The question of whether I should become a surveyor by profession was
much debated among us. My youth was against it, but I was in strength
and seriousness older than my years. My mother opposed it, as she did
every change, being of those who are defeated beforehand by obstacles.
Without any better plan of life to offer, she insisted that it was
not an occupation for a gentleman. This was, in a measure, true in
Virginia. The bounds of estates were often vague or contested, and
there was a strong prejudice against the persons employed to settle
these disputes, or who were engaged in laying out new plantations
beyond the Alleghanies, and who took daily wages, like mechanics.
The planters settled on the tide-water coast or on the rich river
lands were long since uneasy because they feared the settlements made
inland might interfere with their control of the trade in tobacco, in
the culture of which they were exhausting the soil. At one time the
king endeavoured to prevent settlements beyond the mountains, under
the pretence that they would be too little under government. It was
believed, however, that the jealousy of the long-settled planters was
the real means of bringing about this decree, which no one obeyed.
The more enterprising families, who were disposed to engage in the
acquisition of such lands, were looked upon with suspicion. Nor were
their active agents regarded with favour. Indeed, long afterwards I was
subject to reproach because of having been engaged in the occupation
of a surveyor of lands. The prejudice entertained by the gentry of
Virginia was not without foundation in the character of many of those
who were thus employed, for they were not all of a decent class,
and were subject to be influenced by bribes, so that out of their
misconduct arose many tedious disputes as to boundaries.
Although among my elders there was much discussion as to my choice of a
means of livelihood, I cannot remember that it in any way affected my
own resolutions or, in the end, those of my brothers. It was finally
concluded that I was to serve under Mr. Genn, my former instructor in
surveying, and was to be accompanied by Mr. George William Fairfax on a
visit to the estate of Lord Fairfax.
The prospect of being able to earn my own living, and of a life in the
wilderness, filled me with pleasure, and I set about preparing flints,
powder, and shot for the new fowling-piece his lordship was so kind
as to give me. I had the foresight, also, to take some lessons in the
shoeing of horses, and, after a visit to my mother, was fully prepared
for my journey.
I hold it most fortunate that my own inclinations and the good sense of
my brothers set me to work at a time of life when temptations are most
dangerous because of their novelty. Many of the young men I knew became
brutal from contact with slaves, and spent their lives, like some of
their elders, in fighting cocks and dogs and in running quarter-races.
A few men were brought up to professions; but as estates were entailed
on elder sons, or they, at least, received the larger portions, and
there was no army or navy, the younger sons were generally without
occupation and apt to fall into evil ways. I little knew, when I rode
away, how fortunate was my choice.
We set out on March 11, 1747, George William Fairfax and I, with two
servants and a led horse, loaded with a pack and such baggage as could
not be carried in saddle-bags. I was at this time ill, not having
recovered from an attack of the ague; but the action of the horse and
the feeling of adventure helped me, so that in a day or two I left off
taking of Jesuits’ bark, and was none the worse.
I have now before me the diary I kept as a lad of near sixteen years.
It was not so well kept as it was later, but already in it I discover
with interest that it turns to practical matters, like the value of the
land and what could be produced on it.
As we were soon joined by my old master in surveying, James Genn, I
learned a great deal more of his useful art, and usually earned a
doubloon a day, but sometimes six pistoles. Although the idea of daily
wages was unpleasant to Virginians of my class, I remember that it made
me feel independent, and set a sort of value upon me which reasonably
fed my esteem of myself, which was, I do believe, never too great.
Our journey was without risks, except the rattlesnakes, and the many
smaller vermin which inhabited the blankets in the cabins of the
squatters.
I remember with pleasure the evening when I first saw the great fertile
valley after we came through Ashby’s Gap in the Blue Ridge. The snows
were still melting, and on this account the streams were high and
the roads the worst that could ever be seen, even in Virginia. The
greatness of the trees I remember, and my surprise that the Indians
should have so much good invention in their names, as when they called
the river of the valley the Shen-an-do-ah――that is, the Daughter of the
Stars; but why so named I never knew.
In this great vale were the best of Lord Fairfax’s lands. Near to where
this stream joins the Potomac were many clearings, of which we had
to make surveys and insist on his lordship’s ownership. Here were no
hardships, and much pleasure in the pursuit of game, especially wild
turkeys. I learned to cook, and how to make a bivouac comfortable, and
many things which are part of the education of the woods. Only four
nights did I sleep in a bed, and then had more small company than I
liked to entertain.
I copy here as it was wrote by me, a lad of sixteen, what we saw on a
Wednesday. It might have been better spelled.
At evening we were agreeably surprised by ye sight of thirty
odd Indians coming from war with only one scalp. We gave them
some liquor, which, elevating their spirits, put them in ye
humour of dancing. They seat themselves around a great fire,
and one leaps up as if out of a sleep, and runs and jumps about
ye ring in a most comicle manner; afterward others. Then begins
there musicians to play and to beat a pot half full of water,
with a deer-skin tied tight over it, and a gourd with some
shott in it to rattle, and piece of a horse tail tied to it to
make it look fine.
The Dutch, then of late come in from Pennsylvania, I found an uncouth
people, who, having squatted, as we say, on lands not their own, hoped
to acquire cheap titles. They were merry and full of antic tricks. I
talked with some by an interpreter and heard them say they cared not
who were the masters, French or English, if only they were let to farm
their lands. This amazed me, who was brought up to despise the French
as frog-eating folk, and, indeed, this indifference of the Dutch became
a matter of concern when we had a war with the French.
After one night in a Dutch cabin I liked better a bearskin and the open
air, for it was not to my taste to lie down on straw――very populous――or
on a skin with a man, wife, and squalling babies, like dogs and cats,
and to cast lots who should be nearest the fire.
I did not like these people, and the Indians interested me more. Genn
understood their tongue well enough to talk with them, and the way they
had of sign-language pleased Lord Fairfax, because, he said, you could
not talk too much in signs or easily abuse your neighbour; but I found
they had a sign for cutting a man’s throat, and it seemed to me that
was quite enough, and worse than abuse. Mr. Genn warned me that one of
their great jokes was, when shaking hands with white men, to squeeze so
as to give pain. Being warned, I gave the chief who was called Big Bear
such a grip that, in his surprise, he cried out, and thus much amused
the other warriors. This incident is not in my diary, and I find it
remarkable that now, after so many years, it should come to mind, when
even some more serious affairs are quite forgot.