Pocahontas County History Preservation, Digitization, Community

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. Harris consented to do so and the arrangement seemed so acceptable to all that he went at once to Kerr's Creek, Rockbridge County, packed up his effects with a view to moving his family, and was now here prepared to assume his ministerial duties in the new field. Upon his coming here yesterday however he was shown a letter from Mr. Preston to Mr. Harper stating that he had not received the appointment as chaplain and that he was at ease "lying upon his elbow and would be to see them in a few days."

Mr. Harris asked my advice, which I gave to this effect: That he should recall all his appointments for preaching for the present. Leave at once for some other field temporarily until these people should have another opportunity to secure Mr. Preston's services. Should they fail in doing so, as I felt sure they would, then he would be relieved from the imputation that he was to blame for Mr. Preston's not settling among them. I took pains to assure him that I regarded this state of things as altogether unintentional on the part of anyone. The Lord will provide for the safety and well being of his true and faithful servants, and show each one where and when he must labor in His blessed service. I professed to know Preston as well as it were possible for one person to know another. We had been classmates three years, and I had found him a better character than I had ever dreamed it possible for a young man to be.

Having thus tried to arrange matters for the perplexed brother Harris, I resumed my journey after dinner and soon reached Beverly. A large number of persons were in town, the main street so crowded that it was difficult to get through, so I flanked and went down a back street. The ordinance of Secession was being voted on, and yet all seemed seriously quiet and orderly among the people. I called upon the pastor, Rev. Enoch Thomas, but found him absent. I spent a pleasant hour with his family, much of our conversation was of a religious nature. Mrs. Thomas in her quiet, earnest way, a lady whose character had been chastened and purified by adversity, said that the 46th Psalm possessed at this time peculiar sweetness to her: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, Selah. With this refined, pure and cultured woman, mountains symbolized governments and waters the people.

Upon resuming my journey I found upon inquiry that it would be better not to go more than six or seven miles farther that afternoon and there spend the night, and so I rode along very leisurely. Just on the outskirts of Beverly I met armed men who had probably accompanied the Highland, Pendleton, and Randolph troops a short distance on their march. It was deeply impressive to reflect on what change a few weeks had brought about in these secluded and peaceful mountain retreats. Very soon after meeting the armed citizens I saw a solitary person approaching at a brisk, headlong trot. He was mounted on a very ordinary looking horse. The saddle and saddlebags were old and much worn, his shoes were of some home tanned leather, coarse and heavy, very need of the attention of a cobbler, while his clothing was of plain homespun jeans. His loosely fitting coat was threadbare and out at the elbows, and his crumpled slouch hat nearly concealed his shaggy eyebrows beneath which blazed a pair of piercing and inquisitive eyes, such as are seldom seen in a life time and never to be forgotten. He rather abruptly stopped me in the road by a stentorian inquiry whether I was from Beverly.

"How is the vote?"

"I think Secession has the majority"

"Do you say the Secession candidate is ahead? I have the honor to be that candidate."

And this was really so: the successful candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates was before me, elected by the counties of Randolph and Tucker. What a comment upon the democratic tendencies of our political institutions when candidates to be popular should dress like the Biblical Gibeonites and behave accordingly. One of the blessings of this civil war, we may hope, will be to inaugurate a happier era by sweeping the depraved and vicious from the political arena, or teach them to prize their political privileges by choosing the best, not the worst looking of men for their rulers.

Within a mile or so of the proposed place of spending the night I overtook a citizen who professed to have hard authentic particulars of the state of things at Grafton. He said that he had talked the day before with a waggoner just from Grafton, or very near there, and he reports five hundred Union soldiers ion the place. "A number of cannon are planted at the Fetterman bridge, and before th troops, just gone on, can enter Grafton, there has to be a fight."

All this made me feel very gloomy and caused me to spend a very uncomfortable evening from that on, a mile or so. Just as the sun was setting I forded the river at the once famous "Red Barn" with its eight corners and smoke house roof. Mrs. Crawford, here lovely daughters and pleasant boys made my stay with them more than pleasant. The news they had was far more cheerful than what I had just heard up the road. I felt the pleasure one has when meeting friends known for years, received and entertained as I was by these lovely people, whom I met for the first time that evening, and have never seen since. The city of Elkins now occupies about all that was then in sight.