they occupied in Virginia, I formed the project of traveling into the
upper parts of that province, where I was assured that I should find
objects worthy of exciting the curiosity of a stranger; and faithful to
the principles, which from my youth I had laid down, never to neglect
seeing every country in my power, I burned with impatience to set out.
The season, however, was unfavorable, and rendered traveling difficult
and laborious; besides, experience taught me that traveling in winter
never offered the greatest satisfaction we can enjoy--that of seeing
Nature as she ought to be, and of forming a just idea of the general
face of a country; for it is easier for the imagination to deprive
the landscape of the charms of spring than to clothe with them the
hideous skeleton of winter; as it is easier to imagine what a beauty
at eighteen may be at eighty, than to conceive what eighty was at
eighteen.”
In these words, the Marquis of Chastellux, writing from Williamsburg
about the 1st of May, 1782, begins the chronicle of his tour to the
Valley of Virginia. He was in America with the army perhaps two years,
during which time he sustained his reputation as a capable officer, an
agreeable man, and a philosopher of tolerant insight. M. de Chastellux
was a good traveler. In the country, if the bacon and eggs were stale
and the vintage was spring water of the morning, he found something
to admire in the landscape. At Philadelphia he dined with members of
the Congress, of all parties, listened to political theories, drank
tea with the ladies, was easily amused and formed opinions which may
be discovered on a careful reading. Where is there a more sensible
man than the old campaigner? The Marquis of Chastellux entered the
army at fifteen, and was given command of a regiment at twenty-one.
He served with distinction in the Seven Years’ War. His studies were
never neglected, and being a man of rank he was early adopted among the
scholars.
On the 8th of April, 1782, M. de Chastellux set out from Williamsburg
for Rockbridge County. “On the 8th I set out with Mr. Lynch, then my
aid-de-camp and adjutant, Mr. Frank Dillon, my second aid-de-camp,
and M. le Chevalier d’Oyré, of the Engineers. Six servants and a led
horse composed our train, so that our little caravan consisted of four
masters, six servants and eleven horses. I regulated my journey by the
spring, and gave it time sufficient to precede us. The eighteen miles
through which we passed before we baited our horses at Bird’s Tavern
were sufficiently known to me, for it was the same road I traveled
the year before in coming from Williamsburg. The remaining sixteen,
which completed our day’s work and brought us to New Kent Courthouse,
offered nothing curious. All I learned by a conversation with Mr. Bird
was that he had been pillaged by the English when they passed his
house in their march to Westover in pursuit of M. de la Fayette, and
in returning to Williamsburg after endeavoring in vain to come up with
him. Mr. Bird repeated with indignation that the refugee camp followers
had taken from him the very boots from off his legs. As the next day’s
journey was to be longer than that of the preceding one, we left New
Kent Courthouse before 8 o’clock, and rode twenty miles to Newcastle,
where I resolved to give our horses two hours repose. When the heat was
a little abated and our horses were somewhat reposed we continued our
journey that we might arrive before dark at Hanover Courthouse, from
which we were yet sixteen miles. The country through which we passed
is one of the finest of lower Virginia. There are many well cultivated
estates and handsome houses. We arrived at Hanover Courthouse before
sunset, and alighted at a tolerable handsome inn--a very large saloon
and a covered portico to receive the company who assemble every three
months at the courthouse, either on private or public affairs. This
asylum is the more necessary, as there are no other houses in the
neighborhood.”
From Hanover Courthouse, which, as well as New Kent, had reason to
remember the passage of the English, the party proceeded at 9 the next
morning towards Offley, the residence for the time of General Nelson,
recently Governor of the State. “I had got acquainted with him during
the expedition to York, at which critical moment he was Governor, and
conducted himself with the courage of a brave soldier and the zeal of a
good citizen. I am sorry to add that the only recompense of his labors
was the hatred of a great part of his fellow citizens, arising from the
necessity under which he had often labored of pressing their horses,
carriages and forage.”
M. de Chastellux and his aids arrived at Offley at 1 o’clock on the
10th of April, and spent two rainy days there. General Nelson was
absent, but Secretary Nelson was there, an old man very gouty, who
related with a serene countenance what the effect had been of the
French batteries in front of Yorktown. “The tranquility which has
succeeded these unhappy times by giving him leisure to reflect upon
his losses, has not embittered the recollection; he lives happily on
one of his plantations, where in less than six hours he can assemble
seventy of his relations, children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces.
The rapid increase of his own family justifies what he told me of the
population of Virginia in general, of which, from the offices he has
held all his life, he must have it in his power to form a very accurate
judgment. In 1742 the people subject to taxes in Virginia amounted only
to the number of 63,000; by his account they now exceed 160,000.
“After passing two days very agreeably with this interesting family, we
left there the 12th at 10 in the morning, accompanied by the secretary
and five or six of his young relations, who conducted us to Little
River Bridge, a small creek on the road about five miles from Offley.”
Eleven miles through woods brought them to Willis’s Ordinary, a
solitary place, but at the moment crowded. “As soon as I alighted
I inquired what might be the reason of this numerous assembly, and
was informed it was a cock fight. This diversion is much in vogue in
Virginia, where the English customs are more prevalent than in the rest
of America. Whilst our horses were feeding we had an opportunity of
seeing a battle. The stakes were very considerable; the money of the
parties was deposited in the hands of one of the principal persons,
and I felt a secret pleasure in observing that it was chiefly French.
Whilst the interested parties animated the cocks to battle, a child of
fifteen, who was near me, kept leaping for joy and crying, ‘Oh, it is a
charming diversion.’ We had yet seven or eight and twenty miles to ride
to the only inn where it was possible to stop before we reached Mr.
Jefferson’s.”
Keeping on towards Monticello, the party passed an ordinary, some
sixteen miles from Willis’s, kept by an extremely fat man. They found
him contented in an arm chair, which served him also for a bed. A stool
supported his enormous legs. “A large ham and a bowl of grog served him
for company, like a man resolved to die surrounded by his friends.”
They spent the night twelve miles farther on at a house where there
were fourteen children, not one of them ten years old; and set out
at 8 o’clock the next morning through the foothills of the Southwest
Mountain. That day, the 13th of April (an important day with Mr.
Jefferson) they came to Monticello. “The visit which I made Mr.
Jefferson was not unexpected, for he had long since invited me to come
and pass a few days with him; notwithstanding which I found his first
appearance serious, nay even cold; but before I had been two hours with
him we were as intimate as if we had passed our whole lives together.
Walking, books, but above all a conversation always varied and
interesting, made four days pass away like so many minutes. I recollect
with pleasure that as we were conversing one evening over a bowl of
punch, after Mrs. Jefferson had retired, our conversation turned on
the poems of Ossian. In our enthusiasm the book was sent for and
placed near the bowl, where by their mutual aid the night far advanced
imperceptibly upon us. Sometimes natural philosophy, at others politics
or the arts, were the topics of our conversation, for no object had
escaped Mr. Jefferson; and it seemed as if from his youth he had placed
his mind, as he had his house, on an elevated situation, from which he
might contemplate the universe.”
Mr. Jefferson and M. de Chastellux rode over to Charlottesville, “a
rising town,” to see Colonel Armand,[G] whose legion was in quarters
there. Colonel Armand had a pet wolf which had been caught wild in the
neighborhood. M. de Chastellux left Monticello on the 17th, and on
the 19th arrived at the Natural Bridge, by way of Rockfish Gap and
Steel’s Tavern. Returning by way of New London (Bedford), “already a
pretty considerable town, at least seventy or eighty houses,” the party
of tourists reached Cumberland Courthouse on the 23d. “This is the
chief manor house of a very considerable country; it is situated in a
plain of about a mile diameter, sixteen miles from Hodnett’s, which we
had passed. Besides the courthouse and a large tavern, its necessary
appendage, there are seven or eight houses inhabited by gentlemen of
fortune. I found the tavern full of people, and understood that the
judges were assembled to hold a court of claims--that is to say, to
hear and register the claims of sundry persons, who had furnished
provisions for the army. We know that in general, but particularly in
unexpected invasions, the American troops had no established magazine,
and as it was necessary to have subsistence for them, provisions and
forage were indiscriminately laid hold of on giving the owners a
receipt, which they call a certificate. During the campaign, whilst the
enemy was at hand, little attention was given to this sort of loans,
which accumulated incessantly, without the sum total being known, or
any means taken to ascertain the proofs. Virginia being at length
loaded with these certificates, it became necessary, sooner or later,
to liquidate these accounts.
“The last Assembly of the State of Virginia had accordingly thought
proper to pass a bill, authorizing the justices of each county to take
cognizance of these certificates, to authenticate their validity, and
to register them, specifying the value of the provisions in money,
according to the established tariff. I had the curiosity to go to the
courthouse to see how this affair was transacted, and saw it was
performed with great order and simplicity. The justices wore their
common clothes, but were seated on an elevated tribunal, as at London
in the court of King’s bench or common pleas. We had rode forty-four
miles, and night was closing fast upon us when we arrived at Powhatan
Courthouse, a more recent settlement than that of Cumberland. We had a
good supper and good beds, but our horses were obliged to do without
forage.”
Early in the morning of the 24th they left Powhatan, and rode
forty-four miles to Petersburg, passing Chesterfield Courthouse, where
were still to be seen the ruins of the barracks occupied by the Baron
Steuben and burned by the English. At Petersburg M. de Chastellux
called at ‘Battersea’ and was entertained at ‘Bollingbrook.’ The town
is described as already flourishing, and destined to become more so
every day--the depot for a vast region to the south. “Five miles from
Petersburg we passed the small river of Randolph over a stone bridge,
and traveling through a rich and well peopled country, arrived at a
fork of roads, where we were unlucky enough precisely to make choice
of that which did not lead to Richmond, the place of our destination.
But we had no reason to regret our error, as it was only two miles
about and we skirted James River to a charming place called Warwick,
where a group of handsome houses form a sort of village, and there are
several superb ones in the neighborhood. As we had lost our way and
traveled but slowly, it was near 3 o’clock when we reached Manchester,
a sort of suburb to Richmond, on the right bank of the river, where you
pass the ferry. The passage was short, there being two boats for the
accommodation of travelers. Richmond is divided into three parts. I was
conducted to that on the west, where I found a good inn. Mr. Formicola,
my landlord, is a Neapolitan, who came to Virginia with Lord Dunmore,
but had gone rather roundabout, having been before in Russia. His only
error was the exalted idea he had formed of the manner in which French
general officers must be treated. After dinner I went to pay a visit
to Mr. Harrison, then Governor of the State. He talked much of the
first Congress in America, in which he sat for two years. This subject
led us naturally to that which is the most favorite topic among the
Americans--the origin and commencement of the present revolution.”
This conversation with Governor Harrison, other conversations, and
M. de Chastellux’s own careful observations led him to form opinions
about Virginia, then the most influential of the States, which were
correct enough. His analysis was a forecast. There can be found no
better summary of conditions in Virginia at that time, the statement
of a man of great good sense and a wide experience of men and
affairs. He remarks: “One must be in the country itself, one must be
acquainted with the language, and take a pleasure in conversing and in
listening, to be qualified to form, and that slowly, a proper opinion
and a decisive judgment. After this reflection the reader will not
be surprised at the pleasure I took in conversing with Mr. Harrison.
He urged me to dine with him next day, and to pass another day at
Richmond. We set out, however, on the 27th, at 8 in the morning for
Westover. We traveled six and twenty miles without halting, in very
hot weather, but by a very agreeable road, with magnificent houses in
view at every instant; for the banks of James River form the garden of
Virginia.
“It is not by accident,” observes the Marquis of Chastellux, writing
at Williamsburg, May 1, 1782, “that I have postponed the consideration
of everything respecting the progress of the arts and sciences in this
country until the conclusion of my reflections on Virginia; I have done
it expressly because the mind, after bestowing its attention on the
variety of human institutions, reposes itself with pleasure on those
which tend to the perfection of the understanding, and the progress
of information. The College of William and Mary, whose founders are
announced by the very name, is a noble establishment which embellishes
Williamsburg and does honor to Virginia. I must add that the zeal of
the professors has been crowned with the most distinguished success,
and that they have already formed many distinguished characters, ready
to serve their country in the various departments of government. After
doing justice to the exertions of the University of Williamsburgh, for
such is the College of William and Mary, if it be necessary for its
farther glory to cite miracles, I shall only observe that they created
me a doctor of laws.”
_V._
_DR. JOHANN DAVID SCHOEPF, SURGEON TO THE HESSIAN TROOPS._
_1783._
_Dr. Schoepf--Leesburg--Plantation Houses--The Price of
Land--Fredericksburg--Hunter’s Iron-Works--Richmond--The
General Assembly--The Tavern Formicola--Manchester--Mr.
Rubsamen--Williamsburg--Yorktown or Little York--Surry Court
House--Smithfield--The Nation of Virginia--Suffolk--The Trade in
Salt._
Dr. Johann David Schoepf was born at Weinsiedel in 1752 and died
in the year 1800. He studied medicine at Hof, Erlangen, Berlin and
Vienna, then traveled in Russia, Italy and Switzerland, and made his
degree in medicine at Erlangen in 1776. That year he came to America
as surgeon to the Hessian troops in the British army. In 1784 he went
to London and traveled through England and in France, Spain and Italy.
He published in 1787 a _Materia Medica Americana_. Dr. Schoepf was
particularly interested in scientific matters, was an accurate observer
of things and of people, and his book is one of the best of the early
travels in this country. These volumes have now been translated, and
the account given below is a modification. Dr. Schoepf approached
Virginia from the north, coming through Western Maryland.
“By this road Leesburg is the first town on the Virginia side, a place
of few houses, small and wooden. On account of the high, pleasant
and healthful situation a Latin school has been established here. An
advertisement of this institution was to be seen on the tavern door,
recommending it in a handsome style to the public, which should give
it patronage, since schools hitherto, except in the chief cities, are
scarce enough in America. It is not the universal custom in America to
hang shields before the inns, but inns may always be identified by the
great number of papers and notices with which the walls and doors of
these public houses are plastered--and the best inns are in general the
most papered. From such announcements the traveler gets a many-sided
entertainment, and gains instruction as to where taxes are heavy, where
wives have eloped or horses been stolen, and where the new doctor has
settled.
“Along the road from Leesburg towards Fredericksburg there was not a
little difference to be remarked between the appearance of the country
and the thickly settled regions of Piedmont Maryland and Pennsylvania,
through which we had just passed. It was strange to see so much wild
and newly cleared ground, due not to any unfertility of the soil,
but to the large estates whose owners were unwilling to sell and
found it difficult to secure tenants where there is so much land to
be had almost for the asking. And the contrast in the appearance of
the plantations, after the Potomac is crossed, is rather striking.
In this part of Virginia, as in lower Maryland, the farmer builds a
small village about him. In some cases, however, all of his buildings
would scarcely make one comfortable house. From the time of his first
clearing he is continually adding, and his plan may be not a very good
one. We passed Moore’s Tavern and the Red House (30 miles from Goose
Creek), and skirting the Bull Run Mountains, approached the strictly
tobacco country. Fairly good tobacco is raised to the west along the
foothills, but the profit is trifling on account of the heavy expense
of carriage to warehouses whence it can be taken off by the European
ships. In this region the crop had been greatly damaged by an August
frost. The loss was the greater because many of these planters raise
only the Sweetscented, a tender variety, but more profitable by 2-1/2
shillings the hundred, or 25 shillings Virginia currency the hogshead.
“We spent a night at a plantation where, although no tavern is kept,
the traveler is entertained for pay. There are disadvantages about this
sort of inn, but on the one hand the proprietor escapes the payment
of a liquor license and the trouble of catering to a crowd of idlers,
and on the other hand the guest must answer only a few times the usual
questions as to where he is going, where he came from, and what his
business is. The captain had a large family, and wished to sell some of
his land, of which he owned 4,000 acres. Land hereabouts can be bought
for from 25 to 50 or 60 shillings Virginia currency. The captain would
sell his for 40 shillings cash, and with the proceeds move to Kentucky.
The people throughout are bent on providing for their children. This
is difficult to do in the East, and hence the steady emigration to
Kentucky.
“Beyond this we got out of the right road, and meeting only a few
darkeys, whose horizon was not extensive, traveled half a day before
we were set right. We passed Cedar Run at a dangerous ford, and came
to a plantation where there is a copper mine worked intermittently,
a narrow vein. Following the direction, “keep straight on” (nobody
thinks the stranger can be quite as ignorant as he says he is), we
crossed Acquia Creek, and reached Fredericksburg. The public buildings
of Fredericksburg--church, market house and court house--we found in
bad condition, not because they had been damaged directly by the war,
but simply because during the war there had been no use made of them.
Tobacco was bringing a small price here, and at a sure profit to the
buyers. No ships were in and taxes were due; the price had been knocked
down to 25 shillings the hundred. The same at Alexandria. Hunter’s
Iron Works, near Fredericksburg, at the falls above Falmouth, is one
of the finest and most extensive works of this sort in America. There
is a rolling and a slitting mill, both very ingeniously contrived, and
of this description of iron works there have been up to this time only
one or two established in all America. Under the British rule such
enterprises were forbidden. Past Fredericksburg, we had the honor to
breakfast with an American general, whose attire was conspicuous--a
large white chapeau, a blue coat, a brown waistcoat and green breeches
decorated him, and he a short, fat man.
“From this point on towards Richmond the country is open and level,
and adorned with many large and at times tasteful dwellings. The
rich Virginians do not prefer a town life. Here and there we passed
large wheat fields. Several years before the war, owing to the heavy
English import duties on tobacco, the people had begun to raise wheat
on a more extensive scale. Here, as in other parts of America, the
cornfields are seeded to wheat without removing the stalks. The weevil
is bad, especially if the grain lies long in the straw. After floating
off the light seed the good, heavy grain is broadcasted, mixed with
shell lime. Between Fredericksburg and Richmond we noticed a good many
swampy spots, which might easily be drained. We met on this road, to
our great surprise, two Alsatians traveling along on foot, with their
bundles slung behind. They had come into the Chesapeake on a French
ship, and were seeking their fortune in Virginia. A foot passenger is
a very unusual sight in Virginia. Passing Hanover Courthouse (December
18, 1783) and Hanover Town, we came to Richmond. On this road we were
struck with the little provision made for the winter feeding of cattle.
How easy it would be to lay down grass. Near Richmond we saw mules,
the first pair. Mules, being found well adapted to the country, are
beginning to be used a good deal.
“Richmond, before 1779 not a very important town, is built on two
heights, separated by a creek called Shokoes. The houses are in general
of wood, and are irregularly scattered about. A recent census gives the
number as 280, and the population about 2,000. The falls of the James
engaged my curiosity first. The total fall of the river from Westham
to Richmond (7 miles) is only seventy-one feet, and hence there is
no stupendous cataract. But the falls as a whole, over innumerable
boulders, between winding wooded banks, present a great and striking
appearance. The sound of the water, particularly at night, is heard not
only through the entire town, but before the wind for several miles
around. At the falls innumerable herring and shad are caught early in
spring, and at times even in February. These appear in the Delaware and
the Hudson not before the middle of April or the first of May. James
River is one of the greatest and most beautiful of American streams.
“During my stay at Richmond the Assembly was in session. A small frame
building serves as House of Assembly, and with a change of properties
as ballroom and banquet room. The term is used, ‘the Assembly sits.’
This does not seem to me to be precisely descriptive. The members
appeared to me to be anywhere rather than in their seats, and to be
discussing anything except laws to be framed. The doorkeeper was
busy, and in the vestibule there was an uproar. The vestments of the
members are diverse--boots, trousers, Indian leggings, great-coats, the
usual coat, and short jackets. In other words, each one wears what he
pleases. The members from the West are greatly inconvenienced in coming
so far. They even speak of establishing a separate government for the
West, as in the province of New York, where there is a Governor at New
York and another at Albany. If this is done, the West will very likely
become in a short time an independent State. The pay of members has
recently been fixed at 18 Virginia shillings or 3 Spanish dollars per
diem. During the war they preferred tobacco (50 pounds) to currency.
At a vote, the Speaker calls for the Ayes and Noes, and judges with
a critical ear which side has made the majority of sounds. If the
predominance is a matter of doubt a division is called.