Augusta County Virginia USGenWeb Archives History - Books .....Augusta County 1845
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Book Title: Historical Collections Of Virginia By Henry Howe, 1845

Augusta was formed from Orange, in 1738. "Previously, all that part of Virginia
lying west of the Blue Ridge was included in Orange; but in the fall session of
this year it wa divided into the counties of Frederick and Augusta. Frederick
county was bounded by the Potomac on the north, the Blue Ridge on the east, and
a line to be run from the head spring of Hedgmn to head spring of the Potomac on
the south and west; the remainder of Virginia, west of the Blue Ridge, to
constitute Augusta. This immense territory, at the present time, comprises four
entire states, and nearly 40 counties in western Virginia. As the population
increased, the limits of Augusta were reduced until it reached its present
boundaries in 1790." It is about 35 miles long, and 30 broad. The surface is
generally uneven, and in the E and W mountainous. There are, however, some
extensive bottoms of very fertile land. It is drained by tributaries of the
James and Shenandoah rivers. Pop. 1830, 19,925; 1840, whites 15,072, slaves
4,145, free colored 421; total 19,628.

There are several fine villages in the county, besides the large and flourishing
town of Staunton. Greenville and Middlebrook, the first 12 miles SSW, and the
last 11 miles SW of Staunton, each contain about 60 dwellings. Waynesboro', at
the western base of the Blue Ridge, on the main stage road from Charlottesville
to Staunton, 12 miles easterly from the latter, is a wealthy and flourishing
village, containing about 100 dwellings. Mount Sydney, 10 miles NE of Staunton,
contains about 40 dwellings. Mount Solon, Spring Hill, Mount Meridian, and New
Hope, are small places, at the first of which there is considerable
manufacturing carried on. There the Moss Creek Spring rises from a hill, and
furnishes the power for a forge, a furnace, and 1 paper and 1 merchant mill. 

The Augusta Springs are 12 miles NW of Staunton. The water is strongly
impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, and is said to equal the celebrated
springs of Harrowgate, England. The improvements at this place are ample, and
the situation extremely picturesque. About 12 miles SW of Staunton, is one of
those ebbing and flowing springs, so common in western Virginia.

[Image: Virginia Lunatic Asylum at Staunton]

Staunton, the county-seat, lies 116 ms. northwesterly from Richmond, 163 from
Washington City, on one of the extreme head branches of the E. fork of
Shenandoah River, in a fine valley between the Blue Ridge and north mountain
chains. 

[Image: Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, at Staunton, Va.]

It contains 1 newspaper printing office, 2 female seminaries, 2 male academies,
1 Presbyterian, 1 Episcopal, 1 Lutheran, and 1 Methodist chuch, and a population
of about 2,200. It has many mercantile and mechanical establishments, and does a
large business with the surrounding country. An excellent macadamised road leads
from here to Winchester. The Western Lunatic Asylum is located at this place,
and is a noble pile of brick buildings. By the U.S. Census of 1840, the whole
number of insane and idiotic persons in Virginia was 892, or 1 to every 866
persons. The Virginia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blund, has been
established within a few years. A beautiful brick building is now erecting for
it, near the town, on an elevated and picturesque site. By the U.S. census for
1840, the number of deaf and dumb in the state was 603, or 1 to every 2056 of
the population; the number of blind 802, or one to every 1390 of the population.

"When Tarleton, in the war of the revolution, pursued the legisture to
Charlottesville, to which place they had adjourned from Richmond, they again
fled and met at Staunton, where they finished their session. At some future day
it will probably become the seat of government. It was at this place that two
large conventions were held, to deliberate on forming the constitution of
Virginia. The last met in July, 1825, and made an appeal to the legislature, who
thereupon submitted the question to the people, and it finally resulted in the
adoption of the new constitution."

This county has been the birth-place or the residence of several prominent
characters. Among them may be mentioned the Hon. Daniel Sheffey; Gen. Robert
Porterfield, a gallant officer of the revolution; and Judge Archibald Stuart,
father of the Hon. Alex. H. H. Stuart. 

Daniel Sheffey was born at Frederick, Md., in 1770, and was bred a shoemaker, in
his father's shop. His education was inconsiderable; but possessing an ardent
desire for knowledge, he passed his leisure in reading, and became particularly
fond of astronomical and mathematical studies. Arrived at manhood, he travelled
on foot, with his "kit" on his back, to Winchester. From thence he walked
through the valley of Virginia, stopping at various villages on his route, and
earning sufficient money by his trade, to pay his expenses, until he at last
arrived at Abbeville, Wythe county. He was a stranger, friendless and destitute.
"Here he commenced his trade once more. The novelty and originality of his
character, and the flashes of genius which enlivened his conversation, often
compelled his new-tried friends to look on the eccentric youth with wonder."
Becoming popular, he was received into the office of Alexander Smyth, Esq., and
after being admitted to the bar of Wythe County, was employed in the most
important suits. After some years he settled in Staunton, and obtained a
lucrative practice. He often represented Augusta in the House of Delegates, and,
in 1811, was chosen as a member of Congress. "His speech, in favor of a renewal
of the charter of the first bank of the United States, was a masterly
combination of sound judgment and conclusive facts: for three hours profound
silence reigned; and the most experienced statesmen were astonished at this
exhibition of his talents. " He was opposed to the declaration of war in 1812.
On one occasion, he gave John Randolph, whose bitter sarcas few could withstand,
a most severe retort. In commenting upon a speech of Mr. Sheffey's, he said that
"the shoemaker ought to to go beyond his /last/." In an instant Sheffey
retorted, "if that gentleman had /ever been on/ the bench, /he never would have
left it/."

Mr. Sheffey was a plain man; his accent German, his pronunciation not agreeable;
yet the most refined audience always paid him profound attention. He seized upon
the strong points of a case and maintained them with unconquerable zeal. "Like
Patrick Henry, he was the artificer of his own fortune, and like him, in
after-life, lamented that in his early days the lamp of life had shed but a
feeble ray along the path which it was his destiny to travel."[*Kercheval's MSS.
for a 2d edition of his History of the Valley] He died in 1830.

[Image: Cyclopean Towers, Augusta Co.]

The Cyclopean towers, which are near the Augusta Springs, are among the greatest
curiosities of nature in the Union. Yet for many years they were known only in
the vicinity, and bore the rude appellation of "the chimneys." They are about 60
or 70 feet in height. We annex the following from a published description by a
gentleman who visited the towers in 1834, and gve them their present name. It
commences with a description of the country as he approached towards them: 

After passing over a hilly and picturesque country, the road opened upon a
fertile valley, which though in places narrow, was of considerable length-- and
when seen from an elevated position, appeared like the bed of an ancient lake,
or as it really is, the alluvial border of a flowing stream. The strata of
limestone hills followed their usual order of parallel lines to the great
mountains of our continent, as though a strong current had once swept through
this magnificent valley, forming in its course islands that are either naked and
barren, or covered with a growth of stately trees. It was at such a projections,
that we first descried[sic] the gray summits of what seemed a ruinous casle--
resembling those which were raised in feudal times to guard the passes of the
Rhine, or like such as are still seen in mouldering majesty on many an Alpine
rock. These summits or towers, of which there were seven, lifted their heads
above the lofty elms, like so many antique chimneys in the midst of a grove;
but, on approaching them nearer, our pleasure was greatly increased to find them
rise amost perpendicularly from the bed of a stram, which, winding around their
base, serves as a natural moat to a building not made with mortal hands. 

These rocks in their formation resemble the palisades on the Hudson River-- but
are more regular in their strata, which appears to have been arranged in huge
masses of perfect workmanship, with projections like cornices of Gothic
architecture, in a state of dilapidation. Those who are acquainted with the
structue of the Cyclopean walls of the ancients, would be struck with the
resemblance.

A narrative of the circumstances connected with the settlement of Augusta
county, by the Lewis family, collected fom authentic records, and traditions of
the family, and communicated fo this work by a gentleman of the county:

John Lewis was a native and a citizen of Ireland, descended from a family of
Huguenots, who took refuge in that kingdom fom the persecutions that followed
the assassination of Henry IV of France. His rank was  that of an Esquire, and
he inherited a handsome estate, which he increased by industry and frugality,
until he became the lessee of a contiguous property, of considerable value. He
married Margaret Lynn, the daughter of the laird of Loch Lynn, who was a
descendant of the chieftains of a once powerful clan in the Scottish Highlands.
By this marriage he had four sons, three of them, Thomas, Andrew, and William,
born in Ireland, and Charles, the child of his old age, born a few months after
their settlement in their mountain home. 

The emigration of John Lewis to Virginia, was the result of one of those bloody
affrays, which at that time so often occurred to disturb the repose, and destroy
the happiness of Irish families. The owner of the fee out of which the leasehold
of Lewis was carved, a nobleman of profligate habits and ungovernable passions,
seeing the prosperity of his lessee, and repenting the bargain he had concluded,
under pretence of entering fo an alleged breach of condition, attempted by the
aid of a band of ruffians, hired fo his pupose, to take forcible possession of
the premises. For this end, he surrounded the house with his ruffians, and
called upon Lewis to evacuate the premises without delay, a demand which was
instantly and indignantly refused by Lewis; though surprised with a sick
brother, his wife, and infant children in the house, and with no aid but such as
could be afforded by a few faithful domestics. With this small force, scarce
equal to one-fourth the number of his assailants, he resolved to maintain his
legal rights at every hazard. THe enraged nobleman commenced the affray by
discharging his fowling-piece into the house, by which the invalid brother of
Lewis was killed, and Margaret herself severely wounded. Upon this, the enraged
husband and brother, rushed fom the house, attended by his devoted little band,
and soon succeeded in dispersing the assailants, though not until the noble
author of the mischief, as well as his steward, had perished by the hand of
Lewis. By this time the family were surrounded by their sympathizing frieds and
neighbors, who, after bestowing every aid in their power, advised Lewi to fly
the country, a measure rendered necessary by the high standing of his late
antagonist, the desperate character of his surviving assailants, and the want of
evidence by which he could have established the facts of the case. He therefore,
after drawing up a detailed statement of the affair, which he directed to the
proper authorities, embarked on board a vessel bound for America, attended by
his family and a band of about thirty of his faithful tenantry. In due time the
emigants landed on the shores of Virginia, and fixed their esidence amid the
till then unbroken forests of west Augusta. John Lewis's settlement was a few
miles below the town of Staunton, on the banks of the stream which still bears
his name. It may be proper to remark here, that when the circumstances of the
affray became known, after due investigation, a pardon was granted to John
Lewis, and patents are still extant, by which his majesty granted to him a large
portion of the fair domain of western Virginia. 

For many years after the settlement at Fort Lewis, great amity and good will
existed between the neighboring Indians and the white settlers, whose numbers
increased space, until they became quite a formidable colony. It was then that
the jealousy of their red neighbors became aroused, and a war broke out, which,
for cool though desperate courage and activity on the part of the whites, and
ferocity, cunning and barbarity of the part of the Indians, was never equalled
in any age or country. John Lewis was, by this time, well stricken in years, but
his four sons, who were now grown up, were well qualified to fill his place, and
to act the part of the leaders to the gallant little band, who so nobly battled
for the protection of their homes and families. It is not my purpose to go into
the details of a warfare, during which scarcely a settlement was exempt from
monthly attacks of the savages, and during which Charles Lewis, the youngest son
of John, is said never to have spent one month at a time out of active and
arduous service. Charles was the hero of many a gallant exploit, which is still
treasured in the memories of the descendants of the border riflemen, and there
are few families among the Alleghanies where the name and deeds of Charles Lewis
are not familiar as household words. On one occasion, Charles was captured by
the Indians while on a hunting excursion, and after having travelled some two
hundred miles, barefot, his arms pinioned behind him, goaded on by the knives of
his remorseless captors, he effected his escape. While travelling along the bank
of a precipice some twenty feet in height, he suddenly, by a strong muscular
exertion, burst the cords which bound him, and plunged down the steep into the
bed of a mountain torrent. His persecutors hesitated not to follow. In a race of
several hundred yards, Lewis had gained some few yards upon his pursuers, when,
upon leaping a prostrate tree which lay across his course, his strength suddenly
failed, and he fell prostrate among the weeds which had grown up in great
luxuriance around the body of the tree. Three of the Indians sprang over the
tree within a few feet of where their prey lay concealed; but with a feeling of
the most devout thankfulness to a kind and superintending Providence, he saw
them one by one disappear into the dark recesses of the forest. He now bethought
himself of rising from his uneasy bed, when lo! a new enemy appeared, in the
shape of an enormous rattlesnake, who had thrown himself into the deadly coil so
near his face that his fangs were within a few inches of his nose; and his
enormous rattle, as it waved to and fro, once rested upon his ear. A single
contraction of the eyelid--a convulsive shudder--the relaxation of a single
muscle, and the deadly beast would have sprung upon him. In this situation he
lay for several minutes, when the reptile, probably supposing him to be dead,
crawled over his body and moved slowly away. "I had eaten nothing," said Lewis
to his companions, after his return, "fo many days; I had no fire-arms, and I
ran the risk of dying from hunger, ere I could reach the settlement; but rather
would I have died, than made a meal of the generous beast." During this war, an
attack was made upon the settlement of Fort Lewis, at a time when the whole
force of the settlement was ot on active duty. So great was the surprise, that
many of the women and children were captured in sight of the fort, though far
the greater part escaped, and concealed themselves in their hiding places, in
the woods. The fort was occupied by John Lewis, then very old and infirm, his
wife, and two young women who were so much alarmed that they scarce moved from
their seats upon the ground floor of the fort. John Lewis, however, opened a
port-hole, where he stationed himself, firing at the avages, while Margaret
reloaded the guns, In this manner he sustained a siege of six hours, during
which he killed upwards of a core of savages, when he was relieved by the
appearance of his party. 

Thomas Lewis, the eldest son of John Lewis and Margaret Lynn, labored under a
defect of vision, which disabled him as a marksman, and he was, therefore, les
efficient during the Indian wars than his brethren. He was, however, a man of
learning and sound judgment, and represented the county of Augusta for many
years in the House of Burgesses; was a member of the convention which ratified
the constitution of the United States, and formed the constitution of the United
States, and formed the constitution of Virginia, and afterwards   sat for the
county of Rockingham in the House of Delegates of Virginia. In 1765, he was in
the House of Burgesses, and voted for Patrick Henry's celebrated resolutions.
Thomas Lewis had four sons actively participating in the war of the revolution;
the youngest of whom, Thomas, who is now living, bore an ensign's commission
when but fourteen years of age.

Andrew, the second son of John Lewis and Margaret Lynn, is the Gen. Lewis who
commanded at the battle of Point Pleasant. (See his memoir in Bottetourt Co)

Charles Lewis, the youngest of the sons of John Lewis, fell at the head of his
regiment, when leading on the attack at Point Pleasant. Charles was esteemed the
most skilful of all the leaders of the border warfare, and was as much beloved
for his noble and amiable qualities as he was admired for his military talents. 

[Image: View in Weyer's Cave.]

William, the third son, was an active participator in the border wars, and was
an officer of the revolutionary army, in which one of his sons was killed, and
another maimed for life. When the British force under Tarleton drove the
legislature from Charlottesville to Staunton, the stillness of the Sabbath eve
was broken in the latter town by the beat of the drum, and volunteers were
called for to prevent the passage of the British through the mountains at
Rockfish Gap. The elder sons of Wm. Lewis, who then resided at the old fort,
were absent with the northern army. Three sons, however, were at home, whose
ages were 17, 15, and 13 years. Wm. Lewis was confined to his room by sickness,
but his wife, with the firmness of a Roman matron, called them to her, and bade
them fly to the defence of their native land. "Go my children," said she, "I
spare not my youngest, my fair-haired boy, the comfort of my declining years. I
devote you all to my country. Keep back the foot of the invader from the soil of
Augusta, or see my face no more." When this incident was related to Washington,
shortly after its occurrence, he enthusiastically exclaimed, "Leave me but a
banner to plant upon the mountains of Augusta, and I will rally around me the
men who will lift our bleeding country from the dust, and set her free."

I have frequently heard, when a boy, and anecdote related by an old settler,
somewhat to this effect: The white, or wild clover, is of indigenous growth, and
abounded on the banks of the rivers, &c. The red was introduced by John Lewis,
and it was currently reported by their prophets, and believed by the Indians
generally, that the blood of the red man slain by the Lewises and their
followers, had dyed the trefoil to its sanguine hue. The Indians, however,
always did the whites the justice to say, that the red man was the aggressor in
their first quarrel, and that the white men of western Virginia had always
evinced a disposition to treat their red brethren with moderation and justice. 

Weyer's Cave, is 17 miles N. of Staunton, in a hill a short distance west of the
Blue Ridge. It derives its name from Bernard Weyer, who discovered it in 1804,
while hunting. 

Within a few hundred yards of it, is Madison's cave, described by Jefferson.
This, however, has superio attractions. No language can convey an adequat idea
of the vastness and sublimity of some, or the exquisite beauty and grandeur of
other of its innumerable apartments, with their snowy-white concretions of a
thousand various forms. Many of these, with their striking and picturesque
objects, have names exceedingly inappropriate, which to mention would degrade
any description, however well written, by the associaton of the beautiful and
sublime, with the vulgar and hackneyed. Washington Hall, the largest apartment,
is 250 feet in length. A foreign traveller who visited the cave at an annual
illumination, has, in a finely written description, the following notice of this
hall: 

"There is a fine sheet of rock-work running up the centre of this room, and
giving it the aspect of two separate and noble galleries, till you look above,
where you observe the partition rises only 20 feet towards the roof, and leaves
the fine arch expanding over your head untouched. There is a beautiful
concretion here, standing out in the room, which certainly has the form and
drapery of a gigantic statue; it bears the name of the Nation's Hero, and the
whole place is filled with those projections, appearances which excite the
imagination by suggesting resemblances, and leaving them unfinished. The general
effect, too, was perhaps indescribable. The fine perspective of this room, four
times the length of an ordinary church; the numerous tapers, when near you, so
encumbered by deep shadows as to give only a dim religious light; and when at a
distance, appearing in their various attitudes like twinkling stars on a deep
dark heaven; the amazing vaulted roof spread over you, with its carved and
knotted surface, to which the streaming lights below in vain endeavored to
convey their radiance; together with the impression that you had made so deep an
entrance, and were so entirely cut off from the living world and ordinary
things; produces an effect which, perhaps, the mind can receive once, and will
retain forever." 

"Weyer's Cave," says the writer above quoted, "is in my judgment one of the
great natural wonders of this new world; and for its eminence in its own class,
deserves it to be ranked with the Natural Bridge and Niagara, while it is far
less known than either. Its dimensions, by the most direct course, are more than
1,600 feet; and by the more winding paths, twice that length; and its objects
are remarkable for their variety, formation, and beauty. In both respects, it
will, I think, compare, without injury to itself, with the celebrated Grotto of
Antiparos. For myself, I acknowledge the spectacle to have been mot interesting;
but to be so, it must be illuminated, as on this occasion. I had thought that
this circumstance might give the whole a toyish effect; but the influence of
2,000 or 3,000 lights on these immense caverns is only such as to reveal the
objects, without disturbing the solemn and sublime obscurity which sleeps on
every thing. Scarcely any scenes can awaken so many passions at once, and so
deeply. Curiosity, apprehension, terror, surprise, admiration, and delight, by
turns and together, arrest and possess you. I have had before, from other
objects, one simple impression made with greater power; but I never had so many
impressions made, and with so much power, before. If the interesting and the
awful are the elements of the sublime, here sublimity reigns, as in her own
domain, in darkness, silence, and deeps profound."

There died in this county, in February, 1844, a slave, named Gilbert, aged 112
years. He was a servant to Washington at the time of Braddock's defeat, and was
afterwards present, in the same capacity, at the surrender of Cornwallis.

Additional Comments:
Pages 177-184.

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