USA > West Virginia > Hampshire County > History of Hampshire County, West Virginia : from its earliest settlement to the present > Part 25
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It is claimed, and is probable, that the occupants of the South branch and surrounding country were exterminated or driven off by other Indians about the time of the earliest settlements by Europeans in Virginia. A date more definite cannot be given, because no man knows. The sole evidence is tradition supplemented by a study of the ruins found on the sites of former villages, their decay, 1
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and the probable length of time which has passed since they ceased to be occupied. There was a tradition widely believed among the early settlers that a fierce battle was once fought at Hanging Rocks, on the South branch, a few miles north of Romney, between Delaware and Catawba Indians. According to this tradition, the Delawares had invaded the Catawba country, in the vicinity of western Carolina, captured a number of prisoners and retreated northward with them. When they reached Hanging Rocks, they stopped to catch fish. At this place a narrow strip of land is enclosed between the river and the cliff. The pursuing Catawbas came up unobserved, threw a detachment across the river, another in front of the Dela- wares, then advancing, made the attack from three sides, killing all or nearly all of the Delawares. A row of graves extending sixty yards or more, on the bank of the river, was early pointed out as confirmatory evidence of the slaughter of the Delawares. The tradition is given for what it is worth, but the reader is cautioned that the evi- dence of such a battle at Hanging Rocks is very unsatis- factory. The fact that there are graves at that place is about the strongest evidence, and that, in itself, is of little value. It is stronger evidence that an Indian village was somewhere near, and that this was the grave yard. That the evidence was unsatisfactory to the early inhabitants is proved by the fact that the battle field was located at two other places, one on the Opequon, several miles northeast of Winchester, and the other on Antietam creek, in Mary- land. There was evidently a tradition of such a battle somewhere, and the earliest inhabitants began to hunt a suitable location for it. Without question, the Hanging Rocks would have been an admirable field for such a battle.
There is evidence, if not positive proof, that there was an Indian town two miles below Hanging Rocks. Of this Kercheval says, writing early in the present century: 24
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"About two miles below Hanging Rocks, in the bank of the river, a stratum of ashes, about one rod in length, was some years ago discovered. At this place are signs of an Indian village and their old fields." The most permanent remains of Indian towns are the beds of ashes left by their fires. Their frail wigwams fall to pieces in a short time, but the ashes remain for ages, covered with a greater or smaller accumulation of soil, depending upon the length of time and the surrounding conditions. The "Indian Old Fields," in Hardy county, so called to this day, are without doubt the site of an Indian settlement. When the country was first explored by white men these fields were bare of trees, evidently having long been under cultivation. The Indians who occupied the South branch, as well as those who lived in the valley of Virginia, probably of the same tribe, were farmers as well as hunters, as is shown by the extent of their old plantations. That portion of the valley of Virginia lying between the Blue Ridge and Little North mountain, about twenty-five miles wide and forty-five long, was nearly all cleared of timber when first visited by white men. Agricultural Indians had no doubt lived there for ages.
In all parts of Hampshire county, but especially on the bluffs overlooking South branch valley, Indian arrow heads have been picked up since the country was first occupied by civilized man. These flints formed the tips of their arrows, both for the chase and in war. The notion that the Indians were accustomed to dip their arrows in rattle- snake poison, to make them more deadly, is erroneous. They did so at times, but it was not the usual practice. It is believed that the ^int from which they made their arrow- heads was carried from Ohio. It is not found in this part of the country; but in Ohio old quarries have been discov- ered which seem to have been worked from time out of mind. The flint bears evidence of having been blasted by means of fire, being broken into fragments by heat.
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HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE.
When the French and Indian war broke out, and during Pontiac's war, a period extending from 1754 to 1765, the people of Hampshire county, in common with those of other parts of the frontier, built forts as places of refuge from the savages. These forts were usually large log houses, but sometimes consisted of a number of cabins enclosed by a stockade of logs planted on end, side by side in the ground and rising eighteen or twenty feet. There was a fort seven miles above Romney, but its name and its exact location are now forgotten. Fort Edward was on the Capon river, near where the road from Romney to Winchester now crosses. Eight miles below Romney was another fort, the name of which is not remembered. Fort William was a short distance below Hanging Rocks, and Furman's fort was some distance above Hanging Rocks. Ashby's fort was at Frankfort, on Patterson creek. Fort George stood near Petersburg. in Grant county, and Fort Pleas- ants, near Moorefield, in Hardy county. These were all small forts, but a number of formidable fortifications were built during those troublous times, not within Hampshire county, but so near that many Hampshire people found refuge in the n. Fort Cumberland stood where the town of Cumberland, in Maryland, has since been built, about twenty-eight miles from Romney. Fort Frederick was also in Maryland, about twelve miles from Martinsburg. It was built of stone, walls twenty feet high and four and a-half feet thick. It is said to have cost more than three hundred thousand dollars. Fort Loudoun, near Winches- ter, was very strong, and at one time five hundred families fled there for refuge. The fort was planned and built by Washington. who superintended it in person. It was erected immediately after Braddock's defeat, 1755, and no doubt was meant as a stronghold to withstand the attacks of the French and Indians should they advance and destroy Fort Cumberland. Fort Loudoun mounted twenty-four cannon, of which six were eighteen-pounders, six twelve-
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pounders, six six-pounders, four swivels and two howitzers.
When the French and Indian war broke out, Hamp- shire, lying on the exposed western frontier, soon felt the effects of savage warfare. The county at that time in- cluded Mineral, Hardy, Grant, Pendleton, part of Morgan, as well as much territory lying westward. In speaking of Indian depredations, the present limits of the county will be chiefly considered, but events near the borders will not be omitted. It will be observed that the Indians made hostile inroads into Hampshire from 1754 to 1765, eleven years, never before nor after. One of the most noted Indian chiefs whose presence added to the horrors of the savage warfare in the South branch valley was Killbuck, a Shawnee from Ohio. He was well acquainted with the people along the South branch before the war. His invasion of Pendleton, Grant and Hardy counties is spoken of elsewhere in this book. When the war broke out, Killbuck led some Indians to Patterson creek and killed a man named Williams after Williams had killed five of the savages, firing on them from his cabin as they at- tempted to break into it. Procuring a larger band of fol- lowers, Killbuck became ambitious of conquest, and led his men against Fort Cumberland, where Cumberland, Maryland, now stands. Not being strong enough to cap- ture it by assault, he resorted to deceit, and sent word to the commandant, Colonel Livingston, that his intentions were honorable and' his desire was for peace. He wanted to visit the fort with his Indians. But Colonel Livingston suspected his design, and when Killbuck and his principal chiefs were inside, the gate was closed. The command- ant charged him with treachery and drove him out in dis- grace. No attack was made on the fort at that time. The experience which the savages had gained in attacking Fort Cumberland a short time before had taught them the perils of the enterprise. A high knob on the Maryland side of the river overlooked the fort, and Indians in con-
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siderable numbers amused themselves by taking position . on the summit of this knob and firing into the fort. They did little damage, but the practice wasannoying. One night while the savages were firing into the fort, and making the hill hideous with their yells, seventy-five soldiers sur- prised them and killed all but a few. For years there- after the knob was called Bloody hill.
Killbuck continued to annow the settlements until the close of the war. He then repaired to his home in Ohio, and occasionally visited Wheeling. Subsequently he be- came blind, but lived to be more than one hundred years old. A companion of Killbuck, named "Crane," because of his unusually long neck and legs, was a great nuisance along the South branch, but not much record has been found of his doings. In that day he was considered nearly as dangerous as Killbuck.
A party of Indians appeard before a fort about seven miles below Romney, perhaps in the year 1757, and a num- ber of men unwisely sallied out to fight them; but they were compelled to retreat to the fort with the loss of sey- eral of their party.
In 1757 a large body of Indians invaded the country, sep- arated into small parties and murdered many people. About thirty of them approached Fort Edward, on the Capon, about three-quarters of a mile above where the road to Winchester now crosses. The Indians decoved the garrison into the woods, Captain Mercer being in com- mand. The savages waylaid them and killed thirty-four. Only six escaped to the fort. This party had previously killed two men in that vicinity, making a total of thirty-six.
Isaac Zane, well known in the annals of Indian warfare, was a resident of the South branch, but was taken prisoner when quite young and was carried to Ohio where he grew up with the Indians, married a sister of a Wyandott chief and lived near Chilicothe. During the revolution when the Indians were waging a relentless war against the
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frontier, Isaac Zane on more than one occasion secretly sent warning to the settlements, informing them of intended Indian raids, thus saving many lives. It is not improbable that he at one time saved Wheeling from sur- prise and capture. He never forgot the English language. His childhood home was in the present county of Hardy.
Very early in this war Michael Cresap, then a youth, but afterwards a brave soldier, distinguished himself in an Indian fight. near Old Town, in Maryland, near the mouth of the South branch. An Indian had shot a settler and when in the act of scalping him, was shot by Cresap who was armed with only a pistol. The aim was good and the savage was killed. During that Indian war there were unprincipled white men who went about the settlements disguised as Indians, for the purpose of robbing the houses, after frightening the people away. In 175S two such men were killed by settlers in Berkeley county.
In 1764 a party of Delawares invaded the South branch valley and hid near Furman's fort. William Furman and Nimrod Ashby left the fort to go to Jersey mountain to hunt deer and were both pursued and killed. The Indians prowled around other settlements several days, taking a number of prisoners, and with them returned to the South branch. While crossing that stream near Hanging Rocks, one of the prisoners, Mrs. Thomas, was carried away by the swift current, but fortunately escaped drown- ing. She escaped from the Indians and reached Furman's fort in safety.
Logan, the famous Mingo chief, from whom both Logan and Mingo counties, in this state were named, began his career of blood in the South branch valley, killing Benja- min Bowman, taking prisoner Humphrey Worsted, and stealing a number of horses. Logan's principal achieve- ment was the killing with his own hand of thirty or more settlers, chiefly women and children, during the Dunmore war in 1774. He has also received considerable notoriety
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on account of a speech attributed to him which was read at . Dunmore's treaty with the Indians at Camp Charlotte, 1774. But Logan was not the author of the speech, and perhaps never saw it or heard of it. In that speech he is made to say: "During the course of the last long and bloody war Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate of peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed and said, 'Logan is the friend of the white men.'" This, in itself, is reasona- bly conclusive proof that some one wrote the speech who was not acquainted with Logan's murdering and horse stealing expedition to the South branch a few years before. Michael Cresap, who was charged in the speech above referred to, with being the cause of the Dunmore war, but which charge was groundless, was well known in Hamp- shire county, although a citizen of Maryland, just across the Potomac. The accusation that Cresap murdered Logan's relatives near Wheeling in 1774, is now known to have been false, although long reiterated in liistories, even by George Bancroft the most eminent historian of the United States. Captain Michael Cresap was on the Ohio river when the war of 1774 began. He returned at once to the Potomac, raised a company of volunteers, mostly in Hampshire county, and within seventeen days from his departure from the Ohio he had returned almost to that place when he was ordered to dismiss his men by John Connolly, of Pittsburg. Cresap did so with great reluc- tance. Connolly was a willing tool of Dunmore's in his conspiracies against the American people, and when the patriots of Virginia shortly afterwards drove Dunmore out, Connolly fled also. More than a century has passed, and in the light of history Cresap stands out as a patriot, while Dunmore and Connolly are convicted by their own acts of conspiring against the Virginians who were fight- ing for liberty at the opening of the revolution.
When Fort Henry, at Wheeling, was threatened and
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INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.
besieged by an Indian army in 1777, Captain Foreman with a company of Hampshire volunteers marched with all speed to help save the settlements along the Ohio. Before his arrival the Indians had been compelled to retreat from Wheeling, but twelve miles from that place Captain Foreman fell into an ambuscade and himself and . twenty-one of his men were killed at Grave creek. In every danger, in every call for help, the men of Hampshire have been found among the first to respond.
CHAPTER XXIX.
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MONEY AND CURRENCY.
BY H. L. SWISHER.
The mere enumeration of substances and commodities that have been used as a medium of exchange or money would fill much space and occupy much time, and though it would possibly be interesting to show how the currency of today has been evolved, and to conjecture as to a means of exchange in future years, such a treatise does not fall within the scope of a county history. The earliest cur- rency used in this country was that in use among the Indians at the time white men arrived here. This con- sisted of shells strung on strings and circulated freely among the different tribes and to some extent among the first settlers on the James river. Furs were another primitive means of exchange and we find a considerable traffic in these along the South branch at an early day. It was not until a later time that we find tobacco the standard of value. The unsavory weed was used for this purpose and to a much larger extent than is generally supposed. In an old order book of the Hampshire justice court for the years 1788 to 1791 we find continual reference to the payment of judgments in tobacco. Witnesses were invar- iably paid in tobacco for their attendance at court. The rate was twenty-five pounds a day and four pounds for each mile travelled in going to and from court. Clerks' and sheriffs' salaries as well as those of other county officers were paid in tobacco a little more than a century ago. The specie value of this tobacco was a penny and a half-penny per pound or about three cents in the money of today. At
.
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MONEY AND CURRENCY.
a justice court held April 16, 1789, judgment was awarded "Andrew Wodrow against James Anderson, late sheriff of Harrison county, for one thousand three hun- dred and eighteen pounds of tobacco at a penny and a half- penny per pound, being the amount of fees put into the hands of said Anderson to collect on which he never re- ported." We can easily see how clumsy this medium of exchange was in the adjustment of large accounts. Then it was no small matter to transport such a load of money.
We cannot wonder that in 1792 tobacco as money was abandoned and the present system of dollars, cents and mills was introduced with some modifications. Coins of other countries circulated freely, but led to considerable complication in business transactions, so that the general assembly passed an act in 1792 regulating the value of foreign coins. It stated that twenty-seven grains of the gold coins of France, Spain, England and Portugal should be equal to one hundred cents in Virginia money. The gold of Germany being of less fineness, it required twenty- nine and eight-tenths grains to equal one dollar in Virginia. Spanish milled dollars were worth one hundred cents and other silver coins, uncut, were worth one dollar and eleven cents an ounce. A "disme" was one-tenth of a dollar.
The first bank in this county was the Bank of the South branch of the Potomac. The building in which it did business stood on the ground now occupied by the Literary hall in Romney. The date of the organization of this bank could not be ascertained, but it was, in all probability, in operation at the beginning of the present century. An act was passed November 16, 1816, which was "to give the Bank of the South branch of the Potomac more time to close its business." Unchartered banks had been ordered to quit circulating their notes and this act was meant to suspend the order temporarily. The same year banks were ordered to pay specie on penalty of an addition of six per cent. This bank continued in business as late as 1819,
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HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE.
at which time Nathaniel Kuykendall was cashier. The Bank of the Valley of Virginia, at Winchester, was author- ized by act February 5, 1817, and the provision was made that if the counties of Jefferson, Berkeley, Hampshire and Hardy would subscribe one hundred thousand dollars stock, an office of deposit and discount should be estab- lished in each county, or if they subscribed two hundred thousand dollars two such offices were to be established. By taking advantage of this provision a branch of the Val- ley bank was established at Romney about 1825, with John McDowell, president, and John Jack, cashier. Other branches were established at Moorefield, Charlestown, Christiansburg and Staunton. It was this bank that served the people of the county until the civil war, when the mother bank at Winchester suspended and the branch banks went out of existence.
During the war there was no bank in the county and the circulating medium, which consisted largely of confeder- ate money, was in a disturbed condition. The frequent incursions of union and confederate forces and the capture and recapture of the territory by the opposing parties lent such an element of uncertainty to business transactions that no one knew what kind of money to accept. A great many, firm in the belief that the confederate cause would be triumphant in the end, accepted its money without hesi- tation, and finally had only worthless paper to represent the large estates they owned at the beginning of the war. The counterfeiting of bank notes seems to have been quite common previous to 1860. Each month there was a "Bank Note List," taken from Bucknell's Reporter, published in the county papers. In a copy of the Virginia Argus for August 21, 1851, there is such a list published. The whole number of banks in Virginia at this time was forty-one, three of which are reported closed and two of which have failed. Out of this number, forty-one, there are twenty- six banks on which there were "either counterfeit or
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altered notes of various denominations in circulation throughout the United States, for the description of which we refer our readers to the Detector." The Romney branch of the bank of the Valley is among the number having spurious notes in circulation.
Immediately following the war there was a great dearth of money and in consequence business was hampered and hindered. The considerable volume of confederate money then in the county having become utterly worthless, the people were left without a medium of exchange and conse- guently transactions of a business nature were carried on largely by barter. For more than twenty years after the war there was no bank in Romney or in the county. Peo- ple generally did business with the Second National Bank of Cumberland for which J. C. Heiskell acted as agent. While this method of banking was quite satisfactory so far as methods were concerned it was found to be very inconvenient. It was therefore decided to organize a bank in the county. The Bank of Romney which is still in oper- ation and doing business in the building occupied by the branch of the Valley bank previous to the war, was granted its charter September 3, 1888, and went into oper- ation January 1, 1889. It was organized with the following board of directors: II. B. Gilkeson, president; Judge James D. Armstrong, R. W. Dailey, Jr., I. H. C. Pancake, R. E. Guthrie, J. C. Heiskell, J. W. Carter, members and John P. Vance, cashier. The convenience of having a bank within the county's limits for the accommodation of its citizens is likely to make the Bank of Romney a permanent institution.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
BY HU MAXWELL.
Hampshire county was not invaded by the enemy during the war of the revolution. The British were never in a position to invade it, had they so desired. There was too much country between the mountains and the sea. Little could be gained and much might be lost by such an invasion. The fate of Colonel Furguson, who attempted to cross the mountains in North Carolina with a strong British force, was a warning to all others. The story of King's mountain soon became familiar far and near. No record exists in Hampshire, so far as known, of the names or number of the soldiers who went from the county to the war of the revolution, but there were many, as is shown by the history of the old families, nearly all of whom had rep- resentatives fighting under Washington, Gates, Greene, or some other general in that long and desperate struggle. The character of the soldiers from Hampshire needs no words of praise. Well might a general exclaim, as Pyr- rhus exclaimed, "Had I such soldiers how easily could I conquer the world!" Trained and schooled in the wars with the Indians, the settlers of Hampshire were not afraid of danger. Their loyalty to the cause of liberty was not to be shaken, as may be seen from their indignation when the tory rebellion broke out in Hardy county, and from the promptness with which they helped to suppress it. Afull account of that unpleasant affair will be found elsewhere in this book.
General Washington fully appreciated the character of
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the people on the western frontier when he said, in the most discouraging season of the war, that if driven from the lower country by overwhelming force he would retreat to the mountains and raise the standard of liberty there and hold that rugged country for freedom. No doubt he had Hampshire county, among other mountain regions, in mind when he thus spoke. No country along the ranges of mountains was better known to him than was Hamp- shire. He had walked over its hills and camped in its vil- leys before the county was formed, and before he was known to fame. He knew that Hampshire pioneers refused to be driven from their county by the Indians, but held out, at the fort at Romney and on Capon, when all the rest of the country between Winchester and Cumberland had been given up to pillage. These things, no doubt, he called to mind when he seriously considered what he would do if driven from the lower country by overwhelming forces of British.
During the revolution a large number of prisoners of war were confined in the fort at Winchester. They were largely Hessians, who had been imported from Germany by England to fight against the patriots in America. They were savage and merciless on the field of battle so long as they had the advantage, but when they were on the losing side, and more particularly when taken prisoners, they were humble, submissive and contrite. After they had been confined at Winchester for some time, Tarleton, a British officer, undertook a raid against Winchester for the purpose of liberating the prisoners. But the movement was discovered in time, and the prisoners were hurried off to Fort Frederick, in Maryland, twelve miles from Mar- tinsburg. Learning that the prisoners were beyond his reach, Tarleton did not continue his march to Winchester. It is probable that the Hessians were glad that Tarleton did not succeed in setting them at liberty, for they would then have been put back in the army, and they preferred
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