USA > West Virginia > Preston County > History of Preston County (West Virginia) > Part 15
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FROM 1818 TO 1863.
"This squad at Cranberry was joined by some citizens of the place, and going out east of the town near an old saw-mill awaited the coming of the invaders. ' The gray line, 1000 strong, approaches them coming on till M. F. Stuck and Benjamin Shaw fire. The advancing column falters, sways only a moment, and on it comes. The squad retreats in haste. Mr. Shaw makes his escape, but they capture some of the soldiers. Four men pursue Mr. Stuck, two with car- bines and two with pistols. They fire seven shots at hin, one ball passing close by his right side, and another over his shoulder. "Throw down that gun," they cry. "'I won't do it," he replies ; "you may take it, but I won't throw it down." They take him and tie his hands behind his back. "If my hands weren't tied, and I had a gun," says Stuck, "I'd blow your heart out. He was then taken back to the main body to a place where there were four stumps. Designating one of them, Colonel Harmon ordered him to get upon it. But as his hands were tied, and he was in no hurry about it, the Colonel commanded one of his men to help him. When this was done, an aid asked Colonel Harmon, "What are you going to do with him ?" "Shoot him," was the Colonel's an- swer; and he proceeded to question Mr. Stuck. "Do you hold any office under the restored government of Virginia?" queried the Colonel. "I am deputy sheriff of Preston Coun ty," answered Mr. Stuck. "Have you any papers or any thing else belonging to your office ?" Mr. Stuck said he had not.
Lieutenant Zane, who had been shot through the shoulder in the encounter, asked the Colonel "What will you do with him?" Colonel Harmon answered, "Shoot him." Mr. Stuck was as defiant as ever, and told them that if they were such cowards as to shoot him with his hands tied, they could do so. Colonel Harmon, speaking to his men, thereupon said : "A man that has as much pluck as that, I will hold as a pris- oner, take to Richmond and have him tried for treason for holding office under the government of West Virginia." Col- onel Harmon then told a little boy, John Taylor, to untie the
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
prisoner's hands ; and thereupon a number of persons rode up and asked him how he he was, calling him by name, and asked what he was doing there-persons whose faces were more familiar in Preston than in any other county in the United States.
David Lovenstein, the telegraph operator, was charged by Colonel Harmon with giving word of their coming and spreading the alarm. Stuck was asked about it, and answered that it was a general report.
The prisoners were all sworn and paroled or let go, except Stuck, who was mounted on a bare-backed horse and taken along.
A cavalryman rode up to Mr. Stuck, having three hats in his hand, which he had taken from the store of Nutter & Evans. Mr. Stuck asked him for one of them, as he was bareheaded, and got it. The several stores at Cranberry were pillaged by the Confederates, the soldiers helping them- selves to what they wanted and distributing goods among the people of the town.
When about three quarters of a mile out from the town, Mr. Stuck asked his guards to be taken to the Colonel. They told him the least said the better. He insisted on seeing Harmon, and rode up to his side. The Colonel said, "Stuck, you don't like to ride barebacked, do you ?" "Untie me, Col- onel, and treat me like a white man," was Mr. Stuck's reply. As they rode along together, Harmon inquired about getting to Rowlesburg, apparently thinking the road they were trav- eling would lead to that place. Mr. Stuck explained to him that the road lead to Kingwood, and not to Rowlesburg, This mistake of Colonel Harmon (if, indeed, it was a mis- take) was a fortunate one for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the government, for with his force of a thousand men, he could easily have taken the place, and destroyed the rail- way bridge across Cheat.
The delay caused by the fight at Greenland Gap, and the mistake Colonel Harmon claims he made in the road to Rowlesburg, disarranged his plans, and Morgantown thus be-
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came the second objective point of his dashing raid. His first objective point, as Mr. Stuck gathered in the conversa- tion with him, was Rowlesburg, where he was to join Jones's brigade.
When three miles out from Cranberry, Colonel Harmon re- leased Mr. Stuck, with the injunction to go home, and not let him catch him in such a scrape again. On Mr. Stuck's telling him he would fight again under similar circumstances, the Colonel replied, "I don't blame you." Just then a sol- dier passed, and took the hat Mr. Stuck was wearing from his head. Mr. Stuck appealed to the Colonel, and he ordered the soldier to place the hat back on Mr. Stuck's head. As Mr. Stuck rode back, going homeward, along the marching column, he was repeatedly asked by the soldiers, "How did you get away from the Colonel?" To which he replied, "That is a matter between the Colonel and myself." Mr. Stuck got back safely to Cranberry, much to the surprise of his neighbors.
Colonel Harmon's force followed the Kingwood Turnpike to Albrightsville, and camped for the night at the east end of the wire suspension bridge. As to Colonel Harmon's taking this road by mistake, it is very doubtful; in fact, it could not have been so, as he was led by persons perfectly familiar with the entire country-
Monday morning, April 27. 1863, the Confederates, after crossing the bridge, cut it down ; and by 9 o'clock entered Kingwood. Colonel Harmon issued orders for none of his soldiers to enter any private house, and he set a guard over James C. McGrew's store, which some of his men had at- tempted to break open. Two other stores that remained open were not disturbed by the Confederates. One of the soldiers procured an axe and commenced cutting at the Un- ion pole, when Colonel Harmon came up and ordered hin away, saying, "I did not come here to make war on flag poles." They did not offer to enter the Court house, and the public records and property of the county were not molested. Af ter securing all the horses they could find, and pursuing two
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
or three citizens who had shot at them when they were com- ing into town, they departed for Morgantown, to rejoin the main command, Passing through Reedsville, they took nearly all Heidelberger's goods. They had been removed. from his store to the woods, where they found them.
A detachment was sent from here, by way of Masontown, to Morgantown, to look out for horses through the country ..
Colonel Harmon then pushed on as rapidly as possible, and by night his command was reunited with the main body under General Jones. A great many horses were captured. by the two divisions. General Jones, when he arrived at the, North Branch bridge, was informed that there were but a. few men along the whole line of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- road through Preston County ; and upon this information he may have deemed it unnecessary for Colonel Hamon to rejoin. him at Rowlesburg, and probably ordered him by way of Kingwood, in order to get as many horses as possible from Preston County ..
Major Showalter's Retreat,-We come now to notice the retreat of Major John H. Showalter from Rowlesburg with, the Union forces under his command into Pennsylvania-an act that met with the universal indignation of almost all the people throughout Preston and Monongalia Counties at the time. Major Showalter was bitterly denounced as a coward, while his few friends claimed that his retreat was ordered by his superior officers, and that he was not responsible for it. After the Confederates retreated from Rowlesburg, on Sun- day, April 26, 1863, a company of volunteers arrived from. Wheeling with four mountain howitzers. On Sunday Major Showalter sent out several scouts, who returned on Monday with the news that the Confederates were at Cranberry, east of Rowlesburg, in strong force, and, also, that they were, blasting out the arches of the great Kingwood tunnel (which. was false). Major Showalter had no provisions, and these re- ports of the Confederates occupying and destroying the railway, both east and west of Rowlesburg, cut him off from, supplies, and made it likely that he would be attacked any
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FROM 1818 TO 1863.
hour. A council was called by the Major, to consider the situation, and determine what was best to do under the cir- cumstances. C. M. Bishop, of Rowlesburg, sent word to the council that be had three barrels of flour under his charge, that he would assume the responsibility of furnishing, to- gether with a hogshead or more of bacon, and a large lot of corn that could be ground that day. Captain Hall and the officers of bis company (F) were averse to the idea of a re- treat under any circumstances. This company had been raised at Rowlesburg, and most of the men were citizens of the place.
After the council was over, Major Showalter ordered a ¡retreat. A lot of ammunition was thrown into the river, and ¡late in the afternoon of Monday, the 27th, the whole force, numbering about 450 men, with a few horses and the bat- tery of four mountain howitzers, left Rowlesburg for King- wood. That night they camped on the mountain, about seven miles out from Bowlesburg. Crossing Cheat River at the Fairfax ferry, the next morning they arrived in King- wood, destitute of provisions. The citizens, though pretty "well eaten out the day before by the Confederates, exerted themselves and raised provisions enough to feed them. They ¿then took up their line of march in the direction of Morgan- town by the old Clarksburg road, and camped for the night at Zinn's (now Brown's) Mill. It is claimed by Major Showalter's friends that he sent three men that night to the railway west of Independence, to telegraph for orders ; which they did, and received and brought back to him a dispatch ordering him to march to Wheeling, which was now threatened, in the shortest possible time; that he concluded he could march to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, by way of Morgantown, and go by rail to Pittsburg, and thence by water to Wheeling, quicker than he could march across the country to Wheeling. During the night he sent Major U. N. Orr to Gladesville, to see if a reported Confederate force was there. Major Orr arrived at Gladesville clad in a suit of citizen's clothes, and found a camp of Confederate strag
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
glers, who left very early to join the main body. Orr sext word back to Major Showalter that all the Confederate force, except some stragglers, had gone, and that he learned that the railroad was clear of them at Independence.
On Wednesday morning, the 29th, Major Showalter broke camp, and marched to Morgantown, where he found that. the Confederates had just left. He pushed on by a night march, and reached Smithfield, Pennsylvania, 16 miles from Morgantown, where the citizens furnished his men with breakfast, and provided a few teams to haul some of them to Uniontown, a distance of 9 miles. Arriving at Uniontown he took the cars, and proceeded to Pittsburg, thence by wa- ter to Wheeling.
This retreat was a terrible blunder, let the responsibility rest where it may. After repulsing the enemy and receiv- ing a reinforcement of 100 men and four mountain howit- zers, it was folly to retreat from the same enemy, which had not a single piece of artillery. Nor need there have been fears of getting short of provisions, for had they been driven. out of Rowlesburg, or been unable to get provisions by rail, they had a section of the county to fall back on, that was full of grain and meats, and loyal to the core.
On the fourth Thursday of May (1861), an election was held for State officers and members of the general assembly of the new State of West Virginia that would come into ex- istence on the 20th of June, 1863, according to the Presi- dent's proclamation of April 19th, 1863. Preston County now had several hundred soldiers in the field in West Vir- ginia regiments, and nearly two hundred in Maryland regi- ments. The county loyally gave her sons to the armies in the field while threatened all the time herself by raids from the Confederates. A great many of the people of the county looked as anxiously forward to a change from the old to the new State, as their fathers looked forward in 1818 to & change from the old County of Monongalia to the new County of Preston ..
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FROM 1818 TO 1863.
In the history of the county, from 1818 to 1831 was a period of inchoative enterprises; from 1831, when the amended constitution of 1830 went in effect, till 1850, com- prised a period during which the attention of the people was turned toward the construction of turnpikes. In 1851, the new amended constitution went into effect. In the same year, the construction of a great railway through the county was begun. In 1852, it was finished, and the era of railways. succeeded the era of turnpikes. In 1860, a convention was. called to the amend constitution again, and with its assem- bling, in February, 1861, commenced the war period, extending. to the close of the Great Rebellion, and in which our people were concerned, successively, with the secession movement, the formation of the New State, and the progress and close of the war, as the chief events of the period.
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY,
CHAPTER IX, COUNTY OF PRESTON-WEST VIRGINIA.
CLOSE OF THE GREAT REBELLION-BURNING OF THE COURT-HOUSE -- THE PANIC-COUNTY CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION-BUSINESS RESUMPTION,-1863-1881.
Upon the Banner of the Republic gleams another star. Into the sisterhood of States is received another member- West Virginia the thirty-fifth State of the Union. The long struggle for political supremacy between the OF _! EST VIRGI eastern and western sections of Virginia had STATE 20 ended by the arbitrament of war, in the erection MONTANI SEMPER LIBER of the latter, west of the Alleghanies, into ARMSOF W.VA. the new State of West Virginia. The rivalry long existing between them had been carried from the halls of the State legislature to the battle fields of a great ,civil war and there ended in the dismemberment of Virginia. The one linked its destinies with the Gulf States, the other cast in its fortunes with the Federal government. In this struggle Preston County was almost unanimous in the cause of the Union, and her sons by hundreds were marching and fighting from the mountains to the sea beneath the Stars and Stripes.
On the 20th day of June, 1863, the birthday of the new State, the Hon A. I. Boreman was inaugurated as Governor of West Virginia; Samuel Crane was Auditor; Campbell
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Tarr, Treasurer ; J. E. Boyers, Secretary of State; and A, B. Caldwell, Attorney-General.
The Reorganized Government of Virginia had removed, a few days before this, to Alexandria, Virginia, after appropri. ating the sum of 150,000 dollars out of the State treasury to the new State government, which was nothing more than an act of justice, as this money had been collected from the people embraced within the boundaries of the new State.
The Legislature of West Virginia, on the 31st of July, ap. pointed Harrison Hagans, Solomon Miller, George M. Michaels, James H. Shaffer, Peter M. Hartley, William H. Grimes, Joseph G. Baker and William H. Brown as commis- sioners to divide Preston County into townships, and desig- nate them by names. These commissioners met, and, em- ploying a competent surveyor, proceeded to divide the county into eight townships, and the running and marking of the boundary lines thereof.
Beginning on the east side of Cheat River, on the north they marked off the first township, and rau its lines with but little variation from the existing lines enclosing the old First District, and named it Grant, in honor of the conqueror of Vicksburg. . They then laid off the remainder of the county in like manner, making each magisterial district a township with but little alteration of its enclosing lines. The Second District became the second township, by the name of Pleas- ant ; Third District became the third township, which was pamed Portland, after the city of that name in Maine ; Fourth District became the fourth township and was called Union. The Commissioners crossed Cheat River to the west side. Beginning at the north, the Fifth District became the ' fifth township, and was called Valley on account of its sev, eral valleys. The Sixth District became the sixth township; and was called Kingwood, in honor of the county seat ; the Seventh became the seventh township, and was called Lyon, in honor of General Lyon, the hero of Wilson's Creek ; the Eighth District became the eighth township, and was called Reno, for the Union General of that name,
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180
HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
On the third of August, the Legislature authorized the heirs of David Albright to establish a ferry across Cheat River, below the site of the wire suspension bridge destroyed by Colonel Harmon.
The remainder of the year 1863, and the succeeding year 1864, passed with nothing of much importance taking place in the county, except, once or twice, a false alarm was spread of another Confederate invasion.
In 1865, the white-winged angel of peace passed o'er the war-storm's blood-stained trail, the soldiers returned to their homes, and business so long languishing, revived all over the county, and for the next two years steadily increased.
The town of Newburg was incorporated by an act of the Legislature passed February 12, 1868. The municipal au - thorities of said town were to be a mayor, recorder and five councilmen, who together were to form a common council.
The legislature passed an act, on the 22d of February, creating a school district in the town of Brandonville, and the council of said town was created a board of education for said district.
It was Saturday, the sixth day of March, 1869. The ele- ments seemed to be exhausted in their mad strife to rule the lengthening day-winter and spring were contending for the mastery. The evening, cold and chilly, wore away in fitful, sleeting snow squalls, and died into the darkness of night. The thermometer fell below zero. By and by as the mid- night hours came on apace, the shadows flit, the clouds were riven and scattered, and began to chase each other over the darkly outlined ridges like hounds in pursuit of the flying . deer. The stars, God's gems in the coronal of creation, dia- monds in the crown of omnipotent power, then lit up the curtained plains of night.
On Sunday morning, March 7, 1869, about two o'clock, the citizens of Kingwood were awakened by the cry of fire to find that their fine court building was wrapped in a sheet of flame-the work of destruction being so nearly completed that nothing could be saved. The buildings around the
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FROM 1863 TO 1881.
Court-house were saved by great exertion. Peter Voltz was living in that part of the Court-house termed Town Hall, and though on the first floor, barely had time to escape, so rapid had been the progress of the flames. Mr. Voltz dis- covered the fire about 2 o'clock, and noticed a solid flame issue from Mr. Crane's office. It commenced on the steps, which were made of oak wood, and seemed to run up the steps. Mr. D. Y. Morris had been in Mr. Crane's office Satur day night until about 10 o'clock, and would have stayed later but the fire went out.
The most careful investigation could find no carelessness on the part of those who had access to the offices in the building, and general sentiment pronounced the fire to be the work of an incendiary. The people of the county were in perfect consternation at the destruction of the legal records for fifty years lacking a month, and which alone contained the proceedings of the civil and criminal doing's of the county. There was no clue seeming to point with directness to the in- cendiary, though there were those who declared, the night the fire occurred, that Elihu Gregg was the perpetrator.
Persons who were acquainted with the legal business of the county, knew that a judgment was on record against Gregg, from which there was no possible escape, except through the destruction of the official records. This judg. ment was for one hundred dollars and costs, and was recov- ered, after a long and bitter suit, by Samuel Summers, against Gregg for slander. Summers was unable to make his judg- ment of the personal estate of Gregg, and brought a chancery suit to subject his land to sale. The suit resulted in a decree for the sale of Gregg's land to satisfy this judgment and an- other small one in favor of Josiah Smith. An advertisement of the sale was published, according to which the land was to be offered for sale, at public auction, at the front door of the Court-house, on Monday, the 8th day of March, 1869, that being the first day of the circuit court.
This fact, in connection with the bad reputation which Gregg possessed, was the ground upon which this suspicion
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
against him of burning the Court-house rested. James H. Carroll, who had been employed as Summers's attorney in his chancery suit against Gregg, and who had been appointed a special commissioner of the court to sell Gregg's land, to sat. isfy the judgment obtained by Summers, was strongly in: clined to the belief that Gregg was the incendiary.
Mr. Carroll and the Hon. William G. Brown, immediately after the fire, consulted with Mr. Andrew B. Menear, of Kingwood, with regard to ferreting out the incendiary and tracing up Elihu Gregg's suspected agency in the affair. Mr. Menear at once set out to find all he could of Gregg's whereabouts on the night of the fire. He found that Gregg had been traveling for a few days prior to the burning over the western part of the county, and had been over into Mo- nongalia County. But Gregg's whereabouts on the night of the fire could not be accounted for by any one, until just about daylight, when he was seen riding, coming from the direction of Kingwood, with beard covered with frost and ice.
Mr. Menear found what he thought to be ample evidence to justify the arrest of Gregg for the crime. Accordingly a war- rant for his arrest was sworn out before Justice Hezekiah Pell, on the 30th day of March, upon the charge of felony. The warrant was placed in the the hands of Mr. Menear, who was appointed a special constable to serve the writ.
Mr. Menear, accompanied by Colonel William H. King and the Rev. Joseph H. Gibson, of Portland District, started in quest of Gregg. They found him, on March 31st, near the distillery of C. A. Hart, just across the State line, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. He was at work in a shook shop when they arrested him. They handcuffed him and placed him on a horse, binding him with cords, and tieing his feet together under the animal.
They then made inquiry of Hart, as to which was the best of several roads leading from there to Uniontown, the county- seat of Fayette, their intention being, as they had no Penn- sylvania warrant, to take him to Uniontown, and before some justice of the peace there have him committed to jail to await
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FROM 1863 TO 1881.
the issue of a requisition to bring him to West Virginia. Gregg told them that he knew of a shorter road than that which Hart had recommended, and proceeded to describe it. They concluded to follow this road for a certain reason, which they did not impart to Gregg. They set out upon this road, which soon made a turn, passing into and through a small part of West Virginla, and then leading back into Pennsylvania. When they crossed the State line and were upon the soil of Preston, Menear read to Gregg the warrant issued by Justice Pell, and they then changed their direction of travel, bringing Gregg to Kingwood and lodging him in- the old stone jail, to await trial for the crime with which he stood charged. Gregg has always alledged that they brought him across the State line against his remonstrances.
Elihu Gregg came from Greene County. Pennsylvania, to Preston when a young man, and lived in Portland District, about 6 miles from Cranberry, on the Cranberry and Cranes- ville road. A high knob on this road still bears his name -"Gregg's Knob,"-but the farm is now known by the name of Pleasant Hill, and is occupied by the Rev. Daniel Titchenell. Elihu Gregg's general reputation was none too good. He was known as being litigious, over-bearing and quarrelsome, and was charged with habitually carrying deadly weapons.
A special term of circuit court met on Monday, July 12th, 1869, at Kingwood, and held its sessions in the old academy building. Judge John A. Dille, the judge of the circuit, pre- sided. The following grand jurors were sworn: William H. Grimes, Adam H. Bowman, Hunter Fortney, David Albright, John V. Fortney, William J. Stone, James W. Parsons, W. W. Messenger, Isaac N. Forman, Elias Nine. Thomas Beatty, Abraham Feather, Robert Arnold, William Chidester, Henry Sell and Calvin C. Forman.
The grand jury indicted Elihu Gregg for felony, in four several counts :- first, the felonious burning of the dwelling- house of Peter Voltz, on the day of March 7, 1869, at 1 o'clock of said day, the said house being occupied by Voltz's
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