May 23, 1861

Thursday morning I set out on my way to Grafton. It was May 23, 1861. Hon. John Hutton, a most estimable gentleman, but of the decided opinion that a mistake had been made in sending troops to West Virginia, advised me to leave my military accoutrements with him for I would be much safer without them, and this I did such was my confidence in his judgement. Upon leaving I asked Aunt Dolley Hutton, a very pious lady, in fullest sympathy with the Confederate soldiers so willingly going where her husband was sure they would be sacrificed to no good purpose, to tell all the good people to remember us in their prayers, which she tearfully promised to do. After riding a few miles down the beautiful valley, the emerald gem of all West Virginia, I came to Mr. Henry Harper's not far from Beverly, where I found the young preacher and his party, with whom I had traveled the previous day. He was in much anxiety of mind, arising from a letter just received from Rev. T. L. Preston to Mr. Harper. We took a walk and had a long interview. It appeared that at the last meeting of the Lexington Presbytery Mr. Preston was prevailed on by his friends to apply for the chaplaincy of the cadet corps which had been called into the service of Virginia. Mr. Preston requested Mr. Harris to visit the churches in Tygarts Valley, which he had been supplying and while thus engaged had his home at Mr. Harper's, and if it was agreeable to supply them during his absence to Harpers Ferry. Mr.

May 22, 1861

On the morning of the following day May 22nd, 1861, I arose quite early and very much refreshed. Having breakfasted, I joined Mr. Harris and his party, as soon as they drove by, and took up my line of march for Cheat Mountain, not without some misgivings of possible trouble however.

We were so fortunate as to cross the mountain without any hindrance whatever and had there been no such thing as war, the shady recesses of that renowned mountain could not have been freer from the least suspicion of rude alarms and fratricidal strife, as it was that day.

May 21, 1861

Orders came from Governor Letcher to take up the march for Grafton, and the troops started the 18th of May. At the solicitation of Captain Hull and others, and being more than willing besides, I tendered my services as a volunteer chaplain.

My congregations, McDowell and Williamsville, readily granted me leave of absence, and so on the 21st of May I set out to join the troops at Grafton. At first it was a perplexing matter to me whether I should furnish myself with arms, but having been advised to do so I borrowed a double-barreled shotgun. It was a show weapon for those times. The kind lady at whose home I had lived about a year, Mrs. Washington Hull, provided me with ample supplies of roasted chicken, good biscuit, and sweet cakes. Thus equipped and furnished I began my lonely journey from McDowell, heading for the seat of war at Grafton. The day was very uncomfortable because of a chilly blowing rain.

At Monterey I halted a little while, it being quite early, but I was there long enough to have my eyes opened to the fact that soldiers ought to be careful and not wear out their welcome. Old Mother Shumate had a sad tale of the care and inconvenience that was endured in providing volunteers with accommodations upon such short notice.

On to Grafton

by William T. Price

Published 1901

Introduction

They mustered in their simple dress,
For wrongs to seek a stern redress;
To right those wrongs, come weal or woe;
To perish or o'ercome the foe!"

Tacitus, one of the most accomplished historians of the ages, makes this very wise observation on the uses of history:

This I hold to be the office of history; to rescue virtuous actions from oblivion, to which a want of records would consign them, and that men should feel a dread of being considered infamous in the opinion of posterity, from their depraved expressions and base actions.

This correspondent has taken it in hand to transcribe the contents of a diary that was kept during an excursion to Grafton during May and June 1861, as a volunteer chaplain.

During the national troubles that characterized the year of 1861, a military post was located at Grafton, a railroad town in Tyler County, now West Virginia. As a strategical point, it was regarded as very important, because the Parkersburg branch made a junction here with the main stem of the B&O Railway. A volunteer company, numbering over two hundred young men, the choice of the Highland families, was raised in a few days after the Lincoln proclamation, and organized with Felix Harness Hull, captain.

The names of Robert H. Bradshaw and Jesse Gilmore recur vividly to the writer's memory, as enthusiasts in the impending cause.

Capture of Thomas Wilson, p. 568, Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County by William T. Price (1901)

About 1750 John Wilson and Bowyer Miller located on Jacksons River, in what is now Highland County, Va. Mr Wilson settled at the mouth of Peak of Stony Run, while Miller located at Wilsonville, farther up. During Braddock's war Mr Miller refugeed to Tinkling Spring, and finally across the Blue Ridge, leaving land, house, and property uncared for.

About 1756 Mr Wilson refugeed near Greenville, taking his movable property with him, but finding it impossible to get subsistence, sent his horses and cattle back and employed some one to do the rauging and salting. We hear nothing more of him. In a year or two his family ventured to return and took up their abode on the east bank of the river, some two hundred yards perhaps below the crossing leading to the Bolar Spring. The Indians then raided their home about the year 1760.

This John Wilson, the pioneer, was the grandfather of the the late William Wilson, whose daughters Charlotte and Susan married Adam and Washington Stephenson, citizens of Highland County.

The Mayse Family, p 561, Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County by William T. Price (1901)

In 1765 the Indians raided the Mayse home in Bath County, a few miles from Bath Alum. Joseph Mayse, aged 13 years, his mother, an unknown white girl and Mrs Sloan and her infant were taken prisoners.

About five or six miles from the Mayse residence the party halted on the top of a high ridge by a large rock to rest awhile. The Indian leader, an old man, sat on this rock. Around his shoulders hung a bear's intestine filled with cornmeal mush. This he would squeeze out and eat for his lunch. Thence the Indians proceeded on a bee line westward over the Warm Springs Mountain, and on the evening of the first day camped on Muddy Run, about five miles north east of the Warm Springs.

On the second day they crossed Jacksons River near Warwickton, Back Creek Mountain, and camped near the mouth of Little Back Creek, now Mountain Grove. The boy prisoner, Joseph Mayse, was placed to sleep between two warriors. He was made very uncomfortable by a large root of the tree under which they had lain down to sleep. His sufferings becoming too painful to endure, he took one of the Indians by the hand and placed it on the source of his misery. He understood the trouble and made the other lie over and give young prisoner a softer place to sleep.

"Mad Ann," p. 579, Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County by William T. Price (1901)

March 22, 1858, it was the writer's pleasure to visit Mrs Smith, the aged mother of the late William Smith, who resided five and a half miles north of Covington, on Jackson's River. She had been well acquainted with "Mad Ann," and related some recollections of this noted character of pioneer history.

She was of English birth, and claimed to have hailed from Liverpool. Her first husband was a Mr Trotter, who was drowned in Jacksons River near the residence of the late Squire Alexander McClintic. The water was quite shallow, but being in a state of intoxication he perished in the ripples, leaving a widow and two sons, William and John. William Trotter, in 1858, was living at Point Pleasant.

Mrs Trotter lived awhile as one of the nearest neighbors of the Smith family. Her property was a little rude log hut, three acres of arable land, two cows, two pigs, and a horse. Before her reason became impaired she was a person of fine sense, and was much better educated than the generality of females at her day. As to her moral reputation in later life, she was not on a par with Caesar's wife—above suspicion. Yet she paid her debts, would not steal, or seek revenge for any insult in stealthy ways.

Lackey's Song, p. 577, Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County by William T. Price (1901)

On page 567 reference is made to one Lackey singing the "Shawnee Battle Song," commemorative of the battle of Point Pleasant. As a matter of curiosity the words are herewith reproduced.

Let us mind the tenth day of October,
'Seventy-four, which caused woe,
The Indian savages they did cover
The pleasant banks of the Ohio.

The battle beginning in the morning,
Throughout the day it lasted sore
Until the evening shades were returning down
Upon the banks of the Ohio.

Judgment proceeds to execution,
Let fame throughout all dangers go,
Our heroes fought with resolution,
Upon the banks of the Ohio.

Seven score lay dead and wounded
Of champions that did face the foe,
By which the heathen were confounded
Upon the banks of the Ohio.

Colonel Lewis and some noble Captains
Did down to death like Uriah go:
Alas ! their heads wound up in napkins,
Upon the banks of the Ohio.

Kings lamented their mighty fallen
Upon the mountains of Gilboa,
And now we mourn for brave Hugh Allen,
Far from the banks of the Ohio.

Oh bless the mighty King of Heaven
For all his wondrous works below:
Who hath to us the victory given
Upon the banks of the Ohio.

Huntersville--The First County Seat, p. 586, Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County by William T. Price (1901)

For a number of years previous to the organization of the county, in 1821, Huntersville had been a public place, as merchants and tradesmen from the east would arrange to meet the hunters here and barter goods for the proceeds of the chase. It was suggested by some that Smithville would be an appropriate name for the county seat, for apparent historical reasons. The present name Huntersville, however, was strenuously insisted upon by John Bradshaw and his friends, as a special compliment to the hunters that swarmed there during the trading season, and to whose presence and patronage the place owed very much for its prosperous development.

Captain James Ewing, p. 611, Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County by William T. Price (1901)

The Ewing family of Pocahontas County and vicinity was founded by James Ewing, born near Londonderry, Ireland, of Scotch parents, about 1720. He came to Virginia as a young man, and there married Margaret Sargent, of Irish birth, who bore him live children: Jennie, who married Clendennnin, Susan who married Moses Moore, Elizabeth who married George Dougherty, John, and William. John was born in 1747. At the time of the Clendennin massacre in Greenbrier County, John, a mere lad, was taken prisoner by the Indians, and carried into the Ohio country. There he was adopted into an Indian tribe, baptized according to Indian custom, and given an Indian name. But John's Scotch-Irish blood was not easily converted to Indian, and when a returning party of warriors brought back as a curiosity an English Bible, he explained to them that it was the word of God. The Indians asked whether his God was an Indian or a white man, and when John answered that he was a white man, they would no longer listen to his reading the book.