USA > Virginia > Washington County > Washington County > History of southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870 > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79
On Christmas day, 1782, a party of Indians attacked the house of John Inglis, on Clinch river, and scalped and otherwise grievously wounded a young man by the name of Cox, whom they overtook in a field, and two days thereafter, near the head of Sandy river, this same company of Indians overtook three hunters, two of whom they killed.
Early in the year 1783, about twelve years after the first settle- ment at Castle's Woods, a party of northward Indians invaded the settlement and attacked the fort at Hamblin's Mill.
This fort was erected by Henry Hamblin, one of the first set- tlers in that section, in the year 1776, with the assistance of Henry Dickinson, Charles Bickley, William Robertson, William Russell, Patrick Porter, Henry Neece, William Wharton, Humphrey Dick- inson, Frederick Fryley, James Bush, Archelas Dickinson. Samuel Ritchie, Jerry Harrold, Richard and William Long and William Bowlin, the first settlers in that section.
The home of Henry Hamblin had, previously to this time, been twice invaded by the Indians, and in the spring of the year 1782. his entire family, with the exception of a little boy, who was carried into captivity, were killed and scalped, and now this fort was again assailed by a company of Indians numbering seventeen.
The Indians first appeared in the community at the house of Joseph Ray, whom they killed and scalped along with several of his family and a neighbor by the name of Samuel Hughes, who hap- pened to be at Ray's house at the time: besides killing these per- sons they made several others prisoners before they reached the fort. As they approached the fort they met a young woman by the name of Ann Neece, whom they tomahawked and scalped and left for dead. "They then approached the fort and were discovered by Simon Oscher, Henry Dickenson and Charles Bickley, who hap- pened to be working at a mill near by. The Indians observing them
368
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
about the same time and the white men being unarmed, their sit- uation was a fearful one. It was now to be a struggle which party should get to the fort first. Charles Bickley remarked, "Boys, follow me," and they all started for the fort at full speed, the Indians halt- ing to fire upon them. They got safely into the fort through a shower of balls, without receiving a scratch, thus literally running the gauntlet. There were but two guns in the fort, and with these Ocsher and Dickenson, each, killed an Indian. The balance of the savages knowing nothing of the strength of the fort, and their guns being empty, hastily picked up their fallen companions and fled into the woods. Meeting with a colored man who was hunting sheep, and who belonged to Henry Dickenson, they captured him and he was never heard of afterwards.
Some hours after their departure, and while there were still appre- hensions of their return by the few persons in the fort, Ann Neece was seen slowly approaching, as bloody as if she had been dipped in a pool of gore, with streams jetting from her head apparently as numerous as had been the hairs of her head before she was scalped, each jet about the size of a hair. She recovered, married and raised a family, and some of her descendants are still living in Russell county."*
Colonel Daniel Smith, upon hearing of this invasion, gathered a number of men and marched to Hamblin's Mill, expecting to pur- sue the Indians, but when he arrived upon the scene, he ascertained that a party of fifteen men had some time prior to that time pursued the enemy.
On the 21st day of March of the same year, notwithstanding every precaution had been taken by the militia officers to protect the peo- ple, a party of Indians had gotten in, undiscovered by the inhab- itants of Clinch and Blue Lick, to Walker's creek, where they killed one man and took his wife and two children and two children of a widow prisoners. Two days thereafter a man was killed on Blue- stone by the Indians. The Indians who made this raid were imme- diately pursued by experienced woodsmen, but were not overtaken.
The locality of this Indian raid on Walker's creek is in Bland county, and the family whose head was killed and whose wife and children were carried into captivity, was named White. The fol- lowing incident connected with the subsequent history of one of the
*Charles B. Coale.
369
Washington County, 1777-1870.
children captured by the Indians that day and carried into cap- tivity, is preserved :
"A number of years after, during one of the expeditions by Gen- eral Clarke to quell the Indians in Kentucky, he had encamped on the banks of the Ohio, awaiting the return of the scouts who had been sent out to reconnoitre. One of his men by the name of White, from Walker's creek, and brother of the boy that had been stolen, was out a short distance from camp in search of game, when he saw a solitary Indian sitting on a log mending his moccasins. His first impulse was to shoot him, as all the Indians in that region were hostile, but fearing the report of his gun might start up a score of red skins in the vicinity, and as the back of the savage was towards him. he concluded to approach stealthily, and capture him alive. He did so and took him into camp. From his hair and other indica- tions, they supposed him to be a white man, and after com- pelling him to serub the paint off, their suspicions were confirmed. They subsequently learned through an interpreter, as the captive had forgotten his native language. that his name was White, and that he had been stolen by the Indians from his home in Virginia, when a child. He eventually proved to be the brother of the man who captured him and came so near taking his life.
"The brothers lived many years, settled in Kentucky, and he who had been so many years among the Indians was a delegate in the Legislature in the early organization of the State"*
During the summer of 1280, Colonel William Campbell was recommended by the county court and commissioned by the Gover- nor as Sheriff of Washington county, which office he declined, where- upon Daniel Smith was recommended and commissioned as Sheriff, which office he accepted, and named John Yancey and Matthew Willoughby, as deputy sheriff's of the county.
In the spring of the year 1781. the militia of Washington county was reorganized and divided into two battalions, which battalions were officered as follows: First battalion. Colonel. Walliam Camp- bell: Lieutenant-Colonel. William Edmiston : Major. Aaron Lewis. Second battalion. Colonel. Daniel Smith ; Lieutenant-Colonel, Joseph Martin ; Major, Thomas Mastin.
The first battalion was composed of the militia south of the Clinch mountain, and the second battalion of officers and men north
*Charles B. Coale.
370
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
of Clinch mountain ; which arrangements continued without inter- ference until the spring of 1782, some time after the death of Gen- rral William Campbell, when the officers of the first battalion were as follows : Colonel, William Edmiston ; Lieutenant-Colonel, Aaron Lewis ; Major, James Dysart, and this arrangement continued until the end of the Revolutionary war.
In the spring of the year 1781, a number of gentlemen qualified as deputies to Robert Preston, surveyor of Washington county, their names being : David Carson, Walter Preston, Andrew Lewis, Charles Campbell and Benjamin Sharp.
Previously to the year 1781, it seems that the ministers of the dis- senting churches were not authorized by law to perform the rite of matrimony between any of the citizens of the Commonwealth, and, if they did so, considerable doubt was expressed as to the legality of the marriage. It was necessary that the marriage ceremony, to be legal, should be performed by a minister of the Church of England, and that minister, in this portion of Virginia, was the Rev. Adam Smyth, who lived in Botetourt county, Virginia.
I cannot ascertain whether our early settlers were united in mar- riage according to the prescribed method, or whether they were united by the dissenting ministers, but it is certain that the situ- ation was such that the General Assembly of Virginia, at its Octo- ber session, 1780, enacted a law declaring what should be consid- ered a lawful marriage. The preamble to this act declares its object to be to encourage marriages and for removing doubts concerning the validity of marriages celebrated by ministers, other than those of the Church of England. By the act in question it was declared that it should be lawful for any minister of any congregation to celebrate the rite of matrimony according to the usage of the con- gregation to which the parties to be married respectively belonged, and declared such marriage, as well as those theretofore celebrated, to be good and valid in law. But the act provided that no person should be married without lawful license first had or thrice pub- lication of bans in the respective congregations in which the parties to be married severally resided, and the fee of the minister was fixed at twenty-five pounds of tobacco, and no more. The minister was required to make a certificate of the fact of marriage and return it to the court, there to be recorded by the clerk.
This same act provided that the courts of the different coun-
371
Washington County, 1777-1870.
ties shall, and are hereby authorized, on recommendation of the eld- ers of the several religious sects, to grant license to dissenting min- isters of the gospel, not exceeding the number of four of each sect in any one county, to join together in holy matrimony, any persons within their counties only, which license shall be signed by the judge, or elder magistrate under his hand and seal.
Pursuant to this act, the following ministers of dissenting con- gregations were granted license in this county :
Rev. Charles Cummings, Presbyterian,
Rev. Thomas Woolsey, Baptist,
Rev. Simon Cockrell, Baptist,
Rev. Joseph Rhea, Presbyterian,
Rev. Ebenezer Brooks,
Rev. Timothy Burgess, Baptist,
Rev. Thomas Brown Craighead, Presbyterian,
Rev. John Frost, Baptist,
Rev. Jacob Snyder, Reg. Reformed.
At the June term of the county court of this county, the follow- ing orders were entered :
"Ordered that Francis Beattie and Jonas Smith view the way for a road from near the junction of a path that now goes by the Ebbing Spring Meeting-House, and mark the said road, with blazes, and that Francis Beattie be the overseer of said road."
"On motion of Ann Meek, leave is granted her to keep an ordi- nary at her own house, she giving bond and security according to law."
"Ordered that Adam Hope have leave to build a mill on his own land."
And at the August term, 1781, the folowing order was entered :
"Ordered that John Yancy have a bar, clerk's seat, sheriff's box, the upper floor laid, one pair of stairs, three windows and shutters, for the courthouse, and prepare the prison and finish the stocks."
And at the March term, 1782, the following orders were entered : "Ordered that two sixpence be levied on each tithable for the purpose of purchasing a wagon for the use of the United States."
At this time there existed a controversy between the citizens of Washington and Montgomery counties, as to the true location of the dividing line between the counties, and at the May term, 1782, the county court of this county, agreed with the court of Montgomery
312
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
county to the appointment of Hugh Fulton to run the line divid- ing the two counties, which he did and made his report on the 6th day of May, 1783. The following is a copy of the courses, dis- tances and boundaries between the counties of Washington and Montgomery, as fixed by this report :
"Beginning at a white walnut and buckeye at the ford of Hol- ston next above the Royal Oak, and runneth thence-N. 31 W. over Brushy mountain, one creek, Walker's mountain north fork of Hol- ston, Locust cove, Little mountain, Poor Valley creek, Clinch moun- tain, and the south fork of Clinch to a double and single sugar trees and two buckeye saplings on Bare grass hill, the west end of Mor- ris' knob, fifteen miles and three quarters. Thence from said knob north crossing the spurs of the same, and Paint Lick mountain the north fork of Clinch by John Hines' plantation, and over the river ridge by James Roark's in the Baptist Valley, to a sugar tree and two white oaks on the head of Sandy five miles, one quarter-twenty poles.
"The beginning at said walnut and buckeye above the Royal Oak, and running south, crossing the middle fork of Holston, Campbell's mill creek, three mountains, the south fork of Holston above Jones" mill, his mill creek, four mountains, Fox creek to six white pines on the top of Iron mountain by a laurel thicket, eleven miles, three quarters and sixty poles.
"The distance of said line from the head of Sandy to the top of the Iron mountain is thirty-three miles.
"Executed and returned, May the 6th, 1783.
"HUGH FULTON."
In the spring of the year 1283 there was a requisition upon the county lieutenant of Washington county for a troop of horse, which troop was raised, and by order of the county court entered at the March term, 1783. Robert Campbell, William Dryden and Robert Kennedy were appointed officers of said company.
In the early days of our history, when any one of our citizens was sued for debt, he was arrested by the sheriff and required to give good security or go to jail, and it must be very interesting to the reader of the present day to understand the obligation that a secu- rity assumed at that day, and we give the following order for the information of the reader.
Washington County. 1777-1870.
In the suit of William Houston vs. Thomas Smith, for a debt the following order was entered on the 19th day of September, 1982 :
"Abraham Fulkerson of this county came into court, and under- takes for the defendant. that in case he shall be cast in this suit. he shall satisfy and pay the condemnation of the court or render his body to prison in execution for the same, or that he, the said Abraham Fulkerson, will do it for him."
The General Assembly of Virginia, by an Act passed in the year 1781. permitted certain citizens of the Commonwealth to pay their taxes in such stock and provisions as could be used by the Conti- mental army, and in April of the year 1:83 John Campbell was appointed a commissioner to receive these commutable articles at the town of Abingdon. At the same term of the court a gentle- man qualified to practice law, who afterwards became distinguished in the history of Kentucky, the Honorable John Brown.
In the early days of the history of this county, it was customary for the overseers of the poor to apprentice the poor orphan children of the county, and the order of the court authorizing such, is clearly shown by an order entered at the May term. 1283. in the county court of this county, which is as follows :
"Ordered that James Stuart, an orphan child of Elizabeth Baker. be bound to John Greenway for the term of seven years to fearn the art and mystery of blacksmith and cutler, during which time he is to learn him, the said Stuart, to read and write and the five com- mon rules of arithmetic, and at the expiration of his apprenticeship he is to give him a good suit of clothes, and to get part of his learn- ing in the three last years of his time."
The members of our county court in those early days detested the law-breaker and never failed to impose upon the guilty the punishment prescribed by law, and their orders indicate that they insisted upon a speedy execution of their judgments.
The following order was entered by the court on the 15th day of July, 1783, upon the trial of a citizen of the county :
"This day came as well the attorney for the Commonwealth as the raid defendant, whereupon. Mary Henderson was sworn and examined, and the defendant heard in his own defence, on consid- eration whereof, it is ordered that the said defendant pay ten pounds in half an hour, or receive twenty lashes on his bare back well laid on, at the common whipping post, &c."
The Continental Congress of the United Colonies received from
.
374
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
the British government, early in the fall of 1782, a proposal for peace, and provisional articles were signed at Paris on the 13th day of November, 1782. A proclamation declaring a cessation of hos- tilities was published by the Continental Congress at Philadelphia on the 7th day of April, 1783, and by the Governor of Virginia on the 21st day of April, 1783; and a permanent treaty of peace
ยท
Whipping Post.
was concluded on the 19th of April thereafter, by which treaty the independence of the colonies was recognized.
Our people had demonstrated to the world that they were patriots and worthy of their independence. They were now to demonstrate to the world that they were capable of forming a national character and that they were worthy of the blessings of liberty.
The Continental Congress of the United Colonies, by a proclama- tion at a meeting on the 18th day of October, 1783, recommended to all the people of the colonies the celebration of the 2d day of
315
Washington County, 1777-1870.
December, 1:83, as a day of public thanksgiving, in token of their gratitude to Almighty God for their deliverance and independence, and pursuant thereto, the people of the colonies celebrated the day in an appropriate manner.
For some cause that I cannot now explain, William Edmiston, who was commissioned sheriff of Washington county, in the year 1782, refused to give security for the collection of the tax as directed by law, but he seemed to have been permitted to execute the duties of the office during the year and until the 16th of March, 1784, on which day, James Dysart produced the Governor's commission bear- ing date the 8th day of December, 1783, appointing him sheriff of Washington county, and took the oath of office, naming Alexander Donaldson, James Craig, Christopher Acklin and Joseph Snodgrass, deputy sheriffs, all of whom took the oath of office. At the same time the court required the sheriff to give security for the collection of the public tax for the year 1783, which security he refused to give, whereupon the court directed that the clerk certify this fact to the Governor, along with the names of the two next oldest magis- trates in the commission of peace and who had not yet been com- missioned sheriff, whereupon, the clerk, complying with the order of the court, certified to the Governor, the names of John Kinkead and James Montgomery, whereupon James Dysart excepted to the action of the court, by his counsel, John Brown, and gave the following reasons for his non-compliance, to-wit :
"That he did not receive his commission until some time in Feb- ruary, and no court being held until the present date it was utterly out of his power to comply with the law in making the collection for the year 1783; that he is ready and will exert himself, if con- tinued in office, to make the collection for the present year in which he received his commission, and would willingly undertake to col- lect arrears, if sufficient time would be given by amendment of the revenue law at the next meeting of the Assembly; that he humbly conceives that neither the letter nor the spirit of the law can operate so against him as to deprive him of his right secured by the constitu- tion, the authority of which he trusts will always be deemed para- mount to any particular act."
The order of the court recommending John Kinkead and James Montgomery for the position of sheriff for the county is as follows :
"Ordered that John Kinkead and James Montgomery be recom-
3:6
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
mended to His Excellency the Governor as fit and capable persons for sheriff of Washington county, also, that Joseph Martin stands first in the commission of the peace, but he being a senator for Sul- livan county in the State of North Carolina, we leave it to the Executive to judge right."
Notwithstanding the protest of Captain Dysart, he lost his posi- tion, and the Governor, on the 5th day of June, 1784, commis- sioned John Kinkead, but he, in turn, failed and refused to give the bond required by law, whereupon, the county court of this county recommended James Montgomery and Thomas Mastin, as fit and capable persons for sheriff of the county, and James Montgomery was commissioned as such, and gave the bond required by law, on the 18th day of January, 1785.
When Montgomery assumed the duties of this position, the peo- ple of Washington county had not paid their taxes for three years. While the reason is not known, it is fair to suppose from other facts that are known, that Colonel Arthur Campbell induced Edmiston, Dysart and Kinkead to refuse to give the security for the collec- tion of the taxes, and that he prompted the people in their refusal to pay their taxes.
Archibald Scott was one of the pioneers of that quiet and beau- tiful little valley that nestles between Powell's mountain and Wallen's ridge in Lee county, along which Wallen's creek winds its noisy and meandering way, and which is now the home of so many happpy and prosperous families. This little valley was selected by the first settlers for its fertility, its water facilities, its superior range, romantic surroundings and remoteness from the usual route of predatory bands of Indians, who, at that day, occa- sionally left their towns beyond the Ohio to prey upon the scattered settlers on the Holston. Mr. Scott had married Miss Fannie Dicken- son, of Russell county, many of whose relatives are still living there. Being the daughter of one of the brave and hardy pioneers of Castle's Woods, she had been reared among the dangers and excitements of frontier life, and hence was a companion upon whose coolness and fortitude her fearless and enterprising husband could depend in their new home on the verge of civilization. They removed to it in 1782 just five years after Daniel Boone had passed along the same trace with his family on their way to the wilderness beyond the Cumber- land, and twelve years before the Indian raid on the Livingston
Washington County. 1717-1870.
family on Holston. He located a corn right to all that valuable tract of one thousand acres subsequently owned by Mr. Robert Duff. and still in the possession of Mr. Duff's descendants. Mr. Scott erected his cabin on the head waters of Wallen's creek, near the spot now occupied by the residence of Mr. Thomas D. Duff.
Here, with his wife and little ones, he was living on the rewards of honest toil, and doubtless looking forward with prophetic vision to the day, not far in the future, when that rich and romantic valley. reposing so quietly among the mountains, would teem with wealth and a happy population. He bared his brawny arm and cleared the forest, and for three years his cabin was the home of contentment. plenty and domestic joys. On June 20, 1:85, the family, after a day of toil and after partaking of their frugal meal, had retired to rest. without a thought perhaps of impending danger, and dreaming per- chance of the luxuriant harvest so soon to be reaped and garnered. That pleasant summer day, as Mr. Scott was toiling amid the grow- ing corn, he was seen and watched by a band of about twenty Shaw- nese Indians, who, by some means, had been diverted from their usual route, and. having observed the smoke rising from the cabin. were attracted towards it, and lay in ambush on the mountain side till night spread her curtain over the valley. When all was quiet they approached and entered, and the first notice that the hus- band and father had of their presence was the gleam of the toma- hawk that killed him in his bed. The leader of the band was the notorious and cruel half-breed Benge, who was killed six years there- after, not many miles from the same place, as he was making his way to Big Stone Gap, with the Livingston captives. After scalping Mr. Scott they murdered and scalped his five children. plundered and burned the cabin, took Mrs. Scott prisoner, and started back on their long journey to their towns beyond the Ohio. Her suffering during this journey over steep mountains and through deep and rapid streams was indescribable. When faint and weary and foot- sore. she failed to travel as rapidly as her captors desired, they would slap her in the face with the bloody scalps of her husband and children. Being a woman of great strength, activity and nerve, she bore up wonderfully, and even surprised the savages by her endu- rance.
After traveling about two hundred miles and reaching one of their favorite hunting grounds in Kentucky, not far from the Ohio, they
378
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
stopped a few days to rest and hunt. It was decided among them, that one of the Indians, when they reached their town on the Miami, should have their captive for a wife, and hence he was designated to guard her while the rest were engaged in the hunt. Some hours after they left, the Indian on guard fell into a profound sleep. See- ing which and making a noise that did not seem to disturb his slum- bers, she determined to kill him with his own tomahawk which lay by his side, and then try to escape. She took the weapon and raised it above his head, but, being weak and nervous from fatigue and distress of mind, she feared she might not be able to strike a fatal blow and concluded to make an effort to escape. She made her way to a spring a short distance from the camp, waded along the branch to conceal her trail, and was soon safe from the pursuit of her guard in a thick cane-brake. Hearing those who were hunting not a great way off, she waited until their whooping died in the dis- tance, when she started out on the long and perilous journey towards the Cumberland mountain, the dim outlines of which she had seen as she crossed an elevation. For weeks she wandered through the unbroken forest without food and almost destitute of raiment, sub- sisting on berries, barks and roots, and many days wandering so much out of her way as to make but a mile or two. Finally coming to a river (supposed to be the Kentucky), she found a path on the bank which she followed. One morning while following the path up the stream, she heard a hunting party meeting her, and seeing a large sycamore near the path, she stepped behind it and fortu- nately found it hollow where she concealed herself, until the Indians had passed. A day or two after this and before she had reached the head waters of the stream, she heard the Indians on her trail with dogs. She crawled into a hollow log that lay across the path, over which some of them jumped their ponies, and others passed around the end without discovering her.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.