We select the following from the "_The Western Monthly Magazine_," a
very neat and ably conducted periodical, published at Cincinnati. We
are gratified at the favorable notice taken of the first labors of the
_Historical and Philosophical Society_;--a society which, of all others
ever established among us, ought to stir up every Virginian who
possesses a particle of state pride. Why, in the name of every thing
that is dear to us, do we not unite our efforts to establish something
like a literary and scientific character for the Old Dominion. Is there
not something, besides politics, worth living for? We shall devote some
pages of our future numbers to the interests of this excellent
institution.
COLLECTIONS _of the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society_; to
which is prefixed an Address spoken before the Society, &c. by
_Jonathan P. Cushing_, A.M., President of Hampden Sidney College. vol.
i. Richmond, T. W. White, 1833.
The Society from whose labors this pamphlet has been produced, was
originated in the winter of 1831; but owing to the fatal epidemic which
prevailed in that country, in common with other parts of the United
States, and other adverse causes, effected but little during the two
first years of its existence. The interesting publication now before
us, however, affords an earnest that the rich hoard of ancient lore,
treasured in the public archives, or private records, of the ancient
dominion, will not be suffered to lie concealed any longer from the
public eye.
We hail the establishment of this Society, at the head of which we
perceive the name of the venerable Chief Justice of the United States,
as an event highly auspicious to the literature of our country.
Notwithstanding all that has been published, the older states of the
Union abound in fragments of traditionary history, of the most
interesting and valuable character, many of which will soon be lost to
posterity, unless they shall be rescued from oblivion by the efforts of
zealous and learned associations. Virginia especially, is rich in the
materials of history. From the day when the intrepid Smith first
wandered in search of adventure, along the wooded shores of the
Chesapeak, and when the gentle Pocahontas gave to the world an example
of female heroism and affection, more touching than any thing recorded
upon the pages of romance, down to the present era, her annals have
been filled with events of thrilling interest, and high importance.
Long before the revolution, her scholars and statesmen were known to
fame, and her soldiers were distinguished in the colonial wars.
Mistress of the wide expanse of the unknown west, her sons began early
to explore the wilderness, and to lay the foundation of a new empire in
this enticing region. From that state came the pioneers who subdued the
enemy, in the forests of Kentucky, and to whom America owes a large
debt of gratitude. The war for independence, was not fought by our
gallant forefathers upon the shores of the Atlantic only. While our
armies were contending there, the British had turned loose the savage
hordes of the west upon the frontiers, and the backwoodsmen were
successfully repelling the incursions of the barbarian, while
Washington was employed in fighting their regular armies. When we recal
those events, when we recollect the services of Virginia, in defending
the western settlements, and her magnanimity in yielding up to the
general government the broad lands of this Great Valley, the larger
portion of which were her own by right and by possession, it will be
seen that there is no state to whom the inhabitants of this region owe
so much, and none whose history is so nearly connected with our own. We
witness, therefore, with no small degree of gratification, an attempt
to place on record the existing reminiscences of the patriotic and
hardy deeds of the noble generation which preceded our own. And we hope
it will be successful. Abounding as Virginia does, in all the elements
of greatness, there is no reason why she should not perpetuate the fame
of her own sons. Containing within her limits so many men of genius,
education, and comparative leisure, she has at command the most ample
means of collecting and preserving every bright relic which has been
scattered along her career, by the hand of time.
The first article in the pamphlet before us, is the address of
President Cushing, of Hampden Sidney College, in which he sets forth
the objects of the Society, and presses them earnestly upon the
attention of the members. They are such as are usually embraced in the
plans of similar institutions, including not only historical and
biographical details, but facts in relation to the natural history and
actual condition of the state.
The next article is a "memoir of Indian wars, and other occurrences, by
the late Colonel Stuart, of Greenbrier"--a paper which sheds
considerable light upon the events which transpired upon the western
portion of Virginia, during the thirty years succeeding the year 1749.
The writer participated in the eventful scenes of that interesting
period, and was not only a soldier, but a man of strong mind, who has
recorded his recollections in a clear and easy style. The following
anecdote is quite characteristic:
About the year 1749, a person who was a citizen of the county of
Frederick, and subject to paroxysms of lunacy, when influenced by such
fits, usually made excursions into the wilderness, and in his rambles
westwardly, fell in on the waters of Greenbrier river. At that time,
the country on the western waters was but little known to the English
inhabitants of the then colonies of America, being claimed by the
French, who had commenced settlements on the Ohio and its waters, west
of the Alleghany mountains. The lunatic being surprised to find waters
running a different course from any he had before known, returned with
the intelligence of his discovery, which did abound with game. This
soon excited the enterprise of others. Two men from New England, of the
name of Jacob Marlin and Stephen Sewell, took up a residence upon
Greenbrier river; but soon disagreeing in sentiment, a quarrel
occasioned their separation, and Sewell, for the sake of peace, quit
their cabin and made his abode in a large hollow tree. In this
situation they were found by the late General Andrew Lewis, in the year
1751. Mr. Lewis was appointed agent for a company of grantees, who
obtained from the governor and council of Virginia, an order for one
hundred thousand acres of land lying on the waters of Greenbrier
river,--and did, this year, proceed to make surveys to complete the
quantity of said granted lands; and finding Marlin and Sewell living in
the neighborhood of each other, inquired what could induce them to live
separate in a wilderness so distant from the habitations of any other
human beings. They informed him that difference of opinion had
occasioned their separation, and that they had since enjoyed more
tranquillity and a better understanding; for Sewell said, that each
morning when they arose and Marlin came out of the great house and he
from his hollow tree, they saluted each other, saying--good morning Mr.
Marlin, and good morning Mr. Sewell, so that a good understanding then
existed between them; but it did not last long, for Sewell removed
about forty miles further west, to a creek that still bears his name.
There the Indians found him and killed him.
Colonel Stuart gives a very detailed account of the campaign of General
Lewis in 1774, which resulted in the battle at Point Pleasant. That
battle was, in fact, the beginning of the revolutionary war; for it is
well known that the Indians were induced by the British to commence
hostilities, for the purpose of confounding and terrifying the American
people. It was thought that an Indian war would prevent a combination
of the colonies for opposing the measures of parliament, and would turn
their thoughts from resistance to the government, by engaging them in
the defence of their homes. The Shawanese, a fierce, warlike, and
numerous tribe, were employed on this occasion, and they were a tribe
not to be despised--for by them, with their allies, have the most
conspicuous battles in the West been fought. It was chiefly the
Shawanese that cut off the British army under Braddock in 1755, and
defeated Major Grant and his highlanders at Fort Pitt in 1758. It was
they who defeated an army composed of the flower of Kentucky at Blue
Licks--who vanquished Harmer and St. Clair, who were beaten by Wayne,
and conquered by Harrison.
The army sent against these formidable savages by Governor Dunmore, was
composed of Virginia volunteers, led by General Andrew Lewis, a
gentleman of whose military abilities General Washington entertained so
high an opinion, that when the chief command of the revolutionary
armies were tendered to himself, he recommended that it should be given
to General Lewis. He was the companion of Washington in the fatal
campaign under Braddock, and was a captain in the detachment which
fought at Little Meadows in 1752. He commanded a company of Virginians,
attached to Major Grant's regiment of Highlanders in 1758, and on the
eve of the battle in which the latter was so signally defeated, was
ordered to the rear, with his men, in order that he might not share the
honor of the expected victory. There he stood with his brave
Virginians, impatiently listening to the reports of the musquetry, at a
distance of more than a mile from the battle ground--until the
Europeans were defeated, when, without waiting for orders, he rushed to
the scene of slaughter, and by his coolness and skill, turned the scale
of victory, drove back the savages, and saved the regulars from
massacre. "When he was advancing," says the narrative before us, "he
met a Scotch Highlander under speedy flight, and inquiring of him how
the battle was going, he said 'they were a' beaten, and he had seen
Donald McDonald up to his hunkers in mud, and a' the skeen af his
heed.' Grant made his escape from the field of battle with a party of
seven or eight soldiers, and wandered all night in the woods," but
surrendered himself to the enemy in the morning, while the Virginians
marched home in triumph. This was the same Colonel Grant who figured in
the British Parliament in 1775, when he had the impudence to say, he
knew the Americans well--he had often acted in the same service with
them, and from that knowledge would venture to predict, that they would
never dare to face an English army, being destitute of every requisite
to constitute good soldiers.
We regret that we have not room to make further extracts from this
narrative. We shall have attained our object, however, if the remarks
we have made, shall be the means of attracting attention to this
interesting era in our history.
The last article in this pamphlet is a very curious document, being an
exact copy of the "Record of Grace Sherwood's Trial for Witchcraft, in
1705, in Princess Ann County, Virginia." On another occasion we shall
present an account of this singular procedure to our readers.