 | CHAPTER VI. History of southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870 |  |
COMPANIES NOT KNOWN.
Walter Steward, Adjt.
Fincastle troops.William Campbell, Captain.
William McFarland,
John McKenney,
John Moore,
Conrad Smith,
John Floyd,
John Steward,
John Campbell, Lieutenant;
Moses Bowen, died with
small-pox on expedition;Daniel Smith,
Robert Campbell,
Andrew Waggoner,
John Gilmore,
John Lyle,
Francis Berry,
James Robinson,
— Hickman,
William Tate,
George Findley,
Rees Bowen.
Daniel Boone, upon his return from Kentucky to Russell's Fort,
on the 13th day of August, found Captain William Russell absent
on the Point Pleasant expedition, and he immediately set out with
a body of troops to reinforce him, but was ordered back to protect
the settlers on the Clinch, where he remained for some time.
The forts on Clinch river, at this time, with the number of men
in each and the officers in command, were as follows:
Fort Blackmore, sixteen men, Sergeant Moore commanding.
Fort Moore, (twenty miles east), twenty men, Lieutenant Daniel
Boone commanding. Fort Russell (four miles east), twenty men,
east), fifteen men, Sergeant John Duncan commanding. Elk Garden[7]
(fourteen miles east), fifteen men, Sergeant John Kinkead
commanding. Maiden Spring, (twenty-three miles east), five men,
Sergeant John Crow commanding. Whitlow's Crab Orchard, three
men, Ensign John Campbell commanding.
Boone was very diligent in protecting the settlements and was
commissioned Captain for his valued services.
As soon as the Indians ascertained that so many of the citizens
from the waters of the Clinch were absent on the expedition to
Point Pleasant, they began a series of very alarming raids. On the
8th of September, 1774, they visited the home of John Henry, on
the Clinch river, now in Tazewell county, Virginia, in Thompson's
Valley, he, having on the 15th day of May of the same year, settled
upon a tract of land that Daniel Smith, Deputy Surveyor of Fincastle
county, had surveyed for him. Henry received a dangerous
wound from which he died, his wife and three children were taken
prisoners, and on the same day a man was taken prisoner by another
party of Indians on the Holston river. On the 13th day of
September, 1774, a soldier was fired upon by three Indians on the
Clinch river, but was not hurt. He returned the fire and, it is believed,
killed an Indian. This company of Indians were pursued
for several days, by Captain Daniel Smith and a company of militia,
but they could not be overtaken. On the 23d, two negroes were
taken prisoners at Blackmore's Fort, on waters of Clinch river, and
a great many horses and cattle were shot down. On the 24th day
of the same month, an entire family were taken and killed, at Reedy
Creek, a branch of the Holston river, near the Cherokee line. On
Sunday morning, the 25th, hallooing and the report of many guns
were heard. These last murders were believed to be the work of the
Cherokees, who appeared at that time in very bad humor.
The victory gained at Point Pleasant on the 10th of October put
a stop to all organized raids upon the frontier settlements, for the
time being. Upon the return of the Fincastle troops from the expedition
to Point Pleasant, the free-holders of Fincastle county assembled
at the Lead Mines and drafted an address to the Hon.
John, Earl of Dunmore, thanking him heartily for his exertions in
disturbances might be amicably settled.
On the 14th day of April, 1774, Dr. Thomas Walker conveyed to
James Piper 365 acres of land on a branch of the Holston river
called Wolf Hill Creek; on the same day, he conveyed to Alexander
Breckenridge 360 acres on Wolf Hill Creek, to Samuel Briggs 313
acres on Wolf Hill Creek, alias Castle's Creek, to Joseph Black, 305
acres on Eighteen Mile Creek (this being the name of the small
creek that flows through Abingdon) and to Andrew Colvill, 324
acres on Wolf Hill Creek. The persons above named were the first
settlers in the vicinity of Abingdon.
In the spring of the year 1774, the free-holders of Fincastle
county met at the Lead Mines, their courthouse, and elected two
members of the Virginia House of Burgesses to represent Fincastle
county, viz.:
William Christian,
Stephen Trigg.
It may not be amiss at this point to state briefly the laws governing
the qualifications required of the citizens of Fincastle county
to vote and hold office, in this, the last year that the Colony
of Virginia adhered to the crown of England. The freeholders of
every county possessed the liberty of electing two of the most able
and fit men, being freeholders and qualified to vote, to represent
their county in all the General Assemblies. The electors or voters
were required to own an estate of freehold for his own life or the
life of another, or other greater estate in at least fifty acres of land,
if no settlement be made upon it, or twenty-five acres with a plantation
and house thereon at least twelve feet square, said property being
in the county in which the electors offered to vote. The sheriff
was required to deliver to the minister and reader of every parish in
his county a copy of the writ of election, and, upon the back of
every such writ, he was required to endorse the fact that said election
would be held at the courthouse in his county upon a day
appointed by him. And the minister or reader was required to
publish the same immediately after divine services, every Sunday
between the receipt of said writ and the day of election, under
heavy penalty for failure to do so. It was further provided
that every freeholder actually residing in the county should personally
appear at the courthouse on the day fixed and give his vote,
upon the penalty of forfeiting two hundred pounds of tobacco, if he
these persons after being duly sworn, were required to enter the
names of every candidate in a distinct column, and the name of
every freeholder giving his vote, under the name of the person
voted for, all of which was required to be done in the presence of
the candidates or their agents, and upon the close of the polls the
sheriff was ordered to proclaim the names of the successful candidates.
And it was further provided, that any person who should
directly or indirectly, except in his usual and ordinary course of
hospitality, in his own house, give, present, or allow to any person
or persons, having voice or vote in such elections, any money, meat,
drink, entertainment or provisions, or make any present, gift, reward,
or entertainment, or any promise, agreement, obligation, or
engagement, to any person, etc., shall be declared guilty of bribery
and corruption,[8] and rendered incapable to sit, or vote, or to hold
office."
Thus it will be seen that the laws were very strict in regard to the
manner of holding elections, and it cannot be doubted, that an election
held under such laws would be honest and would express the
will of the people. Our present law-makers might well learn a
lesson from the example set them by the law-makers of the Colony
of Virginia, under the rule of King George III.
Early in the history of Fincastle county, the House of Burgesses
enacted a law which provided, "that from and after the first day
of December next, the inhabitants of the said county of Fincastle
shall discharge all fees due from them to the secretary and other
officers in said county at the rate of 8s and 4 pence, for every hundredweight
of gross tobacco.
The principle asserted by the regulators at the Alamance had
spread among the American colonies, until, at the time mentioned,
it seemed to permeate the whole American body politic, and, on the
other hand, the British Parliament had repealed all the port duties
imposed at their session in 1767, except the duty of three pence a
pound on tea, which was continued for the purpose of maintaining
the principle contended for by the British Parliament, to-wit: that
they had the right to tax the American Colonists without giving
them representation, and not for the purpose of revenue only.
without representation, and they opposed a small tax as bitterly
as they opposed the port duties of 1767. The collection of the tax
was resisted at every point, and, at Boston, the cargoes of tea were
thrown into the sea. Whereupon the British Parliament passed
a bill closing Boston Harbor, upon which information great indignation
pervaded the entire colonies. The House of Burgesses of
Virginia observed the first day of the operation of the bill closing
Boston Harbor, as a fast day, and declared: "That any attack made
on one of our sister colonies to compel submission to arbitrary taxes
is an attack made on all British America, and threatened ruin to the
rights of all, unless the united wisdom of the whole be applied."
And they proposed a general Congress to take such action as the
united interests of the American Colonies might require. This
suggestion, made by the House of Burgesses, was accepted by all
the colonies and the first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia,
on the 5th day of September, 1774, just one month and five
days preceding the battle of Point Pleasant.
The officers and men under command of Lord Dunmore, hearing
of the action of the first Continental Congress, met and adopted
a resolution, which was as follows:
"Resolved, That as the love of liberty and attachment to the
real interests and just rights of America outweigh every other
consideration, they would exert every power within them for
the defence of American Liberty and for the support of her just
rights and privileges; not in any precipitate, riotous, or tumultuous
manner, but when regularly called forth by the unanimous
voice of our countrymen."
| CHAPTER VI. History of southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870 | |