HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY, VIRGINIA
By J. LEWIS PEYTON
1882

Submitted by: Barb Ziegenmeyer

The following outline of colonial history, from the first landing at Jamestown to the year 1750, and slight reference to French explorations and settlements in the West, will enable the reader to understand the condition of affairs in the colony and western country generally at the period Lewis entered, took possession of, and settled Augusta. It exhibits also the position of Virginia in her connection with the various colonies which afterwards united together to resist the tyranny of Great Britain and found the United States, and will enable the reader to understand any points of general history which may be touched upon in the progress of this work.
The closing years of the fifteenth century saw the theater of history suddenly enlarged. The history of the world, as embracing all parts of the globe, commenced with the discoveries of Columbus and Vasco da Gama. To within a century of the end of the Moorish kingdom in Spain, and of that ten centuries of mediaeval times, the first six of which are known as the "dark ages" the settlement of Virginia carries us back. The earliest incidents in her career belong to that European era which witnessed the massacre of St. Bartholomew, the independence of the United Provinces under William of Orange, the destruction of the Spanish Armada, and the persecution of the Puritans in England. They belong also to that Elizabethan era of English history so remarkable for literary first and for the spirit of commercial adventure which pervaded all classes. It was from the England of Raleigh, Gilbert, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Burleigh, Walsingham, Essex, Leicester, Sidney and Francis Bacon that came the men who undertook to found colonies on our shores and to build up political communities in the New World. The most remarkable of these men was the "learned and valiant" Sir Walter Raleigh, whose name is indissolubly associated with the first efforts at English colonization in America.
Upon the unsuccessful efforts of Raleigh to make a settlement on Roanoke Island, we cannot dwell. He had undertaken a task beyond the strength of a single individual, and met the common lot of enthusiasts. His failures did not deter others, and a few years later James I granted charters to the London and Plymouth companies for " deducing colonies and making habitation and plantation in that part of America commonly called Virginia." Under these charters all the coast was embraced lying between Florida and Nova Scotia.
These charters are long and tedious documents, which possess no intrinsic merit are just such stupid papers as one might expect from the narrow mind of James. By virtue of them a complicated form of government was framed. For each colony separate councils, appointed by the King, were instituted in England, and these councils were in turn to name resident councilors for the colonies. Thirteen members constituted the resident council. They had power to choose their own president, to fill vacancies in their numbers, and, a jury being required only in capital cases, to act as a court of last resort in all other causes. Religion was established in accordance with the forms and doctrines of the Church of England. The adventurers, as the company were called, had power to coin money and collect a revenue for twenty one years from all vessels trading to their ports, and they were also freed from taxation for a term of years. One article, and only one, in the most general terms, provided for the liberty of the subject. Another clause provided for community of goods.
A worse system of government could not have been devised. Two arbitrary and irresponsible councils one in England and the other in America the legislative power reserved to the King the governing body commercial monopoly, and the chief principle of society a community of property. Such was the government elaborated in the charter. With such a frame of government the first colonists, composed of men who cared little for forms of government, set forth for Virginia.
The colony consisted of 105 persons, who sailed from the Downs, Jan. 1,1507, for Virginia under command of Capt. Newport, who landed them at Jamestown on the 13th May, 1607. The men composing the expedition were wretched material for founding a State. There were seventy men in the party, of whom fifty four were gentlemen, four carpenters and twelve laborers or, as Capt. Smith describes them. l% poor gentlemen, tradesmen, serving men and libertines." The first President of the Colony, appointed in London, was Wingfield, a man of wealth and social position, but incapable and unfit for governing. He was soon superseded by the strongest man among the colonists a man to whose name a romantic interest attaches the celebrated Capt. John Smith. Smith has been described as an adventurer of a high order in an age of adventurers. He had all the faults of his time and class in full measures, but he had also their virtues, and it was here that he surpassed his companions. He was arbitrary, jealous of power, quarrelsome and despotic, ready to lie audaciously to serve his own ends, and rashly overconfident. But he was also brave, energetic, quick-witted, and full of resource. By his energy and wisdom he preserved the colony from impending ruin and improved its condition. What we would call now-a-days a many sided man, he made himself familiar, by repeated explorations, with the country and its products, became well acquainted with the aborigines, with whom he opened a trade, and in various ways displayed his superior qualities, and an earnest desire to promote the interest of the colony. A small fort was erected, and a few log huts, and in these the colonists were kept together by Smith for two years, in the presence of a subtle and ferocious enemy, who, within a fortnight of the first landing, made an attack upon them, evidently with a view to their extermination. This attack of the Indians was repelled by the colonists under Wingfield, who was an old soldier, having served many years in the European wars. Notwithstanding Smith's efforts, the colony languished, and matters grew so much worse that the settlement was abandoned, and the colony would have been broken up but for the arrival of Lord Delaware, as Governor, with five hundred fresh men and supplies, in 1609 - 1610.
Lord Delaware, who received the appointment of Governor for life, surrounded himself with stately officers and liveried servants, and assumed the demeanor of the ruler of an opulent empire. He was an able man, and might have rendered valuable service, but unfortunately was forced, by disease brought on by the climate, to return to England. He committed the government to Mr. Percy, who was supplanted by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611, to whom the government granted authority to rule by martial law. Dale exercised his arbitrary powers with prudence and moderation, and to him Virginia is more indebted than to any of her early Governors. He established and maintained order, and extended the settlements into the interior, forming a colony of 350 men at a point up the James river, called Henrico. But the chief good of his administration consisted in breaking up the system of community of property and introducing individual proprietorship. On his departure, in 1616, he left the colony firmly established and under the protection of Sir Thos. Yeardley, whose administration was not unlike that of his predecessors, but he was soon superseded by Capt. Samuel Argall, a rough sea captain, accustomed to command respect, of a cruel, covetous and tyrannical disposition, with a decided taste for piracy. He made an energetic and active Governor, carrying out the military code in the spirit of a buccaneer. He oppressed and robbed the colonists, his greed lighting especially on the friends of Lord Delaware. Complaints went to England, and the Virginians awakened to the fact that they were shockingly misgoverned ; that they were left at the mercy of one man's rule, and that man a tyrant; that their rights were unknown. The period of political development had, however, now began.
The indignation in London at Argall's misconduct led to a new and representative government in Virginia, granted under the influence of the Earl of Southampton, Sandys, Digges, Selden and others. Argall was recalled, and a new form of political organization was granted to the colonists. The Governor's power was in future to be limited by a council, and the assemblage of a representative body was authorized. Under this new order of things the first General Assembly was held at James City in June, 1619, and in May, 1620, a second Assembly convened. In order to give the reader, better than an elaborate disquisition would do, an idea of the spirit and character of the early settlers and of their sufferings and difficulties, more particularly with the Indians, we append the commission to Sir Francis Wyatt, Governor, and the Council, of date July 24, 1621. The object of the assembly was " to assist the Governor in the administration of justice, to advance Christianity among the Indians, to erect the colony in obedience to his Majesty, and in maintaining the people in justice and Christian conversation, and strengthening them against enemies. The said Governor, Council, and two burgesses out of every town, hundred or plantation, to be chosen by the inhabitants to make up a General Assembly, who are to decide all matters by the greatest number of voices; but the Governor is to have a negative voice, to have power to make orders and acts necessary, wherein they are to imitate the policy of the form of government, laws, customs, manner of trial, and other administration of justice used in England, as the company are required by their letters patent No law to continue or be of force until ratified by a quarter court to be held in England, and returned under seal. After the colony is well framed and settled, no order of quarter court in England shall bind till ratified by the General Assembly."
From the first, the Burgesses sought to obtain equal rights for all men before the law, by praying the company not to violate that clause in the . charter by which they were guaranteed. After passing various sumptuary and police laws, laws for the government of ministers and raising taxes on tobacco, &c, they adjourned. But this year marks an era in Virginian annals the dawn of representative government and constitutional freedom. It is memorable also for the introduction of the first slaves in America, and of a forced class of immigrants boys and girls seized by the press gang in the streets of London, and shipped, as if they were felons, to Virginia.
At this Assembly eleven boroughs were represented by twenty two Burgesses, and this constituted the great State of Virginia in 1619. But the prospects of the future were bright Immigration increased, and was now composed, not of adventurers, but of " prudent men with families," and in 1623, under the governorship of Sir Francis Wyatt, the population consisted of 4,000 persons, and the massacre of 350 by the Indians did not destroy the colony. Under the system which prevailed in Virginia, freedom of debate and love of independence were fostered.
To the form of government established by the colony July, 1621, was added the proviso, as mentioned above, that no order of the Council in England should bind the colony, unless ratified by the General Assembly of Virginia. Thus early in our country's history was introduced those principles of republicanism which eventually secured to us our present government. James became jealous at what he considered an invasion of prerogative, and denounced the Company which gave a democratic constitution to Virginia " as a seminary for a seditious Parliament," and also said he would rather they " chose the devil as treasurer than Sir Edwyn Sandys." The Company was firm, and refused his claim to nominate their officers, and from the struggle and the feelings it excited, the colony derived solid advantages.
But the Company was doomed. James pursued them unrelentingly. A royal commission was sent to Virginia to gather material for its destruction. The commissioners, reaching Virginia, demanded the records of the Assembly, which were refused. The clerk was bribed to give them up by the commissioners. The Assembly stood their clerk in the pillory and cut off his ears. The patriotic resistance of the colonists was fruitless. A quo warranto was tried in the King's Bench, and the charter was annulled. The dissolution of the London Company was a distinct benefit to the colonists, by relieving the settlers from the cumbrous, complicated and uncertain government of a mercantile corporation, and placing them in the same relation to the King as his other subjects.
The five years which now followed of Sir Francis Wyatt's continuance in office were characterized for their legislative activity, for the formation of political habits, and for the first opposition to the home government, which strengthened and confirmed the independent spirit of the colonists During the session of 1623-24, Royal Commissioners came to Virginia to assist in ruining the Company. This period is marked in the statute book by the definition and declaration of certain guiding political principles which were never afterwards shaken. The Governor's power was limited. He was not " to lay any taxes or impositions upon the colony, their lands, or other way than by the authority of the General Assembly, to be levied and employed as the said Assembly shall appoint." The Governor was not to withdraw the inhabitants from their labors for his own service, and the Burgesses attending the Assembly were to be free from arrest These were the great and fundamental principles for which patriotic men were then contending in England. James I died March 25, 1625, and Charles I succeeded him and took the government in his own hands. He granted large plantations in Virginia to his favorites, Lords Baltimore and Fairfax. Shortly afterwards Wyatt departed, and George Yeardley was appointed his successor. He lived but a short time, when the Council chose Francis West as Governor. Subsequently, John Pott was appointed, who was soon superseded by Sir John Harvey. The latter quarreled with the colonists, was thrust out of the government, was reinstated by the King, and in 1639 the King reappointed Sir Francis Wyatt.
Two important events occurred during Harvey's administration the settlement of Maryland by Lord Baltimore, and the rise of the Puritan party in Virginia. The Virginia colonists considered Maryland as a part of Virginia, and resented the course of Lord Baltimore. Quarrels about jurisdiction soon broke out, and all parties suffered. Attached to the Church of England, Virginia was not a promising field for Puritans, but a community of them had settled in Virginia years before.
Wyatt was replaced in 1642 by Sir William Berkeley, who governed well at first, but his accession brought no increase of political freedom to Virginia. The first step toward federation was taken about this time, in the passage of an act ratifying and regulating commerce with Maryland. The prosperity of the colony increased rapidly, interrupted only by a second outbreak of Indians, which was quickly quelled.
The execution of Charles I, 1649, filled Virginians with horror and indignation, and the well known sympathy of Virginia with the unhappy King drew many exiled cavaliers to America. The Governor invited Charles II to come to and be King of Virginia, but on the eve of his embarking from Holland for Virginia, in 1660, he was recalled to the throne of England. After he ascended the throne, Charles II, desirous of giving a substantial proof of the profound respect he entertained for the loyalty of Virginia, caused her arms to be quartered with those of England, Ireland, and Scotland, as an independent member of the Empire. This fact, and because Virginia was the first of the English settlements in the limits of the British colonies, led to her being styled " The Old Dominion."
During the administration of Cromwell, Virginia enjoyed a free and independent government under three Governors, Bennet, Digges, and Mathews all Puritans, who were chosen by the Assembly. An old historian tells us that Mathews was " a most deserving Commonwealth's man, who kept a good horse, lived bravely, and was a true lover of Virginia." Under these three men the political rights of the people were firmly established and their commercial interests protected and extended by the commencement of treaties with New England, New York, and the cultivation of closer relations with Maryland. General prosperity consequently prevailed.
After the Restoration, the Virginia Assembly elected Berkeley Governor, an address was voted to the King, and Berkeley was sent to England to protest against the enforcement of the Navigation Act; the Church of England was re-established, and severe laws passed against Disaenters. The Navigation Act was enforced; tobacco fell in price, and imports rose. The return of the Royalist party to power soon led to trouble, and as early as 1663 an outbreak, led by some of Cromwell's soldiers, occurred, which, however, miserably failed, and four of the conspirators were executed.
Under the profligate government of Charles II, the trade of Virginia was almost extinguished; the titles of the colonists were endangered, if not destroyed, by royal grants to Lords Arlington and Culpepper; the justices levied taxes for their own emolument; the Indians were treated with severity; the Church fell into contempt; the rectors and curates were licentious and incompetent; and corruption and extortion prevailed.
A second outbreak threatened in 1674, but partial reforms and the want of a leader quieted the people, though everything was In a combustible condition.
The unwise policy of severity towards the Indians led to a war, and Berkeley, for some unknown reason, disbanded the force which ought to have been used to repel the enemy.
At this moment, the leader, whom the people had before wanted, appeared in Nathaniel Bacon, a young, popular, wealthy, brave and patriotic man. Bacon was aided, if not instigated, by two planters, Drummond and Lawrence, who evidently wished to effect a general reform of all abuses, as well as put down the Indians. Bacon, having vainly sought a commission, marched against the Indians at the head of a few brave volunteers, which gave Berkeley the opportunity to proclaim them rebels. The Governor started in pursuit of Bacon, not the Indians, with troops, but the revolt becoming general in his rear, he retreated. Aware now of the rising storm, the Governor issued writs for a new Assembly, to which Bacon was elected. On his way to James City, Berkeley caused his arrest, but released him on parole, and Bacon read at the bar of the house a written confession and apology, and was thereupon pardoned and readmitted to the Council, of which he had previously been a member. Shortly after, Bacon fled on a suspicion that his life was threatened, and returned to Jamestown with a large force. He appealed to the Assembly, who made him their General, vindicated his course, and sent a letter to England approving him. While the Assembly was engaged in the correction of abuses, Berkeley dissolved them. Bacon, now too strong to be resisted, extorted the necessary commissions from the Governor, and again marched against the Indians. Availing himself of his absence, Berkeley proclaimed him a rebel. On hearing this news, Bacon retraced his steps, when Berkeley fled to Accomac, thus leaving Bacon supreme. Bacop immediately summoned a convention of all the principal men to replace the House of Burgesses, pledged them to his support, and even to resistance to England, if their wrongs were not redressed. Bacon now again moved against the Indians, but in his absence, the fleet, which he had sent to capture Berkeley, was betrayed, and the Governor returned to Jamestown at the head of his would-be captors. Bacon's friends in Jamestown made terms with the Governor, and Bacon returned a second time. Berkeley fled again to Accomac, and Bacon captured and burnt Jamestown. About this time he became ill of fever, and died shortly afterwards in Gloucester county. The hero dead, his followers scattered. The leaders were caught in detail and executed. Thus ended the so-called Rebellion.
Nothing was gained by Bacon's course, and for a hundred years the people sunk into apathy. Berkeley was recalled, and died soon after his return to England. He was a covetous, dishonest, bloodthirsty, cowardly impotent, whose life was stained with crime. He was succeeded by Col. Herbert Jeffreys who died a year later, in 1677, and was followed by Sir Henry Chicheley, and he by Lord Culpepper, upon whom the Governorship was conferred for life in 1675. Culpepper arrived in Virginia in 1680. His administration was, on the whole, one of simple greed and violent exaction's. He came to Virginia to make his fortune, and stopped at no act to accomplish his purpose. He was one of the most cunning and covetous men in England. He was succeeded by Lord Howard, of Effingham. He also came to make his fortune, and as he became richer, Virginia became poorer. During his time immigration almost ceased. Howard returned to England to find James driven from the throne, which ended the Stuart domination. The reign of Charles was contemptible for its meanness and corruption, and that of James the basest and most barren in English history. Charles debauched and debased England, and Culpepper and Effingham degraded their governments and almost ruined Virginia.
The only political events of these times of any significance were the sending of delegates, in 1684, from Virginia to Albany to meet the Governor of New York and certain agents sent from Massachusetts to discuss Indian affairs. This was a move in the direction of confederation.
Virginia derived little benefit from the revolution of 1689, which placed William and Mary upon the throne, and shortly after that event, a war breaking out between the allied powers and Louis XIV of France, the colony was ordered to place itself in the best posture for defense.
The continued complaints of the Virginia Legislature led to the recall of Howard, and Sir Francis Nicholson succeeded him. Nicholson was an arbitrary man. and practiced the arts of a demagogue, but was not a corrupt man. His administration is marked for the establishment of William and Mary College, under Dr. James Blair, an active and energetic Scotchman, who became one of the most serviceable men in Virginia.
Sir Edward Andros came after Nicholson, and was actuated in his government by a sound judgment and a liberal policy. In 1698, Andros retired and Nicholson was reappointed and served seven years without accomplishing any good except what grew out of his own negligence. From his indifference, the Burgesses made the treasurer of the colony an officer of their own, and thus obtained control of the public purse.
In 1704, Edward Nott became deputy governor under the Earl of Orkney, but the history of Virginia, more particularly Eastern Virginia, Iron this time, is little more than a list of Governors.
The period from 1704 to 1776, barren as it is in political events, was socially a period of great importance. The social elements, which h id gathered in Virginia from its foundation, crystallized, and the fabric of society, as seen in 1776, was built up. In 1710, Alexander Spotswood became Governor. He was an accomplished and enterprising man, the best of the eighteenth century Governors. He thus describes in his day the state of affairs in Virginia: " This government is," says he, " in perfect peace and tranquility, under a due obedience to the Royal authority, and a gentlemanly conformity to the Church of England." The Virginians at this day were living in the forests, but were men who had inherited the culture and intelligence of the seventeenth century. They cherished personal freedom, secure possession, and legislative power. They soon manifested at the polls some uneasiness at royalist principles and the prospects of an aristocracy. " The inclinations of the country," says Governor Spotswood, " are rendered mysterious by a new and unaccountable humor, which hath obtained in several counties, of excluding gentlemen from being Burgesses, and choosing only persons of mean figure and character." From this it appears that in 1710-23, no less than in 1882, the post of honor was the private station ; that instead of political positions being conferred upon the good and wise, they were, in Spots-wood's day, as now, more frequently the rewards of greed and incompetency. Many reforms were introduced by Spotswood, and among his benevolent schemes was one for civilizing and christianizing the Indians. With this view he undertook his expedition to the interior in 1716, of which we shall anon speak more freely. In 1723, Spotswood was succeeded by Sir Hugh Drysdale, and he, in 1727 by William Gooch, who, during his term, commanded the expedition against Carthagena. This expedition was the most important event of Gooch's administration, as, taken in connection with the other colonies, it was another step in the development of union.
Gooch was a man of firmness and moderation, and ruled Virginia for twenty two years much to the satisfaction of the people. During his time, wealth and population increased, printing was introduced, education became diffused, and its improving effects were felt in all, particularly the upper classes. But the loose and licentious character of the clergy made the Established Church but a feeble bulwark against the tide of religious enthusiasm which swept in with Whitfield, and the old cry was raised against Dissenters by those who conformed from habit or worldly interest to the Established Church. Gooch attempted to suppress heterodox opinions by all the powers of the State, and there was much petty persecution, which left the Church weaker and more unpopular even than before. In April, 1745, in his charge to the Grand Jury of the General Court, he said of the Presbyterians and other religious sects, " that false teachers had lately crept into this government, who, without order or license, or producing any testimonial of their education or sect, professing themselves ministers under the pretended influence of new light, extraordinary impulse, and such like satirical and enthusiastic knowledge, lead the innocent and ignorant people into all kind of delusion." And he called upon the jury to present and indict the offenders.
While England was colonizing in Virginia, New England, and at other points on the Atlantic coast, and sending into the interior hardy pioneers, the descendants of her two earliest colonies, the French were making explorations along the coast and into the backwoods. As far back as 1534, Jacques Carrier, at the head of a French expedition, entered the St. Lawrence and claimed the territory on both sides for France. In 1608, Quebec was founded by the French, and French immigrants arrived in succeeding years, until the dominion claimed by the French extended, as previously mentioned, from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1673, the Upper Mississippi was discovered by Father Marquette, a monk of the reformed order of Franciscans, called Recollects. In 1679, the French sent a second expedition to the West under La Salle. It reached through the lakes the Chicago river, passed down the Illinois to where Peoria now stands, and there La Salle erected a fort called Creve Cruel, or broken heart, on account of the hopeless difficulties he encountered. In 1682, La Salle sailed down the Mississippi to the Gulf and called the country Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV.
In 1700, the population of Virginia was 22,000, and in 1716 did not exceed 30,000. It was principally seated on the rivers and streams of Eastern Virginia and the Atlantic coast No county had been organized west of the 780 of longitude, nor were there any white settlements further west The exploring party which discovered the Valley made its way from Germany over a hundred miles through a trackless forest.
The progress of the population in the colony is indicated by the figures below: In 1607 it was 105; in 1609 it was 490; in 1617 k was 400; in 1622 it was 3,800; in 1628 it was 3,000; in 1632 it was 2,000; in 1644 it was 4,812; in 1645 it was 5,000; in 1652 it was 7,000; in 1703 it was 22,000 ; in 1748 it was 82,000.
From these matters of colonial history, so briefly recapitulated, the reader will understand the causes of the subsequent conflicts between the French and English colonists, the progress of the colony of Virginia, and its actual condition in 1716, when the Valley was discovered, and became a few years later the seat of an English settlement.

A county remote from the first scenes of European settlement in Virginia ; not visited by whites until 1716; uncolonized till 1732, and organized less than a century and a half ago, appears to offer few materials for history. The Valley of Virginia, in the heart of which Augusta lies, was unknown to the whites for more than a hundred years after the landing at Jamestown. During this long period no effort was made to penetrate into what was supposed to be an impenetrable region lying beyond high and inaccessible mountains. No one ventured to overcome these obstacles of nature, and to enter a dismal solitude of irremediable barrenness and perpetual gloom, whose air was said to be infectious and mortal, the ground covered with serpents, the forests infested by wild beasts, and the indigenous inhabitants a race of fierce and brutal savages, hating strangers and implacable in their cruelty. It was only after the return of the " Knights of the Golden Horseshoe" from their successful expedition over the mountains and into the Valley, that all previous accounts were discovered to be fabulous, and what was hitherto considered an accursed land, was found to be a delightful region, blessed with a delicious climate, rich fields, groves, shades and streams. From this period many persons seriously considered the question of making their homes in these hesperian regions, and within less than twenty years of Spotswood's return the Valley became the permanent home of Europeans. The early history of the discovery and occupation of the country west of the great mountains, so far as the present County of Augusta is concerned, is illustrated by few traditionary legends or incidents of border warfare, beyond the ordinary privations attending a new settlement, but when the entire territory which bore her name from 1738 to 1790, comes under view, it is eminently worthy of historical relation. A small remnant only of the adventures of our western pioneers is preserved. Much of the information, collected here and there from tradition, is uncertain and some of it absurd, yet we know enough as to their patient perseverance in subduing the wilds of nature; of their dauntless valor in their wars with the savages, (whose native courage was improved before these wars began, by the use of arms and the knowledge of discipline,) and of the events of those bloody struggles, to render their history both interesting and instructive.
A strong wish to preserve, in a permanent form, a record of the past, that it may no longer be clouded by ignorance nor perplexed by fiction; to rescue from unmerited oblivion the memories of our founders, whose heirs we are, with respect to civil and religious laws, language, science and territory ; to keep alive in their descendants a love and veneration for their memories and a spirit of patriotism, has been the chief incentive to this work. It has been well said that a love of country and its institutions and distinguished benefactors is as natural to man as is the love of those who are endeared to him by his earliest, his most pleasing and permanent associations. And this sentiment inspires a deep sense of obligation to benefactors, and to that Being who, in His infinite mercy, is the bestower of every blessing enjoyed by man. It cannot be denied that to our forefathers we owe much of the happiness and prosperity we now enjoy, and every worthy descendant of those gallant and adventurous spirits must feel a strong desire to become intimately acquainted with their characters and history. A remembrance of what is past, and an anticipation of what is to come, seem to be the two faculties by which man differs from most animals. Though beasts enjoy them in a limited degree, yet their whole life seems taken up in the present, regardless of the past and the future. Man, on the contrary, endeavors to derive his happiness, and experiences most of his miseries, from these two sources.
That every existing history of Virginia is incomplete, is generally admitted and regretted. The student must still have recourse to Hening's Statutes at Large as the best record of the intellectual and moral advancement in our Commonwealth. When a complete history of Virginia is written, it will contain not only a full account of her political, civil and military transactions, but a dear and concise exposition of the character of her authors, scholars, statesmen, jurists and warriors, and also a view of her physical resources. Before such a comprehensive work can be composed, it is necessary to obtain true and precise details of private and preliminary transactions. In history, it is not the great and striking events that are instructive, but the accessory facts or the circumstances that have prepared or produced them. This is evident, because it is only by a knowledge of the preparatory circumstances that we can be enabled to avoid or to obtain similar results. It is not from the issue of a battle that we receive instruction, but from the different movements that led to its decision, which, though less splendid, are, however the causes, while the event is only the effect. Such is the importance of those details that, without them, the term of comparison is vicious, and has no analogy with the object to which we would apply it.
The history of a county should abound in details, so necessary to the elucidation of the different parts o f a general history; and if a complete history of each county cannot be now written, all the fragments, at least, should be collected and put in order, as necessary to just conclusions, as to the formation of society, the mechanism of government, and a correct view of the habits, manners, opinions, laws, internal and external regimen of each community or state. The gathering together of this material for a history of Virginia, its preservation in a convenient shape for reference (it has been well said to know where you can find a thing is, in fact, the greatest part of learning) is one of the duties which the present owes to the future.
With these views, the writer has undertaken the task of preparing a history of his native county. In the scope of his design, he could only aim at a brief sketch or outline of the subject previous to 1790, when the county assumed its present confines. He has endeavored to exhibit the principal events which belong to the history of the Valley and the western country, or that part of Augusta without the existing limits of the county, in the most general and simple terms, confining himself, for the most part, in the case of Indian depredations, murders, massacres, &c, to those which occurred within a certain area, or territory, not too remote from the present county. He has made free use of the works of various authors; he pretends to no originality, and offers his production to the public in the hope that it may prove useful and acceptable.
Under the head of Excerpts, Ana, &c, it has been found convenient to insert, at the close of several chapters, anecdotes, incidents related by living persons, genealogical memoranda, extracts from public records, original deeds, etc. Such matters could not be included in the text without interfering too much with the thread of the narrative. He has not sifted the evidence as to the authenticity of all these anecdotes, etc., but where there was a probability, from the story itself and the circumstances of the times that k was true, where the matter was not inconsistent with nature and reason, he has given them as he has found them in the newspapers or as they have been related to him. In this, the author has but followed the course of Herodotus, the father of profane history. History had its commencement in traditions, or narratives transmitted from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation. Indeed, before the art of printing was invented there was little else than these traditions. Such was the difficulty of multiplying books when writing was the only means by which they could be produced. While, therefore, implicit confidence may not always be placed in the stories handed down to us, we are not irreverently to reject them, unless irrational, contrary to nature and sound judgment These scattered traditions, anecdotes and reminiscences are so many living monuments of antiquity, and serve at once to instruct and amuse.
It may, perhaps, be proper to make a further remark. In a work of this nature the author could not, without swelling the volume to unreasonable proportions, seek to minutely detail the policy or exhibit the springs and motives of government He has, therefore, in general restricted himself to a plain exhibition of facts and events. It would be vain to attempt to unravel the tangled maze of British, French and Spanish politics in their connection with each other and their American colonies, within the limits necessarily assigned to the present volume. The intricacies of the complex machinery of government form a difficult study in themselves, and are therefore left, with other grave matters, to more competent hands.
In the appendix he has brought together all the information he could procure, or which was supplied to him by friends, as to the families of the pioneers or early settlers, and to this has been added a third part made up of biographical notices. These biographies are given, because biography is the hand-maid of history, portrait painting for posterity, and the memory of our pioneer fathers and distinguished men is passing away, and will soon be forgotten unless some attempt be made to rescue it from impending oblivion. The heroes, who flourished before Agamemnon, says the Roman poet, passed into forgetfulness for want of a recording pen. Cicero eloquently remarks, the life of the dead is retained in the memory of the living, but a lethean wave will soon obliterate the remembrance of both living and dead, without the biographer's pen. If an apology is needed for his course it will be found in the remark of Lord Macaulay, who has justly observed: "A people, which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors, will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants. The writer solicits indulgence for such errors, omissions or imperfections as may be found in his work, and will endeavor to render a second edition, if one should be called for, more worthy of public favor. In the progress of the work he has had frequent occasion to seek in various quarters for information, but has not thought it necessary to weary the reader by crowding his pages with references. All those interested in preserving facts worthy of being transmitted to posterity were invited through the Staunton papers to communicate them to him. He regrets that much apathy exists on the part of the general public, and that information was frequently received too late to be always introduced where it properly belonged. Notwithstanding this apathy, he has received from many so kind and ready a response to his appeal for information as to have excited his deep gratitude. He cannot forbear mentioning, in this connection, the spontaneous kindness of the following gentlemen, which has enabled him to enrich the work in many particulars: Rev. William T. Price, R. A. Brock, Joseph A. Waddell, Judge William McLaughlin, Hon. A. H. H. Stuart, Judge J. H. McCue, Wm. Withrow, Rev. J. S. Martin, Wm. E. Craig,?. S. Doyle, Mathew Pilson, Chas. Campbell, Dr. C. Berkley, Dr. J. T. Clark, William M. Tate, George M. Cochran, jr., A. G. Christian, Marshall Hanger, J. H. Wayt, Maj. H. M. Bell, Hon. Absolom Koiner, J. W. Crawford, William Frazier, Hon. R. W. Thompson, Col. D. S. Young, J. N. Ryan, J. S. Gilliam, W. H. Peyton, W. A. Burnett, Joseph B. Woodward, Rev. John McVerry, Hon. Thomas Barry, D. A Kayser and A. H. Davies. To the people of Augusta, who love their native land, and who will peruse the work with interest, he commends the volume. J. L. P. Steephill, near Staunton, Va., November, 1882.

ANCIENT LIMITS
The County of Augusta was ushered into existence the 12th year of the reign of George II., as one of the shires of the colony of Virginia. No reason appears in the act establishing the county for the name, but it is believed to have been selected in honor of the Princess Augusta, wife of Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales, and daughter of Frederick II. Duke of Saxe-Gotha. Frederick county was created at the same time, and it is said, with good reason, to have derived its name from the Prince of Wales himself. From the act, which we quote in full from Hening's Statutes, vol. 5, pp. 78-79, it will be seen that Augusta and Frederick are twin sisters:

ACT FOR ESTABLISHING THE TWO COUNTIES PASSED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA NOV. 1ST, 1738.
I. Whereas, great numbers of people have settled themselves of late upon the rivers of Sherrando, Conengoruto and Opeckon, and the branches thereof, on the N. W. side of the Blue Ridge mountains, whereby the strength of this colony, and its security upon the frontiers, and H. M.'s revenue of quit rents are like to be much increased and augmented : For giving encouragement to such as shall think fit to settle there,
II. Be it enacted by the Lieutenant Governor, Council and Burgesses of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That all that territory and tract of land, at present deemed to be part of the county of Orange, lying on the northwest side of the top of the said mountains, extending from thence northerly, westerly and southerly, beyond the said mountains, to the utmost limits of Virginia, be Sherrando, or Shenandoah, signifies, in the Indian tongue, Beautiful Daughter of the Stan. separated from the rest of the said county and erected into two distinct counties and parishes ; to be divided by a line to be run from the head spring at Hedgman river to the head spring of the river Potomack. And that all that part of the said territory lying to the northeast of the said line, beyond the top of the said Blue Ridge, shall be one distinct county and parish, to be called by the name of the County of Frederick and parish of Frederick; and that the rest of the said territory, lying on the other side of the said line, beyond the top of the said Blue Ridge, shall be one other distinct county and parish, to be called by the name of the County of Augusta and parish of Augusta.
III. Provided, always, That the said new counties and parishes shall remain part of the County of Orange and parish of Saint Mark until it shall be made appear to the Governor and Council, for the time being, that there is a sufficient number of inhabitants for appointing justices of the peace and other officers, and erecting courts therein for the due administration of justice, so as the inhabitants of the said new counties and parishes be henceforth exempted from the payment of all public county and parish levies in the County of Orange and the parish of St. Mark; yet, that such exemption be not construed to extend to any of the said levies laid and assessed at or before the passing of this act
IV. And be it further enacted. That after a court be constituted in the said new counties respectively, the court for the said County of Frederick be held monthly upon the second Friday; and the court for the said County of Augusta be held upon the second Monday in every month, and that the said counties and parishes, respectively, shall have and enjoy all rights and privileges and advantages whatsoever belonging to the other counties and parishes of this colony. And for the better encouragement of aliens, and the more easy naturalization of such as shall come to inhabit there,
V. Be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the Governor or Commander-in-Chief of this colony, for the time being, to grant letters of naturalization to any such alien, upon a certificate from the clerk of any county court, of his or their having taken instead of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy ; and taken and subscribed the oath of adjuration, and subscribed the test, in like manner, as he may do upon taking and subscribing the same before himself.
VI. And for the more easy payment of all levies, secretary's clerk, sheriff's and other officers' fees, by the inhabitants of the said new counties, Be it further enacted, That the said levies and fees shall and may be paid in money, or tobacco at three farthings per pound, without any deduction. And that the said counties be and are hereby exempted from public levies for ten years. VII. Provided, nevertheless, That from and after the passing of this act no allowance whatsoever shall be made to any person for killing wolves within the limits of the said new counties. Any law, custom, or usage to the contrary hereof, notwithstanding. VIII. And for the better ordering of all parochial affairs in the said new parishes, Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the freeholders and housekeepers of the same, respectively, shall meet at such time and place as the Governor or Commander-in-Chief of this dominion, for the time being, with the advice of the Council, shall appoint, by precept under his hand, and the seal of the colony, to be directed to the sheriffs of the said new counties, respectively, and by the said sheriffs publicly advertised ; and then and there elect twelve of the most able and discreet persons of their said parishes, respectively: which persons so elected, having taken the oaths appointed by law and subscribed to be conformable to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, shall to all intents and purposes be deemed and taken to be the vestries of the said new parishes respectively."
The " utmost limits of Virginia," as expressed in this act for the western boundary of Augusta County, was the Mississippi river, beyond which were situated the French possessions known as Louisiana. This region was explored by the French in 1512 and partly colonized by them in 1699. In the year 1717 it was granted by the Crown to the Mississippi Company, but three years later was resumed by the Crown, and in 1763 was ceded to Spain, but was recovered by Napoleon in 1800. New Orleans was the southern and St. Louis the northern capital of these vast territories. The French claimed that their possessions extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Lawrence, a claim that ignored the rights of English colonists to any portion of the western territory, or country lying beyond the Ohio river. In support of their pretensions, the French erected forts and blockhouses at intervals from the great Lakes through the western part of Pennsylvania to the Ohio, then along the banks of that stream to its junction with the Mississippi, whence their chain of military posts followed the course of the latter river to its mouth. The English colonists, more particularly the people of Augusta, found themselves by these proceedings of the French, hemmed inprevented all expansion westward. A conflict, then, between the two races, the French and the English colonists of Augusta, Pennsylvania and New York, was, under the circumstances, sooner or later, inevitable. A conflict in fact took place as early as 1753, on the banks of the Ohio, between some English settlers and the garrison of one of .the forts already referred to. Both parties hastened to lay the story of their injuries before their respective governments. The consequence was a long and sanguinary war between England and France, in which half of Europe became involved.
In this war Braddock's defeat temporarily delayed, but could not avert, the final catastrophe. The superior numbers and indomitable resolution of the Anglo-Saxon in the end prevailed. Canada was conquered and the forts on the Ohio were necessarily abandoned. France, it is true, still retained Louisiana, which comprehended not simply the present area of that State, but, as we have said, a vast tract of territory extending from the Gulf to the 490 of north latitude, and from the Mississippi river on the east to the Mexican frontier on the west. The territory embraced within the French claim is now known as Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. To the eastern limits of this vast region, the Mississippi river, the western boundary of Augusta county, extended under this act, and from its ancient territory were subsequently carved the present States of West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and part of Pennsylvania. It is not our purpose to write the history of this extensive region, now the seat of many great and prosperous Commonwealths. Its history, however, cannot be altogether omitted in our work. It was part of Augusta county for over fifty years subsequent to 1738, was the native land of many of the savage tribes who harassed the border, the scene of the French and Indian war, and the wars of 1764, 1774, and of many civil and military expeditions, and, in fact, of continual Indian hostilities for forty years previous to 1794, when the brilliant victory at the Rapids of the Maumee by Gen. Wayne brought permanent peace to the frontier.
All the events occurring in this region from the first settlement of Augusta had more or less influence upon the fortunes of the people of the Valley, and the inhabitants ot Augusta and the Valley were so involved in them that they form in some measure a part of our history.

ABORIGINAL POPULATION
At the period, 1716, of Col. Spotswood's discovery of the Valley, it was the camping, hunting ground or residence of numerous tribes of Indians. These tribes, while wandering in pursuit of game from place to place during a considerable part of the year, possessed a few scattered villages, comprising a limited number of habitations, of the most imperfect construction, where they were in the Habit of passing their winters and where they left their wives, children and old men during their absence. Round about these rude villages some feeble and ill directed attempts at agriculture announced the more frequented and permanent haunts of savage life.
Many learned disquisition's exist as to the origin of these red men, and it cannot be denied that the origin, history, languages, and condition of the aborigines present ample materials for speculation. Among the Central and South American nations, notably in Mexico and Peru, many evidences exist of a regular, but limited civilization, but for the most part the tribes of both North and South America were, on the discovery of Columbus, composed of roving savages in a brutal state of abasement
Notwithstanding the greater progress among some of the aborigines, and certain physical differences, the Patagonians being generally over six feet high and the Esquimaux less than five feet, a race of deformed and diminutive savages who tremble at the sound of arms, the varieties of complexion, etc., those scholars whose opinions are entitled to most respect are agreed that there are sufficient points of general resemblance in all the nations of North and South America to justify the belief that they are sprung from one primitive pair. Religion, philosophy, geology, history and tradition combine to teach that man was created in Asia, and that his home after the flood continued in the high lands and lofty mountain regions of the Eastern continent.
While much obscurity rests on the question of the origin of the American tribes, it may be stated as the settled opinion that our continent was peopled from different quarters of the old world. Space will not permit us to enter into an examination of this subject, of the causes which drove the Asiatic tribes from their native seats, which impelled their march towards the northeastern portion of the Eastern continent, and finally brought them to the shores of the New World. In their route to America there was no particular obstacle. Behring's Straits, the water they are believed to have crossed, is only 39 miles wide; in it there are two islands, and in winter it is frozen over, so that quadrupeds as well as man can pass. And it has been well said that water is the highway of the savage, to whom, without an axe, the jungle is impervious. Even civilized man migrates by sea and rivers, and has ascended 2,000 miles above the mouth of the Missouri, while interior tracts in Virginia, New York and Ohio are still a wilderness. To the uncivilized man, no path is free but the sea, the lake and the river.
On supposed analogies of customs and language, some have thought the aborigines of the Tennessee Valleys and the plains of the Cordilleras were the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, "who took counsel to go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt".
Dr. Lang suggests the possibility of an early communication between the Polynesian world and South America, and while it is possible that it may have taken place, the better opinion is, as mentioned, that it was by Behring's Straits that America received her first inhabitants.

The following is a list of the various tribes who resided in or resorted to the Valley of Virginia in 1716-32, and they all spoke the same language or a dialect of it This was the mother tongue of the natives from North Carolina to Massachusetts. This mother tongue received from the French the name of Algonquin, and under it all the wild tribes of this region were grouped:

I. The Shawanese, the most considerable of the Algonquin tribes, had their principal villages east of the Alleghanies, near the present town of Winchester, but their possessions extended west to the Mississippi river, Foote asserts (Second Series, p. 159) that the Shawanese owned the whole Valley of Virginia, but had abandoned it. He gives no authority for the statement, and we have found none in our researches. Of all the Indian tribes with whom our ancestors came in contact, the Shawanese were the most bloody and terrible, holding all other men, as well Indians as whites, in contempt as warriors in comparison with themselves. This estimate of themselves made them more restless and fierce than any other savages, and they boasted that they had killed ten times as many white people as any other Indians did. They were a well formed, active and ingenious people, capable of enduring great privations and hardships, were assuming and imperious in the presence of others not of their own nation, and sometimes very cruel.
II. The Tuscaroras, whose villages were near Martinsburg, in the present county of Berkeley.
III. The Senedos, who occupied the north fork of the Shenandoah until 1732, when it was exterminated by hostile natives from the South.
IV. The Catawbas, whose headquarters were on the Catawba river in South Carolina.
V. The Delawares, who frequented the Susquehanna river in Pennsylvania.
VI. The Susquehanoughs, who originally occupied the headwaters of the Chesapeake bay, but were driven out by the Cinela tribe and took up their residence on the upper waters of the Potomac, supposed to be one of their favorite places of residence, as the remains of their villages are more numerous in this region than elsewhere in the Valley.
VII. The Cinelas, on the Upper Potomac.
VIII. The Pascataway tribe, on the headwaters of the Chesapeake.
IX. The Cherokees, who occupied the Upper Valley of the Tennessee river and the high lands of Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. The Cherokees were the tallest and most robust of the Southern tribes, their complexions brighter than usual with the red men, and some of their young women were nearly as fair and blooming as European women. They owed allegiance to the Muscogulges, who stood at the head of a confederacy composed of Cherokees, Seminoles, Chickasaws, Choctaws and Creeks, and it is probable that bands from all of these tribes, or at least warriors, accompanied the Cherokees in their annual visits to the Valley. Without exception, these Southern Indians were proud, haughty and arrogant, brave and valiant in war, ambitious of conquest, restless and perpetually exercising their arms, yet magnanimous and merciful to a vanquished enemy when he submitted and sought their friendship and protection.

These vagrant tribes camped or resided at great distances from each other, were widely dispersed over a vast country, and any connection between them and particular localities was of so frail a texture that it was broken by the slightest accident. The different tribes or nations were small in number as compared with civilized societies in which industry, arts, agriculture and commerce have united a vast number of individuals whom a complicated luxury renders valuable to each other. No accurate information exists as to the numbers composing these tribes, but it is most probable they did not exceed a few hundred warriors each. At the landing of the Pilgrims in 1620, the number of Indians in New England did not exceed 123,000, and a few years later the number was greatly reduced by a plague. It is probable that the Indian population of Virginia was larger at this time, as the climate of our Valley and State is generally better adapted to the wants of man than that of New England. Bancroft, however, ventures the opinion that the whole Indian population east of the Mississippi and south of New England did not, in 1620, exceed 180,000.
Detached parties of armed barbarians from the Northern and Western tribes occasionally came to the Valley, and the Massawomees penetrated to Eastern Virginia and were a terror to the low-land tribes Armed parties also visited the Valley from the five nations situated on the rivers and lakes of New York the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas. There was little difference in character and person between these wild men of whatever tribe, and the remark of Capt. Jno. Smith in his general history. Vol. 1, p 120, that the Cinelas were of gigantic size, is now rejected as incredible a statement as little to be believed as the fabulous origin assigned by the Goths to their enemies, the Huns, namely: that the witches of Scythia had copulated in the desert with infernal spirits, and that the duos were the offspring of this execrable conjunction.
We distrust whatever is marvelous, but it is proper to mention in this connection that the historian of the Valley gives an account, in his second chapter, of the discovery, in Hardy county, of the under jaw bone of a human being of great size, with eight teeth in each side of enormous size, and the teeth standing in the jaw bone transversely! What is repugnant to experience and common sense we discredit, and consequently have little faith in this story, though given upon the authority of a gentleman who represented that he had himself seen the jaw bone. Within the present year mastodon bones have been excavated on the Kentucky Central railroad. The supposed human jaw bone found in Hardy, was doubtless the fossil remain of some extinct animal of the genus mammiferous.
That portion of the Valley now embraced within the County of Augusta, is not known to have been the home or fixed residence of any tribe of Indians at the period of its settlement, nor is it known that it was not the home of some tribe or branch of a tribe. Such red men as Lewis met on entering Augusta, in 1732, were friendly, and so continued for over twenty years.
That the country had been, previous to 1732, permanently occupied, is indicated by the remains of barrows, cairns and ramparts, composed of mingled earth and stones, found at different points in the county notably near Waynesboro, on Lewis creek, a few miles below Staunton; on Middle river near Dudley's mill, and at Jarman's Gap, north of Rock-fish. The cairn at Jarman's Gap is probably sepulchral, and may have been intended and used as a place of worship. In the lower Shenandoah Valley and the country west of the Alleghanies in fact over every part of North America, especially in the Mississippi Valley there are remains of fortifications, mounds and other monuments of a primitive race, bearing marks of great antiquity, which " whisper mysteriously of a shadowy race, populous, nomadic, not altogether uncivilized, idolatrous," worshipping " in high places." It does not come within the scope and design of this volume, however, to investigate the question whether they were the work of the progenitors of the Indians or of a race long since extinct. That and all similar matters must be left to those who have taste and leisure for such abstruse inquiries. We may remark, however, that no remains exist in the Valley which indicate labor on a large scale or which were worthy, in Jefferson's opinion, to be styled Indian monuments. He would not dignify with that name their stone arrow points, pipes, &c.
The Valley of Virginia was, in 1716, when visited by Spotswood, without extensive forests, but the margins of streams were fringed with trees; there were pretty woodlands in the low grounds, and the mountain sides were densely covered with timber trees. The wood destroyed by Autumnal fires was replaced by a luxuriant growth of blue grass, white clover and other natural grasses and herbage. The spontaneous productions of the earth were everywhere numerous and abundant, and there were many varieties of game and wild animals. The luxuriance of the vegetation evinced the fertility of a soil which required only the hand of art to render it in the highest degree subservient to the wants of man. But the nomads of the Valley were averse to improvement; their indolence refused to cultivate the earth, and their restless spirit disdained the confinement of sedentary life. To prevent the growth of timber and preserve the district as pasture, that it might support as much game as possible, and that the grass might come forward in the early Spring, the savages, before retiring into Winter quarters, set on fire the dry grass and burnt over the country. The absence of trees in an extensive quarter of the county N. W. of Staunton led our ancestors to style it "The Barrens," a name that it still bears, though it is interspersed at this time by handsome woodlands, the growth of the last eighty years.
As we shall speak in a subsequent page of the physical character and resources of the present county, nothing further need be now said beyond this, that the climate of the region west of the mountains was found by the first settlers to be mild and agreeable, the winds light and bracing, the rain fell ample, storms and mists rare, the soil fertile, producing trees and grass, and the earth apparently rich in ores, as indicated by mineral springs.
The two principal non-resident tribes who frequented this fine country in 1716-1745, were the Delawares from the North and the Catawbas from the South. At the time Augusta was settled, 1732, a bloody war was progressing between these tribes, and the Valley was the theater of action. In this war other tribes now and again participated as the allies of one or the other party, and it was at a battle on the North fork of the Shenandoah, in the county now bearing that name, that the Senedos tribe was exterminated. There is a burial place there eighteen to twenty feet high and sixty feet in circumference, filled with human bones, which testify to the truth of this tradition.
Wars between the tribes who frequented the Valley were of constant occurrence, and much speculation has been indulged in as to their origin some inclining to the opinion that there is a natural state of hostility of man against man. It is more probable, that these wars resulted from the restless and turbulent nature of mankind, the ambition of leaders and disputes as to the hunting grounds. Such, indeed, was the red man's martial and independent spirit, his love of arms, that he considered war and rapine as the pleasure and glory of mankind. It was the wars of the Iroquois and Massawomees, on the Ohio, which gave that beautiful stream its significant name of the " River of Blood." The war-paths conducting into the Valley were through Rockfish and Jarman's gaps, thence by the present site of Staunton and down the Valley, branching at different points.
Armed parties during this period constantly passed and repassed the white settlements without disturbing them. Sometimes they spent the night near the whites, and, when in need, asked for food and other supplies, which were always given them. If in want of provisions, and no white was near to supply them, they would kill pigs or cattle running at large, which they considered lawful game. The settlers were too few and too wise to resent these liberties, and continued on amicable terms with both Catawbas and Delawares when those tribes were, in 1732, and for many years subsequently, at war with each other. And it is worthy of remark that neither tribe sought to involve the colonists in their quarrels. When a single Indian, or a party of two or three, called at the hut of a white for victuals, rest or social conversation, he confidently approached the door and said, " I am come." Soon the whites set before them food and drink. After eating and drinking they lit their pipes, and while smoking conversed. This over, they arose and said, " I go," and off they walked, to stop without an introduction or invitation at the next habitation the appearance of which they liked. The sententious brevity with which they announced their arrival and departure may be ascribed to their limited English vocabulary rather than rudeness, though it must be allowed that the easy and graceful manners of a gentleman are not innate. The gradual process by which they are arrived at are summarized in Pope's line: " He marries, bows at court and grows polite."
The Indian villages in the Valley were principally on the upper waters of the Potomac, near the present towns of Martinsburg and Winchester, but at some period previous to the settlement of Augusta, villages had existed at numerous points on the banks of the streams East and West of the mountains. The spots can now be identified in Eastern Virginia by the deposits of oyster and muscle shells, these bivalves constituting a part of their food, and in the Valley by ashes, charred wood, arrow points, tomahawks, pipes and other remains. Their huts or wigwams were built by uniting poles at the top and inserting them at regular distances in the ground. An aperture was left at the top for smoke, and the ribs or rafters were covered with bark, the skins of wild beasts or with the boughs of trees. A small opening was left on one side, and in front of this in warm weather their fires were lit. In Winter the fire was made in the centre of the wigwam, and the savages ranged themselves round it on skins, mats and the leaves of trees. It was their custom, and a wise one it was, to sleep with their feet to the fire. Each family had its own hut, but occasionally they allowed others to enjoy its shelter. Their villages were always located near pure water, and if possible under the protection of a hill or forest. Their wigwams were unfurnished, except a covering of leaves and skins, for the dirt floors on which they slept. They ate without table, chairs, knives or forks.
Their clothing consisted of skins their feet being encased in a kind of sandal made of deer skin or other soft leather, called moccasin. It was, unlike the sandal, with a soft sole, and was ornamented on the upper side. They took fish with hooks made of fish bones or the spear, or caught them in nets. For hunting and in war they used clubs, bows and arrows and tomahawks headed with stone. After the settlement of the whites the heads of tomahawks were made of mescal for their use by the English, with the hammer-head hollowed out to suit the purpose of a smoking pipe, the mouth-piece being in the end of the shaft. The tomahawk was the Indian's most valuable weapon. He used it in time of peace for cutting his firewood, and in war wielded it with deadly effect. Their arrow points and scalping knives were made of flint stone, and many of these are constantly picked up near Staunton and in other parts of that county.
For passing streams the Indians used canoes, which were made of birch bark, sewed together with fibers, or roots. Their treatment of females was cruel and oppressive. They were considered as slaves and treated as such. To the squaw was assigned the labors of the field and the services of domestic care. Chastity was not one of the virtues of the women, but when married, they did not dispense their favors without the consent of their husbands. We have no account of the marriage ceremony, if such a ceremony existed among them, and imagine the association of the sexes was a voluntary union, which might be terminated at any time by consent of the parties. As, however, in all ages and among all people, religion of some kind has prevailed, and a reverence and awe of a Divinity existed, and our red men paid honor and homage to the Great Spirit, we do not feel at liberty to declare that such unions were altogether without religious character. We shall not dwell upon these matters of marital infidelities, as we are not called upon to represent human nature in such colors and lineaments as dishonor her, and do not wish to familiarize the minds of our readers with vice. A slight allusion to them was important to historic truth, which renders it necessary to speak of the vices and failings as well as the virtues of a people. We shall be content with touching thus lightly upon them. The men, who were occupied procuring the means of a precarious subsistence, were not, as may be readily imagined, of a lively disposition. Indeed, much gaiety of temper or a high flow of spirits was altogether inconsistent with their surroundings. These red men were, therefore, in general, grave even to sadness ; had nothing of that giddy vivacity peculiar to some nations of Europe, and they despised it. Though usually silent and gloomy, their aged chiefs and the squaws were, on occasion, fond of conversation, and amused the children with tales of war and hunting. There were professional story-tellers also among them, who imitated the actions of their heroes, and thus increased the interest of their narratives and excited the liveliest interest in their hearers. When tales of bloody fights, or the incidents of buffalo hunts were recounted, the narrators imitating the actors in the scenes, the audience listened with breathless attention. When they related amusing stories, acting out the parts, the groups would break into wild shouts of laughter and applause.
The diseases of the Indians were not numerous; their remedies few and simple, their physic consisting mainly of the bark and roots of trees.
For music they used rude drums, rattles made of gourds, and a cane on which they piped. They were hospitable, and grateful for benefits; brave, but wayward and inconstant. To sum up their character in a few words: They were distinguished in council for gravity and eloquence; in war, for bravery and address. When provoked to anger they were sullen and retired, and when determined on revenge no danger would deter them : neither absence nor time could cool them. If captured by an enemy, they never asked life nor betrayed emotions of fear.
For over a hundred years after the settlement at Jamestown the colonists from Virginia to Massachusetts were harassed by the Indians. The friendly relations, which existed for a short time after the landing of the English, soon changed, and the Indians became hostile and relentless in their enmity. During their wars with the whites they practiced every possible cruelty, burnt their houses, shot them down in their fields when at work, and now and again met them hand to hand in battle. They were entirely unreliable, neither respecting in peace the faith of treaties nor in war the dictates of humanity. They tortured their prisoners to death, and some of the tribes notably, the Miamis, ate the flesh of their captives.
War, if not brought on by an accidental rencontre, was preceded by a formal declaration of hostilities. This was made with great ceremony. The chief, having determined on fighting, sent wampum, or belts of beads, to his allies, inviting them to come and destroy their enemies, and to the enemy a belt painted red, or a bundle of bloody sticks, as a defiance. A great fire was then lit and the war dance took place. These ceremonies observed, the braves issued forth singing to the women a farewell hymn. If they surprised a village of their foes, while the flower of the nation was absent, they massacred the women, children and helpless old men, or made prisoners of such as had strength to be useful to them. Their prisoners were treated with inconceivable barbarity, thus exhibiting to what an extremity men's passions lead them when unrestrained by reason and uninfluenced by the dictates of Christianity. These savage acts make us more sensible, too, of the value of commerce, the arts of civilized life, and the lights of literature, which, if they abate the force of some of the natural virtues by the luxury which attends them, have taken out likewise the sting of our natural vices and softened the ferocity of the human race.
The Indians were not without a certain species of government, which prevailed, with little variation, over the continent. Though free, they did not despise all sorts of authority. They were attentive to the voice of wisdom, which experience had conferred on the aged, and they enlisted under the banners of their chiefs with child-like confidence chiefs in whose valor and military address they had learned to repose their trust. His power, however, was rather persuasive than coercive; he was reverenced as a father, rather than feared as a monarch. He had no guards, no prisons, no officers of justice; but, relying upon the respect, confidence and esteem of his people, he lived unthreatened by Nihilist cabals and unterrified by dynamite and infernal machines. Few modern European rulers do this. The elders in every tribe constituted a kind of aristocracy, and were always consulted on grave occasions by the chief and people. They possessed no power except the influence they exerted by reason of their age and experience, and the further, fact that they constituted a kind of hereditary nobility. Among the Indians age alone acquired respect, influence and authority, because age brings experience, and experience is the chief source of knowledge among a people without literature.
Their religious belief consisted of traditions mingled with many superstitions. They believed in two Gods, the one Good, who was the superior, and whom they styled the Great Spirit; the other Evil. They worshipped both, but principally the latter, the Good Spirit, in their opinion, needing no prayers to induce him to aid and protect his creatures. Besides these, they worshipped various other deities, such as fire, water, thunder, anything which they supposed to be superior to themselves and capable of doing them injury. They believed in a future state, in a tranquil and happy existence with their ancestors and friends, spending their time in those exercises in which they delighted when on earth.
From the picturesque situations of their villages, they are supposed to have admired the grand and beautiful in Nature. That they possessed to a considerable degree the poetic sentiment, is inferred from the names given to the rivers and mountains, their war songs, and the speeches of some of their chiefs.
Such, in short were the wild red men of the forest, on whose lands the early settlers pitched their tents. The barbarian heroes of our border wars have been depicted with so much fidelity and graphic power by one of our greatest writers, that in the defect of materials strictly historical, they may to a certain extent supply their place. Nowhere can the moody, taciturn and sententious red man be more delightfully studied than in the pages of Fenimore Cooper. These delineations of Cooper should not be rejected because given to the world in his fictitious writings. Historical facts are often rendered the more agreeable by being conveyed in a story of adventure designed for the entertainment of the reader. Novels frequently approach to the nature of history, and history often partakes of the character of romance. Histories, in general, are full of chimerical and extravagant details, especially as they ascend to periods of great antiquity and are connected with the origin of nations, and it has been oftener than once said that even Livy is but a romance. Yet who would give up such histories ? We read them with deep interest, though we feel that they are but a compound of truth and fiction. We linger over the harangues which the characters in history never made, and delight in the eloquence of Logan, though persuaded that the author of his eloquence was an educated white man.

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