Annals of Augusta County/Chapter 7
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CHAPTER VII.
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION, ETC., FROM 1774 TO 1783.
While the strife between the colonies and mother country was brewing in 1774 the port of Boston was closed by the British, and the people of that city, mainly dependent upon commerce for subsistence, were reduced to a state of destitution and suffering. The sympathy of the country was aroused, and contributions for their relief were made in various places. The remote county of Augusta sent her quota the very autumn her sons fought the Indians at Point Pleasant. Says the historian, Bancroft: "When the sheaves had been harvested and the corn threshed and ground in a country as yet poorly provided with barns or mills, the backwoodsmen of Augusta county, without any pass through the mountains that could be called a road, noiselessly and modestly delivered at Frederick one hundred and thirty-seven barrels of flour as their remittance to the poor of Boston." (Volume VII, page 74.) What a task the transportation was, may be inferred from the fact that nearly fifty years afterwards Bockett's stages took three days to make the trip from Staunton to Winchester.
Again, in 1777, the people of Augusta sent supplies to the destitute. From some cause unknown to us there was a scarcity of provisions in Washington county, southwest Virginia, and the records of that county show that Augusta contributed flour for the use of "the distressed inhabitants." [See Howe, page 501.]
But our Annals are designed to exhibit the contentions of men, rather than the charities of life. We come now to a curious episode in the history of the county. Lord Dunmore, the last royal Governor of Virginia, and his Lieutenant, Connoly, figure therein somewhat as comic actors, it seems to us, although at the time the business was considered serious enough. Viirginia. claimed, by virtue of her charter, all the territory between certain parallels of latitude, which included a part of western Pennsylvania about Pittsburg. Fort Pitt was abandoned as a military post in 1773, but the country was rapidly occupied by English settlers.
In January, 1774, Dr. John Connoly, a citizen of Virginia, but previously of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, appeared at Pittsburg and posted a notice of his appointment by Governor Dunmore as " Captain-Commandant of militia of Pittsburg and its dependencies," etc., etc.
Governor Penn, of Pennsylvania, wrote to Dunmore, demanding an explanation. At the same time he wrote to the Pennsylvania authorities at Pittsburg urging them to maintain the rights of that province, and ordering the arrest of Connoly. The "Captain-Commandant" was accordingly arrested and committed to jail, but he prevailed with the sheriff to give him leave of absence for a few days, and instead of returning to prison came to Virginia.
On March 15, 1774, Connoly presented himself before the court at Staunton, and qualified as a justice of the peace for Augusta county, and commandant at Pittsburg.
Dunmore replied to Penn on March 3d, insisting upon the rights of Virginia, and demanding reparation for the insult to 'Connoly. The least that would be accepted was the dismissal of Arthur St. Clair, the clerk who "had the audacity to commit a inagistrate acting in discharge of his duty." Governor Penn rejilied, and so the controversy continued.
Connoly returned to Pittsburg and gathered around him a body of armed men, a portion of the people claiming to be Virginians. He opened correspondence with the Pennsylvania magistrates, which proving unsatisfactory, he arrested three of them—Smith, Mackey and McFarland—and sent them to Staunton for trial. Upon arriving here they gave security and were discharged to find their way home.
The President of the Pennsylvania court informed Governor Penn of the arrest of his associates. He stated that Connoly, having at Staunton quahfied as a justice of the peace for Augusta county, "in which it is pretended that the country about Pittsburg is included," was constantly surrounded by an armed body of about one hundred and eighty militia, and obstructed every process emanating from the court.
Connoly reoccupied Fort Pitt, changing the name to Fort Dunmore.
The following order appears among the proceedings of the County Court of Augusta, under date of January 19, 1775; "His majesty's writ of adjournment being produced and read, it is ordered that this court be adjourned to the first Tuesday in next month, and then to be held at Fort Dunmore, in this county, agreeable to the said writ of adjournment."
The court was held at Fort Dunmore, under Captain Connoly's auspices, and several persons were arraigned before it for obstructing the authority of Virginia, as we learn from a Pennsylvania historian.—[Creigh' s History of Washington County, Pennsylvania.] The record of proceedings is not on file at Staunton. The court could not sit in Staunton at the usual time in March, being on an excursion to Pennsylvania; but we next find on the order book the following: "His majesty's writ of adjournment from Fort Dunmore to the courthouse in the town of Staunton, being read, the court was accordingly held the 25th day of March, 1775."
A deed from six Indian chiefs, representatives of the united tribes of Mohawks, Oneidas, etc., to George Croghan, for two hundred thousand acres of land on the Ohio river, executed November 4, 1768, was proved before the court of Augusta county at Pittsburg, September 25, 1775—the land lying in the county It was further proved before the court at Staunton, August 19, 1777, and ordered to be recorded.—[See Deed Book No. 22, page i.j The consideration for which the Indians sold these lands embraced blankets, stockings, calico, vermillion, ribbons, knives, gunpowder, lead, gun-flints, needles, and jews-harps. The deed was also recorded in Philadelphia.
At length the Pennsylvanians kidnapped Captain Connoly and took him to Philadelphia, and thereupon the Virginians seized three of the rival justices and sent them to Wheeling as hostages.
By this time the war of the Revolution was approaching. The people of the disputed territory were alike patriotic, but the distinction between Virginians and Pennsylvanians was still maintained. Each party held meetings separate from the other, and denounced the encroachments of the British government.
Captain Connoly, being discharged from custody, joined Lord Dunmore on board a British ship in Chesapeake Bay. He was at Portsmouth, Virginia, August 9, 1775, on which day he wrote to Colonel John Gibson to dissuade him from joining the patriot side. He then undertook a journey from the Chesapeake to Pittsburg, in company with a Doctor Smith, and in November, 1775, was arrested in Fredericktown, Maryland, for being engaged in treasonable projects. He was detained in jail, at Philadelphia, till April 2, 1777.
Finally, in 1779, each of the States appointed commissioners, and through their agency the dispute was quieted in 1780. The boundary was not definitely fixed, however, till 1785, when Mason and Dixon's line was established.
It is generally believed that Dunmore fomented the controversy about the boundary line, in order to embroil the people of the two provinces between themselves, and that Connoly was his willing agent. Connoly joined Dunmore at Fort Pitt, in the fall of 1774, and accompanied hfm in his march into the Indian country. In the summer of 1775, it is said, he was appointed colonel, with authority to raise a regiment of white men on the frontiers hostile to the cause of the colonies, and to enlist the Indians on the side of Great Britain. His arrest at Fredericktown defeated the attempt. After his release he joined the British army, and was with Cornwallis when he surrendered at Yorktown. By grant from Dunmore, he acquired a large landed interest on the Ohio river, where Louisville, Kentucky, now stands, John Campbell and Joseph Simon having an interest in the grant, and his share of the property was confiscated by act of the Legislature of Virginia, the territory then being a part of this State. The last we have heard of him was in 1788, when he came from Canada to Louisville, for the purpose professedly of making a business arrangement with Mr. Campbell, but the popular prejudice against him was such that he could not remain, and leaving the United States nothing further is known of him.—[See Border Warfare, page 134, and various acts in Hening, passed in 1780, 1783 and 1784, "for establishing the town of Louisville, in the county of Jefferson," &c., &c.]
In order not to break the connection we have anticipated the course of events, and return now to the early part of the year 1775.
The first patriotic meeting of the people of Augusta county, of which we have any account, was held in Staunton, February 22, 1775. The proceedings were reported as follows:
"After due notice given to the freeholders of the county of Augusta to meet in Staunton, for the purpose of electing delegates to represent them in Colony Convention at the town of Richmond, on the 20th of March, 1775, the freeholders of said county thought proper to refer the choice of their delegates to the judgment of the committee, who, thus authorized by the general voice of the people, met at the courthouse on the 22d of February, and unanimously chose Mr. Thomas Lewis and Captain Samuel McDowell to represent them in the ensuing Convention.
"Instructions were then ordered to be drawn up by the Rev. Alexander Balmaine, Mr. Sampson Mathews, Captain Alexander McClanahan, Mr. Michael Bowyer, Mr. William Lewis, and Captain George Mathews, or any three of them, and delivered to the delegates thus chosen, which are as follows: 'To Mr. Thomas Lewis and Captain Samuel McDowell.—The committee of Augusta county, pursuant to the trust reposed in them by the freeholders of the same, have chosen you to represent them in Colony Convention, proposed to be held in Richmond on the 20th of March instant. They desire that you may consider the people of Augusta county as impressed with just sentiments of loyalty and allegiance to his Majesty King George, whose title to the imperial crown of Great Britain rests on no other foundation than the liberty, and whose glory is inseparable from the happiness, of all his subjects. We have also respect for the parent State, which respect is founded on religion, on law, and on the genuine principles of the constitution. On these principles do we earnestly desire to see harmony and a good understanding restored between Great Britain and America.
"'Many of us and our forefathers left our native land and explored this once-savage wilderness to enjoy the free exercise of the rights of conscience and of human nature. These rights we are fully resolved, with our lives and fortunes, inviolably to preserve; nor will we surrender such inestimable blessings, the purchase of toil and danger, to any Ministry, to any Parliament, or any body of men upon earth, by whom we are not represented, and in whose decisions, therefore, we have no voice.
"'We desire you to tender, in the most respectful terms, our grateful acknowledgements to the late worthy delegates of this colony for their wise, spirited, and patriotic exertions in the General Congress, and to assure them that we will uniformly and religiously adhere to their resolutions providently and graciously formed for their country's good.
"'Fully convinced that the safety and happiness of America depend, next to the blessing of Almighty God, on the unanimity and wisdom of her people, we doubt not you will, on your parts, comply with the recommendations of the late Continental Congress, by appointing delegates from this colony to meet in Philadelphia on the 10th of May, next, unless American grievances be redressed before that. And so we are determined to maintain unimpaired that liberty which is the gift of heaven to the subjects of Britain's empire, and will most cordially join our countrymen in such measures as may be deemed wise and necessary to secure and perpetuate the ancient, just, and legal rights of this colony and all British America.
"'Placing our ultimate trust in the Supreme Disposer of every event, without whose gracious interposition the wisest schemes may fail of success, we desire you to move the Convention that some day, which may appear to them most convenient, be set apart for imploring the blessing of Almighty God on such plans as human wisdom and integrity may think necessary to adopt for preserving America happy, virtuous, and free.'"
In obedience to these instructions, the following letter was addressed by Messrs. Lewis and McDowell to the members of Congress:
"Gentlemen,—We have it in command from the freeholders of Augusta county, by their committee, held on the 22d February, to present you with the grateful acknowledgment of thanks for the prudent, virtuous, and noble exertions of the faculties with which heaven has endowed you in the cause of liberty, and of everything that man ought to hold sacred at the late General Congress—a conduct so nobly interesting that it must command the applause, not only from this, but succeeding ages. May that sacred flame, that has illuminated your minds and influenced your conduct in projecting and concurring in so many salutary determinations for the preservation of American liberty, ever continue to direct your conduct to the latest period of your lives! May the bright example be fairly transcribed on the hearts and reduced into practice by every Virginian, by every American! May our hearts be open to receive and our arms strong to defend that liberty and freedom, the gift of heaven, now being banished from its latest retreat in Europe! Here let it be hospitably entertained in every breast; here let it take deep root and flourish in everlasting bloom, that under its benign influence the virtuously free may enjoy secure repose and stand forth the scourge and terror of tyranny and tyrants of every order and denomination, till time shall be no more.
"Be pleased, gentlemen, to accept of iheir grateful sense of your important services, and of their ardent prayers for the best interests of this once happy country. And vouchsafe, gentle men, to accept of the same from your most humble servants."
The reply of the members of Congress was as follows:
"To Thomas Lewis and Samuel McDowell, Esqrs.:
"Gentlemen,—Be pleased to transmit to the respectable freeholders of Augusta county our sincere thanks for their affectionate address approving our conduct in the late Continental Congress. It gives us the greatest pleasure to find that our honest endeavors to serve our country on this arduous anci important occasion have met their approbation—a reward fully adequate to our warmest wishes— and the assurances from the brave and spirited people of Augusta, that their hearts and hands shall be devoted to the support of the measures adopted, or hereafter to be taken, by the Congress for the preservation of American liberty, give us the highest satisfaction, and must afford pleasure to every friend of the just rights of mankind. We cannot conclude without acknowledgments to you, gentlemen, for the polite manner in which you have communicated to us the sentiments of your worthy constituents, and are their and your obedient humble servants."—[Signed by all the members of Congress from Virginia.]
The former colonial system having disappeared, all the functions of government were assumed and exercised by the Convention, in which Messrs. Lewis and McDowell sat as delegates from Augusta. The executive authority was entrusted to a committee of safety, consisting of eleven members—Pendleton, Mason and others—appointed by the Convention. To provide local governments until public affairs could be settled, the Convention passed an ordinance in July, 1775, requiring the qualified voters of each county to elect a county committee, to act as a sort of executive authority in the county for carrying into effect the measures of the Continental Congress and the Colonial Convention.—[Hening, Volume VIII, page 57.]
Silas Hart, an old justice of the peace, whose residence was within the present county of Rockingham, was chairman of the Augusta county committee. On October 3d this committee met at Staunton, and, pursuant to summons, Alexander Miller appeared before them to answer charges. Miller was an Irish Presbyterian preacher, who had been deposed from the ministry, and was accused of having denounced as rebellion, etc., the popular opposition to the measures of the British Government. He was solemnly tried and pronounced guilty. His punishment anticipated the recent policy in Ireland called "boycotting." The committee subjected the offender to no restraint, and advised no violence toward him. They only recommended that "the good people of this county and colony have no further dealings or intercourse with said Miller until he convinces his countrymen of having repented for his past folly."—[American Archives, Vol. Ill, page 939.]
The Annals of the county during the war of the Revolution are quite meager. This Valley was remote from the scenes of combat, and only once was there an alarm of invasion. The domestic Hfe of the people and the business of the court were generally undisturbed during the war. Public business was transacted and writs were issued in the name of the Commonwealth of Virginia, instead of the king of Great Britain, and there was little other change. The abolition of the religious establishment in the course of time marked the most important departure from the old order of things. So far from danger was this region considered, that the Continental Congress, by resolution of September 8, 1776, advised the Executive Council of Pennsylvania to send disaffected Quakers arrested in Philadelphia, to Staunton for safe-keeping. A number of Quakers, a druggist, and a dancing-master were soon afterwards brought to Winchester and detained there eight or nine months; but we have no account of any persons of the same class having been in Staunton. Several hundred Hessians, captured at Trenton, were, however, detained here for a considerable time, and there is a tradition that some of these were employed by Peter Hanger to build the older part of the dwelling still standing on Spring Farm, adjacent to the city water-works.[1]
How invaluable would be a diary written, even crudely, by a resident of the county during the war, telling about the raising of troops, the departure of individuals and companies for the army, the rumors which agitated the community, and the simple events of common life! But nothing of the kind exists. We have, however, some extracts from the diary of a young Presbyterian minister who made two visits to the county in 1775. There is not much in them, and no reference whatever to pubHc events; but the mere mention of a few people living in the county at that time is somewhat interesting. The minister referred to was the Rev. John McMillan, of Western Pennsylvania, afterwards the Rev. Dr. McMillan, the founder of Jefferson College; and a portion of his diary is found in a book called "Old Redstone" (Presbytery), by the Rev. Dr. Joseph Smith.
Young McMillan came from Pennsylvania, on his second visit, in November, 1775. He says:
"Monday.—Passed through Stephensburgh, Stoverstown, and Millerstown—crossed Shenandoah, and after travelling fortyeight miles, we came to a Dutchman's, where we tarried all night.
"Tuesday.—We rode this day thirty-five miles—crossed the North river, and lodged at Widow Watson's.
" Wednesday.— About noon, came to Staunton; where, it being court time, I met with a number of my old acquaintances, who professed great joy to see me. I stayed in town till towards evening, and then rode to John Trimble's. This day I travelled about twenty-two miles.
"Thtrsday.— Continued at Mr. Trimble's.
"Friday.— Went to John Moffett's. [John Moffett was buried in the North Mountain grave-yard. His grave is marked by a sandstone, but all the inscription, except the name, has viforn out]
"Sa/urday.— Returned to Mr. Trimble's; and, in the evening, Benjamin Brown brought me a pair of shoes, for which I paid him 8s. (Very cheap shoes.)
"Saddaik (the fourth in November.)— Preached at the North Mountain, and lodged with Matthew Thompson.
"Monday.—This day I rode in company with John Thompson about sixteen miles to see my uncle on Back creek; found them all well.
"Tuesday.—This morning proving very stormy, we thought it most convenient to return again to the settlements, and, accordingly, I took leave of my relations, and though it snowed excessively, we set to the road, and in the evening came again to Matthew Thompson's.
"Wednesday.—Went to Hugh Torbet's; from thence to Alexander Mitchell's, where I tarried all night.
"Thursday.—Came to Joseph Blair's.
"Friday (ist. December.)—Rode to John Moffett's in the evening. Got a tooth pulled by Wendal Bright. Tarried here until Sabbath.
"Sabbath (the first in December.)—Preached at the stone meeting-house, and in the evening rode in to Staunton in company with Mrs. Reed. Lodged at Mr. Reed's.
[Mrs. Reed afterwards, while a widow, became the second wife of Colonel George Mathews, from whom she was divorced. She lived to extreme old age in the low frame house which formerly stood on the south side of Beverley street, between Augusta and Water streets. A few persons still living remember her. She was generally called "Aunt Reed."]
"Monday.—I left town. Called at Mr. Trimble's and lodged with Mr. Moffett.
" Wednesday.—This day I moved my camp to William McPheeters's.
" Thursday and Friday.—Continued at the same place, spending my time chiefly in study."
On New Year's day, 1776, he preached at Peter Hanger's to a large assembly, and next day set out down the Valley.
The Rev. James Waddell came to Augusta from Lancaster county about the year 1776, and bought the Springhill farm on South River, originally owned by Colonel James Patton. The deed of James and William Thompson, Patton's son-in-law and grandson, describes the tract as 1,308 acres, and states the price as _;^i,ooo ($3,333^)- Dr. Waddell resided at Springhill, and preached at Tinkling Spring and occasionally in Staunton, while he remained in the county. One of the subscription papers circulated in Tinkling Spring congregation, for raising the pastor's salary, has escaped destruction, and is interesting as showing in some degree the state of the times. The subscribers promised to pay the Rev. James Waddell " the sum of one hundred pounds, current and lawful money of Virginia, for the whole of his labours for one year; ' ' payment to be made " in clean merchantable wheat at three shillings (fifty cents) per bushel, or in corn or rye of like quality at two shillings per bushel, or in other commodities he may want at said rates." James Bell, Sr., promised to pay £2,, os. gd. (about $10), the largest subscription on the lis^. Other subscribers were John Ramsey, Thomas Turk, John Ramsey, Jr., William Black, William Guthrie, John Collins, John Caldwell, Benjamin Stuart, Robert Thompson, A. Thompson, Thomas Stuart, and Walter Davis. The subscription for 1783 was £^0 in cash for half the minister's time, the other half to be bestowed in Staunton.—[Foote's Sketches, First Series, page 376.]
In the early part of 1776, the county committee of Augusta adopted a memorial to the Convention, of which we have no account except in the journal of that body. The purport of the paper, presented to the Convention on the loth of May, is thus awkwardly stated in the journal: "A representation from the committee of the county of Augusta was presented to the Convention and read, setting forth the present unhappy situation of the country, and from the ministerial measures of revenge now pursuing, representing the necessity of making the confederacy of the united colonies the most perfect, independent and lasting, and of framing an equal, free and liberal government, that may bear the test of all future ages." This is said to be the first expression of the policy of establishing an independent State government and permanent confederation of States, which the parliamentary journals of America contain. It is curious, however, to observe how carefully " the representation" throws the blame of the measures complained of upon the British ministers, still seeking apparently to avoid censuring the king. The feeling of loyalty to the sovereign was hard to give up. In October, 1776, the " several companies of militia and freeholders of Augusta " forwarded to the representatives of the county in the Legislature their " sentiments" on the subject of religious liberty. They demanded that ' ' all religious denominations within the Dominion be forthwith put in full possession of. equal liberty, without preference or pre-eminence," &c. The paper was signed by John Magill, James Allen, George Moffett, Alexander St. Clair, John Poage, John Davis, Alexander Long, William McPheeters, Elijah McClanahan, Alexander Thompson, Archibald Alexander, Robert Wilson, James Walker, Charles Campbell, Walter Cunningham, and others.—{^American Archives, Fifth Series, Volume II, page 815.]
It is impossible to obtain any list or particular account of troops furnished by Augusta county during the Revolutionary war, and the names of only a few comparatively of the soldiers have escaped oblivion. As a general fact, we know that most of the younger men of the county were in the military service. One of them, William McCutchen, of Bethel neighborhood, who survived to a good old age, served three "tours" in the army. The first and longest was in New Jersey, when he was so young that the recruiting officer doubted about admitting him into the ranks. The second term of service was on the invasion of Virginia by Cornwallis, and the third was at Yorktown. Dismissed to return home from the Jerseys, after his time of service had expired, he received his wages in Continental money. "Soon after leaving camp, a landlord, supposed not favorable to the cause, refused him and his companion a meal of victuals for less than five dollars apiece in paper currency. The next landlord demanded two-and-a-half dollars. They determined to travel as far as possible in a day, and to eat but one meal. In Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/172 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/173 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/174 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/175 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/176 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/177 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/178 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/179 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/180 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/181 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/182 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/183 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/184 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/185 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/186 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/187 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/188 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/189 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/190 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/191 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/192 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/193 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/194 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/195 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/196 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/197 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/198 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/199 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/200 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/201 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/202 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/203 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/204 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/205 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/206 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/207 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/208 Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/209 in Philadelphia, by his pupil's father. Reardon enlisted as a soldier in Captain Wallace's company, and was desperately wounded in a battle in North Carolina; but survived, and returned to school-teaching on Timber Ridge. Young Alexander was further educated at Liberty Hall, under the Rev. William Graham. When not yet twenty years of age, he was licensed as a preacher by Lexington Presbytery, October 1, 1791, at Winchester. He states that among the hearers of his first sermon after he was licensed, was General Daniel Morgan. Returning to Lexington late in 1791, he stopped in Staunton. "The town," he says, "contained no place of worship but an Episcopal church, which was without a minister. It was proposed that I should preach in the little Episcopal church; to which I consented with some trepidation; but when I entered the house in the evening it was crowded, and all the gentry of the town were out, including Judge Archibald Stuart," [not then Judge,] "who had known me from a child." In course of time Dr. Alexander became President of Hampden Sidney College. From that position he was transferred to Philadelphia, as pastor of a church in that city; and after a few years was appointed a professor in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey, where, he spent the remainder of his life. He died in 1851. He was a voluminous author. His wife was a daughter of the Rev. Dr. James Waddell.
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- ↑ The Hessian fly, from which the farmers of the country suffered so severely for many years, is commonly believed to have been imported by the Hessian troops in their straw bedding, and hence the name. It appeared on Long Island during the Revolutionary war, and quite numerously in Virginia in 1796. It was, however, prevalent in the American Colonies long prior to the period of the Revolution.