ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST COUNTIES OF THE BLUE RIDGE.
In the year 1738 the Colonial Legislature of Virginia passed a bill
providing for the organization of a new county west of the Blue Ridge,
and accordingly Orange county was divided into two parts, and the new
county named Augusta. The pioneers of this county were so much distinguished
for their heroism, which struck terror and dismay into the
Indians, that during the darkest days of the Revolution, when the Pennsylvania
and New Jersey troops had mutinied, and it seemed that all
was lost, Washington was heard to exclaim: "Leave me but a banner
to place upon the mountains of West Augusta, and I will rally around
me the men who will lift our bleeding country from the dust and set her
free."
