| | 1 | Author: | Summers
Lewis Preston
1868-1943 | Add | | | Title: | History of southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870  | | | | Published: | 2006 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | 1001-1716. The history of Virginia, from the earliest times
until the date of the formation of Washington county by the
General Assembly of Virginia, is interesting and instructive, and
is necessary to a thorough comprehension of that part of our history
subsequent thereto. Capt. Robert Wade marc't from Mayo fort, with 35 men, in
order to take a Range to the New River in search of our Enemy Indians.
We marcht about three miles that Day to a Plantation,
Where Peter Rentfro formerly Lived and took up Camp, where we
continued safe that night—Next morning being Sunday, we continued
to march about three or four miles, and one Francis New
returned back to the Fort, then we had 34 men besides the Capt—
We marcht along to a place called Gobeling Town, where we Eat
our Brakefast—& so continued our march till late in the afternoon,
and took up Camp at the Foot of the Blew Ledge where we
continued safe that night—Next morning being Monday, the 14th,
Inst. we started early and crossed the Blew Ledge and Fell upon
a branch of the Little River, called Pine Creek,— I have the honor to acquaint you in obedience to his Majesty's
commands, on the 13th curr't, I met at this place all the principal
Chiefs of the upper and lower Cherokee Nations, and on the 14th
by his Majesty's royal authority concluded the Treaty with said
Indians, ratifying the cession of land lying within the Provinces of
South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia by them to his Majesty
and His heirs forever, and confirming the Boundary line
marked by the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, according
to the several agreements entered into with said Indians.
The line now ultimately confirmed and ratified by said Treaty was
as follows: Brothers,—On the 20th day of December last, being in Williamsburg,
we received instructions from Lord Botetourt, a great and
good man, whom the great King George has sent to preside over his
Colony of Virginia, directing us to wait on your father, John Stuart,
Esq., Supt. Indian Affairs, in order to have a plan agreed
upon for fixing a new Boundary between your people and his
Majesty's subjects in the Colony of Virginia. On our way to the
place, to our great joy, we met with our good brothers, Judds
Friend and the Warrior of Estitoe, who with great readiness took
a passage with us from Governor Tryon, to this place where we had
the happiness to wait upon your father, Mr. Stuart, and with joint
application, represented to him the necessity of taking such measures
as may effectually prevent any misunderstanding that might
arise between his Majesty's subjects of the Colony of Virginia and
our brothers the Cherokees, until a full treaty be appointed and
held for the fixing a new Boundary that may give equal justice and
satisfaction to the parties concerned, and that his Majesty's subjects,
now settled on the lands between Chiswell's Mines, and the
Great Island of Holston River, remain in peaceable possession of
said lands, until a line is run between them and our good brothers
the Cherokees, who will receive full satisfaction for such lands as
you, our brothers, shall convey to our Great King for the use of his
subjects. His Excellency, the Right Honorable Norborne, the Lord
Botetourt, Governor in Chief of the Colony of Virginia, and the
King's Council of that Dominion, having ordered us to wait on you
and assist in settling the Boundary line between that Colony and
the Cherokee Indians, we beg leave to inform you that the line proposed
to be marked from Chiswell's Mines to the confluence of the
Great Kanawha and the Ohio, would be a great disadvantage to
the Crown of Great Britain, and would injure many subjects of
Britain that now inhabit that part of the frontier, and have in making
that settlement complied with every known rule of government
and the laws of that Colony. We, being in very destitute circumstances
for want of the ordinances of Christ's house statedly administered
amongst us; many of us under very distressing spiritual
languishments; and multitudes perishing in our sins for want of
the bread of life broken among us; our Sabbaths too much profaned,
or at least wasted in melancholy silence at home, our hearts
and hands discouraged, and our spirits broken with our mournful
condition, so that human language cannot sufficiently paint. Having
had the happiness, by the good providence of God, of enjoying
part of your labors to our abundant satisfaction, and being universally
well satisfied by our experience of your ministerial abilities,
piety, literature, prudence and peculiar agreeableness of your
qualifications to us in particular as a gospel minister—we do,
worthy and dear sir, from our very hearts, and with the most cordial
affection and unanimity agree to call, invite and entreat you to
undertake the office of a pastor among us, and the care and charge
of our precious souls, and upon your accepting of this our call, we
do promise that we will receive the word of God from your mouth,
attend on your ministry, instruction and reproofs, in public and
private, and submit to the discipline which Christ has appointed
in his church, administered by you while regulated by the word of
God and agreeable to our confession of faith and directory. And
that you may give yourself wholly up to the important work of the
ministry, we hereby promise to pay you annually the sum of ninety
pounds from the time of your accepting this our call; and that we
shall behave ourselves towards you with all that dutiful respect
and affection that becomes a people towards their minister, using
all means within our power to render your life comfortable and
happy. We entreat you, worthy and dear sir, to have compassion
upon us in this remote part of the world, and accept this our call
and invitation to the pastoral charge of our precious and immortal
souls, and we shall hold ourselves bound to pray. The following letter is just received from the camp on Point
Pleasant, at the mouth of the Great Kenhawa (as then spelled),
dated October 17, 1774: "To be engraved on the Great Seal, Virtus, the genius of the
Commonwealth, dressed like an Amazon, resting on a spear with
one hand and holding a sword with the other hand and treading
on Tyranny, represented by a man prostrate, a crown fallen from
his head, a broken chain in his left hand and a scourge in his
right. In the exergon the word "Virginia" over the head of Virtus,
and underneath the words, "Sic semper tyrannis." On the
reverse a groupe, Libertas, with her wand and pileus. On the other
side of her Ceres, with the cornucopia in one hand and an ear of
wheat in the other. On the other side Eternitas, with globe and
phœnix. In the exergon these words: Deus Nobis Hæc Otia Fecit." Some time ago, Mr. Cameron and myself wrote
you a letter by Mr. Thomas, and enclosed a talk we had with the
Indians respecting the purchase which is reported you lately made
of them on the rivers Wattaga, Nolichucky. We are since informed
that you are under great apprenhension of the Indians doing mischief
immediately. But it is not the desire of his Majesty to set
his friends and allies, the Indians, on his liege subjects: therefore
whoever you are, that are willing to join his Majesty's forces as
soon as they arrive at the Cherokee nation, by repairing to the
King's standard, shall find protection for themselves and their
families and be free from all danger whatever; yet, that his
Majesty's officers may be certain which of you are willing to take
up arms in his Majesty's just right, I have thought fit to recommend
it to you and every one that is desirous of preventing inevitable
ruin to themselves and families, immediately to subscribe
a written paper acknowledging their allegiance to his Majesty
King George, and that they are ready and willing, whenever called
on, to appear in arms in defence of the British right in America;
which paper, as soon as it is signed and sent to me safe by hand,
should any of the inhabitants be desirous of knowing how they are
to be free from every kind of insult and danger, inform them that
his Majesty will immediately land an army in West Florida, march
them through the Creek to the Chickasaw nation, where five hundred
warriors from each nation are to join them, and then come
by Chota, who have promised their assistance, and then to take possession
of the frontiers of North Carolina and Virginia, at the
same time that his Majesty's forces make a diversion on the sea
coast of those Provinces. If any of the inhabitants have any beef,
cattle, flour, pork or horses to spare, they shall have a good price
for them by applying to us, as soon as his Majesty's troops are embodied. The deposition of Jarret Williams taken before
me, Anthony Bledsoe, a justice of the peace for the county aforesaid,
being first sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God,
deposeth and saith: That he left the Cherokee nation on Monday
night, the 8th inst. (July); Your letter of the 30th ult. with the deposition of
Mr. Bryan, came to hand this evening by your messenger. The
news is really alarming, with regard to the disposition of the Indians,
who are doubtless advised to break with the white people,
by the enemies to American liberty who reside among them. But
I cannot conceive that you have anything to fear from the pretended
invasion by British troops, by the route they mention.
This must, in my opinion, be a scheme purposely calculated to intimidate
the inhabitants, either to abandon their plantations or
turn enemies to their country, neither of which I hope it will be
able to effect. "I hereby certify that when I was ordered by the Executive last
summer to take command of an expedition against the Cherokee
Indians, it was left to my own choice whether to take the troops down
the Tennessee by water, or on horseback, they were to be paid for
such pack horses as might be lost without default of the owners.
That expedition not being carried on, I was directed by His Excellency
the Governor to take command of the militia ordered to
suppress the Tories who were at that time rising in arms, and to
apply to that purpose the same means and powers which I was invested
with for carrying on the Cherokee expedition, under which
direction I marched a number of mounted militia to King's mountain,
S. C. We have now collected at this place about 1,500 good men,
drawn from the counties of Surry, Wilkes, Burke, Washington and
Sullivan counties in this State, and Washington county in Virginia,
and expect to be joined in a few days by Colonel Clarke, of Georgia,
and Colonel Williams, of South Carolina, with about 1,000 more.
As we have at this time called out our militia without any orders
from the Executives of our different States, and with the view of
expelling the enemy out of this part of the country, we think such a
body of men worthy of your attention, and would request you to
send a general officer immediately to take the command of such
troops as may embody in this quarter. Our troops being all militia
and but little acquainted with discipline, we would wish him to be
a gentleman of address and able to keep up a proper discipline without
disgusting the soldiery. Every assistance in our power shall
be given the officer you may think proper to take the command of us. Unless you wish to be eat up by an inundation of
barbarians, who have begun by murdering an unarmed son before
an aged father, and afterwards lopped off his arms, and who, by
their shocking cruelties and irregularities, give the best proof of
their cowardice and want of discipline; I say, that if you wish to
be pinioned, robbed and murdered, and see your wives and daughters
in four days abused by the dregs of mankind; in short, if you
wish to deserve to live and bear the name of men, grasp your arms
in a moment and run to camp. The `Back Water' men have
crossed the mountains; McDowell, Hampton, Shelby and Cleveland
are at their head, so that you know what you have to depend
upon. If you choose to be degraded forever and ever by a set of
mongrels, say so at once, and let your women turn their backs upon
you and look out for real men to protect them. I am on my march to you by a road leading from
Cherokee Ford, north of King's mountain. Three or four hundred
good soldiers could finish this business. Something must be done
soon. This is their last push in this quarter. Ferguson and his party are no more in circumstances
to injure the citizens of America. "A statement of the proceedings of the western army, from the
25th day of September, 1780, to the reduction of Major Ferguson
and the army under his command. On receiving intelligence that
Major Ferguson had advanced up as high as Gilberttown, in Rutherford
county, and threatened to cross the mountains to the western
waters, Colonel Campbell, with 400 men from Washington
county, Virginia, Colonel Isaac Shelby with 240 men from Sullivan
county, North Carolina, and Lieutenant-Colonel John
Sevier with 240 men from Washington county, North Carolina,
assembled at Watauga on the 25th day of September,
where they were joined by Colonel Charles McDowell, with
160 men from the counties of Burke and Rutherford, who
had fled before the enemy to the western waters. We began
our march on the 26th, and on the 30th we were joined by
Colonel Cleveland on the Catawba river, with 350 men from the
counties of Wilkes and Surry. No one officer having properly a
right to command in chief, on the first day of October we dispatched
an express to Major General Gates, informing him of our situation,
and requested him to send a general officer to take command of the
whole. In the meantime Colonel Campbell was chosen to act as
commandant till such general officer should arrive. We marched to
the Cowpens, on Broad river in South Carolina, where we were
joined by Colonel James Williams, with 400 men, on the evening of
the 6th of October, who informed us that the enemy lay encamped
somewhere near the Cherokee ford of Broad river, about thirty
miles distant from us. By a council of the principal officers, it
was then thought advisable to pursue the enemy that night with
900 of the best horsemen, and leave the weak horse and footmen
to follow as fast as possible. We began our march with 900 of the
best horsemen about eight o'clock the same evening, and marching
all night came up with the enemy about three o'clock, P. M., of the
7th, who lay encamped on the top of King's mountain, twelve
miles north of the Cherokee ford, in the confidence that they would
not be forced from so advantageous a post. Previous to the attack,
on the march, the following disposition was made: Colonel Shelby's
regiment formed a column in the center on the left; Colonel Campbell's
regiment another on the right; part of Colonel Cleveland's
regiment, headed in front by Major Winston, and Colonel Sevier's
regiment formed a large column on the right wing; the other part
of Colonel Cleveland's regiment, headed by Colonel Cleveland himself,
and Colonel Williams' regiment, composed the left wing. In
this order we advanced, and got within a quarter of a mile of the
enemy before we were discovered. Colonel Shelby's and Colonel
Campbell's regiments began the attack, and kept up a fire while the
right and left wings were advancing to surround them, which was
done in about five minutes; the greatest part of which time a heavy
and incessant fire was kept up on both sides; our men in some parts,
where the regulars fought, were obliged to give way a small distance,
two or three times, but rallied and returned with additional
ardor to the attack. The troops upon the right having gained the
summit of the eminence, obliged the enemy to retreat along the
top of the ridge to where Colonel Cleveland commanded, and were
there stopped by his brave men. A flag was immediately hoisted by
Captain DePeyster, their commanding officer (Major Ferguson
having been killed a little before), for a surrender, our fire immediately
ceased, and the enemy laid down their arms, the greatest
part of them charged, and surrendered themselves to us prisoners
at discretion. I came to this place last night to receive General Gates'
directions how to dispose of the prisoners taken at King's mountain,
in the State of South Carolina, upon the 7th instant. He has
ordered them to be taken over to Montgomery county, where they
are to be secured under proper guards. General Gates transmits
to your Excellency a state of the proceedings of our little party to
the westward. I flatter myself we have much relieved that part of
the country from its late distress. "A letter of the 7th from Governor Jefferson was read, inclosing
a letter of the first from Major-General Gates with a particular
account of the victory obtained by the militia over the enemy at
King's mountain, on the 7th of October, last, whereupon Resolved:— Orders have been sent to the county lieutenants of Montgomery
and Washington, to furnish 250 of their militia to proceed
in conjunction with the Carolinians against the Chickamoggas.
You are hereby authorized to take command of said men. Should
the Carolinians not have at present such an expedition in contemplation,
if you can engage them to concur as volunteers, either at
their own expense or that of their State, it is recommended to you
to do it. Take great care to distinguish the friendly from the hostile
part of the Cherokee nation, and to protect the former while you
severely punish the latter. The commissary and quartermaster in
the Southern department is hereby required to furnish you all the
aid of his department. Should the men, for the purpose of dispatch,
furnish horses for themselves to ride, let them be previously
appraised, as in cases of impress, and for such as shall be killed, die
or be lost in the service without any default of the owner, payment
shall be made by the public. An order was lodged with Colonel
Preston for 1,000 pounds of powder from the lead mines for this
expedition; and you receive herewith an order for 500 pounds of
powder from Colonel Fleming for the same purpose, of the expenditure
of which you will render account. We came into your country to fight your
young men. We have killed not a few of them and destroyed your
towns. You know you began the war, by listening to the bad councils
of the King of England and the falsehoods told you by his
agents. We are now satisfied with what is done, as it may convince
your nation that we can distress them much at any time they are
so foolish as to engage in a war against us. If you desire peace,
as we understand you do, we, out of pity to your women and children,
are disposed to treat with you on that subject and take you
into our friendship once more. We therefore send this by one of
your young men, who is our prisoner, to tell you if you are also
disposed to make peace, for six of your head men to come to our
agent, Major Martin, at the Great Island within two moons. They
will have a safe passport, if they will notify us of their approach
by a runner with a flag, so as to give him time to meet them with a
guard on Holstein river, at the boundary line. The wives and children
of these men of your nation that protested against the war, if
they are willing to take refuge at the Great Island until peace is
restored, we will give them a supply of provisions to keep them
alive. "The fulfillment of this message will require your Excellency's
further instructions, and in which I expect North Carolina will
assist, or that Congress will take upon themselves the whole. I
believe advantageous promises of peace may be easily obtained with
a surrender of such an extent of country, that will defray the
expenses of war. But such terms will be best insured by placing a
garrison of two hundred men under an active officer on the banks
of the Tenasee. Your faithful services and the exertions which you made
to second the efforts of the Southern army, on the 15th inst.,
claim my warmest thanks. It would be ungenerous not to acknowledge
my entire approbation of your conduct, and the spirited
and manly behavior of the officers and soldiers under you. Sensible
of your merit, I feel a pleasure in doing justice to it. Most
of the riflemen having gone home, and not having it in my power
to make up another command, you have my permission to return
home to your friends, and should the emergency of the southern
operations require your further exertions, I will advertise you. "I am very happy in informing you that the bravery of your battalion,
displayed in the action of the 15th, is particularly noticed
by the General. It is much to be lamented that a failure took
place in the line which lost the day, separated us from the main
body and exposed our retreat. I hope your men are safe and that
the scattered will collect again. Be pleased to favor me with a
return of your loss, and prepare your men for a second battle. "Beginning at a white walnut and buckeye at the ford of Holston
next above the Royal Oak, and runneth thence—N. 31 W. over
Brushy mountain, one creek, Walker's mountain north fork of Holston,
Locust cove, Little mountain, Poor Valley creek, Clinch mountain,
and the south fork of Clinch to a double and single sugar trees
and two buckeye saplings on Bare grass hill, the west end of Morris'
knob, fifteen miles and three quarters. Thence from said knob
north crossing the spurs of the same, and Paint Lick mountain the
north fork of Clinch by John Hines' plantation, and over the river
ridge by James Roark's in the Baptist Valley, to a sugar tree and
two white oaks on the head of Sandy five miles, one quarter—twenty
poles. I am now going to speak to you about powder. I have
in my towns six hundred good hunters, and we have very little powder.
I hope you will speak to my elder brother of Virginia, to take
pity on us, and send us as much as will make our fall's hunt. He
will hear you. We are very poor, but don't love to beg, which our
brother knows, as I have never asked him for anything else before.
I thank him however for all his past favors to the old towns. I
hope he will not refuse this favor I ask of him, I have taken Virginia
by the hand, and I do not want to turn my face another way, to
a strange people. The Spaniards have sent to me to come and speak
to them. I am not going, but some of my people have gone to hear
what they have to say. I am sitting still at home with my face
towards my elder brother of Virginia, hoping to hear from him soon.
I will not take of any strange people till I hear from him. Tell him
that when I took hold of your hand, I looked on it as if he had
been there. The hold is strong and lasting. I have with this talk
sent you a long string of white beads as a confirmation of what I
say. My friendship shall be as long as the beads remain white. The memorial of the Freemen inhabitating the Country Westward
of the Alleghany or Appalachian mountain, and Southward of the
Ouasioto*
*Indian name for Cumberland mountain.
Humbly sheweth: "Your Deputies, after mature consideration, have agreed to address
you on the subject of your Public Affairs, well knowing that
there is only wanting an exact and candid examination into the
facts to know whether you have been well served or abused by your
Representatives, whether Government has been wisely administered
and whether your rights and Liberties are secure. As members of
the Civil Society, you will acknowledge that there are duties of importance
and lasting obligation which must take place before individual
conveniences or private interest, but it must be granted that
in free Communities the laws are only obligatory when made consonant
with the constitution or Original Compact; for it is the only
means of the surrender then made, the power therein given and the
right ariseth to Legislate at all. Hence it is evident that the power
of Legislators is in the nature of trusts to form Regulations for the
good of the whole, agreeable to the powers delegated, and the deposite
put into the General stock, and the end proposed is to obtain
the greatest degree of happiness and safety, not for the few but
for the many. To attain these ends and these only, men are induced
to give up a portion of their natural Liberty and Property
when they enter into society. From this it is plain that Rulers may
exceed their trust, may invade the remaining portion of natural
liberty and property, which would be a usurpation, a breach of
solemn obligation and ultimately a conspiracy against the majesty
of the people, the only treason that can be committed in a commonwealth.
A much admired writer on the side of Liberty begins
his work with the following remarkable sentence, which we transcribe
for your information, and entreat you to read and ponder
well: After having been honored lately with the receipt of several
of your Excellency's letters, particularly that of the 17th of
May last, and the several communications made in consequence of
them, particularly my letter of the 13th of June, the principal officers
and the Whig interest in this county seemed to rest satisfied
that an amicable and enlightened administration would pave the
way to the Legislature and to Congress for the efficient and permanent
redress of the principal, and in some cases the almost
intolerable grievances of the western inhabitants. But while
secure in this confidence, we have to lament that the voice of
calumny and faction has reached the seat of supreme rule, and
that, without a constitutional enquiry, without a fair hearing, it
has been in some degree listened to, and had effect. It is hard to
defend when it is not known what we are charged with, and at
all times who can disarm private pique, or be able to withstand
malice and envy without feeling some smart. But political fury,
engendered by Tory principles, knows no bounds and is without
a parallel. Bernard and Hutchison have exhibited to Governors
and the world, examples that ought to teach wisdom to this and
succeeding generations. We are told (but it is only from report)
that we have offended government on account of our sentiments
being favorable to a new State, and our looking forward for a separation.
If such a disposition is criminal, I confess there are not
a few in this county to whom guilt may be imputed, and to many
respectable characters in other counties on the western waters. If
we wish for a separation it is on account of grievances that daily
become more and more intolerable, it is from a hope that another
mode of governing will make us more useful than we are now to the
general confederacy, or ever can be whilst so connected. But why
can blame fall on us, when our aim is to conduct measures in an
orderly manner, and strictly consistent with the Constitution.
Surely men who have bound themselves by every holy tie to support
republican principles, cannot on a dispassionate consideration
blame us. Our want of experience and knowledge may be a plea
against us. We deplore our situation and circumstances on that
account, but at the same time firmly believe that our advances to
knowledge will still continue slow, perhaps verge towards ignorance
and barbarism, without the benefit of local independent institutions. THE MEMORIAL OF ARTHUR CAMPBELL. It is with great concern that we hear that a number
of your Towns' people have lately been killed by some white men
between Clinch river and Cumberland mountain, and that you
blame the Virginians for it. As to who done it, I cannot certainly
say, but have heard that one hundred men from Kentucky
had gone towards Chickamogga Towns to take satisfaction for the
murder that was done on the Kentucky path last October, and
what made the people exceedingly angry, was that they heard their
Captives, mostly women, were all burnt in the Chickamogga Towns. "August 26, 1791, a party of Indians headed by a Captain Bench,
of the Cherokee tribe, attacked the house of Elisha Ferris, two
miles from Mockison Gap, murdered Mr. Ferris at his house, and
made prisoner Mrs. Ferris and her daughter, Mrs. Livingston, and
a young child together with Nancy Ferris. All but the latter were
cruelly murdered the first day of their captivity. "About 10 o'clock in the morning, as I was sitting in my house,
the fierceness of the dog's barking alarmed me. I looked out and
saw seven Indians approaching the house, armed and painted in a
frightful manner. No person was then within, but a child of ten
years old, and another of two, and my sucking infant. My husband
and his brother Henry had just before walked out to a barn at some
distance in the field. My sister-in-law, Susanna, was with the
remaining children in an out-house. Old Mrs. Livingston was in
the garden. I immediately shut and fastened the door; they (the
Indians) came furiously up, and tried to burst it open, demanding
of me several times to open the door, which I refused. They then
fired two guns; one ball pierced through the door, but did me no
damage. I then thought of my husband's rifle, took it down but it
being double triggered, I was at a loss; at length I fired through the
door, but it not being well aimed I did no execution; however the
Indians retired from that place and soon after that an old adjoining
house was on fire, and I and my children suffering much from the
smoke. I opened the door and an Indian immediately advanced
and took me prisoner, together with the two children. I then discovered
that they had my remaining children in their possession,
my sister Sukey, a wench with her young child, a negro
man of Edward Callihan's and a negro boy of our own about eight
years old. They were fearful of going into the house I left, to
plunder, supposing that it had been a man that shot at them, and
was yet within. So our whole clothing and household furniture
were consumed in the flames, which I was then pleased to see, rather
than that it should be of use to the savages. Whereas by the wrong doing of men it hath been the unfortunate
lot of the following negroes to be slaves for life, to-wit: Vina,
Adam, Nancy sen., Nancy, Kitty and Selah. And whereas believing
the same have come into my possession by the direction of Providence,
and conceiving from the clearest conviction of my conscience
aided by the power of a good and just God, that it is both
sinful and unjust, as they are by nature equally free with myself,
to continue them in slavery, I do, therefore, by these presents, under
the influence of a duty I not only owe my conscience, but the just
God who made us all, make free the said negroes hoping while
they are free of man they will faithfully serve their Maker through
the merits of Christ. Whereas my negro man John (alias) John Broady, claims a
promise of freedom from his former master General William Campbell,
for his faithful attendance on him at all times, and more particularly
while he was in the army in the last war, and I who claim
the said negro in right of my wife, daughter of the said General
William Campbell, feeling a desire to emancipate the said negro
man John, as well for the fulfillment of the above-mentioned promise,
as the gratification of being instrumental of prompting a participation
of liberty to a fellow creature, who by nature is entitled
thereto, do by these presents for myself, my heirs, executors and
administrators fully emancipate and make free to all intents and
purposes the said negro man John (alias) John Broady from me
forever. As witness my hand and seal, this 20th day of September,
one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three. ATTENTION! "ATTENTION!" "THE TOCSIN OF PATRIOTISM. "INFANTRY! To the Freeholders of the County of Washington. NOTICE! "ATTENTION! "COMPANY ORDERS! ATTENTION RIFLEMEN! VOLUNTEER RIFLEMEN. "ATTENTION! Resolved, That it is expedient for the carrying out of the objects
of this meeting that the committee hereby appointed shall solicit
the concurrent support of the people of Russell, Tazewell, Washington,
Smyth, Wythe, Mercer, Giles, Boone, Monroe, Logan, Wyoming,
Kanawha, Fayette and Greenbrier counties, in behalf of
obtaining a survey for the Virginia and Tennessee railroad from
New river along Walker's creek and Holston Valley, passing the
Gypsum bank and Salt Works to the Tennessee line for intersection
with the Tennessee railroad at the most convenient point. Resolved, That this convention highly approve of the proposed
General Railroad Convention to be held at New Orleans, on the
first Monday in January next, and request the appointment by the
president, on its behalf, of five delegates thereto. Abingdon Academy! In reply to yours of the 16th instant in reference to the Stonewall
Jackson Institute, I assure you that any scheme designed to
perpetuate the recollections of the virtue and patriotism of General
Jackson meets with my approval. As he was a friend of learning,
I know of no more effective and appropriate method of accomplishing
the praiseworthy object in question than the establishment of
an institution in which the young women of our country may be
trained for the important and responsible duties of life. I hope
the institution established by the people of Southwest Virginia, and
dedicated to the memory of General T. J. Jackson, may meet with
entire success and prove a blessing to the State. Pursuant to an order of court, we the subscribers have laid off the
Prison Bounds, as in the annexed Platt. Beginning at the N. W. corner of the gaol at a stump S. 35° E.
40 poles, crossing the road at 3 forked white oak saplings; thence N.
62° E. 35 poles crossing a creek at the old fording at a large white
oak tree by the north side of the road; thence N. 32° W. 30 poles
crossing said creek N. E. of head of a spring at a white oak stake
and an old black stump; and thence to a white oak sapling on a N. E.
stony bank on Mr. Willoughby's lot; thence S. 62° W. 36 poles to
the north end of the prison house at the beginning. "In obedience to an act of the assembly entitled "An act for
extending the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina." I enclose you a copy of a law, with a proclamation of the
Governor of Virginia, by the same conveyance. I am instructed
to exercise the authority of the State to the boundary, usually
called Walker's line. In this business, it is the wish of the Executive
that the subordinate officers conduct themselves in an amicable
manner to the inhabitants over which North Carolina formerly
exercised Jurisdiction, and with due respect to the authority
of the Government south of the River Ohio; these orders are perfectly
consonant to my own feelings and sentiments. Therefore,
Sir, if you have any objections to make to the change taking place,
or anything to ask in favor of the people, it will be respectfully
attended to by me and immediately reported to the Governor of
Virginia. The enclosed letter from the commanding officer of the
militia of Sullivan county, seems to be an avowal of an opposition
to an act of our Legislature, for establishing Walker's line as the
boundary line to this State. "In obedience to commissions respectively conferred upon us
under an act of the legislature of the State of Virginia passed
the 18th day of March, 1856, and an act of the legislature of the
State of Tennessee, passed the 1st day of March, 1858, authorizing
the executives of each of said States respectively to appoint commissioners
`to again run and mark' the boundary line between
the States of Virginia and Tennessee, we the undersigned commissioners,
proceeded to discharge the duties assigned us, and beg
leave to submit the following as our joint action: Our first object
was to determine the duty with which we were charged under the
acts of both states, which we found to be substantially the same
and both exceedingly vague and indefinite. Herewith I submit a map of the boundary line
between the States of Virginia and Tennessee, as traced and remarked
by the field party in my charge under your direction. The territory in the form of a triangle, lying between the top
of Little mountain and the red lines on the map in what is known
as "Denton's Valley," has heretofore been recognized by the citizens
residing therein as included in the State of Virginia, and the
top of Little mountain is recognized as the boundary line. To this
supposed boundary both States have heretofore exercised jurisdiction,
and north of the summit of the mountain the citizens residing
in the triangle have derived their land titles from the State of
Virginia; they have there voted, been taxed, and exercised all the
rights of citizens of that State. The line, though plainly marked
from the top of Little mountain westward nearly to the river, and
the cross line at Denton's Valley running south twenty-two west
and connecting the north and south lines, seem not to have been
recognized as the boundary line, the very existence even of the
cross line being unknown until we discovered it; but it is also well
defined and so distinctly marked as to leave no doubt that it was
run and marked in 1802. With this single exception, the line as
traced by us has been, as far as we are able to ascertain, recognized
throughout its entire length for fifty-seven years as the true boundary
line between the States of Virginia and Tennessee. The latitude,
as marked on the map east of Bristol and at Cumberland Gap,
was carefully determined by Professor Keith with a "zenith transit"
or transit instrument, the most modern and improved astronomical
instrument now in use, and may be relied upon as perfectly
accurate, except at Bristol, and that was ascertained under
disadvantageous circumstances, but it is believed to be nearly correct.
West of Bristol, except at Cumberland Gap, the latitude was
determined by Lieutenant Francis T. Byan, of the corps of United
States topographical engineers, with a "sextant," and may also be
relied upon as correctly determined. In your letter of instructions to observe the Solar Eclipse
of August 7th, at or near Bristol, Tenn., you also directed me to
comply, if practicable, with the request made by the President of
Washington College, Virginia, to connect the station at Bristol,
the position of which would be astronomically determined, with
one or more of the monuments which mark the boundary line of
the State of Virginia in that vicinity, so that the longitude and
latitude thereof may be accurately known. Your commissioners, appointed by decree of this honorable court,
dated April 30, 1900, to ascertain, retrace, re-mark and re-establish
the boundary line established between the States of Virginia
and Tennessee, by the compact of 1803, which was actually run
and located under proceedings had by the two States, in 1801-1803,
and was then marked with five chops in the shape of a diamond,
and which ran from White Top mountain to Cumberland Gap, respectfully
represent that they have completed the duties assigned
to them by the said decree of April 30, 1900, that they have remarked
and retraced the said boundary line as originally run and
marked with five chops in the shape of a diamond in the year 1802,
and that for the better securing of the same they have placed upon
the said line, besides other durable marks, monuments of cut limestone,
four and a half feet long and seven inches square on top,
with V's cut on their north faces and T's on their south faces, set
three and a half feet in the ground, conveniently located as hereinafter
more fully described, so that the citizens of each State and
others, by reasonable diligence, may readily find the true location
of said boundary; all of which is more particularly set forth in the
detailed report of their operations which your commissioners herewith
beg to submit, together with two maps explanatory of the
same, a list of the several permanent monuments and other durable
marks, and a complete bill of costs and charges. And your commissioners
further pray that this honorable court accept and confirm
this report; that the line as marked on the ground by said
commissioners in the years 1901 and 1902 be declared to be the
real, certain and true boundary between the States of Tennessee
and Virginia; that your commissioners be allowed their expenses
and reasonable charges for their own services in these premises, as
shown on the bill of costs which forms a part of this report; and
finally that your commissioners be discharged from further proceedings
in these premises. Please pay to Mr. Andrew Jackson or order two thousand five
hundred one dollars sixty-seven cents which place to account of Col. James King
Dec'd
Aug. 17th 1825
Aged 73 years
A Patriot
of
1776. Had I seen you when at Huntsville I should have spoken to you
and recommended to your kind attention Major John Campbell, lately of
the Council of State in Virginia, now a resident of Alabama. I consider
him a young man of great merit for integrity, strength and correctness of
judgment and purity of political principles. In his welfare I take great interest.
Well knowing his merit, I have thought it proper to communicate
to you the sense I entertain of it, in the hope that it might be of some service
to him. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 4 | Author: | Thatcher
B. B.
(Benjamin Bussey)
1809-1840 | Add | | | Title: | Memoir of Phillis Wheatley | | | | Published: | 2006 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | Not a great many of the younger readers of
this little book may know much about Slavery,
though they have all heard and read, of course,
that such a thing exists, and that even in the
southern and western parts of our own country.
I do not intend here to discuss the nature of
it, or the circumstances that gave rise to it
in the first instance, or the effect it is believed
to have on the country and the people in and
among which it is found. All these matters
are more proper for another place. My object
is simply to call the attention of those who feel
an interest in the condition and character of the
African race, to some particulars respecting
individuals of that race, who have, at different
times, been slaves in different parts of this
country, and whose characters were quite too
interesting to be passed over by the historian
in utter silence. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 6 | Author: | Duganne
A. J. H.
(Augustine Joseph Hickey)
1823-1884 | Add | | | Title: | Bianca, or, The star of the valley | | | | Published: | 2001 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | DUSK was deepening
over the Alpine
summits, and huge
shadows stalked
slowly downward,
broadening gloomily
through the valleys.
All nature
was sinking into the
sealed quiet of a
winter's night, only
to be broken, during
the long hours,
by the rumbling
thunders of shifting
fields of snow in the passes and declivities of
the mountains, or perchance the sudden rushing
crash of an avalanchine slide of gathered ice,
bearing terror and destruction to the slumbering
villages below. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 8 | Author: | Duganne
A. J. H.
(Augustine Joseph Hickey)
1823-1884 | Add | | | Title: | The tenant-house, or,, Embers from poverty's hearthstone | | | | Published: | 2001 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | WHEN a stranger, under guidance and protection of
police, or a home missionary, fearlessly breaking
bread with outcasts, penetrates some gloomy court or
narrow alley in the great Christian city of New York, he
beholds destitution and squalor of most repulsive feature:
he discovers tottering buildings crowded with sickly and
depraved human beings; stalwart, malign-looking men,
glancing furtively at every passer-by; brazen-browed women,
with foul words upon their reeking lips; children
of impure thoughts and actions, leering with wicked precocity.
When he enters the wretched abiding-places of
these unhappy people, he may find, amid associations of
vice and uncleanness, many suffering and patient souls
bearing earthly martyrdom with serene trust in their
Heavenly Father, and plucking, even out of their “ugly
and venomous” adversity, the “jewel” of immortal peace.
Such struggling ones do not dwell long in the darkness
and dolor of their probation; for the celestial ladders,
let down from Mercy's throne, rest quite as often upon the
black pavement of a tenant-court as amid the flowers that
tesselate a palace garden; and up, unceasingly, on the
shining rounds, glide disenthralled spirits of the poor and
lowly watchers for their Lord. “Your letter was received yesterday, and I have
spent the hours since in weeping and prayer. I have
prayed for you, dear Charles! with my heart sobbing, well-nigh
to break. O could I ever dream that you would
leave me for another? But I must not chide you—God
knows how I love you, dearest—I would lay down my life
for you cheerfully, without a murmur. But it is a hard
sacrifice you require of me—to give you up to another
woman, Charles! when you have sworn to love no other
one but your Margaret. You tell me you do not love the
lady—that you will marry her only for your worldly prospeets!
O Charles! I feel this is all wrong; but, alas!
what dare I say to you? I am poor—without fortune but
my deep love—God knows, I would resign a throne for
your affection, if I were a queen, instead of a portionless
girl. Charles! what was it that you said?—O Heaven!
did I understand your meaning?—that your love for me
would remain unchanged, and we should be happy after
your marriage! After your marriage, Charles! Do you
not know me better? Do you think I would consent to
do wrong, even of my great love for you? No, Charles!
after your marriage, we must never meet more! Beloved,
bear with me—it is the last time I shall annoy you. You
will wed the lady, Charles! Do not wrong her trust!—
be kind to her when she becomes your—wife! make her
happy! love her—and forget me! I shall not live a
great while, dear Charles; for my heart will break, in
thinking of the past, and of my hopes, all, all withered.
Farewell, dearest! I submit to your wishes, but I must
never see you after you are another's. Adieu, Charles!—
for the last time, my Charles! God bless and protect
you! Dear, dear Charles — husband!—I resign you.
Farewell, forever! “My dearest Rebecca,”—so the note ran—“I am
thinking of you by day, dreaming of you at night, adoring
you always. I have much to tell you, sweet one, and
must see you to-day. Fail not to meet me, at the usual
hour, at our trysting-place, darling of my soul. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 9 | Author: | Eggleston
Edward
1837-1902 | Add | | | Title: | The Hoosier school-master | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | “WANT to be a school-master, do you? You?
Well, what would you do in Flat Crick
deestrick, I'd like to know? Why, the boys have
driv off the last two, and licked the one afore
them like blazes. You might teach a summer
school, when nothin' but children come. But I 'low it takes
a right smart man to be school-master in Flat Crick in the
winter. They'd pitch you out of doors, sonny, neck and heels,
afore Christmas.” “Dear Sir: Anybody who can do so good a thing as you
did for our Shocky, can not be bad. I hope you will forgive
me. All the appearances in the world, and all that anybody
says, can not make me think you anything else but a good
man. I hope God will reward you. You must not answer
this, and you hadn't better see me again, or think any more of
what you spoke about the other night. I shall be a slave
for three years more, and then I must work for my mother
and Shocky; but I felt so bad to think that I had spoken so
hard to you, that I could not help writing this. Respectfully, “i Put in my best licks, taint no use. Run fer yore life.
A plans on foot to tar an fether or wuss to-night. Go rite
off. Things is awful juberous. “This is what I have always been afraid of. I warned you
faithfully the last time I saw you. My skirts are clear of your
blood. I can not consent for your uncle to appear as your counsel
or to go your bail. You know how much it would injure him in
the county, and he has no right to suffer for your evil acts. O
my dear nephew! for the sake of your poor, dead mother—” | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 10 | Author: | Eggleston
Edward
1837-1902 | Add | | | Title: | The mystery of Metropolisville | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | METROPOLISVILLE is nothing but a memory
now. If Jonah's gourd had not been a
little too much used already, it would serve an
excellent turn just here in the way of an apt
figure of speech illustrating the growth, the
wilting, and the withering of Metropolisville. The last
time I saw the place the grass grew green where once stood
the City Hall, the corn-stalks waved their banners on the very
site of the old store—I ask pardon, the “Emporium”—of
Jackson, Jones & Co., and what had been the square, staring
white court-house—not a Temple but a Barn of Justice—had
long since fallen to base uses. The walls which had echoed
with forensic grandiloquence were now forced to hear only
the bleating of silly sheep. The church, the school-house, and
the City Hotel had been moved away bodily. The village
grew, as hundreds of other frontier villages had grown, in the
flush times; it died, as so many others died, of the financial
crash which was the inevitable sequel and retribution of speculative
madness. Its history resembles the history of other
Western towns of the sort so strongly, that I should not take
the trouble to write about it, nor ask you to take the trouble
to read about it, if the history of the town did not involve
also the history of certain human lives—of a tragedy that
touched deeply more than one soul. And what is history
worth but for its human interest? The history of Athens is
not of value on account of its temples and statues, but on account
of its men and women. And though the “Main street”
of Metropolisville is now a country road where the dog-fennel
blooms almost undisturbed by comers and goers, though
the plowshare remorselessly turns over the earth in places
where corner lots were once sold for a hundred dollars the
front foot, and though the lot once sacredly set apart (on the
map) as “Depot Ground” is now nothing but a potato-patch,
yet there are hearts on which the brief history of Metropolisville
has left traces ineffaceable by sunshine or storm, in
time or eternity. “I should have come to see you and told you about my
trip to Metropolisville, but I am obliged to go out of town
again. I send this by Mr. Canton, and also a request to the
warden to pass this and your answer without the customary
inspection of contents. I saw your mother and your step-father
and your friend Miss Marlay. Your mother is failing
very fast, and I do not think it would be a kindness for me
to conceal from you my belief that she can not live many
weeks. I talked with her and prayed with her as you requested,
but she seems to have some intolerable mental burden.
Miss Marlay is evidently a great comfort to her, and,
indeed, I never saw a more faithful person than she in my
life, or a more remarkable exemplification of the beauty of a
Christian life. She takes every burden off your mother except
that unseen load which seems to trouble her spirit, and
she believes absolutely in your innocence. By the way, why did
you never explain to her or to me or to any of your friends
the real history of the case? There must at least have been
extenuating circumstances, and we might be able to help you. “Dear Sir: You have acted very honorably in writing
me as you have, and I admire you now more than ever. You
fulfill my ideal of a Christian. I never had the slightest claim
or the slightest purpose to establish any claim on Isabel Marlay,
for I was so blinded by self-conceit, that I did not appreciate
her until it was too late. And now! What have I to
offer to any woman? The love of a convicted felon! A
name tarnished forever! No! I shall never share that with
Isa Marlay. She is, indeed, the best and most sensible of
women. She is the only woman worthy of such a man as
you. You are the only man I ever saw good enough for Isabel.
I love you both. God bless you! “Dear Sir: Your poor mother died yesterday. She suffered
little in body, and her mind was much more peaceful
after her last interview with Mr. Lurton, which resulted in her
making a frank statement of the circumstances of the land-warrant
affair. She afterward had it written down, and signed
it, that it might be used to set you free. She also asked me to
tell Miss Minorkey, and I shall send her a letter by this mail.
I am so glad that your innocence is to be proved at last. I
have said nothing about the statement your mother made to
any one except Miss Minorkey, because I am unwilling to use
it without your consent. You have great reason to be grateful
to Mr. Lurton. He has shown himself your friend, indeed.
I think him an excellent man. He comforted your mother
a great deal. You had better let me put the writing your
mother left, into his hands. I am sure he will secure your
freedom for you. “My Dear, Good Friend: The death of my mother has
given me a great deal of sorrow, though it did not surprise me.
I remember now how many times of late years I have given her
needless trouble. For whatever mistakes her personal peculiarities
led her into, she was certainly a most affectionate mother. I
can now see, and the reflection causes me much bitterness, that I
might have been more thoughtful of her happiness without compromising
my opinions. How much trouble my self-conceit must
have given her! Your rebuke on this subject has been very
fresh in mind since I heard of her death. And I am feeling
lonely, too. Mother and Katy have gone, and more distant relatives
will not care to know an outlaw. “My Dear Miss Marlay: I find that I can not even
visit you without causing remarks to be made, which reflect
on you. I can not stay here without wishing to enjoy your
society, and you can not receive the visits of a `jail-bird,'
as they call me, without disgrace. I owe everything to you,
and it would be ungrateful, indeed, in me to be a source of
affliction and dishonor to you. I never regretted my disgrace
so much as since I talked with you last night. If I could
shake that off, I might hope for a great happiness, perhaps. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 11 | Author: | English
Thomas Dunn
1819-1902 | Add | | | Title: | Ambrose Fecit, or, The peer and the printer | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | I must have been about eighteen
years old, or thereabouts, when, on a
holiday in June, I walked out, and
strolled by the high road to the country
beyond Puttenham. The highway
led me to a common over which it
crossed; and there, musing over the
commonplace events of the week, I
wandered over the knolls of gravelly
soil, and among the furze-bushes, watching
the donkies as they cropped the
scanty blades of grass, and indulged
occasionally in a tit-bit, in the way of
a juicy thistle. Tired at length, I sat
me down to rest under a thorn-bush
by the road-side, and was thus seated
when I heard the sound of voices.
Looking up, I saw a man approach,
who was leading by the hand a little
girl who appeared to be about ten
years of age. I was struck with the
appearance of the couple, and so scanned
them closely. “My dear young friend—A letter, received
as you left us last night, called me direct to
London, without an opportunity to bid you
more than this farewell, or to express, as I
ought, my sense of your kindness. Zara
sends her love to you, and the enclosed souvenir.
May God have you in his holy keeping. “Herewith you have a copy of my portrait
of little Zara, whose untimely fate in being
whisked away by a grim, grey-bearded ogre,
you have so much lamented. I think that I
have not only caught the features, but the
whole spirit of her extraordinary face. I
should like your criticism on that point, for
you were so fond of her that her expression
must be firmly fixed on your mind. “My dear Ambrose:—Read this letter as
carefully as you like, and then—burn it. “My dear Ambrose:—You have been
nearly four years absent from England,
and I have done my best to send
and keep you away. Now, I write to
you to urge you to come back. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 12 | Author: | unknown | Add | | | Title: | Good company for every day in the year | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | I CONFESS it, I am keenly sensitive to “skyey influences.”
I profess no indifference to the movements of
that capricious old gentleman known as the clerk of the
weather. I cannot conceal my interest in the behavior of
that patriarchal bird whose wooden similitude gyrates on
the church spire. Winter proper is well enough. Let the
thermometer go to zero if it will; so much the better, if
thereby the very winds are frozen and unable to flap their
stiff wings. Sounds of bells in the keen air, clear, musical,
heart-inspiring; quick tripping of fair moccasoned feet on
glittering ice-pavements; bright eyes glancing above the
uplifted muff like a sultana's behind the folds of her yashmack;
school-boys coasting down street like mad Greenlanders;
the cold brilliance of oblique sunbeams flashing
back from wide surfaces of glittering snow or blazing upon
ice-jewelry of tree and roof. There is nothing in all this to
complain of. A storm of summer has its redeeming sublimities,
— its slow, upheaving mountains of cloud glooming in
the western horizon like new-created volcanoes, veined with
fire, shattered by exploding thunders. Even the wild gales
of the equinox have their varieties, — sounds of wind-shaken
woods, and waters, creak and clatter of sign and casement,
hurricane puffs and down-rushing rain-spouts. But this
dull, dark autumn day of thaw and rain, when the very
clouds seem too spiritless and languid to storm outright or
take themselves out of the way of fair weather; wet beneath
and above, reminding one of that rayless atmosphere of
Dante's Third Circle, where the infernal Priessnitz administers
his hydropathic torment, —
“A heavy, cursed, and relentless drench, —
The land it soaks is putrid”; —
or rather, as everything, animate and inanimate, is seething
in warm mist, suggesting the idea that Nature, grown old
and rheumatic, is trying the efficacy of a Thompsonian
steam-box on a grand scale; no sounds save the heavy plash
of muddy feet on the pavements; the monotonous, melancholy
drip from trees and roofs; the distressful gurgling of
water-ducts, swallowing the dirty amalgam of the gutters; a
dim, leaden-colored horizon of only a few yards in diameter,
shutting down about one, beyond which nothing is visible
save in faint line or dark projection; the ghost of a church
spire or the eidolon of a chimney-pot. He who can extract
pleasurable emotions from the alembic of such a day has a
trick of alchemy with which I am wholly unacquainted. Whereas Charles Stuart, King of England, is and
standeth convicted, attainted and condemned of High Treason
and other high Crimes; and Sentence upon Saturday
last was pronounced against him by this Court, To be put to
death by the severing of his head from his body; of which
Sentence execution yet remaineth to be done: “It begins: — `Dear Uncle,' (I had always instructed
the child so to call me, rather than father, seeing we can
have but one father, while we may be blessed with numerous
uncles) `I suppose you will wonder how I came to be
at St. Louis, and it is just my being here that I write to
explain. You know how my husband felt about Nelly's
death, but you cannot know how I felt; for, even in my
very great sorrow, I hoped all the time, that by her death,
John might be led to a love of religion. He was very unhappy,
but he would not show it, only that he took even
more tender care of me than before. I have always been
his darling and pride; he never let me work, because he
said it spoiled my hands; but after Nelly died, he was
hardly willing I should breathe; and though he never spoke
of her, or seemed to feel her loss, yet I have heard him
whisper her name in his sleep, and every morning his hair
and pillow were damp with crying; but he never knew I
saw it. After a few months, there came a Mormon preacher
into our neighborhood, a man of a great deal of talent
and earnestness, and a firm believer in the revelation to
Joseph Smith. At first my husband did not take any
notice of him, and then he laughed at him for being a believer
in what seemed like nonsense; but one night he was
persuaded to go and hear Brother Marvin preach in the
school-house, and he came home with a very sober face. I
said nothing, but when I found there was to be a meeting
the next night, I asked to go with him, and, to my surprise,
I heard a most powerful and exciting discourse, not wanting
in either sense or feeling, though rather poor as to argument;
but I was not surprised that John wanted to hear
more, nor that, in the course of a few weeks, he avowed
himself a Mormon, and was received publicly into the sect.
Dear Uncle, you will be shocked, I know, and you will wonder
why I did not use my influence over my husband, to
keep him from this delusion; but you do not know how
much I have longed and prayed for his conversion to a religious
life; until any religion, even one full of errors,
seemed to me better than the hardened and listless state of
his mind. “`My first wife, Adeline Frazer Henderson, departed
this life on the sixth of July, at my house in the city of
Great Salt Lake. Shortly before dying she called upon
me, in the presence of two sisters, and one of the Saints, to
deliver into your hands the enclosed packet, and tell you of
her death. According to her wish, I send the papers by
mail; and, hoping you may yet be called to be a partaker
in the faith of the saints below, I remain your afflicted, yet
rejoicing friend, “To-day I begged John to write, and ask you to come
here. I could not write you since I came here but that
once, though your letters have been my great comfort, and
I added a few words of entreaty to his, because I am dying,
and it seems as if I must see you before I die; yet I fear
the letter may not reach you, or you may be sick: and for
that reason I write now, to tell you how terrible a necessity
urged me to persuade you to such a journey. I can write
but little at a time, my side is so painful; they call it slow-consumption
here, but I know better; the heart within me
is turned to stone, I felt it then — Ah! you see my mind
wandered in that last line; it still will return to the old
theme, like a fugue tune, such as we had in the Plainfield
singing-school. I remember one that went, `The Lord is
just, is just, is just.' — Is He? Dear Uncle, I must begin
at the beginning, or you never will know. I wrote you from
St. Louis, did I not? I meant to. From there, we had a
dreary journey, not so bad to Fort Leavenworth, but after
that inexpressibly dreary, and set with tokens of the dead,
who perished before us. A long reach of prairie, day after
day, and night after night; grass, and sky, and graves;
grass, and sky, and graves; till I hardly knew whether the
life I dragged along was life or death, as the thirsty, feverish
days wore on into the awful and breathless nights, when
every creature was dead asleep, and the very stars in heaven
grew dim in the hot, sleepy air — dreadful days! I was
too glad to see that bitter inland sea, blue as the fresh lakes,
with its gray islands of bare rock, and sparkling sand shores,
still more rejoiced to come upon the City itself, the rows of
quaint, bare houses, and such cool water-sources, and, over
all, near enough to rest both eyes and heart, the sunlit
mountains, `the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.' | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 13 | Author: | Hall
Baynard Rush
1798-1863 | Add | | | Title: | Frank Freeman's barber shop | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Our southern coast, as the reader doubtless knows,
is fringed with a net-work of islands, many of which
have not yet a growth sufficient for introduction to
a school atlas. Some of these miniature lands are
not inhabited and rarely visited; while others are,
at certain seasons, resorts for “marooning”—a picnic
sort of life passed for weeks in extemporaneous
sheds of boards and canvas. A few of the islets
are large enough for one or more plantations; and,
hence, are like immense gardens in which are embowered
lordly mansions with spacious lawns in
front and comfortable “quarters” at convenient
distances—a negro village of neat cabins, usually
white-washed, and always each surrounded with its
own domain of truck-patch, and boasting of its henhouse,
pig-pen, and other offices. “Nephew, I send $2,000—I know your scruples.
But I will positively take no denial. See here—
don't refuse the additional—I'll pitch it in the fire, if
you send any back. You'll have it hard enough
with the remaining $2,000. “Edward, my dearest:—May the Lord sustain
you!—and He will. But we have both been long
prepared for this:—Dr. Jordan thinks there is no
hope of my life beyond next summer! Edward!
can we not meet once—the last? And your dear
wife—my much beloved—my only daughter, since
Sophia preceded me home!—will she not come
again? Ah! Edward! if I might go to my rest—
in your arms and hers! “Edward! oh, Edward!—I would—but, no! no!
you never can believe me now! I call God to witness—I
never, no never, loved any but you—I love
none other now! By the unutterable agony of my
frenzied soul, do not for God's sake, oh! do not
curse me!.... Good God! can it be possible!
I did not mean it! I know not why I did
it! I have not—I have not! I will not! Oh! say,
Edward! is it not a dream?—wake me from it!
Forgive, forgive, forgive me! Bid me come and
lie down at your feet and die! Call me only once
by the dear name—and then kill me! Oh! why,
why did you not command me to stay ever near
you! You were to blame—no! no! how dare I reproach?
One trial, Edward—but one! I would
give the universe—I would give my life—God knows
I would—to stand where I did for a moment....
Vain! I cannot—cannot!—I am going mad!....
But I am not—I am not so fallen! I will not so
fall! I will leap into the sea first!..... Stay!
don't curse me! Pray for me! Yes, yes, I that
laughed at prayer, now with deep groanings of my
soul, and with my face in the dust call on you, Edward!
my wronged husband, and as a minister of
Christ, to pray for me. I am penitent—I have not
sinned—I will die rather! I will plunge into the
ocean. Oh! dear Edward!—husband, dear husband!
and for the last, I write those sacred words—
farewell, farewell!” “Rev. and very dear Brother:—I remain, this
year, at Point Lookout, where we shall establish our
new paper. It is to be called “The Scarifier and
Renovator.” I expect to edit awhile, myself. We'll
make an impression on the soul-killers. Besides, I
can do a vast amount of good here, in other ways.
I have been instrumental, by the blessing of God, in
freeing more than twenty-five, since my last, in
March! Most of them, with a little help from my
secret assistants in the lower countries, succeeded
(you will be rejoiced to learn) in bringing off property
enough to pay expenses, and afford a handsome
remuneration. I forwarded the poor fugitives to the
old fellow—you know where. “Master!—a dear name yet—though I appear as
a traitor!—a name I shall ever love, even if my new
friends(?) constrain me to use their cold language.
Yes, dear master! you knew me better than I know
myself: you would never let me vow! Oh! I remember
that one sermon—`Is thy servant a dog,
that he should do this thing?' They look on me as
noble and free!—alas!—I feel myself a slave now,
and worse than before; I have become in my own
eyes `a dog!'—I have done it. “Rev. and dear Sharpinton:—My soul is fairly
on fire—it fairly cries out, `Away with the accursed
slavers from the earth!' Oh, heavens! doctor,
they've killed our Somerville; and in defence of his
press! Freedom!—where's our right to publish the
truth—the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Don't tell me of freedom! Union or no union!
down with the gag-loving, press-muzzling, slavery-aiding,
colonization-scheming, God-defying, double-dyed,
negro-lashing, humanity-crushing, base, grovelling,
truckling villains, that, in face of the sun, will
assault and pull down a printing-office, and pitch the
types into the street, and shoot down, spite of law,
justice, and rights of man, the noble Somerville, and
standing to defend his rights! It hadn't ought to be
the 19th century! no, it hadn't ought to!— I
know it cannot be done; but, still, follow me, ye
friends of the poor, down-trodden, brute-degraded,
blood-squeezed, and sweat-defrauded sons of Africa!
oh! ye men of tried souls, ye true Americans, and
we will drive the accursed South into the earth-girdling
ocean! I did you a great, a very great wrong—and I am
very sorry for it. And yet I always more than half
believed you must be true. God be thanked—that
dear Edward redeemed you—how would I now feel,
if that infernal dealer had got you!—poor Edward,
how he looked when he got my note and bid up the
$4,000! “* * I told uncle I would write about Sarah
—your dear mother. She died many months ago,
and very suddenly, and full six weeks before we left
the north or arrived at Evergreen. And while you
now mourn that you can never see her again—yet
15
you will rejoice your oversight had nothing to do
with her death. God, Frank, is kind to his people,
that they may not have over much sorrow! | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 14 | Author: | Hawthorne
Nathaniel
1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | The house of the seven gables | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Half-way down a by-street of one of our New England
towns, stands a rusty wooden house, with seven acutely-peaked
gables, facing towards various points of the compass,
and a huge, clustered chimney in the midst. The
street is Pyncheon-street; the house is the old Pyncheon-house;
and an elm-tree, of wide circumference, rooted
before the door, is familiar to every town-born child by the
title of the Pyncheon-elm. On my occasional visits to the
town aforesaid, I seldom fail to turn down Pyncheon-street,
for the sake of passing through the shadow of these two
antiquities, — the great elm-tree, and the weather-beaten
edifice. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 15 | Author: | Hawthorne
Nathaniel
1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | The snow-image | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | One afternoon of a cold winter's day, when the sun
shone forth with chilly brightness, after a long storm,
two children asked leave of their mother to run out and
play in the new-fallen snow. The elder child was a
little girl, whom, because she was of a tender and
modest disposition, and was thought to be very beautiful,
her parents, and other people who were familiar
with her, used to call Violet. But her brother was
known by the style and title of Peony, on account of
the ruddiness of his broad and round little phiz, which
made everybody think of sunshine and great scarlet
flowers. The father of these two children, a certain
Mr. Lindsey, it is important to say, was an excellent
but exceedingly matter-of-fact sort of man, a dealer in
hardware, and was sturdily accustomed to take what
is called the common-sense view of all matters that
came under his consideration. With a heart about as
tender as other people's, he had a head as hard and
impenetrable, and therefore, perhaps, as empty, as one
of the iron pots which it was a part of his business to
sell. The mother's character, on the other hand, had a
strain of poetry in it, a trait of unworldly beauty, — a
delicate and dewy flower, as it were, that had survived
out of her imaginative youth, and still kept itself alive
amid the dusty realities of matrimony and motherhood. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 16 | Author: | Herbert
Henry William
1807-1858 | Add | | | Title: | The cavaliers of England, or, The times of the revolutions of 1642 and 1688 | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | It is the saddest of all the considerations which weigh upon
the candid and sincere mind of the true patriot, when civil dispute
is on the eve of degenerating into civil war, that the best,
the wisest, and the bravest of both parties, are those who first
fall victims for those principles which they mutually, with equal
purity and faith, and almost with equal reason, believe to be
true and vital; that the moderate men, who have erst stood
side by side for the maintenance of the right and the common
good — who alone, in truth, care for either right or common
good — now parted by a difference nearly without a distinction,
are set in deadly opposition, face to face, to slay and be slain
for the benefit of the ultraists — of the ambitious, heartless, or
fanatical self-seekers, who hold aloof in the beginning, while
principles are at stake, and come into the conflict when the
heat and toil of the day are over, and when their own end, not
their country's object, remains only to be won. “You know too much — you know too much!” cried Jasper,
furious but undaunted. “One of us two must die, ere either
leaves this room.” “Agnes: By God's grace I am safe thus far; and if I can
lie hid here these four days, can escape to France. On Sunday
night a lugger will await me off the Greene point, nigh the
35
mouth of Solway. Come to me hither, to the cave I told thee
of, with food and wine so soon as it is dark. Ever my dearest,
whom alone I dare trust. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 19 | Author: | Herbert
Henry William
1807-1858 | Add | | | Title: | Persons and pictures from the histories of France and England | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | England was happy yet and free under her Saxon kings.
The unhappy natives of the land, the Britons of old time, long
ago driven back into their impregnable fastnesses among the
Welsh mountains, and the craggy and pathless wilds of Scotland,
still rugged and hirsute with the yet uninvaded masses of
the great Caledonian forest, had subsided into quiet, and disturbed
the lowland plains of fair England no longer; and so
long as they were left free to enjoy their rude pleasures
of the chase and of internal welfare, undisturbed, were content to
be debarred from the rich pastures and fertile corn-fields which
had once owned their sway. The Danes and Norsemen, savage
Jarls and Vikings of the North, had ceased to prey on the
coasts of Northumberland and Yorkshire; the seven kingdoms
of the turbulent and tumultuous Heptarchy, ever distracted by
domestic strife, had subsided into one realm, ruled under laws,
regular, and for the most part mild and equable, by a single
monarch, occupied by one homogeneous and kindred race,
wealthy and prosperous according to the idea of wealth and
prosperity in those days, at peace at home and undisturbed
from without; if not, indeed, very highly civilized, at least
supplied with all the luxuries and comforts which the age knew
or demanded—a happy, free, contented people, with a patriarchal
aristocracy, and a king limited in his prerogatives by the
rights of his people, and the privileges of the nobles as secured
by law. “My dear wife—farewell! Bless my boy—pray for me, and
let the true God hold you both in his arms. “I received your letter with judignation, and with scorn
return you this answer, that I cannot but wonder whence you
gather any hopes that I should prove, like you, treacherous to
my sovereign; since you cannot be ignorant of my former
actions in his late majesty's service, from which principles of
loyalty I am no whit departed. I scorn your proffers; I disdain
your favor; I abhor your treason; and am so far from
delivering up this island to your advantage, that I shall keep
it to the utmost of my power for your destruction. Take this
for your final answer, and forbear any further solicitations: for
if you trouble me with any more messages of this nature, I will
burn the paper, and hang up the messenger. This is the immutable
resolution, and shall be the undoubted practice of him
who accounts it his chiefest glory to be his majesty's most loyal
and obedient subject. It would have been a difficult thing, even in England, that
land of female loveliness, to find a brighter specimen of youthful
beauty than was presented by Rosamond Bellarmyne, when
she returned to her home, then in her sixteenth year, after witnessing
the joyful procession of the 29th of May, which terminated
in the installation of the son in that palace of Whitehall
from which his far worthier father had gone forth to die. “We hereby grant free permission to the Count de Grammont
to return to London, and remain there six days, in prosecution
of his lawful affairs; and we accord to him the license
to be present at our palace of Whitehall, on the occasion of
his betrothal to our gracious consort's maid-of-honor, the beautiful
Mistress Elizabeth Hamilton. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 20 | Author: | Herbert
Henry William
1807-1858 | Add | | | Title: | Wager of battle | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | In the latter part of the twelfth century—when, in the reign
of Henry II., fourth successor of the Conqueror, and grandson
of the first prince of that name, known as Beauclerc, the
condition of the vanquished Saxons had begun in some sort to
amend, though no fusion of the races had as yet commenced,
and tranquillity was partially restored to England—the greater
part of the northern counties, from the Trent to the mouths
of Tyne and Solway, was little better than an unbroken chase
or forest, with the exception of the fiefs of a few great barons,
or the territories of a few cities and free borough towns; and
thence, northward to the Scottish frontier, all was a rude and
pathless desert of morasses, moors, and mountains, untrodden
save by the foot of the persecuted Saxon outlaw. “King Henry II. to the Sheriff of Lancaster and Westmoreland,
greeting—Kenric, the son of Werewulf, of Kentmere, in
Westmoreland, has showed to us, that whereas he is a free
man, and ready to prove his liberty, Sir Foulke d'Oilly, knight
and baron of Waltheofstow and Fenton in the Forest of Sherwood,
in Yorkshire, claiming him to be his nief, unjustly vexes
him; and therefore we command you, that if the aforesaid
Kenric shall make you secure touching the proving of his
liberty, then put that plea before our justices, at the first assizes,
when they shall come into those parts, to wit, in our
good city of Lancaster, on the first day of December next ensuing,
because proof of this kind belongeth not to you to
take; and in the mean time cause the said Kenric to have
peace thereupon, and tell the aforesaid Sir Foulke d'Oilly that
he may be there, if he will, to prosecute thereof, against the
aforesaid Kenric. And have there this writ. “In the case of Kenric surnamed the Dark, accused of
deer-slaying, against the forest statute, and of murder, or
homicide, both alleged to have been done and committed
in the forest of Sherwood, on the 13th day of September
last passed, the grand inquest, now in session, do find that
there is no bill, nor any cause of process. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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