USA > Virginia > Virginia and Virginians; eminent Virginians, executives of the colony of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 31
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This occurred in what is now the State of Kentucky, which was at that time the favorite hunting-ground of all the tribes of the Mississippi Valley. Salling was taken by his new captors to Kaskaskia, and was afterward sold to a company of Spanish traders on the Lower Mississippi, who in turn sold him to the governor of Canada, and he transferred him to the Dutch authorities at Manhattan; thence he succeeded in reaching Williamsburg, after an absence of more than six years. (De Hass, page 38.)
About the time that Salling returned to Williamsburg, a considerable addition was made to the population of Virginia by the arrival of emi- grants at Jamestown, among whom were John Lewis and John Mackey, both of whom were desirous of securing land in the West. Struck with Salling's description of the country which he had traversed, where mighty rivers, flowing from unknown sources amid the icy fountains of' the far North, rolled their transparent waters in majestic grandeur to the South; where stretched away vast plains fringed with primeval for-
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ests which seemed to be the culminating point of the plant regions of the Northern Hemisphere, they determined to visit it, having first engaged Sal- ling as a guide. The three crossed the mountains, and descending the west- ern deelivities, they were so much pleased with the country that they de- cided to locate and take up their final abode. Accordingly they both set about finding a suitable location. Lewis selected as the place of his future residence a site on a stream which still bears his name. Mackey chose a spot on the Shenandoah ; and Salling, having concluded to remain, chose a tract of land on the waters of the James, where he built his cabin.
Lewis made application for and received a grant of one hundred thou- sand acres of land ; and while in Williamsburg perfecting his claim, he met with Benjamin Burden, who had just arrived from England as the agent of Lord Fairfax, to whom James II. had granted five hundred thousand acres of land to be located west of the Blue Ridge, and pre- vailed upon him to accompany him to his home. Burden remained at Lewis' the greater part of the summer, and on his return to Williams- burg took with him a buffalo calf which he and Andrew Lewis (after- ward General Lewis) had caught and tamed. He presented it to Gov- ernor Gooch, who was so much pleased with his mountain pet that he entered on his journal a patent authorizing Burden to locate any quan- tity of land not exceeding five hundred thousand acres on any of the waters of the Shenandoah or James rivers west of the Blue Ridge. One of the conditions of this grant was that he should settle one hundred families in ten years within its limits, and for this purpose Burden sailed for Europe in the year 1737, and upon his return to Virginia brought with him upward of one hundred families of adventurers to settle upon his grant. Among these emigrants were many who became the founders of some of the most distinguished families of Virginia. Of these were the Alexanders, Crawfords, McDowells, McLures, Moores, Matthews, Pattons, Prestons, Tolfords, Archers and others.
ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST COUNTIES OF THE BLUE RIDGE.
In the year 1738 the Colonial Legislature of Virginia passed a bill providing for the organization of a new county west of the Blue Ridge, and accordingly Orange county was divided into two parts, and the new county named Augusta. The pioneers of this county were so much dis- tinguished for their heroism, which struck terror and dismay into the Indians, that during the darkest days of the Revolution, when the Penn- sylvania and New Jersey troops had mutinied, and it seemed that all was lost, Washington was heard to exclaim: "Leave me but a banner to place upon the. mountains of West Angusta, and I will rally around me the men who will lift our bleeding country from the dust and set her free."
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THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
ENGLAND AND FRANCE-CLAIMS OF THE TWO NATIONS TO THE OHIO VALLEY.
As has been seen, France had taken possession of that part of the con- tinent lying far away towards the Arctic Circle, and had planted settle- ments along the St. Lawrence; her discoverers, Jolliette and Marquette, had explored the country from the extreme north-east to the Gulf of Mexico, and upon these discoveries she based her claim to all that part of the continent drained by the Mississippi river and its tributaries. And when the English crossed the rocky barrier and began to penetrate into the Ohio Valley, she viewed these encroachments upon her soil with a jealous eye, and at once determined to oppose them at all hazards. France rested her claim to the Ohio and Kanawha valleys upon the recognized law of nations that " The discovery of the mouth of the river should entitle the nation making the discovery to the country drained by that river and its tributaries." The claim thus set up by France and resisted by Great Britain is exactly the same as that upon which the United States subsequently based their claims to the Territory of Oregon. England claimed that aside from her title by purchase, she held, under the discovery of John and Sebastian Cabot (1498), the entire region lying between the 38th and 64th parallels of north latitude, a zone ex- tending across the continent from ocean to ocean. She also set up another claim-priority of discovery, a claim utterly absurd and entirely untenable.
France, convinced of the justness of her claims, after addressing an appeal to the nations of the world, determined not to yield before the threatening attitude of her powerful rival, and immediately set about adopting the most effective measures for maintaining her claim to the great Valley of the West, and accordingly began the erection of a cor- don of forts extending from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, the most important of which were those at Fontinac, Niagara, Detroit, Green Bay, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Natchez and Biloxi. In the year 1720 she erected Fort Chatres, in what is now Illinois. It was constructed by an engineer of the Vauben school, and was one of the strongest fortifications ever erected on the continent of North America.
In 1748 the British parliament passed laws authorizing the formation of many new settlements and issued many land grants, in which the interests of British commerce were consulted, rather than the articles of
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the treaty of Aix-la-chapelle. Prominent among these movements was the organization of the Ohio Company, the settlement of the Upper Ohio, and several others of an aggressive character. the most important of which was the sending of a regiment of British soldiers into the Ohio Valley, where they took post at the mouth of the Monongahela.
When the French authorities heard of this movement on the part of the English, the home government authorized the governor-general of Canada to remonstrate against the aggressive invasion of French ter- ritory, and a summons was accordingly addressed to the English com- mander. The following is an extract :
"Sir-Nothing can surprise me more than to see you attempt a settle- ment upon the lands of the king, my master, which obliges me now, sir, to send you this gentleman, Chevalier Le Mercier, captain of the artillery of Canada, to know of you, sir, by virtue of what authority you are come to fortify yourself within the dominions of the king, my master. This action seems so contrary to the last treaty of peace, at Aix-la- Chapelle, between his most Christian majesty and the King of Great Britain, that I do not know to whom to impute such an usurpation, as it is uncontested that the lands situated along the beautiful river belong to his most Christian majesty.
"Your obedient servant, "CONTRECOEUR, "Captain of French Marine."
(See De Hass, page 61.)
In the year 1749, as a preliminary step in taking formal possession of the Ohio and its tributaries, the Marquis de la Galisoniere, governor- general of Canada, determined to place along the "Oyo," or La Belle Riviere, a number of leaden plates suitably inscribed, asserting the claims of France to the lands on both sides of the river, even to the source of its tributaries. The command of the expedition whose duty it was to deposit those plates was given to Captain Bienville de Celeron, and con- sisted of eight subaltern officers, six cadets, an armorer, twenty soldiers, one hundred and eighty Canadians, and fifty-five Indians-two hundred and seventy in all. "The expedition left Montreal on the 15th of June, 1749, and on the 29th reached the La Belle Riviere at the junetion of the Monongahela and Alleghany rivers, where the first plate was buried. The expedition then descended the river, depositing plates at the mouths of the principal tributaries, and on the 18th of Angust reached the mouth of the Chinodashichetha ( Great Kanawha), and on the point be- tween the two rivers the fifth plate was buried. It was found in 1846 by a son of Mr. John Beale, of Mason county, West Virginia, after- wards of Kentucky, and removed from the spot in which it had remained for a period of ninety-seven years. The following is a translation of the inscription on the plate. We have compared it with that made recently
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by Professor O. S. Marshall, from the original copy-plate now preserved in the archives of the Departement de la Marine, in Paris, and find them to agree in every particular.
TRANSLATION.
"In the year 1749, reign of Louis XV., King of France, we, Celeron, commandant of a detachment sent by Monsieur the Marquis de la Galisoniere, commandant-general of New France, to re-establish tranquil- lity in some Indian villages of these cantons, have buried this plate at the mouth of the river Chinodashichetha, the 18th of August, near the river Ohio, otherwise Beautiful River, as a monument of renewal of pos- sessions, which we have taken of the said river Ohio, and of all those which fall into it, and of all the land on both sides, as far as to the sources of said rivers, the same as were enjoyed, or ought to have been en- joyed, by the preceding kings of France, and that they have maintained it by their arms and treaties, especially by those of Ryswick, Utrecht and Aix-la-Chapelle."
From the mouth of the Great Kanawha the voyage was continued down the Ohio, and on the 30th day of August the expedition reached the mouth of the Riviere a la Roche (Great Miami), and the voyage on the Ohio ended. The following is an extract from Celeron's journal, now deposited in the archives at Paris, as translated by Marshall : " Buried on the point formed by the intersection of the right bank of the Ohio with the left bank of the Rock river, the sixth and last plate. August 31, 1749." This plate has never been found. After journeying up the Miami some distance, the detachment began its homeward march, and reached Montreal on the 10th day of November.
In the same year George II., who regarded the British possessions as personal property, granted to a corporation known as "The Ohio Com- pany," a title to five hundred thousand acres of land, to be located in the Ohio Valley. The company was composed of twelve gentlemen, all residents of Virginia and Maryland, except a Mr. Hanbury, of London. This land was to be located partly south of the Ohio, between the Mo- nongahela and Great Kanawha rivers, and partly north of the Ohio. In 1750 Christopher Gist was sent ont by the company for the purpose of exploring and locating these tracts of land in the west. He traversed the country beyond the Ohio, and returned by way of the Kanawha. making thorough exploration of the country cast of that river. This was the first exploration made by the English in the Kanawha Valley, and Gist the first Englishman who reached the month of the Kanawha. His journal is now in the library of the Historical Society of Massachu- setts. Thus it will be seen that the two great rival powers beyond the Atlantic were each determined to hold possession of the great valley,
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and it became evident that the final struggle for territorial supremacy in America was near at hand. The English, acting upon the principle of action that " They should take who have the power," and the French upon nearly a similar one, that "They should keep who can," were both resting from an eight years' war, under the truce secured by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, while their commissioners were trying to outwit each other in the matter of the disputed lands in the west. (Smollett's George II., chapter 8.) But the calm was similar to that which pre- cedes the storm. The cloud of war which had for a time disappeared from Europe was now hanging over the wilds of North America. Here was to be heard the clash of arms, the "Forward, march," the daily reveille, the battle cry, the strains of martial music-sounds so strange beneath the dark shades of an American forest. The storm burst with all its fury, and continued to rage for six long years-years character- ized by acts of the most savage cruelty known to the annals of warfare ; years in which the two leading nations of the world employed against each other the ruthless savages, whose bloodthirsty dispositions ineited them to deeds too horrible to contemplate-deeds the record of which will ever remain as the darkest blots upon the pages of the history of these nations.
But the struggle ended, and the world knows the result. The domin- ion and power of France have disappeared, and no traces of her lost sovereignty exist save in the few names she has left on the prominent streams and landmarks of the country, and in the leaden plates which, inscribed in her language, still lie buried on the banks of the beautiful river. Her temporary occupation of the country, the voyages of her navigators, and the discoveries of her discoverers, live only on the pages of history and in her archives, where she has carefully preserved them. Thus the Ohio Valley, together with all of South-western Vir- ginia, passed from under the dominion of France to that of the Island Empire. But another title to the valley was yet to be abrogated, that of the original owners-the Indians, who, for perhaps a thousand years, had roamed over its hills and vales in pursuit of game; who had made it their principal thoroughfare in their missions of blood and rapine ever since the Anglo-Saxon set foot on these shores and had began his march in pursuit of the empire star. This title was yet to cost the lives of many hundreds of those sturdy pioneers who had braved the perils of the wilderness. Over its entire extent was to be heard the frightful war-whoop of the savage, and night was to be made lurid by the flames of burning homes. Then, to record an account of these scenes will next be our province.
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INDIAN WARS ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER.
In presenting an outline of the annals of the settlement of the western frontier, we must remember that a dreary uniformity of incident marks all the story of the primitive settlements in every part of our country. from Plymouth to Jamestown, and from the northern lakes to the Mex- ican gulf, and that to enter into a narration of individual efforts and sufferings, and less important triumphs and defeats, would only render our chronicles a confused mass of rencounters of the rifle and tomahawk. of burnings, murders, captivities and reprisals, which confound by their number and weary by their monotony and resemblance. A few more prominent events only can be selected as samples of the many other -. A few names only, from the long catalogue of pioneers, can be mentioned. The memory of the hundreds necessarily omitted lives where they would have wished it to live-in the winter evening's recital, in the rustic mountain ballad, and in the rude but interesting tradition of border warfare.
The first white woman who saw the Kanawha river was
MRS. HANNAH DENNIS.
In the summer of 1761 a war party of Shawnee Indians penetrated the settlements on James river, murdered many of the settlers and. carried a number of others into captivity, among the latter Mrs. Dennis. She, with about twenty others, was carried to the towns north of the Ohio, and upon arriving there the captives were separated by their captors, and it was decided Mrs. Dennis should live at the Chillicothe towns. where she remained more than two years, during which time she learned their language, painted herself, and in many respects conformed to their manners and customs. She devoted herself to the sick, and was highly esteemed by the Indians as one skilled in the art of curing disease. Having discovered that they were very superstitious and believed in necromancy, she professed witchcraft and affected to be a prophetess. Notwithstanding this, Mrs. Dennis was always determined to effect her escape when a favorable opportunity should present itself, and having so long remained with them, apparently well satisfied, they ceased to entertain any suspicions of such a design. In June, 1763, she left the Chillicothe towns, ostensibly to procure herbs for medicinal purposes, but really to make her escape. As she did not return that night her inten- tion was suspected, and early next morning several warriors were sent in pursuit of her. In order to leave as little trail as possible, she had crossed the Scioto river three times, and was just getting over the fourth time, forty miles below the towns, when she was discovered by her pursuers. They fired at her across the river without effect, but in endeavoring to make rapid flight she cut one of her feet upon a sharp stone.
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IELAND
THE SECOND INOHIO
CHARLES
THE QUEENE OF PAMUNKRY
MEDAL OR FRONTLET PRESENTED TO THE INDIAN "QUEEN OF PAMUNKEY,"
By the Colony of Virginia, about 1676, and worn by her.
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The Indians then rushed across the river to overtake her, but she eluded them by crawling into the hollow of a large fallen sycamore. They searched around for her for some time, frequently stepping on the log which concealed her, and encamped near it that night. On the next day they went on to the Ohio river, but finding no trace of her they returned home.
Mrs. Dennis remained at that place three days, waiting for her wound to heal, and then set off for home. She reached the Ohio river, oppo- site the present site of the town of Mount Pleasant, and crossed that river ou a drift log, then began her journey up the Kanawha to the settlements in the Greenbrier country, which she knew to be nearest her. She traveled only during the night, for fear of discovery, and at last, having subsisted on roots, herbs, green grapes, wild cherries and river museles for several days, and exhausted by fatigue and hunger, she sat down by the side of Greenbrier river with no expectation of pro- ceeding further. In this situation she was found by Thomas Athol and three others, from Clendenin's settlement, which she had passed without knowing it. She had been then more than twenty days on her disconsolate journey, alone, on foot, but till then cheered with the hope of again being with her friends. She was taken back to Clendenin's, where they kindly ministered to her until she became so far invigorated as to travel on horse- back with an escort to Fort Young, on Jackson's river, and from there was carried to her relatives on the James river. (The above we subjoin from the very interesting work of Withers.)
MURDER OF THE CLENDENIN FAMILY.
Shortly after Mrs. Dennis had gone from Clendenin's, a party of Shawnees penetrated into the Greenbrier country, led on by the distin- guished warrior Cornstalk, and in two short days succeeded in destroy- ing every settlement in that section of the State. After having murdered the inhabitants at Muddy creek, they passed over into the Levels and attacked the house of Archibald Clendenin, in which from fifty to one hundred persons had taken refuge. Of the whole number of men at Clendenin's but one escaped. He, being at some distance from the house, heard the screams of the women and children, and fled to Jack- son's river, where he gave the alarm in time to save the settlers from destruction. The scene in and about the house was one that beggars description ; men, women and children lying in a confused mass, welter- ing in each other's blood, while the shrieks and groans of the dying rent the air. One colored woman, who was endeavoring to escape, killed her own child, which was following her, crying, lest her whereabouts might be discovered by its eries. Stuart says in his Memoir that Mrs. Clen-
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denin did not fail to abuse the Indians with terms of reproach, calling them cowards, etc., although the tomahawk was drawn over her head, accompanied with threats of instant death, and the scalp of her murdered husband was lashed about her face. The prisoners were all taken to Muddy creek, and a party of Indians retained them there until the re- turn of others from Carr's creek, when the whole were started off together to spend a hopeless captivity beyond the Ohio.
On the day they started from the foot of Keeney's Knob, going over the mountain, Mrs. Clendenin gave her infant child to a woman, who was also a prisoner, to carry, and as the prisoners were marching in the center and the Indians in front and rear, she stepped aside into a thicket until all had passed by. The cries of the child soon made the Indians inquire for the mother, who was missing, and one of them said he would soon bring the cow to the calf, and taking the child from the woman he dashed its brains out against a tree, and then threw the body down in the path, where it was trampled to pieces by the horses. Mrs. Clendenin remained until nightfall, and then returned to her own house, a distance of more than ten miles, where she found the mangled re- mains of her husband lying in the yard, which she covered over with rails, after which she went into a corn-field and remained until morning, when she resumed her flight, and, after many toils and privations, reached the settlements on Jackson's river. It has been supposed that the Indians perpetrating these dreadful outrages were in pursuit of Mrs. Dennis, and, if it be true, how dearly were others made to pay the price of her deliverance !
OTHER INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.
In October, 1764, a party of Mingo and Delaware Indians crossed the Ohio, and, ascending the Big Sandy, crossed over on New river, where they separated into two parties and directed their steps toward different settlements-one party going toward Roanoke and (Catawba), and the other in the direction of Jackson's river. They had not long passed when their trail was discovered by three men, named Swope, Pack and Pitman, who were then engaged in trapping on New river. These men followed the trail until they came to the place where the Indians divided, and judging from the routes taken that the Roanoke and Jackson's river settlements were the objects of their vengeance, they determined to ap- prise the inhabitants of these places of their danger. Swope and Pack started for Roanoke, and Pitman for Jackson's river, but before they conk accomplish their objeet the Indians had reached the settlements on the latter river and on the Catawba. The party whose destination was Jack- son's river traveled down Dunlap's creek and crossed the James river a short distance above Fort Young in the night and unnoticed, and going down this river to the residence of William Carpenter, at which place was
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a stockade fort, commanded by a Mr. Brown. They met Carpenter just above the house and killed him, then immediately proceeded to the house and made prisoners of a son of Mr. Carpenter and two sons of Mr. Brown (all children) and one woman. The others belonging to the house were in the field at work, and thus escaped a terrible fate. The Indians then despoiled the house, and, taking some horses, commeneed a precipitate retreat, fearing discovery and pursuit.
When Carpenter was shot, the report of the gun was heard by those at work in the field, and Brown carried the alarm to Fort Young. In consequence of the weakness of this fort a messenger was dispatched to Fort Dinwiddie with the intelligence. Captain Paul, commandant there, immediately began the pursuit with about twenty of his men, and pass- ing out of the head of Dunlap's creek descended Indian creek and New river to Piney creek, without making any discovery. On Indian creek they met Pitman, almost exhausted, who had been running all the day and night previous for the purpose of apprising the garrison at Fort Young of the approach of the Indians. Pitman joined in the pursuit, which was continued down the Kanawha river until it was ascertained that the Indians had crossed the Ohio.
As Captain Paul and his party were returning they accidentally met with the other party of Indians, which had been to Catawba and com- mitted some depredations and murders there. They were discovered about midnight, encamped on the north bank of New river, opposite an island at the mouth of Indian creek. Excepting some few who were watching the prisoners whom they had taken on the Catawba, they were lying around a small fire, wrapped in skins and blankets. Paul's men, not being aware that there were prisoners among them, fired into their midst, killed three of the Indians and wounded several others, one of whom ran into New river and drowned himself to preserve his scalp. The rest of the party fled hastily down the river and escaped.
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