History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia Part 41

He returned to Virginia early in 1755, and during the French and Indian wars he often employed his eloquence in arousing the patriotism of the Virginians.

After Braddock's defeat, such was the general consternation that many seemed ready to desert the country. On the 20th of July, 1755, Davies delivered a discourse, in which he declared: "Christians should be patriots. What is that religion good for that leaves men cowards upon the appearance of danger? And permit me to say, that I am particularly solicitous that you, my brethren of the dissenters, should act with honor and spirit in this juncture, as it becomes loyal subjects, lovers of your country, and courageous Christians. That is a mean, sordid, cowardly soul that would abandon his country and s.h.i.+ft for his own little self, when there is any probability of defending it. To give the greater weight to what I say, I may take the liberty to tell you, I have as little personal interest, as little to lose in the colony, as most of you. If I consulted either my safety or my temporal interest, I should soon remove with my family to Great Britain, or the Northern colonies, where I have had very inviting offers. Nature has not formed me for a military life, nor furnished me with any great degree of fort.i.tude and courage; yet I must declare, that after the most calm and impartial deliberation, I am determined not to leave my country while there is any prospect of defending it."[483:A]

Dejection and alarm vanished under his eloquence, and at the conclusion of his address every man seemed to say, "Let us march against the enemy!" A patriotic discourse was delivered by him on the 17th of August, 1755, before Captain Overton's company of Independent Volunteers, the first volunteer company raised in Virginia after Braddock's defeat. In a note appended to this discourse, Davies said: "As a remarkable instance of this, I may point out to the public that heroic youth, Colonel Was.h.i.+ngton, whom I cannot but hope Providence has. .h.i.therto preserved in so signal a manner for some important service to his country."[483:B]

It is probable that Patrick Henry caught the spark of eloquence from Davies, as in his early youth, and in after years, he often heard him preach. They were alike gifted with a profound sensibility. Henry always remarked that Mr. Davies was "the greatest orator he had ever heard."

Presbyterianism steadily advanced in Virginia under the auspices of Davies and his successors, particularly Graham, Smith, Waddell, "the blind preacher" of Wirt's "British Spy," and Brown.

The Rev. James Waddell, a Presbyterian minister, was born in the North of Ireland, in July, 1739, as is believed. He was brought over in his infancy by his parents to America; they settled in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania, on White-clay Creek. James was sent to school at Nottingham to Dr. Finley, afterwards president of the College of New Jersey. In the school young Waddell made such proficiency in his studies as to become an a.s.sistant teacher; and Dr. Benjamin Rush, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, recited lessons to him there. He devoted his attention chiefly to the cla.s.sics, in which he became very well versed. He was afterwards an a.s.sistant to the elder Smith, father of the Rev. John Blair Smith, president of Hampden Sidney College, Virginia, and of the Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, president of the College of New Jersey. Waddell, intending to pursue the vocation of a teacher, and to settle with that view at Charleston, in South Carolina, set out for the South. In pa.s.sing through Virginia he met with the celebrated preacher, Davies, and that incident gave a different turn to his life. Shortly after, he became an a.s.sistant to the Rev. Mr. Todd in his school in the County of Louisa, with whom he studied theology. He was licensed to preach in 1761, and ordained in the following year, when he settled as pastor in Lancaster County. Here, about the year 1768, he married Mary, daughter of Colonel James Gordon, of that county,[484:A] a wealthy and influential man. In the division of the Presbyterian Church Mr. Waddell was of the "New Side," as it was termed. The Rev. Samuel Davies often preached to Mr. Waddell's congregation; as also did Whitefield several times.

In the year 1776 Mr. Waddell removed from Lower Virginia, in very feeble health, to Augusta County. His salary was now only forty-five pounds, Virginia currency, per annum. In 1783 he came to reside at an estate purchased by him, and called Hopewell, at the junction of Louisa, Orange, and Albemarle--the dwelling-house being in Louisa. Here he again became a cla.s.sical teacher, receiving pupils in his own house. James Barbour, afterwards governor of Virginia, was one of these, and Merriwether Lewis, the companion of Clarke in the exploration beyond the Rocky Mountains, another. Mr. Waddell resided in Louisa County about twenty years, and died there, and was buried, according to his request, in his garden. During his residence here he was, for a part of the time, deprived of his sight; but he continued to preach. In person he was tall and erect; his complexion fair, with a light blue eye. His deportment was dignified; his manners elegant and graceful. He is represented by Mr. Wirt, in the "British Spy," as preaching in a white linen cap; this was, indeed, a part of his domestic costume, but when he went abroad he always wore a large full-bottomed wig, perfectly white. Mr. Wirt held him as equal to Patrick Henry, in a different species of oratory. In regard to place, time, costume, and lesser particulars, Mr. Wirt used an allowable liberty in grouping together incidents which had occurred apart, and perhaps imagining, as in a sermon, expressions which had been uttered at the fire-side. Patrick Henry's opinion of Mr. Waddell's eloquence has been before mentioned. It was the remark of another cotemporary, that when he preached, "whole congregations were bathed in tears." It might also be said by his grave, as at that of John Knox,--

"Here lies one who never feared the face of man."

The late Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander married a daughter of Dr. Waddell, and the late Rev. Dr. James Waddell Alexander thus derived his middle name.

August, 1755, the a.s.sembly voted forty thousand pounds for the public service, and the governor and council immediately resolved to augment the Virginia Regiment to sixteen companies, numbering fifteen hundred men. To Was.h.i.+ngton was granted the sum of three hundred pounds in reward for his gallant behavior and in compensation for his losses at the battle of Monongahela. Colonel Was.h.i.+ngton was, during this month, commissioned commander-in-chief of the forces, and allowed to appoint his own officers. The officers next in rank to him were Lieutenant-Colonel Adam Stephen and Major Andrew Lewis. Was.h.i.+ngton's military reputation was now high, not only in Virginia, but in the other colonies. Peyton Randolph raised a volunteer company of one hundred gentlemen, who, however, proved quite unfit for the frontier service.

After organizing the regiment and providing the commissariat, Was.h.i.+ngton repaired early in October to Winchester, and took such measures as lay in his power to repel the cruel outrages of a savage irruption. Alarm, confusion, and disorder prevailed, so that he found no orders obeyed but such as a party of soldiers, or his own drawn sword, enforced. He beheld with emotion calamities which he could not avert, and he strenuously urged the necessity of an act to enforce the military law, to remedy the insolence of the soldiers and the indolence of the officers. He even intimated a purpose of resigning, unless his authority should be re-enforced by the laws, since he found himself thwarted in his exertions at every step by a general perverseness and insubordination, aggravated by the hards.h.i.+ps of the service and the want of system. At length, by persevering solicitations, he prevailed on the a.s.sembly to adopt more energetic military regulations. The discipline thus introduced was extremely rigorous, severe flogging being in ordinary use. The penalty for fighting was five hundred lashes; for drunkenness, one hundred. The troops were daily drilled and practised in bush-fighting. A Captain Dagworthy, stationed at Fort c.u.mberland, commissioned by General Sharpe, governor of Maryland, refusing, as holding a king's commission, to obey Was.h.i.+ngton's orders, the dispute was referred by Governor Dinwiddie to General s.h.i.+rley, commander-in-chief of his majesty's armies in America, who was then at Boston. He was also requested to grant royal commissions to Colonel Was.h.i.+ngton and his field-officers, such commissions to imply rank but to give no claim to pay.

The Indians, after committing murders and barbarities upon the unhappy people of the border country, retired beyond the mountains. Colonel Byrd and Colonel Randolph were sent out with presents to the Cherokees, Catawbas, and other Southern Indians, in order to conciliate their good-will and counteract the intrigues of the French.

Colonel Was.h.i.+ngton obtained leave to visit General s.h.i.+rley, so as to deliver in person a memorial from the officers of the Virginia Regiment, requesting him to grant them king's commissions; and also in order to make himself better acquainted with the military plans of the North. He set out from Alexandria early in February, 1756, accompanied by his aid-de-camp, Colonel George Mercer, and on his route pa.s.sed through Philadelphia, New York, New London, Newport, and Providence. He visited the governors of Pennsylvania and New York, and spent several days in each of the princ.i.p.al cities. He was well received by General s.h.i.+rley, with whom he continued ten days, mingling with the society of Boston, attending the sessions of the legislature, and visiting Castle William.

During the tour he was everywhere looked upon with interest as the hero of the Monongahela. s.h.i.+rley decided the contested point between Dagworthy and him in his favor.

While in New York he was a guest of his friend Beverley Robinson (brother of the speaker.) Miss Mary Philipse, a sister of Mrs. Robinson, and heiress of a vast estate, was an inmate of the family, and Was.h.i.+ngton became enamored of her. The flame was transient; he probably having soon discovered that another suitor was preferred to him. She eventually married Captain Roger Morris, his former a.s.sociate in arms, and one of Braddock's aids. She and her sister, Mrs. Robinson, and Mrs.

Inglis, were the only females who were attainted of high treason during the Revolution. Imagination dwells on the outlawry of a lady who had won the admiration of Was.h.i.+ngton. Humanity is shocked that a woman should have been attainted of treason for clinging to the fortunes of her husband.[487:A] Mary Philipse is the original of one of the characters in Cooper's "Spy."

FOOTNOTES:

[483:A] Davies' Sermons, iii. 169; Sermon on the defeat of General Braddock going to Fort Du Quesne; Memoir of Davies in Evan. and Lit.

Mag.

[483:B] Davies' Sermons, iii. 38. "Who is Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton?" inquired Lord Halifax. "I know nothing of him," he added; "but they say he behaved in Braddock's action as bravely as if he really loved the whistling of bullets."

[484:A] Ancestor of the late General Gordon, of Albemarle.

[487:A] Sabine's Loyalists, 476.

CHAPTER LXIII.

1756-1758.

First Settlers of the Valley--Sandy Creek Expedition--Indian Irruption--Measures of Defence--Habits of Virginians-- Was.h.i.+ngton and Dinwiddie--Congress of Governors--Dinwiddie succeeded by Blair--Davies' Patriotic Discourse.

THE inhabitants of tramontane Virginia are very imperfectly acquainted with its history. This remark applies particularly to that section commonly called the Valley of Virginia, which, lying along the Blue Ridge, stretches from the Potomac to the Alleghany Mountains. Of this many of the inhabitants know little more than what they see. They see a country possessing salubrity and fertility, yielding plentifully, in great variety, most of the necessaries of life, a country which has advantages, conveniences, and blessings, in abundance, in profusion, it may almost be said in superfluity. But they know not how it came into the hands of the present occupants; they know not who were the first settlers, whence they came, at what time, in what numbers, nor what difficulties they had to encounter, nor what was the progress of population. One who would become acquainted with these matters must travel back a century or more; he must witness the early adventurers leaving the abodes of civilization, and singly, or in families, or in groups composed of several families, like pioneers on a forlorn hope, entering the dark, dreary, trackless forest, which had been for ages the nursery of wild beasts and the pathway of the Indian. After traversing this inhospitable solitude for days or weeks, and having become weary of their pilgrimage, they determined to separate, and each family taking its own course in quest of a place where they may rest, they find a spot such as choice, chance, or necessity points out; here they sit down; this they call their home--a cheerless, houseless home. If they have a tent, they stretch it, and in it they all nestle; otherwise the umbrage of a wide-spreading oak, or mayhap the canopy of heaven, is their only covering. In this newfound home, while they are not exempt from the common frailties and ills of humanity, many peculiar to their present condition thicken around them. Here they must endure excessive labor, fatigue, and exposure to inclement seasons; here innumerable perils and privations await them; here they are exposed to alarms from wild beasts and from Indians. Sometimes driven from home, they take shelter in the breaks and recesses of the mountains, where they continue for a time in a state of anxious suspense; venturing at length to reconnoitre their home, they perhaps find it a heap of ruins, the whole of their little _peculium_ destroyed. This frequently happened. The inhabitants of the country being few, and in most cases widely separated from each other, each group, fully occupied with its own difficulties and distresses, seldom could have the consolation of hoping for the advice, a.s.sistance, or even sympathy of each other. Many of them, worn out by the hards.h.i.+ps inseparable from their new condition, found premature graves; many hundreds, probably thousands, were ma.s.sacred by the hands of the Indians; and peace and tranquillity, if they came at all, came at a late day to the few survivors.

"Tantae erat molis--condere gentem."

Here have been stated a few items of the first cost of this country, but the half has not been told, nor can we calculate in money the worth of the sufferings of these people, especially we cannot estimate in dollars and cents the value of the lives that were lost.[489:A]

In the year 1756 took place the "Sandy Creek Expedition" against the Shawnees on the Ohio River. With the exception of a few Cherokees, it consisted exclusively of Virginia troops, under the conduct of Major Andrew Lewis.[489:B] Although this expedition proved in the event abortive, yet its incidents, as far as known, are interesting. Nor are such abortive enterprises without their useful effects: they are the schools of discipline, the rehearsals of future success. The rendezvous from which the expedition started was Fort Frederick, on New River, in what was then Augusta County. Under Major Andrew Lewis were Captains William Preston, Peter Hogg, John Smith, Archibald Alexander, father of Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander, Breckenridge, Woodson, and Overton. Their companies appear to have been already guarding the frontier when called upon for this new service. There were also the volunteer companies of Captains Montgomery and Dunlap, and a party of Cherokees under Captain Paris. A party of this tribe had come to the a.s.sistance of the Virginians in the latter part of 1755, and they were ordered by Governor Dinwiddie to join the Sandy Creek Expedition; but whether they all actually joined it is not known. The war leaders of these savages were old Outacite, the Round O, and the Yellow Bird. Captain David Stewart,[490:A] of Augusta, seems to have acted as commissary to the expedition. The whole force that marched from Fort Frederick amounted to three hundred and forty. While waiting to procure horses and pack-saddles, the soldiers were preached to by the pioneer Presbyterian clergymen of the valley, Craig and Brown. Major Lewis marched on the eighteenth of February, and pa.s.sing by the Holston River and the head of the Clinch, they reached the head of Sandy Creek on the twenty-eighth.

This stream was found exceedingly tortuous; on the twenty-ninth, they crossed it sixty-six times in the distance of fifteen miles. Although some bears, deer, and buffaloes were killed, yet their provisions began to run low early in March, when they were reduced to half a pound of flour per man, and no meat except what they could kill, which was very little. There being no provender for the horses, they strayed away. The march was fatiguing, the men having frequently to wade laboriously across the deepening water of the river; they suffered with hunger, and starvation began to stare them in the face. The Cherokees undertook to make bark canoes to convey themselves down the creek, and Lewis ordered a large canoe to be made to transport the ammunition and the remaining flour. The men murmured, and many threatened to return home. Lewis ordered a cask of b.u.t.ter to be divided among them. An advance party of one hundred and thirty, with nearly all of the horses, proceeded down the creek, Lewis with the rest remaining to complete the canoes. No game was met with by the party proceeding down the stream, and the mountains were found difficult to cross. Hunger and want increased, and the men became almost mutinous. Captain Preston proposed to kill the horses for food, but this offer was rejected. About this time some elks and buffaloes were killed, and this relief rescued some of the men from the jaws of starvation. The advance party had now, as they supposed, reached the distance of fifteen miles below the forks of the Sandy. Captain Preston, who commanded it, was greatly perplexed at the discontents which prevailed, and which threatened the ruin of the expedition. The men laid no little blame on the commissaries, who had furnished only fifteen days' provision for what they supposed to be a march of three hundred miles. Major Lewis preserved his equanimity, and remarked that "he had often seen the like mutiny among soldiers." On the eleventh of March ten men deserted; others preparing to follow them, were disarmed and forcibly detained, but some of them soon escaped. They were pursued and brought back. When Major Lewis rejoined the advance party, one of his men brought in a little bear, which he took to Captain Preston's tent, where the major lodged that night, "by which," says Preston, "I had a good supper and breakfast--a rarity." Major Lewis addressed the men, encouraging them to believe that they would soon reach the hunting-ground and find game, and reminded them that the horses would support them for some time. The men, nevertheless, appeared obstinately bent upon returning home, for they said that if they went forward they must either perish or eat horses--neither of which they were willing to do. The major then, stepping off a few yards, called upon all those who would serve their country and share his fate, to go with him. All the officers and some twenty or thirty privates joined him; the rest marched off. In this conjuncture, when deserted by his own people, Lewis found old Outacite, the Cherokee chief, willing to stand by him. Outacite remarked, that "the white men could not bear hunger like Indians." The expedition was now, of necessity, abandoned when they had arrived near the Ohio River, and all made the best of their way home.

It appears to have required two weeks for them to reach the nearest settlements, and during this interval they endured great sufferings from cold and hunger, and some who separated from the main body, and undertook to support themselves on the way back by hunting, perished.

When the main body reached the Burning Spring, in what is now Logan County, they cut some buffalo hides, which they had left there on the way down, into tuggs or long thongs, and ate them, after exposing them to the flame of the Burning Spring. Hence Tugg River, separating Virginia from Kentucky, derives its name. During the last two or three days, it is said that they ate the strings of their moccasins, belts of their hunting-s.h.i.+rts, and shot-pouch flaps. The art of extracting nutriment from such articles is now lost.

"The Sandy Creek Voyage," as it was sometimes styled, appears to have been directed against the Shawnee town near the junction of the Kanawha and the Ohio, and perhaps to erect a fort there. The conduct of the expedition was left almost entirely to the discretion of Major Lewis.[492:A] Was.h.i.+ngton predicted the failure of the expedition, on account of the length of the march, and even if it reached the Ohio, "as we are told that those Indians are removed up the river into the neighborhood of Fort Du Quesne."[492:B]

Old Outacite, or the Man-killer, was in distinction among the Cherokee chiefs, second only to Attacullaculla, or the Little Carpenter. Outacite attained a venerable age, and continued to be a steadfast friend of the whites. At the ma.s.sacre committed near Fort Loudoun, by his interposition he rescued many from destruction.

Early in April, 1756, another Indian irruption, led on by the French, spread consternation in the tramontane country, and threatened to exterminate the inhabitants. Was.h.i.+ngton, now aged twenty-four, gave it as his opinion that "five hundred Indians have it more in their power to annoy the inhabitants than ten times their number of regulars." While the unhappy people were flying from the barbarous foe, Was.h.i.+ngton, in view of the inadequate means of protection, wrote to Governor Dinwiddie: "The supplicating tears of the women and moving pet.i.tions of the men melt me into such deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy, provided that would contribute to the people's ease." In this sentence we find the key to his whole character and history.

The governor immediately gave orders for a re-enforcement of militia to a.s.sist him. The "Virginia Gazette," however, cast discredit and blame on Was.h.i.+ngton and the force under his command. Virginia continued to be too parsimonious and too indifferent to the sufferings of her people beyond the mountains. The woods appeared to be alive with French and Indians; each day brought fresh disasters and alarms. Was.h.i.+ngton found no language expressive enough to portray the miseries of the country.

Affording all the succor in his power, he called upon the governor for arms, ammunition, and provisions, and gave it as his opinion that a re-enforcement of Indian allies was indispensable, as Indians alone could be effectually opposed to Indians. Winchester, incorporated in 1752, was now almost the only settlement west of the Blue Ridge that was not almost entirely deserted, the few families that remained being sheltered in forts. West of the North Mountain the country was depopulated, save a few families on the South Branch of the Potomac and on the Cacapehon. About the close of April the French and Indians returned to Fort Du Quesne laden with plunder, prisoners, and scalps.

Governor Dinwiddie recommended to the board of trade an extensive cordon of forts, to cover the entire frontier of the colonies from Crown Point to the country of the Creek Indians. His project was to pay for these forts and support their garrisons by a land and poll tax, levied on all the colonies by an act of parliament. Was.h.i.+ngton advised that Virginia should guard her frontier by additional forts about fifteen miles apart.

Fort Loudoun was erected at Winchester, the key of that region, under his superintendence. It was a square with four bastions; the batteries mounted twenty-four guns; a well was sunk, mostly through a bed of limestone; the barracks were sufficient for four hundred and fifty men.

Vestiges of this fortification still remain. Winchester, after the erection of Fort Loudoun, increased rapidly, owing to its being the rendezvous of the Virginia troops: in 1759 it contained two hundred houses.

It is remarkable that as late as the year 1756, when the colony was a century and a half old, the Blue Ridge of mountains was virtually the western boundary of Virginia, and great difficulty was found in completing a single regiment for the protection of the inhabitants of the border country from the cruel irruptions of the Indians. Yet at this time the population of the colony was estimated at two hundred and ninety-three thousand, of whom one hundred and seventy-three thousand were white, and one hundred and twenty thousand black, and the militia were computed at thirty-five thousand fit to bear arms.

Dinwiddie wrote to Fox, (father of Charles James,) one of the secretaries of state: "We dare not venture to part with any of our white men any distance, as we must have a watchful eye over our negro slaves, who are upwards of one hundred thousand." Some estimated them at one hundred and fifty thousand, equal in number to the whites, but the smaller estimate is probably more correct. The increase of the blacks was rapid, and many lamented that the mother country should suffer such mult.i.tudes to be brought from Africa to gratify the African Company, "and overrun a dutiful colony." As to the question whether enslaving the negroes is consistent with Christianity, the Rev. Peter Fontaine remarks: "Like Adam, we are all apt to s.h.i.+ft off the blame from ourselves and lay it upon others; how justly, in our case, you may judge. The negroes are enslaved by the negroes themselves before they are purchased by the masters of the s.h.i.+ps who bring them here. It is, to be sure, at our choice whether we buy them or not; so this, then, is our crime, folly, or whatever you will please to call it. But our a.s.sembly, foreseeing the ill consequences of importing such numbers among us, hath often attempted to lay a duty upon them which would amount to a prohibition, such as ten or twenty pounds a head; but no governor dare pa.s.s such a law, having instructions to the contrary from the board of trade at home. By this means they are forced upon us whether we will or will not. This plainly shows the African Company hath the advantage of the colonies, and may do as it pleases with the ministry." "To live in Virginia without slaves is morally impossible," and it was a hard task for the planter to perform his duty toward them; for, on the one hand, if they were not compelled to work hard, he would endanger his temporal ruin; on the other hand, was the danger of not being able, in a better world, to render a good account of his humane stewards.h.i.+p of them.[495:A]

A long interval of tranquillity had enervated the planters of Virginia: luxury had introduced effeminate manners and dissolute habits. "To eat and drink delicately and freely; to feast, and dance, and riot; to pamper c.o.c.ks and horses; to observe the anxious, important, interesting event, which of two horses can run fastest, or which of two c.o.c.ks can flutter and spur most dexterously; these are the grand affairs that almost engross the attention of some of our great men. And little low-lived sinners imitate them to the utmost of their power. The low-born sinner can leave a needy family to starve at home, and add one to the rabble at a horse-race or a c.o.c.k-fight. He can get drunk and turn himself into a beast with the lowest as well as his betters with more delicate liquors." Burk, the historian of Virginia, who was by no means a rigid censor, noticing the manners of the Virginians during the half century preceding the Revolution, says: "The character of the people for hospitality and expense was now decided, and the wealth of the land proprietors, particularly on the banks of the rivers, enabled them to indulge their pa.s.sions even to profusion and excess. Drinking parties were then fas.h.i.+onable, in which the strongest head or stomach gained the victory. The moments that could be spared from the bottle were devoted to cards. c.o.c.k-fighting was also fas.h.i.+onable."[495:B] On the same pages he adds: "I find, in 1747, a main of c.o.c.ks advertised to be fought between Gloucester and James River. The c.o.c.ks on one side were called '_Bacon's Thunderbolts_,' after the celebrated rebel of 1676."

The pay of the soldiers in 1756 was but eight pence a day, of which two pence was reserved for supplying them with clothes. The meagre pay, and the practice of impressing vagrants into the military service, increased much the difficulty of recruiting and of enforcing obedience and subordination. Even Indians calling themselves friendly did not scruple to insult and annoy the inhabitants of the country through which they pa.s.sed. One hundred and twenty Cherokees, pa.s.sing through Lunenburg County, insulted people of all ranks, and a party of Catawbas behaved so outrageously at Williamsburg that it was necessary to call out the militia.

Although Governor Dinwiddie was an able man, his zeal in military affairs sometimes outstripped his knowledge, and Was.h.i.+ngton was at times distracted by inconsistent and impracticable orders, and hara.s.sed by undeserved complaints. It was indeed alleged by some, that if he could have withstood the strong interest arrayed in favor of Was.h.i.+ngton, the governor would rather have given the command to Colonel Innes, although far less competent, and an inhabitant of another colony, North Carolina.

Dinwiddie's partiality to Innes was attributed, by those unfriendly to the governor, to national prejudice, for they were both natives of Scotland.[496:A] Yet it appears by Dinwiddie's letters that he urgently pressed the rank of colonel on Was.h.i.+ngton.[496:B] Was.h.i.+ngton, in his letters to Speaker Robinson, complains heavily of the governor's line of conduct, and Robinson's replies were such as would widen the breach.[496:C] The tenor of the governor's correspondence with Was.h.i.+ngton, in 1757, became so ungracious, peremptory, and even offensive, that he could not but attribute the change in his conduct toward him to some secret detraction, and he gave utterance to a n.o.ble burst of eloquent self-defence. Dinwiddie's position was indeed trying, his measures being thwarted by a rather disaffected legislature and an arrogant aristocracy, and the censures thrown upon him, coming to us through a discolored medium of prejudice, ought to be taken with much allowance. However this may be, harsh and rather overbearing treatment from a British governor, together with the invidious distinctions drawn between colonial and British officers in regard to rank, naturally tended to abate Was.h.i.+ngton's loyalty, and thus gradually to fit him for the great part which he was destined to perform in the war of Independence.

Lord Loudoun, the newly-appointed governor of Virginia, and commander-in-chief of the colonies, now arrived in America, and called a conference of governors and military officers to meet him at Philadelphia. Was.h.i.+ngton, by the rather ungracious and reluctant leave of Dinwiddie, attended the conference. Yet Dinwiddie, in his letters to Loudoun, said of him: "He is a very deserving gentleman, and has from the beginning commanded the forces of this Dominion. He is much beloved, has gone through many hards.h.i.+ps in the service, has great merit, and can raise more men here than any one." He therefore urged his promotion to the British establishment.[497:A] Was.h.i.+ngton had previously transmitted to the incompetent Loudoun an elaborate statement of the posture of affairs in Virginia, exhibiting the insufficiency of the militia and the necessity of an offensive system of operations. But Loudoun determined to direct his main efforts against Canada, and to leave only twelve hundred men in the middle and southern provinces. Instead of receiving aid, Virginia was required to send four hundred men to South Carolina.

The Virginia Regiment was now reduced to a thousand men. Colonel Was.h.i.+ngton, nevertheless, insisted that a favorable conjuncture was presented for capturing Fort Du Quesne, since the French, when attacked in Canada, would be unable to re-enforce that remote post. This wise advice, although approved by Dinwiddie, was unheeded; and the campaign of the North proved inglorious, that of the South ineffectual. Toward the close of the year, Was.h.i.+ngton, owing to multiplied cares, vexations, and consequent ill health, relinquished his post, and retired to Mount Vernon, where he remained for several months.

In January, 1758, Robert Dinwiddie, after an arduous and disturbed administration of five years, worn out with vexation and age, sailed from Virginia not much regretted, except by his particular friends. A scholar, a wit, and an amiable companion, in private life he deservedly won esteem. The charge alleged against him of avarice and extortion in the exaction of illegal fees, appears to have originated in political prejudice, and that of failing to account for sums of money transmitted by the British government, rests on the unsupported a.s.sertions of those who were inimical to him. His place was filled for a short time by John Blair, president of the council.

The Rev. Samuel Davies, by invitation, preached to the militia of Hanover County, in Virginia, at a general muster, on the 8th of May, 1758, with a view to the raising a company for Captain Samuel Meredith.

In this discourse Davies said: "Need I inform you what barbarities and depredations a mongrel race of Indian savages and French Papists have perpetrated upon our frontiers? How many deserted or demolished houses and plantations? How wide an extent of country abandoned? How many poor families obliged to fly in consternation and leave their all behind them? What breaches and separations between the nearest relations? What painful ruptures of heart from heart? What shocking dispersions of those once united by the strongest and most endearing ties? Some lie dead, mangled with savage wounds, consumed to ashes with outrageous flames, or torn and devoured by the beasts of the wilderness, while their bones lie whitening in the sun, and serve as tragical memorials of the fatal spot where they fell. Others have been dragged away captives, and made the slaves of imperious and cruel savages: others have made their escape, and live to lament their butchered or captivated friends and relations.

In short, our frontiers have been drenched with the blood of our fellow-subjects through the length of a thousand miles, and new wounds are still opening. We, in these inland parts of the country are as yet unmolested, through the unmerited mercy of Heaven. But let us only glance a thought to the western extremities of our body politic, and what melancholy scenes open to our view! Now perhaps while I am speaking, now while you are secure and unmolested, our fellow-subjects there may be feeling the calamities I am now describing. Now, perhaps, the savage shouts and whoops of Indians, and the screams and groans of some butchered family, may be mingling their horrors and circulating their tremendous echoes through the wilderness of rocks and mountains."[499:A] There appears to be some resemblance between this closing sentence and the following, in Fisher Ames' speech on the western posts: "I can fancy that I listen to the yells of savage vengeance and the shrieks of torture. Already they seem to sigh in the western wind; already they mingle with every echo from the mountains."[499:B]

FOOTNOTES:

[489:A] Memoir of Battle of Point Pleasant, by Samuel L. Campbell, M.D., of Rockbridge County, Va.