USA > Virginia > Washington County > Washington County > History of southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870 > Part 9
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Your Father, Mr. Stuart's, message to you on this head, makes it needless for us to say any more on this subject. He will let you, at a proper time, know both the time and place where this great work shall be brought into execution. We have the pleasure to
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inform you that your two great Warriors now present, have heartily concurred with us in every measure and make no doubt of such measures giving great satisfaction to the whole Nation.
Gave a string of Wampum.
Jan. 16th. In answer to which, Judds Friend and the Warrior of Estitoe spoke as follows :
Father : and our Brothers from Virginia,-We have heard your Talks, which we think very good, and shall with all convenient speed return to our Nation, and when our Chiefs are assembled shall lay these Talks before them.
Brothers,-We are sorry to have it to say, that for some time bad blood and evil actions prevailed amongst us, which occasioned a stroke from our Elder Brothers; but now we have the satisfaction of telling you that our hands are good and straight, and you may de- pend on their continuing so, and, that you may depend the more on what we say, we take off these black beads from the end of this string, that nothing may remain but what is pure and white, and now put the black beads in your hands, which we call the re- mains of our evil thoughts, and desire you may now cast them away, that they may never be had in remembrance more.
Brothers,-We shall with great pleasure comply with the request that you have made with regard to the lands you have mentioned, and shall wait with impatience for a general meeting, that we may have opportunity for convincing our Elder Brothers of our friendly disposition towards them, as we may be of real use to them, for to us it is of little or none, as we never hunt there; the deer do not live in the mountains, and you, in the meantime, may depend that your people shall enjoy peaceable possession until we make a Treaty with the Great King.
Brothers,-We hope the measures now taken will be productive of many advantages to our people, as well as those who by living so much nearer to us, will have it in their power to supply us with goods, for we are often imposed upon greatly, as we have no trade at present but with this Province, and we hope you, our Brothers, will signify to your Governor, whom we believe to be that great and good man you mention, our great desire to have a trade with Virginia, that after this business is happily finished, which we make no doubt of on the part of our Nation, we may enjoy a
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friendly intercourse and have an advantageous trade with our Brothers, the Inhabitants of Virginia.
Brothers,-We have often joined you in war against your ene- mies and you may always depend on our assistance on any future occasion.
Gives a string of Wampum.
After we had given Mr. Stuart the reasons for thinking it ab- solutely necessary that the new Boundary should be agreed upon, he desired us to commit these reasons in writing and sign them : which we did in the following words :
Sir,-His Excellency, the Right Honorable Norborne, the Lord Botetourt, Governor in Chief of the Colony of Virginia, and the King's Council of that Dominion, having ordered us to wait on you and assist in settling the Boundary line between that Colony and the Cherokee Indians, we beg leave to inform you that the line pro- posed to be marked from Chiswell's Mines to the confluence of the Great Kanawha and the Ohio, would be a great disadvantage to the Crown of Great Britain, and would injure many subjects of Britain that now inhabit that part of the frontier, and have in mak- ing that settlement complied with every known rule of government and the laws of that Colony.
Lands were first granted on the waters of the Mississippi by Sir William Gooch of Virginia, and the Council about the year 1246, in consequence of instructions from England, and many families settled on the lands so granted. In the year 1:52, the Legislature of Virginia passed an act to encourage settlers on the waters of the Mississippi. By that act they were exempted from the payment of taxes for ten years. To this act his late Majesty, of glorious mem- ory, gives assent. The next year another act was passed, by which five years' indulgence was added. and in that or the succeeding year Robert Dinwiddie, Esq., Governor of Virginia at that time. received instructions from King George 2nd. to grant lands on these waters, exempted from the payment of the usual right money and free from Quit-rents for ten years.
Under these encouragements was that part of the Colony settled. Whilst the inhabitants were settling on these lands, the Cherokee Indians were frequently at their habitations, and never that we, either of us, ever heard made the slightest complaint of our settling,
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or laid any claim to the lands we settled, until November, 1763, after the King's proclamation issued in that year.
The Six Nations both claimed the lands that were settled on the branches of the rivers Kanawha and Monongahely and were paid a proper consideration for them at Lancaster, in 1744, when they executed a deed of cession to his late Majesty.
We flatter ourselves that the above is sufficient to convince you of the justice and legality of making those settlements. The Boundary line that has been proposed would include many of the inhabitants above mentioned within the limits of the Cherokee Hunting Grounds. For all such lands and improvements, the jus- tice of the crown would be an inducement to make some satisfac- tion to the owners which would be expense to the crown and injure the inhabitants much and totally ruin many of them, and the evil would be increased by the loss of the Quit-rents paid for these lands, and would also give the Cherokees a large tract of coun- try that was never claimed by them and now is the property of the crown, as Sir William Johnson actually purchased it of the Six United Nations of Indians at a very considerable expense, and took a deed of cession from them at Fort Stanwix, near the head of Mohock's River, on the 5th day of November last.
The interest of the crown and the inhabitants of Virginia will be most served by fixing the Boundary with the Cherokees in 36° 30m. North Latitude, that Boundary being already marked by proper authority as far as Steep Rock Creek, a branch of the Cherokee River, and is the proper division between Lord Granville's Pro- prietary and the Dominion of Virginia, and includes but a small part of the lands now claimed by the Cherokees, they having often disclaimed the lands lying between the Ohio and a ridge of moun- tains called Sheep Ridge, that divides the waters of the Cumber- land River from those of the Cherokee River. This boundary will give room to extend our settlements for ten or twelve years, will raise a considerable sum by the Rights, much increase the Quit- rents, and enable the Inhabitants of Virginia to live thus manu- facturing such material as they raise.
ANDREW LEWIS,
THOMAS WALKER.
Feb. 2nd. 1769.
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Thus it will appear that Colonel Lewis and Dr. Walker suc- ceeded in securing from the Indian chiefs the assurance that the settlers on the land in Southwest Virginia should remain in peaccable possession of their homes until a treaty could be held fix- ing new bounds between them. Acting upon this assurance, emigra- tion to the land continued, and during this year James Bryan settled near the present residence of Captain Kendrick, Moab, Va., and erected Bryan's Fort, William Cocke settled upon Spring creek, then called Renfro's creek, and erected Cocke's fort, near the present residence of C. L. Clyce. Anthony Bledsoe settled in the lower end of this county about thirty miles east of Long Island, on the Fort Chiswell road, and afterwards built Bledsoe's Fort. Amos Eaton settled seven miles east of Long Island, where Eaton's Fort was . afterwards built. and by the beginning of the year 1770 there were many settlers upon Holston.
The first settlers of the Liberty Hall neighborhood were the Edmistons, Moores and Buchanans. The first name was written Edmiston until sixty or seventy years ago. All the land from Liberty Hall to some distance east of Friendship was held by William Edmiston under a grant from Charles II, King of Eng- land, and under the King's proclamation of 1763, Edmiston being an officer in the French-Indian war of 1754-1763.
Fort Edmiston was built by the settlers as a protection against the Indians, who made frequent inroads on the settlements. As nearly as can be learned, it was built about 1765.
The site was about three hundred yards east of Liberty Academy. The old Keys' dwelling, now owned by William Snodgrass, stands on the site of the old fort. A soldier by the name of Edmiston died at the fort and was the first person buried in the old Moore graveyard.
The Indians made frequent attacks on the fort and, in one, cap- tured and carried off a Miss Steele. The Indians were followed by parties from the fort, and she was recaptured on Walker's moun- tain. She was traced by means of twigs, which she had presence of mind enough to break off along the road.
Several persons from the fort were in the battle at King's Moun- tain, among whom were the eight Edmistons and William Moore. Several of the former were killed. They were the ancestors of the Edmondsons of this day.
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Fort Edmiston was one of the first forts erected in this section. Fort Thompson, six miles northeast of Liberty Hall, on the Huff, formerly the Byars place, was erected about the same time. It was named for Captain James Thompson, who owned the property at that time, and it remained many years after the revolution.
Tradition says Fort Edmiston ceased to exist about the year 1800.
The first settlers in Widener's Valley were John Widener, Paul- ser Rouse and John Jones. They came from Germany, a few years prior to the Revolutionary War, or about 1767. They first settled in Pennsylvania, but afterwards came to this country and settled temporarily near Fort Thompson. After remaining there a short time, they removed to the valley. John Widener located near W. M. Widener's mill, and Jones and Rouse in the lower end of the valley.
In order to raise money to get away from Germany, John Widener pawned or bartered his son Mike, a boy twelve or four- teen years old. John Widener found employment in Pennsylvania, and earned money enough to redeem Mike. Mike then followed his father to the New World. He arrived just about the commence- ment of the revolution, joined Washington's army, was a brave sol- dier, acted as interpreter when the Hessians were captured, and appears to have been a favorite of Washington's, who called him "Mikey."
After the revolution Mike followed his father and settled in the valley on what is now known as the Lilburn Widener farm. Mike died at the age of eighty-four. Joel Widener, now living, is a grandson. The present generation are all descendants of John and Mike. Several families of Rouses, descendants of Paulser, still live in the valley.
At the time of these early settlements there were a good many Indians hunting and fishing in and near the valley. They were very peaceable, however. Two large Indian camps were established -one on the Middle Fork at a point east of the New Bridge; the other in the lower end of the valley. Of the latter many evidences still remain.
John and Michael Fleenor settled in Poor Valley; Casper Flee- nor in Rich Valley, on the head waters of what is now called Gas- per's creek, and Nicholas Fleenor settled at the Lilburn Fleenor
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place in Rich Valley, below Benhams. The four persons named were of German descent and brothers, and are the ancestors of many of our best citizens.
At this point it may be appropriate to give a description of the early forts erected by the settlers in the West.
My readers will understand by this term, not only a place of de- fence, but the residence of a small number of families belonging to the neighborhood.
As the Indian's mode of warfare was an indiscriminate slaugh- ter of all ages and both sexes, it was as requisite to provide for the safety of the women and children as for that of the men. The fort consisted of cabins, block-houses and stockades. A range of cabins commonly formed one side, at least, of the fort. Divisions or par- titions of logs separated the cabins one from another. The walls on the outside were ten or twelve feet high, the slope of the roof being turned wholly inward. Very few of these cabins had plank floors ; the greater part were earthen.
The block-houses were built at the angles of the fort. They pro- jected about two feet beyond the outer walls of the cabins and stockades. Their upper stories were about eighteen inches, every way, larger in dimension than the under one, leaving an opening at the commencement of the second story to prevent the enemy from making a lodgement under their walls.
In some forts, instead of block-houses, the angles of the fort were finished with bastions. A large folding gate, made of thick slabs nearest the spring, closed the fort.
The stockades, bastions, cabins and block-house walls were fur- nished with port-holes at proper heights and distances. The whole of the outside was made bullet-proof. It may be truly said that "necessity is the mother of invention." for the whole of this work was made without the aid of a shingle, nail, or spike of iron. because such things were not to be had. In some places less exposed a single block-house, with a cabin or two, constituted the whole fort .*
In this same year Daniel Boone, John Finley, John Stuart and a few others. as well as numerous other companies of hunters who are of no importance in the history of this country, explored Ken-
*Dodridge.
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.
tucky and hunted throughout Southwest Virginia, East Tennes- see and Eastern Kentucky.
In the year 1769 there occurred a circumstance that greatly aided the early settlers of Southwest Virginia and Eastern Tennessee in settling this country and in conquering their Indian neighbors, the Cherokees.
The Cherokee Indians were exceedingly overbearing in their dis- position and they sought a quarrel with the Chickasaw Indians and invaded their country.
When they had reached the Chickasaw Old Fields, they were met by the Chickasaw warriors. After a terrible battle the Cherokees were defeated with great loss and retreated to their own villages. The very flower of the Cherokee Nation were destroyed in this bat- tle, and, the number of their warriors being greatly reduced, for seven years the early settlers were permitted to pursue their course in peace.
All of the incidents above related occurred while the lands, now included in Washington county, were a part of Augusta county, but in the year 1769, the House of Burgesses of Virginia passed an act for the division of Augusta county, and all that part of Augusta county lying south and west of the North river, near Lexington, Va., was given the name of Botetourt county, and thus a new county was formed, which included all that part of Virginia in which we live and about which I write.
The act establishing Botetourt county provided that from and after the 31st day of January next ensuing, 1770, the said county and parish of Augusta be divided into two counties and parishes by a line beginning at the Blue Ridge, running north 55 degrees west to the confluence of Mary's creek, or the South river, with the north branch of James river, thence up the same to the mouth of Carr's creek, thence up said creek to the mountain, thence north 55 degrees west as far as the courts of the two counties had it extended, and further. Whereas the people situated on the waters of the Mis- sisippi in the said county of Botetourt will be very remote from their courthouse and must necessarily become a separate county as soon as their numbers are sufficient, which probably will happen in a short time, be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid that the inhabitants of that part of said county of Botetourt which lies
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on the said waters shall be exempted from the payment of any levies to be laid by the said county court for the purpose of building a courthouse and prison for said county.
It will thus be seen that the organization of the county of Bote- tourt was intended to be temporary only.
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
CHAPTER V.
SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA-BOTETOURT COUNTY. 1770-1773.
The first County Court of Botetourt county met at the house of Robert Breckenridge, near the location of Fincastle, Va., on Tues- day, the 13th of February, 1770. The justices composing the court were :
William Preston,
David Robinson,
George Skillem,
James Trimble
Richard Woods, John Maxwell
Benjamin Hawkins,
William Fleming,
Benjamin Estill,
Israel Christian,
John Bowyer,
Robert Breckenridge.
A number of the members of this court were not present on the first day of the court, but were subsequently qualified. The follow- ing officers qualified on that day :
County Court Clerk, John May. Sheriff Botetourt county, Richard Woods.
Deputy Sheriffs Botetourt county, Jas. McDowell and Jas. Mc- Gavock.
County Surveyor, William Preston. Escheator, William Preston.
Coroner, Andrew Lewis. Colonel of Militia, William Preston.
The attorneys qualifying to practice in the court were :
Edmund Winston, Luke Bowyer,
John Aylett, Thomas Madison.
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On the 14th day of February, 1770, the following magistrates qualified and took their seats :
John Bowman,
Anthony Bledsoe,
William Christian,
Walter Crockett,
Robert Doach,
John Howard,
William Herbert,
William Inglis,
Philip Love,
Andrew Lewis,
John Montgomery,
James McGavock,
William Matthews,
William McKee,
James Robertson,
Francis Smith,
Stephen Trigg,
Andrew Woods.
And on the 11th day of June, 1771, the following members of the court qualified :
John Van Bebber, John Stewart,
James Thompson, of Holston, Matthew Arbuckle.
Botetourt county was named for Lord Botetourt, Governor of Virginia, in 1:68, and the county seat was fixed at the present loca- tion of Finscastle, Va., upon forty acres of land presented to the county for a town seat by Israel Christian. Fincastle was named for the county seat of Lord Botetourt in England, and was estab- lished as a town by law in 1772.
Of the members of the County Court of Botetourt county, James Robertson, Anthony Bledsoe and James Thompson had their resi- dence upon the waters of the Holston and the Watauga. On the second day of the court, being February 14, 1:10. Frederick Stern and Robert Davis were appointed constables upon the Holston river : on the 12th of June, 1770, William Pruitt was appointed a con- stable upon the waters of the Clinch, and Arthur Campbell was appointed surveyor of the roads from the State line to the Royal Oak, and James Davis from the Royal Oak to his house.
On the 13th of March, 1770, Arthur Campbell obtained permis- sion from the County Court of Botetourt county to erect a mill at Royal Oak. on the Holston, and there can be no question that this was the first mill erected upon any of the waters of the Holston or Clinch river.
On the same day Francis Kincannon was appointed surveyor of the roads from Stalnaker's to Eighteen Mile creek; Thomas Ram-
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say from said creek to Beaver, or Shallow, creek, and David Looney from said creek to Fall creek.
On the 10th of May, 1770, Anthony Bledsoe was appointed to take the tithables from Stalnaker's to the lowest inhabitants.
The next order of the County Court of Botetourt county, of any importance in the history of this county, was made on the 14th of August, 1771, when the County Court ordered that Andrew Colvill, George Adams, George Tiller, George Baker, David Ward and Alexander Wilie, or any three of them, being first sworn to view the way from the head of Holston river to the Wolf Hill creek, both the old and the new way, make report to the next court of the con- veniences and inconveniences thereof. The records of Botetourt county fail to show that this report was ever made or that the road was established, but there can be but little doubt that the road was established and used, and, if so, this was the first public road estab- lished upon the waters of the Holston or Clinch river. The fore- going is all the information that the records of Botetourt county give of any of the people living upon the waters of the Holston and Clinch rivers.
The one matter of supreme importance to the inhabitants of this section of Virginia at that time was the extinguishment of the claims of the Cherokee Indians to the lands which they were set- tling and occupying, and, pursuant to instructions, John Stuart, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, assembled the Indian chiefs at Lochaber, S. C., October 18, 1770, and on Monday, October 22, 1770, he succeeded in concluding a treaty with the chiefs and war- riors of the Cherokee Nation, by which George III, King of Eng- land, became the owner of all the lands lying east of a line beginning at a point where the North Carolina (now Tennessee) line terminates at a run, thence in a west course to Holston river, where it is intersected by a continuation of the line dividing the Province of North Carolina (now Tennessee) and Virginia, and thence in a straight course to the confluence of the Great Canaway river, the treaty being here given in full :
TREATY.
At a meeting of the principal Chiefs and Warriors of the Cherokee Nation with John Stuart, Esq., Superintendent of Indian Affairs, etc., Lochaber, South Carolina, Oct. 18th, 1770.
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Present Colo. Donelson by appointment of his Excellency, the Right Honorable Lord Botetourt, in behalf of the Province of Vir- ginia.
Alex'r Cameron. Deputy Superintendent ; James Simpson, Clk of his Majesty's Council of South Carolina ; Major Lacy, from Vir- ginia ; Major Williamson, Capt. Cohoon, John Caldwell, Esq., Cap- tain Winter, Christopher Peters, Esq., besides a great number of the back inhabitants of the province of South Carolina, and the fol- lowing chiefs of the Cherokee Nation: Oconistoto, Killagusta, At- tacallaculla, Keyatory, Tiftoy, Terreaino, Encyod Tugalo, Scali- loskie Chinista, Chinista of Watangali, Octaciti of Hey Wassie, and about a thousand other Indians of the same Nation.
John Watts,
David McDonald,
Interpreters.
John Vans,
Treaty, Monday, 22nd Oct.
At a Congress of the principal chiefs of the Cherokee Nation, held at Lochaber, in the province of South Carolina, on the 18th day of October in the year of our Lord 1770, by John Stuart, Esq., his Majesty's agent for and Superintendent of the Affairs of the In- dian Nation in the Southern district of North America.
A Treaty for a cession! His most sacred Majesty, George the Third, by the grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King. Defender of the Faith, etc., by the said Nation of Cherokee Indians, of certain lands lying within the limits of the Dominion of Virginia.
Whereas by a Treaty entered into and concluded at Hard Labor, the 14th day of Oct. in the year 1768, by John Stuart, Esq. his Majesty's Agent for and Superintendent of the affairs of the In- dian Nations, inhabiting the southern district of North America, with the principal and ruling Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation, all of the lands formerly claimed by, and belonging to the said Nation of Indians, lying within the province of North Carolina and Virginia. running in a N. B. E. course, to Colo. Chiswell's mine on the East- ern bank of the Great Canaway, and from thence in a straight line to the mouth of the said Great Canaway river, where it discharges itself into the Ohio river, were ceded to his most sacred Majesty, his
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heirs and sucessors. And whereas by the above recited Treaty, all the lands lying between Holston's River, and the line above specified were determined to belong to the Cherokee Nation to the great loss and inconvenience of many of his Majesty's subjects inhabiting the said lands; and representation of the same having been made to his Majesty by his Excellency, the Rt Hon'ble Norborne, Baron de Botetourt, his Majesty's Lieutenant and Governor General of the dominion of Virginia. In Consequence whereof, his Majesty has been generously pleased to signify his Royal pleasure to John Stu- art, Esq., his Agent for and Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Southern District of North America, by an instruction contained in a letter from the Rt. Hon'ble the Earl of Hillsborough, one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, dated the 13th of May, 1769, to enter into a negotiation with the Cherokees for establishing a new boundary line beg'g at the point where the No. Carolina line terminates, and to run thence in a west course to Holston's River, where it is intersected by a continuance of the line dividing the province of North Carolina & Virginia, and thence a straight course to the confluence of the Great Canaway and Ohio Rivers.
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