GATEWAY TO THE WEST

From an unpublished manuscript in the Archives of The Historical Society of Southwest Virginia. Continued from the previous issue.

PART TWO

Crossing the Mountains

It was more than half a century after the settlement of Jamestown before the Blue Ridge was crossed by English settlers. The people believed the waters west of the Appalachians flowed to the South Seas. General Abraham Wood, who lived where Petersburg now stands, was sent by Governor Berkeley to learn about the water shed toward the “South Sea,” in 1671. Thomas Batts, a member of the expedition, wrote a journal that gave light on the undertaking. In Wood’s company was Thomas Batts, Thomas Wood and Robert Fallam. They came along what is now the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina, then turned northwest at the Blue Ridge and found New River. They went down the New River northward until they reached the Kanawha. But they did not solve the problem. They saw a great fog beyond the mountains and supposed this indicated the nearness of the sea. It was nine years later that La Salle descended the Mississippi and settled the problem of the watershed, in 1682.

Two years after Abraham Wood’s expedition, in 1673, Wood sent James Needham and Gabriel Arthur on an exploring trip along the border, and they discovered the Great Smokies in North Carolina. They went to Echota, a Cherokee town on the Little Tennessee River. Needham left Arthur there among the Cherokees (Tomahitans), and returned to report to General Wood back home. Needham was killed on the Yadkin River on his next trip, by a treacherous guide, “Indian John,” who cut out the white man’s heart and shook it toward the east in defiance of the English.

At the Indian town Arthur was bound to the stake and prepared for burning. The Cherokee chief returned from a hunt and shot the warrior about to light the fire, and rescued Arthur. The young man remained with the Indians for a time, going on journeys with them. Once he was taken to Point Pleasant in West Virginia, to fight the Shawnees. He fell into the hands of the Shawnees.

They scrubbed away his war paint and learned that he was white. They liked his gun, his metal hatchet and knife, but gave them back to him when he indicated to them that the English would trade such arms for skins like the beaver. They agreed to let him return to the Cherokees if he would go back to the white settlement in the east and work up a trade. They gave him parched corn meal and a guide, and sent him southward through Kentucky on his way to the Cherokee town. They passed through Zynoda (Cumberland Gap). (1) Gabriel Arthur was uneducated and could not write a record of his travels, but he related his experiences and impressions to General Wood on returning to Fort Henry. Gabriel Arthur was the first white man to travel the Wilderness Road and find Cumberland Gap, in the year 1673.

In 1715, forty-four years after Wood’s first expedition, Alexander Spottswood led his expedition across the Blue Ridge and into the Shenandoah Valley through Swift Run Gap, on the Rappahannock River. This territory later became a part of Augusta County. There Spottswood viewed the beautiful valley beyond, and was extremely delighted as he took possession of the new territory in the name of George I.

This was the setting for Spottswood’s organization of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, or Tramontaine Order. He gave later to each of his men (2) a tiny golden horseshoe bearing the Latin inscription, “sic jurat transcendere montes,” (Thus we delight to cross the mountains). This emblem was suggested by the fact that their horses had to be shod to travel over the rough mountain, whereas this had been unnecessary in the smoother level land along the eastern shore.

Thomas Walker

In 1632, sixteen years after Spottswood’s expedition, John Lewis, the father of Andrew Lewis, settled in the Shenandoah Valley, where Staunton now stands. This was the beginning of the great immigration of Scotch-Irish settlers in the Valley of Virginia, and the subsequent overflow through the Gateway of the mountains to Kentucky and the great west.

The first organized movement toward settlement beyond the mountains was through the Loyal Land Company, in 1748-49. At that time, a man living at Charlottesville, and two neighbors on the frontier in the Valley of the Yadkin River in North Carolina, were to each play an important part in our early history. These men were Doctor Thomas Walker, Colonel Christopher Gist, and Daniel Boone. It was the first of these, Doctor Thomas Walker, who led the first expedition for the Loyal Land Company, through Cumberland Gap to Kentucky. Thomas Walker was born in King and Queen County, VA, January 25, 1715. His father, Thomas Walker, was of an old east Virginia family that had originally come from Staffordshire, England, in 1650. Thomas, Jr. doubtless had the best educational advantages of colonial times for east Virginia farm families. He was educated at William and Mary College, probably taking both academic and medical training.

Doctor Walker began his career as a doctor, but later changed to surveying, which at that time gave better prestige and financial returns. He married at the age of twenty-six, and came into possession of an estate of 15,000 acres of land in Albemarle County, his wife’s estate. She was the widow of Nicholas Meriwether. Her maiden name was Mildred Thornton. She was related to George Washington, a second cousin.

Doctor Walker was a close friend of Peter Jefferson, the father of Thomas Jefferson. At the death of Peter Jefferson, Thomas Walker was appointed as executor for his estate, and became the guardian of Thomas Jefferson. Doctor Thomas Walker and his wife became the parents of twelve children.

As surveyor, Walker was naturally led into adventurous fields. As engineer, he was instrumental in the extension of the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina further westward than it had been dreamed of before. In the year 1748, he and a small company of men made an expedition toward the west as far as the Holston River. This laid the foundation for his appointment the next year as surveyor and agent for the Loyal Land Company, to extend explorations farther westward and locate a proper place for a settlement. Doctor Walker continued in the service of the Loyal Land Company for twenty-five years, making trips, and learning about the land, the country and the Indians. (During this time he made his headquarters for five years at Abingdon, VA.)

This service for the Land Company was not all that Doctor Walker contributed to the history of his country. He did commissary duty for the troops in Braddock’s Army in the campaign against the Indians and French in 1755. In 1768, he and Andrew Lewis were appointed commissioners from Virginia to the treaty with the Six Nations at Fort Stanwyx (Rome), New York, which conveyed a vast territory west of the Alleghenies and east of the Tennessee River to the English. Doctor Thomas Walker signed for Virginia. He also represented Virginia in the treaty of 1774 with the Indians after the victory of Andrew Lewis at Point Pleasant. Likewise he was prominent in the treaty of 1775 at Fort Pitt, with the Ohio Indians. He was a member of the House of Burgesses. He also served on the committee of Public Safety and in the Revolutionary Convention.

In 1779, he served as Virginia Commissioner to extend the boundary line of 36' 30" between this state and North Carolina, westward to the Tennessee River. Daniel Smith of Stafford County served with him on this commission. The commissioners for North Carolina were Colonel Richard Henderson and William B. Smith. In this work the commissioners disagreed, and ran separate lines. The North Carolina commissioners stopped at Cumberland Gap, but Doctor Walker and Daniel Smith continued the survey during the severe winter of 1779-80.

Doctor Thomas Walker’s twelve children were all born at Castle Hill, the fine old colonial estate near Charlottesville. The old home has continued in possession of some of his descendants since its erection in 1765.

There have been many successful and useful citizens among the descendants of Doctor Walker. There is seen among them much of his ambitious spirit. An interesting incident is recorded of his oldest daughter, Mary, who married Nicholas Lewis, uncle of Meriwether Lewis of the noted Lewis and Clark (3) Expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase, 1775-76. Nicholas Lewis and his wife lived on an estate called “The Farm” not far from Charlottesville. Lewis was away in the army during the Revolution, when the British under Tarleton invaded and overran the eastern part of the state. When they approached Mary’s home and took away everything about the place, she defended her position with courage and dignity, upbraiding Tarleton sharply for his unmanly raids on helpless women, and told him to go and meet her men in the Virginia army. After he had gone, she found that his men had taken all her ducks but the old drake. She promptly had it caught, and sent a messenger with it to overtake Tarleton, presenting him with “the drake and her compliments, telling him it had been overlooked and was lonesome without its companions and she wanted them reunited. She was ever after called “Captain Moll”.

Thomas Walker’s Journal

A pretty good journal was kept of Thomas Walker’s expedition to the west in the services of the Loyal Land Company. This journal was first published in 1888, by one of Walker’s descendants, William C. Rivers, but it was incomplete, several of the pages being then missing. Later the missing pages were found, and the record completed.

From the journal we learn that, on the 6^th day of March, 1750, (4) Doctor Walker accompanied by William Tomlinson, Colby Chew, Henry Lawless, John Hughes and Ambros Powell, (5) left Castle Hill near Charlottesville, VA, on an expedition of much importance. Each man had a horse, and there were two extra pack horses.

They reached the Holston, about where Kingsport (TN) now is, in about one month after starting. On the 9^th of April they reached Clinch River, crossing through Looney’s Gap and into the Valley above Sneedville. Continuing westwardly, they crossed Newmans’ Ridge (6) and Powell’s Mountain, reaching Powell’s River on the 12^th of April. This river they called Bear Grass River, because of the abundance of beargrass they found along this stream. Ten miles farther and one day later, the 13^th, they reached what they called Cave Gap (Cumberland Gap). They crossed Cumberland Mountain through the Gap that day, making 13 miles. They camped on Yellow Creek near where Middlesboro now stands. They called this Flat Creek.

Explorations of Christopher Gist

There were two land companies organized for the promotion of settlements on lands west of the mountains, the Loyal Land Company and the Ohio Company. We have traced briefly the explorations of Doctor Thomas Walker for the Loyal Land Company. The Ohio Company selected Colonel Christopher Gist of the Yadkin Valley in North Carolina as its surveyor, explorer and agent.

Colonel Gist started on an exploring trip near Old Town, Maryland, October 31, 1750, nearly eight months after Doctor Walker started on his exploration. In fact it was three and one-half months after Walker’s return. Gist went unassisted except for one 17 year old colored boy, and three extra packhorses. He left the house of Colonel Thomas Cresap (7), and went across the Alleghenies and out by where Pittsburg now stands, thence on to the westward.

Gist then traveled southward through Ohio to the Ohio River several miles above Cincinnati. From there he took a trip far to the northwest and reached the head of Great Miami Valley and returned to his original route. Then crossing the Ohio, he went westward along the Kentucky side to the Licking River some ninety miles east of Louisville, and turned southward a few miles east of Lexington. On the head waters of the Kentucky River, he crossed the trail of Doctor Walker. He continued in a southeastwardly direction to the head of the Cumberland, and then back northward to New River. He kept up this stream to Ingles Ferry. Once more he crossed Doctor Walker’s trail, thence southward into North Carolina. He reached the Yadkin May 18, 1751.

Arriving at his house Gist found his wife and family gone. (8) On inquiry he learned that they had been frightened away from home by the Indians killing five people in the neighborhood. He found his family the next day at Roanoke, Sunday, May 19, 1751.

Powells Valley

The greater part of Lee County lies in Powell’s Valley. This valley is about 100 miles in length and some 15 miles wide. Lee County occupies perhaps half the valley in its middle portion. It is bound much of the way on the north by Cumberland Mountain, and on the south by Powell’s Mountain and Newman’s Ridge. The valley is traversed its full length by Powell’s River. The chief tributary from the north is North Fork which enters Powell’s River near Pennington Gap after breaking through the scenic pass at Nigger Head Rock. On the south, between Wallen’s Ridge and Powell’s Mountain flows Wallen’s Creek for 25 miles from near Kanes Gap on Powell’s Mountain to Fitts Gap where it breaks through Wallen’s Ridge to join Powell’s River.

Powell’s Valley opens into a gap east of Cumberland Gap, where the original Wilderness Trail passed into Poor Valley Ridge and began its ascent of Cumberland Mountain. The Gap itself is remarkable. Geologists tell us that a river once flowed through this Pass from what is now Powell’s Valley into the valley of the Cumberland. The Pinnacle Mountain is 900 feet high from the level of the pass. About one-third of this height is a sixty degree ascent, the remainder a vertical white limestone cliff. This cliff continues for several miles northeastward, and can be seen from Indian Creek in Lee County, and many points eastward, even as far as Elk Knob and Kanes Gap in the eastern end of the County.

Elisha Wallen, an easy going backwoodsman and squatter living near Martinsville, followed hunting and had no ambition to possess land or a home. A rough, dark complected, uneducated Long Hunter, he would leave his wife and children to make it the best they could while he was away on long hunts for months at a time. No one knew Wallen’s ancestry, nor where he came from. He lived on New River.

Wallen gathered a hunting party in 1770, consisting of Henry Skaggs, Walter Newman, Jack Blevins, Charles Cox and others, and arranged for a long hunt in the Alleghenies. They came into the Holston and Clinch Valleys, and crossed over into Powell’s Valley. They were out for a year and a half on the trip, hunting out the creeks and rivers, and getting abundance of game. They named Hunters Gap in honor of the Long Hunters. They named Newman’s Ridge, Powell’s Mountain and River, and Wallen’s Ridge and Creek. They changed the name Beargrass River to Powells River because they found “A Powell” carved on a tree along the bank of the stream. They changed the name “Cave Gap” to Cumberland Gap. This was 20 years after Doctor Walker’s trip through Cumberland Gap.

James Knox and party, Uriah Stone, Casper Mansker, Abraham Bledsoe and Isaac Bledsoe had gone to Kentucky in the year 1769. They were gone so long they were termed “Long Hunters.” this became an established expression applying to other long hunting parties. The Long Hunters played an important part in discovery, exploration and development of the wilderness. They did most of the naming of mountains and streams in Powell’s Valley and beyond.

Joseph Martin

When we come to study the beginning of settlement in Lee County, the first name that suggests itself is necessarily General Joseph Martin. He played an important part in the early history of this isolated Gateway to the West. Martin succeeded James Robertson as Cherokee Agent in 1769. He first came to Lee County that same year. He was in a position to manage the affairs of the Cherokees perhaps better at that time than any other man. His 2^nd and Indian wife was Betsy Ward, daughter of Nancy Ward, the “Beloved Lady” of the Cherokee Nation. General Joseph Martin was from Henry County, Virginia.

When he first came to Lee County in 1769, he had only five or six men with him. They camped on an old Indian field near Rose Hill. One day while there they were visited by a large company of Indian hunters. The Indians were friendly. Their guns were not very good, and they showed much interest in the better guns of Martin’s men. Martin told his men not to let the Indians get hold of their guns.

The Indians were talkative, but there was no interpreter, and neither side could understand the other. The Indians soon began to make signs that they wished to swap guns. Of course the whites refused. After a while, Martin set his gun down, and when he turned his eyes away, a big Indian exchanged guns and walked away with Martin’s gun. Martin followed him and threw the old gun at the Indian’s feet and laid hold of his own gun in the Indian’s hand. There was a scuffle, at which the other Indians laughed heartily. Martin threw the Indian down and took his gun from him. The savages laughed, but the one who had been in the scuffle walked away angrily, talking excitedly. Martin and his men feared the after results, and the next morning they broke camp and turned back home on the Holston. They had only erected a rude cabin and planted some corn, but that was a beginning. This first building was burned by the Indians.

On the 25^th of December, 1774, Martin set out again for Powell’s Valley with 16 or 18 men. They went back to the same place, just east of Rose Hill. They built several strong cabins with stockades for good defense. They fenced part of the Indian Old Field with rails and brush and planted a good crop of corn. There was abundance of all sorts of game for meat supplies. This location was north of the present highway No. 58, above a big spring which flows out near a large sycamore tree and passes immediately under the highway.

During the next summer, the Indians made some trouble for the people at Martin’s Settlement. William Priest with about ten men went up the Valley a few miles and built another fort, cleared some land and prepared to make a crop. William Mumps also took a few men and built another fort still further up the Valley at Sinking Springs (Natural Bridge) west of the present site of Jonesville. They deadened timber, cleared land, and prepared for a crop. This was about 20 miles from Martin’s settlement.

In April, just before the building of the two small forts, Richard Henderson with his company headed for Kentucky, stopped for a week at Martin’s Station. This settlement was destined to be a great point for the vast numbers who would pass along the Wilderness Road during the following years. During the first fall several groups passed for the Kentucky settlements. There were frequent murders by the Indians along the way. This disturbed the settlers so much that they began to drift away from the line of stations in the Valley to go back to their former homes.

The place of William Mumps’ Fort at Natural Bridge was deserted for a while, but was reoccupied later, and part of the structure with changes remains after 175 years, being doubtless the oldest house still standing in the year 1950 in Lee County. It is known as the Havely House.

In May, 1776, General Joseph Martin went home, promising to be back in one month. The settlers at Priest’s and Mumps’ settlements all left, and the two forts were completely deserted. The month passed and Martin had not come back. It was evident that something was wrong. There were only ten left at his Station. These decided to leave in three days, if he did not return in that time.

William Parks went to a point eight miles west of Martin’s Fort with the view of erecting a cabin, deadening some trees and planting some corn to hold a claim on some land. He took with him his nephew, Thomas Parks, and a Negro. When they arrived at the place, William Parks went out to kill some game for meat. His men soon heard him give a loud call. They heard no more of him, so they promptly reported it at Martin’s Station. A search was made and William Parks was found in about a mile of his camp dead. He had been killed by Indians. He was shot through the heart, and had evidently run thirty or forty yards before he fell. He had been scalped. The men carried him to where they had begun to build and buried him there.

The same day a messenger arrived from Martin, saying that the Indians had declared war, and were giving much trouble all along the frontier. The men all left Martin’s Station and went to Fort Blackmore. There they found most of the men from Priest’s and Mumps’ Forts. Martin was engaged in military duties in the War.

Martins Station as the first settlement in Lee County is usually counted as dating from the first time Martin went there and announced his claim on the place. But really the settlement was not established until 1775. Due to Indian wars and the Revolution, the settlement was suspended in 1776 and was renewed in 1783? (1777?). A new station was built in 1780 to the west on Station Creek. Martin kept a blacksmith shop and commissary. We shall learn more of the value of this settlement later.

Causes of Pioneer Troubles

As settlements advanced into the Cherokee lands, and into the hunting grounds of the Shawnees of the north, the Indians became troublesome. Some historians blame the Indians altogether for the trouble. Others blame the whites for encroachment on the red man’s domain. Both of these are extremes.

The Indian was truly brutal and savage. He lacked a sense of justice that makes for fair neighborly living. One among his bad traits or policies was the matter of taking vengeance for any deed done by the whites on any white people he could reach, friend or foe. The Indian policy was scalp for scalp, but he did not bother to get the one who had done him the wrong. If Indians were murdered in Ohio, then the stroke of vengeance might be in Virginia or Tennessee, and the victim might be innocent even of knowledge of the act for which they had to pay the penalty.

Yet the whites had many bad or unscrupulous characters among them, who also did not bother about justice. Many an overt act on the part of unjust whites caused many a bloody outbreak on innocent pioneers. Not one side was to blame. Both sides were to blame. The two races were as uncongenial as two races could be. There was no possible chance to avoid a deadly conflict so long as the two races tried to occupy the same lands.

Some historians censure the white man for taking this land from the Cherokees. The Shawnees disputed the claims of the Cherokees. They were forever at war among themselves over it, and one seemed to maintain as good a claim as the other to Powell’s Valley. Neither could establish a real claim. If the Virginians or Carolinians made a treaty with the Cherokees for the land, then the Shawnees challenged the deal. If a treaty were made with the Shawnees, then the Cherokees brought it into question. The English and the French both claimed this land at the same time, as well as the different tribes of Red Men. No one of the claimants could really establish a full “right of discovery,” unless it be the Cherokees, as no one can prove that any tribe was ever here before them. Thus we judge from the fact that no others have been found buried here back of the time of the Cherokees.

However, a much safer course could have been taken by the whites, if all had used more discretion in dealing with the Indians. Of course the Indians were not appreciative enough to accept unselfish dealing every time. Useless acts of injustice against the Indians always brought fearful results.

John Logan (9) was a noted Mingo half-breed Indian Chief on the Ohio. He was known as a friend to the needy, as well as a dangerous power against any enemy. He said he had two souls, one good and one bad.

At Yellow Creek in Ohio was located a man named Simon Greathouse, whose business was to sell rum to the Indians. On April 20, 1774, a party of nine Indians went to his place, and drank liquor until they were helplessly drunk. Then Greathouse and his companions killed them all. Several of them were Chief Logan’s near relatives including his sister. On hearing this, Logan brought his bad soul into action. He made a raid on the Southwest Virginia frontier, on Holston and Clinch, killing and scalping thirteen persons including six children. The whole frontier was thrown into a panic. According to Indian practice, Logan did not try to get the offender against his people. He was even mistaken in who did the act. He hastened away on his raid believing that Captain Thomas Cresap had done the work instead of Greathouse.

In July, 1774, Logan captured William Robinson on the Monongahela River. The Indians prepared to end his life by torture. Logan pleaded eloquently for him, but to no avail. When the savages bound him to the stake and built a fire around him, Logan boldly cut the man loose with his tomahawk and freed him. Three days later, Logan brought a piece of paper and some ink made of gunpowder, and directed Robinson to write a letter. The angry chief had it written three times before Robinson got it strong enough to suit him. The note read:

To Captain Cresap - What did you kill my people on yellow Creek for? The white people killed my kin at Conestoga a great while ago, and I thought nothing of that. But you killed my kin again on Yellow Creek, and took my cousin prisoner. Then I thought I must kill too. I have been three times to war since. The Indians are not angry, only myself. July 21^st day.

Captain John Logan

Then Logan took the note and a band of Shawnee warriors and made a raid into the Holston settlements. He killed several head of stock at Fort Blackmore, and captured two Negroes. He then went on to Kings Mill (Kingsport), September 24, 1774, and there attacked John Roberts’ home, killing Roberts and his wife and their children, all but the oldest son, James. They took the boy captive. There Logan left the gunpowder letter to show that it was his revenge for the murder of his people by Greathouse in Ohio. On September 29, his band killed John Duncan at Castlewood, and left a war club by his body. Logan also visited Evan Shelby’s settlement at Sapling Grove (Bristol). He then came to Fort Blackmore again and killed Dale Carter.

After the Shawnee and Mingo power was broken by the battle of Point Pleasant in West Virginia, October 10, 1774, the Indians signed a treaty with Governor Dunmore agreeing to restore all stolen property and prisoners, and give up all the lands south of the Ohio River, and hunt no more on that land, allowing travelers and settlers to be unmolested, and burying the tomahawk forever with the Virginians. Chief Logan refused to attend the conference, delivering the following speech in explanation of his refusal to join the treaty.

I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan’s cabin hungry and he gave him no meat; if ever he came cold and naked and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long bloody war, Logan remained idle in his camp, and advocated for peace. Such was my love for the whites that my countrymen pointed as I passed and said, ‘Logan is the friend of the white man.’ I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap the last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the relatives of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature, this called on me for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country I rejoice at the beams of peace, but do no harber a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one.

The Cherokee War of 1740 - was caused by the acts of Governor Lyttleton of South Carolina, by throwing Cherokee chiefs in prison after promising safety by Colonel James Grant’s campaign which was unnecessary. In this unwarranted campaign, fifteen Indian towns were destroyed, 1,500 acres of crops were cut down, and 5,000 Cherokees were driven into the mountains to starve. These and other unfair dealings are to be regretted by impartial historians and students. It sowed seeds of hate, the fruit of which fell upon innocent pioneers later, with much trouble from time to time. While Virginia did not take strongly with the Cherokee War, the pioneers of Lee County and adjoining territory suffered the cruel effects of ill will unnecessarily stirred so deeply.

Lieutenant Francis Marion wrote of the results of Grant’s campaign:

We proceeded, by Colonel Grant’s order, to burn the Indian cabins. Some of the men seemed to enjoy this cruel work, laughing heartily at the curling flames, but to me it appeared a shocking sight. Poor creatures, thought I, we surely need not grudge you such miserable habitations. But when we came, according to orders, to cut down the fields of corn, I could scarcely refrain from tears. Who, without grief, could see the stately stalks and broad green leaves and tasseled shocks, the staff of life, sink under our swords with all their precious load, to wither and rot untasted in their mourning fields?

I saw everywhere around, the footsteps of the little Indian children, where they had lately played under the shade of their rustling corn. When we are gone, thought I, they will return, and peeping through the weeds with tearful eyes, will mark the ghastly ruin where they had so often played. ‘Who did this?’ they will ask their mothers, and the reply will be, ‘The white people did it - the Christians did it.’

Thus, for cruel mammon’s sake, the followers of Christ have sowed the selfish tares of hate in the bosom of even Pagan children.

(1) The war path at the Pass was called Athawominee: Path of the armed ones. Cumberland Mountain was called Wasioto: Mountain where deer are plentiful.

(2) These men were with Spottswood and dubbed “Knights of the Horseshoe”: Peter Berkley; William Beverley; Thomas Bray; Francis Brooks; Theodoric Bland; William Byrd; Kit Carter; Nathaniel Dandridge; John Randolph; Hugh Taylor; George Wythe; Dudly Diggs; Thomas Fairfax; John Fitzhue; John Fontaine; Benjamin Harrison; George Hay; Francis Lee; Charles Ludwell; Edward Sanders; John Washington; Oliver Yelverton; Bernard Moore; Charles Mercer; William Moseley; John Munroe; Page Mann; Alexander Nott; John Payton; Edmund Pendleton; Peyton Skipwith; Ralph Wormley. It will be noted that these names are for the most part English, such as predominated in the tidewater settlements. It is notable that six of the men were named John.

(3) Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

(4) At that time it was counted 1749, as the new year began with March 25, according to English and Colonial counting. The change to January 1, was not made until 1752.

(5) Ambros Powell, for whom Powell’s River and Mountain were named, was a surveyor and leading citizen of Culpeper Co., VA. He was the great-grandfather of General A. P. Hill of the Confederate army. He had a son, also named Ambros, who was a Revolutionary Soldier.

(6) Named for Walter Newman.

(7) Colonel Thomas Cresap, from Yorkshire, England, came to Maryland in 1720. He was a carpenter, surveyor, farmer and Indian trader, and an agent for the Ohio Company. Washington lodged with him on making his survey for Lord Fairfax in 1748. He was accused of murdering the family of Logan, the Mingo chief, but this was disproved. That was the work of Simon Greathouse. The Mingo Indians were the Six Nations and especially the Delawares in Ohio. Logan was a Mingo Chief.

(8) Gist and his wife Sarah Howard Gist had three sons: Nathaniel, Richard and Thomas; and two daughters: Anne and Violette.

(9) Tach-nech-dor-us, Branching Oak

To Be Continued.............