```"With evil omens from the harbor sails
````The ill-fated bark that worthless Arnold bears--
```God of the southern winds call up the gales
````And whistle in rude fury round his ears!
```With horrid waves insult his vessel's sides,
````And may the cast wind on a leeward shore
```Her cables part, while she in tumult rides,
````And shatters into shivers every oar."--Freneau.=
```"They came, as the ocean-wave comes in its wrath,
````When the storm spirit frowns on the deep;
```They came as the mountain-wind comes on its path
````When the tempest hath roused it from sleep;
```They were met, as the rock meets the wave,
````And dashes its fury to air;
```They were met, as the foe should be met by the brave,
````With courage, and not with despair."--Prosper M. Wetmore.=
[Illustration: 9551]
AWOKE at four o'clock on Christmas morning, and my first waking thought
was of the dawn of a fourth of July in a Northern city. Guns, pistols,
and squibs were already heralding the holiday; indeed the revelry
commenced at dark the previous evening, notwithstanding it was the night
of the Sabbath. Expecting to depart in the steam-boat for City Point at
six o'clock in the morning, I had directed the hostler, a funny little
negro, who was as full of promises as a bank-teller's drawer, to feed
my horse at half past four. I showed him a bright coin, and promised him
its possession if he would be punctual. Of course he would "be up before
dat time, rely upon it;" but experience had taught me to be distrustful.
At the appointed hour I went to the stable dormitory, and rapped several
times before the hostler stirred. "Yes, massa," he exclaimed, "I'se jis
turnin' over as you cum up de stair and striking a light with flint and
tinder, he went down to the stable with his lantern. I stood in the door
watching the breaking of the clouds and the peeping forth of the
stars after a stormy night, when a clatter in the stall attracted my
attention. Upon looking in, I discovered the little hostler under the
manger, with his tin lantern crushed beneath him, but the candle still
burning. "Ki!" he exclaimed, scrambling to regain his feet, "Ki! how
like de debble he butt! Mos knock my brains out!" I soon perceived the
cause of the trouble. A large black goat, with a beard like a Turk,
which I had seen in the stable the previous evening, observing the
negro's motions while rubbing Charley's legs, and interpreting them as
a challenge, had played the battering-ram with the hostler, and laid
him sprawling under the manger. "Did he hit you?" I inquired, gravely,
trying to suppress laughter. "Hit me, massa!" he exclaimed; "why he
most ruin me, I reckons. See dar!" and with all the dramatic gravity of
Anthony when he held up the robe of Cæsar, and exclaimed, "See what
a rent the envious Casea made!" the hostler exhibited a "rent" in his
nether garment at least an ell in length. Notwithstanding his mishap,
Billy insisted that "de goat is healthy for de hosses, and musn't be
turned out any how but he promised to give him a "licken de fus time he
ketch him asleep." Charley had his oats in time, and at six o'clock we
embarked on the _Alice_ for James River and City Point.
Going out of the harbor at Norfolk we passed the United States Marine
Hospital, on the western bank of the river, a spacious building standing
upon the site of Fort Nelson of the Revolution. On the opposite side I
perceived the ruins of Fort Norfolk, erected in 1812. We passed Craney
Island * before sunrise, and leaving Hampton and its noble harbor on the
* Craney Island is at the mouth of the Elizabeth River. The Americans
erected fortifications there in 1812, which commanded the entrance to
Norfolk harbor. On the twenty-second of June, 1813, a powerful British
fleet made an attack upon these works. A part of the hostile force
landed on Nansemond Point,
Lone relic of the past, old moldering pile,
Where twines the ivy round thy ruins gray,
Where the lone toad sits brooding in the aisle,
Once trod by "ladye fayre" and gallant gay!
Before my gaze altar and chancel rise,
The surpliced priest, the mourner bowed in prayer
Fair worshipers, with heaven-directed eyes,
And manhood's piety, and pride are there!
Knights of the olden time perchance are kneeling,
And choristers pour forth the hallowed hymn;
And hark! the organ's solemn strains are pealing.
Like songs of seraphs, or rapt cherubim!
But no! 'tis but my fancy, and I gaze
On ruined walls, where creeps the lizard cold;
Or dusky bats beneath the pale moon's rays
Their solemn, lonely midnight vigils hold.
Yet they are here! the learned and the proud,
Genius, and worth, and beauty--they are here!
I stand rebuked amid the slumbering crowd,
While time-past voices touch the spirit's ear."
John C. M'Cabe.
and a part attempted to reach the island in barges. The former were
driven off by the Virginia militia, and the latter were so galled by the
guns of a battery, that those who were not destroyed retreated to the
ships. The repulse was decisive. More than two hundred of the enemy were
killed and wounded. Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Gosport were saved.
[[[Voyage up the James River.--City Point.--Petersburg.--Blandford
Church.--Founding of Petersburg.]]]
{542}right entered the broad mouth of the James River. A strong breeze,
warm as the breath of May, came from the southwest and dispersed the
moving clouds. I have seldom experienced a more delightful voyage than
on that genial Christmas day upon the ancient Powhatan, whose shores
are so thickly clustered with historical associations. Jamestown, the
Chickahominy, Charles City, Westover, and Berkley, were all passed
before noon; and at one o'clock we landed at City Point, at the junction
of the James and Appomattox Rivers, about forty miles below Richmond. *
[Illustration: 9552]
Here the British army, under Phillips and Arnold, debarked on the
twenty-fourth of April, 1781, and proceeded to Petersburg.
An intelligent mulatto, enjoying his holiday freedom, took a seat with
me for Petersburg. He was a guide on the way, and gave me considerable
information respecting localities around that town, where his master
resided. We passed through Blandford, an old town separated from
Petersburg ** only by a deep ravine and a small stream, and at a
little after three o'clock I was dining at the Bollingbrook. At four,
accompanied by a young man acquainted with the way, I went up to the old
Blandford Church, one of the most picturesque and attractive ruins in
Virginia. It stands in the midst of a burial-ground upon an eminence
overlooking the ancient village of Blandford and its younger sister at
the falls of the Appomattox, with an extensive and diversified landscape
for scores of miles around. The edifice is cruciform, and was built
of imported bricks about one hundred and fifty years ago. Some of the
noblest and wealthiest of Virginia's aristocracy worshiped within its
walls; for Blandford was the focus of fashion and refinement, while
Petersburg was rudely struggling for its present pre-eminence. But
the glory of the town and its church departed; Blandford is now only
a suburban hamlet of Petersburg, and the old temple, dismantled of its
interior decorations, is left to the occupancy of the bats and the owls.
* City Point is in Prince George county. It is a post village and a port
of entry. A rail-way connects it with Petersburg.
** Fort Henry, erected for a defense of the people south of the James
River, was built on the site of Petersburg in, 1646. Colonel Bolling, a
gentleman of taste and fortune, settled there early in the last century.
Colonel Byrd, of Westover, mentions him as living in fine style there
in 1728. Peter Jones was the first settler, having established a
trading-house there soon after the erection of Fort Henry. The locality
was first called Peter's Point, and afterward Petersburg. Jones was a
friend of Colonel Byrd, and accompanied that gentleman to the Roanoke in
1733. He says in his journal, "When we got home we laid the foundation
of two large cities; one at Shacco's, to be called Richmond; and the
other at the point of Appomattox, to be called Petersburg. The latter
and Blandford were established towns in 1748. Blandford was then the
most flourishing settlement of the two.
*** This view is from the outside of the old inclosure, looking south.
[[[Sudden Storm.--Services of Steuben.--Military Operations between City
Point and Williamsburg.]]]
{543}While sketching the venerable ruin, a heavy black cloud, like the
chariot of a summer tempest, came up from the southwest. I tarried a
moment at the reputed grave of General Phillips, and then hurried across
the ravine to Petersburg; but I was too late to escape the shower, and
was so thoroughly drenched that I was obliged to exchange every garment
for a dry one. A cool drizzle continued throughout the evening, and
gave a deeper coloring to the disappointment I felt on being denied
the privilege of passing an hour with Charles Campbell, Esq., one
of Virginia's best local historians. He was twenty miles away; so I
employed that hour in jotting down the incidents of the day, and in
turning over the leaves of the old chronicle. Petersburg is a central
point of view, and here, before we cross the Roanoke, we will consider
the remainder of the Revolutionary annals of the "Old Dominion."
We have already noticed the invasion under Arnold; the destruction of
Richmond, and the founderies and magazines at Westham, at the head ot
the falls of the James River; and at Yorktown observed the concluding
scenes of Cornwallis's operations in Virginia. It was a fortunate
circumstance for that state, that the Baron Steuben, the veteran
disciplinarian from the armies of Frederick the Great, was detained in
Virginia, while on his way southward with General Greene. His services
in disciplining the militia, and organizing them in such order as to
give them strength to beat back the invaders at various points, were of
incalculable value. During Arnold's invasion, they were led against
his disciplined parties on several occasions, and with success. On
one occasion, General Smallwood, with three hundred militia, drove the
traitor's boots out of the Appomattox, and sent them in confusion far
below City Point; and Steuben himself, with George Rogers Clarke, the
hero of the Ohio Valley, led a considerable force to strike the enemy
between Westover and the Chickahominy.
It being evident that the entire subjugation of Virginia was a part of
the plan of the British for the campaign of 1781, * Washington early
turned his attention to that point, and concerted measures to avert
the blow. La Fayette sought and obtained the honor of commanding the
Continental forces destined for that theater of action. Washington gave
him his instructions on the twentieth of February,[[1781]] and with
about twelve hundred troops, detached from the forces then at New
Windsor and Morristown, he marched southward. The first object of this
expedition, as we have seen, was to co-operate with the French fleet
against Arnold. That portion of the general plan failed, and the
marquis, as we have observed, returned to the head of Elk. **
General Phillips, in command of the united forces under Arnold and
himself, landed at City Point on the twenty-fourth of April,[[1781]]
where he remained until the next morning, when they marched
directly upon Petersburg. On his way up the James River, he sent
Lieutenant-colonel Simcoe, with the Queen's Rangers, to attack a body of
Virginia militia at Williamsburg, and to get possession of Yorktown. The
expedition landed near Burwell's Ferry, a little below Williamsburg, on
the nineteenth,[[April 1781]] at which place the Americans had thrown up
some intrenchments. The Virginians fled at the approach of Simcoe,
and General Phillips, with the army, landed. Simcoe marched that night
toward Williamsburg. It was a night of tempest and intense darkness, and
it was not until the morning of the twentieth when he entered the town.
The militia also fled from Williamsburg, and the enemy took possession
of the place. It being ascertained that a large garrison would be
necessary for Yorktown, if taken, the project of its capture was
abandoned, and the troops proceeded up the river. ***
Baron Steuben, with one thousand militia, had taken post near Blandford
Church, and
* Cornwallis had overrun the Carolinas, and the security of his
conquests depended, in a measure, upon the subjugation of Virginia, and
the establishment of royal power upon the shores of the Chesapeake from
the Capes to the Elk. Cornwallis expressed to Sir Henry Clinton a hope
that the Chesapeake might become the seat of war for that campaign, even
at the expense of abandoning New York, if necessary. "Until Virginia
is in a manner subdued," he said, "our hold upon the Carolinas must be
difficult, if not precarious."
** See page 540.
*** Simcoe's Journal, 189-192
[[[Skirmish near Petersburg.--Retreat of the Americans.--British
Occupation of the Town.--Mrs. Bolling.]]]
{544}was ready to receive the British. Notwithstanding his force
consisted of less than one third of the number of the enemy, he
determined to dispute the ground. The British came in sight toward noon,
and formed, with their line extended to the left, upon the plain near
Blandford. Phillips and Simcoe reconnoitered, and having satisfied
themselves that Steuben's force was not very large, prepared to attack
him.
[Illustration: 9554]
The ground was broken where the Americans were posted. A party of yagers
passing through a gully behind an orchard, got upon the flank of the
patrols, and fired with such effect as to cause their retreat to
an eminence in their rear. Phillips now ordered his artillery to
be secretly drawn up. As soon as it opened upon the Virginians,
Lieutenant-colonel Abercrombie advanced in front, while Simcoe with his
rangers, and Captain Boyd with light infantry, passed through the wood
to turn their left flank. Steuben perceived this movement, and ordered
his troops to fall back. It was now between three and four o'clock in
the afternoon. Inch by inch the British made their way, the Virginians
disputing their progress with pertinacity. The enemy were two hours
advancing one mile, and when they reached the heights near Blandford
Church, the Americans opened a fire upon them from their cannon on
Archer's Hill, on the north side of the Appomattox. Overmatched both by
skill and numbers, Steuben retreated across the Appomattox, destroyed
the bridge, and took post on Baker's Hill, from whence he soon retired
with his arms, baggage, and stores, to Chesterfield Court House,
ten miles distant. The bridge was soon repaired, and the next day
Abercrombie, with the light infantry and rangers, crossed over and
occupied the heights where Steuben had been posted. Four hundred
hogsheads of tobacco and the vessels in the river were burned, and other
property was destroyed. The loss of the Americans in killed, wounded,
and taken in this skirmish of nearly three hours, was between sixty and
seventy; that of the enemy was probably about the same. *
The British now prepared for offensive operations in the vicinity.
Phillips and Arnold quartered at the spacious mansion of Mrs. Bolling,
known as Bollingbrook, and yet standing upon East Hill, in the south
part of the town. ** Other officers also occupied the two man-
* Note.--Explanation of the Plan.--1, Yagers; 2, four pieces of cannon;
3, British Light Infantry; 4, Queen's Rangers; 5, Riflemen; 6, first
position of the Americans; 7, second position; 8, third position, across
the Appomattox; 9,.second position of the Queen's Rangers; 10, their
third position. This plan is copied from Simcoe's Journal.
* Jefferson's letter to Washington.
** There are here three eminences which overlook the town, East Hill,
Center Hill, and West Hill. Mrs. Bolling was a widow, and one of the
largest land-holders in Virginia. She owned the tobacco warehouses at
Petersburg, and nearly one half of the town. These were probably
spared because Mrs. Bolling treated Phillips and Arnold courteously. De
Chastellux, who afterward visited Petersburg, has the following notice
of the building seen in the engraving upon the next page. "Her house, or
rather houses--for she has two on the same line resembling each other,
which she proposes to join together--are situated on the summit of a
considerable slope which rises from the level of the town of Petersburg,
and corresponds so exactly with the course of the river, that there is
no doubt of its having formerly formed one of its banks. This slope and
the vast platform on which the house is built are covered with grass,
which affords excellent pasturage, and are also her property." Speaking
of the family, he continues: "On our arrival, we were saluted by Miss
Bowling [Bolling], a young lady of fifteen, possessing all the freshness
of her age; she was followed by her mother, brother, and sister-in-law.
The mother, a lady of fifty, has but little resemblance to her
countrywomen; she is lively, active, and intelligent; knows perfectly
well how to manage her immense fortune, and what is yet more rare, knows
how to make good use of it. Her son and daughter-inlaw I had already
seen at Williamsburg. The young gentleman appears mild and polite;
but his wife, of only seventeen years of age, is a most interesting
acquaintance, not only from the face and form, which are exquisitely
delicate, and quite European, but from her being also descended from
Pocahunta [Pocahontas], daughter of King Powhatan." The engraving
presents a view of Mrs. Bolling's houses, looking southwest.
[[[British Occupation of Bollingbrook.--Skirmish at
Osborne's.--Destruction of the American Flotilla]]]
{545}sions; and Mrs. Bolling was allowed the use of only the room in
the rear of the east building. The soldiery often set fire to the fences
which surrounded Bollingbrook, and the amiable lady was kept in a
state of continual alarm, notwithstanding the efforts of the usually
discourteous Phillips to soothe her.
[Illustration: 8555]
Arnold had apprised her of the irritability of that officer's temper,
and by her mildness she secured his esteem and favor. *
On the morning of the twenty-seventh,[[April 1781]] Arnold, with one
division of the army, consisting of the eightieth and seventy-sixth
regiments and the Rangers, proceeded to a place called Osborne's, a
short distance from Petersburg, where, rumor asserted, the Americans
had considerable stores, and near which was anchored a marine force to
oppose the further progress of vessels coming up the James River. At
the same time, General Phillips, with the other division, marched to
Chesterfield Court House.
[Illustration: 6555]
The patriots at Osborne's were not advised of the approach of the enemy
until they appeared in force. Arnold sent a flag to treat with the
commander of the fleet for a surrender, but he boldly refused a
conference. "I am determined and ready to defend the fleet, and will
sink in the vessels rather than surrender them." He then caused the drum
to beat to arms, and the militia on the opposite side of the river drew
up in battle order. Arnold immediately advanced with some artillery,
routed the patriots, and drove the seamen to their shipping. The latter
scuttled several of the vessels and or's hands. One of the vessels
returned the fire from the enemy's artillery with much spirit, but was
finally disabled. The militia were driven from the opposite shore, and
the whole fleet was either captured or destroyed. Two ships and ten
smaller craft were captured, and four ships, five brigantines, and a
number of small vessels, were either burned or sunk. ** The quantity of
tobacco taken or destroyed, exceeded two thousand hogsheads.
* Campbell's Reminiscences of Bollingbrook, in the Southern Literary
Messenger, January, 1840.
* Note.--Explanation of the Plan.--A, B, the Queen's Rangers; C, the
eightieth and seventy-sixth regiments; D, E, the British artillery, two
six and two three pounders; F, Yagers; G, the American vessels; H, the
American militia.
** It was to one of the prisoners, taken at this time, that Arnold put
the question, "If the Americans should catch me, what would they do with
me?" The soldier promptly replied, "They would bury with military honors
the leg which was wounded at Saratoga, and hang the remainder of you
upon a gibbet."
[[[Troops of Arnold and Phillips.--Depredations at Manchester and
Warwick.--La Fayette at Petersburg.--Death of Phillips.]]]
{546}Phillips and Arnold joined their divisions on the thirtieth, after
having burned the barracks and a quantity of flour at Chesterfield Court
House, and then pushed forward toward Richmond, where a large quantity
of military stores were collected. At Manchester, opposite Richmond,
they burned twelve hundred hogsheads of tobacco and other property, and
were preparing to cross the river, when information reached them that
La Fayette, with a body of Continental troops, had arrived the evening
previous. The marquis had received orders at the head of Elk to go to
Virginia and oppose Phillips and Arnold, and had made a forced march
of two hundred miles in order to save the stores at Richmond. The
depredators knew too well the spirit of the marquis to venture another
marauding visit to Richmond while he was there, and, wheeling their
columns, they proceeded down the river to Bermuda Hundred, at the mouth
of the Appomattox, opposite City Point, and embarked. On their way,
they passed through Warwick, a town on the James River, then larger
than Richmond, where they destroyed ships on the stocks, a range of
rope-walks, a magazine of flour, warehouses filled with tobacco and
other merchandise, tan-houses filled with hides, and some flouring mills
belonging to Colonel Carey, whose splendid mansion was near. * In
one general conflagration, the thriving town, with all its industrial
appurtenances, was destroyed. **
The British fleet with the land forces then sailed down the James River,
when, a little below Burwell's Ferry, they were met[[May 6]] by a
boat from Portsmouth, bearing a mes sage with intelligence for General
Phillips that Cornwallis was on his way north, and wished to form a
junction with him at Petersburg. The whole fleet was immediately
ordered to return up the James Elver, and late at night, on the
ninth,[[May 1781]] the British army again entered Petersburg. So secret
was their entrance, that ten American officers who were there to prepare
boats for La Fayette to cross the river, were captured. Phillips was
very sick of a fever on his arrival, and was carried to the house of
Mrs. Bolling, where he died four days afterward. ***
The presence of La Fayette inspired the militia of Virginia with high
hopes, and they flocked to his standard in considerable numbers. When
informed of the return of the British fleet, he suspected the object to
be a junction with Cornwallis at Petersburg. It was known that the
earl had left Wilmington, and was on his way to Virginia. The marquis
immediately pressed forward to take possession of the town before the
arrival of Phillips and Arnold. He was too late, and after cannonading
the British quarters, particularly Bollingbrook, **** from Archer's
Hill, and thoroughly reconnoitering the place, he returned to Osborne's,
* Anburey, one of the officers who surrendered to Gates at Saratoga,
in his Travels in America (ii., 312), speaks highly of Colonel Carey's
hospitality.
** Gordon, iii., 205; Girardin, 460; Jefferson, i., 420.
[Illustration: 9556]
*** William Phillips, it will be remembered, was one of Burgoyne's
general officers, who was made prisoner at Saratoga. He commanded the
"Convention Troops," as those captives were called, while on their march
to Virginia. On being exchanged, he was actively engaged at the South
until his death. He was possessed of an exceedingly irritable temper,
which often led him into difficulty. He was very haughty in his
demeanor, especially toward the Americans, whom he affected to hold in
great contempt. While lying sick at Petersburg, he dictated a letter
to Governor Jefferson, and addressed it to "Thomas Jefferson, Esq.,
American governor of Virginia and when speaking of the American
commander-in-chief, he called him "Mr. Washington." General Phillips was
buried in the old Blandford church-yard, where his remains yet repose.
His disease was bilious fever.
**** La Fayette was probably not aware that General Phillips was dying
at Bollingbrook, or he would not have cannonaded it. British writers
have charged La Fayette with inhumanity. Anburey (ii., 446) says, "A
circumstance attended Phillip's death, similar to the inhumanity that
the Americans displayed at the interment of General Frazer." He further
asserts, that a flag was sent to the marquis, acquainting him with
the condition of Phillips, but that he paid no attention to it, and
continued the firing. He said a ball went through the house, just as
Phillips was expiring, when the dying man exclaimed, "My God! 'tis
cruel they will not let me die in peaee." This assertion proves its own
inconsistency. The cannonade occurred on the tenth, and General Phillips
did not die until the thirteenth. *
* Campbell says that, according to tradition, Arnold was crossing the
yard when the cannonade commenced. He hastened into the house, and
directed the inmates to go to the cellar for safety. General Phillips
was taken there, followed by Mrs. Bolling and her family. An old negro
woman, who was standing in the kitchen door, was killed by one of the
balls.
[[[Entrance of Cornwallis into Virginia.--The State in
Danger.--Retirement of Governor Jefferson.--Monticello.]]]
{547}and there crossed the James River to the easterly side. Arnold took
the chief command, on the death of General Phillips, and just one
week after that event,[[May 20, 1781]] Cornwallis, with a large force,
entered Petersburg. That officer, after fighting the battle with
General Greene at Guilford Court House, had retired to Wilmington, on
the Cape Fear River. Perceiving the advantages to be derived by invading
Virginia at separate points, he ordered General Phillips, as we have
seen, to return up the James River, while he hastened to enter the state
from the south and form a junction with him at Petersburg. He marched
directly north, nearly on a line with the present rail-road from
Wilmington, and reached the Roanoke at Halifax, seven miles below the
Great Falls, where he crossed, and entered Virginia. Lieutenant-colonel
Tarleton, with a corps of one hundred and eighty cavalry and sixty
mounted infantry, was sent forward as an advance guard to disperse the
militia and overawe the inhabitants. The outrages committed by some
of these marauding troops were pronounced by Stedman, an officer of
Cornwallis's army, "a disgrace to the name of man." * Simcoe had been
sent by Arnold to take possession of the fords on the Nottaway and
Meherrin Rivers, the only considerable streams that intervened, and
the two armies, unopposed, effected a junction at Petersburg, where
Cornwallis assumed the command of the whole.
[Illustration: 8557]
Virginia now seemed doomed to the alternative of submission or
desolation. On the seventh of May, the Legislature, uneasy at the
proximity of General Phillips and his army, adjourned to meet at
Charlottesville, in Albemarle county, on the twenty-fourth. There,
eighty-five miles from Richmond, in the bosom of a fertile and
sheltered valley, on the banks of the Rivanna, they hoped to legislate
undisturbed. Mr. Jefferson, the governor, feeling his incompetency, on
account of his lack of military knowledge, to administer the affairs of
the state with energy, declined a re-election on the first of June, and
indicated General Nelson, of Yorktown, as a proper successor. At his
elegant seat, called Monticello (Little Mountain), situated three miles
southeast of Charlottesville, far from the din of actual hostilities,
Jefferson sought repose for a season in the bosom of his family. His
dream of quiet was soon broken, as we shall presently perceive.
Cornwallis, unlike most of the other British generals, was seldom inert.
Although, from the western part of the Carolinas to Wilmington, and from
thence to Petersburg, he had journeyed nearly fifteen hundred miles in
his marches and counter-marches, he did not halt long. Four days after
his av-
* American War, ii., 385. It is just to the memory of Cornwallis to
say, that the enormities committed were without his sanction. Near the
Roanoke, a sergeant and private of Tarleton's legion violated the person
of a young girl, and robbed the house where she lived. The next morning
Cornwallis ordered Tarleton to draw up his men in line. Some country
people pointed out the miscreants. They were tried by a court-martial,
found guilty, and hung on the spot. This example had a good effect.
** This venerated mansion is yet standing, though somewhat dilapidated
and deprived of its former beauty by neglect. The furniture of its
distinguished owner is nearly all gone, except a few pictures and
mirrors, otherwise the interior of the house is the same as when
Jefferson died. It is upon an eminence, with many aspen-trees around it,
and commands a view of the Blue Ridge for one hundred and fifty miles
on one side, and on the other one of the most beautiful and extensive
landscapes in the world. Wirt, writing of the interior arrangements
of the house during Mr. Jefferson's life time, records that, in the
spacious and lofty hall which opens to the visitor on entering, "he
marks no tawdry and unmeaning ornaments; but before, on the right, on
the left, all around, the eye is struck and gratified by objects of
science and taste, so classed and arranged as to produce their finest
effect. On one side, specimens of sculpture, set out in such order as
to exhibit at a coup d'oil the historié progress of that art, from
the first rude attempts of the aborigines of our country, up to that
exquisite and finished bust of the great patriot himself, from the
master-hand of Carracei. On the other side, the visitor sees displayed
a vast collection of specimens of the Indian art, their paintings,
weapons, ornaments, and manufactures; on another, an array of fossil
productions of our country, mineral and animal; the polished remains of
those colossal monsters that once trod our forests, and are no more; and
a variegated display of the branching honors of 'those monarchs of the
waste' that still people the wilds of the American Continent." In a
large saloon were exquisite productions of the painter's art, and from
its windows opened a view of the surrounding country, such as no painter
could imitate. There, too, were medallions and engravings in great
profusion. Among Mr. Jefferson's papers was found, after his death, a
very perfect impression in wax, of his famous seal, bearing his monogram
and the motto, Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.
[Illustration: 9558]
* That impression is in the present possession of Mr. Bancroft, the
historian, to whose courtesy I am indebted for the privilege of making
the annexed representation. I have endeavored to produce a perfect fac
simile, so far as the pictorial art will allow, even to the fractures in
the Wax.
* Montieello was a point of great attraction to the learned of all
lands, when traveling in this country, while Jefferson lived. His
writings made him favorably known as a scholar, and his public position
made him honored by the nations. The remains of Mr. Jefferson lie in
a small family cemetery, by the side of the winding road leading to
Montieello. Over them is a granite obelisk eight feet high, and on
a tablet of marble inserted in its southern face is the following
inscription, whieh was found among Mr. Jefferson's papers after his
death:
"Here lies buried THOMAS JEFFERSON,
Author of the Declaration of Independence;
Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom;
And Father of the University of Virginia."
Monticello.
[[[Cornwallis's unsuccessful Pursuit of La Fayette.--Expeditions
Westward.--Jefferson's Seal and Monument, and Inscriptions]]]
{548}rival, he marched down the James River to Westover, where he was
joined by a regiment from New York. * He crossed,[[May 24, 1781]]
and pushed on toward Richmond. La Fayette, with nearly three thousand
troops, continental and militia, lay about half way between Richmond and
Wilton. Cornwallis knew the inferiority of the marquis's force to his
own, and felt so sure of success that he wrote to the British secretary,
from Petersburg, saying, "The boy can not escape me." La Fayette had
wisdom as well as zeal, and instead of risking a battle at that time, he
cautiously retreated northward, pursued by the earl. A retreat to avoid
the engagement was not the only object to be obtained by La Fayette.
Wayne was on his march through Maryland with a re-enforcement of eight
hundred men, and a junction was important. Cornwallis was advised of the
approach of these troops, and sought, by rapid marches, to outstrip La
Fayette and prevent the union. But the marquis was too agile; and after
pursuing him to the North Anna, beyond Hanover Court House, plundering
and destroying a vast amount of property on the way, the earl halted and
encamped. La Fayette passed through Spottsylvania county to the Raccoon
Ford, on the Rappahannock, in Culpepper, where he was joined by General
Wayne.[[June 10]] Unsuccessful in his pursuit, Cornwallis now directed
his attention to other points. In the southern part of Fluvanna county,
at a place called Point of Fork, ** on the James River, the Americans
had an arsenal and a large quantity of military stores. Baron Steuben,
with six hundred raw militia, had charge of this post. The dispersion of
the Americans and the capture of the stores were objects of importance
to Cornwallis, and for that purpose he sent Lieutenant-colonel Simcoe
with his rangers, and other troops under Captain Hutchinson, to surprise
the baron. At the same time, the earl dispatched Tarleton, with one
hundred and eighty cavalry, and seventy mounted infantry under Captain
Champagne, *** to attempt the capture of Jefferson and the members of
the Legislature at Charlottesville,
* This was the forty-third regiment. The convoy also brought another
regiment, and two battalions of Anspachers, to strengthen the garrison
at Portsmouth. Arnold, despised by Cornwallis, who no longer needed his
services, was sent to New York on the first of June.
** This locality is at the confluence of the Fluvanna and Rivanna
rivers, two great branches of the James River.
*** From the stables of the planters Cornwallis procured excellent
horses, on whieh these and other troops were mounted.
[[[Expedition of Simcoe against Steuben.---Attempt to Capture Jefferson
and the Legislators.---Destruction of Property.]]]
{549}Steuben was advised of the approach of Tarleton, and believing his
post to be the object of the expedition, he conveyed his stores to the
south side of the Fluvanna and prepared to withdraw his troops thither.
Simcoe's march was unknown, but when he arrived at the Point of Fork,
he had nothing to surprise or capture, except about thirty Americans
who were waiting the return of boats to cross the river. Simcoe, by an
advantageous display of his force, and lighting numerous fires at night
upon the hills along the Rivanna, deceived Steuben with the belief that
the main army of Cornwallis was close upon him. Influenced by this idea,
the baron hastily retreated during the night, leaving such stores behind
as could not readily be removed. In the morning, Simcoe sent Captain
Stephenson to destroy them, and also ordered Captain Wolsey to make a
feigned pursuit upon the track of the retreating Americans.
In the mean while, Tarleton and his legion pushed forward with their
accustomed speed, to catch the Virginia law-makers at Charlottesville.
On their way toward the Rivanna, they destroyed twelve wagon-loads of
clothing, destined for Green's army in North Carolina. On reaching that
stream, they dashed into its current, and before seven o'clock in the
morning[[Jan 4, 1781]] they were within ten miles of Charlottesville.
There Tarleton detached
Captain M'Leod, with a party of horsemen, to capture Governor Jefferson,
at Monticello, while himself and the remainder of his forces pushed on
to the residence of two brothers, named Walker, where he understood many
influential Virginians were assembled. Several of these were captured,
among whom was Colonel John Simms, a member of the Legislature, and
William and Robert, brothers of General Nelson. After partaking of a
tardily prepared breakfast at Dr. Walker's, * Tarleton pursued his rapid
march, and rode up the hill into the village of Charlotte, under
full gallop, expecting to take the legislators by surprise. He was
disappointed. While passing through Louisa county, a Mr. Jouitte,
suspecting Tarleton's design, mounted a fleet horse, and reached
Charlottesville in time to give the alarm. The delay for breakfast at
Dr. Walker's was sufficient to allow most of the members to mount fresh
horses and escape. Only seven fell into the hands of the British.
M'Leod's expedition to Monticello was quite as unsuccessful. The
governor was entertaining several members of the Legislature, including
the speakers of both Houses, and was not aware of the proximity of an
enemy, until the invaders were seen coming up the winding road leading
to his mansion. His wife and children were hurried off to Colonel
Carter's, six miles southward, whither Mr. Jefferson followed on
horseback, making his way among the dark recesses of Carter's Mountain.
The speaker hurried to Charlottesville to adjourn the Legislature,
to meet at Staunton on the seventh, ** and then, with several others,
mounted fleet horses and escaped. Mr. Jefferson had not been gone
ten minutes when M'Leod and his party rode up and found the mansion
deserted. Books, papers, and furniture were untouched by the enemy, and
not a particle of the governor's property was destroyed, except a large
quantity of wine in his cellar, drank and wasted by a few soldiers,
without the knowledge of their commander.
After destroying one thousand new muskets, four hundred barrels of
powder, several hogsheads of tobacco, and a quantity of soldier's
clothing, Tarleton, with his prisoners, rejoined Cornwallis, who had
advanced to Elk Hill, a plantation belonging to Governor Jefferson,
near the Point of Fork. There the most wanton destruction of property
occurred. They cut the throats of the young horses, carried off the
older ones fit for service, slaughtered the
* Observing a delay in the preparation of breakfast, Tarleton
impatiently demanded the reason. He was informed by the cook that his
subalterns had already devoured two breakfasts. A guard was placed at
the kitchen door, and it was not until a third breakfast was cooked that
Tarleton was able to obtain his meal.
** The members of the Legislature were terribly frightened, and were
not at ease even at Staunton. On the morning when they convened, Colonel
Brookes, with a small company of mounted Virginians, rode into Staunton
at a rapid pace, bearing a message from Baron Steuben. The members,
believing them to be a part of Tarleton's legion, took to their heels,
and it was some time before they could be coaxed back to their duties.
On the twelfth they elected General Nelson governor of the state.
[[[Cornwallis baffled by La Fayette.--His Retreat toward the
Coast.--Detention of the Convention Troops.--Their Parole.]]]
{550}cattle, burned the barns with the crops of the previous year, with
all the fences on the plantations near, and captured many negroes. *
One more prize attracted the attention of Cornwallis. At Albemarle Old
Court House, above the Point of Pork, the Virginians had collected a
large quantity of valuable stores, most of which had been sent from
Richmond. The earl determined to capture or destroy them; La Fayette,
who, after his junction with Wayne, had moved cautiously through Orange
and the upper part of Louisa to Boswell's tavern, near the Albemarle
line, resolved to protect them. Tarleton was sent to force La Fayette
either to hazard a battle with the whole British army, or abandon the
stores. The marquis did neither. He had discovered a rough, unused road,
leading directly to the Court House. Early in the evening he set his
pioneers at work, and before morning his whole force had traversed the
opened way, and, to the astonishment of Cornwallis, were strongly posted
upon high ground, between the British forces and the American stores.
Again baffled, the earl wheeled his army, and moved toward the eastern
coast, closely watched and followed by the vigilant marquis. He entered
Richmond on the seventeenth, and evacuated it on the twentieth. Steuben
had now joined La Fayette, and Cornwallis, believing the strength of
the Americans to be much greater than it really was, hastened to
Williamsburg, where, under the protection of his shipping, and
re-enforced by troops from Portsmouth, he encamped. ** His subsequent
movements, until his surrender at Yorktown, have been noticed in
preceding chapters.
Before leaving Virginia, let us consider that important event in the
history of the Revolution, the residence of the "Convention Troops"
(as Burgoyne's captured army were called), in the vicinity of
Charlottesville.
In a note on page 82 of the first volume of this work, I have given
briefly the principal reasons why the captive army of Burgoyne was
not allowed to go to England on parole. The action of Congress on the
subject was technically dishonorable, and not in accordance with the
letter and spirit of the _convention_ signed by Gates and Burgoyne.
So General Washington evidently thought when he wrote to General Heath
respecting the detention of that body, and said, "By this step General
Burgoyne will, it is more than probable, look upon himself as released
from all former ties, and consequently at liberty to make use of any
means to effect an escape." *** The suspected perfidy of the British
commander, the fact that the enemy often acted upon the principle that
"faith was not to be kept with rebels," and the consideration that
these troops, though they might not again "serve against America," would
supply the places of soldiers at home who would, partially justified
the bad faith of Congress. Having resolved to keep them here, the next
consideration was their maintenance. The difficulty of procuring an
ample supply of food in New England, and the facilities of a sea-coast
for their escape, induced Congress to order them to be sent into the
interior of Virginia. Sir Henry Clinton had been applied to[[Sept.
1778]] for passports for American vessels to transport fuel and
provisions to Boston for the use of the prisoners, but refused.
Congress, therefore, directed[[Oct 15]] them to be removed to
Charlottesville, in Albemarle county, Virginia. Pursuant to this
direction, the whole body of captives, English and Germans, after the
officers had signed a parole of honor **** respecting
* It is estimated that, during the invasion of the state which we have
been considering, thirty thousand slaves were carried off, of whom
twenty-seven thousand are supposed to have died of small-pox or
camp-fever in the course of six months.--Howison, ii., 270.
** Gordon, Ramsay, Jefferson's Letters, Tucker's Life of Jefferson,
Girardin, Howison, &c
*** Sparks's Washington, v., 221.
**** The following is the form of the parole: "We whose names are
hereunto subscribed being under the restrictions of the convention of
Saratoga, and ordered, by a resolution of Congress of the
fifteenth ultimo, to remove from the State of Massachusetts Bay, to
Charlottesville, in the State of Virginia, do severally promise and
engage on our word and honor, and on the faith of gentlemen, that on our
march from this place to Charlottesville, we, or either of us, will not
say or do any thing injurious to the United States of America, or either
of them, nor at any time exceed such limits or distances from the troops
as may be assigned us by the commanding officer who may have the charge
and escort of the troops of convention to Virginia, or on any other part
of the route.
Given under our hands in the State of Massachusetts Bay, this day of
November, A.D. 1778."
[[[March of the Convention Troops to Virginia.--Their Route to
Charlottesville.--Sufferings.--Riedesel and his Family.]]]
{551}their conduct on the way, took up their line of march from
Cambridge and Rutland * on the tenth of November. Burgoyne having been
permitted to return to England in May, the command of the convention
troops devolved upon Major-general Phillips. Colonel Theodorick Bland,
of the first regiment of light dragoons, was appointed by Washington
to superintend the march of the captives; and Colonel James Wood was
appointed to command at Charlottesville.
[Illustration: 9561]
It was a dreary winter's journey of seven hundred miles, and occupied
about three months in its accomplishment. ** The Baroness Riedesel, in
her charming _Letters and Memoirs_, gives graphic pictures of events on
the way, and of her residence in and departure from Virginia. Anburey, a
captive officer, also records many incidents of interest connected with
the journey; and in his _Travels_, publishes a map of the Eastern and
Middle States, on which is denoted, by colored lines, the direction
of the march, and the extent of the paroles of the English and German
prisoners after their arrival in Virginia. ***
The troops were, at first, all stationed at Charlottesville. That town
then contained only a court-house, one tavern, and about a dozen houses.
These were crowded with the English officers, and many sought quarters
on neighboring plantations. The soldiers suffered dreadfully. Not
expecting the captives before spring, barracks were not erected, and
the only shelter that was vouchsafed them, after their fatiguing march
through mud and snow, were a few half-finished huts in the woods. These,
not half covered, were full of snow, and it was three days before they
were made habitable. No provisions had arrived for the troops, and for
a week they subsisted upon corn meal made into cakes. The officers, by
signing a parole, were allowed to go as far as Richmond for quarters,
and in a short time both officers and soldiers were rendered quite
comfortable. General Phillips made his quarters at the plantation of
Colonel Carter, **** and General Riedesel and his family resided upon
the estate of Mr. Mazzei, an Italian gentleman at Colie, a few miles
distant from Charlottesville. (v)Mr. Jefferson, who was then at
Monticello, did every thing in his power to render
* I have before me the original parole ol the Germans, with the
autographs of the ninety-five officers who signed it. It is headed by
the names of Baron Riedesel, the commander of the Brunswick forces, and
of those of his military family, Gerlach, Edmonstone, and Cleve. The
first was deputy quarter-master general; the last two were aids-de-camp.
Edmonstone, who was a Scotchman, was General Riedesel's secretary, and
wrote all his English letters.
* During the summer and autumn of 1778, the English captives were
quartered at Rutland, in Worcester county, fifty-five miles northwest
of Boston. A portion of them were marched thither on the fifteenth of
April.
** Anburey expressed his belief that the chief advantage which the
Congress sought to obtain by this journey in the winter, was the
desertion of troops, believing that the privations on the march would
drive hundreds to that step. There were a great many desertions during
the march.
*** The principal places through whieh the troops passed, were as
follows: Weston, Marlborough, Worcester, Leicester, and Enfield, in
Massachusetts; Suffield, Sunbury, New Hartford, Norfolk, and Sharon,
in Connecticut; Nine Partners, Hopewell, Fishkill, Newburgh, Little
Britain, and Goshen, in New York; Wallins, Sussex Court House,
Hacketstown, and Sherwood's Ferry, in New Jersey; Tinieum, Hilltown,
North Wales, Valley Forge, Lancaster, and York, in Pennsylvania;
Hanover, Tawneytown, and Frederickstown, in Maryland; Little London,
Neville Plantation, Farquier Court House, Carter's Plantation, Orange,
Walker's Plantation to Charlottesville, in Virginia.
**** Anburey says, "the house and plantation where General Phillips
resides is called Blenheim. The house was erected shortly after that
memorable battle in Germany, by a Mr. Carter, who was secretary to the
colony." He mentions the fact that Colonel Carter possessed fifteen
hundred slaves.--Travels, ii., 327.
* (v) Madame Riedesel says, "the house where we were lodged, and indeed
the whole estate, belonged to an Italian, who hired it to us, as he was
about setting out on a journey. We looked impatiently forward to the
time of his departure, and that of his wife and daughter, on account of
the smallness of the house and the scarcity of provisions. In respect
to the latter, our landlord voluntarily assumed a kind of tutorship over
us. Thus, when he killed a calf, he gave us on the first day only the
head and the tripe, though we represented that this was not enough for
twenty persons. He replied that we could make a very good soup of it. He
then added to the meat two cabbages and some stale ham; and this was all
we could obtain from him.
[[[Jefferson's Hospitality.--Erection of Barracks.--Extensive
Gardening.--General Condition of the Troops.]]]
{552}the situation of the officers and troops as pleasant as possible.
To the former, the hospitalities of his mansion and the use of his
choice library were freely proffered; and when, in the spring of 1779,
it was proposed to remove the troops to some other locality, he pleaded
earnestly and forcibly, in a letter to Governor Henry[[March 27]]
against the measure, on the grounds of its inhumanity, expense, and
general inexpediency. For these attentions, the officers and troops
often expressed their warmest gratitude toward Mr. Jefferson. The
kindness of Colonel Bland, on their march, also excited their affection,
and made him a favorite.
[Illustration: 0562]
Early in the spring, comfortable barracks for the troops were erected,
under the direction of Colonel Harvey. They were upon the brow and
slopes of a high hill, on Colonel Harvey's estate, five miles from
Charlottesville. They cost the government about twenty-five thousand
dollars. A large portion of the land was laid out into gardens, fenced
in and planted. General Riedesel spent more than five hundred dollars
for garden seeds for the German troops, and when autumn advanced there
was no scarcity of provisions. According to Mr. Jefferson, the location
was extremely healthy. * It being the universal opinion that they would
remain prisoners there until the close of the war, the officers spent a
great deal of money in the erection of more suitable dwellings, and in
preparing rough land for cultivation. They settled their families
there, built a theatre, a coffee-house, and a cold bath; and in general
intercourse with the families of neighboring gentlemen, and the pursuits
of music and literature, their captivity was made agreeable to them, and
profitable to the province. ** Notwithstanding this apparent quiet
on the surface, there was turbulence below. Captivity under the most
favorable circumstances is galling. A large number deserted, and made
their way to British posts at the North. On one occasion nearly four
hundred eluded the vigilance of their guards, and escaped. When, in
October, 1780, General Leslie with a strong force took possession of
Portsmouth, great uneasiness was observed
* "Of four thousand people (the number of the captives) it should be
expected, according to ordinary calculations, that one should die every
day; yet in the space of near three months there have been but four
deaths among them; two infants under three weeks old, and two others by
apoplexy. The officers tell me the troops were never before so healthy
since they were imbodied."--Letter to Governor Patrick Henry.
** It can not be wondered at, that Mr. Jefferson and other
agriculturists should have been opposed to their removal, when it was
estimated that forty-five thousand bushels of grain from the harvest
fields of Virginia were consumed by them in a year, and that thirty
thousand dollars were circulated weekly in consequence of their
presence.--See Jefferson's Letter to Governor Henry. Anburey, noticing
their departure from the barracks, says, "I am apt to think that Colonel
Harvey, the proprietor of the estate, will reap great advantage, if the
province should not, as the army entirely cleared a space of six miles
in circumference round the barracks."--Travels, ii., 414.
[[[Removal of Troops from Charlottesville.--Their Final Dispersion.--The
Germans.--Departure from Petersburg]]]
{553}among the British troops, and just fears were entertained that they
might rise upon and overpower their guard, and join their countrymen
on the Elizabeth River. The Germans were less impatient, for they were
enjoying life better than at home; * yet it was thought expedient to
remove the whole body of prisoners to a place of greater security.
Accordingly, the British were marched across the Blue Ridge,[[Nov. 29,
1780]] at Wood's Gap, and through the Great Valley to Fort Frederick, in
Maryland; ** the Germans followed soon afterward, and were quartered at
Winchester (then containing between three and four hundred houses), in
the northern part of Virginia. Deaths, desertion, and partial exchanges
had now reduced their numbers to about twenty-one hundred. Afterward
they were removed to Lancaster, and some to East Windsor, in
Connecticut. In the course of 1782, they were all dispersed, either by
exchange or desertion. A large number of the Germans, remembering
the perfidy of their rulers at home, and pleased with their national
brethren who were residents here, remained at the close of the war, and
many became useful citizens.
[Illustration: 9563]
Let us resume our journey.
I arose at daybreak, on the morning after my arrival in Petersburg.[[Dec
26, 1848]] The clouds were broken, and a keen breeze from the north
reminded me of the presence of winter. Accompanied by one of the early
risers of the town, I crossed the fine bridge over the Appomattox, and
strolled over Archer's Hill, whereon the Americans planted their cannon
and disturbed the inmates of Bollingbrook. The little village on that
side retains its original name of Pocahunta or Pocahontas, and presents
a natural curiosity which tradition has connected with the memory of
that princess. It is a large stone, hollowed like a bowl by the hand
of Nature, and is never without water in it, except in times of extreme
drought. It is called _Pocahontas' s Wash-basin_; and the vulgar believe
that the "dearest daughter" of Powhatan actually laved her limbs in its
concavity. It was formerly several rods from its present position at the
northwest corner of the bridge, and was broken in its removal. Strong
cement keeps it whole, and it is regarded with considerable interest by
the curious visitor.
Returning to Petersburg, we ascended to Bollingbrook, and just as the
sun came up from the distant hills, I sketched the view on page 545.
At nine o'clock, after receiving minute directions respecting my future
route for a hundred miles, I took the reins and started for the Roanoke.
For the first sixteen miles, to the banks of Stony Brook, the country is
sandy and quite level, and the roads were fine. I crossed that stream at
Dinwiddie Court House, the capitol of the county of that name, where, a
few days before, Society, by the use of a sheriff and strong cord, had
strangled William Dandridge Eppes, for the murder of a
* I have mentioned, on page 21, the bargain entered into by the British
ministry and some German princess for the furnishing of troops, by the
latter, to fight the Americans. That bargain was rendered more heinous
by the methods used to obtain the requisite number of men. Laborers were
seized in the fields and work-shops, and large numbers were taken
from the churches while engaged in their devotions, and hurried to the
barracks without being allowed a parting embrace with their families.
That this was the method to be employed was evidently known to the
British government several months before the bargain was consummated;
"for on the fourteenth of November, 1775, the honest-hearted king wrote
as follows to Lord North: "The giving commissions to German officers to
get men I can by no means consent to, for it in plain English amounts
to making me a kidnapper, which I can not think a very honorable
occupation." * Throughout Europe the whole transaction was viewed with
horror as a great crime against humanity. Frederick the Great took every
occasion to express his contempt for the "scandalous man-traffic of his
neighbors." It is said that whenever any of those hired Brunswickers and
Hessians had to pass through any portion of his territory, he claimed to
levy on them the usual toll for so many head of cattle, since, he said,
they had been sold as such **
** Fort Frederick is yet a well-preserved relie of colonial times. It
is upon the north bank of the Potomac, in Washington county, Maryland,
about fifty miles below Cumberland. It was built in 1755-6, under the
direction of Governor Sharpe. The material is stone, and cost about
thirty thousand dollars. The fort is quadrangular, and contained
barracks sufficient for seven hundred men. This was one of the six forts
built as frontier defenses against the encroachments of the Freneh and
Indians.
[[[Capital Punishment.--Husbandry in Lower Virginia.--Fruits of the
Social System.]]]
{554}young man. The first murder was sufficiently horrid; the second was
doubly so, because Christian men and women and innocent children saw
it done in cool blood, and uttered not a word of remonstrance or
reprobation! It had evidently been a holiday for the people; and all
the way from Petersburg to the Meherrin, it was a stock subject for
conversation. A dozen times I was asked if I saw "the hanging;" and a
dozen times I shuddered at the evidence of the prevailing savagism
In the nineteenth century, even in the heart of our republic. But
the gallows is toppling, and another generation will be amazed at the
cruelty of their fathers.
From Stony Brook to the Nottaway River, a distance of fifteen miles,
the country is broken, and patches of sandy soil with pine forests,
alternated with red clay, bearing oaks, chestnuts, and gum-trees. Worse
roads I never expect to travel, for they would be impassable. Oftentimes
Charley would sink to his knees in the soft earth, which was almost as
adhesive as tar. The country is sparsely populated, and the plantations
generally bore evidences of unskillful culture. Although most of the
soil is fertile, and might be made very productive, yet so wretchedly is
it frequently managed that twenty bushels of wheat is considered a
good yield for an acre, and corn in like proportion. A large number of
negroes are raised in that section, and constitute the chief wealth of
the inhabitants; for the land, within thirty miles of the fine markets
of Petersburg and City Point, averages in value only about five dollars
an acre. Good roads would increase its value, but the spirit of internal
improvement is very weak there. I was informed by a gentleman with
whom I passed the night within a mile of the Nottaway, that several
plantations in his neighborhood did not yield corn and bacon sufficient
for the negroes, and that one or two men or women were sold annually
from each to buy food for the others. "Thus," as he expressively
observed, "they eat each other up!" Tobacco is the staple product,
yielding from five hundred to one thousand pounds per acre; but, in the
absence of manure, it destroys the vitality of the soil. During a ride
of seventy or eighty miles toward the Roanoke, I saw hundreds of acres
thus deadened and yellow with "poverty grass," or green with shrub
pines. Many proprietors are careless or indolent, and leave the
management of their estates to overseers. These, in turn, lacking the
stimulus of interest, seem to leave affairs in the hands of the
negroes, and the negroes are always willing to trust to Providence.
The consequence is, fitful labor, unskillfully applied; and the fertile
acres remain half barren from year to year. To a Northern man accustomed
to pictures of industry and thrift, directed and enjoyed by enlightened
workers, these things appear big with evil consequences. They are the
fruits of the social system in the Southern States, which has grown
reverend with years; a system deprecated by all sound thinkers there,
particularly in the agricultural districts, as a barrier to progress,
and inimical to genuine prosperity. This subject involves questions
proper for the statesman, the political economist, and the moralist to
discuss. They are irrelevant to my theme, and I pass them by with this
brief allusion, while resting firmly upon the hope that, through equity
and wisdom, a brighter day is about to dawn upon the rich valleys and
fertile uplands of Virginia and the Carolinas.
I crossed the Nottaway into Brunswick county, at Jones's Bridge. The
river is narrow, and lying in a deep bed, its current is often made
swift by rains. Such was its condition when I passed over; for rain
had been falling since midnight, and when I resumed my journey, it was
mingled with snow and hail, accompanied by a strong northwest wind All
day the storm continued, but happily for me I was riding with the
wind, and kept dry beneath my spacious wagon top. The red clay roads
prevailed, occasionally relieved by a sandy district covered with pines,
beautified by an undergrowth of holly and laurel. * My
* In many places between Petersburg and Hillsborough, in North Carolina,
I observed dead trees covering several acres in patches throughout
the pine forests. From one eminence I counted six of these patches in
different directions, made visible by their yellow foliage in the midst
of the surrounding dark green forest. I was told that they were killed
by a worm, which perforates and traverses the bark in every direction.
I observed these perforations, appearing like the wounds of buck shot in
the bark four or five inches apart. From these, turpentine offer oozed
in profusion. These worms are very fatal to the trees. A tree that has
been girdled, though its leaves fall, is good timber for three or four
years; but a tree attacked by these worms loses all vitality at once,
and in twelve or fourteen months is useless for timber purposes. It
rapidly decays, and falls to the ground. I was informed that in some
instances, where pines constituted the chief value of plantations, this
blight had caused the owners to abandon them.
[[[Gee's Bridge.--Capture of Colonel Gee.--A Yankee Overseer.--Passage
of the Roanoke into Carolina.--]]]
Gee's Bridge. {555}goal was Gee's Bridge over the Meherrin River, which
I expected to reach by three o'clock in the afternoon, but a divergence
into a wrong road for the space of three or four miles, delayed my
arrival there until sunset. Nor was delay the only vexation, for, to
regain the right road, I had to wheel and face the driving storm until I
was thoroughly drenched. In this condition I was obliged to travel a red
clay road four miles after crossing the Meherrin, to obtain lodging for
the night.
Gee's Bridge was a rickety affair, and was used only when the Meherrin,
which is similar in volume and current to the Nottaway, was too much
swollen to allow travelers to ford it.
[Illustration: 8565]
On its southern side, the road ascends at an angle of forty-five
degrees, and, to make it passable, is filled with small bowlders near
the bridge, and logs laid transversely up the steeper portion.
For the use of this bridge, the stones and logs, the traveler is taxed a
"levy" at the top of the hill by the overseer of Gee's plantation. * At
dark I reached the house of Dr. Gregory, who entertains strangers, and
under his comfortable roof I rested, after a most wearisome day's travel
for man and horse. The doctor was absent, and I passed an hour after
supper with his overseer, an intelligent young man from New London,
Connecticut. He had peddled wooden clocks through that region, and
having sold many on credit, he settled there eight years before to
collect his dues. He hired himself as an overseer, and there he yet
remained, full of faith that he would ultimately collect all that was
due to him. From him I obtained a good deal of information respecting
the husbandry of Lower Virginia; the sum of his testimony was, "The
people seem to try how soon they can wear out the soil, and then abandon
it."
The storm was over in the morning,[[Dec 28, 1848]] and a cold, bracing
air came from the north. Ice skimmed the surface of the pools by the
road side, and all over the red earth the exhalations were congealed
into the most beautiful creations of frost-work I ever beheld. There
were tiny columns an inch in height, with gorgeous capitals like
tree-tops, their branches closely intertwined. These gave the surface
the appearance of a crust of snow. Art, in its most delicate operations,
never wrought any thing half so wonderful as that little forest, created
within the space of an hour, and covering tens of thousands of acres.
The road was wretched, and it was almost two hours past meridian when I
reached St. Tammany, on the Roanoke, a small post station in Mecklenburg
county, about eighty miles from Petersburg, and about thirty below the
confluence of the Dan and Staunton. The Roanoke is here almost four
hundred yards wide, with an average depth of about thirteen feet, and a
strong current. ** I crossed upon a bateau, propelled by means of a pole
worked by a single stout negro. When the stream is much swollen, three
or four men are necessary to manage the craft, and even then there is
danger. After ascending the southern bank, the road passes over a marsh
of nearly half a mile, and then traverses among gentle hills. Two
* Mr. Gee. I was informed, is a descendant of Colonel Gee, who commanded
a militia regiment when the British invaded Virginia. He resided further
down, between the Meherrin and the Nottaway, and was captured by Colonel
Simcoe's cavalry while that officer was securing the fords of the river
for the passage of Cornwallis's army. "We proceeded," says Simcoe, "with
the utmost expedition, to the Nottaway River, twenty-seven miles from
Petersburg, where we arrived early the next morning. The bridge had been
destroyed, which was easily repaired, and Major Armstrong was left with
the infantry. The cavalry went on to Colonel Gee's, a rebel militia
offieer. He attempted to escape, but was secured, and, refusing to give
his parole, was sent prisoner to Major Armstrong."--Journal, page 207.
** The Roanoke is formed by the junction of the Dan and Staunton
Rivers, near the south boundary of Virginia, and flows into the head of
Albemarle Sound. It is navigable to the falls, at Halifax, seventy-five
miles, for small vessels.
[[[Cotton Fields.--Route of Greene's Retreat.--Journey toward
Hillsborough.--Tobacco Culture.]]]
{556}miles from the river I passed some fields of cotton not yet
garnered, and the wool, escaped from the bolls, looked like patches
of snow upon the shrubs. These were the first cotton plantations I had
seen. I was surprised to learn that the cotton harvest may begin in
September, and yet, at the close of December, much, here and elsewhere
at the South, was in the fields, and injured by exposure to the taints
produced by rains. Better husbandry seemed to prevail on this side of
the Roanoke, and neat farm-houses gave the country a pleasing appearance
of thrift. I was now on one of the great routes of travel from Central
Virginia to Hillsborough, the seat of the Provincial Congress at the
opening of the war of the Revolution. It was also the great route of
emigration from Virginia when the wilderness upon the Yadkin was first
peopled by white men. I had intended to follow the track of Greene and
his army while retreating before Cornwallis in the spring of 1781, but
in so doing I should omit other places of paramount interest. That track
lay between forty and fifty miles northwest of my route to Hillsborough.
The pine forests now became rare, and the broken country was diversified
by well-cultivated plantations, and forests of oaks, chestnuts, gum,
and a few catalpas. Toward evening I arrived at Nut Bush Post Office, in
Warren county (formerly a part of Granville), a locality famous in
the annals of that state as the first place in the interior where a
revolutionary document was put forth to arouse the people to resist the
government. * The postmaster (John H. Bullock, Esq.) owned a store
and an extensive tobacco plantation there. Under his roof I passed the
night, in the enjoyment of the most cordial hospitality, and was warmly
pressed to spend several days with him, and join in the seasonable
sports of turkey and deer hunting in the neighboring forests. But,
eager to complete my journey, I declined, and the next morning,
notwithstanding another strong northeast gale was driving a chilling
sleet over the land, I left Nut Bush, and pushed on toward Oxford.
The staple production of this region appears to be tobacco; and
drying-houses and presses composed the principal portion of the
outbuildings of the plantations. **
* On the sixth of June, 1705, when the nows of the passage of the Stamp
Act reached the interior of the province, a paper was circulated at Nut
Bush, entitled, "A Serious Address to the Inhabitants of the County of
Granville, containing a brief Narrative of our Deplorable Situation
and the Wrongs we suffer, and some necessary Hints with respect to a
Reformation." This paper had for its epigraph the following line: "Save
my country, heavens, shall be my last." The paper was prepared by an
illiterate man, but it was so forcibly and clearly expressed that it had
a powerful effect on the people.--Martin, ii., 197; Caruthers's Life of
Caldwell, 107.
[Illustration: 8566]
** To the Northern reader a brief general description of the tobacco
culture may not be uninteresting. The ground for germinating the seed is
prepared by first burning a quantity of wood over the space to be sown.
This process is to destroy all the roots of plants that may be in the
soil. The ashes are then removed, and the earth is thoroughly digged
and raked until it is like a bed in a garden prepared for seed. The
tobacco-seed (which appears like mustard-seed) is then mixed with
wood-ashes and strown in drills a few inches apart. This is generally
done in February. When the plants are grown two or three inches in
height, they are taken up and transplanted into little hillocks in the
fields. This is done at about the first of May. From that time the crop
demands unceasing attention. These plants will grow about a foot high
within a month after the transplanting. They are then topped; the
suckers and lower leaves are pruned off, and about twice a week they
are cleaned from weeds and the large and destructive worms which infest
them. They attain their full growth in about six weeks after the first
pruning, and begin to turn brown--an evidence of ripening. As fast as
they ripen they are cut and gathered into the barns or drying-houses.
This operation commences about the first of September. The plants, after
being cut, are left upon the ground to sweat for a night, and then taken
to cover. There they are hung up separately to dry for four or five
weeks. The tobacco-houses are made as open as possible, for the
circulation of air, but so as to avoid the rain. When sufficiently dry,
the plants are taken down and dampened with water, to prevent their
crumbling. They are then laid upon sticks, and covered up close to sweat
for a week or two longer. The top part of the plant is the best, the
bottom the poorest for commerce. When thus prepared, the leaves are
stripped from the stalk, and pressed hard into boxes or hogsheads for
market. The presses used in the tobacco districts are of two kinds; one
is a lever, the fulcrum being two rude upright posts. The hogshead or
box is placed near the posts. The smaller end of the lever is forked, or
has a slot, through which passes another upright stick with a series of
holes. Weights are attached to that end, and as it is gradually brought
down it is secured by a strong pin to the upright post. The other and
more efficient presses have a wooden or iron screw for leverage, like
the cider presses of the North, or the common standing presses
in manufactories. These are more expensive, and are used only on
plantations of considerable extent. The tobacco plant, when full grown,
is four or five feet in height. The stalk is straight, hairy, and very
clumsy. The leaves grow alternately, are of a faded yellowish green, and
are very large toward the lower part of the plant. There is scarcely a
vegetable on the face of the earth more really nauseous and filthy
in taste and the effects of use, than tobacco, and yet hundreds and
thousands of the most fertile acres of our country are devoted to the
cultivation of this noxious weed, which is good for none, but injurious
to many, where millions of bushels of nutritive grain might be raised.
[[[Williamsburg and Oxford.--Tar River.--Fording Streams.--The Princely
Domain of Mr. Cameron.]]]
{557}I passed through the little village of Williamsborough, at two
o'clock in the afternoon, and arrived at Oxford at dark. The latter is
a pleasant village of some five hundred inhabitants, situated near the
center of Granville county, and its seat of justice. It is a place of
considerable business for an inland town; but my favorable impressions,
after an hour's inspection before breakfast on the morning after my
arrival, were marred by the discovery of relics of a more barbarous
age, standing upon the green near the jail. They were a _pillory_ and
a _whipping-post_, the first and only ones I ever saw. I was told by a
resident that the more enlightened people of the town were determined
to have them removed, and it is to be hoped that those instruments for
degradation no longer disfigure the pretty little village of Oxford.
The morning of the thirtieth[[Dec. 1848]] was clear and warm, after a
night of heavy rain.
I left Oxford early, resolved to reach Hillsborough, thirty-six miles
distant, at evening.
But the red clay roads, made doubly bad by the rain, impeded my
progress, and I was obliged to stop at the house of a Yankee planter,
four miles short of Hillsborough. In the course of the day, I forded
several considerable streams, all of them much swollen, and difficult
of passage, for a stranger. The Flat Creek, near Oxford, a broad
and shallow stream, was hub-deep, and gave me the first unpleasant
experience of fording. A few miles further on, I crossed the Tar River,
over a long and substantial bridge. This is a rapid stream, and now its
muddy and turbulent waters came rushing like a mountain-torrent, bearing
large quantities of drift-wood in the midst of its foam. * Soon after
crossing the Tar, I forded a small tributary called the Cat Tail Creek.
It was not more than two rods wide, but was so deep that the water
dashed into my wagon, and the current lifted it from the ground, for a
moment. The Knapp-of-Reeds was broader, and but a little less rapid and
dangerous; and when, at three o'clock, I crossed the Flat River, I came
very near being "swamped." A bridge spanned the stream, but the ground
on either side is so flat that, during floods, the river overflows its
banks and expands into a lake. I reached the bridge without difficulty,
but, when leaving it, found the way much impeded by drift-wood and other
substances that came flowing over the banks. Charley was not at all
pleased with these frequent fordings, and the masses of drift alarmed
him. While my wagon-hubs were under water, and he was picking his way
carefully over the submerged stones, a dark mass of weeds and bushes
came floating toward him. He sheered suddenly, and for a moment the
wagon was poised upon two wheels. I was saved from a cold bath
by springing to the opposite side, where my weight prevented its
overturning, and we were soon safe upon firm land. This was the last
contest with the waters for the day, for the next stream (the Little
River) was crossed by a bridge, a good distance above the less rapid
current. Between the Flat and the Little Rivers, and filling the whole
extent of four miles, was the immense plantation of Mr. Cameron, a
Scotch gentleman. This plantation extends parallel with the rivers,
a distance of fifteen miles, and covers an area of about sixty square
miles. It is well managed, and yields abundant crops of wheat, corn,
oats, cotton, tobacco, potatoes, and other products of the Northern and
Middle States. One thousand negroes were upon it, under the direction
of several overseers. Its hills are crowned with fine timber, and I
observed several large flocks of sheep and herds of cattle upon the
slopes. It is probably the largest landed estate in the Carolinas,
perhaps in the Union.
* The Tar is about one hundred and eighty miles long. At the town of
Washington, toward the coast, it expands, and is called Pamlico River,
and flows into Pamlico Sound.
[[[Night at a Yankee's Farm house.--Arrival at Hillsborough.--Early
Settlements in North Carolina.]]]
{558}It was very dark when I reached the dwelling of Mr. Bacon (a farmer
from Connecticut), four miles from Hillsborough, a small, neat, and
comfortable log-house. Furniture and food were of the most humble kind,
but cheerful contentment made the inmates rich. The thankful _grace_ at
table, and the prayer and praise of family worship afterward, gave light
to that dwelling, where deep affliction was coming on apace. A daughter
of fourteen years (one of nine children), who sat wrapped in a blanket
in the corner of the huge fire-place, was wasting with consumption.
She was a beautiful child, and her mother spoke of her piety, her
tenderness, and sweet affection, until emotion pressed her lips into
silence. She was the picture of patient suffering.=
```"Around her brow, as snow drop fair,
````The glossy tresses cluster,
```Nor pearl nor ornament was there,
````Save the meek spirit's luster;
```And faith and hope beamed in her eye;
````And angels bowed as she passed by."
`````Sakah Josepha Hale.=
Ere this her body doubtless reposes in the orchard, by the side of that
of her little brother who had gone before.
The next day was the Sabbath. Leaving Mr. Bacon's at dawn, I rode into
Hillsborough * in time for breakfast and comfortable quarters at the
Union Hotel, where I spent the day before a glowing wood fire. On Monday
morning I called upon the Reverend James Wilson, D.D., with a letter
of introduction, and to his kind courtesy I am much indebted. He
accompanied me to places of interest in the town, and gave me all the
information I desired concerning the history of the vicinity. Before
noticing these strictly local matters, let us open the records of North
Carolina, and take a brief general view of the history of the state,
from its settlement until the war of the Revolution commenced.
The principal discoveries on the coast of the Carolinas have already
been noticed in the introduction to this work and in the account of the
first efforts at settlement in Virginia, by which it appears that
to North Carolina belongs the honor of having had the first English
settlement in America, within its domain. We will now consider, briefly,
the progress of settlement below the Nansemond and Roanoke.
We have seen the difficulties which attended the first explorations of
the Roanoke, and the abandonment of the Carolina coast after the failure
of Raleigh's expeditions Notwithstanding a fertile region was here open
for the labor and enterprise of the English, who were rapidly populating
Virginia along the banks of the Powhatan and other large streams, yet no
permanent settlement appears to have been attempted south of the Dismal
Swamp, until nearly fifty years after the building of Jamestown. As
early as 1609, the country on Nansemond River, on the southern frontier
of Virginia, had been settled; and in 1622, Porey, then Secretary of
Virginia, and a man of great courage and perseverance, penetrated the
country southward to the Chowan River. ** The kindness of the natives,
and the fertility and beauty of the country, were highly extolled
by Porey, and new desires for extending settlements southward were
awakened. The vigilance with which the Spaniards watched the coast below
Cape Fear, and the remembrance of their cruelty in exercising their
power at an earlier day against the French in Florida, doubtless caused
hesitation on the part of the English. But persecution during the
administration of Berkeley, at length drove some of Virginia's best
children from her household, and they, with others who were influenced
by lower motives than a desire for religious liberty, began the work
of founding a new state. New England, also, where persecution was not a
stranger, contributed essential aid in the work.
* Hillsborough was laid out in 1709 by W. Childs, and was first called
Childsburg, in honor of the then Attorney Genera! of the province. Its
name was afterward changed to Hillsborough, in compliment, according to
Martin (ii., 104), to the Earl of Hillsborough, the Secretary of Slate
for the colonies.
** The Chowan is formed bv the union of Nottaway, Meherrin, and
Blackwater Rivers, which flow from Virginia into Albemarle Sound, a
little north of the mouth of the Roanoke.
[[[First Charier of North Carolina.--Early Settlements on the Chowan and
Cape Fear.--Planters from Barbadoes.]]]
{559}In 1630, a patent was granted to Sir Robert Heath for the whole
of the country extending from Virginia, southward, over six degrees
of latitude, to the rather indefinite boundary of Florida, then in
possession of the Spaniards. The region was named Carolina in honor
of the sister of Charles the First, of that name. Heath was unable to
fulfill the conditions of his charter, and it was forfeited before any
settlements were made. In l663,[[March 24]] Charles the Second granted
a charter to a company, among whom were General George Monk (the Duke
of Albemarle), Lord Clarendon, Sir George Carteret, Lord Ashley Cooper
(afterward Earl of Shaftesbury), Lord Berkeley, and his brother Sir
William, the governor of Virginia. The region under this grant extended
from the thirty-sixth degree to the River San Matheo in Florida, now the
St. John's. Ten years earlier than this, a permanent settlement had been
formed upon the northern banks of the Chowan. Roger Green, an energetic
man, led a company across the wilderness from the Nansemond to the
Chowan, and settled near the present village of Edenton[[1653]] There
they flourished; and in the same year, when the charter was granted to
Clarendon and his associates, a government, under William Drummond,
a Scotch Presbyterian, was established over that little territory. In
honor of the Duke of Albemarle, it was called Albemarle County Colony.
In 1662, George Durant purchased from the Indians the Neck, which still
bears his name and the following year George Cathmaid received a large
grant of land, for having settled sixty-seven persons south of the
Roanoke. Two years later, it being discovered that the settlement on the
Chowan was not within the limits of the charter, Charles extended the
boundaries of that instrument, so as to include northward the region to
the present Virginia line, southward the whole of the present Carolines
and Georgia, and extending westward, like all of that monarch's
charters, to the Pacific Ocean. These charters were liberal in the
concession of civil privileges, and the proprietors were _permitted_ to
exercise toleration toward non-conformists to the Church of England,
if it should be thought expedient. Great encouragement was offered
to immigrants, from home, or from the other colonies, and settlements
steadily increased.
In 1661 some New England adventurers entered Cape Fear River, **
purchased a tract of land from the Indians on Old Town Creek, about half
way between Wilmington and Brunswick, and planted a settlement there.
The Virginians looked upon them as rivals, for the latter claimed a
right to the soil, having settled prior to the grant to Clarendon and
his associates. Difficulties arose. A compromise was proposed, but
the New Englanders were dissatisfied. The colony did not prosper; the
Indians lifted the hatchet against them, and in less than three years
the settlement was abandoned. Two years later,[[1665]] several planters
from Barbadoes purchased of the Indians a tract of land, thirty-two
miles square, near the abandoned settlement. They asked ol the
proprietaries a confirmation of their purchase, and a separate charter
of government. All was not granted, yet liberal concessions were made.
Sir John Yeamans, the son of a cavalier, and then a Barbadoes planter,
was, at the solicitation of the purchasers, appointed their governor.
His jurisdiction was from Cape Fear to the San Matheo (the territory
now included in South Carolina and Georgia), and was called _Clarendon
county_. The same year the Barbadoes people laid the foundation of a
town on the south bank of the Cape Fear River. It did not flourish, and
its site is now a subject for dispute.
Settlements now began to increase south of the Roanoke; and as the
proprietors of _Albemarle county_ saw, in anticipation, a powerful state
within the limits of their fertile ter-
* It is said that Durant's Neck has the honor of having furnished the
first seed for the Timothy Grass which is in such high repute among
farmers. Among the first settlers was a Quaker named Timothy somebody,
who observed the grass growing wild, and supposed it would be good for
cultivation. He sent some of the seed to his friends in England, who,
having found the grass to be valuable, called it Timothy Grass, in honor
of his friend in Carolina.--Caruthers's Life of Caldu-ell, page 52. A
Bible brought from England by Durant (and probably the first brought
into North Carolina), is now in the library of the Historical Society of
North Carolina, at Chapel Hill.
** The Cape Fear is formed by a union of the Haw and Deep Rivers, about
one hundred and twenty-five miles northwest from Wilmington, and enters
the Atlantic a little more than twenty miles below that city.
[[[The absurd "Fundamental Constitutions" of Shaftesbury and
Locke.--Sketch of the Authors.--Extent of the Province.]]]
{560}ritory, and dreamed of a grand American empire, they took measures
to establish a government with adequate functions, and to transport
into the New World the varied ranks and aristocratic establishments of
Europe. The Earl of Shaftesbury, * the ablest statesman of his time,
and John Locke, ** the illustrious philosopher, were employed to frame a
Constitution. ***
[Illustration: 9570]
They completed their labor in the spring of 1669,[[March]] after
exercising great care. The instrument was composed of one hundred and
twenty articles, and was called the _Fundamental Constitutions._ These
were in the highest degree monarchical in character and design. Indeed,
the proprietors avowed their design to "avoid making too numerous a
Democracy." Two orders of nobility were to be instituted; the higher
to consist of landgraves or earls, the lower of caciques or barons. The
territory **** was to be divided into counties, each county containing
four hundred and eighty thousand acres, with one landgrave and two
caciques, a number never to be increased or diminished. There were also
to be lords of manors, who like the nobles were entitled to hold courts
and exercise judicial functions. Persons holding fifty acres were to be
freeholders; the tenants held no political franchise, and could never
attain any higher rank. The four Estates of Proprietors, Earls, Barons,
and Commons were to sit in one legislative chamber. The proprietors were
always to be eight in number; to possess the whole judicial power, and
have the supreme direction of all tribunals. None but large property
holders were eligible for a seat in the Legislature, where the
commons were to have four members for every three of the nobility. An
aristocratic majority was thus always secured. In trials by jury, the
oppressed had but little hope, for the majority were to decide. Every
religion was professedly tolerated, (v) yet the Church of England only
was declared to be orthodox, and the national religion of Carolina.
(vi) Such is an outline of the principal features of the Constitution by
which the proprietaries proposed to govern free colonists in America. It
seems very strange that minds like those of Locke and Shaftesbury should
have committed such an egregious blunder;
* Anthony Ashley Cooper was born at Winborne in Dorsetshire, in 1621.
He was educated at Oxford, studied law, and when in his nineteenth year,
he was chosen representative for Tewksbury. He was hostile to Cromwell,
and took an aetive part in the restoration of Charles the Second. For
his services Charles made him Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord of
the Treasury, and created him Lord Ashley. In 1672 he was made Earl
of Shaftesbury, and appointed Lord Chancellor. He resigned his office
within a year, but held it again in 1679. During that year he conferred
on his country the benefit of the Habeas Corpus Act. He afterward
opposed the unconstitutional measures of the king, and was twice
committed to the Tower. He finally withdrew to Holland, where he died,
January 22, 1683.
** John Locke was born at Wrington, near Bristol, England, in 1632. He
was educated at Westminster school. He studied the science of medicine
and became eminent, but he was more noted for his proficiency in polite
literature. His health would not allow him to practice the medical art,
and in 1664 he accepted the secretaryship to Sir William Swan, who was
sent envoy to the Elector of Brandenburg. He turned his attention to
politics and jurisprudence, and because of his skill and knowledge on
sueh subjects, Shaftesbury employed him to assist him in drawing up a
charter for North Carolina. While at Montpelier, for the benefit of his
health, he commenced his celebrated Essay on the Human Understanding.
When Shaftesbury went to Holland, Locke accompanied him. There, on the
death of the earl, envy and malice persecuted him. He was accused of
treason, and for twelve months he kept himself concealed. He returned
to England after the Revolution in 1688, and was honored by government
appointments. He was a Commissioner of Trade and Plantations for five
years, when declining health made him resign the office in 1700. He died
on the twenty-eighth of October, 1704, in the seventy-third year of his
age.
*** This document is supposed to be chiefly the work of Shaftesbury.
**** The territory comprising more than seven degrees of latitude from
the Nansemond, south, included the whole of the present North and South
Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, a good portion of
Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, a large portion of Mexico, and the
whole of Upper and Lower California.
* (v) There were some Quakers in the Albemarle colony, and when, in
1672, William Edmunson and George Fox visited that settlement, many were
added to that persuasion. Near the Roanoke, in that region, and in the
counties of Orange, Guilford, and Randolph, are the only settlements
of that sect in North Carolina The Quakers were the first to organize a
religious government in that state.
* (vi) Bancroft, ii., 136-150. Chalmers, 517-526. Locke's Works, x.,
194. Martin, i., 148-150. This instrument is published at length in the
Appendix to the first volume of Martin's History of North Carolina
[[[Abrogation of the Constitutions.--Government Officers
imprisoned.--Governor Sothel banished.--John Archdale.]]]
{561}that men so wise and sagacious should have attempted such a solemn
farce. Albemarle, the chief settlement, had only about fourteen hundred
"working hands," and the habitations in Carolina were chiefly log huts.
The whole population was hardly four thousand in number. Where were the
landgraves, and caciquies, and lords of manors to be found among them?
and where were mansions for the nobility and aristocracy? The error
was soon perceived, yet the proprietaries insisted upon commencing the
system with a view to its further accomplishment. But the spirit of
the whole thing was adverse to the feelings of the people; and, after a
contest of twenty years, these _Constitutions_ were abrogated, and the
people were allowed to be governed by their earlier and more simple and
appropriate code under Stevens, the successor of Drummond--a governor
with his council of twelve, six appointed by the proprietaries, and
six chosen by the Assembly; and a House of Delegates chosen by the
freeholders.
While the contest was going on between the proprietaries and the people,
temporary laws were established. The harmony which prevailed before the
magnificent scheme of government was proposed, was disturbed, and both
counties were shaken by internal commotions. Disorders prevailed most
extensively in the Albemarle or Northern colony, the population of which
was far more numerous than the Clarendon or Southern colony. Excessive
taxation and commercial restrictions occasioned discontent, while
the influence of refugees from Virginia, the participators in Bacon's
rebellion there, who were sheltered in Carolina, ripened the people for
resistance to monarchical schemes to enslave or oppress them. A year
after the death of Bacon, a revolt occurred in Albemarle. Miller, the
secretary of the colony, acting governor before Eastchurch arrived, and
the collector of customs, attempted to enforce the revenue laws against
a vessel from New England. Led by John Culpepper, a refugee from
Clarendon, the people seized Miller and the public funds, imprisoned him
and six of his council, appointed new magistrates and judges, called
a Parliament, and took all the functions of government into their own
hands. Thus matters remained for two years. * Culpepper went to England
to plead the cause of the people. He was arrested for treason,[[1680]]
but, through Shaftesbury, he was acquitted, that statesman justly
pleading that in Albemarle there had been no regular government; that
the disorders were but feuds among the people. Thus early, that feeble
colony of North Carolina asserted the same political rights for which
our fathers so successfully contended a hundred years later.
Seth Sothel, one of the corporators, an avaricious and dishonest man,
arrived in the Albemarle province in 1683, as governor. He plundered
the people, and prostituted his office to purposes of private gain.
According to Chalmers, "the annals of delegated authority include no
name so infamous" as Sothel. The people, after enduring him for six
years, seized him, and were about sending him to England[[1689]] to
answer their accusations before the proprietors, when he asked to be
tried by the Colonial Assembly. Such trial was granted, and he was
sentenced to banishment for one year, and was forever deprived of
the privilege of holding the office of governor. He withdrew to South
Carolina, where we shall meet him again. The proprietors acquiesced in
the proceedings of the colonists, and sent over Philip Ludwell as their
representative,[[1693]] who, by wisdom and justice, soon restored
order. He was succeeded by Thomas Harvey in 1692, and, two years later,
Henderson Walker succeeded Harvey.
In 1695, two years after the splendid Fundamental Constitutions of Locke
and Shaftesbury were abrogated, and landgraves and caciques, and lords
of manors, were scattered to the winds, John Archdale, a Quaker, and
one of the proprietors, arrived as governor of both Carolinas. From that
period until the partition of the provinces in 1729, it is difficult to
separate their histories, although governed by distinct magistrates.
In 1698 the first settlement was made on the Pamlico or Tar River, the
Pamlico Indians having been nearly all destroyed two years previously
by a pestilence. Population rapidly increased under the liberal
administration of Archdale. The first church in Carolina was built in
Chowan county in 1705, and religion began to be respected.
* Williamson, i.. 132.
[[[Settlements in the Interior.--Indian Hostilities.--Flight of the
Tuscaroras.--Pirates.--First Royal Governor.]]]
{562}The colonists now began to turn their attention to the interior. In
1707, a company of French Protestants came from Virginia and settled in
Carolina; and in 1709, one hundred German families, driven from their
home on the Rhine by fierce persecutions and devastating war, sought
a refuge in the free, tolerant, and peaceful soil of North Carolina.
Already the Huguenots were settling in South Carolina, and were planting
the principles of civil liberty there. The French immigrants were not
favorably received by the English, and disputes occurred. Archdale
managed with prudence for a year, and then left affairs in the hands
of Joseph Blake, afterward governor of South Carolina. The difficulties
between the English and French were settled, and the latter were
admitted to all the rights of citizenship. The Indians along the
sea-coast were melting away like frost in the sunbeams. The powerful
tribe of the Hatteras, which numbered three thousand warriors in
Raleigh's time, were reduced to fifteen bowmen; another tribe had
entirely disappeared; and of all the aborigines, but a small remnant
remained. They had sold their lands, or had been cheated out of them,
and were driven back to the deep wildnerness. Strong drink and other
vices of civilization had decimated them, and their beautiful land, all
the way to the Yadkin and Catawba, was speedily opened to the almost
unopposed encroachments of the white man. Yet, before their power was
utterly broken, the Indians made an effort to redeem their losses. The
Tuscaroras of the inland region, and the Corees southward, upon whom
their countrymen of the coasts had retreated, resolved to strike a
blow that should exterminate the intruders. Upon the scattered German
settlements along the Roanoke and Pamlico Sound, they fell like
lightning from the clouds. In one night one hundred and thirty persons
perished by the hatchet.[[Sept. 22, 1711]] The savages also scoured
the country on Albemarle Sound, burning dwellings and massacring the
inhabitants for three days, until disabled by drunkenness and fatigue.
To the Southern colony the people of Albemarle looked for aid. Nor was
it withheld. Captain Barnwell, with six hundred white men, and three
hundred and sixty Indians of the tribes of the Cherokees,
Creeks, Catawbas, and Yamasees, * as allies, marched against the
Tuscaroras,[[1712]] and, driving them back to their fortified town near
the Neuse, a little above Edenton, in the upper part of Craven county,
forced them to make a treaty of peaee. Both parties soon violated this
treaty, and the Indians commenced hostilities. Colonel Moore, of South
Carolina, with forty white men, and eight hundred friendly Indians,
arrived in December, 1713, besieged the savages in their fort, and took
eight hundred of them prisoners. The hostile Tuscaroras soon afterward
migrated northward, and joining the Five Nations on the southern shore
of Lake Ontario, formed a part of the powerful confederacy of the _Six
Nations_ in New York. In 1715 peaee was concluded with the Corees, and
Indian wars ceased.
From this period until 1729, when the two provinces were surrendered
to the crown, and were permanently separated, the colonists enjoyed
comparative prosperity. The people had some difficulties with the
Indians; were troubled with a swarm of pirates on the coast, under
_Teach_, the famous "Black Beard;" and disputed, with the vehemence
of men determined to remain free, with all unwise and aristocratic
governors sent to rule them. Perceiving that the expenses which had
attended the settlement of the Carolinas were hardly productive of any
advantage, the lords proprietors offered to surrender the provinces
to the crown. This was effected,[[1729]] and each proprietor received
twelve thousand five hundred dollars, as the consideration of the
surrender. Their charter had been in existence sixty-six years.
The population of both provinces, including negroes, did not exceed
twenty-five thousand persons, ten thousand in North Carolina, and
fifteen thousand in South Carolina. The last proprietary governor was
Sir Richard Everard, successor to Charles Eden.
George Burrington was the first royal governor of North Carolina, and
took his seat without difficulty, in February, 1730. *** His first
important act was to announce a remission of
* These tribes, and others from Cape Fear to the Gulf of Mexico,
numbering about six thousand warriors, soon afterward confederated, with
the design of exterminating the white people on the Atlantic coast. This
event will be noticed hereafter.
** The general form of the Colonial government was not materially
changed. The governor could do nothing legally without the assent of his
council. With them, he was authorized to establish courts of justice,
and to hold a Court of Error. The governor, members of the council,
commander of the king's ships in the province, chief-justices, judges of
the Vice-admiralty, secretary, and receiver-general, were constituted a
court for the trial of pirates.
[[[First Legislative Assembly.--The Governor and People at
Variance.--Removal of the Seat of Government to Wilmington.]]]
{563}arrears of quit-rent. This was highly satisfactory. His second,
under instructions, was to send a deputation into the interior
to conciliate the Indians, particularly the Cherokees. The first
Legislative Assembly was convened at Edenton in April, 1731,[[April
13]] where the future policy of the royal government was unfolded by
Burrington. The representatives of the people were dissatisfied with its
aspeet, and when, in the king's name, the governor demanded of them a
sufficient revenue for defraying the expenses of the local government,
and a sufficient salary for the governor, his council, and the officers
employed in the administration of justice, they murmured. In these
requisitions they could not recognize the promised advantages of a
change in ownership, and they early showed a disposition to pay very
little attention to these demands of the chief magistrate. Three years
afterward, commercial restrictions, hitherto unknown, increased the
discontents of the people,1 and the seeds of revolution were planted in
a generous soil. The Assembly uttered the old complaint of exorbitant
fees on the part of public officers; the governor rejected their
remonstrance with contempt. The former refused to vote a revenue or to
pass any acts, and sent a complaint to England of Burrington's "violence
and tyranny in the administration of government." The Board of Trade
reprimanded and deposed him, and then appointed in his place Gabriel
Johnston,[[Nove 1734]] late steward of Lord Wilmington, a prudent and
cunning Scotchman.
The new governor encountered quite as much trouble as his predecessor.
The Assembly were refractory, and Johnston attempted to collect the
rents ** on his own authority. Payment was resisted, and the Assembly
not only denied the legality of the governor's proceedings,[[March
1737]] but imprisoned the officers who had distrained for quit-rents.
Johnston made concessions to the people, but his arrangements were
rejected by the home government, as yielding too much to the popular
will. For nearly ten years the quarrel concerning rents continued
between the governor and the Assembly, and, in the mean while, the
salaries of government officials remained in arrears, for the rents,
which produced the sole fund for the payment of the royal officers, were
inadequate. The governor now resorted to cunning management as a last
effort to sustain his authority. The province had been divided into
several counties. The southern counties, lately settled, were more
tractable than the northern ones, but they had only two members each in
the Assembly, while the others had five. The governor, at a time when
several of the northern members were absent, procured the passage of
an act, placing all the counties upon an equal footing as to
representation, and also for the removal of the seat of government from
Edenton to Wilmington, a new town, lately established at the head of
ship navigation, on the Cape Fear River, and named in honor of Lord
Wilmington, Johnston's patron. The six northern counties refused to
acknowledge the newly-organized Assembly as legal, and carried their
complaint to England. They were obliged to submit, and at last the
governor procured the passage of an aet,[[1748]] by which the expenses
of government were provided for.
It was during the administration of Governor Johnston that two important
occurrences
* The settlers procured furs from the Indians with great facility, and
the manufacture of hats from this material was becoming a source of
considerable revenue to several of the colonists. They exported hats to
the West India Islands, Spain, and Portugal. The jealousy of England
was awakened, and to secure those markets for her home manufactures,
Parliament forbade the exportation of hats from the American colonies.
They were not allowed to send them from one colony to another. None
but persons who had served seven years apprenticeship to the trade were
allowed to make hats, and no master was permitted to have more than
two apprentices at a time. The business was soon confined within narrow
limits, for severe penalties accompanied these enactments. Obstacles
were also thrown in the way of the manufacture of ropes and cordage in
America, and other kinds of business soon felt the cheeks of a narrow
and unjust commercial policy.
** The whole soil belonged to the crown. The people were required, by
the governor, to pay the expenses of the government, in addition to the
stipulated rents.
[[[Immigration of Scotch Highlanders.--The Rebellion of '45.--Peril and
Flight of 'The Pretender.--Extinction of his Family.]]]
{564}took place, which, though separate and dissimilar, tended, in a
remarkable degree, toward a union of the provinces in political and
social interest, and in fostering that spirit of civil and religious
freedom which prevailed in the South, and particularly in North
Carolina, where the oppressive measures of the first ten years of the
reign of George the Third produced rebellion in America. I allude to the
commencement of hostilities between France and England in 1745; and the
immigration hither of a large number of Presbyterians from Scotland and
the north of Ireland, the former on account of their participation in
the famous rebellion of that year. *
* The Scottish insurrection, known as The Rebellion of 45, was in favor
of Charles Edward, the son of James II. who shared his father's exile
in France. Claiming the throne of England as his right, and regarding
George of Hanover as a usurper, he determined to make an effort for the
crown. In June, 1745, he embarked in an eighteen-gun frigate, and landed
at Borodale, in the southwest part of Scotland, with a few Scotch and
Irish followers. His arms were chiefly on board another vessel, which
had been obliged to put back to France. The Highlanders in the vicinity
arose in his favor, and in a few days fifteen hundred strong men
surrounded his standard--a piece of taffeta which he brought from
France. The Pretender (as he was called) marched to Perth, where he was
joined by some Scotch lords and their retainers. With his increasing
army, he entered Edinburgh in triumph, though the castle held out for
King George. All England trembled with alarm. The premier (the king
was in Hanover) offered a reward of $750,000 for the person of the
Pretender. From Edinburgh the insurgents marched toward the border,
and were every where successful, until encountered by the Duke of
Cumberland, at Culloden, where, on the sixteenth of April, 1745, they
were defeated and dispersed. The jails of England were soon filled with
the prisoners. Lords Balmerino and Lovat, and Mr. Radcliffe, a brother
of the Earl of Derwentwater * were beheaded, the last who suffered death,
in that way, in England. Many others were executed, and a large number
of the Highlanders were transported to America, and became settlers
in North Carolina. The Pretender was the last to leave the field at
Culloden. For almost five months he was a fugitive among the
Highlands, closely scented by the officers of government. After various
concealments by the people, he escaped to the Isle of Skye, in the
character and disguise of Betty Bourke, an Irish servant to Miss Flora
M'Donald, daughter of a Highlander. After several perilous adventures,
he reached the Continent in September, 1746. He died at Rome in 1784.
His brother, Cardinal York, the last representative of the house of
Stuart, died in 1807 and the family became extinct.
[[[The Scotch-Irish and their Principles.--Their Emigration to
Carolina.--Moravian Settlements.]]]
{565}