USA > West Virginia > Summers County > History of Summers County from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 7
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It was a somewhat uncertain crop, and frequently, after the farmer had his crop almost ready for the market, he would lose it by fire in concluding its cure. There is now no tobacco raised in the county for market.
Maj. Anderson McNeer, of Monroe County, in 1878, established, in connection with his son, A. A. McNeer, now a resident of Green- ville, in that county, a factory for the manufacture of plug tobacco in the town of Hinton, which he followed with some success for a few years, but finally, on account of the failure of the farmers to produce a sufficient crop to justify it, he abandoned the enterprise and sold the outfit. Geo. W. Chattin, at Talcott, also had a tobacco factory at Rollinsburg on his farm on Greenbrier River, now in ruins.
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FIRST JAIL OF SUMMERS COUNTY.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
It is true the poverty of the early days of this country which the pioneers felt was, as said by the late Hon. James G. Blaine, "Indeed no poverty ; it was but the beginning of wealth, and it has the boundless possibilities of the future always open before it."
In those days the "house-raising," "corn-husking," "log-roll- ing," and the "fence-buildings," "flax scutchings" and "quiltings" were matters of common interest in the neighborhood, as well as helpfulness, and those who have grown up in this independent agri- cultural region can have no other quality than that of broadness. generousness and independence. This honorable independence marks the history of the inhabitants of this good county, and may it ever continue, for it marks the rank of millions of the best blood and brain of the present citizenship and future government of the repub- lic. The boy who was born heir to land and the man who acquires it and who holds title to that of freeholder has the patent to and passport of independence, as well as self-respect.
The people of Summers County should be proud of their log cabins and of their aristocratic log mansions. They are passing away, and, possibly before another generation has passed, will be as much of a curiosity among our hills as the old Revolutionary flint-lock musket is at the present day, and our independent pro- genitors will be as proud as Daniel Webster when he proclaimed before a great multitude his testimony, that "It did not happen for me to be born in a log cabin, but my elder brothers and sisters were born in a log cabin, raised among the snowdrifts of New Hampshire in a period so early that, when the smoke rose first from its rude chimney and curled over the frozen hills, there was no similar evidence of a white man's habitation between it and the settlements on the rivers of Canada. Its remains still exist. I make it an annual visit. I carry my children to it to teach them the hardships endured by the generations which have gone before them. I love to dwell on the tender recollections, the kindred ties. the early affections and the touching narratives and incidents which mingle with all I know in this primitive family abode."
BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT.
This battle occurred on the 10th of October, 1774, and was the termination of "Dunmore's War." At that time Fincastle County included all the present state of Kentucky and a large part of West Virginia, and especially the section of the state of which Summers is a part. The Indians were in command of one of the greatest of
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
their race-Cornstalk -- who was not unfriendly to the whites, and who was afterwards murdered in cold blood by mutinous troops, and in whose honor a monument stands in the court house yard at Point Pleasant, Mason County: and Logan, the famous Mingo chief, was also in this battle. Logan's mother was a Cayuga In- dian; his father was a French child captured and adopted into the Oneida tribe. For many years he lived at Shamokin, Pa., and was known as John Shikellimo. His appellation of Logan was in honor of James Logan, the secretary of the province. His Indian name was Tachenechdonis (Branching Oak of the Forest). During the French and Indian War he maintained strict neutrality, seeking refuge in Philadelphia. Tradition tells of his kindness and friend- ship to the whites, good will and generosity, except when under the influence of liquor. In 1772 he removed to Yellow Creek, where, on April 30, 1774, occurred an incident which led to "Dun- more's War" and the Battle of Point Pleasant. Having glutted his vengeance by five prolonged raids during the summer and autumn, he returned during Lord Dunmore's negotiations with the Indians. Failing to appear, Dunmore sent his interpreter, Gibson, to bring him to the conference. Logan refused to go, and upon that occa- sion delivered the famous speech, generally quoted as an example of Indian eloquence, to which Jefferson paid the high tribute in his "Notes on Virginia." There has long been a great controversy concerning the genuineness of this speech and its attribution to the murder of Logan's people by Cressap and Greathouse.
It is established beyond a reasonable doubt that this speech was delivered in substance as it has come down to us by Logan, but he was mistaken in attributing the murder of his family to Cresap. (See Jacob's "Life of Cresap and Meyers.")
After this time he removed to Mud River in Logan County, and, later, to Detroit. He saved Simon Kenton from the stake in 1778, and the next year was leading savage Indians in Southwest Virginia. He was killed by one of his relatives in 1778 on his return to Detroit. He said he had two souls-one bad and one good. When the good soul ruled, he was kind and humane ; when the bad ruled, he was perfectly savage, and delighted in nothing but blood and carnage. He was half white French and half Indian. The Mingoes refused the Dunmore Treaty. Logan County is named for this chief and Mingo for his tribe. Logan's family had been killed in his absence without provocation. There is no doubt in my mind of the genuineness of this speech.
The Virginia forces were commanded by General Charles Lewis,
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
whose descendants from that day to this have been prominent peo- ple in affairs of the state, including Hon. Virgil A. Lewis, of Point Pleasant, the author of a history of West Virginia; C. C. Lewis, of Charleston; Major B. S. Thompson, of Huntington. General Lewis was killed in an open fight, while leading his men at Point Pleasant, in 1774, October 10th.
This battle was two years before the Declaration of Indepen- dence, and was an American victory, being fought by American pioneers, and not aided by British. While it was in no way related to the Revolution, the experience and training obtained was of great advantage. The men who fought in the Point Pleasant cam- paign fought in the Revolutionary War. Col. Andrew Lewis, who was also at this battle, drove Lord Dunmore from Virginia soil when the Revolution began.
Ten of the captains in the Battle of Point Pleasant were officers in the American Army of the Revolution. In this enterprise was also General Daniel Morgan, the hero of Quebec and the Cowpens, 1781. In this battle and in Dunmore's War were gathered the men who carried American institutions west of the Appalachian Moun- tains. They met at this battle and conquered about an equal num- ber of the most redoubtable of all savage foes, and infused new vigor into the two chief forces of future history-American expan- sion and nationalism.
The army which fought the battle congregated at Lewisburg, then Fort Union. The crushing of New France, of which this ter- ritory west of the Alleghenies was claimed to be a part, had not resulted in rest or safety to the pioneers who were restlessly push- ing westward. The aboriginal hunting grounds were, after this battle, and especially after the Revolution, converted first into their own game walks and then into farms. These frontiers were the line of contact of two irreconcilable races; real and lasting peace could not come until one had forever vanquished the other. The Indian titles or claims to titles between the Alleghenies dis- appeared with the Indian treaties of about the date of Stanwix and Lochabar of 1770, which fixed their boundaries at the Ken- tucky River.
This battle was fought and terminated Dunmore's War, which preceded the Revolution by two years. Logan charged Captain Cresap with the murder of his kin at Yellow Creek. Daniel Great- house had killed some Indians at the mouth of Yellow Creek, near Baker's house, after plying them with whiskey. They were nearly all murdered. The Indians that Cresap had killed were above
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Wheeling Creek near Wheeling, or at Captina. Cresap was respon- sible for the Yellow Creek killing, but not for the Yellow Creek massacre. The Indians were terribly exasperated by these kill- ings by Cresap, Greathouse, and other frontier murders, and it seemed that they were determined on a general border war. The facts were all communicated to the Governor of Virginia, who sent Andrew Lewis, then a member of the House of Burgesses from Botetourt County, to consult about a plan of campaign. It was decided that an army of two divisions should be organized : one to be commanded by Lewis, the other, by Lord Dunmore in person. General Andrew Lewis and his brother, Colonel Charles Lewis, then also a member of the House of Burgesses from Augusta County, started at once to the Valley of Virginia to get together their armies from the counties of Augusta, Botetourt and Fincastle, this territory being then included in Fincastle County, and the forces of Dunmore were to be raised in Frederick and Dunmore Counties, now Shenandoah, and adjacent territory. The governor despatched Daniel Boone and Mile Stoner to Kentucky to notify all the people in that section. Captain John Stuart, from the Greenbrier, des- patched two runners, Philip Hammond and John Pryor. Lewis' army congregated at Lewisburg, then Fort Union, and was to march from thence to the Kanawha, while Dunmore went over Braddock's Trail by way of Fort Pitt down the Ohio River, and was to form a junction with Lewis at the mouth of the Kanawha, which junction was never formed, and Dunmore and his army did not participate in that fight. The army of Lewis was made up as follows : First, a regiment of Augusta troops under Colonel Charles Lewis, the captains being Geo. Mathias, Alexander McClanahan, John Dickinson, John Lewis, Benjamin Harrison, William Paul, Joseph Haynes and Samuel Wilson. Not a man in that company was under six feet in height. Second, the Botetourt regiment was under Colonel William Fleming. The captains were Mathew Ar- buckle, John Murray, John Lewis, James Robertson, Robert Mc- Clanahan, James Ward and John Stuart. Third, an independent company of seventy men under Colonel John Field, raised in Cul- pepper County. Fourth, the force under Colonel William Christian consisted of three independent companies under Captains Evan Shelby, William Russell and Herbert from the Holstine, Clinch and New River settlements, then Fincastle County. A company of scouts, under Captain John Draper, of Draper's Valley, and an independent company of Captain Thomas Buford, of Bedford County.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
The aggregate strength of Lewis' army was 1,100. The strength of Dunmore's division was 1,500. General Lewis left Lewisburg on the 11th of September with Captain Mathew Arbuckle, a great frontiersman, as pilot, and marched through the boundless wilder- ness, making such roads as was necessary for their pack horses, ammunition and provisions and their beef cattle. Their route was by Muddy Creek, Keeney's Knob, Rich Creek, Gauley Bridge, Twenty Mile, Bell Creek and Kelley's Creek to the Kanawha, and down the Kanawha to its mouth, following the Indian trail at the base of the hills instead of along the river bank. They reached Point Pleasant on the 30th of September, after a march of nineteen days. At the mouth of Elk River the army stopped long enough to build some canoes by which to transport their packs, and took the remainder of the way from there by river.
Four men who had made a daylight hunting excursion up the Ohio River bank from the Point on the morning of the 10th were attacked by the Indians, one of whom, Hickman, was killed. They were members of Captain Russell's and Shelby's companies, and Captain Buford was present and wounded during the day. The army was not abundantly fed; it was gotten together in great haste, and was not well clad. They had no spirits, no rations, and neither tea nor coffee, but they were in good health and spirits. though tired and worn by the hard march through the wilderness.
Lewis waited several days for Dunmore to join him, but that gentleman seemed to be indisposed to render aid to the American soldiers under Lewis, and had camped on the other side of the Ohio in front of the Indian towns there. The messengers and scouts of Dunmore were McCullock, Kenton and Girty. Lewis received no communication from Dunmore, and fought this battle without any aid from him whatever. It has been suspected that Dunmore. whose sympathy was with the English, being a titled nobleman, was not anxious to see the success of Lewis' troops.
There were eight hundred Indian braves in the army which attacked Lewis. They were in command of Cornstalk. Red Hawk. Blue Jacket and Elinipsico, and, some claim, by Logan, also. It was a desperately contested fight. No official report of this battle was probably ever given. The fight continued all day. Many of the officers were killed, including Colonel Charles Lewis, John Field, John Murray, R. McClanahan, Samuel Wilson, James Ward : Lieutenant Hugh Allen, Ensigns Cantiff, Bracken, and forty-four privates. Total Americans killed, fifty-three. There were eighty- three of the Americans wounded, including Col. William Fleming,
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Captain John Dickinson, Thos. Buford, Skidman; Lieutenants Goldman, Robertson, Lard and Vance, and seventy-nine privates. Total wounded and killed, 140 Americans. The Indians fought with great bravery, and their loss was never fully known. The battle terminated at night. I do not undertake to go into the details of this very important battle: Those desiring a full detail of this fight would do well to consult Professor Virgil Lewis' His- tory of West Virginia, Dr. Hale's Trans-Allegheny Pioneers, Judge Johnston's Middle New River Settlements and Dunmore's War, published by the Wisconsin Historical Society ; also Colonel Pey- ton's valuable History of Augusta County. Colonel Stuart, who was a captain in this fight, wrote a detailed account of the same ten years afterwards. There are many different accounts of this battle. Probably the most authentic is that of Captain Arbuckle, who was left in command after the army broke camp. All writers claim the loss of the Indians was more than that of the whites, but this is doubtful. The Indians who were not buried were left on the field to pollute the air until the birds and animals disposed of them. Not one of the Indian leaders was killed, although they fought with great bravery. This fight terminated the Dunmore War and gave the settlers in all this region greater security from the Indian savages.
THE NAMES OF SOME WHO HAVE DESCENDANTS IN THIS SECTION.
Jacob Pence was an ensign in Captain Paul's Company of Augusta Volunteers in the Battle of Point Pleasant.
Members: Israel Meador, John Grigsby, John Goodall, James Alexander, James Miller, Geo. Harmon, Henry Cook. Thomas Maxwell was a scout in 1774 for ten days with Point Pleasant; John Kincaide, seven days scout; William Ferrell was at Glade Hollow Fort.
Michael Wood, in making his report to Colonel Preston in 1774, after giving a list of those within the bounds of Lick Creek for muster, says :
"Also there is a few men that lives in a String on the other side of the River that ever will be unconvenient to any other place to Muster at for they would not have above 7 or 8 Miles to a Muster here; and if they must go Elsewhere they Most of them Must Go 15 or 20 Miles to Muster and the names of these is Charles Cava- nough, Philimon Cavanough, James Odear, Wm. Cavanough, Senr.,
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Samuel Pack, George Pack, Charles Hays, Thos. Farlor, Francis Farlor, John Farlor, Mitchle Clay, and some others that I do not know their names.
"Also I must acquaint you that the most of these men is bad off for arms and ammunition and I believe Cannot get them."
Dunmore's War, page 397. From report of Michael Wood, 29th February, 1774.
The muster rolls of 1774 show names familiar to-day, and who have descendants in this region, and none others are attempted to be chronicled herein.
Daniel Smith's Company, Fincastle County: John Kinkeid (Kincaide), David Ward, Jas. Scott, Anchelaus Scott. David Kin- caide, Benj. Jones, Wm. Neal.
Michael Wood's Company: Squire Gatliff, Geo. Sabe, Robert Willey, Thomas Willey, Thos. Farley, Francis Farley, John Farley, Mitchel Clay.
Bank's Company, May 30, 1774: Wellington Adams, Parker Adams, John McCartney, Robt. Doceks. June 2, 1774-Wm. Ward, John Maxwell. September 10, 1774-Capt. Lewis, John Swope, James Ellison, James Charlton, Isaac Wichels, Robt. Bowles, Adam Caperton, Hugh Caperton, Mathias Kessinger, Wm. Mann.
Buford's Company, Volunteers, Bedford County: James Boyd, John Cook.
Stuart's Company: James Pauly, James Kincaide.
Pauley's Company: Dudley Calloway, Robt. Ferrell, Charles Ellison.
Shelley's Company: Wm. Brice, wounded.
CHAPTER V.
TOPOGRAPHY, GEOGRAPHY, ETC.
The county lines as laid down by the original act of the Legis- lature, and set out in a former chapter. There being some question as to the line between Monroe and Summers, in 1887 the county court, in an irregular manner, undertook to dispose of the same, and appointed a commission, composed of William Haynes on the part of Summers County, and Monroe County appointed John Hinchman its commissioner, who selected James Mann, of Green- brier, as an umpire. While these proceedings were irregular, the lines as laid out by these commissioners have been adjudicated, and are now recognized at this day as the legal lines between those two counties. The result of these proceedings was to establish the lines as now existing. The action of this commission only applied to Monroe County.
In the year 1894 there was complaint in regard to the uncertainty of the county line between Greenbrier and Summers, and John E. Harvey, then county surveyor of Summers County, was directed by an order of the county court, to run the line between Greenbrier and .Summers, which he did, and from which it was ascertained that the lines laid down by the act of the Legislature were not those which were recognized between the two counties; Summers not exercising full jurisdiction over all the territory included in the formnative act. The county court thereupon took steps to have the lines between this county and between Monroe and Summers settled in the manner provided by statute, and entered an order directing the prosecuting attorney, who was the writer at that time. to take legal action under the law to have the dispute then exist- ing in regard to the location of said lines settled between those counties. as well as to have a correct line established. No survey of the line having been made since the formation of the county, it is doubtful if the line now established as the Summers County line between it and Greenbrier had ever been run: but it was adopted by protraction by Mr. Hinton, John Cole and Judge Fur-
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geson, during the session of the Legislature when the Act was passed creating Summers County. The lines as laid down in the old Legislature included the town of Alderson, in Monroe County, a thriving town of some 1,200 people, and the town of North AAlder- son, Greebrier County, a village of some 500 people; and had Sum- mers County succeeded in holding to the territorial limits of the Act of the Legislature creating the county, it would now include and have jurisdiction over the people of those two towns, as well as a considerable territory extending over into the Meadows and near the Muddy Creek settlement.
The claim set up by Summers County stirred up the people of the counties of Greenbrier and Monroe, especially those parts in the disputed territory and in the immediate region thereof. to a high degree. Some of the people, however, within the disputed territory, and a very considerable proportion, desiring to have their allegiance transferred to Summers, by reason of its fair and ju- dicious, as well as its economical conduct of municipal affairs, and the convenience of getting to the Court House by rail. Others opposed the transfer very vigorously, one ground of opposition being a matter of pride in their old counties, in which they had been born and reared, and that the municipal affairs of those counties were honestly and judiciously administered, all of which were matters of just pride. Those outside of the disputed lines, of course, objected, as it would decrease the taxable values and in- crease the burdens of taxation as to the remaining taxpayers.
Jas. H. Miller, then prosecuting attorney, on the 20th day of February, 1894, filed a petition and instituted proceedings in the County Court of Monroe County, for the settlement of the dispute and for the appointment of commissioners, and in 1894 proceeded likewise in the Circuit Court of Greenbrier County. Hon. A. N. Campbell was then Judge of this Circuit and of those counties, as well as Summers. Messrs. M. Gwinn, J. B. Lavender and M. A. Manning were appointed for Summers to settle the line between Summers and Greenbrier ; and M. Gwinn, J. B. Lavender and S. K. Boude (who died, and M. A. Manning was substituted), as con- missioners to adjust the disputes between Summers and Monroe. On the part of Monroe, Cornelius Leach and Surveyor McPherson were appointed as commissioners, and on the part of Greenbrier, Wm. M. Tyree and Samuel Gilmer and Austin Burr were ap- pointed.
When it came to the matter of a hearing, Judge Campbell de- clined to sit in the cases, as he was interested as a taxpayer of Mon-
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
roe County, and at his request Hon. A. F. Guthrie, then Judge of the Kanawha Circuit, was secured to act in his place. The hearing in both cases came on by agreement to be heard at Lewis- burg, at which time the petition as to Monroe County was dis- missed by the court, and also as to Greenbrier County ; but an ap- peal was taken to the Supreme Court of Appeals, which was de- cided favorable to Greenbrier and Monroe as to holding that the appeal was improperly taken as on points reversing the Circuit Court, or rather deciding the case on matters not raised before the Circuit Court, or in any of the proceedings, and that commis- sioners should be appointed, the Circuit Court having refused to appoint commissioners to operate with the commissioners selected from Summers.
Hon. A. B. Fleming, ex-Governor of the State, was agreed upon as umpire, and he agreed to serve; but after waiting for several months, his business engagements being such that he had been unable to act, an agreement was finally reached between the va- rious commissioners and attorneys, by which the Hon. George E. Price, an excellent and accomplished attorney of Charleston, West Virginia, was agreed upon. And the commissioners finally meet- ing at Alderson, the trial of the matters and disputes came on to be heard at Alderson in April, 1897. The hearing took several days, a number of witnesses being summoned on each side. The attorneys representing Summers County in these cases were the writer and Mr. T. N. Read, Assistant Prosecuting At- torney. The attorneys representing Monroe County were John Osborne and Gilmer Patton, Prosecuting Attorney of that county ; for Greenbrier County, Henry Gilmer, who was Prosecuting At- torney at the time of the institution of the proceedings, and had associated with him Hon. L. J. Williams, of Lewisburg. Mr. Gil- mer having retired from office before the final trial, and being suc- ceeded by Hon. J. A. Preston, of Lewisburg, he and Mr. Williams represented the interests of Greenbrier County. The Prosecuting Attorney of Summers County had, prior to his death, received from P. B. Stanard, a young lawyer of Hinton, who had volun- teered his services, some assistance. Mr. Read never had thor- ough confidence in the success of the undertaking, by reason of the long lapse of time; the writer had great confidence therein, and believed that Summers County was entitled to the territorial lim- its according to the solemn Act of the Legislature establishing the county.
After several days occupied in this trial a decision was reached,
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
each of the attorneys having argued the case at length. Each of the commissioners of Summers County voted in favor of its con- tention, and each of the commissioners of Greenbrier County vot- ing in favor of its retaining possession of the disputed territory. The umpire decided in favor of Greenbrier County, and held that Greenbrier County should retain possession of the disputed ter- ritory, and that the line which had been recognized since the for- mation of the county, although entirely different from the one laid down in the Act of the Legislature, should be and remain as the county line between those counties. No further action was taken in the Monroe County case, as the decision in the Greenbrier County case practically settled both disputes, and there was no appeal from the decision of the commissioners.
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