The Project Gutenberg EBook of Legends of the Skyline Drive and the Great
Valley of Virginia, by Carrie Hunter Willis and Etta Belle Walker
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Title: Legends of the Skyline Drive and the Great Valley of Virginia
Author: Carrie Hunter Willis
Etta Belle Walker
Release Date: June 29, 2010 [EBook #33018]
Language: English
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LEGENDS
of the
SKYLINE DRIVE
and the
Great Valley of Virginia
BY
CARRIE HUNTER WILLIS
AND
ETTA BELLE WALKER
RICHMOND, VA.:
THE DIETZ PRESS, _Publishers_
1940
COPYRIGHT, 1940
BY
CARRIE HUNTER WILLIS
AND
ETTA BELLE WALKER
_Printed in the United States of America_
Foreword
Tucked away among the hills and valleys in and near the Shenandoah
National Park and the Great Valley of Virginia are stories of the
beginnings of the white man's life beyond the comparative ease of early
Tidewater Virginia. These stories are true ones and they depict
something of the courage and hardihood of the early Virginia pioneer.
Perhaps in reading of their lives we may catch something of the majesty
and charm of their surroundings which were reflected to a marked degree
in their way of living. Surely they must often have said, "I will look
unto the hills from whence cometh my strength" or how else may we
account for the developments which came as the result of their constant
struggle for survival?
Stories of colonial Virginia on the eastern seaboard are numerous and
usually exciting but they are quite different from the tales beyond the
Piedmont. A combination of them may enable us to know Virginia as a
whole in a more appreciative way.
Long before the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe ever set foot in the
wilds of Virginia, intrepid explorers had passed through various parts
of the Valley country.
In 1654--more than sixty years before the Governor's expedition--Colonel
Abraham Wood received permission to explore beyond the mountains. His
purpose was to establish trade relations with the Indians. His journey
carried him through the lower Blue Ridge, crossing the range near the
Virginia-North Carolina line.
Reference is made elsewhere of the explorations conducted by the
one-time monk, John Lederer, whose journal of the trip was first
translated from German and published in London in 1672.
Let us plainly understand however that each of these trips was of a
migratory nature; not a thought was entertained by any of the
participants of remaining in the Virginia mountains. Any white man found
in these sections at this time was there because of good hunting
grounds, hopes of good trading, the zeal of a missionary spirit or love
of adventure and exploration.
The earliest settlers in the Valley in most part came either from
Maryland or Pennsylvania. They came in search of rich, cheap land or for
economic reasons or in the hope of establishing greater freedom for
themselves and their children.
Two nationalities invaded the Great Valley almost simultaneously: the
Germans and Scotch-Irish--both fine, sturdy, healthy and thrifty stock
which is reflected in marked degree among the present inhabitants of the
region. Their real interest in the new settlements may truthfully be
said to have begun about 1730 when land grants were obtained. About two
years later the actual move into the country and the house building
commenced in earnest.
The German settlers located chiefly along the territory extending from
Winchester to Staunton. The Scotch-Irish on the other hand selected
Staunton and the valley south of the town for their claims. No nice
distinction can be made so easily, for we shall find the two groups
interspersed all along the entire length of the Valley. But generally
speaking their domains may be defined thus.
So much fighting during the wars of our country could not have been
fought in this section of the State without leaving in its wake the
stories of chivalry, courage and accomplishment, a few of which are
included.
It is our desire that the trips along the Skyline Drive and in the Great
Valley country may be enriched and the imagination stirred because of
the accounts included in this small book.
Table of Contents
PAGE
KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN HORSESHOE 1
Progress to the Mines 2
ADAM MILLER AND HIS NEIGHBORS 5
JOIST HITE, THE PIONEER 7
GERMAN NEIGHBORS, Quakers 9
Dunkards 11
THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN THE VALLEY 12
INDIANS 15
INDIAN TALES 18
THE MOORE MASSACRE 20
WASHINGTON'S BOYHOOD FRIEND--LORD FAIRFAX 24
WINCHESTER--THE FRONTIER TOWN OF THE VALLEY 26
THE VALLEY PIKE 31
BERRYVILLE 33
FRONT ROYAL 34
FLINT HILL 36
THE SKYLINE DRIVE 37
STRASBURG 40
ORKNEY SPRINGS 42
STEPHENS CITY 42
MIDDLETOWN 43
THE STORY TELLER OF THE VALLEY--SAMUEL KERCHEVAL
Pioneer Life 44
WOODSTOCK 53
The Lincoln Family 55
NEW MARKET 56
Endless Caverns 57
LURAY 59
STONEWALL JACKSON'S VALLEY CAMPAIGN 61
BELLE BOYD, THE SPY 67
HARRISONBURG 72
Massanutten Caverns 73
Grand Caverns 73
Massanetta Springs 75
STAUNTON 75
WAYNESBORO AND AFTON 79
NATURAL BRIDGE 81
ROCKBRIDGE 84
The First Academy in the Valley 86
VALLEY INVENTIONS 87
WASHINGTON COLLEGE 88
LEXINGTON 89
THE VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE 92
CULPEPER MINUTE MEN 94
BLIND PREACHER 95
HEBRON CHURCH 96
HOOVER'S CAMP ON THE RAPIDAN RIVER 97
CHARLOTTESVILLE AND ALBEMARLE COUNTY 98
Jack Jouett's Ride 104
Lewis and Clark Expedition 105
FREDERICKSBURG 106
KENMORE--1752 111
THE MARY WASHINGTON HOUSE 115
RISING SUN TAVERN 117
ROANOKE 121
DRAPER'S MEADOW 124
WASHINGTON COUNTY 127
HUNGRY MOTHER STATE PARK 129
WHITE TOP 129
List of Illustrations
PAGE
George Washington's Headquarters, Winchester, Virginia 27
View Along the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park 38
"The Cypress Garden", a Scene in Endless Caverns 57
"The Manse", Woodrow Wilson's Birthplace, Staunton, Virginia 76
Woodrow Wilson's Bed, Staunton, Virginia 78
Natural Bridge 81
Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia 90
Virginia Military Institute 92
"Monticello", near Charlottesville, Virginia 99
Rotunda of University of Virginia 102
"Kenmore", the Home of Fielding Lewis and Betty Washington
Lewis, Fredericksburg, Virginia 107
James Monroe's Law Office 109
"The Mary Washington House", Fredericksburg, Virginia 116
"Rising Sun Tavern", Fredericksburg, Virginia 118
Scenic Highway in Southwest Virginia 126
Hungry Mother State Park 130
[Blank Page]
[Illustration]
Knights of The Golden Horseshoe
Alexander Spotswood was the first Virginia Governor to become interested
in the glowing accounts which the hunters and trappers brought back from
the hill sections of the colony. He determined to see for himself those
distant blue ridges.
And while historians have not told us who guided him to the upper or
western boundary of what was then Essex County, we are told that he
became enthusiastic over the rich iron ore which he found in the
peninsula formed by the Rapidan River. He decided to build iron furnaces
at a point near the river. Later he had his agent, Baron de Graffenreid,
go to Germany and bring master mechanics and their families to Virginia.
The first German colony came in 1714 to Virginia and journeyed to
Germanna, as they called their new home on the bank of the Rapidan
River. They were made up of twelve families and numbered forty-two
people in all, men, women and children.
The Virginia Council passed an act which provided protection for the
Germans. A fort was built for them, ammunition and two cannon were sent
and an order was given for a road to be made to the settlement.
These men and women were brave, loyal and deeply religious. They
belonged to the German Reformed Church, which was a branch of the
Presbyterian family of churches. Here they organized the first
congregation of that faith in America and here they built their church.
They had come from Westphalia, in Germany, and of course had brought
their own customs and manners, which are not entirely gone even in our
modern Virginia. Later, as we shall see, many of this first colony left
Germanna and settled on Licking Run near Warrenton.
In 1717 came a second German colony to Germanna. They too were brave,
loyal, and devout; but were different from the first, being Lutherans
and representing twenty families from Pennsylvania.
Two years later, the third colony of Germans came to Germanna and from
there they settled in Orange and Madison counties.
If Governor Spotswood earned the title of "Tubal Cain of America", it
was because these Germans were industrious, thrifty and honest.
The Governor liked the neighborhood so well that he had a palace built
for his family. There was a terraced garden, which one may trace in the
ruins found there today. A courthouse was built there, for a new county
had been cut from Essex and was called Spotsylvania, in the Governor's
honor. Nearby was a bubbling fountain spring at which tourists stop
today to quench their thirst. This has been marked by the Colonial Dames
and over it there is a hand-wrought iron standard, giving the legend of
the spring.
In 1732, Colonel William Byrd of Westover visited Governor Spotswood at
Germanna. He was one of the Commissioners who ran the boundary line
between Virginia and North Carolina. He held many positions of honor and
trust in the colony. His writings give an intimate picture of Governor
Spotswood's settlement:
_Progress to the Mines._
"Here I arrived about three o'clock, and found only Mrs.
Spotswood at home, who received her old acquaintance with many
gracious smiles. I was carried into a room elegantly set off
with pier glasses, the largest of which came soon to an odd
misfortune. Amongst other favorite animals to cheer this lady's
solitude, a brace of deer ran familiarly about the house, and
one of them came to stare at me as a stranger. But unluckily
spying his own figure in the glass, he made a spring over the
tea-table that stood under it, and shattered the glass to
pieces, and falling back upon the tea-table made a terrible
fracas among the china. This exploit was so sudden and
accompanied with such a noise, that it surprised me and
perfectly frightened Mrs. Spotswood. But it was worth all the
damage to show the moderation and good humor with which she
bore the disaster. In the evening the noble Colonel came home
from his mines, who saluted me very civilly, and Mrs.
Spotswood's sister, Miss Theky, who had been to meet him _en
cavalier_, was kind too, as to bid me welcome.
"We talked over a legion of old stories, supped about nine, and
then prattled with the ladies till it was time to retire. In
the meantime, I observed my old friend to be very uxorious and
exceedingly fond of his children. This was opposite to the
maxims he used to preach before he was married, that I could
not forbear rubbing up the memory of them. But he gave a very
good natural turn to his change of sentiments, by alleging that
whoever brings a poor gentlewoman to so solitary a place, from
all her friends and acquaintances, would be very ungrateful not
to use her and all that belongs to her with all possible
tenderness.
"We all kept snug in our apartments till nine, except Miss
Theky, who was the housewife of the family. At that hour we met
over a pot of coffee, which was not quite strong enough to give
us the palsy. After breakfast the Colonel and I left the ladies
to their domestic affairs, and took a turn in the garden which
has nothing but three terraced walks that fall in slopes one
below the other.... I let him know that I had come to be
instructed by so great a master in the mystery of making iron
and that he led the way and was the Tubal Cain of America....
He assured me he was not only the first in this country, but
the first in North America who had erected a regular furnace,
that they ran altogether upon bloomeries in New England and
Pennsylvania, till his example had made them attempt greater
works.... At night we drank prosperity to all the Colonel's
projects in a bowl of rack punch, and then retired to our
devotions....
"I sallied out at the first summons to breakfast, where our
conversation with the ladies, like whipped sillibub, was very
pretty, but had nothing in it. This it seems was Miss Theky's
birthday, upon which I made her my compliments, and wished she
might live twice as long a married woman as she had lived a
maid. I did not presume to pry into the secret of her age, nor
was she forward to disclose it.... She contrived to make this a
day of mourning for having nothing better at present to set her
affections upon."
It was really from Germanna that the Great Expedition to the Mountains
began. Of course we know that Williamsburg was the scene of great
excitement when the Governor and some of his staff gathered for the
first start. The party consisted of the Governor, Fontaine, whose diary
gives us accounts of the journey, Beverley, the historian of Virginia in
1703, Colonel Robertson, Austin Smith, Dr. Robinson, Messrs. Talor,
Brooke and Mason and Captains Smith and Clouder. Others were gentlemen,
servants and guides. All were delayed when an old trapper told them that
their horses' feet would be ruined if not shod. In the sandy soil of
eastern Virginia it was not necessary to shoe one's horse, but the
rocks, as one travelled inland, would ruin the horse's feet. The party
made the best of the long wait by drinking the health of the King,
toasts to the maids left behind and in other farewells.
The party, after five days, reached Germanna and it is from Fontaine's
journal that we are told of the details of the trip. He relates the
hardships; some, including the writer, had fevers and chills and drank
Jesuits' bark tea. Their beds, made of boughs, were not soft enough and
the men slept badly and were sore the next day after camping out in the
wilderness. They made about six miles a day. Their food was bear's meat,
venison, and wild game, which they roasted on long wooden forks over
glowing coals. And each time they ate, they also drank the King's
health, not forgetting any of his children in their toasts. Fontaine
writes--
"We saw when we were over the mountain the footing of elks and
buffaloes, and their beds. We saw a vine which bore a sort of
wild cucumber and a shrub with fruit like unto a currant. We
ate very good wild grapes.... We crossed a river which we
called the Euphrates. It is very deep, the main course of the
water is north, it is four score yards wide in the narrowest
part.... I got some grasshoppers and fished ... we catched a
dish of fish, some perch and a fish called Chub. The others
went ahunting and killed deer and turkeys.... I engraved my
name on a tree by the river's side and the Governor buried a
bottle with a paper inside, on which he writ that he took
possession of this place in the name of King George the First
of England....
"We had a good dinner, and after it we got the men together and
loaded all their arms and we drank the King's health in
champagne and fired a volley, and the Princess's health in
Burgundy and fired a volley, and all the rest of the Royal
family in claret and a volley. We drank the Governor's health
and fired a volley.
"We had several sorts of liquors, viz Virginian red wine and
white Irish usquebaugh, brandy, shrub, two sorts of rum,
champagne, canary, cherry punch water and cider."
It was thirty-six days after leaving Williamsburg that the party finally
reached the mountain and scaled Swift Run Gap and for the first time a
group of Englishmen looked down into the fertile valley beyond.
The Governor was a romantic person, as well as practical, so he wanted
to have something tangible by which all of his party might remember
their thrilling trip. He asked some of his men what they thought of the
idea and someone suggested, no doubt in fun, that they call themselves
the "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe".
Anyway, historians relate that when he returned to Williamsburg, he
promptly wrote a letter to His Majesty and told him of the wonderful
country "beyond the mountains". He also asked for a grant for the Order
of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. In due time a proclamation
arrived from England creating The Order of the Golden Horseshoe and also
fifty tiny golden horseshoes inscribed in Latin "_Sic jurat transcerde
mantes_". There was a seal and a signature and the title of Knight was
conferred upon the Governor.
The King also had his own sense of humor and included with all the rest,
the bill for the golden horseshoes! And we are told the sporting
Governor paid for them out of his own pocket without any regrets.
Let us start our journey from this historic spot and drive along the
recently built Skyline Drive. As we go we may look down upon the first
settlers' homes, around which are built the thrifty towns of today.
Adam Miller and His Neighbors
Among the earliest settlers in the valley were young Germans, Adam
Mueller and his wife and his sister. Adam, as was his family, was born
in Germany. Like many others, he had left because of religious
persecution, devastating wars and social unrest. His first home in the
new country was in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Adam Miller (as his name was soon after spelled) journeyed to
Williamsburg, Virginia. There, he told someone, he wanted to make his
home. It was not long after the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe had
returned with their glowing accounts of the land beyond the mountains.
Adam listened with deep interest to the descriptions of the Valley where
a native grass grew on which buffalo fattened, where game lived all year
and where a forest fringed the fertile valleys. He decided to go with
some hunters and he found the kind of land which he wanted. Before he
returned to Lancaster he had built a rude log cabin. He returned home by
way of Williamsburg, and soon his wife and sister were getting ready to
set forth. Many of his German neighbors were interested also, and
historians claim he was the first German to build near Massanutten
Mountain.
His neighbors were Abram Strickler, Mathias Selser, Phillip Long, Paul
Long, Michael Rinehart, and Jonathan Rood. Some give the date of this
settlement as early as 1726. Adam Miller took out his naturalization
papers a few years later and today, the visitor may read the quaint
document hanging on the walls of the Miller home, near Elkton, Virginia.
His log cabin was soon outgrown. He was a good farmer and his wife and
sister helped him. His crops were larger each year. Besides, Adam was a
business man. He secured a large land grant and he soon was selling off
farms to other Germans who came from Pennsylvania and from Germany.
The Millers built a larger home and they bought some good sturdy
furniture to replace the crude tables and chairs which were home-made.
They took pleasure in getting the home all ready before they moved into
it. They had even spread the beds with the new hand-woven coverlets
which his wife and sister had made during the long winter nights. The
next night they would sleep in their new home. But during the night, a
fire broke out--no one ever knew its origin--and everything was
destroyed before the family woke up!
The Millers were undaunted, so they built again. We are told what good
neighbors there were in those days. The men took their own axes and cut
down the trees. They dressed the lumber, sawed the timbers by careful
measurements, laid foundations, and built chimneys. It did not take so
long to build a house. The visitor today will see a big white house on
the road between Luray and Elkton, almost beneath the shadow of old
Massanutten Mountain. He will see the marker which tells him that this
house was built by the Miller family. Inside, the visitor will see
priceless early American furniture. He will see rosewood and later
Empire furniture, too, as other generations added to their heritage. But
when one goes into the log cabin kitchen he will stand in reverence
before a collection of early Dutch tables, chairs, platters, plates of
Delft and pewter, spoons of the same ware. There is a huge corner
cupboard which everyone would like to have for his own. This house no
longer has a direct descendant of Adam and his good wife to occupy it,
for the last one of his line recently died.
Adam Miller was not only a good neighbor to his German friends but we
are told they did not have much trouble with the Indians during the
first years he lived in the Valley. However, he was a brave fighter
during the Indian Wars and his record is given in _Henning's Statutes_.
He lived through most of the Revolutionary War and no doubt longed to
fight in behalf of the country which had given him the opportunity to
develop it.
"On Sunday evening, Dec. 3rd, 1749 a young Franciscan went with
us (_Diary of Leonard Schell, a Moravian Missionary_) to show
us the way to Mathias Schawb, who immediately on my offer to
preach for them, sent messengers to announce my sermon. In a
short time a considerable number of people assembled to whom I
preached. After the sermon I baptised a child of Holland's. We
stayed overnight with Mathias Schawb. His wife told us we were
always welcome and we must come to them whenever we came into
that district.
"Toward evening a man from another Dutch settlement, Adam
Miller passed. I told him that I would like to come to his
house and preach there. He asked if I were sent by God and I
answered yes. He said if I were sent by God I should be
welcome, but he said there are at present so many kinds of
people that often one does not know where they come from. I
requested him to notify his neighbors that I would preach which
he did.
"On Dec. 4th we left Schawb's house commending the whole family
to God. We travelled through the rain across the South
Shenandoah to Adam Miller's house who received us with much
love. We stayed over night.
"On Dec. 5th I preached at Adam Miller's house on 'Whosoever
thirsteth let him come to the water and drink.' A number of
thirsty souls were present. Especially Adam Miller took in
every word and after the sermon declared himself well pleased.
In the afternoon we travelled a short distance, staying
overnight with a Swiss."
Joist Hite, the Pioneer
When Joist Hite arrived in Virginia he and his family were required to
settle on the land bought from the VanMeters. His purchase was made in
June 1731. In October of the same year, he and Robert McKay obtained a
grant from the Colonial Government to have 100,000 acres of land
surveyed on the west side of the mountain, with the agreement to bring
in one hundred settlers within two years. During that year, Hite moved
in and settled on that land, but he got an extension of time for
bringing in other settlers. By Christmas of 1735 Hite had brought in
fifty-four families.
All this land was in the County of Spotsylvania and Hite found that he
and his brothers were too far away from the courts so he became
interested in getting a new county organized in 1734. This was named
Orange, in honor of the Duke of Orange. Later on, having acquired more
land, he found himself again too far removed from a court house. And
again he applied for a new county. In fact he needed two counties for
all his lands and ever-increasing settlers. In 1738 Orange County was
divided into three counties, namely: Orange, Frederick, and Augusta to
the west of the mountain. With Joist Hite and his wife Anna Maria came
their daughters, Mary, her husband George Bowman, Elizabeth and her
husband Paul Froman, Magadelena and her husband Jacob Chrisman, and
their sons John, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham and Joseph. Hite, we are told,
allowed his sons-in-law to choose their own homesteads.
His wife, Anna Maria, died in 1738 at Long Meadows and soon he married
again. We read the following quaint marriage contracts between him and
his second wife:
"In the Name of Jesus
"Whereas, we, two persons, I, Joist Hite and Maria Magadelena,
Relict and Widow of Christian Nuschanger, according to God's
holy ordinance and the knowledge and consent of our Friends and
Children and Relations are going to enter into the holy state
of Matrimony. We have made this Nuptial part one with the
others. First promise to the aforesaid Maria Magadalena all the
Christian Love and Faithfulness. Secondly, as neither of us are
a moment secure from death so I promise her Home or Widow Seat
so long as she lives and the Heir to whom the said House shall
fall shall provide the necessary Diet and Cloathes and if that
do not please but that she rather desire to have her
commendations in any other place, so shall the foresaid Heir to
the House yearly pay her Six Pounds ready money and this is my
well considered desire.
"JOIST HITE."
"And Likewise wife, I Maria Magadalena promise the aforesaid
Joist Hite. First of all, Love and Obedience. Secondly, I am
designed to bring with me to him some cattle, money, household
goods which in agreement with attested witnesses shall be
Described and should I die before the said Hite so shall the
said Hite have the half thereof and the other half shall be
delivered back again to my heirs and this is also my well
considered desire. Thirdly and Lastly, whoever of the aforesaid
persons shall die first the half of the portion the Woman
brings with her shall go back to her heirs."
The following goods were brought by the said Mary Magadelena to Joist
Hite:
"1 In ready money, twenty two pounds seventeen Shillings and
four pence.
2 Two mares one colt value of fourteen pounds.
3 Two drawing steers value three pounds, ten shillings.
4 Two coarse beds Cloathes in all three pounds, Sixteen
Shillings and six pence. And said money is adjudged to be in
Virginia Currency the 16th day of November, 1741, also one
horse mare, six pounds."
Another neighbor pioneering in the Valley was Jacob Stover who secured
land grants. History records that he resorted to unusual methods in
obtaining them. Upon application, it was necessary to convince the
authorities that the applicant could furnish a sufficient number of
families to settle the land requested. Stover did not have the required
number. He took himself to England to petition the King and in order to
be convincing he gave names to every living thing he possessed--dogs,
sheep, horses, cows and pigs! After his successful trip which resulted
in receiving the land grant, he commenced selling small acreages to the
new-comers. He enriched himself materially, but incurred the wrath of
his associates.
German Neighbors
QUAKERS
Long ago, a shrewd trader from New York, John VanMeter, came into the
Valley. He made friends with the Delawares and often went with them on
their hunting trips. Once he even fought on their side against their
enemies, the Catawbas. While on this visit South, he saw for the first
time the fertile native grass, which grew "five or six feet high", in
the Valley. When he returned to New York he told his sons about the rich
country, far to the South, and advised them to secure some of it. One of
them, Isaac, took his father's advice and came to Virginia in 1736-7 and
with a tomahawk cut certain trees, thus making his original claim. This
was called the "Tomakawk Right".
Isaac and his brother John secured a warrant from Governor Gooch for
forty thousand acres of land. Later on they sold or transferred part of
their grant to Joist Hite who was later called the "Old Baron". The
latter was one of the hardiest pioneers and in 1734 was appointed by the
Virginia Council to act as magistrate. This gave him authority to settle
disputes, and to uphold the laws of Virginia as well as to punish all
offenders.
Hite soon built a stone house on Opequon Creek and his sons and
daughters grew to be splendid men and women. His sons-in-law, George
Bowman, Jacob Chrisman and Paul Froman and their families had come with
him from Pennsylvania. Robert McKay, Robert Green, William Duff, Peter
Stevens and several other families helped each other select land, build
homes and a fort.
We are told that the Indians had heard of the kindly relations which
existed between the Indians and William Penn's colonists. We know he
paid the Indians for their lands, and records show that many of the
Germans, especially the Quakers, who settled on Apple Pie Ridge also
bought lands from the Indians. These settlers were never disturbed by
the Indians. However, when it came to the lands which we now call the
Great Valley of Virginia, the Indians were agreed among themselves that
no one tribe was to possess any of it. The lands were so fertile and so
much game feasted there, that all should be at peace when in the Valley.
So when the first Quakers came we find these names recorded: the Neills,
Walkers, Bransons, McKays, Hackneys, Beesoms, Luptons, Barretts, Dillons
and Fawcetts.
Another Quaker, Ross, obtained a warrant for surveying lands and his
lines were run along the Opequon, north of Winchester, and up to Apple
Pie Ridge. Soon many other Quakers from Pennsylvania were moving into
the Valley to settle on Ross's surveys. By 1738 these deeply religious
people had built homes and were holding monthly meetings to worship God.
They had tiny settlements up and down the Valley. They cultivated their
farms, took little interest in politics, cared very little for worldly
intercourse and made excellent neighbors. Their manners and dress were
plain, their furniture only what was necessary, their homes were crude,
but their barns were large and their cattle were well protected.
They refused to pay taxes during the Revolutionary War or to bear arms.
Then their neighbors began to ridicule them, calling them cowards, and
were no longer friendly. Officers came and seized their crops or
property and sold them to raise funds with which to carry on the War
against England. The Legislature enacted a law whereby a Quaker either
had to fight or pay a substitute to fight for him. Their personal
property was put under the hammer and soon they were reduced to poverty.
One incident will give us a picture of those far-off days. James Gotharp
lived with his neighbors on Apple Pie Ridge. One day during the
Revolutionary War officers came, demanding that he should march away
with them to join the militia; he refused. The men forced him to come
along and later he was made a guard. He was placed beside a baggage
wagon and told to let no man go into the wagon who did not have a
written order from the commanding officer. Along came an officer who
started to climb into the vehicle. James called to him and demanded to
see his order of authority. The officer cursed him and stepped up to
climb in. James caught him by his legs and pulled his feet off the step.
This caused the officer to fall, striking his face against the wagon,
bruising his nose and mouth severely.
The dress of the Quakers is still picturesque and many are to be seen in
certain sections of the Valley. They wear a broad brimmed hat, a long
frock coat, generally black. The women wear full skirts, down to their
ankles, black hose, plain black shoes, with round toes. Their bodices,
usually black or gray in color, are severely cut, with long plain
sleeves, with a high neck, relieved by a white collar. They usually wear
a small cap, made of the same material as their dress.
DUNKARDS
Lending an air of uniqueness yet to the Valley towns is that religious
sect called Dunkards. One sees the women of that denomination, with
their little black bonnets, on almost any street in any town along the
Lee Highway.
At one time the sect was called Tunkers. They are an offshoot of the
Seventh-Day Baptists and had their beginnings in the Valley a little
after 1732.
When Dr. Thomas Walker passed through the section on his way westward he
noted in his journal on March 17th, 1750, "The Dunkards are an odd set
of people, who make it a matter of religion not to Shave their Beards,
ly on Beds, or eat Flesh though at present, in the last, they
transgress, being constrained to it, as they say, by the want of a
sufficiency of Grain and Roots, they having not long been seated here. I
doubt the plenty and deliciousness of the Venison and Turkeys has
contributed not a little to this. The unmarried have no private
Property, but live on a common Stock. They don't baptize either Young or
Old, they keep their Sabbath on Saturday, and hold that all men shall be
happy hereafter, but first must pass through punishment according to
their Sins. They are very hospitable."
The Dunkards built a part of their faith around their disapproval of
violence, even for self-defense, and their submission to fraud or
wrongdoing rather than resorting to court trials.
The Scotch-Irish in the Valley
Many reasons caused the people of Europe to emigrate during the
eighteenth century. In Ireland and Scotland an unrest was spreading as
seen in the story of John Lewis.
He was born in Ireland and was a thrifty gentleman. He fell in love with
and married Margaret Lynn, daughter of the laird of Loch Lynn, a
descendant of a powerful Scotch clan. They were very happy with their
three little sons and soon John Lewis rented more lands from a landlord.
These lands brought him more and more wealth and the landlord grew
jealous. He told Lewis that he would not let him continue to cultivate
them, although the lease was not expired.
One day the landlord came to the Lewis home. He brought many of his
hirelings and demanded that Lewis vacate the house at once. At the time,
Lewis' brother was ill and could not help him defend his home.
Margaret, his wife, and a few servants quickly barred the doors and
windows and defied the landlord to enter.
The infuriated man began to fire into the house and one shot killed John
Lewis' brother and one wounded Margaret. John could not stand such an
outrage any longer, so he rushed out and in the fight which followed, he
killed the landlord.
His family and neighbors, knowing the influential Irish would not give
him a fair trial, urged him to flee the country. At last he consented to
go, but before he did, he carefully wrote down all the details of the
trouble and sent it to the proper authorities. Then he hastily left the
country and soon was on his way to Virginia. Lewis went to Williamsburg
after landing in Virginia. There he met a weaver, Salling, who told him
some of the wildest stories he had ever heard.
The weaver had known a peddler, named Marlin, who took his pack far into
the land beyond the mountains and traded his pewter ware, beads,
compasses and other small articles to the Indians for furs. He told
Salling such marvelous stories of the Indians and country that the
weaver asked to let him go on one of his trips with him. This he did,
and the weaver had plenty of adventures before he finally got back to
Williamsburg.
The two men reached the Valley and were far beyond the Blue Ridge
Mountains when the Cherokee Indians, thinking they were spies, took them
prisoners. Marlin had the good fortune to get away, but Salling was
carried farther across another mountain range into what is now Kentucky,
where the Indians went to hunt buffalo. Here the Cherokees were attacked
by their enemies from Illinois. Salling was again captured and carried
off to the southwest. He was adopted by an old Indian squaw as her son
and for some time he lived with her. At last a Spaniard bought him and
took him as an interpreter to Canada. There he met the French Governor
who sent him to New York and after six years, he at last reached
Williamsburg.
You would think Salling after this would have settled down and become a
weaver again. But life was too tame. When Lewis asked him about the
lands in the Valley, Salling decided to take him and the Englishman,
John Mackay, who also wanted to go. Lewis found the country all that
Salling had promised him and he decided to settle on a creek which bears
his name today.
He obtained authority to 100,000 acres of land in and near the ground on
which he built his fort-like house. Before very long, many of his
friends and neighbors from Ireland were on their way to Virginia to join
him. Many of them settled in Western Augusta near Fort Lewis. One can
imagine how happy it made John Lewis to be told that the authorities,
upon investigation, had granted him a pardon and absolved him from all
blame in the killing of his landlord before he left Ireland. These
Scotch-Irish, like their German neighbors, did not have very much
trouble from the Indians for several years.
Thomas, a son of John Lewis, studied and went to represent his county in
the House of Burgesses. He was a man of sound judgment and voted for
Patrick Henry's celebrated resolutions.
Andrew, another son, was a soldier, and made his home in Botetourt
County. During the Indian Wars, he was made a General but not until he
had proved his worth in many a battle. He served with George Washington
on July 4th, 1754 when Fort Necessity was taken, and he was present when
the articles of the treaty were agreed upon. When Washington was made
Commander-in-Chief, it is said he asked Lewis to accept the commission
of brigadier-general. In 1776 he commanded the Virginians when Governor
Dunnmore was driven from Gwynn's Island and we are told he gave the
order for attacking the enemy and he himself lighted the match to the
eighteen-pounder.
General Lewis resigned in 1780 and on his way home was taken ill with
fever. He died near Bedford, about forty miles from home.
We cannot give all the accounts of William, Andrew and Charles, the
other sons, but if one would read interesting captures and escapes from
Indians, he will find that of Charles most exciting.
The sons of John and Margaret Lynn Lewis helped to develop the Valley of
Virginia and their name is an honored one wherever it is found.
Indians
Early historians give us some accounts of the various Indians in
Virginia. Opechancanough, a warrior chief from the East, went to war
with Sherando, a member of the Iroquois tribe. Opechancanough in
crossing the mountains on a foraging expedition was once attacked by
Sherando who felt his tribe should not have to share its hunting grounds
with anyone else and resented the invasion. A fierce battle took place,
with no one victor.
Opechancanough liked the country, so when he returned to his town below
Williamsburg on the Chickahominy, he left his son and a few warriors to
watch the hunting grounds which he had found so rich in game. This son,
Shee-wa-a-nee, with his band soon had to fight the main body of the
Iroquois and Sherando drove the Chief east of the mountains.
Opechancanough left the lowlands as soon as the news was brought to him
by runners. He gathered his warriors and set off with a large force. He
fell upon Sherando and in the fierce battles which followed, he slowly
drove him from his grounds, and he never returned from his home near the
Great Lakes.
Sheewa-a-nee was left again in charge of the Hunting Grounds and from
that day the Shawnees held the lovely Valley until the coming of the
white settlers.
The settlers kept many of the Indian names for both mountains and
streams. Opechancanough river was so called for the Great Chief. Legend
and history tell us that in his later years he became blind and could no
longer hunt in the lovely Shenandoah Valley.
There were many tribes of Indians in the country and though they did not
all speak the same language, they did have a common tongue and could
understand each other.
After 1710 all the lands west of the Blue Ridge Mountains were spoken of
as Indian Country. The different tribes evidently had understanding
among themselves about certain boundary lines as individual tribes had
certain domains. When one violated these rights, there was a war in
which whole tribes sometimes would be completely wiped out.
The Shawnees, the most powerful and warlike of all, claimed all the
hunting grounds west of the Blue Ridge and as far west across the
Alleghany as the Mississippi. They had three large towns in the Valley.
One was near where Winchester stands today, one on the North River in
Shenandoah County, and one on the South Branch, near where Moorefield is
situated. They did allow other tribes to visit them in the Valley on
condition they pay them tribute in skins or loot.
The next tribe was the Tuscaroras, and they spent most of their time in
what is now West Virginia.
Another tribe was an offshoot from the Sherandos and were called
Senedos. They were completely wiped out by the fierce tribe of Cherokees
from the South, in 1732.
The Catawbas were from South Carolina and had their towns along the
river which still bears that name.
The Delawares came from Pennsylvania and their villages were along the
Susquehanna River. The Susquenoughs were a large and friendly tribe on
the Chesapeake Bay and they were good to the white settlers until their
enemies, the Cenela tribes, drove them away from Tidewater Virginia.
Then they went to the upper Potomac River. The Cenelas soon followed
them to the same region. Another tribe, the Piscataway, lived along the
headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay.
The Cherokees had their villages on the Tennessee River down in the
Carolinas and Georgia and Alabama. This tribe was made up of the nations
of the South, the Muscogluges, the Seminoles, Chickasaws, Choctaws and
Creeks. At certain times, all these Indians made forages into the
Valley. Besides these there were those from New York--the Senecas,
Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas and Cayugas. These were called the Five
Nations and they too claimed the right to hunt in the Valley. These
Indians believed, we are told, that the Great Spirit had given this
Valley to all Indians and it is not surprising that they resented the
coming of the white men who soon began to build homes, barns and fences
and who claimed the right to shoot the Indians if they came on their
property.
Then the French about this time began to build forts along the St.
Lawrence River, the Great Lakes and on down the Mississippi River to the
Gulf of Mexico. The French made every effort to make friends with the
Indians and told them the British had no right to take their lands. The
French said they would protect their rights if the Indians would let
them. Consequently, they became allies of the French and they began to
move their villages and towns toward the French lines. They continued to
keep a part of their homes and to send back bands of hunters to look
after the hunting grounds beyond the mountains.
If the Indians had not been friendly to those pioneers who dared to
build homes in the Valley, there would not have been any civilization
there until a much later date. But as we have seen, many of them came
from Pennsylvania where William Penn and his colonists had dealt so
fairly with the Indians. Naturally then, the Indians thought all the
settlers would be like those. Besides, there were so few of them, they
did not at first realize that their hunting grounds were being taken
from them. Consequently, the Delawares and Catawbas in hunting did no
harm, though they were bitter enemies and the settlers often saw them
with prisoners from the other tribes.
There were Indian villages on the Potomac and on both branches of the
Shenandoah. Numerous Indian mounds and graves are still to be seen in
certain sections of the Valley. Many of these have been opened and
skeletons found to be in a wonderful state of preservation; utensils,
pipes, axes, tomahawks, pots and hominy pestles have been found. Their
pots and utensils were made of a mixture of clay and hard shells, very
crude as to workmanship but very strong.
After twenty or more years of comparative peace, the Indians suddenly
left the Valley. In 1753 messengers came from the Western Indians into
the Valley and invited them to cross the Alleghany mountains. Historians
claim this was done through the influence of the French and later
consequences seem to establish the point.
Indian Tales
In the year 1774 the Indians began to give serious trouble to the
settlers on New River. One day several children, those of the Lybrooks'
and the Snydow's, were playing down by the river. They heard a dog
barking and upon looking up, saw some Indians approaching. One of the
boys ran along the edge of the stream trying to make his escape and warn
the family. But one of the Indians ran ahead and cut off that means of
escape. He also fired at two boys who were farther out in the stream,
but fortunately missed them.
While the Indian was aiming at the boys, one of them ran up a rough path
which had been made by the animals as they went back and forth to drink.
The boy scrambled up this path and darted by the Indian who tried his
best to catch him. The Indian gave pursuit and the boy ran until he came
to a wide gulley about ten feet wide. This the boy easily jumped, but
the Indian hesitated and threw a buffalo tug which struck his head and
hurt his back. But he never stopped running until he reached his
father's home and slipped into the fort where he told the parents of the
attack.
In the meantime, five of the children who were playing in the river
climbed into the canoe. The Indians waded out, then swimming to the side
of it, pulled out the children, killed them, and took their scalps.
An older girl, about thirteen years old, turned over the canoe and swam
downstream, then jumped to the opposite bank. One of the Indians pursued
her and she screamed loudly for help. A faithful guard dog came to her
rescue and as the Indian reached out to grab her, the dog jumped at the
Indian, tearing the flesh in his thigh, and threw him down. This gave
the girl time to make her escape.
The Indian struck the dog a blow with his club which finally made him
let up on the man. The faithful dog went to the canoe and stood guard
over the five scalped children until their people came to take them away
for burial. Then the dog refused to leave the spot and began to howl in
a most pitiful way. He ran into the woods and back again, keeping up his
cries until one of the men followed him to see what was troubling him.
There near a tree, he found a little boy of six years, bleeding to death
from a scalp wound.
In 1760 two Indians were seen hiding around Mill Creek. Mr. Painter, his
brother John and William Moore went in search of them. After some time
they came to a newly fallen pine tree which had a very bushy top.
"We had better be careful," Mathias Painter said as they neared the
fallen tree. "There may be Indians hidden in it." As he spoke, an Indian
fired from the tree. His bullet grazed John's temple not injuring him.
Then the other two white men fired at the Indians, striking one of them
who fell to the ground. They supposed him to be dead, so they pursued
the one who had fled, leaving his gun and loot behind him.
But the Indian was strong and he outran the two men. Imagine their
surprise when they returned, and found the Indian gone whom they had
supposed dead, taking the guns and pack of skins with him. The white men
picked up his trail and followed him. He hid himself in a sink-hole and
when the men came near he opened fire on them. He poured out his powder
on the dry grass in front of him so he could reload his gun more
quickly. He fired at least thirty times before the two men finally were
able to kill him.
The Indian who had gotten away met a young woman of the neighborhood who
was riding horseback. He tore her from the horse and forced her to go
with him. This happened near where New Market stands today. They
travelled about twenty miles or more. The Indian became impatient
because she complained of being so tired. People near Keesleton heard
cries in the night. The next day when they went to see who had made
them, they found a pine knot on which blood was still fresh. Nearby,
they found the poor girl, already dead from the cruel blows and from
loss of blood.
The Moore Massacre
One of the most beautiful sections in Southwestern Virginia is called
Ab's Valley, in Tazewell County. It was first settled by Captain James
Moore, one of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who had moved from
Rockingham County in 1775. There was no river running through the ten
miles of fertile grounds, but several springs watered the tall grass
which afforded fine grazing for stock and game. Captain Moore's
brother-in-law, Mr. Robert Poage, came to live nearby, but they were the
only settlers in that neighborhood. Their nearest neighbors and a fort
were over twelve miles away.
In the Spring of 1782 the Indians came to Mr. Poage's house and burst
through the heavy door without any warning. They did not expect to find
any men there and when they saw there were three they did not attempt to
enter the house. The next morning, a man named Richardson, who worked on
the place, went out to look at some deer skins which he had soaking in a
nearby pond. The Indians crept up and shot him, taking his scalp.
Two years passed before the Indians attacked the Moore family. James, a
young boy of fourteen, was sent by Captain Moore to get some horses from
a field about two miles from his home. He wanted James to go to the mill
and for this he needed an extra horse.
James had gone only a short distance when three Indians sprang from
behind a log and caught hold of the boy. He screamed and the Indian laid
his hand over his mouth and in the Indian language told him to keep
still.
Black Wolf was the name of the middle-aged Indian. His son was about
eighteen years old. The other Indian seemed to be one of Black Wolf's
men. James said he was not so very much frightened after he was told he
belonged to Black Wolf, though he was one of the sternest looking men he
had ever seen. Black Wolf gave James some salt and told him to catch
some of his father's horses for him. James said he would, meaning he
would catch two, and try to make his escape on one of them. But every
time he caught a horse the Indians ran up and frightened it so it would
get away. At last the Indians gathered up their blankets and pots where
they were hidden in the grass and motioned for James to fall in line.
The young Indian went first, then the Indian man, then James, followed
by Black Wolf.
James tried to break off pieces of bushes so his father could tell which
way he had gone. Black Wolf tapped his shoulder and shook his head. Then
he tried to leave signs by digging his toes down into the soft earth.
Again Black Wolf shook his head.
After they had gone a long way, about sundown Black Wolf gave a long
war-whoop. He did the same the next morning at sunrise. The Indians did
this to show they had a prisoner. They gave one cry for each prisoner
taken. If they had taken scalps, the cry would have been a different
kind.
Before they lay down in the thicket that night, Black Wolf searched
James to see if he carried a knife. Then he took out a halter and tied
it fast to James' neck and wrapped the other end around his hand.
The next morning Black Wolf left James with the other two Indians and
went off to get a Dutch oven which he had taken on one of his other
expeditions. He gave this to James to carry. He fastened it to James'
back, but after it rubbed a sore place, James threw it down and refused
to carry it further. Black Wolf then took off the huge bundle which he
carried and told James to take it. But he could not even lift it from
the ground. The Indian then pointed to the Dutch oven, and he found it
was not so bad to carry after he padded it with leaves.
He found out how long the Indians could go without much food. For three
whole days they had only water in which poplar bark had been steeped. On
the fourth day they shot a buffalo. They took a small bit of the meat
and made a clear broth which they drank but Black Wolf did not let them
eat any of the meat until the next day, this being their custom after
fasting.
James said he travelled the whole way barefooted. Of course his feet
became sore from bruises. He saw many rattlesnakes, but he was not
allowed to kill them as the Indians considered them to be their friends.
James knew that the Shawnees, of whom Black Wolf was a member, lived far
to the West. He believed they must be nearing their town after he had
travelled for twenty days. He told of how they made a raft of logs on
which they crossed the Ohio and other streams. He learned how to twine
the long grapevines around the logs to make the raft. He saw how the
Indians made crude pictures in the banks of the streams to let other
Indians know they had a prisoner. Black Wolf stopped and drew three
Indians and a boy.
When the Indians came near their town they painted themselves black.
They left him white as an omen of safety. Black Wolf traded James to his
half-sister for a horse. James later found out why he was not taken into
the town. It was a time of peace and if they had seen the new prisoner,
they might have made him run the gauntlet. The old squaw was kind to him
and sometimes left him alone in the wigwam for days at a time. He said
he prayed to God to keep him safe. We cannot give all his experiences
with the Indians, but he was finally sold to a French trader from
Detroit. His name was Baptist Ariome and he liked James, for he looked
like his own son. He gave the old squaw fifty dollars' worth of silver
brooches, beads, and other trinkets in Indian money.
James met a man who was a trader from Kentucky, a Mr. Sherlock. This man
promised to write to James' father and tell him of his capture, of his
being sold and of his being taken to Detroit. After some time, as we
shall see, he did get back to Virginia.
But in the meantime, many other things were happening to the Moore
family. In July 1786, several of the hundred head of horses which
belonged to Captain Moore came in to the salt block to get salt. Captain
Moore went out to see them, about two hundred yards from the house.
Nearby were two of his children, William and Rebecca, who were coming
from the spring; not far away was another child, Alexander. All at once
a stream of bullets began to fly. Thirty Indians had hidden themselves
in the tall grass which almost surrounded the Moore home. William and
Rebecca were killed instantly. Captain Moore ran to the fence which
separated the lot from the house and as he climbed over, he was struck
by several bullets. The Indians then ran up and scalped him.
Two men who lived with the Moores were not far away in a field, reaping
wheat. When they heard the shooting they ran toward the house but when
they saw it was surrounded by Indians they made their escape and went
off to give the alarm to other settlers who were six miles away.
Mrs. Moore and Martha Evans, the girl in the house with her, quickly
barred the door when they saw the tragedy. They took down the rifles
which had been fired the night before and gave them to an old
Englishman, John Simpson, who was ill, to load for them. But the old man
could not help them, for he had been struck by a bullet as he lay sick.
Martha Evans soon decided to hide under a loose board in the floor of
the cabin. Polly Moore, a little girl of eight, was holding her baby
sister who was screaming with fear. Martha told Polly to get under the
board too, but she decided to stay with the baby.
Then the Indians burst down the door and lunged in. They took Mrs. Moore
prisoner and four children, John, Polly, Jane, and Peggy. They took
everything they fancied, then set the house on fire.
Poor Mrs. Moore saw the Indians kill her son because he was sick and
could not keep up with them. They killed the baby because it cried so
pitiously. They had to have their hands tied, as had James, and they,
too, fasted.
When at last they reached the Indian town, Mrs. Moore and Jane were
killed by torture and death at the stake. Polly was treated more kindly
and was finally sold to a man near Lake Erie, for a half gallon of rum!
Now fate seems to have taken a hand in bringing Polly and her brother
James together in that far-away country. While on a hunting expedition
James heard about the destruction of his family. He was told that his
sister Polly had been bought by a Mr. Stogwell, a man of bad character.
It was in the Winter, so James waited until Spring when Mr. Stogwell
moved into the same section of the country where he was living.
When James went to see them he found Polly very miserable. Her clothing
was only rags and she had almost lost hope of ever seeing any of her
people again. James found that Mr. Stogwell was unkind, too, so he went
with Simon Girty to Colonel McKee, Superintendent of Indians, to get her
release. He had Mr. Stogwell brought to trial, but they did not have
enough evidence and Polly could not leave him. However, after much
trouble, James was able to get passage for Polly and himself on a
trading boat and came down the Great Lakes. They landed in a Moravian
town where they met some friends owning horses. They journeyed to
Pittsburgh and stayed until Spring. Then they set off for Virginia, sad,
of course, knowing how few there would be to welcome them. Yet they were
delighted to find their brother Joseph was still safe. He had been
visiting his grandfather in Rockbridge County at the time of the
massacre.
Polly met and married the Reverend Samuel Brown, a Presbyterian
preacher. They had seven sons, and five of them were ministers.
Washington's Boyhood Friend--Lord Fairfax
"The Proprietor of the Northern Neck," Lord Fairfax, lived at "Greenway
Court" after first having a country seat at Belvoir near the Potomac
River in what is now Fairfax County.
An interesting character this Fairfax must have been. Born with a title
in England, he moved in intellectual circles there, was acquainted with
men of letters such as Addison and actually contributed some articles to
the _Spectator_. Either through boredom or a disappointment in not
winning the lady of his choice he decided to leave his country and come
to Virginia.
It may be of passing interest to learn that Lord Fairfax, although
proprietor of thousands upon thousands of acres, lived in a
comparatively simple way. His home was an unpretentious story and a half
frame building, situated in a large grove of trees, and surrounded by
smaller homes for servants and tenants. "Greenway Court," the name given
the home, very probably lacked more indications of elegance and grace
because of Fairfax's bachelor state.
A mile from the house he had erected a white-oak post which served as
guide for those in search of his dwelling. At White Post, the village
which derived its name from the signpost, one may see a replica of the
original, located on the site of the first one placed there in 1760 by
the proprietor.
His domain, called the "Northern Neck of Virginia," comprised the
present counties of Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, Westmoreland,
Stafford, King George, Prince William, Fairfax, Loudon, Fauquier,
Culpeper, Clarke, Madison and Page in Virginia and numerous counties in
West Virginia.
Lord Fairfax was exceptionally interested in fox hunting and reserved
great tracts for this sport. Sometimes he spent weeks at a time hunting.
He made a rule that whoever caught the fox should cut off its tail and
hold it aloft and should have no part of the expense of the subsequent
frolic. As soon as a fox was started all the young men would gallop off
at a great rate, while Fairfax waited behind with a servant familiar
with the hills and streams and who had a good ear; following the
servant's directions he frequently stuck the fox's tail in his hat and
rejoined the hunters!
Familiar to everyone is the fact that Lord Fairfax engaged Washington, a
boy of about sixteen, to survey his vast lands beyond the Blue Ridge.
Through this undertaking the latter gained a thorough knowledge of
frontier life and a reputation for dependability and self-confidence.
These attributes were to be needed later for participation in the French
and Indian War. A warm and lasting friendship grew up between the
proprietor and Washington.
Being British by birth and sympathy the course of the Revolution was
watched with mingled hopes and anxieties by Fairfax. When news of the
final capitulation at Yorktown arrived late in October 1781 the feeble,
disappointed and tired old man called his servant and asked to be put to
bed since he felt the time had come for him to die. In December of that
same year the great proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia died.
Winchester--The Frontier Town of the Valley
The first inhabitants of Winchester were a large tribe of Shawnee
Indians. Two houses occupied by white men are supposed to have been
standing as early as 1738.
Known as Old Town and Fredericktown it was named Winchester in 1752 in
honor of the English home of its founder, Colonel James Wood. The
settlement grew so rapidly it was necessary several times to enlarge its
boundaries. Colonel Wood and Lord Fairfax both donated additional lots
in order to extend the corporate limits of the town.
During the French and Indian War Colonel George Washington was asked to
go to Winchester to defend the Valley. He found refugees overrunning the
place and determined to build a fort on the outskirts of the town which
would afford protection in case of raids. He imported his own blacksmith
to do the foundry work, so anxious was he to speed the construction of
the fortifications. Fort Loudon was the name given, after Lord Loudon
the commander of the colonial forces, and a successful defense was made
against the French there. It may be of interest to learn that the fort's
bastion still remains and the well which supplied water during the
French and Indian War is still in use today.
No account of Winchester would be complete if the story of General
Daniel Morgan were omitted. Of Scotch-Irish extraction he came with his
parents from New Jersey to the new settlement. As a youngster he was
considered something of a bully. The story goes that around
"Battletown," an intersection in the roads where toughs used to fight
for the joy of combat, young Morgan was in the habit of placing large
stones at strategic points. In case he had to retreat he was able to
draw on this supply of ammunition!
Tradition has it that on one occasion young Dan Morgan had just arrived
in Winchester from the Western settlements on the South Branch--as a
driver of a pack for the fur traders. George Washington was ready with
his small party to go to the Ohio Country with a message to the French
officials not to continue their fort building on English property.
[Illustration:-_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_
GEORGE WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, WINCHESTER, VA.]
Washington's journal gives the following notes: "On Ye 17th day of Ye
month of Novemo,--the party consists of one guide and packer, one Indian
interpreter, one French interpreter and four gentlemen." We know now
that the celebrated Gist was his guide and Vanbraam his interpreter. It
is said that Morgan offered his services too as a guide, and was
accepted. It was on this perilous trip, perhaps, that each of these
young men realized the fine traits of the other.
It was Daniel Morgan who, at the outbreak of the Revolution, marched a
hundred men with one wagon of supplies to Boston to report to General
Washington. He fought at Quebec and Saratoga and defeated Tarleton at
Cowpens. He had charge of Hessian prisoners captured at Saratoga and
there are evidences yet of his supervision of construction of stone
walls and homes and the mill at Millwood built with prisoner labor.
"Saratoga" is the name he gave his home near Boyce; it was built mainly
by the Hessian artisans. On his way to Gettysburg in 1863 General Lee
used the fine old house as headquarters. This estate is on the road
between Winchester and Boyce and is in full view of the highway.
There is a wealth of amusing tales told about the old city, some dating
as far back as its conception; others have to do with the activities of
later times.
The story is still heard in Winchester of the time when guests and
village loafers were congregated in one of the taverns at the close of a
day to discuss weighty topics over their glasses of ale. From a window
they saw an old man get out of his gig, taking with him luggage for
overnight accommodation. The gig was comparable to the famed One Horse
Shay in its state of near collapse. Comments were passed among the group
inside as to the man's shabby appearance, his business and ultimate
destination. He was soon forgot in the midst of the ensuing conversation
between several young lawyers, one of whom remarked that he had heard a
sermon delivered which equalled the eloquence and fluency usually
reserved to lawyers pleading their cases. This brought forth eventually
a heated discussion of the merits of the Christian religion, argued pro
and con by those present lasting from six in the evening till eleven.
Finally one young fellow turned to the quiet old traveller. The latter
had sat with apparent interest and meekness throughout the five-hour
debate and had not joined in. The question was asked, "Well, old
gentleman, what's your opinion?"
The reply lasted almost an hour; he answered argument for argument in
the exact order in which each had occurred and with the greatest
simplicity and dignity. At the conclusion no one spoke for some time. At
last inquiry was ventured as to his identity. He was Chief Justice John
Marshall.
In his _Virginia: A History of the People_ John Esten Cooke relates this
story. An Irish laborer and his wife came in 1767 to the lower valley
country and stopped at the home of a Mr. and Mrs. Strode, German
landowner. For several years they lived with the German family and
during the time a son was born. When they decided to push on farther
south the Strode children followed, begging that they leave the little
boy behind with them. They had become very much attached to the baby and
were reluctant to see him go away. The parents naturally refused the
request. While stopping for a short rest they placed the baby on the
ground and the children would have run off with him if they could.
The family kept its southward course and at last reached the Waxhaws in
North Carolina. Here the boy grew up and later his name was familiar to
every one--Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States.
The legend may or may not be true, according to Mr. Cooke. But at least
there was a clear, cool spring on the Strode farm called "Jackson's
Spring."
A pamphlet compiled at Winchester on "What To See and How To See It"
tells us that the town changed hands seventy-six times during the War
Between the States. Other sources give a fraction of a smaller figure.
The exact number of times the town was under first Federal then
Confederate forces does not matter, but it is well to know that so much
of the fighting took place around the neighborhood. More will be said
about the Valley warfare later on.
Beginning in November 1861 and continuing until March of the following
year General Jackson had his headquarters in Winchester. After finding
suitable quarters he sent for his wife who had remained at their home in
Lexington, Virginia. Colonel Henderson in his well-known book,
_Stonewall Jackson,_ quotes Mrs. Jackson as saying of her stay that
Winter:
"The Winchester ladies were amongst the most famous of Virginia
housekeepers, and lived in a good deal of old-fashioned
elegance and profusion. The old border town had not then
changed hands with the conflicting armies, as it was destined
to do so many times during the war. Under the rose-colored
light in which I viewed everything that winter, it seemed to me
that no people could have been more cultivated, attractive, and
noble-hearted. Winchester was rich in happy homes and pleasant
people; and the extreme kindness and appreciation shown General
Jackson by all bound us to them so closely and warmly that ever
after that winter he called the place our 'war home'."
Winchester rightly claims that it is in the "heart of the apple
industry," for thousands of acres are devoted to the growing of fine
apples. Over a million barrels are harvested annually and at Winchester,
we believe, is the largest cold storage apple plant in the world.
Celebrating its crop each year, the city stages an apple blossom
festival during the latter part of April or the first of May when the
orchards for miles around are filled with the delicately tinted pink
blooms. This is a lavish sort of entertainment. A queen is selected to
reign over the festivities, her maids are invited from surrounding
sections of the country to participate in the parades and balls which
are given during the days' programs. If you haven't been already, plan
to attend an Apple Blossom Festival and see Virginia in one of her
prettiest moods--with gay young ladies and bloom-filled orchards.
You know of the "Tom, Dick and Harry" trio of Winchester and its
neighborhood, don't you? They are the world famous Byrd brothers,
descendants of the founder of Richmond, Colonel William Byrd of Westover
on the James. Tom Byrd is a successful planter and orchardist. Richard
Byrd is noted for his polar expeditions; now he is devoting all his
energies towards the perpetuation of peace for our country. Harry Byrd
was at one time a progressive young Governor of the State and now serves
as a Senator in the United States Congress.
The Valley Pike
"Route Eleven" as the road is called from Winchester to Bristol is one
of the most historic as well as the most beautiful in all Virginia. It
stretches, like a broad silver ribbon, for over three hundred and fifty
miles. It begins at the northern end of the Valley, near the Potomac
River, and leads one through the fertile Valley, southward and winding
ever westward through the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany mountains.
Let us review this famous driveway. Long before the coming of the white
men, the Indians followed almost a natural trail, as they journeyed back
and forth into the richest hunting grounds known anywhere in all their
world. Along it they found the big elk, bear, buffalo, wolves, foxes,
wild turkeys and smaller game.
The first pioneers followed this Indian Trail, as they called it. Then,
as they developed the country more and more, they brought in horses and
oxen. This made a wider road and soon they were rolling their hogsheads
of tobacco and grain over it. They carried their products to market in
heavy wagons, swapping their wild bees' honey, venison, grain, and
hand-woven linen for the precious salt, sugar, iron and lead. Over this
road came an ever increasing number of other pioneers to settle near
those already living in the rich Valley. They brought their furniture,
guns, and families and a most fervent respect for the priceless liberty
to be found there. Liberty where one could worship God as one pleased.
Liberty where one's children could share in the development and in a new
country, full of opportunities.
Historians claim that the young George Washington surveyed this road
through the Valley. Engineers today say that he did a wonderful work and
that they would make a few changes in it. Let us look at some of the
famous names of those who lived near or travelled over it. Some of them
lived within sight of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains while others
visited from one end of it to the other. As one travels near Winchester,
he reads the names of John Marshall, George Washington, and General
Morgan. From Charlottesville one reads of Patrick Henry visiting Thomas
Jefferson at Monticello. There, too, were Lewis and Clarke, men famous
in the development of our West, the McCormicks, the Houstons, the
Austins and other noted Virginians who went West and settled there.
By now the Road was being called by many names, such as "The Old Indian
Trail", "The Great Road", the "Settlers's Road", while still others
called it the "Wilderness Road".
Then came peace and prosperity after the French and Indian War and that
of the Revolution. Finer horses and carriages were being brought into
the Valley and so a better road had to be built. Some thrifty soul
suggested having a splendid road which should be maintained by
tollgates. And so was built the famous "Valley Pike". This was the
pride, not only of the Valley, but of all Virginia and the South.
Interesting stories are told every day, as one travels over this
beautiful road, such as that of Charlotte Hillman who kept a tollgate
along the Pike. While Sheridan was making his famous raid through the
Valley (when he remarked that a crow travelling through the countryside
would have to carry a knapsack with provisions for his flight), he came
to the tollgate. Charlotte let down the gate and demanded toll from the
army before allowing it to pass. The General and his staff paid the toll
but he refused to pay for the entire corps. She lifted the gate but cut
a notch on a tree for every ten soldiers who passed. At the close of the
War she presented the United States Government with a bill--which is
said to have been paid in full.
Today Route Eleven is known as the Lee-Jackson Highway, so called in
honor of Generals Robert Edward Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson. As you
travel through the Great Valley of Virginia may you know more intimately
the great men and women who have built not only the Great Valley of
Virginia, but who have helped in the making of America. We hope this
little book may make you know them and love Virginia more ... and we
hope you will come again and again to enjoy the Great Valley of
Virginia. Berryville
Long before the County of Clarke was ordered to be carved from
Frederick, a town was established called Battletown. This was so called,
says tradition, because of the rough and-tumble fights of the gang who
met there to drink their ale.
Daniel Morgan, a picturesque character of the Valley, thought he had the
right to stop such fights and so he frequently got into the fray. Old
records show that Morgan sometimes had to pay a fine "for misbehavior."
But no doubt it was here that he won his strength and learned to
out-match the toughs of the neighborhood. Certainly he won a reputation
for his prowess, and as a general he won distinction.
The town changed its name in 1798 when it was granted a charter and
became Berryville. It was named for its founder Benjamin Berry, who
donated the land and when Clark County was formed in 1836, Berryville
was chosen as the county seat.
Tradition tells us that George Washington boarded with Captain Charles
Smith when he was in the Valley surveying for Lord Fairfax. This home
was about a half mile from the present Berryville. His office while in
the Valley was a small log building which was used as a spring house for
"Soldier's Rest." A cold spring of water flows under the floor of the
first room, which is about twelve feet square. George used the room
upstairs for his sleeping quarters. It was there he kept his instruments
and carefully recorded in his diary his experiences. It was there he
made out his reports for Lord Fairfax. Howe, an early historian, tells
us about that youth of sixteen. Quoting Bancroft, he writes: "The woods
of Virginia sheltered the youthful George Washington, the son of a
widow. Born by the side of the Potomac, beneath the roof of a
Westmoreland farmer, almost from infancy his lot had been the lot of an
orphan. No academy had welcomed him to its shade, no college crowned him
with its honors, to read, to write, to cipher--these had been his
degrees of knowledge. And now at sixteen years, in quest of an honest
maintainance, encountering intolerable toil, cheered onward by being
able to write to a boyhood friend, 'Dear Richard, a doubloon is my
constant gain every day, and sometimes six pistoles.' He was his own
cook, having no spit but a forked stick, no plate but a large chip;
roaming over the spurs of the Alleghanies and along the banks of the
Shenandoah, alive to nature, among skin-clad savages, with their scalps
and rattles, or uncouth emigrants that would never speak English, rarely
sleeping in a bed, holding a bear skin a splendid couch, glad of a
resting place for a night upon a little hay, straw or fodder ... this
stripling surveyor in the woods, with no companion but his unlettered
associates, and no implements of science but his compass and chain,
contrasted strangely with his fellows. And yet God had not selected a
Newcastle, nor a monarch of the Hapsburg, nor of Hanover, but the
Virginia Stripling to give to human affairs and as far as events can
depend upon individuals, had placed the rights and destinies of
countless millions in the keeping of the widow's son."
While in the Valley of Virginia the young George Washington learned how
to tell the age of various trees by the thickness of their bark. The
older a tree is, the thicker the bark and it is much rougher and thicker
on the north side of the tree. He learned to know the course of the
winds and to get to the leeward of his game when out hunting for food or
skins. This was done by putting his finger in his mouth and holding it
there until it became warm, then holding it high above his head; the
side which became cold showed him which way the wind was blowing. He
learned that the deer always seeks the sheltered places and the leeward
side of the hills. In rainy weather, they keep in the open woods and on
the highest grounds. He found that the fur or skins of animals are good
in all those months in which an "R" is found in the spelling.
He learned how to track animals, to know the various birds' songs and
cries. He watched the hunters build their camp fires and learned how to
cook his own game.
Front Royal
As most of us know, Charles II lived in such extravagant style and had
such a luxurious court he had difficulty in keeping his bills paid. He
was accustomed to resorting to one scheme after another in order to
raise revenue. At one time he dreamt of great wealth from the Virginia
colony through its tobacco crop--and it did supply him generously with
taxes.
Realizing a lucrative business might be established by trading in furs
with the Indians, Charles ordered Governor Berkeley to send explorers
beyond the mountains. The governor chose a man of whom history records
very little. John Lederer was at one time a Franciscan monk. He
obviously had leanings towards an adventuresome life. In 1761 he set out
for the West, under the compulsion of Governor Berkeley. The party was
composed of five Indian guides and a Colonel Catlett. They went through
Manassas Gap in the neighborhood of Front Royal.
The expedition proved a failure because of the unfriendly attitude of
the Indians and the roughness of the country. Charles was destined for
another disappointment.
White settlers came to Front Royal as early as 1734 and built their
little houses in sheltered coves near the Shenandoah. Soon, news of the
desirable home sites in the Valley attracted other settlers. Lehewtown
was the early name given the settlement.
Rough characters began to find their way here and shootings, brawls and
hard drinking were the order of the day--so much so that the place later
became known as "Helltown." However, it acquired more dignity and order
with the years and about 1788 it was incorporated under the name of
Front Royal. And why did the town get its double name? There are several
existing legends as to the derivation of the town's present name.
The trails from Page and Shenandoah valleys crossed at this point. One
account states that the settlers going from one place to another met at
a tavern at the crossroads where the Royalist troops were stationed.
Hence ground around the town was a military post. When the sentry on
guard called out "Front" and the settlers were not able to give the
password "Royal." The name Camp Front Royal was given the post and later
it was known by the last two words.
* * * * *
A particularly tragic battle occurred at Front Royal in May, 1862, when
the First Maryland Regiment of the Union forces met the First Maryland
Regiment of the Confederate Army. It happened when Stonewall Jackson
came out suddenly from the Page valley and attacked General Banks' left
wing stationed at this town. The Federals were defeated and were driven
on through Rivertown where they tried hard to burn the bridges and cut
off the Confederate advance. The cavalry of the latter under Ewell saved
the bridges which spanned the two branches of the Shenandoah River.
About two weeks later the Confederates themselves burned the bridges,
but this was after Jackson had flanked Banks away from the position at
Strasburg, followed him to Winchester and won a victory there.
Flint Hill
In 1861 young Albert Willis was a theological student. Like many others,
he left his studies to enter the services of the Confederate Army. While
he was not a chaplain in Mosby's Rangers in which he had enlisted, he
did carry on his pastoral work with the men by giving them Bibles,
holding some services, and writing home for those who could not write;
no day passed during which he did not find an opportunity to be of
service to the men.
One day in October, 1864 he was granted a furlough and was riding
southward to Culpeper, hoping to reach his home in that county. Not far
away from Flint Hill his horse lost a shoe, so he stopped at Gaines
Mill. There was a rickety old blacksmith shop at the crossroads. It had
been raining and he was very wet. While the horse was being shod, he
stood near the fire to dry his boots. The beat of the hammer on the iron
drowned out the sounds of approaching horses on which rode Federal
soldiers.
Willis was taken captive and joined another prisoner outside. The two
Confederates were told that one of them must die in reprisal for the
death of a Federal soldier who had been killed the day before.
The prisoners were carried before General William H. Powell, Union
Cavalry leader. Someone told General Powell that Mr. Willis was a
chaplain.
"If you are a chaplain," General Powell told him, "your life will be
spared."
"I am not a chaplain," the young Confederate replied, "I am a soldier,
fighting in the ranks."
General Powell then told the Confederates that one of them would be
hanged within an hour. They would be given straws to draw lots. In this
way would one be spared.
Willis replied that he was a Christian and was not afraid to die. He
insisted that the other Confederate who was a married man, be set free.
The doomed man was led out to a spot on the road near Flint Hill. A rope
was placed around his neck while the other end was tied to a young
sapling which had been bent down by the weight of several Federal
soldiers.
While the preparations were being made, young Willis knelt down and
prayed. A witness said he never heard such a beautiful prayer, lacking
all bitterness. When he was through, the men released the tree and it
sprang into its natural position, swinging Willis high into the air,
where the body was left.
When the Federals had gone, Mr. John Ricketts came by with a companion
and they cut down the rope, took the body of the brave Confederate and
buried it in the cemetery at Flint Hill. Today there is a stone which
marks his resting place and every Spring women go and place flowers on
his grave. Nearby is a small chapel named in honor of him--"Willis
Chapel."
General Powell knew that young Willis was not accused as a spy, but he
was carrying out an order, issued in August 1864 by General U. S. Grant,
which read: "When any of Mosby's men are caught hang them without
trial."
The Skyline Drive
This world famous drive is not very old in point of years, but its lure
has and is attracting thousands of visitors every week to see the
beauties along its borders. Beginning at the northern entrance at Front
Royal, one winds around curving grades of finely built roads which pass
through great forests of oak, walnut, maple and wonderful specimens of
evergreens.
West of the Drive one sees the eastern section of the Shenandoah Valley
and Massanutten Mountain which divides the Shenandoah River into two
forks for fifty miles or more. The river winds in and out and at one
place the guide will point out eleven bits of blue river spots as it
makes as many turns through the Valley. One thinks of old patchwork
quilts as he looks into the Valley below, for there are patches of
green fields, oblong bits of blue water, red roofs of barns and homes,
besides the various shades of greenwood lots.
[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_
VIEW ALONG THE SKYLINE DRIVE IN THE SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK]
And no matter when or how often one goes, the views are never the same.
Sometimes the blue haze from the Blue Ridge Mountains makes the sunlight
turn to a golden mist. Clouds often cast huge moving shadows over the
fields and forests below--and sometimes they shut out the patchwork
entirely, leaving the visitor in a gray world, with only himself and the
clouds below and above. But this is unusual.
Tall stark gray chestnut trees make a striking contrast against the
greens and flowers, especially in the Fall when the leaves are so
brilliantly colored. These once-producing nut trees were killed by
blight years ago.
Occasionally one's attention is caught by a moving object high above on
some peak. This will prove, upon investigation, to be a hiker, or maybe
two or more. Every year more and more of these nature lovers are using
the Appalachian Trail, which, as you know, is the foot-trail from Maine
to Georgia. It was through the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club that this
link in the trail was included in the Skyline Drive and they maintain
locked shelters for hikers along the way within the park.
Other trails invite one to lofty peaks through wild canyons and into
groves of giant hemlocks. Another takes one through White Oak Canyon
where a stream of pure water tumbles over huge rocks and makes a
snow-white misty spray. Here one sees rare wild flowers, ferns, moss and
herbs. There are trout lilies, Solomon's-seal, Hepaticæ and many other
varieties of flowers.
There is a trail to Big and Little Devil's Staircases where two hundred
foot cliffs protect narrow canyons filled with maidenhair fern,
spleenwort, cinnamon, wild parsley, ginseng and ginger. Tall maple and
tulip trees are lovingly intertwined by such clinging vines as trumpet
vines and honeysuckle while at their feet grow rare ferns and carpets of
moss. One hears the songs of the birds and sees the flashing of their
brilliant colored wings.
Not far from Mary's Rock is Skyland. Here the tourist finds
accommodations for overnight or longer. Big roaring fires at evening
make visitors linger to listen to the stories of the Valley.
Horseback riding is great sport for the Skyline guests who explore the
various trails nearby.
The visitor may leave the drive at Panorama and go west down the
mountain to Luray. Or he may go east from Panorama down a lovely road to
Sperryville. Then on Route 211 he may motor north to Washington or, if
he would like to go by way of Culpeper, Madison, Orange and
Fredericksburg, he would find a rolling country and inviting roads to
the west, south and east.
If the visitor would continue the drive to Swift Run Gap, he could go
over the Spotswood Trail to Elkton and to the Valley beyond. If he would
go east, he would also use the Spotswood Trail to Stanardsville and
Gordonsville, then to Orange or to Charlottesville.
Who dreamed the dream or had the first vision of the Skyline Drive? What
farsighted men started the movement which resulted in our national
government's making a great scenic park in Virginia?
A bulletin from the _Commonwealth_ gives the following summary:
"The movement which has made this area a national park was
begun in 1924 when the director of the National Park Service
and the Secretary of the Interior conferred on the
establishment of a park in the southern Appalachian Mountains.
The Secretary appointed a committee to choose the most
attractive and suitable area; in December, 1924, his committee
voted unanimously for the area of the Blue Ridge mountains
between Front Royal and Waynesboro to be the first large
national park in the East....
"Acquisition of the area was a very difficult task. In 1926 the
newly created Virginia State Commission on Conservation and
Development started field work, and the Shenandoah National
Park Association began a campaign to raise funds for the
purchase of the land. The required area was made up of 3,870
separate tracts. Most of the owners did not wish to sell; land
titles were not clear nor boundaries well defined; sufficient
money to make the purchase was not available. Congress reduced
the minimum area required for administration, protection, and
development of the park by the National Park Service. Certain
individuals made large donations. The Virginia legislature
appropriated $1,000,000 for acquisition and passed a special
law providing for wholesale condemnation of the land. Finally,
in 1935, at a total cost of approximately $2,000,000, 275
square miles were acquired, and the deed to the park area was
presented to the United States government by the State of
Virginia.
"The completion of this tremendous task of acquiring and
establishing the Shenandoah National Park has made available to
the people of the United States, for recreational and
educational purposes, an unusually attractive region of
mountains, hollows, dashing streams, forests and flowers.
"The mountains rise to a maximum height of slightly more than
4,000 feet above sea level, or approximately 3,200 feet above
the surrounding country."
Strasburg
We can hardly mention a Valley town which has retained its original name
throughout the years. What is now known as Strasburg was in the
beginning called Staufferstadt, which indicates its German background.
Peter Stover was the founder from whom the settlement took its name but
when he had the town incorporated in 1761 he changed it to Strasburg in
honor of his home city in Germany.
There are evidences of the pioneer life of the Valley to be seen near
here. A house built about 1755 and occupied by the Hupps was so
constructed as to serve efficiently as a fort during the Indian raids;
this may still be seen. The home of George Bowman, a son-in-law of Joist
Hite, is also close by Strasburg.
Joist Hite had four famous grandsons born at this Bowman home. John was
a governor of Kentucky. Abraham was a Colonel in the Revolutionary War
and Isaac also served in that war. Joseph served under General George
Rogers Clark in the expedition to the Northwest Territory.
The story is told that a party of eight Indians with a white man named
Abraham Mitchell killed George Miller and his wife and two children just
two miles from Strasburg. They also killed John Dellinger and took his
wife and baby prisoners.
A group of white men set out to find them and overtook the Indians in
the South Branch Mountains. They fired upon the Indians and killed one
of them, allowing the others to make their escape. Mrs. Dellinger was
forgotten in their flight so she came home with her neighbors. She told
them the Indians had killed her baby by dashing out its brains on a
tree--a favorite means of execution with them.
Samuel Kercheval, who so frequently is quoted by us and of whom we have
written elsewhere is buried near Strasburg at "Harmony Hall."
The town saw Union and Confederate troops march by during the length of
the war and several battles took place not far distant. A few trench
lines may still be seen around the countryside. "Banks' Folly" was
erected by General Banks when he expected Jackson to invade the
territory from the south and later found to his dismay that the
Confederates had entered the Valley from the opposite direction. Signal
Knob on top of Massanutten Mountain was used by the latter general as a
means of communication with the main division of the army on the
Rappahannock River.
Orkney Springs
Orkney Springs, earlier known as the Yellow Springs, was named for the
Earl of Orkney and was surveyed by George Washington, according to some
accounts. The Springs may be reached by travelling west of Mount
Jackson.
"The Orkney Springs are composed of several lively springs and
are strongly chalybeate. Everything the water touches or passes
through, or over, is beautifully lined with a bright yellow
fringe or moss. The use of this water is found beneficial for
the cure of several complaints. A free use of this water acts
as a most powerful cathartic, as does also a small quantity of
the fringe or moss, mixed with common water."
So stated the historian Howe concerning the Springs. Around the waters
there grew up a tiny village which accommodates the visitors to the
section. An excellent hotel caters to the guests who seek either quiet
and rest or zestful games.
Near Orkney Springs there is a beautiful outdoor shrine where the
Episcopal Church holds regular and impressive services during the Summer
months--Shrinemont.
Stephens City
An act of the General Assembly in 1758 made Stephens City, or
Stephensburg as it was then known, the second town in the Valley. The
first was Winchester. Lewis Stephens the founder of this town came to
Virginia with Joist Hite in 1732.
Later on this was a thriving town manufacturing the Newtown-Stephensburg
wagon that was the pride of teamsters who travelled all roads leading
south and west. They took merchandise into the wilderness and returned
with furs, skins and other products sent back by those settlers who had
pushed on farther into the wilds of Virginia. Many a covered wagon which
saw the plains of the Middle West had its birth in Stephensburg.
When the Forty-Niners created companies which sent supplies to the gold
fields of California they found that few wagons lasted more than six
months. At last they began to order those being made in Stephensburg.
These were found to be sturdier in build and could stand the strain of
the rough roads and paths longer than other wagons on the market.
The stores in the town were good ones, and often covered wagons came in
drawn by splendid horses. The drivers of these teams put up overnight at
the old taverns and many of the citizens gathered after supper to hear
the news of what was going on in Alexandria or in Tennessee. The drivers
would be called personal shoppers today, for they brought lists of
articles to be carried back into the far-off country for the convenience
of the homesteaders there. The lists probably included sugar, tea and
coffee, cloth by the bolt and household articles. You can imagine the
joy with which the covered wagons would be sighted days later!
During Jackson's Valley Campaign the village was known as Newtown and
mention is made in this book of fighting in the neighborhood.
Today the main industry centers around lime which is found in large
quantities close by.
Middletown
As an early village this was known as Senseny Town, in honor of the
doctor by that name who owned the land. In 1795 it was called
Middletown. Long ago it was a manufacturing town and was noted for the
fine clocks and watches which were splendid time-keepers for the
punctual and thrifty Valley folk. In fact, the demands for them came
from far and near. The old wooden wheels were first used, then brass was
introduced and the watch-makers learned to make the eight-day
clocks--the last word in time-keepers until the advent of the modern
electric clocks. The manufacturers of the watches and clocks soon made
instruments for surveyors as well as the much needed compasses.
The first successful effort to produce a machine to take the place of
the flail and threshing floor for threshing wheat from the straw had its
start in this same town. The machines were a marvel in their day and the
villagers talked for months at the time when the machine beat out one
hundred bushels of grain in one day!
The Story Teller of the Valley--Samuel Kercheval
PIONEER LIFE
Samuel Kercheval as a boy saw many of the pioneer men and women who had
cut their homes out of the wilderness. He never tired hearing of how
they had left Germany, and later had come down from Pennsylvania into
the Valley. He himself could remember many of the "Newcomers" who were
themselves pioneers. He loved the stories of the forts, the Indian raids
and the customs of the Germans and Scotch-Irish. He later began to write
down many of these stories and after he was older he rode up and down
the Valley gathering more and more stories and reading wills and old
records. Nothing was of too little value for him to record, even
accounts of the freaks of nature, like a six-legged calf, snakes and
other animals.
When Kercheval's friends insisted that he write a book about the Valley,
he objected until they told him how much the children of the country
would enjoy stories of their grandparents. His own children (there had
been fourteen of them in all), like all children, loved stories. Now he
began to get his notes in shape and about one hundred years after the
first settlers came into the Valley, Samuel Kercheval's _History of the
Valley of Virginia_ was ready for the publishers.
This was so popular that all the first edition was soon exhausted. How
pleased he was with the demands for more of them! However, he died
before the second edition came out. He lived at the time of his death in
1845 at "Harmony Hall" near Strasburg. This had at one time been a fort.
During an Indian raid, we are told, sixteen families sought shelter
within its old stone walls. They lived together so peaceably that they
gave it the name of "Harmony Hall."
It is from Kercheval that we get the first pictures of the Valley. He
writes that it was long beautiful prairie, with tall rich grasses, five
and six feet tall, with fringes of sturdy timbers following its swiftly
running streams. He describes the kinds of soils and tells which is rich
and which is poor. For instance he says where one finds slate he may
rest assured the soil will not produce very good crops. On the other
hand, where one finds limestone the soil will produce fine products,
grains and fruits.
Metal was found in some of the hillsides and mountains. An Englishman
named Powell found silver ore on the mountain which bears his name. He
smeltered the silver and from it made coins. This was breaking the laws,
of course, and soon officers were attempting to arrest him. Powell fled
to his mountain where he had a small fort hidden, and for years eluded
them. After many years men found his little shop where he smeltered the
ore and Kercheval himself saw the crude crucible in which the ore was
refined and the iron utensils also.
Kercheval tells that many of the farmers found it difficult to plough
their lands and to make crops because of the innumerable small and large
stones which they found everywhere. At last they decided to get rid of
them and built many of the stone walls which one sees up and down the
mountain sides, along winding roads and enclosing picturesque homes. He
says the soil is so rich that seeds do not need to be planted very deep,
as they will germinate if there is only enough soil to cover them.
There were great sugar-maple trees too and he tells of those "sugar
hills" in which there are four or five hundred acres of trees. They even
look like sugar loaves from a distance and today on Paddy's Mountain you
may still see some of them. You may already have guessed that the name
Paddy was in honor of the owner Patrick Blake, an Irishman who built in
the gap which is named for him.
Kercheval lists carefully all the various healing springs and gives the
properties of each. He even gives the names of many persons who were
benefitted by drinking from or bathing in them.
Let us pause here and read about these pioneers, how they built their
houses, how they dressed, and something of their superstitions, manners
and customs.
The first settlers built plain sturdy houses made mostly from rough hewn
logs. Some of these were covered with split clapboards, having weight
poles to keep them in place. Many of them had no floors except the earth
itself. If made of wood, they used rough logs, split in two and roughly
smoothed with a broad ax. However, as they improved the lands and their
families grew, some larger houses were built of stone, which the men and
boys brought in from the fields.
The married men generally shaved their heads and they wore wigs or linen
caps. When the Revolutionary War broke out this custom was stopped for
they could no longer buy wigs from Europe and none were made in this
country. There was little linen, so they could not get enough for other
needs and they could do without caps.
The men's coats were mostly made with broad backs and straight short
skirts. These had huge pockets with flaps. The waistcoats had skirts
nearly down to the knees and pockets also. Their breeches were so short
they hardly reached to their knees, and they were fastened with a tight
band. Their stockings were drawn up under the knee-hand and tied with a
red or blue garter below the knee so it could be seen. Their shoes were
made of coarse leather, with straps and they were fastened with buckles
of brass for every day--maybe with silver for Sundays and holidays. The
men's hats were either of wool or fur with a round crown three or four
inches in height and with a very broad brim. The shirt collar was only a
narrow band and over it was worn a white linen stock drawn together at
the ends and fastened with a broad metal buckle.
The women wore a short gown and petticoat of plain materials and a
calico cap. Their hair was combed back from the forehead and made into a
plain knot at the nape of the neck.
The women and girls worked in the fields and wore no shoes except in the
winter. They worked from dawn 'til dark, for they milked, churned, made
cheese, washed and ironed for the family, cooked, spun and wove, knitted
stockings and quilted in their leisure moments. Kercheval tells us how
they made apple butter and sourkrout. Of the latter he wrote:
"Sourkrout is made of the best of cabbage. A box about three
feet in length and six or seven inches wide, with a sharp blade
fixed across the bottom, something on the principle of the
jack plane, is used for cutting the cabbage. The head being
separated from the stalk and stripped of its outer leaves is
placed in this box and run back and forth. The cabbage thus cut
up is placed in a barrel, a little salt is sprinkled on from
time to time, then pressed down very closely and covered at the
open head. In the course of three or four weeks it acquires a
sourish taste and to persons accustomed to the use of it is a
very agreeable food. It is said the use of it within the last
few years on boards of ship has proved it to be the best
preventive known for scurvy. The use of it is becoming pretty
general among all classes in the Valley."
Kercheval even tells us what the pioneers did for medicine. When he was
a boy he saw a man brought into the fort on horseback, who had been
bitten by a rattlesnake. One of the men dragged the snake, fastened to a
forked stick, behind the victim. The body of the snake was cut into
small pieces, split and laid on the wounded flesh. This, they claimed,
would draw out the poison of the bite. When this was done, the snake was
burned to ashes. During this process, others gathered chestnut leaves
and boiled them in a pot. Wide pieces of chestnut bark were applied to
the man's wound and the chestnut-leaf mixture poured over some of the
boiled leaves which had been made into a poultice. This was kept up
during the first day and if not improved, the treatment was continued
the next.
Others suggested using boiled plantain, cooked in milk, which was given
to the patient. Walnut fern was another remedy for snakebite. The braver
patient submitted to cupping, sucking the wound or having someone cut
out the flesh around the bite.
Gunshot wounds were treated with slippery-elm bark, flax seed poultices
or by scraping the wound itself and cauterizing it.
The people suffering from rheumatism were rubbed with oil made from
rattlesnakes, bears, geese, wolves or any wild animal. This was put on a
flannel rag and bound to the parts affected.
There were all kinds of syrups made from herbs such as spike nard and
elecampane for coughs and tuberculosis. The Germans used songs or
incantations for the cure of burns, nose-bleed and toothache. For one
afflicted with erysipelas the blood of a black cat was given. Hence
there were few cats which had not lost parts of their ears or tails.
The sports of the boys in those early days were mostly those which
developed their physical bodies. The boys were given a gun almost as
soon as they were strong enough to carry one. They learned to make their
own bows and to sharpen their own arrows and many of them could shoot as
straight as the Indians who still roamed the hills.
Throwing the tomahawk was another favorite sport. This axe-like weapon
with its handle will make so many turns in a given distance. With a
little practice a boy soon learned to throw his tomahawk and strike a
tree as he walked through the forest.
When a boy was twelve, he had his own small rifle and pouch and was made
a member of the fort. He was given a certain port hole through which he
took careful aim. He was often allowed to go with older men on hunting
trips if he had proved himself worthy to be "among men."
Dancing as we know it was unknown, but few ever enjoyed anything more
than those boys and girls did dancing their jigs and reels. Their music
was simple and singing was something both old and young enjoyed to the
fullest. Story-telling was an art then, and year by year, old, old tales
grew longer and longer and Jack the hero, always conquered all the
giants.
There was witchcraft in the Valley too, and when a crow or calf died or
was sick, the owner often thought a witch had shot it with a hair ball
or with some kind of curse. When a man lost his cunning in his once good
aim, he was sure some one had put a "spell" on him. Some actually
believed men were changed into horses and after being bridled, they were
ridden all over the countryside. Many men thought this was why their
bones ached and they felt too tired to work their farms.
The men who did strange things were spoken of as wizards. Some called
them witch-masters, and these claimed they could stop the mischievous
work of the witches and cure baffling diseases.
When a child was born with a frail body, or developed rickets, it was
often thought to be caused by the spells of someone unfriendly to the
family.
If one would get rid of the witch in his neighborhood a picture of the
supposed witch was drawn on a board or on a stump and shot at with a
bullet which contained a bit of silver. This bullet, if it struck the
picture, was thought to put a spell on the witch.
We may smile at the thought of those superstitions, but few of us, if we
are honest, will not admit that we have one pet superstition just as
foolish as those referred to above.
Kercheval tells us how difficult it often was for the farmer to retain
all of his crops. There were so many animals, like the squirrels and
raccoons, which liked their grains. Storms would come and huge trees
would fall on their fences, letting their horses and cattle get into the
fields.
He makes us realize how difficult it was to procure the necessities of
life. Where, for instance did they get the mills with which to grind
their grains, where the instruments with which to make their farming
implements and their household cooking utensils? Who were their weavers,
their shoemakers, tailors, tanners and wagon makers? Of course there
were none, for each farmer and his family had to rely on what they could
do with their own hands or what they could trade to some neighbor in
return for something done for him.
The first mills or hominy blocks were made of wood. A block of wood
about three feet long was burned at one end, wide at the mouth and
narrow at the bottom, so that when the pestle hit the corn it was thrown
up and as it fell down to the bottom it was mashed. Gradually, each
grain of corn was ground to a like size. When the corn was soft, as it
was in the Fall, this grinding made a fine meal for mush or "journey
cake" as they called this form of bread. However, this was slow work
later on when corn got hard.
The farmer also used a different kind of mill. He used a sweep made of
springy wood, thirty feet or more long. This pole was supported by two
forks, placed about a third of its length from its butt end where it was
securely fastened to some firm object. To this was attached a large
mortise, a piece of sapling five or six inches in diameter and eight or
more long. The lower end was shaped like a pestle and a pin of wood was
put through it at a proper height so two people could work the sweep at
once.
Kercheval says he remembers the one which he helped work in his own
home. It was made of a sugar-tree sapling and was kept almost in
constant use either by his own family or by the neighbors who came to
use it. He says these sweeps were used to make gunpowder from the
saltpetre caves which the settlers soon found.
The women often used a grater for the corn when it was very soft. This
was made of a piece of tin, a few holes punched in on one side and then
nailed to a block of wood and the corn scraped against it. This produced
a form of corn-meal but was a very tedious method. Another kind was a
mill made of two circular stones. The one on the bottom was called the
bed stone and the upper one the runner. These were placed in a hoop with
a spout for discharging the meal. A staff was let into the hole in the
upper surface of the runner near the outer edge and its upper end
through a hole in a board fastened to a joist above. The grain was put
into the runner by hand. This type of mill, is one of the earliest ever
known by man.
Then every man tanned his own leather. The tan-vat was a huge tub which
was sunk into the ground. A quantity of bark was quickly gotten each
spring when the farmer cleared his land. This was first dried then
brought in and on rainy days, the bark was stripped, shaved and pounded
on a block of wood with an ax or mallet. Ashes were used in place of
lime for taking off the hair from the skins of animals. They did not
have fish-oil, so the settlers substituted bear's grease, or lard made
from boiling the fat of these animals. This oil was used to make the
leather soft and pliable. The leather was often very coarse, but it was
tough and wore well. They made their blacking or polish for their shoes
by mixing soot with lard. Not every man could make shoes, but everyone
could make shoepacks, an article similar to the moccasin.
Kercheval's father was a master weaver as well as a fine shoe maker. He
made all the shoes worn by his family and would not let anyone else make
his thread, as he thought no woman could spin it as well as he could. He
made all the woodenware called set work. He hand-carved some of them,
making grooves in which he fitted hoops to hold the staves in place.
During the days when every man had to serve in some military service,
the elder Kercheval was not strong enough to fight. The men brought all
their firearms to him and he repaired them. He could straighten a
crooked gun barrel with ease and file off any broken edges.
Kercheval's father had been to school for only six weeks, yet he read,
worked hard problems in mathematics and wrote letters, not only for
himself, but for many of his friends. He drew up bonds, deeds of
conveyance and wrote other articles for them. He taught his boy to use
his hands, for Samuel tells that as a boy, he wove garters, belts and
shot pouches. He, too, could make looms. He traded well, for he says he
would swap a belt for a man's labor for a day, or give one to a man for
making a hundred fence rails.
An amusing custom developed among the German settlers regarding their
weddings. Young men and women, termed "waiters," were selected to help
officiate at a wedding. The groomsmen were proud to wear highly
embroidered white aprons on such an occasion, for it was symbolic of
protection to the bride. Each waiter tried to keep the bride from having
her slippers stolen from her feet during the festivities. If she did
sustain the loss the young man had to pay for it with a bottle of wine,
since the bride's dancing depended upon its recovery.
Characterized by their strong religious beliefs it was only natural for
the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians to build their churches as they built
their little homes. Opequon Church south of Winchester is thought by
many to be the oldest church in the Valley. Not so with the Germans.
They did not attempt to build separate houses of worship for a
generation or more after coming to the new section but they did hold
regular services in the homes of the settlers and waited until a better
time to erect churches.
There was an interesting custom among the Scotch-Irish at their
weddings, too. It was called "running for the bottle." Usually the bride
and groom went to the parson's home for the marriage ceremony, attended
by their friends on horseback. At the conclusion of the ritual the young
men took to their horses and dashed for the bride's father's house. The
man on the fleetest horse was given a bottle of wine from which the
returning bride and groom first drank and then it was passed on to
others. In most instances the mad rush to the home was made in spite of
numerous trees and small brush which were cut down to serve as obstacles
in their paths.
At Winchester these two distinct nationalities got along fairly well
together. An example of their friendly relations is to be seen in their
"War of the Guelphs and Ghibellines." The Dutch on St. Patrick's Day
would parade through the village streets with effigies of St. Patrick
wearing a necklace of Irish potatoes and his wife carrying an apron full
of them.
And then on the day of St. Michael, the patron of the Dutch, the Irish
retaliated by holding aloft an effigy of the saint decorated with a
necklace of sourkrout.
As was to be expected these frolics occasionally went to the extreme and
ended before the judge in the log cabin courthouse.
It was hard for those early settlers to get such articles as salt, iron,
steel and casting. There were no stores where they could purchase sugar,
tea and hundreds of other necessities of today. Pelts, furs or skins
were their only money before they had time to raise horses and cattle.
In the Fall of the year, after all crops were harvested, every settler's
family formed an association with some of their neighbors for starting a
caravan.
This consisted of two packhorses. A bell and collar was put on each
horse, as were a pair of hobbles made from hickory withes. Bags were
packed on the back of the saddles in which to bring back two bushels of
alum salt, each bushel weighing eighty-four pounds. Each horse carried
two bags on the return journey. This was not such a heavy load for a
horse but one must remember the animal also had to carry its own food.
Somewhere along the narrow trail, some of this grain was hidden until
the return journey. Large pouches or bags were also carried in which
were loaves of home-baked bread or "Journey Cake," a mixture of Indian
meal and water baked on an iron skillet and boiled ham and cheese.
The men traded first in Baltimore, Hagerstown and Cumberland. They also
took along a cow and a calf, which was what they paid for one bushel of
the much needed salt. While the salt was being weighed, no one was
allowed to walk on the floor.
Woodstock
First called Muellerstadt after its founder Jacob Miller, Woodstock was
granted its charter in 1761 by the General Assembly of Virginia. Miller
was farsighted in his plans for the community and provided adequate
building sites for homes and businesses.
The historian Kercheval tells an interesting account of the appearance
of Indians around Woodstock:
"In 1766, the Indians made a visit to the neighborhood of
Woodstock. Two men by the name of Sheetz and Taylor had taken
their wives and children into a wagon, and were on their way to
the fort. At the narrow passage, three miles south of
Woodstock, five Indians attacked them. The two men were killed
at the first onset, and the Indians rushed to seize the women
and children. The women, instead of swooning at the sight of
their bleeding, expiring husbands, seized their axes, and with
Amazonian firmness, and strength almost superhuman, defended
themselves and children. One of the Indians had succeeded in
getting hold of one of Mrs. Sheetz's children, and attempting
to drag it out of the wagon; but with the quickness of
lightning she caught her child in one hand, and with the other
made a blow at the head of the fellow which caused him to quit
his hold to save his life. Several of the Indians received
pretty sore wounds in this desperate conflict, and all at last
ran off, leaving the two women with their children to pursue
their way to the fort."
When Lord Dunmore came to govern the colony of Virginia in 1772 the
citizens passed a resolution endorsing his administration. They
requested that a new county be formed from Frederick which would be
called Dunmore County. Five years later, when he began to have trouble
with the colonists the people of Woodstock instructed their burgess to
get the name of their county changed to Shenandoah. This name is
retained to the present time.
About six miles from Woodstock a Mr. Wolfe erected a fort on Stony Creek
years and years ago. He had a fine hunting dog and at the time of our
story Indians were lurking in the neighborhood. This was during the
period when the savages were endeavoring to rid the Valley of the white
men.
Mr. Wolfe went out hunting one morning and had not gone far before his
dog began to run around and around him, blocking his path. Then he
jumped up in front of his master, put his feet on his shoulders and
seemed to try to stop Wolfe's progress. When the dog found he could not
stop his master he ran back towards the fort, then back to his master,
all the time whining a warning.
The hunter suspected some danger, so he kept his hand on his gun and
watched out for Indians. He soon saw two of them behind a tree.
Evidently they were waiting for their man to come close enough for them
to get a good shot at him. Mr. Wolfe began to walk backward, making a
rapid retreat to the fort. Long afterwards someone asked Mr. Wolfe why
he did not kill the old dog since his years of usefulness were over and
he was apparently uncomfortable. He told the inquirer the story of how
the animal had saved his life and added, "I would sooner be killed
myself than suffer that dog to be killed."
"There is a time to every purpose under the heaven--a time of war and a
time of peace." So spoke one of Woodstock's most famous sons, the
Reverend John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, in the Lutheran Church one
Sunday morning after the Declaration of Independence had been issued.
After delivering an inspired sermon taken from this text in which he
reviewed his stand on liberty, he dramatically cast off his black pulpit
robes and revealed to his astonished congregation his colonel's uniform
of the Revolutionary army. He was about thirty years old then and had
served the Woodstock flock for four years.
Dr. Wayland in his book _The German Element in the Shenandoah Valley of
Virginia_, suggests that the Rev. Mr. Muhlenberg was associated with the
Episcopal as well as the Lutheran church and that "he seems beyond
question to have received Episcopal ordination.... His connection with
the Church of England was probably sought in order that his work as a
clergyman might receive the readier and fuller sanction."
Almost immediately after preaching his patriotic sermon he raised a
regiment among the Valley folk. Known as the Eighth Virginia, or German
Regiment, they saw hard service at Germantown, Brandywine and Monmouth
as well as in some of the southern battlefields.
Before the close of the war Muhlenberg was made a brigadier-general and
after his retirement he lived in Pennsylvania, his original home before
coming to the Valley of Virginia.
A movement is under way at the present time to restore the little church
of the Lutheran faith where the colonel made his firey sermon. Let us
hope this may be accomplished so that we may catch the inspiration of
his remarks.
Woodstock saw the march of many feet during the War Between the States;
almost constantly were the troops passing by, causing fields to be laid
waste, crops to be confiscated and stock to be carried off. But the
little town conceals her war scars well and today is a progressive
community.
Massanutten Academy is located here and draws boys from all over
Virginia and a number of other States.
THE LINCOLN FAMILY
Contrary to popular belief, President Lincoln's forebears were not poor
and shiftless, but were influential and prosperous Virginians who lived
in the handsome old brick Colonial home which, in a fine state of
preservation, is still standing, with the Lincoln family cemetery and
slave burying-ground nearby.
The Lincoln homestead is near the little village of Edom, not far from
the Caverns of Melrose, and can be reached by turning west from U. S.
Highway 11 at these caverns, six miles north of Harrisonburg. Visitors
are welcome at this homestead. Exact directions as to how to reach it
can be obtained in the Melrose Cavern's Lodge.
Thomas Lincoln, father of President Lincoln, was born in this house.
John Lincoln, great-grandfather of the President, moved with his family
into Virginia in 1768 where, as an influential pioneer, he built the
first brick unit of the beautiful Colonial home.
John Lincoln was known as "Virginia John." Abraham Lincoln, his eldest
son and grandfather of the President, lived in this homestead and was
captain of a Virginia company during the Revolution.
Captain Abraham Lincoln, with his son Thomas (father of the President)
moved to Kentucky in 1782, leaving Jacob Lincoln, a brother of Captain
Lincoln, in the Virginia homestead. Many Lincolns, descendants of Jacob
and other sons and daughters of "Virginia John," now live near Melrose
Caverns, in Harrisonburg and elsewhere in Rockingham county.
On February 24th, 1829, when Melrose Caverns were known as "Harrison's
Cave," Franklin Lincoln, grandson of Jacob and a cousin of President
Lincoln, entered the caverns and, by the light of torches or candles,
carved his name and the date. He later fought in the Civil War as a
Confederate soldier.
Also in these caverns is carved the name of John Lincoln, possibly John
Lincoln, Jr., who was one of Jacob's four brothers, or perhaps "Virginia
John" the pioneer, great-grandfather of the President. There is no date
carved by the name of John Lincoln.
In April, 1862, during the Civil War, a Federal soldier drew a rough
portrait of President Lincoln with charcoal upon a wall farther back in
the caverns. These Lincoln signatures and this crude portrait can be
distinctly seen in Melrose Caverns by visitors today.
New Market
A little later in becoming settled than other Valley towns was New
Market, the progressive little place situated at the intersection of the
Valley Pike and Route 211 to Luray. Its charter was granted in 1785 as
the result of efforts made by Peter Palsel, an early settler.
Thomas Jefferson's father, Peter Jefferson, was among the party of
surveyors who ran the land grant boundary for the Proprietor of the
Northern Neck, Lord Fairfax. This was done in 1746. The old line is a
short distance south of New Market.
The town was the scene in 1864 of the battle in which the young and
inexperienced but dauntless cadets from the Virginia Military Institute
at Lexington took such prominent part. The wounded from their ranks were
cared for by devoted women in nearby houses. And what a percentage there
was either wounded or killed! Forty-six of the former and eight of the
latter out of a corps of only two hundred and twenty-one!
New Market is the center today of the caverns in the Valley, for
Shenandoah Caverns are to the north and Endless to the south, while
within a short drive you may reach Luray, Massanutten, Melrose and Grand
Caverns. Accommodations for the tourists are numerous and fair
throughout the vicinity.
Several years ago a re-enactment of the Battle of New Market occurred in
which the corps from the Virginia Military Institute pitted their
strength against the United States Marines. Among the spectators to this
stirring War Between the States encounter was the Secretary of the Navy.
He was impressed with the majesty of the Shenandoah Valley and the
legend of the name. Later he determined to name the new navy dirigible
Shenandoah--"The Daughter of the Stars." For her christening a bottle of
water from the meandering Shenandoah River was used. And on her maiden
flight from her berth at Lakehurst the graceful ship flew over the
lovely, peaceful Valley from whence came her name.
ENDLESS CAVERNS
On the first of October, 1879 two boys went hunting. Their dog chased a
rabbit up the long slope of Mr. Reuben Zirkle's pasture. The rabbit ran
for his life and disappeared over a huge rock.
[Illustration: "THE CYPRESS GARDENS", A SCENE IN ENDLESS CAVERNS]
The boys gave chase and boy-like, when they reached the rock and found
no rabbit, they pushed aside the heavy stone. Imagine how their eyes
bulged when they looked down into a great hole in the hill. Here was a
find! Here was adventure, for who can resist exploring a cave? The boys
thought no longer of the rabbit. They went in search of candles and a
rope. Soon they were seeing for the first time the lovely and strange
kingdom underground.
The boys, no doubt like visitors, wondered how Nature had carved these
miracles. Today science has answered the question for us and for the
sake of those inquiring minds we will give in part the story of how
Mother Nature builds her caves.
"Thousands and thousands of years of surface waters, seeping down
through the earth, have dissolved and carried away the limestone rock
through various tiny cracks and crevices. As each drop worked its way
downward it carried coloring matter--iron, maybe copper, which tints the
beautiful columns. Tiny bits of limestone formed and gradually built
them up from the bottom; these are called stalagmites. Others slowly
forming from the tops of the cave hung there and are termed stalactites.
Then through the years these grew until they met and formed the arches
and columns."
Though explorations were carried on for several years no end to the
rooms was seen. One channel after another was found, and one room after
another came into view, hence the name Endless Caverns.
People from far and near came to see the wonders, and dances were held
in Alexander's Ballroom. The musicians had a high rock on which they
played their fiddles. Huge iron circles were fastened to the ceiling and
candles placed in them for lights. One night one of the bold boys took a
candle and pushed farther into the cave. By the weird light he saw a
glistening lake, sparkling like diamonds. Upon investigation it turned
out to be a pool of clearest water and it reflected the white glittering
crystal roof which sheltered it. The name "Diamond Lake" was given it
and it has been admired by thousands of visitors.
Then for thirty years the beautiful caverns were closed to the public. A
party of visitors came to the Valley. Colonel Edward Brown who stopped
in New Market was fascinated with the stories of the old caverns. He
bought the property and the next year the caverns were opened--in 1920.
Today his son, Major E. M. Brown, is the progressive owner.
"The old entrance house has been replaced by a unique cave house built
of limestone boulders from the mountain side. Great gates of
hand-wrought iron bar the head of the stone steps which lead downward. A
lone lantern hangs from the arch of the stone roof and accurately
placed, at the exact center of the top of the entrance, is a huge
boulder in the shape of a keystone, set there by the Architect of all
the earth many thousands of years ago."
No one can describe the beautiful shapes and designs to be found in the
caverns. They must be seen to be appreciated fully and no matter how
many caves one has seen, he will not regret the magic time spent here.
Luray
The question is often asked as to the origin of the unusual name of the
town of Luray. Legend disagrees as to its derivation. There are some who
claim it came from the name of an early settler, Lewis Ramey. He was
familiarly known as Lew Ramey and the contraction Lew Ray might have
followed naturally. The site of Ramey's little log cabin is at the
corner of Main and Court streets.
Some citizens of the town insist that the Huguenots who escaped from
France and finally migrated to the Valley named the new settlement
Lorraine after their province in France and that Luray is a corruption
of the former name.
There are reminders near this town of former years of struggle. During
the French and Indian War the settlers decided upon building "cellar
forts" for protection against Indian raids. These cellars dug under the
log homes were large enough for living quarters and were generally
supplied with a spring of water. They were so constructed with rocks
serving as a ceiling that even in case of fire in the house proper, the
occupants of the cellar would be unhurt. Several of these ingenious
little fortifications remain in Page County, Rhodes Fort and the Egypt
House being good examples of them.
In the Hawksbill neighborhood, not far from Luray, there lived a long
time ago John Stone and his family. In 1758 the Indians came to his home
while he was away. They had little difficulty in carrying off Mrs.
Stone and her baby, a son about eight years old and another boy, George
Grandstaff, who was sixteen.
The marauders sacked other residences in the neighborhood and killed a
number of persons. It is possible that when they set out for their own
settlements some distance off they found Mrs. Stone's progress impeded
because of carrying the baby. At any rate, they murdered those two and
continued on their way with the boys.
Three years later Grandstaff escaped as their prisoner and returned to
Mr. Stone. Young Stone remained with the savages for a number of years
and when he did come home he sold his father's property and with the
money in his pockets he went back to the Indian village. No one ever
heard of him afterwards.
Luray was laid out in 1812 by William Staige Marye, son of Peter Marye,
who built the first turnpike--a toll-road--to cross the Blue Ridge from
Culpeper into the Shenandoah Valley. Near Luray is the Saltpetre Cave.
During the War Between the States the Confederates established a nitrate
plant there and used the products in their manufacture of ammunition.
One of the most beautiful drives in Virginia is that leaving Luray,
crossing the mountain and entering the Valley Pike at New Market.
Of particular importance to this section are the Luray Caverns. An
entertaining history is attached to them. As far back as 1793 there was
knowledge of the existence of the caves, for Joseph Ruffner's son had
explored several passages just about this time. Ruffner's property took
on the name of Cave Hill.
The Ruffners were among the largest landowners in the Valley, their
property extending twelve miles on both sides of Hawksbill Creek. They
received a part of the land through inheritance and bought other tracts.
Dr. Henry Ruffner, a member of this distinguished family, was at one
time President of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University
at Lexington.
Fighting during the War Between the States occurred near the town of
Luray and about two miles south on the Lee Highway there is an old oak
tree which marks the place where Sheridan's famous Valley ride was
halted for a time.
There are interesting landmarks remaining in the town today which have
witnessed the pageant of history, among the most pretentious being
"Aventine." This home originally occupied the present site of the
Mymslyn Hotel.
Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign
Too much space must not be consumed in this book in presenting the facts
regarding Jackson's Valley Campaign. We feel justified in devoting more
than a comment to this notable feat of war, however, for some of the
heaviest fighting of the four years' conflict took place on the land you
may see in driving over the Valley Pike and along the Skyline Drive.
At the outbreak of hostilities in the War Between the States Thomas
Jackson left the chair of higher mathematics at the Virginia Military
Institute and volunteered his services in the Virginia army. Educated at
West Point and trained during the Mexican War he was a welcome addition
to the Confederate forces, although no one anticipated the conspicuous
rôle he would play in the subsequent events. At the early battle of
First Manassas he earned the name of "Stonewall" because of his quiet,
dignified and unafraid manner in the face of danger.
Lt. Col. C. F. R. Henderson's invaluable two volumes, _Stonewall Jackson
and the American Civil War_, were consulted and are the source quoted
hereafter in giving the account of the Valley warfare. The First Brigade
of the Virginia army was recruited from the Valley and participated
under Jackson in the first battle of Manassas and for a long period of
time thereafter.
"No better material for soldiers ever existed," said Henderson,
"than the men of the Valley. Most of them were of Scotch-Irish
descent, but from the more northern counties came many of
English blood, and from those in the center of Swiss and
German. But whatever their origin, they were thoroughly well
qualified for their new trade. All classes mingled in the
ranks, and all ages; the heirs of the oldest families, and the
humblest of the sons of toil; boys whom it was impossible to
keep in school, and men whose white beards hung below their
cross belts; youths who had been reared in luxury, and rough
hunters from their lonely cabins. They were a mountain people,
nurtured in a wholesome climate bred to manly sports, and
hardened by the free life of the field and forest. To social
distinctions they gave little heed. They were united for a
common purpose; they had taken arms to defend Virginia and to
maintain her rights; and their patriotism was proved by the
sacrifice of all personal consideration and individual
interest."
After the first battle of Manassas the First Brigade was known as the
"Stonewall Brigade."
From July to November, 1861, Jackson spent the greater part of every day
drilling the men under him and in trying to convert them into
well-disciplined, obedient troops. During the first week in November he
was sent from Manassas to command the Shenandoah Valley district and
this meant parting from the soldiers whom he had reason to admire and
who in turn held him in highest esteem. A short time later they were
destined to reunite under circumstances which would try the courage of
the brigade and commander. To the delight of all, the Stonewall Brigade
was assigned to Winchester soon after Jackson established his
headquarters there and for the next few months rigid training was given
them again.
About the middle of March 1862, Jackson abandoned Winchester. This was
after some of the Union concentration near Manassas and Centreville was
broken up and General Banks made no move to offer battle, so the
Confederates withdrew without a fight and occupied Strasburg eighteen or
twenty miles southward. The evacuation of Winchester was made
reluctantly, for good roads in each direction connected the city with
outlying districts, fertile farms nearby could furnish the invading army
with rations and Banks could receive from or send troops to West
Virginia or the army south of Washington. Feeling that Jackson's small
force was not of any special danger, Shields' corps was sent in pursuit
of the Confederates and most of Banks' troops were ordered to another
field. Jackson continued up the Valley and stopped at Mount Jackson,
hoping the Federals would follow.
The Confederate general learned from Ashby, his cavalry commander, that
the enemy was retreating. It was Lee's intention that the Union corps in
the Valley be retained there so that assistance could not be offered
McClellan, the Northern general who was maneuvering in the eastern part
of Virginia with the ultimate aim of striking Richmond. McClellan hoped
to attack the capital of the Confederacy by combining his army with
that of McDowell, whom he could call to the area of war when necessary.
So it was to be Jackson's duty to keep them in the Valley and perhaps to
withdraw some of the Northern troops from near Richmond.
On March 22nd Ashby with his troopers and a few guns engaged Shields in
a skirmish just south of Winchester. He believed there was only a small
force of Federals present, so well had Shields hidden his men, and he
reported to Jackson that the troops were small in number. The next day
Jackson sent reinforcements to Ashby and then followed later with his
whole force in the direction of Kernstown which is south of Winchester
and but a short distance off. There the battle of Kernstown began and
continued until dark. Jackson's troops were defeated and retreated
southward. As a result of this encounter Shields was reinforced and the
strong Union force remained in the Valley.
The Federal generals were apparently satisfied with the victory and in
spite of urgings from the Secretary of War, Stanton, to pursue Jackson
they remained inactive for nearly a month.
Banks assumed the offensive on April 17th, and surprised Ashby, taking
one of his companies prisoner. The Virginians burned the railroad
station at Mount Jackson and fell back while the Union cavalry
established themselves at New Market.
The Confederate General Ewell had a force of 8,000 men on the Upper
Rappahannock which is some distance east of the mountains. This corps
was left at its location in order to rush to the defense of
Fredericksburg or Richmond or across the mountains to the Valley.
Jackson knew that he must not allow Banks to control the mountain pass,
thus severing communication between the two Confederate forces. He
determined upon a forced march for his men and on the eighteenth they
reached Harrisonburg. He continued over to Swift Run Gap and encamped
near there.
Banks followed his cavalry to New Market, crossed over to Luray and
seized the bridges, driving back a detachment of Jackson's men sent
there to defend them. Later he sent two of his five brigades to
Harrisonburg and the rest stayed at New Market.
Jackson's next move was to McDowell, a town about twenty-seven miles
northwest of Harrisonburg. The march was made in the most circuitous
manner: from Swift Run Gap to Port Republic, to Brown's Gap which is
about twelve miles southeast of their camp at Elk Run Valley, to
Staunton and then west to McDowell. This strategy was used so that he
might deceive Banks, Fremont and Milroy, the Federal commanders in and
near the Valley, into thinking for a while that he was leaving the
Valley to join forces at Richmond. Jackson proposed to strike each Union
force located in this section of Virginia but he believed an encounter
with Milroy commanding the weakest corps should be made before attacking
Banks. The Battle of McDowell occurred on May 8th, and was a victory for
Jackson. He followed the enemy in their retreat as far as Franklin. A
squadron of Ashby's cavalry spent much time in blocking any of the
passes which Fremont might use in crossing the mountains to reinforce
Banks. Bridges were burned and rocks and trees were placed across the
roadways. Jackson's object was thus thoroughly achieved:
"All combination between the Federal columns, except by long
and devious routes, had now been rendered impracticable; and
there was little fear that in any operations down the Valley
his own communications would be endangered. The McDowell
expedition had neutralized, for the time being, Fremont's
20,000 men; and Banks was now isolated, exposed to the combined
attack of Jackson, Ewell and Edward Johnson."
Ewell in the meantime had left his post near Gordonsville and had moved
into Swift Run Gap in order to go to Jackson if necessary. After the
Battle of McDowell, Jackson returned to the Valley. Lee ordered him to
make a movement against Banks as speedily as possible, to drive him
towards Washington and appear ready to attack the Union capital. Thus he
hoped to see some of the Northerners leave the vicinity of Richmond and
return to defend their capital.
Jackson entered the Valley at Mount Solon and pushed northward at once.
Banks erected earthworks at Strasburg and considered himself well
entrenched against the enemy. Ewell, with his Confederates, left Swift
Run Gap and moved to Luray. Jackson moved north to New Market. The
Confederates now organized into two divisions, Jackson's and Ewell's,
numbering about 17,000 men. The troops under Jackson instead of
continuing northward in their march turned east and crossed the
Massanutten Mountain and headed north. On May 22nd the advanced guard
camped within ten miles of Front Royal. This town was "held by a strong
detachment of Banks' small army."
"Since they had left Mount Solon and Elk Run Valley on May 19th
the troops in four days had made just sixty miles. Such
celerity of movement was unfamiliar to both Banks and Stanton,
and on the night of the 22nd neither the Secretary nor the
General had the faintest suspicion that the enemy had as yet
passed Harrisonburg.... There was serenity at Washington....
The Secretary, ... saw no reason for alarm. His strategical
combinations were apparently working without a hitch....
Milroy's defeat was considered no more than an incident of 'la
petite guerre'. Washington seemed so perfectly secure that the
recruiting offices had been closed, and the President and
Secretary, anticipating the immediate fall of Richmond, left
for Fredericksburg the next day. McDowell was to march on the
26th, and the departure of his fine army was to be preceded by
a grand review....
"So on this night of May 22nd the President and his people were
without fear of what the morrow might bring forth. The end of
the rebellion seemed near at hand. Washington was full of the
anticipated triumph. The crowds passed to and fro exchanging
congratulations on the success of the Northern arms and the
approaching downfall of the slaveholders.... Little dreamt the
light-hearted multitude that, in the silent woods of the Luray
Valley, a Confederate army lay asleep beneath the stars. Little
dreamt Lincoln, or Banks, or Stanton, that not more than
seventy miles from Washington, and less than thirty from
Strasburg, the most daring of the enemies, waiting for the dawn
to rise above the mountains was pouring out his soul in
prayer."
Banks' 10,000 men were distributed in this manner: at Strasburg the
largest contingent, at Winchester a small group of infantry and cavalry,
with two companies of infantry at Newtown, midway between Strasburg and
Front Royal. At Rectortown, nineteen miles east of Front Royal was
General Geary with 2,000 infantry and cavalry independent of Banks.
Front Royal was held by Colonel Kenly of the First Maryland Regiment, U.
S. A. On the morning of May 23rd the Confederates struck Kenly's small
force. Every line of communication and reinforcement had been severed
during the previous night and "within an hour after his pickets were
surprised Kenly was completely isolated."
Banks moved north from Strasburg towards Winchester before Jackson could
scatter his troops along the route and cut off his retreat. Encounters
took place at Newtown and Middletown and Kernstown during the early
morning of May 24th. The battle of Winchester occurred the following
day. Particularly hard fighting was done by both sides, but the surprise
movements of Jackson during the past few days, the partial
demoralization of the Union forces and the keen fighting of the
Confederate divisions drove Banks' army from Winchester and on to
Martinsburg.
Lee sent instructions to Jackson to threaten an invasion of Maryland and
an attack upon Washington at this excellent time. So on the 28th the
Stonewall Brigade set out towards Harper's Ferry and at Charlestown they
met a Federal force, routing them within twenty minutes. Ewell came up
to support the Brigade and on the 29th the army of the Valley was
encamped near Halltown. The greater part of the Federals crossed the
Potomac River at Harper's Ferry. Jackson, however, learned that the
Union soldiers were advancing to cut off his retreat; Shields' division
was approaching Manassas Gap and Fremont had left Franklin and was about
ten miles from Moorefield. Jackson felt that Lee's orders had been
carried out and decided to retreat along the Valley Pike. The
Southerners turned southward towards Winchester. En route Jackson found
out that the small force left at Front Royal had been driven back and
that Shields occupied the town. The Valley army was ordered to
Strasburg, the First Brigade was called back from Charlestown, the
prisoners and supplies were picked up at Winchester and moved southward.
"From the morning of May 19 to the night of June 1, a period of fourteen
days, the Army of the Valley had marched one hundred and seventy miles,
had routed a force of 12,500 men, had threatened the North with
invasions, had drawn off McDowell from Fredericksburg, had seized the
hospitals and supply depots at Front Royal, Winchester, and Martinsburg,
and finally, although surrounded on three sides by 60,000 men, had
brought off a huge convoy without losing a single wagon."
When the Federals learned that Jackson had moved south Shields was sent
towards Luray from Front Royal. Fremont moved towards Woodstock. The
Federal cavalry reached Luray on June 2nd and found that the enemy had
already been there and burned the bridges, thus cutting off their
approach to New Market. A part of the Confederates were repulsed on June
2nd between Strasburg and Woodstock and the skirmishing continued the
next day with the Confederates retreating to Mount Jackson and burning
the bridges over the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. The Union
troops tried to construct their pontoons across the stream but a driving
rain and high waters prevented their doing so. This failure gave the
rebels a day's respite.
Jackson with his force passed from Harrisonburg over to Cross Keys and
there bivouacked. The Northern generals looked upon this move as a
retreat.
On June 8th and 9th the battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic took
place, victories for the Southerners. The Confederates moved on to
Brown's Gap, a point a bit nearer Richmond. "The success which the
Confederates had achieved was undoubtedly important. The Valley army,
posted at Brown's Gap, was now in direct communication with Richmond.
Not only had its pursuers been roughly checked, but the sudden and
unexpected counter-stroke, delivered by an enemy whom they believed to
be in full flight, had surprised Lincoln and Stanton as effectively as
Shields and Fremont."
Thus the plan of McClellan to fall upon Richmond had been postponed and
a division of the Northern forces was made necessary to protect the
Federal capital and to supply Banks with troops.
Later in the month Jackson's division moved with great secrecy to join
General Lee near Richmond--but that is a story for another time.
Belle Boyd, the Spy
"In a pretty storied house, the walls completely covered by roses and
honeysuckle in luxuriant bloom" according to Belle Boyd herself, lived
one of the most beautiful women and one of the most famous spies in all
history.
Martinsburg, her home in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, was only a
village then and she tells us about her neighbors and her childhood--"It
was all golden and I was surrounded by devoted and beloved parents and
brothers and sisters ... our neighbors are some of the best families of
the Old Dominion descended from such ancestors as the Fairfaxes and
Washingtons."
When Belle was only twelve she was sent to Mount Washington Seminary in
Washington. At sixteen her education was finished and she made her
début. She wrote how brilliant were the Congressional and Senate balls
where both Northern and Southern belles met and learned to love each
other as sisters.
Then came the dark days of Secession. Belle's own father was among the
first to enlist in the defense of Virginia. Belle returned home where
with other ladies she helped raise funds with which to equip the
Confederate soldiers. The colors were raised and on them one read these
words, "Our God, Our Country and Our Women."
Things were dull for Belle after her father and the boys marched away to
Harper's Ferry. Soon she went to visit them where she enjoyed the social
life until messages came saying the Federal troops were approaching. She
was sent home and scarcely had she arrived before the Southern troops
withdrew to Falling Waters, near her home. She heard the distant boom of
cannon and quickly there followed the battle of Martinsburg. After a
skirmish of five hours, Belle saw General Jackson's troops retreat.
Hard upon them were the Federals entering the village with flags flying
and the fifes playing the now despised "Yankee Doodle."
Dawned the Fourth of July and Belle woke to see the Yankee flags flying
from many homes. She heard the drunken soldiers as they planned to force
their way into homes whose doors and blinds were shut tight. Blows began
to batter down doors and those of the Boyd home were splintered as well
as those of their neighbors.
Some one had told the Federals that the walls of Belle's room were
covered with rebel flags. But though they searched none were found.
Belle's Negro maid had taken them down and carefully hidden them. The
soldiers were furious and began to break furniture, glass ornaments, and
abuse the Virginia sympathizers. Then they went out and began to raise
the United States flag over the Boyd home. This was more than Mrs. Boyd
could stand, so she spoke: "Men, every member of my household will die
before that flag shall be raised over us." Let us read Belle's account
of what followed:
"Upon this, one of the soldiers, thrusting himself forward
addressed my mother in language so offensive as it is
impossible to conceive. I could stand it no longer, my
indignation was aroused beyond control, my blood was literally
boiling in my veins, I drew out my pistol and shot him. He was
carried away mortally wounded and soon after he expired."
Then the Boyd home was set on fire, but it was hastily put out. The
Northern commander quickly arrived and an investigation followed. After
a long and lengthy trial, during which time the Boyd home was guarded by
sentries, the officer declared Belle had acted as any normal person
would have under similar circumstances.
From this time on, Belle gave herself to the Confederate Cause. She met
and charmed the Federal officers. She remembered their names and got
them to tell her their plans. These Belle carefully wrote down and sent
to General J. E. B. Stuart. Soon she was under suspicion and one of her
letters was seized by the enemy. She was sent for, arrested and asked if
she had written the letter. She acknowledged it, was rebuked and the
Articles of War regarding such deeds were read to her. Again a
trial--and a dismissal.
Belle was undaunted. She not only continued to pick up valuable
information, but she picked up small side arms and pistols and these,
along with the information, found their way into the Southern lines.
While on a visit to Front Royal the first battle of Manassas was fought.
The wounded were rushed into Front Royal and Belle found herself the
matron of the large hospital. Soldiers told how she worked night and
day, tirelessly giving of herself to comfort and help "the boys." After
eight weeks of such a strenuous life, Belle had to go home for a much
needed rest.
Before her mother thought she was strong enough, Belle left to visit her
father who was stationed at Manassas. Soon she was riding as a courier
back and forth for General Jackson and General Beauregard.
On one occasion Belle was in Front Royal waiting for an opportunity to
go to Richmond where her family had gone. She had secured passes from
some of her Federal friends and she was staying in the same house in
which General Shields was stopping. Belle's room was over the
living-room where the officers were making plans. A small hole in the
closet floor gave her a good view of the men--and served to let her hear
every word of their next maneuvers. Belle listened until one o'clock,
writing down in cypher each plan. Then she carefully stole down the back
steps, saddled a horse in the backyard and was off, fifteen miles, to
carry the message.
Twice she was held up by Federal sentinels and twice she showed them
Federal passes. She arrived safely back in Front Royal before day, as
fresh as a "morning flower."
We cannot give all of her escapades or her narrow escapes. Once she sped
through Front Royal with a message for General Jackson, her white sun
bonnet and white apron against a blue dress making her a target for the
Federals. Several times she felt bullets tear her wide billowing skirt,
but she kept on until she had reached the General--giving him the
position of the enemy: General Banks, at Strasburg with 4,000 troops,
General White marching to Winchester and General Fremont approaching the
Valley--all planning to "bottle up" Jackson's force.
Quickly the Confederates made plans which resulted in victory and
General Jackson wrote her, "Miss Belle Boyd--I thank you for myself and
for the Army for the immense service that you have rendered your country
this day. Hastily your friend, T. J. Jackson, C. S. A."
Romance like danger courted her wherever she was. Finally in 1864 she
decided to go to England. President Davis gave her important papers for
Southern sympathizers there. She sailed from Wilmington, North Carolina,
aboard the "Greyhound." Vivid pictures are given of the crew throwing
overboard bales of cotton, but even this did not enable the ship to
outrun the fast Union vessels. Captain Bier also dropped a keg of money,
over thirty thousand dollars in gold, in order to lighten the cargo.
When Belle saw they could not avoid capture she destroyed her dispatch
and managed to put into a belt many gold dollars which belonged to her
and the captain of the boat. Let us read her description of the Federal
officer who said he must take over command of the "Greyhound":
"I confess my attention was riveted by a gentleman--the first whom I had
met in my hour of distress. His dark brown hair hung down on his
shoulders, his eyes were large and bright. Those who judge beauty by
regularity of feature would not only have pronounced him strictly
handsome, but the fascination of his manner was such that my heart
yielded." He begged Belle to consider herself still a passenger, rather
than a prisoner, which evidently she did.
There was a moon, a soft breeze "which swept the surface of the ocean
until it was like a vast bed of sparkling diamonds." Lieutenant
Hardinge, the Federal officer, quoted poetry from Shakespeare and Byron
and before the vessel reached Boston, Belle had given her heart and her
promise to marry the lieutenant.
While their own course of true love seemed to run smoothly enough
various forces concentrated to keep them apart.
First of all, soon after arriving in Boston Captain Bier escaped. And
while Belle took the credit for that, Lieutenant Hardinge was under
suspicion. Besides, while Belle was being treated courteously in Boston
her betrothed had gone to Washington in her behalf. The newspapers of
the day flaunted the stories of the beautiful Rebel Spy and everywhere
she went great crowds pushed themselves upon her.
When Hardinge reached Washington he begged Gideon Welles, Secretary of
the Navy, permission for Miss Boyd to visit Canada. This was granted and
a telegram ordered an escort for her and her maid. However, notice was
given her that if she were caught again in the United States she would
be shot.
Her lover was captured next and arrested for aiding Captain Bier in
escaping. Finally, he went to Paris in search of the beautiful woman who
had promised to marry him. After some time Belle, who was in Liverpool,
learned where he was. She wrote to him and they met in London; they were
married in St. James' Church. There was a large and brilliant breakfast
at which a huge wedding cake was cut. Lieutenant Hardinge promised to
run the blockade and carry pieces of wedding cake to his wife's friends.
This he did when he arrived in Wilmington. Later he was arrested in
Baltimore, charged with being a deserter and was sent to prison.
Belle interested herself in his behalf and we are told that her charms
and the termination of the war secured his release. And so they lived
happily ever after!
* * * * *
In the foregoing account of the fearless work done by Belle Boyd and of
her visit to Front Royal during the Battle of Manassas we are reminded
of an inhabitant of the latter place, a Mr. McLean. Rumor has it that
the gentleman resided so close to the scene of battle--and it was a
bloody encounter--he resolved to quit the place for a quieter section of
Virginia. He had a distinct distaste for battles and bloodshed. So he
moved his family to Appomattox County in Virginia and watched the scene
of war with a feeling of comparative safety. The reader has guessed the
rest of the story.
A little previous to April 9th, 1865 the Union and Confederate forces
met at a spot not far from the courthouse and negotiations were started
for the surrender of General Lee, in command of the Confederates. And on
the ninth the surrender was made at the McLean house which marked the
cessation of war in Virginia. Poor Mr. McLean was present at the
beginning and conclusion of the fighting!
Harrisonburg
Harrisonburg is called the Friendly City and its people are noted for
their hospitality. It is near famous caverns and historic battlefields.
It was named in honor of Thomas Harrison who had fifty acres of his land
surveyed and laid out into lots and streets. It might also be called the
center of a large German element whose forefathers settled much of the
surrounding country. Harrisonburg is the county-seat of Rockingham
county, which was formed from Augusta in 1778. This is the third largest
county in Virginia.
These people have always been among the sturdiest and bravest in the
Valley. They gave the best they had to develop their new homes in a new
country and when they were called upon to fight in the French and
Indian War, there were no braver men to be had nor could any endure more
hardships than they.
During the Revolutionary War they were among the first to respond to the
call for volunteers. They were among the first to resent the closing of
the Boston Harbor by the British in 1774. We read an old account or
notation of Felix Gilbert who kept a shop near the town of Harrisonburg.
He agreed to take food-stuffs from his neighbors and send it to the
relief of the Bostonians. One of those entries, made in 1775, reads:
"Rece'd for the Bostonians; Of Patrick Frazier 1 bushel of
wheat, of Jos. Dictom 2 bushels of wheat, of James Beard 1 bu.
of wheat, Geo. Clarke 1 bu. wheat, Robt. Scott and Sons, 2 bu.
wheat."
MASSANUTTEN CAVERNS
The owners of the Massanutten Caverns call them the "gem of the cavern
world," for they are a combination of the beautiful and the unusual.
They are located east of Harrisonburg on the Spotswood Trail.
These caverns are of rather recent discovery. In 1892 during a thriving
limestone industry some workmen blasted rock in the foothills and after
the discharge of dynamite was over they looked into a fairyland of
strange rooms and strange formations.
The operator of the caverns called the entrance "Discovery Gate" and
planned the route through the underground so that visitors begin their
journey where the discovery was made.
Vacationists find themselves unloading their luggage and remaining
either overnight or for longer periods of time when they see the
facilities offered there. The accommodations include a golf course and
swimming pool as well as a lodge and cottages.
GRAND CAVERNS
Back in 1804 Bernard Weyer discovered the unusual caves situated on a
bluff belonging to his neighbor Mr. Mohler. Nearly a century before, the
courageous "Sir Knights of the Golden Horseshoe" had passed by this part
of the Blue Ridge--within ten miles of the entrance of the caverns,
perhaps, and because of the layout of the land never suspected the
underground "Buried City." Today these are called Grand Caverns and are
located between Elkton and Mt. Sidney, the latter town being on the
Lee-Jackson Highway.
Young Weyer was a great hunter who enjoyed roaming the fields and
hillsides in search of game. The historian Kercheval tells the story of
the day when Weyer went to find an elusive ground-hog, having previously
set a trap for it. The animal not only had not been captured but for
some time had made a successful getaway with each trap set for it. Weyer
decided to dig for the ground-hog hide-out. "A few moments' labor
brought him to the antechamber of this stupendous cavern, where he found
his traps safely deposited." Not content with eleven pages of flattering
and minute descriptions of every passageway known then, Kercheval used
another page with "Note A" and "Note B" which described later
explorations. This makes interesting reading for those who have either
visited the Caverns or have not had that privilege and plan to see them.
In these accounts he included Congress Hall, The Infernal Regions,
Washington's Hall, The Church, Jefferson's Hall and numerous others.
_The Historical Collections of Virginia_ by Henry Howe gives a vivid
picture of Weyer's Cave and the author further states:
"A foreign traveller who visited the cave at an annual
illumination, has, in a finely written description, the
following notice:
" ... Weyer's Cave is in my judgment one of the great natural
wonders of this new world; and for its eminence in its own
class, deserves to be ranked with the Natural Bridge and
Niagara, while it is far less known than either.... For myself,
I acknowledge the spectacle to have been most interesting; but,
to be so, it must be illuminated, as on this occasion. I had
thought that this circumstance might give to the whole a toyish
effect; but the influence of 2,000 or 3,000 lights on these
immense caverns is only such as to reveal the objects, without
disturbing the solemn and sublime obscurity which sleeps on
everything. Scarcely any scenes can awaken so many passions at
once, and so deeply. Curiosity, apprehension, terror, surprise,
admiration, and delight, by turns and together, arrest and
possess you. I have had before, from other objects, one simple
impression made with greater power; but I never had so many
impressions made, and with so much power, before. If the
interesting and the awful are the elements of the sublime, here
sublimity reigns, as in her own domain, in darkness, silence,
and deeps profound."
Bear in mind that this account was given long before 1850 and that Grand
Caverns was first known as Weyer's Cave.
We learned that the Cave was used as a source of income by its owners
first in 1836, when the large chambers were converted into temporary
dance halls for the countryside youth. Mentioned above is the fact that
the caverns were lighted once a year and admission was charged on this
occasion. About 1925 the passages were lighted properly and tourists
began their trek to this wonder of nature.
A modern note is to be found in the name "Linbergh Bridge"--one not
mentioned as such by any of the early writers!
MASSANETTA SPRINGS
One of the most delightful places in all the Valley is Massanetta
Springs. It is one of those beauty spots which one finds after going
through Swift Run Gap, famous for being the first gap through which came
the English with Governor Spotswood and his Knights of the Golden
Horseshoe. It was through here, too, that General George Washington
passed on horseback in 1784.
Long ago these springs were known as Taylor Springs and during the War
Between the States the wounded soldiers were cared for there. Many
famous people lived in and around this lovely spring. We are told that
Daniel Boone's wife lived near here, and that Abraham Lincoln's father,
Thomas Lincoln, was born not more than twelve miles away on Linville
Creek. Not far away is Singer's Glen where some of the first early
American hymns and songs were published.
Today various religious denominations hold summer conferences at the
Springs.
Staunton
Near Lewis's Fort a settlement grew up and in 1749 a town was chartered.
It was named Staunton in honor of Lady Staunton, wife of Governor Gooch,
the official who had given so many land grants to Lewis and his Scotch
neighbors. At that time, the town was the county-seat of Augusta (formed
from Orange County in 1738), whose boundaries swept far to the west. Old
records show that one time the court adjourned in Staunton and
reconvened at Fort Duquesne, the colonial outpost which has long since
become Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
If one would search further, he would find this was done during the
French and Indian troubles. Five Chiefs, or rather several of the Five
Nations, signed this order or treaty and it is to be seen among other
historical documents in the Court House in Staunton.
After the Legislature fled from Charlottesville to Staunton during
Tarleton's Raid, that body met and held its sessions in old Trinity
Episcopal Church. During this short time, Staunton was called "the
Capital of Virginia."
The area around Staunton is full of War Between the States history too,
referred to in other places.
Woodrow Wilson was born here in a lovely old Presbyterian manse which is
now a shrine to one of the greatest Presidents of the United States.
Here, annually, thousands of Americans come to honor him.
[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_
"THE MANSE"
WOODROW WILSON'S BIRTHPLACE, STAUNTON, VA.]
The town is a center of culture, for there are located many splendid
schools; among them, for girls are Mary Baldwin and Stuart Hall.
Staunton Military Academy and nearby Augusta Military Academy are
recognized as outstanding schools for boys. There are two business
schools, Dunsmore and Templeton Business College. The one for the deaf
and blind is a State institution.
Tarleton entered Charlottesville on the fourth day of June in 1781.
Jefferson's term as governor expired four days later. Ex-Governor
Patrick Henry had been his guest while the Legislature was meeting
there. He now hastened to Staunton where the Legislators had fled from
Charlottesville. Mr. Jefferson, according to one historian, concealed
himself in a cave in Carter's Mountain and Patrick Henry, in his flight
to Staunton, met Colonel Lewis and told him of how the Legislators had
fled Charlottesville upon Tarleton's invasion.
Colonel Lewis, not knowing who Patrick Henry was, replied "If Patrick
Henry had been in Albemarle, the British Dragoons never would have
passed over the Rivanna River."
The Legislators were badly demoralized, for they feared Tarleton would
come to Staunton. Many of them left during the night and went to the
hospitable home of Colonel George Moffett. During Mr. Henry's hasty
changes he had the misfortune to lose one of his boots. While eating
breakfast the next morning, Mrs. Moffett remarked, "There was one member
of the Legislative body whom I knew would not run." The question was
asked by one of the party, "Who is he?" Her reply was, "Patrick Henry,"
at that moment a gentleman with one boot colored perceptibly. The party
soon left and after their departure a servant rode up and asked for Mr.
Henry, saying he had forgotten his boot. Of course Mrs. Moffett knew
whom the boot fitted.
A tale made more popular perhaps because of a recent revival of interest
in Salem witchcraft is that of a woman who lived years ago in Augusta
County and who was a great aunt of Governor James McDowell of Rockbridge
County. She was born Mary McDowell and married James Greenlee.
It is recounted that she was an unusually attractive and intelligent
young woman but was considered highly eccentric in her behavior.
Neighbors thought that an early love affair had contributed something to
her peculiar manner. Be that as it may, she was regarded by her
acquaintances as a witch. They believed she had made a written contract
with the devil--a contract drawn up in duplicate form so that each party
might retain a copy!
Once at a quilting party in her home she urged one of the quilters to
take a second piece of cake and laughingly remarked that "the mare that
does double work should be best fed." The women misconstrued this to be
an acknowledgment that she was a witch who rode a mare at night on her
excursions to meet the devil. The rumor of her evil activities rapidly
spread throughout the countryside.
[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_
WOODROW WILSON'S BED, STAUNTON, VA.]
The neighborhood thought she was capable of placing curses upon them and
attributed such tragedies as fires, loss of family or stock, or poor
crops to the unfortunate woman.
The fact that she was never brought before the court with the accusation
of being a witch was due in large measure to the standing of the family.
That does not mean, however, that Mrs. Greenlee did not live a wretched
existence or that failure to declare her a witch made the people less
afraid of her powers.
While he was President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson returned to
Staunton and placed a tablet on the wall of the First Presbyterian
Church in memory of his father, Dr. Joseph Wilson, a former minister.
The church in which Dr. Wilson used to preach and in which the President
was christened serves now as the Chapel of Mary Baldwin College.
An interesting old home in Staunton is the Stuart House, located on
Lewis Street. It was planned by the great architect and builder Thomas
Jefferson. Mr. A. H. Stuart, the owner, was a member of President
Fillmore's Cabinet.
The main building of the School for the Deaf and Blind is an unexcelled
example of Doric architecture. During the War Between the States it was
used as a hospital.
Waynesboro and Afton
"Mad Anthony Wayne," the Revolutionary hero, has a town named for him in
Virginia--Waynesboro. This is a beautiful place which has become even
more popular upon completion of the projected Skyline Drive southward
from Swift Run Gap.
The State Conservation Commission has erected an historical marker which
states briefly:
"Here on one of the first roads west of the Blue Ridge, a
hamlet stood in colonial times. The Walker exploring expedition
started from this vicinity in 1748. Here, in June 1781, the
Augusta militia assembled to join Lafayette in the East. A town
was founded in 1797. It was established by law in 1801 and
named for General Anthony Wayne."
In 1854 the countryside was very much excited over the trip made by the
first train travelling west of the Blue Ridge. Crowds gathered to see
the phenomenon and half of them left in fright, we are told, as the iron
horse chugged off. Incidentally, mules hauled the first passenger engine
over the high mountains and set it down for its memorable exodus.
For the most part the buildings one sees in the town have been erected
since 1861, for in that year a devastating fire wiped out the landmarks
of pioneer days.
The last battle in Northern Virginia during the War Between the States
occurred here in March 1865, just about a month before the surrender of
General Lee at Appomattox. Hoping to protect Rockfish Gap, General Early
had his Confederate forces quartered in the town. Sheridan, the Union
General, surprised him and captured more than half the rebels.
Furnishing power for the large manufacturing interests are the numerous
springs of Waynesboro, which have a capacity of millions of gallons of
water a day. If you are unfamiliar with springs such as Virginia has,
you should stop at Brunswick, Baker's, or Basic Lithia Springs for an
unusual sight.
Swannanoa, one of the finest estates in Virginia, is on top of the
mountain between Waynesboro and Afton. It is said by numbers of people
that two of the loveliest views in America may be had from this point:
Rockfish and Shenandoah valleys. You will probably agree with the
statement when you stand where you may get a commanding view of the
country below you. The large home on the estate is now a country club.
Nearby is the site of "Old Mountain Top Tavern," widely known years ago
for its fine hospitality. A group met at the tavern in 1818 to decide
the location of the proposed University of Virginia. Among them were
Madison, Monroe, Marshall and Jefferson.
Driving along the roads you see some of the finest peach orchards in
Virginia, for the section is famed for its high quality fruit. Not only
do peaches abound here, but you will also see splendid apple orchards.
If you happen along at the right season you will be able to stop at a
roadside market to buy the renowned Albemarle Pippins--the apples which
are grown for miles around--and some of the luscious peaches.
Natural Bridge
"Who first discovered Natural Bridge?" is a question which nearly every
one asks, and a second one is, "How high is it?"
The answer to the first is given in an old Indian legend which reads
something like this: Long, long ago, years before the Princess
Pocahontas saved the life of Captain John Smith, there was a terrible
war between some of the tribes. The Shawnees were noted for their
cruelty and they joined forces with the Powhatans. They roamed through
Virginia and fell upon the Monocans, a more friendly tribe.
[Illustration: NATURAL BRIDGE]
There had been a famine that year and the Monocans were weakened by
hunger and many of their braves fell in battle. After a long conflict,
the Monocans decided to retreat and they gave way before the enemy. But
they were pursued relentlessly. The Monocans sought refuge in a strange
forest and suddenly they came upon a high chasm, whose steep walls were
of rock. The braves peered over and were made dizzy when they saw the
great distance to the bottom below, where a swiftly running river looked
like a small silver ribbon.
Even the strongest could not have jumped across the wide chasm, for it
was over a hundred feet wide. Their swiftest scouts ran hither and yon,
but each brought back word that there was no way around.
The Monocans were in despair and in their distress threw themselves upon
the ground and cried aloud to the Great Spirit to spare their lives from
the approaching enemy.
One of the braves arose and went again to the edge of the cliff. He
stared down at his feet, then turned and shouted, "Our prayers have been
granted us--The Great Spirit has built for us a bridge across the great
abyss."
"Be careful," cried one of the men. "Send the squaws and children first
to test it. If they cross in safety, then we will know it will be heavy
enough to carry our weight also."
And so the women and children passed over into the shelter of the forest
beyond. Even as they went they could hear the war whoops of the
advancing enemy.
But the Monocans were refreshed in spirit. Their courage had returned,
for was not the Great Spirit on their side? The braves quickly took
positions on the bridge, each feeling he stood on sacred ground, and
like the Greeks of old at Thermopylae they turned and faced their enemy
and fought victoriously. From that day, we are told, they called it "The
Bridge of God" and worshipped it.
The first white man to own Natural Bridge was Thomas Jefferson, and one
may see the original land grant still hanging on the walls of Monticello
which reads, in part:
"Know ye that for divers good causes and considerations, but
more Especially for and in Consideration of the sum of Twenty
Shillings of good and lawful money for our use paid to our
Receiver General of our Revenues, in this our Colony and
Dominion of Virginia, We have Given, Granted and Confirmed, and
by these presents for us, our heirs and successors, Do give,
Grant and confirm unto Thomas Jefferson, one certain Tract or
parcel of land, containing 157 acres, lying and being in the
County of Botetourt, including the Natural Bridge on Cedar
Creek, a branch of James River ..."
We are told that George Washington surveyed the land in 1750, and while
there he climbed up 23 feet and carved his initials "G. W." on the
southeast walls; the guide today will try to point them out to the
visitor. A story is also told that George Washington threw a stone from
the bottom of Cedar Creek over the Bridge. Evidently he liked to test
his strength by such sports, for it is said that he threw a Spanish
dollar across the Rappahannock River opposite the town of
Fredericksburg.
When this story was told to the late President Cleveland, he replied, "I
do not know about that, but I am well assured he threw a sovereign
across the Atlantic."
In 1927 another stone was found which scientists think proved George
Washington surveyed that territory. This stone is a large one and also
bears his initials which are engraved in a surveyor's cross. Evidently
he measured the height of the Bridge by dropping a line from the edge of
the bridge to the cross below.
Thomas Jefferson called his purchase the "most Sublime of Nature's
works." He visited it many times and during his presidency, in 1802, he
surveyed the place with his own hands. He later built a log cabin which
contained two rooms and one of them was always kept ready for a visitor.
Many famous people visited there and the list includes such men as John
Marshall, James Monroe, Henry Clay, Sam Houston and Martin Van Buren.
While in France, Jefferson collected many plants and shrubs which he
sent to America; many of these were planted at the Bridge, and some are
still in existence.
Cedar Creek, the parent of the Bridge, has been busy for thousands of
years cutting a bit deeper each year.
The answer to the second question, "How high is it?," is found on a
Government bench which carries a brass plate, "1,150 feet above the
sea." It is 245 feet high and is 90 feet wide.
Boys and men are especially interested in the exciting story of how Dr.
Chester Reeds actually measured the wonderful Bridge. He had a special
basket built which was strong enough to hold him. Two hundred and fifty
feet of rope was fastened to it and run through a pulley and one end of
it was tied to a fence post. He was very dizzy at first and could not
take pictures of the side walls of the bridge. Gradually he became
accustomed to turning around and was able to get many fine ones at
various angles and of the massive supporting walls, the huge slabs of
limestone and some of the foliage.
Natural Bridge is a monument to the patience of Old Mother Nature and
her skill as an artist. Today, one wonders at the deep gorge--by night,
with modern electrification, one is spellbound by its beauty--and when
sweet music fills the glen with its symphonies one's soul is lifted to
the Greatest Artist of all--to God in reverence and gratitude.
Rockbridge
Rockbridge County takes its name from the celebrated Natural Bridge and
was formed from Augusta and Botetourt counties. A branch of the James
River is called North River and this stream waters the county, flowing
diagonally across it. Some of the richest soil in all the Valley is
found in Rockbridge. Lexington, which is the county-seat, takes its name
from the town of Lexington in Massachusetts and was founded in 1778. The
first buildings of the old town were mostly destroyed by fire in 1794
and were replaced with substantial brick buildings. An Englishman who
was visiting America long ago described the little town in these words:
"The town as a settlement, has many attractions. It is
surrounded by beauty, and stands at the head of a valley
flowing with milk and honey. House rent is low, provisions are
cheap, abundant and of the best quality."
The settlers were mostly the Scotch-Irish and of the Presbyterian faith.
As soon as they had cleared the lands and built their homes they planted
orchards, built their barns and settled down. These were thoughtful men
and women who kept their emotions under constant guard. Yet when
occasion arose, they spoke simply and clearly and were unafraid. They
detested civil tyranny and as they were far away from the seat of
government, to a certain extent they made their own laws and rigidly
adhered to them.
They were among the first in the Valley of Virginia to rally to the
defense of their country during the War of the Revolution.
In their moral life, they were almost Puritanical. This was founded on
religious principle and often they were considered austere and stern.
Yet those who knew them, felt the kindness and devotion to which they
did not give expressions in words. To them, deeds meant more than
promises. Though they reproved one without a smile, their eyes often
expressed understanding and sympathy and the offending one felt the deep
love which had moved the other to speak--always for the good of the
offender. And while some other fault would rear its head, not often was
the offense repeated which had called forth the reproach.
The men and women were deeply religious and family prayers were the
first order of the day. As soon as homes were established provisions
were made for religious services to be held. Tiny churches dotted the
Valley wherever the Scotch-Irish settled. If the church was far away, as
it was from some, on meeting day young and old mounted their horses and
rode the intervening miles for the long services.
Many of these old Presbyterian churches are still standing today and
they serve as monuments to that hardy race of men and women who braved
all for religious freedom and for civic liberty. The building of these
churches meant such labor as we of the present generation cannot know.
There were no roads and no sawmills. An old historian tells us how one
church was built:
"The people of Providence Congregation packed all the sand used
in building their church from a place six miles distant, sack
and sack, on the backs of horses! And what is almost
incredible, the fair wives and daughters of the congregation
are said to have undertaken this part of the work, while the
men labored at the stone and timber. Let not the
great-granddaughters of these women blush for them however
deeply they would blush themselves to be found in such
employment. For ourselves, we admire the conduct of these
females; it was not only excusable, but praiseworthy--it was
almost heroic! It takes Spartan mothers to rear Spartan men.
These were among the women whose sons and grandsons sustained
Washington in the most disastrous period of the Revolution."
There was little social life in those early days such as their eastern
cousins knew along the James River. Except for their church festivals,
they did little entertaining. Twice a year they held the Lord's Supper
and this lasted for four days, with religious services each day. During
these times families living nearest the church invited those who lived
at great distances to stay with them. Often some young couple would be
married, either just before or immediately after these services. Then
there would be a little merriment, extra cakes and a few playful pranks.
THE FIRST ACADEMY IN THE VALLEY
Dr. Ruffner has left us a description of Timber Ridge, which was built
near Fairfield in Rockbridge County in 1776. The school took its name
from the fine oak trees which grew along its ridge. He writes:
"The schoolhouse was a log cabin. The fine oak forest, which
had given Timber Ridge its name, cast its shade over it in
summer and afforded convenient fuel in winter. A spring of pure
water gushed from the rocks near the house. From amidst the
trees the student had a fine view of the country below and the
neighboring Blue Ridge. In short all the features of the place
made it a fit habitation of the woodland muse and the hill
deserved the name of Mount Pleasant. Hither about thirty youths
of the mountains repaired to 'taste of the Pierian spring.' Of
reading, writing and ciphering, the boys of the country had
before acquired such knowledge as primary schools could afford;
but with a few late exceptions, Latin, Greek, algebra, geometry
and such like scholastic mysteries were things of which they
had heard--which they knew perhaps to lie covered up in the
learned heads of their pastors--but of the nature and uses they
had no conception whatever.
"It was a log hut of one room. The students carried their
dinner with them from the boarding-schools in the neighborhood.
They conned their lesson either in the schoolroom where the
recitations were heard, or under the shade of the trees where
breezes whispered and birds sang without disturbing their
studies. A horn--perhaps a cow's horn--summoned the school from
play and scattered classes to recitations.
"Instead of broadcloth coats, the students generally wore a far
more graceful garment, the hunting shirt, home-spun,
home-woven, and home-made, by the industry of wives and
daughters.
"Their amusements were not less remote from the modern taste of
students--cards, backgammon, flutes, fiddles, and even marbles
were scarcely known among these mountain boys. Firing pistols
and ranging the field with shotguns to kill little birds for
sport, they would have considered a waste of time and
ammunition. As to frequenting tippling shops of any
denomination, that was impossible because no such catchpenny
lures for students existed in the country, or would have been
tolerated. Had any huckster of liquors, knicknacks, and
explosive crackers, hung out signs in those days, the old
Puritan morality of the land was yet vigorous enough to abate
the nuisance. The sports of the students were mostly gymnastic,
both manly and healthful--such as leaping, running, wrestling,
pitching quoits and playing ball. In this rustic seminary a
considerable number of young men began their education, who
afterwards bore a distinguished part in the civil and
ecclesiastical affairs of the country."
Valley Inventions
The Valley of Virginia has often been termed "the granary of the South."
It is no wonder that farmers from time to time have tried to shorten
their labor in the wheat fields by inventing machines to do their work.
The name Robert McCormick means little or nothing to most of us, yet on
his farm, Walnut Grove, near Lexington he made repeated attempts to
invent a workable reaper. His son, Cyrus, had watched with growing
interest each of his father's undertakings. His regrets must have been
as keen as the elder McCormick's when they realized one May morning in
1831 that the clumsy machine could not replace the hand scythe and
cradle.
Cyrus knew something of machinery and determined to improve his father's
poor invention in time for the next harvesting. During the intervening
six weeks he stayed in the workshop as much as the busy growing season
would allow and secured the ready help of a slave boy, Joe Anderson.
In July when the wheat was ready to harvest Cyrus and his father moved
the machine out to the field. There a crowd of neighbors gathered and
watched with fascination as the reaper cut six acres of wheat during the
day.
McCormick continued to improve his invention and other farmers risked
their money in purchasing the first six he offered on the market.
Eventually the news spread to the grain fields of the Middle West and he
opened factories to supply the farmers there.
For years the inventor strove to improve the reaper; he discovered that
other labor saving devices were needed equally as badly, and he offered
other types of farm machinery to the rich farm lands.
Inventive genius lay near Lexington along other lines, too. It was near
here that James Gibbs invented his common sense stitch sewing-machine
which was a forerunner of our more modern models. And what a
labor-saving machine that was to all the housewives!
WASHINGTON COLLEGE
The Scotch-Irish were determined to have the best schools and colleges
for their children. The Hanover Presbytery, which in 1776 embraced all
the Presbyterian churches in Virginia, established a school which they
called Liberty Hall Academy. This was built in Lexington, Virginia, with
the Reverend William Graham, a native of Pennsylvania, as its first
president. George Washington, in 1796, gave the school a regular
endowment, the first of its kind. This is how it was made:
The Legislature of Virginia "as a testimony of their gratitude for his
services," and as "a mark of their respect," presented to George
Washington a certain number of shares in the Old James River Company, an
industry then in progress. Unwilling to accept anything for his own
benefit, he gave it to the Liberty Hall Academy.
In 1812, the Trustees of the school voted to ask the Virginia
Legislature to change the name to Washington College. Many others
decided to follow George Washington's fine example. A Mr. John Robinson
left his whole estate to the college; the next to aid it, we are told,
was the newly organized Society of the Cincinnati of Virginia.
Old records of the school throw an interesting light regarding the
expenses of a student in those far-off days. The treasurer's bill for
tuition, room rent, deposits and matriculation was $45 per year. Board
was $7.50 a month. Laundry, fuel, candles and bed amounted to about
three dollars per month. The cost of everything averaged about $140 a
year.
Lexington
When he was beset and overwhelmed, and without supplies, Robert Edward
Lee reached Appomattox in April, 1865, and surrendered to General Grant
on April 9th. He realized that the people of the South needed courage
and strength, and though he was offered many places of honor with
splendid salaries, he decided to help rebuild Virginia. When the call
came to become president of Washington College in Lexington he accepted
and took up his duties there in October, 1865.
As he spoke to the students assembled in the new chapel he saw familiar
faces. Many of them had followed him during the years of the War Between
the States; they, too, had courage and hope. These boys and men loved
the noble man and they were willing to follow him in rebuilding their
homes and the Southland.
"All good citizens must unite in honest efforts to obliterate
the effects of war, and to restore the blessings of peace. They
must not abandon their country, but go to work and build up its
prosperity.
"The young men especially must stay at home, bearing themselves
in such a manner as to gain the esteem of every one, at the
same time that they maintain their own respect.
"It should be the object of all to avoid controversy, to allay
passion, and to give scope to every kindly feeling."
In every respect he was prepared to be the president of a great school,
for he himself had been a model student at West Point. He had already
served as Superintendent there for three years.
He was very happy during the short years he lived in Lexington. He had
the grounds improved, planted many trees, and repaired the much worn
buildings. He studied and worked over the courses of study and enlarged
the faculty.
A young girl who was visiting in the home of General Lee in Lexington,
tells the following story. It was soon after the Surrender at Appomattox
and his acceptance of the Presidency of Washington College.
General Lee, with his family, was living in one of the comfortable and
large houses near the college. Their home at Arlington had been
confiscated during the War Between the States, and they had no furniture
except some which neighbors had lent them.
[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_
WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY, LEXINGTON, VA.]
One day a letter came to General Lee, telling him good news. A lady who
lived in New York wrote him that her husband had died, and having no
children she had decided to give up housekeeping. She had been very
happy and had loved her home. Now she wanted the furnishings to belong
to someone who would appreciate and would care for them. She wrote she
sympathized with them in not having their own furniture and that there
was no one to whom she had rather give hers.
General Lee hated the thought of accepting, until he read on, that if he
could not use the furniture himself, perhaps he could use it in his
college. After some time he wrote the lady he would be very grateful and
would appreciate it very much.
In the meantime Mrs. Lee was looking forward to its coming, for her
large rooms were indeed very bare. At last the great boxes came. General
Lee was busy, so Mrs. Lee waited until he could be present to have them
opened.
After lunch one day, General Lee had men come to open them. Mrs. Lee's
eyes shone as the first box revealed two huge red velvet carpets.
She looked at the General. His eyes were shining too.
"Look, my dear," he said, "The very thing we need! If we cut them
carefully, we will have enough to carpet the platform and the aisles of
the new chapel!"
"Of course," she smiled, never saying one word about how warm and lovely
they would make the double parlors in their own home.
The next box was opened with intense interest. The men lifted out the
upper part of a handsome bookcase. The next brought the lower half, a
lovely desk, with many drawers.
"Oh," thought Mrs. Lee. "That will fill up that terrible space between
the windows."
"This is the very thing we want," General Lee said, as the men took them
to the walk. "We will put that in the basement of the new chapel. We
will use it for our records and put our best books in the bookcase, and
this will be the beginning of our college library."
And so it went. He used the best of everything for his college, and Mrs.
Lee took only the odds and ends which did not fit anywhere else.
Someone told her she should have taken a stand and insisted upon taking
some of the best.
"Oh, no," she laughed, "it was worth giving all of it up to see the joy
the General had in putting it to use in his college. The boys come
first--both of us are so interested in them."
General Lee died in October, 1870, loved by men and women, boys and
girls in both the North and South. His body rests under a beautiful
white marble figure, which was sculptured by his friend, Edward
Valentine. It is called the Recumbent Statue of General Lee and lies in
the Chapel of Washington and Lee. This is now a shrine to which hundreds
come daily from all over the world to pay their homage, love and respect
to this great man.
[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_
VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE]
THE VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE
Virginia Military Institute was first an academy and was established in
connection with Washington College by an act of the Legislature during
the years 1838-9. A guard of soldiers had been maintained at the expense
of the State for the purpose of affording protection to the arms
deposited in the Lexington arsenal for the use of the militia in western
Virginia. It was through the influence of Governor McDowell, who came
from Rockbridge County, that this militia was made into an educational
unit of Washington College.
One seldom thinks of the Virginia Military Institute without associating
with it the noted Colonel Claudius Crozet--soldier, educator and
engineer. He was the first president of the V.M.I. Board of Visitors. An
imposing hall at the Institute is named in his honor.
In the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hall hangs the painting which depicts
the charge of the corps of cadets at the Battle of New Market. "This
great painting, not a mural, is one of the largest canvas paintings in
the country"--according to authorities there.
Among other memorial buildings is the one erected in honor of
Brigadier-General Scott Shipp, a former cadet, instructor and
superintendent; Maury-Brooke Hall, dedicated to Matthew Fontaine Maury,
the Pathfinder of the Seas and honoring Commander John Mercer Brooke,
inventor of the deep-sea sounding apparatus and builder of the first
successful iron-clad vessel, the "Merrimac."
During the War Between the States the greater part of the buildings were
destroyed by Federal authority. When General Lee heard of this tragedy
he wrote to General F. H. Smith, the superintendent there. We quote his
letter because of its prophetic message:
"CAMP PETERSBURG, (VA.) _July 4, 1864_.
"I have grieved over the destruction of the Military Institute.
But the good that has been done to the country cannot be
destroyed, nor can its name or fame perish. It will rise
stronger than before, and continue to diffuse its benefits to a
grateful people. Under wise administration, there will be no
suspension of its usefulness. The difficulties by which it is
surrounded will call forth greater energies from its officers
and increased diligence from its pupils. Its prosperity I
consider certain.
"With great regards, yours very truly,
"R. E. LEE."
There is a glamor attached to this Virginia school unique in the
country. It comes not alone from the bright cadet uniforms, the parade
grounds, the gray stone barracks and the _esprit de corps_ evidenced
there; part is kept alive by the hundreds of loyal alumni and friends
whose devotion is unlimited. This "West Point of the South" maintains
the traditions of the time of Stonewall Jackson and graduates young
officers for the army and young men for every field of business. A
current Broadway show of popular appeal and a cinema of note is that of
"Brother Rat" which depicts the life at V.M.I.
Culpeper Minute Men
Who can resist a story about the Revolutionary War? There is a
fascination surrounding the heroes and heroines of that era and most of
us listen attentively to any legend depicting the action of our
forefathers.
From a point along the Skyline Drive one may look toward Culpeper
County. (In fact, in all probability you passed through a part of this
old county if you took an east to west route to reach the drive.) Among
other things Culpeper is justly famous for its Minute Men of the
Revolutionary War.
The town was formed from Orange in 1748 and was named in honor of Lord
Culpeper, Governor of Virginia from 1680 to 1683. This land was a part
of the original land grant to Lord Fairfax. It was here in the old
Courthouse that young George Washington produced his commission as
surveyor. The record reads:
"20th July, 1749--George Washington Gent. produced a commission
from the President and Master of William and Mary College,
appointing him to be surveyor of this county, which was read,
and thereupon he took the usual oaths to his majesty's person
and government, and took and subscribed the abjuration oath and
test, and then took the oath of surveyor, according to law."
Speaking years later in the Senate, John Randolph of Roanoke remarked
that the Minute Men "were raised in a minute, armed in a minute, marched
in a minute, fought in a minute, and vanquished in a minute." These
soldiers chose as part of their uniform green hunting shirts with
"Liberty or Death" stamped in large letters across the front. Buck tails
hung from their old hats and from their belts swung tomahawks and
scalping knives. Their wild appearance on reaching Williamsburg, the
capital of the colony, set the inhabitants in as much fear as did the
thought of invasion by the enemy! Lieutenant John Marshall who was later
to become Chief Justice was among the number--as was his father.
The slogan of the Minute Men "Liberty or Death" brought forth humor from
one wag who said the phrasing was too strong for him; he would enlist if
it were changed to "Liberty or Be Crippled."
Almost upon their immediate arrival at Williamsburg they were marched to
Norfolk County and were participants in the Battle of Great Bridge.
Blind Preacher
Not so far from Gordonsville there is a simple marker near the site of
"Belle Grove," a little church made famous by a blind preacher. And back
of the monument itself is a story well worth repeating. It is a tale
told by William Wirt in his _British Spy_.
In that account Wirt said:
"It was one Sunday as I travelled through the county of Orange,
that my eye was caught by a cluster of horses tied near a
ruinous old wooden house in the forest, not far from the
roadside. Having frequently seen such objects before, in
travelling through these States, I had no difficulty in
understanding that this was a place of religion."
He stated further that he was filled with curiosity as to the type of
minister who would preach in such a wilderness as he was passing through
and so he stopped and joined the worshippers. He described the preacher,
a Presbyterian in faith, as having one of the most striking appearances
he had ever seen and a most remarkable delivery.
"I have never seen, in any other orator, such a union of
simplicity and majesty. He has not a gesture, an attitude, or
an accent, to which he does not seem forced by the sentiment
which he is expressing. His mind is too serious, too earnest,
too solicitous, and, at the same time, too dignified, to stoop
to artifice. Although as far removed from ostentation as a man
can be, yet it is clear from the train, the style, and
substance of his thoughts, that he is not only a very polite
scholar, but a man of extensive and profound erudition."
James Waddel was the name of this remarkable old man of God. He was born
in Ireland in 1739 and was brought to America as an infant.
Another interesting tale was told in the neighborhood. Waddel's fame as
a preacher had spread through the vicinity. On one occasion a committee
from a different faith prepared to wait on him and urge him to occupy
their pulpit as well as his own. Upon nearing his dwelling they were
shocked to hear sweet plaintive notes coming from a violin and resolved
to learn who in his household would dare to play the devil's instrument.
They crept softly to the window. Such amazement was theirs when they saw
their potential minister himself drawing the bow--and with apparent
enjoyment and satisfaction. More quickly than they had approached did
they leave the yard and felt righteously thankful that they had seen the
true nature of the man before it was too late!
Not only did the Blind Preacher serve as minister, but like others of
his profession he conducted a school.
And what happened to the old church itself? Long abandoned as a meeting
house for the Presbyterians, about 1850 it was sold and taken down by
the "Sons of Temperance" and converted into a temperance hall at
Gordonsville. Later it housed a school. Finally it was sold to a colored
preacher as a church for his flock.
Hebron Church
Outstanding among the old churches in this part of Virginia is Hebron
Church in Madison County.
The little colony of Germans at Germanna, to whom we have already
referred, and a few immigrants from Holland were responsible for its
early establishment. First it was known as "Old Dutch Church." Located
on its original site its existence has been in three different counties:
Orange, Culpeper and now Madison!
Hebron is the oldest Lutheran church not only in Virginia but in the
South. About 1733 the nucleus of the congregation met and sent a
representative to England for a pastor. It seems a bit surprising that
no English parson felt the call to tend the flock in an outpost of
Virginia, but it is true that no one was possessed of the missionary
spirit to that extent.
In 1735 a Hessian who had come to America eight years before, the Rev.
Casper Stoever, left his home in Pennsylvania and became the first
pastor. His annual salary, by the way, was four thousand pounds of
tobacco or just about forty dollars in currency. This was paid by the
congregation in addition to the taxes which were required of the
Non-Conformist churches towards the upkeep of the established English
church.
Everyone in Madison is vastly proud of the old pipe organ at Hebron. It
was built in 1800 at Philadelphia and brought to its present place on
wagon--a journey which took a long time and infinite pains. Jacob and
Michael Rouse were entrusted with the task of hauling. The organ cost
two hundred pounds sterling. Interesting, too, is the complete old
communion service which dates back to the church's early beginnings.
In recent years visiting concert organists have played on the fine old
instrument at the request of the congregation.
Hoover's Camp on the Rapidan River
During the administration of former President Hoover a fine camp was
built on the banks of the Rapidan River in Madison County where the
Chief Executive, his family and friends enjoyed the trout fishing and
rustic life that the camp afforded. A main lodge was erected for the
President. Guest lodges for the Cabinet members and others were located
nearby. This retreat is within easy driving distance of the White House
and was in constant use for week-ends during the summer months. From
Washington the Presidential parties took route 211 to Warrenton and from
there two routes were offered: either a continuation of route 211 to
Sperryville, then south to Criglersville on route 16, or from Warrenton
to Culpeper to Criglersville.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Hoover became very much interested in the life of the
mountaineers who grew to be their friendly neighbors. You have heard
the story, no doubt, of the small unlettered boy who brought a gift to
the President and who aroused in him and Mrs. Hoover the desire to see a
school built in the neighborhood which would serve a large mountain
area. An excellent little frame building nestles among the sloping hills
which attracts the children of all ages within a radius of many miles.
One part of the building is used for class instruction and the rest for
living quarters for the teacher. This school was made possible largely
through the efforts of Mr. and Mrs. Hoover.
One may see the school and the entrance to the Rapidan Camp by following
the road which leads from Big Meadow, a plateau on the Skyline Drive, to
Criglersville.
The camp is still in use at times. Cabinet members and other government
officials enjoy its stream and mountain beauties, but not to the extent
of former times.
Charlottesville and Albemarle County
THE FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
Every school child knows the outstanding facts about Thomas Jefferson.
He will rattle off quickly that he was born near Charlottesville in
Albemarle County, in 1743, that he was at William and Mary College when
only seventeen and played his fiddle which he had carried as he rode the
long miles between Charlottesville and Williamsburg. He graduated there
and was admitted to the bar. Thomas Jefferson drafted, at the request of
the Committee, the Declaration of Independence. He was Governor of
Virginia during the trying years of the Revolutionary War. We shall not
give all the offices which he held, except to mention that he spent some
years abroad in France as United States Minister. For almost forty years
he served his country, having been President of it from 1801 to 1809.
It is from the quaint letters of his granddaughter, Ellenora Randolph,
that one may read of the tenderness, the lovable disposition and the
human side of this great American.
She was said to be his favorite grandchild and she writes of how she sat
on his knee and played with his huge watch chain. He never went to
Philadelphia without bringing her little luxuries which it was
impossible to buy in Virginia. He brought her a Bible, a lady's side
saddle, a Leghorn hat, and a set of Shakespeare.
[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia Conservation Commission_
"MONTICELLO", NEAR CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.]
She tells how Jefferson's wife had died when his daughters were quite
young and that he had been so kind and sympathetic in "shaping their
lives."
There is an interesting love story here, too, for Ellenora met and fell
in love with Joseph Coolidge of Boston. He came a-wooing the Virginia
beauty, and according to the custom of that day, he wrote Mr. Jefferson
of his intentions to marry his granddaughter before he proposed to her.
The following is Jefferson's reply to Joseph Coolidge:
"MONTICELLO, _October 24, 1824_.
"I avail myself of the first moment of my ability to take up a
pen to assure you that nothing would be more welcome to me than
the visit proposed and its object.... I assure you no union
could give me more satisfaction if your wishes are mutual. Your
visit to Monticello and at the time of your convenience will be
truly welcome, and your stay, whatever may suit yourself. My
gratification will be measured by the time of its
continuance....
"I expect in the course of the first or the second week of the
approaching month to receive here the visit of my ancient
friend, General LaFayette. The delirium which his visit has
excited in the North envelopes him in the South also ... and
the county of Albemarle will exhibit its great affection and
unending means in a dinner given the General in the building of
the University, to which they have given accepted invitations
to Mr. and Mrs. James Madison and myself as guests; and at
which your presence as my guest would give high pleasure to us
all, and to name, I assure you more cordially than sincerely
your friend;
(Signed) "THOMAS JEFFERSON."
The wedding accounts give the names of fifty distinguished Americans who
came to pay their respects to Ellenora and her husband. Every
distinguished foreigner came in person; besides these, there came many
of the men who had known and loved Jefferson during all his years of
service. Imagine all the horses that had to be fed, all the gigs and
coaches and all the Negro servants who had to be quartered. No one is
surprised that what the man had accumulated was fast disappearing with
so much hospitality.
But Ellenora had her troubles upon arriving in Boston. Her presents and
other possessions had been sent by boat and it had sunk! Her letter
tells of her great distress at losing the trinkets associated with her
happy girlhood. But most of all, she expressed her grief upon losing a
writing desk which Grandfather Jefferson had had made for her by his
master carpenter, a Negro servant. This was a very talented carver who
had faithfully carried out each detailed design which his master had
given him. Now he was old and had grown blind and he could no longer
make one. This is Jefferson's letter to his granddaughter--and explains
how a most historic desk went a-travelling:
"It has occurred to me that perhaps I can replace it (desk) not
indeed to you, but to Mr. Coolidge, by a substitute, not
claiming the same value from its decorations but the part it
has bourne in our history, and the event with which it has been
associated.... Now I happen to possess the writing box on which
the Declaration of Independence was written. It was made from a
drawing of my own, by Ben Randall, a cabinetmaker in whose
house I took lodging on my first arrival in Philadelphia, in
May, 1776, and I have had it ever since. It claims no merit of
particular beauty. It is plain, neat and convenient and taking
no more room on a writing table than a modern quarto volume it
displays itself sufficient for any writing. Mr. Coolidge must
do me the favor of accepting this. Its imaginary value will
increase with the years. If he lives till my age, he may see it
carried in the procession of our nation's birthday."
So this is how the famous desk went to New England and was finally sent
to the State Department in Washington by the Coolidges in 1876.
When Thomas Jefferson was an old man, he began to carry out his dream,
one which he had had for a long time, to build a university. All his
life he had loved to draw plans and he carefully made his own
blueprints. He drew plans for lovely Monticello when he was twenty-eight
years old. His friends came from far and near to get him to draw plans
for their homes. Ashlawn, Montpelier and others are monuments to this
master builder. He had his own ideas about educating the young men of
Virginia. He wanted to see them fitted to be fine citizens by having a
good education, for he knew it was through good citizens that a good
government would be realized. But first he had to educate his friends
along this line. Many of them still thought a tutor in the family was
the best way. Many did not believe in "mass education." For ten long
years he worked to get a bill through the Legislature which called for
the establishment of the University of Virginia. At last, in 1825 the
school was opened. But many years passed before Jefferson could get the
buildings he had dreamed of and had planned. Then when he was
eighty-two, his dream came true.
[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_
ROTUNDA OF UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA]
Today one may see his university, set on a sloping hill. The buildings
are models of architecture and Jefferson himself superintended the
construction of them. It is told that he often watched the carpenters
from Monticello through a telescope. Jefferson also planned those early
courses of study and helped in the selection of the faculty. The spirit
of Jefferson is still felt there today and each generation of students
has been enriched by it and the noble traditions of the school.
Many famous students have gone there. Edgar Allan Poe wrote "The Raven"
and "Anabel Lee" there. An Arctic explorer from the University was
Elisha Kane. Walter Reed studied medicine and, as we know, won the fight
against yellow fever by his heroic experiments. Each year, men go out
from this great old school who help to build a greater country--just as
Jefferson dreamed they would.
After his death on July 4, 1826, someone found a paper on which he had
written these words:
"Here was buried
Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of American Independence
of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom
and Father of the University of Virginia."
And today, one finds his tomb halfway up the hill to Monticello and the
words above are cut upon the simple shaft which marks his grave.
Monticello is open to the public and may be reached by a hard surface
road leading out of Charlottesville. Through careful research and
diligence the Monticello Memorial Association has brought back to the
home much of the fine furnishings which Jefferson himself had collected.
At the present time the second and third floors of the mansion are being
faithfully restored.
JACK JOUETT'S RIDE
"Here goes to thee, Jack Jouett!
Lord keep thy memr'y green;
You made the greatest ride, sir,
That ever yet was seen."
So reads the last stanza of an inscription on a tablet erected in his
memory. But who was Jack Jouett and what of his "greatest ride?"
During the stirring days of the American Revolution Thomas Jefferson was
Governor of Virginia. Hearing that the British were expected to reach
Richmond he recommended that the capital of the colony be moved to
Charlottesville until after danger from the enemy should pass. This was
done and Jefferson stayed at his home, Monticello.
At Cuckoo Tavern in Louisa County, fifty miles from Charlottesville,
young Jouett was sitting around one night getting the latest news of the
rebellion, when Tarleton, who commanded a British force, came into the
place. Jouett hid from sight and overheard Tarleton talking with several
other English officers. They said they were impatient to be on their way
to Monticello to capture Jefferson, Patrick Henry and other Virginia
leaders. Jack stayed to hear the route they would take to
Charlottesville and then slipped away on his horse.
The famous ride occurred on back roads in order to beat the British to
their destination. He crossed to the main road long enough to tell a
family of Walkers that the British were coming for the Governor. Later
Tarleton drew in at the same home and demanded breakfast from Mrs.
Walker. Knowing that time meant a great deal to the rider going ahead
with the news, she delayed the meal as long as possible.
As Jouett climbed the last hill to Monticello he heard the horses of
Tarleton's party in the distance, so he spurred his animal on and in a
last-minute sprint he reached the home. The plans were revealed and
Jefferson hurriedly assembled his family. As their carriage left by a
back road the English came up another and searched in vain for the
Governor.
Jouett went from there to Charlottesville to warn the members of the
legislature of the impending danger and they fled to Staunton--all but
seven of the legislators who were overtaken and captured. The story is
told of how he saved General Stevens, a member of the Assembly. As they
rode along, some British soldiers saw them and set their horses at a
great pace. Jack had on a plumed hat which might appear important to the
soldiers; he told the general to ride slowly across an open field as if
he were the owner out on an inspection tour of his lands. He himself
would dash off in the hope of getting the troopers to follow him. The
plan worked. Jouett finally left the pursuers far behind and later on he
returned to his home in Charlottesville.
Much later the Virginia legislature passed a resolution commending the
valor of Jack Jouett and presented him with a pair of pistols and a
sword as a mark of appreciation of his service to the State. Swan
Tavern, left him by his father, occupied his time after the war. He died
in Kentucky where he had moved as an old man.
LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION
Thomas Jefferson knew the two young men whom he wanted to explore the
great Northwest, for they had been born almost at the foot of
Monticello. They were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Each of them,
almost as boys, had been a soldier and each loved adventure.
Meriwether Lewis had inherited a fortune from his father and he could
have settled down to a life of ease. But after eighteen he would not go
to school any longer. He had fought in the Whiskey Rebellion in
Pennsylvania and then entered the army. He was commissioned captain in
1800 and served for three years. Then Thomas Jefferson asked him to be
his secretary and it was in this office that Jefferson found his
admirable qualities.
William Clark was four years older than his friend Lewis. He was born in
1770 and was a brother of George Rogers Clark. When he was fourteen
years old he went with his family to the Ohio River where his brother
George had built a fort. There he learned the ways of the Indians and
often he was in the thick of their raids. He, too, joined the regular
army and received his commission when he was only eighteen years old.
He went to St. Louis and was commissioned as second lieutenant of the
artillery and ordered to join the great expedition.
Captain Lewis was first in command and he selected his men carefully.
There were fourteen soldiers in the little party and two Canadian
boatmen, an interpreter, a hunter and a Negro servant.
Thomas Jefferson did not give them a lot of orders. The following
instructions show his wisdom:
"Treat them (Indians) in the most friendly and concilliating
manner which their own conduct will admit; allay all jealousies
as to the object of your journey; satisfy them of its
innocence; make them acquainted with the position, extent,
character, peaceable, and commercial intercourse with them;
confer with them on the points most convenient as mutual
emporiums and the articles of most desirable interchange for
them and us. If a few of their influential chiefs, within
practicable distance wish to visit us, arrange such a visit
with them, and furnish them with authority to call on our
officers on their entering the United States, to have them
conveyed to this place at the public expense. If any of them
should wish to have some of their people brought up with us and
use such arts as may be useful to them, we will receive,
instruct, and take care of them."
The fact that so little trouble was had by the party is due to the skill
which Clark used in handling the Indians. We will not go into the
details of the expedition, for everyone knows what a wonderful, rich
territory was gained for the United States by that expedition.
Fredericksburg
Fredericksburg, fifty-five miles south of Washington and about the same
distance north of Richmond, Virginia, on Route 1, rightly claims to be
one of the most historic cities in the United States. Visitors who make
a tour of the Valley of Virginia and the Skyline Drive may want to begin
their trip here, for it serves as a hub for long or short visits to
neighboring places of interest. From Fredericksburg one may drive to
Culpeper, Sperryville and Panorama and enter the Skyline Drive at that
point, or he may wish to go from Fredericksburg to Warrenton and thence
to the Skyline Drive. Another excellent route is by way of Orange and
Stanardsville and on to Swift Run Gap, the Southern entrance to the
Drive at the present time.
[Illustration: "KENMORE", THE HOME OF FIELDING LEWIS AND BETTY
WASHINGTON LEWIS, FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA]
A splendid trip from this old city is to "Wakefield," the birthplace of
George Washington, in Westmoreland County, and from there to "Stratford
Hall," the ancestral home of the Lee family and the birthplace of
General Lee, both in Westmoreland County. About two miles from
Fredericksburg on this route is "Ferry Farm" where George Washington
spent a part of his boyhood.
In the city itself there are shrines to famous folks of an earlier
period. The home of Mary Washington, mother of the first President, is
open to the public. "Kenmore," former home of Betty Washington Lewis and
Colonel Fielding Lewis is well cared for by an association. Both these
homes have good examples of eighteenth century furnishings. The Rising
Sun Tavern was the scene years ago of the Victory Ball after the
surrender at Yorktown; it was host to most of the famous men of Virginia
and neighboring States for years. In the Masonic Lodge are a number of
relics of Washington's time and an original Gilbert Stuart portrait of
the General. General Hugh Mercer, a noted physician of the Revolution
had his apothecary shop in Fredericksburg and the visitor may see it
upon request. Mary Washington's will is on record at the courthouse
here.
On Charles Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia, stands a shrine to the
memory of James Monroe, who served his country in more public offices
than any other American in the history of the United States. This quaint
story-and-a-half brick building, which he occupied from 1786 to 1788,
was the only private law office in which Monroe practiced his
profession. It was built in 1758 and stands in its original state, even
to the woodwork and mantles of the interior. Only the old brick floor
and plastering had to be restored. This was accomplished in 1928, when
the building was opened to the public as the first shrine to the memory
of the fifth President. At that time there was placed in it the largest
number of Monroe possessions in existence, handed down for five
generations in straight line to his descendants, who made the shrine
possible.
[Illustration: JAMES MONROE'S LAW OFFICE]
James Monroe brought his bride, the former Elizabeth Kortright of New
York, to Fredericksburg, and in the little shrine are hallowed
intimate possessions of hers as well as those of her distinguished
husband; a wedding slipper, a dainty French fan; two handsome court
gowns, one of silver brocaded on white satin, the other of cream colored
taffeta, richly embroidered with dahlias in natural colors; her bonnet
and veil in which she welcomed Lafayette on his return to the States in
1824; her lorgnette, which must have added to the reputation she had for
dignity; her Astor piano and her silver service marked "J. M."
Of Monroe's personal possessions there are many. Here too is his court
dress with its rare old lace, cut-steel buttons and knee breeches, worn
at Napoleon's court; the quaint huge umbrella presented him by the City
of Boston on the occasion of Lafayette's return, with its original
covering, whale-bone ribs and ivory handle, all contributing to its
weight of seven and one-half pounds; his mahogany brass-bound dispatch
box in which his Louisiana Purchase papers were carried; his
silver-mounted duelling pistols, recalling that Monroe came near
fighting a duel with Alexander Hamilton; and other articles too numerous
to mention, including interesting historical letters by and to James
Monroe from the outstanding men of his day.
Perhaps the outstanding exhibit in the Law Office shrine, however, is
the desk on which Monroe signed the message to Congress which formed the
basis for the famous Monroe Doctrine. Mahogany, high, brass-bound, this
handsome desk forms a part of the furniture bought by the Monroes in
France, brought by them to this country in 1798, and now finally shown
in the little museum dedicated to their memory. The Monroes, being the
first to move into the rebuilt White House after the original one had
been burned by the British in the War of 1812, and being confronted with
empty rooms, took with them this lovely furniture. Still later, on
leaving the White House, the beloved possessions again went with them,
and it is to this fact that the happy privilege of the public to see
these things today can be attributed.
More than a hundred years later, a successor of Mrs. Monroe was to
express her patriotism and interest in historical accuracy through
cataloguing and making inventories of the furnishings of the White
House. This lady, Mrs. Herbert Hoover, in searching the records, learned
of the Monroe furniture and of its ultimate resting place in the Monroe
shrine, and asked permission to copy it at Government expense, the
copies to be placed in the White House. Permission was gladly given and
today there is a "Monroe Room" in the White House, furnished with the
reproductions of this historic furniture. The originals, however, remain
in the little museum in Fredericksburg, relics of active, public years
spent by a great statesman on two continents.
The Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park was
established in 1927. Quoting from a booklet which may be secured from
the park headquarters we find:
"This park was established ... to commemorate six major battles
fought during the great sectional conflict between 1861 and
1865--the two Battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville,
Salem Church, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House--and to
preserve for historical purposes the remains of earthworks,
roads, and other sites of importance on these battlefields...."
At the Battle of Chancellorsville General Stonewall Jackson, famous
Confederate commander, was mortally wounded. A simple shaft marks the
place and a wild flower preserve is located near it.
"While the fundamental purpose of the park is historical
education, its program is by no means confined to this
limitation. It offers important recreational and educational
features aside from critical military history. The Jackson
Memorial Wild Flower Preserve ... affords excellent instruction
in botany.... The deep woodlands of the area threaded with foot
trails leading along the old trenches are a delight to lovers
of the outdoors...."
Kenmore--1752
Kenmore, the home of Fielding Lewis and Betty Washington Lewis (George
Washington's only sister), is an outstanding example of the architecture
of Colonial Virginia. It is also intimately connected with the stirring
history of Colonial times and with the life of George Washington.
Augustine Washington, about 1739, moved from Hunting Creek to Ferry
Farm, across the river from Fredericksburg, with his second wife, Mary
Ball, and their five children--George, Betty, Samuel, John Augustine,
and Charles--for the sake of community life and the religious and
educational advantages it offered. Here the children grew up and
received their education--Betty at a "Dame School," George under the
tutelage of Parson Marye. Betty and George were especially intimate
companions because of their nearness of age and their similarity in
personality and character.
When Betty was sixteen, and a "mannerly young maid," her cousin Fielding
Lewis came seeking her hand in marriage. Lewis had come up from
Gloucester three years previously with his wife and son. Mrs. Lewis died
in 1749. Shortly thereafter, Fielding started courting young Betty. They
were married in 1750, the bride being given away by her brother George,
and for a time they lived on a plantation adjoining Ferry Farm. In 1752
Lewis bought 861 acres of land, adjacent to Fredericksburg, the survey
being made by George Washington, who had been appointed government
surveyor in 1748. On this land, with its fine view of the countryside,
Lewis built Kenmore (called Millbrook at the time) in accordance with a
promise he had made to his bride.
As time went on, Fielding Lewis became closely associated with the
political life of Virginia. He was a member of the House of Burgesses
for many years. He also served in the French and Indian War and was
Colonel of the Spotsylvania County Militia. It is said that the
resolution endorsing Patrick Henry in his resistance to the tyranny of
Governor Dunmore, passed by the Committee of 600 in the Rising Sun
Tavern in Fredericksburg, was written by him in the Great Room of his
home, Kenmore, a paper which for all intents and purposes was a
declaration of independence.
Colonel Lewis was best known for the part he played in the War of
Independence. In 1776 he became Chairman of the Virginia Committee of
Safety. Previously, in 1775, the Virginia Assembly had passed an
ordinance providing for a "Manufactory of Small Arms in Fredericksburg,
Virginia." Five commissioners were appointed to undertake this project,
but Colonel Lewis and Charles Dick were the only two who took an active
part in the work. They were allotted £2,500 with which to secure land,
buildings and equipment. Soon thereafter they were at work
manufacturing arms. The first £2,500 were quickly spent, and Lewis and
Dick were obliged to draw from their own funds to carry on. Lewis
advanced an additional £7,000 and borrowed £30,000 to £40,000 more.
Lewis also built a ship for the Virginia Navy, _The Dragon_, and
equipped three regiments. Kenmore was heavily mortgaged to meet the
costs of all these patriotic enterprises. When Lewis died in 1781,
little of the estate was left.
Thereafter, Betty Lewis tried conducting a small boarding school at
Kenmore, but again money had to be raised and piece after piece of the
land was sold to obtain it. Finally, in 1796, the mansion and its
contents were sold and Betty Lewis went to live with her daughter. She
died the next year.
After many vicissitudes in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
Kenmore was saved for posterity, in 1922, through the great enthusiasm
and hard work of a group of women who later formed the Kenmore
Association. Through the efforts of this association, the exterior and
the interiors of Kenmore were expertly restored to their original
charming appearance and it has been furnished with original pieces of
the period, many of which have an actual connection with the family.
Who the architect of Kenmore was, is unknown. It is very probable that
Fielding Lewis himself had much to do with the planning of it, making
use of books on English architecture. The mansion is typical of the
formal architecture of Tidewater Virginia in the mid-eighteenth century.
Flanked on each side by smaller service buildings, both of which are
identical in size and appearance, the group is symmetrical around the
central entrance. The exteriors present a picture of fine restraint and
dignity. Four uniformly placed chimneys in the end walls serve eight
fireplaces. The windows are well proportioned in relation to the main
walls. The walls, of brick laid in Flemish bond, or brickwork pattern,
are two feet thick--unusually heavy construction for a house of even
this size.
The principal rooms, of stately proportions, are remarkable for their
design and ornament. The richly modelled ceilings, cornices, and
overmantels are outstanding examples of ornamental plater-work--quite
unsurpassed by anything of its kind in America. It has always been said
and never contradicted that these ornamental features were planned by
George Washington himself.
To the right, as one enters the Reception Hall, tinted in pastel
blue-gray, is the well designed main stairway, a noteworthy feature of
which is the delicately carved lotus leaf ornament. In back is the
prized grandfather clock which originally belonged to Mary Washington.
Passing through the arched doorway at the rear of the Hall, one enters
the Great Room. For the magnificent ceiling of this room, Colonel Lewis
employed the same French decorator whom Washington had employed for the
ornamental ceilings at Mount Vernon. The design motif includes four
horns of plenty. Tradition has it that the overmantel in the Great Room
was done at a later time than the other decorations by two Hessian
soldiers captured at the Battle of Trenton. The design, an adaptation of
Æsop's fable of the fox, the crow, and the piece of cheese, is supposed
to have been suggested by George Washington at the request of his
sister; this particular fable being chosen to teach his nephews to
beware of flattery. The rich red of the brocade draperies contrasts with
the light green of the walls and the white of the ceiling and mantel. A
crystal chandelier of old Waterford glass forms a sparkling accent in
the middle of the room. The floor is covered almost entirely with an
early eighteenth century Oushak rug. The furniture in this room as well
as elsewhere generally is American of Chippendale design. Of particular
note are two portraits of Fielding, and two of Betty Lewis--all four by
Wollaston.
The ceiling of the Library has the four seasons for its decorative motif
and the overmantel is a design of fruits and flowers. The walls, like
those of the Great Room, are tinted a soft green.
"The Swan and Crown" of the Washington crest is carved in the woodwork
under the mantel in the Dining Room. The walls are a deep blue-green,
the woodwork a lighter matching shade. Draperies are a soft green
brocade. The service building on the Dining Room side of the House
contains the kitchen.
On the second floor are the master bedrooms and guest room where General
Lafayette and many another distinguished visitor stayed. These
eighteenth century rooms, so well treated and furnished, serve as
timeless models of good taste in bedrooms.
Next to Mount Vernon, George Washington was most interested in Kenmore.
He had taken a keen interest from the beginning in the building of the
House and the landscaping of the grounds. After the War he set out
thirteen chestnut trees near the House, one for each of the original
thirteen States. One of these still lives. Mary Washington, mother of
George and Betty, lived in the cottage on the estate, not far from the
Main House; a home her son had provided for her at the beginning of the
War.
The restoration of the grounds was undertaken by the Garden Club of
Virginia in 1929 with funds obtained from the public participation in
the first "Virginia Garden Week." One feature of this work is the brick
wall around the premises, built in 1930. The sunken turf driveway is the
original driveway that used to surround a grassy circle. Handsome box
bushes, ancient and familiar features of Virginia estates, flank the
approaches to the House now as of old. The gardens, too, contain flowers
that Betty Washington must have enjoyed--bushes of lilac, mock orange,
and bridal wreath and beds of pansies, sweet william, phlox, verbena and
lilies of the valley.
Kenmore, a background of those lives who helped so importantly to mould
the destinies of our nation, vividly portrays the art and the culture of
its time.
The Mary Washington House
There stands on the corner of Charles and Lewis Streets in
Fredericksburg, Virginia, an unpretentious but charming little house.
There is no spot in America more sacred. It was the home of Mary Ball
Washington, wife of Augustine Washington, and the mother of George
Washington.
It is recorded that on Dec. 8, 1761 lots 107 and 108 upon which the Mary
Washington House stands were sold by Fielding Lewis and Betty, his wife,
with all houses, trees, woods, under-woods, profits commodities,
hereditaments and appurtenances whatsoever, to Michael Robinson for
£250 and bought by George Washington Sept. 18, 1772 for £275.
After remodeling and adding to the house, George Washington moved his
mother from the Ferry Farm, which had been her home since 1739, to
Fredericksburg and it was here that she spent her last days.
[Illustration: "THE MARY WASHINGTON HOUSE", FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA]
It was here that she received the courier sent by General Washington to
tell her of the victory at Trenton. It was here that Washington came
after the Battle of Yorktown with the French and American officers and
she received him with thanksgiving after an absence of nearly seven
years. It was here he came in December, 1783, when Fredericksburg gave
the Peace Ball in his honor, and it was at that time that he made his
memorable reply to Mayor McWilliams in which he spoke of Fredericksburg
as "the place of my growing infancy."
It was here that the Marquis de LaFayette came to pay his respects to
her, who was the mother of the greatest American. She received him in
her garden, met all his fine phrases with dignity and gave him her
blessing when he bade her goodbye.
It was here, March 12, 1789, that Washington came to receive his
mother's blessing before he went on to New York to his inauguration.
This was his last farewell to his mother. She did not not live to see
him again. It was here she died Aug. 25, 1789. Town and country
assembled to do honor at her burial. Her remains lie near the
"Meditation Rock" where she requested to be buried and a stately
monument "erected by her country-women" marks her last resting place.
Except for a portion of the house at Epping Forest, where she was born,
the Mary Washington House in Fredericksburg is the only house now
standing in which Mary Washington lived.
It passed into various hands and finally in 1890 it was about to be sold
to the Chicago Exposition but through Mrs. Robert C. Beale and Mrs.
Spotswood W. Carmichael, the Association for the Preservation of
Virginia Antiquities was appealed to. Mrs. Joseph Bryan of blessed
memory was at that time President and from her own means advanced the
money to purchase it, $4,500, and the place was saved.
In 1929, through the generosity of Mr. George A. Ball of Muncie, Ind.,
the first work of restoration on the house was done. Mr. Ball also
purchased for the A. P. V. A. the adjoining house and garden for a home
for the custodian.
In 1930 the house was redecorated and refurnished by Mr. and Mrs.
Francis P. Garvan. The original colors have been restored and
contemporary fabrics used for all draperies and coverings.
The furnishings, with the exception of a few pieces that belonged to
Mary Washington, are authentic antiques loaned from the Mabel Brady
Garvan Institute of American Arts and Crafts at Yale University. The
original mantels and paneling are interesting.
The old English-type garden is especially beautiful. The boxwood she
planted still grows there, as well as the flowers of her time. The
original sun-dial still marks the sunny hours.
Rising Sun Tavern
Was built about 1760 by Charles Washington, a brother of George
Washington. It was first known as the Washington Tavern and later as the
Eagle Tavern. The following advertisement appeared in the _Virginia
Gazette_, published in Williamsburg in 1776:
"FALMOUTH, _March 25, 1776_.
"William Smith takes this method to acquaint his friends, and
the publick in general, that he intends to open tavern, on
Monday the 22nd day of April next, in the house lately occupied
by Colonel George Weedon, in the town of Fredericksburg. He has
laid in a good stock of liquors, and will use his utmost
endeavors to give general satisfaction. N.B. 'A good cook wench
wanted, on hire'."
[Illustration: "RISING SUN TAVERN", FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA]
It was the favorite meeting place of such patriots as Thomas Jefferson,
Patrick Henry, James Monroe, George Washington, General Hugh Mercer,
George Mason, John Marshall, the Lees, and other noted men, who gathered
here to protest against unjust treatment by the mother country and to
discuss the proper steps to rid the country of tyranny. It was said to
be a hot-bed of sedition and that here much of the head work of the
Revolution was done.
When the news came to Fredericksburg that the governor, Lord Dunmore,
had secretly removed twenty barrels of gunpowder from the public
magazine in Williamsburg, also the news of the battle of Lexington,
there was great excitement and indignation. Immediately six hundred
armed men from the town and surrounding country, at the call of Patrick
Henry, assembled in Fredericksburg and offered their services to defend
their country. More than one hundred men were dispatched to Richmond and
Williamsburg to ascertain the condition of affairs. They were advised
there by Washington, Peyton Randolph, Edmund Pendleton and other leaders
to disband and delay action at least for a while or until general plans
of resistance could be decided upon. Returning to Fredericksburg they
called a meeting and reluctantly agreed to disperse, but before doing so
adopted resolutions bitterly denouncing Dunmore's action, and without
fear or evasion declared that the troops would preserve their liberty at
the hazard of their lives and fortune. They pledged themselves to
re-assemble at a moment's warning and by force of arms defend the laws
and rights of this or any other sister colony from unjust invasion, and
concluded with the significant words, "God save the liberties of
America."
This was on April 29, 1775, twenty-one days prior to the celebrated
Mecklenburg declaration and more than one year before the great
Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776.
It has always been said that this meeting was held at the Rising Sun
Tavern. (Reference: Quinn's _History of Fredericksburg_, Howison's
_History of Virginia_, Forces' _Archives_, quoted in _William and Mary
Quarterly_ in October, 1909.)
But in addition to giving their attention to the serious questions of
the day, could we but raise the curtain of Time we no doubt would
witness a gay scene typical of colonial days with courtly gentlemen in
powdered wigs, knee breeches, ruffled blouses, and silver-buckled
slippers, or perhaps in the rougher garb of the pioneer traveler playing
cards and partaking of the various drinks served by a venerable old
slave and his young negro assistants. It is recorded that George
Washington played cards here and "lost as usual," and that he was afraid
those Fredericksburg fellows were "too smart for him."
Here General Weedon kept the post office. This was a distributing point
for mails coming in from the far north and south on horse-back or
stage-coach. Picture the eager crowd awaiting the arrival of the slow
courier.
LaFayette and his staff of French and American officers visited the
Rising Sun Tavern Nov. 11, 1781, en route from Yorktown to
Philadelphia. In December, 1824, LaFayette again visited Fredericksburg,
and was given a ball at the Rising Sun Tavern.
In 1907 the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities
bought the property from Judge A. W. Wallace, whose family had owned it
since 1792. It was in a very bad state of dilapidation, and only the
loving interest and hard work of a few patriotic ladies made possible
the necessary repairs and saved to posterity this historic old building
with its wealth of associations with the people and events which shaped
our nation.
The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities has
recently completed extensive repairs and the visitor will find it one of
the most interesting places in the city to visit. It is attractively
furnished with antique pieces of the Colonial period, many having great
historic value.
One may see a desk owned and used by Thomas Jefferson, a chair which
belonged to James Monroe, a rare copy of an autographed letter from Mary
Washington to her son George Washington, brass andirons, pewter-hooded
candles, Betty lamp, immense iron key for a wine cellar, brass
candle-sticks, iron candle snuffers, pewter ink-well, antique piano,
high boy, needle-point sampler worked by a nine-year-old child, spinning
wheel and reel, stage coach sign dated 1775, large early American desk,
old iron cooking utensils used by slaves cooking by an open fireplace,
and many other interesting things.
[Illustration]
Roanoke
THE GATEWAY TO THE GREAT SOUTHWESTERN EMPIRE
Raw-re-noke is an Indian word for money. The city of Roanoke was
originally a land grant to Thomas Tosh, an old settler who came to "Big
Lick" and settled there after King George II and King George III had
granted him sixteen hundred acres of land along that fertile valley.
"Big Lick" was a favorite spot for the wild game and for the Indians
too, for there they found the salt so necessary to life itself. One of
Tosh's daughters married General Andrew Lewis and became the mother of
Major Andrew Lewis and Thomas Lewis.
Later on, as more settlers came into the valley, quite a village grew up
around "Big Lick" and in 1874 it was incorporated with John Trout as
Mayor. Then in 1881 the village woke up. Saws and hammers were heard
from dawn 'til dusk. The Roanoke Machine Works were being built. Nearby,
stores and houses were springing up, warehouses and boarding-houses.
Surveyors were laying off lots and laying out streets. Contractors and
engineers, artisans and mechanics were coming in every day. The men who
sold supplies for all of these were indeed busy. The Norfolk and Western
Railroad had come to Roanoke!
Old folks can still remember when rabbits ran over the grounds where
stands the Hotel Roanoke. Small boys picked up Indian arrow-heads where
now the beautiful grounds sweep down to the Station itself. They still
tell how Salem Avenue was once a marsh and was later filled in for the
fast growing town. Then came the union of the Norfolk and Western and
the Shenandoah Valley Railroads. From that day to this, Roanoke has been
the "Magic City." It was as if some magic wand had been waved over the
one-time little village. But actually it was due to the industry and
vision of the city planners who had built for the future. Commercial,
manufacturing and industrial activities kept a pace ahead of the fast
growing town. Among the first of these were the American Bridge Works
and the rolling mills, iron works, West End Furnaces and the Virginia
Brewing Company.
Long ago "Big Lick" was known to a few. It was situated in the Blue
Ridge Mountains, surrounded by rolling valleys and watered by springs of
crystal clear waters. Other streams made it an ideal place for the
herds of buffalo and elk which roamed up and down the Valley of the
Great Spirit. Indians came, too, to hunt them and thousands of smaller
fur-bearing animals and birds for their feasts.
When the sturdy settlers from Ireland and Scotland came to seek a new
home in the wilderness, they chose to follow the Great Road which later
was known as the Wilderness Road. This led them along the beautiful
valleys and across the mountains; soon tiny cabins, churches and crude
taverns were being built.
Near where Fincastle stands today, there came a man years ago from
Ireland, Thomas King. He had left behind his second wife, Easter, three
children by his first wife, and several younger ones by Easter. He had
come to make a home for them in Fincastle County and ran a tavern near
where Roanoke stands today.
Then Easter wrote him that his oldest son, William, had arrived in
Philadelphia and was working for a merchant. He was peddling merchandise
and liked the new country.
Thomas was delighted and eager to see his fourteen-year-old son. He
saddled his own horse and led a pony all the miles down the long Valley
trail. He passed such settlements as Staunton, Lexington, Winchester,
Hagerstown, camping out or, stopping at some settler's house over-night.
It took weeks for him to make the long trip.
The merchant in the meantime realized he had a smart salesman in William
and he made a bargain with him a few days before his father arrived. He
asked him not to work for anyone else and set a time limit for his
employment with him.
We can imagine how William felt when his father came, bringing a pony
for him to ride back to Virginia. But he kept his word. He continued to
go out with his peddler's pack on his back and his bright smile and
polite manners helped him to sell his wares long before others sold
theirs. The merchant told him he could go peddling to Virginia and that
he could leave some of his articles in his father's tavern. William did
this, leaving them at other taverns along the Great Road, too. And thus
began the early chain stores.
When the pioneers began going on farther down the Southwestern part of
Virginia, Thomas King went as far as where Abingdon stands today. He
sent William back to Ireland for his step-mother and his brothers and
sisters. William now had a little money and he inherited some from his
grandmother, so he not only brought his family over, but he paid for
several other Scotch-Irish and charged a little extra as interest until
they could repay him.
He liked the people and the lovely country around Abingdon and bought
land and built himself a home there. He went to see the salt marsh a few
miles away where Saltville is now. This land was owned by General
Russell. William urged him to develop the marsh, for at one time Indians
had come there to get salt to preserve their game. But General Russell
did not think much of the plan, and agreed to sell it to William.
The story of how he laughed, along with others, at William King when he
dug and dug and did not find the salt spring is often told. But when
William's men had dug for one hundred and ninety feet the "bottom
dropped out" and the salt water gushed forth. William made thirty
thousand dollars a year out of his salt business and left a fortune to
his many nieces and nephews.
Roanoke is the gateway through which the visitor continues down the
famous Valley Pike, Route Eleven. From every curve in the road one sees
the beauty of nature. One learns bits of early history from the numerous
historic signs along the route--for every footstep of the brave pioneers
was bitterly contested from here on.
These first settlers were "a remarkable race of people for intelligence,
enterprise and hardy adventure." They had come partly from Botetourt,
Augusta and Frederick counties and from Maryland and Pennsylvania. They
wanted liberty and freedom to worship God as a man's conscience
dictated. They were a strong, stern people, simple in their habits of
life, God-fearing in their practices, freedom-loving and good neighbors,
yet unmerciful in their dealing with their enemies. Who were the trail
blazers for these Scotch-Irish and Germans?
Dr. Thomas Walker qualified as a surveyor of Augusta County in 1748. He
later set off with Colonel James Wood, Colonel James Patton, Colonel
John Buchanan, and Major Charles Campbell, some hunters and John Finlay
to explore southwest Virginia.
They were followed as far as New River by Thomas Ingles (or Engles) and
his three sons, a Mrs. Draper and her son George and her daughter Mary,
Adam Harman, Henry Leonard and James Burke. They were pioneers in search
of new homes in the wilderness. Lands were surveyed for all of them on
Wood's River and they made the first settlement west of the Alleghany
Divide.
Draper's Meadow
In 1748 Thomas Ingles and his three sons, Mrs. Draper, her children and
James Burke moved westward to find a new home for themselves beyond the
Blue Ridge Mountains. They chose a lovely spot on a high level plateau
in what is now Montgomery County. They called their new home, "Draper's
Meadow," and soon their new log cabins were built and their first crops
were planted and such a harvest as they reaped that first year! Other
neighbors and relatives from their old homes came to join them and for
some time all went well in the little settlement. James Burke had been
restless and had pushed on down into the southwest and settled in a
valley enclosed for almost ten miles by the huge Clinch Mountain. This
he called "Burke's Garden" and in telling others about it the old
settler said "I have indeed found the Garden of Eden."
The Indians were very friendly and passed and repassed the settlement
without molesting them.
Then came the trouble with the French which has been referred to before.
The Indians swooped down upon Draper's Meadow without warning and killed
or wounded most of the settlers. Those whom they did not murder, they
carried off into captivity. Among the latter were Mrs. William Ingles
(née Mary Draper) some of her children and another woman. They were
forced to march for days at a time until they finally reached the Indian
towns on the Ohio River. During the trying days, Mrs. Draper did her
best to keep in the good graces of the Indians. She tried to help them,
even after they took her sons from her. When they reached Big Bone Lick
she helped to make salt for the Indians and made shirts for them from
cloth which had been bought from the French traders.
She often thought of her home over seven hundred miles from the Indian
towns and determined to make her escape. She confided her resolves to
the other woman who at first objected to going. At last she convinced
her the time was at hand, if ever, for them to leave. She left her
infant son one night, and with her friend, stole away from the camp.
They lived for days on berries and nuts. They finally killed small game
and after many adventures reached the home of a settler forty long days
later.
Mrs. Draper's friend lost her mind, tried to kill her and then left her.
Mrs. Draper reached the homestead of Adam Harmon on New River. There he
heard her crying in his cornfield and went out to see who it was in such
distress. He and his family cared for her and made her rest before she
was taken back to her family.
The Ingles families moved up higher on New River and built another fort
near the present city of Radford, Virginia. This was at Ingle's Ferry.
Botetourt County was cut from Albemarle in 1770, and William Preston was
made surveyor of the lands. This was a well-paying position. He had
fallen in love with Miss Susannah Smith who lived in Eastern Virginia in
Hanover County. He built a house for her and called it Smithfield in her
honor. Soon the Pattons, Peytons, Prestons, the Thompsons and many
others were coming to build homes near them.
When the Prestons moved to Smithfield they took a young orphan boy with
them, Joseph Cloyd. His father had died when he was very little and his
mother had been killed by the Indians. He grew up with the other pioneer
boys and girls and later settled on Back Creek. This home is near where
Pulaski stands today and thus began another settlement. He was the
father of General Gordon Cloyd and they founded a long line of honorable
citizens in our country.
As one goes on he hears many strange tales of other explorers and
settlers. For instance there is the sad story of Colonel John Chiswell
who found rich lead mines near New River in what is now Wythe County.
For some unknown reason, he had killed a man in a personal encounter and
was put in jail to await trial.
[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_
SCENIC HIGHWAY IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA]
In the meantime, the Virginia Council decided to develop the mines and a
fort was ordered to be built. Before the trial came off and before the
fort was built, Colonel Chiswell died.
Colonel William Boyd was made supervisor of the building of the fort and
he named it for his friend, Colonel Chiswell. Soon settlers began
building homes around it, for the climate and rich grazing lands made it
an ideal spot for homesteads.
The settlers pushing southwest from Roanoke built a fort and named it
for a Mr. Vass. The Indians attacked them and several were killed. This
was near where Christiansburg is now located. It was near Vass's Fort
that General Washington, Major Andrew Lewis and Captain William Preston
had a narrow escape from an attack by the Indians.
Washington County
In 1754 only six families were living in the early settlement west of
New River. Two of these were in Pulaski, two on Cripple Creek in Wythe
County, one in Smyth County and the Burke family in what is now Tazewell
County. The Indians gave the settlers so much trouble that any further
attempts to settle was given up until after the French and Indian War.
A small fort, called Black's Fort, was built when the settlers moved
into the Valley around where Abingdon stands. Like most of its kind, it
was built of logs, and a few log cabins were built within the stockade.
Here to these cabins within the fort came the settlers whenever the
warning reached them that the Indians were coming.
Near the fort lived Parson Cummings, called the Fighting Parson. He was
an Irishman who had come to the Valley from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He
fought against the Cherokee Indians in 1776 with Colonel Christian. He
first settled in Fincastle, but soon drifted farther south. It was he
who drafted the Fincastle Resolutions on January 20, 1775 and served on
the Committee of Safety for Washington County.
On one occasion, when the settlers were residing within the fort, food
became very scarce. Someone had to go back into the clearing and bring
in supplies. Parson Cummings and a few other men started off with a
wagon to get them. They had not gone far when they reached Piper's Hill.
A party of Indians surprised the little band and one of them was killed.
Everyone made a dash for the bushes. The Parson was very stout and he
was wearing a large powdered wig which was considered in those days
necessary to the cloth. This made him more conspicuous and of course a
target for the Indians.
One Indian ran after him, brandishing his tomahawk. The Parson dodged
under a bush and as he left it, his wig was caught by a low hanging
limb. The Indian took for granted that it was the Parson's head and made
a bound to get it. When he took it in his hands, he was surprised to
find no head there! He was disgusted and angry and threw it upon the
ground exclaiming, "D--d lie," and doggedly gave up the chase. And thus
the Parson escaped. The man who was killed was later buried in Abingdon
and one may read his name, "William Creswell, July 4, 1776" on the crude
stone which marks his grave.
Dragon Canone was the name of the Cherokee Indian who led his warriors
against the white militia. Both white and red men fought with tomahawks
and both hid behind trees. Sometimes this brave militia went forth to
battle without any higher commanding officer than captain. Three such
officers were John Campbell, James Shelby and James Thompson.
Let us look for a moment at what those settlers were denied. They did
not have flour or salt until an order was made:
"Jan. 29, 1777. Ordered that William Campbell, William
Edmundson, John Anderson and George Blackburn be appointed
commissioners to hire wagons to bring up the county salt,
allotted by the Governor and council, and to receive and
distribute the same agreeably to said order of the council."
Later on Colonel Arthur Campbell rode with seven hundred mounted
soldiers against the Cherokees. History gives him the credit of being
the first to experiment in attacking Indians on horseback. He destroyed
fourteen of their towns and burnt fifty thousand bushels of their corn
after giving his men enough for their own horses.
Hungry Mother State Park
The pathetic legend is told of the pioneer woman in Tazewell County who
was carried off by the Indians and was massacred some distance from
home. Her small child was left to die of exposure and starvation in the
mountain wilds and was at last rescued by a hunting party. The child was
pulling at the mother's body, trying to rouse her and was muttering,
"Hungry, mother--hungry, mother" when he was found.
That is the origin of the name of the mountain which is not far from
Marion, and the peak of the mountain is called "Molly's Knob" in memory
of the pioneer mother.
The State has created a beautiful park on Hungry Mother Mountain. Cabins
have been erected to house the visitors, a stream has been dammed up to
provide a lake--and most astonishing of all to the mountain folk who
enjoy their park is the sandy beach. The sand was hauled 375 miles from
Virginia Beach to its present location.
Swimming, sailing and canoeing are popular water sports; saddle horses
are available and hiking is a favorite occupation. Ample picnic grounds
have been provided. Crowds from nearby towns enjoy a day at the Park and
the cabins are in great demand from the vacationists in Virginia and
surrounding States.
White Top
Iron Mountain has lost that name and today is known far and near as
White Top. The visitor looks down five thousand feet below and can see
into Tennessee, West Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky. The top is
bald, rocky and about three hundred of its sloping acres are covered
with a fine white grass. In summer one sees hundreds of wild flowers,
sturdy evergreens, similar to Norway spruce, called Lashhorns, berries
and many small animals.
[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia Conservation Commission_
HUNGRY MOTHER STATE PARK]
Wilbur Waters, the hermit, is one of the most colorful characters in the
great Southwest and many adventures he had with wild animals. Wilbur's
mother was an Indian who died when he was very small. His father, who
lived in North Carolina at the time, apprenticed the boy to a shoemaker
to learn that trade. The little boy, no doubt homesick, could not stand
his new home. He ran away and from that time on made his own living.
When he heard how the wolves were making havoc for the settlers in and
around Abingdon, he came to get the rewards offered for their heads. He
built himself a rude shack on White Top, and if one would read real
adventure tales, let him read _Wilbur Waters_ which relates many
stirring ones.
Every summer during August a festival is held at White Top where
mountain music is played and folk dances are held. John Powell, the
noted Virginia composer, is especially active in the preservation of
folk music and he has been instrumental in attracting people of
influence to the celebration.
The major highways lead to within a comparatively short distance of
White Top and the State Highway Department assures the traveler of good
secondary roads which are passable in any kind of weather.
Another feature of the festival usually is the presentation of at least
one play by the group of Broadway players who summer at Abingdon and
conduct the famous "Barter Theatre."
Visitors who include White Top and the Barter players in their itinerary
will be delighted with the diversified entertainments found there.
Transcriber's Note.
The following typographical errors have been corrected:
p. 2 a brace of deer ran familiarly [had 'familarly']
p. 24 the Reverend Samuel Brown [had 'Reverened']
p. 31 the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany [had 'Alleghaney']
p. 47 been made into a poultice [had 'poultrice']
p. 49 wagon makers? Of course there were none [had 'Af']
p. 60 Luray is the Saltpetre Cave. [had 'Saltpeper']
p. 61 no one anticipated the conspicuous rôle [had 'conspicious']
p. 80 point: Rockfish and Shenandoah valleys. [Closing . added]
p. 83 Bridge, and some are still in existence [had 'existance']
p. 103 the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom [had 'Statue']
p. 106 Captain Lewis was first in command and he [had 'commond']
p. 108 of the Revolution had his apothecary shop [had 'Reevolution']
p. 112 Colonel of the Spotsylvania County Militia [had 'Spottsylvania']
Inconsistent hyphenation of some words in the original has been
retained.
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