Giles County, its Formation and Early Settlers.
Its Geographical Position, Topography and Population in 1860.
State of Political Parties.
Election of Delegate to the Convention.
Giles County, named for Hon. William B. Giles, once Governor of
Virginia, was created in 1806 out of the territory of Montgomery,
Tazewell, and Monroe counties; the county town or seat of justice,
Pearisburg, being named in honor of Col. George Pearis, a soldier of
the American Revolution, who donated to the county the land on which
the town is located. Colonel Pearis was a descendent of a French
Hugenot, and was born in the State of South Carolina, February 16,
1746. In a battle with the Tories at Shallow Ford of the Yadkin, North
Carolina, on the 14th day of October, 1780, he was wounded in the
shoulder, which disabled him for further military service, and on
reaching Virginia sought shelter with some relations on the New River,
at a place since known as Pepper's Ferry.
The settlement of what is now the territory of Giles County began at a
period anterior to the American Revolution, perhaps as early as 1755,
if not a few years before that date. Among the early settlers of Giles
County were the Lybrooks, Snidows, Harmans, Halls, Napiers, McComas',
Clays, Pearis', Peters', Hales McKenseys, Chapmans, Frenches,
Johnstons, Shumates, Hatfields, Adkins', Hares, Pecks, Hughes',
Wilburns, Shannons, and Banes, who were of Scot-Irish, German, Hugenot
and English blood, many of them suffering much from Indian incursions.
The population of this county, in 1860, was 6816, of whom 6038 were
free white persons. The county is situated in the midst of the great
Appalachian chain or range of mountains, distant from Richmond some
three hundred miles. Its length, thirty, by a mean width of twenty
miles. New River flows through it in a north-west direction, the chief
tributaries of which, in Giles County, are the Sinking, Walker's, Wolf,
Big Stony, and Little Stony creeks. Its principal mountains, Walker's,
Sugar Run, Angel's Rest, Wolf Creek, East River, Peters' and Salt Pond,
which are high, rugged, and precipitous. The streams are rapid, and the
surface of the country, other than the river and creek bottoms,
generally rough and broken, but the soil rich and fertile. The
population in 1861 was made up of sturdy, liberty-loving, hardy
mountaineers, engaged chiefly in agricultural pursuits, where brave men
are bred, accustomed to the chase and the use of firearms, which fitted
them for the hardships and privations of soldier life.
Politically, in 1860 and the early part of 1861, the county was fairly
evenly divided between the democratic and whig parties, with perhaps a
slight preponderance in favor of the democrats, the great body of whom,
with the State Rights whigs, being intensely southern in character, but
opposed to extreme measures, or hasty action.
In January, 1861, the legislature ordered an election for delegates to
a convention to consider the critical condition of the country, said
election to be held on the 4th day of February, at which in Giles
County Mr. Manilius Chapman was elected over Mr. Charles D. Peck by a
small majority. The convention assembled in Richmond on the 13th of
February, of which more hereafter.