1716.
Spotswood's Tramontane Expedition--His Companions--Details of
the Exploration--They cross the Blue Ridge--The Tramontane
Order--The Golden Horseshoe.
IT was in the year 1716 that Spotswood made the first complete discovery
of a passage over the Blue Ridge of mountains. Robert Beverley, in the
preface to the second edition of his "History of Virginia," published at
London in 1722, says: "I was with the present governor[387:A] at the
head-spring of both those rivers,[387:B] and their fountains are in the
highest ridge of mountains." The governor, accompanied by John Fontaine,
who had been an ensign in the British army, and who had recently come
over to Virginia, started from Williamsburg, on his expedition over the
Appalachian Mountains, as they were then called. Having crossed the York
River at the Brick-house, they lodged that night at the seat of Austin
Moore, now Chelsea, on the Matapony River, a few miles above its
junction with the Pamunkey. On the following night they were hospitably
entertained by Robert Beverley, the historian, at his residence in
Middlesex. The governor left his chaise there, and mounted his horse for
the rest of the journey; and Beverley accompanied him in the
exploration. Proceeding along the Rappahannock they came to the
Germantown, ten miles below the falls, where they halted for some days.
On the twenty-sixth of August Spotswood was joined here by several
gentlemen, two small companies of rangers, and four Meherrin Indians.
The gentlemen of the party appear to have been Spotswood, Fontaine,
Beverley, Colonel Robertson, Austin Smith, who returned home owing to a
fever, Todd, Dr. Robinson, Taylor, Mason, Brooke, and Captains Clouder
and Smith. The whole number of the party, including gentlemen, rangers,
pioneers, Indians, and servants, was probably about fifty. They had
with them a large number of riding and pack-horses, an abundant supply
of provisions, and an extraordinary variety of liquors. Having had their
horses shod, they left Germantown on the twenty-ninth of August, and
encamped that night three miles from Germanna. The camps were named
respectively after the gentlemen of the expedition, the first one being
called "Camp Beverley," where "they made great fires, supped, and drank
good punch."
Aroused in the morning by the trumpet, they proceeded westward, each day
being diversified by the incidents and adventures of exploration. Some
of the party encountered hornets; others were thrown from their horses;
others killed rattlesnakes. Deer and bears were shot, and the venison
and bear-meat were roasted before the fire upon wooden forks. At night
they lay on the boughs of trees under tents. At the head of the
Rappahannock they admired the rich virgin soil, the luxuriant grass, and
the heavy timber of primitive forests. Thirty-six days after Spotswood
had set out from Williamsburg, and on the fifth day of September, 1716,
a clear day, at about one o'clock, he and his party, after a toilsome
ascent, reached the top of the mountain. It is difficult to ascertain at
what point they ascended, but probably it was Swift Run Gap.
As the company wound along, in perspective caravan line, through the
shadowy defiles, the trumpet for the first time awoke the echoes of the
mountains, and from the summit Spotswood and his companions beheld with
rapture the boundless panorama that lay spread out before them, far as
the eye could reach, robed in misty splendor. Here they drank the health
of King George the First, and all the royal family. The highest summit
was named by Spotswood Mount George, in honor of his majesty, and the
gentlemen of the expedition, in honor of the governor, named the next in
height, Mount Spotswood, according to Fontaine, and Mount Alexander,
according to the Rev. Hugh Jones.[388:A] The explorers were on the
water-shed, two streams rising there, the one flowing eastward and the
other westward. Several of the company were desirous of returning, but
the governor persuaded them to continue on. Descending the western side
of the mountain, and proceeding about seven miles farther, they reached
the Shenandoah, which they called the Euphrates, and encamped by the
side of it. They observed trees blazed by the Indians, and the tracks of
elks and buffaloes, and their lairs. They noticed a vine bearing a sort
of wild cucumber, and a shrub with a fruit like the currant, and ate
very good wild grapes. This place was called Spotswood Camp. The river
was found fordable at one place, eighty yards wide in the narrowest
part, and running north. It was here that the governor undertook to
engrave the king's name on a rock, and not on Mount George.
Finding a ford they crossed the river, and this was the extreme point
which the governor reached westward. Recrossing the river, some of the
party using grasshoppers for bait, caught perch and chub fish; others
went a hunting and killed deer and turkeys. Fontaine carved his name on
a tree by the river-side; and the governor buried a bottle with a paper
inclosed, on which he wrote that he took possession for King George the
First of England. Dining here they fired volleys, and drank healths,
they having on this occasion a variety of liquors--Virginia red wine
and white wine, Irish usquebaugh, brandy, shrub, two kinds of rum,
champagne, canary, cherry punch, cider, etc. On the seventh the rangers
proceeded on a farther exploration, and the rest of the company set out
on their return homeward. Governor Spotswood arrived at Williamsburg
on the seventeenth of September, after an absence of about six weeks.
The distance which they had gone was reckoned two hundred and
nineteen miles, and the whole, going and returning, four hundred and
thirty-eight. "For this expedition," says the Rev. Hugh Jones, "they
were obliged to provide a great quantity of horseshoes, things seldom
used in the eastern parts of Virginia, where there are no stones. Upon
which account the governor upon his return presented each of his
companions with a golden horseshoe, some of which I have seen covered
with valuable stones resembling heads of nails, with the inscription on
one side, 'Sic juvat transcendere montes.' This he instituted to
encourage gentlemen to venture backward and make discoveries and
settlements, any gentleman being entitled to wear this golden horseshoe
on the breast who could prove that he had drank his majesty's health on
Mount George." Spotswood instituted the Tramontane Order for this
purpose; but it appears to have soon fallen through. According to
Chalmers, the British government penuriously refused to pay the cost of
the golden horseshoes. A novel called the "Knight of the Horseshoe," by
Dr. William A. Caruthers, derives its name and subject from Spotswood's
exploit.[390:A]
FOOTNOTES:
[387:A] Spotswood.
[387:B] York and Rappahannock.
[388:A] He says that Spotswood graved the king's name on a rock on Mount
George; but, according to Fontaine, "the governor had graving-irons, but
could not grave anything, the stones were so hard."
[390:A] Memoirs of a Huguenot Family, 281, 292; Introduction to
Randolph's edition of Beverley's Hist. of Va., 5; Rev. Hugh Jones'
Present State of Virginia. The miniature horseshoe that had belonged to
Spotswood, according to a descendant of his, the late Mrs. Susan Bott,
of Petersburg, who had seen it, was small enough to be worn on a
watch-chain. Some of them were set with jewels. One of these horseshoes
is said to be still preserved in the family of Brooke. A bit of colored
glass, apparently the stopper of a small bottle, with a horseshoe
stamped on it, was dug up some years ago in the yard at Chelsea, in King
William County, the residence of Governor Spotswood's eldest daughter.