History, Monongalia County

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Morgan

HISTORY
OF
MONONGALIA
COUNTY

Being some pages from an
unpublished history of Monongalia
County, West Virginia. The
author Hu Maxwell, died before
the work was completed.

FORMATION OF MONONGALIA COUNTY I 7

as much. Many theories have been advanced to ac-
count for the presence of the red race in America,
while found no where else in the world, but the the-
ories, for the most part, are of no value. They are
generally of no use in trying to solve the mystery of
the aboriginal Americans. So far as anybody knows,
the Indian did not come to America from anywhere,
but were here always, if that term is allowable.

There is as much reason to believe that the old
world was peopled from the new as that the new
received its first inhabitants from the old. All of the
people of America were of one stock, so far as we
can judge from the evidence. From Greenland to
Patagonia was one race of men, and that race was
Indian. There is no reason to suppose that any other
race was ever on the continent of America, until the
Europeans came. The Indians bear close resem-
blance to the Mongolians and that is taken by some
as evidence that the Indians came from Asia across
the narrow strait which now separates America from
Asia. It is as much in evidence that Mongolians in
Asia owe their origin to America, and it is no evi-
dence at all. People no doubt did cross the narrow
sheet of water separating Siberia from Alaska. Na-
tives on both banks of the strait cross in their crude
boats now, and they could have done it as easily
thousands of years ago as they do it now. But the
fact that such crossing was possible in remote past
time is no proof that anything like an exchange of
people from one continent to the other ever took
place, nor that it did not take place.

The Indians had been in this country for so long
a time, and had not mixed with people from other
lands, that they were a uniform race throughout the
whole extent of the new world. The tribes on the
southern end of South America were as truly Indian
as any people in the best part of North America.
Seemingly it was always so, at least we have no evi-

18 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

dence that there was ever a mixture with any race
of people from any other land.

That strange people, the Mound Builders, are sup-
posed by some to have been a people different from
the Indians. The advocates of that theory have trou-
ble in citing any evidence to show that the Mound
Builders were not Indians. They probably were In-
dians who had begun to practice some sort of agricul-
ture, by which they could live in larger numbers in a
given district than was possible if they depended sole-
ly on hunting and fishing. It is suggested by Na-
thaniel J. Shaler that the coming of the buffalo to
this part of America, and it was a late arrival here,
turned the Mound Builders from agriculture and
started them again on a career of hunting. The pres-
ence of the buffalo made it easier to derive a liveli-
hood from the chase than from the cultivation of
fields, and the Mound Builders chose the occupation
of the hunter instead of that of the farmer, and thus
the Mound Builders ceased to construct mounds, and
became just like the ordinary Indian hunters all
around them.

It seems reasonably certain that the Indians were
native to America and did not come here from any-
where else. Their origin goes so far back into the
past that it is at present impossible to find their be-
ginning, and it would be a pretty safe guess if we
conclude that the Indian originated in America and
had existed here since immense antiquity. He was
here in the Ice Age of geology, as the evidence ap-
parently warrants us in believing.

When Monongalia county was first formed it
was very large, not far from ten times its present size,
after all the cutting off of territory to make new
counties. Because of the small and scattered popu-
lation, it was not practicable to make counties with
areas as small as the modern populous county. In
order to have counties at all, in the early years, it was

FORMATION OF MONONGALIA COUNTY 19

necessary to make them large. There had to be peo-
ple enough to organize the county government, pro-
vide the public buildings, and furnish officers and
men to take care of the business, and in order to se-
cure these essentials, the makers of a county had to
take in more territory than is necessary at the present
time. It was found that Monongalia county had be-
tween 7,000 and 8,000 square miles when it came
into existence. The seat of the county was made at
Morgantown, and it has been there ever since. The
first settlement in the county was near there and the
center of business seemed to belong at that place
from the first.

The land of the county was all in woods at the
first coming of the white settlers. Indians who had
once lived in the vicinity had not apparently cleared
any land for cornfields, as was usually done by them
near their settlements. It is not known how large
the Indian population ever was in the county, but the
presence of camp sites strewn with shells and other
offal from the cooking fires of the camps bear evi-
dence that there were at time a considerable Indian
population in the county, and the absence of old
Indian fields is well worthy of comment. The dis-
trict was evidently not an agricultural one when the
original people lived here in the distant time, say as
much as 300 years ago. They were no doubt hunters
and fishermen, and depended on those occupations
for their living.

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 21

CHAPTER II.

The Vegetation Found By the Pioneers

The whole area of Monongalia was covered by
forest when the first white people came, for the In-
dian inhabitants had cleared very little of the land,
and what may once have been made into small fields
and truck patches had largely relapsed into forest,
for only a few years will suffice to bring back the
forest on West Virginia land when it is neglected and
nature is permitted to take its course. Therefore the
settlers found for the most part an unbroken forest
over the whole area of the old county. There is,
however, reason to believe that in some of the west-
ern portions of the county, toward the Ohio river, a
few of the old Indian fields, dating back to the time
when the Indians had permanent homes in the region,
were still to be seen when the first travelers and
settlers came into the country. The journey of Chris-
topher Gist, the faithful companion of Washington
in the Western country, through the western portion
of what afterwards was to become part of West Vir-
ginia, and Monongalia county, has furnished evidence
of former cleared fields in the region. The old fron-
tiersman left a written record of his long journey on
horseback, and the mention of things he saw and wit-
nessed from day to day, affords us information of the
condition of the country as he found it before any
white settlers were in it.

His trip was made in the early spring when the
first warm days hastened the growing of vegetation,
and the care he took to speak of the abundance of

22 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

white clover he saw growing in the old fields is evi-
dence that there had been fields once that had not yet
been wholly reclothed by forest. White clover is a
native growth in the region, was not introduced by
the white men, and it needed cleared or partly cleared
ground to maintain itself. It had taken possession of
the patches of ground which the former Indians had
made use of for truck patches and cornfields, and
when the red men took their final departure from the
region, the clover remained in the old fields till the
coming of the white men to occupy where the Indians
had departed. The simplicity of the narrative kept
&nd handed down by the old pioneer Gist in his long
and lonesome journeys through the wood, has made
it possible to supply bits of information here and
there which make known the conditions of the coun-
try in his day. That he did not neglect to mention
the smallest matters makes us have confidence in the
truth of his narrative, whether he spoke of the growth
of the wild clover in the old fields or of the death of
the small parrot which he caught in the western wood
and was trying to take home alive, but which was
killed by the fall of his horse on the dangerous trail.
The sorrow of the old man, as he wrote of the incident,
and his statement that he had had enough corn with
him to have fed the bird till he reached home, may not
contribute so much to the historical value of his nar-
rative but the recital clothes the whole story in hu-
man interest and makes it valuable as a faithful pic-
ture of what he found and saw in the then nearly un-
explored country between the Alleghany mountains
and the Ohio river.

The first settlers in Monongalia expected to en-
counter forests rather than fields. They did not count
a great deal on the value of the trees for lumber.
Many years would pass before they would need any
considerable quantity of lumber for use on their
farms and in their villages, but they gave close atten-

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 23

tion to the kind of tree they saw, for that was the
index on which they relied to give them a hint of the
character of the land which they expected to clear for
their farms in the new country. They judged the
character of the land by the kinds and sizes of the trees
it produced. In Washington's travels through the
western lands he repeatedly referred to the trees he
saw and spoke of the character of the soil which the
trees indicated.

It is possible to compile a fairly complete list of
the kinds of trees met with by the pioneers when
they entered the county, for practically all the kinds
of trees met with then are in the county yet, for trees
are very slow in wholly disappearing from a region in
which they once become established, though they
may become scarce, and in some cases they may
wholly disappear within the course of a hundred years
or so. The following list of forest trees may be con-
sidered as about what the first comers in the area
of Monongalia found when they examined the woods
of the new land.

White pine (Finns strobes) was not abundant
in the county, but a few trees existed in the more
mountainous parts of the region. It was one of the
best and most stately timber trees found in the eastern
part of the United States, and it was of considerable
importance in the main ranges of the Alleghany
mountains and was plentiful in that part of Monon-
galia now forming Tucker county, and was some-
what abundant in parts of what is now Preston coun-
ty. It is not an abundant tree in any portion of West
Virginia at present, but it will not be likely to entirely
disappear from the region as it is a vigorous tree and
strong in fighting for its existence. It will give an
account of itself if given a chance to do so, and if it
is protected from forest fires that are liable to occur
in its region.

Pitch pine (Pinus rigida) is very inferior in most

24 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

ways to white pine and has not often been sawed
into lumber when the better kinds of pine could be
secured in its place, but it was occasionally used in
the construction of some of the old houses built in the
county, being employed as ceiling and finish as well
as for general lumber. It was never plentiful in the
county, but it was widely scattered about the region
and served the pioneers for many purposes. The
wood is rich in resin and burns well. It was often
split into small billets and made into faggots and was
used by fishermen who caught fish in the night. It
was also used by tar makers who made their own tar
which was employed to grease the spindles of wagons
in the absence of better lubricants. They also made
shoemakers wax from the knots which were boiled in
water to extract the wax, which process was different
from the method of making tar which was by heating
with fire in a kiln or retort. The settlers found pitch
pine of much value to them in their simple lives when
they were often obliged to depend upon their own re-
sources for the necessities of their daily lives. It is
much more resistant to forest fire than is the white
pine, and it will survive in places where the white
pine cannot live. It usually grows on very poor and
dry land, often on ridges where it is the principal tree.
Scrub pine (Pinus virginiana) is a small and
usually nearly worthless tree in Monongalia county,
and it has not been plentiful since the white men have
known the county. It seldom attains a height of as
much as 50 feet or two feet in diameter of the trunk.
It is not a shapely tree, and. its trunk is often too
crooked to be suitable for saw logs, even when large
enough for that purpose. It has seldom been made
into lumber and has been too scarce in this county
to attract as much attention as has been given it in
regions where it thrives better. It is a characteristic
poor land tree, being often found in its range in old

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 25

and exhausted fields. It has always been scarce in
Monongalia county.

Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is a reliable tree,
common, throughout many parts of the state, and is
apt to be found in deep ravines and damp situations.
In regions where it is plentiful it is now extensively
manufactured into lumber, but it has never been of
much importance to the lumber industry of Mononga-
lia county, for it has always been scarce in this re-
gion. Prejudice against the wood of heirJ.ock has
long existed, and it is much inferior to white pine
and some of the better timber trees of the country,
but for many purposes hemlock lumber is well liked
and well suited. Some of the prejudice against it,
which existed in former times, does not exist now,
since the real qualities of the wood are better known.
But let that be as it may, hemlock never has been
and probably never will be more than a tree of minor
importance in Monongalia county. The bark has long
been in use for tanning leather, and in early times
the bark was often used and the wood left to rot in
the woods, as not being worth hauling to the saw-
mill to be converted into lumber. But the custom
in that respect has changed in recent years, and hem-
lock is considered as valuable as most woods associ-
ated with it.

Red cedar (Jimiperus virginiana) has always
been an inhabitant of the forests of Monongalia
county, and has always been held in respect as one
of the most beautifully formed trees, so far as the
crown is concerned, in the county. It was at first, of
course, found in the forests* and is occasionally still
so found in the county, but the most of the trees are
now in the fields where their tall, slender crowns are
distinguishable at a great distance, for there is no
other tree in the vicinity with which they may be con-
fused or for which they are liable to be mistaken. The
early settlers, and as for that, the present day people

26 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

of the county, have never been able to put the native
red cedars of Monongalia to much use, though in
other regions, where larger and more plentiful cedars
may be found, the wood is considered valuable for
many purposs, one of the chief of which is in the
manufacture of shirt waist boxes, and in producing
certain kinds of cooperage.

The presence of this cedar in the vicinity of ap-
ple orchards is objectionable, because it is believed
that a disease which is harmful to the apple tree is
communicated to the fruit tree by the neighboring
cedar. For this reason, the sentiment is against the
red cedar in apple districts. However, it is a hand-
some tree and much liked for ornament about yards
and along highways. It is much planted by birds
which feed on the berries and carry the seed miles
away, and distribute them along farm fences. That
is one reason why so many cedars are found growing
along old fence rows in the range of this tree.

Black willow (Salix nigra) is the most common
wild willow in Monongalia county. It is usually found
growing along streams in the state, and prefers low
country to the more elevated districts. It is generally
a small tree here, but in some places it attains to large
sizes, sometimes as much as four or five feet in diam-
eter. It has never been cut for lumber in this county
and the people have never been able to put it to much
use. It grows along streams by choice and it has
given most use by holding the banks of creeks in place
and protecting them against being washed and under-
mined by running water.

Aspen (Populus tremuloides) has always held a
place in the forests of the county, and the probability
is that it will continue to do so for all time to come,
for it is a tree widely carried by the wind and its seeds
thus planted seem to do best in out-of-the-way places
and on steep mountains where the tree is not much
in the way of any other or of anything else that can

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 27

be usefully grown in such localities. Although the
aspen is not of much value in Monongalia it bids
fair to hold its place, because it is contented with such
unattractive situations which are not in demand for
anything else that the people are apt to grow. The
very slender and flat stems or petioles of the leaves
render this tree remarkable because the leaves are
nearly always in motion. A very slight wind is suf-
ficient to keep the leaves moving because their stems
are so slender; and for that reason the tree is often
called "trembling aspen." Its wood is suitable for
paper and for some mechanical uses, but it is not of as
much importance in this county as it is in some parts
of Michigan and Maine.

Large-Toothed poplar (Populus grandidentata)
is a kind of aspen which the common observer is not
apt to distinguish from the common kind, but there
is a difference which is most easily seen in the larger
leaves of this tree. It is scarce and has been found in
only a few places in the county. It grows on Deckers'
creek to a limited extent. About the same use is
made of its wood as of that of the common aspen,
and most people who use it suppose it is the com-
mon aspen. It meets extensive use in other regions
for the manufacture of paper, but the quantity avail-
able here is not sufficient to make it attractive to pa-
per makers.

Butternut (Juglans cinera) was found in all
parts of Monongalia county at the first coming of
white men, and is perhaps in more abundance in the
county than it was at the first introduction of civil-
ized man in the country, for it is a half-domestic tree
and it takes kindly to the presence of men. It grows
well in fields and in cleared ground, but it is able to
maintain itself in the unbroken forest. In this county
it is now oftener found in cleared ground than in for-
ests. It is often shown favor over other trees because
of the nuts which it produces abundantly, particularly

28 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

if it is provided with room and sunlight. It produces
a good grade of lumber and is rather extensively cut
to be taken to the sawmills, particularly in the state
of Wisconsin, but little if any has ever been sawecJ
into lumber in Monongalia county. It is serviceable
for many of the same purposes as black walnut,
which is a near relative of butternut, but it is not
usually considered in the same class, or on a par,
with black walnut and it has not been sought for as
thoroughly as black walnut, nor has it gone to market
in anything like the quantities of black walnut. But
it is a good tree and its presence in Monongalia county
has always been welcome and it will probably remain
here as long as any other of the forest trees that are
now here. It is capable of enduring the climate of
the highest mountains in Monongalia county and the
lowest district.

Black walnut (Juglans nigra) furnishes wood
which can be classed as the most valuable of all that
is produced in the county, if measured by the thou-
sand feet. It is the finest cabinet wood in the county
or state. Its fine color and its exceptionally fine fig-
ure, have no equal in the forests of West Virginia.
Its burhls rank in beauty nearly equal to those of
any wood in the markets of the world. The burhls
are excresences en the tree which have wood very
beautiful and esteemed of much value for furniture
and interior finish for houses. The curled and dis-
torted wood of the walnut burhl is due in large part
to what are known as adventitious buds, that is, buds
which are unable to come through the bark, in the pro-
cess of growth, and as a consequence, they remain in-
side and distort the wood and make the figures which
give black walnut its chief value. The principal com-
mercial quantity of black walnut in Monongalia
county was cut quite early in the county's history,
but a little has remained till the present time, and an
occasional tree is found at this time and there is rea-

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 29

son to suppose that the wood "will always remain in
the county in a small way. The tree is semi-domes-
tic and likes to grow in fields and near houses and
barns. The nuts are rather more valuable than but-
ternuts, but the market does not seem disposed to
take many of them and the most of the nut crop of
the American walnut tree is gathered locally and
eaten by the people who do the gathering. It does
not sell well in competition with the nut of the im-
ported English or Circassian walnut which is now ex-
tensively grown in parts of the United States, par-
ticularly in California. A few black walnut trees are
found scattered all over Monongalia county, but they
are not often cut now for lumber.

Shell-bark hickory (Carya ovata) is one of the
five species of hickory found in the confines of Mo-
nongalia county, and all are valuable for their tough,
strong wood, useful for handles and the manufacture
of vehicles. It bears nuts which are esteemed now
and were more valued by the pioneers because they
used more of them for food than is usually done by
the modern inhabitants of the region. The soil of
this county is especially suited for growing the hick-
ory tree, which likes a deep moist, fertile soil. The
hickory can be easily grown from seeds, but it has not
yet been much done in Monongalia county.

Big shell-bark hickory (Carya lacinosa) is much
like the other shell-bark hickory, but is less common
in the county and is not usually distinguished from
it by people who see the tree growing wild. The
tree is not and never was plentiful in the county.

Pignut hickory (Carya glabra) has its name on
account of the bitterness of the nuts. They are not
fit for food and few animals will eat them unless
forced by hunger to do so. The tree is found in all
parts of the county and the wood is esteemed for
many purposes and it has always had a prominent
place as fuel when the people used wood as a means

30 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

of making fires in their homes. It is one of the most
promising species for planting, because it will grow
without much attention and the tree comes early to
a size large enough to be of use in the factories which
make tool handles and vehicles. The tree is largely
sapwood until the trunk is of considerable size, and
the sapwood is the jnost valuable part of hickory,
which is an exception to the rule in the case of the
majority of trees. It is generally the heartwood that
the manufacturers want, but with hickory it is the
sapwood.

Bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis) is a
rather small tree, as it is seldom as much as 75 feet in
height and 1 8 inches in diameter of trunk. It is not
plentiful in this county, and is found in scattered
growth in nearly all parts of the state. The nut is
small and bitter and the tree has its name from that
circumstance.

Hophornbeam (Ostyra virginiana) has not been
of much importance in the county, because it is not
plentiful and its hard and strong wood has only a few
special purposes. It has not been much cut for lum-
ber, and it is seldom found in the general lumber
yard. Its fruit bears some resemblance to the pod of
the hop, hence its name. In the autumn the tree
can usually be identified by the dry husky fruit that
adheres to the twigs for some time after the leaves
have fallen. It is not infrequently known by the
name ironwood. It is hard and very strong, formerly
liked for the tongues of wagons and still the favor-
ite wood for that purpose in some regions where large
logging trucks are in use.

American hornbeam (Carpinus carolinaina) is
more often known in Monongalia county as water
beech than by any other name applied to it. It is a
small, crooked-trunked tree, too small and of too in-
different form to be of any worth for saw logs, and it
seldom is taken to sawmills for conversion into lum-

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 31

ber, and the pioneers made little use of the wood for
any purpose. It usually grows along streams on low
and damp ground.

Sweet birch (Betula lenta) is the birch whose
inner bark is good to eat. It is sometimes called black
birch. It exists in all parts of Monongalia county
and has been abundant here since earliest times of
which we have any account. It does not, however,
exist in anything like the quantities in which some
other trees are found in Monongalia. It is one of the
valuable hardwoods of this county and is much em-
ployed for lumber, but it is only one of the birches
that contribute to the lumber supply. The pioneers
did not cut much of it in this county in the early
years of the settlements. It was a difficult wood
to season in the lumber yards without excessive warp-
ing, and for that, among other resson, the pioneers
were inclined to leave it alone and cut the kinds of
timber which could be more easily handled. This
birch was one of the favorite woods for fuel, before
the use of coal became common in the country.

Yellow birch (Betula hitecOwas probably less
in evidence in this county in the years of the pioneers
than the sweet birch. The wood of the two trees
is much alike and both are in use for similar pur-
poses. But the two trees are enough different to
make no difficulty in distinguishing one from the
other when they stand side by side ; yet, instances are
related where men well acquainted with both trees
were at a loss to tell one kind from the other, but that
is certainly not a usual occurrence. The bark of yel-
low birch is generally quite different from that of
sweet birch, and the bark of sweet birch does not peel
off in flakes or rolls as does that of yellow birch. The
wood of both these birches is valuable for furniture
and the two are used indiscriminately where they
can be had in equal amounts. They are handsome
woods and of much value to the country.

32 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Beech (Fagus atropunicea) is a common tree
in all parts of the state, and Monongalia county has
always had its share, and the wood is of a quality
which will not suffer by comparison with any beech
grown in the state. It is not, nevertheless, a first class
lumber tree. For some purposes it is not deemed the
best. One thing against its universal use is its ex-
cessive hardness which makes it difficult to work into
some other commodities. Its hardness, however, is
its principal recommendation for other uses. It is a
plain wood and has no fifure and its color is not es-
pecially pleasing. But all in all it is a good, common
wood that is always in demand for something. It is a
first class fuel wood and it has done its part in the
early iron industry in Monongalia county, where is
early times the iron ore was largely melted with fires
built of wood. The early settlers found much beech
when they came to this region, and there is much of
it yet.

Chestnut (Castana dentata). There was plenty
of this wood to supply all needs when the country was
first settled, but it was not so plentiful in the area
which now constitutes the present county of Monon-
galia as in some of the portions of the old county
that have been cut off to form other counties. Its
nuts gave it an early value before it was much used
in Monongalia for lumber. It was one of the favor-
ite trees of this region for splitting into rails to use
in fencing the farms. The use for rails in this county
was largest in the early years of the settlement. Much
chestnut was sawed into lumber as the years went by,
and all the time the tree had some value on account
of the nuts it bore. They were liked in the family
circle, and for the most part they had considerable
commercial value, if the people chose to sell them.
A rather large supply of mast, en which the settler's
hogs were fattened in the fall of the year was furnish-
ed by the chestnut trees which grew plentifully in the

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 33

woods and were as valuable for the mast they sup-
plied as were the oaks and beech trees.

White oak (Quercus alba) has always been a
very common and plentiful tree in Monongalia, and it
was always esteemed for the lumber that could be
cut from it. It is as valuable as any of the oaks. It
was cut by sawmills from the building of the first mill
in the county, and white oak lumber has gone into
the construction of nearly every house in the county
from the earliest years till the present time. Early
explorers and travelers counted land good if it would
produce white oak, and that species grew in all parts
of Monongalia county. The acorns of white oak —
or all white oaks, and there are several kinds — ripen
the same year that the flower is borne, but the black
oaks, which include all the rest, ripen the acorns the
second year after the bloom is borne. The habit of
fruiting is one of the ways in which botanists distin-
guish between white and black oaks. The one pro-
duces a crop of fruit in one year and the other in two
years. The oaks of the United States are nearly
equally divided between the white and the black,
as to species. The pioneers who came to this county
counted much on the presence of the abundant white
oaks to help them to make a success in developing
the land, and they did not count in vain.

Post oak (Quercus steilata) is a good, substan-
tial timber tree, but it never was very common in
Monongalia county and is scarce now, as it always
was. The botanical name may be translated "star
oak," which is an allusion to the crude representa-
tion of a picture of a star on the leaf. The tree
usually lacks the bulge at the base which belongs to
most trees. The post oak comes straight up out of
the ground, of nearly the same size at the surface of
the ground as a few feet above, differing in that par-
ticular from most of its forest neighbors. That char-
acteristic, if borne in mind, is of some assistance in

34 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

picking out the post oaks from the other trees in
the forest. It is not an abundant tree in Monongalia
county, nor is it of great abundance anywhere.

Yellow oak (Quercus mulenbergii) is regarded
as one of the least valuable of the better oaks, because
the wood is sometimes of an inferior sort, but the
wood of all species and in all places is not of the
same quality. Nevertheless, the tree is too scarce in
this county to amount to much as a source of lumber.
The inner bark of the tree is of a yellow color, and by
cutting to this bark it is easy to identify the tree from
any with which it might be confused. The tree pre-
fers as a place to grow, limestone soil and on hill-
sides. It is likely to be met with on river banks.

Chesnut oak (Quercus prinus). The chestnut
oak with leaves like those of a chestnut tree is com-
mon in Monongalia county and has been as long as
the country has been known to white men. The tree
prefers dry, gravelly ridges, or it frequently grows
there when it would appear that it could as easily
have had its habitat in better soil. It has furnished
lumber from very early times, and it still goes to the
sawmills in the region as it always has done. It has
been much cut for tan bark, as it is regarded one of
the best of the oaks for this article.

Red oak (Quercus rubra) is rather abundant
in the county. It is regarded as the type of the whole
black oak group. Its acorns ripen in the second
year, differing in that respect from the white oaks.
The lumber cut from this tree is much used in furni-
ture factories and in house building. The name red
oak is derived from the color of the wood, which is
reddish in color.

Scariet oak (Quercus coccinea) is much like the
red oak and is met with in the county in several places
and goes to the sawmills with the other oaks. The
wood is coarse grained and reddish in color. It goes
to woodworking factories as a red oak.

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 35

Black oak (Quercus velutina) is one of the

common trees of the Monongalia forests, commonly-
used for lumber and of much value in the furniture
factory. It is not generally found on high mountains.

Laurel oak (Quercus imbricaria) is in the county
but is not common here and is of comparatively little
value because of its scarcity in this region.

Slippery elm (Ulmus fulva). This is not the
elm that is generally used for lumber, though it is oc-
casionally so used, along with the other elm that
contributes most of the lumber in this country. The
bark of slippery elm is of use in medicine and the prin-
cipal worth of the tree is for its bark. A writer of a
medical work in this country seventy-five years ago
said that as a source of medicine the slippery elm is
worth its weight in gold. The bark was in much use
by the old practitioners, and without doubt the first
comers to Monongalia county saw with satisfaction
that this tree was a native here. They did not think
so much of the lumber that they might cut from it, or
so much of the fuel that the trunks would furnish, as
of the soft and thick inner bark that was their best
remedy for many kinds of hurts and diseases. The
settlers used the bark, and it is still used by the peo-
ple who now live here.

American elm (Ulmus americana) is the elm of
great worth as a source of lumber. It was never
abundant in this county, but it was widely dispersed
over the area and furnished much lumber in the years
which have come between the time of the earliest
settlements and the present. This is the species of
elm which is the one usually planted for ornament
and shade along the sides of streets in towns. Some
of the finest elms in the world are those which were
planted in Boston many years ago. It attains very
large size in the course of a century or more.

Red mulberry (Morus rubra). This tree is
known and liked more on account of its fruit than for

36 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

anything else, so far as it exists in this county. The
berries are very fine and abundant. However, the
tree is worth much for lumber. It is hard and durable
as wood and has been in much request for fence posts
in this county. It compares well with locust in dura-
bility, but it is not quite the equal of locust in that
respect. The wood shows well when made into fur-
niture and some of it has been so used for many
years. The tree is not very abundant in the county,
but there has always been enough to fill most of the
demand for it.

Cucumber tree (Magnolia acuminata) is a hard-
wood tree that is found in Monongalia county but is
not very abundant. Its wood is softer than that of
most of the hardwoods with which it is associated.
In classing the woods as hard or soft s as the botanists
do it, the kind of leaves rather than the actual hard-
ness of the wood is the determining matter that should
be considered. Trees which have needlelike leaves,
like pine, hemlock, and fir, are classed as softwoods,
and broadleaf trees are the hardwoods, and it is not
regarded that the actual hardness of the wood is vital
in determining the classification. Some of the woods
in the softwood class are actually much harder than
some of those that are considered in the hardwood
class. The yew, for example, is harder than cucum-
ber, and such is the case with many of the softwoods
that might be selected from the lists of forest trees.
The longleaf pine of the South is another hard wood
that is always considered as softwood, because its
leaves are of the needle kind, and by universal con-
sent such trees are softwoods. That classification is
easily kept in mind but some inconsistencies result
in the separation of the woods in the two general
classes by that method. Generally, however, the
trees which bear needle leaves have softer wood
than those which are clothed with broad leaves, and
no other way has been found for dividing the dif-

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 3 7

ferent woods into classes of hard and soft which is as
satisfactory as the division by means of the kind of
leaves they bear. Cucumber is suited for lumber
and woodenware, and it is liked for the interior parts
of furniture, but it is not favored for the outside parts,
except cheap kinds of furniture. The tree has never
been an important element in the composition of the
Monongalia forests. It owes its name to the fruit it
bears, which is in shape something like a cucumber.
Some of the other magnolia trees bear fruit much like
that of the cucumber tree.

Umbrella tree (Magnolia tripetela) is said to
grow in the county, but it is not plentiful here, if
indeed, it is found at all in the limits of the present
county, but the tree certainly was found in the old
county with its wide borders which took in then
nearly ten times as much territory as the present
county. The tree has alway been esteemed for orna-
ment rather than as a source of lumber.

Mountain magnolia (Magnolia fraseri) is closely
akin to the umbrella tree, and its presence in the pres-
ent limits of the county is doubtful, but it was in the
original county when it was formed.

Yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) attains
perhaps, a larger size than is attained by any other
forest tree of the state. A trunk diameter of ten
feet is sometimes attained. The wood is soft and
firm, of excellent grade for lumber. The tree's fault-
less trunk was often hewed into canoes in early times
and were of great use to the pioneers in cross-
ing rivers before bridges were common, and some-
times long journeys were made by water in the dug-
out canoes made of yellow poplar. The tree has held
its own very well in Monongalia county from the ear-
liest times till the present, but the amount of lumber
now cut from this tree in the county is small in
comparison to the cut of former years. Some of the
very old buildings in the county were constructed

38 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

almost exclusively of yellow poplar lumber. The
wood is very durable when exposed to the weather as
outside material for the construction of buildings, but
is not durable when used in damp situations as fence
posts or sidewalks. This was one of the first woods
cut for lumber in the county when the old settlers
built sawmills to provide them with lumber for home
use. A few good trees of this species are to be found
in the county till this day, and if forestry shall ever
be put in practice here it will be one of the most prom-
ising trees to be planted. It grows rapidly and it is
not difficult to be kept alive. It grows very tall and
of the best form possible for sawlogs.

Pawpaw (Asimina triloba), or the common
pawpaw, is not a lumber .tree and likely not a tree has
ever been cut for sawlogs in the county. It not being
large enough. The trees are seldom as much as a
foot in diameter and are usually not half of that. The
tree bears a rather indifferent fruit and the first set-
tlers were thinking more of the fruit than of any
possibility of deriving any supply of lumber from the
pawpaw tree when they discovered it in the Monon-
galia forests. It was never very plentiful in this coun-
ty and a few trees are still to be found in some places,
but many persons never see them and are not aware
of their presence in the county.

Sassafras (Sassafras variafolium) is about as
plentiful as it ever was in Monongalia county. Very
little of this wood has ever gone to sawmills to be cut
into lumber, for the sassafras tree in this latitude is
hardly ever found of sufficient size to make even a
small sawlog. It is sawed for lumber, however, in sev-
eral of the southern states where it reaches larger size
than thus far to the north. The first settlers used
sassafras for tea for drinking in the place of coffee
and tea imported from the Orient. Tea is made by
boiing the bark of the roots in water, and some-
times by boiling the leaves. It makes a refreshing

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 39

beverage and is generally liked by those who have
drunk it. There is likely as much sassafras in the
county now as there was when the region was first
known to white men. It is inclined to spread into
deserted fields, where it seldom becomes larger than
small brush, but once in a while a tree develops and
becomes of passable size. The tea is reputed to
thin the blood if drunk to excess, and some people
refrain from using sassafras tea because they believe
that it is not conducive to good health. Excessive
drinking of the tea of sassafras may be harmful, but
many persons who have drank it moderately all their
lives do not believe that it ever did them any injury.

American crabapple (Pyrus coronaria) is not of
much importance as a source of lumber, or for any
other purpose, for the apples which look inviting and
tempt the palate, are impossible as a source of food,
without much pickling and preserving. Sometimes
they were cooked and improved in ways that made
them of some use to the pioneers whose supply of
fruit was quite limited at the best and which most of
the time was pitifully short. There were several
wild fruits in Monongalia county which were in every
way superior to the wild crabapple, and the settlers
never counted much on using the crabapple as food.
They never used the wood at all, or in rare cases and
for special purposes, and the trees which were found
growing in this region were for the most part cum-
berers of the ground. The expert hunters found out
that deer sometimes ate the crabapples and the rifle-
men occasionally were able to shoot the deer which
frequented the crab thickets to eat the fruit.

Service tree (Amelanchier canadensis), some-
times called shad bush, is another tree that is better
known on account of its fruit than for its wood. The
fruit is a small berry and is usually eaten as it is
picked from the tree, but it was sometimes dried in
the sun by the settlers and kept for winter use, when

40 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

it was not a bad substitute for other fruits which the
people often could not procure in the remote country.
The wood of the service tree was seldom used on the
frontiers, though it is very hard and can be put to a
number of purposes in the modern wood-using shop.
It was tolerably plentiful in the pioneer days in Mo-
nongalia county.

Cockspur thorn (Crataegus crus-galli) is one of
of a very numerous family in the United States, but
few of them are found in Monongalia county. There
are more than 1 30 kinds of thorn trees in this coun-
try, and most of them are practically worthless so far
as being of any particular use to men is concerned.
The fruit borne by them is of poor quality and small
in size, seldom or never eaten by human beings, and
little use has been found for the wood. The cock-
spur thorn found in Monongalia is as poor as the
average of the numerous family, and it has been en-
dured here rather than welcomed, and it is with us
yet.

Black cherry (Primus serotona) is the most val-
uable species of the wild cherry family, and the only
one of them in this county that has ever contributed
anything of value to the lumber industry. The wild
cherry trees that grow here are of sufficient size to
make them wanted at the sawmills. The lumber has
always sold for good prices and the furniture facto-
ries take it whenever it can be had. The trees of this
species were scattered in small numbers, but of good
quality, in most parts of the county when the first
people came here. It has held its ground, but not in
quantity as great as at first. It is a first class wood,
useful for many purposes, but it has never been as
important here as it has been in some other places.

Choke cherry (Primus virginiana) is a common
tree in this county and nearly always a worthless one
so far as usefulness to man is concerned. The fruit is

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 41

of little account and the wood is not used for any-
thing.

Wild red cherry (Prunus pennsylvanica) is a
comparatively useless tree in Monongalia county but
performs some service in protecting bare ground from
washing away and thus giving it a chance to reclothe
itself with other trees and vegetation. Birds scatter
the seeds of this tree and it quickly comes in after a
forest fire. The wood is of no use for lumber.

Honey locust (Gledilsia tricanthos) is a rare in-
inhabitant of the forest in this county. The wood is
far inferior to that of the common locust and has
never been much in use by the people of Monon-
galia county.

Redbud (Cercis canadensis) is and always has
been rather common in the woods of this county. It
is more esteemed for its rich, red bloom than for its
fruit. Aside from its blossoms, it is classed as one of
the useless trees. It is never cut for lumber, being
too small, but the wood has good qualities which
would make it of importance were it not for the
smallness of the tree.

Common locust (Robinia pseudacacia) is one
of the best known and useful trees of the county.
It is made much use of by the farmer, for it is one the
best woods for fence posts in the whole country. It
is as resistent to decay as any of the durable woods
of this country. It is preferred to all others for fence
posts, because it lasts almost indefinitely in the
ground when set as posts. It is nearly as abundant
in the county es it wes at first, for what it has lost in
its position in the woods, it has made good by taking a
place in the fields and along roads, where it is en-
couraged to stand, because of its welcome shade and
for the use of the wood, which grows rapidly, the
trees soon becoming large enough for posts. The
locust borer, an insect, has injured the locust trees
much in late years in the county.

42 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Staghom sumac (Rhus typhina) is and always
has been abundant in this county, and it is probably
more abundant now than it was in the first years of
settlement, because of its ability to take a place in the
fields when it was destroyed in the woods. It is too
small for lumber but is useful for many purposes, the
chief place filled by it being as spiles for tapping
sugar trees in making sugar.

Dwarf sumac (Rhus copalina) fills about the
same place in industry that staghorn sumac fills. It
is not usually as large as its relative, but sometimes
is equal to staghorn in its size. In some regions it is
much used for tanning leather, but apparenlty has not
been so used in Monongalia county.

Striped maple (Acer pennsylvanicum) is proba-
bly not found in the present boundaries of Monon-
galia county, but it was in the wider limits of the old
county when it included the present counties of Ran-
dolph and Tucker, where the striped maple is now
growing but in small quantities and in scattered
stands. It is a small tree and was never of much im-
portance for lumber. It is prized as an ornamental
tree.

Mountain maple (Acer spicatum) is a small tree
that is found usually on high mountains but occurs
at a low elevation in Monongalia county. The saw
mills do not get this wood on their yards, as the tree is
scarce and its size is nearly always too small for even
small logs.

Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is a substantial
tree found all over Monongalia county- valuable for
lumber and much is cut to send to sawmills, but prob-
ably the pioneers prized the tree more on account of
its usefulness in providing the frontier family with
sugar which could often be had from no other source
in the days of the settlement of the country. This is
the ordinary hard maple from which most of the
maple lumber of the country is cut, but there are other

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 43

species that contribute to the supply. There are
several kinds of hard maples, as well as several soft
maples in the country. This one is often known
as the sugar tree. In the pioneer days of Monongalia
it was tapped in the spring of the year and sugar for
domestic purposes was manuafactured at the homes
of the people, often in a camp where the water from
the trees was boiled in a large kettle. That was often
the only sugar the people had. When an auger hole is
bored in a maple tree when the weather turns warm
after the preceding cold weather the water in the fi-
bers of the wood is forced out by the expansion of the
air which is in the wood. The air expands when it
changes from cold to hot.

Silver maple (Acer saccbsrinum) is the common
soft maple in Monongalia county. It is of small value
for sugar making but some sugar can be made from
the sap from it, the same as in the case of sugar maple.
It is cut for lumber but is not usually regarded as
worth as much as lumber made from the sugar tree. It
is oftener found on low than on elevated ground.

Red maple (Acer rubrum) has its name on ac-
count of its showy red flowers. It is is a scarce tree
in this county and little use is ever made of it for lum-
ber or for sugar. The wood is more like that of the
soft than of the hard maple.

Box elder (Acer negundo) is a maple but is so
scarce in Monongalia county that few people ever pay
any attention to it. It differs from the other maples
by having compound leaves, arranged along a stem
like the leaves of ash. It is not scattered plentifully
over the state, but Monongalia county has a few trees
which have been of very slight importance in furnish-
ing lumber. The tree is inclined to fork near the
ground, thus spoiling the trunk for sawlogs.

Fetid Buckeye (Aesculus glabra) is scarce in
the county and is of little account. The wood is
soft and not often used for lumber. It has never

44 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

been shown much favor by farmers because they
have not seen in it much chance of any kind of gain
or profit. The pod that encloses the fruit is about one
inch in diameter and is covered with prickles.

Sweet buckeye (Aesculus octandra) is the more
common buckeye in Monongalia county. It is some-
times cut for lumber and is suitable for a number of
purposes.

Basswood (Tilia airiericana) , sometimes call-
ed linn, beetree, or limetree, is the best known in this
region of the several species of basswood. It is of
importance for lumber and has been cut for such in
most places where it is available. Its bloom is liked
by bees and is rich in honey, and for that reason the
tree is often known as beetree. The wood is sought
by paper makers and by the manufacturers of slack
cooperage, as it is soft and suitable for buckets and
small boxes such as are liked for candy and for light
articles like pencils.

White basswood (Tilia heterophylla) is another
kind of basswood common in Monongalia county,
but probably most ordinary observers suppose it to
be the same as the common basswood and cut it and
use it in the same way and for the same purposes.

Hercules club (Aralia spinosa) is an odd look-
ing and nearly useless tree which is seldom put to
any use and is useful for few purposes. The rough
stem, two or three inches in diameter, is the part
which is most likely to attract attention of the casual
observer.

Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) is small
and unsuited for sending to the sawmill, except in
special circumstances, but it is a tree which is gener-
ally recognized where it grows and in modern days it
is sent to factories and which make spools and shut-
tles for weaving mills which manufacture cloth. It is
one of the very few woods which are suitable for shut-
tles. It is quite hard and possesses the necessary wear-

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 45

ing properties. The Monongalia pioneers did not sell
any dogwood to the shuttle makers, but they made
gluts of it and used them extensively in splitting the
thousands of rails with which they fenced their fields.
The hardness of dogwood fitted it admirably for that
use, and it was of much importance to the clearers and
fencers of farms in this region. No doubt they re-
garded dogwood as one of the most useful woods of
the forest.

Black gum (Nyssa sylvatica) is the toughest and
most difficult to split of all the woods found by the
settlers in Monongalia county. It was considered
impossible to split a black gum log, except when the
wood was solidly frozen. It was one of the choice
woods for the rail maker, for of it he made the mauls
with which he opened the cuts of all sorts of timber
used for rails. Black gum is rather soft, which de-
tracted somewhat from its value as a maul wood ; for,
although it did not split under the rough use to
which it was put in pounding the gluts to spilt rails, it
wore out in a rather short time, and the careful
rail splitter was watchful to keep his maul in a dry
place when he was not using it. A dry maul was
good for much more hard pounding than one partly
soaked with water. This wood was not used for
much of anything but mauls, and there was always
enough of it available for that service in the old days,
and the tree is yet plentiful for all maul making need-
ed in the modern time.

Great laurel (Rhododendron maximum) is not
usually classed as a tree, for it is nearly always of
small size, but when at its largest size it is large as
some other trees of the woods. It was of little use to
the early settlers and they would no doubt have been
willing to do without it, if in that way they could have
been rid of it. They put it to no use for any commer-
cial purpose in their lives on the frontiers, and it has
not been put to much service in the years since then,

46 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

but it has been found pretty good material for small
handles for tools and for engraving blocks.

Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) was too small
to be of much use to the settlers. They charged it
with the crime of poisoning their sheep, and probably
it was sometimes guilty, but another laurel closely
resembling it was as often the culprit that did the
deed. The early settlers who spun flax and wool in
their homes were often indebted to the small laurel
for the distaff on which they hung their material to
be spun. The distaff was made by cutting a branch
from the top of a laurel bush, and the branch had five
forks which were bent together at the top and tied, in
that way forming a rack on which to hang the tow or
wool where it would be handy to the hand of the
spinner. That was a small use to put the laurel to
in the old days, but many a larger tree did not fill
a position of as much importance in the pioneer days.
The roots of this laurel are of enormous size com-
pared with the rest of the tree, and of late years the
roots have gone to the factories by the carload to
make tobacco pipes. That was not much of a use in
the days of the first settlers, but some of the old smok-
ers made pipes of the root by whittling out the article
with a pocket knife. Those who were ambitious to
have a pipe a little better than common, learned to
line the pipe's bowl with brass or copper, usually
procuring the metal from an old copper kettle or by
hammering a copper cent thin and cutting it in the
proper shape to fit the inside of the pipe bowl. The
old men knew a piece of mathematics which was as
far ahead of their general educations as one could
imagine. They knew that a circular pipe bowl was a
"little more than three times as far around as it was
across,'' and in cutting the copper to fit the pipe, they
were accustomed to teach their children to measure
the distance across the bowl, and then measure the
piece of copper "a little over three tims as long to go

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 47

round on the bowl's inside." That was mathematically
correct, and we are not informed how the old un-
schooled frontiersmen worked it out, for not many of
them knew enough mathematics to have figured it out
for themselves. It was probably a piece of lore that
had been handed down to them from some former
citizen who had been to school.

Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) was a
rather scarce tree on the forested frontier of old
Monongalia county, and it was not of much use to the
people in those days. They knew that the trunks of
the trees three or four inches in diameter were ex-
cellent for sled soles and that seems to have been
about the only special use to which they put it. It was
not an abundant tree, but it furnished enough sled
soles for those who wanted them.

Common persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) is
not plentiful in Monongalia county, and never was.
The first settlers found some of the trees in parts of
the county, and there have been a few of these trees
till the present time. The wood never has gone in
an appreciable amount to sawmills. The old settlers
used the wood, but not much of it, in making spin-
ning wheels for their own use, and that was about the
only reported use for it by the older population, but
in modern times the wood is sent to factories in small
quantities, along with dogwood, for making shuttles
for looms which manufacture cloth. The wood is
employed also for the making of golf clubs. It is a
very hard and strong wood, being near the head of the
list of American woods for hardness, and there are
very few that are stronger. These are the qualities
which give persimmon its chief value for shuttles and
golf clubs. It is shipped in considerable amounts to
Europe for these purposes. It is not plentiful in this
county. Many persons regard the persimmon tree
more for its fruit than for the qualities of its wood,
but the fruit is seldom shipped and sold, being more

48 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

often eaten near where it is grown. As a fruit, it is
scarcely a rival of the larger and more shapely Japa-
nese persimmon.

White ash (Fraxinus americana) is well known
throughout the state and has always been fairly abun-
dant in Monongalia county. The hard and strong
wood has always been in much use here about the
farms, and the sawmills from the first have cut more
or less of white ash into lumber. It is the principal
ash found in the county. It is much employed in the
manufacture of tool handles, boat oars, and furni-
ture.

Red ash (Fraxinus pennsylvaniea) is given that
name because of its red bloom and fruit. It was
never plentiful in Monongalia county. The wood is
met with in lumber yards and is used, when available,
in the same way as is the wood of white ash.

Black ash (Fraxinus nigra) has always been so
scarce in this county that the wood has not filled
many places of importance in the service of the peo-
ple. The standing tree may generally be distinguish-
ed from the other species of ash by noting the blunt-
ness of the twigs. The twigs are easily broken, in that
respect differing from most of the ashes of this genus.

Nannyberry (Virburnum lentago) which has the
common name black haw, existed in several parts of
the original Monongalia county, but it is seldom seen
in the county now. The tree is more often a shrub
in size, and the wood is not much used for any pur-
pose, but it is of much use in the manufacture of canes
in New Jersey and it might be used for the same ar-
ticle here if the wood could be had in sufficient quan-
tity and of the proper size for the convenient use of
the cane makers. The shoots, which are of the proper
size, can be made straight if heated in hot sand and
bent in that condition to the desired shape. It is a
tree, however, which has never been held in much es-
teem in this county. The fruit is a small drupe that

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 49'

is tolerably good for eating in the late fall months
when it has had time to become dry on the stems. It
is eaten only in the absence of better kinds of fruit,
and that was often a condition on the frontiers which
made almost any sort of fruit a welcome adjunct to
the food of the people. The black haw is now seldom
eaten except by hungry children who have access to a
bearing bush somewhere in the vicinity of their
homes.

This list includes not more than thirty trees na-
tive of Monongalia county in its original size and con-
dition. The list may not be complete but is believed
to be approximately so. They are but a small portion
of the trees of the United States which include more
than 600 species. The kind of trees which had their
home in the county belonged to some of the best in
the country though the number of kinds were not as
numerous as in some parts of the country.

Shrubs and Vines in the County

The first settlers were not interested in trees
alone when they entered the forests of Monongalia,
but they kept their eyes open for all sorts of plants
and shrubs that might be found in the region, for they
could make use of many kinds as food for themselves
or as feed for their horses, cattle, hogs and sheep.
Among the shrubs and vines which were to be seen
in the different settlements in the county, which then
extended far south and west as well as east of the
present county's borders, may be listed the following:

Heart-leaved willow, Salix cordata.

Prairia willow. Salix Jiumilis.

Silky willow, Salix sericea.

Hazlenut, Corylus americana.

Smooth alder, Alnus rugosa.

Shrub yellow root, ZantTioriza apifolia.

Sweet scented shrub, Calycantlius floridis.

Spiee bush, Benzoin aestivale.

50 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Wild hydranga, Hydrangea arbor escens.

Prickly gooseberry, Ribes cynosbati.

Wild black currant, Ribes floridum.

Ninebark, PJiysocarpus opulifolius.

Meadowsweet, Spiraea salicifolia.

Hard-hack, Spiraea tomentosa.

West Virginia meadow sweet, Spiraea virginiana.

Wild black chokeberry, Pyrus melanocarpa.

Chokeberry, Pyrus arbutifolia.

Oblong-fruited Juneberry, Amelancher oligocarpa.

Rose acacia, Robibia Mspida.

Black alder, Ilix verticillata.

Mountain holly, Ilex Nemopantlius mucronata.

Poison ivy, Rhus toxicodendron, variety radicans.

Wild holly, Nemopantlius mucronata.

Burning bush, Evonymus atropurpurens.

American bladder nut, StapJiylea triloba.

Northern fox grape, Vitis labrusca.

Summer grape, Vitis aestivalis.

Muscadine, Vitis rotundifolia.

Leatherwood, Dirca palustris.

Bunchberry, Cornus canadensis.

Panicled dogwood, Cornus paniculata.

Round-leaved dogwood, Cornus circinata.

Alleghany menziesia, Menziesia pilosa.

Sheep laurel, Kulmia angustifolia.

Male berry, Lyonia lingustrina.

Low black blueberry, Vaccinium pennsylvanicum.

Sour top, Vaccinium canadense.

Southern mountain cranberry, Vaccinium erytJiro-

carnum.
Small cranberry, Vaccinium oxycocus.
Button bush, Ceplialantlius occidentalis.
Moosewood, Viburnum alnifolium.
Arrowwood, Viburnum dentatum.
Withrod, Viburnum cassionoides.
Common elder, Sambucus canadensis.

The settlers in a new country, like Monongalia
was at first, are more interested in plants which are
useful for medicine than are the people who come
later and can have the services of doctors in time of
need. The settlers who must depend on themselves
in such times are always interested to know what
the resources of forests and fields are in the way of

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 51

providing the materials of which medicines may be
made. It was fortunate that old Monongalia county-
had a bountiful supply of herbs and plants which
had, or were supposed to have had, medicinal prop-
erties; The following list of such plants growing
in the county is given for its worth as a matter of
history, and it may be presumed that in every set-
tlement of the old county there was some one who
was supposed to be acquainted with the most com-
mon of the plants and who could give information
to the settlers which plants were good for medicine
and what diseases they could be used as medicine
for with a prospect of obtaining permanent or at least
temporary relief. In the list which follows the com-
mon name by which the plant is known to the most
people is given first, and following that the botanical
name, by which the plant is known to doctors and
scientists is next given.

Milfoil, Achillea milifolium.

Sweet flag, Acornus columns.

Smooth alder, Alnus serrutata.

Dog's bane, Apocynum androsemifolium.

Dwarf elder, Aralia Jiispida.

Indian turnip, Arasiema trypJiyllum.

Virginia snakeroot, Aristolochia serpentaria.

Wild ginger, Asarum canadensis.

Milkweed, Asalepias tuberosa.

Pleurisy root, Aselepias tuberosa.

Peppermint, Mentha piperita.

Wild indigo, Baptisa tictora.

Wild senna, Cassia marylandica.

Pipsissewa, Chimaphila umbellata.

Sweet fern, Comptonia asplenifolium.

Jamestownweed, Datura stromonium.

Boneset, Eupatorium perfoliatum.

Liverwort, Hepatica trilobia.

Yellow root, Hydrastus canadensis.

Elaeampane, Inula helenium.

Skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus.

Burdock, Lappa officinalis.

Indian tobacco, Lobelia inflata. ;

52 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Horehound, Marubium vidgare.
Spearmint, Mentha viridis.
Horsemint, Monarda punctata.
Ginseng, Aralia quinquefolia.
Pokeweed, PJiytolaccJia decandra.
Seneca snakeroot, Polygala senaga.
Mayapple, Podophyllum pellatum.
Bitter sweet, Solanum dulcamera.
Culver's root, Veronica virginica.
Dandelion, Dens leonis.
Black snakeroot, Cimicifuga racemosa.
Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis.
Curled dock, Rumex crispus.
Crowfoot, Racunculus bulbosas.
Wild carrot, Daucus carota.
American eentuary, Sabatia angularis.
Pennyroyal, Hedeomapule glorides.
Mullein, Verbascum thasus.
Blackberry, Rubes villosns.
Small Solomon's seal, Polygonatium biflorum.
Spicewood, hinder a benzoin.
Witch hazel, Hamamelis virginica.
Collie root. Aletris farinosa.
Trailing arbutis, Epigaca repens.
Wintergreen, Gaultlieria procumbens.
Ground ivy, Nepeta gleeJioma.
Sarsaparilla, Aralia nudicaulis.

The early settlers of the region were as much
interested in the animals and fish of the new country
as in the trees and other vegetables. They expected
to depend to a large extent on the animal life for food
when they came into their new homes. Fortunately
for them they had much to expect from the forest.
Its animal life had many times proved that man could
live wholly for an indefinite period on the resources
of the woods, and he need not starve to death if his
scant crops should fail entirely in some years, but that
source of food was not relished for too long a time to
the exclusion of all other kinds. The seasoned and
veteran hunter could manage to live on the resources
of the forest alone, but women and children liked to
have a mixture of other food with that which they

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 53

gathered from the forest. Even the Indians who lived
for the most of their lives in the woods, or certainly
outside the limits of civilization, sometimes had a not
easy time eking out a living in the woods, and they
were glad of every chance to sample some other kind
of food than that which the undeveloped country fur-
nished them.

When about to make a home in a new and un-
civilized country, the people were concerned in ascer-
taining the kinds and quantity of wild life which they
might expect to find when they reached the region in
which their homes would be located. The animal life
which was found in Monongalia county was about the
same as in all the rest of the eastern country. A few
buffalo were in the country, but they never were
plentiful here. The country was nearly all in woods,
and that was not a suitable home for the buffalo,
which was primarily a grass eater. Grass did not
grow well in the woods, and few buffalo had come
into the region from the west which is believed to
have been the region of their origin, and their com-
ing into any part of the United States, and particu-
larly into the eastern part of the country, was at a
comparatively recent time. Had the Indian hunters
succeeded in burning the woods to destroy the forests,
as they were rapidly doing when the white man ar-
rived and put a stop to the practice, the buffalo would
have had plenty of grass to live on and would no
doubt have made the eastern portion of the country
as much his home as he had done in the grassy plains
of the western part. But, as said, the buffalo was not
in Monongalia county in large numbers when the set-
tlers came, but he was here to a small extent, as the
records bear ample proof. The name "buffalo"
creek, applied to a number of streams in this part of
the country is proof that those who named the
streams knew that buffalo were in the habit of roam-
ing there.

54 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

The pioneers found some buffalo in Monongalia
county when they arrived here in the early days.
Deer were plentiful in the woods then and were de-
pended upon for the largest part of the meat which
■went on the settler's table. Black bear were also
abundant and were often killed by hunters. Wolves
were in the country and were killed often but were
not eaten for meat. The wolf was a* nuisance that
was hard to get rid of and it was still in the county
when the first railroad was built through. It is said
that the wolves were afraid to cross the Baltimore and
Ohio railroad and never ventured across to seek the
rougher mountains south of the line, but remained
north of the line till they were exterminated. Some
of the other animals found in the county at the time
the white people came were two or more kinds of
foxes, the otter, mink, muskrat, opossum, several
kinds of squirrels, the panther, wild cat, raccoon,
groundhog, skunk, rabbit, mice, wild geese, ducks,
swans, cranes, turkeys, pheasants, quails or par-
tridges, eagles, hawks, crows, snipes, buzzards, pig-
eons, and many other kinds of birds. The streams
were full of fish of many kinds from the pike in the
river to the trout in the small streams in the high
mountains.

There was plenty of wild life to meet the needs
of the first comers for food, and some of the game has
persisted till the present time, though the county long
ago ceased to be famous as a hunting region. The
forests were cleared to make fields, and the best of
the fish were caught from the rivers and creeks long
ago, but there are still enough remaining to tempt the
fisherman to try his luck till the present time. Some
of the resources which seemed all important to the
settlers who first moved into the region have been
given up for the sake of better things. Manufactur-
ing and farming have replaced the wild animals in the

THE VEGETATION FOUND BY THE PIONEERS 55

county, and few people would, if they could, give up
what we have in exchange for what has passed away
in the course of nearly a century and a half of de-
velopment.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 5 7

CHAPTER III.

Homesteads in Monongalia County

The official documents giving an account of the
homesteads in Monongalia county are among the
most important of all the early papers relating to the
region, because they are the most complete regarding
the dates or the settlements and of the people who
founded early homes. They have the authority of
court accounts and were designed to make and keep
records of establishment of homes on the numerous
watercourses all over the old limits of Monongalia.
In these documents we have the highest extant au-
thority of times, persons, and of localities, relating
to the first homes founded in the region. The year,
and in some cases the month and day, of some of the
important founding of homes are given, and we are
justified in giving full credence to the information
contained in the papers, for the commissioners who sat
to adjust and determine the matters had before them
the best witnesses to be secured, touching the dates
and places where the homes were founded. Men who
had personal knowledge of the affairs were the wit-
nesses who gave testimony of the things under con-
sideration, and when they spoke in presence of other
men who knew about the transactions, we may be
sure that the facts were arrived at as nearly as it was
possible. Usually the men who founded the settle-
ments, and their neighbors also, were the witnesses
examined by the commissioners in preparing the rec-
ords ; and the short and concise statements concerning

58 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

the establishing of homes on a certain creek or in
some other locality, nearly always defined the places
in relation to some natural feature of the land. This
makes the record of the greatest worth as evidence of
what was done and when. The spelling of the old
records is often bad and the grammar is faulty, but
the facts are there, and they may be relied upon as
worthy of belief, as coming from witnesses who had
personal and defininte knowledge of what took place.

This chapter on the homesteads of Monongalia
county may be accepted as the highest authority on
that interesting subject that is now in our reach. It
should be given preference over nearly all traditions
and over recollections of old people, many of whom,
no doubt, told the best they could remember of the
matters under investigation, but it is a recognized fact
that the memories of most old persons is unsafe, for
old people as well as persons who are younger, are apt
to forget in course of time. But a document, written
at the time, is much more reliable. Forgetfulness has
much less opportunity to effect a written paper than
to impair the memory of a person, especially when
years have passed away since the occurrence of the
things spoken of. Writing remains as it is written,
but the memory changes or is impaired.

The superiority of documents over memories is
shown in this record of homesteads by alluding to the
first settlement of the site of Morgantown. The old
histories were wrong several years. They depended
upon tradition for their date of the settlement on the
place where the town was afterwards built. Consul-
tation of the homestead record reveals the somewhat
important fact that the old histories were wrong eight
years. They had the settlement that much too early.
A historian of another state years ago argued from
other well known facts that the settlement of Deck-
ers' creek at Morgantown could not have been as

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 59

early as some of the old historians had placed it, and
it is seen by consulting the homestead records that
the date was eight years off.

That record of the homesteads in Monongalia
county has not been made much use of in correcting
dates or in ascertaining who the homesteaders were.
When Samuel T. Wiley wrote his history of Monon-
galia in the year 1883, he evidently had the record
in his hands, for he made a few brief quotations from
its pages, but he missed his opportunity when he fail-
ed to comprehend the importance of the old docu-
ment and laid it aside with less than half a page of
quotations from its pages. Thus he missed the op-
portunity to make use of the highest and most com-
plete authority to be had of the times of the numer-
ous settlements in the county, and of the men who
made them.

The records for Monongalia county, from 1 766
to 1 782, both inclusive, show that 1117 homesteads
were issued to settlers in that time. The issuing of
homesteads ceased about 1 782 with the achieving of
the independence of the United States. The home-
steads were issued by the state of Virginia and not by
the United States as in later times. The land in
Monongalia county, subject to homesteading be-
longed to the state of Virginia and not to the United
States, as do the wild lands in the west now, and
therefore the title had to come from the state, and pro-
vision was made by which title could be secured. It
was usually secured by making a settlement, which
was about the same thing then as now, except that
the time required for the settler to live on the land, to
perfect his title, was indefinite. If he could prove that
he had raised a crop of corn on the land in a certain
year it was considered that he had lived there then and
it established his claim that he had resided on the land
the requisite time to give him right to the title. That

60 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

was the usual proof offered by the claimant and it
was generally sufficient. It was sometimes called a
"cornright" and old settlers frequently spoke of it as
such and it was well understood by all persons famil-
iar with the customs of the country. It was not spec-
ified in the proceedings of the land court what the
size of the cornfield had to be, in order to make good
the applicant's claim to the land. So far as the records
in hundreds of cases showed, the lot of a quarter of
an acre was as good in law as the field of ten acres.
A few hills, planted and grown, was called a crop, as
well as the more pretentious field, and if questions
were asked as to the extent of the corn crop, the rec-
ord book that kept account of the transaction made
no record of it, and the reader is justified in con-
cluding that no such questions were customarily ask-
ed of or concerning the applicant for the tract of for-
est land. The sentiment of the western country was
that the settler was wanted in the country, and, since
there was plenty of land, no unnecessary obstacles
were placed in his way in obtaining the farm he was
applying for.

Raising a crop of corn was not the only way of
perfecting title to a piece of land in the process of
proving out on a homestead. It could be done by
making an "improvement." That was an indefinite
term and capable of several different interpretations.
Sometimes it was called simply a "tomahawk right."
The hunter nearly always carried a very small ax in
in his belt, and it was a small matter to use the toma-
hawk in hacking notches in trees and bushes, if he
wanted to do so as evidence that he had stopped there
and laid claim to some part of the land. He gener-
ally cut his name on some of the trees, but that was
not deemed necessary and it might or might not be
done in leaving a perfectly good record that he had
been there and had in mind that he wished to return

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 6 1

and claim the land on which the marked trees grew.
Some of the homesteaders in the old days of Monon-
galia county left their records in chippings of the tom-
ahawk instead of the cornright, and it does not appear
that one method was given any preference over the
other in establishing rights to the land. Each was
good in itself, and it seemed to be allowable to use
both together. It was a loose way of making records,
but under the conditions obtaining on the frontiers of
that time it was probably as good a way as could have
been used in the woods and in the out of the way
places, and the purposes were served well. A large
number of the most valuable farms of the country
have their titles founded in such crude beginnings as
the corn right or tomahawk right.

Inasmuch as the homestead was not the most
common means of securing title to land in the east,
it is proper to inquire why it was done in this part
of West Virginia, which was then Virginia, and was
not done generally elsewhere with state lands which
were apportioned to settlers in filling up the coun-
try.

The homestead law as applied in what is now
West Virginia was different in some respects from the
land laws of most other parts of the United States. It
grew out of careful respect for the rights of the In-
dians to that part of the land in Virginia west of the
Alleghany mountains and between those mountains
and the Ohio river. After the close of Pontiac's war
in 1 763 the Indians set up claim to that part of West
Virginia, basing the claim in part on the conquest
of the region by the Indians of the state of New York
from other Indians who claimed to have long before
held it. The New York Indians claimed that they
secured the land by conquest about 1670 and that it
had been theirs ever since that time.

Whether their claim was good or not, they made

62 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

such a showing of their claim that they secured a
promise that their rights should be respected till they
should be paid for those lands. Consequent thereto
the king of England in 1 763 issued a proclamation
that settlements should not be made on the land be-
tween the Alleghany mountains and the Ohio river
till it had been bought from the Indians. Conse-
quently, Governor Fauquier issued three proclama-
tions forbidding the settlement of the disputed land
till it should be bought from the Indian claimants.
That left the land not open to settlement. It was un-
lawful to settle the land in face of the governor's
proclamations, and those who went on the land under
the circumstances, to possess it, were lawbreakers.
Both the king of England and the governor of Vir-
ginia forbade the man looking for land to try to get
it in that part of Western Virginia between the moun-
tains and the Ohio river until the claims of the Indians
should be satisfied. Yet it was in the face of those
proclamations that the homesteaders went on and
claimed the land and finally they obtained what they
claimed. More than eleven hundred of them made
good their claims and secured titles to the wilderness
lands in Monongalia alone, in addition to a large num-
ber who procured homesteads in adjoining counties.

The homesteaders were successful in getting the
land because the colonies won their independence
and cast off the bonds which had bound them to the
mother country and were not in favor of recognizing
the proclamations of England's king or of the royal
governors of the colonies. Having achieved their
independence, the Americans took it on themselves
to settle the land question on the western frontier,
and in the final show down they decided that the
homesteaders had a right to the land on which they
had settled, in spite of any claims the Indians might
have of right by conquest a hundred years before.
Had England won the Revolutionary war it is not

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 63

certain what would have been the outcome of the
claims of the homesteaders who had settled in de-
fiance of law, but it is inconceivable that the land
would have remained in the possession of the Indians.
England and Englishmen in all parts of the world
have taken too much land from savages and given
it to civilized people to leave much doubt in the case
of the western Virginia land, had its final disposition
been left to the authority of the mother country in-
stead of the colonists who had concluded a successful
rebellion and decided the land question in their own
way.

It is interesting to speculate what would have
been the result had the Revolutionary war been lost
to the colonists, but it was not lost and it is the histo-
rian's place to record what took place and the result
of the measures taken by the Americans. Nearly all
the people on the frontiers were in sympathy with
the American cause, and the Revolutionary war had
not advanced very far before the people west of the
Alleghany mountains showed in unmistakable ways
their leanings on matters in which the mother country
and the colonies differed. So firm did Washington
count the support of the westerners that he has been
quoted as saying in a distressing time of the war that
if he had to retreat from the East he would repair to
the mountains of the District of West Augusta and
there gather round him the men who would make it
possible to carry on the war to a successful issue.

Many of the men whom he held in mind were
the same men who were then planting homesteads or
preparing to plant them on the western waters. In
spite of the overwhelming importance of the war
that was then going on between the colonies and the
mother country, the Virginians did not lose track of
the western frontiers and it was not forgotten that the
homesteaders must be cared for. Measures must be

64 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

taken to secure for those brave men on the wilder-
ness land the homes which they were trying to carve
out of the great wild country. It was then that the
authorities of Virginia made a record that the men
were entitled to consideration, even though they had
gone on the wild land in violation of the royal proc-
lamation of the king, whose authority the Virginians
were refusing to recognize in the affairs of state. The
Revolutionary war had been in progress nearlv four
years when in May, 1 779 the general assembly of
Virginia passed an act to protect claimants to lands
on the western frontiers. It was the main object of
the law to look after the homesteader, and a part of
the preamble recites:

"Whereas the various and vague claims to
unpatented lands under the former and present
governments, previous to the establishment of the
commonwealth's land office, may produce te-
dious and infinite litigation and disputes, and in
the meantime purchasers would be discouraged
from taking up lands upon the terms lately pre-
scribed by law, and it is just and necessary, as
well as for the peace of individuals as well as
for the public weal, that some certain rules should
be established for settling and determining the
rights to such lands, and fixing the principles on
which legal and just claimers shall be entitled to
sue out grants, to the end that subsequent pur-
chasers and adventurers may be entitled to pro-
ceed with greater certainty and safety: Be it en-
acted by the general assembly, that all surveys of
waste and unappropriated lands upon any of the
western waters before the first of January in the
year 1 778, shall be and are hereby declared good
and valid.

"And whereas great numbers of people
have settled in the country upon western waters,
upon waste and unappropriate lands, from which
they have been hitherto prevented from suing
out patents or obtaining legal titles by the king
of Great Britain's proclamations or instructions
to his governors, or by the late change in gov-

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 65

ernment; and the present war having delayed
now the opening of a land office, and the es-
tablishment of any certain terms for granting
lands, and it is just that those settling under such
circumstances should have some reasonable al-
lowance for the charge and risk which they have
incurred, and that the property so acquired
should be secured to them: Be it therefore en-
acted, that all persons, who at any time before
the first day of January, 1778, have really and
bonafide settled themselves or their families, or at
his", her, or their charge, have settled others upon
any waste or unappropriated lands, upon the
western waters, to which no other person hath
any legal right or claim, shall be allowed for ev-
ery family so settled. 400 acres of land, or such
smaller quantity as the party chooses to include
in such settlement.

"And if any such settlers shall desire to take
up a greater quantity of land than is hereby al-
lowed them, they shall on payment to the treas-
urer of the consideration money required from
other purchasers, be entitled to the pre-emption
of any greater quantity of land adjoining to that
allowed them in consideration of settlement, not
exceeding 1,000 acres, and to which no other
person hath any legal right or claim."

The act defines settlement and preemption
rights, specifies the manner in which grants may be
obtained, what locations are entitled to preference,
how warrants are issued, and composition money is
paid. The state received ten shillings for every hun-
dred acres sold.

The counties on the western waters, which had a
portion of the land which might be wanted by home-
steaders were formed into districts of which there
were four, and for each of the four districts a tribunal
of commissioners was appointed. The districts were
as follows:

First, counties of Yohogania, Ohio and Monon-
galia; second, Augusta, Botetourt and Greenbrier;
third, Washington and Montgomery; fourth, Ken-

66 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

tucky. The governor of Virginia appointed four
commissioners for each district, any three of whom
might act. They had power to hear and determine
all land titles and various other matters that might
come before them in the discharge of their duties.
They were directed to hold their meetings at forts,
churches, meeting houses and other public places in
their districts, and to give public notice of the time
and place of every such meeting. In some respects
the commissioners had the powers of the courts of
the country, but they had not all the powers. The
certificate issued by the commissioners entitled the
holder or his assignee, to an entry and survey, or a
warrant for the lands mentioned, and on such terms
as were prescribed in the act.

There is in the court house of Monongalia coun-
by the certificate book which has in it the original
entries made at the various meetings held by the com-
missioners for that county. It has 442 pages of the
certificates issued or entered of record. It should be
borne in mind that Monongalia was then a much
larger county than it is at present, as will be seen by
an examination of the records of the various certifi-
cates in the book. The territory of the old county
extended to the Ohio river and far north and south
of the present boundaries of the county. The old
entries are a valuable list of the first landholders of
Monongalia, not all of them, nor of the principal part
of the old ones, but it is important because it shows
what no other record shows so well, and it contains
also much of the history of that interesting time,
particularly the date of the settlements in many
places. In fact, the time of many disputed events can
be settled by these dates after all other known means
for settling them seem to be gone beyond recovery.
The dates for the settlements are believed to be the
highest authority, as the man who came to prove his
claim to his land no doubt brought as witnesses the

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 67

best men he could get, and their evidence was accept-
ed as the final test in the matter, if there was a dis-
pute on the point. The entries in the book often read
as if they were intended to be the last and final evi-
dence in settling some disputd point which had come
before the tribunal for settlement. The two or three
lines of manuscript, therefore become highly valuable
to the historian or antiquarian seeking to settle some
disputed point, and the inquirer, for that reason if for
no other, has occasion to feel thankful that brave men
were willing to push into the forbidden western lands
and dispute the proclamations of England's king, and
of the royal governors of colonies, plant settlements
and despite the proclamations of England's king, and
were to become the centers of commonwealths great-
er than any with which the thirteen colonies were
familiar. Monongalia at that time contained between
8,000 and 9,000 square miles of territory, which was
more than one third as much as the present state of
West Virginia has within its borders.

It appears from the records, that commissioners
met at Redstone Old fort, which is now Brownsville,
Pa. ; at the house of Colonel John Evans at Morgan-
town ; at Cox's Fort in the present Washington coun-
ty, Pa. ; at the house of Samuel Lewillen at Clarks-
burg; at the residence of John Pierpoint; at that of
Thomas Evans; and at the courthouse of Ohio
county. It may be presumed that a similar record
was made and kept at each place where the commis-
sioners met in their districts, as well as in the office
of the register of lands at Richmond. The record at
Morgantown, fortunately, escaped various dangers
and came down to the present time. The court house
at Morgantown was destroyed by fire a few years
after the last entry was made and for a long time it
was supposed that the old book, containing the quaint
and valuable records of the homesteads, had been

68 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

lost, and except a few persons, the very existence of
the book was forgotten. After nearly a hundred
years it was finally found in the Morgantown clerk's
office by Richard E. Fast, who was at that time an
employe in the clerk's office. It was in a barrel along
with waste odds and ends of papers and window cur-
tains which at some time had been thrown into the
barrel to have them out of the way. The person who
had so disposed of them evidently supposed that the
things were of little or no value and not worth caring
for. The book was thus saved and the records are
given below about in the form in which the old clerks
wrote them with pen and ink, during the several years
spent in keeping the minutes at the meetings of the
commissioners. The writing is somewhat difficult to
read, on account of dimness of the writing in places
and also because the accumulation of dirt and blots
occasionally partly covers up and conceals the words.
But in spite of all the imperfections and mishaps, the
record is of great value to the local historian who
would trace the original entries of the old Virginia
homesteaders. Had this record been lost beyond re-
covery, it is probable that duplicates or copies could
be found in Richmond where the State land records
were kept.

The certificates, for the greater part, are the same
in form. That portion which names the man who ap-
plies for land, and locates the land, as to place or
boundaries, is different, as must be the case to iden-
tify the land which each claims. In nearly every in-
stance the land is located by naming some feature of
geography connected with the property or near or
adjoining to it. The tract of land is seldom or never
located by metes and bounds, for the probable reason
that it had not yet been surveyed when the commis-
sioners gave it consideration.

The first entry in the book began the list of

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 69

certificates granted at Redstone Old Fort. The
copy of the certificates is herein given in full for
the first, to show the form, and formal word-
ing of the others is omitted, as it is deemed enough to
copy only that part of the document which gives the
applicant's name and the location of the land, and the
date of the settlement on which he bases his claim,
and also the quantity of land to which he is entitled —
whether he claims additional land by preemption or
otherwise. The first certificate is as follows:

"We, the commissioners appointed for adjust-
ing the claims to unpatented lands in the counties of
Monongalia, Yohogania, and Ohio, do hereby certify
that Andrew Gewgill is entitled to 400 acres of land
in the county of Monongalia, on the waters of Dun-
lap creek, to include his settlement made in the year
of our Lord 1 772. Given under our hands at Red-
stone Old Fort this 16th day of December, 1779, in
the fourth year of the Commonwealth.

"FRANCIS PAYTON,
"PHIL PENDLETON,
"JOSEPH HOLMES.
"Test: JAMES CHEW, Clerk of
Commissioners, Mem."

Dunlap Creek flows into the Monongahela river,
in Pennsylvania.

The following entry follows the certificate and
is signed by the clerk, James Chew:

"This certificate cannot be entered with the sur-
veyor after June 26, 1 780. Entered April 1 3, 1 780."

William Houghland is entitled to 400 acres of
land in the county of Monongalia on the waters of
Decker's creek, to include his settlement made in the
year 1 775.

Decker's creek flows into the Monongahela river
at Morgantown, West Virginia.

70 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Edward Dorsey, assignee to David Rogers, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in the county of Monon-
galia, on the west side of the Monongahela river to
include his settlement made in 1 774, to be bounded
by the lines of Joseph Brenton, also a right in pre-
emption to 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Richard Jackson is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, situated and lying on the south
fork of Tenmile, to include his settlement, made in
the year 1775; also a right in preemption to 1,000
acres adjoining thereto.

Thomas Bishop is entitled to 400 acres of land
in the county of Monongalia, on Crawford's run, to
include his settlement made in the year 1 774.

George Beatty is entitled to 400 acres of land in
the county of Monongalia, on the waters of Yoho-
gania, to include his settlement made in the year
1775.

The Yohogania mentioned was the Youghiogheny
river, in one of its early and erratic spellings. One
branch of the river has its source in Preston county,
West Virginia, whence it flows across a portion of
Maryland into Pennsylvania and empties into the
Monongahela river. That part of the river now in
Preston county was at the time of this record in Mo-
nongalia county, and much of that in Pennsylvania
was then considered to be in Monongalia county.

Michael Cox is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on the waters of Dunlap's creek,
to include his settlement made the year 1 772, also a
right in preemption to 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.
Dunlap's creek is in Pennsylvania.

Levi Beatty is entitled to 400 acres of land in
the county of Monongalia, on the waters of Yoho-
gania to include his settlement made in the year 1 774.

Robert Beatty, assignee to John Waggoner, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in the county of Monon-

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 7 1

galia, on Buffalo run, a branch of Cheat river, to in-
clude his settlement made in the year 1 774.

Joseph Crabit is entitled to 400 acres of land in
the county of Monongalia, on the waters of Dunlap's
creek, to include his settlement made in the year
1772.

William Hill is entitled to 400 acres of land in the
county of Monongalia, on the waters of Indian creek,
to include his settlement made in the year 1 774.

Jacob Coleman is entitled to 400 acres of land
in the county of Monongalia, on the waters of Dun-
lap's creek, to include his settlement made in the year
1770, also a right to preemption of 1,000 acres ad-
joining thereto.

Henry Hawk is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county on the waters of Yohogania, to
include his settlement made in the year 1 774.

John Heath is entitled to 400 acres of land in the
ccrrty of Monongalia, on the waterjs of Muddy
creek, to include his settlement made in the year
1 774. Muddy creek flows into the Monongahela
river in Pennsylvania.

Samuel Bridgewater is entitled to 400 acres of
land in the county of Monongalia, on the east fork of
the river to include his settlement made in the year
1775.

James Walker is entitled to 400 acres of land in
the county of Monongalia, on the Monongahela river,
to include his settlement made in the year 1775.

Following is a list of certificates granted in 1 780
at Cox's Fort:

David Owen is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, lying on the South Fork of Ten-
mile creek to include his actual settlement made in
1771.

Tenmile creek is in the present county of Har-
rison.

72 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Elias Bean is entitled to 400 acres of land in the
county of Monongalia, on the waters of Tenmile
creek to include his settlement made in the year 1 772.

Thomas Bishop is entitled to 400 acres of land
in the county of Monongalia, at the mouth of Craw-
ford's run, to include his actual settlement made in
1773.

Jacob Whosong, Junior, is entitled to 250 acres
of land, in the county of Monongalia, on the waters of
Tenmile creek, to include his settlement made in
the year 1 772.

Robert McClelen is entitled to 400 acres of land
in the county of Monongalia on the South Fork of
Tenmile creek, to include his settlement made in the
year 1 774.

Thomas John, assignee of Thomas Hughes, is
entitled to 250 acres of land in Monongalia county,
on Tenmile creek to include his settlement made in
1772.

James Tucker, assignee to George Gregg, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
the West Fork of Tenmile creek, to include his set-
tlement made in the year 1 773.

Jacob Whosong (or Whosing) is entitled to 400
acres of land in the county of Monongalia, on the
waters of Tenmile creek, to include his settlement
made in 1 772.

Thomas Slater is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on Tenmile creek, to include
his actual settlement made in the year 1771.

John Thrusher, assignee to David Rodgers, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in right of preemption,
in Monongalia county, lying on the South Fork of
Tenmile creek, to include his cabin and other im-
provements made in the year 1 773.

James Hook is entitled to 300 acres of land in
Monongalia county lying on the South Fork of Ten-

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 73

mile creek, to include his actual settlement made in
the year 1 776.

James Hook, assignee of Abner Pipes, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
Tenmile creek, to include his settlement made in the
year 1770.

John Ankram is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on the South Fork of Tenmile
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 773.

John Swan is entitled to 400 acres of land in the
county of Monongalia, on the waters of Tenmile
creek, to include his settlement made in the year
1 780, and a right to 1 000 acres adjoining thereto, by
preemption.

The following certificates* were granted in 1781
by the commissioners at a meeting held at the resi-
dence of Col. John Evans. The commissioners at
the meeting were John P. Duvall, James Neal, Wil-
liam Haymond, and Charles. Martin; and William
M'Cleary was clerk. He was subsequently succeed-
ed as clerk by Col. John Evans.

John Evans, assignee to Daniel Veatch, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of and in Monongalia county, on
the west side of the Monongahela river, to include his
settlement made in the year 1 770.

Stephen Hardin is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on the waters of Indian creek,
adjoining lands of Michael Teabolt, deceased, in right
of residence, to include his improvement made in
1775.

Thomas Clare, assignee to Jacob White, is enti-
tled 400 acres. of land in Monongalia county on the
Laurel run, to include his settlement made in 1 773.

Jesse Bayles is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on a branch of Tygart's Valley
river, lying below Glady creek near to land known as
the Levels, to include his settlement made in 1 772.

Thomas Clare, assignee to Jacob White, is enti-

74 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

tied to 1 ,000 acres of land, in Monongalia county in
the right of preemption adjoining his settlement made
on Laurel run in 1 773.

Thomas Clare, assignee to Jacob White, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county on
Laurel run to include his settlement made in the year
1773.

George Gillespie is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, adjoining lands claimed by
Isaac Camp on the waters of Scott's run, in the right
of preemption to include his improvement made in
1773.

Caleb Hale is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county on Robinson's run on the east
side of Cheat river adjoining lands claimed by Harry
Richards.

Thomas Russell is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county on Robinson's run to include his
settlement made in 1 774.

Nathan Low is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county on the waters of Sandy creek, in
the right of residence, to include, his improvement
made in 1 776.

Beltosharzer Bragro is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county, on the waters of Cheat
river adjoining the land of James Connor, to include
his settlement made thereon in the year 1777.

John Connor is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county on Big Sandy creek, including
the Big Sandy lick, to include his settlement made
thereon in the year 1 775, with a preemption of 1 ,000
acres adjoining thereto.

Joseph Martin is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, adjoining lands claimed by
Jeremiah Downing, to include his settlement made in
1776.

Joseph Martin is entitled to 300 acres of land in

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 75

Monongalia county in the right of preemption ad-
adjoining to his settlement made in the year 1 776.

James Connor is entitled to 400 acres of land in
the county of Monongalia, on the waters of Cheat
river, adjoining the lands of Robert Connor, to in-
clude his settlement made thereon in 1 776, with a
preemption of 400 acres adjoining thereto.

William Hamilton is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on the Laurel run, in the right
of preemption, to include his settlement made in the
year 1 780.

William Hamilton is entitled to 200 acres of
land in Monongalia county, on the waters of Laurel
run, in the right of preemption adjoining lands claim-
ed by one Marshall, to include his improvements
made thereon in 1 776.

John Lafevors is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on the waters of Big Sandy creek
glades, adjoining lands of Sampel Rebenit, in the
right of residence, to include his improvement made
in 1771.

Robert Connor is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on Cheat river, adjoining the
lands of James Connor, in the right of residence, to
to include his settlement made thereon in 1 776, with
1 ,000 acres in preemption adjoining thereto.

Joseph Downing is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county on the waters of Hazle run, on
Cold Grave Yard Branch, adjoining lands claimed by
Charles Donalson, in the right of residence, to include
his improvement made thereon in 1 772.

Hazle Run is a branch of Sandy creek, in the
present county of Preston.

Jeremiah Tannihill is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county, on Laurel run, adjoining
land claimed by Nathan Low, in the right of residence,
to include his improvement made in 1 772.

Michael Kern, assignee of Josiah Veach, is en-

76 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

titled to 2 1 5 acres of land in Monongalia county , at
the mouth of Decker's creek, on the Monongahela
river, to include his settlement made thereon in 1 774,
with a preemption to 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Part of the town of Morgantown now occupies
this land.

Henry Crull, assignee of George Parker, is en-
titled to 200 acres of land in Monongalia county on
both sides of Cheat river, adjoining lands claimed by
Lewis Rodgers, to include his settlement made in
1 772.

Josiah Wilson is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on the waters of Booth's creek,
to include his settlement made thereon in 1776.

William Watkins is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on the waters of Scott's run,
adjoining lands claimed by Philip Shively, to include
his settlement made in the year 1 776, with a pre-
emption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

David Watkins is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on Scott's Mill run, adjoining
lands claimed by John Harding, to include his set-
tlement made in 1775.

Jacob Cozad, assignee to Moses Templin, is enti-
tled to a preemption of 1 ,000 acres of land in Monon-
galia county, adjoining his settlement on Cheat river
made in 1 770.

James Wilson is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, to include his settlement made
in 1 776, adjoining the waters of Booth creek, with a
preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

David Moore is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on the head of Hazle run, ad-
joining lands of Martin Judy, to include his settlement
made in 1 775.

Thomas Moore is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county to include his settlement made
in 1774.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 77

James Clark is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, adjoining lands of James Mc-
Collum on Sandy creek, to include his settlement
made in I 776.

Heirs at law of John Judy are entitled to 400
acres of land in Monongalia county, adjoining lands
of James McCollum, to include his settlement made in
1772.

Jacob Judy, heir at law of John Judy, assignee to
Josiah Winslow, is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on the waters of Sandy creek, ad-
joining the lands of Charles Donaldson, to include
his settlement made in the year 1 769.

William Clark is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on Miracle run, adjoining the
lands claimed by Jacob Farmer, in the right of res-
idence to include his improvements made in 1 777.

Philip Alfin is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land in
Monongalia county, in the right of preemption, ad-
joining his settlement, on the waters of Bull Creek.

Henry Snider is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county on the West Branch of the Mo-
nongahela river adjoining lands claimed by Enoch
James, to include his settlement made in the year
1773.

James Current, assignee of John Anderson, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county
on Booth's creek, to include his settlement thereon
in 1776.

James Current is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Wickwire creek in Monongalia county to include his
settlement made thereon in 1 774.

Philip Shively is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on Scott's run, adjoining David
Watkins, to include his settlement made thereon in
1774.

Christopher Garlow is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county, on Crooked run, adjoin-

78 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

ing lands of Thomas Russell and Richard Hampton,
to include his settlement made in 1 772.

Francis Warman is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on Cheat river, adjoining; lands
claimed by John Ramsey, to include his settlement
made in 1 770.

Francis Warman, assignee of Thomas Evans,
is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county
on Cheat river, adjacent to lands claimed by Barthol-
omew Jenkins, to include his settlement made in
1772.

William Norris is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county on Cheat river adjoining lands
claimed by Francis Warman, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 772.

James Moore, assignee to Robert Erwin, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county on
the waters of Cheat river to include his settlement of
the said Erwin made in 1775.

Bartholmew Zenden, assignee to Richard Lester,
is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county
on the waters of Crab tree creek to include his set-
tlement made thereon in 1 776.

Bartholomew Jenkins, assignee to Thomas Craft,
is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county
on the waters of Cheat river adjoining lands claimed
by Francis Warman, to include his settlement made
in 1770.

John Ramsey, senior, assignee to Robert Cham-
bers, is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia
on a tract that was formerly known as the Ice Place,
to include his settlement made thereon in 1 770.

Philip Askins is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county on Ice's run, joining lands claim-
ed by John Gray, to include his settlement made in
1770.

Jacob Youngman is entitled to 400 acres of land

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 79

in Monongalia county, on Decker's creek, to include
his settlement made in 1 774.

Jacob Youngman, assignee to Thomas Harbert,
is entitled to 350 acres of land in Monongalia county
on Decker's creek to include his settlement made
thereon in 1 774.

John Ramsey, the lesser, is entitled to 400 acres
of land in Monongalia county, on the waters of
Scott's Mill run, adjoining lands claimed by James
Sterling, to include his settlement made thereon in
1775, with a preemption of 1,000 acres adjoining
thereto.

John Scott, senior, is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county situated in the neck of
Cheat river, joining lands claimed by William Norris,
to include his settlement made thereon in the year
1770.

Richard Morris is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county on the waters of Sandy creek, to
include his settlement made thereon in 1770, with a
preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Simon Troy, assignee to Job Simms, is entitled
to 400 acres of land in Monongalia, in the forks of
Cheat and Monongahela rivers, to include his settle-
ment made thereon in 1 772.

Samuel Lewellen, assignee to John Collins, is
entitled to 300 acres of land in Monongalia county on
Cheat river, adjoining the lands of Bartholomew Jen-
kinSj including his settlement made thereon in 1 769.

Samuel Lewellen, assignee to John M'Donald, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county
on the waters of Indian creek, adjoining lands of Ben-
jamin Wilson, to include his settlement made in 1775.

Samuel Lewellen is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county in the forks of Pawpaw creek
in the right of residence, to include his improvement
made in 1 773.

The commissioners met at the residence of Sam-

80 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

uel Lewellen in 1 781 , and it is now uncertain where
he lived, but it was doubtless a central and convenient
place or the commissioners would not have had the
meeting there.

Stephen Morgan is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on Little Pawpaw creek, in-
cluding the land on both sides of the creek about the
mouth of Minister's run, in the right of residence,
and to include his improvement made in 1 773.

John Stewart is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, in the right of residence, to in-
clude his settlement adjoining lands claimed by Wil-
liam Stewart.

William Stewart is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on the waters of the Monon-
gahela river, adjoining lands claimed by Thomas
Mills, to include his settlement made thereon in 1 770.

William Stewart is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on the waters of Cheat river,
adjoining lands claimed by Thomas Mills, to include
his settlement made thereon in 1 770.

David Crull is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county on Aaron's creek, joining lands
claimed by John Burk, to include his settlement made
in 1770.

Thomas John is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county on the waters of Cheat river, ad-
joining lands claimed by William John, to include
his settlement made thereon in 1 773.

James Stafford, assignee to Robert Curry, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, in
the forks of Cheat and Monongahela rivers, to in-
clude his settlement made thereon in 1 774.

James Coburn is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county on the water of Booth's creek,
adjoining the land of John Gifford, to include his
improvements made in 1 773.

James Coburn, heir at law of Jonathan Coburn,

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 81

is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county,
on the waters of Decker's creek, to include his settle-
ment made thereon in 1 770.

Moses Trader is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county on the waters of Tom's and Joe's
run to include his improvements made for him by
Philip Doddridge, by right of residence.

Peter McCune is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, at the mouth of Rooting creek,
in the right of residence, having made a crop of corn
in this county before the year 1 778, to include his
improvements made on said land in the year 1 778.

Hezekiah Davisson is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county in the right of residence
and improvements made in 1 773.

Hezekiah Davisson, assignee to Johnathan Lam-
bert, is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia,
on Lambert's run, adjoining the land of Joshua Allen,
to include his settlement made in 1 774.

Josiah Davisson is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on Pleasants creek, to include
his settlement made in 1 775.

Hezekiah Davisson, assignee to Johnathan Lam-
bert, is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land in Monongalia
county in right of preemption on Lambert's run, ad-
joining the lands of Joshua Allen.

Josiah Davisson is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land
in Monongalia county in the right of preemption ad-
joining his settlement on Pleasant creek. No date is
given.

Andrew Davisson, junior, is entitled to 1 ,000
acres of land in Monongalia county in the right of
preemption, adjoining his right of residence by an im-
provement made in the year 1 774.

Andrew Davisson, junior, is entitled to 400
acres of land in Monongalia county in the right of
residence on a branch of Simpson's creek, called

82 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Thompson's run, including his improvement thereon
made in 1 774.

Jeremiah Clark is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on Slack's run, to include his
settlement made thereon in 1 774.

William Haymond is entitld to 400 acres of land
on Decker's creek in Monongalia county, to in-
clude his settlement made thereon in the year 1 774.

Andrew Davisson, junior, assignee to William
Boon, is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia
county, on the waters of Simpson's creek, adjoining
the lands claimed by James Anderson, including his
settlement made thereon in 1 773.

Thomas McCan is entitled to 300 acres of land
in Monongalia county on Davisson's run, adjoining
the lands of Thomas Berkeley, to include his settle-
ment made in 1775.

Thomas McCan is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of
land in Monongalia county adjoining his settlement
made in 1775.

Archibald Hopkins, assignee to Andrew Davis-
son, junior is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monon-
galia county on a run of the waters of Simpson's
creek, known by the name of Jerry's run, to include
his settlement made in 1 773.

Daniel Davisson is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land
in Monongalia county in the right of preemption ad-
joining his settlement made in the year 1 773.

Nicholas Carpenter, assignee to John Simpson,
is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county
on the West Fork, opposite to the mouth of Elk, to
include his settlement made in 1 772.

Edward Haymond is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county in the right of residence
on the dividing ridge between the two Pawpaws,
about three miles from the Big Spring, to include his
improvement made in 1 776.

Hezekiah Davisson, assignee to William Runion,

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 83

is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land in Monongalia coun-
ty in the right of preemption adjoining to his settle-
ment made in 1 773.

George Baxter is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county on Barrett's run, adjoining lands
of William Lowther, including his settlement made
thereon in 1 772.

George Baxter is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land
in Monongalia county in the right of preemption, ad-
joining the lands of William Lowther, including his
settlement made in 1 772.

Thomas Mills is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county adjoining lands claimed by Wil-
liam Stewart, to include his settlement made in 1 772.

John M'Farlane is entitled to 1 00 acres of land,
in right of residence, on the waters of Cheat river, ad-
joining lands of Richard Hair, in the county of Mo-
nongalia, to include his improvement made in 1 776.

Thomas Evans, assignee to Robert Galloway,
is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county,
on the waters of Cheat river, adjoining lands claimed
by William Stewart, to include his settlement made
in 1773.

Andrew Kilpatrick, assignee to Daniel Kidd, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, to
include his improvements made in 1 776.

William John, assignee to Conrad Richards, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia coun-
ty, on Carter's run, to include his settlement made
thereon in 1 770.

William John, assignee to John Burris, is entitled
to 400 acres of land in the county of Monongalia, on
a drain of Monongahela river, to include his set-
tlement thereon made in 1 770.

Thomas Chipps, assignee to John Allenton, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county
on Crabtree creek adjoining the land of Ezekiel Jones,

84 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

to include his settlement made in the year 1775.

Ezekiel Jones, assignee to James Hall, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
Crabtree creek, adjoining the land of Thomas Chipps,
to include his settlement made in 1 775.

Ezekiel Jones is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, in the right of residence on
the waters of Crabtree creek, to include his improve-
ment made in the year 1 775.

Amos Roberts is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on a branch of Muddy creek,
adjoining lands claimed by Joseph Butler, to include
his settlement made thereon in 1 776.

William Roberts is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on Rolling creek, adjoining
lands of Joseph Butler, in right of residence, to in-
clude his improvement made in the year 1 766.

Joseph Butler is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Dunkard Bottom on Cheat river to include his settle-
ment made in the year 1 773.

Joseph Butler is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land
in Monongalia county, adjoining his settlement on the
Dunkard Bottom on Cheat river made in 1 773.

Joseph Butler is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on Crabtree creek, adjoining the
lands of Amos Roberts, to include his settlement
made in 1 775.

Calder Haymond, assignee to Thomas Phillips, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county,
adjoining the Monongahela river and the lands of
Jacob Pritchard, to include his settlement made in
1773.

Calder Haymond is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on Salt Lick creek, a branch
of the Little Kanawha river, in the right of residence
and raising corn before the year 1778, including his
improvement made thereon in 1 773.

Thomas Haymond is entitled to 400 acres of

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 85

land in Monongalia county in the right of residence
and raising corn before the year 1778 on Salt Lick
creek, a branch of the Little Kanawha river, includ-
ing his improvement made thereon in 1 773.

Zebland Hogue is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on the waters of Sandy creek,
adjoining lands claimed by Richard Morris, to include
his settlement made thereon in 1777.

John Gray, assignee to Thomas Evans, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county on
Buffalo creek, adjoining land of John Mahon, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1775.

Thomas Read is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on the West Fork of the Monon-
gahela river, adjoining lands claimed by John Davis-
son, to include his settlement made in 1775.

Thomas Batton, junior, is entitled to 400 acres
of land in Monongalia county, at the forks of Booth's
creek, adjoining lands of John Thomas, including his
settlement made in the year 1 776.

James Anderson, senior, is entitled to 400 acres
of land in Monongalia county on Simpsons creek,
adjoining the land of Andrew Davisson, to include
his settlement made in the year 1 771 .

James Anderson, senior, is entitled to 1 ,000
acres of land in Monongalia county, on Simpson's
creek, adjoining the lands of Andrew Davisson, in the
right of preemption, adjoining his settlement made in
the year 1 771 .

James Anderson, junior, is entitled to 400 acres
of land in Monongalia county on Simpson's creek,
adjoining the land of John Powers, adjoining his set-
tlement made in 1771.

Thomas Batton, junior, assignee to Thomas Bat-
ton, senior, is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monon-
galia county, on a drain of the Ohio river about two
miles above the mouth of the Little Kanawha river
and about one mile from the Indian Old Fields, in the

86 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

right of residence to include his improvements made
thereon in the year 1 773.

Joseph Davisson is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on Davisson's run, at the
forks, in the right of residence, to include his im-
provements made thereon in 1773.

Obediah Davisson is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on Davisson's run, at the Big
Lick, in the right of residence, to include his improve-
ment made thereon in 1 773.

Abraham Low is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county on a run that empties into the
Monongahela river next above Indian Creek, adjoin-
ing lands claimed by Charles Martin, in the right of
residence, to include his improvements made thereon
in 1773.

William Stewart, assignee to William Ice, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
Cheat river, adjoining lands claimed by Thomas Mills,
to include his settlement made in 1 770.

William Stewart, assignee to Isaac LeMasters,
senior, is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia
county on the waters of Indian Creek, including his
settlement made thereon in the year 1773.

William Stewart, assignee to William Ice, is en-
titled to 1 ,000 acres of land in Monongalia county
in the right of preemption, adjoining his settlement on
Cheat river.

William Stewart, assignee to Jonathan Ricks, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county,
on the Monongahela river in the forks of Cheat, to
include his settlement made in 1772.

William Robe, senior, is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county, on the waters of Deck-
er's creek, adjoining the lands of Charles Bennett,
including his settlement made thereon in 1773.

William Robe, senior, is entitled to 1 ,000 acres

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 87

of land in Monongalia county in the right of preemp-
tion, adjoining his settlement made in 1 773.

Lewis Rodgers, assignee to Henry Davis, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
Cheat river, adjoining the lands of John Pierpoint, to
include his settlement made thereon in 1 772.

Lewis Rodgers is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land
in Monongalia county in right of preemption, ad-
joining John Pierpoint s land.

Lewis Rodgers, assignee to Jacob Rodgers, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county,
on both sides of Cheat river, adjoining land claimed
by Henry Crull, to include his settlement made in
1774.

Lewis Rodgers is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land
in Monongalia county, in the right of preemption,
adjoining his settlement made on Cheat river in 1 774.

William Robe is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on Laurel run, a branch of
Booth's creek, to include his settlement made thereon
on 1775.

William Robe is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land
in Monongalia county, in the right of preemption,
adjoing his settlement made on Laurel run, a branch
of Booth's creek, in the year 1 775.

Jonas Webb is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Simpson's creek, adjoining lands claimed by the
heirs of George Wilson, in the peddler's right, to in-
clude the settlement made thereon by him in the year
1773, with a preemption to 1,000 acres adjoining
thereto.

Benjamin Webb is entitled to 400 acres of land
in the county of Monongalia, on the waters of Simp-
son's creek, adjoining lands claimed by Samuel
Bearden, in the right of residence, with a preemption
of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Alexander Wilson, assignee of Valentine Coop-
er, is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia

88 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

county, on Dunkard's creek, adjoining lands claimed
by John Cooper, to include his settlement made in
1775.

Alexander Wilson is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of
land in Monongalia county in the right of preemption,
adjoining his settlement on Dunkard's creek, made in
1775.

Jacob Koontz is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county on the waters of Muddy creek
and Kitt's creek, to include his settlement made in
1776.

Peter Dyer is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land in
Monongalia county, in the right of preemption, upon
the waters of Hazle run and Big Sandy creek, adjoin-
ing lands, to include his improvement thereon in
1776.

Michael Frank is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land
in Monongalia county, in the right of preemption, on
a branch of the West Fork of the Monongahela river,
between Helens run and Buffalo creek, to include his
improvements made in 1 773.

Hezekiah Davisson is entitled to 400 acres of
land in the county of Monongalia, on the West Fork,
adjoining the lands of Thomas Barkley, to include his
settlement made in 1 773.

Hezekiah Davisson is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county, on the waters of the West
Fork, adjoining lands of Thomas Barkley, in the right
of residence, to include his improvements made in
1775.

The following certificates were granted in 1781
at Clarksburg:

Benjamin Ratliff, assignee to Elijah Runner, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county
on McKinney's run, adjoining lands claimed by John
McKinney, in right of having settled a tenant on said
land in the year 1 773, to include his settlement there-

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 89

on, with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining
thereto.

Thomas Webb is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county on the waters of the west branch
of the Monongahela river, adjoining lands claimed by
Charles Washburn, in the right of residence to include
his improvement made in the year 1 773.

Benjamin Caplin is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county on Brushy Fork of Elk creek,
adjoining lands claimed by Levi Douglas, to include
his settlement made thereon in the year 1 773, with a
preemption of 1 ,000 acres of land adjoining thereto.

Joseph Davisson, assignee to Benjamin Caplin,
is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county
on Simpson's creek, adjoining lands claimd by James
Anderson, with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoin-
ing thereto.

Daniel Davisson, assignee to George Shinn, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county
on Limestone creek, in the right of residence, to in-
clude his improvement made thereon, adjoining
lands of Amoriah Davisson, in the year 1771.

Thomas Cunningham is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county, on the right hand fork
of Tenmile creek, at Jones improvement, in the
right of residence, to include his improvement made
in 1772.

Joseph Lowther, heir at law to Robert Lowther,
is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county,
adjoining lands claimed by Charles Washburn, on
Washburn's run, to include his settlement made there-
on in 1775.

Archibald McKinney is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county, on the waters of Outers
creek and Barclay's run, adjoining lands claimed
by Gilbert Huston, to include his improvement made
thereon in 1 776.

Bonam Stought is entitled to 400 acres of land in

90 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Monongalia county on the waters of Simpson's creek,
adjoining lands claimed by Johnathan Stought in right
of residence, to include his improvement made there-
on.

Heir at law of John Thomas is entitled to 400
acres of land in Monongalia county, on Thomas run,
a drain of Booth's creek, adjoining land claimed by
Ezekiel Thomas, to include his settlement made there-
on in 1 771 .

William Taylor is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on the north side of Davisson's
run, from Washburn's camp upwards, in the right of
residence, to include his improvement made thereon
in 1776.

Thomas Stought is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on the main fork of Elk creek,
adjoining lands claimed by Johnathan Ratliff, in right
of residence, to include his improvements made there-
on in 1775, with a preemption of 200 acres adjoining
thereto.

John Godwin, senior, is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county, on Lost run, adjoining
lands claimed by John Wickwire, to include his set-
tlement made thereon in 1775, with a preemption of
1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Benjamin Shinn is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on Simpson's creek, adjoining
lands claimed by George Stewart, to include his set-
tlement made thereon in 1 772.

Hezekiah Stout it entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, at the mouth of Indian creek,
in the right of residence, to include his improvement
made thereon in the year 1 773.

Robert Hughstead is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of
land in Monongalia county, in the right of preemp-
tion, on Aughter's creek and Barclay's run, adjoining

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 9 1

lands claimed by John Wickwire, to include his im-
provement made thereon in 1772.

Samuel Shinn is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, in the right of residence, to in-
clude his improvement made on Levi Shinn's run, be-
low the Buffalo lick, in the year 1771.

Samuel Harbard is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county on the West Fork of the Mo-
nongahela river, in the right of residence, adjoining
lands claimed by Levi Shinn, to include his improve-
ment made thereon in the year 1775

John Stackhouse is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county on the headwaters of Booth's
creek, adjoining lands claimed by the heirs of David
Edwards, to include his settlement made thereon in
the year 1 775, with a preemption of 400 acres ad-
joining thereto.

Evan Thomas is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on the waters of Booth's creek,
adjoining Thomas Batten's land, in the right of res-
idence, to include his improvement made thereon in
the year 1 774.

The certificates which follow were granted by
the commissioners in 1781 at the residence of Col.
John Evans, near Morgantown.

James Barker is entitled to 4@0 acres of land on
the waters of Indian creek, adjoining lands claimed
by John McDaniel, in the right of residence, to in-
clude his improvement made in 1777.

John Barker is entitled to 400 acres on the waters
of Scott's Meadow run, adjoining Joseph Barker's
land, to include his settlement made in 1775.

Richard Fields, assignee to Thomas Fields, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
the waters of Three Forks, a branch of the Monon-
gahela river, to include his settlement made thereon
in 1774.

Three Forks is in the present county of Taylor

92 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

and flows to the river from the east and empties at
Grafton.

Benjamin Brain, heir at law to James Brain,
deceased, is entitled to 400 acres of land on Three
Forks, a branch of the Monongahela river, to include
his settlement made thereon in 1 774.

Benjamin Fields is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Three Forks, to include his settlement made in
1774.

Joseph Boltinghouse, assignee to David Guilkey,
is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county,
on a branch that empties into the Big Pawpaw, in
the forks thereof, about a mile and a half above the
Little Pawpaw, including his settlement made thereon
in 1773.

Morgan Morgan, assignee to Zachariah Morgan,
junior, is entitled to 400 acres of land in Mononga-
lia county, on Salt Lick, a drain of the Little Kan-
awha, to include his settlement made thereon in
1773.

John Button, assignee to Thomas Kelles, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
Simpson's creek, adjoining lands of Samuel Bearden,
to include his settlement made in 1 776.

Richard Cain, assignee to Joseph Bennett, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
the waters of Cheat river, adjoining the lands of
Thomas Mills, to include his settlement made in 1 771 .

Richard Cain, assignee to Samuel Lewellen, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Cheat river, in Monon-
galia county, adjoining lands clamied by John M'Far-
land, to include his settlement made in 1 771.

Henry Smith, assignee to Samuel Burke is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county,
on Deckers creek, to include his settlement made in
1 770, with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.
John Perry is entitled to 400 acres in Monongalia,

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 93

on the west side of the Monongahela river, adjoining
lands of Henry Stephens to include his settlement
made in 1 773.

John Ferry is entitled to 1 ,000 acres in right of
preemption in Monongalia county, adjoining actual
settlement, which adjoins the lands of Henry Ste-
phens on the west side of Monongahela river, made in
1773.

Aaron Henry, assignee to Dennis Neville, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in Monongahela county,
on Scott's run, adjoining the land of Joseph Barker,
including his settlement made thereon in 1 773.

Francis Burrille, assignee to Henry Haines, is
entitled to 328 acres on Coburn creek, in Mononga-
lia county, to include his settlement made in 1775.

John Burke is entitled to 357 acres in Monon-
galia county, on the waters of Decker's creek, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 770.

Lawrence Holt, heir at law to Motthew Holt, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county,
on the Monongahela river, adjoining lands of Henry
Batton, including his settlement made in 1 776.

George Weaver is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on the waters of Scott's run,
adjoining lands claimed by the heirs of James Scott,
to include his settlement made in 1775, also 1,000
acres in the right of preemption.

John Cochran is entitled to 400 acres on Scott's
run, in Monongalia county, adjoining the Jacob Scott
Meadow place, including his settlement made there-
on in 1 773.

Simon Cochran is entitled to 400 acres on Lam-
bert's run, in Monongalia county, adjoining Hezekiah
Davisson, including his settlement made in 1 773.

Levy Wells is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on the West Fork of the Monon-
gahela river, adjoining lands claimed by Thomas
Reed, in the right of having a tenant thereon in 1 770.

94 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Also 1 ,000 acres in right of preemption on the West
Fork of the Monongahela river, adjoining lands
claimed by Thomas Reed in right of settlement of a
tenant thereon in 1 770.

Jeremiah Gray, assignee to Joseph Borsett, is
entitled to 400 acres on a nob called Buffalo Nob, ad-
joining lands claimed by James Morgan, to include
his settlement made thereon in 1774. Also 1,000
acres in right of preemption.

Owen Davis is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on Carter's run, to include his
settlement made thereon in the year 1 770. Also
1 ,000 acres adjoining in right of preemption.

Thomas Davis, assignee to Owen Davis, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
the West Fork of the Monongahela river, to include
his settlement made in the year 1 774. He is also en-
titled to 1 ,000 acres adjoining in the right of pre-
emption.

Phillip Lewis, assignee to John Harden, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on the
waters of Scott's Mill run, adjoining Doll Snyder's,
to include his settlement made in 1 774.

John Evans, assignee to Samuel Owens, is enti-
tled to 400 acres on the waters of the Monongahela
river, in Monongalia county, to include the actual set-
tlement made by the said Samuel Owens in the
months of April and May, 1 769, with a preemption
of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Joseph Jenkins, assignee to Lewis Rodgers, is
entitled to 400 acres in Monongalia county, on the
headwaters of West's run, adjoining lands claimed
by John Pierpoint, to include his settlement made in
1 774, with a preemption to 1,000 acres adjoining.

Thomas Pindle is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, in right of residence, to in-
clude his improvement made on Flaggy Meadow run,
adjoining the land of Philip Pindle, improved in 1 773.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 95

Jacob Cozad, assignee to Samuel Sutton, is enti-
tled to land in Monongalia county, on Morgan's run,
a branch of Cheat river, to include his set dement
made in 1 770.

The entry in the commissioners' book does not
state the quantity of land to which Mr. Cozad is en-
titled.

Thomas Craft, assignee to Hartness, is entitled
to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, in the
Glades of Sandy Creek, adjoining lands of John Col-
lins, to include his settlement made in 1 773.

Samuel World, senior, is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county, on the waters of Sandy
creek, adjoining the lands of Richard Morris, to in-
clude his settlement made thereon in 1 770.

Samuel World, junior, is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county, on the waters of Sandy
creek, adjoining lands claimed by Samuel World, in
the right of residence. The date of the residence is
not stated in the order book.

Alexander Brannon is entitled to 400 acres of
land in right of preemption, on the waters of Sandy
creek, including his settlement made thereon in 1777.

Henry Tucker is entitled to 300 acres of land on
the waters of Booth's creek, in Monongalia county,
adjoining lands claimed by Thomas Miller, in the
right of residence. The entry book does not give the
date of the residence.

Thomas Miller, heir at law to Jacob Miller, de-
ceased, is entitled to 400 acres in the right of preemp-
tion, adjoining on the Monongahela and Booth's
creek, to his improvement made in 1 774 .

Thomas Miller, heir at law of Jacob Miller, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
the waters of Coburn creek, to include his settlement
made thereon in 1 772.

Andrew Lee, assignee to Jacob Clark, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on

96 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Cheat river adjoining lands claimed by John Ramsey,
to include his settlement made thereon in 1 772.

John Finch is entitled to 400 acres of land on
White's run, adjoining lands claimed by Philimon
Askins, to include his settlement made thereon in
1772.

John Evans, junior, assignee to Shively, is en-
titled to 400 acres on Goose creek, a branch of
Hughes river, about six miles from the mouth of
said creek, to include his settlement begun in 1773,
with a preemption to 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

William Morgan is entitled to 400 acres on the
■west side of Cheat river, opposite to the Dunkard
Bottom, to include the settlement of said James Mor-
gan made thereon in 1 769, with a preemption of
1 ,000 acres adjoining.

William Morgan is entitled to 400 acres in right
of preemption on Lick run, about three miles from the
mouth thereof, to include his improvement made
thereon in 1 776.

Hugh Morgan is entitled to 400 acres on Cheat
river adjoining the lands of William Morgan, to in-
clude his settlement made thereon in 1777, with a
preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

James Morgan, assignee to John Morgan, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
the waters of Cheat river, adjoining the lands of Jer-
emiah Gay, to include his settlement made thereon
in 1775, with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Evan Morgan, in the right of his wife, 1 60 acres
of land, on the waters of Coburn's creek and the Lau-
rel run, adjoining lands claimed by Thomas Miller, to
include his settlement made by John Woodfin thereon
in 1772.

Francis Reed, assignee to Joseph Gregory, is en-
titled to 400 acres in Monongalia county, on the West
Fork of the Monongahela river at the mouth of

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 97

Crooked run, to include his settlement made in 1 776,
with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

John Green is entitled to 1 ,000 acres in Monon-
galia county, on the waters of Cheat river, on a creek
called Buffalo, adjoining lands claimed by James
Morgan, to include his settlement made in 1774.

David Frazee, assignee to John Cuppey, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
the waters of Sandy creek, adjoining the lands of
Thomas Cushman, to include his settlement made in
1769.

Major Powers is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on both sides of Glady creek, ad-
joining the lands of William Pettyjohn, junior, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 776, with a preemption
of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

William Pettyjohn, senior, is entitled to 400
acres on Tygart Valley river, on both sides of the
stream, about one and a half miles from the junction
of that stream with the Monongahela river, to include
his settlement made in 1775, with a preemption of
1 ,000 acres adjoining.

William Pettyjohn, senior, is entitled to 1 ,000
acres of land in Monongalia county, in right of pre-
emption, adjoining his settlement made in 1 770. The
commissioners' book does not state the place in which
this land was located.

John Pettyjohn is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on the headwaters of the Yo
hogania river, in Glades adjoining the Maryland line,
in the right of residence, to include his improvement
made thereon in 1776, with a preemption of 1,000
acres adjoining.

Thomas Wade is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on the waters of Dunkard's
creek, adjoining the land of William Robinson, in-
cluding his settlement made in 1 770.

James Ross, assignee to Richard Fields, is enti-

98 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

tied to 400 acres on the waters of Coburns creek,
in Monongalia county, to include his settlement made
in 1772.

Charles Donaldson, assignee to Alexander Bran-
non, is entitled to 400 acres in Monongalia county, on
the waters of Sandy creek, adjoining lands claimed by
James Spurgeon, to include his settlement made in
1776, with a preemption of 1,000 acres adjoining
thereto.

Charles Donaldson, assignee to James Robenett,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on Sandy creek waters,
adjoining the lands claimed by the heirs of John Judy,
to include his settlement made in 1 776, with a pre-
emption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Charles Donaldson is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county, on the waters of Cheat
river, to include his settlement made in 1 776, with a
preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Levy Lynn, assignee to Jeremiah Beck, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
Beaver Dam run, adjoining the lands of Daniel Se-
vern, to include his settlement made in 1775.

Absalom Severn is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on the waters of Sandy creek,
adjoining lands of James Parker, in right of residence
and to include his improvement made in 1 775.

James Parker is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on the waters of Sandy creek, in
the right of preemption, to include his settlement
made in 1 779.

Zacariah Piles is entitled to 200 acres on Dunk-
ard's creek, to include his settlement made in 1770.

Zacariah Piles, heir at law of James Piles, de-
ceased, is entitled to 400 acres on a branch of Dunk-
ard's creek, at a place called Peddlers camp, in the
right of residence. (No date is given.)

Zacariah Piles is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, on the waters of Pawpaw creek

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 99

above the big lick, in right of residence. (No date
appears.)

John Ray, assignee to William John, is entitled
to 400 acres on the west branch of the Monongahela
river, in Monongalia county, to include his settlement
made in 1775, with a preemption of 1,000 acres ad-
joining.

James Coburn, assignee to Jonathan Coburn, is
entitled to 400 acres on Coburn's creek, adjoining
lands claimed by the heirs of John Stephenson, to
include his settlement made in 1 770.

James Coburn, assignee to Robert Henderson,
is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county,
in the right of Robert Henderson having resided on
the land in 1 778, and having raised a crop of corn
there that year. The tract of land includes his settle-
ment situate on Coburn's creek, adjoining the lands of
said James Coburn, assignee to Jonathan Coburn,
deceased, made in the year 1 770.

Daniel Davisson is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Elk creek, in Monongalia county, adjoining lands
claimed by Thomas Nutter, to include his settlement
made in the year 1 773.

The heir at law of Daniel Davisson is entitled
to 400 acres of land on Davisson's run, adjoining
lands claimed by Obediah Davisson, to include his set-
tlement made in 1 773.

Thomas Butler, assignee to James Butler, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
Cheat river, adjoining lands claimed by Henry Rich-
ards, to include his settlement made in 1 774.

Thomas Butler is entitled to 400 acres in Monon-
galia county, on Cheat river, at the Cole Lick bottom,
adjoining lands claimed by William Roberts, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1775, with a preemption
of 1 ,000 acres, adjoining lands claimed by Henry
Richards.

Thomas Butler is entitled to 400 acres in Monon-

100 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

galiagalia county, on Cheat river, at Cole Lick bottom,
adjoining lands claimed by William Roberts, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1775, with a preemption
of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

John Dougherty is entitled to 1 ,000 acres by
right of preemption in Monongalia county, adjoining
his improvement on Cheat river, adjoining land
claimed by William Biggs, including his improvement
made in 1 776.

John Dougherty is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Cheat river adjoining lands claimed by William
Biggs, to include his improvement made in 1 776.

John Dent, assignee to Arthur Trader, junior, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county,
on the waters of Mudlick run, a branch of the Monon-
gahela river, to include his improvement made in
1774.

John Dent, assignee to Samuel Osborn, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land about a mile from Cheat river,
on a branch of said river, between the ridge that di-
vides the waters of Cheat and the Monongahela rivers
and the Laurel Hill, in the said Osburn's right of resi-
dence. No date is fixed in the record.

John Gifford is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Booth's creek, adjoining lands of William Roby, Jr.,
to include his settlement made thereon in 1 773.

Daniel Bowen, heir at law of Samuel Bowen,
is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land on Bingamon creek,
on the waters of the right hand fork thereof, in his
right of preemption, to include his settlement made in
1773.

Enoch James is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the West Fork of the Monongahela river, to include
his settlement made thereon in 1 775, with a preemp-
tion right to 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Augustus Bell, assignee to John McFarland, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on the waters of Pawpaw
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 776.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 1 1

Richard Findley is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Pawpaw creek, in his right of residence, to in-
clude his improvement made thereon in 1 773.

John McFarland, assignee to Alexander Smith, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Indian creek, in Mo-
nongalia county, to include his settlement made there-
on in 1770.

Samuel Rubels, assignee to John Collins, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on the waters of Three
Fork creek, in the right of residence, to include his
improvement made in the year 1775.

Samuel Rubels is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on the waters of Rubel's run,
a branch of Cheat river, on the south side of Mason
and Dixon's line, adjoining the same, and the land
of Arthur Trader, to include his settlement made
in 1773.

Samuel Rubels, assignee to Robert Lowther, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Rubel's Mill run, a
branch of Cheat River, to include his actual settlement
made in 1 770.

William Haymond is entitled to 1 ,000 acres in
right of preemption, adjoining his settlement made in
1774.

James Chew, assignee of Josiah Hawkins, is
entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land in Monongalia county,
in the right of said Josiah Hawkins, adjoining the ac-
tual settlement made by the said Josiah on the waters
of Scott's run, adjoining the lands of Isaac VanCamp,
in the year 1775.

James Chew, assignee to John Miller, is entitled
to 1 ,000 acres by right of preemption, adjoining the
said John Miller's actual settlement made on the west
side of the Monongahela river, adjoining lands of
David Morgan, the settlement was made in 1772.

Elias Pierce is entitled to the 400 acres of land,
adjoining land which is claimed by Walker, on the

102 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

drains of the Monongahela river, including his settle-
ment made in 1 773.

The given name of Walker in the above para-
graph is so blurred as to be incapable of being read.

Amy Trader and Hannah Trader, daughters of
Tagal Trader, are entitled to 200 acres of land in Mo-
nongalia county, on the eastern side of the Mononga-
hela river, to include their settlement made in 1 773.

Jacob Springer is entitled to 400 acres of land in
his right of residence, to include his improvement
made on Salt Lick creek, a branch of the Little Kan-
awha river, in 1 773, with a right of preemption to
400 acres adjoining.

John Springer is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land
in Monongalia county, by right of preemption, adjoin-
ing his improvements, obtained in right of residence,
made in 1773, on Salt Lick creek, a branch of the
Little Kanawha river.

Isaac Prichard is entitled to 400 acres of land in
right of residence, to include his improvement made
on Salt Lick creek, a branch of the Little Kanawha
river, in I 773, with the right to preempt 400 acres
adjoining.

Jesse Pigman is entitled to 400 acres of land in
right of residence and raising corn before 1 778. The
improvement is on Salt Lick creek, at the forks of the
same, about four miles below the lick, to include his
settlement made in 1773. He is also entitled to the
right of preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining to his
settlement.

Dennis Springs is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, by right of residence and rais-
ing a crop of corn on an improvement situated on the
west side of the Little Kanawha river, in Monongalia
county, about two miles below the mouth of Salt Lick
creek, to include his improvement made in the year
1773, also a right to 1,000 acres in preemption, ad-
joining to his improvement.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 103

James Cleland, assignee to Epharim Richardson,
is entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county,
on Cheat river, to include the actual settlement made
by said Richardson in 1 769.

James Cleland is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Monongalia county, in the right of residence and
raising a crop of corn, to include his improvement
made in i 773.

Jacob Hall is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the Monongahela river, nearly opposite the falls of
the river, to include his actual settlement made in
1775.

James Chew, assignee to Jacob Hall, is entitled
to 1 ,000 acres of land, by right of preemption, ad-
joining the lands of the said Jacob Hall, on the east
side of the Monongahela river, nearly opposite the
falls of the said stream, to include his settlement made
in 1775.

John Logan is entitled to 400 acres of land in
the right of residence and having raised a crop of corn
before 1 778 on Hughes river, about four miles above
the forks of the same, on the south side thereof. His
improvement was made in 1777. He has also a right
in preemption to 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

James Chew, assignee to John Miller, junior, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county,
in the right of residing on the land and raising a crop
of corn on it before the year 1 778, and proving that
he has never taken up for himself, nor sold any land
in the said county, nor on any of the western waters,
to include his improvement made on sundry holly
trees by the said James Chew, on the head of the right
hand fork of Salt Lick creek and the drain of Elk
river in the year 1 773, also a right in preemption of
1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Henry Barnes is entitled to 400 acres in the right
of residence and of raising a crop of corn, about two
and a half miles above the forks of Hughes river, on

104 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

the north side of the south fork of the said river, be-
fore the year 1 778, and also a right in preemption to
1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Thomas Parkison is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of
land by right of preemption, to include his improve-
ment situate on the east fork of the Monongahela
river and at the falls of the same, known by the name
of the Tygart Valley Falls, to include his improve-
ment made in the year 1 773.

Elizabeth Crouse, heiress at law of Conrad
Crouse, is entitled to 400 acres of land in the right of
preemption on Aaron's creek, a branch of Decker's
creek, in Monongalia county, to include the settle-
ment made by the said Conrad Crouse in 1 770.

James Chew, assignee to Elizabeth Crouse, heir-
ess at law of Conrad Crouse, is entitled to 1 ,000 acres
in right of preemption on Aaron's creek, and adjoin-
ing the settlement made by the said Conrad Crouse
in 1770.

John Joliff, son of Hannah Joliff, is entitled to
400 acres of land on a branch of the Monongahela
river, to include his improvement made in the year
1 774, and adjoining the lands of David Morgan; also
a right in preemption to 1 ,000 acres adjoining there-
to.

James Russell, assignee to Alexander Parker,
is entitled to 360 acres of land, to inculde his settle-
ment made in 1 770, adjoining lands of Michael Kerns
and James Coburn.

James Chew, assignee to James Russell, is en-
titled to 1 ,000 acres of land, in right of preemption,
adjoining the actual settlement of the said James Rus-
sell, as assignee to Alexander Parker, adjoining the
lands of Michael Kerns and James Coburn on the
waters of Decker's creek and the Monongahela river,
his settlement having been made in 1 770.

John Pierpoint, assignee to Samuel Merefield, is
entitled to 400 acres of land at the mouth of Tygart

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 105

Valley river, in the forks of said river, to include his
settlement made in the year 1775.

John Hardin, son of Martin Hardin, is entitled
to 400 acres of land on the dividing ridge between
Raccoon creek and Sandy creek, on both sides of the
road that leads to Tygart's Valley, to include his set-
tlement made in 1 771 .

William Robinson, assignee to John Smith, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land, for the said John Smith's
right of residence and raising corn, to include his set-
tlement made on Salt Lick creek in the year 1 773.

George Wilson, assignee to Nehemiah Harris, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on the waters of Co-
burns' creek, adjoining lands claimed by Michael
Kerns, to include his settlement made in 1775, and
also the right in preemption to 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

David Gilky, assignee to David Rankin, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
the waters of Scott's Mill run, adjoining lands of Wil-
liam Robinson, to include his settlement made in
1775.

William Robinson, assignee to John Murphey, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on the waters of Scott's
Mill run, adjacent to Peter Peters' lands, to include
his settlement made in 1773, with a preemption of
1 ,000 acres adjoining.

William Robinson, assignee to John Murphey,
is entitled to a preemption right to 1 ,000 acres of land
in Monongalia county, adjoining his settlement on
Scott's Mill run in 1773.

Charles Mclntire, assignee to Charles Burkham,
who was assignee to Robert Murphey, is entitled to
400 acres of land on the West Fork of the Mononga-
hela river below the mouth of Simpson's creek, in-
cluding his settlement, made in 1 773, with a preempt-
tion of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Charles Mclntyre, assignee to John Tucker, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on the West Fork of the

106 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Monongahela river, in Monongalia county, adjoining
the lands of Samuel Merefield, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 773.

Joseph Coon, assignee to Michael Oxx, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land on the waters of the West
Fork of the Monongahela river, adjoining the land
of John Tucker, to include his settlement made in the
year 1 772.

Philip Coon is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Stone Coal Lick, adjoining lands of Joseph Coon, to
include his settlement made in 1 776.

Anthony Coon is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Cole Lick run, adjoining the lands of Conrad Coon,
to include his settlement made in 1 776.

Conrad Coon is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Stone Coal Lick run, adjoining the land of Philip
Coon, to include his settlement made in 1 776.

George Cochran is entitled to 400 acres of land
about two miles from the head of the right hand fork
of the Salt Lick creek, to include his improvement
made in 1 773.

Charles Martin, assignee to Charles Kelley, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in the right of residence, on
the head of the left hand fork of Helen's run and the
headwaters of Taverback run, to include his improve-
ments made in 1 769, with a preemption of 1 ,000
acres adjoining.

Charles Martin, assignee to Charles Kelly, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on the headwaters of Hel-
en's run, in the right of Kelley 's residence, to include
his improvements made in 1775.

Charles Martin, assignee to Benjamin Goodson,
senior, is entitled to 400 acres of land to include his
settlement lying on Buffalo creek. No date is named.

Charles Martin, assignee to James Gooding, is
entitled to 400 acres of land, lying on Buffalo creek,
to include his settlement made in 1 776.

Henry Robeson, assignee to John Kinkade, is

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 107

entitled to 327 acres of land on West's run, agreeable
to a former survey made by John Trible in behalf of
John Carter, to include his settlement made in 1 770.
Henry Robeson, assignee to John Kinkade, is
entitled to 273 acres of land on the waters of West's
run, to include his settlement made in 1775.

George Orson, assignee to Caleb Carter, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land adjoining land of Robert
Hill, to include his settlement made in 1 772.

Robert Hill, assignee to Aaron Mercer, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land on a drain of the Mononga-
hela river, in the forks of that and Cheat rivers, to
include his settlement made in 1 770.

John Burris is entitled to 400 acres of land on a
drain of Monongalia river, to include his settlement,
where he ran lines, made in 1776.

The following minutes entered on the commis-
sioners' book indicates that land claims in the old
days of the homesteaders in Virginia were sometimes
jumped, calling for authorities to intervene to settle
the quarrel as was done in this case. The land in ques-
tion appears to have been in that part of Monongalia
county which is now in the county of Barbour. The
minutes in the book kept by the commissioners reads
as follows:

"We, the commissioners, do certify that
John Hardin, junior, assignee to Benjamin Rod-
gers, made it appear that a certain Captain John
McClanackhan, having laid or located an officers
warrant on his actual settlement in the county
of Monongalia, known by the name of Hardin's
Cove, on the waters of Tygart's Valley fork of
the Monongahela river, and the act of the Gen-
eral Assembly having directed such locations re-
moved, we do hereby certify that the said John
Hardin, junior, assignee to Benjamin Rodgers, is
entitled to 400 acres of land to include his actual

108 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

settlement made in the year 1 771 , on the afore-
said described place."

John Hardin, junior, assignee to John Ander-
son, having made it appear certain that a certain John
McClanackhan, etc. — (recital repeated nearly as in
the foregoing paragraph), is entitled to 400 acres of
land to include his actual settlement made in 1 771 .

Daniel Saverson is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Sandy creek, in the forks of that
stream and Cheat river, to include his settlement made
thereon in 1 774, with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres ad-
joining.

John Dougherty, assignee to John Capman, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Cheat river in Dunk-
ard Bottom, his settlement adjoining lands claimed
by Hugh Morgan, to include his settlement made in
1774, also a preemption of 1,000 acres adjoining.

William Hall is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Beaver creek, adjoining lands claimed by Thomas
Craft, to include his settlement made in 1 772, with a
preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

John Morris, jr., is entitled to 400 acres of land in
the forks of Cheat river and Sandy creek, to include
his settlement made in 1775.

Martin Judy, junior, is entitled to 400 acres of
land on the waters of Sandy creek, adjoining the
lands of James McCallum, to include his settlement
made in 1 776.

Joshua Worley is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Little Sandy creek, adjoining lands claimed by An-
thony Worley, to include his settlement made in 1 770,
with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Anthony Worley is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Sandy creek, to include his settle-
ment made in 1770, with a preemption for 1,000
acres adjoining thereto.

John Upenhizer is entitled to 200 acdes on the
waters of Cheat river, adjoining the land claimed by

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 109

Hanoacher, in right of preemption, to include his im-
provement made thereon in 1 775.

William Henshaw, assignee to David M'Neal,
has a right to 1 00 acres on the waters of Cheat river,
at a place known as Rose Hill, to include his settle-
ment made in the year 1 768, with a pre-emption of
1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

John Whitlatch is entitled to 400 acres on the
waters of Little Sandy creek, adjoining lands granted
to Anthony Worley, in right of having a residence
on the western waters and making a crop of corn be-
fore 1 778, with a preemption for 1,000 acres adjoin-
ing thereto.

Anthony Carroll is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, near Cheat river, adjoining
the Dunkard Bottom, to include his settlement made
in 1774.

David Porter has a right to 400 acres of land on
the water of Sandy creek in the forks of that stream
and Cheat river, in the right of having a residence in
this county and making a crop of corn before 1 778.

William Morgan, assignee to James Morgan, has
a right to 400 acres of land on Cheat river, in Monon-
galia county, opposite the Dunkard Bottom, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 769, with a preemp-
tion of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

William Morgan is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on the waters of Cheat river
nearly opposite the Dunkard Bottom, to include his
settlement made in 1 769.

John Severn is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Sandy Creek, in the forks of said creek and Cheat
river, adjoining lands claimed by Daniel Severn, to
include his settlement made in 1 770, with a preemp-
tion of 300 acres adjoining.

John Judy has a right to 400 acres of land on the
waters of Sandy creek, to include his settlement made

1 1 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

in 1 775, with a preemption of 400 acres adjoining
thereto.

William Morgan is entitled to 400 acres of land
in Monongalia county, on Lick run, a drain of Cheat
river, about three miles from the mouth, in the right
of preemption, to include his settlement made in
1776.

James Dunwoody is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Sandy creek, on the west side of
M'Culloch's road, to include his settlement made
thereon in 1 770, adjoining lands claimed by John La-
fever, with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining
thereto.

Henry Richards, assignee to John Morgan, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Cheat river, at a place
called Dunkard's Bottom, adjoining lands claimed by
Thomas Butler, to include his settlement made there-
on in 1 776, with a preemption for 1 ,000 acres adjoin-
ing thereto.

Bartholomew Landen is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Monongalia county, between Roaring creek
and Draper run, about two miles from Cheat river,
include his settlement made in 1 773.

Thomas Chipp, assignee to John Arlington, is
entitled to 400 acres of land at the Big Crab Orchard,
on the waters of Sandy creek, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 771 .

Amos Roberts is entitled to 400 acres on a
draught that empties into Roaring creek, a drain of
Cheat river, in right of having a residence and raising
a crop of corn on the western waters before the year
1778.

Nathaniel Kidd has a right to 400 acres of land in
the Dunkard Bottom settlement, at a run called Lick
run, to include his settlement made thereon in 1 776.

George Gillespie is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the west side of Cheat river, adjoining lands claim-

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY I I I

ed by John Waggoner, in the right of residing in the
county and raising a crop of corn before 1 778.

Jeremiah Gray is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the east side of Cheat river, opposite and above Holly
Bottom, to include his settlement made thereon in
1775, with a preemption for 1,000 acres adjoining
thereto.

John Williams, assignee to Isaac Batton, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on the waters of Laurel
run and Hazle run, drains of Sandy creek, in the right
of residing one whole year on the western waters be-
fore the year 1 778.

Thomas China, assignee to Morris Morris, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in the right of residence,
to include his improvements adjoining land of Rich-
ard Morris. His improvements were made in 1 774.
He is entitled to a preemption of 1 ,000 acres ad-
joining.

David Davis, assignee to Samuel Worrel, is en-
titled to 400 acres on the waters of Sandy creek, ad-
joining the land of Thomas Hartness, to include his
settlement made in 1 775.

John Scott, assignee to Samuel Worrel, has a
right to 400 acres on the waters of Cheat river, ad-
joining lands claimed by Lewis Criss, to include his
improvement made thereon in the year. The said
Samuel Worrel had his right by residing in the coun-
ty and raising a crop of corn before the year 1 778.

John Gray is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the waters of Salt creek, a branch of the Little Kan-
awha river, to include his improvement made there-
on in the year 1 773, in the right of residing on the
land and raising a crop of corn before the year 1 778,
with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Nathan Thomas, assignee to Thomas Tobin, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Indian creek, at Slab
Camp, in right of having a residence, to include his

1 1 2 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

settlement made thereon in 1774, with a preemption
of 400 acres adjoining.

William Smith is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Lost creek, at a place called King's Luck, to include
his improvement made thereon in 1773, in the said
Smith's right of raising corn in the said county before
the year 1 778, with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres ad-
joining thereto.

James Perry is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the waters of the Monongahela river, adjoining lands
granted Hugh Ferry, to include his settlement made
in 1773, with a preemption of 1,000 acres adjoining
thereto.

James Gray is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the south side of Salt Lick creek, to include his im-
provements made thereon in 1 773, in the right of res-
iding in the county and in raising a crop of corn be-
fore the year 1 778, with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres
adjoining thereto.

Hugh Ferry is entitled to 400 acres on the wat-
ters of the Monongahela river, adjoining lands claim-
ed by John Hamilton, to include his settlement made
thereon in 1773, with a preemption of 1,000 acres
adjoining thereto.

Joseph Scott, heir at law of Joseph Scott, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land, adjoining lands granted to
John Evans, junior, to include his improvement made
thereon in 1 775, in the said Joseph Scott's right by
residing one whole year in the county of Mononga-
lia, before the year 1 778, with a preemption of 1 ,000
acres adjoining. The name of the creek on which
this land was situated is blotted so badly on the com-
missioners' order book that it cannot be deciphered
with certainty, but the first letter of the name is plain-
ly G.

John Madison, assignee to Nicholas Decker, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county,
on the waters of the Monongahela river, to include

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 1 1 3

his settlement made thereon in the year 1 766 and
prior to any settlement made near the same place,
with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Elija Burris has a right to 400 acres of land on
a drain of the Monongahela river, adjoining lands
claimed by John Evans, according to lines proved be-
tween the said Evans and the said Burris, to include
his settlement made thereon in 1 774, with a preemp-
tion for 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Thomas Clear, assignee to John Sulier, is enti-
tled to 300 acres of land on Cheat river, adjoining
the Lick run.

Nehemiah Harper is entitled to 400 acres of land,
adjoining land claimed by Jacob Hall, to include his
settlement made in 1 775, with a preemption of 1 ,000
acres adjoining thereto.

James Johnson, assignee to Rudolph Ileor, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on the east side of the
West Fork river, nearly opposite the mouth of Bing-
ermon's creek, adjoining land claimed by Henry Sni-
der, to include his settlement made in 1772, with a
preemption for 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Adonijah Little is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters of the Monongahela river, adjoining
above Henry Batton's and on Pawpaw creek, to in-
clude his settlement begun thereon in 1 778, with a
preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Isaac Williams is entitled to 400 acres on the
Ohio river, in Monongalia county, opposite the mouth
of the Muskingum river, to include his settlement
made thereon in 1775, with a preemption of 1,000
acres adjoining thereto.

David Scott, assignee to Jonathan Newlands, is
entitled to 400 acres on West's run, adjoining lands
claimed by William Joseph, to include his settlement
made in I 775.

Rawley Evans, assignee to George Yeager, is
entitled to 400 acres on the head of Grass run, a

1 1 4 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

branch of Cheat river, to include his improvement
made in 1 775, in the said Yeager's right of residence
and in making a crop of corn in the county before
the year 1 778, with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres ad-
joining thereto.

James Johnson, assignee to Rawley Martin, who
was the assignee to Daniel Harris, is entitled to 400
acres of land on the waters of the Monongahela river,
to include his settlement made thereon in the months
of April or May, 1 769, with a preemption of 1 ,000
acres adjoining thereto.

William Smith is entitled to 400 acres of land, on
Robinson's run, adjoining Augustus Smith's land, to
include his settlement made in 1 771, with a preemp-
tion of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Ames Smith, assignee to Moses Hill, is entitled
to 400 acres of land on Robinson's run, adjoining
lands claimed by Augustus Smith, to include his set-
tlement made in 1771, with a preemption of 1,000
acres adjoining.

Robert Thornton is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the north side of the Little Kanawha river to in-
clude his settlement made thereon in 1 773, with a
preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Alexander Wade is entitled to 400 acres on the
right hand fork of Wickwire creek, to include his set-
tlement made in 1775, with a preemption of 1,000
acres.

Jacob Pindle, assignee to David Burchill, is enti-
tled to 400 acres on the west side of the Monongahela
river, below the mouth of Indian creek, to include his
settlement made in 1775, with a preemption to 1 ,000
acres adjoining.

Thomas Harrison (Harris) is entitled to 400
acres of land, on the upper Glady creek, a branch of
Sugar creek, adjoining lands claimed by a certain
Lewis, to include his settlement made in 1775, with
a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 1 1 5

Casper Everly is entitled to 400 acres on the
Monongahela river, adjoining lands claimed by Rich-
ard Harrison, with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres ad-
joining thereto.

John Evans is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Pawpaw creek, adjoining a place called the Big Lev-
els or the White Oak Levels, to include his settlement
made in 1775, with a preemption of 1,000 acres ad-
joining.

John Evans, junior, assignee to Philip Shively,
is entitled to 400 acres on Grass creek, a branch of
the Hughes river, in Monongalia county, to include
his settlement made thereon, about six miles above
the mouth of Grass creek, in 1 773, with a preemption
of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Simon Cochran is entitled to 400 acres on Lam-
bert's run, adjoining lands claimed by Hezekiah Da-
visson, to include his settlement made in 1 773, with
a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

. John Wilson and Martin Shobe, assignees to
James Knotts, as tenants in common, on the Dry Fork
of Cheat river, to include a settlement at the Horse
Camp in the year 1776, with a preemption of 1,000
acres adjoining thereto.

Levi Wells, assignee to Jeptha Tobin, is enti-
tled to 400 acres on Glady run, a branch of Brushy
Fork of Elk creek, to include his settlement made in
1772.

Thomas Chinnith, junior, is entitled to 400 acres
of land on the waters of Scott's Mill run, adjoining
the land claimed by John Ramsey, to include his set-
tlement made in 1774, with a preemption of 1,000
acres adjoining thereto.

Salathiel Goff is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Cheat river, adjoining the land of Daniel Came-
ron, to include the settlement made by the said Goff
in 1774, with a preemption of 1,000 acres adjoining
thereto.

f!6 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

This land was part of that on which the town of
St. George , in the present county of Tucker, was af-
terwards built, and Goff's grave is still pointed out
on the land where he was buried. There was such
danger of Indians that the people made the grave near
the house because they did not consider it safe to go
to a greater distance.

Jacob Jones is entitled to 200 acres on Morgan's
run, adjoining the land of Richard Fall, to include his
settlement made in 1 773, with a preemption of 1 ,000
acres adjoining thereto.

Jeremiah Archer is entitled to 400 acres on Big
Sandy creek, on both sides of the Tygart's Valley
road, near to lands claimed by Charles Cheny, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 774, with a preemption
to 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Samuel Hyde is entitled to 400 acres on the wa-
ters of the West Fork of the Monongahela river, in
the right of residence on the western waters and by
making a crop of corn before 1 778, to include an im-
provement made adjoining land granted to John P.
Duvall at the Indian house in 1 773.

John John has a right to 400 acres of land on
Camp run, adjoining lands claimed by William John,
to include his settlement begun in the year 1 773, with
a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

David Scott, assignee to Andrew Zern, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land on Pawpaw creek, below the
first big run emptying into the said creek on the north
side next below the upper fork, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 770.

Richard Ashcraft, assignee to Abraham Carter,
is entitled to 400 acres of land in the Monongalia
glades, adjoining the land of Richard Powell, to in-
clude the settlement made by the said Powell thereon
in 1775, with a preemption to 1,000 acres adjoining.

Thomas Clear, assignee to James Allison, is en-

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 117

titled to 400 acres of land on the dividing ridge be-
tween Booth's creek and Coburn's creek, to include
his settlement made in 1 774, with a preemption of
1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

John Evans, assignee to Samuel Owens, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on the waters of the Mo-
nongahela river, to include his settlement made in
the month of April or May, 1 769, with a preemption
of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

David Scott, assignee to Francis Bussell, junior,
is entitled to 400 acres on the Monongahela river, ad-
joining lands claimed by Jacob Scott, to include his
settlement made in 1 779.

William Thompson is entitled to 400 acres of
land on Foxy Grape creek, a drain of the Tygart Val-
ley river, adjoining lands claimed by William Mc-
Cleery, to include his settlement made in 1775, with
a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

This land is in the present county of Barbour.

Mark Hardin is entitled to 400 acres of land on
a creek that empties into the Little Kanawha on the
east side, about a mile from the mouth of said river,
adjoining lands claimed by Robert Thornton, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 772, with a preemption
for 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Benjamin Archer, assignee to James Cumber-
ford, is entitled to 400 acres of land, on Mill creek,
about four miles from the Ohio river, to include his
settlement made in 1 770, with a preemption to 1 ,000
acres adjoining thereto.

Edward Johnson is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Morgan's run, adjoining lands claimed by Richard
Falls, to include his settlement made in 1 773, with a
preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Jonathan Bozarth is entitled to 400 acres of
land in the right of having resided in the county and
having raised a crop of corn on the land before the
year 1 778. The land which he has asked for is situ-

1.18 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

ated on the West Fork of the Monongahela river,
about one mile above the mouth of Buffalo creek, to
include his improvements in 1 774, with a preemption
of 400 acres of land adjoining thereto.

William Burmingham is entitled to 400 acres of
land to include his improvement made on Decker's
creek, adjoining land claimed by Jacob Jacobs in
1 774, in the right of residing and raising corn.

Joseph Lemasters is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Pawpaw creek, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 775.

Martin Zern, Andrew Zern, and Suzanna Deck-
er, as tenants in common, not joint tenants, agreea-
ble to a deed of gift from Catherine Decker, relique
of Grant Decker, deceased, are entitled to 400 acres
of land on Decker's creek, adjoining lands claimed by
Henry Smith, to include his settlement made in 1 770.

The original entry on the record book kept by
the commissioners has several lines drawn through
this paragraph as though it was the intention to can-
cel or nullify the entry, but there is no explanation
for the action, and the lines are inserted as though
they were of full effect as a matter of history.

John Wilson, Theophilus Philips, and William
McCleery, executors of the will of George Wilson,
are entitled to 400 acres of land on White Day creek,
known by the name of White Day Place, to include
the settlement made thereon in 1 773.

John Mason, assignee to Charles Mclntire, is en-
tled to 400 acres of land on the Wolf Pen Ridge, due
to said Mclntire's right of residing and raising a crop
of corn before the year 1 778, with a preemption of
1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Richard Harrison is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Crooked run, adjoining lands claim-
ed by Charles Martin, to include his settlement made
in 1 769, with a preemption of 1 '000 acres of land ad-
joining thereto.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 119

Thomas Tannihill is entitled to 400 acres on the
west side of the mouth of Sandy creek, a branch of
Cheat river, to include his settlement made in 1776.

James Templin is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the waters of Booth's creek, adjoining lands claimed
by Thomas Clear, to include his settlement made in
1775.

George Wade, senior, is entitled to 400 acres of
land on Bullstone run, a drain of Dunkard's creek, to
include his settlement made in 1775.

Bruce Worley is entitled to 400 acres of land on
both sides of Dunkard's creek, to include his settle-
ment, made thereon in 1 773.

Daniel McFarland, assignee to Hezekiah Harde-
sley is entitled to 400 acres of land on Tygart Valley
run, adjoining lands granted to the said McFarland,
on the Mud Lick run, in the said Hardesley's right of
residing on the western waters a whole year before the
first of January, 1 778.

Heirs of Alexander Miller, assignee of James
Pyles, is entitled to 400 acres of land on Scott's Mill
run, to include the settlement made above Jackson's
cabin in 1 773.

Henry Barnes is entitled to 400 acres of land
about two and a half miles above the forks of Hughes
river, in the right of having a residence on the west-
ern waters, and by making a crop of corn before the
year 1 778.

Ezekiel York, assignee to Jeremiah York, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on both sides of Little
Sandy creek, adjoining lands claimed by Charles
Cheeny, to include his settlement begun in 1775.

Charles Fallingnash is entitled to 400 acres of
land on Stony run, adjoining lands claimed by Ed-
ward Tanner, to include his settlement begun there-
on in 1 lib-

William Lowther, heir at law to Robert Lowther,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on both sides of the

120 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

West Fork river, at the mouth of Hacker's creek, ad-
joining lands of the said William Lowther, to include
his settlement made thereon in 1775.

John Dent, assignee to Elias Bumingham, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on a drain of Buffalo creek,
at the mouth of Buffalo Lick run, to include the lands
on both sides of the said creek, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 770.

John Wilson, William McCleery and Theophilus
Philips, acting executors to George Wilson, are enti-
tled to 400 acres of land on a drain of the Mononga-
hela river, adjoining lands claimed by Richard Har-
rison, to include his settlement made thereon in 1 770.

Daniel McFarland, assignee to Abraham Evans,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on Goose Creek, a
branch of Hughes river, adjoining land granted to the
said McFarland on said creek, to include his settle-
ment begun therein 1775.

Ignatius Butler is entitled to 300 acres of land
on the waters of Cheat river, near the mouth of Sandy
creek in the right of residence, to include his improve-
ment made thereon in 1777.

Simon Hendrick is entitled to 200 acres of land
on the waters of Booth's creek in the right of pre-
emption, adjoining lands claimed by Henry Tucker,
to include his settlement thereon in 1 775.

Jeremiah Mack is entitled to 400 acres of land on
both sides of Joe's run where the road crosses said run,
in the right of residing and making a crop of corn be-
fore the year 1 778.

Charles Whitecliffe is entitled to 400 acres of
land on the Little Kanawha river, adjoining lands
granted to said Whitecliffe at the same place, in the
right of residing and raising a crop of corn on the
western waters before the year 1 778.

Jesse Bails is entitled to 400 acres of land on a
branch of the Tygart Valley river, below Glady creek

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 121

and near to land known as the Levels, to include his
settlement made thereon in 1 772.

John Madison, assignee to James Ross, who was
assignee to Robert Kerr, is entitled to 400 acres of
land in Ohio on a branch of Middle Island Creek that
runs through John Caldwell's Point Pleasant lands, to
include his improvement made in 1 773.

William Robinson, assignee to John Evans, is
entitled to 400 acres on Salt Lick creek, to include
his settlement made in 1 773, in the said Evans' right
of raising corn on the western waters before the year
1778.

Edward Jackson and John Fink, tenants in com-
mon, assignees to George Parsons, are entitled to 400
acres of land, in the Parsons' right of residing and
raising a crop of corn, to include an improvement
made by the said Parsons on the headwaters of Little
Elk creek, adjoining land claimed by Timothy Dor-
man, in the year 1 775.

George Jackson is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the Second Big run, adjoining lands claimed by
Regar, to include his settlement made in 1 773.

G. Birmingham is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Scott's run, adjoining lands claimed
by Daniel Ferry, to include his settlement made in
1773.

John Swarington, senior, is entitled to 400 acres
of land on Tenmile creek, a branch of the West Fork
river, at Nicholas Carpenter's camp, in the right of re-
siding and raising corn before 1 778.

Ames Huff, assignee to William Robinson, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on the waters of Buffalo
creek, adjoining lands claimed by said Huff, at the
forks of said creek, to include his settlement made in
the year 1 776.

Henry Smith is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the waters of Dunkard's creek, adjoining lands claim-

122 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

ed by Richard Tenant, to include his settlement made
thereon in 1 775.

James Scott, assignee to William Robins, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on the west side of the
Monongahela river, adjoining lands claimed by David
Scott, senior, to include his settlement made in 1 770.

Stephen Ratliff, assignee to John Rice, is enti-
tled to 400 acres on a fork of Davisson's run, adjoin-
ing lands of Amassa Davisson, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 773.

Philip Pindell, assignee to Nathan Butler, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land on a drain of Buffalo creek
that empties into said creek below the mouth of Dunk-
ard's Mill run, to include his settlement made thereon
in 1775.

David Scott, assignee of John Criss, is entitled
to 400 acres of land on the south side of Pawpaw
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 775.

David Scott, assignee to Thomas Bermingham,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on Monongahela river,
adjoining lands granted to John Evans, assignee to
Thomas Veach, to include his settlement made in
1775.

Robert Parks, assignee to John Stackhouse, is
entitled to 400 acres of land, on the head waters of
Booth's creek, to include his settlement made thereon
in the year 1 774.

Zarah Asburn is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the headwaters of Yohogania river above the lands
claimed by John Pettigrew, junior, in the right of re-
siding one whole year on the western waters before
1778.

William Robinson, assignee to John Hardesty, is
entitled to 400 acres on the waters of Salt Lick creek,
to include his settlement begun thereon in the year
1773.

Daniel McFarland, assignee to William Oakman,
is entitled to 400 acres on Goose creek, a branch of

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 123

Hughes river, adjoining lands granted to the said Mc-
Farland on said creek, to include his settlement begun
thereon in 1 775.

William Tucker is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Booth's creek, adjoining lands claimed by the heirs
of James Booth, to include his settlement made in
1773.

Richard Ratcliff is entitled to 300 acres of land
on the waters of Tygart's Valley river, on the west
side thereof, adjoining lands claimed by John Regar,
to include his settlement made in 1771.

Thomas Griggs is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the dividing ridge between the waters of Joe's run
and the White Day creek, on the left side of the road
that leads to Pettyjohn's ford on the Tygart Valley
river, to include his settlement made in 1 775.

John Ratliff is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the waters of Elk creek, adjoining lands claimed by
Jonathan Stout, in the right of having settled a ten-
ant thereon, to include his settlement thereon made
in 1773.

The following certificates were granted at
Clarksburg in April 1781. The date of the meeting
of the commissioners is useful in fixing the date when
a party of men from the present county of Tucker
who went to Clarksburg to prove out on the land
where St. George, Tucker county, stands, were killed
by Indians while returning home. Those who were
killed were John Minear, Frederick Cooper, and
others. They were shot from ambush about two
miles below Philippi in the present county of Barbour
on the second morning after leaving Clarksburg. John
Minear, the founder of the St. George colony, was
killed in the fight.

Ezekiel Thomas is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Booth's creek, adjoining lands for-
merly claimed by John Thomas, deceased, to include

124 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

his settlement made thereon in 1 773, with a right of
preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Isaac Richards is entitled to 400 acres on the
waters of Elk creek, adjoining lands claimed by
Charles Harrison, in the right of residence, to include
his settlement made thereon. No date is given on the
commissioners' book for this settlement.

Isaac Shinn is entitled to 400 acres on Simpson's
Creek, in the right of residence, to include his im-
provement made, adjoining lands claimed by Andrew
Davisson, in 1775.

Joseph Shreeve is entitled to 400 acres on Lost
creek, on the left hand fork in the right of residence
to include his improvement made in 1 773.

John Hughstead is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Barclay's run, near to the widow Juggins land, in
the right of residence, to include his improvement
made thereon in 1 772.

John Wilkinson is entitled to 400 acres on the
waters of Simpson's creek, adjoining lands claimed by
Andrew Davisson, to include his settlement made in
1773.

John Goodwin, Junior, is entitled to 400 acres
of land on the waters of Booth's creek, adjoining
lands claimed by John Wickwire, in the right of resi-
dence, to include his improvement made thereon in
1775.

Frederick Cooper is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Cheat river opposite the mouth of Bull run, to in-
clude his settlement made thereon in 1 776.

David Minear is entitled to 200 acres of land
on Clay Lick run, a branch of Cheat river, in right
of residence, to include his improvement made there-
on in 1 776.

John Minear is entitled to 400 acres on the Mo-
nongahela river, at the mouth of Pleasant creek, to
include his settlement made thereon in the year 1775.

Salathiel Gof f , assignee to William Wilson, is en-

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 125

titled to 400 acres of land on Cheat river, opposite
the land claimed by Thomas Parsons, to include his
settlement made thereon in 1 776.

Jonathan Minear is entitled to 200 acres of land
on Cheat river, below the mouth of Clover run, to in-
clude his settlement made thereon in 1 776.

Jonathan Minear, son of John Minear, was killed
on this land by Indians a short time after he obtained
title to it. The stream at the mouth of which he
was killed is still known as Jonathan's run, and it
empties into Cheat river about two miles below St.
George.

John Minear is entitled to 400 acres on Cheat
river, opposite the mouth of Clover run to include his
settlement made in 1 776.

The town of St. George was afterwards built
on this land.

Salathiel Goff, assignee to Thomas Pierce, is en-
titled to 200 acres of land on Cheat river, nearly oppo-
site the Horse Shoe Bottom, to include his settlement
made in 1*776.

William Lowther, assignee to George Grundy,
is entitled to 400 acres on Simpson's creek, adjoining
lands claimed by William Robeson, to include his
settlement made thereon in 1 770, with 1 ,000 acres by
preemption adjoining.

William Lowther, assignee to William Stewart,
is entitled to 400 acres of land, on the east side of the
West branch of the Monongahela river, adjoining his
settlement, as the assignee to Charles Washburn, to
include his settlement made thereon in 1775, with a
preemption to 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

William Lowther, assignee, is entitled to 400
acres of land, adjoining his settlement, as assignee to
Charles Washburn, to include his settlement made
thereon in the year 1 776, with a preemption of 1 ,000
acres adjoining.

William Lowther, assignee to Charles Washburn,

126 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

is entitled to 400 acres on the west branch of the Mo-
nongahela river, adjoining the Jacob Richards land,
to include his settlement made in 1771.

Joseph Hall is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the east side of the west branch of the Monongahela
river, in the right of residence, to include his im-
provement made thereon in 1 771 , with a preemption
of 1 ,000 acres of land adjoining.

The following records of land claimants are for
the most part from the commissioners' book kept at
the meeting at the house of Col. John Evans near
Morgantown in the spring of 1 781 .

Jesse Edwards, heir at law of David Edwards, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on the waters of Booth's
creek, adjoining lands claimed by John Owens, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1771.

Peter Smallwood Roby, assignee to John Creig,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on the waters of Lost
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 773.

Hezekiah Wade is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Crooked run, adjoining lands claim-
ed by John Pollock, to include his settlement made
in 1776.

James Camberford, assignee to Benjamin Archer,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on Robinson's run, a
branch of the Monongahela river, to include his set-
tlement made in 1 774, adjoining lands of Joseph Neal.

Aaron Jenkins, assignee to Alexander Clegg,
who married to Margaret, who is heir at law to Jacob
Foreman, who was assignee to John Miracle, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land on Dunkard's creek, to in-
clude the settlement made in 1 773 by Thomas Mir-
acle.

Thomas McFarland, assignee to James Milligan,
is entitled to 400 acres on Goose creek, a branch of
Hughes river, adjoining to lands granted to the said
McFarland, at the Plum Orchard, including his set-
tlement begun in 1775.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 127

Daniel McFarland, assignee to Zealand Cooper,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on Goose creek, a trib-
utary of Hughes river, to include his settlement made
in 1775.

William Davisson, assignee of William Watkins,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on the head of Scott's
Mill run, to include his settlement made in 1 774.

Philip Pierce is entitled to 400 acres on Little
Pawpaw creek, on the Limestone Lick, to include his
settlement made in 1775.

Hanna Scott, legatee to James Scott, is entitled
to 400 acres on a drain of Pawpaw creek, between
Robinson's run and Main Fork, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 776.

Charles Stewart is entitled to 400 acres of land
on that branch of West Fork called Buffalo, about
three miles from Richard's fort, to include his settle-
ment made in the year 1 771 .

John Reger is entitled to 400 acres of land on the
east side of Buckhannon river, near by joining lands
claimed by Timothy Dorman, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 773.

William Dunaway is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters Fish creek, about five miles from the
dividing ridge, on both sides of the Warrior Path, in
the right of raising a crop of corn on the western wa-
ters before the year 1 778.

Peter Parker is entitled to 200 acres of land on
the waters of Coburn's creek, adjoining the lands
owned by the heirs of Grant Decker, to include his
settlement made in 1 774.

John Cookman is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Scott's run, adjoining lands claimed
by Jacob Scott, to include his settlement made in
1773.

George Robins has a right to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Indian creek, at a place called the
Mill Seat, to include his settement made in 1 772.

128 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Jesse Parker is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the waters of Joes' run, in the right of raising a crop
of corn on the western waters before the year 1 778,
to include his improvement made in 1 774.

Amassa Huff, assignee to Richard Robins, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on the West Fork river,
above the lands claimed by Thomas Helton, to include
his settlement made in 1 776.

Daniel McFarland, assignee to Francis Griffin,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on Mud Lick run, a
branch of Tygart Valley river, to include the land on
both sides of the run to Buffalo Lick, by a corn right
before 1 778.

Wenman Wade is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the right hand fork of Dunkard creek, to extend
below the lime camp, to include his settlement made
in 1774.

David Frazier, assignee to Jacob VanCamp, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on the dividing ridge be-
tween Scott's run and the Monongahela river, on
both sides of the road leading from Kern's Mill to
Picket's Fort, to include his settlement made in 1 774.

George Cochran is entitled to 400 acres of land,
about two miles from the head of Salt Lick creek, to
include his settlement made in 1775.

Van Swearengen, son of John Swearengen, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Ratliff Camp run, a
drain of Tenmile creek, to include his settlement made
in 1774.

David Evans is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the west fork of Booth's creek, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 775.

William Robinson, assignee to James Pettel, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Salt Lick creek to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 773.

Jacob Scott is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Scott's run, adjoining lands claimed by David Scott,
to include his settlement made in the year 1771.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 129

Aaron Jenkins, assignee to Alexander Clegg,
who married Margaret, who is heir at law to Jacob
Foreman, deceased, is entitled to 400 acres on the
waters of Dunkard's creek, to include the settlement
made by the said Foreman in 1 770.

Thomas Wade has a right to 400 acres of land
on the left hand fork of Dunkard's creek, about half
a mile above the forks, to include his settlement made
in 1775.

John Wilson has a right to 400 acres of land on
both sides of the West Fork of the Monongahela
river, adjoining the lands of Joshua Allen, to include
his settlement made in 1775.

John Yock, junior, is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the Monongahela river, adjoining Hardin's Cove,
to include his settlement made in 1775.

Amos Huff, assignee to Joseph Batton, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on the Upper Fork of the
right hand fork of Buffalo creek, to include his set-
tlement made in 1770.

Jacob Scott, assignee to George Martin, has a
right to 400 acres of land on Cheat river, adjoining
lands claimed by Lewis Rogers, to include his settle-
ment made in the year 1 781 .

John Reynolds is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Bozarth run, adjoining the land of John Bozarth, on
the West side of the Monongahela river, to include
his settlement made in the year 1 775.

Daniel McFarland, assignee to William McFar-
land, is entitled to 400 acres of land on the dividing
ridge between Decker's creek and Aaron's creek,
about three miles from David Crull's, to include his
settlement made in 1 775.

Joshua Allen is entitled to 350 acres of land on
the West Fork of the Monongahela river, adjoining
land claimed by John Simpson to include his settle-
ment made in 1 775, and a preemption of 1 ,000 acres
adjoining thereto.

130 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

James Cochran is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Salt Lick creek, a branch of the Little Kanawha
river, to include his settlement made in 1 773, and a
preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Zachariah White, assignee to James Wells, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on the head of Scott's run,
adjoining John Cochran's land, to include his settle-
ment made in 1775, with a preemption to 1,000
acres adjoining thereto.

Abraham Hendricks is entitled to 400 acres on
Robinson's run, adjoining lands claimed by Augus-
tus Smith, to include his settlement made in 1 775.

John Miller, senior, assignee to Casper Bonner,
who was assignee to Theodore Dowthat, is entitled to
400 acres of land on the west side of the Mononga-
hela river, adjoining the lands of David Morgan, to
include his settlement made in 1 772.

John Wade, junior, is entitled to 400 acres of
land on the West Fork river at the mouth of Booth's
creek, to include his improvements made in 1 773.

William Robinson, assignee to Philip Showily, is
entitled to 400 acres on the north side of Tygart Val-
ley, adjoining or near a place called Forshey's Levels,
opposite the mouth of Lick run, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 775.

Aaron Henry, assignee to Dennis Neville, is enti-
tled to 400 acres on Scott's run, adjoining lands of
Joseph Barker, to include his settlement made in
1773, and a preemption right to 1,000 acres adjoin-
ing thereto.

Valentine Kennett is entitled to 400 acres on a
drain of Dunkard's creek, adjoining lands claimed by
Bean Worley, to include his settlement made in 1 771 .

Michael Whitelock has a right to 400 acres of
land on Mudlick creek, including his settlement made
in 1774.

George Wade, junior, has a right to 400 acres of
land on the waters of Dunkard's creek, adjoining the

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 131

lands of Joseph Wade's heirs. This right is based on
raising a crop of corn on the western waters before
the year 1 778.

Amos Huff, assignee to George Robinson, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on Indian creek at a place
called the Mill Seat, to include his settlement made in
1772.

Charles Martin, assignee to John Murphy, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on the south side of Hughes
river, about six miles from its mouth, to include his
improvement begun in 1 775, with preemption of
1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

John Clune and William John, tenants in com-
mon, are entitled to 400 acres of land on Hezekiah
Davisson's run, a branch of Tenmile creek, adjoining
lands claimed by the said Davisson, to include his set-
tlement made in 1 773.

Jacob Beeson is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land
by right of preemption, on the north fork of Hughes
river, about ten miles from its head, in the right
of George Green, to include Green's settlement made
in 1773.

James Cochran is entitled to 400 acres on Salt
Lick creek, in the right of raising a crop of corn on
the western waters before 1 778.

John Dulling Goff has by preemption a right to
1 ,000 acres of land, but the locality is not given. A
second preemption of 1 ,000 acres was granted to him
on the waters of the Yohogania river, to include his
settlement made in 1775.

John Ratliff is entitled to 400 acres on Tygart
Valley fork at Pringles' ford, to include his settlement
made in 1 773.

Joseph Barker, senior, is entitled to 400 acres on
Scott's Meadow run, to include his settlement made
in 1773.

John Ratliff, assignee to Henry Smith, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land on Gnatty creek, a branch

132 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

of Elk creek, to include his settlement made in 1 773.

James Stafford, assignee to John Henderson, is
entitled to 200 acres of land on the waters of Buffalo
creek, adjoining lands claimed by John Scott, in a
corn right prior to 1 778, with a preemption of 1 ,000
acres adjoining thereto.

John Maher, assignee to John Mclntire, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land on the waters of West's run,
adjoining land claimed by Joseph Jenkins, in said Mc-
lntire 's right by residence and by raising a crop of
corn on the western waters before the year 1 778, with
a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

John Ratliff, assignee to Martin Queen, is en-
titled to 400 acres on the Main Fork of Elk creek, ad-
joining lands claimed by Thomas Stout, to include his
settlement made in 1 773.

William Robison, assignee to Edwin Harrison,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on Salt Lick creek, to
include his settlement made in 1 773.

James Morgan, assignee to Moses Templin, who
was assignee to William Anderson, is entitled to 400
acres of land on the Monongahela river, adjoining
lands claimed by John Bonner, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 772.

William Stewart is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Indian creek, to include his settlement made in
the year 1 773.

William Robinson, assignee to Thomas Hardin,
is entitled to 400 acres of land in Salt Lick Cr ek, to
include his settlement begun in 1 773.

Philip Doddridge, assignee to Joseph Barker, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in the Monong/iela
Glades, known as Barker's cabin, to include his im-
provement in 1771.

Charles Martin, assignee to Daniel Stephens, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Mudlick creek, ad-
joining lands claimed by Benjamin Shinn, to include
his settlement made in 1 774.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 133

John Ice is entitled to 400 acres of land on Buf-
falo creek, about three miles from its mouth, to in-
clude his settlement made thereon in 1 773.

Charles Martin, assignee to William Martin, is
entitled to 400 acres of land at the mouth of Indian
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 770.

William Falls, assignee to William Hark, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land on Hacker's creek, adjoining
lands claimed by John Hacker, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 773.

Elias Laton, assignee to Thomas Henton, has a
right to 400 acres of land on Hazle run, a drain of
Sandy creek, adjoining lands claimed by Joseph Dem-
ming, to include his settlement made in 1772.

John Jackson, junior, is entitled to 400 acres of
land on Turkey run, a branch of Buckhannon fork
of the Monongahela river, adjoining lands claimed by
John Jackson, including his settlement made in 1 775.

William Robinson, assignee to Jess Booth, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on Salt Lick creek, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 773.

Robert Campbell is entitled to 200 acres of land
on Buffalo creek, two miles below the fork, adjoin-
ing lands claimed by John Scott, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 775.

John Cox is entitled to 400 acres on the middle
branch of Three Fork creek, to include his settlement
made in 1 775, with a preemption of 1,000 acres ad-
joining.

William Robinson, assignee to James Howard, is
entitled to 400 acres on Salt Lick creek, to include his
settlement made in 1 775.

Daniel Burchel, assignee to Robert Morris, is en-
titled ot 400 acres of land on a branch of Helen's
run, emptying therein between the three forks, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 772.

William Leacher, assignee to Isaac Rennian, is
entitled to 400 acres on the west side of the West

134 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Fork of the Monongahela river, at a place called Hick-
ory Flats, to include his settlement made in 1 775.

Levi Douglas is entitled to 400 acres of land in
Brushy Fork of Elk creek, adjoining lands claimed by
Benjamin Coplin, to include his settlement made in
1775.

Thomas Clear, assignee to John Kerby, is enti-
tled to 400 acres on a fork of Pringle's run, and a
drain of Cheat river, opposite to William Morgan's
land, to include his settlement made thereon. (No
date is named.)

Thomas Clear, assignee to Zadock Springer, is
entitled to 400 acres of land in Salt Lick creek, a
branch of the Little Kanawha river, in the right of
having raised a crop of corn on the western waters
before 1 778.

Joseph Barker, junior, is entitled to 400 acres of
land on the right hand fork of Indian creek, adjoin-
ing lands claimed by James Barker, to include his set-
tlement made in 1775.

J. Biddle, assignee to William Williams, is en-
tled to 400 acres of land on the right hand fork of
Bingamon creek, in the said Williams' right of raising
a crop of corn on the western waters before the year
1778.

Stephen Ratliff is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Lost creek, adjoining lands claimed by Henry Run-
ion, to include his settlement made thereon in the year
1773.

John Ratliff, assignee to Charles Parsons, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on Elk creek, adjoining
lands claimed by Joseph Hastings, to include his set-
tlement made in 1 773.

William Watson is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Thacker's creek, adjoining lands claimed by James
Coburn, to include his settlement made in 1 776.

P. Smallwood Roby, assignee to John Gray, is

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 135

entitled to 1 ,000 acres on Lost creek, to include his
settlement made in 1 773.

John Johnson, assignee to Benjamin Rogers, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on West's run, to include
his settlement made in 1771.

Samuel Harbart, heir of Thomas Harbart, de-
ceased, is entitled to 400 acres of land on the West
Fork river, a branch of the Monongahela, adjoining
lands claimed by Levi Shinn, to include his settle-
ment made in the year 1 775.

John Schoolcraft, is entitled to 400 acres on
Stone Coal creek, a branch of the West Fork river,
adjoining lands claimed by Henry Flesher, to include
his settlement made thereon in 1 775.

This land is in the present county of Lewis,
about one mile east of the town of Weston.

Michael Cresap, deceased, is entitled to 400 acres
of land in Monongalia county, on the Ohio river,
above and adjoining the mouth of Bull creek, in the
right of having settled a tenant on said land, to in-
clude his settlement made in the year 1 775, with a
preemption for 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Thomas Clear, assignee to Joseph Yeager, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on
the east side of Hughes river, opposite the lands of
Humphrey Bell, including his improvement made in
1 lib, with 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

John Dent, assignee to Francis Burns, is enti-
tled to 400 acres on the middle fork of Tenmile creek,
at Glade Bottom, in the right of said Burns raising
a crop of corn on the western waters before 1 778.

John Bunk is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Three Forks creek, opposite the mouth of Raccoon
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 774.

The heirs at law of Michael Cresap, deceased,
are entitled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia coun-
ty, on the Ohio river, at the mouth of French creek, in

136 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

the right of Cresap having settled a tenant on the land
in 1775.

The heirs at law of Michael Cresap, deceased, as-
signee to James Templin, are entitled to 400 acres of
land on the waters of Decker's creek, adjoining lands
claimed by William Robe, to include his settlement
made in 1 772.

The heirs of Michael Cresap are entitled to 400
acres of land in Monongalia county, on the Ohio river,
above the mouth of Bull creek, to include his settle-
ment by a tenant in 1 773.

William Haymond, assignee to James Moore, is
entitled to 400 acres on Meatt's run, adjoining lands
claimed by the heirs of Samuel C. Morrell, to include
the settlement made by said Moore in 1771.

William Haymond, assignee to Daniel Veach, is
entitled to 400 acres on Hacker's creek, adjoining the
lands of Benjamin Radcliff, to include his settlement
made in 1771.

William Haymond, assignee to Francis Tibbs, is
entitled to 400 acres on Rooting creek, at the mouth
of Miller run, to include his settlement made in 1 771 .

James Stafford, assignee to James Mahon, has a
right to 400 acres of land on Buffalo creek, adjoin-
ing the lands claimed by Charles Martin, to include
his settlement made in 1 774.

William Stewart, assignee to Jonathan Rees, is
entitled to 1 ,000 acres by preemption, in the forks of
Cheat river, to include his settlement made in 1 772.

Jacob Youngman, assignee to Thomas Arber, is
entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land by preemption, adjoin-
ing his settlement made in 1 776.

This entry does not give the location of the land
to which Mr. Youngman is declared to have a right.
He was granted land on Decker's creek, near Morgan-
town, in 1 776, and possibly his second grant of land
was in that vicinity. The clerk apparently failed to
make a note of the location of the land.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 137

Francis Warman is entitled to 1,000 acres on
Buffalo creek, to include his settlement made in 1 776.
This right was by preemption.

Leroy Wells is entitled to 1 ,000 acres by right of
preemption, on the right hand fork of Pawpaw creek,
adjoining lands claimed by Thomas Reed.

This right is also by preemption and the book
gives no date.

James Walker, assignee to William Salsberry, is
entitled to 1 ,000 acres by preemption, on the right
hand fork of Pawpaw creek, known by the name of
Stone Lick run, to include his settlement made in
1773.

James Walker, assignee to James Dale, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land in Monongalia county, on a
branch of Prickets creek, to include his settlement
made in 1777, and a preemption of 1,000 acres ad-
joining thereto.

This land is in the present county of Marion.

Frederick Ice is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Indian creek, adjoining lands claimed by Richard
Harrison, to include his settlement made in 1774.

Joseph Cox is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Decker's creek, to include his settlement.

No date is given on the commissioners' entry
book for this settlement.

John McClelland is entitled to 400 acres on a
a branch of Decker's creek, adjoining lands claimed
by Richard Ashcraft, to include his settlement made
in 1 776, with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining
thereto.

William Lenham, is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Buffalo creek, at the Buffalo Lick, adjoining lands
claimed by Anthony Mahon, to include his settlement
made in 1 772, with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres ad-
joining thereto.

Joel Reed is entitled to 400 acres of land on the
south side of the Little Kanawha river, to include his

138 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

improvement made about one mile from the mouth
of the Little Kanawha.

No date is given for the settlement on which the
entry is based.

Andrew Ice is entitled to 400 acres on White
Day creek, adjoining lands claimed by Robertson
Lewis, to include his improvement made thereon in
1773.

Jonathan Bayer is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Tygart Valley river, at a place called Forshey's
Levels, including his improvement made in 1774.

Jonathan Bayer is entitled to 1 ,000 acres by pre-
emption, adjoining his settlement made on Forshey's
Levels in 1 774.

Edward Jackson is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Fink's run, adjoining lands claimed by John Fink,
to include his settlement made in 1 774, with a pre-
emption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

George Jackson, assignee to George Parsons, is
entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land adjoining his settlement
that adjoins lands which are claimed by Benjamin
Cutright. He made his settement in the year 1 776.

George Peck, assignee to Edward Tanner, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on the waters of Buckhan-
non river, adjoining lands claimed by George Jack-
son, to include his settlement made in the year 1 774,

Jacob Reger is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the Second Big run, to include his settlement made
in 1776.

William Robinson is entitled to 400 acres on
the West Fork river, adjoining lands of the Widow
Brown, to include his settlement made in the year
1773, with a preemption of 1,000 acres adjoining
thereto.

John Fink, assignee to Benjamin Cutright, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Stony run, a branch
of the Buckhannon river, adjoining lands claimed by
George Jackson.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 139

A torn leaf of the commissioners' book at this
place renders it impossible to read the rest of the
minutes made in this entry.

John Wolf is entitled to 200 acres of land on the
waters of Elk creek, adjoining lands claimed by Dan-
iel Stout, to include his settlement made in 1 776.

Alexander West is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Brown creek, adjoining lands claimed by Charles
Wolf, to include his settlement made in 1772, with
a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Richard Jackson, assignee to John Morris, ju-
nior, is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land by preemption
adjoining a settlement in the forks of Cheat river and
Sandy creek, made in 1 775.

Richard Jackson, assignee to Richard Morris, is
entitled to 600 acres by preemption, to include his
settlement made in the forks of Sandy creek and
Cheat river in 1 770.

Richard Jackson, assignee to Samuel Worrel,
senior, is entitled to 1 ,000 acres by preemption, ad-
joining a settlement made by the said Worrel on the
waters of Sandy creek in 1 770.

David Davisson is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land
on the waters of Little Sandy creek, adjoining his
settlement, made in 1 770.

David Moore is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land,
by preemption, adjoining his settlement made on the
head of Hazle run in 1 775.

Charles Campbell, assignee to Ebenezer White,
is entitled to 400 acres on Buffalo creek, adjoining
lands claimed by Charles Martin, to include his set-
tlement made in 1775.

Phineas Killin, assignee to Godfrey Peters, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on the middle fork of
the three forks of Dunkard's creek, to include his im-
provement made in 1 776.

Phineas Killin, assignee to Christian Kaufman, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Miracle run, opposite

140 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

to a lick which is opposite to the said Killin's land, to
include his settlement made in 1 776.

John Wilson, William McCleery, and Theopha-
lus Philips, acting as executors of George, William,
and Alexander Kern, as tenants in common, are en-
titled to 400 acres on the waters of Simpson creek,
called the Pedlar's run, adjoining lands formerly
claimed by Benjamin Copeland, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 776.

John Tucker, assignee to James Tucker, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on the waters of the West
Fork of the Monongahela river, adjoining land claim-
ed by Thomas Holland, to include his settlement made
in 1774.

George Runner, assignee to Elijah Runner, is
entitled to 400 acres on Hacker's creek in the right
of preemption, adjoining lands claimed by Brown, by
the name of Black Oak Flat, including his improve-
ment made in 1 774.

Timothy Dorman is entitled to 400 acres of land
on a branch of the Buckhannon river near the land of
Jacob Reger, in the right of preemption, to include his
improvement made in 1 773.

Christopher Strader is entitled to 400 acres on
the Buckhannon river in the right of raising a crop
of corn on the western waters before the year 1 778.

Martin Judy is entitled to 400 acres of land ad-
joining the land of James McColom, to include his
improvements made in 1 773, with a preemption of
1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

Martin Judy, senior, assignee to Pointing Charl-
lon, is entitled to 400 acres on Sandy creek, at Wilson
Glades, to include his settlement made in 1773, with
a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining thereto.

David Gilkey, assignee to David Rankin, is enti-
tled to 1 ,000 acres by preemption, on Scott's run, to
include his settlement made in 1 775.

David Morgan, in the right of his wife, is

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 141

entitled to 1 ,000 acres by preemption, adjoining his
settlement made in 1 772, and adjoining Thomas Mil-
ler's land.

John Snyder is entitled to one thousand acres by
preemption on Crooked run, adjoining his settlement
made in 1 770.

John Dent, assignee to Arthur Richard, junior,
is entitled to 1 ,000 acres by preemption. (No loca-
tion is given.)

John Pierpoint is entitled to one thousand acres
adjoining his settlement on the Cheat and Mononga-
hela rivers.

Robert Ferrell, assignee to James Denny, is en-
titled to four hundred acres on Indian creek, to include
his settlement in 1 770.

Ephriam Ashcraft, assignee to William Howell,
is entitled to one hundred acres on Decker's creek, to
include his settlement made in 1 773.

Nancy Washburn, heir to Isaac Washburn, is
entitled to four hundred acres on the West Fork river,
to include his settlement made in 1771.

Gabriel Greathouse, heir to Daniel Greathouse,
deceased, is entitled to four hundred acres on the wa-
ters of Sandy creek, adjoining land of Richard Morris,
to include his settlement made in 1 776.

Jeremiah Clark is entitled to one thousand acres
on a preemption right on Slack's run adjoining his
settlement made in 1 774.

William Parsons is entitled to a preemption on
one thousand acres on Cheat river opposite Lick
creek, to include his improvement made in 1775.

Thomas Barnes, assignee to John Edmonds, is
entitled to 400 acres on Buffalo Creek adjoining land
of Johnathan Voucher, to include his settlement made
in 1772.

Thomas Barnes, assignee to Neemiah Harper, is
entitled to two hundred acres on Buffalo creek ad-

142 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

joining lands of Alexander Lake to include his set-
tlement made in 1 776.

Edward Freeman, assignee to James Mahon, is
entitled to four hundred acres on Decker's creek, ad-
joining lands of Jacob Jacobs, to include his settle-
ment made in 1775, with a preemption to one thou-
sand acres adjoining.

John Booth, heir to James Booth, is entitled to
four hundred acres on Booth creek in the forks of
Monongahela river, to include a settlement made in
1771.

Uz Barnes is entitled to 400 acres on Buffalo
creek at Plum Orchard to include his improvement
made in 1 772.

David Scott and heirs of James Scott, assignee
to Leny Carter, is entitled to four hundred acres on
Indian creek at the mouth of Senator's run, to include
his improvement in 1 775.

David Scott, assignee to Edmond West, is enti-
tled to four hundred acres of land adjoining lands
of John Burns, to include his settlement made in
1770.

David Scott is entitled to 400 acres on Scott's
run, to include his settlement made in 1 772.

John Scott, senior, is entitled to 400 acres of
land on the waters of Buffalo creek, adjoining lands
of John Mahon, to include a settlement made in 1 770.

Henry Martin, assignee to Henry Martin, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on Scott's Mill run to in-
clude a settlement made in 1 771 .

William Joseph is entitled to 400 acres of land on
West's run to include a settlement made in 1 770.

James Sterling is entitled to 400 acres on Scott's
run, to include his improvement made in 1 775.

James Stafford, assignee to Robert Curry, is en-
titled to one thousand acres in the forks of Cheat river,
to include his settlement made in 1 774.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 143

William McCleery, assignee to Basil Morris, is
entitled to one thousand acres preemption right on the
waters of Tenmile creek, at a place called Kelly's Lick,
to include his settlement made in 1771.

William McCleery, assignee to Joseph Caldwell,
is entitled to one thousand acres at the mouth of In-
diana Camp run, a branch of Tenmile creek, to include
his settlement made in 1 771 .

William McCleery, assignee to James Gray, is
entitled to one thousand acres on the middle fork of
Tenmile creek, to include his settlement made in
1771.

William McCleery, assignee to Samuel McCoy,
is entitled to one thousand acres at the mouth of Ten-
mile creek, at the mouth of Grass run and New creek,
to include his settlement made in 1 771 .

William McCleery, assignee to Robert Hunter,
is entitled to one thousand acres at the mouth of Mid-
dle creek, a branch of Tenmile creek, to include his
settlement made in 1772.

William McCleery, assignee to Paul Morris, is
entitled to one thousand acres on Spring creek, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 774.

Stephen Radliff, assignee to John Price, is en-
titled to 1 ,000 acres on Davisson's run, to include his
settlement made in the year 1 773.

John Ratliff is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land on
Elk creek to include his settlement made in 1 773.

John Ratliff, assignee to Charles Parsons, is en-
titled to 1 ,000 acres on Elk creek, to include his set-
tlement made in 1 773.

John Ratliff, assignee to Martin Kern, is enti-
tler to 1 ,000 acres on the main fork of Elk creek, to
include his settlement made in 1 773.

John Ratliff, assignee to Henry Smith, is enti-
tled to 1,000 acres on Gnatty creek, to include his
settlement made in 1 773.

James Neal, assignee to John Hardon, senior, is

144 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

entitled to 400 acres on Big Elk creek, about two
miles above the hollow sycamore, including an Indian
fort, to include his settlement made in 1 776.

James Neal, assignee to John Morgan, is entitled
to 400 acres on Gnatty creek, a branch of Elk creek,
at the mouth of Raccoon creek, to include his settle-
ment made in 1771.

James Neal, assignee to Elias Beggle, is entitled
to 400 acres on the Monongahela river, adjoining
lands claimed by Adam O'Brien and the heirs of
Isaac Washburn, to include his settlement made in
1771.

James Neal, assignee to John Thomas, is enti-
tled to 400 acres on the left hand fork of Tenmile
creek, at the mouth of Turkey run, to include his set-
tlement made in 1771.

James Neal, assignee to William Ferguson, is
entitled to 400 acres on the left hand fork of Free-
man's creek, on a small run emptying into the south
side, to include his settlement made in 1773.

James Neal, assignee to George Richards, is en-
titled to 400 acres on the head of Limestone creek,
adjoining lands of Caloo Lick, claimed by Nicholas
Carpenter, to include his settlement made in 1 775.

Philip Pindall, assignee to Daniel Brushfield, is
entitled to 400 acres on the Monongahela river, ad-
joining lands of Robert Ferrall, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 775.

Charles Falinash, assignee to Alexander Heath,
is entitled to 400 acres on Buckhannon river, adjoin-
ing the lands claimed by John Jackson, to include his
settlement made in 1 772.

John P. Duvall, assignee to James Wade, is en-
titled to 400 acres on Rock Camp creek, a branch of
Tenmile creek, at Hezekiah Davisson's and Carpen-
ter's camp, to include his settlement made in 1 772.

John P. Duvall, assignee to Rudolph Balenger,
is entitled to 400 acres of land in the forks of the West

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 145

Fork river, by the right of raising a crop of corn on
the western waters before the year 1 778.

Coleman Brown's heirs are entitled to 400 acres
of land to include his settlement on the West Fork
of the Monongahela river, made in 1 774, adjoining
lands claimed by Samuel Merrifield.

John Shirley, assignee to Jacob Shirley, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land on the right hand fork of
Pringle's run, a branch of Cheat river. This entry in
the land commissioners' book contains no data of
settlement on this land.

Thomas Hindali and John P. Duvall, tenants in
common, are entitled to 400 acres of land on Goose
creek, a branch of Hughes river, adjoining lands
claimed by Christian Coffman, in the said Hindall's
right secured by planting a crop of corn on the west-
ern waters before the year 1 778.

John P. Duvall, assignee to John Bartley, junior,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on Lost run, known as
Cattael Swamp, to include his settlement made in
1771.

John P. Duvali, assignee to Philip Roman, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on Limestone Lick run, ad-
joining lands claimed by John Bartley, to include his
settlement made in 1775.

John P. Duvall, assignee to Basil Bowers, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on the run above Pringle's
Ford, on the west side about a mile from the river, to
include his settlement made in 1 775.

John P. Duvall, assignee to William Wade, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on Katy's Lick run, includ-
ing the lick, to include his settlement made in 1776.

Hartley Duvall is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Tygart's Valley river at the mouth of the run
above Pringle's Ford, in the right of residence.

No date is given of the residence on which this
land right is based.

John P. Duvall, assignee to Jonathan Rees, is en-

146 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

tiled to 400 acres of land on the main fork of Elk
creek, adjoining the lands of Thomas Stout, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 773.

John Price Duvall, assignee to George Williams,
junior, is entitled to 400 acres of land on the main
fork of Freeman's creek, to include his settlement
made in 1 772.

Samuel Duvall is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Goose creek, two miles above the Plum Orchard. This
is a right secured by virtue of planting a crop of corn
on the western waters before 1 778.

John P. Duvall, assignee to Robert Birkett, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on the first bottom of
Sandy Fork, a branch of the West Fork river, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1775.

John Price Duvall, assignee to Elijah Williams,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on Freeman's creek,
to include his settlement made in 1 775.

John P. Duvall, assignee of Samuel Mclntire, is
entitled to 400 acres of land at the Indian House, on
the waters of the West Fork river, to include his set-
tlement made in 1776.

Lewis Duvall is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Freeman's creek to include his settlement made in
1775.

Christian Coffman and John P. Duvall, tenants
in common, are entitled to 400 acres on Goose creek,
a branch of the Hughes river, to include Coffman's
settlement prior to 1778.

Andrew Davisson, senior, is entitled to 400 acres
of land on Elk creek, adjoining lands of Daniel Davis-
son, to include his settlement made in 1 773.

Daniel Davisson and Hezekiah Davisson, assign-
ees to Peter Hatfield, are entitled to 400 acres of land
on Tenmile creek, at the mouth of Gregory run, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 770.

Hezekiah Davisson, assignee to John Williams,

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 147

is entitled to 400 acres of land on Elk run lick, to
include his settlement made in 1 773.

Bazil Williams is entitled to 400 acres of land in
the forks of Tenmile creek, adjoining lands claimed
by Daniel Davisson, to include his settlement made in
1774.

Hezekiah Davisson, assignee to George Wil-
liams, Sr., is entitled to 400 acres of land on Tenmile
creek where Nathaniel Davisson was killed. This
land right is based on the crop of corn raised on the
land before the year 1778.

Jeremiah Simpson is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Cheat river, and a run called Buffalo run, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 775.

James Neal, assignee to William Kennison, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Tenmile creek, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 773.

Mark Cunningham is entitled to 400 acres of
land on West run, adjoining land claimed by the heirs
of James Scott, to include his settlement made in
1776.

Mark Cunningham is entitled to 200 acres of
land on Maple run, near the Laurel Hill, to include his
settlement made in 1 776.

Arthur Trader, assignee to Robert Lowther, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Rubles Mill run, ad-
joining lands of Samuel Ruble, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 770.

William McCleery, assignee to David Evans, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Spring creek, includ-
ing his settlement made in 1 774.

William McCleery, assignee to Charles Hick-
man, is entitled to 400 acres of land on Spring creek,
to include his settlement made in 1 774.

William McCleery, assignee to Jacob Morris, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Spring creek, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 774.

William McCleery, assignee to James Hughes, is

148 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

entitled to 400 acres on Spring creek to include his
settlement made in 1 774. Additional settlements
were made on Spring creek in 1 774 by William Cow-
vines, James Seaton, Enos Thomas, Abraham Hick-
man, Jonathan Hickman, Harvey Thomas, John
Knotts, Francis Seaton, and Joseph Howard. They
all signed their claims to William McCleery.

William McCleery, assignee to Christopher Leak,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on Fox Grape creek, a
branch of Tygart's Valley river, at a place called
Clover Flat, adjoining lands of William Thompson,
to include his settlement made in the year 1 769.

William McCleery, assignee to Ashael Martin, is
entitled to 400 acres on the waters of Fox Grape
creek at Clover Flat, in said Martin's right for having
resided in the county and raised a crop of corn on the
western waters before the year 1 778, he having
proved that he had not taken up, sold, or settled any
land on the western waters.

William McCleery, assignee to John Martin, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Fox Grape creek, a
branch of Tygart Valley river, to include his settle-
ment begun thereon in the year 1 770.

William McCleery, assignee to Joseph Caldwell,
is entitled to 400 acres of land at the mouth of Indian
Camp run, a drain of the middle fork of Tenmile
creek, that being a branch of the West Fork river,
to include his settlement made in 1 771 .

William McCleery, assignee to James Gray, is
entitled to 400 acres on the middle fork of Tenmile
creek, to include his settlement made thereon in 1 771 .

William McCleery, assignee to William Hunter,
is entitled to 400 acres of land at the mouth of Stew-
art's creek, a branch of the main fork of the Little
Kanawha river, to include his settlement made there-
on in 1 773.

William McCleery, assignee to Owen Thomas,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on the south side of the

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 149

right hand main fork of Hughes river, about two and
a half miles above the forks, to include his improve-
ment made in 1 773.

Isaac Christian, assignee to Samuel Frazer, is en-
titled to 400 acres in the forks of Cheat river and
Sandy creek, to include his settlement made in the
year 1 774.

Salathiel Goff, assignee to William Wilson, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Cheat river, opposite
the lands claimed by Thomas Parsons, to include his
settlement made in 1 776.

George Stewart is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Simpson creek, below the block house, to include
his settlement made in 1 772.

Jesse Bailes is entitled to 400 acres of land on a
branch of Tygart's Valley river lying below Glady
creek, and near the land commonly known as the lev-
els, to include his settlement made in 1 772.

John Hays is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Sandy creek to include his settlement made in 1 775.

James Tibbs is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Rooting creek, adjoining lands claimed by James Ar-
nold, to include his settlement made in 1 771 .

John Bush is entitled to 200 acres of land on the
Buckhannon river, adjoining lands of John Hacker, to
include his improvement made in 1 773.

Jacob Bush is entitled to 400 acres of land on the
West Fork river, about two miles below the main
fork of said river, to include his improvement made
in 1777.

John Jackson is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land
by right of preemption, near the Buckhannon river,
adjoining his settlement made in 1 772.

Henry Flesher is entitled to 400 acres of land at
the mouth of Stone Coal creek, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 776.

John Jackson is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Buckhannnon river adjoining lands claimed by

150 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

George Jackson, to include his settlement made in
1772.

John Swearingen, senior, is entitled to 400 acres
of land on Washburn's run, a drain of Tenmile creek,
adjoining lands of William Taylor, to include his pre-
emption made in 1 772.

Jacob Israel, assignee to William Minor, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land on the main forks of Hughes
river, to include his settlement made in 1 772.

Jacob Israel, assignee to David Evans, is entitled
to 400 acres of land on the Sand Fork of the Little
Kanawha river, to include his improvement made in
1775.

Jacob Israel, assignee to John Holton, is entitled
to 400 acres on the West side of the Hughes river,
about six miles from its mouth, to include his im-
provement made in 1775.

Jacob Israel, assignee to Ellis Gerrard, is entitled
to 400 acres on a branch of the Little Kanawha, called
Stewart's creek, to include Gerrard's settlement prior
to 1778.

William Robinson is entitled to 400 acres at the
mouth of Three Forks creek, and adjoining a run call-
ed Berkeley's run, to include his improvement made
in 1773.

Jacob Israel, assignee to Paul Laish, is entitled
to 400 acres on Spring creek to include his settlement
made in 1 774.

Jacob Israel, assignee to Samuel Swingler, is en-
titled to 400 acres on Tenmile creek, to include his
settlement made in 1 773.

Jacob Israel, assignee to Abner Mundall, is en-
titled to 400 acres on Spring creek, including his set-
tlement made in 1 774.

Jacob Israel, assignee of John Minor, is entitled
to 400 acres on Spring creek, including his settlement
made in I 774.

Jacob Israel, assignee of William Gerrard, is en-

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 151

titled to 400 acres on Salt Lick creek, including his
settlement made in 1 774.

Jacob Israel, assignee of John Adams, is entitled
to 400 acres on Spring Creek, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 774.

Thomas Berry is entitled to 400 acres on Sandy
creek adjoining lands claimed by Augustus McClee-
land, to include his settlement made in 1 773.

Thomas Berry, junior, is entitled to 400 acres on
Simpson creek. (No date is given for his entry.)

Terah Osborne, is entitled to 400 acres on the
waters of the Yohogania river adjoining lands of John
Pettyjohn.

John Miller, senior, assignee to Robert Wil-
liams, is entitled to 200 acres of land on the waters of
Cheat river, opposite lands claimed by Fred Cooper,
to include his settlement, made in 1776.

Daniel Cameron, assignee to Frederick Beebles,
is entitled to 1 00 acres on Cheat river, at the mouth
of Bull run, to include his settlement, made in 1 776.

Daniel Cameron, is entitled to 400 acres on
Cheat river, one mile below Licking creek, in right of
residence.

William Pettyjohn, junior, heir to Amos Petty-
john, is entited to 400 acres on Pricket's creek, two
miles above Pricket's Ford, including his settlement
made in 1 773, with a preemption of one thousand
acres adjoining.

William Pettyjohn, junior, is entitled to 400
acres of land on both sides of Glady creek, about one
and one half miles from the Monongahela river, to
include his settlement made in 1 776.

John Pettyjohn, junior, is entitled to 400 acres
of land on the Tygart Valley river, adjoining Wil-
liam Pettyjohn's land, to include his settlement made
in 1774.

Absalom Little is entitled to 400 acres on both

152 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

sides of Glady creek, adjoining and above Major Pow-
er's land, to include his settlement made in 1776.

Salathiel Goff , is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Cheat river, adjoining the lands claimed by Daniel
Cameron, to include the actual settlement Salathiel
Goff made in 1 774, with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres
adjoining.

John Connor, junior, is entitled to 400 acres on
the fork of Sandy creek, to include his settlement
made in 1 776.

Thomas James Goff is entitled to 800 acres in
the right of preemption on the waters of Yohogania
river, to include his improvement made in 1775.

Thomas James Goff, assignee of John Simms, is
entitled to 400 acres on Cheat river, near the forks
thereof, opposite Crouch's improvement, to include
his settlement made in 1 774.

Benjamin Shinn, is entitled to 400 acres on
Jones' run, to include his settlement made in 1 771 .

John Davisson is entitled to 200 acres on the
West Fork river, adjoining lands claimed by Thomas
Read, to include his settlement made in 1775.

Henry Runion, assignee of William Richards, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Lost creek, to include
his settlement made in 1 775.

Henry Runion is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the West Fork river, adjoining lands of Isaac Wash-
burn, to include his settlement made in 1 773.

Henry Runion, assignee of William Richards, is
entitled to 400 acres on Lost creek, to include his
settlement made in 1775.

David Edwards is entitled to 400 acres on the
waters of Elk creek to include his settlement made in
1777.

Samuel Cottrall's heirs, assignees of Charles Grig-
golwey, are entitled to 400 acres on Rooting creek,
to include his settlement made in 1775.

John Wood is entitled to 400 acres on east side

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 153

of the west branch of the Monongahela river, adjoin-
ing lands claimed by Levi Shinn, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 775.

John Davisson is entitled to 400 acres on the
Monongahela river, adjoining lands claimed by Hez-
ekiah Davisson, to include his improvement made in
1773.

William Robinson, assignee to Charles Beckam,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on Simpson's creek,
adjoining lands claimed by John Powers, to include
his settlement made in 1 775.

Thomas Hughes is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the West Fork river, adjoining the lands of Elias
Hughes, to include his settlement made in 1 772.

Elias Pointer is entitled to 400 acres on Buckhan-
non river, adjoining Edward Tanner's land, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 776.

Edward Ratliff is entitled to 400 acres on the
left hand fork of Freeman's creek, called Geelick run,
adjoining lands of Gee Bush, to include his improve-
ment made in 1 772.

John Whendy is entitled to 400 acres at the
mouth of Whendy 's run, a drain of Hacker's creek,
to include his improvement made in 1771.

William Ratliff is entitled to 400 acres on Hack-
er's creek, adjoining lands claimed by John Whendy,
to include his settlement made in 1771.

Samuel Beard is entitled to 400 acres on Simp-
son creek, adjoining lands of Benjamin Webb, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 776.

William Murphey is entitled to 400 acres on the
waters of Simpson's creek, about a mile above the
lands claimed by John Ratcliff, to include his im-
provements made in 1 775.

Daniel Fink is entitled to 400 acres on Mud
Lick creek, a branch of French creek, which is a drain
of the Buckhannon river, to include his improvement
made in 1 773.

154 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Charles Washburn is entitled to 400 acres on
the west branch of the Monongahela river, adjoining
lands claimed by Adam O'Brien, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 773.

Obediah Davisson is entitled to 400 acres on Da-
visson's run, adjoining lands of Nicholas Carpenter,
to include his settlement made in 1777.

Obediah Davisson is entitled to a preemption of
1 ,000 acres adjoining his settlement made on Davis-
son's run in 1 773.

David Sleeth is entitled to 200 acres on the wa-
ters of Hacker's creek, adjoining lands claimed by
Samuel Bonnett, to include his settlement made in
1770.

Edward Tanner is entitled to 300 acres on the
Buckhannon river, at a place called Granney Bottom,
to include his settlement made in 1 773.

John MacCalley is entitled to 400 acres of land,
adjoining the lands of Thomas MacCalley, to include
his settlement made in 1 775.

Heirs of Andrew Cottrell, deceased, are entitled
to 400 acres of land on Moore's run, adjoining lands
of Amaziah Davisson, to include his settlement made
in 1772.

Heirs of Andrew Cottrell are entitled to 400
acres on the waters of Elk creek, adjoining lands of
Joseph Hastings, to include his settlement made in
1773.

Joseph Hastings is entitled to 400 acres on Elk
creek, adjoining John Ratcliff's land, to include his
settlement made in 1775, with a preemption of 1 ,000
acres adjoining.

Joseph Hastings, assignee to Charles Gregoly, is
entitled to 400 acres on the waters of Elk creek ad-
joining the lands of Thomas Hastings, to include his
settlement made in 1 775, with a preemption of one
thousand acres adjoining.

Thomas Nutter is entitled to 300 acres on each

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 155

side of Elk creek, adjoining lands claimed by Ama-
riah Davisson, to include settlement made in 1 772.

Christopher Nutter is entitled to 300 acres on
Suds run, a drain of Elk creek, adjoining the lands of
the heirs of Andrew Cottrell, to include his improve-
ment made in 1 773.

James Tanner is entitled to 400 acres on the west
branch of the Monongahela river, adjoining lands
claimed by Elias Hughes to include his improvement
made in 1772, with a preemption of 1,000 acres ad-
joining.

Edward Tanner is entitled to 400 acres on Buck-
hannon river, adjoining lands claimed by Elias Tan-
ner, to include his improvement made in 1 776.

William Hacker, senior, is entitled to 400 acres
of land on the West Fork river, adjoining lands claim-
ed by George Bush, to include his settlement made in
1779.

John Cutwright, senior, is entitled to 400 acres
of land at the mouth of Cutright's run, to include his
settlement made in 1 770, with a preemption of one
thousand acres adjoining thereto.

John Hacker is entitled to 400 acres on Hacker's
creek, adjoining lands of John Sleath, senior, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 773.

John Hacker is entitled to 400 acres on Buck-
hannon river, adjoining lands of George Jackson, to
include his settlement made in 1 774 .

John Sleath, senior, is entitled to 400 acres on
Hacker's creek, adjoining land claimed by John
Hacker, to include his settlement made in 1777.

William Moore is entitled to 400 acres to include
his improvement made in 1 776. The location of this
land is not given on the land commissioners' books.

Edward Cunningham is entitled to 400 acres on
the left hand fork of Bingamon creek, to include his
settlement made in 1 773, with a preemption of 1 ,000
acres adjoining.

156 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

John Powers is entitled to 400 acres on Simp-
son creek, adjoining lands of James Anderson, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1772.

Edmond West, assignee to Thomas Hughes, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Sycamore Lick run,
a branch of the West Fork river, opposite Thomas
Hughes lands, to include settlement made in 1 773,
with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

James Washburn is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the West Fork river, adjoining lands of Charles
Washburn, to include his settlement made in 1 775,
with a preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Isaac Davisson is entitled to 400 acres on the
West Fork river, adjoining lands of John MacColley,
to include his improvement made in 1 775.

Christopher Baker is entitled to 400 acres on
Murphey's run, adjoining lands claimed by Andrew
Davisson, to include his settlement made in 1 776.

Samuel Harbert, heir of Thomas Harbert, de-
ceased, assignee to John Jones, is entitled to 400 acres
on Jones' run adjoining lands claimed by William
Roberson, to include his settlement made in 1 773.

James Smith is entitled to 400 acres on a drain of
Simpson creek, adjoining lands claimed by John Nut-
ter, to include his settlement made in 1 772.

William Runyon, is entitled to 400 acres on Sy-
camore creek, to include his settlement made 'n
1773.

Amariah Davisson is entitled to 400 acres ^n
the waters of Elk creek, adjoining lands of Mathew
Nutter to include settlement in 1 776.

Amariah Davisson is entited to 1 ,000 acres by
preemption on Limestone creek, on which his im-
provements were made in 1 773.

Thomas Nutter is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Elk creek, adjoining lands claimed by Sotha Hickman,
to include his settlement made in 1 775.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 157

W :lliam Robinson, assignee to Benjamin Shinn,
is entitled to 400 acres on Tenmile creek, adjoining
lands claimed by Benjamin Robinson, including a set-
tlement made in 1774.

Henry Fink, assignee to Henry Rule, is entitled
to 400 acres on Buckhannon river, adjoining lands
claimed by David Wilson, to include his settlement
made in 1 770.

Levi Shinn is entitled to 400 acres on West Fork
river, adjoining lands of John Wood, to include his
settlement made in 1 773, with a preemption of 1 ,000
acres of land.

John Simpson, junior, is entitled to 400 acres on
the waters of Sud run, adjoining lands of John Good,
to include his settlement made in 1773.

Jonathan Coburn is entitled to 300 acres on the
west fork of the Monongahea river, in the bend of
the river, to include his settlement made in 1775.

James Arnold is entitled to 400 acres on Root-
ing creek, at the Old Field Lick, to include his im-
provement made in 1771, with a preemption of 1 ,000
acres adjoining.

Benjamin Robinson, assignee to Jacob Reece, is
entitled to 400 acres on Tenmile creek, adjoining the
lands of William Robinson, to include his improve-
ment made in 1 775.

Edmund West is entitled to 400 acres on Hack-
er's creek, adjoining lands of William Ratcliff, in-
cluding his settlement made in 1 773.

Adam O'Brien, assignee to John Richards, is
entited to 400 acres on Lost creek, adjoining the lands
of John Cain, including his settlement made in 1 771 .

John Schoolcraft, heir of Anstead Schoolcraft,
is entitled to 400 acres on the main fork of Fink's run,
adjoining lands claimed by Henry Fink, to include
his settlement made in 1 774.

Joseph Neal is entitled to 400 acres on Robin-

158 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

son's run, adjoining lands of Thomas Day, including
a settlement made in 1 773.

Arnold Richards is entitled to 300 acres on the
West Fork river, adjoining lands of William Lowther,
to include his settlement made in 1 773.

Jacob Break, assignee to Samuel Bringle, is en-
titled to 400 acres on Buckhannon river, adjoining
lands of Peter Pufenglory, to include his settlement
made in 1 776.

John Jackson, assignee of Samuel Senuskus, is
entitled to 300 acres of land on the Buckhannon
river, adjoining lands of George Jackson, to include
his settlement made in 1 776.

John Bush is entitled to 1 ,000 acres on Decker's
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 770. (This
is a preemption right.)

Paul Richards is entitled to 400 acres on the
West Fork river, adjoining lands of Arnold Richards,
to include his settlement made in 1 774.

Isaac Runyon, assignee of George Claypool, is
entitled to 400 acres in the bend of the river, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 774.

Elias Hughes is entitled to 400 acres on the West
Fork river, to include his improvement made in 1 770.

John Hain is entitled to 250 acres on the West
Fork river, adjoining lands of Jacob Richards, to in-
clude his improvement made in 1 772.

Jacob Richards is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Sycamore creek, to include his settlement made in
1771.

Jessie Hughes is entitled to 400 acres on Hack-
er's creek, adjoining lands of Edmund West, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 770.

Isaac Richard is entitled to 400 acres on the west
side of Elk creek, adjoining lands of Charles Harrison,
in right of residence.

No date is given for Isaac Richards' residence by
which he secured his land on Elk creek.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 159

Conrad Richards is entitled to 400 acres at the
mouth of Lost creek, to include his settlement made
in 1773, with a preemption of 1,000 acres adjoining
thereto.

John Hain is entitled to 400 acres on Lost creek,
adjoining lands claimed by Conrad Richards, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 773.

Adam O'Brien is entitled to 400 acres on the
West Fork river, to include his settlement made in
1 775, adjoining lands of Charles Washburn.

Mathew Schoolcraft, heir of Mathias School-
craft, is entitled to 400 acres on Slab Camp Bottom,
on that branch of the Monongahela river called Sand
fork, to include his settlement made in 1774.

James Schoolcraft is entitled to 400 acres on the
main forks of Fink's run, adjoining lands of John
Schoolcraft, to include his settlement made in 1774.

Isaac Edwards, assignee to John Murphey, is
entitled to 400 acres on Andrew Davisson's run, to
include his improvement made in 1775.

Benjamin Wilson and Jacob Conrad, tenants in
common, assignees to John Davis, are entitled to 400
acres at Bull Town on the Little Kanawha river, to
include his settlement made in 1775.

Benjamin Wilson is entitled to 400 acres on
Leading creek, a branch of Tygart Valley river, ad-
joining lands of Thomas Skidmore, to include his
improvement made in 1776, with a preemption of
1 ,000 acres adjoining.

Thomas Phillips is entitled to a preemption of
800 acres to include his improvement made in 1 770.

Walter Everett is entitled to 400 acres on the
head of Smith's run, adjoining land of Aaron Smith,
to include his improvement made in 1 775.

Sotha Hickman is entitled to 1 ,000 acres on Elk
creek by right of preeemption adjoining lands of

160 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Mathew Hunter, to include his improvements made in
1773.

Henry Crull is entitled to 400 acres on the waters
of Three Fork creek, adjoining land claimed by James
Brain, including his improvement made in 1 776, with
a preemption of one thousand acres adjoining.

John Simpson, assignee to Charles Bennett, is
entitled to 400 acres on Decker's creek, and the wa-
ters of Three Fork, including his settlement made in

1775.

Thomas Evans is entitled to 400 acres on Buffa-
lo creek, adjoining lands of John Grey, to include his
settlement made in 1 773.

Anthony Mahon is entitled to 400 acres on Buf-
falo creek, adjoining lands claimed by Rutherford, to
include his settlement made in 1 773.

Jacob Hoover is entitled to 400 acres on Dunk-
ard's creek, adjoining lands of Nicholas Shinn, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 770.

George Shinn is entitled to 400 acres on Dunk-
ard's creek, to include his settlement made in 1 772.

John Webb is entitled to 400 acres on the drains
of Pawpaw creek and Buffafo creek, to include his
improvement made in 1 773.

George Hiley is entitled to 400 acres on Dunk-
ard's creek, adjoining lands of Thomas Day, to in-
clude his improvement made in 1 770.

John Stradler, assignee to David McMahon, is
entitled to 400 acres on Dunkard's creek, adjoining
lands claimed by John Cooper, to include his improve-
ment made in 1 770.

John Tucker, senior, is entitled to 200 acres of
land on West Fork river, on the Stone Coal Lick, to
include his improvement made in 1775.

John Tucker, senior, assignee to Samuel Merri-
field, is entitled to 400 acres on West Fork river, ad-

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 177

Washington's creek, on the waters of the Little Kana-
wha river, to include his settlement made in 1 773.

William Hanna is entitled to 400 acres in the
forks of Cheat river, to include his improvement made
in 1769.

Jonah Holmes, assignee to Patrick Dosing, is
entilted to 400 acres on the Little Kanawha river, ad-
joining lands of Richard Holmes, including his settle-
ment made in 1 773.

Martin Shobe, assignee of Charles Ratcliff , is en-
titled to 400 acres on Duck creek, including a settle-
ment made in 1 772.

Pheslee Wilson, devisee of George Wilson, is
entitled to a preemption to 400 acres on the Monon-
gahela river, including a settlement made in 1 772.

Samuel Kincaid is entitled to 400 acres on the
Monongahela river, including his settlement made in
1773.

Charles Hickman is entitled to 400 acres on Dun-
lap's creek including a settlement made in 1 773.

James Parsons is entitled to 400 acres on Horse
Shoe Bottom on Cheat river, to include his settlement
made in 1 769.

James Parsons is entitled to preemption of 1 ,000
acres on Yohogania river, to include his improvement
made in 1 770.

Thomas Parsons is entitled to a preemption of
1 ,000 acres on both sides of the Yohogania river, to
include his improvment made in 1 770.

Thomas Parsons is entitled to 400 acres on Horse
Shoe run including his settlement made in 1 774, also
a preemption of 400 acres adjoining.

Thomas Parsons is entitled to 400 acres on Cheat
river, including a settlement made in 1 772, with a
preemption of 1 ,000 acres adjoining.

David Duncan, assignee of Jacob VanMeter, is
entitled to 400 acres on Muddy creek, to include Van-
Meter's settlement made in 1 769.

178 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

David Duncan, assignee of Jacob Van Meter,
is entitled to 400 acres on Muddy Creek, to include
the settlement made by Van Meter in 1 770.

Jessie Hollingsworth is entitled to 400 acres on
Crooked run, to include his settlement made in 1 774,
also a preemption right dated December 1 6, 1 769.

John OTinn is entitled to 400 acres on Bull
creek, including his settlement made in 1 775.

Robert Wood, assignee of James Caldwell, is en-
titled to 400 acres on Little Kanawha river, to include
Caldwell settlement made in 1 773.

Samuel Kinkaid, assignee of Anthony Rhodes, is
entitled to 400 acres on the Monongahela river, to
include his settlement made in 1 773.

Paul Lash is entitled to 400 acres on George's
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 770.

Henry Enochs, junior, is entitled to 400 acres
on Owens Fork on Tenmile creek, to include his set-
tlement made in 1775.

Robert Briscoe, assignee of John Wilson, is en-
titled to 400 acres on the Ohio river, to include his set-
tlement made by the said Wilson in 1 773.

Stephen Ashby, assignee of John Severn, is en-
titled to 400 acres on the waters of Yohogania river,
to include the settlement made in 1 773.

Samuel Cracraft is entitled to 400 acres on the
waters of Yohogania river, including his settlement
made in 1775.

John Harness is entitled to 400 acres on the
waters of the Yohogania river, including his settle-
ment made in 1 775.

John Gibson is entitled to 400 acres on the west
fork of the Little Kanawha river, to include his set-
tlement made in 1 772.

John Hatfield is entitled to 400 acres on the
drains of the Monongahela river, to include his set-
tlement made in 1 770.

Peter Drake is entitled to 400 acres of land on

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 179

the waters of Tenmile creek, to include his settlement
made in 1 773.

Everhart Hupp is entitled to 400 acres on Ten-
mile creek, to include his settlement made in 1 769.

James Braden is entitled to 400 acres on the
waters of Tenmile creek, to include his settlement
made in 1 771 .

George Myers is entitled to 400 acres on Ten-
mile creek, to include his settlement made in 1771.

James Barnett is entitled to 400 acres on the
waters of Tenmile creek, to include his settlement
made in 1 773.

Richard Harrison, assignee to Thomas Cunning-
ham, is entitled to 400 acres on the waters of Indian
creek, to include his settlement made in 1774.

Richard Harrison, assignee of Daniel Broshfield,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on the waters of Indian
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 774.

Richard Harrison, assignee of William Robin-
son, is entitled to 400 acres of land on Indian creek,
to include his settlement made in 1 772.

John McMahon is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Crooked creek, including a settlement made in
1772.

Charles Martin is entitled to 400 acres on the
Monongahela river, including his settlement made in
1 769.

Charles Martin is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the waters of Crooked run, to include his settlement
made in 1 770.

Henry Enochs, junior, is entitled to 400 acres
at the forks of Tenmile creek, to include his settle-
ment, made in 1 768.

John Miller, assignee of Isaac Dillon, is entitled
to 400 acres on Booth creek, including his settlement
made in 1774.

John Wickwire, assignee of Richard Merrifield,

180 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

is entitled to 400 acres on Booth creek, to include
his settlement made in 1 773.

John Wickwire is entitled to 400 acres on the
east fork of the Monongahela river, to include his set-
tlement made in 1 772.

John Wickwire, assignee of James Templeton,
is entitled to 400 acres on Booth creek, to include his
settlement made in 1774.

Jacob Prickett is entitled to 400 acres on Monon-
gahela river, to include his settlement made in 1772.

Jacob Prickett is entitled to 400 acres on Prick-
ett's creek, to include his settlement made in 1 772.

Ezekiel Thomas is entitled to 400 acres on Booth
creek, including his settlement made in 1 773.

Robert Patten is entitled to 400 acres in Monon-
gahela glade to include his settlement made in 1 776.

Jeremiah Smith is entitled to 400 acres on Simp-
son's creek, to include his settlement made in 1 774.

Samuel Smith is entitled to 400 acres on Simp-
son's creek, to include his settlement made in 1 774.

James Chew, assignee of Joseph Tomlinson, is
entitled to 400 acres on Buffalo creek, to include his
improvement made in 1 773.

James Chew, assignee of Joseph Doddridge, is
entitled to 400 acres on the Monongahela river, to in-
clude the settlement made by Doddridge, made in
1773.

James Chew, assignee of Charles Washburn, is
entitled to 400 acres on Stone Coal creek, to include
his settlement made in 1 774.

David Gray, assignee of John Gray, is entitled
to 400 acres on the drains of Cheat river, to include
his settlement made in 1 770.

John Van Droff is entitled to 400 acres on Mo-
nongahela river, to include his settlement made in
1772.

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 181

Jacob Cline is entitled to 400 acres on Muddy
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 773.

John Cline is entitled to 400 acres on Muddy
creek, to include his settlement made in 1775.

Edward Arburns is entitled to 400 acres on the
Monongahela river, at the mouth of Whitley creek, to
include his settlement made in 1 767.

Jessie Bomgardner, heir of Adam Bomgardner,
deceased, who was heir of George Bomgardner, is
entitled to 400 acres on the west side of the Monon-
gahela river, at the mouth of Tenmile creek, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 769 by the said George
Bomgardner.

Christian Hames is entitled to 400 acres on the
branch of the Fish Pot, or Crawford's creek, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 774.

Jacob Archer is entitled to 220 acres on the south
fork of Tenmile creek, to include his settlement made
in 1772.

George Guggins is entitled to 400 acres on the
waters of Bartley's run, including his settlement,
made in 1 776.

Bazel Prator is entitled to 400 acres on Sandy
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 775.

Johnathan Wright is entitled to 400 acres on the
water of the Monongahela river, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 769.

Jacob Peck is entitled to 400 acres on Tenmile
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 774.

George Church is entitled to 400 acres on the
south fork of Tenmile creek, to include his settlement
made in 1 774.

Micheal Kerns is entitled to 400 acres on both
sides of Decker's creek, including his settlement
made in 1 772, with a preemption of 600 acres adjoin-
ing thereto.

John Shriver is entitled to 200 acres on Crooked
run, to include his settlement made in 1 771 .

182 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Adam Shriver is entitled to 1 50 acres on Crook-
ed run, to include his settlement made in 1776.

Adam Shriver is entitled to 1 50 acres on Crooked
run to include his settlement made in 1771.

John Dent, junior, is entitled to 400 acres of
land on Scott's run, to include his settlement made
in the year 1 775.

Jesse Hollingsworth has a right to 400 acres of
land on a branch of Dunkards creek, adjoining land
claimed by John Meyers, Edward Askins, and Nathan
Heald, to include his settlement made in 1 772.

William Provence is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Monongahela river, bounded by a
line forty rods above Lick run, to include his set-
tlement in 1 767.

Christian Leatherman, junior, is entitled to 400
acres of land on the waters of Pigeon creek, to
include his settlement made in 1774.

Christian Leatherman is entitled to 300 acres on
the waters of Pigeon creek to include his settlement
made in 1 776.

Daniel Leatherman is entitled to 400 acres on
the waters of Pigeon creek, including his settlement
made in 1 776.

Thomas Cook is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the waters of Pigeon creek, including his settlement
made in 1 772.

George Teagarden has a right to 400 acres on the
waters of Tenmile creek, including his settlement
made in 1 773.

James Braden has a right to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Tenmile creek, including his settle-
ment made in 1 772.

John Conkle has a right to 400 acres on the
waters of Tenmile creek, including his settlement
made in 1 773.

Joseph Hill is entitled to 400 acres of land on

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 183

Tenmile creek to include his settlement made in 1 773.

Robinson Lucas is entitled to 400 acres of land
on White Day creek, including his settlement made
in 1774.

Daniel Stout is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the waters of Dunkard's creek, including his settle-
ment made in 1 772.

George Snyder is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the waters of Dunkard's creek, including his settle-
ment made in 1 772.

Abraham Lemasters is entitled to 300 acres of
land on the waters of the Monongahela river, includ-
ing his settlement made in 1 774.

Charles Burcham is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Simpson's creek, including his settlement made in
1774.

John Miller, assignee to Philip Savarth, is enti-
tled to 400 acres on the waters of Tenmile creek, in-
cluding his settlement made in 1 772.

Peter Crouse, heir to William Crouse, is entitled
to 300 acres of land on the waters of Crooked run,
including his settlement made in 1 773.

Phineas Killum is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Dunkard creek, including his settle-
ment made in 1 772.

David Morgan, assignee to Luckey Morgan, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on the Monongahela
river, to include his settlement made in 1772.

David Morgan is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the Monongahela river, to include his settlement made
in 1772.

Jonathan Stout, assignee to William Davis, is
entitled to 400 acres on Simpson's creek, to include
his settlement made in 1 772.

John Prickett, heir to Isaiah Prickett, has a right
to 400 acres of land on the Monongahela river, in-
cluding his settlement made in 1 772.

John Craft is entitled to 400 acres of land on

184 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Tenmile creek, including his improvement made in
1774.

John Hardin is entitled to 400 acres on the wa-
ters of Cheat river and George's creek, including his
settlement made in 1 770.

Timothy Byon has a right to 400 acres of land
on Tenmile creek, to include his settlement made in
1779.

John Holt has a right to 400 acres of land on the
Monongahela river to include his settlement made in
1772.

William Harkness, heir to John Harkness, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on Cheat river, to include
his settlement made in 1 776.

John Craig has a right to 400 acres of land on
Tenmile creek, to include his settlement made in
1774.

Jacob Snuff is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the waters of the Monongahela river, to include his
settlement made in 1 770.

John Owens is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Booth creek to include his settlement made in 1 774.

Major Zadock Springer is entitled to 400 acres of
land on George's creek, including his settlement made
in 1773.

Zackquiel Morgan, assignee to Isaac Lemasters,
is entitled to 400 acres of land at the mouth of Deck-
er's creek, to include his settlement made in 1 772.

Martin Varner has a right to 400 acres of land
on the Monongahela river, including his settlement
made in 1 772.

Leonard Varner is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the Monongahela river to include his settlement
made in 1 774.

John Anderson, heir of John Anderson, deceas-
ed, is entitled to 400 acres on Booth creek, including
his settlement made in 1 774.

Jacob Cozad, heir to William Drago, is entitled

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 185

to 400 acres of land on the head of the right hand
fork of Drago run, to include his improvement made
thereon.

No date is given for this improvement.

John Merrifield is entitled to 400 acres on Otter
creek, a branch of the Tygart Valley river, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 774.

William Isner is entitled to 400 acres on Tygart
Valley river, adjoining his settlement made in the
year 1 775, near to the land claimed by Benjamin
Wilson.

William Owens is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Pawpaw creek, to include his settlement made
in the year 1 775.

William Smith is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Indian creek, including his improvement made in the
year 1 774.

John Bell is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the waters of the Monongahela river, adjoining lands
claimed by Jacob Prickett, to include his improvement
made in 1 773.

William Augustus Smith has a right to 400 acres
of land on the waters of Robinson's run, adjoining
Amos Smith's lands, including his settlement made in
1773.

George Stewart is entitled to 400 acres on the
waters of Simpson's creek, below the block house, ad-
joining the lands claimed by William Lowther, to in-
clude his settlement made in the year 1 772.

William Pettyjohn, assignee to Jonathan Paine,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on Laurel run, adjoin-
ing lands claimed by John Uperhizer, including his
settlement made in 1 776.

Noah Haden is entitled to a preemption for 1 ,000
acres of land two miles from the mouth of Red creek,
the place known as Haden's cabin, to include his im-
provement made in 1 776.

John Booth, heir of James Booth, is entitled to

186 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

200 acres of land on the south side of Tygart's Val-
ley river, opposite the Forshek's Levels, to include his
improvement made in 1 776.

Richard Yates, assignee to Michael Tygart, and
Thomas Bond, who was assignee to Charles Church-
well, are entitled to 400 acres of land in the forks of
the Little Kanawha river, adjoining lands of Henry
Castle, including his improvement made in 1 774.

Miles Haden has a right to 400 acres of land on
the north fork of Tenmile creek, including his set-
tlement made in 1 774.

Richard Leman is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Dunkard's creek, including his settlement made in
1775.

Lewis Dean is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the waters of Dunlap creek, including his settlement
made in 1 773.

Thomas Peters is entitled to 400 acres on the wa-
ters of Dunlap creek, including his settlement made
in 1773.

George Wade is entitled to 400 acres on the wa-
ters of Dunlap creek to include his settlement made
prior to 1 778.

Samuel Miller is entitled to 400 acres on Dunlap
creek, including his settlement made in 1 772.

Robert Bennett has a right to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Tenmile creek to include his settle-
ment made in 1775.

Nathan Thomas, assignee to Thomas Sobin, has
a right to 400 acres on Indian creek, including his
settlement made in 1 774.

Daniel Murdoch is entitled to 400 acres on the
Monongahela river, to include his settlement made in
1770.

Joseph Setman is entitled to 400 acres on the east
side of the Monongahela river, to include his settle-
ment made in the year 1772.

Daniel Murdoch is entitled to 400 acres on the

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 187

waters of Tenmile creek, to include his settlement
made in 1 778.

Aequllar Martin is entitled to 400 acres on the
Monongahela river, to include his settlement made
in 1771.

James Meander has a right to 400 acres on the
waters of Tenmile creek, including his settlement
made in 1 770.

Samuel Hathaway is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Tenmile creek to include his settlement made in
1773.

Jonathan Rees is entitled to 300 acres of land on
George's creek, including his settlement made in

1 769.

Samuel Merrifield is entitled to 400 acres on the
West Fork river, including his settlement made in the
year 1773.

Charles Dawson is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Flaggy run, including his settlement made in 1 775.

James Mills is entitled to 1 56 acres of land on
the right hand fork of Miracle's run, to include his
settlement made in 1775.

Edward James, assignee to Joseph Robinett, is
entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land on Little Sandy creek,
including his settlement made in 1 773.

Charles Martin, assignee to Michael Whitlock,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on Mudlick creek, in-
cluding his settlement made in 1 774.

James Current, assignee to James Anderson, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Booth creek, includ-
ing his settlement made in 1 776.

Jacob Israel, assignee to Stephen Minor, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land at the mouth of Tenmile
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 773.

Frederick Sage is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Pigeon creek, including his settle-
ment made in 1 774,

Charles Hadden is entitled to 400 acres of land

188 . HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

on the waters of Crawford's run, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 773.

James Miller, assignee to Samuel Miller, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on the waters of Mill run,
including his settlement made in 1 773.

James Elliott is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Tenmile creek, including his settlement made in 1 773.

Henry Hammell is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the West side of the Monongahela river, includ-
ing his settlement made in 1 769.

Thomas Hill is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Tenmile creek, including his settlement made in the
year 1 774.

Miles Hadden is entitled to 200 acres of land on
the north fork of Tenmile creek, including his settle-
ment made in 1 774.

John Tucker, son of Edwin Tucker, is entitled to
400 acres of land on Tenmile creek, to include his
settlement made in 1 774.

Jesse Leonard is entitled to 400 acres of land on
Tenmile creek, including his settlement made in
1774.

John Simpson is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the West Fork river, to include his settlement
made in 1 775.

John Besher is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the Monongahela river, in include his settlement
made in 1 773.

John Heagle is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the Buckhannon river, adjoining lands claimed by
Michael Heagle, including his settlement made in
1776.

Henry Flesher, assignee to Alexander Maxwell,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on the West Fork river,
to include his settlement made in 1776, adjoining
lands claimed by Isaac Stotton.

Peter Puffinliger is entitled to 400 acres of land

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 189

on the Buckhannon river, at the mouth of Ratliff's
run, including his settlement made in 1 774.

Aaron Jenkins, assignee to Alexander Clegg, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on Helen's fork of Deck-
er's creek, adjoining lands claimed by Philip Dodd-
ridge, including his settlement made in 1 773.

John Bennett, assignee to Jacob White, is enti-
tled to 400 acres of land on White Day creek, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 775.

Joshua Hopkins, assignee to Robert Snodgrass,
is entitled to 400 acres of land, adjoining lands claim-
ed by Isaac VanCamp, including his settlement made
in 1775.

William Robinson, assignee to David Roilston,
is entitled to 400 acres of land on the west fork of the
Tygart's Valley river, below the mouth of Three Fork
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 773.

The description of this land, as to its location,
seems ambiguous, as it appears on the book of the
land commissioners.

Michael Kane, assignee to George Kane, is entitled
to 500 acres of land on Dunkard's creek, to include
his settlement made in 1 773.

Peter Haught is entitled to 200 acres of land
on Statler's run, to include his improvement made in
1778.

John Harrison, assignee to John McDonald, is
entitled to 400 acres on Big Buffalo creek, adjoining
lands claimed by Charles Martin, to include his settle-
ment made in 1 774.

Peter Haught, senior, is entitled to 400 acres on
Statler's run, adjoining lands of Henry Smith, to in-
clude his improvement made in 1 776.

Richard Tennant is entitled to 400 acres on
Dunkard's creek, adjoining lands claimed by Henry
Smith, to include his improvement made in 1775.

Daniel Arnold, assignee to Stephen Croops, is

190 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

entitled to 400 acres on Tenmile creek, including his
settlement made in 1 774.

Humphrey Bell is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the waters of Hughes river. No date is given for this
certificate.

Nathaniel Cochran is entitled to 400 acres of
land on the West Fork river at the mouth of Tava-
baugh run, on the river hill, including his improve-
ment made in 1 776.

Henry Fink is entitled to 300 acres of land on
the left hand fork of Stone Coal creek, about three
miles from its mouth. This entry was made in 1 783,
but the date of the settlement on which the right to
the land was based, if there were a settlement, is not
given. The entry in the commissioners' book was
made in 1 783.

Samuel Burrows is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Buffalo creek, adjoining land claimed by John
Scott, to include his residence made in 1 776.

David Shepherd is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the upper side of the Little Kanawha river, about
five miles from the mouth, to include his settlement
made in 1 773.

Andrew Ice, assignee to William Blair, is entitled
to 400 acres of land on the south side of Buffalo
creek, to include his settlement made in 1 774.

Moses Shepherd is entitled to 400 acres of land
on a small drain of the Ohio river, about two miles
below Bull creek, to include his improvement made
in 1 773, with a preemption to 1 ,000 acres of land ad-
joining thereto.

Joseph Thomson is entitled to 400 acres of land
on the waters of Stewart's fork of Elk Creek, includ-
ing Sand Lick, to include his settlement made in
1775.

John Thompson is entitled to 400 acres of land
at Clover Flats, on Fox Grape creek, to include his
settlement made in 1 772. "A certificate for the said

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 191

land was illegally obtained by Colonel William Mc-
Cleery, dated April 25, 1781, which certificate the
surveyor is hereby required not to make any further
survey or further proceedings upon, and the same is
hereby made void Given under our hands at the Mon-
ongalia county court house, April 13, 1783."

This note on the land commissioners' book was
signed by the three commissioners, James Neal,
Charles Martin and William Haymond.

James Brown is entitled to 400 acres on the left
hand fork of Lost creek, to include his improvement
made in 1 775.

John Thompson, assignee to Henry Thompson,
is entitled to 400 acres on Gnatty creek, at the mouth
of Prather's run, to include his improvement made in
1775.

Joseph Hutchings is entitled to 400 acres on the
left hand fork of Fox Grape creek, to include his im-
provement made in 1 773.

Michael Hagle is entitled to 400 acres on Buck-
hannon river, adjoining lands claimed by Charles
Fallinash, to include his settlement made in 1 776.

John Hagle is entitled to 400 acres of land on the
waters of the Buckhannon river, adjoining lands
claimed by Michael Hagle, to include his settlement
made in 1 776.

John Hagel is entitled to 400 acres of land on the,
Buckhannon, adjoining lands claimed by John Flagle,
including his settlement made in 1 776.

Francis Barrel, assignee to Henry Haines, is en-
titled to 328 acres of land on Cobun's creek, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 776.

James Taylor is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the right hand fork of Fox Grape creek, to include
his settlement made in 1 773.

Charles Harris is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of land
at the Hollow Poplar on Elk creek, to include his
residence. No date is given.

Mnrcaruowfl,

192 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Charles Snodgrass is entitled to 1 ,000 acres of
land on Fallow's creek, adjoining lands of William
Snodgrass, including his settlement made in 1775.

John Hawkins Low, assignee to Patrick McElloy
and Major Templin, is entitled to 1 ,000 acres on Bull
creek, two miles from its mouth, to include the im-
provement made in 1 774 by the said McEllroy and
Templin.

James Farhus is entitled to 400 acres on Shel-
ton's run, adjoining land claimed by Joseph Davisson,
to include his settlement. No date given.

Charles Burke is entitled to 300 acres on Lost
run, including his improvement made in 1 776.

Elias Burris is entitled to 400 acres of land on a
drain of the Monongahela river, adjoining lands
claimed by John Evans, to include his settlement
made in 1 774.

John Hadden is entitled to 200 acres of land on
Hadden's mill run, a branch of Tygart Valley river,
to include his settlement made in 1 774.

Robert Farrill, assignee to Dennis is en-
titled to 200 acres of land on Indian creek, to include
his improvement made in 1 774.

John Hawkins Low, assignee to John Pierce,
who was assignee to John Shoemaker, is entitled to
400 acres of land on Bull creek, to include Shoe-
maker's improvement made in 1 774.

John Sleath, senior, is entitled to 400 acres of
land on Hacker's creek, adjoining lands of John
Hacker, to include his settlement made in 1777.

Thomas Nutter, assignee to Edmund West, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on the waters of Elk
creek, including his improvement made in 1 772.

Isaac Cushman is entitled to 200 acres on Sandy
creek to include his improvement made in 1771.

Daniel McFarland, assignee to James Morandy,
who was assignee to Henry Thomas, is entitled to

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 193

400 acres of land on the main forks of Little Ka-
nawha river, to include his settlement made in 1 774.

David Scott, assignee to Boaz Burris, is entitled
to 400 acres on Buffalo Lick run to include his im-
provement made in 1776.

Zackquil Morgan is entitled to 1,000 acres on
Wickwire creek, adjoining his improvement made in
1776.

Henry Castell is entitled to 400 acres on the wa-
ters of Little Kanawha river, adjoining Paul Arm-
strong's land, to include his settlement made in 1775.

Susanna Decker, assignee to Catherine Decker,
who was assignee to Nicholas Decker, heir of Garrett
Decker, is entitled to 300 acres of land on both sides
of Decker's creek, adjoining lands of Henry Smith, in-
cluding the settlement made thereon in 1 771 .

Reuben Bonner is entitled to 400 acres of land
adjoining Morgan's land, to include his settlement
made in 1 773.

The location of this land is left somewhat indef-
inite, as no natural boundary or location by a nat-
ural feature of the country is given, but it was doubt-
less deemed sufficient by the land commissioners.

Henry Haskins, assignee to Robert Snodgrass, is
entitled to 400 acres of land adjoining lands claimed
by Isaac Van Camp, including his settlement made in
1775.

John Scott, junior, is entitled to 400 acres on
Buffalo creek to include his settlement made in 1 770.

Hugh Ferry is entitled to 400 acres on the wa-
ters of the Monongahela river, adjoining John Hamil-
ton's land, including his settlement made in 1 773.

Zackquil Morgan, senior, is entitled to 400 acres
of land on Hawkin's fork of Wickwire creek, to in-
clude his improvement made in 1 775 .

Robert Brownfield is entilted to 400 acres of
land on both sides of Sandy creek, on both sides of
the Tygart Valley road, near the land claimed by

194 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Charles Cheeney, to include his settlement made
thereon in 1 774, by Jeremiah Archer who obtained a
certificate in his own name for the same land and has
since sold the certificate to the above named Robert
Brownfield and unjustly withholds the same from
him. The surveyor is therefore required not to make
any survey thereon.

This entry is another instance where the land
commissioners exercised something of the powers of
a court in determining where the cause of justice
could be well served by following some specified
line of action.

James Ferry is entitled to 400 acres of land on
the Monongahela river, adjoining Hugh Ferry's land,
including his settlement made in 1 773.

Alexander Clegg and William Irwin, assignees
to David Casto, are entitled to 400 acres of land on
the Monongahela river, at the mouth of Buffalo
creek, including his settlement made in 1 773.

Paul Armstrong is entitled to 1 ,000 acres on the
Little Kanawha river, including his settlement made
in 1775.

George Stradler is entitled by the last will and
testament of Stephen Stradler to 200 acres on Dunk-
ard's creek, known as Stradler's Fort to include his
settlement made in 1 774.

William Powell is entitled to 400 acres on Deck-
er's creek, to include his settlement made in 1 776.

William Gray is entitled to 400 acres on Buffalo
creek, including his settlement made in 1 775, ad-
joining lands of John Glenn.

Richard Yeates, assignee to Michael Teagard,
is entitled to 400 acres in the forks of Little Kana-
wha river, adjoining lands of Henry Castle, to include
his settlement made in 1 774.

Jeremiah Simpson is entitled to 400 acres on
Buffalo Run, branch of Cheat river, to include his
settlement made in 1775 .

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 195

Philip Pindell, assignee to Nathan Butler, is en-
titled to 400 acres of land on a drain of Buffalo
creek that empties in below Dunkard's Mill run, to
include his settlement made in 1775.

George Teeter is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Tygart's Valley river, adjoining said river, to in-
clude his settlement made in 1 772.

Henry Enochs, assignee to Richard Jackson, is
entitled to 400 acres of land on the Little Kanawha
river, adjoining lands of Richard Lee, to include his
settlement made in 1 774.

Philip Minear is entitled to 400 acres of land
on Cheat river, at the mouth of Buffalo creek. No
date is assigned to this event.

George Parker is entitled to 400 acres on Cheat
river to include his improvement made in 1 781 .

Richard Lee is entitled to 400 acres on the Little
Kanawha river, adjoining lands of Nathaniel Redford,
to include his settlement made in 1 774.

The Nationality of the Homesteaders.

There were 1,215 homesteads in Monongalia
county. It was not unusual for one man to take up
more than one homestead, as the law apparently per-
mitted under some circumstances, the condition being
that he should make a separate and distinct settlement
for each homestead, or that he should have it done by
a tenant who should do it for him. If the list of 1,215
homesteads is carefully checked over, to eliminate
duplicates where one man made more than one entry,
it appears that the actual number of different men
who took up homesteads in the old limits of the
county was 1,1 17. There is room for a slight error
in that number, because in checking off duplicates,
where the name of the same man may occur more
than once, it is possible to check off names of men

196 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

who "were not on the list twice, owing to the fact
that different men in some cases had the same
names and it is not always possible to distinguish such
names from the names which occur in the entry of
the same man twice. With all reasonable care in
marking off the men whose names are found twice on
the homestead lists, it is found that the probable
number of different homesteaders in the county was
1,117.

It should not be forgotten that these statistics
relate to the area of the original Monongalia county,
and not to the county in its present size. The origi-
nal county had an area of between 7,000 and 8,000
square miles, as it is now estimated. The original
area has been divided again and again until now it
constitutes twenty-five counties or parts of counties,
three in Pennsylvania and twenty-two in West Vir-
ginia. Those which were originally considered part-
ly in Virginia but now wholly in Pennsylvania were
Fayette, Green and Washington. Part of the bound-
ary line separating Pennsylvania and Virginia was
for many years vague and not well understood, and
the result was that Virginia occasionally set up claims
for more than was justly hers. For that reason there
were many and long disputes between the two states
as to the rightful ownership of part of the territory
over which each claimed dominion. Finally the
boundary line was run and marked and this put a
stop to wrongful claims to disputed territory. Men
in locating homesteads were constantly getting over
the Pennsylvania line while claiming to be in Monon-
galia county, which was always in Virginia, and this
led to many disputes or misunderstandings.

The counties in West Virginia formed wholly or
in part of the territory in the Monongalia county as
it was formed in 1776 were the following: Preston,
Tucker, Randolph, Pocahontas, Harrison, Marion,
Taylor, Barbour, Webster, Braxton, Calhoun, Roane,

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 197

Jackson, Wood, Ritchie, Wirt, Gilmer, Lewis, Up-
shur, Doddridge, Pleasant and Monongalia. It is thus
seen that when the original county of Monongalia
was formed it covered a considerable part of the pres-
ent state of West Virginia, as well as a small portion
of Pennsylvania, or was supposed to do so. The
area of the original county, as its boundaries were
generally understood, may be placed at 8,485 square
miles.

Of what prevailing nationalities were the home-
steaders who settled in Monongalia? There were
1,117 of them, and they were of many nationalities.
Their descendants are now all Americans, but the an-
cestors were from different countries before they cast
their lots among the mountains and forests of this
new land. They were drawn hither by the dreams of
liberty and they came expecting to find what they
were searching for. They faced dangers and hard-
ships in coming here and after they arrived, and
many of them paid with their lives the price which the
hostile Indians demanded and collected from those
who came to the new and wild land seeking for better
things than they had known in the countries whence
they had come. But those who survived received
their reward and passed it down to their descendants
who have retained the good things and have them
yet. But of what nationality were the homesteaders
who came and made their homes in the woods of
Monongalia county.

The chief means of deciding that question, as
to the nationality of the people whose names are left
on the records, is found in the names themselves.
Names are generally, but not always, an index to the
nation whence came the owner of the name. Va-
rious societies and individuals have compiled and
published lists of the names that belong to the men
of different nations, such as Scotch, Irish, English,
German, and so on down the line through the differ-

198 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

ent nations. By comparing the names of the Mon-
ongalia homesteaders with the names on the va-
rious lists it becomes possible to determine with a
fair degree of accuracy, or at least with considerable
probability, the country whence the name in question
originated. The names of the homesteaders were
tested by such lists of names, and the result was ac-
cepted as the nearest approach to a decision on the
nationality of the men, that it is possible to reach
under the circumstances.

No name is put down as Scotch or Scotch-Irish
which is not in good standing in Charles A. Hanna's
book, The Scotch-Irish, and no name is placed as Ger-
man which does not stand a similar test by being in
Hermann Schuricht's book on the German Element in
Virginia. Similar tests were applied to other name
lists, and whether such tests were the best that could
be applied or not, the showing was apparently rea-
sonable, and seemed to be not far from what good
judges think is about the ratio of the citizens contrib-
uted to the citizenship of pioneer Monongalia county
by the different nations. The principal nationalities
among the homesteaders of the county follow:

Scotch or Scotch-Irish 687

English 204

German 97

Irish 44

Unclassified 85

Total " . ...1117

This figures out a percentage of Scotch-Irish in
the list of homesteaders of 6 1 , percentage of English
1 8, German 8, Irish 4, and unclassified 7.

The names suggest the probability that among
the unclassified there were a few Spanish, Portuguese
and Welsh. The absence of Scandinavians among

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 199

the pioneers is noticeable. The people from the
Scandinavian countries apparently did not begin to
arrive in this part of America until after the period of
homesteading in this part of Virginia had come to a
close, for the Scandinavians are generally among the
most adventurous of the people of the world, and
they are usually in the foremost rank of settlers and
immigrants in cold latitudes.

The German element among the homesteaders
seems very low, but the names do not indicate that
these people pushed in large number into the new re-
gion, though some of the most vigorous families were
of that nationality. The Scotch were the most num-
erous of all the nations in the country in which Mon-
ongalia county's history was being worked out.
Many of the leaders among the frontiersmen were
Scotch, and in close competition were the English-
men. The leaders of nearly every frontier enterprise,
whether it was the building of a horse-trail or a fort,
wis very apt to be an Englishman or a Scotchman
- ■ note such names as Wilson ; Stewart, Lewis, Hay-
mond, Ruddell, Ashby, Hughes and Carpenter. The
list sounds as if it were made up in the British Isles,
and Monongalia county had a large part of those peo-
ple in its original settlement. A strong German ele-
ment came in later, many of the settlers coming from
Pennsylvania which was a favorite landing place for
those people.

All persons who came into the county to make
homes did not take up homesteads, and perhaps not
half of the permanent residents were homesteaders.
They procured their land in different ways, and home-
steading was only one and not the usual means of
getting homes. Many never procured land, and some
were satisfied to act as tenants for landholders and
received for their work a mere living. There were
all kinds of people. Land was plentiful and cheap
and it would seem that every man whose lot was

200 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

cast on the frontiers at that time would secure a piece
of land in some one of the several ways which were
possible and generally easy; but that was not always
the case, and some never secured real estate at all.

The majority of the farms in Monongalia coun-
ty, and as far as that is concerned, the majority of
farms in West Virginia, never were parts of home-
steads. The lands were often bought by speculators
and dealers from the state of Virginia, and the settler
who wanted a farm, bought from the large land holder
who had it for sale. The speculator purchased script,
which was a certificate that he owned so many acres
of land in the state and he had a right to locate it
where he pleased, within certain boundaries, and he
made his money, if a speculator, by selling his land
to small holders who usually wanted it for farms. It
was generally quite cheap, and the man looking for a
farm often found it preferable to buy the land, to
hunting up a vacant place and homesteading it for
himself.

For that reason it is found that only a few home-
steaded their land, and that many bought it from the
state or from those who had so purchased it. Statis-
tics on the subject are not readily available, but it
may perhaps be safely accepted as the truth that not
one acre was secured by a homestead in Virginia to a
thousand acres secured in other ways. It is therefore
apparent that the homestead was not the common
manner of getting land for homes in the forests of
Virginia. The homesteader was an unusual person-
age in the settlements. He had few homesteaders for
his neighbors.

It will be observed, however, in studying the list
of homesteaders in the county that many of the lead-
ing men were interested in land of that class? How-
ever, many of them got their right to take land in that
manner, not by living on it themselves, but by buying
the right from some man who had "made a settle-

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 201

ment." That accounts for the frequency with which
the term "assignee to such a man" is met with in the
land commissioners' books. Some men preferred to
buy the right from another man and in that way ob-
tain the land as though he had lived on it, or made a
settlement on it himself.

But the majority of the men in the frontiers
never had anything to do with homesteads. There
were other means of securing land which they con-
sidered easier than the homestead method, and that
was often the way chosen to get a home. Consid-
ering the extent of the territory of Monongalia in
1 789, the population due to the families of the men
who took up homesteads in that year, or in any other
year during which homesteads were being taken up,
was small. Figured on the basis of five persons to
the homestead, it was only 5,765 persons coming into
the county by the homestead method in 1 780, which
was hardly one family to five square miles. The
county was then about one-third as large as the pres-
ent state of West Virginia.

The table which follows shows at a glance the
number of homesteads taken up from year to year
in Monongalia county:

I 766 7

I 767 2

1 768 4

1 769 - 22

1 770 - 91

1771 - - 66

1 772 - 143

1 773 247

1 774 - 168

1 775 227

1776 - 1 39

1777 : 22

1 778 7

1 779 5

1 780 2

1 78 I 3

1 782 1

Uncertain of year 59

Total - 1215

202 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

A general movement of homesteaders into Mon-
ongalia county was not observed till the year 1 769,
and this was true also of the whole Trans-Allegheny
country. Only 22 came into Monongalia county
that year, and the number was increased more than
four-fold the next year, but for some unexplained
reason, the homesteaders decreased to 66 in 1771.
The number rose to 1 43 in 1 772, and in the next year
the settlers on the search for homesteads rose to a still
higher number, and continued to increase until 1 773
when the highest figure in all homesteading history
in Monongalia county was reached. The total num-
ber of settlers on homesteads in Monongalia that
year reached 247.

That was a prosperous and auspicious time. It
was an epoch of adventure and speculation in west-
ern lands, and the tide across the mountains was in its
full course. By no means all the people who made
their way over the western chain of hills at that time
were homesteaders. They were only a portion of the
comers, but they were the most important portion
of all the new life that was filling the western forests,
for they were the home-builders on which the future
so largely depended, and in placing dependence on
those brave, rough men, there were few disappoint-
ments.

A strong colony of settlers located that year,
1 773, on Salt Lick creek, in the present county of
Braxton, but it was then embraced in the wide boun-
daries of Monongalia county. It formed a valuable
outpost between other settlers further east and the
wild tribes of Indians beyond the Ohio river. The
salt springs which gave the creek its name were soon
developed into salt works, which furnished salt for
the surrounding country for the next fifty years.
Other colonies of settlers, and frontiersmen in small
numbers and alone, pushed down the Little Kanawha
river entirely to its mouth, now marking the location

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 203

of Parkersburg, and in that year the white men's
cabins were scattered across the wilderness from the
Allegheny mountains to the banks of the Ohio river,
which then formed the extreme western border of the
great county of Monongalia. The eastern bank of
the Ohio river began to be the home of white men
at various places from what is now Jackson county
northward into Pennsylvania. Surveyors, some of
them with very crude instruments, but capable of
measuring the land, were everywhere busy in finding
places for settlers who were on the way into the new
and promising country.

The pioneers who took advantage of every op-
portunity to possess the land west of the Allegheny
mountains in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere,
at that time were a strong race of men who were not
easily stopped by hardships or burdened by the dan-
gers of the way. Otherwise they would not have
forced their journey so persistently into the woods
hundreds of miles in advance of the settlements, not
only in spite of nature's obstacles, which were many
and serious, but in defiance of the proclamation of
the king of England which forbade the white man to
infringe on the Indians' land. That was the status
in the greater portion of the area composing the old
Monongalia. The royal governors of Virginia and
Pennsylvania showed a disposition to lend their as-
sistance to the British government to help keep the
settlers out of the country between the mountains
and the Ohio river. A Virginia governor issued a
warning to the people to keep off the forbidden land.
That warning was directed mainly at the frontiers-
men seeking homes in the western part of Virginia.
Help to enforce the order to stay out came from
Pennsylvania, as well as from Virginia, and a force of
soldiers was sent south from Pittsburgh to drive out
by force, if ncessary, any settlers found in the forbid-
den territory. These soldiers marched toward the

204 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

southern border of Pennsylvania and marched home
again, but no results were observable in preventing
settlers from coming into the country, or in breaking
up settlements already established there.

While these proclamations, warnings, and the
movement of soldiers were going on, the home-
steaders continued to build their cabins on such pieces
of land as suited them best ; and if a single homestead-
er gave up his farm, on account of opposition from
either side of the sea, history seems to have failed to
make note of the fact. The falling off in the num-
ber of homesteaders after 1 776, can be accounted for
in ways other than by attributing it to the fear of the
law on the part of the hardy settlers. The strain was
so great to carry on the war of the Revolution at that
time that many persons, who might have set their
faces toward the new country of the west during those
eventful years, had all they could do to defend the
eastern states from the attacks of the enemy. Besides,
the hostility of the Indians during that time was very
great. The country from the mountains to the Ohio
river, was almost incessantly overrun by bands of
prowling savages from west and north of the Ohio
river, and it was not an auspicious time for the set-
tlers to move into the western wilderness with their
wives and children, to seek out and establish new
homes so near to so many perils. From the danger
from Indians it is reasonable to suppose that the
number of homesteaders fell from 1 39 in Monongalia
county in the year 1 776 to the number of 22 in the
same region in 1777. That time was long remem-
bered on the frontiers as "the bloody year of the three
7's," signalizing the imminent danger from the In-
dians that year. Almost every important settlement
west of the mountains in Virginia had occasion to
fear or feel the unwelcome presence of the savages.

In spite of threats from the hostile British and
the many overt acts by the Indians, the homesteaders

HOMESTEADS IN MONONGALIA COUNTY 205

persisted in holding to their homes in the woods,
though not many recruits joined after 1776 until
there was peace made in 1 782, marking the close of
the Revolutionary war. Only eighteen homesteaders
came to Monongalia county after 1777 until the war
closed. It was a period of danger and discourage-
ments, and it was not a time calculated to encourage
moving into a new country when the new country
was more dangerous than the old.

When the war of the revolution came to an end
in 1 782, Virginia found a way to attract settlers which
was considered more satisfactory than by the home-
stead method, and the process of taking up home-
steads from state lands, was not long in favor. Be-
sides, Virginia's extent of western lands, reaching be-
yond the Mississippi river with rather vague bounda-
ries, was ceded to the United States, west of the Ohio
river, and Virginia no longer dealt in those lands, by
homesteads or in other ways. For some the lands,
the new states formed took them in charge, and for
some, their distribution devolved on the Federal gov-
ernment, and the old state of Virginia looked on with
no concern other than a kindly interest in filling up
the western country with a good class of people, and
from that time forward sold script, a sort of land cer-
tificate, by which means the remainder of state lands
found its way into the ownership of private holders.
Practically the last land owned by the state had gone
into the ownership of individuals, chiefly by the pur-
chase of script, before West Virginia became a sep-
arate state.

OUR PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 207

CHAPTER IV.

Our Physical Geography.

In this chapter will be presented facts concerning
West Virginia's geography, climate, soil and geol-
ogy. Its geography relates to the surface of the State
as it exists now; its geology takes into account not
only the present surface, but all changes which have
affected the surface in the past, together with as much
of the interior as may be known and understood. The
climate, like geography, deals chiefly with present
conditions ; but the records of geology sometimes give
us glimpses of climates which prevailed ages ago. The
soil of a State, if properly studied, is found to depend
upon geography, geology and climatology. The lim-
its prescribed for this chapter render impossible any
extended treatise; an outline must suffice.

Reference to the question of geology naturally
comes first, as it is older than our present geography
or climate. We are told that there was a time when
the heat of the earth was so great that all substances
within it or upon its surface were in a molten state. It
was a white-hot globe made of all the inorganic sub-
stances with which we are acquainted. The iron, sil-
ver, gold, rock, and all else were liquid. The earth
was then larger than it is now, and the days and nights
were longer. After ages of great length had passed
the surface cooled and a crust or shell was formed on
the still very hot globe. This was the first appearance
of "rock," as we understand the word now. The sur-
face of the earth was no doubt very rough, but with-

208 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

out high mountains. The crust was not thick enough
to support high mountains, and all underneath of it
was still melted. Probably for thousands of years af-
ter the first solid crust made its appearance there was
no rain, although the air was more filled with mois-
ture than now. The rocks were so hot that a drop of
water, upon touching them, was instantly turned to
steam. But they gradually cooled, and rains fell. Up
to this point in the earth's history we are guided solely
by inductions from the teachings of astronomy,
assisted to some extent by well-known facts of chem-
istry. Any description of our world at that time must
be speculative, and as applicable to one part as to
another. No human eye ever saw and recognized as
such one square foot of the original crust of the earth
in the form in which it cooled from the molten state.
Rains, winds, frosts and fire have broken up and
worn away some parts, and with the sand and sedi-
ment thus formed, buried the other parts. But that
it was exceedingly hot is not doubted ; and there is not
wanting evidence that only the outer crust has yet
reached a tolerable degree of coolness, while all the
interior surpasses the most intense furnace heat.
Upheavals and depressions affecting large areas, so
often met with in the study of geology, are supposed
to be due to the settling down of the solid crust in
one place and the consequent upheaval in another.
Could a railroad train run thirty minutes, at an ordi-
nary speed, toward the center of the earth, it would
probably reach a temperature that would melt iron.
And it may be stated, parenthetically, could the same
train run at the same speed for the same time away
from the center of the earth, it would reach a temper-
ature so cold that the hottest day would show a ther-
mometer one hundred degrees below zero. So nar-
row is the sphere of our existence — below us is fire;
above us "the measureless cold of space."

When we look out upon our quiet valleys, the

OUR PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 209

Kanawha, the Potomac, the Monongahela, or contem-
plate our mountains, rugged and near, or robed in
distant blue, rising and rolling, range beyond range,
peak above peak; cliffs overhanging gorges and rav-
ines; meadows, uplands, glades beyond; with brooks
and rivers; the landscape fringed with flowers or
clothed with forests, we are too apt to pause before
fancy has had time to call up that strange and wonder-
ful panorama of distant ages when the waves of the
sea swept over all, or when only broken and angular
rocks thrust their shoulders through the foam of the
ocean as it broke against the nearly submerged ledges
where since have risen the highest peaks of the Alle-
ghanies and the Blue Ridge. Here where we now
live have been strange scenes. Here have been beau-
ty, awfulness and sublimity, and also destruction.
There was a long age with no winter. Gigantic ferns
and rare palms, enormous in size, and with delicate
leaves and tendrils, flourished over wide areas and
vanished. And there was a time when for ages there
was no summer. But we know of this age of cold
from records elsewhere, for its record in West Virgin-
ia has been blotted out. Landscapes have disap-
peared. Fertile valleys and undulating hills, with soil
deep and fruitful have been washed away, leaving
only a rocky skeleton, and in many places even this
has been ground to powder and carried away or
buried under sands and drift from other regions.

An outline of some of the changes which have
affected the little spot in the earths surface now occu-
pied by West Virginia will be presented, not by any
means complete, but sufficient to convey an idea of
the agencies which enter into the workings of geol-
ogy. It is intended for the young into whose hands
this book will come, not for those whose maturer
years and greater opportunities have already made
them acquainted with this sublime chapter in the
book of creation.

210 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

When the crust of the earth had cooled suffi-
ciently rains washed down the higher portions, and the
sands and sediment thus collected were spread over
the lower parts. This sand, when it had become hard-
ened, formed the first layers of rock, called strata.
Some of these very ancient formations exist yet and
have been seen, but whether they are the oldest of
the layer rocks no man knows. Some of the ancient
layers of great thickness, after being deposited at the
sea bottoms, were heated from the interior of the earth
and were melted. In these cases the stratified appear-
ance has usually disappeared, and they are called met-
amorphic rocks. Some geologists regard most gran-
ite as a rock of this kind.

As the earth cooled more and more it shrank in
size, and the surface was shriveled and wrinkled in
folds, large and small. The larger of these wrinkles
were mountains. Seas occupied the low places, and
the first brooks and rivers began to appear, threading
their way wherever the best channels could be found.
Rains, probably frost also, attacked the higher ridges
and rocky slopes, almost destitute of soil, and the
washings were carried to the seas, forming other
layers of rocks on the bottoms, and thus the accum-
ulation went on, varying in rate at times, but never
changing the general plan of rock-building from that
day to the present. All rock, or very nearly all, in
West Virginia were formed at the bottom of the
ocean, of sand, mud and gravel, or of shells, or a mix-
ture of all, the ingredients of which were cemented
together with silica, iron, lime, or other mineral sub-
stance held in solution in water. They have been
raised up from the water, and now form dry land,
and have been cut and carved into valleys, ridges,
gorges and the various inequalities seen within our
State. These rocks are sometimes visible, forming
cliffs and the bottoms and banks of streams and the

OUR PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 2 1 1

tops of peaks and barren mountains; but for the
greater part of West Virginia, the underlying rocks
are hidden by soil. This soil, however, at the deepest,
is only a few feet thick, and were it all swept off we
should have visible all over the State a vast and com-
plicated system of ledges and bowlders, carved and
cut to conform to every height and depression now
marking the surface. The aggregate thickness of
these layers, as they have been seen and measured in.
this State, is no less ahan four miles. In other words,
sand and shells four miles deep (and perhaps moire)
were in past time spread out on the bottom of a sea
which then covered West Virginia, and after being
hardened into rock, were raised up and then cut into
valleys and other inequalities as we see them today.
The rockbuilding was not all done during one unin-
terrupted period, nor was there only one upheaval.
West Virginia, or a portion of it, has been several
times under and above the sea. The coast line has
swept back and forth across it again and again. We
read this history from the rocks themselves. The
skilled geologist can determine, from an examination
of the fossil shells and plants in a stratum, the period
of the earth's history when the stratum was formed.
He can determine the old and the youngest in a series
of strata. Yet, not from fossils alone may this be
determined. The position of the layers with regard
to one another is often a sure guide in discovering the
oldest and youngest. The sands having been spread
out in layers, one above the other, it follows that
those on top are not so old as those below, except in
cases, unusual in this State, where strata have been
folded so sharply that they have been broken and
turned over. Thus the older rocks may be above the
newer.

Unmeasured as are the ages recorded in the
mountains and cliffs of West Virginia, yet the most
ancient of our ledges are young in comparison with

212 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

those of other parts of the world, or even of neigh-
boring provinces. North of us is a series of rocks,
the Laurentian of Canada, more than five miles thick,
formed, like ours, of the slow accumulation of sand.
Yet that series was finished and was probably partly
worn away before the first grain of sand or the first
shell, of which we have any record, found a resting
place on the bottom of the Cambrian sea, which cov-
ered West Virginia. If the inconceivable lapse of
years required for accumulating shell and sand four
miles deep in the sea bottom, where we now live,
amazes us, what must we say of that vaster period
reaching back into the cycles of that infant world,
all of which were past and gone before the founda-
tions of our mountains were laid! Nor have we
reached the beginning yet. No man knows whether
the Laurentian rocks are oldest of the layers, and if
they are, still back of them stretches that dim and
nebulous time, unrecorded, uncharted, penetrated
only by the light of astronomy, when the unstratified
rocks were taking form, from whose disintegrated
material all subsequent formations have been built.

Let us begin with the Cambrian age, as geolo-
gists call it. Within the limits of our state we have
little, if any, record of anything older. Were a map
made of eastern United States during that early period
it would show a mass of land west of us, covering the
Middle States, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and beyond.
Another mass of land would lie east of us, occupying
the Atlantic Coastal Plain, from New England to
South Carolina, and extending to an unknown dis-
tance eastward, where the Atlantic Ocean now is.
Between these two bodies of land spread a narrow
arm of the sea, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to
Alabama. West Virginia was at the bottom of that
sea, whose eastern coast line is believed to have occu-
pied nearly the position, and to have followed the gen-
eral direction of what is now the Blue Ridge. Sand

OUR PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 213

washed from this land east of us was spread upon the
bottom of the sea and now forms the lowest layers
of rocks met with in West Virginia, the foundations
of our mountains. But this rock is so deep that it is
seen only in a few places where it has been brought
up by folds of the strata, and where rivers have cut
deep. For the most part of the State these Cambrian
rocks lie buried, under subsequent formations, thou-
sands of feet deep.

There were mountains of considerable magni-
tude in that land east of the sea. The country west
of the sea must have been low. During the immense
time, before the next great change, the eastern moun-
tains were worn down and carried, as sand and mud,
into the sea. The Silurian age followed, and as it
drew near, the region began to sink. The sea which
had covered the greater part of West Virginia, or at
least the eastern part of it, began to overflow the
country both east and west. The waters spread west-
ward beyond the present Mississippi. The land to the
eastward had become low and not much sediment was
now coming from that direction. The washings from
the rounded hills were probably accumulating as a
deep soil in the low plains and widening valleys. Over
a large part of West Virginia, during the Silurian age,
thick beds of limestone were formed of shells, mixed
with more or less sediment. Shell-fish lived and died
in the ocean, and when dead their skeletons sank to
the bottom. It is thus seen that the origin of lime-
stone differs from that of sandstone in this, that the
former is a product of water, while the material for
sandstone is washed into water from land.

The character of rocks usually tell how far from
land they were formed, and if sandstone, what kind
of country furnished the material. The coarsest sand-
stones were deposited near shore, back of which the
country was usually high and steep. Fine-grained
sandstones, or shales, were probably laid down along

214 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

flat shores, above which the land had little elevation.
Or they may have been deposited from fine sediment
which drifted a considerable distance from land. If
limestone is pure, it is proof that little sediment from
the land reached it while being formed. The lime-
stone deposited over a considerable part of West Vir-
ginia during the closing of the Cambrian and the be-
ginning of the Silurian age forms beds from three
thousand to four thousand feet thick. During the
long period required for the accumulation of this mass
of shells, the land to the east remained comparatively
flat or continued slowly to sink. We know this, be-
cause there is not much sediment mixed with the lime-
stone, and this would not be the case had large quan-
tities been poured into the sea from the land.

Another great change was at hand. The land
area east of us began to rise, and the surface became
steep. What perhaps had been for a long time low,
rounding hills, and wide, flat valleys, with a deep ac-
cumulation of soil, was raised and tilted; and the
stronger and more rapid current of the streams, and
the rush of the rain water down the more abrupt
slopes, sluiced off the soil into the sea. The beds of
limestone were covered two thousand feet deep be-
neath sand and mud, the spoils from a country which
must have been fertile and productive. The land was
worn down. Ages on ages passed, and the work of
grinding went on; the rains fell; the winds blew;
the floods came; the frost of winter and the heat of
summer followed each other through years surpassing
record. Near the close of the Silurian time the shore
of the continent to the east rose and sank. The ver-
tical movements were perhaps small; they may have
been just enough to submerge the coastal plain, then
raise it above water, repeating the operation two or
more times. The record of this is in the alternating
coarse and fine sediments and sand composing the
rocks formed during that time. At the close of the

OUR PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 215

Silurian period the continent east of us was worn
down again and had become low. The sea covering
West Virginia had been cut off from the Gulf of St.
Lawrence by an upheaval in the state of New York.
The uplift of the land seems to have been much
greater during this time north of us than south. The
Devonian age followed, which was a great rock-build-
er in the North. The aggregate thickness of the De-
vonian rocks in Pennsylvania is no less than nine
thousand feet. From there to southward it thins out,
like a long, sloping wedge, until it disappears in Ala-
bama, after thinning to twenty-five feet in southern
Tennessee. In some parts of West Virginia the De-
vonian rocks are seven thousand feet thick. The sed-
iments of which these strata were made were usually
fine-grained, forming shales and medium sandstones,
with some limestones here and there. The long,
dreary Devonian age at last drew to a close, and an
epoch, strange and imperfectly understood, dawned
upon the earth. It was during this age that the
long summer prevailed; the winterless climate
over the northern hemisphere; the era of wonderful
vegetation ; the time of plant-growth such as was per-
haps never on earth before, nor will be again. It is
known as the Carboniferous age.

During that period our coal was formed. The
rocks deposited on the sea bottom in the Carbonifer-
ous age range in thickness from two thousand to eight
thousand feet in different parts of West Virginia.
During this time there is evidence of the breaking up
and re-distribution of a vast gravel bar which had
lain somewhere out of reach of the waves since ear-
lier ages. This bar, or this aggregation whether a bar
or not, was made up of quartz pebbles, varying in
size from a grain of sand to a cocoanut, all worn and
polished as if rolled and fretted on a beach or in turbu-
lent mountain streams for centuries. By some means
the sea obtained possession of them and they were

216 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

spread out in layers, in some places 800 feet thick,
and were cemented together, forming coarse, hard
rocks. We see them along the summits of the Alle-
ghanies, and the outlying spurs and ridges, from the
southern borders of our State, to the Pennsylvania
line, and beyond. The formation is called conglom-
erate; and the popular names are "Bean Rock,"
'Millstone Grit," etc. A heavy stratum of this stone
forms the floor of the coal measures. The pebbles
probably represent the most indestructible remnant
of mountains, once seamed with quartz veins, but de-
graded and obliterated before the middle of the Car-
boniferous era, perhaps long before. The quartz, on
account of its hardness, resisted the grinding process
which pulverized the adjacent rock, and remained as
pebbles, in bars and beds, until some great change
swept them into the sea. Their quantity was enor-
mous. The rocks composed of them now cover thou-
sands of square miles.

As the Carboniferous age progressed the sea
which had covered the greater part of West Virginia
since Cambrian time, was nearing its last days.
It had come down from the Cambrian to the Silurian,
from the Silurian to the Devonian, from the Devon-
ian to the Carboniferous, but it came down through
the ages no further. From that area where the waves
had rolled for a million years they were about to re-
cede. With the passing of the sea, rose the land,
which has since been crossed by ranges of the Alle-
ghany, Blue Ridge, Laurel Ridge, and all their spurs
and hills. From the middle of the Carboniferous
epoch to its close was a period of disturbance over
the whole area under consideration. The bottom of
the sea was lifted up, became dry land, and sank
again. It seemed that a mighty effort was being made
by the land to throw back the water which had
so long held dominion. It was a protracted, powerful
struggle, in which first the land and then the water

OUR PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 217

gained the mastery. Back and forth for hundreds of
miles swept and receded the sea. Years, centuries,
millenials, the struggle continued, but finally the land
prevailed, was lifted up and the waves retreated west-
ward and southward to the Gulf of Mexico, and West
Virginia was dry land, and it has remained such to
this day.

Beds of coal, unlike layers of rock, are made
above water, or at its immediate surface. While this
oscillation between land and sea was going on, dur-
ing the Carboniferous age, West Virginia's coal fields
were being formed. Coal is made of wood and plants
of various kinds, which grew with a phenomenal lux-
uriance during the long period of summer that reigned
over the northern half of the earth. Each bed of
coal represents a swamp, large or small, in which
plants grew, fell and were buried for centuries. The
whole country in which coal was forming was prob-
ably low and it was occasionally submerged for a few
thousand years. During the submergence sand and
mud settled over it and hardened into rock. Then the
land was lifted up again, and the material for another
bed of coal was accumulated. Ever alternation of
coal and rock marks an elevation and subsidence of
the land — the coal formed on land, the rock under
water. This was the period when the sea was advanc-
ing and receding across West Virginia, as the Carbon-
iferous age was drawing to a close.

Other ages of geology succeeded the Carbonif-
erous; but little record of them remains in West Vir-
ginia. The land here was above the sea; no sedi-
ment could be deposited to form rocks, and of course
there was little on which a permanent record could be
written. The strata underlying the greater part of our
State grew thicker and deeper from the Cambrian age
to the Carboniferous ; then the sea receded, and from
that time to the present the layers of rock have been

218 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

undergoing the wear and tear of the elements, and the
aggregate has been growing thinner. The strata have
been folded, upraised by subterranean force and cut
through by rivers. In some places the Carboniferous
rocks have not yet been worn away; in other places
the river gorges have reached the bottom of the De-
vonian rocks ; in still other localities the great Silurian
layers have been cut through ; and in a few places the
cutting has gone down deep into the Cambrian rocks.
The Glacial age, the empire of "steadfast, inconceiv-
able cold," which followed the warm period in which
coal was formed, did not write its history in West Vir-
ginia as indelibly as in some other parts of our coun-
try. The great morains and bowlders so conspicuous
in other localities are not found with us. No doubt the
cold here was intense; perhaps there were glaciers
among the high lands ; but the evidence has been well
nigh obliterated.

Land seems to have been lifted up in two ways,
one a vertical movement which elevated large areas
and formed plateaus, but not mountains; the other,
a horizontal movement which caused folds in the
strata, and these folds, if large enough, are ranges of
mountains. In West Virginia we have both acting in
the same area. Independently of the mountains,
West Virginia has a rounding form, sloping gradually
upward from three directions. Imagine the mountain
ranges sheared off until no irregular elevations exist
in the State. The resulting figure would show West
Virginia's surface as it would be presented to us if
no strata had been folded to make mountain ranges.
This is the shape given by the vertical upheaval since
the Carboniferous age, uninfluenced by the horizon-
tal thrust of strata. The figure would show a great
swell in the surface, the highest portion at the inter-
locking sources of the Greenbrier, the Elk, the Poto-
mac, the east fork of the Monongahela, and Cheat.
From that highest point the surface slopes in every di-

OUR PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 219

rection, as shown by the course of the rivers. There
is a long, curved arm of the plateau, thrust out toward
the southwest, reaching around through Pocahontas,
Greenbrier, Monroe and McDowell counties, and
overlapping into the State of Virginia. The New
River, from the highlands of North Carolina, cuts
through this plateau to join the Kanawha on the
western side. The highest part of this rounded area
is perhaps three thousand feet above sea level, not
counting the mountains which stand upon the pla-
teau, for, in order to make the matter plain, we have
supposed all the mountains sheared off level with
the surface of the plateau.

Having now rendered it clear that portions of
West Virginia would be high if there were not a
mountain in the State, let us proceed to consider how
the mountains were formed and why nearly all the
highest summits are clustered in three or four coun-
ties. We have already observed that ranges of moun-
tains, such as ours, were formed by the folding of
layers of rocks. This is apparent to any one who has
seen one of our mountains cut through from top to
bottom, such as the New Creek Mountain at Green-
land Gap, in Grant County. Place several layers of
thick cloth on a table, push the ends toward each
other. The middle of the cloth will rise in folds in
like manner were our mountains formed. The lay-
ers of rock were pushed horizontally, one force acting
from the southeast, the other from the northwest.
Rivers and rains have carved and cut them, changing
their original features somewhat; but their chief
characteristics remain. The first upheaval, which was
vertical, raised the West Virginia plateau, as we be-
lieve; the next upheaval, which was caused by hori-
zontal thrust, folded the layers of rocks and made
mountain ranges. From this view it is not difficult
to account for so many high peaks in one small area.
The mountain ranges cross the plateau, running up

220 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

one slope, across the summit, and down the opposite
slope. These ranges are from one thousand to nearly
two thousand feet high, measuring from the general
level of the country on which they stand. But that
general level is itself, in the highest part about three
thousand feet above the the sea. So a mountain, in
itself one thousand feet in elevation, may stand upon
a plateau three times that high, and thus its summit
will be four thousand feet above the sea. The highest
peaks in the State are where the ranges of mountains
cross the highest part of the plateau. There are many
other mountains in the State which, when measured
from base to summit, are as high as those just men-
tioned, but they do not have the advantage of rest-
ing their bases on ground so elevated, consequently
their summits are not so far above the sea level. To
express it briefly, by a homely comparison, a five-foot
man on three-foot stilts is higher than a six-foot man
on the ground; a one thousand-foot mountain on a
three thousand-foot plateau is higher than a two
thousand-foot mountain near the sea level.

Exact measurements showing the elevation of
West Virginia in various parts of its area, when stud-
ied in connection with a map of the State, show clear-
ly that the area rises in altitude from all sides, culmi-
nating in the nest of peaks clustered around the sour-
ces of the Potomac, the Kanawha and Monongahela.
The highest point in the State is Spruce Mountain, in
Pendleton county, 4,860 feet above sea level; the
lowest point is the bed of the Potomac at Harper's
Ferry, 260 feet above the sea; the vertical range is
4,600 feet. The Ohio, at the mouth of Big Sandy,
on the boundary between West Virginia and Ken-
tucky, is 500 feet; the mouth of Cheat, at the Penn-
sylvania line, is 775. The general level of Pocahon-
tas county is about 3,000 above the sea. The bed of
the Greenbrier river where it enters Pocahontas is
3,300 feet in elevation. Where Shaver's Fork of

OUR PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 221

Cheat River leaves Pocahontas its bed is 3,700 feet.
A few of the highest peaks in Pocahontas, Pendleton,
Randolph and Tucker counties are: Spruce Knob,
Pendleton county, 4,860 feet above sea level; Bald
Knob, Pocahontas county, 4,800; Spruce Knob, Po-
cahontas county, 4,730; High Knob, Randolph Coun-
ty, 4,710; Mace Knob, Pocahontas county, 4,700;
Barton Knob, Randolph county, 4,600; Bear Moun-
tain, Pocahontas county, 4,600; Elleber Ridge, Poca-
hontas county, 4,600; Watering Pond Knob, Poca-
hontas county, 4,600; Panther Knob, Pendleton
county, 4,500; Weiss Knob, Tucker county, 4,490
Green Knob, Randolph county, 4,485; Brier Patch
Mountain, Randolph county, 4,480; Yokum's Knob,
Randolph county, 4,330; Pointy Knob, Tucker coun-
ty, 4,286; Hutton's Knob, Randolph county, 4,260.

We do not know whether the vertical upheaval
which raised the plateau, or the horizontal compress-
ion which elevated the mountains, has yet ceased.
We know that the work of destruction is not resting.
Whether the uplift is still acting with sufficient force
to make our mountains higher, or whether the ele-
ments are chiseling down rocks and lowering our
whole surface, we cannot say. But this we can say,
if the teachings of geology may be taken as warrant
for the statement, every mountain, every hill, every
cliff, rock, upland, even the valleys, and the whole
vast underlying skeleton of rocks must ultimately
pass away and disappear beneath the sea. Rain and
frost, wind and the unseen chemical forces, will at
last complete the work of destruction. Every rock
will be worn to sand, and the sand will go out with
the currents of our rivers, until the rivers no longer
have currents, and the sea will flow in to cover the
desolation. The sea once covered a level world; the
world will again be level, and again will the sea cover
it.

There is a greater diversity of climate in West

222 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Virginia than in almost any other area of the United
States of equal size. The climate east of the Allegha-
nies is different from that west of the range; while
that in the high plateau region is different from both.
The State's topography is responsible for this, as
might be expected from a vertical range of more than
four thousand feet, with a portion of the land set to
catch the west wind, and a portion to the east, and still
other parts to catch every wind that blows. Generally
speaking, the country east of the Alleghanies has the
warmer and dryer climate. In the mountain regions
the summers are never very hot, and the winters are
always very cold. The thermometer sometimes falls
thirty degrees below zero near the summit of the Alle-
ghanies, while the highest summer temperature is sel-
dom above ninety degrees, but the record shows nine-
ty-six. The depth of snow varies with the locality
and the altitude. Records of snow six and seven feet
deep near the summits of the highest mountains have
been made. At an elevation of fifteen hundred feet
above the sea there was snow forty-two inches deep
in 1856 along the mountains and valleys west of the
Alleghenies. In 1831, at an elevation of less than
one thousand feet, snow accumulated three feet deep
between the mountains and the Ohio river. Tradition
tells of a snow in the northwestern part of the State
in 1780 which was still deeper; but exact measure-
ments were not recorded. The summers of 1 838
and 1 854 were almost rainless west of the mountains.
In the same region in 1 834 snow fell four inches deep
on the fifteenth of May; and on June 5, 1 859, a frost
killed almost every green thing in the central and
northern part of the State.

The average annual rainfall for the State of
West Virginia, including melted snow, is about forty-
seven inches. During some years the rainfall is three
or four times as great as in other year*. The precip-

OUR PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 223

itation is greater west of the Alleghanies than east,
and greatest near the summit of these mountains, on
the western side. Our rains and snows come from
two general directions, from the west-southwest and
from the east. Local storms may come from any di-
rection. Eastern storms are usually confined to the
region east of the Alleghanies. The clouds which
bring rains from that quarter come from the Atlantic
Ocean. The high country following the summits
of the Appalachain range from Canada almost to
the Gulf of Mexico is the dividing line between the
two systems of winds and rains which visit West Vir-
ginia. Storms from the Atlantic move up the gentle
slope from the coast to the base of the mountains, pre-
cipitating their moisture in the form of rain or snow
as they come. They strike the abrupt eastern face
of the Alleghanies, expending their force and giving
out the remainder of their moisture there, seldom
crossing to the west side. The Blue Ridge is not high
enough to interfere seriously with the passage of
clouds across their summits; but the Alleghenies are
usually a barrier, especially for eastern storms. As
the clouds break against their sides there are some-
times terrific rains below, while very little and per-
haps none falls on the summit. On such an occasion
an observer on one of the Alleghany peaks can look
down upon the storm and can witness the play of
lightning and hear the thunder beneath him. Winds
which cross high mountains seldom deposit much
rain or snow on the leeward side.

Whence, then, does the western part of our
State receive its rains? Not from the Atlantic, be-
cause the winds which bring rain for the country west
of the Alleghanies blow towards that ocean, not from
it. No matter in what part of the world rain or snow
falls, it was derived from vapor taken up by the sun
from some sea or ocean. An insignficant portion of
the world's rainfall is taken up as vapor from land.

224 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

From what sea, then, do the winds blow which bring
the rain that falls against the western slopes of the
mountains and waters the county to the Ohio river
and beyond?

Take the back track of the winds and follow
them to their starting point and that will settle the
question. They come from a direction a little west of
south-west. That course will lead to the Pacific
Ocean west of Mexico. Go in the same direction two
thousand or three thousand miles, and reach the equa-
tor. Then turn at right angles and go southeast some
thousand miles further and reach that wide domain
of the Pacific which stretches from South America
to Australia. There, most probably, would be found
the starting point of the winds which bring us
rain. The evidence to substantiate this statement
is too elaborate and complex to be given here; suffice
it that the great wind systems of the world, with their
circuits, currents and counter currents, have been
traced and charted until they are almost as well
known as are the rivers of the world.* Not only is the
great distance from which our rains come an astonish-
ing theme for contemplation, but the immense quan-
tity transported is more amazing — a sheet of water
nearly four feet thick and covering an area of twenty
thousand square miles, lifted by the sun's rays every
year from the South Pacific, carried through the air
ten thousand miles and sprinkled with a bountiful
profusion upon our mountains, hills, vales, meadows
and gardens to make them pleasing and fruitful.

The soil of a country is usually understood to be
the covering of the solid rock. It is very thin in com-
parison with the thickness of the subjacent rock, not
often more than four or five feet and frequently less.
This is not the place for a chemical discussion of soils ;
but a few plain facts may be given. What is soil?

*See Maury's Physical Geography of the Sea.

OUR PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 225

Of what is it made? In the first place, leaving chem-
ical questions out, soil is simply pulverized rock, mix-
ed with vegetable or animal remains. The rocky
ledges underlying a country, become disintegrated
near the surface ; they decompose ; the sand and dust
accumulate, washing into the low places and leaving
the high points more or less bare, and a soil of suffi-
cient depth is formed to support vegetation. A soil in
which little or no vegetable humus is intermixed, is
poor, and it produces little growth. Sand alone, no
matter how finely pulverized, is not capable of sup-
porting vegetation, except a few peculiar species or
varieties. This is why hillsides are so often nearly
bare. The soil is deep enough, but it is poor. The
state of being poor is nothing more than a lack of
humus in them, or it has been washed out. A soil
tolerable fertile is sometimes made miserably poor
by being burned over each year when the leaves fall.
The supply of vegetable matter which would have
gone to furnish what the soil needed, is thus burned
and destroyed; and in course of time that which w?s
already in the soil is consumed or washed out, and
instead of a fertile woodland, there is a blasted, life-
less tract. Examples of this are too often met with
in West Virginia.

Excessive tillage of land exhausts it, because it
takes out the organic matter and puts nothing back.
It does not exhaust the disintegrated rock — the sand,
the clay, the dust; but it takes out the vital part, the
mold of vegetation. Fertilizers are used to restore the
fertility of exhausted land. That process is mislead-
ing, in many cases. Too often the fertilizing material
is a stimulant rather than food to the land. It often
adds no element of fertility, but, by a chemical pro-
cess, compels the soil to give up all the remaining
humus; and when the vegetable matter is all gone
from the soil, all the fertilizers of that kind in the
world would not cause the land to produce a crop.

226 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

The intelligent farmer does not need to be told this.
His experience has taugh him the truth of it. No land
is so completely sterile as that which, through ex-
cessive use of fertilizers, has been compelled to part
with its vegetable matter. Something cannot be cre-
ated from nothing. If a soil has no plant food in it,
and a fertilizer contains no plant food, the mixing of
the two will not produce plant life.

A crop of clover, of buckwheat, of rye, or any
other crop, plowed under, fertilizes land because it
adds vegetable matter to the soil. Then if the soil is
stubborn about yielding up its fertility, a treatment
of the proper fertilizing agent will compel it to do
so. Bottom lands along the rivers and creeks are
usually more fertile than lands on the hills because
rains leach the uplands and wash the decaying leaves
and the humus down upon the lowlands. The soil
along the river bottoms is often many feet deep, and
fertile all the way down. This is because the wash-
ings from the hills have been accumulating there for
ages faster than the vegetation which annually drew
from it could exhaust the supply. It sometimes hap-
pens that the surface of a deep soil is exhausted by
long cultivation ; and that a sub-soil plow, which goes
deeper than usual, turns up a new fertile soil which
had lain beyond the reach of plant roots for ages.
Occasionally a flood which covers bottom lands leaves
a deposit of mud which is full of humus. This en-
riches the land where it lodges, but the mountain dis-
tricts from which it was carried were robbed of that
much fertility.

Disintegrated rock of all kinds cannot be made
fertile by the usual addition of vegetable humus.
Certain chemical conditions must be complied with.
Limestone generally forms good soil because it con-
tains elements which enter into plants. Strata of rock,
as we now see them, were once beds of sand and sed-

OUR PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 227

iment. They hardened and became stone. Sand-
stone is formed of accumulations of sand; shale is
made from beds of clay or mud; limestone was once
an aggregation of shells and skeletons of large and
small living creatures. When these rocks are broken
up, disintegrated and become soils, they return to that
state in which they were before they became rock.
The limestone becomes shell and bones, but of course
pulverized, mixed and changed; sandstone becomes
sand again; shale becomes mud and clay as it orig-
inally was. This gives a key to the cause of some
soils being better than others. A clay bank is not easily
fertilized; but a bed of black mud usually pos-
sesses elements on which plants can feed. So, if the
disintegrating shale was originally sterile clay, it will
make a poor soil ; but if it was originally a fertile mud,
the resulting soil will be good. If the disintegrating
sandstone was once a pure quartz sand, the soils will
likely be poor, but if it was something better, the
soil will be better. The fertility of limestone soil is
mainly due to the animal matter in the rock. It should
always be borne in mind, however, that the differ-
ence of soils is dependent not so much upon their
chemical composition as upon the physical arrange-
ment of their particles.

Plants do not feed exclusively upon the soil. As
a matter of fact, a large part of the material which
enters into the construction of the stems and leaves
of some plants is derived from the air. Some plants
prosper without touching the soil. A species of Chi-
nese lily florishes in a bowl of water with a few small
rocks at the bottom. On the other hand there are
plants that will wither in a few minutes if taken from
the ground. This shows that some plants extract
more material from the soil than others. It is a com-
mon saying that buckwheat rapidly exhausts land.

Some lands are more affected by drought than
others, when both receive the same rainfall. This

228 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

may be due to the character of the underlying rocks,
although usually due to a different cause. If the soil
is shallow and the subjacent rocks lie oblique and on
edge they are liable to carry the water away rapidly
by receiving it into their openings and crevices, thus
draining the soil. But if the subjacent rocks lie hor-
izontally, water which sinks through the soil is pre-
vented from escaping, and is held as in a tub, and is
fed gradually upward through the soil by capillary at-
traction. This land will remain moist a long time.
But the more usual reason that one soil dries more
rapidly than another, is that one is loose and the other
compact. The compact soil dries quickest. The
smaller the interspaces between the ultimate particles
which make up the soil, the more rapidly water raises
from the wet subsoil by capillary attraction, and the
supply is soon exhausted. The more compact the
soil the smaller the spaces between the particles. In
loose ground the interspaces are larger, the water rises
slowly or not at all, and the dampness remains longer
beneath the surface. In the western countries where
the summers are hot and rainless, the farmers irrigate
their land, thoroughly soaking it from a neighboring
canal. If they shut the water off and leave the land
alone, in a few days it is baked, parched, hard and as
dry as a bone. But the farmer does not do this. As
soon as the water is turned off, he plows and harrows
the land making the surface as loose as possible. The
result is, the immediate top becomes dry, but a few
inches below the surface the soil remains moist for
weeks. Water cannot escape through the porous sur-
face. If two cornfields lie side by side, especially in a
dry season, and one is carefully tilled and the surface
kept loose, while the other is not, the difference in the
crops will show that in one case moisture in the soil
was prevented from escaping and was fed to the corn
roots, while in the other case it rose to the surface and
was blown away, leaving the corn to die of thirst.

AMONG OLD LAWS 229

CHAPTER V.

Among Old Laws.

"Yet I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns."

— Tennyson.

The settlement of the territory now embraced in
West Virginia commenced about 1 730, and before the
close of the eighteenth century there were cabins or
colonies in the valleys of all the principals rivers of
the State. The first settlers were governed by the
laws in force in Virginia from the earliest occupation
of our territory until 1863. A proper consideration
of the history of our State requires that mention be
made of some of the old laws. They should be stud-
ied to show the progress of society during the past
century. There are persons who speak of the "good
old times" as though everything were better than
now, and who speak of the people of a hundred years
ago as if they were greater, purer, nobler than the
men of today, and as if, when they died, wisdom died
with them. The historian knows that this belief is
erroneous. Not only are there men now living who
are as upright, wise and patriotic as any who ever
lived, but society, in all its branches and departments,
has grown better. Only the pessimist refuses to see
that the human race is climbing to a higher level, and
not retrograding.

To bring this truth nearer home to the people, let
a retrospective view of the customs and laws prevail-
ing here a century ago be taken. That the people of

230 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Virginia tolerated barbarous laws long after the close
of the Revolutionary War is proof that the laws were
not obnoxious to a majority of the people, otherwise
they would have changed them. Before proceeding
to a statement of the Acts of the Virginia Legislature,
let it be remembered that at that time Washington
was President of the United States and the great men
of Virginia, at the close of the last century and the
beginning of this, were in their prime. They were
responsible for the bad laws as well as for the good;
if not directly, at least indirectly, for they were looked
upon as leaders. Patrick. Henry, who had exclaimed,
"give me liberty or give me death," was yet living and
practicing law; John Randolph, of Roanoke, was en-
tering his career of greatness ; James Monroe, soon to
be President of the United States, was a leader in Vir-
ginia; George Mason, the author of the Bill of Rights,
had not yet lost his influence; James Madison, also
to be President of the United States, was a leader
among the Virginians; William Wirt, one of Virgin-
ia's greatest lawyers, was in his prime; Edmund Ran-
dolph, Governor of Virginia, was in politics; John
Marshall, the famous Chief Justice, was practicing in
the courts; Thomas Jefferson, the author of the
Declaration of Independence, was in the height of
power; and the list might be extended much further.
Yet with all of these truly great men in power in Vir-
ginia, the Legislature of the State passed such laws as
will be found below :

On December 26, 1 792, an Act was passed for
the purpose of suppressing vice, and provided that for
swearing, cursing or being drunk the fine should be
eighty-three cents for each offense, and if not paid,
the offender should have ten lashes on the bare back.
For working on Sunday the fine was one dollar and
sixty-seven cents. For stealing a hogshead or cask

AMONG OLD LAWS 231

of tobacco found lying by the public highway, the
punishment was death.

On December 19, 1 792, an Act was passed by
the Virginia Legislature providing that any person
found guilty of forgery must be put to death ; and the
same punishment was provided for those who erased,
defaced or changed the inspector's stamp on flour or
hemp. No less severe was the punishment for those
who stole land warrants. But for the man who made,
passed or had in his possession counterfeit money,
knowing it to be such, the penalty of death was not
enough. He was not only to be put to death, but
was forbidden the attendance of a minister, and must
go to execution "in the blossom of his sin." The de-
sign of the law-makers evidently was to add to his
punishment not only in this life, but, if possible, send
him to eternal punishment after death. It is not in
the province or power of the writers of history to as-
certain whether the Virginia Assembly ever succeed-
ed in killing a man and sending him to eternal tor-
ment in the lake of fire and brimestone because he
had a counterfeit dime in his pocket, but the probabil-
ity is that the powers of the law-makers ceased when
they had hanged their man, and a more just and right-
eous tribunal then took charge of his case.

It is evident that the early Virginia law-makers
laid great stress on the idea of clergy to attend the
condemned man. If they wished to inflict extreme
punishment they put on the finishing touches by
denying the privilege of clergy. On November 27,
1 789, an Act was passed by the Legislature segregat-
ing crimes into two classes, one of which was desig-
nated as "clergyable," and the other as "unclergy-
able." It was provided that the unclergyable crimes
were murder in the first degree, burglary, arson, the
burning of court-house or prison, the burning of
a clerk's office, feloniously stealing from the church
or meeting-house, robbing a house in presence cf its

232 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

occupants, breaking into and robbing a dwelling
house by day, after having put its owner in fear. For
all of these offenses the penalty was death. A pro-
vision was made in some cases for clergy; but, lest
the convicted man's punishment might not thereby
be too much lightened, it was stipulated that he must
have his hand burned before he was hanged. The
same law further provided that, although a man's
crime might not be unclergyable, yet if he received
the benefit of clergy, and it was subsequently ascer-
tained that he had formerly committed an unclergy-
able offense, he must then be put to death without
further benefit of clergy. In this law it was expressly
provided that there should be no mitigation of this
punishment in case of women.

By an Act of December 26, 1 792, it was provid-
ed that the man who apprehended a runaway servant
and put him in jail was to receive one dollar and for-
ty-seven cents, and mileage, to be paid by the owner.
This law was, no doubt, intended to apply chiefly to
slaves rather than to white servants. If the runaway
remained two months in jail unclaimed, the sheriff
must advertise him in the Virginia Gazette, and after
putting an iron collar on his neck, marked with the
letter "F," hire him out, and from his wages pay the
costs. After one year, if still unclaimed, he was to
be sold. The money, after the charges were paid, was
to be given to the former owner if he ever proved his
claim, and if he did not do so, it belonged to the State.

The law-makers believed in discouraging gossip
and tattling. A law passed by the Virginia Legisla-
ture, December 27, 1 792, was in the following lan-
guage: "Whereas, many idle and busy-headed people
do forge and divulge false rumors and reports, be it
resolved by the General Assembly, that what person
or persons soever shall forge or divulge any such false
report, tending to the trouble of the country, he shall
be by the next Justice of the Peace sent for and bound

AMONG OLD LAWS 233

over to the next County Court, where, if he produce
not his author, he shall be fined forty dollars, or less
if the court sees fit to lessen it, and besides give bond
for his good behavior, if it appear to the court that
he did maliciously publish or invent it."

There was a studied effort on the part of the Leg-
islators to discourage hog-stealing. It is not apparent
why it should be a worse crime to steal a hog than to
steal a cow; or why the purloining of a pig should out-
rank in criminality the taking of a calf; or why it
should be a greater offense to appropriate a neighbor's
shoat than his sheep. But the early law-makers in
Virginia seem to have so considered it and they pro-
vided a law for the special benefit of the hog thief.
This law, passed by the Legislature December 8,
1 792, declared that "any person, not a slave.who shall
steal a hog, shoat or pig," should receive thirty-five
lashes on the bare back; or if he preferred to do so, he
might escape the lashing by paying a fine of thirty dol-
lars ; but whether he paid the fine or submitted to the
stripes, he still must pay eight dollars to the owner for
each hog stolen by him. This much of the law is com-
paratively mild, but it was for the first offense only.
As the thief advanced in crime the law's severity in-
creased. For the second offense in hog-stealing the
law provided that the person convicted, if not a slave,
should stand two hours in a pillory, on public court
day, at the court-house, and have both ears nailed to
the pillory, and at the end of two hours, should have
his ears cut loose from the nails. It was expressly
provided that no exception should be made in the case
of women. If the hog thief still persisted in his un-
lawful business and transgressed the law a third time,
he was effectually cured of his desire for other peo-
ple's hogs by being put to death.

The slave had a still more severe punishment for
stealing hogs. For the first offense he received "thir-
ty-nine lashes on the bare back, well laid on, at the

234 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

public whipping post." For the second offense he
was nailed by the ears to a post and after two hours ox
torture had his ears cut off. For the third offense he
was put to death. The law provided that if a negro or
Indian were put on the stand as a witness against a
person accused of stealing hogs, and did not tell the
truth, he should be whipped, nailed to a post, h«s ears
cut, and if he still testified falsely, he paid the penalty
with his life. It is not provided how the court shall
be led to the knowledge whether or not the witness
had told the truth. It appears that the judge was pre-
sumed to be infallible in separating false from true
testimony in trials for hog-stealing. After a hog had
been stolen and killed, the relentless law still followed
it to try to discover if some one else might not be
punished. If a person bought, or received into his
possession, a hog from which the ears had been re-
moved, he was adjudged guilty of hog-stealing, unless
he could prove that the hog was his own property.
There was also a law forbidding any one from pur-
chasing pork from Indians unless the ears went with
the pork. There would be some inconvenience in re-
tailing pork under this restriction, as it would require
a skillful butcher to so cut up a hog that each ham,
shoulder, side and the sausage should retain the ears.

If stealing hogs was a crime almost too heinous
to be adequately punished in this world, horse-stealing
was so much worse that the law-makers of Virginia
would not undertake to provide a law to reach the
case. They, therefore, enacted a law, December 1 0,
1 792, that the convicted horse-thief rrmst be put to
death; and in order that he should certainly reach
eternal punishment beyond death, he was forbidden
to have spiritual advice. The language of the law is
*hat the horse-thief shall be "utterly excluded."

An Act of unnecessary severity was passed De-
cember 22, 1 792, against negroes who should under-
take to cure the sick. It is reasonable and right that

AMONG OLD LAWS 235

the law should carefully guard the people against
harm from those who ignorantly practice medicine;
but to us of the present day it appears that a less sav-
age law would have answered the purpose. It was
provided that any negro who prepared, exhibited, or
administered medicine should be put to death without
benefit of clergy. It was provided, however, that a
negro might, with the knowledge and consent of his
master, have medicine in his possession.

The law of Virginia required every county to
provide a court-house, jail, pillory, whipping post,
stocks and a ducking stool. But the ducking stool
might be dispensed with if the county court saw fit
to do so. The whipping post was the last of these
relics of barbarism to be removed. So far as can be
ascertained the last public and legalized burning of a
convicted man in West Virginia occurred in July,
1 828, in the old court-house in Hampshire county. A
negro slave, named Simon, the property of David
Collins, was tried on a charge of assault. The record
does not show that he had a jury. The court found
him guilty and ordered the Sheriff to burn him on
the hand and give him one hundred lashes, chain
him, and keep him on "coarse and low diet." The min-
utes of the court state that the sheriff "immediately
burned him in the hand in the presence of the court,"
and gave him then and there twenty-five lashes. The
remaining seventy-five were reserved for future days.

It is but justice to the law-makers of Virginia,
and the people of that time, to state that nearly all of
those severe laws came from England, or were enact-
ed in the colony of Virginia many years before the
Revolutionary War. Some of them date back to the
time of Cromwell, or even earlier. Although the peo-
ple of Virginia took the lead in the movement for
greater liberty, both mental and physical, they could
not all at once cut loose from the wrecks of past ty-
ranny. They advanced rapidly along some lines, but

236 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

slowly along others. They found those old laws on
the statute books, and re-enacted them, and suffered
them to exist for a generation or more. But we should
not believe that such men as Patrick Henry, Edmund
Randolph, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington
and the other statesmen and patriots of that time be-
lieved that a man should be nailed to a post for steal-
ing a pig, or that the crime of stealing a hymn book
from a church should be punished with death without
benefit of clergy.

A law passed near the close of the last century,
and still in force in 1819, provided Sheriff 's fees on a
number of items, among which were the following:
For making an arrest, sixty-three cents; for pillorying
a criminal, fifty-two cents; for putting a criminal in
the stocks, twenty-one cents; for ducking a criminal
in pursuance of an order of court, forty-two cents;
for putting a criminal in prison, forty-two cents;
for hanging a criminal, five dollars and twenty-five
cents; for whipping a servant, by order of court, to
be paid by the master and repaid to him by the ser-
vant, forty-two cents; for whipping a free person, by
order of court, to be paid by the person who received
the whipping, forty-two cents; for whipping a slave,
by order of court, to be paid for by the county, forty-
two cents ; for selling a servant at public outcry, forty-
two cents; for keeping and providing for a debtor in
jail, each day, twenty-one cents.

It was more expensive to be whipped or pilloried
by the sheriff than by a constable, although there is no
evidence that the sheriff did the work any more effec-
tively. Since the person who received the punishment
usually paid the fees of the officer who performed the
service, it is probable that such person preferred being
whipped or nailed to a post by a constable, because it
was less expensive. Some of the constable's fees are
shown below: For putting a condemned man in

AMONG OLD LAWS 237

the stocks, twenty-one cents ; for whipping a servant,
twenty-one cents ; for whipping a slave, to be paid by
the master, twenty-one cents; for removing a person
likely to become a charge on the county, per mile,
four cents.

Within the past century several important
changes have taken place in the laws under which
West Virginia has been governed. An Act of Assem-
bly, passed November 29, 1 792, provided that in
cases where a person is suspected of having commit-
ted a murder, and the coroner's jury recommend that
he be held for trial, and he eludes arrest, the coroner
must seize his house and property and hold them until
he surrenders himself or is arrested. Where a de-
fendant was found guilty the costs of the prosecution
was collected by the sale of his property, if he had any
property; but he might pay cost and thus save his
property. No constable, miller, surveyor of roads or
hotel-keeper was eligible to serve on a grand jury.
A law passed January 16, 1 80 1 , provided a fine of
five dollars as a penalty for killing deer between Jan-
uary 1 and August 1 of each year. A law enacted
January 26, 1814, provided that sheep-killing dogs
should be killed. If the owner prevented the execu-
tion of the law upon the dog he was subject to a fine
of two dollars for each day in which he saved the life
of the dog. The bounty on wolves was made six dol-
lars for each scalp, by a law passed February 9, 1819.
But the bounty was not always the same, nor was it
uniform throughout the counties of Virginia. Each
county could fix the bounty within its jurisdiction. A
law of January 1 6, 1 802, provided a fine of thirty dal-
lars for setting the woods on fire; and a law of Jan-
uary 4, 1 805, punished by a fine of ten dollars the
catching of fish in a seine between May 1 5 and Au-
gust 1 5.

There was a severe law passed by the Virginia
Legislature February 22, 1819, for the benefit of tav-

238 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

ern-keepers. It provided a fine of thirty dollars for
each offense, to be levied against any person not a li-
censed tavern-keeper, who should take pay from a
traveler for entertainment given. Not only was this
law in force in and near towns, but also within eight
hundred yards of any public road. There was a law
enacted by the assembly of Virginia December 24,
1 796, which was intended to favor the poor people.
It is in marked contrast with many of the laws of that
time, for they were generally not made to benefit the
poor. The law had for its object the aiding of
persons of small means in reaching Justice through
the courts. A man who had no money had it in his
power to prosecute a suit against a rich man. He
could select the court in which to have his case tried;
the court furnished him an attorney free; he was
charged nothing for his subpoenas and other writs;
and he was not charged with costs in case he lost his
suit. A law similar to that is still in force in West
Virginia.

In 1 792 an Act was passed by the Virginia Leg-
islature establishing ferries across the principal
streams of the State, and fixing the rate of toll. The
State was in the ferry business strictly for the money
in it. The law provided that no person should oper-
ate a private ferry for profit where he would take
patronage from a public ferry. The penalty for so
doing seems unnecessarily severe. The person who
undertook to turn a few dimes into his own pocket
by carrying travelers across a river, where those trav-
elers might go by public ferry, was fined twenty dol-
lars for each offense, half of it to go to the nearest
public ferryman and the other half to the person who
gave the information; and in case the public ferry-
man gave the information, the entire fine went into
his pocket. It will readily be surmised that the public
ferryman maintained a sharp lookout for private
boats which should be so presumptuous as to dare

AMONG OLD LAWS 239

enter into competition for a portion of the carrying
trade, and it is equally probable that competition with
public service soon became unpopular, when a man
might receive five cents for carrying a traveler across
a river and to be fined twenty dollars for it.

Messengers and other persons on business for
the State were not required to pay toll, and they
must be carried across immediately, at any hour of the
day or night. But, as a precaution against being im-
posed upon by persons falsely claiming to be in the
service of the State, the ferryman was authorized to
demand proof, which the applicant was obliged to fur-
nish. This proof consisted of a letter, on the back of
which must be written "public service," and must be
signed by some officer, either in the civil or military
service of the State. Inasmuch as the punishment for
forgery at that time was death, it is improbable that
any person would present forged documents to the
ferryman in order to save a few cents toll. The men
who kept the ferries enjoyed some immunities and
privileges denied the masses. They were exempt
from work on the public roads. They were not re-
quired to pay county taxes, but whether this privilege
was extended only to poll tax, or whether it applied
also to personal property and real estate, is not clear
from the reading of the regulation governing the bus-
iness. They were exempt from military service due
the State, and they were excused from holding the
office of constable.

INDIAN WARS 24

CHAPTER VI.

Monongalia County and the Indian Wars.

The area from which Monongalia was formed in
1 776 was troubled by hostile Indians from the coming
of the first scattered settlers in it until the savages
were finally driven beyond the reach of any part of
the county by General Wayne's victory over the In-
dians at the battle of Fallen Timbers in Ohio in 1 794.
Never after that time were any hostile Indians seen
in the county, but during the next six or seven years
after the victory by General Wayne there was kept
for emergency a supply of powder and lead to have
ready in case the savages should again make up their
minds to try war on the frontiers, but they never
again went to war until they were too far removed
in the west to be of any danger to the soil and people
of Monongalia county.

It is necessary that the account of the Indian
wars which were of such importance to the county
be related briefly and in the merest outline, for the
area was large and the period of hostility was long,
and events connected with the war were happening,
and were feared, during most of the time from the
first murders by the Indians during the time of the
French and Indian war till the final dropping of the
curtain on the scene in 1 794. Although no Indians
lived in the territory of Monongalia county, after the
region became the homes of white men, except the
camps of a few families at times, the tribes beyond
the Ohio river did not yield their claim to the ter-

242 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

ritory till they were compelled to do so by the force of
arms. They therefore incessantly made incursions
into the country in the hope of being able to expel
the settlers or at least that they could find some profit
' in carrying on the war against the settlers who were
slowly taking possession of the country.

During the course of the French and Indian war
in 1 754 and for several years following, so few white
people lived in the limits of the county that there were
few events in the character of war in the territory
that it requires little space to mention them. The
county, of course, was not formed by act of the Vir-
ginia Legislature till 1 776, several years after the
close of the Indian war which was staged as a part of
the war with France, but it is proper to count the war
in Monongalia county, if it was waged against the
people who lived in the territory from which the
county was subsequently formed. But there were
few white people living in the territory at that time,
and they were in out-of-the-way places, far removed
from the settlements of white people. The Files fam-
ily had made its home in the present county of Ran-
dolph, which afterwards was to be a part of Monon-
galia county and a family named Foyles lived nearby.
Their nearest neighbor must have been fifty miles
distant. It was a remote and dangerous place and
Indians killed one of the families and drove the other
away. Those may have been the first white persons
who lost their lives by the hostility of Indians within
the borders of old Monongalia county, and it occurred
before the county was formed. The family that was
killed died on the site of the present town of Beverly.

A year or two later the brothers from whom the
Dunkard Bottom, now in Preston county, was named,
were killed by Indians at that place. They may have
been the second murder by Indians that can be listed
in Monongalia county. The brothers were named

INDIAN WARS 243

Eckerly and they were members of the Dunkard
church, hence the name Dunkard Bottom to this day
is applied to the place where they lived on Cheat river.
They had picked out the finest bottom on the river
for many miles both above and below, and were there
leading the quiet life of the hunter, finding in the
woods what food they ate. They had formerly lived
on Dunkard creek, named on account of their religion,
but they had gone up Cheat river and had made them
a camp in the Dunkard Bottom and were peacefully
spending the time there when the Indians came upon
them and killed them both. A third brother had
gone east, to the South Branch, to procure some bad-
ly needed supplies, and thus was absent when the
savages discovered the camp, and his life was spared.
Thus the two murders of settlers by Indians in this
county during the French and Indian war were at
points about seventy miles apart, and it is not known
whence the Indians came who did it or where they
went afterward. They were probably wandering
companies of hunters who had found the camps of
the white people while strolling through the country.
There is no reason to believe that in either case the
Indians were hunting for settlers in those remote re-
gions, and they were probably surprised to find
white people living there many miles in advance of
the settlements of other white people.

The Indian wars which most concerned the early
pioneers of Monongalia county began in 1 774 as the
Dunmore was, so named from Lord Dunmore, then
governor of Virginia. That war lasted only a portion
of one year and was brought to a close by the decisive
victory gained over the Indians by the army under
General Lewis at Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the
Great Kanawha river in October, 1 774. Hostilities
commenced in the spring and early part of the sum-
mer of that year. The savages were uneasy at seeing

244 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

the steady advance of the white man's cabins across
the country each year, until by the spring of 1 774
there were settler on the bank of the Ohio river in
a number of places. The children of the wilderness
saw the movement of settlers in the direction of the
west and they understood that movement was not apt
to stop till it had reached not only the bank of the
Ohio river but till it had gone far beyond into what
was then well understood to be the home of the In-
dians. They had never given up the eastern bank of
the Ohio river to be occupied by white men, and much
less had they consented that the white race should ap-
proach and enter the region beyond the river. They
believed that the day of the white man's entrance into
the state of Ohio was near at hand unless a decided
stop could be put to the encroachment of settlers in
that direction.

That was about the attitude of the Indians in the
spring of 1 774, and they observed that surveyors
were busy with plans for entering on the land west of
the river, and that land speculators were occasionally
in the land. The Indian had sense enough to under-
stand what that meant, and he was quick to interpret
every movement that he could see into the worst
signs he could imagine. In his agitated state of
mind it did not take much to place him in a decidedly
hostile attitude toward any white men he might meet
on the border, and it is not a surprise that he soon
found cause to justify him, in his own mind, for go-
ing to war against the whole white race so far as he
knew anything of it.

The spark that kindled the flame of war was ap-
plied at that unfortunate juncture. In a quarrel be-
tween white men and a party of Indians on the Ohio
river, a number of Indians were killed, and among
them some of the relatives of the Indian chief Logan.
War would probably have come had not that affair

INDIAN WARS 245

occurred, but it was certain to come after the Indians
were killed, for in the ethics of the Indians the mur-
der of some of their people called for retaliation by
killing white people in return. The chief Logan
seized upon the occasion to make war, and he found
plenty of willing helpers among his tribesmen. He
shouldered his rifle and hastened to the frontiers
to make good his threats of retaliation, and he had
abundance of opportunity to do much harm. He
shaped his course for the borders of what is now Mon-
ongalia county, but the county was not formed until
two years later. There were numerous settlements
in the territory of Monongalia county at that time and
Logan soon put in his appearance in the most exposed
and defenseless parts of the border.

His evil success was immediate and abundant.
It is said that his war parties killed no fewer than
thirty persons, including not only men but women
and children as well. The chief justified his boast
made after the battle of Point Pleasant, that he had
glutted his vengeance and had killed many of the
white people in return for the injustice the white peo-
ple had done him.

But Logan was not alone in making war in the
savage way. Most of the tribes in Ohio and some in
the regions still more remote assisted him willingly
at his call, but it does not appear that he ever was a
leader of any large band, but it is evident that he
wielded a bad influence in that critical time.

The weight of the Indian enmity was so exten-
sively felt in all parts of the border, not in Monon-
galia alone, but even east of the Alleghany mountains,
that the State took measures to bring relief to the set-
tlements in the western part of Virginia by equipping
an army and sending it against the Indians to fight
them in their own country. An army of more than
2,000 men was raised in Virginia and was sent in two
divisions against the Indians. One wing of the army

246 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

marched by way of Wheeling and proceeded from
that point into the Indian country of Ohio, with a plan
to meet the other wing of the army in that country,
and there fight it out with the Indians. It seemed
to be the belief of the leaders that the real fighting of
the war would be done in the homeland of the Indians
and it was probably a matter of surprise that the sav-
age army chose to march from its own country and
cross the Ohio river and there join battle with one of
the invading armies.

The second wing of the Virginian army marched
across the Alleghany mountains in what is now
Greenbrier county, and proceeded thence down the
Kanawha river, by way of the mouth of Elk river, and
by that route reached the Ohio river at Point Pleasant.
That was probably the only invading force that the
Indians were informed of, at least at first, and at any
rate they evidently thought that the first danger lay
in the coming of the army down the Kanawha river,
and they made their arrangements to meet that army,
and did so. The Indians had their scouts and spies
out and watching the army's movements and progress
by the time it crossed the Alleghany mountains. They
knew of its progress and speed and had time to mus-
ter their forces, consisting of about 1 ,100 men, which
was about the strength of the army which they were
expecting to meet, and which they did meet on Octo-
ber iO, 1774, at Point Pleasant.

General Andrew Lewis was in command of the
army that was at Point Pleasant. When he reached
the Kanawha river at Charleston, but before there
was a town there, dugout canoes were hewed out of
yellow poplar trees and most of the army went from
that place by water to the mouth of the Kanawha river
where the army disembarked and prepared to cross
the Ohio and march into the Indian country and fight
the savages wherever they could be found. That part
of the army which went by the canoes arrived at the

INDIAN WARS 247

mouth of the river first, and a large detachment which
was following in the rear was left to come by land,
which it did, but it reached Point Pleasant too late to
take any part in the battle which was ended six hours
before the arrival of the second detachment of troops.
General Lewis went into camp with his army on
arrival at the mouth of the Kanawha river, on the
north side of the Kanawha, on the eastern bank of
the Ohio river. Little thought appears to have been
taken of the probability that the Indians would be
there to offer battle, but the belief was that the fight-
ing was to be in the enemies country, fifty or a hun-
dred miles beyond the Ohio, and that there was plenty
of time for all the preparations that were necessary.
It was, therefore, a great surprise to the Virginians
when the Indian army, under the leadership of the
Shawnee chief Cornstalk, approached in battle array
soon after daylight in the morning and the battle was
quickly in full swing. The Virginians had notice of
the approach of the enemy only a few minutes before
the savage army came in sight among the trees. Gen-
eral Lewis calmly lit his pipe and gave orders to de-
ploy the troops and begin the battle. The fight con-
tinued from sunrise till sunset, and it was long in the
balance, and it was sometimes doubtful which side
would be victorious. The Indians were so sure that
they would win that they had men posted across the
Kanawha river ready to cut off any of the Virginians
who should attempt to escape in that direction. As
soon as the battle became hot, General Lewis sent
messengers to meet the detachment that was coming
up in the rear to urge the troops to come ahead with
all possible speed. The messengers met the detach-
ment at sunset toiling along the narrow path and de-
livered the message. The troops put on the greatest
speed possible and arrived on the battlefield at mid-
night, after the Indians had retreated across the Onio
river and were then on their way to their towns.

248 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

The Virginians had turned the tide of battle near
sunset by a flank movement. Several companies had
marched up a small stream called Crooked run, un-
seen by the Indians, and by that movement had
had been able to attack the savages in the rear. Thus
taken by surprise, and not doubting that the attack
was by the reinforcements which they knew were
coming up from the rear, the Indians gave up the fight
and fled across the Ohio river on logs, rafts, canoes,
and whatever else they could lay their hands on to
carry them over the river in that hour of need.

The battle of Point Pleasant was one of the hard-
est and most evenly contested ever fought, between
white men and Indians in America. The losses were
heavy on both sides, and the Indians fled without
carrying off their dead, but they threw some of them
in the river. General Lewis crossed his army over the
Ohio river and hotly pursued the fleeing enemy far
into the country of the most warlike Indians with
which the frontiers were acquainted. The army which
had invaded the Indian country by way of Wheeling
pushed into the enemy's country also. The chiefs
could not rouse courage enough in the defeated In-
dians to risk another fight, and the result was that
Cornstalk made overtures for peace, and in the coun-
cil that followed a treaty was made which brought
the Dunmore war to a close within six months after
it commenced. Not many soldiers from Monongalia
county were in the army at Point Pleasant, as the
army was raised from the counties east of the Alle-
ghanies and recruits were not called for from the
counties west of the mountains. But few counties
in Virginia were more benefited by that victory than
was Monongalia.

The Indian army retreated to the Scioto river
in Ohio and there halted while the Virginians were ap-
proaching and while the other wing of the army was
also drawing near to the place. Cornstalk saw no

INDIAN WARS 249

hope of winning a battle and rather than run the risk
of losing more than had already been lost, he went to
the opposing army and offered to make peace. His
offer was accepted in the spirit in which it was offer-
ed and the Virginian army marched back home after
signing a treaty which seemed to guarantee peace to
the troubled settlements of Virginia. The peace en-
dured till the revolutionary war commenced and then
war broke out again.

Logan, the Indian chief, refused to attend the
meeting where the treaty was made and when the
white men asked why he was not present, Logan
replied by sending a written speech which was read
at the meeting, and was commented on by Thomas
Jefferson in after years as being one of the best
speeches ever delivered by any man, and it was es-
pecially noteworthy as being the product of an un-
lettered savage. The speech was as follows:

"I appeal to any white man to say if he ever en-
tered Logan's cabin hungry and he gave him not meat;
if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed
him not. During the course of the last long and bloody
war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate of
peace. Such was my love for the whites that my coun-
trymen pointed as they passed, and said, Logan is the
friend of white men. I had even thought to have lived
with you, but for the injuries of one man, Colonel Cre-
sap, who last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked,
murdered all the relatives of Logan, not even sparing
my women and children. There runs not a drop of
my blood in the veins of any living creature. This
called upon me for revenge. I have sought it. I have
killed many. I have fully glutted my revenge. For
my country I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do
not harbor the thought that mine is the joy of fear.
Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to
save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan?
Not one."

It is now known that Logan was not the author
of that speech, at least in the form we have it. He

250 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

sent some word to the council to explain why he was
not there, and the speech was written by some one
else and put in words which could hardly have been
Logan's, as he was an uneducated man and was not
acquainted with the Bible enough to quote from it
nearly word for word.

After the close of the Dunmore war in 1774
there was a short period of peace on the western bor-
ders, but it was of short duration, for the Revolution-
ary war soon came on and the Indians were induced to
take sides with Great Britain in that struggle, and they
were the worst enemies the people of Monongalia
had to meet in that war. The part which Monongalia
county took in the Revolution is given elsewhere in
this book and it need not be repeated or enlarged upon
here, suffice it to say that the worst feature of the part
the Indians took in that struggle was not when they
marched in large armed bands and joined in open
battle when and where they met the foe, but rather
was in those small depradations which they carried
out in accordance with the traditional Indian cunning
and treachery, for it was in that way that they were
able to strike their most telling blows against the set-
tlements of the white people, killing men, women,
and children in an indiscriminate slaughter of all who
fell into their hands. From 1 774 till 1 795, with few
and short exceptions, the settlers of Monongalia
county were forced in self-defence to carry on that
sort of war with the Indians who were constantly
hanging around the borders ready to attack the weak-
est and most defenseless places, then make off with
their scalps and prisoners too quickly for the pur-
suers to overtake and bring them to account for their
misdeeds.

It was practically impossible to give adequate
protection with the few soldiers available, the 8,000
square miles or more that were included in the original

INDIAN WARS 251

limits of the county. Some assistance was occasion-
ally given for short periods by militia that was raised
to do frontier service, but for the most part the people
were under the necessity of defending themselves or
suffer from their own neglect or lack of caution. Ev-
ery man was a rifleman and he was skilled in the
art of frontier warfare and was alert in seeing danger
and warding it off when it was possible to do so. The
county extended to the Ohio river, south to the bor-
ders of Greenbrier county, north to or into the pres-
ent state of Pennsylvania, and east to Maryland, thus
including nearly one-third of the present State of
West Virginia. It was an extensive domain for a few
pioneers scattered about so many square miles to at-
tempt to defend and make secure against attack of a
foe that came secretly and by stealth and struck when
and where he was least expected. What are now Har-
rison, Randolph, Lewis, Upshur, Braxton, Tucker,
Preston, Marion, Taylor, Barbour, and several other
counties, were then all in Monongalia county, and in
that wide and thinly settled territory it was neces-
sary to be on the watch for the savage that was sure
to select his time for coming when he was least to be
expected. To narrate the separate Indian attacks on
the settlers in Monongalia county as it then existed,
would require a story of the frontier history of a third
of the State. The separate attacks were many and
were occurring during many years, now in the pres-
ent borders of Tucker county, now Lewis, again Pres-
ton, and then Marion, so that it would be next to im-
possible to give account of all the murders by the
savages in so wide a domain, yet it was all Mononga-
lia county and nearly all parts were of equal, or nearly
equal, importance as matter of history of that inter-
esting time.

The campaigns into the Indian country have
been mentioned in other chapters of this book. It
was believed that the way to bring the Indians to an

252 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

appreciation of peace, and make them willing to
keep the peace, was by vigorous campaigns into their
own country by which they could have a taste of war
near their own homes. So long as the savages could
make war in the white man's country, and then en-
joy a period of peace by retiring to their own land and
rest and prepare for another expedition against the
settlements of the white people, war was only an
amusement to them; but it was quite a different
thing if the fighting was near their own wigwams.
They were in that case the chief sufferers and were
the most likely to make and keep the peace. Such
were the reasons which prompted the white men to
carry the war into the enemy's country, and it was
finally by that means that permanent peace was made
on the frontiers.

That result was a long time in the coming, and
while it was delayed it was necessary to fight the In-
dians in the settlements. It was a long and severe
fight. The Indian war in western Virginia, most of
which was Monongalia county, was probably as fierce
and relentless as any Indian war in the United States.
It was a fight to a finish, and the Indians did not
yield and give up, the fight till they were thoroughly
beaten and in danger of extermination.

The settlers were not slow to raise companies to
take part in any prospective fighting. The alacrity
with which they went to assist General George Rog-
ers Clark in the remote country of Illinois is proof of
that. In Monongalia county and in the counties
formed from it, they put in practice a plan by which
they sought to guard the frontiers against the incur-
sions of savages, by discovering the enemy's approach
in time to give warning to the settlement of the com-
ing danger. This was done by having a number of
trained scouts in the woods watching the trails by
which the Indians usually came to the frontiers from
the Ohio river. When Indians were seen approaching,

INDIAN WARS 253

the word was carried by runners quickly to the set-
tlements which seemed most likely to be attacked by
the invaders, and that way the evil work of the invad-
ers was frequently frustrated. The scouts proved to
be a very valuable protection to the frontiers, as the
men who went out to watch the trails were those who
had proved by years of faithful work that they could
be depended upon to do the work, and that they
understood how to do it. They knew where the trails
were and at what points they could best be watched.
A man would stay out for weeks or a month at a time,
sleep and live alone in the woods near the trails and
be always ready to run to the settlements and carry a
report of danger a day in advance of the arrival of the
savages. That allowed the time necessary to escape
to the forts or to the houses of settlers where a num-
ber of persons could assemble for mutual protection.
One of the Monongalia companies which did
much service on the frontiers, and whose names
have been preserved till the present time, was Captain
John Whitzell's in service in 1 778. The names of the
officers and men of the company are as follows :

Officers

JOHN WHITZELL ....Captain.

WILLIAM CRAWFORD... Lieutenant.

JOHN MADISON Ensign.

PETER MILLER Sergeant.

CHRISTIAN COPELE Y Sergeant.

Privates

John Six Martin Whitzell

Lewis Bonnell Enoch Enochs

Jacob Teusbaugh Jacob Riffle

Joseph Morris Valentine Lawrence

Benjamin Wright Jacob Andrews

Samuel Brown John Smith

William Hall William Gardener

Philip Nicholas David Casto

Henry Yoho Joseph Yeager

John Duncan Philip Catt

254 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Thomas Hargis George Catt

John Province, Jr. Joseph Coon

Harvey Franks Mathias Riffle

Nicholas Crousber Jacob Spangler

Abraham Eastwood Peter Goosey

Conrad Hur Philip Barker
Mark Hare

The Indians continued their war on the people
of Monongalia county until the campaign under Gen-
eral Wayne in 1 794 and the treaty was signed the
next year to put a stop to the passage of the Ohio
river for hostile purposes by the Indians. When war
again broke out between Indians and white people,
the settlements had advanced so far west that it was
out of the question that the savages should ever again
invade the country east of the Ohio river, though it
was guarded against as a possibility for ten years after
General Wayne's victory.

The Indians fought long and hard against giving
up the country in the western part of Virginia which
had been theirs always till the coming of the white
men, when they lost it by fighting a superior race who
wanted the land and who were willing to put forth as
much effort to obtain it as the Indians were prepared
to expend in holding. The Indians did not under-
stand the hopelessness of their side of the contro-
versy. They were not able to contend in a contest of
that sort with the superiority of white men. They
would not improve and develop the land themselves
and it was inevitable that they should ultimately give
it up to the race which should do so. The land was
worth more for agricultural purposes and for manu-
facturing, and destiny seemed to decree that it should
go to those who should put it to the best use, and who
should be able to put up the best fight for it. The
Indians were unquestionably the first possessors of
the American lands, and if the question of possession
should be decided on the fact of the first owner, the

INDIAN WARS 255

decision could not be for any other than the Indian;
but in the final analysis the decision of the ultimate
right to own the country was to be in favor of the
strongest and the best, which proved to be the white
man. By his superiority he was able after a long and
hard fight to take the land away from the original red
possessor, and he did so. That was the outcome,
whether it was right or wrong, and history's province
is to bear witness that it was done. Many countries
of the world; in past ages, have changed populations
and people by the driving out of the weak and non-
progressive race by an invasion of a stronger and
more progressive people, and the result has been ac-
cepted as proper and for the general good of the world.
The fate of the American Indian affords no exception
to the rule which has been in existence since the ear-
liest records of the movements of the people of the
world. The Indians had been in America since a time
that has not been measured, and in all that time they
had made but small progress and seemed incapable
of making any, and in fullness of time they had to
yield their ownership to a race which used it better.

The wandering tribes of nomadic savages which
had roamed over the fertile lands of Monongalia
county gave up the country to a conquering race of in-
vaders, and the world has been the gainer by it, in
spite of the apparent wrong that had been done to a
brave but ignorant people who could not do anything
with their possession besides live on it in squalor and
idleness. The new comers speedily developed the re-
sources of the land which they were able to win from
the savages, and brought it to a fruitfulness impossi-
ble in the old ways of Indian life. Neat houses have
taken the places occupied for untold ages by wigwams
that were always very dirty and poor. The white
man's factory and workshop are a good exchange for
the Indian's hunting expedition; and the highways
and railroads, the boats on the rivers, and wagons and

256 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

trains by land, can profitably be exchanged for the
footpath of the Indian and the wallet he carried on
his back. The schools, churches, hospitals, and other
institutions which have come to this country since
the Indian population gave its place to the white man,
are some of the advantages which followed the foot-
steps of the conquerers. During thousands of years
the Indians had not been able to develop anything to
compare with the achievements of the white people
in the brief space of time since they came on the scene.
If the matter is looked at in this light there will be
little room to grieve because the red man was com-
pelled to give up the heritage which he seemed to be
poorly fitted to hold, and surrender it to another bet-
ter able to manage the priceless possession.

IN THE REVOLUTION 257

CHAPTER VII.

Monongalia County in the Revolution.

The remote western county of Monongalia
would not be expected to figure to a great extent in
the war of the Revolution as that conflict with Great
Britain was staged for the most part in the vicinity of
the Atlantic coast or in those regions near the coast,
from Massachusetts to South Carolina, and Monon-
galia was far removed from the principal area of hos-
tilities. It turned out, however, that the great county
of Monongalia, which was one of the largest at that
time in Virgina, filled an important place in the War
for Independence. That was not because of a large
population, nor of great riches visible as material re-
sources; for at the close of the Revolutionary War,
that is in 1 782, Monongalia county's population, ac-
cording to the census taken that year by the magis-
trates, numbered only 3,202 white people and 81 ne-
groes. When it is borne in mind that the population
was scattered over something like 8,000 square miles,
or a little more, it becomes evident that it was a small
but unwieldy population to draw upon for men and
supplies in time of war. Bearing the circumstances in
mind, it is a matter of surprise that the county filled
so large a part, and filled it so well, in the war that
was waged for so many years with the most powerful
nation in the world, and at the same time the county
fought the Indians incessantly on the western border.
For, during that period, there was little besides the
scattered cabins of a few white men between Monon-

258 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

galia county and the whole Indian country west of the
Ohio river. The border of the county was the Ohio
river at that time, and for that reason the county was
contiguous to the Indian country in that direction.
Hostile bands of the savages, in part armed and great-
ly encouraged by the British, in warring on the Amer-
icans, had only to cross the Ohio river, on rafts, in
canoes, or by swimming, at which art every Indian
warrior was an expert, and when they landed on the
eastern bank of the stream, they were on the soil of
Monongalia county, and ready to go upon the war-
path, not only against the men, but also against wom-
en and children.

It was comparatively easy for the Indians to pen-
etrate as much as a hundred miles into the county and
not be discovered until they made their presence
known by murder and arson in the settlement. That
situation had to be taken into account in considering
what Monongalia could do in the cause of liberty in
the Revolutionary War. If the only hard task had
been to fight British soldiers, who usually fought in
accordance with the rules of civilized warfare, the
task would have been hard enough for the small force
of men and the meager resources of material in the
county. But not only was it incumbent on the front-
iersmen to do a large part in repelling the invasions
of the civilized armies from the east, but at the same
time the people had to face the terrible necessity of
beating off the sneaking and merciless red men who
came out of the pathless woods of the west, and gave
no quarter and showed no mercy to those on whom
they were able to fall by surprise.

When the Revolutionary War came, the men
and women of Monongalia county met it bravely, and
no people of the United States did more, in proportion
to their means, than the frontier people of this coun-
ty. They were generally very poor in every resource
except land, but they spent liberally of what they had

IN THE REVOLUTION 259

in the cause of the war. Colonel John Evans of Mor-
gantown wrote in the trying time, to Colonel Joseph
Holmes of Winchester, asking if it was possible to
send ten or twelve bushels of salt to the people of
Monongalia county, as they had little and were suffer-
ing. About the same time a letter was written to Meri-
weather Lewis, a Virginia officer, asking for leniency
in the collection of taxes in Yohogania county, a
neighboring county to Monongalia at that time, and
saying that the people west of the Alleghany moun-
tains had not money enough to buy their salt.

That is some indication of the condition which
the Monongalians were facing, while they were doing
their best to assist their patriotic brothers in fighting
the revolution to a successful issue. That the fight
was won, is another proof of the truth of the old prov-
erb that the battle is not always to the strong or the
race to the swift. Harrison county, which was formed
from Monongalia territory after the close of the Rev-
olutionary War, showed by its lists that it had ready
for use 2 1 5 men and 1 30 guns. These rendered a
good account of themselves in the long war. It was a
little later that Virginia sent 500 guns with bayonets,
from the arsenal at Point of Fork into Monongalia
county to meet the urgent need there for arms. Col-
onel Benjamin Wilson wrote from Clarksburg in
I 782 that the Indians had made numerous excursions
that year into the county, and as the best available
means of protection and defense, the people had to
keep 300 men under arms in the little forts about the
settlements.

There was a system of scouting through the
woods, and along all the known Indian trials between
the settlements and the Ohio river, for the discovery
of the advance of Indians toward the settlements.
When scouts discovered savages on the paths, the
swiftest runners of the scouts outran the enemy and
carried warning of the danger to the frontier, usually

260 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

in time for the people to fiee from their homes and
seek refuge in the little fovts that had been built about
the country.

The work and adventures of these scouts, if com-
piled and written as the circumstances warrant, would
be replete with lonely vigils, waylaying the Indians'
dim trails, and with desperate races to reach the set-
tler's cabins in time to save the frontier families from
the threatening perils that were approaching. Mention
of those scouts occurs here and there in border rec-
ords, in letters, diaries, and the like, but many of the
stories, in their details and particulars, have never
been told, and it is now too late to tell them; for so
many of the details have passed from the memory
of men. Glimpses are here and there obtained in old
letters and reports of frontiers officers who dealt with
that phase of the war.

The work of the scouts had most to do in pre-
venting the Indians' sneaking, deadly work on the
western frontier. The British soldier was not often
there and it was seldom necessary to look out for his
coming from the west, but his partner in the deadly
work was the wild Indian from beyond the Ohio, and
if these savages were furnished a few guns and a small
quantity of ammunition, they could be depended upon
to put that nefarious resource to as bad a use as it was
possible. The men from Monongalia county were
directly concerned in facing westward during the Rev-
olution to meet the Indians coming from beyond the
Ohio river, rather than turning eastward to repel the
British soldier in that quarter, for to the people on
the western frontier of Virginia the most imminent
danger lay in the west. The eastern battlefields were
too far away to be of immediate peril.

During the Revolution, when it was necessary to
fight the British in the eastern part of the country and
the Indians in the west, troops from Monongalia
county went in both directions. When danger of in-

IN THE REVOLUTION 261

vasion by parties of Indians appeared particularly im-
minent, at different periods, troops were sent from
the east across the Alleghany mountains into Monon-
galia, Greenbrier, and other exposed counties, to help
the inhabitants save the country from destruction. In
1 777 a company of troops from eastern Virginia was
led by Captain Samuel Vance into what is now Poca-
hontas county, but which was at that time near the
border of Monongalia. The soldiers remained in that
region two weeks, and withdrew when the immediate
danger seemed to be passed. A company of troops
under Captain Robert McCreery and another under
Captain John Lewis were in service west of the moun-
tains about the same time.

In the same year, 1777, Captain Robert Craven's
company spent some time in Monongalia county, in
that part which is now in Randolph county, while sim-
ilar service of defence was performed by Captain
Henderson's company along New river, in the pres-
ent county of Monroe, which was then a short dis-
tance south of the southern limits of Monongalia.
The defense of the territory just across the border of
a county was often as essential to the safety of the
people who lived within the county, as was the re-
pelling of the enemy after actual invasion had taken
place. For that reason it is often necessary to recount
movements of war not within the territory that may
be the immediate subject of discussion, but suffic-
iently near to have a direct influence. The history of
Monongalia in the Revolutionary war is so often con-
nected with events outside her borders, that it is often
essential that more or less notice be taken of matters
which at first glance might appear not of her direct
concern; but an adequate account of the revolution
as it affected Monongalia could not be given without
going outside of the county, even as it then existed
in its form which was more than ten times as large as
the county's present size.

262 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Even earlier than 1777, that is in 1776, a com-
pany of soldiers under Captain McCoy was in Harri-
son county (then Monongalia county), and was quar-
tered at West's Fort, Lowther's Fort, and Coon's
Fort; and in the same year another company, com-
manded by Captain Nail, was at Westf all's Fort,
where Beverly now stands, but then in the widely ex-
tending territory of Monongalia county. The county
was formed that year.

In 1777 Captain William All's company was in
what now is Harrison county. In that year Monon-
galia county was interested in the organization of an
army of 700 men, which assembled at Point Pleasant,
intending to march from that place against Detroit,
which was then in possession of the British and was
a rallying place for Indians who were constantly go-
ing in small bands against the frontiers; attacking
them from the west while the British were harassing
the eastern country. Detroit had assumed the bad
importance which had belonged to Pittsburgh, when
as Fort Duquense, it was in the hands of the French,
who used it for the purpose of encouraging and as-
sisting the Indians in making war upon the English
settlements. It was, therefore, considered that if De-
troit could be captured and destroyed, it would be a
telling blow to the British cause, and it would dis-
courage the Indians in their war on the settlements
along the whole border. It would deprive them of
an important source of supplies, particularly of guns
and ammunition. The Indians could not manufac-
ture guns or powder, and rarely and in a very small
degree could they provide themselves with bullets,
and to cut off Detroit, the headquarters of traders and
British agents, would do much to lessen war's terrors
in the western woods. Therefore, an expedition
against Detroit was planned, to start from Point Pleas-
ant, at the mouth of the Kanawha river, and move
thence through the woods to Detroit.

IN THE REVOLUTION 263

Monongalia was much interested in this expedi-
tion, as its success would do a great deal to relieve its
settlements from savages ; but it is not certain what
actual help in men and material came from the coun-
ty's more than 7,000 square miles of territory, most
of which was very thinly settled. A few soldiers
may have gone from the county, but probably not
many, as the bulk of the army came from east of the
Alleghany mountains. It is therefore not deemed
necessary to deal fully with the campaign, since few
Monongalia soldiers were in it, and the expedition
never reached Detroit.

Instead of improving the conditions of Indian
warfare on the frontier, it increased the intensity of
Indian hate, and Monongalia county reaped its full
share of the bad results. Up to the time this army
assembled at Point Pleasant, the Shawnee Indians,
one of the most powerful of the western tribes, had
refused to join the British against the Americans.
They were restrained from entering the conflict
through the influence of their chief, Cornstalk, who
sided with the Americans. He had been commander
of the Indian army at the Point Pleasant battle in
1774, and having been there defeated, he had made
peace and was doing his best to keep it when the
Revolution was sweeping most of the Indians into the
war on the side of the British.

Cornstalk had come to Point Pleasant in the
cause of peace, so far as his tribe was concerned. He
was there with some of his kinsmen, while the army
was getting ready to march against Detroit, when
some of the soldiers, enraged because of Indian dep-
redations in the vicinty, killed Cornstalk and part
of his company. That deed so enraged the Shawnee
Indians that they at once abandoned their neutrality
and joined in the war against the Americans. They
became the most persistent of all the Indian tribes in

264 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

fighting the settlements in the western part of Vir-
ginia, and no county suffered from them more than
Monongalia, because it was so extensive in size and
so exposed to the attacks of the savages.

The army that had assembled at Point Pleasant
never marched against Detroit. While waiting for the
orders to start for that place, news was received of the
surrender of the British army under General Bur-
goyne at Saratoga, and that event was considered of
so great importance that the attack on Detroit was
abandoned. There was a mutiny in the army about
the same time, growing out of dissatisfaction of the
soldiers with the conduct of an officer, and perhaps
that had something to do with the abandonment of the
Detroit expedition. Had the expedition proceeded to
its destination, as originally planned, it is difficult to
tell what would have been the result.

The movements and intended movements of
considerable bodies of the men through the western
portions of Virginia did not stop the sending of troops
into the western part of the State from time to time
during the remainder of the Revolution, as occasion
seemed to render necessary. In 1778 troops led by
Captain Robert Craven spent three months in Monon-
galia county, in the territory now in Randolph county,
and in the same year soldiers under Captain William
Kinkade were in the region now in Harrison county,
and a company under Captain James Trimble was in
another corner of Monongalia, now in Upshur coun-
ty, and in that year and the year following other
soldiers had occasion to visit the settlements on the
Greenbrier river, now Pocahontas county. Captain
Andrew Lockbridge was in command of part of these
troops, and in 1 779 Captain McCreery's company
was in what is now Pocahontas county.

By picking out the places where soldiers were
stationed in Virginia, west of the Alleghany moun-
tains during some part of the Revolutionary war, as

IN THE REVOLUTION 265

reported in letters and documents of that period, it
can be seen that the exposed western settlements
were given as much protection during the troubled
times as seemed practicable under the circumstances.
Calls for help came from so many places that it is re-
markable that so many of them were responded to
in a substantial way, and that so many parts of Mon-
ongalia county could be given assistance from the
too meager military forces available.

The capture of Detroit, as planned in part by
western Virginia, failed of accomplishment from va-
rious causes; but better success attended the very
important campaign against the British forces in
Southern Illinois, led by General George Rogers Clark
two years later than the Detroit failure. That cam-
paign resulted in the capture of the British posts of
Kaskaskia and Vincennes, and the ending for all time
of the influence of the British in that region. The
country where the fighting was staged was nearly
five hundred miles from Monongalia county and it
might appear that it was too remote to have any im-
mediate concern for the people of the county, sep-
arated from it as they were, by such long stretches of
wilderness with few paths and no roads at all con-
necting Monongalia county and Illinois where Gen-
eral Clark led his army and won a notable victory.
But a close historical connection existed between the
two places, remote from each other as they were. The
British agents in Southern Illinois encouraged the
Indians, supplied them with weapons, and sent them
out to invade and terrorize the frontiers, even as far
away as Monongalia county. That fact was fairly
well understood on the borders, and when Virginia
proposed to put a stop to occupation of that region
by the British, the people on the western frontiers
of the State were willing helpers.

They helped in the most substantial manner pos-
sible, and about the only possible manner with them.

266 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Monongalians volunteered in General Clark's army
and went with him to Illinois to fight — and they
fought. Other western Virginians from as far south as
the Greenbrier river and as far east as Jefferson coun-
ty, and from all the intervening country, did the same,
and the troops which followed General Clark from the
banks of the Monongahela river, from Cheat river,
from the Greenbrier and from the Potomac, were of
quality the best that could have been found any-
where, and the numbers were enough to put a final
end to the British power in that part of the West.

It is unfortunate that it is not practicable to com-
pile a list of Monongalia's soldiers in General Clark's
army. The names of many who are known could be
picked out from reports of officers and from private
letters written by the men in the ranks, but no doubt,
by that method of compilation, many men would
not be mentioned, and among such, there might be
some of the bravest and best. Many of them have
disappeared individually from memory; but collect-
ively they are remembered as among the most heroic
of the brave men who fought in the War of the Revo-
lution, and achieved lasting results for the benefit
of their descendants. The names of a number of
Monongalia homesteaders, who were among the first
to push into the wild country to found homes, amid
the perils and hardships of the wilderness, were sol-
diers in General Clark's campaign in Illinois. Such
action was to be expected of such men, and the ex-
pectation was not to be disappointed. They had been
rendered fit for the hardest service by years of fight-
ing the skulking savage in their own settlements, and
when the time of crisis came, General Clark was able
to send them through water waist-deep, breaking the
ice as they waded, and then come up to and capture
the British strongholds.

It is not the purpose to describe here the particu-

IN THE REVOLUTION 267

lars of the long marches and face to face fighting that
ended in the success of the Illinois campaign; nor is
it necessary to do so. The work was successfully car-
ried out to the very end, and no second or succeeding
campaign was necessary to finish it. Not an armed
Briton was left in all the region to harass the front-
iers or to hire the Indians to do so. "Hair-buying" —
v/hich was the term used to designate the British
practice of paying the Indians for scalps of white
people killed in the settlements — was largely at an
end in the Western country, although it may have
continued for a time longer at Detroit and other Brit-
ish posts in that region. The disastrous defeat of
the British forces in southern Illinois dampened and
discouraged the ardor of the red men. It taught
them to have a wholesome respect for the Virginians
who had done it.

The war was continued, but it is not difficult to
say what the final result of the Illinois campaign
or the outcome of the war was. It is a fact of history
that British statesmen had planned the extension of
the Province of Quebec to the Ohio river, in order to
throw a barrier across the rear of the American col-
onies, to hinder any advancement toward the West,
in case of insurrection, such as the Revolutionary
War was. That was known as "The Quebec Act,"
and some historians consider that the Virginians nul-
lified the Quebec Act at the battle of Point Pleasant,
by winning that victory. That may be true, but the
Quebec Act was finally and forever annulled by
Clark's victories over the British in southern Illinois
a few years after the battle of Point Pleasant.

In the accomplishment of that important result
— the winning and holding for the Americans of the
country north and west of the Ohio river — winning
it from the British then and from the Indians years
later — the soldiers from Monongalia county were

268 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

among the foremost of the fighters, and to them be-
longs a full share of the credit due for the result.

The calls for soldiers to carry on the War of the
Revolution came nearly every year during the con-
tinuance of the war. The number of men which Mon-
ongalia was expected to send was sometimes desig-
nated specifically, and sometimes by ration based on
the number of militia in the county. In the call in
1776 the county was required to furnish 222 men,
which was a rather large number to take from a pop-
ulation so small and so dispersed over a large terri-
tory, where every man was liable to be needed at
home for defense against Indians.

But other calls followed regularly and generally
once a year, though so large a number was never
again required in any one year. It required only
forty men in 1777. That small number was fortu-
nate, for it left more men at home to fight Indians;
for 1777 was long remembered as the "bloody year
of the three 7's," because the Indians were so in-
cessantly on the war path during the summer of that
year that it looked as if a large part of the frontier
settlements would be broken up. Some people ad-
vised that the settlers in the most exposed places
ought to break up their homes and fall back to the
older places further east. But other men argued the
lack of wisdom of such a course, for if the settle-
ments furthest in the front should give way, the sav-
ages would fall on the settlers that were further back,
and the situation would be as bad as ever. The pol-
icy of holding all the ground they had as yet acquired
very generally prevailed among the frontiersmen, not-
withstanding the intensity of the hostility of the In-
dians, and with few exceptions that was done.

In 1 778 a call came for every 25th fighting man
in Monongalia county, and the call was promptly and
satisfactorily answered, as were all the numerous calls
made on the men of the region for the Revolution-

IN THE REVOLUTION 269

ary armies, whether they were to see service on the
battlefields of New England, Virginia, or South Caro-
lina, or in the West.

In 1779 the call was for 1,000 men from the
whole of what now is West Virginia, to be appor-
tioned among the counties on a basis as equitable as
practicable. Probably about one tenth of the draft
came from Monongalia county. But that was not the
only demand for soldiers from Monongalia county
in 1 779. Another call required one man in every
25 suited for military purposes. The next year the
requirements for men were slightly lowered, and the
call was for only one in 30. The year 1 780 witnessed
the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Vir-
ginia, and it was apparent to observant men that the
British were losing. There came a call for more sol-
diers that year and Monongalia made its last contribu-
tion for the war.

It is not certain how many soldiers for the Con-
tinental army were furnished by Monongalia, from
its area when of its largest size. Records of the com-
panies are fragmentary, and the lists of some are
missing. It is supposed that copies of the rolls were
lost when the court house of Monongalia county
was burned near the close of the eighteenth century.
It is thought that the total number of men fit for mil-
itary service over 1 6 years of age, in Monongalia
county, was about 1 ,800 during the height of the
war. That conforms very closely to the number
shown for the county, and for Harrison and Ran-
dolph counties, in the organization of the military
districts in Virginia west of the mountains during the
Indian wars immediately following the Revolution.

It probably will never be known what the exact
number of soldiers was which went into the Rev-
olutionary fighting force from Monongalia, in one
place or another, from the first to the last of the war;

270 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

but by adding those that are known or believed to
have gone, not counting the expeditions and parties
who fought Indians only, or did scout duty in the In-
dian fighting, the number of 782 can be accounted for,
as Monongalia's contribution to the Revolutionary
army. The number is not certain. It is reached
by adding those where the numbers are known, and
including estimates of the numbers received from the
different calls for troops from the State and appor-
tioned among the various counties. If the number is
accepted as correct, it shows that Monongalia sent to
the Continental armies more than one-third of its
fighting force, and with the remainder of the force,
left at home, fought the Indians who were liable to
invade the settlements at all times, except in the cold-
est parts of winter. That was a remarkable showing
for the large county, spread over more than 7,000
square miles of forest.

The roll of Captain Uriah Springer's company,
raised in Monongalia county, and in service at Pitts-
burgh in 1781, can be given in full. It is difficult
to say in what companies, when, and where the re-
maining hundreds of Monongalia's soldiers went to
the war. They were probably scattered though many
companies, mostly in Virginia, but likely some in
companies sent from other states. There were
enough men to make several companies, could they
have been organized as such.

Following is the roster of Captain Springer's
company with fourteen officers and forty-six men:

Officers

URIAH SPRINGER, Captain

JOHN HARRISON, Lieutenant

JOSEPH WINLOCK, Ensign

JOHN GIBSON, Ensign

JOHN WILLIAMS Sergeant

THOMAS TANNAHILL Sergeant

THOMAS MOORE Sergeant

IN THE REVOLUTION

271

WILLIAM EVANS, Corporal

JAMES ADAMS, Corporal

JOHN HAGERTY,, Corporal

ISAAC HORSEFIELD, Corporal

JOHN SMITH, Drummer

THOMAS WHEALY, Drummer

JOHN HINDS, Fifer

Privates

James Cumberford John Ross

John Burnett Patrick Baity

Garrett Cavener William Hansford

William Barr Edward McDonald

Thomas Britton James Smith

Thomas Hailey James Conrad

Alexander Mcintosh Henry Vann

William Harbart Samuel Osburn

Richard Roach Thomas Craigg

Hyatt Lazier James Duffey

Roderick McDaniel James Gossett

Richard Carter Charles Evans

William Smith Michael Kerns

James Reynolds William Bailey

William Craig Richard Sparrow

Benjamin Broomes David Dunnigan

Philip Henthorn Christopher Carpenter

Edward Paul John Finley

Samuel Smith Robert McCarney

James Seavell Matthew Hurley

Nicholas Carter Francis Smith

Robert Hughes Michael Smith

Henry Squires Joseph Row

Revolutionary Pensioners

The soldiers of the Revolution did not receive
pensions immediately after the war closed. Some
never were paid anything of importance, but from
thirty to fifty years after the fighting was done, and
the value of the services performed by the soldiers
began to be appreciated at its full value, there was

272 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

honest efforts made to pay the old soldiers or their
dependants something like fair sums for what they
had done during the years spent in the field. But
that commendable purpose was hindered to a large
extent, and in many instances, by the presentation
of fraudulent claims for pensions. That has always
been the case. Men who were not on the battlefields,
or in the war at all as soldiers, put in their claims,
and years of contest were necessary before the men
whose claims were just could be separated from
those which were doubtful, or clearly fraudulent.
An examination of the claims set forth by those
asking for pensions for Revolutionary services,
which claims are kept on file at Washington, D. C,
will reveal that there were as consumate rascals in
the Revolutionary period as in any other. Some of
the bad claims perhaps got through, but many did
not, and the silent records bear witness to the fact, al-
though the persons interested in attempting to put
the frauds through to successful issues are nearly all
now forgotten.

In presenting the names of some of those who
drew Revolutionary pensions during the fifty or
more years succeeding the War tor Independence,
the names are gleaned from many sources, but the
authority most relied on in this matter is the gov-
ernment which has on file the most complete evi-
dence obtainable, and has published large parts of it
for the information of the people.

Many of the counties of West Virginia which
have long had names and identities of their own,
were part of Monongalia during the Revolutionary
war, and many of the soldiers are classed as belong-
ing to Monongalia county, which, according to mod-
ern geography, would be accorded to other counties,
such as Harrison, Preston, Randolph, or some others.
It should not be claimed that all persons residing, in
the years following the Revolution, in Monongalia

IN THE REVOLUTION 273

county, or in other counties created from the old terri-
tory, went to war from Monongalia. They may have
enlisted in other counties, and moved to this region
afterwards. That chance must be taken into consid-
eration in listing the soldiers found in old records and
credited to Monongalia.

A list of persons drawing Revolutionary pen-
sions in 1835 and residing in the territory belonging
to Monongalia during the Revolutionary War, shows
the following, and the amount of the pay as pensions
received by each per year:

Name Resided in Yearly Pay

James Corbin, Harrison county $ 48

James Jarvis, Harrison county 72

Patrick Sullivan, Harrison county 96

Jesse Cunningham, Lewis county 96

William Stanley, Lewis County 148

David Scott, Monongalia county 340

Henry Williams, Monongalia county 156

Partick Glesson, Monogalia county 1 04

The following persons were placed on the pen-
sion lists under the law of 1818. They resided in
Harrison and other counties after those counties were
formed from territory taken from Monongalia, but
the territory was in the original limits of Monongalia.

Name Yearly Pay Name Yearly Pay

Jonathan Adams $ 96 James Hanion 96

John Byrns 96 Richard Jones 96

John Bunnell 96 Jacob Keyser 96

James Cochran 240 Aaron Lockhart 96

Valentine Clapper 96 Walter Linsey 96

Michael Cary 96 John R. Malvy 96

James Cottrill 96 John Obert 96

Dabney Ford 96 George Pritchard 96

Henry Favence 96 Moses Rollins 96

Stephen Flecharty 96 John Roe 96

Mathias Hite 240 Nicholas N. Ryland .... 96

Joseph Hall 96 Giles Read 96

Adam Hickman 96 John Stackhouse 96

274

HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Name Yearly Pay

John Sharp 96

William Singleton 96

Joseph Sellman ,. 96

Jacob Thompson 96

Robert Wadsworth .... 96

Joseph White 96

John Westfall 96

John Berry 96

Elihu Chilcott 96

John Jenkins 96

Hugh Milligan 96

Michael McKnight 96

George Nipper 96

John Redman 96

Richard Redman 96

James Tasker 96

James Webb 96

Abraham Burner 96

William Shriver 96

Fortunatus Syanor 96

Patrick Hanlin 96

John Harris 96

David Jacobs 96

Samuel B. Bell 240

Benjamin Crutchley .... 96

Francis Langfitt 96

Matthew Maddox 96

James Neal 240

Bailey Rice 96

Caleb Wiseman 96

John Ashcraft 40

Joseph Britton 80

Joseph Barnett 40

Michael Bock 60

Richard Bell 80

John Brake 40

Joseph Baley 20

Anthony Coon 80

Leonard Critzer 63

Anderson Corbin 40

Walter Cunningham .... 20

Jesse Cornet 80

Harman Crim 20

Name Yearly Pay

Benjamin Coplin 80

John Carn 80

Jonah Davisson 50

Samuel Davis 20

John Davis 88

William Davis 63

Jacob Davis 27

Jonah Davisson 80

Ebenezer Fisher 56

James Fleming 120

Job Goff 40

John Greathouse 1 76

John Goodwin 80

Edward Goodwin 20

Jonathan Humphery .. 20

William Haddox 66

Sotha Hickman 46

Jacob Harram 33

Samuel Harbert 40

Moses Hustead 80

Edward Harbert 80

Joshua Jones 58

Peter Knight 20

William Keys 20

Joseph Kester 30

John Latham 80

William Martin 80

Enoch Moore 20

John Middleton 20

William McRee 20

William Martin 480

Christopher Nutter 80

John Ney 30

William Pepper 60

John Patton 24

Rhodam Rogers 26

James Randall 26

John Romine 20

Isaac Richards 20

James Robinson 73

Jacob Riffee 80

John Reid 80

Caleb Stout 40

IN THE REVOLUTION

275

Name Yearly Pay

Charles Shaw 20

John Smith 40

Daniel Smith 60

Michael Sears 26

Thomas Stout 80

Isaac Shinn 80

John Sweger 56

John Tucker 80

David Tichanal 30

Arthur Trader 79

Evan Thomas 80

John T. Waldo 29

John Welsh 20

William Wamsley 80

James Brown 146

Jacob Bush 80

Lewis Bonnett 80

John Bonnett 80

Isaac Cox 100

John Cutright 80

John Carlington 80

Peter Coger 80

Thomas M. Call 70

William Gardener 80

Adam Flesher 80

John Hagle 80

Jacob Hyre 80

Samuel Z. Jones 190

Christopher McVancy 80

John Mitchell 50

Tunis Mucklewaine .... 80

John Nealy 66

Leavin Nicholls 80

William Powers 80

William Ratcliff 80

George Richards 80

David W. Sleeth 80

George P. Smith 80

Samuel Stalmaker 80

John Sims 80

John Waggoner 80

Alexander West 66

George Wilson 80

Name Yearly Pay

Peter Bartrugg 80

Solomon Chalfin 80

John Collins 30

Henry Dorton 40

James Devers 40

John Evans 110

Caleb Farbee 80

John Holland 120

Peter Haught 40

William Hull 100

Peter Miller 40

Amos Morris 80

Richard Price 53

Isaac Reed 23

George Tucker 30

John Stone 40

Henry Stone 36

Richard Thralls 80

George Wade 40

William Wilson 25

Thomas Brown 20

Nicholas Casey 25

Jacob Hartzell 20

Andrew Johnson 50

Robert McMillan 40

Abner Messenger 50

Henry Beuchart 30

John Wilson 66

James Brown 80

Peter Bonnett 80

Levin Benson 80

Thomas Bibb 33

William Clark 50

George Collins 85

Thomas Cotteral 80

Philip Cox 80

John Cain 106

William Davis 60

Nicholas Gibson 80

Aaron Holbert 70

Hezediah Hess 80

Isaac Mace 80

Henry McWhorter 73

276

HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Name Yearly Pay

Patrick McCann ........ 95

John Mace 76

John Norris 31

Henry Persinger 80

John Raines 80

Philip Regar 20

Bazel Right 53

John Schoolcraft 80

Mark Smith 80

Paul Shaver 80

Thomas Smith 80

John Wingrove 70

James Wamsley 80

David Wamsley 80

John Burdin 40

Elisha Clayton 80

John Dent 320

Samuel Dudley 50

Simeon Everly 30

William Ford 80

Stephen Capin 73

Peter Hammer 50

Purnell Houston 28

George Keller 65

Jackquill Morgan 26

Evan Morgan 56

Zachariah Piles 36

James Scott 88

Charles Simkins 30

Philip Smell 20

James Troy 55

Henry Williams 80

John Wells 20

Henry Yoho 80

Leonard Cupp 23

Levi Hopkins 23

John Hartman 20

Isaac Mathews 22

Thomas McCee 33

John Orr 30

Jacob Wagner 80

Henry Fansler 21

Name Yearly Pay

Simon Harris 20

Barney Karvin 80

David Minear 80

John Ryan 41

John Wolford 20

Henry Whiteman 50

Richard Dotson 60

Jacob Lewis 43

Thomas Rhodes 80

Duckett Wells 33

Jeremiah Williams 48

Hezekiah Wade 80

Patrick Board 80

William Cunningham .. 23

Adam Deem 20

George Leach 1 08

Richard Nichols 63

Patrick Sennett 44

Jonathan Adams .... 1 00

Ebenezer Blackshire 80

Zadock Morris 80

Jacob Kittle 47

Ambrose Lipscomb 23

John Neville 20

James Tenney 80

Matthew Whitman 20

William Bennett 80

David Haysham 80

William McCay 78

Charles Swann 100

Samuel Wheeler 30

Thomas Weekly 40

Samuel Barrett 80

John Bookover 60

William Congreve 20

James Holder 3,0

Thomas Leach 30

Jacob Swisher 43

John Sheets 20

Peter Johnson 80

Benjamin Chesney 1 00

Daniel Martin 80

IN THE REVOLUTION 277

When Monongalia county was divided into
counties in the years following the Revolutionary war
the persons represented by the names in the forego-
ing lists became citizens of the various counties that
were cut off of the parent county, Monongalia. Har-
rison and Randolph counties received a large share of
them, and it is deemed proper that we consider them
a part of Monongalia's contribution of soldiers to the
Revolutionary army, because they were residents of
that county when they answered the call to arms.

Soldiers from Monongalia served in the armies
of many other states in the Revolutionary war, partic-
ularly in the regiments from Maryland, and Pennsyl-
vania. For that reason it is now very difficult, if not
impossible, to collect the names of all the soldiers
who were furnished by the county for the War of
Independence. Their names are scattered among the
records of the several states in which they served and
it is not practicable to separate the names of the men
from Monongalia in the lists from the names of the
others from other states.

THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION 279

CHAPTER VIII.

The Whiskey Insurrection.

About ten years after the close of the Revo-
lutionary war a disturbance known as the whiskey
insurrection began to gather headway in western
Pennsylvania, and Western Virginia in the districts
adjoining Pennsylvania. The trouble grew out of
the dissatisfaction of the general government's ac-
tion in levying a tax on whiskey. Those who made
whiskey were required to pay a tax for the privilege
of doing so, so much per gallon. Conditions made
that tax unpopular in western Pennsylvania and the
adjacent parts of Virginia, but the most of the dissat-
isfaction was in Pennsylvania, because there were the
most of those who wished to make whiskey as a
matter of business and they considered it burdensome
to be obliged to pay a tax on it. They had little sale
for their corn in the country where it was grown, and
it was next to impossible to transport it to any other
market. A horse could carry only four bushels of
corn to the markets of the east, and it was a long and
tiresome journey, and the price received for the grain
when it was delivered in the eastern markets was so
low that it was apparent that is was impossible to car-
ry grain so far and receive anything like enough for it
to pay for the carriage, to say nothing of the cost of
growing the grain.

The western growers had found that a horse
could carry at the most four bushels of corn to the
eastern market, but could with as much ease carry the

280 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

whiskey made from twenty bushels of corn or rye to
the same market, and the whiskey could be sold for
enough to make the the transaction profitable. They
wanted to make whiskey and sell it in the eastern
market, and by that method find some way to sell their
corn and rye — or the products made of the grain. But
to pay a tax on the whiskey, in addition to carrying
it a hundred miles or more on horses, made any profit
on the transaction impossible. Consequently, the
farmers of the west opposed the tax on whiskey, and
they began to stir up dissatisfaction against such a
tax, and oppose paying it. Most of the western farm-
ers at that time had stills on their farms and had been
accustomed to distill whiskey for their own use and
occasionally for sale. The action of Congress forbid-
ding the farmers doing what they had always been
accustomed to do, was considered oppressive and un-
just — as they looked at the matter from their own
viewpoint.

By 1 794 the opposition in western Pennsylvania
became so strong that it was regarded as an insurrec-
tion against the government. The people who con-
sidered that they were not given a fair chance, began
to take measures to defy the law which had placed the
tax on the product of their stills. On August 2,
1 794, a meeting of the discontented farmers, and
others who sided with them, was held at Braddock's
field near Pittsburgh, Penn., and a call was sent to the
men of certain counties in Virginia to join them at
a meeting called for August 1 4, at Parkinson's Ferry,
now Monongahela City, Penn. The call came to Mon-
ongalia county, but no delegates went from this city
to the meeting, but when the meeting assembled it
was found that Ohio county had a delegate in the per-
son of William Sutherland and the meeting made him
a member of the committee which was appointed to

THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION 281

meet the government commissioners sent out to ad-
just the trouble.

In the meantime the Pennsylvanians had attack-
ed their excise collectors and in the early part of Au-
gust had invaded Virginia and a body of them had
blacked their faces and come into Morgantown in the
night. They were met with anything but a friendly
spirit. The next day the citizens of Morgantown,
assisted by men from the surrounding country who
were attending court, drove the Pennsylvanian invad-
ers out of town. There were no doubt many friends
of the insurrectionists in Monongalia county, but not
enough of them put in an appearance in town when
the invaders arrived to help in any undertaking that
may have been in mind, and so the invasion by the
people from north of the state line was compelled to
give up the scheme of forcing the people of Monon-
galia county to espouse the whiskey cause.

The invaders, however, before they withdrew,
forced the excise agent in Morgantown to resign his
office and so announce. That was opposition to
the lav/ and order which the United States authori-
ties could not overlook or pass by lightly, and prep-
arations were made to meet force with force. Steps
were taken to raise an army of 1 5,000 men in four
divisions, one division from each of the states of Penn-
sylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland. Pres-
ident Washington issued two proclamations against
the insurgents. The Virginia division of the army
being raised was placed under the command of Gen-
eral Daniel Morgan, and the troops rendezvoused at
Cumberland, Md., Henry Lee, grandfather of Gen-
eral Robert E. Lee, was appointed commander in
chief. The army was quickly on the march into
Pennsylvania. The insurgents saw the danger com-
ing. It was more than they had expected and they
did not receive the support which they no doubt had
thought would rally to them, and by the time the

282 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

army was in the troubled district all show of resistance
was at an end, and there was no fighting. Some of
the leaders were arrested but no severe punishment
was meted out to any of them. The government
pursued its ordinary course and peace was quickly
established in the disturbed zone, the leaders having
made up their minds that it was a bad policy to resist
the course of the government in the way they were
doing.

The troops were ordered to return home on No-
vember 1 7, and they proceeded quietly to their sev-
eral homes. No troops were sent into Monongalia or
Ohio counties. It was judged that the seat of the
trouble was in Pennsylvania and when it was ended
there it was not thought necessary to carry the war
any further. The bad feelings between Pennsylvania
and Virginia were not improved any by the disturb-
ance caused by the insurrection. The Virginians were
disposed to charge the main guilt to Pennsylvania.
Governor Lee of Virginia issued a proclamation in
which he advised the people of Monongalia county
to watch closely the actions of people crossing the
line from Pennsylvania and promptly apprehend any
one who should attempt to stir up trouble in Virginia.
He styles the invasion from north of the State line as
the work of banditti. The feelings between the Vir-
ginians and the Pennsylvanians had not been very
friendly in the west for a long time, as the dispute on
account of the border had been going on and it kept
the bad feelings alive in the memories of the people.
Perhaps the small show of help which the Mononga-
lians were disposed to offer the Pennsylvanians was
in some measure due to the long dispute as to where
the line between the two states should be run. Gov-
ernor Dunmore had even laid claim to Pittsburgh as
a part of Virginia before the beginning of the Revo-
lutionary war. The quarrel over the boundary line
was finally settled by an extension of the Mason and

THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION 283

Dixon line to the western limits of Pennsylvania, and
that put an end to that controversy, ending it in Penn-
sylvania's favor, but not taking anything from Vir-
ginia which that state had any right to lay claim to.

MANNERS OF EARLY MONONGALIANS 285

CHAPTER IX.

Manners of the Early Monongalians.

The people who lived in Monongalia county
from one hundred to one hundred and fifty years ago,
had customs and habits which were of necessity dif-
ferent from those of the present day people of the
same region. The clothing which was then worn was
nearly all homemade, for in that period clothes were
not sold in stores the same as now, and those who
wanted a suit of clothes were compelled to have the
garment made, at least in the majority of cases,
though in certain cases and for certain kinds of clothes
it was possible to buy them in the stores ready maJe.
The tailor, hatter, and shoemaker worked in nearly
every neighborhood, singly or in companies of two
or three, if there was patronage enough to keep the
larger companies busy. But it was the usual case
that the clothes were made by some member of the
family that expected to wear them. They were not
only cut and fitted in that way, but the cloth of which
they were made was spun, woven, and finished in the
home also, because most neighborhoods were then
self-sustaining and of necessity were obliged to be so,
for they could not obtain their supplies from a dis-
tance and if they did not supply themselves they
usually had a hard time in obtaining what they
needed.

The cheapness of clothing, of the sort which
most of the people wore, left little to be desired, ex-
cept that it was often nearly impossible to get the

286 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

money to make payments in cash for what was
bought. An old resident of what was the original
Monongalia county, when about to die, made dis-
position of his wordly property by the usual process
of a will, and to one of his friends he bequeathed cloth
to make an overcoat, and in order that the gift might
be wholly welcome he gave one dollar to pay for the
making. The modern tailor who could make an over-
coat for one dollar, even with the cloth furnished free,
would be a scarce and rare person. But in the old days
the tailor made that small charge for doing the work,
even when he had to do the sewing with a needle and
thread and by the hand process. No comment was
made in the court record which preserved the inci-
dent, leaving the inference that one dollar was the
usual charge which the tailors of that time made for
cutting and fitting an overcoat. The work was well
done, but it was probably coarser work than the mod-
ern man would expect in a tailor-made overcoat. One
of the dress suits worn by George Washington in his
greatest prosperity is on exhibition in a museum in
the city of Washington, and the visitor's greatest sur-
prise is that the workmanship, both of the cloth and of
the tailoring, is of such plain and poor quality. Wash-
ington was able to buy the best, and it is presumed
that he did so, and it leaves us to draw the conclu-
sion that the most of the clothing of that time was of
a poorly-appearing kind. If a dollar paid for the mak-
ing, no great amount of time and care could have been
put on the work by those who did it for pay.

The clothes in the pioneer times in Monongalia
were made chiefly of wool or linen, both of home-
made kinds. There were leather clothes, too, but
they were perhaps not so common as is generally
supposed. If possessed at all, they, too, were the
product of the homes and seldom or never of the fac-
tories. Clothing made of leather was strong and sub-
stantial, but it was not warm in cold weather, if worn

MANNERS OF EARLY MONONGALIANS 287

next to the body, at least the old men who have told
of their experience with such clothing left their opin-
ions that it was very cold on a winter morning to draw
on the buckskin pants, but after they had become
warm by close contact with the skin of the wearer
they were tolerable and kept out some of the winter
winds that sought to find entrance. The hunting
shirt, which was a large and long garment to be worn
over the other clothes like an overcoat, but in place
of the overcoat, was frequently made of leather, per-
haps oftenest of buckskin. It shed the rain well and
was fairly warm in winter, as it was not generally
worn next to the skin of the wearer.

Woolen clothing must have been pretty scarce
on the extreme frontiers, because sheep were not
usual there in the early days of the settlements. It
was hard to raise sheep in such exposed places, where
wolves, bears, and other predatory wild animals were
abundant and hungry. These wild animals were apt
to eat the sheep before a crop of wool could be se-
cured. The fact was well established that the fron-
tiersmen did not go in very strong for sheep raising
until the roughest of the frontiers had been worn
away, and by that time the frontiers were far in front
and still moving forward, leaving the settled country
behind.

The clothing was made of flax to a considerable
extent. It was also a home product, grown in the
fields near the cabins of the settlers. The manu-
facturing of the crude linen was all done at home, and
men, women, and children all took part and did the
work with their own hands. The ripe flax was pulled
up by the roots, usually; was broken on the flax
break, to so crush the stems that they could be re-
moved by beating the flax with a swingle, thus sep-
arating the fiber of the stem from the woody part.
By the use of other home-made machines the flax
fibers were laid straight and were spun into thread

288 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

which went to the weaver's loom to be woven into
cloth for clothes. Such cloth was coarse and was
very scratchy if it came in contact with the skin,
which it was certain to do if worn without under-
clothes. It was strong cloth and good for clothes that
wore well, if the scratching could be tolerated. Such
clothes were not very warm in cold weather, but it
was sufficient to keep the wearer from freezing, if he
kept moving and assisted the body to keep warm.
Part of the time during the Revolutionary war, a por-
tion of the American army was clothed in this linen
in the cold winter climate about Philadelphia. Not
many of the soldiers froze to death, but there was
considerable complaint of being very cold and un-
comfortable in the linen clothing in the midst of the
northern winter.

Shoes were nearly aways made at home in the
earliest years, and at later times there were shoe-
makers in nearly every neighborhood who made shoes
for the people for hire, and generally at a low price,
for a substantial but crude article. The leather was
tanned at home or in each neighborhood. The tanner
was one of the most useful and indispensable per-
sons in the frontier settlement. Tanning was done
with the bark of trees of the forest, often with that of
hemlock, chestnut oak, or some other oak that could
be had in the vicinity where it was wanted. The tan
house was often one of the first manufacturing es-
tablishments in the frontier settlement — being pre-
ceded generally by the gristmill that ground the corn
and wheat grown in the stumpy fields of the pioneers.
Moccasins were much worn before the heavier shoes
came into use. The hunters preferred the moccasin
in the woods because it was practicable to walk with
less noise than with the heavy shoe, and it was more
easy to slip unheard upon the deer or the bear and
thus bring it down with the rifle. The veteran hunter
explained that the shoe went "clump, clump, clump,

MANNERS OF EARLY MONONGALIANS 289

as the wearer was trying to approach the game un-
heard, but the moccasin made no noise at all if the
hunter advanced with care and caution. The mocca-
sins were nearly always made of buckskin, which was
nearly sure to be a product of the tan vat behind the
cabin.

Hats bought in stores were not common on the
frontiers. Often the headgear was a cap, and it was
an easy article to make at home with the skin of a
coon or muskrat. The wearer generally made it him-
self, and he thought that it added to his appearance
and romantic setting if he so made the cap that the
tail of the animal which had furnished the skin for
article, could be shown hanging down behind, and the
cap was usually made in that fashion. Caps or hats
of cloth were also worn in the frontier settlements,
and on very rare occasions a hat or a cap bought from
a store by some citizen who had been to a store on his
travels, was seen in the settlements and did not fail
to attract considerable attention and excite some envy
on the part of those who would have liked to wear a
store hat but had no chance to do so. There was
coveting on the frontiers as well as in the more order-
ly stratums of society. To wear better clothing than
the rest of the people had the same effect then as it
does now.

The clothing of the beds in which the people
slept was generally made of wool, for that was much
cheaper then than cotton bed clothes. Cotton was
grown in distant places only and the transportation
of it was expensive, if in fact the cotton could be had
for love or money. It was not unusual to have some
of the blankets of the beds made of the skins of ani-
mals, generally of wild animals, such as the deer or
bear, or wolf. An elkskin was considered about as
satisfactory a quilt for a bed as the people then could
get, and the skins of elks were not impossible to be

290 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

obtained in the earliest days of the settlement of Mon-
ongalia. There were elk in the territory which once
was included in this county, and some of them were
found in Tucker and Randolph counties as late as the
Civil War, but these animals were probably all gone
from the limits of the present county at least fifty
years earlier than the Civil War. Wolves remained
in Monongalia county as late as 1 828.

The arms borne and possessed by the settlers in
early years in Monongalia were simple but effective,
and were sufficient for the purposes for which they
were wanted. The rifle was the main weapon for
offense and defense. Every half-grown boy and ev-
ery man was supposed to be an expert with the long
muzzle -loading rifle, and every man had one of his
own. He could shoot with it rapidly and accurately,
and he seldom missed the mark when he had a fair
chance of hitting, whether the mark was a point set
up to be shot at by the men of the neighborhood when
they met to compete for the championship, or whether
the mark was the head of a savage Indian seen indis-
tinctly in the wood near the settlements. The rifle
was depended upon to do the job intended for it, and
the marksman was expected to do his part in the pro-
ceeding. The gun was the main tool of the chase and
the principal weapon of war. Muzzle loaders only
were in use on the frontiers at that time. Powder
was poured down the muzzle and a bullet was ram-
med after it. Percussion caps for discharging the rifle
were not invented then and the gun was equipped
with a flint lock with which the firing was done. It
was not considered as good a weapon as the gun when
it became equipped with percussion caps and a lock,
and the old flintlock gave way to the newer weapon,
but that did not occur in the days of the frontiers in
this county. The improved rifles came into use af-
ter the Indian fighting in the state of Virginia was
over. The flintlock gun was a dependable weapon

MANNERS OF EARLY MONONGALIANS 291

at most times, but it was easily put out of use by rain
or dampness, as the water could easily reach the pow-
der in the weapon and spoil it. To protect the load
in the gun from that danger, it was usual for the
weapon to be provided with a leather covering which
shed the water of rain or in the wet woods from the
powder and kept the gun ready for firing at a mo-
ment's notice. On military expeditions, when there
had been a rain, it was customary for the officers to
order the guns to be fired and reloaded, as an assur-
ance that the powder would not be found wet if it
became necessary to go into a fight on short notice.

A British officer who was familiar with the
American method of fighting, wrote a book on the
accuracy of the American rifle and its users, in which
he spoke disparagingly of the American habit of tak-
ing aim in battle at individual officers and men, by
which method the loss in battle was greatly increased.
He was of the opinion that it was not in accordance
with the rules of warfare to single out a human target
in battle, but the American soldiers insisted on doing
so, because that was in accordance with their custom
in all their shooting and they did not like to shoot
without shooting at some particular mark. When
they carried that practice into battle, it made them
very deadly marksmen.

The frontier rifle was an accurate weapons for
a short distance, say for one or two hundred yards, but
it did not shoot as far as the modern high-powered
gun, or shoot with as great accuracy as the modern
weapon when the distance exceeded about two hun-
dred yards. The ordinary use of the rifle as it was
found on the frontiers in the early times was for the
chase. The pioneer depended on it for a large part
of his living. With it he expected to kill bear and
deer for his food. But it was unfortunately necessary
at times to use the rifle in repelling the Indians who
infested the frontiers during the early years of the set-

292 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

tlements, and it is a safe prediction that without the
rifle the frontiers would not have moved forward to-
ward the west with anything like the speed that was
shown. Some historians figure that the settlements
advanced westward at the rate of about 1 7 miles a
year, if averaged, for many years.

The tomahawk was a white man's weapon and
tool as well as the Indian's. It was a small hatchet
with a long and slender handle, and the hunter and
soldier, who expected to meet hostile Indians, gener-
ally carried a tomahawk in his belt, and if occasion
arose he used it. It was a very dangerous weapon in
a fight, and a blow with it was capable of producing a
severe wound or it was often fatal. If the tomahawk
were used it was almost sure to be as deadly as the
rifle. The user generally held it in his hand when in
a fight, but it was not infrequently hurled like throw-
ing a stone, at a foe several yards away. If the throw-
er hit the mark, the blow was apt to be fatal. If he
missed, he depended on getting possession of the
tomahawk again, either to hurl it again or to abandon
the combat and make off to prepare for some other
encounter.

The tomahawk was not solely an implement of
battle. The men of the frontiers used it in peace as
well as in war, and it was a tool of much use for cut-
ting wood, peeling bark, and doing rude carpenter
work. It was often with the tomahawk that the
hunter and early settler made the marks on the trees
which were the chief signs of the co-called "toma-
hawk right" often depended on in proving the prior
right to some tract of land which the settler wished
to own, and often did own, by virtue of being the first
to assert his claim by marking with a tomahawk ser-
tain selected trees. The hunter generally employed
his tomahawk to cut wood for his fire when camp-
ing in the woods. It was a convenient tool for such
work, but was too light for use in heavy chopping.

MANNERS OF EARLY MONONGALIANS 293

The hunting knife was a weapon or a tool, de-
pending on the time and place of its use. It was most
often a tool; for fighting with wild animals or wild
men was not usually done with the knife which the
pioneer carried in his belt. At close quarters, howev-
er, the knife was used in the fight and it was a danger-
ous weapon. Its principal use, however, was for
skinning game and cutting up the meat ready for
cooking. The knife was generally carried in a sheath,
to protect the owner from danger of being injured by
the keen edge of the blade.

The frontiersmen had a few tools in his cabin
and on his farm in the early years of Monongalia
county. The ax was one of the essential implements
of his work. It did most of the clearing of his fields
and cutting logs for his buildings, as well as in making
rails to fence his fields. The ax of the pioneer was
nearly always single-bitted. The two-edged ax did
not come into general use till long after, although the
two-bitted ax was long before that time in some use.
Nearly all axes in use in Monongalia county were
equipped with handles made of hickory, and that
tough and strong wood makes the most of the ax
handles in this region yet. It is the best known handle
wood for long and slender handles, because it may be
bent and twisted without breaking, and no other wood
will do it so well or for so long a time.

The froe, a tool for splitting shingles and clap-
boards, was nearly indispensable on the frontiers.
With that tool boards were manufactured by hand
for nearly every roof which covered the home or barn
of the pioneers in this region. Mills for making shin-
gles by machinery had not yet been built in Mononga-
lia, and the handworker produced the material for the
roofs by slow labor. Clapboards three feet long and
half a foot wide were in more use than were shingles
of smaller dimensions. Most of the clapboards were
used without any finishing from the drawing knife,

294 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

just as they were split out by the froe. They were
smooth enough to shed oft the rain that fell on them.
Most clapboards were split from oak or chestnut
wood, pine and the other softwoods being seldom
used for that article. The clapboards were not usually
fastened on with nails which were difficult to pro-
cure in the early days of the frontiers, and were very
expensive, being made by hand in blacksmith shops.
The clapboards were held on the roof by logs laid
across from side to side and held in place by braces.
Many of the frontier cabins were built practically
without nails, which most of the settlers could not
procure. They were so hard to get that most of the
frontiersmen tried to devise ways to build without
them. A government officer on the western fron-
tier in very early days reported that the fort and other
buildings on the road to Kentucky had been torn
down and destroyed in the absence of caretakers by
men on their way to the new country who had demol-
ished the buildings to get the nails which they had
carried with them in their way to the new region. It
was an only chance to procure nails, and the settlers
seeing an opportunity to procure them in the absence
of the soldiers at the fort had torn down and de-
stroyed the buildings in search for the valuable article.
The settlers had a few drawing knives and au-
gers which they put to use in building their cabins
and other farm structures. Holes were bored with
augers and wooden pins driven in took the place of
nails in many instances. Clothing and other articles
were suspended against the walls of the cabins on
pins in most cases, in the absence of nails and other
ways of hanging up articles. The few drawing knives
were of use in many ways about the homes of the
people. It was a handy tool and it was put to service
in more ways than now can be thought of. A little
lumber was once in a while sawed by hand by the
employment of a whipsaw, but there is not evidence

MANNERS OF EARLY MONONGALIANS 295

that the people often made lumber in that slow way.
Two men by such crude appliances could make about
one hundred square feet of lumber a day. They
could make it faster but not quite so well with broad-
axes, hewing smooth each puncheon which had been
split out in its rough form with wedges and axes.

Floors before the time of sawmills were generally
made of puncheons. An adz was sometimes used to
give a little better smoothness to the floor, by paring
off the rough places.

Farm animals were few and precious in the early
years of Monongalia county. A few horses were
brought in when the people came from the old homes
in the east, and others were added from time to time.
Most of the household articles were carried in on
horses at first along narrow and poor trails, for there
were no wagon roads in the country for years after the
first settlers came. One of the first wagons, though
probably not the very first, in the old Monongalia
county, was transported across the Alleghany Moun-
tains by James Parsons, but that was before the coun-
ty was formed, being in 1 769, and the place was far
outside the present limits of Monongalia county. The
wagon was taken through the woods, without any
road except such as was cut to pass otherwise impos-
sible places. A team of horses and a troop of negro
slaves took the wagon to the Horseshoe, in the pres-
ent county of Tucker, to the homestead of James Par-
sons. Where is was possible to do so, the horses
pulled the vehicle, though the woods, the negroes
cleared a road as it went. The horses pulled the load
at most places and in the long stretches of open
woods, but in .the steep ground, and in the thickest
patches of forest the negroes took the wagon apart
and carried it or dragged it slowly, sometimes not
more than a mile a day, and when better ground was
reached the vehicle was again put together and drawn
by the horses, and in course of a couple of weeks it

296 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

was moved about eighty miles and delivered safely
in the solitary homestead at the Horseshoe, the first
wagon in all that region, and probably the first in
Monongalia county. That homestead has remained
in the possession of the Parsons family till this day,
and is the property of descendants of the man who
filed on that piece of land, claiming it in virtue of
his settlement made in 1 769.

Something should be said of the old roads of
Monongalia county. At the earliest settlement and
for some years afterwards there were only trails, such
as were made by the feet of travelers who went into
the new country. It was some years before even the
ax was called into service to clear away the worst of
the overhanging brush which hindered the free use of
the trail. Those who traveled the difficult way walk-
ed through the open woods, sometimes rode on the
backs of dependable horses; or in thickets crept
through the bad places, and thus managed to get over
the way at some sort of speed. Various paths were
opened into the wide area of Monongalia county in
course of a few years, and finally very crude wagon
roads were provided for the western people, but they
provided most of the roads for themselves as they
were needed and generally not till long after such
roads were sorely needed.

The early emigrant who took his family to the
wilds of western Monongalia county, was fortunate
if he possessed a horse or two, and he loaded as much
as possible of his household and farm effects on the
faithful animal, and proceeded toward the. land of his
dreams and hopes, not knowing whether he should
be privileged to see his little family and few but pre-
cious belongings of other kinds safely at home in the
new country. At the best, he knew that he was fac-
ing dangers, but the settlers were hopeful, and they
went into the untried future with a supreme and sus-

MANNERS OF EARLY MONONGALIANS 297

taining courage that all would end well. Of course
all did not end well in many cases, but the page of the
book of the future was fortunately hidden from most
of the adventuresome souls who went forth to try the
new world which was hidden in the western wilder-
ness. They met danger when it came, and many paid
for their faith with their lives.

The journey to Monongalia county was long and
arduous. The horse was equipped with the packsad-
dle, which was a mechanism of wood, most, with
straps attached for convenience in fastening the bun-
dles on for the long journey. A kettle or two, a few
cooking utensils, a few simple tools, in rare cases a
book or two that had come down from some ancestor
who took pleasure in reading, some few articles of
clothing or blankets for the beds, and a wallet or two
of provisions to last during the journey and as lang as
possible afterwards, these were the principal part of
the burden which the courageous people carried into
the new country which they hoped would be a happy
and prosperous home.

Along the crudest paths, or no paths at all, the
caravans of emigrants made their way. Sometimes
the women and smaller children rode on horseback,
and the men and the larger children walked along
after or in front of the horses. The distance traveled
in an ordinary day was seldom more than twenty
miles, and often not that much. The bundles of
household effects were tied on the backs of the horses
in the best manner known to prevent them from fall-
ing off, or being scraped off in passing too close to
the trunks of the trees. To fall off was a mishap
likely to befall the burden on the horses. Experienced
packers with experienced horses generally made their
way without its being necessary to waste much time
daily in picking up and replacing on the backs of the
beasts of burden the loads which would come to
grief, but the family engaged in carrying the goods of

298 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

the household seldom had such good luck. It was
sometimes necessary to put the loads back in place a
time or two every day of the journey. The distance
from the old homes to the new, in the case of Monon-
galia county, was not less than a hundred miles as an
average and the time required to travel that distance
was not much less than a week. The family on the
move did not as a rule equal the speed with which
George Washington was accustomed to make through
the woods, on his horse, which he says was about
five miles an hour. He had the reputation of being a
very rapid rider, and he generally had the best horse
obtainable.

The Indian path through the woods was distin-
guished from the white man's trail by the fact that
the Indian was more inclined to follow the highest
ground along the route, if there were not some special
reason for not doing so. He liked to follow the tops
of ridges rather than the ravines and glens. It was of-
ten said that the Indian's reason for preferring the
high ground for his trails was because it afforded him
a better opportunity to watch out for his enemies, so
that he would be less likely to be waylaid in the nar-
row glens by foes who might be on the lookout for
him. Considerations like that sometimes influenced
the Indian to keep on the high ground when he had
reason to fear the attack of an enemy; but the real
reason for making his paths on ridges rather than in
the low country and the ravines was because the ridge
was the more open ground in the majority of cases
and traveling was easier there than in the glen where
the growth of weeds and briers was apt to be thick.
The Indian avoided thickets when he could, because
they were wet with dew or rain much later in the
morning and after a shower than the open woods, and
he could travel an hour earlier without becoming
damp with dew on a ridge than in the adjacent ravine.
Accordingly, he by habit made his paths on high and

MANNERS OF EARLY MONONGALIANS 299

open ground where he could do so. It was not done
out of much consideration of enemies, but he may
have borne his foes in mind and kept out of their
way as much as the circumstances would permit him
to do so.

The Indian seldom or never cut the brush away
from the sides of a trail to make traveling easier. If
bushes were hanging over the path he thought it no
hardship to stoop and creep under. It was not so
with white people. If a trail were to be traveled much,
particularly if the path was in the settlements, they
were not slow in using an ax on it to cut out the worst
of the brush that hung over the trail. One of the ear-
liest court orders in Randolph county, after it was
formed from the parent county of Monongalia coun-
ty, was that a fund be provided for "brushing out"
a certain path in the county. That meant that the
worst of the overhanging and adjacent brush be cut
to clear the way for people on horseback, and of
course it would be of benefit to footmen also. When
the wind blew trees to make them fall across the for-
est paths, the tree was cut out, if some one with an
ax happened to be near to do it, and in the opposite
case, when far removed from the settlements, the path
was made to lead round the fallen tree, and the crook
in the path on that account was apt to be permanent.

Dogs and cats were the earliest of the domestic
animals in the new settlements. They were there as
soon as the people themselves were on the premises.
Cows and hogs were a little later, usually, but not
much later. Cows were driven along with the family
when it went into the country. Sheep were not early
profitable because the sheep will not and cannot de-
fend itself against the hordes of wild animals in the
surrounding woods, ready to kill and eat the sheep as
soon as it puts in an appearance. Because of that, the
sheep was generally a late comer on the frontiers. It
waited till the rapacious animals with which the wild

300 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

regions abounded were somewhat thinned out by
time, the hunters, and dogs. But the hog was an ear-
lier comer. It is a fighter and under most circumstan-
ces it is amply able and willing to fight all enemies
and so protect its own life. Hogs will fight for one
another if they are attacked, and it is not an easy
matter for wild animals to make much headway with
a drove of hogs. But the meat which was furnished
by hogs was not so badly needed on the frontiers as
in the older settlements, because the needed meat for
food could usually be had by killing deer and bear in
the surrounding woods, and the pioneer did not at
first feel the necessity of having a supply of hogs for
a source of food.

The settlers generally had a plentiful supply of
food, but there were not many kinds available.
They became tired of eating meat killed in the woods,
if not mixed with some other food, such as bread or
fruit. Some of the old frontier books give a some-
what gloomy account of the long and wearisome
monotony of the food that kept the people alive dur-
ing the long wait till something could be grown from
the land to give a change in the daily bill of fare. The
watch was long and earnest for the time when the
first roasting ears would be ready to eat in the late
summer. That was a change of diet most welcome to
old people and children alike, and all waited for the
first meal in the summer from the cornfield and truck
patch. There was then no chance to buy anything
from the stores to give a change of diet, and the only
way to bring a change on the table was to grow some-
thing in the little, stumpy fields, and generally the
first substantial thing to come on the table of the fron-
tier family was the roasting ear. Sometimes it was
almost the salvation of the children, and it was nearly
as welcome to the hale and strong people of older
ages.

Mills for grinding the corn were often scarce and

MANNERS OF EARLY MONONGALIANS 301

far apart on the frontiers. There were kinds of ap-
paratus for reducing the grain to meal or flour, called
"hand mills," but they were few, and until the mill
came, the people used graters, simple machines for
scraping the ear of corn to make it into meal. It
was a slow and tedious process and was never very
popular. More generally the corn was made into
hominy, by soaking it in lye of wood ashes to re-
move the bran from the grains of corn, and after that
subject the corn to a boiling process till it was thor-
oughly cooked and ready to eat. It was not neces-
sary that the corn be ground or grated when it was
made into hominy. That was often the main food of
the people. When General Washington wrote his
account of his trip to Monongalia county in 1 784 he
spoke of his fare on a night at the home of a leading
citizen, and said:

"I had nothing but boiled corn for supper, and my
poor horse had nothing."

The chance was that he had been given a supper
of hominy, and considered it so unusual that he
thought it worthy of mention. Hominy of that kind
is made yet and may be bought in the groceries in any
town. Hominy is made also by running the corn
through the mill and merely breaking the grains in
such a way that the bran may be removed by sifting.

Garden vegetables, first of the common and sim-
ple kinds, were soon introduced in the remotest dis-
tricts of Monongalia county. Cabbage, potatoes,
beans, onions, rhubarb, lettuce, beets, and turnips
were among the first, and the more refined vegetables
were not slow in following. Poultry was an early ad-
junct to the farm of the pioneers of Monongalia
county, but during the early years the growing of
poultry was like the keeping of sheep — difficult on
account of the multitudes of wild animals prowling
on all sides and always hungry for poultry when any
was to be had.

302 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

The old settlers of Monongalia county were hard
workers and amusements were not plentiful in the
remote country. Few things which are considered as
amusements by the present generation were available
in the frontier settlements of the old county, and yet
it would be a mistake to suppose that all the lives of
the people were filled with serious thoughts and
gloomy forebodings as to what was likely to happen.
Their work was made as much a pleasure as work is
now, and perhaps more so. The building of a house
was made the most like play that was possible, for
each man helped his neighbor, in exchange for help
back of a similar kind when the occasion should arise
and the help should be needed. If a house were to
be built, word of the time and place was sent to all the
people of the neighborhood and it was considered an
invitation to be present and help. It was called a
"house raising" and on the appointed day the neigh-
bors for miles around on all sides were there ready
to go to work and build the house in one day. Such
houses as they built at that time in the old county
were erected in less time than the present house. The
building was of logs, for at that time bricks could
seldom be had in the country, and lumber was not to
be thought of in most cases. Logs were cut in the
forest and were hauled to the place for the house and
the rest of the work was to be done on the day and
all who were there took part in the general frolic.

An experienced builder was placed in charge of
each corner, as boss of the work in his vicinity, and
the men all worked according to the customs of the
time and place, which all understood and all con-
sented to. The logs for the walls were rolled up on
skids till in the right places on the walls, and each cor-
ner man cut and fitted his end of the log, and was
ready in a few minutes for the next, which was in its
turn put in place. Thus log by log went in the walls,
and before sundown the house was apt to be finished

MANNERS OF EARLY MONONGALIANS 303

and a dinner and supper made up all the pay the
builders got for the day, except that when any of
them had a house to build, he had reason to expect
that those whom he had helped would help him back.
"Help for help back" was the well-understood rule on
the frontiers.

There was not infrequently a dance or a play of
some kind in the evening after the house raising, and
all took part in the fun and frolic, which might last
till nearly daylight the next morning. The young
people were supposed to attend the frolic, and few
were missing from it. Such occasions were long re-
membered in the neighborhood.

The log rolling was a more frequent occasion for
fun than the house raising. It was the process of
clearing land. The land was originally covered with
trees which had to be gotten rid of before the land had
much value for farming. The owner of the land
worked for months as hard as he could and grubbed
out the bushes, and cut down the trees, cut the trunks
into logs of a length that could be conveniently hand-
led by a crew of men, and was then ready for the men
of the neighborhood to come and help him roll the
logs into heaps and burn them. The invitations were
sent for the help to come on a certain day and the
men were there at the appointed time. They rolled
the logs together and the fire was applied late in the
day and by the time for quitting, the whole group
of heaps was on fire and burning like little volcanoes,
but the burning had to be followed with prodding and
refiring for two or three days before the logheaps
had disappeared. The frolic followed the log-rolling
as it did the house raising, and the day was ended in
fun, after the hard work. Practically every new field
that came into existence had a logrolling somewhere
in its history.

The logs were not always burned, at least not all
of them were so disposed of. Some of the logs were

304 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

good for fence rails, and were made into those articles
and the remaining logs went to their fate at the hands
of the log rollers.

The frontier marriage was a festive occasion in
the majority of cases, but it was not a matter in which
the general public was more interested than was jus-
tifed by the importance of the occasion. It was not
unusual for the couple about to be married to go to
the residence of the preacher who was to perform the
ceremony, and after they had been married, return
together to their future home, there to be serenaded
by the people of the neighborhood, all in the best
of humor. One of the means of paying the preacher
for performing the marriage ceremony was to give
him some article of usefulness which the groom could
himself make. A couple of home-made horse collars
was not an unusual present with which to remunerate
the minister for his work in seeing them safely mar-
ried and on the road to happiness. But the custom
was not the same everywhere. The pay might be in
money, and it generally was in money if the groom
had it, which he did not always have, for cash was a
scarce article on most of the frontiers and it was often
much more convenient to pay with some article that
could be made for the occasion than in cash which
could not be found in the country.

Facilties for securing an education on most of
the frontiers were few and poor enough. Yet it was
often possible to procure a fair amount of learning
on frontiers where it is surprising that such good ad-
vantages could be had. Many of the men who cast
their lot on the borders were not uneducated men.
They had been to school either in the old countries
or in the older parts of this country, and when they
found themselves in a new settlement, they taught
school for a little money, and the children of most,
or at least many of the settlers, had the advantages of
more or less schooling by which they were profited

MANNERS OF EARLY MONONGALIANS 305

for the rest of their lives. While educational advan-
tages in the frontier settlements were not good, in
the modern sense, they were not as bad as one might
expect. There were men of that time and place who
were pretty well prepared to take the parts of schol-
ars in the community. A large part of the settlers
could read and write, many knew the principles of
arithmetic to "the rule of three" which meant addi-
tion, subtraction, multiplication, division, and com-
mon fractions. It was only the first principles, but it
was enough to enable the possessor of that sort of
education to count up the simple business matters in
which he was likely to be concerned, provided he
had learned to apply that small knowledge in the bej-t
way. Some grammar and geography were occasion-
ally taught, but they were a little more unusual than
was arithmetic. When a teacher came into a com-
munity and could really teach these simple subjects,
he generally did his work well and left his influence
in the community. There was now and then a sur-
veyor who could measure land with considerable ac-
curacy, but some of the old surveyors obtained their
education in schools before coming to the border set-
tlements. The sum of the education on the border
was considerable, whether it was obtained on the bor-
der or before coming to the remote country. Some
of the frontier teachers were rather noted in their
day, and a fair judgment of their work and abilities
places them in rather a high position. At least they
were far in advance of their surroundings.

The fact should be recognized that there were
a good many rather superior people on the western
frontiers of Virginia in the years of the settlement of
the country. Had they not been men and women of
character and courage they would have stopped and
failed before they arrived at the very front. It was
not a job for the weakling to undertake and carry
through. They were some of the ancestors of men

306 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

who built the nation and shaped its course in the early
years when only men who were in some ways su-
perior could make good and hold a place at the front.
It is somewhat hard to say what has been the full
value of the frontiersman in shaping the affairs
of the country. Some of admirable influences may
have had their beginning earlier than we suppose.

Religious services were held at irregular intervals
for the most part on the frontiers which constituted
the early Monongalia county. A few of the people
were members of some one of the many churches
in the region. Perhaps the majority of the religious
people were Methodists, but there were some Presby-
terians and Baptists and a few of other denomina-
tions. Ministers traveled through the settlements
from time to time and held religious services in the
homes of the people or in any convenient building
that could be secured for the occasions. Churches
were not erected in the earliest years of the settle-
ments but made their appearance a few years later.
The people generally heard the preachers with respect
and decorum and traveled many miles to be present
when any preacher came through the country and
gave out an announcement that there would be
preaching at a certain time and place.

Bishop Asbury, one of the founders of the Meth-
odist church in America, was in the county on a cou-
ple of occasions and left in his diary an account of
his meetings in Morgantown about the year 1 788.
His accounts of the people who heard him preach
on these occasions were not altogether complimen-
tary, but he represented them as good folks but rough
and ignorant. His books of his travels in the wild and
and almost pathless western parts of Virginia furnish
excellent accounts and descriptions of the frontiers
as he was acquainted with them from his missionary
work. He rode on horseback many hundreds of miles
and saw life as it existed in the new land.

MANNERS OF EARLY MONONGALIANS 307

There were other itinerant preachers in the coun-
try at a very early date and they too were great trav-
elers, but none of them can be considered the equal
to Bishop Asbury in the amount of difficult and dan-
gerous work done in frontier settlements, and perhaps
none of them wielded the lasting influence on the peo-
ple with whom they came in contact that he did in
his wide work. Those who would obtain a close and
first hand knowledge of the people and times on our
frontiers will be well paid by reading the diaries of
Bishop Asbury during the years of his travels on the
Virginia frontiers.

THE WAR OF 1812 309

CHAPTER X.

Monongalia County in the War of 1812.

The War of 1812 was fought entirely at a dis-
tance from Monongalia county. No hostile organi-
zation was ever near the county or in any immediate
likelihood of being near. The war had no particu-
larly personal interest to the people who lived here,
and the interest they felt in it was on account of the
concern of the country in the outcome. It was not
like the Revolutionary War, in which almost every
man felt that he had something at stake. The war of
1812 was considered an unfortunate event by many
of the people of the time, and they thought that some
way could have been found to have avoided it. But
those in charge of our affairs did not find a way to
keep out of that war, except by submitting to indig-
nities to which we could not have submitted without
compromising our honor, as they believed. There-
fore, when it was seen that all concessions must be
made by ourselves if we avoided the war, and that
we must do in certain matters as England said, if we
did not mean to fight, only one course seemed open
to the United States, and that was to appeal to arms
and settle the matter on the battlefield, and we did
that and settled the dispute with weapons in our
hands.

The call for soldiers was a large one in the war
that followed. Monongalia, as a part of the State of
Virginia, did not shrink from its full share of the bur-
den. It sent more soldiers to the army in that war

310 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

than in the Revolutionary War, but it had more to
send, and did not need soldiers at home to hold the
Indians in check, as had been the situation in the
War for Independence forty years before. It so
turned out that Monongalia supplied soldiers in a lib-
eral manner as they were needed. All of what is now
West Virginia did a fine share in carrying on that war
and putting it through in good shape.

The soldiers from this county marched in two
directions in that war. Some of them went to the
Atlantic seaboard in Virginia and elsewhere in that
direction, and some went to the northwestern border,
and saw service in what is now, and was at that time,
northern Ohio and that part of Canada, about Detroit
and in that vicinity. The regiment of Virginia in-
fantry, under Colonel Dudley Evans, of Monongalia
county, served in the northwest under General Har-
rison, near Fort Meiggs, and endured many hardships.
It was a regiment composed of twenty- three compa-
nies. Following is the roll of Captain Jesse Ice's
company :

Officers

JESSE ICE Captain.

MOSES COX Lieutenant.

JAMES KELLEY Sergeant.

ABRAM COX Sergeant.

PETER BATES Ensign.

NATHAN HALL Sergeant.

PETER HAUGHT Sergeant.

Privates

Samuel Aulton Jesse Coombs

Henry Ashton Thomas Clayton

Stephen Archer Jacob Claus

John Brown Aaron Foster

George Baird Alexander Hart

James Brand Benjamin Hayhurst

Benjamin Baldwin Peter Haught

John Brookhaur William Hayhurst

Jacob Brookhaur John Harker

THE WAR OF 1812

31

James Henderson
Nicholas Haught
James Holbert
David Jenkins
Henry Jansen
John Jones
John Knox
John King
James Laught
Virgil Lancaster
Nimrod Lancaster
Philip Moore
John Morgan
Rawley Morgan
Henry Martin

John Martin
John McMasters
Charles Martin
John McCalister
Richard Fostlewait
Daniel Rich
Philip Rutherford
Philip Sherman
William Stewart
Jacob Tenant
William Underwood
Joseph Varner
Daniel Varner
John Walton
Azariah Wilson

Captain James Morgan's Company

Officers

JAMES MORGAN Captain.

ISAAC COOPER Lieutenant.

SILAS STEVENS Ensign.

HENRY WATSON Sergeant.

THOMAS McGEE Sergeant.

JOSEPH LEWIS Sergeant.

HOPKINS ROSE Sergeant.

JOHN COBURN Corporal.

THOMAS LEACH Corporal.

Privates

Simeon Stevens William Huggins

Thomas Rose J. Jones

James Runner Luke Jane

James Cobun Hezekiah Joseph

John Chips John Keller

John Cobun Thomas A. Lewellen

Abraham Devault Amos Powell

Amos A. Deal William Powers

Thomas Franklin John Powers

William Ford Turner Quick

George Gay Nathaniel Reed

George Grim Joseph Rader

312 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

John Rix Thomas Stafford

Job Springer Thomas Stewart

John Squires Alexander Wilson

Captain Samuel Wilson's Company.

Officers

SAMUEL WILSON Captain.

GODFREY GUSEMAN ....Lieutenant.

ROBERT STEWART Sergeant.

THOMAS DUNN Sergeant.

JOHN HOWELL Sergeant.

JOHN FOSTER Sergeant.

JOSEPH GUSEMAN Corporal.

ISAAC GUSEMAN Corporal.

WILLIAM ALLENDER Corporal.

GEORGE REESE Corporal.

FRANCES PIERPONT Ensign.

JOHN SULLIVAN Drummer.

Privates

John Adair William Hall

Joseph Austin James Herrington

John Atkinson William Hartley

William Boyd Henry Henthorn

Archibald Boyd William Houston

John Baker George Hopkinson

Reuben Baker Joseph D. Hill

William Baldwin Abram Hess

Benjamin Bartlett Levi Jenkins

George Cropp Joseph Jones

James Donaldson John Jenkins

Isaac Davis John Kern

Isaac Dean Asa Lewellen

John Dean Robert Lemon

William Davis William May

William Darnell John McGill

John Foster Eli Moore

Isaac Foreman Henry May

Philip D. Gordon James Marty

John Guseman George Norris

Assel Gifford Larkin Pierpont

THE WAR OF 1812

313

Zackwell Pierpont
John Pride
John Robinson
Thomas Robinson
William Robe
James Reed
George Randolph
Philip Smell
William Stafford

Peter Smell
Clayton Swindler
Hezekiah Wells
John Watts
Clark Williams
Augustine Wells
William Wisan
William Watson
John Magill

Captain James Hurry's company, which was
raised in Monongalia and Brooke counties, served at
Norfolk, Virginia in 1814. Following is the roll of
this company:

Officers

JAMES HURRY Captain.

JOHN COROTHERS Lieutenant.

JOSEPH PICKENPAUGH ....Ensign.

GEORGE McCREE Sergeant.

THOMAS S. HAYMOND ....Sergeant.

SAMUEL BRAND Sergeant.

JOHN STREET Sergeant.

PETER TENANT Sergeant.

LEWIS TURNER Corporal.

GEORGE ASHBY Corporal.

CARDEN BURGESS Corporal.

LEWIS SMITH Corporal.

ISAAC COX Corporal.

MORGAN S. MORGAN Corporal.

Privates

George Amos James Buckhannon

Nelson Bolen William Brown

Jacob Brookover William Brownlee

David Bates Edward Bozeman

Thomas Bland James Collin

Jacob Bumagan Turner Compton

Jacob Barrett Michael Conner

John Bennett Morris Canada

George Buckhannon Isaac Cohen

314

HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Thomas Clayton
Jesse Chesshire
Henry Dusenberry
Elisha Dawson
William Demoss
James Everly
Edward Evans
John Fisher
Peter Fox
Richard Fawcett
Richard Fields
Elisha Ford
Jacob Flannagan
James Goff
Joseph Haught
Harry Howard
Patrick Haney
Jacob Hickman
John Harris
William Hardesty
Silas Hedges
Ephriam Johnson
Thomas Jones
Zachariah Jones
George Keller
John Lemasters
Philip Lewellen
John Lipscomb
Andrew Luzader
George Low
Edward Mathews
Peter Myers
William Murphey
Uriah McDavitt
William McCants
James McGee
David Matthews
John Matthews
William McMillen
Aaron McDaniels
Evan Morgan

James Moorehead
Caleb Merriman
Abraham McAtee
Richard Nuzum
Robert Perfect
Samuel Pixley
William Pratt
James Price
Joel Rhodes
Aaron Riggs
Benjamin Reed
Cyrus Riggs
Stephen Ridenour
John Roberts
Edward Sanders
William Stewart
Patrick Shean
James Stoneking
David Swindler
Jacob Swisher
William Shaw
Samuel Sheppard
Jacob Stone
Philip Shewman
George Smith
William Strait
George B. Smith
John Townley
Garrett Thomas
Aaron Titchner
Abraham Tennant
Joseph Tennant
Joseph Trickett
Alexander Winders
Joseph Williams
John Wiley
William Wyatt
James I. West
David West
John Wood

George Ashby, Joseph Trickett, and Michael
Conner died while in the army.

THE WAR OF 1812 315

Captain Willoughby Morgan raised two compa-
nies to serve from eighteen months to five years. Most
of the men were recruited in Monongalia county.
The rolls of both companies follow.

Captain Willoughby Morgan's First Company

Officers
WILLOUGHBY MORGAN ..Captain.
MATTHEW HUGHES ....Lieutenant.

WILLIAM PARKER Lieutenant.

THOMAS CONYERS Sergeant.

WILLIAM HARRELL Sergeant.

BENJAMIN EVANS Sergeant.

JOHN HANNAH Sergeant.

NATHAN BEDFORD Sergeant.

JOHN PETERS Sergeant.

JAMES WATKINS Corporal.

GEORGE HUTCHINSON ....Corporal

JOHN THOMPSON Corporal.

ARCHIBALD McNEIL Corporal.

CALEB TRIPPETT Corporal.

GEORGE SPECK Corporal.

Privates

William Applegate George Braden

Peter Ambler John Buckley

Peter Bauzle Jonathan Bell

Robert Brown John Brown

Henry Butler James Brown

John Bloss John Beckwell

William Belford Samuel Bussey

Samuel Bush Daniel Crossman

Joseph Baldwin George Clouse

Jeremiah Ball John Carmack

Wisan Beck John O'Conner

David Bryan Thomas Davis

Abraham Bozart Jacob Davis

James Bates Richard Dunn

John Basnett David Douglass

John Breedlove Gilfield Donley

316

HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Richard Dycke
Benjamin Downing
Elias Edmonds
Martin Fisher
William Forth
Harrison Foster
John Ferguson
Robert Glass
Valentine Gumm
David Gilbert
Jesse Green
Elijah Hawk
Philip Huffman
Jacob Huffman
Aaron Harness
Jacob Hulster
John Johnson
Samuel Isor
John Kent
Richard Lawrence
John Landsfelt
Thomas C. Ledderson
Daniel McCarty
Daniel Martin
William Meadows
Johnson Murrell
Jacob Miller
Thomas Moncure
William Ofner
John Palmer
Joseph Parke
George Parke

Roger Parke
John Painter
James Reaves
Jonathan Reaves
David Ray
William Roberts
Wilson Sullivan
William Stanley
Robert R. Smith *
Joseph Sovereigns
James Scott
Giles Stevens
John Stover
Joseph Toney
Levi Tucker
Garrett Whitelock
William Woods
John Ledderson
Jacob Means
Daniel Cook
Abraham Millan
Thomas Wills
Joseph Watkins
Samuel Walker
William Day
Elijah Morris
Robert Warrick
George R. Craft
Charles Clark
Samuel Dowell
Samuel McElroy
James Watson

Captain Willoughby Morgan's second company
is shown in the following roll :

Officers
WILLOUGHBY MORGAN ..Captain.
RUSSELL HARRISON ...Lieutenant.

AMOS J. BRUCE Lieutenant.

GEORGE ECKRIDGE ....Lieutenant.
JOHN WHALEY Sergeant.

THE WAR OF 1812

317

JOSEPH LANE Sergeant.

THOMAS CONYERS Sergeant.

JAMES CARMOUR Sergeant.

THOMAS WILLS Corporal.

WILLIAM COHON Corporal.

JERRY BALL Corporal.

ENOCH FERREL Corporal.

HENRY GEARING Corporal

JOHN LEWIS Corporal.

WILLIAM PRICE Musician.

JOHN MAHANEY Musician.

ALEXANDER CARSON ....Musician.

JOHN McKINNEY Musician.

CHARLES ALEXANDER ..Musician.
JAMES MURPHY Ensign.

Privates

Jonathan Bowman
William Beck
Benjamin Burnsides
John Bradlove
Samuel Bush
James Baldwin
Henry Butler
Evan Beck
James Bates
George Braden
Robert Barr
Andrew Blain
James B. Brown
John Beckwell
Robert Beck
John Barber
John Bissel
James Batt
Charles Clark
William Clark
Daniel Cook
Thomas Chatwood
Jonathan Collins
Isaac Davis
William Dawkins
Edward Daily
Samuel Dowell

William Day
Richard Dunn
James Ferrell
Adam Fast
Conrad Garrett
William Green
James Glass
James E. Goode
Joseph Hensley
James Hunt
William Haywood
Andrew Hutchinson
Powell Hall
Michael Harris
Jacob Hall
William Henderson
Aaron Harness
William Hurrald
John Hannah
Richard Johnson
John Jones
James Jones
Fleming Keysler
George Keysler
John Kingsolving
Thomas C. Leader
Thomas Livingston

318

HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

James Lavely
Abraham Liven
Conrad Litchliter
Silas Lee
Henry Lane
James Lawrence
John Martin
Daniel Morgan
William McCarmack
Jacob Moore
Arch McNeal
Robert McClasky
Jacob McMahon
John B. Moore
Thomas McLain
William Millburn
James McCoy
Thomas McLeggett
William McDonald
Joseph Miles
Henry Nicholas
Thomas Nutton
C. S. Pryor
Thomas Pratt
Edward Roe
Benjamin Roberts
Enoch Roach
John Rice
Philip Russell
Dickinson Simkins
Patrick Sullivan
John A. Smith
John Slagle
Isaac Smith

William Scott
James Sikes
Nehemiah Slater
Henry Sneyd
Robert Stewart
John Stevens
Randolph Townley
Richard Tibbs
Matthew Teuton
Samuel Taylor
Samuel Taylor
Thomas Turner
Thomas Thomason
Thomas Tunstell
Thomas Toombs
James Trippett
Joseph Venable
James Wilson
Daniel Wisner
John Williamson
Isaac H. Walker
James Watkins
Joseph Toney
Thomas Watts
Jesse Wells
Robert Whaley
John Walker
■ Thomas Wross
James Thompson
Lewis Williams
Joseph Wise
Samuel Williamson
Thomas Winn
Benjamin Wistar

Captain Daniel Stewart's company was raised in
Monongalia county for Colonel A. Wood's regiment,
but peace was declared before the company reached
the seat of war, and the men returned home. Fol-
lowing is the roll of the company:

THE WAR OF 1812

319

Officers

ROBERT STEWART Captain.

ISAAC COOPER Lieutenant.

MATTHEW ROBINSON ..Lieutenant.

HENRY FURTNEY Ensign.

SIMEON WOODRUFF Ensign.

GEORGE McGEE Sergeant.

JOHN COBUN Sergeant.

JAMES NEAL Sergeant.

GEORGE McRAE Sergeant.

JOHN GEORGE Sergeant.

LEVI JENKINS Corporal.

ABEL REESE Corporal.

WILLIAM WOODS Corporal.

JOHN ABDON Corporal.

Privates

Jeremiah Abbott
William Astrow
William Bright
James Bell
James Bannon
Ezra Beals
Jacob Britton
Jacob Bankert
Robert Bell
John Campbell
Henry Criss
John Clark
John Cox
Abraham Craxton
John Dawson
Peter Davis
George Danley
Alexander Faulkner
George Gould
George Glendening
David Grin
Elijah Hawkins
John Haskinson
Edward Hartley
Thomas Hunt
Adam Hyrhew
William Houston

James Hutchison
Michael Knight
John H. Kice
Benjamin Lewellen
Samuel Lewellen
Aaron Luzader
Charles MaGill
Lawrence McHenry
Isaac Marquess
John Martin
Robert McMullen
John Miller
John Madden
John Magill
James Nesbitt
David Oliver
Charles O'Neal
Isaac Pearce
William Philips
Thomas Porter
Samuel Pearce
Joseph Spencer
Henry Snyder
John Shuttleworth
John Squires
James Tillard
John Thompson

320 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

James Watkins Alpheus P. Wilson

Boroick Watkins Benjamin White

Steven Wilcox Alexander Zinn

A Company of Artillery under Captain Samuel
Kennedy was recruited largely with men from Mon-
ongalia county, and was in service at Norfolk, Vir-
ginia. The roll of the company was as follows :

Officers

SAMUEL KENNEDY Captain.

ROBERT COURTNEY ....Lieutenant.

MICHAEL SHIVELY Sergeant.

JOHN SHIVELY Sergeant.

JOHN BELL Sergeant.

JOSIAH LITTLE Sergeant.

NOAH RIDGWAY Sergeant.

PHILIP SHIVELY Corporal.

JAMES HAMILTON Corporal.

LEVI JONES Corporal.

ABRAHAM HUFFMAN ....Corporal.
FIELDING RAMSEY Drummer.

Privates

John Amon Samuel Lazzell

John Butler George Lough

Harvey Barnes John Myers

John Clayton John Martin

Amariah Augustine Jacob Ringer

Benjamin Button Gabe Speck

John Brumasin John Samuels

Ananias Davis Joel Tatler

William Ayers Henry Wolfe

William Burris John Watts

Matthew Campbell Eli Fanner

John Davis Edmund Guthrie

William Davis John Haught

Robert Guthrie David Jackson

Jesse Hanway William Lawless

Isaac Hunse John Laidley

John King David Matheny

THE WAR OF 1812

321

James Moorland
Henry Pride
Thomas Scott
George Steele
Philip Sport
William Tennant
Daniel Wolfe
John Weeler
Thomas Glisson
Jacob Gilmore
Jacob Hautman
Samuel Jewell

Job Lee
William Lemon
David Michael
Robert Means
Jacob Rodaheaver
Morgan Scott
Ephriam Shroyer
Jesse Tucker
Caleb Trippett
William Woods
John Young

The Mexican War.

Monongalia county raised about 200 men to go
to the Mexican war, but the men enlisted for one
year and the government refused to receive any one
year men, and this large body missed entering the
war, because of that misunderstanding. A squad of
thirty-one men enlisted in the county, went to Old
Point Comfort, Virginia, and from there entered the
Mexican war. The squad was composed of the fol-
lowing men:

Levi L. Bryte
William Black
Jesse J. Carraco
William Christy
Henry Dean
William Dean
George Exline
Jac. Farr
Oliver Gutherie
Levi Hayes
George Hayes
John W. Hayes
Richard Hall
Oakley Hopkins

Aaron Hamilton
Alexander Jenkins
John Keefover
— . — . Koontz
William Miller
Elias Mitchell
John McFadden
William Miller
Amos Martin
Lewis Powelson
Felix Scott
Jefferson Scott
Benjamin Scott
David Toothman

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 323

CHAPTER XI.

Constitutional History.

The making of the State Constitutions is work
for the State as a whole, and no one county can do
much in the matter except in co-operation with other
counties. Monongalia has been a prominent county,
because of size, wealth, and population, and its voice
has always been heard and listened to in conventions
where the men of Monongalia met with men from
other counties in matters of state business. That has
been especially true in the conventions held by Virgin-
ia and later by West Virginia to form the Constitu-
tions for the government of the states. The delegates
which Monongalia sent to these conventions were the
equals of any from the other counties, and they took
full share in the proceedings, and it has always turned
out that the mass of the people at home indorsed the
actions taken in Constitutional Conventions by the
delegates sent there to represent the county. When
those delegates returned to their homes, after finishing
the work for which they were sent, they always could
feel assured that all their good work would meet the
indorsement of the folks at home.

It is proper that the forming of state constitu-
tions should be considered in a general way only in a
county history, but it should be given with sufficient
fullness to make the main facts clear, which will here
be done.

The territory now embraced in the State of West
Virginia has been governed under five State constitu-

324 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

tions, three of Virginia's and two of West Virginia's.
The first was adopted in 1776, the second in 1830,
the third in 1 85 1 , the fourth in 1 863, the fifth in 1 872.
The first constitution was passed by the Virginia
Convention, June 29, 1 776, five days before the sign-
ing of the Declaration of Independence. Virginia had
taken the lead in declaring the United States indepen-
dent and capable of self-government ; and it also took
the lead in preparing a system of government for it-
self. The constitution passed by its convention in
1 776 was one of the first documents of its kind in
the world, and absolutely the first in America. Its
aim was lofty. It had in view greater liberty than
men had ever before enjoyed. The document is a
masterpiece of statesmanship, yet its terms are simple.
It was the foundation on which nearly all the state
constitutions have been based. It was in force nearly
fifty years, and not until experience had shown
wherein it was defective was there any disposition
to change it or form a new constitution. Viewed now
in the light of nearly a century and a quarter of pro-
gressive government, there are features seen in it
which do not conform to the ideas of statesmen of
today. But it was so much better, at the time of its
adoption, than anything gone before that it was en-
tirely satisfactory.

A Bill of Rights preceded the first constitution.
On May 15,1 776, the Virginia Convention instructed
its delegates in Congress to propose to that body to
declare the United Colonies independent, and at the
same time the Convention appointed a committee to
prepare a Declaration of Rights and a plan of govern-
ment for Virginia. On June 1 2 the Bill of Rights
was passed. The document was written by George
Mason, member of the committee. This state paper
is of interest, not only as being one of the earliest of
the kind in America, but because it contains inconsis-
tencies which in after years clung to the laws of Vir-

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 325

ginia, carrying injustice with them, until West Virgin-
ia, when it became a State, refused to allow them to
become part of the laws of the new Commonwealth.
The chief of these inconsistencies is found in the just
declaration at the outset of the Bill of Rights, "that all
men are by nature equally free and independent ; " and
yet further on it paves the way for restricting the priv-
ilege of suffrage to those who own property, thereby
declaring in terms, if not in words, that a poor man
is not as free and independent as a rich man. Here
was the beginning of the doctrine so long held in Vir-
ginia by its law-makers, that a man without property
should not have a voice in the government. In after
years this doctrine was combated by the people of the
territory now forming West Virginia. The inhabi-
tants west of the Blue Ridge, and especially west of
the Alleghanies, were the champions of universal suf-
frage, and they labored to attain that end, but with
little success until they were able to set up a govern-
ment for themselves, in which government men were
placed above property. Further on in this chapter
something more will be found on this subject.

The Bill of Rights declares that the freedom of
the press is one of the chief bulwarks of liberty. This is
in marked contrast with and noticeable advance be-
yond the doctrine held by Sir William Berkeley, one
of Virginia's royal governors, who solemnly declared,
"I thank God we have not free schools or printing,
and I hope we will not have these hundred years, for
learning has brought disobedience and heresy and
sects into the world, and printing has divulged them
and libels against the government. God keep us from
both." This solemn protest of Virginia's Governor
was made nearly forty years after the founding of
Harvard University in Massachusetts. It has some-
times been cited as an illustration of the differ-
ence between the Puritan civilization in Massachu-
setts and the Cavalier civilization of Virginia. But

326 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

the comparison is unfair. It was no test of Virginia's
civilization, for the Governor was carrying out in-
structions from England to suppress printing, and he
did not consult the people of the colony whether they
wanted printing presses or not. But when a printer,
John Buckner, by name, ten years after Governor
Berkeley asked divine protection against schools and
printing, ventured into Virginia with a press he was
promptly brought before the Governor and was com-
pelled to give bond that he would print nothing until
the King of England gave consent.

In view of this experience it is not to be won-
dered at that the Virginians were prompt in declaring
in their Bill of Rights that the press should be free.
But they did not embrace that excellent opportunity
to say a word in favor of schools. Nor could they, at
one sweep, bring themselves to the broad doctrine that
property does not round off and complete the man,
but that "a man's a man for a' that," and capable,
competent and trustworthy to take full part in the
affairs of government. This Bill of Rights was
brought into existence in the early part of the Revolu-
tionary War, and at that very time the bold, patient
patriotic and poor backwoodsmen from the frontiers
were in the American armies, fighting and dying in
the cause of liberty and equal rights; and yet, by laws
then being enacted, these same men were denied the
right to take part in the management of the govern-
ment which they were fighting to establish. It was
for no other reason than that they were not assessed
with enough property to give "sufficient evidence of
permanent common interest with and attachment to
the community." This notion had been brought from
England, and had been fastened upon the colony of
Virginia so firmly that it could not be shaken off
when that state severed the political ties which bound
it to the mother country. The idea clung to the con-
stitution passed in 1776; to that of 1830; to that of

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 327

1 85 1 ; but sentiment against the property qualifica-
tion for suffrage constantly grew, and particularly
among the people of Western Virginia, until it mani-
fested itself in striking the obnoxious clause from the
constitution when the State of West Virginia came
into separate existence.

If the War of the Revolution did not teach the
statesmen of Virginia that the poor man can be a pa-
triot, and if the thirty-five or more years intervening
between the adoption of the constitution of 1 776 and
the second war with England had not sufficed to do
so, it might be supposed that the new experience of
the War of 1812 would have made the fact clear. But
it did not convince the law-maker. Virginia was
speedily invaded by the British after the declaration
of war, and some of the most valuable property in the
State was destroyed, and some of the best territory
was overrun by the enemy. The city of Washington,
just across the Potomac from Virginia, was captured
and burned. An ex-President of the United States
was compelled to hide in the woods to avoid capture
by the enemy. In this critical time no soldiers fought
more valiantly, none did more to drive back the in-
vader, than the men from Western Virginia, where
lived most of those who were classed as too poor to
take part in the affairs of government. It is said that
sometimes half the men in a company of soldiers had
never been permitted to vote because they did not
own enough property.

The people of Western Virginia felt the injus-
tice keenly. They never failed to respond promptly
to a call when their services were needed in the field,
but in time of peace they sought in a lawful and de-
cent manner the redress of their grievances. They
could not obtain this redress under the constitution
then in force, and the War of 1812 had scarcely
come to a close when the subject of a new constitu-
tion began to be spoken of. It was agitated long in

328 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

vain. Nor was the restriction of suffrage the only
wrong the people of Western Virginia endured, some-
what impatiently, but always with full respect for the
laws then in force.

The eastern part of Virginia had the majority of
inhabitants and the largest part of the property, and
this gave that portion of the State the majority in the
Assembly. This power was used with small respect
for the rights of the people in the western part of
the State. Internal improvements were made on a
large scale in the east, but none were made west of the
mountains, or very few. Men in the western counties
had little encouragement to aspire to political dis-
tinction. The door was shut on them. The State of-
fices were filled by men from the wealthy eastern
districts. At length the agitation of the question of
a new constitution ripened into results. The Assem-
bly of Virginia in 1 828 passed a bill submitting to a
vote of the people whether they would have a consti-
tutional convention called. At the election there
were 38,542 votes cast, of which 2 1 ,896 were in favor
of a constitutional convention. By far the heaviest
vote favoring the convention was cast west of the
Blue Ridge. The wealthy slave owners of the lower
counties wanted no change. The constitution had
been framed to suit them, and they wanted nothing
better. They feared that any change would give
them something less suitable. Nevertheless, when the
votes were counted and it was ascertained that a new
constitution was inevitable, the representatives of the
wealth of the State set to work to guard against any
invasion of the privileges they had so long enjoyed.

The delegates from what is now West Virginia
elected to this convention were: E. M. Wilson and
Charles S. Morgan, of Monongalia county; William
McCoy, of Pendleton county; Alexander Campbell
and Philip Doddridge, of Brooke county; Andrew
Beirne, of Monroe county; William Smith, of Green-

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 329

brier county; John Baxter of Pocahontas; H. L. Opie
and Thomas Griggs, of Jefferson; William Naylor
and William Donaldson, of Hampshire; Philip Pen-
dleton and Elisha Boyd, of Berkeley; E. S. Duncan,
of Harrison; John Laidley of Cabell; Lewis Summers,
of Kanawha; Adam See, of Randolph. The leader
of the western delegates in the convention was Philip
Doddridge, who did all in his power to have the prop-
erty qualification clause omitted from the new con-
stitution.

The convention met at Richmond, October 5,
1 829. From the very first meeting the western mem-
bers were slighted. No western man was named in
the selection of officers of the convention. It was
seen at the outset that the property qualification for
suffrage would not be given up by the eastern mem-
bers without a struggle, and it was soon made plain
that this qualification would have a majority. It was
during the debates in this convention that Philip
Doddridge, one of West Virginia's greatest men,
came to the front in his full stature. His opponents
were Randolph, Leigh, Upshur, Tazewell, Standard
and others, who supported the doctrine that a voter
should be a property owner. One of Doddridge's col-
leagues was Alexander Campbell, the founder of the
Church of the Disciples of Christ, sometimes known
as the Christian church, and again called, from its
founder, the Campbellite church. Here were two
powerful intellects, Doddridge and Campbell, and
they championed the cause of liberty in a form more
advanced than was then allowed in Virginia. Dodd-
ridge himself had followed the plow, and he felt that
the honest man does not need a certain number of
acres before he can be trusted with the right of suf-
frage. He had served in the Virginia Legislature and
knew from observation and experience the needs of
the people of his part of the State. He was born on
the bank of the Ohio river two years before the back-

330 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

woodsmen of Virginia annulled the Quebec Act, pass-
ed by the Parliament of England, and he had grown
to manhood in the dangers and vicissitudes of the
frontiers. He was but five years old at the first siege
of Fort Henry, and was ten years old at the second
siege ; and the shot which brought down the last Brit-
ish flag that floated above the soil of Virginia during
the Revolutionary War was fired almost within hear-
ing of his home. Among his neighbors were Lewis
Wetzel, Ebenezer Zane, Samuel Brady and the men
who fought to save the homes of the frontier settlers
during the long and anxious years of Indian warfare.
Although Doddridge died two years after this conven-
tion, while serving in Congress, he had done enough
to give West Virginia reason for remembering him.
The work of Campbell does not stand out in so con-
spicuous a manner in the proceedings of the conven-
tion, but his influence for good was great; and if the
delegates from west of the mountains labored in vain
for that time, the result was seen in later years.

The work of the convention was brought to a
close in 1 830, and a new constitution was given to the
voters of the State for their approval or rejection. The
western members had failed to strike out the distaste-
ful property qualification. They had all voted against
it except Doddridge, who was unable to attend that
session on account of sickness, no doubt due to over-
work. His vote, however, would have changed noth-
ing, as the eastern members had a large majority and
carried every measure they wanted. In the dissatis-
faction consequent upon the failure of the western
counties to secure what they considered justice began
the movement for a new State. More than thirty
years elapsed before the object was attained, and it
was brought about by means and from causes which
not the wisest statesman foresaw in 1 830, yet the
sentiment had been growing all the years. The old
State of Virginia was never forgiven the offense and

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 331

injury done the western district in the constitutional
convention of 1 829-1 830. If the injustice was partly
removed by the enlarged suffrage granted in the con-
stitution adopted twenty years after, it was then too
late for the atonement to be accepted as a blotting out
of past wrongs ; and in 1 86 1 the people of West Vir-
ginia replied to the old State's long years of oppres-
sion and tyranny.

The constitution of 1 830 adopted the Bill of
Rights of 1 776 without amendment or change. Then
followed a long preamble reciting the wrongs under
which Virginia suffered, prior to the Revolutionary
War, before independence was secured. Under this
constitution the Virginia House of Delegates consist-
ed of one hundred and thirty-four members, of which
twenty-six were chosen by the counties lying west
of the Alleghanies; twenty-five by the counties be-
tween the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies ; forty-two
by the counties between the Blue Ridge and tidewater,
and thirty-six by the tidewater counties. The Senate
consisted of thirty-two members, of which thirteen
were from the counties west of the Blue Ridge. No
priest of preacher was eligible to the Legislature. The
right of suffrage was based on a property qualifica-
tion. The ballot was forbidden and all voting was
viva voce. Judges of the supreme court and of the
superior courts were not elected by the people, but
by the joint vote of the Senate and House of Dele-
gates. The Attorney General was chosen in the same
ways. Sheriffs and coroners were nominated by the
county courts and appointed by the Governor. Jus-
tices of the peace were appointed by the Gov-
ernor and the constables were appointed by the
justices. Clerks were appointed by the courts.
The state treasurer was elected by the joint vote of
the Senate and the House of Delegates. It is thus
seen that the only State officers for which the people
could vote directly were Senators and members of

332 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

the House of Delegates. Such an arrangement would
be very unsatisfactory at the present day among peo-
ple who have become accustomed to select their offi-
cers, almost without exception, from the highest to
the lowest. The growth of the Republican principle
of government has been gradual. It was not all grasp-
ed at once; nor has it reached its fullest development
yet. The Bill of Rights and the first constitution of
Virginia were a great step forward from the bad gov-
ernment under England's Colonial system; but the
gathered wisdom of more than a century has discov-
ered and corrected many imperfections.

It is noticeable that the constitution of 1 830 con-
tains no provisions for public schools. It may be
stated generally that the early history of Virginia
shows little development of the common school idea.
The State which was satisfied for seventy-five years
with suffrage denied the poor would not be likely to
become famous for its zeal in the cause of popular ed-
ucation. The rich, who voted, could afford schools
for their children ; and the father who was poor could
neither take part in the government nor educate his
children. Virginia was behind most of the old
states in free schools. At the very time that Governor
Berkeley thanked God that there were neither free
schools nor printing presses in Virginia, Connecticut
was devoting to education one fourth of its revenue
from taxation. As late as 1857 Virginia with a pop-
ulation of nearly a million and a half, had only 41,-
608 children in common schools. When this is com-
pared with other states, the contrast is striking. Mass-
achusetts with a smaller population had five times
as many children in the free schools ; New Hampshire
with one-fifth the population had twice as many; Illi-
nois had nearly eight times as many, yet a smaller
population ; Ohio with a population a little larger had
more than fourteen times as many children in public

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 333

schools as Virginia. The following additional states
in 1857 had more children attending common schools
than Virginia had in proportion to their population:
Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New
York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Indiana,
Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky,
Maryland, Louisana, Tennessee, North Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama. The states with a smaller percent-
age of children in the common schools than Virginia's
were South Carolina, California and Mississippi. For
the remainder of the states, the statistics for that year
were not compiled.

The showing is bad for Virginia. Although the
lack of provision for popular education in the conven-
tion of 1 830 does not appear to have caused opposi-
tion from the western members, yet the promptness
with which the State of West Virginia provided for
public schools as soon as it had a chance, is evidence
that the sentiment west of the Alleghanies was strong
in favor of popular education.

When the western delegates returned home after
completing their labors in the convention of 1 829-
1 830, they found that their constituents were much
dissatisfied with the constitution. The chief thing
contended for, less restriction on suffrage, had been
refused, and the new constitution, while some respects
better than the old, retained the most objectionable
feature of the old. At the election held early in 1 830
for ratifying or rejecting the new constitution, 41 ,61 8
votes were cast, of which, 26,055 were for ratification
and 15,563 against. The eastern part of the State
voted strongly for ratification; the western part
against it. Only two counties in what is now West
Virginia gave a majority for it; and only one east of
the Blue Ridge voted against it. The vote by counties
in West Virginia was as follows: Berkeley, for 95,
against 161; Brooke, the home of Doddridge and
Campbell, for 0, against 371 ; Cabell, for 5, against

334 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

334; Greenbrier, for 34, against 464; Hampshire,
for 241, against 211; Hardy, for 63, against 120;
Harrison, for 8, against 1,1 12; Jefferson, for 243,
against 53; Kanawha, for 42, against 266; Lewis, for
10, against 546; Logan, for 2, against 255; Mason,
for 31, against 369; Monongalia, for 305, against
460; Monroe, for 19, against 451; Morgan, for 29,
against 156; Nicholas, for 28, against 325; Ohio, for
3, against 643; Pendleton, for 58, against 219; Poca-
hontas, for 9, against 288; Preston, for 121, against
357; Randolph, for 4, against 567; Tyler, for 5,
against 299; Wood, for 28, against 410. Total, for
1,383, against 8,375.

Although the constitution of 1 830 was unsat-
isfactory to the people of the western counties, and
they had voted to reject it, it had been fastened upon
them by the vote of the eastern counties. However,
the matter was not to end there. In a Republican
Government the way to reach a redress of grievances
is to keep the proposed reform constantly before the
people. If right, it will finally prevail. In all reform
movements or questions, the right is nearly always in
the minority at first; perhaps it is always so. The
Western Virginians had been voted down, but they
at once began to agitate the question of calling an-
other constitutional convention. They kept at it for
twenty years. Finally a Legislature was chosen which
called an election on the subject of a constitutional
convention. The majority of the Legislature was in
favor of the convention, and in May, 1 850, an election
was held to chose delegates. Those elected from the
country west of the Alleghanies, and from districts
partly east partly west of these mountains, were:
John Kenny, A. M. Newman, John Lionberger, Geo.
E. Deneale, G. B. Samuels, William Seymour, Giles
Cook, Samuel C. Williams, Allen T. Caperton, Albert
G. Pendleton, A. A. Chapman, Charles J. Faulkner,
William Lucas, Dennis Murphy, Andrew Hunter,

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 335

Thomas Sloan, James E. Stewart, Richard E. Byrd,
Charles Blue, Jefferson T. Martin, Zachariah Jacob,
John Knote, Thomas Gaily, Benjamin H. Smith, Wil-
liam Smith, Samuel Price, George W. Summers, Jo-
seph Johnson, John F. Snodgrass, Gideon D. Cam-
den, Peter G. Van Winkle, William G. Brown, Wait-
man T. Willey, Edward J. Armstrong, James Neeson,
Samuel L. Hayes, Joseph Smith, John S. Carlile,
Thomas Bland, Elisha W. McComas, Henry J. Fisher
and James H. Ferguson.

One of these delegates, Joseph Johnson, of Har-
rison county, was the only man up to that time ever
chosen governor from the district west of the Alle-
ghanies; and in the three-quarters of a century since
the adoption of Virginia's first constitution, no man
from west of the Alleghanies had ever been sent to
the United States Senate; and only one had been
elected from the country west of the Blue Ridge.
Eastern property had out-voted western men. Still
the people west of the mountains sought their remedy
in a new constitution, just as they had sought in vain
nearly a generation before.

The constitutional convention met and organ-
ized for work. The delegates from the eastern part of
the State at once showed their hand. They insisted
from the start that there should be a property quali-
fication for suffrage. This was the chief point against
which the western people had been so long contend-
ing, and the members from west of the Alleghanies
were there to resist such a provision in the new con-
stitution and to fight it to the last. Lines were drawn
upon this issue. The contending forces were at once
arrayed for the fight. It was seen that the western
members and the members who took sides with them
were not in as hopeless a minority as they had been
in the convention of 1 830. Still they were not so
strong as to assure victory, and the battle was to be
long and hard-fought. If there was one man among

336 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

the western members more conspicuous as a leader
than the others, that man was Waitman T. Willey, of
Monongalia county. An unswerving advocate of lib-
erty in its widest interpretation, and with an uncom-
promising hatred of tyranny and oppression, he had
prepared himself to fight in the front when the ques-
tion of restriction of suffrage should come up. The
eastern members forced the issue, and he met it. He
denied that property is the true source of political
power; but, rather, that the true source should be
sought in wisdom, virtue, patriotism ; and that wealth,
while not bad in itself, frequently becomes a source
of political weakness. The rights of persons are
above the rights of property. Mr. Scott, a delegate
from Fauquier county, declared that this movement
by the western members was simply an effort to get
their hands on the pocket books of the wealthy east.
Mr. Willey repelled this impeachment of the integ-
rity of the west. Other members in sympathy with
the property qualification took up the cue and the
assault upon the motives of the people of the west
became severe and unjust. But the members from
that part of the State defended the honor of its people
with a vigor and a success which defeated the prop-
erty qualification in the constitution.

It was not silenced, however. It was put for-
ward and carried in another form, by a proviso that
members of the Assembly and Senate should be
elected on an arbitrary basis until the year 1 865, and
at that time the question should be submitted to a vote
of the people whether their delegates in the Legis-
lature should be apportioned on what was called the
"white basis" or the "mixed basis." The first pro-
vided that members of the Legislature should be ap-
portioned according to the number of white in-
habitants ; the second, that they should be apportion-
ed according to both property and inhabitants. The

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 33 7

eastern members believed that in 1 865 the vote of
the State would favor the mixed basis, and thus the
property qualification would again be in force, al-
though not in exactly the same form as before.

The proceedings of the convention had not ad-
vanced far when it became apparent that a sentiment
in that body was in favor of electing many or all of the
County and State officers. The sentiment favoring
electing judges was particularly strong. Prior to that
time the judges in Virginia had been chosen by the
Legislature or appointed by the Governor, who was
a creature of the Legislature. The members from
Western Virginia, under the leadership of Mr. Willey,
were in favor of electing the judges. It was more in
conformity with the principles of republican govern-
ment that the power which selected the makers of
laws should also select the interpreters of those laws,
and also those whose duty it is to execute the laws.
The power of the people was thus increased, and with
increase of power there was an increase also in their
responsibility. Both are wholesome stimulants for
the citizens of a commonwealth who are rising to new
ideas and higher principles. The constitution of 1 850
is remarkable for the general advance embodied in it.
The experience of nearly half a century has shown
that many improvements could be made, but at the
time it was adopted its landmarks were set on higher
ground. But as yet the idea that the State is the great-
est beneficiary from the education of the people,
and that it is the duty of the State to provide free
schools for this purpose, had not gained sufficient
footing to secure so much as an expression in its
favor in the constitution of 1 850.

The work of the convention was completed, and
at an election held for the purpose in 1 852 it was
ratified and became the foundation for State govern-
ment in Virginia. The Bill of Rights, passed in 1 776

338 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

and adopted without change as a preamble or intro-
duction to the constitution of 1 830, was amended in
several particulars and prefixed to the constitution of
1 850. The constitution of 1 830 required voting by
viva voce, without exception. That of 1 850 made
an exception in favor of deaf and dumb persons. But
for all other persons the ballot was forbidden. The
property qualification for suffrage was not placed in
the constitution. Although a provision was made to
foist a property clause on the State to take effect in
1 865, the great and unexpected change made by
the Civil War before the year 1 865 rendered this pro-
vision of no force. The leading features of the "mix-
ed basis" and "white basis," as contemplated by the
constitution, were : In 1 865 the people, by vote,
were to decide whether the members of the State Sen-
ate and Lower House should be apportioned in ac-
cordance with the number of voters, without regard
to property, or whether, in such apportionment,
property should be represented. The former was call-
ed the white basis or suffrage basis ; the latter mixed
basis. Under the mixed basis the apportionment
would be based on a ration of the white inhabitants
and of the amount of State taxes paid. Provision
was made for the apportionment of Senators on one
basis and members of the Lower House on the other,
if the voters should so decide. The members of the
convention from West Virginia did not like the mixed
basis, but the clause making the provision for it went
into the constitution in spite of them. They feared
that the populous and wealthy eastern counties would
out-vote the counties beyond the Alleghanies and fas-
ten the mixed basis upon the whole State. But West
Virginia had separated from the old State before
1 865 and never voted on that measure. There was a
clause which went so far as to provide that the mem-
bers of the Senate might be apportioned solely on the
basis of taxation, if the people so decided by vote.

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 339

Under the constitution free negroes were not
permitted to reside in Virginia unless free at the time
the constitution went into effect. Slaves thereafter
manumitted forfeited their freedom by remaining
twelve months in the State. Provision was made for
enslaving them again.

For the first time in the history of the State the
Governor was to be elected by the people. He had
before been appointed by the Legislature. County of-
ficers, clerks, sheriff, prosecuting attorney and sur-
veyor, were now to be elected by the people. The
county court, composed of not less than three or more
than five justices of the peace, held sessions monthly,
and had enlarged jurisdiction. This arrangement was
not consistent with the advance made in other branch-
es of county and State government as provided for in
the constitution. That county court was not satisfac-
tory, and even after West Virginia became a State, it
did not at first rid itself of the tribunal which had out-
lived its usefulness. But after a number of years a
satisfactory change was made by the new State. Un-
der Virginia's constitution of 1 850 the auditor, treas-
urer and secretary were selected by the Legislature.

The first constitution of West Virginia was a
growth rather than a creation by a body of men in
one convention. The history of that constitution
is a part of the history of the causes leading up to and
the events attending the creation of a new State from
the counties in the Western part of Virginia, which
had refused to follow the old State when it seceded
from the Union. Elsewhere in this volume will be
found a narrative of the acts by which the new State
was formed. The present chapter will consider only
those movements and events directly related to the
first constitution.

The efforts of the Northern States to keep slav-
ery from spreading to new territory, and the attempts
of the South to introduce it into the West; the pas-

340 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

*sage of laws by the Northern States by which they
refused to deliver runaway slaves to their masters;
decisions of courts in conflict with the wishes of one
or the other of the great parties to the controversy;
and other acts or doctrines favorable to one or the
other, all entered into the presidential campaign of
1 860 and gave that contest a bitterness unknown be-
fore or since in the history of American politics. For
many years the South had been able to carry its points
by the ballot-box or by statesmanship, but in 1 860
the power was slipping away, and the North was in
the ascendancy with its doctrines of no further ex-
tension of slavery. There were four candidates in the
field, and the Republicans elected Abraham Lincoln.
Had the. Southern States accepted the result, acqui-
esced in the limitation of slavery within those States
wherein it already had an undisputed foothold, the
Civil War would not have occurred at that time and
perhaps never. Slavery would have continued years
longer. But the rashness of the Southern States has-
tened the crisis, and in its result slavery was stamped
out. South Carolina led the revolt by a resolution
December 20, 1 860, by which that State seceded from
the Union. Other Southern States followed, formed
"The Confederate States of America," and elected
Jefferson Davis President.

Virginia, as a State, went with the South, but the
people of the western part, when confronted with the
momentous question, "Choose ye this day whom ye
will serve," chose to remain citizens of the United
States. Governor Letcher, of Virginia, called an ex-
tra session of the Legislature to meet January 7, 1 86 1 ,
to consider public affairs. The Legislature passed a
bill calling a convention of the people of Virginia,
whose delegates were to be elected February 4, to
meet in Richmond, Febraury 13, 1861. A substitute
for this bill, offered in the Lower House of the Legis-
lature, providing that a vote of the people of the State

• CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 341

should be taken on the question of calling the conven-
tion, was defeated. The convention was thus con-
vened without the consent of the people, a thing
which had never before been done in Virginia.

Delegates were chosen for Western Virginia.
They were nearly all opposed to secession and worked
to defeat it in the convention. Finding their efforts in
vain, they returned home, some of them escaping
many dangers and overcoming much difficulty on the
way. The action of the Virginia Convention was
kept secret for some time, while State troops and
troops from other States were seizing United States
arsenals and other government property in Virginia.
But when the delegates returned to their homes in
Western Virginia with the news that Virginia had
joined the Southern Confederacy there was much
excitement and a widespread determination among
the people not to be transferred to the Confederacy.
Meetings were held, delegates were chosen to a con-
vention in Wheeling to meet June 1 1 for the purpose
of re-organizing the government of Virginia.

Owing to the peculiar circumstances in which
the State of Virginia was placed, part in and part out
of the Southern Confederacy, the Constitution of
1850 did not apply to the case, and certainly did not
authorize the re-organization of the State govern-
ment in the manner in which it was about to be done.
No constitution and no statute had ever been framed
to meet such an emergency. The proceeding under-
taken by the Wheeling convention was authorized
by no written law, and so far as the statutes of the
State contemplated such a condition, they forbade it.
But, as the gold which sanctified the temple was
greater than the temple, so men who make the law
are greater than the law. The principle is dangerous
when acted upon by bad men, but patriots may, in
a crisis which admits of no delay, be a law unto them-
selves. The people of Western Virginia saw the

342 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

storm, saw the only salvation, and with promptness
they seized the helm and made for the harbor.

The constitution of Virginia did not apply. The
Wheeling Convention passed an ordinance for the
government of the re-organized State. This ordi-
nance could scarcely be called a constitution, yet it
was a good temporary substitute for one. It author-
ized the convention to appoint a Governor and Lieu-
tenant Governor to serve until their successors were
elected and qualified. They were to administer the
existing laws of Virginia. The General Assembly
was called to meet in Wheeling, where it was to pro-
vide for the election of a Governor and Lieutenant
Governor. The capital of Virginia was thus changed
from Richmond to Wheeling, so far as the convention
could change it. The Senators and Assemblymen
who had been chosen at the preceding election were
to constitute the Legislature. A Council of Five was
appointed by the convention to assist the Governor
in the discharge of his duties. An allusion to the State
Constiution, made in this ordinance, shows that the
convention considered the Virignia Constitution of
1 850 still in force, so far as it was applicable to the
changed conditions. There was no general and imme-
diate change of county and district officers provided
for, but an oath was required of them that they
would support the Constitution of the United States.
Provision was made for removing from office such
as refused to take the oath, and for appointing others
in their stead.

Under and by virtue of this ordinance the con-
vention elected Francis H. Pierpont Governor of Vir-
ginia, Daniel Polsley Lieutenant Governor, and
James S. Wheat Attorney General. Provision having
been made by the General Assembly which met in
Wheeling for an election of delegates to frame a con-
stitution for the State of West Virginia, provided a

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 343

vote of the people should be in favor of a new State,
and the election having shown that a new State was
desired, the delegates to the Constitutional Conven-
tion assembled in Wheeling November 26, 1 861 . The
purpose at first had not been to form a new State but
to re-organize and administer the government of Vir-
ginia. But the sentiment in favor of a new State was
strong, and resulted in the assembling of a conven-
tion to frame a constitution. The list of delegates
were, Gordon Batelle, Ohio county, Richard L.
Brooks, Upshur; James H. Brown, Kanawha; John
J. Brown, Preston; John Boggs, Pendleton; W. W.
Brumfield, Wayne; E. H. Caldwell, Marshall; Thom-
as R. Carskadon, Hampshire; James S. Cassady, Fay-
ette; H. D. Chapman, Roane; Richard M. Cooke,
Mercer; Henry Dering, Monongalia; John A. Dille,
Preston; Abijah Dolly, Hardy; D. W. Gibson, Po-
cahontas; S. F. Griffith, Mason; Stephen M. Hansley,
Raleigh; Robert Hogar, Boone; Ephriam B. Hall,
Marion; John Hall, Mason; Thomas W. Harrison,
Harrison; Hiram Haymond, Marion; James Hervey,
Brooke; J. P. Hoback, McDowell; Joseph Hubbs,
Pleasants ; Robert Irvine, Lewis ; Daniel Lamb, Ohio ;
R. W. Lauck, Wetzel; E. S. Mahon, Jackson; A. W.
Mann, Greenbrier; John R. McCutcheon, Nicholas;
Dudley S. Montague, Putnam; Emmett J. O'Brien,
Barbour; Granville Parker, Cabell; James W. Par-
sons, Tucker; J. W. Paxton, Ohio; David S. Pinnell,
Upshur; Joseph S. Pomeroy, Hancock; John M. Pow-
ell, Harrison; Joe Robinson, Calhoun; A. F. Ross,
Ohio; Lewis Ruffner, Kanawha; Edward W. Ryan,
Fayette; George W. Sheets, Hampshire; Josiah Sim-
mons, Randolph; Harmon Sinsel, Taylor; Benjamin
H. Smith, Logan; Abraham D. Soper, Tyler; Benja-
min L. Stephenson, Clay; William E. Stevenson,
Wood; Benjamin F. Stewart, Wirt; Chapman J.
Stewart, Doddridge; G. F. Taylor, Braxton; M. Titch-

344 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

enell, Marion; Thomas H. Trainer, Marshall; Peter
G. Van Winkle, Wood; William Walker, Wyoming;
William W. Warder, Gilmer; Joseph S. Wheat, Mor-
gan; Waitman T. Willey, Monongalia; A. J. Wilson,
Ritchie; Samuel Young, Pocahontas.

There were two sessions of this convention, the
first in the latter part of 1 86 1 , the second beginning
February 1 2, 1 863. The constitution was completed
at the first session, as was supposed, but when the
question of admitting the State into the Union was
before Congress that body required a change of one
section regarding slavery, and the convention was re-
convened and made the necessary change.

When the convention assembled, November 1 5,
1 86 1 , it set about its task. The first intention was
to name the new State Kanawha, but there being
objections to this, the name of Augusta was suggest-
ed; then Alleghany, Western Virginia, and finally
the name West Virginia was chosen. Selecting a
name for the new State was not the most difficult
matter before the convention. Very soon the ques-
tion of slavery came up. The sentiment against that
institution was not strong enough to exclude it from
the State. No doubt a majority of the people would
have voted to exclude it, but there was a strong ele-
ment not yet ready to dispense with slavery, a divis-
ion on that question was undesirable at that time.
Accordingly, the constitution dismissed the slavery
question with the provision that no slave should be
brought into the State nor free negroes come into the
State after the adoption of the constitution. Before
the constitution was submitted to a vote of the people
it was changed to provide for the emancipation of
slaves.

The new constitution had a provision which was
never contained in the constitutions of Virginia; it
affirmed that West Virginia shall remain a member

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 345

of the United States. When this constitution was
framed it did not regard Hampshire, Hardy, Pendle-
ton and Morgan as parts of the State, but provided
that they might become parts of West Virginia if
they voted in favor of adopting the constitution.
They so voted and thus came into the State. The
same provision was made in regard to Frederick
county, but it chose to remain a portion of Virginia.
It was declared that there should be freedom of the
press and of speech, and the law of libel was given a
liberal interpretation and was rendered powerless to
curtail the freedom of the press. It was provided that
in suits of libel the truth could be given in evidence,
and if it appeared that the matter charged as libelous
was true, and was published with good intentions, the
judgment should be for the defendant in the suit.
The days of vica voce voting were past. The con-
stitution provided that all voting should be by ballot.
The Legislature was required to meet every year.

A clause was inserted declaring that no persons
who aided or abetted the Southern Confederacy
should become citizens of the State unless such per-
sons had subsequently volunteered in the army or
the navy of the United States. This measure seems
harsh when viewed from after years, when the pas-
sions kindled by the Civil War have cooled and the
prejudice and hatred have become things of the past.
It must be remembered that the constitution came
into existence during the war. The better judgment
of the people at a later day struck out that clause.
But at the worst the measure was only one of retal-
iation, in remembrance of the tyranny recently shown
within this State and toward loyal citizens and office-
holders by sympathizers of the Southern Confed-
eracy. The overbearing spirit of the politicians of
Richmond found its echo west of the Alleghanies.
Horace Greeley had been deterred from delivering a

346 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

lecture in Wheeling on the issues of the day, because
his lecture contained references to the slavery ques-
tion. In Ohio County, at that time, too those who op-
posed slavery were in the majority, but not in power.
There were not fifty slave-holders in the county.
Horace Greeley was indicted in Harrison county be-
cause he had caused the Tribune, his newspaper, to
be circulated there. The agent of the Tribune fled
from the State to escape arrest. Postmasters, acting,
as they claimed, under the laws of Virginia, refused to
deliver to subscribers such papers as the New York
Tribune, and the New York Christian Advocate. A
Baptist minister who had taught colored children in
Sunday school was for that act ostracized and he left
Wheeling. Newsdealers in Wheeling were afraid to
keep on their shelves a statistical book written by a
North Carolinian, because it treated of slavery in its
economic aspect. Dealers were threatened with in-
dictment if they handled the book. Cassius Clay, of
Kentucky, was threatened with violence for coming
to Wheeling to deliver a lecture which he had deliv-
ered in his own State. The newspapers of Richmond
reproached Wheeling for permitting such a paper as
the Intelligencer to be published there.

These instances of tyranny from Southern sym-
pathizers are given, not so much for their value as
simple history as to show the circumstances under
which West Virginia's first constitution was made,
and to give an insight into the partisan feeling which
led to the insertion of the clause disfranchising those
who took part against the United States. Those
who upheld the Union had in the meantime come in-
to power, and in turn had become the oppressors.
Retaliation is never right as an abstract proposition
and seldom best as a political measure. An act of in-
justice should not be made a precedent or an excuse
for a wrong perpetrated upon the authors of the un-

. CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 347

just act. Time has done its part in committing to
oblivion the hatred and the wrong which grew out of
the Civil War. Under West Virginia's present con-
stitution no man has lesser or greater political powers
because he wore the blue or the grey.

Representation in the State Senate and House
of Delegates was in proportion to the number of peo-
ple. The question of the "white basis" or the "mixed
basis," as contained in the Virginia constitution of
1 850, no longer troubled West Virginia. Suffrage
was extended until the people elected their officers,
State, county and district, including all judges.

The constitution provided for free schools, and
authorized the setting apart of an irreduceable fund
for that purpose. The fund is derived from the sale
of delinquent lands; from grants and devises, the
proceeds of estates of persons. who die without will
or heirs; money paid for exemption from military
duty; such sums as the Legislature may appropriate,
and from other sources. This is invested in United
States or State securities, and the interest is annually
appropriated to the support of the schools. The prin-
cipal must not be expended.

The constitution was submitted to the people for
ratification in April, 1863, and the vote in favor of it
was 1 8,862, and against it 514. Jefferson and Berk-
eley counties did not vote. They had not been rep-
resented in the convention which formed the consti-
tution. With the close of the war Virginia and West
Virginia both claimed them. The matter was finally
settled by the Supreme Court of the United
States in 1 870, in favor of West Virginia. It was at
one time considered that the counties of Northampton
and Accomack on the eastern shore of Virginia be-
longed to the new State of West Virginia, because
they had sent delegates to the Wheeling convention

348 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

for the reorganization of the State government. It
was once proposed that these two counties be traded
to Maryland in exchange for the two western counties
in that State which were to be added to West Virgin-
ia, but the trade was not consummated.

Under the constitution of 1 863 the State of West
Virginia was governed nine years, and there was gen-
eral prosperity. But experience demonstrated that
many of the provisions of the constitution were not
perfect. Amendments and improvements were sug-
gested from time to time, and there gradually grew
up a strong sentiment in favor of a new constitution.
On February 23, 1871, a call was issued for an
election of delegates to a constitutional convention.
The election was held in August of that year, and in
January, 1 872, the delegates met in Charleston and
began the work. They completed it in a little less
than three months.

The following delegates were elected by the va-
rious senatorial and assembly districts of the State:
Brooke county, Alexander Campbell, William K.
Pendleton; Boone, William D. Pate; Braxton, Homer
A. Holt; Berkeley, Andrew W. McCleary, C. J.
Faulkner, John Blair Hoge; Barbour, Samuel Woods,
J. N. B. Crim; Clay, B. W. Byrne; Calhoun, Lemuel
Stump; Cabell, Evermont Ward, Thomas Thornburg;
Doddridge, Jeptha F. Randolph; Fayette, Hudson M.
Dickinson; Greenbrier, Henry M. Mathews, Samuel
Price; Harrison, Benjamin Wilson, Beverly H. Lurty,
John Bassel; Hampshire, J. D. Armstrong, Alexander
Monroe; Hardy, Thomas Maslin; Hancock, John H.
Atkinson; Jefferson, William H. Travers, Logan Os-
burn, William A. Morgan; Jackson, Thomas R.
Park; Kanawha, John A. Warth, Edward B. Knight,
Nicholas Fitzhugh; Lewis, Mathew Edmiston, Black-
well Jackson; Logan, M. A. Staton; Morgan, Lewis
Allen; Monongalia, Waitman T. Willey, Joseph Sni-

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 349

der, J. Marshall Hagans; Marion, U. N. Arnett, Al-
pheus F. Haymond, Fountain Smith; Mason, Charles
B. Waggener, Alonzo Cushing; Mercer, Isaiah Bee,
James Calfee; Mineral, John A. Robinson, John T.
Pearce; Monroe, James M. Byrnsides, William
Haynes; Marshall, James M. Pipes, J. W. Gallaher,
Hanson Criswell; Ohio, George O. Davenport, Wil-
liam W. Miller, A. J. Pawnell, James S. Wheat; Put-
nam, John J. Thompson; Pendleton, Charles D.
Boggs; Pocahontas, George H. Moffett; Preston,
William G. Brown, Charles Kantner; Pleasants, W.
G. H. Care; Roane, Thomas Ferrell; Ritchie, Jacob
P. Strickler; Randolph, J. F. Harding; Raleigh, Wil-
liam Price, William McCreery; Taylor, A. H. Thayer,
Benjamin F. Martin; Tyler, Daniel D. Johnson, Dav-
id S. Pugh; Upshur, D. D. T. Farnsworth; Wirt, D.
A. Roberts, David H. Leonard; Wayne, Charles W.
Ferguson; Wetzel, Septimus Hall; Wood, James M.
Jackson, Okey Johnson.

The new constitution of West Virginia enters
much more fully into the ways and means of govern-
ment than any other constitution Virginia or West
Virginia has known. It leaves less for the courts to
interpret and decide than any of the former consti-
tutions. The details are elaborately worked out, and
the powers and duties of the three departments of
State government, the Legislative, Judicial and Ex-
ecutive, are stated in so precise terms that there can
be little ground for controversy as what the constitu-
tion means. The terms of the State officers were
increased to four years, and the Legislatures's sessions
were changed from yearly to once in two years. A
marked change in the tone of the constitution regard-
ing persons who took part in the Civil War against
the government is noticeable. Not only is the clause
in the former constitution disfranchising those who
took part in the Rebellion not found in the new con-

350 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

stitution, but in its stead is a clause which repudiates,
in express terms, the sentiment on this subject in the
former constitution. It is stated that "political tests
requiring persons, as a pre-requisite to the enjoyment
of their civil and political rights, to purge themselves,
their own oaths> of past alleged offenses, are repug-
nant to the principles of free government, and are
cruel and oppressive." The ex-Confederates and
those who sympathized with and assisted them in their
war against the United States could have been as ef-
fectively restored to their rights by a simple clause to
that effect as by the one employed, which passes judg-
ment upon a part of the former constitution. The
language on this subject in the new constitution may,
therefore, be taken as the matured judgment and as
an expression of the purer conception of justice by
the people of West Virginia when the passions of the
war had subsided, and when years had given time for
reflection. It is provided, also, that no person who
aided or participated in the Rebellion shall be liable
to any proceedings, civil or criminal, for any act done
by him in accordance with the rules of civilized war-
fare. It was provided in the constitution of Virginia
that ministers and priests should not be eligible to
seats in the Legislature. West Virginia's new con-
stitution broke down the barrier against a worthy and
law-abiding class of citizens. It is provided that "all
men shall be free to profess, and, by argument, to
maintain their opinions in matters of religion, and the
same shall in no wise affect, diminish or enlarge
their civil capacities."

A change was made in the matter of investing
the State School Fund. The first constitution author-
ized its investment in United States or West Virginia
State securities only. The new constitution provides
that it might be invested in other solvent securities,
provided United States or this State's securities can-

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 351

not be had. The provision for courts did not meet
general approval as left by the constitution, and this
dissatisfaction at length led to an amendment which
was voted upon October 1 2, 1 880, and was ratified
by a vote of 57,941 for, to 34,270 against. It pro-
vides that the Supreme Court of Appeals shall con-
sist of four judges who shall hold office twelve years,
and they and all other judges and justices in the State
shall be elected by the people. There shall be thirteen
circuit judges, and they must hold at least three terms
of court in every county of the State each year. Their
tenure of office is eight years. The county court
was remodeled. It no longer consists of justices of
the peace, nor is its power as large as formerly. It
is composed of three commissioners whose term of
office is six years. Four regular terms of court are
held yearly. The powers and duties of the justices
of the peace are clearly defined. No county shall have
fewer than three justices nor more than twenty. Each
county is divided into districts, not fewer than three
nor more than ten in number. Each district has one
justice and if its population is more than twelve hun-
dred it is entitled to two. They hold office four
years.

There is a provision in the constitution that any
county may change its county court if a majority of
the electors vote to do so, after the forms laid down
by law have been complied with. It is left to the peo-
ple, in such a case, to decide what shall be the nature
of the tribunal which takes the place of the court of
commissioners.

The growth of the idea of liberty and civil gov-
ernment in a century, as expressed in the Bill of
Rights and the Virginia Constitution of 1 776, and
as embodied in the subsequent constitutions, of 1 830,
1 850, 1 863 and 1 872, shows that the most sanguine
expectations of the statesmen of 1776 have been

352 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

realized and surpassed in the present time. The right
of suffrage has been extended beyond anything
dreamed of a century ago, and it has been demon-
strated that the people are capable of understanding
and enjoying their enlarged liberty. The authors of
Virginia's first constitution believed that it was un-
wise to entrust the masses with the powers of gov-
ernment. Therefore the chief part taken by the peo-
ple in their own government was in the selection of
their Legislature. All other State, county and district
offices were filled by appointments or by elections by
the Legislature. Limited as was the exercise of suf-
frage, it was still further restricted by a property qual-
ification which disfranchised a large portion of the
people. Yet this liberty was so great in comparison
with that enjoyed while under England's colonial gov-
ernment that the people were satisfied for a long time.
But finally they demanded enlarged rights and ob-
tained them. When they at length realized that they
governed themselves, and were not governed by
others, they speedily advanced in the science of gov-
ernment. The property qualification was abolished.
The doctrine that wealth is the true source of political
power was relegated to the past. From that it was but
a step for the people to exercise a right which they
had long suffered others to hold — that of electing
all their officers. At first they did not elect their own
governor, and as late as 1850 they acquiesced, though
somewhat reluctantly, in the doctrine that they could
not be trusted to elect their own judges. But they
have thrown all this aside now, and their officers are
of their own selection; and no man, because he is
poor, if capable of self-support, is denied an equal
voice in government with that exercised by the most
wealthy. Men, not wealth; intelligence, not force,
are the true sources of our political power.

FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA 361

CHAPTER XIII.

Formation of West Virginia.

The officers and visible government of Virginia
abdicated when they joined the Southern Confeder-
acy. The people reclaimed and resumed their sover-
eignty after it had been abdicated by their regularly
constituted authorities. This right belongs to the peo-
ple and can not be taken from them. A public serv-
ant is elected to keep and exercise this sovereignty in
trust, but he can do no more. When he ceases doing
this the sovereignty returns whence it came — to the
people. When Virginia's public officials seceded
from the United States and joined the Southern Con-
federacy they carried with them their individual per-
sons and nothing more. The people of the State
were deprived of none of the rights of self-govern-
ment, but their government was left, for the time
being, without officers to execute it and give it form.
In brief, the people of Virginia had no government,
but had a right to a government, and they proceeded
to create one by choosing officers to take the place of
those who had abdicated. This is all there was in the
re-organization of the Government of Virginia, and
it was done by citizens of the United States, pro-
ceeding under that clause in the Federal Constitution
which declares: "The United States shall guarantee to
every J3tate in this Union a republican form of gov-
ernment."

The government of Virignia was re-organized;
the State of West Virginia was created, and nothing

362 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

was done in violation of the strictest letter and spirit
of the United States Constitution. The steps were
as follows, stated briefly here, but more in detail
elsewhere in this book. The loyal people of Virginia
reclaimed and resumed their sovereignty and re-or-
ganized their government. This government, through
its Legislature, gave its consent for the creation of
West Virginia from a part of Virginia's territory.
Delegates elected by the people of the proposed new
State perpared a constitution. The people of the pro-
posed new State adopted this constitution. Congress
admitted the State. The President issued a procla-
mation declaring West Virginia to be one of the
United States. This State came into the Union in the
same manner and by the same process and on the
same terms as all other States. The details of the re-
organization of the Virginia State government will
now be set forth more in detail.

When Virginia passed the Ordinance of Secess-
ion the territory now forming West Virginia refused
to acquiesce in that measure. The vote on the Ordi-
nance in West Virginia was about ten to one against
it, or forty thousand against four thousand. In some
of the counties there were more than twenty to one
against secession. The sentiment was very strong,
and it soon took shape in the form of mass meetings,
which were largely attended. When the delegates
from West Virginia arrived home from the Richmond
convention and laid before their constituents the state
of affairs there was an immediate movement having
for its object the nullification of the ordinance. Al-
though the people of Western Virginia had long
wanted a new State, and although a very general sen-
timent favored an immediate movement toward that
end, yet a conservative course was pursued. Haste
and rashness gave way to mature judgment, and the
new State movement took a course strictly constitu-

FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA 363

tional. The Virginia government was first re-organ-
ized. That done, the Constitution of the United States
provided a way for creating the new State, for when
the re-organized government was recognized by the
United States, and when a Legislature had been
elected, that Legislature could give its consent to the
formation of a new State from a portion of Virginia's
territory, and the way was thereby provided for the
accomplishment of the object.

On the day in which the Ordinance of Secession
was passed, April 17, 1861, and before the people
knew what had been done, a mass-meeting was held
at Morgantown which adopted resolutions declaring
that Western Virginia would remain in the Union. A
division of the State was suggested in case the eastern
part should vote to join the Confederacy. A meeting
in Wetzel county, April 22, voiced the same senti-
ment, and similar meetings were held in Taylor,
Wood, Jackson, Mason and elsewhere. But the move-
ment took definite form at a mass-meeting of the
citizens of Harrison county, held at Clarksburg, April
22, which was attended by twelve hundred men. Not
only did this meeting protest against the course which
was hurrying Virginia out of the Union, but a line
action was suggested for checking the secession move-
ment, at least in the western part of the State. A call
was sent out for a general meeting, to be held in
Wheeling, May 1 3. Counties of Western Virginia
were asked to elect their wisest men to this conven-
tion. Its objects were stated in general terms to be
the discussion of ways and means for providing for
the State's best interests in the crisis which had
arrived.

Twenty-five counties responded, and the dele-
gates who assembled in Wheeling on May 1 3 were
representatives of the people, men who were deter-
mined that the portion of Virginia west of the Alle-

364 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

ghaney mountains should not take part in a war
against the Union without the consent and against
the will of the people of the affected territory. Hamp-
shire and Berkeley counties, east of the Alleghanies,
sent delegates. Many of the men who attended the
convention were the best known west of the Alle-
ghanies, and in the subsequent history of West Vir-
ginia their names have become household words. The
roll of the convention was as follows:

Barbour county — Spencer Dayton, E. H. Mana-
fee, J. H. Shuttleworth.

Berkeley county — J. W. Dailey, A. R. McQuil-
kin, J. S. Bowers.

Brooke county— M. Walker, Bazael Wells, J. D.
Nichols, Eli Green, John G. Jacob, Joseph Gist, Rob-
ert Nichols, Adam Kuhn, David Heryey, Campbell
Tarr, Nathaniel Wells, J. R. Burgoine, James Archer,
Jesse Edgington, R. L. Jones, James A. Campbell.

Doddridge county — -S. S. Kinney, J. Cheverout,
J. Smith, J. P. F. Randolph, J. A. Foley.

Hampshire county — George W. Broski, O. D.
Downey, Dr. B. B. Shaw, George W. Sheetz, George
W. Rizer.

Hancock county — Thomas Anderson, W. C.
Murray, William B. Freeman, George M. Porter, W.
L. Crawford, L. R. Smith, J. C. Crawford, B. J. Smith,
J. L. Freeman, John Gardner, George Johnston, J. S.
Porter, James Stevenson, J. S. Pomeroy, R. Brene-
man, David Donahoo, D. S. Nicholson, Thayer Mel-
vin, James H. Pugh, Ewing Turner, H. Farnsworth,
James G. Marshall, Samuel Freeman, John Mahan,
Joseph D. Allison, John H. Atkinson, Jonathan Alli-
son, D. C. Pugh, A. Moore, William Brown, William
Hewitt, David Jenkins.

Harrison county — W. P. Goff, B. F. Shuttle-
worth, William Duncan, L. Bowen, William E. Lyon,

FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA 365

James Lynch, John S. Carlile, Thomas L. Moore, John
J. Davis, S. S. Fleming, Felix S. Sturm.

Jackson county — G. L. Kennedy, J. V. Rowley,
A. Flesher, C. M. Rice, D. Woodruff, George Leon-
ard, J. F. Scott.

Lewis county — A. S. Withers, F. M. Chalfant,
J. W. Hudson, P. M. Hale, J. Woofter, J. A. J. Light-
burn, W. L. Grant.

Marshall county — Thomas Wilson, Lot Enix,
John Wilson, G. Hubbs, John Ritchie, J. W. Boner,
J. Alley, S. B. Stidger, Asa Browning, Samuel Wilson,
J. McCondell, A. Bonar, D. Price, D. Roberts, G. W.
Evans, Thos. Dowler, R. Alexander, E. Conner, John
Withers, Charles Snediker, Joseph McCombs, Alex-
ander Kemple, J. S. Riggs, Alfred Gaines, V. P. Gor-
by, Nathan Fish, A. Francis, William Phillips, S. In-
gram, J. Garvin, Dr. Marshman, William Luke, Wil-
liam Baird, J. Winders, F. Clement, James Campbell,
J. B. Hornbrook, John Parkinson, John H. Dickey,
Thomas Morrissa, W. Alexander, John Laughlin, W.
T. Head, J. S. Parriott, W. J. Purdy, H. C. Kemple,
R. Swan, John Reynolds, J. Hornbrook, William Mc-
Farland, G. W. Evans, W. R. Kimmons, William Col-
lins, R. C. Holliday, J. B. Morris, J. W. McCarriher,
Joseph Turner, Hiram McMechen, E. H. Caldwell,
James Garvin, L. Garner, H. A. Francis, Thomas
Dowler, John R. Morrow, William Wasson, N. Wil-
son, Thomas Morgan, S. Dorsey, R. B. Hunter.

Monongalia county — Waitman T. Willey, Wil-
liam Lazier, James Evans, Leroy Kramer, W. E. Han-
away, Elisha Coombs, H. Dering, George McNeeley,
H. N. Mackey, E. D. Fogle, J. T. M. Laskey, J. T.
Hess, C. H. Burgess, John Bly, William Price, A.
Brown, J. R. Boughner, W. B. Shaw, P. L. Rice,
Joseph Jolliff, William Anderson, E. P. St. Clair, P.
T. Lashley, Marshall M. Dent, Isaac Scott, Jacob Mil-
ler, D. B. Dorsey, Daniel White, N. C. Vandervort,
A. Derranet, Amos S. Bowlsby, Joseph Snyder, J. A.

366 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Wiley, John McCarl, A. Garrison, E. B. Taggart, E.
P. Finch.

Marion county — F. H. Pierpont, Jesse Shaw, Ja-
cob Streams, Aaron Hawkins, James C. Beatty, Wil-
liam Beatty, J. C. Beeson, R. R. Brown, J. Holman,
Thomas H. Bains, Hiram Haymond, H. Merryfield,
Joshua Carter, G. W. Jolliff, John Chisler, Thomas
Hough.

Mason county — Lemuel Harpold, W. E. Wetzel,
Wyatt Willis, John Goodley, Joseph McMachir, Wil-
liam Harper, William Harpold, Samuel Davis, Daniel
Polsley, J. N. Jones, Samuel Yeager, R. C. M. Lovell,
Major Brown, John Greer, A. Stevens, W. C. Starr,
Stephen Comstock, J. M. Phelps, Charles B. Wag-
gener, Asa Brigham, David Rossin, B. J. Rollins, D.
C. Sayre, Charles Bumgardner, E. B. Davis, William
Hopkins, A. A. Rogers, John O. Butler, Timothy
Russell, John Hall.

Ohio county — J. C. Orr, L. S. Delaplain, J. R.
Stifel, G. L. Cranmer, A. Bedillion, Alfred Caldwell,
John McClure, Andrew Wilson, George Forbes, Ja-
cob Berger, John C. Hoffman, A. J. Woods, T. H.
Logan, James S. Wheat, George W. Norton, N. H.
Garrison, James Paull, J. M. Bickel, Robert Crangle,
George Bowers, John K. Botsford, L. D. Waitt, J.
Hornbrook, S. Waterhouse, A. Handlan, J. W. Pax-
ton, S. H. Woodward, C. D. Hubbard, Daniel Lamb,
John Stiner, W. B. Curtis, A. F. Ross, A. B. Cald-
well, J. R. Hubbard, E. Buchanon, John Pierson, T.
Witham, E. McCaslin.

Pleasants county — Friend Cochran, James Wil-
liamson, Robert Parker, R. A. Cramer.

Preston county — R. C. Crooks, H. C. Hagans,
W. H. King, James W. Brown, Summers McCrum,
Charles Hooten, William P. Fortney, James A.
Brown, G. H. Kidd, John Howard, D. A. Letzinger,
W. B. Linn, W. J. Brown, Reuben Morris.

FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA '367

Ritchie county — D. Rexroad, J. P. Harris, N.
Rexroad, A. S. Cole.

Roane county — Irwin C. Stump.

Taylor county — J Means, J. M. Wilson, J. Ken-
nedy, J. J. Warren, T. T. Monroe, G. R. Latham, B.
Bailey, J. J. Allen, T. Cather, John S. Burdette.

Tyler county — Daniel Sweeney, V. Smith, W.
B. Kerr, D. D. Johnson, J. C. Parker, William Pritch-
ard, D. King, S. A. Hawkins, James M. Smith, J. H.
Johnson, Isaac Davis.

Upshur county — C. P. Rohrbaugh, W. H. Wil-
liams.

Wayne county — C. Spurlock, F. Moore, W. W.
Brumfield, W. H. Copley, Walter Queen.

Wirt county — E. T. Graham, Henry Newman,
B. Ball.

Wetzel county — Elijah Morgan, T. E. Williams,
Joseph Murphy, William Burrows, B. T. Bowers, J.
R. Brown, J. M. Bell, Jacob Young, Reuben Martin,
R. Reed, R. S. Sayres, W. D. Welker, George W.
Bier, Thos. McQuown, John Alley, S. Stephens, R.
W. Lauck, John McClaskey, Richard Cook, A. Mc-
Eldowney, B. Vancamp.

Wood county — William Johnston, W. H. Baker,
A. R. Dye, V. A. Dunbar, G. H. Ralston, S. M. Pe-
terson, S. D. Compton, J. L. Padgett, George Loomis,
George W. Henderson, E. Deem, N. H. Colston, A.
Hinckley, Bennett Cook, S. S. Spencer, Thomas
Leach, T. E. McPherson, Joseph Dagg, N. W. War-
low, Peter Riddle, John Paugh, S. L. A. Burche, J.
J. Jackson, J. D. Ingram, A. Luaghlin, J. C. Rathbone,
W. Vroman, G. E. Smith, D. K. Baylor, M. Woods,
Andrew Als, Jesse Burch, S. Ogden, Sardis Cole, P.
Reed, John McKibben, W. Athey, C. Hunter, R. H.
Burke, W. P. Davis, George Compton, C. M. Cole,
Roger Tiffins, H. Rider, B. H. Bukey, John W. Moss,
R. B. Smith, Arthur Drake, C. B. Smith, A. Mather,
A. H. Hatcher, W. E. Stevenson, Jesse Murdock, J.

368 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Burche, J. Morrison, Henry Cole, J. G. Blackford, C.
J. Neal, T. S. Conley, J. Barnett, M. P. Amiss, T.
Hunter, J. J. Neal, Edward Hoit, N. B. Caswell, Peter
Dils, W. F. Henry, A. C. McKinsey, Rufus Kinnard,
J. J. Jackson, Jr.

The convention assembled to take whatever
action might se* . ~roper, but no definite plan had
been decided upon further than that Western Virgin-
ia should protest against going into secession with Vir-
ginia. The majority of the members looked forward
to the formation of a new State as the ultimate and
chief purpose of the convention. Time and care
were necessary for the accomplishment of this object.
But there were several, chief among whom was John
S. Carlile, who boldly proclaimed that the time for
forming a new State was at hand. There was a sharp
division in the convention as to the best method of
attaining that end. While Carlile led those who were
for immediate action, Waitman T. Willey was among
the foremost of those who insisted that the business
must be conducted in a business-like way, first by re-
organizing the government of Virginia, and then ob-
taining the consent of the Legislature to divide the
State. Mr. Carlile actually introduced a measure pro-
viding for a new State at once. It met with much fav-
or. But Mr. Willey and others pointed cv^t that precipi-
tate action would defeat the object ii iew, because
Congress would never recognize the State so created.
After much controversy there was a compromise
reached, which was not difficult, where all parties
aimed at the greatest good, and differed only as to the
best means of attaining it.

At that time the Ordinance of Secession had not
been voted upon. Virginia had already turned over
to the Southern Confederacy all its military supplies,
public property, troops and materials, stipulating that,
in case the Ordinance of Secession should be defeated
at the polls, the property should revert to the State.

THE ORDINANCE OF SECESSION 353

CHAPTER XII.

>n3

The Ordinance of Secession.

The doctrine of a State's right to secede from the
Union never received much aid or comfort from the
people of Monongalia county. That principle had
few friends in the county.

Although West Virginia at the time was a part
of Virginia, it refused to go with the majority of the
people of the State in seceding from the United
States and joining the Southern Confederacy.
The circumstances attending that refusal constitute
an important chapter in the history of West Virginia.
Elsewhere in this book, in speaking of the constitu-
tion of this and the mother State, reference is made
to the differences in sentiment and interest between
the people west of the Alleghanies and those east of
that range. The Ordinance of Secession was the rock
upon which Virginia was broken in twain. It was
the occasic g>i the west's separating from the east.
The territory which ought to have been a separate
State at the time Kentucky became one seized the
opportunity of severing the political ties which had
long bound it to the Old Dominion. After the war
Virginia invited the new State to reunite with it, but
a polite reply was sent that West Virginia preferred
to retain its statehood. The sentiment in favor of
separation did not spring up at once. It had been
growing for three-quarters of a century. Before
the close of the Revolutionary War the subject had
attracted such attention that a report on the subject

354 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

was made by a committee in Congress. But many
years before that time a movement for a new State
west of the Alleghanies had been inaugurated by
George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and others,
some of whom were interested in land on the Kana-
wha and elsewhere. The new State was to be named
Vandalia, and the capital was to be at the mouth of
the Great Kanawha. The movement for a new State
really began there, and never afterwards slept; and
finally, in 1863, it was accomplished, after no less
than ninety-three years of agitation.

The Legislature of Virginia met in extra session
January 7, 1 86 1 . The struggle had begun. The Con-
federates had not yet opened their batteries on Fort
Sumpter, but the South had plainly spoken its defi-
ance. The Southern Confederacy was forming. The
elements of resistance were getting together. The
storm of war was about to break upon the county.
State further South had seceded or had decided to do
so. Virginia had not yet decided. Its people were di-
vided. The State hesitated. If it joined the Confeder-
acy it would be the battle ground in the most gigantic
war the world ever saw. It was, the gateway by which
the armies of the North would invade the South. Some
affected to believe, perhaps did believe, that there
would be no war; that the South would not be in-
vaded; that the North would not go beyond argu-
ment. But the people of better judgment foresaw
the storm and they knew where it would break. The
final result no man foresaw. Many hoped, many
doubted, but at that time no man saw what four years
would bring forth. Thus Virginia hesitated long be-
fore she cast her fortunes with the States already or-
ganized to oppose the government. When she took
the fatal step ; when she fought as only the brave can
fight; when she was crushed by weight rather than
vanquished, she accepted the result and emerged from

THE ORDINANCE OF SECESSION 355

the smoke of battle still great; and like Carthage of
old, her splendor seemed only the more conspicuous
by the desolation which war had brought.

The Virginia Legislature called a convention to
meet at Richmond February 13, 1 861 . The time was
short, but the crisis was at hand. The flame was
kindling. Meetings were being held in all the eastern
part of the State, and the people were nearly unani-
mous in their demand that the State join the Confed-
eracy. At least few opposed this demand, but at that
time it is probable that one-half of the people of the
State opposed secession. The eastern part was in fav-
or of it. West of the Alleghany mountains the case
was different. The mass of the people did not at once
grasp the situation. They knew the signs of the times
were strange; that currents were drifting to a center;
but that war was at hand of gigantic magnitude, and
that the State of Virginia was "choosing that day whom
she would serve," were not clearly understood at the
outset. But, as the great truth dawned and as its
lurid light became brighter, West Virginia was not
slow in choosing whom she would serve. The people
assembled in their towns and a number of meetings
were held even before the convening of the special
session of the Legislature, and there was but one sen-
timent expressed and that was loyalty to the govern-
ment. Preston county held the first meeting, Novem-
ber 12, 1860; Harrison county followed the twenty-
sixth of the same month; two days later the people
of Monongalia assembled to discuss and take meas-
ures ; a similar gathering took place in Taylor county,
December 4, and another in Wheeling ten days later;
and on the seventh of January following there was a
meeting in Mason county.

On January 2 1 the Virginia Legislature declared
by resolution that, unless the differences between the
two sections of the country could be reconciled, it

356 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

was Virginia's duty to join the Confederacy. That
resolution went side by side with the call for an
election of delegates to the Richmond Convention,
which was to "take measures." The election was held
February 4, 1 86 1 , and nine days later the memorable
convention assembled. Little time had been given
for a campaign. Western Virgina sent men who were
the peers of any from the eastern part of the State.
The following delegates were chosen from the terri-
tory now forming West Virginia: Barbour county,
Samuel Woods; Braxton and Nicholas, B. W. Byrne;
Berkeley, Edmund Pendleton and Allen C. Ham-
mond; Brooke, Campbell Tarr; Cabell, William Mc-
Comas; Doddridge and Tyler, Chapman J. Stuart;
Fayette and Raleigh, Henry L. Gillespie; Greenbrier,
Samuel Price ; Gilmer and Wirt, C. B. Conrad ; Hamp-
shire, David Pugh and Edmund M. Armstrong; Han-
cock, George M. Porter; Harrison, John S. Carlile and
Benjamin Wilson; Hardy, Thomas Maslin; Jackson
and Roane, Franklin P. Turner; Jefferson, Alfred
M. Barbour and Logan Osborn; Kanawha, Spicer
Patrick and George W. Summers ; Lewis, Caleb Bog-
gess; Logan, Boone and Wyoming, James Lawson;
Marion, Ephriam B. Hall and Alpheus S. Haymond;
Marshall, James Burley; Mason, James H. Crouch;
Mercer, Napoleon B. French; Monongalia, Waitman
T. Willey and Marshall M. Dent; Monroe, John
Echols and Allen T. Caperton; Morgan, Johnson Or-
rick; Ohio, Chester D. Hubbard and Sherard Clem-
ens; Pocahontas, Paul McNeil; Preston, William G.
Brown and James C. McGrew; Putnam, James W.
Hoge; Ritchie, Cyrus Hall; Randolph and Tucker,
J. N. Hughes; Taylor, John S. Burdette; Upshur,
George W. Berlin; Wetzel, L. S. Hall; Wood, Gen-
eral John J. Jackson; Wayne, Burwell Spurlock.

When the convention met it was doubtful if a
majority were in favor of Secession. At any rate, the

THE ORDINANCE OF SECESSION 357

leaders in that movement, who had caused the con-
vention to be called for that express purpose, appeared
afraid to push the question to a vote, and from that
day began the work which ultimately succeeded in
winning over enough delegates, who at first were op-
posed to Secession, to carry the State into the Con-
federacy.

There were forty-six delegates from the counties
now forming West Virginia. Nine of these voted
for the Ordinance of Secession, seven were absent,
one was excused, and twenty-nine voted against it.
The principal leaders among the West Virginia dele-
gates who opposed secession were J. C. McGrew, of
Preston county; George W. Summers, of Kanawha
county; General John J. Jackson, of Wood county;
Chester D. Hubbard, of Ohio county and Waitman
T. Willey of Monongalia county. Willey was the
leader of the leaders. He employed all the eloquence
of which he was master, and all the reason and logic
he could command to check the rush into what he
clearly saw was disaster. No man of feeble courage
could have taken the stand which he took in that con-
vention. The agents from the States which had al-
ready seceded were in Richmond urging the people
to secession. The convention held out for a month
against the clamor, and so fierce became the popu-
lace that delegates who opposed secession were threat-
ened with personal assault and were in danger of
assassination. The peril and the pressure induced
many delegates to go over to the Confederacy. But
the majority held out against secession. In the front
was General John J. Jackson, one of West Virginia's
most venerable citizens. He was of the material
which never turns aside from danger. A cousin of
Stonewall Jackson, he had seen active service in the
field before Stonewall was born. He had fought the
Seminoles in Florida, and had been a member of Gen-

358 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

eral Andrew Jackson's staff. He had been intrusted
by the government with important and dangerous
duties before he was old enough to vote. He had trav-
ersed the wilderness on horseback and alone between
Florida and Kentucky, performing in this manner a
circuitous journey of three thousand miles, much
of it among the camps and over the hunting grounds
of treacherous Indians. Inured to dangers and accus-
tomed to peril, he was not the man to flinch or give
ground. He stood up for the Union; spoke for it;
urged the convention to pause on the brink of the
abyss before taking the leap. Another determined
worker in the famous convention was Judge G. W.
Summers, of Charleston. He was in the city of
Washington attending a "Peace Conference" when
he received news that the people of Kanawha county
had elected him a delegate to the Richmond conven-
tion. He hurried to Richmond and opposed with all
his powers the Ordinance of Secession. A speech
which he delivered against that measure has been pro-
nounced the most powerful heard in the convention.
On March second Mr. Willey made a remark-
able speech in the convention. He announced that his
purpose was not to reply to the arguments of the dis-
unionists, but to defend the right of free speech which
Richmond, out of the halls of the convention and in,
was trying to stifle by threats and derision. He warn-
ed the people that when free speech is silenced lib-
erty is no longer a realty, but a mere mockery. He
then took up the secession question, although he had
not intended to do so when he began speaking, and
he presented in so forcible a manner the arguments
against secession that he made a profound impress-
ion upon the convention. During the whole of that
month the secessionists were unable to carry their
measure through. But when Fort Sumpter was fired
on, and when the President of the United States called

THE ORDINANCE OF SECESSION 359

for 75,000 volunteers, the Ordinance of Secession
passed, April 17, 1861.

The next day, April 1 8, a number of delegates
from Western Virginia declared that they would not
abide by the action of the convention. Amid the roar
of Richmond run mad, they began to consult among
themselves what course to pursue. On April 20
several of the West Virginians met in a bed room of
the Powhatan hotel and decided that nothing more
could be done by them in Richmond to hinder or de-
feat the secession movement. They agreed to return
home and urge their constituents to vote against the
Ordinance at the election set for May 24. They be-
gan to depart for their homes. Some had gotten safely
out of Richmond and beyond the reach of the Confed-
erates before it became known that the western del-
egates were leaving. Others were still in Richmond,
and plans was formed to keep them prisoners in the
city — not in jail — but they were required to obtain
passes from the governor before leaving the city. It
was correctly surmised that the haste shown by these
delegates in taking their departure was due to their
determination to stir up opposition to the Ordinance
of Secession in the western part of the State. But
when it was learned that most of the western delegates
had already left Richmond it was deemed unwise to
detain the few who yet remained, and they were per-
mitted to depart, which they did without loss of time.

Before the people knew that an Ordinance of
Secession had passed, the convention began to levy
war upon the United States. Before the seal of se-
crecy had been removed from the proceedings of that
body, large appropriations for military purposes had
been made. Officers were appointed ; troops armed ;
forts and arsenals belonging to the government had
been seized. The arsenal at Harper's Ferry and that
at Norfolk had fallen before the attack of Virginia's

360 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

troops before the people of that State knew that they
were no longer regarded as citizens of the United
States. The convention, still in secret session, with-
out the knowledge or consent of the people of Vir-
ginia, had annexed that State to the Southern Con-
federacy. It was all done with the presumption that
the people of the State would sustain the Ordinance
of Secession when they had learned of its existence
and when they were given an opportunity to vote
upon it. The election came May 24, 1861 ; and be-
fore that day there were thirty thousand soldiers in
the State east of the Alleghanies, and troops had been
pushed across the mountains into Western Virginia.
The majority of votes cast in the State were in favor
of ratifying the Ordinance of Secession; but West
Virginia voted against it. Eastern Virginia was car-
ried by storm. The excitement was intense. The
cry was for war, if any attempt should be made to hin-
der Virginia's going into the Southern Confederacy.
Many men whose sober judgment was opposed to
secession, were swept into it by their surroundings.

FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA 369

The Wheeling Convention took steps, pending the
election, recommending that, in case secession carried
at the polls, a convention be held for the purpose
of deciding what to do — whether to divide the State or
simply re-organize the government. This was the
compromise measure which was satisfactory to both
parties of the convention. Until the Ordinance of
Secession had been ratified by the people Virginia was
still, in law if not in fact, a member of the Federal
Union, and any step was premature looking to a di-
vision of the State or a re-organization of its govern-
ment before the election. F. H. Pierpont, afterwards
governor, introduced the resolution which provided
for another convention in case the Ordinance of Se-
cession should be ratified at the polls. The resolution
provided that the counties represented in the conven-
tion and all other counties of Virginia disposed to act
with them, appoint on June 4, 1861, delegates to a
convention to meet June 1 1 . This convention would
then be prepared to proceed to business, whether that
business should be the re-organization of the govern-
ment of Virginia or the dividing of the State, or
both. Having finished its work, the convention ad-
journed. Had it rashly attempted to divide the State
at that time the effort must have failed, and the bad
effects of the failure, and the consequent confusion,
would have been far-reaching. No man can tell
whether such a failure would not have defeated for
all time the creation of West Virginia from Virginia's
territory .

The vote on the Ordinance of Secession took
place May 23, 1861, and the people of eastern Vir-
ginia voted to go out of the Union, but the part now
comprising West Virginia gave a large majority
against seceding. Delegates to the Assembly of Vir-
ginia were elected at the same time. Great interest
was now manifested west of the Alleghanies in the

370 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

subject of a new State. Delegates to the second
Wheeling convention Were elected June 4, and met
June 11, 1 86 1 . The members of the first conven-
tion had been appointed by mass-meetings and other-
wise, but those of the second convention had been
chosen by the suffrage of the people. Thirty coun-
ties were represented as follows:

Barbour county— N. H. Taft, Spencer Dayton,
John H. Shuttleworth.

Brooke county — W. H. Crothers, Joseph Gist,
John D. Nichols, Campbell Tarr.

Cabell county — Albert Laidley was entered on
the roll but did not serve.

Doddridge county — James A. Foley.

Gilmer county — Henry H. Withers.

Hancock county — George M. Porter, John H.
Atkinson, William L. Crawford.

Harrison county — John J. Davis, Chapman J.
Stewart, John C. Vance, John S. Carlile, Soloman S.
Fleming, Lot Bowers, B. F. Shuttleworth.

Hardy county — John Michael.

Hampshire county — James Carskadon, Owen J.
Downey, James J. Barracks, G. W. Broski, James H.
Trout.

Jackson county — Daniel Frost, Andrew Flesher,
James F. Scott.

Kanawha county — Lewis Ruffner, Greenbury
Slack.

Lewis county — J. A. J. Lightburn, P. M. Hale.

Monongalia county — Joseph Snyder, Leroy Kra-
mer, R. L. Berkshire, William Price, James Evans,
D. B. Dorsey.

Marion county — James O. Watson, Richard
Fast, Fontain Smith, Francis H. Pierpont, John S.
Barnes, A. F. Ritchie.

Marshall county — C. H. Caldwell, Robert Mor-
ris, Remembrance Swan.

FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA 371

Mason county — Lewis Wetzel, Daniel Posley, C.
B. Waggener.

Ohio county — Andrew Wilson, Thomas H. Lo-
gan, Daniel Lamb, James W. Paxton, George Harris
son, Chester D. Hubbard.

Pleasants county — James W. Williamson, C.
W. Smith.

Preston county — William Zinn,, Charles Hooten,
William B. Crane, John Howard, Harrison Hagans,
John J. Brown.

Ritchie county- — William H. Douglass.

Randolph county — Samuel Crane.

Roane county — T. A. Roberts.

Tucker county — Solomon Parsons.

Taylor county — L. E. Davidson, John S. Bur-
dette, Samuel B. Todd.

Tyler county — William I. Boreman, Daniel D.
Johnson.

Upshur county — John Love, John L. Smith, D.
D. T. Farnsworth.

Wayne county — William Ratcliff , William Cop-
ley, W. W. Brumfield.

Wetzel county — James G. West, Reuben Mar-
tin, James P. Ferrell.

Wirt county — James A. Williamson, Henry
Newman, E. T. Graham.

Wood county — John W. Moss, Peter G. Van-
Winkle, Arthur I. Boreman.

James T. Close and H. S. Martin, of Alexandria,
and John Hawxhurst and E. E. Mason, of Fairfax,
were admitted as delegates, while William F. Mercer,
of Loudoun, and Jonathan Roberts, of Fairfax, were
rejected because of the insufficiency of their creden-
tials. Arthur I. Boreman was elected president of the
convention. G. L. Cranmer, secretary, and Thomas
Hornbrook, sergeant-at-arms.

On June 1 3, two days after the meeting of the

372 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

convention, a committee on order of business reported
a declaration by the people of Virginia. This doc-
ument set forth the acts of the Secessionists of Vir-
ginia, declared them hostile to the welfare of the peo-
ple, done in violation of the constitution and there-
fore null and void. It was further declared that all
offices in Virginia, whether legislative, judicial or ex-
ecutive, under the government set up by the conven-
tion which passed the Ordinance of Secession, were
vacant. The next day the convention began the
work of re-organizing the State Government on the
following lines : A governor, lieutenant governor and
-attorney general for the State of Virginia were to be
appointed by the convention to hold office until their
successors should be elected and qualified, and the
Legislature was required to provide by law for the
election of a governor and a lieutenant governor by
the people. A council of State, consisting of five
members, was to be appointed to assist the governor,
their term of office to expire at the same time as that
of the governor. Delegates elected to the Legislature
on May 23, 1 861 , and Senators entitled to seats under
the laws then existing, and who would take the oath
as required, were to constitute the re-organized Leg-
islature and were required to meet in Wheeling on
the first day of the following July. A test oath was
required of all officers, whether State, county or mu-
nicipal.

On June 20 the convention proceeded to choose
officers. Francis H. Pierpont was elected governor
of Virginia; Daniel Polsley was elected lieutenant
governor; James Wheat was chosen attorney general.
The governor's council consisted of Daniel Lamb, Pe-
ter G. Van Winkle, William Lazier, William A. Har-
rison and J. T. Paxton. The legislature was required
to elect an auditor, treasurer and secretary of state as
soon as possible. This closed the work of the conven-
tion, and it adjourned to meet August 6.

FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA 373

A new government existed for Virginia. The
Legislature which was to assemble in Wheeling in ten
days could complete the work.

This Legislature of Virginia, consisting of thirty-
one members, began its labors immediately upon
organizing, July 1 . A message from Governor Pier-
pont laid before that body the condition of affairs and
indicated certain measures which ought to be carried
out. On July 9 the Legislature elected L. A. Hagans,
of Preston county, secretary of Virginia; Samuel
Crane, of Randolph county, auditor; and Campbell
Tarr, of Brooke county, treasurer. Waitman T. Wil-
ley and John S. Carlile were elected to the United
States Senate.

The convention which had adjourned June 20
met again August 6 and took up the work of divid-
ing Virginia, whose government had been re-organ-
ized and was in working order. The people wanted a
new State and the machinery for creating it was set
in motion. On July 20 an ordinance was passed call-
ing for an election to take the sense of the people on
the question, and to elect members to a constitutional
convention at the same time. In case the vote fav-
ored a new State, the men elected to the constitutional
convention were to meet and frame a constitution.
The convention adjourned August 2, 1861. Late in
October the election was held, with the result that the
vote stood about twenty-five to one in favor of a new
State.

The re-organized government of Virginia made
all things ready for the creation of the new common-
wealth. The people of Western Virginia had waited
long for the opportunity to divide the State. The ty-
rany of the more powerful eastern part had been
borne half a century. When at last the war created
the occasion, the people were not slow to profit by
it, and to bring a new State into existence. The
work began in earnest 'August 20, 1861, when the

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374 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

second Wheeling convention called upon the people
to vote on the question; and the labor was completed
June 20, 1 863, when the officers of the new State
took charge of affairs. One year and ten months
were required for the accomplishment of the work;
and this chapter gives an oultine of the proceedings
relative to the new State during that time. It was at
first proposed to call it Kanawha, but the name was
changed in the constitutional convention at Wheeling
on December 3, 1861, to West Virginia. On Febru-
ary 1 8, 1 862, the constitutional convention adjourn-
ed, subject to the call of the chairman. In April of
that year the people of the State voted upon
the ratification of the constitution, and the vote
in favor of ratification was 1 8,862, and against it,
514. Governor Pierpont issued a proclamation an-
nouncing the result, and at the same time called an
extra session of the Virginia Legislature to meet in
Wheeling May 6. That body met, and six days later
passed an act by which it gave its consent to a division
of the State of Virginia and the creation of a new
State. This was done in order that the constitution
might be complied with, for, before the State could
be divided, the Legislature must give its consent. It
yet remained for West Virginia to be admitted into
the Union by an Act of Congress and by the Presi-
dent's proclamation. Had there been no opposition
and had there not been such a press of other business,
this might have been accomplished in a few weeks.
As it was there was a long contest in the Senate. The
opposition did not come so much from outside the
State as from the State itself. John S. Carlile, one of
the Senators elected by the Legislature of the re-or-
ganized government of Virginia at Wheeling, was
supposed to be friendly to the cause of the new State,
but when he was put to the test it was found that he
was strongly opposed to it, and he did all in his power
to defeat the movement, and almost accomplished

FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA 375

his purpose. The indignation in Western Virginia
was great. The Legislature, in session at Wheeling,
on December 12, 1 862, by a resolution, requested
Carlile to resign the seat he held in the Senate. He
refused to do so. He had been one of the most active
advocates of the movement for a new State while a
member of the first Wheeling convention, in May,
1 86 1 , and had been a leader in the new State move-
ment before and after that date. Why he changed,
and opposed the admission of West Virginia by Con-
gress has never been satisfactorily explained.

One of the reasons given for his opposition, and
one which he himself put forward, was that Congress
attempted to amend the State constitution on the sub-
ject of slavery, and he opposed the admission of the
State on that ground. He claimed that he would
rather have no new State than have it saddled with a
constitution, a portion of which its people had never
ratified. But this could not have been the sole cause
of Carlile's opposition. He tried to defeat the bill
after the proposed objectionable amendment to the
constitution had been satisfactorily arranged. He
fought it in a determined manner till the last. He had
hindered the work of getting the bill before Congress
before any change in the State constitution had been
proposed.

The members in Congress from the re-organized
government of Virginia were: William G. Brown,
Jacob B. Blair and K. V. Waley; in the Senate, John
S. Carlile and Waitman T. Willey. In addition to
these gentlemen, the Legislature appointed as com-
missioners to bring the matter before Congress,
Ephriam B. Hall, of Marion county, Peter Van Win-
kle, of Wood county, John Hall, of Mason county,
and Elbert H. Caldwell, of Marshall county. These
commissioners reached Washington May 22, 1862.
There were several other well-known West Virginians
who also went to Washington on their own account

376 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

to assist in securing the new State. Among them
were Daniel Polsley, Lieutenant Governor of Vir-
ginia; Granville Parker and Harrison Hagans. There
were members of Congress and Senators from other
States who performed special service in the cause.
The matter was laid before the United States Senate
May 29, 1 862, by Senator Willey, who presented the
West Virginia Constitution recently ratified, and also
the Act of the Legislature giving its consent to the cre-
ation of a new State within the jurisdiction of Vir-
ginia, and a memoral requesting the admission of the
State. In presenting these documents, Senator Wil-
ley addressed the Senate and denied that the move-
ment was simply to gratify revenge upon the mother
State for seceding from the Union and joining the
Southern Confederacy, but on the contrary, the peo-
ple west of the Alleghanies had long wanted a new
State, and had long suffered in consequence of Virgin-
ia's neglect, and for her unconcern for their welfare.
Mr. Wiley's address was favorably received, and the
whole matter regarding the admission of West Vir-
ginia was laid down before the Committee on Territo-
ries, of which Senator John S. Carlisle was a member.
It had not at the time been suspected that Carlisle was
hostile to the movement. He was expected to prepare
the bill. He neglected to do so until nearly a month
had passed and the session of Congress was drawing
to a close. But it was not so much the delay that
showed his hostility as the form of the bill. Had it
been passed by Congress in the form pro-
posed by Carlisle the defeat of the new State
measure must have been inevitable. No one ac-
quainted with the circumstances and conditions
had any doubt that the bill was prepared for
the express purpose of defeating the wishes of the
people by whom Mr. Carlile had been sent to the Sen-
ate. It included in West Virginia, in addition to the
counties which had ratified the constitution, Alle-

FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA 377

ghany, Augusta, Berkeley, Bath, Botetourt, Craig,
Clark, Frederick, Highland, Jefferson, Page, Rock-
bridge, Rockingham, Shenandoah and Warren coun-
ties. The hostility in most of those counties was very
great. The bill provided that those counties, in con-
junction with those west of the Alleghanies, should
elect delegates to a constitutional convention and
frame a constitution which should provide that all
children born of slaves after 1 863 should be free.
This constitution was then to go back to the people
of the several counties for ratification. Then, if the
Virginia Legislature should pass an Act giving its
consent to the creation of a new State from Virginia's
territory, and the Governor of Virginia certify the
same to the President of the United States, he might
make proclamation of the fact, and West Virginia
would become a State without further proceedings
by Congress.

Senator Carlile knew that the counties he had
added east of the Alleghanies were opposed to the
new State on any terms, and that they would oppose
it the more determinedly on account of the gradual
emancipation clause in it. He knew that they would
not appoint delegates to a constitutional convention,
nor would they ratify the constitution should one be
submitted to them. In short, they were strong
enough in votes and sentiment to defeat the move-
ment for a new State. All the work done for the crea-
tion of West Virginia would have been thrown away
had this bill prevailed.

Three days later, June 26, the bill was called up,
and Charles Sumner proposed an amendment re-
garding slavery. He would have no slavery at all.
All indications were that the bill would defeat the
measure for the new State, and preparations were
made to begin the fight in a new quarter. Congress-
man Wm. G. Brown, of Preston county, proposed a

378 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

new bill to be presented in the House of Representa-
tives. But the contest went on. In July Senator
Willey submitted an amendment, which was really
a new bill. It omitted the counties east of the Alle-
ghanies, and provided that all slaves under twenty
one years of age on July 4, 1 863, should be free on
arriving at that age. It now became apparent to Car-
lise that his bill was dead, and that West Virginia was
likely to be admitted. As a last resort, he proposed
a postponement till December, in order to gain time,
but his motion was lost. Carlile then opposed the bill
on the grounds that if passed it would impose upon
the people of the new State a clause of the constitu-
tion not of their own making and which they had not
ratified. But this argument was deprived of its force
by offering to submit the proposed amendment to the
people of West Virginia for their approval. Fortu-
nately the constitutional convention had adjourned
subject to the call of the chair. The members were
convened; they included the amendment in the con;
stitution, and the people approved it. However, be-
fore this was done the bill took its course through
Congress. It passed the Senate July 1 4, 1 862, and
was immediately sent to the Lower House. But Con-
gress being about to adjourn, further consideration of
the bill went over till the next session in December,
1 862, and on the tenth of that month it was taken up
in the House of Representatives and after a discus-
sion continuing most of the day, it was passed by a
vote of ninety-six to fifty-five.

The friends of the new State now felt that their
efforts had been successful; but one more step was
necessary, and the whole work might yet be rendered
null and void. It depended on President Lincoln. He
might veto the bill. He requested the opinion of
his cabinet. Six of the cabinet officers complied, and
three favored signing the bill and three advised the
President to veto it. Mr. Lincoln took it under ad-

FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA 379

visement. It was believed that he favored the bill, but
there was much anxiety felt. Nearly two years be-
fore that time Mr. Lincoln, through one of his cabi-
net officers, had promised Governor Pierpont to do
all he could, in a constitutional way, for the re-organ-
ized government of Virginia, and that promise was
construed to mean that the new State would not be
opposed by the President. Mr. Lincoln was evidently
undecided for some time what course to pursue, for
he afterwards said that a telegram received by him
from A. W. Campbell, editor of the Wheeling Intel-
ligencer, largely influenced him in deciding to sign
the bill. On December 31,1 862, Congressman Jacob
B. Blair called on the President to see if any action
had been taken by the Executive. The bill had not yet
been signed, but Mr. Lincoln asked Mr. Blair to come
back the next day. Mr. Blair did so, and was given
the bill admitting West Virginia into the Union. It
was signed January 1 , 1 863.

On December 31, 1862, President Lincoln gave
his own views on these questions in the following
guage

Ian—-*

"The consent of the Legislature of Virginia is
constitutionally necessary to the Bill for the Admis-
sion of West Virginia becoming a law. A body claim-
ing to be such Legislature has given its consent. We
cannot well deny that it is such, unless we do so upon
the outside knowledge that the body was chosen at
elections in which a majority of the qualified voters of
Virginia did not participate. But it is a universal
practice in the popular elections in all these States to
give no legal consideration whatever to those who do
not choose to vote, as against the effect of those who
do choose to vote. Hence it is not the qualified voters,
but the qualified voters who choose to vote, that con-
stitute the political power of the State. Much less than
to non-voters should any consideration be given to
those who did not vote in this case, because it is also

*See "Works of Abraham Lincoln," by John Nicolay and John
Hay, vol. 2, p. 285.

380 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

matter of outside knowledge that they were not merely
neglectful of their rights under and duty to this Gov-
ernment, but ■were also engaged in open rebellion
against it. Doubtless among these non-voters were
some Union men whose voices were smothered by the
more numerous Secessionists, but we know too little of
their number to assign them any appreciable value.

"Can this Government stand if it indulges consti-
tutional constructions by which men in open rebellion
against it are to be accounted, man for man, the equals
of those who maintain their loyalty to it? Are they to
be accounted even better citizens, and more worthy of
consideration, than those who merely neglect to vote?
If so, their treason against the Constitution enhances
their constitutional value. Without braving these
absurd conclusions we cannot deny that the body
which consents to the admission of West Virginia is
the Legislature of Virginia. I do not think the plural
form of the words 'Legislatures' and 'States' in the
phase of the constitution 'without the consent of the
Legislatures of the States concerned' has any reference
to the new State concerned. That plural form sprang
from the contemplation of two or more old States
contributing to form a new one. The idea that the
new State was in danger of being admitted without
its own consent was not provided against, because it
was not thought of, as I conceive. It is said 'the Devil
takes care of his own.' Much more should a good
spirit — the spirit of the Constitution and the Union —
take care of its own. I think it cannot do less and
live.

"But is the admission of West Virginia into the
Union expedient? This, in my general view, is more
a question for Congress than for the Executive. Still
I do not evade it. More than on anything else, it de-
pends on whether the admission or rejection of the
new State would, under all the circumstances, tend the
more strongly to the restoration of the National au-
thority throughout the Union. That which helps most
in this direction is the most expedient at this time.
Doubtless those in remaining Virginia would return to
the Union, so to speak, less reluctantly without the
division of the old State than with it, but I think we
could not save as much in this quarter by rejecting the
new State as we should lose by it in West Virginia.
We can scarcely dispense with the aid of West Vir-

FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA 381

ginia in this struggle; much less can we afford to have
her against us, in Congress and in the field. Her
brave and good men regard her admission into the
Union as a matter of life and death. They have been
true to the Union under very severe trials. We have
so acted as to justify their hopes, and we cannot fully
retain their confidence and co-operation if we seem to
break faith with them. In fact they could not do so
much for us if they would. Again, the admission of
the new State turns that much slave soil to free, and
this is a certain and irrevocable encroachment upon
the cause of the rebellion. The division of a State is
dreaded as a precedent. But a measure made ex-
pedient by a war is no precedent in times of peace. It
is said that the admission of West Virginia is secession.
Well, if we call it by that name, there is still difference
enough between secession against the constitution and
secession in favor of the constitution. I believe the
admission of West Virginia into the Union is ex-
pedient."

However, there was yet something to be done
before West Virginia became a State. The bill passed
by Congress and signed by President Lincoln went
no further than to provide that the new State should
become a member of the Union when a clause con-
cerning slavery, contained in the bill, should be made
a part of the constitution and be ratified by the peo-
ple. The convention which had framed the State
Constitution had adjourned to meet at the call of the
chairman. The members came together on February
1 2, 1 863. Two days later John S. Carlile, who had
refused to resign his seat in the Senate when asked by
the Virginia Legislature to do so, made another effort
to defeat the will of the people whom he was sent to
Congress to represent. He presented a supplement-
ary bill in the Senate providing that President Lin-
coln's proclamation admitting West Virginia be. with-
held until certain counties of West Virginia had rat-
ified by their votes the clause regarding slavery con-
tained in the bill. Mr. Carlile believed that those
counties would not ratify the constitution. But his

382 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

bill was defeated in the Senate by a vote of 28 tc 1 2.

The clause concerning slavery, as adopted by the
constitutional convention on re-assembling at Wheel-
ing, was in these words : "The children of slaves, born
within the limits of this State after the fourth day of
July, 1 863, shall be free, and all slaves within the said
State who shall, at the time aforesaid, be under the age
of ten years, shall be free when they arrive at the age
of twenty-one years ; and all slaves over ten and under
twenty-one years shall be free when they arrive at the
age of twenty-five years; and no slave shall be per-
mitted to come into the State for permanent resi-
dence therein." The people ratified the constitution
at an election held for that purpose. The majority in
favor of ratification was seventeen thousand.

President Lincoln issued his proclamation April
20, 1863, and sixty days thereafter, that is June 20,
1863, West Virginia was to become a State without
further legislation. In the meantime, May 9, a State
convention assembled in Parkersburg to nominate of-
ficers. A Confederate force under General Jones ad-
vanced within forty miles of Parkersburg, and the
convention hurried through with its labors and ad-
journed. It nominated Arthur I. Boreman, of Wood
county, for governor; Campbell Tarr, of Brooke
county, for treasurer; Samuel Crane, of Randolph
county, for auditor; Edgar J. Boyers, of Tyler county,
for secretary of state; A. B. Caldwell, of Ohio county,
attorney general; for judges of the Supreme Court of
Appeals, Ralph L. Berkshire, of Monongalia county;
James H. Brown, of Kanawha county, and William
A. Harrison, of Harrison county. These were all
elected late in the month of May, and on June 20,
1863, took the oath of office and West Virginia was
a State. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel
Webster in 1 85 1 when he said that if Virginia took
sides with a secession movement, the result would be

FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA 383

the formation of a new State from Virginia's Trans-
Alleghany territory.

The creation of the new State of West Virginia
did not put an end to the re-organized government of
Virginia. The officers who had held their seat of
government at Wheeling moved to Alexandria, and
in 1 865 moved to Richmond, where they held office
until their successors were elected. Governor Pier-
pont filled the gubernatiorial chair of Virginia about
seven years.

In the summer of 1 864 General Benjamin F.
Butler, in command of Union forces in eastern Vir-
ginia, wrote to President Lincoln, complaining of the
conduct of Governor Pierpont and the Secretary of
State, intimating that they were not showing suffi-
cient devotion to the Union cause. On August 9,
1 864, Lincoln replied, and in the following language
put a squelch on General Butler's meddling:

"I surely need not to assure you that I have no
doubt of your loyalty and devoted patriotism, and I
must tell you that I have no less confidence in those of
Governor Pierpont and the Attorney General. The
former — at first as the loyal governor of all Virginia,
including that which is now West Virginia, in organ-
izing and furnishing troops, and in all other proper
matters — was as earnest, honest and efficient to the
extent of his means as any other loyal Governor. * *
* * The Attorney General needs only to be known
to be relieved from all question as to loyalty and thor-
ough devotion to the national cause."*

* Works of Lincoln, vol. 2, p. 620.

CIVIL WAR COMMENCED 385

CHAPTER XIV.

Civil War Commenced.

In a work of this sort it should not be expected
that a full account of the Civil War, as it affected
West Virginia, will be given. It must suffice to pre-
sent only an outline of the events as they occurred
in that great struggle, nor is there any pretence made
that this outline shall be complete. The vote on the
Ordinance of Secession showed that a large majority
of the people in this State were opposed to a separa-
tion from the United States. This vote, while it could
not have been much of a surprise to the politicians in
the eastern part of Virginia, was a disappointment. It
did not prevent Virginia, as a State, from joining the
Southern Confederacy, but the result made it plain
that Virginia was divided against itself, and that all
the part west of the Alleghany mountains, and much
of that west of the Blue Ridge, would not take up
arms against the general government in furtherance
of the interests of the Southern Confederacy.

It therefore became necessary for Virginia,
backed by other Southern States, to conquer its own
transmontane territory. The commencement of the
war in what is now West Virginia was due to an in-
vasion by troops in the service of the Southern Con-
federacy in an effort to hold the territory as a part
of Virginia. It should not be understood, however,
that there was no sympathy with the South in this
State. As nearly as can be estimated the number who
took sides with the South, in proportion to those who

386 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

upheld the Union, was as one to six. The people
generally were left to choose. Efforts were made at
the same time to raise soldiers for the South and for
the North, and those who did not want to go one way
were at liberty to go the other. In the eastern part of
the State considerable success was met with in enlist-
ing volunteers for the Confederacy, but in the western
counties there were hardly any who went with the
South. That the government at Richmond felt the
disappointment keenly is evidenced by the efforts put
forth to organize companies of volunteers, and the
discouraging reports of the recruiting officers.

Robert E. Lee was appointed commander-in-
chief of the military and naval forces of Virginia,
April 23, 1861, and on the same day he wrote to
Governor Letcher accepting the office. Six days later
he wrote Major A. Loring, at Wheeling, urging him to
muster into the service of the State all volunteer com-
panies in that vicinity, and to take command of them.
Loring was asked to report what success attended his
efforts. On the same day Lieutenant-Colonel John
McCausland, at Richmond, recived orders from Gen-
eral Lee to proceed at once to the Kanawha Valley
and muster into service the volunteer companies in
that quarter. General Lee named four companies
already formed, two in Kanawha and two in Putnam
counties, and he expressed the belief that others would
offer their services. McCausland was instructed to
organize a company of artillery in the Kanawha Val-
ley. On the next day, April 30, General Lee wrote to
Major Boykin, at Weston, in Lewis county, ordering
him to muster in the volunteer companies in that part
of the State, and to ascertain how many volunteers
could be raised in the vicinity of Parkersburg. Gen-
eral Lee stated in the letter that he had sent two hun-
dred flint-lock muskets to Colonel Jackson (Stone-
wall) at Harper's Ferry, for the use of the volunteers

CIVIL WAR COMMENCED 387

about Weston. He said no better guns could be had
at that time. The next day, May 1 , Governor Letcher
announced that arrangements had been made for call-
ing out fifty thousand Virginia volunteers, to assem-
ble at Norfolk, Richmond, Alexandria, Fredericks-
burg, Harper's Ferry, Grafton, Parkersburg, Kana-
wha and Moundsville. On May 4 General Lee or-
dered Colonel George A. Porterfield to Grafton to
take charge of the troops in that quarter, those already
in service and those who were expected to volunteer.
Colonel Porterfield was ordered, by authority of the
Governor of Virginia, to call out the volunteers in
the counties of Wood, Wirt, Roane, Calhoun, Gilmer,
Ritchie, Pleasants and Doddridge, to rendezvous at
Parkersburg; and in the counties of Braxton, Lewis,
Harrison, Monongalia, Taylor, Barbour, Upshur,
Tucker, Marion, Randolph and Preston, to rendez-
vous at Grafton. General Lee said he did not know
how many men could be enlisted, but he supposed
five regiments could be mustered into service in that
part of the State.

In these orders sent out General Lee expressed a
desire to be kept informed of the success attending
the call for volunteers. Replies soon began to arrive
at Richmond, and they were uniformly discouraging
to General Lee. It was early apparent that the peo-
ple of Western Virginia were not enthusiastic in tak-
ing up arms for the Southern Confederacy. Major
Boykin wrote General Lee that the call for volun-
teers was not meeting with success. To this letter
General Lee replied on May 1 1 , and urged Major
Boykin to persevere and call out companies for such
counties as were not so hostile to the South, and to
concentrate them at Grafton. He stated that four
hundred rifles had been forwarded from Staunton to
Beverly, in Randolph county, where Major Goff
would receive and hold them until further orders.
Major Boykin requested that companies from other

388 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

parts of the State be sent to Grafton to take the places
of companies which had been counted upon to or-
ganize in that vicinity, but which had failed to mate-
rialize. To this suggestion General Lee replied that
he did not consider it advisable to do so, as the pres-
ence of outside companies at Grafton would tend to
irritate the people instead of conciliating them.

On May 16 Colonel Porterfield had arrived at
Grafton and had taken a hasty survey of the situation,
and his conclusion was that the cause of the Southern
Confederacy in that vicinity was not promising. On
that day he made a report to R. S. Garnett, at Rich-
mond, Adjutant General of the Virginia army, and
stated that the rifles ordered to Beverly from Staun-
ton had not arrived, nor had they been heard from. It
appears from this report that no volunteers had yet
assembled at Grafton, but Colonel Porterfield said a
company was organizing at Pruntytown, in Taylor
county; one at Weston, under Captain Boggess; one
at Philippi, another at Clarksburg, and still another at
Fairmont. Only two of these companies had guns,
flintlocks, and no ammunition. At that time all of
those companies had been ordered to Grafton. Col-
onel Porterfield said, in a tone of discouragement, that
those troops, almost destitute of guns and ammuni-
tion, were all he had to depend upon, and he con-
sidered the force very weak compared with the
strength of those in that vicinity who were prepared to
oppose him. He complained that he had found much
diversity of opinion and "rebellion" among the peo-
ple, who did not believe that the State was strong
enough to contend against the Government. "I am,
too, credibly informed," said he, "to entertain doubt
that they have been and will be supplied with the
means of resistance. * * * Their efforts to intim-
idate have had their effect, both to dishearten one
party and to encourage the other. Many good cit-

CIVIL WAR COMMENCED 389

zens have been dispirited, while traitors have seized
the guns and ammunition of the State to be used
against its authority. The force in this section will
need the best rifles. * * * * There will not be the
same use for the bayonet in these hills as elsewhere,
and the movements should be of light infantry and
rifle, although the bayonet, of course, would be de-
sirable."

About this time, that is near the middle of May,
1 86 1 , General Lee ordered one thousand muskets
sent to Beverly for the use of the volunteer compa-
nies organizing to the northward of that place. Col-
onel Heck was sent in charge of the guns, and General
Lee instructed him to call out all the volunteers possi-
ble along the route from Staunton to Beverly. If the
authorities at Richmond had learned by the middle of
May that Western Virginia was not to be depended
upon for filling with volunteers the ranks of the
Southern armies, the truth was still more apparent six
weeks later. By that time General Garnett had cross-
ed the Alleghanies in person, and had brought a
large force of Confederate troops with him and was
entrenched at Laurel Hill and Rich Mountain, in
Randolph county. It had been claimed that volun-
teers had not joined the Confederate standard because
they were afraid to do so in the face of the stronger
Union companies organizing in the vicinity, but that
if a Confederate army were in the country to overawe
the advocates of the Union cause then large numbers
of recruits would organize to help the South. Thus
Garnett marched over the Alleghanies and called for
volunteers. The result was deeply mortifying to him
as well as discouraging to the authorities at Rich-
mond. On June 25, 1861, he wrote to General Lee,
dating his letter at Laurel Hill. He complained that
he could not find out what the movements of the
Union forces were likely to be, and added that the

390 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Union men in that vicinity were much more active,
numerous and zealous than the secessionists. He said
it was like carrying on a campaign in a foreign coun-
try, as the people were nearly all against him, and
never missed an opportunity to divulge his move-
ments to McClellan, but would give him no informa-
tion of what McClellan was doing. "My hope," he
wrote to Lee, "of increasing my force in this region
has so far been sadly disappointed. Only eight men
have joined me here, and only fifteen at Colonel
Heck's camp — not enough to make up my losses by
discharges. The people are thoroughly imbued with
an ignorant and bigoted Union sentiment."

If more time was required to ascertain the sen-
timent in the Kanawha Valley than had been neces-
sary in the northern and eastern part of the State, it
was nevertheless seen in due time that the Southern
Confederacy's supporters in that quarter were in a
hopeless minority. General Henry A. Wise, ex-Gov-
ernor of Virginia, had been sent into the Kanawha
Valley early in 1 86 1 to organize such forces as could
be mustered for the Southern army. He was one of
the most fiery leaders in the Southern Confederacy,
and an able man, and of great influence. He had,
perhaps, done more than any other man in Virginia
to swing the State into the Southern Confederacy.
He it was who, when the Ordinance of Secession was
in the balance in the Richmond convention, rose in
the convention, drew a horse-pistol from his bosom,
placed it upon the desk before him, and proceeded to
make one of the most impassioned speeches heard in
that tumultuous convention. The effect of his speech
was tremendous, and Virginia wheeled into line with
the other Confederate States. General Wise hurried
to the field, and was soon in the thick of the fight in
the Kanawha Valley. He failed to organize an army
there, and in his disappointment and anger he wrote

CIVIL WAR COMMENCED 391

to General Lee, August 1, 1861, saying: "The Kan-
awha Valley is wholly disaffected and traitorous. It
was gone from Charleston to Point Pleasant before
I got there. Boone and Cabell are nearly as bad, and
the state of things in Braxton, Nicholas and part of
Greenbrier is awful. The militia are nothing for war-
like uses here. They are worthless who are true, and
there is no telling who is true. You cannot persuade
these people that Virginia can or will reconquer the
northwest, and they are submitting, subdued and
debased." General Wise made an urgent request for
more guns, ammunition and clothing.

While the Confederates were doing their utmost
to organize and equip forces in Western Virginia, and
were meeting discouragements and failure nearly ev-
erywhere, the people who upheld the Union were also
at work, and success was the rule and failure almost
unknown. As soon as the fact was realized that
Virginia had joined the Southern Confederacy; had
seized upon the government arsenals and other prop-
erty within the State, and had commenced war upon
the government, and was preparing to continue the
hostilities, the people of Western Virginia, who had
long suffered from the injustice and oppression of the
eastern part of the State, began to prepare for war,
They did not long halt between two opinions, but at
once espoused the cause of the United States. Com-
panies were organized everywhere. The spirit with
which the cause of the Union was upheld was one of
the most discouraging features of the situation, as
viewed by the Confederates who were vainly trying
to raise troops in this part of the State. The people in
the Kanawha Valley who told General Wise that they
did not believe Virginia could re-conquer Western
Virginia had reasons for their conclusions. The peo-
ple along the Ohio, the Kanawha, the Monongahela,

392 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

in the interior, among the mountains, were every-
where drilling and arming.

There was some delay and disappointment in
securing arms for the Union troops as they were or-
ganized in West Virginia. Early in the* war, while
there was yet hope entertained by some that the trou-
ble could be adjusted without much fighting, there
was hesitation on the part of the government about
sending guns into Virginia to arm one class of the
people. Consequently some of the first arms receiv-
ed in Western Virginia did not come directly from the
government arsenals, but were sent from Massachu-
setts. As early as May 7, 1861, a shipment of two
thousand stands of arms was made from the Water-
vleit arsenal, New York, to the northern Panhandle
of West Virginia, above Wheeling. These guns
armed some of the first soldiers from West Virginia
that took the field. An effort had been made to ob-
tain arms from Pittsburgh, but it was unsuccessful.
Campbell Tarr, of Brooke county, and others, went
to Washington as a committee, and it was through
their efforts that the guns were obtained. The gov-
ernment officials were very cautious at that time lest
they should do something without express warranty
in law. But Edwin M. Stanton advised that the guns
be sent, promising that he would find the law for it
afterwards. Governor Pierpont had written to Pres-
ident Lincoln for help, and the reply had been that all
help that could be given under the constitution would
be furnished.

The Civil War opened in West Virginia by a con-
flict between the Confederate forces in the State and
the Federal forces sent against them. The first Uni^n
troops to advance came from Wheeling and beyond
the Ohio river. Colonel Benjamin F. Kelley organ-

CIVIL WAR COMMENCED 393

ized a force at Wheeling, and was instructed to obey
orders from General McClellan, then at Cincinnati.

The first order from McClellan to Kelley was
that he should fortify the hills about Wheeling. This
was on May 26, 1861. This appears to have been
thought necessary as a precaution against an advance
on the part of the Confederates, but McClellan did
not know how weak they were in West Virginia at
that time. Colonel Porterfield could not get together
men and ammunition enough to encourage him to
hold Grafton, much less to advance to the Ohio river.
It is true that on the day that Virginia passed the Or-
dinance of Secession Governor Letcher made an ef-
fort to hold Wheeling, but it signally failed. He wrote
to Mayor Sweeney, of that city, to seize the postof-
fice, the custom house, and all government property
in that city, hold them in the name of the State of
Virginia. Mayor Sweeney replied: "I have seized
upon the custom house, the postoffice and all public
buildings and documents, in the name of Abraham
Lincoln, President of the United States, whose prop-
erty they are."

Colonel Kelley, when he received the order to
fortify the hills about Wheeling, replied that he did
not believe such a step was necessary, but that the
proper thing to do was to advance to Grafton and
drive the Confederates out of the country. McClel-
lan accepted the suggestion, and ordered Kelley to
move to Grafton with the force under his orders.
These troops had enlisted at Wheeling and had been
drilled for service. They were armed with guns sent
from Massachusetts. They carried their ammunition
in their pockets, as they had not yet been fully equip-
ped with the accoutrements of war. They were full
of enthusiasm, and were much gratified when the or-
ders came for an advance. The agent of the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad at Wheeling refused to fur-

394 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

nish cars for the troops, giving as his reason that the
railroad would remain neutral. Colonel Kelley an-
nounced that if the cars were not ready by four o'clock
next morning he would seize them by force, and take
military possession of the railroad. The cars were
ready at four the next morning.* While Kelley *s
troops were setting out from Wheeling an independ-
ent movement was in progress at Morgantown to
drive the Confederates out of Grafton. A number
of companies had been organized on the Mononga-
hela, and they assembled at Morgantown, where they
were joined by three companies from Pennsylvania,
and were about to set out for Grafton on their own
responsibility, when they learned that Colonel Kelley
had already advanced from Wheeling, and that the
Confederates had retreated. Colonel Porterfield
learned of the advance from Wheeling and saw that
he would be attacked before his looked-for reinforce-
ments and arms could arrive. The poorly-equipped
forces under his command were unable to successfully
resist an attack, and he prepared to retreat southward.
He ordered two railroad bridges burned between Fair-
mont and Mannington, hoping thereby to delay the
arrival of the Wheeling troops.

At daybreak on May 27 Colonel Kelley's troops
left Wheeling on board the cars for Grafton. When
they reached Mannington they stopped long enough
to rebuild the burnt bridges, which delayed them
only a short time. While there Kelley received a tel-
egram from McClellan informing him that troops
from Ohio and Indiana were on their way to his as-
sistance. When the Wheeling troops reached Grafton
the town had been deserted by the Confederates, who
had retreated to Philippi, about twenty-five miles
south of Grafton. Colonel Kelley at once planned
pursuit. On June 1 a considerable number of soldiers

* "Loyal West Virginia," by T. F. Lang.

CIVIL WAR COMMENCED 395

from Ohio and Indiana had arrived. Colonel R. H.
Milroy, Colonel Irvine and General Thomas A. Mor-
ris were in command of the troops from beyond the
Ohio. They were the van of General McClellan's ad-
vance into West Virginia. When General Morris
arrived at Grafton he assumed command of all the
forces in that vicinity. Colonel Kelley's plan of pur-
suit of Colonel Porterfield was laid before General
Morris and was approved by him, and preparations
were immediately commenced for carrying it into ex-
ecution. It appears that Colonel Porterfield did not
expect pursuit. He had established his camp at Phil-
ippi and was waiting for reinforcements and supplies,
which failed to arrive. Since assuming command of
the Confederate forces in West Virginia he had met
one disappointment after another. His force at Phil-
ippi was stated at the time to number two thousand,
but it was little more than half so large. General
Morris and Colonel Kelley prepared to attack him
with three thousand men, advancing at night by two
routes to fall upon him by surprise.

Colonel Kelley was to march about six miles
east from Grafton on the morning of June 2, and from
that point march across the mountains during the
afternoon and night, and so regulate his movements
as to reach Philippi at four o'clock the next morning.
Colonel Dumont, who had charge of the other col-
umn, was ordered to repair to Webster, a small town
on the Parkersburg branch of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad, four miles west from Grafton, and to march
from that point toward Philippi, to appear before the
town exactly at four o'clock on the morning of June
3. Colonel Kelley's task was the more difficult, for he
followed roads that were very poor. General Morris
suspected that spies in and about Grafton would dis-
cover the movement and would carry the news to
Colonel Porterfield at Philippi, and that he would hur-

396 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

riedly retreat, either toward Beverly or eastward to St.
George, on Cheat river. Colonel Kelley was there-
fore ordered, in case he received positive intelligence
that Porterfield had retreated eastward, to follow as
fast as possible and endeavor to intercept him ; at the
same time he was to notify Colonel Dumont of the
retreat and of the movement to intercept the Confed-
erates.

Colonel Kelley left Grafton in the early morning.
It was generally supposed he was on his way to Har-
per's Ferry. Colonel Dumont s column left Grafton
after dark on the evening of June 2. The march that
night was through rain and in pitch darkness. This
delayed Dumon't division, and it seemed that it would
not be able to reach Philippi by the appointed time,
but the men marched the last five miles in an hour
and a quarter, and so well was everything managed
that Kelley's and Dumont's forces arrived before Phil-
ippi within fifteen minutes of each other. The Con-
federates had not learned of the advance and were off
their guard. The pickets fired a few shots and fled.
The Union artillery opened on the camp and the ut-
most confusion prevailed. Colonel Porterfield or-
dered a retreat, and succeeded in saving the most of
his men, but lost a considerable portion of the small
supply of arms he had. He abandoned his camp and
stores. This action was called the "Philippi Races,"
because of the haste with which the Confederates fled
and the Union forces pursued. Colonel Kelley, while
leading the pursuit, was shot through the breast and
was supposed to be mortally wounded, but he sub-
sequently recovered and took an active part in the war
until its close.

General McClellan, who had not yet crossed the
Ohio, was much encouraged by this victory, small as
it appears in comparison with the momentous events
later in the war. The Union people of West Virginia

CIVIL WAR COMMENCED 397

were also much encouraged, and the Confederates
were correspondingly depressed.

Colonel Porterfield's cup of disappointment was
full when, five days after his retreat from Philippi, he
learned that he had been superseded by General Rob-
ert S. Garnett, who was on his way from Richmond
to assume command of the Confederate forces in
West Virginia. Colonel Porterfield had retreated to
Huttonsville, in Randolph county, above Beverly, and
there turned his command over to his successor. A
court of inquiry was held to examine Colonel Porter-
field's conduct. He was censured by the Richmond
people who had sent him into West Virginia, had
neglected him, had failed to supply him with arms or
the adequate means of defense, and when he suffered
defeat, they threw the blame on him when the most
of it belonged to themselves. Little more than one
month elapsed from that time before the Confederate
authorities had occasion to understand more fully the
situation beyond the Alleghanies; and the general
who took Colonel Porterfield's place, with seven or
eight times his force of men and arms, conducted a
far more disastrous retreat, and was killed while
bringing off his broken troops from a lost battle.

Previous to General McClellan's coming into
West Virginia he issued a proclamation to the people,
in which he stated the purpose of his coming, and why
troops were about to be sent across the Ohio river.
This proclamation was written in Cincinnati, May 26,
1 86 1 , and sent by telegraph to Wheeling and Parkers-
burg, there to be printed and circulated. The people
were told that the army was about to cross the Ohio
as friends to all who were loyal to the Government
of the United States; to prevent the destruction of
property by the rebels ; to preserve order, to cooperate
with loyal Virginians in their efforts to free the State
from the Confederates, and to punish all attempts at

398 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

insurrection among slaves, should they rise against
their masters. This last statement was no doubt
meant to allay the fears of many that as soon as a
Union army was upon the soil there would be a slave
insurrection, which, of all things, was most dreaded by
those who lived among slaves. On the same day
General McClellan issued an address to his soldiers,
informing them that they were about to cross the
Ohio, and acquainting them with the duties to be per-
formed. He told them they were to act in concert
with the loyal Virginians in putting down the rebel-
lion. He enjoined the strictest discipline and warned
them against interfering with the rights or property
of the loyal Virginians. He called on them to show
mercy to those captured in arms, for many of them
were misguided. He stated that, when the Confed-
erates had been driven from northwestern Virginia,
the loyal people of that part of the State would be able
to organize and arm, and would be competent to
take care of themselves, and then the services of the
troops from Ohio and Indiana would no longer be
needed, and they could return to their homes. He
little understood what the next four years would
bring forth.

Three weeks had not elapsed after Colonel Por-
terfield retreated from Philippi before General Mc-
Clellan saw that something more was necessary berore
Western Virginia would be pacified. The Confed-
erates had been largely reinforced at Huttonsville, and
had advanced northward within twelve miles of Phil-
ippi and had fortified their camp. Philippi was at that
time occupied by General Morris, and a collision be-
tween his forces and those of the Confederates was
likely to occur at any time. General McClellan
thought it advisable to be nearer the scene of opera-
tions, and on June 22, 1 861 , he crossed the Ohio with
his staff and proceeded to Grafton, where he estab-

CIVIL WAR COMMENCED 399

lished his headquarters. He had at this time about
twenty thousand soldiers in West Virginia, stationed
from Wheeling to Grafton, from Parkersburg to the
same place, and in the country round about.

Colonel Porterfield was relieved of his command
by General Garnett, June 14, 1861, and the military
affairs of northwestern Virginia were looked after by
Garnett in person. The Richmond government and
the Southern Confederacy had no intention of aban-
doning the country beyond the Alleghanies. On the
contrary, it was resolved to hold it at all hazards ; but
subsequent events showed that the Confederates eith-
er greatly underestimated the strength of McClellan's
army or greatly overestimated the strength of their
own forces sent against him. Otherwise Garnett,
with a force of only six thousand, would not have
been pushed forward against the lines of an army of
twenty thousand, and that, too, in a position so re-
mote that Garnett was practically isolated from all
assistance. Reinforcements numbering about two
thousand men were on the way from Staunton to
Beverly at the time of Garnett's defeat, but had these
troops reached him in time to be of service, he would
still have had not half as large a force as that of Mc-
Clellan opposed to him. Military men have severely
criticised General Lee for what they regard as a blun-
der in thus sending an army to almost certain destruc-
tion, with little hope of performing any service to the
Confederacy.

Had the Confederates been able to hold the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad, the disaster attending Gen-
eral Garnett's campaign would probably not have oc-
curred. With that road in their hands, they could
have thrown soldiers and supplies into Grafton and
Clarksburg within ten hours from Harper's Ferry.
They would thus have had quick communication with
their base of supplies and an open way to fall back

400 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

when compelled to do so. But they did not hold the
Baltimore and Ohio road, and their only practicable
route into Western Virginia, north of the Kanawha,
was by wagon roads across the Alleghanies, by way
of the the Valley of Virginia. This was a long and
difficult route by which to transport supplies for an
army; and in case that army was compelled to retreat,
the line of retreat was liable to be cut by the enemy,
as it actually was in the case of Garnett.

On July 1, 1861, General Garnett had about
four thousand five hundred men. The most of them
were from Eastern Virginia and the States further
south. A considerable part of them were Georgians
who had recently been stationed at Pensacola, Flor-
ida. Reinforcements were constantly arriving over
the Alleghanies, and by July 1 he had six thousand
men. He moved northward and westward from Bev-
erly and fortified two points on Laurel Hill, one nam-
ed Camp Rich Mountain, six miles west of Beverly,
the other fifteen miles north by west, near Belington
in Barbour county. These positions were naturally
strong, and their strength was increased by fortifica-
tions of logs and stones. They were only a few miles
from the outposts of McClellan's army. Had the
Confederate positions been attacked only from the
front it is probable that they could have held out a
considerable time. But there was little in the way of
flank movements, and when McClellan made his at-
tack, it was by flanking. General Garnett was not a
novice in the field. He had seen service in the Mex-
ican War; had taken part in many of the hardest bat-
tles; had fought Indians three years on the Pacific
coast, and at the outbreak of the Civil War he was
traveling in Europe. He hastened home; resigned his
position in the United States Army and joined the
Confederate Army, and was almost immediately sent
into West Virginia to be sacrificed.

CIVIL WAR COMMENCED 401

While the Confederates were fortifying their po-
sitions in Randolph and Barbour counties, the Union
forces were not idle. On June 22 General McClellan
crossed the Ohio river at Parkersburg. The next day
at Grafton he issued two proclamations, one to the
citizens of West Virginia, the other to his soldiers. To
the citizens he gave assurance again that he came
as a friend, to uphold the laws, to protect the law-
abiding, and to punish those in rebellion against the
government. In the proclamation to his soldiers he
told them that he had entered West Virginia to bring
peace to the peaceable and the sword to the rebellious
who were in arms, but mercy to disarmed rebels. He
began to concentrate his forces for an attack on Gar-
nett. He moved his headquarters to Buckhannon
on July 2, to be near the center of operations. Clarks-
burg was his base of supplies, and he constructed a
telegraph line as he advanced, one of the first, if not
the very first, military telegraph lines in America.
From Buckhannon he could move in any desired di-
rection by good roads. He had fortified posts at
Webster, Clarksburg, Parkersburg and Grafton. Eight
days later he had moved his headquarters to Middle
Fork, between Buckhannon and Beverly, and in the
meantime his forces had made a general advance. He
was now within sight of the Confederate fortifications
on Rich Mountain. General Morris, who was leading
the advance against Laurel Hill, was also within sight
of the Confederates. There had already been some
skirmishing, and all believed that the time was near
when a battle would be fought. Colonel John Pe-
gram, with thirteen hundred Confederates, was in
command at Rich Mountain ; and at Laurel Hill Gen
eral Garnett, with between four thousand and five
thousand men, was in command. There were about
six hundred more Confederates at various points
within a few miles.

402 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

After examining the ground McClellan decided
to make the first attack on the Rich Mountain works,
but in order to divert attention from his real purpose,
he ordered General Morris, who was in front of Gen-
eral Garnett's position, to bombard the Confederates
at Laurel Hill. Accordingly shells were thrown in the
direction of the Confederate works, some of which
exploded within the lines, but doing little damage. On
the afternoon of July 1 General McClellan prepared
to attack Pegram at Rich Mountain, but upon exam-
ination of the approaches he saw that an attack in
front would probably be unsuccessful. The Confed-
erate works were located one and a half miles west of
the summit of Rich Mountain, where the Staunton
and Parkersburg pike crosses. When the Union
forces reached the open country at Roaring Creek, a
short distance west of the Confederate position, Col-
onel Pegram planned an attack upon them, but upon
mature reflection, abandoned it. There was a path
leading from Roaring Creek across Rich Mountain
to Beverly, north of the Confederate position, and
Colonel Pegram guarded this path with troops under
Colonel Scott, but he did not know that another path
led across the mountain south of his position, by
which McClellan could flank him. This path was left
unguarded, and it was instrumental in Pegram's de-
feat. General Rosecrans who was in charge of one
wing of the forces in front of the Confederate po-
sition, met a young man named David Hart, whose
father lived one and a half miles in the rear of the
Confederate fortifications, and he said he could pilot
a force, by an obscure road, round the southern end of
the Confederate lines and reach his father's farm, on
the summit of the mountain, from which an attack on
Colonel Pegram in the rear could be made. The
young man was taken to General McClellan and con-
sented to act as guide. Thereupon General McClel-

CIVIL WAR COMMENCED 403

Ian changed his plan from attacking in front to an at-
tack in the rear. He moved a portion of his forces
to the western base of Rich Mountain, ready to sup-
port the attack when made, and he then dispatched
General Rosecrans, under the guidance of young
Hart, by the circuitous route, to the rear of the Con-
federates. Rosecrans reached his destination and
sent a messenger to inform General McClellan of the
fact, and that all was in readiness for the attack. This
messenger was captured by the Confederates, and
Pegram learned of the new danger which threatened
him, while McClellan was left in doubt whether his
troops had been able to reach the point for which
they had started. Had it not been for this perhaps the
fighting would have resulted in the capture of the
Confederates.

Colonel Pegram, finding that he was to be at-
tacked from the rear, sent three hundred and fifty men
to the point of danger, at the top of the mountain,
and built the best breastworks possible in the short
time at his disposal. When Rosecrans advanced to
the attack he was stubbornly resisted, and the fight
continued two or three hours, and neither side could
gain any advantage. Pegram was sending up rein-
forcements to the mountain when the Union forces
made a charge and swept the Confederates from the
field. Colonel Pegram collected several companies
and prepared to renew the fight. It was now late in
the afternoon of July 1 1 . The men were panic-strick-
en, but they moved forward, and were led around the
mountain within musket range of the Union forces
that had remained on the battle ground. But the
Confederates became alarmed and fled without mak-
ing an attack. Their forces were scattered over the
mountain, and night was coming on. Colonel Pe-
gram saw that all was lost, and determined to make
his way to Garnett's army, if possible, about fifteen

404 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

miles distant, through the woods. He commenced
collecting his men and sending them forward. It was
after midnight when he left the camp and set forward
with the last remnants of his men in an effort to
reach the Confederate forces on Laurel Hill. The loss
of the Confederates in the battle had been about forty-
five killed and about twenty wounded. All their
baggage and artillery fell into the hands of the Union
army. Sixty-three Confederates were captured. Rose-
crans lost twelve killed and forty-nine wounded.

The retreat from Rich Mountain was disastrous.
The Confederates were eighteen hours in groping
their way twelve miles through the woods in the direc-
tion of Garnett's camp. Near sunset on July 1 2 they
reached the Tygart river, three miles from the Laurel
Hill camp, and there learned from the citizens that
Garnett had already retreated and that the Union
forces were in pursuit. There seemed only one pos-
sible avenue of escape open for Pegram's force. That
was a miserable road leading across the mountains
into Pendleton county. Few persons lived near the
road, and the outlook was that the men would starve
to death if they attempted to make their way through.
They were already starving. Accordingly, Colonel
Pegram that night sent a flag of truse to Beverly, of-
fering to surrender, and at the same time stating that
his men were starving. Early the next morning Gen-
eral McClellan sent several - wagon loads of bread to
them, and met them on their way to Beverly. The
number of prisoners surrendered was thirty officers
and five hundred and twenty-five men. The remain-
der of the force at Rich Mountain had been killed,
wounded, captured and scattered. Colonel Scott, who
had been holding the path leading over the mountain
north of the Confederate position, learned of the de-
feat of Pegram and he made good his retreat over the
Alleghanies by way of Huttonsville.

CIVIL WAR COMMENCED 405

It now remains to be told how General Garnett
fared. The fact that he had posted the greater part
of his army on Laurel Hill is proof that he expected
the principal attack to be made on that place. He was
for a time deceived by the bombardment directed
against him, but he was undeceived when he learned
that Colonel Pegram had been defeated, and that
General McClellan had thrown troops across Rich
Mountain and had successfully turned the flank of the
Confederate position. All that was left for Garnett
was to withdraw his army while there was yet time.
His line of retreat was the pike from Beverly to Staun-
ton, and the Union forces were pushing forward to
occupy that and to cut him off in that direction. On
the afternoon of July 12, 1861, Garnett retreated,
hastening to reach Beverly in advance of the Union
forces. On the way he met fugitives from Pegram *s
army and was told by them that McClellan had already
reached Beverly, and that the road in that direction
was closed. Thereupon Garnett turned eastward into
Tucker county, over a very rough road. General
Morris pursued the retreating Confederates over the
mountain to Cheat river, skirmishing on the way.
General Garnett remained in the rear directing his
skirmishers, and on July 1 4, at Corrick's Ford, where
Parsons, the county seat of Tucker county, has since
been located, he found that he could no longer avoid
giving battle. With a few hundred men he opened
fire on the advance of the pursuing army and checked
the pursuit. But in bringing off his skirmishers from
behind a pile of driftwood, Garnett was killed and his
men were seized with panic and fled, leaving his body
on the field, with a score or more of dead.

When it was found that the Confederates were
retreating eastward Federal troops from Grafton,
Rowlesburg and other points on the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad were ordered to cut off the retreat at

406 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

St. George, in Tucker county. But the troops could
not be concentrated in time, and the concentration
was made at Oakland, in Maryland, with the expecta-
tion of intercepting the retreating Confederates at
Red House, eight miles west of Oakland.

Up to the time of the fight at Corrick's Ford the
retreat had been orderly, but after that it became a
rout. The roads were narrow and rough, and the ex-
cessive rains had rendered them almost impassable.
Wagons and stores were abandoned, and when Horse
Shoe Run, a long and narrow defile leading to the
Red House, in Maryland, was reached information
was received that Union troops from Rowlesburg
and Oakland were at the Red House, cutting off re-
treat in that direction. The artillery was sent to the
front. A portion of the cavalry was piloted by a
mountaineer along a narrow path across the Back-
bone and Alleghany Mountains. The main body
continued its retreat to the Red House, and pursued
its way unmolested across the Alleghanies to Monte-
rey. Two regiments marching in haste to reinforce
Garnett at Laurel Hill had reached Monterey when
news of Garnett's retreat was received. The regi-
ments halted there, and as Garnett's stragglers came
in they were re-organized.

The Union army made no pursuit beyond Cor-
rick's Ford, except that detachments followed to the
Red House to pick up the stores bandoned by the Con-
federates. Garnett's body fell into the hands of the
Union forces and was prepared for burial and sent to
Richmond. It was carried in a canoe to Rowlesburg,
on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, thirty miles be-
low, on Cheat river, in charge of Whitelaw Reid, who
had taken part in the battle at Corrick's Ford. Reid
was acting in the double capacity of correspondent
for the Cincinnati Gazette and an aid on the staff of
General Morris. When Rowlesburg was reached

CIVIL WAR COMMENCED 407

Garnett's body was sent by express to Governor
Letcher, at Richmond.

This closed the campaign in that part of West
Virginia for 1 86 1 . The Confederates had failed to
hold the country. On July 22 General McClellan was
transferred to Washington to take charge of military
operations there. In comparison with the greater bat-
tles and more extensive campaign later in the war, the
affairs in West Virginia were small. But they were of
great importance at the time. Had the result been
different, had the Confederates held their ground at
Grafton, Philippi, Rich Mountain and Laurel Hill,
and had the Union forces been driven out of the State,
across the Ohio, the outcome would have changed the
history of the war, but probably not the result.

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 409

CHAPTER XV.

Progress of the War.

After Garnett's retreat in July, 1 86 1 , there were
few Confederates in West Virginia, west of the Alle-
ghanies, except in the Kanawha Valley. But the gov-
ernment at Richmond and the Confederate govern-
ment were not inclined to give up so easily the part of
Virginia west of the mountains, and in a short time
preparations were made to send an army from the
east to re-conquer the territory beyond the Allegha-
nies. A large part of the army with which McClellan
had defeated Garnett had been sent to other fields;
the terms of enlistment of many of the soldiers had ex-
pired. When the Confederates re-crossed the moun-
tains late in the summer of 1 86 1 they were opposed
by less than ten thousand Federals stationed in that
mountainous part of West Virginia about the sources
of the Greenbrier, the Tygart Valley River, Cheat,
and near the source of the Potomac. In that elevated
and rugged region a remarkable campaign was made.
It was not remarkable because of hard fighting, for
there was no pitched battle ; but because in this cam-
paign the Confederates were checked in their purpose
of reconquering the ground lost by Garnett and of
extending their conquest north and west. This cam-
paign has also an historical interest because it was
General Lee's first work in the field after he had been
assigned the command of Virginia's land and sea
forces. The outcome of the campaign was not what
might be expected of a great and calculating general

4 fO HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

as Lee was. Although he had a larger army than his
opponents in the field, and had at least as good
ground, and although he was able to hold his own at
every skirmish, yet, as the campaign progressed he
constantly fell back. In September he fought at Elk-
water and Cheat Mountain, in Randolph county; in
October he fought at Greenbrier river, having fallen
back from his first position. In December he had fallen
back to the summit of the Alleghanies, and fought a
battle there. It should be stated, however, that Gen-
eral Lee, although in command of the army, took part
in person only in the skirmishing in Randolph county.
The importance of this campaign entitles it to men-
tion somewhat more in detail.

General Reynolds succeeded General McClellan
in command of this part of West Virginia. He ad-
vanced from Beverly to Huttonsville, a few miles
above, and remained in peaceful possession of the
country two months after Garnett's retreat, except
that his scouting parties were constantly annoyed by
Confederate irregulars, or guerillas, usually called
bushwhackers. Their mode of attack was, to lie
concealed on the summits of cliffs, overhanging the
roads or in thickets on hillsides, and fire upon the
Union soldiers passing below. They were justly
dreaded by the Union troops. These bushwhackers
were usually citizens of that district who had taken
to the woods after their well-known southern sympa-
thies had rendered it unsafe or unpleasant to remain at
home while the country was occupied by the Union
armies. They were excellent marksmen, minutely
acquainted with all the ins and outs of the mountains
and woods; and, from their manner of attack and
flight, it was seldom that they were captured or killed.
They hid about the outposts of the Union armies;
picked off sentinels; waylaid scouts; ambushed small
detachments, and fled to their mountain fastnesses

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 4 ! 1

where pursuit was out of the question. A war is
considered severe in loss of life in which each soldier,
taken as an average, kills one soldier on the other
side, even though the war is prolonged for years.
Yet, these bushwhackers often killed a dozen or more
each, before being themselves killed. It can readily
be understood why small detachments dreaded
bushwhackers more than Confederate troops in
pitched battle. Nor did the bushwhackers confine
their attacks to small parties. They often fired into
the ranks of armies on the march with deadly effect.
While in the mountains of West Virginia General
Averell's cavalry often suffered severely from these
hidden guerillas who fired and vanished. The bush-
whacking was not always done by Confederates. Un-
ion soldiers or sympathizers resorted to it also at
times.

General Reynolds, with headquarters at Beverly,
spent the summer of 1 86 1 in strengthening his po-
sition, and in attempting to clear the country of guer-
rillas. Early in September he received information
that large numbers of Confederates were crossing the
Alleghanies. General Loring established himself at
Huntersville, in Pocahontas county, with 8,500 men.
He it was who tried in vain to raise recruits in West
Virginia for the Confederacy, even attempting to gain
a foothold in Wheeling before McClellan's army cross-
ed the Ohio river. He had gone to Richmond, and
early in September had returned with an army. Gen-
eral H. R. Jackson was in command of another Con-
federate force of 6,000 at Greenbrier River where the
pike from Beverly to Staunton crosses that stream, in
Pocahontas county. General Robert E. Lee was sent
by the government at Richmond to take command of
both these armies, and he lost no time in doing so.
No order sending General Lee into West Virginia has
ever been found among the records of the Confed-

412 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

erate government. It was probably a verbal order,
or he may have gone without any order. He con-
centrated his force at Big Spring, on Valley Moun-
tain, and prepared to march north to the Baltimore
and Ohio Road at Grafton. His design was nothing
less than to drive the Union army out of northwest-
ern Virginia. When the matter is viewed in the light
of subsequent history, it is to be wondered at that
General Lee did not succeed in his purpose. He had
14,500 men, and only 9,000 were opposed to him.
Had he defeated General Reynolds; driven his army
back ; occupied Grafton, Clarksburg and other towns,
it can be readily seen that the seat of war might have
been changed to West Virginia. The United States
government would have sent an army to oppose Lee ;
and the Confederate government would have pushed
strong reinforcements across the mountain ; and some
of the great battles of the war might have been fought
on the Monongahela river. The campaign in the fall
of 1 86 1 , about the head waters of the principal rivers
of West Virginia, therefore, derives it chief interest,
not from battles, but from the accomplishment of a
great purpose — the driving back of the Confederates
— without a pitched battle. Virginia, as a State, made
no determined effort after that to hold Western Vir-
ginia. By that time the campaign in the Kanawha
Valley was drawing to a close and the Confederates
were retiring. Consequently, Virginia's and the
Southern Confederacy's efforts west of the Allegha-
nies in this State were defeated in the fall of 1 86 1 .

General Reynolds sent a regiment to Elkwater,
and soon afterwards occupied Cheat Mountain. This
point was the highest camp occupied by soldiers dur-
ing the war. The celebrated "Battle Above the
Clouds," on Lookout Muontain, was not one-half so
high. The whole region, including parts of Pocahon-
tas, Pendleton and Randolph counties, has an eleva-

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 413

tion above three thousand feet, while the summits of
the knobs and ridges rise to heights of more than four
thousand, and some nearly five thousand feet. Gen-
eral Reynolds fortified his two advanced positions,
Elkwater and Cheat Mountain. They were seven
miles apart, connected by only a bridle path, but a
circuitous wagon road, eighteen miles long, led from
one to the other, passing around in the direction of
Huttonsville. No sooner had the United States
troops established themselves at Elkwater and Cheat
Mountain than General Lee advanced, and skirmish-
ing began. The Confederates threw a force between
Elkwater and Cheat Mountain, and posted another
force on the road in the Direction of Huttonsville.
They were attacked, and for three days there
was skirmishing, but no general engagement. On
September 1 3 Colonel John A. Washington, in the
Confederate service, was killed near Elkwater. He
was a relative of President Washington, and also a
relative of General R. E. Lee, whose family and the
Washingtons were closely connected. General Lee
sent a flag of truce and asked for the body. It was
sent to the Confederate lines on September 1 4. That
day the Confederates concentrated ten miles from Elk-
water, and the next day again advanced, this time
threatening Cheat Mountain, but their attack was un-
successful. In this series of skirmishes the Union
forces had nine killed, fifteen wounded and lost about
sixty prisoners. The result was a defeat for the Con-
federates, who were thwarted in their design of pen-
etrating northward and westward. The failure of the
Confederates to bring on a battle was due to their
different detachments not acting in concert. It was as
Lee's plan to attack both positions at the same time.
He sent detachments against Elkwater and Cheat
Mountain. The sound of cannon attacking one posi-
tion was to be the signal for attacking the other. The

4 1 4 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

troops marched in rain and mud, along paths and in
the woods, when they found themselves in front of
the Federal position, the detachment which was to
have begun the attack failed to do so. The other
detachment waited in vain for the signal, and then
retreated. General Lee was much hurt by the failure
of his plan.*

General Loring's army of 8,500, which was
camped at Huntersville, in Pocahontas county, was
sent to that place for a particular purpose. He was
to sweep round toward the west, then march north
toward Weston and Clarksburg, strike the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad, and by threatening or cutting off
General Reynold's line of communication with his
base of supplies, compel him to fall back. This plan
was General Lee's. He left its execution to General
Loring, who moved slowly, halted often, camped
long, hesitated frequently, and consumed much valu-
able time. His men became sick. Rains made prog-
ress difficult, and he did not seem in a hurry to get
along. General Lee waited but Loring still failed to
march. He was an older officer than Lee, and al-
though Lee had a right to order him forward, he re-
frained from doing so for fear of wounding Loring's
feelings. The time for executing the movement
passed, and the flank movement, which probably
would have succeeded, was given up.

The Confedrates were not yet willing to aban-
don West Virginia. They fell back to the Greenbrier
river, thirteen miles from the Union camp, on Cheat
Mountain, and fortified their position. They were
commanded by General H. R. Jackson, and their num-
ber was believed to be about nine thousand. On Oc-
tober 3, 1 861 , General Reynolds advanced at the head
of five thousand troops. During the first part of the
engagement the Union forces were successful, driving

*See H. A. White's Life of Robert E. Lee.

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 415

the Confederates nearly a mile, but here several bat-
teries of artillery were encountered, and reinforce-
ments arriving to the support of the Confederates, the
battle was renewed and General Reynolds was forced
to fall back, with a loss of nine killed and thirty-five
wounded. On December 1 General Reynolds was
transferred to other fields, and the command of the
Union forces in the Cheat Mountain district was given
to General R. H. Milroy. Within three days after he
assumed command he moved forward to attack the
Confederate camp on the summit of the Alleghanies.
The Confederates had gone into winter quarters
there; and as the weather was severe, and as the
Union forces appeared satisfied to hold what they had
without attempting any additional conquests in mid-
winter, the Confederates were not expecting an at-
tack. However, on December 13, 1861, General
Milroy moved forward and assaulted their positions.
The fighting was severe for several hours, and finally
resulted in the retreat of the Union forces. The Con-
federates made no attempt to follow. General Mil-
roy marched to Huntersville, in Pocahontas county,
and went into winter quarters. The Rebels remained
on the summit of the Alleghanies till spring and then
went over the mountains, out of West Virginia, thus
ending the attempt to re-conquer northwestern Vir-
ginia.

It now remains to be seen what success attended
the efforts of the Confederates to gain control of the
Kanawha Valley. Their campaign in West Virginia
for the year 1861 was divided into two parts, in the
northwest and in the Kanawha Valley. General
Henry A. Wise was ordered to the Kanawha June 6,
two days before General Garnett was ordered to take
command of the troops which had been driven south
from Grafton. Colonel Tompkins was already on the
Kanawha in charge of Confederate forces. The au-

416 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

thorities at Richmond at that time believed that a Gen-
eral, with the nucleus of an army in the Kanawha
Valley, could raise all the troops necessary among the
people there. On April 29 General Lee had ordered
Major John McCausland to the Kanawha to organize
companies for the Confederacy. Only five hundred
flint-lock muskets could be had at that time to arm the
troops in that quarter. General Lee suggested that
the valley could be held by posting the force below
Charleston. Very poor success attended the efforts at
raising volunteers, and the arms found in the district
were insufficient to equip the men. Supplies were
sent as soon as possible from Virginia.

When General Wise arrived and had collected all
his forces he had 8,000 men, of whom 2,000 were
militia from Raleigh, Fayette and Mercer counties.
With these he was expected to occupy the Kanawha
Valley, and resist invasion should Union forces at-
tempt to penetrate that part of the State. Gen. John
B. Floyd, who had been Secretary of War under Presi-
dent Buchanan, was guarding the raliroad leading
from Richmond into Tennessee, and was posted south
of the present limits of West Virginia, but within sup-
porting distance of General Wise. In case a Union
army invaded the Kanawha Valley it was expected
that General Floyd would unite his forces with those
of General Wise, and that they would act in concert
if not in conjunction. General Floyd was the older
officer, and in case their forces were consolidated he
would be the commander-in-chief. But General Floyd
and General Wise were enemies. Their hatred for
the Yankees was less than their hatred for each other.
They were both Virginia politicians, and they had
crossed each other's paths too often in the past to be
reconciled now. General Lee tried in vain to induce
them to work in harmony. They both fought the
Union troops bravely, but never in concert. When

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 417

Wise was in front of General Cox, General Floyd was
elsewhere. When Floyd was pitted in battle against
General Rosecrans, General Wise was absent. Thus
the Union troops beat these quarreling Brigadier Gen-
erals in detail, as will be seen in the following narra-
tive of the campaign during the summer and fall of
1 86 1 in the Kanawha Valley.

When Generals Wise and Floyd were sent to their
districts in the West it was announced in their camps
that they would march to Clarksburg, Parkersburg
and Wheeling. This would have brought them in
conflict with General McClellan's army. On July 2
McClellan put troops in motion against the Confed-
erates in the Kanawha Valley. On that date he ap-
pointed General J. D. Cox to the command of regi-
ments from Kentucky and Ohio, and ordered him to
cross the Ohio at Gallipolis and take possession of
Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Kanawha. On
July 23 General Rosecrans succeeded McClellan in
command of the Department of Ohio. Rosecrans
pushed the preparation for a vigorous campaign,
which had already been commenced. He styled the
troops under General Cox the Brigade of Kanawha.
On July 1 7, in Putnam county, a fight occurred be-
tween detachments of Union and Confederate forces,
in which the latter appeared for the time victorious,
but soon retreated eastward. From that time until
September 1 there was constant skirmishing between
the armies, the advantage being sometimes on one
side, sometimes on the other; but the Union forces
constantly advanced and the Confederates fell back.
On August 1 General Wise was in Greenbrier county,
and in a report made to General Lee in that date, he
says he fell back not a moment too soon. He com-
plained that his militia were worthless as soldiers, and
urged General Lee to send him guns and other arms,
and clothing and shoes, as his men were ragged and

418 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

barefooted. On August 20 General Rosecrans was
at Clarksburg preparing to go in person to lead rein-
forcements into the Kanawha. He issued a procla-
mation to the people of West Virginia, calling on
them to obey the laws, maintain order and co-operate
with the military in its efforts to drive the armed Con-
federates from the State.

Prior to that time Colonel E. B. Tyler, with a
Federal Force, had advanced to the Gauley River, and
on August 1 3 he took up a position at Cross Lanes.
He thus covered Carnifex Ferry. General Cox was at
that time on the Gauley River, twenty miles lower
down, near the mouth of that stream, nearly forty
miles above Charleston. General Floyd advanced,
and on August 26 crossed the Gauley at Carnifex
Ferry with 2,500 men, and fell upon Colonel Tyler
at Cross Lanes with such suddenness that the Union
troops were routed, with fifteen killed and fifty
wounded. The latter fell into the hands of the Con-
federates, who took fifty other prisoners also. The
remainder of Tyler's force made its retreat to Char-
leston, and General Floyd fortified the position just
gained and prepared to hold it. On September 3
General Wise made an attack on General Cox at Gau-
ley Bridge, near the mouth of the river, twenty miles
below Carnifex Ferry. The attack failed. The Con-
federates were beaten and were vigorously pursued.
Had Wise held Gauley Bridge, Floyd already being
in possession of Carnifex Ferry, they would have been
in positions to dispute the further advance of the
Union forces up the Kanawha Valley.

General Rosecrans left Clarksburg September 3,
with reinforcements, and after a march of seven days
reached Carnifex Ferry, and that same evening began
an attack upon the Confederates under General
Floyd, who were entrenched on top of a mountain on
the west bank of the Gauley river, in Nicholas county.

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 419

General Floyd had about 4,000 men and sixteen can-
non, and his position was so well protected by woods,
that assault, with chance of success, was considered
exceedingly difficult. He had fortified this naturally
strong position, and felt confident that it could not be
captured by any force the Union general could bring
against him. The fight began late in the afternoon,
General Rosecrans having marched seventeen miles
that day. It was not his purpose to bring on a general
engagement that afternoon, and he directed his forces
to advance cautiously and find where the enemy lay;
for the position of the Confederates was not yet
known. While thus advancing a camp was found in
the woods, from which the Confederates had evidently
fled in haste. Military stores and private property
were scattered in confusion. From this fact it was
supposed that the enemy was in retreat, and the Un-
ion troops pushed on through thickets and over ridges.
Presently they discovered that they had been mis-
taken. They were fired upon by the Confederate
army in line of battle. From that hour until dark-
ness put a stop to the fighting, the battle continued.
The Union troops had not been able to carry any of
the Rebel works; and General Rosecrans withdrew
his men for the night, prepared to renew the battle
next morning. But during the night General Floyd
retreated. He had grown doubtful of his ability to
hold out if the attack was resumed with the same
impetuosity as on the preceding evening. But he was
more fearful that the Union troops would cut off his
retreat if he remained. So, while it was yet time, he
withdrew in the direction of Lewisburg, in Greenbrier
county, destroying the bridge over the Gauley, and
also the ferry across that stream. General Rosecrans
was unable to pursue because he could not cross the
river. It is a powerful, turbulent stream, and at this
place flows several miles down a deep gorge, filled

420 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

with rocks and cataracts. Among spoils which fell in-
to the hands of the victors was General Floyd's hos-
pital, in which were fifty wounded Union soldiers
who had been captured when Colonel Tyler was driv-
en from this same place on August 26. General
Rosecrans lost seventeen killed and one hundred and
forty-one wounded. The Confederate loss was never
ascertained.

After a rest of a few days the Union army ad-
vanced to Big Sewell Mountain. The weather was
wet, and the roads became so muddy that it was al-
most impossible to haul supplies over them. For this
reason it was deemed advisable to fall back. On Oc-
tober 5 General Rosecrans began to withdraw his
forces to Gauley Bridge, and in the course of two
weeks had transferred his command to that place,
where he had water communication with his base of
supplies.

On November 1 another action was fought be-
tween General Floyd and General Rosecrans, in which
the Confederates were defeated. This virtually closed
the campaign for the year 1 86 1 in that quarter, and
resulted in the occupation of all the lower Kanawha
Valley and the greater part of the upper valley. The
Confederates were finally driven out, and never again
obtained a foothold in that part of the State, although
large bodies were at times in the Valley of the Kan-
awha, and occasionally remained a considerable time.

The Confederate government and the State of
Virginia as a member of that government, had an ob-
ject in view when they sent their forces into West
Virginia at the commencement of the Civil War. Vir-
ginia as a State was interested in retaining the territo-
ry between the Allegheny mountains and the Ohio
river and did not believe she could do so without force
and arms, because her long neglect and oppression
had alienated the western counties. Virginia correctly

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 421

judged that they would seize the first opportunity
and organize a separate State. To prevent them from
doing so, and to retain that large part of her domain
lying west of the Alleghanies, were the chief motives
which prompted Virginia, as a State, to invade the
western part of her own territory, even before the
open war was acknowledged to exist between the
Southern Confederacy and the United States govern-
ment. The purpose which prompted the Southern
Confederacy to push troops across the Alleghanies in
such haste was to obtain possession of the country to
the borders of Ohio and Pennsylvania, and to fortify
the frontiers against invasion from the north and west.
It was well understood at the headquarters of the
Southern Confederacy that the thousands of soldiers
already mustering beyond the Ohio river, and the
tens of thousands who would no doubt soon take the
field in the same quarter, would speedily cross the
Ohio, unless prevented. The bold move which the
South undertook was to make the borders of Ohio and
Pennsylvania the battle ground. The southern lead-
ers did not at that time appreciate the magnitude of
the war which was at hand. If they had understood it,
and had had a military man in the place of Jefferson
Davis, it is probable that the battle ground would
have been different from what it was. Consequently,
to rightly understand the early movements of the Con-
federates in West Virginia, it is necessary to consider
that their purpose was to hold the country to the
Ohio river. Their effort was weak, to be sure, but
that was partly due to their miscalculation as to the
assistance they would receive from the people of West
Virginia. If they could have organized an army of
forty thousand West Virginians and reinforced them
with as many more men from the South, it can be
readily seen that McClellan could not have crossed the
Ohio as he did. But the scheme failed. The West

422 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Virginians not only would not enlist in the Confede-
rate army, but they enlisted in the opposing force;
and when Garnett made his report from Laurel Hill he
told General Lee that, for all the help he received from
the people, he might as well carry on a campaign in a
foreign country. From that time it was regarded by
the Confederates as the enemy's country; and when,
later in the war, Jones, Jackson, Imboden and others
made raids into West Virginia they acted toward per-
sons and property in the same way as when raids were
made in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, crossing West
Virginia from Harper's Ferry to Wheeling, and from
Grafton to Parkersburg, was considered of the utmost
importance by both the North and the South. It was
so near the boundary between what was regarded
as the Southern Confederacy and the North that dur-
ing the early part of the war neither the one side nor
the other felt sure of holding it. The management of
the road was in sympathy with the North, but an ef-
fort was made to so manage the property as not to
give cause for hostility on the part of the South. At
one time the trains were run in accordance with a
time table prepared by Stonewall Jackson, even as
far as Locust Point.* It was a part of the Confede-
rate scheme in West Virginia to obtain possession and
control, in a friendly way, if possible, of the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad. The possession of it would
not only help the Confederacy in a direct way, but
it would cripple the Federal government and help the
South in an indirect way. Within six days after Gen-
eral Lee was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the
Virginia armies he instructed Major Loring, at Wheel-
ing, to direct his military operations for the protection
of the terminus of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
on the Ohio river, and also to protect the road else-

*See the History of the War, by General John D. Imboden.

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 423

where. Major Boykin was ordered to give protection
to the road in the vicinity of Grafton. General Lee
insisted that the peaceful business of the road must
not be interfered with. The branch to Parkersburg
was also to be protected. Major Boykin was told to
"hold the road for the benefit of Maryland and Vir-
ginia." He was advised to obtain the co-operation
of the officers of the road and afford it every assist-
ance. When Colonel Porterfield was ordered to
Grafton, on May 4, 1 86 1 , among the duties marked
out for him by General Lee was the holding of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and to prevent its being
used to the injury of Virginia.

No one has ever supposed that the Southern Con-
federacy wanted the Baltimore and Ohio Road pro-
tected because of any desire to befriend that company.
The leaders of the Confederacy knew that the officers
of the road were not friendly to secession. As soon
as Western Virginia had slipped out of the grasp of
the Confederacy, and when the railroad could no
longer help the South to realize its ambition of forti-
fying the banks of the Ohio, the Confederacy threw
off the mask and came out in open hostility. George
Deas, Inspector General of the Confederate Army,
urged that the railroad be destroyed, bridges burned
along the line, and the tunnels west of the Allegha-
nies be blown up so that no troops could be carried
east from the Ohio river to the Potomac. This ad-
vice was partly carried out by a raid from Romney
on June 19, 1861, after Colonel Porterfield had re-
treated from Grafton and had been driven from Phil-
ippi. But the damage to the road was not great and
repairs were speedily made. Governor Letcher, of
Virginia, had recommended to the Legislature a short
time before, that the Baltimore and Ohio Road ought
to be destroyed. He said: "The Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad has been a positive nuisance to this State,

424 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

from the opening of the war till the present time.
And unless the management shall hereafter be in
friendly hands, and the government under which it
exists be a part of our Confederacy, it must be abated.
If it should be permanently destroyed we must assure
our people of some other communication with the
seaboard, "t From that time till the close of the war
the Confederacy inflicted every damage possible upon
the road, and in many instances the damage was enor-
mous.

When General Garnett established himself in
Randolph and Barbour counties, in June, 1861, he
made an elaborate plan of attack on the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad. He intended to take possession
of Evansville, in Preston county, and using that as a
base, destroy east and west. The high trestles along
the face of Laurel Hill, west of Rowlesburg, and the
bridge across Cheat river at Rowlesburg, and the
long tunnel at Tunnelton were selected for the first
and principal destruction. General Garnett had the
road from Rowlesburg up Cheat river to St. George
surveyed with a view to widening and improving it,
thereby making of it a military road by which he
could advance or fall back, in case the road from Bev-
erly to Evansville should be threatened. General Im-
boden twice made dashes over the Alleghanies at the
head of Cheat river and struck for the Rowlesburg
trestles, but each time fell back when he reached St.
George. In the Spring of 1 863, when the great raid
into West Virginia was made under Jones, Imboden
and Jackson, every possible damage was done the
Baltimore and Ohio Road, but again the Rowlesburg
trestles escaped, although the Confederates approac-
ed withing two miles of them.

It is proper to state here that an effort was made,
after fighting had commenced, to win the West Vir-

+Records of the Rebellion.

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 425

ginians over to the cause of the South by promising
them larger privileges than they had ever before en-
joyed. On June 14, 1861, Governor Letcher issued
a proclamation, which was published at Huttonsville,
in Randolph county, and addressed to the people of
Northwestern Virginia. In this proclamation he
promised them that the injustice from unequal taxa-
tion of which they had complained in the past should
exist no langer. He said that the eastern part of the
State had expressed a willingness to relinquish ex-
emptions from taxation, which it had been enjoying,
and was willing to share all the burdens of govern-
ment. The Governor promised that in state affairs,
the majority should rule ; and he called upon the peo-
ple beyond the Alleghanies, in the name of past
friendship and of historic memories, to espouse the
cause of the Southern Confederacy. It is needless to
state that this proclamation fell flat. The people of
Western Virginia would have hailed with delight a
prospect of redress of grievances, had it come earlier.
But its coming was so long delayed that they doubted
both the sincerity of those who made the promise and
their ability to fulfil. Twenty thousand soldiers had
already crossed the Ohio, and had penetrated more
than half way from the river to the Alleghanies, and
they had been joined by thousands of Virginians. It
was a poor time for Governor Letcher to appeal to past
memories or to promise justice in the future, which
had been denied in the past. Coming as the promise
did at that time, it looked like a death-bed repentance.
The Southern Confederacy had postponed fortifying
the bank of the Ohio until too late; and Virginia had
held out the olive branch to her neglected and long-
suffering people beyond the mountains when it was
too late. They had already cast their lot with the
North; and already a powerful army had crossed the
Ohio to their assistance. Virginia's day of dominion

426 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

west of the Alleghanies was nearing its close ; and the
Southern Confederacy's hope of empire there was
already doomed.

IN THE CIVIL WAR 427

CHAPTER XVI.

In the Civil War.

Monongalia stood in the very front of the coun-
ties of West Virginia in fighting the Civil War to a
conclusion. The sentiment of the people was over-
whelming for the Union. There was some assistance
given the Confederate cause in the county, but it was
small in comparison to the help given the Union
armies in men, and in means of other kind. The num-
ber of men furnished by Monongalia in the Union
army from the beginning to the end of the war is not
known exactly, because a considerable number joined
the organizations raised in other counties and states,
and the number is not known, but the number listed
is 1 705.

It is believed that if a correct count were made
of all Monongalians in the Union army during the
continuance of the Civil War, the total would be at
least 2,000 men. Some of the minor actions of the
struggle were fought on Monongalia's soil, and there
was considerable marching and skirmishing in the
county, though none of the heavy fighting was done
here. Only a few Confederates in the time of hostili-
ties penetrated so far as to enter the county's borders.

For the reason that many of the soldiers from
Monongalia county served in other companies than
those that went from this county it is difficult to sup-
ply complete lists of the county's contributions in the
way of soldiers in the war, but the most of those who

428 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

went to the struggle are represented in the lists which
are here given.

Company A, Sixth West Virginia Cavalry.

Company A, Sixth West Virginia Cavalry was
recruited in Morgantown, and was at first organized
as Company A, Third W. Va. Infantry. The com-
pany was in service on the western plains till 1 866.

Officers

JAMES J. THOMPSON Captain.

A. C. PICKENPAUGH ....Lieutenant.
NICHOLAS B. MADERA Lieutenant.
GEORGE W. DEBOLT ....Sergeant.

JOSEPH J. CLINE Sergeant.

OLIVER S. JONES Sergeant.

WILLIAM F. CULLEN Sergeant.

JOHN M. TRIPLETT Corporal.

STEPHEN JENKINS Corporal.

ROBERT J. FLEMING Corporal.

M. BERRY Corporal.

JOHN SMITH Bugler.

JACOB T. SHROYER Bugler.

Privates

Windsor Austin George W. Harding

Thomas L. Berry William Hess

Isaac W. Criss John D. Jenkins

Sanford Courtney Thomas M. Johnson

John A. Cox Titus Lemley

Anthony Conrad Thomas H. McAbee

Charles E. Watts Garrett T. Fogle

Richard W. Blue William Hennen

George W. Collins James W. McKinney

John Dancer John E. Price

B. Jennewine Resin L. Piles

F. W. Thompson Theodore Stone

James F. Linn W. A. Widney

John C. Davis D. E. Holmes

William P. Goodwin E. F. Haskins

Salathiel Burke James R. Mathews

Charles M. V. Gould William Cole

Thomas Herrington William H. Gutherie

John H. McNemar Mathew Jenkins

Frederick G. Maze William Piles

W. W. Hickman James Scott

IN THE CIVIL WAR

429

James F. Ashby
J. F. Ross
Charles A. Schiller
Solon Stone
John M. Solomon
George Wright
James Watkins
James M. McVickars
Thomas Phillips
Henry Shisler
William H. Tasker

Wilford Watkins
George Garrison
John Powell
H. C. Spitznagle
William D. Minker
John J. Frederick
William Cole
James Kennedy
James Woods
Martin Watkins
Joseph Province

Company E, Seventh West Virginia Infantry

Officers

HENRY B. LAZIER Captain.

MARCUS FETTY Captain.

ISAAC HASTINGS Lieutenant.

ANTHONY JACQUETT ..Lieutenant.
CHARLES A. CALLAHAN Sergeant.

WILLIAM J. ROGERS Sergeant.

CYRUS B. MORGAN Sergeant.

JAMES P. HOUSTON Sergeant.

THOMAS E. SULLIVAN ....Corporal.

WILLIAM CULLISON Corporal.

WILLIAM F. CANTHERS Corporal.

JOSEPH W. CONWAY Corporal.

GEORGE P. BENTHAM ....Corporal.

CLARK KELLY Corporal.

SMITH R. IRWIN Corporal.

JOHN A. WALTERS Musician.

JESSE POUNDSTONE Musician.

Privates

William Adams John Blaney

Aaron Austin Lawrence Blaney

Isaiah Adams Bartholomew Bishop

Samuel Hall John Cunningham

Thomas S. Beatty Enox H. Cleavanger

Jonah Bayles Thomas P. Conwell

John J. Jenkins Mark Carney

William Bricker Enos Maning

John A. Butcher Fred A. Merrifield

430

HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Rufus J. Morgan
Samuel McCann
John H. Manning
W. M. V. Mayfield
Edward Moony
Oliver Miller
John Meckling
Thomas K. Moore
G. R. Pickenpaugh
A. G. Lewellen
S. McKenney
Thomas Colebank
Samuel H. Cobin
Calvin Cobun
Thomas J. Cole
George A. Cummins
Thomas Bayles
William A. Jenkins
Jacob Eckhart
John T. Emerson
Thomas V. Emerson
William R. Fowler
David S. Houston
Harvey M. Herrington
Benjamin F. Herrington
Francis L. Hix
Harvey Hoover
Oliver W. Powell
William Robe
Phillip M. Robinson
Martin E. Robinson
Edgar W. Rubles
Henry M. Rubles
Nelson Shaffer

Solomon Stafford
Elza Stafford
John F. Sparks
James N. Sangston
John Robey
Isaac P. Hopkins
James C. Hestetler
Larkin Hall
James C. Beatty
John Collins
Alfred Dawson
Samuel Dornall
Aaron C. Jenkins
Jacob Garrett
John Knight
John W. Kennedy
Robert J. Lincoln
Samuel C. Lewellen
Zadock Lanham
Eugenus Mayfield
Joshua Mayfield
Jacob H. Summers
George W. Shoemaker
John J. Swindler
Rufus Spencer
Lawrence Victor
George W. Widdons
David West
William E. Wilkins
George W. Williamson
George R. Walker
Levi Bricker
John Connelly

Company C, Fourteenth West Virginia Infantry

Officers

OLIVER P. JOLLIFFE Captain.

ISAAC N. HOLLAND ....Lieutenant.

JOHN W. BISHOP Lieutenant.

HENRY HOWELL Sergeant.

HENRY BAKER Sergeant.

JOHN A. HOLLAND Sergeant.

IN THE CIVIL WAR

431

JAMES F. HOLLAND Sergeant.

WILLIAM CRAIG Sergeant.

EUGENUS LANHAM Corporal.

RAWLAY C. McKEE Corporal.

ASHABELL G. DEVAULT Corporal.
WILLIAM H. SNOWDON ..Corporal.

WILLIAM W. HESS Corporal.

ELZA L. MORGAN Corporal.

JAMES P. DARNELL Corporal.

WILLIAM H. AUSTIN Corporal.

J. B. WILLIAMSON Fifer.

SAMUEL McELROY Drummer.

Privates

Joseph Austin
Henry Austin
Daniel L. Ashcraft
John Boyd
William Carroll
Garrett Conn
William R. Jolliffe
John M. Joliffe, Sr.
John M. Joliffe, Jr.
Alpheus Joliffe
Jacob Jacobs
Eugenus Jenkins
Franklin C. Kidwell
Nathan Kerns
Henry H. King
George W. King
Jefferson Kingsley
Linsley Cox
Edward G. Eaglen
Jacob Frederick
Benjamin F. Fletcher
Samuel B. Frum
David C. Fetty
Joseph F. Leman
William L. McClarman
Ezekiel Marple
Daniel McElroy
Nathaniel McCosh
Michael Price
William H. Prickett
Richard W. Prickett
Thomas P. Spencer

Caleb D. Spencer
Alpheus Steele
John Zinn
Thomas D. Harden
Morgan B. Hale
Henry W. Hardman
John H. Powell
Charles H. Howell
James A. Smith
Thomas H. Smith
Asa D. Springer
James H. Smell
Kaleb Tarleton
James S. Watson
James W. Watson
Thomas W. Watkins
Kaleb Watkins
George W. Watkins
Isaac P. Hopkins
Aaron C. Hopkins
Frederick W. Christy
John C. Freeburn
Samuel Gray
John W. Lambert
Ezekiel Trickett
George W. Joliffe
Joseph Rumble
Archie C. McBee
David Mellon
Jacob W. Mouser
Christopher Russler
Thomas S. Joliffe

432

HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

William B. Lambert
Jacob A. Prickett
John Pride
G. Brown
Henry Bell
G. H. Hardman
Solomon Holland
John W. Mouser
William Gardner
William Kisner
Isaac W. Powell

Thomas W. Riffe
George W. Willis
Abraham C. Woolard
George M. Grubb
Joseph A. Kincaid
Milton F. Walls
John J. Trickett
John W. Miller
Nelson Steele
H. Austin
William H. Smith

Company A, First West Virginia Cavalry

This company was known locally as the Kelly
Lancers, and entered the United States service July
18, 1 86 1 , for three years. The first captain was J. L.
McGee, who was afterwards promoted to colonel, and
H. H. Hagans afterwards became captain of the com-
pany and served a few weeks when he resigned, and
Charles H. Capenhart was assigned to the command.
The company saw some of the most active service in
the campaigns in West Virginia and was in twenty-
two battles. It served till July 8, 1 865, and was mus-
tered out at Wheeling. The officers and privates of
the company are given below:

Officers

H. H. HAGAN Captain.

N. N. HUFFMAN Lieutenant.

T. H. B. LEMLEY Lieutenant.

THOMAS D. PUGH Sergeant.

W. H. JONES Q. M. Sergeant.

WILLIAM P. MERRILL Sergeant.

FLEMING DUDLEY Sergeant.

ELIAS A. DUDLEY Sergeant.

ABRAHAM HESS Sergeant.

SHELBY P. BARKER Sergeant.

JOHN BYER Corporal.

JOHN I. JARRETT., Corporal.

EDMUND H. SELBY Corporal.

IN THE CIVIL WAR

433

ANDREW J. HIBBS Corporal.

JOHN W. PHILIPS Corporal.

AARON BARKER Corporal.

PHILIP P. WELLS Corporal.

GEORGE R. ABLE :....Cor P oral.

SAMUEL GOODWIN Corporal.

L. W. FLANDERS Corporal.

GEORGE R. RIDGEWAY ..Corporal.

Privates

Nimrod Austin
William C. Abbott
William C. Anderson
Richard B. Berry
William Brown
Jonathan Bausim
Daniel J. Carper
Clark Gidley
James Headland
Jacob Hare
Festus H. McDougal
Garrett L. McCauley
Oliver P. Philips
John E. Philips
Thomas Rose
Samuel Sheets
John H. Snider

F. Vanswartown
John Wells
Caleb F. Conn
William H. Fear
Henry H. Hunter
James J. Page
Sebastian Swink
Edwin S. Wyatt
Bartholomew Jenkins
John H. Conn
Joseph Smith
George W. Smith
George H. King

J. J. Jennewine

G. W. Chandler
J. L. McGee

J. R. Donaldson
Thomas J. Edwards
William J. Derrimer

Jacob T. Eaglon
John J. Dillworth
William H. Evans
Peter J. Bauer
Francis M. Bird
Moses W. Chesney
Simeon Furman
Samuel Goliday
Edwart Hart
William Lynch
Andrew J. Morris
Nimrod Neely
Hiram Piles
Daniel Rhoades
Beckwith H. Sear
Jacob Sheets
H. M. Tomlinson
Oliver P. Wade
R. I. J. Cleaver

Daniel Cornell

John Goodwin

Thomas D. Hawker

John J. Popel

Alexander J. Swaney

Clark Gidley

Thomas H. Frost

Richard H. Lee

E. W. Murphy

Thomas Robinson

Thomas Griffith

John E. Hoffman

Peter Hess

Wilson Jones

John W. Keller

Virgil S. Jones

John Lawlis

434

HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Jacob Lawlis
Levin Lawlis
Joseph Bausim
James P. Carroll
Thomas Collins
Alonzo Finnell
William H. Hagans
Arthur Hart
Thomas Minear
Rezin S. Michael
Isaac N. Philips
Conrad C. Potter
Daniel C. Riddle
Lewis Sutton
Charles Star
John L. Tygart
David Weidman

Jacob Blosser
John Isenhart
William H. Gutherie
James A. Neal
William C. Riddle
Herman Koster
James Warman
James Kidwell
Henry Rumble
Calvin Sheets
William Sheridan
Samuel Merrifield
John W. Mclntyre
John W. McCarty
William O'Reid
Charles Snider

Company C, Third West Virginia Cavalry

Company C. Third West Virginia Cavalry, was
organized at Brandonville, Preston county, October
1 , 1 86 1 , and in the company's ranks were the follow-
ing Monongalia county men:

Officers

MICHAEL FERRELL Sergeant.

SILVESTER RIDGWAY ....Sergeant.
ULYSSES DAVIS Corporal.

Privates

William Deets
F. C. Spencer
Alfred Porter
Eri Anderson
William Barthlow
Levi Bricker
James Deets
George Jenkins
William G. Lazelle
Jacob Myers
H. R. Stansberry
L. S. Stoneking

William Fleming
Jonathan Stahl
A. J. Statler
Jacob H. Hart
Thomas Stoker
W. C. Myers
Edgar C. Piles
John Smith
Samuel Tichnel
William B. Shaw
James S. Perry
James P. St. Clair

IN THE CIVIL WAR 435

George W. Rude Enos Myers

William Protzman George W. Dean

Balser Shafer Joshua Barthlow

Middleton Robey James S. Perry

David Shaffer Jacob Hart

Company D, Third West Virginia Cavalry

Following is the roll of Company D, Third West
Virginia Cavalry, which was formed at Morgantown
in August, 1 862, and consisted entirely of Mononga-
lians, with two exceptions. The members of the Com-
pany did good service as scouts in the country along
the South Branch of the Potomac river. It was in a
number of hot contests in Virginia. The first cap-
tain of the Company and served until the close of
killed in battle at Piedmont Station in Virginia, after
which Lieutenant G. W. McVicker succeeded as cap-
tain of the company and served until the close of
the war.

Officers

GEORGE W. McVICKERS ..Captain.

McGILL CLARK Lieutenant.

JOSEPH ROBINS Lieutenant.

JACOB STURGEON Sergeant.

NELSON SNODGRASS Sergeant.

CHARLES E. MORRIS Sergeant.

JOHN C. RIPPERT Sergeant.

NEELY MAHANNAH Sergeant.

THOMAS M. LOUGH Sergeant.

WILLIAM ROGERS Sergeant.

ALBERT E. EVERLY Corporal.

JOSEPH DOHERTY Corporal.

WILLIAM E. GARLOW ....Corporal.

JOSEPH E. HALFIN Corporal.

W. R. RICHARD Corporal.

O. B. LAWLESS Corporal.

DAVID E. CORDERY Corporal.

JOSEPH HARTLEY Corporal.

JAMES BOORD Bugler.

436

HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

ALLISON A. DILLINER Bugler.

WILLIAM IRVIN Farrier.

JACOB LEMON Blacksmith.

CHARLES JOHNSON ....Blacksmith.

W. A. LEWELLEN Teamster.

GEORGE W. SNIDER Teamster.

Privates

Amos Anderson
Thomas Boice
Isaac Boice
John F. Brand
Jonathan Brown
John Burbridge
W. H. Bixler
Jacob Barrackman
James B. Craig
Christopher Gore
E. J. Clayton
John Clark
Nimrod Cole
John Core
Benjamin Core
Isaac N. Furman
Stephen G. Hess
James R. Hall
James Hayes
Asa Henderson
Silas Henderson
Marion Hawkins
John O. Johnson
Ezra Tenant
James P. Arnett
Joseph W. Bowers
James A. Downey
John B. Gray
Burnett Haney
William Harris
James M. Jones
John Keefover
Elery J. Lough
Elijah Lawson
Washington Martin
Silas McGraw
Azel McCurdy
James Myers

John S. Nusum
Jacob Piles
Joseph Pride
Albert Plum
William Philips
G. W. Robinson
Uriah Rider
Edgar F. Reese
George C. Schaffer
Dennis M. Shaffer
Alpheus Springer
David Stanton
Elza Hall
Elza T. Lough
Eric Rhinehart
William Harris
James M. Henry
W. F. Lazzelle
George S. Laidley
B. F. Leonard
James D. Springer
W. Thompson
Chris Toothman
Calvin Vandegraft
George W. Wilson
George W. Weekly
Levi Weekly
Peter Wining
George W. West
Thomas Watton
John Wright
Joseph Bowers
Perry Arnett
Charles H. McLane
Jacob W. Kennedy
Josephus Muldrew
William S. Glasscock
Jacob Dehard

IN THE CIVIL WAR

437

John W. Jester
George W. Wilson
James R. Utt
John W. Conwell
Isaac T. Lyons
Samuel Gardner

James Rogers
Isaiah Riggs
Riley H. Smith
Joseph Skentz
David Weedman

Company I, Fourteenth West Virginia Infantry

The following are the names of members of
Company I, Fourteenth West Virginia Infantry, from
Monongalia county:

Officers

ELIAS C. FINNELL Captain.

JAMES B. FOGLE Lieutenant.

SILAS W. HARE Sergeant.

REZON HOLLAND Sergeant.

THOMAS B. WELLS Sergeant.

FREDERICK BREAKIRON Sergeant.

CYRUS COURTNEY Sergeant.

JACKSON R. STOKER Corporal.

GEORGE W. DAWSON ....Corporal.
FREDERICK A. WELLS ....Corporal.

W. J. F. MARTIN Corporal.

WILLIAM L. ANDERSON ..Corporal.

JOHN W. MARTIN Corporal.

JOSEPH J. WEAVER Corporal.

JOHN SAUNDERS Corporal.

Privates

William L. Able Robert Reed

William Beatty John T. Summers

James A. Barnes Imlah Scott

Mortimer Cade Napoleon B. Tibbs

Zack Dunn George W. Castle

Isaac McC. Galliher Thomas P. Knox

William Dawson Joseph R. Peck

Daniel W. Jones Bushrod W. Finnell

Joshua Weaver W. D. Boughner

Benson Molilisey Nicholas V. Flum

Alexander McCauley Robert C. Jackson

William A. Morris Abraham Piles

Abraham Nuce William Scott

438

HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Henry C. Thorn
G. Barrickman
Alpheus D. Lyons
Robert Powell
Robert Brocks
John Beatty
D. W. Breakiron
Francis O. Chalfant
Jack Felty
W. B. Heix
William S. Hoard
Daniel R. Jackson
John S. Lemon
Arthur Murray
John S. McMillan
Charles H. Madera
James F. Porter
W. A. Friend
Marion N. Shanes
James L. Shroyer
Lebben C. Weltner
William S. Morrison
David B. Mcllwain
George Barb
I. W. Galliger
Beth Boice
Alpheus B. Fear
Elias Martin
Israel Philips
Nicklin Sayers
Uriah Griffith
Francis M. Fetty

Draper Lawless
Lewis A. Sisley
Henry Robey
Eugenus Bell
Lawrence S. Blaney
Benjamin F. Childers
Samuel Gould
John Hunter
John W. Haney
George W. Kelly
Aaron W. Lewellen
Ferry McLane
Pevid Murphy
George Nuse
Michael Rice
Henry Robey
Felix Scott
George T. Turner
Jacob S. Shisler
A. D. Fundenberg
William S. Morrison
William P. Cole
Levi Bolinger
George C. Bowers
James W. Heix
Josephus Neighbors
William Stewart
Francis Thomas
John W. Martin
Joseph S. Kelly
William L. Pool
John M. Weltner

Company E, Seventeenth West Virginia Infantry

Company E, Seventeenth West Virginia Infan-
try was recruited in Monongalia county in August,
1 864, and after doing scouting duty in Braxton coun-
ty for a time were sent to Wheeling where the soldiers
were mustered out of service June 30, 1 865. The roll
is as follows:

IN THE CIVIL WAR

439

Officers

FRANK L. HIX Captain.

ALPHEUS GARRISON ....Lieutenant.
HARVEY STAGGERS ....Lieutenant.

HARMON TRICKETT Sergeant.

GRANVILLE BROWN Sergeant.

CLARK KELLY Sergeant.

NATHAN JONES Sergeant.

LEONARD SELBY Corporal.

EDGAR McREA Corporal.

WILLIAM J. VANDIVERT Corporal.

JOHN BROWN Corporal.

J. MILTON HARTLEY Corporal.

JAMES N. DAVIS Corporal.

ISAAC N. LITMAN Corporal.

GEORGE C. HAYES Corporal.

NIMROD PROTZMAN Musician.

Privates

Robert M. Altman Alexander H. Lindsey

Samuel Albright Adam Moore

William B. Brown Gilbert F. Moore

Daniel Brown Waltman Mercer

Henry H. Burgoine P. D. McKinney

Horatio Britten Oliver P. McRea

John W. Britten Zadoc McBee

R. D. Brookover Ommi Orr

Henry Bell Asa S. O' Kelly

John Cole C. Puffenbarger

Rush W. Dorsey Marion Protzman

Solomon Dorton William H. Philips

James T. Eberhart Alpheus Pugh

William A. Eberhart Henry Pugh

Thomas Flumm William W. Pixler

Thomas D. Field Francis M. Powell

Leonard Fisher Elza Plum

James Freeman Alexander Rumble

Martin V. B. Funk John Rice

Joseph Gwyn Isaac H. Smith

Jeremiah Hare Benjamin F. Selby

Samuel W. Harden Columbus Summers

William R. Hopkins Hiram Springer

Erastus Kirkpatrick Adam Staggers

Marshall J. Knocks Jesse S. Severe

Jacob Lyons John A. Thompson

Thomas Lanham Zimmi Tenant

440

HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Simeon P. Tennant
Andrew Tennant
J. P. Tennant
Enoch Tennant
Joseph E. Watts
George W. Watson
Alpheus West
James Williams
M. P. Williams
Jeremiah Wright
Walter Lewis
Elbert M. Arnett
Benjamin Davis
Joseph P. Davis
Asa Dillon
Martin L. Garl
Nelson Male
William Minard
Jonathan Male

Henry Myers
S. B. McGregor
James E. Bratt
Robert Ramsey
William Simonton
William T. Stewart
John Wryck
John W. Carraco
Thomas A. Ryan
William N. Arnett
Peter Shaffer
Simeon Austin
Henry Conaway
George W. Mole
James K. Phillips
Isaiah Robe
William M. Tennant
Amon J. Tennant

First West Virginia Light Artillery.

The following men from Monongalia county
served in the First West Virginia Light Artillery:

John W. Mason
Samuel Felty
Jonathan Fast
Elisha C. Allender

Cappell Holland
Albert B. Mason
Robert Robes

Monongalia county paid as bounties to soldiers
in the Civil War the total sum of $1 54,425.

Monongalians in the Confederate Army

A few men entered the Confederate army from
Monongalia county, among which were the follow-
ing:

IN THE CIVIL WAR

441

David M. Camp, captain, Company A, Twentieth
Virginia Cavalry; Stephen Franks, sergeant; P. L. Jamison,
sergeant; George W. Wilson, corporal, and the following
privates :

Alfred Ammon
Rezin Ammon
Zimri Ammon
Edgar Baker
John T. Bell
Edward Bell
David Bussey
L. B. Camp
U. S. Camp
A. J. Camp

Van Coombs
George Garrison
William Garvis
J. W. Jamison
Ellswoth Stewart
William Stewart
G. W. Smith
George Shay
Edward Trickett
A. O. Wilson

The following persons were in Confederate Com-
panies and went from Monongalia county :

A. J. Jones
Frank Jones
Henry Wilson
Calvin Arnett
Edward Boer
William Clark
Miller Clark
William Fisher
Andrew Tennant
John Wilson

George Wilson
H. A. Ferrel
Asbury Toothman
Charles Malot
Jesse Thomas
Edward Arnett
James Hurry
William Malot
Zach West
Joseph Wiseman

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 443

CHAPTER XVII.

Monongalia and the Civil War.

Little actual fighting was done in Monongalia
in the Civil War. The field of hostilities was out-
side the county and the nearly two thousand soldiers
furnished by the county were sent to other places to
fight the battles that it was necessary be fought to win
the victory, but it was fortunate that the homes in
Monongalia were spared the hardship and dangers
that would have been hers had the area of hostilities
been widened to include this county. A few raids and
scouting parties passed through the territory, and in
that way a mere taste of the realities of war were
learned at first hand.

It is nevertheless considered necessary in order
to give a general summary of the long and desperate
struggle which took place in the country sixty years
ago, to mention a number of incidents which occurred
in West Virginia as a part of the war, though the ma-
jority of them took place outside of the county, but
near enough to make them a part of the history of the
State and in a measure of the county. It is an account
of the events connected with the war as it affected
the whole State and with Monongalia as a part of
the State.

1861.

April 1 7. The Ordinance of Secession was
adopted by the Virginia Convention at Richmond.

April 1 8. Harper's Ferry was abandoned by the
Federal troops. Lieutenant Roger Jones, the com-

444 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

mandant, learning that more than 2,000 Virginia
troops were advancing to attack him, set fire to the
United States armory and machine shops and retreat-
ed into Pennsylvania. Fifteen minutes after he left
Harper's Ferry the Virginia forces arrived.

April 23. General Robert E. Lee assigned to
the command of Virginia's land and naval forces.

April 27. Colonel T. J. Jackson assigned to the
command of the Virginia forces at Harper's Ferry.

May 1 . Governor Letcher calls out the Virginia
militia.

May 3. Additional forces called for by the Gov-
ernor of Virginia. The call was disregarded by nearly
all the counties west of the Alleghanies.

May 4. Colonel George A. Porterfield assigned
to the command of all the Confederate forces in North-
western Virginia.

May 1 0. General Robert E. Lee assigned to
the command of the forces of the Confederate States
serving in Virginia.

May 1 3. General George B. McClellan assign-
ed to the command of the Department of the Ohio,
embracing West Virginia.

May 1 4. The Confederates at Harper's Ferry
seized a train of cars.

May 15. General Joseph E. Johnston assigned
to the command of Confederate troops near Harper's
Ferry.

May 22. Bailey Brown was killed by a Con-
federate picket at Fetterman, Taylor county. Brown
was the first enlisted man of the United States vol-
unteer service killed in the war.

May 26. Federal Forces from beyond the Ohio
and those about Wheeling began to move against
Grafton where Confederates, under Colonel Porter-
field, had established themselves.

May 27. Captain Christian Roberts was killed

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 445

by Federals under Lieutenant West, in a skirmish at
Glover's Gap, between Wheeling and Fairmont.
Captain Roberts was the first armed Confederate
soldier killed in the war.

May 30. Grafton was occupied by Federal
forces, the Confederates having retreated to Philippi.

June 3. Fight at Philippi and retreat of the
Confederates into Randolph county.

June 6. Ex-Governor Henry A. Wise was sent
to the Kanawha Valley to collect troops for the Con-
federacy.

June 8. General R. S. Garnett superseded Col-
onel Porterfield in command of Confederate forces in
West Virginia.

June 1 0. A Federal force was sent from Row-
lesburg to St. George, in Tucker county, capturing
a lieutenant and two Confederate flags.

June 1 4. Governor Letcher, of Virginia, pub-
lished at Huttonsville, Randolph county, a proclama-
tion to the people west of the Alleghanies, urging
them to stand by Virginia in its secession, and prom-
ising them, if they would do so, that the wrongs of
which they had so long complained should exist no
more, and that the western counties should no longer
be domineered over by the powerful eastern counties.

June 1 9. Skirmish near Keyser. Confederates
under Colonel John C. Vaughn advanced from Rom-
ney and burned Bridge No. 21 on the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad, and defeated the Cumberland Home
Guards, capturing two small cannon.

June 23. Skirmish between Federals and Con-
federates at Righter's.

June 26. Skirmish on Patterson creek, Hamp-
shire county, in which Richard Ashby was killed by
thirteen Federals under Corporal David Hays.

June 29. Skirmish at Hannahsville, in Tuck-

446 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

er county, in which Lieutenant Robert McChesney
was killed by Federals under Captain Miller.

July 2. Fight at Falling Waters, near Martins-
burg. Colonel John C. Starkweather defeated Stone-
wall Jackson. This was Jackson's first skirmish in
the Civil War.

July 4. Skirmish at Harper's Ferry. Federals
under Lieutenant Galbraith were fired upon from op-
posite bank of the river. The Federals fell back with
a loss of 4.

July 6. The forces under McClellan which were
advancing upon Rich Mountain encountered Confed-
erate outposts at Middle Fork Bridge, eighteen miles
west of Beverly. The Federals fell back.

July 7. The Federals drove the Confederates
from Middle Fork Bridge.

July 7. Skirmish at Glenville, Gilmer county.

July 8. Skirmish at Belington, Barbour county.
General Morris with the left wing of McClellan's
army attempted to dislodge the Confederates from the
woods in the rear of the village, and was repulsed, los-
ing 2 killed and 3 wounded.

July 1 1 . Battle of Rich Mountain. The Con-
federates under Colonel Pegram were defeated by
General Rosecrans.

July 12. General Garnett, with 4,585 Confed-
erates, retreated from Laurel Hill through Tucker
county, pursued by General Morris with 3,000 men.

July 1 2. Beverly was occupied by McClellan's
forces, and a Confederate force, under Colonel Scott,
retreated over Cheat Mountain toward Staunton.

July 1 3. Colonel Pegram surrendered six miles
from Beverly to McClellan's army.

July 1 3. Battle of Corrick's Ford, in Tucker
county. Garnett was killed and his army routed by
Federals under General Morris.

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 447

July 13. General Lew Wallace with a Federal
force advanced from Keyser and captured Romney.

July 1 5. Harper's Ferry was evacuated by the
Confederates.

July 1 6. Skirmish at Barbousville, Cabell
county. The Confederates were defeated.

July 1 7. Scarry Creek skirmish. Colonel Pat-
ton, with 1 ,200 Confederates, defeated an equal num-
ber of Federals under Colonel Norton.

July 20. Colonel W. W. Loring was placed in
command of the Conderate forces in Northwestern
Virginia.

August 1 . General R. E. Lee was sent to take
command of Confederate forces in West Virginia.

August 1 1 . General John B. Floyd took com-
mand of Confederate troops in the Kanawha Valley.

August 13. A Federal force was sent from
Grafton into Tucker county, capturing 1 5 prisoners,
90 guns, 1 50 horses and cattle and 1 5,000 rounds
of ammunition.

August 25. The Confederates were defeated in
a skirmish at Piggott's Mill.

August 26. Fight at Cross Lanes, near Sum-
merville. While the Federals were eating breakfast
they were attacked and defeated by General Floyd.

September 1 . Skirmish at Blue Creek.

September 2. Skirmish near Hawk's Nest in
Fayette county. General Wise with 1,250 men at-
tacked the Federals of equal force, but was repulsed.

September 1 0. Battle of Carnifex Ferry.

September 1 2. Skirmish at Cheat Mountain
Pass, near Huttonsville. The Confederates under
General Lee were repulsed in their attempt to fall
upon the rear of the Federals.

September 1 3. Fight on Cheat Mountain. The
Confederates were defeated. General Lee was foiled
in his attempt on Elk Water.

448 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

September 1 4. Second skirmish at Elk Water.
The Confederates were again unsuccessful.

September 1 5 . The Confederates again were
foiled in their attempt to advance to the summit of
Cheat Mountain.

September 16. Skirmish at Princeton, Mercer
county.

September 24. Skirmish at Hanging Rocks, in
Hampshire county. The Federals were defeated.

September 24. Skirmish at Mechanicsburg
Gap, Hampshire county. The Federals were de-
feated.

September 25. Colonel Cantwell defeated the
Confederates under Colonel Angus McDonald and
captured Romney, but was afterwards forced to
retreat.

September 27. Captain Isaiah Hall was defeat-
ed by Confederate guerrillas at High Log Cabin Run,
Wirt county.

October 3. Fight at Greenbrier river. The Fed-
erals were repulsed after severe fighting, but the Con-
federates fell back to the Summit of the Alleghanies.

October 1 6. Skirmish near Bolivar Heights.
About 500 Confederates under Turner Ashby at-
tacked 600 Federals under Colonel John W. Geary.
The Confederates were defeated.

October 1 9. There was skirmishing on New
river, with various results.

October 23. Skirmishing on the Gauley be-
tween detachments of Federals and Confederates.

October 23. Colonel J. N. Clarkson, with a
raiding force of Confederates, unsuccessfully attacked
a steamer on the Kanawha.

October 26. Colonel Alexander Monroe, with
27 Hampshire county militia, attacked and defeated
a large Federal force at Wire Bridge, on South Branch
of the Potomac.

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 449

October 26. General Kelley with 3,000 Fed-
erals defeated Colonel McDonalds militia and cap-
tured Romney.

November 1 . Commencement of a series of
skirmishes for three days, near Gauley Bridge.

Novermber 1 0. Skirmishes at Blake's Farm
and Cotton Hill, with attendant movements, occu-
pying two days.

November 10. Fight at Guyandotte. J. C.
Wheeler, with 1 50 recruits, was surprised and cut to
pieces by Confederate raiders under J. N. Clarkson.
Among the Union prisoners was Uriah Payne, of
Ohio, who was the first to plant the United States
flag on the walls of Monterey, Mexico. Troops soon
crossed to Guyandotte from Ohio and the Rebels re-
treated. A portion of the town was burned by the
Federals.

November 1 2. Skirmish on Laurel Creek.

November 1 4. Skirmish near McCoy's Mill.

November 30. A detachment of Union troops
was attacked by guerrillas on the South Branch above
Romney. The Federals retreated, with three wound-
ed and a loss of six horses.

November 30. Skirmish near the mouth of
Little Capon, in Morgan county. Captain Dyche de-
feated the Rebels.

December 1 3. Battle at Camp Alleghany. The
Federals were defeated with a loss of 1 37 in killed and
wounded.

December 1 5. Major E. B. Andrews set out on
an expedition of six days to Meadow Bluff; defeated
the Confederate skirmishers and captured a large
amount of property.

December 28. Union forces occupied the coun-
ty seat of Raleigh.

December 29. Sutton, Braxton county, was
captured by 135 Rebels. The Union troops under

450 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

Captain Rawland retreated to Weston. The Confed-
erates burned a portion of the town.

December 30. Expedition into Webster coun-
ty by 400 Union troops under Captain Anisansel. He
pursued the Confederates who had burned Sutton;
overtook them at Glades; defeated them; killed 22
and burned 29 houses believed to belong to Rebel
bushwhackers .

1862.

January 3. Fight at Bath, in Morgan county,
continuing two days. The Confederates under Stone-
wall Jackson victorious.

January 3. Major George Webster, with 700
Union troops, marched from Huttonsville to Hunt-
ersville, in Pocahontas county, drove out 250 Con-
federates, captured and destroyed military stores
worth $30,000. These were the first Federals in
Huntersville.

January 4. Skirmish at Sir John's Run, Mor-
gan county. The fight continued late in the night.
The Federals retreated.

January 4. Skirmish at Slanesville, Hampshire
county. A squad of Union troops under Captain
Sauls was ambused and routed. Captain Sauls
was wounded and taken prisoner. The Confederates
were under Captain Isaac Kuykendall.

January 5. On or about January 5 the village of
Frenchburg, six miles from Romney, was burned by
order of General Lander on the charge that the peo-
ple harbored Rebel bushwhackers.

January 5. Big Capon bridge, on the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad, was destroyed by Confederates
under Stonewall Jackson.

January 7. Fight at Blue's Gap, Hampshire
county, in which the Confederates were defeated and
lost two cannon — the same guns captured at Bridge
No. 21 by the Confederates, June 19, 1861.

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 451

January 10. The Federal troops evacuated
Romney.

January 1 1 . Romney occupied by troops under
Stonewall Jackson.

January 14. The seat of Logan county was
burned by Union troops under Colonel E. Siber.

January 3 1 . Confederates evacuated Romney
by order of the Secretary of War of the Confederate
States.

January 3 1 . Stonewall Jackson, indignant at
the interference with his plans by the Secretary of
War, in recalling troops from Romney, tendered his
resignation. He was persuaded by Governor Letcher,
General Johnston and others to recall it.

February 2. Confederates at Springfield,
Hampshire county, were defeated by General Lander.

February 8. Skirmish at the mouth of Blue
Stone. Colonel William E. Peters, with 225 Con-
federates, was attacked by an equal force. The Fed-
erals retreated.

February 1 2. Fight at Moorefield, in which the
Confederates retreated.

February 1 4. Confederates driven from Bloom-
ery Gap, in Morgan county.

February 1 6. The Union troops were de-
feated at Bloomery Gap and compelled to retreat.

February 26. The Patterson Creek bridge, in
Mineral county, was burned by Rebel guerrillas.

March 3. Skirmish at Martinsburg.

April 1 2. Raid from Fairmont to Boothville
by Captain J. H. Showalter, who was ordered by Gen-
eral Kelley to capture or kill John Righter, John An-
derson, David Barker, Brice Welsh, John Lewis, John
Knight and Washington Smith, who were agents sent
by Governor Letcher into northwestern Virginia to
raise recruits for the Confederacy. Captain Showal-
ter killed three men of Righter 's company.

452 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

April 1 7. Defeat of the Webster county gueril-
las, known as Dare Devils, by Major E. B. Andrews,
who marched from Summerville to Addison with 200
Federals. There were several skirmishes between
April 1 7 and April 2 1 . Several houses belonging to
the guerrillas were burned.

April 1 8. An expedition was sent by General
Schenk to clear the North Fork and Seneca in Pen-
dleton county of Rebel bushwhackers.

April 1 8. Colonel T. M. Harris skirmished with
Rebel bushwhackers in Webster county, killing 5
and burning 5 houses.

April 23. Skirmish at Grassy Lick in Hampshire
county. Confederate bushwhackers under Captain
Umbaugh, who held a commission from Governor
Letcher, concealed themselves in the house of Peter
Poling and fired upon Colonel S. W. Downey's scout-
ing party, killing three. Troops were sent from Rom-
ney and Moorefield and burned the house after mor-
tally wounding its owner.

May 1 . Lieutenant Fitzhugh with 200 Federals
was attacked near Princeton, Mercer county, and
fought thirteen hours while retreating 23 miles, losing
1 killed, 1 2 wounded.

May 1 . Skirmish at Camp Creek on Blue Stone
river. Lieutenant Bottsford was attacked by 300
Rebels and lost 1 killed and 20 wounded. The Con-
fedrates were repulsed with 6 killed.

May 7. Skirmish near Wardensville, Hardy
county. Troops under Colonel S. W. Downey at-
tacked Captain Umbaugh, a Rebel guerilla, killing
him and 4 of his men, wounding 4 and capturing
1 2. The fight occurred at the house of John T. Wil-
son.

May 8. Major B. F. Skinner led a scouting
party through Roane and Clay counties from May
8 to May 2 1 , skirmishing with Rebel guerrillas.

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 453

May 1 0. Federal scouts were decoyed into a
house near Franklin, Pendleton county, and were set
upon by bushwhackers and defeated with one killed.
Two days later reinforcements arrived, killed the own-
er of the house, and burned the building.

May 15. Fight at Wolf creek, near New river,
between Captain E. Schache and a squad of Confed-
erates. The latter were defeated with 6 killed, 2
wounded and 6 prisoners.

May 1 6. The Confederates captured Princeton.
Mercer county.

May 1 6. Skirmish at Wytheville Cross Roads.
The Federals were attacked and defeated.

May 1 7. Federals captured Princeton with 1 5
prisoners.

May 23. Battle of Lewisburg, Greenbrier coun-
ty. General Heth with 3,000 Confederates attacked
the forces of Colonel George Crook, 1 ,300. The Con-
federates were stampeded and fled in panic, losing
4 cannon, 200 stands of arms, 1 00 prisoners, 38 killed,
66 wounded. The Union loss was 1 3 killed, 53
wounded.

May 26. Skirmish near Franklin, Pendleton
county.

May 29. Fight near Wardensville. Confeder-
ates were attacked and defeated with 2 killed, by
Colonel Downey.

May 30. A Federal force under Colonel George
R. Lanham attacked guerrillas on Shaver Fork of
Cheat river, defeating them, killing 4 and wounding
several.

June 8. Major John J. Hoffman attacked and
defeated a squad of Confederate cavalry at Muddy
creek, near Blue Sulphur Springs, killing 3.

June 24. At Baker's Tavern, Hardy county,
Captain Charles Farnsworth was fired upon by Rebel
bushwhackers. He burned several houses in the vi-

454 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

cinity as a warning to the people not to harbor bush-
whackers.

June 24. Colonel J. D. Hines started upon a
three days scout through Wyoming county. He de-
feated and dispersed Confederate guerrillas known as
Flat Top Copperheads.

July 25. Lieutenant J. W. Miller, at Summer-
ville, was attacked at daybreak by 200 Confederate
cavalry and nearly all his men were captured.

August 2. A scouting party of Federals under
Captain I. Stough left Meadow Bluff for the Green-
brier river. On August 4, near Haynes Ferry, he
was defeated by the Confederates, losing 2 wounded.
The Rebels had 5 killed.

August 5. Federals under Lieutenant Wintzer
invaded Wyoming county. In a fight at the county
seat he was defeated with a loss of 1 9 missing.

August 6. Rebels attacked Pack's Ferry, near
the mouth of Blue Stone, and were driven off by
Major Comly. The Confederates, 900 in number,
were commanded by Colonel G. C. Wharton.

August 7. Rebel cavalry was defeated in a skir-
mish at Horse Pen creek.

August 1 4. General John D. Imboden, with
300 Confederates, set out from Franklin, Pendleton
county, on a raid to Rowlesburg to destroy the rail-
road bridge across Cheat river. His advance was dis-
covered and he did not venture beyond St. George, in
Tucker county, where he robbed the postoffice and set
out on his retreat.

August 1 8. Skirmish near Corrick's Ford, in
Tucker county, between Federal scouts and Confed-
erates under Captain George Imboden.

August 22. The Confederate General, A. J.
Jenkins, with 550 men, set out from Salt Sulphur
Springs, in Monroe county, on an extensive raid. He
passed through Greenbrier and Pocahontas counties

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 455

into Randolph, through Upshur, Lewis, Gilmer,
Roane, Jackson, crossed the Ohio, and returned
through the Kanawha Valley, marching 500 miles,
capturing 300 prisoners and destroying the public
records in many counties.

August 30. The Confederates under General
Jenkins captured Buckhannon after the small Federal
Garrison fled. He secured and destroyed large quan-
tities of military stores, including 5,000 stands of
arms. He had intended to attack Beverly, but feared
his force was too small. He crossed Rich Mountain
to the head of the Buckhannon river, traveling 30
miles through an almost pathless forest and fell on
Buckhannon by surprise.

August 3 1 . Weston, in Lewis county, was cap-
tured by Confederates under General Jenkins.

September 1 . General Jenkins captured Glenn-
ville, Gilmer county, the Federal garrison retreating
after firing once.

September 2. Colonel J. C. Rathbone, with a
Federal force stationed at Spencer, Roane county,
surrendered to General Jenkins without a fight.

September 3. At Ripley, in Jackson county,
General Jenkins captured $5,525 belonging to the
United States government. The Union soldiers sta-
tioned at the town retreated as the Confederates ap-
proached.

September 1 1 . General W. W. Loring, with a
strong force of Confederates, having invaded the Kan-
awha Valley, attacked the Federal troops under Gen-
eral J. A. J. Lightburn at Fayetteville and routed
them. This was the beginning of an extensive Con-
federate raid which swept the Union troops out of the
Kanawha Valley. Military stores to the value of a
million dollars fell into the hands of the Rebels, who
destroyed what they could not carry away.

September 1 3. General Lightburn, in his re-

456 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

treat down the Kanawha Valley, was overtaken at
Charleston by General Loring and was compelled to
abandon large stores in his flight to the Ohio.

September 1 5. General Loring, at Charleston,
issued a proclamation to the people of the Kanawha
Valley and neighboring parts of the State, inform-
ing them that the armies of the Confederacy had set
them free from the danger and oppression of Federal
bayonets, and he called on them to rise and maintain
their freedom, and support the government which had
brought about their emancipation.

September 20. General Jenkins' forces, having
re-crossed the Ohio river into the Kanawha Valley,
skirmished with Federals at Point Pleasant.

September 27. Skirmish at Buffalo, twenty
miles above Point Pleasant. Colonel John A. Turley
attacked and defeated the Confederates, a portion of
the force under Jenkins.

September 28. Skirmish at Standing Stone.

September 30. Fight at Glenville. Fifty Fed-
erals attacked and defeated 65 Confederate cavalry.

October 1 . Fight near Shepherdstown between
Federals under General Pleasanton and Confederates
under Colonel W. H. F. Lee. Both sides claimed vic-
tory.

October 2. Federals under Captain W. H. Boyd
attacked and destroyed General Imboden's camp at
Blue's Gap, in Hampshire county.

October 4. Confederates were captured at
Blue's Gap.

October 4. General Imboden attacked and de-
feated the Federal guard at Little Capon bridge, in
Morgan county and destroyed the bridge.

October 4. The Federal guard at Pawpaw, Mor-
gan county, was captured by Imboden.

October 6. Skirmish at Big Birch.

October 1 6. General Loring was superseded by

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 457

General John Echols as commander of Confederate
forces in West Virginia.

October 20. Skirmish at Hedgeville.

October 29. Fight near Petersburg, Grant
county, between Federals under Lieutenant Quirk and
Rebel cattleraiders who were endeavoring to drive
stock out of the South Branch Valley. The raiders
were defeated, and lost 1 70 cattle.

October 3 1 . Skirmish near Kanawha Falls.

November 9. St. George, Tucker county, was
captured by Imboden together with the garrison of
31 Federals under Captain William Hall. Imboden
had set out, November 9, from South Fork, in Pendle-
ton county, to destroy the railroad bridge at Rowles-
burg, but learning that troops from Beverly were
moving in his rear, he retreated, passing up Glade
Fork of Cheat river, through a dense and pathless wil-
derness. He reached South Fork November 1 4. He
had 3 1 men, and carried howitzers on mules.

November 9. Skirmish on South Fork. General
Kelley moved from Keyser and destroyed Imboden's
camp, which he had left in charge of Lieutenant R. L.
Doyle while Imboden was absent on his raid toward
Rowlesburg.

November 9. Captain G. W. Gilmore, with a
Federal force, invaded Greenbrier county, capturing
a wagon train and 9 men. He returned November 1 1 .

November 24. A force of 75 Federals under
Captain Cogswell marched from Sharpsburg to Shep-
herdstown and captured Burke's guerrillas, killing
Burke.

November 26. An expedition moved forward
under W. H. Powell from Summerville to Cold Knob,
and with only 20 men defeated the Confederates at
Sinking creek and took 500 prisoners.

December 3. Confederates at Moorefield were

458 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

defeated with loss of 1 2 by Lieut. H. A. Myers with
1 00 men.

December 1 1 . Lieutenant R. C. Pendergrast
with 27 men defeated a detachment of Confederates
at Darkesville, Berkeley county.

Decerhber 12. In a skirmish near Bunker Hill,
Berkeley county, a squad of Federals captured 1 2 of
Ashby's cavalry.

December 22. General Imboden attacked a
supply train near Wardensville, Hardy county, cap-
turing it. He lost six men. The Federals lost 20 .

December 25. Sixty Confederates under Cap-
tain Boyle were defeated by Lieutenant Vermilyea,
with 40 men, at Charlestown.

1863.

January 3. Fight near Moorefield. Federals
under Colonel James Washburn were attacked by
General William E. Jones. A second Union force,
under Colonel James Muligan, advanced from Peters-
burg, attacked the Confederates in the rear and de-
feated them.

January 3. Petersburg, Grant county, was oc-
cupied by Confederates after it was evacuated by the
Federals, who burned military stores to the value of
$20,000, which they could not move.

January 5. A supply train to General Milroy's
army was attacked and partly destroyed by Confeder-
ates under Captain John H. McNeill, four miles from
Moorefield.

January 20. General Lee wrote to Imboden,
outlining a policy of war for West Virginia and urged
him to carry it out. Among other things, the munic-
ipal officers of the re-organized government of Vir-
ginia, called by Lee "the Pierpont government," were
to be captured whenever possible; and Imboden was
instructed to "render the position of sheriff as dan-
gerous a position as possible."

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 459

January 22. Skirmish in Pocahontas county be-
tween Federals under Major H. C. Flesher and Con-
federates under Colonel Fontaine. Success was
equally divided.

February 5. Scout by 70 Federals under Major
John McMahan from Camp Piatt through Wyoming
county. The men were out three days and nearly
froze to death .

February 1 0. Captain C. T. Ewing left Bev-
erly with a Union force of 135 for a two days scout
through Pocahontas county. He captured 1 3 pris-
oners, 1 5 horses, and 1 35 cattle.

February 1 2. Skirmish near Smithfield, Jeffer-
son county. A Union scouting party was attacked by
Captain R. W. Baylor's cavalry, and lost six men,
killed, wounded and captured. Federal reinforce-
ments came up and retook the prisoners and captured
Lieutenant George Baylor and several men.

February 1 2. Major John McMahan set out
for a four days' scout from Camp Piatt through
Boone, Logan and Wyoming counties. He captured
four prisoners.

February 1 6. Confederate guerrillas captured a
wagon train and guard near Romney.

March 2. General John D. Imboden wrote Gen-
eral Lee, outlining his plan for invading West Vir-
ginia. The formidable raids under Imboden and Jones
in April and May, 1 863, were planned by Imboden,
and the first mention of the plan to Lee seems to have
been in the letter to that General on March 2. There
was a three-fold object in view. First, it was de-
signed to destroy as much of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad as possible, and Imboden believed he could
destroy nearly all of it. Second, he expected to en-
list "several thousand" recruits in West Virginia.
Third, he wanted to establish Confederate authority
in as much of the northwest as possible and retain it

460 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

long enough to enable the people to take part in the
Virginia State election in May. No hint is found in
the letter that the Confederates would be able to es-
tablished themselves permanently west of the Alle-
ghanies. Except the partial destruction of the railroad
and the carrying away of several thousand horses and
cattle, the great raid was a failure so far as benefit
to the Confederacy was concerned.

March 7. Skirmish at Green Spring run in
Hampshire county.

March 28. Confederates were defeated at Hur-
ricane Bridge, near the Kanawha, by Captain J. W.
Johnson.

March 30. Skirmish at Point Pleasant. Captain
Carter, with a Union force of 60 men, was attacked
by Confederates and besieged several hours in the
courthouse. The Rebels retreated when Federal re-
inforcements appeared upon the opposite bank of the
Ohio.

April 5. Skirmish at Mud river. Captain Dove
attacked and defeated Confederates under Captain P.
M. Carpenter.

April 6. Lieutenant Speer, with five wagons
and 1 1 men, was captured near Burlington, Mineral
county, by Confederates under McNeill.

April 7. Federals under Captain Moore attack-
ed the Confederates at Going's Ford, near Moorefield,
defeated them and retook the wagons lost by Lieuten-
ant Speer the day before.

April 1 1 . Col. G. R. Lanham moved from
Beverly toward Franklin, Pendleton county, and oc-
cupied the town without opposition. He returned
to Beverly after an absence of seven days.

April 1 8. Fight in Harrison county. Colonel
N. Wilkinson with a squad of Union troops captured
Major Thomas D. Armstrong at Johnstown and
scattred his forces on the head of Hacker's Creek.

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 461

April 20. Imboden set forward with 3,000 men
on his great raid. General W. E. Jones was sent
through Hardy county to Oakland, Maryland, thence
to move westward, destroying the railroad, while Im-
boden advanced through Randolph county toward
Grafton, expecting to form a junction near that place
with Jones, whence they would move west. The plan
was generally carried out.

April 21. General Jones with 1,300 men set
forward on the great raid.

April 24. Beverly was captured by Imboden.
Colonel Latham with 900 Federals retreated to Phil-
ippi, in Barbour county, over roads almost impassable
for mud which in places was up to the saddle skirts.
Imboden was unable to follow with artillery, but pur-
sued with cavalry. General Roberts in command of
the Union forces in the northwestern part of the State,
called in all his outlying garrisons and retreated to
Clarksburg. Colonel James Mulligan marched from
Grafton with a Federal force and fought Imboden's
troops in Barbour county, but hearing that General
Jones was threatening Grafton, Mulligan fell back to
defend that point. Imboden moved slowly toward
Buckhannon over roads so bad that in one day he
could advance only two miles.

April 25. Fight at Greenland Gap in Grant
county. Captain Martin Wallace with less than 1 00
Federals held the pass five hours against the Rebel
army, and surrendered only when driven into a church
and the building set on fire.

April 26. General Jones attacked and captured
Cranberry Summit, now Terra Alta, in Preston
county.

April 26. The Confederates attacked Rowles-
burg for the purpose of destroying the railroad bridge
and trestles. The town was defended by Major J. H.
Showalter and 252 Union troops. General Jones did

462 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

not lead the attack in person but remained at the
bridge five miles above Rowlesburg where the North-
western Pike crosses, for the purpose of burning the
structure as soon as the town was taken. But his at-
tacking parties were repulsed, and he abandoned the
attack and marched to Evansville, in Preston county,
not knowing that the Federal garrison of Rowlesburg
was in full retreat toward Pennsylvania. Thus the
town escaped capture, although defenseless; and the
great trestles, for the destruction of which General
Lee had planned so carefully, and the tunnel at Tun-
nelton, then the largest in the world, were saved; and
the blow which would have paralyzed the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad for months was not struck.

April 27. The suspension bridge across Cheat
river at Albrightsville, three miles from Kingwood,
was cut down by the Confederates. The cables were
severed with an axe.

April 27. Bridges and trestles on the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad near Independence, Preston coun-
ty, were burned by General Jones.

April 27. Morgantown, Monongalia county,
was surrendered to General Jones by the citizens.
Three citizens were shot near town by the Rebels.

April 28. The suspension bridge across the
Monongahela river at Morgantown was set on fire by
the Confederates, but they permitted the citizens to
extinguish the fire before much damage was done.

April 29. The Confederates under Imboden
advanced to and occupied Buckhannon, in Upshur
county.

April 29. General Jones attacked and cap-
tured Fairmont, Marion county, after a sharp skir-
mish. He captured 260 prisoners.

April 29. The large iron railroad bridge across
the Monongahela above Fairmont, which cost over
$400,000, was blown down with powder. The first

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 463

blast of three kegs of powder placed under a pier,
failed to move it, and the Confederates proceeded
to burn the wood work, considering it impossible to
destroy the iron superstructure. But after several
hours of undermining, a charge of powder threw the
bridge into the river.

April 29. Governor Pierpont's library at his
home in Fairmont was burned by the Rebels.

April 29. Colonel Mulligan, who had been in
Barbour county fighting Imboden, came up and at-
tacked the Confederates under Jones, while they were
destroying the bridge above Fairmont, and sharp
fight ensued. Mulligan saw that he could not save
the bridge, and fell back to Grafton.

April 30. Imboden lost 200 soldiers at Buckhan-
non by desertion, because he would not permit them
to steal horses for their private benefit.

April 30. Skirmish at Bridgeport, Harrison
county. General Jones captured 47 prisoners, burned
a bridge and trestle, and run a freight train into the
creek.

May 2. General Jones occupied Philippi, and
from there sent across the Alleghanies, by way of
Beverly, several thousand cattle and horses taken
from the people. On the same day he formed a
junction with Imboden's troops.

May 2. Lieutenant G. M. Edgar, with a detach-
ment of Confederates, was attacked by Federals at
Lewisburg, Greenbrier county. He defeated them.

May 4. General Jones invested Clarksburg,
where several thousand Union troops had collected
from the counties south of that place, but he did not
make an attack.

May 5. Imboden skirmished with a small Union
force at Janelew, Lewis county.

May 6. Imboden moved from Weston toward
the southwest, Jones having moved west from Clarks-

464 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

burg toward Parkersburg. Up to that time Imboden
had collected 3, 1 00 cattle from the country through
which he had raided.

May 6. Jones moved against West Union,
in Doddridge county, but upon approaching tjie town
he saw that the Union troops collected there were pre-
pared to make a stand and fight, and he declined bat-
tle and moved on west.

May 7. Jones captured Cairo, Ritchie county,
and the small garrison at that place.

May 8. Colonel James A. Galliher was fired
upon by bushwhackers at Capon Bridge, Hampshire
county.

May 9. Jones burned 1 00,000 barrels of oil at
the oil wells in Wirt county. The tanks broke and the
crude petroleum flowed into the Little Kanawha river,
took fire and the spectacle of a river in flames for
miles was never before seen. The destruction of ev-
erything combustible along the river was complete.
The Confederates advanced no nearer the Ohio. Both
Imboden and Jones turned southward and eastward
and re-crossed the Alleghanies late in May. Instead of
procuring "several thousand" recruits, as Imboden
had expected, more soldiers were lost by desertion
than were gained by recruits. General Lee expressed
disappointment with the result, and Imboden excused
the failure to increase his army by saying that the in-
habitants of West Virginia were a "conquered peo-
ple," in fear of Northern bayonets, and not daring to
espouse the Confederate cause.

May 1 2. Imboden defeated a small Union force
near Summerville.

May 1 9. Fayetteville, in Fayette county, was
attacked by General McCausland, but after bombard-
ing two days the Federals forced him to retreat.

May 23. General B. S. Roberts was superseded
by General William W. Averell in command of the

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 465

Federal forces in the northern part of West Virginia.
General Roberts was relieved because he offered so
little opposition to the advance of Jones ani Imboden.
When Imboden crosed the mountain and took Bev-
erly, the war department at Washington urged Gener-
al Roberts to collect his forces and fight. To this Gen-
eral Roberts replied that the roads were so bad he
could not move his troops. The answer from Wash-
ington was sarcastic, asking why the roads were too
bad for him and yet good enough to enable the Rebels
to move with considerable rapidity. From all accounts,
the roads were worse than ever before or since. Im-
boden left Weston with twleve horses dragging each
cannon, and then found it necessary to throw away
ammunition and the extra wheels for the guns, in or-
der to get along at all, and then sometimes being able
to make no more than five miles a day. When Gen-
eral Averell took command he changed 3,000 infantry
to cavalry, and trained it to the highest proficiency,
and with it did some of the finest fighting of the war.
The Confederates feared him and moved in his vicin-
ity with the greatest caution. His headquarters at first
were at Weston.

June 7. General Lee ordered Imboden into
Hampshire county to destroy railroad bridges, prelim-
inary to the Gettysburg campaign.

June 1 0. General Averell urged that the mass
of mountains forming the great rampart overlooking
the Valley of Virginia should be fortified and held.
He referred to the Allegheny, Cheat Mountain, Rich
Mountain and others about the sources of the Green-
brier, Cheat, Tygart and Elk rivers. In his letters to
General Schenk he said: "It has always appeared to
me that the importance of holding this mass of moun-
tains, so full of fastnesses, and making a vast re-en-
trant triangle in front of the enemy, has never been
appreciated."

466 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

June 1 4. A portion of General Milroy's forces
was captured by Confederates at Bunker Hill, near
Martinsburg.

June 1 4. Martinsburg was captured by Con-
federates under General A. G. Jenkins. General
Daniel Tyler, who had occupied the town, retreated.

June 1 6. Romney was captured by Imboden.

June 1 7. South Branch Bridge, at the mouth of
South Branch, was burned by Imboden, who advanced
through Hampshire county, forming the extreme left
of General Lee's army in the Gettysburg campaign.

June 24. A Union scouting party from Grafton
to St. George had a skirmish with guerrillas, killing
five and capturing several horses.

June 26. Skirmish at Long creek, in the Ka-
nawha Valley. Captain C. E. Hambleton, with 75
men, was attacked and defeated by Confederates un-
der Major R. A. Bailey, with a loss of 29 prisoners
and 45 horses.

June 29. General William L. Jackson, with
1 ,200 Confederates, moved against Beverly to attack
the forces under Averell.

July 2. The Confederates under Jackson at-
tacked the troops at Beverly and were repulsed.

July 4. The Confederates under W. L. Jackson,
who had fallen back from Beverly, were attacked
and routed at Huttonsville by General Averell.

July 1 3. An expedition set out from Fayette-
ville, crossed into Virginia and cut the railroad at
Wythville, being absent twelve days, skirmishing
with small parties of Confederates.

July 14. Skirmish on the road between Har-
per's Ferry and Charlestown, resulting in the defeat of
the Confederates.

July 1 4. Confederates defeated in a skirmish
at Falling Waters.

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 467

July 1 5. Colonel C. H. Smith defeated Confed-
erates near Charlestown.

July 1 7. Skirmish at North Mountain, Berkeley
county. The Rebels were defeated, with 1 7 captured.

July 1 9. Fight near Martinsburg, in which Gen-
eral Bradley T. Johnson was defeated by General
Averell, who had just arrived from Beverly and was
opposing the western wing of General Lee's army re-
treating from Gettysburg. Johnson was destroying
the railroad when Averell drove him away, capturing
20 prisoners.

August 5. General Averell moved from Win-
chester through Hardy county on his expedition to
Greenbrier county.

August 5. Skirmish at Cold Spring Gap, in
Hardy county, by a portion of Averell's force under
Captain Von Koenig, and a detachment of Imboden's
command. The Confederates lost 1 1 men captured.

August 6. Averell sent a squad of cavalry to
to Harper's Mill, from Lost River, Hardy county.
Several prisoners were taken, but the Federals subse-
quently fell into an ambuscade and lost the prisoners
and had 1 3 men captured and 4 wounded. The Con-
federates had 3 killed and 5 wounded.

August 1 9. The Federals destroyed the salt-
peter works near Franklin.

August 2 1 . Wilkinson's Brigade skirmished
with Confederate guerrillas near Glenville, killing 4.

August 22. Confederates were defeated by
Averell near Huntersville.

August 25. Averell crossed from Huntersville
to Jackson river and destroyed saltpeter works.

August 26. Battle of Rocky Gap, in Greenbrier
County. Averell with 1 ,300 men fought General
Sam Jones with over 2,000. The battle continued
two days, when Averell's ammunition ran short and
he retreated to Beverly. His loss in the battle was

468 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

218, the Confederate loss 162. This was one of the
most hotly contested battles in West Virginia. Cap-
tain Von Koenig was killed. It has been said it was
done by one of his men whom he had struck while
on the march. It is also said that this soldier did not
know Averell by sight, and supposed it was Averell
who struck him, and when he shot Von Koenig, sup-
posed he was shooting Averell.

August 26. Lieutenant Dils, with 40 Federals
killed 3 bushwhackers ten miles from Sutton, Brax-
ton county.

August 26. Union troops were fired upon by
bushwhackers on Elk river, five miles below Sutton.

August 27. Forty guerillas under Cunningham
attacked a Federal detachment under Captain C. J.
Harrison, on Elk river, near Sutton. The guerrillas
were defeated.

August 27. In a skirmish with Confederate
guerrillas on Cedar creek, fifteen miles from Glenville,
Gilmer county, Captain Simpson defeated them, kill-
ing 4.

September 4. Skirmish at Petersburg Gap, in
Grant county. A Union detachment marching from
Petersburg to Moorefield was defeated.

September 1 1 . Confederates under McNeill
made a daybreak attack upon Major W. E. Stephens
near Moorefield and defeated him, killing or wound-
ing 30 men and taking 1 38 prisoners. The Federals
were endeavoring to surprise McNeill, but were sur-
prised by him. The Rebels had 3 wounded.

September 1 5. One hundred Federals under
Captain Jones attacked 70 Confederates at Smith-
field, capturing 1 1 . Captain Jones was wounded.

September 20. A Federal picket on the Sen-
aca road, where it crosses Shaver Mountain, was at-
tacked and defeated by the Confederates who lost 4.

September 24. A scouting party of 70 sent

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 469

from Beverly by Averell lost 2 men in a skirmish at
Greenbrier Bridge.

September 25. Sixty Confederates under Ma-
jor D. B. Lang of Imboden's command, surprised and
captured 30 of Averell's men at the crossing of Cheat
river by the Senaca trail.

October 2. A petition was signed and for-
warded to the Confederate government, asking for
the removal of General Sam Jones from the com-
mand in Western Virginia, and the assignment of
some other general in his place. Among the signers
were members of the Virginia Legislature from the
West Virginia counties of Mercer, Putnam, Logan,
Boone and Wyoming. There were many other sig-
natures. Those counties were represented in the
Virginia and West Virginia Legislatures at the same
time. The petition charged incompetency against
General Jones. He was soon after relieved of com-
mand in West Virginia.

October 7. Confederates under Harry Gilmor
defeated Captain G. D. Summers and 40 men at Sum-
mit Point, Jefferson county. Captain Summers was
killed.

October 1 3. Fight at Bulltown, Braxton coun-
ty. Confederates under W. L. Jackson were de-
feated with a loss in killed and wounded of 50 by
Captain W. H. Mattingly, who was severely wounded
in the action.

October 14. When Jackson retreated from
Bulltown he was pursued by Averell's troops, who
came up with him and defeated him at Salt Lick
Bridge.

October 1 5. Twenty-seven of Harry Gilmor 's
men who had been sent to burn the Back Creek
bridge, were captured in a skirmish near Hedgeville
by Federals under Colonel Pierce.

October 18. Attack on Charlestown by 1,200

470 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

men under Imboden. The Confederates captured
434 of Colonel Simpson's command and then re-
treated, hotly pursued. Some of Imboden's infan-
try marched 48 miles on the day of the fight, thus
beating the record made by Napoleon's soldiers, who
marched 36 miles and fought a battle in one day.

November 1 . General Averell moved from
Beverly into Pocahontas county with about 2,500
men, and General Duffie moved from Charleston
to co-operate with him. They expected to form a
junction in Greenbrier county.

November 3. Skirmish at Cackleytown, Po-
cahontas county. Confederates were defeated by
Averell.

November 5. Confederates were defeated by
Averell at Hillsboro, Pocahontas county, and at Mill
Point.

November 6. Battle of Droop Mountain, Poca-
hontas county. Averell attacked General Echols,
who had 1,700 men strongly posted on the summit
of a mountain. It was a stubborn contest and the
Federals gained the day by a flank movement, Echols
retreating with a loss of 275 men and three cannon.
Averell's loss was 1 1 9. The Confederates made
their escape through Lewisburg a few hours before
General Duffie's army arrived at that place to cut
them off, while Averell was pursuing. By block-
ading the road, Echols secured his retreat into Mon-
roe county. Averell attempted pursuit, but receiv-
ed no support from Duffie's troops, who were worn
out, and the pursuit was abandoned.

November 6. Confederates at Little Sewell
Mountain were defeated by General Duffie.

November 7. Lewisburg was occupied by
General Duffie.

November 7. In a night skirmish at Muddy

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 471

Creek the Confederates were defeated by General
Duffie's troops.

November 8. A squad of Confederates driv-
ing cattle was attacked on Second Creek, on the road
to Union, in Monroe county, and lost 1 1 cattle.

November 1 2. The saltpeter works in Pendle-
ton county, used by the Confederates in making gun-
powder, were destroyed by Averell's troops.

November 15. General Imboden sent Captain
Hill into Barbour county to waylay wagon trains on
the road from Philippi to Beverly.

November 1 6. At Burlington, in Mineral coun-
ty, 1 00 Confederates under McNeill captured a train
of 80 wagons and 200 horses, killing two men,
wounding 1 and taking 20 prisoners. The wagon
train was under an escort of 90 men, commanded by
Captain Jeffers.

December 8. Averell moved from Keyser with
Federal troops upon his great Salem raid, which he
concluded on Christmas Day. He had 2,500 cavalry
and artillery. It was a momentous issue. General
Burnsides was besieged at Knoxville, Tennessee, by
General Longstreet, and it was feared that no re-
inforcements could reach Burnsides in time to save
him. The only hope lay in cutting Longstreet's line
of supplies and compelling him to raise the siege.
This was the railroad from Richmond to Knoxville,
passing through Salem, sixty miles west of Lynch-
burg. Averell was ordered to cut this road at Salem,
no matter what the result to his army. He must do
it, even if he lost every man he had in the execution
of his work. An army of 2,500 could be sacrificed
to save Burnsides' larger army. With his veteran
cavalry, mostly West Virginians, and equal to the
best the world ever saw, Averell left Keyser Decem-
bber 8, 1 863, and moved through Petersburg, Monte-
rey, Back Creek (Gatewood's, Callighan's, Sweet Sul-

472 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

phur Springs Valley, Newcastle to Salem, almost as
straight as an arrow, for much of the way following a
route nearly parellel with the summit of the Allegha-
nies. Four Confederate armies, any of them larger than
his, lay between him and Salem, and to the number
of 1 2,000 they marched, counter-marched, and ma-
neuvered to effect his capture. Still, eight days he
rode toward Salem in terrible storms, fording and
swimming overflowing mountain streams, crossing
mountains and pursuing ravines by night and by day,
and on December 1 6 he struck Salem, and the blow
was felt throughout the Southern Confederacy. The
last halt on the downward march was made at Sweet
Sulphur Valley. The horses were fed and the sol-
diers made coffee and rested two hours. Then at 1
o'clock on the afternoon of December 1 5, they
mounted for the dash into Salem.

From the top of Sweet Springs Mountain a splen-
did view was opened before them. Averell, in his
official report, speaks of it thus: "Seventy miles to
the eastward the Peaks of Otter reared their summits
above the Blue Ridge, and all the space between was
filled with a billowing ocean of hills and mountains,
while behind us the great Alleghanies, coming from
the north with the grandeur of innumerable tints,
swept past and faded into the southern horizon.
Newcastle was passed during the night. Averell's
advance guard were mounted on fleet horses and
carried repeating rifles. They allowed no one to go
ahead of them. They captured a squad of Confede-
rates now and then, and learned from these that Av-
erell's advance was as yet unsuspected in that quar-
ter. It was, however, known at that time at Lynch-
burg and Richmond, but it was not known at what
point he was striking. Valuable military stores were
at Salem, and at that very time a train-load of sol-
diers was hurrying up from Lynchburg to guard the

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 473

place. When within four miles of Salem a troop of
Confederates were captured. They had come out to
see if they could learn anything of Averell, and from
them it was ascertained that the soldiers from Lynch-
burg were hourly expected at Salem. This was 9
o'clock on the morning of December 1 6. Averell's
men had ridden twenty hours without rest. Averell
saw that no time was to be lost. From this point it
became a race between Averell's cavalry and the
Lynchburg train loaded with Confederates* each try-
ing to reach Salem first. The whistling of the engine
in the distance was heard, and Averell saw that he
would be too late if he advanced with his whole
force. So he set forward with three hundred and fifty
horsemen and two rifled cannon, and went into Sa-
lem on a dead run, people on the roads and streets
parting right and left to let the squadron pass. The
train loaded with Confederates was approaching the
depot. Averell wheeled a cannon into position and
fired three times in rapid succession, the first ball
missing, but the next passing through the train al-
most from end to end, and the third followed close
after. The locomotive was uninjured, and it reversed
and backed up the road in a hurry, disappearing in
the direction whence it had come. Averell cut the
telegraph wires. The work of destroying the rail-
road was begun. When the remainder of the force
came up, detachments were sent four miles east and
twelve miles west to destroy the railroad and bridges.
The destruction was complete. They burned 1 00,000
bushels of shelled corn; 10,000 bushels of wheat;
2,000 barrels of flour; 50,000 bushels of oats; 1,000
sacks of salt ; 1 00 wagons ; large quantities of cloth-
ing, leather, cotton, harness, shoes; and the bridges,
bridge-timber, trestles, ties, and everything that would
burn, even twisting the rails, up and down the rail-
road sixteen miles.

474 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

At 4 p. m., December 16, Averell set out upon
his return. Confederate troops were hurrying from
all sides to cut him off. Generals Fitzhugh Lee, Ju-
bal A. Early, John McCausland, John Echols and
W. H. Jackson each had an army, and they occupied
every road, as they supposed, by which Averell could
escape. Rain fell in torrents. Streams overflowed
their banks and deluged the country. The cavalry
swam, and the cannon and caissons were hauled
across by ropes where horses could not ford. The Fed-
erals fought their ways to James river, crossed it on
bridges which they burned in the face of the Con-
federates, and crossed the Alleghanies into Pocahon-
tas county by a road almost unknown. More than
1 00 men were lost by capture and drowning at James
river. The rains had changed to snow, and the cold
was so intense that cattle froze to death in the fields.
Such a storm had seldom or never been seen in the
Alleghanies. The soldiers' feet froze till they could
not wear boots. They wrapped their feet in sacks,
Averell among the rest. For sixty miles they follow-
ed a road which was one unbroken sheet of ice.
Horses fell and crippled themselves or broke the rid-
ers' legs. The artillery horses could not pull the can-
non, and the soldiers did that work, 1 00 men dragging
each gun, up the mountains. Going down the moun-
tains a tree was dragged behind each cannon to hold it
in the road. The Confederates were hard in pursuit,
and there was fighting nearly all the way through Po-
cahontas county, and at Edray a severe skirmish was
fought. Beverly was reached December 24, and
thence the army marched to Webster, in Taylor coun-
ty, and was carried by train to Martinsburg. Averell
lost 1 1 9 men on the expedition, one ambulance and
a few wagons, but no artillery.

December 1 1 . Confederates under Captain
William Thurmond attacked General Scammon at

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 475

Big Sewell and were repulsed. General Scammon
was marching to attract the attention of the Confed-
erate General Echols, and thereby assist Averell on his
Salem raid.

December 1 1 . Confederates under General W.
L. Jackson were defeated at Marlin Bottom, Poca-
hontas county, by Colonel Augustus Moor, who
marched into that country to assist Averell, by at-
tracting the attention of the Rebels.

December 1 2. Lewisburg was taken by Gen-
eral Scammon, General Echols retreating.

December 1 2. Troops sent by General Scam-
mon drove Confederates across the Greenbrier river.

December 1 3. Skirmish at Hurricane Bridge.
Confederates attacked a small force of Federals under
Captain Young. Both sides retreated.

December 1 4. Skirmish on the Blue Sulphur
Road, near Meadow Bluff. Lieutenant H. G. Otis,
with 29 men was attacked by Rebel guerrillas under
William Thurmond. The guerrillas fled, having killed
2 and wounded 4 Union soldiers, while their own loss
was 2.

1864.

January 2. Confederates under General Fitz-
hugh Lee invaded the South Branch Valley. This
raid, following so soon after Averell's Salem raid,
was meant as a retaliation for the destruction at Sa-
lem. The weather was so cold and the Shenandoah
Mountains so icy that Lee could not cross with artil-
lery, and he abandoned his guns and moved forward
with his troops.

January 3. Petersburg, Grant county, besieged
by Fitzhugh Lee.

January 3. An empty train of 40 wagons, re-
turning from Petersburg to Keyser, was captured by
Confederates.

476 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

January 6. Romney was occupied by Fitzhugh
Lee.

January 6. Springfield, in Hampshire county,
was captured by Confederates under McNeill and Gil-
raor.

January 30. General Rosser, with a strong
Confederate force, captured a train of 93 wagons, 300
mules and 20 prisoners, at Medley, Mineral county.
Among the prisoners taken was Judge Nathan Goff,
of West Virginia, whose horse fell on him and held
him. He was then twenty year old. The wagon
train was in charge of Colonel Joseph Snyder.

January 3 1 . Petersburg, Grant county, was
evacuated by Federals under Colonel Thoburn upon
the advance of an army under General Early. Colo-
nel Thoburn retreated to Keyser by way of Green-
land Gap.

February 1 . General Early advanced and at-
tacked the fort near Petersburg, not knowing that
Colonel Thoburn had retreated and that the fort was
empty.

February 2. General Rosser destroyed the rail-
road bridges across the North Branch and Patterson
creek, in Mineral county.

February 3. Forty Rebels under Major J. H.
Nounnan attacked and captured the steamer Levi on
the Kanawha, at Red House. General Scammon was
on board and was taken prisoner.

February 1 1 . Confederates under Gilmor
threw a Baltimore and Ohio passenger train from the
track near Kearneysville, and robbed the passengers.

February 20. Twenty Federals under Lieuten-
ant Henry A. Wolf were attacked near Hurricane
Bridge. Lieutenant Wolf was killed.

February 25. General John C. Breckenridge
was assigned to the command of the Confederate
forces in West Virginia, relieving General Sam Jones.

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 477

General Breckenbridge assumed command March 5.

March 3. Colonel A. I. Root marched from
Petersburg and destroyed the saltpeter works operat-
ed by Confederates in Pendleton county.

March 3. Skirmish in Grant county. Lieu-
tenant Denney with 27 Federals was attacked and de-
feated near Petersburg with a loss of 7 men and 1 3
horses.

March 1 0. Major Sullivan was killed by Mos-
by's guerrillas in a skirmish at Kabletown.

March 1 9. Eight men, of Imboden's command,
who had been in Barbour county attempting to way-
lay a wagon train, crossed into Tucker county and
robbed David Wheeler's store, three miles from St.
George.

March 20. Skirmish at the Sinks of Gandy in
Randolph county. The Rebels who had robbed
Wheeler's store were pursued by Lieutenant Valen-
tine J. Gallion and Captain Nathaniel J. Lambert and
defeated, with 3 killed, 2 captured, and the stolen
property was recovered.

April 1 9. Confederates were attacked and de-
feated at Marlin Bottom, Pocahontas county.

May 2. An expedition moved from the Kana-
wha Valley under Generals Crook and Averell against
the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. This is known
as the Dublin Raid, so called from the village of that
name in Pulaski county. The cavalry was under the
command of General Averell, while General George
Crook was in command of all the forces. On May
9 occurred a desperate tattle on Cloyd Mountain, near
the boundary between Giles and Pulaski counties,
Virginia. General Crook commanded the Union
forces, and the Confederates were under General Al-
bert G. Jenkins. For a long time the issue of the
battle was doubtful; but at length General Jenkins
fell, and his army gave way. He was mortally

478 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

wounded, and died soon after. His arm had been
amputated at the shoulder by a Federal surgeon. In
the meantime General Averell, with a force of cav-
alry, 2,000 strong, advanced by wretched roads and
miserable paths through Wyoming county, West
Virginia, into Virginia, hoping to strike at Saltville
or Wytheville before the Confederates could concen-
trate for defense. When the troops entered Taze-
well county they had numerous skirmishes with small
parties of Confederates. When Tazewell Court
House was reached it was learned that between 4,000
and 5,000 Confederates, commanded by Generals W.
E. Jones and John H. Morgan, had concentrated at
Saltville, having learned of AverelFs advance. The
defences north of that town were so strongly for-
tified that the Union troops could not attack with
hope of success. Averell turned, and made a rapid
march toward Wytheville, to prevent the Confeder-
ates from marching to attack General Crook. Arriv-
ing near Wytheville on May 1 0, he met Jones and
Morgan, with 5,000 men, marching to attack General
Crook. Averell made an attack on them, or they on
him, as both sides appeared to begin the battle about
the same time. Although out-numbered and out-
flanked, the Union forces held their ground four
hours, at which time the vigor of the Confederate
fighting began to slack. After dark the Confederates
withdrew. The Union loss was 114 in killed and
wounded. Averell made a dash for Dublin, and the
Confederates followed as fast as possible. The
bridge across New River, and other bridges, were
destroyed, and the railroad was torn up. Soon after
crossing New River on the morning of May 1 2, the
Confederates arrived on the opposite bank, but they
could not cross the stream. They had been unable
to prevent the destruction of the railroad property,
although their forces outnumbered Averell's. The

MONONGALIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 479

Union cavalry rejoined General Crook, and the army
returned to the Kanawha Valley by way of Monroe
county.

May 3. Bulltown, Braxton county, was cap-
tured and the barracks burned by Confederates under
Captains Spriggs and Chewings.

May 4. Captain McNeill with 61 Confederate
cavalry captured Piedmont, in Mineral county, and
burned two trains, machine shops, and captured 1 04
prisoners.

May 6. Lieutenant Blazer's scouts attacked and
defeated a troop of Confederates near Princeton, Mer-
cer county.

May 8. Fifty Confederates attacked a Federal
post at Halltown, Jefferson county, and were de-
feated.

May 9. Skirmish on the Summit of Cheat
Mountain between a scouting party from Beverly and
1 00 Rebels.

May 1 0. The Ringgold Cavalry was attacked
and defeated at Lost River Gap, Hardy county, by
Imboden. The Federals were hunting for McNeill's
men, and Imboden had hurridly crossed from the
Valley of Virginia to assist McNeill to escape.

May 1 1 . Romney was occupied by General
Imboden.

May 15. A scouting party moved from Bev-
erly under Colonel Harris against Confederate guer-
rillas in Pocahontas, Webster and Braxton counties,
capturing 36 prisoners, 85 horses, 40 cattle, and re-
turning to Beverly May 30.

May 1 9. General David Hunter was appointed
to the command of Federal forces in West Virginia.
He assumed command May 2 1 .

May 24. In a skirmish near Charlestown the
Confederates under Mosby were defeated.

480 HISTORY MONONGALIA COUNTY

June 6. Skirmish at Panther Gap. The Rebels
were defeated by Colonel D. Frost.

June 6. Fight near Moorefield. Eighty Fed-
erals under Captain Hart were attacked and lost four
killed and six wounded, but defeated the Confede-
rates.

June 1 0. Colonel Thompson was defeated near
Kabletown by Major Gilmor.

June 1 9. Captain Boggs, with 30 West Vir-
ginia State troops from Pendleton county, known as
Swamp Dragons, was attacked near Petersburg by
Lieutenant Dolen, with a portion of McNeill's com-
pany. The Confederates were at first successful, but
finally were defeated, and Lieutenant Dolen was
killed.

June 26. Captain McNeill, with 60 'Confeder-
ates, attacked Captain Law and 1 00 men at Spring-
field, Hampshire county. The Federals were defeated
losing 60 prisoners and 1 00 horses.

June 28. A detachment of Federals was de-
feated at Sweet Sulphur Springs by Thurmond's guer-
rillas.

July 3. Skirmish at Leetown. Confederates
under General Ransom attacked and defeated Colonel
Mulligan after a severe fight. A large Confederate
army under General Early was invading West Vir-
ginia and Maryland, penetrating as far as Chambers-
burg, Pennsylvania.

July 3. Confederates under Gilmor attacked
Union troops at Darkesville, Berkeley county, and
were defeated.

July 3. General Early captured Martinsbure

July 3. Skirmish at North River Mills, Ham 1
shire county.

July 4. General Imboden attacked an armored
car and a blockhouse at the South Branch Bridge, in
Hampshire county. He blew the car up with a shell,

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