USA > West Virginia > History and government of West Virginia > Part 2
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AN INDIAN WIGWAM.
Delaware and Catawba tribes. Every Delaware en- gaged, except one, was killed and every Catawba car- ried away a scalp. Other engagements between the savage warriors took place at the mouth of Opequon, near the mouth of the South Branch of the Potomac,
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MOUND BUILDERS AND INDIANS.
and at Hanging Rocks, now in the county of Hamp- shire. This latter was, perhaps, the most fiercely
HANGING ROCKS, HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.
contested battle which the Indians ever fought among themselves in West Virginia.
22 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA
8. Indian Geography of West Virginia .- These Indian inhabitants knew all the country in which they lived and had given names-many of them pretty ones-to all the prominent landmarks and rivers of the State. Far to the northward and southward stretched a vast mountain system, and the Indians called it Ap-pal-ach-ia, meaning " the endless moun- tains." They clambered over the mountains so long covered with snow and they called them the " Alle- gha-ny," signifying "the place of the foot print," or "the impression of the feet."
9. Indian Names of West Virginia Rivers .- The Indians warred for the possession of the Ohio Valley and the name " Ohio" was given to the river, mean- ing the "river of blood." The Big Sandy river was called the " Chat-ter-a-wha," the " river of sand-bars"; the Guyandotte river, the "Se-co-nee," the narrow bottom river"; the Great Kanawha river was the "Ken- in-she-ka," meaning in the Shawnee language "the tiver of evil spirits" but the Delawares called it the Kan-a-wha, "the place of the white stone." O-nim-go- how was the name of the Little Kanawha river; Po-co-tal-i-co meant "plenty of fat doe"; Cole river was the "Wal-hon-de" of the Delawares, signifying the "hill creek"; the Shawnees called Elk river, "Tis- kel-wah," "river of fat elk," but the Delawares called it "Pe-quo-ni," " the walnut river"; Paint creek, a tributary of the Great Kanawha river, was known to the Delawares as "Ot-to-we," or "deer creek"; Gau- ley river was the "To-ke-bel-lo-ke" of the Dela- wares, meaning the "falling creek"; the Greenbrier
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MOUND BUILDERS AND INDIANS
river was known to the Miamas as the " We-ot-o- we," while the Delawares called it "O-ne-pa-ke"; Blue Stone river was the "Mo-mon-go-sen-eka,'' "the big stone creek," of the Delawares who called East river the "Ta-le-mo-te-no." The Shenandoah was "the river of the stars"; the Po-to-meck has been changed to its present form; the South Branch of the Potomac was the "Wap-pa-tom-ica," and the North Branch the "Co-hon-go-ru-ta", meaning the "river of the wild goose;" the Delawares called the river on which they lived the "Mo-non-ga-he-la" signifying the "river of caving banks." "Weeling,'' "the place of the skull," was the name of Wheeling creek, and from it we have the name of the principal city of the State.
10. The Indian as a Factor in Our History .- Such was West Virginia, its inhabitants and geogra- phy, before the coming of white men, who were des- tined to build homes in the wilderness, but in doing this, they were to dispute its possession with the Indians, who for more than a hundred years waged a fierce and relentless warfare upon the white settlers. But it was a struggle between civilization and barbar- ism and the result was the final supremacy of the former. The people who once occupied West Virginia, and made much of its history, have been driven out of the territory now embraced within the State, driven beyond the Mississippi to the western part of the Con- tinent.
"A moment, and the pageant 's gone; The red men are no more. The pale-faced stranger stands alone Upon the river shore." -Paulding.
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CHAPTER III.
THE FOUNDING OF EUROPEAN COLONIES ON THE ATLANTIC COAST.
From 1607 to 1669.
1. The Partition of a Continent .- No sooner did Columbus make known to Europe the existence of a New World, than many nations hastened to possess portions of it. Spain was the country that aided Columbus in making the discovery and that kingdom proceeded to conquer its newly acquired possessions, and by these triumplis, the civilizations of Mexico and Peru perished from the earth. France was not slow to profit by the discovery of Columbus. Far away, hundreds of miles toward the Arctic Circle, she took possession of the country along the St. Lawrence and around Lake Champlain, and hastened to plant colonies. Between the Spanish possessions on the south and those of France on the north, lay a territory extending from the 34th to the 50th parallel of north latitude, and stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. England laid claim to all this region, basing her right upon the discov -. eries of Jolin and Sebastian Cabot, who were the first to explore the eastern coast of North America, they having sailed from Labrador to the Capes of Virginia in the year 1498.
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FOUNDING OF EUROPEAN COLONIES.
2. How West Virginia was Settled by White Men. -West Virginia being an inland State, was not settled by emigrants from Europe, as were the States along the Atlantic Coast. It was from these that the white settlers of West Virginia chiefly came, and if we would properly understand the history of our own State, we must, before beginning its study, learn some- thing of the colonization of the States from which the people came to settle ours.
3. Colonization of Virginia .- Virginia, of which West Virginia was so long a part, is the oldest Amer- ican State. One hundred and fifteen years passed away after the discovery by Columbus, and in that time, no white man had found a home in all the country from the Everglades of Florida to the Pine- clad hills of Nova Scotia. But the time was now at hand when civilized men should come to found a great nation in America. In 1606, the English King, James I., granted a patent for territory in America to a corporation composed of men of his kingdom, to be known as the Virginia Company of London, and the object was the founding of a permanent col- ony in the New World.
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4. Collecting the Colonists .- The Company im- mediately set about the work before it, and colonists to the number of one hundred and five were speedily collected in and about London, and a little fleet, which was to bear them from the shores of the Old World to the wilds of the New, lay at anchor at the docks ,of Blackwall, and here, on December 19th, 1606, the colonists went on board, and the next day
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26 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
the ships anchored at London. Three small vessels, that would not now be thought worthy to attempt the passage of the Atlantic, composed the fleet. They were the "Susan Constant" of one hundred and twenty tons burden, commanded by Captain Chris- topher Newport, and carrying seventy-one persons; the "God-speed " of forty tons, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, and having on board fifty-two persons, and the "Discovery," a pinnace of twenty tons, Captain John Radcliffe, bearing twenty-one persons. The number of persons on board aggregated one hundred and thirty- four, of whom twenty-nine composed the ships' crews and the remaining one hundred and five were colonists.
5. The Departure from England .- On Saturday, December 20th, 1606, the ships dropped down the Thames river, but they were buffeted by contrary winds and, January Ist, 1606-7, they cast anchor in the Downs. Here, for six weeks, continuous storms detained them in sight of England. But at length the tempest abated. Again the sails were spread and the little fleet stood out to sea. Gentle winds wafted it onward and the shores of England faded from view, and the blue hills of Ireland disappeared in the distance. The ships were steered to the southwest, and, in time, reached the Canary Islands. There they took in a sup- ply of water, and five days later, sailed for San Domingo.
6. The Colonists at Sea .- Winds drove the fleet onward over the billows and on February 24th, 1606-7,* it cast anchor at San Domingo. April the
* This manner of the double dating of events occurring between the 1st day of January and the 25th day of March, in all the years
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FOUNDING OF EUROPEAN COLONIES.
roth ensuing, the voyage was continued, and the ships were steered northward in hope of finding the long- sought haven. On April 14th they crossed the Tropic
THE FLEET ON THE OCEAN.
of Cancer and on the 21st, at 5 o'clock in the evening, they were overtaken by a terrific storm of wind, rain and thunder, but the ships out-rode it, and on April 26th, the watch descried land to the westward.
between 1582 and 1752, is observed by writers of that period. Until the last named year, the 25th of March was regarded as New Year's day, or the first day of the year, and since that time the 1st day of January has been so regarded. England and her American colonies adopted the latter method in 1752, in com- pliance with an act of Parliament, which provided that the calen- dar according to which the year begins on the 25th of March, should not be used after the 31st day of December, 1751, and the 1st day of January ensuing should be called and known as the first day of the year 1752, and each succeeding year, throughout the Brit- ish Dominions. From this it will be seen that the method of double dating here used, is very necessary, for if we regard March 25th as the beginning of the year, then the ships reached San Domingo February 24th, 1606; but if we consider the year as be- ginning on the 1st day of January, then the ships anchored at San Domingo February 24th, 1607.
28 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
7. The Fleet on the Coast of Virginia .- Because of unfavorable winds, these founders of the oldest Ameri- can State were tempest-tossed on the restless ocean for long weeks and months, during a portion of which time many were ill, and Robert Hunt, their preacher, was so sick that it was thought that he could not survive. It was the 26th day of April-one hundred and twenty-eight days after the departure from Black- wall-when they entered the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, and upon the capes on either side, they bestowed the names of Charles and Henry, in honor of the sons of King James, the first of whom was afterward the unfor- tunate Charles I., and the second is known to history as Prince Henry. The ships, after entering the bay, lay at anchor for several days at Old Point Comfort.
RUINS OF JAMESTOWN.
8. The Founding of Jamestown .- On May 12th the sails were again unfurled and the ships were steered
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FOUNDING OF EUROPEAN COLONIES.
into the mouth of a magnificent river, which the natives called Powhatan, but to which the Colonists gave the name of James, in honor of their beloved sovereign. The voyage was continued up the river to a point about fifty miles from its mouth, and here on May 13th, 1607, these cavaliers went on shore and laid the foundation of Jamestown, the oldest permanent English settlement in America. This was thirteen years and six months before any other English colony was established in what is now the United States.
9. Settlement of Massachusetts .- From Massa- chusetts came some of the pioneer settlers of West Virginia. This was the second American State per- manently settled by the English. One stormy day in December, 1620, a little ship named the "Mayflower" hove in sight off the bleak shore of Cape Cod, on the coast of Massachusetts. On board the ship was a band of devoted Christian people, who, more than two months before, had left England, and during all that time had been buffeted by wind and wave on the broad Atlantic; but the voyage was now past, and, at last, when all had almost given way to despair, these heart-sick men and women reached the long-looked- for harbor, and upon the 21st of this mid-winter month, after having spent some time in exploring, the weary voyagers landed at Plymouth Harbor, which they named after the place they had left behind them in their native land. Such was the beginning of New England.
10. Colonization of Maryland .- The "Ark" and the "Dove"-names emblematic of safety and peace
30 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
-were two historic ships. They bore the first colo- nists to Lord Baltimore's province of Maryland, a State now so intimately connected with our own. It was October, 1633, when the settlers, two hundred in number, went on board and the ships sailed from Gravesend, near the mouth of the Thames river. They touched at Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, and November 22d, steered for the Azores, and then for the West Indies. Reaching Barbadoes, the vessels were detained for some time and did not reach Chesapeake bay until the 27th day of February, 1633-4. At Point Comfort both vessels received supplies. Thence they proceeded slowly up the bay, and on the 27th of March-thirty days after passing the capes of Vir- ginia-amid the booming of cannon from the ships, the immigrants went on shore and founded St. Marys, the oldest settlement in Maryland. Here had landed the men who were to make this State famous as the home of liberty-loving people. Many early West Virginia settlers came from Maryland.
11 .- The First Colonists of South Carolina .-- South Carolina soldiers served in West Virginia dur- ing the Indian wars, and the history of the people of that State is, therefore, connected with the early annals of our own. The colonists, two hundred in number, destined for South Carolina, left England in 1669. The ships that conveyed them, were the "Carolina," the "Port Royal," and the sloop "Al- bemarle." Leaving England, the little fleet put in at Kinsale, Ireland, for additional emigrants. Then the sails were spread, and, the "Carolina," with
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FOUNDING OF EUROPEAN COLONIES.
ninety-three passengers on board, in the lead, the pilots steered for the West Indies. The ocean was crossed, but the "Albemarle" went down before a hurricane at Barbadoes, and the " Port Royal " met a similar fate among the Bahamas. A sloop was pur- chased at Barbadoes to convey the rescued passengers, but she was parted from the "Carolina" by a storm on the high seas and was driven into a port at the Bermudas. There, too, the "Carolina " cast anchor, but both vessels sailed on the 26th of February, 1669-70, and early in March, reached Seewee, now Charleston, and thence proceeded to Port Royal Harbor. Here they remained until April, when the voyage was continued to Kiawah, now Ashley River, where the emigrants went ashore and laid the foundation of Charleston, the first English settlement in South Carolina.
12. The Land of William Penn .- Many of the people of West Virginia now trace their ancestry back a century or more to Pennsylvania homes. The name of the ship that bore William Penn to Pennsylvania was the "Welcome," and the account of her voyage is a sad recital. When out from port but a few days, the smallpox appeared among the passengers, and before land was sighted, a third of them were dead. The "Welcome " was tempest-tossed, but she outrode the storm, passed the capes at the entrance of Dela- ware bay, and four days later, October 27th, 1682, cast anchor where New Castle now stands.
13. The Coming of the Founders of Georgia. -- Another historic ship left England in 1732. It was
32 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
the "Anne," of two hundred tons burden, Captain Thomas, and having on board two hundred colonists, men, women and children, destined as the founders of Oglethorpe's province of Georgia. The "Anne " left the English coast November 17th, 1732, and on January 13th, 1732-3; reached Charleston Harbor on the coast of South Carolina. Thence passing on to the Savannah river, the colonists went ashore on its right bank and began building Savannah, the old- est city in Georgia. These were the founders of the last one of the thirteen original colonies; that is, those existing at the beginning of the Revolution.
14. The Beginning of the States was the Be- ginning of the Nation .- From these small beginnings great states have developed and with others, they have united and formed the great Nation-the United States of America, of which the State of West Virginia is one. From these States on the Atlantic coast, which we have mentioned, many people came to settle in West Virginia; especially is this true of Pennsylvania and Maryland. But the great mass of those who first found homes in our State came from that part of Virginia east of the Blue Ridge, and that the story of the two Virginias, inseparable as it is, may be studied connectedly, we must return to that little Colony planted on the banks of the James river in 1607; for around it as a central point is grouped the early history of the Virginias, as well as much of our national history.
15. The Character of the Virginia Colonists .- We have seen how the first settlers came to Virginia.
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FOUNDING OF EUROPEAN COLONIES.
The early annals of the Colony abound with evidence that they were a devoted Christian people, who saw and recognized not only the guiding hand of Providence in all their affairs, but, in the wilderness, were firm believers in the teachings of Christianity. The prin- cipal mover of the organization of the Virginia Com- pany of London was Richard Hackluyt, himself a minister and prebendary of Westminster. The Com- pany gave to the colonists, when ready to sail, a series of orders, the last of which was as follows : "Lastly and chiefly, the way to prosper and achieve good success is to make yourselves all of one mind, for the good of your country, and your own, and to serve and fear God, the Giver of all goodness; for every plantation which Our Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out." Rev. Robert Hunt was the first minister in Virginia, and before the erec- tion of a church at Jamestown, the people prepared a place of worship by attaching a piece of sail-cloth to three or four trees as a protection from the sun, and for a pulpit a bar of wood was spiked to two trees. There met the first church organization of Virginia, and the first of English speaking people in America.
16. The First Efforts to Establish a School in the United States .- The first effort to establish a school of any character in the United States, was made at Jamestown in Virginia. The Virginia Com- pany, composed, as it was, of men desiring the intel- lectual development of the colonists, ever urged the importance of education, and in 1619, it supplemented
34 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
the £1,500 collected, by a donation of 15,000 acres of land to aid the Indian Mission school at Henrico. But this was not the only effort in this direction. In 1621, the devoted Rev. Patrick Copland, chaplain of an East India ship, collected funds to aid in the establishment of a Free School in Charles City, Vir- ginia, the said institution to be known as the East India School.
17. From the Sea to the Mountains .- For a num- ber of years after the founding of Jamestown the settlements were confined to the valley of the James river, but at length the population increased until the homes of civilized men extended far into the interior, and this, too, despite the fierce warfare carried on by the Indians. In 1670, there were 40,000 English speaking people in Virginia, so that by that time thousands of homes dotted all the landscape from the sea to the mountains. These hardy pioneers had extended the domain of civilization even to the base of the Blue Ridge, but no one had dared to found a home beyond that rocky barrier. So with Virginia's sister colonies to the north and south. They had greatly increased in population and had extended set- tlements, but none of them west of the mountains. But "Westward the Star of Empire takes its way." West Virginia lay in its line of march and it is, in point of settlement, the oldest American State west of the Appalachian mountains, and no other common- wealth has a more interesting or instructive history than it.
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CHAPTER IV.
EXPLORATION AND FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
From 1669 to 1735.
1. Exploration of John Lederer .- The first white man within the present limits of West Virginia was John Lederer. He was a German by birth and was an authorized explorer in the employment of Sir William Berkeley, a Colonial Governor of Virginia. Lederer made several journeys into the wilderness to the westward. On one of these, he crossed the Blue Ridge, in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry, in what is now Jefferson county, West Virginia. From here he appears to have journeyed farther to the west over the mountains into what is now Hampshire county, and, probably, visited the valley of Cheat river. This exploration was made in 1669. A map of the same has been preserved on which is a delineation of the Potomac river, represented as being divided into two branches.
2. The Discovery of the Ohio River .- By a singu- lar coincidence, at the same time that John Lederer was exploring the mountain region of West Virginia, a representative of another nation beyond the sea, saw the western part of the State, when descending the Ohio river. This was Robert Cavelier La Salle, one of the most eminent French explorers of the New
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HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
World. It was in the year 1663, that Europeans heard of the Ohio river, and the first intimation of its existence came from the Indians to Dollier, a French missionary in Can- ada. It was reported to be almost as large as the St. Lawrence. This informa- tion inspired the adventur- ous spirit of La Salle with a desire to behold the great river. Accordingly, with Indian guides, he be- gan his journey by way of Onondaga, New York. In STATUE OF LA SALLE LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO. October, 1669, he reached the Allegheny river which he descended to its junction with the Monongahela, and thence continued down the Ohio as far as the falls-now Louisville, Kentucky. There his guides deserted him and he was compelled to make his way back to Canada alone. The first white men who reached the Falls of the great Kanawha, were Thomas Batts, Robert Fallam, and Thomas Woods, who, with Jack Neasam, left the Appomattox Indian town on the Appomattox river, in Virginia, September 1, 1671, and fifteen days later arrived at the Falls.
3. Expedition of Governor Spottswood over the Blue Ridge .- Alexander Spottswood was one of the most distinguished individuals that controlled the destiny of Colonial Virginia. Hardy pioneers had extended civilization over the eastern part of the
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FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
Colony, but of the region to the westward, nothing was known; the time was now come when white men should penetrate the vast wilderness and return to tell the story of its wonderful resources. Governor
ALEX. SPOTTSWOOD .*
LADY SPOTTSWOOD.
Spottswood equipped a party of thirty horsemen, and, heading it in person, left Williamsburg. then the capital of Virginia, on June 20th, 1716.
*Alexander Spottswood, who led the party, was born in 1676, at Tangier, then an English Colony, in Africa, his father being the resident surgeon. He was a thoroughly trained soldier, serving on the Continent under the Duke of Marlborough. He was dan- gerously wounded at the battle of Blenheim, in 1704, when serv- ing as quartermaster-general, with the rank of Colonel. He arrived in Virginia in 1710, as Lieutenant-Governor under George Hamilton, the Earl of Orkney, and his administration was the most able of all the Colonial rulers. He, in connection with Rob- ert Carry of England, established the first iron furnace in North America. In 1730, he was made Deputy Postmaster-General for the American Colonies, and it was he who promoted Beli- jamin Franklin to the position of Postmaster for the province of Pennsylvania. He rose to the rank of Major-General and,
38 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
4. The Party on the Summit of the Blue Ridge. -Pressing onward through King William and Mid- dlesex counties, they reached the Blue Ridge, which they passed by way of Swift Run Gap. Crossing the Shenandoah river, the intrepid governor and his party pushed onward across the Shenandoah Valley and up the mountains until, on September 5th, 1716, on one of the loftiest peaks of the Appalachian range, prob- ably within the present limits of Rockingham county, Old Virginia, they halted and drank a health to King George. What a spot! never before had the voice of civilized man been heard amid this mountain fast- ness. Here Robert Brooke, one of the party and the king's surveyor-general, conducted the first scientific observation ever made upon the Appalachian mount- ains.
5. The Knights of the Golden Horseshoe .- The party returned to Williamsburg and gave the most glowing description of the country which they had visited, and for the purpose of inducing emigration to this far western land, Governor Spottswood established the Trans-Montaine Order, or Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, giving to each of those who had accom-
when on the eve of embarking with troops destined for Cartha- gena, died at Annapolis, Maryland, June 7th, 1740. He owned the house in which Lord Cornwallis afterward signed the articles of capitulation at Yorktown.
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