pack-horses; and the women. some walking with pails on their heads, others riding with chil- dren in their laps, and other children hung in baskets on horses, fastened to the tails of others going before: see them encamped at night expecting to be massacred by Indians; behold them in the month of December, in that ever memorable season of unpro- cedented cold called the "hard winter." traveling two or three miles a day, frequently in danger of being frozen or killed by the falling of horses on the icy and almost impassable trace, and sub- sisting on stinted allowances of stale bread and meat ; but now, lastly, look at them at the destined fort, perhaps on the eve of Merry Christmas, when met by the hearty welcome of friends who had come before, and, cheered by the fresh buffalo meat and parched corn, they rejoice at their deliverance and resolve to be contented with their lot."
It was by this route and in this manner that many of our citi- zens traveled to their new homes in Kentucky and throughout the West, and it was for the protection of travelers on this route that the county officials of Washington county, Virginia, expended a great deal of effort and money, the Indians, for many years sub- sequent to 1775, waylaying this route, murdering the emigrants and stealing their horses and plunder.
The ministers of the Gospel, being Presbyterian in belief, kept step with the advance of the settlers upon the frontiers. The set- tlements had scarcely reached the vicinity of Jonesboro, Tennes-
284
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
see, when Rev. Samuel Doak, a Presbyterian minister, who had been educated at Princeton, with great energy and with a deter- mination to make his home on the frontiers, appeared upon the scene, after having walked through Maryland and Virginia, driv- ing before him, a horse loaded with books. He was greatly appre- ciated by the people among whom he had cast his lot, and he, in turn, exercised a wonderful influence upon the early settlers of East Tennessee.
In this year, 1777, through the influence of this preacher, a Presbyterian log church was erected near Jonesboro, Tennessee, to which was given the name of "Salem Church." Near this church soon thereafter he erected a school-house which afterwards became Washington College, this church and school being the first erected in the State of Tennessee.
On the 26th day of November, 1777, the county court of this county proceeded to make a statement of the county levy for the year 1777, which statement was as follows :
"To Abraham Goodpasture, for building the prison, £450
To Samuel Evans, for building a house to hold
court in,
To John Coulter for laying off the lots of the town,
To Clerk for ex officio services, Tobacco, 1,000 lbs.
To Clerk, for public services, Tobacco, 1,300 lbs.
To a blank record book and alphabet, £5
To carriage for do. from Williamsburg, 7s. 6d.
To Wm. Young, for old Wolf Head,
To the Sheriff, for ex officio services,
To Sheriff, for whole of his public services, .... Tobacco, 12,000 lbs. To building of pillory and stocks,
By 890 tithables, at 8s., £356
To Hugh Berry, for making 1,760 nails for courthouse roof, £5
To G. Martin, for making irons for criminals,
From an inspection of this county levy, it will be seen that our first county government was very frugal and economical. Many readers will not understand how it was that a part of the county
285
Washington County, 1777-1870.
expenses was paid in tobacco. The explanation is that, in those early days, money was exceedingly scarce, and the House of Bur- gesses of Virginia, as early as the year 1772, enacted a law per- mitting the inhabitants of this section of Virginia to discharge all secretaries', clerks' and other officers' fees in tobacco at the rate of eight shillings and four pence for every hundredweight of gross tobacco. And this law remained in force for a decade thereafter.
The Governor of Virginia, on the 23d day of July, 1977, issued a new commission of the peace and dedimus for this county, directed to
Arthur Campbell,
Evan Shelby,
William Campbell,
Daniel Smith,
William Edmiston,
John Campbell,
Joseph Martin,
Alexander Buchanan,
James Dysart,
John Kinkead,
John Anderson,
James Montgomery,
John Coulter,
John Snoddy,
George Blackburn,
Thomas Mastin,
Isaac Shelby,
Robert Craig,
John Dunkin,
John Adair,
Gilbert Christian,
Thomas Caldwell,
and, on the 25th day of November, 1777, this commission was produced and read, and, thereupon, pursuant to the said dedimus, the said Arthur Campbell took the oath of a justice of the peace and a justice of the County Court in chancery, all of which oaths were administered to him by John Kinkead. Thereupon, the said Arthur Campbell administered the same oaths to:
John Kinkead, John Coulter,
James Montgomery, Robert Craig,
John Dunkin,
and thus was constituted the second County Court for Washington county.
In the fall of this year, General George Rogers Clark traveled from Kentucky over the "Wilderness Road," on his way to Rich- mond, in company with a young lawyer by the name of John Gabriel Jones, and reached Mump's Fort in Powell's Valley about ten days subsequent to the killing, by the Indians, of a settler by the
286
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
name of Parks. In traveling through this portion of Virginia, he usually stopped at the nearest house when dark overtook him, for which he usually paid, at the small cabins, a shilling and six- pence for breakfast, bed and feed for horse. On his way he became acquainted with Captain William Campbell, whom he found a very agreeable companion.
The object of this journey to Richmond on the part of General Clark was to secure the approval of the Governor of a plan that he then conceived to be feasible and that would be of great value to the American Colonies. He sought the consent and assistance of the Governor in equipping and carrying on an expedition against the British posts at Vincennes and Kaskaskia in the Illinois county ; and there can be but little doubt that he discussed this question with Captain Campbell, at the time of his visit to Holston.
He succeeded in obtaining the consent and authority of the Governor to enlist three hundred and fifty men from the counties west of the Alleghany mountains, to be used upon this expedition, of which number four companies were to be raised in the Holston and Clinch settlements, and Major W. B. Smith was dispatched, in the year 1778, to recruit men for that service in this section.
There seems to be a conflict among historians as to the number of men raised in this section by Major Smith for this service, one giving the number as amounting to four companies; another, as one company.
The men recruited for this service were not informed of the pur- pose for which they were intended, until they had reached the falls of the Ohio (now Louisville).
The company of recruits from the Holston settlements did not suppose, when they entered the service, that they were to be taken upon such a long and dangerous expedition, and when they were informed of the purpose for which they were to be used, they objected to proceeding any further and left the camp of General Clark and returned to their homes. This is the one disagreeable circumstance connected with the history of our people. These men were recruited from a country where the people were brave and adventurous, and it is hard to account for their conduct upon this occasion. We are sorry to state that, by their conduct, they deprived this portion of Virginia of the honor of sharing in the wonderful expedition and conquests of General Clark.
287
Washington County, 1777-1870.
While the company, as a whole, refused to go upon this expedi- tion, a few of the men joined other companies and took part in the expedition ; and their names, so far as I have been able to gather them, are as follows :
Low Brown, Solomon Stratton,
John Lasly, Nealy McGuire,
William Peery.
Supplies for this expedition were purchased upon the Holston. as is evidenced by an order of the court entered on the 17th day of March, 1779, which order is as follows :
"Whereas twenty-six forty dollar bills were found in the pos- session of Captain Thomas Quirk, and, on the examination of the court of Washington county, were supposed to be counterfeit, the said Captain Quirk delivered the said bills to the sheriff in the presence of the court, and it appears by the cath of the said Thomas Quirk and Andrew Colvill that the said Thomas Quirk received these bills of James Buchanan, commissary for the Illi- nois service, to purchase bacon. Whereupon, it is ordered that the sheriff take or send the said bills to the Board of Auditors for further proceedings, according to law. A list of the bills is given. which bills are signed by D. Summers and G. Brown and dated April 11, 1778."
At the election held for Washington county in the spring of the year 1178. Arthur Campbell and Anthony Bledsoe were elected members of the House of Delegates, and William Fleming, of Botetourt. a member of the Senate, in the General Assembly of Virginia.
In the spring of this year. Captain James Dysart and Lieutenant Samuel Newell were placed in command of two companies of mili- tia to range, during the summer, along the frontiers in Powell's and Clinch Valleys, as a protection against the Indians. Early in the month of May, before the departure of these ranging parties, a man by the name of Whitesides, a large, active man, left his home near Elk Garden Fort for Glade Hollow Fort, where he had a horse running on the range. While hunting for his horse about two miles from Glade Hollow Fort, he was captured by nine Indians, who pinioned his arms back, loaded him with their extra plunder and some meat cut from the carcass of a dead horse, and
288
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
in this manner skulked about for several days, watching for an opportunity to attack Glade Hollow Fort, which was in a wretched state of defence, seven men only being in the fort .*
These men were engaged daily in bringing salt-petre dust from a cave at some distance from the fort, to make salt-petre, upon the discovery of which, the Indians resolved to take the fort the next time the men went out.
They tied Whitesides' feet and left an Indian to guard him, while the others sought a more convenient place to attack the fort when occasion offered.
In the meantime the Indian who had charge of Whitesides, thinking they were too much exposed to view, untied his feet and made him creep further into the brush and, laying down his gun, sat down before Whitesides to tie his feet again. At that moment, Whitesides seized the gun, and, although his arms were pinioned, gave the Indian such a blow over the head as broke the gun to pieces and felled the Indian to the ground and, perhaps, killed him. Whitesides then sprang to his feet and gave the alarm to the men near the fort, who ran back to the fort with all speed, but Whitesides ran past the fort towards the Elk Garden fort, carrying all the Indian's plunder on his back. The eight Indians who were waylaying the fort, hearing the alarm, ran back, and. finding their companion, perhaps lifeless, pur- sued Whitesides; and while doing so, met about forty men in plain view of the fort, on their way to act as rangers; on whom- the Indians fired and killed two. The rest fled ingloriously, each one in his way, spreading the alarm that the fort was taken. Upon receipt of this news at Black's Fort, Captain Samuel Newell, with eighteen men set off for Glade Hollow Fort. They ran about twelve miles that evening and waded the North Fork of Holston just before night, but were forced to stop when night set in, as they had no trace they could follow in the night, and, in many places the weeds and grass were waist high. They arrived in view of the fort next morning between eight and nine o'clock, and upon reconnoitering, found the fort had not been taken. When the occupants of the fort saw them, they ran out to meet them. The next day, Captain James Dysart, with eighteen men, arrived at the fort.
*Benjamin Sharp Letter, American Pioneer.
280
Washington County, 1777-1870.
During the same year, in the lower end of this county, a young man by the name of Fulkerson was killed when driving up his horses from the range, and Thomas Sharp was fired at and badly wounded, but, being on horseback, he made his escape and recovered from his wounds. Jacob Fulkerson and a young man by the name of Callahan were both killed this year, while hunting their cattle in the range.
On the 23d day of April, 1478, the court entered the following order :
"Ordered that Colonel William Campbell be appointed to dis- tribute the county salt to the most necessitous of the frontier inhabitants of Clinch and the lower settlements of Washington county below the mouth of the North Fork, such a quantity reserving as he shall judge sufficient for the militia on duty, also selling at such rate as will be sufficient to discharge the first cost and expenses."
"Ordered that Isaac Lebo be permitted to go towards the Mora- vian Town for salt, and that he return within the term of three weeks."
Isaac Lebo is one of the same men that had, previously to this time, been arrested, tried and convicted of treasonable practices against the Commonwealth, and this, no doubt, was an excuse offered by him for an opportunity to communicate with his Tory friends in the South.
On the 21st day of May, 1778, Samuel Newell qualified as Deputy Sheriff for the county and gave and filed a bond for the due col- lection and accounting for the taxes of the county of Washington, and entered upon his duties as first tax collector for the county, under the law of Virginia. It was the duty of the County Court to recommend to the Governor the names of the three magistrates named first in the Commission of Peace, from which list the Goy- ernor commissioned a sheriff for the county, and on the 20th day of April, 1778, the court recommended Arthur Campbell, William Campbell and Daniel Smith as fit and proper persons to execute the office of sheriff for the county of Washington. From this list the Governor commissioned Arthur Campbell as sheriff of the county, and he qualified as such on the 16th day of February, 1779. with Evan Shelby, Andrew Willoughby and Andrew Kincannon as his securities. During this and the succeeding year, the follow-
290
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
ing gentlemen qualified as deputy sheriffs of the county ; Samuel Newell, Christopher Acklin and Alexander Donaldson.
At the March court 1779, Harry Innes and Rowland Madison qualified to practice law in the courts of the county. Harry Innes afterwards moved to the county of Kentucky, where he became distinguished in the annals of that State. At the same term of the court, Daniel Smith, Robert Craig and John Campbell werc appointed commissioners of the tax, the land owners having failed to attend and elect commissioners. At this term of the court, David Campbell resigned his position as Clerk of the Court, and John Campbell was appointed to succeed him, which position he occupied until the year 1824, during which time he faithfully discharged his duties and retained the respect and confidence of the people of this county. David Campbell, who resigned his position as Clerk of the Court on the 15th day of August, 1780, obtained a commis- sion from His Excellency, Thomas Jefferson, appointing him attor- ney-at-law, and qualified as such in the court of this county, but, soon thereafter, he removed to Campbell's Station, Tennessee, in which State he won distinction in his profession and became the first Chief Justice of that State.
From the orders of the court at this term, it appears that Samuel Evans had not completed the courthouse, pursuant to contract, and Joseph Black was directed to agree with Evans as to the amount he should receive for the work that he had done upon the court- house; and the sheriff was directed to agree with some person to finish the courthouse.
At the April term of this court, a statement of the county levy was made for the year 1779, which is as follows:
"Ephraim Dunlop, for services as State's Attorney for the year 1777 and for the year 1778, £200.00
Abraham Goodpasture, for building prison, 500.00
Samuel Evans, for building courthouse,. 100.00
Abraham Goodpasture, finishing courthouse, 100.00
Arthur Campbell, for three blank books for the Clerk,. . To do. for the body of the law for use of the Court, 15.00 5.
To do. for cash paid Hugh Berry, nails courthouse,. 5.
To do. for 60 lbs. iron furnished for nails courthouse, 5.
To window glass for courthouse, 12 lights @ 9s., 5.8
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