USA > West Virginia > History of West Virginia > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
.
497
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
exposed to the daring depredations of the savage foe, who were now aided and abetted by the French. In the spring of 1756, a party of about fifty Indians, com- manded by a French captain, crossed the Alleghenies. Captain Jeremiah Smith, at the head of twenty brave men, met and defeated them near the source of Capon river, killing the captain and five Indians. Smith lost two men. Among papers found on the body of the captain was one bearing instructions to meet another party of Indians in the vicinity of Fort Frederick and assist them in destroying the fort and magazine. This second body of Indians was encountered and dispersed on the lower waters of the North branch of the Capon by Captain Joshua Lewis at the head of eighteen men. The Indians abandoning the meditated attack on Fort Frederick, separated into small parties and carried their murderous work into the territory now embraced within the counties of Shenandoah, Frederick and Berkeley. One party crossed the mountain at Mill's Gap and within half a mile of the présent site of Ger- rardstown, killed a man named Kelly and several of his family.
Evans' Fort .- The same party then pressed on to the present site of Martinsburg. Most of the people had fled for safety to John Evans' Fort, a stockade within two miles of where the above-named town now stands. They attacked the house of a Mr. Evans- brother to the owner of the fort. They were driven off and the family immediately took shelter in the fort. The men had gone in pursuit of the Indians when Mrs. Evans discovered them in the neighborhood. She at once armed herself, the other women following her example, and directed a little boy to beat to arms
498
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
on a drum. This so alarmed the Indians that they set fire to the house in which they were concealed and fled. They discovered the men from the fort, but the latter finding the enemy too strong for them, made a hasty retreat.
Neally's Fort .- The Indians continued their raid to Opequon and attacked Neally's Fort. Many of the inmates were massacred and a number taken prisoners, among the latter, George Stockton and his sister Isa- bella. Of her it is related that she was sold in Canada, where a young Frenchman, Plata, fascinated by her beauty and manners, asked her hand in marriage. She consented, provided her father's permission should first be obtained. Plata conducted her home, but met with a peremptory refusal from the father, whereupon the young man persuaded her to elope with him. Mount- ing two of her father's horses they began the journey to Canada, but at Huntersville, Pennsylvania, they were overtaken by two of her brothers, and Isabella and her devoted lover ruthlessly separated. The young lady was carried back to the paternal home and the unfortunate Plata warned that should he make any attempt to secure her, his life would pay for his auda- city.
Early Churches .- Within the limits of Berkeley county the first churches west of the Blue Ridge were established. Presbyterian congregations came with the early Scotch-Irish settlers. Semple's " History of the Virginia Baptists " states that a number of that de- nomination removed from New England in 1754. " They halted first at Opequon, in Berkeley county, Virginia, where they formed a Baptist Church under the care of the Rev. John Gerard."
499
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
ANDREW WAGGENER. Among the many German emigrants who came to America in the early years of the eighteenth century, were Andrew Waggener and his five brothers. Andrew with one brother, Edward, set- tled in what is now Culpeper county, Virginia, about the year 1750. They were among the volunteers who joined Colonel Washington in his expedition against Fort Du Quesne in 1754. The following spring they marched with their regiment-the Ist Virginia-to the fatal scene of Braddock's defeat. Among the seven hundred English who lay dead upon the field was Ed- ward Waggener. After this disaster the Virginians hastened to the defence of the frontier, now more than ever exposed to the storm of savage warfare. Andrew Waggener was commissioned Captain and placed in command of the garrison at Fort Pleasant. (See "Hardy county".) When the Indians ceased to visit the Valley about the year 1765, Captain Waggener purchased land and settled at Bunker's Hill, then in Frederick county, Virginia, now in Berkeley county, West Vir- ginia. Here he resided until the beginning of the Revolution, when he once more entered the army and served with Washington throughout the war. He bore a Major's commission and was at Valley Forge, Prince- ton, and Trenton, and saw the British army become
prisoners of war at Yorktown. Major Waggener was one of the patentees for whom Washington surveyed land on the Ohio in 1770. His lands were located on what has ever since been known as Waggener's Bot- tom, on the Ohio river, within the present limits of Mason county. He never settled on these lands, but after the Revolution continued to reside on his home- stead at Bunker's Hill. He was a personal friend of
31
.. .
1 .
500
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
Washington and a frequent guest of the first Presi- dent.
COLONEL WILLIAM CRAWFORD. Among the natives of Berkeley county whose names are preserved in history, no other, perhaps, has excited so much atten- tion and sympathy as that of Colonel William Craw- ford. He was born in this county in 1734. In 1754, at the head of a company he marched with Washing- ton against Fort Du Quesne. His behavior on this occasion won for him the esteem of his commander, which in after years ripened into a warm friendship. In 1765 he made his first visit to the West, and two years later removed his family and settled on the Youghiogheny river, within the present limits of Fay- ette county, Pennsylvania. He was among the first settlers in the Valley, and his reputation for generosity and hospitality lived long after his cabin home was in ruins. In Washington's journal of his tour to the West in 1770, he frequently refers to Colonel Crawford, with whom he spent several days, it seems, most pleas- antly. Crawford accompanied him to Fort Pitt, and thence to the great Kanawha, and located most of his lands on the Ohio. When the Revolution began, Crawford, by his own personal efforts, enrolled a regi- ment, in compensation for which he received a Colonel's commission in the Continental army. This commission he held when he unwillingly became the leader of an expedition against the Wyandots, which terminated so fatally for him. His papers and records have all been lost and his family scattered, so that very little is known of his personal character save what has been preserved in the traditions of the pioneers whom he so gallantly defended.
501
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER, SR., who at the age of eight years was left an orphan without a relative in America, was born in Martinsburg, July 2, 1806. He was the son of Major James Faulkner, a distinguished officer in the war of 1812, and Sarah Mackay, whose father, William Mackay, was an officer in the Revolutionary War. He entered Georgetown College in 1816, and graduating therefrom in 1822, he attended the law school of Chancellor Tucker at Winchester, and in 1829 was admitted to the bar. In 1832, he represented Berkeley county in the General Assembly, where his argument favoring the gradual emancipation of slaves in Virginia at once rendered him a prominent figure in State politics. At this time Maryland instituted a suit against Virginia, the object being to establish the claim of the former to a large tract of territory on the northern boundary of the latter. Mr. Faulkner was appointed by Virginia to prepare a report on the boundary between the two States. This he did, and so elaborate, and such a lucid exposition of the points involved was it, that it at once settled the controversy. The legal proceedings were dismissed, nor has the claim of Maryland to the disputed territory ever been revived. ) His report is found in full in Part First of this work. In 1833, he again represented Berkeley county in the Assembly, after which, having wedded the daughter of General Elisha Boyd, he retired from public life, and for eight years devoted his energies to the practice of his profession, and the material devel- opment of his native county. In 1841, he was elected a member of the United States Senate, but resigned his seat before the expiration of his term. He was an earnest advocate of the annexation of Texas, and in
502
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
/1846, actively supported the government in its declara- tion of war against Mexico. In 1848, he was again a member of the Assembly, in which body he submitted a report, most of the provisions of which Congress the next year embodied in the Fugitive Slave Law. / In 1850, he was one of the representatives from Berkeley and Jefferson counties in the State Constitutional Con- vention, in which he championed the views of the peo- ple of the western part of the State. (He was elected to Congress in 1851, and by consecutive reëlections served four terms. Upon the election of Buchanan to the Presidency, Mr. Faulkner was given the mission to France, and being promptly confirmed by the Senate, arrived in Paris, February 18, 1857, and was officially presented to the Emperor on the 4th of March. Upon the election of Mr. Lincoln, he resigned his mission, and returning to Washington, was arrested and held as a hostage for Henry S. Magraw, State Treasurer of Pennsylvania, and confined in the city jail. Subse- quently he was removed to Fort Lafayette, New York Harbor, and later to Fort Warren, near Boston, where, December 9, 1881, he was released by exchange, and re- turned to Virginia. He served as Adjutant-General on the staff of Stonewall Jackson, and after the war, as soon as permitted by the laws of West Virginia, resumed the practice of his profession at Martinsburg. He was one of the counsel on behalf of West Virginia in the suit brought by Virginia to determine which should exercise jurisdiction in the counties of Berkeley and Jefferson. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention which framed the present State Constitu- tion, and in 1872 he was again elected to Congress, but declined reelection. He died November 1, 1884,
503
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
and was laid to rest in the family burying ground at Martinsburg.
GENERAL DAVID H. STROTHER was born at Martins- burg, Virginia, in 1816, and there he spent his boyhood. He was graduated from Washington College, Penn- sylvania, and soon after went to Europe, spending two years as a student of art in Rome. Returning to America, he immediately began his literary work. He continued to contribute to Harper's Magazine, under the nom de plume of " Porte Crayon." A series of arti- cles published in this periodical, entitled "Virginia Illustrated," attracted much attention. During the War of Secession he served on the staff of General Banks. When the war ended, the United States be- stowed upon him the title of General, in gratitude for his services. During the administration of President Hayes he was Consul General to Mexico. While in that country he collected material for a work on the life and character of the Mexicans, and was engaged in compiling it at the time of his death. General Strother was twice married, his first wife being Miss Wolf, of Martinsburg, and the second Miss Mary E. Hunter, of Charlestown. He died at Charlestown, West Virginia, March 8, 1888.
RALEIGH T. COLSTON, Lieutenant-Colonel of the 2d Virginia Infantry, Confederate Army, resided at Honey- wood, in this county. He was born in Richmond, Vir- ginia, February 18, 1834. His mother, S. Jane, was the daughter of Judge William Brockenbrough, of the Virginia Court of Appeals. His father, Colonel Edward Colston, was the son of Raleigh Colston and Elizabeth Marshall Colston, the sister of Chief Justice Mar- shall. The subject of this sketch entered the Virginia
!
$
501
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
Military Institute in the summer of 1850, but in the following year was called home by the death of his father, and then remained engaged in the management of the family estate. Soon after Brown's attempted insurrection at Harper's Ferry a military company was organized in this county, of which young Colston be- came captain ; and when it became apparent that civil war was inevitable, the company rendezvoused at Hedgesville, and thence marched to Harper's Ferry, where it was enrolled as Company "E," 2d Virginia Infantry, then commanded by Colonel Thomas J. Jack- son. From that time until his death his fortune was that of the famous "Stonewall Brigade." On the morning of November 27, 1863, while leading his regi- ment-of which he was Lieutenant-Colonel-into action, his leg was shattered by a ball and he was taken to the rear, where the wounded limb was amputated. He was then taken to Gordonsville, where, at the home of a relative, John B. Minor, he soon died from the effects of an attack of pneumonia, brought on by exposure to cold and rain after he received his wound.
GEORGE N. HAMMOND, captain of Company "B," Ist Virginia Confederate Cavalry, and a son of Dr. Allen C. Hammond, was a native of this county, having been born at the village of Georgetown, June 8, 1833. He entered the Virginia Military Institute, where he be- came a favorite pupil of Stonewall Jackson, and was graduated therefrom with high honors. On the morn- ing of October 17, 1859, the intelligence of the occu- pation of Harper's Ferry by a band of insurgents reached Martinsburg. Alarm bells were rung, and soon a body of hastily-collected men were on the march to the point of danger. One of them was George N.
505
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
Hammond, who was stricken down, severely wounded, by a rifle-ball discharged from the engine house, the last retreat of the invaders. Recovering, he entered the company of Captain Hoge, which was, with the regiment of which it was a part, attached to the com- mand of General J. E. B. Stewart, and with it served until he fell mortally wounded on the field at Yellow Tavern. From here he was conveyed to Richmond, where he died May 16, 1864. His remains are entombed beneath the shades of Hollywood Cemetery.
-
506
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
MONONGALIA.
In 1776, the first Assembly of the newly-declared Commonwealth of Virginia met in the old State House at Williamsburg. In October they passed an act divid- ing the District of West Augusta into three distinct counties-Monongalia, Ohio and Youghiogheny. The boundaries of Monongalia were thus defined: "All that part of the said district lying to the northward of the county of Augusta, to the westward of the meri- dian of the fountain of the Potowmack, to the south- ward of the county of Yohogania and to the eastward of the county of Ohio, shall be one other distinct county, and shall be called and known by the name of Monongalia." Thus Monongalia was one of the first three counties created in the New Republic. The name was received from the river Monongahela, which in the Indian language signifies "River of caving or crumbling banks."
The act creating the county further provided "that it shall and may be lawful for the landholders of said county qualified to vote in the General Assembly to meet at the house of Jonathan Cobun, in the said county, on the 8th of December following, then and there to choose the most convenient place for holding courts for the county in the future." In 1796 the records of Monongalia county were burned, and we have no means of ascertaining whether such an elec- tion was held. We may infer that it was, as thereafter the courts were regularly convened at the plantation of Theophilus Phillips, near where New Geneva, Fay- ette county, Pennsylvania, now is, the last-named county at that time being a part of Monongalia. Nor
507
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
can it be stated with certainty who were the first sheriff and clerk of the county. In Monongalia, tradition names Captain John Dent as the first sheriff and Colo- nel John Evans as the first county clerk, while a Fayette county tradition makes Joseph Coombs the first clerk.
Morgantown .- In October, 1785, the General Assem- bly enacted " That fifty acres of land, the property of Zackquell Morgan, lying in the county of Monongalia, shall be, and they are hereby, vested in Samuel Han- way, John Evans, David Scott, Michael Kerns and James Daugherty, gentlemen, trustees, to be by them laid out in lots, which shall be, and the same are hereby, established a town, by the name of Morgantown." Purchasers of lots were required to build upon them within four years. In December, 1789, the time was extended three years, because of Indian hostilities. Five years more were granted in 1792, as it was found difficult to procure material. An Act of the Assembly passed February 3, 1810, empowered the freeholders of Morgantown to elect " five fit and able men to be trustees thereof." Morgantown was incorporated by act of February 3, 1858, as the " Borough of Morgan- town," the same act providing that seven trustees should be elected annually. March 20, 1860, the charter was amended so as to provide for the election of a mayor, sergeant, five councilmen and a recorder.
THE DECKERS were the first white men who visited the site of Morgantown. Withers, in his "Border Warfare," records that in the fall of 1758 Thomas Decker and some others commenced a settlement on the Monongahela at the mouth of what is now Decker's creek. In the ensuing spring it was entirely broken up by a party of Delawares and Mingoes, and most
--------
508
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
of the settlers murdered. The same authority records that one of those who escaped fled to Redstone Fort -- now Brownstown, Pennsylvania -to report the dreadful fate of the settlement. The garrison was too weak to attempt a pursuit, but the commander immediately dispatched a messenger to Fort Pitt. Captain John Gibson at once left that place with thirty men, but the savages had made good their escape. The first permanent settlers at Morgantown, who were also the first within the present limits of the county, came in 1768. Among the number were David and Zackquell Morgan.
David Morgan's Encounter with two Indians is a record of personal heroism exhibited by an aged man. In the spring of 1779, the settlements along the upper Monongahela were comparatively free from Indian attack. Yet the families who the previous autumn had taken refuge in the forts did not venture to return to their cabins. Among those who had sought safety in Prickett's Fort-about twelve miles above the pres- ent site of Morgantown-was David Morgan, a bold frontiersman and a near relative to General Morgan, of Revolutionary fame. At the time of which we write he was more than sixty years of age. Early in April, feeling somewhat indisposed, he sent two of his chil- dren, Stephen and Sarah, to feed the stock on his farm, a mile distant. Becoming uneasy at their long absence, he went in search of them. He found them engaged in clearing a patch for melons, and seated himself on a log to wait for them. He had been there but a short time when he saw two Indians come out of his house and walk rapidly toward the children. Not wishing to frighten them he called to them to go quickly to the
509
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
fort, and himself answered the whoop with which the Indians started in pursuit. The Indians at once turned on him. He first tried to escape by running, but soon found the fleet warriors gaining on him. He then turned to fire at them. All three sought trees. One Indian, to gain a nearer position to Morgan, threw himself behind a log, which only partially concealed him. Morgan at once shot him, and again tried to escape. Running a short distance, he looked back and saw the other Indian ready to fire. This timely glance saved his life. He jumped aside and avoided the missile. The conflict was now hand to hand. The savage, with a demoniac yell, threw himself on his in- tended victim. Morgan threw the Indian, but the latter, younger and more active, turned him, and hold- ing him down, reached for his knife. He grasped it close to the blade, and Morgan seizing the handle drew it through his hand, and thrust it into his enemy's side. The Indian sank on the ground, and Morgan fled to the fort.
Indian Incursion on Cobun's Creek .- During the summer of 1778, a body of savage warriors made their appearance on Cobun's creek "and were making their way," says Withers, "as has generally been supposed, to a fort not far from Morgantown, when they fell in with a party of whites returning from the labors of the cornfield, and then about a mile from Cobun's Fort. The Indians had placed themselves upon each side of the road leading to the fort, and, from their covert, fired upon the whites before they were aware of dan- ger. John Woodfin, being on horseback, had his thigh broken by a ball which killed his horse, and enabled them to catch him easily. Jacob Miller was shot and
510
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
soon overtaken, tomahawked and scalped. The others escaped to the fort." .
Indians near Statler's Fort .- About the year 1779, the Indians made their appearance near Statler's Fort, on Dunkard creek. The following account of their dread work is subjoined from Withers' "Border Warfare" :-
"The Indians lay in ambush on the roadside, await- ing the return of men who were engaged at work in some neighboring fields. Toward evening the men came on, carrying with them some hogs which they had killed for the use of the fort people, and on approach- ing where the Indians lay concealed were fired on, and several fell. Those who escaped injury from the first fire returned the volley, and a severe action ensued. But so many of the whites had been killed before the savages exposed themselves to view, that the remain- der were unable long to sustain the unequal contest. Overpowered by numbers, the few who were still un- hurt fled precipitately to the fort, leaving eighteen of their' companions dead in the road. These were scalped and mangled by the Indians in a most shocking manner, and lay some time before the men in the fort, assured of the departure of the enemy, went out and buried them."
Attack on Martin's Fort .- In June, 1779, a party of Indians surprised the inmates of Martin's Fort, on Crooked Run. We again quote from "Border War- fare " :-
"The greater part of the men having gone forth early to their farms, the women were engaged in milk- ing the cows outside the gate, and the men who had been left behind were loitering around. The Indians, who were lying around the fort, rushed forward and
511
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
killed or made prisoners of ten of them. Instead of retreating with their prisoners, they remained at a little distance from the fort until night, when they put the prisoners, under the custody of two of the savages, in an old house near, and the remaining eleven went to see if they could force an entrance at the gate. The dogs were shut out at night, and the approach of the Indians exciting them to bark freely, gave the inmates notice of the impending danger in time for them to avert it. The savages returned to the house in which the prisoners were confined and moved off with them to their towns."
Murder of Fannie and Phebe Scott .- The father of these girls lived at the mouth of Pike Run. One day in August, 1779, the two daughters started for the meadows, near the site of Granville, to carry dinner to laborers there. The father was to accompany them, but being detained, the girls proceeded alone. Soon Captain Scott heard the report of a gun. Crossing the river in all haste, and following the direction of the sound, he ran rapidly up the path toward the meadows and found the body of his murdered daughter Phebe. Fannie was missing. The father supposing she was a prisoner, set out at once for Fort Pitt, and engaged a friendly Indian to find out her whereabouts and ran- som her. Before his return, the neighbors had found the girl. Her body being too much decayed to be removed, she was buried where she died.
The State University is located at Morgantown. In 1867, the Legislature passed an Act providing for the establishment of a State Agricultural College. Several locations, among them Harisville, Frankford, Bethany, Point Pleasant and Morgantown were considered, and
1
512
HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
the institution finally located at the latter place. The school was at once established, and by Act of the Legis- lature, passed December 4, 1868, the name was changed to that of the "West Virginia University."
WAITMAN T. WILLEY, one of the first United States Senators from West Virginia, was born near the pre- sent site of Farmington, now in Marion county, but then in Monongalia, October 11, 1811. In 1823 he removed with his father to a farm on the Monongahela, opposite the present site of Rivesville. In 1827, when in his seventeenth year, he entered Madison College, at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1831. A year later he began the study of law in the office of Philip Doddridge, in Wellsburg, Brooke county, and after the death of his preceptor the same year, he completed his studies in the office of John C. Campbell, at the same place. In 1833, he was admitted to the bar at Morgantown, where he began the practice of his pro- fession. He was an elector on the Harrison and Tyler ticket in 1840, at which time he canvassed a large por- tion of Virginia and Southern Pennsylvania. In 1841, he was elected clerk of the County Court of Monongalia, and at the same time was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Clerk's office of the Circuit Superior Court, both of which he held until 1852, when he was a candidate for re-election but was defeated by a small majority. In the Constitutional Convention of 1850, he was one of the delegates representing the counties of Monongalia, Preston, Marion and Taylor, in which body he distin- guished himself as a ready debater. In IS59, he was a candidate for Lieutenant-Governor on the Whig ticket. at the head of which was William L. Goggin, who was, however, defeated by his competitor, Henry A. Wise.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.